Location: The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Sorry” would not be enough.

By the time Graves dug a spade into the earth to bury the three men the crying had stopped; only awkward, melancholic silence remained.

Luci had cried all she could cry before she left the dungeon, so when the others returned from Thorinn with a carriage in-tow she was spent. She had stood up, moving the bodies into the back of the cart as she turned into a woman of little responses. Her words she said to Kazuki echoed in her mind and she did not forget them. When Alja went to console her she had smacked her hand away in reflex. Her pain and grief was insurmountable and a hug from her friends would not help her grieve.

Priscilica worried about her as they put Enos, Atlas, and Aaginim to rest as the green-eyed swordsinger stood in silence, sharing no emotion or kindness. It was how their first day in Aetheria following the “glitch” ended.

The original roadmap was different. Aaginim was going to talk about inducting Benkei and Alja into the guild proper and likely given the circumstances they would’ve offered membership to anybody who survived. The glitch would’ve been manageable if the two could’ve made it out. The most Priscilica could do was to tell the group to stay together while everything got sorted out. She knew having Benkei, Kazuki, or even Rael in the guild hall would make Luci uneasy. She didn’t need immediate reminders of who got to live and who got to die. She couldn’t offer shelter to them. It wouldn’t be fair to Luci. Priscilica never liked hard decisions. She liked making decisions, but never hard ones. But Zain was gone. Luci near-catatonic. Leaves worrying to death over Shev. Aaginim was dead. Enos dead. Amaranthe gone. All of the people who had formed the Mystic Prophecy were either non-factors or dead.

So it was Priscilica who had to make all the decisions.

Benkei and Rael didn’t cause a fuss. They may not have needed to sleep in Aetheria in the past, but they knew their options. Some of the group had houses in the city. Others were scoping out lodging. Alex and Seele had the option of going to the Heroes Guild of Thorinn for rest without cost to them. Whichever their choices all of them seemed to coalesce at the largest tavern in Thorinn that served all manners of people.

The Laughing Worg Tavern.
-
-

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Tch.”

Qoren had been in charge of observing the wayfarers in Thorinn since their initial descent into his world. As far as he was concerned, they were as unwanted as they were needed. The consensus among his inner circle that included some very powerful citizens of his native-born city was that the wayfarers ability to bind and destroy the dungeons that sought to destroy all living things was a sick and cruel irony. If he had his way, wayfarers would not have been given license to trample and defile his beloved city; they would've been captured and studied to the point of dissection. Whatever it took to understand the abstract magic that they held in their bones.

But unfortunately they had been given protections -- and for the last few months he had been tasked to observe and nothing more.

However, something had changed in the air and in the wayfarers themselves. Their lawless bravado had been shaken and tons of them flooded the city in fear of something he did not understand. It amused him, but it also concerned him with curiosity and caution. Their strange ramblings about game masters, becoming braindead, and never returning home was something he picked up on as he wandered the tavern and even earlier, the Wayfarer's Hall in the city. As far as he could tell, whoever was behind the manifestation of dungeons had made their first move to attack those who could stop their plans to wipe humanity off the face of the planet. This unseen evil was not the only problem, however. With the Wayfarers acting scared and beginning to panic they could soon unleash their despicable powers upon his fellow countrymen of Thorinn.

He needed to talk to the Queen of Thorinn. Convince her to expel the wayfarers. Convince her to save Thorinn before they turned on them as their madness overwhelmed them. Convince her to give him the full authority to do as he wished.

He moved forward, a lone wayfarer in his way.

Normally he would've politely manuevered around them. But as far as he concerned, they had lost their protection. Their armor. He grabbed the shoulder of the wayfarer and for the first time since the wayfarers arrived in Aetheria, a denizen had not acted like a “NPC”. The female wayfarer was tossed to the ground as Qoren moved past in a huff, brows narrowed.

“Move.” He spat, as he left the building.

It was only the beginning.


“Hey!” The wayfarer shouted as she was pushed to the floor, dropping an assortment of books she had collected in the process. “...ow. What the heck?”

Sif quickly moved to gather the tomes before her as the denizen stomped off, exiting the tavern as he did so.

Another quirk of the glitch, she supposed. Normally it would’ve been fascinating to consider, but after only one day removed from the Dungeon that had claimed Atlas, Enos, and Aaginim’s lives she wasn’t really thinking like herself. It was nearing noon and Siegfried was still sleeping in the room they had rented. She had seen Rael outside in the streets, lounging on a tree branch. She had seen some faces in the tavern as she had went to move her books from her bags in her room to the table in the corner she had selected to be her “place” for most of the day.

She was certain nobody from the group who ran the dungeon had left Thorinn.

Everyone was still reeling and coping, though she did notice other wayfarers had started to act way more tense. She didn’t blame them. Some of them had lost friends doing simple quests. Others were just panicking about the greater consequences. It had only been a day and there hadn’t been another GM message, though she did wonder how much time had passed in the real world. Considering the fact they were in an altered dreamscape it could have very well been only a few hours or even a mere few minutes. She was no expert on technology she had no idea about. Nobody was.

Right now everyone had to keep their spirits up. Hope for the best but expect the worst. Survive.

Location: City Streets, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The first night went better than Rael expected.

Priscilica was putting distance between Luci and the others. She didn’t particularly have a grievance with it. Hardly was the time to induct people or be shoulder-to-shoulder with someone who had a lot of survivor’s guilt.

After they had buried the three they lost they spent little time together with the only commonality being that they thought it was better to stick together for better or worse. Graves and Alja had spent the night drinking. Kazuki had made himself scarce. Siegfried and Sif stuck together. She hadn’t seen Benkei since the burial. She saw all of them from time to time, Kalie too, as they convened at the Laughing Worg Tavern. It was a central place. Big. Crowded. It was the largest tavern in the city and it was right across the street from one of the larger innhouses. Rael had booked a few nights as she mulled over her immediate plans. She didn’t have a house in Thorinn so lodging would have to be on the fly. Most of her savings were in another city-state, so she only really had what was on-hand. Eventually she would have to find work. Eventually all of the wayfarers had to.

Groups of various guilds and casual groups had flocked together in the taverns, holding it together out of some hope the glitch would be fixed. It had been a whole night and there was no word, but she knew out-of-game time was moving a little differently, especially since the systems were interrupted. She was studying at Tokyo U for advanced computer sciences and programming. Her father was on the board of directors for the game that had effectively endangered everyone’s lives. She kept her insider knowledge a little to herself, knowing full well trying to explain things wouldn’t do an iota of help; heck, some people might’ve targeted her if she revealed it.

Sleeping had been… easier… then she thought it would be. She had never seen anyone die before. She had never sat down beside them as they choked on their own blood. Turns out when you’re exhausted it didn’t matter how much anxiety you felt in your bones. In her dreams—a dream within a dream, she supposed—she had imagined the world shaken; splintered by maniacal and broken people who wanted everything from revenge to chaos. It was a nightmare that shook her so much she woke up in a cold sweat right as the sun was rising. It wasn’t that the world in her dream had been rendered into madness that got her, but more that it was her fault and she would pay her dues.

She didn’t say anything about it when passing Sif in the barroom earlier. She didn’t say anything to anyone she recognized. All she did was grab her notepad and a bucket of apples and went for a walk.

Ever since she had gotten back to Thorinn she had decided to take notes. Of everyone’s behavior. The things that glitch changed. So she could figure out things. Inbetween doing something she’d do in college—draw sketches of people she’d see passing by. She was no Takashi Murakami or Yayoi Kusama, but she was pretty good. The internet thought so. Turns out that kind of skill transferred over to the dreamscape. That had been in the base game, she supposed. People’s reflexes worked out. People who were good at guitar in the real world were natural bards in Aetheria. Same went for a lot of tactile skills. She had never really noticed before, though; she was always too busy “collecting” and fighting. Dungeoneering. Keeping the spotlight on her.

She paused for a moment on the tree branch that overlooked the town square, laying on it in the shade. Better in the heat or in the taverns and innhouses that had yet to discover air conditioning. Thorinn was sticky and hot. It was swampy on a bad day and just hot on a good one.

She reached into the bucket of apples and took out one of them, taking a bite.

Temperature and weather now affected them. Pain. Fatigue. Friendly spells. She was sure the list didn’t stop there.

Not that kind of information would help much. If her nightmarish anxieties were any inkling close to the truth, human nature would get the better of people. Fear and… selfishness would overtake them. Priorities would change. Perhaps Wayfarers would be too scared to shut down the dungeons and more monsters would group up in hordes and devastate the countryside. She frowned at the thought. She had no place to worry about others being selfish, she had played the entire game that way. But that was before people could die. She never hurt anyone. As far as she knew all she had ever done was annoy them with her antics. She dismissed the thought; no use about worrying about hypotheticals when things in Thorinn could get very scary very soon.

But it was only the first day after the glitch. What kind of person would go insane after one day?

Location: Kazuki’s Home-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

He woke up.

But he did not respond.

For hours, he stared out into empty space. Kazuki had no idea what was going on in his brother’s head, but he needed to give him time to heal. He had his own ideas and plans to consider as well, so in the morning he set out with his own goals.

But what was going on in Kazuma’s head?

He’d remembered every aspect of that dream. Perhaps it wasn’t really a dream then, but a fantasy so strong it just erupted through his mind. A desire for friends, for belonging, for understanding. For people who cared about him and treated him like a person and not just a...useless thing.
Atlas..
But fantasies don’t come true. They’re fantasies for a reason. Playful dreams and ideas those without power think of, and dream of. Kazuma thought that Pariah Online would let him feel powerful, like he belonged somewhere. But it was no different than home. It was cruel.
Enos…
It was unfair.
Aaginim.
And then Kazuma began to think. His mind racing about every minute detail of the past few days. Everything about the glitch. Their hunger, their pain, their senses. The death.

It was real.
Luci…
And Kazuma expressed the first emotion he’d been able to, with the isolation of his brother’s house protecting him from the gaze of others.

He wept.

Location: The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

There were many things on Kalie’s mind, but the one thing she didn’t mind was the separation of Luci and the others from each other. It was the one thing that felt the correct thing to do because, after all, it wouldn’t be fair to force everyone into one guild right now. She had so much survivor’s guilt in her that she barely felt like she was alive. The look on her face felt like she was half-dead or completely exhausted. It didn’t help; all she wanted to do was cry during the funeral or what was called a funeral. It took her pinching herself to feel something, that she was alive, but she felt defeated. As such, all she could think, what if it was me buried? What would the others think about me dying like that? It hurt because while playing the game as a game, and she didn’t make any good friendships or anything; she mostly made people envious or hated her. However, after everything had happened, she didn’t like this at all.

The place where they decided to convene at was no other than the Laughing Worg Tavern. Kalie didn’t feel like laughing; all she wanted to do was cry herself to sleep for everything that happened. Before the glitch, she did visit the Laughing Worg Tavern once or twice the previous times, and she did visit Thorinn. It made her remember her savings, and thankfully they were in this city-state compared to others. Basically, a precaution against being harassed by Gloro Inquisitors primarily. All Kalie wanted to do was book a room at the Inn-house across the street so she could sleep there for a few nights. Also, she did see Rael doing the same thing as her. Her mind was fried, and she hadn’t thought of what she could do otherwise. She sighed as she walked into her inn-room, and all she could do was feel utterly hopeless and helpless all the same time.

Kalie got prepared to sleep, but all she could do was start tearing up and crying again. It bubbled over from the first time she broke down. She was scared for her life, and everything was wrong, so wrong. When her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep while tears were in her eyes. As she slept, she had a nightmare, an unbearable nightmare, and it was one of the worst things she saw. In Kalie’s nightmare, it felt like Hell has come to swallow her up because the thing she saw was her death at the hands of her sister Susan as Marta Augustine. All Marta was doing was laughing that she could get rid of the precious favorite daughter in her family. However, Marta was struck through the heart by a Green Glowing Sword with green colored wisps flying in the air. Someone spoke, which was recognized as Fiora, who told Marta that she should have never crossed that line; the line was never to kill your siblings or family. However, this shocked Kalie out of her nightmare, and waked up with sweat while looking outside and noticing the sun was rising. ’ No. Sister… Why? I-I don’t want to die...’ Kalie thought with her rested eyes.

It didn’t take long. Kalie decided to brush her long hair before getting up and going to the tavern. Thankfully, she made sure she was wearing her clothes because that would be embarrassing. It didn’t take too long for her to make it to the Tavern. She did notice a man walking out of the tavern in a hurry. He looked like one of the important NPCs in Thorinn, but that wasn’t important now, but how he acted was a bit hateful to the Wayfarers. She walked into the Tavern with a feeling of not being herself and looked at the tavern's other wayfarers. It didn’t take long to notice Sif with tons of tomes in her hand; all she did was wave at her. The only small thing she could do at this moment, and she walked to the bar and sat down at one of the chairs. ” Can you please get me something to drink? Uh, and something to eat, please.” Kalie said to the person behind the bar. It would be a good idea for her to get something to eat and drink. Better to have a full stomach than an empty one. In the back of her mind, What’s going to happen to us now? I have no idea what to do… why does this have to happen?

Kalie was utterly lost in all of these events; life's loss was extremely hard for her. There was a slight dread in her heart; what if she had to meet the Gloro Inquisitors again. Would her nightmare play out the same way, and where her sister would murder her? It made her shiver down her spine at the thought, even though she was the reason for most of the recruits being in Gloro Inquisitors. One person in the Gloro Inquisitors interested her, mostly because she would always get into other’s personal space and business. ’ I do wonder what happened to… Vizera Aykthos... I do hope she’s still alive because it would be depressing if she died… Even though I was such a bitch to her… but it was because I was curious about her intentions in joining our guild. However, she shut me down much at every turn...' Kalie thought, holding both of her hands close to her chest, praying for the safety of others. It was scary, but Vizera felt different from the others in the guild.

All these feelings of regret didn’t help her; she started tearing up again and tried to wipe her tears. Kalie hadn’t tried to get to know many people, but only because she was roleplaying like her sister usually is to her. She has a problem, and that was all the mental abuse by Susan’s hate-filled life. The smallest thing, Susan, never once came to her holding anything dangerous, but now she was terrified of her life of meeting her in-game again. She always knew her sister despised her so much that Susan hoped her to die one of these days. ” Susan...” Kalie said under her breath with a look of massive hurt on her face. It couldn’t be helped, and she had a feeling one of the people at the dungeon probably heard her say her sister’s name. She couldn’t hold herself from saying it normally, and it’s something she always regrets more than anything.

Location: Westwood, Indiana, U.S.A

---

Andrew sat alone in the dark. It was quiet. Quiet, save for that high-pitched ringing in the back of his head and the blood pounding in his ears. There was nowhere else in the house he could hear himself think. Nowhere else he could go to work through the pain he felt in his chest. The argument kept playing in his head over and over. He kept wondering if he could've said that differently, or interrupted there, or if he'd known just a little bit more...Could it have ended differently?

Light entered the room as the cellar door creaked open. He pulled his knees up to his chest and held his breath, waiting. A figure descended down the stairs with the thudding of heavy boots. They shut the door behind them. Andrew waited for the yelling to start again-

-And then Anna pulled the chain on the cellar's only lightbulb, washing the space in a dull glow.

"Knew you'd be down here." She rasped, seating herself on the last two steps across from him. Anna was ten years his elder, with the same mess of black hair and eyes tinged with mischief. She was the second oldest after Jess, and had come back to Westwood for Christmas. Anna was the only one that had come back.

She set two shot glasses against one of the stairs and pulled a bottle off a nearby shelf, and began pouring two drinks.

"You heard dad?" He sniffled, wiping the snot and tears from his face with the back of his sleeve.

"Whole damn neighborhood could hear him," she snorted. "Old man whipped out the King James n' started shouting about hellfire n' brimstone. Its been...Jesus, its had'ta been ages since I last heard him quote the word at one'a us. Was the first night I brought a girl home, I think. So, how'd you fuck up?"

Andrew just shook his head. He let the conversation play through his mind like a track set on repeat. If he'd just been a little smarter, a little better with words, a little more insistent...He didn't answer her question.

The two sat in silence for a moment, staring at the same bit of dirt on the ground between them.

"Here." She leaned forward suddenly, pressing a glass into his hand. "To loosen the tongue."

He just looked at it. Dark liquid swirled in the glass. "I'm not old enough to-"

"-Do it." She insisted, taking a shot of her own. "Its fine, I promise. You'll feel better."

It was the worst thing he'd tasted in living memory. It was all Andrew could do not to let it come sputtering back out. Anna's giggling at him was the only thing that let him force it back down.

"Do you give this stuff to your students, too?!"

She shook her head. "Its only for people I give a shit about." She paused, looking at him. Looking into him. "And I give a shit about you. So tell me what's goin' on, Andy."

Then the flood gates opened, and everything he'd kept dammed up inside came spilling out. "Ray kept bugging me to let him come over. Said we'd been hanging out too long for him to have never met my family. I told him it was a bad idea. Told him what they were like, but he's a stubborn idiot and he wouldn't give it up. We weren't even doing anything when dad came in."

Anna nodded, slowly. Her voice was a soft rasp. "Yeah. I heard what he called you."

"Why?" The tears flowed freely down his cheeks. "Why's he hate me?"

His older sister sighed, a hand moving to rub her forehead. She couldn't look at him; she looked so uncomfortable he thought, for a moment, she might just get up and leave. People were never something she was good at. Instead, she whispered: "I don't think he hates you."

Andrew just looked up at her, confused. Confused and hurt.

"I think..." She sighed. "I think in his own, fucked up way, he cares. He just doesn't-"

"How could you say that?!"

"-He just doesn't understand and I don't think he ever will." Anna looked back at her brother, her own eyes going misty despite herself. "He's an old man, Andy. He grew up in a different kinda place in a different kinda time, and the world's changed. It changed around him and he refused to change with it."

She pushed herself off the stairs and moved over to where Andrew was sitting against the wall. She fell down beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He was a total mess, now. Anything he tried to say just came out as more tears. "I know." She muttered to him. "I know it sucks. But you can't fix everything, Andy. You gotta learn to accept that sometimes- sometimes things just are a certain way n' you've gotta change around 'em. Adapt. That's how you survive."

The rest of the conversation began to blur, like he was looking at the memory through a broken mirror. Anna was explaining to him that she and her husband were moving up to Michigan; he'd gotten a big promotion and this was their chance to get a real, honest-to-God place. She was going to leave town, and she was offering to let Andrew go with them. He wasn't going to take it. He was going to explain how he couldn't leave the others behind. He couldn't leave Lucy or Karen or even Will in a place like this; he had to protect them.

It was all a blur.

.

.

.

A blur of excuses, of half-truths.

.

.

.

Of words he didn't really mean.

.

.

.

Andrew looked up, and he saw someone else standing at the top of the stairs. Someone that hadn't been there when it happened. It was a man. He came stumbling down the stairs, a trail of blood left behind him. It was a man Graves recognized: a man with a hole plunged through his chest.

Location: The Innhouse, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

And Graves woke up, screaming.

Location: City Streets -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The denizen working at the Drox guild hall creased her eyebrows in sympathy, thumbing through an oversized codex. "Did you say he frequently met with a guild based in Thyrien? Those guilds typically congregate in the midlands of Aetheria."

Alex paused. He traveled here knowing full well the guides were going to tell him prescripted information meant to guide new players along, information that was worthless to him. Instead the woman had given an entirely different answer. "I see. Thank you," he replied, not bothering to hide the disappointment in his voice. His trip to the guild had been for emotional reasons and not logical ones, born out of a desperate need to do something and find the whereabouts of his brother. He wasn't expecting to actually find any useful information. Her answer though, as odd as it may have been, was useless all the same. A predictable end to his impulsive plan, he supposed.

The energy that he overflowed with and the urge to do anything returned in a greater wave than before, as did the worries over his brother. His brother's guild was good at combat, he thought to reassure himself, but so were...

Images of impaled and crushed corpses burned in his mind.

So much for keeping his thoughts occupied.

As he continued to wander throughout the day, he inevitably found himself gravitating towards the Laughing Worg. Taverns and wayfarers had a symbiotic relationship, and it had been the first idea to form in his mind. He needed the buzzing of people around him, someone he could strike up conversations with. It was a good plan B. He was also thinking about something else he could find in a tavern, another way to ease himself. He usually never indulged in that sort of thing, but nothing about his life was usual right now.

He entered the tavern with slower steps, a contrast to how he'd greeted his previous group.

Just a little bit of drinking. It won't hurt.

Location: The Wilds -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Location: The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

With little more than an hour of fitful sleep behind her, Seele struck out into the city. Things were…decidedly and expectantly hectic. More Wayfarers than she’d ever seen at once had converged on the city, seeking protection. They were tired, they were hungry and thirsty, but most of all they were afraid. Dozens of times she was stopped by those who saw her caster’s apparel and asked for buffs. She gave them freely, offered encouraging words and advice as she could.

A few younger players required escorting to others who were either family, or close enough to it. It seemed to her that the smartest Wayfarers were banding together, trying to organize themselves into new guilds or just unofficially sticking to one another.

The denizens were acting a smidge differently too, showing open curiosity in things, taking the initiative to engage in conversations. Some seemed more openly wary or even distasteful of the Wayfarers, but thankfully all of the ones Seele engaged with were more than polite. She’d made something of a routine interacting with them. The NPCs in Pariah had always been a point of interest for her, and she never grew tired of seeing them smile when she’d fetch something for them, or offer them a free salve or a bundle of tonics.

The vendor from which she’d bought sandwich recipes the other day greeted her warmly, and they chatted a bit more freely than before. He voiced what seemed to her to be real concerns, and responded to her own with what felt like sincere thought. Then he told her that his daughter had woken up with a sore tummy, so she gave him a little mixture of mint and chamomile, and he gave her another jar of sandwich spread. They wished each other well, and Seele went on.

Following the general flow of the city eventually led her to The Laughing Worg, a place Seele knew about, but had generally avoided as a player. Taverns in general made her feel…out of place. She didn’t drink, really—except for the once, and only the once—and while she loved to socialize with others, the atmosphere of a tavern at night often clashed with what she had been told was her “general mom-energy.” Nevertheless, things were different now, chief among those things was undoubtedly the atmosphere. So she went in.

Thus far she’d seen a few familiar faces around the city. Most were from old runs in raids or dungeons, done long enough ago now that most of them didn’t remember her in passing. That was good for her, it was what she was used to. Seele had been content to spend most of her career in Pariah as a footnote—albeit a pleasant one—in other people’s experiences on their way to bigger and better things, eventually forgotten, but not out of malice. Seeing Rael near the town square, and Kalie, Alex and Sif at the tavern was different. Not bad, mind, as she still worried for all of them who’d come out of yesterday’s ordeal, just…strange. New. And she certainly wouldn’t run from new.

Off in the corner Seele found another familiar face—or rather, familiar slouched, sleeping figure. Alja lay passed out at a table, alone, with her hand still clutching an empty mug. Closed, pitted eyes and drool staining the table, the woman looked, frankly, wrung-out. Gods help anyone who had tried to move her, or wake her.

Worry bubbled up in Seele’s stomach. She recalled the shadowy hulk of a ball Alja had curled herself into the other day, and while she’d been thrilled to see her appear to regain her strength and confidence, this was…troubling. Completely understandable, of course, but still, troubling.

“Alja, sweetie, hey,” Seele said, taking a seat beside the giant woman. With Alja hunched as she was, they were even level. “Can you hear me? Come on back to us.”

Alja evidently could hear her. The woman shuddered and groaned like a frozen car starting. She opened her mouth and for a moment Seele worried she was going to vomit. Instead, she said…something. Something incomprehensible to Seele, either another language or a drunken garble. Perhaps both. She put a hand on Alja’s back and patted gently, retrieving a small bottle of plant oil from her robes. She mixed it into a half-empty cup of water, prayed that it was, in fact, water, and then offered it over.

“Here, drink this. Little sips, go on. It won’t do too much but it might make the world stop spinning a bit faster.”

Location: Kazuki’s Home-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

It took him some time to compose himself. But he did. It was thanks to his older brother that Benkei felt that he had to keep going. After all, this world was now playing for keeps, and he had to make sure his brother survived. He would not let Kazuki die. He’d failed the others, but he could not fail his family.

“Come on,” he muttered to Kazuki, as he slowly got dressed. He wasn’t wearing his normal armor; though in the back of his mind, he thought he should. They’d also need to consider their health now. If they could die, it meant they could get sick. They could starve. Disease killed just as many people in the middle ages as wars did; and Benkei was certain that without proper hygiene, cleanliness and precautions, many of the wayfarers stuck in Pariah would perish within a year. “There’s a lot we need to do.”

He needed to meet with the others. Every wayfarer he met, he needed to talk to. Most of the players in Pariah were older. They were students and adults with different skills. And if they were going to be stuck here in this world, they’d need to use everything possible to their advantage. Doctors, nurses and pharmacologists could devise medicines, engineers and mechanics could build more advanced tools and machines. While they lacked the technology from their own world, they did not lack the knowledge. And the first group of people that would meet with him, that would talk these things out? They were his party members.

He failed Aaginim, Enos and Atlas. He failed Luci. But he wouldn’t fail everyone else. He was so obsessed with himself, that when he finally laid eyes on Kazuki’s books, he looked at his brother. “Kazuki, are you planning on studying medicine here?”

"My healing has its limits, apparently," Kazuki replied, lightly rubbing his temples. "The rules have changed, so at this point I've decided to cover all my bases. If I understand the human body and my magic better, I can be more effective."

“It looks like we both have the same idea then. I want to meet with the others, and other players as well. There's a lot of information here in this world, but we all have skills and knowledge from the real world as well. If this place is anything like the normal world, we’re going to need medical knowledge, engineering knowledge and other expertise.”

Kazuki scowled at the mention of engineering, albeit he seemed to agree with everything else. After a few seconds of pause, he let out a small sigh. "Banding together, huh?" He seemed to be looking far away, a small frown on his face. "Think they'll be open to the idea?"

“If they want to live, they’ll have to. The average lifespan of a person back in the 1800s was roughly 30 years. That was the average life span everywhere. If we want to avoid dying in this game, we’ll need all the help we can get. And right now the first place is with those that will listen: namely our party members.”

For a second, Kazuki was uncharacteristically quiet, even for him. He opened his mouth once or twice to talk, but he seemed to struggle with his words. Finally, he asked, "You don't think they'd be with Luci?"

“They could be. She may not listen. But I think some will. Alex, Graves, Rael, Seele, even Kalie. I think they’d be open to listen to us. I bet even Prisilica and Leaves would listen. Luci? Probably not.” He was unsure about Alja. If she stayed by Luci’s side, she could demand them leave. But he had to try and reach out to them. He needed all the help he could get.

The two brothers gathered their things and made their way to The Laughing Worg. Benkei hoped that people would listen. In his mind, working together was their only hope for survival.

Location: The Innhouse, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Time and a hot bath helped ease the nightmare. The scars were old ones, yet they felt as raw as the ones he'd earned just yesterday. He washed them all the same. It was odd how quickly he'd adjusted to the feeling of pain in Pariah; he'd gone from losing his shit to shrugging it off in, what, a couple'a hours? He had to wonder if being Graves had helped with that. Pain was his build's forte, after all. It was a curiosity to mull over, at least, as he got ready for the day.

He climbed out of the bath only to find that the one pair of clothes he owned were shredded and stained beyond saving. The armor would need maintenance, too. He'd gotten the suit commission way back in Theremia a lifetime ago. It wasn't like most armor. It needed a specialized touch. There was a particular shop in town dealt in lamellar that he'd drop it off at on his way to the Worg.

The night he'd spent there was a blur, if he was honest. He'd gotten blackout drunk with Alja trying to forget the dungeon and its horrors. It hadn't worked, but the two of them'd had a blast anyway. Graves grinned to himself remembering the pieces he could. She'd told a lot about herself- far more than he'd given back. Should he call her Kelly when they met up again?

'Would that be weird?'

After scrounging through what few belongings he had on him, Graves came up with the needle and thread to make his pants wearable and a vest that would- for now- function as a shirt. Clothes shopping was on the TO-DO list too, he supposed. That got a groan out of him. He could barely be bothered to buy new socks in the real world. Why'd it have to follow him here, too?

Just before he stepped out into the street he tried to pull up his console one more time. Nothing. It'd been a full day and they hadn't heard a peep from the game masters. Try as he might, Graves just couldn't shake the feeling that they were in for the long haul. 'Right, adapt. Okay.'

The trip to the Worg was approximately twelve steps across the street, but he took a brief detour toward the Town Square to finish up his chores first. He had some things he wanted to purchase if they were going to be here awhile, on top of everything else he'd already mulled over.

And then he ran into something else he couldn't stop thinking about.

"You a monkey now or somethin'?" Graves called up to Rael. "If you're not too busy bein' a do-nothing, I got some errands to run. Wouldn't mind the company."

Location: City Streets, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

"You a monkey now or somethin’?"

The red-haired girl held her pencil in her hand as she turned her head. Of all of the people to notice her relaxing in the shade. She smirked, as she looked Graves over in what she supposed was his normal clothes. Her smirk almost fell when she noticed the lines of his vest, or particularly how defined he was underneath his armor. Normally, she would’ve answered a question about being a monkey or weird or whatever, but it went right over her head as he followed it up with another inquiry.

"If you're not too busy bein' a do-nothing, I got some errands to run. Wouldn't mind the company."

“Geeze, he’s a little forward.” Hanako muttered in the back of her brain.

“Not like I got anythin’ better to do.” She mused as she closed her sketchbook and moved it into her bags before jumping off the tree branch, landing with the dexterity of a cat. “What kind of errands?”

Location: City Streets, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Rael was outta the tree with a leap that would've ended with Graves on his ass. He raised a brow at what looked like a book she'd just shoved into a bag, but he didn't comment. Instead he turned away, making his way down the road with long, quick strides. Errands were perhaps his least favorite thing in the world; best to get this done as soon as possible so they could meet back up with the rest of the party. It was...strange, how attached he'd gotten to them all so quickly. Another thing to think about.

"Let's see." He adjusted the bag he had over his shoulder so he could count it all out on his fingers. "Gotta drop my armor off to get it patched up. Gotta get myself somethin' other than rags to wear. Wanna stop by the bank, too, n' see if I've got the coin to find a place to stay- don't wanna spend too long cooped up in the innhouse, y'know? And I figure we'll be here awhile." He shrugged.

His expression darkened somewhat. "Wanted to drop by Prophecy, too. See if Pris needs help with anything. Figure she has her hands full now."

"You think they'd want to see us?"

"I know they don't." He snorted. "Get the impression Pris can tolerate us, at least. N' I'm not gonna stay to chat. But I feel like I oughtta help. Even if its just somethin' small, like pickin' up groceries. Feel obligated, I guess. I know it'll sound stupid to you."

"I don’t think it sounds stupid. Weird, I guess. Never had anyone do something nice for me, so I wouldn’t know."

Graves gave her an eyeroll so massive that his whole body moved with it. "Aside from saving your ass maybe a dozen times, sure."

The pair of them rolled up on the tailor's shop in the town square. It was a fairly sizeable, one floor establishment, with every inch of it covered in some kind of fine material or displaying a piece of clothing. It was so densely packed with stuff that just navigating the place turned out to be a task in and of itself. And the woman that ran the place turned out to be just as exquisite as her wares.

"Considerin' I'm the size of a cow I don't think they'll have anything that'll fit off the rack." He told Rael over his shoulder. That meant getting measurements, talking about pricing and materials and all other sorts of shit Graves was loathing. Still, it could be worse- he could be stuck here by himself. "Maybe I'll get you a gumball and be the first person to ever do somethin' nice for you."

“You’re not funny.” She remarked, following in tow.

It was only partially a joke. Part of him wanted to follow through with it; buy her something- a 'gumball'- so he could hold it over her head and tease her about it for the rest of the day. But the reasonable part of him won out and the words died in his throat, and their brief shopping adventures continued. Most of the places he needed to go were in or around the town square: the armorer was a bit more of a walk, but it minutes long at most. The two of them would be back 'round to the Worg in short order. They still had some time alone. Time to talk.

After a remarkable bout of silence, Graves finally spoke up again. It was a question that'd been nagging him since the dungeon- during it, even. "Why aren't you freaking the fuck out about any of this?"

“Why aren’t you?”

"I'm a God damn mess. But I'm learning to roll with the punches. Adapt or die, right? You, though...I'on't think I've seen you so much as flinch."

“Yeah… it’s weird. I don’t get it.” Rael said, burying her hands into the pockets of her longcoat.

“Sometimes I think I should be scared. I mean, I get nightmares the same as everyone else, but I’m not having panic attacks in the middle of dungeons or shaking in a corner like a baby. My therapist would probably have an answer. Something about compartmentalizing things. I dunno. I guess it hasn’t really hit me yet.”

Talk of nightmares made Graves frown. He did his best to shake it quickly. "You can afford a therapist?" He snorted. It came off more rude than he intended. "Probably better than the alternative, though. Benkei- Luci- they're goin' through some rough shit."

“Everyone kind of broke in some way last night.” She admitted, offering a shrug. “I don’t know how you heal from that. I’ve never been close to anyone. Maybe that’s why I seem so… fine with things.”

"Come on, never? With anyone?"

She shook her head, “No one.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, incredulity all over his face. "You're serious." Graves blinked. "Not a- a parent, a sibling? Distant cousin? Lover? Close friend? None of it?"

"How do you get through life like that?"

“I don’t know. Only childhood friends I ever knew were in manga.” She half-laughed, obviously trying to keep a strong face through it all. It didn't hold up too well under scrutiny.“Never had a boyfriend. Only thing my parents told me was how much of a disappointment I am. Guess they were right. I am trapped in a video game world.”

That last line, for all its corniness, had Graves in stitches all the way to the front step of the Laughing Worg tavern. They'd finished up all but the visit to Priscilica, and he was still undecided on whether to go through with that one or not. And Rael had given him plenty more to think on. He almost continued. He was close to spilling more about himself than he had to anyone whose last name wasn't Gray. But they were at the Worg, now, and what Andrew was good telling Rael certainly wasn't for anyone else in the party to hear.

So they stepped inside to join the others.

Location: The Laughing Worg -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele listened quietly as Alja got her bearings, only for her to quickly come apart again. She put a hand over the woman’s own, much bigger hand, and put on a consoling smile, but did not interrupt. Sometimes it was right to try and divert a self-destructive path early on, but sometimes it was also just as right to let the person grieve. Alcohol wasn’t making Alja bitter with herself, but it was making her honest and open about it, which was, in way, good. Better that thoughts like these were given to the air, rather than left to fester inside. This way at least, there was an opportunity to help.
…
Alja settled back down onto the table, and Seele leaned closer to her. Her eyes were shut, but the bitterness was still evident on her face. The beginnings of a sob worked its way into her voice, briefly, before the woman trailed off. Seele’s heart grew heavy.

“No. No, honey, no. It wasn’t you. Whatever happened back there, it is not on you. None of us would be alive if you hadn’t been as brave as you were. Oh, Alja…” She tried her best to shimmy the woman’s arms under her head, so she at least wouldn’t be resting her face against the table for too long. “There was no way to know. There just wasn’t. Sometimes things happen and all you can do is…go forward. And you did, Alja, you did that. You pulled yourself out of the dark and you went on. That’s not easy, it really, really isn’t. I’m so proud of you.”

She realized quickly enough that Alja had already drifted off. The best she could hope for was that somewhere, subconsciously, she was getting through to the woman, but either way she wasn’t going to abandon her. None of them should have been alone right now, it simply wouldn’t do. Luci, thankfully, had Leaves and Priscilica to be with her.

“Ah, shoot.”

Seele dug through the vast and nebulous pockets of her robe, producing a small copper key. The curio she’d taken from Enos’s body the other day. In the tantrum swells of panic and melancholy that had taken the group, she’d forgotten to pass it on to one of his friends. Oh well, next on the agenda, she supposed. At the very least, it was an excuse to check in on Mystic Prophecy.
…
Absently she’d begun stroking fingers through Alja’s hair and humming quietly to herself. It wasn’t a particularly strange thing, just an old resurfacing habit. She didn’t even recognize the tune, really, couldn’t have named it to save her life.

Just a reflex.

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Can you please get me something to drink? Uh, and something to eat, please.”

Serving at the bar, the older gentleman blinked at the young girl. Pretty as she was, appeared she had lost her manners as much as she had lost her sense.

“Sorry. I’ve never heard of something. Can’t say it’s on the menu.”

It was a weird sensation being able to breathe again. He wasn’t sure if the wayfarers had finally weakened some kind of weird dungeon magic but for the last day he had finally felt like himself again, like everything before had prevented him from being himself for the last year. It was a horrible, tugging feeling and from what he could tell from his wait staff the feeling was pretty universal among all denizens. As a former adventurer in his youth Dariel Yaleioric had seen a number of things, but never things so powerful and unexplainable. It almost made the weird wayfarer behavior even stranger. Dungeons were strange things and even the best magical-whoevers in Iblenar didn’t understand how it all worked. Striga Magic. Gods, he hated Striga magic.

At the end of the day, all Dariel cared about was being himself again. It felt good to be a sarcastic asshole again.

He chuckled before she could respond, “If you’re not too picky, lady, I got some gruel with your name on it. Though I figure you’d want something, I don’t know, more edible? You want some eggs or flatcakes? I make a mean batch. Trust me, I am a god in this kitchen.”

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“I need to be in Iblenar. That’s where all the good libraries are.” The brown-haired girl muttered under her breath at her corner table on the first floor of the Laughing Worg Tavern.

The Guild of Acquisitions had pointed her to a public library fairly early into the morning, though a public library appeared to be all the perils of non-digital archives back home including an immense lack of high quality material, or at least not the quality material of what she was looking for.

There were tons of contemporary literature and tomes detailing the history and tribulations of the City of Thorinn. But what Sif had been looking for was practical and magical knowledge. She was no healer, but the little medical texts she could find available covered the basic fundamentals that she already had a baseline idea about. Why couldn’t Kazuki’s magic work on Aaganim when he arrived? He had crushed by the demon only moments prior so he hadn’t exactly “flatlined”. So why did it happen? Hopefully, Thorinn would have the information she needed to make some sort of hypothesis. So far she had checked out four books from the library in Thorinn—a beginning adventurer’s guide, an atlas, a medical text on physiology, and an encyclopedia of southwestern culture. They were all basic things, but she wasn’t going to find entire treatises on magic or the advanced study of dungeons on a whim in a city that was devoted to primordial magic.

She sighed, thinking to her cousin who had introduced the game to her. A full-bodied role-player. A walking codex. She wondered if she had been logged in during the glitch and if she was still alive.

Ignoring her own anxieties, she looked up upon the sound of more people entering the tavern. Benkei and Kazuki; though it looked more like Kazuki and Benkei instead. It was weird as the impression she got of Benkei was that he was the leader. He was probably still reeling from his seizure. That’s what Sif thought it had been when she rushed over with Kazuki in the dungeon as they rushed to stabilize him. She wondered if she should say something. He looked better, albeit a little pale.

Siegfried hadn’t taken the losses well either, though he compounded rage instead of anxiety and dread. She wasn’t sure when he finally passed out. He had been still awake when she woke up around the crack of dawn so she didn’t expect him for a few more hours.

As he caught her eye she let out a friendly wave. Kazuki seemed to be going toward a table on the opposite end of the tavern floor.

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Kalie felt insulted, but it was her fault for not being specific in what she wanted. It didn’t take much for her to realize that he’s heavily sarcastic with what he said next. She sighed slightly while looking at the man. What he said made more sense to get something edible over gruel, that’s for sure. ” Oh, I am sorry, I should’ve been more specific. Sir, Flatcakes sound great, and ale would be good too.” Kalie said, trying to smile. It was like all she wanted to do was cut short becoming an English Teacher if she wants. All because of being trapped in this game. She did turn her head from where she was sitting and noticed more of her group entering the place. There was something in the bottom of her heart that felt so bad, and it was the words that Kazuki said still stung. It was like she was reliving her days back at high school or the university because many people absolutely didn’t care about her. They were only there for her smarts or what they assumed beauty of her.

It felt like the longer she looked, the more hurt she would become. She decided to stop looking behind her and stare back at the man behind the counter. ” How much would that order of food and drink be? Also, I should introduce myself, and it’s Kalie Augustine. So what’s your name?” Kalie asked curiously. She rarely interacted with NPCs only for quests and whatnot, like learning new spells and stuff like that. It was mostly because she would rather interact with players over dealing with the hassle of the NPCs. If it weren’t for the hack, she would still be doing what she does in this world, but now she has to keep healthy.

Something was nagging at her in the back of her mind how would the others react if she said her real name. ’ All the Gloro Inquisitors know my real name, because of my older sister constantly bitching at me… calling me worthless… calling me trash… telling me I amount to nothing and I should stop trying to become a Teacher.’ Kalie thought to herself. She tried to take those punishments by Susan jokingly, but Susan never jokes. Still, it hurts that her older sister never loved her and used her. She wants to be an English Teacher since there are so many kids who would need a loving and kind teacher to help them through life.

Kalie never once tried to give up on her dreams, but with all those outside forces combining, she shouldn't do this or that it hurt. All at once, she hadn't the courage to stand up to her biggest bully of all, her sister. Whenever she tried to stand with her head held high, Susan would defeat her with the cruelest of words, I absolutely despise you, I do hope you never try anything to make me regret being your sister. It was like the one thing that kept her head down and never once tried to use a but. If it weren't for her parents' intervention, she would never be able to have a slight ounce of freedom from her sister. She had never reflected this much in her life; all she was doing previously was the motions. It would take a long time to get out of underneath her sister's dark, beautiful shadow. However, Susan also did one small nice thing for her, which was enchant her Scythe with the Enchantments it does have. It felt a bit too nice of her sister to hate her, all the time. She had no idea, why Susan has done it or why she never asked anything in return.