“Extra towels are in the closet,” Trent said grabbing two packets of instant coffee from the cupboard. A quick and precise knock on the door grabbed Trent’s attention as he poured the boiling water. “It’s open,” Trent yelled, grabbing another packet of instant coffee.

Emmy made her way into the room, her shoes clacking against the cheap laminate flooring of the rented apartment. “When are you planning to get some new furniture,” Emmy said, sitting down on the torn linen couch.

“I can barely make rent let alone get new anything,” handing Emmy a cup of coffee. “I was glad to even find this couch, someone discarded it near the dumpster a while back, and I had Break come over to help me carry it up. I sprayed the whole thing down with bug spray, then a quick splash of some detergent, then a light misting of freshener, and it's as good as new, or as new as a discarded sofa can be.”

Emmy hid her discuss as her body attempted to jump off the couch, but thought better of it as Trent took a seat next to her. “You do have sixty-five thousand credits, you could use some of that money for some better furniture, preferably something not sitting next to a dumpster.”

“Well Break and I have been talking about that, we were thinking of pooling our money and renting a better apartment, something closer to the downtown area so we don’t have to travel as far.”

“Wait, your moving,” Emmy exclaimed, the feeling of anxiety flushing over her.

“No, not yet, we were just discussing the idea. I think it would…,” Trent added before being interrupted by the thud of the bathroom door opening.

“You weren't kidding about the door, that things harder to get open than a Vreskan’s lair,” Break said stepping out of the steaming bathroom. Break walked over to the small built-in kitchen and grabbed the cup of coffee sitting on the counter. Taking a sip he notices the flowing black hair drifting down the couch,“ Whoa, give a guy a notice when your here,” Break yelled tightening the towel around his waist.

“Your clothes are done drying, I placed them on the rack.”

“Thanks,” Break said, slapping on his jeans. “It looks like I caught you guys at the wrong time, I’ll come back later,” Break jest, mockingly stepping back into the bathroom. Emmy rolled her eyes so hard it could budge a bolder.

“I was just telling Emmy about us moving to the new apartment downtown.”

“Oh yeah, pretty sweet digs, three rooms, two baths, and a swanky kitchen. What did you decide Emmy?”

“Huh?” Emmy let out in a confused tone.

“I did not get to that part yet,” Trent added. “Break said he wanted for all three of us to move, I actually don’t have too much stuff, so I’m already down with the plan. The only thing left was to see if you wanted to join us, I know it’s a bit of a stretch to live with two guys, and I totally get if you don’t want too…”

“I’m in,” Emmy spurted.

“Ha, you owe me breakfast,” Break said.

“What?” Emmy asked with an unamused face.

“Sorry,” Trent mumbled with a downcast look. “Break made a bet that it would take you less than a minute to decide, I told him I didn’t want to make the bet, but he said it was all in good fun.”

Emmy gave the two of them a hard glare, both of which drown their eyes into their mug of coffee. “Both of you owe me breakfast.” The three-headed down to the main office where Trent and Emmy put in the necessary paperwork to break their lease. Upon receiving the return form, Trent winced at the amount he had to pay in order to break the lease early. “Do you need me to drive you to your apartment?” Emmy asked.

“No need, I canceled my lease over the phone this morning, and I already made plans for them to move all my stuff to the new place. They should be packing your apartment in about an hour.”

“How much was it?” Trent said jokingly.

“A bit over two thousand credit.”

“Two thousand credits,” Trent exclaimed. “You could have rented a moving a moving van at a tenth of the cost.”

“Yeah, but does the moving van come with people that pack all your stuff then unpacks it at the new place?”

“No, but you could have just done that yourself.”

“But that would mean we would lose a day of gaming.”

“Yeah… I guess, at least let me pay a portion.”

“Nope, you're already paying for breakfast, and trust me, I getting a huge plate of bacon.”

“Where exactly is the apartment? I want to see the new place before we head back into the game,” Emmy said, starting up the car.

“It’s two blocks from the office, I’ll give you direction once we finish breakfast.”

Emmy drove up a large incline and pulled into a parking garage of a large skyscraper building. Taking the elevator down, the three gawked at the pristine marble floor of the lobby. “How much did you say this was?” Emmy whispered over to Break.

“Don’t worry it’s only about five hundred more than what you're paying right now, and besides you get the master bedroom which includes a private bath.” Break scooted over to the reception desk and unnecessarily wrang the small bell sitting over the counter.

“May I help you?” A lady in a coat jacket asked.

“Yes, we’re the new tenants, here to sign for room 414.”

Looking through the stacks of paperwork the lady pulled out a manila folder with a sticky note plastered in front reading 414. Here we are, a six-month lease for three people. Can I get you guys to sign a few documents real quick, I need to start the background check before we release the keys.”

“Sure thing,” Break said, calling over to Trent and Emmy.

“What are we doing?” Emmy asked walking over to the desk.

“They want to run a background check then we should be good to go.”

“Wait, you never told me there was going to be a background check.”

Break eyebrows rose, “It’s standard for all apartments, how did you get into your apartment without one?”

“I had a friend sign the lease,” Emmy whispered over to Break.

“Are you telling me your some kind of murderer?” Break asked, still a bit confused.

“No, nothing like that,” Emmy said, her voice getting a bit agitated over the conversation.

“Then it’s not a problem right?”

“Guys, what's the hold up?” Trent asked.

“Nothing,” Emmy replied, quickly signing the document.

“Alright Mr. Ward, Mr. Hauf, and Ms. Keeku,” the lady said, reading the name off the paperwork. “I need some ID and we should be ready to go.” The three handed her their driver license and sat on the couch lining the back wall of the lobby. “This will only take a few minutes,” the lady said walking down a small corridor.

“What’s going on?” Trent asked Break as he looked over at Emmy, her face resting between her palm.

“I’m not sure, maybe you should go ask.”

“Maybe not the best idea right now.”

“Dude just go,” nudging Trent on the shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Trent said, scooting next to Emmy.

“Huh...” Emmy said, looking up towards Trent.

“I asked if there was something wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I just a bit tired from the drive,” Emmy said grabbing a face wipe from her purse. “I’ll feet a lot better once we get logged into the game.”

“Alright sounds good, if anything does come up just let either of us know,” Trent said with a warm smile. Emmy looked at him gratefully and gave him a light hug.

The woman came springing back, a line of bellboy following her, “I am so sorry Ms. Keeku, I was not made aware a diadem tier member was visiting today,” the lady let out in a raspy voice. “I am so sorry, it took so long to process your IDs.”

Trent looked down at his band, “It’s only been ten minutes.”

“I know,” the woman let out. “I made you wait for much longer than was needed.” A man in a suit walked out from the back, the stride of his steps gave him an air of importance.

“Hello Ms. Keeku, my name is Rodger, I am the manager here,” the man said clasping Emmy’s hand. “I see here that you were planning an extended stay in one of our basic rooms, we have of course upgraded you to the penthouse, free of charge, do you have any luggage that needs to be delivered?”

Emmy took a few steps back before making a full sprint to the elevator. “Wait,” Trent yelled, rushing after her.

The woman stood in a puddle of sweat, her eyes scanning the room. “It’s not your fault, I forgot to mention that Ms. Keeku is deathly shy, I think it was all the bellboys,” Break said.

“I’m so sorry,” Rodger said with a mortified look. “If there is anything we can do to make this right...”

“Yeah, our stuff is being delivered to room 414, could you reroute the movers to the penthouse,” Break said as he jogged out of the building.

Running out of the elevator Break looked at the cloudy noon sky, the patterning of gentle rain misting the floor. Husting down the interconnected street he noticed Emmy, one foot shoeless as she rode on Trent’s back.

“She fell,” Trent replied.

“I told him it was fine, I just sprain my ankle a bit,” Emmy said.

“Well, in any case, we're heading back to the hotel.”

“No, we’re going to the office,” Emmy rebut. “If you're not taking me to the office, put me down right here and I’ll walk there myself.”

Trent looked Break in the eye, the conveyance of “help me out” shot out like a bullet.

“Trent right, we need to get that ankle looked at.”

“Well I’m sure the office has doctors,” Emmy said, grabbing tightly onto her shoe.

“She does have a point,” Break shrugged. “So… are you going to tell us what all that was about back there?”

“It’s a family affair,” Emmy let out. “Look… this topic is something I really don’t want to talk about, so let’s just leave it at that. Also, we’re not keeping the penthouse.”

“What?” Break huffed. “Why not, they are practically giving it to us.”

“No, they are giving it to me, and only because of my family’s influence, anything that reminds me of that puts a bad taste in my mouth.”

“How about we keep until the end of the month?” Break said glaring the same look back at Trent.

“Umm, I’ve never been in a penthouse before.”

“Seriously, that was the best you could do?”

Emmy let out a small chuckle as they strode across the overpass. “Alright, until the end of the month, but make sure all out stuff is delivered to our regular room, I don’t want to be moving stuff from one room to another.”

“I’ll be right back,” Break said, his long strides splashing against the wet pavement.

Coming up to the long entrance way of the Pendragon office, Trent placed his band across the scanner and made his way to the front desk. “Is Diya here?”

“One moment,” the receptionist said pressing a few buttons on the table. “Please have a seat, she will be here in a few minutes.” Diya strode out from the back of the office, a datapad pressed against her side.

“Having a problem with the game?”

“No, Emmy sprained her ankle and we wanted to know if you had anyone that could take a look.”

“Easy fix, follow me, I’ll take you to the infirmary, Its open to the staff including all the beta testers. So how is the game treating you guys?”

“Not bad,” Trent replied giving Emmy a lift.

“From one to ten, one being unusable, and ten being a necessity, how would you rate the new magic system?”

“I haven't tried it yet, Emmy is the only one in our group that currently has magic.”

“I used it a bit before we logged out, so I don't have a good basis on the new system yet. I do like that you added healing magic into other base magic, makes it a lot easier to support without having a dedicated healer.”

“Great,” Diya said, making a few marks on her datapad.

Emmy hobbled out of the infirmary, the ankle of her foot wrapped in a set of bandages. “ I’m fine, the doctor said it was a light sprain.”

“We ready to game?” Break said leaning next to the infirmary door.

“Trent’s being a worry wart, let’s log in.” Walking up to the testing room, the three notice a group of players each one dressed in a casual, but matching, purple t-shirt with a logo of a bull clad in tank gear.

“Whoa, you guys the Texas Tanks,” Trent gushed, pulling up to the group.

“I thought fans were not allowed in here?” a woman with bright green hair said.

“No, no, we’re beta testers.”

“Oh, that’s cool, the last group we met looked like they had a rod shoved up their mana reservoir,” another man said, this one holding a datapad. ” My name is Jackson, or as most people call me EnGrain, I’m the team manager for the Texas Tanks, and we’re also here for the beta.”

“I’m Trent, these are my friends Emmy and Break. I have always been a big fan of yours, You guys made it to the semi four years back. Too bad Moxim had to retire, he was a legend, I remember when wiped an entire team by turning himself into a human projectile.”

“Ha, I told you, you still had fans,” the female said.

Walking out of the back, a man with an overly large cowboy hat extended a hand to Trent. “Good meeting.”

“Guy, it’s him, it’s really him,” Trent exclaimed. ”I thought you were retired?”

“I am, I don't play professionally anymore, but the team still keep me on as an analyst, and when they offered me a chance to join the beta, no way am I turning down such a huge opportunity.”

“Sorry to cut the conversation short, but we need to get going,” Jackson said, pointing to his datapad.

“We need to get going too, but it was good meeting you” Break said.

Materializing into the game, Trent peaked out of the caravan, to his surprise the view of the flowing grassy plain has been replaced a blindingly white canvas. A burst of wind carried into the cart, the freezing chill caused Trent to quickly close the flap.

“Where the hell are we, and why is it so fucking cold?” Emmy shouted out of her clacking teeth.

“Not sure, but I can ask,” Trent replied.

Reopening the flap, Trent yelled at the blank white covering his vision. “You're never going to reach anyone, the wind is too loud,” Break said, opening up a blank UI screen.

“What’s that?” Trent asked.

“It’s a map I started when we first spawned, from our last known location, it looks like we traveled directly north for quite a while.”

“Oh. My. God. Shut the door, I’m freezing.” Emmy yelled, curled up in a corner of the cart.

“Oops, my bad,” Trent said. “Break you got a blanket or anything?”

“Ha, if I had one, I would have already been using it.”

“Ok, well I guess I’ll go talk to Krane,” Trent said jumping out of the cart. “Fuuuuck,” Trent yelled, his voice fading into the wind.

Dashing from the corner, Emmy scanned the bleak white for any signs of Trent. “Trent where are you? Can you hear me?” Break’s head poked out of the narrow slit above Emmy as he began to yell out to Trent.

“Down here,” Trent yelled, his voice muffled by the buffing wind.

“Hold on,” Emmy shouted, scanning the cart for any usable items.

“Here,” Break said, throwing her the end of a rope while tieing the other end to himself. Lowering the rope towards Trent, the two began to slowly pull him back up. Jumping into the cart, Trent huddled into the fetal position, the tips of his fingers turning a pale blue.

“What are you guy doing? You’r scaring my striders” a sharp voice said.

“Wait, Krane is that you?” Break hollard.

“Take it down a notch, I can hear you just fine, just speak into the inlaid orb on the roof of the cart.”

“Okay, so Trent was trying to talk to you so he attempted to walk towards the lead caravan, now he’s half frozen on the floor.”

“What kind of idiot are you? Did you at least turn on the flame ward.”

“The what?”

“Do you see the talisman with the weird symbols on it and a picture of a flame at the bottom?”

“Yeah.”

“Lay your hand over it.” Break crawled up to the talisman that was stickered onto the front side of the cart. Placing his hand over the white paper a prompt popped up.

System: Activate Fire Talisman (Y/N)

Choosing yes, the talisman began to radiate heat which quickly filled the cart with warmth. “Uhhhh,” Trent let out as he rolled towards the talisman.

“Next time you guy want to kill yourself, don’t spook my striders,” Krane said.

“What do you mean kill ourself,” Break huffed.

“Well if you’r going to jump off a cart that’s thirty thousand feet above ground, my only guess is that you want to kill yourself.”

“What,” the three let out in unison.