"How?" Lana asked. She and Andy hadn't experienced my 10,000 Movies Experience with the Party Time token that allowed us to watch a movie while only 1 second passed in real-time.

"Wait, there are too many of us," Jane said. Only 6 of us could watch a movie at a given time, and there were 8 of us, plus Nigel.

"Are you willing to upgrade that Party Time token to handle larger groups?" I asked.

"Maybe in a future loot box," Cyrus said. That triggered soft grumbles.

"We'll just have to use 2 tokens." I didn't want to burn through them too fast, but it felt right to use them the night before a big, dangerous raid.

"What are you talking about?" Lana demanded.

Ruby explained, and her confusion flipped to excitement like she'd tripped a switch. "I love movies! This is perfecto. Vamonos. Let's do it."

I had to watch both movies, and the others split into groups. For the first movie, I took Lana, Andy, Tomas, and Jane. That left one spot open, which Ruby took, much to Steve's delight.

"Which movie?" I asked.

They debated for a while, but we finally settled on Wreck it Ralph. Lana, with some help from Cyrus, convinced us that we should see the movie he'd just quoted so we understood the reference.

It ended up being a really fun movie, better than I'd expected. It had a lot of heart. I practiced soaring in and out of scenes, pushing the limits of how much I could adjust the viewing angle.

I could stand right in the same spot as a character, which made the action really cool. Still, it wasn't quite as all-encompassing as what Cyrus promised people could get by buying VIP access to our memories. Lana and Andy laughed and whooped as they swooped back and forth for at least half the movie, loving the experience. Tomas and Jane flew around a bit too, hands clasped together, enjoying their time.

That left Ruby with me. We had fun, making a game of flying in and out of each scene and trying to view them from the craziest angles. When we tired of that, we floated together, chatting about our families.

We'd talked about them a couple times, but not as much as we probably should have. Life was busy, and thinking about home too much could be depressing. In that free time inside the movie, topics like home and family and our past lives seemed more accessible.

The fact that I'd sent that message really buoyed Ruby's spirits. She'd worried about her family way more than I had, and knowing they'd get a message opened a floodgate.

She talked for half an hour straight, telling me about her favorite homes. They'd moved a lot when she was young, so she'd lived all over Europe. Her faint Irish accent was a joy to listen to, and I learned a lot about countries I'd always thought of visiting, but never had.

In turn, I spoke a bit about my experiences on the fire crews or working as a skydiving instructor. I told her about many of the wonders I'd explored across nearly every state in the US, including Alaska.

"Of all the places on Earth I've seen, the only one that comes close to the majesty of the mountains on Arasha was Alaska. Simply breathtaking."

"When we get back, we should go visit Alaska," Ruby said and held my gaze, a little smile with the hint of promise on her lips.

My heart raced and I returned her smile. She took my hand and squeezed it. "Something to look forward to."

I nodded and squeezed back. "I'd like that."

When the movie ended, we hung out in the same lavish, 5-star lobby that had appeared last time.

"While we're waiting, want to try an experiment?" I asked the group and pulled out that glowing blue gelatin dessert I'd gotten from Velexis's lair, the one Sythrak called a Nebula Custard. Supposedly it would trigger visions of Tenebralis, Velexis's home world.

We each tried a small piece. The room disappeared, and suddenly I floated high above a shifting maze of black stone walls that extended beyond view in every direction.

The enormous maze was built on a flat plain under a heavily overcast sky, filled with ominous black clouds. A weak, pale sun peeked through for a second before being obscured again.

I flew down, swooping low over the tall stone walls, weathered from countless centuries, but unbroken. In the depths of the maze, thick shadows coiled, forming into monstrous beings. They reached arms and claws and tentacles toward the sky while filling the air with faint whispers that promised ancient secrets if I would drop lower for just a moment.

I pulled up, a chill of fear creeping down my spine. That was freaky.

Then the vision ended and the world snapped back to the comfortable lobby. I dropped into one of the huge, overstuffed chairs, mind whirling from the vision so much I barely registered how incredible the dessert tasted. A whirlwind of flavors was subsiding across my tongue, but even that vestige of taste made me want to go take another bite.

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All around me, everyone reacted in similar ways. Lana nearly swooned, but Andy caught her.

"That was a rush!" Jane exclaimed, looking toward the cake with a hungry expression. I dumped it back into my inventory.

"I think one taste is enough for now."

"No, that was amazing! I saw this beautiful ruined temple carved into a mountain. It had these statues that had to stand half a mile tall. They were incredible. When I looked into their eyes, I caught glimpses of their world from long ago when the sun was still bright and colossus monsters roamed the planet."

"That sounds more fun than mine," Tomas said with a shiver. "I ended up flying above a vast, inky ocean. The waves had to be hundreds of yards tall, as black as liquid night. Enormous monsters flashed in the depths with some kind of bioluminescence. I caught only glimpses of their silhouettes, but they made those flying whales look like minnows."

Lana steadied herself against a nearby table with artfully placed travel books. "I saw these towering black crystal formations. I could tell they were sharp enough to cut anything that touched them, even though they were miles tall. They were bursting with dark energy and it was like they were alive, slowly stretching toward the sky. The made patterns that nearly broke my mind."

Some kind of runes? I was tempted to take another bite and see if I could get that vision. What secrets could I learn of the demons by seeing those world-sized runes?

Andy said, "So I guess we all got different visions. I saw a huge city of tents, stuffed with people, but covered in some kind of veil that made everything look half cloaked. I even saw a sign describing it as The Phantom Market and somehow I knew it shifted location every night. It's a city of traders that deals in forbidden relics, powerful artifacts, and even captured souls."

"That's banjaxed," Ruby said. "I'm so glad I didn't get that one. Mine was a grand cavern filled with glowing plants that fed on darkness. Manky things like flying jellyfish were floating around with tentacles sparking with energy."

"All of those different places are part of the demons' world?" Lana asked.

I shrugged. "If dessert-based hallucinations carry any truth."

"I never though I wanted to visit their world. Now I'm sure," Jane said.

The rest of the quiet time passed quickly. I rested and reviewed rune scripts I'd learned fro those tomes. Ruby read a book, and the others explored the various rooms and halls that branched off from the central lounge. They were all opulently decorated, but otherwise empty. I tried to take one of the chairs, but couldn't.

When we returned to my castle, Steve announced, "Last time, we all agreed I'd pick the movie."

"Yeah, we did. Which do you want?"

"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure."

"You're kidding," Susan said. "Why not Pride and Prejudice?"

He laughed. "Life is hard enough already, my love."

"Hey!"

I turned to Nigel. "Want to join us?"

He leaped to my shoulder and said, "Cats hate getting wet because it feels like we're naked."

I smiled and scratched behind his ears. Random Nigel for the win again.

"We've actually got 2 more slots, if anyone else wants to come in again."

Ruby said, "I've never seen Bill & Ted's. I'll go."

"I want to go again," Lana said.

"You going to leave Andy behind? That's cold," Steve joked.

Andy chuckled. "Watching a regular movie will never be the same. That was amazing. I'd go again in a heartbeat, but if there's only 1 spot left, Lana should take it."

"Willing to sacrifice for true love is a great line to add to your resume," Steve gave Andy an approving nod.

"I guess you're in," I told Lana, who shouted, "Yes!", pumped her hand in victory, then gave Andy a passionate kiss. She also gave him the package of Oreos, and they both looked pretty happy with the exchange.

Bill & Ted's was a hilarious movie, and I let myself enjoy it, again swooping around and through the action. Nigel absolutely loved flying around and kept dive-bombing the actors and trying to bite their heads.

I popped buckets of popcorn with my refillable Air-Popping Popcorn bag, and we enjoyed the adventure of the idiots traveling through time, picking up historical figures for their school project. Then Susan threw a handful of popcorn at Steve. With a grin, he responded by throwing a piece of chocolate pudding pie at her.

Where had he gotten that? Probably stole it from my confection oven.

The pie splattered across Susan's face and she squawked in outrage, produced a tomato, and flung it back. It caught Steve right in his laughing mouth.

And the food fight was on.

Both Steve and Susan had a bunch of random food, mostly from their work in Sam's tavern. Tons of drink-making and food-prep supplies came into play until they ended up wrestling. Laughing, she smeared custard across his face while he rubbed chocolate through her blond hair.

Meanwhile, Nigel zipped back and forth, gobbling up as much of the food as he could catch. As much as he whined about needing more steak, he ate everything. Ruby didn't have as much food variety, so mostly threw popcorn.

I, on the other hand, had a ton of food. I introduced them all to potato salad, then dumped a quart of rabbit stew over Steve's head. Nigel leaped on his back to lick it off and kept growling at him to hold still.

"Hey, leave my man alone," Susan cried and produced a huge bag of salt. She clobbered me over the head with it and the bag exploded, coating me with a thick layer of white.

Coughing and sputtering, I caught her across the legs with a giant fish fillet, sending her tumbling away through the air.

"Good shot," Ruby laughed until Steve dumped what looked like a 5-gallon bucket of cherries over her head.

By the time we finished, we were all covered in food scraps and out of breath from laughing so hard. It felt good to unwind, and for a moment I forgot all about monsters and battles and Queen Marisara and the fate of Earth that hung in the balance.

When the movie ended, Steve and Susan wandered off hand in hand to explore the empty halls of the fancy lounge we got dumped in. Ruby dropped onto a couch next to me, while Nigel sprawled on the floor in front of the fireplace.

"That was fun," Ruby said as she tried to pull chunks of potato from her red hair.

I nodded. "I think we all needed that."

She sighed and leaned against me, rubbing more food scraps across my armor in the process. When she spoke again, her voice was soft.

"Lucas, we're going to win, aren't we?"

She usually projected such a strong face to the world, that moment of vulnerability struck me hard. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and she snuggled in closer. I dumped my heavy armor back into my inventory so I could feel her warm body close beside mine.

I leaned my chin onto her head, mashing another potato chunk deeper in the process. She smelled like potato salad and salami and soup.

"We'll win," I promised softly but caught myself before adding, "Or we'll die trying."

"Thanks," she said after a moment.

For the rest of the time before the Party Time token wore off, we just sat together, taking comfort in each other's presence, mentally preparing for everything we still had to do. We'd made it halfway, but the hardest battles still loomed ahead.

We weren't the same terrified, weak people who had crash-landed on Arasha 2 weeks ago. We'd grown strong, and we knew how to keep leveling up. We'd find a way, we'd defeat Queen Marisara, and we'd save Earth.

And then? Then we might be strong enough to dare exploring what we might become together.

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