A torrent of bullets rained upon the streets of Yen-Net-7. The normally humid atmosphere wasn't gifting the members of Revolver-X with a warm shower of H20, however.

It was gifting them death.

"Two men down. Phoenix, what do we do?"

The voice of my companion and the Lieutenant of our clan came across my com speaker, the voice chat icon displaying partly translucent in the corner of my vision.

We were huddled together, trapped in the middle an intersection, hiding behind overturned vehicles. The overpass above us was littered with enemy players, either too rich to be concerned about the number of bullets they were spraying down upon us or too caught in the blood lust to care.

"Fall back into the alley and toss Graph2 a MedKit. He never watches his Hit Points."

"Hey, I'm busy killin' here."

Graph2's voice was rough around the edges and he took any shortcuts that the English language allowed him. Being originally from Iran, he had taken a liking to old westerns and had claimed a southern accent for his own. It mixed nicely with his middle eastern one at that.

"Well we'll need some of that killing in a minute so fall back!"

"Alright alright, don't get your legendary-level panties in a bunch."

I sighed.

He wasn't wrong. My underwear was of the highest quality that Cyber Clash Online (CCO) offered, but he didn't have to always bring it up.

"Enough talk! Dropping smoke...now!"

I checked my inventory quickly, seeing that this was my last smoke grenade.

No room for error.

I equipped the grenade and pressed the glowing blue button on the side of it, dropping it at the feet of me and my companions.

Within a heartbeat the smoke exploded from the canister, filling the intersection and giving us a chance to leap down the street to the right and into the alleyway from which we had originally come.

I checked my quest requirements and saw that it wasn't completed until we escaped the area. It had been a secret quest, one that supposedly only those in our clan, Revolver-X, even knew about.

The fact that the enemy clans had not only been waiting for us, but had teamed up to stop our escape meant that Revolver-X either had a traitor in it, or the quest-giver had lied.

And I had never known a quest-giver to lie.

Enemy shots sprayed around the streets behind us, smashing windows and punching holes into buildings. We ran down the alleyway as fast as possible, ignoring any alert at having low Stamina. I hoped to at least get to cover before they realized where we had gone, or at most reach the entryway back into the restaurant.

Luckily we reached the restaurant and turned sharply inside, ducking beneath the low-hanging "Noodles 4 Everyone" sign. I looked back just in time to see members of "Dragon's Fist" round the corner after us.

"Dammit! There at least had to have been four clans on that overpass! Who leaked the quest!?"

"No idea miss." Graph2 said, holding tightly onto his cowboy hat as we ran through the tables and chairs of the restaurant. We hopped over the counter, completely ignored by the NPC cashier and cooks. "But they got Jumba."

I looked around and realized that Graph2 and I were the only ones that had made it to N4E. My Lieutenant, Jumba, had not.

"It couldn't have been one of us, could it?! The quest-giver had to have lied!"

"Either that or the guy from the forums did..."

We came to the back door of the restaurant and opened it slowly, careful of the squeak that happened about ⅓ of the way through, a tip provided to our clan by the quest-giver that most everyone had glossed over. Well, everyone except Jumba. He always read the fine print. This next part was going to be hard without him.

Gunshots sounded from behind us, inside of the restaurant.

Really? Killing the NPCs?

Fortunately, neither a door squeak, nor the gunshots woke what was sleeping on the other side.

A monstrously big Gamma Dragon was curled up and sleeping just next to the door, nestled at the end of the subway system that led us here. In the real world, the connection between the subway and Noodles 4 Everyone wouldn't have made any sense. But this wasn't the real world.

With each breath, the Dragon's giant, purple-scaled body lifted and pressed it into the roof of the subway. Dust fell onto it, but it didn't wake. Supposedly this dragon was only programmed to wake as a response to certain events and was a far higher level than anyone had even come close to in the game yet.

Well maybe everyone but him...

We reached the end of the subway tunnel and came to a crossroad, seven different paths all winding outwards from us.

"You just had to go and get yourself killed, didn't you Jumba," I said.

"Hey, I'm still here," Graph2 said, smiling, pleased with himself for some reason.

"For one, I have no idea how, considering you charged out there like a lunatic, but second do you remember which path leads out of here?"

"Well no but..."

"Exactly."

"Sorry Phoenix, I'm here to kill people and provide cover. I might not be the brightest, but at least I ain't the traitor. Not that I think we have a traitor, ya know. But If we did, It wouldn't be me. You could count on that."

I stopped for a moment and turned with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Graph2 asked.

"I think that's the longest sentence I have ever heard come from you, Graph."

Graph2's western avatar blushed.

A loud squeak came from the end of the tunnel behind us.

We smiled to each other.

"Well it worked."

An incredible roar resonated throughout the entire subway system, vibrating the ceiling and sending cracks along the walls. Pieces of rock crumbled and fell to the ground.

"Enjoy yourselves now," Graph2 said, tilting his hat back towards where the commotion was coming from, his favorite emote.

The screams began instantly.

"Well, let's hurry and figure this out before that Gamma finishes eating them and wants seconds," Graph2 said, turning back to the riddle before them.

"Well... I think when we came to this point, the tunnel was to the left. So that means we came from one of these on the right... right?" I said, trying my hardest to remember. To be fair, I was a bit preoccupied with the excitement of this quest. I hadn't expected to be ambushed.

"No that'd mean we came from the left, but I think you're wrong because I remember coming out from the center."

"You're both wrong."

Jumba's voice came onto the clan chat, his words sending relief through my digital heart.

And probably my real one too.

"How in the hell did ya connect to our voice comms?" Graph2 asked. "This quest is supposed to be closed off."

"Even though I died, I'm still connected to the party apparently. Lucky you."

I opened the party menu, its transparent window appearing in my vision overlay. Sure enough, there was Jumba and his information. Even if his name has a big Deceased next to it, he was still part of the party.

"Welcome back then!" I said, as I closed the party menu, relieved that I wouldn't have to figure this out on my own.

"I was kind of here, I just had to pee. Now hurry up and go through the second from the right tunnel, before the Gamma Dragon realizes that having dessert is an option."

"Don't needa tell me twice!" Graph2 lifted his machine gun onto his shoulder and took off down the tunnel. I followed closely, looking over my shoulder occasionally to make sure we weren't being followed by any survivors.

After a half-dozen twists and turns, we came to the end of the tunnel, nothing but a solid stone wall staring us in the face.

"Ummm Jumba."

"Checking..."

The ground shook and the air behind us vibrated with deep echoes of Magi-Tek being cast and grenades exploding.

"Idiots will bring the entire subway down around us," Graph2 said, watching the dust fall from the ceiling around him as the room trembled.

I absently toyed with the item in my pocket.

"I think that's exactly what they're trying," I said, tightening my fingers around the item. "If we all die then no-one gets this."

"Dammit," Jumba said over the clan comm. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean not right!?" The room trembled even louder this time. I had to hold the wall to keep myself from falling over.

"I am one hundred percent positive that this was the right tunnel. The portal is just... gone."

We spun around the room, scanning for anything. Perhaps our escape route had just moved...

"What do you mean gone! It's hard-coded. It wouldn't just up and disappear."

"Maybe it's part of the quest?" Graph2 suggested.

"That's what I thought initially, but the quest marker is still directing us here," Jumba said. "Check it."

I opened my map, highlighting the secret quest we were currently on with the title: ?????

I closed the menu with an anxious groan and looked again at the wall. In the exact spot where the portal was... nothing.

"Okay this doesn't make any sense. I've never seen this glitch before," I said.

"Nobody has reported it on the forums either," Graph2 agreed. "Maybe since it's such a new quest and nobody knows about it?"

I opened my map again, finding something that wasn't there before.

"Umm... Graph, Jumbs..."

Graph2's eyes turned blue as he opened his map as well.

"Please tell me that ain't what I think it is." He turned and looked down the tunnel, his eyes back to their normal dark brown. I did the same. The ground started to slowly tremble in a singular beat.

"I would but then I'd be lying, and you know I don't do that," Jumba said. "Gamma Dragon incoming, level... too high for my scanning ability."

"Well, so much for taking this back to the clan wars." I lifted out our quest reward from my jacket pocket, a single-use, one-of-a-kind item that the nobody had ever seen before, let alone use. It was a small orb that fit in the palm of my epic-gloved hand. Colors swirled and moved beneath a clear exterior, like an ocean during a storm. As the ground shook, I fumbled it and had to catch it, afraid of what might happen if I dropped it.

"I guess we could use it?" Graph2 suggested, attaching his heavy machine gun's mount to the ground, preparing for an unwinnable battle in the only way he knew how.

"But how? And what does it do?" I brought it up above me, holding it between thumb and forefinger, squinting at the swirling patterns as if it would reveal its secrets.

"Check the item description," Jumba suggested from the comm.

I pulled open my inventory and highlighted the item, opening its information.

"Not much to go off of here... wait... what does that mean?"

"What?" Asked Jumba.

"The flavor text says, There's no going back." I held the orb before me and felt... something. I couldn't explain it, but it almost felt as though the sea within was trying to suck me into its depths.

"Probably some dev thinkin' they're bein' funny is all" Graph2 said, still focused on his defensive setup. The Dragon was definitely getting closer if the room's intense shaking was anything to go by.

"Single-use though?" Asked Jumba.

"Yep," I replied. "Might as well give it a shot, seeing as when we die, we'll lose the item anyways."

You had to succeed in a quest to get its rewards and dying to a Gamma Dragon definitely didn't count as succeeding. Unfortunately, as far as this quest went, it was a one-time offer. There wouldn't be any retries or second chances. That had been made very clear by the one who gave it to us.

"Don't think we have a shot at winning the Tournament of the Elders without it though. Shame." We had been preparing for the upcoming event for months, and this finally looked like a way to get an edge on the competition.

The room trembled and I fell my knees, Graph2 almost doing the same but holding himself up by the mounted machine gun he had in place.

"Good luck," Jumba said, followed by a winking emote in the text chat at the bottom of my vision.

The dragon's head rounded the corner into the room, its massive frame barely fitting through the tunnel, crushing the walls and the tunnel framework with it. It roared as it burst into the room, debris and cavern falling down around it as it opened its enormous purple-scaled wings. I immediately noticed my health begin draining due to the dragon's radiation properties.

"I ain't gonna lie down and die!" After a short warm-up period Graph2's machine gun exploded to life, bullets flying through the air, heating the room with their rapid-fire rate. I watched as they hit the Dragon, small 1 DMG markers appearing with each impact.

It really is hopeless.

"You're wasting your ammo, Graph," I shouted, withdrawing my tactical knife. I knew it wouldn't do any more damage than Graph2 was doing, but at least I wouldn't have to waste any of my Sniper rounds, which were far more expensive than the Assault rounds Graph2 was firing with reckless abandon.

I stepped forward, swallowing heavily. Even though I knew this was a game, dying while deep in the VRMMO (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online), was never easy.

I looked at my HP. A little more than half remaining.

With a deep breath, I charged, sliding beneath Graph2's barrage and slicing at once of the Dragon's shins.

1 DMG

Thought so...

Even though my knife was a rare item won from a contest several months back, it was useless here. There truly was no point in fighting.

A quick swipe to my face by a massive claw sent me sprawling across the room and crashing into the tunnel wall, semi-realistic pain shooting through my body. Blood fell from my lips and the wind left my chest.

1013 DMG

"Phoenix!" Graph2 yelled, leaving his gun and heading over to her. The pain felt within CCO was real, and though toned down a lot from what one would normally feel in real life, it still was there and was definitely not pleasant. Some games removed the pain entirely while others had it set to the max. Those were for the hardcore players, and in most people's opinion, sadists. Not me. I preferred the happy medium, even if it still bloody hurt.

Between dazed eyelids and ringing ears, I checked my HP.

"Are you o..." Graph2's body disintegrated before my eyes as a beam of pure Gamma energy shot through him from the dragon's mouth, the tunnel wall behind where he stood plastered with his digital remains.

Note to self, turn down the gore setting...

I turned my head in both awe and fear towards the dragon. This was the most powerful enemy I had even heard of in CCO, let alone come across. Sure, I had fought a handful of the smaller cousin Gamma Drakes in Dungeon raids or the equally as purple Swamp Dragons while questing, but they were lower level and had not been an issue for my party to take on.

This was something else. Was this secret item really that special, to be protected by such a creature?

I dropped my tactical knife and held the orb up in my hand.

The dragon stared at me, its deep amber eyes almost daring me, taunting me.

"Go on, use it," Jumba said.

"Avenge me!" Graph2 shouted, his voice now connected to the clan comm channel in death.

"What the hell have I been missing?" Came a text message from SixShot6's, the quiet last member of their party having logged back on suddenly. She rarely spoke.

The dragon roared.

I threw the item into the air, and somehow, used it.