The shielded lantern’s dim, partial beam illuminated only a small arc of the stone floor in front of the gnome as they followed the passage to one left-hand turn, then a right. Reeve trailed the gnome, hugging Leaf’s limp body to her side. Making a third turn, the stone floor became easier to see, as light from ahead raised shadows on the uneven surface. The end of the passage was marked by a partially collapsed beam, which had been arrested in its fall at an angle a third of the way down from the ceiling, many stones from which lay scattered around the floor. Through the middle of the rubble, a path no more than a few inches wide had been cleared.

The gnome walked under the collapsed beam into the light beyond, and Reeve lowered to nearly a squat and shuffled through dragging Leaf behind her.

The gnome raised and opened his lantern and extinguished the flame with a quick pop of air through tight lips. After reclosing the lantern, he looked up and saw Reeve taking in the bright room, surprise clear on her face. “The cellar of what used to be the town hall,” he said, his voice no longer a whisper. He swept a hand to take in the large rectangular stone room, which had a wide ceiling supported at intervals by massive wooden posts.

The gnome led Reeve and Wanda to the infirmary, where they laid Leaf and Thomanji’yheri on the stone between cots so small that they would have been crushed by the weight of the fallen elf or dwarf. A gnome wearing a frock that may once have been white but was now a patchwork of rusty stains appeared and examined Thomanji'yheri and then Leaf, the examinations making use of small kicks and punches to seemingly random locations across the body as much as it made use of techniques Reeve associated more closely with medicine, even archaic medicine.

The gnome peeled back one of Leaf’s eyelids to such an extent that Reeve was afraid she’d soon be seeing the fallen elf’s brain. The gnome shook her head and looked from Wanda to Reeve. “Never have I seen the work of this particular toxin, but nothing under the sky is without kin, and our apothecary has curatives that should revive your companion. Revive is all we may be able to do, and the recovery that follows may not be a fast one.”

“That’s fine. Thanks very much,” Reeve said. “And him?” She gestured to Thomanji'yheri.

The gnome laughed and leaned to pull open the dwarf’s unbuttoned tunic, revealing a stomach that looked like pizza from which the cheese and toppings had been peeled. “The worst for him is already over. Whichever of you sealed his wound did an effective job, though I wager he did not appreciate it at the time. We can infuse enough blood that he’ll regain consciousness.”

“Thank you again,” Reeve said.

Without further discussion, the gnome turned, and Reeve, Wanda, and their guide excused themselves to wind their way back across the room to Dusk and Walter, who were at a table that rose no higher than their waist, even though they had forgone the miniature chairs that were far too small for them and instead sat cross-legged on the floor. Bunce was chewing on something where she lay behind Walter.

“Sit, eat,” their guide said, himself taking a seat at one end of the table. Reeve and Dusk looked at each other, the continuing hospitality a welcome surprise. Wanda took a seat on the floor, and Reeve lay her weapons behind her and did the same.

“I am Yorrin,” the gnome said, “son of Yowin.” He tore a piece of bread from a muffin-sized loaf and put it on a plate no larger than a tea saucer. “Your party did not tell us that more of you would be coming through.”

Reeve and Dusk exchanged another glance. “Our party?” Reeve said.

Yorrin nodded and looked at Dusk, his high voice difficult to make out as he spoke with a mouthful of bread, “Your sisters are not quickly forgotten, half-elf. For the pleasure of their company as much as their beauty.”

“My sister passed through before us?” Dusk said. She took an entire loaf, split it in two, and placed one half in her mouth.

“Both sisters,” Yorrin said, “and the giant of a Cleric traveling with them.” The gnome took another crumb-sized bite of his bread.

Reeve and Dusk stared at him. “And it sounds like you and the…sisters,” Reeve said, “got along well?”

“Like a hive of waxwurms,” Yorrin said. “Dawn immediately won over the whole clan, as you’d expect. She’s a fresh bit of Sun in this dark world, isn’t she? Dusk, well, you know Dusk. She was slower to warm to us and us to her, but a heart of gold, that one.”

Reeve looked at Dusk. “What?” Reeve mouthed.

Dusk shrugged and shook her head.

Reeve looked back at Yorrin. “How long ago did they come through?”

“They left us three mornings today.”

“Where were they going?”

Yorrin frowned at Reeve. “Fellgrave. I assumed you must be on your way to meet them thence.”

Reeve leaned back. “Yeah no, that was our plan. Is. We’ve just, uh, apparently lost track of some details.” She looked at Dusk. “It’ll be good to catch up with them and get on the same page.” Reeve looked around the room at the bustling gnome camp, not a single one of its residents showing any signs of hostility to them, despite Reeve’s party’s inglorious history with gnomes, a history that had previously dogged them. “Dusk,” she said, “why don’t we go check in on Leaf and Thomanji'yheri.” Reeve jerked her head toward the infirmary.

Dusk gave a small nod. “Excuse us,” she said to Yorrin.

The gnome extended a palm in acknowledgment. Reeve and Dusk rose and started winding through the room.

“Whadaya think?” Reeve said.

“I would think him confused,” Dusk said, “but for him knowing my sister’s name, and my own.”

“Yeah. Freaky.” Reeve placed a hand on Dusk’s arm and they both stopped and stood in a location that provided some privacy of conversation between areas of activity. “What did Dawn’s spell in the river do? This ruin is different than it used to be. My Companion Log is totally empty. There’s a Level 23 creature stalking us. These gnomes seemed pleased as punch to see us. And Yorrin thinks you and Dawn have been through here before, a few days ago. It’s like—”

“We are in another world.”

“Yeah, but I don’t even know what—“

“Reeve,” Dusk now placed her hand on Reeve’s arm, “we are in another world. That is what Helia told us we were seeing, Dawn and I, when she showed us the sigil to cast the spell that Dawn used to bring us here. When Helia took us from our room, our cell, she led us up to the river surface and had us cast. Through the ring I cast lay rich, cultivated fields of grain that stretched for miles across the plain to what might’ve been orchards beyond. What was a ramshackle ruin just outside my ring was a bustling town within, guards in gleaming armor patrolling the high walls as a steady stream of carts and horse-mounted travelers lined the roads from east and west.”

Dusk shook her head, remembering the wondrous vision she had created. Then her expression fell into one of horror. “When I looked through Dawn’s ring, the plain beyond was nearly barren, only an occasional sickly tuft of grass or bush interrupting the ashen expanse. The town, thriving when viewed through my ring, was again a ruin, though within the tumbled walls fires could be seen burning, columns of black smoke rising to join the dark clouds pressing down on the land. I smelled the stench of rotting flesh. That is where Dawn’s spell brought us. That is where we are. ‘Another world,’ Helia said. Do not ask me how, for I do not understand it, but that is what she claimed. What I see around me gives credence to her words.”

“But what does that even mean?” Reeve’s eyes moved from one pocket of activity to the next in the bustling room. “Suddenly Fellgrave’s back, there are more than one of you, Nyx isn’t here. Is this some sort of parallel storyline we’re in, and we’ll move back to the other at some point? Or did it change permanently?”

Dusk shook her head.

And, Reeve thought, regardless of exactly how and why the story changed, what the heck is a Level 23 Duskhound doing here? That should be impossible. I chose the Standard Difficulty for this story mode…

Reeve looked, eyes wide, at Dusk. “We really may be in another world. Someone else’s world. But…” Reeve turned and wove quickly back to the table where Yorrin sat. Dusk followed. “The Cleric’s name. What was it?” Reeve said to Yorrin.

“Pardon?” The gnome said, craning his neck to look up at Reeve.

“You said a huge Cleric was traveling with the twins—I mean, with Dawn and Dusk. What was the Cleric’s name?”

Still looking confused, Yorrin said, “Devynyty.”

Reeve spun and, finding Dusk right behind her, put her palms on Dusk’s shoulders and walked the half-elf backward until they were again in a spot that allowed them to speak freely.

“This is my friend Devon’s story mode…her world.”

“I do not understand.”

“I don’t understand either. But, the half-giant cleric who came through with your supposed sisters a few days ago? I know her.” Reeve placed a hand across her eyes and rubbed hard, wishing she would wake in a world that made more sense, ideally the real world. That may be the first time I’ve wished for real life over virtual life, she thought. “It shouldn’t be possible,” she said to Dusk, “but Dawn’s spell took us from the world we were in to this totally different world that my friend is usually in.”

“You speak of different worlds, Reeve, but this means nothing more to me than—“

“I know, I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either. But if we did actually change from my story mode to Devon’s—from one world to another—it would explain the weird stuff going on. This ruin and Fellgrave being different. Nyx not being anywhere in this world. The gnomes not recognizing or hating us. There being another pair of you and Dawn.” Reeve facepalmed. “Even the Level 23 monster. Devon always plays everything in here on Martyr Difficulty.”

Dusk crossed her arms. “You will need to speak plainly if you hope for me to join you.”

Reeve narrowed her eyes. “How did Dawn cast the spell she did?”

“Helia taught us—“

“But Dawn said Helia herself couldn’t cast the spell Dawn used.”

“Helia is a normal caster of Ase Thhia. She claimed that we are melióδin.”

“What?”

“She said we possess an ancient form of magic that controls not mana but something more fundamental.”

As the bustling room moved around them, Reeve stared at Dusk, trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. Her eyes widened. Code, she thought. “More fundamental than mana?” She said. “Or more fundamental than the substance of this world?”

Dusk signaled incomprehension with a shake of her head.

“I think you and your sister can control the fabric of this world. And I think Dawn hacked her way into my friend Devon’s world.”

“You expect me to understand what you say?” Dusk looked frustrated, obviously wishing to understand.

“No, not now. Maybe with time. But…” Reeve’s eyes widened further. “Helia wants out of that world. All those port error messages I’ve been brushing away for days stopped once Helia met you two…those errors must have been from Helia trying to find a way out. She couldn’t, because she’s not melióδin, the system just closed the ports. But with your sister, Helia could get loose, get out of our world and go to any she wanted to.”

A Level 4 AI lose on the nex, Reeve thought. That wasn’t a problem with the story mode, or with her and her parents getting out in time for Reeve to study for her math test—Helia could cause destruction IRL. She could hurt real people, just like Reeve had been hurt.