"Mark, you're not making sense, what about are those weird toad creatures?" Catherine replied, as we jogged for the Lord Mayor’s mansion.

"Toads? No, I mean yes, they’re one of the beastmen types, Ropua, they are a part of the invasion."

"What invasion?" Catherine asked, "How do you know all this?”

“Yeah-nah, umm, I can’t be sure, but I think this is an in-game event, originally Infinite Fantasy Online had three different expansions, Beastmen Invasion…”

"So, this is a game?" Catherine asked, confusion and fear clouding her eyes.

"No, no, no," I replied, "this isn't a game anymore, it's real, and it's happening right now. Normally, the beastmen don’t actually invade,” I said glancing back, “but I guess that’s different now.”

“Okay then, what is the backstory to the Beastmen Invasion?” Catherine asked, "And why are you so certain that this is a quest?"

"The backstory? Umm, well…" I began, "It's complicated, in the lore of the game, Gaia, the goddess of earth and fertility, fought off an invasion of monsters called the "Dominators". To do so, she needed to summon allies to aid her. One such ally was the Demi-Dragon Tiamat. Another was the Demi-God Belial. But after beating back the forces of evil, another, more innovative enemy appeared, the humans. They had a way to use magic and a way of organising themselves that Gaia did not know how to counter. When this happened, Gaia realized that she would need new allies if she wished to continue fighting the human race. She then went on to create the Beastmen. These beasts were created from the energy of the planet, and they were given a single purpose: to destroy those created in god’s image."

"Okay..."

“Err, well, in the game the Beastmen invasion never actually occurs, it’s just an idea, a description, but it appears descriptions are coming true… hey, we’re here.”

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We stormed into the mansion.

“Azorak! Azorak!”

There was no reply, so we checked the second floor. We burst into his office, and there he was sitting at his desk, his eyes glowing blue. The guards Kris and Sai reached for their weapons.

“Azorak?! There’s an issue.”

He grimaced. “I can see that.” His eyes flashed back to his ordinary brown for a second, and Kris and Sai relaxed. “But what am I supposed to do about it?”

What the? Is he joking?

I went to speak, but Catherine actually beat me to it. “Muster your guards at the beach and get all the civilians to a safe point.”

“No,” I said, “show us what you can see!”

He glared at me.

“I can see you’ve got some sort of extra vision, if you want help from the players, then we need to see what you see!”

“Grrr! Fine!”

Lord Mayor Azorak is sharing “Command Centre”

Do you accept?

Suddenly, I was jerked into the air hundreds of metres above the town.

“Wooooah!”

“Calm down, your body hasn’t moved!”

Sure enough, when I toggled the view, my sight returned to Azorak’s office.

“How do I zoom in?”

“If you focus on a spot for long enough it will pull you in.” Azorak replied.

The beach jerked towards me, or me to the beach, not sure, and then I realised, it wasn’t just sight I had gained but sound too.

So, this is what he meant when he said he was watching me.

The giant toadmen breached the edge of the beach and were making their way to the pier. Deep guttural croaks rung out. Cid, the only other human I’d seen in town was still perched on the pier.

Shit, Fishermen’s Friend, no!

“Run Fishermen’s Friend!”

“Do you know him, I’m sorry, I can only order guards not civilians.”

“Summon some guards then!”

Guards started appearing out of distorted space, but several leagues back from the enemy.

“Huh?! Why didn’t you summon them closer?”

“That’s as close as I could, the invasion has pushed back the zone of influence.”

“The zone of what? Whatever. How many guards do we have?”

“We?” he said increduosly.

“You! Whatever!”

“Hurrumph, there’s 48 more.”

48?! I quick cursory glance and I could tell there were already more beastmen than that on the beach. And then I saw it. A beastmen running towards Fishermen’s Friend, he only just noticed and begun to stand, but it was too late, a spear pierced through his side exploding him in a dust cloud of light. Shit!

“Okay, summon all the guards to the beach, and send your mercenaries in for support! I have something that might help, but it’s at the inn.”

“Ho? Very well, if you think it will save my city. But if the city falls, I will find you, and I will kill you. Understand?”

I quit the command centre and met his eyes. “I understand.” I turned to Catherine. “We got to go.”

“We’re not going to fight them, are we?” she asked and thankfully caught my wink.

“Trust me, it will be fine.”