“Wake up, dammit!” David’s deep voice shouted at Ethan and golden energy surrounded his hand as he struck Ethan in the face.

“Huhhhhhhhhhh.” Ethan gasped as he shot up right in his bed. His body was soaked in sweat, his heart racing. He had a moment of panic as he looked around his tiny bedroom, seeing the people he’d just watched burned to death crowded into his room.

David was seated next to him on the bed wearing only his pants. The golden aura from his hands had dissipated. Alera was leaning against the doorframe, looking terrified.

“David!” Ethan threw himself at his best friend, sobbing. “He killed you. All of you.”

“It was a dream,” David whispered, holding Ethan tightly. “We’re here.”

“I couldn’t save you!” Ethan sobbed into David’s bare shoulder, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

“We’re here. We’re safe.” David hugged him tighter.

Alera rushed over, sat on the other side of him and began rubbing his back.

“We’re here Ethan,” her voice soft and comforting.

Ethan broke away from David’s embrace, wiping snot and tears from his face. His friend released him and stood up. Alera remained seated on the bed next to him, still rubbing his back.

“I’m sorry,” he said, still sniffling, “I couldn’t… I didn’t know it was a dream. It was so real.”

”It’s okay,” David reassured him, standing up, “there’s a lot going on. Alera, you got this?”

“Yeah, go,” she nodded, moving closer to Ethan, “sorry I had to wake you.”

“No worries at all,” David smiled at the two of them and left the room. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You want to talk about it?” Alera asked him tentatively, her brow furrowed in concern as she pushed herself back to sit against the headboard of the bed. “Your dream, I mean.”

“No,” he leaned back, placing his head in her lap. Her skin still smelled like soap. When did she take a shower? Did I fall asleep before she came back, again? “There was a dragon.”

“A dragon?” She said sweetly, playing with his hair. “So I guess my redecoration is out.”

“Not funny,” he grumbled, “Paul used it to incinerate everyone. You, my sister, David, everyone.”

“It was just a dream. We’re all safe.”

“Are we?” Ethan said quietly, “Tae-Won is being tortured, we don’t know where. Miguel is at Tara’s, he’s worried she’s a target. Daniel is who knows where, Paul could have him too for all we know.” He shifted his fit so he was facing her, “how long until he gets someone else?”

Alera leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

“He won’t.” She said firmly and confidently.

“How do you know that?”

“Because now we know he’s after us.” She ran her fingers through his hair again and yawned.

“And that’s supposed to make a difference?”

“Yes. Before, you were being hunted and didn’t know. Now, we start hunting him.”

He couldn’t help notice the change from ‘you’ to ‘we’ as she spoke. He realized that even though she’d never met Tae-Won, or Daniel, Alera meant it when she said Disorder was her new home.

Alera placed her hands on his face, forcing him to look at her.

“Do you think I just joined by accident? That I found this guild and just happened to want to join you guys?”

Ethan furrowed his brow in confusion. Did she mean she knew him before, was she a spy for someone? For Paul?

Before he could answer, she continued.

“After I met David and Miguel, I did some research on you guys. People know who you are, what you’ve done here. The seven of you scouted farther and faster than larger groups with better gear and higher levels. And you don’t think that means something? Paul should be pissing himself in fear at the thought of you coming.”

He stared at her. He hadn’t thought about many people having that high of an opinion of his little guild. He knew that amongst other scouting guilds, their name was known, but other than that he thought they’d stayed under the radar.

“Is that why you’re here? Hitching your wagon to the brightest star?” He realized as soon as he said it how mean it was going to come across.

“You’re mixing your metaphors and trying to hurt me,” she whispered, pulling her hands away from him. “I just hid a body for you, remember?”

“Alera, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand. “I’m sorry.”

He saw her wipe away a tear in the dim light coming in through the window.

“I just…” he swallowed hard, the fresh memory of his dream still vivid and painful. “I just watched you die. And I couldn’t save you.”

“That wasn’t real.”

“I know that now, but it was so lifelike, so real. I could smell the burnt flesh of everyone I lo.. I cared about. I could taste the ash that was all that remained of you.” He paused and choked back another sob. “And it terrified me.”

“Then don’t try to push me away,” she leaned over and kissed him again. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“I won’t,” he rolled over and hugged her legs, holding her close to him to make sure she would have to be there in the morning.

When he woke again, the sun was shining through the still open window. Alera was still asleep, one hand resting on his back. Her neck was bent at a funny angle, drool ran down the corner of her mouth as she snored erratically.

Carefully, Ethan extracted himself from her lap, trying not to wake her up. He kissed her forehead softly and then turned to look for his pants.

Once he was dressed, he left the room as quietly as he could, closing the door gently.

Coffee would be great, but I still haven’t showered since I got home, he debated to himself as he stood in the landing, looking between the bathroom and the stairs. He raised his arm slightly, testing just how bad his body odor had gotten in the last two days.

“Whoa,” he coughed, his eyes watering from the stench. “Definitely showering first.”

Still trying to be quiet, he reopened the door to his room. Alera hadn’t moved in the few seconds he’d been gone. Her arms were askew, but she was snoring, she still leaned against the bed frame, and she looked to have drooled more. God she’s beautiful. He thought in awe of the woman sleeping in his bed.

Ethan quickly gathered a clean set of clothes and a towel from his small closet, and snuck back out of his own room, taking one last look at the sleeping Alera.

How did it come to this? He reflected on the last few days, letting the near scalding water wash over him. Everything was going so great. Now Tae-Won is being tortured and we have no clue where. I should have just walked away from that caravan. Finished the trip to Startesgarde on foot.

But that wasn’t who he was. Ethan had always prided himself on standing up to bullies, he’d seen it happen too many times in the real world. People who thought they had some power over someone they considered “lesser” trying to get whatever they wanted. He hated it. Had he let Paul and his friends rob that caravan, it wouldn’t have ended there. They would have kept doing it to anyone passing through. Even as he wished he could have done something different, Ethan knew it had been the right choice.

He just hadn’t expected the consequences to be so severe.

Ethan finished his showered quickly, but made sure to take extra time to scrub his foul armpits. He considered himself beyond lucky that Alera had even deigned to sleep in the same bed with him, what with how bad he smelled. She was a very bright light in the ever encroaching darkness. Not only because of their burgeoning relationship, but she was proving to be an amazing fit for their tight knit group.

He was surprised to see that he and Alera were the last ones up when he finally made it downstairs. Even Miguel had made it back early.

“Morning everyone,” Ethan greeted his friends, still slightly groggy despite his shower, as he sat down at the kitchen counter. “Please tell me there’s coffee.

“I mean it’s like four hours old, but sure. There’s some left.” Sam answered, handing him the cold pot. “Some of us woke up on time.”

“Wait, what?” Ethan shook his head and blinked, trying to clear his confusion, “what time is it?”

Almost noon.” David said from the couch. “We let you sleep.”

“Shit,” Ethan said, resting his head in his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Leah took the cold coffee and poured it down the sink to refill it. “David said you weren’t sleeping well last night. Bad dreams?”

“Something like that.” He murmured, his voice muffled by the countertop.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not especially. I watched you all die.” Ethan sighed and sat back up. “Horribly.”

“That’s rough buddy,” Miguel said from the couch next to David.

“What are you guys doing over there?” Ethan turned to face his David and Miguel. They had been swiping through invisible menus when he’d entered, their eyes glazed over as they focused on something no one else could see.

“Homework,” David answered him, his fingers flying through the air in complicated gestures. “Trying to message anyone I know, see if they know anything about Paul and where he might be.”

“Same,” Miguel said before shaking his hands and cracking his knuckles. “Tara told me she’d seen that guy Caleb in her tavern before, so I’m trying to track down anyone he came with.”

“Any luck?” Ethan asked hopefully. He wished, not for the first time, that he could see other players' menus. But the game only allowed players to see their own, unless it was shared on a common screen, like the one above their mantle.

“Not yet,” Miguel answered grimly, “and I have to be careful, we don’t want them to know who we’re asking for help.”

“Are you still going to see Arianna?” Leah asked, pouring him a fresh cup of coffee. Sam was behind her washing dishes, one of his eyes still giving off an eerie purple light.

“Yeah, after breakfast, well lunch I guess.” Ethan stopped the scalding black liquid, the acrid taste of coffee overwhelmed by the sudden burns to the inside of his mouth and throat. “What are you guys doing today?”

“This is it,” Sam said, sloshing water on the counter as he vigorously scrubbed a pan. “Some assholes don’t clean up after themselves, leaving it for the rest of us. This is a communal house, Miguel!” Soap suds and water sprinkled Ethan’s face as Sam threw a metal spatula across the room.

“Oh! Hey!” The utensil hit him in the chest, leaving a soapy wet spot on his wrinkled robes. “What the hell man?”

“Dude, I’m tired of cleaning up after your messes!” This was a constant fight between the two of them. Sam was always more orderly and clean, while Miguel tended to be a little more sloppy and casual.

“That’s not mine!” Miguel defended himself, “I’ve been eating at Tara’s pretty much since I got back!” He threw the spatula back at Sam. It landed hard against the wall with a loud clatter.

“Guys, quit throwing things,” Leah pleaded, even with as concerned as she was over her husband, she was still reverting to the motherly role in the guild. She’d told Ethan one time it was because there was so much testosterone in their little house, someone had to keep the calm.

Wonder how that will change, now that there’s another woman living here? He hadn’t seen much of Alera’s personality to make him think she was going to take over as “house mother” from Leah, she didn’t take shit from anyone but, other than the moments the two of them had shared, Ethan hadn’t seen her be especially nurturing. If Leah is Water, Alera is Fire. That could get awkward, both of us being influenced by the Spirit of Fire…

On the long ride back from Anvasa, Ethan had tried to figure out which of the Vættr his friends were representative of. David was obvious, Earth. Sam and Miguel were both Air, opposite in how much alike they were. Tae-Won, he assumed was Earth too, his steadfast focus and resilience were hopefully helping keep him sane during his ordeal. Ethan wasn’t sure where Daniel fit in, Water or Air, he was too flighty and distracted for Earth and too meek for Fire.

He hoped that by understanding his relationships with his friends, his relationships with the Vættr would improve as well. He hadn’t had time to test it yet, the spirits had only manifested themselves physically at the Hearg of Life, and he wasn’t anywhere close to another shrine. He also had more pressing matters than to try to commune with in game deities.

“Are you going to wake Alera anytime soon?” Leah interrupted his thoughts, holding the coffee pot in the air “or should I toss this?”

“Hey, we don’t throw away coffee!” David shouted from the couch. Leah rolled her eyes behind his back.

“Yeah, in just a minute. I don’t know how much sleep she actually got,” Ethan sipped his still burning hot coffee. “She didn’t look especially comfortable when I got up.”

Whatever Leah was going to say next was interrupted by an abrupt knock on the front door of the guild hall.

“Wonder who that is?” Ethan furrowed his brow and got up to answer the door. The only people who could enter were people in the guild. NPCs and other players weren’t allowed in without permission from someone in Disorder.

The person on the other side of the door knocked again, faster more impatiently this time, as Ethan turned the handle.

“Can I help you?” He asked, his head cocked to the side and one eyebrow raised. A tall, lanky woman in a red uniform stood in the on the step looking surprised at the sudden opening of the door.

“Ethan Holliwell?? Guild leader of Disorder?” She stammered out, managing to look both professional and nervous at the same time.

“Yeah,” he nodded, unsure of who this person was. Anyone using both his first and last name was a very rare occurrence. It had been so long since he’d heard it, it was strange even hearing it out loud.

“You’ve been summoned,” she very formally offered a yellowed parchment envelope to him.

“Ummm… thanks?” He said awkwardly, taking the proffered item from her.

“Have a good day,” she nodded at him and turned quickly to leave.

Ethan closed the door and turned back to walk to the kitchen, inspecting the envelope. The front was completely blank, no name or address. What the hell is this? He wondered to himself as he inspected the paper in his hand

“Who was it?” Leah asked him, walking over to see what had happened.

“No clue,” he said, still looking at the envelope. As he turned it over, he saw the wax seal. A tiny sword crossed over an axe on top of a shield was pressed into the bright red wax. The seal of the PvP Clan. “But I don’t think it’s good.” He ripped into the envelope and pulled out a beige piece of parchment with elaborate script.

“What’s it say?” Leah asked him again.

“Hold on,” his eyes grew wide as he read through the letter that had just been delivered. “Fuck.” He whispered angrily, his eyes focused on the letter

“Okay,” Leah nodded at him nervously. “Is it… is it bad? About Tae-Won?”

“Worse.” Ethan answered quietly as he read the letter again.

To: Ethan Holliwell, Guild Leader of Disorder

An official complaint has been registered against you, and your guild. On the date of the 13th of Forthmonth, Caleb Smith alleges you and several of your guildmates conspired to abduct and murder him.

His complaint, registered with the PvP Clan, alleges that you and your guildmates, murdered him unprompted and in a PvP safe zone. He names both you and Leah Kim as the ones who carried out his murder. The remainder of your guild is implicated, but the complaint is limited officially to the two of you.

As you know, this is a violation of PvP policy and as such you, and Ms. Kim, are summoned to appear in court at 1400 game time today. You will be allowed to present evidence in your favor.

Failure to appear will result in automatic judgment in favor of the accuser.

Regards,

High Marshal Calder Tanner

Leader of the PvP Clan

High Councilor of the Startesgarde Council