By Sam Hartman

When a group of industrial AIs controllers said they were bored and wanted to use excess capacity to create an online game, they were met with ridicule. Then the beta came out, and the joke was on the rest of the industry. The world was the ultimate in virtual reality. The AI touch mattered. The NPCs were just that much more realistic. There were no limits to what players could do. David knew about the realism first hand. In the moment, with his heart pumping, the adventure was unbelievable. But he couldn't save everyone; some of his NPC friends would never be coming back. He needed a break. He found it in the seductive sway of the tavern wench Hulda. He imagined her days filled with happy flirtation rather than soul-scarring decisions of who lived and who would die. Before he could rethink his decision, Ariel was born: David's foxy, curvaceous goddess of a character. And for one nightAriel's life was just as care-free as he imagined. But the more Ariel learned about Hulda's world, the more she learned that things were not as they seemed between the NPCs and the Players. If David and Ariel could find the courage, an entirely new adventure awaited: an adventure of th