Game

It hurt. Everything began to hurt as Roland resumed consciousness. He was on a hardwood floor, the same one he remembered being flung onto. He remembered putting the disk into the reader, starting up the game, clicking a button... and then an explosion.

Prying himself off of the floor, Roland looked around the room: his bedroom and study. It was very bland and void of anything interesting, at least to the common eye. He liked to counter that argument with the fact that he didn't need to remind himself of what he enjoyed every time he woke up. There was a simple, double bed at one end of the narrow room, and an equally simple desk on the other, complete with desktop and toppled office chair.

However, the monitor on the desk was nowhere to be seen. Only scraps of plastic and a large scorch mark were left on the desk.

Although, as he looked at the ruined desk, Roland noticed that everything seemed to be a bit blurry. He reached to adjust his glasses, but they didn't seem to be there. Obviously, they had been launched somewhere when the blast had occurred, no doubt breaking upon impact with whatever it hit first.

Roland began the agitating job of finding his spectacles. As much as he loved crawling on the floor, he needed to see where he was going. It took a while, and by some miracle, they were only a little dusty. After thanking whatever god spared him from have to buy another pair and cleaning the lenses, he donned his titanium, square glasses.

Then something happened that he couldn't explain with sound logic. Text appeared out of thin air, like his glasses were a heads up display.

"Welcome to the game."

Then the words blurred and disappeared, only to be replaced by a red bar on the top left of Roland's vision labeled "Blood: 5.2/5.2", and an experience bar along the bottom of his vision.

Roland quickly removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, but the bars were still there, albeit blurry. Was this a dream? No, he shouldn't be able to read if that were the case. Not only that, but he could feel his body aching all over. Then was he drugged? Possibly, but he didn't know if hallucinations could be affected by his glasses.

Nonetheless, Roland needed to remain composed. He just needed to contact the authorities about the bomb planted behind his monitor. He opened a drawer in the desk and retrieved his smartphone. Unlocking it, Roland paled at what he found. All of his apps had been deleted for the exception of two that he did not remember downloading: "Chat" and "Card".

This... was impossible. This entire situation did not make sense in the slightest! Who would put a bomb in someone's room and change the apps on his phone?! It was as if whoever did this expected him to live! But then why a bomb in the first place?! Not only that, but it looked as if the status bar at the top of the phone had been removed!

Roland nearly broke the roof when his phone vibrated. He dared to look at the screen to find that "Chat" text bubble icon was flashing red rhythmically. A white screen with four names appeared when the curiosity got the better of Roland. Three of the names brought Roland comfort, but the last name did the opposite.

The names were Donatello, Vivian, Mitsuru, and "Game Master". For Donatello and Mitsuru, there were "offline" statuses next to their names, but for Vivian and the "Game Master", it said "online". Not only that, but a envelope symbol was flashing beside Vivian's name. Tapping the name brought Roland to a chat screen much like that of skype or facebook.

Are you dead?

Ah, Vivian certainly had a magical way with words. Roland hit the text box at the bottom of the screen and began to have a conversation with his good friend.

You tell me, Vi.

Surprised? I certanly was when my FUCKING LAPTOP EXPLODED!

Oh goody, it wasn't just me. Is that one of the unique features of the game? Turning your computer into a bomb?

It get's better.

You notice the hud yet?

...I'm not high as a kite?

...have you been outside?

What are you talking about? I have a job, you know.

...

Don't bother with the GM. You need to do two things:

Go outside, and when you get over that hurdle, check what class you are.

And for the fucking love of god, get back to me quickly. You have no idea what kind of hell I'm in right now.

Rolland locked the screen and marched to his front door. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second. Moving though his living room and past the kitchenette, he made his way to his apartment's door. Grabbing his keys, Roland unlocked the door and stepped into the hall of his apartment building.

Or, he would have if it were even there. No, Roland was greeted by the sight of endless mountains and hills sprawled out before him. If it wasn't the rocky and barren terrain before him, then it was the fact that he saw no civilization at all that pushed him onto his knees.

What... What was... How...?

Roland's phone called out to him, and he answered with gusto.

Your mind blown yet?

VIVIAN WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!!!

Woah... I think that's the first time I've ever seen you write the word fuck before.

You okay there?

HOW can I be okay when my house in IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING MOUNTAINS?

Ha! Fuck yea, I got a forest!

GOD DAMN IT VIVIAN

THIS ISN'T A JOKE!

WE'RE IN SERIOUS DANGER HERE!

OKAY LOOK,

I know it doesn't make ANY sense, but get over it and start looking as soon as you can for any sort of civilization.

If you're lucky, I might actually be closer than you think. I saw some mountains off on the horizon, but that was from a clock tower that wasn't really high, and I didn't get a good look.

Clock tower? You found people? Do they know what's going on?

Er... yes and no?

They're not exactly human, per say.

...

Look man, you aren't dealing with fucking gryphons who think you're some sort of demon spawn, okay?

Well, at least they see you for what you are.

Ayy! There's my sweet roll!

So, find civilization, right? You going to be okay?

Bitch please.

Roland laughed a little at his friend's laid back attitude at the possibility of death. Not only that, but he was also comforted by a new thought. What if this was some sort of virtual reality test? It wasn't impossible that he and his close group of friends were secretly chosen by the government to be unwittingly put into VR to see if people could differentiate between reality and the virtual world. It was improbable as all hell, but not impossible.

With that in mind, he played along with his new hypothesis and stepped outside. Doing a short lap around his new "house" yielded the same result: barren mountains surrounded him. However, he also spied what looked kind of like a volcano off in the distance. Not only that, but there was also a cave at the foot of a mountain, close to the bottom of the hill is apartment now resided on.

Roland noticed as flopped onto his couch that despite there being no external power cables leading into his apartment, he still had power. As he took out his phone again, he smiled at his fortune. With power, he could survive for longer without hunting for food. However, he assumed that water would be a different story all together. He had a case of water bottles in the fridge, but that would only last for a few days.

Unlocking his phone, he tapped the rectangular box labeled "Card". Roland was shocked that the first thing he saw was a three-dimensional model of himself, wearing his current clothing. Roland had short, messy, brown hair, and brown eyes as well. He was wearing a tattered, black, t-shirt, blue jeans, and slick, no lace, black dress shoes. Of course, they weren't actually dress shoes, those would be too uncomfortable for him. They were a type of running shoe that everyone he knew mistook for dress shoes.

The next shocking thing was that his vitals and blood total were beside his portrait, right below his name. Below that was the experience bar, and the next thing was what he was told to find: his class.

"Judge of the Abyss."

"Judge" was not a class he was familiar with. Next to it was a grey button with the words "level up" on it. Roland understood when it didn't work: he didn't have any EXP now, did he?

Exiting the app, he resumed his conversation with Vivian.

Here's the "Judge of the Abyss"'s sit-rep, Ma'am. No civilization from what I can see, although the mountains are blocking most of my sight, but I did see what looked like a volcano in the distance and a cave really close to my house. I have power(?), but I have yet to check water and gas. If those aren't working, I estimate that I can survive for about a week and a bit with the water I have in the fridge. If I can find a clean source of water, I could survive for maybe a month.

Judge of the Abyss, huh?

Wolf of Hellfire for me.

Maybe you are a demon? The evidence clearly suggests it.

Ha ha, very funny mr. Abyss=darkness=emo.

Something's been bothering me.

You said you were dealing with gryphons?

Yea? What of it?

What constitutes as a "monster" then?

Huh, didn't think of that.

No, wait. I caught word that there were new, dangerous things as of late.

You're going to have to be more specific than "things", Vi.

Like, imps and shit.

I think mythology is fair game in this world, cuz I heard about pegasi and dragons, too.

Here's hoping I don't run into a dragon. I rather like having all my bones intact.

What about you? Situation calm down?

Yea, I got a bird-friend. He's gentle.

You aren't getting frisky a bird-lion, are you, Vi?

Har har, I meant broteam gentle.

Although, if he had lips and not a fucking beak, then maybe. He's a cool dude, considering everyone I've met so far is a bird-cunt.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Roland's head swiveled to the door as his heart began to pound in his chest.

Something just knocked at my door. It must have seen me come out of the apartment.

Okay, that's significantly worse than my situation, considering you're in bum-fuck nowhere.

Get a weapon, preferably a gun of some kind.

Sorry, Ms. Texas! No handguns allowed! Canada, remember?!

Knives? Chair?

No knives after we threw them at a tree, remember?

And no chairs either. Not enough room to swing at the door.

...spoon?

*Knock knock knock*

It's getting harder. I think I'm going to have a guest soon.

Damn it, Rol, this isn't a time for wit!

...

No, it's exactly the time for wit.

Roland locked and dropped his phone on the couch as he launched off his backside and landed before the door. He could hear something moving the small stones just outside his door.

Taking a small breath to calm himself, he steeled his resolve and took the first step in his new plan.

*Knock knock knock*

The shuffling stopped as he knocked back on the door. "Who dares to knock upon the door to the house of enlightenment?!" Roland exclaimed in an almighty tone as best as he could. "Be you friend or foe?!"

Silence, and then...

"Friend!" a woman's voice appeared from the other side of the door. It was deep, but soft, not raspy at all. Roland took a peak through his door's peephole as the voice awaited an answer. He saw... yellow scales, like what you would see on scale mail. It had a humanoid chest with an off-white underbelly like a snake, but lacked breasts if it was indeed female. Roland couldn't see below it's waist, or above it's neck, but he could see it was wielding a makeshift spear.

"However," the thing on the other side of the door shouted after Roland forgot to respond, "if you are of the same race of beast that killed my brethren, I will be foe!"

"If you wish this door to open, then answer my questions three!" Roland called out. It was risky opening the door, but with a local to help him, his survival chances would increase. Perhaps he could even find out where Vivian was. "The first question is: in which land do we speak?!"

"The Iron Mountains! Home of the dragons!" it shouted. Oh good, Roland had jinxed himself. Most likely, the thing on the other side of the door was a dragon.

"Question two: what tongue are we speaking?!" Roland expected something other than english, considering that he was in a land where gryphons and dragons existed.

"Common, or Equestrian if you'd prefer!" Good. Roland was counting on that to be the case.

"The last question: what is thirty two plus three?"

Unlike the previous times, the dragon didn't answer. Roland waited for a full minute before she said anything at all. "I... I don't know!" the dragoness shouted with what sounded like disappointment. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time! But I would like to know if you are indeed the one who—"

She was interrupted by the sound of the door's lock moving. Roland opened the door and leaned against the frame of the door with his armed crossed as they stared at each other, taking in the features of the other. Roland now could see that this creature must have been some sort of dragon, if not then at least it was a close relative. Along with it's meter and a half long tail, it bore no wings, but it's head had two backwards curving, pearl-white horns, two slitted, pink eyes, and a mouth full of dangerous looking teeth. It stood a good head above him, and considering that Roland was 6'3", she must have been at most 7' tall.

"I never said you had to answer them correctly," Roland remarked. "I have to thank you. You answered some really important questions for me."

"You used me," she chided, looking a little hurt.

"Not to play the blame game, but you're the one pointing a spear at me," Roland pointed out. "I needed information and what you provided lead me to believe that you're not here to hurt me."

Her spear inched ever so slightly closer to Roland's chest. "And how do you know that?"

"Because I know I'm not the one that killed your friends." Roland noticed a slight shift in her eyes, possibly because she knew it already. "I also know that you know that as well."

"Can you read minds?" she question with serious caution.

"No, but I can read expressions." Her expression softened as she reluctantly returned her spear to her side. "I don't want to be enemies," Roland explained with a calm and almost sad voice, "and you don't seem like a bad person. If you want, I can make some tea and we can talk about our side in this unique situation."

The dragoness looked away for a moment in thought before turning back to Roland. "I've never had tea before, but... I'll try some."

Roland moved out of the way and motioned towards the living room. Hesitantly, the dragoness moved past Roland and into the apartment. After closing and locking the door, Roland was about to motion for her to sit on the couch, but with her tail, his guest wouldn't be comfortable. "You can lay on the couch if you want. I don't have any sort of seating that would be comfortable for your tail, so you lay there and I'll grab a chair for myself."

The dragoness looked at Roland with suspicion, but eventually took his advice and took her place on the couch. Roland was about to move into the kitchen when his guest spoke up. "Hey," was all the dragoness said before Roland turned around to catch his phone flying towards him. With his phone in hand, Roland moved to the kitchenette and turned on the tap.

His hopes sunk when no water came out. He checked the stove as well and it yielded the same result: no gas either. He had expected this, but for the power to be on and not the water or gas made his heart sink. At least he could still use the outlets. Grabbing an electric kettle from a cupboard, two water bottles from the fridge, and a can of tea leaves, Roland went about making some apple pie flavored tea.

As the kettle was heating the water up, Roland thought it would be a good idea to contact Vivian again. However, when he unlocked his phone, Vivian appeared to be offline. Did something come up? No, she probably got tired of waiting for him. Still, Rolland sent her a quick message telling her what he learned.

I have... news. it's not good or bad, but you should know everything I learn so that we may be able to meet.

There was a dragon at my door. 7 feet tall at least, no wings, but had a spear. She told me I was in the Iron Mountains if that helps at all. English is referred to as common, or equestrian. No gas or water for me either, just tested it. I'm going to have tea with this dragon in hopes to gather more info. I'll relay it to you when I can.

And that was that. She would for sure get the message, but when was a big question. As he returned to the contacts screen, he noticed that Mitsuru was online. If she was just waking up, then she'd need guidance.

Hey, you okay?

It took a moment for her to respond.

I'm scared, Roland.

I'm about to meet with a princess.

Just remember your manners and you'll be fine. Have you been awake for a while?

No, only like 5 minutes.

I woke up in bed in a castle with bandages all over my arms.

Then, this weird horse (I think it was a unicorn) came up to me and said a princess was coming to see me.

I'm really scared, Roland.

I know, don't worry. At least you aren't having tea with a dragon.

Excuse me?

Never mind that. Just listen to what I have to say.

Go to the app called "card" on your phone. Ignore everything else, including the HUD in your vision. Find and tell me your class, okay?

Okay.

It's "Maiden of Pink Breath".

I don't understand, why is my blood amount and vitals on here?

I don't know. I think this might be VR, but I can't be sure. Nothing is making sense to me anymore.

What class are you?

"Judge of the Abyss".

That's fitting. I think you would have made a good judge.

No point dwelling on the past.

I need you to ask some questions to this princess for me, okay? When you get the answers, send them to me when you're finished your conversation.

Okay.

1. Where are you right now? Like the land's name. Just for reference, I'm somewhere called the Iron Mountains.

2. What are the native species there? For me, it's dragons, and for Vi it's gryphons.

Vivian's okay? That make's me more relieved. =)

Yea, she's cool I think. She's the "Wolf of Hellfire".

I think that fits her as well. She gets heated really easily.

That she does.

You haven't heard from Don, have you?

No, I just woke up.

"You realize the water's been boiling for two minutes now, right?" the dragoness called out from the couch.

I gotta go. I believe in you. Stay safe.

You too, sweet roll. ;)

Locking his phone, Roland grabbed two mugs and tea strainers. He placed the strainers into the mug and then poured some leaves into the strainer. Then he poured the hot water and took the two drinks to the coffee table in front of the couch. After quickly running into his room and grabbing his office chair, Roland took a seat opposite of the couch.

"Careful," he warned as his guest reached for her drink, "it's hot."

"I can breath fire, you know," she responded as she reclined on her side. "Hot doesn't affect dragons, human."

Roland was reaching for his glass, but he stopped dead as soon as she said human. "I never said I was human," he quipped with a smirk.

"Well, you certainly fit the myth's descriptions, except for one point," she explained.

Roland raised an eyebrow. "One point?"

"Power that could rival the god's."

"Ah," Roland mused. He certainly didn't have power to rival a god's. Or... maybe he did? Perhaps the myth was talking about human intelligence? He couldn't know for sure, but he kinda liked the idea of being worshiped.

"Don't get the wrong Idea, human," his guest warned after noticing his perverted smile. "Your power may rival the god's, but you're not going to be liked a lot. See, it's a cautionary tale of greed."

"Oh," Roland said, slightly disappointing. "Well, that's a little disappointing." He reached over and removed the strainer from his mug. Then he took a sip of his tea. "You guessed it, I'm human. My name is..." Could he tell her his name? What if she betrayed him and he had to run?

"You don't need a fake name," she said, as if reading his mind. "My name is Ash, and I am a dragon." After taking a sip of tea, Ash extended her claw towards Roland.

"Roland. Sorry, I'm nervous," he explained as he reciprocated the gesture. After that, he felt calmer. Maybe it was wrong of him to let his guard down, but this was the first normal thing to happen since he woke up. He was relieved in a way.

There was silence as the two enjoyed their tea for a few minutes. "This is good," Ash commented.

"Yea, it's my favorite kind." Roland put down his glass and crossed one leg other the other. "So, Ash," he began, "should I be a gentleman and explain my side first, or allow you to explain what brought you to my home alone?"

"I have a suspicion that your story is longer, so I'll begin if you don't mind." Roland shook his head and motioned for her to continue.

After taking a sip of tea, she began. "About a month ago, strange beings began showing up all over this world. Some were harmless enough, but others were fierce. It wasn't too much for us dragons, but for others... there was great loss. Equestria, the pony capitol, held out the longest, along with us dragons."

"Then about seven days ago, a handful of creatures showed up and decimated just about everyone. Just when we began to get comfortable with the idea of monsters, these guys came and showed us the real meaning of pain. I heard even the pony princesses had a really hard time against a few of them."

"Three days ago... my group and I were celebrating a victory against a group of the weaker monster. We laughed and sang, had a large fire going... And then they all died. It took me a moment to realize when this lone monster attacked and killed our leader. When I got a good look at it, it vanished and soon we began falling one by one. I had the foresight to see that it was one of the more powerful monsters, and I'm here because of it."

"After a few days of traveling, I found that cave at the bottom of this hill and stayed there for a bit. I saw you walking around when I awoke, and I panicked. You look a lot like the monster that killed my... well, they were my family."

As Roland looked at Ash, not only could he see that she was having a hard time keeping her composure, but he could feel how tense she got at talking about such a sensitive topic. Rolling over to her side, Roland gently placed a hand on her claw. "I'm sorry." She looked away from his gaze at the words. "I actually know what it feels like to feel helpless — to watch your family die."

"You do?" she asked, with a little whimper in her voice.

"Yea, my mom fought a disease called cancer for a long time. She got really sick and was in pain a lot of the time. There was nothing I could do to help her. Then after about two years, she died. A little while later, my dad died in a — in an accident. Then, I was alone for a long time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ash comforted as best she could. Roland took her claw and held it as they both tried to compose themselves.

After a few minutes of waiting, Ash looked at Roland. "What about you, what's your side in this?"

Now it was Roland's turn to look away. "I... I dunno. To be honest, I just sorta showed up here," he said quietly.

At that moment, Roland's phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out and unlocking it, he looked at the chat and found that he had a message that he had been waiting for. "I need to go for a second, wait right here and we'll discuss what to do next," Roland said quickly as he stood and left the room. Entering the bedroom, he closed the door and pressed his back against it. He looked at the chat screen again.

He had a message from the GM.

Lying to your new waifu? How could you! You're ruining my ship!

Roland felt his blood boil. It may have been the anger, but it felt like the GM was mocking him.

I didn't lie. If you're the one who set this all up, then you should know that.

Having fun watching behind a desk, coward?

Oh yes, I'm loving the show. Might I add that you didn't tell the whole truth either,

sweet roll.

Fuck you.

Oh, believe me I would, but I'm a one-mare sort of person.

Mare huh? Looks like I'm coming to Equestria then.

Yes, I am in Equestia at the moment. I suppose I'll let you have that one, but from now on...

No

more

hints!

When I find you, I'm going to do things that people wish they could do to others they hate.

I don't think your friend... what's his name? Donutella? Whatever, he wouldn't like that.

He's taken quite the liking to me!

Good.

...good?

Yea. I have something that I needed. Thanks for that.

No problem.

Now, back to our original discussion.

Are you afraid of what she's going to do when she finds out?

Finds out what?

That you killed her family.

Please. I'm going to help her gut you when we find you, you piece of shit.

Then why did you lie to her?

Because in the state that she's in now, she won't take kindly to the fact that we caused you to make monsters.

You're assuming quite a lot there, Bucko.

No, not really. It makes a lot of sense actually.

Don got those keys to the beta a month ago, the same time monsters showed up here. It took a month for all of us to get a copy from him, and now we're here because you gave him the keys.

The only thing I'm assuming is that you made the monsters.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't.

My only job is to make sure the game runs smoothly.

You'd better go and console your new bed-buddy,

she's beginning to cry.

I'm going to make you suffer a fate worse than death.

Love you, too. Ta-ta.

Roland shoved his phone back into his pocket and reentered the living room to find Ash standing next to an open window, looking out into the barren landscape. She looked back at Roland for a moment, but then turned away, quickly wiping her eyes with an arm and sniffling a little.

"S-so," Ash said with a whimper. She cleared her throat and continued. "What's our n-next step?" Roland looked at her for a few moments in silence. Ash became confused at what he was doing, but became more so when he walked up to her and hugged her suddenly. After a few seconds, Ash discarded confusion and replaced it with her own hug. "I'm s-sorry."

"So am I."