We exited the clearing where the CRAFTING stations were and entered a dark tunnel through a denser part of the forest than any of the examples I’d seen previously. The kid was almost dancing with excitement.

“We get to choose a CLASS now, I wonder what choices we’ll have,” he said. In his excitement, he had obviously forgotten our still recent scrape with near death during our time in the woods earning our HUNTER ABILITY, but I had equipped my staff as soon as we reached the edge of the clearing, and as we moved down the faintly glowing trail, I began to coat it with MANA.

“What kind of CLASS do you want to have?” I asked, paying more attention to the dark woods around us than to him.

“I’ve thought about that, a lot,” he began, “usually I choose a tank, but what with being able to feel the pain every time someone hits me, I think I’d rather deal damage from a distance, this time.”

I shot him a quick look before turning my attention back to our surroundings. “You’ve said that a few times, now. I know you’ll give me that ‘have you been living under a rock?’ look, but what do you mean when you say ‘tank’?”

“A tank is like a knight in full body armor. If you’re adventuring with a group, the tank is the one who keeps the mobs’ attention so that the distance damagers can whittle down its health. They’re the key to wiping out bosses.” When he saw the look I shot him on that one, he added, “Mobs is a slang term for ‘mobile objects,’ they’re monsters that can move from where they’re stationed and attack you. A boss is usually a stronger version of the common mob, but mostly bosses are pinned to one place or one area and don’t move around. They have special abilities and usually at certain percentages of health, they unleash special, powerful attacks. They can really do a lot of damage to you, so you get a guy who has a really high CONSTITUTION and a lot of STRENGTH and really good armor and a shield to stand right in front of the boss and keep his attention. The same with the mobs, tanks often have some sort of ‘taunt’ ability, which means they can talk shit to the mobs and piss them off and draw all of their aggression on themselves leaving the other party members free to shoot them from a distance.”

“Doesn’t seem to smart on the mobs’ part,” I said peering carefully up at the sound of rustling leaves where the trees intertwined their branches above the trail. “I’ve seen examples of what I think you’re talking about with particularly dumb enemies who concentrate their fire on what they think of as the largest threat, but that usually doesn’t work out to well for the big bad.”

“Well, with magic, you usually have a healer or two in the group who can constantly cast heals on the tank, keeping them from dying, so that the mobs waste all their energy on that guy while the rest of your team takes them out.” We walked along without speaking for a few more paces before he added, “but you’re right. That’s in a game. When that pig knocked me sideways, I gained a new appreciation for fighting while feeling actual pain, and I can’t say I’m a big fan.”

“So, since I’ve never played a video game like what you’re talking about, tell me a little bit about CLASSes so that maybe I’ll have some idea what we’re walking into.”

“Well,” he began, excitement coming off him in waves, “a CLASS is like a career path. You’ve got your standard WARRIOR or MAGE or HEALER which is a general type of career, but there are lots of variations involved. Generally, you want to choose something less common, something that has a lot of potential for gaining some kind of way overpowered special attacks or ABILITIES down the line. Usually, it’s the rare CLASSes that give you the best characters who can really wipe the enemy out. Since I don’t have any magic ABILITY, I’ll have to concentrate on things like the bow. I could pick a sniper character, those often make the best ones in solo games. Just stand high up or in some narrow place that the mobs or the boss can’t reach and whale away at them.

“I also like playing rogues, like thieves or assassins, but now that it’s real life, I don’t really think I could go around assassinating people.”

“Well,” I said, checking our six, “I guess we’ll have an opportunity to look at all the classes and I plan on getting SCHEMA to explain everything to me. We can kind of narrow them down and then compare notes. Two heads are better than one.”

“That might work,” he answered giving me a look of respect. “Usually, you make the decision by yourself. You can do research online and check the forums and hear what other people have to say about the different choices, talk it over with your teammates, but usually when the time comes, you can’t interact with anyone else until you’ve made your choice. It’ll be nice to be able to discuss it real time, for a change.”

Up ahead, I saw a structure; what looked to be a large stone arch that the path passed through. The other side was lost in darkness.

“I think we’re about to find out,” I said indicating the arch with my staff. I gave one more careful look around, it would be just my luck to get attacked right when we thought we were safe.

“let’s go check it out.”

The arch was built of what looked like sandstone, or limestone. It was pitted and weathered, and a small-leafed creeping vine wrapped around the bottom two thirds of the legs. Nothing could be made out of the other side. It wasn’t as if it was completely black or that there was an impenetrable barrier on the other side, but the path no longer glowed after it met the arch, and you could only see hints of shapes. Nothing moved, and no sound came through.

The kid didn’t seem bothered, though. “I think this is a portal, walking through it will take us out of this pocket dimension and either into another one, or back into the real world. I don’t know if it will take both of us to the same place, it might take me back to the City and you back to Texas.”

“Is that what you want?” I asked him, genuinely curious. “I haven’t really thought much about it, I just kind of assumed I’d be back in Armadillo. I grew up there, but my parents are dead and none of my brothers live there, anymore; it’s not like I’m joined at the hip with the place.”

“Well, I like New York. City, anyway. It’s a lot better than West Virginia. Or was, at least.” He considered for a minute. “Of course, in all the post-apocalyptic ones, big cities are a lot more dangerous than they were before. Big cities mean lots of weak crunchy people for the new mobs.

I don’t know. I’d kind of like to stay together, strength in numbers, you know. I guess we’ll get a chance to find out, maybe they’ll give us a choice or some clue to what we’re going to find. Why don’t we step through together so that we have a better chance of ending up in the same place?”

“That sounds like a deal. Luck of the draw, let SCHEMA choose.”

We stood side-by-side in front of the arch, and then with one last look at each other, I counted down. “On three, not before, not after, but as soon as I stay the word, we’ll step together.

One, two, thr...”

And we stepped.

I only realized that I’d braced for something, impact, an attack, some kind of weird sensation, but we just stepped through the arch like we’d been stepping through the forest. Except, we weren’t in the forest anymore.

We stepped together into a room or building of some kind. It was completely round, and It was very reminiscent of Greece, with columns and white marble walls. The walls were almost an accent, rather than a containment, each one reaching only about waist high with large glassless windows opening in every direction. There were different scenes visible in each window.

One window looked out over a white-sand beach. There were tall cliffs to one side, and the sun shown in a cloudless sky over an ocean the peculiar shade of blue I’d only seen in the Bosporus. Another looked out into the depths of a magnificently star-filled night sky. There was nothing but stars, and I couldn’t tell if it was a view from Earth, or looking out from space, itself. I turned all the way around, looking at the view from each of the nine windows. There were scenes of cities, one that looked primitive, but had a grand tower which made me think of Babylon, another that looked modern and completely normal, as far as I could tell. There was a forest scene, a wide open steppe with mountains in the distance, a canyon which walls were composed of stone with rich, vibrant colors pocked with openings and windows of caves or pueblos. A vast desert with wind-blown dunes, and a dark swamp full of twisted trees dripping with beards of moss. When I had made the entire circuit and turned back facing the direction in which we’d arrived, I almost jumped out of my skin; there was a tall woman dressed in a long draped white toga. Her face was pale with just the slightest hint of pink, she had a high, patrician brow and golden hair that wrapped her head in braids, but it was her eyes that captured your attention; they were hazel, a golden brown shot with flecks of green that I had never before associated with a piercing gaze, but they were, and they did. I felt as if my life were open before her, as if nothing could hide from that gaze.

She had the hint of a smile, a Mona Lisa smile. It didn’t make me feel judged, or afraid, or as if she felt she were more than or less than me, it was just a smile and I felt comfortable in her presence.

That’s when I realized that we were alone.

“Where’d the kid go?” I asked.

“He is with me, as I am with you. I am Lachesis, who measures the threads of life. Your thread is not his thread, though they may be woven together, still they are separate, and I see them each as they are.”

“So, not here.”

Her smile widened by an almost imperceptible amount. “No. He is not here. I am with him in another place as I am with you in this place.”

“And where is this place?” I asked.

“This is the place where there are all fates and none. This is the place of decisions.”

“So, CLASS selection.”

“Among other things, yes. First, though, there are two matters of which we must speak. I will deal with the second one first. You were attacked by an animal that should not have been in a BEGINNER TUTORIAL space. We have reviewed all of the pertinent evidence and have come to the decision that you could not have been at fault. Additionally, although we have been unable at this time to discover with whom the fault does lie, SCHEMA must ultimately accept that the fault is ours.”

“How can you not know who put that pig in those woods? As near as I can understand it, that whole area was computer generated, and we and everything else in it was put there specifically by SCHEMA.”

She frowned slightly, but I didn’t feel like she disagreed with me. “Your understanding of how the BEGINNER TUTORIAL areas are made, and of what they are constructed, is…not exact. I will grant that at this point, it will suffice in general, though. We have reviewed every second from the creation of the dimension to the point where you and your friend were attacked, and we have verified that no part of the SCHEMA administration put that animal in that place, but one second there were no pigs in that forest and the next second there were. Regardless of blame, SCHEMA made promises of safety that were not adhered to, and we are prepared to compensate you for this.”

“Okay, and what form will this compensation take?”

“You may ask one of three boons: You may choose a CLASS for which you would otherwise not be fated to access, you may choose one weapon that you would not be fated to wield, or you may choose one treasure that you would not be fated to find.”

I thought about that for a minute. The first thing that came to mind is that she was making this offer before I had a chance to look at the list of CLASSes available—or fated as she put it—and before I had a chance to see whether or not my staff and slingshot would be enough to protect and provide for me, and no idea what kind of treasures she was talking about. A good negotiating tactic, but I was always armed with my counter: Questions.

“Do I have to choose now? Can I at least wait until I see my list of available classes? Check out just how my staff and slingshot line up with the unknown whatever that’s waiting for me back home? Maybe get some idea of what kind of treasure would fit the new world I’ll be living in?”

This time her smile widened perceptibly. “Of course. You must choose your CLASS before you leave this place, but if you do not choose a CLASS outside of what is fated for you, you may have whatever time you require to choose your weapon or treasure. Well done.

“Now, as to the second part. You were caught in a trap laid by a trainer whom SCHEMA had placed in your BEGINNER TUTORIAL. As you have already been informed, SCHEMA has judged that this attack was not aimed at you personally, but at a student who would fulfill the requirements built into the spell. Regardless of this, an oath of non-aggression was made to you by the person who knew that if you fit the parameters of the trap, you would be caught, and thus harmed. This is an aggression, and so Stellana of House Clintogne broke her vow.

“Stellana’s vow was all encompassing. Her property, her fortunes, her spells, her magic items, even her life are forfeit. Yet, since the action was not aimed at you personally, SCHEMA has decided that mercy shall be granted. You may not claim her life. Additionally, you may not choose anything which loss will severely impact her House, who have not been implicated in her actions. You may not claim all of her possessions, but you may claim one piece of property which is wholly under Stellana’s control. You may claim an amount not to exceed half of her fortune, or you may claim her grimoire.

“Stellana’s fortune in liquid assets, that part of which is not considered the possession of her House, is valued at 1,762,584 gold. Half of which would be enough to buy a small country or to live as a king for quite a long time; a much longer time that you would consider a lifetime. She has five properties over which she exercises sole control. Three are estates on her home world, one is a townhouse in the Capital city of Lyonesse on the planet of Atlantis where SCHEMA first appeared, and where our system Administrators reside, and the last is a terraformed planetoid in an undisclosed location in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. The last property’s location is known only to Stellana and a few trusted allies, and SCHEMA. Her grimoire is extensive and reflective of a wide range of research and an extremely long life.”

The possible rewards, or judgments, or however you wanted to describe what I could claim was mind-boggling. While the amount of gold was far less than I’d expected someone like Stellana to have, I guess that personal weath—at least in coinage—was figured a lot differently, now. Thinking about it for a minute, it made sense, when you don’t have inflation, prices are stable, and people can live on much less than on the devalued currencies we’d become used to. In old books, I’d read of people who managed to live a reasonable life of comparative luxury on 50 to 100 British pounds a year, while during the middle ages, prices barely changed from one century to another.

The properties were tempting to me, especially the secret planetoid. If I lived on her home world, wherever that was, I’d be surrounded by her undead species, and possibly targeted by her House. I had no interest in the high life or infighting that life in a capital city townhouse suggested, and while the rest of the galaxy might not know where the hidden planetoid was, Stellana would surely remember how to get there.

She probably had more traps on the place than dogs had fleas.

The grimoire was the greatest temptation, though. I could only imagine how much gold it would save me, not having to pay trainers or buy SPELLs. God only knew what kind of SPELLS it contained, perhaps some that nobody else would know. There was also the added bonus that if I had her spells, she wouldn’t. That would probably go a long way towards making me safer if she blamed me for their loss.

I’d actually spent quite a bit of time in the mine mulling over what I might do with whatever SCHEMA awarded me for her attack, but I hadn’t really understood that I might be able to all but steal her magic from her. I couldn’t remember if they’d mentioned the spell book at the time, but if so, I hadn’t spent any time considering it.

What I had considered, though, were Sarge’s last words: You’ve made a powerful enemy; watch your back.

That stuck with me. A wonderful old woman, a neighbor who used to let me stay at her apartment when my father was in one of his moods, used to say a prayer that encompassed my decision. At the time, I felt that it was generous beyond words, and equally as stupid, but as I aged, and more especially, as I proceeded to fuck my own life and most everything around me right up, I began to understand. It was probably stupid; it might sound nice, but I probably was going to make the biggest mistake I’d ever made, maybe even the biggest mistake anyone ever could make, but I had thought and thought about it, and I’d come to one inescapable conclusion: The only way for me to possibly avoid any revenge by her or her House was to make sure that everyone understood that I in no way benefitted from the situation.

“I don’t want anything of Stellana’s. If SCHEMA feels like it has to punish her in some material way, then SCHEMA is free to take whatever it wants, but I don’t want any of it to be associated with me or with my planet. If anyone wants a reason, just say that I have forgiven her for whatever she has done, I do not hold her accountable to me for anything, and I would simply request that she not be held liable for any action done against me. If it is possible for SCHEMA to grant her total clemency for her actions, I would consider that fair payment. I am guilty of enough of my own evil that I could never feel right by punishing another who was not actively trying to hurt me or mine.”

I think my answer actually surprised Lachesis, which if she were one of the three Fates of legend, should not have been possible. Whatever the reaction that flitted across her face, it was gone in an instant such that I couldn’t even tell you what I’d seen, or even if I’d seen anything at all.

She simply looked at me for a time that stretched to an extent that I began to feel uncomfortable under her gaze, but finally, she smiled. Not that hint of a smile, but a genuine, warm smile.

“Well done, Tom Nobody. I don’t believe I have ever been witness to a more astute decision. If I have judged your motivations correctly, I would say to you that SCHEMA would take measures to make sure that neither her nor her House would seek you out for revenge. However, I also know that Stellana’s reach is long, and she has many allies. Not all of whom are willing allies, but they will come when she calls.

“If I have judged a motivation of genuine forgiveness and lessened it by applying one of self-preservation, I apologize.”

“No, you’ve judged me right. I’d like to be that nice of a person, but I know myself too well to think I am, or ever will be. My motivations are completely selfish; I never want to see her, her House, or even her kind, ever again.”

Her smile took on a sorrowful cast at those last words. “Then I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, because the government of your planet Earth was too fractured to be allowed to continue to be in control, and the planet has been awarded to Stellana’s species. The translation of their name is as near to Vampire as makes no difference. SCHEMA automatically translates everything we say so that those who hear us understand our exact meaning no matter which words we choose. I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I assure you that while many of your vampire legends indeed contain many seeds of truth, vampires make excellent administrators. SCHEMA expects Earth to prosper under their rule.

"I can assure you of one thing, neither Stellana nor House Clintogne are among the new residents or rulers of Earth. However, that is the best I can offer. House Bathory, who have been given provisional regency of Earth, have at times allied with House Clintogne."

That was most definitely not what I wanted to hear.