I reached the airlock, exhaled, and stared at the heavy door.

  “Hope Jerry’s okay,” I muttered, pressing my palm to the sensor.

  The moment the door hissed shut behind me, it hit me, like a plug had been yanked out of my soul. Something drained. Like mana leaking out of my fingertips. Like losing Wi-Fi in the middle of a boss fight.

  “Ugh, that’s awful,” I muttered, hugging my arms around myself.

  “You’re one to talk,” Jerry responded. “I wasn’t existing.”

  “Jerry!” I gasped and, without thinking, kissed my watch like some returning war hero. “Welcome back to the land of the living, my emotionally unstable smartwatch!”

  “Yeah…” His voice was quieter than usual. “My internal clock stopped.”

  I paused in the airlock. “That’s… bad?”

  “That’s impossible,” he said, still shaken. “I’m designed to run uninterrupted for over 180,000 hours. Even hardware resets don’t kill the clock. But something in there… shut me down entirely. Like I was not supposed to exist, that’s the best explanation I can give at this moment. What happened?”

  The door ahead groaned open.

  Outside: fluorescent peace. Same bored guards slouched at the table, probably debating lunch or philosophy or football. I nodded at them like I hadn’t just returned from a death-cult temple under the city. “Magic,” I whispered to Jerry, climbing the steps into the soft buzz of normal life. “The good old-fashioned soul-melting kind.”

  We passed a pair of workers in green and white uniforms, corporate branding, of course, unloading fresh boxes of what smelled like oat-based… something. They didn’t even glance at me.

  “Magic,” I said again, louder this time, like the word would make sense if I repeated it enough.

  Jerry just hummed. “That’s not comforting.”

  “It wasn’t meant to be.”

  “The experience was strange,” Jerry said, his tone still mulling over something. “But not unwelcome. I… need time to process events that happened when I wasn’t existing, yet… was.”

  “Join the club,” I muttered, pulling out my holo-phone. “Call Katherine.”

  It only rang once before her face lit up my screen. “Charlie! Whatcha doin’?” she beamed.

  She was… wet. Hair dripping, shoulders glistening, wrapped in nothing but a towel that defied physics by staying up. Steam still clung to her skin like it had rights.

  System crash. Restarting brain in 3… 2…

  “Uhh…” My throat forgot how to form words. “I… I’m hungry,” I blurted.

  Congratulations, self. Peak social interaction achieved. Nobel-worthy.

  Katherine laughed, easy and warm. “Ah! Ya wanna join ma?” She leaned in, water droplets catching the light like tiny explosions. “I’ll ask Dmitry,” she added with a quick, almost guilty smile. “Scheduled meetin’, sorry!”

  “Sure,” I said too fast, forcing a smile like it was part of the mandatory ritual. “I can…”

  The call cut.

  I blinked. Processing.

  Wait. What? Dmitry? She’s meeting with Dmitry?

  And I just… agreed to join? I stared at the dark screen. “Jerry?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please tell me I didn’t just volunteer to third-wheel a power duo on a date in the middle of my pre-death, existential spiral.”

  There was a pause. “You… may need to clarify the details.”

  “Maybe I should call Roberto…” I muttered to my watch as I stepped into the noise of the city again. Cars hummed past like tired bees, and the smell of roasted nuts from a nearby stand clashed with hot rubber and pollution. Welcome to civilization.

  “Roberto has a queue of clients,” Jerry replied, far too smug for someone who spent the last hour not existing. “Estimated time of arrival: one hour. He did give you access to his Tüber, remember?”

  “No,” I said flatly.

  “Yes,” Jerry countered, with that passive-aggressive AI precision.

  I sighed and opened the ride app. “Fine. I hate AIs, I want a human driver. Regular Tüber then…”

  “I won’t take it personally,” Jerry chimed in.

  The next minute, a sleek electric car pulled up with pastel holo-decals advertising something entirely too cheerful. The window rolled down, and a young woman with neon-streaked hair beamed at me like I was the punchline to her favorite joke.

  “Charlie? I’m your Tüber today!” she chirped, that customer-service grin dialed to maximum synthetic. “Come on in and ditch the Tube, embrace the über ride!”

  “Yup,” I nodded wearily and slid into the seat in the back like I was accepting a side quest I didn’t remember picking. “I’m sending you my home address now. And… mind if I make a call?”

  “Feel free, Sword-Queen,” she said, voice lowering like she was letting me in on a juicy secret. I blinked. She turned in her seat with a sparkle in her eyes, and, oh no, held out a folded shirt with my face on it.

  Riker’s merch. Of course.

  “Big fan. Can you sign it?” she asked, thrusting it and a pink marker into my lap like they were sacred relics.

  I stared for a second. Then, without a word, I took the pen and scrawled my signature in the same swoop I’d practiced at Rime-Con, where I was too overwhelmed to even fake confidence.

  She squealed like I’d handed her a twenty-year-old single malt whiskey. “Thank you!”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I nodded, cheeks warm. “No problem.”

  World’s weirdest side quest continues.

  “Jerry, call Lola. I promised to—”

  “Charlie!” Katherine’s voice crashed through the holo before Jerry could finish dialing. Her grinning face popped up like a surprise boss fight. “Had to promise to behave! You too—behave!” she wagged a finger at me, then leaned back, revealing way too much cleavage in a dress that was barely trying to hide anything.

  But hey, at least she was technically clothed this time.

  Too bad.

  “Promised to behave?” I blinked. “What did you even promise? I don’t understand.”

  “Ah, he silly,” she said with a shrug, but a pink tint was already rising on her cheeks. “He just scared you be like Lisa. She hates him.”

  She broke into a full laugh, throwing her head back with unfiltered delight.

  “Well,” I muttered, crossing my legs in the backseat like it would protect me from chaos, “from what I’ve heard, Dmitry’s not exactly the pinnacle of virtue, but… sure. I’ll try to behave.”

  Apparently, that was good enough. She shot finger guns at me, winked, and vanished.

  “Should I drive somewhere else?” my very enthusiastic Tüber driver asked, glancing over her shoulder like this was a side quest she had a personal stake in.

  “I… I’ll send the details,” I said, trying to collect the remaining pieces of my dignity. Her holo-screen beeped a moment later. Jerry, of course, already had it sorted.

  “Thanks…” I whispered, not even sure who I was thanking anymore.

  And just like that, Lola’s call bloomed on the display. Her face was soft, curious. “Charlie? Where are you going?”

  “Oh.” I blinked again, realizing I’d just committed to something without understanding any of it. “Katherine has a date with Dmitry and… I said I wanted to join?”

  I smiled, completely unsure of what was happening in my own life.

  Lola’s eyes sparkled. “Okay, tell me where.” She leaned closer, conspiratorially. “Double date! Oooh… that’s a fancy restaurant. But hey, you can afford it now,” she giggled. “Let’s meet at the bakery nearby. I’ll send you the address.”

  I stared at my screen like it had personally betrayed me.

  “That’s two streets away,” the driver chimed in cheerfully. “No problem, Sword-Queen!”

  “Yeah…” I sank deeper into the seat, tugging at my dress like it would hide me from reality. “I guess I have a double date now.”

  “Yay!” the driver squealed.

  “Why does everyone sound excited except me?” I muttered. “Jerry, send that small details to Kit please.”

  The bakery was fancier than I thought. Big glass windows framed a world too clean, too polished. Even the bread looked staged, perfect golden crusts that probably crunched with cinematic precision. And Lola… was wearing that dress.

  The one I’d secretly liked when we were on that dumb fashion quest earlier. Light blue. Flowing fabric. Made her look like she’d stepped out of an ad. “Isn’t it exciting?” she beamed, her entire body humming with something I didn’t have anymore.

  I glanced sideways. I didn’t even recognize her like this. Was this person even Lola? There was a light in her I couldn’t hold right now, not with death scheduled on my calendar like a dentist appointment.

  We started walking toward the restaurant at polished sidewalk. Warm evening breeze. Too many stars.

  “I have to die,” I whispered.

  That line stole the whiskey from her hand. She stopped. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I forgot to ask… I’m such a bad—”

  “It’s okay.” I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. “I die in two days. Get reborn in Rimelion. Probably into slavery. The region he picked is technically fine, except for, y’know, the occasional slavery raids.”

  Her eyes went wide.

  “I guess the plan is for me to get caught. Sold off as a maid. Or a whore. Depends on which brand of slavers finds me first.” My voice was flat, distant. Like I was reporting the weather.

  “That’s awful!” she practically shouted, then glanced around and lowered her voice to a shocked whisper. “A whore?!”

  Her hands trembled, and I suddenly hated myself for saying it.

  “Hey,” I forced a grin, and that calmed me. “It’s Rimelion. You can always fight your way out of anything if you have enough mana and pure spite. Gimme a few minutes and I’ll bounce, my psyche is flexible, remember?”

  She didn’t smile.

  I laughed anyway, because it was easier than crying in public.

  “What did you think I meant when I said I got a minus for genocide?” I asked, kicking a stone off the curb. “Also, pro tip. If you ever see a mud wolf?” I turned to her with mock gravity.

  She blinked at me. “I thought they were cute.”

  “They’re evil in a fuzzy costume,” I muttered. “Don’t let the ears fool you, they adore mud. Mud is the real enemy, but I can’t eradicate the land of mud, can I?”

  That earned me a breathless giggle. She tried to hide it behind her hand, but I saw it.

  Victory.

  Charlie!” Katherine’s voice rang out like a firecracker behind us. “Lola!” She was beaming. Practically glowing. It hit me like sunlight straight to the face.

  So, I decided… fine. I’d be happy too.

  Took me three breaths to fake it. By the fourth, I wasn’t faking.

  I spun on my heel and grinned, wide and real. “Kit! So nice to see ya!” She looked stunning, of course. The kind of dress that walks the line between red carpet and dangerous. Dmitry was beside her, walking like the world owed him applause.

  And maybe it did. He looked that confident.

  “Hi, Dmitry,” I said smoothly, with the smile that said I remember everything and am being gracious anyway.

  “Uh…” He blinked, like my reaction short-circuited something in his brain. “Hi, Charlie?”

  “Yup, that’s me.” I folded my arms. “You almost got us at the river, remember?” He shifted. “But Lisa stopped you.” I winked right as Katherine bounded forward and hugged both Lola and me in one chaotic, perfume-scented squeeze.

  Lola squeaked. “I’m… Lola,” she gasped. “Nice to meet… you.”

  “Yay! We dine! We drink!” Katherine let us go and immediately latched onto Dmitry’s hand, dragging him toward the entrance like a mission was underway.

  He shot us a glance over his shoulder. “I did what I had to,” he grumbled. Then he was gone, swept inside by a girl in heels and momentum.

  Lola leaned close, whispering like we were trading state secrets. “Was it really necessary to mention the river? We need him for the movie.”

  “Ugh,” I rolled my eyes. “I was nice.”

  “Lady…” She didn’t even need to say more. Just the tone. The look. Full disapproval mode.

  I sighed. “Okay, okay. I’ll tone it down.”

  The restaurant was exactly the kind of place you’d expect someone like Dmitry to bring someone like Katherine.

  Opulent but curated, elegant but intense. It sat just off the city center, behind thick hedges and a discreet gate. Everything screamed money, but whispered it politely in five languages.

  The attendant led us not to the main room, but through a vine-wrapped hallway to a tucked-away garden terrace. It was private, softly lit, and dripping with green. Lush hanging plants, carefully manicured hedges, and soft under lighting that made the stone path glow like something out of a fairy tale.

  Our table sat beneath a wide-leafed tree, round and polished to mirror-gloss.

  A centerpiece of gently flickering candles rested between Katherine and Dmitry, who were already seated. There were two open chairs. I took the one beside Katherine, opposite Dmitry. Lola, quiet as a secret, slipped into the seat beside me.

  “Before we start,” Dmitry began, clearing his throat as if it could scrub his entire reputation clean, “I’m inviting you both. But this isn’t a business meeting.”

  He folded his hands, leaning in slightly. “I am who I am. I know what I want, and I don’t shy away from getting it. Some say ruthless. I say efficient. But in private, when I don’t work, I prefer calmness.”

  “That works with me,” I said, giving him a small smile.

  Lola just nodded. Her usual glow was dimmed by the low hum of conversation from other diners, the weight of the atmosphere pressing in. Too many eyes.

  “Ya promised,” Katherine chimed in with a pout, turning toward him like a sunflower tracking the sun.

  Dmitry sighed. A real sigh, tired around the edges. “I’m not your enemy… unless you stand between me and my goals.”

  “Honey…” Katherine muttered, side-eyeing like she was warning a firecracker not to go off.

  “That’s all,” Dmitry added quickly. He tapped the table, and a faint chime sounded as a holo-menu shimmered to life between us, like magic summoned by credit. “Enjoy the meal. Order whatever you like.”

  The change from river-Dmitry to this version was almost absurd.

  That man had barked orders and threatened lives like it was sport. This one looked like he was waiting for someone to grade his emotional maturity.

  “Did you play a role?” I asked the words out before I really considered their impact.

  He didn’t flinch. Just closed his eyes for a breath, then opened them again. Calm. Focused. But he glanced toward Katherine first.

  “In a way,” he said. “Riker offered me the role of a villain. I fit that role perfectly—in the game, in the boardroom, even in my personal life. I do things people consider evil.” He looked at me, not cold, not warm. Just honest. “But I don’t think I’m evil. I just do what I want.” He paused. “Does that answer your question?”

  I leaned back, eyes narrowed just a little. “That’s one hell of a Tinder bio.”

  Katherine laughed, almost choked on her wine, and even Lola cracked a smile.