I gasped and sat up with a start as I woke in an unfamiliar place. The black armor that coated my skin slowly melted off of my face and arms, sinking through my shirt to return to its dormant state. I realized it was the artifact armor that I had picked up in the repository.

My eyes widened and I looked down at my hand. A vaguely familiar ring rested snugly on my ring finger, shimmering in the light of the ringed planet that filled the night sky above.

I tried desperately to take it off but the ring held fast.

How did I take a ring out of a dream?

The question was more to myself than to anyone else but Kalli was instantly in my ear. Melvin! Where did you go? I was so worried.

From the looks of things, I hadn’t been moved from where I fought the creature. Suddenly remembering Stefanie, I spun around to look for her. I was by myself, though evidence of the skirmish was all around.

Gathering my thoughts, I replied to Kalli.

I think I fell asleep. Everyone left. I’m all alone out here.

Kalli’s voice was laden with concern when she replied. Mel, you’ve been asleep for three days and I couldn’t find you in our dreams. Also, they say you have some kind of dark armor on that attacks anyone that goes near you.

Accepting my situation for what it was, I pulled myself to my feet and asked the question that I was dreading the answer to.

What happened to Stefanie?

The pang of sadness from Kalli answered my question before she did. Melvin. She didn’t make it. Esha took her body back to Stefania. Nobody knows what to do with her. Joe is losing control over here and Rundel has taken charge for now.

Waves of guilt washed over me once again as I replayed the chain of events in my head. It all boiled down to Raverly. Pulling up my map, I saw his dot in the distance, clearly marked Raverly Crescent.

Then it dawned on me.

YOU HAVE REMOVED RAVERLY CRESCENT FROM THE GROUP

YOU HAVE REMOVED RAVERLY CRESCENT FROM THE GUILD

Joe reacted first, screaming in group chat. Melvin, why did you do that? Now we can’t talk to him or track his movement.

I nodded, laughing at the irony of it all.

That’s right, Joe. And now he can’t track us or listen to our conversations either. Think about it. He probably knows all about our plans to rescue Wendy. He might have been the reason that lady showed up in Hudholm in the first place. Having him in the group put all of us in danger.

Rundel replied, Melvin. You’re back. Kalli said something happened to you where she couldn’t sense you and the trolls said you were in some strange black armor. Are you okay?

I probed the artifact armor with my mana, wishing I knew how it worked. It didn’t respond as usual. Realizing Run was waiting for a reply, I decided to explain.

I’ll live. I fell asleep in my dream. It was weird. I ended up in a strange place and met a strange man.

Run laughed. Sounds like you went down the rabbit hole there, bro.

I prefer dreaming about Kalli.

He laughed. I’ll bet you do.

I didn’t like what he was implying, even though it was mostly true.

Not like that.

After a few moments of silence, Kalli continued speaking to me in mate chat. When you fell asleep, you vanished. Leaving me all alone in the dream. I looked around for you for as long as I could. When I woke up, you were just gone for three whole days. I thought something happened to you.

Three days? I was only in that dream for around ten minutes.

Kalli pouted, which was an odd feeling to experience second hand. I had to sleep alone for two nights. You were definitely gone for three days. Do you know what it feels like to be lonely in a dream?

One part of me felt the passage of time. I walked over to the tree and announced,

I gotta pee.

Kalli was still blushing when I teleported to Stefania. Peeing after holding it for three days felt glorious and I made no effort to hide my satisfaction from Kalli.

The villagers froze when I appeared in their midst. Once they realized it was me, a thunderous cheer went up as villagers gathered to congratulate me on my return.

When Esha pushed through the crowd to find me, I only spoke two words. “Where’s Stefanie.”

The cheering vanished into a sudden vacuum of sadness as Esha turned and I wordlessly followed her to one of the buildings. The house was empty except for a small bed. It sat by itself in the middle of the room with a sheet covering a tiny form.

Esha stayed at the door, not daring to approach. Peeling the sheet back, revealed Stefanie’s face, her eyes closed. They had done a good job of cleaning her up. She looked like she could have been sleeping.

Praying that it was true, I shook her gently. “Stef, wake up. It’s me, Melvin. Roll your eyes for me. I know you want to.”

She didn’t wake. I triple-checked, hoping she might still be in group chat but her name wasn’t on the list. Kalli sobbed quietly inside of me as she shared the experience. Not wanting to give up, I pushed my mana into Stefanie’s body, ignoring the fact that her normal melodious mana wasn’t present as I infused her channels with my life essence.

My heart broke when I arrived at her core chamber and found it vacant. A part of me was tempted to create her a new core but I knew from my experience with Bob that I couldn’t truly bring someone back to life. If only there were a way to fish someone back from the other side.

I sat heavily on the floor as I racked my brain.

I bet that man from my dream could do it.

Kalli was confused. Do what?

Bring her back!

A fire of hope lit inside of Kalli as she asked, Can he really do that?

The problem wasn’t what the strange man from my dream could do. It was a matter of how to find him again. In the end, I was on my own. Getting another idea, I ran it by Kalli.

What if I summon her back. You know, like how I was going to summon you.

Kalli hesitated a bit before she replied. She’s right there in front of you Mel. If you summon her, it would just be her body.

Not if I summon her soul.

Kalli gasped out loud, startling the others in the Mecharriage. Can you do that?

I don’t know but I owe it to her to try everything.

Getting down on my knees in the middle of the village, I had Esha form a perimeter to give me room to work. Taking out the book on summoning that I hadn’t used since I summoned Kalli, I created another crude ritual circle. When I was satisfied, I ran back into the house and cut a small piece of Stefanie’s hair so that the ritual might have something to use as a focus. Placing it in the center of the circle, I began the ritual by offering my mana.

I chanted to myself as I worked.

Please bring Stefanie back. Please bring Stefanie back.

Kalli echoed my words as the mana tugged on her core as well. Both of us staggered as the colossal price of the summoning took its toll.

The feeling that I was going to be sick bubbled up inside of me as my mana bottomed out over and over. Kalli began retching as the same wave of nausea washed over her. We both struggled with our inefficient mana regeneration while the ritual chugged on around us.

Esha approached cautiously, noticing my struggle. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Struggling to form physical words, I conveyed my thoughts in guild chat.

If you have a decent mana pool, step into the circle. It will take all of your mana. Then get out.

One by one, the villagers lined up to contribute their fledgling mana pools to the ritual. Many of them knew Stefanie. Out of our group, she spent more time with them than any of us, soothing the children and helping the adults with basic tasks.

A tear streamed down my cheek as I thought of how she tried to look annoyed while going out of her way to help. Eventually, the stress was too much for my core and my vision began to fade.

No sooner had I arrived in dreamland than Kalli tackled me. “Don’t ever leave me like that again.”

Another voice that neither of us recognized spoke in a gravelly voice. “Why have you called me here?”

Startled, we both spun to find a large green ape towering over us. Realizing he was invading my dream, I asked, “How did you get in here?”

The ape chuckled. “You summon me then ask how I came to be near you? Such naive mortals you are.”

“Who are you?” Kalli tried, clinging to my arm as we both looked up at the ape.

He puffed out his chest and announced himself. “I am Lamentus, the god of sorrow. It truly says something about you that you managed to summon me. However, I sense a certain worth about you so I shall accept your call for the time being.”

Realizing that we had just passed out and not actually gone to sleep, I turned to Kalli and said, “I need to wake up and check on the villagers. Also, I’d like to see if Lammy here can do anything for Stefanie.”

“Never call me that again,” Lamentus growled, patting me on the head a little too hard.

Ignoring the great ape, Kalli kissed me and nodded, “Okay but don’t forget to sleep tonight.”

It took me several tries to wake up. At first, I attempted to teleport out of the dream. However since my dream was just a thought, I just vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared next to Kalli. Going to sleep didn’t work either as that would have resulted in some strange Inception-style dreaming.

In the end, I just had to wait until the stupor of summoning Lammy wore off. For the second time that day, I sat up suddenly.

The village looked like a battle zone with sick and passed-out villages sprawled out all over the place. When Lamentus appeared before me, someone screamed, “Monster!”

The village roared back to life as everyone fled in terror. I ignored them and led the giant ape over to the building with Stefanie in it. When I got there, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to delete the building rather than trying to stuff the god inside of it.

When all that was left was Stefanie’s bed, Lamentus slowly walked up to it, sniffing the air around her. “Um, mortal. This one’s deceased. Did you want me to bless the body or something?”

I sagged next to him. “Isn’t there anything you can do to bring her back?”

He shook his head and replied, “That is beyond me. Also, a word of advice. If someone offers to do something like that, always bear in mind that it comes with a price. I doubt this person would want that in any case. She is in a better place now.”

Hearing that she still existed somewhere made me feel a little better. “Great. Where is she? Can I teleport there?”

“I cannot tell you where she is,” Lamentus said, turning his back on Stefanie. “What I can tell you is that you cannot go there. The only admission is death.”

“Can I summon her out of wherever she went?” I tried, grasping at straws.

Lamentus laughed at me, causing me to frown. “I can see why you summoned me, mortal. Your sorrow runs deep. There is nothing to be done for your fallen friend other than to give her a dignified end. Such is the way of it.”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “I have one last idea. For Stefanie.”