I shake my head, "This isn't a game. Not anymore."

The entire Colosseum is completely silent for a solid minute, then a child starts crying. Like a dam bursting, every player starts moving, talking and screaming all at once.

"There's no way that's possible. Is it?"

"We're all gonna die!"

"That's it. We're doomed."

"There's no way. This has got to be a bluff."

"Are you willing to risk it?"

Alakshmi shakes her head, "I have no idea what to think. What about you Azrael?"

I go through all of the information in my head. There's no logout button, the game was intentionally designed without magic, and you have no extra lives. IT's a never ending battle for survival against monsters of the unknown. This sounds a little like reality.

"I think...I think he's telling the truth. OR at least he thinks he is. He wasn't bluffing." Nothing about the game was a bluff. I could tell from his voice that he believed every word he was saying.

"But how is that possible? I mean, how could killing us in here actually kill us on the real world?"

"I heard some guy talking earlier. He seemed to really know what he was talking about. He said something about the neural interface. It could be reprogramed to release microwaves that fry our brain cells." I shrug, "It actually does make sense when you think about it. The manual was very detailed. A little rewiring and the right piece of code and you have an instant brain killer."

"You remember all of that from the manual?"

"Yeah." I rub the back of my head, "It's not actually that hard to do."

"What are you? A programmer or something?"

I ignore her comment, "Well, whatever Ahihiko Kaiyaba decided to do, it's a threat and we need to get out of here and back to the real world."

"But to do that, we need to clear the entire game..." My red-clad friend agrees, "Which is crazy. Even us beta-testers didn't even come close."

"We, we've just got to do better than the beta testers. I-"

"Hey!"

"- am not living the rest of my life in a video game."

"I can agree with you there." Alakshmi bites her lip, "If we want to survive, we'll need to get really strong."

"What would you suggest then?" I inquire, still being a newbie to RPG games in general.

"I think we should probably grind on the low-leveled monsters around the Town of Beginnings, then find a couple quests. We can figure out where to go from there."

"Sounds like a plan." I nod in agreement, "Lead the way."

"Hold on a second first." Alakshmi opens up her menu and starts tapping on menu options. Suddenly, a screen pops up in front of me.

"Party request?" I read off the top.

"Yeah...wait, don't tell me you don't know what a party is."

"Okay, I won't tell you."

Alakshmi sighs, "Fine. A party is sort of like an easy way for people to work together on quests and such. A lot of people like it because it's less binding than a guild, which is a semi-permanent bond. It's an easy way for people on the same quest to complete it and get extra bonuses."

"Sweet." I press the accept button, and another life bar under my own appears in the top left corner of my vision. The name Alakshmi is next to it.

"That bar you see under your own is my life bar. More bars will pop up if there are more members in your party. It allows people to keep track of their teem mates."

"Convenient." I mutter, glancing up at the and the rest of the HUD {A/N: Heads Up Display}.

"Got all that? Great, now let's get moving. If we don't hurry, all of the easy pickings will be gone!" With that, Alakshmi grabs my arm and drags me through the town of beginnings.

"Alright, I get it. We have to hurry." I say, finally matching Alakshmi's pace, "But you don't have to literally drag me around."

Alakshmi laughs and turns a corner without looking. I hear a crash and stop running. I look around the corner and out onto a small side street. At first I see nothing unusual, then I look down to see two people sitting on the ground. The closer one is Alakshmi, groaning as she holds her head. I don't recognize the other person. He's dressed in bright gold with some red highlights, but I can't tell much about him, as he's currently curled in the fetal position.

"My jewels! My beautiful family jewels!" The guys turns and I can make out a face devoid of any emotion outside of complete pain.

He painfully stands up, and I can see that he's very tall, maybe 6' 5" and dressed in what I can now tell is a trench coat with leather armor under it. On his left hip he carries what appears to be a large switchblade.

"Hey, watch where you're going short stalks." He forces out. His voice contains the annoying qualities of a used car salesman.

Alakshmi is instantly on her feet, "Was that a short joke? I know that wasn't a short joke!"

I stop where I am and watch the events unfold. Something tells me this will get interesting really fast.

"Did you just insult my main man? You done messed up girly. No one insults my main man!" A smaller, more annoying guys pops up from behind the first one. He's wearing all green, with special points for the really terrible hat. An Egyptian khopesh {Egyptian sword, think if it like a mix between a scimitar and a sickle} is strapped to his side. If his buddy is a car salesman, the pipsqueak is a lawyer: sleazy and suspicious.

"Girly? GIRLY!?" Alakshmi starts screaming and I have to step forward and physically hold her back from going after the runt.

"Alright there Alakshmi, calm down." I say, or at least try to. It's almost impossible to get a word in with the green man yelling insults.

Then the golden giant puts his hand on his buddy's shoulder, "Relax little dude. I got this."

"You sure boss man?"

"Chill man." The guy then turn to Alakshmi and me, "Let's try this again. My name's Ace O' Spades, and this here fireball is Lucky Straight. Now let's hear your names, so we can start this properly."

Man, this guy really is a smooth talker, "Fine. I'm Azrael."

"Alakshmi." She doesn't even look at the two.

"Alright, now that that's been sorted out, why don't we look at what happened here. We met when you decided to slam right into my private place. If you were trying to give head or something, you were way off."

I roll my eyes. Great, he's a pervert too. Alakshmi's face goes beet red.

"Then you went and insulted Lucky here. Now that is just not cool. Listen, we just want to be friends. Why don't you work with us here?"

"Yeah man, we reaching out, but we gotta meet halfway, ya know." I take that back, Lucky Straight isn't a lawyer, he's a failed rapper.

"I don't know. I reply coolly, "I'd rather we never speak again. Now if you'll excuse us, we'd like to go survive this hell hole now. Come on Alakshmi."

I turn and walk away, Alakshmi right behind me. The entire time I walk away, I can hear Ace O' Spades and Lucky Straight calling after us.

"Woah man! Walking off like that hurts."

"Yeah man! Why you gotta go hating on us? We ain't done nothin and all you done is disrespect us! That's not cool man!"
[A/N: For the official record, I find Lucky Straight very annoying.}

For the entire trip through the rest of the city, I can feel the heat come off of Alakshmi as she seethes. Once we get out of the city, all the anger is released.

"Who do they think they are! One's a pervert and the other's a wannabe gangster! Why do people like that have to play in this game?" She continues to shout and vent.

I just sit back and listen. I can tell that not all of it is actually directed at the dynamic duo from earlier. Most of it is actually because of the situation we now find ourselves in. And understandably so. I mean, we are stuck in a video game, and if we die here, we die in the real world. Those are some high stakes. I remain on alert as she vents, watching for any monsters. Fortunately I don't see any at this instant. Unfortunately, I do see something else.

"Hey Alakshmi, the pair of cards is back." I mutter.

"Oh joy." She mutters and turns to the two, "So what do you two losers want?"

"I ain't no loser Late Bloomer." Ace O' Spades grins, "I'm a gambler."

"That's even worse." I mutter.

Gamblers are fools. They're the kind of people who do foolish things because of bets, like drinking an entire bottle of Tabasco sauce. This guy also appears to be a card player, which means he's probably arrogant as well.

Alakshmi and Ace O' Spades start tossing insults back and forth, with Lucky Straight throwing in a comment or twelve every once in a while. As they fight, something catches my eye behind Alakshmi.

"Hey Alakshmi..." I say, but she ignores me.

"At least I'm not dressed like a walking chandelier!"

"Alakshmi."

"You ain't gonna get a man if you keep acting like that."

"Alakshmi!"

"I may not get a man, but maybe I can find you someone who does gentleman lessons. If he'll take a customer like you!"

"ALAKSHMI!!"

"What?" She turns to me.

"Duck!"

I draw my left kama and swing high. Alakshmi yelps and ducks under my swing, just barely clearing it. Instead my kama makes contact with it's intended target: the wild boar diving towards my party member. The blow doesn't kill it, but it does knock it backwards.

"Can we suspend this not-so-friendly spat until after the monsters are dead?" I whirl around and draw my other kama, impaling a second boar in the snout, "Now draw your weapons! I'm not gonna save all your asses!"

I cross both of my kamas across my body and think back to how Alakshmi described the sword skills. I take a deep breath and focus on my blades. Hearing a small click, I open my eyes. Both of my kamas are now glwing. I grin and shoot towards a boar, swinging both of my kamas in towards the boar's neck. Instead of getting stuck in the monster like before, both blades slice clean through the monster and it bursts into pixels. I hear another coming up from my left, and one more at five o'clock. I turn and catch the first one's tusk, redirecting it into the other. Both of the boars go spiraling in the wrong direction, getting their tusks entangled in the process. It was a simple matter to deal with them from there.

Thwack!

I turn in time to see Alakshmi's hammer send one of the boars flying towards Ace O' Spades. He hits one of the boars surrounding him with his sheathed switchblade, then flicks it open in time to catch the flying boar, skewering it and turning it into pixels.

"Hey yo, boss man, a little help for yo main man!" Lucky Straight wasn't having as much luck.

It seems that the majority of the boars had decided to swarm the dude. He was trying to fend them off with his khopesh, but for ever hit he landed, the boars landed three on him. His health was draining fast. I think back to the opening ceremony and what Ahihiko Kaiyaba said. If we die here, we die in the real world as well. Lucky Straight may be annoying, but he doesn't deserve to die. I pivot on one foot and take aim. After not even a half of a second, I throw my left-hand kama. It spins through the air and strikes the boar to his right. That one dissolves into pixels, but there are still six more.

"I got you Lucky!" Ace O' Spades runs towards his partner, giant switchblade at the ready.

I follow suit, coming in from the right as Alakshmi converges on the left. I use my remaining kama to impale one boar a couple times, but not before it catches me with one of its tusks. pain arcs through my body, causing me to stumble back. Alakshmi slams her hammer down on another one's head as Ace O' Spades slits another's throat. Lucky Straight is breathing hard, but he takes out another one. He straightens up and turns to his friend, then pauses and looks down. A line of red pixels had appeared on his chest. His face goes slack as I look at his life bar, watching it go from red to black. Lucky Straight falls down onto his knees as I take out the last boar.

"Dealer..." Lucky Straight coughs out, "Can I...Can I get a Mulligan?"

"Hang on dude, we'll get you through this." Ace O' Spades kneels down next to Lucky Straight, "Come on, the hand isn't over yet. Don't you dare fold."

"Doesn't look like...I have much of a choice." Lucky Straight smiles weakly, "I'm all out of chips."

Ace O' Spades takes a deep breath, "Alright, but when I get up to that big casino in the sky, I'll look for you."

"Count...on it." Lucky Straight laughs softly, " Maybe next time...I'll deal you...in."

"Keep a spot open for me buddy." Ace O' Spades says this as Lucky Straight's body disappears in a burst of pixels.

I look at the spot where Lucky Straight vanished. This is real. That pain I felt was real. Lucky Straight really did die.

Alakshmi looks at Ace O' Spades, "Listen, I'm sorry."

Ace O' Spades stands up suddenly, wiping the tears out of his eyes, "No need to be sorry little lady. Life dealt the dude a bad hand, but he'll pull through, he always has." He then turns to the both of us, "Deal me in."

Alakshmi and I glance at each other, "What do you mean?" I ask uncertainly.

"I want a spot at your table." He continues, "I'm a gambling man, and I'm betting everything on the fact that you two are gonna get everyone out of this Death Game. I want a piece of the action."

There was something different about his mood now. Gone was the arrogant braggart, replaced by someone far more determined. I nod to Alakshmi. She sighs and opens up her menu, sending him a a party request. Ace O' Spades' name appears under Alakshmi's

"Well then Ace, welcome to our little tea party." I grin, "What say you we start a revolution."