Riley's eyes opened. His room was dimly lit, as he always had his heavy brown curtains pulled tight to block the sun’s rays from ebbing into his room. Sleep came easy when he spent so much of his day hooked into Sigil Online. Now that he wasn't in such a dire situation financially, he was able to stay asleep as well. The stress and nightmares had abated. He was enjoying life again. Even if that life involved removing himself from the real world and inserting his mind into a virtual one.

He slid out of bed and went about his normal routine. Bathroom, breakfast, news articles. He went through his usual schedule in about an hour. Breakfast consisted of a meager bowl of oatmeal. He'd started to cut back on coffee, bit by bit. It wasn't really needed when he spent most of his time in-game. But he always enjoyed the taste of it as part of his morning routine.

After going through the usual motions of preparing for a day in Sigil Online, he laid back in bed and pulled his headset on.

He grabbed his crescent-shaped visor from the nightstand and pulled the strap on the back of the back and situated it around the base of his skull. He flipped a switch on the side and a familiar mechanical whir sounded from inside the headset.

He closed his eyes and rested in bed, as the countdown began to initiate his connection to the online world. He exhaled slowly. The login countdown was almost a part of him, like brushing his teeth or unlocking a door. He subconsciously counted down in his head, and the moment he reached zero, his senses faded.

-

The world of Sigil Online embraced him. When his eyes opened, he found himself within his in-game apartment. A meagerly furnished room within a concrete bunker.

He was laying on a bed that was actually nicer than the one he had in the real world. But in the game, his bed counted towards his 'apartment furnishings' and helped his character by giving him a 'rested buff' which helped his stats throughout the day.

His attire hadn't changed much, since he took on this virtual persona. He wore a pair of dark brown denim pants and a brown leather jacket. He had on a light gray T-shirt beneath.

When he made this character months ago, he'd gone by his real name, 'Riley,' up until he'd acquired his sigil and became a paragon. Now, he was called Relinquisher. Some people called him 'Reli' for short. But the friends he'd made before he became a paragon, still called him Riley. It made things somewhat confusing, but luckily the names were similar, so people tended to figure out what was going on. He wasn't sure why no one ever called him by his full paragon name. Perhaps it was too much to say?

He pulled himself out of bed and immediately went for the door. He hadn't put much money in increasing his apartment's furnishings. His money was better spent on gear and items. Furnishing your apartment was something that crafters or rich players usually did.

He left his room and went into the hall. He stepped quickly, but was in no particular hurry. He was by no means 'late' to the meeting, but he doubted he'd be the first one there.

He got to the stairwell and ascended it swiftly. When he got to the top, he opened a door and entered into the main room of Bunker 7. There was a bar counter, plenty of drinks. Couches, a lounge area, tables, booths, and a number of televisions. Most of the TVs were set to some news station or web-channel, talking about Sigil Online in some fashion or another. With the release of the latest expansion, there was even more buzz on the many stations and streamers that spoke about the game.

Riley stopped several feet into the room. He slowly scanned the area. The televisions were on, the music was playing. But for the first time in the history of playing Sigil Online, he didn't see anyone around. Not Marcella, or any of the other workers that staffed the bunker. It was dead, lifeless.

He looked over to the table that he and his soon-to-be guildmates, were usually seated around. There were a few glasses and mugs set around the wooden tabletop, but that was it.

Riley directed his attention on the televisions, as he headed over to the set of heavy double doors. None of the televisions was showing anything particularly interesting. Nothing that would warrant the bunker being empty. Maybe something was going on outside?

Riley reached the doors and pushed the right side open.

The moment he did, a cacophony of sounds assaulted him.

"There's more coming from the left!" someone shouted.

"I didn't know so many NPCs were in the entire city!" came another.

"Where are they all coming from? This is crazy!" came another voice, but this one Riley recognized. It was Seth. He was one of the first friends he'd made after he'd lost his last character.

Riley looked around, as the telltale sound of shotgun bursts assaulted his ears, coming from the far right.

The scene before him was utter chaos. There were several dozen people around, clustered around the street near the entrance to Bunker 7. But coming from both sides of the street, and pouring out of alleyways, were hundreds of figures. They looked like ordinary people, just like those around him, but with less flashy and eccentric clothing and features.

Upon further inspection of his surroundings, Riley watched as his friends from Bunker 7, were all fighting off the mass of bodies scrambling towards them.

Riley's eyes widened further, as he noticed that the bodies were sickly and pale. They weren't moving naturally. They were frantic and clawing. Some of them were missing limbs or chunks of skin.

They looked like zombies.

Riley wasn't sure how it had happened, but he found himself dead-center in what looked to be some sort of outbreak event. Hundreds of non-player-characters (or NPCs for short) were rushing towards the actual players nearby.

He spotted Red Shotgun, pumping her fists and releasing torrents of red energy bullets, which smashed and obliterated small groupings of zombies.

Nearby, he spotted Seth. His friend was easy to pick out of a crowd, with that purely white hair and overall silvery and white outfit he wore.

Seth was moving his hands in a circle. He was creating a net of white glowing energy. When the net had grown to sufficient size, he threw it out and propelled it towards the mass of oncoming zombies that were scrambling to overtake his position.

The net caught five of the zombified NPCs, and caused them to stumble and slow down the zombies behind them. Seth still had a single white thread connecting his hand to the net. With a squeeze of his fist, a bolt of white lightning shot through the webbing and shocked the trapped monsters, causing them to shock others around them. Some of the zombies burst into colorful particles of light as they were destroyed.

Half of the people fighting the zombies, were actually just a single player. There were roughly twenty copies of a young asian woman, with blue denim pants and a purple long-sleeved shirt. Each of them wielded a melee weapon of some sort, and were engaged with the zombies at all sides. This was Laura's power. She could create duplicates of herself, and split her stats amongst each of them.

Stolen story; please report.

Everything he saw, was taking place in the span of seconds. Red Shotgun, Seth, Laura, and many of the others he often grouped with, were all fighting around him, using their unique powers to deal with this horde of enemies.

A hand seized his shoulder.

He flinched and turned, thinking that one of the zombies had broken through the lines and reached him.

But instead of a monster, he saw one of the many Lauras. This one had a revolver in her right hand.

"Good of you to join us!" she said, in a somewhat collected and even-tempered voice. "Everyone's good on health. How bout you do some of the hard work this time around?"

"You sure? This doesn't look like we have things under control!" said Riley.

She slapped his shoulder and stepped away from him. "Get to killing!" she said, as she turned and lifted her revolver, firing off shots at oncoming zombies. Her weapon made a loud crack with each round she fired.

Large slabs of concrete had been pulled out of the street, creating barricades and walls to protect the group of players at certain angles. It was definitely Todd's handiwork, since he was the only earth-mover that Riley knew.

Riley brought a hand up and made a quick gesture. A holographic screen appeared before him. He tapped at it swiftly, selecting an item in his virtual inventory. With one last tap of his finger, the screen dissipated and a black metal staff appeared in his left hand. It was roughly six feet high and two inches wide. He gripped it tightly, but turned his attention to the scene around him. More specifically, to the other players fighting nearby.

Laura, who could make copies of herself.

Todd, who could create electrified webbing.

Erika, who could pull vines and plants from the ground.

Brenda, who could utilize a magical crossbow.

Todd, who could move the earth at his whim.

Carla, who could deploy seemingly harmless lotuses, which could explode, freeze, or poison.

There were several others in the area, but his sights set on Red Shotgun. She had intense red hair and a red jacket to match. The woman could fire searing red energy pellets from her fists when she punched.

Riley flicked his wrist in Red's direction. As he did, a dark spike shot out of his palm. It stuck Red in the back, which caused her to look over her shoulder. "The hell?" she said, then caught sight of Riley. "There you are!" she said, before diverting her attention back on the battle. She pumped her fists and decimated the zombies around her, as if nothing had happened.

With a moment's concentration, Riley focused on the spike that he'd stuck Red Shotgun with. A glob of red glowing liquid rushed out of from the back of the spike and towards his palm, from roughly twenty feet away.

Riley absorbed the red essence as it smacked into his palm. He left the spike where it was for now, it wouldn't bother Red Shotgun too much.

A moment later, Riley's eyes took on a red glow to match the essence he'd absorbed. Without hesitation, he ran to the right side, where there were fewer players fighting the zombies. He made sure to keep out of Red's line of fire, as he closed in on the NPC monsters.

Several of the scrambling creatures spotted him, and directed their attention on him as he raced towards them.

Riley smirked. He'd been wanting to try this.

With an iota of will and a squeeze of his left hand, he expelled the red glowing essence. The red glow around his eyes faded as quickly as it had appeared.

This time, Riley wasn't sending the essence to another player. He was sending it into a specialized weapon. A weapon capable of accepting the essence he'd absorbed.

A deep red energy blade extended from the top of the staff. But with the blade at the end, it was no longer a staff, but a scythe.

Riley reached the first several zombies and swung the essence empowered scythe. The energy blade cut through three of the zombies before him, severing the head of the first, then cutting through the torso of the next, and then one of the legs of the third.

The brainless creatures groaned as he dismembered them. Their blood was like oil, as it leaked and poured from their fallen bodies. A second later, their bodies dissipated in a flare of colored particles, their forms essentially dying.

"Don't let em touch you!" Red Shotgun called. "There's something really wrong with them, they're not just some weird zombies!"

"Got it!" Riley replied as he brought his scythe up and swung in the opposite direction. The reach of the weapon was invaluable to him in this situation. A sword might've allowed the zombies to get too close.

He hadn't had a good opportunity to use this weapon yet, at least not in a combat scenario. Despite the fact that they were being surrounded by an overwhelming force, his lips curled. He slashed and cut with his new weapon, rending deep gashes and tearing off limbs. This was the most fun he'd had in weeks!

Minutes flashed by like seconds as he fought in the growing melee. He wasn't used to fighting like this in the slightest. Too often, he was stuck behind his friends, just healing them and buffing them with his essence-stealing powers. But this, this let him be a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention, the scythe was classified as a dexterity based weapon, which helped increase his damage with it, since the majority of his stat points were placed in dexterity.

Another swing of his arms saw the scythe tear through another zombie.

A gurgling growl came from his left. He turned and swung to deal with the next monster. But the zombie had already gotten in closer than he'd realized. Its boney fingers reached out for him, as gore dripped from its open maw. Riley's eyes widened. The voracious creature was inside his attack range and he couldn't hit it before it would reach him!

Time seemed to slow as Riley turned, swinging his scythe in hope of miraculously managing to outpace the zombie.

A translucent orange tendril appeared in the corner of his vision and stabbed the monster in the chest. The impact of the impaling blow cut the creature's momentum and gave Riley the precious second he needed to finish his swing and decapitate it. The gaunt-faced head landed on the ground with a thud, before its body slumped and became glittering particles of light.

"Watch your back, Reli!" came a male voice from behind him. "Why is it I'm always saving your ass?"

Riley tensed as he was chastised by one of the newest members of their group. He turned and spotted Amber Impaler.

Riley had first encountered the orange-tentacle wielding player during an invasion event, when the powerful monster known as Saros appeared. At the time, Amber Impaler had been tier-one. Riley didn't actually know Amber's real name. But what he did know, was that—

"Thanks Amber!" he said quickly.

—Amber Impaler hated being called just Amber.

A mix between a groan and a growl emanated from Amber Impaler. "Say the whole thing, or don't say it at all!" the orange-haired guy spoke.

Riley watched as numerous orange tentacles protruded from the player's back and lashed out with stabs and swipes at the oncoming horde of zombies. Amber was uniquely suited to deal with numerous enemies in melee range. Since Amber had become a paragon, his tendrils could extend further and do even more damage. He could also combine them together into one large tentacle, which did superior damage to enemies.

Riley diverted his attention back to the task at hand. He knew that even with his empowered scythe, he wasn't as good at dealing with enemies head-on, as the rest of his friends who were actual damage-dealers. At the end of the day, he was still a support class.

Something exploded nearby. But it wasn't like a gunshot or a bomb. It was more like...something wet, popping.

Riley spotted black and red gore being flung into the air, as zombies began to explode, their body parts being thrown in every direction.

"What's going on?" Amber Impaler shouted.

"What are they doing?" came Red Shotgun's voice.

"Don't let the stuff touch you!" Laura shouted from further away.

More and more of the zombies exploded around them. At this point, Riley and the others were retreating back towards the bunker door, as the mass of attacking zombies were all rippling and exploding.

The sound of heavy stone grating on stone sounded all around them. Thin sheets of concrete were pulled up around them at various angles to shield the players from the airborne gore.

Numerous thick vines cracked through the asphalt below their feet and shot upwards to tangle around the concrete sections. The vines wove together, creating a loose mesh above their heads. This protected them from above, as the concrete slabs protected them from the sides, creating a makeshift dome around them.

The zombies clambered at the newly constructed barricade. Todd had made the walls thin, so he could create the enclosure quickly. Sections of it were breaking away, as the monsters bashed into it. Inevitably, the creatures exploded before serious damage could be done.

For an entire minute, there was nothing but meaty 'pops' coming from outside the enclosure. Then, everything went silent, save for their heavy breathing in a confined space.

Riley stood beside Amber and Red. He swallowed and looked from one to the other.

Laura was the first to speak up.

"What a nice way to remember our guild creation day, huh?"