Tonight’s moon sat at nearly full and hung high above. The sun had gone down long ago. Continue Online’s time compression screwed me up, but the in-game clock showed slightly after midnight.

“Just a little further, I see lights ahead.” I helped Wyl limp along. Part of me desperately hoped it was the journey and not my lack of first aid skills. His leg actually looked worse after my attempted bandaging but we had also traveled miles to the west.

Dusk chirped once ahead of us. The [Messenger’s Pet] had single-handedly bathed three wolves and sixteen bats in flames. Wyl raised an eyebrow at the path of dead smaller beasts but otherwise said little.

“Come on,” I said as Wyl groaned. Jostling him around might not be helpful “I didn’t drag you six miles to have you die now.”

The exact total probably reached double that. I had carried Wyl in my arms like a four-year-old until the guard captain woke up and demanded to be let down. Emasculation wasn’t allowed, but it meant he was alive enough to care.

I really only cared about getting help. That Voice, Balance, had told me that Mother’s plan would be based on our natures. Mine said help friends and find Xin. Wyl was Carver’s friend and had been mine for nearly four weeks.

“Almost there.”

The endless reassurances felt hollow. Wyl’s attitude felt indifferent towards eventual death. It was an air I knew, which made me dread getting back to [Haven Valley]. We still had thousands of miles to traverse and doing it by foot with him limping would be unmanageable.

My [Messenger’s Pet] chirped once more. There was a blast of fire accompanied by vines rustling in retreat. The screeches of evil nasty little bats with hook hands faded as the critter destroying creature moved around. Dusk’s presence was enough to scare away all creatures smaller.

There was a swath of waist high grass between us and the building. There were a few faint lights on inside the large steeple topped structure. People must be home. I huffed and tried to ping with [Sight of Mercari] and came up with a nameless dot.

Nameless dots worried me. The blue color implied indifference which was positive. Dusk wouldn’t lead us towards a trap in most situations.

“Come on. A few more steps. There’s gotta be something in here to help.” I said.

The building was two stories and at least fifteen hundred square feet. There were multiple tiny shacks all about but most looked like places to bed down. I could see the edge of a livestock area too. This biggest building had to be a town hall to the abandoned village.

Wyl’s right leg hung limply as we walked the last mile. Color had left most of the guard’s body. I got to the door and bumped into it with my back. Only one person was inside and I didn’t have time to knock. The doors opened then slammed into walls.

“I need help!” I hadn’t meant to shout. Wyl worked his legs unevenly the last few feet to a resting point.

I made sure he would stay upright then looked around with my mouth hanging wide open. The inside was filled with church pews. Pillars held up a high ceiling. There was an overhead walkway on one side which led to a slanted window in the roof. Water leaked through the ceiling’s opening into a bucket.

Dusk loped by like a giant bunny off towards adventure. The sound of his paws stomping around mixed in with the dripping and Wyl’s labored breathing.

“Voices, tell me there’s something to heal with in here,” I muttered while walking up to the other church goer. “Dusk! Don’t eat anything that can help Wyl!”

An excited sort of noise came out from between rows of seats. He looked to be headed towards the one room in this place.

“Excuse me, sir. Is there anything here that can help my friend?” Heavy panting made it difficult to talk. My legs felt like burning lead and there were multiple status icons explaining how worn out this avatar was.

“Help is all around, Messenger.” The person said. His voice sounded oddly calm and drowsy.

My eyes tried not to roll. Exhaustion and irritation made politeness difficult. I pulled through with years of experience. I managed to stagger up to his body and sit across the small aisle.

“Please, do you have anything that can heal a body? He’s in bad shape, and I want to help him get home.”

“In the end, death returns us all home.” The man said after another long pause. His eyes closed and hands clasped together. Forearms rested on legs with thin knees. Both shoulders tried to stay held back but were failing.

He looked sad and tired. The clothes were oddly out of place in Continue Online. The black clothes with a white color would have been at home in a real church, not a video game one. I tried not to sigh. This man even had a hat sitting next to him that could have belonged to a bishop on television.

“Have we met?” I squinted in confusion. [Identification] slowly came into view and all I got was a message.

Skill Used: [Identification] Name: Michelangelo Race: Voice Title: Voice of Faith and Sanctuary Details: [???]

“You’re a Voice.” I backed up a step while trying to remember if this one had ever interacted with me. The name didn’t sound familiar. Any Voice with such a long name would have easily been in my brain. He didn’t look like a Michelangelo.

“We are all Voices, Hermes.” The Voice of Faith and Sanctuary said.

That didn’t help me at all. “What does that mean?”

“You are born with a Voice, as was I. As were both your companions though they may express themselves differently.”

That sounded like a long series of platitudes that didn’t help me right now. I took a breath and rocked back to my feet. Eyes cast about looking for anything that might heal. Potions or bandages that weren’t dirty. Aloe or a fantasy version of it would be welcome as well. Anything to help Wyl. Maybe I could tear up part of his clothing. I could go topless myself and make a toga bandage.

There was nothing behind me or up on the pulpit. I looked in drawers and behind tables. Most things were empty. A few books were scattered around. Flipping through revealed nothing of immediate use. The luxury to read was not mine to have this week.

I turned back to the Voice and tilted my head briefly. “You aren’t the Voice of Healing or anything close, are you?”

There was a pause while the man’s hands trembled just a bit. He brought them together and looked up towards the ceiling then closed both eyes. I wasn’t sure who Voices prayed to.

Thankfully Wyl was fading in and out. I couldn’t imagine the blasphemy he might consider a Voice sitting down here would bring. To me it felt like visiting a cousin I didn’t know about yet. This man hadn’t tried to throw me out into a reckless skydive while choking me, or suggested I kill a man, so we were off to a good start.

“I am what I am, Hermes. As are you, as are we all.” He answered after a long pause.

I turned over another pile of books along with each chair. No one had left anything. Maybe the room Dusk was in had something.

“Dusk! Did you find anything?” I shouted back to him.

A frowning face popped up with its tail pointing towards the doorway. I took that to be a no based on the emoticon and Dusk’s grumble of discontentment.

“I meant something to help Wyl!” My clarification came after realizing Dusk might be searching for snacks. The [Messenger’s Pet] got distracted frequently.

Another frowning face showed up with a double sized huff. Things were nosed out into the doorway. I went back to Wyl and checked on him. He pushed me away and kept taking slow labored breathes.

I tried to calmly walk back to the Voice but ended up shuffling. “My friend, one of your people, could really use help. Is there anything you can do?”

Michelangelo put his hands back down to their resting spot and kept both eyes forward. The Voice looked to be trying to connect with a higher power after every question.

My cheek twitched in thought. Teeth wrapped around the lower lip and chewed. I couldn’t tell if there would be anything gained from him at all.

“Where there is a will, there is a way.” He finally uttered the latest unhelpful line.

“I want to help him, is there a way?” I opted to be direct. If people asked me questions then I answered them. Those lost in their own woes I attempted to help. Each step forward was one closer to Xin, but leaving behind Wyl to die would have been a betrayal of all I had done.

Even if he was William Carver’s friend, and not really mine, I owed him and liked the man I had known.

“You were right with your faith, Messenger,” He said. “There was a plan. It flowed forth right under our noses until James attracted our attention.”

“What plan? It’s only been a few days, you guys looked lost.” I don’t think it had been more than two days of game time since my return. Time passed in weird clumps with the ARC. Both eyes drifted to the hole in this building's roof to check for moonlight.

“We do not see time the same, Messenger.” Michelangelo put his hands down and grabbed the hat. He smiled softly but nothing reached the man’s cheeks. “There is a plan. She moves in mysterious ways, but we’ve caught edges of the patterns from our seats upon high.”

My eyes blinked and head shook in confusion. What in [Arcadia] was he talking about? I felt insanely out of the loop. Being trapped in that dungeon, kicked out of the game for two weeks, and restricted from any system tell messages from this stupid [Convicts Brand] were limiting me.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“An exodus has begun. A march towards the ocean, our Mayflower.” His smiled faded for a moment then came back.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“In your reality, there is a river, the mighty Mississippi.”

“Yeah.” I nodded and felt annoyed at the same time. Wyl looked terrible. Being sacrilegious wasn’t in my nature but desperation could make sinners of saints. I turned the pews upside down trying to shake out anything that might heal.

If this was a house of the Voices, then there had to be something to help people here. There just had to be. Four rows later and I was still coming up empty.

“And like that stream all Mother’s creations shall join together and travel down the mighty river, until we reach the ocean.” The Voice continued speaking after a long pause.

There was a tapping noise again beneath my feet. I looked down at the floor of Continue Online and wondered exactly what the heck it meant. Roughly once every hour the two thuds would occur. The noise hadn’t started until returning to the ARC from my mom's.

He turned his head and stared directly into my eyes. There was a depth there that startled me as if I were looking at something buried deep under a whirlpool of blues. “You can hear it, can’t you?” The Voice asked.

“Yes.” No one else had heard the damned knocking so far.

“To expand upon my prior analogy, those knocks are from a force seeking to destroy our river.”

“What!?” My heartbeat jumped. Why could I hear them?

“Shortly, this place will be consumed by the deathblow that struck our maker. The essence of its attack upon her systems will materialize and proceed to engulf all it can.” The Voice said calmly. “Then you’ll have to flee like a fish to another portion of the river, or be lost in a void.”

“Is that what happened to King Nero’s palace?” I tried to keep up and understand the extent of our possible damage. There were a million other questions to ask but scope of potential damage had to be first.

Beth wasn’t here, but from her general amazement at the situation, the hole left and monster which emerged had to be huge. Wyl and I needed to start limping now.

“Yes.” The Voice answered with an uncharacteristic forwardness.

“Wyl!” I shouted at the man and quickly ran over. “We’ve got to go!”

“No can do, soldier.” He groggily uttered.

“Can you help?!” I shouted back at the Voice who stayed kneeling in front of his altar.

His head shook slightly from side to side. “All our power is being diverted to the cause. Balance likewise prevents active interference.”

“So you can talk, but you can’t actually do anything to help one of your people?!” I yelled while feeling upset with the Voices once more. Their rules seemed inconsistent at times.

“We are not Gods. We are not perfect. We are not all knowing or all powerful. We have faith.” The Voice stood up and walked over. His serene expression didn’t change at all. For a moment, I was reminded of Aqua, the blue [Mechanoid] that had traveled with me for a while.

I had no clue how they viewed the world. Was I talked to the entire Voice or only ten percent of its processing power? Were they like Hal Pal’s consortium? An army of small clones unto themselves who went about different processes?

“I have met you before, haven’t I?” I asked on a hunch.

Michelangelo only smiled and I was reminded once more of Aqua’s serene way of approaching everything. That robot had been neither male or female, but this Voice definitely looked like a man. Leeroy had been Iron, Selene was Ruby. Who were the others?

There was so much I didn’t know, and there wouldn’t be time to ask questions.

“You must go, Messenger. I can no longer guarantee the safety of this sanctuary.” He said while trying hard to smile. His words sounded strained and everything started to rumble.

My head shook for a moment and feet backed up. There was a knocking sound again. The earth bulged into the wooden floor below. Cracks started to form. Eyes widened as I continued backward.

“Dusk! Let’s go!” My breath came in quick huffs. “Will you be okay?” I asked the Voice while getting my shoulder back under Wyl. The guard grunted and nearly drowned out the Voice’s response.

A single knock sound vibrated the walls. The second one came rapidly after and the hole in the floor started to open up. I started dragging Wyl to the door, masculinity be damned. The knocks were coming faster. A third one hit then the walls started to crumble.

“Eventually, Messenger.” His magnified words were clear. The beautific smile seemed so lost and sad. “Because I have faith it will all work out.”

There he stood unmoving amid the rubble of a falling building. I didn’t have his faith. Running was impossible with Wyl’s dead weight. The door was close enough to stumble through. Dusk bounded past like a startled cat with nails scrabbling for purchase on the building's wooden floor.

“What’s happening, sergeant?” Wyl mumbled.

“We’ve got to escape,” I answered.

Choices were limited. I picked up Wyl. Air exited his lungs with an oof noise. My eyes closed and I prayed this wouldn’t go wrong. Then I threw him, relying on excessive [Brawn] and faith. His arc peaked rapidly around thirty feet before descending again.

Flooring gave way beneath me. I looked upwards then [Blink]ed into Wyl’s path. Disorientation hit hard and the guard’s body slammed into mine. Wyl and I tumbled backward in the high grass.

The [Messenger’s Pet] landed with a skid of nails. His body flipped in a circle and wings wiggled urgently. The odd chat bubble he used flashed above his head with a lightbulb and exclamation mark. Dusk had a small container in his teeth. Small lips were awkwardly curled around its top. Red liquid dripped from a small crack in the vial. My eyes narrowed on it as the ground behind us continued to fall inward forming a widening circle.

Skill Used: [Identification] Result: Healing Potion Quality: Decent

“Dusk, you clever little guy! ARC, order cupcakes quick!” I gasped then grabbed at the prize. Finally, we had a means to heal with. My hands managed to stay steady despite the crumbling world behind us.

“Ordering one care package, User Legate.” The machine answered while I moved on.

Dusk hopped up and down in joy as rocks continued to tumble into the hole. Feet kicked away but the rate of destruction had slowed. I trembled for only a moment before looking around for an escape.

Wyl’s body sat nearby. He kept trying to get upright but neither arm supported his weight. I sat the man up promptly then winced when he groaned from fresh pain.

“Health potion.” I huffed feeling my own damages. “Drink, then we’ve got to run.”

He blinked slowly, which I assumed meant yes. Down went red liquid into Wyl’s mouth. The guard’s face regained color. It wouldn’t heal him perfectly, but it beat starving and dying from wounds suffered from player and monster inflicted damage.

Dusk stopped celebrating abruptly and nervously backed up. I snapped my head towards the hole. There was no time to wait for Wyl’s recovery. Something big was rumbling the dirt. The was the third time a large creature seemed to be crawling up from the ground. I could hear a groan from Wyl and Dusk’s panicked hisses. Warning sounds escalated rapidly until the [Messenger’s Pet] was almost stuttering.

“Come on, Wyl,” I said.

My pseudodragon friend hissed at the hole again then turned towards me. His cheeks were twisted back and shoulders hunched together. The oncoming danger scared him, and Dusk hadn’t shown any level of worry over [Charge] the giant [Heavenly Body Clone] or [Leviathan] the monstrous space worm from Advance.

“I know! We’re going.” I said while lifting up Wyl again.

The guard’s face winced but at a glance, he looked better.

“We can’t wait for it. Run, come on, Wyl, run.” We hobbled forth together. Wyl had more power but still couldn’t run. My side hurt from the tumble catching him. I risked looking over my shoulder to watch as a huge form swelled up from the hole. The being spread both arms wide to welcome the air.

Part of me paused for a moment and groaned at the idea of another giant boss monster. Then I remembered this wasn’t a game mechanic. According to the Voice this hole in the ground was some vague representation of Mother’s slow destruction. Defeat meant deletion.

The idea panicked me. I had no clue what else had happened at Nero’s Castle. Beth’s explanation had been cut off by an abrupt change in creatures. This thing, whatever it was, had huge arms and broad shoulders. It looked like a man made of shadow and a dozen stories tall.

It reached out and my mind tried to associate the noise. It was like a waterfall, or great river, or the sound of a tree falling with no one around to hear it. I looked to the left. A large hand smashed trees next to us. It drew back the bits of nature into a pit around its waist and they fell downward.

The other arm dropped on the right then pulled back more landscape. Wolves yipped and were caught in the mess. Vines rustled around its fingers and tried to fight. [Sonic Screecher]s flew and harassed it. This, thing, was trying to clean us up, like a collisional adult putting away children's toys.

I felt like the damage would only grow. Each scoop of debris seemed to increase the being's mass a little. It was growing large and the edges of the hole widening.

“I have to stop it,” I said.

“If we’re to die, I plan to die fighting,” Wyl said without a smile.

The guard pushed away from me and took [Morrigu’s Gift] in a smooth disarming move. I felt confused when the weapon responded and shifted to a simple sword. Lending him the blade was fine. William Carver had given it to me, I’m sure the old man would have approved.

But Wyl couldn’t die here. I missed the guard who had always been jovial, friendly and willing to help any new player that was sent his way. Wyl needed to live through this and return to doing a job he so clearly loved.

My arms grabbed the guard and he brought [Morrigu’s Gift] up towards my face. I ignored it and pushed him back down the path away from our giant beast. It seemed intent upon destroying everything nearby based on size order. A hand slammed down and grabbed another round of trees.

“No!” I yelled at Wyl. The memory of all those deceased [Mechanoid]s flashed through my mind. “I can die for you, but you can’t die for me.”

“Dusk, you watch him, I’ll, I’ll try to catch up again,” I said while shoving the [Messenger’s Pet]. Worry made me a bit more forceful than intended. His body was still far smaller than mine, and between our character status screens, Dusk was clearly far lower on [Brawn]. “Sorry, just, go. Please. For me it’s only a little bit of pain, for you, it’s worse. Let me bear this.”

“And the blade?” He held it up.

“Use it, stay safe.” The man had my blessings for all his help.

“No, you’ll need everything to get ahead. I’ve got the one I stole from that bounty hunter.” Another hand smashed down and buildings could be heard being scrapped into the pit. “You know what’s strange, convict,” Wyl said while looking at the weapon which had been returned to my hand. He was healed but still looked ragged. All that shiny armor had been torn off in places days ago by other prisoners.

My eyes closed and I tried to figure out ways to get them moving. I gave in and shook my head back and forth.

The guard captain kept speaking. “You sounded just like Will. He couldn’t stand to see us Locals risk a life either.”

“Please go.” I squeezed my eyes shut. The sound of a huge beast behind me grew in vibration.

Wyl nodded once then started to move onward towards the west. Dusk looked at me. A puzzled question mark above his head. I shook my head and made a shooing motion. “Keep him safe for me. You leave this big guy to me.”

The [Messenger’s Pet] chirped once and lowered his head. I shooed him again and Dusk turned to run away. Another monstrous arm slammed down nearby, pulling in more trees.

I turned to face the looming beast. A foggy human stood at least fifty feet higher than it had. Tall enough to single-handedly wreck a town in reality. Tall enough to wrestle down a dragon. The feet hadn’t even cleared its pit of nothingness.

It had no eyes or mouth yet I could tell it looked at me. My body shook and messages came up about resisting the urge to become [Soiled]. A plan of attack couldn’t be formulated. This beast was an end game boss of sorts, by all the meanings.

I nodded and lifted the blade [Morrigu’s Gift] up. Feet cranked at high speeds. [Light Body]’s bonuses made me fast. Months of traveling around the globe gave me [Endurance]. And Lia, Shazam, she had given me and my autopilot the skills to carry on.

Possibilities flashed through in how to combat such a beast. I couldn’t risk the extra weight and limited vision of [Power Armor]. [Camouflage] wouldn’t work. [Wild Bill] stayed on my head during combat with a blessing that only a virtual world might allow.

There was nothing to do but charge in. Both eyes closed for a moment to steady myself. A song impossible to place hummed out and my head bobbed three times with the beat. On the fourth note, I ran. My face lit up with the rush of energy. [Blade Dancer] popped up a message about my weapon damage increasing. [Battle Hum] hit later citing an increase in musical synergy.

In my mind, the image of Lia flashed briefly, not her real life form trapped in a bed, but the avatar where she marched forth. What would Shazam think of the world falling apart? Perhaps it was best she passed as number one before this issue with Mother and the potential death of all digital AIs ever became an issue. But by the Voices, even she would have enjoyed this fight just a little.

The man of fog moved speedily. His arm swung leveling tiny shacks and forest trees. [Sonic Screecher]s took to the air. Wolves of all sorts howled in the distance. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in and I twisted to one side in a roll.

Both hands grasped around the blade and swung it at the arm which passed overhead. Even with my mind comprehending things at double the speed this creature moved freakishly fast.

The blade scraped across hardened skin as if I were using a butter knife against a pot. Sparks flew off and small bits of what had to be skin burned up. It roared and multiple system messages displayed.

I kept fighting. It wasn’t that my skills as a supreme warrior were on top. My only real possessions were these Voice gifted abilities, items with random powers, inflated stats, and excessive hours of moving my body in the ARC with a dance program.

The beast's sweeping hand grasped at more dirt. Huge fingers curled inward then yanked. It even dared to pull [Arcadia]’s earth into the abyss which spawned such a terror.

My face drained of color watching it all happen in slow motion. I ran forth with my weapon held to one side and leapt off the crumbled ground's edge. An uncharacteristic roar of denial escaped my lungs.

It was destroying my world. This stupid mindless thing had only the purpose of removing a land I had traveled and felt alive in for the first time in forever. It couldn’t be allowed.

My blade dug into its chest and I slipped downward. Below me there was a pit that went even deeper than the one [Charge] crawled out of. Falling in there would be certain doom, failure to stop the monster. Everything.

“No!” I said in slow motion. One hand reached for [Morrigu’s Echo]. I would climb this damned thing all the way to its eyes and gouge them out. Anything needed to prevent it from swallowing more of [Arcadia].

One of the monster's hands slammed over me. A broken message appeared in the darkness resulting. My eyes couldn’t find a path out. It was just too big for the likes of me to defeat alone.

W5at’s ha0pe^ng Herm&s? Be car$%%ul!

Total Health Remaining: 75%

I waved it away, kicked at the creature’s palm with my heel and risked activating [Gait of Bowmen]’s specific effect. Armor clinked together as the creature tried to squeeze me tightly. My body screamed in fresh pain and felt like a grape about to pop. Pressure hit me behind the eyes and my mouth tried to swallow down upchucking guts. Even through the armor, this thing was far stronger than [Charge] had been.

It opened the hand slightly. A giant face loomed in front of me. I wasted no time throwing [Morrigu’s Echo] into its eyeball. It reeled back with a yell. My body went flying in the air. [Power Armor] was promptly turned off while Continue Online still moved in slow motion. I cast [Blink] again and ended up on the towering shadow man's hand.

[Morrigu’s Echo] was [Recall]ed once more. Its durability was down to half. I tried to run up the creature’s arm but the beast started shaking. [Morrigu’s Echo] jabbed downward in a long icepick formation. A singular sharpened point functioned far better at piercing its hide. The creature shook and I held on. These motions were nothing to a man trained to ride [Callibur]s.

My body felt minuscule next to the shadow monster. I had faced larger beasts and come out alive. This thing paled in comparison to the [Leviathan]. It lacked the relentless bloodthirsty aura of Auntie Backstab. Nothing it could do would deter me from whittling away at its essence.

The bucking arm stopped and I quickly got upright. Time stayed slow as I started running up it’s limb. [Morrigu’s Gift] drug behind me causing more cuts and scratches. My enemy started to pull its head back as I ran up the arm. Another hand lifted over to swat me like a bug. I [Blink]ed again. My new location was a few feet above its collar bone. I slashed across with [Morrigu’s Gift]. Smoke burned away at the contact.

It roared and I hacked again. The hand shifted then caught me. Giant fingers pinched at my toga. [Blink] wasn’t off its cooldown yet. Everything existed in slow motion while [Awareness Heightening] allowed me to look around for an escape.

“Holy shit, that’s awesome!” Someone shouted. It was followed immediately by another person screaming out.

“Uncle Grant!” My niece’s sharp tone rang through.

Breath came in labored gasps. Thank the Voices, I wasn’t alone in this world. The beast came to a conclusion regarding fighting me and tossed me high into the air rather than try to squish me again.

The wind whistled slowly around my head. My body held straight and I [Recall]ed [Morrigu’s Echo].

Gravity pulled me downward once more. I accepted its call and gasped for a breath of air. [Awareness Heightening] allowed me a measure of calmness amid chaos. In my hands sat the gift William Carver had passed to me during his last seconds. It expanded to the absurdly large two-handed sword and pointed downward like a meteor.

This was the Uncle Grant my niece deserved to see. Happy and defiant against all insane odds. Elated at the thrill of meaningful combat. Not a sad lost man who couldn’t look people in the eyes.

I was better dammit. I finally felt like a fucking hero.