The wooden doors were inlaid with different patterns, each one with seashells, rocks, polished colourful stones and random broken parts of sea creatures which Carissa failed to recognise. Each door had the same type of wooden, identical to her eye.

Each door that she had seen was closed, barring her vision of what lay inside. The open doorway behind her had rippled as a door that had disguised its surface ripped and closed the open doorway.

Farewell to the torture and exile room.

He’d never threatened her with it, not directly as in he’d carry it out if she failed to follow his instructions Mike would remove the wooden boards remove, drop her directly into the waiting ocean and let the currents wash her away, the same as he would with any other detritus.

The main part which Carissa didn’t understand was why the leader Mike was giving her more than enough opportunities to survive and learn. She had little to offer, and even if she did have basic starter equipment, he was a player with abilities far beyond her own. He surely had enough gear of his own that having hers meant little. All of this had to do with the lack of a tutorial but he was still out to give her a degree of basic protection and training.

But the way in which he had beaten her earlier and taken action without pause made her understand that he was a leader to deal with the rest of their threats.

‘.…Carissa? You still with me? I asked if you had any thoughts about the doors. Not the style that I preferred but it’s a solution that we came up with over the years. Can’t raid a castle easily if you have no idea where everything is stored. At least weapons and protection equipment wise, good deterrent for raiders and pirates. We do have limited protection within this region, in no way it’s as bad as the others, but it pays off being careful.’ asked Mike as he strode ahead of her, taking his time to place a hand on the driftwood walls occasionally.

‘.…I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. The part when you had me trapped underwater against my will after beating me around trying to gauge my capabilities as a fantasy player in a game took a little energy out of me. Oh, and the makeshift interrogation on your chair of exile added to the flavour. All of this after you promised me answers.’ said Carissa, pausing in following Mike.

Despite just leaving the doorway behind her, once the opening had closed the rest of the inside of the structure was the same style. They could have walked in a full circle and she wouldn’t have known. Brushing a hand through her hair she stopped walking and corrected her posture, standing straight.

An ache came into her brain as images made of flowing water filled her vision. Carissa stopped herself putting a hand to the side of the wall and tried her best to look through the words, to focus her attention on Mike and prove her own point.

The message continued, words demanding her attention and understanding.

[Player-Candidate Number 5428119402 you have been provided with randomly chosen basic starter equipment.

-Warning: Due to Illegal Body Modification (Disabled) basic starter equipment removed.

-You are status: Player-Candidate

-First Goal: Survive for 6 hours.

-Bonus Goal: Removed due to Candidate Penalties.

-Reward: Basic bone-based weapon, Fishing Line, Bonus Goal: Harpoon with Leash, additional HTS mode enabled for Player-Candidate 5428119402. Carissa. Follow him.]

The words were different again with another personal message directly put at her. Either there was someone who had hijacked the Ocean Gateway System a was directly targeting her or she was the chosen of a god. Either way she didn’t care much and shrugged her shoulders, she was getting to grips with the language that was spoken her easily enough.

‘Ocean Gateway system message, reminder to survive for six hours for a reward.’ said Carissa.

Her hands playing with her long hair before she flicked it behind her, letting it flow behind her back. She’d tie it up or cut it short.

Mike gave her a strange look before he shrugged his own shoulders and began walking again. This time keeping one hand on the wooden club on his belt and trailing another barely touching the walls with his fingers.

After another two metres he stopped in front of another door. This one a similar style and design as the rest except for one difference. There were voices from within, Carissa recognised two of them as Sherry and Chas. One was busy chatting and the other was slower, minimum. The other voices she didn’t recognise. Male, female any. It didn’t matter.

Waiting around wasn’t going to solve anything. Carissa pushed in front of Mike and knocked on the door, loudly and the voices within stopped.

‘...We have a rule. One single rule. And you just broke it. Joking, joking. Please, feel free to enter freely. The rest of our little crew is happy to meet you and while our numbers do vary at least you’ve already met the main three.’ said Mike.

He gestured with his hand as Carissa pushed open the door to find a larger room than she had been expecting with a large table bench with rows of chairs on each side, a kitchen or food preparation area and a table large set with metal plates, cutlery, jugs and various dishes and drinks set in front.

Smaller plates of what looked to her eyes made of carved bone held a variety of snacks including eyeballs of various sea creatures. A figure worked down the end at the kitchen but was facing away from her and all she saw was a shimmering blue robe and an apron along with tied back brown hair.

Likely Chas but harder to tell from the back as she couldn’t tell easily without getting closer and her own senses told her that she needed sustenance. Barely holding in her own saliva at the sight of freshly prepared food she stepped into the room.

The smell drew her in, hot cooked food was always a salve to those in survival situations and eating it would boost her mentally and physically.

‘Please, take a seat. We can do the introductions when we’re eating and drinking. I don’t think we’re going to find any more new candidates today.’ said Mike as he positioned himself on the inner side of the doorway.

He busied himself closing the door behind him and running his bare hands over it before he took a seat at the head of the table and took a larger metal plate and a jug for himself, eating and drinking without making additional conversation.

The table had several more people than Carissa had originally been expecting, two of them she knew, Chas giving her a nod and sitting opposite him was Sherry who gave her a small smile and a wave before reaching out for more snacks to put on her own plate.

Sitting next to her was a middle-aged man with balding hair and a slight paunch who was shaking in his seat as he kept talking to Sherry. He wore the same suit as hers, just as new without any signs of damage and a standard backpack covered in wave and turtle patterns.

Carissa heard his conversation briefly before she took in the rest of the room, his voice was loud enough to hear over the rest of the conversations. Sherry just nodded her head and patted the man on the shoulder, her clear dislike for his attention on her face.

‘.…What about the voices? I know I’m not crazy but it’s hard to ignore what we can see in front of our eyes. Everyone else has heard them, right? I’m not the only one having a breakdown in front of complete strangers? Please, tell me I’m not. Please…. I…I…’ said the man as he sucked in a deep breath when he saw Carissa enter the room.

Either he was taken aback from her appearance or he was surprised to see another person dressed the same as him. Carissa had little interest in the man personally, the fact that he had the same suit as her and a backpack simply meant that he was another candidate, one more unwilling player in this game of the gods. His skin was oddly pale though, not that she wanted to ask him directly.

Inwardly sighing, Carissa took a seat. Although she had attended enough social functions in her own world, she had wanted freedom from the responsibility from them. To focus on her own life and her own dreams of becoming a true mermaid. For now, she would follow basic etiquette and manners, sitting next to either Chas or Sherry would mean that she would show herself to be familiar with only those she knew.

Being expressive and sociable was another weapon in her toolbox, the ability to make connections and friendly relationships always came easier if you acted with confidence and had a good-looking physical appearance.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She took a seat next to a woman wearing the same type of suit with extra clothing covering her body and a calmer appearance on her face.

There was no backpack of other equipment with her and she wore a flowery pink t-shirt on with pink dolphins on the front along with a pair of shorts. Her feet were bare. She had shorter blond hair and a heavier muscular build than Carissa.

‘I’m taking a seat here. Nice to meet everyone, I’m Carissa. You OK with me taking a seat here? From the looks of it, we’ve got plenty of space and not enough to fill it up!’ Practising her own heavily weakened own sense of humour, Carissa chuckled lightly as she took her own bone plate and filled it up with several of the snacks.

She tried an eyeball first, enjoying the spiced flavour as it popped inside her mouth, the juices running down her throat and into her waiting stomach. The earlier meal of fresh squid and mixed blood and water having settled and mixed entire with the ocean water she had swallowed.

Mike had told her that the suit made it easier to relieve yourself and would process waste so she had already tried earlier when they had been walking to this room. Not the most comfortable impression but efficient enough for an emergency, once she had eaten and drunk more, she’d ask to use their bathroom facilities such as they were.

Piling more snacks on her plate she reached for a piece of freshly roasted fish when the woman sitting next to her gripped her own outstretched hand and turned her face towards Carissa.

A frown formed on Carissa’s face and she focused on making the suit flow outwards again to protect her own skin from the grip of the other woman but her stomach growled with additional hunger stopping her mental action.

She’d already had a decent dose of conflict and been warned by Mike that she needed to be more aware of directly fighting against other players unless she was confident in her own skills and experience.

Carissa turned her head and flashed a smile barely showing her teeth when she saw the face of the other woman blank over and her eyes dulled. This must have been how Mike had seen her own features when she had received a message from the Ocean Gateway system.

Either that, or the woman was having a medical emergency or had been poisoned and was having a reaction. The food wasn’t going to cause serious harm to her own constitution, altered as it was.

Eating raw fish and drinking watered down sea creature blood had little effect either, although Carissa still wasn’t sure if it was her own body giving the protection or the suit.

‘Excuse me, you’re holding onto my arm. Is the fish dangerous to eat or do we have another problem here?’ asked Carissa.

The features of the woman’s face twitched as her eyes shifted and she let go of Carissa’s arm before she turned towards Mike sitting at the top of the table and crossed her arms.

‘Mike. We have an issue here. This woman, this…figure. You can’t trust her. I’ve received my own message from the Ocean Gateway system. Also, I know her, she’s from my planet. My home reality. She’s a bad person. Close to being a criminal except everyone said she died. Or at least her poor ex-husband did. Such a lovely man. Tricked by a complete bitch.’ said the woman.

His face partially stuffed with food, Mike took a metal jug with two hands and poured it into his mouth before he wiped his face clean with one rough skinned hand.

‘I know Bonnie. She told me she’s from Terrus. Once, just once, I’d like someone else to come from Earth. It’d make my pop culture references easier to understand. Bonnie, we stick to our rules here. This is a safe haven for tutorial of new players and we don’t start physical fights. Either of you wants to leave this place and find your way to a Floating City then go for it but don’t push it here. You’d have to find your own way deep below or be forcefully dragged. I wouldn’t wish that on a new Player Candidate.’ said Mike.

‘I can appreciate that you found me and what your goals are but even with your strict training I’m telling you that you don’t want this woman here. She’s a threat and completely insane. There were rumours spreading about her and her worthless husband, what she did with all the money she made, experiments on herself, trying to become a sea monster. She’s insane. Evil and greedy. The woman is pure evil. You need to make her leave. I hate her.’ said the woman as she crossed her arms and ignored Carissa.

Mike pulled another metal jug and took a deep drink, this time breathing out hard as one hand patted his stomach in satisfaction.

‘Sherry, Chas, you see this why I keep needed to have a strong drink with a little extra added. We work and work and nothing is appreciated. Bonnie, she’s not an issue right now. Focus on your own training and class choices, then you need to level up and make your own choices. This is a community meal, we come here to eat, drink and have a chat. Bonnie, keep it calm. Sherry is there to listen you but she’s still a human being. You can come and talk to me after we finish eating but keep it calm. Direk, the food isn’t bad right? Meet Carissa, another new candidate, same as you. Mostly. Got her own message which she clicked on before she ended up in this place I bet.’ said Mike.

The man sitting next to Sherry had been nervously picking at his food, taking small bites and then putting the leftovers onto a larger plate next to him. He had several eyeballs on his plate left entirely untouched and a plastic cup next to him.

‘Wait, you’re talking about auditory hallucinations, right? Messages which only you can see? I’m not crazy. Wait, are you talking about her?’ said the man as he pointed towards Bonnie.

Shaking her head she tightened her crossed arms and tilted her shoulder towards Carissa sitting next to her.

‘No. And shut up about how you’re suffering a nervous breakdown. Go and cry in your room again and shut the door. None of us want to keep hearing your nonsense. This woman is a direct threat to our immediate safety, she’s not crazy like you, she’s insane.’ said the woman.

Carissa, having listened to the woman constantly deriding her and then further insulting the other new candidate, who even if he was weak, didn’t deserve her scorn stood up. Swallowing the food inside her mouth gulping it down her throat she turned her attention in the direction of Sherry and Chas.

‘Excuse me. My name is Carissa. If you don’t need me here then I’ll leave. Sink or swim. This place is a joke. An experiment. I wasn’t expecting one of you to be here, one of the radicals who blame me for all my actions. The oceans of our planet are clean once again. And we’re done with this conversation. Thanks for the food and the rescue. I can find my own answers.’ said Carissa.

She hadn’t expected Sherry to come to her immediate rescue but she failed to mention a single word, just putting her hand on shoulder of the man sitting next to her and pushing him back into his seat. She whispered to him with a cupped hand before making a hand gesture towards Mike.

‘We’re done here then. Finish your food and head to your room, either myself, Chas or Sherry will show to you to your lodgings. Bonnie, you know the rules, no leaving your room unless essential and one of us will be in the next room along if you need help.’ said Mike as he also stood up.

‘I don’t say this often enough but nobody listens. I tell you how dangerous this place is and all you do is fight, scream or keep talking about how this reality is false. Chas, take care of Bonnie, Sherry, you go with Direk and make sure he calms down enough to get some rest. I’ll take Carissa to her quarters. Oh, and since we’re all here a gift is in order. Welcome to the flooded game of the gods, a token of our appreciation for your continued survival. Sell it, break it or use it. The Ocean Gateway system will identify it for you.’ said Mike.

Stooping down he reached his arms under the table and came up with three small wooden dolls, each carved in the likeness of the three player candidates.

‘Catch or don’t my little newborn players.’ he threw them in turn and they landed on the table neatly in front of Carissa, Direk and Bonnie.

Picking hers up immediately to study its Carissa received a mild headache and another message, this time a mixture of driftwood and water effects.

[Player-Candidate Designate: Carissa.

Tool Received from Player: Mike

-Second-Life Statuette

-Will absorb significant physical/mental damage.

-Single Usage only.

-Self-Destruction Upon Usage.

-Item cannot be transferred or sold to other players.]

No personal messages this time.

‘Thanks for the gift. Do these quarters have locks on the inside? I’m asking for the sake of our personal safety. Also, not in the mood for anything else.’ said Carissa.

The small statuette shrunk slightly and wrapped a bracelet around her wrist, hanging off securely.

Waving a hand, Mike dismissed her attempt at a joke.

‘Yes. They lock on the inside and you have my word that you won’t be disturbed. None of you will. When the two of you finish your food follow Sherry and Chas, they know the way. Carissa, with me please. We’re leaving first to avoid any…complications with your friend from the same reality.’ said Mike.

Chas and Sherry agreed. Given that he hadn’t said a single word during the entire time Carissa was wondering how he would communicate with the woman called Bonnie but given her temperament he might have been smarter to keep his mouth shut.

Sherry gave her full attention towards the man called Direk as she shifted closer along her seat to him and gave him a shoulder massage which raised a surprised eyebrow from Carissa.

The woman wanted contact with someone and likely she had been put off due to the actions of Carissa. Not that she was interested in that way to begin with. Or she other plans.

None of my business as long as they don't try to drown me when I'm asleep.

Rather than talking she grabbed a jug of her own off the table and poured the contents into her mouth much as Mike had, the strong alcoholic liquid within burning her throat as it went into her stomach.

‘Time for bed. Good night, everyone.’ said Carissa with a smile and her own casual wave as she followed Mike out of the community eating room. She didn’t wait for a verbal reply or care to listen to empty conversation any further.