Severance gave his friend a sideways look. "What are you doing in the city?"

The last time they talked was when they'd run the raid together a couple of days ago. Since then, he hadn't heard from Awesome Dude.

"Hehe. I got promoted."

Awesome Dude fell in beside him, with Vast on the other side of Severance. Other than a quiet grumble, Vast seemed to be okay with that, as long as the Shade didn't keep trying to offer him food.

"To what?"

Both of Severance's eyebrows rose. Somebody actually promoted Awesome Dude? This, he had to hear. The narrower street had few people on it, so he stopped and turned to face the Shade.

"I'm a Captain now," Awesome Dude told him with no small amount of pride. "I'm helping to protect this city now. Look at this."

He tugged the collar of his shirt down a bit, showing off the base of his neck. He had a clan marking there, a wolfhound's head etched in grays like a tattoo.

The last time Severance had seen it, it'd only been a faint outline. Now it was almost solid, with detailed lines indicating the eyes and fur of the hound. The eyes were the darkest, almost pitch black in color, while the fur was a solid gray.

"You got more Gifts?" Severance's brows lifted.

He wondered if his friend understood the significance behind that. He looked up, met Awesome Dude's brown eyes. And to his surprise, he saw the solemnity there, despite the silly grin that Awesome Dude wore.

The grin faded quickly though, leaving a stranger standing in the Shade's place.

"Yeah," Awesome Dude said. He glanced around, making sure there was no one within earshot, before he leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone, "I have three now, like you. But something's weird, y'know?"

"What's weird?" This could be anything, really, but Severance was getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"So, one of the Gifts I got, it's a skill called Foxhole, okay?"

Severance nodded, listening worriedly, while his friend continued.

"It's actually pretty cool. You can dig a hole really fast, and it's great for taking shelter. Like, a minute flat, and I got this four-foot hole in the ground. It turns the dirt into butter, I tell you."

"Okay..." Severance managed to keep his voice steady. There was actually a skill for digging holes?

"But that's not the weird part. I went to the beach the other day, in real life of course, and you know what? I made a really big hole in the sand. It only took me twenty minutes, but you probably could have put a whole walrus in there, it was so huge. It usually takes me like an hour, and my buddy says he'd never seen anybody dig so fast. It's almost like I became a professional hole digger, you know?"

The absolutely serious look on Awesome Dude's face did Severance in. He snorted, then coughed, and then turned away, struggling not to choke on his own spit.

"Why are you laughing?" Awesome Dude tilted his head. "I'm serious! It's a weird coincidence, right? I got better at digging holes after I learned how to dig them here."

Severance took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to steady himself. "Do you regularly go to the beach to dig holes?"

That earned him a disgruntled look. "Well yeah. What else are you supposed to do at a beach?"

"I dunno, swim?"

"I don't know how to swim. And besides, there's sharks out there. I don't want to lose a leg. But that's not what's important here, though. Listen. I've heard that people are getting better at things after they got Gifts. That's why I'm asking you. I know you have three."

It was like the heavens opened up and dumped a waterfall of ice-water over Severance's head. All amusement vanished in an instant and the unease returned with all the force of a sucker punch to the gut.

Other people were experiencing weird things? He hadn't taken Awesome Dude's story very seriously, on account of how silly it was, but if other players were noticing things on Earth, then that was a whole different story. It meant he hadn't been the only one.

"What did you hear, exactly?" he asked urgently. The change in his tone prompted Vast to look up at him.

Awesome Dude shrugged. "It's only for people with three Gifts. One or two don't change anything. But three? That's where things start getting weird. Like, one person said they could suddenly see better. They didn't need glasses anymore. And another buddy of mine who's in the Wann Mi clan—he's in kickboxing, but he said he was able to pick up a spear and use it like he'd been doing it all his life. He's a Knightglaive. And he's never used a spear in real life before. There are a few others, but it's all things like that."

Severance felt dizzy. He stepped back, bumped into the building behind him. He sagged against its solid surface for support.

"That's not good."

If players knew... he shook his head. There was no way. It couldn't happen. No one could go though what he had.

Or maybe they could. He'd gotten five Leader Gifts, but it nearly killed him. There were few large clans out there with enough Leaders to do the same, though chances of that happening were very low. Gifts could only be given once, and with players joining the largest clans by the hundreds, there was no way every Leader would be willing to drop all their Gifts on a single player. It was totally unfeasible.

His reaction gave him away, for Awesome Dude looked triumphant.

"I knew it! You did have something happen! What was it?"

Severance shook his head. He'd planned to say nothing, but something about the Shade's manner made him pause. On most days, Awesome Dude wasn't the kind of person you trusted with secrets. He tended to run around like a headless chicken, stirring up trouble and spitting out nonsense wherever he went.

Yet here they were. The fact of the manner was, Awesome Dude had many social contacts. He got around. He heard things. And right now, he was a good source of information. Severance would never have been able to find out what other players were talking about, simply because he didn't have the time to socialize, nor did he have the inclination to. That just wasn't him.

He even forgot the World Chat existed most days.

Severance looked at the Shade thoughtfully. Awesome Dude was his first friend, really. His oldest friend, which wasn't saying much since they'd only met when he first started playing Eliona's War. Still, it wasn't hard to see that the Dude was good people. Despite his oddities, his heart was in the right place.

"Okay," he decided. "I'll show you something, but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

"I promise," Awesome Dude said instantly. Eagerness practically beamed from his face like a giant spotlight.

"I mean it. If you talk about it, people will die."

Like a flipped switch, Awesome Dude became serious. He nodded. "I got it."

And oddly enough, Severance believed him. "Then follow me."

He led the way to quite corner of a residential street, where a row of tall trees shaded a large area. No one was in sight here, so Severance felt safe enough to remove his coat. He passed it to Awesome Dude to hold for a moment, then carefully pulled off his shirt. He needed to change it anyway, since it was quite battered.

"Look," he said, and turned his marked shoulder towards Awesome Dude.

The Veiled sigil colored his skin in solid black lines. It looked like five swirly leaves layered over each other and arranged in a star pattern. There were two empty spaces on either side of the topmost leaf, leaving the sigil a little imbalanced.

Awesome Dude moved closer to look. He didn't touch, but his eyes grew wide.

"There's more," he whispered. His eyes flew to Severance's. "What's going on?"

Severance pulled a new Mouna-made shirt from Inventory and put it on. He reclaimed his coat from Awesome Dude.

Calmly, he said, "I have five."

Five? The Shade mouthed the word, as if he was too afraid to speak it out loud. It was the first time that Severance had seen such a stunned look on his friend's face. If he were honest, it was rather satisfying.

"Yes," he confirmed. "They're mostly related to my Clan's movement skill. And back on Earth, I can move the same way as I do here."

Awesome Dude just stared for a long moment. His gaze was a little blank as he processed this.

"There's definitely something going on," Severance went on. "So if you hear anything from other players, even if it's just a rumor, please tell me. It's kind of important."

"I—wow." The lights came back on in Awesome Dude's eyes, and he gave his head a little shake. "Okay. That's freaky. I saw that you walk even quieter than me, and I'm a Shade. You mean to say you can do that in real life now, too?"

Severance nodded.

"That's so cool!" With a sudden grin, Awesome Dude grabbed Severance's arm. "You-!"

Silver flashed in front of Severance. A gut-shaking roar filled the street. And suddenly, Awesome Dude was no longer standing in front of him.

Severance looked down. There was Vast, his jaws clamped tight around the offending arm that has only seconds ago been touching him. With savage twist and awful wrench, said arm was torn free from its socket. Severance winced.

"Whoa!" Awesome Dude shouted. And then he couldn't shout anymore, because Vast had had enough of the Shade's insolence.

Severance sighed and took out his fans.

A few minutes later, he'd managed to calm Vast down and Revive Awesome Dude. The Shade didn't seem to be bothered by his gruesome death. In fact, Severance figured he was getting used to it, because this was now the second time Vast had killed Awesome Dude for getting too close. It probably wasn't going to be the last.

"Sorry about that," Severance muttered, even though it was Awesome Dude's own fault. "Vast is a bit jumpy."

"Nah, it's okay. He's pretty awesome. Even better than the dogs at the EC headquarters! I've told them they should switch out all the dogs for Vasts, but no one's done anything yet."

Awesome Dude brushed off his clothing, as if he could somehow casually wipe off all the horrid blood splatters that now soaked his clothes. It was fortunate the material was dark enough to hide the worst of it.

Now that was a terrifying idea. A clan filled to the brim with vastlhidans. It'd be the safest place in all of Eliona. Severance shook his head, bemused at the thought.

"Look," he said. "About what I said earlier-"

"I won't say anything," Awesome Dude promised seriously. "And thank you. I wasn't sure if it was just me or if those rumors actually meant something, so I'm glad you showed me. Now I know."

"You're welcome. Just let me know what else you find out, okay?"

"Sure thing," the Shade agreed easily. "Anyway, I gotta get back to guard duty or I'll get in trouble again. I'll talk to you later!" With a little wave and grin, Awesome Dude jogged off down the street.

It left Severance wondering if he'd made the right choice, or if he'd just made a mistake.