"Tarlia…?" Matt asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Indeed!" the dark haired troll confirmed, standing up upon the rock she previously sat and spreading out her arms. "It is I!" She proceeded to hop down from the rock, her arms still widespread as she did, and she gestured Matt for an embrace. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person!" The smile on her face seemed sincere enough, and she seemed genuinely happy to meet Matt, but Matt hesitated for a few moments, still unsure as to if the troll wasn't a hallucination. Eventually, he complied though, letting the troll pull him tightly into her embrace. She was surprisingly strong, considering her figure, and Matt grunted slightly as he felt slight pain coming from his back.

He pulled away quickly, rubbing his back as he did, and sighed. "Yeah, it's great to finally see you in the flesh. Guess you weren't lying about the whole 'beautiful troll lady' thing, huh?"

Tarlia twirled around, her short, white dress flailing around with her, before coming to a halt once she'd made a three-sixty degree turn. "So it seems!"

"But how? Where did you even come from? Is this even possible? From what Carthus told me, you shouldn't be here! You should be on your own planet!"

"But I was! I finally entered my third gate, after all the teenage drama."

"Third gate? You're already up to your third fucking gate?! How are you doing this so quickly? We are in the same session, right?"

"Yes, I assure you we are!" Tarlia walked past Matt, looking up the mountain directly above them, and at Matt's house sitting dangerously on the edge. "To answer your question; I don't actually rightfully know! I was talking to Tara, telling her about her fake religion, and then I turn up here! If I remember correctly, I think I may have seen you in my hive when I was teleported."

Matt rubbed his forehead, and groaned, "Okay, firstly, my alternate selves are really getting up to some motherfucking time shenanigans, secondly," Matt gestured for Tarlia to come closer, which she happily complied, "YOU TOLD TARA HER RELIGION WAS A LIE!?"

Tarlia recoiled away from Matt, her ears ringing from Matt shouting so close to her. "I thought it was a good idea! You know, to help her accept who she was!"

"Where the hell is she? How did she react?"

"About as well as you'd expect. She isn't answering any of my greetings. I'm worried she may do something rash!"

"Should I contact her?"

"She told me to not let anyone else talk to her either."

Matt thought for a few moments, examining the mountain as he did. It was during that moment that he discovered how tired he actually was; he hadn't slept in two days, instead opting to stay up and play the game. He turned back to Tarlia.

"Yo, I don't think I want to deal with anything else today. What's the status of that God Tier?"

Tarlia placed her arms behind her back, "I believe their session should be merging with ours momentarily."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means that our and their sessions shall become a singular session, and the remaining players in theirs will be transported into ours through by their Void player."

"Are there any others beside the God Tier?"

"I don't know, I'm afraid!"

"Well, to be completely honest, I'm feeling extremely woozy from my lack of sleep. Can I take a nap?"

"Oh, you can! In fact, I highly recommend it! It'll allow you to get in touch with your Dream Self!"

"There's more to this stupid game? God damnit, whatever. Let's get in touch with my Dream Self, I guess."

Tarlia clapped her hands a couple of times, and made a short yet giddy hop. "Great! But where will you sleep…?"

Matt began to lie down of the grass, taking in the strong scent of what seemed to be recently cut grass. "I'm a man, I'll just sleep on the ground. Rough it up like Man vs Wild."

"Whatever you say, Matt! I shall see you there!"

"See me wher-" Matt was unable to finish his thought, as Tarlia's small foot was planted firmly in his face, and he was knocked out almost instantly.

Matt awoke an unknown amount of time later, if time had passed at all, in a strange, new room. He let out a groan, sitting up in a king size bed in a dark green room, strongly reminiscent of his own room back home. In fact, the room seemed to be an exact duplicate to his own, complete with his collection of special edition video games on one side and his work desk on the other. He glanced down at his new, bright, and golden coloured set of clothes; a long sleeved and baggy shirt coupled with long and loose pants. He made a noise of disgust, hating his new clothes, and jumped off his bed. There was one difference between his own room at home and this one; this room had some strange drawings scrawled across the walls of some sort of monster. The thing had long, slinking arms, though no legs were seen on it. Its body was contorted in an unnatural position, though it still remained quite humanoid, and in place of its face sat a gaping hole. What Matt did recognise was the pair of horns on its head, which were identical to Tarlia's. Matt examined the drawings closely for a few moments, before he heard an impact on the other side of the room, from a wide open window, and turned around.

"Hello again!" Tarlia greeted him, giving a wave. She wore clothing similar to Matts, albeit with a dress akin to her waking self's dress as opposed to Matts own clothes.

"Oh. That's what you meant when you said 'see you there'," Matt sighed, walking over to the window and peering outside to the golden city below.

"Welcome to Prospit, one of Skaia's moons, and home to the forces of light." She made a sweeping gesture over the city.

"Wow, it certainly is bright, huh?"

Tarlia giggled, stepping out of the window and beginning to float in mid-air. Matt stood there for a moment, not sure if he should follow, but Tarlia held out her hand to him, signalling that he should. He reluctantly took it, and with her floated down to the city grounds. On the city grounds were various humanoid figures dressed in military clothing alike to Matts Marinesprite, but they were a bright and pure white colour. They both stood in the middle of the city grounds, a decently wide expanse of clear land without buildings, with a few of Prospit's people surrounding them, looking on in awe.

"Why are they looking at us?" Matt asked Tarlia, glancing around.

"I assume it's because their Prince and Princess are awake!"

"Wait, Prince? We're royalty?"

"Not exactly. It's hard to explain, but they have been waiting for us to wake for a while now!"

"Huh. I'm a hero and a Prince? It's like a fairy-tale." Matt looked back at Tarlia. "So do you know whether anyone else from that other session is alive yet?"

"Oh, what a coincidence! The answer to your question is coming now!" Tarlia pointed past Matt, but he hadn't the chance to look as he heard the rush of footsteps, and a hard punch sending him flying across the square, a few feet away from Tarlia.

"Stay down, motherfucker!" a raspy, yet girlish voice ordered him. Matt got onto his hands and knees, and faced the source of the voice. Stood there, panting, was a tall, athletic looking troll girl, seeming about six foot four in height, wearing clothes exactly like Matts. Her hair was made into several black braids, clearly showing her wavy horns, and her face was covered in makeup; so much makeup, in fact, that it made her look like some kind of clown, or more so like a Juggalo. She bore her pointy teeth at him, a look of pure anger in her eyes.

She turned to Tarlia, placing her arm in front of Tarlia. "Stay back, Tarli, I got this."

"Tarli?" Matt whispered to himself.

Tarlia pushed the troll girls arm down, standing in front of her with her arms in front. "No, no, no, no, no, no! He's not an en-"

Tarlia was gently pushed out of the way, "I'm not hearing it. This fucker is DEAD!"

Matt began to stand up, wiping a streak of blood from his mouth, "Calm down you Juggalo piece of shit. I'm on your side!"

"Juggalo…? How do you know about our religion, human?"

Matt scoffed, then broke into a laugh, "Oh my god, your religion is based around the Insane Clown Posse?! That's fucking hilarious!"

"Gah, whatever! You're fucking dead anyway!"

Matt raised his fists, "Fine, bring it on, A-cup!"

"What the fuck's an A-cup?"

"It means you have small tits, you dumb bitch!"

"Oh that's it, you're dead!" The troll began to sprint at him, but Tarlia stepped in between them before she could.

"Hysees, stop!" Tarlia commanded. "He's friendly! And he's necessary to the game! So please don't kill him until we create the new universe!" Tarlia proceeded to take the other trolls, who seemed to be named Hysees, hands in her own. Tarlia stared caringly into Hysees' eyes, gently caressing her hands, and whispered, "Please do it. For me?"

Hysees stared directly into Tarlia's eyes, unflinching, before eventually settling into a neutral and content state. "Fine. Just for you."

Tarlia gave a warm smile, and proceeded to push back one of Hysees' braids behind her head, clearing up Hysees' face. "Thanks honey, I appreciate it." Tarlia then pulled the other troll into a hug, which the other happily complied with, before parting ways. Tarlia then turned to Matt, taking a hold of Hysees' hand and leading her to the chestnut coloured hair friend. "Now, what do you have to say to Matt?"

Hysees looked away, embarrassed by her predicament, before spitting out, "Sorry for trying to kill you for touching Tarlia."

Matt chuckled, "That's it? I touched her and you decided to murder me?" Hysees shrugged. "Well whatever. Apology accepted."

Tarlia then proceeded to take Matt's hand, and asked him, "Now, what do you say to Hysees?"

"What do I say to Hysees?" This comment earned him a hurtful jab in the ribs. "Ow! Fine, sorry for insulting your weird religion."

Hysees looked at the teen expectantly, "And?"

"And what?" Matt's eyes lit up with realisation. "Oh my god, is this about calling you A-cup?" Hysees narrowed her eyes at Matt, giving him his answer. "Whatever, sorry for saying you had small breasts, which is a weird thing to be self-conscious about as a Juggalo, but as I said, whatever."

Tarlia let go of both of them, letting out a squeal and clapping quickly a couple of times. "Great! We're all friends now! So, Hysees, I don't know whether this'd be a bad question to ask, but how many players remain in your session?"

Hysees thought for a moment, "Last I knew, there was me, Jaloon, Pially, and Gertrand left. Although Gertrand went insane and used his Prince of Life powers to try and kill us, so I have no idea if he counts."

"Oh no, so two of you died?"

"Yeah, although that was more Yeman's fault than Gertrands. Idiot got himself and Mahnda killed in one battle."

Tarlia looked down for a second, not revealing her emotions, then looked up with a hesitant smile on her face. "Well, you guys are alive at least! So I suppose that's a win. Everyone in our session is alive; Carthus, Matt obviously, and another human girl named Tara, who we've, uh, lost contact with for the time being."

"Okaaaaayyyy? Well I'll try not to kill her if I see her." Hysees looked around at the crowd that had formed during their confrontation, consisting of over two dozen Prospitans. "Yeah, it's great that we have seven people to take on one guy. Hopefully someone comes up with a plan." She made her way past Tarlia and Matt, and pushed a couple of Prospitans to the ground to get through the crowd. "I'm going to find my tower, and set up a group chat for us all."

"Alright hun, see ya!" Tarlia made a heart sign with her hands, directed at Hysees, whom returned the gesture hesitantly. Matt swore he saw her blush purple, though he couldn't be sure. After they had lost sight of Hysees, the remaining two turned to each other.

"So," Matt began, "she seems nice."

"Yes, she certainly knows how to make an impression!"

"How'd you calm her down? She seemed pretty protective of you."

"Well, you know how it is!"

Matt narrowed his eyes, "No, I don't. Tarlia, is there something between you two I should know about?"

"Well before you make accusations, we're not romantically involved. Well, yes and no."

"Tarlia…"

"It's kind of weird to tell you, but I suppose you may be able to help me with a problem it's causing." She rubbed the back of her head nervously, and sighed. "Our relationship is purely, uh, sexual."

"I see."

"No, that's not it. I am, or I guess was, in sexual relationships with all my friends. Except for Carthus, of course, and Jaloon, the sweetie."

Matt stared at her open-mouthed, before sighing, "Holy shit, I never would've guessed. I can definitely see how that would be a problem."

Tarlia frowned, "I know! I need to break it off with them all, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"Listen, Hysees was going to set up a group chat, wasn't she? I'll help you talk to them, and we can break it off together. I'm sure they'll understand when you tell them you have actual feelings for another."

"I suppose."

Matt patted her shoulder, and walked past the crowd of Prospitans to the edge of the square, and leaned on the railing. Tarlia followed suit, coming up and standing next to him. The two surveyed the city, noting the extravagant architecture and the three golden spires that lorded over the city. Matt suddenly heard a commotion come from below, and glanced down to its source. Down below, he saw a few different Prospitans, in various sizes, alerting the presence of a large, hulking brute of a Prospitan, though this one was coloured black as opposed to white. Matt turned to Tarlia, who had noticed the scene as well.

"What the hell's happening down there?" Matt asked.

"I believe that is an agent from Derse, the rival moon! He seems to be up to no good!"

"We have to do something!"

"I don't know, seems as if we shouldn't get involved."

Matt grunted, "Fuck that. If he's fucking up our game, I got to do something."

Tarlia looked disapprovingly at him, "Matthew, what are you going to do about it anyway?"

Matt backed away from the railing, preparing for a run up in order to jump to the bridge below. "Put a stop to some motherfucking political shenanigans." With that, he ran up and cleared the railing in a single jump, and proceeded to land on the bridge below on with a loud thump. He landed on his feet, and looked towards the brute, who took a sword out from their military outfit, preparing to kill the Prospitans. He rushed forward, and threw a punch at the brute, causing him to stagger. He turned to face Matt, and his eyes grew wide when he did. Anger soon took his face, and he attacked Matt, slashing at him furiously. Matt dodged every slash, and threw another punch, knocking the brute back. He heard what seemed like cheers coming from the crowd, and smirked cockily at the brute. The brute ran forward again, but this time Matt didn't dodge, instead charging and knocking the hulking brute down to the ground. His sword slid across to Matt, who picked it up, and proceeded to stand in front of the brute. Tarlia finally came down from above and landed behind him, confused as to how he managed to pick up a weapon that wasn't part of his Strife Specubis, but watched on as Matt sliced off the brutes head.

Its body went limp, and his head rolled back, allowing Matt to catch it with his foot. Matt looked around at the crowd, now consisting of more than a dozen, and picked up the head with one arm and keeping the brutes sword in the other. He floated upwards, searching for some kind of town square, spotting one just a few miles from his position.

He turned to Tarlia, "You think there's any more?"

"Almost certainly. What are you planning to do with that head?"

Tarlia floated up beside him, as Matt began his way towards the town square. "Sending a message." He then made his way through the city, past all the truly extravagant architecture, intent on reaching the square. As he did, a large crowd of people amassed and started following him, starting with dozens, then a hundred, then almost three hundred by the end of his journey. He wasn't sure as to whether any more agents from Derse were watching, but he surely was hoping they were. He landed in the middle of the square, in front of a large fountain, and the Prospitans crowded around him. Among them was Tarlia, and the recently met Hysees, who had just gotten back from setting up a group chat. Matt stood on top of the deactivated fountain, and plunged the sword into the open hole, and then stuck the brutes head on top of it.

Hysees nudged Tarlia, signalling her attention. "What the fuck is that loser doing?" Tarlia shrugged in response, and Hysees looked back up at Matt, smiling slightly in respect for his action.

The crowd soon parted, making way for another Derse agent. This time, he was slightly smaller, and clearly angry at Matt's actions. Matt smirked at him, before sliding his thumb across his own throat to make his point clear; he was going to win, one way or another.