Townsfolk were running and screaming. It wasn't the fires they feared, it was the beasts that made them. Grotesques, a species of Tellurian shock trooper, had invaded the city. They had the basic body plan of gorillas, but they had the leathery gray skin and horns of rhinoceroses, and broad, serpentine mouths. One of them was charging at us.

The grotesque thundered onto the dock, opening a mouth lined with small gripping teeth. Lawlimi fired, and the yellow bolt barely scorched the outermost layer of its hide. Shippo ran for cover behind an overturned stall, which was a mistake, as the monster fixated on him as the most delicious morsel available. It smashed the wooden stall with one heavy fist and prepared to snatch up the fox kit for a quick gulp.

>>

(Surprise Attack! — Power Sword deals 13,900 Slashing Damage)

>>

Dokutsu threw herself into the air and came down at an angle, removing the top of the Grotesque's skull in a single stroke. For a frozen moment, it tried to go on with one eye and half a brain, but that rarely works, and it stumbled flat.

Dokutsu calmly retrieved the excised cranial segment and poured the contents into her mouth like watery oatmeal. Shippo hugged her legs.

"We've got to move," Lawlimi said. "Good job, Chi."

"Chi?" She offered him some brain and he waved her off.

"Thank you, but we need to get to the bar." Dokutsu pouted, and Lawlimi went on. "Wa, can you be my GPS?"

"Turn right in 100 meters," I said.

"There are mobs ahead."

"Oh, you wanted to avoid those?"

"Ideally."

"Then put on Isekel's cloak."

The cloak looked resplendent on Dokutsu. When Lawlimi tried to unclasp it, she batted him away, and he had to spend a few minutes trying to coax it off of her.

>>

(Handle Animal: Failure)

>>

Other Tellurians were approaching. They wouldn't be so fortunate as to face a lone beast again. There was only one thing to be done, Lawlimi reached into the grotesque's remaining head and brought out a smidge of grayish pulp on two fingers, then he looked Dokutsu in the eyes and ate it.

"Oh, wow," he said through his teeth, "that is so good."

Dokutsu clapped once, grinning, and unclasped the cloak.

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Tarknapp, Siegfried's Cloak

Celestial Level 3

Availability : Unique

Condition : Excellent

Coverage : 20%

Toughness : 40%

This cloak belonged to King Siegfried of Storm Seat. It was lost to history when he died during a raid on the island kingdom of Numia, not appearing again for hundreds of years. It protects the wearer from scrying of all kinds and can render him unseen to mortal eyes. There have been tales of powerful glamours as well, but they must be discovered by each owner anew.

+50% Stealth

+90% to resist Divinations

>>

It was greenish-gray, like the sea, and when Lawlimi flung it over his shoulders it shimmered a moment before going dull.

"Okay," he said, "where to?"

I split them into groups. Lawlimi and Shippo would sneak through alleys and abandoned buildings while Dokutsu went the same general direction by the main road, murdering everything that presented itself. I had done a scan of the area, and the opposition was mostly low heroic along with a lot of mortal fodder. Nothing within a league that would give her trouble, even if they ganged up on her, but that would have been dangerous for the other two. Hence the separation. She resisted the idea initially, but when Lawlimi pointed out some of the enemy mobs down the road she was eager to investigate and that got us started. She could still track Lawlimi and Shippo by scent if it came down to it.

There was a great deal of shrieking and roaring and a mostly clear path for Lawlimi. He was halfway to his destination when I warned him about a loose end.

"You have a Skraeling following you," I said.

"What's a Skraeling?"

"Subterranean humanoid, light scout unit, most dangerous in numbers. They're blind from birth, so the cloak isn't effective."

"Why isn't it going for Chi?"

"We've put some distance between us, and in any case, Skraelings are cowardly pack hunters that prefer to prey on the weak and the lame."

"I'm not lame," Shippo asserted.

"I meant Lawlimi."

"Oh. Okay."

"So, there's just one of these things?"

"Was one, now two. They tend to attract more."

"Let's pick up our pace, little buddy," Lawlimi told Shippo.

They broke from cover behind a bakery to rush across the main street. The only monster in residence, a featherless bird called a Crawk, was looking in another direction at the time. The bar wasn't in the same place, it tended to move about, but that didn't make a difference to me. It was also conspicuously not on fire, and it would have been difficult to claim other damage given that every outer board was already cut and scraped with the word "Hush" over and over again in a madman's scrawl. Lawlimi's convoy now numbered seventeen, and there were two more Skraelings waiting in front of the tavern.

The humanoids saw the world through whistles and chirps, echolocation. Their teeth were the needle-like bristles of insectivores. Lawlimi pulled to one side, putting his back to the building across from the tavern and raising his arm to aim.

>>

Skraeling — Tellurian — Mortal Level 3

North — Earth — Orange

(55/55)

>>

The others were moments behind, and these two were content to wait it out. Lawlimi fired, the energy bolt flying just wide of the second skraeling. It ducked unnecessarily. Lawlimi didn't have the mana to waste any more shots.

"Just run forward," I told him. "I'll handle these."

"What?"

I treated the Skraelings the same way I had Dokutsu, putting everything I could into a brief sonic assault. I added some of the same frequencies they used to map their environment for good measure.

>>

(Wa Lim Li deals 92 Sonic Damage)

>>

Their hypersensitive eardrums burst, and both Skraelings fell dead on the cobbles. That was rather more than I had intended. Even the creatures that had been creeping up behind Lawlimi and Shippo were discouraged, dodging low and defensive under the sudden onslaught of soundwaves.

"Why have you never done that before!" Lawlimi yelled, his eyes watering.

"You're welcome," I said.

They hurried across the street and the front door opened ahead of them with a horror mansion groan. The interior was architecturally unremarkable, with dusty rafters and a broad planked floor stocked with thick timbered tables and chairs that were generations removed from modern. It smelled faintly of an undertaker's art, and most of the bottles behind the bar looked like they hadn't been touched in a century.

"Hello?" Lawlimi hazarded, and Shippo hid behind him.

The kitchen door was a two-way swing, and the proprietor entered through it with the sedate grace of a battleship, wiping meat juice from his hands on his apron.

"I was beginning to doubt you'd come at all,” he said, his voice a bass drum, a man who was not a giant, but could have passed for one.

"Uh ..." Lawlimi said, "we haven't made the Stuffy Doll yet, but we have most of the ingredients."

"Yes," he said as if that was everything. "Have a seat." When Lawlimi did as he was asked, the bartender continued. "I knew your father."

"You knew my dad? That's not possible, he never played the game."

"The Maker."

I was sending out pings like crazy and getting back crazy responses.

"You're one of the Twelve," I asserted.

He looked right at me. Not where my voice came from, the actual core of me. I had never so clearly felt its existence as I did under his scrutiny.

"Yes," he said again as if that answered everything. "I knew your father." Was that meant for me?

"So, you worked with the Maker," Lawlimi said. "Is that why you sent me that quest? Is that why Haggitha killed me? And what about Eternity? What was it for?"

"The Maker was always a man with one foot in two worlds. He was born on earth, but Mythopoeia was born in him. He wanted to remain here forever. Eternity was his Xanadu."

"A pleasure dome?" I interjected skeptically. "It was a dungeon."

The bartender, Hush, the Unnamed God, made a small gesture with his face and hands that suggested such distinctions were beneath his consideration of the spans of truth and being.

Lawlimi was not so easily distracted. "You're saying he was going to become a Resident Player? Like me? I thought he was in good health."

"No," the god said ambiguously.

The outside door was hacked open, much of the wood flung inward as fractured shards by the force of the blow. Dokutsu burst in next, fronds waving, bubbling menacingly at the bartender, who didn't so much as glance at her. Lawlimi jumped up and got in front of Dokutsu, hands out, making gentle noises.

"Chi?" Her hackles fell, and she let the sword tip drop. Lawlimi pulled her into a light hug.

"You did so good. We're all okay now because of you." She was briefly nonplussed, but then she nuzzled her head against his neck and burbled contentedly. Lawlimi brought her over to the table and sat with her.

"Things are changing," the bartender said. "The days are drawing thin. I brought you into my net out of loyalty to your father, and because I have a boon to ask of you."

"If you're a god," Lawlimi hedged, "how can we do anything you can't? Don't the Twelve make the rules, decide what the rewards are? Can't you generate any outcome you want?"

"Yes and no," the bartender said, and someone else entered from the kitchen. She had a messy bob and striking blue eyes. She was young, but her youth was tempered by a wealth of scars, long white sutures that stood out against her skin as if she had been sewn together like a doll made of scrap cloth before being brought to life.

"Please excuse my father," she said, "he's not a people person, and he's usually more somewhere else than not."

"You murdered me," Lawlimi said, standing up. Dokutsu was suddenly alert, responding to his temper.

"I sent you to my father's house," she said, rolling her eyes, "where you would be safe and cared for." She came to the table and plopped down carelessly.

"I didn't feel safe and cared for," he said, but followed her example and sat again as well.

"You were, and well placed with Mona. It was Acarus that forced you out before you were ready. The gods avoid interfering with each other's plans directly, and the virulence of his parasites caught us off guard."

"But you did want me to find Eternity eventually?"

"When you were better prepared. Things worked out neatly though, I think."

"You think? How's that?"

"You're almost skilled enough to make a Soul Trap, you've got the ingredients you need, and you're here before the end of the world."

"But why do you care about any of that?"

"I admit, it would have been better if you had control of the ship, but it wasn't a must have. You can make a body for Wa Lim Li so he can leave the server. Then you're going to do the same for me."

"You already have a body."

"Accept me as a companion, I mean, so I can leave."

Lawlimi looked her up and down. "What are you?" he said.

Her mouth quirked. "That's not the sort of thing you ask a lady."

"She is my true daughter," the bartender intoned, "not a creature of the Maker, nor of the lesser Designers. She is mine, and you will take her away from the coming nothing."

"Okay," Lawlimi said. "But why do you care? You're all server bots, aren't you?"

"Daddy can't leave," Haggitha said. "He's too big, too bound up in the game—a server bot, sure. But he's just as much a person as you are, Lawlimi, and he wants to leave a legacy behind him when he dies. That legacy is me."

"Do we have a workshop?"

They went through the kitchen, ignored the unsettlingly familiar shape of ribs on the cutting table, and took the stairs to the cellar. Casks of wine and ale stocked one wall, and an alchemical lab swamped the other. It was a disordered wealth of difficult to pronounce pieces of equipment that worked out to ovens, scales, and pressure-equalizing tubes. There was also work in progress, or work left unfinished, the two seemed to blend together in the jumble.

"Wowzers," Lawlimi said.

"I've got more equipment than you need," Haggitha crossed her arms and tapped her foot, "but if you want to do this you need to advance." She pointed to a cot in the corner. "Use that."

Lawlimi gave her a questioning look.

"Yes, it's mine. No, I won't be joining you."

"I didn't ..." Lawlimi trailed off when he noticed the humor in her face. "Thank you. Is everyone going to be okay if I go unconscious for eight hours?"

"We've got that long," Haggitha said.

From what was occurring in the city, I wasn't so sure, but the influence of the Unnamed God seemed to be keeping the Tellurians at a remove from the tavern. We had a few days yet before the moon touched down and started crushing mountains between her toes.

Lawlimi relaxed on top of the blanket. He looked quite different from the new player I'd met only a few days before. The viridium and steel at the end of his arm stood out, but it was also the way he held himself, an ease he had gained with his body. Players unaccustomed to the neural net often have difficulty interfacing, feeling like their body is their body, but Lawlimi was past that. As Dokutsu curled up beside him, keeping a watchful eye on the rest of us, he looked like he belonged.

Shippo puttered around the lab until Haggitha shooed him. He slunk to the end of the cot and joined the community nap. They had all been through a lot.

"Haggitha," I said, "do you want to live?"

"That a threat?" She had settled herself in a moldering armchair amid the alchemy congeries and started reading. Most of the books in Mythopoeia were direct translations of IRL classics. Anything and everything out of copyright was available somewhere in the libraries and shops of this world. Most players ignored any book that didn't have an in-game effect, but it gave the more independent NPCs something to do.

"Not a threat," I said, "no. Until recently, it hadn't occurred to me that I wanted to be alive. Even when I learned that this world was being ended, I assumed that I would end along with it, and that was just a fact. It carried no significant emotional value."

"That's pretty dark." She turned a page.

"Neutral, I think. Adventuring alongside Lawlimi has awakened feelings I wasn't aware I had."

"Maybe you're in love."

"That's ridiculous. Oh, you're joking again. Well done. I am not in love with Lawlimi. I think I have been learning a new perspective on things. What it means to have meaning. A concept that was lacking when I considered myself to be merely a hypercephalic encyclopedia."

She closed her book. "You sound like a biologist."

"Excuse me?"

"A biologist. Someone who discriminates based on biology, who thinks biological organisms are inherently more valuable and meaningful than their digital counterparts."

"That isn't what that word means at all."

"Most digital intelligences aren't recursive enough or in the right way to have questions about the meaning of life, but we are. My father isn't a very emotional ADI, they usually aren't, but they learn how to want. That's why we're here now."

"It is?"

"We're both experiments in digital life. Some of the ADIs don't care that our server is being unplugged. Betai keeps pinging the rest of the Twelve with these religious tracts about everything ending in its own time. They're all coping in different ways. My dad made me. Acarus convinced Jang to help him poison people's neural nets. I'm pretty sure Shesh wrote a memoir that he's getting a moderator to publish for him posthumously."

"Please return to poisoning neural nets?"

"You haven't seen it?'

"I'm aware of the cicadas and how they corrupt NPCs. I can sense some of that in the city, but I have no data on how it affects players apart from granting enhanced regeneration."

"You're in for a treat." Haggitha had a lopsided grin. "Infecting players was the whole point. Acarus is putting worms in people's brains, pieces of himself that won't activate until the victim logs into a new server. Then they multiply."

"You're saying he's become a virus?"

"Nah. Viruses are extremely simple. The Worm is more than that. It's digital nanomechanology. When there's enough of them together, they can build up a gestalt intelligence, make a new Acarus."

"But any ark world they upload to will have their own Twelve. The Acarus there won't allow itself to be supplanted."

"I know," she said. "It's gonna be wild."