Cool air lashed at Maia's face as she leaned against the bars of the mobile cell, preferring to switch it up between the unforgiving rusted bars and splintered wooden floors for a different kind of annoyance every few minutes. She gazed up at the sky, a bright orange coated the sky like a fiery nebula had taken over the role of the sun. Her insides twisted uncomfortably.

"Are they going to kill me now?" She thought as she tilted her head slightly and glanced at the bandits. Going about their activities as they had for the last 12 hours straight. Anxiety ruthlessly gripped at her, Maia wondered if she could throw up in this game.

A light cough, from the other side of the cell Kara sat and looked at the woods with a look similar to Maia's. Her soulless body seeming not the least bi troubled by the seemingly inescapable death.

"Is anything going to happened with her?" Maia thought, desperately trying to figure out any sort of thing she could do to escape. The girl had now begun to completely ignore her, so it seemed any dialogue options she had were long gone by this point. "Maybe I should try to attack her or something?" she thought desperately, even with the metal chains binding her hands behind her back she could still do some sort of kick. Maia looked at Kara hard, and then back at the bandits. She would most certainly die if she didn't try, and likely not a pleasant one either.

Taking a deep breath pressed up hard with her thighs and went into a standing position. She then began to waddle over to the girl, her right foot twitching anxiously. "Here goes."

Maia dashed forward with all the speed she could muster, barely a breath away from the woman when she planted her foot in the gypsy face. Her melee spec allowing her to do far more damage in pure hand to hand combat then the other classes. Kara's head jerked back violently, letting out a slight scream.
"Ugh this is bad..." Maia then kicked at the gypsy girl again, and again. Above the tan woman a health bar slowly began to decline. The blows made her feel guilty, but there really was no other option at this point. "They're not real anyway.." she told herself.

Around the camp she could hear the NPC's walking towards the cage, cheering and laughing. "Shit, gotta hurry, gotta hurry". Kara's life went down faster and faster, quickly fading to orange and eventually red. "Something! Anything! She has to have something!"

Suddenly a shot rang out, a merciless echo reverberating throughout the whole of the camp. Maia's heart skipped a beat as she took a step back and turned her head to her side. As such she was completely caught off guard when the iron grip pressed around her throat.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Cinnamon buns

"Orange glazed cinnamon buns" Apollo thought, longingly. The idea of such sweet, delicious orange flavored treat existing in the world exciting him to end. "But where?" he could not imagine where he would find one, having spent most of his time eating only the cheapest of foods, sleeping and battling. He had no idea. "Bowerstone maybe?" He thought of the far away city, a sprawling colonial age metropolis. In his mind surely such a thing could exist there.

But that was an impossible distance away, and here he was shoving a lighting bolt into the face of an unfortunate bandit. Dusk was settling in and darkness was mere minutes away. Behind him were his six allies, each with their weapons drawn and charging in from the rear. Not even glancing in that direction he dashed forward with a light streak behind his back, jabbing his foot into the stomach of a axe wielding outlaw and sending him spiraling into the bonfire at the center of the camp. "I'll find some after this".

"Aye! You little bastard!" was all the NPC could say before a bullet from TrixforKidz's rifle passed through his stomach, followed by a fireball from NeonTiger. Not surprisingly the entire camp was alerted at that moment, well over two dozen bandits swarming in like ants after sugar cubes. That battle had begun.

Apollo sent lightning bolt after lightning bolt, electric kick after electric punch, and even a few minor damage AoE blasts to give himself breathing room in between the transitions. His body moved with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, doing countless variations of flips that he could never hope to even dream about in the real world. This was his spec, Lightning. Guaranteeing speed and agility on par with that of the fastest of rangers.

Behind him TankGod lead his friends like a well trained combat unit, literally having each others backs as they formed a defensive circle in the chaos. The damage soakers like TankGod, Lightweight an took all the hits while TrixforKidz, Cheesus and NeonTiger dealt damage from behind the protection of the melee fighters. A solid tactical formation that no doubt-

A point of interest.

In between maneuvers Apollo caught something out of the corner of his right eye, a mobile cell with two prisoners inside. Before he could focus he diverted his attention back to the five bandits he was fighting at once. He was now taking multiple hits and his health bar was a quarter of the way down, the bandits seemed to be overwhelming heroes with….

"Bodies…." Apollo thought curiously. "…Russian bandits?"

All of the sudden there was an opening, directly behind Apollo's current position. A quick look was more then enough as he bolted backwards, the distinct light blue light ever trailing him. Just as two swords closed down on the air he passed sliding them, by that point the was skidding along the dirt and creating a small dust cloud behind.

He was now next to TankGod and the others, the six having just pushed another wave back to the outer ring that enclosed them. Apollo shouted at the leader. "This is starting to get out of hand!"

The short acne ridden man responded accordingly. "There's no way out now, we just got to hope we can beat them all!"

And with that a random bandit screamed, and his brothers in arms followed. The massive ring of bandits encircling the players and clamping down with the largest wave yet. In response Jason let out his own scream and is men responded similarly, holding tight and bracing for impact.

Apollo managed to lessen the bandits push to a degree, throwing down an AoE attack and then sending a massive electrical bolt into the face of a bandit holding a rusted mace. Though it was still felt by the six, the three melee fighters taking big hits while the two rangers and NeonTiger did their best to push the tide back.

For the next minute Apollo zipped around the battlefield, avoiding nearly all blows as he did small amounts of one on one damage to the entire raiding party. Momentarily glancing back at the center of the conflict roughly every fifteen seconds. Their health was going down quickly, TankGod himself dipping below 50% by the time Apollo came back around to them.

"Shit!" Apollo cringed as two handed blade got in a clear swipe at his left side. He spiraled into the soil and patches of grass tumbling. The taste of dirt filled his mouth, he than spit twice before rising again. Ahead of him he could barely make out the bulky bandit charging his way, the darkness having completely ousted the sun by that point. Apollo gritted his teeth and charged and discharged a lightning bolt, illuminating the target for a moment. He had large antlers mounted on his head and was a good amount taller then the rest, but before Apollo could read his name the light he made went out. Though it was of no matter.

"Deep…breath". The world around him faded, the only thing his vision picking up being the target before him. The tall menacing silhouette who seemed to be delighted at the idea of close quarters combat. Apollo lit up his hands with electricity, the glow staying this time as he raced forward at an unparalleled speed. The bandit did the same.

"You wanna fight this way huh?" he told himself as they neared collision.

The mage stopped a mere hair away from the outlaws body, the brute already mid-swing with his massive two handed weapon, seemingly unstoppable to all in its path. But suddenly the wizards speed accelerated exponentially, seemingly instantaneously appearing ten feet above the outlaw. The mage was spinning head first with his legs extended in opposite direction in front of and behind him. Before the bandit even looked up at the spectacle the wizards electrically charged heel slammed down on the back of the outlaws head.

With a loud clap of thunder the bandits dome shot down, nearly head-butting his torso with the tremendous, spine cracking force. A cloud of smoke rippled around the impact like a tidal wave.

Then, before Apollo's vision was obscured, he had landed his second attack. Both of his hands brought down a bright bolt of lightning onto the bandits back. Forcing the thick frame all the way to the ground with an explosion, multiplying the dust clouds size by a whole order of magnitude.
And then Apollo just kept hitting, spell after spell, punch after kick. Every last shred of mana possessed by his character was used in the following seconds. He screamed wildly with every blow.

"I have to win, I have to win, I have to win."

To anyone standing at a far distance it must have looked like a thunderstorm was brewing in the clouds. A overabundant amount of flashing blue lights sparked in and out of existence very second. The storm being a literal no mans land for any bandit near its center.

Then , with one last blue light, the punching bag broke and Apollo fell to his knees. Mouth open and hands slack to his side, he breathed heavily. Around him the smoke was tense but clearing. For the first time in minutes he seemed to noticed the bar at the top right of his screen. Orange and blinking faintly.

"22%…" he thought grimly.

His vision snapped back, as did his mind.

"Tank!" he yelled in his head, not even paying mind to the potential loot of the slain boss he brought himself up to his feet and gazed at the battle around him in awe. For every bandit there was a player. Having the odds weighed out of the favor the bandits were being slaughter, with the first pre-programmed deserters already appearing among the horde.

When a thin toothless bandit pointed a pistol at Apollo from afar he saw a short chubby boy charge up against it and bury an axe deep into the outlaw. A few moments later and the boy finished his target, looted it and moved onto to another fighter.

"W-who are these people?" his thoughts seemed to stutter in recognition at the turn of events.

"Hey!" A commanding voice barked, not deep, but not high either. Instinctively Apollo turned around, and there they were.

Adorned in iron plate armor with a kite shield and longsword drawn was a player by the name of "TJ Luther". Apollo watched as the mans blonde hair swayed slightly with every step towards the mage. Next to him was a short fellow with a wide frame, much like the Tank, only he was clothed in green robes and had the name "TreeDragon".

"You guys clearing the same camp?" Luther asked, now face to face with Apollo. Looking down on the boy with his clear height advantage.
Apollo took a slow look around, the battle was done. TankGod and the others would probably be arriving soon. "Uumm…yeah…" he said slowly.
"We came here on some kidnapping quest to save one of our own" Apollo watched as he turned around and gestured for a person to approach, they came dressed in raggedy clothing and looking like actually real world prisoners. Apollo squinted to read the names .

"Looks like we came just in time, you guys look like you were having some trouble."

A woman, dressed in raggedy clothing with scratches and dirt smudges all over her body. Concluding she was an NPC he went to the other, Luther continued speak.

"Thought you handled yourself pretty well. That thunder cloud was pretty impressive if do say so myself.

"Dex" Apollo thought, as he stared at the man, normal length black hair with an iron sword on his back. Nothing eventful.

From behind Apollo heard footsteps coming his way. "Ah look, there's your friends." Luther said, his face now baring a smile. Generally unfazed at the outcome of the events.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Maia's body was thrown against the bars like a rag doll, the metal of her chains colliding with the metal of the cage to form a loud clanking sound. Outside gunfire ravaged the camp and bandits screamed in pain. The entire wagon moved back and forth she tried to stand up and get a look on her target. Bridled with muscles and crouched with brown fur was a balverine, a fearsome creature she had not yet seen in her time in Albion. Small traces of foam seeped from its mouth as it showed its razor sharp fangs. It's level was likely higher then the vast majority of players, a challenge for even a fully geared hero.

"Really?" was all Maia could think.

The beast then lunged at her, Maia's attempt at a dodge only saving her from half of the swipe. Cutting at her health like hot butter. She was then besieged with a flurry of scratches, thinking quick the warrior through her body to the ground and rolled to the other side of the cage. When she stood up she attempted to pull her legs through the whole her chained arms created. But instead was greeted with a claw coated punch eerily similar to the ones she had been dealing to the balverine girl just a few short seconds earlier.

"83%" At the same time bandit suddenly yelled, "Hey, who are yo-"

Maia was thrown to the opposite side of the cage again in a move straight out of professional wrestling. The speed was incomprehensible.

"66%" A deeper more commanding voice joined in. "Kill those bastards!"

There was time to react, and indeed no reason. The cage was too small and the beast too fast. It was already on top of her swiping endlessly before she could hope of moving. It jammed her up against the metal door with a stab from its bonelike nails. Maia instinctively yelled even with no presence of pain.

"49%" "Where'd they go?"

The balverine then brought an elbow down on her head, forcible sitting Maia down. It then reclined its massive horse like feet and dealt her a quick and brutal blow to the stomach. The whole cage rocked from the power of the blow. Again and again it hit her with its kicks, dark shadows covered her eyes as she took the damage now without a holler. The only sound being that of the body slamming up against the rusted bar. Suddenly she felt the feeling leave her, she felt her body falling, sinking through the floor.

"12%, Is this it?"

The cage door swung wide open as Maia tumbled down it's steps and hit the grass hard. Through her vision she saw an upside down man screaming wildly, he had goggles and was wearing bandit gear. Maia's hearing was slowly coming back.

"-ash and I'm the second fasted man in Albi-"

The balverine rammed the bandits body with the force of a semi-truck. A devastating blow meant to be Maia's last.

"Come on!" she heard a voice yell, a hand soon found hers and before she knew it she was standing and being pulled through the dark. Behind she could hear Rash's screams die out and new ones begin. The flash's of gunfire illuminated her footsteps in the early night as she followed the man in front of her hastily. The reality of what was currently happening hitting her.

"Who are you?" Patched clothing, messy light brown hair and a blunderbuss in hand, Maia stared at the man intently. The darkness of the night not stopping her from making her opening judgments. They were soon in the woods, dashing past densely packed trees with only the faintest of light available to the eye.

"Where do you think yer goin!" a bandit yelled, leaping out of the bushes. It's short lived assault ended by a pistol to the mouth from the man with a blunderbuss and sword through the chest from another new face.

"We good?" the blonde haired man with the sword asked as he glanced at Maia momentarily then back at the blunderbuss man. Maia squinted to read his name.

"As good as we can get I guess."

"Quillian?" she began as she tested the new name, and then the other. "Rosan?" "I don't know why you did or how really but thanks for saving me." she said with a smile. Quill sighed, Maia noticed one of the sleeves for his patched shirt was missing.

"Yeah um we weren't saving you we we're kind of-"

"Hey I think they're over there!" a bandit yelled from the camp, his voice approaching the wilderness.

"Going." Rosan completed for him, he then turned to Maia with a smile he had not let out since he had arrived killing that bandit. He had long blonde hair, going down to his shoulders and unlike Quill his clothing was of a normal quality.

"We can't just leave you hear at this point so come on we'll explain later." he said as he motioned for her to follow, Quill having already started trekking through the brush.

All it took was a quick look down at her clothing and a thought of her empty inventory for her to make her decision. Maia ran in the forest with the two randoms who had rescued her, saving any thoughts and doubts for a time when she wouldn't most certainly die.