Bored.

Boring.

Incredibly boring.

Astra sighed and shifted on the bench. She’d given up sitting and laid down. Now instead of her butt hurting, her shoulder and hip were in pain. This was the worst story!

It had been long enough that her Death Penalty had worn off on its own, which meant that she’d sat in this hole for hours in real life. It was well past her bedtime. She couldn’t access her Menu because her hands were tied behind her, so she couldn’t Log Out, and she couldn’t even fix her armor, which had been torn to shreds by the Razor Boar. Her health had returned with her respawn,  but blood still soaked the leather armor and shredded clothes beneath. She shivered in the chill cell. This was a new experience too. She’d never been cold in the game before. It felt like this was her real body, down to the grumbling of her stomach and hunger pains.

Flicking her tail against her leg, she growled in the darkness. This was bull.

She sat up and turned to the door. Maybe she was supposed to interact with it? Perhaps she’d misunderstood the story cues? She examined the door, but the bars did not indicate what she should do with it. No helpful text popped up that said [Pick Lock] or something similar.

Astra kicked it, feeling the jolt of kicking sturdy metal through her boot.

The door rattled, the clanging of metal-on-metal echoing in the holding cells and up the stairs.

“I need to go to bed,” she whined. She figured she was so tired in real-time that she’d started to feel tired in-game. It was making her cranky.

She kicked the door again.

“Oi! Quiet down there!” someone shouted from above.

Folding her ears down, Astra tapped her foot on the floor. She’d not wanted to resort to destroying things, but this was just too much. If there was one thing she’d learned over the last four years of playing, some structures were destructible. Maybe this door was one of them?

Turning around, she put her hands against the lock. “[Ice Bullet].” This was a relatively new Skill for her. It wouldn’t damage much, but maybe she could chip away at its durability. She’d accidentally come across the Skill Master before the plague had started to spread, a lucky break, considering how difficult it was to find Skill Masters for anything, let alone standard Skills for other Classes.

Peeking back to check the lock, she found the frost quickly melting away. Astra kicked the door again. It didn’t budge. Admittedly, she could have used Raise Undead, but that would’ve been far messier. She’d save that Skill for when she needed it.

“[Haste],” she cast. “[Ice Bullet], [Ice Bullet], [Ice Bullet], [Fire Bullet].” Her ice bullets hit the lock and bounced off. The fire bullet fizzled on contact.

“Oi! What’re you doing down there?” the guard above shouted. She heard his feet crossing the wooden floor above.

“[Fire Bullet], [Fire Bullet], [Fire Bullet].” Her Haste wore off. Astra mule-kicked the door as hard as she could.

It banged but did not budge.

The guard stomped down the stairs, crouching to look at her from the stairs. He was a large Lycanth with a humanoid face and tawny fur growing from his head and down his shoulders. “You ain’t gonna get out with that, girlie,” he said. “Lock’s been warded against Elemental Mastery.”

With that, her escape attempt was effectively thwarted. She didn’t have any levels in Debuff. “Why am I arrested anyway?” she asked.

“Well, the higher-ups gotta have some reason,” the guard said, scratching the side of his head. “An’ considerin’ you are trying to escape, they’re probably right to lock you up.”

Astra folded her ears down. “I’ve done nothing wrong! At least uncuff me? I obviously can’t get out.”

“Nope,” the Lycanth said. He stood, turned, and headed back up the stairs.

“Aarrhhh!” Astra kicked the door again. “This is bull!”

She was about to throw herself down on the bench again when a clatter above resounded through the floor. Footsteps thumped across to the stairs, and the bottom hem of deep blue and gold robes came into view.

The Elven man that descended the stairs was a vision of icy beauty, his long, silver hair shining like stars against his pale skin. Eyes the color of icebergs shot straight through her.

“Xander!” she greeted. How nice to see him! She’d wondered where he’d been. Usually, he would show up within minutes of her appearing back in town. It must have been part of the story. He’d changed his clothes to a Church of Leviathan Brother’s robe. Once held back in a tail, his hair hung in sheets of silver down his back and across one shoulder as he leaned on the railing.

Her Porter’s cold expression didn’t change in the slightest. Not that she’d expected it to. He turned around and went back up the stairs, swishing his robes out of the way with long, graceful fingers.

“Hey—” Astra objected and pressed herself against the bars, trying to peer after him. “Hey! Don’t ignore me!” She slid her face down the gritty bars with a defeated groan. “This event sucks!”

* * *

Shaking head to toe, Xander strode out of the guard room and into the street. The enchanted lamps around the square couldn’t entirely dispel the shadows that clung heavily as night set in.

Her onyx face hadn’t changed a bit since the last time he’d seen her, speckled with white freckles across her nose, her bright green eyes contrasting with her stark white hair. She was short for a Felis and well-endowed, a beautiful Immortal, like all of them had been.

Unfortunately, Xander couldn’t help but be terrified. If she was back, did that mean they were all back? Was the Eternal War going to start again? Clenching his fingers into fists to hide their shaking, he stood in the street. The guard who had brought her in stood awkwardly nearby. The Royal Guard captain also waited.

“So?” the gruff Giant prodded. “What’s the verdict?”

He would have to do something about her. He couldn’t leave her down there. But letting her roam free was out of the question. Xander turned to look at the Felis guard. “She appeared at the Soul Stone?” he asked.

“Yes, according to witnesses. She appeared in a flash of light. She told me she died in the Southlands,” the Felis guard said, tail twitching in agitation.

Witnesses. Which meant that news could get around to other Cursed Ones. There would be no hiding this.

Xander nodded and forced himself to take a steadying breath. Had she been in the Southlands the whole time? No. He’d felt her die. The sudden severing of their Pact had brought him to his knees. It was a feeling of sudden emptiness that tugged at him constantly. He’d spent the first several hundred years drinking to block out that ache, then replaced drink with endless work so he couldn’t think about it. How had he not noticed it was gone for most of the day?

He finally said, “Release her into my custody. I will ensure that she causes no trouble.” Xander knew that his usual icy demeanor covered most of his thoughts and emotions, but he also knew that this had rattled him so much that he was not doing an excellent job hiding how terrified he was. Even the brutish idiot Royal Guard captain had begun to pick up on it.

The Felis had scented his fear the moment Xander had walked past him. The guard hesitated, looking from Xander to the Royal Guard captain, obviously unsure of what to do.

“Maybe we should keep her—”

“I know this one,” Xander interrupted. “She is generally tame, but I know her power. She will remain in that cell only as long as she desires to.” Striding across the cobblestones, he came to stand beneath the Royal Guard captain, looking up at him sternly. “Immortals are not kind. They are not benevolent. They are destructive and endlessly powerful. Death is only a minor inconvenience to them. Do not mistake this one’s docility as weakness.” He saw the Felis guard move from his peripheral but didn’t break eye contact with the Giant before him.

“Then that’s more reason to keep her locked up!” the Royal Guard shouted.

“Immortals do not care about us,” Xander insisted. “If she wants out, she will get out. Leaving her in there will only anger her, and then all of us will suffer.”

“I don’t have the authority—” the Royal Guard started.

“Divine Brother,” the Felis City Guard said, drawing Xander’s attention.

He stood at the door with the Immortal before him. Her hands were still locked behind her back, her tail flicking, ears laid back, though her face was unreadable. The animation of her tail and ears was unusual. Xander had only ever seen her use her face to emote feelings. Had something happened?

She looked like she’d had a rough death. The entire front of her armor was ripped out. Her usual gorget had fallen off entirely. The armor hung like a coat on her, barely preserving her modesty. She had goosebumps on her onyx skin, belying that she was cold. The weirdest part was that she seemed to be aware of what they were saying as if she could actually understand them, a marked difference from the last time he’d had the displeasure of interacting with an Immortal outside of receiving simple commands.

“Release her bindings,” Xander ordered.

The Felis hesitated, but only for a second.

Once her hands were free, the Immortal pulled them forward to rub her wrists and roll her shoulders. She adjusted the hang of her torn and bloody armor to cover herself better. “About time,” she muttered. “I need to go.” Reaching for her pocket, she pulled out a Scroll. Opening it, she scanned it with her eyes. “Why can’t I log out?” she asked. “This is nuts.” She looked up as Xander approached. “Did you finish selling—?”

“Be still,” he told her firmly, mustering everything he had to dare to command an Immortal.

She pursed her lips, ears flicking sideways in shock.

He had her full attention. It was an unusual feeling. He’d spent nearly eight years with her. Sometimes she talked at him or herself, but her words had always been noises that didn’t resemble words. He’d tried talking to her a few times, but she either didn’t hear him or his words made no sense to her either. The only time clear communication had come through was when she gave him a command, such as “stand here” or “go there.” Now, she was speaking sounds that were clearly words, even if he had no idea what she meant by them.

“W-what?” she asked, finally deciding that she wanted to be annoyed. “Be still? What’s that supposed to mean? Are you telling me to shut up?”

Xander did something he never thought he would ever do. He took the Scroll from her hands. “Astra Diane,” he said firmly. “Be silent and follow me. You are in my custody, but I will not tolerate any destructive behavior from you. Is that clear?”

She grasped her empty hands in shock several times, seemingly unable to comprehend what had just happened. “I just need to log out,” she said.

“No,” Xander answered. “You will not log out for the time being.” He put her Scroll into his pocket. Dangerous as it was, he turned his back on her and started walking. “Come.” He didn’t know what “log out” meant, but if it was when she temporarily didn’t exist in the world, then he couldn’t allow that until he got some answers. Perhaps now that they could clearly understand each other he could interrogate her. The idea was absurd. Ordinary people didn’t just talk to Immortals.

After several steps, he heard the pitter of her tiny feet as she jogged to catch up to him. “You’re being rude,” she said, clutching the remains of her armor closed over her breasts. “Give my Menu back. How did you take it? You’re not allowed to do that.” She sounded more confused than anything. “What do you mean I can’t Log Out? You can’t keep me here.”

She pattered up next to him, grasping his sleeve with a slight tug. “Please. I’ve got obligations in the morning. I need to Log Out.”

“Obligations?” Xander asked, stopping in his tracks. “An Immortal with obligations?”

Her ears flattened once more. “Xander. Give me my Menu,” she ordered. “Don’t make me kill you and take it off your corpse.”

“All those years I followed you,” he said, heart in his throat. “I never once thought you capable of such cruelty. You are exactly like the others.” He didn’t know how serious her threat was, but it would be easier to handle her if her Skills were locked.

Astra Diane stared up at him in confusion, only to grunt as his knife stabbed through her ribs. It was a gamble as to whether the item could take her down. He’d seen her defend herself from other Immortals before.

To his surprise, she died.

Her corpse hit the ground, rested there for a moment, then exploded in light.

Xander changed his path, heading towards the Soul Stone. She would respawn there, he knew. He also knew that he could find her wherever she went. Running was not an option.