Free Werewolf: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 4) by Mitchell T. Jacobs

rest of them went off to do bigger and better things.
    In all honesty, it was a stupid quibble. Her friends would still be there, and she had important things to do in the south. And anyhow, it was still a game. She could walk away at any time if it depressed her too much.
    But yet, there was some good to her blues as well. No matter what anyone else said about the value of the virtual community, to her it meant a lot. Her camaraderie, her friendship meant something, and it was strong enough to transcend the boundaries between the two worlds. If she felt down, it was because she could care. And no matter what anyone else might think, she would take that as a good thing.
    At the same time, being able to step outside the community was important as well. It allowed her to think about it from a different perspective, like she was doing now. That in and of itself was valuable.
    Nora stopped playing and looked up when she heard her phone go off. She set down her cello and reached for it. There was a text message from Zach.
    You OK?
    Yeah , she responded.
    Any reason why you haven't gotten on today?
    Just wasn't in the mood. I'll be back on tomorrow, at least.
    OK then. XO.
    Nora picked her cello back up and resumed playing.
    The line. That line between the virtual world and the real one. She had talked about it many times, and had heard others talk about it even more. With the advent of the first virtual world came a slew of questions. What was the line? How much could it be manipulated? How much could cross it? And, could the line between worlds become blurred?
    In her case, that question was very important. She probably would have never met Zach outside of the virtual world, and if she was honest, the roots of her attraction to him had been formed in the virtual world as well. Fate had intervened, and they had met in the real world soon enough, but without the virtual world it was very likely their relationship never would have happened.
    But was it truly solid? Nora couldn't help wondering about that, despite herself.
    How much of it was based on truth, and how much of it was based on a facade? Much of their interactions had been inside the virtual world, and yet they were completely different people from their real world personalities.
    Zach was unassuming in the real world, often content to follow rather than order. In the virtual world, however, he was a dynamic leader and an excellent tactician and strategist.
    Or take herself. At her core, Nora was purely an artist, doing things simply for their pleasure and beauty. In the virtual world, she had been all about business. The logistics, the nitty-gritty background jobs that no one thought about but were essential, those were her forte. And they went completely opposite of her real world personality. But why?
    Was it roleplaying, being able to do something out of the confines of their normal boring life? Was it wish fulfillment, doing things that they didn't have the courage to try in real life? Or was it something else?
    As much as they didn't like to think about it, they were sailing in uncharted waters right now. None of them had any idea what to expect, or what pitfalls might be lurking just around the corner.
    It was times like these when Nora wished she wasn't so introspective.
     
     
     
    “We missed you yesterday,” Miko commented the next day before their interview session.
    “Would we really have seen each other at all?” Nora asked.
    Miko thought about that for a minute. “OK, on second thought, no. But still, we missed you.”
    “Yeah, and I definitely missed being around you guys. But spending a day outside the world being able to play my cello was pretty relaxing for me.”
    “Can't blame you there,” Gavin said. “If you're not going to be doing anything inside the world, then why bother going in? Do something else.”
    “What are you guys doing right now?” Nora asked them.
    “We're trying to get more intel on the ship in Green Bay harbor,” Selene