Five minutes in and the wolf is very mad at her. Fire is everywhere destroying the grasslands, and a little girl in a unicorn suit is latched on to her arm, shrieking, “The Soggy! The Soggy!” over and over again.

Plus the interface is like driving a knife into her brain. She knew it wouldn’t feel real, but she hadn’t realized how much. Every step she takes and doesn’t feel, every wild swing she takes at the Soggy girl and doesn’t feel sends shivers of dissociation and disgust trembling through her.

Alex is supposed to go up hill, she knows this, but eff that. Eff it. “Eff you,” she tells the Soggy girl, who just shrieks louder. She’s going downriver.

A tooltip appears glowing superimposed over the Soggy’s face. “The unicorn,” it says, apparently quite seriously, “appears when 75% of the land is underwater or on fire. Some users dislike her, and will intentionally let the clock run out rather than risk an action that will summon her.”

“The Soggy!” shrieks the unicorn, eyes wide, mouth red and wet from sucking at Alex’s sleeve. “The Soggy! The Soggy!”

Alex tries to drown her in the river, but all that does is make the wolf that much madder.