Jameson crawled out of the VR chamber. After five in-game days, he needed a break. He set his alarm for four and a half hours later and went into a deep sleep. When the alarm went off, he was extremely tempted to destroy it. As he struggled out of bed, he grabbed his phone to see who called. His friends had texted him about New paths and sent him their names, stating that they we`re all starting a guild in Covina. that's on the other side of the continent you idiots.! thought Jameson. Well, he wouldnt have joined anyway.

Knowing his friends, half were merchants, and the other half were berserkers. Half his friends were the nerds he used to hang out with. in their sophmore year, they had pooled their money and bought into a company at 27% after a year of profits, they pulled out, split the money, and continued on their own. They had been investing ever since, and would probably try to conquer the game via economic control. The other half were former delinquents who got tired of fighting Jameson and decided to befriend him instead. initially they had been planning to use him, but after they got to know him, they decided to hang with him for real.

Through him, they made friends with the nerds, and in exchange for helping them with homework, they made sure no one bullied them. Jameson knew this basic relationship probably wouldnt change. More importantly he saw his mother had called... five times. He had been a total mama's boy growing up, but now he was paying the price. Ever since he had moved out, she had been worried sick, calling all the time. Even though he had a constant flow of money coming in, and he had stayed close to home where no one would dare attack him, she always found something to worry about.

Bracing himself, He called her back "Li'l Jamie I've been worried sick!" God, i hate that nickname thought Jameson. Li'l Jamie. Everyone in his family called him that, even though at 6'6 (2m), he was the tallest one. Why? No one knew. "Mom I'm fine, I'm sorry for not getting your calls". For the next ten minutes, his mother ranted on about how he was going to give her a heart attack one day, then she offered to come over and take care of him, before ultimately begging him to come back home. He finally got her to calm down by offering to visit sometime and bring her something nice.

After his mother hung up, He went to check the game forums. After checking for helpful tricks and hints, he checked for news. It seemed that in his absence, most of the city had been converted, including players. That means he now had almost 2500 people supporting the Magi. Jameson suspected that any people had converted just to fit in, but it didnt matter, that would change eventually. But alas, he hadnt even left the city, so no one outside of the region really even knew of their existence, and the country of Reed was fairly small, like the other countries in the south.

He stopped reading about the Magi, and read another thread that caught his eye. Apparently, there was a player going by the name Maou. The Demon King huh, thought Jameson. apparently he was far north, sending raids of monsters into the countries of Zed and Trea. Almost as if connected, there was now a hero in the powerful countries to the west. The four churches had given him their parts of the hero's armor, and like wildfire, the former paladin blazed across the forums, there were videos of him flying around slaying monsters everywhere.

Musashi was also fairly popular. In the past in-game week, many people had come to fear him as one of the strongest, most ruthless players in the game. He and his bandit clan, Blood Brothers were heading towards the savage central continent, pillaging as they saw fit. Jameson was somewhat relieved. If Musashi had returned with his bandit Army, All Creon and his followers had worked for would have been destroyed.

Before he was about to turn his computer off, one last thread caught his eye. It was regarding the Ezzi Kingdom, the medium sized country just to the east of Reed. Apparently, the former king had died, making the prince, who was a player, the new king. He had declared the beginning of the Ezzian Empire and had attacked two countries simultaneously, Aquila and... Reed! Jameson hurried to the chamber. He only had a little time if he was going to save his city.

Creon hurried out of his office in the monastery, His spawn point in the city. He quickly called out for Oz. Oz ran hurriedly up to him " what do you need master?" "Give me information on the war! where is the enemy army?" "War?" Oz looked confused. Creon facepalmed. He forgot the game was more medieval and there were very few ways to send messages fast for npcs,. Magic mirrors were one way, but few people other than government personnel had access to those. teleportation was another, but that required alot of mana.

"Listen just warn our brothers! get the wise-men on high alert and have them ready to protect the res of the Magi!" The wise-men were basically the combatants of the Magi, their core members being the original twenty Creon had started off with. Creon himself had hurried down to the main square and darted into the tavern where most players liked to congregate. He immediately shouted "does anyone have contacts in the Capitol?" Everyone quieted down. "Uhh yeah, sure, but why?" one player asked. " because were being invaded." The room was deathly quiet now. "Well?" asked Creon "Are you going to contact people or not?"

After two minutes, they had news. The capitol and royal family had fallen. Reed was no more. The payers began to panic. "What do we do now?" " Should we flee north?" "No fool! West!" "Wait if we leave, what happens here?" "Does it even matter?" " Cowards! I'm staying!" Everyone had a different opinion. Creon knew he had to speak now, or he would lose control of the situation. " All of you have to stay. We need to protect this city! this is where we started, this is our home! when things go wrong in the real world, this is where we come, this is where we can really be us! Do you really want to run and throw all that away?

The player were quite for a moment looking around and thinking. They needed on last push. "I, Creon, Master of the Magi will stay and fight, Will you abandon me and these people, or will you be true heroes, and fight?" there was a resounding warcry in the tavern. "Now Go!" Creon shouted. "Gather your warbands! alert the other layers, and meet me at the City hall! The lord of Frieda should have a plan!" Everyone rushed out of the tavern including Creon.

As he ran towards the center of the city, he began to think. why didnt the lord rally the people and muster the army? Even if he were trying to contain the situation, he would have at least- Then realization dawned on Creon. Noooo, they wouldn't, they didnt!! He increased his speed, as he ran. he looked in every noble manor he passed.. each was empty. He cursed. When he reached the city hall, his worst fears were confirmed. it was empty. the lord had received notification of the situation, but instead of sending reinforcements to the capitol, instead of barricading the cit... he had fled.

As everyone reached the city hall, they saw Creon sitting in front of it, and immediately realized something was wrong. " Whats going on?" asked Commander Bor. He was in charge of the 500 soldiers stationed in the city. "Cant you tell already?" said Grimlock, the player who led the most powerful warband in the city. "we have been abandoned' Creon confirmed. "So?" said the same player. "We didnt stay because of them" "yeah, we dont need no snotty fuckin nobles anyway!" said an npc from the slums. " Creon, many of my men have converted to your strange faith, and believe in the good things you have done here, In the absence of the cowardly filth I pledged my allegiance to, Please lead us!"

And just like that, the chant was taken up. "LEAD US! LEAD US!" The chant echoed throughout the city. a notification popped up in front of Creon.

You have been offered leadership of the Free City of Frieda.

Do you accept?

Creon rose his hand, imitating the pope to the best of his ability. " Although I wish it could have been under better circumstances, and although there may be better candidate than I, I shall lead and protect all of you with my very life on the line!" Creon shouted.

Leadership accepted

The people cheered wildly, while Creon thought to himself This shall forever be known as the first day of the Friedan Theocracy . His eyes blazed with Fire.