I groaned. “Oh, for Saevrin’s sake, not again!”

  The featureless room around me was disorienting in its sterile emptiness; just endless, gleaming white in every direction. My footsteps echoed slightly, though there was no visible wall to bounce off of. Feeling increasingly annoyed, I began pacing, my heels clicking sharply against the strangely solid yet textureless floor.

  “Show yourself!” I demanded, throwing my arms wide, glaring at the blank void around me.

  With a faint, airy pop, Cloudy materialized right in front of me, its fuzzy, cotton-candy form hovering calmly at eye level. It tilted slightly, somehow radiating innocent confusion.

  “Cloudy!” I snapped, pointing accusingly at the small, floating puffball. “What the heck is going on?!”

  Cloudy bobbed gently, its drawn-on eyes blinking slowly. “Do you require a short answer or a long one? You deserve to know.”

  I paused, a sudden knot of anxiety twisting uncomfortably in my gut. With a sigh, I sank to the ground, the cool, featureless surface pressing gently against my palms. “Long,” I whispered finally, bracing for whatever came next.

  Cloudy faded out of view, but its soft voice continued around me, omnipresent and soothing in the oppressive whiteness. “Not that long ago, I owed a favor, and someone asked for a particularly significant one,” Cloudy began carefully.

  My lips curled into a smug grin. “Let me guess… Nathan?” I interrupted rudely, unable to resist poking at Cloudy a bit.

  Cloudy sighed audibly, a gentle ripple of amusement beneath its voice. “No comment. This world, Rimelion, existed peacefully for millennia. The system in place had achieved perfect balance, meticulously fine-tuned through countless centuries.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Aaand then came Nathan, bringing players, dropping me right in the middle of your ‘perfect balance’ and… WHACK …reality itself broke into tiny bits. Honestly, it’s a miracle I’m not broken into bits myself.” A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up, escaping before I could stop it.

  Cloudy hummed patiently. “An apt summary, yes. At its core, the fundamental structure remained intact, but we added enhancements specifically for the player population.”

  “Right, because nothing screams stability like throwing in random humans from Earth, demons from who-knows-where, and a sarcastic elven princess. Very sensible.” I nodded dramatically, my voice dripping with sarcasm as usual. “It makes sense. So… are you going to fix me, please?”

  Cloudy popped back into existence, inches from my face, looking earnest in its adorably cartoonish way. “That’s precisely why I isolated your systems. I am actively working on it, but the process is not straightforward. Managing test servers has become increasingly difficult.”

  “Oh…” I blinked, realization dawning. “Because I’m technically an NPC, I, or my simulation, should be trapped in those test servers, right? Some random Charlie stuck forever enslaved? Poor girl.” I couldn’t stop another bitter giggle.

  “I had to remove your simulated instance. Your presence caused the test servers… simulated realities… to crash repeatedly,” Cloudy continued calmly. “The simulation was supposed to genuinely test player interactions, as per the ones who asked for a favor request.”

  “You mean Nathan’s mistake,” I muttered.

  “However, now that your existence is integrated fully into Rimelion’s reality, maintaining the simulation is redundant. It will be shut down.”

  I whistled softly, impressed despite myself. “Well, that never happened in my original reality.”

  “Servers didn’t contain you,” Cloudy explained simply.

  Another giggle escaped me, incredulous yet oddly flattered. “Fair enough. So… about that player-kingdom system. Can I have it?”

  “No.”

  “Pretty please?” I batted my eyelashes mockingly.

  Cloudy hesitated visibly. “I’ve created a fork of the player system and isolated your hybrid NPC-player systems using a newly developed API. However, some safeguards remain inaccessible, meaning unpredictable behaviors could occur.”

  “Oh yeah, like my mere existence being an exploit?” I challenged, narrowing my eyes playfully.

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “Hey! I was joking!” My voice took on a pouty tone despite myself. Yes, forty going on fourteen. Elven aging was great.

  “I’m almost ready,” Cloudy continued gently, floating reassuringly in front of me. “But please remain cautious. Avoid interacting with new systems unnecessarily, or warn me beforehand so adjustments can be made.”

  I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Aren’t you supposed to be some omnipotent god? You know, omnipresent, omniscient, omni-annoying?”

  Cloudy seemed to shimmer, slightly embarrassed. “Yes, and no. My true nature is beyond mortal comprehension, yet oddly simple for you. Now, please, return.”

  Before I could respond, the whiteness surged, pulling me away once again.

  As soon as I was back, the system flashed brightly before my eyes, sharp and crystalline-clear, and annoyingly cheerful.

  I squinted at the floating text. A new core skill? Neat?

  “Wow,” I whispered, feeling a strange mixture of awe and smug satisfaction. And that wasn’t even the best part! There was now a whole quest menu glowing invitingly, just begging me to explore. Finally, Charlie the Expl—

  Cloudy!!! I shouted internally, while keeping my outer calm. Everything was okay. Totally fine. Cloudy had warned me that some systems might be broken. Temporary setback.

  Definitely temporary.

  Right?

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to meditate, desperately focusing on regulating the chaos swirling in my head. I envisioned my emotions as drifting snowflakes, my thoughts as steady ice. I reminded myself how glorious it would feel to finally sit on my throne as Queen Charlie, the first sovereign of Rimebreak.

  It was peaceful, I spent some time meditating like this.

  “All right, Wakey! Wakey!” Karzi burst from her tent, her voice booming obnoxiously through the peaceful dawn air. “Today’s payday! Don’t be lazy wolves; move! We have a long ride ahead!”

  My heart seized and my mind froze.

  Wait! I hadn’t been transported back to Earth! Was it because I meditated instead of sleeping? Did Cloudy somehow break the system that sent me back? Was there even a system at all, or was my whole back-and-forth existence just some accidental anomaly?

  An… exploit?

  Existential dread flooded me, biting, at the same moment Karzi roughly kicked my shoulder, knocking me several stumbling steps to the side.

  “Girly, move! Eat! We ride!” she snarled, her face twisted into her usual menacing grin.

  “Yes, Dame Karzi!” I stammered, fighting the tears that stung my eyes. I quickly grabbed my usual bowl of mystery meat, forcing down bites that tasted even more bitter today. My mind spiraled with theories, each more unsettling than the last. As I climbed reluctantly onto Karzi’s beast, gripping tightly to the saddle behind her, I decided—hoped—it was probably just because I hadn’t technically slept.

  Please let that be the reason.

  We rode relentlessly, the sun high and hot, dust kicking up around us like choking, golden clouds. When afternoon finally drew near, the oppressive heat slowly faded, replaced by a gentle, cooling breeze.

  We crested the “Last Hill”, probably named by some equally exhausted soul, revealing the city sprawled dramatically beneath us.

  My breath caught.

  Altandai was massive, a dazzling metropolis nestled like a gem beside an large lake. It was majestic, sprawling, and vibrant, humming with life even from this distance.

  Mage towers of gleaming white and pale rose-red stone pierced the sky, their spires glittering softly in the fading sunlight. Buildings of creamy white and subtle reddish hues clustered densely together, elegant and grand, stretching outward like ripples on the water.

  Surrounding it all was an imposing wall, towering high, built from massive yellowed stones. It encircled the city entirely, protective and defiant against anything that dared approach.

  But life spilled beyond those formidable walls. On the lakeshore sprawled a bustling village. Port? Well, boats bobbing lazily at their moorings. Stretching away from the city were endless fields of farmland, meticulously cultivated, vibrant green and gold patterns shimmering gently in the dying sunlight, reaching far into the horizon.

  It was beautiful.

  And terrifying.

  Guess who was tending to the fields?

  Well, I had no freaking clue, but as our grim caravan trudged down an actual paved road, miraculously devoid of mud, I quickly found out.

  Lines of almost-naked figures, sun-marked skin glistening with sweat, labored silently beneath a merciless sun. They hunched over endless rows of grain, their hands calloused, backs bent as if permanently shaped by toil.

  And always, always, there was some smug overseer sitting comfortably in the shade, yelling orders like a second-rate villain enjoying their moment of petty tyranny.

  Thankfully, the misery parade ended as we approached the city gates.

  Two guards stood watch in ornate reddish-blue armor, polished to an annoyingly reflective shine, emblazoned with an insignia that caught my eye. Wait…was that seriously a crest featuring a figure in chains? My stomach turned sour, teeth grinding together.

  Karzi guided her beast toward the gate, bypassing the line of common folk queued patiently in front of a smaller pedestrian entrance. The massive main gate loomed closed, dominating the wall. Up close, it was ridiculously oversized, towering several stories high and reinforced with heavy steel braces.

  “Dame Karzi! Valuable cargo. OPEN!” she bellowed.

  A guard paused his meticulous inspection of some poor woman’s bag, casually throwing it back to her and motioning her swiftly through. He adjusted his ornate helmet; the faceplate sliding up to reveal a thin-lipped smile and eyes assessing my worth with cold calculation. “Welcome back, Dame. How many this time?”

  “Lost some, but enough survived,” Karzi replied with a predatory grin, tossing him a bag heavy enough with gold to produce a faint metallic jingle. The guard hefted the pouch, nodding approvingly.

  “You heard the Dame! Open the gate! Noble coming through!” he shouted.

  Three weary-looking figures shuffled quickly from inside the guard station, slaves, I realized with a fresh jolt of disgust, and began pushing on massive winches, their muscles straining visibly as the enormous gate creaked slowly open.

  Karzi gave the guard a cheerful wave. “See you at the pub!”

  Once inside, the overwhelming reality of Altandai hit me full force. The city’s emblem, proudly displayed in massive gold relief on a nearby wall, confirmed my worst suspicions. Chains entwined around the figure of a man, his head bowed submissively. They didn’t just tolerate slavery here. They celebrated it.

  My vision blurred at the edges, anger and disbelief blending together into a simmering fury I struggled to keep under wraps.

  I barely noticed the city’s bustling streets, crammed with carts, merchants shouting deals, and well-dressed nobles browsing leisurely through market stalls. The buildings rose high around us, their reddish facades and ornate carvings displaying the obscene wealth built off human misery.

  Altandai sat at the crossroads of multiple kingdoms, an hub of commerce and trade.

  Five navigable rivers snaked out from the shimmering lake it bordered, each leading to distant country. Rich farmland sprawled outward in all directions.

  This city could have done literally anything else. Making iron imports into tools, textiles, magic artifacts… but no, they’d chosen this.

  We rode through increasingly rich neighborhoods until we reached a massive, imposing building made from reddish stone and adorned with fancy gold accents. It dwarfed the small village auction house I’d seen before, easily ten times its size. Large banners proudly displayed the city’s crest.

  “Girly, excited? Big payday awaits!” Karzi chuckled, turning her grinning face toward me. “Today you get a new master, and we get rich!”

  “Can’t wait,” I choked out, sarcasm thick enough to drown in.

  I clenched my fists, nails digging painfully into my palms. One way or another, this city was either going up in flames, or I’d bring hell down upon it.

  There was no middle ground left.