By the time Marcus logged back into the game everyone else had already gathered. He received an alert from Nika that they’d already left Freedon, though they weren’t too far from it. He hurried through the town, picking his way past various construction zones.

The city had already started rebuilding and so the streets swarmed with NPCs and players. New quests for less used classes had opened up and given a chance to players to earn fame. Marcus even saw a butler on his way out of the city gate, an old gentleman with black and silver hair.

He jogged out of the city and moved west along the dirt road. After a bit of distance he came across a bridge that crossed the Freedon River. His friends had gathered on the other side, along with the guy that Selene had brought along.

From a distance he could tell that Nika still hadn’t picked up any armor. Meanwhile Selene had exchanged her short skirt for a longer one. Galmi still wore a skunk rat coat and fur armor. A red ball of fur was on top of his head, one that didn’t seem to fit quite right.

Selene waved as he approached. “What took you so long?”

“Janice needed help with research,” Marcus said as his gaze lingered on the ball of fur. For some reason it looked familiar to him.

When it started to move, and a puppy dog’s face appeared, he realized it was Galmi’s pet. They stared at each other for a bit before Scarlet returned to her sleep. Though Marcus wouldn’t admit to it he had an urge to pet the thing.

“Come on,” Nika said impatiently, “Typhoon said it’s a long distance to the desert, so let’s get going already.”

At her urging the group walked along the dirt road to the northwest. The landscape was flat, with a thin forest that consisted mostly of oak, and as they stuck to the road no monsters attacked.

While they walked the friends talked about recent events. For the most part their time outside of the game had been mundane, and as time slipped by they quickly ran out of anything of note to talk about.

Throughout it all Galmi remained silent, his attention instead on their surroundings. He seemed at times to even have his eyes closed, a fact that troubled Marcus. He seemed all too nervous given their current situation.

Selene had befriended him, or vice versa, and that was a bit unusual either way. Outside of the adopted sister he’d never seen Selene with anyone else, and their own friendship had been a side effect of his time with Nika.

So the fact that Galmi had befriended Selene confused him, as did the way he looked. The man was for all intents and purposes pitiful looking, with ragged looking armor and a very homely face. The way he’d even fallen into the crevice and swallowed up by the giant snake only worsened the image. Marcus respected Selene and her choice in being friendly with him, but he couldn’t trust Galmi yet.

Aside from his name, which was clearly an in-game one, they knew nothing about him. Marcus frowned at that thought, as he realized he’d made a mistake. One of the requirements of The Cracked Earth was that anyone below the age of sixteen needed permission from a guardian, and those people in turn were flagged.

A few games during the first days of fully interactive VR had run afoul of numerous issues, pedophilia being at the forefront, and it’d resulted in the Digital Protection Act For Youths and Minors. That’d caused a lot of consternation for Janice, as it’d altered existing legislature which included COPPA.

“Marcus?” Selene asked, as she waved one hand at his face, “you there?”

Marcus snapped back to reality and flashed a smile to try and reassure her. “Just thinking about stuff. Sorry.”

Even as his mind had wandered he’d kept on walking, and they’d gone quite a fair distance from Freedon. Ahead of them the forest, which’d already been sparse, thinned out to the point that wide swathes of land were open.

The grass grew shorter, either by programming or some internalized maintance, and most of it looked dried out. Far ahead a jagged border where the desert started could be seen. The road they were on tapered out and vanished prior to the sand.

Near the end of the road was a wooden house. It was a rundown squat structure with a few broken windows. There was a sign outside of the place which informed them it was a general store.

“A shop all the way out here?” Nika was the first to comment on it, “I wonder what it sells?”

Given the sign that was outside the store it was obvious there’d be something within, but the specifics could only be guessed at. So their group approached the building and entered, Nika not even bothering to knock on the door.

The interior did not bolster their confidence in the store. A couple of shelves lined the walls of the twenty foot wide room, the shelves themselves visibly rotting and about to collapse. A few hangers hung off of crude pegs on the walls on which random clothings rested.

Selene was attracted to the clothing on the pegs while Nika was drawn to the shelves. A few weapons could be seen laid out along with price tags next to them. Marcus looked around the room, trying to figure out what might actually be of use, and could only come to one conclusion.

“What a dump.”

A door slammed with enough force to shake the cheap walls of the store. The noise of it caused everyone to jump in surprise, and even the puppy on Galmi’s head looked up in alarm.

A woman who wore a loose set of clothing that billowed out far from her body had entered the room. The door she’d just slammed seemed to shudder next to her as she glared at everyone, though the one she focused most on seemed to be Marcus.

She walked over to what could only be the front counter of the store, though it was little more than a few chunks of wood glued together. She put one hand on the counter and waved with the other.

“Hello, and welcome to my store,” the woman said with a smile, “I’m Ilya.”

“Hey, so what you got here?” Nika asked, not even missing a beat with the sudden appearance of the merchant.

“A few swords and spears, mostly made of wood,” Ilya replied, “metal isn’t a good idea since the desert can make it uncomfortable to use.”

That answer caused Marcus to walk over and ask, “What about my armor? I only wear metal.”

The ever present smile that Ilya had been wearing wavered as she glanced at Marcus, and when she spoke it was to Nika. “I’d recommend anyone wearing or using metal to use something else.”

“I could’ve sworn they used metal swords in real deserts.” Nika put one finger to her chin. “In the movies and all that, at least.”

“The Faran Desert is not the same as whatever you are used to.” Ilya frowned at her. “The sand is cursed by chaos and worsens the impact of the sun on metal. If you don’t travel at night it can melt.”

Nika clicked her tongue, as she fingered the hilts of her sword. “Mind tossing me a pair of swords? I’d love to try out whatever you’ve got.”

At the mention of possible sales Ilya brightened and pointed at the shelves. “I have some ironwood swords over there. They’re as hard as iron, but with a dull edge.”

“Great, anything else we might want?”

Ilya reached into the pockets of her pants and pulled out a cluster of rings. They looked to be made of velvet yet were as rigid as metal. “Rings of Cooling, they can prevent heatstroke.”

“We’re going to want four of those, one for each of us,” Nika declared as she started to pull money out of her inventory.

Galmi suddenly spoke up, “Five. I need one for Scarlet.”

At his words Ilya looked at the top of his head. “Is that a red wolf?”

Galmi nodded his head and said, “Yeah.”

“I’ll buy it for ten gold coins...wait no, twenty!”

Galmi took a step away from the woman and protectively reached up to Scarlet. “You want me to sell my pet to you?”

“Of course, I know of a few nobles who’ve been looking for a red wolf pet.”

“No, you can’t have her!” Selene suddenly exclaimed from the side.

Ilya looked ready to snap at her when Galmi spoke up, “I agree with her, I don’t have any interest in selling Scarlet right now.”

“Right now,” the shopkeeper mumbled and then put on her false smile once more, “very well. Please let me know if you want to purchase anything.”

It didn’t take Marcus long to pick out his own equipment. He found some light cloth armor along with a wooden shield and club. Out of all of them he was the first out the door, and so he equipped the new items and waited.

Galmi was the next to emerge. His fur armor and coat had been removed and replaced with a white tunic and pants. The outfit was as barebones as possible, though he wore one of the rings on his right hand. Marcus noticed Galmi wore a second ring, though what it was he didn’t know.

The Ring of Cooling was also on Scarlet, or more precisely on her left foreleg. It had grown in size and magically placed itself there, a feature that seemed designed to help equip anyone who wasn’t of normal size or shape.

The other two took their time coming out, and so Marcus found himself with Galmi for an extended period of time. The man was silent as he leaned against the wall of the store, his attention focused more on the desert than anything else.

“Even the wind here is hot,” Galmi suddenly said.

“Sure,” Marcus said with little conviction. He’d barely noticed the difference in the temperature, nor did he really care. With the ring on it’d counter any type of temperature based ailment.

Another moment of awkward silence started after that so Marcus tried to stow his concerned thoughts of Galmi. Whether or not he might be a bad person for Selene to interact with, he trusted his old friend to make the right choices.

And if Galmi hurt her Marcus wasn’t afraid to hurt him back in response.

Nika and Selene came out of the store a few hours later. Nika had shifted to an outfit of loose garments, similar in style to what Ilya wore.. She’d also picked up a set of earrings made from ivory.

What surprised Marcus the most was the item that Selene had acquired in the store. It was a dark red parasol, but instead of being held the parasol floated next to her. As she walked across the grass the parasol moved to cover as much sunlight as it could.

They didn’t talk much after that as they instead followed the last remnants of the road and entered the desert. As soon as they crossed onto the sands the temperature rose, yet thanks to the Ring of Cooling it wasn’t noticeable..

There was an undulation to the sand, as they went up one dune and down the other side. A sort of rhythm to the rise and fall began, and before long Marcus almost looked forward to the next dune.

After they were a couple of miles into the desert Scarlet started to growl. It was a noise that caused both Selene and Galmi to stop. The pair scoured the horizon with an intensity that worried Marcus.

“What’s the matter?” Marcus asked with a glance at the pup. She still sat on top of Galmi’s head, but all of her fur had started to puff up. He had to stifle a laugh at the sight of such a massive ball of fur on a man’s head.

Galmi muttered something under his breath and closed his eyes. From his inventory a black blindfold was summoned and then wrapped around his head. Before he’d finished tying it he turned, his blocked eyes facing the previous dune.

“Get away from there!” he shouted at everyone.

Before the others could figure out what he was talking about, the ground beneath Marcus’ feet lifted up and he was thrown to the ground. He rolled down the dune and ended up at the base, coated in sand. Near him more parts of the desert lifted up as something emerged from beneath.

By the time Marcus got back up on his feet over a dozen large scorpions had appeared. Some of the monsters had already started to attack his friends. Marcus looked around in an attempt to figure out who needed his help the most.

It was obvious that Galmi did not as the man deftly slipped by all of the attacks of the monsters. He wielded a wood staff and consistently smacked the scorpions, and then retreated to a safe distance before any retaliation.

Nika was similar to Galmi. Her wood swords danced in the air to knock aside the clumsy scorpion claws, and her form moved like a ballerina through the groups. Even with the unsteady footing of the sands she had no issue in her mobility, and even tried aerial attacks every so often.

To that end it was Selene who most needed help, and so Marcus charged across the desert to join her. His friend was hard pressed by the scorpions, as she lacked any proper defensive skills. Though her magic was potent the wind blades did little to dissuade the aggressive monsters.

His first course of action was to ram into the nearest scorpion shield first. The creature was tossed to the ground by the slam, but the horse-sized insect recovered quickly and snapped one claw in anger.

“Come and get me!” Marcus hollered as he triggered his taunt.

The three scorpions caught by his skill ignored Selene and in turn gave her time to recover. While Marcus tried his best to fend off the attacks with his shield, and respond with a few good strikes of his club, he knew that any real damage would have to come from her.

What came next surprised Marcus as Selene unleashed a powerful wind attack, one that couldn’t be compared to what he’d seen already. The gigantic blade sliced through one of the scorpions like butter.

When he glanced at Selene he noticed she had summoned a quill. With deft movements of her hand she crafted words in the air, and then before she fired another spell the word seemed to be absorbed into the magic.

Yet though Selene was such a potent threat the scorpions ignored her. Instead they attacked Marcus, forced against him due to the taunt skill he’d used. It was the combination of mage and tank that made quick work of the horde.

The sand had turned into a field of white particles by the end of the fight, and the experience was steadily absorbed into all of them. Marcus pulled out a few healing ointments and offered them to the others.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Nika said as she sheathed her club-swords, “I didn’t get poisoned did anyone else?”

“I’m immune,” Selene replied as she lifted up one hand to show off a ring, “reward from Wyrmfang.”

Marcus checked his own status and sighed with relief. Though he’d been attacked non-stop none of the scorpions had succeeded in poisoning him. He glanced at Galmi to check on him but the odd man seemed fine.

“What’s with the blindfold?” Marcus asked.

Galmi started to say something but was interrupted by the barking of his puppy. The urgency of the bark was obvious to all of them, and Galmi reached up with one hand to press Scarlet gently against his head.

“No time for that, we need to run!” Galmi declared as he dashed off to their right.

Marcus didn’t waste time arguing and instead tried to keep up. The other two also followed Galmi without complaint, and soon Nika even passed by the others. She began to laugh while she ran, ruining any tension that the others might have started to feel..

Behind them the sand parted like an ocean as a massive scorpion rose to the surface. Even with the distance they’d covered by running they were still in range, and the giant stinger swung at them.

Marcus was barely able to get his shield around to block it in time. The wood splintered on contact and the stinger pierced into his arm. An alert popped up warning him that he’d been poisoned, but he was more worried about another attack.

With their chance to escape spoiled the others turned. Nika ran at the scorpion with her swords drawn and tried to slip under a sudden claw swing. Yet the monster shifted the trajectory of its claw and crushed down at her. She managed to get her swords up to try and stop the claw, but ended up pinned by the attack.

Marcus gripped his club with both hands and charged the descending claw. With an upward swing he hammered at it, but the weight of the monstrous appendage proved too much. The scorpion flicked another claw at him and knocked him through the air a dozen feet.

Even though it was sand he still hit the ground hard enough to rattle his head, and when he tried to stand up he could barely keep straight. Marcus shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind, and as reality settled back to normal a glint of silver caught his attention.

A giant hammer cracked into the side of the scorpion, the head of it crunching through the chitin carapace. A man followed the hammer, having leapt through the air from some nearby dune. Blackened boots cracked into the already injured scorpion and with a shout the man tore the warhammer free.

“Typhoon!” Nika shouted, “what are you doing here?”

The tall man backflipped off of the scorpion and let out a loud laugh. “Best place to pick a fight is this desert!”

Marcus scowled at the sudden arrival of Typhoon. The fact that Nika seemed to enjoy his presence only added to his distaste. There was something about him that put Marcus on edge.

No matter his personal thoughts on the matter, Marcus ended up utilizing the distraction to drink an antidote. The poison debuff was removed, and Marcus prepared to continue the fight.

That preparation was unneeded as the giant scorpion disintegrated into particles. The ease with which it’d died caused everyone to pause and stare in confusion. A whirlwind of particles appeared mostly around Typhoon, though a tiny amount trickled to Marcus and Nika.

“You killed the boss that fast?” Nika asked as she sheathed her swords.

“Hah, like that little thing is a boss!” Typhoon shouldered his warhammer and laughed at Nika, “that’s just the female of the chaos scorpions.”

Marcus lifted up one hand to get everyone’s attention. “If that wasn’t a boss, but just a regular mob, how are we going to even get close to that tribe you told us about?”

“What, you scared of having a real fight?” Typhoon shook his head. “No need to worry anyways, there’s only one female every couple of miles. Keep heading north and you should reach the oasis.”

Before any of them could talk further with the odd man he leapt up into the air. Somehow he was able to clear a good thirty feet in a single jump, and when he landed on a distant dune he repeated his action.

Everyone could only watch him leave, confused as much with his departure as when he arrived. Typhoon had left so suddenly that it took Marcus a while to even realize something.

He’d used a metal weapon in the desert.