“Whoa, I just unlocked the Unarmed Combat skill,” My fist looked the same as it always had, but I remembered the feeling of rightness with that last punch. I executed another, then another. They just felt like punches.

  “Really? So you can unlock skills outside of your class. Hell yeah.” Katarina smiled.

  “I should teach you an instrument!”

  “What would I do with one? I’m not a bard. I don’t have any instrument related skills.”

  “I dunno. Maybe you would unlock them?”

  “I have horrible rhythm anyways. There’s no way.”

  “I didn’t have rhythm or know anything about playing music before Veil. The system is truly amazing.”

  “Wait, really? You didn’t know anything at all?” She stepped around, putting her face near mine and looking in my eyes as we spoke. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah!”

  “You were just… suddenly able to play music?”

  “Basically. When I got the Bombastic Busker class and saw the first song written on sheet music, I could read it. I learned it in an instant.”

  “And you never knew how to read music before that?”

  “No… uh are you okay?” Katarina had gone pale, shaking slightly.

  “I do not like that at all.” She took a step back, taking a deep breath. Tears had begun to cover her eyes in a watery sheen.

  “What’s wrong?” I took a step towards her.

  “Don’t you see? How could they manipulate what you know like that? They’re in our heads. I don’t know how but they are in our heads somehow. I tried not to think about it. But how am I able to see your memories when we… I can’t remember what it’s called. When we become the wind together. How can a game create such a powerful connection? I’ve never heard of it before. I don’t like a system, or corporation, or whatever it is, having that kind of control over me.”

  “But they have never taken control of me or anything. Have you been controlled?” I was alarmed at her sudden outburst, but everything she said made sense. My heart echoed her every word. I had held these same fears close, hiding them away from my waking mind. It was too much. Overwhelming.

  I noticed Abernathy watching us from the wagon, listening. His eyes were wide with fear.

  “No, nothing like that. But if they can insert knowledge in your mind like that? Make you good at things you never practiced or had any knowledge of? I mean look at you now! You can play that ridiculously complicated song while walking! Do you know how many people could do that in the real world? Even among those that practiced daily?”

  “No, I—”

  “Not many, that’s for sure! Does this mean you will be an expert with musical instruments when we log out?”

  Abernathy hopped down from the cart and approached warily. “I… I actually know the answer to that. It was part of the documents we signed before logging in.”

  Katarina spun to face him. “What do you mean?”

  Abernathy stopped, stumbling back and falling on his rear.

  “Oh shit, I’m sorry Abe. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She hurried forward and grabbed his arms, helping him stand. “I’m so sorry. It’s just so scary to think about.”

  “It’s alright, no worries mate. Appreciate the help.” He dusted off his breeches, then pulled a mechanical leg out of his inventory. “Here, finished working on the Wind’s Edge for now.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Thank you!” She squealed, all of her tension seemed to melt away as she took the leg and began reading the item’s updated description. I stepped foreward so I could inspect it as well.

  Wind’s Edge. Player made prosthetic limb and bladed weapon. Crafted by Abernathy. Bonded weapon.

  Composed of fine-crafted steel and gnomish spring technology, this prosthetic is built to withstand tremendous amounts of force. Provides +15% to Jumping, +5 Dexterity and the skill Bladed Kick.

  Bladed Kick: A hidden blade emerges from the tip of the leg, adding slicing attacks to kicks made with the appendage. Activates on command of will once bonded.

  Katarina stared for a moment longer, then shifted the leg in her hands, holding the bottom away from us. She narrowed her gaze at the end of the leg and the rubber tip flicked to the side in a motion almost too quick for me to see. A foot long, wickedly sharp straight blade of steel shot from the bottom of the leg.

  “Ohhh,” she said, turning the leg up to take a close look at the blade. Her eyes narrowed again and the blade sank back into the leg, the rubber cap flipping back in place. “Ohhh. This is cool as hell Abe, thank you!”

  She shifted, unhooking her backup leg and sending it to her inventory, replacing it with the Wind’s Edge. “What were you saying about some documents?”

  “Yeah, it was part of the NDA we signed. I can’t remember the exact page, somewhere in the late 200’s.”

  “The fact that you remember that much is scary,” I chimed in. “I didn’t really read much past page… five?”

  “You made it farther than me,” Katarina grunted as she jumped around, testing her upgraded leg. Her expression was so joyful, it was a stark shift from the melancholy and fear she had exuded only moments before.

  “You both should really review all legal documents before signing them.” Abernathy sighed. “It said that the skills and techniques we learn within Veil are actually virtual knowledge. It isn’t ours, but the connection to our minds with the Veil servers is filtered through a… I’m having trouble remembering the exact word they used, but essentially it is a computer. So our consciousness is filtered through that computer, then sent into the world of Veil. It is how everything feels so real. The computer is able to assimilate information into our waking minds.”

  “So… we aren’t actually learning everything?” I asked. It was a difficult thing to wrap my head around.

  “No, we are, to an extent. The document said that we would forget most of what we learned here, a lot like a dream, though the full extent of that was unknown and a vital data point for the Alpha.”

  “I still hate the idea of them being in my head so much, but it’s a small price to pay to run again.” Katarina walked over, leaning against the side of the wagon with a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  “You couldn’t walk before Veil?” Abernathy asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “Yeah, I was in an accident. Paralyzed from the neck down.” She glanced over towards me, then back to Abernathy. “I was one of the first accepted into the program. I got in through a medical recommendation."

  “Medical recommendation? I didn’t know that.” I was surprised, but I realized that I shouldn’t be. It made sense.

  “You knew she was paralyzed? I’ve never heard you mention it.” Abernathy said.

  “Kinda. When I use Breezestride and we become the wind, something else happens.” I looked back from Abernathy and towards Katarina. She was staring at me with large eyes that pulled me in. I once again wondered what it was that she saw in my past when we were in that state, and knew she was thinking the same. “I can see bits of her past. I think that is what you were talking about earlier, with them in our heads right?”

  “Yeah, that seems more intimate than information processed into our minds through a computer, or whatever you said, Abe. How can they pull out Chanter’s memories and show them to me? I was you, on that slimy beach. I remembered Aeden. Your brother.”

  She said the last part softly, just above a whisper. Her words were laced with a deep pain that sounded all too familiar to me. I stared into her eyes for a timeless moment, which was shattered with Abernathy’s next question.

  “Brother? You have a brother? Beach? What are you guys talking about?”

  We spent the next half hour talking. I told him about my brother, about the accident. Katarina wept while I told it. She said that the memories felt like her own, only distant, as if from long ago. She told us about her own accident, being paralyzed and unable to move. About the Corporate officials who visited her room and talked with her parents and doctors. She had been scouted for the beta. This was new to me, I had only experienced her sense of triumph as she excelled in one martial arts tournament after another, then deep depression as it was all taken away. Her rekindling as the opportunity for a second chance came in the form of a revolutionary technology.

  “That doesn’t sound like anything in the informational pamphlets or NDA,” Abernathy scratched his chin thoughtfully. “They never mentioned our memories leaving. That is troubling, indeed. Perhaps an unintended anomaly? It exceeds anything I have read or seen outside of the game, technologically speaking. The implications…”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “What implications?”

  “Yeah, you need to spell it out for us, Abernathy. Nuance is not our forte." Katarina added with a smile.