David Graham

It was a usual day for the workers at Little Joe's restaurant. Business was regular, customers were happy, and people happily went about their day, eating their favourite food.

"Here is your fresh Beer made using the roots of frekti tree from the Elven kingdom" the waiter said with a smile as he put the Beer jugs on a table occupied by beings different from humans.

They had pointy ears, a long, slender build and a beauty that would make any model regret their life choices. These were Elves, who were now roaming freely on Earth, along with hundreds of more races.

One might believe that this might be due to the substantial scientific progress in space research, where humans found out that life existed on planets other than Earth and were able to successfully form relations with them. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

Everything began with the launch of the latest VRMMORPG named Orion. It launched to a grand success, with millions of players playing the game daily. It was popular due to its uncanny similarity to reality, where a player could feel the pain inflicted in-game or feel full after eating food inside the game. This led to its massive popularity, with people spending more and more time inside the game than outside. The game got so popular that it even had its own competitive tournaments, with companies investing heavily in it to yield high profits.

They did not know then that this game was a stepping stone for humanity to ascend to a higher existence. The developers of the game, who were considered to be unknown all this time, finally revealed themselves ten years after the game was first released. Seraphiel, the system inside the game, materialised herself into existence and directly addressed the planet's entire population.

She notified humanity that everyone below a certain level would cease to exist after Earth's merging with the rest of the universe was complete. This led to a mass extinction event, which reduced the population to a meagre one-seventh of the total population. This was followed by the integration of the world of Orion with the planet Earth, meaning that the continents were wiped out and instead replaced by the regions inside the game.

But humans didn't have time to rest, as they were soon introduced to the concept of invaders. The races that had existed as NPCs inside the game and could be chosen by humans at the time of character creation were now invading the planet for the fight over the authority of regions of the planet now known as "Territory".

The waiter glanced around and noticed that a piece of breaking news was flashing on the television, 

"Humanity's strongest Swordsman, Michael, has joined hands with the Dragon race. The Congress of Monsters has now attained forty per cent of the territories on Planet Earth. This means that Both Seraphiel and Uriel have command over forty per cent of Earth each, while the rest twenty per cent belongs to the fallen angel Axel. Uriel has announced that Earth will lose its freedom and become a slave planet if it loses one more territory. "

"Damnit!" a loud voice rang as the waiter looked in the direction where he had just delivered the beer to notice that the customers had smashed the jug onto the table.

"Those Dragons got another one of these! We can't sit back, or else we will lose our position in the Congress of Monsters to them", the elf shouted. While the Elves were threatened about their position in the congress, the humans seated in the pub were worried about something else.

The humans who were listening to this news were quivering in fear. They had firsthand experience watching what happens when a planet loses its authority. They had seen what happened when a neighbouring planet, X-44, had lost most of its territories. Uriel had led a large force to destroy the remaining territories and murdered the majority of its population, leaving behind only a handful of warriors who became slaves to the Congress of Monsters.

Murmurs started to ring throughout the restaurant. 

A group of human adventurers started to discuss their future plans. They knew that their families would be sold off to other races, and they would have to work under them in the future. It was better to join those guilds and have a respectable position than die or become their slaves.

"Do you think we should join the monster races while there is still a chance?" a man on the table asked his companions.

"My uncle is in the Aspher guild! He will surely help us."

"But isn't the owner of the last territory missing? The one which isn't owned by the congress or any guilds?" someone chimed in.

"Yeah! I remember that it was in the news! A player killed his best friend and stole the ownership of the territory before running away with it."

Suddenly, the gate flew open as a man in ragged clothes and an unshaven beard entered the restaurant. 

"Stop!" one of the guards tried to stop him, but the man took a torn old card from his pocket.

The guard closely analysed it,

"David Graham, Adept Tier adventurer Level 50."

"Haha, what is trash like you doing in a restaurant like this! Get out!" the guard shouted, which caught the diners' attention. The diners looked in the direction of the man and believed it to be a beggar who had run out of credits before they turned their attention to the news once again.

"he is with me", a voice rang as a handsome young man clad in metal armour walked towards the restaurant entrance.

The guard noticed the symbol on the man's armour, which read, "Lotus Guild", as he quickly bowed in front of the man and left the area.

"Come in, David. We need to have a chat with you", the young man said with a smile on his face.

"I am not here to deal with you, Jason. I will not give you the item.", the rugged man said, as a smile emerged from the beard, revealing his yellow teeth and the stench of alcohol.

Suddenly, the young man, who was all cheerful, now had an ugly expression on his face. He walked close to the man, holding him by his torn clothes. "What do you mean! "he shouted, as he held his other hand forward, "give the 'piece' to me, and I will forget that anything happened between us."

"HAHAHHA", the rugged man started to laugh like a maniac, causing the diners' attention to him again, "Forget anything happened between us? You fucking massacred the entire guild, pushed Tom to suicide, killed our entire families, and you want me to forget anything happened to us?" David erupted angrily as he pushed Jason away, took an item from his pocket, and showed it to him.

"Suicide? Everyone knows you killed your best friend to steal his territory", Jason grinned. "Now hand over the ownership of territory to me", as he put forward his hand.

"Go fuck yourself." David grinned. "your people wanted to have Earth for yourself, right? Let's see how that happens now", David shouted, as he started to laugh maniacally. Suddenly, the item in his hand started to shine, radiating off intense energy.

"NOOO! STOP HIM!" Jason shouted as he pulled out his sword, reaching for David's neck, but the attack was too late. David had already crushed the item into thin pieces, creating a large explosion which blew the entire restaurant into smithereens.