Justin was making out with the tall blonde girl with dark eyebrows. It had just happened. One minute they were cheering on Lukas as he heaved the little dwarf guy through a hoop and into a pile of hay. The next minute she grabbed him and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

“Let’s go upstairs,” she said in a low voice.

“Right behind you,” he said.

“Maybe if you’re lucky!” she laughed.

They stumbled up to the third story of the inn and managed to find an empty room. The blonde girl threw Justin on to the bed and straddled him.

This was wild!

She pulled off her shirt, and he saw that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“I’d like to officially welcome you to the Golden Hawks,” she said.

The next morning, Justin woke up to an empty bed. He sat up, expected his head to be pounding from the mother of all hangovers, but he felt fine. Better than fine, actually. Everything seemed as clear as a bell.

He pulled on his clothes and checked his gear. Looking out of the window, Justin had a good view of the courtyard below. There were still people passed out down there. Others were sitting at long tables eating. Bacon, from the smell of it. He wondered where Pari had gotten to. The last time he saw her, she was dancing with that pink-haired girl. Oh well. Maybe he’d run into Pari at breakfast. The smell of food was making his stomach growl big time.

Justin made his way downstairs. There was kind of a buffet set up in the main part of the bar, with eggs and meats and fresh breads. Everything smelled fantastic.

“Here he is!” Chad clapped him on the shoulder. “How you doing, amigo? Sick party, huh? Just as advertised.”

“That was amazing,” Justin said. “Really amazing.”

“You made quite an impression on the gang last night. Especially Dannay.” He bumped fists with Justin.

That was her name. The blonde girl who he had spent the night with. Dannay. He made a mental note of it.

“Anyway,” Chad said. “Grab yourself some vittles, then meet us out front. Some of the guys are taking out you new folks for a little twinkage.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. The first couple of levels can be a little boring, so we like to get them out of the way. We’ve also got some gear for you: some badass leather armor and some pretty decent blades. Much better than that newbie toad sticker you’re rocking.”

“That would be awesome. Thanks, Chad.”

“No problemo. See you in a bit!”

As Chad turned to leave, Justin called, “Oh, Chad. One thing.”

“Shoot.”

“Did you happen to see Pari this morning?”

Chad grinned at him. “Bro, I wouldn’t worry about Pari. You definitely traded up last night with Dannay. You know what I’m saying?”

Justin felt his face redden a bit. “Yeah, I know. I was just wondering if you’d seen her.”

“Honestly, I think Pari split last night. Went back to Rathenhall or something. Maybe she needed to get back to do her dailies. I’m surprised she didn’t say goodbye, but you know chicks. They can kind of tell when they’re being outclassed. See you soon.” He left the room and walked out to the courtyard.

Maybe Chad was right. Pari definitely struck him as the emotional type.

Justin grabbed a wooden plate and filled it with bread and bacon and some smoked fish. There wasn’t any coffee, but there was some kind of herbal tea so he grabbed a mug of that. Trying not to spill his food or tea, he made his way to the courtyard where he saw Ten-Spot at the communal table.

“Hey, man,” he said as he sat down next to the healer.

“Hey.”

“What a party, right?”

“You’re telling me. You get messed up?”

“Yeah, I did. But I’m not feeling any pain today.”

“Me neither. It’s like the perfect world.”

They talked some more in between bites of breakfast. Ten-Spot seemed a little subdued, so Justin did most of the talking.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. You know anything about the world quest?”

Ten-Spot kept eating. “You serious? Everyone knows about that.”

“But do you know what the actual quest is? I mean, what we’re supposed to find—”

“Again, common knowledge,” Ten-Spot smirked. “Before the party that’s all everyone was talking about.”

“So what is it?”

“Man, you really are out of it. The Shadow Lance, bro. Does that ring any bells?”

Justin let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it does. The one weapon that can defeat Dynark, the dark lord.”

“So you were just messing with me, then?”

“No, someone was messing with me, actually. They were telling me about some other world quest: the Iron Veil.”

“What the hell is an iron veil? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I know, right? I think this guy just didn’t like me, so he was yanking my chain.”

“Sounds like it.”

“Anyway, speaking of quests. I’m looking for Pari. Have you seen her this morning?”

“That Indian chick?”

“Yeah. I don’t know where she is. And she didn’t leave me any messages.”

“Haven’t seen her. But you just missed that girl Naomi.”

“Who’s Naomi?”

“The most famous girl at the party. Check it out. Until about fifteen minutes ago she was passed out right over there—buck naked. Bitch was partying hard last night!”

“Well, sorry I missed that. At least I had the decency of passing out buck naked in my own room,” Justin grinned. “You sure you didn’t see Pari?”

“No. If you want to talk to her so bad why don’t you just message her?”

“Maybe I will—after we get back from being power-leveled.” He stuffed one last piece of bacon into his mouth and got up. “We should probably get going. Chad said to meet in front of the inn.”

He started to walk back inside, but noticed that Ten-Spot wasn’t moving. “C’mon, man. Let’s go.”

“I can’t,” Ten-Spot said. He looked down at his plate of food.

“What do you mean? You have something better to do than get twinked?”

“I’m not invited.”

“Sure you are. Everyone’s invited. Chad just told me about it.”

“Not me. In fact, he made it very clear that I wasn’t invited. Not to questing, and not to joining the Hawks.”

“Maybe you misunderstood—”

Ten-Spot cut him off. “I didn’t misunderstand anything, Justin. Chad said I would have better luck in Cotter’s Mill. He said there was a fellowship there for people like me.”

“I don’t get it.”

“For Asians.”

Justin didn’t say anything, but he felt horrible. This wasn’t cool. Not cool at all.

Ten-Spot ate the last bits of his breakfast, then pushed his plate away and just looked off.

“Listen,” Justin finally said. “Let me talk to Chad. Maybe he was joking or something.”

“It’s okay. I appreciate it, Justin, I really do. But there’s no way I’d join the Hawks. I got some free beer and a free breakfast out of it, so I’m good. I wish you the best of luck though.”

“You too, man. We’ll meet again, I know it.”

“I hope so.”

Someone called for all the recruits to assemble in the front. Justin took one last look at Ten-Spot and then went back into the inn. He cut through the big common area and then walked out the front door.

Parked out front, on the west side of the inn, was an old farm wagon pulled by a pair of horses. A bunch of recruits were already sitting in the wagon which also had a few big crates in it. Hopefully filled with twink gear.

“Hey Justin.”

It was Lukas, the big guy who had tossed like a million dwarves last night. He scanned a handwritten list on a makeshift clipboard. “You’re good to go, son. Hop aboard. We’re going to have some fun today.”

Justin climbed up on the wagon and sat down on one of the two benches which ran the length of the wagon. Three other newbies were there. Two guys and one girl. He nodded to each of them. “Hey.”

“We’re waiting for one more,” Lukas announced. “Should be here any second.” He checked his clipboard again, then asked, “Everyone’s done the wishing well quest, right?”

Everyone had, except for Justin.

“Which one are you up to?” Lukas asked him.

“I had kind of a slow start yesterday,” Justin said, sheepishly. “I got up to the one where you free the guards from those wooden cages on the edge of the forest.”

“Okay, not a problem. Chad may want to help you get caught up with those next few himself. Let me check with him.” He made a note on his clipboard.

Justin noticed a bunch of people coming out of the inn. He recognized Tyson and Giordana from last night, and a few other Hawks: Brody, Irina, Miller, and some others he couldn’t remember the names of. Luckily he didn’t see Dannay. He wasn’t sure what he’d say to her if he did see her.

Finally, the last recruit arrived. He was an older guy—maybe 40—tall and skinny and pale, with weird looking eyes that looked like they should have been covered by glasses. But he had a big goofy friendly smile on his face.

“Sorry about that, everybody. I couldn’t find one of my boots. You know it’s a good party when you start losing shoes, right?”

The guy climbed on to the wagon and sat next to Justin. “I’m Phil Gardner, by the way. First level battle mage, reporting for duty.”

Justin couldn’t believe it. This is who got to be a battle mage? Really? This guy looked more like an accountant than a battle mage.

He forced himself to smile at Phil. “I’m Justin Boone. Sage.”

“Ooh, a sage,” Phil said, holding up his hands in mock awe. “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy.”

The other recruits introduced themselves. There was a red haired guy named Eric Keague who was a warrior. The girl, who was kind of mousy looking, was a scout by the name of Lindsey Monero. The last recruit was big and sleepy-looking. His name was Seth McCafferty, and he was a guardian knight.

Justin couldn’t help but noticing that they were all white.

“Okay, kiddos,” Lukas said, as he climbed to the front of the cart and took the reins. “Here’s the plan. We’re going to all ride out to the training grounds and see our buddy Marshal Swart. You all remember Marshal Swart, don’t you? We call him ‘Marshall Cyclops’ on account of the eyepatch and whatnot. At the TG, we’re going to be meeting up with some more folks and all break out into groups and start teaching you how to play your class, okay?”

Lukas looked at each of them in turn, then said, “You guys are supposed to respond when I ask a question. I know it’s early, but none of you should be hungover, so how about a big ‘ok’?”

Justin felt a little dumb, but he joined in with the others and yelled ‘ok!’

Lukas nodded and then continued his spiel. “Greystrand is all about fighting like a cohesive unit. And no one is better at it than the Golden Hawks. We’re going to learn the fundamentals of pulling, crowd control, tanking, strategic healing, buffing, DPSing, managing aggro, and a lot of other things. And, by the way, I don’t care if you know all this strategy backwards and forwards from other games you might have played. It don’t work quite the same way here in Greystrand, so we’re going to start from the beginning. Any questions so far?”

Eric the warrior raised his hand. “What about twink gear? My axe is extremely basic.”

“Thanks for bringing that up Eric. Yes, there will be twink gear. Lots of it. That’s one of the many benefits that you kiddos will enjoy as Golden Hawks recruits. We will be cracking open those crates behind me once we reach our destination. And you all shall be overwhelmed by the sheer uberness of our gifts to you.”

“Awesome!” Lindsey said.

“Awesome, indeed,” Lukas said. “Now keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and we’re off!”

He flicked the reins and called for the horses to giddy-up, which they kind of did in their own way, clomping slowly along the cobblestone street in front of the Hive & Harrow.

As they pulled away, Justin caught a glimpse of Chad. He was walking out of the inn with the pink-haired girl who had been hanging with Pari last night. Damn! He would have wanted to ask that girl about Pari. She would definitely know.

Chad said something to the girl and then they kissed. Justin couldn’t see any more because the wagon turned the corner west on the road that led to the training grounds.

Hmm. So Chad had a girlfriend. Justin wondered why he hadn’t introduced her last night.

The wagon made its way along the north side of the town square which was packed with people just like it had been yesterday. There was a lot going on and, again, he got the feeling that he was in some kind of medieval Disneyland. Between the sounds of the market, the warmth of the sunlight, the smells of food, everything was so realistic, it was tough to believe he was actually dreaming.

For the first time, he saw some other fellowships recruiting. He could tell what was going on by the higher level players in their matching outfits, speaking with obvious newbies. Last night Chad had told him that there were over 70 active fellowships in the game, and then he had bragged that 25 of those were part of the Golden Hawk alliance. That meant there were nearly 50 other fellowships competing for new recruits.

Before long they arrived at the training grounds. Lukas drove the wagon past Marshal Swart over to an area in the shadow of the Keep. There a tent had been set up with golden banners announcing it was the Hawks’ command station. Chad waltzed in on a magnificent armored charger who seemed as confident as its master.

Lukas said, “Okay, kiddos. Fall out! But stay near the wagon while we figure out groups.”

Justin climbed down from the wagon and looked around the area. It seemed like the other fellowships had the same idea. Various clusters of adventures were forming up all across the training grounds.

Chad was conferring with Lukas and Tyson while a few other Hawks unloaded the wagon.

“Pretty exciting, eh?” Phil the newbie battle mage sidled up to him.

“Yeah. Looking forward to it.”

“Me too. I made some good progress yesterday, so I’m hoping that I’ll ding before lunch. How about you?”

“I’m doing okay. Honestly I don’t want to rush things. I want to experience everything.”

“Not me. I’m what you call an ‘eager beaver.’ Ever hear of that expression?”

“Yeah. That’s something my dad would say.”

Phil chuckled. “How old’s your dad?”

Justin did a mental calculation. “He’ll be 60 in September.”

“Well, I’m not quite his age.”

“How old are you?”

“48.”

“Really? You look younger than that,” Justin said.

“Thanks, man. All that clean living, I guess.”

“How did you make the cut for the beta?”

Justin had heard that most of the people accepted into the OmniWorld beta were in their 20s and early 30s. And most of the players he had seen here in Holgate definitely fit within that age group.

“Just lucky I guess. Plus I scored very high on the lucid dreaming test.”

Justin had forgotten about that. All the beta applicants underwent a ton of tests, including a week of sleep monitoring.

“Anyway, here I am, raring to go,” Phil said. “I’m actually a little pissed I didn’t get accepted until now. I mean, look at Chad and some of the other Januarys. Level 6 already. We won’t be level 6 until August or September.”

“Justin!” a voice called. It was a voice he recognized.

Klothar the ranger strode into the camp. He clapped Justin on the shoulder. “I’ve been looking for you, lad.”

Everyone in the camp turned to stare at the ranger.

“I need your assistance with a rather important matter.”

Justin had to force his gaping mouth shut. “Um, what?”

“I’ll tell you when we get to someplace a little more private,” Klothar said in a low voice. “I have a feeling that we’re being watched.”

This was crazy. Maybe it was a new quest chain. But before Justin could ask Klothar for more details, Chad walked over and looked the ranger up and down.

“Hey, chief. Can I help you with something?”

Klothar fixed Chad with a hard gaze, but didn’t say anything.

Chad moved closer—got right up into the ranger’s face. He was a head taller than the older man, but Klothar didn’t move a muscle.

“I said, ‘can I help you with anything’” Chad repeated.

“We were just leaving,” Klothar said. He turned to Justin. “This way, lad.”

Chad stepped in front of the ranger, cutting him off. “Justin’s not going anywhere. He’s a Hawk recruit, bud. And this is a private raid, so how about you move along and go find your own newbies?”

“Lad,” Klothar called. “To me.”

Justin froze. What the hell was he going to do now? This was extremely awkward. Both Klothar and Chad were staring at him, watching to see what he would do. Finally, he made his decision.

“Sorry, Chad. I, um, just need to figure out what this is all about.” Justin took a few steps towards Klothar, but then Lukas strode over and blocked his way.

Chad shook his head. “No can do, Justin. You’ll have plenty of time for solo adventuring later on. But you’re a member of the Hawks now.”

“I don’t think so,” Klothar said. “We’re leaving. Step aside.”

“Or what?” Chad jerked his head towards the ranger. “You’re just a wanky NPC. You can’t even—”

Klothar’s hand shot out in a blur. He struck the side of Chad’s neck right under his ear. It literally happened so fast that Justin wasn’t sure what he was seeing. But Chad crumpled to the ground twitching. And then he went still.

Unbelievable! Klothar just one-shotted Chad.

Everyone stared in shock, frozen. But Tyson recovered quickly.

“You’re dead, man!” He charged Klothar with fists balled, rushing in hard like a linebacker.

The ranger deftly pivoted out of the way, and at the same time snapped his elbow up into Tyson’s face. Crunch! It was like Tyson had run into a telephone pole. His head snapped back in a spray of blood and bone and his knees gave out and he crumpled like a rag doll.

Klothar wasn’t even breathing hard. “Anyone else?” The other Hawks just backed away in horror.

“Good. Justin, let us take our leave.”

Justin felt his stomach flop at the sight of all that blood, but he had to admit, this was freaking awesome. What a bad ass!

“Sorry guys,” he mumbled as the strode after Klothar.

Phil stared after them, wide-eyed. “Holy crap. How do I get that quest?”