As he connected with the game, he found himself floating for a moment. He wasn't anywhere, just a disconnected bit of rules and broken code trying to make the machine that was Milo work correctly. But something was wrong. Nothing felt right, nothing!

Something that had been his was gone and he could only feel the edges of the hole where it had been. Dangling bits of himself leading into the abyss like spiderwebs trying to fill a canyon.

A shadowy beast at the edge of the hole was cutting at him with claws that raked down his soul, breaking more of him as it demanded action. 'Feed us! Give us what we need! Give us what we love!"

And from far down in the depths of the hole, an annoying small voice whispered that 'Everything is Fine! We can fix this!'

Someone put a cold, wet rag on his forehead and said softly, "Lay still. You may have a concussion, at the least, and are running a fever. But at least I managed to heal your wounds. It took a lot, you felt all torn up inside."

=*=

...somehow sealed it all away...and then opened his eyes to a blurry, pain-filled world.

A pounding headache immediately hit him and he groaned. If waking up in his pod had been bad, this was far worse. Milo heard Belinda’s voice, speaking softly. He tried to focus his eyes on her. She was sitting next to his cot, and looked tired. She must have been taking care of him after the battle...and with that thought things rapidly snapped in place. He wasn't dead, Belinda was here, which meant:

"We won?"

She smiled at him. "Yes, we won! Your crazy plan worked. You and Captain Pike were amazing! They are calling him the greatest Monster Hunter ever. He won't be sober for months, they are buying him so many rounds in all the bars."

"And that crazy thing you used to pull it up! No one's ever seen so many ropes and pulleys. How can you even make things like that work?"

"It's easy when I think about it, but hard to explain. It just all sort of moves around in my brain until it all balances. Just tell people it's an engineering thing. You should see how complicated a Twirl and Puke is."

Belinda patted his hand. "I think I'll pass on the 'Twirl and Puke'.

"The important thing is that you did it. You trapped a world boss and saved the city."

Milo put his hand on hers. "We both did it. You were pretty amazing yourself. How did you get everyone to listen to you.?"

The girl blushed but didn't pull her hand away. "I just sort of made stuff up and tried to act like some hero in the old movies. Guess that stuff really does work. But it helps that players like killing bosses."

"And this one isn't dead yet. They will be working for days to kill this it. Even trapped and not moving, it's hard to hurt. People are taking shifts chipping away at it with special picks!"

Milo became away of the sound of mining. A constantly repeated sound of metal hitting crystal, punctuated by the occasional curse. Turning his head, he could see the miners working in teams to destroy the huge crystalline creature. Platforms had been constructed to give them a place to stand near the legs. Each miner would swing a dozen times as hard as he could before handing his pick and copperhead charm to the next miner. A few players were helping, making up in strength for what they lacked in mining skill.

Milo laid back again. His aches and pains were starting to fade, but he was feeling worse in another way. He was both starving for food, and desperate for some cheese. He looked up at Belinda. The girl was acting odd, twisting the ring on her finger. Milo hoped she liked it. It was just a minor magic item giving a small boost to mana regeneration, but it was a pretty thing. He'd immediately thought of giving it to her when he picked it up. "Do you like the ring?"

"Like it? OMG! Yes. It's great. I certainly wasn't expecting something like this..."

Further talk was cut off as Vary ran up. "Milo!...I mean, 'Senior Engineer Milo!', they are asking for you upstairs, if you can make it."

Milo got to his feet with the help of Belinda and Vary. "I guess I should go. Otherwise, they'll send Boom-Boom next. I can only imagine his way of waking me up."

Vary's eyes got wide. "How did you know? He was wanting the job, but he's not much of a runner, so I insisted I be the one to wake you. The Engineer agreed!" Milo could see Vary was quite proud of being picked over Boom-Boom, and he was very thankful for it.

"Thanks Vary. Run and let them know I'll be right up, soon as I can." The young dwarf saluted and took off, sprinting to deliver the message.

Belinda came up to Milo and took his arm. "I have to go soon. Can we talk about some things later? I'll be back in a day or two. My dad says he needs to talk about some things and I'll have to stay out of the game for a while."

"Sure. I'll be around. Squint has a job for me, but I need a break first. I'm not leaving anytime soon. We'll catch up and talk."

"Great! See you then." The smiling girl waved and logged out of the game. Vary helped Milo up the stairs to meet The Engineer in the office of the Miner's Guild.

By himself, Milo started walking to the stairway to the upper levels. Players and miners waved to him. Many came up and spoke their thanks or shook his hand. But there were quite a few of the players that ignored him.

Milo made it up the first flight of stairs and paused to rest. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Flashing lights on his eyelids insisted he read his notifications.

You have Gained much, and Lost much.

Deep in your soul are clues you have uncovered to ancient knowledge and how to twist magic, shaping it to your will. But the effort has broken you. You may not persue this knowledge until you are fixed. The magic of Runes and Bonecasting is beyond you for now. You have pushed your body and soul far beyond their limits. Pushing further will cause further damage.

Quest: Regain what you have Lost.

You have a choice. Throw away the pursuit of magic and fill the hole in your soul with broken dreams. Stumble through life knowing you'll never again be the handsome hero who defied a World Boss and won.

Or...fix yourself. Your body is nearly devoid of the bones that sustained your magic. Your soul is in tatters and needs rest and thought. Figure it out. Fix yourself.

Quest: Squint has a job for you!

Squint, Hero of Shadow Cove, has requested that you pay off your debt to him by stealing and delivering an airship. He has BIG PLANS and this is your chance to be part of them. Surely someone who can steal The Eye of Wonder will find this an easy task.

Part 1: Talk with Squint in Lights' End

Welcome to Tier 2....maybe?

You have a choice to make. You may spend CSP and advance to Level 6 and Tier 2. If you do so while your soul and body are broken, your options will be severely limited. But the choice is yours.

Milo didn't even consider giving up. If something was broken, you fixed it. Period. And you made it better so it didn't break again. This was just a lot harder, and a lot more painful. He needed a plan.

Step 1: Get upstairs.

Step 2: Visit Jethro

Step 3: Visit Squint.

Ok, so not much of a plan, but it was a start. He began climbing the stairs, anxious to find out what The Engineer needed so he could move on to step 2.