[ZERO SPACE]

CREATE YOUR CHARACTER Name --- Race --- Appearance Details ---

A completely new character? It made sense - Jay was travelling to a new server and Shae wouldn’t transfer.

Jay hadn’t seen this menu in ages. It felt wrong abandoning Shae, but being someone else was an enticing proposition. Shae had some character flaws, as anyone who knew him could attest.

This was Jay’s chance to start over. To go in an entirely new direction - maybe even a non-humanoid direction. He could be a modern race, like a Dragonoid. Or an overpowered one, like an armoroid. A strength-based character like a triangloid could be a fun change of pace too. As long as it wasn’t a magicoid - they were both small and annoying.

A pteranoid however - there was an idea. They could fly and their fur was fun to touch. Or at least it was fun touching someone else’s fur. Jay couldn’t imagine he’d like being touched by other players.

Except for Asira. It was nice when she touched him -- Jay would have smacked that thought from his head, except his arms were gone. He had no current form; he was just a spectral observer, using his thoughts to navigate a floating interface.

Jay finally decided on a pteranoid. It wasn’t just because Asira was on his mind; flight was too good to pass up. That would give him an advantage over all non-fliers, which was pretty much all non-pteranoids.

He named the pteranoid ‘Lair’, in honor of Anton’s favorite comic hero. Four thousand, two hundred and seventeen other people apparently had the same idea. Jay should have figured - Captain Lair was a popular character. He would have to settle for Lair4218; his friends could just call him ‘Lair’.

It was time to craft Lair’s appearance:

APPEARANCE EDITOR Eyes Red Fur Color Light Purple Height 6'1

Jay had to get this just right. After all, he would be stuck in this body for a while.

He gave Lair a thin snout, long stylish wings, and a corkscrew horn on his forehead. The horn made him look like a unicorn, but Jay didn’t see that as a negative.

And with that, Lair was done:

CREATE YOUR CHARACTER Name Lair4218 Race Pteranoid Appearance Details - Finalized -

Jay confirmed it.

In an instant, Jay was born again. But it wasn’t in Shae’s body. He flapped his wings once to make sure. A light layer of fuzz tickled his limbs. He poked the top of his horn - it poked him right back.

Jay was now Lair!

Also, Lair was falling. Fuzzy lips flapped against his face. Fur ripped free, pinching his flesh. Centrifugal force bound him to the ceiling.

Wait, there was a ceiling? What was this place? All he could tell is that it was a dark claustrophobic room. And it was plummeting. A voice he didn’t recognize let out a shrill airy scream: this was Lair’s voice of course - that would take some getting used to.

THUD

Lair spilled out across a field of grass, miraculously unharmed. He yanked his snout out of the soil, glancing back at a small metal escape pod. This thing looked straight out of one of Anton’s sci-fi comics. It was taller than it was wide, and had three lights at the top of it, arranged in a triangle pattern.

Lair rose, attempting to dust himself off. Each swipe of his hand scattered dirt across his fur. How did Asira manage to keep herself clean? Pteranoid upkeep seemed like a full-time job.

He was stripped to his underwear - a pair of red briefs. Fortunately, no other players were around to judge. Fancy new clothes were his top priority, though dressing a pteranoid would be an interesting challenge. It wasn’t clear how to make a pteranoid look good; Asira’s orange attire set a low bar.

The unicorn horn was already getting on his nerves. It lingered between his eyes, obscuring a small but infuriating portion of sight. He wanted to slice it off, but he’d need a weapon for that - that was priority number two. Lair would pick a better weapon than Shae’s; preferably something big and sharp.

Dark storm clouds rolled through the sky above. A fierce wind blew stalks of paper-thin mushrooms over a cliff’s edge.

He was on an island - a floating island. Lightning streaked through the surrounding sky. Tornado funnels weaved through clouds. Arrows of sharp rain volleyed through shimmering mist.

A trail of floating islands forged a path through the storm, each separated by a significant distance. Lair had wings, but he wasn’t certain he wanted to use them. Especially with weather like that. Returning to the Haven empty-handed however wasn’t an option; he had to find that Exotic.

He stepped to the island’s edge, looking down into an ocean of furious clouds. Nope nope nope - that wasn’t happening. He fell back on his fuzzy butt, curled into a trembling ball for several minutes.

It was time for a new plan, one that didn’t involve him looking over the edge. If he jumped, his wings would catch him. That’s what wings did, right? He just had to believe in himself.

“Five… four… three…”

Lair peeked over the edge again - nope, false start. This time, he closed his eyes:

“Five… four… three… two… one…”

Lair departed the island with a running leap.

Instant regret. He was falling again, except this time, there was no protective pod around him. This fall wouldn’t end with a thud; it would end with a splat.

His wings refused to flap. Or at least not hard enough to keep him suspended in mid-air. How did Asira do this? Pteranoid wings were flat and lacking joints. Even a few flaps was a workout. He could barely recall Asira flapping --

Wait…

That’s right - she didn’t flap.

Asira glided.

Lair straightened his wings, letting the wind take hold. They caught the air, propelling him forward in a controlled dive. He was really doing this! He laughed, drifting back and forth between the clouds. This was really happening - he was king of the sky! It didn’t matter if the ground was absent; the less ground the better!

A sudden gust of wind rolled Lair sideways. Another one sent him into a spiral. Abrasive squalls battered him from all sides, like an airborne leaf blown by a hundred invisible faces.

Lair wasn’t just losing control of his wings, he was about to lose his lunch. His pteranoid brain bounced in his skull, granting him a splitting migraine. If only he could take off his headset right now; gain instant relief from this misery. But no, Lair had a mission to finish. He had to stay in control!

Lair veered to one side, crash-landing on another floating island. The impact tore off a bloody streak of fur. That hurt like hell; yet another pteranoid disadvantage. After this, Lair vowed to shave himself clean.

This new island was even smaller than the last one. And it was much further down. Gliding upwards was impossible. And there wasn’t much down left, aside from a stormy sea of clouds.

Maybe Lair could breach those storm clouds and reach whatever waited beneath them. He gazed into the storm, searching for an opening.

The clouds opened, revealing a brief window into the world below --

There was no world below. Instead, there was an infinite void of gnashing black mouths and glowing red eyes - an army of dark venus fly traps, hungry for table scraps. The clouds closed again, leaving the rest to Lair’s morbid imagination.

Lair’s fear of heights renewed, heightened by a new fear of -- whatever that was. The only thing worse than falling, was falling into a field of hungry monster mouths. No way up, and no way down - there was no way out.

Lair was trapped on this stupid island. On this stupid server. In this stupid pteranoid body.

He folded himself into a fuzzy ball. It was all over.

Lair had failed.

[THE HAVEN]

Sleep didn’t come easy for Jay that night; he wasn’t positive he slept at all. Time had passed, but it was time spent with his mind, and his mind was bad company. It told him he was a failure. Said he was doomed. It even mentioned that Anton was likely dead; a real low blow. Each attempt to push those thoughts away made them stronger.

Static rain beat on his window - its rhythm peaked his anxiety. It was always out there, taunting him. Trapping him in this hopeless situation. Last time it took his leg. The next time, it might demand more.

And then there was Esara - she had crawled into Jay’s bed at night, curling around his back, just like the two of them had been in Zero Space. She didn’t ask permission. Then again, Jay was glad she didn’t wake him - it had been a long day, and it was turning into a long night.

He scanned his room for signs of the bandaged man. For once, he was grateful to have a smaller unit; that meant less hiding places. Every shadow looked like a human silhouette - watching. Waiting in the darkness.

Jay tried to focus on the one good thing he had: Esara, wrapped around him. She smelled bad, but so did he, and she wasn’t complaining. Both of them needed to shower more often. Maybe together -- Jay smacked that thought out of his head - softly, so as not to wake her.

He wiggled into her arms. His own breathing was erratic, so he instead focused on hers. She exhaled steady and carefree, unaware of what fresh hell awaited them tomorrow.

There was nothing Jay could do about it tonight. He synchronized with Esara’s breaths until sleep finally took hold.

***

“Jay,” whispered Esara.

Jay wasn’t ready to wake up. He scooted his body back towards her, but she was no longer there.

“Jay,” Esara whispered again, jostling his shoulder.

He swatted at her hands. Just a few more minutes --

“JAY!” Esara yelled.

Jay leaned up.

Esara sat at the edge of his bed, staring straight ahead at the bandaged man. He sat cross-legged in a puddle of water.

“Jay,” said Esara. “Why is he here?”

Jay stood up.

“It’s been three days,” said the bandaged man. “Danny needs that Exotic. Now.”

“Please tell me you didn’t make another deal with Danny,” said Esara.

Jay neither confirmed nor denied it. Esara punched him in the arm.

“Why would you do that?” yelled Esara. “Do you know how dangerous he is?”

“Give me the exotic,” said the bandaged man.

“Yeah, I know,” said Jay. “It’s on my computer. I’ll get it.”

This was a bluff of course. The bandaged man watched his every move. This was bad. Jay had to think of something fast.

“It’s too bad you have it,” said the bandaged man. “I was looking forward to killing you.”

Jay stalled for time, searching through his computer desk.

“Danny says if you don’t have it, I’m allowed to kill the girl too.”

Jay froze.

“Jay,” whimpered Esara. “Hurry. Please.”

Jay reached into a shelf below his computer, taking hold of Shae’s pistols.

“Take your time,” said the bandaged man. “I need an excuse to kill you.”

Jay gripped both pistols. It didn’t matter how strong the bandaged man was - a single Piercing Shot would resolve this. But Danny was well connected and likely had more than one minion; Jay was certain the next one wouldn’t wait for him to wake up.

No, Jay had to find another way out of this. He tucked both pistols beneath his pants.

“I don’t have the exotic,” said Jay.

Jay stepped towards the bandaged man.

“Take me to Danny,” said Jay. “I have something better.”