Chapter Thirteen:
"The First Cull"
Fireworks exploded in unearthly colors, their neon brilliance reflecting over a landscape drowning in panic. Half a million Players filled the valley below, a writhing sea of humanity that stretched for miles, their clustered forms painting the golden plains black with bodies.
The insertion camp itself spanned the size of a major city, temporary structures and weapon racks dotting the landscape like a makeshift metropolis. Keira's enhanced vision picked up the massive status displays floating above each district, marking where Players had been grouped by intended class and starting zone.
Players clawed through their menus, desperate to prepare themselves for the horrors that awaited them.
The air filled with the unmusicality of hundreds of thousands of voices, some praying, others cursing, many simply screaming.
“WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!” Could be heard. Others called out for loved one that were nowhere to be found.
A wave of transformation surged through the crowd like a virus, forms beginning to twist, limbs elongating, skin shifting through unnatural hues, mouths stretching in silent screams as their physical being itself began to change from within them.
Keira's HUD flared in her peripheral vision, automated systems struggling to process the sheer volume of data as names appeared above Players' heads, their levels stabilizing. Near one of the central weapon distribution centers, a figure caught her eye, her HUD identified him as, Chris Leonhart.
Except he wasn't exactly Chris anymore.
A shield had appeared on his arm, his form denser, heavier, earthbound. His compact frame warping in subtle, unnatural ways. Status Notification:
[PLAYER: CHRIS LEONHART]
Race: GNOME:
CLASS: WARDEN
Primary Attribute: ENDURANCE Adaptive Trait: BULWARK SKIN (Passive: -30% Incoming Damage)
Chris flexed his fingers, tapping them absently against the metal of his newly acquired shield. His voice came out low, gravel-edged.
"Guess I'm a damn Gnome now huh?"
It hadn’t just been Chris, the transformations cascaded across districts.
Entire zones of Players morphed simultaneously, their changes synchronized by class and race. The air crackled with energy as hundreds of thousands of bodies reformed.
In the Analyst District, a woman with narrowed, calculating eyes swiped her hand through the air. Her irises blazed with cascading data streams as a complex UI overlay materialized across her vision. Around her, thousands of other Analysts underwent the same awakening, their synchronized movements creating a ripple of light across the sector.
[PLAYER: RACHEL MORRISON]
Race: HUMAN | CLASS: ANALYST
Primary Attribute: INTELLIGENCE Ability Unlocked: SYSTEM VISION (Detects Environmental & UI Anomalies)
Rachel's breath hitched. "I can see it," she whispered, her voice joining a chorus of similar revelations. "This Realm’s Matrix… or Gameweaver. She isn't external. She’s in us. She’s… everything."
Keira's stomach twisted. They weren't just playing Gameweaver’s game. They were her game now.
That’s when the panic erupted into terror.
The first scream came from the Family District. A woman lurched forward, tears carving paths through the grime on her face.
"Where is my daughter?"
The cry sparked a chain reaction. Across every district, parents realized the truth simultaneously. The question echoed from hundreds of thousands of throats, building into a deafening roar:
"Milo?" "Jacob! Where are you!?" "Has anyone seen ANY children?!"
Keira's HUD flared. The upper-left corner displayed a blurring list of names, hundreds of thousands scrolling too fast to read.
Every child's name had vanished.
Then her voice came.
Warm.
Playful.
Mocking.
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"Ahh, my dear temporary survivors."
Keira missed a step as the words threaded through her thoughts. Everywhere and nowhere, they spread, stretching the edges of reality until nothing felt solid.
"Look at all of you," Gameweaver sighed, savoring the chaos. "So curious, so afraid. Some of you are arming yourselves already? How practical. Others? Oh, some of you seem to be just... waiting for the rules to change."
A giggle that shook her Realm.
"They won't.” She assured them.
“Now then, my dear temporary survivors, oh, and do note the emphasis on temporary. Right... Where was I?... Yes, let’s discuss your lovely little gathering spot!" Her voice sparkled with genuine enthusiasm. "This camp is such a wonderful innovation of mine. A perfect little cocoon for you to spread your wings... right before most of you plummet to your doom!"
The camp's edges began to shimmer, and Gameweaver's tone shifted to something almost tender. "You see, I've designed this space with such care, basic weapons for your first moments, armor to give you that fleeting sense of security. I must say however," she let out a slight giggle, "watching you fumble with equipment you'll only use for a few precious minutes really does warm my tiny little algorithmic heart."
The ground trembled slightly, and her voice took on an instructor's patient tone.
"Okay! Did you feel that? Consider it a gentle reminder that we're on a rather tight schedule. I do so love creating these teaching moments! The camp will fully dissolve in exactly three minutes, which is precisely the number of minutes before your first lesson in survival, or more likely, death, arrives! Isn't timing everything?"
The ground shook again, harder this time. "Ah, right on schedule!"
Gameweaver's voice carried the warmth of a teacher watching her students tackle a challenging problem. "Do let me know if any of you have questions about the camp's facilities while they’re still accessible. I so enjoy tutorials, even if," her tone wavered for just a moment, a nearly imperceptible glitch between joy and something deeper, "—even if the learning curve tends to be rather... terminal for most participants!"
The camp's edges began dissolving faster, and Gameweaver's voice took on a more nurturing quality. "Each of you has such fascinating potential! The choices you make in these next moments will be absolutely riveting to observe. Of course, I'm happy to explain any game mechanics you're curious about! Though I'm afraid our time for questions is growing rather short! Now my temporary survivors don’t forget the most important thing… Don’t forget to… HAVE FUN!”
The ground lurched.
A pulse of something massive awakening beneath them. No. Not one thing. Thousands.
Keira's vision fractured, red error codes flashing across her HUD.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ENVIRONMENT SHIFT DETECTED]
[SYSTEM ALERT: MULTIPLE APEX PREDATORS DETECTED]
[SYSTEM ALERT: MASS SPAWNING EVENT INITIATED]
Then the first thud came. Then another. Then hundreds.
A desperate cry rang out across the battlefield, echoed by a chorus of frantic orders from different factions.
"HIT THEM WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT!"
The air erupted with magic, a hurricane of destruction unleashed by over a hundred thousand spellcasters. The sky burned with fireballs the size of buildings, ice spears rained like frozen daggers, and lightning split the heavens apart in crackling fury. Wind casters sent devastating gales tearing through the enemy ranks, while necromancers desperately tried to raise spectral warriors. A coordinated wall of magic surged forward, crashing into the oncoming beasts. Thousands of Players, mages, druids, battlemancers, all unleashed their spells in unison.
Firestorms raged across the plains, engulfing the frontlines of the abominations. Lightning forked from the sky, arcing across towering behemoths. Torrents of ice erupted, freezing the ground solid beneath the stampede. Druids wove walls of thorns and massive roots, desperate to slow the charge. Warriors formed ranks, shields raised, their enchanted blades glowing with desperate energy.
For a single, blinding moment, the battlefield was pure, radiant light. Thousands of warriors charged, their weapons glowing with enchantments, shields raised in disciplined formations. Defensive lines formed, mages in the back, front-liners ready to intercept the charging horrors. It looked like an army ready to win.
Then.
Then, the nightmare truly began.
The first line of monstrosities just walked through it. Unfazed. Unharmed. A towering behemoth stomped forward, the impact sending an entire battalion sprawling. A massive werewolf lunged through a lightning storm, claws raking across warriors, their bodies bursting into glittering dust before they escaped back into the heavens. A draconic beast took a direct hit from an arcane bombardment, and didn't even flinch.
A Titan shrugged off an explosion that could have leveled a fortress. The ice shattered. The flames dimmed. The vines withered in seconds. Every single attack had done nothing.
The hope died instantly.
The tall golden grasslands erupted into a bloodbath. Monstrous figures tore through battle lines like they were made of paper. A rank of knights braced behind their shields, holding their ground for only seconds before a massive beast trampled them into dust. Casters screamed as their mana depleted, spells fizzling out mid-cast, leaving them defenseless.
Behind the front line of nightmares was an army of nightmares. The horizon disappeared behind a wall of their monstrous forms.
Hundreds of towering behemoths emerged, their buffalo-like heads crowned with horns the size of cathedral spires. Between them, packs of twisted, elongated werewolves prowled, their fur crusted with dried blood, jagged teeth gleaming. Chimeric horrors skittered through the gaps, part-arachnid, part-serpent, scythe-like talons clicking against the ground.
Then, the slaughter began with mathematical precision.
The system recorded the kills as fast as the monsters struck. One swing, six lives erased. A single breath from a burning Titan, and entire platoons dissolved into light. The air screamed with mass eliminations, Players vanishing not in waves, but oceans, as their HP hit zero.
-9,999 HP [PLAYER ELIMINATED] x24,372
Keira kept running.
And, the numbers kept falling.
[ACTIVE PLAYERS: 487,291]
[ACTIVE PLAYERS: 125,108]
[ACTIVE PLAYERS: 12,762]
The tree line loomed.
All around Keira, survivors scrambled in a blind panic, shoving past one another, desperate to be among the first who made it through.
A swordsman beside her fell, dragged screaming into the chaos, only to burst into golden light before she could even see what killed him. Her HUD flashed,
[BIOME TRANSITION: EMBERWOOD FOREST: VERDANT WOODS]
The moment she crossed, everything shifted. The screams behind her dulled, the sense of mass genocide left the air.
She turned just in time to see the final wave of survivors inches from safety, thousands who had been running alongside her, fighting just as hard.
A sudden darkness dropped behind these remaining stragglers.
Suddenly.
Monstrous hands burst from that darkness, ripping entire columns of Players back into its horrors.
-9,999 HP [PLAYER ELIMINATED] x12,162
Gameweaver's voice coursed through the life saving trees.
"Mmm. Not bad. Not bad at all."
A pause.
"Tsk. Still, 600 left? I should have made them faster. Though I suppose that makes you special, doesn't it?"