So I finished the chapter I was writing earlier than expected so I am releasing this chapter now.

Chapter 2      Questions and answers

*….* is when someone’s thinking. “….” Is when someone is talking

Drakus POV

I opened up my eyes expecting to be in my room, but instead what greeted me was the council room.

“Huhh?”

I quickly looked around and saw that I was still in the game. I also saw the others having confuse looks on their faces as they looked around.

*Was the time off*

I checked the time and said it was at 00:00:11.

*It’s still running.*

Manom: “Did they delay the timer?”

Nu-Ru: “There should be no reason to delay it.”

Trion Jazz: “Maybe they were faking it?”

Nu-Ru: “That would make even less sense.”

I put both of my hands to my face and sighed.

“What the hell is going on?”

XXX: “Is something the matter master Drakus?”

I quickly brought my hands down and looked up. The others were looking at me, no, more specifically they were looking to the side of me.

I turned my head to the right and saw Altina standing next to me with a concern look on her face.

*Did she just talk?! No way, she’s an NPC that can’t be possible, but.*

“I’m sorry but what did you say?”

Altina: “I said are you alright master Drakus?”

*What the hell!?!*

Manom: “Did she just talk?!”

Shae.Alpha: “That isn’t possible!”

Trion Jazz: “Well she just did, all of us heard her.”

Arsenal: “Did the game company did something to the NPC?”

Kaetzchen: “Maybe the shutdown was a lie in order to surprise us, nyaa?”

Nu-Ru: “There’s no way that’s possible, we’ve gone as far as robotics but not full on artificial intelligence.”

While they were arguing back and forth I racked my brain for a reason as to why this was happening. They started to argue even louder and I needed time to fully think.

*Ahhh, I can’t think! This isn’t making any sense.*

“Everyone be quiet!”

They all stopped talking and looked at me.

“Altina go outside, wait there until I call you in.”

Altina: “As you command.”

She put one hand on heart and bowed before leaving us.

“Now that the distraction is out of the way, we can focus on what the hell is happening.”

Shae.Alpha: “Seeing as how we’re still in the game that means they must have delayed the shutdown.”

Nu-Ru: “You’re wrong.”

Reptillia: “What do you mean?”

Nu-Ru: “Check your menu screen. It won’t let me log off.”

All of us open our character menu screen and tried to log off. However every time we hit the icon, a message pops up.

“Impossible...”

Arsenal: “Why won’t it let us log off?”

Manom: “There must be something wrong with the system.”

Nu-Ru: “Or there is no system?”

Nu’s sudden statement caused everyone looked at him.

“What do you mean?”

Nu-Ru: “Hypothetically, what if we’re in the game itself or somewhere else?”

Reptillia: “You can’t be serious? This isn’t some weird sci-fi show or something.”

Kaetzchen: “She’s right there’s no way that can happen, nyaa.”

Nu-Ru: “Then how do explain the NPC suddenly being able to talk? What about us not being able to log off?”

He was met with silence. A couple of us opened their mouth but quickly closed it.

Nu-Ru: “All I’m saying is that right now we’re in an unknown situation. We shouldn’t discredit something because it outlandish.”

Shae.Alpha: “If what you’re saying is true then where exactly are we?”

Nu-Ru: “It’s obvious we’re not in our world anymore, or at the very least not on earth. So there’s 2 possibility I came up with. The 1st is that we’ve been transported in the game of Eternia. The 2nd is that we’ve been teleported somewhere else but still retain what we have here.”

Manom: “What makes you so sure?”

Nu-Ru: “When Altina was talking, she showed a deep respect to Drakus and obeyed his order.”

“Yeah, she also called me “master” as well.”

Nu-Ru nodded.

Nu-Ru: “From this we can tell that Altina is knowledgeable or at least know who we are.”

The others nodded and started to think about it.

Nu-Ru: “Now on to the 2nd problem. Whether we’re in Eternia or another world.”

Trion Jazz: “How are you going to find that out?”

Nu-Ru: “I have an idea.”

Nu-Ru stood up and walked a couple of steps backward.

Nu-Ru: “Come forth my assailant!”

Immediately a black shadow formed and rose up from the floor. It soon took form and kneeled down before Nu-Ru.

It was a dark elf, her skin was tanned like Altina but darker. Her entire body was covered in a black outfit. The only thing visible was part of her face and her eyes. The armor was similar to Reptillia looked much tighter and without the extra armor pieces. Her mouth was covered with a cloth that made her seem more like an assassin or ninja. Her eyes were jaded green and her hair was a brunette brown that was tied into a long ponytail. On her belt holds several weapons. On the right side there’s a kodachi (basically a short katana) while the left side has 3 daggers. 2 regular ones with the last one having a zig-zag blade.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She was an NPC created by Nu-Ru, her name is Sirva.

Sirva: “You’ve called my master?”

Everyone was silent and surprised by the sudden turn of event. However Nu-Ru seemed to anticipate part of it and quickly recovered.

Nu-Ru: “I have an assignment for you.”

Sirva: “I’ll do whatever it takes to meet your wished my master.”

Nu-Ru: “I want you to leave the Great Sanctuary and look around. The search radius is 3 kilometer. If you see anything important or vital then come back immediately, do not engage without my permission.”

Sirva: “As you command.”

They stood there for about a couple of seconds before Nu-Ru figured something out.

Nu-Ru: “Oh right, you may go.”

And just like how she came, she left. Turned into a shadow and disappeared.

Kaetzchen: I can’t believe that worked, nyaa.”

Reptillia: You and me both.”

Nu-Ru: “Well at least now we know that we’re not in the game anymore.”

Trion Jazz: “And how exactly did you giving her a command do that?”

Manom: “He’s right, NPC aren’t allowed to leave the guild building. They were strictly made to be in the guild building at all time. ”

Nu-Ru: “That’s right, if she had said she couldn’t do it or can’t comply with that order, then it mean that we are stuck in the game. But that isn’t the case, she followed my orders and is off looking right now.”

Arsenal: “That still doesn’t mean that we’ve suddenly transported to another world.”

While they were talking I thought of something else.

*What about magic?*

If seemed that Sirva could use magic, so what about us?

I stood up and stretched out my hand and subconsciously said

|Fireball|

Immediately a small fireball formed in my hand shot towards the table. I was knocked back on my ass while where I sat was burning.

Nu-Ru: “Hey are you alright!?”

Reptillia: “What did you think you were doing!?”

The two of them came over and helped me up, while the others were putting out the fire. While they were doing that Altina entered the room quickly.

Altina: “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine, there’s nothing to worry about.”

The rest looked at Arsenal and where the seat was burning.

Manom: “In Eternia, it’s impossible to use any type of destruction magic in the guild hall. I think Nu-Ru is correct in his assumption.”

Trion Jazz: “Got anything left to say Arsenal?”

Arsenal: “Unfortunately yes, looks like you might be right Nu-Ru. We might be actually be stuck somewhere else.”

Kaetzchen: The only question now is where we are and how we got here, nyaa ?”

Nu-Ru: “Let's first look at we do know. We’ve in a sense become what a characters are. We know that we can use magic, thanks to Drakus. Finally we’re not in our own world but we’re not in Eternia either.”

Nu-Ru: “The only other problem I see are the NPC’s.”

“How?”

Manom: “Sirva and Altina are suddenly alive, so who’s to say that all the other NPC’s in the Grand Sanctuary aren’t?”

I felt a cold sweat dripped down my neck just thinking about all the different populations of NPC’s that are inside the Sanctuary.

Nu-Ru: “My point exactly. Even if those two show loyalty, what about the others? They aren’t programs anymore but living creatures, so they must have thoughts of their own.”

“Let’s go to see for ourselves.”

They all turned towards me and had nervous looks on them.

Reptillia: “Even if you say that, it won’t be that easy.”

Trion Jazz: “Yeah and we…..”

I held up my arm and stopped them there

“If all we’re doing is speculating and don’t act, then how will we get any answers?”

Shae.Alpha: “Drakus got a point, I much rather meet and possibly fight NPC’s then sit here and think all day.”

Some of them nodded but their faces show reluctant.

“Altina, come here.”

Altina: “Yes my master.”

“Tell all the other Sanctum Guardians to meet in the Dragon Sanctum in an hour and a half. We’ll be waiting for everyone there.”

Altina: “As you command, master Drakus.”

With that she made her way out of the council room.

Nu-Ru: “Alright that settles that, but why in an hour and a half?”

“We’re going to use the time for some preparation. If the possibility of the NPC’s being hostile are true then we’ll probably need it.”

They all nodded in agreement. We activated our guild rings and teleported ourselves to the armory and then made our way to the Dragon Sanctum.

****************************************************

Authors corner: Here’s chapter 2! As always if you enjoyed the chapter then write about it in the comments below and I’ll read through them. If you see any errors or any ideas to make the series better then post it in the comment section below. Chapter 3 will be uploaded in  3 days.

Next chapter will be a bit more interesting, wait and see.