We hauled through the early hours of the night, and we made it back to The World Tree just as midnight came and went. My first thought, easily, was for sleep - and I trekked straight back to Fr3's tent as soon as our company had trudged back in and started to disperse. Fr33ze was, thankfully, fast asleep when I snuck in, and I quickly moved to crawl, quietly, beside him - sprawling out on the familiar blankets as though it twas a five star hotel.

It became apparent, after some time and many failed attempts, that my own aching limbs had reached and surpassed the point of exhaustion. The thin, throbbing pain of the journey held me firm in it's arms, unwilling to relinquish me into the waiting bliss of sleep. I tossed and I turned, to no avail. And, reluctantly, I took the bag off of my head and decided to sort through my updates. The log started, predictably enough, with upgrades to a few skills. Skill increased! Toughness +1 Skill increased! Toughness +1 Skill increased! Wicked +1 Skill increased! Witchcraft +1 Skill increased! Spell Foci +1 That didn't much interest me, though it was kind of nice I had gotten a bump to Wicked in there. Must have been from using my standard feline enhancements, paws and ears, while marching and anxiously listening for trouble. What was interesting, however, was a new icon flashing on the bottom right of the interface - in the form of an old AOL 'Got Mail' icon. It was very hard to miss, glowing red and spinning every few seconds, so, after some failed fumbling, I managed to activate it. A new window popped up, with a short little letter and an attachment at the bottom. The letter began: Mim, The Prince has... taken an interest in you. More so, I fear, than is really appropriate. He has been delving into my records of your past and your placement herein, and I very much expect that I will likely be selling your contract to him at some point in the future (at quite a nice price, I might add). I wanted to offer a word of warning, however : those who 'interest' our Prince, they rarely have much of a life expectancy. I wonder what you did that might arouse such interest. I rather think it may have been something you said, though choosing that title did not help. Macabre. How very interesting that you could achieve such a title in Hell itself? But no matter. I have been instructed to deliver the attached message to you, as your current overseer, and so deliver I shall. I do hope you will follow any instructions therein. Because if you ruin this deal for me, I swear by Lucifer himself that I shall make you pay a thousand times the price of whatever it is that our Prince is asking of you. Anyway, good chat. And try to have some fun out there! Your faithful (current) lord and master, Bob XXXVII Well that was... about what I had expected, actually. Though learning of Oro's interest was both somewhat surprising and, likewise, terrifying. Absently, I wondered how much it cost to buy a soul, and, moreover, how such a sale was going to effect me personally. My guess is anywhere from 'not at all, really' to 'oh my god I'm being eaten by the dread Chthuluhu.' You know, a range. As I had been, sort of, warned, the next letter had come from Oro... although the text wasn't nearly as foreboding as I had been warned to expect by the somewhat manic Bob creature. I figured out how to open the attachment by, finally, pointing to it and whispering 'open' several times at the interface. It was, again, a block of text. This time though, it had a much more elaborate holographic background. It kind of looked like an immaterial parchment letter, there in front of me. And, in spite of myself, I was vaguely impressed. It said: Little Mim, As we feel confident our messenger has hitherto explained, we have taken an interest in your, somewhat unfortunate, situation. While it is not in our power to award you the 'Level Three' advancement that you most require, we have taken it upon ourselves to arrange some small rewards for your service today. Moreover, please do consider this a thank you - not only for your participation in the extermination of the Borneless One's minion, though that is appreciated, but also of providing us with some small entertainment as we have followed your exploits. When you are provided your Soulbound Item set choice, we have arranged for a third, we believe, much more lucrative option to be provided you. We have gone to some considerable lengths to arrange this, and we wished you to understand that we would be quite disappointed if you did not select our gift as your reward. Quite disappointed indeed. We feel that we may be working together much more... closely... in the future. And we wished to send this note both by way of explanation as well as formal introduction. Your Prince, 'Oro'. xoxoxox Well that was... weird. Still, the letters had more than peaked my curiosity. And I knew for certain that I would not get another second of sleep - not before I had finished checking my status updates and notifications. One way or another, this was going to be good: Congratulations! You have created a new location! Achievement added! 'Mother of Bleeding Harvests' added to avatar report. The 'Grove of Bleeding Harvests' has been added to the world map. 'Due to unprecedented amounts of life magic unleashed in a grove, littered with the limbs and organs of three companions, this grove has now taken on new properties! All trees within a (1) mile radius shall sprout, not fruit, but human hands and organs. Additionally, when cut, each tree's sap shall be found to be the consistency and texture of human blood. Ahhh... crap. Title rank up! Macabre Lvl 2 Due to the synergy of your achievement with your chosen title, the level of this title has been advanced by (1) and Title Reward has been adjusted to account for this achievement. Title is now permanent. Benefit: +2% Critical Chance; +2 Fame; Critical Chance now applies to Healing and Regeneration Magic Congratulations! Your raid has defeated a Level 3, Elite, aberration! Error: You do not yet meet the requirements for advancement to Level 3. Level increase denied. You have received Soul Points! 3000 points for elimination of Level 3 Elite aberration! 1000 points for defeat of 1000 aberration minions (minor)! You have received 4000 Soul Points! Congratulations, you have enough Soul Points to buy your Soulbound Set! Warning: If you do not select your set in (23) hours, a set shall be assigned to you at random. Note: Soulbound Item sets are not standard equipment. Once selected, this set will become an extension, and enhancement, of your immortal soul. All sales are final (no refunds). The following Item Sets are currently available to you: Demonsteel Armament (Offensive): Cost 1000 SP Devouring Threads (Support): Cost 2000 SP Living Demonskin (Oro's Gift): Cost 1 SP Each had a little 'select' icon next to it that I could click on. But... it wasn't really a contest. First, I had a feeling I would feel the true anguish of hell if I did choose the wrong set, so there was that; second, that third color, from my gaming days, seemed to indicate a massive upgrade from the rest (if green usually denoted slightly better gear, and blue denoted something a bit more rare than green, Orange... orange was the best of the best. The creme de le creme of drops - Legendary, unique items); and third, it only cost me a single point. A freaking steal at twice the price. A hundred, hell, a thousand times the price even! I wasn't sure what you could do with unspent SP, but it seemed, frankly, like kind of a given that it could be used to upgrade things later. And saving 3999 SP for upgrades was, I guessed, like two free Level 2 Epic kills. Powerful. For better or worse, without hesitating a second longer, I went ahead and accepted Oro's gift. At the time it didn't seem to me like I had much of a choice about it anyway. Congratulations! You have selected the 'Living Demonskin' set. This equipment will now be added to your Soul. Set Properties have been generated and are now available! Living Boomstick (Item level: base 5; Durability 3000/3000): Imbued with the soul of a departed friend - now joined with you, for eternity. Living Demonskin Leather (Item level: base 5; Durability 1000/1000): A gift from your Prince of his own living flesh - ensuring you will be a part of him, forevermore. Set Properties: Durability may not be repaired by usual methods. Durability will regenerate over time by 10 Points/Day per item. Additionally, healing spells cast upon the wearer will repair an equal amount of durability in each item of this set. If Equipment set reaches 0 Durability, the corpse will remain on the wearer and be unable to be dismissed. This equipment may be resurrected. Additional properties hidden. *Loading, please wait* Jesus on a dildo, that flavor text was somewhat disturbing. Still, the item level wasn't too shabby - and considering I'd never heard of a Level 5 before in this place, no, it wasn't too shabby at all. A thin layer of... what looked like mist... began to gel around my torso. It solidified, slowly, and tightened against my skin. It was all I could do to pull my shirt off, just in time to see what was happening as mist slid solidly together. After maybe thirty seconds, I was no longer layered in optic, fine sheets of air. And, instead, I felt soft leather riding against my skin. It coated me from neck on down, parting only just over my heart as the garment solidified. It seemed that whoever had designed the thing had prescribed to the age old fantasy motif - namely that cleavage trumped protection... though, I had to admit, the support it offered was pretty good, all things considered. It was dark, but my cat eyes had no issue in discerning the final shape of the armor. Tight, dark brown leather covered me, from neck to hip, flaring out into a loose, leather skirt that cut off about mid-thigh. There was a thin 'V' down the front, showing just a hint of cleavage from between the folds of leather and the thin, white linen embroidery. The top edges of the leather flared out too, not into a collar, but rather into a deep set hood. The dark leather covered my head and hung low, shadowing my eyes when I pulled the hood into place. Making me look, I supposed, like some mysterious traveler. Well... at least I did from the neck up. Other than the hood, the rest of the outfit seemed a tad more... cutesy... in cut than I was used to seeing in this place -like a Tim Burton's Catwoman suit, but with a schoolgirl's skirt instead of leggings. And, if it wasn't for the dark, natural tones of the leather, I would have thought Oro's fashion designer was preparing me for some kind of a Japanese 'Magical Girl' audition. The broomstick ('Boomstick') started to coalesce from the air at around the same time as the armor had taken form. It left me with... a much similar impression. It had a long, curved handle of dark wood and a thin metal (titanium?) plate mounted along the side. What impressed me, was that it seemed like an actually, somewhat, practical design - as, this way, it would be possible to block a blade against the metal. The 'brush' portion of the broom was currently split down the middle, giving it the appearance of little, foot-long feet, holding it upright. The bristles swished and rustled with movement, shifting the weight of the broom from one side to the other in much the same motion as a child needing to pee. Still, the weapon (yes, I'm going to take to calling it that. At least, this legendary version of it, looked like it might actually serve such a purpose) did not fall, and, slowly, it began taking slow, testing steps toward me. The little bristles moving like tiny feet and waddling the thing across the floor. And, suddenly, there was an unfamiliar voice. It seemed to whisper to me, clearly, in low, sultry female notes *Welll.... what do we have here?* I coughed, looking around quickly, not seeing anyone. "Hello?" I whispered back quietly, eyes narrowing and ready. *Well, well, well... it looks different to us, but it sounds familiar. Yes, yes it does. We would recognize that voice, recognize it anywhere.* The whispering came again, again from absolutely nowhere at all. I looked around, fear rising instinctively into my throat, *Who? Where are you? Show yourself." I whispered. Still hesitant to risk waking the sleeping Fr3 (especially while wearing this getup), but feeling the edges of panic settle in. A movement demanded my attention. The broomstick... my broomstick was hopping. Oh, geez. Of course. *We remember you, we do. From when we were small. When you were small, even, little one. We used to sleep in your bed, yes we did, in fact.* I blinked. It was apparent that this broom... thing... was now speaking to me. But what it was saying just wasn't making sense. "No, not possible. No one who knew me when I was a kid slept in my bed. That's redici...." It was ridiculous, I thought. Or... was it? The broom jumped on my foot, forcefully. It didn't weigh a ton, but the intent was rather obvious. *Don't tell us that you don't remember us. You said that you loved us. You held us, even, as we died. Yes you did.* I hesitated, understanding finally soaking into my addled brain, "Is that... Lady? Is that you? You're here?" I do believe that my voice had trembled, then. It's not every day you meet the souls of your departed family, even in hell. *Yesss,* she whispered. *Yes, you do remember us. The demon, he promised us that we would return to you. And so we are here...* I screamed out, overcome, finally, with the sudden understanding, "Lady FUZZYKINS! You're alive!!!" and I grabbed my sweet, sweet broom and hugged her tight against my chest. Thump. And something smacked me in the head. Something leather that smelled like feet. "Go... sleep..." a half-awake voice barked out from beside me. Shit. Fr33ze. "Sorry," I whispered back at him. And I quickly carried my reincarnated(ish) cat out into the night air. Fuzzykins whispered to me, as we walked, *Yes, the demon promised us our creature, our Molly. And here we are, with you now. Everything will be ok.* I was crying, I realized, as I carried my sweet broom to the fire and sat down, bonelessly. It had been so long since I had heard my name, my real name, that I had almost forgotten there was a time I was called something other than 'Mim'. "But how?" I asked, "Why are you here? In hell? You were always such a good cat. Well... as good as one can expect from a cat, at least..." Little bristles patted my leg, softly, *Please. Like any self respecting Feline would be caught dead with the celestials. Silly little self-important creatures, and all of their rules. No, no, our place is here. To stand with the lost and guard the edges of the multiverse for the rest of time. Such is fate.* I felt a tug at my arms and I let her go. She seemed to stretch, arching out on her two bristled legs, and began to dance. She hopped lightly around, in front of the fire, jumping higher and higher - until she was rising a good six feet off the ground with every leaping stride. Despite the distance, I still seemed to hear her voice as loudly and clearly as before, *We have been told that we shall be your... how do you call it... your 'interface'. And, we should say, we have been given access to many of the hidden stats and calculations of this world.* I smiled, watching the majestic, agile leaps... performed by a, I'll be it ornate, broomstick. It was as impressive as it was ridiculous. I had to admit. "That will be really helpful, Fuzzykins. It seems like there is so much I still don't know. It's been so frustrating" *Oh yes, our Molly must be very frustrated indeed. There is so much that she doesn't know. So much she won't ever be able to understand* It let out an extended, feline sigh, *Oh, yes. We pity Molly, we do. For our Intelligence has been set to 'Molly's Intelligence, plus one'. So, no matter how much the creature works, however smart she becomes, we shall ever be just a little bit smarter. Such is the way of things, we are afraid.* Wait. What? I... slowly started to remember. Yes, as cute as she was, Lady Fuzzykins could occasionally be.. well... kind of a bitch. In fact.