Players were dying by the second. Bodies littered the cavern floor, and there was so, so, much blood.

“This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream,” someone was muttering.

“This has to be some kind of joke. Maybe the developers were testing out some new features or something?” I rambled out loud.

“Fucking run you idiot!” the gladiator grabbed me by the scruff and jumped, putting Superman’s ‘single-bound’ to shame.

I closed my eyes to keep the sting of the wind out, and strangely felt a brief cold breeze come from behind, before we landed with a crash, bashing some sense into me.

“Thanks,” I coughed looking over to him, “w-woah-woah, holy shiiiit!” only his arm and a bit of his torso remained attached to my gruff. “Get it off, get it off!” my hands couldn’t stop shaking.

The hair on my neck and arms stood on their ends, and I shivered, then out of thin air a grey wisp of smoke filled the air, and a grey hooded creature appeared before me.

‘Urrrgh’, ‘Arrrghuuahgha’.

“Ahh effing liches!” I screamed and turned to run, but my foot slipped, kicking up some of the stone tiled floor. I fell flat faced, and quickly spun around but the faceless Lich evaporated out of existence. It was happening all around me; grey hooded creatures would momentarily appear scaring the absolute shit out of players before disappearing again.

It must be a mass fear ability or something… ok, come on stupid body, get up.

The intelligent of us, or was it the cowardly? Ran and clung to the edges of the cavern walls. People, no-no, characters, it was just characters, were dying all around me.

I don’t want to play anymore, this isn’t fun… No, this is serious, I need to stay alive, I have to. If magic doesn’t work… then… Hmm, I wonder if item abilities still work?

After some trial and error, it turned out if you said or thought of ‘inventory’ while concentrating, it opened in your mind’s eye. A shiny black clock appeared on my back, and a green ethereal bar appeared at the bottom of my vision. I tried activating the latent ability. Oh my god, it’s actually working. Turning my hand over, as it faded from sight. Now, I just have to make it to one of those doors… if I do that, maybe I can get out of here… alive.

Slinking across the walls was the only safe way to the closed doors, I bumped into something along the way, something soft. ‘Ouch!’

“Sorry!” I said aloud.

“Find your own spot!” The voice returned.

It sounded like a girl’s voice but not at the same time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. This was definitely no longer a game, this was real, the players were real, the blood, guts, and protruding bones littered on the hard-stone floor… real. A player landed at my feet like a broken faggot of sticks, I jumped back. He was charcoal black, as if he’d been forgotten about on the barbeque. The smell of roasted flesh forced me to evacuate involuntarily and I could taste the bile in my mouth. The smell was real.

“Why is this happening?” An elf bard whined. “If we were transported to an RPG world, why aren’t I the main protagonist endowed with unmatchable power and swarmed by pretty girls to make up my harem?! Why aren’t I the hero.” He grit his teeth and clenched his fist.

The elf snapped me out of my stupor. People are in pain and could possibly be real-deathing, “you still can be.” I said through glaring eyes, though not that he could see.

“Huh? What do you mean?!” He snapped looking around randomly. “Join the hardcores out there, prove yourself, then, I’m sure the harem will come after that.” I lied.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right!” he exclaimed loudly. More players around him seemed to have picked up on our conversation and were passing the revelations along. Oh shit, you have got to be kidding. “Umm, no wait…” I began to say.

Ahhhh! They shouted together, with renewed vigour.

“Wait!” I called out but it was too late.

Idiots.

I watched them run straight in to the fight. Maybe they can defeat them. Though the fact others could still hear me, made me think perhaps I should get sneak on too. I pulled out a serve of Braised Swooper, which also deodorised smell. There was a zinginess, ginger? And, a softness to the texture, it tasted and smelt like Spring and Summer. There’s no such thing as taste and olfactory senses in game…

“Oh shit…” I tried to say but my words had no sound to them.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  

The doors were like giant ancient stone vault doors.

“There’s no way to open it!” A human Warrior said.

“Why is this happening?!” Replied a red panda Dark Mage, “why are we even here?”

They scratched, pulled, pushed at the huge stone door but it didn’t budge.

No-no-no, come-on, please.

With both hands I gave it a go too and grasped the gap between the door and heaved, my muscles bulged, and steam rose from my triceps until a message appeared in my vision.

You have failed to open the “The Door of the Gods”,

You do not meet the minimum prerequisites…

Shiit… There was nothing else to do but slump down in despair and watch everyone get pulverised into bloody oblivion.

Hahaha, wish Matthew could see this, a harem doesn’t sound too terrible now, compared to this…

“You want to survive?!” Boomed a white armoured human Paladin. The cowards, and I looked over at him, whilst the giant boss monsters continued annihilating players behind him. “Stop being cowards, and come help us defeat them!”

Nah, I’m good here, thanks.

  

From atop the stone door frame I could see it all. Players jump attacked the two bosses like a locus of crickets. Giant glistening ribbons rained over the players, dicing them up like a tornado of knives. The diamond monster paused for a moment, its core glowing a bright white. The frontline fighters looked up abated breath. A dome like wave shot out, the players immediately below began to float weightlessly into the air.

“We can’t keep fighting as individuals!” the white armoured Paladin boomed. “Those in the South and the East, withdraw and rest!” he yelled at the South-East flank of Krolypnos. “All Tanks with the Bastion of Light job ability and all mages rally to me and make an Alliance!” he roared.

I see where you’re going with this. I’m not sure I’d do the same, but I like it.

In the North half of the cavern, players swarmed the Obsidian Elemental God, one player smashed off a bit of its arm, it regenerated as if nothing ever happened, but its health bar went down a little.

It swung its black trident in arcs in response, and each time plumes of fire would spew from its tip. Players screamed as their characters were roasted alive, and those who weren’t hiding their noses in their elbows were constantly retching.

“There’s no scenario where this ends well…” a human thief with a large sleeveless black trench clock said aloud. “Jonas?!” I jumped down and tried to call out, but no sound escaped me. Stupid ‘Sneak’ effect! How the hell am I supposed to get his attention?

You have sent a party invitation to ‘Ace’.

“ZoohMyGod? Mark?! Unbelievable!”

‘Ace’ has accepted your party invitation.

Mouthing ‘Chat’, or maybe it was just thinking about it, either way, the ‘Chat’ interface appeared in my vision with see-through borders, lines, and text. I waved my hand through the air in strokes.

ZoohMyGod: “Jonas?! what the hell is going on? One second I was sitting on the toilet and the next I was zoned in this cavern! And I can feel smell and taste! tell me this is just some crazy new release?! And that we’re unsuspecting beta players? And what’s with all the blood and guts?!”

Jonas’ character ‘Ace’ went invisible.

Ace: “No Mark, this way not normal, it is freakin strange as! What I know is that we’re not here by accident, and neither are the other testers, and the government is involved somehow. If we think about this logically, then it is not hard to assume that the IFO product owners are aware of the changes too, which suggest…”

ZoohMyGod: “Suggests what?”

Ace: “I’m not sure… but I will find out. For now, I think it is in our best interest to stay alive.

ZoohMyGod: “Ok. Let’s camp it out then… Make sure you put sneak and deodorise on.”

  

Staring intently at the bosses I brought up each of their health bars, they were both basically empty.

The obsidian boss assumed a running stance and his hard epidermic shell glowed hot red. A polar bear ranger shouted out “It’s going to use Hellfire, get out of the way, NOW! NOW! NOW!”

Great big plumes of fire erupted out of the huge sprinting giant enflamed creature. Players exploded like ants under a magnifying glass, and the smell of cooked flesh filled the cavern.

Jonas: “Now!”

Slyhpet has use the ability ‘Aura of Courage’,

You are now under the effects of ‘Aura of Courage’.

Ibanez888 has use the ability ‘Bastion of Light’,

You are now under the effects of ‘Bastion of Light’.

…

…

I stamped my foot down, pressing hard, but instead of kicking off, my foot skidded along the ground behind me, and I tripped forward. My heart thundered in my chest but made no sound, and I looked up to see beyond the great expanse, in the centre of the room, the towering obsidian humanoid wielding its giant black glass staff, the cracks over the creature’s body and at its joints glowed a deep orange lava and pulsated steam in rhythmic breaths.

My heart froze.

Come on, this is just a game! I reminded myself.

I took a few casual steps before finding my rhythm, it was like what I imagine running on the moon to be like. I was almost horizontal, and each step was so powerful I would bound over several metres before taking another.

There were brief notes of grating steel and screaming coming from over at the Time God. Focus! Jonas appeared on the back of the Elemental God, his invisibility wearing off after making his first attack. He flailed like a spasmic cat, dropping out of a ten-floor building, before he hit the ground hard.

Right, try not to do that… I

t’s big toe, loomed over me like a massive boulder, with no attack-guidance-system, I closed my eyes and winced as I sent the blade for a very manual light side-ways slash with my greatsword ‘Mind-Breaker’. The sword clanged on the hard obsidian epidermis, sending shockwaves into my hands, but I didn’t drop my sword, or scream out in pain, or shit myself.

The monster was huge, its legs were like a hundred redwoods tied together, its torso like a mountain side, and it’s head like the sun glaring down at me. We locked eyes, he bared his black obsidian teeth and roared. Shit, I’ve aggroed it.

Its staff came from my left. I scrambled for my greatsword and hefted it from the ground shifting into a wide stance. I only had one shot at this, and I waited until the very last moment until he was within striking distance.

“Runic Absorption!” I swung my sword round to meet his trident, the flames sucked into my sword like a vacuum, but the trident pushed through and the wind was knocked out of me, everything became a spinning blur, and I couldn’t feel anything anymore. When things began to focus again, I could see ground as if I had just gone skydiving. I hurtled towards it at breakneck speed, closed my eyes and braced for the impact.

The world came into view like the opening in a movie, but someone in the audience was dry retching, me again?! Standing was a struggle, so were keeping my hands from shaking, my palms healed before my eyes. I’m still alive… What, I’m still alive? The pain subsided quickly, and my movements returned to normal. Wait, is that Ibanez face down there? Bastion of Light must have got him, unlucky. Shit, my sword! I must have lost it at some point. A few mental flicks and clicks and a replacement greatsword from my inventory filled my hands, not as good as my other one, as it was more geared towards stunning the enemy. That creature must have gotten me, though I still don’t know what happened. One second I was swinging at it with my greatsword, the next I was flying through the air. This is no good. How are the others doing? What about Jonas? My health bar slowly regenerated, thank god for whoever’s Aura of Healing.

The others were starting to get the hang of it, bouncing around like all those that came before us. “Alright come on,” I slapped my face, “let’s finish this!"