Darion healed me back to full and I stood up.

Looking across the guild members, it struck me then that Sly still wasn’t there. “Sly, where did he go,” I asked.

“He left,” said Darion.

I collected myself and ran out of the room and through the marble halls. Catching him on the steps just outside of the guildhall, he turned to face me.

“Not cool!” shouted Sly angrily.

We had been friends, best friends, since, well, forever. When I was just a kid, maybe thirteen years old, he was the first person I met on Abaddon. We grouped together, killing buffalo and other low level neutral mobs at The Old Mill stables. We had saved each other from death countless times, always there for each other.

I didn’t have many friends outside of Abaddon. My heart condition meant too much physical exertion was dangerous for me. So, my friends were here.

“I’m sorry. They just wanted me for now. You can maybe join later, maybe, once I prove myself to them.”

“We were cool because we didn’t guild up. And we promised that if we ever did, we’d go together. This is bullshit, man.” Sly was annoyed, but I knew he’d get over it, and he was just being his normal melodramatic self. But he was right, we had made a pact to stay away from the guilds, to do our own thing. And this thew a wrench in that plan.

Sly and I would have been neighbors as kids, just a town apart. But we never met. His family fell apart and he moved away to live with his grandparents, and then was pawned off on some other family members, never having time to grow roots anywhere. I think a lot of our friendship came from needing some stability in his life, someone he could count on—a brother. He had a family here.

It did feel like a betrayal.

Sly glanced up one more time at my character name, letting his eyes focus on the guild name beneath it. His face twisted, then he threw up his arms and stormed down the street.

I was going to stop him, to remind him that this was part of my plan to find out what happened to Surewinter. But this wasn’t a safe place to mention it. And he was gone before I could reach out and ask him to stay.

He would be on later, I suspected, he just needed to blow off some steam. That was true for all Abaddon players. After a death, or a battle that goes sideways, people will drop out of frustration, only to be back on later that day. It was addictive like that.

Walking back into the large hall Darion was the first to greet me, and dipped down with a full sweeping bow. “Welcome back, Curio. Are you ready to test your metal with us for real?”

Luxon turned from him saluted me. “We can’t do it until Athena gets back, but we think with you in our party we can take on the Basilica.”

I scratched my head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

Luxon chuckled, “No, you wouldn’t have. It’s an epic raid that was added into the game secretly. It’s an inverted dungeon, a hidden tower that scales up as you ascend the levels. We’ve gotten to level nine, but without your added damage and sustain, we haven’t been able to surpass it.”

“What kind of mobs are in it,” I asked. “What’s the raid boss?”

Darion interrupted before Luxon could speak. “Nobody knows. We’ve never been able to get that far.”

“Angels,” said Luxon. “It’s a holy dungeon. It describes itself as a gateway between earth and the gods themselves.” His face contorted as he considered what to say next. “I’m not so effective there, the holy creatures mitigate much of my own damage, denying me of my bonuses.”

“And you think with my demon weapon, I might be able to make up some of that damage?”

“Absolutely,” said Darion. “You may be our secret weapon.”

Darion was an unconventional cleric. He was statted as a tank as much as a cleric. With Luxon’s ability to heal quite effectively, it allowed Darion to run as a battle cleric. He was human, with dark skin and a shaved head. His armor might be the most impressive, even compared to Luxon. Leviathan scale, crafted from the monsters themselves. Something I was never capable of fighting myself. He must have used the same smith that Surewinter introduced me to.

My mind drifted to Surewinter. She must have been their other source of healing, and a major piece of their party. I don’t know how they thought they could defeat this dungeon without her bard songs. I definitely wasn’t going to make up for the battle boons her songs could provide.

“Will Surewinter be there?” I asked. “We’ll need her healing, right?”

Adrian looked a little hurt. As much as I stepped on Cimmarow’s toes with my damage, she must have competed with Darion’s healing.

Luxon closed his eyes and waved his hand. “She told me she needed to take a break from Abaddon. I don’t think she’ll be coming with us this time.”

“Maybe we should check on her. Reach out to her offline and see if she’s okay,” I said.

Luxon grimaced. “She’s fine. She’s just taking a break. She’ll be back on soon.” He sounded annoyed.

“Yeah, and we don’t need her as long as I’m there,” said Darion. “I can heal enough for all of us on my own. If it wasn’t for Cimmarow, we wouldn’t have been forced to hazy in that last dungeon.”

“Hey!” shouted Cimmarow. “I’m supposed to be at the front, it was this upstart’s fault for not finding the trap that set off the alarm!” Cimmarow’s finger was pointed at me.

“It’s not his fault,” said Wolfram. “We got ahead of ourselves, and didn’t give Curio the chance to do his job. It was the whole reason he was there in the first place. We need to work better as a team, and we can’t do it if you’re always racing ahead in competition for damage, Cimmarow.”

“It worked out, though, right?” said Darion. “Curio was able to take on that boss all on his own! We should be happy to have him.”

Luxon nodded, and glanced back to the fighters. They were stiff, but shifted in agreement. “It’s set, then. We’ll reconvene Saturday, two days from now. Curio,” he lowered his eyes to mine, “You’ll be here, right? Being a member of our guild means you have to commit. Can we count on you?”

“Of course. I’m in The Silver Web now.”

Luxon clapped his hands. “Perfect, we’ll meet here. I don’t know how long the raid will last, so expect a long night. And when we reach the end, we’ll challenge the gods themselves.”

1 MESSAGE RECEIVED.

I shifted my focus from Luxon, and checked the message. It was from Sly. He was asking for help. His writing was scrambled, like he was in a hurry. He was in trouble.

“I’m sorry, guys, I have to go.”

Luxon’s eyes narrowed. My first guild meeting and I was cutting out early. I could tell he didn’t approved.

“Really,” I said, “I’m very sorry.” And I began to leave.

“Saturday,” said Luxon flatly.

“I’ll be there!” I called out as I left through the enormous cathedral doors and descended the marble stairs toward the city street. Night was approaching, and the shine of the guildhall had faded. Even the brightest marble loses its luster in the dark.

Reaching the clinic I found Sly. He was badly hurt, and the doctors were busy healing him. Blood stained his leather armor, and his arm hung limply by his side.

“What happened?”

“Those goddamn rangers happened.” Sly looked away, still angry.

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know. They jumped me on my way here. They were looking for you. They didn’t appreciate you embarrassing them in front of everyone. They nearly killed me. I almost lost everything.”

“Well, both us us took them on.”

“No,” said Sly. “It was just you. I barely slowed them down. Now that you have your new gear, and your new weapons—your new guild. You’re too busy to run with me, and now I can’t step foot out of the clinic or they’ll kill me. And where were you, man? Where were you?”

“I told you. I’m trying to find something out.”

“Oh, yeah, Surewinter.” Sly rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Some girl you don’t even know made you abandon your friend. Made you guild up with those assholes. They might be the only players worse than those rangers.”

I held up my hands and tried to calm him down. “Please, shhh…” I said, I couldn’t let anyone know I knew Surewinter was dead. It could end me clearing my name before I even started.

Sly sat up, wiggling his fingers as the feeling came back to them thanks to the doctors’ healing spells. He took his gaze from mine, and looked down. “Sorry.”

“I’m in deep now. I’ll catch back up with you later.” I thought as best I could what to say, to let him know that I wasn’t going to abandon him. Just like I promised Surewinter. But I had failed her. I wouldn’t fail him. “You’re my best friend, man. Here or anywhere else. I won’t leave you.”

Sly shifted, and looked up reassuringly. I didn’t know if he was humoring me, or if he was being sincere.

“I don’t have much of a life, man. I come here—this is my life.” Sly paused. “You’re a big part of that.”

My stomach sank. He was right. We had always been there for each other, and I wasn’t doing my part. “They probably don’t know I’m in The Silver Web now. I’ll tell Luxon, and we’ll get them off of you.”

Sly rubbed his shoulder, nearly fully recovered. “Nah, I don’t want anything to do with them. You do your thing, figure out what you’re looking for. Let me know when you do, and we’ll hang out later.”

Sly raised from the wooden bench and stretched. “I messaged Plur, we’re going to grind for a bit in a safe area. I’ll catch you later.”

Plus was another one of our friends. She was a half-elf thief we ran with pretty often. Between Sly’s and Plur’s backstabs and my ambush, we were able to clear mobs pretty efficiently. She was an excellent thief, and if you needed something, she could get it. I was glad he had reached out to her—that he wasn’t going to be alone while I kept tabs on Luxon.

Sly raised a finger and logged off.

I felt terrible. I had hurt one of my only true friends. I was concerned about Sly, about his character on Abaddon, and how he was doing at home. If I hadn’t been so focused on Sly, I might have noticed the shadows behind me, and the shape moving silently through them, watching us, and hearing every word we shared.

Including the name Surewinter.