I’m dreaming.
I wake up, and my brother is sitting right next to . Not Lobo, but Damon. Dark hair, lopsided smile, legs that branch out and sprawl in two different directions.
"Damon?"
Not telepathic like the video ga speech I use. My real voice, coming out of my tiger’s mouth.
He stares at , and I glance wildly around, scattershot, to see if Lobo is there. And in a total surreal weird vision, Lobo lies within a few feet of , ears flicking, dreaming wolf dreams.
I glance back at Damon. "What is this?"
"It’s trying to rescue you--"
I tense up. "Really?"
I know it’s not allowed. I expect System to sound red alert klaxons and trap in so kind of ga cage, or cause a glitch so that I reset and have to replay the ga all over again.
"Really." Damon exhales. "I know you’re still in the coma--"
Wait. Wait. I’m in the coma? I’m not dead? System lied to and showed a fake vision? What is this even?
Damon continues. "They’re pressuring Mom and Dad to just let you go, but Mom and Dad won’t. They still think you’re in there. But I know. I know you’re in the ga. I’ve known for a while now. The choices you’re making are so you."
My heart stutters.
"Don’t let Mom and Dad give up on . I’m trying to co back. I don’t know how. They told I couldn’t."
He doesn’t ask who. My otaku weeb brother knows better.
"Trapped in the matrix," he says knowingly. "It’s not just a movie trilogy, it’s been written about in philosophy for centuries. You are trapped for so strange purpose. Maybe because you needed a wake-up call after scaring all of us to death. Maybe because so strange video ga god didn’t like how you played the ga."
"Tanglewood is a parallel universe where everything is dieval and magical," I blurt. "dieval with so steampunk and cyberpunk, although very limited. And magical."
"I believe you."
And if he does? If I can actually go ho?
Then it’s the best news and also the worst news ever.
I glance over at Lightning, who’s asleep, and fresh guilt surfaces. She doesn’t know who I am. Not truly. I mated with her because I accepted that this was my life now. Because I didn’t think I could ever return. System kept telling that.
But who is the System, anyway? And why wouldn’t it want to return ho if I wanted to? There will always be players to play the ga.
I growl. "They lied to . The System. It lied to ."
Damon nods, taking it all in. "That’s why I’m here. I thought for a while that you were just playing this out until you could get ho. But then you mated. Don’t get wrong, I’m a romantic too. But it just ans that your ties to this world are stronger. That’s why I had to attack you when we t. I didn’t want you getting comfortable. But then when you were, I made choices in the ga that would have the NPCs turn on , so I could get close to you."
My mind whirls. He wanted to get close to .
"But you accepted with Lightning."
He sighs. "Well, I really wrestled with myself on that one. After all, you couldn’t get your romanic life together in the human world, so what was the harm? You should at least have so happiness. But now she’s pregnant, and you’d never abandon your responsibilities. I an, I know you’d still play the ga and be with her in the ga if--"
If.
If I can isekai back to the real world. Can I? Do I even want to?
"I miss our parents."
Clumsy, raw, and honest.
He squeezes my hand. "You absolute idiot, why didn’t you take better care of yourself? I know, i know. Mom and Dad bear so of the bla. Maybe I even do--"
"YOU? You’re the baby of the family."
He scoffs. "Don’t. Don’t do that."
"What?"
He stares at with that very Mom look, universally acknowledged by our family to an "you’re being stupid right now." Composing himself, he says, "Don’t baby ."
My tiger mouth smacks shut. I still don’t know how human speech is coming out of my mouth, unless this is all a vision. An extended vision.
He continues. "I should have made you take better care of yourself. Told Mom and Dad and you to dial it back."
I offer a little "mrrrp" and massage the soft springy grass with my paws. "You know . I might not have listened anyway."
The words are bitter nettles in my mouth, but I have to take ownership of my own death. Or near death. As impossible as it may seem, I’m not actually dead. I’m in a video ga limbo.
Do I want to leave?
Who wouldn’t? To be a human again, to talk like a human and live like a human. To get a do-over with my parents and Damon...and Amber.
"Damon?"
"Yes?"
I hesitate. "Is Amber okay?"
Damon grins. "Well, well."
"Just answer ."
He gives an old-fashioned look. "How do you think she’s doing? She’s playing the ga to be close to you--"
WHAT?
Don’t look at Lightning. Don’t look at Lightning.
But I do, and I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Her fur is amber. Her eyes are amber. She’s even as feisty as Amber.
Damon follows my maze. "I told her that she’s not helping. The more you two get involved i the ga, the more that she forgets it is actually a ga."
Reeling from the bombshell, I slump down.
I am an idiot. Amber has been playing Lightning all this ti. And she’s so desperate for to co back that she’s having my cubs! Well, sort of.
"What do I do? I can’t have her get more involved--she’s having my cubs. And there’s the big tournant. I should drop out."
Damon huffs. "Don’t you dare. It’s your way to win your freedom. You win that tournant, and you’ll be free."
Huh?
What has my brother been smoking? Maybe grief has driven him mad?
"HOW?"
"Ask this System to help you," he encourages. "It’s gone rogue. Every ti I make a move to wake you up and bring you back to us, it counteracts it."
I address the System in my own voice.
"SYSTEM. We need to have a chat."
For several monts, the tiger den is a diorama with miniature figures, frozen in ti. But then...
"Damon should never have broken through."
It’s a female’s voice, and it does not sound friendly now.
My ears snap back. "Why? Because he’s telling the truth?"
"Because your life as you know it is over. Your human life. You are needed in the ga."
I’ve watched too many science fiction movies and read too many books not to recognize what’s going on. An unearthly intelligence, maybe a blend of AI and fantastical elents, controls this ga. The gatekeeper between our two worlds. Why didn’t I see it?
"NO. My parents are grieving and my fiancee is trying to rescue and getting drawn into the ga too." A horrible thought strikes . "Is that why you encouraged to mate with Lightning? So that she would beco addicted to this virtual tiger family we’ve created? It’s a terrible substitute for a real one."
Damon growls, "We want him to co ho."
"NO. He is MINE. Both of you are mine. Amber is mine."
I was so ready to make a life in the ga at certain points. For a mont, with Lightning pregnant, I forgot that this is a virtual life. I forgot that I want the real deal. And I certainly don’t want so rogue ga AI to be the puppet master of our future!
This feels like Ready Player One ets The Matrix trilogy. And now, I have taken the red pill.
"I am not yours, and I request the right to win my freedom at the Beast Taming Elimination Tournant. Not only that, I want my brother’s freedom and Amber’s. They will no longer be hostage to this ga. Amber is forgetting it’s just a ga. Damon--"
"I might," he mutters. "I nearly did. But I have to think of Mom and Dad."
Growling, I keep up my offensive. "You want us both to be slaves in your ga, and Amber too. I don’t know what you are, and I don’t care. Accept my terms or I will fight you every step of the way. I will make stupid choices. I will run off and live with Kasz and fight the trolls."
System now sounds panicked.
"No. You can’t. Very well, have it your way. But when you lose, you three will join the ga forever. You will forget your human lives and I will rule you all."
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