I blinked back into existence. There was, quite simply, no other way to put it.

Granted, existence might have been a little strong. The room—if it was a room at all—was endless and white, with nothing to demarcate the walls from the ceiling or even from the ground I stood upon.

a feminine voice said, sounding from between my ears.

“What the hell is going on?” I said, spinning in place, trying to figure out who was speaking and from where. “Where am I? What even is this?”

the voice said, familiar all of a sudden. The Child from the store?

I said.

the Child said,

Every single muscle in my body locked up at the exact same moment, and I toppled over, landing hard on my shoulder.

the voice said,

I tried to nod. It didn’t work.

Ezzie said,

I nodded. Only I hadn’t been trying to nod—something had compelled me to.

She wasn’t wrong there. A couple years ago, the crew and I had stumbled across a deserted comic book store tucked away within an especially filthy alley.

We’d picked the store clean, then spent weeks daydreaming whole worlds into existence, whittling figurines out of firewood, plotting out road maps to fictional glory on whatever scraps of paper we could get our grubby little hands on.

We weren’t even sure how to play most of the games—none of us could read very well—but nobody seemed to care. It just felt so good to get away from everything for a little while, even though we all knew that the pretending would have to end eventually.

Ezzie said,

Two blue, translucent windows appeared in the center of my vision:

{Brawler}

Description: Physical damage base class.

Stat Modifier: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution per 2 levels.

Gear Kit:

Basic Melee Bundle (choice of any 1 weapon).

Basic Armor Bundle (choice of 3 pieces of any one armor type).

{Magician}

Description: Magical damage base class.

Stat Modifier: +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom per 2 levels.

Gear Kit:

Basic Casting Weapon Bundle (choice of any 1 weapon).

Basic Cloth Armor Bundle (choice of robe and 2 other pieces of cloth armor).

Package Upgrades are currently available for purchase!

(You have insufficient credits to purchase a Package Upgrade)

Ezzie said,

“I’m not doing this,” I said aloud. “I’m not going to play at whatever game this—” I cut off; my head was pounding. I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose.

The pain ratcheted up from headache to migraine, then kept intensifying until it felt like a pair of dull daggers were being driven into my eye sockets.

Ezzie said.

“Brawler,” I said. The pain plateaued but didn’t disappear.

Ezzie said.

I gritted my teeth. The pain was too much; it was all I could think about.

{Silas}

Level: 1

Base Class: Brawler

Gear Level: 0

Grade: F

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 9

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 7

Charisma: 8

Physical Attack: 0

Magical Attack: 0

Health: 190

Stamina: 90

Mana: 70

Armor: 0 (0% physical mitigation)

Magical Resistance: 0 (0% magical mitigation)

Ezzie said.

More prompts, then, in the form of a wall of text written in bright red lettering:

{Contract Proposal}

Warning: this is a binding, legal document. If the proposing party (Pilot Ezzie) fails to adhere to any of the following terms, any current Piloting licenses will be permanently revoked, and she will no longer be eligible to participate in the Avatar Program. Criminal penalties may apply wherever the Android Entertainment Council sees fit to pursue them.

Terms: Upon reaching Grade E, the signing party (Avatar Silas) will be marked as Free* and returned to the wild in a location of his choosing, within reason.

*A Player designated as Free may move about the country as they wish, without android impediment. A Free Player may not be sold, bought, trafficked, detained, or harmed in any way, within reason.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie sighed through the link.

Didn’t seem like I had much of a choice. I said.

Another prompt, then:

A {Contract} has been added to your special inventory. This item does not occupy inventory space.

Ezzie said.

“Wait, what?”

The floor dropped out beneath me.