1 Chapter 1

"WELCOME TO SOLE SURVIVOR: BATTLE ROYALE."

Windy, loud, and intense. Everette tightened her grip on the steel bar of the plane as her heart leaped into her throat. From head to toes, she was in a complete state of panic. She didn't know what to do, but she knew that there was no way out of the jet.

"Sorry, kid," the pilot said, "but there's no turning back."

She gulped.

Her anticipatory dread weighed her down with anxiety. She had never before felt this kind of fear, tension, and anticipatory dread, but that's what this is. She noted that she wasn't the only one. Others on the different jet were even more afraid. Some were quivering from head to toe, others sweating bullets.

Frap hat capped in her head, goggles tighten around her eyes, and a parachute in her back, everything ready except for herself. She was waiting for something, but what...?

Then it hit her.

The sound of the copilot's voice rumbled throughout the intercom system. "SET!" Everyone looked around in disbelief. What would happen if they didn't want to jump? Would they force them off the plane? The dread grew into a sickening knot in her stomach.

"Players, get ready to land in FIVE..."

Five bolts of anxiety hit her hearing a loud challenging voice from the unknown, a kind of voice she commonly hears from her favorite battle royale game. She gasped as the fear struck through her veins like ice water. Her mind went blank. She didn't know what to do, all that was left was fear and dread of death staring at her face-to-face with no escape in sight.

She shook her head. It couldn't be.

"FOUR."

Four days ago, being an avid fan of battle royale games, she downloaded an online multiplayer game called Sole Survivor: Battle Royale to her mobile phone. A game of guns, stealth, and skills as players describe it.

Not having a squad to play with, Everette grows out bored in the game. Until the WIC company, owner of Sole Survivor, launched a new program to their system in which players take the role of their chosen character acquiring its skills, and play them in real-life action.

"THREE."

Three nights have passed, a night deciding whether to delete the game or not, she suddenly received an invitation from the app to be one of the test run players to their new system. To her excitement, she signed up on the offer. The moment Everette agreed, she was immediately transported to a new world and finds herself in a plane suited as her chosen character she often plays as. But seeing how devastated she is, it seems she regret accepting the challenge.

The first thing that happened as soon as she agreed to be the first test run was the world around her changed quickly. The more she looked around, the more she was brought to certain parts of her old world. And as she looked out the window, the landscape of this world she was in began to change before her very eyes. What felt like hours passed and the view outside was gone. The new world she was in, she realized, existed and was entirely new and unknown land to her at first until she recognized it.

"TWO."

Two choices were bestowed before them, a simple yes or a no. Together with 200 multiple random players all around the world, sent to an island called the Land of Peridot, a battleground they programmed for test-run players that came to life.

In the Land of Peridot, there's a Place of Beginnings and a Place of Endings. In the Place of Beginnings, the fate of a place will play out on a flat-screen radar. In the Place of Endings, a black hole will wait, ready to devour any that stand before it.

"ONE!"

A single click of 'agree' on their screen, changed thousands of lives. A battle of survival, a battle to escape and return, but how many matches will it take until Everette survives as the last man standing? Will she ever escape the non-ending loop and returns home? The questions even a pro player can't answer.

No one knows how many more times Everette must die to escape, or if she ever will. Will she be the sole survivor of the game, or is she immortalized on this barren land?

"Heck, no!"

Everette screamed at the top of her lungs. Amidst the terror hesitating to jump, someone pushed her from the back, and there her arms opened wide free with the wind.

Her descent was fast, feeling like she is falling to death. The exhilaration hitting her hardest as the sound of the wind brushing her ears was louder than before. A roller coaster of emotions surged through her body.

Everette struggled with the momentum in the air and turned upside down, but she kicked with force, allowing her to return to the position for arrival. Everette was shaken, but she had never been so alive as she was at that moment.

It felt like an unmatched crazy ride that never ends.

Everette struggles with landing. Her parachute didn't budge to open. She pulled the activator multiple times yet it didn't work. She was panicking as she slowly descends, with the same speed as before, pretending to be a rock.

"The battleground is yours to conquer!"

Even though she was familiar with the opening of every match, she can't still process being inside the game. After all, who would've thought that in a blink of an eye, she will be transported into a whole new world.

The game turned out to be more intense than she expected. The wind was pushing her back and it's cold, but the excitement of the fight overpowers everything else that's happening around her. She can barely focus. The noise of gunfire all around her is so loud that she can hear nothing else, but sees everyone moving like crazy.

Everette started losing her mind, she doesn't know whether she'll live another tomorrow if she die today in the game. She pulled the activator for one last time and she finally opened her parachute.

Two players jumped out of nowhere and tried to take her down with their swords. They were fast and connected their sword to Everette's shield before she can even gather her bearings. She quickly pulled one of her iron axes but it broke instantly because of the powerful blow given by her opponents.

She wandered her head from side to side and saw many players gliding and falling from a jet the same as hers. She looked down at the land, coming closer and closer.

Her bones crashed so hard on her landing spot. Due to her poor fall to the ground, it caused her an injury and low health points (HP). She can still hear the sound of stuff all over the place as she landed right in the middle of the ongoing fight. She could feel her palms growing sweaty. Her vision was slightly blurry. The dust kicked up from the landing. She felt like she could die at any time, but she was more alive than ever.

Multiple gunshots ring before fading away. Bodies are dropping, one by one. There's also a sound of flesh being hit. Players are screaming at the top of their lungs all over the place. Everette was struggling to find her own footing as she could barely focus on finding who is friend or foe.

The sounds of gunfire are like locusts, the volume of the sound increasing and decreasing as they cycle throughout an area. The gunfire is rapidly loud and lasts only a few seconds then continuously. The sound permeates the area and is very intense. It is cold and lifeless, and the only thing it is indicative of is death and destruction. It is never-ending and it never stops.

Chaos! Madness! That is what it was like on the battlefield when bodies slumped to the ground.

Everette is in the safe zone when a bullet suddenly struck her. The ground swayed beneath her. She held tight to the wound while closing her eyes and gritting her teeth. The world around her seemed to fade into the background while the only thing that remained was the deafening sound of her breathing and her heart beating rapidly. She knew she couldn't give up. Not yet, not today.

'I don't wanna die!' she subconsciously thought.

The last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her completely was the man's wide-eyed, playful face, grinning at her.

[You have been eliminated by player Axel Fox.]

That was her most hated opponent!

'I just started!'

Now she believes she will never be able to avenge herself and fail from her quest as a player.

IT'S OVER.

But players don't die in a game, don't they?

THEY REVIVE. THEY RESPAWN. PLAYERS FIGHT AGAIN, AND AGAIN.

Everette woke up slowly, her head was throbbing. She was groggy when she opened her eyes. She couldn't see because of the blurriness in front of them, but when she tried to focus, she realized that her vision is slowly coming back to her.

She could feel the pain in the back of her head where she was shot, but then she felt numb all of a sudden and gained strength including stamina and health points as if nothing happened to her.

[Resurrecting in 60 seconds!]

She got back on her feet with some help from an unknown force that suddenly emerged out of nowhere. She was able to wipe away the blood on her face with both hands as she gazed at the world around her.

Everette felt an unknown, invisible force helping her as she navigated through the chaos and destruction on the field. She couldn't see anyone else; she was completely alone. Yet, there were many others that seemed to be in this same position and they all appeared to not notice each other.

The virtual world is full of chaos, but Everette learned that she could make it through the storm if she manages to dig deep within herself and find her strength, courage, and endurance. She would continue this journey as a victor despite the odds being against her because she was ready for anything!

Everette Aksnes may be weak, but she can learn to stand tall after a fall.

THE REAL BATTLE HAS JUST BEGUN.