TY HADN’T KNOWN what to expect when he looked out over the wall, but he sure as heck hadn’t expected what he saw.

Across the clear killing field beyond the wall, a massive gathering of monsters filled his vision as far as he could see. They sat at the edge of the field and ran what had to have been several miles back to the shadowy forest that stood behind them, the trees reaching up to the skies and casting ominous shadows down on the horde.

This ain’t no horde. It’s a flapjacking army!

A cold tremble ran though him as he watched the monsters mill about, their snarls and growls filling the air and wafting across the distance between them. The setting sunlight cast a red pall over the assemblage, reflecting off their bared weapons as if they’d already been about the work of spilling blood.

Ty had never seen such a terrifying sight before.

-1 MP!

It’s easy to face a rumor. It’s much harder to stare down reality.

Despite the fear rising in him, its bite gnawing at his confidence, Ty forced himself to take a closer look at the horde. He wouldn’t be cowed by the horrific show of force.

It’s just a game, remember, he told himself, repeating the words over and over in his head until he almost believed it.

The army was a mixed bag of goblins and orcs, both races easily identifiable as those he’d seen in his time playing Umbra Online. That didn’t make them any easier to stare down, though, he had to admit.

In-game, Ty had always thought them cool-looking. Vicious and barbaric, they wore piecemeal armor, crafted out of chain and bits of leather woven together with thick ties, the only real color in all their assembly coming from the various bits of fur that had been added to the collection.

Some showed off the reddish-brown of foxes, others the cloudy gray of wolves, while a few even had the darker hides of bear sewn into their outfit.

That was mostly the orcs, though. The goblins, far smaller than their crueler brethren, didn’t have the capacity of taking down a bear or forest cat, even with a number advantage.

Small and wiry, goblins were the runt of the bad guy litter in the game. Most of them weren’t much bigger than Ty.

Definitely uglier, though, he thought, laughing.

With big heads set awkwardly on top of tiny necks and long, lithe bodies that brought to mind gristly meat, their congregation looked like a wild collection of poorly-groomed elementary kids on a public outing.

So, pretty much every kid ever!

Ty grinned, but the smile slowly slipped away, escaping his lips. As much as he wanted to minimize what he was seeing, make it more acceptable so he could imagine staying against the horde, there wasn’t much hope swimming about in the mass of barbaric creatures.

He could almost picture fighting the goblins, even with only his natural attributes, but the orcs were another matter entirely.

Twice his height, at a bare minimum, they stood there with the discipline of a trained army. While they shifted in place and let loose ragged howls and threatening snarls, they stood their ground, weapons at the ready, pale yellow eyes locked on Altunn, just waiting to be unleashed.

Thickly-muscled, with broad chests and wide shoulders, the orcs gnashed their tusks in anticipation. While Ty knew he was imagining it, he could have sworn he could see the excited drool oozing from their mouths in foamy rivulets.

Just the thought made his stomach churn. He could picture himself being gnawed on as the horde broke through the walls and spilled into the village; if he didn’t get cut down by one of their rusty blades first.

He sighed, not likely any of the possible outcomes.

“How do you people expect anyone to win this encounter?” he called out to the sky, aiming his question at the programmers he knew would never hear him.

Ty looked back over his shoulder at the town. Even though the sun was nearly down, the last of its light fading, and the moon had started to rise on the horizon, a ghostly pallor following in its wake, the streets of Altunn were mostly empty.

A few brave adventurers milled about, waiting for the attack, knowing it was coming, but the NPCs had shuttered their shops and gone to ground. Even the guards had largely disappeared though, he grudgingly had to admit that the one at the gates still stood there boldly, maintaining his station.

“Of course, that’s because he has to,” Ty laughed. He’ll be the first to die.

I’ll probably be the second.

A flurry of motion amongst the horde drew Ty’s attention back to it. He glanced out over the wall and saw the army of monsters stiffen and go quiet. Even the spastic goblins settled and drew themselves up straight, making the attempt at showing discipline.

That’s when Ty saw him.

A darkened figure exited the woods with a confident stride, and the forces splayed out before him parted in unison, making room for its approach. As the form trundled through the ranks, Ty got a better sense of context between the two.

The newcomer was huge!

He towered over even the biggest of the orcs by a half-dozen feet or more. And as the daylight was washed out, and the ominous moon cast its reflection upon the field, Ty caught a good look at the looming monstrosity.

He stumbled back, covering his mouth to stifle a gasp.

That’s a fripping troll!

But he knew right off that it was more than that. The tiny, crooked circlet sat sideways on its head like a gangster’s cap, told of a bestial royalty Ty hadn’t expected.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“A troll king?”

Ty wished then that he’d taken more time to find out exactly what was coming for the town because, right then, he didn’t want anything to do with an army of goblins and orcs, let alone a dang troll.

“Uh…make that three trolls,” he muttered.

Two more of the monstrous beasts left the cover of the woods and positioned themselves just behind the largest of them. And while neither of them held the height of their king, or the obvious ferocity that emanated from him, each was more than terrifying in their own right.

The three of them alone could sack the city.

Ty turned to look at the guard at the gate. “Uh, you might want to call the cavalry or the National Guard, buddy,” he said. “You’re about to have that gate shoved somewhere uncomfortable.”

The guard looked around, never once glancing up at the battlements, his faced scrunched into a confused glare. Then he went back to pacing, hand on his pommel, but he didn’t look any more prepared for an invasion that he had a moment before.

“You’re going to be a ton of help, I can see,” he grumbled. “This really is a dang game.”

Like almost every other game-generated scenario, Ty knew the NPCs would play a limited role in the outcome. Their job was to play the victim, be the foil so the PCs could appear heroic.

Problem was, Ty was feeling anything but heroic right then. The fact that his lost MP hadn’t returned made that abundantly clear.

“How am I supposed to do this at level…whatever the heck I am?” he asked no one in particular. Largely because there was no one there to ask. “I don’t even have a dang weapon.”

His breath catching in his lungs, he looked out at the horde again. The troll king and his entourage had reached the front of the army. The thing took in his followers, his crimson gaze sweeping over them, Ty assuming he was gauging their preparedness.

They looked dang ready to him.

The horde stilled under the appraisal, and Ty shuddered. He’d thought them horrifying before, but now, the menace felt multiplied in the silence. This was no disorganized rabble, it was a force to be reckoned with.

The troll king turned from the horde and set his gaze upon Altunn. The world moving slow and still cloaked in silence, the king raised his massively muscular arms, clawed hands reaching for the sky, threatening to tear it from its mooring.

Ty swallowed hard. While he knew what was about to happen, he couldn’t pull himself away. He had to watch it unfold.

Sure enough, it did seconds later.

The troll king dropped his arms in a rush and shrieked, the icepick shards of his voice stabbing deep into Ty’s chest.

The horde roared in response, and then charged as one, goblins leading the way.

The sound was like thunder echoing across the plain. Ty’s ears throbbed, and he instinctively clutched to them as the battlements shook beneath his feet, threatening to throw him over the ledge.

“The horde is coming!” he heard a random voice cry out from somewhere, and he was grateful for the warning, despite its obviousness.

Ty grabbed ahold of a crenellation to keep his balance, and that’s when he realized the horde was already at the gate.

“What the…?”

Stupid game mechanics!

As no one would normally be able to see the horde approach, at least not if they weren’t in one of the towers that rose up at the corners of the town’s wall, the programmers hadn’t bothered animating the horde traveling the distance between the far side of the field and Altunn’s wall.

But Ty had expected it, his mind still wrapped up in the physics of the real world.

But…isn’t this the real world now?

He shook his head at the thought, too confused to even attempt to unravel the logistical mechanics of what was going on.

Then it was too late to bother.

The horde crashed into Altunn, and the city’s gate crumpled under their ferocity.

It fell apart in splinters, wood flying as the first wave of the horde, the goblins, made entry into Altunn. The guard looked surprised, and Ty shook his head at the fact that he only just then unsheathed his sword and turned to face the enemy.

“You guys were way faster when I stole that dang muffin!” he shouted.

Though not any more effective, he had to admit.

The guard raised his sword to fight, but the goblins ran him down before he got a chance to swing. Like ants on a dropped ice cream cone, they swarmed over him. The guard went down under the crush without so much as a scream.

Seconds later, the guard’s body lie there, crumpled and bloody, little more than a speed bump in the way of the advancing army determined to take the town.

Ty had a fleeting thought of climbing down and trying to find someplace to hide, but before his feet found the courage to start off, he realized, just like the guard hadn’t, the horde appeared to not notice him on the wall. None of them even glanced his direction.

Or up for that matter.

Ty thought back to his days in Altunn, and though his memory was more than a little bit hazy, he couldn’t recall having ever seen anyone even attempt to climb the wall. It was common knowledge that a PC needed to be a certain level to leave town, and everything they needed was provided there, so why would they even try?

Ty glanced around, his gaze trailing the length of the wall in each direction. He was alone up there; no guards, no PCs, not even any birds or insects or anything that made him think that anyone had ever been up there before.

They probably haven’t. This is some kind of game mechanic thing, part of the program, he realized. It’s there for looks, not to actually be used for anything.

+1 to Deduction.

See, it’s good not to just assume things are exactly how they appear sometimes.

Maybe, Ty thought, but there’s no mistaking what this attack looks like: the end of Altunn.

Flames erupted just inside town, the goblins and orcs setting everything they came near on fire. The nearest shops and homes were engulfed almost immediately, flicking orange and red tongues lapping at their walls and roofs, burning them away.

People spilled from the various buildings to avoid the flames, only to run straight into the slashing death of the horde. Blades cleaved the air and flesh in equal quantities, and Ty bit back the bile trying to escape his throat.

They’re only NPCs, they’re only NPCS,” he muttered over and over, but his invocation did nothing to lessen the brutality of their deaths or assuage his guilt.

They were cut down with a feral cruelty. Blood and viscera flew in the wake of hacking blades and gnashing teeth and slicing claws, and the NPCs shrieked and cried out, clearly feeling every bit of the torture inflicted upon them.

They were truly dying.

Much as he wanted to shove his feelings aside, to picture the NPCs as purely automatons in the game with no value, it was clear they were much more than that. They were as real as he was.

Ty swayed, feeling a bit lightheaded as he tried to stop his morbid curiosity from winning out and taking in the carnage happening all around him. Fortunately for his guts, he spotted something to steal his focus then.

A short distance across town, Ty caught sight of Charice, Amon, and Deven, the three winding their way through the clustered goblins and making their way toward the tavern.

Ty shook his head. “What the heck, guys?” he asked. “Is this a Shaun of the Dead remake? Why would you idiots go to a bar during an invasion?”

Despite none of them wielding the weapons so obviously hung upon their hips, the trio slipped past the enemy and disappeared inside the tavern, slamming the door shut behind them.

But they hadn’t gotten away unnoticed.

Dozens of goblins headed their way, weapons drawn and torches out. It wouldn’t be more than a few moments before they surrounded the building and set it alight. Then, all they’d have to do is wait out the patrons who’d decided burning to death wasn’t how they wanted to die, then cut them down in their exodus.

“Too bad you idiots can’t level up in brains,” he shouted across the distance, knowing full well the three NPCs couldn’t hear him.

He stood there a moment, debating what he should do but, deep down, he knew he couldn’t just let them die without trying to do something, even if they did suck him into the game and trap him here.

Ty snarled and clambered down his makeshift steps, amazed that the goblins hadn’t set them on fire yet.

+1 to Climbing.

You’re a long way from mastering Parkour but, at least now, you can climb a tree without falling on your face.

Ty ignored the notification and set a course for the Shady Orchid, angling to stay in the shadows and avoid the goblins and rampaging orcs.

He wasn’t ready to be a hero yet, but he was the only hero they had, apparently.

They are soooo screwed.