Chapter 25: A Return
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*Frostina*

 

I looked around the room and found the damage from Zet's outburst pretty substantial. Frost still clung to most of the objects in the room, the wine glasses we had drank from were still next to me but had shattered. Reaching out and pushing on one I found it cold to the touch and it refused to budge, the stem frozen to the side table. 

 

Knowing I only had a week to go, I swung my legs off the bed and jumped to my feet. The ground smacked my face, stunning me. "Fucker!"

 

It took me a moment before I recalled. In my rush to help my spouse I'd completely forgotten! I looked down at the stumps of my legs and cursed again. Maybe there was a talent that could help? I pulled myself up and leaned against the bed before opening my character sheet. I stated dumbfounded, I'd leveled since I was last here. Alot. I had no idea how and didn't know where to begin figuring it out but I'm not above accepting more help. 

 

My spells were decently fast so I didn't feel I needed to improve those. I glanced at my legs a moment and then poured a lot of skill points into my constitution. The rest went to improving the strength of my spells. I flipped to my talent sheet but couldn't find 'Restore Limb' or anything else promising. I did see a talent that changed my Holy Flood into a touch skill. Lights Judgement: Replaces your skill Holy Flood. Spell becomes touch based. You wield a sword of light and any target you touch will face final judgement. Max: 1 target.

 

I thought back to Zet's fight with the Game Master. I took the skill, a single target increase would be well worth it compared to its current area of effect. I was about to leave the screen and start dragging myself across the floor in search of some way to get around when I noticed a talent at the start of the tree I had initially ignored back when this all started, Levitate. I smashed that option like guacamole. 

 

I took a deep breath and hoped this would work as I intended. A short cast later and I was hovering about 2 feet above the ground, awkwardly sitting midair. First, I thought about moving forward but nothing happened, same with side and backwards movements. So I thought maybe it was more like a Segway and I leaned forward. Not realizing the sensitivity, I rocketed forward and slammed into the wall, knocking a sheet of frost off it. I rubbed my nose, sore from the impact and tried again with more care. A few more impacts later I was feeling more in control, if a lot more dazed. I heard a creek behind me and spun to find a familiar individual in aggressive pose, her hands wreathed in flame. 

 

"Eire," I spoke her name with venom in my voice. 

 

She cocked her head and recognition dawned on her face. She lowered her hands but didn't seem to relax any. Wise… "Floss? I was expecting Zet…"

 

"Frost. My name is Frostina. Not floss…." She shrugged at my correction, causing me to sigh. "Zet's been captured after you ignored her call for help! Why the fuck would you expect her to be here?!"

 

Eire had the audacity to roll her eyes, "I told both of you I wouldn't help end this game, so I don't owe either of you shit!"

 

I scoffed and indicated my legs, or lack thereof. 

 

She stared a moment before her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "Maybe a little, but not to the point of ending this. Look, just...I thought she'd be here because I had a coin. But I guess I was mistaken."

 

"A coin…?"

 

"Yeah, it said it would summon a hero to my safe house. But I only found you. I figured it was a way to rescue her from being captured."

 

I had an idea of what happened and shared my experience with the helmet not working and then suddenly it activated, allowing me to return. She cursed at that and had a few questions about the real world but I gave her only the basics, such as the time leap and debates on shutting the game down. "Look Eire. I need to get to Zet, she has less than a week and then she's dead. But I don't even know where to start. I need help…"

 

Eire stared at me and then abruptly stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Fuck. Now what do I do? Before I could answer that the door swung open and she came back in. "Fuck it, I'll help get her out but then we're square. A quest went out with her location. We need supplies and then we can head there."

 

A quest popped up before my eyes, it stated the objective to rescue Zet, the deadline and had a map marker. She looked a few days from us, in the middle of a jungle in some shittily named place called "The Citadel ". Honestly, whoever comes up with the names in this game is just phoning it in at this point… Oddly, no quest reward was offered. Well, for me there was a secret one. Getting my love back. I hovered over to the door but Eire blocked my way.

 

"So, you're staying here for a bit, Frost." She held up a hand to stop my angry retort, "You're gonna draw attention floating around like that. That battle you think I needed to go die in, yeah. The injured have been totaling to any city they can. I guarantee you some spies are with too."

 

I had to concede to that point. Identifying strong adversaries sounded just like something the Game Master would do. "I still need to go Eire, if you didn't notice there's a bit of a time crunch."

 

"Which is why we don't need that noise. I'm going to go find a wheelchair or something else to move you around in less conspicuous manner. You stay here."

 

I begrudgingly agreed, though I was pissed about it. With Eire gone I needed to figure out what to do. I mean. I'm in a room with….its empty ish. What the fuck am I suppos- Ooo! The wine is still here, I floated over and checked. Perfect, still a bottle left! One bright side to a virtual world is, wine doesn't turn to vinegar! The chocolate was still there too but I left it be, for all I know Zet left another coin in one of em. 

 

About 3 glasses later I was feeling better about being back in this damned room. Yeah it was my choice to return but frankly, I shouldn't have had to come back. If I'd stayed then we could have faced him together and. Ugh, and my buzz it soured. I poured another glass as I bumped into some silly piece of furniture that must be moving around because who put it there?!

 

I started poking through the closets and found a lot of crap. Food: crap. Were hooked to ivs. Waterskins: crap. We have wine! Nummy num. And then there's, ooooh. The orb of transfor...figurat….look changing! She must have left it here at some point. I took it and with a thought shifted my appearance. I looked in the mirror and found I now resembled a pure white tiefling. Alas, still no legs. My face was the same but with the horns and demon-y appearance I definitely hid better.

 

A thought occurs to me. "Kids. If you're watching, turn it off! I'll be back. I love you but you shouldn't be watching this." I may have been a smidge tipsy, but honestly it was mostly affect for fun to kill time. Still, my kids shouldn't be watching this crap. 

 

Eire finally came in and I had to drop the illusion to prove it was me. A quick spell later to cure the poison in my body and I was sober as could be. 

 

"Slight problem Frost. The world isn't wheelchair accessible so...you need to float down the stairs to the chair…"

 

I sighed, "Oh, the dick killing everyone isn't sensitive to things being accessible. Such a shock…"

 

A few minutes later and I was strapped to a wheelchair and kicking my stumps, we headed to the town center for travel supplies.

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