There really isn’t a whole lot to see in the wide open countryside. It’s just walking up and down rolling hills on the plains, following the forest edge on our right for what feels like forever. It doesn’t help when Rin and I kinda keep to ourselves and don’t talk too much. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to her—I do—it’s just that I don’t know how to approach her about anything. Every time I’ve tried she has an attitude like I’m wasting her time, despite her apology earlier. Regardless, she knows what’s she’s doing. Libertas is her territory, and with her leading the way we seem to keep a good pace.

As the day goes on the sun rotates in the sky I can feel its warmth shift from my left side to my right. The wind keeps me cool enough and blows waves in the prairie grass like it’s the real thing. Occasionally we see a deer or rabbit, which surprises me. It’s the tiny little details that make this world seem so alive, and it’s hard to believe that a group of men put this much attention into making it feel so real. At times, it’s hard to remember that it’s just a game, and I wonder just how big the world of Libertas really is.

As the sun begins to dip below the treetops and fill the sky with a red glow, a small village with wooden palisades comes into sight on top of a hill near the forest’s edge. It isn’t until now that I realize that the sun seems to have progressed a bit faster than Earth’s. We’ve been walking for about two hours, which, according to Rin, isn’t that long of a travel time between places in Libertas.

We pause at the top of the ridge and look down on the village for a moment, but I get distracted. I have to admit that, in the orange sunset light, Rin is absolutely stunning. Her obsidian-black hair in the wind, dainty nose, and those arched eyebrows that overlook her sweeping lashes and vibrant purple eyes. She’s shapely. Mysterious. Passionate and focused on everything around her, and I’m pretty sure she’s about my age. It’s just too bad I’m not sure I have the stamina to withstand her short attitude. She’s like a fire: pretty to look at, painful to make contact with. I can only hope that changes with time.

I think she catches me staring at her and I look away quickly.

“That’s Cutter’s Cry,” Rin says. “And I think there’s still one more thing for you to learn before we go in there: Libertas is designed to be a big time-consuming distraction from our real-world situation, and it’s also primarily a PVP game.”

“PVP means player versus player right?” I ask.

Rin nods and looks back to the village ahead. I wipe the sweat off my forehead. The fact that she didn’t say anything or notice where my eyes were looking is pretty relieving. I feel bad and vow to keep a better tab on my mind. She says, “Yeah, there’s combat against monsters of all different kinds and non-player characters, a main storyline involving the nations at war with one another and the untamed beast lands, but the PVP aspect is where Libertas really shines. Most people, even the developers, focus on the guilds and the wars between them. Plus, when you're making connections with other people, creating guild creeds, and fighting for what you’ve built together it’s a unique and heartfelt experience for every person. Players, guild alliances, towns, they are always changing. It’s the game’s main attraction because it’s always new and fresh and everyone is committed to it.”

“So, what does that mean for us?”

Rin shifts her weight and crosses her arms. “It means it would be wise if you are un-trusting of most everyone you meet. You’ll find that most people are neutral to you and some are kind-spirited, but a few are out to take advantage of your hard work or just make you miserable for their own laughs.”

“Should I include you in that last category?” I blurt.

Rin smiles wide. “Hey now!”

I take a brief moment to thank the digital gods she took my sudden outburst in good humor.

She says, “I got you this far and you’re lucky killing you wouldn’t give me much experience.”

I chuckle and shrug with nothing to say. Rin pats me on the back and we continue towards Cutter’s Cry. When we get close enough, I realize that the entire village is surrounded by the trunks of felled trees. Maybe that’s why it’s called Cutter’s Cry. I think about asking Rin the story behind this place as we near the large gate, but Rin holds out an arm and stops me where I stand.

“Halt.” A man’s voice says. It takes me a moment to realize that two heads have emerged atop the wooden wall. The shorter of the two guards has a reddish beard who asks, “What’s your business?”

Rin seems to straighten, tense. With a tone of sass she says, “we’re just looking for a place to stay the night.”

I focus on the bearded man for a moment until his stats show on my HUD.

Lenard II of the River Raiders

LV. 4 Druid

HP: 93

STRENGTH: 22

FORTITUDE: 18

DEXTERITY: 17

WISDOM: 15

INTELLIGENCE:21 +1

SWAY: 12

“Wait right there,” Lenard says, and not too kindly either. “We’ll come down and see about letting you in,” The guards’ heads disappear below the palisade and we’re alone for a moment.

I lean closer to Rin and whisper, “So, why does everyone only have one name?”

Rin’s fists are clenched. She seems a little tense and irritated for some reason, and I only hope it’s not because I’m asking questions. “It’s a privacy thing since you can’t take on a nickname in Libertas. The developers wanted players to feel that their game lives were an extension of themselves, and not a new person entirely. It helps keep people in line when players can’t hide behind usernames like xXxGamerboixXx.”

“That makes sense,” I say. “It’s a kind of subconscious way to keep the trolls at bay. Also, why does his intelligence have a +1 next to it?”

Rin’s annoyance seems to grow as her purple eyes turn to me. “There are still plenty of trolls in Libertas. Don’t forget that. Some people get more pleasure out of harassing and killing other players than the advancement of the game itself. And the +1 intelligence boost is from the gear he’s wearing. No more questions. And be ready for anything.” She turns away to face ahead of us, and I wonder if there’s trouble coming our way.

The gate doors croak as they swing open. The bearded man, Lenard, waddles out dressed in a brown friar robe with a staff in his hand. He’s even shorter than I thought he would be, which is strange to me. In a world where you can choose what you look like, I wonder why he chose to look like a squat, hairy, dwarf. That makes me wonder if there are actual Dwarves in this game.

“Oh,” Lenard says as he looks them up and down. He puts his hands at his rope-belt, just below his paunch. “I was wondering if we were going to see you again, Rin.” He smiles a dirty little smile.

The other guard is half a foot taller than I am. Thicker built, too. His hair is shoulder length and black, but his mustache is thin and patchy like he’s still going through puberty. His robes are a dull blue, and a spellbook is tucked under his arm. I take a look at his stats.

Finn II of the River Raiders

LV. 4 Wizard

HP: 45

STRENGTH: 10

FORTITUDE: 16

DEXTERITY: 12

WISDOM: 13

INTELLIGENCE: 24

SWAY: 20

I realize that both of these guys are at level four—twice my own level—and they still have less health than me. A lot less. That’s good news, and it’s also worth noting that they are both magic users with little to no armor. I think I can safely assume that my sword will have no problem turning at least one of them into hamburger if I have to.

“You come to say sorry?” Finn asks, demeaningly.

Rin laughs. “Nope. I didn’t do anything wrong, didn’t start this little issue, so why would I apologize?”

Lenard points a finger at her. “That gear was for all of us. We all fought for it.”

“And I told you guys before we ran that dungeon that I needed any magic armor that came out of it to compensate me for building us that sauna. That gear wasn’t even good enough to justify fighting over. If you boys would have just listened to me for once, no one would have needed to die.”

“Ah, bugger off, Rin. Even if you did say it, it didn’t stick in none of the other guys’ heads either. And don’t be mad at me, I was just ‘following the leader’. Ya know? I’m sure you can rejoin the guild any time now. After the fight, those other guys left the guild too.”

Rin crosses her arms. “I’m not going to rejoin. I thought I—we—told you guys that we don’t want to be a part of the River Raiders anymore after all that. Too much bad blood now.”

Finn looks her up and down, smiles cheekily with that terrible mustache, and says, “I’ll wager all of you are back in the guild within a month. Can’t avoid us, we’re the biggest guild around. Felix, Rubble, and your fine ass will come crawling—.”

Rin curses, raises a fist to slug the jerk, but I step forward and get between them, figuring that fighting these guys will not end well. Besides, I’m the tank, and I want to land the first blow. The two sorcerers take a half step back, their gazes settling on me now.

“Who is this fresh meat, anyways?” Lenard asks.

Rin exhales sharply, eyes me with a look of disapproval, then says, “He’s a greeny named Aiden.”

Suddenly Lenard’s eyes grow wide. “And look at that! He’s a warrior with stats built for tanking!”

Finn claps his hands excitedly. “We have use for a tank, too. You going to share him?”

Rin glances at me, then shrugs. “I don’t care what he does. I got him this far, it’s up to him to decide what he does now.”

“So, what you say greeny?” Lenard asks as he pats me on the shoulder. His bearded smile goes from ear to ear. “You want to be a cog in the great big machine that is the River Raiders? Last I checked, we were the biggest guild in the nation of Anticor! There are some tithes you have to pay to the company coffers, but joining will allow Finn and myself here to see about helping you level up, teach you how to build, anything you like. There are others in the guild who’d be willing to partner up with you, too. We can use all the tanks we can get.”

I take a long look at Rin as I think about it, then back to Lenard and Finn. All of them are waiting to hear what I have to say. The pressure gets to my head. I swallow hard, then blurt, “I don’t tank for cretins who harass women.”

Lenard’s face turns as red as his beard. “Well, that’s a bit over the top, don’t you think? I ought to teach you a thing about disrespecting members of the River Raiders.” He takes a step closer, fist closed.

“Yeah,” Finn says. “We were just playin’ around. Maybe you’re the cretin, treating us like we’re lowlifes.”

Rin laughs louder than Lenard and Finn’s angry outbursts. She holds up a hand, stopping him from slogging me in the face and says, “Look at that! My fresh meat’s got a bone in his body after all. Lenard, if you want me to join you, maybe you should try it in a more polite manner. And Finn, keep your eyes off my ass.” Rin glances back at me, smiling, then winks.

They blather on, and I’m too infatuated with deciphering the meaning behind Rin’s wink to catch what they say. A big, loud voice in my head tells me she’s impressed and deeply loves that I stood up for her, but a smaller voice tells me she’s just entertained. I listen to that voice, of course. No one likes being disappointed.

Rin turns back to the others, and says, “But come on guys, let us into to town, spend our coin, and we’ll be out of your hair in the morning.”

The two guards grumble a bit, but step aside and glare at me as we walk underneath the gateway. A sigh of relief escapes me, and I take in the sights of Cutter’s Cry. Almost everything in this village is constructed from rough-cut timber. The wooden palisade walls and platforms, the cottages, the inn, stables, everything. The roofs are all yellow thatch. In fact, it almost looks like this is a brand-new settlement. The ground is still mostly grass.

We find the tavern in the center of the hamlet. Inside, the lanterns and a fireplace cast flickering shadows over the dark wood interior. There are men in the corners drinking and a brutish figure looms over the bar-top with a cup in hand. We find ourselves a seat, and a woman comes and takes our order. When I try to focus on the waitress, nothing but her name, Katie, appears. I ask Rin about it and she tells me that a majority of the people here are NPC’s. You can tell mainly by their lack of statistics, or, after you spent some time in Libertas, you begin to recognize what NPC’S generally look like. Not long after, there are two ales sitting in front of us and one gold piece is deducted from my inventory. I sniff the ale before I taste it, and boy is it strong.

Rin sees me gag a little bit and laughs. “Never had a wheat ale before?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I’ve tasted some of my dad’s before, but it’s just so real! I wasn’t expecting that, I guess.”

She puts her mug down and considers me for a moment. “You really are brand-new aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m sorry if I’m really annoying, but this whole experience is new. I can’t believe how real everything seems. It’s just stunning to me how we spent an entire day walking across a digital nation, and I can’t believe I waited so long to come to Libertas.”

She smiles sweetly. “Yeah, those are some pretty noobish thoughts, Aiden, but I guess everyone has them at first. Tell you what, would you like to do something with me?”

Suddenly, my mind begins to spin and my palms sweat, even though I know it’s an irrational thought. ”Depends on what it is,” I say.

“What you heard before from Leonard and Finn is true. Myself and two other players used to be a part of the River Raiders. They own this village and a handful of others in Anticor, so they’re pretty big, and I had the unfortunate luck of making a few of the members my enemies… We were doing a mid 30’s dungeon and at the end we got into an fight about the spoils, but it was my idea to do this specific dungeon, and I told everyone ahead of time that the gear was for me. But, in the end, that didn’t stop the situation from escalating and everyone in the party from killing each other over it. We pretty much wiped each other out.”

“When was this?”

Rin shrugs. “Probably about a month ago. But that doesn’t matter now. It is what it is, and everyone will get over it eventually. But me and the others have decided to go our own separate way after the incident. We still have friends in the River Raiders, but now we also have enemies. So myself, our bishop Felix, and our ranger Rubble are looking to start our own guild. Problem is, we need at least four people to create one.”

I scratch the back of my head and stutter has I try to speak. “Well, I’m really stunned that you would invite me. I don’t feel like I’m at your level of skill, let alone deserve your trust, but it’s not like I have anywhere else to go, so I’ll probably take you up on that.”

Rin nods and smiles. “Good. We’ll see what it takes to get you up to speed, but one thing I would ask is that you stay a warrior. We could really use a tank.”

I shrug. “I mean, sure. I don’t have a problem with that. But could you answer one more question for me?”

“Sure.”

“How come everyone seems to need a tank? Lenard and Finn seemed pretty ecstatic I could fill the role.”

Rin drains the rest of her ale and sets the cup on the table. “Tanks are hard to come by. Most players go for magic classes. I mean, think about it. Wouldn’t you rather cast spells from the palm of your hand rather than swing around a heavy hunk of metal? You’ve probably already noticed it’s uncomfortable and borderline painful to get hit in Libertas. That by itself is a deterrent.”

I take another sip and think about it, remembering the heat and aching feeling I got the countless times I took damage. It is not a fun experience, but boy does it make the combat feel real. It gives you such a rush to be up close in a fight, moving, slashing, and dodging. That alone makes it worth withstanding the uncomfortableness of getting hit in my opinion.

Rin interjects my thoughts. “Well, if you’re serious, meet me outside the inn at first light and we will set out for Birch Castle to meet the others.” She stands up and pushes her chair under the table. “Get some rest. One of the others just got to town, so I gotta go find him. Gotta make a plan about the trip.”

I nod and smile, wondering how she knows someone just got to town. She must have received a private message. With a wave, I tell her, “Okay. See you then.”

She smiles politely and takes her leave, but I stay for a moment to finish my ale. It’s a little gross, but I am beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol. I wonder if there is a limit to how intoxicated someone can get in Libertas, and if there are negative effects. I bet there is, but don’t feel like testing it tonight.

I get up and leave the tavern. A few people seem to watch me as I go, but I consider myself lucky that I don’t run into Lenard and Finn on my way to the inn. I take a look inside the small lobby before entering, just in case. The man at the counter, another NPC, takes three gold from me for the cheapest room available. I started with 14 gold and now I’m down to 10.

I walk through the lobby and to a set of stairs that takes me up to the second level. The boards underneath my feet squeak and groan with every step, making me think that the building is a lot older than what I might have originally believed it was. Or, maybe it just wasn’t built well. The thought makes me wonder how these buildings were constructed in the first place. Do the NPC’s or the players have to physically put up each log? Or, is there just a timer that just gradually grows the building?

I shake the thought from my head. It’s too much for me to think about right now, and I guess it really doesn’t matter in the long run. Part of me is excited to meet with Rin in the morning, and another part wonders if I really should be considering how much of a jerk she was to me at first, but things seem to be turning around and she does seem to be honest with me. That’s more than I can say for Lenard and Finn. I can’t imagine what would happen if I joined up with them.

As I make my way down the hall, passing door after door as I try to find my room, I overhear someone shouting. The yells grow louder as I walk until I find the door it’s coming from. Out of curiosity, I press my ear against the door.

“No,” I hear. It’s muffled, but I can tell it’s a man’s voice. “I told you before: if we hold these keys to the shield, the captain will have to relinquish his powers. We will make him understand and he will have no choice but to do what we tell him.”

Suddenly, I’m very confused. No shield has keys to it, and what kind of captain would relinquish his power because of that? It just doesn’t make any sense, at first, but then all of a sudden fear takes ahold of my chest. The name of my ship in the real world is the Shield, and they are talking about controlling the captain.

It’s hard to hear over the pounding of my heart, but I push myself against the door again and hold my breath as I try to listen through it. “We’ll force him to turn the Shield around and take us to the other ships. We’ll re-unite and go to Earth from there. I just need two weeks to finish the fabrication.”

My head is spinning as I realize they are talking about forming a mutiny on my ship, and flying it to the others ships out in deep space. But there are reasons why the seven exodus ships flew out from Earth in separate directions. It’s to keep everyone separate and alive. If one ship is attacked by the Culicidae the others will still survive because they’ll be far away. The hope is they won’t catch all of us. And secondly, we’re looking for a new home for humans. We can’t just give up our search in the hopes of some hair-brained counterattack. We’ll all die!

I take a deep breath and reach for the doorknob, knowing that I have to find out who talking and warn the captain. If I can just look at the person from afar and focus I can get their first name. As I turn the knob and push the door open to peek inside, and just as I begin to see the outline of a silhouette, a blaring sound comes from behind me like an alarm and I feel warmth wash over my entire body. That heat turns to numbness. Everything begins to blur, I can’t focus, and the world goes black.