The Gizmo- The Heroes Quest

Chapter 8- Survival

Suddenly I hear a scream, followed by a huge uproar.

A wolf like creature, with long fangs, black skin and a spike tail, appears above us. I block it with my bow.
Anderson removes the firestone and shouts, "Ember!". Tiny fire balls hit the wolf. Then, it falls down and disappears.

"What the hell was that?", I ask Anderson confused.

"It was a Griever! But how did it enter the town? Shouldn't this be a safe zone?", he says shocked.

"So this is what he meant?" I say with an astonished look. I remove my last word sniper gun, and change my costume to the white coat and blue scarf I used to wear in my previous games.

A huge moth like creature is found at a distance, attacking an unarmed player. I aim at it with my gun, and press the trigger. A huge metal sound is heard, followed by the creature falling off and it disappears.

Anderson goes and helps the player get up. Then, we leave the player in the nearest building and start sprinting.

A thought strikes me. "Didn't they say that we need to clear quests to unlock the lands?", I ask Anderson.

Anderson looks at me surprised, and says, "Why hasn't that thought occurred to me till now?"

The thought hadn't occurred to anyone untill now. But quests that can unlock an whole town, must require all the players participation.

We decided to go to the great hall and spread this news. Upon reaching, we found many players already collected over there. We join the crowd, as a player suddenly steps onto the podium. The player was a black haired boy, with black sharp eyes and wearing black robes.

He looks at everyone and shouts, "I'm Matthew, famously known as the black swordsman in the other games I've played until now. I know that all of you share the same feeling I have right now, and also must be wondering how to get rid of these beasts in this town."

He pauses for a second, takes a deep breath and speaks again, "We've found a way to fight this. Everyone could you please check your quests lists. There are numerous quests in your range which are meant to unlock different parts of the town. If you decide to cooperate, we can complete all of them by the next nightfall."

Everyone looks at him, now amazed. Anderson and I already knew about this and we hadn't expected anything else.

I check the quests list in the options that appeared in front of my eye. The nearest quest was located facing the towards the east of the great hall. According to the quest, we had to kill twenty Grievers that would pop out in that location.

Anderson and I sprint to the location . It was a small garden with an open space in the center. We start the quest.

Ten Grievers appear with each showing level five. They looked pretty easy. I reload my gun and aim for the Grievers.

At the same time, Anderson removes his Firestone and shouts, "Ember!". Tiny fireballs appear and hit the Grievers. They flinch and I take my chance, shooting three of them to death.

Anderson takes out his dagger, as he sprints forwards taking down a Griever. He summons the spell again, hitting four at once. The Grievers become red and burn marks appear on their furr. They flinch. I aim at them and shoot, and Anderson takes out the rest.

Now the final ten Grievers appear with each level seven.

Anderson steps back and kills the griever as it pounces on him. Not only their level had increased, but also their speed and health were on a whole other level. I take down two Grievers and Anderson manages to take down another two.

Suddenly, a Griever pounces on me. Too late, it pins me down onto the ground. I take a major hit. Even though I got back my costume and weapons, the rest of my skills and health were of the current game.

I try to shake it off but it keeps pouncing on me. It opens its mouth, its fangs about to rip my head apart.
Then suddenly, something strange occurs. The Griever was thrown up, and sliced into two halves.

Behind the Griever, I could see a girl, her red hair and grey eyes sparkling with the moonlight behind her. And her weapon, was a red scythe, tearing through the Griever.

She smiles at me and lends me her hand. "Hello! I'm Amber", she says when I get back on my feet.

"I'm Nuke! Thanks for that", I say as I thank her.

She looked pretty and cheerful, but I could find the seriousness in her eyes. She holds her scythe firmly, as she kills another Griever approaching us.

She looks at me and Anderson again, when suddenly a Griever suddenly pounces on her. Before I could act, a black cloak obstructs my view from the Griever. Then, the Griever drops down dead, a sword slashes through it.

The boy was Matthew. He looks at Amber, and scolds her, "Could you please stop greeting people and care about your own life first!"

"Well I knew you would protect me anyways brother!" She laughs as she replies to him.

He looks at me and Anderson, "Oh! Nice to meet you guys. I'm Matthew, and I'm sure you already know that."

He turns towards the remaining Griever and says, "Well in this world, there are just these three rules you must obey!"

He takes a deep breath, as he grips his sword.

"Number one, Survive!"

He faces the remaining Griever and springs forward.

"Number two, protect!", he says as he slashes a griever.

"And number three!"

He slices the final griever with his sword. Beyond the blood and body of the griever flying in the air, he turns his head back with sparks coming out of his eyes, as he says, "kill!"

Looking at the seriousness in his eyes, I realized that this world wasn't a game anymore. It was a battle of survival!