There was a sound of wood scraping across the floor as Asrani pushed his chair back. He stood, and there was a strange smile playing about his lips.

"Cocky child," he softly said.

For a brief moment, Seth regretted what he'd said. Angering the Veiled on Eliona was one thing; nothing they could do to him there would stick. But that wasn't how things worked on Earth.

Asrani took a single, graceful step forward.

A terrible sense of danger descended upon Seth. He hastily shoved his own chair back. At the same instant, Asrani leaped, one toe catching the edge of the table before he flipped effortlessly over the entire thing. His body was like a graceful swallow soaring over the heads of Mrs Beakor and Chadley.

Seth slipped out of his chair a split second before Asrani landed on the back of it. In a show of impossible balance, Asrani crouched on the narrow back of the chair like an eagle. The chair didn't even wobble once.

There wasn't much room to maneuver in, so Seth couldn't put too much space between them. That was fine. Days in a tiny room filled with holes and loose rocks had taught him how to move in limited spaces.

When Asrani flew at him, Seth already had his arms up in a block.

The first blow nearly knocked Seth's smaller frame flat. He staggered into a nearby chair. Pain flared up his forearms, but his expression never changed. He remained calm, focused, even as Asrani continued to advance.

Asrani grabbed his hand, wrenching it down and away. It wasn't a technique Seth had experienced before, but it broke his guard. Trying to remember Dhin's teaching, Seth moved in and went for a clumsy knee strike to the groin.

It was deflected easily. Having his attack thwarted didn't bother Seth. He merely made use of his free hand to go for a lethal strike to the throat. If it were anyone else, Seth would never dare. But this man was a Veiled, so his capabilities were not low.

There was a ripple of surprise in Asrani's expression. He grabbed Seth's wrist and wrenched it sideways. Seth's body had no choice but to follow. He was thrown onto another table, the breath exploding out of him.

Asrani loomed over him. Seth wheezed and pulled a leg up, intending to kick the man. But at that instant, a deafening crack split the air. Asrani stiffened, and his face turned deathly white. He staggered, then fell against the table, practically falling on top of Seth.

Seth instinctively kicked out, shoving the man off and onto the floor. With a soft grunt, Asrani crumpled out of sight. Seth paid him no intention because he could see Mrs Beakor now.

She sat calmly in her chair, Chadley sitting beside her. It was exactly the same as it was before. Except now, she had a pistol in her outstretched hand. It looked all terribly natural, like she normally carried guns around during breakfast time.

Even Chadley didn't seem to care. The big guy took a bite out of his toast, the soft crunch deafening in the dead silence of the room.

Seth stared, his heart thumping in his chest and a ringing in his ears. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Scratch that, he couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Y-you killed him," he choked out.

"Hardly." Mrs Beakor flicked the safety on and tucked the gun back into her purse. "I just shot him in the arse."

As if to prove that the Veiled man wasn't dead, a low groan came from the floor. A hand grabbed the edge of the table, making Seth jump. He immediately scrambled off the other side and watched warily as a second hand joined the first. With significant effort, Asrani climbed back to his feet. He leaned on his hands, his body hunched, his face pale.

Very carefully, as if afraid to move any more than necessary, he turned his head and gave Mrs Beakor a cold, accusing stare.

Unperturbed, she picked a piece of sausage and took a bite. "I warned you, brat. Don't touch the kid."

Asrani's expression darkened.

It was as a good time as any. Seth crept back to his chair, taking the long way around so he didn't have to walk past the gloomy man in black. He grabbed his coffee mug and drained it in big, desperate gulps. When it was finished, he had regained most of his wits.

Still, Asrani hadn't moved. The man in black didn't make a single sound, but his pale, slightly strained expression told of his discomfort. It was hard to tell just how bad his injury was because the black clothing hid everything.

Well, it probably wasn't too bad if Asrani was standing around here instead of running off to the hospital. If that was the case, then it wouldn't hurt to try and get some answers now. After all, Seth had a trigger-happy old lady on his side now. Surely Asrani couldn't refuse, right?

"So," Seth said, "you going to tell us about Reminsong now?"

***

Three hours later, Seth sat in the back of the rickety yellow car. He felt rather conflicted, for more reasons than one.

Asrani had refused to go back with them, which was fair. Seth wasn't exactly eager to be around the ornery man, either. Although, it was kind of funny how Asrani had gained a new sort of respect towards Mrs Beakor. The poor man had kept one wary eye on her the entire time.

Seth supposed a gunshot to the rump would do that.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Seth leaned forward and asked.

"Who knows?" Mrs Beakor answered. She flipped a page in her book. "I'm sure he'll come find you when he's ready, though."

Seth grimaced. "You think so?"

"Well, sure. You're the only tie he has to his home. You'll see him again."

"Oh boy. I can't wait."

Neither of them particularly liked each other. If Seth never saw Asrani again, he'd be perfectly all right with that.

He flopped back into his seat. He twisted sideways, leaning against the door, and propped his legs up on the seat. The smell of old, stale cigarettes wafted around his nose. It was the signature air freshener of this car.

He closed his eyes, his thoughts turning to what he'd learned.

First, he'd gotten the full story as to how his uncle died. Fenn, along with the manager of Reminsong, had been travelling down a busy freeway when a big fuel tanker suddenly pulled out in front of them. There's been a collision followed by an explosion. Thirteen people were injured, and three had died. The truck driver, Fenn, and the Reminsong boss.

It had been deemed an accident. But as Asrani had pointed out, there were too many coincidences involved, and he was certain it was an intentional incident.

How ridiculous. Seth hadn't believed it. Not at first. But the more Asrani revealed, the more Seth grudgingly agreed.

Asrani explained that certain people knew about Eliona long before the game entered the beta phase. People, as in a secretive group that had a very good chance of being either government-related or another elite circle that had some powerful connections. Whoever they were, they were very interested in the technology being developed and in the world of Eliona itself. They'd planted people in Reminsong almost faster than Asrani could root them out.

A lot of information was stolen before the shareholders of Reminsong—of which Fenn had been one—made the decision to destroy everything and go into hiding. The keys were already distributed across the world, so it was only a matter of hoping that enough players would remain active in Eliona and accomplish what needed to be accomplished. They had hidden multiple back-up servers so Eliona could continue to run for a long time on its own. By the time the servers failed or were discovered, the entire Eliona situation should be resolved, one way or another.

But no one could have accounted for what really happened.

Reminsong destroyed their files and hardware and fled. It didn't make a difference in the end. One by one, they all met with an accident and perished. When Seth had asked why they were killed instead of being taken prisoner, Asrani had just shaken his head grimly.

"They knew too much."

Which meant this group had its own sources of information. Either that, or they had already learned what they needed to, so there was no need to keep the Reminsong folk alive.

That thought disturbed Seth, but not as much as the fact his uncle had died because of them. He wondered if he'd met any of these crazy people already. Surely, they had some agents in Eliona because where else were they getting their information?

Either way, these people long since knew what the general public was only just starting to become aware of. Reminsong had done what they could to shield Eliona for as long as they could, but the truth always had a way of getting out.

It was only a matter of time.

Really. Seth exhaled heavily as he stared up at the stained roof of the car. The whole thing had been a gamble for Reminsong. A race against time, a last-ditch attempt to save a dying world.

Uncle Fenn had always been a bighearted person. Fighting battles that never had been his to start with...

I guess we really are related.

With a wry twist to the lips, Seth pulled out his phone. He thought for a long time, and then sent a text.

You are right. We need to be very careful. The people who built the game were all murdered.

He set his phone down on his belly. It was hard to tell just how much Jack Coyote knew, but Seth wanted to warn the guy just in case. He actually wished he could warn the others. Maybe he should ask for their phone numbers as well.

His phone buzzed, and he picked it up. Jack's reply was efficient.

I know. S and I won't be on tonight. Let V and K know, please. Will be back tomorrow.

"What?"

Seth read the text over, his stomach sinking. Without Jack and Snow, doing the dungeons tonight will be impossible. That would give the other teams a chance to catch up. He hastily started to reply, then stopped.

Jack Coyote wouldn't do something like that lightly. He was too meticulous to not be well aware. With that in mind Seth deleted what he wrote, and sent a new reply.

Everything ok?

The response was immediately.

Yes.

Seth felt only a margin of relief. He could almost feel the world shifting around him. Things were changing, pieces were moving, and it was all out of his sight. He didn't know what was happening. He only knew that a sense of danger had began to fill the air.

It wasn't just the clans and players in Eliona he had to be careful off. There was now the group that took out Reminsong on Earth.

He wondered if his uncle knew this was going to happen. And then he wondered why, exactly, Fenn had thrown him into the middle of it all.