text: Sebille looked up at me from the isometric squares of grass. “Where to next, snowtiger327?” she said, waving her magical circle dagger so that it glistened with computer-generated sunlight. I pressed PgUp on my keyboard to zoom in on her, smiling as her familiar elven face with its long, sharp bone structure shot clearer into view. “I was thinking we should change gear before we kill Bishop Alexander,” I said. I opened her equipment inventory and clicked on her cloak. Her shirt disappeared and she laughed and summoned up a lightning bolt which flew straight at me through the screen. I flew backwards, hitting the back of my chair and making it topple over. My knee stung as it rammed against the edge of my desk. Downstairs my mom called, “Is everything okay?’ “Yes mom,” I yelled. “Just a box I knocked over.” I scrambled back to the desk and righted my chair and sat down, out of breath, my knee smarting. “Try that again and I’ll use Needle on you,” she purred, referring to her sharp prized dagger with a mischievous smile on her face. I’d bought "Divinity II: Original Sin" on Steam in the summer and first played it while high. On 50 mg of edibles, I didn’t think it was weird when my name first appeared in the dialogue box and she said, “We start our adventure to become Godwoken, snowtiger327." I thought the game had taken my username from Steam. But the next day she commented when I laughed out loud when she assassinated a pesky soldier right in the middle of the city, and no one noticed. “Justice is wrought, eh snowtiger327?” she said with a cat-like purr in her silky smooth voice. Then she laughed and turned towards the screen of her own accord. I was silent for a few minutes. “Wait, you can hear me?” I said. “Yes, I have heard you, Bodiless Voice,” she said. “And I have seen that certain actions here--how do I say--repeat themselves.” She pointed to the dead NPC disdainfully. I told her about my room and my life outside of Divinity, and she grew quiet and thoughtful. I wondered if she was realizing she didn’t have any free will in the grand scheme of things. Her actions and plot line of life were premeditated by some game developers out beyond. Over the next months, I chose the spells she learned, the armor she used. But the things she said, the jokes she cracked, her threats and sorrows seemed very much her own. I would tell her about school and how I was lonely and bullied a lot. She’d tell me about her past. How she used to be the slave of a lizard master, who made her assassinate her own kin by singing a magical tune that forced her hand. She showed me the mark of her past servitude, a scar upon her otherwise smooth cheek. “You’re beautiful,” I said one day. We were almost done with the main storyline, but I spent many more hours hunting with her and doing side quests. She listened patiently, didn’t judge, and had the bravery of a true warrior. One day I told her about Devin and the comment my bully had made about my shorts being as tacky as my face. "What are...shorts?" she asked. I explained and she nodded. “You should vanquish her,” she advised me. “How?” I asked. “You should take a dagger, and pierce it into her heart,” she said, taking Needle and demonstrating on an unfortunate Black Ring member. I laughed. It was a week from Christmas when she said she wanted us to finish the game. I sat back in my rolling chair, looking thoughtfully back at her. Her olive skin and black straight hair, her long limbs, her sharp almond eyes and silver armor. She was prettier than I’d ever be, with my short stumpy legs, pimply face, and dull, dry frizz of a hairdo. She could be young and fierce forever. And yet she was unhappy. “There’s nothing more for me to do,” she said. All the quests had been done for a while, save for the last battle with Dallis which would finish the game. I knew this, but still I hesitated. “Finish with me,” she said. “I am Divinity and I am meant to be played.” “How do I know you’ll still be there after?” I said. Soon after I’d discovered I could talk to her, I had tried downloading the game on my brother’s PC to see if her self-awareness was replicable. Sebille had not talked to me there. “I may not be there,” she said. “But this will be.” She started singing, a strange elven song that sounded like the rustling of trees on a quiet day in the forest. When she was done, I slowly emerged from my trance. In front of me, glittering on the keyboard, was Needle, her prized dagger. I opened my mouth. We’d tested all sorts of ways for her to teleport out to me, using all the available skill books and scrolls, but they hadn’t worked. How had she done this? “Wait,” I said. “Maybe there’s a way--” “I need to finish my story,” she said. "I need to see what lies beyond the fight for Divinity...if there's more to who I am than just this game." In her voice I heard her need, and I said no more. “Be brave, snowtiger327,” she said. I nodded and cried, even though she could not see me. Together, we headed through the gates of the cave and confronted Dallis. We won, of course. The game finished and I watched the credits with pride as I heard of Sebille ascending to become the next Divine, in charge of the destiny of Source in her world. I knew she'd do great. The next day, I confronted Devin with Needle. Needless to say, she never bothered me about my shorts or face again. As for the game, I've played it many times since, but never again has a character spoken to me. And yet, I can say that I once truly had a great friend named Sebille. She was alive, she was witty, she was brave, and I hope she finally found meaning beyond the ending that was scripted for her.