Everyone on the ship looked over their shoulders in horror as the engine at the back of the ship violently exploded into flames, the propeller flying off into the distance like a malevolent frisbee. The pilot ran over to the steering wheel, but before he could the ship tipped upwards, sending him sliding down. Amelia rushed over to grab his hand, slamming her sword into the wooden deck before the whole thing went vertical. James did the same, grabbing onto Grey and stabbing his sword into the ground while Patrick was forced to hang off the figurehead. The ship began to plummet like a stone, falling straight down towards an idyllic clearing in the middle of a forest that was now being drenched in engine fluid.
“I’m gonna throw you towards the steering wheel,” Amelia shouted to the pilot. “Try and grab on and pull us up. Hopefully some part of this still works,” The pilot nodded. “On the count of one. One!”
Amelia threw the pilot over her shoulder with strength befitting the person with the highest STR. The pilot managed to grab onto the steering wheel with his left hand, wrapped around, and got a hold of the whole thing. He pulled hard, the remaining oars pushing downwards like they were trying to row backwards, and pulling the ship horizontal just before it smashed into the ground below.
“Brace!” He shouted as the hull smashed into what had previously been a beautiful field untouched by mankind’s corruption. The ship raked along the ground as wood splintered loose and the party held on for dear life. The hull broke apart completely, before throwing the deck and everyone on it forward. This brought the ship to a complete stop, centimetres before it rammed into a tree.
James pulled himself up on his sword. “Is everyone alright?”
“Of course this is when we level up,” Grey muttered, staggering to his feet. “Yeah, I’m ok.”
“This game has a lot of pop ups,” Patrick said. “For getting hits, level ups…”
“Just go into the menu and switch them off,” James said. “I need to do that too, actually. Maybe once we get to the next town."
Amelia stood up with the same amount of enthusiasm, but was too busy coughing to say anything. The pilot, however, was still full of energy.
“My ship!” He screamed. “My beautiful ship! What have you done to it?”
“I dunno dude,” Patrick said, lifting up his robe so it didn’t get wet from the engine fluid leaking into the plant life. “It kinda blew up of its own accord. You got insurance?”
The pilot looked at him incredulously before sighing.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll just have to ask the King to fund another airship.” He extended a hand for someone to shake. “My name is Delarius Skyshear.”
Grey shook his hand. They’d always been the most sociable of the group, and was generally their spokesperson at a time like this.
“Good to meet you, Delarius.” They smiled. “You said we were heroes from another world. Were you expecting us?”
“Why of course,” he said, “but we should probably talk as we walk. There might be more monsters out there.”
“Speaking of which,” James turned to Grey. “Mind healing me up?”
Grey nodded and kept a heal beam on James as they climbed out of the ship, wading through the crimson mud.
“As you’re no doubt aware, this world you are in is Sable,” Delarius explained, “You were called here on the request of the King of our great nation, Corinth. The Dark Lord Valzekt has returned from the Abyss, and is corrupting the land, creating perversions of the land like the Solitaire Crevice you crawled out of.”
“Better name than Spider Volcano,” Amelia commented, doing her best to avoid getting her boots muddy and failing miserably. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll remember it.”
“To save our world, the King of Corinth has requested the use of forbidden magic to call forth warriors from your world. Unfortunately, you ended up in Solitaire Crevice, on the edge of the Abyssal Lands instead of the Imperial Capital. I was meant to take you all the way there, but the flying machine seemingly could not take the strain.”
“So now we go on a grand journey as we walk there,” Patrick said. “Classic set up.”
“You could at least act like this is all real,” Grey replied. They left the clearing and entered the forest. Birdsong rang through the air, leaves crunched underneath their feet, and smaller creatures scurried through the trees. It was familiar to a real world forest, yet different: the birdsong was just a little too low pitched, the leaves were unusual shapes, and any flashes of wildlife revealed green fur and creatures with multiple tails.
Cieth
300/300 HP
----
Skibabylon
Healing Pool
145/200 HP
James gave a nod of appreciation as Grey retracted the beam of light like a whip.
“How far out are we from the Capital?” Grey asked.
“A very, very long way,” Delarius replied, “You witnessed its glory lit in the dawn. It will be a long, long walk.”
“Are there no other airships?”
“The airship is of my own design. No others exist in this world. This was prototype 12, I think. Or was it 13? That would explain why it crashed.”
“And no one knows we're out here?”
Delarius shook his head.
“Well, that’s to be expected. Let’s enjoy this massive journey acro-“
CRUNCH
The entire party turned in the direction of the noise like an entire tree had been trampled underfoot. Delarius didn’t even seem to hear the sound and was still walking.
“Did you hear that?” Amelia asked. She turned to Delarius. “What was that?”
“We are making our way to the village of Heartily,” he explained matter-of-factly. “We can stay in the inn there.”
“No, I meant-”
CRUNCH
“-I meant that. That noise. The crunching that sounds like it’s getting closer.”
“We are making our way to the village of Heartily,” he repeated. “We can stay i-”
“Why can’t you hear it?” Amelia shouted, exasperated.
“Because the AI isn’t programmed to,” Grey muttered in horror.
As they finished the sentence, a long, bony hand wrapped itself around the tree to their left. The entire party drew their weapons before their pursuer revealed itself.
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The creature had half the head of a dragon. The other half wasn’t there anymore outside of a line of teeth that dangled down from its jaw. It had spindly arms and hands as long as the players were tall. Its one remaining wing was just bone and muscle, and its back half seemed significantly more intact than the rest of it, giving it strong hind legs and a tail so long it trailed off into the darkness. The creature had a stench of rot, to the point where James was starting to gag from the smell. It was twice the size of the party. Despite this, there was one thing that scared them more than anything.
Draconautis
Level $%&”&
500000/500000 HP
Draconautis took a single step forward and the party walked back. Delarius still hadn’t picked up on the creature’s existence and was still strolling along.
“This is a bug,” Patrick muttered. “It’s gotta be. These modern games are all buggy as hell.”
The monstrosity took another step forward, the remaining half of its face twisting into a cruel smirk. It turned so it was walking directly behind them.
FRESH MEAT. TOO FRESH, INFACT.
The voice rang out in their minds, like the system voice did.
“We gotta run from this thing,” Grey told them.
“What about flyboy over there?” Amelia asked.
“If this is a bug, he’ll be fine. Let’s just move!”
The party turned to run, but as they did so the creature’s tail leapt out of the forest. Its end opened up into a massive claw and grabbed Patrick by the side of the head, pulling him into the endless forest and out of sight. A single bolt of magic left his hand, but missed entirely, searing a nearby tree. They heard him scream, the sounds of his bones being crushed and organs popping, and then silence.
Trident743
0/100 HP
Respawn Timer: Infinite
----
HE’S MINE NOW
“Infinite respawn?” Amelia shouted. “What the hell…does that mean he’s…”
“Don’t think, just keep moving!” Grey shouted back.
Draconautis chuckled as the party sped up, realising it could catch up to them at any moment. It slammed its hands on the ground, let out a piercing shriek, and catapulted itself forward, landing in front of the party. It spun around and took a swipe at them. Everyone managed to narrowly duck under it.
“I’ll hold him off,” James shouted. “Get out of here!”
“Don’t die,” Amelia said, rushing past the monster. However, just as she passed it, its remaining wing extended outwards, and without even looking at her ran the stake of bone through her chest.
GlassAngel
0/150 HP
Respawn Timer: Infinite
----
I CAN TAKE HER FOREVER
“Amelia!” Grey shouted, rushing over to her. They narrowly avoided being stabbed by the wing and meeting the same fate.
“Get out of here!” James shouted. As Draconautis turned to face Grey, James took the opportunity to stab the draconic creature in the eye.
Draconautis
500005/500000 HP
----
YOU CAN NOT KILL ME
“We’re fighting the system, James!” Grey shouted as they ran past the monster. “Just get out!”
As they were focused on James, Grey didn’t notice Patrick’s corpse fly straight into them, knocking them down. Once they were knocked down, Draconautis completely ignored James, and reached back with one of its massive hands to press Grey into the ground. The Cleric pushed the corpse off them and started to run away as their friend was crushed. Draconautis growled and ran towards Grey.
“Get back here!” James shouted, smashing his sword into the ground.
Cieth
Crash Blade
----
Draconautis
500020/500000 HP
----
Now targeting WHOEVER I WANT
Once again the attack was completely ignored and Draconautis smashed its palm down on Grey, pinning them to the ground for a moment, before pressing down and flattening them. Grey screamed out in terror before James heard their ribcage collapse.
Skibabylon
0/150 HP
Respawn Timer: Infinite
----
YOU ARE OUT OF TIME, JAMES
James staggered back in horror. His friends were corpses, their deaths far more grizzly and horrifying than any he’d ever seen in a VR RPG before. He glanced at Delarius, who was still striding along as if nothing had happened. He tightened his grip on his sword, trying to put on a brave face that the snarling monster instantly saw through.
“What the hell are you?” James growled. “How do you know my name?”
DO YOU REALLY NOT KNOW ME, JAMES?
“I’d like to think I would remember you.”
FEW EVER DO. YET I REMEMBER YOU...AND WHAT YOU ARE. IT IS GOOD TO PERCEIVE YOU AGAIN.
“What are you talking about? I’m just trying to play games without creepy glitches.”
I AM FAR MORE THAN A GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM. AND I CAN PROVE IT TO YOU NOW.
James yelled and ran towards the creature, which easily snatched him up with a bony hand and threw him against a tree.
Cieth
50/300 HP
James stood up again immediately afterwards, but the massive tail claw grabbed his head and lifted him into the air. Draconautis wrapped its hands around James, chuckling.
IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE, JAMES MARLOW.
The hands start to coil around James, but before they can crush him something slashed the monster across the eye.
Draconautis
500000/500000 HP
It howled in pain, chucking James away, his back smashing into another tree.
Cieth
0/300 HP
Respawn Timer: 5 Minutes
James’ vision swam in and out, quickly approaching unconsciousness. Before he did, who managed to see who had saved him: a feminine figure in black armour that covered their entire body. She carried a greatsword with an ornate carving of a snake running down the blade. She stood up and pointed the sword towards Draconautis as the creature’s eye healed almost instantly. As she glanced toward James, he finally saw the name tag above her head.
Knight Oblivia
Level 60, Saber 60
2500/2500 HP
The monster seemed to smile when it saw the woman.
AN OLD FRIEND. WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE. DIE WITH THE REST OF THEM.
“I’ll take it from here kid,” she said. “Sweet dreams.”
James then collapsed into unconsciousness.
James Stats: Level: 2 HP: 0/300 STR: 5 DEF: 15 DEX: 5 SPL: 10 INT: 0
Grey stats: Level: 2 HP: 0/100 STR: 5 DEF: 10 DEX: 5 SPL: 10 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 145/200
Amelia Stats: Level: 2 HP: 0/150 STR: 20 DEF: 5 DEX: 5 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Patrick stats: Level: 2 HP: 0/100 STR: 15 DEF: 5 DEX: 10 SPL: 10 INT: 0 Mana: 65/100
