Demonprist danced.

She handled her sword with deftly, carefully controlling every manoeuvre, the forced control strengthening her muscles and focussing her mind. She realized, on some level, that this slow and deliberate swordplay was a form of meditation, much like yoga, though its physical benefits manifested itself in the raised attributes and experience points of her character instead of the ongoing health of her living body.

*Although,* she wondered as she mimicked a lunge, *I wonder how I'm performing this. Is my body moving back home, or is the screen projecting what I imagine? Is this kind of thing programmed into certain characters? Are there others out there who are thinking like me?*

There was no way to verify this...no way to know how unique she really was. For some reason...one she could not quite pinpoint...this angered her and, in the space of a heartbeat, the slow-motion swordfight was launched into real time. She faught as though she truly faced an opponent, slipping the minds of disliked characters over the visage of her attacker in her mind's eye.

She was on the verge of depriving Lion-o of his precious sword...exactly which she would not have ventured to share with anyone...when Mumm-ra stepped into her practise chamber.

"Stop that," he hissed, his deep warrior's voice added an extra air of menace to the demand.

Demonprist nearly hissed back, but caught her tongue and stopped her workout short. As she stood there, breathing heavily, it occurred to her that she had yet to actually *see* Mumm-ra in his mummy form. Surely he couldn't hold on to that level of power for so many hours on end...even in the pyramid. But then, he wouldn't have to wear his warrior form *all* the time...only in her presence if that was what he wished.

"You don't need to fear my improvement. I only wish to serve you," said the red-haired woman, casting her eyes downward in a sign of respect. "With enough power, I could obliterate the Thundercats. Annihilate Lion-o *and* the Sword of..."

"Enough," barked Mumm-ra. Demonprist grudgingly silenced herself. "What I *want* you and the would-be mage to do is prove to me that you're of some worth."

"We..."

"I am well aware of what you can *do*, my dear," grinned Mumm-ra evilly. "What I want is to *see* you doing it. Not a word," he ordered as the player opened her mouth once more. "Just go and fetch him...bring him to the cauldron chamber." He took Demonprist's jaw and titled it gently to the right. "And get rid of your scales, Viper. Evil company does not mean uncivilized company."

The player's eyes blazed. "I can find Kith faster this way," said Demonprist in a clipped tone, escaping Mumm-ra's grasp and changing into Naga mode. She tossed her sword over her shoulder and it vanished into thin air as she slithered quickly out of the chamber.

Kith was labourously studying a scroll on fire usage. Since gaining access to Mumm-ra's vast library of magical texts he had made contact with all of his elemental powers. Though it was true that he had not had occasion to use them, he knew he could at least draw on the energy they provided should he decide that they were needed. As far as his strengths went, his Earth powers were by far the greatest, followed by those of the Air. Water came third. This energy was strong, but slippery to hold and to manage; they would take practise to master. His weakest element was Fire, but it was the simplest to access as any strong emotion could offer him a boost.

"Hey, Elf-boy!" shouted Demonprist as she charged into the doorway in snake-woman form.

The doorway was as far as she managed to get. The invisible barrier stopped her cold. "Ooof," she complained before slithering back a little to look over the portal.

"Magical lock...only students allowed past this point," Kith grinned at her over the edge of his scroll. He hadn't really meant to be mean...just tease...but Demonprist glared at him with eyes of fire. With a little snort of indignity, she muttered a couple of words, snapped her fingers, and slipped through the opening. "Hey!"

"I may be a soldier Avatar, but I have magical attributes," she sniffed. "I checked my profile...I'm an 'opener of ways' which, I gather, is even better than a locksmith. I can even break into the underworld if I get a high enough power level."

"Which means?"

"*I* am going to learn how to bring the dead back to life," said Demonprist, sticking her tongue out at the Elven lord.

"I thought Anubis did that."

"Nah, he just pickles them."

"Well you're going to have a hard time learning *any* high-level spells...this is the beginner's section and you're not even supposed to be in here," Kith reminded her. "Your 'Mummsies' is gonna freak if he finds you broke in."

"Well then he should know better than to send me to find you. He wants us both in the cauldron room."

"Can't it wait until I memorize this one spell? We might need it."

"No."

"Just go and tell him I'll be along in a minute!"

"You tell him! I'm not your servant, I'm his," huffed Demonprist. *For now,* she added silently. "I said I was going to come and get you and I'm not leaving until you come with me."

"You'll be waiting a bit then."

Demonprist reached into the air beside her and pulled out her serpent staff. The action had become almost second nature to her. The red gem grasped in the jaws of the golden snake glittered. "If you don't come now, you'll never have to worry about learning that spell again," she threatened with less than perfect subtlety.

"You promised *Mummsies* you wouldn't destroy anything...remember?" said Kith without looking up from his spell. "You must have *some* honour at least."

Demonprist clenched her jaw a moment then sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah...some. I guess. He hasn't been enough of a bastard to me for me to break *that* promise. Yet. Look, I'll stop bugging you so you can finish, but you have to hurry it up, okay? He's using this as some kind of test and it will look back if we're late."

"Deal."

True to her word, Demonprist bothered Kith no further and Kith, for his part, read as swiftly as he could, never minding that the desk upon which the red-haired Avatar had draped herself overlooked a number of his open books and fragments of scroll. Silently, with only the occasional noise ofim patience to mask her actions, Demonprist did a little light reading herself.

"You're late," said Mumm-ra sourly. He was still in warrior form.

"Well, it took me a while to find him...you know me, I'm all messed up with directions...and then he just had to finish reading a spell which he hoped would be of use on your mission, oh mighty Mumm-ra," said Demonprist, grinning wickedly in her mind. She had resumed her full human form as a gesture of good will. "I'd have dragged him out of there, of course, but I couldn't get through your magical barriers, underpriviledged as I am in magic."

Kith somehow managed to keep a straight face. "She's telling the truth...I did make her wait a short time. I think the spell will prove to be valuable."

The undead mage eyed them both suspiciously and then motioned them toward the cauldron where an image was beginning to form on its bubbling surface. "The Warrior Maidens' village," he told them as the picture came into focus. There were warrior women everywhere: building, guarding, practising their fighting skills. "Panthro, one of the Thundercats whom you seem to know about, is approaching in the Thundertank with a number of newcomers to rescue what appears to be another panther male who is being held within the village. You are to attack them and assess the powers and abilities of them all. Do not bother with the Ketani unless they try to attack you...concentrate on the Thundercat and his new allies. Do not attempt to kill or capture your targets unless a clear opportunity presents itself...you are only there to analyse. I will be watching in the cauldron."

"Analyse...you mean you just want to make sure you're not the one on the receiving end of a surprise attack!" humphed Kith.

"Indeed," grinned Mumm-ra evilly. "Immortality is easy when there are others to die for you. But you are the one who asked for training...consider this one lesson among the many. I will send you there...when you have fought and analysed them all, call for me."

"Yes, Mumm-ra," said Demonprist quickly, "it will be as you ask."

Kith nodded his own agreement and the mage cast a spell of teleportation upon them. When they had vanished, the power slipped from him and he reverted to his mummfied form to watch the battle.

*********************

"This really stinks."

"Well, it's not like she did it on purpose. I think," said Auroara offering half-hearted comfort. Her voice rasped faintly. Lepris was the only one among them who had not had his hands tied behind his back - in fact he had not been bound at all - and she had not been able to remove her gag until his arrival. "I'm pretty sure the placement in the game is random. I doubt Bast was even aware of where people were going."

"Maybe...but people should think of these things when they make a game. Or at least warn us. There...I think I got it."

"Thanks, Lepris," grinned Auroara, rubbing her sore wrists once the last of the ropes had fallen away. They did not worry about the guards hearing them...they had all been instructed to muffle that particular sense in light of Auroara's talent. It seemed that the Mutants weren't taking any chances.

"Well, I was warned," said Darrell, turning his back to Auroara so that she could work on his own ties. "Er...in a way. I mean, I knew when I stepped in here that it was only a test version so there was bound to be a few bugs here and there. Just complain when you get out of here...that way they know what to fix before they put it on the market."

"I think that a few glitches make things interesting," grinned the snarf as Lepris turned to his bonds next. "We won't die in here...not really...so unexpected difficulties are nothing more than another adventure."

"But I don't want to lose my character now! I just got here!" protested Lepris.

"Now is the *best* time to lose a character," replied Darrell. "You haven't racked up any experience yet so you won't have to wait very long before you can use the same form again. And best of all...you'll have an idea of what's waiting for you on the other side the second time around. Not that I have any intention of dying. That would defeat the purpose of coming in here as a human."

"What we need," said Auroara, "is to plan an escape. Any ideas?"

"One that will get our weapons back if we can," specified Lepris.

"Well, if we could find even one Mutant without his ears blocked, we could probably pump him for information at the very least," said Darrell. "I don't know just how strong your powers are, Auroara, but if we take them into account, we shouldn't assume that you'll be able to make someone go against their nature or their orders. If I know anything about Lady Bast, these Mutants aren't going to be as weak as the series made them out to be."

Auroara managed to pick through the last of the knots and the ropes fell away from Darrell's wrists. He rubbed them to get the circulation going just as Lepris finished with the snarf's bonds.

"You know," said Auroara. "My power may be more direct through my voice, but it's supposed to work on all levels. I bet I can lure a Mutant or two in here if I can just get them to look at me long enough. I might be able to remove those earmuff-type thingies they're wearing...then I can use my voice on him. He can tell us where our weapons are and what possible escape routes we might use. But going with Darrell's theory, that won't actually get us out. I can't make *all* of them look the other way while we waltz out the front door."

"Do they ever feed us here?" asked Lepris, staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah...if you can call it food," shrugged Auroara. "Why?"

"'Cause I remember watching the show where Pumyra, Bengali and Lynx-o were being held at Castle Plun-darr the first time...and I think that Bast did too." He pointed toward the high ceiling of the cell to where a rusty iron ring protruded from the the cut stone.

"Yeah, but can you *reach* that? That looks a lot higher than Pumyra's...and believe me, I was watching," grinned Darrell.

"Uhn...I think so. I *might* have to get one of you to let me stand on your shoulders for a moment, but I'm a really good acrobat. No," Lepris decided after a moment of thought, "I'm a *great* acrobat. I'm just too trusting of strangers."

Auroara giggled into her hand. "At least you can make jokes about it," she said appreciatively. "So, you want to give landing on them a go and hope they haven't seen this trick before?"

"Actually, I think it might work...that could be the whole point of having the ring put in there," mused Darrell.

"But they aren't likely to bring us more food until morning," the snarf pointed out. "They brought us *this* swill just before Lepris showed up and it's dark out now. Other than posting a couple of guards outside, I doubt they'll even think about us until dawn."

"Aw, man...I don't want to wait that long!" groad Lepris.

"Can't we leave the game for awhile?" said Auroara, having just quietly checked the time on her computer. "It's late enough for me to think that my hunger isn't just part of my character."

"Not a bad idea," approved the snarf. "Are we considered to be in a 'safe' area with those guards standing there?"

Darrell called up his floating screen. "They don't seem to qualify as sentient game sprites. They'll probably just stand there all night. I think that as long as we haven't actually *broken* out of the cell and given the guards a reason to be activated, the game won't even notice we're gone."

"How about we all go for something to eat then and meet back here in about...uh..." Auroara paused to mull over her timing. "How long do you think until sunrise?"

"Let's say about twenty minutes to half an hour," said the snarf. "If they don't notice us being gone through the night, I don't think they'll feed us until we get back."

"Sounds good to me," said Lepris.

Thus agreed, four floating windows opened, leaving an empty cell behind them as they snapped shut once again.

*********************

To be continued (maybe)