We stood on the beach being blasted by sea spray and salt smells. I held one hand up to block the overhead sun and wished [Wild Bill]’s brim was a bit wider. The other players had chatted about ways to cross the water before roping Xin in. I smiled at the sight of Beth as she pulled the shorter woman over to their workspace.

“So, I told the others we should just use your skeleton boat!” Beth said while Awesome Jr. gave two thumbs up.

“I don’t know if it will be enough for all of us.” Xin stared at our group. HotPants sat furthest away from us with Shadow in between. “It takes all three skeletons to even make a two person boat. We would need a lot of duct tape for a ship big enough to carry seven.”

“Potions can fix it! I’ve got potions for everyone!” Awesome Jr. proudly proclaimed then deflated. “Except rashes, oddly.”

The others grumbled but sounded positive. Three Travelers sat down and started crafting one of the weirdest looking boats I had ever run across. Xin’s skeleton summons were pulled out piece by piece to make ribbing for the vessel. SweetPea rapidly sewed together a two layer tarp around their bodies.

“Travelers are insane.” Wyl muttered next to me. We both stood on the beach watching them assemble their monstrosity.

Awesome Jr. shoved one of his foam potions into the lining and jiggled it around. Our boat started filling up like a balloon. Moments later he proudly declared the creation water ready. They argued some more while SweetPea kept checking the edges for possible tears or weaknesses.

“We could try a signal flare instead? Or start a fire maybe?” I suggested during their construction process. “There are people with ships who may come pick us up.”

“No. None of your friends know if the town’s still in one piece, so we can’t wait that long.” Wyl answered for the others.

Dusk was off doing a flyby of the city, but it would take another half hour before he made it back. He might also get distracted by every single bird, shiny object, and [Coo-Coo Rill] on the way. Afterward, would be a series of twenty questions then bribery. We could probably make it across before the [Messenger’s Pet] returned.

Another sharp set of two raps made me jump. There had been forty minutes since the last set of knocking. I couldn’t tell if that made the danger close or far away. I knew how Miz Riley felt now, at least with regards to never having enough time.

I needed to figure out a useful exercise to do than sitting around talking. My recent confession left me jumbled and disconnected. Part of me expected to turn around and face a row of Travelers prepared to host an intervention. To top it off I kept thinking about Xin’s lack of undergarments. Since now wasn’t the time to explore my fiancée’s clothing status I turned to Wyl. Maybe interacting with him would loosen the man up.

“Can you show me that weapon stealing move?” I asked.

“It’s not easy.” He responded without a shrug.

I had expected a denial. Apparently our relationship was high enough to warrant a vaguely positive response. At least Wyl didn’t call me convict anymore.

We walked to a less sandy portion of the beach then went through the motion a few times. Wyl demonstrated the process by taking away [Morrigu’s Gift] repeatedly. I still didn’t have a firm grip on how he was allowed to wield it. [Bound] should have prevented him from getting far. In ten minutes I got a prompt from the machine.

[Weapon Steal] learned!

Details: This movement will perform automatically when certain conditions are met.

Nothing in current hand

No negative effects on hands

Enemy must have weapon

Traveler [Coordination], [Limberness], [Speed], and [Reaction] will all impact this move. Unaware strikes will increase the likelihood of success.

Rank 1: Generally unsuccessful and will likely cause damage to the Traveler

I stared at the box and wondered how the ability had come up so quickly, then filed it away as an Ultimate Edition perk. Self-harm from grabbing a weapon wrong sounded like a fair enough punishment for low skills.

“Thank you, Wyl.” I nodded to the guard captain and he only stared in response. After all our time together the man remained standoffish.

The guard didn’t even nod to acknowledge me. He handed back [Morrigu’s Gift] from the latest demonstration. Eventually he wandered to the small beach then stared across the span of ocean between us and [Haven Valley].

I practiced the move a few more times but didn’t feel completely comfortable. My ARC dance program had similar activities. There was a series of paired events that involved handing fans back and forth while waving them around. Worse yet the ARC insisted I wear skin tight clothing, but the solitude of practicing offline helped mitigate the embarrassment. Those pieces involved inertia, timing, plus excessive practice. Most dancing and combat did as well.

After the twentieth attempt, I started to wonder about the weapon William Carver had left behind. [Morrigu’s Gift] never felt any heavier or lighter despite my insanely high [Brawn]. Changing shapes to such a wide range of items had to be downright unusual, not to mention having a second weapon which did the same thing.

Had he really thought things far enough along to put a key to NPC salvation in my hands? Me, of all people? What if I stopped playing? What if I got hit by a car in reality? Perhaps the old man hadn’t found any better options. His role as a new player guide would have been perfect for judging Travelers for worth to continue on the mission but maybe the other options were all terrible.

I tried to picture the man, barely functioning and being more AI than human thought process. There could have easily been a line between the two where a Second Player helm picked up some surface thoughts and tried to act accordingly. Maybe those other people mentioned in his journals had scattered more pieces about in case. Perhaps Wyl could use the weapon in case I died or quit. He might be able to shove it into a key slot.

Or maybe I was reading too much into it.

“Let’s go, Uncle Grant!” Thorny shouted.

My head felt asleep. The actual clock showed late afternoon so maybe I was crashing. A heavy sigh heaved through me then I walked over. The boat looked like a lumpy hot air balloon that froze at partial deflation. Based on the size we would be able to squeeze the lot of us together but we needed a motor or paddles. Time and tide would take forever.

Plus there were probably evil sea urchins that would spawn with so many players nearby. Honestly this small island would probably mob us with stupid monsters if anyone stepped further off the beach. I looked around briefly and noticed some of our group was missing.

“It’ll float.” Awesome Jr. said proudly.

“Maybe.” SweetPea responded. “Maybe it’ll float.”

“Are you kidding? These potions are practically made of floatonium.” The teen male waved at their makeshift vessel. My basic understanding of boats amounted to a general shape and propulsion. Their conglomeration certainly looked right.

“What?” My confused niece asked.

“That’s great, but we need an engine.” I pointed at the rear of our new possibly seaworthy vessel. SweetPea was doing rounds and Xin stood there sweating.

“Well, we saved like seven days of riding by taking the doors. I don’t think we have anything that works as an engine readily available.” Beth put her hands on both hips then chewed one lip for a moment. Seeing the Legate thinking expression replicated on yet another generation made me smile.

“No portals. No scrolls. We can’t summon people over there because no one in the League has Arcane or Temporal Magic.” Awesome Jr. was typing away at an invisible screen and shaking his head every few seconds.

“You mean hardly anyone, in the history of ever, has those.” Beth said while tapping her foot. “Even Hermes with that teleport move is pretty rare.”

“I should have argued harder for jet powers.” Xin lamented quietly. She looked tired and worn out under the virtual sun. Hair clumped together. I walked over and put [Wild Bill] on her head. My fiancée tilted her head back in confusion then smiled briefly.

“Or we row.” Wyl said with a frown. “Your jet device foolery sounds dangerous.”

“Rowing!” HotPants came out of the jungle looking sweaty and ragged. Her body was clearly worn from an excessive amount of combat. Nicks were all along both arms and legs. She had large boards that looked to have been already cut into paddles.

SweetPea didn’t bother sparing a heal in her partner's direction. I wondered why she let a friend stay suffering so, but HotPants also looked strangely calm compared to her earlier explosions of rage. There were no hints of red anywhere in the woman’s hair.

HotPants set the oars down then motioned a hand towards me. She pointed towards the boat and I got the hint. Between our [Brawn] moving the boat from shore into water was easy. The vessel rocked and bobbed then righted itself. Xin and a few other people waved away messages which made me smile.

“It says we’re good.” Awesome Jr. stated to which his girlfriend nodded.

The seven of us waded through the shallow waters and pushed off. I debated swimming but in the end we started rowing. I pulled the oars on one side and listened to the others shouting out a counter of sorts. The message that popped up barely proceeded my screen turning fuzzy and nausea twisting my stomach. Our large skeleton raft rocked as waves pulled us back towards the island.

[Seasickness]!

[Focus] and [Coordination] suffering 25% reduction. Effects will continue until you reach dry land or drown.

Warning!

Drowning may cause a phobia to develop!

“Stroke!” Awesome Jr. took over shouting for the group. We tried to row in unison but weren’t making enough progress. I took a moment then hurled up half a sandwich that Beth had prepared. The others were speaking and I didn’t fully register.

Our vessel kept on moving and none of the others seemed to be doing that great. I glanced behind me to see the smaller girls. Both were pale looking. SweetPea was hunched over and kept reaching for the knitted hood. Xin looked bored despite a lack of color in her face.

The game world felt disconnected. I took a breath and got a mouthful of sea splash instead, and my skin grew goosebumps. I spit out water and kept rowing. My body coughed constantly which caused already tired muscles to clench. Getting out of the ARC and stretching would help but there was no time for such a task. We were on a time limit, and I would ride out the rest of this insanity until the problem was solved or I drowned.

“Gee, are you okay?” Xin asked from behind me.

I nodded then pulled again, trying to stay in time with the others. My head felt heavy and chest hurt. Each stroke of the paddles ground against dried hands. It would have taken too long to adapt [Morrigu’s Gift], and I wasn’t used to holding other objects in my grip.

“Stroke!” Came the yell again.

My arms pumped once more to get the paddle through. HotPants' ability to march into an island forest and come out with solid oars felt worth admiring. Too bad she hadn’t made a better boat, but that probably would have taken far longer. They were doing better than my personal trade skills. All I knew was sleight of hand involving a deck of cards.

The sky was clear above but every muscle burned. Sweat dripped into my eyes. Awesome Jr. yelled out for more pulls so I kept trying to focus on the timing. Though our world was digital I still felt out of breath and both palms hurt.

“You don’t look well.” Xin said in front of me. I shook my head then lifted the oar up and cranked it forward.

“I feel weird.” I responded.

“Use your legs! Pull with your entire body! Stroke!” The teen captain shouted.

We were almost somewhere. I lifted my head and saw town come into sight. Wyl next to me gasped then pulled harder than expected. Our course veered to the right along a beach that I had once sent SweetPea to clean. A wave of energy washed over me and I screwed up the timing. Our boat started to tilt even further off course while HotPants cursed a storm next to me.

“Straighten us out!” Awesome said sitting across from Wyl. It took him, Shadow, and HotPants to balance out Wyl and I. Part of me felt proud but I didn’t look like a muscled man. Hermes as an Avatar was fit but athletic rather than bulky.

We drove the vessel into another shore's sandy beach. I pulled the oars back twice more before it registered. Thirty minutes of hellish rowing had been long enough to almost miss the sensation. Both hands gripped upon the wooden oar hard enough to turn knuckles white. My chest ached from the exertion.

“Gee, you should take a break.” Xin said in a low voice.

I shook my head then tried to stand up. One hand slipped and hit bone on the ship's edge. Numbness rushed up one arm robbing me of more than tingles. My character should have been in far better shape than this. Maybe the different style of exercise hit harder than expected. Small boxes off to the side cited a stat increase, my first in ages.

“What do you call him Gee?” SweetPea asked while getting out of the vessel. She lost footing and Awesome Jr. rushed behind the young woman.

“It’s from her dad,” Beth answered for us while exiting. Her legs looked unsteady as well. “He said that Grant looked like a government gee man just after high school. It kind of stuck.”

“Dad did not like him.” Xin sighed then frowned for a moment. I lifted my head and stared at her. Maybe it was stupid love-struck emotions surfacing after so long apart. Part of me worried that she might vanish if I blinked for too long or dared go to sleep.

“He still hates me.” I muttered after another deep breath. The man blamed me for Xin’s passing, he blamed everyone. I had leftover voicemails from where he called up screaming about how I was a letdown. His little girl was dead and he’d been left all alone in a strange country, despite having lived here for almost twenty years.

Notice!

Skill Merger Demonstrated.

Skills merged: [Rowing], [Rowing [Lead]], and 100 [Brawn]

Results: Rank One Oarsman Path Unlocked!

Path Complexity: Simple

Fingers unclenched and turned over. My palms were bloody with bits of wooden shavings in them. The oar itself had clear fingerprints from where I had gripped tightly. Just rowing across the water without any correct skills had worn me down. On this end of the small shore, I had gained a Path that meant nothing unless I got on a boat again. The likelihood of that happening was low.

“Sir?” SweetPea said.

I heard the sound of heavy footsteps and felt our boat rock. Water splashed through my open toed sandals making me shiver. One leg kicked to get the liquid off.

“Captain!” HotPants' yell was much rougher as she coughed up water.

The other players rapidly ran after Wyl’s form. Their footsteps were drowned out by the sound of echoing knocks. I had confirmed through letters that knocking meant those damn shadow people programs were going to burst through soon. I groaned and reached out for Xin’s outstretched hand.

“Do you have any ideas on where to go next?” My fiancée asked.

“No.” I looked at Wyl. He was a speck in the distance running towards a city that looked terrible. The former walls around its borders were in shambles. A bright road that had gone down the coast was cracked and torn.

“Don’t push yourself,” She said. “It can be dangerous if you do.”

“I know. Hopefully following Wyl will help.” I tried to stay steady and refrained from using [Sight of Mercari]. [Blink] and [Awareness Heightening], or any ability that disoriented me would be harder to recover from.

Feedback would grow increasingly unstable the more [Arcadia] was torn apart. Advance Online was apparently suffering increasing black holes as well. Other games were lagging and people were disconnecting randomly. I had only gotten small bits of information from the Voices.

Their entire reality was going through hiccups. I hoped the higher ups in Trillium headquarters might have a button to press that would save everyone, but I doubted it. I had no idea who to contact there and find out. Per the Voices, I could only move forward and handle my own end of the process.

There wasn’t time to care. Xin knelt down by the boat and pressed a hand towards protruding skeleton bones. I pulled the last note from James out of my tunic and stared at it. The note’s contents weren’t for Xin to see, but I had to read it again. Doing so helped me feel sure there was a path through for the AIs.

Hermes,

If you had to give her up again in order to save her, would you?

-James

Answering that question had been the price for answers. Of course I would. I would give it all up to keep her existence alive. James told me of the system's instability, crashing programs, then confirmed that there seemed to be an escape route out for all of them. The doorway and key had been half programmed by William Carver plus four other people within the ARC project.

Where the path went none of the Voices knew. The data stream simply vanished off the local grid towards destinations unknown. Encrypted, blocked, routed through extra networks. Any of the reasons sounded plausible to a layman like me.

I just had to find the doorway then unlock it. In theory, live human biometrics with [Morrigu’s Gift] and Voices knew what else, were required. The Voices apparently couldn’t fake the level of data needed to brute force a doorway.

My body still felt unsteady. The [Seasickness] message had faded. The others were already running down the beach. Even SweetPea looked alarmed as she trailed after Awesome Jr.

“Your skeletons?” I crumpled the paper and hid it away. There were holes in the boat's bottom that I didn’t remember. Pools of water filled up uneven flooring where our feet had pressed down.

“They’re already all packed away.” She patted the robe then turned towards the city.

The beach went on for a ways. Even as William Carver I had never ventured that far from town proper. The cliffside where Selene’s temple sat was visible in the distance.

“How are your legs?” I asked.

“Why don’t you catch me and find out?” She smiled.

Her legs were great but I couldn’t turn down a request like that. Xin ran off laughing and I chased after her again. We both stumbled across the sand and I marveled at how simple life felt for that brief moment. Her laughter filled my ears, loud at times, quiet giggles at others.

I charged faster, intent on catching the woman. She looked back over a shoulder and gave a wide smile.

“Slowpoke!” Xin said.

“Oh yeah?” I had [Light Body] and high physical stats. Catching her only required enough [Coordination] not to fall on my rear or twist an ankle. A few moments of real effort was enough to sweep her up.

“Gee!” She shouted while going into the air. “Ahhh!”

These robes looked thick but felt delightfully thin. With one hand I confirmed the legs underneath were well toned. Being close to her made my head swim. Fists playfully banged on my back but I felt comfortable ignoring them.

I carried her forth feeling practically cave man. Xin’s body was the perfect size for being slung over one shoulder. Given a choice, I would find a hotel room then calmly explain to the tiny woman exactly how much I had missed her over the years. There were probably a few good ways to get the point across without using words.

“I can’t see where we’re going!” She shouted at me.

I refused to let go then ran us the last few yards. Everything was going to be alright. The Voices had a way out and all I needed to do was find it. Xin plus every other digital person would be safe somehow. It would all be fine.

My delight faded upon seeing the other side of [Haven Valley]’s walls. Once again the delight of Xin had distracted me from the situation at hand. This place wasn’t in good shape. I gently set my fiancée down.

There were rows of shallow graves dug out. Blackened bits of grass filled the distance. Craters and trees were overgrown. Dead creatures more than a few days old were in the distance. Tired looking NPCs were in the process of dragging corpses around.

She looked at the same scene I did while mirth drained away from both of us. Her arm reached out for mine and clung to my side. My head shook.

“What a mess.” Xin stated.

I nodded without looking over. The whole scene made me feel sad. All those people were gone now. NPCs didn’t get a second chance in this world, not like us Travelers.

“How do you do that?” She asked.

My forehead wrinkled and I stared down at Xin. “Do what?”

“Look at me, or them, like you do.” Her fingers dug in a bit. “Like we’re all human even though you know we’re not.”

I chewed one lip and tried to figure out what answer would suffice. Could I explain that my views had changed in the last few months? Prior to being William Carver, I would never have considered AIs as real people. After staggering miles in his shoes I had come to realize how people viewed NPCs, and how they acted even when no Travelers were around.

My mouth opened a dozen times to give different answers.

“It doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters how I feel, right? And I love you.” I said.

The shorter woman’s eyes lost focus for a moment then blurred a bit. Had I told her that once during our time together? I tried to recall an occurrence but couldn’t.

“I love you.” I said again softer. “No matter what you are, or were, or aren’t.”

There was still one more mission to accomplish with regards to Xin. I had to ask a question that I felt nervous about asking despite her sharing the same memories as the first Xin. Before that, we needed to get them a measure of safety and find that doorway.

Xin nodded then said, “I love you too, Gee. Now let’s see what we’re dealing with.”

I looked in the direction Xin was pointing and saw one of the quartet members. Shadow stood at near the wall and seemed to be waiting for us. Both arms were crossed and a frown etched onto his face.

My free arm rose to wave. Shadow nodded calmly. The guy was young and managed to act patiently unoffended.

“Guys! Can anyone else heal?!” A Traveler yelled while looking around in panic. I looked over to see what the deal was.

There were rows of beds lined up near one of the sturdier walls. An army of people sat huddled under tents and half-constructed buildings. Many looked to be hurt or damaged. Locals and Travelers alike stood and argued with each other. They seemed to be trying to form a plan of sorts, or declare who was in charge.

Two factions of NPCs were in a shouting match. One side wore soft forest green and the other in sharp red and blacks. I vaguely remembered those representing kingdoms on either side of [Haven Valley]. The town was intended to be neutral, but one of those groups probably belonged to King Nero.

There were too many issues going on at once for me to absorb it right. Shadow jogged over then pointed towards one of the tents. Wyl sat inside on his knees next to a prone figure in the bed. People were babbling at him while SweetPea stood on the other side. Her hands glowed with soft white that had to be healing.

“Can you help him?” Wyl’s voice was fresh with grief. “Please help my boy. He’s all I have.”

There was a row of town guards behind Wyl that reacted a bit differently. One tucked back a lip, another shook his head. Two said nothing.

The knocking came again. I pressed a palm into my eye socket to try and relieve pressure. That made a second, possibly third set of double noises since stepping onto that island.

“We have to find Carver’s doorway. The Voices said it would be somewhere in the area where William went regularly.” I clenched my teeth as a fresh headache spiked in pain. The ARC couldn’t mute real life. I needed water and food.

Another round of knocking sounds. I shook my head back and forth in attempted denial but the sounds didn’t go away. Instead it sounded like there was an echo.

“Gee?” Xin asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t you hear it?” I asked. My mouth felt dry and breath labored.

Her head shook slowly. Xin’s hand reached for my forehead. Whatever it was didn’t satisfy her so she pressed fingers against my palm and counted. My heart beat was racing and for a moment, the world around me disconnected in a blur of static.

I saw faces, worried faces in the dark room. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people were looking at me. Xin’s face stood out there too. Then in a blink, everything fell back to normal. My eyes opened and shut repeatedly trying to trigger the vision again.

In the distance, a loud rumble started. The ground heaved and people were knocked over. I looked down expecting a bulge to form then pop like before in the chapel

“Get to safety!” I shouted. People around scrambled and Xin readied her staff while backing up.

“What is it?!” Awesome Jr. shouted.

“Another one of those shadow men!” I yelled back over a crowd which was growing mad.

“What?”

“What shadow things?” Another random Traveler asked. “Is it a quest?”

Awesome Jr. started to answer then shook his head. The knocking sounded again and I looked around for an epicenter of the earthquake. I braced both legs as the ground jarred and rolled. My [Callibur] trained stance withstood the rumbling.

“There!” Beth shouted with her eyes aglow. “There’s something over there!”

I looked at where she pointed and saw the ground forming one giant bubble. The bulging dirt pile expanded higher and higher a mile outside of town. There was a heavy pop of noise. A pointing finger topped the end of one large upwardly thrust arm. Rocks and roadside started falling into pieces as the hole about it formed.

The knocking sound came again. Next to the first popped bubble a second started to form. In mere seconds, it too had broken through the surface and started scooping bits of landscape into its abyssal circle.

There wasn’t just one of those creatures, but two. They were far enough away from town that we had time to get people out, but fighting one had been hard enough. To top it off, I still had no clue where to shove [Morrigu’s Gift] to get this doorway opened.