Alek watched as the griffin, a majestic creature of myth, code, and subterfuge disappeared into a much too vibrant sky. The fight with the boss wolf-chimera was over and yet adrenaline continued to run through him like he had downed five cans of energy drink too many. Flashes of the fight assaulted him. That beast had pushed Alek to his limits, testing his abilities in ways he hadn't anticipated. It’s like building a computer to improve your chess game only to have it grab the board and beat you over the head with it, he thought. That was a close one!

It was when he turned away from the bridge that he started to ponder the existential ramifications of dying in his own game. Would his consciousness meet an untimely end? Or worse, would he just be forever comatose at his desk, drooling on his keyboard?

Hey, dude, get out of the fetal position, he told himself. You are a giant killer, so act like it, be like it! With a punch to the air and a victorious leap, he put on his game face. With the boss wolf-chimera now reduced to pixel dust, he savored the in-game tranquility that followed his victorious skirmish. Standing beside the river, the idyllic light of the simulated sunset made it seem like the road stretched to the horizon—a regular highway of possibilities.

Looking around, he mused. Man, I should’ve added some in-game snacks. Like a vending machine. I could go for some Doritos or a Red Bull right now.

A breeze tousled his digital hair and rustled the fabric of his in-game clothing. He looked up, squinting against the simulated sun glaring down at him. It was well on its way to the horizon. The day and night cycle was kicking into the game. The sunlight, the wind, and the impending night, he'd painstakingly coded them all in. A nocturnal experience was something he was yet to encounter. It wasn't as if he would fall asleep and miss it.

The world he crafted surprised him. The grass seemed greener, the rustle of leaves had a rhythm all their own, the ripples on the river were poetic. From the towering mountains to the endless skies, he was both humbled and thrilled by the grandeur of his digital domain. Post-battle, the tranquility was uncanny. The chirping birds, the babbling brook, the odd 'hello' from a passing NPC, made him forget momentarily that this was all simulated. The NPCs, their routines reset after the battle, were populating the landscape. Coming up the road he made out a cart, drawn by a stubborn donkey, and he could see two people. They were trundling along, oblivious to the recent chaos.

The abrupt chime announcing his holographic HUD materializing broke his reverie. He grimaced when he heard the sound. It was irritating the hell out of him. “Kill the chime!” he shouted to the blue void above.

“Achievement unlocked: Survived encounter with Fenrir!”

"Level Up!"

With his victory over the Wolf-Chimera the main storyline had surely advanced. A detailed avatar profile appeared on the left-hand side of the HUD, his virtual likeness pulsating a victorious aura. Alek's avatar, now a triumphant level 15, glowed brightly in the center of the HUD, along with the stats that reflected the game's reward for his recently vanquished foe.

What the heck! Going from Level 1 to Level 3 is an awesome leap! Who’d have thought? And is it even possible given his game design? Then again, in the real world, you don’t find himself trapped inside your own game, or any other RPG for that matter.

His health bar had expanded, the bright green segments reflecting his augmented vitality. His mana pool glowed a deeper shade of blue, indicating an increased energy reservoir for future battles. The right-hand section of the HUD unfurled an array of newly unlocked abilities.

PLAYER: ALEK

LEVEL: 3

HEALTH: 450/450

MANA: 320/320

ABILITIES:

Flame Surge (Level 3): Boosts fire magic.

Iron Will (Level 3): Amps up defenses.

Quick Recovery (Level 3): Speeds up repairs and cooldowns.

Alek smiled with satisfaction. Equipped with his new abilities along with his understanding of the digital world he had created, he felt ready for the next challenge. His eyes fell on a blinking text marked “'Quest Log'. “Complete the quest of the wounded knight,” he read aloud.

Beneath his list of tasks, an enigmatic message from the 'Wounded Knight' danced across the screen. As the Game Master, Alek could decode it without much trouble. It was a small triumph amid the frustration of being trapped in his own game, and yet, there remained a certain sliver of anxiety he couldn’t exorcise. Who was this mysterious messenger? Certainly not an NPC. Could it be someone from the real world? Someone standing over his lifeless body, tapping out commands on his keyboard? He couldn’t afford to ignore the message; it demanded translation there and then. “That’s just great,” he muttered, “even in a game I can't keep things simple. Why not add a sprinkle of Klingon while I'm at it?”

Brimming with a cryptographer's zeal, he scrutinized the flashing, encrypted text. A virtual keyboard materialized as he tapped on the message. He recognized a peculiar mix of runic symbols and his own programming language. His fingers danced over the keys like a virtuoso pianist, rearranging runes, injecting lines of code, deciphering the cryptic symbols. The whole endeavor would have been comical if it wasn’t a matter of life or—well, the persistence of a simulated one.

Tossing out nonsensical phrases like 'The square moose paddles at dawn', he rubbed his temples. “I may as well be solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded,” he muttered, frustration gnawing at his patience. With each passing minute, Alek's self-deprecation intensified. What kind of maniac makes a code this convoluted? If he ever escaped this digital prison, his next game would be idiot-proof.

Alek's gaze drifted to a digital squirrel, zipping through the underbrush with unabashed enthusiasm. "Running around like a loon, just like me," he grumbled. Then it hit him—The Nut Cracker cipher, a joke he'd hidden within the game. A cipher that only made sense if you read it like a frenzied scholar... or a squirrel. THAT squirrel.

Shaking off his initial approach, Alek mimicked the squirrel's frenetic pattern of reading, darting from the first word, to the last, then to the third. Thankfully, the message was only one line. He caught the first word, then the last, back to the third, until he had them all. It took a few moments for his brain to assemble the scattered words into a coherent sentence, but soon he strung the words together. He stared at the complete decoded message and felt a sudden flush of excitement: “Fetch me the amulet from Sacred Chamber below the Forgotten Temple, and I'll show you a way out.”

Alek savored the last words in the message' I'll show you a way out,' repeating them again and again. This was the opportunity he'd been waiting for. A genuine chance to escape this digital purgatory. He felt so exhilarated he laughed out loud, the sound echoing off the surrounding landscape. Once back in the real world, the first order of the day would be figuring out what caused this weirdness in the first place.

He knew the Forgotten Temple would test his resolve and wits. A trial he'd designed for others, he was now forced to endure. The Forgotten Temple, a high-level area reserved for veteran players, was going to be his next destination despite his beginner status. An involuntary shiver of anticipation ran down his spine, belying the warmth of the digital sun. The task was daunting, but he was prepared. He'd come this far, grown stronger, more skilled. The Forgotten Temple is just another quest, that’s all it is. Or so he told himself.

He considered the road ahead. He had leveled up; changes were inevitable. All he could see was a donkey cart driven by two women. Could these women be goblins in disguise, set to ambush him? He could always test his Flame Surge ability on them. Or maybe not. “I better to play nice for now,” he told himself

He kept a cautious eye on the approaching NPCs. As they crossed the bridge, he politely tipped his hat, "A fine day to you both."

Their cart was a simple wooden construct, a picture of pastoral simplicity. On the front bench sat an older woman. In the back, a heap of bright red apples, mixed with an assortment of vegetables, shifted with each jostle of the cart. A stout middle-aged woman, with a shawl pulled tight under her chin, walked behind the cart.

“Greetings, Warrior Mage,” she replied, in a gravelly voice. "Looks like you've had quite a day."

He eyed her cart, his 'Hungry' status pushing him towards the apples. Although this was a virtual world, fulfilling basic needs—like eating—still applied. He pulled out a coin from his pouch and offered it to the woman, who snatched it with a cluck of her tongue. The coin was worth a handful of small apples. Their virtual taste was sweet and crisp, a welcome surprise to his simulated senses.

As the transaction unfolded, the old woman brought the donkey to a halt. Unlike her younger companion who regarded Alek with scrutiny, the older lady hadn’t afforded him so much as even a sideways glance. The younger woman's gleaming eyes hinted at a piercing curiosity in Alek. Her peculiar gaze, however, didn't intimidate him. He knew she was a wellspring of valuable information, likely freely given without much coaxing."

“Have you passed many travelers today?”

"You tread a perilous path, Warrior Mage," she responded, ignoring Alek’s question. Her voice dipped into a hushed tone, "Beware the path you take. Darkness hides what light does not touch. They dwell there. The Forgotten Temple is not kind to the unwary." With a solemn nod, she turned to retreat to the cart, leaving her words to hanging ominously in the air.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Alek watched her walk away in stunned silence before he reacted. “Ma’am, I created you, you know. I’m the game master.” He didn’t quite know why he said as much, the words had slipped out unbidden. It’s the truth and it needed saying, he told himself. Never mind it was becoming ever more apparent to Alek that, game master or not, some of his NPCs seemed to have developed minds of their own.

The woman peered over her shoulder at him, offering a blank stare. "I don't know of this 'game master' you speak of, but if you say so," she said.

“Did he just mention The Forgotten Temple?” the older woman piped up from her seat as she casually struck the sad donkey’s twitching rump with a long switch, for no apparent reason.

“I didn’t, SHE did,” Alek said and pointed to the younger woman, as though willing the older woman to turn around.

“He’s going there on a quest,” the younger woman said.

“A bad idea,” the old woman called out, giving the donkey an extra hearty swat.

“What do you both know about the temple?” Alek inquired.

The old woman turned in her seat for the first time her chuckle rich with amusement as she appraised Alek. “I know why they call it The Forgotten Temple. It’s better to be forgotten, but those who survive it never do. It is protected by the dead—or those that should be.” She added the last bit in a whisper, her eyebrows arched as if she was sharing a secret.

“Death,” the older woman responded matter-of-factly. “Beware the shadows that dwell there.”

“Should you evade the thieves and marauders on the journey and luck abandons you, you'll encounter the temple's guardians. They're known as the Ghoulish Knights of Id.”

“And what if I overcome the ghouls?” Alek asked.

“Only ghosts of brave fools return to tell the tale,” she retorted. “Stick to the safety of this path, young Warrior Mage. Avoid the fork in the road.”

Alek scanned her code and saw she pondered whether or not she should give him her last piece of advice. “Go on. Tell me the worst-case scenario.”

“You won’t know what lurks in the shadows until it falls upon you,” the old woman cautioned before resuming her assault on the donkey. The creature let out a plaintive grunt and lurched forward, nearly spilling the entirety of the cart's produce. The younger woman, scurrying after the departing cart, scooped up the scattered cantaloupes and tossed them back onto the tray.

Emboldened by the potential rewards of this daunting quest, Alek set off once again, with renewed determination. When he arrived at a fork in the road, his HUD flickered, to prompt him to choose the rugged path diverging from the main thoroughfare. It was paved in part yet worn and dusty weaving through a landscape speckled with grassy knolls, towering boulders, and the odd cluster of trees. Glancing back, Alek saw it was an identical view stretching out behind him. He had unknowingly crossed a portal and possibly lost a chunk of time. Given he didn't feel like he had trudged for miles, he favored the portal theory.

"After some time moving on with no sign of an NPC, he noticed a line of tall dark trees directly ahead. "Twilight was descending in a cascade of purples and golds as wafts of a spectral mist lightly blanketing the lowland crossed his path ahead. "He saw the forest was on higher ground and if he hurried, he could reach it before he lost sight of the path. He was picking up his pace when he stumbled on a rock in his path. Recovering himself, he recoiled when he saw the rock spin around. The turtle glared up at him with a fierceness that caused him to pause.

"Watch where you plant those clumsy feet, human," the turtle hissed. Alek watched it amble away into the mist. A talking turtle! "It was peculiar that almost every creature he met had something to say. Alek didn't remember granting speech to animals unless they played significant roles or wielded swords. Either he had done precisely that, or the turtle was yet another sign of a program glitch. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk with anyone. The truth be told he was feeling increasingly deprived of conversation, particularly since taking the fork.

His HUD flashed, alerting him that he was approaching The Forgotten Temple. He checked the map and pivoted to observe the contour lines stretching across the landscape. Low hills and shallow gullies marked the terrain. In a few turns of the path, he would enter the forest and after continuing on a way arrive at a central clearing where he would find the Forgotten Temple ruins atop a hill. He glanced at the map again and to confirm the path did indeed run all the way up to the peak to the ruins, and it did. That’s when the HUD flashed an alert.

WARNING: MULTIPLE ROGUE NPCS DETECTED.

VARYING HOSTILITY LEVELS DETECTED AT THE HILL'S BASE, THE TEMPLE RUINS, AND BELOW THE RUINS.

RECOMMENDATIONS: PREPARE FOR COMBAT AT THE FOREST EDGE, ENGAGE WITH CAUTION WITHIN THE RUINS, AND BRACE FOR INTENSE COMBAT BELOW GROUND."

“A bunch of rogue NPCs?" Alek muttered to himself, quirking an eyebrow. There was no one to see him do it, but he injected a little levity in the situation just to reassure himself the game was still his to control. "Why does it feel like I'm walking into an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'?" He muttered to himself. "Can't we all just get along?" He could feel his heart pounding, and no amount of denial slowed the beat. He looked around the virtual landscape, but could find no immediate signs of the reported threats. "Okay," he murmured to himself, and took a deep, steadying breath. “So they are giving me a second party and a third party. Aren’t I the lucky one.”

The forest was a lush cathedral of towering trees, ancient, gargantuan trunks spiraling towards the emerald sky like nature's skyscrapers. The bark of the trunks were covered with patches of luminescent lichen that twinkled like stars to illuminate the path ahead. There was a thrumming stillness, the rustle of the wind echoed through the vast expanse, whispering stories of times gone by.

Amidst the tall trees, the Ironbarks stood sentinel. Alek had a soft spot for these novel forest behemoths. They were difficult to see at first, their bark-covered bodies blending seamlessly with the forest, but he saw them. They were sleeping giants of the forest as tall as the oldest trees, with movements that were slow and ponderous. They were absolutely harmless, cute, cartoonish decoration for a forest scape, and posing no danger at all, which was good because they were far too big and numerous to have turn hostile. As he walked past the colony, he watched them closely, alert to any change in the code that might trigger a much different temperament and thoroughly unpleasant appetites. However, they stayed true to his design, and once they were behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was keeping an eye out for his humble Jitterbugs, little critters with electric blue wings he had carefully designed. When he saw them, he laughed with the thrill of it. The small brightly lit creatures were his mesmerizing flying stars of the forest. Their wings shimmered in the dappled light that filtered through the dense canopy, and as he walked on and the forest grew denser, they flitted in the gloom like tiny, electric-blue seraphs. A dancing aurora that made a melodious soft buzzing sound. It was only the hunger evident in their glowing, amber eyes that gave their game away, and Alek noticed the switch in his coding far too late.

The first tiny bite stung like a bee sting. Alek yelped and stared at the bug on the back of his hand. Instinctively, he swiped it away to see a small round gouge bleeding profusely where it had sat. “WTF! You little guys are supposed to be harmless,” Alek yelped.

More landed on his arm, and then more still. They scuttled over his bare wrists, hands, and fingers, drawn to areas where veins, made prominent by constant typing, carried blood close to the surface. He swatted at them, but for each one he brushed away, two more seemed to take its place. He glanced up in horror to see the path ahead was swarming the hungry little bastards. Twisting and turning, he tried to fend off the onslaught as tens of dozens of small mouths dug deep.

"Show me my spells!" he commanded. His HUD sprang into action, and he quickly selected the Gale Gust spell, an Area of Effect (AoE) spell perfect for dealing with the Jitterbugs' swarm. As he invoked the spell, a gust of wind blew from his hands, scattering the swarm of electric blue into the impending darkness.

The spell cost him some mana. As he staggered down the path, he used his white robes to stanch the bleeding. He considered it a price worth paying. The mage robes contained a healing effect, and soon enough, he was upright once more and walking at a steady pace. Ahead, he saw a clearing with white stone steps leading up a hill.

The HUD flashed 'Ambush!' stopping Alek dead in his tracks. The rogue NPCs chose that moment to spring from behind the shadows of the trees. He anticipated a goblin attack ever since his last battle, but now that it was unfolding, they were coming at him with such speed and determination he barely had time to react. They had chosen their moment perfectly, attacking as he emerged from the tree line to climb the Hill of the Forgotten Temple.

Despite himself, Alek grudgingly admitted it was awfully smart of the goblins. Two goblins rushed him from the rear, while four others converged from the sides. He instinctively fell into a defensive stance. Alek's approach to battling goblins had always been to strike first and hard, yet these goblins seemed ready for such a strategy.

"Six against one?” he asked them, even though he knew the goblins were not about to answer him. He hadn’t designed them to bother much with conversation. “Fair enough I suppose... by goblin standards, anyway.”

These goblins moved with surprising synchronicity, clearly having rehearsed their tactics. This was a stark contrast to the general chaos Alek had coded into their behavior. Nonetheless, his gaming experience had honed his instincts and reflexes. Quickly, he activated his Mirror Image spell, spawning several illusionary copies of himself. The goblins, momentarily bewildered, lashed out at the clones. Seizing this distraction, Alek slipped behind them, drew his short sword, and in a swift arc of glimmering silver light, dispatched two of the creatures. He froze a third goblin in place with his Shadow Bind spell, providing an easy target for his blade. The remaining three, witnessing the fate of their allies, beat a rapid retreat back into the forest.

Alek sheathed his short sword, puzzled that he couldn't recall ever using it before. Did he even have it when the portal whisked him off the road? He'd surely have noticed it during his scuffle with the assassins in the village. He dusted off his robe, and shook off the lingering adrenaline from the skirmish. He brought his hands up close to his face to examine the wounds in the half light. They were pitted with the circular marks from the jitterbugs' bites, but at least the bleeding had ceased. Eventually, the marks from the vicious mites would fade. But for now, he had to press on.

Straining his eyes in the dim light, he began his ascent up the stone staircase. When he reached midway, he paused to examine the line of the hill above. He could see nothing moved. There was only the ornate stonework of the temple pillars lit in twilight's surreal hues. He found himself wondering what could have caused so much damage. Surely not just the ravages of time? “What am I thinking?” he muttered. Then he laughed. He had designed the game. If he didn’t know the history of the temple, that’s only because it doesn’t matter.

As Alek ascended the final steps to the crest of the hill, he was the ruins in all its decrepit glory. As the remaining light waned, shadows crept over the remnants of the edifice. Overgrown with moss and vine, the remains of ancient walls bore the weight of centuries with an air of melancholic grace. Hieroglyphs and ancient runes etched into the huge slabs of stone spoke of powerful forces that once dwelled within. The broken walls and crumbling archways lent it an aura of haunting elegance. It resembled a bombed-out European cathedral from the 1940s, the kind documented in old films he might find in a video vault, the kind he had seen his dad watching. There was an unmistakable air of mystery and quiet dread clinging to the broken stonework.

That feels about right, he thought.

At the top of the stone stairs, a monument carved from a massive boulder stood heavy and tall, marking the entrance to the Forgotten Temple territory. Runes carved into the stone glowed softly in the light of a large rising moon, but Alek had little time to read the words or appreciate the strange beauty of his surroundings.

He blinked at the flashing 'Hostile NPC' warning on his HUD. "Of course," he murmured. "Because ancient ruins just have to come with built-in ambushes. Perfect.”

He had glimpsed the flitting shadows, and braced himself. He didn’t need no HUD telling him what was about to go down. The moment he stepped through the entrance to the ruins he saw they were waiting for him.

The shadows morphed, solidified, taking form in the dim light of the moon. The silence oppressive, punctuated only by his own steady breath and the soft rustling of the lurking figures.

“More of you?” he exclaimed in frustration.

But he stopped anyway as as he gazed around the semi circle made by the welcoming committee. The moonlight reflected off of the round pale eyes that stared back at him, and glinted off all the long sharp teeth in horrible grinning mouths.

This time, it wasn't going to be goblins he faced.