The rocky terrain made traveling at a pace difficult. Forested mountains surrounded them, littered with granite boulders and fallen trees meant there were no clear paths. Astra had taken the lead but honestly had no idea where to go. She needed to level, which meant that she would need to find enemies to fight. Which Skill should she level, though? Raise Undead was high already.

“Let’s camp for the night,” Xander said. There was still plenty of daylight left.

She looked back at him, finding him standing braced against a tree branch, one foot on a fallen log she’d hopped over.

Ears falling, Astra said, “Sorry, didn’t know you were tired.” Now that she’d stopped, Astra realized that she was tired, legs trembling and back sweaty beneath her leather armor. She’d picked out her second-best armor since her best set was ruined by the Razor Boar.

She had let go of the notion that all this was an update to Ashguard. If it was, they’d changed everything about the game and made it a single player. Things were too real; from sweat sticking her shirt to her skin to the bugs annoying her ears. Then, there was the fact that she still couldn’t log out. While the game had been out for four years, she didn’t think the developers would change everything like that without warning. That only left the option that she was actually in Ashguard and it was a real world, not a game at all.

“I’m not, but it will be too dark to make a proper camp if we wait much longer,” Xander said.

“Right...” Feeling awkward, Astra turned to look around the area. It wasn’t very clear, but she supposed it would do? She’d never been in charge of making the camps since she had never been the one who needed them.

“Clear the leaves from here,” Xander directed, pointing with a stick he’d picked up. “We’ll put the fire there.”

“Oh. Okay.” Glad to have something useful to do, she pulled out her farming rake and got started. Shortly, she had the whole area down to the dirt, the leaves piled on one side. It had been clearer than she’d thought, and pulling the small shrubs wasn’t difficult. Xander dropped a load of sticks into the center and started arranging them.

It wasn’t like Astra needed a fire in order to feed them, though. Sitting down across the way, she watched him until he dropped his hands to his lap.

“Don’t have anything to start it with, do you?” she asked coyly.

“I fear not,” he said.

Reaching out, Astra said, “[Fire Bullet],” and shot the spark into the dirt at the center of the pyramid of sticks. The explosion of flame roared forth and she rubbed her eyebrows, checking that she still had them.

Xander had his eyes squeezed shut. He breathed out his nose. “Your mastery of that will increase to the point where you won’t be able to do that,” he said.

“Okay, Mom.” Astra opened her Inventory to find some food. Pulling out two meals, she offered him his choice. He chose the Hearty Stew, leaving her with the Steak and Potatoes. “Wandering in circles wont get us anywhere,” she said.

“We aren’t wandering. We are hunting for monsters.”

“I was exploring the Southlands because I heard a rumor about another Soul Stone,” Astra said. “Ruins on the edge of a lake.” Spearing a piece of potato with her fork, she ate it. “I was sure it was an area they were going to open as an expansion.”

“I cannot understand what you are talking about,” Xander said honestly, “Expansion?”

“Oh boy. Um. So... Ah! Like if you’re playing Nines. But then someone comes up with some new cards for it. They fit into the original game, but they’re new,” Astra explained. “An expansion. I thought that they might open a new city to keep things fresh and Players interested in coming to Ashguard.”

Xander shook his head, although she could tell he understood now. “I’ve never heard of any lakeside ruins. However, I was not a history scholar.” He ate a few more bites of his stew before saying, “We could continue searching for it if that pleases you.”

Something about the way he said it made her feel a little sad. Before, when she’d been playing by herself, the long stretches of not talking to anyone hadn’t mattered. Even when she’d had Xander following behind her, she had considered herself alone. Now that he could hold a conversation with her... it seemed so wrong to have him subservient to her.

“You’re a person,” she said, “Not my slave.”

He looked across the fire at her. She didn’t look up from playing with her food.

“I am glad to hear you think that way,” Xander said.

“We should have a watch or something,” she said. “In case of monsters attack while we’re asleep.”

“How long does your Raise Undead last?” Xander asked instead.

“Uh... at this point, practically until they’re defeated,” Astra answered.

“Then Raise Undead and command them to attack anything that comes near us.”

She lifted her head. “Will that work?”

“Yes, I’ve done it on the road in order to get occasional naps,” Xander said.

“Okay. [Raise Undead].” She held her hand out. All at once, a shuffling in the woods rustled the leaves and undergrowth as magically created Undead rose from the earth. They wandered away from the small camp, the tiny army creating a buffer between the pair of Healers and anything that could cause them harm.

Astra made herself finish dinner. Her plate poofed and shortly later, Xander’s did too. Astra curled on her side on the ground, pulling her tail up around her shins to keep them warm. It was getting chilly.

“Do you have a cloak?” Xander asked.

“Oh.” Astra sat up, pulling her Menu from her pocket to look through her Inventory. “Would be convenient if you could access mine the way I do yours,” she mused. Finding some furs, Astra Crafted them into Fur Rugs and tossed them on the ground, followed by some Wool Blankets. “There, that should do it.”

Xander stood, coming to sit next to her. “At least traveling with you is always done in luxury.”

The fire had gone out during the night.

Astra had ended up snuggling against him, both of them wrapped in Xander’s blanket. He’d woken with her cuddled against him in the past, but this time was different. He knew she had actually fallen asleep. However, knowing she was Felis, he wondered if his waking up had woken her up, something he didn’t want to do right away.

She had her head on his chest, his arm had ended up around her shoulders. It had been a very long time since he’d slept with anyone. Having someone gently breathing beside him was... nice. The fact that it was an Immortal... his Immortal... the one he’d wanted to hold for a very long time. It was a difficult thing to admit to himself.

He’d been lonely for the longest time but pushed everyone away. The few lovers he’d had were always temporary. After all, they would grow old and die. Then there was the fact that he was insufferably depressed and drunk for a lot of that time. Then there was Isabella… He still couldn’t quite forgive her, even though seeing Astra again made him realize why Isabella had always complained that she felt like a replacement for something.

Xander’s fingers tightened on Astra’s shoulder involuntarily.

They needed to get up.

Astra sat up, tearing the blanket off him in her movement. Her face was so flushed he could practically feel the heat radiating off her cheeks. “I’m... gonna go—” she sputtered, unable to fully explain where she was going or why. She just got up and hurried off into the trees, leaving him by himself.

Propping himself up on one elbow, he gazed after her for a second, then got up. He shook out the blankets and rugs, folded them, and stuck them in his Inventory.

Composure found, Astra returned, wiping her hands through her short hair. “Okay, so... We’ll keep heading west. I smell running water that way. If we follow that downstream, we will eventually get to a lake. Probably.”

Xander nodded. “Lead the way, then.” She didn’t want to talk about sleeping on him, then fine, he wouldn’t bring it up. It wasn’t as if he’d minded, though...

* * *

Astra could not keep her tail from thrashing in embarrassment. Xander hadn’t said anything, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His cold expression remained the same as usual. Those icy eyes had stared up at her upon waking with the same passionless dismissal they held now as he ate breakfast.

Her ears folded briefly. “There is a time limit to my Raise Undead,” she said. “They just despawned.”

Xander nodded.

Finished eating, Astra stood and looked down at the remains of the fire. “[Ice Bullet],” she said, making sure it was completely out. The pile of ash froze over instantly.

“Should probably make a fire starter set,” Xander said as he dusted his pants off. He adjusted his hair before looking at her. “Later,” he added.

Ears flicking down, Astra nodded and forced her ears back up. Having ears and a tail made her emotions so readable, she realized. Back when she’d been simply Human, she could Resting Witch Face or Customer Service Smile her way through any situation. But now, her body just did whatever, it seemed. Reaching back, she itched her tail, then pulled it around to pick some leaves out of the hair and smoothed it down. She’d chosen a fluffy tail when she’d created her character. Now she was regretting that as she came out with a hand full of loose hair. Dusting her hands, wiped the remaining white strands on her pant legs. Maybe she could Craft a comb while she was at it?

Turning, she sniffed the air, located the direction of the stream, and started walking.

Xander fell in behind her, although he walked closer than he used to when he was simply her Porter. She felt her tail bump him every now and then.

“Monster ahead,” he said.

Astra sniffed the air. Indeed, there was something stinky mixed with the smell of running water. How had he noticed it before she did?

“[Shelter],” Xander cast on her.

The shield enveloped her like a second skin. She could tell it was a much higher level than she was capable of casting. “[Shelter],” she cast on him, just to get the point towards a level. Ranging ahead, Astra came upon a Razor Boar. It had blood on its sharp tusks and a scar across its eye. “That’s the jerk that killed me the other day,” she recognized. Well, it was payback time. It hadn’t noticed them; it was busy drinking at the stream. Astra climbed a tree to get some higher ground and started her barrage of Elemental Mastery.

Xander had found a safe place to watch some distance away, keeping an eye out for any other monsters while Astra whittled the Boar down practically one point at a time.

“Ugh, this is going to take forever,” she complained while the Boar slashed and bashed at the tree she sat in. The tree shook with its infuriated attacks.

“Keep at it,” Xander said.

Casting a glare at him, she shot an Ice Bullet in his direction. It bounced off the Shelter she’d cast, as she knew it would. Turning back to the Razor Boar, she took aim and started attacking again.

By the time she killed it, she’d leveled Elemental Mastery fifteen times, bringing it to just under level fifty. Climbing down from the tree, she equipped her Hunting Knife to make use of the Boar’s meat and other materials.

Xander came to stand beside her as she worked, looking downstream with an unreadable expression. He sure was pretty to look at. His sharp features set in a slender face, framed by silver hair were the essence of an ice sculpture. A breeze pulled strands of that hair, tickling the edge of his jaw. He turned to look down at her. “Done?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Feeling herself blushing again, Astra switched her Hunting Knife back to her Healer Focus and started walking, heading downstream.

“Tell me about your world?” Xander asked.

“Uhm. Not sure where to start,” Astra said. “We had more technology and no magic. We didn’t use Skills like you do here. We didn’t have Inventory.” She glanced back to see his puzzled expression.

“If you did not have magic, how did Immortals appear in this world?”

Astra had to look back at the trail she was following to keep her footing. “We had a technology called Virtual Reality. It was like a crown we put on that would interact with our brains and make our brains believe we were somewhere else while our bodies may as well have been asleep.”

“How is this not magic?” Xander asked.

“Because it was a device with many little parts and pieces in it that directed electricity to make things happen,” Astra said. “It was something that got put together in a factory and normal people could buy. Like buying a carrot. You could just buy this thing. It was how we interacted with a lot of stuff, not just Ashguard. There were other games people played using it. People taught classes from anywhere in the world for everything and everything.”

“If there were other games...” Xander said, “What made you choose to come to Ashguard?”

Astra thought about it for a time. “I joined when it was still kinda new.” She looked up at the trees, noticing the scent of rain in the air. “Weather’s changing,” she said.

“Let’s move a bit away from the stream.”

Adjusting course, she continued speaking, “I’d heard that you could practically do anything you wanted in Ashguard. Past picking one of the three Classes, you could get Skills outside of your class and be a Holy Knight, or Death Knight and the Crafting system let you make whatever you felt like making. There seemed to be a lot of options for a relatively small game and the graphics weren’t a bunch of repeated pictures. It was like visiting a real alien world.” She understood why now. It had always been another world.

She glanced back. Xander’s brows were creased. He may not have understood most of what she said. “Uhm... Let me try again?” she offered and started from a more basic point of what “graphics” were and how other games functioned.

“You’ve read books, right? Well, games like this are usually like books. Every Player goes through the story the same way, taking the role of the main character.”

“You said you came here for the story,” Xander said.

“Yeah. The story that they sold us was that we were chosen by the gods to serve as champions of the people. We had the power to start or end wars, create or destroy kingdoms, and break the limits of the Skills. Ashguard didn’t get very popular. Mostly because there wasn’t a set story and by several months in, a lot of Players had ruined stuff and it was obvious that the game itself couldn’t police us. So other Players started making guilds to keep Player abuse to an acceptable level.

“But of course, when one bunch sets some rules, another bunch has to go out of their way to break them and it just escalates. Then there are the jerks who join the police just so they can lord it over everyone else and break the rules themselves. And no one had actually ever agreed on the rules. At its peak, there were a hundred thousand Players, but that fell to a couple thousand after the first year.”

She pursed her lips. “Wish I knew why everyone just up and left for five hundred years.”