James was on the other side of the mirror, slumped against the wall. He looked at the thing on the other side, himself.

  Why did you lie to them?

  The other him spoke with his voice, but not his tone, not with his intonation, not with his words. James responded as he would.

  “To protect them. We can’t go any further in the game.”

  He lifted his arm slowly and saw his mirrored self lift in response. It was a dream, he thought, so of course a reflection could talk.

  Is it that easy to lie to people you care about?

  “If it means protecting them? Yes.”

  But they’ll find out the truth sooner or later.

  “Not if I can keep lying to them. I think I’m a good liar.”

  But they’ll find out the truth sooner or later.

  “…Maybe. If I can just keep them off Sable Online, they won’t ever find the truth. They’ll just forget about it, we’ll go and play other games and live normal lives. I won’t have to lie to them.”

  So do you know what Sable Online is?

  “Yes. I thought about it sometimes, but I never believed it could be true. I don’t know the whole truth, but I’m certain of what it is now."

  Why did you lie to them?

  “Because they’ll never believe me, and maybe…maybe it’s better that way.”

  Your friends trust you, don’t they?

  “They won’t trust me on this. It’s completely insane. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen proof.”

  They trusted you before.

  “Yes…yes they did. And they will continue to, because that’s the pact we made. We trust each other. I’ll protect them to the end.”

  So they cannot be trusted to walk alone?

  “That’s not what I said. They would save me, I would save them. I just save them more often.”

  You would trust them with your life?

  James paused. “Yes.”

  Unsure?

  “No. No, I would trust them with my life. I should trust them with more.”

  But you don’t trust them to believe you.

  “I can trust them with anything else, but this is just crazy. This is something far bigger than us. The implications of what I’ve seen…”

  If you trust them, would you need to protect them from the truth?

  “No…no, that’s not what I meant! This isn’t…that’s not…”

  Then why do you need to protect them from everything?

  “Because…because we’re friends who do everything for each other. We’re the closest thing some of us have to family. I’ve known what it’s like to be alone. I won’t let it happen again. That’s why I have to protect them, to keep us happy.”

  Why did you lie to yourself?

  It crawled to him, hand against the mirror. James reached for his shortsword, just like he always did, but instead of leather and metal he found a weapon of flesh and bone.

  I am glad you were never a candidate.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Who…are you?”

  The mirror breaks.

  James woke up. He had hoped it was just a bad dream, but with what he knew now, he couldn’t be sure. He couldn’t remember who he was talking to, but the words were fixed in his mind. He sat up and coughed. It felt like he’d been choked by strong hands, even though his room was completely undisturbed. As he often did when he was disturbed at night by things he couldn’t explain, he opened up his HoloBracer and checked his messages.

  “Hey James. None of us can sleep. We’re going to the downtown arcade. We’re meeting outside the school. Do you want to join us?”-Patrick.

  James sighed heavily as he closed the HoloBracer down. It had been a long time since James had talked to the others. Even at school, he hung around with them sometimes, but rarely talked. He was still processing what he’d seen and the conclusions he’d come to about Sable Online. They clearly knew he was lying and wanted him to open up about the whole thing. He couldn’t do it. Everything he learnt just made him realise he needed to get them as far away from Sable Online as he possibly could. He had said all those years ago he’d be the group’s protector, but he just saw it as an over dramatic gesture of friendship that he’d been prone to make as a teenager. When was it that he’d taken the job he’d given himself quite so literally?

  He opened up the Bracer again. It was only a trip to the arcade, he probably didn’t have to talk much. They’d be so focused on beating him at Guilty Gear that they wouldn’t ask him a whole lot of questions. He didn’t know what possessed them to meet outside the school, but he’d nearly been killed by a dragon with an extendable tail over the past few week, he certainly wasn’t complaining.

  “I’m in. Be there in five”-James

  He changed, walked downstairs, and left a note for his mother just before he went out. She was sleeping soundly, and considering how busy she was he didn’t blame her. James’ father was in the military, and he hadn’t been back home in months. His mother worked for Kabletech, just started working as a secretary, and James was fully aware of the irony of that.

  He quickly slipped away into the brightly lit streets of Avalon. The city felt soulless at day, but somehow that feeling got worse at night. There was almost no nightlife: it was so utterly corporate that there wasn’t even much in the way of restaurants or nightclubs. Bright blue holograms, similar to the kind thrown up by the HoloBracer, floated around Kabletech Tower, showing sporting news and upcoming releases from Kable Interactive, including Sable Online going free to play. It was a futile attempt to give the city some kind of soul. It was a clear night, but the streetlights and bright holograms completely blotted out the stars.

  The downtown arcade was the only nice place to visit on a night like this, and James had no idea how it had come to be or even got enough money to stay open. Repairs were becoming increasingly costly, access to old games was becoming harder and harder.

  James took the same route he took to school everyday, seeing very few people other than the occasional tired businessman driving away from a long period of overtime. He reached the school to find Grey, Amelia and Patrick standing outside the construction site next door. Despite it being the middle of the night, none of them looked the least bit tired, and they were chatting to each other as James approached.

  “Can’t believe I woke up for this shit,” Amelia said. “Actually managed to get a good night’s sleep for once. Weird dreams, though.”

  “Maybe you should try having an ok sleep schedule more often,” Patrick replied.

  “You’re really one to talk,” She snapped back. She paused for a second. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound mean. Just been on edge recently.”

  “Don’t worry, I can take anything from you,” Patrick replied. “Besides, I’ve been feeling the same. Been thinking about a lot.”

  “Any reason you’re both like this?” Grey asked.

  “Why do you think, Grey?” Amelia replied. “I don’t like things being hidden from me, especially after what happened to me back in Kries, and especially when the person who did it is…” She looked at James as she noticed him approached. “Speak of the devil.”

  “Hey guys,” James said, “it’s…been a while.”

  “Too long,” Amelia replied, leaning against the fencing protecting the site.

  “Yeah, it has. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you guys. I’ve been struggling to collect my thoughts about everything that happened. I just-”

  “We’re not here to talk about that,” Grey interrupted.

  Amelia raised an eyebrow. “Really? We’re not?”

  “Of course not. We just want you to feel comfortable around us again. We’ll just have fun tonight, ok?”

  James nodded “Thank you, Grey. I appreciate it.”

  “Are we all ready to go to the arcade now?” Patrick asked. “Those games won’t play themselves.”

  The others nodded.

  “I just wanted to ask,” James said, “why are we meeting here? Arcade is quite a long walk from here.”

  The others glanced back and forth, looking confused.

  “I thought you wanted us to meet here?” Patrick said.

  “No, you texted me.”

  “You texted me too,” Amelia added. She quickly opened her HoloBracer and showed it to Patrick.

  “That wasn’t me!” Patrick said defensively. He opened his phone and showed Amelia the same conversation, but lacking the text that had brought her here. “I must have been hacked or something!”

  “So who texted us?” Grey asked, glancing over their shoulder. “And why group us all up here?”

  James looked around hurriedly as he began to realise what was going on. “We need to run. Get to a safe place as fast as we can.”

  Amelia glared at him. “Why, James? Is this because of Sable? What did you do James? What’s happening?”

  Before they could move, James saw what he was looking for. A rotting, scaled monster perched on top of a flickering streetlight that could barely hold its weight, contorted in a way that the group could only see its smiling face and the coiled tail wrapping around the pole it was standing on.

  “Hello James,” Draconautis said.