Chapter 2

The wet grass and bushes were glimmering with moonlight. In a clearing of trees a wolf with glistening white fur was baring its fangs with a cold look in its dark eyes. It stood their watching a youth that had dark black hair and bright blue eyes. The youth stood there with a wary look in his eyes. He was holding a long glistening sword that shined in the moonlight. The boy and the wolf started circling each other as they were both looking for a chance to attack. The wolf jumped towards the boy as it let out a long growl. The boy spun to the side as the wolf was in the air, and he swung his sword with lighting quick speed. The sword collided with the wolf, there was a squirt of blood that came out of the wolfs head. The wolf collided with the ground and rolled over with a glazed look crossing over its eyes. The boy walked over to the wolf and skinned it and then threw the hide over his shoulder and walked out of the clearing.

Logan opened his eyes when a flash of sunlight flickered through his eyes. He climbed out of the log and glanced around. He walked into a clearing of trees and noticed a corpse without any outer skin on it. The corpse looked to be a massive wolf, but he didn't know for sure as he couldn't see the outer fur. He then looked at all the markings on the ground where the fight most likely took place.

"Why didn't I hear anything last night. Whoever killed this wolf is most likely very strong. I better avoid whoever it is for the time being, or at least until I get a little stronger." Logan thought as he moved opposite of the person who killed the wolf.

He was walked through the forest for an hour when he came upon some remains of a campsite. He walked through the camp but didn't find anything of use.

Logan walked out of the campsite and moved on. He arrived at the base of some giant cliffs and looked upwards. The cliffs were gray and they had a smooth glossy texture on them. The cliffs reached about 100 feet upwards in an abrupt manner. There was no obivous way to climb them and he didn't know when they ended so Logan started walking along the base. He had just turned a corner when he noticed a small hole in the side of cliffs. The hole was barely big enough for Logan to fit inside. He shoved himself through the opening. The inside of the cave looked to be a few feet bigger in size. Their was just enough light coming from the opening that he could see inside the cave for a few feet. Logan walked forward slowly taking in his surroundings. He stopped as soon as it got completely dark. He took in a deep breath of cool air and decided to keep moving forward. He placed his hand against the side of the corridor and kept moving forward slowly. He was constantly listening for any sound, but all he could hear was his slow and steady steps. As he was feeling along with his hand he felt something hard and rough. It felt like a piece of wood that was carved into a circular shape for a handle of some kind. He grabbed the handle and traced it down slowly. He was moving his hand downwards slowly, when he soon felt a base that that the handle could fit inside. The base was cold and felt hard like metal. He reached up the handle again and grabbed it. He pulled the handle out of the base slowly, he then felt the whole thing and realised that it was a torch.

Logan had no way to light the torch so he put the torch into his inventory. He kept moving forward when he heard a faint noise up ahead. It sounded like rock scraping against rock. He reached down to his belt and drew the broken dagger. He moved forward and slowly made his way around a corner. He was nervous as he didn't know what was up ahead. "Maybe it was a monster of some kind, or maybe just something hanging and scraping?" Logan thought as the sound was getting louder and louder. As soon as Logan got close enough to hear the sound clearly, the sound disappeared. That made him more nervous as he moved forward. He could see a faint light flickering on the wall in front of him. It looked like firelight. He arrived at the firelight as it flickered he could hear wood crackling. He peeked around corner and saw a small fire that looked to have been built recently. There was a chunk of meat roasting over the fire. The enticing smell made his stomach grumble. He had only eaten a few rabbits ever since he arrived so he was obviously hungry. The rabbit meat he had eaten was only small pieces about as big as his fist.

Logan glanced around but he couldn't see the person who made the fire around so he decided to wait and see who it was before he showed himself.

Logan waited for 30 minutes before a old man with gray hair and wrinkled skin came out of the other side of the tunnel and sat down at the fire. He grabbed the meat off the rack over the fire and started eating it. The mans clothes were worn and ragged and they looked to be very old. The man seemed to not have noticed Logan so Logan kept watching for a few more minutes. The man stirred the fire and threw more wood on it, so the fire grew in size. As the fire grew bigger, Logan could now see around the room. The room was 10-15 feet in diameter. The room had to openings, the one Logan was watching at, and another at the opposite end of the room. Their was a few animal skins laying in the corner. Their was also a few worn clothes and a few other random items laying around the bed. "It looks like this old man lives here." Logan thought as he watched. After the man ate he crawled over to the skins and laid down. Logan decided to talk to the man to see if he could get any information about his situation. Logan sat by the fire and pulled the panel down. He looked at it and tried finding the exit button. He looked over all the options on the panel but he couldn't see any exit button of any kind. "According to the manual the exit button should be at the bottom of the panel, but I can't see any exit button." Logan was frustrated because he couldn't find the exit button. Logans attention was fully focused on the screen so he didn't notice the old man sit up and watch him.

"Looking for the exit button?"

Logan jumped backwards startled as he heard a old voice awaken him out of his stupor. He grabbed his dagger and started backing away from the man slowly.

"No need to be scared of me, I am just an old man after all." the man said.

"Who are you, how do you know what I was looking for?" Logan asked stunned.

"You're a newcomer aren't you." the man asked.

"What do you mean by newcomer?" Logan asked confused.

"I mean you just recently arrived inside the dream world." the man said.

"Yes, but didn't the dream world just open up." Logan asked.

"No, the dream world is actually a completely different world than Earth. This dream world would take about 1,000 earths to fill it up. And you're probably wondering why an old man would be here and why he would also know about the gaming base of this world." the man said in a rather in a serious tone of voice.

Logan looked confused and curious at the same time. "Yes, I do wonder why." Logan said.

"I'll tell you my story. About 80 years ago the same thing that happened to you, happened to me. Scientists also found a way to come to this world through a gaming system. Me and other people around the world all went inside this dream world. Everyone was excited about it and started playing. Soon people started trying to exit from the dream world but they soon realized that there was no exit. Everybody panicked when they realized they could never leave the dream world. This dream world is a very dangerous place now. Everyone started fighting over equipment and resources. Soon most everybody that came into this dream world had died. Their was still about a ten thousand people that survived and just accepted this world. Everyone watched and waited for more people to enter but not many more did. After 2 years no one else came. I'm one of the unlucky ones, because I lost everything when I first entered. I tried many times to at least become a normal citizen, but I never could. So I just gathered some supplies and books and traveled north until I found this cave entrance. I came inside here and I haven't left since, besides hunting for food and water. I haven't done much either because I chose the mage class. You can't become a strong mage without the proper equipment. But all the equipment I gathered was stolen from me. I haven't went out into the world for a long time so I don't know much, so if you're after more than you'll have to find it elsewhere."

Logan was in deep thought when the man had finished his tale. "It looks like I am also stuck in this world. I wonder if everyone else that came inside are also stuck. Looks like I have to find out. Meanwhile I can't panic, I just need to stay calm and try my best to survive."

The man watched Logan thinking and sighed. "My name is Edward Croft, but just call me Ed." Ed said as he was studying Logan. Ed then said, "You don't look tough enough to survive here, but if you want to survive you need to become strong and ruthless. You can't show mercy or they may come at you again for revenge." Ed sighed once more as he laid down on his animal skins and went to sleep.

Logan soon fully realized his situation and decided to just accept it. He walked over to the corner opposite the old man and went to sleep.