The forest fire from the lizard-folk did not progress any further past the Rat King’s nest because of the Gamstable River blocked the path. Looking at my game map, we traveled pretty far from the city. This was a new area with new monsters that we could prepare for. With higher-level monsters and loot, the money would start rolling in. After today’s quests, we could finally afford mounts and start exploring further out. Triangle was level seven, with Naiad at six, and I was finally five after the last fight. We would be fine at the edge of this new zone.

  Naiad made her way up the river stony edge to where a small beaver dam blocked the river. Water barely moved around their home, creating a lake on the other side. The creatures, six of them, patted the fire down with their tails and squirted water from their mouths.

  Their water filled puffed-up cheeks reminded me of hamsters. The animal properties corrected me on their species.

  >>><<<

  [Level 6 Dam Rodents (common)

  Description: The first line of defense against forest fires. The shaggy rodents are normally fine taking a beating, but if rubbed the wrong way, they are known to squirt water at their aggressors.

  Natural Predator: Lizard-folk

  Food Source: Any vegetation it can chomp and chop with its teeth.]

  >>><<<

  The dam rodents grunted at Naiad as she approached. She summoned a bucket from her inventory and came over to help with the last remaining flames near their den. Triangle giggled and did the same thing. Within his first bucket of tossing water, it missed the fire and hit me.

  I laughed at feeling the bitter cold, muddy water splash on me. It’s less annoying in a video game than in real life. Laundry isn’t a pain here. In fact, it's simple.

  “Splash attack!” I grabbed Triangle and jumped into the lake with him in my arms.

  Triangle protested through giggles and splashed back at me. His vicious attack weighed my hair down. The water dripped from my eyebrows and onto my cheeks as I tried to counter with my water slapping abilities. The hat fell into the water. He rushed to grab it before my second attack hit, but it was too late. With a large wave, his red hair, designed to match mine, got drenched.

  “Victory!” I cheered and raised my hands up.

  An odd grunting sound called out to us. I paused my next attack, and Triangle took advantage of my weakened defense. Naiad waved her hands to block the dam rodents from seeing us.

  [Guild Chat]

  [Naiad: They got mad the moment you got in the lake. Get out.]

  I didn’t ask questions and waded out of the water to the shore, while carrying a soaking wet Triangle in my arms. He finished reading the guild chat message as I stepped on muddy land and put him down.

  “Aw,” He whispered, before running over to the dam rodents. “Sorry for your lake.”

  “Uh… yeah. Sorry for jumping in without asking.” I followed Triangle’s lead.

  The dam rodents spat out water at both of us. They smacked their tails in the muddy and rocky ground before going back to fire patrol duty near their home. One rodent stayed to talk with Naiad near the beaver dam that made a bridge across the lake. I counted to three to give her a chance to wrap up whatever it was, waiting before sending her a message.

  [Guild Chat]

  [Boulder: Do they deal with your quest?]

  [Naiad: …]

  [Naiad: No.]

  The game clock stated it was fifteen minutes before bedtime routine. They only had time to finish her one class quest. Not whatever this new quest with the dam rodents would be. These tempting side quests caused us to stay in a low-level town for so many weeks. Any player with actual skills would level up and move on to the next better town. Only my family dragged their feet on doing grinding quests while the rest of the Shrimp Guild, CheezWiz and his friends, leveled up.

  “Let’s go.” I grabbed Naiad’s hand, dragging her away from the beavers. I carefully crossed the beaver dam while Naiad squirmed with my hold.

  "Hey, I was talking with them," she complained, a sharp edge to her tone.

  “I really want us to get your quest done tonight. Maybe later you can grab their quest.” I explained. “Triangle, let’s go.”

  “Always later.” Mumbled Naiad, but loud enough that I heard her.

  “But I wanted to know how we could save the dam,” Triangle whined. “They’re cute. Do you think I can have one as a pet?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. The question reminded me of the acherfish he caught earlier. “How are you keeping Goldy alive in your inventory?”

  “I bought a pet tank!”

  “Aquarium.” Naiad taught. “I showed him how he could purchase a portable pet carrier, one specific for fish.”

  My eyebrows crossed with confusion. When did they do that? A player couldn’t just buy anything on the go, they had to do it at a shop.

  We finally crossed the river and loosened my hold on Naiad. She sighed and looked back at the rodents running around on the other side.

  The ash from the forest fire had stretched all the way over to this side of the river across the breeze. It blended in with the grass and flowers of the field. There were fewer trees here. It is likely because of the efforts of the dam rodents. They forced a prairie on this side of the river, the game named Peaceful Prairie. Multiple stumps still stuck out in the tall grass. The wind created wave effects on the green field dotted with blues, whites, and yellows of the wild flowers, forcing the ash to settle below the life. Even with trickles of the fire still happening, it stalled on the other side of the river. With how intense the wind was, the fire could’ve hopped over.

  But Seconds-Over coded it in to stop there.

  All powerful engine, but limiting when it wanted to. Unless the dam rodents were better than I thought at their jobs. I doubt the rodents were at every salamander or dragon location in the game to stop all the fires they created.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  A safeguard in the game stopped the world from being destroyed by forest fires. The long willow trees were easy pickings of the area. A tall evergreen, its needles casting a dark shadow on the dry, brittle grass below, stood out starkly, a small cairn of stones marking its base. Trees, and more trees. There had to be something important enough here or nearby to make the game stop the fire, but nothing stood out to me.

  Triangle took off running and chased bugs around with his bare hands. He only stopped for a moment to collect flowers before running off a surprised pollinator bug.

  Naiad took a deep breath and stretched a hand out over the tops of the grass. She called out to her brother. “Triangle! Let’s see who can find the oldest stump!”

  The kids took off checking out each stump. Distracted again from our main purpose. It frustrated me how often I had to keep them focused.

  “Hold up!” I shouted. “Naiad, is this where your quest is?”

  She grumbled as her eyes darted around. The frown on her face grew for a moment before her tight up fists let go. She looked off at the evergreen tree and pointed. “Yes. I have to scout and observe for a bit.”

  “A bit? No exact time? What are you looking for?” I grilled her for the truth. She had said something else earlier.

  “I don’t know,” she snipped. “I’m on the quest to gather and hunt. Maybe I’m supposed to gather or hunt a monster here.”

  "Nothing in your notes at all?" I said, agitation building in my throat.

  Elaine was the master note taker. It’s how she excelled in school and never needed my help with homework. I only had to do the typical parent job of nagging to make sure she got it done. Here I was in a video game, nagging she did her work again.

  Naiad crossed her arms and turned away. “Would you believe me if I said no?”

  I bit my cheek to stop myself. I once said those words to my mom. A saying to cover up my lies. Naiad was hiding something. “Sorry for pushing so much. Want to look around together?” I apologized.

  She said nothing as she pulled out a bug catcher net and swept the tall grass.

  I changed the subject. “How’s school going? Still hanging out with Amy?”

  “Fine and yeah.”

  “Are you being bullied? Or is something wrong?” I dove straight for the dangerous subjects. I didn’t want a monster to show up and interrupt our conversation.

  “No.” she said as she swatted and picked through her net and stored a few bugs.

  “Learn anything cool?” I continued.

  “I learned x can be in math!” Triangle chimed.

  I gave him the thumbs up. He wasn’t the one I was trying to get to talk right now. Naiad did not want this conversation. I had to push if I wanted to keep a relationship with my kids. She didn’t seem to lie about bullying, but there was something wrong. The silence grew as I thought of a better question to ask.

  Naiad broke the silence. “I was reading about how there are various plants and mushrooms that you can eat in the wild. It’s interesting that we can find food outside of the grocery store.”

  I hated mushrooms, but if it meant she would talk to me, I would gobble them up. “Do you want to look for mushrooms now?”

  “Not sure what this game has to offer. Or what’s safe.” She explained, still avoiding eye contact.

  “Can ask the locals or look for a book in town. Or we can try eating some and find out.” I joked.

  She laughed, “I know you like eating food poisoning every day, but I don’t.”

  I chuckled back, glad I pushed past the awkward lying moment. She wasn’t ready to open up to me and I didn’t get why. What did a parent do when your child lied and it wasn’t about taking the last cookie out of a cookie jar?

  I kept the conversation going. “Yeah. I would rather us not die either in this game. But we can scavenge the area for berries.”

  “Actually, I need to pick a mushroom…”

  Triangle ran over with long stemmed, white and yellow flowers tucked into his arms. He dropped them the moment he saw Naiad’s net and peeked in. “Can Goldy eat that one?”

  “He must eat all of them if he wants a dessert later.” Naiad said in a serious, lower, adult tone.

  It only made Triangle laugh more. They both snorted as Goldy appeared and sucked up the bugs. The fish’s properties had changed.

  >>><<<

  [Level 2 Goldy, the Acherfish (common)

  Description: Known for a never-ending appetite. It will try to eat anything living that will fit in its mouth.

  Natural Predator: Most bigger fish.]

  >>><<<

  I smiled at seeing the kids, but I wished I had hushed Triangle. Naiad mentioned a mushroom. I should start helping her look.

  I snatched a small cricket nearby and gently pinched it in my palm, holding it out to the acherfish. The suction was strong, and it ripped the cricket from my hand. I shook my hand clean, looking for dead logs hiding in the grass.

  Triangle shoved Goldy into my arms suddenly. The fish was still wet, like my clothes. Triangle took the bug net, ran off, and yelled. “I’m going to get more! Get him to level three!”

  He ran to the other side of the glade, humming loudly.

  “Don’t go any further in case there are mobs in the woods! And don’t grab another quest!” I shouted. We had to finish Naiad’s quest.

  Naiad picked up the flowers Triangle had dropped and weaved them into a circlet. A flower broke off and she put it behind her ear, looking like a novice druid. Not their damage dealer rogue.

  “Do you have a timer going or any hint of what to look for after the bugs, or what was it? A mushroom?” I asked.

  Standing on top of a stump, with a gulping fish in hand, I could see that none of the stumps here had mushrooms on top. This was a wide-open area with a bunch of stumps to hop on. If a boss appeared here, it would be a fun fight.

  “Just a bit longer.” She said.

  “What is it you need? Give me more information? Didn’t you need mushrooms?” I repeated the words again, pointing Goldy at her, just a nibble to drag the truth from her.

  Naiad flopped down on her back, the tall grass burying her. “I’m looking for my connection. Taking it slow and enjoying the world.”

  I rolled my eyes, annoyed at how she wouldn’t answer. “How poetic. Did it say anything else?”

  She started on another flower crown, this one with more grass.

  My patience was done. In a stern voice I said, “We need to be open in order-“

  Triangle came giggling in and cut me off. He dumped a bug net full of mushrooms on her lap.

  “Trade! I want this!” He grabbed the completed floral crown and took off with it.

  “Hey! That’s mine!” Naiad complained. She got up to chase after him, ditching the mushrooms.

  Guess she didn’t need them for the quest. I grumbled and dug through the bag to see three different mushrooms. The bulbous one puffed out spores in my direction just as I touched it.

  >>><<<

  [New Achievement! Lucky you! You’ve inhaled the spores of the Helitical Shroom and received a buff of luck. What strength will it hold? 5% boost to your luck engagements and rolls everywhere.]

  >>><<<

  Luck buff? I didn’t realize that there was a stat for that. I looked at my fortitude, reflex, and will. They were still the same numbers. I stashed the mushrooms into my inventory and wanted to look out for more of them to see if the buff could stack. Triangle’s gloves had increased gathered resources, so maybe this helped with that.

  Triangle giggles came from further away. I looked and saw him toss a bomb by the giant evergreen tree.

  “Triangle!” I barked at him.

  I didn’t have any red mobs on my map. Just as my first sprinting step hit the ground, the smoke bomb bloomed. Triangle’s laugh continued as he rushed into the cloud.

  “You can’t catch me!” He taunted back.

  His harmless fun scared me, but doing it would be perfect while we waited for Naiad to finally complete her quest.

  I called out to him, “Oh, when I get you, I’m going to throw you in the river.”

  Triangle screamed. I couldn’t see him in the smoke. It was his fun scream, not the scared one. When the smoke bomb disappeared, all that remained was a tower of stones topped with the floral crown.

  “Triangle!” Naiad and I shouted.

  She yanked the crown off the stones, tipping the top two over as she ran behind the tree looking for him. I went the other way and met her eyes immediately. Looking into the forest, it felt darker than the Clingeo Grove did. This was further from home, across a river, with mobs at Naiad’s level. The shadows of the trees made me dart around looking for that blasted red hat of Triangle’s. Any mobs we met would be at least above my level, and he didn’t have a weapon.

  “Stop hiding!” I shouted. Triangle’s blue dot vanished off the map. “Goldy needs back in her tank.” I was trying any form of manipulation to come back, and I squeezed his pet fish tighter.

  Nothing.

  That’s it. I was going to force Naiad to reveal her quest and get us to move on. No more games. I couldn’t sit around and wait any more than Triangle could.

  A loud rumbling came from the evergreen, and the roots rose out of the ground next to the glade. An organ played and the first words came through were Latin. My interface flashed yellow and white stripes around the edges of my vision in a beat to the song. My heart raced at realizing what it all meant.

  A boss battle started.

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