Decided to post this chapter a little early. Hope everyone enjoys the story so far! Share with your friends. Due to the cost of writing this story which adds up to be absolutely nothing, but my time.. Donations are accepted.. Just kidding! :) Please Subscribe and Comment, I read everything with great gratitude.

The sun starts to set on my walk to the Grand Hall. Not many players out tonight, where have they all gone? My pager alerts me, I check it. It's Iridessa.

"We're at the back table in the right corner. Ivy told me to tell you to grab a quest when you walk in. This way everything looks normal."

"Will do. How do you have my pager number?"

"When you're friends, you don't need numbers."

Dang it! I need to add Blake's number as soon as I get home.

I enter the Grand Hall, and approach the Quest board. I take an easy quest that has a time limit of three hours. It'll expire soon and I won't have to worry about it. Seeing Ira and Ivy I take a seat with them in the back corner.

Delightfully I great them, "Hey guys!"

Ivy looks up at me, focused on my face, "Hey, nice to see you here, please sit."

I sit down with them, Ira stays quiet, but smiley as if she were told to.

A few more groups of players walk in to the Grand Hall.

"Hey." Ira whispers.

"We can't be too loud." Ivy interrupts, "Just normal, but low."

"Is this that really big of a deal?" I question.

"Eden, there's a way to get out of the game. We don't need everyone knowing that."

"Wouldn't we want to spread the word? We'd work stronger as a team."

"Do you really think that?"

I ignore her.

"Let me just tell you what's going on and you don't have to ask the questions until the end. Alright?" Ivy is sincere, "There's a way to get out of the game, like I had said earlier. We went to Hunter's Ground looking for you. We've noticed it's changed a lot. Anyway, we saw a woman just laying there brutally slaughtered. She may have been in her late 30's. She had to have been attacked by some sort of gang or team. Because of the marking we found on her neck. It was practically chiseled into her. There was a big letter 'G' with an 'O' on top of that and an 'x' in the bottom right corner of the two letters. She was still conscious. We didn't get her name. We just tried to help her, but she didn't want it. All she said was 'Please end it before they end you.' We were a bit confused. We knew she wasn't talking about her pain, she was talking about the game."

"Well what info did you get out before she.. passed?" I ask.

"We didn't get another word from her mouth. She handed me a slip of paper then, went unconscious. We immediately got out of their and hurried over here to read it. There was a note in her pocket. I opened it.. Actually, here Eden. You can read it."

Ivy pulls it out of her pocket and slides it across the table, to me.

Dear Sarah,

I did exactly as you have asked and researched some thing that might be of interest to you. The results upon your

request came back as positive. There is a way to defeat the game. There's a way for you and I to finally escape. There's some basic things

you need to know Right Now. Number one: Do not trust anyone. I don't know if you've made friends, but if you have we need to cut them off.

Number two: Bryant has a group out there working for him. I need you to be extremely careful. Number three: If they find you before you find them,

They Will KILL You.

Come see me in two weeks, it's been a long time now. I miss you a great deal. I'm sure you're tired and it'll be better to discuss this in person.

Yours Always,

Mama.

"Mama?!" I bawl. "She has something to do with this? This is just great!"

"You know her?" asks Ivy.

Ira cuts off, "She's the lady who runs the apartment we stay at now."

"Is there more to this note?" I demand.

Ivy states the obvious, "Does it look like it? No. We need to talk to this 'Mama'."

"Maybe we should go do that now." I suggest, "By the way, Ivy. we need to become 'friends'"

She chuckles, "I'll send you a request tonight."

Ivy reaches for the note, "Wait!" I slam my hand on it, "Can I keep it?"

"Fine." She shrugs, "I don't see the difference in who keeps it. I guess we can't make any new friends."

"Sure we can, we just have to be careful." Ira smiles.

Ivy's eyes broaden, "What is that on your hand?"

"When I was out by myself the other night, I almost.. I don't know what would have happened. This dragon slayer helped me out. Anyway, this one guy grabbed me and he started to imprint on me." I explain to them what imprinting is and how only Knights can obtain imprints. "It turns out that guy was an ice dragon slayer. So the two dragons fought it out."

"Sooo uh now are you an ice dragon?" Ira's jaw drops.

"No. It didn't go all the way through or at leaf Blake and I thought."

"The dragon slayer?" Ira winks. I roll my eyes to Ivy.

"There's more to the story. Earlier today when I went to Hunter's Ground... I said something I shouldn't have said to someone and what started was a brawl. I ran from him, he got cut in the chest, almost killed me. Then, he pinned me and an ice razor thing shot out of my hand and went straight into his heart. He died. I'm not supposed to have powers, so this is something I have to talk to Blake tonight."

"This is crazy." Ivy stutters.

"Cool!" Ira blurts, "Do we get to meet Blake?".

"I hope so, more than likely. Oh, and let's keep this thing to ourselves. Now that that's said.. Let's go talk to Mama."

We exit the Grand Hall, it's dark outside. Which means we really need to be on our lookout. I can tell by the look on Iridessa's face, she's a bit nervous. I pick her up and hold her just like a baby.

"You're gonna be just fine wittle baby." I tease her. Her nose cringes, then she bursts into laughter. She yawns and falls asleep once again in my arms.

"I'm really hungry." Ivy whispers, "And I am sure she will be when she wakes up."

I nod. We fine a sandwich shop and Ivy goes in. I wait outside, sitting on a bench with Ira. Across the street I get a sense of someone watching me. Then I see, a pair of eyes peering through the shadows. I hold Ira closer to me and pretend not to notice the figure. The silhouette darts to slowly walk towards us. Just then, Ivy comes out.

"Hope you like ham. That's all they had in there."

"That's fine. Look over there." I nudge her.

There's nothing. "Eden, what are you talking about?"

"There- I- something- Nevermind."

We finally reach the apartments. When we go in I hand Ira to Ivy and they take a seat in the lounge. I walk over to the counter.

"Is Mama around?"

"Just a moment." The little lady walks to the back of the room into an office. She comes back out all by herself, "Mama is a little busy right now. You'll have to give her a few hours. Maybe 3 hours? I can call you when she is available."

"Ok, thanks I smile." I make my way back to Ivy, "She's busy right now so I think what we should do is this... You take Ira upstairs to the room you'll both be staying in. Wait for her to wake up and give her dinner. By that time, Hopefully Mama will be done. I'll come get you two when Mama is ready."

"That's just splendid." Ivy agrees.

I go to my room and check my mailbox. There's two friend invites. One from Ivy, "Heyyy, we're friends now. Just like you asked."

The next invite is from Blake, "Thought I'd send you one of these. Stop blushing because I know you are ;) I know you'll accept, why wouldn't you?."

Why does he do this to me? I ought to decline his just because he said that. Nah, he's special.

I accept both and enter my room and set my sword aside. I grab my pager and the number Blake gave me earlier. I put his number in my contacts under his name and text him.

"Can you come over now? Lots I have to discuss with you..."

"Sure give me just ten minutes."

"Thanks."

I lay flat on my back on my bed, I am so tired. It's been another long day. It's a scary world here, but is it as scary as where I came from. I mean back at home home? More like House of Hell, I never knew what day I would die. It's the same here as well, I guess there's nothing to be afraid of.

I decide to text Audrey since we haven't been talking.

"Hey Audrey! How have you been?"

"Hi. I've been fine. This game is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"You do know we're stuck right?"

"Yeah, I'm glad we are. Can you just be thankful for once?"

"Are you alright?"

"Never better. Enjoy the game, Peter and I are going to start questing tomorrow so we'll see you around hopefully :)"

"Have a good night."

Things just haven't been the same since the start of this game. I lay on my bed for a few more moments until I hear a knock at the balcony doors.

"Can I come in?", It's Blake.

"The doors are always open." I prop myself up.

He comes in instantly and closes the door, then runs and jumps on my bed like a little kid. "Sooo what did you have to tell me?" He face is to my face.

"This.." I show him the snowflake.

"I've already seen that." His face displays disappointment and backs away a little.

"No. Today I was out in Hunter's Ground and let's just say I got into a fight and was almost killed by a fire wizard. I really couldn't move then out of no where this sharp icicle thing broke through my hand and hit his heart directly."

"Well one, that's how you kill anything fire, ice to the heart. Only if it's strong enough though. Don't aim that towards me!" He's so dramatic.

I roll my eyes, "Do you know anything about this?"

He studies my hand closely, "Maybe he did get enough in you to where you have powers. Not much power, but it may come in handy."

"I still don't know why he imprinted me."

"He needed a group, his just wasn't strong enough."

"Why not just imprint on someone in his group?"

"Why waste an imprint on people you know aren't brave? You saw them cower when I showed up."

"Psh, yeah I don't know why they were so scared."

"I'm scarier then you think.", He taps me on the nose.

"Oh yeah!" I exclaim, "There's a way out of the game." I show him the note Ivy gave me and explain what happened at Hunter's Ground and the engraved symbol.

"We need to-" he starts to say, there's a knock at the door.

"Sorry.", I answer it.. It's Peter.

"Can I help you?", I ask stubbornly.

"Hey there, cutie. Yeah, Audrey and I are going questing tomorrow and wanted to know if you wanted to come. Also I was wondering if you wanted to try to go out again sometime. I apologize about last time. I shouldn't have been so selfish.", he smiles.

"Oh.." I fake the setback, "I can't I'm busy.."

"With new friends? Way to ditch us."

"I've just made some new friends..."

"You're-" he starts off, but I feel Blake's breathe hit the back of my neck and he's looking over me at Peter.

"I guess I better be going... Bye, Eden." Peter winks at me and smirks at Blake then, he leaves.

I close the door, Blake plops back on to my bed. I sit next to him, watching him closely, I think I'm staring.

"Why'd you do that?" I break the silence.

"Do what?" He plays the innocent part.

"Scare him off?"

"I don't like him, Eden. Not one bit."

"You don't even know him."

"I know he's the one you went out with. I know he's the one who wasn't there for you when you needed him."

I sit there quietly, not knowing exactly what to say.

He finally looks at me, "You don't like him do You...?"

"I'm not sure anymore." I look away, "I've had a crush on him for a long time. Finally, this year he starts talking to me. I guess I was caught up with him just talking to me that I never really asked myself why I liked him."

"Makes sense." He really looks like he doesn't know what to say, but at least he's trying. This makes me smile.

"Okay, enough about my love life. Tell me about yours."

"Haven't had one."

"Seriously?"

"I mean a real one."

"Ok, I won't push you any further with questions."

"It's fine. I don't care." He falls flat on his back.

"Back to the note?" I ask.

He closes his eyes and nods, "We need to talk to Mama. Figure out who this Sarah was."

"I agree, luckily Mama is the one that owns this apartment."

"Sooo when can we see her?"

"In a little bit when she's not busy, the lady said she'd call me when Mama was free."

"So can we nap until then?"

"Yes, we can." I move to the floor and lay down, not knowing if it was even appropriate to share the same bed. I definitely wasn't going to ask him to move. I try to keep my head propped up with my arms. I'm really not physically all that comfortable right now. He follows me onto the floor, laying down right next to me. I look over towards him, he looks back at me. I close my eyes. He moves in closer to me, I only know this because I can feel his heat radiate off, hitting my body.

"Are you alright?", he asks.

"I'm just fine, you?"

He doesn't answer, instead he pulls my hands from under my head and moves in closer. He adjusts himself so I lay on the upper upper part of his arm, right below his shoulder. Now, I feel very comfortable. We're just friends... I fall asleep. I have a dream about becoming something more powerful, but everything is blurry. All I feel is heat, burning into my skin, and deep deep darkness. I imagine myself flying, lighting up the sky...

After what feels like I good while, I wake up in my bed. I see Blake is sitting on the railing on the balcony.

"Man, you sleep forever.", He grins.

"I was tired cut me some slack. Geez." I laugh.

"Mama is ready whenever you are. While you were asleep I got to meet Ira and Ivy, we learned a little about each other."

"That's good.", I rub my eyes, "Let's go see Mama."

We head downstairs and meet up with Ivy and Ira on the couch. Mama is sitting in a rocking chair nearby. I sit in between Blake and Ira, Ivy sits on the end.

"Good morning, Eden.", she chuckles.

"Real funny." I look down.

"You all needed something?" she asks.

I hand her the note. "Ivy and Ira were given this today by a woman."

The smile from Mama's face fades into a frown soon as she reads it. "Where's Sarah?!" She yelps.

Ivy intrudes, "I'm sorry to say, but she's dead. Ira and I tried to help her. There was something engraved into her as well." Ivy explains the symbol in such detail.

"I sent her this note years ago. Why didn't she come to me?! She's dead!", Mama starts to cry.

We all give her a moment before putting her through all the questions we have. She starts to talk.

"This isn't a new game like some of you players think. Every so many years this game is rereleased. We were beta testers years and years ago. Both of us were knights. We soon found out we were trapped in this game. Bryant's plan was to kill us all, then invite more players into the game. Sarah and I had caught on soon enough as we made friends and watched them die. We really wanted to kill Bryant, but thought it was impossible. I started looking into things and I found out some important information. Bryant is among us players, he also has people working for him. He will eventually find you and kill you. You would think you could find where the codes to this game are and shut it all down. It's more difficult than that. His hideout is practically invisible."

"How do we find him?" Blake jumps in.

"From bosses. Each boss in each region and world may or may not give you a clue. There are tons of bosses, you may even need to defeat them all just to get an idea of where to go to next. Yes, there are other Worlds out there which make it more difficult. You have to beat certain bosses to get to those worlds though."

"Such a hassle." Ivy grunts.

"I don't know too much, I just know that. You see, it's been a while so my mind is very weak. I just know he's out there along with many others to destroy all of us one day.", she starts to sob again.

"We're going to find him." I stand up.

"No Eden! Stay hidden."

Ira, joins me and holds my hand, "Sarah told us to find Them before they find Us."

"Where do we start?", Ivy is excited.

"Defeating everyone in this world. Stick together. Here is my map. It has almost all the regions in this world unlocked. This way you can decide where you want to start. I don't have any other worlds open though."

I take her map and thank her with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"If you need anything.", she adds, "I'm right here. For right now, you'll have to excuse me." Mama leaves, crying about Sarah.

Ivy picks Ira up, "It's time for bed, kiddo. We have a long day tomorrow."

We all part ways, Blake follows me back to my room.

"I was a beta tester." he says quietly as we enter the room.

I stay quiet, he continues, "It's been about 5 years I think. I don't really know though, since the real world and game time are different."

"I'm sorry to hear."

"That's why I kind of want to end this. While we were trapped if we didn't get killed, we weren't allowed to say a word to the new comers."

"It'll be over one day, we all just need to work together."

"That was corny." he laughs so hard.

I glare and slightly push on him. He looks at me too seriously.

"I guess I better get going." he gestures himself to the door.

"Do you want to stay the night? I mean just as friends, this way you won't have to get up this early and travel. You can sleep in a little longer."

"Like I'm going to sleep if I stay here..."

I frown, "That's okay."

He over exaggerates "Fine I'll stay just because uh... someone might come in through the balcony."

"Right..."

I grab a pillow so I can sleep on the floor.

"What are you doing?", He asks.

"You can sleep in my bed.", I smile.

"We need to make this fair."

"It is fair." I hesitate.

"Eden, get in your bed."

I get into bed and he takes the floor.

"You're making me feel very guilty." I confess.

He doesn't respond, so I fall asleep. I wake up in the middle of the night, my balcony doors are open and it's freezing. I go to close the doors and when I turn around I see Blake jump into bed, snuggling with the blankets. I get in beside him, laying on my tummy.

"Can I have some blankets?" I plead.

"Noooo!"

"You're a fire dragon, heat yourself up."

"Then come over here and get some."

"NO!" I yell, "You give them to me or else."

"Or else?" He looks at me for a moment, "Just because you're freezing..."

Without another word, he throws the covers on top of me. He then, goes and sleeps on the floor...