Gate of Elements was going to be the biggest game release of the year. It was the first of its kind, actually allowing people to go inside the game itself.

It was in its final developing stages and was ready for beta testing. I was one of the over two thousand beta testers. My Transporter, or as my brother, Caleb and I dubbed it, the Standing Coffin.

My dad Andrew was finishing setting up the Transporter. It had taken over three hours and I was very grateful to my dad for taking the time to set it up for me.

He told me he was finished and left my bedroom. The only thing left to do was to put the game cartridge in it's slot.

The box was lying in top of my plain single bed. The title, Gate of Elements, was written in fancy light blue writing on the dark blue background and had five symbols circling it. One symbol was of a literally orange large tree. Another was a set of scales, one side white and the other, black. The final three were a blue eye, one hand holding another and finaly, a pitch black flame.

The front of the box was also covered by a tall gate, darker than the background of the box, with the games enemies flanking either side. There was a fast amount of creatures; dragons, vampires, zombies, giants, chimera, Cerberus, werewolves, witches and even other people. Another addition to the front design were four characters, two female an two male. Only one however, was not engulfed in shadows.

One at the back, a female NPC had glowing yellow eyes and her shadow on the ground looked like a transformed werewolf. Another one at the back had blood red eyes and the last shadowed character was wielding a form of magic. The final NPC was wearing shining armour and held a sword in his right hand.

I opened the case and plucked the rather thick cartridge out, and shoved the cartridge in the large slot on the side of the Transporter. The Transporter beeped twice and a message reading Cartridge Accepted appeared on-screen.

I let out the breath I had been holding in. I had thought it wouldn't work. It felt like an anvil had been removed from my chest.

I stepped inside the Transporter and the door shut behind me. The cramped space was illuminated by a few dim lights shining in from the sides. A small tray slid out from the side, with a dark grey bracelet resting on it.

Please place TechCuff on your wrist a female voice commanded.

I obliged and slid my hand through the middle of the TechCuff until it was on my wrist. At that point it tightened to fit better, and some leads slid out of the sides of the Transporter and stuck to my bare skin.

A bright, blue light suddenly came into life and moved up and down my twelve year old like body a few times before turning off.

The female voice then said; Initiating avatar creator before everything went black.

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I opened my eyes a minute later. The Transporter had disappeared completely. The room was pitch black, except from the screen had just appeared in front of me.

I hesitantly reached out to touch it and it burst into life, displaying my current avatar design. Which looked exactly like I did in the real world. I left the design as it was and went on to the next part of avatar creation.

It was species. The three options were; Vampire, Human or Lycanthrope.

I certainly didn't want to become a Vampire. According to the manual, vampires were the species most vulnerable to fire spells or fire enchanted weapons and sunlight. And everyone knows how Lycans are susceptible to silver and also the full moon transformations which happened twice a month due to Gate of Elements' , twin moons.

So I went with Human.

The next step was naming your avatar. I didn't think 'Beatrice' would suit this person at all. She would be the new improved Beatrice. She would be braver than Beatrice. Smarter. Stronger.

I came up with a few alternatives but one stood out.

Tris.

That would be her name.

I typed it in and it was accepted. A message explaining that I would be equipped with the standard starting weapons and clothing appeared. I skimmed through the rest of the message and when I reached the end I pressed the continue button.

The world around me burst into a supernova of blinding colour, forcing me to shut my eyes unless I wanted to be rendered blind for the rest of the game.

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When the light grew dimmer I opened my eyes. I was inside what seemed like a wrecked British football stadium. The sky above was like a dark stain. Depressing, much?

There were other beta testers sitting in the stands and others on the pitch. They were all talking and getting to know each other. They were probably negotiating allegiances too.

They were all also wearing a standard camo army clothes, with pistols strapped to their hips.

I got a few weird looks as I walked further out into the pitch and some sniggers too. Of course they would be judging me on my height, the fact I looked like a twelve year-old and for the sexist, gender. Because everyone expected a game as supposingly hard-core as this, wasn't for girls.

But there were quite a few girls. Probably enough girls to match the number of boys playing.

I picked two out of the lot who were standing at the goal posts chatting to each other.

As I got closer I started to pick up more of their conversation.

"You know what this reminds me of? Nazi Zombies." The Brunnette said.

"I guess it does." The shorter girl, with a shaved head replied.

I was waiting for the right time to butt into their conversation, trying to act casual, but, they saw through my 'perfect' acting and waved me over.

"Hi." I said nervously.

"Hey." They both replied.

They were both taller than I was. The girl to my left, -the shorter one- had striking features and looked pretty athletic. The one to my right was pretty. More than I could ever wish to be. The thing that most stood out about her though was her muddy yellow eyes.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to eat you." The werewolf said plainly, lacking the reassurance I needed.

The shaven-headed girl pushed two buttons on the sides of her TechCuff and a holographic screen popped up. Cool.

She began flicking through all the different screens till she was at the home menu.

When she arrived at the home menu, her eyes began to drift across the screen. She did that a few times before her brows furrowed with concern.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling concerned.

"There's no log out button."

The other girls' eye widened and I mirrored her action.

We immediately did the same as other girl had and got the same result. No log out button.

Other people in the stadium were now discovering that there was no way out. The level of noise started rising as people started panicking.

"Silence!" Someone yelled from high up in the stadium.

I turned to see a tall slim figure dressed in black hooded robes gazing down on us from the very top of the stands.

He pulled his hood down and dark brown hair tumbled out. Half of his face was robotic, and his eyes were pitch black. "I am the Director!" He announced.

People were calming down now and all conversation had died.

"As you all have noticed, your log out function is no longer available. This is no mistake." People started murmuring to each other but shut up completely when the Director began talking again.

"The reason for this is that out of the over two thousand of you, only two hundred are making it out. There are a total of one hundred and twenty levels. You must complete them all to get out. Don't bother trying to take your TechCuffs off either. It will send a deadly pulse to your brain, killing you." He began descending through the rows. "As well as that, it will happen if you die in game. Also, the pain absorption has been turned off." He cackled. "Have a nice day!" With a swish of his cape. He was gone.

Players started to freak out. I couldn't blame them. I was panicking too. I could die in here. The two girls were panicking as well. The werewolf had a grip on the others arm and her legs were shaking slightly.

The TechCuffs screen popped up with a tiny icon flashing. I clicked it alongside all the rest of the players.

Starting from now, all appearances will be mirrored. Then, the stadium will be flooded with enemies.

Suddenly all around us most of the players appearances changed. Some male players turned to female and vice versa. Many others were confused by this. A load of freckles had just appeared on the brunnette girl's cheeks and the shaven-headed girl's eyes turned from emerald green to chocolate brown.

I shook my head. It was sad how people would change a part of their appearance or gender for a game.

"Great." The shaven-headed girl said sarcastically. "Now we're going to get attacked."

Screams sounded from near the stadium gates. It all fell quiet and moans and shuffling was heard throughout the stadium and slowly the creatures came onto the pitch.

They started pulling betas down to the ground and started tearing into them with their teeth. It was chaos.

"Zombies." I breathed.

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So, that was chapter one of a story that's probably going to have more chapters than it has levels. XD

For this story, you can submit an OC if you'd like. (Since I'd like a larger cast for this) Just use the outline below in a PM or review.

Name:

Age:

Height:

Species:

Appearance:

Personality:

Good traits:

Bad traits:

Slight history:

Extras: (piercings, tattoos etc.)