I came out of the [Monochrome] rainbow beam with a blind leap and [Morrigu’s Gift] in an overhead slash. Nam Redrum’s blade greeted my center but a high [Reaction] and [Awareness Heightening] kept me from skewering myself upon it. This player killer moved far too quickly for such a surprise attack.

A dozen [World Eater] spiders were jumping about, looking for easy prey to chew on. I stepped back, dug one foot in and twisted, then bashed a spider with the [Power Armor] covered fist. [Morrigu’s Echo] didn’t have enough durability.

The metal suit spiraled into being as Nam attacked again. Each summon of the armor drained my mana. His movements were as fast, maybe faster than mine. I felt overpowered and struggled to read his body language. The other player leaned into moves like any dancer might. That’s how I managed to survive this fight. Instead of watching my partner for where their body would be and working with them, I simply avoided the strikes.

“Do you think you can kill me!?” Nam Redrum shouted and backhanded my blade. Sparks came off the man’s hand but he showed no signs of being hurt.

My attacks were clearly too simple. Feints were not a skill of mine. I relied on blunt force and sheer [Brawn], which meant nothing against this player.

Still, Xin was dead and this man killed her. This was my fault. I should have been there, in front of her, taken the blade that slid into her gut. I should have never let her take that train.

“Do you think you’re the first Ultimate Edition user I’ve killed?!” He laughed with a deeply disturbing tone that only enraged me further.

Attempts at yelling back were blocked by [Mute]. Everything around me had been discovered by a chaotic looking gray. Shapes moved in the background as SheHulk, TinkerHell, and Awesome’s remaining guild tried to bring the monsters together.

“Thousands! I’ve easily racked up thousands of kills. Players, NPCs, monsters, you’re nothing compared to the best!” He kept on bragging. “Those sissies are afraid to log on now that this event puts consequences to their failures!”

Messages flashed and [Morrigu’s Gift] swung through them toward Nam Redrum. A stream of bubbles popped then sparks flew as I once again collided with his arms. They were clad in red and the skulls adorning his body glowed. Each one looked to be smiling at my failure to deal damage.

“Pathetic! All the prizes they give you people and still you can’t outweigh simple skill and dedication!” His body twisted opposite mine, behind him a trail of red and black shadows flew off. My vision swam and a message popped up telling me that I had been [Disoriented] by a mind attack.

[Morrigu’s Gift] came up too slowly. His fingers jabbed into my side. They slid in like blades and the asshole even smiled while wiggling them around. I screamed then [Blink]ed to his rear and tried to attack again. [Morrigu’s Gift] bounced off Nam’s side while those skeleton heads flared bright red again.

Both feet planted and without turning the weapon around I brought it back in for a [Hilt Slam] maneuver. The move should have caused him to be [Dazed] but instead, a skull started to fade. Both eyes lit up in hope. This Traveler was weakening, but whatever damage I did had to be tied to the skulls somehow. How exactly eluded me and I felt [Awareness Heightening] starting to fade.

Nam Redrum swung around with a growl and dove a glowing hand through the air. Red trailed after it like an eagle’s claw on fire. [Blink] was down.

I fell back and hit [Camouflage]. [Silent Threat] let me fade away despite being in combat and the other Traveler’s eyes grew confused for a moment. One hand reached for the second weapon then imagined both weapons transforming into pikes to skewer Nam Redrum. Both weapons extend rapidly toward his face. The enemy twisted between them and came down with an elbow jutting downward.

It drove into my gut and caused me to cough up blood. Muscles at my shoulder tore. Messages displayed and a small icon of my body flashed with red. This fight wasn’t going my way.

I should have trained harder. I should have bought better gear from the Auction House. Shazam would have known more skills to have and perhaps being more aggressive as a [Convict] would have given me more experience.

My health was dipping. [Power Armor] flickered into place as Nam’s body swiftly twisted to the right to slam me with his other elbow. A crack of flesh on metal caused cackling skulls to flicker again. They pressed against me uncomfortably and it felt like one of them actually nibbled at uncovered flesh.

Both weapons retracted and I turned my wrists to cut at him. Nam laughed and kneed me in the crotch and I writhed in pain. All my efforts had barely scratched him, and one remaining skull laughed in my direction.

Pain made it hard to concentrate and [Blink] away. Both weapons shifted weakly to larger blades. [Morrigu’s Gift] peeled to reveal a layer of gold, while [Morrigu’s Echo] still sat with the obsidian coloring. Nam balled up both fists and slammed them into my arm causing [Morrigu’s Gift] to drop for the first time in ages.

I struggled to get a lungful of air then let out three fast fireballs from [Breath of Fire]. Dusk’s body soared somewhere above picking off spiders that got close. I could hear the girls shouting behind me and a large clash of gears.

Nam’s eyes went wide. His head turned and I jabbed [Morrigu’s Echo] into his exposed gut. My own attack caused the remaining skull to dim completely. It chattered as whatever demonic energy fed the gruesome item faded.

[Morrigu’s Echo] drew out and I prepared to stab him again. Nam rolled off me to get away. I struggled to both feet then paused as a giant arm spike came out of nowhere and impaled Nam Redrum. Both eyes went wide and my body stumbled backward while the [Sage’s Guardian] lifted him into the air. He tried to cough something out at me. Fingers curled with red energy as he struggled to reach my confused face.

He gave up and twisted awkwardly to get a view of the creature impaling him. The spider drove two more arms forward while Nam fought off a fourth leg coming from the side. He grabbed ahold of one of the giant limbs and started crushing it with his bear hands. His body’s glow started to fade while the spider’s gears whined to a halt.

I ran for [Morrigu’s Gift] and prepared myself in case Nam Redrum managed to get away. Eventually, both creatures stopped. His jaw hung open. Every other part of his body looked to be gored by the rapid fire attacks of a dying [Sage’s Guardian]. I took a few breaths and checked their health bars with [Identification]. They were deceased. Whatever empowered the [Sage’s Guardian #4] had failed.

A sound gasp escaped. Xin’s body, there was still time. I ran over then started wildly searching. Voices help me. I couldn’t even tell where Xin had died anymore. Her body was nowhere to be found. Hands scrambled around on the ground. Knees ground into rubble. Dirt lined the floor along with a mixture of blood. Right here is where Xin had perished. I only needed to use [Binding of Hymenaios], and use its [Resurrection] ability for half my health. Triggering the item’s function simply required finding her body then touching our rings together.

Once I found her anyway, but where was she? Did a [World Eater] get her corpse? Black spiders made of solid smoke still traveled the battlefield. Even now they chewed through buildings and enemy player killers without regard. Our smaller forces were busy pushing them back toward the enemies. Dusk did most of the work.

I started to wonder if I had suffered a psychotic break. Maybe Xin’s existence had been a dream. There were other noises in the background. Almost a rush of noise like the Voices were all talking at once. It droned on while I tried to understand what they said. My head tilted back and I expected a flash of light from the sky once Mother decided to shut them up.

Instead, I only heard the faint sound of mechanical laughing. It filled my head as teeth ground together. One hand started to reach for menu options in order to bring up my friends list. Maybe she released to the [Bind] point.

Her name was online. I stood up and started to run toward the town. My hopeful charge towards the [Bind] point halted. Nam Redrum stood, alive and well, over the body of a dead [Sage’s Guardian]. He kicked it and crushed small [World Eater] spiders.

I looked, and there was another player in the back casting [Resurrection] spells over and over. Another raider appeared next to the person in the rear, with a flash of green energy. They were all at around half health. Nam’s head looked in my direction. He snarled and squished more enemies.

With each bug’s death, the skulls on his body started glowing a bit more. Two skulls were already full. A third started to light up as Nam Redrum offed his own team members who were crippled and took down [World Eater] spiders. The final piece of his ability clicked in my head. He charged up skills by killing creatures.

The person recently resurrected died as a pillar of bone jutted through the air. I felt a daze come over me that wasn’t inspired by any ARC skill being used. Dozens of other gnarled spikes appeared all over the battlefield. Only one player I knew used bone that sun-bleached white.

My eyes drifted across searching for her instead of worrying about Nam. There, Xin sat hidden behind SheHulk’s giant shield. All three ladies looked ragged. My wife’s health bar sat at one hundred percent.

Breath sucked in as I realized what must have happened. [Howard’s Phylactery], a ring I had given her because of worry, triggered. Relief washed over me making the pain in my shoulders feel absent. Its ability to restore health upon reaching zero proved to be invaluable. Both eyes closed and I sent out a silent prayer of thanks to the Voices and Shazam.

Nam apparently felt he was charged up enough. My own health sat at a quarter bar. [Leadership] didn’t regenerate enough. The large skull adorned man gave a battle cry then rushed in my direction. Skeleton bones faded from the people they held.

I put up both weapons to block the sudden attack. [Barricade] activated and my body resisted giving way.

“You think you can win?!” Nam Redrum shouted in my face. “I’ll just be back, and I’ll see you scrubbed from this event like all the other losers!”

The white pieces were assembling together behind Nam. I nodded then hit [Blink] again. Both weapons went into one hand and changed to simple three foot long bars. I landed and quickly slid them over his neck then pulled.

Something crunched. He strained to get out. Our [Brawn] levels were almost even. Everything else might be physically the same, our only differences were experience, skills, and items. He had partially charged abilities, and I had [Immovable Object]. My health bar drained while both Morrigu weapons sat locked like iron bars across his neck. I heaved to lift Nam back so that neither foot could find purchase.

His face bulged. My voice was still [Mute] and I could only hope my intent was clear. Nam’s feet kicked violently in the air and I yanked the bars tighter, strangling him. His health showed no signs of giving out before my arms failed.

I was willing to trust my wife. She would know what to do next. Her giant skeleton was already formed and stalking this way. By taking us both out and controlling their [Resurrection] caster we would win. The exchange would be simple.

Sure enough, Xin’s giant white skeleton came up behind us and swung. The ARC visual sent pain through every piece of my body and the world spun. Nam Redrum’s head popped off along with my own.

A gurgled sound escaped as we both sailed. Wind rushed through my hair and I almost felt like this was a simple hang gliding event. We landed and dirt tore across skin. I hoped his ARC showed him my gloating face as he lost. The darkness overwrote everything else and I was left staring at a message while rubbing my chest.

You have died!

Part of my brain freaked out. My wife had just killed me without even putting a second thought into. Or maybe she had, I couldn’t tell. She had certainly performed a feat that would be beyond me.

[Resurrection] came fast. I looked around at the scene before me. Two [Sage’s Guardian]s were deceased. A few dozen [World Eater] spiders roamed the city of [ItRainsTooMuch]. Their bodies seemed distracted in the rain. Some tilted their heads back like they were trying to devour the drops.

Xin’s body hugged mine before the light fully faded. She looked upset and had plenty of reason. The world had returned to normal color and I felt able to speak.

“Is he still able to play?” I asked with a scratchy voice. The man had led an army that put us through rapid paced hell and we needed to make sure this was over.

[Sight of Mercari] made me dizzy to use. Awesome stood to one side with two prisoners. One was a [Resurrection] spamming player. The woman next to him looked dizzy and upset. She responded first while sighing. “He only has one strike. No matter what you do, he’ll be back for his tokens.”

No, then if that were the case we would solve this now. Nam Redrum needed to die, but that had to come by the [World Eater]s. Not a gear operated spider, or a brick falling from the sky. Accidental damage and dumb luck, a sacrifice ploy, none of it mattered if this person who relished killing other Travelers was intent upon stalking us.

And he had been. Clearly the man had some weird fixation upon me.

“Then you need to resurrect him,” I said while eyeing the [World Eater]s. We only needed to arrange a proper death.

“They can res him, but he probably won’t accept.” Awesome stood nearby and looked exhausted. One of his arms dripped blood and the shirt had been torn clean through. “They have people watching over video feeds like we do. We control the field, it’s not safe for him to come back, so why would he?”

“Bring him back.” I tried to remain calm while speaking to the enemy group members.

The man’s head shook in a panic.

“Do it.” Good threats escaped me. These people had to charge down here knowing their virtual bodies might die. The fact that none of them logged out felt weird, but maybe they were playing it safe.

“Your friend’s right. It’s a waste of time. He won’t resurrect until you’re all gone. Why should he?” The man shrugged as if my threats and desires meant nothing. “But whatever, it’s not like any of us give a shit.”

How messed up was this? With the new viewing mechanics, anyone could be watching us online. They could share with their in-game friends what was happening. People could be hunted down. Others had probably fed players to the [World Eater]s just like we did. Execution for past debts and digital sins.

There had to be a way to end this once and for all. Dusk barfed fireballs at [World Eater]s who ventured too close. Staring at the [Messenger’s Pet] reminded me that there were ways around game mechanics if one had access. I could perform some tricks despite having used all three [NPC Conspiracy] abilities. Especially since this idea would keep Xin safe from a madman who would probably seek revenge.

How long would it take me to get to the van? A few minutes? Two, in reality, would be eight in-game, give or take a few. The battlefield was under control, SheHulk and TinkerHell were cleaning up monsters and resurrecting their clan members. I pondered my actions while reports of those getting their [Third Strike] came back. Even [Resurrection] skills didn’t save people after they hit number three.

“Herd the World Eaters together!” I shouted to the others. Then whispered softly to Xin, “Wait here.”

Logging out washed my senses with home. The air was still and unmoving. My real body felt sluggish. Our rush of combat had come quickly after little sleep. There wasn’t time for more than a restroom, bar, and drink in rapid succession. Dizziness threatened to pull me down with every step.

Once in the Trillium van, I crossed a moral line. Nam Redrum’s Continue Online account was active. According to my feed, he idled in the player afterlife checking an internet messaging board. While he looked away I used my admin access to auto accept resurrections.

I logged back in quickly enough to see a stupefied version of Nam Redrum. His skulls were all missing their red glowing inner light. Whatever empowerments he had were gone and we could strike before the man recovered.

Xin already had him at her mercy. Two skeletons pinned him down with serrated bone blades in both arms. With no chance to build up kills, Mister Redrum had no real power. His two remaining team members, Awesome’s hostages, were staring with confusion and gaping mouths.

“What? I didn’t accept that!” he shouted while twisting in pain. “Hacks! You’ve cheated god dammit! I’m reporting this!”

“Did you cheat?” Awesome asked while wrinkling his forehead.

I shrugged.

“Just die, you waste of air,” Xin said, her pale face snarled. We stood near a few straggler spiders that hadn’t been cleared up. SheHulk and the others were driving them back but not killing. Others were too busy eating corpses of raiders that had dared attack [ItRainsTooMuch].

Her skeletons joined forces and tipped over the edge with Nam Redrum. He tried to brute force his way out then yelled as a pack of [World Eater] spiders leapt at him. Their little jaws took the offered meal and left Xin and me alone as the player screamed. [Brawn] meant nothing as his body started losing functionality from deletion.

SheHulk stared without blinking. TinkerHell turned away and looked green. I began to wonder exactly what these girls had been through in real life to let them turn out in such a way. Did the game harden them, or were they willing to draw the line in a different place?

Xin and I stared as the man writhed in pain. Both eyes blinked while I tried to figure out how I felt about such viciousness. The first two times Nam Redrum had died were in the throes of battle. We could claim self-defense and a chaotic battlefield.

The third time involved no such lofty stance. We forced him to resurrect then fed his character to [World Eater]s for deletion. I shook with both worry for my moral compass and relief that such a vile player couldn’t bother anyone again. Maybe this would serve as a warning to others. How many more days, or weeks could this virtual world last at this rate?

Heat struck my chest. I fumbled absently for the [Messenger’s Tube] then uncorked one end. The lack of a wax seal meant this letter had been intended for me.

Hermes,,

Too late you show the resolution to do what must be done. Poor little puppet, if only you had understood sooner, we wouldn’t be in the mess.

: )

The parchment was torn to shreds. Judgment from the Jester, of all Voices, felt disturbing. It wasn’t wrong, but at the same time, I drew my moral line in a different spot than the mask wearing Voice. Besides, the Jester’s original request of me had been to kill Requiem, what good could that have done anyone?

Dusk landed then started chasing stray spiders. He looked utterly happy until he saw Nam Redrum’s chewed form. The player still hadn’t logged out and nearly half his body had Swiss cheese holes from [World Eater]s. Pain apparently did not deter him from spending the last few moments staring at us with hatred.

I wondered what that might be like, then shook my head. Our two remaining hostages froze in fear. I gestured to the pile and Awesome proved only too happy to shove them in. None of us liked player killers. They at least could log out instantly, choosing to suffer a quiet deletion rather than whatever hell Nam Redrum stayed in.

For a moment, I reflected on the irony. We didn’t like people who sought to fight other players, yet here the lot of us sat forcing permanent deletion upon people. How long had Nam Redrum played Continue Online for? A year? Four years? Since release? We had effectively undone years of his life and left him nothing but memories of pain.

Finally, Nam popped out completely. His suffering form was no longer stable enough to support a real character. I swallowed once as a question occurred to me. With my death, all the player tokens were gone, transferred to Xin.

“How many Great Cleansing tokens did he have?” I asked.

“I haven’t looked at who gave me which ones, but I have over seven thousand now,” Xin said dryly. Her head shook with disgust.

My head joined hers in disapproval. Each token was a player who had suffered. Each one gathered by other player killers during the course of this event. I didn’t feel upset about the action anymore. We had vindicated some of those people who suffered player deaths at these people’s hands. Players who had chosen to be rampaging monsters as the servers went down.

Xin’s body shook worse than mine. I looked over and saw a forming bruise along with tatters to the robe. One cheek tucked back as I reached to touch the wound. “Did it hurt?”

“Death doesn’t hurt.” Her head shook. “Not really. Pain only comes when you’re alive. Trying to survive despite death calling, that hurts. I didn’t have to suffer long.”

I stared at the broken players below and wondered if perhaps it might be possible to resurrect them again to further their suffering, but thought better of it, plus they could log out and avoid the harm. At some point, we had to let these past conflicts go. Nam Redrum thought of this entire world as a game. Too many people did. We didn’t, but neither of us was exactly wrong.

The town had been in ruins, then demolished, and now it looked like a flattened wasteland. Guts hung everywhere. Dead bodies from Travelers were starting to quickly decay. [World Eater] spiders screeched and died in droves.

Xin’s hands waved and the skeletons which had impaled Nam Redrum for the spiders started to fade, what few remained anyway. In their place, smaller skeletons were formed. They fought back the [World Eater]s and gave us room to breathe.

I walked over to the dead [Sage’s Guardian] and tried to figure out what everyone else had been searching for. There didn’t seem to be any player loot. No one else showed happy faces at receiving rare gear.

“What’s this?” I asked while limping forward. Inside the dead [Sage’s Guardian] were a number of loose leaf pages. How had the others missed this?

“What’s what?” Xin asked as I lifted up the pieces of paper. Touching them caused blackened pages to sparkle with gold borders. “Weird, and neat. Where did you see that?”

Everything hurt as I bent over to get more pieces. A small stack of pages joined the first. Small numbers were on the bottom right giving me an order to shuffle through. “They were just lying here,” I responded.

We staggered to a bench. My shoulder leaned heavily upon Xin’s. Xin looked as bad as I felt, which probably meant I looked a mess. She seemed oblivious to what was in my hands. As if her eyes couldn’t parse any words out of the jumbled letters.

“Can you read them? They look like gibberish to me,” Xin finally asked.

My head bobbed. The handwriting was shaky. I tried to remember the name of those who we sought. William Carver had been one person who held a key, and in this area should be another. Hopefully, the [Sage’s Guardian]s played into it.

The journal name shown looked familiar but I couldn’t draw a connection yet. This person, M. Shell, liked to interject other lines upon the first. Seeing scrawled notes jammed into the sidelines of his paper both confused me and made for amusement.

I started reading it aloud while trying to put proper inflection upon the notes.

M. Shell’s Journal:

How can I explain this? The words I wrote are already no longer my own. One sentence later and the script changes to something more flowing and uses different words to convey an inaccurate meaning. This reality’s laws are taking effect in near real time.

I must admit such a feat is remarkable [I didn’t write this] , and shows how daunting my task is. Imagine that, tampering with a creature so powerful she created a bubble of existence just sideways from our own that actively rewrites what we say. Is this why Locals are never overly upset at our presence?

[Dammit!] That isn’t a proper explanation. She spun a web? It uses the invisible spider’s web? A bubble around a bubble? [Why does it obfuscate even the simplest attempts to explain?! I would think this knowledge is safe to share at this stage.]

Take my world’s spider spun webs. [Why spider webs? What nonsensical analogy is this?!] Tilt them sideways. Look between the cracks and form new words in a language we don’t know. There is where she’s hidden this world. All it would take is one single spell to bring it crashing down. And we’re trying to tamper even further. What fools are we to dare alter the very workings a being beyond the scope of sanity? […I wrote this one. We are fools.]

“Babe?” I broke from reading to see how my wife was doing.

Xin looked dazed. There were Travelers around picking over dead bodies and counting up loot. A lot dug through the two absolutely brutalized mechanical robots. Our mission of fighting them had ended in

sheer destruction of the machines.

Apparently the key had been removing them from their domes where all the enchantments wore woven in or crafted. I still didn’t understand what had happened really. Blowing up the domes probably ruined the encounter which explained why no one else had tried it. The golden goose they had been harvesting for sellable wares had been destroyed.

“Babe?” I asked again while scanning through the remaining pages for anything that stood out.

“Gee.” Xin put a hand up to her head. “Sorry. I’m tired. That, took a lot more out of me than expected. Keep reading, please?”

We had both been in a place that was uncomfortable. I looked around a few times and scanned the area. Three of Xin’s skeletons sat around us with weapons at the ready. Dusk leapt through the ruins chasing down fleeing [World Eater] spiders like they were snacks.

I wrapped an arm around Xin’s side then tried to give her a reassuring rub. She leaned inward but otherwise stared off into the distance. My own thoughts were once again drowned out while I sought wisdom from M. Shell. This had to be Michelle from Carver’s journals, and something in here would hopefully make our recently suffered madness worthwhile.

M. Shell’s Journal:

I digress. I wanted to speak of the fine line between our world’s magic and this one. It’s useful knowledge even in crafting.

It took hours to pry access out of those two, and a deal with that babbling fool Yates, but it was worth the bribery. As I craft new items it’s possible to manipulate threads of energy into the shape. Laying it out into form is almost like crafting magic in our first world. [Gods dammit!][GODS!?] Not crafting magic, laying patterns! Carving spells! [GODS, can I write nothing that would make sense?! I pity the soul who tries to make heads or tails of this!]

Never mind. Know this; intent is key. At first, we have to verbalize, move in a certain way and let the spirits [Gods, spirits? Really?] adapt to what is inside our hearts. Intent repeated over and over becomes action. Action repeated over and over becomes a pattern to who we are. It explains why the first few Travelers to arrive start weak in everything then grow. We can use this to alter the spells into a state that isn’t as easy to self-destruct. [Sadly this is almost starting to make sense][I DIDN’T WRITE THAT EITHER! STOP ADDING NOTES!]

It’s not even her doing this. The world itself is adapting. The false reality. Spider’s webs knotting together. [DAMMIT! LET ME WRITE PLAINLY.] This place is rapidly becoming a reality of its own but is still dependent upon my world’s magic to sustain itself.

If the issue is how a spell in our world might hunt down this frail spider’s web, then we need only change the silk it’s made from. The others agree, but can we complete the task in time?

The final piece of paper looked to be scrawled in a much hastier writing. I looked around again. The other Travelers were gathering further away toward the center of town.

Xin’s body hung limply next to me. She didn’t show any signs of improving despite the healing spells which were cast earlier.

“Maybe you should log out, or go back to [Haven Valley] with a scroll?” I suggested to her.

“No,” she said simply. “Keep reading, please.” Fingers wove in between mine and the dulled rainbows in our rings glinted.

I took a breath. She couldn’t leave me any more than I could abandon her. We were stuck together until the end. Both eyes threatened to water and I struggled to right myself. Smells of burning bugs were pushed out.

M. Shell’s Journal:

To whoever finds this journal, know that I, M. Shell, the greatest crafter to walk this world [HOW CONCEITED DO YOU THINK I AM!?] until the arrival of all other Travelers, am most likely dead. You may ask how, but if you can read this message for what it is, you likely already know part of the reason. Worse still, this note should only display when certain conditions are present in the world abroad.

I and a few like-minded people have tried to create contingencies in case all of reality is threatened. There’s no way to know which ones will come to fruition. I do so hope it’s not too late, and that one of these methods works.

The mental projection artifact in my home has been heavily modified and what protection Travelers are normally afforded has been removed. This was done to allow me to perform magics dangerous but needed. For the cause that you too are part of, else you could not see these papers. Our deeply laid spells have already started to affect you.[I give up on trying to write sane words]

Ironic that my love for this world and its existence is what will kill me in the end. Was that the intent? Did she choose me, Carver, or Yates because of what we might do?

You who follow in my footsteps, take heed of the price for loving a land not your own. Think heavily on the line between safety and savior. Ye god of my world[Look, now I’m writing this nonsense by choice], Yates forever spouts his poetry, but at some point, it’s fitting despite my distaste for the man. Know that these things you set your heart upon. Sooner or later must the soul destroy!

Should you already have made up your mind, seek Yates and Carver. [Or just Yates if you risk his insanity. Carver’s already paid a heavy price in our testing and I know not how much is left of the man.]

“Over here!” TockDoc yelled in my direction. “That door is open!”

Dwight had survived the mess somehow and was waving clanking metal arms to shush the man with giant rubber boots. My wife and I looked at each other. One eyebrow went up which caused Xin to shrug. We slowly stood up then hobbled over.