Time Elapsed: 00:22:19

Severance leaned against a rock in the outskirts of the Ironback Mountains. It was a relatively secluded area, so the chances of running into other players were low. He was waiting for his teammates to arrive before they traveled the rest of the way to Ironback town.

He watched as Vast sniffed idly around. He wasn't sure what the beast was investigating, since there wasn't much here other than dirt and rocks, but whatever it was, it kept Vast occupied.

With a quiet sigh, Severance tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. The pale, cloudless violet felt somewhat empty. Rather than the usual sense of wonder and peace, all he felt was an eerie sense of unease.

Was it Eliona itself that was off?

Or is it me?

Heavy footsteps approached, the sound crisp in the silent landscape. Severance immediately straightened, alert but not alarmed. If there were hostile people, Vast would have alerted him.

The familiar figure of Jack Coyote strode across the dry ground, the long panel of blue silk swaying about his armored legs. Behind him came a much smaller man dressed in pale, short robes. It was Mr Snowman, aka Snow. The usually cheery cryomancer looked strangely grim.

The unease in Severance's heart only grew. Eliona definitely was off today.

"Severance," Jack greeted in clipped tones.

Severance nodded at his two teammates. "Hey."

His gaze found Snow's, uncertain. What was with the gloomy face? The cryomancer was supposed to talk to Jack about the Gift situation. Had the discussion gone that badly?

"Did you see the chat?" Snow asked. "There's a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

Severance didn't usually look at it unless he had a reason to. Most of the time it was just useless banter between other players, anyway.

"Take a look," Jack Coyote told him.

Severance commanded the System to open the World Chat window. It appeared before him, a semi-translucent blue window filled with lines of text. It was particularly active today, with a lot of chatter going on.

He started reading.

Sandiego: It's fake

Best Buttface: Nah. That video is 100% real

Thirteendogs: What video?

Lady Volicia: What makes you think it's fake?

Sandiego: The timing. We all heard the rumors, right?

Sandiego: It's just some chick trying to go viral

DrippySippy: It's not

Pupeye the Jailorman: I used Throw Dagger in real life, okay? It's real

Thirteendogs: what are you all talking about?

Sandiego: Anyone can throw a dagger, dummy

Caraway: Can confirm. That Rainblade isn't the only one who can use skills

Best Buttface: Exactly

Sandiego: If you believe that, you must have some good drugs

Thirteendogs: Guys! Will someone tell me what's happening?

HighDudette: Yo, I'll take some of those

Severance skimmed through them, growing somewhat bewildered. "What's going on? What video are they talking about?"

Snow hesitated for the briefest of seconds. "There was a video of a Rainblade summoning her blades on the tube. She was in her backyard, in the real world. It looked pretty authentic, you know?"

Ice prickled down Severance's spine. "Someone made a video? How do you know it's real? It could be-"

"CGI? Maybe, who knows? But don't you think the timing is a bit too coincidental?"

"You both saw it?"

"Yeah, before it was scrubbed." Snow glanced at Jack. "And that's even more suspicious."

"What do you mean, scrubbed?" Severance wondered.

"It was deleted two hours after it was posted," Jack answered. "So was the account that made it."

Severance kept silent. On its own, having a video deleted wasn't all that strange. Neither was someone making a cool fan-made video about their favorite game. But Snow was right. The timing of it was strange. And when all the details came together, Severance got a really bad gut feeling.

It could be nothing. Or it could be everything. Because if the biggest fanbase for Eliona, the players themselves, knew about it, it was only a matter of time.

Severance wasn't stupid. He knew how it worked. There'd be people testing out their skills on Earth. There'd be more videos, and soon it'd be impossible to hide it. The world would know that Eliona did the impossible. Everyone would realize that some of its players would be... changed.

And if people tried using their abilities on Earth, they'd eventually wither away, just as Ervante had. Severance gritted his teeth. He wanted to warn the players on the World Chat, but doing so would only draw attention to himself.

He leaned against the stone, arms folded, his gaze sharp as he saw more and more players join in on the world chat. More than a few were confused, but others were more than happy to fill them in. One in particular mentioned that she'd actually seen a friend pull a stone from the ground just like an Evoker. She'd thought it was just a fancy trick at the time, but now...

Severance swiped the window to the side, moving it out of the way of his main field of view.
"This isn't good."

"No," Jack Coyote narrowed his eyes slightly, his attention fixated on Severance. "Snow told me you healed on Earth."

There was a definite accusatory tone to his statement, one that made Severance tense instinctively.

"Ah." So they did have that conversation after all. There was no point hiding it now. "I did. And it nearly put me in a coma. "We can't –" He paused, seeing Valentin's tall figure loping towards them. Beside him was Kiah, jogging lightly to keep up. He quickly added, "We can't use skills on Earth like we do here. It's a death sentence."

"What's a death sentence?" Kiah asked as she reached them, her dark eyes bright and curious.

Severance frowned and exchanged a look with Jack and Snow. Then to his surprise, Jack gave a curt nod.

The tank fixed Valentin and Kiah with a cold, golden gaze. "You've seen the Chat?"

Valentin nodded, while Kiah shook her head. With a quick verbal command, she opened it. They all waited while she skimmed through it, her eyes widening, then narrowing. She pursed her lips, looking up at them.

"Someone made a video and they're talking about using skills..." Kiah paused. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"There is," Jack said. "You missed the first part of the Chat. They're talking about using Skills in reality. On Earth."

She raised an eyebrow, her expression surprisingly calm. "Explain what you mean."

When Jack didn't immediately answer, Severance sighed. "It's related to the Gifts. Players that get multiple Gifts and have at least one that's high-leveled is able to ah, access some of their skills in real life. What they're talking about on chat is real."

Kiah's gaze shifted to him. "You're joking."

"He's not," Snow cut in. "I froze water just by touching it."

"And I healed myself after I got a really bad burn," Severance added. "I know how it sounds. It should be impossible, but it happened."

For a long moment, Kiah was silent. Her gaze flicked between them, before returning to Severance. It was peculiar how calm she was, despite the sheer insanity they were talking about.

"You are speaking the truth?"

"Yes," Severance said, a little helplessly. Who on earth would believe such a thing unless they experienced it for themselves?

She exhaled lightly, and folded her arms. "All right. So you and Snow have experienced this impossibility. What about the rest of you?"

Jack's expression tightened. "No. I only have one Gift, and it's fairly low level."

On the other hand, Valentin merely blinked. "Yes."

They looked at the knightglaive in surprise.

"You have?" Snow demanded. "When? How?"

"A week ago," the tall player stated. His deep voice was so calm, he might as well have been talking about a dinner recipe. "My skill with polearms have increased exponentially in my training."

Training? Severance wondered.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Snow exclaimed. "That's huge!"

Valentin's eerily red eyes didn't even blink. "Same reason you didn't say anything."

With an audible click, Snow's jaw snapped shut. He huffed, folding his arms. "Fine, you have a point. But you guys, this is—this is gonna make Eliona a very popular game. Everyone's going to want a piece of this."

"Yes. And that's why none of you are going to speak of this," Jack Coyote firmly stated. "Both in game and out. Keep your distance, keep quiet, because nothing good will come out of it. We all have to be very careful going forward. Understand?"

"I am not a fool," Kiah frowned.

Snow rolled his eyes. "Neither am I."

Severance looked down at Vast, who lay quietly by his feet. There was an ugly knot of dread pooling in his belly, and it wasn't just this revelation. It was for the storm that undoubtedly lay ahead in the next few days and weeks. It was also for the next five hours of absolute hell that lay ahead. He...

He was tired. And yet, the fight was just beginning.

"Let's go," he murmured. "We have a dungeon to do."

Jack Coyote gave him a sharp look. But thankfully, after a moment, the tank began to lead the way to Ironback Town. The rest of the team followed in silence. Though no one said anything, there was a tacit understanding between them.

They were in this together.

***

The second they stepped into the narrow passage to the Ironback Mine, the air turned cold. A few snowflakes scattered through the air. And that was all Severance needed to know that they were stepping into an ambush.

Before Jack called out an alarm, Severance darted forward. From one step to the next, he broke into a dead run, becoming little more than a black blur. He saw two players standing on a nearby pile of rubble. One had snow swirling about him, and the other had raised a small array of stones, which floated before him.

A combo attack?

It didn't matter. Severance wasn't going to give them a chance to complete it.

He ignored Jack's angry bellow, and sprinted for the rubble. Vast loped beside him, powerful muscles rippling beneath shiny silver fur. Electricity burst to life around Severance as he ran, his war fans appearing in his hands.

The two players saw them coming, but they didn't stop what they were doing. The air grew even colder, and the rubble pile began to tremble with the building power of their combo attack.

Severance and Vast reached the pile of rocks at the same time. As one they leapt, bouncing from one rock to another like a ricocheting bullet. In a few short leaps, they had effortlessly ascended the rubble pile.

"Suppress!"

The electrical burst slammed into the two players, disrupting whatever attack they were forming. In an instant, the cold winds died and the trembling earth calmed. Severance jabbed the sharpened tip of a closed fan into the side of the cyromancer's neck. At the same time, Vast closed his jaws around the other player's face.

Since they were stunned, it was so very easy to dispatch them.

Severance turned, and pointed at the dusty spawning platform in the middle of the town. "Vast, kill anyone that arrives there."

With a whoof, Vast agilely leapt his way down and galloped over to the platform, his long tail streaming behind him. Severance followed, his gaze flicking to his teammates. They had already engaged with more players, with Valentin and Snow teaming up against the enemy tank. Jack Coyote guarded himself against a ferocious tempest, who spun their barbed chain so fiercely it was nothing more than a buzzing blur.

There was no sign of their healer. But Severance did not let his guard down. It looked like there was only one player team here, but that didn't mean any others weren't enroute or even hiding in the mine. Keeping an eye out, he focused on the tempest.

"Flare."

The electrical bolt of energy dropped from the sky with perfect accuracy, crashing down onto the tempest. It staggered the player, and Jack instantly struck with his shield, knocking the player down.

From there, it took only seconds.

"It's clear!" Kiah had rushed on to the mine entrance, and now she poked her head out. "Hurry!"

With a flurry of brutal strikes, Valentin finished off the tank. Everyone ran to the mine. As he passed the spawn platform, one of the felled players appeared in a flash of light. Before they even opened their eyes, Vast took them out again.

"Oof." Snow winced.

Severance ignored him. "Good boy, Vast. Now keep yourself hidden until we come out. Don't try and fight anyone, okay?"

To that, Vast huffed, his tail lashing against the ground once. It seemed he didn't care much for that idea, but he would listen. Probably.

This time, it was just the one team they had to fight. But who knew how many more would come in the next few hours? Or how many would be waiting for them to come out?

Everyone slipped into the darkness of the mining tunnels. Severance used the blue glow of Sky Dance to illuminate the path, though it wasn't really necessary. All of them knew the way. Soon, the murky light of the dungeon entrance swirled before them.

And one after another, they slipped inside.