Early dawn sunbeams woke me, and I snuggled into Bruiser’s chest, shutting my eyes tightly as my head throbbed.

  My status menu flashed before my eyes, confirming what I already knew.

  Mitsy

  Race: Succubus

  Class: Healer

  Level Twelve

  Health: 6000

  Mana: 6000

  STATUS AILMENT: HUNGOVER!

  “Here, take this,” Bruiser’s voice broke through the dull throb that was drilling its way through my brain.

  My eyelids creaked open, and a hangover potion came into focus in the center of my field of vision, dangling from his fingers.

  “You’re a saint,” I said, making quick work of the potion, trying to focus more on the fact my brain was starting to feel normal again rather than the sluggish taste it left in my mouth.

  One of these days I was going to have to write some better potion recipes. Ones that favored strawberries over orc toenails.

  “You ready to head back to the bakery yet, or would you like a little longer?” Bruiser asked.

  “Ugh, I’m keen to get a coffee to wash the potion taste out of my mouth,” I said, sitting up and stretching my muscles.

  “Whenever you’re ready,” Bruiser shrugged, and pulled a shirt and pants out of my bag. As a shifter and a naturalist, he normally remained wearing nothing but his skin when he was in the woods, but donned clothing whenever he returned to town.

  I fixed myself up as well, loosely finger combing my hair, so it fell neatly around my succubus horns. They’d taken a bit of getting used to when I first got here, although not as much as my prehensile tail, but now they felt as much a part of me as any other appendage.

  Newtopia was truly becoming home to me, and I often felt more myself here than when I was back on Earth.

  I reached out and brushed Bruiser’s hand, sliding my own into his when he turned it palm up to receive me.

  “What is it, sweetheart?”

  “I just wanted to say thank you,” I said taking a moment to appreciate the man standing before me. He’d experienced so much heartache and turmoil in his life; losing his previous girlfriend to necromancers, finding out his whole world was badly scripted fiction, and then performing this awkward dance between worlds as we tried to make it all fit together, and yet he’d always taken it in his stride.

  He was the very definition of dependable, and his warrior’s heart had never once faltered even in the face of absolute insanity.

  “I really needed this break away from everything, but I know if I was left to my own devices I would have just kept working until I burned out. I really don’t know what I’d do without you, Bruiser. I love you so much.”

  I expected the same steady warm smile he always bestowed on me when I said sappy things like this, but his lips turned down into a frown, his brow furrowing in a troubled expression.

  “Bruiser?”

  His eyes snapped to mine, and I only realized then that his attention had strayed over my shoulder.

  I turned to follow his gaze and saw a bright red orb hanging from one of the branches behind me.

  “What is it?” I asked, stepping forward to inspect it closer. “Some kind of Newtopian fruit?”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  It was possible I’d never seen it before; I hadn’t lived through every season in this world yet, and food often took on strange forms. Unlike an apple though, this thing was perfectly round and shone in the sunlight.

  I lifted my finger and tapped it on the hard surface, a tinny echo proving the object was hollow.

  “What in the nine hells is this?” Bruiser asked in distaste, yanking a length of silvery tinsel from where it had snaked around another tree.

  With a sudden sense of dread, I recognized the object in my hand for what it was: a Christmas bauble.

  “Oh, fuck.”

  “I think we better get back to town,” Bruiser said, crushing the tinsel in his fist. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  I nodded, shoving my blanket into the cavernous mouth of my satchel, its bulk disappearing into its bottomless inventory, then took off at a jog, Bruiser at my side.

  Every tree we passed seemed to have more decorations, their boughs sagging under the weight, and every now and again a bauble fell from its perch, crashing through the branches with a tinny crackle.

  Only when we reached the edge of the forest did the true scope of the problem reveal itself. The whole of Newtopia seemed to have suffered from a sudden snowstorm, a thick blanket of white powder covering every surface.

  “What the Dickens?” I swore under my breath, eyes dancing across the landscape, trying to take it all in.

  “The hell are those?” Bruiser said, pointing at a herd of reindeer trotting into the forest.

  “Reindeer. Earth creatures,” I said, grimacing. “It looks like Jenny’s found out about Christmas.”

  “Christmas?” Bruiser’s forehead creased. “Another strange Earth custom?”

  “You could call it that,” I sighed. “Although it has a lot of different forms and means a lot of different things to different people. We’ll need to get back through the Nexus to figure out just what source material she’s working with and why, though. It’s a wonder this got through Nightfall’s update schedule.”

  “Hmm,” Bruiser said, picking up a clump of snow. “I’m concerned what effect this will have on the ecosystem. I’ve not seen snow anywhere outside of the mountains before. I’ll escort you to the Nexus, but I’ll remain behind and keep an eye on things here. If I can find Bonaparte and Pooky we can get them to scout out any other changes as well, if you think this ‘Christmas’ won’t be too dangerous.”

  I chewed on my lip, concerned. I wouldn’t normally think Christmas could be dangerous, but with Jenny, things were often unpredictable.

  “Maybe wait until I’ve checked on the status of things back at HQ. I’ll return quickly, or at the very least get a message back.”

  Bruiser nodded, and we waded through the snow towards town. By the time we’d reached the main road, my boots were soaked through, and I was shivering. Bruiser made me stop a minute and pulled the blanket back out of my satchel, wrapping it around my shoulders like a cloak.

  If this snow wasn’t dealt with soon, I’d need to spawn in some warmer clothing or everyone in town would freeze.

  We made our way through the main street towards the town square, where our bakery stood, pausing every now and again when we noticed changes. Wreaths decorated every civilian door, and Christmas themed banners and flags hung from the light posts.

  As we approached the square, we found a market had sprung into being, with stallholders I’d never seen before wearing different coloured Christmas hats and selling an assortment of trinkets.

  A magical equivalent of fairy lights was strung between marquees, with little fireballs encapsulated in glass balls. The effect was breathtaking, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

  “Get your gifts here!” a gnomish salesman called through a brightly painted megaphone, waving people towards his stall. “Presents for all your family and friends! Get your gifts before the Krampus gets you!”

  “What?” I blinked in confusion, wondering if I’d misheard, but a swarm of civilians pushed me to the side in their rush to thrust coins at the gnome.

  Bruiser pulled me close towards him, sheltering me with his strong arms until the stampede reduced enough for me to stand on my own again.

  “Is that Blade?” Bruiser asked, peering at the throng of shoppers.

  I spotted him immediately, the fierce feliskin shoving an elf out of his way and snarling at a human woman until she quailed and let him to the front of the line.

  “What is this grindin’ garbage?” Blade swore, swiping some plastic decorations to the ground.

  “Maybe we should get him out of there? He looks like he’s ready to kill someone.”

  Bruiser nodded, shoving his way through the thick crowd and I followed close behind in his wake. I only realized we’d reached Blade when I bumped into his back after he came to a sudden halt.

  “Blade! Let’s get to the bakery and wait this storm out!”

  I poked my head over Bruiser’s shoulder to greet him but ducked as he slashed out aggressively with his claws.

  “Wait?” he hissed, his cat ears lying back flat on his head as he bore his fangs at us. “I can’t wait! I’ve got to find Kira a present! She’ll hate all this piss! Doesn’t anyone around here sell nip?”

  With another hiss, he threw one of the ornaments back at the gnome in disgust and slid back into the crowd, and with a flick of his lithe tail he was gone.