[b]Town of beginnings – Floor 1[/b] “What’s going on?” “Is it an event?” A curious collection of whispers rose around her as she materialized into the town center in a brilliant flash of blue light. Sword raised mid-strike to deliver a blow, an amusing combination of battle-lust mixed with confusion had settled onto the blue haired woman’s face. Mere seconds ago she’d been quite cheerfully slashing boars to death when she got so abruptly whisked away. Stumbling a little at the sudden and rather unexpected teleportation, she relaxed into a casual stance and sheathed her weapon as she looked around. The town center seemed to be rapidly filling up as more and more players appeared in flashes of blue light, each one mirroring expressions of confusion and surprise. [i] Perhaps this is an event.[/i] The crowd didn’t have to wait too long though as a massive, hooded figure appeared in a blur of impressive special effects. The announcement it brought forth, however was far from just an in game event. Bottom line was that all of the players were stuck in the world of Aincrad, at the mercy of a sadistic psycho with a god complex.. Unless they managed to finish all 100 levels of the game. Which, on its own would have been terrifying enough but no; Akihiko Kayaba had added one more teeny tiny little detail to make things more interesting. Die in game and you died for real. Namora stood stunned into silence, her mind refusing to accept the sheer horror of the reality. All around her panic and terror gathered into a massive wave threatening to erupt into chaos at any moment. As if in a daze, she pulled up her inventory and mechanically scrolled through the items until she found the Game Master’s parting ‘gift’, a little hand mirror. “What the-“ Her query was cut short as the avatar she’d created for herself shattered into a billion little pieces, shedding away like an illusion. In its place stood Karin Amsel, Namora’s ‘true’ self. The young woman raised her eyes to the hooded figure, ignoring the metamorphosing of the surrounding players. “Players, I wish you the best of luck.” He stated calmly and disappeared. As if an invisible dam had shattered at his disappearance, a wave of mass hysteria burst forth. Chaos erupted all around her as people began to scream and cry. Namora stood rooted to the spot, feeling too numb to react even as the crowd began moving. A sharp jostle from behind quite nearly got her face better acquainted with the ground as she stumbled into the person in front of her. The action as unpleasant as it was, helped to get her moving again and her mind focused on a single thing. Survival. ---- [b]One month later Outskirts of Tolbana > Tolbana city gates – Floor 1[/b] [i] Run.[/i] The sound of footsteps crashing through the underbrush broke the eerie silence of the forest. Three more sets of footsteps followed the first, in close pursuit. The latter were accompanied by battle cries and whoops of joy punctuated with the occasional bout of mad cackling. [i] Do [b]not[/b] look back. Just run as fast as you can.[/i] “Almost got her!” [i] You are not going to die here, not to these people. Run! Just a bit further, you’re almost at Tolbana![/i] Karin had been running from them for what felt like an eternity. Trapped in a world, a virtual world where she did not even have a heartbeat, she was running for her life. The irony of it did not escape her. She would have been amused, were she not being currently chased by ‘Hunters’, players who hunted others for sport. As to how she ended up in her current predicament; the raven haired girl was trapped in the world of Aincrad along with thousands of others. Their only way out was to beat the game, which was easier said than done. Not one to just stand around and leave her fate in the hands of others, she tamped down her fear and set out to do her part in clearing the game. Over the course of a month, countless more players had died and they still hadn’t even managed to find the first Floor Boss. Needless to say, things weren’t looking well for any of them. She did her part, risking her life every single day just by setting foot out of the safety of the towns and actively seeking out monsters to kill and to her surprise; she was managing to do quite well so far. Today was one such day except for the fact that things had gone very, very wrong. Her biggest mistake was venturing out alone. Sure, she was an excellent fighter and she was smart enough to stock potions and healing items but out there was a bigger threat than AI monsters. Player killers roamed the outskirts, something which had begun only recently. Partly because she didn’t have anyone in the game she could trust to watch her back and partly because of her foolish stubbornness, she’d dismissed the alarming rumors about the Hunters. They’d ambushed her while she was farming resources by herself. Had it not been for her quick thinking in dousing them with a custom made poison, and an incredible amount of luck, she would have been dead within seconds. The poison managed to slow the three of them down considerably and gave her a head-start. Karin prayed that her luck held out till she got to the nearest town, which wasn’t far, thankfully. The surrounding trees grew sparse and the outlines of Tolbana rose up in the distance like a miracle. It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen, the girl decided then and there. With renewed hope and a burst of speed, she pushed herself forward faster than before. “Thank you, God!” She exclaimed to herself as she skidded to a stop and the SafeZone notification popped up. She’d made it. She was going to live another day. This realization caused a relieved grin to sneak onto her face. Not wasting any time, she pulled out a vial of healing potion and turned to her pursuers, raising the vial in a mock toast. “You have my sincerest gratitude for escorting me to town, gentlemen.” She called out. Glaring at her for a few seconds, the three turned to leave. They weren’t going to waste their time on someone who’d reached a SafeZone. There were plenty of others out there, after all. Still rattled from the encounter, Karin headed towards the town gates and stopped as she noticed a familiar face. Rigsaw, one of the best smiths she’d come across and a fellow frontlines player stood at the gates with another male. They’d been acquainted before, though she wouldn’t go as far as to say they were friends. His prices were fair and he was easier to get along with than a lot of higher tier craftsmen. “Hello, Rig.” She greeted him with a half smile and nodded in acknowledgement to his companion whom she wasn’t familiar with. Karin’s features were mostly obscured by a hood, something she was rarely ever seen without.