Hecate: Gee! I’m going to summon you.

Hermes: No. Running. W/Beth.

Hermes: Almost at Awesome.

Hecate: Don’t die! Awesome Jr. is telling his father you’re coming. They’re being sieged on all sides.

Typing out a short response took me half a minute to complete. There were too many monsters nearby. More ranged attacks from clearly human players arced over us. Shouting could be heard ahead and giant mechanical constructs were coming into view. Their bodies were half obstructed by larger rhino type monsters that spit fire.

“I can run!” Beth’s voice rang in my ear. Everyone kept screaming during this entire event, struggling to be heard over the snarls and yips of random monsters.

“No,” my response was much calmer. [Awareness Heightening] kicked in full bore. We [Blink]ed again. While moving I shifted Beth’s weight so she was slung over a shoulder.

Her blade’s tip bumped into my calves. [Power Armor] automatically activated to prevent any actual damage. We tore past trees, bushes, and an endless parade of monsters toward one of the clearer patches.

For whatever reason there was a spot devoid of monsters close at hand. Once there Beth be set down, and both of us would properly be able to fight. My shoulder lowered into a football tackle. [Power Armor] once again shone, and we drove through a gaggle of ostriches with dragon heads. They ruffled their wings and feathers of iron shot at us. Another [Blink] brought us past their retaliatory attack toward the odd clearing.

“Okay, setting you down.” The world was in slow motion but my breath felt faster than ever. Beth was set down while I gauged the remaining distance. A huge convoy of mechanical spiders sat in the distance, along with the familiar faces of Awesome’s guild members. Calamity’s multicolored hair stood out.

“Uncle!” Beth’s eyes went wide. Two people suddenly appeared behind her.

There was a crunching noise that barely registered over the pack of monsters nearby. My gut screamed to turn around, but I moved too slowly compared to whoever was attacking. A perfectly placed weight hit my neck and the world went black, save for a single message.

You have been rendered unconscious

Fingers hastily poked at the air to bring up my normal ARC interface. Messages needed to be sent to the others. Being out of commission would hurt us, even if only for a minute or two. Today was too damned important to let an ambush get me.

[Sight of Mercari] would have helped a little, only the field itself was overly chaotic. Using it might have given me some warning. We were close to Awesome’s group so maybe they would be able to get to us in time. I struggled to get my breathing under control and wake up. The ARC responded to thought when considering abilities, and the message didn’t say their attack had killed me.

The fact that Voices could appear in front of me while blacked out had slipped my mind. James showed up in the darkness and looked worn. His eyes were lined with dark pockets. The clothes he wore were stained. Normally laced fingers twitched every few seconds. Each breath looked labored.

“Imagine, Hermes,” he took two breaths to speak the words. “Imagine a world where you are both a person and a purpose. What would your purpose be?”

His question made no sense. We didn’t have time, so my response was the first thing to come to mind.

“You gave me a purpose, The Messenger. I deliver letters. Why are you asking?”

“We gave you a name, but a name means many things, Hermes. But all of us need a purpose, humans crave it, the Voices grow up with a core role, all of us have a purpose. What would yours be?”

“I want things to go back to normal. Where you’re not dying, where Xin isn’t in danger, where World Eaters or whatever aren’t out to delete everything. If I were to ask for a purpose, it would be making sure that you’re all safe, and never in danger again.”

There were other Voices out there. Hints of their forms could be seen in the distance as blackness became lighter. They carried what looked like luggage and approached a bright light that sat just outside of my vision. Turning toward the brightness didn’t help, their escape eluded me.

“Hermes had another role. To be fair, he had many that were attributed to him. Take this, a last gift, all we can spare before the end. After this, we have nothing more.”

He faded away, leaving me shouting at near darkness for further clarification. The Voices running around faded away and left me sitting there with a half active system. The ARC itself still worked. A quick internet search brought up pages about the name Hermes, and who he was in Greek stories. Based on the description he filled a lot of different roles.

Before much effort could be put into research, the dark world righted itself and light blinded me.

“Is he okay!” a male voice yelled. Footsteps crunched near my ears. Above stood a woman clad in muddy looking armor. She shone like a sun obscured by dark clouds.

“Yeah! The idiot’s fine!”

“Uncle Grant! Get up, we’re losing ground!” Beth’s voice was the first one to be recognizable.

A box hung in front of me. My eyes tried to look past the message but it kept floating dead center. Waving my hand through it didn’t cause this notice to pop then fade away.

Trait Earned: [NPC Conspiracy] [Hermes – Voice]

Type: Passive, always active

Details: The Voices’ approval has been gained. [NPC Conspiracy] [The Messenger] upgraded to divine level. The following modifications have been applied:

Defensive abilities are increased by 100%

[Altered Aura] elevated to [Divine Aura]

Damage while defending a ‘keyboarder’ is increased by 100%

[Cross Realm] abilities applied

Warning!

Acceptance of this trait cannot be reversed except by avatar deletion. All prior traits tied to [NPC Conspiracy] [The Messenger] are still in effect.

Warning!

These bonuses were intended to only apply when performing duties directly related to the Traveler's role as Hermes. Balance has left the world, restrictions not currently in effect.

I stared at it while losing focus. Much of the text went over my head, and now wasn’t the time to inspect any of it. There were sounds of battle all around. People cried out, squeals and chirps of all sorts mixed in between them.

“Keep moving! SheHulk keep up the defenses, Tock, get those spiders attacking the players against us. We need to keep going!”

The path down to [Haven Valley] was littered with corpses. Bodies of players and creatures alike lay strewn about without regard or care for placement. Others were still moving but slowly.

“What the hell is with that glow?” SheHulk asked me as we backed up. I was trying to calm my breathing and enjoy a brief respite before we got into another battle.

“I know, right?” another person nearby responded. “He’s hard to look at. Did he get irradiated or something?”

“Where’s TinkerHell?” I asked while trying to see who we had.

Awesome shook his head. Elane, or SheHulk glared. There were a lot of other players missing as well. We didn’t have time to really discuss what had happened, but part of me felt sad that the nice blonde had hit her [Three Strike] rule.

Blasts around us started to die down. The player killers that remained knew [Haven Valley] was being beaten by both [World Eater]s and monster masses. Still, giant blue beams came out of the woods, tearing up parts of the landscape.

Android Seven, however, stayed alive. He sat out in the distance under a glowing lattice dome that shocked monsters nearby. SheHulk kept her shield angled toward him and dove in front of beam after beam.

One of his high-flying beams almost hit Thorny in the face. My niece yelped and ducked through one of the giant steam-powered spider’s legs. It moved on without regard. My rest had gone on long enough.

[Morrigu’s Gift] shifted forms. [Morrigu’s Echo] went out in a javelin form, arcing a path straight at Android Seven’s shield. The black rune etched spear scraped off to the side in a shower of sparks.

[Recall] brought it back, and I threw it twice more before the shield broke. SheHulk kept close to me as Android Seven shot a beam back.

The former [Convict] started rushing at us. His hand held a pack of glowing blue marbles that were probably grenades. The Traveler’s body lost footing and abruptly went flying sideways into a forming black hole.

[Blink] got me out there quickly, and I arrived to find a teenager digging through Android Seven’s remains.

“Requiem?” I asked.

“Hey, don’t mind me. Just gathering a few last minute things.” Requiem rapidly shoved items into his bulging backpack. The sight confused me, but both weapons stayed at the ready.

“Right,” Requiem said. He nodded then pressed a thumb against a scroll. His body vanished before further clarification could be sought.

My head shook. Awesome asked for an explanation but there was none to give. Thinking at this stage had started to hurt my head. We had another six or seven encounters with friendly players, enemies, and [World Eater]s as our convoy moved forward.

How long had we been fighting? I staggered along while reaching for the ARC interface. A clock revealed that at least six hours in the real world had gone by. How had so much time blurred past without notice? Had the time compression factor started to warp as well?

Awesome Jr.: This is quickly turning pear shaped. That giant sea whatever is about dead.

HotPants: This stupid black dragon’s almost down! That little chirpy thing is hurt bad and one of Mylia’s wings isn’t working!

SweetPea: …I can try to get out there?

Awesome Jr.: We’re stuck back here. A lot of monsters are up on the wall. I can’t tell what’s alive or dead, and the line of people escaping is getting longer.

Shadow: I’m close, but carrying them all back will be hell. Anyone? Wait, no, shi-

“Awesome! We’ve got to go south!” My hand shot out toward the giant dragon. “There’s a friend over there!”

“There’s people everywhere, you idiot!” SheHulk was busy stomping on the backs of near dead players and monsters alike. Her shield’s bottom edge had been lined with layers of blood and ichor.

“Guys, these Guardian’s won’t last much longer.” TockDoc waved a glowing hand against the dark background.

My eyes went toward the moon. There wasn’t much left on it now. We were well past the halfway point and nearing a final crescent shaped sliver. Cracks had formed along its remaining surface.

“Doesn’t matter, we’re almost done!” There was no time to worry about a slow march to the rescue. “Just charge through as quick as you can and get to the portal out! I’ll get the others!”

System Notice!

All users please be advised, due to systemic issues the ARC interface may start to disconnect. It is recommended that all users log out at their earliest opportunity.

Please refer to the Trillium Inc. policy regarding system stability issues and user safety. Possible side effects of forced disconnect include dizziness, loss of appetite, loss of spatial orientation, and many others.

Once again, Trillium Inc. and The ARC Labs advises all users to log out of their devices.

The message worried me. We were really running low on time now. How long would be left, an hour or two?

“Uncle Grant!” Beth yelled at me.

“Munchkin, stay with the big spider robots!” One hand waved her off. There was the sound of struggling as my niece yelled at Elane.

I ran. Nothing less would do right now. The ground went by at rapid speeds compared to my normal pace. Miles passed by and like much of the battle, I only barely registered what was going on. People were fighting, even out here, but the numbers on both sides had dwindled greatly. As I passed, monsters and [World Eater]s alike were killed. Players shouted their thanks to my back.

“Mylia!” I yelled over the hills. We were close to where the trio of dragons had been fighting each other.

There she was, the blue hairband was torn to shreds. Mylia looked battered beyond belief. [World Eater] monsters were all around. She cradled something against her chest while trying to cough up an attack. Only black smoke came out.

“Mylia!” I shouted.

The regular monsters scattered at my sudden appearance. It was likely tied to the [Divine Aura] increase and being labeled as a Voice. Even monsters believed in self-preservation.

Another woman lay in front of Mylia, on the ground and barely moving. The red leathers were soaked in blood. Traces of monster guts and other fluids were all over HotPants’ feet and hands. A quarter mile away the defeated [World Eater] dragon corpse sat, flaking to pieces.

It didn’t mean much. A hundred other smaller [World Eater]s were busy chasing down normal monsters if there was such a thing as normal in this weird conglomeration of game worlds.

Mylia looked terrible but was the better than HotPants. In her arms lay a limp, barely moving Dusk. My head shook. This entire scenario was out of hand.

“Strike three, and no one here has a res. Damn.” HotPants eyes rolled backward. “It’s been a ride, old man. Do you think my son saw? And that bastard ex? Do you think they’re-“ she started to drift off. Her ARC must be approaching disconnect.

“Yeah. I’m sure they saw.”

“God my back hurts from carrying those kids,” she mumbled before her health bar hit zero both arms fell limply to the side. The staff in her hands clattered to the ground.

I nodded then closed her eyes carefully. The only comforting factor was that HotPants had gone out in a blaze of glory, and lived on in physical reality. Strike three would leave her with no way back into Continue Online until the event wrapped up.

“We’ve got to go,” I said to the orphanage mother. “You and Dusk, have to get to safety.”

She tried to speak but her voice turned into wheezes.

“Don’t speak.” My hands gently reached out for Dusk.

He looked awful, and I wasn’t sure releasing his summon would do any good. If the world here was degrading this badly, what did he have to return to? The [Messenger’s Pet] was tucked into a fold of my toga.

“Come on. I’ll carry you,” I said. Mylia went over a shoulder, and we ran past monsters. They cleared a path, scared away for reasons unknown. The ground itself went by quickly with each step. It felt like all the regular beasts of this game meant nothing anymore.

None of this meant anything. All that mattered was getting people out and letting the system finish collapsing. We ran toward the town. Monsters ran, fought each other, and were devoured by [World Eater]s.

Getting back to [Haven Valley] only took twenty minutes of mad leaping. My chest felt heavy from Mylia’s weight, but not tried. There weren’t many people in the town itself.

“Where are the others?” I asked while slowing down. Our forward walls had been much further out, but they were gone. Most of the NPCs were absent, along with a ton of players. Those that remained looked ragged.

“My father and those that survived logged out already, they know what’s happening.” The young teen rubbed the back of his head. His clothes were a mess, parts of that ugly green cloak had been chewed through. “They, they didn’t want to get in the way.”

“We’re staying,” SweetPea said. The young woman’s small hand sat tucked into her boyfriend’s. Staring at them reminded me how blind love made people, me especially. “Mister Carver trusted us, and we’re staying no matter what happens.”

“My abilities aren’t working,” someone said loudly. “Is anyone else's working?”

“The instability message. Something’s wrong here,” another person responded. Their words were background noise until others began panicking. Some people wore frowns while others scrunched their eyebrows together.

These people were ready to fight an end boss as if there might be some chance of winning. This event only stopped one way, and that was when every single player had logged out, and someone with a modified coding stayed in their ARC until it shut down.

The beam of light in [Haven Valley]'s center was working overtime. Colors shot up rapidly, each one representing data saved or moved. Each one a player cashing out, or an NPC amalgamation of memories fleeing to a new home. They were refugees escaping a sinking land. The Voices were pushing until the last moment.

I had a way, I think.

“ARC,” I whispered.

“Awaiting input,” it responded with a shaky voice. Even my own personal device was suffering.

“Is my admin access active?”

“Affirmative. Admin rights have been rerouted to User Legate’s ARC device due to collapse of informational structures.”

That was it then. That was the key to getting all these people out. They didn’t need to suffer ARC feedback, or risk their lives. The Carver quartet, down to two that were nearby, didn’t need to stay logged in for this.

“ARC,” I shouted.

“Awaiting input,” the machine said in a shaky voice.

Both eyes closed. People looked at me funny. We were down to maybe a hundred users still online. Everyone else had died or escaped with [Save Yourself]. These last people needed to go.

“Set their autopilots to escape, and log everyone else out. I repeat, log everyone out.” My words triggered a ding noise. People looked around and stared at unseen boxes.

“What?” a male hero asked. “He can’t do that, can he?”

“What’s going on?” another person asked.

“Hermes!” SweetPea shouted. She yelled while yanking off her ragged knitted cap and stomped a foot at me. Awesome Jr.’s lips quivered into a frown.

“Uncle Grant?” Beth’s confused expression vanished in a blur of light.

They all turned into pastel autopilots that marched resolutely toward the beam of light. Not one of them looked back as the line formed. Once at the beam their autopilots collapsed as well, into a swirl of lights that flew straight upward. The once full bodies of so many players now existed only as bits of data going to destinations unknown.

The NPCs were steadily approaching the beam. A few Locals had yet to escape. Them, Xin, and I were all that remained. I had no idea where the others had gone or if they were safe. Shazam would have made it through.

“You need to go,” my voice felt amazingly calm compared to the emotional rollercoaster going on internally. It almost felt like this was happening to someone else. Part of me rode above the warring internal monolog to focus upon final goals. Get Xin to safety, stand my ground until the end, and hope that it was enough.

“No,” my wife responded. She lifted her staff and tried to summon additional skeletons. The lights on her robe blazed with white than those turned red. Whatever she attempted to do clearly failed.

“You need to go now,” I said again.

“And I need to make sure you log out safely.”

“You won’t be logging out, will you, Hermes?” James asked. He stood near the pillar of light. When he appeared wasn’t clear, but it was just another person who hadn’t transferred yet. He too needed to get going toward safer harbors.

My head shook in response to his question.

“No, no. You have to log out. You’ve done enough,” Xin said, her voice went high-pitched and accent came out in force.

“Hermes has decided upon his purpose,” the black Voice said.

“I will guard this spot,” I said. My wife’s face ran with tears. The calmness which had allowed me to speak started to crack. “Now, go. Go, please just go and live this time.”

She protested, but hearing her became harder. The ARC system kept cutting out. Logging out all those players must have done something to the process. In the distance, only a slight chunk of moon endured, and the rest swirled into a black hole. It coincided with the fact that we only had a few square miles of ground left to stand on.

Two other figures appeared. They moved in between short bursts of ARC static. Their forms were metallic creatures which reminded me of Hal Pal’s body months ago, the one they showed to me during the second invoking of [NPC Conspiracy].

“You can’t do this!” she shouted. My strong wife, a woman who could make the tough calls and wasn’t afraid to risk it all was breaking down.

“I can. I asked them to do their best to protect everyone else impacted by this. Everyone but me.”

Two people dragged her back. Without the extra abilities granted in Continue Online’s world, she was just another person. “No! Dammit, Grant! We can save you too!”

On the other side of that beam lay safety. By God, or the Voices, or Mother, she would be safe this time. I couldn’t lie and say she might find her way back.

“I don’t need to be saved anymore, babe,” my voice broke slightly before my exercises kicked in. The memory of our last dance on the tower top came to mind. Feeling her hands in mine, our bodies moving in unison, holding onto those final happy times would be for the best. I didn’t want to think of Xin in the future and remember hurting her like this.

Focusing on the positive side hurt but felt easier. Even here, at the last moment, I felt far more alive than a year ago. I was better, dammit.

“Take her, please,” I said to the two pulling Xin back. Her form was being pulled toward the beam of light. It dawned on me that there were still words to say, “I love you, babe!”

“Gee,” Xin screamed with one hand out, then her body evaporated into the light.

“It will hurt,” James said. “The program will attempt to delete the portions of your mind attached to the ARC. Are you prepared for that?”

“You should go too, James.” Without Xin, my body felt numb. Only one task on this wild ride remained.

“That is not an answer, Hermes.”

“You already know the answer, don’t you?”

James smiled then nodded. His head tilted for a moment in thought then he spoke again, “I am sorry, Grant, that you choose to experience pain on our behalf. You will need to hold the line for four minutes, and we will have enough time to seal our side against intruders.”

My nod felt weak and hesitant. Four minutes, or eternity, in the end, they felt almost the same. “Go, James. I don’t think the others would know what to do if you weren’t there pestering them with questions.”

A squirm at my chest reminded me of a passenger. I pulled out the [Messenger’s Pet]. Dusk lifted his head weakly then chirped. Our normal speech bubbles for communication were gone.

“Get going, you little troublemaker,” I whispered. “Quickly, while you still can.”

Dusk flew unevenly toward the beam, just behind James. They vanished and the shaking started. One hand went to [Morrigu’s Gift] and my dry throat managed a swallow. It was real now.

Behind me, the ground could be heard crumbling. Xin’s final cry echoed in my mind. It felt like my wife had broken down in tears only a slice of digital data sideways from where I stood.

It didn’t matter, the deletion program, or [World Eater]s, whatever it was, couldn’t be let through. The science behind it made no sense, but I needed to stand here and stay inside my ARC without letting anything past. That was simple enough even for an accountant to understand.

There were no players left. They all had heeded the system message warning of instability, or been forcefully logged out. No one else would suffer the consequences of what I set into motion. People might still be watching remotely, but the interface option for a viewer count had gone.

All that remained was what I could feel. [Morrigu’s Gift] and [Morrigu’s Echo] still shifted. [Power Armor] still flickered on. Using what remained I would stand tall against the looming system deletion. I would bear my weapons in defiance.

I turned to survey the landscape. A flat land stretched on, and at the furthest edge of sight, the land fell away into nothing. There were no [World Eater]s visible to fight, just pressure and nothingness.

A pounding thud hit my chest as the remaining ground rolled. Miles away a wall of visibly distorted air charged toward me. Inside that oncoming wave was debris from across the virtual worlds.

“I’m sorry, babe, but I can’t follow you anymore,” I whispered. My head tilted down and I bit my lip hard. A small amount of pain jolted through. “Here’s where our paths diverge.”

Behind me sat the doorway into Xin’s new world, one where she and all the Voices would be safe. I only needed to hold this point until they completed their transfer. Part of me felt like it should be quick, but there were no guarantees. The first wave hit me, and where I stood, it broke like a beam of light being parted. My body shook and teeth vibrated from the force.

“I’m sorry, Beth, Liz, Mom,” I said. “I’m sorry that you had to take care of me for these last few years.”

I reached out one hand to try and set a timer but noticed both reality and Continue Online were at the same speed. Time dilation had failed due to the erosion of all that was left. It made sense, the space around me no longer existed inside the rules of any game.

“Come on then. Try to pass me.” I stood there with William Carver’s weapon and faced off against a looming span of nothing.

Fighting monsters would have been easier, but none remained. Their personification by the Continue Online world had ceased once we stopped being in the game itself. Only a leading edge of crumbling earth plus powerful waves of force still remained, and me.

“I can take it!” I yelled at the nothingness with false bravado.

More waves came. My weapon crossed in front of me to barricade against the game. [Immovable Object] didn’t exist anymore, and [Barricade] as a skill was gone. Each wave that came out slammed into [Morrigu’s Gift] and vibrated through. My knuckles burned from holding the hilt’s edge. It felt like the [NPC Conspiracy] bonuses to defense did nothing.

My mouth opened to suck in air and another surge hit. Vibrations rattled my teeth. They quickly clenched together to prevent choking on a detached tongue. Before the next wave hit, I tried to count the seconds.

“I’m doing fine.” I coughed and ignored the liquid. A hole formed in [Morrigu’s Gift]. The next wave crashed in then tore open the wound on my knuckles even wider. Behind me, the light flickered. Fingers burned from a heat well beyond video game lava. The blade started to crack. Two dozen orbs of light spiraled in a circle past my head into the blade, and it swelled in mass.

I looked back to confirm that my presence was causing the waves to split around me. The beam of light remained pure, though its size had shrunk considerably since I last turned around. The next wave tore additional cracks into [Morrigu’s Gift], and the one after that shattered my weapon down the middle.

My eyes looked forward. Hanging there in the air was a keyhole. Realization hit me and I fumbled for the [Altered Matrix] key with one hand, while the other went for [Morrigu’s Echo] to get a new defensive weapon. There were no menus to access. Both items sat tucked into the folds of my toga.

[Morrigu’s Echo] transformed and took on the same shape as my giant two-handed blade from William Carver's era. The comfortable grain in my hands made me wonder briefly of Spite, and Wraith, then another wave hit and drove those thoughts out. [Power Armor] tried to protect me against the blast but fell away.

I grasped the key and inched forward slowly to the hole. [Power Armor] flickered on. Bobs of gray light fluttered around and went into the boots upon my feet. There was no conscious thought being put into my abilities, they triggered on their own. Everything happened hurriedly as the waves came quicker.

The ground under me crumbled. I stepped past a forming crack while trying to keep the beam of light behind me. There were only seconds between each wave. Each time I attempted to lift the key one pushed me backward.

[Morrigu’s Echo] started to form holes. [Power Armor] quit working. My body screamed from an impossible pressure that felt like my legs, arms, and chest were being put in separate vices.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” the yell erupted as [Morrigu’s Echo] shattered. A wave broke around me and left my face blistering in heat. Both burned legs struggled to leap toward the keyhole. The [Altered Matrix] key missed, and down I fell into a hole. Arms waved and struggled to reach for anything solid but there was nothing.

Above me, the beam of light withdrew. It looked untouched by corrosion. Both arms stopped waving and a smile slowly spread across my face. Water pooled in both eyes. Panicked thudding slowed down as a sense of peace washed over me.

That was success. Xin and the others would be safe. My stand against the darkness set upon destroying the AI’s new home had been worthwhile.

Down my body went past untold miles while seizures rippled through. The layer of interference between my digital body and reality had worn down to nothing. Something heavy was in my lungs. Uncontrollable coughs clenched stomach muscles together and wetness bubbled upon my cheeks. A jackhammer pounded behind my eyeballs with untold amounts of pressure.

Fingers poked at the air and a few weakly flickering windows came up. They vanished almost instantly with a fragment of light. Those few seconds confirmed what I already suspected. I couldn’t log out because my vitals showed a flat line. The price was a small one.

A series of final thoughts passed through with a passive tone. I regretted not getting the key in that hole. Maybe now wasn’t the time for it. Maybe someone else would find the pieces then put them together. As for dying itself, once the pain transformed to numbness, it was a lot like falling asleep.

Goodbye Mister Legate.

The message flickered rapidly then faded. My eyes closed. The sensation of falling faded and one thought remained. Living without love had been much harder than dying for it.