I watched the pretty swirl of lights pass by and came to in a confusing situation. My Hermes character was currently strapped onto the back of a horse thing. The first thing I noticed was a bobbing landscape filled with tiny pop-up boxes. A dozen of them stacked on one side and cited failed skill checks.

“Horsemanship?” I muttered out loud. Somehow my character was learning [Horsemanship] slowly. A system message happily informed me that any skills gained by my autopilot would be vastly reduced compared to normal play.

Two of the strange mounts were present. They were like the ones from [Haven Valley]. William Carver's character had been so near sighted that most things slipped by. It was way easier to see what they looked like now that my vision wasn’t screwed up.

The creature’s ears were a bit too long and floppy. Their legs were thicker. I was riding the love child of a Clydesdale and an elongated rabbit. Plus they snickered instead of making nice normal horse whinnies.

One was under me and plodding along. The second was being ridden by a woman in heavy looking plate armor. For a moment, I thought that Elane, or SheHulk, whatever, had come back to haunt me. This woman was much taller and almost seemed a giant on the back of her horse rabbit thing.

“What are these?” In all my weeks as William Carver, I hadn’t paid much attention to the wildlife beyond [Coo-Coo Rill]s. A box displayed as the [Identification] skill kicked in. Great. They really were Horse Rabbits.

Skill Used: [Identification] Race: [Caliburr] Status : Bored Details:

Caliburrs are used as long distance travelers Their top speed isn’t very high, but they can travel for hours before needing to rest. They tend to travel in packs of two or three.

Warning!

Leaving two Caliburrs unattended for too long will result in a population explosion. Caliburr young often attract monsters of all sorts that may be hungry.

Something tiny yanked on my ear. A familiar clack of jaw muscles snapping shut at the end pointed to one culprit. The [Caliburr] under me let out another weird snicker and we kept moving along.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I said to Dusk while raising a hand to pet him. The small [Messenger’s Pet] actually perked up. “Have you been helping Shazam babysit me?”

Dusk nodded happily.

“I kind of expected you to turn up while I was over there with Requiem,” I told my little friend.

He shook his head and a sad face with eye drops appeared in the thought bubble. That thing was amazingly handy at confirming how Dusk was feeling. Part of me wondered if Requiem Mass had one for my [Red Imp] body. Hopefully that thought bubble showed him being stabbed over and over.

“Aw, it’s okay if you can’t come. Someone has to keep my autopilot in line.” I said, to which the [Messenger’s Pet] nodded. “Where are we going anyway?”

The [Messenger's Pet] shrugged. I looked forward at Shazam. She had a hand on the lead for my [Caliburr] and was riding her own slowly. Shazam's other hand was poking at the air nearby. Her expressionless gaze hadn't faltered once in my presence.

“Hi, Shazam. I’m back.” I said.

She gave me a single thumbs up and went back to fiddling with something in front of her. I assumed it was a player interface of some sort. Shazam was actually one of the first people I had noticed using the interface like that. Most Travelers just went blank for a moment when focusing on system menus.

“Where are we going?” I asked again.

Shazam turned to look at me. She pointed to my side a few times. I looked down and saw the scroll case.

“Oh. Messenger stuff.” I said.

She gave me a thumbs up again and turned back around.

“That reminds me, I spoke to your Voice,” I said. Shazam’s Voice had been a slightly heavyset Voice who wore a lab coat. “Irene, right? She seemed…” Nice was not the right word. “Clinical.”

Shazam gave me another thumbs up which made me frown. A simple acknowledgment was not the reaction I expected when talking about some one's personal Voice. At least that wouldn’t be my reaction. Was she really so passive to everything? If anyone else ran up to me and said ‘I know you have an Ultimate Edition’ my freak out meter would skyrocket. Even Beth didn’t know.

“How much further?” I asked.

She shrugged. Dusk had a thought bubble that showed a tiny version of himself and a small collection of buildings super far away.

“Oh? Are we going to a city?” I asked him. Shazam turned and gave me a backward glance. Her head bobbed in affirmation. She looked a lot different in the plate garb compared to our snowy mountain top furs.

“And you’re going with me?” I waited, but she had stopped answering my questions. A minute passed before I realized she had gone into autopilot mode. There was a clear symbol next to her head that depicted a tiny bed.

“Guess it’s just us,” I said to Dusk. He huffed and took flight off across the landscape. “Or just me.”

I needed time to situate myself anyway. This was my first time on a real road outside of town and I wanted to relish the change of pace. The scenery felt like every documentary of old England to show on television. Rolling countryside, gray skies in the distance, trees, all of it was pleasantly normal.

My prior adventures had amounted to sitting in a town, crawling through a cave fighting mud golems, and weeks on the top of a snowy mountain. It would be much neater if I could ride a giant flying creature over the lands.

The [Caliburr] shuddered. Teeth rattled and everything about me shook the beast huffed and sniffled. Bindings across my legs held in place amid messages of skill checks regarding [Horsemanship] and [Reaction]. I grabbed the saddle in front of me and prayed that this violent seizure thing wouldn’t send me flying. Moments later it settled and we started forward again.

I tilted my head to look at the giant creature moving along under me. One eye stared back for just a moment before its ear batted and I was dismissed. Shazam’s creature had done the same violent shaking process, but her character seemed completely undisturbed. Even her autopilot was cool and unflappable.

System Notice!

Younger Caliburrs are prone to shudders. They see an increase in overall speed but require a higher level of skill to ride.

“Oh.” There was another box about my skill going up simply for surviving the shuddering action from my [Caliburr]. That was probably the reason Shazam had us on these things. She had given me training in the mountains following the same pattern.

Muteness had not prevented Shazam from succeeding at this game. Her skills as a teacher seemed focused on subjecting me to varied experiences. As a result, there were a lot of random skills on my character sheet.

Nothing on it was super amazing or world nuking. The game seemed to think I did slightly more damage with my right hand, but I was a lefty. Closing my eyes allowed my sense of smell to increase slightly. The hatred of bugs I had started weeks ago was fully developed. All sorts of weird things like that.

My player inventory was also a cluster of random items. Most of the things we picked up in the mountains were used right away as food or crafting supplies. Shazam had been in charge of nearly everything with regards to monster remains. I didn’t care about the loot. Why should I fight over a [Goo Pile] or [Furry Eyebrow]?

“Alright. Hat, check.” [Wild Bill] was back on my head where it belonged. It gave enough shade to block out the worst of the sun's glare. “Morrigu’s Gift, shoes, no cloak.”

My gear was the basic Travelers Garb I had been plopped into the woods with. Maybe there was something neat at a store to pick up. That might be fun. Suddenly part of me wanted to go shopping just to see what was available.

I wondered if it was possible to send things in-game to other players. Maybe there was a souvenir in town that I could mail to Beth. Or better yet I could send one to Elane that said ‘Thanks for the memories’. The idea was quashed as it occurred to me. Being a jerk to her over our past wasn’t fair.

Time passed slowly in-game. Nothing in my player inventory looked entertaining. I poked a finger and moved system windows around randomly. Something new appeared on my interface. What was this now? A box for quest items? Somehow that had escaped my notice earlier.

I clicked one of them and pulled it out of inventory. What appeared in my hand was a scroll. The parchment was wrapped by a small piece of twine. Pulling on the string caused a system message to pop up.

Quest: A Word of Power Difficulty: Varied Details:

Subject Shazam has displayed the following issues:

Mute

Expressionless

Scans of her bio-metrics display no reason that her functionality should be limited in our world. Defects regarding a lack of vocal expression should be resolved upon transition of consciousness.

Extrapolation: Subject Shazam may be suffering from lingering emotional impairment from the other world. Please seek additional information regarding her original life and provide it to me.

Reward: Subject to usefulness of information provided

See additional data file.

The words ‘see additional data file’ floated above the quest text. I pressed a finger towards the interface a video screen came into being and started playing.

“You have typed out the word Shazam as a character name. Why?” Irene was measuring something in a vial while Shazam stood there. It looked like they were both in the same character creation black zone that I had visited so many times before.

It was mildly interesting to see normal Shazam. She wore a sundress that hung loosely. There was a belt that seemed almost too straight. Shazam had no slouch, no turn of body, her entire form was rigid and faced a single direction. Dark skin still barely hid her freckles.

There was a keyboard in front of her. Fingers tapped against the projection and finally a series of words appeared.

I admire the idea that someone can gain power simply by speaking a word.

The video imagery cut off. Clearly the word Shazam meant something in the real world. It wasn’t anything special right now so I put the research topic on my mental pile. These types of things were done while sitting in my Trillium van. For now I would accept the quest and move onward.

Next, figuring out these remaining scrolls. The one for this latest quest had crumbled to pieces. There were four more all with destinations and names attached. Were these players too?

I picked up each parchment and watched a distance quest marker appear on the horizon. None were close by. Shazam must communicate somehow with the Voices or she would never randomly escort me off the mountain. I would have to ask what her trick was. Whenever she got back from autopilot.

Dusk hopped around in the shrubbery nearby. He set his vicious thoughts upon chasing some slithering creature through the bushes. I could barely see a tiny bubble of thought bounding around. It seemed like typical Dusk actions so far. New place, murder the local critters and declare superiority, move on.

Hours passed in-game while I looked around and fiddled with my inventory. Most of my extra time was spent trying to shift [Morrigu’s Gift] into different forms. A pole had been the first alternate shape after my walking staff form. The arm length dagger was new. Eventually, the silly thing would be able to transform into a wide range.

Transforming the object around interested me. It wasn't about finding the perfect shape to play with. My [Blade Dancer] path focused on large weapons which clearly suited me. Switching around [Morrigu's Gift] just kept me from being bored. One day I would find something else to play with while traveling.

Finally, things grew too dull. I logged out and handled the necessities of life. My home's digital projection hookup allowed me to monitor Continue Online remotely with ease. A small box floated near me in real life. If I switched rooms, so did the projection. The only thing on my ARC television was a picture of Hermes looking bored and strapped to the [Caliburr].

There was a moment of excitement as Dusk landed. He seemed displeased with the autopilot status and huffed at my video game character's face. Real me absently watched it all while sipping coffee. I was distracted trying to figure out sleep. It had been pretty broken since starting Continue Online.

Home felt too cramped and boring. I took a walk to clear my head. Stepping outside also made me feel like a real human being who didn’t just sit and play video games all day.

Living in Continue Online for so many hours had almost distracted me from the technological advances of the real world. Compared to the leather straps holding Hermes in place on the back of a [Caliburr] everything out here was beyond space age.

Our world had been flooded with innovations in the last decade. Going into the supermarket resulted in targeted adds that picked my name and purchase history out of a line. The audio was basically beamed at my location by an overhead system. There was a mute button that was accessible floating off to one side. I had to suffer through five seconds of advertisements first.

Cars zipped down the street and dropped people off. People got out and the cars moved on to other users. Some places didn’t own their own vehicles and instead pooled together to rent two or three automated cars for a neighborhood. It was great for poor areas and a lot cheaper.

Walking home showed roads with sidewalks that illuminated by using stored solar power. They were less offensive than the lamp overheads of twenty years ago. All of these lights were managed by a hub every few blocks. Hubs were mounted on pillars that stood two stories tall and ran facial recognition software. For two dollars a month, I could choose to highlight the sidewalk around me in green instead of the standard blue.

Decades ago people had wondered how far was 'too far' with regards to the Internet and technological monitoring. Ten years ago there had been movements demanding a ban on the higher end products. Now those people who cared could move to areas that were nearly blacked out from the more modern inventions. It was weird to think that ten percent of the population wanted to be stuck in the past.

We, humanity, had worked hard at arguing with each other over new inventions and the illusion of privacy. I was okay living in my neighborhood where it felt like things were convenient, but big brother wasn’t breathing down my neck.

A robotic lawn mower was busy cleaning up one man's lawn. It trimmed hedges, edged sidewalks and even spouted a ‘Hello’ as I walked by. Three children shot by while playing digital laser tag. All these things felt normal compared to the fantasy world within Continue.

After two hours of head clearing, I wound my way back home. This was the world that Xin and I had lived in. This wonderland of technology wasn’t in Continue Online. The closest thing inside my game were pop-up boxes with information.

It was funny. All these advances, and I spent my time inside a game stabbing monsters with a sword that didn’t really exist. Digital immersion was by far one of the scariest bits of modern technology available to humanity.

When I was inside the ARC everything felt real. I laughed, I cried, I interacted with a pet that could have put Mister Sniffles to shame. It felt like real life. Our minds were at the mercy of the machine and we just accepted it.

Getting out of the house was an excuse. The last few days had dumped loads of information upon me. What I needed was time to process. Hadn’t I told James long ago that both sides were real? Hadn’t I danced with a false version of my fiancee to not feel lonely?

To Xin, or whatever compilation of memories she was, it would be utterly real. To her, it was everything. That was the angle I had to approach things from. What did this recreation of Xin see? What would she care?

I logged back into the ARC with a firm plan in mind. Real Grant lay calmly on a cleverly costumed machine. Digitally, inside Hermes, my legs were still strapped to the [Caliburr]. The sun was setting and our mounts were slowing down. Dusk had curled up for a nap on one shoulder while his tail anchored around my neck.

Everything had to start with contacting my personal Voice. Items were pulled out of player inventory. A message was penned to James asking, ‘I would like to send Xin a letter. How can I do that?’.

“Seriously?” A good ten minutes had passed in-game and there was no answer yet. I outright asked James a question by putting his stupid name at the memo's top.

I rattled my tube around and waited for heat or chill or something to kick in. There was no solid result one way or the other. The top was unscrewed and the inside was annoyingly empty. Fine.

“Shazam!” She was still away. Her autopilot was leading us off to one side of the road.

I had a vague idea of how to set up camp from off and on practice in the mountains. Shazam’s autopilot was pulling out gear mechanically and putting up two tents. We hadn’t used tents before on the mountain. There we stuck to caves. Part of me wondered exactly how much gear she had packed away.

Unstrapping myself looked simple enough. There was a knot near the saddle's front that could easily be undone. Halfway through untangling the bindings my [Caliburr]s started shuddering. The violent movements sent me off to one side. Large clawed feet bucked and almost tore my face. I rolled to one side in panic and stood up.

Shazam's autopilot seemed undisturbed and had started cooking. I brushed myself off and tried to pretend a giant rabbit hadn't almost crushed my head. Besides, Shazam's cooking was great. Mechanical, but tasty. It was like her mind sorted everything away into perfect formulas and put things together with precise measurements.

I glared at the giant [Caliburr] and tried to figure out what to do. Typically my role in camp set up was non-existent. Shazam was too efficient. Maybe one day I would find a good hobby. Finally after twenty minutes Shazam logged back in.

“Hey. I had a question.” I was happy that Shazam always seemed to respond right away. She frequently logged in and out throughout any given day.

Shazam took both thumbs and alternated lifting them in the air. Our poor communication skills meant that she was asking for more information. At least that’s what it normally meant.

“So I have an Ultimate Edition, and I was told you do too,” I said.

She blinked slowly and kept up the cooking without missing a beat. Items spilled out of player inventory onto a small table that had been unpacked. Shazam piled them together and diced up an object that looked like an onion but was green.

“Do,” Oh this was going to sound crazy, “the Voices talk to you? I mean they must give you quests or something.”

She nodded slowly.

“How do they talk to you?” Thankfully my crazy talking hadn’t made her think less of me at all. Of course, this young woman had put my character in painful situations for weeks on end.

Shazam put both hands up next to her head and pantomimed sleeping.

“In your dreams?” I asked.

She nodded and took out spices. They were thrown into a travel sized cooking pan and everything sizzled. Her autopilot was a master at starting fires. Mine was a master at humming and tapping its foot when left alone.

“Like in real life, or in the ARC?” I said.

Shazam pointed one finger down briefly. Okay, so she slept in-game and the Voices sent her messages while sleeping? Why had that never worked for me? I had been exhausted and unconscious in the game a few times. Not once did any of the Voices visit me. Well aside from dying once and being intercepted by that Jester figure. Its interference with my normal failure process had been limited to one instance so far.

I chewed on my lip. Shazam handed me a piece of meat and pointed to the fire. Right, even the simple act of roasting it would help my meager cooking skills. In real life, I had turned into a microwave meal and take-out eater. The only homemade meals available to me were on holidays and what Xin had insisted on making when she was home.

Xin.

“Shazam. Have you ever met anyone you know from real life in here?” I asked.

She nodded then shrugged. I took that to mean yes but it that they weren’t close.

“You’ve done player versus player right?” I switched tactics. Maybe she had some advice on how to handle Requiem.

Shazam seemed to have done a little bit of everything based on my experiences with her. She nodded while I went about my poor attempts at cooking. It boiled down to shoving a stick through the meat and hanging it over a flames.

“Do you know how to win against a player you’re not allowed to attack?” I asked. Her achievements were insanely far above my own if she was leading a guild.

She tilted her head while the last of our cooking supplies were wrapped up. Items vanished away into her inventory. Soon Shazam was left with only food in a bowl.

“Right. Well, if you think of anything I’m all ears.” I said.

Shazam went about eating while I pondered other situations. It was perplexing that we were allowed to exit [Camp Grey Skull] with ease. I checked my player map. It was slowly gathering a reasonable amount of data. Though there was still no connection between the old [Haven Valley] information and my current location. [Camp Grey Skull] was already a few days behind us.

“So, should we be letting those Caliburrs close to each other?” I pointed at the two giant horse rabbit monsters. They were already sniffing each other.

Shazam gave a thumbs down and set her food onto the ground. I watched a series of almost mechanical movements as she stood up and walked towards them clapping loudly. They both perked their heads up to stare at Shazam.

“Need help?” I asked.

She shook her head briefly and proceeded to separate them. One was tied in place and the other bolted to a location twenty feet away.

I tried to scroll through my autopilot's history even further. The bits of information being presented painted a simple enough picture. According to the computer's text I had fallen, nearly died, been healed, walked down the mountain and picked up two [Catiburr]s for travel.

The last of my meal was slowly chewed. This was kind of neat. We must have left right after my character exited the glitch space. Oh, that reminded me of another issue. I flipped back through information logs and walls of text from my autopilot time in order to figure out how the bug reporting process had gone.

System Notice!

Reward issued. Please access the nearest Porter for your reward.

[Morrigu’s Gift] was ground into the dirt. Its staff form was handy for taking my frustrations out on local fauna and geology. Now there were two reasons for reaching a Porter.

Finally, my tube for sending messages to the Voices started rapidly warming. I set down [Morrigu’s Gift] and tore off one end of the case. A message plopped out.

Shazam was watching with a passive expression. If her meal was hot she showed no concern. I read the results from James eagerly.

Hermes,

I am pleased to hear from you. How is your mission with Requiem Mass progressing?

- James

“Damn.” Right, James wanted answers before providing much in the way of information.

Shazam put out one hand towards the letter in my hand. Providing her the letter wouldn’t hurt anything and might also help in completing the quest with her. I forked the parchment over and went about answering James.

My silent babysitter pointed at the response I was writing.

“Oh. I’m writing to my Voice, I chose James.”

She put her thumbs up and did the ‘which’ gesture. Shazam likely wanted more information so I started rambling while trying to scribble out a status up.

“I chose a Voice named James. He’s a large black guy who loves asking questions.” I said.

Shazam gave a thumbs up and did the ‘which’ gesture again.

“He’s nice enough, but there’s always extra hoops to jump through. How is your Voice? Does she at least answer your questions?” I had to figure out how to get Shazam talking about herself.

The response was a thumb down.

“No? She doesn’t answer your questions?” I asked. Shazam shook her head in the negative and then shrugged. She pointed at the quill and parchment in my hands.

“Hold on. I’ll read it.” I wrapped up my message to James and decided to read it out loud to Shazam.

“I’m not sure about this player Requiem Mass. He responds with violence when angered and is fighting against some other Traveler. I need to observe them more before figuring out how to overcome my bindings.” The message should be clear enough for James.

Shazam didn’t show any signs of having suggestions on my text. I shrugged and sent the message through the tube. Now would begin another round of waiting. Shazam stared at me for a moment longer and nodded slowly. Moments later she was unrolling the rest of our campsite. One finger pointed towards a cot for me while she went into another tent and closed the flap.

“Thanks for taking care of me,” I said towards her tent. There was no response from her in any fashion.

Being alone in the wilderness had been odd the first few nights. Most of the time I logged off and let the autopilot do its thing. Who would actually sleep in-game? The few times I had tried left me feeling even less rested than before.

An hour later and my Voice finally sent a response.

Hermes,

You are doing the right thing by observing the Traveler Requiem Mass. He has been a problem for Jean and many of us hope you will be able to find an avenue that we have not. He is amazingly cautious for a Traveler.

Regarding your original question. Contacting Xin can be done. We will only be able to send one message a day. Anything more risks unwanted attention at this stage. Simply address the letter to her name as you would to one of us.

Would you like to send her a message?

- James

I scribbled yes down onto another of my endless parchment supply. The next question was trying to figure out exactly what to say to Xin.

Xin Yu,

You may not believe it, but I finally learned to dance...

I laughed to myself and tried not to feel emotionally torn up inside. She was dead, but she was alive. I was writing her a letter in a fantasy world camped out next to creatures that were both horses and rabbits. Maybe none of this was real, maybe I had finally broken down and disconnected from everything else in the world

More words were put to paper, parts were crossed out and hastily reworded. There was only so much sunlight left and I had to try and tell her everything while trying not to sound desperate. Anything in hopes that she would write me back an equally long letter. Finally, the sun had vanished completely. Even Dusk was passed out next to me looking content from his excursions.

The message was slowly put into the tube. Once again the insanity of my situation raised concern. None of this would have even seemed possible to me if I hadn’t seen William Carver’s autopilot.

What was it that little girl Voice had said? Some people have more of them here than others. Trillium’s Vice President Riley had advised me that Xin was one of the first testers of an ARC. If William Carver and his virtual years within Continue had created someone so lifelike, wouldn’t Xin Yu be that much more real?

What did we define as a person anyway? Was it the sum of their memories? Was there something more?

A box popped up notifying me that my consciousness was being relocated. Part of me welcomed the distraction of Requiem Mass and his arrogant point of view. It was that or bite my nails for hours wondering exactly what Xin might write and exactly how insane this all was.