"Pop quiz time, kiddo." Ronin slammed the butt of his walking stick into the ground. Even though he'd shown her how to stash the rifle, he still carried a sword in a scabbard at his side. "What's the number one rule in Facing Fear?"

Mori eyed her boots, then the distant skyline. Not too far away, a giant wall broke the vast ocean of green. The stone barrier stretched as far as she could see in either direction and disappeared into the clouds above. "How am I supposed to ace a quiz I didn't study for?"

Ronin sighed. "Didn't the devs teach you anything?"

Skye had taught her rules, but Mori doubted Ronin was asking for those. She scratched at the hard spot on her neck, where the chip had embedded itself under her skin.

Don't talk about being able to reset FEAR with the other players.

Don't talk about the cube or ring or take them out of your inventory until you need them.

You must place the cube on the creators pedestal at the center of the game to reset it.

Considering the wording of the rules, Mori couldn't tell Ronin about them even if he asked. She dug back in her mind to over eight years ago. "Don't shoot your friends," she answered.

Ronin's lip twitched as if he were holding back a smile. "Not bad, but no. First rule is to control your mental state. Why do you think you were attacked upon entry?"

"Welcoming committee, I think you said." Mori thought for a moment longer, aware of Ronin's keen brown eyes watching her. "Actually...when I was trying to find a weapon, I might've thought about how bad it would be to get attacked right then."

"Bingo." Ronin nodded. "Stray thoughts like that will get you killed. Your fears manifest here. Now, when you first summoned the wolves, instinct kicked in and your first shot landed true. But then your mind became your enemy again and dropped your strength."

That makes sense. Mori pulled her rifle from her inventory with a single thought, but before it fell into her grip, she let it hang in the air and sent it back to storage. In her SniperX days, players always said there were three things that made a pro player: skill, game sense, and their mental. She'd had all three then, she could learn all three here. No obstacles would block the way except the ones she created herself.

She fixed her eyes on Ronin, with his stern expression. Identify. Only his gamer tag appeared in glowing blue lettering. "Why are you helping me? Frankly you don't seem the type." A chilling thought brushed up against her consciousness with ghostly fingers. "What happened to the other Fearless?"

Ronin pushed her aside and swept his hand through a misty blue figure, dispelling the particles. "What did I just say about stray thoughts?" he snapped at her. He regained control with frightening speed, settling back into a stoic vigilance. "The other Fearless very much lived up to their title. They didn't want to talk and the most I could get out of them was their real world time before they entered, not always specific or even in the same timezone. You're the only one who hasn't run off as soon as I looked the other way."

Mori tilted her head. "And you're helping me because?"

For a moment, a glimmer of childish curiosity shone in Ronin's eyes. Maybe he wasn't as old as she'd been guessing. "You Fearless know something important. You didn't deny it when I said the devs neglected to train you. All the Fearless come in with varying degrees of game knowledge, but they all have high-level equipment and some purpose driving them. Anyways—" Ronin headed for the wall. "We'd best get to the next ring before nightfall. The monsters like to come out when it gets dark."

A quick sweep of the surrounding meadow didn't reveal any creatures, but night did seem to be looming closer along with the infinite wall. Strangely, even after walking for hours, Mori didn't feel tired. Her boots hadn't chafed her heels and the fresh air passed through her lungs without effort. "Do we have to sleep here?"

"No. We don't need it."

Mori did her best not to let her mind wander to unwanted topics, which meant she found herself reminiscing over the days when she had gamer friends. Maybe she should have told them she was quitting. How long did they wait for her thinking she'd come back? But maybe it had been better as it was, with her pulling the cord when her family moved and never plugging back in.

They reached the wall.

"This is the entry to the second ring of seven," Ronin explained. When his fingers touched the stone, the surface rippled like water.

"Are we going through?" Mori asked when he hadn't moved.

Something about Ronin seemed like the wall to her, appearing solid but with subtle shifts beneath. Besides the color of his hair and eyes, his appearance never seemed to settle—sometimes he looked old and rugged, other times the sharp, clean planes of his face testified to a man in the prime of his youth. "Not yet," he said.

Mori waited and watched as the sun dimmed and sank beyond the horizon. Night arrived in a methodical manner, with darkness sweeping over the landscape like a curtain being pulled shut and the stars being lit like candles. Then the clouds parted to reveal the full moon in glory, with the howling of wolves to greet her.

"At times like this, I don't even want to go back," Ronin whispered.

Mori didn't answer and after a moment, he stirred beside her, as if awakening from a dream. A notification appeared before her in a window. "A party request?" she asked.

"A temporary one. You won't be able to damage me that way." Equipment dropped as Ronin slung an extra sword at his waist and added on armor beneath his cloak.

"I've never shot at my friends...after the first time." Mori laughed but Ronin leveled a serious glance at her. "Fine. Fine." Mr. Grumpy Pants can't take a joke. She accepted the request and another window popped up about a will and inheritance laws if she died in-game. After a second of skimming, Mori accepted its terms as well.

Another set of bars appeared in her left field of vision. Unlike hers, all seven were consistent at the mid-to-high range. "Are these your stats?" Mori asked.

"Yes, but keep your voice down." Ronin stepped closer to hover over her shoulder and their stat views merged. "We'll start with your best ones. See how this grey one fills five dots of the bar? That's what we call a five star stat." He pointed to her longest bars. "Grey is accuracy and blue is defense. You may not have the highest strength" —he tapped the golden bar which hovered around the first dot— "but with that aim, you can still one-shot monsters. Your level shows at the top and the higher it is, the more buffs to your equipment you'll receive."

Mori's head swam with the info. "I think I've got it."

"Mind over matter." Ronin patted her shoulder and pulled away. "Now get out your rifle and shoot some wolves. I'll take down any that come too close."

Taking deep breaths, Mori pulled her rifle from the inventory. The grey weapon shimmered before materializing. The number of rounds still in the gun registered as another block of data, with the scope switching to night mode on its own. Mori peeked through it, both eyes open, and swept the grasslands before finding a wolf pack. Identify.

Timber Wolf - 1.1 miles

Red bars appeared over the beasts' heads. Their ears swiveled and mist rose up from quivering muzzles.

"Take your time," Ronin said quietly.

Mori counted seven wolves this time and placed the crosshair over each of their eyes by turn. Deep breaths. This is just like a practice range. Aiming at the first wolf in a line from left to right, Mori placed her finger on the trigger.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The wolf staggered and the rifle's report echoed over the meadow. Mori readied for a second shot, surprised the first one hadn't been clean, when the red bar emptied and the wolf shattered. When she turned her sights to the next one, it was staring straight at her with eyes that had turned an ominous red.

She fired again, taking the second one between the eyes. A cry went up from the pack as they sprinted toward her, the distance gauge lessening. They're not real. Mori shot one after the other, not breaking her rhythm. The last wolf dodged her bullet by jumping, so Mori clipped it in the shoulder first before aiming for the head.

The meadow fell silent as the gunshot faded.

"Hold on," Ronin said when she prepared to put her rifle away. He pointed at the sky which now glittered with hundreds of red sparks. "You triggered a challenge. Reload. Hurry."

Mori pressed the release for the rifle magazine but fumbled to catch it. She stared at the container. "How do I reload it?"

"Put that one in your inventory and get another!" Ronin sounded either nervous or excited, but Mori couldn't take the time to tell which.

She barely managed to catch the filled magazine when it fell into her hand and had an even harder time fitting it back in to where it clicked. After racking the bolt, she raised her eyes to the sight of dozens of bright red wolves spawning in a line. "Can we...can we run?"

"We could, but I have full confidence in you." His voice came clear and steady now. "Listen, when you shoot one, move right on to the next. If they manage to absorb the shot, I'll pick off the stragglers. Sound like a plan?"

Mori's heart fluttered like a caged bird in her chest. She was sweating and shaking but no wolf pack would get the better of her again. If she didn't learn to be a fighter in this world, she'd never be strong enough to find Shiori and return to the real world. "Sounds like a plan," she said, proud that her voice only trembled a little.

She raised her rifle to the pocket of her shoulder and shot at the first wolf. Without pause, her crosshair landed on the next one then the next, skimming from target to target. By the time she had to reload again, her ears were ringing. Ronin wasn't beside her, and she found him out in the field dispatching a wounded wolf.

The rest converged on him.

Identify. Red Moon Wolf - 200 yards

She'd hit her flow now, sniping the wolves before they reached Ronin, each one exploding in a shower of red pixels. Finally, she killed the last one.

All the red mist from the fallen enemies gathered in the clear night sky before rocketing straight at Ronin. Mori yelped and jogged out into the field. But when she reached him, Ronin held out his hand to show her two red crystal earrings.

"Rare item drop. You take them."

"I'll take one," Mori said. When she brought the piece of jewelry to her right ear, it attached without her having to poke it through. In her side view, a red bar jumped one star.

"You did most of the work. You should have both," Ronin protested, trying to push the other into her hand.

"Absolutely not." Mori dashed away from Ronin before he could put the earring on her other ear.

"I'm not wearing this." He frowned at the jewel. "Unless..."

Mori inched closer. "Unless what?"

"Unless we're going to be teammates long-term. Then matching accessories are acceptable."

Flicking her earring back and forth, Mori made a show of thinking the decision over. "Why do you want to party with me? There's gotta be better candidates."

Ronin shrugged, tapping the earring in his palm. To Mori's surprise, it changed color from red, to green, then to gold. When she glanced at her stat bars, they were growing and shrinking by turns.

"You've got good base stats. The low ones will be easy to build the longer you're in the game," Ronin said. "It's also impossible to access the fourth ring alone."

"This is an important decision." Mori unstrung her coin from the cord. With how everything else about her had changed, it must have been fate that allowed her to keep it. She didn't even know if she looked like herself. "Coin flip time. Rice stalk or sprout?"

"Hmm, rice stalk."

Mori flipped the coin, but Ronin caught it and opened his hand to present it rice stalk side up. "Guess we're duos now." He gave the coin back to her and threaded the earring through his left ear, the jewel now glowing bright blue.

"Don't we need to send a different party request?" Mori shouted at him while they raced back to the wall.

"Nope!" Ronin grinned back at her. "No such thing as a temporary one—I made that up!" He touched the wall first.

Mori caught up and sank to lie down on her back. "I don't feel so great."

"Mm...your stamina bar is almost dark. The red one." Ronin tossed a piece of bread that almost hit her in the face. "Eat up, kiddo. And listen, you can break up with me any time. I know I'm a handful." He winked at her before tearing into his own loaf.

"Stop 'kiddo'ing me." Mori nibbled at her bread, too tired to sit up. "You can call me Mori."

"Fine then...Mori." Ronin paused. "I like my game tag better, but you can call me Riku if you want to."

Mori smiled. "I'll stick to using it for special occasions like breakups then."

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Chapter Word Count: 2272
Total Word Count: 8575