Ahead sat a wall of creatures. There were at least a billion. Pretty much every single monster that had ever existed in the history of Continue Online sat up there. They fought each other. They fought [World Eater]s, and still the tide came downward. We were looking at every single remaining creature in the world slowly converging upon the one safe port in a storm.

“They’re all low ranks, mostly. A ton of them. A metric ass ton of monsters.” My niece’s eyes glowed a soft yellow. Thorny had her [Far Sight] skill up and running. “They’re stampeding.

“Why are they all here?” SweetPea asked. She and the other four stood with us on a corner of the wall facing outward, it extended in a curve all around the city. To the west sat Carver’s beach. Behind us, in the middle, was the [Save Yourself] portal.

Multiple other players used the same skill. My own talents were pretty limited in regards to such distances. Most people with eyesight enhancements had [Scout] or [Archer] abilities. [Sight of Mercari] didn’t reach miles out so staring at an oncoming pile of monsters was the only option.

“Survival.” Xin looked at the crowd ahead. Her eyes didn’t glow either. “They want to live.”

There might be an alternate method out of this madness. Half a million mobs would easily overpower this crowd of ten thousand. Even more, players had started lining up to escape, leaving the orderly filing to their autopilots. Not many were willing to suffer simulated pain, deletion, and watching their friends get offed for an event.

“Can we let them through?” I asked. The real enemy lay behind them anyway. Remaining calm in the face of such a mess would be impossible. This mess felt worse than the [Wayfarer Seven] against the [Knuckle Dragger]. A ton of NPCs all charging against players.

“No, they’ll kill us too, and we won’t be able to come back fast enough to win.” Awesome Jr. rubbed his face while staring at the crowd.

“Can’t the Voices change anything?” Thorny asked. “You’re friendly enough, maybe they can bend the rules a bit.”

My head shook, but Xin actually answered. “Most are gone already, others are dead,” she said with a dry voice. “Plus they didn’t make the world. We, they’re limited.”

We, Xin said. As if my wife was part Voice. The [Mistborn] warned me a long time ago. Bringing her into the game world would be like releasing a newborn Voice. They had huge amounts of power but were also limited upon the face of [Arcadia].

My wife’s recent acquisition of King Nero’s spirit scared me. Binding an NPC to her character might very well be within the realm of possibility for her abilities, but what if she could do more? Or break the game?

My mind flashed back on Doctor Litt’s words. He asked me prior to our last meeting if there had been a bad guy to my princess rescuing quest. It felt weird to consider that Commander Strongarm, or Queenshand, was a vague sort of bad guy. Her loyalty to King Nero had caused a lot of this to happen, my failure caused the triggering of [NPC Conspiracy] that had made the AI issue more visible and directly related to the game falling apart.

Yet, Mother ultimately had set all of this up. She had letters being sent out. To me, that meant we were following a plan. Letting myself feel conflicted now wouldn’t help.

The tasks in front of me were all that mattered. Defend the beam of light, remove any obstacles, keep Xin alive. Moral crisis and philosophical quandaries were for later. The doors to my home were locked, even from Liz. She could beat on the door forever and still be stuck outside.

The rolling ball of self-destroying monsters came ever close. The ocean surged on one side. Boat’s sat in the harbor. Mountains of trees wiggled and ice slid downward. They were at least twenty minutes away, which in real world time was hardly anything at all. A sneeze, or bathroom break. That’s all that remained.

“Attention!” someone’s powerful booming voice shook me. My head, along with a dozen other people’s nearby, turned toward the source. A bald looking man stood up on one of the ramparts shouting at the crowd. There were players from all sorts of groups there, but mostly Shazam’s guild.

“Alright, ladies! Here are the orders! No time for looting, kill anything coming toward the gate! Keep them fighting each other and stay alive!” he shouted. “This is our Ragnarok. This is our end of days. This is our final battle!”

Others repeated his words further down to a huge crowd of players. The members of [Valhalla Knights] went absolutely insane cheering. People banged shields and stomped their feet. Shazam herself faced away from the crowd. She stared at the rushing tide of monsters with a sword in hand and shining armor equipped.

“Know that by standing here today, you have proven yourself worthy of being remembered!” the orator yelled. His name didn’t come to mind, only the attempts at keeping sharpened teeth covered. “Your bravery for risking these lives we’ve built shall never be forgotten!”

He threw up both arms and people cheered again. Many were suffering in-game alcoholic after effects from last night’s party. People in the crowd swayed. Lightning and other special effects were cast around.

“You may prepare for battle in your way, but our guild has its own, people of Valhalla Knights, join me and let our cries rouse the warrior spirits of those who willingly stand by our side!”

Our group approached carefully. Everyone held a weapon. Fantasy fighters stood shoulder to shoulder with people wearing capes and spandex. One man wielded a huge bow that looked like an oddly mixed piece of living tree with a science fiction handle.

“We hewed with the brand!” three hundred people shouted in unison with arms pumping in the air. Their voices were like thunder over the crowd. People jumped away.

“Full gladly will we go!” A dozen people stood upon a mile of wall and shouted back to their guild members. Still Shazam stood, staring and unmoving.

“We hewed with the brand!” the guild members screamed even louder the second time. Their words didn’t sound like actual English. They weren’t [Lithium] or any other familiar language.

“Before cold death we brave do not flee!” the man said. It took me forever to remember that Urgot was his name.

Their chant went on, and by the fifth one everyone shook the area. One city, thousands of remaining players from multiple games, all joined together in a mantra that made no sense. Our noise easily drowned out the slew of monsters which streamed down the hill.

Hermes: What does that mean?

Shazam: We fought with the sword, joined together in battle.

Hermes: That’s intense.

Shazam: They fight for the right to be remembered by the gods and carried away to Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.

Hermes: Do they know? About how you returned?

Shazam: No.

The words of our private messages sat in front of me. Shazam’s face remained without expression toward the rushing monsters. Their stampede thundered in the background. Even the football stadium of chanting couldn’t drown out the impending onslaught.

“We hewed with the brand!” the crowd shouted. Their words were even more in sync. My skin tingled as the words hit me. Valhalla was a Norse myth, which might have been the hint of other language being sent across the ARC perceptions. We truly were about to enter a fight to be remembered by the gods.

“Laughing gladly will we die!” Urgot shouted. The people of [Valhalla Knights] started to laugh in giant forced booms of noise.

Shazam’s voice cut through the crowd. Her words a harsh stuttering bark of noise. “Show your resolve to the Voices! Let them not doubt our bravery!”

By the Voices, people listened. [Valhalla Knights] ran through gateways out of the town. They streamed forward in a senseless number against the horde. Hundreds of players took stances up on top of the battlements. People readied their weapons.

“I don’t have anything that can reach that far,” Xin said.

“I do!” Beth pulled out her sword and took a careful stance. She began slashing at the air. [Lithium] words along with slashes into the air started forming together spell circles.

My niece wasn’t alone in this action. Tons of people were readying long-range abilities. A dozen heroes flew overhead. People with super speed blurred through. Small floating platforms that looked like Advance Online ships moved out with more casters sitting atop them.

Shazam’s tall tanned form was far in the lead. Light gleamed off of every ounce of armor. Her legs wrapped around the monstrous horse’s sides while she wielded two smaller blades. I typed out a message to the woman riding away.

Hermes: Don’t die out there.

Shazam: I shall live my last on my terms. That is the point, it is our choice what happens in this life. Death does not scare me.

Hermes: Well, it’s my choice to be worried for you. I watched you die once, I’d rather not do it again.

Shazam: Rest assured; I do not intend to pass willingly. A true warrior fights death as any other enemy.

Suddenly it made sense why Shazam was the best on the server. Her skills didn’t come purely from an Ultimate Edition or being immersed for so long, though having so much play time probably helped. The woman had fought hard in-game because of being terminal for so long. She had only this to live for. Since the game's release, she had been a screaming comet across the sky, with no idea when her life might end.

The insight into Shazam’s life left me astounded. Could a machine have predicted the factor? Did it store away some instant message conversation where a dying girl desired to overcome her physical shell and fight for immortality? Did she even care at the time? Such thoughts would only matter if we succeeded.

We had barely started and already my focus slipped. Both eyes closed and thoughts turned toward techniques for managing stress. We were playing out a long dance where one moment simply flowed into the next. Extra thought only got in the way of what needed to be done. My chest lifted slowly with a deep breath.

“Hermes!” Awesome Jr. shouted at me. My head jerked around. The young teen and his ugly green cloak stood on a floating metal vehicle along with some human looking man who wore a glowing visor. “Let’s get out there!”

Leaving the beam of light for that chaotic battlefield worried me. Many players had ventured forward without hesitation. It felt single-minded and shallow to be worried about Xin, but at the same time, we had already been separated once.

“Shouldn’t we ride this out like a siege? Or something?” I said. Combat in large masses didn’t fit into my skills.

“We can’t! In a game with spells and resurrection skills, sitting here is useless. We’ve got to whittle them down before they get to town, kill their spawners then resurrect anyone we can as we fall back! It’s all about attrition!”

SweetPea winced from his extreme volume. HotPants stood on top of the device looking nervous. Her gaze kept drifting over the edge as the vessel bobbed. Shadow wasn’t in sight, but the sneaky player was probably with his League of Shadows members, those who had survived.

“And look,” Awesome Jr. shouted while throwing an arm out in the distance. He pointed towards a mob of smoky black that could barely be seen. “World Eaters! We can’t let them get close, they’ll chew down the walls in a moment!”

That made sense. There had to be monsters that would only get stronger if we let them live, and every single beast dead out there was one less to hit our walls. I didn’t know enough of other people’s resurrection mechanics, and a host of players from other games had changed the rules around.

My wife stood beside me looking at the same scene of budding carnage. The field outside [Haven Valley] which had once been a pleasant mix of forestry, grassland, and well-paved roads in both directions, was going to turn into a bloodbath.

Fingers grasped for Xin’s. She looked up at me. “You’ve got to stay here,” I said.

“Nice try,” Xin responded. “I can help out there, and I’m not leaving you to wander the battlefield alone.”

“You can summon me if it gets rough, and we need someone to stay here in case monsters get through.”

“And you’ll need someone to resurrect you when you do something stupid like dying,” she responded in an angry whisper.

That sounded likely actually. All my stats and skills meant nothing if a monster got lucky. There was just one problem.

“But if you die, then there’s no point in fighting anymore,” my words were hushed. “I can’t handle that. Not, not after all this.” There were too many viewers watching. Controlling myself to not give away her reincarnated status was difficult.

Her barely restrained irritation with me ran into an abrupt wall. Xin’s eyes looked away for a single moment that signaled victory. My breath let out gradually in hopes that Xin would be reasonable.

The mob’s leading edge was less than a few miles away. Smaller creatures scuttled along the ground. Birds were flying overhead and nearly here. Dusk’s half meow and chirp of rage could be heard as he took the sky.

A dozen huge beams of light spiraled outward. Spells, beams, ice, fire, and arrows alike went flying. Players below were pelted by a falling army of former fliers.

“Bring her!” Awesome Jr. brought focus back to the argument at hand. “She can stay on the craft and use ranged. SweetPea will be doing the same thing, and healing, plus she can resurrect. We’ll avoid the Three Strike timer if we’re careful.”

“Dammit,” I said.

The promise of her being vaguely safe would be all Xin needed to win this. My ability to argue with her had always been terrible. Both eyes closed. We would lose ground with every second. Skills like mine were up there with Shazam’s, and we needed to be on the front line keeping monsters back. As long as none got through then we didn’t need to protect the gateway itself.

“Stay on the-” confusion made me pause. What exactly was that ship anyway? It didn’t look familiar to me.

“Exo Platform Seven R,” the visor wearing man said. Only his mouth was visible, and it curled in a frown. “It comes with a recall feature when we reach zero. So don’t worry, anyone on board will be brought back to the marker.”

“Perfectly safe,” Awesome Jr. declared. “I mean, how awesome is that? A recall-“ the teen’s words were cut off when HotPants hit him on the head with her staff.

Her lips turned in a worse scowl then before. Further arguing would be pointless. Xin glared at me, and I closed both eyes and nodded slowly. Warm hands touched the sides of my neck and slid over shoulders. Lips pressed against mine. Looking at her was impossible, letting her join us felt like failure of one of my goals.

“It’s okay, Gee, it all works out,” she whispered in my ear. My wife misspoke of course, and only wanted this all to work out.

“It’s a party now!” Thorny shouted while pushing her hands toward the floating format.

All around us a multitude of colors spun into being. Many twisted together into larger cannon like bolts of energy that arced overhead toward the monster's leading edge. They slammed into the dirt, freezing some monsters, burning others, or leaving behind green pools. Shazam’s army crashed into them.

We got on the vessel and flew out after the charging players from three different games. [Morrigu’s Gift] sat in one hand while every possible skill usage went through my mind. [Mechanical Hades Crown] could be used to empower other people prior to their passing.

Dusk was overhead somewhere and fully recovered from our earlier escape. The [Messenger’s Pet] would be able to establish his own uses. He probably intended to fight every flying monster then establish dominance over the skies.

“Hang on!” the man driving warned us. “If you’ve got a preference, better tell me now!” His fingers slid along the top of glowing orbs and spread wide. They tilted toward the front end and our vessel tilted. HotPants hit the floor with a wild look in her eyes.

We made it halfway to the spearhead that Shazam had formed. Xin was casting down bone bolts while Beth charged up smaller spells. SweetPea hung out over the edge, one hand upon her hoodie, the other outstretched with a blue glow of healing. We were trying to find places to be useful and weren’t the only ones mobile. Dozens of players were moving rapidly through the crowd. A man in powerful looking armor with a huge hammer swung at dense concentrations of monsters.

People ahead were already using [Recall] scrolls or homing beacons. A few players screamed for heals from various sources.

There was a thud as part of the mountain top far away moved. Huge, shadowy black wings unfurled. There was a [World Eater] dragon out there, of all creatures to be represented. The huge black dragon let out a roar that carried for miles. Players looked up in worry. Shazam’s bright glow in the battlefield changed course toward the winged serpent. Regular monsters were important, but against them, it was more about survival tactics. [World Eater]s were another issue.

“We’ve got to remove that now before it flies over the town! A fully grown dragon’s rating is at least thirty-five! It takes an army on average to take one down!” Thorny shouted while slashing the air. Lights spiraled into a flock of birds circling overhead.

A second roar came from behind us and people started panicking. We turned to see a huge blue dragon flying straight for the other one. Which each pump of wings the air around us vibrated. One of the superhero players shot up a laser beam which weakly brushed off the creature’s side.

“That’s one of ours!” Awesome Jr. yelled at them. “Get the word out! Don’t hurt the blue one!”

“Is that...” my words drifted off in wonder. She was brighter than last time. Muscles were more defined and the female dragon’s body wove through the air like a dancer.

“That’s Mylia alright,” HotPants said. “There’s a woman who knows what’s what.”

The red warrior woman put her pinkies between both lips and gave a piercing whistle. Mylia opened her mouth and roared back, much softer. One of the giant dragon claws descended to grab HotPants’ outstretched staff. The redhead vanished from our vehicle in a sudden whoosh. A red aura rapidly grew in strength around the blonde’s body.

“Yeeeehaaaaaaaaw!” she yelled. Her face bordered between terror and delight. Two ships, fighter jets of some sort, flew overhead and launched missiles at the dragon.

“And there she goes,” Awesome Jr. said. Mylia gave two powerful beats of her wing and soared another mile into the distance, straight toward the black dragon.

There were too many conflicts going on. We had no one place to help out. The giant dragon sounded like a good bet. My mouth opened to utter a request but the hovering ship rocked. Scales brushed against me and we all readied for assault.

[Morrigu’s Gift] was pulled back as the newest passenger became obvious. Scales brushed against uncovered skin on my leg as the [Messenger’s Pet] demanded attention. Dusk started chirping urgently before his feet even settled. The hovercraft’s driver looked around in worry but managed to keep us stable.

“Slow down, I don’t understand when you talk that fast!” I told Dusk. Understanding him based on noises alone was rough enough, only months of traveling together gave me any idea.

Pictures rapidly formed. There were two sets of wings fighting against one. A picture of him growing two sizes flashed next. Then next to the big version of Dusk was a pile of cupcakes with an equals sign.

“What?”

The images repeated. Xin's free hand gripped mine. She started chanting while I tried to sort out what Dusk wanted.

“You want me to make you bigger? To fight the World Eater dragon?” The message started to make sense. “And it’s worth that many cupcakes to you?”

He nodded immediately, chirped then hopped up and down causing our ship to rock. This vessel wasn’t that stable to begin with, we were essentially in a round flying motorboat. His gyrations caused the man up front to complain.

“You need to escape before the rebound hits,” I warned the [Messenger’s Pet]. Being [Empowered] twice would certainly beef him up, and would last longer if he stretched out his other abilities. “Can you do that?”

Dusk nodded then shook his head back and forth. His body rolled with a shrug and his thought bubble formed a smiley face.

“You need to be safe, okay?” Dusk had nearly died once before, or at least he seemed to during Advance Online. If we were playing a normal game, then worry would be pointless.

He wanted to fight the big black [World Eater] dragon. Voices above, I thought, this was all going to go sideways. Siege warfare and large-scale battles weren’t anywhere in my skills.

“Do it!” Awesome Jr. waved me. “We need all the heavy hitters on that dragon! It’s the biggest thing out here!”

The words rolled forth in a whisper. Chanting [Lithium] in front of Xin felt silly. She probably understood, as did SweetPea, the nonsense coming out of my mouth. Polishing armor like a future shoe shine boy sounded far more attractive. I pushed past the dislike and spoke the phrase again.

Small gray lights streaked across toward the black and gold companion. Dusk’s size doubled, tripled, and continued to grow. The ship tilted again as the [Messenger’s Pet] tried to fly away but fell to the ground instead. His wings didn’t expand in time. Bushes were demolished as he landed on his back. A dozen monsters were pinned underneath, and many died right away, their health bars quickly reducing to zero.

[Blink] got me down on the ground. [Morrigu’s Gift] shifted rapidly as both legs twisted. The huge blade sliced across an enraged beast’s face. Slobber and blood washed my face as its head separated. I kept twirling. Skeletons landed beside me in a clatter of bone. They assembled themselves promptly and started fighting.

My pseudodragon friend rolled over and got all four legs under himself. He spread wings wide and knocked over nearby Travelers and monsters alike with a sweep of his tail. Both wings beat against the ground and powerful hind legs propelled his body into the air.

“Good luck,” I whispered after his dwindling form.

“Get back up here, Hermes!” Awesome Jr. hung over the ship's edge and waved. “SweetPea and I have to get over to the main army and start ressing people!”

Shadow: It’s a mess out here. We’re down six people. Four recalled, two aren’t checking in.

Shazam: Seventeen down, three recalled, all accounted for. Healers are behind.

SweetPea: I’m trying…there’s… so many…I’ve managed to get ten people back up…but mana…

Awesome Jr.: I’ve got potions for days, so we’re trying, but it’s about to get worse. Look west and tell me we’re not in deep shit now.

“What the hell?” Xin asked while panting. One of her arms brought up the robe’s hem to wipe off a trail of sweat. Skeleton monsters were busy clearing out low ranked creatures beneath us, but my wife gazed elsewhere.

My vision found the only possible event she could be talking about. In the far western distance, near the beach's shore, was an absolutely huge creature. It looked big enough to be a [Leviathan]. A starship fighting monster with mollusks, or other sea creatures growing in droves, had beached itself in order to take down huge portions of the monster army.

“That’s the sea serpent! That’s the one I told you about, Uncle Grant!” My niece started squealing like a school girl while twisting back and forth. She hopped up and down. “I never thought I would see it again!”

Awesome Jr.’s jaw dropped. SweetPea pulled her hoodie down a bit and peeked out from a mop of hair, in her other hand was an ugly blue potion. Even Xin looked taken aback by my niece’s sudden fan girl excitement over the giant sea monster.

“There are people on top of it,” our driver said. “Do you want me to go that way?”

“There’s an army on top of it,” Xin said dryly. She tilted her head back toward me. “And I thought you did crazy stuff. Look, they’ve got hooks on it.”

“It’s just like a movie!” Thorny stood on the platform's edge causing our precarious balance to slowly shift in one direction. She clearly wanted to be over there where the giant sea monster was laying waste.

“Neat,” I said. “How did they get that under control?”

“Hold on, I’ll ask.” Awesome Jr. was frowning and staring into space. His hands kept moving, pulling potion after potion out of the air and shoving them toward our spell casting trio. Both girls kept casting while HotPants clutched the vessel’s top.

“Apparently they rescued its eggs and got to the portal with them.” Awesome Jr.’s hand slowly dropped down and his jaw hung open. Drool formed along his chin then was wiped away. “That’s an awesome idea.”

The knowledge that not everyone solved problems with violence made me happy. At least one other person out there tried to talk out their problems. What sort of quest could that have been, to go out into the ocean on a ship while the game collapsed and negotiate with a sea serpent?

Three huge winged creatures fought on one side of the field. The sea creature absolutely dominated the western path. Shazam’s group tore down the middle, while heroes of all three game worlds were scattered around.

We flew to another spot and started murdering monsters, clearing a small pocket in the tide. Two pinned down Travelers, or Old Souls since they looked to be from Advanced Online, were saved. We rescued a lot but lost others. Still, the tide continued to approach [Haven Valley]. Hours passed in-game and the walls were suffering damage. I lost sight of the three dragon creatures, and the sea serpent to the west moved sluggishly.

Awesome Jr. stood up from his potion station and shouted, “Wait! My dad’s coming across the mountains!”

“Wasn’t he here already?” I asked. Awesome had been left behind a week or two ago in [Itrainstoomuch]. They should have completed the journey by now, or [Recall]ed back.

“Northeast! Get us northeast!”

The ship flew quickly across the sky, skimming over a chaotic battlefield. Travelers thinned out as monster numbers started to increase. Even out here were signs of our enemies fighting each other as they came down the mountain pass. Their numbers appeared endless.

A thin beam of light came straight up from the ground and swiftly grew in size. The ship turned sideways as the growing blue beam tore into the ship’s side. Our engine sparked as electricity crackled across the vessel's bow. We fell from the sky.

“Who’s firing that blue beam?” Awesome Jr. shouted.

Deep inside the beam's source felt obvious. A nearly identical light had killed me at least once before. Nam Redrum and that weapon’s owner fit into the same category. My niece was a good player, but she might not be able to last against Android Seven if it was the same man who had almost completely dominated my [Convict] adventures.

A third blast hit our vessel's front end. My niece couldn’t hold on. She fell forward off the ship.

“Recall out of here!” I yelled at the other’s while jumping off. The ship, along with SweetPea, Xin, and Awesome Jr. was engulfed in a crackling bubble of lightning. My wife’s mouth hung open in a half completed scream. Then they shrunk into a swirl and popped out of existence.

[Blink] one got me next to Beth. She was chanting [Lithium] to slow down but there were a ton of other beams coming at us. We tried to aim for the caravan Awesome Jr. had been leading us to.

Our landing fell short. Thorny grabbed onto a tree for support which caused me to lose my grip along with any grace at landing. Once again I hit the ground and bits of my health bar dropped.

My niece already had her sword out, slashing at monsters diving nearby. Her sword cut single lines in the air that hung like rainbow colored scars. I got both weapons ready then hacked at other creatures assaulting us. [Coo-Coo Rill]s were charging by in droves, fighting along with what looked like large lemurs.

“Uncle Grant?” Beth said while trying to create a safe zone.

“Yeah, Munchkin?” I said while backing toward her. There were too many monsters nearby and all of them looked angry.

“When I said we should play together, this isn’t what I meant.”

A blue glow formed in the distance. I had time to see Android Seven’s face light up between the trees. His face looked far less human and more robotic than it ever had. Like something out of a science fiction movie with rogue cyborgs.

The beasts kept attacking, us, each other, and the straggling band of player killers nearby. An arm wrapped around Thorny. She grunted as the air went out from her lungs. One foot pushed off a diving boar’s head. Its face went down while we went up. Once at the apex, we [Blink]ed again toward Awesome’s convoy.