I cooled down from my spat with Jacob then fired off a report to my boss who was unreachable. Hal Pal had stayed quiet and I slept for about five hours before waking up then logging into Continue. Now I was wandering about the woods again trying to get my bearings. This was a hell of a first few hours with my character.

“You don't come with a transformation mode where I can just...” Ride Dusk around? What an awkward thing to say. Dusk knew where this was going and pulled back his head in disgust.

“Not even for cupcakes.” I saw his eyes go up and to the left in thought. Then he shook his head. “So walking.”

Wings fluttered.

“Well damn." Now I was just whining. “You sure there’s no giant serpent creature hidden under those wings?”

Dusk was bobbing as we walked along. [Morrigu’s Gift], or Carver’s Cane, was just long enough to serve as half a walking stick. I didn’t remember it being this size, but maybe the Voices were having mercy on me. Traveler, Hermes, Messenger of the Voices, all those things sounded like a future full of travel. Thank goodness for autopilot.

“We’re still going west, right?” One finger scratched my cheek in a leftover Carver motion.

I watched two videos on wood lore. They went with my fire pit research and bug repellent articles. Humanity had a lot of tips on the Internet. Dig a hole, use rocks right, rub certain types of herbs onto the skin. Each one was a natural asset to survival. I spent at least an hour in game walking briskly and trying to figure out which plants might be suitable. This process was slowly making progress.

Skill Demonstrated: [Wilderness Survival] Type: Uncommon Rank: Unranked Current Progress: 84% Details: This skill directly impacts the ability to survive with little to no stockpiled resources. Further details will be revealed once this trait has been proven.

Based on this, I had at least a few more hours of trying various techniques before the skill actually complete. The process by which things were demonstrated before becoming skills was interesting. It was like the game wanted you to show enough knowledge before it granted any bonuses.

The herbs I gathered seemed to be working, on both the bugs and on Dusk. Fortunately my identification skill was assisting me in avoiding anything similar to poison ivy. I’d been close to rubbing something called [Toothed Sumac] on myself. The game text basically said it caused welts. If I had gloves maybe some of it would have been packed away. Who could say if a poison or irritant would come in handy later on?

Hours later I determined that herbs weren’t really my forte either. Digging out a hole for the Dakota fire pit mostly involved the [Messenger’s Pet] tearing into dirt with his claws. Despite all the failures my Wilderness Survival finally transformed into a real skill. There were some small benefits to hunting and trapping, along with shelter making.

I was trying to apply the shelter making skill by building up a small amount of cover using branches and bigger leaves. My cloak was in tatters and the sky above looked like rain.

“How many more days before we reach a town, Dusk?”

He shrugged.

“Still no hints?” I smiled down at the creature.

Over four weeks as Carver I’d come to understand a lot of the tiny creature’s mannerisms. Right now he was distracted and sniffing about. Dusk had both paws on a tree trunk and was glaring into the branches above. In moments he would climb up the side like a squirrel and squabble with something. Hopefully it wouldn’t come back to haunt me.

That would be a first.

I kept an eye skyward while working on my shelter and the fire pit. Dusk had throttled some tiny woodland creature while we hiked through the woods. I wanted to see how skinning and cooking in a video game worked out for me. This would be my first experience, ever, doing such a process. Thirty minutes later I had bloody chunks of meat and innards all over my fingers and was busy throwing up near a tree. Gutting an animal was nowhere near as clinical as the Internet made it sound.

Snarling and harking issued forth from above. Dusk was making some of those noises, but not all. A loud screech pierced the air and feathers flew everywhere. I wiped away bile from my face and ignored the latest system message about the status of my stomach.

Something large and green colored fell from above. It was nearly refrigerator size, which made wonder how strong the branches were. Buzzing was almost immediate as the object crashed into the ground. It's shape transformed from a cylindrical object into a pile of mush and angry squirming.

“Oh Voices.”

I backed up slowly as the tiny squirming creatures crawled out of their now ruined home. My eyes locked on them and activated the [Identification] skill.

Skill Used: [Identification] Results: [Terri Terra Hive] Population: 113 Details: Terri Terra are a sub species of avian and insect through rituals best left unexplained. These creatures follow the aggressive nature of other hive creatures and will swarm together. This is done in order to defend and bring down prey.

A few shook loose of their home’s goo and flew in the air. Their wings vibrated while my footsteps slowly inched away. The entire flock looked like a green amalgamation of wasps and hummingbirds. Each one fluttered around. They poked at the air with their beaks while hunting for whoever had knocked them down.

My eyes slowly slid up. A silent curse passed over my lips at Dusk, who had likely set yet another tiny creature absolutely wild. Bugs, I was really truly, and well on my way to hating bugs in this game.

I stepped backwards and something beneath my feet crunched. There was a message that appeared to the side but that wasn’t my focus. Instead I saw one of the Terri Terra things hovering maybe four feet away. It stared while wings flapped madly.

“Hi.” My face twitched with a worried smile. “It wasn’t me?”

Another one appeared.

“I refuse to take the blame…” Another two buzzed over. Moments later it looked like half the hive had formed a wall of tiny wings and strange stinger like tails. They were minuscule, had a small amount of hit points, and looked almost friendly. But there were so many…

I turned and ran.

Transforming [Morrigu’s Gift] into a giant sword would only give me time for a single swing. The rest would mob me. My giant panicked steps led me into bushes, spinning around trees, and trying not to cry out as branches tore at my face and arms. Windows flashed into being as skills activated on their own. My Dance ability was combining with [Reaction] and [Coordination] as we hurdled obstacles.

Nearby a small vision of Dusk could be seen darting through the trees with his tiny wings out.

“Dammit, Dusk!” I shook a fist at him and pushed away from a giant tree. Part of me was satisfied to hear a [Terri Terra] bug thing hit the trunk behind me with a solid whack and startled buzz of wings.

We ran for a good ten minutes, my stamina bar was nearly empty. Breath was coming in ragged gasps. Honestly the buzzing of tiny wings had stopped chasing us a minute ago but the fear of tiny flying bugs kept me motivated. Finally we stumbled to a halt and I fell flat on the floor taking another hit to my damage.

Poorly demonstrated ability to fight gravity

Total health loss: 75%

“Good lord.”

Dusk was huffing too as he drew closer and mimicked my collapse. I grabbed him by his neck and brought him up head level. The little guy was so tired he barely coughed out a spark of fire. Ridges traveling down his spine were pointy against my palm. His tail curled around my wrist in protest.

“Let’s not do that again.” He growled and huffed a bit more serious bout of flame. I shook him and took the hit to my health.

“Seriously, Dusk, we can’t keep doing this.” I set him down before the tiny [Messenger’s Pet] could spark directly in my face again. My eyes had spots and the side of my face felt warm to the touch. On top of that many parts of my arms and neck felt damaged from bird, bug, things, stinging me.

“It’s cute and all, but do you have to fight everything?”

The tiny creature growled at me and started tearing at the ground with his front paws. There was a look of defiance in his face.

“Is that a yes?” I managed to sit upright and start assessing the damage. Bandages were not one of the items in my new player inventory.

Dusk nodded leaving me to sigh helplessly. I would figure out something to keep him in line eventually. There had to be more than just cupcake bribes. Or cupcake deprivation. In all my weeks as William Carver, the little guy had never once cared if he went without.

“I need first aid.” I mourned while looking at my body. Durability on my armor had gone down from all those tiny poking attacks. My cloak was worthless. The makeshift shelter I prepared for the night was completely demolished. On top of that my food attempts had failed miserably.

“Voices, what now?” I muttered. Something felt warm. Then it grew hotter. I patted myself down and flailed about on my windows looking for some sort of status.

Something was in my pocket. Not my player storage where most everything went, but my actual pocket built into the inside of this leather vest. I undid the armor a little and reached inside. A large cylinder was pulled out. It was almost the size of my forearm. Far too big to have fit in there without hammer space magic.

“Oh.” And it was warm.

Both ends were capped. A design was scrawled along the outside. I turned the object around and could make out a few words among a litter of runes. What those runes meant were beyond me, but the word ‘Messenger’ was fairly obvious.

Right. James had told me that I would get a scroll, and a means to contact the Voices in game. They could no longer abduct me into the trial room. This case was designed to be a fantasy cell phone of sorts. I twisted off one end and a small flash of light signaled success. Once tipped over two items came out. Both were small rolled up pieces of paper.

Listen up Hermes!

You may be a failure, but I’m sending someone to make a man of you! Show up at [Broken Mountain Pass], failure will not be tolerated! If you can’t survive this simple training, then we have no use for you!

You have four days to arrive. In addition, the other scroll attached must be delivered to its recipient.

Best Regards, Commander Bloom

The words didn’t irk me. Neither did the sudden recollection of a Disney song. No, it was the fact that the Voice himself appeared in the air above the text and started shouting. His presence was so realistic that I could almost feel the spittle coming off. Drill Sergeant had found me and was the first to give me a mission as Hermes.

The second scroll was sealed with red wax. On the top was an odd symbol that looked like a question mark mixed with a triangle. Both scrolls were set on the ground and I pulled out my coin. Roy’s gift had the chance to make or break this for me.

“Here’s your chance, Ray!” I said towards the sky. The Voice of Gambling might find this amusing and add his piece. “Heads, I go. Tails, I blow him off.”

Predictably the coin came down heads. A quest window came into being while I frowned at the traitorous piece of metal.

Quest: Pass to Pass! Difficulty: Unknown Details: The Voices have agreed. You’re kind of a wimp. In order to survive and serve as their Messenger they need you to gain some skills. A trainer has been found and will meet you at [Broken Mountain Pass] in four days.

Autopilot synchronization low.

Autopilot may not navigate towards the destination.

Failure: Revocation of status as [Messenger of the Voices]. All other traits of [NPC Conspiracy] will be unchanged.

Success: Skills to pay the bills

“Seriously? Skills to pay the bills?” I raised an eyebrow and looked up. I waved away the system information and sighed.

They were right. My ability to survive in a game predisposed towards violence was low. The first time I encountered a real player I would probably die. Here’s hoping that between now and reaching [Broken Mountain Pass] I wouldn’t run into anyone upset enough to kill me.

I shoved one of my starting player rations into my mouth and contemplated the best way to get around. My destination looked to be nearly a fifty mile hike away. That was judging only by a solid beam of light in the sky that seemed to be my way point. At least the Voices had seen fit to give me clear guidance.

The second scroll went into my personal player inventory. A shiny boarder went around the forming computer icon. An indication of [Bound] and [Message for Shazam] went with it. Hopefully Shazam, whoever that was, also resided in [Broken Mountain Pass].

My stamina looked a bit better after the meal so I dusted off and just went back to walking. There was rain, but it wasn’t real rain. We stayed under trees and other objects when able. During the spare time Dusk and I conversed.

“Four days to walk fifty miles.”

Dusk made an affirmative noise.

“You know, you’re really smart sometimes.”

He made the noise again.

“And then you get into a fight with bird wasps.” That confused the tiny [Messenger’s Pet]. Wasp wasn’t a word from this game. There were a lot of similarities in the many creatures of Continue Online but nothing identical.

“It would help if you spoke English.” Or Arcadian. Whatever language this world used. I’d settle for anything that made sense. Maybe looking at the skills again would be useful.

“Can we do hand signals?”

Dusk looked me blankly then his shoulders rippled.

“You did well guiding new people, but I’m not sure if you’ll be useful in actual combat.” Dusk pulled his head back and managed to look completely offended.

“Right, you are more useful than I am for now, but I’m going to be trained!” By someone, in something, with some result. I really needed a hobby to engage myself while walking around. Something that didn’t involve talking to Dusk.

No good ideas came to mind. Most of these games had trade skills as they were referred to. Non-combat oriented abilities. I directed more than a few players towards trainers during my time as William Carver. Or, as I wanted to refer to it, the Age of Carverism.

Jewel crafting wouldn’t work on the go. Chopping down trees for wood gathering seemed annoyingly pointless. Walking while trying to sew or hobble leather together would likely get me killed by my own crafting accessories. Being a wandering minstrel wasn’t to my tastes.

“What would really help, was if this cane was a staff all the time.” That would assist me in walking a lot more. I wasn’t hunched over like Carver had been. The fatigue de-buff that I had applied from my King’s Taste Tester situation was a minor impact now.

King's Taste Tester

Results: Near death has reduced your endurance for the next few days.

Personally it felt like this game was giving me a lot of slack already. Running for ten minutes was out of the question in real life. Voices help me if a dinosaur appeared out of nowhere and tried to eat my face. They were probably factoring in all the dance practice I had like it was a representation of the real me. Real me danced but it was sad. Of course digital me was also kind of depressing to watch no matter how skilled.

“How long before I lose this belly?” I poked at my stomach while we walked around another set of trees. Dusk shrugged from where he rode.

“How long before sunup?” Dusk shrugged in reply to my question.

“How long before I cut off your cupcake supply in my Atrium?” I glanced at the tiny dragon from the corner of my eye. Dusk looked alarmed then yawned in my face from his shoulder perch.

“Just testing to see if you’re awake.” A yawn escaped me as well.

We marched onward. There were far too many miles to cover at this rate. Given the rough terrain of this woodland, and my general lack of knowledge on how to traverse it, I was making a little over a mile an hour. Near dawn I was practically stumbling around in complete exhaustion. Maybe fifteen of the ninety miles had been navigated successfully.

“Halt!”

I made it a few more steps before the words registered. Dusk had long since passed out with part of his tail curled around my neck for stability.

“Halt or be shot!” The voice came again. One more footstep fell forward before my body rocked to a stop. I looked around in half a daze.

“Okay.” A word escaped my mouth.

“What do we do?” The voice said. He sounded a bit younger than me from his tone. The way he spoke however belayed a much lower intelligence.

“I don’t know, he just stopped.” A second voice said. He sounded higher pitched but equally challenged upstairs.

“They never stop. They always run.”

“Maybe he’s stupid.” The high pitched one said. My eyes rolled in exhaustion and nearly didn’t open again.

“Halt!” The second one yelled nearly cracking his voice. A teenager?

“And then?” My head was falling to one side. Both hands were grasped on [Morrigu’s Gift]. Six hours of hiking I managed to get the shape changing weapon to elongate into a walking staff. The damage and weight were unchanged from its other form.

“Then we kill you and take your stuff.”

What? They would what me? Dying wasn’t really a good option at this point. I had too many miles and not enough time.

“Dusk?” I questioned for the tiny little creature. A snore answered me. Somehow he twisted up around my shoulder and seemed to be almost a solid object instead of a flexible dragon, thing.

“How are you asleep?”

“Okay! We’ll be killing you now!”

“Don’t tell him you idiot, just shoot!”

“Can I buy a vowel?” I yelled, hoping the complete absurdity of my question might distract them. Plus being mugged in the middle of a forest all by myself was unattractive. Continue Online did have pain feedback.

“What’s that?”

Oh thank god, they were both as stupid as they sounded.

I ran again. The guys were dumber than the [Terra Terri]s but their arrows were a lot faster. One zinged right into my backside and shaved off a significant chunk of health.

“AHHHHHHHHHH.”

Skill Demonstrated: [Cowardice] Type: Basic Rank: Unranked Details: This skill might just save your life, at the cost of your public image. Further information will be provided upon finalization of the mentioned skill.

“Really?” An arrow flew past my head as I ran. The dumb and dumber duo behind me kept yelling halt over and over. “I mean, I don’t know how to kill people!”

My protests of the machine’s response to my flight were ignored. An arrow grazed Dusk on the shoulder, causing the small creature to awake with a squawk and fall off my shoulder. That was the point where I completely panicked and lost my footing in a stumble.

“Little,” I corrected myself “Dusk!”

The nearest large tree became cover as I scrambled to get behind it. Two more arrows went by but missed. My pursuers were clearly novices with their weapons. There was no way that my Rank three Blade Novice included a high enough dodge.

“Halt! We want to rob you!” One of them shouted in a bout of brilliance.

“Is there a no option?!” I yelled back. “I don’t have anything!”

“He doesn’t have anything?” One of them whispered to the other in a moment that felt very out of place for a forest. They argued back and forth but the arrows had at least stopped flying. I risked a glance around the corner and saw my [Messenger’s Pet] sitting dazed on the ground. He gave out a pitiful mew similar to a cat.

“Come here, Dusk.” My voice stayed low. “Come on big guy. Cupcakes.” It worked, a little. The miniature dragon was still half aware, but his head swiveled in my direction and one ear perked up. “Come on. Cupcakes. Cookies. Ice cream.”

“Did he die?” Dumb said.

“I dunno. Go look.” Dumber responded.

“No, you go look.”

“No, you. I shot him, you go look.”

Oh my goodness. They were special alright. Both of them wore swords that looked dulled by misuse. They had maybe four more arrows left in the quivers on their backs. One had a face that was all mangled. His hair had been cut short over a leathery looking tan. Being downwind I could also tell that they smelled almost rancid. The rain last night was probably their only bath this month.

One hand pressed at mushing dirt and an idea triggered. What was my other top rank? Being an actor? I hastily picked up some of the mud and undid my gear a little. The mud mixed in with blood trickling from the wounds I had received. They didn’t sting anymore so it was easier to be indifferent about them.

“You dead, Mister?” Dumb, or Dumber, I’m not sure which, crept in closer. His footsteps clear in the silence of our situation. Dusk was still squawking but neither of the bandit archers seemed to pay attention.

The mixture of mud and blood was rubbed on my face and arms. I had enough health to take another arrow hit so I decided to go for it.

“Ahhh!” I ran again.

“Watch out, he’s charging!” The other bandit said and an arrow flew my way. I had enough time to peek over my shoulder and see the bolt log right into my shoulder.

I let it hit me and gave an exaggerated spin on the way down. It hurt, but not so much that this big of an act was necessary. The ARC provided only a portion of the feedback a real arrow would cause.

“Nooo!” Mud was smeared all over, my body hung over bushes and weighed them down. [Morrigu’s Gift] was clutched in one hand in its staff shape. My eyes crossed in concentration as the sound of one bandit got closer.

“I think he’s dead.”

“Check him! Then take his money!” The one furthest away said.

Just a little bit closer. Please let this work. I don’t want to be mugged by some random NPC during my first round of playing. That would be so brutally pathetic. My breath stilled and fingers clutched the end of my would be weapon. Triggering the switch to its giant two handed form was far too difficult. At most, especially with Ray’s penalty to luck, it would stay a walking stick.

A footstep too close and an abrupt pull of someone's hand at my shoulder sent me into panic. I swung [Morrigu’s Gift] and growled as we flipped around. There was a flash of movement and the barest hint of resistance. By the time my brain registered what was happening Dumb, or Dumber, wore a surprised expression. Red splattered across the bushes and trees in a thin line. I must have mirrored it as notifications came up in my view.

[Weapon Focus: Bladed] Rank 2 adds 20% Damage

Defender failed awareness check, dodge check, reaction check: [Unexpected Strike] Adds 150% Damage

Attacking weapon exceeds defending armor value

Forest Bandit has died!

There were a lot of boxes that were beyond me. Dumb, or Dumber, was falling apart at the middle. My vision wavered as I looked towards the weapon in my hand. No longer was it a cane, or a walking staff. [Morrigu’s Gift] had transformed into Carver’s two handed blade. The exact action I never expected.

Then it sliced right through the bandit.

I had just killed someone.

[Acting] Skill Successful!

[Weapon Focus: Bladed] has increased

[Acting] has increased

Act: [Play Dead] demonstrated and received!

There were a few other minor messages about stat gains. They were lost in the suddenness of my situation and faded into the background. Behind the falling body was the second bandit. A shaky look was on his face as he drew his bow and glared down the arrow’s length at me.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” The bandit said. “You shouldn’t have killed him.”

The arrow flew and I panicked. [Morrigu’s Gift] twisted as I tried to use the giant flat end as a shield. The arrow collided with my hastily erected defense and slid off. My eyes were busy staring at the crumpled form of my first victim in this world. Monsters and ink creatures, spiders and straw dummies, were nothing like killing a person.

“Now we got to kill you.” My remaining bandit assailant was doing something else. He had a long object in his hands and pulled a cord along the bottom.

I had started shaking. The world seemed such a small place now. Almost like being back in that morgue, identifying her remains. Only now I was the killer. There was no time to ponder my mistakes. The other bandit pulled on his device and a bang was joined with a flare going into the sky. Bright red stood out against a cloud speckled backdrop.

"We're gonna kill you now." My second attacker was laughing. This was just a bandit, it was just an NPC! A person designed to be brought down by those seeking justice! This was too real. I fumbled and slammed the log out button only to get a rejection message.

Log out unavailable during combat

System Help!

Logging out during combat is disabled unless emergency conditions are met. Conditions may include loss of power, biological imperative, threats to safety, and law enforcement.

"What?" I mumbled. "Oh no. Oh no." They were going to find me, whatever reinforcements he called for must be homing in on that flare.

"Dusk!" We had to go right now. "Dusk! Come on!" I had no idea if the little guy would be able to track me down in a forest or not. My skills were only a fraction of William Carver's so there might be something important missing.

"Gonna kill you." A final arrow slid through flesh on my arm leaving a trail of pain. I dove out from behind the cover and swung the giant sword at my second attacker.

Messages flashed about how the bandit successfully parried. They were annoying because I could already see that he held a smaller sword and had deflected the bulk of my swing. His face showed strain across the scarred features.

The blade swung a second time and the bandit attacked me back. Parrying wasn't a skill I was familiar with so the his attack shaved off another chunk of my life. My great sword spun as if dancing to catch the bandit on his open side. Dark metal lodged deeply into his side and he froze with a gasp of air.

His eyes lost focus. Words passed across his lips but they were inaudible over the ringing in my ears.

"Dusk?!" I had to get him. We had to get out of here. A hunting horn let loose with one long blast in the distance.

My [Messenger's Pet] was making hurt noises from the ground. I grabbed him and took off running towards my quest marker. There was no time to take a slow stroll. A minute later and the horn sounded again, I kept up my panicked dash. The stamina bar I set up as Carver was fading quickly and citing penalties from my taste tester event.

Feet didn't stop blazing a path through the trees until my bar was near zero. I ground to a slow walk trying to catch my breath.

"Are we safe?" Dusk had been trying to clean a wound he received from one of the arrows. His wing had a slight tear. I had nothing to help out. No bandages. No magical cure spells or compounds. The other four players I worked during the [Maze of Midnight] made me look like a complete amateur. Who had killed two people.

"Voices, Dusk, I killed someone." It was just a game. This whole thing wasn't real. All of it was just code and science being beamed into my brain.

Then why did I fight to keep Dusk safe? Why not just let him die? Voices, I had no clue what would happen if he did die. There were too many questions and not enough answers. James. James had information.

I listened carefully for sounds of pursuit. There was nothing obvious enough for a layman like myself to pick up. Not that anything shy of shouting and crashing would stand out in these woods. Just to be sure I put another mile between myself and where those bandits had been.

Dusk at least looked a bit better. The wound on his arm had clotted. My own health was very slowly recovering despite some bleed de-buffs. I sat down and shoved one of the new player bundles of food into my mouth and was pleased to see it helped some. The game mechanics weren't completely against me despite the realism of these surroundings. Mentally I ran through the list of things I needed to know now.

"Dusk, do you know what happens if you run out of health?" I risked asking the small dragon first. He might save me a prodding question from James. Not that hiding things from James was my goal, but my mood was extra shaky.

My [Messenger’s Pet] shook his head back and forth in a negative.

"Shit." I squeezed my eyes shut. Logging out now was probably possible but this had to be sorted out.

I called up my inventory. Aside from my beginners gear, [Morrigu's Gift], the scroll case, there was also a quill and paper for writing. Hastily I scribbled out my questions about Dusk. The same heating sensation as earlier came down. James had written out a reply.

"Are you okay?" James’ voice came through as I read the words. There was a follow up as well. "Will you continue with your mission, Hermes?"

I responded with a no, most certainly not. My mind was running a million miles a minute replaying what had happened. One part spent time justifying the murder with all sot of defenses. The other kept showing the look on either bandit’s face. Surprise, confusion, hurt, all caused by me. To the other question I replied yes, once my own inquiries were answered.

The poorly scrawled message went back into the tube. I had to screw down the top as if sending items through an old fashioned banking drive through. There was no rush of air suctioning the item up, just a freeze that crawled across the tube and vanished moments later. So, incoming messages were hot. Outgoing, were cold.

I waited.

Nothing happened with the tube. No messages, no hot or cold. No pop up boxes displaying a ‘Please wait while we service your call’. I pulled the cap off my message container and looked inside. No response had been issued forth. They were probably arguing among themselves again for whatever reason.

Dusk lifted his head up and looked into the distance. One ear twitched. I turned to follow his gaze.

“What do you hear?”

Both eyes swiveled around and Dusk opened his mouth in a tiny hiss.

“Did they find us?” My ears weren’t picking up anything. Maybe there was a skill that would help me later on, but this was only day two of playing a character. I was dirty, run down, and mentally stressing out. I had been lucky that my acting ability worked.

I stood up, the small [Messenger’s Pet] bounded up my side and sat on my shoulder. His head still locked on the distance. He hissed again and traveled behind my head.

“Let’s go.” My stamina bar was mostly recovered. I started off and was almost instantly greeted by a horn sound, this time from much closer.

“Oh no. Oh no.” They surrounded us. There were more of them. Or something else that was setting off my tiny friend. My feet started covering ground as fast as possible, still aiming for that quest marker in the distance.

“Over here!” A deep voice yelled. I ducked behind the nearest tree and kept moving. This time a bolt of electricity zipped by and splashed into a tall plant, leaving charred remains behind.

“Dusk, find me a path!” The little dragon leapt off my shoulder. His sharp claws made me wince as I concentrated on running away.

Another bolt of lightning winged me, sending a jarring shock through my body. My leg jerked and foot failed to find purchase correctly. I righted myself using my past experience of slipping up while dancing. There was an art to getting back up quickly. I just never applied it to being nicked by low voltage lightning before.

[Morrigu’s Gift] was back in its cane form which was mostly useless right now. I shoved it into my belt and kept right on covering ground.

Dusk chirped for my attention from the side. He found a cave of some sort. I wasted no time asking questions and ducked in after him. If that was my way out, so be it. Despite the little creature’s constant desire to tear stuff up, he was helpful. The first step was a doozey, and I tumbled end over end down a long, steep passageway.

My surroundings were dark aside from some system messages.

Combat has ended! The log out option is now available. Quest: The Shallow End Difficulty: Average (Timed) Details: Welcome to the Dungeon [Grand World Crossroads (Lerter Region)]. The entrance used is impossible to get back out of with your skills. You will need to traverse this Dungeon to one of the other exits within two days to achieve your other goal.

The Voices are watching. (Get to work, Grunt! – Commander Bloom)

Warning! Logging out will result in Automatic Autopilot activation.

Warning! Autopilot synchronization low, results will be poor.

Warning! Total estimated walking distance towards required exit will take two days.

“This is your idea of an escape, Dusk?” My eyebrow went towards where I believed the little guy to be. He was busy chirping to himself in the darkness with only the occasional glint of light off the rare golden scales on his chest. This would be a bit of a journey. First thing’s first, I needed to get more coffee. One finger pressed the log off button.