Day 24 –Dystopia

"So, what did you do?" The pretty girl leaning against the tunnel wall opposite him looked at him appraisingly. "Must have been pretty bad if they are sending you out in cheap leathers and armed with nothing but a bow."

"None of your business." Nathaniel shook his head. The nerve! But, she would learn better manners soon enough. He doubted any of the other convicts would be willing to talk about their past. "Seems to me you're not much better off."

It was true. Her leathers were even skimpier than his, leaving her midriff bare, no doubt as a fan service to the players. She did have a nice body, all trim and taut, her skin smooth and silky. Some gamer boy out there was probably licking his lips at the thought of pitting her against a horde of monsters eager to ravish her. Quickly, Nathaniel looked away. The thought made him sick.

"Well, at least I got these!" With a cheeky smile, the girl raised a pair of wicked-looking daggers. "And a bag with provisions and medicine, and a map. Want to share?"

"Share? Why would you do that?" Nathaniel immediately felt suspicious, but she just shrugged.

"We're playing for the same team, judging from your tags." She pointed to the ribbons attached to his leather jerkin. "I'm Megan, by the way."

"Nathaniel. Nate, if you prefer." Suddenly, it seemed pointless to antagonize her. On impulse, he decided to accept her offer. "All right. I've got some arrows and a few traps, but not much else, I'm afraid."

She made a soothing noise. "Doesn't matter. We will definitely stand a better chance of surviving if we stick together. And an even better one if we can persuade him to join us."

Nathaniel followed her gaze to the broad-shouldered guy in plate armour at the far end of the tunnel. He looked very young, hardly more than a teenager, and Nathaniel allowed himself a moment of speculation as to what he could have possibly done to deserve this.

But then, in all probability, none of them deserved their fate. When the "Age of the Dragon" franchise had first started, only murderers and rapists had been considered expendable enough to be used as avatars for the players. No one had ever expected how popular the game would become, though, and how much money could be made with it. Soon, the rules had been adapted to fit the increased demand for new blood.

Nowadays, it was perfectly possible to end up in the game world as a punishment for a minor misdemeanour or for overly critical opinions about the government. Not for life, of course – mostly, those sentences were limited to a few weeks, depending on the crime. But, what use was that if you ran into enemy troops before your time was up? Most of the veteran avatars out there wouldn't think twice before killing the newcomers. Whatever humanity they'd had left when they'd first come here was long gone. There were rumours about genetically manufactured monsters too, and poisonous plants and booby traps.

And, of course, it all depended on what player you got assigned to when they implanted the control chip. Nathaniel had heard that some of them took reasonably good care of their avatars, making sure they were well fed and healed after every fight. Others were less attentive, neglecting to check in for days on end. And still others were said to actually enjoy making their pawns suffer.

Megan had sauntered over to the knight in armour, smiling up at him as she repeated her spiel. She was really pretty, Nathaniel thought guiltily. He'd always had a thing for redheads, freckles and all, and she had lovely eyes, green like a cat's. She seemed to have a good deal of common sense as well. It definitely didn't make sense to fight each other on top of everything else they would have to deal with.

"Nate. Meet Carver." She was returning, and the boy was following her, clutching his huge sword clumsily. "He can hunt, he says."

"Snare rabbits," Carver amended shyly. "I used to be a boy scout back before they got banned. I can skin and clean them too, but I'm not much of a cook."

"Hello, Carver." Nathaniel shook hands with him, then glanced at the locked gate. "Do you think they'll send us out soon?"

"I think they're waiting for a fourth one." Megan fiddled with her leather top, clearly uncomfortable with the amount of skin it was showing. "Don't they usually send people in in batches of four?"

"I don't know. I've never played." Nathaniel felt his face harden. Even if he'd been able to afford it, this kind of game hadn't been his idea of entertainment.

"Neither have I." Megan glanced in his direction, clearly resenting the assumption. "But you hear things, don't you?"

Just then, the door at the far end of the tunnel opened again, and a young man was shoved through. "Hey, be careful!" He shook himself like a wet dog. "Jeeez, would it hurt them to be a little more considerate?"

When he saw them, he swallowed briefly, then pulled himself up to his full height. He was tall and lanky, a little soft around the edges maybe, with longish blond hair and amber brown eyes. The only weapon he'd been allotted was a long, gnarly staff, and he didn't have any kind of armour either. Instead, he was dressed in some kind of long, flowing robes, his shoulders covered in feathers, of all things.

Behind Nathaniel, Megan whistled appreciatively. "It seems we're in luck, gentlemen."

"Why?" Carver was doing his best not to look too sheepish.

"Because apparently our team includes a mage!" Megan beamed at the newcomer. "Hey! I'm Megan, and those two are Nate and Carver. Who are you?"

"I'm Anders." The guy smiled back, but he looked nervous. "And I wish I had any idea how to use this thing." He lifted his staff gingerly.

"Didn't they explain?" Nathaniel frowned.

The guy who'd handed him the bow had at least taken the trouble to show him the basics, then had had him practice for an hour or so before sending him off with a good-natured slap on the back. He didn't have a lot of hope that he would actually be able to hit a moving target, but at least he didn't feel like a complete idiot.

"They showed me one setting." Anders rubbed his eyes wearily. "Said there'd be spell books out there, with further instructions."

"Well, then we'll have to keep an eye out for those." Megan seemed undaunted. "I have a feeling some of those tricks could come in useful."

There was no time for further discussions. A set of lights above the gate began to flicker, red, yellow, then green, and they had just about time to gather their belongings before the doors whizzed open.

"Welcome to The Age of the Dragon!" A disembodied voice came from the walls. "Give us a good fight, folks. We're counting on you."

Before them, a vast landscape stretched as far as the eye could see. Most of it was covered in forests, but they could make out a river in the distance, and castles in various states of dilapidation on several of the hills. At first sight, it looked charming in a rustic sort of way, with birds singing in the trees and wild flowers growing in patches in the meadows. An idyll, a dream come true, if you compared it to the clinical coldness of the cities outside with their forbidding walls of glass and concrete and their carefully walled-in private gardens.

But, over in the east, storm clouds were gathering and the sun was already close to setting.

"We'd better find shelter soon." Megan stepped out onto the path without hesitation. "Come on. We have no time to lose if we want to survive."