Sleep hadn’t come so today’s work was canceled. Instead, I logged into the ARC to at least feel useful. Xin and I huddled on the third story of a ruined Inn. One hand held up a large umbrella which blocked some rain. An overhang of the damaged building handled the rest.

Rocks around us threatened to tumble. Travelers below were moving objects around in the direction of what few guild members remained online. From what I gathered, they placed traps and tried to remove hiding spaces.

“I’ve been trying to find the words for this, to explain it and not sound crazy,” Xin said quietly.

I knew exactly what she meant but didn’t want to speak. Exhaustion from the real world, both physical and mental, laced my digital avatar. Plus holding her was very comfortable. We didn’t need to talk if she didn’t want to.

“I remember the train crash,” she said, barely getting the words out. I slowly rubbed up and down her goose bump riddled arm. “I remember dying. The sudden impact, a twist of metal, then my face being scraped to pieces.”

The idea of all those bits of hurt happening to Xin drained me of warmth. What remained was a weight of her body pressed against mine while I tried to process. My wife waited for a response and there were no perfect words to soothe her. I tried anyway. “You told me, in your first letter. I can’t imagine how terrible it must be to remember your own death.”

She nodded against my chest then pushed back hair behind her ear. My lie went unremarked upon. Of course I knew what her death could be like, my own brush with cessation made understanding far easier than most probably realized. The memory of sharp pain in my neck as I dug into bone and flesh still made me sweat. That kind of damage should have killed me, but medical science refused to let death claim anyone so easily.

“It got worse after I died.” She swallowed and I could feel her body press closer to mine. “I kept waking up to the same scene over and over, like a nightmare stuck on repeat, and in the end I would fall into a million pieces then start over. Can you imagine that?”

My head shook slowly. I couldn’t imagine starting over as a digital person. What would it be like to exist as a piece of software? A compilation of moments that stacked upon each other then attempted to gather values for each moment of history.

The building swayed a little and I prepared to [Blink] us to a new location, but we stayed upright. Walls were being knocked down and former buildings pushed together. A few of the Travelers who stayed behind were strong enough. SheHulk had stayed online and wore a look of glee as she destroyed buildings.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you sooner,” I said, switching my thoughts back to Xin. Her ordeal had gone on for a long time, but when did the reconstruction start? Well before I played Continue Online for sure. But did it start one day after death, ten, or a hundred? How would I have reacted to waking up and finding her on my television screen a month after the wake?

“I don’t blame you. How could you have known that all those hours in the ARC, all that testing they put me through for Mars, would lead to this? How could anyone know?” She held out fingers a short distance from us and studied the nails. I looked down to see unfocused white eyes peering out from a curtain of wet black hair. “A life after death, but instead of another planet, I got a fantasy world where I feel lost. All my pilot training is worth what? A reduction in fall damage? And infinite paper airplanes.”

She lifted a hand and a small piece of paper, already folded into plane shape, appeared. It went off the third story's side then was sent crashing to the ground from rain.

“You trained for the unexpected too.”

“Within reason, sure. We all trained for life or death situations. We ran simulations where I couldn’t tell night from day, or how long I had been inside the machine. Where we decided who died in the crew, or fought in a rigged scenario. At times, I forgot what was real.” She shuddered briefly. “Even now I wonder if I’ll wake up and find this has been another strange test.”

What the hell could anyone say to that? I completely understood but admitting my own issues wouldn’t help her. Still, we were married, and if Xin ever felt like she couldn’t find her way, then I had to do it for us. My efforts amounted to that of a fumbling idiot at best.

“Voices.” I gave a fake startled laugh. “I hope not.”

“Are you sure you’re not a dream I made up?” She looked up at me. Both her eyes were wet, it might have been the rain coming down, or something else.

“There are worse things to be than a mad dream of a wonderful woman.” I felt a touch poetic. Maybe Hal Pal had rubbed off on me. The machine took to spouting Shakespeare any time we got into the van together.

Her head shook again. We both watched as the building across from us fell to pieces when SheHulk charged through the first floor. Elane’s happily panting form could be seen easily, a bright spot of shining armor amid the rain.

Xin’s giant skeleton marched to unspoken orders. It traveled through the rubble, pushing boulders aside with an amazing demonstration of [Brawn]. Beyond them, all the four domes were lit with the calmer red and orange light rippling upwards.

“In a play I read, someone said,” my finger lifted and brought up the ARC interface. I flicked through seven different menus to reach a highlighted passage, “For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come.”

The passage went on. I found myself reading it more and more as my time advanced toward an end of this event. My mother was right, I suspected something was coming, and in its wake, I might sleep at last, and no longer wake to fears and nightmares or moments which were too sweet to last forever.

“Then, I’ll ask again, am I dreaming this?” Xin’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Maybe that’s it, that’s why everything makes sense but looks so strange. People don’t come back to life and exist as internet ghosts. Maybe I’m in a coma somewhere.”

My head shook and fingers grabbed onto hers. I had tried to make this confession a few times over the last month, or months together, depending on how time would be counted inside the ARC. “When you died out there, I tried to kill myself. Then tried again a year later. If anyone’s dreaming now, it’s me.” The umbrella wavered a bit as I gestured to the dark gloomy landscape. “This certainly isn’t Earth or even Mars like we planned, but it is a great dream. Maybe the best I’ve ever had.” Or, I thought, the best I might ever have again, but that part went unspoken.

The prior attempts at suicide were obvious, but we never directly talked about it. Even when I broke down and asked her to marry me, the open air admission hadn’t happened. Saying it now made my heart skip and hands tense a bit too hard. Xin’s face winced but she didn’t move.

“If it is a dream, then we’re in it together.” I swallowed a lump in my throat and took slow breaths, sucking in a chilled wet air.

“Hey!” Elane, SheHulk, or the tiny angry Hispanic woman depending upon how I felt at the moment, had been shouting up at us. “Hey you two! Get off that! We need to break it down for barricades!”

I didn’t want to leave yet. Not after that admission, not without hearing a response from Xin that meant everything was alright. The building rattled anyway and rocks further threatened to tumble down.

“Hurry up! We ain’t got all day for you to make out!” Elane was relentless. I leaned over slightly and could see the edge of a mace shaking upwards.

Xin was already in my arms. [Blink] went off and the world faded to a new location. A second later we were both standing below staring at a mace wielding SheHulk. She had the tower shield in front of her and dust from broken buildings marred the shine of armor.

“We’re down,” I said.

“Fucking goddamned Ultimate Edition bullshit,” Elane readied her shield while muttering. “I work my ass off,” she muttered then charged into the few supports remaining. The Hispanic woman came out the other side, all the while complaining, but it was inaudible compared to the building's crash.

Xin glanced up at me, and I shrugged. She waved a hand toward the giant skeleton and pointed at our former perch. The white creature started shoveling out a clear path. We parted a bit but still held hands. Her fingers wove tightly in between mine and the pressure made me feel better.

“Dusk!” I shouted. The [Messenger’s Pet] could be anywhere by now. My eyes scanned around for him while Elane stomped back over, muttering.

Her shoulders rolled and lifted the tower shield up then slammed it down lightly. Leftover mortar and brick fell. SheHulk’s [Endurance] had to be higher than my [Brawn], which seemed impossible, or she had some sort of [Wrecking Ball] skill which perfectly suited building destruction.

“A few fucking months of playing and somehow, just somehow he turns into a god damned teleporting ninja warrior Greek god with abs,” Elane’s words were buried under another collapse of a building.

Dusk landed nearby and started chirping at me. Xin pulled out aa cupcake and bribed the little guy to approach closer. My glutinous sidekick didn’t hesitate, eager for both the attention and more food.

“It’s bullshit!” she yelled and charged once again into what barely amounted to a building near Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] squawked and lost half his cupcake. A ball of fire blasted toward Elane which was batted away with the shield. She would soon be out of buildings to destroy.

“Are you okay, Elane?” I asked.

Her eyes narrowed at me then she raised her mace up and pointed fingers at the air. “Fucking lame horse shit!” A flash of light accompanied her body going into autopilot mode.

That version of her looked even more pissed off at the world. SheHulk’s faded pastel autopilot stomped over to the rubble and started working to clear a pathway. Rocks went flying into piles at a rapid pace.

We both stepped well away from the Hispanic woman’s avatar and looked around. Dusk trotted after Xin and purred.

“You dated her?” Xin asked me with a confused look. Her free hand scratched at my companion's head.

“Twice.” One hand rubbed at the back of my head sending water between shoulders in a river. Being in a toga with this much water felt uncomfortable, but not unbearable. “I made a bad impression, and neither of us was really in a good place to be dating.”

“She’s a bitch,” Xin said.

“She’s not really wrong, though.” The player I had been back then was nowhere near to what I was now. In nearly all aspects I had grown stronger, be it gear, abilities, or general willingness to fight. The change must have been much more obvious to Elane, who saw me only in the worst of times. “I have gained a lot, far faster than most other people might have ever done.”

My wife nodded slowly but said nothing else.

“What are we doing here anyway?” I looked around at the nearly leveled city. This place had once been a small town then was ruined under repeated attacks. Now it was like a junkyard of broken buildings.

Xin pointed into a small crowd of players. I looked around once more to take note of what everyone had been doing. Most players had logged off. A few stood guard, such as TinkerHell and Edward’s autopilot. The blonde and blue mustache twirling man were awfully close together even with their autopilots.

TockDoc looked absolutely exhausted. He waved as we walked closer. “Finally have time to help?” the man asked after a heavy sigh.

“Yah. I’m trying to figure out what we’re all doing.”

“Well, with you guys here we’ve decided to try something way, way different. Something I wanted to do months ago-” TockDoc paused to wave at one of the Travelers. He pointed at the ground where connectors were then one of the wires, “-but we couldn’t because Dwight didn’t want to risk breaking the encounter forever.”

Four people came over and heaved the bulky cable into place. They spread out from there rolling out tangles and kicked rocks out of the way. Another woman came behind with large horseshoe-shaped objects that were probably made from ruined building supports.

“Okay?” I raised an eyebrow then got distracted as light levels visibly changed. The clouds overhead had started to thin out and a sun started peeking through.

“They’re trying to get all the lines into place at once,” Xin said. “It’ll take hours to do that and make sure they’re bolted down.”

“We tried before, but they kick like a mule whenever we start an event up, so we had to reset them every time. This time, we’re going to bolt them down and bury them.” He pointed to the pathways being cleared. Under some of the rubble were thick heavy braces that looked like they might prevent the wires from getting too far.

I tried to imagine what would happen. Our wires from last time had been filled with electricity, but they were also moved during the event. Maybe it was a matter of timing.

“By the time we started really figuring out how to handle things, our resources were being split between the town and supporting our few fighters.” TockDoc pointed up the hill and started explaining in greater detail than I ever expected.

All four domes apparently had a long groove coming off of them that went to the center of town. The black connecting cables for each dome could be set into those grooves to channel energy from the fight. It drained off into a battery of sorts that they had been using to power lights and enchant gear.

Xin asked for reasons behind the mechanics. The other Traveler kept answering her questions while I glanced around. Based on their conversation any wires put in place after the fight didn’t move, but once a boss up above was trigger they all jerked and often kicked out of the grooves. Those horseshoe like bars were apparently designed to reduce the movement.

“We had a strategy, and were making good money off of it too.” He shrugged then kicked at one of the in place bars. “You see, normally starting a fight required about eight of us, who usually died eventually. But we could charge the cube, get a few enchants off, and sell those for gold at an auction. Money was steady.” TockDoc kept right on explaining.

“That sounds clever,” I said. The idea of using a boss event to make gear made sense from an economic standpoint.

“It worked great until this stupid exodus event started. Then half of us left for Haven Valley, others logged off and think they’re going to score points by arriving at the last minute. Some of us have brains. Its work now or lose it all. Dwight pushed for trying to get Guardians up top out of their domes.” TockDoc looked around and sighed. Most of the wires were coming into place, but they each stretched on for half a mile through the city.

Most of the buildings nearby looked to have been constructed with reinforcements in mind. They were probably designed to withstand the wire whacking around. I tried to figure out what came first, the barricades or the buildings built on top of it.

“Maybe they could protect us and help Haven Valley if we made it that far.” He glared at other autopilots who were piling on huge chunks of rock near the cable. His head shook back and forth. TockDoc’s eyes looked even buggier behind the glasses. “We originally thought to score points by contributing, and those things are scary enough to do so. I ain’t seen any other players make golems that could match.”

The man turned and pointed at other players. One of his hands glowed in the increasing sunlight. They were a neat device probably used to coordinate movement in rain or overcast weather. He was an odd player, with comical glasses, floppy shoes, and a glowing waving hand.

I turned to Xin, whose black cloak looked soaked from the rain. She shivered and I too felt the chill wash over me. Sunlight couldn’t come fast enough. We slid over to one side and joined Dusk in a clearer beam.

“Are you okay?” I asked in a softer repetition of my earlier question to Elane. An extra four hours in the game world was only one in real life, I felt exhausted.

“I will be. You should get some rest.”

Fingers poked at the air and brought up a clock. It was already near eight in the morning. My head swam with exhaustion but sleep had become harder to achieve since reuniting with Xin. I smiled then asked, “Did you want to join me?” Every minute with her could be another happy memory to our shared dream.

She smiled back and started looking for a clear spot. We might be able to set up the [Honeymoon Suite] at the edge of town. There were a few flat spots that led up into steep hills which encircled this valley.

“Hey! You two will want to see this!” TockDoc yelled in our direction, waving hands which glowed a dim milky white.

Thoughts of sleep went out the window. We did have a mission to complete, and learning a few more details would help us both.

I waved back to TockDoc then walked over. Water formed in puddles. Mud got into the toes of my sandals and I twisted [Gait of Bowmen] and summoned partial metal armor. Xin wore boots, proving that she had more clothing than just a black robe.

We traveled along the three-foot black cable to a hub of sorts. I lifted larger slabs then laid them on top of the grounding lines. All roads down the small city connected back to the spot just ahead. Turning back the way we came showed wrecked streets that were being cleared. Their almost straight pathways led to the opened area belonging to all four domes.

“All roads lead to Rome,” I said feeling briefly clever. Only my clothes weren’t roman, the name wasn’t either, and [Arcadia] certainly didn’t belong to a Ceaser. “Or, here, I guess.”

“So you guys spent all your time up there, and never thought this might be key to the situation somehow?” Xin asked.

“We did at first, but then we found the cube and figured that was enough. Come on, it’s down here.” TockDoc waved us forward again.

The wires led into a sharp bowl-shaped crater. Our path went down at least twenty feet until we reached the base of a large hollowed out area. I looked around trying to figure out how we missed this place. Maybe it had more to do with the fallen buildings nearby or everything else going on.

All four cords went underground and appeared to wire into broken panels which looked insanely high tech for a fantasy world. Xin’s mouth hung open as she walked around, tracing wires.

“You an electrician in real life?” TockDoc asked.

“No,” she didn’t explain further.

“Huh. Fooled me. Anyway down here is where I got most of my inspiration. You can see they’re channeling things, but it’s only vaguely like the real world. Polarities are all wrong, pieces connect together that shouldn’t.” TockDoc waved at various banks of metal. Large slabs looked like slates stolen from a quarry while other bits were clearly hammered out metal. I didn’t understand it.

“Neat,” I said but had no idea what else to make of it.

“This almost makes sense.” Xin followed a panel along the ground to the upraised pillar in the middle. At the core of this bowl-shaped basin lay cube topped podium.

“What’s that?” I pointed to one part of the wall that looked flatter than the others.

“That’s exactly why we’re down here. It’s a door, we think, but the seams are deep and we couldn’t pry it out. Chances are this whole contraption ties into it somehow.” TockDoc sighed.

“That’s suspicious. Does it open?” My wife stared at the doorway.

“We might have a way, but this could possibly let out something worse than the Sage’s Guardians. But you know the story of the golden goose?” I shook my head to TockDoc’s question. The story didn’t ring a bell. “Well, we could have cracked it open for a one-time item or maybe a monster worse than the guardians, or we could keep milking the place for energy for enchanting.”

“We’re beyond that now,” Xin said.

“Right. So once everyone’s online we’ll tackle all four Sage’s Guardian’s at once, then crack this room open. At least that’s what your quest implied. Seek the Sage’s Secrets, right?”

I shrugged. Their quest name was probably way different than mine. Still, this felt like the best bet. Maybe we were lucky that the town was in dire straits, it sounded like arriving weeks, or months ago would have gotten us nowhere. They were only opening this doorway as a last resort.

Xin and I explored the room further. Well, she explored and I sat near the doorway dozing. Rest inside the ARC was a pale imitation of rest in reality, but leaving after seeing this secret felt wrong. I needed more downtime though to try and recover.

TockDoc and Xin both sounded intent upon charging this location up. I caught pieces of their conversation where the glasses wearing Traveler boasted about his repairs. Apparently parts of his unique class features came from studying this location too. After a while, I couldn’t make out what they were talking about anymore and started to fade.

Random thoughts shot through in the haze of near sleep. Did Xin dream anymore? Did she even need to sleep? I wondered about Dusk and Jeeves. I blinked and Xin’s body in the bowl basin faded. Another version of her appeared. My body fell on the ground, with my head in Xin’s lap. Around me, people spoke in words that didn’t register correctly. My heart rate jumped and those figures faded, replaced by TockDoc speaking.

Dusk’s head tilted upwards. Either he saw a rat or something else had gone wrong. His mouth opened wide in a hiss, then the [Messenger’s Pet] ran upstairs and out of the room.

“Something’s wrong,” I said while trying to stand. My arms felt numb from the brief nap. Both legs were heavy but neither prevented me from stumbling up the stairs.

Dusk stood at the top, facing the southward cliff where Xin and I had viewed the town from before. A body fell down the hill and caught our attention. The [Messenger’s Pet] jerked his head back then hissed with a small ball flame jutting out.

Energy rushed into me as my feet backed up. We were close to the town’s starting point. Plus only a few people were acting as lookouts for monsters, not Travelers. A quick ping of the area with [Echo of Mercari] revealed a huge amount of people nearby. We were being visited by a mob of people less than a mile away, and more were arriving.

“What the hell?” I asked while staring up the hill. There were at least a hundred people standing up there and looking down. “Voices above, are those bandits?”

“Travelers,” Xin sounded disgusted. “More like raiders. Look at them, everyone single one is red.”

My wife referred to the player status bar that could show up. Upon killing another player people were often tagged in some way. We both saw them the same, as red names on the [Identification] window. The exact method of viewing another player’s information varied depending upon skills of on both sides. Some could obscure misdeeds or place in a false status.

Someone whistled and people stopped what they were doing. Travelers who were logged in started typing rapidly and punching at invisible screens. Some people arrived in town while other’s logged out. Apparently not every Traveler wanted to fight the incoming bandit army.

Awesome stepped up and put a hand above his eyes. I didn’t know when he logged back in. Yellow flashed as a [Far Sight] ability activated. Beth had done the same to see further.

“Shit.” The man’s head shook and he started equipping other items. Heavy looking shoulder pads were placed which dripped with a green glowing chain. “These guys are bad news. Their leader has his own channel online and a huge following,” he said then pointed out one arm toward a tall man who wore nothing on his chest. Instead, the other player was adorned by tiny human looking skulls which were woven in hair and his belt.

“Neat.” I had to admire the look even if it made me shake. At his side were two people in pitch black armor with long serrated blades. Behind them were all sorts of others.

“The guy with skulls, that’s Nam Redrum, he’s got at least six hundred tokens, and most of his followers have more than a hundred each. They’ve been raiding cities but I didn’t know they were this far out.”

It made no sense for the Voices to provide a quest that led any players here. My eyes went to Xin and she shook her head. Neither of us had an explanation. Maybe the Voices wanted us to kill these players or the other way around? No, it could be a coincidence.

Awesome started cursing quietly. He waved hands at other people from his guild and at least eight who remained frowned. Among the gathering people was TinkerHell, SheHulk, Edward along with many others I didn’t recognize. They all clustered together. People ate food, poured liquid down their throats, or switched out armor. One man walked around rubbing a strange smelling mix of herbs on everyone’s neck.

“Great,” SheHulk said, tilting her head sideways so the weird paste could be applied.

“We can defend, but player versus player is way different than raiding.” Awesome blinked a few times as more showed up. We were running out of time to formulate a real plan.

“No shit.” Elane glared at the group up above. I couldn’t tell their exact numbers from this far away. Some were running ahead of the main group. “Tink, ready your nukes now.”

“For the Horde!” Two absolutely huge spears sailed through the air in our direction. The man who shouted, Nam Redrum, looked beefy with about five brain cells, a million hit points, and far too many miniature skulls.

“Wrong game idiot,” SheHulk said. Her body bulged as muscles tightened into huge bunches under chainmail.

“He is rather dashing for a tool.” Edward's mustache twitched. In his hands were two long rapiers. Nearby TinkerHell started etching out runes into the ground. The enemy had at least four spellcasters who were also chanting their own [Lithium]. Red mist appeared on some of the leading enemies charging towards us.

I looked at them and readied my weapons. Xin took a step back and a crackle of bones clinking together started up. Her dress’ bottom hem flickered with white runes as each piece of skeleton formed in the air. Dusk blasted three balls of fire in their direction and I threw out two of my own.

“Come on!” Awesome’s arm rose up in the air calling his group into action. “Protect the town and drive them back!”

System Notice!

Another Traveler with high [Leadership] and [Respect] is attempting to [Lead] you. Following the commands given by this person will provide a temporary increase.

Actions adhering to the orders provided gain…

5% to all base stats

+1 Rank to Path in use

+1 Rank to skills under Rank 3

Health Regeneration is increased by 10%

The box caused me to feel confused. I had never been subjected to anyone’s [Leadership] before. Other people were suffused with a low blue glow. We were fifty against hundreds. My eyes drifted off then saw the domes behind us. I thought of another plan, a terrible one that might end our lives just as easily.

“No! Pull back! We’ll trigger the event!” My idea blurted out in a rush.

Awesome looked over at me then his eyes widened and a nod followed. He understood immediately. Triggering the event caused [World Eater]s to spawn last time, and according to TockDoc, those monsters spawned every single time a dome fired up. What better for a mess of recklessly charging player killers than monsters which might delete them?

Our side turned in unison to tactically retreat. A few of us faced the oncoming rush. I hurled [Morrigu’s Echo] rapidly into the nearest player. His eyes went wide as the spear form slammed through his shield, sending splinters flying then next turned his head to powder. My weapons were driven by an obscene amount of [Brawn] that few players could match. [Recall] brought it back in a moment with less durability.

The giant skeleton waded in with a bone ax and two players went flying before its knees were chopped out. The huge monster went down and enemy Travelers quickly reduced it to pieces. Xin launched a few of her own bone bolts. Most were brushed off, and the effect left her sweating.

White icons on her dress flashed red as the creation was broken and consequentially unsummoned. She took a breath then shook her head. I turned, taking an arrow to the shoulder and grabbing my wife. We [Blink]ed ahead with Awesome who was shouting orders.

Arrowed!

Total health Remaining: 90%

“One and two! On the left!” Awesome shouted orders. “Group three take the second one from the right! Dwight, can your people stay alive in the broken one?”

“Maybe,” Dwight said between heavy huffs. He looked ridiculous trying to run in his bright shining armor.

“Hermes! Go with SheHulk and TinkerHell!”

“Fuck no!” SheHulk yelled back. Her legs weren’t covering ground nearly fast enough.

“Shut up and do it! Hermes, you’ll need a solid tank and we’ve got enough for groups one and two.” He paused as two more spears sailed overhead along with a huge glob of earth. SheHulk turned and threw up the shield while TinkerHell ducked behind it. Another chunk of earth fell upon us.

Awesome’s two groups veered left toward the far two domes. Dwight and most of his guild members went for the third one, which had suffered untold levels of damage from [World Eater]s. Bolts sailed toward them while a few people in his group fired back.

[Awareness Heightening] kicked into effect for Xin and I. A horn slowly sounded in the distance. It brought memories of being hunted in the forest by my first human enemies. Both blades came out and formed a solid wall similar to SheHulk’s shield.

Both weapons formed into linking panels with curved bumps for my hands to grab onto. Feet braced and Xin ducked behind my shielding. [Immovable Object] drained some mana but my body remained upright. A dozen thunks of metal hit my shield.

“Go ahead!” I yelled at the women. SheHulk growled at me and TinkerHell ran along with Xin. Two figures were approaching rapidly according to [Sight of Mercari]. My shield broke apart and two large blades swung out upon unsuspecting players. One’s life bar vanished in a flash of overpowered damage. The other grunted in pain and fell back.

I [Blink]ed again to catch up with the others. Dusk soared ahead, leading the way to a fourth dome. Behind charged players who were laughing, giddy or mad with the joy of running people down. To top it off, the rain started pouring down once more.