Usually, a walk in the forest would have something to do with chatting as we casually make our way through the trail, spotting the occasional cute animal and ending with a nice picnic in a clearing.

It does not include wrecking havoc across the monster populace. Interestingly enough, that's exactly what we did.

I say 'we', but really, it's mostly her. She doesn't very much give me a chance to get close. Her sword swings around in arcs so wide and fast I'm surprised she doesn't impale herself. She moves nimbly and times her attacks with almost complete perfection. I'm kind of mesmerized. 

She slashes the rat monster's chest, pushes off his head, does an unnecessary but impressive series of backflips and lands squarely on her feet. The giant rodent disappears with a buzz.

"Not bad." I comment. "But hey, that was level five, right?" 

She spins and stalks up to me, defiance glowing in her eyes. "You mean to say you can do better?"

I instinctively take a step back, her aura feels like a bear on its hind legs. "Well... not better... per se, but..."

Suddenly, an idea comes over me. "A contest!" 

She raises an eyebrow. "Hunting contest? Against me?"

I nod, this will give us an activity to do and I came up with it, so I'm proud. "Absolutely, point out any monster, I'll beat it!"

"Any monster, huh?" She asked, smirking. "Any?"

"Yeah." I stared at her, a little apprehensive. I really should have noticed that glint of mischief in her eyes earlier. "Any."

"Okay, well then come right this way." And she marched off into the brush, letting me follow the steady crunch of her steps with a weird feeling that I was going to regret this.

She stopped right before a clearing and crouched, then designated a looming figure standing in the shadows. "Found one." She said, with triumph in her voice. "Kill that."

My eyes pop out of my head. "You're kidding," I squeak, "this?!"

She's found one all right. It looks like a lizard on bowed, hind legs, built for jumping power and speed. It sports an Egyptian khopesh, a curved blade short sword that glints wickedly off the sun, a round gladiator's shield with a feather in the middle which, for some reason, I find really scary. The look is complete with full gladiator armor. His fangs drip with drool, probably preparing to devour whatever innocent mid-level elf might stumble upon it. I bet it has wings, too. Everything is worst with wings.

"Hey, you said you could kill any monster, right?" She says, her face spread in a wicked grin.

"Yeah, but that last monster was level five. Plus I'm pretty sure this thing has wings."

"Are you going back on your word?" She asks, then pounces on me before I have time to react. "And what do wings matter, anyway?"

She throws me out into the opening, literally.  

The lizard towers over me, a low growl rising in it's throat. I get the feeling he isn't quite in kill mode, but rather, what the hell are you doing here mode. The growl intensifies and he begins to raise his sword. The rising dread in the pit of my stomach is telling me that he has transitioned from what the hell are you doing here mode to utter annihilation.  

I stumble to my feet and fumble my staff out of its sheath. I guess I can only hope the monster dies of laughter before it can kill me.

"Lancea!" I say, trying to keep my voice from squeaking.

The tip of the staff glows and begins to elongate, growing heavier in my hands. Soon, I'm holding a spear with a 12 inch blade protruding from the top.

The legs pull down and tense, like a taut spring, it unleashes the pent up power in an instant and rushes towards with the sure of death. I stumble back and trip over myself, landing backwards and missing death by inches. 

There go my chances.

Trying not to whimper and say something that probably wouldn't be very impressive (I was thinking along the lines: of "Take the scary, hazel girl!"). I leap towards it and bring my staff down with all my might, trying to overwhelm its strength.

Spring Lizard roars in outrage as it sidesteps with ease and brings it's shield down on my back. It slams down with full force. A lightning bolt of pain courses through my entire body and I can feel my eyes rattling in my head. I slam into the ground with a heavy thud and lie there, twitching lightly. I try to bend my arm to drag myself away, but find myself unable to.

From somewhere to my left, Akemi lets out a yelp.

Spring Lizard raises its khopesh, ready to finish me off. I'm about to think, "well, this meet-up could've gone better", when something big, and black slams into its head. The monster stumbles and falls to the ground. Someone lifts my head and plugs my lips with something. Something flows into my mouth and I accept it without question. My HP jumps back up.

Crouching over me is Akemi, a long chain in the hand not holding the bottle of healing elixir. The chain lead to a spiked orb about the size and color of a bowling ball.

"I made it," She says in a relieved voice.

"Uh-huh," I grumble, requiring penance. "Thanks for the save, although you were the one who pushed me," I point out, which seems fair. "Seriously, noobs are dangerous."

The monster is getting up, emitting a low and threatening growl, almost as threatening as the look Akemi is giving me. I decide I forgive her on the spot.

"I think I can do it this time," I say, crouching, ready to spring. "I just need a boost."

"No, stay back," She regards the monster with a kind intensity, which makes her sort of cool in a Conan princess warrior way, "I'll get it."

I quirk an eyebrow at her. Even in the virtual world, I can feel a kind of aura off of her, something that kind of makes me want to crouch behind a bush and snivel. It's just such... danger.

"You know that this isn't a real thing right? We can just log out at any time." I say, my voice just barely avoiding the god forsaken squeak.

"Oh... of course I knew that!" She protests. "I really don't want to lose, though."

Spring Lizard is now on his feet, crouching in on himself, every muscle taut.

"You go in, I'll give you some buffs." I say.

"Okay." She places her spiked-ball-on-a-chain into her inventory and unsheathes her blade. A giant one-sided broadsword.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

I raise my staff and chant. "Divus robur Akemi!"

The runes on the staff flare with light, sending a stream into her chest. She begins to glow with a soft orange light. "Wow!" She exclaims. "This feels amazing! Like my sword is light as a feather! How did I not know about this before?"

"Forward! Face forward! Please!"

The monster pounces, slobber flying out of it's maw, howling bloody murder.

It comes level with us in two leaps and throws its entire weight into a slash downwards. I feel a ripple of power emanate as it connects with Akemi's sword.

She stands there, unflinching. The beast sniffs curiously and pushes down harder. The warrior  grins up at it and shoves back.

It lurches back, completely off balance. Normally, a strength spell should only add a few points to a fighter's strength. It seems Akemi was already strong enough, to begin with.

I feel a grin split my own face as I chant: "Divus celeritas Akemi!"

This time, a flock of feathers burst from the tip of my staff and fluttered to her feet, encasing them and melting into her shoes. She yelps in surprise. "Don't do that without warning me, it makes a really weird sensation!"

"Weird as in good or bad? Because it can apply in both situations. Deflexio!" The oncoming monster's sword clangs off my barrier of light and it stumbles back again.

She charges Spring Boy, "It's weird!"

Whatever that means. Uh-huh, girls are impossible to understand no matter what language they speak. There should be a course at school for that or something.

Her speed doubled, she bears down on the monster. I can no longer tell which one is predator and prey. Her shadow seems to enlarge, forcing the monster to look tiny in comparison. The aura she emanates reminds me of the feeling you would get if a rhino were charging you. The feeling of doom.

She strikes and the monster somehow parries, refusing to be intimidated, they begin a furious back and forth exchange; I can't believe the speed of their fencing, so fast their arms are blurs. The first bout lasts a mere second, but already there is a scratch on the monster's chest, and Akemi's shirt arm is torn. I jump in every chance I have, the two of us in almost perfect sync. A feeling of elation begins to overcome me and a grin spreads all over my face; I probably look crazy right now. The beast begins to stumble more often, the swings get wider and slower.

Akemi's enhanced strength slices through the top of the monster's raised shield, straight through its arm and eventually, through the chest. It utters one final bellow of rage and vanishes with a peaceful buzz that fits this monster about as well as a baby's sock.

Akemi trots back over to me at the speed of a sprint and almost falls when she tries to halt, "This speed is hard to get used to." She grunts as she pushes herself out of my arms.

I shrink my staff and place it back in my pouch after I've finished apologizing and panicking, "Y... yeah, that's what I thought the first time I used it. Or... um... at least, I did by the time I ran into my first tree."

She laughs and my heart flutters. I just made a girl laugh. I think that was the first time I've ever made a girl laugh. Am I clever? Was that clever? I want to live forever now. Please tell me she's not psychic. These are really creepy thoughts, aren't they? "I heard that you elves can use powerful spells, why don't you?"

Her voice breaks me out of my mental debate. I've got to stop doing that.

"Well I... uh... only know one attack spell; it takes a lot of energy, too. And if it's done wrong, well, it isn't good."

"Oh," She doesn't seem to understand too well, but lets it drop. I appreciate that. "What did the monster give us?"

"Huh? Umm... hold on," I slip out my inventory card (without dropping it somehow) and hold it out like it's on fire.

The screen projects and an announcement that I've leveled up explodes over the screen.

I glance at Akemi, casual as a rhino. She's gone up by two and is now level 14. Wait, right. Invasion of privacy.

I look back, scanning the loot that the monster dropped for me, checking if maybe I can sell anything to Aaron for him to extort people with, and my eye begins to twitch involuntarily.

"Hide?" Akemi calls, "You're looking a bit pale."

Pale? That's weird, my blood should be circulating at the speed of a bullet train, seeing as my heart is on overdrive. I quickly slide my inventory back into the card and gulp nervously, "I... it's nothing, nothing. Yeah, let's... let's go, I... I think that's enough leveling for today."

She looks a bit surprised, "What? But we've only been at it for an hour or two!"

Good point. "Well, we just levelled up a bit, so let's find something else to do, okay?"

She pauses. "Are you sure? This was fun."

I don't know what to do anymore, why is my tongue feeling like it's been wrapped in iron?

"Um... well, I dunno." Lamest way to finish a sentence, I dunno. That doesn't even make sense in this context! For god's sake, I don't talk well with people usually, but this is ridiculous.

She shrugs, "Okay, but you better have come up with something while we were gathering experience."

Uh-oh.

I decide to not yell look! A bald eagle! and dive into the bushes as I'd initially planned. Instead, I begin to threaten my brain with a garden trowel.

"Um... there's a shooting range in town 23, I could help you out with that crossbow."

Is this what people mean when they talk about moments of genius. That's what it feels like. How? I don't know. I have no idea, but I'm not going to question it. I'm just relieved.

She smiles with some hesitance and somehow still conserves her confidence. "Okay, I guess you're right. It couldn't hurt, since I never want anyone to tell me my crossbow is empty again." 

She stared pointedly at me. 

I slip my book out of my inventory, grateful that it gives me something else to look at other than her. She terrifies me, sometimes.

Before I can go to her, she stalks up and grabs my arm at the elbow. A few billion things race through my mind at the exact same time: surprise that somebody willingly came to me; panic that the person holding me is a girl; happiness about something, not sure what; and a few other things that are so jumbled I can't understand them.

I clear my throat and manage to say, "Um, t...teleport, entity player, town 23!"

We dissolve once again into shifting light, soaring faster than our minds could process, and materializing in town.

That's when it happens.

A feeling that something's going to happen, something that you'll never forget, no matter how much you want to. Something that'll stick with you forever. The feeling you get when you cross the street without looking, knowing, somehow, in your subconscious you know there's a car, probably a 1958 Plymouth Fury, sweeping towards you at mach speed. A feeling of dread you didn't know you could have. 

The world freezes over. Grass stops rustling, wind stops blowing, a squirrel scampering up a tree stops mid-way, frozen in midair. Everything just stops moving except for the players who stare curiously at the NPCs that stopped mid-step. One is frozen in the middle of tripping and dropping their apples. Another is frozen chasing a dog down the street. The slobber from the panting dog halted inches from it's mouth.

In complete silence, the buildings, planes, trees, mountains and hills surrounding crumble into darkness, falling into themselves like melting snow. Cries of shock can be heard from all sides. The sky shatters like a glass dome, revealing pure darkness underneath. The ground is sucked away, as if attracted by a black hole, pure darkness envelops us, and only now I can contemplate just how many players there were in the game at the same time. Some are still in a sitting position they were in while eating. They look around in surprise, as if wondering where their forks went.

Bugs and glitches as grave as this has never happened in MIdgard before. There are the occasional problems, but never something that warps the universe to this degree.

Soon, there are only the players, floating in the void. Akemi looks around fearfully. A check on my inventory confirms that everything is in order, not a single bit of corrupted coding.

Then what's happening?

Suddenly, a noise above us makes everyone look up.

Something is writhing in the darkness, getting bigger. It looks like... a giant mass of revolving limbs. I squint as it begins to take shape.

It's a mass of millions of mechanical tentacle-like arms that descend upon us, resembling a pit of snakes.

The players stare as they approach, mesmerized in the same way you'd stare at a landing alien spacecraft from an old 80s movie.

Suddenly, the arms halt their descent. Everyone seems to flinch simultaneously. For a moment, they just stay there, levitating. Although it's hard to tell, what with there being no up or down.

One of the arms shoots out at a player a few feet to my right, grab him with it's sharp claws, and vanishes, bringing the player with it.

Two more launch themselves at some others and that's when pandemonium ensues.

Screams of fear explode into the quasi-empty universe. People try to run, but there's nothing to run on, we're completely trapped. All we can do is watch in terror as the people around are grabbed and disappear, waiting our turn, because we know our turn is coming.

Others try to fight back, blasting the tentacles with bursts of magic, pummeling them with clubs and stabbing at them with spears, hurling javelins and shooting arrows, nothing seems to even slow them down.

I look up and see a claw honing in on me. A squeak escapes me as I try to reach for my staff, but I'm immediately plucked up by it.

I scream, which, I know, isn't very heroic, cool, or anything really good, actually. Akemi tries to jump, but, again, there's nothing to jump on. A claw snatches her right out of the air. I watch her go, and in her eyes, there is terror, sheer and utter terror. She is pleading with me. Help me, I believe in you, I trust you, help me!

Trust? Why would you trust me? We've only just met. How is it possible for you to trust someone you've just met? Especially someone like me! You shouldn't trust me. Ever. I've already proven that long ago.

But I have a feeling it's been a while since she's looked at anyone that way.

A sharp pain goes through my left leg. Suddenly, I can't move. I slump over despite all my efforts to keep struggling. My entire body is numb, from my legs to the tips of my fingers. A paralysis poison.

What the hell is going on? I think.

The claws rush me through darkness, I can feel the wind on my clothes. Otherwise, I can't tell that we're moving at all. then a flash of brilliant light; coding is surrounding me, an overloading amount of 0s and 1s so huge and in such vast amounts I feel like an insignificant flea. The coding seems unending. Tidal waves over tidal wives. Engulfing everything in it's pure size. Right when I think that this wouldn't be so bad had I not been paralyzed, the lift ends and I'm dropped into a circle of faint pale light.

The paralysis is wearing off as I get to my feet, the numbness leaving my body and returning some aches from being held by a metal arm for so long.

"Hello?" I call. I'm answered by an unnatural silence. No echo or wind. Nothing.

Hi, A voice speaks.

I whirl around and stumble in surprise.

Standing a few feet away is a completely pure white being. A human, but not. It has the shape of a human, but that's it. Pure white, no features on its face, just a flat, smooth surface. A slight glow emanates from it's skin like a glowstick.

"What are you?" I stammer.

Is that really what you want to ask first? It demands, head cocked.

I shake my head, trying to clear it, blink a few times and shake it again. "What's going on?" I ask.

Oh that? Just getting the players out of the way as we make some minor adjustments to the game environment.

Adjustments? Is this a game dev? "A new update? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

It has no facial expressions, or face, but by its voice I think it smirking. I'm not exactly at liberty to tell you, really. You'll see, don't worry!

"See what? You're going to change it? Seriously, how? And why didn't you announce this ahead of time? That way, the players just would've logged out. Why didn't you just block access to the game?"

Oh, that's a surprise! I would hate to spoil it for you, I hate spoilers! Man, you guys and your impatience. Just wait a second, would ya'?

This thing is really starting to piss me off, and I don't think it's a game developer either. I've seen the faces they put on for the TV. Grinning, happy, proud, relaxed. Everything they aren't. I grip my staff and pull it out of it's pouch.

The thing in front of me lifts its hands up. Hey! No weapons! And besides, this thing in front of you is only some kind of telephone, just a deliverer, it's an immortal object, like a prop. You can't do anything to it anyway.

I keep my staff out, but don't attack. If this is a communication device from the development team, I probably shouldn't attack it. Besides, what would it do for me? Attacking a person's avatar in-game wouldn't do anything at all to the player.

"Tell me what's happening." I demand sharply. This guy is definitely not a game dev. Game devs wouldn't have used such a spiteful tone. "Before you touch it. Tell me what's happening. Please."

The thing chuckles maliciously, not the way any self-respecting sales-man would laugh, Don't worry, it's starting now...

The world reforms around me. Buildings, hills, planes, rivers, mountains, landscapes un-collapsing, reforming like a video on rewind.

It erupts around me and I stumble out of surprise. I've spawned in a place that I recognize, but don't at the same time.

It looks like Midgard, but it's so evidently not; the difference stands out so much, and yet it's so subtle.

The sky is red with what I think is a sunset, but it looks more like the sky is bleeding than anything else. The trees sway without wind. The NPCs walk around as they naturally should, but they appear to be in some sort of daze, some sort of hypnotism, making it look more like spirits, wandering aimlessly.

A voice, the same voice that spoke to me, booms into the nightmarish sky, Hello, as you may have observed, the landscape and the map have been lightly modified. Now, pay close attention, because this is important.

I hear a rustling of paper, the voice clears its throat loudly.

This is no longer a game. You'll probably check after I point this out, but you can no longer access the log out button, therefore, you can no longer leave. Don't worry! This audio is being played on every radio station that I could achieve contact with, and I'm quite sure I got them all, so, by now the government should be trying everything they can to maintain the function of your bodies as well as try to break you out of here. Now, I would like to note that should the headgear be brought to any harm, removed from the head or meddled with in any way that could free the player, this person will be killed. You know perfectly well that said headgear works by sending electrons to the brain, it's a simple matter of increasing that charge by, say, a few million times, to destroy the mind of the wearer.

It pauses, maybe to give us time to digest this information. I hear a player near me moan and fall to his knees. Others simply look around in shock, as if just realizing how different everything is. Some just stare at the sky, frozen.

Next, I would like to reassure you that there is a way to get out of here, and don't worry, it's doable, It chuckles like a child about to show off it's new toy, All you need to do is kill every  boss in the universe of what you used to call "Midgard".

My stomach sinks into my feet. Every single boss in the universe of Midgard? There are supposed to be about a hundred bosses in this entire place, each boss has a castle in which you have to fight dozens to hundreds of minions to kill it, and when you finally do, another entrance opens into the next boss' castle. How are we, a bunch of gamers, supposed to do that?

One more thing, The voice adds, If you die now, it will overload the circuits in the headset, which will then cause harm to it, resulting in your permanent death. Have fun! The rules of Midgard still apply here, remember. Cheaters will be kicked from the game, therefore, killed. No harassment or abuse, sinners will be put into prison, and of course, murder will result in the completely true and non-virtual death of a player. See you now! The voice shuts off.

There's a moment of stunned silence. One in which you think "of course this isn't happening" when really, you're just begging. What is there to beg with, though? We know it's true.

In the distance, I vaguely hear screams of panic, voices cursing, pleading, crying. Voices filled with disbelief and despair, but they seem so distant. So... blurred.

I can't believe that, just a moment ago, I was stressing at the idea of spending time with Akemi.

Akemi. Her eyes. The way they screamed trust.

Why? Why do you need to trust me, of all people. Trust someone else. Anyone else. Why did you have to choose me to look at, of all people. Now, I feel responsible.

The thought of that jump-starts my mind. I can't afford to let her die. As much as I want to survive, I have to find Akemi first.

Dammit, what is it with that girl?

I bring out my command book, my hands shaking, then remember that I can't use commands for now, and decide to just run there.

I take off at a sprint, speeding down the road to my destination.

Inwardly, I'm grateful for this, being able to take action. Running dead straight to town 13 allows me to avoid thinking about the situation.

This is absurd. What are they thinking? That they can trap hundreds upon thousands of players in a virtual game of death?

I bring out my menu card and see that, indeed, the logout button is simply not there.

I keep my mind focused on my goal: Town 13, and Aaron's shop. The more I stay focused the less my panic and disbelief. Acceptance seems to wash through me.

I wrench my staff out of my pouch and nearly fumble it, but it stays strong in my fingers.

"Celeritas divus Hide!" I nearly scream. A beam of light slams into my feet, sending a trickling sensation down my spine, like water. I speed up to superhuman levels and rush off onto the road, dust rising in plumes behind me.