Nathan looked at his PDA. It read: "Era 2012 CE: The Beginning of the End."

What stood before Nathan and Eve was the ruins of a large city. It was dark. Nathan looked up into the sky. There was about three quarters of the moon visible with a jagged edge where the rest of the moon should have been, but there were a lot of stars.

"This place looks scary," said Eve.

"It is marked as The Beginning of the End," said Nathan. "It is likely this is where people start dying in large numbers and other things start taking over the world."

"So how are we supposed to find these abnormalities?" asked Eve.

"I guess that's part of the game," said Nathan. "We just have to look around and find one, but we should find a safe zone first."

"Safe zone?" asked Eve.

"It's a place where you cannot be attacked, kind of like a city," said Nathan.

"But what if all the cities are like this?" asked Eve as she motioned to the area around them.

"There will be one somewhere in any game," said Nathan. He opened the map on the PDA on his arm. A holographic display opened up, showing where he and Eve were including which direction they were facing. "We're here," said Nathan as he pointed to the blinking dots on the map.

"Where's the safe zone?" Eve asked.

Nathan looked around on the map. "I don't know," said Nathan. "There's no markers like other games. If we die we would probably just return to The End of Time."

Eve looked around on the map and saw something unusual. A large uneven circle of rocks. "What about here?" Eve asked.

"By the way, don't hang on to me when we're walking, we need to keep an eye out for danger," said Nathan.

"Alright," said Eve as she let go of Nathan's arm.

Nathan took a minute to orient himself to make sure that they were heading straight towards the rock formation. "It's this way," he said.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Eve.

"You're the melee class," said Nathan. "You have to lead the way in case anything attacks us."

As the two walked, they noticed that the entire city was in ruins. There was not a single building left standing. The ones that did look like they were standing were still missing at least half of their structure. It was as if something large ran through the city and crashed into every building. "Stop!" said Eve.

"What is it?" asked Nathan.

"There!" said Eve as she pointed to the green liquid flowing out of a canister on the floor.

"It's just some trash," said Nathan. "It's nothing."

PLOP. There was a sound. It sounded like if a liquid dropped a short distance. "There's something there," said Eve.

"It's just the sound of the leaking canister," said Nathan. He continued to walk.

BOING. Out of the liquid, a ball of green slime appeared. "It's alive!" shouted Eve. She readied her sword and shield.

"It's a slime," said Nathan. "Usually it's the weakest of all the enemies in a game."

Name: Radioactive Slime

Level: 1

They could only see the name and level of the monster. There was no other information. No health bars, no status effects, nothing. The Radioactive Slime was making its way towards Eve since she was in front. It started to bounce. BOING BOING. It was speeding up.

"Hiya!" Eve slashed at the Radioactive Slime. Her sword went right through it as she pushed it back with the blade of her beam saber. SQUEE. "It screamed?!?" Eve was surprised by this. The hole left by her sword in the Radioactive Slime began to fill in. The size of the Radioactive Slime shrank.

HISS. There was a strange sound coming from her beam saber. It was either burning the remains of the Radioactive Slime on it or the Radioactive Slime itself was poisonous and trying to eat away at her beam saber. "Hurry up and shoot it!" shouted Eve.

Nathan drew his gun and fired at the Radioactive Slime. BANG BANG. Two shots flew straight toward the slime. SHLUCK. A hole formed in the Radioactive Slime as green liquid spewed out the back of it. There were two holes in the Radioactive Slime that were slowly being filled in. Again, the Radioactive Slime shrank. "Is it invincible?" Eve asked.

"No," said Nathan. "It's getting smaller, meaning it's taking damage."

The Radioactive Slime was jumping around, trying to get to Eve's side. Eve rotated her body to face the Radioactive Slime so that it was just moving in a circle around her. BANG. Nathan fired a shot at the Radioactive Slime. DOING. The Radioactive Slime stretched its body, avoiding the bullet. "It dodged it?!?" Nathan was surprised.

"You're useless at this point," said Eve. "So much for being good at games."

"This is my first time playing something like this," said Nathan.

"You should have picked mage or something," said Eve.

"Why would I pick a mage in a sci-fi game?" asked Nathan. "That defeats the point, much like how you chose a tank class that uses a sword and shield when there's guns around."

"Because it's useful," said Eve. "You should be picking for utility, not for coolness." Eve took another swing at the Radioactive Slime which expanded lengthwise to reduce its height. It had dodged the sword swing as well. It was not as easy as it looked. Eve kept her eye on the Radioactive Slime, making sure it could not move without her noticing.

BOING BOING. The Radioactive Slime was preparing for another attack. BOING. It jumped straight towards Eve. Eve raised her shield. BANG. SPLAT. The Radioactive Slime crashed straight into her shield. It also seemed to have hurt itself in doing so. PLOP. The Radioactive Slime fell to the ground and it shrunk even more. Eve thrust her sword straight into the body of the Radioactive Slime. SQUEE. It screamed and exploded into a burst of white shards.

A small box appeared in front of Eve.

Reward: Gold

"See if your stats changed," said Nathan. His did not since Eve did most of the fighting.

"Sword went up by one point," said Eve.

"So we have to fight repeatedly to get stronger," said Nathan. "That's what happens when experience isn't gained like a normal game."

"So what happens when you max out your skills?" Eve asked.

"I don't know," said Nathan. "There's usually multiple tiers and no one really reaches the max in these games because it keeps going and you just keep becoming stronger."

"Let's hurry up," said Eve. "I don't like this place. I want to find a real town as soon as possible."

Soon after, the two of them made it outside of the city. There were no more surprise encounters with any creatures. "Monster density is low at least," said Nathan.

"If there's more fights though, we can get stronger," said Eve.

"But if you're new, fighting can be scary," said Nathan.

"Do you need to hold on to me?" Eve asked. She extended her arm out.

"N-n-no," said Nathan. He hesitated for a second. "I can take care of myself."

"It's okay if you don't want to admit it," said Eve. "You still have to look strong for me even if you are not." Eve understood him perfectly.

"Why did you not stand up to all those people who were harassing you if you know this?" Nathan asked.

"In games, numbers mean everything," said Eve. "I don't want to pick a fight with a much stronger player and find myself constantly getting killed. I'd rather avoid it until I'm strong."

Eve was definitely smart. She knew her own limits. Because of how virtual reality games function, Nathan was already at a disadvantage. He did not have the mentality needed to be a strong fighter. Eve let nothing phase her, so she was not distracted by the sensation of pain or other things. She only had her eyes on a single goal at a time and she focused all her attention on it.

The two entered something that resembled grasslands. There was a large amount of grass on the floor growing through the paved road. "How long do you think it's been since these roads were maintained?" asked Nathan.

"Probably thirty or more years," said Eve. "Whatever caused that city to be destroyed happened long ago."

"How do you know that?" asked Nathan.

Eve pointed to the ground. "The road is still here, but it is broken and the plants are slowly covering it," said Eve. "Don't you pay any attention in science class?"

"Not to random little things like this," said Nathan.

The sun rose and the two could see further into the distance. They saw the large rocks in the distance. "I think that's it," said Eve as she pointed at the rock off in the distance.

"Let's hurry then," said Nathan. He began to run towards the rock.

"Wait for me!" shouted Eve. Nathan was far ahead of her. It was dangerous.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

KEE. It was the sound of a creature. "There's something here!" shouted Eve.

"Run towards the rock! There's a person on top of it!" Nathan shouted.

Eve could see what looked like a person sitting down on top of the rock. She ran as fast as she could. KEE. She could hear it. It was getting closer and louder. No matter where she looked, she could not see it. The ground beneath her feet began to shake. It was under her, that's why she could not see it.

BOOM. A large mole popped up in the ground in front of her.

Name: Giant Mole

Level: 2

It was a level 2 monster. They were only level 1. It was probably going to have some kind of special ability as well.

BANG. HISS. It was the sound of a loud explosion followed by the release of something. BOOM. The Giant Mole in front of Eve exploded into fragments. There was not a trace of it left. "We're inside the safe zone," said Nathan as he reached his hand out to Eve.

"So anything that walks into this range is killed?" Eve asked.

"Only if it is hostile," said Nathan. "It will kill player killers and monsters."

"That's good to know," said Eve.

The two of them walked and saw the rock. Between each rock was a metal gate that could be opened to allow people in or out of the area. That was how they kept the town safe. When they walked past it, they saw other rocks. On top of each rock was a person.

Name: Camp 221 Guard

Level: 10

They were powerful guards protecting the city in the middle of the rocks. There were crudely constructed buildings made out of scrap metal. Some shops were made out of trailers. It was almost entirely non-player characters in the city. There was only one or two other players in the area. "They really went all out on the design," said Nathan.

"Yeah it looks like what would happen if people tried to open up shop after a hurricane destroyed the city," said Eve.

Nathan opened his PDA. The area where they were in now was marked Camp 221. It updated with a safe zone as well. "It looks like the map will update as we discover new things," said Nathan.

"That's a lot of land to search," said Eve.

"Let's try asking around town," said Nathan.

"There's no one around to ask," said Eve.

"NPCs can provide us with information as well," said Nathan. "Maybe one of them has a quest."

Eve looked at the clothing store owner. Her name read: "Ida – Clothing Store Owner." The store itself had mostly tight leather or various animal furs with a few pieces of metal armor. "Do you know if there's anything to do around here?" Eve asked.

"There's only the pub," said Ida. "If you're looking for something to do, there might be people looking for help there."

"Thank you," said Eve. It was strange talking to an NPC. They tried to act like people, but they were not.

The store next to it was the weapon store. The owner's name read: "Agata – Weapon Store Owner." There were numerous types of blades and a few types of guns. There were different requirements to equip each weapon. It was a form of balance to stop a new player from buying a super powerful weapon and then use it to become stronger faster. "Do you know if there's any quests around here?" Nathan asked.

"You'll have to ask around the pub," said Agatha. "There are sometimes people looking for help in there."

"A quest trigger!" thought Nathan. He headed outside and saw Eve. "Hey I found something."

"Me too," said Eve. "They said the pub."

"That's what I got too," said Nathan. "Let's go."

"We're not going to look around town?" Eve asked.

"There's really not much to do until you either finish a few quests and obtain some fame," said Nathan. "Until then, most of the things in towns are usually locked."

"I see," said Eve. "Then let's go to the pub."

There was a stone building that was still standing. In front of it was a sign with the picture of a wine bottle. This was the pub. Eve walked in first. The moment she stepped foot in the door, everyone turned to look at her. She looked around. After a moment, everyone returned to their normal business. The same happened when Nathan walked in. They all looked at him for a second before returning to their normal business.

"That was weird," said Eve.

"It's probably a scripted event," said Nathan. "Whenever someone walks in, everyone looks to see who it is."

At the back of the pub was a bearded man in an apron who was polishing up his beer mugs. There was an exclamation mark over his head. It meant that a quest was available. Nathan walked up to the man. "I heard you have something for us to do," said Nathan.

"A couple of punks like you?" the man laughed. "You guys are just going to get yourself killed."

"It looks like he will not accept us," said Nathan. "There must be other requirements."

"Don't you trust us?" asked Eve.

"It's hard to trust anyone these days," said the man. "Everywhere you look people are robbing and killing each other."

"He's responding to us," said Eve. "Let's just keep trying. Maybe there's a key word or something."

"What is it that you need us to do?" asked Nathan.

"There's a lizard to the north of town that's interfering with deliveries," said the man. "I need you to take it out."

New Quest: Northern Lizard

Slay the lizard outside of town to open up the supply route from Camp 220.

"It's a hunt quest," said Nathan. "We just have to kill the monster."

"Do we know where to find it?" Eve asked.

"It's implied it's a route from North of town," said Nathan. "If we just follow the road, we should be able to find it."

"We should prepare first shouldn't we?" asked Eve.

"Prepare what?" asked Nathan. "It's not like we can afford anything here."

"So we're just going to go?" asked Eve.

"It's a quest not a raid boss," said Nathan. "Walk over there, kill it, return, and collect our reward. At most it should only be a little stronger than the Radioactive Slime."

"I think we should ask around town," said Eve. "There might be something more."

"We'll do what you want," said Nathan.

"Thanks," said Eve. She wanted to know as much as possible before going into the battle. After all, knowledge is power and if you can predict when an attack occurs, it is possible to avoid it. If you know enemies use certain kind of attacks, you can prepare equipment to resist it.

Nathan and Eve asked around town to see if there was any information about the Northern Lizard. Some NPCs began to react to the word of it. "I heard that it's weak spot is the spot on the head between its eyes," said a man in the pub.

"I heard it is able to shoot water from its mouth," said another man.

The NPCs were now giving hints about the monster they had to fight. Almost everything else they heard was a variation of that. The actual amount of information available was very little, but it was better than nothing. "I was right!" said Eve. "Now we know what we are up against."

"So it can shoot water from its mouth and its weak spot is its head," said Nathan. "When we fight it, you should take the water blast with your shield. It should give me a chance to shoot it."

"That sounds good," said Eve. "Just don't miss this time."

"I didn't miss, it dodged!" Nathan shouted. "It also dodged your sword too in case you forgot."

"Yeah yeah, but I did most of the work," said Eve.

"The real problem here is that there's no specific information about where it is or what it looks like," said Nathan. "We could be at it for a while."

"That's fine," said Eve. "Remember, we promised to do this together so lets make sure we win together. We can always just identify it by sight since we kind of know where it is and what it does."

"Alright," said Nathan. "I expect that there will be several fights before we reach the monster we're supposed to kill. It is never just one. That would be too easy."

"Too easy?" said Eve. "Fighting is not easy."

"Do not forget that few people get far into this game," said Nathan. "The lack of guidance makes it difficult and we could spend days and never find this thing."

"You'll never find it if you keep thinking like that," said Eve. "If you think like that, you're just looking around because you're bored. You're not intending to actually find the creature. It's like how you could not feel the Radioactive Slime."

"I trust that as leader you'll be able to find it then?" asked Nathan.

"I have a better chance than you at least," said Eve.