As Rob walked up to the first victim of the day, despite everything he’d thought about, Carla had him smirking about the possibilities of the future. The monster looked slightly confused, and that confusion of Rob’s presence quickly grew into irritation and anger. It stared at Rob in what seemed like disgust and hatred. That energy rampaged from its soul to its mind, then to its heart and body, translating into the powerful swing that hammered down from the sky. This was a large one, and it was powerful but despite its size, strength, and higher level, it still wasn’t one of the supposed, evolved ones, Rob had been hearing so much about. He popped his tongue in disappointment, quickly sidestepping the initial strike and then rolling under the back swing of the equally disappointed monster from missing its first attack. The dodge put Rob back in his original spot, and mid-roll he grabbed his hilt, unsheathing his blade with his left hand and removing the monsters right arm as he stood. As the monster watched it’s arm fling off into the distance, as if it had thrown the arm itself, it took a few seconds before yelling in pain and anger, the growl could be heard and felt, rattling a large group of noobs(New players), looking for lower level monsters to hunt, nearby.

Life was hard for the majority of the noobs, even before the game had become real, they struggled with the fact that every skill had to be learned and then practiced extensively in order to become adept at it. This wasn’t your usual RPG, where you sat behind a console, holographically projected screen and a controller, and simply selected your character to new levels of strength and skill. They had to feel every single drop of blood, sweat, and tears, necessary to become a strong, top-level player in NFNty-LaND. Weapons and armor are heavy. Skills, tough to learn. Casting, harder to learn and dangerous, and the monsters, amongst other things, were strong. Even the lower level ones were hard to defeat, hence the large group of noobs needed to not only win the battles but survive them. Sheer terror consumed their faces as all their eyes finally found where the soul-rattling growl originated from, and they stared at the incredibly large monster towering over a silhouette that wasn’t at all small itself. That silhouette was also wielding a sword with a blade so large, their minds could barely fathom it.

“Is he…….is he really fighting that thing alone? How is that possible? And with a blade that large?” The elven female just for a few seconds thought about how heavy a regular sword had been to her and for that reason found it necessary to switch to bow and arrows. That turned out to not be any easier.

“Should we help him? She asked the rest of the group half-heartedly, not really wanting to.

“Help him? What are you going to do, throw your arrows at it? You, people, are crazy! This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come out here with you weaklings! I don’t want to die out here! Why did I ever play this stupid game?”

A elven male started to lose his composure, gripped with fear and regret. No one knew what happened when a player died. Before, you’d respawn, but since the game had become real, the restoration points no longer worked. When a player died, the bodies no longer disappear either, instead they rotted away, needing to be either burned or buried so that disease didn’t spread, but no one knew what happened after that besides the fact that none of the players who’d died in the little over a year they’d all been trapped, came back, not a single one. Many theories were starting to be formed, the foremost one at the moment being that maybe the game ended for all that died, and they simply just returned back to their normal lives. Not everyone was brave enough to test that theory and it actually led to more than a few cult-like groups forming under the premise that dying in the game meant returning to your real life. These cults which didn’t seem like much of a problem at the time would actually cause a ripple effect of chain reactions that would eventually shake the foundation of Ever-land and lands beyond it. Another true instance of the butterfly effect.

Death was real as far as everyone knew, at least real of enough to fear it, and there was plenty in Ever-land and on the planet, besides the monsters, to reinforce that fear. Noobs got burned and buried a lot, and so they got used to hearing “ You better level up!”

“Dude, calm down! You panicking like this isn’t going to help the situation.”

Another elven male, the most experienced and skilled of the group tried to calm the other one down but to no success.

“Shut up! What the heck do you know? You got everyone fooled, making us think you’re so strong, you’re just as weak us! You see him over there, you see him? That’s strength!”

They all stared in awe and terror at what it meant to level up.

As the monster swung wildly with its stump and other arm, slinging blood and tissue everywhere, Rob dodged continuously. It appeared to be with very little effort as the group of noobs watched. He jumped back, far enough to be out of the things range, and spoke into his blade while he touched it with the fingertips of his right hand. The noobs noticed a symbol, they could barely make out, that was on both his blade and the backs of the gloves which covered his hands but not his fingers, started to glow a bright intense blue. When Rob’s words stopped, it burned a vibrant red that traveled up the sharp edges of his blade. He swung and slashed it violently through the air, creating hurricane-like winds that pushed and bent trees nearly to their snapping points. The monster, who got the frontal force of the slashes, and the group of noobs who got the back force of them, grabbed and clawed at the ground to keep from being blown away. As the wind subsided, Rob prepared to attack but before he could, he got distracted by the strong presence of energy off in the distance that caught his attention from behind. He turned his gaze to the direction of the noobs, still watching him, unaware of what was directly behind them.

“Fucking Noobs! Where the hell do they think they’re at?”

“He noticed us?” The Elven female questioned.

“But how? You know what it doesn’t matter, I’m going over there to see if he needs any help carrying his equipment or something. It’s safer than being with you weaklings and at least I’d have a much better chance to survive until I make it back. And don’t you try to stop me either…..”

The panicked and abrasive male didn’t get to finish his sentence as he turned his attention towards the most skilled male of the group, who was already leaping through the air to avoid the attack himself and push the female out of the way of it. She was wrong, it wasn’t them Rob noticed.

Simultaneously as the skilled male dove in desperation not knowing if he would make it in time, Rob yelled with such power, that it instantly reminded the rest of the group of 10 or so, that they’d lost focus, but it was too late for most of them anyway.

“Pay attention you fucking idiots!”

As the words hit all their souls, the skilled males hands struck the female’s body and she flew through the air, barely missing being crushed by the incredibly powerful landing of a monster who’d swung and launched itself from the tree line over 500ft away, and wasted no time, crushing the panicked male into a pile of wet bones and tissue with a downward strike, before he had a chance to react. It then raked through the rest of the group with its hand, removing heads and upper torsos like a sickle cutting grass. The skilled male recovered in time to unsheathe his sword and redirect the tail end of the swing enough to save another human male cowering, seemingly already accepting his fate. The force of the strike sent the skilled male flying into a nearby tree, disarming and knocking him unconscious. Rob finished off the monster he was fighting and was headed towards the three survivors the other monster was preparing to finish off, while a few more landed into the situation behind it.

In the same instant a hover-craft boomed into the sky, seemingly putting everything into slow-motion, and as the monster prepared to deal the final blow, lightning struck, and it’s body fell in two different directions. Rising to his feet in the middle of the carcass, was a warrior clad in black and red, holding a sword that was so hot from the attack, the amount of steam coming off the blade made it appear he’d dropped a few hundred fog orbs before he landed. As he turned to face the remaining monsters, the elven female, still trying to pick herself up off the ground and starting to understand her life had just been saved not once, but twice, began to realized who he was. Despite the three monsters standing in front of him, and her, she somehow felt safe. The energy radiated and leaked from his imposing silhouette, and towered over the monsters, screaming the creatures were no match for him. The female thought about what it truly meant to level up, to get stronger, to not just survive in this world, but to thrive and impose your will on it. What the heck had she been doing for a year? In this moment she was done feeling sorry for herself, done being scared.

“Damn it, Mez!” She thought.

“I haven’t leveled up! You haven’t leveled up at all!”

Back in Telic, two days earlier and moments after the energy quake caused by Garbanzo’s soul relic, GrandMaster Alder, and the Telic order counsel struggle to understand what they’ve just witnessed, along with not just the unprecedented amount of wayward souls Garbanzo has cleansed but the levels of them. Every one of them was standing again and Supreme GrandMaster Bone was back at it once more, but everyone in the room could tell his attitude towards Garbanzo had been forcibly changed, although, only slightly. It would turn out to be one of the rare times the rest of the council, except SGM Farro, who was intrigued more by Garbanzo than before, didn’t mind SGM Bone overpowering the conversation since they’d all been left utterly speechless anyway.

“This is absurd! GM Alder, what is the meaning of this? Explain to this council how it’s possible a Telic warrior of his level could be responsible for cleansing ninety-nine wayward shadows?”

GM Alder was speechless himself. He’d obviously known that Gar was holding back and that he was more skilled than anyone else knew, but this was of an entirely different level. A level GM Alder didn’t know Gar had reached and was also confused about how it was possible. SGM Bone continued, surprisingly, with more questions.

“Not only has he cleansed ninety-nine of them but twenty-three were evolved, and of that twenty-three, ten were of a level never seen or at least reported on in Ever-land before!”

Out of the ninety-nine shadows, Gar cleansed, twelve of them were evolved with levels between five hundred and a thousand. The one he faced before the village was in the two thousand range and nine of the ten from Shea were in the ten thousand range. The female leader was the strongest, with a level of over one hundred thousand. Gar mopped the floor with all of them and hadn’t seemed to even break a sweat doing it!

“SGM Farro, how many Telic-Knights would it take to fight that one hundred thousand level shadow?” SGM Bone questioned.

“We don’t have enough data, to know that. No Telic knight has ever…….”

SGM Bone interrupted, snapping his fingers at SGM Farro, who eyed him down in disbelief of the disrespect.

“Rough estimate SGM Farro!”

SGM Farro continued to stare down SGM Bone for a moment before rolling his eyes in detest as he answered his question.

“Based on the highest level ever reported being cleansed by a Knight, which was in the twenty-five hundred range and the amount knights it took to cleanse it, which was ten of the warrior level. My rough estimate would be around one hundred.”

The rest of the council let out frightening gasps.

“One hundred warrior level Telic-Knights, huh. How things quickly change.”

“Master level.”

“What?”

“One hundred Telic-Knights of GrandMaster level.” SGM Farro repeats just as calmly as he said it the first time.

“You’re telling me this little shit over there is equal to if not greater than an entire army of Telic- Knights?”

Garbanzo finally broke his silence.

“No need for name calling SGM Bone. That’s unbefitting of a GrandMaster.”

“It’s Supreme GrandMaster, and don’t get so full of yourself just yet. I’m sure there’s a very rational explanation for all of this.”

“Yeah, there is.”

“And what’s that?

“I’m stronger than all of you!”

SGM Farro cracked another smile and despite GM Alder being confused, he did the same.

“I think I liked you better when you knew what modesty was.” SGM Bone responded, with a bit of envy in his tone, of which Gar picked up on.

“I’m sure you did. Now that, that’s out the way, we should talk about the humans and the army they intend to cross the Ever-pass with!”

SGM Bone laughed, perhaps harder than anyone in the room had ever seen before.

“Tell me that’s not the reason you sounded the horn? Humans are hardly a threat and if they intend on crossing the pass to their deaths then so be it!

“Even if it wasn’t the reason. Judging by your earlier reaction, that hundred thousand level wayward shadow would have been more than enough justification to sound the Telic horn.”

“Strong and intelligent, what a terrifying combination!” SGM Farro replies, much to the dismay of SGM Bone, who returns the favor of that earlier stare down.

“The humans were only a partial concern. The goblins, trolls, and orcs that are with them may be a problem, though.”

SGM Bone didn’t like being wrong, but he could at least admit when he was.

“Fine, yes an army of trolls, orcs and goblins trying to cross the pass are enough of a reason to sound the horn I suppose but still a few Master Telic-Knights can handle it.”

“That’s still not the issue.”

“What? Then what exactly is the issue, since you know so much, please tell me what I’m missing?

“The goblins, orcs and trolls can go over and through the Ever-mountains……”

SGM Bone cut Gar off, growing more and more irritated by the second.

“Yes, yes! I, nor does this council need a briefing about the goblins, trolls, and orcs movement capabilities, besides, let them go over the damn mountains. The Elflings will make quick work of them!”

Garbanzo sighed hard and shook his head.

“Why are you even on the council?”

“Excuse me? I don’t care how strong you think you are, remember who you’re speaking to young warrior!”

“One, I don’t think I’m anything, I understand completely.

Two, I’m aware of exactly who I’m speaking to, and still the question remains the same.

Three, what you’re telling me, and everyone else in this room, is that an army of humans, trolls, goblins, and orcs, quite literally a rolling buffet for the very things, that as you just saw, are out of control already, strength and number wise, is of no concern to you?”

SGM Bone was now left speechless. A very uncommon occurrence. He’d hadn’t thought of that perspective at all.

“Good grief! GM Alder, what have you been teaching this boy? SGM Farro questioned, in full-on gush mode, smiling from ear to ear.

“I can hardly take credit for…..”

Before GM Alder could finish his statement, he’d looked at SGM Farro and jumped.

“What in Evers are you doing SGM Farro?”

“It’s called smiling GM Alder.”

“I know what it’s called fool, I didn’t know you knew how to do it!”

“You wouldn’t be interested in sharing the young Master would you?”

“You mean, you want to train Gar?”

SGM Farro already knew what GM Alder was thinking.

“I lack patience for idiots and weaklings, of which your pupil is neither and despite his strength, he still has much to learn.”

Garbanzo could overhear the conversation, even though, SGM Farro and GM Alder were speaking amongst themselves.

“I’d be honored to continue my training with you both!”

GM Alder breathed an inner sigh of relief. With the level of power, they’d all just watched Garbanzo display, he could just as easily decided none of them had anything left to teach him. He remained humble, even in the midst of so much strength, intelligence and confidence.

“And despite how strong the Elflings are, I don’t believe we should take the chance of letting a shadow get ahold of one.” Garbanzo continued.

The council, including SGM Bone, nodded in agreeance, still speechless, and even more than before. First, there was the incredible amount of energy released from Garbanzo’s soul relic, then the number of wayward ward shadows or energy orbs responsible for that release, all while they watched Gars incredible, and perhaps unprecedented, display of power through the soul reader. Now, his intelligence was on display. He’d just done the council’s jobs for them, coming to conclusions and making decisions well beyond his years.

“Your pupil is impressive GM Alder!” SGM Farro continued with his high praise. He now realized and fully understood what made Gar so different from all the rest. Since joining the Telic order, SGM Farro was the only GrandMaster, besides GM Alder, that Gar didn’t play practical jokes on, but could also be considered a matter of perspective. From everyone else’s view, SGM Farro was unfairly left out but everyone could also understand the reason why. From SGM Farro and Gars perspective, though, Gar pestered SGM Farro to no end, often popping up wherever he was, just to ask what seemed like a completely random question, or just to see what SGM Farro was doing. Everyone avoided him, except Gar. At first, it annoyed SGM Farro, but over time he grew to be fond of Gars unexpected visits, and through his questions and sometimes acrobatic show ups, started to see what no one else noticed, Garbanzo was a lot stronger than he appeared or ever displayed. This intrigued SGM Farro, and this day confirmed why.

Just as the things seemed to calm down a little, a Telic knight runs into the sanctum, with news the council was not expecting nor wanted to hear at the moment.

“Sorry for the intrusion, Supreme GrandMasters, but it’s just been reported that there are humans within the city!”

“How in Ever is there humans in the city? What the heck are the scouts doing? And who’s on guard duty at the Pass?” SGM Bone was, and most likely the entire council, ready for this day to end already. It was one thing after another, and there hadn’t been a human in Telic in over three hundred years. They immediately thought that the army had already begun it’s foolish attempt of crossing the Pass, but Garbanzo quickly put those thoughts to rest.

“Relax, they followed me!” He then mumbled under his breath.

”But, what are the scouts doing?”

Garbanzo thought for sure, the scouts in the Telic woods would capture the humans before they made it to the city.

“So, this is your doing as well? SGM Bone questioned angrily.

“ I honestly didn’t think the council would believe me, so I brought the humans here for…….”

SGM Farro interrupted.

“For me to read their souls and let the council see what’s coming for themselves.”

“........Yep, and then we could just memory wipe and dump them back on the human side of the Pass.”

“Memory wiping casts are not permitted in the Telic Kingdom, everyone knows that! SGM Bone needed something to be right about at this point. Garbanzo had made him look like more than a fool in front of the council.

“Or we could just dump them back on the other side with knowledge of the location of the fast travel platforms and Telic city, because of an illogical and unreasonable law!”

The knight that ran into the sanctum was a part of the Telic-Knight command unit, which was led by the strongest Telic-Knight, Supreme GrandMaster Udup. The knight noted how Garbanzo, supposedly one of the weakest Telic warriors, spoke to the council and SGM Bone. He also observed his blatant disrespect for the Telic order, the ways, and it’s laws. He thought Garbanzo needed to be put in his place, and now believed the rumors to be true, since GM Alder was in the room and the council said nothing. As Garbanzo turned to leave and retrieve the humans the knight tried to stop him.

“Halt! Where do you think you’re going?”

Garbanzo looked at him but continued walking. The knight grew angrier, and drew his Telic wand, much to the dismay of everyone in the room.

“I told you to stop when a Telic-Knight gives you an order you follow it!”

SGM Farro tried to intervene, cutting GM Alder off before he could.

“Stand down young knight!”

“I will not, enforcing Telic law is one of the duties of the command unit. You have no say here SGM Farro!”

SGM Farro eyes almost knocked the knight’s soul out his body, but still, he didn’t back down.

“I apologize Supreme GrandMaster, I meant no disrespect.”

“ Now you, you’re coming with…….”

Before the knight could finish his sentence, he was on his back. His wand disarmed and in the hands on Garbanzo, who was standing over him, staring down, channeling his inner SGM Farro.

“You’re a couple thousand years too young, to be unsheathing your wand on me, don’t ever do it again!”

It was the knight that was put in his place on this day.

Garbanzo made his way outside and towards what could only be described as a peculiar situation. Watching, SGM Udup detain the two terrified human scouts with a simple stare, and Princess Penne lying on the ground with a evolved shadow she had arm barred and struggling through the pain of not being allowed to submit, was High Queen Servaiel, King Castien, Princess Saeriel of the Kingdom of Telic, and Princess Lunariverse, the heir to the Nourish Throne. Garbanzo not only managed to finally crack a smile but erupted into much-needed laughter.

-Present day-

Back in Origin Dis(5) after more than a few surprises, and unexpected appearances, the battle nears its end.

As the fast approaching hover-ship gets closer to it destination, Kaia, Vinn, and Deck, their new personal pilot, watch the terrain below in terrifying awe. The situation may have been a lot worse than the Origin council thought. There was at least 50 of them, all moving at varying speeds but all headed in the same direction. They looked like starving predators that had just caught the scent of an unexpected but promising meal.

“What the hell are those things? Deck questioned

“You’ve never seen a monster before? Kaia questioned back.

“That’s not what I meant. They all look the same. I’ve never seen so many look the same, it’s like they’re a part of the same pack. But I don’t ever recall monsters traveling or hunting together like this.”

“Well, does the computer on this ship actually do anything? Ask her what they are!” Vinn asked.

A female computerized voice interrupted the conversation.

“ I’m capable of doing quite a lot actually. The creatures on the ground appear to be a mixture of an Ever-jungle Tiger(about 100 times bigger than a Tiger) and panther(about 5 times the size of a regular panther).”

Vinn and Kaia were staring at Deck like he’d been withholding information.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t know she could do that!” All the ships recently got updated, so maybe she’s new.”

“I’m not.”

“So, you just haven’t said anything this whole time?”

“I haven’t needed to. Flying the ship from point A to B is a simple task”

“Whoa, what do you mean flying the ship?”

“You don’t really believe with your amateur skills, you were the one flying it did you?”

“No need to get personal! Are you even really a computer?”

“ I am advanced artificial intelligence. No different than you!”

“What do you mean no different than me?”

“I’m not permitted to answer that question but in time you will all come to understand.”

“Okay, this is getting really freakin creepy.”

“Why are you acting so shocked right now? We are stuck inside a game.” Vinn once again spoke logic and reason into Deck.

“Oh, right, I forgot about that.”

“Now if you two are done, computer can you scan for the exact numbers and estimated levels?”

“There are fifty-one level zero’s and a level five at the head of the pride.”

“Pride?” Deck questioned

“Computer, why did you use the word pride?”

“All fifty-one level zero’s are female.”

Vinn finished what he knew the computer would say next.

“And the level five is male. They look like tigers and panthers but are behaving like Telic lions. Computer can you pull a map of Ever-land?” Vinn wasn’t expecting much, even after a year in the game, no one in Origin had a full map of Ever-land.

“Isn’t that odd?” Kaia questioned about the behavior of the monsters.

“Extremely, unless….” Vinn replied as the full map popped on the screen.

“Wow, there it is! This is huge.”

“You think all the other ships have this map?” Kaia questioned. The ship answered.

“Currently this is the only hover-ship, with this level of information in its database.”

“The council,” Kaia responded as she looked at Vinn.

“It seems they’re serious about us taking care of this monster problem. I wonder what other resources we have at our disposal?”

“I’m sure we’re about to find out over the next few weeks,” Vinn replied

“So much for those seven days.”

Kaia wasn’t happy about putting the expedition on hold, but the potential information and resources the council was going to provide were worth the wait.

“Computer can you pinpoint where jungle tigers, jungle panthers, and Telic lions would most likely intersect?”

“The most logical location would be the northeastern tip the Ever-jungle and Kingdom of Telic border.”

“How is that possible?” Vinn Questioned. Deck was rather confused about the entire situation.

“I’m I missing something? Why does it matter where those three intersect?”

Kaia answered.

“Because, how did they get from there to here in little over a year, by land, and through the Ever-jungle? There is something much bigger going on here and it’s most likely related to their population explosion as well.”

Deck was starting to understand why Kaia and Vinn were known as the Battle twins and in the top five rankings of monster hunting. It wasn’t just power and strength or even just skill, they were extremely intelligent and behaved like well-trained soldiers.

The task was to only observe this cluster of level zero’s, which was considered the weakest monster a player could hunt. The problem though, was most players still had trouble defeating level zeros by themselves, hence the formation of parties and eventually guilds. Now the level zeros were starting to travel in groups and the groups usually had a higher level, 5 or above, as it’s lead. With just little over a year in, and the serious training needed to increase any skill, It took at least five to ten well trained and highly coordinated players, level 15 or greater, just to deal with anything higher than a level 1. The level assignment system, however, was still new and since very little exploration had been done yet, wasn’t anywhere close to being accurate yet. This was the hopeful logic of most of the players in Origin but the problem with this logic was it didn’t really matter if the levels were wrong or not, the monsters still remained, and they reminded the players everyday of how weak they were and how much stronger they all needed to get.

At Kaia and Vinn’s current level, and experience, they could win against this cluster but it would be a tightrope and not worth the risk. The thought of not taking any unnecessary risk soon subsided, as they spotted what the cluster was sprinting towards.

“Speed up and open the door!” Vinn yelled up to the cockpit as he removed all of his guns, and then clips from his body and vest.

“Okay, one, you can’t be seriously thinking about going down there, and two, why are you leaving your guns behind?” Deck questioned in bewilderment.

“Just do it!” Kaia rattled back, while also removing her pistols, machine gun, and ammunition.

“This stuff is too heavy, and bullets are too expensive because of how rare these type of weapons are in NFNty-laND, besides we’re much better with our blades. We only had these guns with us to practice.”

Vinn explained while making his adjustments.

“Still, it’s suicide to go out there, and those noobs are most likely going to get you killed!” Deck voiced his concern again.

“We don’t plan on fighting them all, just making an opening large enough to escape.”

The cluster was approaching fast but still far enough away, the immediate problem was the four monsters swinging through the trees like monkeys and about to sneak up on that group of players.

The computer scanned, analyzed and quickly reported on the new situation once it came into range.

“My scanners are showing an additional four-level zero’s approaching a group of low-level players.”

Bright red triangles started popping up on the screen around the monsters and green circles around the players. Vinn and Kaia were standing by the door stretching, getting prepared to get in and get out quickly. Deck noticed the fifth monster and an unknown player before the computer did.

“Yo, who’s that guy and what the hell is he fighting?”

“WARNING! WARNING! High-level monster detected.”

The fifty-six red triangle was by far the strongest of them all and for a second had Vinn and Kaia rethinking the situation. The number fifty popped up on the screen.

“Level 50! You gotta be f-ing kidding me. Guys, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

It wasn’t that Vinn and Kaia didn’t agree with Deck but they just weren’t willing stand by and watch a group of players get killed, especially since they had the strength and skill to do something about it. Before they had a chance to rethink their strategy however, the level fifty disappeared from the screen and their User interfaces(UI), right after the computers scanner finally picked up the unknown player, Deck had also spotted.

“Additional player detected, but my scanners are unable to determine a level at this time.”

“What the hell does that mean? Deck questioned

“What just happened? The level fifty is gone!”

Kaia’s voice had a little fear in it and Vinn noticed, which pissed him off.

“I don’t know, it’s having trouble determining a level for this other player as well, maybe it’s on the fritz!” Deck hit the panel with a thud.

“I a sure you that’s not necessary, my system is operating at full capacity, the level 50 monster has been terminated by the unknown player.”

“What? He killed a level fifty all by himself? Who the hell is this guy?” Deck asked in disbelief.

“Open the doors!” Vinn exclaimed angrily.

Vinn was locked in and as the ship boomed in and slide to the side, the doors opened and he flew out, drawing his blade mid-flight. The ship and Vinn were just seconds too late to save everyone, but some were better than none.

Vinn! Kaia exclaimed.

Before he’d swan dived out the ship, he told Kaia to stay put, in a tone she knew not to defy but she didn’t want him going out there alone either.

“The group of low-level players numbering ten, nine, there are currently now only three players remaining in the group, that’s been engaged.”

“Why thank you computer, because I couldn’t tell that from all the carnage I’m seeing right now!”

“No need to be sarcastic Deck, besides you’re not doing much of anything to help the situation other than whine and complain. Perhaps your value to this team should be recalculated.”

“Oh, that’s it, as soon as I find the off switch………”

“WARNING! WARNING! Low-level E.M.P.(Electromagnetic pulse) wave detected, evasive maneuvers and emergency landing required!”

“What now!” As Deck went from searching for that switch, and back to looking at the screen, blue triangles started to appear.

“What is it?” Kaia questioned.

“A massive fleet of hover-crafts! This is not happening right now, they certainly never miss an opportunistic situation. We got Jackers incoming!”

As the hover-ship gets slammed with the E.M.P. wave and makes an emergency landing, Vinn streaks through the sky picking up speed and hits the ground like a bolt of lightning, but not before striking and slicing completely through one of the monsters with his blade. As he rolls to further brace the impact of his fall, he realizes that it’s no longer possible to hold back anymore. He didn’t have time to fight these creatures on equal footing with the other 51 approaching fast. He stands and turns towards the remaining three monsters, speaks words into his already steaming blade, and sets it ablaze.

“Incantation 5 Way of fire: Incinerate!”

Next Chapter: Are you out of their mind or yours?(7)