The gate leading to the Gem Baths was much larger than the one leading into the wilds, the door intended to take in travelers’ carts of all sizes. Two Riftguards and one Celeste acolyte stood in front of it. The acolyte, a woman in white robes with golden lining and a red sash, was the only one with a quest icon above her head.

  If this was anything like Seven Keys, I wouldn’t be able to progress until I spoke to her.

  “Hello,” I said. “Do you mind if we leave the city?”

  One Riftguard gave me the once-over, then declared in a flat voice, “You have the required experience. You may pass.”

  With that, both Riftguards stepped to either side of the door, and the first one hailed the people atop the wall to start opening it. As the wood creaked, the other Riftguard said nothing, staring eerily forward. The first Riftguard went still and started doing the same.

  People. These are real people.

  I couldn’t shake my horror, but I also couldn’t do a thing for them, not until they remembered who they were. I had no idea how I was supposed to go about that.

  The Celeste woman hadn’t moved, though, and she now stood between me and the Gem Baths. Currently, there was nothing that way but a violet cloud of loading haze; the details of the next area would appear once I passed through the door. Apparently the Conduit wanted to cut down on data requirements, just like in the real game. Did those qubin things require a lot of processing power?

  The acolyte inclined her head. “Greetings, traveler,” she said, her voice lower than I expected for someone so small and slim. “Your reputation precedes you. Is it true you helped the Riftguard clear the forest of were-rats?”

  I frowned. In the game, this woman asked about a quest where I cleared out the gorgos creatures for Hergvor. There had never been mention of rats. Where was everyone finding all these rats?

  Either way, she was just making conversation according to pre-set lines. “Yeah, that’s me,” I said.

  She inclined her head again. “Then, may I make a request of you, traveler? You see, my sisters recently left the Radix temple to collect a certain rare flower in the Slain Crags. It is a flower beloved by our masters, the Celestials, and it only blooms once per decade.”

  This quest must be the reason that the Celeste temple in Radix was closed with a sign on the door. Normally, you had to collect herbs for the Celeste to get them to move on to this quest. She was about to say that she feared for her sisters’ lives, as she hadn’t heard from them in some time.

  “However, I have not heard back from my sisters in some time, and I fear for their safety,” the woman went on. It occurred to me that her tone did not change. It was monotonous, robotic, unlike the recorded voice lines for the game.

  Because these are real people, not actors. And they aren’t acting of their own volition.

  “Honorable traveler, would you please consider searching for my lost sisters after you have attained the heart-gift of the gods?” the acolyte finished. “Should you succeed in returning them home safely, we shall surely reward you well.”

  “Sure thing,” I said. “I know exactly where to find them.”

  As soon as I said the words, a line of text populated the upper left corner of my HUD, where active quests were listed. It read Find the lost Celeste.

  “Then I am in your debt,” the woman said, before handing me a small white rose she pulled from the sleeve of her robes. “Go with my blessing, and the blessing of the gods. Once you have chosen which god you wish to follow, simply release this flower into their pool as an offering. Then, consume its petals, and your mana pool shall double for the next hour. It is my hope that this will help you rescue my lost sisters.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I took the flower. It essentially functioned as the game’s tutorial for casting magic. Once you made a choice, the flower gave you an hour of double mana to help you get used to casting. Most people saved it for a later date, and I figured I’d do the same.

  I dropped the flower into my inventory. It would automatically change once I slipped into the water of one of the Gem Baths.

  “What’s this about pools?” Dave mumbled. “Will there be scantily clad ladies? I do love a good scantily clad lady.”

  “Each pool is related to one of the magic types of Ostium,” I explained as I walked into the loading haze. The haze had a smell here, which I hadn’t expected. What was that aroma? Roasting meat?

  “The pool we walk into determines the type of magic we will have for the rest of the game,” I said. “I was thinking maybe Luminous? It’s healing magic, but also good for poisons and—”

  My entire world went black.

  It wasn’t the black of a head injury, either. I’d been punched clear into unconsciousness before in my life. No, this was just blackness. Nothing but blackness for miles.

  I remembered the loading haze, the odd smell of the stuff. I looked down at my arms, but Dave was gone, even though I was still holding my arm like I was cradling him.

  I dropped my arm and shouted, “Dave?”

  No answer.

  I turned, already hearing the pulse of rushing blood in my ears. Where was I? Where had I been transported to? Was this another glitch?

  I gave a start when a violet info-box appeared in front of me. Only then did I realize my HUD was gone. Every icon and status bar, the mini map, the quests—all absent. I almost felt human again.

  But the info-box dispelled that notion:

  You have died.

  Use a Rift Mirror to negate the fatal damage?

  Yes/No

  Rift Mirrors remaining: 1

  “What? I died? How?” I asked. No one answered. The info-box remained, only now there was a number 10 below the box. It quickly became the number 9. Then 8. Then 7.

  It was counting down.

  “Yes!” I said, hurrying to tap the button. What had happened? I hadn’t even seen a weapon coming for me. The loading haze—

  I reappeared in the meat-smelling smoke, and I heaved myself to one side, just in case whatever had hit me was about to do it again. In scrambling to get away, I broke out of the fog and found myself in front of the Gem Baths pavilion, which overlooked the sulphuric-smelling mountainside of hot springs.

  Wait. That title. SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR… did I just take someone else’s fatal damage? Whose? And will it happen again? I need to unequip—

  The wooden beam holding up the pavilion’s canvas ceiling burst apart not two feet away from me.

  I whirled, and at first, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. There was the wall around Radix, with the soldiers patrolling; there was the open gate, its door closing on the single Celeste woman, who now faced the other way.

  And there was the loading haze. It sat right there, right in front of the doors, hugging the ground. It made no sense. That haze was supposed to exist between areas. It wasn’t supposed to actually exist.

  “Watch out! There’s a lure!” Dave’s voice called out.

  That’s when the creatures rose from the haze.

  There were two of them, made of stone, and ten feet taller than I was. Green liquid oozed between the round boulders that made up their many joints. They were humanoid, but their heads were bowl-shaped, sloshing more of the liquid over the sides as they each took a step toward me.

  I glanced right. The collapsed beam had been struck by a thrown club nearly as large as I was. There is was, in the rubble, surrounded by the splintered remains of the beam.

  The tip of the club was covered in blood. Fresh blood.

  I hadn’t died because of the new title. I’d died because I’d been bludgeoned to death. I just hadn’t seen it happen, because of the haze.

  Dave landed among the wreckage as I drew my mace and shield. “Bridget left a lure!” he rushed out. “It attracted them! She knew you’d come here if she couldn’t kill you with the water tower, so she—”

  I spun and raised a shield as the creature without a club threw a stone at me. It wasn’t a large rock, but it hit my shield with such force that I toppled backwards.

  Somehow I kept hold of my equipment. As I scrambled to rise, I looked at the creatures’ names: Melting Golem, Level 22. Each one had a health bar, but they were at about two-thirds health, as if they’d already taken damage.

  But why were they here? What was that about a lure?

  The smoke… the smell of it… like cooking meat….

  Dave was right. That rooster woman had lured this area’s biggest monsters here to fight me. And I’d lost against them once already.

  I raised my mace. I couldn’t lose again.