Charis took a deep breath. She felt the air flow into lungs, puffing up her chest and stretching her skin. She felt the air push out of her nose; her body felt more alive than it had ever been, even more than in the real world.

“Are you ok?” asked Rima, whose eyes peered at her unblinkingly. She squatted over Charis’s chair slightly, her head and neck extended into Charis’s personal space.

“Yeah,” she replied breathily. She was definitely experiencing some sensory overload. Everything had taken on so much clarity; it felt like she was on some kind of drug. “This is… pretty cool.”

“I’m glad you like it,” chirped Gage from a nearby armrest. “Now let’s get to it.”

“Come on, Gage,” protested Rima. “Let her enjoy it for a bit.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied seriously. “We have ten days before the tournament to prepare, and I don’t want to take any chances with my friend’s life.”

Rima seemed like she wanted to argue with him, but she backed down when Milan cut in gently. “He’s right, Rima. We should really try to maximize Charis’s abilities before she enters the arena.”

“Don’t worry,” soothed Charis. “I’ll be able to enjoy it on the go.” The white-haired witch nodded, and both of them got up simultaneously, as if by some unspoken signal. “Ok, Milan. What’s next?”

The next ten days passed by in a blur. Charis spent most of that time in combat with Rima. With the aid of Gage and Alicia, she easily outmatched her friend, so they only joined in on the fight sporadically. Much to Charis’s annoyance, this meant that Alicia wouldn’t spend 100% of her time being crushed by her feet; more annoying than that, however, was the fact that Alicia spent this time training with Gage. Charis would never admit it, even to herself, but she was beside herself with jealousy, so much so that she went to great lengths to punish Alicia further when she got the chance. For instance, over the course of the ten days, she didn’t wash her feet a single time. This required ridiculous contortions on her part, starting with baths only and ending with clever disc usage to hover herself out of the water without getting any soap whatsoever no her feet. But in the end, it was all worth it to Charis just to see Alicia’s disgusted face as she massaged and licked Charis’s sweaty toes every night.

For her part, Alicia seemed energized by their preparations. By all accounts, she trained diligently alongside Gage, and on top of that, she took Charis’s abuse with few outward complaints. This turnaround seemed bizarre to Charis, and she began to suspect Alicia of some sort of foul play; but both Rima and Gage dismissed her concerns, saying that she just wanted to be unshrunk when the whole ordeal was over. While Charis had never agreed to that, Rima and Gage both laughed it off when she insisted that Alicia would be her little foot slave forever.

Speaking of laughing, Gage wasn’t doing much of it. As each day went by, he seemed to grow more and more somber. Rima chalked that up to plain intensity: “He really doesn’t want you to get hurt, dear,” she explained. “The more intense he gets, the more it shows how much he cares about you.” Still, Charis couldn’t help but notice how much he had changed. He hardly ever joked anymore.

At the same time, Rima and Charis grew closer and closer. They spent almost every waking moment together, starting and ending each day with some meditation exercises meant to help her with Willing. Aside from that, they had frequent sparring sessions, and both Rima and Milan showed her any number of fighting tricks to pull out in her upcoming battles.

Once Charis had agreed to participate, Milan had become her de facto personal trainer. He split his time between her and Gage (and Alicia), training both of them with exercises meant to maximize her potential leading up to the tournament. On top of that, he spent a few hours each day describing her potential opposition – their strengths and weaknesses, and how to exploit them.

Unfortunately, his information in that area was vanishingly scarce, so he spent much of that time going over past competitors and some of the tricks they had used to get wins. At least once per session, Milan would analyze a fight in which the loser actually died, and he would go on to explain his or her fatal mistake, while also emphasizing to her that deaths only occurred about 10% of the time. Plus, he assured her, with the help of Gage and Alicia, she was already more powerful than any two of the past champions combined. The way Milan made it sound, Charis was the prohibitive favorite to win this event and get that favor.

So, at the end of ten days, they had all gathered once again in Milan’s office.

“Feeling ready?” asked Rima with an encouraging smile.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” sighed Charis. “With some help from my little friends, I should be fine.” Charis gave Gage, who presently floated on Nightwing beside her head, an appreciative nod. She also scrunched her undoubtedly rancid toes over Alicia in a kind of pseudo-hug, the “nicest” thing she had ever done for the little bitch.

“We’ll be receiving special transportation soon,” said Milan, calm as always. “Don’t be intimidated,” he warned. “The tournament draws many jailbroken characters on the server, but overall there should only be a few hundred players in attendance. That being said, the unfettered power of Willing tends to result in some rather… ostentatious… displays.”

As if on cue, a swirling slash appeared behind them, twisting and forming into the familiar oval waypoint. From it emerged a stupefyingly beautiful woman, even by the already sky high standards of the game. Like some Greek goddess, she wore a snowy white tunic with a gold belt; the outfit did little to hide her lithe figure, and even Charis had to appreciate the marvelous programming that must have gone into designing the avatar. To complete the effect, she sported a halo and a pair of billowing angel wings on her back, taking the whole scene to the other side of ludicrous.

“Follow me, please,” she said with a beckoning wave. The group promptly stepped through the portal, and emerged on a cliff level clearly designed for its breath-taking views. They stood atop an enormous mountain overlooking a truly spectacular view. Down below stretched a valley with a stream going through the center, by itself impressive, but nothing to write home about. Charis had to look up to see the truly impressive part.

There, up in the sky, hovered an absolutely colossal dragon. Its blood-colored wings flapped majestically, like some monumental windmill, seemingly stretching across the horizon. It seemed impossible for such a large creature to hang suspended in the air like that, but there it was, shining like a ruby moon in a light-blue ocean. Rima whistled in awe, and even Milan bore a rueful look.

“If you please,” said their flawless guide, directing their attention backwards.

“Oh come on,” breathed Charis, her eyes greeted by a golden chariot with four dazzlingly white Pegasi (or Pegasuses? Charis didn’t know) harnessed and seemingly eager to fly. “You weren’t kidding – these guys are over the top,” Charis whispered to Milan, who smiled.

“They’re going with the fantasy theme this time, I suppose.”

They piled into the gilded chariot before it set a course for the titanic dragon in the sky. As they drew closer, Charis thought she saw something moving amongst its red scales. A few more minutes passed before she realized what it really was: people.

“Are those buildings?” asked Rima, confirming Charis’s suspicion. On top the beast’s back, made up of its ruby red scales, was a sizable village filled with people moving to and fro, seemingly unaware that their town rested on the back of a huge reptile. It didn’t take long for them to settle on a scale of their own, where Charis tentatively disembarked, perhaps subconsciously worried that the dragon would feel her presence and try to scratch her off like a flea.

Once they all stood on the scale, another unearthly beautiful woman moved forward to meet them, her arms spread amiably.

 “Welcome to Tenaxis.”