It turns out everyone lives in different parts of Prague; Ingri actually lives in a village twenty kilometres away. We first stop by Erik’s place and wait for him to pack. I feel uneasy without him—do I crave him that badly or is it because I feel so vulnerable right now?—but he’s really quick about it. Unlike me, he knows perfectly well where his things are.

“What about your work?” I realise.

“I have lots of unused holiday,” he says. “I’ve never had a reason to take it. Now I do.”

“You’re sacrificing your precious off days for me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re the best reason.”

Fefnir takes much longer. We wait for him in the car outside of his university dormitory. When he comes back with two camping bags, he looks pissed.

“My flat-mates are jerks,” he grunts. “They know that I play Draconia so they treated me as if I was infectious or something. If that’s how they treat me now, how is the world going to react to us when people find out the whole truth?”

At last, we arrive at Ingri’s place. Her parents have a traditional rural house with a huge garden. They greet their daughter on the porch; Ingri’s luggage is already prepared because she called her mom in advance. They keep hugging her and talking for several minutes. They must really love her. At least someone has a nice family.

The trunk is overstuffed now. It’s fortunate that Liana chose such a spacious model or five people with baggage wouldn’t be able to fit.

“Are your parents gardeners?” Liana asks.

“My Dad is a botanist, my Mom designs gardens,” Ingri says and keeps my cactus on her lap. “I love plants too, obviously. That’s why I chose to play as an Earthborn in the first place.”

“Makes sense. Scared of becoming a plant yourself?” Fefnir asks bluntly.

“Fefnir, don’t be a prick,” Liana reproaches him.

“What? I just prefer direct questions,” he shrugs.

“Actually, I’m not,” Ingri replies calmly. “There was an initial shock but when I felt Aefener’s cactus, something in me moved. I look forward to being able to connect to nature even if it means my body is going to change significantly. And we’re not plants, geez! We just overtake certain vegetal characteristics that are beneficial for us. Why is it so difficult for other races to comprehend?”

“The Earthborn are quite peculiar,” I explain to Erik. “The simplest definition would describe them as genetic engineers. They can analyze genetic information and alter their bodies.”

We finally depart. I’d prefer to clinch to Erik and not push my hurting back unnecessarily but Liana insists on seat belts again. This time for a different reason.

“I don’t want to be stopped by the police for some nonsense,” she says. “The world is panicking and the EU government might want to control the movement between states.”

She has a point so I stop arguing with her. The pain in my back is getting worse and worse but I take another painkiller and the cushion helps too.

When we finally leave the extended Prague district and hit the highway to Germany, I fall asleep on Erik’s shoulder, comfortable under a warm blanket.

*****

“Ryuu, wake up,” Erik gently shakes me.

“W-what?” I blink, perplexed where we are.

“We’re here. You’ve been sleeping the whole journey,” he explains.

“C-cold,” I shiver. “Oooh, I need the bathroom!”

“Oh, right, maybe we should have woken you when we took a break, sorry,” he wraps me in the blanket and takes me into his arms again. I silently hiss—my wings kept growing during our travel so Erik’s touch is very painful even if he uses the pillow for support.

I look around and find that we’re in an underground parking lot. It’s not that big but then I realise all these expensive cars must belong to Liana only. Damn, why would someone need so many of them? Simply because they can? In Liana’s case, I guess she really must love driving.

Liana, or rather Laura Richter, is talking to her employees a few metres away. They’re already taking out baggage to the elevator. They’re wearing butler, maid or security uniforms. Wow, I’m seeing actual maid uniforms! So these things still exist?

“Okay, follow me, please,” Liana waves at us.

The employees are eyeing us. Did she tell them at least vaguely what’s going? Do they even know their employer plays VR games? I capture their suspiciousness. Our visit must be out of character for Liana.

I try not to stare but I probably do. Liana’s mansion is unbelievable. How can someone even accumulate this much wealth? The house has a modern minimalistic style, almost no excess stuff, but it still manages to appear super luxurious. It’s not a mansion, it’s a palace.

“I never host guests in my house but, thankfully, I do have two guest rooms. Hana insisted,” Liana says.

“Who’s Hana?” Fefnir asks, also staring at everything around.

“My most trusted housekeeper,” she says. “Ah, here she is. Let me introduce you.”

Hana turns out to be a lady in her sixties with sharp eyes, hair tied into a bun and perfect maid visage. Liana must have called her about our situation when I was asleep because Hana doesn’t look that surprised. Her emotions are mixed. On one hand she’s totally devoted to her employer, on the other the prospect of us soon turning into completely different species frightens her. A genuine reaction, to be honest.

“Let’s get this young man into bed,” Hana goes for the most practical solution in front of her. I feel she’s trying to suppress anxiety by making herself busy with tasks.

Even guest rooms, according to Liana never used, are luxurious and spacious. I’d expect nothing less from such a mansion.

“Okay, Aefener and Erik obviously stay together,” Liana instructs us. “Ingri, would you mind sharing a room with Fefnir? Hana will separate the beds, of course. We can make better arrangements later.”

“No problem,” the girl shrugs.

“Bathroooooom,” I beg.

Erik smirks and takes me there. Everyone is busy unpacking when we return.

“Food is ready, Madam,” Hana reservedly looks inside. “Should we bring it here?”

“Yes, please, Ryuuto is too weak for the dining room,” Liana agrees and uses my real name with her.

Three servants come in and bring numerous plates on food trolleys. Liana says thanks in German and dismisses them. Hana stays a little longer just to put a table sheet on the bed in case we make a mess and then leaves.

Everybody sits down and we dig in, not worried about appearances. It’s food for at least ten people but I think we’ll finish all of it.

“Our transformation must require a lot of calories,” Fefnir contemplates. “We’re super hungry every few hours.”

“Something tells me you’re always super hungry,” Ingri teases him while she’s pouring olive oil on the salad.

“I do lots of sport,” Fefnir goes for roast beef.

“Oh, come on, Ryuu, have some protein,” Erik is trying to force me to eat baked chicken. My hands are shaking so much that Erik decided to feed me. “You can have a dessert after a proper meal.”

“I don’t want to,” I struggle with him.  

“You really do have a horrible diet,” he frowns. “Your body needs protein now more than ever. You’re growing wings, for God’s sake.”

He puts a fork with a chicken piece under my nose.

“Oooh, I think I’m gonna puke again!” the smell irritates my stomach immediately.

“Erik, don’t!” Liana stops Erik from trying to force a fork down my throat. She hits her forehead as if she’s just realised something. Judging by her excited emotion, she has.

“Everyone, stop for a moment and look at the meal you’ve chosen,” she tells us.

“Whut?” Fefnir’s mouth is full of beef.

“Oh, I get it,” Ingri is the first one to understand. “We’ve instinctively chosen food according to our future races.”

“Some explanation, please?” Erik implores.

“I took salad,” Ingri starts explaining. “Earthborn are vegans in the game. You went immediately for meat, Fefnir. You didn’t even bother with potatoes or dumplings because Dragonkin are carnivores. Liana chose pasta with lots of cheese, Celestials are vegetarians.”

“Oh, right!” Fefnir nods furiously. “Aefener, what were the meals that upset your stomach?”

“Hmm,” I start thinking. “I had Thai at Erik’s, it had fish in it. Later I had some lasagne which contained ham. At the restaurant, I ordered pancakes with eggs and spinach but there were pieces of ham again. Before we left Prague, I had cheese pizza. My stomach was okay after that. So you think…?”

“Yeah, afraid so,” Liana says. “Our digestive systems are changing as well. For me, Fefnir and Ingri it seems to be starting with mild taste preferences but I bet you can no longer digest meat. Now you can’t even bear to smell it.”

“Okay, got it,” Erik comes to terms with it quickly and changes baked chicken for pasta, following Liana’s example. “Still no sweets for you as the main course but we can forget about meat.”

I finish the whole plate under five minutes and even ask for a second helping.

“So? Does your stomach feel alright?” Erik asks me, concerned.

“Seems so,” I nod. “Can I have some dessert now, please?”

My gaming friends are giggling at our interaction which brightens the otherwise tense atmosphere.

“I’ve never seen anybody eat so poorly and unbalanced,” Erik shakes his head. “I’ll keep checking your diet from now on.”

“That sounds menacing,” I’m almost worried what it entails.

“Try this one,” Liana points at one of the cakes.

I give it a try and….

“Heavenly Lemon Cake!” I exclaim, astonished. “But how…?”

“Many attempts and errors in the kitchen,” Liana grins. “I asked Hana to replicate it and just two months ago she was finally successful. I was thinking about posting the recipe online for all players to enjoy, but that was before all this.”

When servants take away empty dishes, Erik helps me to lie down on my left side. I was acting cheerful during our meal but it exhausted me completely.

“Fever doesn’t go away no matter how many pills he takes,” he’s worried.

“It might be a good thing,” Fefnir says. “When ill, high temperature helps the body.”

Liana chews her lip and looks at me. “So… do we post it? It’s your decision, Aefener.”

I’m really glad that she’s not forcing me. Being given a choice is always nice even though I feel I have to do it—like I somehow owe it to other players. Funny, do I think like the true Emperor now? I do feel obligated to my fellow gamers.

Not wanting to go to hospital because they would find out about my telepathy is one thing but this is a safe method how to convey important information without endangering myself. We need to document it. What if I’m going to need help with the process but some players will go through their transformation alone and die? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if a few videos could prevent it.

 “Yeah,” I say firmly. “The players and doctors need to know what to expect.”

“How do we go about it?” Erik stays sceptical. “I don’t want Ryuuto to suffer any negative consequences by making his case public. Being labelled as patient zero is never a good thing.”

“That’s why we brought him here in the first place,” Liana assures him. “I’ll shelter him for as long as necessary. And it’s not as if Aefener’s condition is infectious so there shouldn’t be negative consequences, only extreme publicity.”

I gulp, ‘only’ she says. It sounds so simple. I should be used to publicity, being a famous streamer, but I’ve never shown my real face. I don’t want to start with it now so we decide that I’ll be lying on my stomach, not facing the camera, and Fefnir will try to describe my condition to the audience off screen. Liana won’t be connected to the video at all.

“Uff, my back looks like this now?” I’m dazed when we review it. Unless someone argues our video is a total fake, there’s no mistaking what’s going on.

My wings got so big that their bone structure is super visible under the skin. No wonder I can’t sit leaning back without a pillow. And that’s not all, feathers kept developing as well and areas around the swellings are now covered with tiny fluff. White, of course, so everyone will probably get the same colour as ingame. And instantly recognise it’s me.

“Can you really post it so that the source can’t be tracked, Li?” Erik asks, still not fully comfortable with the idea, but he perceives my determination and why I feel obligated to do it.

“Don’t worry, I own some of the best encryption protocols.”

I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.

*****

A heated argument wakes me up. I blink, confused for a moment. Then I remember that I’m lying in Liana’s guest room so I calm down. I feel weak. So weak. My whole body is hurting as if thousands little needles were piercing every cell of my body.

“You’re too loud,” I whisper a complaint. “Take it to another room, I’m still sleepy.”

“Aefener,” Liana is furious.

“Did something happen?” I’m wide awake in an instant. “Did they track it to you? How long was I sleeping?”

“Two hours and they didn’t have to,” Erik sighs and carefully caresses my fluffy feathers.

“There’s a leaker in the mansion,” Fefnir clutches his fists. “Now the whole world knows where you are and that Laura Richter is also involved.”