Time Elapsed: 5:14:38

Severance sat on a secluded bench in Tomorrow's Edge, idly running through System windows. After a few hours of back-to-back raid runs, he was more than ready to collapse in a heap somewhere quiet. Usually, he waited until everyone else had left before doing the same, but this time, he was one of the first to leave the party.

He needed some space. He'd hit level fifty in the last twenty minutes of the last run and as far as he was concerned, that meant he was done. Maybe it was just his general mood, but he felt... prickly. That and the somewhat frightening revelation that he could use skills on Earth. It was still hard to wrap his brain around that idea.

Even worse, he'd been late to log in, so there'd been no time to find Olen for a chat. It'd been hard to focus on the raid with everything bouncing around in his mind.

You have received a message from Morning Glory, the System informed him. Would you like to Open message?

"Yes," he said. Morning Glory's voice soon rang out.

"Heya, Sev! Just wanted to say it's been fun. Never thought I'd be part of an actual raid team, but I'm glad it worked out that way! Now I can tell all my friends how cool I am."

He smiled faintly as a light giggle punctuated the message. No matter the situation, Morning Glory never changed. She might have adopted the persona of a cute little girl, but she was tough as nails. Dozens of challenging, high-stress raid runs had never made her crack. The break-up of the team didn't appear to upset her, either.

"Anyway, now that we're done with the raid, I'm going to take a little break from Eliona. It was pretty intense, and I've been neglecting my gerbil. He needs to be reassured that I still love him. So good luck with whatever you do next! I want to hear all about how you saved the world when I come back, got it? Talk to you later!"

He closed the message and the System window disappeared. His gaze flickered to the World Chat window, which he'd opened on a whim, but the players using it were only arguing about which fast food burger was the best. Really riveting stuff. He sighed and shut the window.

Heavy footsteps drew near, and he looked up to see Jack Coyote. The tank moved like he had somewhere to be, his features set in his usual frosty flare.

Severance didn't bother getting up from the bench where he sat. He should have realized Jack would track him down eventually. At least the tank was nice enough not to spam him with messages about it.

"Hey," he said.

Rather than return the greeting, Jack simply lowered himself onto the bench beside Severance. His armor made little noise, as if all the joints had been oiled.

The two of them sat in silence, while a group of small red birds twittered in the tree behind them. Ahead, water gushed out of the nearest fountain and fell in shimmering drops to the pool below. Severance watched it, not really bothered by Jack's lack of response.

This part of Tomorrow's Edge was always peaceful and he didn't mind spending a few quiet minutes here. Just to his right was a statue of an armored figure. Severance observed it, trying to figure out if the figure wore some kind of leggings beneath his armor, or if the artist hadn't bothered carving him some pants. Then he wondered who the statue was to supposed to be.

"Snow is with us," Jack finally said, as if it'd taken him a few minutes to decide how to share the news. "As is Valentin."

Severance nodded. He'd expected as much, since he knew Mr Snowman and Jack went way back. They were friends on Earth and had come to Eliona together. Valentin was more of a mystery, but he seemed to enjoy fighting and had never once missed a day.

"That's good. We still need a third damage dealer, though." Severance leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He peered at the tank through the corner of his eye. Was it just him, or was Jack extra broody today?

Jack sat stiffly, back ramrod straight while the long panels of blue silk shifted about his legs. "I had a lead. They weren't interested in making the commitment."

"Yeah, it's not an easy one to make."

Severance could understand that. There weren't many players at the level cap yet, and of those, few would want to spend their entire playtime running a single dungeon for the unforeseeable future. Even fewer, he suspected, would want to run it with Jack.

"I've already asked the Eternal Champions if they know someone," he offered. "Haven't heard back from them yet. And I guess we'll see if Awesome Dude can help. I sent him a message when I got here. He won't be joining us, but he does know a lot of people."

"He also has the tendency for idle gossip," Jack stated. He shifted, giving Severance a sidelong glance. "Are you sure you want to involve him?"

With a shrug, Severance gave a half smile. "Give him some credit. He's smart when he needs to be."

Jack grunted. "We'll see. What's your level 50 skill?"

"You don't know?"

Severance was genuinely surprised. The tank seemed to be informed on literally everything.

"No," was the clipped answer. "You're the first battle dancer that I know of that's reached 50."

"Really? Morning Glory was way ahead of me. Surely there's other healers who-"

"Not dancers," Jack cut in. "You may not have noticed, but the preferred healer for dungeon teams are moon scribes. Nearly all of their skills focus on the reduction and regeneration of damage, which makes them easier to work with."

"Ah." Severance made a face. It was a bit disappointing, but he supposed he could understand why. Moon scribes really did make a better healer in most situations.

He only had to look Morning Glory to understand why. Once she had her level 40+ skills, she was able shield the entire team from massive amounts of damage. She could stack shields and regenerative effects like nobody's business, and as long as a player wasn't stupidly taking unnecessary damage, she could practically solo-heal the entire raid.

"However," Jack went on, "when you have a functional team, a battle dancer is more efficient. Considering the urgency of your quest to do this 'special dungeon', the extra damage your class brings will allow us for faster times. Even if it's a small amount, it's still an edge."

"Hm, I guess."

Severance glanced sideways at the tank. It sounded very logical, like a perfectly normal Jack thing to say. And yet... it was also oddly encouraging. Like the other player was trying to be nice.

Weird.

"Your level 50 skill?" Jack prompted.

Severance rubbed at his eyes. "Final Dance. It doesn't say much other than 'become your Dance and overwhelm your target with multiple strikes.' It's vague, but I'm thinking it's like a Skyfall on steroids."

"Hm," Jack considered it for all of two seconds, then asked, "And your attributes? What are those at?"

What was this—the inquisition? Severance suppressed a groan.

"Why do you want to know that?"

Golden eyes glowered at him. "Because, as the team captain, I need to understand your abilities. I can make an approximate guess having seen you in action, but I would prefer to have accurate data."

Severance wanted to throw up his hands. The team captain now? Since when had that been a thing? Not that he cared to have the role himself, but still. Wasn't a team supposed to discuss things before making decisions?

Feeling a little ornery, he retorted, "What's yours, then?"

"Wisdom 35, Intel 3, Vitality 40, Agility 12, Strength 31, Fortitude 36." Jack reeled off his numbers without hesitation. He didn't even bother looking them up. Just as Severance stared at him in surprise, Jack went on. "I have no Gift bonuses, but my gear adds 2 points to Vitality, 3 to Strength, and 5 to Fortitude."

"Forty?" Severance repeated. No wonder Jack had such an enormous health pool.

"Forty is the hard level cap. You'll need gear or Gifts to get above that. Yours?"

No please? Severance grumbled inwardly. But he opened the System window and navigated to his Attributes. Unlike a certain someone else, he didn't bother memorizing everything.

Current Level: 50
WIS – 32
INT – 34 +1
VIT – 37
AGI – 35 +26
STR – 16
FOR - 3

He read them off to the tank, matching the same delivery method. When he finished, he noticed Jack giving him a strange, considering look.

"What?"

"You have higher Vitality than I expected. But... never mind. I thought you would have maxed at your Agility at 40, but instead, it's the Gifts. That's very abnormal. How many Gifts did your clan give you?"

Severance stiffened. "I can't tell you that."

"Can't, or won't?" Jack was very calm, but there was something dark in his expression. At one time, it might have made Severance anxious. Now, he simply ignored it.

"Both."

Jack frowned. "Fine. Are you going to tell me what happened earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were late today," the tank reminded him. "That's very uncharacteristic for you. You also made six errors in the last run alone, taking on damage you could have easily avoided. It's obvious your mind wasn't on the fight."

"Only six?"

Severance snorted, not at all surprised that Jack had been keeping track. He had no doubt that the guy could even tell him what each error was, when it happened, and exactly how it could have been avoided. Besides, it wasn't like he could exactly tell Jack that yes, he was actually super distracted because he found out he could actually use magical game skills on Earth. It was proof that he was becoming even more of a freak, and the more he thought about it, the scarier it got.

He kept silent, even as the prickly feeling intensified. The full force of Jack's glare threatened to burn him to cinders.

"It's no joking matter. If you misstep, then you get hurt."

"And then I heal. I'm used to it, Jack. It's fine."

"Is it? I wonder if you'll say the same thing two years from now, when the sound of firecrackers makes you relive K-792's gunfire. Or when the warmth of the sun on your face makes you seize up because you think you're getting burned alive. What if you get bumped in the street, and suddenly you're in panic mode, thinking you're getting attacked? You may react before you even realize what's happen. You could hurt someone."

Severance blinked, a little taken aback. Where was this all coming from? "That's—that's not going to happen. I would never do something like that."

"No?" Jack gave a tight smile. "I know the signs when I see them. And there's-"

"Heeeey!" An exuberant shout cut off whatever Jack was going to say.

Severance was grateful. He didn't want to have this kind of chat. It was nice, he supposed, that Jack seemed to care in his own way, but it wasn't necessary. Not in the slightest.

He stood, already going to meet the person rushing over. It was none other than Awesome Dude, who failed to notice the irritated looks from the passerby he nearly knocked over as he ran past.

"Sev!" Awesome Dude grinned. He left the street and entered the large courtyard, passing by a large tree. "Guess what?!"

Like a wraith, a man stepped out from behind the tree. He held an abnormally long sword in one hand. He turned his head towards them, revealing glittering eyes and a face that was more than familiar to Severance.

Severance leapt to his feet, his heart hammering into his throat. This wasn't possible. Not here, not now—this was supposed to be a safe city!

Sunlight scattered off the blade as it began to rise.

In the next instant, two feet of metal sprouted from Awesome Dude's chest. Fresh blood dripped down its length. The Fallen Knight Rohhk looked over Awesome Dude's shoulder, meeting Severance's shocked gaze.

It was like looking into the empty eyes of a monster. There was no emotion, no intent, no purpose. It was like the Knight had just killed Awesome Dude for absolutely no reason at all. The Shade was there, and so he'd died. Simple as that.

Rohhk ripped his blade free. Violet sparks appeared around the wound on Awesome Dude's chest as he slumped to the ground. He wouldn't be getting back up, not without a Revive.

The Knight's lips curved. He'd found his next prey.