The momentary painful brightness soon dissipated and Chris found herself deposited in the middle of a darkened space. Around her were seven different pedestals arranged in even intervals, like sentinels keeping silent watch over a potential fugitive. For a second she stood there uncertainly, unsure of where to start. She knew there were seven tasks she had to complete before the game let her in, but she wasn’t sure anymore which of them came first.

Thankfully she didn’t have to wonder long before a beam of light landed on one of the pedestals to her right, revealing a scroll and quill that were levitating slightly above it. Chris exhaled in relief before walking toward it and picking it up. Even having prepared herself, Chris was caught off guard by how real everything felt, down to the feeling of the parchment paper and the sound of her echoing footsteps.

Unrolling the scroll, she read it even though she already knew what it was going to say just to make absolutely sure of what she was signing. It was mainly a liability contract between the player and Nova Industries which stated that the player was involved at their own risk, but a section of the contract also guaranteed a substantial amount of money for whoever cleared the first stage of the game.

When the game had first been released fourteen months ago it had been met with widespread reluctance. People had been scared of a technology that could mess with their brains to show them a world that didn’t exist in reality. To overcome this initial fear Nova Industries had used pure monetary incentive, by promising five percent of the game’s profits to whoever managed to seal the Septem Gate first. By now, when people already cared more about in-game benefits than any real life monetary compensation, other game bonuses had also been added to the jackpot.

After quickly scanning the document over a second time she signed it with the quill and deposited both back onto the pedestal. The space went dark again before the scroll slowly levitated to Chris’s eye-level and was enveloped by flames. She could feel the heat of the flame on her face and the burning smell of paper but those soon disappeared along with the document leaving behind not even a trace of ash.

For a moment the room was dark again and Chris looked around, expecting for another beam of light to illuminate the next pedestal. Instead, she watched as a seemingly liquid trail of blue light connected the first pedestal to another one two pedestals away. She followed path until she reached the second pedestal that had nothing on it other than an indentation of a small hand.

Apprehensively, Chris slowly raised her hand. She took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for what was about to come, before she fit her fingers into the impression that fit her hand like a glove. Having read about it was one thing, but being thrown into battle was completely different. The first thing that hit her wasn’t the impending horde of corrupted monsters, nor was it the sound of the battlefield where hundreds of men and women were putting steel and life on the line to save their world. No, the first thing that she registered was the smell of liquid iron in the air, the smell that is too often associated with death, the smell of blood.

She could taste it on her tongue and would have spit it out in disgust if not for the mace she saw swinging down on her head. Her limbs thankfully reacted faster than her mind and the shield secured on her left arm was there to block the assault before her skull was fractured into pieces. Instead, the impact only caused a horrifying snap that Chris immediately knew was the breaking of her arm. She screamed in agony as the Taurine beast continued its attack.

Dodging left and right she managed to position the shield three more times while backing up. Tears of pain were already blurring her vision and she didn’t know if she would have the courage to position her arm for another barrage. She did, the instinct to survive was too strong. Gritting her teeth she took another hit as she tried to process the situation.

The towering beast with colossal muscles covered with bulging veins did not look like it was about to tire. If its foaming mouth and bloodshot eyes were anything to go by her stretching survival was only aggravating it more. Her only reprieve was the slight interval of time between blows when it raised its arm above its horned head only to bring it down with even more force. Chris knew she wouldn’t withstand the next one even before it hit. She couldn’t help taking an instinctive step back as she readied for it nonetheless.

Before the impact hit Chris’s back foot slipped and she was on her back before the Taurus could complete his swing. When his mace only hit air, the topheavy creature lost his balance for a second, having to turn it’s back on her to maintain his footing. It gave Chris just enough time to put her forgotten sword into use. She leaned forward with the help of her crippled arm and carved at the back of its knees with as much of her strength and bodyweight that she could.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!” The beast shouted as it collapsed forward into the ground, with purplish black blood running down its calves.

Immediately it turned back to face Chris as it’s muscles swelled with the second atrocious snapping sounds of the day.

“You’re a dead man!” It shouted as it encroached on Chris without even bothering to retrieve the mace it had dropped.

Panic rose in her throat as she tried to back off. She sacrificed the sword when she couldn’t support any of her weight on her shattered arm that was lodged in the shield. Twice she tried to get up, but her feet continued to slip on the same gorey substance that had brought her down so she just scrambled backwards as fast as she could.

Her bare hands were scratching against the rough straw-like yellow grass that covered the whole battlefield and in seconds it was covered in dozens of little cuts that grew more painful by the moment. Trying to ignore the growing pain in all sections of her body, she kept her eyes on her enemy as she retreated, wondering how much longer she would survive. He was gaining on her.

One moment she was staring into the hate-fueled eyes of her horned adversary and the next she was looking at the vacant spot his head had held. Instead his body now ended with his cleaved off neck where black blood was suddenly gurgling in thick streams down his torso. Chris watched in fascination as the lifeless body toppled forward, it’s neck just a handspan away from her boots.

Relief washed over her when she realized she would live. She looked around until she spotted the beast’s head sitting, like a dish on top of a plate, on a serrated disk a couple meters away. It’s eyes were still open, but their hatred had been replaced by a blankness of death. Chris averted her eyes, feeling a little sick, and she realized she was sitting in what looked like the remains of an acid-doused body.

She was moving before her body even completely finished registering what had happened. The putrid smell of singed hair and burned flesh finally reached her brain as the adrenaline gave away to revulsion. Slipping her whole way through the slime-like substance, she fell on her face a couple times before she saw a hand reach down to aid her.

“Need a little help there commander?”

Chris looked up to see a tall blonde man in gleaming blood soaked armour.

“Y-yeah.” She said, surprised when her voice came out sounding like a man, but even more surprised that she was taller than the man when she got on her feet.

“We’re sorry Sir.” The man said as he walked over to retrieve the serrated disk that was still lodged under the Taurus’s head. “The boys and I didn’t think the Minotaur would give you any trouble. He looked pretty weak…” He said, but quickly glanced in Chris’s direction when he realized it. “But I guess he was stronger than he looked. We should get going Commander, we need to hit the Western Quadrant. The mages there are being overwhelmed by some nasty Vampyrs.”

Looking around Chris realized they were a good hundred meters from the front line. She relaxed a bit for the first time since she had placed her hand on the pedestal. As she tried once again to unlodge her shield from her disfigured arm, she thought about how she had been quite lucky that the random historical figure in whose body she was placed for the game intro was a commander.

There were competitive forums to see who could postpone their inevitable death the longest. Some had even put up special items as rewards for those who shared their run. Chris hadn’t even considered trying for one because she knew she was going to die within minutes, which she would have had it not been for her rank of commander. Deciding it was worth a try she turned to her lethal-looking companion and said.

“Take me to headquarters.”

“Certa—” The man said before looking back at her in confusion. “Headquarters sir? What about the mages? It is our duty to—”

“Soldier.” She said cutting him short. He looked shocked and Chris wondered if soldier wasn’t the right word or if the real commander was friends with the guy. “Headquarters. Now.” She said firmly, holding her battered shield arm up as if to make a point that she would be useless in battle.

‘Which is absolutely true.’

The man didn’t look convinced but agreed nonetheless.

Chris sighed in relief and followed the man out of the battlefield. They were soon joined by seven other men and women. Going by their gear, they were highly trained, each a master of their weapon. When each of them stared at her empty right hand, she noticed she had left her sword behind on the battlefield. She glanced back surreptitiously and took in the scene of mass-carnage. The further they retreated, the more she could see how big the battle was.

It was obvious that they were on the losing side, the corrupted monsters were gaining on them, meter by meter, man by man. She felt a pinch of guilt when her men gave her indirect accusing glances, but was comforted by the fact that she knew her actions would have no consequence, not even for the artificially intelligent characters present.

The history of Nova Era was already determined, she was merely living out a small finite branch of an alternate version history the way it would have happened with her in the commander’s shoes. Every new player ended up in someone else’s shoes but they never influenced history or the versions other characters got to see. She wasn’t doing anyone any harm by hiding and trying to survive as long as she could.

Chris continued to watch as more and more people died by the hands of the impending horde. The dry yellow grass was being soaked and stained by more and more blood. From where she stood she watched as a war elephant brought down four of their mages with spiked tusks. One of the mages remained impaled as the elephant continued its attack, vehemently swinging its head from side to side.

‘Alright. I probably could have been helping… or my people could have been helping… But I need them to keep me alive…’

The moment she thought this the ground underneath two of her men collapsed, revealing a black abyss below that sucked the air in with quickly escalating speed. Another of her soldiers, a tall elven female archer this time, was drawn in as well before anyone could do anything to stop it.

“BACK!” The blonde soldier who seemed to be her lieutenant yelled. “They’ve torn open another gate! Everybody back! Retreat to a saf—”

The rest of his words were cut off as three corrupted beings jumped out of the gate and engaged him in combat. While Chris instinctively backed off, her other men engaged in combat as well. Two men separated themselves and stood in front of her, casting spells to help the men in front. It was obvious that they had fought together countless times.

The men at the front moved in fluid unison, never getting in each other’s way. While one parried the other stabbed the monster to death. In less than ten seconds the three initial enemies had been dispatched with the aid of buffing spells from the mages. Unfortunately there was no time to celebrate as more beasts continued to climb out of the gate.

It was obvious that her lieutenant was leagues beyond the others in terms of skill. At one point she watched him dispatch three goblins with one swing of his sword. The mages helped as much as they could with paralysis and healing spells. Together they also rained down a barrage of fire bolts into the hole which bought their group some precious seconds to regroup.

They had had slain over two dozen beasts when they finally managed to retreat a bit. All Chris could do was stand uselessly by as she watched them fight in amazement. So far no one else had died, leaving them with a total of six people to fight what looked like would be hundreds of more beasts. After the couple of seconds of respite they were once again facing several beasts.

Her lieutenant had walked back to her side the moment the firebolts hit. He now handed her the sword she thought she had left behind.

“I am sorry for doubting you Commander. I should know better.”

Without having an option, Chris took the sword while giving him a confused look.

“You always do things for a reason. You knew they would try to attack us from behind. Hell, we should all have seen it coming. With the gatekeepers losing power...”

He parried and struck a Minotaur that had approached them, killing him in one easy blow.

“... It was only a matter of time before they tore open more gates.”

Chris gripped the sword tightly, wishing someone had advised her of that fact and noticing how her hands were sweaty on the pommel. She looked down to realize it wasn’t sweat but gore. Feeling sick she tried to focus on the fight before her. She was going to die, there was no way around it. Everyone around her, good and evil alike, moved with fluid killing grace. Their weapons all extensions of their bodies. Meanwhile, she felt like a tank with the amount of armour she was wearing.

She looked around helplessly, trying to spot a beast she would at least have a fighting chance of killing. Her hesitation didn’t go unnoticed as the clanging grew louder and faster as more and more beasts joined the fray. There was nothing she could do as one of the mages died protecting her from an undead creature. Her lieutenant killed it before it could get to her but he glared at her in part accusation and part confusion.

She staggered back as the creature’s body splattered all over the place in pungent pieces, one of them hitting the useless shield still attached to her arm with a hollow clang. Before she knew it, Chris had retreated even more allowing her to see just how outnumbered they were. She swallowed, noticing again that the slight taste of blood had not left her mouth yet.

“Help!” She heard the hoarse voice of her lieutenant cry out. He was cornered with the only other surviving fighter at his back. They gave her pleading looks that were laced with certain hope. The pile of corpses around them was a testament to their strength as fighters, but it seemed that the body she inhabited had belonged to an even better fighter. A better man than she was a woman.

She turned around and booked it, pumping her legs as fast as she could, immediately dropping the sword her still unnamed lieutenant had harboured for her. A part of her felt bad, but a bigger part knew she needed more speed. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. If her men managed to distract them for long enough, she might have enough time to find a place to hide.

Each step seared her arm with a lance of pain as she ran as fast and far away as she could. That distance turned out to be twenty meters, at which point she felt about a dozen or so points of sharp and agonizing impact on her back. She had just enough time to look down and see the an arrow protruding out the front of her neck before she collapsed forward onto the ground.

A coward’s death.

‘I guess I deserved that.’ She thought as the torturous pain lasted another couple of seconds before she finally came to, with her hand on the pedestal and not a scratch on her body.

Chris had survived seventeen minutes, two minutes below average.

‘Well, at least I tried.’ She thought as she followed the next blue light that illuminated, leading the path to the next pedestal, two pedestals over.