When Anika regained consciousness and became aware of herself in the real world, she was regretting her decision not to log out earlier. She took off her visor and realised that she had made a complete mess of her haptic suit, then she pictured the embarrassment of having to ask the staff for a new one. She felt drained. When she got out of the rig, her legs were almost useless. She had pins and needles throughout her lower body, and she took a good five minutes before she could put any weight on her legs and make it to the bathroom.

She drank from the tap to quench her thirst and cleaned herself up. She also felt ravenously hungry and started plucking up the courage to do what she could to clean up the mess. She planned to get some food and then have a good think about her options. She knew it was her own fault; she had pushed herself to the limit, and she felt fortunate that the game had logged her out when it did. Playing at such high intensity had taken its toll on her body.

The attendant who handed her a new suit, along with a bill for cleaning the one she had soiled, didn't make any comments or look surprised at what had happened. He was professional about everything. She thought despite the warnings they gave her, this must be quite a common occurrence. She would not let this happen again. Not only did she feel horrible, but the embarrassment was more than she could take.

Anika took the next day off to recuperate. Since it was now becoming clear that finding her son would be a long-term project, there were a few practical things she had to take care of. It was more than likely that if she continued playing at this rate, she would lose her job. They would not accept her excuses for more than a week or two after which they would need to see a report from the doctor. She wondered what would be said about a self-induced lack of sleep and energy, from playing a virtual reality game. She didn't have an excuse.

With a decision to continue with her quest to find her son, she wondered how long it would be until it became more economical to purchase her own rig, and set it up in her apartment. She had a vague idea of the costs from all the money she had spent on Ted over the last few years, but she also knew renting equipment, and the rig from this VR centre was just as bad as pouring money down the drain. At least if she invested in her own equipment, it could be sold off when she had found her son, and she would quit the game for good.

She then had a thought which scared her. There was a part of her that couldn't accept that she would no longer be playing the game. She would no longer be feeling the rush from levelling her character or the excitement of diving into battle with the mobs and bosses from dungeons like the nightmare caverns. What would happen to Beth? They had become so attached. Would she miss her? She even pictured herself playing the game with her son for a couple of moments before snapping out of it. She then shook her head and realised that even thinking about that was ridiculous.

When Anika logged back into the game, she found herself in the familiar surroundings of her bed in Oakridge. She didn't know what she should have expected but figured that the game had treated the forced logout due to her fatigue as if she had died in the game. Although she was a couple of levels higher and had picked up some interesting skills from the Leatherworker she met on the way to the nightmare caverns, it still felt like a massive setback.

She now realised how important it was to be strategic about what place you set as a resurrection point. Then she made a determination to get to Windfall city with no further distractions.

After travelling along the main road, she spotted the city gates. Behind the gates, in the distance, she could see two massive towers at either side of an additional wall. This place was fortified and looked like it could withstand an invasion with no trouble.

Ralph had told her to seek out the League of Hunters when she got to the city, but first, she needed to find a room in a tavern. This would ensure that the trip here would not be wasted, in case she ended up dying again.

The guards at the gate checked her papers and everything was in order. The advice Ben had given her about how to access different areas of the game had proved useful, and the map he had provided her which led to Windfall city. Purchasing a map of the city from the guards was compulsory. Otherwise, they would not let her through. The cost was reasonable, and she had made an additional bit of profit from running through the dungeons, so the cost was not an issue.

After renting a room in what looked like a decent tavern, Anika made her way to the Explorers Guild without too much trouble. They had an entire section of the city dedicated to them. On arrival, she was greeted by a small market for exotic trinkets and other things that looked somewhat edible. There were also a few houses which looked like cartographers lived and worked there, with people moving in and out carrying bits of parchment and various drawing and inking tools.

The Explorers' Guild headquarters was a large house in the middle of the square, and it looked to be three stories high. She made her way up the stone steps and saw the first NPC who looked like he could help at the top of the stairs.

"I'm looking to buy a map of Gliphos, can you tell me where I should go?" All Anika knew was that she could get maps from this place, she did not understand how anything worked.

"Welcome to the Explorers Guild. Gliphos eh? Can't say I have heard of that location, but the best person to see is someone in the trading department. It is on the first floor, just make your way up the stairs right ahead and follow your nose."

She did as he suggested and walked up to the first floor. To get there, she had to move through a bustling space, full of NPC's and players milling around talking loudly about quests, objectives and the names of continents and zones she had never come across before. It was making sense to her that if the various regions and zones were shifting, having the latest and most reliable information about the different objectives throughout the game was quite an undertaking. She figured that the Explorer's Guild was the central organisation for keeping track of the changes in Everscape.

When she found the trading section, she was confronted with two booths, spotting an empty one with an attendant and no customers, she enquired about a map of Gliphos.

"Gliphos you say? I think I know that place, but I haven't seen anyone from there for a long time. Maybe the best thing I can do is give you a transport route. Wait here a moment and let me have a look."

The man she had been speaking to was a stocky dwarf with a long black beard. His face looked worn and weatherbeaten. But then again, she had never seen a young dwarf before. As he was ruffling through boxes and folders on his side of the counter, she wondered if dwarves were born with wrinkly skin and fully grown beards.

Shortly afterwards, he returned with two rolled up bits of parchment. They looked old and well used.

"Here we are, Gliphos. Like I said, I don't have anything that'll show you what the region is like or how the zones are arranged. But I can show you how to get there."

He unrolled one map and showed her a large continent with water surrounding it. At the bottom of the map, there was another section of land with a dotted line from the coast, across the water and onto the Gliphos continent.

"This here is Belhaven, from there you can get a boat to Gliphos."

He gently rubbed the map, removing some of the oil and dirt which had collected in the corner. She could now see the area labelled Belhaven.

"And this one right here," he said, unrolling another parchment, "is how you will get to Belhaven. Do you ride?" She was looking at the second parchment. In the middle was Windfall city, and to the north-west, where the attendant was pointing his finger, she could see Belhaven.

" No," she said, "I don't think I have learnt that skill yet." He studied her for a few moments.

"Riding is taught to adventurers who have more experience. You might stay close to our precious city and work up the experience you will need before embarking on your journey. Belhaven is at least two days ride from here if you go at a full trot with no rest. Now, your legs are longer than mine, but I don't see you making that journey in less than two weeks if you go by foot."

"Okay. I'll take the maps, can you tell me where I might learn to ride a horse?"

"That'll be one gold a piece. As for riding, you'll find a riding trainer at most of the stables outside of the city walls."

Anika checked her finances. She only had a little over two gold coins to her name, it felt like an awful lot of money for a simple map. Especially now she had already seen where she was going. Surely she could just memorise the information and make her way there by herself?

"I'm afraid that is a little outside of my budget," she said. "Also, I don't need the map of Gliphos do I? It doesn't show me anything useful, other than that there is a boat link from Belhaven across the water."

He looked at her with a slightly condescending smile.

"Yes, I can see how you might think so. Let me explain to you how the maps work. I would forgive you for thinking that once you saw the route to take, you could just make your own way there without these maps in your possession. The trouble is, once you get outside of an area you haven't explored yourself, you will be prevented from going any further. The same goes for the transport link to Gliphos, it won't be available to you unless you have the map. Is that making sense?"

He rolled up both of the maps and put them on the table in front of him, pushing them towards her.

"Think of it like this, a map is more than just a picture showing you where to go. Think of it as a key which unlocks the door. Except in this example, it is a key that is opening the various territories and regions throughout our beautiful world."

Anika thought about this for a while and tried to reconcile it with what Ben had told her when they were back in Oakridge. She had watched her own map, the one accessible from her menu, gain the colours and contours of the terrain as soon as she had received the map of Windfall city.

"So there is no way around it? I have to fork over nearly all the money I have. Otherwise, I won't have access to get to where I want?"

She wasn't expecting an answer, and the dwarf didn't provide one for her.

"On top of that, I still don't know how to get around once I get to Gliphos. Where do I get a map of the continent?"

"For that, my dear, you will need to find an adventurer who has been to the area. Preferably somebody who has been there recently, otherwise the information they provide to you will be out of date and worthless to you. Like I said, we don't have the information in-house, but I recommend that you speak to some of the other players. Try downstairs, you can put up a request on the notice board. If you don't have any luck, you could also try the Explorer's Tavern, ask around in there if anybody has been to Gliphos recently."

Anika didn't feel she had any options, so she handed over payment and grabbed both of the maps. She felt like she had just been robbed. On her way down to the ground floor, she checked her map from the menu bar. She could see everything north of Windfall city, and a good chunk of the Western region of the continent she was on. To get to Belhaven, she would have to travel across what looked like some vast plains, a few hills and an area marked as Swampy Marshes. Judging by the distance she had already moved, it seemed like the dwarf was right. It would take at least two weeks to cover by foot. Unless she was mistaken, it could also take longer than two days to ride that far, but she supposed that would depend on the speed of the horse.

When she arrived downstairs, she asked around and was given instructions on how to request a map from the Explorers Guild. She placed a card with the word Gliphos on it onto a noticeboard and was told to check back in case someone had accepted her request. They would leave an additional note telling her where to find them and what the price would be.

After feeling like she had done what she could, she went to inquire about learning how to ride.