"It's called Sburb. It was widely put forth as fated to be the Game of the Year." Game Bro was not exactly Rose's first choice as supreme arbiter of taste, but popularity contests had never understood great literature. She had idly contemplated the lofty fathoms to which she would show them all, one day.

"It might be considered cheating to give it that title when the rest of the year was pre-empted by the end of the world. Then again, that was part of the game, so one could call it a winning strategy." Her voice was remarkably calm. "Dying was only permanent if we did it twice."

She hadn't woken on Derse once since she'd arrived; her dreams had been dreams, simultaneously surreal and mundane. "Immortality was within our grasp, but I was still working out the mechanics of that. She'd barely started scaling her echeladder -- jumping straight for the top rung was John's folly, not hers. "We could safely die once, and come back to life, as long as certain conditions were met. I'm not sure if I've used up my chance or not."

She tilted her head and considered Allelujah. "Are you sure you'd never let yourself be caught doing something heroic and self-sacrificing?"