Even though I wasn’t any stronger or higher level than the last time I walked this way, I was smarter. My memory of fighting and how to use my skills to the best of my ability was much improved.

  Meaning this time I didn’t nearly die on the road to the Lord’s manor.

  Sitting down to dinner with Lord Ashburn and his daughter was a bit surreal. I watched as he delicately speared slices of meat and moved them to his mouth, knowing that this would be the last dinner he ever ate. I let him talk at me about what he wanted me to do after he had sent his daughter away. None of what he said mattered. I ate the expertly prepared food and made sure Dekka got as much as she wanted.

  We went to bed that night, and I was at peace with what was going to happen the next day. Should I be ok with this? He was evil but I was going to be the instrument of his downfall. The game was starting to change me again.

  This time the dress was like flowing gold. I liked it better than the last version. It rustled like it had secrets to whisper as I strode down the hall to the grand ball. The key was on a velvet pillow on a plinth. This time the pillow was gold, like my dress, and the plinth was obsidian.

  Ignoring it, I walked over to where Sera was standing with a few ladies I hadn’t met last time or who perhaps hadn’t existed in this setting.

  “Sera,” I interrupted their talks of silk and fashion. “Would you be so kind to walk with me?”

  “Oh. Yes Elizabeth, excuse me, ladies.” I walked her out of the ballroom. “Where are we going?”

  “To solve the mystery, your father says he wants me to solve.”

  “The mystery he wants…?” Her nose wrinkled in puzzlement.

  “I assure you, he doesn’t actually want it solved. Just the illusion of an investigation.”

  “You are a very strange woman, Elizabeth.”

  I chuckled. “Isn’t that the truth?”

  Dekka trotted beside us, a new silk bow around her neck as we made our to Julian Bergmann’s study.

  “How do you know your way so confidently in our castle?” Sera asked, picking up her skirt to stay with me.

  “Your father calls me a traveller. Do you know what that means?”

  “Not exactly. I know that it means that you come from far away and that you will be unusual in some way.”

  I nodded. That was as good an explanation as any. “Well, sometimes we travellers can remember the future.”

  “Remember?” She paused and then ran to catch up. “That makes no sense.” She stated flatly.

  “To me, it makes perfect sense.”

  The guards this time looked more stern. Cocking my head at them as we stopped and I looked them up and down.

  Turning to my dog, I asked, “Dekka, would you like to distract them?” She gave a little bark of agreement. “Sera, I need you to stay calm and be ready to follow me.”

  “What are you-“ Sera started to say, but it ended with a squeak as Dekka grew and shadows swirled around her and formed her hellhound persona. As soon as my dog was big, she lunged at the guards. They grabbed their weapons, but they were too slow. Dekka grabbed one of their halberds and ran off with it down the hall towards the ball.

  “Oh no,” I said. “That big, terrible monster is on her way towards the ball.” The guards were staring after her, not moving. “On the way to the room with all the nobles and Lord Ashburn himself. I hope the guards there can stop that vile creature.”

  Sera’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. Her fear seemed to motivate them, and they thundered down the hall, their armour clanking.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Ok lets head in.”

  “But what of that thing…” Sera said, still staring down the hallway.

  “Oh, it’s fine. Dekka isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

  “But you said-“

  “That was just to get the guards out of the way.” I walked into the room and got the small chest down. Using the unlocking scroll I had gotten from Cecil’s family. It seems the peasants had little use for locks and even less use of magical ways to open them.

  The chest popped open, and Sera approached it.

  “There is a document in there you are going to want to read.” I told her. Dekka had just run back, returning to her natural form. The guards wouldn’t be far behind.

  “What document? I am sorry, I am lost what is going on in here?”

  “Just look in the box.” I closed the door and wished there was a way to lock it from the inside.

  Sera, more to humour me than anything, started flipping through the papers in the box.

  Until she came to the one that told of the spell put on this castle. “Oh,” was all she said. Her fingers trembled slightly, making the document quiver.

  “You need to read it,” I prompted her. Last time, she had wanted to read it. Well, I had rushed her this time. She hadn’t had a chance to get used to the idea of what was happening.

  The guards started pounding on the door. I leaned against it. “Please read it.” I was pretty sure I would be seeing Wendel again if she didn’t.

  The door hinges gave way with a groan and a pop. Sera was reading another document. The door slid forward, and one of the guards was trying to grab me around the edge of the door.

  Sera looked up at me briefly, and her face set. “You are right. Even if I am afraid, this is wrong.” And she read the counterspell.

  I was walking back down the road toward Scott’s Hill with coin and a sparrow heart in my inventory when my notifications went wild.

  Group Chats

  {Rositilda} - Elizabeth, no! Get back here.

  {Copperbeard} - Turn around we can try to stop the ship

  {Rositilda} - Barry, we have to stop

  {Barry} - I don’t think we can. Copperbeard, get up here and see if you can talk to the prince.

  {Rositilda} - Elizabeth, what are you doing? If you die, you will be far away.

  {Rositilda} - Barry, do something!

  {Barry} - The prince won’t listen. He’s saying something about granting her a boon.

  {Ayerelia} - She better not get better loot for dying dramatically

  {MageAgainsttheMachine} - I think you mean heroically

  {Ayerelia} - I meant what I said. Oh, shit, I just lost sight of her.

  ERROR: YOU CANNOT CONNECT WITH A GROUP/PARTY CHAT - Party feature disabled in this area.

  DMs

  {Rositilda} - Elizabeth, did you respawn ok?

  {Rositilda} - Hey getting worried. We have landed safely back at Mare’s Meet.

  {Rositilda} - Ok, now I am freaking out. Please message.

  {Soup} - Hey I heard you died heroically.

  {Barry} - Are you ok? Rose says she can’t reach you.

  {Ayerelia} - What’s with the silent treatment? Stop it; there can only be one drama queen in a group.

  {Rositilda} - Why did you leave the group? I am freaking out here message someone. I have things to tell you, but I am really worried.

  {Ayerelia} - Hey, no seriously, are you ok? Rose has found out things and now we are all deeply concerned.

  Well shit.

  I felt relief and panic. My friends hadn’t abandoned me. But why had so little time passed for them? And what was up with the ‘no party or group chats’? Also, the time dilation had to be crazy. I immediately sent messages to Rose, Barry, and Ayerelia telling them I was ok. I also told them that, to me, it had been over two days since that moment on the beach.

  I waited a few moments, but of course no messages came in.

  A shiver ran down my spine. This made little sense. Not only had I been in here for days, time had passed for them. I got the messages they must have sent right as I died but also sent messages after that. Why was I getting them now?

  Troubled, I made my way back to the village. I wanted to see if I could wield my hammer now. It was doubtful, but I had to pass the village to head north, regardless.

  Dekka and I spent the night at Richard’s Inn. The hammer was still too heavy, so we decided to go do a few more quests, including saving the town of Rivermore.

  We were leaving after curing the plague when I went to see if I could find the elf quest. I still hadn’t heard from my friends. “This game is somehow less fun when it is easier,” I said to my dog as we wandered around the area where I had seen the circle of stones. She gave me a snort, like she didn’t understand.

  “I know. I hate this game. Having played this part before makes it so much easier. And being easier, this should be nicer, right?”

  She obligingly gave a little tail wag.

  “Right, but it’s not. Instead, it’s a little … boring.” I looked down at her little skeptical face. “I know!” I threw up my hands. “It makes no sense to me either.”

  Dekka went running off into the undergrowth to go see if she could stir up some excitement for me. Or that is what I imagined she was doing. My dog wasn’t finding this boring. The hiking, fighting, and eating was paradise to her. I wasn’t sure what she loved more, the eating or the fighting.

  I was smiling at the thought of her having to decide between chasing voles in tunnels or a pile of tender roast haunch when she ran up to me and put a paw on my boot.

  “What?”

  Keeping her paw on my boot, she lifted her nose and pointed with it over her back. I missed my animal communication skill often, but in this case her meaning was clear. She had found something.

  “Ok, lead on. I’ll follow.”

  Dekka led me straight to a ring of stone. This was a very different set of stones, but in the centre there was the shadowy image of a sleeping elf. Or a dead elf. Probably not dead.

  “Good girl!” I rubbed Dekka all over and gave her extra skritchies around her shoulders, just the way she liked.