Work came and went as it always did; slowly, painfully, and without enough rest. The older I got, the more I realized that getting a restful night’s sleep was a myth concocted by adults for the sole purpose of making children to shut up for eight hours.

This week marked eight months on the year sobriety and I’d probably cheated. Weakness was weakness and limiting it to a virtual world meant nothing. The only way it I convinced myself was explaining that there were no hangovers. Not an ounce of liquor ran through my flesh and veins.

That was my week, mulling over life’s choices and trying to approach the upcoming mini vacation with a clear head. The first thing I’d done upon logging it was make sure the grove hadn’t undergone insane transformations. Everything remained much the same. Dari sat in his cage sleeping. The dogs ran around and barked wildly, ignoring me but much better after a month in their version of the world.

I paged the others to ask if they were ready and willing to murder a boss for loot and great justice. StoneMason agreed. Johnny said he’d show up to watch us get our butts kicked. He detested combat but battle would be required. I didn’t know any other way to defeat the [Tree of Woe].

Four of us met outside [Widow’s Children], at the same brick wall that marked the region’s boundary. Rose was the only one missing but Nemesis told us she’d be on soon. The young woman wasn’t one to miss a fight.

I’d spent the last few minutes trying to drunkenly convince Johnny that this whole mission wasn’t insane. “I’m telling you, we can do it with this small group. Once we learn how to fight it.” Johnny huffed and I worked to calm him down. “We can do this.”

“No, we can’t. You want take that thing out with five people? Assuming Rose makes it online. I watched it wreck havoc against an army, Friday. Remember your last character where you mocked all the powers in the game and they started a war? That thing survived.” Johnny put up his hands. “I mean, if this is what you want Friday, I’m in. But we’ve got beyond a bad idea into a terrible one.”

“We’ve got to have a way to beat it. Maybe I can heal the ground. We pull the tree over it. It freaks out, and maybe flamethrower it to death.” It had worked on the bugs and undead. Combining the two had to do something in our favor. Though the [Tree of Woe] had eaten groups of bounty hunters and a number of other players.

“I’m not fighting,” Johnny protested. “Not against that. You’re lucky I don’t mind bugs.”

Johnny hadn’t done anything against the zombie maids either. It made zero sense that he felt find murdering giant cockroaches but couldn’t bring himself to fight a tree.

I sighed. “Of course you’re not fighting. You’re a lover, not a fighter.”

“Lover? Not even. You know the last girl I asked out told me I was too short? I’ve been racially profiled. Never mind that there’s skills to make up for everything. There’s an actual skill for, what’s that fancy word for going down on a girl?”

We’d ventured back onto sex. Clearly, he was in a sour mood. Maybe he’d had a bad breakup. My eyes blinked slowly and tackled the one part of the conversation I could argue with. “But you’re not short,” I said.

“Oh, out there I’m fine. But that’s why I like it in here. I get to do all the things I can’t in real life. Ever had sex with a girl with four tits?” Johnny put both his hands up high, as if cupping round objects well above his head. He smiled, closed his eyes, and nodded. “Or a tail. Or two sometimes. Once had a girl with these bat wings. While hanging off the side of a cliff. After we were attacked by killer somethings. I honestly don’t remember anything but the sex.”

Our fourth companion, the green skinned dryad, crossed her arms. “How did we get on this conversation?” Nemesis asked. “Because if we’re doing bang brags, I’ll start talking about mine, complete with dick curves and measurements.”

“Sorry,” Johnny said without a hint of remorse. A second later he smirked. “What kind of curves you into? You a straight girl or like the bend? Medium, big, bigger. I know this guy who’s a minotaur in game. I got an eyeful from down here, which is awkward, but I can confirm the rumors are true. He’s hung like a bull.”

Nemesis grinned then held her hands out to measure who knew what. I pretended none of it made sense and changed the subject. Because it was that or hear her talk about past relationships and wonder if I might measure up, and given how hypocritical that made me, I hoped we could stop talking about it all together.

“Check your pockets,” I suggested. “Johnny likes to distract people then roam through their belongings.”

Our silent companion, StoneMason, nodded slowly. He’d spent our entire conversation staring at the long brick wall that marked the boundary to [Widow’s Children]. He might have been playing some stone mason minigame or simply gotten lost in thought.

“I don’t have pockets,” she responded. “Technically I’m not even wearing pants.” Nem’s eyebrows wiggled as she looked my direction. “Hey, Friday. Want to check and make sure?”

My face warmed. It’d been ages since a real woman had flirted with me and while I enjoyed it, I’d almost forgotten how to respond. I tried anyway. “I’d be happy to, after this. We’ve got a monster to die to. Then we can go get a drink and give that date a second try. Sunday night for sure?”

“You’re buying,” she said with a firm nod.

I loved being an adult. Sometimes asking a girl out was that easy. They showed interest, I showed interest, we planned. It was great to remove the guesswork.

Johnny cleared his throat. We both looked over to see him shaking a finger at us. “What about me? I’m twice the man Friday is.”

“You’re literally half the man.”

“Bah. Sizeist. You two need to stop then, flirting in public is rude. It makes us single men jealous. Right, Stone?” Johnny reached up and patted StoneMason on the side. The baby-faced giant nodded slowly again.

Johnny frowned.

I snorted.

My diminutive friend put his hands up and gestured to StoneMason. “Look at this! He’s been worthless all day. He doesn’t have any gold to steal. Doesn’t have anything worth selling. I can’t even get him on my side in an argument.” Johnny cupped his hands together. “Hey, RockHead, how’s the weather up there?”

StoneMason nodded, again.

“See?” Johnny rolled his eyes then pulled his backpack off one shoulder and started digging through.

Nemesis laughed. I smiled at hearing her having a good time. Of course, we were also here to destroy a video game embodiment of all my bad relationships, so I should have been stuffing the kiddy crush and focusing harder.

It seemed unlikely that four of us could murder the giant tree. I assumed that Nemesis and her dryad powers would probably work better than Rose and her stabbing skills. StoneMason served as a good meat shield, plus his ability to spin around with large sticks would be extra effective on a tree monster. Johnny, well he was there to keep everyone else that might be in the area, busy.

Nemesis watched Johnny fiddle about. “I don’t know this tree. Everytime I try to fight it, it just eats a tree fro the grove and runs off. Have you got a plan besides heal it to death?”

My head shook. “I’m not sure how else to beat this thing. I mean, I’m a druid and you’d think trees are my thing, but I’m a crappy druid.” The system message about [Naturalist Naturally Numb?] flashed across my vision. “And while I could probably find someone to ask about it, I’d rather just stop this thing now.”

“I’m all for that. It keeps messing up the Glade of Midnight. Mason’s rebuilt one of the eastern walls a dozen times now.”

“Glade of Midnight?” I lifted an eyebrow. “You mean the druid grove?”

Nem shrugged. “That’s what I call it. What did you want to name it? Did they give you one of those little boxes to pick something? I got one. I mean, we could change it. I’m new to this whole dryad thing. Or the game really. I only play a little bit between work and the rest of life.”

Her not knowing how to handle all the dryad’s powers made sense. I’d met players with other races before. They were typically required to jump through a few hoops to even get a chance at anything beyond human. Barroom bragging implied most race changes required a quest chain here, reputation there, or swallowing the wrong magical stone from a dungeon.

“How does that work? I know you planted that tree of yours in the grove” which I still wasn’t sure if I should care about “And those flowers on my alter. Does it give you any bonuses within a certain radius? Should you even be this far away from it?”

She could play however she wanted, but if being closer to her tree helped, we should lure our target back toward the grove.

“The town calls it beginner logging area two.” Johnny chimed in. He dug out a small pouch and held it up to StoneMason’s side. He frowned, shook his head, then put the pouch back into his bottomless bag. “No one calls it the Glade of Midnight. I mean really.”

“What if I pay you?” Nem asked Johnny. “And I’ll be fine,” she said to me. “There’s a whole bunch of bonuses while in the grove, but I’ve still got a lot out here. Or so Rose tells me. All these numbers make my eyes spin.”

Johnny put an arm up like he was requesting permission to talk from the teacher. Nem stopped to stare at him. “Ten gold and I’ll call it the Glade of Midnight even if it’s high noon.”

I ignored his money earning method and yawned. Silence ensued until Nemesis changed the topic. “How was work this week?” Nem asked. “They tell me you’re an EMT, or something along those lines. That must be rough.”

Going from killing a boss to social niceties could only be accomplished in a video game. Since I was likely doomed, taking this fight seriously the first time would be a waste of sanity. Johnny implied I’d fail repeatedly then start a new Friday. It’d happened before.

“Work’s always rough. No one gets an ambulance because they’re happy.” I fought a second yawn.

“I hear that. My grandbaby’s got a set of lungs on him that’ll rattle the walls. She was up all night with him and barely got to sleep this morning. That’s why she’s on late. The kid is out like a light and I’ve got one of those house helper robots making breakfast. I hate the glorified toasters but this thing can sure cook a great omelet.”

I nodded slowly. It must be nice to be able to afford a housekeeper, even if they were mechanical. I’d seen them before when working and always felt jealous.

Johnny gave a triumphant shout. He held up a small round marble that crackled with electricity. “I’m done with your flirting, so, time to snap RockHead out of it.” Johnny pulled StoneMason’s waistband to one side and dropped in his sparking sphere.

“What,” I started a question but Johnny cut me off with a raised finger.

“Wait for it,” he said.

StoneMason did nothing for at least five seconds, then electricity crackled across his skin and his body seized. The giant toppled, while ridged as a statue, to one side. Nem and I both laughed while Johnny went over and waved a finger at the newly refocused StoneMason.

“You’re here to beat up a tree, not fall in love with a wall!” Johnny punched him in the thigh.

“Sorry. I was thinking.” StoneMason shook a leg and the marble dropped out onto the floor.

Johnny grabbed it quickly and threw it back into his backpack. “Well don’t. Remember what happened last time you started thinking? All those lumberjacks at the edge of the forest complained because you built brick walls around their autopilots!”

I hadn’t known about that event. It must have happened during the week while I was out living the dream in reality. Or month. It was hard to keep track of time, especially since the first thing I did every weekend was go get a bunch of drinks to keep me sauced for the weekend.

“What tree. Was that again?” StoneMason asked in his halting speech.

“The Tree of Woe. Resulting from my series of bad choices made while drunk beyond belief. Let that be a lesson. Don’t drink and play.”

“You drink and play all the time. Besides, it’s don’t drink and drive,” Nemesis corrected. “Not that the stupid AutoNavs will let you half the time. They get all cranky. Can’t even drive if your license is an hour out of date.”

“Who drives anymore?” Johnny asked. “I haven’t driven since, the war. I think. That sound right Friday?”

I did drive still but had no desire to point that out. Instead my shoulders came up in a tired shrug and I switched topics. “Any sign of those bounty hunters?”

“Not a one. They pulled out of the area all together, those still alive, after they paraded through town with your head on a pike for two days. The city council found it funny enough to name a drink after you. Headless Fridays. Which is still better than Grove of Midnight, but someone mentioned adding tomatoes to the drink.” Johnny shuddered then brightened up. “For four gold I’ll get them to make it a different fruit. You seem like a pineapple man.”

His rambling didn’t help my situation. I got the feeling he’d grown more comfortable with our small group because he acted less interested in making money for his get-rich-quick schemes. Or he realized we were all poor characters.

StoneMason and Johnny discussed battle plans. Nemesis sort of paid attention to their conversation but yawned a lot. I worked on summoning the pack of misfit hounds. Out came the mongrels. Sarge first, he growled at me and sat down. Trap ran off immediately. Ball and Chain came out and laid down behind Sarge. Sleepy didn’t even make it a foot before flopping over.

Sarge barked. My back tensed and both cheeks hurt from the sudden frown. He was mad at me.

“Well. Hello to you too,” I said.

Sarge turned his head to one side and lifted his nose.

“Who’s hungry!” Johnny shouted.

The dogs, minus the missing Trap, ran over to him. Sarge made it a point to face m to glance in my direction and happily ate at the treat’s offered by my short, treacherous friend. I rolled my eyes and ignored the rest of their collective grumping from [Animal Understanding].

Five of them gave me a stare that could have guilted statues. I tightened my lips and said, “Guess they hate me. Nem, maybe you can get them working? They like you.”

Nemesis shrugged. “They’ll get over it. Kids do. You will to.”

“Hopefully. At least long enough to make a go of this,” I said. “If we figure out how to fight it, then I can check off one part of my stupid quest for redemption.”

“Nothing like having other people do the heavy lifting.” She smiled happily. “As Rose would say, we’re going to carry you.”

Healing counted for something. I nodded. “Right. Johnny and I, we’re lovers not fighters.”

Johnny cheered.

“But I’m here to help. Never leave a soldier behind!” Johnny held up an arm with a steak. His short form was immediately lost in a pile of leaping dogs. On their hind legs, the dogs easily were taller than Johnny. They’d gotten so big compared to the tiny mutts they were before.

“Get rid of the tree. Then I can work on breaking Dari’s curse. Then, whatever’s next.” My quest log had a list of suggestions.

“So, I dryad at the tree. You druid at it. The puppies doggy all over it.” She snorted.

StoneMason groaned like a rockslide clattered down the mountain. “That’s not how you plan a boss fight.”

“So?” Nem asked.

Rose’s body faded into being nearby. She yawned then started stretching from one side to the other.

StoneMason explained a couple of different strategies. He suggested that Nem’s plant control would be used to hem in the monster. StoneMason intended to do pure damage because he assumed the [Tree of Woe] would fixate on me. I was told I needed to run while throwing out [Lightning Bolts] to stun the creature. The dogs would probably be used as minor damage while I ‘kited’ the boss around our yard.

They were all better ideas then my own. I didn’t plan combat and never had. Even my most active character had run through the battlefield in search of people to drag away. I didn’t like the idea of jogging.

They talked about special moves. I tuned out. They brought up places to kite the boss over. I sort of paid attention. They asked me if I could heal and flee at the same time and my shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Not much choice, I guess?”

“Friday doesn’t run,” Rose said with a frown.

StoneMason rubbed his dry scalp and sighed. “What other skills do you have Friday?”

“I hold my liquor like a champion.”

“No, you don’t,” Nem responded.

“Like a runner up? Bronze at least. Tell me I place.”

She smiled and I felt stupidly giddy. “Maybe. After this we’ll find out.”

“Deal.”

Rose cleared her throat. “Please. Stop. I swear to god if I have to hear anything.” She shook her head violently and paused speaking for a full five seconds. “Anything, about you two together I may just throw up in my mouth. After I stab you in the balls. And don’t think I won’t. It’s not even a crime in here and you can heal from it.”

My eyebrows tightened. “Ouch.”

She held up both daggers. “Twice. I’ll stab you twice.”

“That’s not how I raised you,” Nem said with both fists on her hips.

Rose’s eyes fluttered. “Mom, I’ve been warning your boyfriends for years.”

StoneMason’s baby face went wide as the mother and daughter argued. His pupils dilated and leg twitched. The poor kid personified deer in headlights and they weren’t even talking to him.

Johnny whispered something toward the taller man’s ear. StoneMason looked down and nodded rapidly then they both tip-toed over toward me. I stepped back slightly to give us room away from the arguing ladies. I considered myself a well traveled man, but there were places I didn’t belong. Getting between Rose and Nem would me in trouble and I still had vague hopes that I’d click with Nemsis. If she looked even vaguely the same in real life, and we still got along, then there might be a future there.

I entertained the moment of hope while StoneMason and Johnny both pretended to hide behind me. One short person looking around my legs, which a much taller one peering out from behind my shoulders. I held still and let the comedians do their thing before the two started laughing.

Eventually I joined in, but we all were much quieter than the girls.

“Who’s watching their kid?” I asked Johnny.

“One of those nanny robots I guess?” He shrugged. “They said the little tyke’s sleeping. Maybe or they loaded his milk with a pinch of rum. Your grandma ever do that? Mine did.”

Grandma had not. In fact, grandma hadn’t been around at all. I had no idea about any of my relatives and had never bothered to look after getting out of the military.

StoneMason frowned. “Can’t do that. To kids. It’s wrong.”

“Is it?” I asked.

“Yes. Friday.” Johnny’s eyes were wide and shiny, like a cartoon gopher. “It’s on those flashcards they give idiots. Don’t put a baby in the washing machine. Cradle them, don’t hang them upside down. Don’t get them drunk.”

Johnny had been the one telling us his grandma slipped him rum. I smiled, “When did you become a baby expert?”

“It’s common sense,” he responded.

“Uhh,” StoneMason said slowly. “Sorry. I said anything. Can I look at your spells? I need to know. What you can do. You too. If that’s alright Mister DapperSeed.”

“No problem Rockhead.”

“Please stop. Calling me that,” StoneMason said.

“Five gold a day,” Johnny responded. “For ten gold a day, I’ll call you whatever you want.”

“Skills and spells, please?”

It took a bit for me to figure out the game’s interface and let him see my abilities. It was that or explain all of them and that sounded horrible. I barely understood half of them myself. They’d been a mess since the [Legacy] system triggered. They’d continue to be a cluster until I stared over with some completely fresh character. Then I could work on complicated skills like [Chewing] and [Walking].

StoneMaos perused an endless wall of text from my character. The arguing girls grew quiet. Nemesis stood with her arms crossed staring toward the [Tree of Woe]. Rose was nowhere to be seen. Her [Stealth] skills must have improved because I had zero idea where she went.

Johnny dug through his backpack then pulled out ragged ribbons. “I’m going to go set up some of those traps we stole from the bounty hunters. I haven’t figured out how to mark them yet. Maybe a rag? What colors do you like Friday? The brown is cheap but doesn’t stand out for shit. Red costs a lot, purple’s right out of your budget.”

A hand pressed against my chest and my jaw dropped. “How do you know what I can afford?”

“It’s easy. You have no money, therefore, no budget. You earn and burn it all on beer.”

He had me dead to rights. I switched to defense. “it’s not real money anyway.”

“So, on this date we may or may not have, I’m buying?” Nemesis asked loudly. My face went red. We hadn’t been far enough away for any real privacy in our conversation.

Rose’s form faded into view with her hands pressed together in prayer. I blinked and tried to figure out if she’d been there the entire time. “Voices above. Please make them stop flirting.”

“That kid’s getting good,” Johnny whispered. “She must have been there the whole time and I didn’t even notice.”

StoneMason continued to read my skills and ignored us.

Nemesis waved her hand. Vines crawled up from the ground with purple flower tips and waggled along with her. “Stop bothering the Voices. I’m sure they’re busy with some Machiavellian plot and don’t have time for us.” Lifted her other hand up and shuddered. “At least I hope they are. Remember last time? Though I can’t see how any other plans could be worse.”

Rose’s eyes fluttered in annoyance. “No, mom. I’m sure it can’t get worse. But I’m lucky, uncle is listening and will give us a fight. I want to get a battle in before the boy wakes up.”

She must have meant her son. Calling him the boy felt wrong, but it was probably one of the real life factors Continue Online liked to cover up. The game sometimes censored stuff for us automatically. Thought why it let my day job slip but cared enough to hide Rose’s son’s name was beyond me.

“You’re obsessed. Take up pottery,” Nemesis suggested. “It worked for me.”

“That’s great mom. I want to stab things. Maybe next month I can take up woodworking. Your boyfriend’s good at it.”

Finding myself pulled into the conversation, I went with simple agreement. “I am.”

“Maybe,” Nemesis said.

Rose’s eyes fluttered in annoyance. She glared up at the sky. “Are we going to talk all night again, or are you going to give me something to fight?”

The Voices might not have heard her question, but the [Tree of Woe] that had been minding its business while we chatted away, did. The ground rolled suddenly as a minor earthquake sent dirt and our party flying. Everyone ended on their rears except StoneMason.

“That’s bad,” he said calmly. “Rank seven earthquake. From this far. At least.”

“Finally,” Rose muttered.

We got back up. The [Tree of Woe] shuttled across the landscape on thick roots that resembled tentacles. Three huge bare branches spread out like arms with stick-claws at the end. Faces on it’s bark screamed loudly.

“What was the plan?” Nemesis asked.

Rose waved her arms. “Mom, vines on Dapper’s traps! Johnny, scout us a path around the house. We’ll do laps if we survive long enough. Go.”

“Bossy,” Nemisis muttered. “Wonder who you got that from.” She left anyway, followed by Johnny. Or maybe Johnny had run off. Our small party of five was rapidly vanishing and barely had enough liquor in me to focus.

“I’ll,” StoneMason started to give himself orders but Rose waved it off.

“Don’t you dare throw those idiot trees at it, it eats wood to heal, that’s why the orchard is gone. Use that stump ripping ability you got on it’s roots when it moves.”

“Oh.” StoneMason said dumbly. “Why hasn’t it-“

“I don’t have time to care. Go!”

StoneMason ran off.

“Friday,” Rose said.

“Mmmhm?” I hummed happily.

“Run.”

My eyebrows scrunched together. “Mmhm?”

“Go.”

The ground rumbled. Rose turned her head quickly to look toward the [Tree of Woe]. It’d been less than a minute and the boss had cleared half the distance. We were lucky the courtyard was that huge. I half hoped undead wasps would show up and hunt for wood but none did.

“Stone, grapple the roots! Work on the Titan Wrestler skill.” She turned toward me and waved again. “Go!”

The shrill sound of doom echoed. I glanced over to see a dozen half broken faces with wide open mouths. A chorus of screams rolled as

StoneMason launched straight for a root that was thicker than Rose’s waist. Vines sprouted and spiraled up then along one of the [Tree of Woe]s branch arms. The monster’s form slowed but showed no care for the creatures hampering it.

I sighed heavily, chugged a mug of beer, then swayed a winding path near the inner wall. The dogs were off doing whatever. My staff wouldn’t do much good. I traced out a heal and threw it down in front of me. Soggy ground solidified as grass sprouted. It cracked quickly as a tendril from the [Tree of Woe] snaked by, plowing the earth.

“Faster!” Rose yelled. “That thing’s quick. Watch the leading vines.”

The ground shook. Sudden booms rattled the wall and pounded at my eardrums. I refused to turn around and kept going forward. Sarge barked with worry. Despite our earlier issues, they were apparently already over it.

“Sorry guys,” I told him. “Do what you can.”

Ball and Chain growled unhappily from nearby. I caught sight of their tails as they dove behind me to fight the [Tree of Woe]. I threw a heal over my shoulder and hoped it’d help them.

Wooden thuds came one after the other. “Sixty feet!” Rose shouted as a warning.

It’d been half a football field away moments ago. It’d get me soon and this wasn’t even the worst of it. I tensed up and the beer I’d chugged didn’t help.

“Forty! Stone, work the damn roots. Mom, vines.”

Her shouts made me hunch harder. The [Staff of Thaddaeus] reached out to give me stability so I could hobble along. My body felt fine, but my mind numbed the closer the [Tree of Woe] got.

“Thirty five.” Rose said.

They had slowed it down, but it’d grown too close. Visions started and my eyesight warped wildly. Into the wall I went.

“What’s. Happening?” StoneMaso’s voice wavered.

“Mental attack.” One of the women said.

Which one got buried as a chorus of angry girls yelled curses. Indistinct words came from every direction. Harsh deep tones were lifted shrill bits of outrage to new heights.

“Thirty.” Rose’s voice pierced the cacophony for a moment. “Anything?”

My chin fell toward my chest and the ground grew abruptly closer.

The spirit of every relationship gone wrong thudded nearby. A drag of its arm sounded like keys on my car. The wall shuddered in a crack like a brick through the windshield. I heard children screaming because mommy was upset and I was leaving.

Something popped into my line of sight. I swung my staff. The ground kept shaking while I gave up my attempted indifference. The [Tree of Woe] scared me. This whole idea had been stupid. Messages were popping up left and right. I was failing some sort of system check. Failing miserably as the colors intensified from yellow, to red, to a deep black that might have swallowed up all life.

I fumbled for another drink and struggled to remember none of those flashes were real.

“You coward!” it yelled.

“Yes,” I shouted back abruptly.

My response set the tree into overdrive. Soil from all around flew into the air. Roots wiggled everywhere. StoneMason’s body swung by overhead, his arms grabbed tightly around a root that didn’t give a crap about his presence.

I took two deep breathes, stumbled forward, and threw out a heal. My small parties health bars bounced up and down. I shook my head and ignored the thick solid sounds behind me. They reminded me of mortal shells.

With that thought the delusions from the [Tree of Woe] attacked again.

“Mills! Get Bandit back into cover!”

Gunfire rattled abruptly. My commanding officer stood there, stupefied as a red stain blotted along the cloth. Next to me, Bandit’s stitching ripped. I couldn’t fix them. I was a failure from a long line of them.

My eyes shut tightly to wash away the vision.

“Friday,” someone shouted.

I waved Rose away. StoneMason’s grip slipped and the [Tree of Woe] slung him across the distance. A dagger clanged off the trunk. Purple flower tipped vines snapped from around the branches.

Less than a minute after we started, the [Tree of Woe] had brushed off everyone in the party and loomed overhead. I fought to ignore the sounds that reminded me of every terror I’d faced over the years. The ARC device dialed into my brain, but it wasn’t real.

“It’s not real,” I mumbled.

The [Tree of Woe] slithered on misshapen roots over to where I’d fallened. It’d won. It knew that I couldn’t run anymore. The beer and my fall blurred my vision but I saw tracks of wetness along the wooden carvings. They’d always been there. This monster I’d created, cried every time it killed me. Even now, it sobbed.

Claw like branches curled into a million tiny fists and pummeled my chest. My chest heaved to catch a quick breathe. I reached for the logout button but it didn’t work. The second round hit my face. Battering away until an eye watered and clicked off.

Everything spun. My chest stuttered to get in air. The beating paused. I wiped away the good eye to see what had happened.

All five dogs stood between me and the [Tree of Woe]. They snarled in unison. Dozens of broken female faces carved into the wood snarled back.

I took two more breathes determined they couldn’t get hurt this easily on my behalf. Especially when the fight would be futile. I reached up to tap my interface and released the pack back to their grove. Ball and Chain faded immediately. Sleepy stumbled forward into nothingness. Trap leapt toward the [Tree of Woe] but never landed. Sarge’s head whipped around. He whimpered even as he faded back into the either.

I typed out a message to the others.

Failed. Thanks for trying.

That left me glaring weakly at the [Tree of Woe]. I could heal myself but it wouldn’t get me back on my feet. I could try one of the [Lightning Bolt] spells but the monster was too close for it to be effective. I could blind it but those visions would remind me of all my failures again.

It paused along with me, as if considering how I might fight back, then the faces went strangely calm. Down came the branches and my eyes closed tight. That Friday night, with barely a day’s game time under my belt and not nearly enough beer in my belly, I died.