When the two of them caught up to the Caravan they were already out of sight of the Oasis and only saw desert in all directions. There was a complete lack of other players now as well, and Darith wondered how many players would manage to beat the scorpion boss.

“I think this game is meant to be played in a group of 5...” Darith said, the two now sitting on the back of the wagon.

“Why do you say that?” Liana asked.

“Well, that boss was pretty hard. Most people are trying this game for the first time alone, and I can’t imagine anyone would beat it without dying. You only get one life in this game... So, It’s just smarter to play with more people. That in turn encourages players to fill up their party, and if their leader dies they can form a new one... The game almost seems to be set up to spread like chain mail.”

“But who started it, where’d it all come from? The same place that the phone came from?” Liana asked.

“I guess... I’ve been too busy excited playing this game that I didn’t stop to think how its all possible. I mean, this is a dream for people like us who love games.” Darith replied.

“We should just enjoy it then.” Liana smiled. Around them, a heavy wind began to pick up, and looking ahead of the Caravan they saw a vast sandstorm blowing wildly, blinding them from anything beyond a few meters in front of their faces.

“We’re here, the Forgotten Sands... Surrounded in an endless sandstorm. The Guiding Flames that lead us through have been extinguished though! I can’t see anything!” The main NPC said.

“Great, it’s just one thing after the other!” Another replied.

“World Travelers, we’ve already asked a lot, but you’d save our lives if you could travel ahead and reignite the guiding Flames.”

“And while you’re at it, take out some of those Nasty Sandworms that lurk under the ground here.” Another NPC asked.

“There’s also delicious Sand Bats flying around in this storm, if you could kill them and bring their meat it’d help us get by.” The third NPC said.

“Three quests at once! Nice.” Darith smiled, accepting all three.

“So we light Flames, kill worms, and collect bat meat?” Liana asked as she hopped off the back of the wagon.

“Yup! New monsters, so we should be careful. They’ll probably all be level 10.” Darith said as he stretched out his arms. They began walking forward as Darith noted his map was blurred out and had a message that his Cartography skill was too low rank to use here.

“Which way do you think the first flame is?” Liana asked, they only saw sand in all directions.

“No idea...” Darith shrugged, but they both suddenly heard the sound of screaming, a man’s voice shouting from somewhere in the storm.

“H-help! Somebody help!” The voice called out, weird laughter following. Liana and Darith both turned to the direction the sound came from to see someone running towards them wearing blue beginner armor, it was a human holding a crossbow.

“Please, help me!” He shouted as he reached out to them, and behind him they saw 3 silhouettes chasing.

“Restore!” Liana shouted, aiming the heal at the man as his health sat at only 10. She got the cast off and brought it up to 35 just in time as a Waterbolt hit him in the back dealing 17 damage. The Waterbolt had come from one of the three figures that were chasing him.

“Firebolt!” Darith said as he stepped forward, aiming it at the figures, but as they came into focus he recognized them and stopped his cast.

“Darith, those are...” Liana said as the screaming man got closer to them. Liana started another heal, but before it could land he was hit by a crossbow bolt in the back of his head dealing 20 damage. Liana and Darith’s eyes opened wide in disbelief as the human fell face forward into the sand in front of them with 0 health.

Game Over

A message popped up above him. His body began to glow white and vanish into tiny particles as it transformed from his handsome body into a balding man wearing a business suit. The man then vanished into a flash of white light leaving behind his staff, beginner armor, and a headband of the mind as well as a bag of gold.

“What is... He... Died?” Liana said with her eyes open wide in horror. Darith was more surprised by what had killed him. It was the three boys from China, all above level 10 now, Jin being level 13. The three boys ran to the items that the dead player dropped and quickly picked them up, then began talking to each other and laughing, mocking the man's screams.

“They were.. Those little kids. They’re killing other players?” Darith said confused.

“Do you even know what you’re doing!?” Liana shouted at them angrily.

“Haha, Niceu toou meetu. Hahaha.” Jin shouted back, and the three of them turned and walked away back into the heavy sands.

“Let’s teach them a lesson!” Liana shouted as she started stomping forward angrily, rage filling her eyes, but Darith’s panic immune passive helped him remain calm.

“No, we can’t beat them. We can’t even fight them, we aren’t level 10 yet.”

“Then let’s get level 10 and teach those brats a lesson!” She shouted back at him.

“No, they’d probably win...” Darith said. “Come on, let’s go back to the Oasis.”

“What? Why are we going back? We have quests here! They’re only little kids!” She shouted.

“I’m only a fat boy, and you’re a girl in a wheelchair. It doesn’t matter who they are outside the game, inside this game they are higher level and probably have higher stats than us, and even if they don’t they outnumber us. I think... I’ve been handling this game wrong.” Darith said, staring blankly at the wagon as Liana moved beside him.

“What do you mean?”

“I have been so busy trying to learn more about the game that I haven’t been properly using what I already know... Too busy being amazed by how real this game seems, how it doesn’t follow the rules of most games. It’s life changing, beyond my wildest imagination. It’s a gift to be able to play, to change your life, but if you’re too focused on changing your life you’ll be weaker than someone who plays it as a real game. Not just those kids, the monsters too... We had trouble with a level 9 boss, what’ll happen at the next one?” Darith said.

“I couldn’t even protect my friend in such an obvious danger area, I should have seen the danger coming from a mile away, such an obvious gameplay mechanic!” He shouted angrily while remembering the Coldrinn ruins.

“What do you mean, what are you talking about?”

“I mean to say that I’ve been too busy having fun, I haven’t been trying to be good at this game.” He said.

“Do you mean because of me?” Liana said with a sad expression.

“N-no, it’s just, something happened before, and now this too. I feel weak in this game. I’ve been following the flow of the game instead of focusing on the best way to play it, the best way to get stronger. This is the second time I’m going to run away, because I know if we hit level 10 now then we will be destroyed. Maybe not by those kids, but surely other players that can be lurking in this world.”

“Then what should we do?” Liana asked curiously.

“We get stronger. You’ve watched me play a lot of games... But this is the first time you can play a game yourself, so I won’t make you follow me, but I’m going to do some heavy training. It probably won’t be fun, so...”

“Then let’s do it together! You said we’re going to be heroes together right? We’ve got to become the strongest together. I’ll be your healer.” Liana replied with a smile. “Sorry for yelling at you, I’ll do what you say! I made that promise and I’ll keep it.”

“Let’s go back to the Oasis again.” Darith said, and she nodded at him. The two started walking back from once they came but they didn’t get far before the Wagon driver turned it around and called out to them.

“Forget something at the Oasis? Hop on and we’ll take you. Just let us know when you’re ready to travel back the Forgotten Sands.”

“Perfect.” Darith said as they both hopped on.

“So what’s your plan?” Liana asked.

“This game is well designed, whoever made it had a lot of experience in RPG’s and Gaming, it covers a lot of aspects and is completely open, almost to a fault. I thought it odd that there were a lot of people in our world that were not level 1 despite not being a part of the game. Mom for example, she’s level 6, so how is this possible?” Darith asked.

“Really, she’s level 6?” Liana asked.

“Yeah... At first I thought it was related to their attributes. Me and you, we started out with pretty low attributes because we’re weak in our normal bodies. We had intelligence and spirit because we used our minds, but... Nothing else. I thought maybe non-players had levels because they had higher stats, but the more we play the more it's obvious that stats and levels are completely separate.”

“So how do non-players get level ups?” She asked.

“Doing quests, just like us. This game’s ability to convert our lives into its game world is way beyond my understanding, but the other day I got a quest do to a girls homework. When I did it, she gave me 10 experience. It’s not much experience when you consider that I need 1000 to reach level 10, but if you are doing quests throughout your entire life, then eventually you’ll gain some levels. That’s why adults are usually higher level than the kids at my school.” Darith said, Liana nodding.

“But we both started at level 1, does that mean we barely did any quests in our lives so far?” She asked.

“No, I think the game puts us back to level 1 when we start playing. But this doesn’t mean we’re equal with other level 1 players, it seems it's just a measure of where we are in the games quests. At level 1 I was put into a dungeon that had much stronger monsters compared to this Oasis, but I could still handle them. I think the monsters were given to me to match my attributes, and I bet someone who started the game as a smarter, stronger player got put into an even harder starting area, but they were still level 1. So our level has absolutely nothing to with how strong we really are, it only gives us a bonus stat and more health, and so on.” Darith said, Liana listening intently.

“Once we reach level 5 we can invite other players, I think that is a mechanic in the game to make sure that the person inviting new players has a bit of knowledge, to tutor them on how it works. Then, at level 10 you can start fighting other players, maybe this is in place to prevent too many players in the game. This is all just a theory though, I can’t explain everything yet as I’ve not even seen a city guard so far.”

“It makes a bit of sense though... So what should we do?” Liana asked.

“Our natural passives allow us to raise our stats without gaining level experience. We also improve our skills by just using them, even if not on monsters. It’s slower, but still effective. While levels allow us to move through the stages of the game, they don’t govern our strength as much as raising our stats and skills individually do.” Darith said.

“So we need to train without killing monsters or doing quests?” Liana asked.

“Exactly. It drains our mana and energy, so the best place to train is...”

“Near one of those NPCs that can restore our stats!” Liana said excitedly.

“Right.”

“Then can’t we start right here? The healing NPC is driving our wagon...” Liana said.

“I’d rather do it near low level players, they won’t catch on to what we’re doing so easily. In the high level area where players are already attacking each other, if they start copying us it’ll make our competition harder. This region we’re in seems to be made for players with really low starting stats, no offense-”

“None taken.” Liana shrugged.

“So it’s an ideal area to level up, but we’ll have to make ourselves stronger first. I imagine more dungeons and region doors will appear for us outside too, the higher our stats get.” Darith said.

“I think I got it. You’re starting to sound like you always do when we’re playing games, telling me how everything is working while I’m busy looking at the cute characters.” Liana smiled.

“I’m serious now, let’s become the strongest. I have to become the strongest, so that we don’t have to run away anymore… So that we can keep playing. I’ve decided, we don’t need to beat this game, but let's protect the players who want to enjoy it.”

“You don’t want to beat it...?” Liana asked.

“No... At least not yet. This game, this world, it’s a chance for people like you and me to have a new life! It’s really amazing! But it’s also dangerous, there are player killers like we saw, or things worse than being killed...” Darith trailed off into thought.

“Before we start training, can you tell me what happened?” Liana asked while looking into Darith’s eyes.

“What do you mean?” He said while looking away.

“I know something happened you’re not telling me. If we’re going to be a team you should tell me!” She said. He hesitated for a moment, leaving a long silence between the two. Eventually Liana sighed and leaned back thinking he wouldn’t answer.

“Yesterday I met another player in the Frozen Caverns I told you about. He was looking for his wife, so we teamed up and searched everywhere for her. We beat a boss together, a really dangerous one, worse than that scorpion. I got these gloves, he let me take them.... But... Well, we found his wife and a bunch of other players. They weren’t dead, they were trapped in Ice, frozen, unable to move or leave the dungeon, do anything. The game has them trapped inside the dungeon!” Darith said, Liana looking frightened.

“That can happen in this game?” Liana shivered.

“Yeah... That’s why I said it was too dangerous. We got attacked, and my friend... Aaron, he was turned into Ice right in front of me by a ridiculously strong monster. An Ice Wraith, it was above level 160... I could only run away. It was my fault, I should’ve remembered, we were warned it was a high level area.” Darith said while clenching his fist.

“That’s why I have to stop messing around, I have to get stronger and get those people out. Otherwise they will be trapped there forever.” Darith said.

“Okay!” Liana said as she stood up confidently on the wagon. “We’ll do it, we’ll become the strongest and we’ll save those people together! We’ll protect other players too, so that they can enjoy this awesome game!” Liana said while trying to look cool, but the moving wagon caused her to lose her balance and she fell back down. Darith smiled, letting out a little chuckle at her.

“I’m glad I’m not alone in this game anymore.” Darith smiled.

“The crippled healer and the fat wizard!” Liana cheered, putting her fist forward for Darith to bump it, and he did.

“Your high spirit stat is starting to show a bit.”

“So’s your intelligence stat!” She retorted, and they both laughed at each other.

“We’re here! Let us know when you’re ready to travel back to the Forgotten Sands.” The Wagon driver said as it came to a complete stop. The two hopped off and looked around at all the level 1 players asking each other questions, trying to figure out the game. Darith and Liana both stretched their muscles.

“Before we get started, remember that this game gives you new skills based on what you can think of, so let’s try to cover our weaknesses by being as creative as possible.” Darith said.

“Got it, think of the cutest spells possible.” She smiled.

“Ready?” He replied, and she nodded. “MultiFirebolt 10!” Darith shouted, pointing his spells to the sky.

“Restore!” Liana shouted. Several new players looked to them, but they paid no mind.

[Elise - Siblings]

After the final bell had rung, Elise quietly packed up her grade 9 science textbook into her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, heading out of the classroom ahead of most of the other students. She was quiet and kept to herself, avoiding interacting with any of them as she entered the busy school halls and made her way to the dance club room. She was the first to arrive as usual and sat on a bench off to the side of the room to put her bag down and pulled out her text book for science, then her own notebook as well.

She opened the notebook first to double check what homework she was given by the teacher before setting the textbook down beside herself on the bench, opening it to the correct page and then glancing at the first set of questions. As she read through the text to search for answers she began chewing on the end of her mechanical pencil, a habit she was trying to break but usually didn’t notice she was doing.

It only came to her attention she was doing it when the doors of the room opened and a boy walked in wearing tights.

“You’re not changed into your outfit for practicing again today?” The boy asked as he glanced at her before he began warming up in the middle of the room.

“Nope.” Elise replied without looking up from her book.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Got to get my grades up.” She replied dismissively.

“Maybe I could help, is that science?” He asked as he started walking towards her.

“Yes, but no thanks. I can figure it out myself.” She said coldly.

“Alright, just trying to help.” He shrugged back. “You should try and be nicer like your sister sometimes.” He replied, a seemingly innocent remark he made, but to Elise it was a sharp jab in her side.

“I’d rather not.” She responded. “Do you mind?”

“Right right, you need to focus on the grade 9 science homework.” He replied with sarcasm, she just let out an annoyed sigh though as the door opened and her sister Karin walked in with her friends.

“Studying during club activities again? You’re taking what mom said a little too seriously.” Karin commented as she walked past her sister, her and her friends also in tights ready to warm up.

“And you’re not taking it seriously at all.”

“Sure I am. Tim?” Karin asked her friend.

“Tom.” Her friend replied.

“Tom will be here with my homework done any minute now.” She replied with a smile.

“Getting guys to do your homework for you isn’t the same as actually raising your grade yourself, you aren’t learning anything. You’ll just end up failing the tests.” Elise replied. Annoyed at her sister's attitude, she decided to stop trying to read and look up at her.

“You don’t have to be jealous that boys want to do things for me. If I asked nice enough, I’m sure they’d help me study for any tests too. Maybe if you got rid of those stupid blue streaks in your hair then someone might be willing to help you as well.” Karin said as she flicked up one of the blue hair streaks Elise had in her hair.

“I’d rather learn to do things by myself then have to keep relying on everyone else.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Karin replied, now sounding irritated herself.

“Nothing, you’re happy being moms pretty little ballerina, but I’m not.” Elise replied as more dance students entered the room and began their warm-ups.

“That’s because you can’t be, at least I’m good at something.” Karin replied coldly, turning from her sister with a mean smile.

“You know what, I’m going to find somewhere else to study.” Elise said to herself in frustration, and started packing her books back into her bag. She then got up with her backpack over shoulder and started heading out of the room, but she was stopped however by an older lady entering.

“Ah, not practicing with us again today Elise?” The lady asked.

“Sorry Mrs. Yimmen, I’m not feeling well again today.” Elise replied as she walked around the dance instructor and through the doorway.

“I guess I’ll have to tell mom you’re skipping dance class now.” Karin called to her from inside the room. Hearing this, something inside Elise snapped. She let her bag slide down her arm and turned around, stomping towards her sister. Her sister had a sudden expression of panic, backing away as other students also stepped back and moved out of Elise’s way.

As she got closer, Elise clenched her right hand into a tight fist and pulled her arm back, preparing to swing at her sister in anger, but just before she could hit, someone grabbed her arm and stopped the swing.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down there.” The boy from earlier said as he held Elise back and Karin’s face changed from scared to confident.

“I hate you!” Elise snapped at her as she shook her arms free of the boy, the rest of the class completely silent and watching the scene.

“Elise, that’s no behavior for this club. Sick or not, I want you out of here this instant.” Mrs. Yimmen commanded her.

“Fine by me, I’m tired of stupid ballet anyway.” Elise retorted to the instructor, turning and stomping out of the room.

“Are you okay?” Elise heard the boy ask Karin as she was leaving.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Thank you, you saved me.” Karin replied in her fake, polite voice. Elise slammed the door shut behind her as she left and picked up her bag. The halls were mostly empty now, but anyone left in them turned to look at the source of the slamming sound only to see Elise’s angry expression.

“What?” She shouted at the strangers, causing them to stop staring and go back to what they were doing in the halls. She took a deep breath, then started making her way to the school library. Inside was mostly empty, save for a few other people sitting at tables and reading books. The librarian was nowhere to be found.

Elise found a table to herself and sat down, unpacking her books once more to start on her homework, then putting in her earphones from her phone and navigating it to her music. She found her favorite hip hop playlist and started listening to it, her mind clearing of everything to do with her sister and mother.

She had trouble understanding what the text was talking about at first, but after reading through it a few times she got the hang of it and quickly wrote her answers to the questions while nodding her head along to her music. After a good 6 songs later she had finished the last question and was in a good mood. She started tapping her foot to the music as she packed her books up and tucked her chair in, then walked with a rhythm to her step that matched her music, spinning and performing dance moves for fun with her eyes closed, then she slid herself up across the top of the table to land on the other side of it and did a quick spin before making more hip hop-style dance moves with her eyes closed, completely engulfed in the beat of the music until she felt a light tap on her shoulder, causing her to open her eyes and spin around, while simultaneously pulling one ear phone out.

“Yes?” She said loudly, just now noticing that everyone in the library was staring at her.

“Even though it looks like you’re enjoying yourself, I’ll have to ask you to not dance in the library.” The librarian whispered to her with a smile. Elise giggled from embarrassment as she realized what she was doing.

“Sorry.” She whispered back politely.

“No problem dear.” The kind old librarian replied. Elise then turned and continued heading out of the library. She didn’t dance anymore save for a slight skip in her step and her hand tapping on her leg. As she got out of the library though, one of the other students who had been reading in it with her ran to catch up with her while stuffing his study notes into his backpack.

“Hey, wait up!” He called, causing Elise to stop and turn to the boy just outside of the library. He was handsome, well built, she recognized him from one of the sports teams but she couldn’t remember which.

“What's up?” She asked.

“I saw your dancing... You’re Karin’s little sister, right?” He asked with a smile. Elise replied with an elongated sigh, then slapped her hand upward to knock all of his papers out of his hands and into the air.

“Nope, I’m Elise!” She replied with a devious smile, then spun around and continued walking down the hall.

“What the hell’s your problem! Stupid bi-.” The last word was cut off for Elise as she put her second earphones back in her ear to listen to her music, then continued dancing her way down the hall.