Chapter 11: Introduction to Mission #1

I made it! I was falling slowly through the sky. My parachute opened just in time and I landed safely next to Jorge and Ivy. We were now waiting for our gang and players to come. There were still so many questions buzzing inside my head but, at the same time, I didn't want to be annoying to them. Then, I reminded myself that I, being their superior should have full confidence and that they wouldn't insult me. Of course, the least that could be was rejection. So, here it went;

"Out of curiosity, there must be so many players in this game. How do we attend to all of them?" I asked

"They did mess up your memory alright." Ivy said staring at me. I still wasn't sure if I liked her much. She seemed to be arrogant and full of herself, just as most girls actually are! But then, it was probably in her genes- no code to be that cold.

"It would be greater help if we explained you know!" Jorge snapped at her. Ivy looked as if she wanted nothing more than to blast him with her rifle, then and there but thought better of it. He was her senior after all.

"You see, only the best players get to have a go with us," Jorge said. "Most players compete against our team members. I remember reading somewhere that players who, on average spend whooping four hours straight on the game can make it to the elite level, that is, playing with the highest ranks of our gang." he went on.

"Oh." I said, since I could not think of anything else to say.

"One more thing, we must watch out for danger. Like sometimes there are dangers from which the players and us alike have to run and worst-case scenario, we need to fight that sort of dangers together. It creates a hell lot of havoc if someone trips on the dimension-changer." He said.

"What is a dimension-changer?" I asked. But before Jorge could answer, Ivy cut him off, still looking at neither of us. "We might time travel if someone steps on Dimension-changer. We're still not sure how many exist. It's different ones every time. The game is futuristic, cyberpunk based but that doesn't mean that's the only theme we get to play in. Sometimes, we shift to some Empirenunder war, sometimes they're dragons breathing fire down our necks, dinosaurs occasionally or we might be inside some ancient temple and we need to find our way back. To get out of a particular dimension, you need to find a specific object, for convenience gems, they do give us clues sometimes and then you need to fix that gem to a specific place. If the opponent team gets it first, we would be stuck in there for a while. Might not affect 'you' but is crucial for our ranks." she said, pointing at herself and Jorge.

All this time I nodded. I could feel happiness and thrill bubble up inside me. It was a fine, windy day. The sun shone at its fullest and the blue sky was free from clouds. Then, the day couldn't get any better as Players started to fall from the sky like raindrops. Our team landed next to us while the opponents stood facing us. You could see the player's name where a normal person's shadow could be, in the front. Then the countdown began as a woman's voice echoed out of nowhere;

"PLAYERS TAKE YOUR POSITIONS.

THE FLAME FOREST WILL BE READY TO ACCESS IN

FIVE

FOUR

THREE

TWO

ONE

GO!"