Jaxon was the first to start moving, but by the time he reached the staircase the sounds had stopped. He stood there hesitating a little bit, but before he could move we heard somebody running toward the exit. We see Rachel emerging from the entrance back outside, extremely pale the hairs on her cat tail puffed out. She stared at us with eyes of someone who had seen too much, before she went to the side and started heaving. Her body was trembling as well as trying to expel everything that was eaten recently. Tears were running down her face, none of us had the courage to go near here except Jaxon. He slowly walked up and put a comforting arm around her shoulders, which she accepted. We hear the staggered walk of 2 more people coming up the stairs, all of us dreading what we're going to see.

We see Kira in her Half-Orc body, staggering up the stairs with a hollow look to her eyes and sunken cheeks. She had a person leaning on her, a petite female human redhead that I recognized to be Anne. She also had a hollow look to her eyes, a quivering lip, and legs that shake like a baby lamb. I could tell just by their expressions that something horrible happened, but none of us had the courage to talk right now. The atmosphere projected by the three women was too heavy to approach with conversation. Kira and Anne sat down next to the false sarcophagus, leaning their back against. I walked up to them and sat myself between them, which they both decided to lean against my shoulders. Anne’s eyes got a bit misty, so I pulled in her with my arm and had her cry against my robe. Kira found the canteen of Orc Grog that was a decoration for her character, she opened and began to gulp it down viciously. Like trying to erase everything with harsh alcohol. The rest of the group also sat down near the 2 while Jaxon handled Rachel.

“That was fucking...bad.” Kira said, breaking our silence we had. A distant empty look in her eyes seeking to be somewhere else, as long as she was not here. Anne is still quietly sobbing into my robe, not yet ready to speak. Rachel was down vomiting but she was still dry heaving. Jaxon slowly rubbed her pack, trying to get her to calm down.

“What happened? Are you ok?” I asked gently, hoping that one of the three would answer back.

“The potion, it seems it is not as nice as you thought. It will...i-it w-will change your body but does it in the worst way possible.” Kira responded, dry-heaving a bit at the memory.

“Oh, you will probably need to clean the treasury up a bit, there is a bit of a mess in there now” Kira added hauntily, trying to detach herself from the memory.

All of us stayed in these positions for a while, the three just trying to recover from the experience. Rachel finally calmed down to sit in a circle with the rest of the group facing us, Jaxon sat right next to be a comfort. Anne finally stopped crying, looking up from my robe to stare at the blue sky for a while. I didn’t want to bother her, it seems she needed this to recollect herself from whatever abyss she experienced. Kira was still drinking that awful smelling grog, but she had a bit more life to her now. Blake silently handed his potion back to me, the sight of three made him realize he can wait a while longer to fix his body. Who can blame him, everybody else lost the nerve to try after hearing what happened to Anne.

“That was the worst thing...ever, I honestly regret using it now.” Anne responded while looking at the sky.

“Do you think you will be ok? Are you injured anywhere?” I asked tenderly.

“Maybe, don’t know...I am not physically injured but all of my excess mass from my previous body was shed during the process. It is on the floor of the treasury right now…” Anne said, sharing a rather grotesque piece of information. Rhyse started gagging a bit at the thought of it.

“I don’t think I am going to forget that ever, I think tonight is going to be sleepless for me” Rachel said, her cat expressively twitching at the horror-filled thoughts.

“Listen guys, I know what you went through was horrible, but we need to start thinking about survival soon. We need to think about food, shelter and water. I know this looks like our guild hall, but we still don’t know for sure. The outside terrain looks nothing like the one in E.S.S.” Michael said, trying to bring us back to reality.

“That is a fair point Mike, we also don’t know if anybody else from the guild joined us. The hall is huge, but if they explored they should have found us already.” Blake said, trying to make sure no one jumps on Michael for being insensitive.

“Maybe they haven’t awakened yet...or maybe they don’t know how to get up to the disk. There was just a loading screen to get here in the game, I have no idea if there is a way to get up or down.” I added, everyone reacted to the word awaken for some reason and then brushed it off just as quickly.

“Lets go looking together then, I am sure you three girls would like to get away from the treasury for a bit.” Michael suggested gently.

“Fuck yeah I am” Rachel spat out gruffly, getting up to leave already. The other 2 girls got up to leave as well, they all wanted to be as far away as possible from here understandably.

“Hey guys, give me a quick sec. I am to try out something and maybe clean up the treasury. Can’t really leave a mess in there since we will probably need it.” Rhyse said, walking down toward the afflicted site.

“Ok, just be sure not to get yourself hurt. None of us are doctors here.” I said to him.

He nodded in acknowledgement and went in for a while. We heard the sounds of some sort of chanting, a loud roar of energy, and then more chanting. He finally came back with a horrified expression on his face, but steel determination in his eyes.

“That was horrifying to see, but I have cleaned it up now. It seems we can use magic in this world.” Rhyse said without an expression.

“Yo! You can use your Word Magic just fine? I guess for you it is the simplest magic to use.” Blake said Astonishingly.

“Yeah since I learned the magic language anyway, it was actually pretty easy. Tiring. But easy.” Rhyse responded.

Rhyse is an elven [Sage], It has the unique magic Word Magic that no other job has. In the normal game you had to type out the words in the Magic Language in order for spells. Like if you wanted to attack with an Earth Spear, you would have to specify earth, spear, speed, target, attack and type it out in the magic language. It is very difficult to use, and only a few use this class. Incidentally the first Guildmaster was a masterful [Sage] player as well, making our guild have the legacy of good [Sage] players. It is very powerful, but few can master as well as Rhyse and Curtis can.

“So do you say it outloud instead of typing it now?” I asked Rhyse, looking for confirmation.

“Yes, it is hard to pronounce the Magic Language words, but it is doable. The mana control is hard though, I accidentally used a lot to clean the treasury.” Rhyse confirmed.

“Well that is pretty useful information, thanks for the hard work!” I thanked and smiled at Rhyse, which he nodded back in confirmation.

“Alright, let's get a move on shall we?” Michael said, ready to get moving on out of here.

We closed the sarcophagus, leaving our treasury secured. We then headout back towards the center of the disk to see if anybody else was in the temple. Seeing that none was there, we moved on towards the edge of the disk, where the arches meet to support our great platform. We were hoping to see some sort of door or passage-way down through the supports to the ground, since we can really jump off the side of the disk to escape without dying. We finally found something, a staircase sunken neatly into the ground, something that didn’t exist before. At the base of the stair was a heavy door, probably made out of Adamantite or Mythril judging the wondrous metal that the door is constructed of. We move closer, and see a special locking mechanism on it. A series of runes in a circle are at the center of a brilliantly ornate door. We looked at the runes for a while, before suddenly the runes began glowing in a random pattern. The runes all glowed in the end, the mechanism inside the door starting shifting and then the mighty door was open.

The door opened, and revealed another group of people on the other side. They were shocked to see us there, just as we were shocked to see them. They were immediately on guard, bringing up their weapons and shields for protection. The spell caster for them began to start chanting followed by magical energy forming at the ready.

“Who are you people? Were you transported here?” Mysterious tiefling male said to me, full of suspicion.

“We were awakened here like you imagine, My real name is Alex if that has any meaning to you.” I said to the suspicious tiefling.

“Holy Shit! Yo it is me Tyler, are all of the rest of you guys part of the Guild too?” said Tyler, revealing who is now.

This group of 6 people that joined us at the other side was an advanced party from below the guildhall sent to explore the temple. They included Tyler, a male Tiefling [Necromancer]. Veronica, a female satyr [Alchemist] who has more deer-like qualities than goat like. Jack, Fallen Aasimar male [Oathbreaker] who’s features, his class, and his choice of armor design exudes edginess. Armando, a changeling [Assassin] who is currently in the base changeling form. Bryce deGrey and a NPC knight of the order of the Chronicle. Bryce deGrey is an NPC made by Curtis the original founder of the guild. He is the npc in charge of managing the day to day operation of the guild. He is the right hand man of any guildmaster, he was ever loyal guardian of this guild. His personality was to be a model knight without any deviance, that was in his description anyway. But now in front of me, was a ruggedly handsome Middle-aged knight wearing a full set of plate armor with our coat of arms. A human male [Knight Grandmaster] the leader of the npcs, his 6 foot 2 inch frame towered over me.

Everyone immediately greeted each other (especially Michael and Veronica), but quickly moved back up the stairs to have a proper conversation. We found a nice marble table and bench for us to sit on and discuss with each other. We learned that the rest of the 70ish guild members spawned in the village of player homes beneath the Guildhall. They discovered a staircase to reach the top, but they got stuck on the door. They checked each of the 4 arches to see if anything had opened. They discovered that they were all locked, and tried to brute force their way through the door with the rune puzzle. The supplies in the treasury, such as Appearance Elixirs, was that important for them to get. When we arrived, they had managed to finally find the right code of runes after several tries. We all found it weird that they got it right at that moment, but we decided it wasn’t worth discussing compared to the other news they had.

The npcs that did the monotonous jobs for us in the game have boomed in population size. The village of players home beneath our precious guildhall, has become a town of npcs. They had bakers, taverns, smiths, carpenters, butchers, a mayor, a library of their own, a church, a school next to the church, farmers, miners, loggers, hunters, clothiers, all of the necessities of human life were covered now in this town. The population before now was 70 ish players, and about 120 npcs ran by guild operations. Now there are over 3000 of them living in the bustling town. Full of families of civilians, as well as a whole order of npc knights are the residents. The fields we once had to grow food, now had expanded to farther than before. Infact, we should have noticed that everything has upscaled to fit the proper amount of people here. The few things we thought we knew was now being questioned again.

Tyler and Veronica were the ones who explained this to us, though even they did not know the full extent of the changes. But they know that almost everyone who was in the current guild was transferred here, even if they were not logged on. Which makes sense since Jaxon is here, he was supposed to be at his restaurant. There were also several who wanted to have the Appearance Elixirs, but the horrific stories and haunted looks of Anne, Kira, and Rachel dissuaded them. Bryce continued to sit quietly and with proper manners, like a true gentlemanly knight. He looked confused with some of our words and names for each other, but he did not voice any needs for clarification. The Knight who was with him decided to not sit with us, but instead stand next to the table at the ready. Bryce and looked at each other quietly, both ready to begin our dialogue together.

“Grandmaster Bryce deGrey, I am honestly quite happy to have you here. You have been my right hand man for my entire time working here, and I honestly would like to hear your wisdom.” I said to him as politely as possible, hoping to show my earnest desire to work together.

“Yes Lady Nhilvin, I am also glad to have you here. There is much that has changed in the disaster, and I believe you Heavenborne and us mortals need to work together.” Bryce said, adding a phrase we had not heard before.

“Sir Bryce, could you please explain the phrase Heavenborne? There is much we do not know unfortunately, as far as we are aware we should be the same people?” I questioned him respectfully.

“Very well I shall explain, Heavenborne, according to legend, are divine beings who use an avatar in the shape of mortal races to descend upon the physical world to bring out change. Some bring war and destruction, some are heroes, some build wondrous cities that unifies all races, and some bring wondrous advances in technology and magic leading to a new golden age of mortalkind. To us, you are beings that are beyond our ability, you aren’t even capable of dying. There are quite a few mortalkind that worship you as deities.” Bryce explained, leaving even more questions than answers.

“I think I can understand the parallels from our world, but there is more that I lack in information. If I am not mistaken, your daughter is also a heavenborne?” I asked gingerly, hopefully not going to spark a reaction.

“Yes, you are correct. She is one of you, but originally she was a mortal like us. She was a sickly child, so we brought her to your temple at the center of the guild. She entered in a ceremony to become a vessel for a Heavenborne, and was successfully cured of her illness” Bryce said, without a quiver of emotion coming from him.

“D-does that not harm the host? She would have her ego replaced by the Heavenborne permanently correct?” I asked even more gingerly, this feels like a difficult subject, but I have to know.

“When a heavenborne is in control she is not my daughter, but periodically you heaven born leave your avatars to go back to your divine realm. In that period, she is my old daughter again. You need not fear, I consider you the savoirs of my only child. Not only that, but you have decided to leave her alone and no longer use her as an avatar recently. Meaning she is free to be a young girl.” Bryce looked directly at me as he said that. For good reason, one of my characters is named Elouise deGrey.

Elouise deGrey is a half-elf mage, and my first attempt at building a spellcaster. After failing for a while, I decided to shelve her for another character later. There was no special ceremony as Bryce described, I just named her after an npc for some flavor. There is no such thing as possession or Heavenborne in the game, this is something completely new. It also seems that Bryce knows that I was the one who made her, I guess chose her in his story, he seems to not hold a grudge against me for it luckily.

“I-Is she currently in town right now? Is she herself or possessed by a Heavenborne?” I asked nervously despite my attempt to remain calm.

“She is, but right now she is currently sleeping. The disaster has made her fall into a deep slumber, which is why I wanted to come up here. I wished to access your legendary library to hopefully find a cure, but that is not the most pressing issue my Lady Nhilvin.” Bryce said, still no quake of emotion in his voice.

“Is the main issue the citizens in the town? My guess is that this situation of being transferred here plus seeing us Heavenborne panic must have brought anxiety to the people.” I said thoughtfully, hoping to seem like a wise ruler in front of Bryce.

“Yes, you are correct. The whole town being transferred to a completely unknown land, missing family members who were out of town during the disaster, and seeing the descended deities such as yourself panicking has created a large amount of stress.” Bryce said, laying out the numerous problems for us.

“I would love to say that we can take leadership and handle it, but most of us Heavenborne can no longer use the abilities we once had. I also believe, since it seems we have fully transferred into these bodies, that we are no longer immortal. I believe that we are no longer stronger than you are any of the knights.” I said, not wanting to hide from him how weak we have become.

Bryce and his companion knight, who was standing ready next to the table, looked a bit taken aback by my statement. He sat there in silence trying to contemplate, perhaps thinking of the next idea. It felt like a long time, though it was only a short moment. His eyes lit up, perhaps thinking of something that we can actually do.

“Mortal or not, you have strength and potential far beyond any of normal people. If you are unable to use magic or have lost the skill to use weapons, we need you to learn it again. The people need to know that they are still protected by Heavenborne, just that knowledge will help keep the panic at bay.” Bryce said, saying something that is a rather difficult subject.

“Do you expect us to really just pick up weapons and fight to the death?! We could really die this time, how can you expect us to die like that, we have a home to get back to!! I do not want to die for a bunch of stupid npc--” Tyler ranted his frustrations, but I cut him off before he said something unnecessary.

“Enough Tyler, we should not fight. Especially with our only potential ally in a world where we understand less than nothing.” I cut him curty. I gestured for Bryce to continue much to tylers chagrin.

“We don’t have a choice, there are nowhere near enough knights to protect all of the people. Mortal people potential is nothing compared to you people, fighting can make you grow so quickly and gain powerful [Jobs]. Simply put, we need you to help us. And you need us to help you.” Bryce stated, bringing out the facts once again.

“Not that I disagree with you, but what ways are you able to help us? Perhaps explaining it can help the more reluctant people in my group realise the reality of the situation.” Michael interjected, perhaps seeking the info himself.

“We make all of the food for one thing, in fact most of the necessities of life is maintained by us mortal peoples. We are the blacksmiths, the alchemists, the miners, the farmers, and the builders that maintain life for all of you. All that we ask is that you protect us in exchange.” Bryce said, perhaps a bit prickly at potentially being called useless.

“Alright, it seems that there really is one choice. How do we calm the people in the town immediately though? Should I call for a speech for them?” I asked Bryce, hoping to have his assistance.

“A speech is most wise my Lady, I believe seeing the top members of the Order of Chronicle being confident will assure them. But you must at least have a notion of a plan, or goals for us to obtain. Perhaps you deities do not understand, but we mortal people need something to work towards. Please think of something appropriate for when I go gather the civilians for the speech.” Bryce said, all hints of prickliness gone.

Bryce got up from his seat and made a curt bow towards me before moving towards the staircase with his fellow knight down towards the town. All of us still sitting at the table had a lot to discuss with each other. We had no idea how to use magic, we tried to open up a status screen or hotbar but nothing showed up. Michael and Blake started swinging their weapons around shouting skill names, but nothing happened. Rhyse had his Word Magic, but he had nothing else and it seems to take more mana than usual. We need to practice from the ground up on how to use magic, skills, and weapons. We have the knights for the weapon and skill training, but how about magic? At least the one thing we do have, is the greatest library in the whole damn server.

Tyler went downstairs to grab the rest of the guild that is present here. The rest of us are still sitting at the table, letting the realities of this world sink in a little bit. We are going to have to train ourselves to be warriors, a bunch of college students. We have to survive in a world that is foreign to everybody here, with another group of people that has high expectations of us. All of the knowledge of our characters, how to level, and how to use magic is gone. Blake tried swinging his sword, a little bit of the body's training came through but overall it still seems clumsy. While waiting for Tyler we checked the job changing room in our guildhall, but even that was nothing like in the game. There are no visible stats, no levels, just a list of jobs available for us. We learned that we can have multiple jobs still, unlike the npcs who for the most part are stuck to one. [Jobs] also don’t seem to prevent you from using different weapons like in the game, I picked up a knife from the treasury and was able to use it just fine. We will have to learn what the jobs honestly do through research, one of the many things that is a priority for us to learn. The most important thing we have to learn is what we do next.

Tyler is back with the group, all of them are surprisingly not huffing from going hundreds of stairs. I guess the claim of our bodies being superior isn’t completely off-base. We discuss what are the objectives, what is the most important thing for us to do right now. We need to go home, that is the grand objective of both parties that were sent here. The first step is to find a way to survive, we need to secure the resources of food, water, and shelter for all of the people here. We have farms and livestock for food, a river that didn’t exist before now flows right next to the guildhall, and but we lack housing for all of the members of our guild. The residents of the town are fine, but the newbies who just started playing had not yet built houses in our guild. We can mitigate with the spare logging in the houses of veteran players, and emergency shelter inside the guildhall. But the most important step is exploring this world.

We have no knowledge of this world, of its residents, of the flora and fauna, or even how long the days and nights last. Exploration is our only hope of making it back home, the only way to move forward. We need to send exploration teams, researchers, and gatherers to gain a foothold. We must scrounge and scavenge, to do anything for the purpose of returning home. A speech was soon created for me by the few student council members and journalism majors in our guild. We gathered our equipment, placed our armor back on, and rehearsed our movements and expressions. We had to put on a show for the common folk, that somehow we had everything under control. It may not be ethical to lie, but the lie is what they need right now. All we have to do is make sure the lie becomes the truth after a while.

After all of our preparations, we walked down the staircase to finally see the town for the first time. The sight is incredible, it is like walking into an ancient greek town. The paved marble paths, the beautiful athen-styled housing. Seeing how much this town has grown from the game, seeing a beautiful Athenic city-state born from the simple town was outstanding. Underneath our massive guildhall, is a marble castle and training yard inside of the constant shadow of our Guildhall. The called it the Underkeep, it is the residence of deGrey family and the Knight order of the Chronicle. The glorious flags of arms are handing off of the walls, depicting an open town with a golden bookmark hanging from one the closed pages. 2 crossing swords underline the tome,as if indicating that it is in fact an Order of Knights.

Bryce deGrey was waiting for us to finish debating with each other, he sees the gleam of purpose in our eyes and knows that it is time for the speech. I walk up to him no longer in my drab black summoner clothes, but pure white robes decorated with gilded flower patterns. I also no longer have a hood, but a matching umbrella for the sun. This outfit makes me look more important and powerful than I really am. Though I needed the umbrella since I am a half-drow and long-term exposure to sunlight isn’t good for me. Bryce seems to be pleased with my choice of apparel, though he takes the umbrella away from me to hold it for me. I guess this is to look more subservient in the eyes of the public, and also an extension of my facade of importance. The rest of my guild walks behind us 2, with his orders of knights behind them. We walk towards the town center, where they keep an open plaza for important events to take place.

The plaza was square with the town hall at the center. Stores made up the walls of the square, each facing the town hall at the center. It feels nostalgic, seeing a square like this. But I didn't have time to think about it, as I was headed towards a balcony in the town hall. Bryce, Michael, Blake, Rachel, Jaxon and I got onto the balcony where I saw a growing crowd of townsfolk building. The rest of my guild and the other knights are in a unified group directly beneath the balcony I was located on. They were meant to show the power we still held as a fighting unit, even if it is only pretense. We waited a while, seeing the anxious crowd filled people, all of their faces were stained with worry. The plaza was almost full of people, the latecomers were no longer trickling in, the time I was most dreading has finally arrived.

“Citizens, Knights of the Chronicle, and my fellow members of Chronicle. Many of you know me, but for those who do not I am Nhilvin Freafin. The current guildmaster of our great library, but these titles do not mean much in a world that has no understanding or respect for it…” I said trying to sound magnanimous, but my contradictory words are just confusing the populace here. Fuck, I am computer science major! You can’t expect nerdy people like us to do good speeches! My words faltered a bit, a growing awkward silence filled the plaza.

“...I am just going to be real for a moment here, I think all of you would appreciate that more. All of us here, including us Heavenborne, have no idea what is going on or what has happened.” I said to the crowd, realizing honestly is better for me than playing a character.

“We are all travelers in a world that is alien to us, there is honestly nothing we can truly say we know. Our collective goal, to return home, is so far away I can’t even see the path to reach it.” I said frankly, the people’s faces begin to turn with even more anxiety.

“But we do have a first step, the only thing we can do when faced with the unknown. We will explore it, we will create lanterns to light up the path that is shrouded in darkness. Our mission as Heavenborne, is to form exploration teams. We will learn everything we can here, we will not leave any stone unturned, and we will question every preconceived notion we had ever had. There is no easy path home, but if we work together as one people we can try finding the hard path.” I said to the crowd, not mincing any of my words.

They all looked at me with silence as I took a break talking. No expressions on their faces, perhaps waiting for direction to their goal. My guildmates are still holding their false expression of strength, not breaking our predetermined characters even after I did. The knights were as stoic as ever, each upholding their dignity as an order of Knights. I looked at Bryce to my left briefly, still holding my umbrella for me, he silently nodded for me to continue.

“The first exploration teams will begin in 2 weeks, after we research and plan our routes properly. We will be doing constant research in the meantime, to find anything that might help us find home. The only thing I ask of you, is to support us as we do our expeditions. To open your taverns, to keep crafting, to keep cooking and farming, to keep learning, to keep doing the things we cannot do. If you find anything new, learn something is slightly different, no matter how small the discovery please share it with us. We will find a way back together” I finished the speech with rather vague details, but it seemed to have been adequate.

There was no cheering, there were no cries of happiness or shouts of patriotic pride. The people looked solemnly on, realizing that they too have a part to play in the journey back home. Their eyes were no longer filled with anxiety, but now the solemn vow of duty. They looked at us Heavenborne, maybe looking for the heroes that will save them from this disaster. I looked back towards Bryce, and we both walked towards the door back inside from the Balcony. The mayor of the town took our place on the balcony to speak as well, giving less vague directions than I did. My group, Bryce and I sat at the conference table inside of the town hall. We cleared the first obstacle, but nowhere near as good as I hoped.

“Sorry Sir Bryce, I am unfortunately terrible at statecraft despite my status as the Guildmaster” I apologized, hoping that it was still somewhat acceptable.

“It is alright, in the people’s eyes, you were a guildmaster of magical research not leadership like the founder.” Bryce comforted, also revealing what people thought of me.

“Ah really, well that is good. Hopefully we have bought enough time to start our next objective.” I said, a bit relieved.

“That I can promise, and our current mayor is a great speaker.He can rouse the cheer and purpose of that morose lot. Do not fret so much My Lady, I am sure once the first Expedition happens, the smiles of the people will return.” Bryce said with a voice full of confidence.

I can only hope that he is right, since we absolutely need these people to survive here. We also have 2 weeks to learn how to explore and fight properly, that is going to be the hardest thing for us to accomplish. To get 70ish college students who are used to a peaceful life, to live a life full of hardship and danger. This is the next step in our journey, living in a new world.