Alpha Realm Online - Book I - The Beginning

Chapter 5- The Alpha

I breathed in and out deeply, trying desperately to calm myself. It didn't work. I began fiddling with my weapon and my new Steel Armor instead, deliberately distracting myself from what was to come.

I glanced at the enormous twin crimson doors. And what lay beyond them...

The boss of Floor 1.

I gulped, my stomach suddenly feeling very unwell.

"Are you okay? Your face is pale." Amber asked. She stood beside me, dressed only in light Leather Armor. According to her, 'the Hunter class is more about mobility and speed than strength'. I had tried to make her equip some better armor, but to no avail.

"Just...nervous. That's all. Aren't you?" I replied shakily, trying to hide my trembling hands and voice.

"No."

I shot her a sceptical look and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Maybe a bit. But why would you be? You have that blade!"

Apparently, after chatting to some other players, we found out that my sword was actually pretty uncommon. The only one of its kind so far.

"Like that's any help." I snorted.

"And your Skills?"

"Mmm..." I shrugged. "They're okay."

I opened my Skills menu and examined them idly. Slash and Volt Charge were all I had.

"You're hopeless." Amber sighed. "Be more positive."

I didn't offer a response, so the two of us just stood there, silent and still, among the other players who had volunteered to fight. We numbered about only 400 people, as most had either been unable to handle the fact that we were stuck in here, or were too terrified of dying to fight.

So it was 400 of us, give or take, standing at the foot of a tall mountain, the lush grass rustling underfoot as we shifted impatiently. We had stood here for so long that going through those doors almost seemed like a better prospect than continuing to wait here.

Almost.

Finally, a tall, Mage class who went by the name Nebula, the leader of this operation, stood on a tall boulder nearby to address all of us.

He stood there, silently surveying all of us, before saying, "First of all, I will tell all of you now, truthfully, that some of you will die. There is no such thing as a war without casualties. But, before we go down, and even if we do, we will fight. Fight to the end. Not all of us will survive. But some of us will. Survive this fight, survive the next, and who knows? Maybe they'll even survive this entire hellish realm of death and conquer all 50 floors!"

"So we will fight! For survival, for our families and friends, waiting for us back at the real world, and for all who have fallen!" he roared, raising his staff into the air. Everyone assembled followed suit, raising their weapons and cheering loudly.

I couldn't help but grin at the rousing speech. "That was a good speech." I remarked, turning to Amber.
She was looking at the huge, holographic screen in the sky. It had been there since the creator of ARO-I mean, it had to be him, right?-had told us the truth about the game. There were 3 numbers on it. On the left was the number of floors we hadn't cleared yet. Beside it, in the middle, was the number of players still alive. And of course, all the way at the right end was the number of players that had died. The fallen.

As of right now, the numbers, from left to right, were 50, 993, and 7.

The doors creaked loudly as four players pushed them open, revealing inky darkness beyond them.