The forest looked exactly like it did a few hours ago when she tested the new suspension system. The breeze felt different on her skin, though, now that her body was big, hard and powerful. Sarah wouldn’t have been able to find the words to describe this difference exactly, but it was there, as evident as the green in the leaves of the trees in this virtual world.

She turned around to assess the situation and found no traces of the pink room, no debris, no shattered glass, no hole in the ground where it had crashed. The impact had felt weird, more like a change of phase than a real crash. She was now on her own, and she thought it would be a great thing if she had some kind of map in order to orient herself. She immediately regretted not chosing the fairy or any other character with the ability of Flight. But Strength and Endurance would get her further if slower, she concluded.

She tried to visualize a map or guide. This was the canonical method to invoke menus and options ingame: “calling” them with your mind. Other stuff would appear on its own with various kinds of corporal feedback, like the buzzing sound and tickling sensation when she received a notification of a level up, a skill increase, or a new quest. But nothing materialized in front of her.

“Map,” she tried. She spoke it aloud just in case. It would be the equivalent of just thinking of the word, making it a request for the game. But saying it had a different psychological effect. It felt more solid and effective.

Nothing.

“Guide.”

Only the breeze and the sounds of birds, frogs and squirrels answered her command.

“Chart.”

No dice.

She wondered if Sumiko would be anywhere near at this moment. It might be too soon for her to have established a link... maybe only a minute had passed in the real world while Sarah was playing the game, because of the time dilation effect. And even if Sumiko was connected and talking to her already, this time difference would mean that anything she had to say would appear with a big delay or spread out along a certain period of time.

No, I’m alone until further notice, she thought.

She started exploring the forest, letting the breeze bring her all the scents and sounds of nature... and some of possible supernatural origin, too. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and opened them again.

She had heard a faint, almost hidden sound of water. A tiny creek that crossed the forst, probably. She looked in the direction where it would be.

Let’s walk that way, she told herself. In the absence of a map, it’s as good as any other.

She started walking. There was no proper path to speak of, but she found a trail, and then another. Animals or other creatures had found the best ways to get from one place inside the forest to the other, just like in nature or even in big cities, where “desire paths” get collectively drawn by thousands of feet, often ignoring the lanes and sidewalks provided by the city itself.

She was not surprised when, after a while of following a trail toward the course of water, she was greeted with a notification.

Skill acquired: Exploration

It came with the same physical feedback she had felt when testing the scenario: a ticklimg sensation, a subdued buzzing sound, and the legend written in faintly glowing characters.

A few seconds later, she heard distinct sounds of some creature approaching her. There was also a definitive smell identifying this creature as some kind of mammal, maybe human. It had to be something pretty big to make that sound, not just a squirrel or a gnome.

She turned around and identified the creature immediately. It was coming through the thicket on her left, glancing at her with an air of superiority.

It was a faun.

“Well, hellooo,” the creature greeted her. It stood no taller than four feet, and that was a generous estimation.

“Hello,” Sarah said, taken aback by the creature’s confidence. She had a sword after all. “Are you my guide?”

“I’m your guide... only for now,” the faun said. “As soon as you leave, you’ll be on your own. If you get completely lost, though, you can come back here for some wisdom. But you’ll have to earn it.”

“So what’s your name?” Sarah asked.

“Does it matter?” the faun asked. “Let’s say you’re in Narnia and I’m Tumnus. What difference does it make?”

This faun was irritating, but he was all Sarah had for now. This was the only thing that made her refrain from using her newly acquired sword to gain some XP (experience points) and an increase in the Kill ability or whatever is was called in this Anderworld.

“OK, Tumnus,” she asked, “how can I find my way on this forest? Is there a map or guide?”

“Oh,” the faun said with an expression of fake sorrow, “there is nothing of the sort. You see, the forest is still unfinished.”

“Unfinished? What do you mean?”

“Oh dear,” the beast replied, “didn’t you know? How can you possibly be here if you didn’t know? The game is building itself as we speak. The Game Master—” and here his voice lowered to a hush “— the Game Master is changing everything all the time. He comes up with new scenarios, modifies the existing ones, and updates the rules. It’s what he does. I thought all players were aware of this. How did you login if nobody explained this to you?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sarah replied harshly, and her hand grazed the handle of the sword, which didn’t go unnoticed by the faun. “But how can I possibly make any progress in a game that changes all the time? That’s unfair. How will I accomplish anything if I have to start over every few days or hours?”

“Don’t worry, my child,” the faun replied, now in a more agreeable tone. “The basic stats and skills are always available, although they may get more refined as time goes by. They will carry over from one stage to the next, from one world to the next. You will also receive missions and quests that you can complete in order to level up. Just don’t get too attached to specific stuff like a certain weapon or armor. They may disappear or turn into a different thing as you crossphase.”

“Crossphase?”

The faun stared at her intently. He looked a bit puzzled and even more amused.

“You really have no idea, eh? Did you steal a key and built your own tank? Nobody outside a few inside Digidream can play this game yet. If you are here, you should know about the different realms and crossphasing and about the Game Master.” Now he looked uneasy once more.

“Look, miserable beast,” Sarah said, already out of patience, pointing at him menacingly, “you will stop asking questions about me and do your fucking job as a guide. One more remark and I’ll cut your head off. Do you understand?”

The faun nodded vigorously.

“What do you know about the Game Master?”

The faun took a pretty long time to answer. He looked afraid, glancing around as if the GM was there and could hear what he was saying.

“We... we don’t really know the Game Master,” he said finally. “Nobody has seen him. We think he’s not actually a player but an AI, generating new algorithms all the time to change and refine the rules. But sometimes... sometimes this AI seems to have a definite personality, and it’s kind of cruel. He wiped a whole race once because a bunch of members of that race inconvenienced them with their questions. He didn’t kill them, mind you: he deleted the whole race, as if it had never existed.”

A swift dictator. I had no idea there was a Game Master in the system... the devs must have been working very hard on features I didn’t even know existed, Sarah reflected.

“So where can I find this Game Master?”

“Find him?” the faun asked, and recoiled in horror, as if he had seen a ghost. “Are you out of your mind? You don’t want to meet the Game Master. You don’t want him even noticing you. The best you can do is do your quests and level up without ever crossing paths with him. Whoever gets the attention of the Game Master will regret it sooner or later. Well, except a select few.”

Interesting, Sarah thought. She wasn’t afraid for herself, but she shuddered at the thought of what could happen to Mike if she made the GM angry. I’ll have to keep a low profile as I get stronger and more capable, she concluded.

“So,” she asked the faun, “who are these select few you speak of?”

“I-I’ve said too much,” the poor beast replied, and excused himself. “I’ll have to go now. I wish you the best of lucks... and remember: never cross paths with the Game Master.”

Upon saying this, he jumped between some scrubs and disappeared.

Sarah would have been able to track him down easily, of course. But she decided to let him go. The poor thing would likely be unable to tell her anything else of value and would probably die of a heart attack if she kept pressuring him.

She kept walking in the direction of the water. Maybe she’d find some nymphs there, or maybe something dangerous. In any case, she needed to figure out how this scenario was laid out, and in the absence of a map, she’d have to walk and see things for herself.

In a strike of inspiration, she decided to invoke the map once more. Maybe now that she had walked around for a bit, she would have access to some data.

“Map,” she said out loud.

This time, a map appeared before her, traced in soft light against the backdrop of the Enchanted Forest. It was, of course, incomplete, and only included the roughly straight curve she had described in her walk plus several feet to the left and right. There were some interesting markings in the area surrounding her path, just close enough to fall into view: two golden spots, three red dots that looked pretty fearsome, and a white cross at the start of her walk, marking the starting point.

She wondered if that tyrant acting as Game Master already knew about her being in the game. Her identity was not a secret for Alteria: would that mean that the Game Master knew who she was in real life as well?

As she made her way through the forest, paying attention to her surroundings and with a hand always ready to close around the sword’s handle, Sarah wondered how long it would be until she finally found Mike. Would she find him before she had to face the Game Master, or after that?

The breeze gave her no answers this time. It just kept blowing gently, bringing the sounds and smells of life beyond reality, the sounds and smells of a world that breathed magic.