*Ebel*

We stack at the door to the room. An IDR trooper that I have yet to remember the name of stands in front of the door. From my position in third place, I raise my hand up, with my thumb, fore and middle finger raised. I lower my middle, then fore and finally my thumb, before flattening my hand and slicing down. The soldier hefts up a large metal cylinder filled with water and slams the battering ram directly against the doorknob.

With a loud crack the locking mechanism breaks free from the door and falls inside the room. Mel, our weapons sergeant for the truck this time, and the first one stacked on the door, body slams it and moves inside. Greg follows directly behind him before veering off to hug the wall. I enter the room next fallowed by the IDR trooper that broke the door.

Mel is at the far corner of the room directly in front of the door while Greg is still moving to the opposite corner. The new guy is moving to the corner opposite Mel that Greg bypassed. I stop near the entrance just outside of view from the entryway. Our weapons are up and scanning the room.

Huddled in the inside most corner of the room by Mel are six civilians, one adult covering two teenagers who are covering three children. They are thin and emaciated with black bags under their eyes and pallid greyish skin. Their eyes are wide as the adult clutches a metal chair leg. Mel places her hand on the leg, and it falls to the floor, the man collapsing in tears with it. After clearing four previous rooms, we finally find survivors in the fifth.

I move to them as smooth as I can before kneeling in front of them, “sir, I am IDR Lieutenant Ebel, leader of this team. We are here to evacuate you from the city to our secure site. I need to know if there are any more survivors in the building.”

One of the teenagers shakingly answers me instead, “th-there were more of uz before the mons-sters broke down the front door. I think I s-saw s-some of the others go to the room two doors-s down.”

The man stops crying and grips my arm, “be careful. Last night there was a lot of noise and crashing in the room, then there was silence. We haven’t heard anything since.”

I nod my head, “thank you for the information, my corporal is just outside the door, he will escort you to our trucks outside. We have two more squads securing the area so you will be safe. You did good work staying alive. Now let us take you out of here.”

The man and two older kids nod lethargically. The children just squat there staring at me. Greg comes over and starts raising them up and moving them out the door to Rodriguez. I stand up and face Mel, “last night, what do you think, still there?”

She looks at the door as the civilians leave, “goblins have probably moved on, along with the kobolds and other non-eaters. There may be a few meat eaters though, black hounds, scavengers, and the like.”

I check my mag as a new force of habit, “how many breach charges you have? Concussions as well.”

Mel answers, “two breaches on me, five more on the truck. Six and eighteen concussions.”

There are still another two floors and at least another two dozen rooms. If we use the breech and concussions, they will also draw any hidden incursions left in the building. They may also draw some from neighboring buildings. The front of the building was breached by at least four party level incursions.

I start moving to the door where Greg and the new guy are waiting just outside, “we’ll stick with the ram for now, break the door and try to lure out the incursions inside.” I exit the room and motion to the two kneeling down, “alright let’s go to the door after next. Breach and lure, we will use the ram and shield.”

The two nod and fall into place one in front and one behind me with Mel leading us. Once to the target door the new guy posts up next to the door beside the locking mechanism. I am opposite him several steps back with my silenced rifle. Greg is directly in front of the door with his riot shield out and a sharpened trenching tool and thick welding gloves. Mel is a step away and between the two with a pitchfork that had the center prongs filed off and stubs sharpened.

On my signal the new guy heaves a wide swing with the ram into the cracked and slightly ajar door. Releasing the ram upon contact, it smashes the door in half and flops open. The ram strikes something inside the room which releases a guttural scream. Greg smashes his trenching tool against his shield and gives three short shouts before kneeling and bracing.

From inside loud movements rustle and shift. Greg tenses and I reshoulder my rifle just in case. From the door an orc barrels out and strikes against Greg with a crude branch. Greg winces but digs in and holds. Mel stabs the orc in the neck and twists while kicking the back of its knee with edged steel plates attached to her chins, bringing it down. Finally, the new guy uses a fireman’s axe and starts hacking at its neck.

After taking down the orc Greg dives out from in front of the door while the rest back pedal rapidly. From inside the room a dark shadow smashes into the wall opposite the door. I fire two shots before my mind can even register what it is. The bullets impact the beast and drop to the floor. The dust settles and reveals the body, four and a half meters tall with large eyes and even larger claws and an emaciated frame. Damn, it is a party class incursion, it’s an . . .

[you have encountered the field boss Oger]

*Alexandra*

Even if I have been saying the world is becoming a video game, I never thought we would actually get status windows. I try and change my viewpoint only for the translucent window in front of me to follow my perspective. I back up and lean forward, it continues to follow. I look at the contents again.

[you have gained the IDR standard issue combat rifle]

This window popped up as soon as I picked up my rifle from the window at the armory. I look around and don’t see any other windows in front of other people. Yet, they have blank stares or are trying to poke or grab something in midair. I look back at my own screen, the IDR standard issue rifle is a slightly different shade of off white than the rest of the words. I press my finger to the words, there is a slight resistance when I make contact with the window. Another window appears in front of me.

[Name: IDR standard issue rifle

Rarity: Common

Class: ranged physical

Attack: 5

Durability: 50/50

Weight: 12

Power: 28

Alignment: 0

A standard rifle used by most IDR Troopers. It holds no mana within, resulting in zero alignment and weakened attack damage.]

Well, this is familiar. I would think a gun of all things would have a higher power rating though. Even with no alignment to mana, guns are devastating weapons. I have even seen their effect against the incursions, most of us have. The numbers can’t be right, these are lower than simple starter weapons. Is there a difference between the real world and the game?

As I contemplate the information present in the item window another one appears. This one is tinged red, almost a shade of pink, its corners swirl and twist.

[Alexandra

I am the great god of War and Beauty

I present to you my power

Use my grace to save your people

Become a great warrior

Drive back the incursions

Save your world

Save your people

Dominate the land

Rise above all others

Become a hero

Take my power and be who you were always destined to become]

Another window appears alongside the bloody pink one, this one grey and rigid.

[Alex

You are a great fighter

Join me as my priest

I am the god of fighters

You are a born fighter

Destined to be the greatest

Rule the land with your might

Fear nothing ever again

Let me guide you to stand by my side]

More windows continue to appear, all with different tinges of color and shapes. They all say similar recruitments, promises of power, might, and even a few promise godhood. As the windows stop appearing one final blue tinged window arrives.

[Congratulations

Thirteen gods have shown interest in granting you their grace

Select wisely as you can only select one grace

Once a grace is selected you will be eligible to gain a class

Classes will allow you to fight against the incursions

Please select which grace you desire and serve your god devoutly]

Below this last window is a list of names, presumably the names of the gods that want to grant me their grace. Each grace seems to possess a different trac of growth. Looking closer at the first grace a more detailed description reveals itself in the same type of bloody pink window.

[God: War and Beauty

Position: Great Warrior

Rating: Legendary

Classes available: Hero, Saint, Warlord, Crusader, Battle Maiden, Paragon

Passive Grace: Legendary Growth, Battle Sense, Rapid Healing, Empower, Rousing Words]

The other graces seem to possess both different and some of the same available classes. The passive graces vary widely though. I reach out to the window to grasp the bloody pink grace before hesitating. According to this system we need to accept a grace to gain a class. It claims to be the only way for us to fight against the incursions. Accept the grace of a god and gain the power to fight back.

I have watched IDR Troopers kill the incursions. I see convoys leave the installation on a daily basis and return. They may not be winning. Yet, they are not losing either. They consistently kill more incursions than they take casualties. Are they not able to fight back? If not, what is it that they are doing? What is it that I am here learning to do?

In my hesitation four of the lower rated windows vanish. The blue status window in front updates.

[Four gods have retracted their offer of grace

Nine gods offer you their grace

Further delay will result in more gods retracting their offer of grace

Do not hesitate to select a grace

Without grace you will be unable to select a class

Without a class chances of survival will drop drastically]

Shit, the bloody pink grace window slightly dims. It is by far the best one available to me. I reach to grasp the window. I hesitate once again. The world has become Shattered World. In Shattered World, the gods were the ultimate enemy. They were the ones which controlled the incursions. Is it the same here? Are the gods the ones that invaded us with their incursions?

I lower my hand and five more windows blink out, including the grey rigid window. The bloody pink one is still there but it is beginning to flash lightly. The system window gives me another warning.

[Five gods have withdrawn their offer of grace

Without grace further use of the system will be impossible

Innate skills of Identify, Inventory, Biometrics, will be lost]

I twitch but remain firm. We have killed a raid boss. I watched it with my own eyes. I do not need help from our invaders. In the game, the gods would steal our levels. I will not give them what strength I have. I do not move. The status windows fade. Eventually the bloody pink one leaves as well. A tinge of panic and regret assault me but I ignore it. Finally, the last offer of grace disappears. The system window updates a final time before disappearing.

[All offers of grace have been withdrawn

With no grace you will be unable to select a class

It will still be possible to gain a grace by praying to a specific god

To gain a class a grace is required

To utilize innate skills a grace is required

Without a grace survival will be exponentially more difficult]

*Ebel*

These damn stupid bords keep popping up in front of me. They are obscuring my vision and making it hard to aim. I fire off another three shots, the first misses outright while the last just glances off the ogre’s nose. Thankfully the second shot hits true and slid into the incursion’s eye. With a shriek the creature grabs it’s face and snaps its attention to me.

With the attention shifted away from them my squad gears up to attack. The halls are too narrow for us to be effective. I scream at them, “OUTSIDE! I will loop around the building! Set ambush with the heavies! Prep a sabot!”

Greg and the new guy seem to hesitate before I give a firm, “GO.” Mel grabs the two and pulls them back. The ogre turns back to them, I raise my rifle and take two more shots at it. Seven shots, add to four previous, nineteen left before reload. Three more mags, ninety rounds. Ogre’s skin is thick, but the impacts will still carry through. Concentrated fire on single vital. Either gut or chest.

The ogre roars and lifts a piece of the collapsed wall and throws it at me. I dive out of the way as it crashes into the floor where I was. I roll over to my stomach prepped to run. It is not going after me. It is chasing my team down the hallway. I slam back down into prone and take aim at the rear of the knee. Four shots, three connects and it falls to a knee before staggering back up, turning to face me. Fifteen shots fired, fifteen left.

The ogre charges me with a deadly roar. I snap to my feet and take flight as a trickle of blood leaves my ears. This roar will attract any incursions left on the block. At least it will also alert the convoy and Rodriguez as well as the other two teams. By the time I lure the thing outside the ambush line will have both teams ready.

I take a sharp left down a hallway. By the floorplan three more rights to head back to the front of the building. The problem is that the later part of this L shaped building has yet to be secured. From behind me the ogre blasts through the corner. I do not need to look behind me to know what happened, I can hear the crumbling and shattering of the inside corner of the hallway. From the sound of the thumping foot slams the ogre is about 10 meters behind me. There is another eight meters ahead before the next corner.

I buckle down and sprint as hard as I can and strike the inner corner ahead of me with my shoulder, swinging me into the next hall without having to slow to change directions. The ruble crumbles bellow me as I launch forward.

In front of me two orcs and a black beast are feasting on a corpse. I raise my rifle without slowing while also grabbing my knife, resting it under the forward grip. I don’t bother with precision aiming against these. I focus on the front site only and ignore the rear loop.

Two shots, one into the chest another into the neck of the first orc. The remaining incursions take notice of my presence, but before they can do anything I let loose another three shots into the snout of the black beast. It won’t be enough to kill it, but it will be stunned for a hot second. I am now too close to the last orc for the rifle to be effective. As it lunges for me, I side step and strike wide and hard with my knife, slicing a large cut from its throat. I then plunge the knife into the back of the neck of the black beast.

I leave the knife imbedded where it is and use the force of the stab to catapult me over the beast. I spin around in the air while lifting my rifle. I fire a single haphazard shot at the orc but miss. Once I strike the ground with my feet, I fire off another three shots at the charging ogre. I spin and rocket off, ignoring the injured orc behind me. Five and four, with fifteen make twenty four shots, six left, less a knife.

I body slam the far wall to face the next hall. The longest hallway yet, it is full of debris and has four orcs and two black hounds as well as seven scavengers. One of the hounds is within three meters of me, I empty the last six shots into the creature before ejecting the mag and launching myself down the hall while loading another.

Instead of shooting, I let my rifle fall on its sling and pop the rings from my last two concussion grenades. I throw the first as far as I can down the hallway. Five. I then toss the other behind me into the hall entry. Four. The ogre enters the hall and gets struck by the grenade. Three. I vault over one obstacle and sprint to the closest one in front of me as I gun down one orc then another just behind the barrier. I don’t count the rounds. Two. I slam heavily into the barrier and gasp deeply. I look behind me only to see the ogre charging. One. A blast rips through the hallway in front of the barricade. The sound rings in my ears and my eyes feel as if they will pop out. I ignore the pain and bungle over the barricade just as a second detonation shakes the hall. I take a quick glance over the haze in my head only to see the ogre collapse forward and against the ground. I spin and sprint.

As I turn the last corner another shattering roar strikes my back. I skid across the broken glass of the buildings front and dive out the front in a stagger more than a run. Mel is there and waving me down, I dive for the trucks, sliding on the round glass beads, stopping just short of my truck. I can feel someone dragging me as I turn over to see the ogre emerging.

*Ebel*

The ogre emerges from the building to a hellfire of armor piercing bullets and large calibers. I am hauled to my feet against the truck as a sabot rocket blast renews the ringing in my ears. The party class monster falls to its knees peppered in holes and a gapping meaty gash in its chest, its left arm held on only by skin. The ogre falls forward dead.

Mel helps me over to our truck where the civilians we rescued are huddled in the bed. As she looks me over, “ma’am, ma’am, are you still with us?”

I brush her off, she must have been speaking to me for a while, “I’m fine sergeant, what is the situation? Those roars will have drawn more incursions.”

An IDR sergeant from another squad answers me, “no duh lieutenant, those calls roused the incursions in our building, caused our LT to get jumped on and half our squad to lose combat effectiveness. The other squad has yet to return, and the convoy captain is out cold. You’re the ranking officer now girl, so what are the orders?”

Only one squad has returned and it is at half strength. There will be an attack incoming.

Manuel leans over from above the truck, “LT, what we do about the blue game screens? Have you seen what they are saying?!”

I grab my aching and ringing head, “shut up specialist! Leave the video game fantasy bullshit for now and get ready to deal with the teeth heading our way!”

I get up and reload my rifle, abandoning the partially filled mag on the floor of the truck. I start issuing orders through the haze, “move the trucks into a U shape, open end to the building, weapons sergeants take the trucks to the sides, one each. Move the civs off the trucks and into the center.”

I point out two privates, “you two, guard the civs building side. Everyone else bord up a truck and prep for contact. Heavy rifles and concussions allowed. Don’t bother trying to be quiet they already know we are here.”

I mount up top my truck as the troopers move to formation. I secure a heavy rifle and settle in alongside Manuel. He leans over to me, “ma’am, you sure we should be ignoring the notifications popping up? Do you not see them, they do seem suspicious but . . .”?

I snap at him more than I would have liked, “zip it Manuel, shut up and concentrate on what’s coming our way. I see the stupid things in front of me, ignore them and they will go away. I don’t give a shit what they say, now concentrate on making your shots count!”

From around corners and inside buildings incursions start to trickle into the streets. There is not yet enough to affect a full barrage. They are not even approaching us yet. I order, “hold fire! Wait till they group up and charge us before you engage!” Depending on how many of them there are we may need to conserve the ammo. We will still need enough to get us out of the city. The ringing is starting to go down.

From the building in front of my truck gun shots ring as the missing team surges into the street. Right into the forming horde of incursions. Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell am I thinking. The incursions were after the other team. That was why they had yet to attack us despite so long since the first roar. I scream as loud as I can, “OPEN FIRE!! GIVE THEM COVER!!” We should have taken the things out as they were appearing, I am so stupid. There was still a team out there and I didn’t ensure a rout for them.

We laid into the growing mob but could not engage the core as our allied team was trapped within. I roar over my shoulder, “Sergeant get a team out there and get our troopers! Mel, cover the sides! Manuel, cover the sergeant!”

Our fellow team leaves with what they have left to extract our comrades. From the side I can hear a crash as a phantom hunter flips one of the trucks, letting in another ogre. Fucking hell. I flip over and open fire as the opposite truck launches a rocket into the party class incursions. The civilians are panicking and trampling each other as they rush away from the incursions.

From besides me Manuel calls out, “Ma’am, there are too many for just me to cover! I need more support!”

Shit. The squad I sent out was at half strength. They won’t be able to last with just one heavy rifle supporting them. I call out to Mel before turning back around, “Let loose the rockets! Don’t hold back! Use them all if you have too!”

I let loose the support again as rockets sing and detonate behind me. With my added support the bravo team reaches the alpha team. Now rejoined, the two start working their way back to the formation. Fire is picking up from behind me. I turn to look only to see stalkers dropping from the building and more incursions pouring out of the building front. Damnit. Only the first floor was somewhat secure after my chase. The second and third floor were not secured at all.

Now that the two teams are on their way back, I fully concentrate my fire to the inside. The incursions are assaulting the civilians as they push against the trucks trying to climb up. The civilians are obstructing the field of fire, allowing more incursions to approach them.

I scream to the civilians, “back, get to the back of the trucks! The Back! Don’t climb the trucks, get to the back!”

They are too panicked to listen. The civilians are still climbing the sides of the trucks. I stand up and start firing from the hip hoping to hit the incursions and avoid the civilians. The other upright truck is doing the same. From the side of the overturned truck more self level incursions start clambering over.

Shit! Shit, Shit, SHIT! FUCKING SHIT!

*Harold*

Alex rushes over to me and grabs my shoulders, “Hal, don’t tell me you accepted the grace of the gods?!”

I shake off her grip and clam her, “calm down Alex. Of course, I didn’t accept such a suspicious offer. I mean hell, the messages sounded more like telemarketing scam callers than anything else.”

She takes a big breath and calms down, “that’s good. I was scared for a second there. No telling what the big bads would do to you if you accepted their so-called grace.”

I nod slightly, “weather they are the big bads or not, I don’t know. But, if they were really here to help us, why show up over two weeks after the start? If they are so called gods, they would have the ability to show up sooner. So, the only reason they arrived so late would have been because they chose to.”

A team of IDR troopers come rushing up to our training regiment. They start talking to the drill instructor who then roars a “FALL IN.”

We all drop out of our confusion and form into our platoons. The drill instructor starts addressing us from the front of the regiment, “alright recruits! We just got word from command. For anyone who can still see the, messages, from the gods, ignore them. We have actionable intel that these so called gods are the ones that initiated this invasion on our world. Do NOT listen to them. Do NOT accept any of their offers. They are our enemy and are attempting phycological warfare to induce subterfuge in our ranks. Do NOT listen to the gods. The messages will go away on their own once the gods realize they cannot manipulate you!”

From beside me Alex whispers, “this is not good.”

I glance at her and can see many others looking around as well.

She looks worried and looks to me as well, “my system windows already disappeared. How many of us already accepted the grace before the drill instructor told us? How many other people not in the IDR or in the know will accept?”

There are hundreds of thousands in the camps. I swallow, “it may not be that bad Alex. You declined based on your experience with Shattered World, right? Well nearly everyone has played the game. Maybe they will decline as well from their game knowledge?”

Another runner runs up to the drill instructor. The blood drains from his face. He begins barking, “Attention!” We snap rigid and look straight ahead, “All platoons, drop all your gear including your rifles! We will be running to the aid station as fast as we can! Do not worry about staying together, just get there as fast as you can! All convoys have been recalled and massive amounts of casualties are pouring in. We will be responding to assist the medics with casualty control. Once you arrive, go to the aid station coordinators to get further instructions! Fall Out!”

We all stand shocked for a second. People start shuffling when I spin around, grab Alex and drop all my gear, “r-Run! Come on, let’s go!”

We all start dropping whatever we have on us and sprinting off towards the aid station. It is three miles to the station. Yet, I am running faster than I ever have in training and am not tired at all. The drill instructors have taken off with us as well. Although normally, they can outpace all but a few of us, a large chunk of recruits and a couple IDR troopers are speeding across the ground at almost inhuman speeds. Before long they are hundreds of meters ahead of us.

From near me I can hear Alex exasperate, “they accepted the grace.”

By the time I arrive at the aid station Alex would have arrived minutes before. I go to the coordinator’s post, I find an IDR trooper in the chaos, “Specialist! I am recruit . . .”

The specialist interrupts me, “don’t care! Go to the entry zone! Start moving people off trucks to initial staging areas!”

In the panic I just nod and start running again in the direction pointed out to me. On arrival I flash back to the expo parking lot for an instance. Just like there, there are bodies everywhere. Blood is dribbling through the dirt and flowing into bright red and deep maroon canals within ditches and drainage channels. People are screaming and crying. There are both civilians, frail husks even without their grievous wounds, as well as IDR troopers and military soldiers. They all have large gashes, ripped flesh, or entirely missing limbs. Nurses and medics go from one person to the next marking them with colored spray paint before moving on. There are also personnel, both IDR and military, moving the casualties away after they have been marked.

I tremble at the sight for a moment before another convoy of trucks pulls into the aid station. There are only two this time fallowed by a lone third. I shock myself out of my freeze and run to the trucks as they pull to a stop. I reach the lone third truck in line. I drop the back of the truck and am stained by a slosh of blood as someone falls onto me. I catch the person in my arms. They are wearing an IDR uniform and are clutching a fireman’s axe. He does not move as I try to drag him the rest of the way out of the truck. When I try to readjust my grip to drag him to the staging area, I miss his chest. I look at him only to realize there is a large gash in his chest where half his ribcage was torn out, exposing his unbeating heart and dangling lung.

I drop him in shock. Another IDR soldier rolls out of the truck and struggles to stand. He is missing an arm and half his face has been torn into, exposing the gaping hole where his eye should halve been. I freeze again at the sight until he calls to me, “Harold! Get it together. Help me take him to the staging area!”

Greg? Is that you Greg?! I splutter, “b-but he is . . .”

Greg spits blood and struggles through the pain, “dead or alive, you are here, that means you get us to the staging area to be assessed.”

I look at Greg’s state once again as he tries to lift the trooper up. I sling the dead man over my shoulder and put my free arm under Greg’s remaining arm. We make our way over to the staging area where I drop the corpse and help Greg sit down.

He tries to get back up, but I push on his good shoulder lightly, “it is my job to get you here to be assessed, now it is your job to stay and be assessed.” Greg nods and remains seated. I look back to the entry site. I can see more trucks arriving along the road out of the installation. What is happening?