The fireball exploded on impact, sending the white and blue goop splattering across the village. Brandon breathed a sigh of relief, but paused when the thought occurred to him that the monster might be able to pull itself back together. Several moments passed, but the goo remained still, and Brandon allowed himself to truly relax.
The villagers were emerging from their hiding places, but Brandon gave them no mind, walking over to the goo pile and pulling his doll from it. He grimaced as he did his best to wipe the gel from the doll, not noticing how the hands he was using to wipe it off now had purple nails.
Someone amongst the villagers started a cheer for Brandon, but he paid them no heed. Instead, he just smiled and headed back to his hut, wondering what he was supposed to do from there.
"What did I tell you? The first battles are always the easiest," the shopkeeper explained, back in the costume shop. "That was a single ice flan, an enemy geared specifically to his character's play style."
Mary frowned, looking up from the television screen to the picture of the woman the shopkeeper had handed her. "So my baby is really going to turn into this woman?"
"It's more than that. The transformation itself isn't so bad compared to the fact he's not becoming a real life version of this character, he's becoming the character, bits of coding and pixels which have no real thoughts or ability to go beyond what the game commands them to do."
Mary bit her lip. "And there's really nothing we can do?"
"Like I said, it's all on him now. But if your son keeps up the way he is... well I'm afraid they're won't be any of him left before long."
