The Worth of a Wish

A white streak passed overhead, appearing in brief flashes between the dead and twisted branches. None of the motley crew running down the path below paused, though one did bother to comment, straying slightly as his concentration was divided.

“Huh. Cool. Shooting star,” Justin said, tweaking his course slightly to bring him back in line with his allies.

“What, outside?” asked Will, his voice coming through in a faint crackle of static.

“Can’t be,” Mike butted in. “It’s starting to rain out here.”

“Oh, yeah, you did mention that earlier. Forgot you two lived in the same town.”

“Yeah, it was in the game,” Justin clarified. “Pretty cool that someone coded random stuff like that into it.”

“Make a wish,” Zack prompted, his wood elf character zig-zagging across the trail so she didn’t outpace the rest of them.

“It’s not real; it wouldn’t count,” said Will.

“So? It’s not like real shooting stars actually grant wishes either, so you might as well.”

“Maybe I’ll wish for something in the game,” Justin decided, checking the corner mini-map. They were quickly drawing near the lair of Belator. “So...I wish...to beat this boss and level up!”

“Isn’t that, like, two wishes?”

“And aren’t you inches away from leveling anyhow?”

“Yeah, but it counts.”

“What’s the point in wishing for something you’re sure to get?” Mike complained. “It’s a waste of a good wish.”

“You were the one who said wishing didn’t work,” Zack pointed out.

“Yeah, but you never know, and in that case it’s better to wish for something impossible, like...I don’t know, a level-ninety Mystic Soul Sword in the loot.”

“Yeah, right – Belator’s only level forty-five. We’ll be lucky to get Ruby-level gear out of him, forget anything enchanted.”

“It’s still something to wish for.”

“Well, too late – I already made my wish, and I called the star first,” Justin said, his dark-clad assassin suddenly stopping just outside the castle gates. The four of them milled around, getting into position and waiting for the server to recognize them as a group and allow them entry. “Let’s forget the thing and just go kick demonic ass.”

-

One lair-full of minions, five health elixirs, and two enemy boss transformations later, they had Belator backed into a figurative corner, his health bar as low as Justin’s XP bar was high. The animated shadow demon roared and flinched with every arrow, spell, and swordstroke that clouted him. Justin tasted victory. The instant the enemy’s health bar began flashing, indicating a chance for an easy close-quarters kill, Justin sent his character darting forward, knife flashing –

Thunder as loud as a cannon blast shook the air, and the instant the assassin’s blade touched his enemy’s side the screen flashed and faded black, along with every other light in Justin’s room. The teen wrenched his silent headphones off and slammed a fist into his desk.

“NO! DAMN IT ALL!”

The storm rumbled on outside, uncaring of a boy’s curses.

-

“What happened last night?”

“Power outage.”

“Oh. We were wondering. How far back did it dump you?”

“In town, right before we started out on the quest.”

“That sucks. Servers must’ve been busy. That, or the disconnect...”

“Hm.”

“Hey, speaking of the disconnect...funny thing happened. Seems that when someone in a team suddenly disconnects right in the middle of a kill blow, the game glitches. The loot got a bit more random than it should have, and–”

“No. Oh, no.”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t believe how much damage a level-ninety Soul Sword can do.”