???’s PoV

“It seems whoever wields the forbidden knowledge lacks imagination.”

A few muttered in agreement when another said “The humans seem to be wiping out the abominations as fast as they're being created. This tainted one does not have the support of his own people.”

“Let’s not get too complacent. While this one may not contain the traits that make for the most powerful of adversaries, the knowledge in itself is a threat. Should the knowledge spread to one who has the creativity and willpower to wield it fully, we could fail in our duty to protect the maker.”

“True. We have already located a group that is not too far away from uncovering that knowledge. These people seem to use a device that sits on their heads to unlock what the maker had hidden away. They are not the tainted one, but they are able to receive and transmit memories.”

“Keep an eye on them. If they get too close to unlocking the secrets, sabotage them. We will dispose of them at the proper time.”

“Understood.”

Charlotte's PoV

Charlotte was breathing heavily. It was finally over. She was both physically and mentally exhausted. She wrapped her arms around Adam.

“Escape.”

Then she exited the demon corpse infested warehouse and felt the shifting sensation return her home. A worried couple rushed over to Adam and embraced him. Feeling shame for putting him in harm's way she quietly exited down to the basement.

As she was laying down on her couch she felt relief that there was almost 12 hours on the clock this time. Charlotte would be able to get a good night's sleep and have some time in the morning to prepare herself for the next round.

Charlotte was mentally going over her actions when she heard the door to the basement open and close. Tense she waited to see who it was.

Feeling relieved she saw it was Gwen. She was just thankful that she had gotten Adam home in one piece, but she didn’t think she could take the reproachful gaze of her brother. It was her idea to bring them all to her house. If Adam wasn't near her, this couldn't have happened.

Gwen said “How did it go? Are you okay?”

Sighing Charlotte nodded and said “I’m just lucky that the cheat codes worked. If I didn’t have overpowered weapons I don’t think I could have kept Adam safe.”

“Cheat codes?”

“Just a term that means to make the game easier than intended. In this case I had topped out armor and health values as well as the very best guns in the game.”

Confused Gwen asked “Games? Like what children play?”

Now that she thought about it these people probably didn’t even know their origins. Gwen probably had never seen a digital game, much less the game from which she was created. Would Charlotte want to know her creation was based on a 30 year old game? Probably not.

Trying to deflect she said “It’s just something Jim came up with. I shouldn’t have used his equipment without a lot more caution. It was foolish. Now I’ve caused the deaths of many people just because of a few moments of stupidity.”

Gwen sat down next to her and said “Things happen. All that you can do is to try to do better next time. Focus on improving yourself so that when the next time comes, you can stand on your own two feet. And always remember that you have friends and family. When times get hard, they are the ones you can count on.”

What did this woman know? Charlotte said angrily “My nephew almost died because of my stupidity. Many people did. What would you know about that?”

It looked like she ticked a nerve because little sparks started shooting out of her balled hands. A second later Gwen said flatly “My daughter was almost killed on a weekly basis for over six months. All because I was too busy focusing on running my kitchen. And do you know how many people I’ve killed just because I stupidly lost my temper? Not only that but my village could potentially be wiped out because of my actions. I think I'm far more qualified on the topic of stupidity than most.”

Charlotte gulped. Quietly she asked “How do you deal with the guilt?”

“I don’t deal with it very well, but focusing on what you can do now helps. The list of things I can’t fix is too long. If things change, I’ll look in to it then. But right now? I just take it one day at a time.”

Charlotte felt out of control. Control was something she always prided herself in, yet now it escaped her.

Gwen patted her hands and said “Friends help friends. You helped us when we had no clue what was going on in your world. Now we will help you. When the next time comes for you to fight the monsters I will fight by your side.”

Charlotte tried to blink away the tears but she couldn’t. She ended up racking with sobs as Gwen cradled her. Once she had gotten her emotions under control Gwen padded her head and said “Get some sleep. Get me when the next round starts. Goodnight Charlotte.”

Had she ever had such a friend before? One that would put her life on the line just because she called them a friend? Charlotte didn’t think so. As she started falling asleep she said to herself “One day at a time. Just one day at a time.”

Scarlet’s PoV

Scarlet was depressed. They had just peeked under the clouds to look at Xelross, but both armies were camped outside of the city. She could even see the construction of a wall dividing the city in half, like her city was some kind of prize that could be divided up.

There were too many soldiers roaming around to make infiltration possible. The airship made too much noise to go unnoticed. And Getting in on foot seemed to be even more impossible.

Forrest put his arm around her and said “We can always come back. Maybe in a few years things will calm down. Then it will be easy for us to walk in and find the traitors.

Scarlet had a warm feeling inside. Forrest said years later and us! He saw them being together for years? Still? Trying to mask her happiness she kept a schooled scowl on her face. It wouldn’t do for him to see how she really felt. Men tended to get too full of themselves if they knew the important details.

In a companionable silence they watched as the sun began to set.

Charlotte’s PoV

Waking up Charlotte took note of the time. She only had an hour left before the next wave. Wow, she slept for a long time. As she was getting ready for the day she thought about Gwen's offer.

Should she take her along on her next trip? With the cheat codes and no one to protect it would be manageable. These early levels the demons were fairly weak to her overpowered arsenal. It was kind of her, but Charlotte would rather Gwen be here to protect her family while she was away.

Sitting down on her couch she mentally brought up the option to start the round early. Just before she hit accept she looked over to Jim's body. Shrugging she thought “What's the worst that could happen?”

Using all of her strength she managed to get him on the sofa. Then she leveraged him onto her lap. Odds were she would just bring a corpse along on her mission to kill demons, but she figured why not give it a shot? If something was still in there maybe this would work.

When she started the round early something weird happened. Her vision didn't dim while being accompanied by the shifting sensation. Instead it was jarring motions with error messages filling her vision.

“Error. Entity is not compatible with teleport function.”

“Error. Unable to teleport to location with additional user.”

“Calculating for acceptable outcome. Calculating. Acceptable outcome found! Teleporting.”

Jim’s Pov

Jim was relaxing and waiting for Scarlet to make up her mind. He understood that she had a legitimate grievance against the invaders, but didn't feel it was his place to interfere.

If they wanted to get off, he would let them. But he nor his wolves would be apart of whatever their plans were. He came to this conclusion reluctantly. Jim felt that acting based on only one sides point of view was wrong.

If they were captured after taking the lives of several people would he interfere? Jim didn't know. They were two of only three people that he had really talked to. Shaking his head he realized that only time would tell.

As he was rustling the heads of his wolf companions something weird happened. The hard wooden deck he was sitting on seemed to be replaced by something soft and warm. Confused Jim looked underneath himself to find a woman there! How in the world did she get on his ship?

His wolves went from playful to on guard instantly. The woman started groaning and then got to her feet in a woozy motion. Finally when she made eye contact with him she said “Jim! You little bastard! Your back? Fix this! Now!”

Confused he said “Who are you?”

That seemed to infuriate the woman and she pulled out something and aimed it at him. Was it a weapon?

“Jim! People are dead because of that damn computer I got from your house! I need help!”

Was this someone from the other world that Forrest talked about? Reluctantly he said “I’m sorry, but I have lost my memory. I can't remember anything past a couple days ago.”

“Jim! I'm not taking your crap this time! Either you help me, or I'm going to turn you into the police!”

He didn't know what to say to the mad woman. She seemed to take his silence as an insult because her weapon started lighting up!

Jim winced as he felt something heavy impact his armor. The wolves started pouncing on her but she just shrugged off their attacks. Finally getting serious he pulled out a blunt mace from his inventory. He would try to incapacitate her.

Charging at the woman she nimbly dodged and kept firing. Getting into her reach he managed to land a blow which instantly shattered her armor. But then she said some bizarre phrase and the armor reappeared as if nothing happened. Pressing the attack they seemed to be at a stalemate.

Then the ship started bobbing and weaving erratically. Voss yelled “You need to stop her now, or we're going to be crashing into an army!”

Finally taking notice of his surroundings he saw that one of the fans had been blown off and another was working poorly. Jim pulled out a sharp and thin blade and then stabbed at the woman. Efficiently he pierced through her armor and into her shoulder. Pushing even further he embeded the blade into one of the masts on the airship.

Putting another blade to her throat he calmly said “You are endangering the lives of my people. You will cease or I will end you.”

The woman seemed to wake up out of her rage and started looking around. Then confused she asked “What? What is this? Where are we?”

“Above Xalross, and hoping to stay that way. A bit more damage to the ship and we might have a closer look from the crater we will make in the ground.”

In amazement she said “This.. this isn’t Earth! You cheated death inside a video game? Really?”

She knew about his death? He asked “How did you know I died?”

“Because your corpse is in my basement. I knew I should have kicked it more! So, you really lost your memory?”

“Yeah. You going to play nice now?”

After she nodded he took the blade out. Again she said that weird phrase and the wound healed and the hole in her armor went away.

“Neat trick.”

Snorting she said “Yeah. Too bad it doesn’t work properly. If only the person who made this game actually got god mode to work right? Oyeah, and what's with escape working and ESC not? Damn your crappy programing skills!”

Confused Jim watched her vent her rage. Finally when she seemed to be tuckered out he asked “So can you tell me what’s going on? Please?”

Sighing she said “Is there any point? Your dead on the other side.”

With a smile he said enigmatically “I think I can change that. Just tell me what’s going on.”

Scarlet’s PoV

Something was happening on the ship! All the sudden it started bobbing and weaving so she braced herself as best as she could. Finally the ship stopped rocking and Scarlet was about to check out what was happening, but then she saw several flashes of green towards the city.

Curious she looked over. Taking it all in an evil smile started to form on her face. There was a monster attack! Green portals seemed to be popping up, and the monsters they spawned were attacking the soldiers outside of the city!

Even better she saw pockets of Jacksberg soldiers fighting soldiers from Shila! Hahahaha! Looks like their alliance wasn't so trusting after all! The airship started to recover from it’s dive and it was really close to a few of the taller buildings.

Smiling she said to Forrest “How about we move the schedule up a couple years? Seems like a good time right now!”

Forrest laughed and said “You have the best luck out of anyone I have ever met! Okay Scarlet, lets do it!”

The pair waited for a building to be close enough and then they jumped on to it. Watching as the airship pulled away she said “Do you think he will wait for us?”

“I think so. But let’s be quick about it. Repairing the ship will probably only take so long.”

“Good thinking. Let the hunt begin!”