Maya glanced at her penalties and missions.

5 hours, 42 minutes remaining until her Trickster’s Price debuff finally ran out, and she'd be able to start rolling for non -100 luck numbers.

1 day, 11 hours, 16 minutes on her Standalone conquest mission. She wasn’t sure it would be possible anymore. She’d counted on having at least one day without a penalty before attempting the conquest for real, but being captured while in her Seer save had lost her all the progress she’d made on reducing the debuff in her Path of Life route.

And speaking of no progress, though she and Julios had killed dozens or possibly hundreds of monsters today, Maya still hadn’t managed to level from 8 back up to 9. Her working theory was to blame it all on her -100 luck.

As they returned from their unsuccessful day of hunting, Maya got her first look at Domitius’s Kalyx outpost.

It was located somewhat to the north of Standalone’s house, further from Kalyx City proper but still within the player homes area west of the city. It didn’t look particularly impressive, a big stone blocky structure with very small windows.

Perhaps he was going for ‘don’t even think about attacking this’ rather than ‘this is a big beautiful place’. Certainly his aesthetics were very different from Shardlord’s.

But the closer they drew to it, the bigger it loomed. Maya began to realize it might be the largest structure she’d ever seen in-game. Shardlord’s tower still stood tallest, but as far as sheer volume this definitely took the prize.

Four stories plus battlements on top, it resembled a castle keep, if rather huger than most. Soldiers patrolled the top, and Maya spotted crossbowmen lurking behind more than a few of the narrow windows.

Maya began to see what the guard captain had meant; any player would be a fool to attempt a conquest of this monster of a structure.

She’d half expected a massive gate with a drawbridge, but Julios approached a sturdy door no larger than normal. It opened without any fuss, and Maya followed him inside.

The interior proved perfectly comfortable, though not as fancy as the mage academy. Very utilitarian. Corridors just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, ceilings of ordinary height and unadorned stone or wood, and furniture that varied in quality from ‘rough’ to ‘rustic’.

The bottom floor included a great many closed doors, and hallways crossing every which way and so large. The architecture reminded her of those old corridor shooter games, and it seemed to go on and on.

Maya followed Julios’s lead, straight through the center of the building and up a flight of stairs, thankfully fully enclosed and with no drop off to either side. They passed a landing for the second story, but continued until reaching the third.

“You’ll probably be that way,” Julios said, pointing down the hall to the left. Unnecessarily, as he also started walking that way in the same moment. “As one of the lowest level players—”

“The lowest level,” Maya corrected instinctively.

“Right, yes. Then you’ll definitely be down this way.”

Julios paused after turning the corner at the end of the hall, then tapped on the second door to the right. “This is mine, so if you’re ready to head out again let me know. I don’t need a rest, so I’ll be working on crafting or something.”

He found her room in the back corner, a surprisingly large room which made up for its size with the sparseness of its furnishing. It reminded her a bit of Sevard’s house, only less crammed with storage boxes. In fact, it most closely resembled her basic cheap apartment. Only three times the size.

“My room is three doors back and across the hall, don’t forget,” he told her, hovering by her door.

“Yes, got it, thanks. Run along.” She knew it was a bit rude, but she was so tired of putting up with his prattle.

“Right. See you later. Let me know if you get any more messages for me.”

“Yes, will do.” She firmly closed the door before he could start talking again, then sat down in the nearest chair with a sigh of relief.

“Save game, seer 4 Julios.”

Save privileges are restricted. Contact homeowner for permissions, or begin a conquest to claim this area.

There was a ‘Request Save Permissions’ button, and a ‘Begin Conquest’ option, as well as ‘Cancel’ which she selected.

Well. So much for easily swapping between Domitius and Shardlord’s bases. Hopefully Shardlord wouldn’t have canceled her save permissions in the mage academy while she was gone.

“Load—” she started to say, then stopped herself. She wasn’t sure it would work, and even if it did, she had to find a place to save first. No way was she going to risk loading and lose so much time. She’d spent days imprisoned, it would be stupid to let her debuffs reset to before that.

Well. She was close to Kalyx. Within walking distance, even if it would take an hour or so. If she could evade Julios and not get caught by the guards, she could run to her apartment, save, load, and. . .

No, that wouldn’t work either.

“Save game eleven.”

Save privileges are restricted.

“Request save permissions,” Maya said this time in response to the prompt. If this was going to be one of her bases now, she couldn’t wuss around about things.

Then she waited. She spent several minutes breathing, trying to calm herself, trying to disperse the tension that still hadn’t dispersed fully from her long, long week. Everything was happening too fast, too many factions and identities and relationships.

“Maya Starborn?”

“Present,” she replied, not recognizing the voice.

“You’ve requested save access for the Kalyx outpost?”

“Yeah, of course I have.” She didn’t try to conceal her indignation. “If I’m going to be stationed here, why wouldn’t I be able to save here?”

“Please wait a moment.” His voice lowered. “She says if she’s stationed there, why shouldn’t she be able to save.”

Silence.

“Some people do have obligations on other worlds, you know.”

More silence. Maya felt very awkward hearing one half of a semi-whispered conversation about herself.

“Maya—”

“Emma, please.”

He cleared his throat. “Emma, then. Um. Do you have obligations on another world?”

“I have a friend who isn’t on 9352, and the internet access here is basically nonexistent,” Maya said, quite honestly. “Do you really expect me to stay here all the time? That was never part of the deal.”

“She says staying here full time wasn’t the deal, she has friends on other worlds and the internet here is awful.”

Silence.

“I’m sorry, I thought—”

A pause.

“Yes, I understand that, but—”

Another, longer pause.

“Emma, I’ve been instructed to tell you that logging out does not require saving, as your player progress is automatically synced at all times by the world server itself. If you need to visit another world, simply file a request with myself, Stone, or Cydrin, at least six hours in advance.”

Maya sighed heavily, exaggerating just a little for the sake of whoever was on the other end of this odd conversation. “I save and load quite frequently as part of my normal gameplay. It’s a convenient way to get from place to place, and I’m not so high level that the lost experience from double-playing is a problem yet. But I do have a higher level save which I’d like to revisit and while I could run back to Kalyx to do so it seems a stupid waste of time for everyone involved.”

“She says she save-loads to tely, and has a higher level save to switch to.”

Pause.

“How much higher level?” This directed at Maya.

“Nine, instead of eight, but I have better equipment too,” Maya replied, then immediately cursed herself. She shouldn’t be saying that, if she wanted to keep Emma separate from her other identities. She had to stop forgetting that she couldn’t be just one person any longer, she had to compartmentalize.

“One level higher, same tier, better gear.”

Pause.

“You’re the one who knows how that works, I’ve never even spoken to the—”

Silence.

“Sorry.”

Pause.

“Do you really think—” A shorter pause this time. “I’ll tell her, but I can’t guarantee she’ll comply.” Then he raised his voice back to normal, addressing Maya. “Permissions are unlocked, but you are not to load any older saves until your probationary period is over. Your current assignment should be able to increase your level soon enough, and if your provided gear is insufficient it can be augmented to match whatever you had before.”

Maya wanted to challenge that claim, point out that she’d been using a Unique that increased her speed significantly, but stopped herself before saying anything. She had to get into the habit of keeping secrets by instinct, not keep immediately blabbing whatever thought came to mind.

“Noted,” she said instead. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“You know how to find us.” And the connection went quiet. Firmly, solidly quiet, no faint breathing and sense of someone else standing nearby.

“Save game Seer 4 Julios.”

Game saved: Seer 4 Julios

And with that, Maya finally relaxed properly. Her progress was safe, even if she herself was on shaky ground with basically everyone right now. She was so sorely tempted to ignore the prohibition on loading, pop over to the mage academy to reassure everyone there, but Domitius would hardly fail to notice her level increasing then decreasing again.

At first she tried to do as she’d claimed she would, lying down to rest, but she was too restless. She logged out for a few minutes, just to reassure herself that she still could, that however trapped and enclosed she felt it wasn’t permanent, that she still had an emergency escape route even if she hoped she never had to use it. Then she logged back in.

“Sevard, Sevard,” she whispered.

“Maya!”

“I’m alone now, if you wanted to talk,” she said.

“What in the world has been going on the past three days?!”

“Well, where to start. I told you I was kidnapped by Zarene, yes?”

“Sort of. It was hard to make it out. I haven’t been able to catch her. Well, I found her, but she killed me. Twice. And I haven’t seen her since.”

“Yikes. I’m so sorry. Did you lose anything else important?”

“Nah. I’ve taken to carrying a lot of low-level junk I can prioritize to drop. But what happened to you?”

“Well, long story short, she turned me over to Domitius’s minions to get my secret, but they decided I’d be more useful as a trickster telephone. Domitius kept me imprisoned in a giant pit full of magic for a few days, then forced me to promise myself to his service.”

“So are you his, or not? Is this a trap, are you planning to turn me in too? After all, if one trickster-phone is good, two are even better.”

Maya laughed involuntarily. “That’s ridiculous. I’m calling because you were worried about me and I wanted to reassure you. And because we’re kinda partners, even if I’ve been failing at my half of the arrangement. It wouldn’t feel right leaving you in the dark.”

“Hmm. So, about this promise you gave to Domitius. Was it inconsequential, then?”

Maya hesitated. “I mean, he had an NPC doing rituals and stuff,” she said slowly. “He certainly seemed unconcerned by the fact that I was a known associate of the mage academy. Never even brought it up.”

Only after she said that did she think to wonder if Sevard knew about her connection to Shardlord, and if that might be something she should better keep to herself, but it was as always too late now. Still, if she had to let anything slip to anyone, Sevard had to be the least dangerous option.

“I’ve heard of some of Domitius’s converts,” Sevard said. “They tend to border on the fanatical. Are you sure you’re not. . . Tampered with?”

“Quite certain. I’m on probation, in fact, because they’re not sure of me.”

“Hmm.” Sevard fell silent for a long moment. “So, long story short, you’re safe but not quite free, and I should continue for the time being as though you’re undercover and not to be contacted?”

“Basically.”

“Got it. Thanks for letting me know. I know we haven’t worked together long, but. . . I was worried.”

“I know. Your frequent calls made that obvious. You may not have been able to hear me, but I could hear you loud and clear.”

“Glad to hear it.”

They waited, the silence starting to feel awkward, neither making a move to end the call, but Maya unsure of what to say next.

“Oh, crap!” Maya said suddenly.

“What?!”

“I placed an order with Dalra right before all of this went down. I don’t know if she’s gotten to it yet, but I may not be able to pick it up any time soon. Could you pay her and grab it for me, if you’re in the area? I’ll pay you back as soon as I’m out of this Domitius probation thing.”

“No problem. Good luck, Maya.”

Maya laughed. “Not for another few hours. But thank you. Good luck to you, Sevard.”

“See you soon.”

She found herself smiling, even long after the call had faded. At least she had one friend who she couldn’t be locked away from. She felt bad for seemingly ignoring everyone at the mage academy, and everyone at the arena. She hoped they were doing well.

But at least she still had Sevard.

Then another thought struck her, and a wicked smile flitted across Maya’s face.

She checked that PvP was off, which it was, just to be extra certain, then grinned even wider.

“Zarene, Zarene!” she called out in a mocking singsong. “Where are you, little nemesis?”

“Is that you, little trickster? Finally decided to talk?”

“No! Actually, I decided some time ago to never talk, and I haven’t changed my mind since. But I thought you should know that, thanks to you, I’ve made some very powerful friends. You think Sevard was the best I could manage? Hah! He’s a weakling compared to my new team. And it’s all thanks to you.”

Maya giggled; she could almost hear the change in Zarene’s breathing as her overconfidence crumbled; could almost see her gritting her teeth, trying to keep her ridiculous temper under control.

“New team? I hope you haven’t gone delusional.”

Maya maintained her sickly-sweet tone of confident cheer. “No, not at all! I just wanted to be sure you knew that I’m doing great, and that your misguided attacks should definitely stop. You know, in case you see me out and about. You should know that I’m not available any more. Better tricksters than you are on my side now.”

“How?!”

“The trick’s on you, little nemesis,” Maya whispered. “Your friends? My friends now. And good luck convincing anyone to help against us.”

Zarene snarled something incoherent, which only made Maya laugh harder. Ah, but it felt so good to finally get one up on the woman who had caused so much trouble, even if it may be reckless and ill-advised.

“This isn’t over, I’ll get your secret one way or another,” Zarene hissed.

“You and what army, exactly? Of the tricksters higher level than you, oh, all of them are my allies now. And of those lower, what, half? Two-thirds maybe? You sold me out to the wrong gang. They want me more than they want the prestige of handing over my secrets, and now it’s too late for you to take it back. Sure, you can nag me. Sure, you can set NPCs on me and force me to respawn. But that’s it.”

“Just wait,” Zarene screamed, “I’ll think of something!”

Maya sighed. Now that she’d had her fun, she started to feel a little guilty. Zarene was another player after all, a fellow trickster who was probably being manipulated just as much as Maya herself. If not more. At least Maya had the Oracle’s support. Who did Zarene have?

Maya took a deep breath and fully banished her gloating tone before speaking. “You said yourself you’re not cut out to play the villain. So why not just stop? It’s over. I won. Just accept it and move on.”

“I can’t,” Zarene’s voice broke, a half-sob. “I don’t have anything else to turn to.”

“We don’t have to be enemies. If you want help, I can— well, I can’t offer much, since I’m still the weakest player around, but if there’s anything I can do. . .”

“Who do you think you are?!” Zarene shrieked. “You’re nothing, no one, weak, stupid, ignorant! Why does everyone always side with you? Why can’t you just be the one to lose for once?!”

Maya felt herself tearing up involuntarily. Somehow, despite everything, she felt sympathy for this madwoman.

Maya wanted to say, ‘Maybe because I’m not crazy?’ but stopped herself. That would only lead to more yelling, more tears, more crazy. She had to defuse the situation, not enflame it further. She cursed her impulsiveness and strove to keep her voice steady.

“Zarene, look, I’m sorry about how things have gone. I probably shouldn’t have called to taunt you, I just— it’s been bad, okay? I don’t feel much like a winner these days. I’m being dragged from one thing to another, I can’t go back to doing what I want, time is running out everywhere, and. . . well. I admit, it felt good knowing I had gotten one up on you, and even better forcing you to acknowledge that defeat. But. . . I see now that it was wrong of me. You aren’t a villain, and you don’t have to be in the future either.”

“Oh, how magnanimous. Is that your secret, just sweet-talk to everyone and play the naive nice girl?” Maya was taken aback by the venom in Zarene’s voice. “Oh, let’s be friends, don’t worry about the all-powerful deities and their favour, just let’s team up. Go on, try some more. Maybe you’ll break through my hard heart and turn me back to the Light.”

“Why does this matter so much to you? It’s one stupid quest for an angry NPC! Yes, the Trickster is powerful, especially for us, but. . . just wait it out. Whatever debuffs you have, whatever bad luck, whatever disfavour, just. . . keep living. Move on. Or go to a different world, if life here is so miserable.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve got nothing to lose. You can leave, play as someone else, change, without it costing you anything. Me, I’m long past that point. I’ve put too much into this character. I’m not going anywhere.”

Maya paused before replying. “How long have you been here?” she finally asked.

Zarene laughed harshly. “Does it matter? Eight years, or eighty, or eight hundred, it’s all the same to you.”

“Well, I know it’s less than eight hundred. I don’t know when 9352 was created, but even world 01 wasn’t around when I was alive.”

“Oh, and time is the same here, is it? Do you know the date outside? Does it matter at all? No, you’ll see, eventually. There’s no escape, the system is everything here, no window large enough to crawl out of, no door that will open from inside.”

“How long has it been, then? From your perspective?”

“Too long! Endless, pointless, nothing changing, nothing! Do you understand how worthless this is? What can I do? What can I do that matters?” Zarene’s voice broke again, something between anguish and mania.

Maya shook her head, though she knew Zarene couldn’t see her. “I’m sorry. Have you tried consulting the admins? I know they offered reassurance when I first logged in.”

“You think they pay attention to a broken world like this? We’re off the grid, do you not understand that? Messages don’t come in, don’t go out. And there are so many quiet worlds, why would they ever think to look at this one? No, little trickster, we’re on our own here. No one’s coming to save me. No one’s coming to save you.”

“I don’t need saving,” Maya said. She wished she’d studied psychology or anything useful, wished she weren’t so awkward at talking to people, wished she could figure out the right things to say to help.

“We all do,” Zarene answered. "You're just too stupid to admit it."

Maya’s hands tightened into fists, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. Why was she so useless? For the first time she might have a chance to do something that would actually matter. To find a way to help an actual other person, however messed up in the head.

Giving in wouldn’t do it. That would only reinforce Zarene’s bizarre mania, feeding into her fixation on this world and these quests.

But how?

“I want to help you—” Maya began, but Zarene cut her off.

“No, not you. You’re useless, powerless, and the longer you stay here the more you’ll understand. You can’t help me, and I can’t help you.”

Maya barely contained the desire to snap back, ‘Fine, have it your way,’ and just leave the ungrateful woman to her delusions. But she didn’t want to be enemies. If there were any way Maya could help short of sacrificing her own agency, she wanted to at least try.

“If you want to talk, I’ll listen,” she said as gently as she could manage.

Zarene didn’t answer for a long time.

“Zarene?”

In the complete silence that followed, Maya finally realized she was talking to no one. Zarene must have ended the call.

Maya sighed, cursing herself. That was stupid, what was she thinking? How could that possibly have helped anything? Now she felt even worse than before, the fleeting satisfaction of her pseudo-victory long since buried.

Nearly four and a half hours left to kill before she’d finally be free of misfortune, able to resume killing monsters without making things unnecessarily difficult or pointless, so she decided to actually do what she’d implied and take a nap.

Hopefully, when she woke she’d finally be rid of her luck debuff for good. And she swore never to accumulate so much of it ever again. She would roll once or twice, never enough to add up to more than a day.

But even that glad thought wasn’t enough to banish her thoughts of Zarene. The woman’s fixation on placating the Trickster would almost certainly continue to be a problem, and Maya found herself incredibly conflicted.

On the one hand, she was obviously an enemy who should be avoided at all costs. And perhaps avenged upon in future. But on the other hand, she was just so sad and pathetic, Maya felt bad for her and wanted to help. Which could easily be part of Zarene's manipulative schemes, or a genuine plea for help from someone who needed a friend.

Maya rolled over, trying to focus on breathing instead of thinking, but her mind just wouldn't stop. Why couldn’t she just let this go? It didn’t matter. Shouldn’t matter.

Zarene wasn’t Maya's responsibility, dang it!

But it took a long time to finally clear her thoughts enough to fall asleep.