My eyes shot open and I stared up into a clear sky. I was laying flat on my back, and at first I thought I was back on Normandy beach; I could smell the ocean nearby and I felt the sand beneath my right hand. I stayed still for several seconds, simply breathing, before I sat up and looked forward. I really was on a beach, but not one I’d ever seen before. I was a dozen feet up from the shoreline, the expanse of water reaching far beyond the horizon. Gentle waves lapped against the shore, darkening the white sand. The BAR was still pressed against my chest by my left hand, so I set it down and stood up, turning to look around the beach. Just thirty or so feet to my left, I found Cora Siskou, still wearing her medic uniform, and sitting down in the sand. She had leaned back on her hands and seemed to be gazing out at the ocean.

“Hey, Cora,” I called out, starting towards her after I picked up my rifle and slung it over my shoulder, along with my bag that had somehow made it back with me. The bayonet I had used to kill its previous owner lay in the sand as well, so I grabbed that too, and wrapped it up in my bag along the way.

“Lee! You are alive!” She called back, smiling excitedly. She swiftly got to her feet and met me halfway, the smile fading quickly. “I saw Shane when he... I thought you were lost too.”

“I’m fine, Cora,” I announced, trying not to think about my dead friend. “Is anyone else here?” I asked, looking around again. I saw a third person, also sprawled out on the beach another two dozen or so feet away. “Over there,” I nodded, answering my own question. We hastily went over to him, and found a young asian man, the one I hadn’t seen since the first day. I knelt next to him and gently touched his shoulder prodding him awake. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head our way.

“Who are… Medic Siskou? You’re back already?” He asked, sitting up. He looked around for a second, probably confused by the change in scenery, but his gaze froze when he saw his legs. He had lost a leg on D-Day, so it clearly came as a shock to find both legs there and fully intact. His pants only covered the left leg, the foot topped off with a sock, while his right was completely exposed. The skin seemed lighter on that leg than anywhere else, as if all the skin was new. I found myself surprised as well, even though I’d expected it could happen; my wounds from the Battle of Ramelle had also been healed. “I guess the whole Island thing was for real, huh?” He shakily stood up and took an experimental step, apparently testing out his new leg.

“I guess so. Hey, I’m Lee,” I introduced myself once he had stood still. “Lee Quinn.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Jae-jin Choi. You can just call me Jae, I guess,” he started, looking back to me. His eyes widened after a few seconds, though. “Hey, were you the one that dragged me up the beach? I think I recognize you...”

“That’s right,” I said simply. “Me and Reiben, one of the guys from the movie.”

“So that really was a movie? Saving Private Ryan you said, right?” He glanced at Cora before turning back to me. She just nodded yes. “Wow… Hey, isn’t there anyone else? Where’s that other guy?” Jae asked, looking around. “The one that got shot in the arm?”

“Zachary!” Cora exclaimed, as if she had only just noticed his absence. “Lee, did you see him? Did he get out of the tower?” She demanded, frantic.

“I don’t know,” I stated simply. “I didn’t see him after-”

“There you guys are!” I heard a fourth voice call out from behind me. Cora and I turned towards the voice and heaved a collective sigh of relief, as Zachary Michaels jogged up the beach to join us. “I’m glad you guys made it,” Zach added, smiling.

“How did you get out?” I tried to ask, but I was overpowered by Cora, who just ran for him and wrapped him up in a tight hug.

“Uh, h-hey, Cora,” he stuttered, while she held on to him. I just watched them, barely containing a smirk. A quick glance told me that Jae-jin’s expression mirrored mine as well. She finally let him go and stepped back, still grinning. For his part, Zach just cleared his throat and stepped forward, hiding his embarrassment and pretending his face wasn't flushed red. “I couldn’t escape the tower, actually,” he admitted, looking down. “I’m sorry, Lee; I couldn’t save Jackson or Parker…”

“It’s alright, Zach,” I consoled him, patting his shoulder. “Were you stuck in there the whole time, then?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “The staircase collapsed, and I think my leg was broken. It’s fine now, though… Hey, your leg really grew back?” He apparently noticed Jae-jin for the first time, or it just finally registered that a one-legged man shouldn’t be able to stand up like that.

“Looks like it. So what happened? They just put me on a hospital ship after a couple days. They had me on so much morphine that I never really knew how much time was actually passing. Hey, you don’t think that got me addicted to it, do you?” He asked nervously. “To the morphine, I mean.”

“I… I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess?” He didn’t seem happy at my statement, but he let it go at that with a sigh. “Cora, what happened after the explosion? Did most of the Rangers make it out?” I inquired, wondering how our comrades had fared in my absence.

“Yes. One of the other soldiers was killed, but Ryan and the Rangers should be safe. Many US soldiers came at the end, with the planes.” She finished, with a small nod.

“That’s good, I guess. What now?” I asked, looking further up the beach. The whole Island was a round, sandy beach, about a mile in diameter. The entire area was flat, except for one large building right in the center.

“Check that out, first?” Zach suggested, pointing out the building. We all agreed and quickly moved out, heading straight for the Island’s only structure.

It was a blocky gray building, reminiscent of some kind of school. Or a prison. There was a set of double doors on one side of the building, so I opened opened one of them up and pked my head in curiously. The room was dark, but I discovered a light switch just inside, and flipped it on. The first room was small and completely empty, apparently some kind of miniature entrance hall. The floor, ceiling and walls were the same dull gray color as the outside of the building. The only thing in the room was a door on the wall in front of us, opposite the pair we’d opened.

I stepped inside and headed to that door, opening that one as well. After flipping on another light, I found that it led to some sort of lounge, maybe even a living room. In the center of the room there was a rectangular coffee table, surrounded by a large blue corner couch and a pair of simple wooden chairs. Not much else occupied the room, the rest of the room the same as the entrance room. There were three more doors, though, one straight ahead and two on the right wall.

I entered the room, the others following behind, and went for one of the right side doors. It opened into what looked to be a modern kitchen, with a dining room off to the left. I shrugged and closed the door, once the others had gotten a look. The next door lead into that dining room, so we went to the last one. The final door opened into a horizontal hallway that seemed to extend endlessly to either side, both walls full of doors. Most of the doors blended in to the wall, the same dull gray as the rest of the building, and were padlocked shut. One nearby door, however, was a metallic silvery color and had a plaque set in the middle. It simply read: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

“This is probably how we would go back to a Mission World we’ve cleared, then, right?” Zach asked, as we stepped back into the lounge and closed the door. We definitely weren’t ready to go back yet, so we didn’t even touch that silvery door.

“Probably,” I agreed, taking a seat on the big couch. “This is it? A kitchen, a dining room, a living room and a weird hallway full of doors? Was this Keith’s house? Or some kind of headquarters?”

“I imagine Keith would have had a bedroom,” Zach pointed out. “I’d go with a headquarters.”

“Right. So, we didn’t find the thing I wanted to find the most. Where the hell is the store?” I demanded, feeling lost. The others joined me on the couch, Jae-jin taking one of the chairs.

“I think we access it with the watch,” Jae-jin revealed, raising his left hand. “I fiddled around with it a lot whenever I was coherent. Not much else to do on a hospital ship,” he continued, shrugging. “Some of the stuff was grayed out, like I couldn’t access it yet. I think one of them was a store.” The rest of us had constantly been on the move, so we hadn’t been able to explore the mysterious watches in several days.

“We should go through them now, and see what we can find,” Cora suggested, poking at her watch. “What’s this?” She asked, her eyes wide.

“What?” I asked back, before I looked back at my own watch. “Oh, what the hell?” On the screen, it read:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

DISPLAY REWARDS

YES / NO

Of course, I tapped the YES button, as did the other three. The watch’s screen opened up into a list so long that it didn’t fit on one screen; I had to scroll down to read the whole thing. The list read:

LEE QUINN:

Primary Mission: Save Private Ryan (+100) Secondary Missions: Kill German Soldiers x76 (+76) Kill German Officers x5 (+25) Destroy German Tanks x1 (+10) Capture German Soldiers x0 (±0) Capture German Officers x1 (+10) Side Missions: Rescue Captain Auclair (+10) Rescue Auclair’s Men x7 (+21) Rescue French Civilians x11 (+55) Bonus Missions: Save Lieutenant Briggs (+30) Save Lucky Bastard (+10) Save the Two Czech Wehrmacht Soldiers (+25) Kill “Steamboat Willie” (+25) Capture the Flakvierling 38 (+25) Save Private Mellish (+25) Allied Survivors: Timothy E. Upham (+20) Richard Reiben (+20) Irwin Wade (±0) Adrian Caparzo (±0) Daniel Jackson (±0) Stanley Mellish (+25) Mike Horvath (+25) John H. Miller (+50) Ramelle Paratroopers x6 (+30) Major Battles: Survive the Invasion (+50) Survive the Battle of Ramelle (+50)

TOTAL: 717 Points

“Holy shit,” I muttered, first at the revelation that I had killed eighty one people throughout the course of our eight day Mission, then again when I saw my Point total. One hundred was supposed to be the default, and I had earned seven times that, and some change.

“What is it, Lee?” Cora asked, the other three apparently waiting on me.

“Just a little surprised, I guess,” I answered, still staring at the number. “Uh, how many Points did you all get?”

“384,” Zach said.

“350,” Cora declared.

“150,” Jae admitted, shrugging. “Not much I could do on one leg.”

“Uh-huh,” I murmured slowly. “Uh, I got 717.” My revelation was met with several seconds of silence.

“Wow,” Zach eventually got out, the others agreeing. “So, uh, how do we spend them?” I closed the rewards pop-up and looked back at the watches main menu, a Point total now in place of the clock that had been displayed in the movie. There was a new clock, in the upper righthand corner, that read 12:41. The time on the Island, presumably.

I already knew that the big M button on the left side displayed our Mission information, so I ignored it for now. Below that there were two more buttons, one that read STATS and one that read STORE. Curious to see what I had to work with, I tapped the STATS button. That created a new pop-up, my own statistics on display:

Name: Lee Quinn

Race: Human

-Mutations: N/A

Class: N/A

-Subclasses: N/A

Age: 22

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 13

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 10

Energy Affinity: 10

Skills:

Powers:

Weapons:

Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) - Infinite ammo version Colt M1911A1 - Infinite Ammo Version Colt M1911A1 - 8 magazines (56 rounds) Luger P08 - 1 magazine (8 rounds) Modern Combat Knife x 3 M1 Bayonet S84/98 III Bayonet

Items:

Empty Potion Bottle World War II Era Full US Army Uniform Frying Pan

Points: 717

My stats seemed alright, assuming 10 was supposed to represent an average human. The only thing that really stood out was that, apparently, someone had put that French woman’s frying pan in my bag at some point; I hadn’t even noticed. Other than that and the statistics themselves, there wasn’t really anything I didn’t know. So I closed that one, and opened up the store. And holy shit, what a store it was.

The most basic option was to just straight up increase my stat numbers. It cost ten Points to increase a stat by one. I could have just dumped 71 points into strength or constitution and become some kind of behemoth, but that seemed like too much of a waste.

The first real section I looked at was the class section. A lot of it was pretty basic stuff; fighter, cleric, ranger, rogue, wizard, soldier, stuff like that. The simple classes were 100 Points each. I guess that made them pretty accessible; as long as someone survives their first Mission, they can pick up a basic class right away. Most of them seemed to come with a free skill, skills being one of the other categories in the store, related to the class, as well as a small boost to two relevant stats. The rogue, for example, gets the stealth skill and some extra dexterity and intelligence for free. A note in this section said that classes don’t have to be permanent, and that you can trade them in and get a refund of half of the original Point cost. But a class could also be upgraded instead. The upgrades basically worked like prestige classes in an RPG; rogue upgrades to assassin, or ninja, or learns a bit of magic and becomes an arcane trickster, for example. Fighters could upgrade into paladins, various kinds of knights, guardians, and plenty of other things. And then you could upgrade the upgrades, then upgrade those, some of the more advanced classes going for thousands of Points. The vastness of the list was a bit overwhelming, so I skimmed through parts of it, not finding much of anything that was both interesting and totally affordable. I’d probably just grab a basic class at the end.

Eventually I moved on to the next part: mutations. A note at the top of the list stated that not all mutations would be compatible, and that the only way to remove one was to pay fifty Points to immediately remove all of the mutations that you had. So we’d have to be very careful when selecting these, and pay close attention to the compatibility between different useful mutations. This part had just about everything, though. There were various monsters like Vampires and Werewolves, even rabble-type creatures like Goblins and Kobolds. I don’t know why anyone would want to emulate a Goblin, but the option was there. Only a hundred Points for that one though, when the standard ones like Vampire went for two hundred. Then there the regular fantasy races like Elf, Dwarf, Orc, even Halfling and Gnome. There were sci-fi races thrown in too, like Vulcan, Mandalorian and Echani. I wasn’t really sure how much would change from a single mutation, but they seemed pretty serious to me. This was where some of the superpowers were, too. Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum, Spider-Man’s power set and several different X-Men mutations each went for 200 Points. The list went on and on, including mutations from all over the place: anime, video games, movies and TV shows, and novels. I was starting to get a headache at the sheer amount of information I was sifting through, when I stumbled upon something that I thought suited me pretty well. I marked it down and checked the next section, Energy Types and Power Sources, to be sure that what I was really looking for would be there. It was, so I returned to the chosen mutation.

I grinned and tapped the purchase button, dropping two hundred Points for it. I unwittingly shot to my feet and a golden glow emanated from my body, apparently changing it to match the new mutation. I couldn’t do anything but blink as the others stared at me in abject shock. The light lasted just over a minute, then faded and I was able to sit back down. I would have thought that it would hurt, but it really didn’t. The feeling was almost pleasant, actually. I clenched my fist, feeling the overwhelming difference between my new strength and the old. My entire body had bulked up a bit, but not quite as much as I had expected. I was still pretty lean even after the transformation.

“Lee?! What the hell was that?! Why did your hair turn red?!” Zach demanded, now standing himself.

“I bought a mutation,” I replied simply, pretty happy about it. I looked him in the eye and grinned.

“Your eyes are red too… What is it?” Zach asked again, sitting back down and a bit more calm.

“Fanalis,” I answered. “You can look it up.” He looked back to his watch and fiddled with the screen for several seconds.

“Fanalis,” he started, reading the mutation’s description. “‘Hailing from the manga Magi, the Fanalis are a humanoid race with red hair and eyes. The physical abilities and senses of the Fanalis are far superior to that of humans, though they tend to be incompetent in magic. The Fanalis Mutation increases the user’s physical stats by fifteen and increases physical stat growth rate, but magic becomes nearly impossible.’ Holy shit, Lee. I guess you’re giving up on magic?” Zach asked, looking concerned. I just smiled and stood up, now back to the Energy Types and Power Sources section, and made my purchase - Force Sensitivity, for another two hundred Points. The golden light returned, and I closed my eyes, taking a few slow, deep breaths. Then it was done, and I was touched by the Force, the power that flows through all living things, for the first time.

“Force Sensitivity,” I started, reading off the entry myself. “From the Star Wars Universe, the Force is a field of energy that flows among all living things, binding the universe together. A Force Sensitive can learn to sense and harness the power of the Force through training and discipline. Those sensitive to the Force also tend to be especially lucky and have particularly good reaction time and natural physical strength.” Finished, I sat back down and glanced to each of my comrades.

“You’re going to be a Jedi?” Zach asked, excitedly.

“Eventually,” I replied, nodding. “I’ll need to practice this. Uh, a lot.”

“How many more Points do you have, Lee?” Cora asked after that.

“Three hundred seventeen. I’m going to go ahead and get a class now, too.” I selected a basic class- Swordsman, a subdivision of the Fighter that focuses solely on swords. It could be upgraded into several of the Jedi classes later on and only cost 100 Points to start with, so it was a solid investment for an aspiring young Force-sensitive warrior such as myself. The class came with two skills, as well: Sword Proficiency and Riposte. The next order of business was, of course, to acquire a sword. I still had over two hundred Points left, so I was sure I’d be able to find something worthwhile in the Weapons sections of the store. There were two separate Weapons sections, one for magical and high-tech weapons, and another for normal weapons. I checked the mundane section first, just to find the baseline price. A typical one-handed melee weapon went for only five Points, while a two-handed weapon would be ten. Wonderful news.

I eventually settled on Durandal, the gold-hilted and nigh-indestructible longsword wielded by Roland, the legendary chief of Charlemagne’s knights. The myths claimed that Durandal was the sharpest blade in existence, though I’m sure many other swords have claimed the same. The blade set me back another 200 Points, leaving me with only seventeen. Durandal appeared before me, floating in the air inside another golden light, the glow fading as I grabbed the sword. Along with the sword came with a scabbard and even a sword belt, fortunately. I decided to wait on the others before I figured out what to do with my remaining Points, though. There wasn’t much you could buy with so little, and adding a single stat point seemed underwhelming after my slew of serious upgrades. Presumably, they had continued to peruse the store while I was looking for a weapon, so I didn’t have to wait very long.

“I think I’m ready,” Jae-jin announced soon, standing up. He made his selection and the golden glow overtook him. It had a certain eminence, one I hadn’t really noticed when the light surrounded me.

“What’d you pick?” Zach asked him, looking up from his own watch.

“I went with the Rogue class,” he stated, then tapped his screen a few more times. “And this,” he continued, as a ring appeared before him.

“So what is it?” I asked, interested.

“It’s a ring dagger.” Jae-jin slid the ring onto his right ring finger, and waggled his fingers for a little bit. The ring silently transformed into a steel dagger, held in his hand. “It’s from this show I used to watch. MÄR. These things are called ÄRM, and there’s all kinds of them. Weapons, attacks, portals, summons, pretty much anything you can think of. And they all take the form of some kind of jewelry when they aren’t being used.” He transformed the dagger back with a satisfied smile, the ring reappearing on his finger.

“I don’t think I noticed that,” I admitted. “How much are they?”

“This one’s twenty five. That leaves me another twenty five… I guess I’ll just add two points to my strength.” The glow appeared again, but it was rather short-lived this time. “Is there even anything to buy for only five Points? Even most of the consumables cost at least fifteen,” he complained, scrolling through the store.

“You can buy Coins,” Cora revealed, looking up. “One Point goes to one hundred Coins. Coins buy normal things. Like food, and nice furniture and clothing. It is at the bottom of the store.”

“Oh,” Jae-jin muttered simply, scrolling to the bottom. “I’ll just get five hundred Coins then.” I would probably get some as well, but 1,700 seemed a bit excessive. “Uh, what are you buying, Med- I mean, Cora?”

“I am interested in magic. I choose the Mage class.” She smiled and tapped her screen, the glow making another appearance. When it faded she went back to the watch and, after a few more taps, the light returned. “Mana,” Cora answered my unasked question, once the glow disappeared. “Lee, do you still have the empty bottle?” She inquired, revealing her own used potion bottle. I nodded and dug it out of my bag, then handed it over. She held them both in one hand and, before our very eyes, they were once again filled with the red liquid. “Ten Points to refill a bottle,” Cora said, grinning. She handed one bottle back to me and put the other one away.

“Cora , you didn’t have to-” I tried to say. I would have paid for it myself if I’d known that was possible.

“It is okay, Lee,” she interrupted me, already back to her watch. She materialized a ring, exactly like the one Jae-jin wore. That was probably a good call. I might have gone for one of those myself if I had just a few more Points. Cora added two stat points, then changed her last five Points into Coins. Finally it was Zach’s turn, and he was ready.

“I’m getting the Spider-Man mutation,” Zach decided, standing up in preparation. He glowed just as the rest of us had, and he visibly bulked up a bit. He still looked like a short, skinny teenager, though. “Wow,” he muttered, looking around the room. “It feels so… weird, I guess.” I agreed, for sure. My senses had improved drastically with the Fanalis mutation, and even further with my new connection to the Force. The change was very disorienting.

“What else are you getting?” I asked him, as he looked back to the watch.

“A class. Spearman, I think. I’ve always thought that’d be cool,” Zach admitted, then started it up. The glow soon faded, and he grinned. “I wonder if… Oh, sick.” He had his own ring appear in front of him, though this one transformed into a steel spear. Those ÄRM things really were useful. He bought some kind of spear skill, a couple of stat points, and four hundred Coins, completely exhausting his supply like the others had.

Once everyone was fully upgraded, we decided to compare our stat pages, just to see how everything had ended up.

---

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Lee Quinn

Race: Human (Fanalis)

-Mutations: Fanalis

Class: Swordsman

-Subclasses: N/A

Age: 22

Strength: 31

Dexterity: 27

Constitution: 30

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 10

Energy Affinity: 10

Skills:

Sword Proficiency Riposte

Powers:

Force Sensitivity

Weapons:

Durandal Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) - Infinite ammo version Colt M1911A1 - Infinite Ammo Version Colt M1911A1 - 8 magazines (56 rounds) Luger P08 - 1 magazine (8 rounds) Combat Knife x 3 M1 Bayonet S84/98 III Bayonet

Items:

Health Potion (5 Doses) World War II Era Full US Army Uniform French Frying Pan

Points: 17

Coins: 0

---

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Zachary Michaels

Race: Human

-Mutations: Spider-Man

Class: Spearman

-Subclasses: N/A

Age: 16

Strength: 25

Dexterity: 22

Constitution: 25

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 10

Energy Affinity: 10

Skills:

Spear Proficiency Lunge Triple Strike Spider Sense

Powers:

Weapons:

Ring Spear ÄRM M1 Garand - 7 clips (56 rounds) Colt M1911A1 - Infinite Ammo Version x2 Colt M1911A1 - 6 magazines (42 rounds) Bayonet

Items:

World War II Era Full US Army Uniform

Points: 0

Coins: 400

---

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Cora Siskou

Race: Human

-Mutations: N/A

Class: Mage

-Subclasses: N/A

Age: 23

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 9

Energy Affinity: 16

Skills:

Spells

Powers:

Mana Pool Mana Manipulation

Weapons:

Colt M1911A1 - Infinite Ammo Version Ring Dagger ÄRM

Items:

Health Potion (5 Doses) World War II Era Full US Army Uniform

Points: 0

Coins: 500

---

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Jae-jin Choi

Race: Human

-Mutations: N/A

Class: Rogue

-Subclasses: N/A

Age: 20

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 14

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 10

Energy Affinity: 10

Skills:

Stealth

Powers:

Weapons:

Ring Dagger ÄRM

Items:

World War II Era Full US Army Uniform

Points: 0

Coins: 500