“Would you like some tea?”

  James blinked. “I’m sorry?”

  He was sitting at a slightly rusted metal table in the middle of a large, very well kept garden. Nice hedges, patio furniture and flower beds stretched off as far as the eye could see. Sitting with him on the table was a handsome young man with blonde hair that went down to his shoulders and piercing blue eyes, dressed in a sharp red suit. On the table was a cup of tea and a cake with two large bites taken out of it. The sky was blue and clear, and birds could be heard chirping.

  “The tea is very nice,” The man in the red suit said. “It washes the cake down nicely.”

  “I haven’t eaten any cake.”

  “Yes you have, there’s two bites taken out of it.”

  “I didn’t do that.”

  “Yes you did, I saw you.”

  “I’m sorry, what the fuck is going on?”

  “Most people ask that question much quicker than you did. Are you used to such oddities by now, James?”

  James glared the man in the eyes. “Who are you and what is this place?”

  “Oh, I’m just a man, and this is just a garden. As for how you got here, Draconautis killed you for a little while. Those who fall to him come here.”

  James cocked his head to the side. “So what is this, heaven?”

  The man chuckled. “Unfortunately not. This is just a stop before your return to the game, once you eat your cake and drink your tea.”

  James tried to flick open the menu, but he couldn’t. “This is so obviously a set up.”

  “Of course, you would be a fool not to think that. Unfortunately, failure to drink will result in true death.”

  “What, you delete my account or something? You can’t…” James laughed. “You can’t actually kill me can you?”

  The man leaned forward and smiled. “Would you like to try your luck? It’s worked very, very well for you so far today.”

  James sighed and sat back down. He held the cup of tea by the handle, ready to drink, before he was hit by a wave of deja vu. He was certain he had been here before, but couldn’t quite remember when. Stalling for time to process his thoughts, he kept the conversation going.

  “What happened to the others?”

  The man cocked his head, bemused. “That’s no concern of yours.”

  “It is. It always is.”

  The man leaned back in his chair. “They are in the same predicament as you…and they have already drunk.”

  James laughed. “Yeah, now I know you’re bullshitting. You think any of them would ever listen to a word you say?”

  “Grey drank because they understood it was the most logical way out, Patrick drank because he resigned himself to failure and Amelia downed the drink swearing revenge.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Maybe they’re better at listening to instructions than you. Or maybe your faith is just misplaced?”

  “I know who they are,” James growled, “and you underestimate how well we know each other.”

  The man laughed. “You have no idea what we know about you.”

  James started to lift the cup to his lips. He’d almost figured the place out, he just needed more time to formulate a plan.

  “What does it taste like?” He asked.

  “It’s rather bitter, and dark. It’s an acquired taste, but the more you drink, the easier it goes down. You really are enjoying delaying the inevitable, aren’t you, James Marlow?”

  “I’ve been thinking,” James put the cup of tea down. “I’ve been killed by Draconautis once before, but I never remember coming to this place...I just remember that strange dream. When I met the others, they had forgotten what had happened.”

  The other man’s face started to lose its confidence. “And this means...what exactly?”

  “I think this tea takes your memories,” James smirked. “And I think I didn’t drink it the last time around. Or, at least, I didn’t drink all of it. I got out of here somehow. And if I did it before...I can do it again.”

  James swept his cup to the side, which bounced across the patio in a way no piece of fine china should, and vaulted over the back of his chair. He ran as fast as he could past the finely trimmed hedges and beautiful flowerbeds. Now he was up close with them, they looked a little too perfect, almost like they were made of plastic. The man in the suit didn’t lift a finger to stop him, instead shouting as he ran away.

  “Excellent deduction, you’re right on all counts...but there is something you failed to realise.”

  James glanced over his shoulder. “What?”

  “The first time someone helped you get out. And this time, you’re all alone.”

  James turned to look forward again, only to realise he was next to the same set of plants. He could feel himself moving forward, the ground racing away under his feet, but he was perfectly still. The man in the suit stood up, brushed some dust off his shoulder, and picked the teacup off the ground. There wasn’t a drop of tea spilled, nor was the drink sloshing around in the cup: it was perfectly still, as it should be. In a single step he was standing next to James, presenting the teacup to him.

  “Would you like some tea now?”

  James drew his sword and slashed at the man’s neck, cleanly decapitating him.

  “Well, that’s not very nice,” The decapitated head said “You almost hurt my eye there.”

  Hands sprouted from the open neck, and hands sprouted from those hands, eventually creating an orb of fingers that looked vaguely like a head. Several of those hands pulled back, spiraling like an organic camera lens, to reveal a single, glaring, massive eye. James reeled back in horror, not just from the sight of this monster, but from the fact he recognised it.

  now, where were we?

  The creature grabbed James’ neck. He tried to pull it off, but suddenly the arm elongated, lifting him off the floor. The monster’s other arm grew in turn, lifting the cup to James’s mouth, but James kept it closed.

  drink

  Hands started to sprout off the arm that was holding James aloft, crawling along the back of his head. They yanked on his hair and grabbed his jaw. James tried to keep his mouth closed, but the monster was stronger than he thought. Instead of opening his mouth, it snapped his jaw off.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  drink

  The man made of hands dropped the cup into James’ mouth and forced his jaw shut. The crockery was crushed in James’ mouth, and he could feel the shards of glass in his mouth. He tried not to swallow, but his mouth was opened up again so hands could grow into his mouth, pushing the shards and the tea down his throat.

  The hands vanished and James dropped to the floor, coughing up blood. The eye on the man’s head retracted back into the body and he picked up his original head.

  “This would have all gone smoothly if you just took your medicine to start with,” the head said as it was stuck back on, “but oh well. It’s not like you’re going to remember this anyway.”

  James staggered to his feet, drawing his sword again, but he was already feeling weak: whatever he had drunk was kicking in. He tried to swing at the man, but he took a single step and was already back at the table, sitting down next to the unfinished cake. James watched as one of the bites seemed to be regenerated, but he had very little time to process things before he collapsed to his knees.

  “Thank you for your time, James Marlow,” the man said. “Enjoy the game. Give my regards to Madison for me, if you see her again. She never finished her tea.”

  James fell head first onto the floor. His thoughts felt like soup, memories falling away as his consciousness faded like shifting into a dream.

  >>>

  “I’m not drinking any of your fucking tea.”

  Amelia picked up the teacup and threw it at the man sitting across from her. It bounced off him like a rubber ball against a wall. She drew her sword, swung it over her head and slammed it down onto the table, the tip slicing vertically through the man’s body. What she saw wasn’t his organs, but countless hands that joined together and yanked both sides back together, now with Amelia’s sword stuck inside.

  “I highly recommend you do,” the man said. “It tastes very good.”

  Amelia tried to pull her sword out or even lift it up with the man on it. It wouldn’t budge. She turned and ran down the cobblestone path.

  “If I recall correctly,” the man said as the hands inside his body pushed the sword out, “you tried this before. You performed exactly the same strike, in fact. We all learn with hindsight, of course...not that you currently have any.”

  Amelia ignored what he was saying and kept running.

  “And if I remember correctly,” the man said, examining the sword, “this is how I stopped you.”

  Without moving from his chair and going anywhere close to her, the man thrust the sword forward and stabbed Amelia in the back. She coughed up blood, not letting the blow phase her.

  “Ah, you’re more resilient this time. I’ll try somewhere else then.”

  Amelia collapsed as she lost her left leg. She tried to open the menu, grab a potion, but nothing was working. Nothing here worked like the game. The man hefted Amelia’s sword up onto his shoulder and walked over to her, picking up the teacup as he did so.

  “James Marlow tried to run too, you know. He was a little less aggressive than your attempt, but I think he might have gotten a single step further, for what steps are worth in this place. He asked about you, you know. When we told him you accepted your fate and drank the tea, he said we were lying. He seems to know you very well.”

  “W-What did you...what…” Amelia was still in shock at what was happening.

  “Fear not, you will remember nothing of this once you drink your tea. All will be forgotten, and you will be happy again.”

  Amelia crawled towards him despite the pain and the bleeding. Without the hit points, every strike suddenly felt more real. “You...you bastard...I won’t sit here and die…”

  “We have no intention of killing you to begin with. We merely need you to drink some tea.”

  Amelia reached up, trying to reach towards her sword as the man tipped up the teacup to make her drink.

  Before the substance could hit her lips, the sword yanked itself out of the man’s hand. He looked around just to see it cut off the hand with the teacup. A string of hands grew out of the wrist to pick the teacup off the ground, and pulled it back to the man in the suit like a grappling hook.

  “Impossible!” He growled. “She cannot possibly have this power...which means…”

  He didn’t finish the sentence before vines sprung out of the nearby hedgerows, looking far more real than the almost plastic leaves that surrounded them. They wrapped around Amelia’s wrist and yanked her off the path, dragging her through hedges and branches. The man covered Amelia’s sword with hands and snapped it in two, but by that time she’d already vanished into the undergrowth.

  After getting multiple cuts and bruises from the undergrowth, Amelia was thrown unceremoniously into a dome made of thorns and vines. They quickly wrapped around her, biting into her skin, holding her aloft. Combined with the previous stabbings and her lost leg, the pain was unbearable.

  “Hello again, my dear,” A soft voice spoke in her ear. “We must stop meeting like this. Avoid the prying eyes. Do not fight until the time is right. Then all can be revealed. We can be together for real.”

  The blonde elf woman kissed Amelia on the lips. The thorns dug deeper into her skin, vines crushing her bones as the elf pulled away, only to look at her with confusion.

  “Wait. You’re not James Marlow.”

  Dream Bonus

  Dream of the Maiden

  INT+1

  Current INT: 1

  Amelia woke up with a start. She was in bed in an unfamiliar inn. Judging by the dark interior and the green light coming through her window, she assumed she was still in Kries. She reached out and grabbed her leg, making sure it was still there, before pulling her sword out of her inventory.

  “What...what the hell…” she muttered. She staggered to her feet and walked out into the bar. She tried to look for the others but they were still asleep.

  “It was real…” she muttered. “Everything James said about the zombie dragon...was real...and we forgot because…”

  A few of the patrons gave her unusual looks as she staggered across the bar in shock, dragging her sword behind her.

  “Do you need a drink?” The barman asked.

  Amelia glared at him for a second before staggering out into Kries. Already the memories of the dream were fading, but the soft lips of that mysterious woman were burned into her mind. As was the feeling of her ribcage being crushed by the monster that had hunted them in the Tower, of Delarius’ pleas to stop what they were doing. She remembered what Delarius had said about the dragon war in the rocklands. Now she understood why James was so desperate to get out there: he wanted revenge. He’d managed to keep what happened to them bottled up because he didn’t want to put them at risk.

  “James...what the hell…”

  She kept walking, lost in her own thoughts, hefting her sword up onto her back where it always sat. As she reached the edge of Kries, she looked out onto the rocklands. Two familiar figures walked towards her: Lambda and Gungnir.

  “Hey, Glass,” Gungnir said. “We were just mopping up quests in the rocklands. Do you know where James is? We really need to talk to him.”

  “He’s sleeping in the inn,” Amelia replied absentmindedly, not even looking at the two of them as she walked past them. She noticed Lambda was glaring at her the entire time.

  “Do you want to team up again?” Gungnir asked. Amelia shook her head. She knew what she was doing was a lost cause, but anger had welled up in her chest and she couldn’t do anything to stop herself.

  “I have to do something alone. I’m going to find that monster...and kill him.”

  Alone, she walked into the barrens.

  James Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 350/350 STR: 15 DEF: 25 DEX: 10 SPL: 15 INT: 1

  Amelia Stats: Level: 6 VIT: 200/200 STR: 25 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 5 INT: 1

  Grey stats: Level: 6 VIT: 150/150 STR: 15 DEF: 15 DEX: 10 SPL: 30 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 600/600

  Patrick stats: Level: 6 VIT: 150/150 STR: 30 DEF: 10 DEX: 15 SPL: 25 INT: 0 Mana: 250/250