We press together back to back, but even the stupidest fighter would think: Hey, there's about nine gazillion of them and only three of us. Obvious solution? Run like hell. But nope. Not me. I must be stupid or something.

The wolves bare down on us, the only thing visible from the mass of darkness the glint of their eyes and the flash of their razor-sharp fangs.

I imagin my leg caught in the the jaws of one of those things, the feeling of bones crunching and flesh tearing, then multiply it by a couple hundred fangs. That's probably what it's going to feel like, and I had no desire whatsoever to experience that.

If I could cast a powerful enough spell, maybe, just maybe. But at my current level, it would probably be suicide. Even level 100 players could cast the spell no more than once. What if I died like this? I didn't want to die like this!

I turn and see Aaron and Akemi. The merchants back is tense and I see it trembling. If I hadn't gone to get him, he'd probably be lounging in his apartment room with a glass of Seaweed Water. The warrior, however, is keeping her back straight, there's a fire in her eyes, one that seems to ignite her hazel hair into a flaming inferno. I realize that the light of the sun has turned  her almost into a living halo and, in that one instant, I truly understand why the role Warrior is fitting for her.

If she can be so brave in the face of death, why can't I?

Without giving doubt a chance to overcome me, I raise my staff and hear myself rattle off a pattern of words I've only ever used once before:

"Mittere ad ille tumba, pervenire deorsum et finis meus hostis! Umbra sepultura!"

A shadow falls over us, a shadow so huge it covers the entire section of the canyon we're cornered it. The shadow of a being I can't see, one that doesn't cover the sun, yet still casts that shadow. The shadow raises a fist, drawing away from the earth.

I watch as the fist comes roaring down. A fist the size of a small town. The fist of a giant.

With that, my eyes roll into the back of my head and I pass out cold.

***

Someone is calling my name, why are they calling it like that? It sounds sad, like they think I'm leaving for somewhere and that they'll miss me, but that's ridiculous, I'm still right here. I feel a pressure on my shoulder. How strange. Oh, I'm being shaken now. Someone's telling another person to stop shaking me, that sounds good, I don't like being shaken. Huh? They're... crying.

A slit of light appears in the darkness as I slowly open my eyes, and with my consciousness comes a whole lot of pain. My hands ache as if I'd been rubbing an anvil all day (the quests you need to complete as a beginner are brutal), my legs feel like jelly, molten jelly, my shoulders are in serious need of a massage, and my head is being assaulted by an apocalyptic headache.

Sitting a short way away, my friends are riffling through a pouch I recognize as being Aaron's, Akemi's face looks a little red and swollen, and Aaron's pale face is even more ashen. He glances back and I shoot him a grin. He grins back and drops the pouch.

"Glad to have you back with us." The merchant says, strutting over to me.

The warrior is right behind him, her bangs dangle over her face an hide her features. It's a little sinister looking.

Aaron hands her a bottle and she shoves it into my mouth, forcing me to swallow a mixture that reminds me vaguely of strawberry and apple juice which, dare I say, makes about as good a combination as chocolate does in ramen.

My HP, which was worryingly abysmal, shoots back up like someone had goosed it. Maybe it was the fruit juice?

When she's made sure I'm high on HP, or... um... my HP is high, she draws back her fist and punches me in the gut. I cough and hiccup, receiving another blow as if the first one hadn't proven its point, although I didn't really no what the point was, unless she enjoys physically abusing me.

That done, she sits back silently, watching me retch and wheeze in the dirt.

"What... was... that... for?!" I groan, trying to get up.

Suddenly, she hisses like an angry cat, grabbing the front of my shirt and forcing me up until we're almost nose-to-nose. "Don't ask that! I'm a warrior who barely knows anything about magic, and even I know what happens when you don't have enough energy to cast a spell!" She drops me again after one final shake. I hadn't very much registered much about what she'd said, since I'd been too busy studying her proximity to my face again.

"I think you just killed me, all over again." I joke, earning me another good solid punch. In the shoulder, this time, which means she's probably calmed down a little. "Why would you be so mad, anyway. You survived."

She's right though, I did know that something like this would happen. When you select a magical entity as your avatar, such as the elf for instance, you receive several warnings (which I may have barely skimmed over, leave me alone) one of which being that if you used a high level spell without the magical mana to handle it, you would begin using your life points to perform it with unfortunate consequences (i.e. death).

Long story short, I almost kicked the bucket in an insultingly lame way.

I raise my head to her and try to smile, I only manage a weak grimace. "I'm fine now, just tired. Also, winded. You hit like a nuke."

Aaron walks up to me, then grabs my arm. "Hey, Akemi, help me out here."

She grabs my other arm and together they haul me up and onto their shoulders.

"How long have I been out?" I ask.

"About two hours."

"Alright, guess we're on foot then."

I pause. "Hold on, does that mean you were crying for all that time?"

Ha ha, you should've seen my face after I said that, I was like, duuuuuh.

Actually, I'm glad you didn't.

She ducks under me, tipping me over and sending Aaron and I sprawling.: "Of course not! Do you think I'm a sob story princess? Why do I even put with you?!"

"Are an idiot, man?' Aaron asks, his voice muffled underneath me. "I was talking with her, she wasn't crying the whole time. Although, you know, she might as well have."

He started to laugh at that, and I joined in. We'd gotten off a good one, whacka-whacka-whacka.

"Oh come on!" Akemi exclaims. "Ugh, men!"

"Yo momma." Aaron says, in all his natural eloquence, I ask him what the hell that means and he starts laughing even harder.

"Don't base your idea of men off of us, Akemi. You'll never get married." I say, still laughing. Aaron sinks to the ground, clutching his stomach.

Akemi's face contorts, her jaw muscles twitch and I ready my gut for another punch. Then, she snorts and begins to laugh, too. Seriously, like a huge laugh, really loud and unlady-like. Aaron and I raise our eyebrows at each other. He shakes his head like: Don't try to understand, you can't.

Akemi manages to stop laughing as we start to walk up the stairs that had conveniently appeared in the canyon side.

"That was one hell of a laugh." I comment.

"I didn't laugh." She answers, looking at me serenly. "What happened to you when you were picked up?"

I decide to drop it.

Aaron goes first, describing how he had been dropped off around town 14, had gone to his shop to close it, then, dashed straight to his apartment knowing that I'd come for him.

I went on saying how I did, indeed, go straight to him, then, how we had run to the canyon guided by the map, and how we had spotted her.

Akemi had, apparently, been dropped off in the middle of town 45, she had brought up her map and was going through the canyon to get to where I was when the wolves appeared.

"Sorry we took so long." Aaron says, beating me to it.

She shakes her head. "I'm grateful you two were there at all, without the help, I would've died for sure."

I put some weight on my legs and find that I can walk again.

"Thanks." I say as they put me down on my request.

"Don't mention it." Aaron says. "So, what do we do now?"

"Let's go back to town 20 for some food and a place to stay." The warrior answers. "Our best chance is to lay low for a bit, and try to figure out what we can."

"Yeah, some food would be good." Aaron agrees, nodding.

"Especially since you're paying."

"Wait, what? Hold on a hot second, buddy." He grabs me by the shirt and walks out off the path. "We'll be back in a second all right? He calls over his shoulder. "Keep walking, We'll catch up!"

"I didn't know boys had 'boy talk'" Akemi called after us.

"It happens sometimes! Don't wait for us! If we're not back by night, assume we've died a horrible death, erase any memory you've got of us, and get married."

"Stuff it, Aaron!"

The moment Akemi's footsteps fade away, he faces me. "You are paying and that's final."

"Hell no, that's your job, merchant."

He sighs. "Look, when a girl, heck, when anyone talks to me, I understand better than you do. Don't take it for granted, okay? You're in a good spot, good spots are hard to come by, so don't waste it. Take your seat and just do your thing, okay? Actually, don't do your thing, just make sure to stay cool."

I stare. "So, care to explain what the hell you're talking about?"

"Good! Now that that's settled I believe you're the one paying then?" He says, grinning cheerfully. "Hope she hasn't gotten married in the time we've been gone."

***

Yes, I payed. For the meal and the room.

I say the room, because they only had one available, which made it kind of awkward. Akemi insisted on dividing the room into a 'boys' side' and a 'girls' side' and hanging up a spare sheet that we found in the closet in the middle of the room for "privacy reasons" as she put it. For some reason, I was very nervous when she said: "If you come on my side now, I swear, the cause of your death will already have been decided."

I spent a whole five minutes staring fixedly at the wall as Akemi changed. It was a surprisingly enlightening experience, now I think about it.

So here I am now, in my bed, not sleeping.

This is only partly because Aaron is snoring in the bed next to me (It takes very little to keep me awake for some reason), but also because this is my first night's sleep in a virtual world that I can no longer leave.

I roll over to get into a more comfortable position and look at the clock ticking, 2 am. I think of my parents, of Akemi's parents, of Aaron's family. With all those things swirling in my head, there's no way I can fall asleep.

All the same, I close my eyes and wait.

It still doesn't come by 4 am.

Out of frustration, I get out of bed, get dressed, and walk out of the inn into the chilly night.

Town 20 is one of the stereotype japan based towns that the game devs managed to sneak in. Basket lamps, open-air ramen houses, bath houses, etc...

I walk around town, eventually stopping at a tea house.

As I sip my tea, someone else walks in.

It's a guy, he's a hunter by the looks of it. On his back is slung a bow I recognize. It's a Bane, model 12. Into the shaft is carved a leafy pattern, giving the bow a swirling look. A scope is attached to the end. It's a beautiful and expensive bow. It's also probably the most inefficient weapon in the game. Anyone that buys that bow is either a nimrod, a narcissist, or an extremely confident guy. None of which I could get along with very well. He looks kind of like Chris Pratt if he was a hard blondie.

He orders oolong tea then kicks his feet up on the table and grins at me, cowboy style. "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" he asks with a confident, rugged voice that matches his manly features.

I shake my head. Suddenly feeling meek, for some reason.

"Most people probably can't, what with this stuff going on, so don't feel bad."

"I'm not scared." I say.

"Hell yes, you're scared. I'm scared, you're scared, we're all scared! Only an idiot wouldn't be scared here." He sighs as his drink arrives. He thanks the waiter and takes a prolonged sip.

"Nothing beats it." He announces with a contented sigh. "I'm Tony, by the way. Tony Caleb. Not my real name, no. In the real world, I live in Athens." He reaches out a hand. In this world, It's taboo to speak about the other world or our other lives. Guess he's just one that enjoys talking. Don't think I'm gonna get along with him at all.

I shake it. "Hide, like Hideyoshi, I'm Japanese."

He smiles brightly. "Ah! Japan? This scenery must be familiar to you then!"

I shake my head. "Not really, this is based off of Japan a while ago, it doesn't look like this anymore. Only a few places."

"Oh." He says, looking a little disappointed. "That's too bad, it looks real nice here."

I shrug. "We people change stuff, for better or for worse."

There's a little pause in which I think of something to say.

He sips his tea, then says: "I had a girlfriend back there, in Athens"

I nod again. I swear to god, if he asks me if I have a girlfriend, I'm going to deck him over the head, spill my tea on him, steal the bow and run.

He continues. "She was a nice person, always bright and smiling. Sometimes, she would tell me that if I went anywhere in the world, she would follow me there. Of course, I don't think this place can qualify as a world, can it? I mean, it's not even real." He laughs. "Get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, sure!" I drain my cup, grateful he didn't ask me, because all that stuff probably would've gotten me arrested on multiple charges.

I get up and yawn widely. "Well, I gotta go."

He grins at me naturally. I wish I could grin like that. "Wanna friend?"

I shake my head lightly, not flustered a bit, somehow. "I'm sorry, I don't friend many people right off the bat."

He shrugs. "Good idea, it's a bad habit of mine, I should break it. Nice meeting you, Hide. Good luck."

I nod and walk out of the tea house where the morning chill lingers still.

I trudge back towards the inn, thinking. Tony had called this world fake, but the way I see it, the game has never been more real. Real death, real risk, real adventure. Why couldn't anyone see how good this place was? Sure, there were monsters out to kill us here, but out there, there are monsters way harder to fight.

A flash of movement catches my eye from down a alleyway. I tense, ready for an attack, but nothing comes. I crouch and lean against the wall.

It's a group of people, I can tell, I cup my hands behind my ears and immediately, the game recognizes the motion destined to sharpen my hearing to elven levels.

They're whispering, but I make out what they're saying.

"The boss, is it there?" This one is a woman's voice. She sounds to be in her mid-twenties

"Right where it said. If we can take the scythe, can you imagine how rich we'd be? We'd be legends!" This one is of a young teenager, no more than 14.

"Are you sure we can do this?" This is of a younger boy. He can't have been older than 12

"Come on! Look at how many of us there are! And we're all a pretty good level." This is definitely the adult of the group, he sounds to be a full grown man of 32 years old. "Except for lil' Arthur, here. You want to sit this one out, kid?"

"No way! I'm going with you guys!"

Scythe? Legends? Boss?

I can put two and two together pretty well.

Slowly and making sure they don't hear me, I slip away.

When I arrive at the inn, I'm doubled-over and panting. Aaron is awake, the warrior still snoozing peacefully. Her sheets wrapped around her and her hair spread out around her in a strangely artistic looking scene.

"Aaron, is it okay to wake her?" I ask.

He shrugs. "If she screams and slaps you then it's not. If she doesn't, then probably still not. Why?"

I take a deep shuddering breath and say it: "I think someone's found the boss castle, and it has something to do with scythes."

He stares. "All right, wake her up. This'll be fun. Pull down the sheets while you're at it, I've snagged myself in them five times already."