On the road, the night quiet all around them, they chatted.

Aarush, though bleary-eyed, seemed quite happy to talk. “This is very exciting for me. Being here. I have always wanted to visit another country. But it is much expensive. This is not a real country, but it is still very exciting.”

Jane asked, “What county do you want to go to?”

“Oh, anything! Maybe Japan or Canada or Germany. Some place exotic.”

Quill half-suppressed a smile. To him, the idea of anyone finding Canada exotic was hilarious. And yet, it was all a matter of perspective. Different was exotic, no matter where you were from.

Aarush continued, “This place is very interesting. I am enjoying seeing it. But I wish I could see new places in the real world. It would be nice to get the chance and not die in here.” He spoke matter-of-factly, not with disappointment or bitterness.

Jane chided him, “Come on, don’t say that. We’re all going to find a way out of here and get back home. I believe it.”

He bowed and gave her a rueful smile. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Quill sighed. “I’m sorry, too.”

Jane looked at him with brows raised. “Why? You didn’t say anything.”

“But I thought it. More than once. I’ve been…negative in my head a lot. I need to stop.”

Jane touched him on the shoulder. “We all have. We have to fight it, though. Together.”

Aarush changed the subject. “Have you been shopping? Or seen the players with much money? I have talked to some. You can buy level ups and other things.”

Quill felt a stab of resentment. “Yeah, we saw.”

“They told me that the final boss for Green Hills is tough. Everyone must be level ten. And a big party is better. Need at least three, but more is better.”

Quill felt at a loss. He was only level one again. How was he ever going to get to ten? He probably wouldn’t even have his class by the time Jane maxed her levels out.

They walked in silence for a while, thinking about the future.

Aarush broke the silence. “Did you know you can buy levels for money?”

Quill chuckled. “Uh, didn’t we just talk about that?”

Jane looked at Aarush with concern.

Aarush frowned. “We did?” He put a hand on his head, then yawned hugely. “I am sorry. Maybe I am very tired after all.” Also thirsty, apparently. He had drunk an entire canteen of water on the walk. He clapped his hands on his cheeks. “Must wake. Only three more. Then bedtime.” He laughed. “Yes, we can!”

Jane pointed out, “We will definitely solo each time. No more challenging two at once.”

Aarush agreed. “Jane is an excellent tank. And Quill is very good attacker. I am very happy to work with both of you. I will try my best, too.”

They had to stop so that, unsurprisingly, Aarush had to visit the bushes after all that water.

Quill stood next to Jane on the dark road and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What do you think? He seems like a good guy. Maybe we should permanently add him to the party?”

Jane only gave it a moment’s thought. “Yeah, I think we should. I have a good feeling about him. I mean, I don’t know what happened last time, but he’s pretty positive. I think we could use all the encouragement we can get.”

“Yeah. We all could.” Quill resolved to try to be more like Aarush instead of getting down on himself so much.

When Aarush returned, and they resumed the trek to the crusader camp, Jane hesitantly broached the subject they’d discussed earlier. “Aarush, we were thinking. This quest has been a lot of fun together. Do you want to join our party permanently? If you don’t have others you’re already adventuring with, of course.”

Aarush seemed overwhelmed. “Really? Even though I am so weak?”

Quill raised a single finger. “No weaker than us. One strength club, man.”

Aarush looked flustered but stopped, put his staff down, and grabbed each of their hands with both of his, profusely shaking them. “Oh, thank you! Thank you! I will not regret it! I am so happy to meet you.”

Jane laughed. “We’re happy, too.”

Together, the three of them returned to the quest area and downed the last three gold crusaders they needed and acquired the full nine bandanas.

Quill

Level 2

Jane

Level 5

They stood together in the logged area and celebrated the win.

Quill was thrilled to have his level back. But more than that, he was happy for Jane. “You’re five! You can get your class.”

Jane looked content, though tired. “Yeah. Later. Now we just have to turn this in.”

Quill, exhausted, yawned. “Tomorrow. I need sleep.”

“Mm.” Aarush yawned doubly hard, something he’d been doing all through the fights.

Torchlight flickered on in the nearby lumber mills windows, grabbing their attention. Then the building’s double doors swung open, and a giant of a man stepped out. He had to be seven feet tall and was clad in black and gold armour from head to toe. He carried a double-bladed two-handed axe.

Quill stepped back, even though they were well out of aggro range. “Whoa. I do not want to face that guy.”

Jane excitedly spoke, “Look at the name. It’s in gold!”

Quill’s brows rose. Normally, names were in white.

Aarush had the answer. “Ah! This I know. I think it is rare spawn.”

Quill felt his own excitement rise, swiftly followed by disappointment. “I’ll bet it gives great drops. Maybe unique stuff. But there’s no way we can fight that. Level’s double question marks to me.”

Jane pouted. “Me, too.”

Quill reluctantly turned away. “Let’s head back to the city. We can tell people about it tomorrow. Maybe someone else will be high enough to take it on.”

Jane wistfully looked over her shoulder as they departed. “Aw. Rare spawn; want to kill…”

“It is very strange.” Aarush watched the huge knight as they walked. I think it is looking at me.”

“Huh?” Quill looked back.

The helmeted head of the knight was turning, moving in time with their pace.

Jane’s tone turned worried. “Uh…yeah. It’s definitely watching us. That’s creepy.”

As they neared the edge of the logged area, only paces from the forest edge, the knight turned its whole body to face them.

Now Quill grew worried. “Guys, let’s pick up the pace.”

They all walked faster.

The knight dropped into a crouch.

Jane panicked. “Run. Run run run!”

The knight exploded into motion, racing towards them far faster than any of them could move.

“Holy—!” Quill instinctively raised his mace in defence. “Look out!”

It was on them in heartbeats. The massive axe swung in a blur and caught Aarush square in the stomach. The blow launched him into the air, instantly killing him. His corpse sailed off into the forest, lost in the trees.

Jane exclaimed, “No way!”

Taking only a moment to re-adjust, the knight turned its head toward Jane. It leapt forward, axe raised overhead with both hands, and brought it down.

The half-moon blade smashed through the staff Jane held up before her and crushed her as well. Her corpse plowed into the ground. Another instant death.

Quill wasn’t sure what came over him then. But at the sight of his friends dying, he launched himself at the gold-plated knight. His mace struck the knight in the chest, then the arm. It seemed to have no effect at all.

The knight casually shoved him backward. That alone took half of Quill’s health away.

But Quill didn’t care. Furious, he managed to duck a horizontal swing of the axe and, as he rose, hit the tall knight under the arm. It was just enough to put the knight a fraction off balance. Quill raised his mace to hit the monster again.

The next thing he knew, he was a ghost. And he was standing over his corpse — on top of a tree — thirty paces away. He was flat-out shocked. “Wow. That’s a serious home-run swing.” Shaking his head, he resurrected.

He reappeared in the Grove, saw his stats, saw his level back at one, and muttered to himself. “Great. Just lost all the HP we got from those last few kills. Rare spawns suck.” Then he realized that Jane had likely lost her new level as well. Bad luck.

“Quill?” Jane’s voice came from his right, and it sounded worried. “Something’s wrong with Aarush.”

Quill looked over as he got off the resurrection slab and went to join her.

Aarush sat up, but his eyes were vacant. Drool dribbled out of the side of his mouth.

Jane shook him and then looked at Quill in desperation. “He won’t respond!”

Quill joined her. He, too, shook their new comrade and tried to wake him out of this odd stupor. “Is there a bug in the resurrection sequence or something?”

Jane looked like her chest had constricted. “I don’t know!”

They stood on either side of him, speaking to him, giving the occasional shake. Nothing seemed to help.

But very, very slowly, Aarush came back to himself. It took several minutes in which the man yawned deeply, his body sagged, and he continued to drool, which Jane tried to wipe away with the spare shirt they’d collected in her bag.

At last, blinking like a stoner, Aarush’s eyes focused on her. “Hello. What is…wrong?”

She bent down to look straight into his eyes. “Aarush? How do you feel?”

“‘m ok.” He yawned wide again. “Tired. Thirsty. Is there water?” He held out a shaky hand, one he didn’t seem to have full control over.

They gave him all the water they had, and still he asked for more. He stared at the empty canteen in his hand. “Water water neverywhere. Nor any drop to drink.⁠1” He chuckled. Then he looked up questioningly. “More?”

Quill shared a look with Jane. “Something’s wrong. Nobody should be that thirsty.”

“Is he poisoned or debuffed or something?”

“Wouldn’t we see the debuff on him?” Status effects usually appeared next to a person’s name, which was visible when you concentrated on them. Some were even physically visible, like the stars appearing around someone’s head when stunned. But there was no sign of anything wrong with Aarush.

Aarush licked his lips. “Can’t…think. Need to sit down.”

Jane hesitated before replying. “You are sitting.”

“Mm.” The fact didn’t seem to register.

Quill put Aarush’s arm around his shoulder. “Take the other arm. Let’s get to an inn. Maybe he just needs a good sleep.”

Outside, they heard sobbing from somewhere. Quill didn’t think much of it. After all, it had been a common enough sound ever since they’d arrived.

Jane had noticed, too. “Can’t fault anyone for breaking down in the game after being trapped. I’ve wanted to more than once.”

It was difficult, given their limitations, but they got Aarush into the nearest inn, renting a single room because they didn’t want to leave the man alone.

Quill said, “We’ll take turns keeping watch. See if his status changes. I don’t like the look of this. It doesn’t feel like a normal part of the game.”

Jane seemed too worried to reply. She helped get Aarush into bed in the small, plain room. There was a tiny, round table with a single chair. She pulled the chair over next to the bed and sat in it.

Quill stood, looking down at their new friend. He was deep in thought.

Aarush’s eyes flickered. While he appeared sleepy, he spoke slowly but coherently for the first time since dying. “What a strange…experience. Being…in a game. I wonder what…people outside…are thinking.” His eyes closed before he could hear any response.

Jane reached out and took one of his hands. At Aarush’s words, her voice became sour. “My parents are probably in my apartment, looking down on me, talking about how poor my life choices are. And how this just confirms their worse ideas of me.”

Quill was sympathetic. “At least they can look in on you. I’m in a different country. No family there.”

Jane watched Aarush’s face, but there was no sign he could hear them. “Maybe they don’t even know what happened to me. I posted about it on social media, but I never told them directly I was going into the game. They’d cut ties with me before that. Stopped speaking to me.”

“Why?”

She pointed to her enhanced tits. “And the sexy photos I did.”

He scoffed. “Jerks.” Then he looked unsure of himself. “Sorry. I shouldn’t judge your family.”

“Go ahead. I called a lot worse. In my head.” She seemed glad of his instant support.

“No one’s going to check on me.” He grew even more worried, then repeated himself. “No one’s going to check on me.”

“Hmm?”

Understanding dawned. “We’re supposed to be hooked up to life support, right? The…jerks…the CEOs or whatever. They said the game systems were designed for that. And they announced the bug to the world. So people would have taken us to hospitals or something or brought machines to our homes.”

She began to catch on to his train of thought. “But only if they knew we were in the game.”

His expression turned uncertain. “They might have been kind enough to contact family or publish a list.”

Jane snorted. “Or not.” They didn’t seem that kind.

“And, if not…” Panic came over him.

Jane stood in alarm and looked at Aarush. “He’s living alone, he said. Nobody knows he’s in the game.”

Quill’s eyes widened. “Or me.”

She sat down again, hard.

Quill wandered away from the bed, fretting. “Who’s going to check up on me? I don’t live with anyone either.”

Aarush chuckled, jolting both. “Nobody knows I’m hooked up. I live all alone. Work from home, too. I have no social life. Only gaming.”

Jane clutched his hand tight. “Aarush, how are you feeling?”

He looked around, though his head barely moved. There was no strength in his grasp. “Water? Is there water?”

Quill ran a hand through his hair, tense. “Dehydration.” He looked at Jane. ”He’s thirsty, but water doesn’t solve it because he’s actually thirsty in the real world. He’s dying of dehydration!”

Male

36

QUILL KRAU

Class NONE, Level 1

STR

1

STATUS

DEX

3

Currently scared out of his mind at the prospect of real death.

HEA

7

SKILLS

INT

2

WIS

17

ITEMS

STA

14

Mace (common)

CHA

11

Official Adventurers Guide; mysterious pages

Female

26

JANE EULA

Class NONE, Level 4

STR

6

STATUS

DEX

11

Currently scared and incredibly worried about Aarush.

HEA

19

SKILLS

INT

18

WIS

18

ITEMS

STA

2

Gilded Armour of the Nature Goddess (unique); knife; staff (common)

CHA

5