Feng, now running atop the rockslide, skipped ahead in the video playlist. After a two second pre-roll ad for a new phone, another video began, this one called “Bugz’s Top 10 Creations.” The narrator from the first video returned. “While other players struggle to build an arsenal that might include a few weapons and an animal to ride around on, Bugz, in her time in the Floraverse, has become the GOAT. She doesn’t ride a donkey; she rides supernatural beasts. Rumor has it her Indigenous identity plays a big role—she taps into the collective consciousness of her Ancestors. Her greatest weapon is not a gun or knife but her ability to summon all the virtual beings around her and create things no other player can imagine.”

“Hey, Bugz’s #1 fan,” a member of Clan:LESS named Joe said to Feng with a mocking smile. “Yeah, I saw you freeze up when you fell and she made eye contact with you.” Joe batted his eyelashes. “I know you love her. But you run faster when you’re not watching videos.”

“Shut up,” Feng responded with a laugh. He swiped the video window closed and ran harder. He felt good that a clanmate he looked up to had been watching him, even if it came with a little razzing. Feng put his head down and sprinted to catch up to his clanmates.

CHAPTER 3

Bugz’s legendary status was only as good as her last battle, and this time she knew she faced a huge challenge. Confidence and talent could only go so far when you were this badly outnumbered. The angry pack of clanmates chasing her had started out wanting her riches, but now after her ambush they’d surely want revenge too. They wouldn’t stop at simply defeating her either…they needed to humiliate her.

“Down there!” she said, pointing with her lips in traditional Anishinaabe fashion, to a lake that spread from the foot of the mountain and on to the horizon. The Thunderbird sped to within a few feet of the water’s surface. The first soldiers of the Clan:LESS horde poured over the mountaintop. The reflection of the winged giant shone across the water as Bugz and the Thunderbird flew by. The moonlight and the starry sky above lit the surroundings magically, the atmosphere amplifying every movement of the combatants below.

Laser beams sped past and bullets pierced the waves. Bugz named her home base Lake of the Torches in part because of the way the stars and moons danced across the waters. It reminded Bugz of her father teaching her to torch fish as a girl. Now, with an unholy military apocalypse raining down, the lake’s name took on a new meaning. The tracers of gunfire reflected back at the heavens as laser beams shone into the waters and scattered into oblivion.

The Thunderbird banked back toward the mountain as Bugz dove from her back and plunged deep beneath the waves.