A teleport brings in Erysis and Nexen, with Elisa there to greet them. I am a bit further away, sitting down.

  I hear Erysis start whispering to her teacher, “Is he mad? He looks mad.” Erysis waves at me hesitantly. I try to force a smile and wave back.

  Elisa replies, “He’s, uh... Yeah.”

  “What happened?”

  The elf glances briefly to me, receiving a small nod. She says, “Things... escalated. People made threats that they maybe shouldn’t have.”

  Nexen speaks up, his voice loud enough to be obvious he’s addressing me too, “Hall Master Ren said Lucius left the Guild.”

  Elisa frowns slightly. “He did. Threw his card in Davia’s face and everything.”

  “I didn’t throw it,” I say. “I placed it on the table. The table just so happened to break right at that moment, and the card flew in her general direction.”

  Erysis smiles and walks over to me, plopping down on the couch I’m sitting on. The other two follow.

  “Should we quit too?” the fire mage asks. “We can make our own guild. Get Ren and Ania to handle admin. Put the building on one of the moons. Poach adventurers.” She nods a few times, genuinely thinking her idea over. “Should we actually do this?”

  I chuckle softly. “Kidnap some of the loungers for that timeless adventurer aesthetic.”

  “Kidnap? You’d have to beat them off with a broom.” Erysis pauses for a moment, fidgeting with her hands. “What happened?” she asks again.

  Elisa huffs. “Davia and Vrih promised swift death to anybody that tries again.”

  Erysis shrugs. “Don’t see anything wrong with that. Nex? Elisa?” Nexen closes his eyes and sighs. Elisa shakes her head, frowning at her apprentice. “Alright, sorry... Already lose your confidence, Lucius?”

  “Didn’t think I’d have both sides to worry about. Plan was going well until they managed to press the right buttons. Well, if A fails, we go to B.”

  “Fuck,” Elisa sighs out the swear. Erysis and Nexen pin the elf with uneasy looks. Then Elisa’s tone becomes even and calm, “I forbid it.”

  “Is my life worth more than anyone else’s?”

  “It is to me.” The elf makes a growl full of frustration. “...Curses. I hate that you made me a better person, dummy. Fine. But if I deem it necessary, I am interfering.”

  “Wouldn’t have argued against, anyway.”

  Nexen cautiously chimes in, “What’s Plan B?”

  Erysis supplies the correct answer, “Probably something stupid.”

  ***

  “Once again, you find yourself captured and thrown in a sterile brig. Though, this time, you lack the advantage of surprise. And... you lack each other.” The projection in the middle of the table splits to show the four player characters in different cells, metal and reinforced glass thick enough to hold a lot more than they currently are. “How will you—” All four doors clunk open as all cameras inside the station prison start showing a convincing loop. I take in a deep breath and contemplate flipping the table. I let the breath out and devise the cruelest and most convoluted puzzle I can imagine. “Although—” All four start giggling, interrupting me. I raise my voice and continue, “Although you have escaped your immediate confines, there is still more left to traverse. What do you do?”

  The players soon meet up and cram themselves in a tiny supply closet.

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  Khi’s character shifts a mop away. “What were you able to find, Elisa.”

  The elf scrunches up her face. “What was his name... Glinki?”

  “Governor Glummy,” Erysis helpfully supplies.

  “No, no,” Nexen says. “It was Governor Glen.”

  Elisa nods. “So, Governor Glen”—she flashes a smirk my way. Unfortunately for her, I am one with the fictional universe I have created—“has made a deal with the Shepherds. He and the rest of the station command have been promised their lives in exchange for as many as they can give. The regular people here don’t have knowledge of what’s happening.”

  “Obviously a lie from the Shepherds,” Khi says. “They’ll just leave them for last. But that must mean there is one here. Can you feel it?”

  Elisa shakes her head. “No. We need to get to the ship. I think Master Thadius can help with the locating.”

  “Well,” Erysis says, “this calls for Scenario Delta—”

  My mouth asks before I can stop it, evidently not as much a part of the universe as the rest of me, “Why are there letters now?”

  She ignores me. “Scenario Delta, first variation. Remember your roles?”

  Seems like they do, as their characters wordlessly split up and go off to do who knows what, who knows where.

  ***

  As Erysis is demolishing her third hotdog with mayo—I’m not even gonna touch that—she is also demolishing a particular section of the station—sanitation.

  Elisa has piled a sizeable amount of sweet pickled relish on hers. The augmented elf has used her previously gained access to the station’s network to publicize their findings. She is currently waiting for Thadius to wake up and is looking after the rest of the colonists aboard the Hothouse.

  Khi is foregoing condiments, enjoying a plain hotdog like a weirdo. In-game, she has commandeered what uninvolved station security there is.

  And Nexen, same as me, has chosen the objectively correct topping—only mustard. His character is rallying the disgruntled and confused station inhabitants to fight back against their leadership’s choices.

  ***

  A hard-fought battle later, the mutiny is successful. Governor Glomki, who turned out to be a hidden Psi practitioner, his assistant, who was quite the sturdy pile of rocks, and the power-armored plant alien security commander, including his underlings, are all captured. The players try to pry out the location of this Shepherd they’ve convinced themselves is aboard the station, but my NPCs are resilient and do not break under the harsh interrogations.

  Erysis points at Assistant Governor Will accusingly. “You are a rock head! A big rock head! Tell us where it is already.” Crystal tears form at the edges of his eyes and clink to the floor. “...Alright, I’m blowing them all up.”

  “Ery, please don’t,” Nexen begs the demolitionist to not demolition.

  After a few more minutes of deeply personal insults, having made all three cry, the players give up and go back to their ship. Just in time too, as Thadius is waking up.

  Elisa’s character is kneeling next to a bed. The other characters, and a fair number of colonists, are peering from behind her shoulder. Thadius stirs and slowly opens his eyes.

  “Master Thadius!” the elf exclaims. “We won. Everyone is safe.”

  The penguin look-alike weakly turns his head to regard her and notices the impromptu assembly.

  He nods his tiny head once. “You have done well, young ones.” With help from Elisa, he manages to sit up. “Fate has decided that my time is not yet up. And so, I shall do everything in my power to use what remaining I have righteously.”

  “There’s one of them on this station, Master,” Elisa says. “How are you feeling? Do you think you can help me find where they’re hiding?”

  “Your hands, young one.” Small hands beckon hers. Elisa takes them. “First lesson—there is no limit to what is connected. The mark we leave upon this universe, no matter how small, affects all.”

  My voice cuts in, “Reality fades. You and Thadius are a lonely island amidst a dark ocean, stretching to infinity. Countless ripples in the water interfere with each other. Your focus hones in on one, trying your hardest to isolate it. An image floats up. A tiny flying insect, billions of light years away, on a world never before seen. And not what you want. Thadius directs your attention to another ripple. Together, you follow its origin. You find what you are looking for.”

  Elisa’s character lets go of Thadius’ hands. “The maintenance tunnels.”

  ***

  “Hey,” Erysis calls to me. “Lucius? ...Is he actually frozen?”

  Elisa nudges me a couple of times, to no reaction. “This is your fault, Apprentice.”

  “How is it my fault! None of you objected. That makes you at least complicit.”

  While the players are arguing and assigning blame for my state, I look upon my poor monster. Born eleven million years ago on a long dying planet, held together by nothing but conviction. Brought death upon uncountable worlds, consuming their life for the Shepherds’ twisted purpose. An unsurmountable challenge made to be overcome by teamwork and strategy. His end? Crushed by refuse and then drowned in... refuse. Maybe making physics realistic was not my brightest idea.

  “Some piled up garbage collapses and reveals a hidden room, or whatever,” I say.

  “Don’t pretend to pout,” Elisa says. “We all know you’re enjoying our hijinks as much as we are.”

  I make a shooing motion. “Go explore.”

  The players snicker and do just so.

  Khi’s character pulls out a panel from the wall. “Found something.”

  Elisa checks over the item, and content that there are no traps, picks it up.

  Erysis asks, “What is it?”

  “A communication device.”