The dust fell to the forest floor in a large human sized pile. Time marched on around Rydel, but he remained stationary. He could have knelt there for hours or even days before the NPCs returned. Their voices called out to him, but Rydel’s ears refused to make sense of the noise. It wasn’t until soft delicate hands made contact with both sides of his face that he even reacted to their presence.

 

“Master.” A beautiful voice whispered gently. “Look at me.”

 

Rydel’s eyes rose from his dust coated hands and made contact with the crystal blue waters of Elizabeth’s gaze.

 

“Please.” Her eyes were wet with tears as she pleaded. “Tell me you’re okay. I need you to be okay.”

 

Rydel opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out.

 

“Take your time.” Elizabeth wiped her eyes and moved her hands away from his cheeks and down to his arms. “Let’s start by getting this dust off of you and then-”

 

“Stop!” Rydel yelled hoarsely.

 

Elizabeth’s hands froze in place. Rydel could see a deeply rooted fear surface in her eyes and her face paled considerably at his shout.

 

“This isn’t dust.” Rydel felt the words choke in his throat but he forced them out anyway. “It’s Quinton.”

 

Rydel ducked his head as the reality of what happened settled in. The timing worked in Elizabeth’s favor as Rydel didn’t see the look of relief flash over her face before settling back on a look of concern.

 

“Will we be resurrecting him then?” Elizabeth asked calmly.

 

Rydel felt as if he’d been struck with lightning. Of course. They may not be in Neo Cosmos anymore, but they still possessed magic from the game. His eyes snapped to the other five NPCs standing worriedly nearby. They all lurched forward slightly at his gaze, unsure of what he needed from them in the moment.

 

Mary is a life cleric. She can cast resurrection.

 

Even as he had the thought, Rydel knew that wouldn’t work.

 

“Disintegration.” Rydel’s hollow voice said aloud.

 

“What do-”

 

“That’s what killed master’s friend.” Mary cut off Elizabeth’s question and explained.

 

“Disintegration is one of the few spells that leaves a victim unable to be revived using magic.” The air genasi’s violet eyes fell to the religious symbol around her neck. “Master is right. I won’t be of use here.”

 

“A shrine then. Surely the towns here have shrines…”

 

The tall beast woman looked away sharply and the rest of the group hung their heads.

 

“Bella made the run to the nearest town.” Elizabeth somberly revealed. “She didn’t find any sign of resurrection shrines.”

 

“I’ve failed you.” Bella’s shoulders fell.

 

Rydel slumped down, defeated.

 

“Unless…” Xaundra’s words were so quiet Rydel almost missed them.

 

Everyone’s eyes turned to the tiefling.

 

“I don’t mean to give you false hope, master, but what if we could find a wish?”

 

The wish spell. It had been a hidden easter egg that the developers had buried in a convoluted late game quest line. It wasn’t tracked like other quests were, and from what Rydel had been told from people who had attempted it, the amount of time and effort the quest took had turned many people away. Of course, that was before people knew what the reward would be.

 

Rydel wasn’t sure what outcome the developers had been expecting, but it certainly didn’t pan out the way they had hoped. In Neo Cosmos, the wish spell gave the caster the ability to make a single request directly to the game developers themselves. An all powerful, all encompassing request that would be granted.

 

Now while many people would use that power for personal gain or glory, the first and only person to ever use wish had another idea. That legendary idiot requested that every single avatar in the game, NPC and player alike, would look like the actor Nicholas Cage. Permanently. While it was funny for the first fifteen minutes, the development team behind Neo Cosmos reverted the change after only a few hours. The wish spell was then stripped away to be reworked and never made an appearance again.

 

“Something like a wish…” Rydel trailed off as his mind pondered the idea.

 

It was a long shot. Then again, the scroll of spell storing was a very rare item and yet it existed in this world. There was too much Rydel didn’t know. So he would have to find someone who did.

 

“Mary. Could you please transfer Quinton’s body into a secure jar.” Rydel requested. “We’re not leaving him here.”

 

Now that he had a plan, Rydel was back in control of his emotions. Mary walked over, placed her hand into the void, and extracted a small red urn. With a twirl of her hand a small stream of air swirled around Rydel’s legs and picked up what was left of Quinton. The tiny twister flowed directly and cleanly into the open urn.

 

“Thank you.” Rydel stood and picked up his bow from off the forest floor. “Our first task is to find out who these five men were and why they attacked us. If they had access to one rare item they may know of a wish and where to acquire it.”

 

“Five men, master?” Elizabeth spun and counted the bodies. “But we only found four.”