“So it’s a he now?” Gina asked around a mouthful of food.

“I guess?” Kraant looked into the fire, where Pebl hovered a few inches off the ground. The fire swirled around him slightly, as if he were manipulating it directly. Which was… possible, in theory. Difficult, but possible.

Pebl bounced slightly in a vague imitation of a nod.

“He also seems to be able to understand words, instead of interpreting orders.”

“Huh. Neat.” Gina let the conversation drop; it’s not like Kraant really had any more information than her, at this point.

“So, now what? Do we continue northwest, or do we cut south a little, or…” Kraant shrugged.

“Well, you got a shiny new spell, right? And we’re still trying to solidify your fighting style, although you’ll get another perk next level. In my experience, the level 5 perks tend to change your whole schtick. Like, the previous levels all come together to combine with the level 5, you know? Your Trapper class lets you make traps, tell where they are, sneak around, and use the environment to your advantage- or they would, if you bothered to level them properly. Then Sculpt Flesh and Reflexes give you a way to actually kill an enemy you’ve trapped. Reflexes is all about letting you dodge unpredictable strikes, like the wild flailing anything does when it’s trapped and dying. Sculpt: Flesh is all about letting you hurt things way above your level, so you can kill anything that’s tied down. I’m really curious to see how your new spell fits into your Life Magus build.”

“Yeah, me too…” he looked around and his gaze settled on the campfire. It was ringed with stones, everything that could burn was well away… why not? “Imbue Life.”

The effect was dramatic. A surge of Life mana, more than he usually could take using Siphon Life, leapt out of him and into the flames. Pebl let out a screeching blast of uncontrolled Mana, and a flicker of all eight Aspects launched him out of the green-tinged flames. The flames themselves… they glowed brighter, more vibrantly, although Kraant couldn’t sense any major concentrations of Light through Pebl. Just Fire and Life. It was a mere second before he realized that the fire was looking at him, without eyes or face, and if his familiar wasn’t a rock before he wasn’t sure he would ever have realized. It was an odd skill, noticing the attention of normally-inanimate things, but hey. Whatever worked. He looked at the fire, and realized it wasn’t actually consuming the wood anymore. It had started feeding off the surge of Life mana, and was… slowly drifting toward him. Or at least, leaning toward him. It crossed the stones, and Gina drew her bow. Kraant stuck an arm out toward her, but didn’t speak. This was… this was almost like making another Familiar contract. But not quite, not quite at all.

“Go back into the pit.” He whispered.

The fire obeyed.

“Sustain yourself on the wood in the pit.”

The fire obeyed.

“…Sing.” He wasn’t sure why he said it, but it was an interesting idea, so he went with it.

The fire obeyed.

The song was a whispering lullaby, the crackles of popping wood augmented by dancing sparks that twirled and spun in vague patterns. The flames themselves hissed a low melody, and the coals flickered in a delicate rhythm. It wasn’t long before the fire had consumed its Life mana, trying too hard to imitate a Life that didn’t truly belong to it.

“Huh. Neat.” Gina breathed as the song ended. “I can’t for the life of me see a use for singing fire, but I bet you a thousand bosses against a village that that spell is gonna be a big one for you.”

“Yeah. Imagine living traps, that could wait for the right target… or walls building themselves… or a blanket that smothers an enemy in their sleep…” he drifted off. “I’m gonna get so many viewers. Ow.”

“Well, that settles it. I’m sticking with you, you weird little reptile.”

“Hey, you’re a reptile too!”

“Nah, I’m a humanoid Beastkin, so I’m warmblooded.”

“Must be nice.” He grumbled under his breath.

“Yeah, well, being able to take an enemy’s Life mana and then give it to their weapon and make it stab them? That sounds pretty nice, too.”

The rest of the night was spent practicing with his shiny new spell. He could sleep, but… this was too good to be true. He wanted it to get better, and quickly.

Nathaniel pulled himself out of his cocoon and checked Clara’s results. She was almost caught up to the “present”, just after the battle with the Host of Plagues, and he figured that was a decent enough spot. Nothing since then had really changed the context of the fight, and even the Evolution barely got included at the end. It was a big treasure for him, but not really interesting to watch. He posted the videos she’d put together, with a little bit of editing of his own here and there, and went for a walk outside. He was firmly holding the name Nathaniel in his mind, and he was determined not to have another… incident. He really did need to buy some food, but the trip was more for his mental health than anything else. He wanted to prove that he was sane.

The trip was mostly uneventful, although he had caught himself reflexively trying to prepare Siphon Life when he was startled by a dog. He failed, of course, and then felt stupid. Maybe he should take a break for a little while and… do what? He didn’t really have any close friends, and most of his contacts had been his employees. Maybe…

“Yo, hop in!” A shout jerked him out of his own head, and he looked around. He’d sort of just been wandering, and apparently his feet wanted to go the other grocery store, the one that was a few miles away. Judging by where he was, he’d been walking for at least half an hour. “Dude, you alright?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. One sec.” He looked toward the voice and saw one of his old college buddies, Derek, leaning out the passenger window of his truck. Derek was a big guy, the type to get into a college on a sports scholarship, and in fact had. He’d helped the University into the top 16 bracket for hockey, but had actually left the sport after a major knee injury. He had enough academic scholarships by then to stay enrolled, and had been in a lot of Nathaniel’s classes. Nathaniel hopped in, and Derek pulled back onto the road.

“Long time no see, Mr. Moneybags! How’s it been?”

“Ah, not bad, not bad. Sold the company, been real quiet since then.”

“So I hear. You know it was in the news? The merger, I mean, not your private life.”

“Yeah, I heard a little about it. I don’t know why they’re making such a big deal out of it.”

“Well, our class hasn’t even had a five-year reunion yet and you’ve made and sold a brand-new concept for tons of money. You’re kind of a genius, man.”

“Aw, schucks.” Nathaniel smiled. Derek had always been easy to talk to.

“Where you headed, anyway?”

“Groceries. Figured I’d get some fresh air.”

“Right, right, you totally didn’t wander off and forget your car. I get it.”

“…Well, maybe that too…”

“Hah! I was on my way to pick up dinner anyway. You want to stop by, see the kids?”

“Plural? Last time we talked, Phyllis was barely pregnant with Jason!”

“Yeah, well, that was two years ago. You sort of dropped off the radar once the company got some sponsors.”

“…Damn. Well, if you’re willing, I’d love to see some real people. Computers aren’t really good at chit-chat.”

“Well, not yet…”

“You shut up about your conspiracy theories. The Singularity will be a glorious ascension and I won’t hear a word to the contrary.”

“Aw, man, but you’re the only one who evens knows what I’m talking about! You haven’t even heard about my latest project yet!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! See, you know how Colorado Computations made that big neural net last year?”

“Yeah? So?”

“Well, I’m in a group assigned with testing its security. If we can’t break it, then they’re keeping it… but it was designed by the machine itself.”

“No shit. You’re kidding?”

“No shit. Here we are…” Derek pulled his truck into an open spot and killed the engine. He locked eyes with Nathaniel, his gaze serious. “If I can’t hack into this machine, then it built a security system better than we can. You know me, I got hired to hack the Pentagon once. That’s what we cyber-security consultants do. And Nathaniel… I’ve got three days left, and I don’t think it’s happening.”

“Damn.” Nathaniel suppressed a shudder. If a computer could lock humans out of its systems… that would be huge. One step closer to the Robot Uprising. He took his time getting out of truck and collecting his thoughts.

“Okay, Derek, I’ll definitely keep in better touch. That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s a global threat. Point made.”

“Hmm.” Derek grunted. “By the way, Phyllis wants pierogi for dinner. That alright?”

“Yeah. You ever figure out how to make the dough?”

“Let’s just say I’m glad I ran into you for more than one reason, eh?”

The two friends chatted as they shopped, but the lingering specter of Derek’s words put a chill into their hearts. This was… big. Huge.

Dinner was at least nominally more cheerful, Phyllis shocked and delighted to have a guest. She managed to get the kids to bed early, which seemed like a monumental undertaking to Nathaniel, and the three of them clustered in the living room, sharing a few drinks over the corpses of some vast and brutal toy-soldier battle. Jason had, according to Phyllis, thoroughly defeated the Lego Empire through strategic airbombing. That is, he’d stood on the couch and thrown things. His younger sister, Evelyn, had recorded the whole thing under her direct supervision, and shouting when things had gone poorly for the entrenched defenders. The way she told it, it was a glorious struggle, but ultimately futile.

According to Derek, the kids had been playing earlier and were sleepy now.

It was coming up on midnight when Derek drove Nathaniel back home, and they exchanged contact info for the PRVR network. They’d be able to communicate in any PRVR games they happened to be playing, and apparently Derek even had a Final Escape character. A level-two Carver and level-1 Painter. He’d been using an older, less-modified version of the VR cocoon than Nathaniel, so he couldn’t play for long stretches at a time even if his schedule allowed it, but he still wanted a place to go and create things. He’d gotten too into breaking down and analyzing things, Phyllis had said, and the game provided a place to unplug and just… make art. At least, that was how they justified the expense to themselves. Surprisingly, Phyllis also had a character- a level-three Monk and a level-2 Barbarian. He wasn’t sure how the careful control and discipline of a Monk worked with the wild fury and aggression of a Barbarian, but apparently she did. She’d gotten to a respectable level for such a new game, and with her limited schedule. Derek mentioned on the drive back that he wasn’t in the least surprised by her class choices… Nathaniel responded that maybe he should keep an eye on his pretty little wife with the hidden wild side. Derek laughed, and said maybe he was right.

Nathaniel collapsed onto his bed the instant he got to his room. Between the weird fatigue of playing for long stretches of time, the late hour, and the alcohol… he’d barely gotten his shoes off before he fell asleep.