Darith ran home as fast as his normal body would allow, but as he got on his street and closer to his house he spotted his mom’s car driving away. He wasn’t sure why until he got home and opened the door to see Liana standing there in her game body.

“You’re back already?” Darith asked her as he dropped his bag down. “What happened?”

“It’s really bad! I saw another player at the hospital today!” Liana said panicked.

“What? Did he attack you!?” Darith’s eyes opened wide.

“No, he didn’t notice me! He was really high level though, I couldn’t see his name or level just like that Ice Wraith thing.” Liana added.

“What’d he do then? What happened?” Darith asked anxiously.

“He used a sleep spell on some police officers in the hospital, they just fell asleep instantly, then he put a curse on one! He’s going to die!” Liana panicked.

“What do you mean he’s going to die?”

“The curse he had was called Doom, it said that if the curse wasn’t removed within 24 hours then he would die. There’s only-” She paused to look at her phone. “20 hours left.”

“They can cast spells like that in this game? On a police officer?” Darith said in disbelief, using the powers from the game like this had never even crossed his mind so far. But as he thought about what Jacob was doing using his charisma, something like this didn’t seem so far fetched.

“We have to save him! He doesn’t even realize what's happening to him, it’s too unfair!” She pleaded to Darith.

“Won’t the city guards do something? They’re supposed to stop players from rev-” As he spoke, it hit him like a brick wall. As long as people don’t know about the game or get caught, they could do anything. Charisma... Curses... There were thousands of spells and ideas that rushed to Darith’s head on how to use the game without being seen using it by anyone.

“I don’t even know what a city guard looks like. Can’t we learn to remove curses ourselves somehow? I tried healing him and remove poison but it didn’t work.” Liana asked worriedly.

“We need to learn a remove curse spell then... We’ve got 20 hours left to find it.” Darith said to Liana as he transformed into his Nemothyne body, feeling alive once more as his body weight and size dropped significantly and he could sway his tail around. Just then there was a knock at the door, startling Liana.

“Who’s that?” Liana asked, Darith ran to answer it without hesitation though.

“My friends were coming by to run a dungeon with us, maybe they know something.” Darith said as he opened the door.

“Haha, wow you weren’t kidding, Darith really is a cute little fox boy.” Jacob said as he and Ryan walked into the house so Darith could shut the door.

“Wow, you’re Liana?” Ryan said in disbelief as he and Jacob looked at her.

“Yup.” She replied nervously, waving at them. “Ryan and Jacob? You guys look completely different! Really handsome!” She commented.

“I know, right?” Jacob winked at her, to which she raised an eyebrow.

“Charisma doesn’t work, she’s a player.” Ryan mumbled to him.

“Oh yeah.” Jacob sighed.

“So where we headed?” Ryan said excitedly. “I’m itchin’ to show you my awesome spells.”

“Something came up, actually. We need to find a remove curse spell by the end of the day, you guys know where we might find one?” Darith asked the two.

“Remove curse?” Ryan said while looking to Jacob.

“No idea man.” Jacob shrugged.

“Do you know anyone you could ask, or NPC’s maybe?” He asked hopeful.

“All of the players we met knew less than we did.” Ryan shrugged.

“Game NPC’s were dumb as doorknobs too, only repeat the same things even when you seduce them.” Jacob said, as both looked deep in thought.

“Darith, what about Mayiera?” Liana suggested.

“Right, maybe she knows!” Darith replied as if a light bulb turned on in his head.

“Who’s Mayiera?” Jacob asked with a grin on his face.

“She’s a really weird NPC, she doesn’t act like one at all. She told us all about the Broken Realm and the story behind it.” Darith replied as he pulled the Ice Cavern key out of his bags and opened the gate. As the icy doors formed and opened, not one of the four were surprised or startled by it.

“This the Ice place you talked about?” Ryan asked as they stepped through the gate in Darith’s house, arriving in the icy cold caverns.

“Yeah... Normally the gate doesn’t lead here though.” Darith commented, finding themselves standing in the heavy winds of the Coldrinn Ruins. The gate had opened for them right on the ledge overlooking the giant Coldrinn Ruins gate, the heavy winds and snow blowing in their faces the moment they stepped into the dungeon, and sitting there with her back against the wall on the ledge was Mayiera.

“You’re back, and you brought some friends! It still doesn’t look like you’re strong enough to venture into the ruins yet though.” She commented upon seeing the four.

“You’re right, that does seem weird for an NPC.” Ryan commented, and to this comment Mayiera turned her head sideways like a curious puppy, while Jacob looked down deep into the large gates of the Coldrinn ruins.

“Whoa, this place is unreal man!” He said excitedly. “That’s a dungeon down there right? Let’s go loot hunting!”

“NO!” Liana and Darith both shouted at him simultaneously, before he could even put a foot down on the ledge’s descending staircase, shocking him.

“Why not?” He asked curiously.

“Trust me, you don’t want to do that dungeon, it’s level 160.” Darith said.

“Very dangerous.” Mayiera commented, getting all attention back on her again.

“Mayiera, could I ask you a question about this world?” Liana asked, stepping closest to her.

“Of course.” Mayiera smiled back.

“We need to find a way to remove curses, do you know where we might find a spell to do that?” Liana asked.

“Hmmm.” Mayiera put her index finger to her chin and tapped it a few times. “Two things come to mind when you say curses to me. Obrinthar Forest and the Fyu’jin Tribe.”

“What and the who now?” Jacob replied.

“Obrinthar Forest? You know, the spooky trees, where all those ghost stories come from?” Mayiera replied, but only got blank stares back at her.

“So the game has a haunted Forest.” Ryan commented.

“How can we get there?” Darith asked.

“You’re world travellers aren’t you? You can just appear there.” Mayiera suggested. “If you wanted to use normal methods, that’d take forever. It’d probably take you just a week to leave the north lands!” Mayeira said nervously, feeling guilty as she saw their expressions all turn to disappointed.

“The chances of us finding a gate there are really low, it’s completely random right? What about the Fyu’jin Tribe?” Darith asked her.

“Oh, those guys are extinct, just like the Coldrinn here. They were a desert tribe.” Mayiera replied, and as she said this Darith opened his inventory to find his yellow key, reading it once more.

Suutrin Desert, Level 1-9

Forgotten Sands, Level 10-19

Fyu’jin Ruins, Level 20-29

Forgotten Temple, Level 30-50

“That’s it, we’ve got the key to that area.” Darith said excitedly.

“Alright!” Ryan said with excitement.

“Awesome, let’s go find that curse removal spell then.” Jacob said, and Liana smiled with hopeful eyes as Darith pulled out the yellow key and opened the sandy gate, Mayeria completely oblivious to it.

“Thanks a lot for the help Mayeria!” Liana said to her, and she smiled back and waved as she watched them vanish into thin air, but really they simply walked through the sand gate and stepped into the Suutrin Desert.

“From freezing cold to blazing hot, phew.” Jacob commented as the snow that had settled on their clothes seemed to melt instantaneously.

“Is it always this crowded?” Ryan commented, all of them glancing around the sands and Oasis in front of them to see hundreds of players standing around talking and doing quests. Most were sitting at level 10 exactly, some 9.

“There wasn’t nearly this many people last time we were here...” Darith commented as they walked forward towards the wagon of NPC’s. “Come, that wagon will take us to the Forgotten Sands, from there we should be able to find the Fyu’jin ruins if this key is correct.” Darith said.

“Those NPC’s have quests for us, you mind if we do the first one fast to get the key to the area ourselves?” Ryan asked. Darith turned to Liana for the answer, knowing she was anxious about the time.

“I don’t mind, it was really easy you just had to get some water.” Liana shrugged.

“Awesome, be back in a second then.” Ryan replied, and he and Jacob ran up to the first NPC leaning against the wagon. Darith and Liana watched them run off and decided to stand around by the wagon, glancing around at the other players to try and listen in on what they were all talking about.

“Why’re there so many people here, level 10? Why don’t they keep going on with the quests.” Liana asked curiously.

“I think I can guess why...” Darith mumbled to himself, then tapped the shoulder of a male elf talking in a small circle. “Excuse me, do you know why there’s so many players gathered here?” he asked.

“Well yeah, we can’t go any further because of that stupid group of PKers.” He replied.

“Bastards killed one of my friends, can’t even play with him anymore!” Another commented.

“Why would people want to PK in a game like this? I just don’t get it. Complete idiots.” Another said with a British accent.

“Attacking other players is disabled in any level 1-9 area though, so most of us are trying to get stronger here. It’s kind of hard when we only have tiny monsters, and they’re way over farmed... Whoa hold on a second! You’re level 29?” The first elf commented, and as he shouted this many other players around them turned to Darith and Liana, gathering around them mumbling random questions, but too many at once making it all incomprehensible.

“Guys quiet, shut up a second!” The elf finally shouted, getting people to settle down. “Can you tell us how you got to level 29 without going to the higher area?” He asked.

“Well, lots of grinding I guess, and we went to another map.” Darith replied nervously, all eyes on his tiny nemothyne self.

“Aw, another map.” A loud sigh came from the crowd.

“You guys could leave this map and maybe find another one? I heard there are starting areas with guards that protect from PvPers.” He suggested.

“We already did some testing on that, turns out you can only go through new gates if you meet some special requirements. Haven’t been able to figure out what they are, but most of us are stuck in this area.”

“Stupid pvpers ruining the game for new players.” Another shouted, followed by several more angry shouts.

“What’s happenin?” Jacob said as he and Ryan returned to Darith and Liana’s side.

“They say the next area has got a bunch of PvPers who keep killing everyone who shows up.” Darith said, turning to his two high school gaming friends and grinning. Jacob grinned back.

“Heh.” Ryan grinned, to which Liana looked at them confused. “Chance to show you my awesome spells.”

“Teach those kids a lesson about respecting other players.” Darith replied.

“Get the ladies.” Jacob added.

“What’re you guys thinking?” Liana asked.

“Did I ever tell you about the first game that me Jacob and Ryan played together? It was in an MMO.” Darith said as Jacob climbed to the highest part of the caravan’s wagon. “The three of us were just starting out and there were some high levels killing low level new players. It got so bad that we thought about quitting to play something else, but we didn't like the idea of letting those gankers win. So we decided fight back, and using our low level skills we were able to chase them all off.” Darith said.

“Ahem, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please!” Jacob shouted out across the sands.

“The thing in any game we hate the most, are lowbie killers.” Ryan said to Liana, quietly under Jacob’s yell. All of the nearby players turned to them.

“Me and my party will venture forth and cleanse the Forgotten Sands of the vile PvPers, but, alas, I must ask something from you all in return!” He shouted, easily captivating everyone with his high charisma stat. “I ask that you never forget the names of those that stood up for you when you could not stand up for yourselves. With me stands Ryan, the Dark Summoner!” Jacob shouted as he drew attention to Ryan who rolled his eyes.

“The Great Wizard, Darith!” He then directed their eyes to the tiny fox eared Nemothyne.

“The Holy Cleric, Liana!” He pointed to Liana who was too embarrassed and looked down at her feet.

“And last but not least, I, the Legendary Warrior, the one and only, Knight Jacob!” He shouted as he raised his sword into the air, and suddenly everyone started cheering wildly and excitedly for the four.

“Charisma has its uses I guess.” Ryan shrugged.

“He either just made us famous or hated by everyone.”

“I forgot how stupid you guys act when you play games together.” Liana sighed with a red face.

“Onward! To the Forgotten Sands!” Jacob shouted, then hopped off the caravan. “There we go, now everyone’s ready for the heroes to strike. So... How do we get there exactly?” Jacob asked.