I took Mia’s hand into mine and slowly walked around this circular building studying the layout and letting our bond calm us both down.

As we walked, the way tubes ran through the walls and how each wall panel was perfectly placed, reminded me of the inn. Maybe this whole building was also a magi-machine that ran the barrier for all these years.

It made me wonder what kind of a profession created these things.

There wasn’t a clear control panel, so, when I was finally feeling better, after having spent some time in my bonded’s proximity I had us split up to search for hidden compartments.

Since we’d both had practice with this by now, it took us only an hour before I finally found a small button that I pressed. It opened a section of the wall.

Unlike the gear room from the inn, this was more like a control panel. It had many leavers, copper switches, glowing crystal inserts, and buttons for who knew what. Almost everything wasn’t labeled.

But there was something that was. A little red button that had the elven word for technical support. Now that was interesting.

I pressed it and nearly jumped as a screen appeared above the button showing the three-quarter view of the face of an elven man with the vastness of space behind him and stars speeding by.

While his bone structure hadn’t changed much, he looked like an ethereal godly being. My eyes began to water due to the strain of seeing someone so powerful that it defied my comprehension. I had to look away for a second. This... this was an extremely high leveled player.

When I looked back his eyes seemed to stare into mine and see everything. And it explained so much about why they keep High leveled players away from low-level ones.

“Hmm? What’s this?” The voice, came out as if it were wind or the rumbling of tectonic plates. And my ears started to bleed.

“Oh! This is mine! From a lower plane? Then...” The world that had started to turn black slowly came back into focus. I’d lost almost all my health just from listening to this person. My heart pounded too quickly.

I used a healing pinch so I wouldn’t die, but it seemed the player realized his mistake before he killed me on accident.

“Hello,” a far more normal voice came out of the illusionary screen. This one did not hurt my ears. “Can you hear me now?”

I nodded and bowed. “Greetings. I’m Lorevinel Silvercat.”

“I can see that. What is the issue there? I don’t quite remember what magi-machine you’re using. Can you tell me your situation?”

I swallowed. “I’m currently on an island that was renamed ‘Tainted Prison Island.’ It is in an area for players between levels 1 and 30. On the planet Fiarar.”

“Wait a moment.”

I waited, slightly terrified.

“Oh! I remember this. This was part of an old quest I didn’t finish because I didn’t have enough levels at the time. What’s your situation like now?”

With my eyes slightly averted from his face, I explained the situation the island was in and how we were trapped by the high-leveled tainted prisoners. When I turned back he seemed to look at me as if I was a cute puppy or child. Well, to him, I might be. Fuck. These high-level players were terrifying.

“You did good, finding my communication device within my magi machine. It’s also good that it still works. And I really don’t like leaving quests hanging like this. Especially ones that have caused so many problems for everyone.” He seemed to stare off for several seconds at various other screens.” Hmm. In that case. I think I can solve this fairly quickly. Give me about an hour.”

I really wanted to ask him, ‘What do you mean by solving it? This was eldritch taint we’re talking about,’ but the screen vanished.

Mia and I looked at each other. Both of us had taken damage from just listening to that player. Just how many hundreds of years had he lived in the sim to reach such a height? Because, even though it was just an image of him and stars, it felt more threatening than even watching that cloud butterfly mount plummet to the ground.

***

As time passed by we waited impatiently. I could have taken that time to confess to Mia about our bond but I didn’t feel the need to stress myself out that much. Considering how I was already stressed from waiting.

I mean, what if this stranger didn’t get back to us with a solution? What if we had to try and fight our way past these tainted cultists? Even if we didn’t have a boat, maybe Mia could teleport us... But that was assuming that none of these people had a movement technique. Considering their level, that was a ridiculous hope.

Eventually, a full hour passed. I started to worry.

Was a guy who left a whole island in this state, someone, we could rely on? No. Absolutely not.

But did we have another choice? No.

Our only option was to wait for this inconsiderate high-level player to fix his own mess.

As my HUD’s clock reached an hour and twenty minutes I started to despair a little. I clenched my hands into fists and reached out to hold Mia’s hand who was doing the smart thing and re-reading her spellbooks to pass the time.

When it passed an hour and forty-five minutes I stood up.

That was when the screen turned back on. “Alright, I’m sending you something so press yourselves up against the wall... Oh right. Since I’m sending you something anyway, is there anything else you need? As thanks for reminding me about this unfinished quest?”

And as I saw his face and heard his voice I once again realized how terrifying this person was. I was about to shake my head, not having the guts to ask for anything from this high leveled demigod, but Mia said, “We could use a teleport to the nearest large city. One that isn’t Gray Skies Fall on the Weary.”

I stared at her in shock and she shrugged. “We need a way off this island if we’re going to escape the Ravenborns. And if we can get one that doesn't leave any traces then that would be best.”

The man chuckled. “Ah, low-level players are cute. Gray Skies Fall on the Weary is not a large city. But I’ll give you a teleport scroll to one. Let’s see. Yep. I still have it. It’s trash to me, so you’re welcome to it. Alright since that’s all. Stand back!”

I grabbed Mia and we pressed our backs against the wall.

“Fire in the hole!”

There was a loud popping noise as if reality was breaking. The world seemed to bounce and then a small box appeared with one button on top that said, “Press me,” in large friendly-looking elven. Next to it was a magic scroll which Mia placed in our shared inventory.

The man on the screen looked a bit smug. “Press it! Go on, Press it. You know you want to.”

“Together?”

Mia grinned and together we pressed the button.

When it didn’t do anything we both looked at the screen where we expected the players to laugh and tell us that he was just joking, but he looked serious for a second then continued to grin.

“It’s working,” He said.

It really didn’t look like it was working. “What does this do?”

“Well, I’ve connected it to the barrier. It will increase the power and slowly pull the barrier in towards this station. As it does so, it will obliterate all that is eldritch, whether that’s taint or monsters. It should also close any open portals.”

“What will it do to the players who are infected?”

He blinked slowly. “It will give them a free character reset and will remove traces of eldritch entities from their minds. This also means that they’ll miss years of memories but, better that, than releasing an Elder God on one of our race’s precious homeworlds.”

The building started to shake. The tainted prisoners likely realized what was happening. That we hadn’t managed to close the barrier but turned it into a weapon against them. So they started to attack the machine in one last effort.

“By the way. Concerning that Driftwood Elder God. As you go out adventuring, be wary of any of his followers from this point going forward. You’ve probably angered him. Well, I’ve angered him too, but he can’t retaliate against me at this point, now can he?” He chuckled.

Exactly who was this person?

Another screen pulled up showing the exterior of the building where a crowd of prisoners pounded on the outside. It felt surreal but I could see the now golden barrier closing in on them fast. Each elf the translucent wall passed through vanished like dust.

It seemed like Vashee knew exactly where we were looking from because he stared up at our point of view. He glared as if he would get revenge against us.

Then, it finished passing over everyone. And there was silence.

Congratulations! You have finished the hidden task, “Help! I Need an Adult!” Your reward is 40,000 EXP. As well as 250,000 PMk and a Teleport Scroll to “The Nearest Large Low-Level City”

“See, I told you I could finish it fast. Ah, these low-level tasks are so easy now. Back when I first received this quest it was so difficult I actually had to abandon it! Can you believe how weak I was? Anyways, If you ever find any more of my machines, feel free to ask for more tech support.” He waved as if saying goodbye to children and then both screens vanished.

Mia rubbed her face and screamed silently. Then she laughed a little hysterically. She turned to me.

I didn’t understand what was so funny.

“This whole thing... Was just a fucking unfinished quest some higher level player forgot about.”

And I too started to laugh.