“Holy shit” Sierra said coughing hard. “Did you guys just… wait, what the fuck is this?”

“You’re seeing it too?” Ryan said, as he stood, staring out in front of him.

[It’s our record] Kana mumbled. [It’s real magic]

“It’s like a videogame” Ryan said.

“Yeah" Caleb muttered, as he stood. "I didn’t think the record would be like this”

Caleb body felt strange as he slowly looked down at his hands.

He felt different. More alive somehow. His body felt whole in a way it hadn't just moments ago, like he'd become part of something bigger than himself. No, not just like. He had.

Yes. He could still feel it, remember it. The sensation of the stars all around him, of the new sense of self that the experience had brought. He clenched and unclenched his hands slowly as he felt the flickering power within and around himself.

What the hell was that?

He looked to the others, Elena and the twins making their way over to them as the other group of four banded together. The girl in the blood-soaked jeans and hoodie simply looked around at the rainforest, her gaze distant almost passing everything. He watched her for a few seconds, the sight of blood and viscera being washed away by the rain bringing him back to reality.

With a shake of the head, the strange distance between him and reality faded, his mind focusing. He looked over the others again, his brain kicking into gear. There were twelve of them total in the clearing. Two groups and the girl on her own.

They must've all come from different places. There was no way to know what kind of environment the girl covered in blood had come from, but the winter clothing definitely wouldn't be found in a desert. Maybe they'd come from the same planet, just different locations. But then why'd they been grouped together?

Maybe that tiering system thing? Does that mean everyone here is in the top 10% out of everyone in the tutorial, Caleb thought. But for what exactly? Killing?

He glanced to Elena and the twins, then to the girl with the blood stained sword. He wasn’t completely sure whether the ranking was individual or team based, though he was leaning closer to team based. That made sense actually. In sending them here altogether, it seemed whatever organised things prioritised keeping the groups together.

Plus, for some reason, they also all seemed to be around the same age.

Interesting.

Maybe it balanced the groups out based on tiering? Big maybe. It could be based purely on location, getting people to experience different biomes. There wasn't really a way to know.

He looked around again, his heart sinking slightly as he was only met with more and more rainforest. The air was hot and humid, even the rain was warm against his skin. He stepped forwards, his lighter shoes slipping slightly in the wet mud.

Three months here? he thought. God, this is going to be a nightmare.

[What now?] Kana asked.

“We talk to the others?” Ryan asked. They all looked over to the new people. The girl in jeans still stood in the rain, eyes closed as she let it wash over her, but the other group all stood under a tree which shieled them from the rain. They’d taken off their hoods and looked back at them wearily.

“They look suspicious of us already” Caleb mumbled.

"Well then let’s go break the ice. I mean, we’re in this together, right?" Sierra said, starting forwards. The rest of them trailed behind her as they made their way over to the over group, stepping underneath the canopy and out of the rain.

This new group was made up of three guys and one girl, all in winter clothes, with varying looks on their faces. But they all shared a similar hardiness, as if prepared for the worst as they watched the group of seven near them.

"Hi. I’m Sierra" Sierra said, stepping forward. One of the guys, one with dreadlocks and darker skin stepped forward too.

“Michael” he said, in a British accent. “This is David, Mario, and Layla”

The others all gave small nods of acknowledgement.

"This is Kana, Ryan, Caleb, Elena, Jakob and Markus" Sierra said. They all gave their own nods of acknowledgement.

[We’re all of you together in the tutorial?] Mario said, looking over their similarly styled silk clothes.

“These three showed up a bit later, but yeah” Sierra said.

“Where exactly did you guys come from?” Layla said, in a midwestern accent. “I mean, you don’t exactly looked dressed for winter”

“We were in a desert. Serious heat” Ryan said.

“The middle of the desert?”

“Yes and no. There was like an underground cave thing with these desert people. It was pretty cool” Ryan said. “What about you guys?”

“We were stuck on this mountain. There were a bunch of tribes and monsters trying to kill us, so we just hid in a cave” Michael said, shaking his head.

“You just… hid in a cave?” Caleb said confused.

“Well, we had to fight a few people and run from some monsters, but yeah. We took some food and some clothes and just waited it out. It was only a day and a half, but things got tough in the last five hours. We only made it cause of this guy” Michael said, slapping David on the shoulder.

“You didn’t try to talk to any of the tribes?”

“None of them could even speak properly. They just hurled spears and shit at us. It was crazy”

Caleb frowned, watching as his well-constructed mental image of his current circumstance collapsed.

They hadn’t had a welcoming place for them at all? Maybe they just hadn’t found it? But then why would the arbiters have dropped them off there? It seemed like he could’ve been missing something, but it didn’t feel that way.

Suddenly there was another loud and a lot closer clap of thunder and a large group of birds flew away from the sound. Caleb frowned as he watched them, before they disappeared beyond the trees. Then he looked to the rest of the clearing, the girl with the sword gone.

That’s not good. Did she just leave?

He looked back to the group, looking to see if anyone had noticed. No one said anything, everyone standing in silence awkwardly waiting for someone to say something.

“So, what now?” Ryan said.

“No clue. We’re just as confused as you” Michael said.

Caleb looked behind him and saw that the girl with the glowing sword was nowhere to be found. The uneasiness in the pit of his stomach grew and he looked to the others.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“I think we should go” he said.

“What? To where exactly?” Michael asked.

“Somewhere not here. The storm’s getting closer to here and the other girl already left without us” he said. The others all glanced back to see the blood drenched girl had vanished.

“What the hell?”

[Alright, let’s go] David said. [We should look for a river and follow it to see if we can find people. If not we set up camp as close as we can to the source before nightfall]

“Big man David. Look at you already coming up with plans” Michael grinned as he slapped him on the back.

“But what if we find monsters?” Layla said, her voice slightly shaky.

[These four are good fighters] Elena said suddenly, pointing to them. [We saw them work well together]

“You guys are fighters?”

“Not exactly” Caleb said as Ryan summoned his sword whilst grinning. Everyone in the second teams’ eyes widened and they stepped back instantly.

“Don’t just summon the sword you idiot” Sierra said shooting a glare at Ryan.

“S-sorry” he said, letting it disappear as he put up his hands. The other group seemed to calm down slightly, though still looked incredibly spooked.

[Sorry about that] Kana said, laughing awkwardly.

“Was that magic?!” Michael said wide eyed.

“Yes and no” Caleb said. “It’s an artifact. It’s made with magic to do that somehow”

“And he just has that?” Layla said.

[We all have them] Markus said, his tone less than friendly as he glared daggers at his brother.

Really? Caleb thought. He’s not even doing anything.

“And you guys can fight?” Michael said.

“We barely know what we’re doing, but yeah we did fight a few monsters”

[You fought the monsters?] Mario said wide eyed.

“We had to” Ryan said.

“Had to?” Michael said.

“Yeah it’s-”

“Guys? Sorry to interrupt, but I really think we should get moving” Caleb said, glancing to the sky as the rain grew heavier. “We can talk and walk, right?”

[He’s right. The wind’s picking up] David said. [Let’s go]

The others all nodded and then they looked around and started through the clearing.

Caleb peered up at the almost black clouds, shielding his face from the rain before stifling a small cough. The storm above them was big, powerful in a way that made him uncomfortable. He hoped they weren't stuck here for the three months. He sighed and looked down at the ground, as he continued walking with the rest.

They walked in silence for a bit the atmosphere slightly tense, before Michael spoke again.

“So, what do you mean you guys had to fight?” he said.

“Uh… the people we met, Endagon I think, they had this whole like religious thing" Sierra said. "Told us we had to fight our we’d get kicked out into the desert”

[So you just fought the monsters?] Mario said. [Wouldn’t it have been easier to leave?]

“No way man. We walked through the desert heat for like twenty minutes and nearly died” Ryan said.

“Yeah. And they fought alongside us. It was scary, but definitely easier” Caleb said.

[Hear that Jakob?] Markus snarled.

[Markus stop] Elena said. The group went quiet for a second everyone glancing to the twins as they looked around awkwardly.

“Uh... so…” Michael said. “… what do you guys make of all this?”

“It’s bullshit” Sierra said.

[Yeah] Mario said. [We just got snatched away for no reason and thrust into this]

“Yeah, this whole mess with the arbiters is just…” Ryan sighed and threw up his hands annoyed.

“Arbiters?” Layla asked.

[The things that sent us here] Kana said.

[You know what sent us here?] David said turning to them.

“Yeah. The Endagon told us” Caleb said.

“So, these people were fighting with you and explaining everything?” Michael said. “How the hell did we get so unlucky we got stuck in a cave?”

[How did they even know what was going on?] Mario asked.

“They had some ancient texts and even this old holy woman who’d studied them for years. They were calling us deities and stuff, had a whole mini religion that made them revere us in a weird way” Sierra said.

“A religion?!” Layla said, wide eyed. “They called you… deities?”

“Yeah. It was weird. I don’t think they thought we were gods but people like us, chosen was the other word they used. But yeah, we were to be respected in their culture. Caleb thinks they were put there by the arbiters. Made for us like side-characters in a videogame”

“I was wrong” Caleb said, quickly as the others all turned to look at him. “From the sounds of it you didn’t have anything like that”

[Well, the records have stats and skills like a videogame] Mario said. [Maybe there was a group like that for us in the tutorial and we just missed it]

[The situations already crazy enough. It’s plausible] David said.

“Seriously?” Michael said looking around. “You guys think this is like… a videogame?”

“That’s not exactly-” Caleb started.

[I mean have you looked at the record?] Mario interrupted. [It’s quantifying our speed and strength and other stats, and it offers a skill and stat points.]

[I saw it right at the start, but it disappeared. How are you still looking at it?] Kana said.

[I’m not I was just s-]

[I am. Just think about it hard enough] David said.

Caleb paused for a second and tried to remember the feeling of the record, of the heat that’d emanated from the root of magic within him as he’d fallen through the stars. He felt it easily and a slight heat twisted in his mind as a screen appeared in front of him.

[Caleb Martin Souza]

Lv 0

Title: Mindful Watcher

-

Primary skill – N/A

-

Speed – 0.18

Strength – 0.15

Stamina – 2.02

Constitution – 0.63

Mana - 2

Finesse – 1.12

-

Free stat points: 2

-

[Alert: The beholder is currently suffering from Cancer, grade 5.]

“Oh. It’s pretty easy” Caleb mumbled.

“Yeah. Wow. But these stats seem… kind of low” Ryan said. “I mean only point twenty one in speed? What is this even relative to?”

Caleb frowned, looking to Ryan. Ryan was much faster than him, Caleb had seen that clearly in the desert. But to only be point zero three above him in whatever metric it was the record measured their stats? That couldn't be right. His eyes flickered to the two free stat points, then back to his stats, hovering over constitution.

This might just be that better magic.

[Has anyone picked a primary skill?] David asked, looking around.

“No. I was way too overwhelmed by all the stars and shit” Ryan said. There were mutters of assent from everyone, most in the same position.

[Should we pick out skills?] Elena said. [I mean its magic right? It seems like it could be important. Help keep us alive]

“I don’t know man, it seems kind of… spooky, all this magic stuff. Cool but spooky” Michael said.

[It don’t care if it’s spooky if it keeps us alive] Mario said.

[Yeah well don’t pick a skill just yet] David said. [We’ve got no idea what that could do to you, and you could wind up taking a bad one. These… arbiters have made it pretty clear that you only get the one]

“What about the stat points then?” Ryan said.

[I don’t know. We can’t do anything with them yet, so I say we just leave it as well] David said.

“Leave it till when, though?” Michael said. “I mean if something attacks us out of the-”

“Hold up a sec ” Ryan said loudly. The group all paused turning to him. There were a few seconds of silence as Ryan looked around.

“What? You hear something?” Caleb said, suddenly on edge.

“Yeah. Do you hear that?” he said.

“No?” Sierra said. A small grin formed on his lips.

“This way” he said starting through the forest.

“Ryan wait” Sierra said. But it was too late, the boy already making his way out of the clearing and toward the trees. Sierra cursed then followed, Caleb and Kana trailing behind her. The others all looked between themselves, then followed into the trees too.

They made their way through the thicket of bushes, leaves and trees before emerging into a dry area, the canopy of leaves above. A wide river of water washed through the centre of the canopy, and the others came to a stop at it’s edge.

“Looks like we don’t need to use our water reserves yet” Ryan said grinning.

“You guys have water reserves?” Michael said.

“Yeah. But mainly we’ve got a ton of food” Sierra said.

[Welcome to the First phase]

[Objective One: Survive for 5 hours]

[Reward: Progression to Objective Two]

The whole group froze, in their tracks as they stared up at the message.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me”