Chapter 1

He ran through the jungle as fast as he could. All of the strength in his legs had left him already, but he continued to run on desperation alone.

Runner:"I....ha....have to.....ha........get back!"

He tried to motivate himself by speaking out loud, but his gasps for air got in the way. A slight flicker of light was seen in the distance which made him smile.

Runner:"I'm almost.....ha.......there!"

With his motivation back now thanks to the lights he picked up his speed. Sadly that was a mistake. His leg was caught on a vine and sent him tumbling face first into the ground. The smell of blood and dirt filled his nostrils.

Runner:"Shit!.....I broke my nose!"

He scrambled to his feet, but abruptly fell back down.

Runner:"No! No! No!"

Along with the broken nose his foot was sprained. He drew his sword and used it to keep balance as he hopped towards the town lights. The cities main gate was now in site guarded by two sturdy looking knights who each held a torch.

Runner:"I made it!"

He smiled and tried to hop forwards. Once again he fell to the ground. He looked towards his feet to see what tripped him then paled at what he saw.

Runner:"N-N-No! They're here! Knights help!"

Wrapped around his foot was some sort of string. He called out for the guards, but when he hurriedly glanced over at the main gate his fears were confirmed.

Large blood stains colored the walls surrounding the gate and a man stood between two corpses with holes in their chests. He wore a white cloak and shirt with black pants and boots. The sleeves on his shirt all the way up to his elbows were covered in blood. His short golden hair and baby blue eyes gave him the appearance of a prince; however, an intimidating aura surrounded him.

Person 2:"I had him! You didn't need to kill those guards!"

The runner twisted his head back around to see another man standing in the shadows. The string around his foot lead back to this new guy.

Prince:"He screamed so they would've got involved anyway."

The man in the shadows stepped out. He wore the same outfit as the other one except his clothes were all black. His hair was slightly shorter than the princes and was brown with a red tint to it. Black snake like scales could be seen crawling up his neck and stopping right below his chin. His eyes were green as emeralds while his pupils were vertical slits and an expression full of frustration was plastered across his face.

Shadow Man:"You could've just knocked them out."

Prince:"It's actually not that easy to knock a person out."

Shadow man decided to give up on his argument with the prince and turned his attention to the runner.

Shadow Man:"We know you took it. Just give it back and we'll let you go."

The runner was trembling.

Runner:"H-Here."

He pulled a silver chain out of his pocket and tossed it to shadow mans feet.

Shadow Man:"Thank you."

Shadow man knelt down and picked it up. Hanging on the chain was a blue stone. Shadow man gave the necklace a quick look before pocketing it.

Shadow Man:"Alright we got it back. Lets go."

Prince:"Wait Judas."

The shadow man who was apparently named Judas was about to leave when he was stopped by the prince.

Judas:"What?"

Prince:"What about him?"

The prince pointed to the runner who once again began to tremble. Every time the prince took a step closer to him his heart would skip a beat.

Judas:"What about him? We leave him here."

Prince:"Oh."

Judas looked over to the runner.

Judas:"Go."

The runner pulled himself up using his sword as support and began to hobble toward the city gate. He broke out into a cold sweat as he passed by the prince.

Prince:"Sorry about all this man."

Prince placed his hand on the back of the runners neck.

Runner:"I-It's fine."

The runner forced a smile then turned back towards the gate. He wasn't able to take another step before falling to the ground. The back of his shirt was dyed completely red with blood from his spinal cord being torn out.

Prince:"Damn that's more disgusting than I thought it'd be."

The prince let go of runners spinal cord and it fell to the ground.

Judas:"What the fuck Kal! Why'd you kill him!"

Kal:"You know he saw too much. They would be pissed if we let him live."

Judas ground his teeth together in frustration.

Judas:"Don't you feel any hesitation! You just took a life!"

Kal shrugged.

Kal:"Hey you do understand how lucky we are to be here. If we mess up they could send us back and we'd be stuck there again. I want the chance to explore this world."

Judas:"I just can't accept killing people so easily."

Kal:"Whatever. I'm headed back so come whenever you're done being angry."

Kal disappeared into the night. Judas took one last look at the three corpses left by his brother before turning away and following after Kal. He never thought his brother would be this blood thirsty, but it was something he needed to accept.

***************1 week before****************

Two men side by side stealthily crept towards the door at the end of the cement hallway. Light sounds of breathing could be heard inside their helmets. Both of them were holding assault rifles and wearing full body armor with a blue bandana around their necks.

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Man 1:"I'll go in first. You follow after me."

Man 2 nodded. A squeak echoed out every time they took a step because of the sweat filling their boots. One look would tell you the door in front of them was so weak it could fall off at anytime. Man 1 kicked in the door and rushed in followed by man 2.

Man 2:"Where are they!?"

Man 1:"Check behind the desk."

There were no signs of other people inside the room. Besides an old wooden desk the room had nothing else. Man 1 took his place by the window and looked out. Man 2 walked over to the desk while pointing his assault rifle at it. His eyes opened wide when he saw what was behind it.

Man 2:"It was a..."

BOOOOOOOM!!!

The desk exploded sending pieces of wood in every direction. Man 2 caught a few wood spikes in the throat.

Man 1:"Dave!"

Man 1 screamed his partners man before suddenly falling to the ground. A puddle of blood formed around him pouring from the hole in his head. Looking close tiny pieces of glass could be seen embedded in the bullet hole. Everything went silent until a new man stepped into the room. He pulled the blood stained bandannas off the two corpses.

Person 1:"We win."

[box border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=140% bordercolor=#CD4A4A bgcolor=#CD4A4A]Red Team Victory[/box]

A message popped up in front of his face then his vision was covered in darkness. When light finally returned to his eyes he was floating inside of a cylindrical glass tube. He was surrounded by a green liquid that filled the tube and enveloped his body. Besides a breathing apparatus and a wire connected to the back of his neck he was completely naked.

The liquid began to empty out from the bottom and soon he was left standing inside the tube. He pulled off his breathing apparatus then reached around and yanked the wire off his neck. He glanced to the side to see the man in the tube next to his. Once the two of them were disconnected and all of the liquid was gone the tube slid open.

Person 1:"Are we done yet Abe? I'm ready for lunch."

The men stepped out of their tubes and leisurely walked over to a rack holding two bath robes. Standing beside the rack was a middle aged man wearing glasses and a suit.

Abe:"That was the last simulation for today so the two of you are free to do whatever you want after the briefing."

The two men sighed before heading off to the shower to wash off some of the green liquid that was still clinging to their bodies.

Person 2:"When do you think they'll actually tell us what we're doing here?"

Person 1:"Who knows? Maybe never."

They both quickly showered and changed then headed off for the briefing. Like usual they were the last to arrive. The room had no windows so it felt a little stuffy and a conference table with chairs took up most of the space. The two men stood at the end of the table next to Abe.

Seated Person:"Begin."

Abe:"Today Jesse and Jimmy have completed the thousandth battle inside of Xelea Gamings Virtual Reality Simulator. I officially recommend them for project Next Phase."

Jesse and Jimmy just stood there listening. They were mostly left in the dark about why they were here running simulations, but since this job paid so well they were afraid to push for answers. The technology they have seen here astounded them. It wasn't the first time since last year was already full of amazing technological advances, but this place seemed to be several years ahead.

About a year ago Xelea Gaming Industries released the first virtual reality console. It was just a black box with a helmet. The news of it spread fast and every gamer fought to get their hands on one. Their price was the most surprising part since it was so cheap. It was like the company wanted as many people as possible to get one. Right after that NASA completed construction on their orbital elevator and fully opened the space station to the public.

Seated Person:"Next they will be competing against Henry's team. Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock I want them prepped and ready to enter the pods."

Abe:"Yes sir."

The meeting ended at that and everyone quickly left the room. Abe, Jesse and Jimmy were the only ones left in there.

Abe:"Tomorrow's gonna be tough. Henry's team has made it just as far as you two."

Jesse:"We got this."

Jesse smiled fearlessly.

Abe:"Just be sure to get plenty of rest tonight."

Jimmy:"Well we still have practice for today."

Jimmy looked down at his watch.

Jimmy:"Shit we're gonna be late! Lets go!"

The two brothers took off running hopping to make it to the martial arts lesson before it was too late. Their training had only started half a year ago along with all these simulations, but the two excelled at it. While fighting their instructor they could already win in a serious match two out of every five times.

It was amazing progress considering they had never studied martial arts before and their instructor had been doing it for years. They were martial arts prodigies.