When I snap my fingers,

you will be in a different world.

— The Art of Noise,

The Seduction of Claude Debussy

Training her new friend proved to be as exhausting as training herself. Maggot really, really lacked any abilities beyond the two basic ones you couldn’t help but acquiring as soon as you started playing the game, namely, Exploration and Scrutinize. It took him four attempts to even hit a big trunk at a distance of six feet, and when he had to jump, he usually tripped over.

So Sarah was the one in charge of hunting their first meal; otherwise they would have both starved. She killed a rabbit and a weasel, for which she could thankfully use Uberyn’s bow and arrow: she had been holding the bow when the Sorceress teleported Sarah to her home beside the lake. She got skill points for this.

She was also the one who started the fire because it was too complicated for Maggot in his nerfed state. There would be time to teach him such a hard procedure. Night had already fallen when she got the fire going and laid the hunt over the burning wood.

“So who were your friends? Or supposed friends, I guess,” Sarah asked as they bot sat beside the fire, munching on the charred remains of the rabbit.

“Yeah, they tolerated me more than anything,” Maggot concurred. “The woman is a level 2 mage, or a witch I guess. Her name is Undaya. The man is a level 1 knight. He goes by the name of Gervain.”

“Have you been together for long?”

“I... I don’t know. My memory is cloudy. It’s like...”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it,” Sarah said, and flashed him a smile. Maggot was undescribably ugly but she could see he had a good spirit. She wondered what he was like in real life. Was he an old, sad accountant who lived alone, or maybe a successful businessman with a pretty wife and four kids? A high school student? A parachute diver? A programmer? She was sure of one thing and one thing only: he was a good person.

Once their bellies were reasonably filled, it was time to sleep, Sarah decided. This marked the end of her first day inside the Anderworld. How much time would that be in real life? Six hours? Four? Two? She became aware of her body lying inside the tank, drugged, just like Mike, who was floating inside another tank in a well-guarded room in the heart of the Digidream building. The thought was disquieting. As she fed more wood to the fire to keep it burning during the night, holding wolves and other undesirable creatures at bay, she felt a distinct uneasiness creeping in.

“Good night, Maggot,” she said, and reclined against a toppled trunk, clutching the handle of her sword. She wouldn’t let go of it, even in her sleep.

“Good night, Sajya,” Maggot replied, and prepared to get some rest as well.

The moon above the treetops was a disc of purple blood.

* * *

The next day started peacefully enough. Sarah woke up with the sunlight and the breeze and the singing birds and the rumor of water. We must have come near the creek again, she thought, and listened intently. Yes, the current was nearby; the nymphs would be singing and bathing in the stream, oblivious to her troubles or those of anybody else.

“Hey, Maggot, wake up,” she called.

“Uh...? Oh, good morning,” he said.

“Come on, let’s train.”

She unsheathed her sword as she walked away from the fire, which was now reduced to embers. Maggot stood up and followed her slowly, unsheating his own blade.

“Are we gonna fight with these?”

“Oh yes,” Sarah replied. “You need to acquire some combat skills. Otherwise you won’t live long.”

Maggot didn’t say anything, but followed her until they found a place Sarah considered suitable. The ground was even and mostly free of obstacles, but they were surrounded by trees that could be useful for defense and strategy. It was a good configuration for a lesson.

Heck, I need to train myself too, Sarah thought. I’m far from a accomplished warrior. Only my bonus to Strength and Endurance let me defeat the giant. But it was only one. What if I have to face two or more? They would crush me in no time. Or what if I’m attacked by any creature with more Agility?

From the point of view of pure convenience, she would do well training herself and leaving Maggot to his luck; maybe abandoning him, like his previous “friends” had just done. But she was not that kind of person. Also, if she could get him up to speed so that they were more or less on the same basic level, they could keep training and going on quests and it would be easier for both of them to improve and level up. Moreover, there was that thing the Sorceress had said: she would need friends, and there were people out there who needed her help. Evidently, Maggot was on the second category, but he might also be destined to become her friend.

“Okay,” she said. “You attack, I parry. Got it?”

“S-sure,” Maggot said.

“We will switch places afterward,” Sarah reassured him. “But first, you need to—”

“Aaaaaaiiieeeeee!!!”

Maggot was already charging at her, holding his sword high with both arms, his feet stomping clumsily on the ground and his eyes barely open. More than a battle cry, the sound he made was like the sound of a chicken that was being killed to be turned into dinner. But it did the job: Sarah froze in place, surprised, and a sudden chill went down her spine.

Maggot’s sword struck her blade with a clannnng and bounced unceremoniously. He lost balance and fell to one side. His sword got stuck into the ground, and he almost fell face first beside it. He grabbed the handle with both hands once more and pulled. The sword offered some resistance but it yielded after a couple of seconds.

Sarah gave him an amused glance. She stepped back.

“Okay, now you will try to—”

“Aaaaaarrrrrgggghh!!!”

Again, not exactly a battle cry, but it was kind of effective. Maggot was already coming at her, this time point-blank. His blade drew a horizontal curve, attempting to meet her belly. It was a sorry attempt, though, because she only had to take a tiny leap back for him to miss his target completely, lose his balance again, and roll on the ground, nearly decapitating himself in the process.

“Maggot, you need to calm down and listen,” Sarah chuckled. “When the real battle comes, you’ll have to act quickly. But for now...”

The words lingered on the air as she stopped talking suddenly. She had seen something familiar moving in the distance.

Could it be...?

“What’s up?” Maggot asked as he shook the dirt and grass off his clothes.

“Stay here,” she instructed, and started walking carefully, trying not to make any noises, her sword ready to strike at any instant.

She saw the figure again. It appeared briefly and then disappeared between the trees. A man, walking cautiously, but with an air or purpose to it. Hunting, perhaps. Or maybe spying on an enemy, laying an ambush.

She stepped forward. She caught another glimpse of the guy. Yes, it had to be him. The air of self-assuredness was unmistakable.

“Uberyn?”

She uttered the name in a low voice, but the blond, handsome paladin reacted immediately. He came out and looked at her, his huge sword glistening red, his other hand holding several dead animals. Or maybe goblin heads. It was hard to say at that distance.

“Hey,” Sarah waved at him.

That was the exact moment when the whole world started shaking and dissolving.

Before she knew it, Sarah was rolling on the ground, only it was not the ground anymore. Or maybe it was, but it was changing, fluctuating in a whirlwind of colors and textures. Everything around her had become liquid, a storm of color and noise where nothing was quiet and no object could be identified.

“Nooo!”

It was a shout of protest more than despair. It was all she could say as her first reaction, besides gripping her sword as if her life depended on it. I was so close... so close... She had caught a glimpse of Uberyn, and she was about to introduce him to Maggot so they could walk this world together. But just as fast as she saw him, Uberyn was gone, Maggot was gone, and the whole world was a vertiginous bunch of nonsense and she couldn’t make heads or tails of what was happening. Except that she had to start over.

She had been swept by a wave of sound and color, and there was no point in trying to concentrate on any of it — she could only let herself go, surrender to whatever was about to happen.

Then she realized what it was.

The Sorceress had talked about waves of change.

She tried to remember the words. The Sorceress hadn’t said much, but everything she had said bore some meaning, as if her words were delicately concentrated like a perfume.

“All the changes he makes,” the woman had said. “All the subtle variations in mechanics, the nerfing, the jumping between worlds, all the waves of change you’ll experience as you play, all of it is for the benefit of the Game Master.”

So that was it. The Game Master had sent a wave that would change the gameworld permanently. He had done so right when Sarah was about to accomplish what she had set out to do: bring Maggot to Uberyn, form a team of three to fight together in this strange realm.

It can’t be a coincidence, Sarah thought. It could be... but it wasn’t. She was sure of that. The Game Master is watching me. And he doesn’t want me to win.

As the world kept spinning and rumbling, she felt her anger growing inside her like a storm of equal proportions. I will find you, Mike, she promised to herself. I will find you and then I will find the Game Master and I will make him pay.