The radiance of bright white light fills my vision from below, and despite the sudden transportation I can't say I'm at all surprised to find myself here. Oli, however, is utterly bewildered.

  "What's going on? Where are we?" he blurts out, a small tone of panic in his voice increasing with each syllable.

  "The Pleroma. Or the surface of it. Don't worry, I've been here before," I calm him down before turning on my heel, eyes closed and sighing out, "Hi, Sandra."

  "You and I both now my name is Xandra," she says, hands steepled in her trademark downward pyramid as she looks at me over her black, shiny frames. Her hair is in a severe bun, yet again, and that edge permeates everything about her this time, from her clothes to her stance. I inwardly roll my eyes, until suddenly I'm startled by Oli screaming his lungs out.

  "What the fuck is that?" he yells, cowering behind me. My lips become a thin line as I try to smother the laugh bubbling up within me at the absurdity of a man twice as big as me overall trying to hide behind the folds of my cloak.

  "What do you mean? It's just Xandra, she works for the Board, the Divine and Infernals that control and make up the whole game," I tilt my head down at him, wondering what on earth has him so spooked? "Oli, she's just going to chastise me for bending some arbitrary rules or some shit again, why are you freaking out?"

  He looks between me and Xandra, incredulity on his face. "What do you mean? Look, I may not be as used to crazy mash ups of flesh and light and oh my god, so many eyes, why does it have so many eyes? But why aren't you freaking out?"

  "What the—?" I slap my own forehead when it hits me. "The True Sight skill," I hurry over to Xandra, "Look, can you knock it off, you're freaking him out. Switch the skill off."

  Xandra casually waves her, and slowly, Oli's whimpering dies off as he looks at her, brow knit in confusion. He stands, brushing himself off, clearing his throat.

  "Have fun? We both know you did that on purpose," I whisper to her as I walk back to Oli. I clock the slight twitch of a smile before she resumes her condescending air. "Now that that's over, how can we help you, Xandra?"

  "Well, you could have helped me by playing by the rules as we discussed before, but it seems your little habit of twisting things is starting to rub off on our new Player here," Xandra says, before directing her whole attention to Oli. "Oliver, I won't bother with the full introductions, Russell here has told you enough about how all this works, and I'm sure he'll tell you all about me whether he should or not.

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  "Needless to say, I represent the Board, and I have pulled you here to let you know we are quite concerned with your decision to break the game like this."

  Oli looks to me, baffled, before turning back to the irate angel. "Broke the game? How?"

  "By making Russell part of your party. We're not clear on the how of it, it shouldn't be possible. But his role is not to serve as a Player, he's not supposed to join you on your quests. Just get you going, and provide assistance in safe rooms along the path. He has a role to play, and this is not it."

  "Yeah, but he doesn't like it," Oli shrugs, matter-of-factly.

  "Be that as it may, these are the way of things, it is how the system works."

  "Well, maybe the system needs to be changed. It isn't really fair," Oli sounds every bit the spoiled child at the moment, but I can't say I'm mad at it right now.

  "Life isn't fair," Xandra spits.

  "This isn't life," Oli counters.

  I snicker at that.

  They bicker back and forth like this for a few minutes, exasperation rising in Xandra's voice, and as I've never seen that happen to her before, amusement rising in me. But eventually, I figure it's time to end it.

  "Look, alright, it's okay. I'll just stay in the town. Sorry, Oli, it was a nice idea, but--"

  "No!" Oli grabs me and spins me to face him, "No, don't just give up, man. We can work this out, I really want you to be my adventure buddy. It won't be any fun without you."

  "But he can't be," Xandra says, with all the air of a tired kindergarten teacher. "He is not a Player, just a Guide."

  "Then he can Guide me through the dungeon. Or, I can just sit in town and play at the tavern. I'm happy enough doing that anyway," Oli stares down Xandra, not letting anything show on his face. “Why are you even so bent on pushing me into going on this adventure anyway? What’s it matter to you?”

  “It doesn’t…it…it’s just not what you’re supposed to do…” she starts, and I can’t believe it, but she sounds unsure. I don’t know if it’s because she can’t formulate an argument, or because she actually doesn’t know, and if the latter, should that be possible?

  “And I was supposed to still be alive, but someone put paid to that thanks to what I did to—” Oli abruptly cuts off. He glances at me, and then away, but in that split second, I saw guilt in his eyes. What the hell is that about?

  The angel stares back, but then her eyes go glassy, and I know there's some new conversation happening that we're not privy too.

  "Fine," she says, finally. "We will allow Russell to accompany you. It will require some more twisting of the restrictions and rules, but he'll not be limited to the area surrounding the town anymore. However, Russell, this doesn't change your status. You still are not a Player."

  "Fine," I say.

  "...fine," Oli chimes in.

  “Fine,” Xandra says with finality. We stare at each other for a moment, until Xandra makes a shooing motion with her hands and adds, "Well, get on with it then."

  And all of a sudden we're back in the Guild Hall, with Meph and Griff staring at our sudden reappearance.