Ellie barreled her way through the forest, dodging several branches and leaves as she went. Her virtual heart felt like it was ready to burst through her chest. Her breathing was heavy while sweat seemed to be generating from every corner of her body. The fatigue of her character was kicking in fast, yet Ellie simply kept her avatar moving.

"Wait! Hold up!" The three behind her shouted, the new players she had encountered. Ellie had to choose to ignore them, tears streaming down her face as she went. Soon their yells began to sound more distant, and further apart. After five minutes she was on her own. After ten minutes she couldn't run any longer. She collapsed

Ellie hit the ground tumbling, her avatar lying face first down on the dirt. Her sobs became more and more audible with each passing minute. He can't be….it doesn't make sense. Ellie couldn't help but recall the scene, the images once again flashing through her mind in rapid bursts. The way Defil3d had approached him, how cold his eyes had seemed. She recalled the battle with her, Ryuu, Shade, Polo and Michael. How the man cut through them all with ease.

She then remembered the woman that had arrived at the last second, the one who had saved them all. Ellie recalled the womans red cloak and striking, determined green eyes she carried with her. She blew him away, but he got up. Ellie couldn't remember what happened with their battle, as all she could remember last was her last look to her cousin. Ryuus face had looked confused when he hit the ground, and then frightened after a moment. There was nothing she could have done but hold him.

Ellie shook her head.

No, he shouldn't have disappeared, his health bar was so slow at the end. I thought it stopped before the bottom, I thought I saw it.

Ellies breathing steadied and she buried herself in the dirt, her sobs slowing down with each breath she took, and each new thought that entered her mind. Then, with a startling realization, the tears stopped and Ellies eyes widened. She rolled over and stared at the sky.

Players shatter when they die, don't they?

The stars flickered above Bower Island, the entire galaxy seemed visible then.

Why didn't Ryuu shatter?

Ellie leapt to her feet, dusting herself off. If there was a chance, a small hairs breath of a possibility. Anything. She would take it. Ellie checked her peripherals and then ran back into the woods. If Ryuu was alive, she was going to find him.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A heavy gust of wind blew Maias hair into her face, she had to reach around to tie it into another pony tail.

She stood on the top deck of the ship, as far towards the front as she could possibly get. Behind her was the steering wheel, the NPC captain and several other players who watched the sight with her. Ahead, looming as a steadily growing shadow in the distance, was Bower Island. At its top Maia could see the mountainous form of Hero Hill rising into the sky like a miniature version of the Spire. She placed her hands down firm on the railing and eyed the structure.

"They said about ten minutes." FistOmen stood a few feet to her right with his arms crossed. To Maia his afro looked almost camouflaged in the night. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a bit nervous too. This shit looks crazy." Fist added.

"Amen to that." Herman said from Maias left. The boy stood on the tips of his toes just to get a peak over the railing.

"Well we got about fifty players backing us up here on the boat. Plus another fifty on the island and that Kungen guy everyone's talking about."

"And my two Asian friends, they're pretty good too." Fist added, Maia smiled.

"The ones you said you were supposed to meet up with?"

FistOmen sighed. "Yeah and if it weren't that broken message system you'd have already met them by now."

"That does seem kind of weird for an MMO though. In-game message systems have been around for decades now, not sure why didn't include it. And I could have swore I saw it in some of the pre-release videos." Maia put a thumb to her chin. "Come to think of it, there's a lot of features I saw in the previews that I haven't seen in game yet…"

Fist shrugged. "They also didn't say we we're going to be trapped in here fighting for a lives and shit. But how did that turn out Herman?"

"Not good." The little boy nodded his head.

"Not good." FistOmen repeated.

Maia smiled, and looked back out at the island. Behind her she could begin to hear the NPCs giving orders for the ship to slow. While from below deck and more and more players came to the surface to see the site. As FistOmen had told her, within ten minutes they had gotten within sight of the dock.

They had moved to the bottom deck then, having to push and shove their way through the others to get to the railing. The other players were chatting heavily then, with the most recurring word Maia could recall being the name "Kungen" appearing every tenth word. By the time they had aligned with the dock Maia was wondering if the man really was ten feet tall with lightning bolts shooting out of his eyes.

"Steady….steady!" One of the sailors shouted.

The boat began to stop rapidly then, as the dock and the ship slowly began to become parallel with each other. Within the next minute they had aligned the two with near perfect accuracy. Not a moment later and a wooden board was dropped down to the dock. The NPCs began yelling, and Maia found herself and the others taking their first steps down onto Bower Island. She waited for FistOmen and Herman to get down as well before making their way down the dock with the crowd.

"Makes you wonder if there's a party size limit to these raids." Fist gestured at the thick pocket of players ahead of them. "I mean how the hell is one boss going to take all of us on? I want to at least say I got a few hits in on the world first kill."

Maia grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be plenty of room for us to fit in."

Ahead of the horde of players was a man standing on the shore. It didn't take long for Maia to recognize him as a player with the green name tag above his avatar. He was short, with a small sword and shield in his hands. Only when she got into talking distance did she see the worried look on his face and that he was in fact, not Kungen.

Not-Kungen waited for the other players to gather around him before speaking.

"Attention, ladies and gentleman." A few of the players continued to talk over him, the man raised his voice. "Attention!" The group quieted then, the man took a deep breath. "Alright, listen up. There's been a problem with the first group. We we're all scattered by a bunch of Hobbes attacking, and apparently everything's a bit chaotic now. Kungen has asked me to stay here and tell you all that you should wait at the docks, as far away from the forest as you can, until they get everything sorted out."

"What? It's just a bunch of Hobbes." Someone yelled from behind Maia.

"Yeah I'm not scared of any of those!"

"One hitter quitters if you ask me!"

The man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Everyone shut up! They're not going to attack you they're just going to kidnap a member from your group and run in the forest to get us separated. We don't want that to happen again. So just stay put until Kungen gets back so we can try this in a different way.

Maia shook her head. "This is stupid, how are a bunch of Hobbes going to beat all of us?" She went to turn around, but before she did she felt a hand on her shoulder. The person behind her was completely different than what she expected.

Quillian removed his hand, smiling. "Not sure where you were on the boat, but did you think I'd really miss this?"

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Shade turned around, his breath heavy. The path rose steeply then, thickly covered with different rocks and boulders. Through the strength of the full moon he could see nearly the entirety of the island, as well has his two friends moving up behind him.

"Why are we still going forward? We should have kept looking for her." Polo said in between breaths, the dark skinned man was at the back behind Michael.

Shade shook his head. "You heard that man, Defil3d. I don't know what happened to Uloveme but it didn't long for him to continue on following us. Ellie ran the other direction, she was safe, we're the ones who needed to keep going." Shade eyed the path leading down to the forest wearily. They seemed to have lost the Knight, but he knew the more distance they had the better. "We just need to get to the top and tell the others. If that guy catches us again I don't think we'll be as lucky as last time."

Polo stopped walking and took another deep breath. "Fuck that man. Fuck. That."

Shade sighed. "I know, I know. We'll get him man, trust me."

Michael was silent, continuing to walk until he bumped shoulders with Shade. The boy had a sunken look on his face, his eyes glued to the ground. I'll have to talk to him later. Shade sighed and turned around, continuing to walk up.

It was only another few minutes before they could start to hear the voices at the top. Shade gave a quick glance to the two behind him and they both nodded. The three picked up their speed as the voices grew louder and the path began to level out. He nearly ran the last few steps to the top.

ShadeO'Light reached the top of Hero Hill, the three spires glaring down at him from close to a hundred feet above where he stood. He followed them down with his eyes until he saw the large group of players at the center of the plateau, they numbered in the several dozens.

"More reinforcements?" One of the players asked, a short, stalky one with a large sword behind his back. Shade recognized him as TankGod from on the boat.

Another player, TJ Luther, took a step forward after he spoke.

Luther had his arms crossed. "Is Kungen with you all? He said to meet here and we've been waiting up here for a while now."

Shade shook his head.

"Not that, something else." Behind he could hear Michael and Polo come up the steps, Shade moved forward to meet the other players on the hill.

TJ Luther tilted his head. "What?"

"It's some guy . Defil3ds his name, he's…" Shade had to gather himself, he was staring at the floor then. He forced himself to meet the other players directly in the eye. "…he's killing other players."

The Hill went quiet, even TankGods smile vanish.

"What did you say?" Luther finally asked, Polo took a step forward.

"Some crazy ass guy named Defil3d. He has full black plate armor and is super strong like Kungen. We we're with two others and he still managed to beat all five of us combined, saying that it gives him experience or some shit."

"Where is he now?" A long-haired player, Pureyoo, asked.

Shade continued. "We don't know, but we were saved by a girl in red robes, Uloveme. She told us to go up here and tell you all so we can…"Shade paused when he saw the expressions on the other players faced, all wide eyed. "can…."

He turned around.

"So you can stop me?"

Defil3d stood at the entrance of Hero Hill, a full thirty feet behind al of the players. His dark armor glowed brightly in the night, like his blood red nametag. He held his great sword over his broad shoulders, clanking against his metal armor as he slowly walked towards them. Although his face was covered by his helmet, Shade could feel the mans smile as he looked at them.

"What did you do to Uloveme?" Polo asked, Shade could see his friend gripping his sword tightly.

"What I'm going to do all of you I'm afraid."

Shade readied a fireball in his hand. "You think you can beat all of us, combined? Are you crazy?" Behind he could hear the other players readying their weapons.

Defil3d laughed. "Why of course I do. Can you imagine how much xp the game will gave me for all this?" He stopped just fifteen feet ahead of Shade, Polo and Michael. "But I won't be able to do it without some help obviously." Defil3d stuck extended his right arm, opening up a 2D menu.

"What is he doing?" Michael asked, as Defil3d scrolled through a list.

Polo readied and aimed his rifle, his hand on the trigger.

"Who cares we got to stop him now!"

It happened within an instant. Polo had managed to close half of the distance between his finger and the trigger before he froze. From head to toe, Shade could also not move a muscle. His mouth refused to open while his eyes darted from side to side wildly, unable to get his head to turn where they looked. Behind he could hear all of the other players go deathly silent. Defil3d closed the menu.

"Ah, there we go. That's better isn't it?" Defil3ds tone much more relaxed. "Guess you guys are probably wondering why you can't move now, aren't you?" "Although I can't hear your reactions, by the way all your eyes are moving I'm guessing Kungen didn't mention how exactly a Global Boss encounter works…did he?"

Shade fought with every ounce of his being to get his character to move, but his avatar simply refused to respond. What the hell, what did he do?

"You see. When you go to battle with a boss like Oceanus, you do it as a raid group. Which all of you, except for me, are a part of." He pointed to his name tag. "Hence the fact of how my name tag, the red one, was hidden over by the green one of the raid group." He began to walk towards the players, sheathing his sword on his back. "But let's get back on topic, about the Boss Timer."

"Now normally, if you are not part of the group when the timer is activated, you'll just be excluded from any experience you'd get from the kill if you were also fighting the boss." Defil3d examined the frozen form of Polo like he would a manikin. "But unfortunately, this game was rushed by Adrian, so there were a lot of holes in the code that we didn't get time to fix, one of which I was tasked to work on myself."

What.

Defil3d laughed.

"I mean seriously. Did you guys really think that just because you were one of the first to buy this game at midnight, that you were the first to play it online. No, no. We developers always get early access before launch. And when your boss is a psychopath killer, well, he doesn't tell you that he's going to attempt trap a hundred thousand players in the world after launch, even if you were going to be one of them."

Defil3d withdrew his blade again. HE slowly swung his sword back and forth at Polos avatar. He would stop just inches short of player before reeling it back again, like he was preparing to go up for bat. "But here I am, and here you are. Stuck in this bug that was never fixed, luck of the draw I guess. Though if anything surprised me, it's that my friend and fellow developer, the one you know as Kungen, didn't at least warn you of it. Or even worse, of me." Defil3d walked back to the front, shrugging to himself.

"But whatever. I don't know where Kungen is now, but even he won't be able to stop me once I get all of the xp from your characters. After that I'll solo the game myself, and put a stop to this farce so that the rest of the players can all go home. It's for the greater good, you know?"

Defil3d paused, examining all of the players. "So, the only question left is. Who wants to go first?"

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Apollo stood at the center of the circular room, all of the staircases leading downward in wide, long steps. A good chunk of the staircases were shattered, replaced instead by a blackened abyss that went down for as long as Apollo could see the trail of saliva he spit down it. What's with this game and endless falls? Doesn't that take up a lot of space on the disc?

"The Heroes rained for centuries from this very hall. Where you stand was the site of countless battles, ceremonies and world-changing discussions. The amount of magic that was once gathered in this room was second only to the Spire itself. If only you could understand the sheer amount of power you stood before, like my father once held, than you would understand how…"

Rosie trailed off, or at least Apollo thought she did. He yawned, shifting his focus from the little girl to one of the several dozen depictions around the room. Man I'm tired. I wonder how long it is until this ends.

Apollo stared at the bright colors, representing the different spells of ages past. Hopefully I can find an inn somewhere around here, if not I'll probably have to take a boat or whatever off the island. That is, if the whole boss fight is done.

Apollos eyes stopped on the depiction of a Hero holding a blade in the air, two women knelt beside him. Apollos stomach growled. Ugh I need something to eat. A sweet roll would be fantastic right now, or maybe some roast. Man, gummy bears would be the best if they were here. Don't know if they're apart of the Fable Lore though. I really need to just level up my cooking skills already.

Apollo tuned back in to Rosies speech.

"…yet despite all of the odds the hero you looked at prevailed. Single-handedly defeating the evil that was Jack of Blades and destroying the power of the Sword of Aeons forever. We remember him as the Hero of Oakvale now, one of the few heroes who completely altered the course of this worlds history. That was several hundred years ago of course, and he is long since dead…"

Jeez this really doesn't sound like a little girl speaking now. Talk about bad writing. Is she just going to go step by step through the plot line of all of the Fable games now? Apollo yawned again, while his eyes felt as heavy as sandbags. There should be a skip button for dialogue like this.

"…they say he had children before his death, but their records are unknown. Some say his descendants still roam Albion. Though any method of identifying them is long since lost. Regardless I believe you, Milo, are one of them."

Wait, what.

Milos heart skipped a beat. He hadn't been called that name in months. He turned to look at the girl at the edge of the room, but all he saw was an empty room. He looked around, and Rosie was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly it felt very quiet, all around the room the torches flickered. Apollo held his breath.

Bbbzzzzzz.

Apollo looked at the edge of the room opposite of the doorway. There a blue light had formed, radiating brightly in periodic pulses. A menu popped up in front of him.

Congratulations! You successfully guided Rosie out of the cave! Quite the mysterious girl, wasn't she? Regardless the way out has been opened. Enter the portal to exit the cave and claim your reward.

Apollo closed the menu, a small amount of XP and gold transferring itself to his inventory upon completion. He gazed over at the light at the end of the room, his thoughts returning back to the game Fable II, to a certain moment he remembered from seeing a Let's Play on YouTube.

Didn't this portal go to Hero Hill in the game?

Apollo shrugged, and made his way down the steps. Guess I'll find out.