“We’re here to help!” Sarah shouted as she landed next to the swordsmen.

They had stepped aside to leave her room to land. The vines didn’t hesitate though, they simply upped their attack rate. Thirty or so fist sized limbs struck out, all aimed straight for Sarah. Time seemed to be slowed, she could see clearly as each limb split away slightly, moving to ambush any of her escape routes. Pivoting slightly, two new things appeared. A red and a green outline. Each of the vines had one, and the ones in the center were all outlined in red. The ones to the sides were green.

This was a battle interface, it was allowing her to see the incoming attacks that would hit, and which would miss. She bent her knees, the ones up top shifted to green, and then, she jumped. All of them turned green, and Sarah aimed a downward kick back at them. When a golden band of light marked her target, she almost didn’t follow through, it had shown up unexpectedly. Her body was committed to the motion though, and her foot went right through all of the vines, directly through the golden outline.

Numbers and symbols flashed on the left of her vision. Sarah didn’t waste time trying to read them though, more red outlines were closing in on her. Ducking and sliding out of their paths, she found herself pressed back to back with one of the swordsmen. His blade swung around to the left, and then back across his front to cut down another surge of vines.

Dozens of vines dropped to the ground, but that was barely a dent in the ones rising out of the ground behind. Sarah was dodging and partying them with her firsts, the other two had their swords flashing back and forth between them.

“There’s no end!” The second swordsmen called out.

He had gotten a few feet away, slicing to his left and right sporadically. He didn’t see the limb that crept up behind him.

“Look out!” Sarah called, reaching out for the man, but she was too late.

The swordsman screamed as the appendage speared his back, then sprouted from his chest. It had run him through, piercing him like a kabob.

“Dureft! The remaining swordsman was cutting and hacking his way to his friend.

Sarah kicked and slapped the vines behind him, determined to at least keep him alive. Jorn had finally broken through the outside ring of vines. A path was open, but it wouldn’t last.

“We have to go! Now!”

Sarah pulled on the man’s arm, trying to drag him away from his now dead friend. There was no way to save someone who was already sent for re-spawn. They ran, Jorn swinging in a wide arc to keep their path clear for one more second. Once they passed him, Jorn ran as well. The three all put several paces on the viscous plant before it turned to chase them.

“How are we supposed to beat this thing? I don’t even know where it’s main body is!” Sarah cried out.

She was leading the trio, having to check her pace so she didn’t get too far ahead.

“The bigger trunks lead to the main body. It will have a giant yellow-gold head. Giant flower with teeth.” Jorn cried from a few yards behind.

He was huffing deep breaths as he struggled to keep up. Several dark green vines sprung up from behind him.

Sarah focused on the ones that would hit him, the red outlines appearing only on a handful of them. She twisted, launching a blast of energy at each one. Her fists ignited the air around them as she attacked. The bursts of flame struck the vines either side of Jorn. The swordsman had dodged to the side before she struck. Jorn’s eyes went wide as they struck the vines behind him. The swordsman swung an attack just in front of him.

“Don’t attack me!” Jorn bellowed. His feet pumping all the harder to try and outrun the vines.

“Then don’t get strangled!” Sarah joked as she ran next to him. “Noobs get strangled.” She gave him a wink, then turned to blast a few more fireballs.

“I see you finally figured out how to use your character.” Jorn needled.

“I don’t know how I’m doing the fire, but the damage is crazy high against the plants. Are these numbers that pop up on my left damage points?”

“Yes! Wait, how do you not know that? Did you not finish the tutorial?” The swordsman asked as he ran on Jorn’s other side.

He was slicing away the vines that reached them. Sarah sighed, that was going to become the most irritating question she would hear in this game. She knew it.

“I didn’t exactly go through the tutorial. Can we get out of here first? It’s a rather long story.”

Jorn turned and swung his ax through the large vine that tried to take advantage of the moment. Sarah blasted faster, stopping with her two new companions in between her and the vines. Recovering quickly, the swordsman rolled away from, and struck out against, the vines around him.

There was no end to the attacks, no matter how many they cut down, more vines showed up in their place. The three of them all kept attacking, but slowly they were being forced backwards. The edge of the meadow was on their left, only around a dozen yards away. Vines rose up in a defensive wall, keeping them from running away.

“Guys, this is getting a bit intense!” Sarah cried out. “What are we gonna do?”

“We’re doing it!” Jorn called out. “We’ve been doing it, it’s just too much for our low levels and numbers.”

Sarah glanced at the numbers, they were scrolling up her vision as fast as she was punching. Each number was between thirty and eighty. She hadn’t really paid attention to them before.

“Are you saying we’re screwed?”

“Not yet, I have one skill that might get us through.” The swordsman cut in. “Be ready to sprint, it will only be open for one second after I pass through. It’s how my party finished the tutorial, but we lost two members who didn’t pass through with me in time.”

The explanation was hurried. His voice was flat and didn’t show any emotion at losing party members.

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“What’s the skill?” Jorn asked, his ax severing a large cluster of vines behind the swordsman.

Sarah dashed in and laid down cover fire, standing in between them. Sheathing his blade, the swordsman crouched into a ready position.

“Fire Gate!” His war cry was the start of his attack.

Red flames billowed up around the three of them. The vines that came in range started singing and bursting into bright yellow flames. Smoke rose around the energy being built up.

“When I go, you go. No hesitation.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he breathed in deep. Sarah readied herself as well, Jorn was strapping his ax on his back. They all felt the tug of the fire’s energy. The large wall that was nearly blocking out the horizon, was the target. With a metallic ring, the swordsman moved. Sarah launched off, sprinting a millisecond later. Jorn blinked before he moved his body.

Crimson flame parted the air before them. Sarah could see as the sword sliced through the vines, dozens of strokes in the time it took her heart to beat once. The plant matter that was struck turned to ash, falling away and leaving a hole large enough to pass through. All three of them passed through unscathed, and continued their sprint to the path at the edge of the meadow.

“Now what?” Sarah yelled out.

The three of them bursting free of the tall grass and flowers. Even if they managed to keep running down the road, the vines were keeping up with them easily. How far could they reach?

“The city is that way!” Jorn responded, he pointed down the road.

The meadow ran alongside it for as far as Sarah could see. Pumping her legs, she began to outpace the other two. Looking back, she saw the mass of vine appendages chasing them.

“Duck!” Was the only warning she could give, before letting off several furious blows, launching fireballs back at the plant.

Jorn barely moved out of the way, the swordsman had flattened himself against the ground. Fire rained over the vines, cutting back their assault. Jorn pulled his ax off his back and swung, clearing another section of them.

“Keep running!” A female voice rang out.

Sarah turned to look for the origin of it, before she could find the girl though, the swordsman was dashing past her. Not wanting to be left behind, she chased after. A glance behind her, gave her relief at seeing Jorn running behind them as well. He was still slower, but he was swinging his ax behind him to keep the few scattered vines at bay.

Cresting a hill, Sarah finally saw the women who yelled out. She was dressed head to toe in a silvery robe. Bright white light shone from her hands, her mouth was forming words without sound. As soon as Jorn passed her, she released the energy.

“Begone! StarBurst!” Her incantation was spot on, the brightness of the cast had brought the light of a star flashing down upon them.

Sarah and Jorn both covered their eyes, the swordsman simply kneeled and kept his eyes closed. Something that powerful had to have cut the vines back a little, hopefully. Otherwise, they couldn’t beat that creature anyway.

When Sarah opened her eyes again, the bright spots in her vision still radiating painfully, she saw how the meadow had been culled away. Burnt to a crisp, not even ashes remaining.

“Amazing.” Her word was a long exhalation. “That was seriously incredible. How did you do that?” Sarah had to know, because that was something she wanted to do.

“It’s a skill. An extremely taxing one. And now that I’ve killed the small one, the hive will swarm here. It’s no longer safe out in the open. We have to go.” With that, the silver lady turned and walked away.

“But!” Sarah stuttered. “But, who are you? And what do you mean by the hive?”

“I can tell you more in the city. It is not safe here. My name is Anunt. I’m a healer, but after my attack, my energy is drained. We must get you three back to the safety of the city, and to see someone that can cure your wounds.”

Sarah was about to say they didn’t need a healer, that they had survived alright, but when she saw the swordsman still kneeling. Eyes screwed shut in pain. She knew they hadn’t been unscathed. The prompt had been to save the two wounded warriors. One still died, and this man, he must still be wounded somehow.

“Then let’s go.” Sarah was determined to save this man now.

They had gone through too much to not to. She helped the man stand, helping him steady his arm after he sheathed his sword. It was like a puppet being let go of its support after the man put his sword away. He almost dropped back to the ground, Sarah hadn’t been ready for all of his weight, but found she could hold him if she tried.

Jorn stood behind them, ready to follow. His heavy ax was still out in his hand, ready in case anything else popped out in ambush. Anunt was already several paces ahead, but wasn’t outpacing the group as they began walking.

Up to that point, adrenaline and battle instinct had kept Sarah from noticing how fatigued she felt. Mentally, she was handling everything. Physically however, she suddenly felt like the warrior's weight was growing indefinitely. They had made it to the next hill, but Sarah suddenly couldn’t walk anymore. Gravity seemed to be forcing her feet to stay closer to the ground with each of her last steps. Jorn’s head split between her and the swordsman. His arms embraced both of them, lifting them slightly again. He never stopped walking, just pulled them along.

“Duerlin.” The swordsman said weakly, his head held high even though his body slumped. His feet barely touched the ground as Jorn carried them up the road.

“Jorn, glad we could save at least one of you.”

“Thank you, and Dureft lost his head long before the plant killed him. Hopefully he is taking the re-spawn time to reflect and come to his senses.”

“I’m SarthDarah. Was Dureft the only other party member you had?”

“He was,” Duerlin’s head fell slightly. “All the rest of the people we have met have either died or not been people we wished to stick around.”

Sarah thought about that, between Jorn’s party wipe at the end of his tutorial and Duerlin’s two person party that witnessed a bunch of players fall. That meant that either way more people had gotten a pass for this beta test, or that very few were surviving it.

City scape suddenly popped up over the horizon. Several buildings, all only two or three stories tall, came into view. Walls were built around the majority of the buildings, a couple were set off the side of the road before the gate entrance.

Anunt was aiming the group for the first building on the right. It had two large doors, wider than they were tall. A bright red cross had been painted in between the doors. Sarah guessed that was the emergency healing house.

Upon entering, she found she was right. It was more of a war front, last ditch effort before you actually die, kind of place, but there were a handful of healers running around. They tended to people who had limbs blown off, giant holes could be seen in more than a few of them. One body was swollen so bad, Sarah couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. The black and brown puss leaked out of sores all over the person.

“Meteora ants. Highly toxic.” Anunt explained, seeing how Sarah stared at the poor person. “Luckily you all made it out relatively unhurt. Your friend has some slight poisoning, but if he takes this.” Anunt held out a handful of bright green leaves she had taken from a basket on one of the store tables. “Chew one leaf every hour for the next three hours. You should be fine. Do not wander out into the high level areas again until you're more prepared. This game, it’s not forgiving. We are swamped here trying to heal so many. My saving you was luck, not design.” She began shooing them to the exit.

“You said you would tell us more in the city!” Sarah protested. Anunt just pressed them with a hard glare.

“I already have! Does it look like I have the time to be coddling newbie players? I’ve a field clinic to run. Get out of here unless you're dying!”

She had gotten loud and angry, fire crackling in her eyes as she spoke. Sarah knew they weren’t wanted here. They would be in the way of the healers work. She needed more info about the city though, at least she had Jorn to follow. He said he had been going back and forth from this city for almost a day now, surely he would know about it.

“Come on,” she turned to Jorn, able to stand on her own again. “We need to get into the city and find a place to rest.”

Jorn nodded, Duerlin had already started chewing on a leaf, but he nodded his assent as well.