Jace, Ash and Lorenzo removed their head gear once their Heroes were safe and immediately yelped in fright. A pale anxious face was staring intensely at them.

Jace drew in his breath sharply in alarm.

"Aiiyayayayaii!"

"Damn it!" Ash exclaimed almost throwing his VR gear at Aria. "Don't do that! You scared me!"

In the semi-darkness of the spacious hall, Aria sat on the carpet near the boys with her legs drawn up to her chin. She stared at the boys hugging her knees worriedly. When Jace had started moaning in pain and Ash cursing unintelligibly, she had crept closer. If it got any worse, she would force log out Jace as promised. The Goth girl had just reached out her hand to power down Jace's head gear when Lorenzo announced that he was "On his way" and to "Hang on." Her hand had hovered uncertainly at the manual power button for a few moments. Finally she decided to wait; Constantine was the most powerful Warlock in the realm. If he couldn't help Laz and Val, no one could.

Moments later, Aria let out a sigh of relief when both Jace and Ash calmed down. She had sat within reach and waited in nervous tension, ready to act.

"Aiyayai! It's scarier out here than in there!" exclaimed Lorenzo.

"Seriously, Aria."

She ignored Ash and Lorenzo. Her eyes were trained onto Jace. "Are you o'kay? Is Laz o'kay?"

Jace blinked then swallowed trying to calm his nerves. He was still shaken from his experience in virtual. Somehow, Laz had managed to remain conscious during the whole time. He had wished his Hero had simply passed out or died. Now, Jace was adjusting to being pain free again in the real world. The extremes were disconcerting.

"Was Laz in trouble? Did you get away? Did anyone die?"

"I ... give me a minute," Jace said as he ran his hand through his dark hair and took several deep breaths. He closed his eyes relishing the air filling and expanding his healthy lungs. Gods, how could the simple act of breathing feel so good? After a minute, he opened his eyes. He realised he was not freezing anymore. He never thought he would be so eager to return back to real life.

Aria turned to the others when Jace did not answer fast enough, "Lorenzo!" she said making him jump. "You did save him in time, didn't you? And Val too?"

"How did you know we were in trouble and how did you know Constantine saved us? I thought no one can watch us in the orc realm," Ash asked suspiciously.

"You were all talking in real life ...well making weird noises. So I could guess something was up." She narrowed her eyes, "Now tell me, I was so worried, did anyone die? Did you complete the challenge?"

"No Aria," Jace assured her in a calm voice. He had recovered and adjusted mentally, regaining his composure. He could see how agitated she was. She needed updates! "No one died. Laz is o'kay and so is Val. Constantine saved us in time."

"Yes, yes I did. I am so awesome!" Lorenzo agreed proudly.

"And, we have completed the third Challenge!" Ash added excitedly. "Next time we go in we meet the Bello Boss."

"Tell me."

"Ummm, shouldn't we wait for the others to get up? Then we won't have to repeat ourselves," Ash asked looking at the sleeping bodies around them. Gwen was curled up asleep next to Chloe and Sophia. Vera was on the couch with her notes over her face, her chest rising and falling as she breathed peacefully in slumber. Jennifer was nowhere in sight so he assumed she must have retired to her own room and left the gaming teenagers to their sleepover.

"Tell me," Aria repeated warningly with a dangerous glint in her eyes. She had been worried sick for hours and she was not going to wait a moment longer. She wanted to know what happened. Laz was o'kay? Val was o'kay? Hah! The three boys were not fooling anyone! She did not believe that for a second. Details, she needed details. Jace had been moaning and Ash had been agitated for the last fifteen minutes of gameplay. And Lorenzo? ... Lorenzo had been muttering furiously without pause. She assumed he was casting powerful spells fighting whatever dreadful monsters that had attacked them.

"It's o'kay Ash, Lorenzo. I will talk to her. You guys go relax," Jace intervened to ease the tension. They had just come out of Virtual and were tired, hungry and thirsty. Aria had waited up for them and was obviously upset with the tension of not knowing what had happened. They were all here because of him.

Ash and Constantine got up to stretch. They wandered over to the kitchen for snacks leaving Aria to Jace. They needed food! Gaming was hungry work!

Jace turned to Aria and smiled reassuringly. Moving next to her, he told her what had happened during the third Challenge. He summarised the events telling her about the Quest, the Path and the Kivhs.

"We were halfway across when the Kivh-hunters appeared. They are bat like creatures which attacked us in groups. Laz and Val held them off as Constantine steadied the floating rocks for the orcs to cross." Jace ran a hand through his dark hair remembering as he continued, "During the fight Laz got into trouble because he had another episode of the poison," he said. "The timing was terrible as usual. I lost control of him but luckily Val managed to hang on. Laz was in no shape to help pull Val up. It was bad because we were both still being attacked by the creatures at that time."

Aria listened with wide eyes. She was listening to Jace but the events were playing out in high definition in her mind's eye. She could only imagine the pain and desperation Laz and Val had gone through.

"I thought we were dead until Constantine appeared like a miracle and electrocuted all of them."

"All? Is he that powerful?" Aria asked in surprise and glanced at Lorenzo who was busy making a messy giant sandwich with Ash. Ash was arguing jokingly with him whilst slapping more filling in between the layers of bread.

"Yeah, he totally massacred them all. He was so angry. There is a new power level which he unlocked at level 90," Jace explained. "Then he levitated Val when he fell and rescued Laz too. We all made for the boundary as Kalthu and his warriors covered us," Jace finished and fell silent.

He hoped she was satisfied by his narration. He had included all the main points but had down played the gore, focusing more on Val and Constantine's part. He had also highlighted Kalthu and the orcs' efforts to cross as fast as possible so that Constantine could help them complete the Challenge.

Jace waited for Aria's reaction but couldn't help flicking a jealous look at Ash and Lorenzo. They had started on the awesome monster sandwich and were making disgusting satisfying smacking sounds.

"Umm, o'kay." Aria said non-committedly.

He raised an eyebrow in inquiry. What does that mean? Was he free to go eat or did she want more details? Just then his stomach rumbled petulantly at him.

"Go eat."

"You sure?"

Aria gave Jace a bright smile, "Yes, thanks for telling me."

Jace studied her for a while, something was fishy but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. Why was she being so obliging all of a sudden? Never mind, he would figure it out later. Right now, he was dying of thirst and his stomach was getting embarrassingly noisy. "O'kay."

Aria pretended nonchalance as Jace made his way to the open kitchen where he joined in the midnight snacking. She had gotten the gist of the third Challenge but instinctively knew Jace had censored his tale. No matter, she knew how to fill in the details. All she had to do was let the boys discuss the Game freely. They were bound to talk about the exciting parts when they exchanged views and rehashed their experiences.

The petite teenager made herself comfortable and settled down keeping an ear out for the boys' conversation. Aria made sure her back was facing them. She would learn more this way.

The three boys chatted about general topics at first. However, the carefully censored conversation relaxed with full stomachs and weariness set in.

"If I had been few seconds later, you two would have left me all alone with those orcs. That Kalthu, he does not like me, yes?"

"He only likes Laz, Lorenzo. He keeps calling me ugly and puny," lamented Ash. "I am not ugly or puny!"

Jace and Lorenzo laughed merrily. Aria rolled her eyes and smiled in the dark too. She decided she liked the Warlord even more now.

"So, about Laz ..." Ash's voice became serious again. "Do you think he can go on? Do you want me to log on as Laz in the next session? It will give you a break from all that torment. It's painful seeing you suffer so much."

Aria could hear Jace shrugging his shoulders, a bad habit when he was thinking. He responded after a while. "No, I wouldn't want to put you through it and besides, I think it would be better for you to be in an avatar you are familiar with when we meet the final Boss. You will be able to fight better as Val. Laz will be pretty useless by then, the madness was terrible."

Aria sucked in her breath as the boys continued their discussion. The 'madness' had started. Vera had told her about it and her Hero, Isis had allowed Nyx into her work chamber to see the results hoping for a fresh perspective on it. Her experiments for the poison had elicited varying responses but the final stages were all bloody and horrible. They had discussed several options to try out once Nyx had calmed down after running out of the room crying in shock. Aria couldn't imagine Laz going through it. She swallowed, tears leaking from her eyes.

"You got a point."

"Do not worry. We will protect you yes?"

"What if, you know ... you get another seizure? It's more frequent and intense now. That last one was seriously bad. I thought you were going to roll off the rock."

Aria clutched her blanket and she bit her lips. Lazarus was not o'kay. He had almost died in the last session and not from the attacking Kivh-hunters. He had almost died from the poison, that was what they had been keeping from her. If the quests did not kill himin the next session or two, the poison would.

"We have to go back in again soon. The longer we wait the worse it will be, right?"

"Get some rest. You two up to gaming later?"

"Yeah, I think it's time we finish this. I'll just dose Laz before we go virtual."

The discussion subsided to low murmurings. Aria was still awake when the boys finished tidying up and settled in their sleeping bags.