I stumbled out of the hospital with fresh stitching across my stomach and back. It was the cheapest option. Tacked another thirty-three thousand eighty-six dollars on my bill and I was pretty sure the dragon lady used a recycled needle for the stitching. The sun was setting outside casting an evil blue haze over the neon-lit city buildings. The sky darkened to plum with baby blue clouds. The birds on the building edges preened their feathers with their beaks. The storm had passed leaving behind streams of water passing into the gutter. Children played in the water. Several women were gathering the water in jars hastily.

A little man child cowered against a chain-link fence. I crossed the street to the child and squatted in front of him, trying to appear as small as possible. I lifted my helmet off my head and tucked it under my lower arms. He seemed to be about ten or eleven years old. He was a thick boy with uncut unkempt blonde hair. “What’s the matter?” I asked trying to soften my deep voice.

“I hate the dark.” He said wrapping his arms tighter about his knees.

“Why don’t you go home then?” I asked looking around for his mother.

“I hate it there more.” He puffed out his bottom lip.

I felt uncertain at that. What would make a child more afraid to go home than braving the night in the city? I hated even to imagine. “Do you stay out here every night?”

“Sometimes.” He looked up at me. “I had a good spot, but the bigger kids hit me and took it.”

His eyes were black, and he had a cut under his eye. “Want me to walk you back over there and scare them off?” I asked pointing to my helmet.

His eyes widened and he shook his head. I wondered how he could still be afraid with a big Orc at his side. Perhaps I wasn’t asking the right questions. I had to remember this was a game. He wasn’t real. The illusion was just so convincing. I was forgetting where I had come from. I had come to believe I was an Orc. “Want me to get rid of them?”

“Could you do that?” His eyes widened; I was getting somewhere.

“Tell me where they are, and I will be glad to chase them off.” I replied.

“Chase them off.” His voice soured and he planted his head on his knee again with a disappointed look.

“What did you want me to do?”

“Kill them.” He growled and turned his head from me. I caught a glimpse of a tear in his eye before he turned his head.

I was wordless for several minutes. I certainly didn’t want to entertain the idea of stomping kids' heads in the ground as a big angry Orc. Game or no. I had some standards. I had to change the kid’s focus. Perhaps find him a new spot? Surely this wasn’t a quest. “How about you show me where the Kill Shot is, and I will give you some coin for a hotel or something.”

“You rich mister?” He didn’t bother turning his head back to me.

“No, quite the opposite really.”

“Then you are a liar then?” His voice was accusing but lacked certainty. Maybe a flicker of hope in his words.

“I don’t lie. My word, my bond.” I nudged the kid with my hand. “Help me out. I need to find my friends. They are probably worried sick about me.”

He lifted his head and looked me over carefully. “If I lead you to the Kill Shot you will get me a hotel room?” He looked at me skeptically. His brown eyes weighed me with tears still hanging on his cheeks.

“My bond.” I held out my hand for him to shake it. Instead, he used it to pull himself up to his feet and look me in the face. “Better not be lying mister.” He clenched his teeth and balled his fists but his eyes pleaded for me to be telling the truth.

I stood to my feet and looked down at the kid with a smile, “ever met a four-armed, Rage Orc, liar?”

“No.” He wiped his nose with the sleeve of his tattered shirt.

“You never will,” I said. “If you ever do, I will break him over my knee.”

He attempted a smile. “This way,” he pointed.

He led me down the street hiding behind my leg. Guards watched over man-like creatures puking in the street, fighting on the sidewalks, and racing four-wheelers down the street. My eyes hung on a glamoured-up woman with octopus tentacles for hair. She winked at me and licked her black lipstick. A pair of werewolf men body checked me, and I swept the kid further behind me with my hand to keep them from barreling him over.

He clung to the back of my robe and peeked out past my hip. “There it is.”

I followed his finger and saw Elridel and Veagon staggering out of the bar with their arms over the shoulder of the remaining two falconites. Each held a mug of beer cheering and raising their glasses. Thurnar was standing on a burning car peeing into the flames. I could see Agatha and Millie through the glass of the pub beating on a white unicorn with chairs as Verim tried to hold them off.

Up the street, Mia and Goar were dragging Shia toward the Kill Shot each holding her hands. Shia was listening to them frantically explaining something to them with wide eyes. She looked as if she had just opened her eyes.

Mido, Thurnar’s oldest son was standing under a lamp post talking up to a woman with a long, spotted neck, knee-high boots, a shirt tied up to show her stomach, and a short skirt. His brother was tugging his sleeve and pointing over at me.

Mia and Goar noticed me first and released Shia to run over to me. Tootsie appeared at my side covered in sweat. “See if I save your life again.” She grumbled at me.

“You got me in debt,” I said waving her off.

“You promised,” the kid pouted behind me. “I did what you said, you said you could afford it.”

“Not you kid. I’ll get you your hotel.”

“I could have left you there drooling on yourself, crapping and peeing like a toddler. You certainly deserved it.” Tootsie squealed in my ear. “Everything I have done for you, and this is how you repay me.”

“What!” I demanded, “What have you done for me? Get me eaten by a big snake? Get my brains sucked out by some alien creature? Lure me halfway around some psychopath's wet dream creation world? Tell me Tootsie, what have you done for me?”

“I’m not talking to you.” She crossed her arms and turned her wings to me.

Mia ran up to me first. “You’re alive. Did you go down into the pit?” She looked me over spinning me and looking at my injuries. “Who’s the kid?”

“My kid, I moved on when you didn’t come back for me.”

“Shut up.” She punched me in the shoulder. “Why is he clinging to you like you are gonna run away or something?”

“He is scared of the hyper cat lady that is assaulting me right now.” I chuckled. “I need to find him a hotel.”

Goar plowed into me nearly causing me to run the kid over. “Did you kill the demon dog?” He exclaimed. “Rip his jaw off and extricate in his neck?”

A poodle shot past from behind me with eyes popping out of his little head. I watched the little furry white creature sprinting like a Great Dane trying to outrun an angry cheetah. He made a screeching noise with his throat that sounded like a bicycle tire burning rubber. I leaned out to watch the poodle disappear down the street, then Khan shot past after him. A big black happy clifford sized dingo. He didn’t even notice me. Seconds later Shia’s dingo scrambled past after the first two.

“You let him swallow you, didn’t you?” Goar grinned bigger his big horns bobbing as he nodded. “Then you cut your way out of his belly with that blade of yours. Probably cut his tally Wacker off for spite.” His eyes gleamed. I wish I could have been there.

“Want me to tell him that you really just peed on the floor?” Tootsie glared at me.

“Want me to make you a burnt Tootsie roll?” I said through gritted teeth low enough for only her to hear me.

“Are you really gonna buy me a hotel room?” The kid whimpered behind me. He was barely peeking around my leg at the minotaur.

Goar leaned over and tipped his head to look behind me. “You have a child at your hip, Magus.”

“Yeah, he needs a room for a night. I promised him we would put him up.”

“Developing a soft spot?” Vines slid up my neck behind my ear and I turned to see Shia had walked up. Her dark eyes regarded me, and her lips pursed. She let her bark retract to her normal day wear.

“Always had one Shia, I just cover it with bark and bite.” I chomped my tusks at her.

Mia glared at our banter.

“Chief Barker!” Thurnar called from atop the burning car. “Come, have a drink with us.” He pointed at the Kill Shot. He looked where his finger was pointing with a swaying head as the Unicorn came flying out covered in blood. "Party is just startin." He laughed

Agatha stood in the broken doorway wiping blood from her curled horns. Her dress sleeve hung ripped off her shoulder. Millie stood behind her holding back Verim with her hands on his chest. “Let me catch you talking to my man again pixiecorn and I’ll make sure ya bleed glitter and crap rainbows.” Agatha hiccupped and covered her mouth as her eyes caught me.

“Well, the band is back together,” I said. “Now how about we crash a hotel.”

“Want me to show you where it is?” The kid whispered.

“Show me the way kid.” I smiled and then waved for the tribe to follow me.