Blake obliged and went to his room while grumbling. He tossed and turned for a long time before finally managing to fall asleep.

***

He was woken up the next morning by rustling noises which came from downstairs.

After a few seconds of grumbling he finally managed to force his sore body out of the bed. He quickly changed and headed downstairs while raising his voice in a groggy fashion.

“Who’s down?”

His father’s voice responded back.

“Me. Just woke up? Anyway, come down. I could use a hand.”

Blake lightly wobbled down the stairs with a confused expression, but it disappeared once he descended. Caleb was carrying the woman from yesterday carefully into the house and just closed the door behind him.

Blake hurried towards them and cleared nearby objects out of the way so that they can get through easier. He used the chance to inspect the injured woman. Guesses about her stature were impossible as she was being carried and had Caleb’s jacket over her, probably because of the hospital gown underneath.

Her face was sickly pale which made a strong contrast with her long, dark red hair. What attracted Blake’s attention most were her eyes. They darted around restlessly, stopping at everything around her but just lingered for a few moments before moving on.

Caleb noticed what she was doing and sighed while carrying her to the couch and grumbled.

“I told you, try to relax. You don’t have much energy to spare.”

The woman nodded after a moment and answered with a weak voice.

“That’s easy for you to say…”

He then started cautiously helping her on the couch and arranging the cushions under her arms which appeared from the jacket and were covered in thick bandages. Blake used the chance to speak up, still staring a the woman.

“How did you get her here dad? Did she tell you anything?”

She looked slightly surprised by Blake, as if just noticing him and seemed generally quite distraught. Caleb was still in the middle of arranging the nearby objects but started answering.

“Turns out she wanted to speak with us too. So with her cooperation and after an awkward talk with the police, here we are. Oh, they will surely come by every so often. And no, she didn’t say anything yet.”

She stared at Blake while Caleb was talking, finding words to use.

“You… were the one I met in the cave? You are this man’s youngling?”

She stopped and nodded to herself, slowly sorting things out in her head, leaving a very confused Blake who immediately followed up.

“So you were connected to the Gar’rac. Is it your in-game avatar?”

A troubled expression appeared on her face.

“I was the Gar’rac, also my name is Teruna. I’m not sure what you mean with the other. Look, it might be best if I first explain what is happening.”

Blake nodded and sat down with a straight face while his thoughts went haywire.

(What?! Ugh, I’ll just let her talk for now... She’s treating her statement like nothing at all.)

He shot a quick glance to take a look at Caleb who was now sitting and behaving in a similar way to Blake.

Teruna started explaining with a weak and unsteady voice.

“Yes, I was the Gar’rac and I made you go through the ritual. Um… to understand my reasons let me just explain a few things from the past, I’m not sure how much you humans know.”

Blake nodded, signaling to go on with a rising feeling of alarm.

“So… About a thousand years passed from the moment I need you to understand... It was just about a century after the Transfer if that helps you determine the date. The changing power balance caused by the Transfer’s consequences just subsided and tensions between the sides were rising rapidly. The Logejan alliance on one side and us, the Gar’rac on the oth…”

Her voice weakly broke in the middle of the sentence. Caleb immediately got up and headed towards the kitchen.

“I’ll go get you a glass of water, one moment.”

Meanwhile Blake sat in silence and contemplated about Teruna’s statements with a bewildered and confused expression.

(What is she even talking about?! I didn’t understand a damn thing! The transfer? She seems to think that we “humans” know quite a lot… And that statement is deeply disturbing in more ways than one! This alliance though… Logejan? It sounds familiar. I think Rose mentioned that being a great alliance of all the friendly NPC races? Are the Gar’rac then the leaders of all enemy races?)

Caleb just came back with a glass of water and let her have a few sips.

(But she said she was the Gar’rac? The way she talks would mean that the game is actually real? What is this nightmare? How is this possible?! But I can’t interrupt her now... If she notices that we have actually no clue what is going on she might try to warp facts. I’ll wait until she finishes.)

Blake bit down on his lip to get a grip and turned his attention again to Teruna when she cleared her throat and continued talking.

“I’m sorry, the ritual was way over my head and pulled a number on me… So as I said, the Logejan and we were two opposing forces because of differentiating goals. The Gar’rac, very militaristic in a way, always looking to get stronger, bigger and further from the Farlands. The Logejan… well I’m sure you already have your impression about them, but just listen my story.”

She took a sip and continued talking, not noticing the discomfort that inadvertedly started surfacing on Blake’s face.

“The Gar’rac wanted to transfer to Earth as they had the only remaining way, at the time, to do so. They wanted to take the strategic high ground. Earth had no inhabitants that could stand up against the organised Gar’rac war machine, not anymore.”

Teruna hesitated for a second and continued with an unsure voice.

“I just want to mention that this goal is just mentioned for story purposes, you yourself know how the situation is today… Now for the Logejan goal in the war, it is something that was never explicitly revealed. They rallied against us, but other than getting rid of a rival their reasons remained obscure. What did they tell to your people, how did they explain?”

Caleb opened his mouth to answer but Blake was faster.

“Why should we say anything to the rival of our ally, first finish your story.”

Teruna cocked her head staring at him, visibly confused, only speaking up after a prolonged uncomfortable silence.

“You… You are lying. What do you actually know?”

Blake sighed deeply and shook his head, realising she saw through his bluff somehow.

“Nothing really. Most of the things you assumed we know are completely new to me.”

He followed up after a short moment of gathering his thoughts.

“Actually I do recognize the alliance you are talking about. But it is an alliance of all friendly NPCs in the game, the Gar’rac force I don’t recognize though.”

Teruna frowned as she heard that.

“How do you mean you know nothing? You were exploring a cave and used magic! And what are NPCs?”

Blake looked at Caleb, seeking help but the latter just slowly leaned back in his chair.

“You know more than I do, there’s not much I can say.”

Blake took a deep breath before replying to Teruna, doing his best to sound calm when he was very far from it.

“I thought I was playing a game yesterday. What you are talking about is for me part of a fictional story inside it. The same is true for all the other humans too, probably.”

She looked more bewildered with each additional sentence.

“Game? What do you mean game? You were there!”

He awkwardly scratched his head.

( I should be the confused one, not her...)

“Look, I used a device to play a game. It simulates a world in which I can control my avatar more or less like I can control my body here plus the magic and various abilities. So everything inside is an illusion. That’s at least what all humans believe, but after yesterday’s events I’m more than a little inclined to believe you.”

Teruna remained silent after hearing Blake’s explanation while he exchanged troubled glances with Caleb. She spoke up again after a few moments with a shaken voice.

“So you see my world as a game? And you aren’t actually there, but just control a puppet or avatar made by some supposed device? Humans aren’t aware of the actual nature of my world!? That’s impossible! We may have been isolated but I saw that humans mingled with all other races in huge numbers. How is it possible you didn’t figure it out? Maybe…”

She went silent after her frustrated outburst. Caleb’s brow rose at the sudden change and immediately pushed her with questions.

“How come you thought that we knew all about what is happening? What was that with isolation?”

Teruna awkwardly fidgeted and explained with a gloomy voice.

“That’s part of where I was going with the story before... The Alliance annihilated us with a spell that was many times stronger than even any mythical one. Nobody dreamed of anything like that, no being or even group of beings should have been able to pull it off. They used that power to render our might completely useless, making us unable to hurt them at all. Afterwards they crushingly defeated us and hunted the ones that escaped until this day… Now only me and the young ones remain. With their strongest rivals completely destroyed they used the fear of their “allied” races to force them into complete submission. It’s not much of an Alliance, that much I can tell you.”

Blake bit his lip after hearing this.

(This sounds worse and worse by the minute…)

“So that’s how it is… But what about the ritual you did? Why would you do something like that if you were on the run? ”

Teruna hesitated before replying.

“The magic that weakened us Gar’rac remained in place through the centuries. I had to add a new, by magic unaffected, piece to the formula so that it finally ends. You were the first human that I came across and even for a human you were very reaction neutral, so the magic ritual was as unaggressive as it could have been. That probably means that you were new to the… game?”

Blake’s head started spinning when he heard Teruna’s words.

“So… you added me to your faction? Just like that? Without my permission?! A faction that is being hunted by the whole rest of the damn world of magic and monsters?!”

She fidgeted again with a guilty expression.

“I’m sorry but it had to be done. If I hadn’t done it then me and the young ones would either have to spend our entire lives in isolation or be killed by the hunters. And you shouldn’t worry too much... We are no longer a threat and their hunters are now ineffective. There is a good chance that they will leave us alone. But you are forgetting what you gained with this! Humanity is unaware of what is happening…”

Caleb rose from his chair and interrupted her.

“Yeah! You unveiled the gun that was possibly facing humanities general direction and pointed it directly into Blake’s head. You are a real peach, aren’t you?”

Blake stopped Caleb while barely managing to control the storm of fear, anger and helplessness inside of him.

“Don’t. Something is happening here, something dangerous... The popularity of this game is insane, the consequences of it might be too if what she’s saying is true. ”

Caleb descended into his chair but his furious expression didn’t move a bit. Blake continued talking with more than a little anger and insecurity in his tone.

“You dragged me into this and put my life at stake to save yours, of that I’m aware. But it is also true that all of humanity might be endangered... The other side can’t have good intentions when it purposefully left humanity, or at least the players, in the dark. However I can’t make heads or tails out of your world! How do we respawn? What about all the items and chests? And the magic we learn?”

She shook her head as he talked about the latter half and quietly responded.

“I don’t know. Those are all things that appeared lately, probably. We were always living far from anyone else and ran whenever someone came near. I felt the change but always sought after remote wilderness so we never saw the consequences. My only guess is that they used the spell or magical force or whatever it was that they used centuries ago on us. Don’t ask me for the reason, I know nothing specific about events newer than the Logejan-Gar’rac war.”

Blake rubbed his temples as his headache slowly got worse. He struggled to find a line of thought in his jumbled mind, but Caleb thankfully chimed in with a dazed voice.

“This is a lot to take in… For all of us it seems. Let’s go back to the start and slowly put the pieces we have together…”

The other two nodded their heads in a tired way and let him continue.

“So, start from the very beginning now. How did your world discover ours and what happened afterwards? You mentioned a transfer I believe?”

Teruna nodded and took a deep breath, readying herself for a long story.

“It was like this…”

The story lasted for a long time, slowed down and examined with many questions made by Caleb and Blake. They spent all the energy they had to make sense of this situation and determine what their next step should be.

Many hours passed when they finally stopped, exhausted from all the speculating and strategising. Blake and Caleb let Teruna sleep after treating her injuries with the potion, but her main problem was the internal damage caused by the ritual. It helped, but time was what she needed the most.

The two of them were now sitting in the kitchen, slowly sipping their drinks with dazed and exhausted expressions. Blake was the one that broke the silence.

“This time yesterday was a lot more comfortable… So much happened and everything she told us… We’ll have to write it down for better overview. How was Rose? You checked a bit ago, right?”

Caleb slowly nodded and replied.

“She woke up for a moment, but I let her sleep some more after checking what the last thing she remembered was. Rose just got attacked out of the blue by a random being, she can’t remember how it exactly looked like… Teruna was right probably, the hunters found Rose because the ritual was done with you playing through the same machine as she does.”

He sighed deeply and played around with his glass, making the ice crackle.

“Let’s just hope this is a one time thing because of the fresh trail and not something they can always pin-point to her account. Although, when the aftereffects settle no more physical connection should persist… Just keep in mind, we are in this together. Don’t ever go off alone.”

Blake laughed out with little humor.

“Sure. I pulled you all into this mess, got Rose nearly killed and supposedly even turned into the leader of a faction that reigned supreme in the top 10 world’s most wanted list in the last thousand years.”

He stopped for a second to take another sip and immediately continued.

“Not to mention that I’m the only one here with an actual connection to the whole mess other than the Gar’rac… Oh, there’s also the little thing of humanity being in imminent danger and I’m the guy who holds the few strings we have… Other than that, yeah it’s totally a team thing.”

Caleb put his arm on Blake’s shoulder and shook him lightly with a tired, but sympathising expression.

“You did nothing on purpose, if you want to blame anyone, blame Teruna. Coincidences may have led to you being in the centre of this, but you don’t need to be the only one that carries the weight. Something bigger is at play here that affects us all, we need to act. As I said, don’t go solo. We need you and you need our help. And what we all need is more allies…”

Blake looked up at the last part.

“We talked this through, it’s too risky… We just have the benefit of mystery and surprise, if we lose that I may as well walk into the Alliance capital and tell them to just do what they want to do. Their spies are here, human or not, taking care of the “game” business and whatnot. The authorities also aren’t secure, even if they are we might cause the Alliance to strike if they notice anything suspicious on the macro scale…”

Caleb nodded tiredly.

“It’s true, but we need more power, even if it’s just to figure out what is happening. Both here and there. We already made a general plan for inside the ‘game’, I’ll take care of the outside part. There are some people I know that could be able to help us. Of course I’ll first double and triple check them one by one and tell them… a more believable story. At least until they prove to be trustworthy.“

Blake’s brow rose.

“Gaining power? Here? What do you want to do with it? And what do you even mean?”

A little smile appeared on Caleb’s face.

“Were you really so preoccupied with the big picture that you forgot to think a little bit more practical? Although maybe the word power isn’t the right one… Options?”

He pointed his finger at the potions that were laid out in the middle of the table.

“Bringing the items from another world into this one opens up endless possibilities, as long as we are careful. Potions may be very limited in their use because they would get too much attention, but how about the in-game currency? It’s probably made of the usual metals and by leveling you’ll soon enough get silver and gold. In the game it’s not that spectacular as the prices also rise the same way, but in our world? If you are careful in selling it then it’s a money generator.”

Blake’s eyes widened but he grimaced after a moment.

“I see, but who do you mean by these ‘people’? And what could they, or you for that matter, even do?”

Caleb looked a bit troubled, but he replied.

“Some of my present or past clients that I got to know better and are bigger players. If I show that I’m serious and they hire me I could steer them in the way of the owners of Alteration. That way I can see with whom they make business and maybe even get a look from inside.“

His expression darkened.

“I’m not sure how it will go though and if I should go aim for an advisor position to be more low-key and depend more on them or accumulate enough money that I can be some minor partner. If I do that then I really need to be careful about the paperwork and trail behind it…”

He sighed, being visibly uncomfortable just speaking about it.

“I’ll take my time with this. This is just an idea that came up while we talked about the problems, I’ll have to think it through. We need to thoroughly gather information and get a grip of what is happening on our side too, this just seemed as an okay way of doing it“

Blake nodded and went back to staring at the ice in his glass while replying.

“Take your time and whatever you do, try not to gather attention. I know you want to help, but it may be better to think smaller and stay safe than go big and get swatted when the Alliance spies notice you snooping around. They are big enough that nearly anything they do ends up in the headlines anyway. Sigh… what a strange world we live in. The past, the present… Nothing is what it seems. And all these big plans…”

Caleb patted him and replied.

“We are just throwing ideas here and looking if something sticks. Just take a deep breath and calm yourself. We’ll take one step at a time.”

Blake took a deep breath, trying to focus.

“Yeah, slow but steady… And speaking of that I should check the game. The ritual was done directly to me and not the avatar so there should be a change in the game regardless of it being a trial one. It’d be better if I check that out sooner rather than later.”

And with that he rose and slowly went upstairs. Caleb also stood up, put the glasses in the sink and reminded Blake.

“Just take it slow, if anything important happens, shout. I’ll go ready lunch meanwhile and check on Rose again.”

******

This is the last chapter for quite a while. Follow if you want to know when I continue with it, review/comment to tell me what you think of it so far.

For info about the releases check out the author's note in the first chapter. In case you want to ask questions first check the tags and the synopsis. I'm just mentioning this due to past experiences.