Chapter One – Impossible Circumstance

Sunlight burnt the curtains a fan roaring in the wall above sending vibrations down into the floor, barely known or noticed, his eyes fixed somewhere else. The room was small, confined and every inch of space had been put to work. His bed, his wardrobe, his desk, his laptop his mini-fridge his shelves; loaded with his books and his games and his figurines in a haphazard mess.

He lay still and silent his eyes flickering before the screen of his mobile, the device bursting with flashing light, the sounds of battle and Japanese voice actors drumming through his skull. His hands blazed across the controls, almost seeming to dance across the screen, as his fight unfolded. He took the role of strategist, controlling a force of up to six characters each with different skills and abilities and an almost infinite number of unique and often useful combinations. Of course that pitch would have described a couple hundred games, but there was a reason he loved this one, there was a reason he had been playing it for four straight years; it was good. There was little else to say about it other than that, it wasn’t outstanding in any field, but game mechanics, graphics, story lines all of it was good and it blended together extremely well, and he wasn’t the only one that thought that, since the apps release it had managed to maintain a high ranking in the digital game stores, never number one, but never forgotten. And all that time he had been playing. Four years; six times he’d started the game, and six times he’d begun it all over again, starting from scratch, running through the story and raising his level higher and faster and stronger, he was a veteran of the game, at this point it felt as natural as breathing this was his seventh play through.

Of course this wasn’t one of his normal, starting the game over just because he’d run out of things to do, no this time there was a more important reason; Update six-point-one The Worlds Dawn ‘the largest update since the game came out of beta’. The number of available characters had more than doubled, the same went for the number of weapons, maps and side-stories, it was like the virtual world itself had exploded. Of course that was nearly nine-weeks ago.

For nine weeks he’d been locked in the game (having just finished secondary school with an excess of time on his hands before college) and in that time he’d only managed to reach level twenty. Of course levelling hadn’t been his focus, not in the slightest, his eyes were set on something far more important: he’d been collecting fragments.

He let out a yawn slowly rising upwards from atop the covers of his body, moving slowly his eyes still fixed on his mobile, drifting towards his desk, just a few steps to the right from the comfort of his bed dropping into the adjustable seat, moving quickly to turn the mobile off. [Relic Fragments] were the games premium currency, they could be exchanged for rare characters and weapons and tools and the easiest way to obtain them; real world purchases. It was still possible to obtain them in game, through events and quests but it was hard: almost impossible to earn enough purchase some of the truly high level items. Of course that was later in the game, when you first began the game you were guaranteed a steady supply of fragments. He smiled reaching down with all due haste to swing open the door to the little blue mini-fridge stowed away beneath his desk and grabbing a bottle of chilled water. Seven-seconds later and the bottle was empty clattering down into the rubbish bin as he threw himself back onto the bed, the sound of battle once more filling his ears.

The reason he had restarted his game for the seventh time was simply to experience it all over again, everything the virtual world had to offer. And of course a large portion of the game was dedicated directly to growing stronger, it was easier to enjoy the story if he could breeze through the various challenges and in order to do that his current team wasn’t going to be of very much help. A rank-C soldier, a rank-C scout, a rank-A samurai and a rank-s necromancer; with the exception of the necromancer not a single one of them was over level thirty and while yes, they made an effective team at the start of the game, they were just too weak to handle anything past the midway point.

That was why he needed the Worlds Dawn beginner’s bundle. The bundle would award you with a swathe of coins, items and a minimum of three characters ranking A and above, with a guarantee of at least one rank-SS character as well as a random new reliquary set. And the best part; only the new items that had just been introduced to the game were available.

The game judged a character’s strength based on both their rank and their levels; rank indicating raw power and levels accumulated experience, the highest rank being X and the highest level being three-hundred. That said the highest rank you could get from playing the gacha, a sort of lottery where items, tools and characters were up for grabs in exchange for premium currency, was rank-S anything above that you had to work for. To simply things the beginner’s bundle was basically cheating your way through the first half of the game; of course if you did just glide through the start of the game, you would find it nearly impossible during the second half: he’d learnt that the hard way. He let out a sigh shaking off the memory and refocusing himself on the game in his hands; all he needed now were five-more fragments, just five. This was the last floor of the dungeon before the mid-floor boss; it was entirely possible he could receive the required materials. Of course if he didn’t that meant he’d have to face the dungeon’s mid-floor boss, one his characters were far from equipped to handle.

They would win of course, he felt fairly sure of that, although if he just charged in there they’d take quite a lot of damage...

Well that would only matter if he didn’t earn enough fragments in the next chest. He slammed his thumb down initiating the final phase of the battle, the screen glowing as he saw his characters move as instructed, surrounding the last remaining and delivering the final blow, the creature dissolving into a pile of dust and leaving behind an ivory chest, embellished with gold. The battle review window popped up a moment later, his attention fixed solely on the loot icon glowing just beneath the list of moves he’d made. He tapped the icon a list of items appearing one by one on the screen an icon flashing into existence next to each one and... Yes! Six, fragments; he had fragments in excess; all he needed now was to purchase the bundle. A weary smile touched his lips as he closed the window down, exiting the battle menu and moving with practiced ease towards the shop, making his purchase in the blink of an eye, a ticket for the beginner’s bundle gacha appearing in his inventory.

He let out a weary sigh, dropping his mobile down, the device resting on his face, filling his view with pixelated light. It seems like he’d done it, all his hard work was about to pay off, ha; it was worth it. And then, in the blinking of an eye, the screen went black and the world went cold. And then everything went white, and the world he knew was gone, and Ward stood somewhere else; somewhere impossible: the world of his game...

He was standing in Haven’s Light.

“Do you understand what you have done?” The question plunged the glade into silence spoken in a voice rough and heavy and guttural booming out, spending spittle flying through the air, the monster stepping forwards, teeth biting closed as Ward slowly pushed himself backwards slowly regaining his feet at the creatures approach. It stood nearly seven feet tall, a broad body rippling with muscles, hidden beneath a fine coat of hair, split and broken by white scars coursing across the skin. A rancid breath following each word, yellowed teeth snapping closed within a long muzzle, the head of a wolf black lips sneering, eyes burning with frantic yellow light and above its’ head, floating as if in contradiction of reality, a single tab hung: [Urlius Kobold General Lv35]

“You break into our homes, you steal and you take and you kill. What did we do to you? We protect ourselves, defend ourselves; what makes you think we deserve this!” The monster barked, Ward retreating as fast as his legs could carry him until he stood beside Eila, the young woman standing still arms crossed; scowling.

“You said the way was clear.” Eila muttered glancing in Dossan’s direction, the old man pulling his sword free of its’ sheath.

“Yes I did and the glade ‘was’ clear last time I checked. The Kobolds probably had a secondary passage, they cut around us and set a trap; how’s Master Ward?” The old man sighed, expression remaining unchanged by the rapid shift in events. Eila glaring in Ward’s direction before shaking her head.

“He’s still out of it, he always was the susceptible type; his brain’s just as doughy as his body.” Eila humphed; glancing in his direction Ward gritting his teeth and glaring in the woman’s direction.

“Shut the hell up, I’m not that fat!” Ward hissed his gaze fixed on the army waiting ahead.

They stood along the tree line right at the edge of the glade, an array of rusted swords and spears and axes, daggers and knives, drawn ready for battle, each dressed in cheap leather armour, and bone trinkets, standing not much above four-foot high, but they were fast and they were deadly, and they outnumbered Ward’s little band, five to one; not including Urlius leading the charge, a claymore gripped tightly in a bestial fist.

Ward glanced back down the way they had come, Aran slowly making his way up the tunnel, another wave of kobolds following after him, their weapons and armour catching the light of the glowing skull and sending stray beams of light up from the darkness. This didn’t make sense, it just didn’t he’d been playing videogames, less than an hour ago he’d been lying on his bed playing videogames and then what; he woke up standing in the middle of a cave, running for his life from an army of kobolds. It just didn’t make sense, it was impossible; he was surrounded by fictional characters from a videogame, he wasn’t mad, and it wasn’t a dream; he was fairly sure on those points, so what: what was this supposed to be.

“Where on earth am I?” he muttered, a wave of nausea assailing his stomach an unexpected reply drifting out from the entrance of the tunnel.

“You’re being silly earth isn’t a place it’s an element of magic” Dala laughed leaping from the shadows using Aran as a launch board, as the armoured soldier stepped forwards into the light., the kobolds quickly following behind cutting off their only means of escape but remaining in their place at the entrance of the tunnel.

“Are you really that heartless? You come here to kill and steal and you don’t care at all, you’ll pay for that...” Urlius growled, raising up his sword, a violent roar shaking the air, causing the trees to quiver, a stiff wind blowing through as his army of kobolds took up the cry, lowering spears and hefting up blade. Eila stepping forwards expression black, the young woman taking in a deep breath, before shout out over the war cry.

“Aran take the rearguard and bottleneck the kobolds; keep them from surrounding us, Dala start resurrecting some reinforcements to keep that mob busy. Dossan You’ll act as vanguard and keep their leader busy. I’ll keep ward safe and help out where I can; understood?” There was a uniform nod of agreement from the surrounding party before everything went to hell.

Ward stood stock still, frozen in place, a pale green glow tingeing on yellow, pulsating through the earth, spreading from Dala; the young girl having closed her eyes, her hand pressed to the soil, as slowly the earth began to rise and heave and skeletal bodies dragged themselves upwards, standing in the way of the Kobold forces. He took a deep breath turning round, his gaze drifting about the crowd, as the two sides clashed in battle; Dossan swinging his slender blade through the air; some kind of Japanese sword trailing lines of blood-red light as it flew, striking sparks of the Urlius’ claymore the huge blade falling slowly gouging through the earth and splitting the air; unstoppable. All while Aran stood before the mouth of a cave, spears and swords and axes clattering off his armour eliciting flashes of blue light, the steel giant impeding their advance. All while Eila sat tight in the centre of the formation an arrow knocked to her bow, eyes darting about the field. Kobolds crumbled falling down into dust, just like in the game except this time they were gone for good, Ward swallowed hard, as he reached up grasping at his head; too much it was all too much the kobolds were closing in. It was slow, gradual they were forcing Dossan back the wall of skeletons slowly beginning crack falling apart letting the kobolds in tightening the noose already looped about their collective neck.

“Ward get down” Eila yelled, loosing an arrow in the direction of one of the incoming beasts, drawing a second in a fluid motion returning to her position eyes gazing over the field. This wasn’t going to work, they were going to die. Dossan didn’t stand a chance against Urlius, not alone; the old man rank-A, but his experience rested squarely on level twenty-three, against a boss-monster outweighing him in levels without support, or backup or chance of escape it was only a matter of time before he lost. Aran would probably last a little longer, he was a human tank, but taking so many hits was going to wear them out; not to mention the fact that their skeletal reinforcements were collapsing and they had what maybe a minute left maybe two; he was going to be sick. Ward shook his head, turning his gaze back upwards keeping tabs on the fight, his eyes fixing on a wooden shaft streaking towards his face. A firm hand grasped his shoulder pushing him forwards, Ward tumbling down to the earth, his gaze fixed on the kobold that had just tossed its’ spear in his direction and was currently fumbling at its’ belt for a knife before an arrow dropped it to the ground. “I told you to get down.” Eila muttered, knocking another arrow and letting loose in the same instance, “never would listen to others would you.” She smirked reaching for another arrow, Ward slowly pushing himself up from the earth, a jangle ringing in his ears. He didn’t want to die.

A jangle sounded in his ears, as a flurry of objects clattered down past his head, spilling down onto the grass. They were trinkets small things, pendants, charms, knives, swords, hammers, axes, toolkits, staffs, bottles and brass instruments all littered about him. They’d probably fallen out of his backpack; the lock had probably come loose...

He hadn’t realised he was wearing a backpack.

Ward blinked slowly before un-slinging the pack and planting it in front of him and grasping the top. He was right, the clasp had come loose; a small portion of the bags contents spilling out, a very small portion. Ward couldn’t exactly deny or refute what was going on around him, even if he did refuse to ‘believe’ what he was seeing, but whatever this situation was, it seemed like it was based on Haven’s Light, a world that acted like the videogame; which meant this backpack was his inventory. Ward scrambled grabbing the spilled items stuffing them back into the pack, the objects simply vanishing as they disappeared down the packs mouth. Ha, that was probably the reason he had been running so slow it had been the pack weighing him down, the pack that was so light he hadn’t even noticed it until a moment ago... Yeah.

“Now is not the time to be acting like a packrat!” Eila screamed firing another arrow, a kobold tumbling down mere metres from their little party. Dala let out a yelp, pulling away from one of the approaching Kobolds, the young girl slashing her hand through the air sending forth a wave of purple flame, the fire striking the kobolds chest and passing by unnoticed the creature unperturbed before an mass of skeletal hands broke from the soil grasping at the flailing creatures ankles Eila sending an arrow in the prone monsters direction.

Ward ignored it, reaching down into his pack, not fully aware of exactly what it was he was doing, what it was he was planning, but he moved all the same. He delved deep pushing through the mass of coins, and bones, and other oddities and curious enclosed within, until his finger tips rested on a thick metal loop, his grip tightening as he dragged it out, a heavy groan sounding out from the bag as the object was pulled free. A small sphere strapped to chain connected to an iron loop; the idiot’s lantern. The lantern itself was an intricate piece of metalwork a lattice of brass shaped to look like shifting cloud, a dull grey flame burning within. He swallowed the image in his head growing clearer as he delved back into his back; Eila glancing down from above watching him work. Both hands plunged deep into the mouth of the bag he searched them out his finger tips grazing upon iron loops drawing them out, a pair of matching lanterns pulled out from the depths of the bag, one burning a soft indigo and the other a violent blue; the noxious lantern and the frozen lantern. They were part of a series of consumable items purchasable exclusively in beginner shops and when thrown would impart the corresponding debuff on any character or monster in designated area. They were indispensable resources, especially in the early stages of the game, allowing players to take out opponents many times their own level for easy levelling.

Ward rose upwards climbing to his feet sealing the clasp on his bag before dragging it back onto his shoulder, gazing about the field of combat, a sudden bout of nausea shaking him down to his core, a chill creeping into his bones. What was he supposed to do now? He was supposed to throw them at the enemy and make a quick escape but that didn’t mean he could. He wasn’t exactly athletic. He stood at a little over five-foot-six-inches, he was overweight and athletically incapable, he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a bowling ball! How was he supposed to do this?

He staggered back looking at the scene about him, the Kobolds had closed the net, Dossan had been forced back barely a few metres in front of Ward his long robes shredded; Urlius bleeding but unaltered in his course. Aran stood at the entrance of the cave, his armour dinged and dented Axe hanging at his side slowly fending the kobold reinforcements back, while Dala and Eila fought with what few resources they had left; Dala sending random bolts of green fire pulled from the dragon’s skull into the faces of the foe, Eila quickly running out of arrows. They were going to die. Ward shook his head, hands shaking as he drew backwards bumping into Eila yelling out his commands,

“Retreat to the cave!”

Ward pulled back moving slowly in the direction of the cave, his gaze fixed on the Kobolds, breaking through the final skeletons, trampling down their bones and pushing in, as Ward pulled back to the cave entrance, the others following behind him. The young man paused mere inches before banging into Aran Eila and Dala falling in either side of him Dossan standing as vanguard trading blows with the Kobold general, slowly losing ground to the beast.

Ward turned down, his eyes fixed on the brass orbs clutched so tightly in his grasp, his breathing shallow as he hoisted them, his gaze going out over the field of battle. It was just a videogame that was all. If this world really were based on a videogame then it would work, all he had to do was think about where the orbs would land then throw them and they’d land there, that was how it worked in Haven’s light. Well at least that was how it had worked.

He shook his head, fixing the three spots inside his head, it didn’t need to be perfect, as long as he hit his targets then they were good. “Take a deep breath and when I give the signal charge forwards; before that Aran you need to stun as many of those Kobolds as you can.” Ward ordered, before taking a deep breath, Aran letting out a wild yell activating one of his skills, the armoured tank radiating a fierce blue light. Ward swallowed, it was now or never. He reared back launching the first of the balls to the left, lobbing it down into the centre of their party the world seeming to flicker as the orb landed in their midst clattering about the Kobold ranks as they rushed in, before Ward bowled the second lamp forwards into the legs of the left flank; the world flickering once more, and this time the image stuck. A pale white grid superimposed itself upon the field, each square a metre in size, the map spreading to the edge of the glade, Ward rearing back, his gaze fixated on a single tile resting the Kobold generals feet, the square glowing bright orange as the young man pitched forwards, the orb flying from his grasp and colliding with the generals chest dropping to the earth and as one the lanterns detonated.

Three pillars of smoke rose into the air, mixing with one another, the kobold ranks descending into a screeching, howling hell, as they scrambled to escape each beast laden with one of three debuffs, the Kobolds occupying the tunnel for the most part stunned; immobile and lying prone in the entrance. Ward dashing forward, his breath held tight as he dived through the smoke veering away leaping out of the technical fog streaking at a snail’s pace in the direction of the woods.

“You won’t get away!” A heavy voice roared out, several figures bursting from the pale-blue cloud rising into the air, Dossan and Eila streaking past word rushing into the woods, Aran following not long after hauling Dala along for the ride while Ward pushed on watching as his party disappeared into the forests without him, Urlius’ voice chasing him as he ran.

“You’ll pay for what you did! You’ll die here, you’ll die!” Ward paused glancing back in the direction of the Kobold General. Urlius was a mid-floor boss it wasn’t exactly unexpected that the debuffs weren’t having a strong effect on him; in fact they were barely slowing him down at all. The Kobold general wasn’t wrong; Ward and his party had trespassed on their land they had vandalised, murdered and pillage their way through the [Kobold Kingdom]: whether they were monsters or not they weren’t exactly unjustified. But he hadn’t done anything wrong it was just a game – or at least it used to be – he didn’t know anymore.

Ward shook his head turning back towards the forest pausing briefly; now which way had the others run in... A roar sounded from behind, Urlius hurling his Claymore through the air, the blade driving itself into the dirt less than a metre from where Ward stood, the young man letting out a panicked scream turning from the battle field.

He chose a direction and ran, deeper and deeper into the woods, into the unknown.