I didn't sleep well that night. My racing mind refused to still, and I shivered from the cold. I wondered if the chill I felt was from the night air or the coldness growing in my soul.

  When Val turned me into a Player, I had been eager to take on this challenge to save my wife and save the world, but I had never even considered the steps I would need to take to achieve those goals. I should have realized that if I wanted to beat the Triarchy at their own game, there would be times when I had to set aside my morality. I would have to do bad things. It was a cost I was now willing to pay because victory was the only option.

  Tara woke up with bloodshot eyes. She might not have been fond of her uncle, but he was still family, and losing a family member was always hard. Hopefully, she slept better than me.

  I grabbed the half-dried wolf pelt off a tree limb and disappeared the thing into my inventory. Tara was watching me as I did it, but she didn't seem to notice the magic right before her eyes. I had to admit the quantum inventory was damn useful. Not for the first time, I wondered how the system reconciled the anomalous disappearance of an object in the mind of an NPC. Of all the miracles of this system, the quantum inventory was the most impressive to me.

  Tara and I packed up and headed to Lucard Pass. Val said it was only six miles away, so we'd be there in just a few hours.

  I had never been through one of the mountain passes before. I'd heard plenty of stories about them, and I was excited to see it myself. It was said that some sections of these passages were carved directly through the mountains. Some of the tunnels were so long that it could take a day or more to find the light at the other end. The longest tunnel was far to the north among the more daunting peaks of the Bygone Mountains. The rumor was that no one knew where it led because those who entered never returned. Luckily, the section we would pass through wouldn't be nearly as terrifying.

  After an hour of silence, I decided it was time to strike up a conversation and see if I truly had broken through Tara's walls.

  "Hey, Tara," I said. "You told me I'd be taking you to your family in Danver. I've always assumed you meant your parents. Is that the case?"

  At my mention of her parents, Tara froze—just for a whisp of a time, but I saw it, nonetheless. I wondered where her thoughts went during that millisecond.

  "My father's there," she said. "Strangely, you remind me of him."

  "Oh really, how so?"

  She smiled. "He's stubborn and overly confident but also kind when he needs to be."

  "Overly confident?" I scoffed. "I just killed a wolf! I think that justifies my bravado."

  "That wolf practically killed itself. You only won because you tricked it."

  I spread out my arms. "Can't you just give me a little credit? It was a clever trick."

  She glanced at me and smirked. "Fine."

  "Fine?"

  "Fine," she restated.

  I shrugged. "I'll take it."

  Ahead, through a small gap in the trees, I saw a patch of flat, brown earth. The road!

  We'd finally made it. If all went well from here on out, we'd reach Danver well before Tara's deadline, and I'd be cashing in a ton of experience.

  I alerted Tara, and we picked up our pace until we cleared the forest and planted our feet on the hard-packed dirt road. It felt great to finally be out of that cramped forest and in the open air.

  Val pointed me in the right direction, and we found the entrance to the pass after another mile.

  The sun had yet to reach its peak in the sky, so if we hurried, there was a good chance we could make it through the pass before nightfall.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "We're here," I said, admiring the scene before me. "But I'm sure you never had any doubts."

  "I won't have any doubts when I'm home," she quipped.

  "Let's get going then."

  The road through the pass rose at a steady incline, and portions of the adjacent mountain walls were sheared off like God had carved it with a knife from above.

  The journey began fine, but a growing sense of discomfort developed within me as the hours passed. The cliffs around us were imposing, and unlike the forest, there was very little life here other than the occasional crow screeching from the rocky outcrops above.

  Tara had reverted to her introverted self, and any questions I asked her were met with terse responses. I could tell something was bothering her, but I figured she was still processing the loss of her uncle, so I gave her space.

  Val tried to chat me up a few times, but I was as curt with her as Tara was with me. Although I understood Val a little better now, I was still angry with her for lying to me. Her ambivalence towards humans was demoralizing, but her heartless logic made sense. I knew I needed to become more like her, but I hoped that over time, she would also become a little more like me.

  We were almost halfway through the pass when Tara asked to take a break. The temperature was comfortable, but her hair was stuck to her face from sweat, and her cheeks were flushed. The girl looked like she needed it, and I didn't mind a chance to rest my feet.

  I located a small boulder, took a seat, and drank deeply from my water pouch, which was beginning to run low. I kept my fingers crossed that we'd pass a mountain stream soon so I could refill it. When I reached Danver, I would load my inventory with a few jugs of fresh water so I didn't have to worry about it again.

  Tara sat on the ground and was having a bit of difficulty catching her breath. I knew she would be annoyed if I tried to help, so I stayed quiet. She closed her eyes, laid back, and relaxed. A few minutes later, her breath steadied.

  She glanced at me and gave her a half-hearted smirk.

  I returned the smile, but it felt forced. "Better?"

  "Yes, but I wouldn't mind if we rested a bit longer. Is there any chance you could start a fire and cook some meat? I'm famished."

  Who was I to deny a young woman's request for food? I had wolf meat to spare in my inventory, anyway.

  I shrugged. "Whatever you need. I'll go get some wood."

  Dry wood was plentiful as nearly all the trees growing along the pass were long dead, their branches pale and brittle.

  It didn't take long to start the fire, and for my efforts, I received one more point in FIRESTARTER. Only one more point to go before the benefits buffs kicked in.

  I skewered a chunk of meat on a sharp branch and held it over the fire.

  "Do you like tea?" Tara asked, producing her tin can and a small mesh pouch. "I drink it when I'm not feeling well, and it seems to help."

  I was never a fan of tea, but I didn't want to be rude, so I nodded.

  She borrowed some of my water to fill the tin can and rested it at the end of the fire. When it began to steam, she lowered a teabag into the cup to steep.

  "I didn't expect you to be the tea-party type of girl," I said.

  She crossed her arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "I don't mean anything by it. I just associate tea with rich, prissy girls." I raised an eyebrow. "You could be rich, but you don't seem very prissy to me."

  Her eyes sparkled. "Tea is for everyone. Even unsophisticated individuals such as yourself."

  "I'm not unsophisticated. I'm just indifferent about tea," I said.

  "You'll like my tea."

  When the meat was done, I let it cool for a minute before pulling off a steaming chunk of wolf and passing it to Tara.

  "And my gift to you." She handed me the cup of tea, cradled in a cloth so it wouldn't burn me. "Consider this a token of my appreciation for bringing me this far. Save some for me, please."

  I don't know exactly why, but I bowed my head as I accepted the tea from her. It seemed an appropriate gesture. Dignified.

  "Thanks. This better be good. I'd hate to have to lie and pretend I like it."

  She laughed. "You can be honest with me."

  I blew on it and took a sip. It was hot, floral, and sweet. I didn't have much experience with tea, but this was far better than any tea I'd had before, even back in the real world.

  I smiled. "I like it. I wonder how it pairs with wolf." I took a bite of the meat. It was dark, gamey, and hard to chew, but it was protein, and that's all that mattered. I choked most of it down and chased it with another swig of the tea.

  It didn't mix well with the wolf, but it helped wash the taste out of my mouth.

  "Miss Honeytender," I said. "I think you might be onto something here. Maybe you should get into the tea business."

  I took one more small drink. It tasted better with every sip.

  "Oh, I don't know anything about running a business," she said.

  "I'll be your business partner," I said excitedly. "We'd be rich in no time!"

  This was perhaps the most genius idea I had ever had in my entire life. Once people tasted it, this tea would fly off the shelves.

  "I'll do all the work," I said. "You must tell me the recipe."

  Tara laughed. "It's a secret family recipe. The key word being 'secret.'"

  Just like that, my hopes of becoming a powerful tea baron were dashed, and a sense of sadness washed over me.

  I took another drink, emptying the cup.

  Whoops. I was supposed to save some for Tara. Slowly, I looked up from the cup, ready to apologize. When I opened my mouth, no words came out. What was I going to tell her?

  Tara looked at me and grinned. "That's okay. I can make more."

  I smiled dumbly at her. My rock was suddenly very comfortable, and I felt the weight of multiple days of travel catch up to me. I closed my eyes and decided this was the perfect spot for a nap.