The next day it was time to work on building my new forge. I moved a sizable quantity of stone into the foyer of the apartment so I could just teleport in and grab it, then headed out into the forest. Thankfully, the mobs hadn’t respawned yet, so I was able to make quick time back to my tree.

I found it sitting there as docile as ever, and sat cross-legged at its base to browse the internet for guides. I very quickly realised that a forge was basically just a really hot box that you could shove some metal in to heat it up. Still, I found a few interesting layouts, and chose one that looked like it would do what I wanted.

I began by clearing a five by five metre area that would be my workspace, then used an initial set of bricks to create an outline of the forge itself. It was square and had a four by four foot internal space.

The bricks were heavy enough that their own weight kept them in place as I built it up to a good height for me to work at. Next, I built out a small circular table around a large log I’d cut from a nearby tree. The forge’s open face was towards the table, allowing me to pull whatever I was working on out and quickly place it on the anvil driven into the log.

When the sun began to set, I’d finished with the beginnings of my forge. The next morning, I had Elena go out and grab a few key items I’d need with my remaining money, while I did some more research.

As much as the basalt bricks I’d gotten were okay for building the main structure, I still needed normal clay bricks for the lining of the forge and the workspace itself. Despite the strength of the basalt, there was still a chance it would crack over time.

The rest of that day was spent continuing in the construction, this time with a fire resistant mortar that Elena had gotten for me. I really had not come prepared, but hey, I was learning.

That evening, as I was starting a small fire within the forge to help the mortar cure, I got a call from mum.

“Hello, Keiko,” she said in a strained voice, and instantly I was alert.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, searching her safe brown eyes for a hint as to what was worrying her.

She took a moment to respond, and in that short space of time, I realised she was in some kind of hospital. “There was a malware attack on the hospital network, and it got through to your pod. Most of the systems are fine but the feeder tube is acting up so they had to bring you in for repairs.”

An unpleasant feeling squirmed in my gut at the news. “Do they know who did it?”

She shook her head. “Nobody knows, but there’s been a lot of anti-digital hate going around in the more radical spiritualist parts of society. It could be the church, or even naturalists.”

“Why do they keep hating on digital sentients so much, and what the hell does that even have to do with the hospital and me?” I asked, my words coming out both scared and petulant.

“We both know the reasons for that, R- uh, Keiko,” she said gently. “You’re going to be digitised, and those people view that as a death. They’re calling it institutionalised murder.”

“We have assisted suicide laws,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “Even if it were actual death, it’s still allowed.”

“Hence why they hacked the hospital,” she told me. “They’ve even been known to go after people who are showing public interest in the process.”

“Shit.” My shoulders slumped, and I realised that I should probably think about getting digitised before my body was ready. Otherwise I may never get the chance. Some fucking asshole extremists would take the opportunity from me.

Mum’s brows furrowed with concern and sympathy. “Hey, it’ll be fine. I’ll protect your body until we can get you into a new one.”

“Thanks, Mum,” I sighed, sitting down on the ground to rest. I felt exhausted by the news she’d just given me. “Can I… think, for a bit? Call me if anything happens, okay?”

“I will. Love you, hun,” she replied, giving me a brave smile.

Once the call cut out, I placed my head in my hands and gave some serious thought to what I was going to do. I liked my life inside virtual reality more than anything I’d had out in base reality. Well, except when I’d been young and had both my parents.

Would I enjoy it again if I left, and more importantly… which body did I want the SAI to model me after? Logic said I’d stick with my real one, plus a few limbs, but…

My arms wrapped themselves around my thin waist, and I closed my eyes and basked in the softness of this body. It felt so good, so… right. I was at peace in this body, more so than any other I’d inhabited during my time playing VR games.

Would it really be okay to take… to take Keiko, to take me out of the game with me when I returned to life in reality. Was this even me, or had I somehow split my personality, creating Keiko while I ran around as a fairy girl. Was Rosco still inside me, dormant but willing to take charge again when I was done?

I didn’t really think so, but something was definitely different about me, and until I could really figure out who I was, I— the word hit me like a freight train. It was a word that I’d heard every now and then as I befriended queer people. Normally, I didn’t give it a second thought, but now…

I shuddered and tried to push it out of my head. I couldn’t even put the word into the forefront of my mind. Couldn’t spell it out. My old friends from Silver Ridge had been less than kind about the minority that my subconscious mind was suggesting I might be.

Actually, I’d never heard Paisley say anything, nor Ethan if I remembered correctly. There had been one time that Ethan broke up with Marlon, though, when Marlon had said something I didn’t quite understand. Marlon, of course, had charmed— no, he’d manipulated my friend back into the relationship, but it had been something to do with the scary T word that floated in my thoughts now.

It wasn’t like the topic had come up often, though, so who knew what everyone actually thought. What was scarier was what the wider Relli community and world would think. They were terrifying, the hate they spewed sometimes at… at people who were queer.

Hugging myself tighter, I realised I could just… be Rosco out of the game and Keiko inside it. I didn’t have to throw myself under the bus for no reason. It would be fine, and plus, plenty of people played girl characters in games and enjoyed it. I was just… doing that, but in VR. Yes, I wasn’t wigged out by this body like some people were, but that—

“Keiko!” A voice called, bringing my thoughts to a merciful end.

Paisley was approaching with a big smile on her face, and I was powerless to keep a smile of my own off my face, despite my existential crisis. “Hey! How are you doing?”

True to form with my old friend, she launched herself into my arms with enough force to stagger me as I got up off the dirt. We quickly parted, because we were two awkward people new to this friendship, but it didn’t dampen my excitement at seeing her.

“I’m good! I was doing some research on your tree, and I found out some really interesting stuff about it!” she said, launching right into the topic she’d obviously been hyperfocusing on today. “So, this is a juvenile, apparently. When the spirit spookifies the willow, it actually merges with it on a very basic level. It’s like a whole new species of undead, plant, and animal all mixed into one. When it’s fed enough, it’ll split the lower half of its trunk into four huge legs and move its mouth to the bottom. Then it starts to walk around when its ghouls hunt out a region! That’s why we don’t see many of them near civilization, by the way. We scare off all the food.”

“Whoa, whoa,” I laughed, reaching down to take her hand. “Slow down. You’re saying this thing could end up walking.”

“Yes, exactly, so that got me thinking,” she continued to babble, clutching at my hand now that she had the chance. “The new expansion is confirmed to have a new zone, right? It’d suck to build tons of stuff for your forge, only to have to leave it behind when the new content comes out.”

I shrugged and tried really hard not to focus on how soft her hands were. “Yeah, I figured I’d just make a better forge in the new area.”

“What if you made a treehouse forge instead?” she asked, pulling me closer. “What if we feed the tree until it grows bigger, then make it into a big walking house, like an oliphaunt from Lord of the Rings?”

Grimacing, I shook my head. “Okay, you’re losing me now, I hate those books.”

Like I’d flipped a switch on my friend, she went deathly still, and her eyes widened to the size of golfballs. Watching her reaction, I realised my mistake a second later, and let go of her suddenly fierce grip.

Backing away, I laughed nervously and looked at the forge I’d almost finished building. “Plus, I just finished this, it doesn’t make sense to throw all of that work away.”

She followed me as I tried to create space between us, her big, beautiful brown eyes boring into me with a singular intensity. “It’s you.”

“W-who?” I squeaked, ready to bolt. My heart was hammering away with so much force I could barely hear anything over my pulse. Oh god, oh god. Fucking Lord of the Rings had given me away. This was not good, this was really not good.

Before I could really turn and make a break for it, she lunged at me, tripping us both. We landed on the dirt in a tangle of limbs and soft fabric. Idly, a part of me was thankful we weren’t the types to wear armour.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” she whispered, her face so close to mine I could see the individual flecks of honey gold in her eyes. “Rascal?”

The nickname sent bolts of fear up and down my spine, and I opened my mouth to deny it, but then I remembered my promise.

“Yes,” I croaked, nodding slowly.

Of all the reactions that had haunted my nightmares and my daymares, none of them prepared me for the real thing.

She squealed with pure, unadulterated delight and closed the remaining distance between us to nuzzle at my neck. Confused, I tentatively placed my hands on her shoulder blades, only for her to push back up again with a speed that I wished I could achieve in combat.

“It’s really you!” she giggled, her breath tickling my nose and lips. “Holy shit, all this time, it was you!”

Then her face fell, and she pushed off me a little further. “Oh, that explains why you didn’t want to be friends…”

“Initially,” I said with a one-shoulder shrug and a shy smile. “I um… yeah. I’m glad you didn’t give up, though.”

Her face flamed red, and she wiggled off me and deposited herself to my right. “This is like, it’s like one of my stories! It’s friends to enemies to friends but with secret identities! Oh, and without the whole lovers thing. I mean, you’re really pretty like this. God, you’re so fucking pretty, it drives me crazy, but you’re also my Rascal! Wait, you said I could still call you that, but is it okay if I—“

I had to interrupt the firehose of words coming out of her mouth with a hand. “Yes, yes, I like the name. Don’t call me the other one, though. That’s not who I am right now.”

“Yeah, gosh, goodness, wowzers!” she giggled again, flipping up into a sitting position so she could stare down at me. “You’re a girl! That’s crazy! What’s it like, are you—”

The sound of a call coming in cut her off, and we turned to see my mother’s face materialise in the video window. She began to speak, but stumbled when… oh god, when a distant explosion rocked the floor of the hospital.

“They’re coming. They’ve actually attacked the hospital,” she gasped, eyes massive and fearful. “The SAI are trying to hold them back, bu—”

Her words were cut off as Rellithesh evaporated around me. There was no smooth transition to a different virtual space, no gentle blackening of my vision. No, one second I was laying on the dirt in a haunted forest, the next, I was suspended in medical gel that pulsed with red from the emergency lights outside the viewport.

QuietValerie

This is the part where I apologise for the cliff, and also give you all a sneaky nod towards my patreon. A Digital Galaxies chapter will release alongside this one, and it contains hints about this cliff that will soften the blow a little.