Alex and Zara were hiding out behind an overturned couch, in an old abandoned motel that the locals tended to use for parties, hook-ups, and occasional squatting. Alex was armed with a two-by-four, Zara was armed with a frying pan.

Something was trying to bust down the door they’d closed, and barricaded with other furniture in the room.

“H-, Hey, Alex...Girl, if, If this ends up being my last ride…” said Zara. Her voice shaking. Her grip on the handle of the frying pan she was holding, tightening.

“I know...I know, take care of your sisters, make sure your mom doesn’t drink herself to death while she’s grieving, dispose of the things in that box at the back of your closet, erase your browser history, and delete all your social media profiles so they don’t go zombie...I’ve got you, Zee…” said Alex. Keeping one, extremely wary eye on the rattling door.

“And if I don’t make it…?” said Alex.

“Same deal, except the bit with the sisters...Also, I’ll keep an extra close eye on your mom, to make sure she’s okay...You’ve got my word on that, girl,” said Zara.

“Thanks…Okay, girl, let’s do this thing!” said Alex.

That was the moment that the door was kicked in and ‘it’ rushed in. Scaly, warty, standing over seven feet in height and looking clearly predatory. Like the terrifying love child of a lizard, a frog, and certain children’s edutainment puppets. The girls were ready for it, having already invested the rest of their talent points, and unlocked their starter abilities.

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Flash backwards, roughly an hour and twenty minutes.

“What do you mean?” said Alex.

“What do you mean we might die?” said Zara.

“Did you think that a game that would allow the complete alteration of a world’s fate would be a safe affair?” said the fox-cat moderator.

“Er...I…” Alex found it hard to argue against that. Years of living in Diz with all its big promises and lackluster realities, had taught her a certain healthy cynicism. She’d known that there’d be a cost, even before they’d found out about the game, because they’d already been taught that nothing good in life came free.

“Okay...okay, can you just give us some specifics?” said Zara. Showing an unusual amount of calm.

“As you will have already been informed, your personal reality will have been altered after your addition to the game…” said the fox-cat.

“Yeah? I figured it just had to do with the changes to our interfaces…” said Alex.

“No...Those are naught but a minor change, and unlocking of features that you may or may not have already had in accordance with the policies of this channel’s powers-that-be,” said the fox-cat.

“And? So what were the real changes?” said Zara.

“The channels are purposely made to be safe for habitation. While there may be trouble based on the policing and control over the inhabitants, the presence of anomalous entities, natural disasters, and magical calamities, is kept to a minimum. Depending on the world, the laws of death might even be relaxed in the presence of certain magical presences. The memories and access of the public, in regards to magic, is liable to have been...adjusted,” said the fox-cat.

“Uh...Can we have the TL: DR version? I’ve gotta babysit tonight,” said Zara. Sassing out of nervousness, because she’d never been one to tolerate unnecessarily long build-ups.

“And I’ve got to help her, babysit, because her sisters are basically monsters…” said Alex. Nodding, because she actually did have places to be that night.

The fox-cat gave both girls a blank look.

“Ngh...Fair enough...Depending on the wishes of a world’s powers-that-be, the channels have certain degrees of mundanification set in place to keep them stable. As a piece in the game of doors, you are now no longer covered by that mundanification. You are no longer protected from the dangers of your world. There are things that the average person would never have to deal with that you will now have to deal with, and as part of the premise of the game of doors is wiping out a rival channel’s pieces and doors...you can expect to have to deal with these matters often, because the other channels will weaponize their own dangers to take out rival pieces…” said the fox-cat. Its voice growing discordantly deep. Becoming even more of a mismatch for its cute-plush little body.

“And what exactly does that mean?” said Alex. Not sure she liked the tone the creature was taking.

“It means you probably should learn to know when you’re being followed...The circle of protection I set up when you entered the area will collapse in exactly forty-five minutes...I suggest you take that time to invest the rest of your starter points and unlock your initial abilities because there already seems to be something stalking the both of you…” said the fox-cat. Disappearing in a brief flash of light.

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Flash forwards to the present.

Thankfully for the girls, living in a society where interfaces were common, and having gone through a point in their lives where they’d both been really into table-top RPGs, VR games, and adventure books, meant that they hadn’t been entirely clueless when it came to using those points and abilities.

Hiding wasn’t the beginning and end of their strategy. They planned to fight. They planned to win. They had no intention of squandering the opportunity that they’d been given.

As the beast approached. Alex ran out of cover. Her lizard brain screaming at her asking what the hell she thought she was doing, running at the big scary thing, instead of running away or remaining where she’d been, hiding behind the couch. Pushing through the fear was harder than she’d thought it would be. Her body felt sluggish, and fighting her every instinct took more concentration than she’d have thought.

She went in swinging. Ducking under the swamp-man’s slimy, sharp-clawed, arm. Her two by four struck the creature’s chest, snapping in two at the moment of contact, but managing to stagger it. Zara backed her up, levitating up from behind the couch, and hurling fistfuls of electricity and hard-packed water at the creature.

Never one to be left behind in a scrap, Alex put the two hundred points of strength and agility she’d gotten to work, stabbing the jagged piece of wood into a soft spot that had opened up on the creature’s chest after Zara’s spell-barrage.

The wood went through. The beast cried out and went down. A freaked out Alex began pummelling it using the frying pan that was somehow suddenly in her hands. Not stopping till the creature’s head was reduced to something even more unrecognizable and inhuman.

“Oof...Girl, remind me never to piss you off…” said Zara. Hobbling over to Alex as the adrenaline wore off and the lanky imp all but collapsed.

“Sh-...Shut up...You always say that, but then you’re up my ass anyway…” said a panting Alex.

“True…” said Zara. Laughing manically before blacking out, because casting magic had taken even more mental energy then she’d thought.

“Shoot!..., I was going to pass out. Now people are going to think I was copying you like usual. So selfish,” said Alex. Clucking her tongue. Her tone somewhere between a laugh and a pained whine. Her body trembling as she forced it to remain standing. Just in case something else lunged at them.