Rebirth Online World

Chapter: 2 Reality or Fiction?

Drakus POV

At first there was nothing but darkness. Then a shimmer of light appeared before spreading throughout. In the next second my vision slowly came back to me.

“What happened?” As I asked that question, a terrible headache racked my brain, causing me stagger. It was enough to cause me to remember what happened. The sudden notification, accepting the notification, the sudden pain and then nothing. The only logical conclusion I came to was that I fell unconscious. Taking a moment to rest, the pain slowly subsided.

“Ahhh. What the hell happened? I’m going to need to grab some medicine and…Huh?” Before I could finish my line of thought I took notice of something. My hand, it wasn’t normal. Looking down I realized that I was still in the game. I was still my character. Looking around I confirmed it, I was still within the Council Room.

“Ahhh.”

Hearing another groaning noise, I looked to the see the others in the same position I was. Slowly and steadily everyone was back up on their feet. Confusion could be seen on each of their faces.

“Is everyone alright?” Asking the question all I received back was light nods. They still looked to be in pain from the after effects of whatever happened to us.

“Did anyone catch the number of that bus? Man I feel like someone hooked a generator to my skull”

“Just what exactly happened?”

“Well whatever just happened I’ll be sure to ask them when I file a complaint.”

Everyone was discussing what they had just experienced. Whatever it was, it was getting to us. As I was pondering what had just happened, I realized that we were still in the game. Immediately checking the time it read 00:04:34. Whatever happened knocked us out for quite some time.

‘How come we didn’t quit out then?’

The shutdown was scheduled for midnight and it was clearly past midnight. The headache grew stronger and I decided not to dwell on it. Opening the menu I was logging off until.

“What the…” The cause of my confusion came in the place of the logout button. Rather the lack of it, it was gone. Searching through the entire menu it was nowhere to be seen.

“Drakus. Are you alright?” Hearing Nu-Ru’s question, I looked up to see the rest staring at me with concern expressions. Looking back between the menu and them, I finally found my words.

“Guys…check your log out screen.” My voice carried a quiet fear that the rest didn’t catch on to. Only Nu-Ru caught on as he hastily pulled it up.

“I…It’s gone.” Hearing the panic in Nu-Ru’s voice the rest checked as well. I slowly watched as the revelation came to them. We couldn’t log out.

“What’s going on?”

“Where’s the log out screen?”

“Does anyone know what’s going on?”

Everyone spoke up at once, drowning one another in question and confusion. My headache came back and only grew in intensity. “Damn it. Just what the hell is happening?”

“Is something the matter master Drakus?” A serine voice called out, answering my rhetorical question.

Immediately all chatter stopped. Slowly lowering my hand down from my face. The others were looking at me, no, more specifically they were looking to the side of me. Slowly turning my head in the direction of the voice. I came face to face with Altina, whom was bending forward with a concern look on her face.

“I’m sorry but what did you say?” Perhaps it was the headache or the utter chaos but for a moment there I swear an NPC just spoke.

“I asked are you alright master Drakus?” Speaking up again she shattered the fragile hope that I held onto. Silence filled the air as everyone stared at her. Meeting everyone’s gaze, Altina looked around, as if wondering what was going on.

……

“Did she just talk?!”

“That isn’t possible!”

“Well she just did, all of us heard her.”

“Did the game company do something to the NPC?”

“Maybe the shutdown was a lie in order to surprise us, nyaa?”

“There’s no way that’s possible, we’ve gone as far as robotics but not full on artificial intelligence.”

All at once, everyone was arguing and screaming at one another. Back and forth they argued, trying to make sense of the situation. All the while I tried to collect my thoughts on the matter. The headache persisted, like someone hammering at my brain. We’ll get nowhere if we don’t all focus.

“Everyone be quiet!”

Shouting in a booming voice, everyone hushed up as my order reverberated within the room. “Altina, please go outside and remain there until we need you.” Silencing them, I needed to remove our distraction.

“As you command.” I was honestly surprised she decided to followed my order. She place hand on heart and bowed before leaving us. With her gone we can finally get some peace and quiet.

“Now that the distraction is out of the way, we can focus on what the hell is happening. But before we do that; let’s all calm down. We can’t strategize if we’re in such a sorry state.”

Looking to one another, it was a unanimous decision. For the next several minutes we sat in silence. Some put their heads against the desk while other stared off into the ceiling. For me I cuffed my hands and brought them to my face. I always found the dark relaxing.

After everyone finally got their bearings back we began the discussion. Just what the hell was going on?

“Ok. As everyone has already come to terms with, we cannot log out. The button is completely gone.”

“Not to mention any of the other modes and functions. It seems everything in the settings category has been blocked.”  Adding to my information Nu-Ru pulled up his menu and proved his statement. From there, everyone started their own speculation.

“Why won’t it let us log off? Better yet, why did it disappear?”

“Could there be something wrong with the system?”

“Or is there no system?” Nu’s sudden statement aroused surprise from all of us.

“What do you mean?”

“Everything was fine until that notification popped up. After selecting our answer we all experienced an electric shock that knocked us out. The next thing we know, we can’t log out.”

“Ok but that only tells us the problem. It doesn’t really address the issue of us not being able to log out.” Shae interjected.

“That was what I was going to get at. This is only a hypothesis but what if it doesn’t exist anymore. What if we’re not in the game anymore…but somewhere else?”

“You can’t be serious? This isn’t some weird sci-fi show or something. You can’t just…just be teleported if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“She’s right there’s no way that can happen, nyaa.”

“I don’t know if that electric shock fried your brain, but that’s nuts.”

Everyone instinctively started to reject Nu-Ru’s proposition. The answer was too absurd. We were in a game and now Nu-Ru wanted us to believe that we were transported somewhere else. It was ridiculous. Yet he stood his ground.

“Then how do you explain the NPC suddenly being able to talk? What about us not being able to log off?”

He was met with silence. A couple of us opened our mouths but quickly closed it as no response came to them. Looking among us, he continued on when no of us could truly challenge his claim.

“All I’m saying is that right now we’re in an unknown situation. We shouldn’t discredit something because it is outlandish.”

Looking to one another, there was no way we could simply accept such an outlandish claim.

“If what you’re saying is true then where exactly are we?” Shae was the first to object to his claim.

“It’s obvious we’re not in our world anymore, or at the very least not on earth. So there’s two possibilities I came up with. The first was that we’ve been transported into the game of Eternia. The second is that we’ve been teleported somewhere else but still retain what we have here.”

“What makes you so sure?” questioned Manom with skepticism.

“When Altina was talking, she showed a deep respect to Drakus and obeyed his order.”

“Yeah, she also called me “master” as well.”

Nodding his head in agreement, he continued on. “From this we can tell that Altina is knowledgeable or at least knows who we are. NPC don’t speak, rather they have text boxes. Yet, she was clearly speaking, she showed a genuine expression towards Drakus. Can you say that this is possible back in the game?”

Slowly the cogs were turning as everyone made that distinction.

“Now on to the 2nd problem. Whether we’re in Eternia or another world.”

“How are you going to find that out?” asked Trion Jazz.

“I have a crazy idea, and it just might be crazy enough to work…” Rising from his seat, Nu-Ru took a couple backwards. Everyone watched his action with confusion and curiosity.

“Come forth my assailant!” In response to Nu-Ru’s call, a black shadow formed and rose up from the floor. It soon took form and knelt down before Nu-Ru.

“You’ve called my master?” The being responded in a silvery voice, revealing the gender of the person to be female.

It was a dark elf, her skin was tanned like Altina but darker. Almost blending her with her black attire Her entire body was covered in a black outfit. The only thing visible was part of her face and her eyes. The armor was similar to Reptillia ninja outfit but more akin to that of an assassin.

Her mouth was covered with a cloth that only added to her appeal. The features that could be made out were her jade green eyes and brunette brown hair that was tied into a long ponytail. On her belt hung several weapons. On the right side there’s a kodachi while the left side held three daggers. Two regular ones with the last one having a zig-zag blade.

Recalling her familiar figure and design, it finally dawned on me. She was another created NPC, created by Nu-Ru; Sirva.

Unaware of Nu-Ru’s action, everyone was silent by the sudden turn of events. However Nu-Ru seemed to anticipate part of it and quickly recovered.

“I have an assignment for you.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to meet your wishes my master.”

“I want you to leave the Great Sanctuary and look around. The search radius is 3 kilometer. If you see anything important or vital then come back immediately, do not engage without my permission.”

“As you command.”

Finishing their conversation the two stood there for a couple of seconds before Nu-Ru figured something out. “Oh right, you may go.” And just like how she came, she left in the blink of an eye. Turning into shadows and disappearing. We stared in awe at what transpired before us.

“I can’t believe that worked, nyaa.”

“Agreed…”

“Well at least now we know that we’re not in the game anymore.”

“And how exactly did you giving her a command do that?” questioned Trion Jazz along with several others who were confused at Nu’Ru’s statement.

This time the one who answered his question wasn’t Nu-Ru but Manom. “Nu-Ru’s right, NPC aren’t allowed to leave the guild building. They were strictly made to be in the guild building at all times. ” Taking Nu-Ru’s side, it was safe to say that piece of evidence did the trick.

“That’s right, if she had said she couldn’t do it or can’t comply with that order, then it mean that we are stuck in the game. But that isn’t the case, she followed my orders and is off looking right now.” Backing up Manom explanation, the two slowly convinced the others.

“That still doesn’t mean that we’ve suddenly been transported to another world.” Despite the evidence Arsenal was the most cautious of us. Not one to readily accept something so easily.

While they were talking a thought occurred to me. If we were teleported to another world, then what about magic? It seemed that Sirva could use magic, so what about us? On a whim I extending my hand I uttered the name of a small spell. I intended it as a joke but…

|Fireball|

Immediately a small ball of fire formed in my hand shot towards the table. Hitting the table, the flame burst into small embers. Off guard, I was taken by complete surprise and tripped over the chair. Falling back on my butt, I looked up to see the spot burning. In truth I wished it didn’t work. At least then it would have proven that Nu-Ru’s theory was false.

“Hey are you alright!?”

“What did you think you were doing!?”

Rushing over, Nu-Ru and Reptilia helped me to my feet. The others were busy putting out the flames. During the small incident Altina barged in, alarmed at the sudden noises caused by my experiment.

“Is everything alright?” With her hand at her weapon, she looked ready for a fight.

“Everything is fine, there’s nothing to worry about.” Reassuring her I turned my attention back to the desk. The fire was finally put out. Leaving behind a small scotched mark on the table. The others looked to Arsenal and the darken spot where the fire burned.

“In Eternia, it’s impossible to use any type of destruction magic in the guild hall. I say Nu-Ru is correct in his assumption.” Surmised Manom.

“Got anything left to say Arsenal?” Shae asked jokingly.

Begrudgingly looking back between everyone and the point of impact, Arsenal threw up his hand in defeat. “Unfortunately no, looks like you might be right Nu-Ru. We might be actually be stuck somewhere else.”

“The only question now is how we got here, nyaa?” shifting the topic of discussion, everyone readily agreed. Although it was nice that we know where we are. The biggest question how we got in such a dilemma?

“Let’s first look at we know. We’ve in a sense become what our characters were. The NPC’s are alive. We know that we can use magic, thanks to Drakus. Finally we’re not in our own world, but we’re not in Eternia either. The only other problem I see left are the NPC’s.”

“How?” I asked with hope that it would be the last of our troubles.

“Sirva and Altina are alive, so who’s to say that all the other NPC’s in the Grand Sanctuary aren’t?” Once again Manom finished Nu-Ru’s thoughts.

It took me a second before the information fully process. I felt a cold sweat drip down my neck just thinking about all the different populations of NPC’s that are inside the Sanctuary.

“My point exactly. Even if those two show loyalty, what about the others? They aren’t programs anymore but living creatures, so they must have thoughts of their own.” Said Nu-Ru rounding up his thought process.

As the possible realization sunk in everyone grew deathly quiet. We knew better than anyone what populated the different floors. Imagining all the different spawning monster was enough to make anyone run and hide. As the possibility dawned on the others, a sense of dread filled with air.

But what we needed then was not fear but courage.

“Let’s go to see for ourselves then.” Hearing my suggestion they all looked at me with widened eyes and extremely nervous expressions.

“Even if you say that, it won’t be that easy.”

“Yeah and we…..”

I held up my arm and stopped them there. “If all we’re doing is speculating and don’t act, then how will we get any answers?”

“Drakus has got a point, I much rather meet and possibly fight NPC’s then sit here and think all day.” Backing me up was Shae. Along with Nu-Ru and Manom who gave nods of approval. The rest showed reluctance but it was agreed upon that it was the next course of action.

All that was left was gathering the NPC’s. Rummaging through my head for a method of gathering them, I was struck by an idea.

“Altina, please come here.” Calling for her, Altina gracefully walked over before bowing once more.

“Yes my master.”

“Tell all the other Sanctum Guardians to meet in the Dragon Sanctum in an hour and a half. We’ll be waiting for everyone there.”

“As you command, master Drakus.” Bowing one last time, she made her way out of the council room.

“Alright that settles that, but why in an hour and a half?” asked Nu-Ru, whom shared the same sentiment as the others.

“We’re going to use the time for some preparation. If the possibility of the NPC’s being hostile are true then we’ll probably need it. Potions, weapons, anything and everything that will give us an edge.”

Seeing my point, they nodded in agreement. Activating our guild rings we teleported to the armory. And from there to the Dragon Sanctum.