The sun was peeking out from over the horizon when Khrx climbed out of the hole, dragging a complaining horse up with his tail. He exhaled from the effort and lay down, basking in the faint rays of sunlight. Before fully committing to the arduous journey ahead, he’d ask Luke one more time to see if he was willing to return Fufu peacefully. If not, the only thing he could do was find that tracking skill.

The phone interface rang three times before Luke answered. The first thing Luke asked was, “Are you here to complain about being demoted?”

Khrx blinked. Demoted? He had actually forgot about that. But he’d address it later. There was a more pressing issue after all. “No,” Khrx said. “Return Fufu to me.”

“This again? Haven’t we been through this?” Luke’s voice asked from the other end. A few faint screams in the background accompanied it. “I guess Lorin’s been pretty helpful in the early game, so her contributions can be counted as yours…, but that’s nowhere near enough help for me to release Fufu. How about this? I’ll feed her some candy to placate her. Keep contributing to my victory, and she’ll be back with you in no time.”

“You’re really going to make me mad, Luke,” Khrx said.

Luke snorted. “You know establishing the country once we win will be good for you too. How else are you going to roam free when the world’s like this?”

“Theda’s roaming free just fine,” Khrx said. “If she can do it, I can do it too.”

“Which lizard had their tail blown off not even a month ago?”

Khrx stamped his foot. “I wasn’t ready!”

“Look, Khrx,” Luke said, his voice stern. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. If I return Fufu to you, you’re either going to plunder the wealth of the world or you’re going to go back to sleep and hope the world ends during that time. And none of those options help me, so I simply can’t return Fufu to you.”

“I will ruin you if you don’t return Fufu.”

“Are we resorting to threats now?” Luke asked. “I’ll have you know, anything untoward happening to my plans shall also be felt by Fufu, understood? Why don’t you obediently cooperate with me this one time? Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for destroying my empire seventeen times just because I haven’t mentioned it.”

“I didn’t destroy your empires! They just happened to die out with the rest of the world when I woke up,” Khrx said while grinding his teeth.

Luke sighed. “You know what? Fine. Since it sounds like you’re sincerely upset, I’ll release Fufu. I don’t want this to come between our friendship.” The sounds of screaming in the background cutoff. “I set up a barrier to safely logout for a bit. I’ll call you back.”

Khrx blinked as the phone interface disappeared. “What the hell…?” he mumbled. “Asking him worked?” He shivered as his tail stiffened. “There’s definitely some kind of catch. What did he say he was going to do? He was going to release Fufu….” Khrx’s eyes widened as he manipulated his interface and mashed the call button to Luke. As soon as the call connected, Khrx shouted, “Don’t release Fufu! Return her to me properly!”

A snort came from the other end. “That’s what I was going to do,” Luke said. “I don’t want the world to end. I’m not you.” Footsteps echoed out from the call, followed by the creaking of a door. “Alright, Fufu. Time to go back to Khrx.”

Khrx’s ears swiveled towards the call interface, but he couldn’t hear anything.

“Fufu?” Luke asked. There was a clicking sound that Khrx recognized as a light switch from his experience in Anaheim’s home. “Shit. Uh, Khrx?”

“If anything happened to Fufu…”

“She’s gone,” Luke said. “How the hell is she gone? I even restrained her with metornice chains. Can she turn invisible?”

“She can’t,” Khrx said. “What do you mean she’s gone!?”

“Well, there’s some tooth marks on the chain…. She ate her way out?”

Khrx’s expression darkened as a low growl escaped from his throat. “How often did you feed her?”

Luke coughed. “Three times a day.”

“That’s not enough! You have to feed her at least forty times a day!”

“What. But she’s so tiny.”

“Your face is tiny!” Khrx shouted.

“Wait. What does she eat when you’re asleep then?” Luke asked.

“She soaks up the mana I leak out,” Khrx said. “Why do you think oceans are still oceans and not pools of lava?”

“So that one time the Nidian Ocean evaporated was because…”

“Fufu went out to play for a few years while I was asleep and my mana went out of control.”

“You know, you should really say these things earlier,” Luke said. “Damn. I’ll call a few gnolls and have them track down her smell. I’m starting to think waking you up was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have believed your explanation of cycles. The world clearly ends when you wake up; you don’t wake up when the world’s about to end.”

“I’ve already explained it so many times to you though,” Khrx said with a snort.

“Then why is the world ending even though I woke you up with an alarm clock? You would’ve naturally woken up in a few thousand more years, no?”

“Coincidence,” Khrx said with a cough. A million coincidences were still coincidences. “Anyways, what are gnolls and how reliable are they at tracking?”

“They’re humanoids with a keen sense of smell.”

“Can they fly?”

“No? Don’t tell me Fufu can fly.”

“She can fly,” Khrx said.

“But she doesn’t have wings!”

Khrx sighed. It seemed like he’d have to learn the tracking skill after all. Fufu could be anywhere after she was free, and she probably thought he was still asleep so she wouldn’t return to his cavern for a while.

“I’m sorry, Khrx,” Luke said. “I miscalculated. I’ll write-off those seventeen empires you destroyed, alright?”

“Write-off that godly weapon too, you know, the one I accidently broke while playing with.”

Luke clicked his tongue. “Alright. I’ll also forgive you for destroying the branch of Yggdra.”

“Can you also write-off that time I ruined your summoning ritual.”

“Which one? You ruined seven.”

“The one where you tried summoning a celestial after sacrificing nearly everything you owned, but you summoned a used napkin instead.”

“No! I still haven’t forgiven you for that yet. Don’t try to take a mile after I gave you an inch!”

Khrx sighed. “Fine. I guess that’s fair.” He’d forgive Luke for kidnapping and losing Fufu; after all, that’s what friends do. “Alright, I’m hanging up. I have to learn a skill to track Fufu down.”