It was a marathon that lasted hours on end. There were times when I heard explosions behind me. Other times I heard howls of pain that could only have belonged to a monster. There was something nerve wracking about the screams. They sounded like they were made by someone dying a slow agonised death, not a swift merciful one.

But I had not the guts to turn around and provide help, even though I still possessed three health vials with me. I felt like a coward, but there was a feeble logic behind my cowardice, and it prevented my emotions from overtaking me.

If I lost one life in the game world, my second and final life would become vulnerable. I couldn’t allow that even if I felt like I had committed the most heinous crime of all. The crime of abandoning my followers, when they most needed me.

By the time I reached the palace, dusk had fallen. It was relatively dark compared to what it had been only half an hour ago. I walked towards the castle door with my shoulders slumped in defeat.

I was ashamed of myself. My thoughts were in conflict. My mental turmoil sapped me of my energy, which was already near depletion from the physical exertion. I had journeyed to the palace using the longest route to avoid coming in contact with the players.

While I could have replenished my health and energy levels simply by drinking one of the health vials, yet I didn’t resort to that. It seemed justified that I should endure some pain for abandoning my friends.

“Vicky? Are you all right?” The guards at the door of the palace asked me in concerned tones.

“Do I look all right?” I asked.

The guards were taken aback from my ill-tempered reply.

“What… what happened to the others?” they asked me.

“Dead,” I replied.

“All of them?”

“Perhaps,” I said. “Though some survivors might show up.”

“Was the farm attacked again? If there are survivors shouldn’t we go help them?”

“That would be stupid,” I said.

The face of the dying Hornie with severed limbs kept flashing in my mind. If only I had saved him, perhaps I would not have been feeling so bad. I had three health vials after all. I could have given one to him. How could I be so selfish?

I fell down to my knees. The guards tried to help me get back up, but I refused. For a few moments, I sobbed. Then I wiped my face and I stood up. I trudged my way to my chamber.

Only my brother was there. Kiara was still in the real world. Sam was resting on the bed, gazing at the ceiling. He jumped up on my arrival.

“What happened to you!” he asked. He looked up and down at my pitiful state.

I entered the chamber and sat down on the cold floor.

“We were attacked again,” I stated.

“Players came to destroy the farm again?” Sam said.

“I don’t know if they destroyed the farm,” I said. “But they killed many of the guards. I think they succeeded in killing all the guards. I don’t know.”

Sam gawked at me for a couple of seconds and then he came scrambling to me. He took out a health vial from his pocket, and took off the cork.

“I don’t want that,” I said. “I already have the three health vials that I took from you before.”

Sam’s jaw dropped like a stone, as if I had just said the lamest thing in the world.

“What? Are you nuts? Why didn’t you use them?” He seemed to check my stats. “Your health is quite low. One health vial will do wonders! Here, drink this.” And Sam brought the health vial to my lips, but I pushed his hand away.

“I told you, I don’t want that,” I said.

“But why?” Sam obviously thought I had lost my head.

“I let one of the monsters die when I could have saved him with one of my health vials,” I said, and I couldn’t help but let tears out of my eyes as I spoke this. My voice shivered. “I feel guilty.”

Sam raised his brow.

“If you were in a tight spot then it was the wise thing to do,” he said. “It was important to save the health vials for yourself. It was the rational thing to do.”

“But—”

“Don't be mawkish,” Sam snapped. He forced the health vial to my mouth and this time I did not resist him. I drank the magical fluid and in a couple of moments my health was restored.

My wounds and bruises were gone, and the exhaustion vanished. I felt reborn. The health vial also lifted my mood. Sam was right. I had acted sensibly.

But a portion of the guilt still lingered. And I wanted to fix things, how I did not know. Sam however disagreed strongly with me and laughed at my face.

“Are you an idiot?” he said to me. “For the last few months your monsters have stopped going on hunts. Why? Because you are providing them evilese through the farms. I am pretty sure countless monsters would have been dead if not for your efforts. Today twenty monsters died, and ten in the last attack. That’s a total of thirty dead monsters. Compare that with the former number of monsters killed during hunting expeditions, almost on a daily basis. Do you see a big difference?”

I calculated the numbers and saw Sam’s logic. At least ten monsters would lose their lives every week before I had come up with the idea of farming.

“But I still want to do something,” I said. “I want to fix this. I want to stop the players from attacking us. I want to make them understand that the monsters will never harm them again.”

Sam sighed. Did he think my ambitions were too far-fetched? Then he scratched his chin and snapped his fingers as though a sudden idea had hit him. But then he bit his lips, like he didn’t want to speak.

“Come on, spit it out. What’s going on in your mind?” I asked him.

Sam shook his head.

“I do not know if it will be a good idea,” he said, “it will be like putting your hand inside a beehive.”

“Come on, tell me about it,” I said.

Sam stared at me for a moment, and then with a small grimace, he permitted the words to leave his mouth.

“Well, perhaps the monsters and the players can come to some decision,” he stated.

“That’s possible?” I asked him.

“Maybe, through discussion,” he said.

“Through discussion?” I asked, raising my brow. “The players will start massacring the monsters before we utter a single word. And then we will have to fight back in self defence. Lives will be lost.”

Sam shrugged.

“Like I said, it’s like putting your hand inside a beehive.”