The moon shone high above Lake of the Torches, its reflection shimmering across rolling waves. Bugz paddled slowly in a birchbark canoe, pausing after each stroke to let the black water drip slowly back into the lake. The ripples from these droplets caught the dim light for a moment before they flattened into the nothingness of the expansive waters. Bugz and her canoe coasted smoothly through the simulated darkness of the Spirit World.

Overhead, the northern lights danced in the distance.

“Hello, Ancestors,” Bugz whispered to them.

She blew air softly through her lips, increasing the pressure on her lower lip until she found a whistling tone. Bugz craned her head to the northern lights. She whistled the melody of an old prayer song she knew, one she learned from YouTube. She ran through it once and paused, gliding her canoe through the water, waiting for the virtual northern lights to respond to her tune.

Nothing.

“I guess they didn’t program that into this universe,” Bugz said to herself.

As her canoe drifted, a giant black diamondback surfaced in the water on her port side. Then another on her starboard side, and more behind her. As Bugz scanned the surface of the waters around her, dozens more shiny-plated beasts emerged from the dancing waters in every direction.

“Nameg.” She whispered the Anishinaabe word for sturgeon. “You’re so beautiful.”

She paddled again.

“I love you all…”

Her voice trailed off as she scanned each of the prehistoric-looking life-forms around her, concentrating on paddling a weaving path between them.

“But which of you is my favorite?”

Suddenly, she noticed how quiet the Floraverse had become. She looked to the shore and saw a strange bounty hunter–looking ’Versona waving to her. God, these fans, Bugz thought. Can’t leave me alone. The figure waved with greater urgency and brought their hands to their mouth, as though trying to yell. Bugz focused on what the person was saying. It sounded like “watch out.”

She unmuted her chat.

Messages poured into her heads-up display.

“therealNix: Look out!”

“Feelthevern: They’re about to attack!”

“Raven_womxn: Clan:LESS is closing in Bugz, pay attention!”

“Iamtheone: Stupid B—”

“Oh shoot. Too much time enjoying nature,” Bugz said, still lost in the virtual scene. “Where are these losers coming from?”

A murder of crows scattered from a poplar tree to her right. Bugz turned and held her breath. No movement, no sound, not even a reflection across the water.

Bugz unholstered a flare gun from her thigh and fired it high above the offending tree. The flare exploded like a shimmering orange firework and illuminated hundreds of Clan:LESS soldiers struggling to stay hidden behind cloaking shields. These handheld defenses actually hid the soldiers from Bugz, for the most part. However, her flare revealed scores of battle helmets, antennae, and scalp locks sticking out over the top of the invisibility screens.