"Miss, we're running out of food... You need to go home or else we won't have anything left for the rest of our customers," the restaurant owner NPC says as I continue to shove spoonfuls of food in my mouth. I glance up to meet her tentative gaze, noticing she's wearing glasses, has short brown hair and a black tray clutched tightly against her chest, as if my hunger terrifies her and she thinks she's next on the menu.

As much as I should stop eating, I can't find the will to. Based on what Mnemosyne said, I could eat whatever I want. Saltiest fried foods, acidic pickled vegetables, spicy chicken ramen, and their sweetest chocolates... all things I'd learn to eat plainly to avoid flare-ups of my annoying colitis. Back at home, Maê refused to season anything out of fear that too strong of a flavor could send me right to the emergency room. And I enjoy my three-year streak of not going to the hospital.

"When you develop colitis, then you can start telling me what I can and can't eat," I say to the NPC before picking up a bright red stick of fermented bamboo shoots. A satisfying crunch resounded through the restaurant as I bit down, guzzling all of its refreshingly tangy and spicy flavors.

"Why am I not surprised this is the first place you go to?" a familiar voice cut into my eating. I turn my head to meet Yumi's amused gaze, her hands on her hips as she shakes her head at me in disbelief. Her username, Yumiko, floated above her head, along with her level 1 label. Behind her back, she has a plain brown bow and quiver, which tells me she chose the archer class. "Only you would think to go to a restaurant for food when you've just found out we're all trapped here until someone beats the game."

"I've got to keep my stamina high. What good will I be if we starve to death?" I ask with a nonchalant shrug. Besides, I doubt anything will change if I stop to eat for a few minutes, I continue internally.

"How can you eat at a time like this, Mai? It doesn't matter how much food you eat in game, your body needs real food. Or have you already forgotten the two basic things a human body needs to survive? We need to get out of this game quickly or our parents will worry," she replies, glancing around the square nervously for enemies we don't have.

I sighed in exasperation, allowing my spoon to drop onto my plate with a loud clang. "Would you relax? Enjoy the game a little. We won't be here longer than a day in-game."

"How can you be so sure?" She furrowed her brow at me in confusion.

"The beta testers are probably hard at work trying to get us out of here. They exist for one purpose only. To ensure the game is fair. To do so, they prove the game is winnable. If they beat the game in the test run, they can do it again," I explain, wiping my mouth with a napkin an NPC server handed me. My appetite disappears as soon as Yumi voices her concerns. If this game is meant to be a prison, it's no different than the life I'm living. Hell isn't so bad if you've been living in it, the cynical thought passes through my mind.

Yumi falls silent. I shift my gaze back to her and notice she's afraid of something. Her eyes dart around the area nervously, her hands trembling at her sides. Rarely do I ever see her anxious. Yumi's known for her bright optimism.

"What is it, Yumi?" I ask, the silence sending a shiver down my spine.

"Mythic Kingdoms doesn't have beta testers, Mai," she admits, and I feel the blood leave my face in shock. "Why do you think they gave us the SoulDive for free?"

"Because we're the beta testers," I murmur in astonishment, thinking back to the high-level people I saw when everyone arrived in the Plaza of Memories. What if they aren't players at all? It all makes sense now. The advertisements for Mythic Kingdoms, its discounted sale rate, the free giveaways of the SoulDive. It all leads up to this moment. But it begs the question: why? Why risk liability for trapping millions of players around the world? People would sue the moment they leave the game. Unless they have a failsafe.

"Somebody, help!" an anguished player's cries echo from the plaza.

We rush over to find a crowd of people huddled around a female bard with brown hair and a dark-haired boy with a cracked sword, his eyes shut. Blood covers their blue guild uniforms, and I notice the large gaping wound in the boy's side. His chest fails to rise and I know he's dead.

"What happened?" I ask the girl once I reach the front of the group.

"We were ambushed by some high-level people dressed in black cloaks! There were too many of them, we couldn't fight them off," she explains, her tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm too low level, so my heals did nothing to save my husband." She clutches onto my hands, gripping onto me like I'm the only thing keeping her grounded. Her eyes widen with a madness begging to be released. "If he dies in game, he'll be okay, won't he? This all has to be a terrible nightmare."

"No, he's as good as dead," an ominous stranger replies.

My head sharply turns to face the danger. Instead, I see a group of concealed individuals wearing a pendant with the symbols V and H around their necks. The heart-shaped stone it holds is a black opal with bright green dripping down the sides like poison. The dark cloaks they wear offer enough security to keep their faces hidden. Three have quivers hanging on their backs, their bows unseen. I also note four bards, three swordsmen, two tanks, and one mage with a book that is all-too familiar. I scrutinize the book, recognizing its distinct color, width, and spine. It's the Book of Fate. Or at least it looks like the Book of Fate.

The person holding what appears to be the Book of Fate notices my scrutinizing glare. Their ghostly smile appears out of the shadows of their hood before they say, "Familiar, no? Don't worry. It's not what you think. Not that you'll find out. You'll die just like that man and when you die in this world, you're dead in reality, or at least, you'll wish you're dead. That's the beauty of the SoulDive. It'll strip you of your freedom and sanity, until there's nothing left but a withering flower."

"We die in real life if our characters die?!" a player exclaims.

"I don't want to play this game anymore!" another player shouts.

"What will you decide? Quit and stay trapped in this game forever? Become strong enough to challenge us and topple the great Venomous Hearts? Or give into the darkness in your hearts and help us achieve our goal? The clock is ticking. Your bodies can only sustain you for so long." She looks down at the dead man, whose body is slowly fading from this world, clicking his tongue at him in disapproval. "Don't make the same mistakes as this man, or they could be the last thing you ever do."

They disappear in a cloud of gray smoke soon after, leaving everyone in a panic and the female bard in complete shock. Even after her husband's body disintegrates like data, she's reaching out for him with her mouth agape, wanting to call his name. Those around us brave enough to comfort her try to get her to accept what's happened, but it's no use. Her grief keeps her firmly rooted to the ground, implying she surrenders to the game's cruel fate.

"What should we do, Mai?" Yumi asks, gently grabbing my arm for comfort.

"We'll just have to beat the game," I reply, my heart racing with anticipation. Although this experience would prove to be the toughest, there's no sense whining about our predicament. We would do what we could to win because our lives depend on it. Images of my mother swirl in my mind, filling me with guilt over how sad she'd become if she discovered I'm trapped in this cursed video game. Would she really miss me? I clench my fists, finding the strength I didn't think I had, resolving myself to have a proper talk with her once I escaped this nightmare. I'll show you just how strong I am, Maê.

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As we pass through the town lines, a warning flashes above our heads, warning us we no longer have immunity and to be on the lookout for monsters. No more than a few feet away, I notice a herd of enemy centaurs pacing around. As we get closer, I can see some of their names in white font, designating them as an NPC. The first herd has members named Agrius, Amycus, Asbolus, and Bienor.

"We'll start with them. Can you take them out from here?" I ask Yumi as she readies her bow.

She laughs in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? At my level, I'm limited to one arrow per attack, and my draw speed is abysmal. We're better picking them off one by one."

"I call dibs on the big ones," I said, making a run to get closer to Hyaleus and Rhaecus. Once I'm within range, they turn their attention to me, huffing at me as a sign of aggression.

An arrow whips past me, landing square in Agrius' chest as his red HP bar depletes to zero. He turns into packets of red data, disappearing. "Dibs? That's a thing in a game of death?" Yumi answers with a disapproving tone, but I can hear the smile she's fighting to contain.

"You have to find amusement in the little things," I tell her. When I focus on the centaur known as Hyaleus, a dialogue appears, instructing me I have two basic spells: ignis, the power of fire and glacies, the power of ice. Although both of them are at the lowest level, they're enough to carry me through this small battle.

"Ignis," I chant, launching a fireball towards the enemy. A third of its health depletes as the spell goes on a five-second cooldown. I follow up with "Glacies," as shards of ice fly towards it, destroying its remaining health, going on a similar cooldown as my fire spell. Within seconds, Hyaleus has been defeated.

My MP has decreased by two-thirds, an early game weakness. Although I'm a low-level mage, my basic attacks do some magic damage that I'm able to auto attack Rhaecus until he is defeated as well.

I glance over at Yumi, who has won her battle and looks winded. She pants heavily, her arms trembling. Before I can joke with her about her stamina, I feel my body become heavy with lethargy. No doubt a side effect of using so much of my mana. This is going to take some getting used to.

After two days of fighting lower-level mobs of monsters, Yumi and I reach level five. The farming slows down and I realize we're not going to get anywhere just from killing lesser centaurs, especially considering the respawn times and the speed in which we recover our mana.

"We need to go after bigger enemies," I say as we sit on the grass, waiting for our stamina to recover. It's surprising how much we run and I can feel my legs ache, just as I feel the heaviness of my staff. "And to do that, we need to find a guild."

"All the guilds that have been formed are already full," Yumi said in-between breaths.

She laughs in disbelief. "No! At my level, I'm limited to one arrow per attack, and my draw speed is abysmal.

"We'll make our own guild. How hard could it be?" I ask before opening the guild creation window.

A blue translucent screen pops up in front of us. Because Yumi and I are in a party, she can see my screen too. I scroll down, searching for the 'New Guild' button. When I finally find it, I hit it with my index finger and begin entering the details: setting it to request only and low level players. No good will come from working with high-levelers, or else they'll assume leadership and get us killed. I have no intention of dying in this game.

"What should we name the guild?" Yumi asks, leaning closer to me despite having a full view of our guild in front of her.

"I got just the perfect name," I reply as I type 'Heroes of Redemption.' "What do you think? Too cheesy?"

"Maybe just a little," she says with a laugh. "I don't know, it's wearing on me. Look! You've already got requests."

I click on the first request, viewing the profile of a level seven female bard who goes by the name Serafina. She has lilac-colored hair and a pair of large round glasses. Her listed skills include cooking and sewing. A healer would come in handy. I accept the request and it takes me to the second person.

It reveals Mist, a male tank, who has a large wooden shield for his equipped weapon. He has a head of black hair and a serious gaze, but his personality describes him as a gentle giant. Despite his large frame, there's something about him that I know I can trust. His skills include blacksmithing. A perfect combination for a team who needs new gear. The window dings as I hit the acceptance button.

The final requester is an assassin who wields dual pistols. His skills include tracking, navigation, and camouflage. I glance at his profile picture, feeling like I've met him before. His familiar light brown hair and piercing sterling gray eyes. It can't be. My gaze flashes to the username, noticing it's The Gun. The same name as that persistent boy from the game store. Surely he doesn't know it's me. Even if he does, he wouldn't bother me if I hit no, would he?

Before I can muster the courage to hit decline, Yumi is already one step ahead of me, adding him to the guild.

"Yumi, no!" I exclaim.

"We need him. Everyone else is low level like you wanted, but think of a level twenty-five assassin! He must have visited the next Mythic Kingdom by now. We could use his knowledge to beat the first side quest," she explains, staring at me in confusion. "It's almost like you know the guy." She notices my silence and a smirk appears on her face in an instant. "Wait... The Gun... he's that guy from Mr. Wu's store! It must be destiny."

"Don't be ridiculous, Yumi," I said, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.

"Then you won't mind if I call them to meet us at the dungeon of the first boss," she replies coyly, knowing she's cornered me.

"Not at all," I lie, not wanting her to see my tough exterior crumble away. Please don't recognize me, please don't recognize me... I chant over and over again in my head.

We follow the dirt path leading to a dark forest, where the dungeon begins. The branches have blackened and a high-pitch whistle is carried by the icy breeze. Our new guild members are already waiting for us at the dungeon's entrance. Serafina is shorter than I imagined, but every bit the nervous wreck I predicted. She has long hair that falls to her knees, but uses it as a blanket to hide her body from unwanted gazes.

"What if there are empusas in there?" Serafina says, shivering.

"The Goddess of Witchcraft would never unleash that kind of evil on humans. Just because she lives in the Underworld doesn't mean she's evil, Sera. Besides, nothing will get past me. This shield is big enough to keep you from harm," Mist replies, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down as she begins to panic about what kind of monsters lurk within the darkness. He runs his hand through his black hair, his green eyes full of patience and understanding as he listens to each of Serafina's concerns and refutes them with promises he'll protect her should something happen.

The Gun, or should I say Braeden, sits on a rock, listening to the ominous howls of whatever creature is waiting to be slain in the forest's depths. He turns his head and his eyes widen in surprise, and I know he's discovered who I am. I hold a hand up to stop him and say, "Quiet. We're here to do a mission and that's the only reason you're here. If you annoy me even a little bit, I won't hesitate to cut you loose. There are plenty of assassins in the game."

"It's nice to see you, Mai," Braeden says, ignoring my threats. "I thought you'd pick a mage."

"Watch it," I reply, pointing at him in warning.

"No, I mean it suits you. You look like a determined leader. I wouldn't have picked another person to lead us to victory." His flattery makes me roll my eyes.

"You should have stopped at 'nice to see you, Mai,'" Mist mutters as I take my place in front of the dungeon to lead the group. "Less is more, Braeden."

My gaze flickers between the two of them. "Did I miss something or do you two know each other?"

"Yes, we're childhood friends. Serafina also happens to be Mist's girlfriend in real life," Braeden explains.

"A simple yes would have sufficed. Are we going to do this dungeon or not?" I ask, growing impatient.

"I'll start the quest," Yumi replies, flipping through a screen I couldn't see from where I stand. Whatever she does appears to trigger the mission as a quest title appears in gold front over the dungeon's entrance that reads 'Guide Theseus out of the Cursed Labyrinth.'

My mind wanders to the ancient Greek tale, remembering how the story unfolded. There once was a monster that lurked within a mystical labyrinth. One day, Theseus, the hero of Athens, announced to King Minos that he would kill the monster. Even if Theseus managed to kill such a creature, he would never be able to find his way back to the labyrinth's exit. It wasn't until Princess Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and helped him escape the labyrinth by following the trail of thread she gifted him. This thread saved his life and gave him a new life of happiness with Princess Ariadne as his wife. Seems simple enough.

"All we need to do is use a golden thread to guide Theseus out of the labyrinth. It's an easy quest, but that implies that we can find Theseus. We need to keep track of our starting point so we don't end up lost," Braeden explains. "If we get lost, the quest will reset us here after thirty minutes, but given the wait time, we probably don't want to time out the quest."

"You got any thread?" I ask Serafina, knowing she has to have some on her due to her sewing skills.

She opens her inventory and a spindle of blue thread appears in her hands out of nowhere. Mist breaks off a branch for her to tie the thread to the end and shoves it into the ground to keep the spindle in place.

She pulls the blue string as we enter the forest, and it emits a neon glow as soon as it touches the ground. The trees we saw at the dungeon's entrance disappear, having been replaced by the stone walls of a maze. As terrified as I should have been for being in a maze many people have died in, I'm not the least bit frightened.

Braeden leads us to Theseus, who is covered in black blood. His head is hunched over in his arms and he pulls his knees closer to his chest trying to retain warmth in the cold environment. He chants, "I'm sorry, Ariadne," over and over again. For a moment, I'm surprised by Braeden's reliability. He knew with great certainty where Theseus would be.

He tosses the delirious Theseus over his shoulder, leading the way out, while ignoring the glowing thread on the ground. It's almost like he's memorized the path. He's not an ordinary player.

He turned around to meet my gaze and asks, "Are you coming, Mai? I don't recommend staying here at night. The dungeon can play tricks on your eyes."

"I'm not that weak," I retort, running to catch up to them. I glanced around cautiously, wondering if some secret enemy would pop out and ambush us. "That was too easy. I thought we'd have to kill the Minotaur."

"You've heard of the myth?" he asks. I nod and he continues, "Theseus is the one to slay the Minotaur. Not us. We're just here to ensure he gets his happy ending with Ariadne. Besides, it would be strange if the first boss was hard. There will be greater challenges as we progress through the story."

"How many times have you gone through this dungeon?" I ask, unable to control my curiosity.

"Once. Why?" he replies, raising a brow in confusion.

"No reason." His memory is impeccable. I suppose I can suffer through the remaining levels with him since he's proven his worth.

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