Valentin was the first to leap at the giant worm head hanging out of the ceiling. He went at it with a wild flurry of strikes. Yet none of his attacks did anything; his glaive only bounced off its scaley skin harmlessly. He dropped after a failed attack, hit the ground in a crouch, and immediately launched himself upwards once more.

As Valentin flew up, the enormous worm head split open into a great mouth, and before Severance could even process what he saw, the knightglaive was gone.

The worm pulled back into its dark and terrible hole. Valentin's name went gray in the party list.

"What the-?" Severance felt like he'd just seen a planet destroyed. How could there be a worm that big? It had swallowed up an entire person just like that!

He glanced at the worms on the ground, slithering along like snakes. A horrible thought struck him. Had they been fighting babies this whole time? Was the giant worm in the ceiling a full grown one?

"Intercept." Jack's cold voice snapped.

It yanked Severance out of his daze. He immediately returned his attention to his teammates. There wasn't anything he could do for Valentin now. Without even a body remaining behind, there was no way to Revive him.

Snow, on the other hand, needed all the help he could get. He was already blinking red in the health list. Even as Severance began to sprint over, Jack was already charging across the room like a battering ram, leaving behind a path of battered critters. Now he shielded the cryomancer, singlehandedly blocking every spit, and slashing everything that got too close.

Severance found a cleared spot behind the tank. With Jack there to help, he'd be able to find a chance to heal-

A furry snout popped out of a hole by Snow's feet. In the next instant, a little rat flew up and kindly wiped out the last bit of red in Snow's health bar. And just like that, Snow keeled over. Or he would have, if he hadn't been rooted to the ground like the pile of rock he was. Instead, he just sort of sagged, head dropping to his chest and his one free arm going limp.

"Ah crap," Severance muttered.

While Jack furiously smashed the offending rat into pulp, Severance came around and lightly touched the cryomancer's shoulder. Beneath his fingertips, he could tell that even Snow's clothing had turned hard and gray. Severance looked at his teammate's face and felt his stomach twist. Even though Snow had died, a fresh trickle of pink fluid seeped from his encrusted, closed eyelids.

It looked far too familiar.

Severance's hand suddenly gave a sympathetic itch. He absently pulled it back, scratching the back of it before readjusting his grip on the war fans. "I'll Revive-"

"Don't," said Jack Coyote. He loomed beside Severance, his shield covering them both. "We've lost this fight."

"Lost? But we're still-" Severance cut himself off, because he'd just noticed the state of Jack's armor and shield. Both had taken the brunt of worm saliva, and the very distinct corrosion of rust had spread across the metal. Small holes had already eaten through the armor. It wouldn't be long before it started to break apart.

"Oh," Severance winced. "That looks bad. What should we do?"

"We leave the dungeon." Jack looked over to Kiah, and raised his voice. "We're out!"

By now, Kiah was down to only a single summoned blade. With a weakened defense, it hadn't taken long for small traces of rock to appear on her legs. In response to Jack's call, she only gave a curt nod and dismissed her last blade. Then she stood still and let the nearest rat do its thing.

A moment later, she was gone in a flurry of violet sparks.

Jack Coyote still covered Severance with his shield, absorbing all attacks. His health was steadily bleeding out, and the rate began to increase as the remaining critters scampered over. It would only take a minute or two before he would fall.

He didn't seem to notice, however. Instead, he watched Severance with an unreadable expression. "Can you log out?"

"Let me see. System." Severance waited a second, but nothing popped up. Considering the warning he'd gotten before they entered the dungeon, it wasn't exactly a surprise. He sighed. "Nope. Guess we have to do this the hard way."

Jack's expression darkened. "Then let me-"

"I got it." Severance ducked beneath the tank's shield and moved away. "Just buy me some time on the other side."

At least death was mercifully swift. He barely had time to process anything before the world disintegrated into white static.

He came to with the pleasant sensation of fire in his guts. It quickly became apparent why, because when he went to touch his belly, he got a handful of warm, slippery pink –

"Blegh!"

The heaves came before he could stop them. It wasn't like there was anything to come up anyway, considering his digestive system was sort of slipping free.

"Uh, Sev?" That was Snow's questioning voice.

With wobbly legs, Severance turned his back to the rest of the team. Behind him, he could hear heavy footsteps and clanking of armor. Jack's voice came, cold and grim and somehow reassuring at the same time.

"He's fine. Let's talk about what happened in there."

"Well, I died. That's what happened."

"There were too many of them," Kiah added. "And Valentin disappeared. What happened to you?"

"Big one," came Valentin's low voice.

While his teammates discussed it, Severance worked at carefully pushing everything back into his belly. He tried very hard not to think about what he was doing, or if it would be a problem jamming things in there in the wrong order. Would it matter if his small intestines got all tangled up? He had no idea. He was no doctor. All he could do was shove it inside and hope for the best.

The effort it took to maintain his composure brought him to his knees. Literally. His legs shook so badly that they crumpled, and he found himself kneeling in a puddle of his own blood. White noise filled his head, and his teeth clenched so hard that his jaw ached. It was a good thing he didn't need to use verbal commands, because there was no way he could have gotten a single word out.

Winds gusted around him in a violent storm, lifting the hair away from his face. One Mend after another rippled through his guts, and as the skin knit together, he could feel how things writhed and shifted around before they settled in their rightful place. It left him feeling sweaty and nauseated, and when the last of the healing wind had settled, he found himself doubled over, bracing himself with a hand on the ground.

Tremors ran through him and his breathing came in ragged pants. Sweat soaked his hair, dripped from his nose. After a while of just simply breathing, he realized that it was silent.

He lifted his head, only to find his teammates standing in a loose circle around him. Valentin held a torch, the flame casting light over him. With the tunnel's dark walls on either side, Severance felt like he knelt in the middle of a medieval jail cell. And his grim-faced wardens were none other his teammates, for with the exception of Jack, they all bore grim and foreboding expressions, like they'd just discovered he liked to murder puppies in his free time.

Severance felt his stomach sink. They know.

He swallowed, grimacing as the distinct taste of blood passed over his tongue. He looked up at Jack carefully.

"I wasn't screaming, was I?"

"No." Jack's arms were folded across his chest. His un-armored chest, Severance noticed. Jack must have taken off his damaged armor, leaving him in plain under-clothing similar to Severance's. It was strange seeing him like that, and Severance absently stared while he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do next.

"Right," he muttered. "That's good."

He got to his feet, wobbling a little before he found his footing. His clothes were absolutely drenched, but he didn't feel like changing them when he had an audience. A flick of the hand sent his war fans into Inventory.

"Is it?" The voice cut the heavy air like a whip. It was so sharp, so frigid that it took Severance a moment to realize it was Snow who had spoken. Gone was the usual playfulness. It had been replaced by a icy hardness that would have made Jack Coyote proud.

Startled, Severance stared at the cryomancer, whose face had entirely closed off. It slowly dawned on Severance that Snow was, of all things, angry.

It was so strange and unexpected that Severance didn't know how to react. Hesitantly, he looked to Jack again, but the tank stood like a statue, offering no hint or clue. It was clear that he was leaving this up to Severance.

"Start explaining, Sev."

Severance's eyes darted back to Snow. Yep, the guy still looked as angry as he had before. And the other two didn't look any friendlier. They watched him warily, like they expected him to start screaming bloody murder in the next two seconds. Well, that was more Kiah, perhaps. Valentin was hard to read, as always.

Tensing, Severance instinctively touched his belly. The fresh skin felt slick from all the blood, and it tingled beneath his touch. He let his hand drop with a sigh.

It'd been foolish of him to expect they wouldn't notice anything. Not in such an enclosed space, with him calling up massive amounts of healing energy. They'd have to be blind and mentally retarded to not realize something was wrong. He couldn't really blame Jack on this one.

"What do you want me to explain?"

"That." Snow waved a hand forcefully toward Severance. "All of that."

That was about what Severance had expected, but how could he possibly begin to explain the impossible? At least not without shaking Snow's entire perception of reality. There was also the small problem of Kiah. While he liked her, he didn't really know her well enough to judge how she'd react.

"Can you be more specific?" He tried to buy himself some time to come up with a safe answer.

"Yeah," Snow retorted. He came forward, and before Severance knew what had happened, his head snapped back, pain blossoming across his jaw.

Severance staggered, eyes watering. He instinctively pressed a hand against his jaw, where a fresh bruise was no doubt forming, and stared at Snow with wide eyes. "What the-?! That hur-!"

He shut his mouth, realizing what he almost said. But it was too late.

"Hurt, huh?" Snow glowered at him. "Something you want to tell us, Sev? We're not stupid. I knew something's been going on since the raid. I thought Jack was just being overly cautious, and you being a wimp. But I guess I had it all wrong. You're an insane masochist, and he was just helping you hide it!"

Jack received a furious glare from the cryomancer next. "What the hell, man? We've been friends for years and you don't tell me about something like this? How is it even possible?!"

"It's not my secret to share," Jack evenly said. He didn't so much as blink in the face of his friend's anger, but Severance saw how the muscles in Jack's cheek flexed.

Guilt flooded him. Now he was causing a fight between friends. That wasn't what he wanted.

"I asked him to keep it quiet," he said. "It's my problem and I didn't want to bother anyone with it."

"Bother?" Snow whirled on him again, hands clenching. For a second, Severance worried he might get punched again. "What's wrong with you? Literally! What's wrong with you?!"

Severance took a step back. Those words dug deep, scratching at an old wound. A shutter fell over his expression, hiding the old hurt.

"A glitch," he quietly stated. "Something went wrong with my avatar, and some of the fail-safes no longer work."

"Yeah? So what, then? You get hurt now? That's how it works?"

"Yes," Severance admitted. His lips twisted sardonically. "But don't worry—it's not contagious. None of you have to worry about things starting to feel a bit too real."

"Severance," Jack spoke in a warning tone.

"Is that what's going on?" Kiah asked. "You really can feel it?"

"Of course he does," Snow cut in. "Or did you think he was rolling around on the ground and whimpering for fun?"

Severance's lips thinned. "I was not rolling."

"Shut up!" Snow jabbed a finger at him. "This is a game, you know? It's supposed to be fun! But you—you're standing there like that, like you didn't just have your guts ripped out like a freakin' torture victim. And you-!" He whirled toward Jack. "How could watch this happen? Of all people, you would let him do this?"

"Let me?" Severance repeated, ever so softly. He felt hollow, with incomprehensible noise filling up the empty space within. A storm brewed, but none of it escaped the outer shell of his skin. "It's got nothing to do with him. I chose to do this."

Disbelief contorted the Cyromancer's features. "What? Why? Why would you do all this just for a stupid game?"

Severance briefly met Jack Coyote's eyes. The tank gave a subtle shake of his head. Severance sighed and dragged a hand through his hair, pushing its sweaty mess away from his face. He fixed Snow with solemn lavender eyes and hoped that the other player would understand.

"I have my reasons," he said simply.

Snow's expression darkened. He threw up his hands and turned away. "Forget this. I'm out."

His figure blew apart into pale sparks as he abruptly logged off.

In the silence that followed, Valentin asked mildly, "Is it worth it?"

To that, Severance met the knightglaive's crimson gaze without flinching. "Yes."

Valentin gave a slight nod. He extinguished the torch, casting them into near darkness save for the pale light coming from the dungeon entrance. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He too, logged off.

That left Kiah, who carefully looked between him and Jack. "There's more, isn't there."

Jack Coyote didn't say anything. But Severance couldn't help but give a humorless laugh. This woman was far too sharp.

"Yeah, but it's not something I can talk about."

Kiah nodded. "I get it. I'm an outsider, and you don't know if you can trust me."

Her blunt statement made Severance blink. "Well..."

"It's all right. I'm not sure what's going on, but I know how to keep my mouth shut." She watched them both, her stance steady. The shock from earlier had faded. Now there was only an unyielding confidence. "I'm joining this team. You boys have your hands full, and you need all the help you can get. Especially you, Sev."

"I'm fine," he automatically said.

She only arched an elegant brow and gave Jack a pointed look. "See?"

The tank only grunted. "I'll need your contact info."

"I'll message you. Both of you."

"Hn."

"Good. And Jack? Talk to your friend. He's scared."

Jack's brows drew together. He looked at Severance.

"No, honey." Kiah chuckled. "I meant Snow." She came to Severance then, and looked up into his face, her gaze filled with something fierce and warm all at once. She smiled, patted his cheek, and then turned away.

"See you tomorrow."

After she left, Severance touched his cheek. "I don't get it."

Jack snorted. His gaze lingered on the spot where Kiah had been, his lips lifting in a faint curve. "She'll do."

"Oh, now you like her."

"Log off," Jack told him. "Get some sleep, and we'll give it another try tomorrow."

"What about Snow?"

"I'll talk to him."

With that, Jack left.

Severance stood alone in the dark tunnel. He lifted a hand to the rough, cool rock of the wall, and slowly leaned against it. Closing his eyes, he let out a long, shuddering breath.

One of his secrets had been discovered, but there was no sense of relief. There was only a lingering dread, because what would happen with everyone found out the rest?

Eliona was real, and it had a longer reach than anyone ever dared to dream of.