Following a blinding flash of light, a much darker environment engulfed the user's vision. Pure darkness in all every direction. Then came a series of text. They ran across the vast span of darkness that was in front of the user's eyes.

Welcome to Eonus. The realm in which the continent Akora resides in. A plight has befallen this great continent when some hundred years ago, a nightmare from the depths of Ember Pinnacle emerged to sow his seeds of wrath on this unsuspecting land. His name was Boudal. Boudal was the son of Odis, the King of the gods. When Boudal was created, Odis gave him the ability to control the spread of disease. But when he told Boudal that he was to be the god of disease, Boudal became furious and attacked Odis. Odis cast him out and buried him beneath the Ember Mountains.

Boudal emerged to seek revenge but rather than going after Odis himself, he directed his anger at Syna's creation: Humanity. Syna was the favored daughter of Odis, thus making her a perfect target. Boudal sent plague after plague down the mountainside and onto the mainland. From there, Boudal gained power and sought the help of many lesser deities. Nearly all of them agreed to aid him in his revenge plan. Together they began to conquer Akora. Their empire expanded quickly from the far western reaches, engulfing and damaging everything in their path. Odis grew angry at Boudal and the other lesser gods but gods are immortal and can not be killed, not even by each other. However, gods can become powerless and fall into mortality. Once made mortal through the loss of power, former gods become vulnerable to death and can be permanently killed.

One last human region remained and Syna thought Life, and herself, were doomed. Odis rounded up the other gods and unified their powers to create earthen walls that split Boudal's empire into dozens of smaller regions which ensured not only the survival but the potential expansion of human life.

You, along with others are the last remnants of the human civilization. We know Boudal to be the enemy and his fate is certain, but yours is not. I can only hope that you'll fight with us and retake this planet...

Then the game music kicked in. It sang its famous tune that had been all over YouTube for the past year. As it played, the text faded into the darkness only to be replaced by a new set. This new set, however, was just the company's logo. That too quickly faded back into the black.

Following another flash of bright white light, the user found themselves in front of a mirror surrounded by a world of vine-covered, crumbling stone structures and lush greenery. The world appeared untouched despite what the opening text said. The user shrugged it off and brought their attention back to the mirror. They found themselves standing in the mirror with some default appearance that coincidentally physically matched their real-life self. They couldn't change their height, their various limb sizes; only the colors and facial features could be adjusted. Additionally, there was a collection of races to choose from but even that selection was limited to the common races like elves and humans. The elves consisted of the common High, Wood and Dark variants. The human side was either Nordic or Desert. They made themselves: a male Nordic ginger. They became he and he moved on to the next step: classes.

The class system was divided into two: Fighters and Mages

He chose fighters. That triggered the next prompt which contained a small collection of 4 classes: Juggernaut, Archer, Knight, and Assassin.

Juggernaut: the class of the beast. Known for their intense strength and resolve, they're invaluable to any battle group. They are big meat bags designed to soak up the damage while the rest fight on. They rely on heavy armor, shields and one-handed weapons. Their primary attributes are health, heavy armor and one hand and shield.

Knights are capable of being a temporary replacement of a juggernaut as they specialize in heavy armor but their weaponry specialty is in two-handed. They swing hard with large weapons to deal heavy damage during a combat scenario. Their primary attributes are Stamina, Heavy armor, Two-Handed.

Archers are the best at long range attacks due to their precision accuracy. They wear medium armor to enable the necessary mobility whilst still being enough to protect them from any other ricochets or attacks. They're the only class that can effectively use a bow. Their primary attributes are stamina, Medium armor, and Archery.

Assassins are quick, deadly and rarely ever seen. Utilizing the shadows, they lie in wait for the perfect time to strike. They're deadly with daggers and extremely fast. Their primary attributes are Stamina, stealth, dual-wield and medium armor.

He read through the class descriptions, each one came with its own ups and downs. He liked the idea of being near invulnerable but the hampered DPS was a problem. Lone wolf Archers is unheard of making soloing nigh impossible. There is no honor in the assassin class. While this was game, to him honor still had value. He pushed those two away and was left staring at juggernaut and knight. He was fond of tower shields. The example NPC wielded a large shield but it also appeared like a Roman Praetorian Guard.

The Knight NPC was the stereotypical medieval knight. Shiny plate metal armor and a claymore. The Knight NPC stood in a heroic pose, a method of trying to "impress" the male user.

Inevitably, He chose juggernaut. The Juggernaut stepped forward and turned to the knight. "Better luck with the next one, you might not want to overdo it next time." It said in a comical tone.

The Juggernaut NPC turned to the user and began its monologue. "User, you've chosen the Juggernaut as your class. Feel the might of Torcall within you, feel the strength return to your muscles. Rise, my warrior, awaken. Your time has come..."

The NPC faded into darkness along with everything else. Another flash of bright white light blinded the user. He opened one eye, then the next. He sat in a wagon along with other users. The variety of hair, skin and eye color made the old, bland wooden wagon look like a Mau5 disco party. They all looked at each other in silent confusion. They all wore sun faded sackcloth garbs and looked like prisoners rather than heroes, much fewer players. The wagon bounced over the rough and rocky terrain. One blue haired user finally spoke. "What are Y'all in for?"

The user looked down and discovered his hands bound by cloth in a knot that wasn't undoable. The user looked up in horror. "I don't know, just logged in"

Another user, female with short black hair looked up and towards him. "I stole men's' hearts."

A big burly, probably older male nodded with a creepy smile. "You can steal mine anytime-"

The black haired girl launched her foot upwards and nailed his crotch. The burly man bent over and cried out in pain. She leaned back against the wall with a faint grin on her face.

"Hey you, ginger," the blue-haired user called out to him. "What's your name?"

"I... I haven't decided," the user said. "I wasn't given the prompt"

"I didn't think so, none of us have. I'll gamble that it'll appear when we get to town. That is of course when we get to be registered for the chopping block."

The User widened his eyes in fear. "Chopping... block?"

"You know executions. You do realize how this ends right?"

The user began to hyperventilate. He had only just joined and was already being sentenced to death. He placed his head in his hands, breathing erratically. Another user, on his left, placed a gentle elbow on him. The user looked up and saw a large, calm black man smiling at him.

"Don't listen to blue freak over there" the black man gestured to the blue-haired player. "I'm sure we'll get free one way or another."

"I hope so," the User said, beginning to calm down.

"Name's Falcher."

"Uh..." the User hadn't decided upon a name to use for his character. Dozens of plausible but too common a name came and went very quickly. However one did keep coming back. "Tangurple."

"Interesting name. Purple Tangerine?"

"Uh.. yea."

The cart remained silent for a few minutes. The rough rocking stopped when the cart hit the cobblestone road. "We must be close to town then" Falcher commented. "Good roads only go as far as town boundaries. That means we'll be off this cart in a few minutes."

Tangurple looked up at Falcher. "Then what? We can't be executed right off the bat, can we?"

"It wouldn't make sense lore wise. Unless Richer Slavik invented some method of revival. Anyways, I bet this 'event' of his involves everyone's game start"

"You think so?"

"Why else would he host an event at the launch of a game?"

"To bring in more players"

Falcher didn't reply. It did make sense, but he didn't believe it. Richer was a sly man and his characters always had some underlying plot despite their outward appearance.

Another minute passed before the cart came to a complete stop. The rear door was dropped revealing a dozen guards standing outside. "Exit the cart, prisoners"

Tangurple walked off the cart and looked around. A sea of nameless players stretched over the field. Hundreds of carts waited in double file line emptying themselves of their prisoners. Tangurple turned to Falcher with a questioning look in his eye, but before he could speak, a guard grabbed him and pulled him aside. "Name?"

Tangurple eyed him.

The guard repeated. "Name?"

Tangurple remained silent.

The guard sighed. "Wie heisst du?"

Tangurple rolled his eyes. "My name is Tangurple. Tangurple Merclain"

The guard gave him an evil eye. "Write it down, neatly. We need to keep track of you scum."

Tangurple looked down at the clipboard and an "enter name" prompt appeared along with a keyboard. He typed his name in and hit "Accept".

Tangurple was set aside along with many others who now had nametags hovering over their heads. One of which was Leeroy Jenkins. Leeroy had this odd look about him as if he wasn't all present. Not like he was autistic but more like he was drunk... or high, it was hard to tell. He decided to ask him. "Uh... Leeroy, you high?"

Leeroy turned to the shorter, paler figure. He towered over him by about eight inches. "I may be a bit stoned, but fear not! I'm good, I swear it." His eyes weren't bloodshot but his gaze was empty. Tangurple looked away wishing he'd never asked. Falcher returned to his side a few minutes later.

Seven O'Clock on the dot. The sky turned crimson with a spree of error warnings. A ghostly blob of red and black swirls manifested above the cloud. It took shape of a wraith, a type of hostile ghost, and looked down upon the people.

"Greetings!" the voice of the wraith boomed and echoed. "Welcome to the first Event of Ember Wind Online!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, applause, and shouting.

"I know waking up on a prison cart isn't the first thing you would expect from an online MMO but there is a purpose for that." He paused momentarily to release a haunting chuckle. "Symbolism if you will. Open up your menus. Raise your hands and slide them down quickly. That'll bring up the user menu. At the very bottom, you'll notice that there is no logout button."

Tangurple swiped his hand downward and looked for the logout button. It was legally required to be there, in the same obvious spot with the obvious icon. It wasn't there. In a panic, Tangurple swiped through every other section of the user menu trying to track it down. Nothing. Somehow it was gone.

"That cart you woke up on was the virus that removed it. That time you spent riding on it, was the amount of time necessary for that virus to find and delete that system option."

The whole crowd was silent, motionless even. Their hands were still bound and no one had any weapons.

"You all are my prisoners, my children. Welcome to your new home"