1

Emma woke just before sunrise on her eleventh day in the realms. She raised her head and stared out past the A-frame opening. The wolves, still barricading entry, had settled onto the grass. The fire was down to a smolder.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Brett was dead asleep. She wiggled out from under his arm. He didn’t so much as stir. She pranced out the back end of their den, tiptoeing past the wolves, and retrieved her underwear. They still felt warm. After dressing, she knelt and petted one of the wolves. It yawned appreciatively. “What’s your name, my friend?” she whispered playfully. “Warlord? Or maybe Wolfgang?”

The wolf’s amber eyes glimmered in the gloom. It yawned again. Emma stood and equipped her steel splint mail. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and the woods were quiet except for the rush of water coming from the west.

“Wish I had a coffee,” she muttered, but what she needed more was some time and space to reflect. She felt surprisingly clear-headed and didn’t want to waste that opportunity.

With Brett snoring in the background, Emma walked into the woods, toward the shore. Despite its foreboding origin, she knew the river would help her think through her options and choices. She glanced back at Brett. Only, no magic carpet ride this time.

She hiked down the hill and was moderately surprised when half of the wolf pack followed her. Good. They’ll provide some extra security. She gazed at the alpha, which stayed frozen like a statue at the front of the A-frame. “Not coming, Warg?” she teased.

The wolf stared at her without moving a muscle. Its eyes gleamed with malevolent vibrancy.

Emma huffed. “That’s okay. You have a silly name anyway.”

After relieving herself in the woods, she reached the river fifteen minutes later and sat on the same rock she had used the night before. The wolves gathered around her. The water shone with pink and teal hues as the sun continued its ascent over the digital landscape.

Over the din of the surging torrent, Emma thought about her choice to go with Brett. It seemed less clear now. Why am I with the man that had posed such a threat to me? she wondered.

But did he really pose such a threat?

In a peculiar way, she felt safer with him than she did with the group. For one thing, he was the only person who understood what she was going through. The glitch had infiltrated his body too.

Her teammates had reacted in their own way to her potential infection. With every passing hour, she could sense them distancing from her. Then Damon had asked her to empty her food reserves. The reason wasn’t lost on Emma. If she stayed with the team, she would be relegated to increasingly diminished roles.

And who says I want to remain with them anyway? The veterans had to realize that searching for human remains was a futile effort. What the hell for? To appease a company that refuses to take them back? Once they were done, they would move onto their next OCD project, hell-bent on completing the dungeons and towers. Emma wanted no part of that. She had seen her teammates give up their lives for that pointless crusade.

She scoffed audibly. “Hey, if it’s the end of the world, I might as well make the most of this,” she sighed. “Carpe diem and all that Roman shit.”

Staying with the team would expose her to a myriad of dangerous conditions. Meanwhile, in less than twenty-four hours, Brett had done more to make her feel safe than anyone else could. He had unique powers and an apparent connection with the new god of this world. “He can put in a good word for me,” she joked halfheartedly, but didn’t laugh.

Still, her rational mind told her that being with him made little sense. Why am I doing this? she wondered, then answered audibly, “Because I have no choice.” And she was right. Without Brett, the glitch would destroy her.

She picked up a rock and tossed it into the raging river, where it vanished instantly. So, what about Jordan? But she knew the answer to that too. Their relationship had run its course. It had always been a rather superficial one anyway, more sexual than anything resembling true love or affection. And, like the rest of the team, he had distanced himself from her. He’d failed her when she was at her most vulnerable state, after the infection.

Plus, although Emma didn’t believe in anything metaphysical, she sensed that their union had a lot of bad karma. They had inadvertently contributed to Miguel’s death, and Jordan’s brother had died soon afterward.

“Maybe it’s better we’re not together,” she muttered. The statement made her feel sad, but she knew it was right. She sighed, feeling the weight of her choices, and started petting the wolf closest to her. It whined contentedly. “If Brett holds up his end,” she said to the white wolf, “I’ll be sticking with you guys.”

The wolf cooed in response.

2

Brett was pissed at himself.

How could I have slept this long? Fuck! Why didn’t I wake up when she pulled away from me? But he thought he knew the answer. The persuasion ability had worn him out gradually throughout the day. When he finally hit the proverbial hay, his mind and body had collapsed. A panicked revelation rushed through his consciousness. What if the ability shuts off after I fall asleep? He called out Emma’s name, trying to sound casual.

No answer.

“Emma?” Louder this time.

Still no response.

He stood and scowled at the remaining wolves. How could they just let her go? Infuriated, he searched the A-frame’s interior, grabbed a fist-sized rock, and threw it at the alpha. The large wolf skirted the stone, then surprised Brett by growling at him.

He scoffed, almost laughing, incredulous that the animal would show its first sign of aggression. “Really, Warg? You’re going to growl at me now?” He charged at the wolf. “Get!”

The alpha complied and skipped into the woods.

Brett adjusted his demeanor and walked out into the clearing, presenting a calmer facade. “Emma!?” His voice echoed slightly through the wooded hills.

“Emmaaaaaa!” he bawled.

Still nothing.

He quickly dressed into his underwear and equipped his armor. What if she’s gone back to the team? What if I’ve lost her? He couldn’t bear the thought. He stared toward the northern rip. You promised. You promised!

He knelt beside the wolves. “Do you know where she went?”

A wolf turned its head toward the river and whimpered. Brett used his enhanced vision ability to look through the trees. He couldn’t see her, but that didn’t surprise him. She was in all likelihood somewhere below his elevation. It would take forever to scan through the solid land masses of the hills.

I’ll get there quicker hiking, he thought. But he didn’t hike. He sprinted, and the wolves followed him, except for one. The alpha remained at the camp as its eyes turned crimson. Brett had seen those red eyes only once previously—on his third night in the realms, prior to bonding with the wolf pack—when it had attacked him.

3

“I thought I’d find you here,” Brett said as nonchalantly as he could.

Emma turned her head and smiled at him. He walked from the trees and sat beside her. They didn’t speak for the first minute, enjoying the early morning sun as it warmed their skin.

She smiled at him again and was about to say something, then hesitated. Brett watched her with budding curiosity, and as she spoke, he had the impression that she had decided to change the topic.

“Please tell me you weren’t lying when you told me you can save me,” she said.

He gazed at her. “I wasn’t lying.”

Emma studied his eyes. They weren’t blue this time. They had reverted back to his real color, glowing like orange lanterns in a black, black night. But she was fine with that. The glitch had done that to him. The same glitch that resided inside her.

“Tell me everything you know,” she said.

He laughed. “Ha. Where do I begin?” He collected himself for a moment. “You’re aware that many of the beings in here are sapient, right?”

She nodded, and Brett went on. “Well, I think that this world itself has become sapient in some form. I’m certain it’s evolving and spawning unique beings, creatures that were never part of Epiphany’s original design or architecture.”

He turned to her. “One of these newer creations is the god I referred to.” He glanced nervously at the border glitch. “It calls itself a Wendigo, something I’ve never heard of.”

“I know what that is,” Emma interrupted.

Brett smiled. “Then please enlighten me.”

She pushed back her long, blonde hair. “It comes from early North American mythology. It’s supposed to be a kind of moose-elk creature, but very skeletal.” She paused, then looked at Brett gravely. “They’re usually bad news.”

He laughed. “Don’t I know it!” He glanced at her with a serious expression. “That’s why I want to be careful about exposing you to it. Let’s just say that the Wendigo is a cruel mistress.”

He pulled back the sleeve of his leather armor and showed her a long scar on his right forearm. “This is from a ‘test’ the Wendigo put me through.” He laughed bitterly. “Although, it was more of a punishment.” He grimaced. “I won’t go into details but, in terms of horror, it probably surpasses anything you’ve seen.”

This time, Emma laughed. “I doubt that.”

Brett shrugged and, once again, glanced uneasily at the northern rip. “I think the Wendigo is probably just one of its incarnations.”

She placed her hand on his, trying to soothe his anxiety, and told him to continue.

“What I have seen of our new god is just the tip of the iceberg.” He reflected on his statement, then turned to her. “Look, Cloud Nine converted us from our biological state to this digital form, right?”

Emma nodded.

“What makes you think it can’t happen the other way around?”

She scoffed. “Because living beings can’t just materialize out of a set of servers.”

“Oh yeah? Were our bodies sent in through those physical hard drives? No. They laid us on those pods, plugged a bunch of pins into us, and we were converted, digitized to ones and zeroes. Isn’t it possible that the reverse can happen? Even if we stick to the strictest interpretation, that any Epiphany creature can’t pass through that veil and materialize on the same pods that sent us in?”

Emma said nothing, so Brett went on.

“And that’s if we’re looking at it in the most literal sense, which brings me back to my first point. The realms are evolving—not breaking down, evolving. It is growing into as much a living organism as the rest of the creatures in this world. And it’s becoming self-aware.”

He pointed at the rip in the northern border. “This world’s boundaries have already been breached. And that is where this new god exists. What makes you think that other physical barriers haven’t been compromised?” He turned to her and saw that she was getting overwhelmed. “Look, I can’t prove any of this, but I’ve seen more of this world than any of the others. I know I’m right.”

Brett wrapped his arm around Emma’s shoulder and waited for her to reject him. She didn’t. He pointed at the glitch. “The source of our power and your redemption lies beyond that boundary. In between the realms. Like the vacant space that exists within a living cell, it’s the magic, the mystery that binds us together.”

He stopped, then turned to face her. “You see, Emma, you don’t need saving. You’re just out of alignment with this world and changing into a being that can exist in both realities. The realms”—he gestured toward the rip—“and whatever waits for us in there.”

He grinned at her, and something in his expression sent a chill down Emma’s spine. “Who knows?” he said. “Maybe, in time, we’ll be able to travel between the three planes of existence. This world, that black mystery, and Mother Earth.” He took her hands. “You see, Emma, we are on a great adventure.”

She reflected on Brett’s words, trying to make sense of everything he had told her, and wondered again whether she wanted to live in such a chaotic existence. Finally, not through any conscious decision and more from a desire to move on, she whispered, “So, how do I get into alignment?”

Brett released her hands and leaned back on the rock. “Initially, it might be a painful process, but I’ll ask him about that.” He nodded to the northern rip. “Maybe the pain can be averted.” He inched closer to her. “Then you’ll have the same powers I do.”

Emma cooed with interest. “And what are those?”

Brett grinned.

4

As Brett passed on his knowledge to Emma, his confidence grew. He didn’t hold back on even his most outlandish perceptions, and she listened and welcomed them. As he continued to instruct her, his attraction for her magnified and, in the middle of a long diatribe, he stopped himself and gazed at her.

“I must do this,” he said. “Please forgive me if it’s inappropriate or too soon.”

He leaned forward and placed his hands on her waist. As he drew her gently to him, his lips met hers. Emma allowed the kiss and reciprocated, letting her tongue glide over his. Brett was overcome with emotions. Passion, lust, love, and joy inundated his exultant mind, creating an almost surreal experience.

“Thank you,” he huffed as they pulled apart.

She just smiled.

He told her more about two of his three new abilities. She already knew about the telekinesis, thanks to their flight over the forest, and he had mentioned his vision enhancement the previous night. “That’s where the eye color comes from,” he remarked.

He didn’t tell her about the persuasion ability, not wanting to tarnish the connection they had. He finished by relaying everything the Wendigo had told him.

“It said there’s a way to go back to an earlier version of yourself. Cloud Nine implemented this as a fail-safe, a protection against possible catastrophes. It lies in the last realm as a sort of transformer that tracks each participant’s incremental progress…”

“You mean like a save-state,” Emma interrupted.

Brett shrugged. “Yeah, sure. You can call it that.”

She shook her head. “No, no. That’s actually a common gaming convention.”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t know that.”

She prodded him to continue.

“So if something were to go wrong,” he said, “mutation or otherwise, those effects could be reversed.”

“Oh my god—can it bring back the dead?” Emma asked excitedly, thinking of Miguel, Ethan, and Janna.

He looked at her and paused. Emma sensed he was considering withholding the information. Finally, he shook his head and said, “No.”

She scrutinized him, trying to gauge if he was being truthful. “Are you sure?”

Brett returned her gaze. “Yes, the Wendigo told me.” He took a breath. “Anyway, to access those powers, the previous realms must be completed.” He smiled. “But that doesn’t mean we have to be the ones who complete them.” His smile turned to a grin, and Emma saw an unfamiliar callousness in his features for the first time. “We could be the benefactors of the work of others.”

She shuddered at his implication. “What about me? Can it revert me back to the state I was in before? Maybe I don’t have to go through with the adjustment.”

He shook his head. “Not enough time. You would mutate before they even completed the next realm.” He took her hand. “No. The way to fix you is to embrace what’s coming and align your body.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

He smiled. “Trust me, Emma.”

They talked for another thirty minutes. She emphasized that, to stay with him, Brett would have to declare a truce with her former team, including Jordan. He cryptically told her that opportunity would arrive sooner than she thought.

“That’s about it for me,” he sighed. “You now know everything I do.”

They stood up and prepared to head back to camp. The wolves rose with them.

As they hiked up the hills, Brett turned to her. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

She slowed and gazed at him, but didn’t speak.

“You looked like you were going to say something back there when I found you,” he prodded.

Emma bit her lip and waited another moment before responding. “Yes. I’ve decided I’m staying with you.”

Brett beamed with joy and lifted the blue Grimalkin off her feet. She cooed endearingly. They kissed again, and he could feel her lean into him. When he set her down, he told her how happy she had made him. Brett’s elation increased immensely when they got to camp and he realized he hadn’t turned the persuasion ability back on.

5

They started a fire and cooked salmon from Brett’s food inventory. Although Emma had become quite the sharpshooter with her bow during her fishing trips, Brett told her he had a better way.

“The telekinesis has more than one use,” he quipped, then used the ability to lift the startled fish out of the river.

“I’m jealous,” she grumbled.

“You soon won’t be,” he teased.

After returning, they ate quietly as the wolves paced around the clearing. Brett informed her how the pack had bonded with him after he killed one of their own. “I gained the Wolf Rage spell from that, and it’s the only thing I can’t pass along to you.”

“So, was it the Wendigo that promised me to you?”

Brett gazed up at Emma and appeared to contemplate his next words. “I don’t want to scare you away,” he said cautiously.

She laughed. “Any fear I had of you has been pushed aside.”

“Aside for what?”

She regarded him. “For my own well-being. You have the cure for what ails me,” she said flippantly.

Brett appeared disappointed by her answer. “Well, I don’t plan on scaring you ever again.”

A thick silence hung between them as they recalled their shared history.

“Yes. It was the Wendigo who told me we were fated to be together,” he said, answering her original question. “But I think it’s much bigger than that. Our destiny marks the beginning chapter in the evolving realms.”

He didn’t add that their child had been prophesied too. He was quite sure that would scare her away.

“Yeah. We’re going to be a regular Adam and Eve,” Emma replied facetiously.

He grinned. “I like to think of us as JFK and Jacqueline Onassis.”

She snorted. “You know, that didn’t turn out so well for the president.”

Brett smiled and said nothing. They were quiet again, but the mood was lighter. He placed more wood on the fire while Emma glanced around the camp.

“What’s wrong with Warg?” she asked.

The alpha wolf sat on the outskirts of the clearing, away from the rest of the pack, staring at the northern border.

Brett shook his head. “I don’t know. He hasn’t been himself this morning.”

He tried to call Warg over, but the animal didn’t budge. It remained focused on the rip which had extended into the sky, high above the trees.