Gage munched on an oversized grape as he contemplated Milan’s offer. His emotions swirled inside of him at a quickening pace, but his overall feeling was one of excitement. His chest felt lighter, and his limbs felt restless – he wanted to simply run somewhere. Instead, he remained cross-legged on a table, eating a grape bigger than his head.

The three friends presently ate at a vintage, European-style café atop yet another skyscraper in Town. Perched up on a raised platform, the café looked down on a grassy, rustic courtyard down below. An invisible, noise-dampening field around them kept the scene peaceful and quiet – quite the opposite of how Gage felt right now. He replayed Milan’s words through his head.

“His power is so great that he’s practically a god…”

He thought back to what Charis said about being jailbroken.

“Theoretically, the possibilities are limitless. This sounds cheesy, but all it takes is a little imagination.”

Suddenly, he felt a pang of sadness followed by a renewed surge of excitement. However, he tried to suppress both emotions; he knew where that road lead… it could only end in sadness. No – a part of him insisted that this opportunity was worth pursuing.

“The winner is offered a very interesting a prize: a “favor” from Erivar Vane himself.”

Had he forgotten why he had thrown himself into this game in the first place? He couldn’t keep chasing after impossible dreams. He had to stop deluding himself and forget the past.

“Gage?”

He snapped his head up to see Charis looking down at him with a concerned look. “Sorry, I was thinking too hard,” he admitted, returning back from his mental field trip. “What’s up?”

“Your good friend here was just saying that she’d be happy to compete in the tournament for you, despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise,” said Rima, her voice disapproving and sarcastic. “You’d think putting her life on the line for your sake would command your attention.”

“Oh be quiet, Rima, I’ll be fine. Plus Gage and our other little friend,” she stomped her boot a few times, leaving no question as to who she was referring to, “will be right there with me.”

“You could die, Charis, don’t you know that?” argued Rima. “Even with their power boosts, other players are gonna have all kinds of secret weapons.”

“Look,” replied Charis evenly. “Milan seems like a smart guy – he wouldn’t invest in us if he didn’t think we could win. Plus, I’m not just a cutesy girl who’ll lie down at the first sight of danger. I can fight.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” insisted Rima. “There are so many other ways for us to get Gage back to normal.”

“Oh? Like what?” Charis fired back.

“If the idiot would just figure out how to properly connect his brain to the game, he could just will himself to be big again.” Rima didn’t even look at him, acting like he wasn’t there.

“Rima, you couldn’t do it if it was you. How do you expect him to do it?” Suddenly, she stomped her foot angrily – first once, then again and again until she was breathless. “Sorry,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. “I guess this is just a great way to blow off some steam.”

“Please don’t do that to me,” joked Gage, trying to bring some levity to the conversation. “I bet it smells awful in there, too.” Predictably, it fell flat. The trio fell back into a tense silence, prompting Gage to finally put some serious thought into their next move. The reason why he wanted her to participate was obvious: he wanted to be big again. Plus, on the off chance he could convince this god-player to grant him a favor, maybe he could… Gage shook his head vigorously in an attempt to avoid the imminent thought. No – he absolutely could not use that as an incentive. He locked the thought away and resolved never to go near it again – he would forget all about it, hide it from himself forever.

Taking a deep breath, Gage moved to the negatives. If Charis participated in the fight, she would be in mortal danger; but how large was the risk? If Milan could help her achieve a level beyond that of the other participates, surely Charis could participate. Still, what was an acceptable risk?

“What do you want me to do, Gage?” asked Charis, breaking the silence. She directed her gaze towards him, her eyes soft and earnest.

“Well, I…”

“Actually,” she interrupted, “before you say anything, I just want you to know that I’m perfectly willing to fight for you. It may sound ridiculous, but you’re probably my best friend – and no, I’m not being insane, Rima.”

Gage felt his heart fill; he hadn’t realized how important he was to her. “Well, here’s what I think: I think we should tell Milan that yes, we’ll participate.” This brought a hiss of disapproval from Rima, but Gage quickly headed her off. “Hear me out, hear me out,” he said. “We’ll participate on the condition that he give us all the information he has before we commit to fighting for him. Here’s why I say that: if this Milan person is as resourceful as he seems, the tournament might be a total cakewalk for Charis and I.”

“And our little friend,” cut in Charis enthusiastically, stomping her boot yet again. Gage could hear Charis grinding her sole into the floor for extra punishment.

“Right, and our little friend. Let’s just try to get a better feel for the situation and then make our decision then. Can’t hurt just to talk to the guy again.”

Rima wore an irritated expression. There was a long pause as both Charis and Gage gave their friend puppy-eyed looks. “Oh all right!” she gave in with an exasperated folding of her arms and a look out the window. “But if there’s even the slightest sign of trouble, I’m pulling the plug. Got it?!”

Charis squealed with excitement, and she reached over the table to hug the witch, almost knocking him and their food over in the process.

“And one more thing,” said Rima. “Give me that bitch in your shoe – it’s about time I got a turn, and since you two are pissing me off so much, I might as well take it out on her.”

Charis clapped her hands and grinned evilly. “I knew you’d come around,” she said, withdrawing a bedraggled Alicia from her boot and setting her on the table. She stank. Without even speaking to her, Rima snatched the sweat-soaked girl up and dropped her into a black flat. Gage hadn’t noticed her wearing it before, but it looked well-worn, and probably smelled awful. He was just glad it was her and not him. Charis in particular had really gotten into punishing their former tormentor, and for some reason her weapons of choice were her feet. “You’d better lick Rima’s toes just like mine, you got it?” she ordered imperiously, even as Rima settled the flat onto her foot. Gage could hear her stomping it a few times to settle it in.

“I kind of see where you’re coming from with that,” admitted Rima with a rueful smile. “It does feel nice.”

“I know, doesn’t it?” laughed Charis. “Anyway, I’m so glad you’ve come around to our side. I’m gonna rock that tournament!” She smiled broadly, and for the first time since they had sat at the café, a feeling of joyfulness hung over them.

Unfortunately, Gage couldn’t share in their happy sentiment. In fact, he felt a sinking feeling of dread in his stomach as he came to an awful realization…

That road he tried so hard to avoid? He was on it.