1

Brett was dog-tired from being up part of the night, but when the first rays of sunlight streamed through the seams in the A-frame, he knew he wanted to get up.

After his midnight trek to the village, he had come back to their bed and laid beside Emma. So, it was easier to pull away from her now. While the pleasant aroma of the smoldering campfire filled his nostrils, he sat up and looked down at his new lover. Much of the overlay bedding had fallen aside, and he admired how the yellow sunlight highlighted the fine hairs on her hip. They shone like delicate strands of silk.

He licked his lips and stood up. As he pulled on his underwear, he knew he wanted to check on his former team. Brett took a peculiar delight in his hate for them. It was a guilty pleasure, an indulgence he couldn’t deny. He stepped through the barricade the wolves had formed around their shelter.

Warg was, of course, nowhere to be found.

Brett took a deep breath, savoring the smell of the woods as he stood nearly naked on the arc of the hill. A slight chill in the air tingled his skin, but he could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. “A hot one,” he muttered to himself.

As he strode toward the trees, he heard Emma call out after him, “Where are you going?”

He turned, then smiled widely as he gazed at her nude body. She was leaning out of their shelter, peering at him suspiciously.

“Fresh fish, my love,” he replied. “The breakfast of champions.”

Emma snorted. “I think that’s a cereal.”

He shrugged. “When in Rome…”

This time, she laughed. “Wow, you’re full of clichés this morning.”

He beamed back at her, still reveling in the sight of her body. “Would you like to come?” It was a question he knew she expected him to ask, but he hated having to do so. She paused to consider it while he waited anxiously.

Finally, she sighed and said, “Nah. I’m too comfortable here. You go on.” Then she smiled at him flirtatiously. “Maybe when you get back, I’ll treat you for all your hard work.”

Brett wavered on his feet but managed to keep some of his dignity. He hurried down the hill, still focused on his original plan but now eager to return.

2

Brett raced up and down the hills, forgetting that the levitation ability would have brought him more quickly to the river. He knew his food inventory was empty, so now he had the extra task of having to fish. “Fuck,” he said, then laughed. Yeah. I’ll be doing that soon eno—

Over the rumble of the tumultuous river, he heard voices. He stopped cold, catching himself before he ran out onto the sunlit shore. As he slunk in the shadows of a large pine tree, hidden by its many branches, Brett realized that his caution wasn’t needed.

The water that surged past him looked like an emerald-blue dragon, rising five feet above the shore. Brett was, for the most part, obscured by the raging torrent. He gawked at the rip in the northern border. It hadn’t expanded, but the water was bursting out of it with a force he hadn’t seen before. Looks like the Wendigo is getting soaked, he mused maliciously, but he knew that was just a flight of fancy. The world where the beast reigned transcended the physical boundaries of the realms.

He heard more voices, closer now. He ducked under the water and listened.

“… ake sure that your notifications are on delay and your telepathy is switched on.”

Brett recognized the voice. It was that bossy mage. He shook his head. They had made that nerdy gamer one of the de facto leaders of their merry little band. He wondered if she even had a high school education.

“Who died and made you queen,” he whispered as he peered over the top edge of the waves. He saw their heads bobbing along as they headed toward the leaning tower.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Brett hissed, knowing he couldn’t be heard over the cacophony of the flood. But he heard them alright. Loud, obnoxious, bellowing and barking orders. He thanked god (Wendigo) that he was no longer part of that charade.

He heard Damon’s voice next. “…en we get to the dungeon, I want everyone to follow a strict formation: orcs, hunters, mages, then healers…”

Dungeon. Brett grinned. They were going headlong into their next death march, just as he anticipated. They might even open access to the next realm, he thought.

Perfect.

Abruptly, the bobbing heads took a hard left and dipped below the level of the rushing waves. So, where’s the dungeon? Brett wondered. He glanced back at the woods, knowing Emma was there, waiting for him. He struggled with the dilemma only briefly.

I have to know.

Emma would have to wait.

As his former team hiked through a short section of forest, Brett levitated above the river. He followed them like a drone, not realizing they had left four members back at the village.