— CHAPTER FIVE —

The Choices Made for Us

  \Davi/

 I stared at the map displayed on the command table, trying to make sense of the chaos. Any semblance of a line of battle had disintegrated - King's men and entente strongpoints were scattered like spilled marbles. As we watched, another line of entente defences faded. Ten minutes were left on the timer, and we were half way to filling the progress bar.

 "Well," Siegfried said, "at this point it looks like we're better off waiting out the time. Is there anything you'd like to try while we're here?"

 I shook my head. "No. Thanks for bearing with me - I know I'm not very... I'm not much of a gamer."

 Siegfried hopped up to sit on the edge of the table. "No problem; this place is different than anything I've done, too." He pulled up his menu and looked through it. "Hm. I never did get to try any of the other classes. How does Archer feel?"

 "I like it!" I smiled and scratched the back of my head self-consciously. "Though I guess I don't have anything to compare it to."

 A series of crashes drew our attention to one of the barricades surrounding the base camp. All eight of the other group members came rushing into the plaza in a panic.

 Siegfried leapt to his feet. "Where have you all been?!"

 At the head of the group, Fritz called back, "Sorry man; we're getting chased by the unstoppable force!"

 An explosion went off behind him, and a cloud of pitch-black smoke billowed up over the skyline. On the map, one of the entente strongpoints winked out of existence.

-Fritz- I swung Erik off my back and set him against a tree next to the command tent. Rose had been holding an umbrella over me as we ran, and Flora and Siegfried came over with concerned looks.

 I slapped Erik across the face. "Come on, man; talk to me!"

 "What's wrong with him?" Siegfried asked.

 "I don't know." Flora said. "He was fine a few minutes ago! He was fighting the boss over by the forest and, er, I think he broke the NPCs that were keeping it occupied. He couldn't do any damage, and it killed him."

 "Could he have rage quit?" Siegfried asked.

 Flora shook her head. "I don't think so; he was so excited..."

 "Disconnect, maybe?" Rose suggested.

 I said, "The server connection's been fine for me - it'd have to be local."

 "He wasn't lagging beforehand." Flora said. "He was swapping between classes just to use abilities to dodge attacks!"

 That caught Percival's attention. "You can swap mid combat?" he asked.

 "Yes!" Flora nodded. "And it changes your equipment to match!"

\Davi/ Percival suddenly froze, his eyes going wide. In a flurry of hand motions, he pulled up his UI and began sorting through menus with a frenzied intensity. He shuffled his inventory, moving things around, then tapped some buttons.

 His black mage robe reformed into the chainmail of a swordfighter. He drew his sword and dropped it on the ground, then just as quickly switch back to the mage armor. A heartbeat later, he was a swordfighter once more, a second blade appearing in his hands.

 "Perfect." he smiled slowly. Then he was moving, fingers flying as he jumped between classes, swords and spears and bows and wands clattering to the ground around him in a steadily growing pile.

 "What are you doing?" Lucy asked.

 "These things have a vendor value - you think I'm passing up on that jumpstart?!"

 Lucy gasped, her eyes going wide. Then she was opening her own menu, fingers moving in a blur as she started duping weapons as well. "It looks like the value is tied to how many hands they require to wield. The bow and axe are worth the most."

 "Good catch."

 Excalibur stared at them, her face scrunched up in concentration as she tried to replicate their actions. But each time she swapped class, her previous weapon vanished. "How are you doing that?!"

 Percival slowed down just enough to show her the cycle. "First, spawn the weapon and set it down. Before it auto-despawns, pick up an umbrella and let it equip itself. That force-drops the weapon that should be locked to your hand. Then put the umbrella in a belt pouch so it doesn't get overwritten, and change class to reset the weapon. If it's not in your inventory, it will give you a new one."

 I watched them work. It was impressive how fast they stitched those glitches together. But having multiple weapons got me thinking. "Earlier, you said spears can be used with one hand, right? Could you dual-wield a sword and spear and use both Lancer and Swordfighter skills?"

 "If you have both classes unlocked, sure. But here we can only try out one at a time. So yes, once we're out of the tutorial. I wonder if there will be any broken combos."

 Just then, a thunderous crash shattered the air. The barricade at the edge of the plaza was torn apart by a rush of seething purple flames. Blue dust whipped up in a flurry as the NPC soldiers guarding it were obliterated.

 Amidst the smoke and debris, a dark outline appeared. Blacker than the shadows themselves, it waded through the remains of the fortifications. The Black Knight's feet sank half a foot into the ground as it stepped onto the wet grass.

 Percival, Lucy, and Excalibur hurriedly scooped up their duped items and reset their classes into proper fighting order - except for Percy, who kept one of his swords equipped while he was in Mage.

-Fritz- "Spread out!" Siegfried shouted, his commanding voice cutting through the panic. He spun his spear into a ready position. "Flora, what kind of attacks does it have?!"

 "Uhm, fire?" her voice quavered. "It can shoot fireballs if you get too far away, and if you try to take its armor off, it will vent out of the gap! Oh, and you can't turn its helmet around!"

 Sounds like Erik did his homework.

 Percival watched the thing approach warily. In a calm tone, he said. "It's not human. There's something else in there - by the colors, it's shadow-based." Glancing at Flora, he asked, "Does Medic come with a light attack?"

 "No!" she cried, wringing her hands.

 "Then try fire or aiming for the eyes."

 "When Erik shot it in the eye, it flinched!" Flora added.

 Lucy drew the string of her bow, spawning an arrow. "It's hard to get a clear shot while it's moving!"

 "Then let's hold it still!" Siegfried shouted. "Fritz, help me!" He slammed the butt of his spear on the ground and charged forward. He brought the spear down on the Knight's foot with all his might, the empowered tip impaling through the metal and pinning it into the ground.

 "I hope we don't need the two-hand bonus." I muttered, running in after him. Drawing my spear with my remaining arm, I readied my own armor pierce and stabbed downward, burying my spear right next to Siegfried's.

 The Knight strained against our hold, trying to lift its impaled foot. The soft mud sucked it further down, but it didn't give up. It was like trying to hold back a hydraulic press. Somehow, we were managing to keep it in place, but it wasn't going to last forever - I could feel my spear bending and cracking.

{Lucy} It strained against them but ultimately ignored the two Lancers, keeping its focus on the center of town. That was perfect - it was holding its head still and wasn't moving its eyes.

 I aimed for those glowing yellow dots, big and expressionless. Percy piled on, throwing a fireball in right after my shot.

 Both projectiles struck home, slamming into the Knight's visor. The behemoth reeled backward, the boys holding the foot down straining as it tried to catch itself. For a moment, it teetered on the edge of falling onto its back, but it managed to slip its free foot behind itself.

 "Overbalance it!" Percival commanded. "Get extra weight on the head and drag it down!"

 "On it!" Rose didn't hesitate. She swiped her menu, changing class to Berserker and preparing her axe to leap.

 "Fritz, pile more on!" Percival opened his inventory and spawned in a bundle of duped lances, tossing them to Fritz.

-Fritz- The pieces clicked together in my mind. As long as I equipped a new weapon, the spear I'd already planted in the Knight's foot would remain. Letting go of my current spear, I snatched up a fresh one from the pile that landed at my feet and queued up the armor pierce ability. With a wheeze of effort, I slammed the tip down, driving it through the Knight's foot.

 "Alternate, Siggy!"

 He caught on immediately, grabbing up a fourth spear and added it to our pincushion.

\Davi/ "Captain!" Percival shouted. "Dupe more spears!"

 Captain Galactic, who was cowering behind the command table, nervously replied, "O-ok!" He opened his menu with trembling fingers, but could only stare at it helplessly.

 Excalibur showed him her own menu. "Drop, umbrella, belt, swap!" She showed him the motions, beginning to dupe out spears.

 The Captain nodded and mimicked her. In moments, they were pumping out a pile of spears for Fritz and Siegfried to jam into the Knight's foot.

 I couldn't just stand there - I had to help, too! I didn't trust my aim when my hands weren't shaking, but I had to try! I fumbled to draw. The shot wavered, my arms unsteady. But I refused to let my fear control me. The world narrowed to the gleaming point of my arrow, to the thin slit of the Knight's visor.

☤Flora☤ "Flora, go mage and use fire!" Percy commanded.

 I gave a shaky nod, my jaw not working. The Knight loomed over us, burning shadows coalescing around its gauntlet as it reached out.

 "Now!" Percival shouted. "Everyone fire!"

 As it unleashed a barrage of obsidian fireballs, a storm of arrows and magic bolts converged on it from all directions, cutting into the void of its visor. Its attack went high, streaking harmlessly into the sky.

 Rose seized the opening, launching herself through the air. She crashed into its head and dragged it backward. The thing's spine bent like a green branch, too fluid for a human body. Rose, clinging onto its helmet, came so close to the ground that she could set her feet down and pull. With all her strength, she heaved, and - *pop*!

 Rose went tumbling across the ground, tangled with the helmet as the Knight sprung upright. Where its face should have been... wasn't. A writhing mass of living shadow, darker than the blackest pitch. The surface rippled and warped, solidity bleeding into empty void. Its only features were the sickly yellow, star-like pinpricks that shone as if on its surface yet deep in the night sky.

 I looked to Percival for orders, but he stood transfixed, staring into those baleful lights.

 The Knight hefted its greatsword high and brought it crashing down. The blade cleaved the earth, opening a seething fissure that raced toward Erik's unconscious form.

 "No!" Davi cried. He dove for Erik, tackling him aside a hairsbreadth before the flames washed over the tree we'd left him under.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

 "Stop!" Rose suddenly shouted. "Everyone back off! It's after Erik!"

 Davi and Erik hit the dirt and rolled, the Knight turning to track them - except for the leg still pinned by Fritz and Siegfried. That one remained stationary as the Knight's body rotated freely around its knee.

 "It tracked his body across the city to his respawn point, then followed us here! Let it kill him again, then it will leave to follow!"

 I said, "We can't let it grief him!"

 "He's clearly not here!" she snapped back.

 Siegfried looked at Erik's body lying limp in the grass. "She's right. Let it get itself out of the way so we can end this in peace."

 Davi released his hold on Erik and scrambled out of the way as the Knight raised its hand again. Black flames swirled and burst forth, streaking toward Erik's helpless body. They engulfed the patch of grass in light-devouring flames. When the blaze dissipated, only a swirl of blue dust remained.

 The Knight's eyes dimmed, fading until its was nothing more than a perfect dark orb, and the thing stopped moving. Just like it had the first time it had killed him. Slowly, cautiously, Fritz and Siegfried backed away, letting go of their spears.

 I said, "It will take a moment for Erik to respawn, then it will-"

 A constellation of stars brightened on the Knight's face. They scrambled erratically, one coming to stop on each of the nine players ringed around it. It once again tried to raise its foot. The dozens of wooden shafts that impaled it creaked under the strain. Several snapped, dissolving into dust.

 Fritz and Siegfried charged back in to regain control, but it was no longer content to leave them. It spun its greatsword into a backhanded grip and stabbed it down on them. They dove to either side as the blade cleaved the cobblestones.

 The Knight pivoted to follow Siegfried, further loosening it skewered limb as it raised its sword. More and more spears broke by the second.

 Siegfried scrambled backward. "What's the timer at?!"

 "Five minutes!" Davi read off the map table.

 "I'll kite it! It only walks, right? I'll run a loop through the city!"

 Fritz saluted him with his good arm. "Godspeed, man!"

 Siegfried made a break for the far side of the plaza. The Knight strained to chase after him, only a couple spears remaining. They were enough to give him a decent head start - or so I thought.

 The Knight extended its arm, but not to shoot fire. It beckoned toward Siegfried, and a wave of starless sky rose from the ground to cut off his path. Siegfried quickly swapped to Berserker and made a desperate leap over it, but it reached out to grab his ankles, dragging him to the ground and scraping him over the cobbles. A gully was left in the mud as it brought him to the Knight's feet.

 Fritz quickly pulled up his menu. "Shit, how do you activate the taunt skill?" Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled, "Hey, you ugly bastard!"

 The Knight paid him no heed, raising its sword and bringing it down on Siegfried's prone form.

 And then... everything stopped.

 Not as the scene went calm as the Knight chose a new target after Erik died - it stopped. The fires raging in the plaza hung motionless, the raindrops suspended in mid air. The Knight held its blade mid-swing, the edge embedded in Siegfried's chest as the wound it left in his shoulder glowed brightly.

 But I could still move.

 Looking at Davi, I asked, "Did... did it time out?"

 He looked at the table and said, "It's still five minutes - a-and it's not ticking!"

 A voice said, "Sorry about that, folks. It's launch day - bugs and all that. You know how it goes." A man walked across the plaza. He was dressed for a day at the office - beige slacks, light-colored button-up, and a plain tie. He adjusted his glasses as he jogged over to Siegfried. "Are you still with us?"

 Siegfried, staring up at the Knight in shock, managed to gasp out, "Yes. It's a... little heavy."

 The man hummed a little tune as he opened a menu with a flick of his wrist and tapped some buttons. "Get out of here, you." The Black Knight's texture faded, revealing its wireframe skeleton, then that unwrote itself, disappearing into nothing.

 The man reached down, extending a hand to Siegfried. "How did you manage to break it out of combat?"

 I stepped forward. "Erik - er, the other member of our group - put a bucket on Nicolaus' head."

 Fritz burst into laughter. "That's what did it?!"

 The man, setting Siegfried on his wobbling feet, thought for a moment. "Must be a line of sight issue paired with the hardcoded interactions we put here." He sighed, shaking his head. "Now I need to delete all the buckets out of this place..."

 He hit a few more buttons, and Siegfried's health, which read 'dead', filled back to a vibrant, full green. The wound on his shoulder closed as well.

 "There you go."

 Siegfried rolled his shoulder experimentally. "Thanks."

 "What happened to Erik?" I asked.

 The man glanced around the plaza. "Hm? Who?"

 Rose spoke up. "He died a minute ago."

 "For the second time." I added. "He died... ten minutes ago?"

 "Ten-?" With a frown, the man brought up another menu. Erik's body spawned in front of him. He was utterly still, his chest unmoving, his eyes staring sightlessly at the frozen sky above. The man crouched beside him. "Why didn't it alert me- whatever. Was that the Black Knight, too?"

 "Yes." I nodded.

 "Figures. Players aren't supposed to be able to die here - the mobs refrain from dealing fatal hits."

 Fritz waved his severed arm stump in the air. "Coulda fooled me, geez!"

 Still examining Erik, the man absently said, "Yes, they can be quite convincing when they want to be." Standing back up, he shook his head. "It looks like his body wasn't properly deleted."

 "But why is he... like that?!" my voice broke.

 His eyes were half-open, glazed and unseeing, and his tongue lolled from the corner of his mouth.

 "And what do you mean 'wasn't deleted'?!" I practically screamed. "What was supposed to happen?!"

 His gaze met mine. His expression was impassive, almost clinical. "Because he's dead."

 The words hit me like a physical blow, and I staggered back, my hand flying to my mouth. "You... like... dead?"

 "Well, practically dead. You see, the Dive Units that you all are using to access the game interact directly with your brain by... 'dyeing' it with what, for simplicity's sake, I'll call a chemical. It's more of a 'state of matter', but we don't need to get into that. The important thing is that, when you die - in the game, that is - this 'chemical'... scrambles things around. It disrupts the higher functions of the mind. For all intents and purposes, this man is a vegetable."

 He looked down at Erik's body. "A shame - it sounds like Mr. Bradwell would have been one of the good ones. ... Oh, buckets." He said it like a swear.

 The world tilted around me, and I felt the blood rush to my head. My vision swam, the colors bleeding together like a watercolor painting left in the rain. My legs, suddenly boneless, gave out beneath me.

 This has to be a dream, a nightmare. I'll wake up any moment now, safe in my bed, and this will all have been nothing more than a terrible, terrible dream.

-Fritz- Flora collapsed. The others weren't much better off - they stood frozen, expressions ranging from shock to disbelief.

 Rose was the first to break the silence. "What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong with you?"

 The man frowned, crossing his arms as he looked down at Erik's body with... resignation? "... I don't have a proper response to that. The courses of our lives are complex things that interweave too thoroughly with the forces around us to be put into words. Regardless, we have to live with our choices, the choices made for us, and the present. I will not apologize, but I will honestly wish you luck."

 Looking at each of us he continued, "I'm going to end this instance for you - the proper announcement of what is happening and what you will need to do will be at eight."

 "Eight?!" I sputtered. "PM?!"

 "Well it's certainly too late for 8 AM."

 "It's 2:00! That's six hours a significant number of people are going to be exploring and limit testing and running wild! If you're serious about this, they should at least be given a chance to know what they're doing to themselves!"

 The man raised his hands in a shrug. He simply said, "I don't make the rules."

 Then he hit a button, and everything went black.

  (Percival)

 I was pulled backward into a lying position, and a grid of wireframe stretched across the expanse. Pieces rose from the plane, shaking and forming the shape of a long hall filled with beds - an infirmary. In an instant, color, sound, and NPCs spawned in around me.

 I found myself lying on a soft medical cot, early noon sunlight streaming through the bank of windows over my head. On one side of the room, Prince Nicolaus sat on the edge of a bed, wearing rose-colored underclothes and feeling his bandaged head. In the other corner, Alephred was a mummified bundle of casts, his arms stuck outward and one leg suspended by a sling.

 The Prince noticed me stirring and spoke up. "Ah, you've awoken at last. Thank you for your assistance." He tossed me a sack of coins. As I caught it, a notification popped up on my UI: 'Quest Complete: Welcome to Rosenburg. You have received: 30 pfennigs, 200 character experience.'

 "Given the difficulties," he continued, "I wish I could give you a medal, but I hope this will do for now. That Knight may have gotten away, but we prevented the city's destruction. For that, I thank you. We've been evacuated to Faustenburg, but my men are still fortifying the area from royalist counterattacks."

 "What of my men?" Alephred strained to lift his head, his voice raw.

 Nicolaus said, "As I always have, they have been granted safe passage out of my territory. My offer still stands, Uncle - my fight is not with you."

 Alephred shook his head, the movement stiff from his bandaged neck. "No. Not again. I have seen it too many times - you're not far off the man your father was at your age. He held the same wishes, the same ideals, and you see where that led us. I have no wish to see you follow that path, my boy. That is why we need change."

 "You know I can't abandon my people, especially not in times such as these."

 "And I wish you and your father both could see it's not them that needs you."

 They both fell quiet, then the window at the end of the hall near Alephred's bed cracked open. Livitha and a couple Resistance agents slipped inside.

 Livitha's eyes flashed with anger as they landed on Nicolaus. "Prince." she spat.

 He was entirely unruffled. "Hello, Livitha. If you're here for the old man, you only had to ask. I'm sure my Lieutenant would be more than happy to help you carry him."

 She snarled back. "Tell your hound to sleep with one eye open - this isn't over."

 "I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear that." Nicolaus smiled.

 The Resistance agents moved to Alephred's bedside, carefully maneuvering to support his mummified body between them. As they shuffled toward the window, Alephred caught my eye, keen and assessing despite the pain clouding them.

 "You know, adventurer, you could do your country a lot of good." he rasped. "The Resistance could use more brave people like you."

 "He's right, of course." Nicolaus said. "Though I would recommend putting your skills to more practical use. You don't have to assist me, but don't throw your lot in with those unavailing ruffians."

 Three windows popped up in front of me, each one listing the perks of a faction.

The Loyalists: When the Crown no longer serves the people, it must be reclaimed. Prince Nicolaus and the Loyalists wish to overthrow the Corrupted King and return a stable monarch to the throne. The Loyalists hold their capital at Faustenburg in the Celestial Plains region. Players selecting this faction will remain within Faustenburg Keep.

The Resistance: As long as there is a King, there will be a Tyrant. Alephred and the Resistance have grown tired of the abuses of the throne and wish to abolish it entirely. The Resistance is currently looking for a new headquarters and is investigating the remote city of Townsville in the King's Woods region. Players selecting this faction will be moved to the Townsville City Hall.

Neutral: Not my problem. You're just a bystander; you don't have to choose a side. Yet. Players selecting this position will not be attacked by either faction's city guards, but will also not have access to faction-specific government or embassy buildings in any zone. Players selecting this position will remain within Faustenburg, but be moved outside the Keep. Do not return without declaring loyalty to the Loyalists.

 I'd had my mind made up since I first read about the factions. As a freedom-loving American and 16-year-old punk, there was only one choice I could realistically make.

 I met Alephred's gaze. "Shove it up your ass, commie!" I declared, slamming my hand on the Loyalist window.

 "A pity." Alephred's face fell. "I hope we do not meet on the battlefield, and I wish you luck with your future endeavors."

 Nicolaus nodded approvingly. "May this trouble be over soon, Uncle."

 With one last sneer in the prince's direction, Livitha led her agents and Alephred out the window, vanishing into the sunlit city beyond.

 Nicolaus slumped back onto his bed with a groan, one hand coming up to rub at his bandaged head. "That beast got me better than I'd like to admit. If you have further questions, please direct them to Lieutenant Anderson in the command room; I need to rest."

 With that, he flopped back onto the mattress, one arm over his eyes. The soldier guarding the door stepped aside, opening the way for me to leave.

 As I stood and stretch my legs, two more notifications popped up in front of me. First was a reminder: 'Don't forget to set your class to the one you would like to start with! Unchosen classes will be locked until their class questline has been completed.'

 I was quite happy with Mage plus my free weapons, so I dismissed that one.

 Second was a party invite from Fritz Carlton. I accepted, and the side of my UI filled with names. The game's party size was five, but raids could go up to 50, so there was plenty of room for all nine of us. The group chat popped up a moment later.

[Fritz Carlton]: Hey guys, check it out \O/ two arms!

[Rose]: Good for you. Now, in case anyone was wondering, the logout button in the menu doesn't work. This thing isn't just going to kill us - it's going to force us to play. What are we going to do about this?

[Siegfried]: A lot of people are going to die before the announcement. We have to warn them.

[Rose]: No one's going to believe this. I don't even fully believe it.

[Siegfried]: Well we have to try - people's lives are on the line.

[Fritz Carlton]: Hey, Captain - pick 'Neutral' - I'll help you find your sister.

[Flora]: Oh, right! I'll go to Townsville, in case she picks that side. Her name's Lily, right?

[Captain Galactic]: Yeah.

[Flora]: Don't worry; we'll find her! And your husband, Rose! What was his name?

[Rose]: Filius. I've got him on messages; don't worry.

[Siegfried]: Has anyone else picked a faction yet? How are we distributed?

[Percival]: I went Loyalist.

[Davi Crockett]: I'm neutral!

[Rose]: I already agreed to meet Filius in Townsville.

[Excalibur]: I'm thinking about staying neutral. Wait to see which one's got better perks, you know.

[Lady Lucia]: There are fewer of us going to Townsville, so I'll go with the Resistance.

[Excalibur]: Actually, scratch that - I'm going with Team Girl!

[Siegfried]: I'll stay in Faustenburg then. Good luck, everyone.

[Flora]: Let's stay in a group until the announcement - share info.

[Percival]: Dupe your inventory full of axes before you leave the hospital - it'll only work with the class trial gear!

[Fritz Carlton]: Sounds good. I'm going to go through the rest of this dialogue; talk to you when I'm outside.

 I left the messaging window open but moved it off to the side. Nothing left to do now but enter the game world proper.

 But before that, I leaned against a bedpost. The image of the Black Knight was stuck in my mind. I should have known it from the first second I saw it. Those eyes... those horrible, staring stars.

 A choked laugh forced its way out of my throat.

 Given who'd given me my Dive Unit, of course they were behind this. Of course that was what this was! But hey, if there were going to show me how to kill those monsters properly, I wasn't going to complain. These virtual replicas were nothing - I was going to eviscerate every last one of those bastards.

---

Next time:

 It's launch day, and the mood is fervorous. Players run wild, unchained by the limits of reality in a world ripe for exploration - and unaware of just how much danger they are truly in. The group take it upon themselves to try and stop as many unnecessary deaths as possible, but, sometimes, truth is difficult to accept.

Episode 2: Welcome to Hell