Pilot

A Day Ago...

"Run faster, Adrien!" Ethan yelled as his feet slapped the muddy forest grass and shot through the thick bushes on his way, the ugly thorns scraped his ankles and left red marks on the skin. 

Adrien huffed and tried to do what his friend said but he was out of energy. Ethan backtracked and held his hand, "I'm not leaving you alone out here."

The night was just opening up into a new day so there was a little daylight here and there, enough to reach their safe camp a few kilometers away. But they had been running for ages, right from the Caves of Kaala to the Mist of Fear. 

Adrien crouched forward and took deep breaths. "We can't stop! They're after us!" Ethan tried to make him understand. 

"How long will we run for?" the other boy panted, "We've been trapped in this VR game for ten whole years. What good has it done to continue surviving here?" 

A loud and frightening sound echoed through their rapidly beating hearts. It was growing louder. Their ears felt like it was being poked by toothpicks when they heard it. 

It was the characteristic roar of inexas: 1000 feet tall spiders with snakes as legs. They used their hundreds of snake legs to slither on the ground, their long antennas shifting left and right, searching for Player blood. 

"This isn't the time to count our life decisions, can you just get up and run already?"

Adrien stood up straight and closed his eyes, "No. I want to see what happens if we die in here. If I don't make it to the real world, make sure you kill Hermann for me, okay? Avenge me, brother."

Ethan's eyes widened and he leaned forward to grab his arm again, but Adrien had already turned around and was now running towards the fifty inexas in full speed on his own. His long silver hair whipped behind him as the black monsters grew in size in front of him.

He wasn't fearless. He was actually really, really scared. But ten years in this hell-hole taught him not to care. 

The sound pierced through the air again, the inexas were excited now, sensing a Player coming right towards them, they started to slither faster. The leading inexa lurched forward, its slimy mouth wide open as it curled its snake leg around Adrien's torso and lifted him.

It popped him into its mouth like he was Halloween candy. 

Forty nine other inexas screeched in frustration at the leader for eating the only prey they had and the whole place went crazy. 

Ethan's legs trembled as he witnessed the sight. It was a mess of snake legs and spider heads over one Player. The smallest inexa gave up and turned the other way and its antennas squirmed, catching something in the air.

Ethan held a breath as it turned around fully and its eyes set on his frail body trembling in the distance. Slime dripped from its mouth and it ran for him. 

Ethan stood on his heels and turned around to run but his legs felt like it was slowing down, like something bigger and invisible was stopping him. Soon, everything came to a stop. The entire place was in silence. 

Ethan couldn't move any body part of his and he was stuck in a mid-run. His eyeballs moved to look up to see a bird in mid-flight, frozen. He flitted his eyes to the side and saw falling leave suspended in air. He realized the inexas must have frozen too. 

'What's happening?' Ethan thought and his eyes fixed to a point right in front of him as a glimmering swirl formed in the center and opened up to a wide transparent screen.

[NEW ACHIEVEMENT: Death of a Player]

Ethan frowned, 'How can that be an achievement?' 

More words formed underneath and he moved just his eyeballs to read them.

[REWARD: Return to the Real World]

Ethan stopped breathing and he read that once more to make sure. He couldn't believe it. 

The ground under him gave way and everything around him melted. His heart lurched upward as he started to fall at full speed to who-knew-where. He turned his head and saw the rest of his friends falling with him.

Adrien was there too. In the rush, somehow, he caught Ethan's gaze and smiled. The other four were scared to death because they didn't know what was happening. But Ethan was at peace.

After ten excruciating years, they were finally going back.

....

A/N: Rest of the chapters are way longer.