He woke up to the deafening roar of a helicopter. He swivelled his head in the direction of the helicopter but his eyes were still swollen, so all he could make out was a longish, blurred green object landing in the cemetery and the wind from the rotors buffeting his face. The doors must have opened because a figure in white jumped out and headed towards him. The figure drew closer and closer until a hand reached out and touched his swollen face. When it did, he could feel a cooling sensation on his brow and the swelling cleared immediately.

That was when he realised the figure in white was a woman. She had pale skin and a bob of pearl white hair. She wore a three piece white suit with a white shirt and white cravat. The moment he was healed she stepped back and stared swiping the air. For a moment CornWall was confused until he realised that she must be using a screen that he couldn’t see. ‘Was she a Player?’ he thought to himself. He got up and tried to muster the courage to talk to a Player.

But she stopped, looked at him and said, “We’re done, let’s go.”

So she turned around and walked back to the helicopter. That’s when he saw two feathered, furled wings on her back. He was intrigued but didn’t understand what they meant so he followed her into the helicopter. The entrance was in between the cockpit and the passengers’ seats. So the moment he entered, the helicopter took off with a start and he could see the cemetery grow smaller and smaller.

He saw a narrow row of people sitting down and went to join them. Some of them gave him a look but must of them were engrossed in a tale an old men was reciting.

“.. and then FreakKing slew the last Titan and chased all the remaining false ones into the void. To save all the people in bondage FreakKing dug around the body of the dead Titan and found a burning, yellow heart.”

“And then?” asked the elf with long hair, sitting across the old man.

“And then, FreakKing took the heart, it was really, really big you see, FreakKing took the heart and cut a tiny sliver and give it to a person in chains. When the yellow piece touched the person, she was free you see. Completely free. She turned from a slave into a Player. Completely freed.”

“You see this chain,” he said grabbing the metal manacle on his leg. “It’s a symbol of slavery. The moment I got my hands around a piece of that Titan’s heart I would free. I would become a Player. But the problem was even though the heart was big, it wasn’t big enough for all the people that had to be freed. There were so many people. So you know what FreakKing did?

FreakKing went around looking for pieces like that Titan’s heart and FreakKing found them and freed many more. But those pieces were still pretty rare, so many, many people still couldn’t become Players. So now days whenever they find new pieces they give it to the best of the slaves. So we can become one step closer to a Player. Do you know what we call those pieces now days?”

“Freedom counters,” answered the elf.

And the old man gave a wide grin and nodded.

“Woah!” exclaimed CornWall. “So was FreakKing a Player?”

The old man scratched his balding head and swept his hands across his frizzled hair.

“Kid, imagine the all the gods and goddesses you know, combine their power and it would not even come close to FreakKing.”

When he saw CornWall still confused, he continued, “FreakKing is the leader of all Players, FreakKing is the first Player; the first to have a screen and also the most powerful Player.”

Another man sitting across the elf asked CornWall, “What about you? You’re a Base slave.” He pointed to the collar on CornWall’s neck.

“And not a Purpose slave like us,” he said grasping the manacle on his leg.

It was only after he said this did CornWall notice that all of the people sitting next to him had manacles on their legs made with the same material and thickness as CornWall’s own collar on his neck.

“I’ve heard that Base slaves can’t advance to becomin’ a Player like we do, so how did you do it?” continued the man.

For a minute CornWall hesitated, unsure of what to say. But before he could open his mouth the helicopter swerved violently and he was thrown onto the opposite bench.

“Wear your seatbelts,” swore the woman in white. “What the hell happened?’ she asked the pilot.

“Some residual spell or attack, something like that must have hit us,” he explained.

“Are you sure?”

“If they were being serious they could have pulverized the helicopter. This isn’t built to withstand missiles, let alone serious magic.”

She closed her eyes and a halo of light appeared on her head. The halo had lines arranged in geometric patterns inside it and kept spinning for a half a minute. When she opened her eyes the halo dispersed.

“Great. My luck. They’re having a guild war just before the gates”

Something crashed into the helicopter again. This time the helicopter started spinning and plummeted to the ground. They must have hit the rotor. Thankfully CornWall was wearing his belt.