Book One Epilogue

  There's No Place Like Home

  “Don’t worry,” Theon continued, seeing the shock in Jace’s eyes. “Your secret is safe. I’ve known since the day you arrived. And I’m sorry—I haven’t been entirely honest with you. I haven’t interfered because I need you. Whatever is happening is connected to the process of death itself. With Hades and the underworld.”

  Theon leaned closer, his voice barely quiet. “There’s something I’ve been investigating. I can only tell you so much because I only know so much. You need to know about this because you might be the only one close enough to help at this point. When people respawn here, we thought we knew the costs—a little EXP, some debuffs. But what if there’s a bigger price?”

  “Like what?” Jace asked, leaning in.

  “Like our very minds,” Theon replied, his eyes grave.

  “What do you mean?” Jace pressed, feeling a knot form in his stomach.

  Theon stood and led him to a corner of the alcove where a device lay on a pedestal. It projected a holographic display showing data points and energy transfers. “When things move from one place to another, there’s loss. Like a copy of a copy. Pieces can get left out—pieces of memory. I can’t confirm this yet.

  Jace’s eyes widened. “Wouldn’t people notice?”

  “Not necessarily,” Theon said, shaking his head. “Ever feel like you’ve forgotten something important or unimportant? Like a light left on at home or a call you were supposed to make? It’s the same here. When someone dies, it’s not just EXP that’s lost. We lose pieces of our past. At first, it was unnoticeable, but over the years, it’s getting worse. Excelsior will never tell you this. They’ll never let it be known. I have no proof—what proof could there be? It’s just a feeling.”

  Theon looked somber, his gaze distant yet intense. “For the past dozen years, I’ve felt something slipping away—memories falling off the edges like too much rice in a sieve. At first, I thought it was just me, maybe my brain deteriorating back on Earth. But then I noticed the signs, pointing to something far darker. It feels like we’re missing the punchline to a cruel joke, as if there’s something this world doesn’t want us to know, doesn’t want us to remember.”

  “How long has this been happening?” Jace asked.

  “The truth is, we don’t know. There are countless stories of people vanishing from both Earth and Mythica. Glitches in respawn, players never coming back, even disappearances on Earth. People forgetting how to speak, waking up with unexplainable injuries. Whether any of these tales are true, I can’t say for sure. But the number of stories keeps growing, and it’s becoming harder to dismiss them as mere rumors.”

  Theon sighed, his voice tinged with a weariness that seemed to echo the weight of years spent searching for answers. “We’re grasping at shadows, trying to piece together a puzzle with half the pieces missing. But one thing is certain, Jace: there’s more to this world than we understand, and it’s not as benign as we once thought.”

  Jace felt a cold chill run down his spine.

  Theon’s eyes darkened. “Dark things are happening, Jace. I’ve been tracking it for a while now. My goddess Cleo, the Muse of History, had been helping me but has gone missing and hasn’t answered for some time.”

  “Missing gods, people losing their minds, the logout option on the fritz. You’d think someone would notice? Is Excelsior doing nothing?” Jace asked.

  “Let’s put it this way. If Excelsior is the most powerful company in the world, what do you think the chances are of them not knowing?”

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  “Slim,” Jace said.

  “And then, logically, if they know, but no one else does?”

  “They’re covering it up?”

  “Or,” Theon asked, “they’re behind it.”

  “It is a tricky thing,” Theon said. “We have to be careful who we speak to. But yes.”

  “Now comes the billion-credit question,” Theon said, his voice low and serious. “If both realities are real, which do you choose? If you could only choose one for the rest of your life, would you stay here in Terra Mythica or go home to Earth?”

  Jace thought it over, his heart pulling him toward this world. But then there was something more—his brother. He couldn’t fathom leaving him behind.

  “I have someone who needs me back home.”

  “Yes, I gathered that much. Your brother, the one that took the scholarship examinations?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, Jace, when you log out, stay logged out. Do not come back. Find another way to help him. Do anything else, but do not return here. Do you understand? Anything else, Jace. But do not come back.”

  Theon’s intensity was unsettling, a stark contrast to his usual demeanor.

  “Do you understand me, Jason?” His eyes bore into Jace’s, the weight of his words sinking in.

  Jace nodded, his voice barely a whisper. “I understand.”

  Seemingly satisfied, Theon nodded and took a deep breath. “You should go,” he said, his demeanor softening slightly with a forced smile. “I have matters to attend to since the attack—parents and politics, you know, the real monsters never wait.” He smiled at Jace, more natural this time, and with that, Theon stood and left.

  Jace lingered for a moment, absorbing Theon’s concern and the gravity of his words. He stood there, trying to decipher the urgency behind Theon’s plea, the weight of his decision pressing down on him. Finally, he took a deep breath and made his way to The Fields Below.

  If Jace had been paying attention on his walk to his dorm, he might have noticed the strange looks he was getting from other students. News travels fast, after all. Had he not been so preoccupied with his swirling thoughts, he might have seen the concerned glance from Molly, the assistant to the Master of Artifacts. He might also have noticed his many system notifications, still left unread, and a quest alert from Hades. But Jace did not notice any of these things. His mind was far and adrift and he needed a touchstone, some stability in the sea of change.

  He moved with a tunnel-vision focus toward his dorm in the Fields Below. Something compelled him, a deep, unshakable need to check on his brother. He felt it, an insistent tug deep within him, urging him to make sure Alex was okay. It didn’t entirely make sense, but in a way, it did. His brother was always his source of stability when things were anything but. Even if Alex couldn’t answer, Jace needed to talk to him.

  The path to the dorm seemed longer than usual. Jace felt as if the world around him was holding its breath, waiting. Arriving at his dorm, he looked himself over in the mirror by his dresser. He looked strange. Thinner than he had remembered. And dark circles pressed in around his eyes.

  Laying down he pulled up the exit icon, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as it appeared as ready and available as ever.

  Would you like to log out?

  Yes | No

  He chose yes.

  System Notification

  Traveler Logout in 10, 9, 8...

  The seconds ticked down.

  His thoughts churned with worry and determination, a storm threatening to overwhelm him. Had he looked more closely, he might have noticed the reflection in the mirror by his dresser, its gaunt face and dark eyes still staring back at him.

  Perhaps, if he had not been so entirely lost in his own mind, he would have seen its features twist into a silent scream, eyes wide with unspoken terror. The lips moved frantically, mouthing words Jace couldn’t have understood, even if he had seen them. The reflection’s hands pounded on the glass from the other side, fingers splayed in desperate fury, like a prisoner trapped in a hellish realm just beneath the surface.

  But Jace did not notice any of these things, ensnared in the maelstrom of his own thoughts as he waited for the countdown to finish.

  The world faded to black, the game’s interface dissolving into nothingness. For a moment, he was suspended in the void, caught between two worlds. The sense of duality, of being in two places at once, was deeply unsettling. And then, with a final breath, he stepped back into the world he had always known.

  He appreciated Theon’s concern, but there was no other way to get the money he needed, no other possibility to help his brother. There was no choice but to continue his journey in Terra Mythica.

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