“HRRRRRR. HGRRRRRR.”

In the dark forest, the zombie shambled over with both hands outstretched . It wore blue pants and a blue-green shirt that were both torn and frayed. On the grassy ground, a girl in a black dress screamed as she sat up on the ground, covering herself with her arms and with fear on her face.

“Get away!” Knight Steve cried out to the zombie. He held his sword, and he had on full iron armor including his iron helmet, breastplate, leggings, and boots. The full moon’s light glinted off of his armor—one of the few sources of light this night, as the rest of the woods were dark with only the barest torchlight illuminating the various trees in the forest.

The girl screamed again at the advancing zombie, and its deadened moans sounded in the night air. She tried to scoot back on the ground, but the zombie kept shambling towards her.

Just as it was about to get close, Knight Steve swung his sword. The zombie blinked red and staggered back away from the both of them. That was good for only one hit, he thought as he panted. The fighting had raged all night. Around them in the woods, swords and armor clanged as his other compatriots joined in the fight to save the newly arrived players. As knights of Wardland, they swore to protect all players, new and old, in this land. This particular spawn point was always a danger, especially at night.

He turned to the girl cowering on the ground. “Go,” he said. The girl heeded his command and ran to the other players, who were all trying desperately to stay alive and remain behind the defending knights.

The zombie finally noticed him.

Hrrrrrr, it moaned again, as the undead creature, its arms always in front of it, marched towards him. He was ready for it. He was a Knight of Wardland, after—

Aghhhhh!

Another zombie grabbed ahold of him and they both crashed to the ground. Knight Steve grimaced in pain and started blinking; he could already tell he was losing hearts. As they wrestled on the ground, he tried to push the zombie off of him, but it managed to keep hold. Again, he felt the pain.

Before he could even think about what to do next, another zombie hurtled itself at him on the ground. Knight Steve blinked again and again as the zombie hungrily attacked. His hearts were running so low.

“ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!” shouted twin voices, and the next thing Knight Steve knew, the zombies staggered away. He immediately stopped blinking and looked up. Before him, his two best friends Knight Duper and Knight Aiden, both clad in iron armor, had saved him. The two knights swung their swords again, one for each zombie, until finally the zombies poofed, leaving only their deadened flesh and green globules of XP on the dark ground.

Knight Aiden, who had dark hair, ran towards the newly arrived players, while Knight Duper reached out a hand towards his friend, Knight Steve. “Come on,” he said.

Knight Steve took his hand and lifted himself off the ground. “Thanks,” he said with a relieved smile. It was great to have so good of friends he could always count on. “I appreciate—”

It seemed Knight Steve couldn’t catch a break. An arrow had sailed through the air and landed squarely on his back, causing him to blink once more. Wardland was so filled with danger at night when the monsters come . . . .

From behind a set of oak trees, three skeletons stepped out holding bows menacingly in their hands. One already had an arrow strung up on its bow—on its bony face, it seemed like the skeleton had a hideous smile.

Knight Aiden hurried towards the other two knights. “What’s going—oh.” He had noticed the advancing skeleton archers.

Knight Steve, Knight Duper, and Knight Aiden readied their swords. “ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!” they screamed. Without any sort of melee weapons, the skeletons didn’t stand a chance. The skeletons tried to string up their arrows but blow after blow landed until finally, they poofed, leaving only a set of bones and even a single bow on the ground. The green XP the skeletons left behind hurtled straight for the knights, which they collected. Knight Steve could tell his XP bar had already increased. That made him feel better.

But the fight wasn’t over. A creeper scurried over, eager to blow itself up and take the knights with it. The three knights readied their swords in defense once more. Of all the monsters, Knight Steve disliked the creepers the most. When he was a rookie knight, he had fought a creeper almost to the death with only one heart remaining. He wasn’t keen to repeat that experience.

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Ok, he thought, as he tried to remember his training. Strike, then fall back. Strike, then fall back. Knight Aiden, however, always the impulsive one, charged forward and tried to attack. Knight Duper had no choice but to move in and try to destroy it before . . .

Knight Steve’s eyes widened at the sizzling sound of gunpowder lighting up.

The creeper had fallen back, but it kept blinking, and that meant—

A sword swung and felled the creeper to the ground, neutralizing the threat. Knight Master Ward, their leader in iron armor and wearing a black cape, emerged from the darkness. “Save the villagers,” he commanded the knights within earshot of his voice. Ahead in the forest, other knights had formed a circle around a group of newly arrived player to defend them from monsters. One held a single torch in the air. The light acted like a beacon in the dark woods.

“Let’s move!” Knight Master Ward commanded once more.

Knight Steve went to a straggling newly arrived player, a mother with a baby in her arms, and helped her along.

The assembled party—the knights and the gathering of newly arrived players who all looked haggard and stressed out—moved through the woods in search of safety. Amongst the gathering, the girl in the black dress still had fear in her eyes.

Knight Steve looked back at the players. They were, of course, headed to Wardland City, the only place safe from monsters. A sophisticated lighting system kept the city bright at night and that, in turn, prevented the monsters from spawning. He sometimes wished there wasn’t so much light in the city, but it beats having to worry about monsters spawning in the streets. Sometimes, though, one would sneak through. That’s why they needed the Night Guard. He wondered if there were other worlds where vicious monsters didn’t spawn in the dark. That would be something.

The smell of battle changed quickly to the crisp smell of the forest as they continued to hurry through the woods. They weren’t out of danger yet, he knew. But all they had to do was reach the walls of Wardland and they would be safe.

Ahhhhhhh!

The scream took him out of his thoughts, and, turning his head, he saw something that chilled his heart. A girl, a newly arrived player with a flower in her hair, dangled in the air, encased in spider webbing.

And from the top branches, a giant spider with red markings on its back slid down its webbing towards its prey. The spider’s six blood eyes cast down on the young girl with hunger and greed.

Though his heart skipped a beat, Knight Steve reacted at once and hurried towards the monster. He was the closest knight to her. If he couldn’t save her, she’ll end up in the stomach of that monster.

Fatigue had set in but he continued onwards towards the spider. Arrows would be good right about now, but he knew from his training you go with the weapon you have, not with the weapon you want. He kept running, but he was too late. He knew he wasn’t going to make it. The spider was already nearing the young girl, ready to strike the death blow.

In desperation, Knight Steve threw his sword straight at the creature. Away it went as it wound in the air, until it struck the giant spider, which blinked red and fell to the grass. Enraged, the spider reared up on four legs and hissed and clacked its pincered mouth.

That was definitely not good. Now he only had had his fists to protect them. They were trained to fight hand to hand but that still won’t be enough to take down the spider.

Other knights joined him, and they too saw the spider. They gasped slightly upon seeing it.

“Save her,” Knight Steve told the two knights. On the tree branch, the young girl still dangled in the spider webbing.

“What about you, s—”

“Don’t worry about me!” Knight Steve said aloud and then, he ran towards the spider. He was trying to draw the spider away from the other knights to give them time to save the girl.

The spider obliged and struck at Knight Steve, who evaded just in time by lunging forwards and doing a forward roll. He panted. That was hard to do, especially in armor.

The spider wasn’t intimidated. It turned and clacked again, knowing no doubt that it was at an advantage. Crafting table, Knight Steve thought. If he could set down a crafting table, he could fashion a weapon. Even a wooden sword was better than nothing.

Quickly, he set his plan in motion. He ran to a nearby clearing in the woods and set down the crafting table, but before he could craft a new weapon, the spider batted the table away and sent it barreling away from him.

Knight Steve bit his lower lip. This wasn’t good. Seeming to sense that it had the upper hand, the giant spider rushed to him, and then, it lunged. High up in the air, it went to plunge its pincered mouth through his iron armor and straight to his heart.

Knight Steve could only watch. There wasn’t any time to evade the attack . . .

At the last moment, a hail of arrows landed on the spider. It crashed to the side even as Knight Duper, Knight Aiden, and Knight Master Ward hurried into the clearing to join him. His friends, they saved him.

“Here,” Knight Aiden said, tossing a spare wooden sword at him.

Knight Steve caught it. “Figures,” he mumbled to himself. Why does he always get weapons when he least needed it?

“ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!” Knight Master Ward shouted out effectively commanding them to charge at the now outnumbered spider.

They made quick work of it. Forming the rear of the assembled party, the Knights of Wardland hurried now towards the city. They were headed home to safety.

Ahead, the walls of Wardland loomed. A gate marked the entrance into the city, with its portcullis raised up to admit them inside. A multitude of lanterns hung from the walls and the gate, a precaution to keep monsters from spawning in the dark.

Night watchmen manned the twin gate towers. They had their bows at the ready, ever on the lookout for any monsters that may lurk in the woods.

The assembled party, some knights along with the first of the newly arrived players, entered the gate. They ran into the city still in fear and traumatized at what they had experienced. Knight Steve was the last to enter; he was helping an old player enter the city, and once they passed through, the portcullis lowered shut straight to the ground behind them . . . .