[Subject spawn countdown 8:32 remaining]

Sean wanted to cry. Everything, his whole world, had fallen apart and now he had to play some video game with his life on the line. It was hard to fathom.

The question that was plaguing him the most was, what would his father do? He and his dad were all each other had, and with Sean gone, his dad was left virtually alone.

The more he thought about his Dad, the more the tears refused to be held down. Soon he was bawling his eyes out. And it took a while for the well to dry up.

[Subject spawn countdown 3…2…1…0 remaining]

As the timer on the blue screen reached Zero another flash of light hit his eyes. Sean blocked the light with his hand.

When he opened his eyes back up, people, of all different races, were standing in front of him.

The people’s dress varied. Some wore armor, some wore fine vestments, and others wore dingy shirts and pants. What united all of them though was the symbol on the back of their hands. The same symbol was on the flag fluttering in the air behind the crowd.

The symbol was an outline of an owl with a sword in its talons. And instead black, the tattoo ink was sky blue.

Sean took a step back to create distance. He had an idea of who they were—the subjects the blue box spoke about—but the blue box wasn’t to be trusted in his eyes, considering It had ripped him from reality.

“Who are you?”

To answer his question, one of the men in armor took a step forward. He had close cut hair that was black at the stubble and his body was thin but muscular.

“I’m Leopold, my Lord. How may I serve?”

“Leopold,” Sean parroted back.

“Yes, my Lord?”

Sean paused and took a look at his subjects. They looked so real. It was as if he were looking at real humans, and not some created npc in a game made by God. If everything in the blue box was true then they would be the ones to help him win the game. And while he didn’t care to entertain God, he did want to survive long enough to find a way back home.

To do that he would have to play the game for a little bit.

“Erm…Leopold.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Yes, my Lord? Is everything ok?

“Yes! Yes. It’s fine, but I seem to be misremembering things. Can you tell me where we are? Do you know anything about God or anything about this Castle Defense game?”

“Of course, my lord. We are on the continent somewhere, but with no map to pinpoint our exact location it would be difficult to say where exactly. As for God, of course I know about God. He is our creator just as he is the creator of all things. If you have reason to doubt my faith, don’t, my lord. I still say my prayers,” Leopold said.

“And what about Castle Defense? What do you know about that?”

“I’m not sure what that is, my lord,” Leopold replied.

“Does anyone here know anything about the Castle Defense game!” Sean raised his voice loud enough so that all could hear.

The crowd murmured a couple lines of dissent and went silent after.

“I know Leopold! Can everyone here introduce themselves?”

He wanted to confirm the choices he made with the system—what he’d taken to calling the blue box—to make sure it listened to him.

One by one the crowd of fifty-one introduced themselves, showing deference as if he were really some king. It made for an awkward situation, especially with the people in rags, who were peasants, bowing to him.

All his choices were there. The system had listened to him.

“Do any of you know what happens next?”

For some strange reason the blue screens were stuck on zero from the subject timer countdown. It refused to give more instructions even after he said next a couple times.

A middle aged man in robes stepped forward. He was the mage; his name was Alastair.

“I-I-I believe you must set your Core, my lord. Once you connect to it your magic should connect to it and create our holding,” Alastair stammered out.

“Where is my core?”

“R-R-Right over here sir.”

The jittery mage pointed through the crowd and toward an altar. The altar sat in front of the flag depicting the owl and sword, and on the altar was a chest. There was a velvet pillow inside of the chest. And on the pillow was a giant orb the size of a person's head.

Sean approached the altar; The crowd split to allow him through.

He placed his hand on the orb and the blue screen with the countdown disappeared and a voice spoke directly into his head.

[Castle Defense core #633. Place core on any plot of land under your dominion to establish permanent residence and to toggle system to mental commands. Core can be moved but starting structures cannot be moved.]

“That doesn’t feel right,” Sean said. It was horrible hearing another voice in his mind. The voice would take some getting used to.

He rubbed his temples with his hands to relax his mind while inspecting the orb further. It was transparent and the sunlight from above made the center of the core look like different colors in the rainbow.

[set core here?]

Sean shivered hearing the voice talk again in his mind.

“Ye-wait!”

Just as he was going to set the core and idea came to him.

“I have a trait right? With a map?”

[yes.]

He spoke out loud, but the voice still responded directly in his mind.

“Oh! You're answering questions now, well, how do I use the map?”

The fact the system was interacting with him was good. Sean had so many questions to ask, once he set the core.

[traits are tacit knowledge. Simply think of the map and it should come naturally to you.]

Sean started to imagine a map, and like a long lost memory, images and knowledge of his surroundings started to appear in his mind.

“Everyone grab your things, we are going to set up the village. Follow me!”