Once Amanda was done admiring herself in the mirror-- a feat that took nearly an hour-- she decided to pay attention to the black window in the corner of her vision.

  "There's more to this?" Amanda gulped. "Can I become even cuter?" The skies trembled in fear; perish the thought. "I'm not sure the world can handle me if I become any cuter than this."

  "Out of time for what?" Amanda hadn't realized how much time had elapsed since she started her self-admiration, a mistake that could cost her considerably.

  Amanda paled, standing to her feet and grabbing the monitor with both hands, unplugging it from the computer and holding it underarm. The casing was warm and familiar. The more she focused, the more she realized that whatever was inside the monitor was a part of her. Amanda couldn't let anything touch it, or the consequences would be disastrous.

  "Dungeon? I thought this was a role-playing game." Amanda pouted. She didn't expect to be forced to play a real-time strategy game right out the gate. Worse, one which her life depended on?

  ...at what point did the genre of the game she was playing mean less to Amanda than the fact she was risking her life to play this game? Amanda felt her sense of priorities had been skewed out of line after the game transformed her. The game let her embrace who she...

  (Wait, I didn't ask for this, either! Who's the manager here? I'm going to file a complaint!) Amanda huffed internally.

  "I don't understand, that was just a censored box of letters." Amanda held her head. Staring at the pink bars made it pulse. Something was wrong with those letters, and her mind was not capable of comprehending its contents. "I understand what you're saying. That we need to find somewhere far away? It's just that I don't have a car. I wouldn't know how to drive if I did."

  "It's okay! I know the perfect place to go." Amanda started grabbing the things important to her, shoving them into her old college backpack. The statuettes, her handheld gaming console, and the external hard drive with all her data. After slipping in her laptop and smartphone, she felt ready to leave. Hesitating, she grabbed a stuffed animal and tucked it into the side of her backpack, just in case. (Just in case of what?) She didn't answer that thought, scooping up her computer monitor and heading out the door.

  The walk through the neighborhood was usually more nerve-wracking. Whenever she'd stepped out of the house before now, she could feel the judgemental stares of others as she walked. Now, she didn't seem to mind as much as they stared. She even smiled at a trembling neighbor, who doubled back and ran back into their home, screaming.

  "What's their problem? They don't know a cute girl when they see one? A cutie. An absolute cutie. I'm so cute..." Amanda let out a smoke-filled sigh.

  "I've got it, okay?" Amanda took a left, walking down an avenue and picking up the pace. She could break into a run, an action that astonished the brand new Malice. She wasn't skinny, or muscular for that matter. Even still, running felt natural and as easy as breathing.

  It wasn't long before she'd been up the street and made her way to a locked fence. Beyond it, a decaying theme park lay in wait. If she were forced to operate a dungeon, she would rule it in style. One building, in particular, called to her. Amanda would already be inside if it were not for the gate's padlock.

  Setting the monitor down, she examined the chains. They were rusty from years of weathering. The park had shut down nearly a decade ago, around the time that high spikes of stress were linked to Malice awakening. Several incursion points opened up in the theme park, and the place was closed days after the slew of lawsuits to follow.

  Amusement parks ran on thin margins, anyhow. It wasn't a surprise to see this place sitting in decay. A few strikes against the chains with her claws, and she was able to break them. Chunks of metal flew everywhere as the chain was shattered, and she pushed the gate aside to let herself in. It was time. "You have that 'tangleweave' ready?"

  Amanda nodded, making her way for the building she had in mind; a place with meaning to her, back when this park was still in operation.

  A countdown continued in the corner of Amanda's vision, letting her know how long the installation would take. The time to her first wave of visitors. She had less than four minutes. Every step added time to the counter, but the march of her unknown invaders quickly swallowed it up. The wave was approaching, and there was little Amanda could do to change that. Glancing at her silvered monitor, she headed deeper into the park. Her steps led her, slowly but surely, to the House of Mirrors.

  Patreon to get the final decision, and they decided that the order would be Mars -> Venus -> Gaia (I originally named her Nebulossom Earth, but it made her chapters incomprehensible). I usually let my readers make big choices like this, and they've changed the arc of this story dramatically.