People were screaming all around. Mostly NPCs. The Travelers wore grim expressions or looked downright excited. Multiple people were charging by while others yelled out words in [Lithium]. So many spells going off turned the air heavy with energy.

Dusk’s urgent chirps made me turn around. I had no idea when the [Messenger’s Pet] had arrived. Two dead [Coo-Coo Rill]s were on the floor and his tail was sliding back and forth in excitement.

“I’ve got to help them!” I said towards the little guy. “We have to beat those monsters back before they swallow everything.”

Dusk’s face twisted a bit and his head shook. His mouth opened wide and I took a step back. The larger [Messenger’s Pet] wrapped teeth around my toga’s edge then pulled.

“We’ve got to stop those things!” I shouted.

“Go!” Xin was pushing me too. Three skeletons were rapidly assembling behind her as white runes burned up on her robe's hem.

I panicked. Xin couldn’t go off to fight some data deleting monster without me there. If those huge shadow people creatures were an embodiment of the system crashing then even being near one would be life threatening.

“You can’t go!” I tried not to sound desperate. One day with her wasn’t enough.

Dusk kept pulling and Xin moved closer. Her hand came up to my face and I leaned into it relishing the contact.

“It’s okay, Gee.” She said softly as her accent grew a bit stronger. “I’ll be using the minions to pull people out or shuttle supplies.”

“You won’t go near it.”

“I’m not going to risk my life if I have a choice.” She leaned in closer. Xin’s hand pulled my toga down. “Besides, we still have to catch up on our Saturday.”

Whispered words turned into a desperate kiss. I held my fiancée close with one hand around her waist and the other in silky black hair. Xin’s lips felt soft and her body like a dream. People running around us banged into me but I barely noticed.

I had Xin, and I was terrified to imagine losing her again. We separated slowly. The perfect words to part with failed to come to mind. Dusk’s weird mix between a bird chirp and cat meow broke my concentration.

“It’ll be okay. I’ll stay safe.” Xin said while putting [Wild Bill] back on my head.

“Please.” I nodded and tried to keep my voice steady.

[A Kiss For Luck] buff gained!

Seemingly random events are more likely to work in your favor until the next quest is completed or twenty four hours has elapsed.

Xin walked away first and moved without hesitation. The woman had always been mentally strong and brave. I had to be equally strong, quick, and clever. Xin and Dusk were right. I was in a unique position to understand William Carver. This time failure and partial success weren’t options.

My eyes blinked rapidly and I tried not to chew on my lips. Fingers tingled with the lingering sensation of holding her close. The taste of her sat heavy in my head.

There were times where I struggled to remember this world wasn’t real. I was a safe, sitting inside the ARC. Nothing here could hurt me beyond repair, physical pain and disorientation was transitory.

But that little woman held all my sanity in her tiny digital body. She was real, and in here. My mind flashed to James’ voice, asking me ‘what is reality anyway?’ repeatedly during that nightmare.

Dusk hopped up and down. I looked around feeling dazed while trying to find a new direction to move. William Carver’s daily routine had to be the key.

Where did I spend the most time as William Caver? His house would be the best place to start. Dayl normally escorted me home. The pastry shop was only a stop along the way. [Haven Valley Orphanage] didn’t fit since Mylia only invited him over occasionally. I didn’t know entirely what qualified as random events, but I needed to keep moving forward.

Wyl might know. Maybe he would be able to offer help.

“Wyl!” I ran towards the guard captain. He was kneeling in front of a cot and had both hands together in prayer. There were a lot of people under the tent, with a few people moving among the wounded.

Two guards stepped in my way. There was no time to deal with their issues. I simply [Blink]ed past them towards the tent’s center. [Morrigu’s Gift] was ready in one hand.

“Can you heal?” A young Traveler reacted to my new location first and pulled on my arm. “I need more healers, there’s too many wounded.”

“Hermes is a DPS build.” Awesome Jr. said to the other player. He stood behind SweetPea while his fingers worked her shoulders. The young woman looked tired but both arms glowed with healing light.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. DPS probably meant focused on harming monsters rather than being a defense, magic caster, or healer type. The label seemed wrong since I could sneak around or tank well enough with my items.

“I’m sorry. I just need to talk to Wyl.” The guards I had bypassed came running up to intercept but Wyl’s hand waved them off. He didn’t even turn to face me.

“How is he?” The captain looked up towards SweetPea.

“Mending. It’s going to take a lot to undo the stacks of curses on him. It’s a miracle he lasted this long.” She took a breath then shook both arms. The glow faded but Dayl was clearly breathing.

I stared down for a moment and tried to understand what had happened. This town was a war zone and two giant creatures were about to make it worse. Yet, there had clearly been waves of hell visited upon this place already.

Dayl’s body looked worse than Wyl ever had. Discolorations from fresh bruises were all over. Splotches of blood lay under skin in multiple places. Nearby were rags that were stained with red. Part of his ears and cheeks were torn from sharp implements.

“My boy comes from a long line of fighters. His mother was a tough one too.” Wyl shook his head then stood up. His movements were slow and gaze unfocused. “What do you need, Hermes?”

“There’s two monsters, like the one I fought. They’ll destroy any Locals in their path.” I pointed behind us. “We need all the guards to pull civilians away from them.”

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. Wyl’s eyes were coming into focus as the situation made itself apparent.

“They should already be doing so.” Wyl said while glaring at the few who stood under our tent.

I could see the guards glancing at each other. Their faces twisted with confusion and worry. Wyl didn’t say anything but after a moment all of his subordinates put fists to chests then bowed. They marched out without saying anything. Was that part of my luck, or simply things working out?

“And I need to find whatever William left behind.” I said while trying to think quickly.

“I have no idea where to look. William worked hard and said very little about himself, which you well know.” Wyl lowered his eyebrows while lips tightened.

I glanced down and scanned around the room. People’s feet were apparent but an answer to my problem was not. My next stop would be desperately running up and down William Carver’s daily path in hopes of finding an answer.

“I can do one thing for you.” Wyl said. My head jerked up in curiosity. Maybe [A Kiss For Luck] had triggered something else?

“What?” I asked.

“I will remove the brand marking you as a convict.” He pointed towards my neck. “You are no longer in King Nero’s jurisdiction, and as a high ranking member of Haven Valley it is within my power to mark your debt paid in full.”

“That would mean a lot to me.”

“You kept me alive when other Travelers would have killed me. You brought me home to my boy. You gave an old friend a warrior's death.” Wyl took another deep breath followed by a calm exhale. “And if your story is to be believed, you fight for the safety of all of us. I could not in good conscious allow you to be known as a criminal.”

There were other people in the room but none of them spoke up. Awesome Jr. stood in the background giving me a thumbs up. His goofy grin ruined what felt like an awe inspiring moment.

Wyl reached out to one side. His hand landed on a pile of clothes along with a sheathed sword.

“By the trust placed in me as an upstanding member of Haven Valley, I judge Hermes’ debt to society paid in full.” He said while holding the small badge. Wyl’s head shook briefly and he set the badge down. “If it ever existed. Damn Nero for taking me away from home.”

Current [Criminal] value: 0

[Criminal] effect removed.

[Convict Brand] rendered inert.

“Thank you.” I said while trying to remain placid.

Part of me had been worried about running across another one of those binding stones or whatever was used to keep [Criminal]s in line. My next task required running around town and there could have been one near the old guard post, or anywhere in town. Now there was no need to be concerned.

“Thank me by finding whatever Carver left behind.”

“I will.” I nodded to Wyl again and tried not to feel overwhelmed by the kindness. While the [Convict Brand] hadn’t hurt me much, it felt good to have my actions acknowledged.

“Hermes!” Awesome Jr. shouted as I turned to leave. “I’ll get the other Travelers to fight those creatures. If you can nearly solo one, I’m sure a mess of us can take down two.”

My head shook and eyebrows went wide. It hadn’t occurred to me that we had an army of Travelers who were probably all skilled in some regard. “Don’t let yourself fall into that pit.”

“Of course not, based on what you’ve said we don’t know if that might be game over or not.” The teen shrugged.

“What?” The boyish looking Traveler that had been begging for healers asked.

They could sort it out. I waved goodbye to Awesome Jr. Now that the [Convict] status was removed I could freely send messages. A flood of icons displayed on my screen as people talked.

Thorny: Uncle Grant! We’re going to try and hold this one back!

Hermes: Be careful! And don’t let Xin near it!

Thorny: Of course not. Believe it or not I actually paid attention to your story.

One cheek came up in a slight smile. Beth sounded carefree a lot of the time but she managed to prioritize correctly. Part of me still expected her to be a little girl asking me to play games.

I looked around trying to figure out which way to go. It had been almost a year of game time since my quest in [Haven Valley].

“Hey!” A young man shouted. The familiar person's voice cracked from puberty's onset. “Need a ride?”

I looked over. There was a shiny looking metal contraption with round wheels. Behind it sat a cart with worn but comfortable looking cushions. Atop the seat was a grumpy youth wearing loose clothes with a hole in one knee.

“Neat!” I ran over. “Yes, Voices above. I need to get to Carver’s house!”

Hitching a ride would let me save my stamina and energy. I could run around quickly but would probably be lost too. Most of the city had been on William Carver’s map, but all the old landmarks looked to be half destroyed.

“Seven copper.” The young man said.

“I don’t have any money.” I said while struggling to remember his name.

“Rides aren’t free, and you don’t look like a freshie.”

The attitude finalized my guess. He had grown a bit recently and the clothes on him were a step up from before. My mouth flattened and I felt old annoyance pass through me.

“Help or go away, Phil!” I grumped. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat in its original cane form and I used it to bop Phil.

He tried to duck away but took a light rap on the head. Phil rubbed the sore spot while glaring at me.

“Jeez. You’re just like the old man, what are you, his son or something? Plus you got the lizard. At least I think it’s ‘im. Though the last one was smaller.”

“People grow up.” I said.

“Ain’t that the truth, Mister.” Phil’s feet kicked the bicycle pedals around. The chain link spun and rattled.

I wanted to bop him once more. Doing it as William Carver took too much work but my Hermes body was faster by far. Dusk clacked his jaws then started running off down the road.

“No time, follow Dusk!” I leapt into the back of Phil’s cart and pointed.

“Voices.” Phil grumbled but went anyway.

He moved the carriage swiftly past Travelers and Locals alike. People were talking and pointing in the distance. Guards were trying to get people moving.

I looked around the town as Phil drove. This place looked terrible. The bakery stall where I had purchased a number of goods was in pieces. Cobblestones were uprooted or shattered. The trees which used to branch overhead lacing together to shade walkways had been burned in places.

“What happened here?” I muttered.

“Monsters have been going haywire. Them Travelers can’t even make it five feet out the door without a pack of critters showing up.”

“But there’s no monsters right now?” We passed by a lot of buildings that looked war torn but nothing leapt in our direction.

“The guards just fought the last wave off this morning.” Phil grunted while pedaling. I looked at his legs, they had put on a lot of muscle. “The littles are out scraping a few coins together for food and trying to do repairs in between.”

“Damn.” Both eyes closed briefly. Mother’s systems were definitely breaking down. The monster spawning system that kept players entertained during their wanderings might be triggering uncontrollably.

Thorny: You’ll never believe who’s here! Jesus it’s like one of those movies. It’s –

Beth’s message cut off. I typed back but got no response. Her character should still be alive or messages wouldn’t go through. I assumed combat caught her off guard.

“We’re here, Mister.”

“I’m Hermes. Can you help me check inside? I need to find a hidden secret.”

“I dunno. No one’s been inside since the Geezer passed away. I don’t think we can even get in.” Phil said while getting off the bike. He put up the kickstand and let the weight rest.

Getting into the small cottage hadn’t occurred to me. William Carver used to have a key but that might be gone. I didn’t know exactly what happened to his body after death. Wait, I could probably use [Morrigu’s Gift] to get in.

I walked down the short stone path to the doorway. William’s home looked untouched by the war around it. [Morrigu’s Gift] came up and I tried to remember the feel of that key.

“Whoa! How did you do that?” Phil exclaimed.

My eyes opened and in one hand sat a black version of William’s house key. I hadn’t even gotten that far into my mental imagery. Laughter escaped while my head shook. This wasn’t a shape I had impressed upon the weapon. The old man must have forgotten his key enough to use [Morrigu’s Gift] instead.

I opened the door slowly. Objects were piled all around the room. Dust had gathered in huge quantities. The trash can we put old cupcake wrappers in stank fiercely. Dusk nosed around.

“Don’t get distracted!” I snapped at him. “Find whatever William left behind.”

“What are you looking for?”

“I don’t know, Phil. Anything unusual. Something special.” I prayed the answer would be obvious if we saw it.

Books came down from shelves. No secret doors opened up. I flipped past pages and double checked journals for new mystical pages. None of it worked. Phil walked around but looked as lost as I was.

William’s house rocked under the force of a huge explosion. Books fell down and haphazard piles of already searched goods turned into a mess.

“I’m going to look!” Phil sounded excited. He slammed the door on the way out.

“There’s nothing here!” I exclaimed in annoyance.

Dusk huffed once then nosed around again. This marked his fourth lap through the house and so far nothing had turned up. If a [Messenger’s Pet] couldn’t figure it out, then maybe the answer wasn’t here. I looked around once more then hustled outside.

.

“Look! They’re fighting a huge monster!” Phil was pointing in the distance. There were still two of the giants roaring and fighting an army of players. I squinted but couldn’t make out anyone specific.

“Phil, listen. Where else would William have hidden something?”

“I dunno.” Phil thumbed to a cliff overlooking town. On the ledge above was a white building with columns running up the side. “Not at the temple, he hated Selene.”

“Okay. That’s something. Maybe at the orphanage?”

The young male raised his eyebrow at me then shook his head. “Nah. He only came over at night to tell stories, ain’t nothing we can hide there anyway. Too many littles.”

“The beach?” I asked.

“Maybe. He sat there all the time. Always fiddling with that cane of his. Though that one never changed shape like your stick.” Phil pointed.

“Maybe.” I had nowhere else to go and couldn’t remember another locale in [Haven Valley] where William went as himself. My time had been filled with visiting the training school for new fighters, but that was me trying to learn how to swing a blade.

“Let me guess, you need a ride and still don’t have money?”

I smiled. “You got it.”

Dusk ran out of the house and took to the air. His body quickly grew smaller in the distance. He seemed to be headed towards the battlefield.

I frowned for a moment. Xin was out there, and I had no way to contact my fiancée. Not with the game mechanics.

Hermes: Beth? Are you okay?

Thorny: Super busy! Aunt Xin is fine! Have you found the whatever?

Hermes: Ok. Thank you. No. Dusk is coming, I think.

Thorny: k

The conversation didn’t really help me. That large creature seemed to be ignoring most of the damage headed its way. Either they got tougher or bigger or had more health. I resisted standing in Phil’s cart to get a better vantage point.

“Move people!” Phil shouted but no one paid attention.

We had stalled out near the market place. There were Travelers busy arguing with Locals over the price of goods. Our carriage was too big to get by and rubble blocked other nearby paths. I couldn’t wait for Phil to figure out the way through.

“Thanks! I’ll go ahead!” I jumped down and gave Phil a pat on the shoulder.

“That’s fourteen copper, Mister!” The young orphan yelled behind me.

Risking [Blink]’s disorientation wasn’t worth it yet. I felt certain that the solution existed somewhere on that beach. It was the first place I had seen upon coming to [Arcadia]. The old man had spent endless afternoons sitting on the bench staring at a sunset.

Was it because he felt struck by nature's beauty, or because he had been planting some sort of program there?

[Light Body] made me feel like a speed dart zipping through a crowd of slow people. Almost like being a [Red Imp] again and relishing speed. I enjoyed the rush of moving past people. Travelers and Locals cried out as my form shot through.

The marketplace disappeared behind me. Blocks of vaguely familiar territory passed by. A path up to Selene’s temple was ignored. Two corners later and I saw the circular bricked flooring where new travelers had started.

I took a breath as the feeling of coming back to the beginning hit me. Ahead lay the bench William Carver used to haunt, waiting for new players to arrive. Near the bench was a statue of a man sitting down, arms around his knees. Its chiseled form faced towards a still ocean. At its side was a giant sword and a familiar [Messenger’s Pet]. Dusk hadn’t gone towards the monsters like I thought, but instead made it to the statue before I did.

“William?” I questioned Dusk.

The small [Messenger’s Pet] nodded then hopped over. After two laps around the bench and statue sitting nearby I felt clueless. There was nothing on it that blinked, flashed, or looked like a keyhole.

I stood behind and studied each part of the body. [Morrigu’s Gift] was represented here. William Carver’s simple robe garb sat a bit tighter on a more idealized version of the old man. His hand held up towards the sky seemed out of place.

“Is this the statue William told me about?” I muttered. In my mind there sat a faint memory of our time together in the Room of Trials. He mentioned a statue being put up in his honor.

His bench was empty. My last trip here had involved being nearsighted and old, but it shone with life. The place where new players started felt dull in comparison to its prior vibrancy.

I stared at the tall carving but didn’t understand how this might help. My eyes ran up the arm and saw how it might catch the setting sun if only for a moment. Nightfall wasn’t upon us yet, but the image would be picturesque on a internet ad if Trillium allowed them.

To the right of William Carver’s outstretched hand sat an out of place black dot. I squinted then stepped in closer. The dot didn’t move or fly about like a normal object in the sky. This spot felt both within arm’s reach and a million miles away.

“This has to be it.”

Dusk circled around the statue's base letting out noises. His head tilted with confusion and question marks appeared in the thought bubble. His nostrils flared then an exclamation mark showed up. He climbed up the statue's side to get a closer look at the floating hole.

I walked around once more and noticed that the odd hole in the sky didn’t exist from every angle. The best place to see it was right behind William Carver’s statue, and even then I had to look in one spot specifically.

Was this part of [A Kiss For Luck]? I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that this spot was the solution, and not a doomsday device or crazy spell trap planted by insane Travelers.

Hermes: I think I found it, Beth, gonna try to trigger it.

Thorny: Be careful! We’re still alive but this thing isn’t going down like the last ones! People are saying those getting pulled in are vanishing from friend and guild lists!

That confirmed part of my worries. Falling in there certainly did function as a deletion of our avatars at the least. Who knew if any of them would have other issues. What kind of brain damage might result?

There would be a time for this musing later.

“Damn. Okay, here goes nothing.” I looked at [Morrigu’s Gift]. It sat in the shape of a key to William Carver’s house. With no better ideas I stuck it towards the floating keyhole.

Abrupt resistance surprised me. The keyhole did exist somehow, floating in the air. I wiggled the tip and managed to get [Morrigu’s Gift] to enter the hole.

The air clicked and a visible wave rippled outward. Everything slowed down. My breath felt delayed like [Awareness Heightening] but even more intense. The giant creature a mile away sat to my right, frozen with both arms balled into fists and raised. Dozens of tiny Travelers were locked in various poses. A bright star of light went still mid gleam.

Pain twisted in my chest and both legs gave out. Knees crashed to the ground while fingers clenched around the transformed blade. The key started to heat up and a message displayed. I turned to look at the system prompt while both eyes watered.

Cypher accepted

Authorized account registered

[Deletion Script] currently running

Adjusting program…

Adjusting program…

Warning!

Please do not move your avatar from current port or disconnect terminal during update. Progress may be lost.

Around me everything went white and the world resumed motion once more. Noise blended together around me. Fresh pain surged up both arms and I tried to hold on.