Disclaimer: We do not own Sword Art Online.

…

'This can't be happening…' The small figure pushed her way through the doors to the bar. With her elaborate avatar gone, she felt insignificant. Mousey brown hair fell over her green eyes as she scanned the inside of the tavern.

"Why am I even in here?" Ino mumbled to herself. After the Game Master's announcement, she had wandered the streets aimlessly before heading to the woods for mild quests. Unfortunately, the lack of magic greatly impaired her. Now, she stood at the threshold of some random bar, feeling achy.

"Can I get you anything?" the barmaid asked when the small teen finally took a seat.

She thought for a moment. Since this was still a virtual world, she could drink with no regrets. Her mind turned to the real world and memories of her beloved grandmother sipping on white wine or gin and juice should she need a sleep aid. The thought brought tears to the brim of her eyes.

"Can I get a white wine?" A nod from the barmaid confirmed her request, and soon Ino was sipping on the cloyingly sweet beverage.

Now she was desperate to get out of the past. Right now she was in a death battle, a twisted reality where you had to play or you would cease to exist. She couldn't dwell on that, however, or else she'd go insane.

Her deep green eyes flickered across the backs and faces of the various people crowding the bar. A somewhat rowdy group of three were talking near the front, but they weren't particularly interesting. Only the slightly haggard look they had interested her for a mere moment, but who in this world didn't look like that?

The town of Beginnings was now a place for the beaten to nurse their wounds, the broken to steel their hearts, and the masses to plan their attack. Hundreds had undoubtedly died already, and many more were sure to follow.

It was only a matter of time before Ino joined them. RPGs had never been her forte, so to speak. Repetitive dying was one of her signature traits. At least in past games she could resort to random spells or running, but no such luck here.

She had made sure to equip herself with a kodachi blade; hopefully it would work for her. The wooden handled short-sword had cost a significant bit of Col and barely left her with enough for some cheap armor.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she sipped down the last of her wine and left the building. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would take until her name would join those of her fellow fallen prisoners.

...

Incredible. That was the only word he could think of to describe the curveball thrown his way. In-fucking-credible. The katana-wielder wasn't too keen of a virtual reality game to begin with; his forte was shooter games in which he would choose to use a knife as his main weapon. So all-in-all this wasn't too different a game than what he was used to. Except for the fact that in those shooter games his kill-to-death ratio wasn't exactly the highest due to his choice of weaponry. He would always get berated about the way he used to run around and just throw knives and stab people in the back while others were shooting rifles and using rocket launchers to kill others. But not Zi.

Zi was a different breed of gamer. Zi was the type of gamer who couldn't give half a damn about what everyone else was screaming about. He usually left his headset unplugged and let the other players scream through his T.V. while he chuckled to himself. But this game was slightly different from all those PvPs he was so used to playing. Instead of ignoring everyone, he had to blend in and open his ears for once. Unfortunately, though, word around the grapevine was that hell had actually frozen over and there was no escape.

He decided to play through the night unlike many others who hoped that the harsh reality was only just their worst nightmare. He wasn't going to think about anything he couldn't control, so instead he did what he knew he could do. And that was killing AI's. He spent all night figuring out how to properly hold a sword and then forget it instantly in favor of what felt most comfortable. Admittedly, he wasn't the brightest guy, but he knew how to make things work. In the real world he was an athlete until the time came to get a job, so sudden changes in motion were nothing new to him, but dodging swine and creepy crawlers was completely different from ducking and diving through small holes on a basketball court.

At first it looked like they were coming at the speed of light. It took a few swings to get the timing down and shake the nerves off, but he got it pat down in due time. Zi leveled up a couple times overnight and collected a few items he figured he should save for when he really needed to use them. And just as quickly as night had fallen, the sun had risen in this virtual world. He found it weird because one would think that, after hours of slaying, one would be exhausted and ready to catch up on some sleep. But he wasn't tired at all; if anything, it was more the mental exhaustion that had him sitting on a park bench in the middle of town.

It seemed like most of other players were just waking up and getting ready to literally sulk themselves to death. During the first day of the game, many players became overwhelmed by the sudden twist to the game and decided to take their lives, hoping that it was all a hoax and they would awaken in the real world. They saw the task in front of them as impossible, as something only a truly evil man could develop.

At first Zi thought that there might have been some truth to that hypothesis. He thought that one simply couldn't run through this game like a madman and come out alive, that he couldn't complete this impossible task alone. And that's why he would have to adapt. He was going to do his best to keep his kill-to-death ratio as high as possible. He was going to make a new personal record. But he couldn't do it alone. He needed a partner to get through this hell. And so Zi figured out Step 1 to beating the impossible game. Step 2 was going to be a bit harder if the death toll in this game continued to rise.

...

"How much of this boar hide do you think we need to make armour?" asked Kaka as he slayed the beast in front of him. According to his inventory, he had a fair few pieces of the hide, and he knew that both of his companions had a few pieces themselves.

"Well, our Light Armour Forging is all at zero, so expect to waste a ton of items before we actually make anything successful," said Raynor as he scrolled down a list of makeable items. "Plus, by the looks of it, we have to be level five before we can actually equip any form of hide armour. Let's see, let's see... Alright, by using a blacksmith's hammer and an anvil, eight pieces of boar hide have a forty percent chance to make hide gloves."

"Eight pieces for gloves!" exclaimed Kaka, thinking that for eight pieces a whole set would be made. Plus the fact it had such a low chance made it almost not even worth the effort.

"What do you expect for somebody who doesn't have any skill in the ability?" said Taylor casually as he slayed a boar that had been charging towards him with little effort. "It'll be like most games: the more you spam and level the ability, the more chance of success you'll have along with the less amount of items it'll use."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Kaka as he sighed in acceptance. He had exactly eight pieces of boar, and he wasn't prepared to throw that for nothing after almost being killed to get said pieces.

"I've got the blacksmith's hammer already, and I guess if it's helpful for forging, I won't be selling it when I get something that boosts my abilities," said Raynor as he watched another pack of pigs spawn. "Hide armour really doesn't bother me, though. I need to get something like iron or steel."

"Plan on being on the front lines?" said Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Heck, yeah. Right up where the carnage is," said Raynor smugly. "You going to join me at the front?"

"No bloody way," said Kaka. "I don't want to throw my life away."

"Stop being a little girl about this," said Taylor as he shook his head condescendingly. "You guys probably want to level up a lot more before you go for it, though. Right now you barely even stand a chance against the boars outside the town."

"Well, what level are you?" asked Raynor.

"Yeah, if we grind up to your level we should be able to one-shot those pigs too," said Kaka as he eyed the brown-haired man in front of him.

"I spent all day grinding yesterday, so it'll take you a little while to catch up," said Taylor as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess, though, if you wanted to risk it, you could try kill something else. Nothing too crazy but something that'll get you through the levels that little bit quicker. There's no rush, though, so don't do anything stupid."

"Well, what's the next level of creature?" asked Raynor.

"Nepents, I believe," said Taylor, recalling that a stranger had mentioned them in passing. "While taking a piss in the tavern, I heard a former Beta tester explaining what to look out for on this floor. I hear they're these little plant things, but they're around level three so watch yourself. Just head north for a while and stick to the open plains; the forests and paths to towns are where the stronger monsters lurk."

"Got it," said Kaka with a nod before tilting his head to the side. "You make it sound like you're not coming along?"

"Nah, I'm going to work on my other skills," said Taylor. "Be sure to form a party. That way you share the exp and Col as opposed to hogging it all yourself."

"Isn't that what you've been doing this entire time?" questioned Raynor.

"Yep," said Taylor with a twisted smirk upon his face.

"You're a bastard, you know that right?" asked Raynor with a smile as he created a party and invited Kaka to the group, the teenager quickly joining. "We'll be back in an hour or so, and we'll talk about what to do next."

"Fine," said Taylor as he started to walk towards a nearby river before pausing midstep and looking over his shoulder. "Stay alive."

"You know it's really freaking ominous when this is how we say goodbye to each other," shouted Raynor in frustration as Taylor created more distance between them.

"What was that about?" asked Kaka.

"Don't worry about it," said Raynor brushing it off. "C'mon, lets go kill us some plants."

"That sounds nowhere near as exciting as it probably is," said Kaka, to which Raynor could only shrug before looking over his shoulder to see that Taylor had pulled a fishing rod out of his inventory.

"It's got to be more exciting than fishing, though," said Raynor, wondering why Taylor had chosen such a skill to level up.

"Probably," said Kaka placing his hands behind his head. "What do you think's going on, in the real world, that is?"

"Panic probably," said Raynor. "Ten thousand people just get put into a coma; the world can't deal with something like that. Not to mention the fact that every time one of them dies in here, they die out there. How many people are going to be waiting to see whether or not we come out of this alive?"

"It's a bit crazy in that sense, isn't it?" said Kaka wondering how his family was reacting right now before shaking his head, clearing his mind of those thoughts. "We shouldn't worry about stuff like that, though. We should just focus on beating the game."

"I think it'll take a little while before we can focus on something like that," said Raynor. "We're having this much trouble already on floor freaking one, imagine what the shit on floor ten's like, let alone anything higher."

"Then we better level up," said Kaka confidently.

"Sounds like a plan," said Raynor as he patted Kaka's shoulder.

At least it was as good a plan as any.

…

Morning already. Ino could barely believe she'd survived the night, let alone that it wasn't all a nightmare. As she made her way through the still chaotic streets, she kept her eyes open. For what, she didn't know…

The players that lined the streets all seemed too paranoid, but she guessed that was being hypocritical. All except one. It was really odd to see a player wearing sunglasses; she didn't even know you could equip them here.

Thinking for a moment, she quickly decided to join him. As she walked over to the bench he was occupying, she wondered why she was even interested.

"Um, mind if I sit?" Her eyes cut in the opposite direction. Nervousness was practically rolling off of her form.

More surprised than anything, Zi never expected anyone to approach him. He figured the majority were still a little too freaked out to trust anyone yet.

He fumbled with words before finding his tongue. "U-uh yeah...er I mean no! I don't mind."

A bit of relief washed over her. She hadn't expected him to actually respond. "Thanks…" Ino tentatively sat down, her eyes still averted. "M-my name's Mo- er- Ino…" Inwardly she cursed for almost letting her real name slip, but she turned her gaze to the dark haired man.

"Ino, eh?" He turned to face the brown-haired girl's gaze with his own. "I'm Zi. Nice to meetcha." he responded while extending his right hand out to her.

She smiled slightly and took the outstretched hand. Her stomach wasn't appreciating the butterflies swarming inside, but there wasn't much she could do about the anxiety. It was rather refreshing, Ino thought, to find someone that wasn't acting violent and rude from high stress levels.

"Same here," she said.

"So, were you up all night levelling too or did you just wake up in despair like the rest that are walking around like zombies?" Zi inquired.

"Oh..." The question caught Ino off guard. It was her that had come to him, but she was glad she hadn't had to start the conversation; that had never been one of her strong points. "Uh, yeah. I stayed up. I was trying to get used to using weapons… I usually go for magic…" She paused. "But I guess there was a bit of despair there too. I'm just trying my hardest to work past it."

"That's good. Not many others have figured that part out yet. I was trying to do something along those lines as well. This whole virtual reality thing is pretty weird to get used to, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm usually a quick learner when it comes to video games. Although this may be the first RPG I've ever played, levelling up is something I'm used to doing. So I think I'll be fine in the long run," Zi finished before staring back towards the wandering crowds.

"Wow, you seem pretty confident in your abilities…" Ino looked to her shoes. Zi's words made her feel better in a way, more confident. If he was able to stare this game in the face and keep going, she could try as well. "Hey, I know this is sudden, but- eh, nevermind." She shook her head.

"No no, it's ok. Ask away," he insisted, turning his attention back to her.

"Oh, um… I was just wondering if you would want to go on a quest or something… I'm not the best player out there, but my speed stats are pretty high and I've gotten pretty good with my blade…" she stuttered out. She wasn't doing a very good job of selling herself, but, maybe he would consider her offer.

"A quest, huh?" Zi pondered the thought for a moment before coming to an easy answer. This game was meant to be played in groups with other players. Step 1 to getting out this world just threw itself right at him, so he wasn't going to ignore it.

"Sounds like a plan. When do we start?" He smirked.

Ino gaped, amazed that he had accepted. She hadn't thought it'd be that easy. "Whenever you're ready, I guess…"

...

"Heh I can't wait to see the look on the smug bastard's face," said Kaka, unable to prevent himself from breaking out in a grin.

"Level five and counting," chuckled Raynor, "I didn't expect that nepent with a flower to give me that much experience."

"What level do you reckon Taylor's at?" asked Kaka, "He dodged my question earlier on."

"I'd say three, maybe four," said Raynor. "At least that's when I started noticing I could take down the boars with ease. One hit for the win! We better go find him. I'm starting to get hungry."

"Hopefully his fishing skill increased enough for him to catch something decent for the three of us," said Kaka, "I guess I'll chip in and cook. I need to raise some of my skills."

"Be my guest," said Raynor as he headed toward the lake at which they had left Taylor at. "I'm quite sure I'd burn whatever I tried to make."

In truth, Kaka had only volunteered to cook because he didn't want to find himself becoming too reliant on his two newfound companions. They seemed trustworthy, but he had always been overly cautious.

"I see you two managed to survive," said Taylor, turning towards the duo as he noticed them. "Congratulations."

"Barely," said Raynor with a grin before gesturing to Kaka with his thumb. "This dumbass over here decided to attack one with a fruit on its head, and as soon as he killed it, like twenty of them swarmed us."

"I take it y'all managed to get some good experience then," said Taylor with a nod.

"Level five, baby," said Raynor banging his fist against his chest.

"Not bad," said Taylor with the slightest hint of a smirk upon his face. He turned to Kaka. "And you?"

"Four but I'm just a few experience points short of hitting five," said the teenager. "So are you going to tell us what level you are now, or are you too scared?"

"Didn't I tell you earlier?" asked Taylor.

"You avoided the question completely!" shouted Kaka in frustration. Was this guy deliberately trying to piss him off?

"Let's have a look," said Taylor as he pulled up his status menu, Raynor and Kaka looking over his shoulder before their mouths dropped slightly.

"Level eight!"

"What the hell?" exclaimed Kaka in frustration.

"Told you I grinded for a while. Plus when I was fishing all these mud crabs kept coming out of the water, slow as buggery but they took a few hits each to kill," said Taylor. "I managed to gain an extra level or two because of that."

"This is bullshit," said Kaka with a frown. This hadn't been the plan. At the present moment he was outclassed by every member of the group. Hell, one was even double his current level.

"Don't be like that," said Taylor with a smug look on his face. "Tell ya what: we'll form a party at some stage and go out monster hunting. That way you can catch up."

"You'll only end up getting further ahead of us, though," said Raynor. Personally he didn't care about the whole thing as much as Kaka seemed to.

"Nah, each level progressively requires more experience to reach the next, so by the time it takes me to gain one level, you will have reached two and be on your way to the third. Plus I don't know whether or not weaker creatures will start capping and I'll be gaining less experience than you guys, but that's something we'll discover in time," said Taylor before opening his menu and taking a gander at his inventory. "I managed to catch about seven fish."

"Well, Kaka volunteered to cook 'em, and I'm sure he's getting moody about having the weakest skill set of the three of us," said Raynor with a grin. "What do you say the two of us go kill some more monsters while he's cooking up a bite?"

"I swear to god I will poison the food," said Kaka as he grit his teeth. He couldn't see the funny side here, being the most defenceless of their little trio did not sound fun in a game that almost certainly ended in death.

"Mud crab," said Taylor as he pointed down the beach towards the creature, Kaka's eyes sharpening before he charged forward.

"I will end you!"

"Did you know him pregame?" Taylor asked of Raynor.

"Nope."

"Probably for the better," said Taylor with a shrug of the shoulders as he watched Kaka continually hack at the top of the shell. "You have to hit the underbelly; that's its weak point."

"Like hell!"

…

"Hiiiyah!" Zi yelled while slashing through what had to be at least the fifth Wind Wasp that came out of nowhere.

"You okay over there, Ino?" he asked while dodging a tackling boar.

"Gah- Yeah. I'm fine," Ino gasped out as she buried her blade in a wasp's stomach. "How many more are there?" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Haha. Who knows? But that's the fun of it, right? The more that come the more accustomed we'll get to it. Just be sure to keep an eye out for those stupid plants while we're at it. We are still in a forest. They can come out of anywhere," Zi explained while he readied himself for another boar attack. They seemed to be the most abundant monster on this floor.

"Right," Ino nodded, but she had no time to respond further as another nepent appeared behind her. This one had some sort of fruit on its head. "Ahh! Holy-" She hurriedly sheathed her kodachi and began running. "Careful of that one, Zi! It's a trap!" She looked towards her companion.

Zi swung his katana at the boar coming his way before taking a quick peek back at Ino to make sure she was okay. He then surveyed the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing else creeping up on them so they could come up with a plan to quickly kill the trap.

"Uh...shit. Alright, don't provoke it. We have to take it out without it knowing we're coming for it. One of us has to distract it while the other kills it from behind. You up for a little teamwork, Ino?" Zi asked his new partner.

"I don't really have a choice in the matter, now do I?" The small girl called to her comrade. "We can't just ignore it…" She stood a few meters away from the beast, catching her breath from the start the creature had given her.

"Nope." Zi replied as he scoped out the area. There were a few blind spots where one could pop out from. Most of the forestry was thin in diameter but there stood a few trees that could be used to hide behind. He figured if he could maneuver quick enough, the beast wouldn't see it coming until his blade was already halfway through it's torso.

"Alright Ino, just hang in there. I have an idea, you just have to trust me on this one, okay?" the black haired swordsman called out.

Ino straightened her back, ready for his plan, "Yeah, sure. I trust you." In spite of the dangerous situation, she tossed a wide smile at the man, wordlessly urging him to go ahead.

Zi gave a quick nod and let out a quiet breathe before making his way to the nearest blind spot, trying his best to avoid any unaware enemies on the way. He never took his eyes off of Ino nor the nepent. They weren't far from his location but one mistake could mean the difference between life and death.

He kept a mindful eye on the enemies spawning up and made a quick decision to ignore the small fries and focus only on the staring contest between Ino and the abomination.

The digital leaves ruffled under his feet as he rolled between the openings to the next hiding spot. He closed in on the fight, his heart racing from adrenaline. As much he knew he should have feared a situation like this, he instead welcomed it. The opportunity to satisfy his stupid dream of saving a 'damsel in distress' was so close he could taste it. He silently cursed all those superhero movies he liked to watch.

In the shadow of the large beast, Ino couldn't help but tremble slightly. Of course she trusted Zi, but the look the nepent was giving her wasn't pleasant, nevermind that it didn't have eyes.

"Eh... Any time now, Zi…" She called, hoping that it was in the correct direction. She couldn't move lest the fruit-headed behemoth get the wrong idea and start coming after her. Her only choice was to stand her virtual ground and hope Zi's plan worked.

'Alright Zi. This is it, your moment on the big stage. Don't fuck it up. For god's sake, please don't let me fuck this up.' Zi took one last breath before unsheathing his sword. He jumped out from his hiding spot and poured all his energy into his sword. It made a low whizzing sound behind him while glowing from the base of the blade.

"Watch out, Ino! Here it comes!" he screamed in desperation.

Heeding his warning, the girl did a tuck-n-roll of sorts to get out of range of the attack. Her short leap carrying her just out of range.

"Alright, here it comes! Sword Skill Activate!" Zi clutched the katana with both hands and thrust it towards the enemy.

"Tsujikaze!" A gust of twirling wind shot from the edge of the blade and spliced through the air like a bullet before engulfing the whole of the nepent. He watched in awe as the attack flung the monster into the air before completely annihilating it. The threat was over… for now.

...

"I think I'm going to throw up," gagged Raynor as he took a bite from the fish.

"Like you could do any better," shot back Kaka.

"We have shitty fish and a shitty cook, what did you expect we'd be eating?" asked Taylor. Considering the fishing rod he had purchased was the cheapest along with his fishing skill being non-existent to start with, he knew it would be a while before he caught anything worthwhile. Some would question why he would waste time on something like that so early in the game but he found it a good way to relax.

It reminded him of the good times he'd had in the outside world, and it also reminded him of his last time there. He had spent hours awaiting the midnight release of the game which had been distributed worldwide. People were worried, however, as the server would crash when the game came online. There had been times in the past where, once the server was opened to the public, hundreds of thousands of people across the globe would try to access the game all at a single time. He couldn't help but imagine that because of some stupid bit of luck he had managed to become one of the first ten thousand people to enter the system without the game crashing on them.

Some shitty luck he'd had.

"Are you happy now? Finally levelled up one of your skills?" asked Raynor as he eyed the fish sitting by Kaka's feet. "And why haven't you taken a bite? Taylor and I shouldn't be the only ones who have to face these atrocities."

"Yeah, level two cooking now and those mud crabs I got bumped me up to level five," said Kaka before looking down at the fish. "In the real world I'm a vegetarian… but I guess that doesn't really matter since they're not real fish."

"They taste real," said Taylor before adding on, "real bad."

"I said before that I will end you," said Kaka as he turned his gaze on Taylor.

"I thought you were directing that at the mud crab," said Taylor with a shrug of the shoulders. "Speaking of which, I managed to get a couple of Crab Carapaces for my efforts earlier. I guess we can either sell them off or try and make a shield out of them."

"Let's have a look," said Raynor as he opened up his menu and scrolled down to the correct section. "Says we need three shells and that there's a twenty four percent chance."

"Well, the only way those percentages are going to go up is if you level it. I take it since you are the hammer-wielder you'll look at armour and weapon smithing as side skills for a bit of Col," said Taylor.

"It's something I'll look into," said Raynor before an inventory screen popped up in front of him, showing both the carapaces and the boar hide that Taylor had. "Whoa, I didn't mean like right now, sheesh."

"You might as well take it now. There's no telling when we'll part as a group," said Taylor.

"You're not planning on dying on us anytime soon now, are ya?" said Raynor.

Taylor paused at that, though, knowing full well that death was always going to be around them. The life they lived up to that point had taken the place of the secondary world. For the time being, they would have to face the fact that simply walking from town to town was going to be dangerous. The high level creatures aside, not everybody could play the good guy and it would only be a matter of time before somebody snapped and killed another player and there was no guarantee saying that it wouldn't be him.

It was a scary thought.

Keeping his lighthearted attitude, however, Taylor managed to say the first thing that came to his mind. "If Kaka keeps cooking like this, I might be dead before you know it."

"I will shove this fish down your throat. Durability be damned!"

...

Both Ino and Zi were overjoyed with the success of their quest. Neither could believe the situation they were able to pull themselves out of. They hoped that this kind of success could continue on for a little while longer.

They began to approach the Town of Beginnings and immediately noticed how quiet it seemed. It was like a ghost town compared to the lively village it was before they left.

"What now?" Ino inquired as she turned to face Zi.

"Hmm...I don't know. This seems really strange. Where is everybody? It's like the plague ran through here," Zi observed as they began to wander the city.

"Indeed," she agreed. "Maybe there's some action going on at town square?" Ino wondered aloud.

"Well, no harm in checking it out. Hopefully we can find out why everyone decided to ditch us."

Ino and Zi found their way towards the town square where it sounded like a large group of people were gathered.

"Hey, it sounds like everyone is over there. Maybe we should check it out and see what's going on," Zi suggested.

The young teen looked in the direction the commotion was coming from before nodding her head in agreement.

As the two grew closer to the coliseum the voices gradually became louder and louder until it became just a bunch of noise. It sounded like there was a bunch of arguing going on between various parties.

They tried to find some sort of answer for what was going on until it literally hit them in the face. Flyers from the stadium event were falling out from over the top and flying in every which direction.

Zi pulled the flyer off his face and took a second to read it.

"Urgent Town Meeting. Everyone invited," Zi read before looking up to the top of the stadium. "Sounds important. Let's check it out," he suggested.

"Lead the way." Ino smiled up at him. They were both still tired from their time in the forest, but the flyer said it was urgent.

The duo entered the stadium and were greeted by a tall man who was standing on guard. He kept his level hidden but it was better to be on the safe end and assume he was an ass-kicker, else he wouldn't be the unofficial bouncer.

The guard kept himself armed with a strong stare at the two newcomers.

"If you're here for the town meeting, you are more than welcome to sit in. But do be wary of those around you. It is suggested you keep at ease while inside and keep your eyes and ears open. Stay civilized and we hope to see you fighting for the cause with us soon enough," the heavily-armed player announced before stepping aside and letting the pair pass.

It seemed like whatever was going on, it was big.

...

"How come you get to keep it?" whined Kaka gesturing towards the newly forged shield strung across Raynor's back.

"One, because I'm the only one who can wield a shield, two, I didn't know what the hell I would make from all that junk, and three, you tried to poison me!" exclaimed Raynor. He had had no idea that despite only having a one-in-four chance of it being successful, he would pull off smithing a brand new shield on his first attempt. It'd added an extra couple of points to his endurance stats as well, which made it all the more worthwhile.

"I'll kill you while you sleep," scowled Kaka clutching at the scabbard of his short sword.

"Now, now, children can we not fight? If we upset Kaka then our dinner might be even worse than the lunch we had," said Taylor.

"Hey, it's wasn't that bad," protested Kaka, ready to defend himself regardless of whether or not his leg was being pulled.

"Pfft, says you," said Raynor with a chuckle. "You had level two fishing by the time you cooked your fish after getting all that experience from screwing up our ones. I bet random pieces weren't burnt all throughout yours."

"He may still be a little mad over the whole level thing," said Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair, half ignoring the dark gaze that Kaka sent in his direction. "If leveling system is anything like a normal RPG it could almost be plotted on a logarithmic graph due to the fact that the higher level you are trying to achieve, the longer it will take to get. Give it a couple of days and while you're trying to get to level ten, I'll only be at level eleven or so if that."

"Doesn't make it any better," grumbled Kaka.

"Just don't die. Remember that that is priority number one," said Taylor as the three of them finally finished their venture past the wilderness and found themselves back within the safety of the Town of Beginnings. Everything, however, was not as fine as it could be if the group of fifty or so people standing near the entrance were anything to go by.

"I know you're all scared," shouted the apparent leader as the trio came closer. "What we need to do now, however, is not panic and focus on the goal ahead. The closest village is a half an hour walk from here, but it is guarded by a number of creatures that make passage difficult for the time being. What I'm suggesting is that we create a safe passage so that we can actually start making some damned progress in this game and earn our freaking freedom. Are you with me?"

"YEAH!" came the uproar of the players, each of them determined to actually do something after having spent the night before praying that this was all a nightmare.

"You guys want to help clear a path?" Raynor asked of his two companions.

"Count me in," said Kaka keen for the adventure; he also didn't want to be stuck in the beginning town for too long. Kaka didn't want to be the last one to return to the real world when such a time came. Taylor, however, had a different answer all together.

"No, I've still got some stuff to do," he said casually as he began to walk off. "I'll catch up with you guys down the track."

"What you're leaving, just like that?" asked Raynor as he noticed the large group begin to move out on their quest.

"Yea," said Taylor as he stopped in the middle of the road and turned to look at his two friends. "Got a problem with that?"

"Nah, nah, it's just… unexpected," said Kaka honestly. Considering the three of them were relatively high levelled for this stage of the game, he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to make it to the next village if yesterday's attempt was anything to go by. "Since you're the strongest of the three of us, you'd think that you would be the first one to volunteer."

"I may be stronger in regards to levels, but not emotionally," said Taylor somewhat cryptically. "There's some things I need to take care of beforehand. Nothing dangerous but just stuff I need to get off my chest."

Kaka looked as if he was about to respond before Raynor put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him before he began. "Stay alive," he said finally.

"Stay alive," repeated Taylor before he turned back down the road and began to walk once more.

"C'mon, let's go," said Raynor as he headed towards the large group that had just set off. Kaka stayed in place a few seconds longer as he looked at his two friends walk in different directions, possibly never to see one another again with nothing more than a simple 'stay alive' as a farewell. Swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat Kaka shouted out towards where Taylor was.

"When you see us again, I'll be ten levels higher than you, you hear!" he exclaimed and even though he knew Taylor could hear it, the man gave no response as he continued on his way. His message having been heard, Kaka turned in his place and rushed towards where Raynor was and joined the expedition, and he couldn't help but hope that one day they would run into their friend again.

...

This chapter was brought to you by DevilsDoCry, Razamataz22, and Kakarot Son.

Guest appearances from former TDS members Zi-Dawg and Borderlined Innocence.

For those who are interested, we are a group of collaborative writers who combine our efforts to bring you stories such as this one. We're an open group, meaning that anyone can apply to join. Feel free to check out our forums, our Facebook page, and perhaps apply to join the group, via the link on our profile. It's a great opportunity for those who would like to better their own writing abilities and exchange skills of the trade with fellow authors, or to simply be more a part of a writing community.

This story in particular, we are inviting anybody who wants to make a character for a cameo appearance to join us in future chapters. As this is going to be an OC centric fic we're looking for people who want to add themselves to the chaos that will be happening, either for a single scene or if they want to come in and save the day at a critical moment. Send us an application and we'll see if you've got what it takes.