Disclaimer: I own nothing, Elsword belongs to KoG Studios and Kill3r Kombo

Oh yeah, all Elsword classes (when they get introduced) will be base for now. This is also my very first fanfic, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Awakening

My name is Mario, at least that's what everyone keeps calling me anyway. I was sitting down on my computer playing Elsword for what seemed like hours when I noticed the time. Three A.M!? I thought. Man this game is addicting, but just one more dungeon! I thought forcibly. I might as well finish this last quest.

I yawned rather quietly as my half-closed eyes stared at my computer screen. The level 35 Sword Knight on my screen, also known as my avatar, took a pit stop by Amos, the Alchemist in Altera, to stock up on blessed and mana potions, much to the chagrin of my already full party: an impatient level 38 Over Taker, a bossy and annoying level 34 Fury Guardian, and our leader a level 40 Lord Knight.

"C'mon Mario quit wasting our time and hurry up already!" Blue letters flashed on my chat window as the Over Taker, OneArm, typed in.

"YEAH BRAH!" The bratty Fury Guardian, appropriately named 1337Gam3r, typed in all caps.

"Alright, alright I'm coming." I slowly typed, man these guys need a chill pill. I would've ditched this party already if our (actually) patient leader, the Lord Knight named Dragon, weren't in it. Dragon typed something in, but I couldn't remember as my sleep-deprived mind focused on my avatar, spiraling down the steps as I moved the arrow keys and then to the right into Altera Island, the dungeon lobby. I met up with said party by the bulletin board, all of them annoyingly in the sitting position.

Noticing my presence, Dragon was the first to stand up and then OneArm. Gam3r was still sitting, making me believe he was inactive. That idiot! And after telling ME to hurry up!

"So are we still heading out to Altera Core?" I typed in the party chat, hoping for a positive response. At this rate I expected to fall asleep on my keyboard at any time. Thankfully I was ready for this, using my white ear buds and the in-game music to keep myself awake. I waited patiently as the other two, probably as tired as I am, typed in their responses.

"Yeah, is everyone ready?" Dragon asked. I wished he didn't though, everyone's avatar has the READY sign activated.

"Mhm." Was all OneArm and I managed to type without wasting too much energy before the dungeon. Neither of us bothered to tell Dragon about Gamer's idle status. Dragon seemed satisfied with the response, who started up the dungeon.

Unfortunately at that moment, I nearly succumbed to sleep at that point, closing the game client just before I finally entered into a deep slumber. My brain's too fried at that point to even think about how I felt, sleeping on the keyboard and potentially drooling all over it as I continued further and further into a deeper sleep. I tried with all my might to jerk myself awake to move over to my comfortable bed. No matter how much I tried however, I stayed fast asleep, my mind finally accepting the inevitable.

Man its chilly today. I thought to myself, rubbing my hands against my arms for warmth. It's also kind of windy too, I must've kept my fan on overnight. And…what's this!? I started to notice. It's getting really hard to breathe and…I feel like I'm…! I easily jerked myself awake, only to find myself wishing I hadn't.

"FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL IIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNGGG GGGGGG!" I screamed, finding myself suddenly about 300 feet in the air! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! That simple thought raced and repeated itself rapidly inside my mind as I scramble my limbs, hoping to find a less threatening position to land in, while at the same time trying to figure out where I'm exactly landing.

There wasn't much time to think about it but I know I'm not anywhere near my house, let alone the same universe. The sky looked cleaner and a lot less polluted than the smoke-filled clouds swallowing up the air back home. There wasn't any kind of industrialization happening near my surroundings as opposed to the littered factories stealing every acre of land. And finally, the most significant change, there only appeared to be a speck of about 4 houses in walking distance from where I'm landing in the middle of a forest!

Thankfully I safely landed on a bush as I finally reached ground level, saving my body from any major injuries, with any a few bruises from where I landed limbs first. That's strange. I thought, holding my injured left arm for support, I could've sworn that I also hit- "Hey that hurt you know!" I froze and turned my head to the direction of the feminine voice.

She's really beautiful… My young 16-year-old mind thought as I gazed into her beauty. A girl who looked the same age as I did, but with long flowing blond hair, a green blouse with some assets, a white miniskirt and boots, black finger less gloves with silver armbands, and a green majestic bow that must've felt really light to carry. She seemed familiar, as she rubbed her head with one of her eyes closed in pain. "Who do you think you are kid, hurting your elders?" She questioned in an angry tone.

I felt taken aback by this, a girl as young as her calling me a kid? Wait is this… I thought with a frightening thought in my mind. "Tell me miss, what's your name?"

"How rude." The girl barked back, still in that angered tone of hers. "Asking a woman to introduce herself before the gentleman isn't very good is it?"

What time period does this chick think we live in? I thought to myself, yet complied to follow her advice of anguish. "Fine I'm Ma-" I felt her glove covering my mouth and her other hand pushing my head down below the bush. It's so warm.

"Be quiet they're coming!" The girl put a finger on her hushed lips as she whispered, her serious eyes glaring at me to obey.

"Who is?" But my question was already answered as three people came into view outside the bush, all of them wearing bandanas. One of them was really big and muscular, he looked a lot like one of the bosses I fought against in Elsword but I forgot his name, and was obviously the leader of the three.

"Alright I'll remind you two of the plan one more time so we're clear." The leader announced loudly, it's like he's begging to get caught.

"Ok boss!" One of the two little ones replied, this one was bald unlike the other full headed grunt. I'm calling this one Baldy and the other Hairy. I thought amusingly.

"Remember you two are nabbing the El in Ruben village. Once you get out drop the larger of the two El shards by that tree." The leader pointed his meaty finger by the second closest tree to that nearby village. "Then while anyone from the Ruben search party is chasing you two, I'll bring the El shard back to the hideout. We're guaranteed to steal at least one of the two shards today!" He celebrated.

"Alright let's move out!" Hairy moved toward the village in action, Baldy repeating what Hairy said and following suit. Meanwhile the big leader went to his desired hiding place, far away from where the girl and I could see.

What the hell? Ruben village? The El? This is starting to sound a lot like… I gasped silently. I figured heading over to stop them when I noticed the girl was still next to me, listening to the conversation. I almost forgot to introduce myself to her, though if her name is what I think it is, I'm screwed. "I'm M-M-Mario." I managed to stutter from my panicked mind. "What's your n-n-name?"

"It's Rena, nice to meet you." She smiled sweetly for a split second, turning into confusion after noticed my horrified face. "What's wrong? Are you feeling ok? Look we need to stop these guys from stealing the El and-"

"Th-This isn't real." I whispered almost desperately. "This really isn't happening! I-I always knew this game was addicting but…this…I…" My mind was in a race of thoughts, the sound of desperation growing with each passing word. I'm stuck inside Elsword! But how!?

"I need to get you to a doctor qui-"

"NO I'M FINE!" I begged her to listen. "Listen…" I calmed myself down then started again. "I need you to believe me on this." I started to tell her what happened. How I'm just an ordinary human who spends his time playing video games. How, after spending almost a full night playing the game, I found myself trapped inside for no clear reason. And explaining how I know these Elsword terms.

"I see." Rena closed her eyes and thought. Its times like this I'm glad the game programmed Rena as the mediator of the characters, the patient mentor who uses encouraging words and skills to teach their student, rather than flaring up into a frenzy or blabbing nonsense. "Well in any case that's one more thing we have in our agendas. We need to protect the El from being stolen and find a way to bring you back to your world."

"Thank you." I thanked Rena for her help. However I must've told her too much information because as we headed out for Ruben to protect the El, said El was already stolen courtesy of a woman NPC's scream of terror. Damn it! That big guy must've gotten the 2nd El shard by now!

Rena had the same thoughts as I had. "Tch." She scowled. "We're just gonna have to go after those two bandits then." She hurriedly looked around our location and handed me a thin stick, she must have found it laying around near the trees behind us.

This is supposed to be my weapon!? I thought bewildered. Sadly, my thoughts turned out to be true as Rena motioned me to follow her to where the bandits trekked.

"Aha! Found you Bandits!" Out of nowhere a red-haired kid holding a huge sword, or rather a club, for his size kicked Baldy square in the face, causing him to fall backwards. Wait a minute I know who this is! I thought to myself.

"Damn kid, who the hell are you?" Hairy demanded, pulling out his blade. Those two and Rena don't know it yet, but I know his name. It's gotta be…