Ben jumped over the fallen log without breaking his stride, the sound of the pursuing Orcs spurring him onward. He started casting fireball, turned just before it was finished, and yelled, “Duck!”

Ben targeted the nearest Orc, only a few feet behind Will. The fireball shot out of his hand as Will rolled beneath it and the spell slammed into the pursuing orc’s chest. The impact knocked it backwards, where it fell in a burning heap. It didn’t rise. There were at least dozen other orcs that Ben could see, and even more by the sounds of it, as he starting running again. Ahead, Will drew an arrow from his quiver, fitted it and turned to fire. The arrow whizzed by Ben’s head and he heard a grunt behind him.

He heard swords clashing in the distance and spotted a few random players fighting orcs as he ran. Through the trees, he saw orcs swarming the nearby forest hunting down any errant players still in the area. Ben ran, cursing under his breath.

They took turns attacking as they ran, switching off the lead and keeping the orcs at bay.

He broke out of the forest and skidded to a halt before falling into the river. Will came to a halt beside him. “Where are the others?” Will panted.

“No idea,” Ben gasped between breaths, his side aching and legs trying to collapse beneath him. “Lost sight of them a while back.” He glanced up and downstream, spotting the bridge and farms. He grunted at the distance as he pointed, “That way.”

They took off at a run, Will in the lead, as the orcs burst out of the forest directly behind them. Another group emerged a couple hundred yards ahead of them and Ben cast fireball at them when they were within range. The resulting explosion knocked most of them off their feet, but not all of them.

Will drew his sword as he yelled, “Keep going. I’ll catch up.”

Will charged into the lead orc, shoving it backwards into two others. Ben rolled past a fourth orc as it swung at him, dodging the blade by inches. He got back to his feet and kept running.

Thankfully, he reached the bridge without any other orcs, where he glanced over his shoulder saying, “We made it.” Except, he didn’t see Will behind him. Ben skidded to a stop as he turned to look back. He spotted Will at least a two hundred paces away, running as fast as he could with the nearest pursuing orcs only a few feet behind.

Ben cast Summon undead warrior and drew his bow as Fido climbed out of the ground. He commanded Fido, “Stand guard.” Ben sighted the Orc closest to Will and fired, trying to judge the lead time. The arrow missed but was close enough to cause the Orc to lose his footing. It fell in rolling heap, tripping one of the others with it. Ben sighed in relief as the resulting turmoil bought Will several extra steps, but it was short lived. Ben swore as a new group of orcs emerged from the forest halfway between Will and Ben.

Ben tried to cast fireball in time to distract them, but it was too late. Will ran into them, trying to duck and dodge his way past the first couple orcs without engaging them, but there were too many. Ben watched in horror, unable to do anything to help his friend, as an Orc’s sword swept across Will’s shins, tripping him in the process. The Orcs, joined by those pursuing Will, surrounded him and start hacking at the ground.

A second later, the orcs separated leaving Will’s corpse laying on the ground with a countdown timer ticking down above it. Ben finished the casting for fireball and sent it flying at the orcs in frustration.

Orcs swarmed the riverbank, charging the bridge and wading through the shallower parts of the river. Ben left Fido at the bridge as he ran through the abandoned farmhouses, several of them billowing smoke and fire. He was forced down a side alley to dodge a large group of Orcs along the road. He passed them without being noticed and made it to the other side where he paused to catch his breath.

He crouched as he made his way through the pastures, now empty of animals, moving as fast as he dared with the orc’s roaming the countryside. He reached the base of the bridge and ran up it.

Torial was already in lockdown, with the drawbridge raised and doors closed. Ben screamed at the top of his lungs for Will as he scanned the parapets. He spotted Will a few seconds later, waving at him. Will was yelling, “Get out of here. Run!”

“What about you?” Ben yelled back.

“I’ll be fine.” Will called, “I’ll figure something out until you can come back.”

Ben clenched his fists and cursed before yelling, “They’re going to overrun this place and you’ll be trapped here.”

“I know that. But you’re going to die if you don’t get out of here.” Will called.

“I’m not leaving without you.” Ben called back. He glanced back at the approaching Orc patrol and saw that they were only a couple hundred paces from the bridge. In a few seconds, he’d be trapped on the bridge and killed. He looked back up and called, “Can you find a way out of the city?”

Will took a deep breath as he shook his head. He realized Ben couldn’t see it from that distance, so he called out, “No time. Go, Ben, I’ll be okay. Just promise me that you’ll figure out a way to free anyone trapped here.”

Ben glanced back one last time, his shoulders slumping. “I promise.” A thought crossed his mind and he grinned as he called, “I’ll catch you on the flip side,” before running down the bridge. He cast fireball at the approaching orcs to but himself time to run away. It exploded on the front ranks, killing one of them and disorienting the rest.

Ben ran across the fields and to the edge of the forest where he found Shiro waiting with a group of players spread out to watch.

“Where are the others?” Shiro asked.

“They didn’t make it.” Ben answered as he caught his breath. “They’re trapped in the city.”

“I am most sorry for that.” Shiro said.

Ben shrugged, “Nothing we can do now except prepare to fight back.” He hated saying the words out loud, feeling like he was abandoning his best friend to hell, but there wasn’t anything he could do aside from plan ahead. He stared at Torial, watching as the orcs began surrounding the wall. “We’ll save them. Maybe not today, but someday.” Ben didn’t want to ruin the reference, but couldn’t help himself from saying, “And soon.”

Shiro said, “We must save ourselves first or we will not be able to save them later. Come, we must reach the new city and prepare it.” Shiro glanced at Torial. “We have one month before Torial falls. After that, they will come for us.”

Ben took one last look at the city before leaving, silently swearing that he would come back one day, no matter what, and save Will. Until then, he would kill as many orcs as possible, make them suffer for what was happening. Stay safe, Will, Ben pleaded silently, don’t you dare let them break you. He wanted to believe the game wouldn’t be that cruel, couldn’t be anywhere near that, but with the hacker in charge, whoever it was, he seriously doubted it.

He followed Shiro into the forest and towards the direction of the new city. Dean still hadn’t PM’d them the new coordinates, and he hoped that didn’t mean what he thought it did. Otherwise, they were royally screwed without some kind of miracle.