'Was it that serious that they needed a gaming studio?' Thought Milo but it was mainly because he had been the last one to touch his nose, so he was a bit bitter. It was such a simple method, but you could say that it was that kind of friendship that he had. Even though they were his best friends, Milo has always believed that Leo and Nick were like his older brothers. Over the years, the four of them have fought, argued, and even at times broke out into fist fights but had always made up. When they were younger, they would also hold a fight club at Leo's house between all their friends and would bet money on the winner. Through thick and thin they survived the early onslaught called life that loved to kick folks in the nuts by helping each other out when they were at their worse.
Currently, they were all gathered up at the studio they had just rented and were moving in some fitness equipment and drooling at the capsules that had been delivered. It was decided that all of them should freshen up on combat so they could defend themselves in the game, so the equipment was deemed necessary. There was some controversy as Allen, Nathanial, and Henry had pointed out that they would be werewolves so how would they box in that form, but Jason flicked each of them on the forehead and mentioned that they possibly wouldn't always be in that form. This had led to a fierce bout of everyone training for a few months as they eagerly waited for the release of Althera.
~The day of Althera's release~
"Oi, Jason check out these abs bruh!" Milo flexed while waggling his eyebrows as sweat dripped off him.
"Oh yeah? Check out these guns, baby!" Jason flexed back as his kids shook their heads in shame.
"What? You kids don't like how sexy we are?" Leo had jumped in putting Allen in a headlock as he screamed.
"Uncle Leo! Get off! Ughhh you're so sweaty, and all of you have dad bods what do you mean how sexy you are!" Allen coughed and wheezed out the words before Leo gave him a nuggy.
Nick interrupted the ordeal announcing, "Hey, get cleaned up! The game is launching an hour." then ripped off his shirt and started flexing as well. This led to four grown men standing in a circle surrounded by mirrors flexing like bodybuilders as the kids' facepalm in shame.
After they all washed up each one of them checked each capsule and made sure that the nutritional fluids were correctly installed. Soon they all laid down and the pod swished as it began to close. There were some additional procedures they had to check while inside the pod as they tapped away at buttons and logged in. Soon their vision blacked out and returned as each one of them was inside a white room that stretched far beyond could see.
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"Welcome to the world of Althera!" a voice that sounded like a narrator from the movies echoed out in an almost deafening manner. The white room suddenly burst with a plethora of colors before Milo was standing on a cloud that hovered over the vast virtual world. Without a chance to appreciate the scenery, Milo had begun falling at a rapid speed that distorted his face. Screaming as he fell, he gazed around and realized that he was falling into a smoldering battlefield. The sound of metal clashing and screams of agony filled his ears, leaving goosebumps trickling across his body. Milo could feel his heart pounding as he was coming close to crashing into a soldier at breakneck speed. As their bodies collided, his perspective switched, and he was occupying the soldier's body. Looking dead ahead he saw soldiers being ripped apart limb from limb by werewolves. Their menacing gaze made him feel like he was going to soil his britches. A palpable aura of death could be felt, but he had no control of his body.
"Frontline! Raise your shield! Ready the spears!" a commanding voice ordered as his body shifted into a defensive position side by side with other soldiers. Soon the shield clashed together forming a seemingly unpenetrable wall that had slight gaps that their spears would supposedly thrust through.
"Clerics! Blessings of protection!" the voiced echoed out once more and a mind-numbing chant chorused out from behind them. As the chanting stopped a blinding light surrounded them and soon in front of their shields, a barrier was erected. The werewolves turned their gaze upon Milo, and he swore he could feel them grinning with anticipation.
'Holy sh*t! This is so intense!' Thought Milo as he saw a barrage of arrows slam into the werewolves. Yelping in pain as blood poured out their wounds, a group of bats gathered behind them and formed into a unit of what seemed to be vampires. They raised their hands with their bloody palms facing upwards as blood seemed to rise from the battlefield and soon solidified into a wall of blood that protected the werewolves from further harm. As the barrage stopped, the blood reformed into arrows and slammed against the shimmering barrier in front of his shield. Visible cracks appeared on the force of light before shattering into particles soon the arrows slammed against his real shield. His arms felt numb from the barrage and screams of pain from his allies that made the hair on his neck stand.
"Hold!" the voice once more screamed out, but the fear was already deeply embedded into his bones. The relentless assault of blood arrows finally stopped only to reveal the werewolves jumping in mid-air as their primal roars reverberated.
"Extend your spears!" an order yelled out, and his right arm thrust forward with all his might while he felt his body scream out a war cry.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a werewolf screamed as he slammed against the spear that pierced through its shoulder. The momentum was set though, and its body slammed against his shield knocking on his back. His body seemed to struggle to stand as his armor and fatigue weighed him down, looking around he saw nothing but pure carnage. To make it worse, the torn bodies of his dead allies seemed to grasp his body, refusing to let him get up.
'Get up! GET UP!' he screamed at his body, but no matter how hard he tried, he had no control of his body. Soon enough, the werewolf he wounded entered his sight; it grasped onto the spear he had impaled it with and pulled it out with one smooth stroke.
'Move! Dammit! This isn't fair!' Milo, who was so pumped with adrenaline refuse to yield. Unfortunately, the towering werewolf slowly approached him before raising its claw up in the air and smashed onto his helmet. The impact caused him to feel dizzy, but the beast wasn't finished yet as it grabbed onto his head and lifted him into the air. Milo felt so helpless and vulnerable that he forgot it was a game. He could feel the hot breath blow against his face as he gazed into the eyes of the beast. Slowly its maw opened up, and he could feel the slight sense of his neck being ripped apart and head thrown off. As his world spun, he could see his body spurting blood from its neck before being dropped on the ground to become one of the many corpses that littered the battlefield.
Soon his vision faded once more, and he saw nothing but blackness. He screamed in defiance, and his heartbeat soon filled his ear like a war drum. An odd feeling called out to him, as he could feel his body digging despite everything being black. Soon he could feel a cold breeze on his fingertip, which caused him to grip down and pull his body upward.
"FREEEEDOM!" a sinister voice called out "RISE UP AND DESTROY!"
Rage filled his entire being as he could finally see an army of undead rise from the ground. Skeletons and zombies groaned out in unison and charged out towards a formation of soldiers. As his body freed itself, he involuntarily charged forward. Vollies of fire and arrows littered the air as it slammed across his body, but he pushed forward despite the slight pain. He got close enough to see that the enemies were well trained. There was a line of infantry in the front blocking off the undead attack swinging weapons of bladed light. A giant fireball formed up like a burning sun above a group of what seemed to be mages that chanted in unison. Soon it flew over his head and exploded, causing his body to fling forward and smash against the infantry's shield of light. His body burned and sizzled in pain as it touched the light. His gaze landed upon the soldier, who seemed no less older than his son. Fear could be seen in the soldier's eyes, but it burned with determination, fury, and grief. Soon the soldier's arms raised, and his weapon of righteousness caused guilt to fill his heart before it slammed across his head, causing him to black out once more.