I couldn’t decide if I now had a form of fame or infamy around camp. Barry, Rose, and Aubie treated me no differently. With some of the others, though, it was like they didn’t know how to interact with me.

  Alizea was now all awkward and avoided me. Her mage friend, Zorgan, came around and seemed to welcome my presence. But I think he was mostly in love with Dekka.

  This was not as bad a situation as it could have been. Rose and Barry were awesome. We spent a lot of time just talking. Barry had tried to hunt down my social media out in the real world.

  When he said he didn’t find it, I believed him. This led me to think that my actual body must be strapped in a pod somewhere. That the memory scans were just ancillary to my current situation. That didn’t explain the five plus years of memory loss.

  He had found my parents. Neither of them had any social media presence other than email. Barry and Rose both offered to contact my parents about me. Neither lived close enough to go see them in person. They lived in a small French-speaking community in northern Ontario. Really, no one lived near them.

  I had moved to Toronto, not just to go to university but to get away from them. Not that I didn’t love them, I did, I do, love my parents. But they held beliefs about the world that I did not. It had caused a lot of stress between us.

  Imagining what it would be like for them to be told I was stuck in a game, I shook my head and told both Rose and Barry we should wait to see what the GM came back with.

  Dekka and I had hiked back up to look at the door. It was imposing yet beautiful.

  [ENTRANCE TO THE WORLD EVENT WILL BECOME ACTIVE IN

  51 Hours 42 Minutes and 06 Seconds]

  I found myself smiling at the thought of the challenge of the world dungeon and how much more fun it was going to be going down with a large group than just a small party. I wanted to see Rose in action; it was hard to imagine her small, round presence in a scary dungeon. Everything just seemed brighter with her around.

  As if summoned by my thoughts part of my old party was standing in camp when I returned from the World Event Dungeon Door. I paused, watching.

  Ayerelia and Copperbeard were standing in the middle of a group of people. I could see Rose in there. I am sure she would figure out who they were. My initial reaction was that I didn’t want them here. That surprised me. Shouldn’t I want them here? Why didn’t I?

  Less of Ayerelia was quite understandable. But Copperbeard?

  My approach wasn’t noticed, it wasn’t until Copperbeard caught sight of Dekka that he looked around and spotted me as I joined them.

  “There you are. We didn’t see you at camp and were worried something happened to you,” Ayerelia said. Her words concerned but the tone of her voice conveyed she was mostly annoyed.

  Had she been worried I had died and wouldn’t be available, or had she been worried I was in actual trouble? I stayed silent. I was surprised by the faces of my new friends. Even those who weren’t sure what to make of me. They were looking decidedly unfriendly.

  “So these are your so-called party members, Elizabeth,” Rose said to me, her voice flat.

  “Yeah,” I replied, voice very neutral.

  “These are the people who kept leaving you stranded in the game over and over?”

  “Yeah. Though Copperbeard did make a ticket,” I watched as Ayerelia’s face turned red.

  “The people who did the bare minimum for someone trapped in a game. Someone they could fight alongside, could use, but wasn’t good enough to really care about?”

  Holy fuck! Now that she put it that way, they did seem like terrible people. I knew they weren’t quite that bad, even Ayerelia. There was some nuance here. But on the face of it Rose was right.

  Then Ayerelia made herself seem worse. “What is going on here? Are we on trial for not being ‘nice’ enough?”

  Copperbeard looked upset, but he held his tongue.

  “Is that what you think you are guilty of?” Barry asked.

  Ayerelia threw up her hands. “I am guilty of nothing. This is stupid. Does she have you all believing she is trapped in the game? That she has noooo idea how she got in here?”

  Silence fell over everyone. No one so much as shifted as they waited for this obnoxious person to be set straight.

  “We believe it because it’s true.” Rose said, her voice cold. She was taking this mighty personally. Her anger at my mistreatment warmed my heart. She and Barry stood there defending me despite knowing me for only a day.

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  Ayerelia gave me a skeptical look.

  “We know it is true because a GM showed up and couldn’t see her. That same GM confirmed that they have no record of her being in game. That this shouldn’t be possible.” Rose informed them.

  The look on Ayerelia’s face was priceless. Her features warred with themselves as they tried to look shocked, haughty, and disbelieving. I might have caught a flicker of guilt.

  I looked over at Copperbeard; he was looking down at his feet. I couldn’t see his face; I was far too tall, but his ears looked redder than usual. Was he angry upset at being called a bad person or was he guilty upset for not believing me?

  “What should we do with them?” Rose asked me.

  Do with them? What were my options? My mind raced to harmless but embarrassing things to do to the elf. But I didn’t voice them.

  “Do they know about the World Event?”

  Rose nodded.

  “Are you guys looking to join?” I addressed my party members for the first time since they had arrived.

  Copperbeard looked up. “Aye, if it works out. I have read about them online.”

  Ayerelia sighed, “Of course we want in. All the loot is supposed to be rare or better. Exclusive legendary items can be found in a World Event.”

  I looked at Rose. “We can’t stop them from joining, but if you want, we can make sure they can’t join any of the good squads.”

  I snorted thinking of making them join in with Kevin. Watching Ayerelia and Mr 1337 could be epically entertaining. But I didn’t have popcorn, and I thought about them as players, not people. Both the bard and the healer were very good at their roles.

  “They can join us. Ayerelia is actually a very good healer, if she doesn’t blind you, and Copperbeard is a top tier bard.” I said and then walked away, simply wishing to be done with everyone right now.

  My two erstwhile party members went to marvel at the door. I sat with Rose watching some mages have a competition trying to freeze, fry or electrocute, depending on their element, the small biting flies. It was amusing and slightly helpful. Though the forest supplied an endless amount of them, at least this slowed them down.

  Other groups took turns sparing or honing their skills. I had taken a look at the training dummies some of the fighter types had set up. To be honest, I didn’t think they would last a single hit if I used a skill. For some reason, none of the fighters wanted to spar with me.

  Rose nudged me with her shoulder when Ayerelia and Copperbeard returned to the camp. The two looked a little lost and wandered around a bit. I watched and noticed that while no one was being rude (where was Kevin when you needed him?) they weren’t being met with the same warmth I had been.

  Eventually, they walked over to our campfire.

  “Hi,” the dwarf said hesitantly.

  “Hi,” I said back, my voice devoid of emotion. Not that I wanted to be mean. It was that I didn’t know what to make of them anymore.

  “Er, can we sit here?”

  “Sure.”

  They sat.

  “I want to say I am sorry,” he said. “I hadn’t really thought about what it would be like being left behind every time we had to go. I had thought you and your dog were fine.”

  I wanted to let that go. For all that I bludgeoned things up close and personal with a big stick, I hated confrontation. But his words didn’t ring true. “You thought Dekka and I were ‘fine’ waiting around on hold for days or weeks at a time while you guys all went back to your lives?”

  “It’s not like you said anything,” Ayerelia defended.

  “And it’s not like you would have believed me.” I snapped back.

  She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. “I’m sorry about that. You are right. It sounded ridiculous. But then you were always in here. I thought you were in her for Compassionate Life and just were trying to manipulate us somehow.”

  “Manipulate you to do what? What have I ever asked you to do?”

  “I know. You are right. I’d be mad if I were you too.” She said not meeting my gaze.

  I was mad. I really wanted to hit something. Not them. But maybe the log they were sitting on. Scare them. Make them jump. Make them feel bad for making me lonely. I expect most of the party just hadn’t thought of me at all. I had been one step up from an NPC.

  I could feel the battle rage starting to build. Whoa, this new class was different. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm myself.

  “Do you want them to join our squad?” Rose asked. “We still have a few spots.”

  Thinking made the rage subside.

  “We do for them, but not for the other two if they want to join.”

  “Darkraven is still grounded and likely will be till the end of the semester.” Ayerelia said, her voice free of its usual sneer.

  “And Arjun said he won’t be back until the quest item is returned. He is adamant about not doing that quest again.” Copperbeard added.

  “They really are good players,” I said to Rose. “Let them join.”

  “Thank you.” Ayerelia said, and it seemed heartfelt and real. Which was unexpected.

  “Ah, yes, thank you. I should go. I will be back tomorrow for the event.” Copperbeard said and then nodded at Rose. He set up his bedroll and logged off.

  Ayerelia sat with us and said nothing. Eventually, Barry and a few others came over to sit and chat. I could smell dinner, and that was when Dekka showed back up. She lifted a lip at Ayerelia, but I don’t think the elf noticed.

  “I should go,” Rose stood. “I need to go sleep in the real world. See you all tomorrow.”

  We got dinner and came back. Ayerelia followed us. Unusually quiet, she didn’t join in any of the post dinner conversation. Though she did make noises of appreciation at Aubie’s cooking.

  Night deepened, and most of the players logged out to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow, and the camp grew quiet.

  “I really am sorry.” Ayerelia said, her amethyst eyes focused on the dancing flames of the came fire.

  I shrugged.

  “Look, I know I am a bitch. It’s not personal. And I know that doesn’t make it better.” She added when I gave a chuckle at her calling herself a bitch. “I don’t aspire to be like this; I just don’t know how to change. Out in the real world, where I live, the job I have…” She trailed off for a bit. “I have to be that bitch.”

  Looking over, I could see the lines on her face. This was something she really struggled with. I wasn’t feeling terribly sympathetic, but we all came with our own baggage.

  “But do you have to be this sparkly?” I said, deadpan.

  “Uh, what?” Ayerelia’s train of thought was derailed by the question.

  “Ok so you have to be a bitch, but do you have to…” I gestured up and down with my hand, taking in her whole body. “Glitter so fucking much?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. A genuine laugh. After she caught her breath. “No, the glitter is one hundred percent a personal choice.”

  She smiled at me, her eyes sad. I smiled back. Things weren’t magically fixed between us, but they were a bit better.

  From a purely practical standpoint, I didn’t want our healer to be harbouring me any ill will when we stepped into that dungeon tomorrow.