Killing mobs used to be my escape. When I was upset or had a bad day, I would enter a virtual world and hack or shoot everything to bits. Leveling up didn’t matter, nor did any of the false prizes games dangled in front of me. The only thing that mattered was that I could lose myself in the illusion of complete control. Particles flickered through the air as I hacked through another block with legs that passed for a Brick Golem, increasing my kill streak to seventy-nine.

“Great job, Sarah!” Twinkle cheered, flying above me. “One more and you’ll reach a progression save point!”

I didn’t care one bit about the reward. The only reason I had gone to an arcane tower arena was to try and relax. My conversation with Legion made it impossible. His request—and strangely enough, it sounded more a request than the other call I had received—was that I drag out my time until the time was over. If I did, he’d not only let me have the antique phone, but would give me enough in palladium bars to lead a carefree life for years. The way he presented the whole scheme was almost believable, if it wasn’t for one small detail: he refused to tell me what the game was or how other people were involved. The only thing he kept recycling, using different words each time, was that I had to stop.

A level seventy drake warrior spawned in the arena. In terms of Vesperia mobs, that was one of the more annoying ones. After my encounter with hundred-level monsters, I wasn’t impressed. Plunging at it with a double slash, I then threw all the daggers in my inventory at the drake’s chest. The warrior twisted to avoid the majority of damage, but in doing so entered my swipe zone, allowing me to start my slash chain. I focused my attacks on his leg, launching a series of sequential strikes before moving up. The monster AI’s reaction was to pull back, but the thirty level difference made his movements sluggish, letting me pierce his chest five times at every step.

Why can’t it be this easy against players? I pushed on. The health bar of the drake was three quarters empty and decreasing steadily. This sort of battle created the illusion I was actually good. In truth, I wasn’t. I wasn’t able to defeat Firestarter in my dreams, just as I failed to deal significant damage to a level hundred-plus monster, even when given appropriate weapons.

The drake fell to his knees, letting out his death shriek. Half my health disappeared instantly—one of the reason I hated fighting drakes; even when they died, they did everything possible to have you follow soon after.

“You did it, Sarah!” Twinkle twirled through the air. “Now’s a good place for you to rest.”

Rest. I smirked bitterly. That was the last thing I needed to do. My mind wandered back to the end of my shift. Jeff had managed to arrive to relieve me, brushing away everyone’s concerns as he usually did. I had been so terrified by my last two conversations that I hadn’t even asked if he was doing well. Instead, I had dragged him away, directly asking about my troubles. I’m an idiot! I gritted my teeth. The one time I needed to show some support, and I messed it up. What’s worse, it didn’t even do me any good. Jeff didn’t even know anyone significant called Legion. The only potential lead was the ancient phone. Something that expensive was bound to leave a money trail.

“Guess I'm not the only one having a bad day,” a female voice said. Instinctively, I gripped my weapons and turned around. A short blond noble in green travel clothes stood at the entrance of the arena. Even from this distance, I could see her avatar was modeled to perfection, not merely custom built, but modded on top of that to the point that ninety-nine percent of e-fashion models would be envious. Long blond locks fell down beneath her shoulders, breaking into a curl every few inches, made all the more visible by her paper-white skin.

The girl smirked at me for several seconds, then started walking my way. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Once an arena instance had started, the system was supposed to send every other visiting player to an instance of their own, or, failing that, not trigger at all.

“Claire?” I asked, still gripping my weapons.

“Max.” The girl tilted her head.

Of course it would be Max. It was typical of her to come and gloat. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had found a way to slip some spy app on me since the last meeting.

“So.” She crossed her arms. “What did you mess up?”

Which mess do you have in mind? At this point, it was easier to say what I hadn’t messed up. I guess I should be thankful that I still had a job, a place to live, and the university program hadn’t kicked me out. I felt I was on borrowed time. Less than a day to go, and I wasn’t certain what to do. The only thing I did know was that more and more obstacles kept piling on, determine to stop me.

“That bad?” Max’s new avatar arched a perfect brow. It reminded me of all the annoying commercials during game load. Each time I saw them, I wanted to slap them through the face.

“I’m used to it,” I used my mother’s favorite response.

“Good for you.” Max smiled with universal level of fake sincerity. “Because it’s pretty much downhill from here.”

“Nice to know.” I used up whatever potions remained, bringing me back to eighty-two percent health.

The game system had temporarily blocked all non-paid market access, limiting me to what remained in my inventory. Even at this level of difficulty, the nonstop battles had ground me down to the point I had no health restore remaining. Grouped with the useless loot, game tokens, and decorative items, there were two things that could grant me an absolute advantage, though—the statless swords the elf princess had given me. Since my trial, I hadn’t used them once, I hadn’t even equipped them, fearing some game community master might ban me from the game for illicit modding. The way things were going, that was the least of my worries.

“Firestarter has gathered all the clues.” Max’s voice sounded softer than usual. “She bragged about it in Crystal Spires. She wasn’t explicit, but I don’t know anything else that has ‘eight trials’ in Vesperia.” Ice cubes formed in my stomach. There went my hope of beating Firestarter to the finish line. “She's been quiet since.”

Another part of the dream had turned out true.

“What does Claire think?” I went to the center of the arena and slashed through the air. A window appeared.

Continue Arena Battle?

“He’s dealing with something.” From the corner of my eye I saw Max look away. “Nothing to do with you.”

“Okay.” I hit the confirmation window with my rapier. “Give me a moment.”

The first of the level eighty monsters appeared—an elf captain with an enhanced bow blade. Thanks to my recent experience in the Sylvan Forest, I had gotten to know his weak points and attack pattern. The tips of my blades danced about as I ran around him, launching a series of attacks every two seconds. Of every five strikes, two hit. Firestarter wouldn’t have allowed such sloppiness. At a twenty level, difference she’d have destroyed the mob before it had a chance to move. In my case, the result was pathetic. Every exchange resulted in both of us dealing damage, which in my case was reduced to one thanks to my ongoing buffs.

I’m so crap! I leapt away from the elf. He followed suit, casting a series of minor heals.

“Wow, you suck,” Max laughed. “Any chance you could reach the next one in my lifetime?”

The temptation of using my statless weapons was enormous, so I gave in. While the elf continued to heal himself, I swapped my current weapons for the one in my inventory. A bright crimson glow surrounded them, giving each the shape of a broadsword.

“Twinkle, follow the notification feed,” I said, glancing at Max over my shoulder. For the moment, her behavior hadn’t changed. “Tell me if there are any warnings.”

“Sure thing, Sarah!” the AI meowed cheerfully. Now for the moment of truth.

I knew that fighting with an overpowered weapon would make things easier, but I never suspected it could make the battle so unbalanced. After a single block and a swipe, the elf’s health bar vanished completely. The NPC fell to the floor in an over dramatic death animation, then disappeared in a cloud of voxels. The next three challengers died even faster, destroyed moments after spawning. The new swords were so efficient that I feigned a bit of difficulty during the next five rounds to keep the system from triggering. Every now and again, I’d give Max a glance, but for whatever reason, she didn’t seem impressed.

“Still with me?” I asked, deliberately waving a sword in her direction.

Max snorted, not bothering with a reply. So, you cant see them. I swirled around, striking the ninetieth monster—a level ninety horned demon—twice in the torso. The damage was enough to kill him outright, making him disappear in a wave of flames. Normally, it would have taken me minutes upon minutes of ranged attacks and evading to get the same result. These weapons were like a newbie equalizer. With them, I could kill pretty much anything up to level ninety nine, and the best part was that no one else would know.

“Well done, Sarah!” Twinkle landed on my shoulder. “You’ve almost completed the challenge. Now you can rest before going on.”

“Finally.” Max didn’t take long to break the mood. “Any longer, and the arena would have reset.”

“I take it you see a lot of one shot kills?” I felt my fingers tremble with quiet rage.

“With a nine level advantage, lots.” She gave me the most annoying laugh she was capable of. “You’re so trash you have to rely on biometrics for viewers.”

I felt I wanted to slice her avatar in two.

“Let’s go, I’ve something to show you.” An arena exit appeared, even though I hadn’t finished my combat sequence.

“Where to?” There was no point not to follow. The arena prize was trash anyway.

“Crystal Spires.” She turned around, starting towards the exit.

“Max,” I interrupted. “Hold on a moment.”

Max froze mid step. An instant of hesitation bled through her actions. It wasn’t much, but it told me that she had become more involved in this than she was letting on. She claimed she was doing this to keep me away from Claire, but on the web, alliances shifted fast.

“Have you heard anything called the Ghost Forum?” I asked.

“Probably.” She half-glanced at me over her shoulder. “What’s it for?”

“Some kind a rumor mill where people talk about the quest.” And a few other things. “Firestarter was on it.”

“I see.” Max turned forward. “I’ll look into it.”

“Might be safer if Claire does. It had some heavy duty protections. Even with an invite, I got locked and booted after a minute.” I considered telling her about Legion and how he had tracked me down in real life. As much as it made for an interesting story, it was a better idea not to get her involved. “I couldn’t copy a word from the place,” I lied. “All grabs and videos were messed up.”

“Not a problem,” her voice sounded much higher, making me doubt her sincerity.

“Can you get anything in six hours?”

“I said not a problem!” Max hissed, still refusing to look me in the eye. “Just say what you want me to find.”

“Everything about Firestarter.” I considered for a few moments. “And who runs the place.” I was going to ask Claire to look into Legion directly. “I’ll give you the link and invite in case that helps.”

“Sure.” Slowly, Max started walking towards the exit again. “Where did you get it from?”

“FlickerFlacker gave it to me.” And don’t you dare ask me about him.

“The guy you had me put a marker on?” Max turned around, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Yes, him.” I walked past her.

This was a topic I wanted to forget. If there was anything I despised, was it was being used by someone without them telling me. Everyone used everyone it today’s world, but most were open about it. I knew my bosses at work were taking advantage of me, as was Claire, as were Legion, the elf princess, even Max herself. Flicker had blindsided me completely, and that made it difficult to forgive.

“Lucky you.” Max rushed to catch up. “He quit the game a day ago.”

“What?” I froze.

“His character and all logs were purged from Vesperia’s server. Same with his contact mails and everything else I had on him. Pretty expensive job. I only managed to get my hands on a few web echoes.”

Crap! Another part of my dream had come true.