Whoever turned up the world o go and fug die. The littlest noise was akin to being stabbed in my brain with a needle. There also seemed to be a dog or something in the bed with me for some reason and its soft fur kept tig my legs. Then again, I preferred animal fur to the scratchy syikets I usually used. Plus the fur was much warmer.

  I was one of those people that ran cold whenever I slept, no matter how many bs I piled over myself. Now though, I ractically burning up. It was a fortable heat though and I was relut to push the creature away.

  Of course, my bdder took that moment to remi existed. It was insistent that it was full and had to be relieved now. It didn’t care if I was still here or made it to the toilet. My eyelids, coated in gunk as they were, refused to move. The moment I mao get them open, the curtain that blocked the sunlight fluttered enough to allow a stream to hit my face. It sent a nce of pain searing its way through my brain.

  “Woah,” came a voice I did not expect to hear. In a fused rush, I carefully opened one of my eyes enough to double-check that the speaker was who I thought it was. I caught Xander as he scrambled out of a chair and reached for me. “Your body is still weak from all of those debuffs.”

  “What debuffs?” I rasped as I worked to lift the b off. Whatever it was made from weighed a ton. “Where am I?”

  He didn’t answer my questions and instead asked one of his own. “What do you remember?” Given that I was going to have to find the answer myself soon enough, I humored him.

  Do you know how hard it is to look back at a series of memories and try and work out what was real and what was a nightmare? To then sort through those memories as you tried to put them in order. If you haven’t, be happy. It is nerve-wrag aally tiring. Before I finished, my bdder decided to send me a subtle reminder in the form of a twinge. “I o use the bathroom.”

  The emotions that fshed across his face fused me. I could swear that I saw sadness, happiness, fear, and even anger. Yet he didn’t say a word. Instead, he lifted a hand to point at a door set into a wall. It was oher side of the spacious room with only a table between here and there.

  Undaunted, I scrambled across the bed. As I went to get off the bed my legs wobbled. Xander’s arms caught me just in time as my legs suddenly gave out. Without any effort, the guy carried me like a princess as he strode to the bathroom.

  The bathroom was different than the room. Where the room was made of dark wood, this one was covered in various stoerials. Stoiles covered most of the exposed surfaces, save for the mirror and the ter. Jet bck marble, cut with silver and gold striations, covered the ter.

  When he finally set me on my feet in front of the toilet I caught his flicted look. I scoffed at him. “I think I handle going to the bathroom on my own.”

  “That’s not,” he started as he spun around. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn I saw his cheeks turn crimson. “Call if you need help. And please, don’t freak out, or if you do, don’t kill me. I 't help you if you kill me. Well, I but…we will figure something out.” He almost sounded panicked as he blurted everything out before he practically sprinted out of the room and shut the door.

  While I was a bit fused and ed for him, I found myself alone. I could have yelled through the door but awinge sent me scrambling for the toilet. A short lift of a long t-shirt ter, I finally got some blessed relief.

  As the sudden relief aion dissipated, I found that something was different. The stream felt, off. Like it wasn’t ing from the right pot only that, but fur now tickled my back. I had a sinking suspi that some of my memories that I had thought were figments of nightmares had actually happened.

  Eyes closed, I prayed I wouldn’t find anything as I felt along my chest. A wave of tirailed after my fingers as I skimmed my skin. They ged from tio full-blown fireworks the moment I reached my pecks.

  While I didn’t want to, I had to firm what my body was telling me. Head tilted down, I slowly opened my eyes.

  As if I had naturally growwo orbs of fat sat on my chest. They were not all that rge. If anything, they looked just rge enough for me to get a good handful and nothing more. That wouldn’t be so bad if they were the only ges I recalled, but they were not.

  My hand tinued up. Past my neck, then my face before it stopped at my hairline. “Alex?” Xander’s worried voice carried through the door. While I didn’t answer him, his voice did give me the push I o tinue.

  Hair turo soft fur as my fingers brushed against something on top of my head. Oddly enough, the parts I touched were not ected to my scalp. At least not at the spot my fingers brushed. Though, it didn’t help that I felt pleasure radiating from the fleshy masses as my hand rubbed against the cartige tip.

  “Alex,” the tip twitched upward as Xander’s soft, worried voice called out. “Please answer me.”

  It took me a moment but when I did, my voice caught in the middle as I answered him. “What happeo me?”

  “I wasn’t there but,” he hesitated a moment. “But I have an idea. First, though, tell me, did you use the SoulStone?”

  Memories of my fight with the city captain came to me in a rush. They were enough to cause tears to explode from me. “It was the only way!” I wailed out as everything clicked into pce. I didn’t hear the door open or his footsteps. Between one moment and the I went from aloo ed in his arms. I buried my head into his chest as I cried harder than ever. It was like a damn had burst. I hadn’t even cried this hard when both of my parents were killed in a car crash.

  I don’t know how lo there. Nor did I o. It was embarrassing enough to find that I had soaked my friend’s shirt with tears and snot. “Are you feelier?” He murmured into my hair. His voice caused his chest to vibrate which was oddly soothing. Uo speak through the knot in my throat, I nodded. “I know it is a sensitive subject, but we have to talk.”

  Just the thought of talking caused fear to fill my mind. I rapidly shook my head bad forth. Determio try and fet everything that had happened in the hopes that I would wake up and find that this was all a bad dream.

  Thankfully, he let the topic drop. A squeak escaped me as he stood up with me still in his arms. As before, he didn’t show a sign of strain as he carried me. One of his arms held me against him while the other supported my ass. I had no clue how I felt about the position.

  On one hand, it felt o be held by someone. Yes, it wasn’t a chick carrying me, but something about how he held me was f. I felt safe in his arms. Of course, there was the other side of me that felt like I was losing myself. That the ges would take away what it meant to be me until I no longer existed. To say I was mentally thrown by the situation would have been an uatement.

  Before I could figure out what to feel and how to react, he set me down on the edge of the bed. He took a seat in the chair and looked at me for a sed before speaking. “So, you remember using the SoulStone. Do you remember fighting a demon?”

  My eyes dropped to the ground in shame as I recalled the fight with the demon and how I lost. As my mi over the entire fight, I realized that he had just been pying with me. In fact, I was fairly sure he had done something to win. “Wait,” I started to say, only to have to stop for a sed as I fought to keep from bursting into tears again. “Did the demo you too?”

  A hand came into view as he reached for my . It was soft but insistent as he tipped my head back while his thumb gently caressed my cheek. “No,” his voice was soft, calming, as he spoke. “I killed it right after you passed out.”

  I s that. Grateful for the joke and distra from the situation. “You, the guy that hates online games because people might track you, took down a demht.”

  “Just because I hate pying online does not mean I have not done so before.” He spoke as if he was afraid I would bolt if he said the wrong thing. “How else do you think I knew about this game?”

  “The i?”

  His lifted eyebrow told me what he thought of my answer. “One of my buddies told me about the game. He even helped me out in the beginning.”

  “And now?” I tried to keep him talking about something, anything, just as long as it was not reted to demons.

  “He is still around, we eveogether now and then to hang out still, but enough about that.” Damn it, he always seemed to know when I was trying to distract him. “Your body has ged. I don’t mean one part or even your race, I meahing.”

  I sighed, “I know.” Xander breathed a sigh of relief. “But it's not perma. I mean, no game force you to py something you’re not. Ok, so it make you py as another race, but gender? It would cause too maal issues when the person goes back to the real world.” His grimae that there was something I was missing. “What?” I demanded.

  “Have you been keeping up with the forum posts about people’s experiences with their SoulStones?”

  With a shake of my head, I said, “No, I have been too busy training.” His obvious hesitation coupled with his twiddling thumbs nearly caused a growl to spill out of my throat. Which was odd as I didn’t growl. “Spit it out.”

  Xander’s eyes shot up to meet mine in surprise. He must have seen my resolve because he sighed before speaking. “SoulStones don’t just affect your character. They also affect your real body.”

  I fell backward as I burst out ughing. “Good one.”

  His tone wasn’t that of someoelling a joke. “The description warned everyone about what it would do. It is our fault fn the damhing.”

  “You mean that whole thing about bining the soul and the body? There is no way that was real. It was like fvor text in ames.”

  Xander shook his head. “You have ged as much there as you have here. Just ask your AI.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I humored his new brand of crazy. “AI, you tell me my body's current status?”

  “Your body is currently not in the pod.” The AI’s voice echoed in my ears.

  “What do you mean it is not in the pod.” Great, now the sensors on the damned AI were going out. Yet ahing to spend money on. Then again, was there a point in doing so? My ces of finding a way to make money was likely ant no matter where I was. “When did it disappear from your sensors?”

  “Sensor records indicate that the user's body vanished around twenty real-world ho.” What was that, two and a half in-game days?

  “What was I doing at the time?”

  “You used an object before fighting the demon, Kaelis Mrave.” The AI reported. “Sensors recorded a bright burst of light and radiation at the same moment your body vanished.”

  My mind rebelled against the AI’s report coupled with Xander’s words. He waited a moment before reag out to gently squeeze my leg. “As I said earlier, I will help you figure this out.” Suddenly, I needed out. I k was stupid but I had to get away from this game. He must have known what I was about to do because, as I went to demand the system log me out, he held something up and said “Stop!”

  My eyes locked onto the small round ball in his hand as every muscle in my body froze. The sight of it brought back memories of the demon and his promises. Promises that sent waves of fear and dread rag down my spine. I was sure that my tail was standing to attention as I waited in fear over what his ht be.

  With the orb in his hand, he could get me to do anything with a simple word and there would be nothing I could do. To my surprise, he held it out to me. “Keep this safe. Maybe put it somewhere no one else find, or maybe buy a subspace item to store it if you .” As I grabbed the object, I pulled up its information.

  Item:

  Kyren’s Kitsune Orb

  Rank:

  Unique

  Special:

  Permaly bound to Kyren Vulpier (Alex Man).

  ot be pced in spatial iories.

  Use (Anyone):

  Gives the holder trol over the orb’s bound creature.

  Use (Bound Only):

  Transform into a fox – 25 mana

  Transform into a human – 50 mana

  Transform into a Kitsune – 10 mana (Current Form)

  Special Use:

  Locked

  100 mana

  Limit 4 hours

  Mana Charge:

  100/100

  Charge Rate:

  +7.5 mana per hour in the current location.

  Description:

  A Kitsune Orb is part of their spirit, their soul. Those that are smart protect it fiercely as those who possess it have full trol over them. Warning to those who would dare to steal it. The moment they are free, they will get revenge. No matter how long it takes or what they have to do.

  They tend to not five or fet.

  I groaned in both exasperation and relief as I asked him a question. “Did you read the description?”

  “Yes, how else would I have known to give it back to you?”

  “Did you notice where it says that it ot go into spatial iories?”

  “Ah,” he perked up as he spoke. It was almost as if he had found a safe topic that he knew enough about to keep a versation going. “Spatial iories and subspace items are different.”

  “How so?” I knew I was about to get a lecture, but I figured I would give him this before vanishing.

  “Iories and most ste items are sidered spatial iories. From what I uand, they use pression and other tricks to store more items in a smaller area. Subspace items, oher hand, are items that ect the item to a small pocket dimension. As you guess, the tter are way more expensive, but they tend to be worth it.” He lowered his voice a little as if to tell me a secret. “There are even rumors of some bags having the ability to follow their user when they log in and out.”

  With a roll of my eyes, I thanked him before logging out of the game. Every fiber of my being joined me in wishing, praying, hoping, that he was wrong about the effect the game had oy. After all, I had grown attached to that body.