The thrill ride came to end much like a hangman's noose: a slight drop and a quick stop. The stone raft continued to drift forwards until it reached an open alcove, reminiscent of the first cave Kopius had to climb out of. He closed a blank pop up window and kept a watchful eye.

The space opened up like a grand theater, a giant dome under the ground. A single beam of light shone down from high above, illuminating a decent sized altar in the center of the large area. On it glittered countless pieces of gear, gold, and grandeur.

There were as many candlesticks, goblets, and cutlery items as there were swords, shields, and rings. Gems, coins, books, and jewelry occupied the spaces in between all of it. The stone table looked like a large hodge-podge of loot that pirates had failed to separate and hastily left behind. It all sparkled on the beam of light and twinkled in the eyes of the adventurers.

The protective bubble dome on their raft popped, spraying the two men, breaking them from their trance of the alter. Their floating rock dry docked as the last of the remaining water seeped into the soil.

Drawn to the loot, both men exited their craft and approached the altar. A blank window with Ripple quest borders popped into Kopius's vision, and he reactively closed it.

"What does it say?" Kopius whispered.

There wasn't an immediate answer, and for the first time in Kopius's entire life, he didn't get annoyed. He just looked out at the hundreds of glittering, sparkling and well-maintained pieces of gear. It was a small dragon's trove of weaponry and decadents. A really, really small dragon; but it was ,'more loot than you can shake a stick at' as his Papa would have said—at least that last part.

"Says we get to pick one, only one," Cici finally replied. "Leave the rest."

"Leave the rest?" Kopius complained. "That's some Cave of Wonders bullshit."

There was a longer pause in the conversation as the two men examined the loot. They circled the table, both mumbling to themselves about what they were seeing. Every other item on the alter inspired both men's imagination. Whether it be weaponry, accessory, or functional item; they gazed upon the pile as if it were the finest of art.

"Can we get a description before we choose?" Kopius finally asked.

"Not by my skills."

"So we don't… we have, like, no idea if what we are picking is any good?"

"That seems about right."

"Lame. Does it know if I'm moving something to the side versus trying to take it?"

Cici shrugged.

"Look at it this way, lad: we completed the quest. Anything we grab will be good. What do you think you are in need of most?"

Kopius looked down at himself, and his first thought was a working user interface so that he could Tidus of Kon his way outta here. Then he briefly reflected on the past few days, reminding himself that he wasn't in a game. It was often a sobering thought, usually accompanied with pangs of loneliness. Given the small fortune in front of him, the feeling was easily dismissed.

"I need everything except boots and gloves," Kopius finally answered with a huff. "What I really need is a way to identify all this shit. Like, let's say I take that sword there and it says 'oh yay, I'm +100 strength but can only be wielded by a garden troll.' What then? I could say the same thing about every item up here. Seriously though, this shouldn't be complicated."

"Risk and reward often embrace each other."

"That's sweet and all, but we already did the risk." Kopius used both hands to point, vaguely, in the direction of the pond. "Now is the reward time. Me like-y the loot. Is this a test or something, because I've seen that movie. Could you imagine finishing a quest and the chest of riches is actually a mimic?"

"Mimic meat is very rare—tasty, too. The things I could do with that meat…"

"Focus, please," Kopius asked.

"It would be unfortunate, but that is not what we have here. If things happen as you say, with the sword I mean, that's just some bad luck."

"Maybe we should ask the table?" Kopius suggested sarcastically. "Hey stone table altar thingy, you got any suggestions?"

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Something happened as if the Universe understood his sarcasm and answered back. Kopius didn't even notice closing a pop up window.

A small item on the table seemingly twinkled at Kopius, holding a brief shimmer and then fading away. His attempt at lightening the mood took a backseat as he looked over at Cici, confirming they had both seen it. It glinted again; Kopius focused on a plain, translucent glass ring.

The transparent nature of the small object would have made it near impossible to see, even if looking directly at it. At a closer inspection, the inside of the ring had a fogginess to it that helped to further displace the light and camouflage it. Even if the thing had been noticeable, Kopius would have easily dismissed it as something too plain to be of any importance.

"My boy," Cici breathed over Kopius's shoulder as he too leaned in for a better look. "You'll want to take that. If nothing else, it will stop your incessant nagging."

"You know what it is?" Kopius asked, twitching away from Cici like he had bad breath.

"If I'm not mistaken, and mind you I have only heard of them, that's some kind of identification ring," Cici laughed. The big man cupped a hand and did a breath check before shrugging and then continuing. "Besides, even if it's not, you're really going to ignore the answering of the gods."

"Is that what just happened?"

"Can never really tell with them. The new gods seem to be more caretakers than anything else."

"New gods?"

Cici gave him a look that asked if now was really the best time to have this conversation, to which Kopius conceded. Kopius leaned forward and took the clear glass ring. A small window popped into his vision, one he had not come across before. It was roughly the size of an index card and situated itself vertically. Its border was plain, with only a beige light defining the edges. He closed it.

Holding the ring up to the light, Kopius was impressed that—even though in his hand—at certain angles it disappeared from sight altogether. He placed it on the pinky of his right hand, and it shrunk to fit. Tilting his hand from side to side and the thing was practically imperceptible.

A Ripple quest window popped up, except this time there looked to be miniature fireworks happening in the background. He closed the blank notification.

Ding-dang

"Nice," Kopius said to himself, both at the ring and the that sweet level up sound.

Ding-dang

"Okay then," he nodded in appreciation.

Ding-dang

Ding-dang

"Holy. Shit."

Ding-dang

Ding-dang

"Let's go!" Kopius shouted, his words echoing off the domed ceiling.

He double-fist-pumped and opened his interface. Next to his name was the number 12. Blank notification windows started to pop up and when Kopius would close onetwo more would appear. He played his own mental game of whack-a-mole until the windows stopped assaulting him.

"What are we celebrating?" Cici asked earnestly. The big guy had started to hop along with Kopius, but he had no idea what they were happy about.

"I went up six levels," Kopius answered, still a bit shocked by the jump. "I'm level 12." Cici's eyes widened, and then his grin did too.

"Well now, that is worth celebrating!" Cici patted Kopius on the shoulders so hard that he almost fell forward onto the altar. Kopius managed to dodge any of the items as he skirted to the side.

Usually Cory would take these feelings of joy and accomplishment and push them way, way down inside so that he wouldn't get used to them. With his body battered and Cici's genuine smile, Kopius allowed himself to savor the moment for a few seconds longer than normal.

"I guess it's my turn then," Cici said excitedly, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

He looked at the table like a professional chess player planning their next five moves. When he finally did make his selection, Kopius didn't get a chance to see what it was as water began to seep out of the ground.

''Seep'' might be an understatement as the water reached knee height in a matter of seconds. The two men quickly waded their back to the floating stone they had rode in on, now soaked from the waist down. Kopius looked back at the altar in time to see it consumed by the water.

The raft rose with the tide and shifted its position to be directly below the light source above. Squinting his eyes to get a better look, Kopius could see that it was not a light affixed to the ceiling but rather the sun shining through a crevasse. Cory had spent a good portion of his life digging himself into one hole or another, Kopius couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all as he noticed that he was now climbing out of them.

He looked over at Cici. "This is the third time, you know," Kopius said, gesturing at their exit.

"Third time for what?"

"I've had my exit up there," Kopius replied, pointing to the hole above them.

"On a floating rock?"

"No," Kopius chuckled. "First time I had to climb, and the second time I had a rope pulley."

"Sounds like life is getting easier for you, lad."

They both looked at each other before laughing so hard that Kopius had to grab Cici by the wrist lest the big man belly laugh into the watery abyss. They each used one another to maintain their balance, and roared some more until tears ran down their faces.

There were tears from laughing, there were tears from relief, and there were tears for just how far away from the truth that statement really was.

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