What had been peaceful seeming floating energy above each building changed as we traveled through the town. One of the four went haywire. Calamity’s face turned white before she started explaining what it meant. The colors and violence of the energy would apparently increase the longer people fought the boss without dying.

Fortunately, it was only one such building that had shifted to a new orange color. The other three were a peaceful dull red that became easier to see as the sky darkened with heavy clouds. Xin and I marched forth while the former town members slowly followed.

The town itself sat ravaged from repeated attacks. Sights of players fighting amid formerly whole buildings could be seen everywhere. Sword marks, explosive scorches, vines which crumbled walls. Broken traps plus filled pitfalls littered the streets and areas between buildings. Near the center of their city, some buildings still stood tall. Zip lines came off three story drops to the ground along with beams passing overhead.

“Was I wrong?” I mused while we dashed through the near ruins. My voice stayed low in order to avoid attracting attention from any [World Eater]s that might be around. Something had left small holes all over the buildings.

“About what?” Xin asked, equally hushed. Other players tromped along behind us. They would attract danger, if any arrived. The town seemed empty aside from the increasing violent orange which flickered from the far left building.

The question hadn’t been intended to utter out loud. There was no retracting the thought so I took a breath then finished. “Wanting to enjoy our honeymoon. Was it wrong to spend time doing that instead of trying to find these keys sooner?”

Ahead of us the light of the active building shifted to an emerald green. The change distracted me. Xin paused too and we both waited to see what the color change meant.

“Phase three,” Dwight said loudly from behind us. “Someone in there is trying hard. It’ll get worse on four, and god help them if they make it to five.”

I shook my head. We could have easily shown up sooner to form a better plan of attack. We might have been able to prevent this place from turning into a woodland version of [Haven Valley]’s absolute mess. I certainly felt guilty over the unintended consequence. How many digital beings could have been rescued by finding another key? A month of whiling away the hours with Xin passed in a blink while the game crumbled around us. If felt like we had been slow dancing in a burning building.

“I’m a little biased, but no. I don’t think so,” Xin said quietly as we finally stopped our approach entirely. “If I understand right the Voices could send anybody they chose after the last pieces, then any one of five people could have unlocked the gateway. They don’t need you that much, I think.”

“But you don’t know for sure,” I said while trying to take everything in.

The edge of town opened up into a clearing. Everything surrounding the four larger buildings looked to have been demolished, burned, or reduced to ash. Energy lashes spilled off the roof then slammed into the ground like whips, or waves crashing aground.

“I don't know everything. I’m only human, Gee.” She winced then looked away briefly. “Mostly. I feel human.”

“You’re alive, babe, don’t doubt that,” I said quietly then tried to make a joke. “Even if you went from a sexy space pilot to a brooding necromancer.”

Xin had taken a few more steps forward to look at the destructive scene in front of us. Three skeletons stood ready to defend us from the energy arcing off. I wrapped both arms around her while keeping quiet.

“Hey!” Xee shouted at us. “Hecate, Hermes, what the hell are you two doing?!” She used our character names. The other Travelers probably had an [Identification] skill like mine.

I let go of Xin then turned to see this town's leaders standing near each other. Despite their apparent feud earlier they were comfortable enough to be close. Everyone else bunched in around them. They looked like a gaggle of fully grown school children afraid of shadows.

“Jesus Christ. Haven’t you heard of sneaking?” the man next to her said. Dwight looked uncomfortable walking in all that plate. He had far more weight than I did, and it showed in his face and chubby fingers.

“Really, idiot?” Xee said while shoving her hand in Dwight’s face. “Hey, we need to camp before trying to go in there! Some of our people are going to logout and handle real life. We can’t all be no lifers like you.” The woman stomped closer.

Xin’s trio of skeletons approached with large serrated blades. They stood between the sweating townsfolk and us. I put a hand calmly onto my wife’s shoulder which caused a brief shuffle of bone and Xin’s robe to ripple as she flinched.

“It’s okay. They’re just tired.” I whispered to her. Scanning the crowd made the problem obvious. None of these people were high-end players. They were probably closer to what I would be without William Carver’s legacy, or being pushed by the Voices and Shazam. Average, confused, and probably scrambling for the [Save Yourself] feature.

“If you want to take a break, you can. I’m going to go in there and hopefully find Awesome,” I said while lifting a hand toward the distance. One of the domes glowed a bright emerald intertwined with a new thread of deep violet.

The colors had to signify something with the fight. I didn’t know what, though, and couldn’t see a simple way of walking in. The energy might have been a design to keep people back during the boss fight, but then why had the town been built close enough to suffer feedback?

“In the dome is a broken Sage’s Guardian. Its got to be fighting someone, but no one we know has ever beaten one. Our only saving grace is they’ve been bound to the domes,” Dwight said.

That sent a line of possibilities through me. If these bosses were part of a legacy item or key, then beating them would be a good goal. Awesome hopefully was in there too, which meant he either stumbled into this place or had guidance.

“You don’t need to go in, and fighting them is stupid,” Xee said. “They react to some trigger words, but it only makes the fight harder. This idiot kept hoping to find the right words and make them into mounts.”

Dwight shuffled while speaking. “You didn’t need to tell them that. And we don’t know if they’re going to steal them from us.”

A few people behind him were rapidly typing out words onto their personal interface keyboards. People’s eyes looked at nothing while reading, then others would respond with more air gestures. They were likely talking within the guild about us.

“So, why are you here?” Dwight puffed up and tried to look demanding. His eyes went wide and focused on something behind me. I shifted to one side and saw the dome

The earth trembled as the dome we had been headed to shifted colors. Green changed and contained a thread of purple which lashed off against the ground. Dirt sprayed into the air showering broken buildings with new decorations. I shook my head.

“I’m here for a quest!” My voice barely made it past the sound of crashing. “And I don’t think there’s time to explain it!”

“Phase four! Whoever’s in there is really pushing the guardians!” Calamity stood nearby with her two axes at the ready. She was one of the few people actively looking around besides me.

“But there’s more domes!” I didn’t understand this boss event and it appeared to be going downhill quickly. We had one going haywire and I had a feeling the others would be worse.

“Yeah! The fourth dome is half broken too! Those World Eaters had destroyed one boss' shackles, so we tried to manually lock it up! Two’s the one going haywire!” Xee shouted while pointing in turn at each building.

I took a breath and readied myself. Sitting out here wouldn’t do any good.

“Anything from Awesome?” I asked my wife.

Her head shook while both eyebrows wrinkled together. Seeing her frown upset me. This place would only get worse.

“You’ve got to stay here,” I told Xin while looking around.

Xin ignored me. She normally did when I made this kind of statement. [World Eater]s were a threat to her entire existence. Like other Locals, she would lose pieces of herself upon being eaten, or pulled into their pits, or whatever gimmick the [World Eater] in question used.

My chest heaved with a sigh but I didn’t argue anymore. She had given me an earful on the subject more than once over the last month. We were in this together, despite my preference.

Travelers bunched up behind us. Some eyed the sky. A single clap of thunder preceded the sky letting down all the water it could carry. In unison, a dozen players opened slick looking umbrellas that were huge. Xin and I just stared blankly.

The weather was easy enough to ignore after our month of traveling. I scanned through the growing sheet of water to figure out this town. There had to be more to this stupid boss than four domes with big ugly monsters inside. For instance, where was all that power coming from? Continue Online had rules for its events, even if they made no sense at first.

“What are those?” I pointed along the city roads. Covered up by rubble were large black bundles that were at least three feet thick.

“Grounding wires, we think.” Xee pushed back a strand of clumpy, sweaty hair.

“Did nobody tell him about the grounding wires?” The player with huge thick glasses threw up his hands. He grumbled while stomping large plastic boots then started pointing at guild members. “We need to get them working again to drain the charges. We can avoid the fight that way.”

“But then those things attack. It’s easier just to let the boss power down after the party inside is wiped,” the plate wearing man said.

“No, we can’t resurrect those with a third strike. So people we need may be gone from the game forever. And what about your Locals? You’re just going to let them die?” I started ranting. Dwight annoyed me and the casual disregard for other people’s lives only made it worse. He only cared about these Sage’s Guardian devices.

“All the locals left already. They packed up the minute the event started.” Calamity wrinkled her nose and looked around with me. She, unlike the others, was intent upon figuring out a way through this.

I sat down on the dirt then started scrawling out the summoning circle for Dusk. Hours of practice had solidified my ability to form this one circle without Continue Online holding my hand. We didn’t have time to waste and needed the extra manpower.

Summoning Dusk had turned into a last resort of sorts. My hesitation involved worrying about the [World Eater]s. Even a [Messenger’s Pet] could be deleted in a scuffle gone wrong. I tried to protect Xin and Dusk, but they were both strong willed and didn’t care about my wants.

The other Travelers kept conversing while I summoned Dusk by quietly whispering, “How about a cake instead?”

“If we get the lines connected we can drain out the arcs.” TockDoc and four other players were busy hefting the large black cords into different positions. I stared at the lines briefly and could see them stretching from each dome toward the city’s center. “That will let us approach, or better yet, let those inside find a way to escape.”

Golden light flashed brightly in front of me. Two people dropped what they were doing and reached for weapons. As the glare faded I could see both Xee and Dwight holding out crudely made weapons in my direction. It made me thank my lucky stars that William Carver had seen something in me. Not just because of Xin or [Morrigu’s Gift] being part of saving her.

A panting [Messenger’s Pet] sat in front of me. He looked like a giant black cat whose tongue lolled out to one side. Wings and scales broke up the illusion of being Mister Sniffles the Second. I rubbed under his chin and scratched the space above Dusk’s eyelids. He purred then chirped once in happiness.

“Cake comes after we get Awesome to safety. Do you think you can help with that?” I whispered then pointed toward the arcing dome.

Dusk’s head tilted to one side. A single chirp escaped and his head bobbed in a nod. The small beast opened his mouth wide to yawn afterward. I took that to mean yes, and it was so easy he felt bored already. Being out in this weather felt annoying. Dusk ran abnormally hot despite the chill of rain. Bits of steam floated off his dog sized form.

“There’s probably something to fight in there. A big monster who is killing other Travelers.” I nodded as water dripped down my face.

That perked him up. One ear tilted forward and a chat bubble of question marks appeared up above. I often worried that the [Messenger’s Pet] might be crazy, attacking rodents and [Leviathan]s with equal fervor.

“But if you feel like you’re in danger, come back here. I rather have you safe,” I said.

Dusk nodded. His body turned to face toward the dome. He ran forward while hopping. Each bound went further than the last. His wings swept out to the side batting at electrified air. Moments later and he was sailing toward the haywire dome. I watched while trying not to bite my nails. The [Messenger’s Pet] dodged bolts of lightning like he knew where they would be ahead of time.

A long sigh made it out. He should be safe enough. Going against those blasts would be better than fighting [World Eater]s. At least this way the dog sized dragon would probably be safer. Worst case scenario and he would end up back in the Voice’s realm. That fate was far better than risking deletion.

Multiple Travelers stared at me in confusion. Dwight’s jaw moved up and down like a gaping fish, but no question actually came out.

“Were these lines always here?” Xin asked then clarified, “Before the city?”

Her general nonchalance helped the others regain their wits. The man with seven layers of glasses nodded. He and a few others had kept working the entire time.

“Yep,” TockDoc said while directing guild members around. Once recovered, they quickly worked in unison, even those on autopilot. Clearly this task had been performed multiple times before.

As they connected the lines electric arcs started to polarize. They traveled into the large black bundles and surged through. Purple and green energy passed through changing color as it went. Travelers carrying the grounding wires would either drop the cord then wait for surges to pass, or ride out the bolts while grunting in mild pain.

I glanced down and tried to understand. Those still working even as the energy surged through had rubber looking boots on. Heavy, thick, like oversized rain goulashes. They also shimmered with a nearly white blue.

“Neat,” I said. Both the boots and entire process of connecting cables interested me.

“We’ve done this a lot. By using the lines to drain energy we can reset bosses. It helps when Dwight thinks he found some new trigger word.” TockDoc dropped the latest load and straightened his oversized glasses. “Too bad the trigger words only seem to enrage the creatures quicker.”

“That still an oddly specific setup,” Xin said for us. “Is there one to each dome? Do they all come back to the same spot?”

“That they do, but we haven’t figured out anything useful. We tried for something with the colors or looked for patterns, switches, books that explained anything. Whoever designed this was probably crazy,” he responded. “But it was convenient for power. We figured out a way to siphon off some of the drainage into enchantments for the city.”

“Seriously guys, stop telling them everything!” Dwight shouted. “We can’t trust them!”

“You saw the quest, we’re all on it now. This is our task, a unique way to contribute for the event. Help out or shut up,” Xee said. Her body jangled from the mismatched assortment of gear.

“Can you tell Awesome we’re going to try to cancel the event?” I frowned while trying to understand what was happening here. My brief explanation couldn’t possibly solve the mystery here in a few hours despite all the foreknowledge provided by living as William carver.

I don’t even think this place had been on any of the old man’s maps. Michelle must have set this place up alone some time back. Before I started playing at least. Getting the large cable set up took longer than expected. Apparently their prior battles had knocked it all out of position. I looked down to see small grooves in the ground with metal conductive points every few feet.

That also made no sense. It felt like this entire thing was a circuit board, but not one I knew. Well, they were a little familiar. I didn’t know where from, though.

“Do you hear that?” someone asked.

My ears perked up as a distant sound started to worry me. I had heard something, which only grew clearer. We all stood still for a moment while straining to hear.

“God damn this event! What bullshit are they throwing at us now?!” Xee shouted. She kicked at the ground and pulled out two really clunky looking swords. One was driven into the ground while the other came to her hand.

The odd noise grew into droning screes of noise. Hundreds of small critters poured over the walls. I knew that sound, and my neck tensed and skin crawled as a result.

“Spiders?” I asked while looking around. The patter of heavy rain made it hard to hear anything beyond bolts of lightning sliding off the haywire dome.

Dwight put his helmet on. Xee and her crew were buckling down behind half broken barricades in the area. Even TockDoc stopped his wire movement to get ready. He started setting out items that crackled with electricity onto the ground.

“No. They’re World Eaters. Look at them,” Xin said next to me.

“World Eater spiders,” I ground the words through clenched teeth. I fucking hated spiders more than anything else in this stupid game. Ever since those first ones caused me to gain a [Soiled] status, every bug had become fair game.

Xin made a small barfing sound in the back of her throat. She got over it quickly then lifted the staff crosswise in front of her. Lights flashed on the black robe as white bits of bone appeared in the air all around.

“I hate spiders!” I shouted then charged. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in along with a number of other effects tied to my bug hatred.

[Morrigu’s Echo], one of my two shapeshifting weapons, had turned into a large three-pronged trident. It soared through the air and stabbed into three of the spiders before I even registered what was happening. My distaste for all beings squirmy had reached a level of instinctual destruction.

Xin’s white bone bolts shot off a moment later and riddled the next row. Other spells and abilities triggered too but were far less effective. The horde of dark shadowy spiders barely slowed and rain kept pouring down.

I [Blink]ed into the middle and swung [Morrigu’s Gift] in a large flat circle. Bugs splatted against the sword’s flat edge like I had hit a homerun. The edge of Xin’s skeletons could be seen charging in. A pack of the bugs mobbed them and I switched targets to the new formation and bunched both legs. I bounced off one of the remaining wall ruins to get added height. It wasn’t Shazam’s level, but I worked hard to learn.

Mid air I turned. [Awareness Heightening] kept the world moving nice and slow. Xin’s body too enjoyed the shared buff. Small bone shards endlessly flew out like white bullets of death into the front row.

[Breath of Flame] caused my neck to bulge. Two small balls of fire pelted outward in rapid succession into a nasty shadow arachnid’s back. It screeched and twitched exactly how any other large spider would. The fire spread and caught a few more aflame.

A dozen of them landed on me. Their terrible little limbs made me freak out and ram into the nearest wall, squishing two. Bugs drove most sane thought from my mind. Two of Xin’s bone missiles pelted one of the shadow beasts. A bolt of lightning hit another.

People were shouting out contradicting orders. Dwight and Xee’s guild members were mostly useless. Calamity at least was hacking her way through bugs. A few could be seen chewing on building parts and trying to get to TockDoc. He huddled under a small field of electricity that fried them like a bug zapper.

They bite back!

Total Health Remaining: 80%

One foot stomped down and twisted to activate [Power Armor]. My mind bent in focus to limit the skill to only one body part, a new trick I had picked up during my honeymoon. Armor flashed into being upon my forearm and I punched one of the spiders. Two more skittered across my body. One foot went up to squish one crawling by while I swiped the air again with [Morrigu’s Gift].

My course took me to the skeleton that had also been mobbed. It stood calmly as spiders waved their stupid gross pincers and tried to chew away. I flipped [Morrigu’s Gift] into a giant hammer then brought it down. Xin’s skeleton vanished, recalled at the perfect time to leave me with a free falling clump of soon to be paste bugs.

I squished them and moved onward. Moments later Xin had formed all three skeletons into a giant one. It cleaved entire swaths at a time while I [Blink]ed around, taking glee in landing upon spiders with heavy metal boots. [Power Armor]s increased skill was super neat.

We fought off the small mob of bugs for a rapid fire five minutes. I went longer than needed making sure every single enemy had been ground into dust. Absurdly large hammers sat in either hand. They were unwieldy, but awesome when the need to squish bugs arrived.

“Clear!” Xee shouted. The confirmation rang up from others. Xin stepped up and leaned heavily upon the staff. Her skeleton monster crumbled one chunk at a time as the runes putting it together were recalled. In real life, she had been the one with tons of energy, but here in the digital world, my avatar surpassed hers.

Maybe casting spells took a lot of energy. My throat felt rough from all those balls of fire. There had been a lot more than two by the time I wrapped up. Being Rank three on the stupid ability hadn’t done much to make barfing up fire feel less awkward.

A block away the prone form of Dwight lay covered by a building wall. His armor dented awkwardly under the pressure of poorly made bricks. One of Xin’s skeleton’s worked to heft debris around and uncover the man. Xee was missing an arm and sobbed in a corner.

Losing a limb hurt like hell in this game. While the pain paled compared to real life, most people didn’t enjoy any suffering. There was a reason many people stayed craftsman or chose not to get involved with battle.

The world simply offered too many personal challenges, chances to grow, and most of all, time. No other game in an ARC even remotely came close to Continue Online’s time compression. Not Advance or Progress.

TockDoc knelt next to a body ten feet away. Metal paddles were pressed up against the other figure's chest. “Clear!” he shouted and the paddles jolted. The Traveler’s body jerked twice as smaller bolts of electricity caused a seizure.

It failed, and the player remained in a deceased status. Maybe someone from Awesome’s group would be able to help. Assuming our actions helped any of them survive. I looked up to see what was going on.

Now that the arcs of purple had died down, or been drained toward destinations unknown, people were running out of the dome a half mile away. Their bodies were a blur in the still stormy weather. A simple looking man led the way out. He assisted a limping male I didn’t recognize. They swiftly descended toward the town.

“We’re down here!” I waved. That had to be Awesome and his party. If it wasn’t, they were Travelers and could help when properly bribed by a timely system notice.

Their lead person motioned back in the distance and I stopped my exaggerated gesture. [Brawn] allowed me to lift more rocks back into place and try to shore up the walls. I expected us to need them once again.

“Did they get the wires?” I asked anyone within earshot. [Healing] wasn’t one of my player skills so I left the [Bandaging] to professionals.

“They ignore them. Every single World Eater to come through, of any kind, destroys the town and us Travelers, but ignores the wires.” Calamity hefted rocks nearby, clearing the large bulky cords like I did. Her face was covered with bites and blood dripped everywhere. Only her multicolored hair still stood out.

I looked across part of the ruined building toward Xin. She nodded. We were onto something. William Carver’s weapon was much the same. Regardless of which variant of [World Eater] we came across, their digital destruction ability didn’t function upon the important item. They were made of a different material or untargeted by these [World Eater]s. Perhaps they were a separate type of code, but how that was possible was beyond me.

Either way, these wires were the key to finding Michelle’s key, whatever shape it may take.

Awesome walked closer. With him were five of his guild members. I trusted Awesome Jr., so his father was likely a decent enough guy. He said, “You must be Hermes.”

“I am. You must be the father I keep hearing about from Awesome Jr.”

“God. Is he still doing that thing every time someone says awesome.” Awesome’s cheeks tightened up as he spoke.

“Awesome is my father?” we said in unison. I looked around, half expecting HotPants to materialize out of nowhere and hit us both in the head.

“But yeah. I’m his dad. We don’t get to play much in here together, but he’s kept me up to date during dinner,” Awesome said, his voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. Almost like a television anchor or someone who gave speeches regularly. He looked worn but managed to have a deep voice and clear enunciation.

I tilted my head briefly and tried to wipe off the leftover bits of dead shadow monsters from my toga. Thank goodness I wore black. “So you know what I’m doing here?”

“And about this whole event?” He looked around at his guild members and the Travelers who owned this town. One cheek pulled back in a tight frown then he said, “Yeah, I’m probably one of the few. But we shouldn’t talk about it while we have viewership. Needless to say, the cause we’re both working for is part of how we,” he gestured to the small gathering, “ended up here.”

“Okay.” That made life a lot easier. Trying to explain this insanity to anyone not in the know felt both dangerous and crazy. If I spouted off too much, unfriendly robots would show up at my home with a straight jacket.

“Looks like whatever you did worked, for now,” Awesome said. I saw a lot of Jr. in his father. They had the same expressions and way of speaking. Their main differences were age and a lack of the barf green cloak.

“It wasn’t my idea. The people here know how to reset the encounter.” I looked away for a moment then found his hazel eyes once again. “Anyone dead?”

“No one we can recover. There’s no resurrecting from a third strike.” Awesome shook his head. “That makes twenty-four we’ve lost since this event started. It’s a shame, most of our guild wasn’t even together when things went south. There are people I may not be able to thank in real life for their hard work.”

There were other familiar faces in the crowd of Awesome’s guild. Behind him arrived a much slower and more exhausted SheHulk. She wore heavy looking armor and a tower shield that was taller than her. Next to the shorter Hispanic woman stood a tall blonde named TinkerHell. TinkerHell smiled then waved in my direction, which earned me a glare from Xin. Elane or SheHulk, said absolutely nothing and ignored me. I wasn’t sure if that felt good or bad, but it was definitely awkward. Elane and I had failed to start a relationship after I wouldn’t shut up about my then deceased fiancée.

Only now Xin wasn’t deceased. What would that cause the small woman who was prone to violent outbursts to do? I shook my head and put the worry out of mind for now.

My breath was heavy and I felt dirty. All those bugs and stupid spiders caused my skin to crawl. One of Xee’s people said we should be clear from [World Eater]s at the moment, but I was too grossed out by what had happened to really hear the words. The Traveler implied they were only attacked when trying to drain the boss encounters energies.

“I think this is a good stopping point for me tonight. I’ve got work in the morning,” I said. Plus I needed time to think about what we had learned.

“Yeah. I’m on the east coast, so it’s way past bedtime. Real life keeps screwing up the game one.” Awesome finished his speech and looked at the rest of his small guild. He spoke while typing out a message, “Set your autopilots toward building defenses. Those with specialties or crafting should split their time, anyone below raid ready should take a break. I’ll see you all tomorrow afternoon.”

The scene was quiet enough for now. We were at a good stopping point. I needed rest, food, and to stretch. Real life needs could be postponed but never put off completely. I gave Xin a kiss. She smiled but otherwise said nothing. Dusk sniffed along the broken ruins of traps. He should be able to keep her safe if the woman kept playing here.

I got out of the ARC and stretched, feeling the ache of playing hit me hard. My days inside Continue Online’s universe were often limited due to having to deliver letters. Part of me wanted to log in forever and keep sleeping inside the machine, but that wouldn’t feed me. Plus, my mother Sharee had left an audio message.

We hadn’t talked nearly enough since dad passed away. Even in the wake of Xin and I getting married Sharee remained distant. Almost like a cousin twice removed rather than a parent. Maybe the problem fell on me. I pressed play and audio followed me around the house.

“Hey. I, wanted to see how you were doing.” Her voice was halting. “Liz and I have been, well we’ve been watching this adventure thing. She says you get points, or something if we watch? I hope it’s helping.”

I smiled while figuring out food and water.

“I wanted to tell you to be careful. The Legate men, well, they’ve always had weak hearts, in more ways than one. Your father, he tried hard to cover it up but, I used to catch him sometimes.” She took a shuddering breath. In the background papers crinkled. “War did that you know? Some guys didn’t come back the same. And I see you fighting, and part of me can’t help but think it’s a game. But it’s not, is it? I don’t think Liz or Beth really get it.”

I had the urge to call Sharee and let her know everything would be alright. Mother, the first AI who created Continue online, had promised. The pain of what might come didn’t scare me anymore. Not after Xin’s passing the first time. I wouldn’t lose her this time either. Somehow she would be alive, maybe out of reach and my life, but her body wouldn’t come home in a stupid tiny breadbox.

“You remind me a lot of him before you were born. Before he went away.” She took another breath and tried to finish up her ramble. “I see that same look in your eyes. Like, you know something’s going to happen. Just, if something does happen, call me, or your sister. God knows you two never really relied on anyone else while growing up. Your father and I, we tried to-“ Sharee drifted off again, “-I don’t know what I’m saying. Just call if you need help. Please.”

The message ended there. I sat in my front room at the one small table available and nodded, mostly to myself. Food and water were already half gone, and basic bathroom needs solved.

There were other reasons to visit reality, and I prepared to work on this other one. At my side sat a journal where moments together with Xin were being written down. Each night I tried to find time to put archaic pen and paper together in order to record our recent adventures.

It felt weird to be so calm about what might happen, but if Xin was going to be gone, I needed memories outside of the ARC. Something more personal than barely meaningful pictures on a social media site. Something to hold me together while imagining her living in a better world. Free of Earth’s growing paranoia about AIs and oppressive shackles that even now deleted entire lives.

Two drops of liquid slipped down my face then more rapidly followed. I closed both eyes and tried to steady myself. “Huh,” I said, abruptly feeling the lack of real sleep wash over me. “Weak hearts indeed.”