1.1

Hit the ground running.

For most veterans of the MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) world, this method had always been proven the most effective. The strategy was simple; get ahead of everyone else right from the starting line, rack up some crazy levels in the shortest amount of time and then leave all the puny stragglers behind the cloud of level-gap dust. It was the oldest method in the book. And for many generations, gamers had this strategy down to a tee.

It was a standard practice that as early as the character creation stage, one could already create the gap to pull away from the pack. The less time one spends on creating ones avatar, the more time one would have for farming gold. A smart veteran would always reserve a handful of uniquely crafted IGN's (in-game names) weeks before the game would even start. If Ladiesman217 was already taken, then perhaps Parzival wasn't. What about Art3mis? So on and so forth. A seasoned player would always come prepared to the point where one would even reserve as many as fifty on their list. That’s how tedious and competitive naming an avatar could get. The name shouldn't alone be just one of its kind, but it had to also invoke power and greatness at the same time. If you invision yourself to be on the leaders board, then make sure you had an awesome name to go with it. Bragging when at the top was a huge part of the MMO culture.

As for character customization, it was common for 'speeders' to just choose the generic character mold prepared for them by the game itself. By doing so, this would allow the player to start grinding for experience right away, therefore skipping all the unnecessary customization bits and enter the game immediately well ahead of everyone else. After all, the developers would always offer 'visual customization' later on inside the game. So, there was still a good chance to change one's appearance whenever; say maybe dye the hair pink or even get a scar or two on the face, etcetera. At least that was the general assumption.

The early bird catches the worm. And for the most part, in real life or otherwise, this proverb always held true. It was only until the introduction of Grum's Labyrinth that all of these well-known and even age-old proven strategies had been rendered completely obselete.

Aesa had been wearing the same perplexed look for many hours now. When he first entered the game, he had this pre-conceived idea that he would be first taken to an avatar customization screen to enable the character creation process. However, that wasn’t the case. Merely ten seconds after logging in into the virtual realm, he had opened his eyes to an extremely dark yet quiet place. Is it supposed to be this dark? When he awoke, he appeared to be lying on the ground right above a thick earthy cushion. Are these graminoids? Where am I? Am I in a forest? Aesa guessed. Sitting up, he ran both of his hands through the soft textured shrubbery in front of him. Definitely grass. He thought.

It was highly likely that he had spawned right smack in the middle of the forest. But without any kind of illumination, that possibility would remain an assumption. Certainly, there was a greater chance that Aesa's speculation could be wrong altogether, but based on how the entire surrounding would rustle every time a breeze would come scurrying through, then he indeed must be inside of a living breathing forest. Those are leaves. Im sure of it. Aesa speculated as the symphonic clapping of the earthen blades continue to overwhelm his every sense's from every direction possible.

"Hoot!" Cooed the owl from a distance.

A third of an hour had gone by and yet the sight of even a single blue screen continue to elude him. Having realized that, Aesa had finally come to accept the bitter truth that this game may have no such concept as character creation nor customization. He realized that the system had only copied his exact measurements and features from the real world when he probably first registered a few days back. A major letdown since he missed the crucial part of creating an avatar for himself. To mold a body that he would have liked. He didnt want to be 'ordinary' here. But all was done now. There was nothing he could do about it.

It was evident when he examined himself through touch. The system seamlessly copied the thinness of his arms, the slumpness of his shoulders, his short stature and even his long messy hair down to its every curls and tangles. It felt rather strange to him; to be inside a virtual setting and yet have the exact body weight and measurements the way that he would in the real. It was kind of hard to accept the reality that anonimity was not possible here. Or that having an alternate identity was not permissible nor was gender swap. The LGBTQ community wouldnt like this even one bit.

Now that he thought of it, it didn’t feel like he was navigating inside of a game at all. This world wasn't binary nor was it pure pixel. In fact, it felt very life-like, natural and realistic. What astonished at the moment was how he could feel every fiber of his lung expand and even contract too every time he ingest and expel air. There was weight into his every action and gravity was there to enforce all of that. The virtual wind caressed his face the way the real wind would behave outside. What Aesa was experiencing was simply unreal.

But what of the tutorial? Surely, that should be a staple. It should exist here, right?

Tutorial. Guide. Help. System screen. Aesa must have uttered each word no fewer than twenty times already and yet with each invocation resulted to nothing. It only fell on deaf ears. He even tried invoking Inventory just for kicks, and that too rendered no response from the system either. Pathetic! What kind of sick joke is this?

As a player, Aesa understood the marketing strategy behind a game shrouded in total secrecy. When it was first advertised Marswide, the developers promised a revolutionary, ground-breaking and a one of a kind virtual reality game experience. Not to mention the once in a lifetime chance of becoming the first 100 inhabitants of Earth after its 2000 years of rehabilitation. All of that in the event that a player would beat Grum's Labyrinth.

It sounded very exciting to say the least. Everyone on the face of Mars got drawn into it. A life changing game. A chance to start over on a clean and green planet. That was its promise. The only problem was that there was no other hint about the game itself. No promotional exploration videos. No beta-testing. There was absolutely nothing. Through the Mars Federations intervention, hacking was next to impossible. Leaking an information could slap you with a death penalty by the government. It was like guarding Area51's secret all over again.

Totally stupid, Aesa murmured to himself. How are we players supposed to play this game when were given nothing to work on?

Like a blind rat, Aesa fumbled his way through the dark forest. He had lost count as to how many times he'd tripped on his own two feet. Thick curses echoed through the dense forest as he cried in agony every time he stumbled and fall. Amidst the loud bitching and the swearing, Aesa finally saw something that resembled a light. Was that a tiki torch?

And like a moth to a flame, Aesa got himself drawn to the yellow flickering light. He didnt even consider for a second if it would be dangerous to approach the source or not. All he knew was that if theres light then theres life.

With hurried footsteps, he dashed like a mad salamander towards the general direction of the burning tiki. The torch could be marker to a village nearby. And if his hunch was true, it would mean salvation for him. He was actually parched from all the walking and he could really use some water right about now. Aesa couldn't help but curse the game for creating such a near perfect satiety system.

Barely a few meters away from the torch, Aesa noticed something strange. The tiki wasn't stationary. It was somehow swaying. Like someone was holding it. Instinctively, he lessened his pace. He switched to a slower creep style instead.

Minutes later, just when he was about seven arms length away from the source, Aesa confirmed that the torch was not lodged into any stationary outpost. It was in fact being carried by a tall burly man who appeared to be wearing a thick grey fur. A hoodie? A sort of camouflage perhaps? Aesa hypothesized while he observed the mans back. 'Is he an NPC (non-playable character) on a border patrol duty?'

He could be. He could be not.

And although with great reluctance, Aesa steeled his courage and greeted the man in front of him. "Thank goodness you're here. Hey there, I'm Aesa. A traveller. I got lost in the forest and I was just wondering if you could guide me to the nearest village around here if that's okay with you?" He pleaded. Aesa had hope that the man would turn around and greet him in the same manner but there was zero response. Instead, he heard a low growl emmanating from somewhere behind the man. Dont panic. Hold your ground. You'll be fine. Aesa convinced himself to stay inspite his instincts. The hairs raising at the back of his neck was clearly warning him to belly up and leave.

Slowly, as the man turned around, the flickering tiki revealed the true identity of what Aesa believed to be a human. Despite the dancing light and shadow, Aesa recognized the creature that was in front of him. He now know that this creature wasn't human afterall . It looked human, but it was bearing the face of a wolf's.

'Fuck me. A Kobold!'

And fuck the Kobold did. As soon as the humanoid realized to what Aesa was, the wolfman immediately revealed its long wooden spear. Swiftly and without any warning, with its bulging left arm, the Kobold threw the spear right at Aesa's.

He didn't know how to react. Shock engulfed him whole as Aesa's entire body froze in fear. He couldn't move. Not even an inch.

Swoooft! The shot was strong and hard. The spear flew effortlessly like a guided javelin. And although Aesa could see the sharpened stick flying towards him in slow motion, he could do nothing but watch.

"Gwark!" Aesa coughed a mouthful of blood upon the spears impact. It punctured a hole right into the middle of his chest. The pain was no less than excruciating. And Aesa had no words to even describe it.

"Holy fuck! This thing felt real! This pain felt real! I like it. Hahahaha." Impaled and delirious, Aesa was screaming like a deranged man. He was obviously not himself. "Shit! Look at this. I'm a mess. Hahahaha."

A few seconds later, between the laughing and the coughing, Aesa's case turned for the worse. He knew it. He felt his entire life force slowly leaving him. Pity. He watched himself in helplessness as the thick supply of hot red blood streamed non-stop from across his chest, trickling down the shaft of the rigid spear like a makeshift pipe.

Aesa's suffering and humiliation didn't drag for long. Three minutes later, the short and sickly looking Aesa drew his last breath. And just like that, his journey within Grum's Labyrinth had come to a screeching end.

To be taken out in such a fashion was very anti-climactic. He existed barely four hours inside the game and now he just got himself eliminated. And news was, unlike the other generic MMO's, Grum's has no respawn feature. In short, there was no second chance. He was out of the competition forever.

Aesa's kneeling corpse remained there at the center of a stone slab for almost five minutes before it started decomposing rapidly. After ten whole minutes, what was left of him on the murder scene were just his bare bones alongside the pool of his own red blood. The Kobold that stabbed him had already left the area well before Aesa turned into a corpse.

"Hooot!" Cooed the owl from a distance. "Hooot!" Echoed another.

The wind suddenly shifted. The familiar rustling of the leaves could be heard yet again. And once more, the forest went back to its normal state. Back to being dark. Back to being silent. But it wasn't asleep. No. It was actually listening. It was wide awake that whole entire time. There, under the blanket of the night, the forest seemed to have embraced the corpse in its midst.

'Awaken~' it whispered.