Chapter 2: (Be)coming Online

"Come on now", the cloaked figure said as it was pulling Rielle out of the snow. "I can tell you're coming to a bit so let's get you up and at'um." Rielle squinted as she tried to open her eyes. The blazing sun reflecting off of the snow was not what she anticipated. As her vision came into focus she started to recognize her surroundings. Above her was the statue of the hero Jora, a norn warrior.

"Am I... Am I in Hoelbrak?" Rielle was a bit confused. "How...? Is this...? What the hell?"

"I know, it's a bit bizarre isn't it?", the man said as he removed his hood. Standing above Rielle was a Sylvari, a humanoid plant-like race that lived in the forests of Guild Wars 2. He had light-purple tinted skin and thin branches with small leaves for hair. "This is it it seems. It doesn't seem like we're in a game at all, does it?"

"You're right.", Rielle replied. "What's going on here? I don't remember even starting the game and yet here we are. By the way you're whom exactly?"

"Oh come now it hasn't been that long.", the sylvari laughed. "You mean to tell me that our leader, the mighty Rielle Dragonborn, has forgotten one of her officers of the DRGN?"

"No way. No way no way no way. Mor-" Rielle cleared her throat. "Amaranth Rosewood, the Illusinary Duelist, the Glacier Dragon, and Scout Officer of the Eternal Dragonborn?"

"The one and only. Although I don't remember my titles being that fancy, Rielle. Besides, it's nothing compared to the Lord of the-" Amaranth was interrupted by a loud crash that came from down the street, followed by some norn laughter.

"Woah, that was probably the loudest laugh I've ever heard.", Rielle said with a wide-eyed look on her face. "I don't remember this place being that close to the bar. Speaking of, should we go get a pint?"

"Naturally. It hadn't crossed my mind yet what this game's food and drink features might be like.", Amaranth claimed as they started to head down the path. Along the way in shallow ditches and underneath trees were people sleeping. They were everywhere it seemed. Amaranth reassured Rielle and told her not to be alarmed. They were players that hadn't awoken yet he said. It was almost creepy though with these bodies all over. Why were they put in the game like this? Would they also not remember anything when they woke?

The two quickly found themselves at the Great Lodge. It was by far the largest structure in town with it's multiple floors and gigantic Nordic design. An 8-foot-tall norn greeted them at the door and asked them if they wanted to be pointed towards the bar or if they'd want a room for the night. "The room please.", Amaranth quickly answered. On the way up the stairs Rielle grabbed him by the arm and whispered to him, "Was that an NPC or...?" Amaranth didn't answer.

They made it to the room they had rented and Rielle quickly shut the door behind them. The room itself was expansive and included two beds facing an open balcony with a fireplace on one side and a small bar on the other. "You know something, don't you?", Rielle blurted out.

"Hey look, there's ale and some cups under the bar. Want that drink?" Amaranth said evasively.

"Come on, what's wrong Amar?"

Amaranth sighed. "No... No that wasn't an NPC and that's what disturbs me."

"How do you know for sure? How can you tell?", Rielle said.

With a flick of his wrist a game menu similar to the one in Guild Wars 2 appeared in front of Amaranth. "You see here? Through the menu there's a game manual. I've was poking through it briefly before I got the message to come find you which I'll get to later. The introduction to the game says that players will be able to choose an appropriate job or class or remain undecided and the game will find something for them to help them get started."

"That doesn't make any sense. What MMO picks your class for you without any indication? Besides, there was no information posted before the games release so there's no way we'd know this."

"That's the thing, Rielle. None of it makes any sense. You'd expect it to be similar to the previous game or perhaps another MMO but it's not. Very little of it is. There are no NPCS's around or possibly none at all. This doesn't feel like a game to me anymore. It feels like..."

"What? It feels like what? Of course it's a game, what else could it be? It's a dammed good one that's for sure."

"Rielle, I... I don't know. What I do know is that I didn't go to sleep last night. I had planned to stay up all night and be one of the first people online. I was sitting in front of my computer strapped in to the headset with controller in hand waiting for the timer to hit zero and when it did everything was different. I was in a dark room with a single light overhead and a full-length mirror in front of me. There were menus adjacent to the mirror like the ones in a character creation screen. It was bizarrely realistic I thought, but I made this character none the less. When I confirmed my selections the purple sylvari I saw in the mirror, the one you see before you as well, was who I became as I drew my next breath. The next thing I knew I was immediately in the Grove, surrounded by these 'sleeping players' we saw outside."

She didn't know what to say at this point. Rielle looked at her hands, clenching them and then cracked her fingers. It felt real just like it was supposed to, she thought. Rielle walked over to a mirror above the fireplace. She saw a tall and thin but slightly muscular woman with long and curly reddish blonde hair looking back at her. "So... What next then do you suggest?"

"Well before you ask it looks like we're stuck here as well.", Amaranth claimed. "I've looked through and searched the manual for any way to log out of the game and it simply doesn't exist. It seems like we've gotten ourselves into one of those 'stuck-in-a-video-game' scenarios that fiction liked to predict all the time. I had a feeling virtual reality was too good to be true."

Rielle paused to at him with a look of being content and then leisurely walked out onto the balcony. She chugged the rest of her glass of ale and slammed it onto the railing. "Well if this is it then we'd better make the best of it. Is it safe to assume the normal rules of if you die here than you die in real life as well?"

Amaranth nodded and sighed, "More than likely it seems. Probably safe to assume that we'll have to defeat some impossible odds just to be free as well."

"Typical.", Rielle added. She started to say something else but was interrupted by more screaming, this time followed by what sounded like an explosion. "What's going on out there?"

Amaranth came out onto the balcony as well. "Well if I had to guess I'd say it was time to test out some combat mechanics. You up to it?"

"Do you have to ask?" Rielle laughed. "The thing is though I don't have a weapon, Mr. Fancyswords."

Amaranth looked down at the sword and dagger attached at his waist. "Yeah about that.", he said while opening his inventory menu. "Got you this, pal." A bow and quiver appeared in his hands when the menu closed and he handed them to Rielle. "Seemed a bit up your alley I figured." Rielle nodded with a smirk on her face.

The two rushed down the stairwell almost running into a waitress on the way down. "If you wanted another drink you only needed to ask!", the waitress yelled as the two ran off out the front. "I'll be back for one!", Rielle shouted back winking to the waitress on the way out.

Once they made it outside the atmosphere completely changed. Ice spires began to shoot up through the ground catching a few sleeping players in between the spikes. "Is the game killing people already?", Rielle cried.

"That's not fair. They're not even awake to see this beautiful world yet.", Amaranth said unsheathing his sword and dagger. He tossed a dagger at one of the sleeping players and a copy of himself appeared at his target. The doppelganger threw the person over it's shoulder and rushed back towards the inn.

"Dude, you're like level 2 and you can do that already?" Rielle said with a hint of jealousy.

Amaranth winked. "One must not head into battle without a few tricks up their sleeve." Just as he finished saying this an ice spire shot up behind Rielle. The spike shattered, knocking the two off their feet, and out from it appeared a skeletal figure. The creature had bones that looked to be made from stone and flesh made of ice. It raised a sword in the air, ready to strike down at Rielle. Without hesitation Amaranth flung his dagger in the creatures face and cut at it's feet with his sword. He parried the creatures next attack, grabbed the dagger embedded in it's face, and disappeared in a flash of purple light. His opponent was disoriented, and so was Rielle to be honest. Then out of thin air the two weapons struck up through the creature's chest and were quickly pulled apart causing the being to crumble into a pile of rocks and ice.

"Just a few tricks, huh?" Rielle said as Amaranth helped her back onto her feet. Amaranth replied with the same smirk Rielle gave him earlier. "Your turn.", he said as he rushed into the rest of the battle. Players who had already awoken were fighting the creatures to help defend those that were still helpless or asleep. Rielle watched as Hoelbrak's inhabitants picked up arms against these foes. This wasn't just some game event she thought. These people were defending their homes it seemed. What if these were real people in the game? Did they live here now in this city in the game? Could they call this their new home? Or was the real question did they have a choice? These people who thought they were playing a game were now trapped in a world where they would have to fight for their survival.

All of these questions rushed through Rielle's mind and it wasn't until a group of the icy troops broke off from the fight towards her did she snap out of it. She grabbed the bow from her back drew an arrow from the quiver. When she did she felt a bolt of energy pulse through her arm. "Static electricity?", She muttered. Rielle quickly disagreed with herself. It felt like something more, but she didn't have time to think about it now. The skeletal figures drew closer and closer to her. Rielle nocked an arrow drew the bow. The effort she had to put into using the bow was apparent. Rielle had hunted with a bow and arrow in the real world when she was younger, but this felt the same as back then. She could feel the texture of the wood in the bow, the bits of feathers in the arrow. This wasn't a game, she thought. There's no way it could be this real.

Rielle fired off an arrow at one of the creatures and missed. "Damn." She drew another arrow and fired it higher. "Shit.", she muttered again. The creatures were coming towards her even more quickly now. "Great, I must've pissed them off. Alright..." Rielle took a deep breath. "Breath. You can do this. You're a ranger, right? Surely this is second nature to you. Besides, what would she think?" Rielle took a step back, straightened her bow arm and nocked another arrow. Another pulse flowed through her right arm. She quickly pulled the bowstring back, with much more ease this time, and immediately let it loose toward the creature closest to her.

"There we go.", she said happily. The arrow pierced directly between the creature's eye sockets and it fell to the ground. Rielle continued to fire off arrows at them, hardly missing a shot. Before she knew it the creatures had all fallen, and Rielle felt her muscles relax. She looked out into the center of town where most of the fighting was taking place and waved at Amaranth. They were winning it seemed. Rielle jogged down the ramp leading towards them when she heard a terrifying sound. This sound was all too familiar to her. The fighters all looked towards the skies in a panic. The clouds seem to part ways for what was coming.

"A dragon.", Rielle said under her breath. She fell to her knees. "A real dragon." Rielle was in awe, and also terrified. These creatures of fantasy that she had such an affinity for. One was actually here, in this realistic world she was stuck in. The memories of fighting Zhaitan flooded her mind.

Before she could react, another ice spire struck up through the ground in front of Rielle. A huge icespawn creature busted out of it. It raised a giant steel claymore into the air above her. In a panic Rielle shot an arrow at it blindly but it simply nicked a chunk of ice from the massive creature's side. This was it, she thought. This was the early end she would meet in her wonderful world come true. The fantasy escape that she could call home was finally hers and now it was going to be taken away from her. Rielle closed her eyes and accepted the irony.

Rielle suddenly felt an intense feeling of heat wiz passed her and with a loud crash the creature fell. She quickly stood up to examine the creature only to find an axe embedded in it's head. With a sigh of relief Rielle could help but to smile. She turned around and looked up the hill only to find a figure standing there with another axe in hand. It was a man with fair skin wearing a chainmail suit of armour. The man had a cyan mohawk and goatee with a big grin on his face.

"Hey Blaze!", Rielle yelled at the man. "Looks like that ice guy took your axe from you."

The man raised his other axe towards the sky. "Then I, the Lord of the Blaze, will UNSHEATHE IT FROM HIS SKULL!"