Back in my humanoid form, I carried my trophy towards the tents as Markion led our mounts over to the water for a drink.

When my brother warned me that there was danger with every step taken in the desert, I thought he was joking. I inspected the cobra which had golden brown scales that darkened around the head and hood.

I should look through Barlow’s Bestiary to see if I can match it to any of the drawings of snakes, though it would be more helpful if the bestiary wasn’t so old. Most of the pages are so worn and faded it’s almost impossible to read. One would think a book gifted by a god would be a little more useful. As I reached my tent, I saw that Markion had set my horses tack on the ground just outside the door flap.

Dropping the snake down onto the canvas floor next to my saddle bags, I glanced around the empty space inside the tent with a frown.

“I should have just bought a plain tent, spending so much on an unfurnished tent was a scam. Then again, that entire situation was a scam.” I muttered, scuffing my boot across the thick canvas floor of the tent.

“You should have a token for the tent's furnishing crate,” a voice called out from behind me.

Startled, I spun to see the guild leader standing just inside the tent, arms folded over his chest.

“Darius, I…” I stuttered, feeling my cheeks start to burn. What does someone say after they go berserk, and attack everyone?

“Are you feeling better?” He asked, walking further into the tent.

I nodded, unable to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

The words came out as a low whisper, but I knew with his canine ears he would hear it.

“Heat rage is something that occurs to everyone.” Darius explained. “We have all experienced it at one time or another. If you spend too much time in the desert and become overheated, you fall into a rage, attacking anything near you. That is why we travel when it is cooler and limit our exposure to the heat. We should have realized that at your lower power level, you would not be able to endure the heat as long as the rest of us can.”

Reaching out a hand, the guild leader pressed it to my forehead. I stiffened at the unexpected contact.

Darius frowned, pulling back his hand. “You’re still feeling hot and the temperature outside is only going to rise as the day continues on, it isn’t even noon yet so this is still considered cool for the desert.”

“Cool? This is cool?” I asked, it gets worse?

“I know, hard to believe isn’t it?” The guild leader said with a chuckle, then pointed to the pouch on my belt. “Check for a token, you should have an enchanted crate or chest for the tent’s furnishings.”

Staring at the transparent screen in front of me, I flicked through the dozens of paper tokens searching for crates. I did have a stack of tokens for a dozen enchanted storage chests, but I was pretty sure they weren’t what Darius was talking about.

Damn, I brought a lot of random crap. With a grimace as I flicked past a stack of tokens for a hundred glass vials and found the token with an image of a large wooden crate.

Removing the token from my bag, I tore the paper in half and only just missed getting my toes crushed by a wooden crate as it appeared in front of me.

“We’ll need to move it to the center of the room before you open it.” Darius instructed, coming over to help me drag the crate into the middle of the tent.

At the center of the room, I noticed that there was a very faint line on the floor creating a rectangle, which the crate fit perfectly into. Once the crate was in place, Darius lifted the lid, before walking backwards towards the door carrying the lid and gestured for me to exit the tent with him.

“The crate won’t unfold with any living creatures inside the tent, same goes for it folding back up.” The guild leader explained.

Just as Darius finished speaking, the sides of the crate collapsed to lay flat on the floor. Nothing happened for a moment, then the flattened crate began glowing, and started to spin in circles on the floor, spinning faster and faster. The spinning crate expanded in size, before with a loud clatter, it spread to cover the floor of the tent.

Blinking away the spots dancing before my eyes after staring at the bright light, I saw that my tent now looked just as it had in the images shown in the book. The floor of the tent was now a raised wooden platform, with the left side consisting of the workspace and the right side as living quarters.

The workspace was furnished with two benches that ran along the side wall and half of the rear wall, with a flat-topped stone furnace in the middle of the space, its chimney poking up through the central point of the pitched roof.

A curtain made of the same canvas material as the tent was stretched across the room, with a small flap near the front wall allowing for access into the living space.

Walking into the living space, it was split into two by the second curtain that was tied back. The front half of the living space contained a chabudai table with four pillows laid around it for seating and the second room was furnished with a plush looking futon.

The guild leader gestured around the room, his voice taking an informative tone as he explained some of the tent's features. “You can add additional furnishings by having them inscribed with a rune that binds them to the furnishing crate. Both the furniture piece, and the location it belongs in, are marked so the crate can place it in the correct location. However, I don’t recommend adding anything you want to remove from the tent, as the crate will not allow items to be taken outside. If I left with one of those pillows, the moment I stepped off the raised floor created by the crate, it would disappear back to its inscribed location. We have a similar enchantment in the guild hall for the furniture there, and other items we don’t want guild members or guests to remove.”

Magic really is amazing. How different would our lives be if we had magic on Earth. I pondered as I followed the guild leader out of the tent to carry my saddle bags inside.

“You should put your hair up, having it down like that is only going to make you feel hotter,” The guild leader advised with a light smile as we carried the bags inside.

“It comes undone when I change forms. I don’t understand why my hair is affected, but my clothes aren’t.” I complained.

“That’s because it’s magic,” Darius exclaimed, widening his eyes and spreading his hands dramatically.

The guild leader then pressed a hand to my shoulder to turn me away from him. Confused by the gesture, I did as he directed, stiffening slightly as he began gathering up my hair and started to braid it.

“You know how to braid hair?” I asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with the situation I suddenly found myself in.

“I used to help my sister with her hair each morning, we lost our parents when she was nine and I was eleven. Our aunt, who took us in, worked two jobs so wasn’t home much,” Darius told me, and I could tell he cared deeply for them from the tone of his voice.

“Is your sister still around? Is she digital or-?” I let my voice trail off, wondering if I was being too intrusive.

“No, she isn’t.” He said, his voice becoming soft. “Becky and I lived in a low income area, and at the time there were a lot of financial incentives for those who volunteered for digitalization, as it was before the mandate was passed. After our aunt died, we decided to put all the money we inherited towards buying a digital life plan for the two of us. We chose a world called Farleigh as the one we would reside in to start, as there were only three to choose from back then.”

“The mandatory digitization mandate has been in effect for almost forty years, so that makes you…” I started, trying to wrap my mind around this newfound information.

“I was twenty when I entered the capsule, and have been living virtually for forty-three years. Look pretty good for an old man, don’t I?” Darius chuckled, gently patting me on the back as he finished with my hair.

“Did Becky stay in another world?” I asked, looking at the guild leader who shook his head sadly.

“She did not enter the capsule at all. When I woke up in Farleigh, I was alone. Becky contacted me three days later and informed me she’d decided not to go through with the process. The company wasn’t willing to refund her life plan as it was purchased through the government incentive program, but were willing to transfer it to me, upgrading my own plan. I found out through a friend who visited Farleigh as a player that Becks went to medical school to become a doctor, she’s a pediatrician now.”

It must have been hard to lose contact with his sister, I sighed. “Did she not contact you herself?” I asked tentatively, not sure if the subject was one that might be painful for him to discuss.

“She didn’t.” Darius admitted, staring at me with an unreadable expression. “Becky wanted to focus on her life, not a virtual world.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I whispered, confused about why the guild leader felt the need to tell me about his sister all of a sudden.

“Because it was brought to my attention that there have been some comments about our relationship spreading around the guild. While I’ve done my best to put a stop to them, I didn’t want you to hear something like that, and draw the wrong conclusions. You remind me of Becky, and at times I can’t help imagining what it would have been like if she’d entered the capsule with me. I don’t want our friendship to be damaged by salacious rumors.”

“Er, Darius, don’t take this the wrong way or take offense, but even the thought of,” I scrunched up my nose, shaking my head. “It’s not that you’re unattractive or that I don’t like you, it’s just, I see you the same way I do Markion.”

“I understand, Kadia. I feel the same, which is why I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t unintentionally leading you on.”

“Thanks? Uh, I have some things I wanted to do, so…” I said, glancing around the tent whilst hoping he would take the hint that I wanted to be left alone.

“Of course, if you need anything I will be in my tent.” Darius said, before exiting my tent, leaving me alone with my thoughts.