The vibe changed from “Space Opera desolated flagship” to “Bowels of a dying space hulk” faster than Tony cared for. Tubing and pipes hung from the walls and ceilings like entrails from an eviscerated behemoth, liquid essence pooled like blood, and cast warped shadows onto the walls. Maximus took position between Tony’s legs, moving with him seamlessly with his tail tucked between his legs.

As the three of them navigated the cramped corridors, Tony took some time to examine the party screen.

Dungeon Group

Antonious King Level: 15 Blademaster Dread Knight (Human Ascendant)

Familiar: Maximus Level: 6* Warrior

Vasna Level: 15 Specialized Shaman (Ascendant)

The silence was eerie and unsettling, so Tony decided to break it. “Why can't I see your Class specialization or Race in the party screen?" The question had been gnawing at him since he found the menu.

The sudden question made Vasna jump. “I have defaults set to share limited information,” she explained matter-of-factly, regaining her composure.

"Ah gotcha, makes sense," he replied.

“We should probably share character screens so we can plan out how we’re going to tackle this dungeon,” Vasna said.

Tony nodded in agreement, glad that she had volunteered the idea, and a screen popped open in his vision.

Vasna would like to share her character screen with you (Limited) Would you like to accept and reciprocate? Yes No

Accept and reciprocate? That’s interesting.

Tony accepted the prompt and was notified that his character sheet would be sent over with his age, artifacts, and backgrounds concealed. He felt his eyebrow meet his hairline.

Vasna Frey Level: 15 World Shaper Shaman (Human Ascendant)

Was the system glitching? The woman standing in front of Tony, with her varied elemental aspects, a clear indication of being Ashtar, was human?

“Dammit!” Vasna exclaimed. Tony’s other eyebrow joined the former. “You gave me your Saga Debuff by sharing your sheet with me. I hope there aren’t any other minions here.”

Tony groaned. “You know that now there are, right? Now that you said that?” Tony replied sarcastically. How was he supposed to know that sharing information would result in sharing the “Chance for final death” debuff too?

“Whatever,” Vasna said. “What else don’t you know about the interface? If you didn’t know how to make a party or Dungeon Group, you’re probably missing a bunch of other info too.”

“And you're so inclined to share now because?”

“Because now that I’m in this ‘Saga’ you’re stuck with me until it’s over. Dying sucks and now that it could be permanent, I’m not leaving until that chance goes away.”

“I guess that’s fair. To be honest, I don’t know what I don’t know. I was just kinda dumped into this and took off running.”

Tony scratched the back of his head as he ducked under an impressively tangled mess of wires. “I know that my Skills and Attributes level on their own and I get points to put into them. It seems like every five levels I get a bunch of extra points too. Most of my talents seem to be prerequisite-based and pretty linear.”

A flush rose in Tony’s cheeks as he realized he was rambling.

“It looks like you’re mostly right,” Vasna offered, a far-off look in her eyes. She was reviewing information somewhere that Tony didn't have access to. “Since you’re a Dread Knight, you’re on a High Attribute, Moderate Talent, Low Skill progression. I can’t see your whole talent tree, but with your damage vamp talents and the damage negation from your artifacts, I should be able to keep you alive easy enough.”

Most of what Vasna said surprised Tony. How did she know more about his class and progression than he did? What information did she have that he didn't?

“If you focus on, well, pretty much anything on your character screen and think ‘detail,’ or ‘more info,’ or ‘I am a slab of meat with a pointy thing, teach me please,’ the system will show you more information based on your Intelligence score." Vasna turned her back on him and continued walking as she continued, "Not much of a surprise that you didn’t know that with your ten in Intelligence, but, it is what it is.”

The insults registered but took Tony by surprise. His lowest Attribute was Luck at fifteen, why did she say his Intelligence was ten?

Accept and Reciprocate, huh, he thought. Reciprocate must have meant sending my sheet over with the same restrictions she set on hers. Tony gripped the woman by the shoulder and spun her around, ducking under the massive log she swung at him and pressed her against the wall. She struggled against him, thrumming with elemental might.

Tony thought, Send full sheet, at the woman and her eyes went wide.

“Look, call me stupid all you want, but if that’s how it’s going to be, you can do whatever you need to do by yourself and I'll dismiss the Dungeon Group right now.”

“I said I wasn’t-” she started.

“Since you accepted my full sheet, I got yours. You and I both know that if I don’t want you following me around, I can make that happen. You choose how well we get along from here.”

The tension hung between them for moments that stretched into eternity. The rumbling of magic left her skin and Vasna held up her hands in a sign of surrender.

“Fine, I’m sorry I called you stupid. It’s just…”

Tony raised an eyebrow and gestured for her to continue.

“You really don’t have a clue, do you?” Her voice cracked.

Tony narrowed his eyes and really studied Vasna for the first time since he helped her off of the Spawning Table. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn’t place it, her body language? The half-sarcastic way she talked to him? She looked down and dug in her belt pouch for a moment before turning back to look at him when it clicked.

He remembered her standing at his door. “Early? It’s noon,” he could hear her say.

“No way,” he muttered. “You’re the admin for my apartment complex?”

Her eyes widened in surprise, and a flush rose in her cheeks.

“But how did you get here?” Tony asked. There had only been three hundred “beta testers” worldwide. Two belonging to the same housing development was beyond coincidence.

“It’s all your fault!” she blurted, jabbing a finger into the middle of his chest. “I went back to check on you because management noticed a power surge from your unit. The door was unlocked and when I went in you were out cold. I called the office and they sent in the med team.” She shoved him, hard, and his back hit the opposite wall.

“The med team couldn’t find anything wrong with you, but you were unresponsive. So they left to bring back specialists and asked me to stay. I saw the beta tester headset on the ground…” She advanced on him, fists balled by her sides and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “It just wasn’t fair! I wanted to get into the beta too! I was active on the forums, I sent back hardware critique to Gambit, I was an active member of the community! Then you catch a lucky break to get in! Just like in-game! You have at least two artifacts and the system generates unique class pieces for you, it's not fair!"

“Look, I get it, okay. But that still doesn’t explain-”

“I put on your headset. It asked me if I wanted to continue character sync, so I did. Then I was here,” she admitted, barely above a whisper.

Tony’s eyes widened as Vasna collapsed into his chest. “Hey,” he offered, not sure what to do. Did he hug her? Take a few giant steps back before she acquainted him with the business end of her tree? Maximus nudged him forward, pressing the top of his head against the back of Tony’s leg.

If this blows up in my face, I’m giving you a bath, Tony menaced.

Maximus chuffed, almost as if he could read Tony’s thoughts.

Tony dismissed the notion and put his arms around Vasna. She stiffened but relented as he gently pulled her close. He felt the tears dripping onto his chest, silent at first, but the floodgates opened, and with the release of emotion came body-wracking sobs.

It was too much.

Vasna had been resolute up until just a couple of minutes ago. Maybe she had been putting on a brave face, trying to plow forward, just like Tony was. As she continued to cry, Tony felt his own resolve weaken. He was determined not to acknowledge his own hurt and despair and now, less than an hour into the dungeon, was on the brink of tears himself.

A fist slamming into his side knocked the wind out of him and completely disrupted his focus. When he looked down at Vasna, her bleary eyes met his. “Just cry with me, dammit,” she sobbed.

If Tony’s emotions were jammed behind a wall, Vasna was a sledgehammer. All at once, Tony’s eyes stung, his stomach flopped, and the lump in his throat that he had pressed down so many times finally breached. Maximus hopped back as Tony and Vasna both sunk to their knees, clutching to each other and sobbing.

Tony's eyes opened to Vasna cradling his head against her chest. She was humming and stroking his hair, pausing to sniffle on occasion. Maximus was curled up in the crook of Tony’s leg, and when he started to stir, the dog’s curled tail wagged, slapping against Tony’s thigh. The elemental signs had disappeared from her body, and with the exception of the undercut, dreadlocks, and no glasses, Vasna looked exactly like the admin.

“What happened?” Tony croaked, his voice hoarse.

Vasna’s voice was not that of a woman who had been sobbing for an unknown amount of time, but of a caretaker. “You stopped holding yourself up and passed out. At first, I thought you were trying the ‘super sad boy, love me’ card because when you went out, you pulled me on top of you. Sorry about the jaw, by the way.”

Tony worked his mouth for a moment, and there was indeed a shot of pain that ran through it.

“I’m sure I’ll deserve that at some point,” he said.

Her laugh was soft and melodic. “After that, I realized that you were actually out cold. Then you started talking, said that you were cold. This dungeon is definitely going to take both of us to clear, especially with what I saw wandering around.”

Tony’s eyes flicked around the hallway, searching for "what had been wandering around." He could make out his weapons and most of the armor he had come into the dungeon wearing. When he looked down toward Maximus, he saw most of his clothes scattered on the ground.

“Uh, I’m not naked under this blanket, am I?” Tony asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Jorogu's gonna be real mad, he thought.

Vasna’s knee nudged his gut. “What kinda perv do you think I am?” she cooed indignantly. “You still have your pants on. You were shivering, what else was I supposed to do?”

"You know body heat transfers through clothes too right? The whole naked in a sleeping bag thing is a myth." Maybe if he wasn't dehydrated and exhausted the joke would have come across better.

Vasna rolled her eyes with such intensity he could feel it. "Not if I'm using my 'Warmth' spell."

Tony found his arms slung around her waist, pinned by the small of her back against the blanket wrapped around the two of them. The matter settled, Vasna began humming and stroking his hair again.

She was very warm.