1 The Prologue

Victory!

The word flashed brightly across the screen and as one character remain standing while the other lay lifeless on the ground.

"Good effort man, you're definitely making progress" were the words that showed in the chatbox.

"Pfft, progress...." a reply with a bit of bitterness was seen next.

The chat was between two players of the newest MMORPG "Dynasty Empire". The game had only been out for a few weeks but there were already hardcore gamers grinding their way through the story and making progress. One such player was Tai Reign, a recent college graduate who was looking for his opportunity to finally achieve his lifelong goal, an aspiring esports gamer.

Tai had been trying to break into the esports scene for years, first with console games before finally making the shift to PC games after getting an invitation to the Dynasty Empire closed alpha* release. After playing the game in its rawest form Tai felt something, deep down it was either hope or a sense of desire, but he knew this was going to be his game.

On the screen stood a character about 6 foot tall, shrouded in an ominous black aura. A pitch black robe, that if caught staring into it you could almost get lost in it, with a turquoise dragon placed elegantly on the back right shoulder with its head pointed directly at whoever the opposition would be. Atop the head was a crown of flickering black smoke tipped with eerie blue flames. Truth be told the character on the screen could be likened to that of a pitch black reaper or even resembling one of Dynasty Empire's final dungeon bosses, the Wight King.

However this definitely was not a boss, nor a reaper, as the nameplate above the blue flames shone in bright orange, HeavenSplitter. This was Tai Reign's in game character, an Archer. Slowly getting to his feet before him was another character who by reading the nameplate that was bright white in comparison was, JudgementDealt, a Holy Knight.

"Tai dude you need to cut me some sort of slack man, you've been playing this game since Alpha and I just got my beta key" audible conversation could now be heard coming from JudgementDealt.

"Hahaha sorry Lee I almost forgot you haven't been playing that long, we work so well together it's almost like you started when I did" HeavenSplitter replied in voice chat. Dynasty Empire had two types of communication, text via chatbox or voice chat which could be done with a microphone. Most PC gamers these days had headsets so they took full advantage of using voice chat when playing, relieving the stress of having to type commands out while raiding or participating in massive PK/PvP (Player Killing/Player versus Player where players would attack/defend against other players as opposed to the monsters in the game).

Lee Ru was the owner/player behind JudgementDealt, a lifelong friend of Tai's. They met in primary school and ever since have been side by side in everything. From sports teams to hobbies this duo was inseparable, so naturally when Tai called Lee one day to explain Dynasty Empire and offer him a beta key, Lee jumped at the chance. The grind started and he quickly got caught up with the rest of the Alpha players with Tai's help.

He really is amazing at this, Lee thought to himself as his Holy Knight who had just recently lost a duel against his best friend saw the ferocious tenacity with which Tai attacked. Combo after combo, almost flawlessly chaining skill after skill.

"Almost flawless" as Lee thought it, Tai said it. "You had an opportunity, why didn't you take it Lee?" Tai asked thinking over the fight that just occurred. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't let you go all out, then point out where you could do better?" Lee smirked as he talked.

"That's why I need you here, your analysis and quick ability to adjust and fix things on the fly, you're the best at it and it'll only make us better together!" Tai said with what seemed like both passion and conviction.

He's really going to become a champion at this game, Lee thought to himself. "You know you're wrong though, the fastest analyzer and adjuster is and always has been you, hell you probably knew the slight gap you were going to make before you made it didn't you, you old dog!" Lee laughed as he knew Tai was capable of doing everything he could if not better.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't let you do your thing, huh?" Tai replied laughing.

This duo, so early in the game had already decided what they would make out of it, a Championship Empire.