Elsewhere

  “ Jack! Lookout!” Dorian yelled charging in front of Jack, shields forward like a plow at the oncoming bear. He knelt low and rammed forward and up, heaving the bear back on its hind legs. It roared and clawed at his shields, scraping the wood with deep marks.

  Jack ran up Dorian's back and leapt, in that moment a blazing arrow flew hitting the bear in its knee causing it to buckle back down to all fours.

  “Falling Star!” Jack yelled spinning fast as he fell, his blade clang as it met dirt. The bear's head rolled and its body fell over.

  “ Alright haha good job guys!” Jack yelled out. Fist bumping Dorian.

  Sadura and another guy ran over. He was garbed in red wizard-like robes and held a long staff. Although his muscle mass and strong jaw didn't fit the attire he wore the outfit well.

  “ Dude you're awesome, Falling star?? That's new.” Zandar said. His name short for Alekzandars. His in-game name DorkBurgler.

  “ Yeah, I got it when I leveled from floor 3. This floors pretty easy. With you buffing and adding dots to our attacks and defense we make a good team.” Jack said.

  “Yea man, it's my job.” Zandar said, smiling wide.

  “ Are you sure you're okay with us getting the gems?” Dorian said.

  “ Yeah, if you guys find anything useful for a mage just let me know I'm not greedy. Just want a fair shake at any loot that's useful for me. Otherwise as long as you're cool with me using this for Viewcube you guys can take most of the stuff.” Zandar said with a thumbs up. He had a well kept beard that was auburn and had next to nothing but the robes, wizard hat and staff but seemed rather kind and carefree about the loot.

  Jack had watched his content and was extremely excited to be in a video with him. He was a pretty big fan, he had been watching him since he played the Warfield series on Specter 2. He was a pretty popular player and topped a lot of leader boards with his sniping skills. Sadura and Dorian hadn't heard of him but were both happy when they heard he had millions of followers. Jack told them it was a great opportunity to get attention for a guild. Which they planned to create. Being on level four they were at the front of the pack, they hadn't skipped a day since launch and became quick friends.

  Jack cut into the bear taking its gem leaving behind the rest of it. They all proceeded on, killing more bears and wolves to the next checkpoint. Once there they all sat down and recovered. Zander sat crisscrossed and meditated. His palms up and eyes closed. “ Wise words!” He opened his eyes and they glowed blue, a red and blue flame swirling in his hands. Blue dots of mana coalesced and absorbed into the flames making them bigger until they covered Zanders arms they didn't harm him or his clothes but he stopped there. Closing his eyes, the flames fluttered to extinguish.

  “ Alright got my mana back. Good to go.”

  “ Is that all it takes for you? Just that skill? Do you need mana to use it?” Dorian asked, eating a charred chunk of bear.

  “ Yea it's a cooldown won't be able to use it until the next checkpoint. It's pretty good considering I have a lot of mana and my spells are cheap. It just takes so long to buff everyone up. If I use my spells on myself they are faster.”

  “ Hmph, that's pretty good. We had a group member once that was a mage, she didn't have a way to get mana back. Lucky you.”

  “ Oh haha yeah I didn't get this until this level. I would have to resort to clubbing things. Or sitting around for a while to gain mana before. Luckily my physique is decent and I put some stats in strength just for that. Trust me it sucked. Not to mention I've kind of been getting crappy loot.”

  Jack grabbed a handful of grass and ripped it with his hands. “ This game is so real.” He tossed it in the breeze and watched it float away. “ Makes you wonder how many tough decisions it's gonna make you take.”

  Sadura caught the last part of his sentence and frowned. She smacked him on the thigh. “Aalllright, time to go, let's get this over with.” She said standing up stretching. Jack tossed 3 bear gems over to Zandar.

  “ I said you can keep them.”

  “ No. I'm a fan, and honestly, just buy a cheap sword or something for backup. If you get caught without mana, you never know what'll happen.” Jack smirked then got up.

  The group headed out. The four of them bantered amongst themselves most of the level, they encountered plenty more bears and a few hogs. After reaching the second checkpoint Dorian's shields were on their last leg. They couldn't take much more abuse.

  “ I think these are done Jack. I could probably snap them in my hands. We should pop out for a minute and buy some new ones on the market.” Dorian said, turning a shield over in his hands.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “ Sounds good to me. We can grab a blade for Zandar, and more arrows for Sadura. Let's go back to your place Zandar, I wanna see what a red wizard's space is like.”

  Zandar's eyes opened wide. He immediately knew this meant adding them. It wasn't so bad to have good players like them add him, it was just that he had dealt with folks in other games trying to make more out of a single encounter. It got pretty annoying dealing with people who just wanted to have a little limelight, sometimes it was just about them saying they knew him. He'd been down this rabbit hole. He knew that at least in this game folks couldn't just appear in your legacy space until you invited them. The amount of gems shared and the content he had gained from them was pretty decent. Thus far he hadn't quite been able to nail down a group. He had some friends but they were behind him as they were late to join the hype for the game. He had to stay at the lead of the pack, so he could show new or relevant content. It had only been 4 days, but he was hoping it would snowball. He decided it was worth it and added them. They all went back to their spaces then joined Zandar.

  As they stepped through their doorway the three of them found themselves inside a large circular room. High ceilings, and a stairwell that spiraled downward. In this place a large furnace and laboratory equipment sat on one side the other a bookshelf empty except for two books. A bed with a chest next to it. It wasn't really anything special. A small framed woman swept the floor in a maid outfit. She ignored the three of them and curtsied to Zandar then left downstairs.

  Zandar blushed. “ Listen, it's not what you think she was here when I started.”

  Everyone laughed amongst themselves. Zandar grew more flush but before it went too far Jack spoke up. “Yeah man we all have one don't worry about it. No reason to be embarrassed.”

  Zandar smiled, “ Yeah really? Oh okay good, I thought it was just me, she doesn't even say anything, just cleans. “

  “ No dude, we don't have a maid but we have someone back in our spaces. I have a Dwarf, Sadura has a Human guy and Jack, well”

  “Shhh.” Jack cut him off scrunching his brow. “ Look, it's not that big a deal. I like your space though. Very magic-y. Let's hurry up and buy some stuff and reset.” Jack and Dorian huddled up and used their market tabs.

  “ What do you mean she doesn’t talk?” Sadura said, getting closer to Zandar.

  “Just that. I came in downstairs. She met me at the door and bowed, then we came up here and she just pointed around. I’ve talked to her, just not with her. She either just nods or walks away and just cleans the whole time.”

  “ Huh. Well maybe she's just mute.” Sadura began to whisper “Listen you should probably not pay people to help you with content. The gems and stuff is how we've made it this far. You have to buy gear and stuff when it breaks. Not putting you down or anything but why are you hiding your spells from them?”

  “ Huh what do you mean?” Zandar said, eyebrows raised.

  “ I saw you begin to cast a fire spell, with the bear fight. There's no way it was just to light my arrow. That much fire? Plus the fiery arms thing for mana. That implies you can do more, cause you only cast like 3 different spells, a handful of times sure but you said you have a lot of mana.”

  Zandar sighed “ That obvious huh. Well… I do have another spell. It's just dangerous and so I canceled it. Last time I cast it… Someone died okay. I didn't mean for that to happen.”

  “ You killed them?”

  “Yes and no. They got hurt and then the spell was bigger than I thought. They caught on fire though and it was enough to finish them off. It was my fault but it was one hundred percent an accident.”

  “So you killed them then.” Sadura said straight faced. Zandar gritted his teeth. “ Accident or not, it was gonna happen at some point. That's how this game is. You learn the hard way.. Dorian on the second floor didn't block a goblin ambush for a guy that was with us. The goblins ended up taking that guy's leg. It was mangled, the guy ended up making it to the checkpoint and quitting. Last floor I shot an arrow at some wolves and this girl we were with got pounced on by one knocking her back, my arrow hit her right in the side. She didn't die from my arrow but the wolf got the better of her because of my attack. And well Jack should tell you his story, he beats himself up about it too, but that one is a bit different. Bottom-line is we’re on the front lines. Shit happens, own it, learn from it, do better. We are still barely in this game and everything is hidden behind knowledge.”

  Zandar seemed to listen to her and then fall into thought. “Come with me.” He grabbed her by arm and the guys looked back at them beginning to go down the stairs. Sadura gave a wave signaling them to stay, then a thumbs up. Jack smiled and gave a thumbs up back.

  A couple floors down Zandar and Sadura both stood in his training room.

  “Counter Burn!” Zandar's hands began to inflame, his left a blue flame and right a yellow flame, the blaze grew slowly and he spread his arms wide and bent his knees. The flame began to crawl up his sleeves, his face paled, the flames almost reached his shoulder, sweat dripped from his brows from the heat. “Release!” He slapped his hands together and the yellow and blue hot flames swirled off the tips of his hands twirling forward like coiled snakes. They rushed forward and down off his arms and shot out like a striking cobra. They shot across the room at high speed blasting Zandar back a foot, him skidding in his lowered stance backwards. As it reached the far wall it connected like a stuck arrow and then the end of the trail compressed towards the front mixing the colors of flame, a large explosion followed in a green flame burst showering amongst the area. After a few seconds the flames died and Zandar stood up. He was pale but the color began to come back to him as he fanned his robe. Sadura off to his side, looked at him mouth as wide as she could manage in sheer shock.

  Jack and Dorian began to run down the stairs yelling out to them both calling for Sadura and Zandar. They met them as they were casually walking up the stairs. Chatting to one another Sadura mimicking the move Zandar did. Him laughing at her. Jack and Dorian looked at each other confused.

  “You guys okay? What the heck was that noise?” Jack said

  “ HOLY CRAP JACK! DUDE HE IS IN, SOO IN! I VOUCH! I VOUCH!” Sadura yelled, arm slapping Zandar on the shoulder.

  Sadura began telling them what happened. Zandar explained the spell was only as strong as the time and mana he sank into it, He also said it was dangerous if interrupted he would have to release it putting people in harm's way. Jack and Dorian wanted to see it. They went back downstairs where the mana regeneration was faster and showed off their moves to one another.