After I finish stuffing my face, Chloe and I grab a few things out of our bedroom. My sketchbook and a pair of mechanical pencils being the most prominent among them. Chloe grabs her phone, which she slips into her mini-purse as we make our way outside and over to the outer wall hastily constructed in the days after the System’s arrival.

  It’s amazing the dichotomy in the construction. Behind us, a modern-built structure, conforming to all the various building codes that govern how such a complex is to be erected. Full plumbing, lighting, ventilation and heat and air, all adhering to code inspections, zoning regulations, and all the tens of thousands of other things I couldn’t hope to recite with my limited knowledge on construction and contracting.

  In front of us, a set of hastily-constructed scaffolding made mostly of wood, with a few metal beams inserted haphazardly for something resembling additional strength. There’s a ladder leading up to the top of the thirty-odd foot tall structure, which was clearly built with the specific purpose of being tall and mostly stable enough for people to scan the horizons. How it managed not to be devastated in the attack this morning is beyond me. Another strange phenomenon that doesn’t make sense— the cultists seemed interested in killing all of us, but not in damaging all of our infrastructure. Almost as though…

  Could they be some sort of power-leveling Syndicate? Fight to live, strong survive, weak die. Not necessarily some pseudo-Darwinian worship of the wilds themselves, but rather a cult based around the System. One where levels and stats govern one’s worth, where fighting itself is worshipped not as an end of itself, but as means to accrue physical might. In a roundabout way, it would be a form of System-worship.

  And considering that the System is sapient according to all of my past life’s memories, I could certainly see the System rewarding its burgeoning followers with a potent class. Just one of the subtler ways that the System could wield its nigh-omnipotence in favor of its grand designs. Designs of which I have to learn far more about if I want any chance to cut the invisible strings to which we all dance.

  “You okay, Sera?” Chloe asks, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “You spaced out there for a few seconds.”

  I squeeze back. “Yeah, I’m just thinking about these cultists and what their end goals are.”

  Chloe pulls me into a hug. “Whatever will happen will happen. For now, can we just–”

  “Yeah. And sorry for worrying you. Both right now, and earlier when I’d passed out.”

  “Thanks.”

  The two of us climb up the ladder steps built into the side of the back wall of the structure; I head up first, with Chloe trailing just behind. There’s no railing or any sort of safety harness as we ascend, which would be a deterrent to taking the watch position all its own. But I’m pretty sure a tumble from thirty feet wouldn’t do more than leave me bruised and pissed, let alone seriously injure me. The joys of close to thirty levels making my health many times what it was before the System arrived and high [Vitality] reducing the damage I take. I’ll curse the System for some— most— er, nearly all things, but I will at least acknowledge the benefits when they become salient.

  It’s nearly seven-thirty in the evening, but there’s still light in the sky. It’s late enough that the sun is turning from yellow to orange as it approaches the western horizon, and the vestiges of violet twilight appear in front of us to the east. Late enough that the outside floodlights are turning on to provide visibility to the handful of cars that still drive on the city streets. But not so late that stars are popping out to join in their nightly twilight dance.

  Chloe and I stand next to one another, she on my right, as the two of us gaze out toward the east. Trees, endless trees, except for the battle scars that remind us of the battle that happened about twelve hours ago. Neither of us say a word as we gaze out onto the horizon, but we communicate volumes just through touch. Her hand on mine, caressing it gently, tracing patterns along the back of my hand. Even in the midst of the apocalypse, Chloe has remarkably smooth hands.

  Her hands linger for a moment, the tips of her fingers tracing the small divots between my metacarpals before she turns to me. Her eyes, the color of light caramel or butterscotch, now glow, lighting up the late afternoon sky around us, her way of bragging that she’s learned how to use the [Ethersight] skill I developed some time ago. I follow suit, activating my own [Ethersight]. I see the flow of [Ether] within Chloe’s eyes as she gazes into my own. We’re terrible sentries on watch, oblivious to our surroundings, but in this moment, I can’t be bothered to care.

  Her hands slip onto my waist, reaching underneath my armor and blouse to touch the skin underneath. My heart is racing. Hers is as well; I can see it from the quiver of her fingers to the way her lips tremble before me. But her eyes, those gorgeous, radiant eyes casting their gaze upon me make me hers. I am powerless to resist.

  I try to come up with excuses, telling me that I shouldn’t. That nagging feeling in the back of my head is still going. Telling me that I might be misinterpreting the signals. Telling me that this is wrong, that we shouldn’t be doing this. That I’m risking losing my best friend, that she and I and what we’ve built over thirteen years are too important and valuable to jeopardize over a flight of fancy.

  She silences my nagging with three words. “Kiss me, Seraphina.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I look at the tremble of her lips. Her eyes, now closed. Her robes, now open just enough to give me a glimpse of what lies within. Her mouth opens just wide enough for my lips. There’s no turning back. But when I see her vulnerability, her openness, her desire writ plain on her face, coupled with those three words, I can’t hold my own building desires back any longer.

  Her hands slide up my sides, gently grazing the outside of my armor, lingering for a fraction of a second over my breasts before wrapping around my neck. Mine drift lower, down to the middle of her waist, then around to the small of her back as I bring her close enough that our bodies are pressed against one another. I activate my [Bullet Time], stretching out these last seconds of indecision and anticipation, feeling both my mental desire and physical arousal building, reinforcing and accelerating one another, all before the inevitable.

  My lips meet hers, and sparks fly, even without a trace of any glyphs being activated, nor Kristil showing up with one of her numerous lightning evocations. Her lips are warm and inviting. I want more, and yet… I wait, letting Chloe dictate the pace of our first kiss. She presses forward, slipping her tongue into my mouth for just a moment, just long enough for the tips of our tongues to touch.

  I again use my [Bullet Time] to drag out this fleeting, ephemeral moment just a bit longer before she pulls back. I deactivate my skill and the two of us look at each other with a smile.

  “Thanks, Sera,” she says. “I’ve… I’ve wanted that for a good while now.”

  “A few weeks?” I ask.

  “A year or two now.” She continues before I can object. “I’ve always thought I was attracted to guys. That’s just how it went. I’m a girl, girls like guys, so I must like guys, because that’s what was expected of me. But over the last few years, I’ve started having fantasies. Thoughts of you and me, just being together, being happy. Then, when the System arrived and we started adventuring together and exploring this new world, I–”

  She trails off for a few moments. “I started seeing you in your element, being so calm and collected and giving me strength and encouragement when I was internally freaking the hell out! Like, magic and monsters and the world changing and everything we thought we knew just going… poof!” She makes a hand gesture like a plume of smoke erupting and dissipating into the air.

  “Are you happy now?” I ask.

  She smiles. “What do you think, Seraphina?”

  “I think you liked the view I let you have earlier.”

  Chloe wraps her arms around my arm— my right arm— and winks at me. “Even now, I’m imagining it. Imagining you. And what you might one day do to me.”

  I blush. “I hope you’re in no rush to… I’m sorry, Chloe, I don’t mean it like that. Just because I’m ready to take this first step doesn’t mean I’m ready to rush into all the others. I’m still worried. About us, about you, about the System, these cultists, and everything else we still have to deal with.”

  “I know what you mean. And I guess I’m being a little selfish as well, since I know you said you weren’t ready but… I kept poking and you didn’t actively stop me and…”

  “You’re okay, Chloe. But, at least in this respect, can we just take things slow? At least for now?”

  “Can I at least kiss you again, Sera?”

  “Sure.” And we do. Another kiss, perhaps a bit more chaste than the first, carrying with it both the desire to explore further alongside the hesitation I feel, the fear that lurks within me that I might, in taking this next step, hurt Chloe more than any monster ever could.”

  We stand there for a couple hours, sometimes doing our job of keeping watch, and sometimes stealing glances at one another. Her hands never leave mine the entire time we’re standing there, waiting, watching, just enjoying one another’s presence and the tiny bit of calm that we can experience together. The world is out there, tempestuous, constantly changing, through machinations both great and small, known and unknown. And most of those changes aren’t for the better, at least from my perspective.

  But I try not to let it all overwhelm me. I remember Lindsey’s words, that, even if I was sent here by researchers in a faraway universe, I am just one girl, one small piece of whatever it is that they sent me to do. And in order to accomplish those goals, I need everyone who’s helped me to this point.

  Alexey and Nicholas and those others back home, Drs. Martinek and Reynolds and Winfield, whose knowledge and experience and wisdom got me to this point as a [Mechanist] and a [Glyphcaster]. Stefan and Kristil and all the folks here who are leading the fight against some monstrous new cult, and Caroline who gave her life fighting for the same. Lindsey, who, along with Mrs. Jacobs, has become something of a surrogate mother to me after I lost my own on the first day after the System’s arrival.

  And Chloe most of all. Always Chloe, no matter what the challenge was, is, or will be, Chloe has always been there to support me. As a friend, a confidante, and… Well, now, something more than that, the exact nature of which we still have to figure out together.

  “Hey there, you two,” Lindsey’s voice says from right behind me. A hand presses on my shoulder. “Seems like you had a fun time this evening.”

  I blush. “You weren’t–”

  “Oh, please, you two, you’re not nearly as subtle or sneaky as you think you are. If I didn’t call you two back yesterday after the ooze fight, I think one of you would have jumped the other right then and there.”

  “You could see us!?” Chloe asks.

  “I have a [Ranger] class Skill called [Eagle’s Eye] that sharply increases my visual acuity. Why do you think I’m always volunteering for watch duty?”

  We both glare at Lindsey with righteous indignation.

  “I’m not upset with you. In the forces, there’s rules against fraternizing with subordinates or superiors, and there will be words for any woman who gets herself pregnant while in active duty, but I don’t think either of those is going to be a concern.”

  Chloe and I both turn to one another and blush.

  “Anyway, try to be discreet if you two decide to engage in any… extracurricular activities tonight. Or any other night, for that matter. And, you know, try to enjoy the ride, wherever it takes the two of you. I’ll take over on watch now, and I’ll see the both of you in the morning.”

  I look down at my hand. Even after Lindsey startled us, then embarrassed us, our hands never stopped holding one another.