CHAPTER ONE

The Hardest Part of the Game

Guh. Why does everything hurt?

Was Rinden’s initial thought as he stumbled back into the realms of consciousness. Although he was no stranger to bed sores, this was a whole other beast. His muscles ached, his joints creaked and every other part of his body appeared to be screaming out in agony.

When one has to deal with such soreness, there was only one natural course of action. Closing his eyes, Rinden let out a sigh as he simply willed himself back into the sweet abyss.

Oh fuck yes…

It was truly a marvel. There was nothing extraordinarily special about his duvet and comforters, but right now, the ephemeral softness might as well be cloud nine for his body. His eyelids fluttered in bliss as the numbness of sleep started to crowd out his thoughts… Well, it was supposed to, but a harmonious and gentle voice ripped apart that sanctuary and sent a mental stab jabbing straight into his brain.

“Rinden? Rinden!”

The soft cries ripped apart his peace of mind like a jagged blade, completely unsympathetic to the pleasure that it was wresting away. The volume of the voice indicated that the speaker was at a distance, but the soft beat of steady footsteps heralded the death of his slumber.

Rinden whimpers. Unwilling, but unable to muster the effort to resist even as his duvet was forcefully torn from his body. As the icy sting of the morning air splashed against his body, what could he do but cry out in resentment?

Ok. He might just be exaggerating.

Still… despite such conditions, Rinden still refused to stir. Whatever the case, he was in no mood to deal with it now. Girding his loins, he burrowed himself even deeper into the mattress, bracing himself for the tribulation that was sure to come. Now, all that was left, was to wait.

And wait he did.

He waited.

And waited some more.

However, the follow up never came?

…

Did she leave?

No. There was no sound of her leaving. She was definitely still in the room, but why didn’t she say anything yet? After living with Perri for so many years, he could instinctually tell that this was a trap.

He knew that the moment he opened his eyes, her face would be staring back. And with a precocious sly grin on her face, she would then ‘capture’ him waking up, before cruelly forcing him off the bed.

Heh. But I wasn’t born yesterday.

He could just imagine Perri angrily (but silently) stomping her feet in irritation. Her bobcut bouncing angrily as she slowly comes to the realization that her meticulously crafted plans were all for naught.

Of course, reality cared not for Rinden’s delusions as the shrill whine of his sister’s voice blasted into his ears.

“WAKE UP ALREADY!”

Recoiling from the sound, Rinden clutched his head in pain, even as his sister included.

“I can’t believe you! You promised to play with me today.

Oh right. That.

“Wh-Wha? I thought the game didn’t launch until tommorow?”

Groggily pulling himself upright, Rinden rubbed away the crust of sleep that had formed over his eyelids. Even as he blinked away the sleep, he was surprised to find the room a pitch black, save for a translucent pair of eyes that twinkled in the darkness.

Dear god. What time was it? He fumbled around for his phone, but froze at his sister’s next words.

“That’s right! But the character creator will be released in twenty minutes. We can get a head start and build ours before everyone else!”

“Good night Perri.” Rinden yawned before collapsing back onto his squashed pillow.

“What? Hey, Wait. Wait! You promised we would play together! What happened to our dreams of becoming internet famous?”

“Your dream. Not mine.”

It was unfortunate that the room was dark, else Rinden would’ve had the satisfaction of seeing Perri’s completely crestfallen face.

Not that he could blame her for being overly enthusiastic. After being crushed under the high expectations of their parents, Perri had finally attained her freedom when she came to leech off of him after graduating university.

Such was all well and good, but if one were to throw a tiger raised in captivity into the wild, it would likely die of starvation. For a repressed girl like Perri to suddenly have complete freedom, it came as absolutely no surprise that she would quickly overdo it.

Thus, after a series of complete trainwrecks, Rinden had taken up the role of her de facto guardian. Though, such a choice was not taken willingly.

Suffice to say, living with Perri had effectively squashed any desire of his to become a father in the future.

With a low groan, he weakly tried to pull away from the bratty, tiny girl who was shaking him back and forth. Hell, the sun wasn’t even up, yet this deranged woman-child wanted him to get up and make a game character?

“Just make the characters yourself! What do you need me for?” Rinden complained.

“But then I’d be all alone! I’d be lonely. Do you want me to feel lonely?” Perri insisted, kneading the area under Rinden’s shoulder blades.

There was a loud snort. Rinden had long become immune to her bratty behavior. Even if she were to continue for another hour, he would not be moved in the slightest.

“Hey…get up. Please?”

“…”

There was a loud snap.

“Oh? Whats this? A delicious beef stick? Just get up, and I’ll give you half.”

Rinden let out a loud yawn. What. Was she treating him like a dog now?

“Who’s a good boi! C’mon. Roll over. Roll over for a snack!”

…

There was a sniffle.

“Alright fine. I’m up! I’m up!”

Rinden groaned as he pulled himself upright. Even through the darkness, he could still make out his sister’s face, curving up into a victorious grin.

“See! You’re up now! Was that so hard?” Perri cackled noisily while chewing on something. As she quickly gave him a hug, the savoury scent of spiced beef flowed into his nostrils.

“Wait. I thought that was for me?”

“Sorry, but snacks are only for good boys. But hey! Don’t get too mad, I’ve already made breakfast.” As if ducking out from the fall out, Perri immediately fled out the bedroom door, giggling all the while.

In the entire time, Rinden didn’t even have time to make a witty retort. As such, he could only laugh bitterly to himself in defeat. Despite his aches and pains, now that he had committed to being awake, any rest he would get now would be tenuous at best.

Thus, with the raging speed of an ancient behemoth, he pulled himself off the bed, feeling his rusty joints groan in protest. Navigating through the darkness, Rinden took the barest amount of time to collect a change of clothes before blindly staggering towards the bathroom.

Only the insane can enjoy cold showers.

Rinden groaned as the first stream of hot water blasted against his body. The soreness and muddle headed fatigue was instantly washed away with the clear spray of the thousands of high pressured droplets.

The water tickled even as he gargled in satisfaction.

Actually, now that the hot pressurized water had blasted some semblance of sensation back into his body, he quickly realized off.

His body hurt. Like a lot.

Concerned, he stepped out from the shower and appraised his glorious nude self before a sheet of silvered glass.

“The fuck?”

What should have been normal tan flesh had been mottled by a cluster of red marks. Though they werent too noticeable, such bruises would naturally darken into an ugly eggplant color after a while.

His lips trembled, as if unsure whether to laugh or to cry. There could only be one culprit. He pressed a thumb against a patch that was substantially more discolored than the rest and winced as a the entire region throbbed in protest.

“PERRIIIIII!”

The little sister didn’t even have time to react before Rinden had stormed into the kitchen, his demeanor somehow still intimidating even while clutching at a towel around his waist.

Perri froze, like a deer caught in the headlights, with a jug of milk balanced precariously over a bowl of corn flakes.

“I didn’t do it!” Perri yelped, shielding herself behind a box of cereal. Of course, this was a natural response. No matter what it was, even if it was her fault, so long as she played dumb, there was always a chance that Rinden would let the matter drop.

Rinden stared at the trembling figure that had crept behind the box, half wanting to vent and half wanting to laugh at the ridiculous of it all.

“Uhuh. Just tell me what happened.”

Their past exchanges were usually like this. So long as Perri admitted to her crimes, she would be forgiven. Such is the providence of all little sisters of the world, or so she claimed anyways.

The upper part of her head peered up from behind the cereal box; her eyes were filled with suspicion.

“Ok fine, but promise you won’t get mad?” Perri whispered.

“I’m already mad.” Rinden snorted, but the tension was swiftly dissipating.

“I dropped you down the stairs.”

“See, that wasn’t so—What?!!” Rinden goggled. Welp, so much for forgiveness.

“I dropped you down the stairs.” Perri repeated.

As a calm silence swept over Rinden, an instinctual fear crept into Perri’s heart. Such a silence was akin to the calm before the storm. And rather than watch Rinden freak out, Perri quickly began her explanation, her mouth, a verbal geyser as it couldn’t spew out words fast enough.

“Its honestly not my fault! Remember last night? When you got wasted and had me come pick you up? Yeah. That’s right.”

“Well, a certain somebody passed out in the car, and suddenly left me all alone to lug his fat corpse back into the house. I mean, just look at my tiny arms okay? After dropping you the first couple of times, I had to use a rope to…agh! Ow! Ow! Stahp!”

Perri screamed as Rinden’s fingers dug painfully into her gut.

As she nursed the swelling welts that were forming on her squishy obliques, she glared viciously at the culprit who didn’t even let her finish her explanation.

Said culprit also had the gall to nonchalantly ignore her and begin eating cereal. Although she was tempted to retaliate with a pinch of her own, the stoic calm in Rinden’s eyes had her cowed.

“Y…You bully!”

Perri hissed as she pulled the milk jug away from Rinden’s reaching grasp. She was not the type to let any slight go unpunished. Just her offering to make him breakfast should have had him crying tears of gratitude. How many other people could boast to enjoy such a privilege? Yet he…he…

“You’re going to pay for that! You want milk? Well not on your life!”

Perri roared, but flinched back as Rinden said some icy words.

“You can either give it to me, or I won’t order takeout later.”

“Hyuu…”

Perri sniffed and surrendered the jug. Her skin flushed as she couldn’t help but curse her own helplessness. Were it not for her dependency on Rinden’s credit card, she would definitely not be pushed around like this.

She pouted and took up the seat across from him. At present she could only endure, but make no mistake! She would nurse this grudge, and in time, she would pay him back in full.

Satisfied with her own resolve, she settled down and crunched down on her own corn flakes.

“Bland…” Perri grimaced as she pushed the bowl away.

With a casual snort, Rinden pulled the bowl over and dumped the contents into his own.

“Ehehe. You’re the best.”

“Uhuh. Waste food again, and I’m washing your stuffed dog.”

“Now Now. Let’s not be hasty here. You know Biggles is off limits.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You’d think repeatedly dropping your brother down a flight of 3 stairs would be taboo as well, but here we are!” Rinden growled, as he crunched away.

Chuckling awkwardly, Perri decided that it was probably best to change the topic. “Ahaha. Don’t be like that. I had the best of intentions.”

“As do I. When was the last time you even washed the damn thing. It smells disgusting!”

“You don’t need to know!” Perri pouted. “Anyways, finish your breakfast already, its almost time to start.”

As she finished speaking, Perri’s demeanor changed entirely. Her eyes sharpened and grew more focused as if in anticipation for the trials to come.

“…Can I put on some pants first?”

After a healthy dose of shenanigans in the morning, the siblings finally found themselves seated in front of a pair of desktop computers. Armed with cushy leather back chairs, some energy drinks and a new pair of pants, it would be here where they would prepare their avatars to embark on the adventure that was Lucid Adventure Online.

‘Lucid Adventure’

From the name alone, anyone could tell that it catered to the virtual reality fanbase. That said, it was not the first of its kind, and definitely wouldn’t be the last. However, just the game name alone had generated enough hype to become the most discussed topic in the recent months. Just the subscription alone was ranked first on the wishlist of countless gaming nerds.

But why is that, you may ask?

It was quite simple. The NPCs were real.

Such artificial intelligence were unveiled at the last post beta conference. Not only were the programs made to be indistinguishable from the average person, but each one would naturally develop quirks and flaws which would make it seem all the more human. Such a feature was vital to an immersive gameplay experience and had roleplayers coming out of the woodwork. In addition to that, the developers also enjoyed massive success on their previous releases, so consumer expectation for the product was already high.

As such, many were prematurely heralding Lucid Adventure as the game that will own the generation. With so much exposure even before release, it came as no surprise that the game would enter the crosshairs of opportunists.

In the history of gaming, there were three main ways to become famous. The first was to already hold some modicum of fame and have a loyal group to increase exposure and gradually expand the fanbase. The second was to be beyond peer, drawing interest from ardent admirers. As for the last? Why, that is to be a pioneer. To be one of the first to play a new title and to ride the wave of countless players charging forward to new frontiers. It is only with new discoveries that the average Joe can garner interest from others, and such was the goal of the Storm siblings.

As a certain bratty younger sister once said,

“Who needs a real job? Just marry rich or get net famous!”

With such a creed in mind, Perri had successfully pulled her brother into aiding her with her career choices.

Although his thoughts on the matter were quite the opposite.

‘Dear god, can’t some nice rich dude come take my sister away?’

As the creation builder was loaded up, the screen faded to black before the opening scene played in front of them.

As the steady strum of a sitar flowed out of the monitor, the darkness lifted and unveiled a rough beaten down trail surrounded by lush green forests and sprawling mountain ranges. As the camera steadily followed the path, the pace seemed to quicken and the trail blurred.

To the side, dozens of new and fantastical beasts were unveiled before them, but they had not the time to get more than the barest of glimpses before being thrust into a dark cave. Immediately, the world grew dark and time seemed to slow. The score transitioned into an eerie whine, and although the image wasn’t particularly frightening, the secrecy and unknown derived from staring into the darkness was enough to cause palpitations in their hearts.

The screen bobbed up and down, and a faint hand appeared in front of the camera. With a clumsy snap, a gentle flame appeared atop the person’s fingers, which illuminated the cave. At that point, the Storm siblings realized this wasn’t a trailer, but actual gameplay from a player’s perspective?

Regardless, their eyes were glued to the screens even as the music grew progressively more solemn. The single flame flickered weakly, seeming as fragile as a bauble. From the constant panning shots, the nervousness of the man became apparent.

But from what?

The answer quickly became apparent as the sounds of rocks crumbling became audible.

It had come.

There was first a crack, and then a scream, as a howling banshee smashed its way through the cavern walls. Its sudden appearing sent the adventurer jumping back in shock, sending similar reactions to the viewers.

It was then the adventurer began to run for dear life; weaving through obstacles with the not too distant howls coming from his rear. Of course, such fear was perfectly understandable once one had a proper look at the creature chasing him.

A cracked and bleeding maw filled with yellow pus. Bloodshot eyes, haggard and bulging. While it’s body was similar in shape to that of a beautiful woman’s, the great swathes of skin that sloughed off in chunks ruined the image somewhat.

Despite being chase by such a monster however, there seemed to be something apart from fear. A rising excitement, an exhilaration that seemed to radiate from the screen.

With the accompanying composition, the Storm siblings found themselves enchanted, somehow investing with this one stranger whom they’ve barely seen for a minute.

Will he make it? What happens next? What else is there to see?

Even as the adventurer burst from the cave, Rinden and Perri felt their hearts leap with his own. A final mad dash as he entered a brand new world without rhyme or reason. A world where massive beasts replaced the clouds in the sky. Where colorful and exotic plants seemed to litter the ground like grains of sand, growing in shapes that defied human comprehension.

However, they had no time to appreciate such sights as the adventurer suddenly found himself running towards a cliff.

There was hesitation, and then a choice. Even as the banshee tumbled from the cavern exit, the adventurer had no mind to admire its terrible appearance. Somehow in the light of the sun, the monster appeared less frightening, almost insignificant.

Even as the adventurer jumped, the perspective quickly jumped to a group of yak monsters who were pointing towards the screaming figure falling off the cliff.

One of which pulled out a pair of crudely crafted binoculars, showing the view as it brought the adventurer’s face into focus.

With a massive grin, the adventurer waved to the camera in greeting, effectively breaking the fourth wall even as the image froze and melted into a cluster of ink strokes. Like finely painting from a photograph, the scene of a boy smiling in free fall was captured on a single sheet of velum. Such a sheet slid into a massive leather bound book. It’s pages sent a flutter before the book slammed shut with a satisfying thump.

And on its cover, the name of the game had appeared.

‘The Lucid Adventures’

It was time to play.

“Oh god. This is going to take a while.”

The moment the title card was displayed, hundreds of icons snapped into place on the screen. These were the available races of Lucid Adventure and all their variations.

From golems to angry goat people to buckets of water and a bundle of sticks, the sheer amount of choices was overwhelming.

Upon seeing such a thing, Perri silently applauded herself for kicking Rinden out of bed early. As a prospective adventurer, one naturally has to go through all of the options, lest they miss out on something exponentially cooler than the rest.

After quickly deciding to split the work, the two of them slowly combed through the flavor text and picked out their favorites. It took a few hours, but eventually Rinden managed to narrow down the acceptable choices down to a select few. Perri on the other hand, had only chosen one.

‘The Hollow DollHomunculus)’

Save for the soul, it is literally indistinguishable from a regular human.

“…”

“…”

“I think you should rethink your choice.” Rinden said blandly. Like seriously, if they spent hours searching, only to choose the fantasy equivalent of a regular human, then what was the point?

“Nah. I have a good feeling about this.” Perri argued. “It’s definitely special.”

“But it doesn’t even have any-”

“I said its special!”

Perri repeated.

Yes, it might not sound as cool as a demiandroid or a greater demonica, but Perri was certain there was something special about this race. Her (unproven) adventurer’s instinct was screaming that such was the case.

With a stat growth potential that was slightly inferior to that of a human, a restriction from faith based jobs and a tiny pool of starting locations, nobody in their right mind would choose such a race.

And that was precisely why, there must be something special about it.

‘I am a genius’

It was a gamble, but one that Perri was confident in winning. The gods favored the beautiful after all?

“Have ye no faith in your adorable and popular little sister?”

“Popular?”

“Shhh. Just shut up and trust me.”

To Perri’s obstinacy, Rinden only shrugged. He didn’t particularly care which race to pick anyways, but if Perri ended up whining later on, he would relish the chance to say, I told you so.

Coming to a silent agreement, the two of them settled on the issue of race before diving head first into the wonderfully fun mess that were sliders. With a slider for literally every facial muscle, every lock of hair and blemish, Perri blanched as she realized just how expansive the character creator was.

Even though the game servers officially launched tomorrow, she might not necessarily finish making her avatar in time.

It became quite clear that they would not finish any time soon, as the need to create a perfect character was both an unreasonable and insatiable beast. Although everyone started off with a default template based on their own appearance, was there really anyone in the world who was wholly satisfied with how they looked?

Even if a person only wanted to make minor adjustments to their beauty, the end result would never be just ‘minor’. A person might remove an unsightly mole, straighten their nose and thin their face. The list of changes continuously growing and growing until the final product no longer resembles the original in the slightest.

It was a disease, but an enjoyable one. And it seemed to have infected Rinden as well, as his eyes were narrowed into sharp slits as his fingers clicked away.

‘Looks like its time for me to get serious.’

This type of fervor for online games was uncommon in her brother. Not to be outdone however, Perri cracked her knuckles before completely focusing on the long process of beautification.

In the end, the entire process took twelve hours.

Rinden finished first. His eyes were twitching as he thrust his arms up into the air. It was done. It was finally done!

Although Rinden still felt that the Hollow Doll race was far too lackluster of a choice, such concerns had dissipated entirely once he began crafting his masterpiece.

For his face alone, he began tweaking his jawline to appear more angular. Afterwords working to fashion a long toothy smile as well, sharpening his canines to almost comical proportions. Of course, as he was using his actual appearance as the template, he didn’t want to make too many modifications. After all, to do so would make it seem as if he was insecure about his looks.

It took twelve hours.

‘Well whatever, at least I’m satisfied.’

Despite feeling unsettled, the finished product was still something Rinden could be proud of. The avatar on his screen sported sharp eyes and a wicked aura. And after adding a beauty mark under both eyes, the accompanying tied back hair and crinkled smile lines gave the avatar look rather debonair.

Of course, this was all based strictly on how Rinden saw himself. An appropriate, but minor change to help him transition into a fantasy world.

“A pretty boy eh? Didn’t think you had it in you.”

Perri who had glanced over countless times smirked in approval before noticing something strange about Rinden’s avatar.

As she studied Rinden’s screen, her eyes momentarily widened before she glared at Rinden accusingly.

“Wait, isn’t that me?!! And are those elf ears?!!”

Oddly enough, she seemed more outraged at the prospect of Rinden’s avatar having elf ears than it being a carbon copy of her face. Though the siblings already looked remarkably similar, Perri was naturally the prettier one between the two. And the additional ‘enhancements’ to Rinden’s avatar transformed it in a way which bore a remarkable resemblance to Perri.

Of course, due to its cruel smile and androgynous build, such a connection would normally not be made right away. But as an expert at staring at her own face, how could Perri not see it immediately?

“I like the look of it.” Rinden snickered quietly, revelling at Perri’s angry hamster impression.

“Just who are you trying to flatter? Guh! You are such a m’lady.” Perri spat in mock disgust as she turned her own screen to unveil the last 12 hours of her efforts.

“It was a coincidence.” Rinden chided, “ Besides, I bet its miles ahead of anything you… whoa.”

“Yeah. Suck it.”

Perri sniffed as Rinden’s jaw dropped. His capacity for words momentarily nonexistent as he compared the level of effort put into the avatar.

First was the well-defined muscles and fierce posture, which coincided with Perri’s standards. Every curve and angle meticulously crafted for the most perfect of proportions.

In addition to that, her character sported golden cat eyes with a vicious snarl. Similar to Rinden’s avatar, she exuded a dangerous air, but the level of which was completely different.

Ash grey bangs parted and crowded either side of her avatar’s face, with the rest of it flaring out as it flowed over her shoulders. With such an appearance, the avatar would look right at home drinking wine atop a mountain of corpses. It was the very picture of a valiant hero, with absolute confidence and bearing just oozing from her looks alone.

In short, it was completely Rinden’s type.

“Uhuh. What was that?”

Perri jeered at Rinden’s loss for words, but secretly hid a smug smile. Not only was she satisfied with her own work, but Rinden’s reaction was just icing on the cake.

“You put a lot of work into her.”

Even now, Rinden was still discovering subtle imperfections to Perri’s character. As if every blemish and spot was meticulously chosen by Perri.

“Mmmhmmm And?”

Perri nonchalantly pressed for more compliments like an attention-whoring cat as she reached over to his keyboard and began to fiddle with the slider options.

“She’s pretty.”

Rinden said simply, finally understanding where Perri was going with this. There was no way he was going to inflate her already massive ego, no matter how much he liked it.

Not that it mattered. She totally knew already.

“She’s better be. It’s still MY face after all. Also, I’m going to change your hair color so we match.”

At that comment, Rinden could only shrug his shoulders in surrender. Having finalized their creations, they were finally ready to proceed with the next step. The most dreaded part of all online gaming.

Name Selection.

“I swear, if you name yourself BallsDeep69, I will castrate you.”

Perri warned Rinden. As an old man who was desperately behind with the times, she could not Rinden fall into the trap of having a cringey name. Else, as the one who would be playing with him, wouldn’t she be making a loss?

“Now. You might think you can just pick any random name, but it must be elegant and unique. Stylish and classy. If you name yourself something like Darkwolf or Lilith, then you would just be one of thousands of unoriginal D-bags who think that they’re being cool and edgy. Also, don’t name yourself after a dead meme like TheLegend27. It’s not cool, and I won’t ever talk to you again if you do.”

As Perri continued her lecture, Rinden could feel his eyes slowly glazing over. Of course, such information made sense, but he wasn’t so green as to make such a simple mistake.

Thus, while mildly irritated, Rinden shut out her words completely before quickly making his selection.

‘Beep’

All had gone smoothly as a green notification flashed on his screen, confirming his selection.

“W-What did you do?!” Perri stuttered in shock. She had not been paying attention to Rinden’s actions.

“I picked a name.”

“What the hell?! I had a plan too. What about my romance?! My style?! We could have had matching names, and you went on and picked this…”

“So you were going to pick my name for me too?” Rinden said dryly.

“Of course not! I would just have heavily influenced your decision.”

Rinden raised an eyebrow as he could visibly see Perri’s blood pressure rising. To be honest though, he was happy. He was completely ready to just sit back and relax while enjoying the string of uninspired profanities that was bound to come spewing out. Of course, if need be, he knew that Perri would also open up a dictionary, if only to come up with new ways to illustrate her anger.

However, such a scene did not occur as Perri froze in contemplation at Rinden’s choice. Her voice grew low as she asked inquisitively.

“You used our last name as well?”

“Well yeah. Our last name is cool, and you did say to be cool.”

Rinden smiled at Perri’s thoughtful expression. Their parents, who were childish man-children themselves had legally changed their surnames before the two of them had been born. This wise decision allowed them to become some of the most popular children in elementary school, while also earning the ire of jealous onlookers who had less than amusing surnames such as Grossman and Gaylord. In addition to that, it was unique enough that It wouldn’t fade into obscurity among the countless other players who would be joining the game with them.

After a while, Perri’s face crinkled as she seemed to have come to terms with something. As an experience reader of Perri’s expressions, he could more or less tell her mood from the subtle twitches of her facial muscles.

Perri sniffed. When considering her brother’s choice, she knew that she would have to compromise, while still keeping the pyre of creativity burning fiercely in her mind.

As if would just be the two of them against the world, they definitely needed matching names, thus a delicate balance between ‘appropriateness’, ‘coolness’, and ‘practicality’ was required.

The buttons of the keyboard clacked mechanically as she made her choice, and soon the fellow green acceptance notification appeared as well. Never one to be doubtful of herself, she turned obstinately to Rinden, eyes shining as she waited to be praised for her creative genius.

“It’s fitting.” He admitted, to which Perri responded with a face full of smiles.