Reyansh stood there, mandibles agape. He starred at the levitating menu in front of him. "Hey... Jeff?", he said with his thick Indian accent. "Yeah Ray?", an all-too casual southern accent replied.
"Is your logout button working?"
Unrealized to them- countless variants of this conversation were occurring in the world.
The fictional world of 'The Real Fantasy' ™ that is.
And the two six foot bug people regarded each other uneasily as they verified the fact- the logout wasn't working.
"Fantasy game off. Game off. Fantasy game off- please?" Reyansh was looking up to the sky repeating the phrase.
"Well, that's a crap bug." Jeff said shaking his head.
Reyansh looked at him appaled, his mandibles opening a bit. "-But you said these things were overpowered-"
"-No, I mean like, a glitch-bug Rey. People-bugs are awesome." Jeff posed heroically- but no matter how you posed- a six foot bug person with a prawn-fish head and scorpion tail was horrifying.
"How are you calm right now? We're trapped Jeff! We're bug people and we're trapped!", Reyanshs' voice echoed across the curved hexagonal architecture of the 'Arkai' (bug peoples) starting town. It was truly an alien civilization, bug NPCs walking around dutifully. Some stopping to stare. It was alike in that they had street vendors and town choirs shouting the news.
"Do you really think they would leave us trapped here forever, Ray? I mean really- think of the lawsuit cash we would get!"
Reyansh gripped Jeff by the sides of his exoskeleton- "We won't get any cash if we're stuck here Jeff! Oh my god -oh my god. I have to present my thesis! Do you have any idea how complicated it was to plan-"
*SMACK*
Reyansh looked back slowly towards Jeff. "Why'd you slap me!? Wait, that actually hurt-"
"-Cause you're not thinking clearly! Just... Give it an hour or two. Let the eggheads fix it. If not- THEN we can panic. But first, let's try'da relax, turn'n this quest, an do some explorin'. Finish out the night on a positive note. Sound good?"
Reyansh just nodded uneasily.
---
Not even an hour passed before Jeff started freaking out.
They finished turning in a quest, trading stuff and thought about calling it a night when-
"Shit! I think you might be right Reyansh! -This is a serious problem! I'm going to miss my sisters wedding! And I actually liked my new brother-in-law this time!" Jeff had his face-feelers in his clawed hands.
"Wasn't he already your brother?" Reyansh asked consolingly. "Hell nah! Gross Reyansh! What, are you judging me because of my accent?" Reyansh was taken aback by that- was he being prejudice? He could've sworn he hear him say-
"No- he was my cousin twice removed but my father was HIS godfather and-"
And there it was.
Reyansh raised one of his many limbs. "It's too complicated! I don't care about your backwoods shotgun weddings Jeff! What are we supposed to do!?"
"I don't know. All we can do is wait, but this... It feels weird."
"...I think I have to go to the bathroom." They looked at each other again, in horror. New body, new bodily functions it seemed. Perhaps it was another bug, but THAT hadn't been a feature until that moment.
After Reyansh figured out how bugs went to the bathroom- not too dissimilar actually- they looked around. It did feel different than how it did the other day. Just something was off- they watched the way NPCs moved- they were even more organic.
Another bug-person was running through the streets, shaking people- Arkai NPCs. A variety of kinds and types, taken inspiration from any and all insectoids from beetles to wasps.
She was shouting at them- "This world is a lie! It's a simulation and we're all trapped here!"
She made their way over to them-
"Wake up! You're not real! None of this is real!"
Reyansh raised a claw- "Actually, we're real. But the world isn't." Her preying mantis pupils seemed to widen. "Oh, thank GOD! Other players! I thought I was the only person who picked this race for a moment there-", she spoke in a southern accent similar to Jeffs.
"Makes sense, everyone usually picks a furry or a human... Listen- I'm Jeff. And this big fella here is Reyansh. What's your name?"
"Cha-Chantel." she instinctively went to wipe her tears but realized her segmented eyes didn't cry. Her praying mantis head also snapped around more quickly than a humans could.
"We were going to find more players in the mean time, you know- pool our information. Might as well do something productive while the people out there sort out this mess."
She nodded. Having a plan helped. Chantel was beginning to lose her mind as a giant bug. Having people in a similar situation around to talk to made it easier, if only a bit.
"I just picked this race because of the racial trait... I didn't think I would be trapped! This is unfair, I demand a redo!" Chantel was talking to herself in a mirror, observing the disturbing ways her mandibles gyrated as she spoke.
The thought of being trapped as giant insects didn't appeal to any of them, especially when the experience was so 'immersive' now. They were realizing the many different ways it was immersive with each passing second.
They vented at each other, contemplating exactly what was going on. Sharing their coping strategies.
All sorts of theories were spouted, but in the end, they figured regardless it was better to have something to do in the mean time. They couldn't just sit their in the middle of the street bawling their eyes out after all. They still had the human instinct to be pro-active.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The three agreed to stick together while this issue worked itself out- and prepared to set out on their journey to find other players.
And before they left the town, they had a convoy of Arkai players. Two dozen or so. Of the hundreds of thousands of players, some had chosen to play as giant bugs and were paying the consequences.
---
Theo leaned back in a hammock, eating grapes. "Sir Stelios?", "Yes sir.", "-Is there no consequences of relying on stamina potions instead of sleep?", "No... Not really sir.", "Very nice. Any word from the bounty we posted?", "No sir."
That's how Theos day was going.
Here's how someone else's day was going.
---
"Donteatmedonteatmedonteatme!" a tiny voice shouted as she flew zig-zagging through the bogs many plants. Poppys, ferns, they were like trees to her!
A heavy mist floated just about the waters surface-
'Thwack!' a giant tongue- well, to a human it would be a string- but to her it was giant! It collided with a tree trunk in front of her.
She veered to the right and had to dive immediately beneath another striking tongue! Frog tongues!
Her little insect winds were beating their hardest. She had become adept at flying- not that it was Claires choice. This place was dangerous, she had no idea the 'Fairy' race choice would result in this.
She was flying for her life day in / day out- it was miserable... Not to mention living off dew drops and honey. -Wasn't too hard to come across honey if you knew the right bee.
Finally she got out of frog-territory and the tongues stopped popping out of the water. It was impossible to know for sure where danger lie, so she was always on her toes.
"VROOM!" a force flew past her- "Dragon!?" she shouted. -No, it was a humming bird just checking out some of the flowers she was lounging next to.
"Oh, good. No dragon-fly. Hup!" she dropped down onto a leaf and began to swing her legs. "My wings are barking..." she rubbed the little nubs that connected to her back.
At first she was with other players but little fairies were hard to keep track of. Liam, her bestie, got eaten by a 'something', a big scaly 'something' that flew.
[Level Up!]
[Fairy Level 8!]
[Skill Fairy Blink!]
[Passive Fairy Dexterity!] +2 dex
Claire jumped up and started shadow boxing- "That's what I'M talking about, big gains!" her little cyan blue flop of hair bouncing about.
Each level made it easier for her to survive, and that meant she'd have more time to find her friends.
[Fairy Intuition]
-The skill sounded and immediately gave her a ping of danger from a specific direction-
"EEK!" she leapt up into the air and a gust of wind appeared just beneath her launching her up!
Just then a winged snake collided with the tree next to her. It was massive! It was like- the size of a normal snake. But to her it was so much-
Anyways, the scaly-somethings liked to coil up then launch themselves through the air using their floppy neckthings to glide.
It was unfair for snakes to fly. But Claire had one offensive ability to her name... And THAT'S where the scaly-thing messed up.
She put her hands together as she turned- pearlescent wings flapping backwards into the air she faced her foe.
"Kaaaa-"
The snake slithered around to face her, its head slightly wobbled as it came to its' senses.
"Meeeeaaa-"
It starred up at her and realized where his target had gone, angrily it began to coil before springing up-
"HAAAAAAA!"
A super-soakers worth of water shot out of her hands and pelted the snake in the face. It winced at the water pressure, but was otherwise unaffected.
It shook it's head and slithered off, no longer interested.
'PHEW!'
Claire dropped down to another flower-petal. Her Boston accent seemed to become more pronounced as she yelled after the snake; "Yaaa~ get outta' 'ere ain't nobody wancha! Tell ya' friends what happens when you mess with the likes of ME!"
The snake was shamefully defeated- of that Claire was sure.
'Now, time for dinner. Where's my favorite bumble bees?',
Claire fluttered off into the tops of the tree branches. She had searched a larger area today- braved the dangers- it was enough of an effort today. She would save her friends. But not if she exhausted herself.
---
He was eating a cookie when Violet pulled him aside.
"What? I thought we would meet sometime tonight?", "You're acting like a fool- you're going to get caught! Charles acts nothing like this, even your walk is completely different."
"Fooled you well enough...", "That was until I knew to look! The fact that you look like him only goes so far, I've seen how some of the servants look at you-"
The two argued in a shadowed corner of one of the greenhouses. He had been admiring the garden while he snacked. Enjoying his last few days of being a noblemen.
"Violet it's fiiine~ here- have a cookie." he handed her a cookie from his pocket and she slapped it away. "This isn't a game! We have to get into that treasury and I think we should do it TONIGHT. Or early as possible."
Theo shook his head, the treasury was guarded 24/7. By people. And magic. And who knows what else. "Why can't we just relax and enjoy it a bit? Want anything? I'm a noblemen. We could say that we're really good friends and I want you treated well while you work here."
"You have no idea how fast that would get us caught. Don't you think I have better things to do than play noblemens concubine? Do you think I enjoy this? I'm tired of being trapped here!"
Theo looked at increasingly frantic expression she had. She was really worried.
"Alright, fine. But seriously, if you need anything I can swing it, they give Charles a lot of money- but what's your plan?" Theo tossed a cookie over his shoulder and rubbed his hands together expectantly. Waiting to hear this grand heist plan.
"After this, we'll have all the money either of us will ever need... The plan is simple- but before anything- you need to convince your 'father' to let you into the treasury."
"Aha-!", "Once you do that, you can get an idea of what's in there and the security, the layout, among other things. It's the first step. I was going to ask Charles to tell me but then you came along."
Theo was poking a venus fly-trap. It snapped at his fingers causing him to jerk back-
"Seems far-fetched Violet. How can I impress that pompous asshole? Why don't I just go to the treasury and ask the guards to let me in?"
Violets jaw dropped at that. And she took a deep breath. It would take a long time to explain to him exactly how stupid that statement was.
---
Somewhere else in the world, another player had arrived. After all the others like Theo.
In a desert- the sun passed over orange cracked clay and sand dunes, so often the ground would be broken up bubbling revealing black ooze. Every so often there was a cactus, or tumbleweed.
-Here, in a flash of light a man appeared suddenly. The man was caucasian with black hair and brown eyes. He was built like a WWE wrestler, slimmed down to efficiency. His hair short and tidy. He was wearing a military outfit- from Earth.
"Rugbi-forty-niner reporting in, verifying communication integrity. Access code 197-42_Swingset Over."
"Communication integrity verified. Proceed with mission." a authoritative voice sounded in his head.
He nodded, he cleared the chamber of his weapon. It was functioning. They were unsure even that would work there. They had lost control, and the ai have begun making their own changes to the world.
Though... With a few tricks and glitches, they managed to get a player in with communication to the outside world intact. An agent. A special-op, so to speak. He was trained to extract VIPs in warzones, and this technically counted. It required... A similar set of skills in any case.
"What is... That?", his voice was low and graveled, as if he chain smoked cigarettes his whole life. He was looking into the distance and his eyes surely didn't decisive him- he was briefed on this location. The creature he was seeing was for lack of better words- a dinosaur. A velociraptor to be specific.
A group of three of them were stalking some kind of furry mammoth-like creature. They leapt onto it gliding on their feathered wings- tearing into the sides of the thing.
The agent was a hunter himself, so he had no moral obligation to step in. Infact, he had rather admired their ambush.
The beast of a man whipped around and clutched a raptor mid-flight by the neck.
"REEAA?" the dinosaur was seemingly confused how the prey equal to its own size was easily holding it aloft in the air.
It clawed at the agents arms, but it just harmlessly racked across the bare skin like a kittens claws. The agent smirked a bit- then crushed. His face was washed in viscera, but still he grinned.
It's blood steamed as it hit the boiling ground of the desert. The other raptors who were hiding in wait shrieked and ran away.
"I wonder if they're trainable..." the man started laughing. This would be a playground for him.
---
"So only your father... And perhaps your mother could access the treasury. Even the guards only stand outside the treasury, and are forbidden from even glancing inside..."
They were still in the corner of one of the greenhouses discussing the plan.
"Alright, alright. I'll try to figure out a way to impress my father. But I don't want to be the only one taking risks. What can you do. Are you like, super sneaky? Can you disguise yourself, or knock people unconscious?"
"Trade secret. You know how it is... But I can tell you, I'm good with a dagger. Lockpicking a non-magical lock would be childs play. And... Things of that nature, you get the gist I'm sure?"
Theo nodded. Sounded like a typical [Thief] or [Rogue] class. He could guess her abilities.
"Can you go invisible?", "Yes, but I have to be still." Theo sighed, that would've made it so much easier. Shoot, if Theo could go invisible he already had wall climb.
He could just wait until someone opened the door and climb in from the ceiling.
"Maybe I could convince Elise to let me win in a duel." he said jokingly. But when he looked back up to Violet her face was serious.
"That's a good idea actually.", "No- she would never-", "But if you DID win, like actually, fairly, he probably would take you in there."
Then Violet gave him a sympathetic look, which was odd for her. Then he realized why.
He suddenly had memories of his face being beaten to a pulp and shuddered.
"I don't wanna..."
---
But despite his wishes, he ended up once again across from his uncle Brandon in a full suit of armor.
"Don't fight Brandon, fight Brandon, Violet needs to make up her mind..." he muttered.
'Oh crap when did he get so close-'
"OVER HAND SWING!", a sword came crashing down on Theos clavicle. "ohgodmyspine!",
"You there- butler! Remain close by with those potions. I believe today our Lord Charles will make some progress!"
Sir Stelios pulled one of Theos arms over his shoulder and hoisted him up to his feet. Theo leaned on him. "He's going to kill me Stelios."
Sir Stelios gave him a knowing look then leaned in whispering-
"The Proletariat admires your efforts Sir Charles... If you endure, perhaps your father will give you access to the treasury- a fine plan! If you are successful, you will have your position among our ranks as promised- oh, here's the potion..."
Theo quickly splashed the potion on his face, wiped his face and then realized what Stelios had said.
"Huh?"