Episode #1 - Gold Rush

I am still alive, right?  Eric opened his eyes, absorbing the underwater scenery that he had crashed into. He was thirteen feet below the water surface, surrounded by colorful coral, fishes in all sizes and shapes and bright blue waters. Gold coins were sinking straight down towards the bottom everywhere around him. Before he realized Eric was holding several pieces clutched tightly in his hands. He wanted to collect more, but shortness of breath prevented him from doing so. 

When he breached the surface Eric saw at least a dozen people nearby, diving for HIS gold. The thought of losing his recently obtained riches to other people infuriated him. Those are all mine!

Unlike the other players busily collecting gold, Eric had no way to store his wealth. He clenched his teeth, keeping his protests firmly locked behind them, burying the desire to fight against these opportunists. He started swimming to shore, hoping to return before these bastards stole everything.

While Eric was swimming to shore, he saw another ten people swimming towards the area where the gold had rained down. Several of these players dragged large bags behind them, they were clearly not in possession of whatever the others used to store gold.

Two miles from shore he heard the first screams. When Eric turned around to see what was happening he saw that the bright blue waters where the gold had fallen were dyed red. Everyone busily diving for gold were now focused on fleeing these dangerous waters as quickly as possible.

“I can’t even see it’s level,”  said the player who had been the first to arrive at the reef. Before he could say anything else he was ripped into shreds by several rows of jagged teeth. Life left the man’s eyes as some of the players finally got a glimpse of what they were facing through the spreading stain on the water.

A handful of players started catching up with Eric. Their swimming speed was several times greater than his own. Behind him more and more players were transformed into dark red stains on the water’s surface. Whatever was chasing them was getting closer and closer.

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. I can’t out swim it,  thought Eric as he desperately swam to shore, dropping the gold coins he had been holding. When a humongous shadow appeared below him, Eric thought his final moment was upon him.

Luckily, the shadow sped forwards, clearly targeting the players who had overtaken Eric. A young female, not older than twenty realized that she was going to be the next snack and took action. She placed her arms in front of her and shouted, “Ice Beam.”  A rectangular path of ice formed on top of the water’s surface. While continuously casting the spell she started running towards the shore.

The ice had almost reached the white sands of the beach, but the woman’s attempt to reach the safety of shore failed nonetheless. Roughly a hundred yards before reaching her goal, the creature hunting them finally revealed itself in all its glory.

A gigantic shark, easily fifty feet long launched itself upwards through the ice. Even though the ice shattered as if it wasn’t even there, the woman almost made it past. The shark’s tail tip brushed her just under the knees. Screaming more in shock than in pain, she bounced on the ice before falling into the water. It was all over a few seconds after that. Eric caught glimpses of the frantic woman’s form before blood was once again mixed with the tropical water. 

Eric knew that he couldn’t possibly out swim this primordial predator and swam towards the path of ice that had remained behind even after the woman’s death. The woman had not reached shore, but maybe he could.

While he was running for his life, two more players were turned into mincemeat. Two hundred yards before the beach, the shadow started heading towards him at full speed. This time the shark didn’t jump from underneath the ice, but leaped at it diagonally from the side, intending to destroy the path completely.

I am doomed,  thought Eric as he struggled to maintain his speed. His stamina was running low and he knew that the shark would have no such issues. The shark had properly calculated where he should strike and Eric would have undoubtedly been devoured whole if he didn’t trip over his own feet, falling face forward on the ice.

Pure, dumb luck saved Eric from becoming shark food. As a large chunk of the ice behind him shattered into oblivion, the tidal wave caused by the shark hitting the water propelled the chunk of ice carrying Eric forwards at great speed.

The shark turned around for another assault, but the piece of ice Eric was clinging to for dear life had reached shallow waters. The bloodthirsty beast stopped chasing Eric, focusing on the few remaining stragglers.

Eric remained on top of the piece of ice, reluctantly putting his hands into the water to paddle to shore. When the piece of ice could not get any further, he slid off, crawling from the shallows till he finally felt nothing but sand beneath him.

Rolling onto his back, spreading his arms, he looked up at the sky and started laughing hysterically. I survived, I survived, I truly survived.

[You have lost 203 followers. You currently have 0 followers]

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“What are you laughing for?”  said a man standing only a few yards behind Eric. Eric struggled to get up as quickly as possible, turning towards the direction the voice came from.

“Let him laugh all he wants, it’s not every day you see a newbie surviving the assault of a purple spawn,”  said a boy no older than twelve.

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“Are you serious Max? That was a purple spawn? Fucking hell man.”

“Who are you people?”  asked Eric.

“I am Maximilian,”  said the boy, “and he is my lackey.”

“So… What do you want from me?”

“We came for the gold like everyone else,”  said Maximilian, deadpan.

“So I can stop worrying for my life?”

“Never,”  said the lackey, “not in this world.”

A lengthy silence followed after the man’s statement.

“How many followers do you have now?”  asked Maximilian.

“Followers?”  asked Eric, clearly confused about the matter.

“You didn’t get a message saying that you gained or lost followers?”  asked the man.

“I did,”  said Eric, recalling the messages from earlier.

“Don’t make Max repeat himself. How many do you have left?”  said the man while raising his voice.

“None. I lost all of them when I reached shore.”

Maximilian didn’t say anything, but his face couldn’t hide the obvious disappointment.

“That’s a shame,”  said the man.

“I don’t understand any of this,”  said Eric, “Mind explaining it to me?”

“Let’s go,”  said Maximilian, ignoring Eric completely. The man nodded at his master. As the pair started walking away, Eric moved forward and reached for the boy’s shoulder. Before he could take hold of it, the man had planted his fist in Eric’s face.

Eric lost consciousness immediately.

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When he woke up. The sun had set, two moons had risen and the pair was long gone, but they did leave something behind. In the sand next to Eric they had drawn a massive arrow.

Eric didn’t have a good impression of the two, but he figured they would not bother drawing an arrow to make things harder for him. He rose up from the sand, rubbing his aching jaw. He started walking towards whatever the arrow was pointing at.

Many miles and hours later Eric saw lights in the distance. After having walked this far beneath nothing but moonlight it was a sight for sore eyes. If there is fire, there is people. They must have some food for me.

As he got closer and closer to the lights, he was happy to see that there were indeed people and food present. A wild boar was being roasted above a large fire. The scent it spread caused Eric to salivate.

It didn’t take long before someone noticed Eric. As one might expect, the sight of a man wearing nothing but a burlap sack instantly roused laughter. 

“Hey traveler, is that the latest fashion in your world or were you blessed by Fortuna?”  asked a chubby man as he bit down on a piece of roasted boar.

“If you want it. I’ll trade it for some boar,”  replied Eric. The response drew more laughter from the group of what Eric assumed to be hunters.

A man threw him a large chunk of flesh, “Keep it. I have seen enough naked travelers to know what kind of monster you are hiding beneath that.”

Eric didn’t hesitate and immediately chomped down on the piece of meat, he was famished. Once the meat had been picked clean he even went as far to break the bones and suck out the marrow.

After his feeding frenzy, Eric finally turned his attention to the group of men and asked, “Where am I?”

“Fortune obviously,”  said Lojas, the man who had thrown the piece of boar.

“I knew that much,”  said Eric, “but where?”

“You are on the beautiful island of Nago, one of the safest and most populated islands of the Gamor Archipelago.”

“Most populated? Are there any player towns?”  asked Eric.

“I have no clue what player towns are, but Manam is a major trade hub of the archipelago. There are quite a few traveler organizations who have set up base there.”

“How far is it to Manam?”  asked Eric excitedly.

“Five day walk through the jungle. Two over sea,”  said Pogar, “We could take you, but it won’t be free.”

“As you can see, I have no possessions,”  said Eric.

“That dagger would suffice,”  said the man.

Eric noticed the greed in his eyes, but dying or getting lost in the jungle was not a viable choice either. He was about to accept the offer when Lojas stood up.

“We are hunters,”  said the man proudly, “Not tour guides.”

Eric worried that he might have to walk through the jungle after all, but the man spoke out again. “We have already finished the hunt. He can travel home with us .”