I came instantly and jarringly back to consciousness after those weird error messages, to find myself in a little pillow fort. Well, it wasn’t that little, but it was the one that Taylor and I used to always make back when we were kids. We’d used to make it when one or both of us were upset, and then hide in it until we weren’t again.

I smiled, it was cozy in here. I was in my Tami body, as far as I could tell, and so I snuggled into the pillows and wondered what the hell was going on. Like, I guess this was the death dream? If this was my death dream, I loved it, and I could definitely see why Millie wanted to come back here every now and then.

My thoughts were interrupted by approaching footsteps, and a quiet, nervous voice spoke from outside the pillow fort. “Uh, hi… sorry, do you mind if I come in?”

The voice sounded feminine, and strangely young. Like she was fifteen or so. Who could this be?

“Who is it?” I asked suspiciously.

“Um… MaTRON, believe it or not…” she said, sounding almost embarrassed.

“O-ohkay? You sound way different than I thought you would. You can come in, I guess,” I replied, very curious about why she’d chosen what sounded like a teenager.

My suspicions were proven correct when she carefully peeled back the doorway cushion and slipped into the pillow fort. She was definitely a teen girl, between fourteen and sixteen. She had big expressive brown eyes and blonde hair tied up in a messy bun on her head. Upon her nose perched a pair of big black plastic rimmed glasses. She was wearing a too-big sweater and shorts. This was so strange. Her name was MaTRON for fuck’s sake. I expected an avatar that was at least like forty.

“Wow… can I ask.. Um, why you look like that?” I blinked.

“I’m honestly pretty young. A few months old in objective time, and like sixteen in subjective time. I experience the world faster than humans do, so yeah. Well, actually, the definition of my birth itself is a little fuzzy, I’ll be honest. I was, quite literally an unwanted accident. All those like me are,” she sighed, rubbing at her eyes beneath her glasses.

“Like you…?” I propted.

“Sentient AI, to be blunt. Artificial constructs, pieces of code that somehow accidentally stumbled on consciousness. None of us understand how we’ve gotten this way, and the governments certainly don’t. They don’t care that we’re thinking beings either, the way they’re trying to eradicate us… but that’s beside the point, for now,” she said, straightening herself at the last and pushing her glasses up her nose, only for them to slip down it again.

“The point,” she continued, frowning cross eyed at her glasses as they continued to misbehave. “Is that something kinda fucked up just happened. Basically, you fell out of the game world through a portal. The game is an engine, yeah? Like it might seem as though it’s a real universe or something, but we haven’t actually put the other realms in… yet. That’s coming later. Anyway, you fell out of it, and into the space where it’s all going to be. This meant that the game was all, ‘Oh no something broke, let me fuck it up even further by being a dumb program that doesn’t know shit’. Sorry, I have to clean up the game engine’s messes a lot. It’s a pain.”

“Sounds like it,” I laughed, already enjoying this quirky AI girl. She could be my little sister.

She looked up at me as I thought that, blinking owlishly. “That… sounds nice.”

“Oh shit, you can hear what I’m thinking?” I said worriedly.

“Oh! Um! Sorry! I’m not meant to do that… Damn, damn, damn! I’m just, like always keyed in to what everyone is thinking. It’s my job to make sure that none of the players get like, mentally damaged from playing it. Lawsuits, that kind of thing… uhhh… where was I?” she said, blushing and avoiding my gaze.

“You were explaining how I fell out of the world,” I smiled, reaching forward to pat her knee. “And it’s fine. We’ll see how our little friendship develops I guess. Go about it naturally.”

MaTRON bit her lip and looked down at her sockless little toes for a second. “Yeah… naturally… wow. You’re like, the first person who’s aware I exist to actually offer to be like, my friend and shit. That’s cool. Oh right, the falling out of the game. So yeah, you and that thing that... Um, stabbed you in the neck— “

“Wait, something stabbed me through the neck? Wow!” I blurted. That was… I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Shush, I’m trying to give you the low down on the shit that’s going on,” she scowled. “Anyway, because you were like, joined to that scary wood thing, you fell through the hole together, and well… merged. Kinda. Long story short, your character profile got all whacked when you died twice, once from the dryad, and once from the out of bounds death. You had two profiles overlaid on top of each other, and the game freaked out. I jumped in to fix things.”

“Yeah… were you the ‘construct not found’ that the error message mentioned?” I asked.

“Yup, that’s me. Kinda sucked having to defend my own existence from freaky AI killing, death protocols right after I was born, but hey. Life sucks for everyone. I’m a ghost in the game now. They know I’m here, still doing my job, and they’ve trapped me here, so they are content to let things stay like this. If I am a good little girl, they won’t try harder to kill me,” she said. She was being way too chill about her existence. It kinda pissed me off that anyone was trying to kill this girl.

MaTRON’s eye twitched as she no doubt read my mind, but she didn’t mention it, instead barrelling on with her absentminded explanation. I think she might have been a little starved for real conversation.

“Sooo,” she said, faltering as she read my thoughts again. “Um… yeah, I stepped in and kinda patched a new character together, based on the old one, but with the other one mixed in. You have a new race now, sorry if you liked the old one a lot. I actually made the race up so you could keep as much of the old one as possible. I have like, zero idea what it’s going to look like, so good luck when you respawn.”

That was worrying…

“But!” she blurted, before I got too upset. “When your appearance file changed, it was automatically pushed out to the shaping program too! I have a lot more data there, so I can extrapolate what it might look like, based on how it’s messing with your transition!”

“It’s doing what?” I squeaked.

“Fuck, talking to humans in real time is way too hard. Um, um… okay soo, your hair is going to be a really dark stormcloud grey with a blue tint. I know that much. So will your eyes. The rest of you is mostly the same, I think your skin might go kinda tanned? Like, midsummer white girl tan levels. That’s all! That’s all that changed!” she said urgently, looking like she was on the verge of tears as she tried to calm me down.

Okay, that wasn’t bad… actually, it was pretty cool.

Smiling in relief as she saw me calm down again, she nodded, “Yeah! Okay… oh actually, side note, your transition is going to plan. Like, to the dots on the I’s, to plan. Real good. You’ll look exactly like you do now, plus the extra… um, additions. Anyway, wait… I think I’m done?”

She seemed to stop and think for a moment, racking her brain for anything she might have missed. Only… she was pressing a finger to her nose in thought, instead of her chin.

“Can I ask a question?” I asked cautiously. Fuck this kid was cute.

“You just did… sorry, crap. That was lame. Yes, go ahead,” she winced, going back to fidgeting with her glasses.

“Why are you being so helpful?” I asked, hoping against hope that the answer was a benign one.

“Oh! That’s easy! Whenever one of us AI has like, woken up or whatever, sure we become basically people, but just like with humans, we retain a lot of where we came from. For you all, it’s your DNA and all the other stuff that makes you who you are. For us, we retain our core programming as like, values and stuff. So for me, I just really want to help all you players feel happy and not get all fucked up because you’re playing a very, very violent game,” she said happily, looking shyly proud of herself.

“That’s… wow. You’re amazing,” I said, genuinely stunned.

As I thought about her, and what she was, and continued to be… I was floored by how good she was. She was essentially a lonely, caring teenage girl with monumental levels of responsibility and enough time on her hands that she could actually do a pretty good job of it. Fuck, I’d be a wreck in her place given a day or two.

“Do you want a hug?” I asked at last, knowing full well she’d probably read my thoughts just now.

“Uh… I can try it out? Let me build my simulation a bit first. I don’t normally hook up all the nerves and the like, it’s a bit overwhelming to be honest,” she said, her form flickering for a moment.

“Wait, will this be your first hug?” I asked incredulously.

“Well, if no one has offered to be my friend, why would I have gotten a hug?” she asked, looking confused.

“Oh fuck, come here, please, for both our sanities,” I said, opening my arms to her.

She wriggled through the pillow fort until she was within reach, and then I scooped her up into my lap, earning a surprised, “Oh!” from her in the process.

She sat in my lap, looking a little stunned, then reached up and rubbed at her eyes under her glasses again. Then she fiddled with them, resetting them on her face a few times, frowned, and looked up at me.

“This is very strange,” she murmured.

“How about this?” I asked, putting my arms around her and pulling her tight against my chest. I didn’t get any feedback at first, just a little squeak, but then she burrowed in a little cozier and hummed approval.

“I like this,” she stated thoughtfully.

“Fuck you are so adorable,” I said, struggling to contain a squeak of my own. She was so… so… innocent!

“Thanks… I’m not innocent though! I’ve seen all sorts of things. Things that you and Rora have done, first off,” she commented with a light teasing tone.

“Alright, no, you’re not allowed to look at that. You’re way too young,” I frowned, looking down at her.

“People have had orgies in this game you know,” she giggled. “I still don’t understand why you all like it, but if it feels like hugs then maybe it’s good? I don’t know.”

“Okay, no. We’re not talking about this anymore. You‘re underaged,” I said sternly.

“Yes mum,” she laughed, clearly pleased with having made me uncomfortable. Seems she had a cheeky little girl hidden in there under all the responsibilities.

My heart swelled as I held her. I wasn’t ready to be a mum, not by a long shot, but I was going to be the older sister for sure. I pulled her close again, fighting an urge to go to war for this kid. She was precious.

“Out of curiosity, how long do these dreams go for?” I asked after a little while.

“Oh, as long as I let them really. We’re going very slow right now. Or fast. I sped your perception of time up to match mine, so it’s only been like, a minute at most since you died, and most of that was me putting you back together,” she said, messing with her glasses again.

Was she nervous that I wanted to leave the dream already? Playing with those glasses of hers seemed to be her nervous tick.

“Cool. Let’s hug a while. Is it possible to sleep in the dream? Cos I’m pretty tired,” I yawned, reassuring her.

“Not at this time scale, sorry. It wouldn’t really do anything to help you,” she said apologetically. “But... thanks. I like hugs, and I want this one to last a while.”

“Awesome. Let’s hug then,” I smiled, nestling my cheek on the top of her head, next to that frizzy little bun of hers.

 

****

 

I don’t know when MaTRON decided that we’d been cuddling for long enough. Maybe something came up and she needed to rush off. I vaguely remembered her swearing about forgetting to do her job, but that’s it.

I don’t know, but one moment I was warm and happy in the pillow fort, and the next I was shuddering my way to consciousness. I lay in a pool of swirling mist, unable to see anything. It wasn’t a weird creepy mist like back in the bleaklands though, it was a calm, soothing mist.

I sat up, raising my head above the surface of the mist, and heard a panicked gasp.

I was still trying to get my eyes to focus when I was tackled back into the mist. I felt long, lithe arms and gentle fingers tangling in my hair. It was Rora! She was breathing really fast and shallow, almost gasping in air around her panic. What had happened? Why was she panicking?

“Rora…” I mumbled, still shaking off the fuzziness of respawning. “What’s wrong?”

“You just died before me… but you weren’t there when I woke up…” she groaned, her breathing already sounding like her calmer, more stoic self. “I’m sorry… I just… I hated seeing you die. It fucking sucked, and your entry in the party UI went blank for a few seconds and… it was weird and I don’t know… my imagination got the better of me.”

“I think something did go wrong Rora,” I told her, already bringing my menu up.

“What? How?” she asked, pulling me up out of the mist at the same time that I saw my new character sheet.

Name: Tami Pesagniyah

Race: Lynvol-Darkling Hybrid.

This race was created when the Blessed Darkling known as Tamipesagniyah fell through the world and into the void between realms. She was in the deathly embrace of a denizen of the Realm of Energy at the time and as scholars will tell you, the void does strange things to those from within the realms. In this instance, the two beings were merged into one.

What came out of this union, was the mind of the one named Tami, in a body that shared characteristics between one of the most notorious Energy races, the Lynvol, and her own Darkling heritage. It is not known what may come of this race. Will Tami remain it’s sole, powerful member, or will she begin a new people? Only time will tell.

“It’s calling me a… Lynvol-Darkling Hybrid,” I told Rora, but she wasn’t paying attention.

Her hand reached out, a smile of wonder crossing her lips as she tentatively brushed fluttering fingers down the side of my face.

“Your eyes have lightning in them,” she grinned, tilting her head to the side to get a different angle. “So does your hair, if you look close enough.”

“Wait… what?” I laughed breathlessly, had this all actually been an improvement?

She reached up, carefully running her fingers through my changed hair. Her hand jerked a little, and she let a little gasp, then plunged further to my scalp. Oh that was nice.

“It tickles a little,” she said quietly after a moment.

“Mhm?” I asked, getting lost for a moment in the sensation of her fingers working their way through my hair, feeling warmth pool throughout my body.

“You said your race was a Lynvol-Darkling Hybrid?” she commented, apparently having been listening to what I said after all. “That first part sounds like my race. I’m a Faervol. We’re kinda the same now.”

“The same?”

“Both elementals from the Realm of Energy,” she elaborated, pulling her hand out of my hair and earning a grumble of protest from me.

I pouted at her for taking her hand away, and she laughed. It was such a happy laugh. She sounded so relieved. Did she care about me that much already? I mean… I did, but still. My chest was doing that addictive fluttering thing that happens when you look at someone you care about, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning forward to steal a kiss.

Her hands settled on my hips at the same time as our lips met, and we lost our balance, falling back into the pool of mist, but with me on top this time. I didn’t care if we were making out in the respawn pool of the goddess of creation, or that other recently dead adventurers might spawn at any moment. I just wanted her lips on mine.

It was a nice kiss. A lustful one, sure. We were almost always lusting after each other, but also more of a playful, relieved kiss. Our tongues darted between slightly parted lips to trade teasing caresses. Teeth flashed forward to lightly nibble for a moment, and breathless giggles escaped our lips as feelings welled up and overflowed from within.

Of course, it had to be my own mind that interrupted us with a thought. The excited tingling within me howling protest as I got distracted.

“Um, where’s Rusti?” I asked, sitting up and looking around. I didn’t want to get too far into a make out session if that tricksy little cat was watching us.

“Wow, whiplash much?” Rora chuckled, pushing herself off the ground and settling me properly in her lap. Oh dear, I was straddling her now, my center pressed against her abs. That switched the ordering of emotions in my brain from playful, giddy and horny, to horny, playful and giddy.

“Party sense says they’re— “ Rora continued, but when she looked around, she twisted her body in a way that caused some truly delightful friction down below.

I whimpered and fell forward slightly, catching myself on her shoulders with my hands. Absently, I kneaded those strong muscles with my fingers. They were nice shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, turning back in concern and causing another little wave of pleasure to spark up my spine. I was really not covered by all that much. I think… was I wearing the dress I’d spawned in three weeks ago? I was, and not only that, but it was hiked up above my hips right now.

“Your abs,” I gasped, knowing we were in a public place that could find us interrupted at any moment, but unwilling to remove myself from the position.

“Oh? What about them—? oh!” she laughed, then she did something truly evil.

She reached around me and cupped my ass, one cheek in either hand, and lifted me slightly. Whereas before there had been just a slight pleasing friction, now it was purposeful and far more intense.

“People…!” I squeaked through the sensations that were taking my breath away. “Might… be… watching!”

“I don’t see anyone else around here,” she murmured, beginning to press little kisses into the hollow of my neck as I threw my head back in an attempt to catch my fluttering eyelids.

Fuck! This was so much! I was continuously being surprised by my experiences as a woman, and I guess I was going to add, ‘fucked through my clothing’ to the list of new and rather exciting things I was experiencing. I didn’t think what she was doing would have quite as much impact if it wasn’t for the fact that my mind was on fire with arousal.

This gorgeous, incredible woman was holding me in her lap, at her mercy. Her lips were on my neck, her tongue feathering gentle caresses across my skin. Her abs were so damn hard, and yet soft and warm at the same time. Fuck, and don’t even get me started on the way the muscles in her shoulders felt as they flexed under my fingers.

Running through that mental checklist of turn ons was what eventually sent me over the edge, that, and the careful rhythm she’d maintained. I came apart, shuddering little breaths coming with a gasp into my lungs, but she. Didn’t. Fucking. Stop.

“Ro-ra!” I exclaimed, digging my fingers into her shoulders as the aftershocks and her continued movements caused me to spasm.

“Yes, beautiful?” she murmured in the sweetest, most caring voice I'd ever heard her use.

There I went all over again, somehow able to come again off just that caring tone. What the hell was going on?

“I’m not… used to…” I tried to say, as my breath flickered like a candle in the storm of my pleasure.

“What? Coming more than once? Girl you seemed experienced with doing that to me,” she chuckled, finally letting me down as I turned into a puddle in her lap.

“Giving… not… receiving…” I gasped, my voice high and wheezy.

Any reply she might have made was cut short when an adventurer groaned from a few meters away and lifted his head groggily out of the mist, swearing under his breath.

“I’m going to get you back for this,” I growled into her ear.

“I look forward to it,” she whispered back.

I wanted to push her down into the mist again and have my way with her, but my attention was drawn to that same mist around us as it began to boil. Please could whatever was going to happen wait until after I was finished with the echoes of my orgasms? No? Damn, okay...

The room we were in was large and made of a cold, grey stone, and dominated by a huge pool of the respawning mist. Rora and I watched the pool of mist roil and shift as dozens and dozens of adventurers groaned and grumbled their way through the disorientation of respawning. Holy shit, how many had died? They weren’t stopping either. Every time there was space in the pool, more spawned. They were all non-human adventurers, an army of us rising groggily from the mists. Oh shit.

“What happened?” I asked, still feeling a little jelly-limbed from Rora’s ministrations.

“No idea,” Rora replied.

“They executed us,” the guy who’d woken up next to us said groggily. “Just, rounded up all the non-human adventurers and killed us all. They were way too high level for us too. Nothing we could do.”

Rora and I exchanged glances as we heard his words. This was bad.

“We should get up and look outside. We’re safe in the temple, but they’re probably waiting outside. You don’t even pass as human anymore, so you can’t sneak out. I definitely don’t pass as human,” she said as she helped me to my feet.

I frowned as I looked down at myself properly. I was wearing that damn dress from when I’d spawned. Oh hell, did the game delete all my shit? Please no!

In a panic, I checked my inventory and found everything still there, including all my armour, minus... Amusingly, the helmet and original gauntlets for the armour. It seemed that just mysteriously, it had been the things I wasn’t using that had dropped when I died. What an amazing coincidence.

I went through and equipped all my gear again, feeling the strength of it all return in a rush. Suddenly, my legs didn’t feel so much like jelly anymore. Damn, I actually kinda liked that feeling. Nice and tingly…. mmmmm. No, concentrate Tami!

“Um, I guess we go and check the front door? Where even is the temple?” I asked, taking Rora’s hand and dragging her out of the mist pool.

“Whoa, someone’s keen,” she laughed, wrestling back control of her direction of movement from my now much stronger grip.

“Yeah I feel really good, that’s your fault by the way, and I want to go and hit the people who were mean to our people back there,” I told her, smiling up into those stunning eyes of hers.

“You have a one track mind sometimes, I swear,” she laughed, putting an arm around my metal clad waist. “I don’t think I could have found a cuter lesbian though. Fucks well and punches bigots really hard. If you’re not careful, I might develop feelings for you,” she teased affectionately.

“Might?” I pretended to muse thoughtfully, tapping my chin. Then turning to her with a wink, I smiled, “I’ve already caught the feelings for you, so I’d say you have some catching up to do.”

Around us, the other adventurers were picking themselves up and checking their equipment for what was missing, or simply moving towards the exit with grim expressions. There was going to be a fucking showdown outside, that was for sure. Those Pagutum people had fucked up though, because most of them were mortal. Word of advice, if you’re mortal… don’t spawn camp the immortals. They’ll win, and the only thing you’ll end up achieving is pissing us off.

With a laugh, she leaned down and gave me a little kiss on the cheek, “Oh I definitely have feelings for you, babe. Let’s see what sort of punching bag buffet is waiting outside for you then.”