The Land of Peridot has been in great chaos. All the test-run players left were afraid, and don't know whether they'll even come back to the original world, while some had achieved success on escaping already with a million bucks as what the company promised.
While Everette, on the other hand, just lost her balance from the tree eyeing some enemies. She falls to the ground and opens her eyes, standing up immediately on time before some enemies can see. As she was doing so, a message popped out in front of her: "You've been spotted by your enemies."
Everette quickly pulled out her bow and arrow, shooting two arrows towards them. Two of them were able to dodge, but the third one got hit. These people were dressed like real hunters and archers, with rough leather coats that allowed them to move freely.
Everette starts running towards them at great speed while firing arrows every second of the way. She was able to get on their weaknesses and drops one enemy after another, while some others were already dead while she was running to them.
The enemies were also fast and great hunters, but Everette had the advantage of home ground on her side, so she was able to get back on track after falling once or twice. Luckily, no one caught up with her. She climbs again a tree for safety and tries to catch some breath before she continues.
She's starting to get fearful; knowing she was great on her solo games, but the real land is a bit different from that. She knew that if she can't win this battle, then she might never go back home again. With two tight arrows at hand and a bow, Everette starts another round of shooting down enemies, with the few who had been already eliminated coming back to life.
"You've been spotted by your enemies," a message said in front of her again, startling a bit of Everette's heart. She shoots another arrow and finishes three others nearby. They were so fast that they have never known what happened.
Everette doesn't know what to do; she's in great fear that she might end up like the last test-run players who died and didn't come back at all. She starts climbing another tree, but stops when an enemy was already on the same tree catching her breath. As soon as Everette saw this, she tried to throw her bow towards the enemy and missed. The enemy was able to climb up the tree, and Everette braces herself for the worst. She took out her knife soon after that when it's right between her feet, then throws it towards the enemy who had just climbed higher in the tree.
The knife hits its head directly and bounces back down with a thud, while the enemy falls to the ground. Another message pops out in front of Everette's face: "You've killed your first enemy."
Everette gets good relief seeing that. She then starts climbing down from her tree and gathers all of her belongings to run again towards the woods for safety. She knew she was still too far from the town where most players are supposed to rest after a whole day of non-stop hunting. She then starts running again in the woods, but this time looking for some hiding spot for her to take a break, when she saw an opening on one side of the forest with bricks placed orderly in front of it. She gets overjoyed seeing the town nearby, and moved closer to it.
As she was approaching the entrance of the town, a player suddenly jumps in front of her with a sword aiming at her neck ready to be swung off. Everette quickly pulled out her bow and arrow and shot two arrows on him - one on his leg and another straight into his head. The boy falls to the ground with an arrow on his head, dropping his sword in front of him.
Another message pops out in front of Everette's face: "You've killed your second enemy."
Feeling relieved now, she picks up the boy's sword and enters the town. She goes straight to the blacksmith shop inside where she meets another player. The boy then greets her and offers to sharpen her sword for 50 coins, which Everette gladly accepts. She goes out of the shop with a better-sharpened sword and went back into the town's gate where she gets challenged by another player; this time an archer who has great accuracy with his bow and arrow. Everette starts running towards the gate while shooting an arrow from her already injured leg. The boy dodges it and shoots a great deadly one aimed at Everette's head.
Everette quickly turns around and blocks the incoming arrow with her new sharpened sword, then runs straight towards him for a battle of swordsplay. As soon as she was in a direct line with him, she swings her sword towards him and misses. The boy then tries to swing his own sword at Everette's leg, but Everette blocks it with her shield.
Everette swings back at him and he blocks again; the same pattern continues until they're both out of breath after blocking each other's attacks for about a minute. The boy then swings his sword towards Everette's neck and misses, and Everette stabs him straight on the chest.
Everette gets another message: "You've killed your third enemy."
She goes outside and sees many players who had gathered up at the town exit waiting to be summoned again for another battle. Everette joins the line and finds herself again in a different place this time, and sees some giant spinning disk at top of a hill on which players were standing up while their characters fly straight down on it with great speed.
She was so hyped to join them for she's been playing the game for years now, but she doesn't know how to fly. She gets on the disk up to the top, then jumps off towards it with all her might hoping that she'll be able to fly or at least glide smoothly in the air for a few seconds.
She fails miserably and lands flat on her face after falling straight down from about 5 meters above the ground going straight towards it. She gets a message: "Press F to glide next time."
Everette, now with a sprained wrist and a bruised face, sits up and starts walking away from the disk as other players begin descending from the sky.
"Get up," Axel said.
"Wait," Everette said.
She then asked, "Can I have a weapon?"
Axel rolled his eyes. He took out six guns from behind him in which he let Everette choose. Everette picked the one with the flashlight attachment for night vision despite knowing fully well there is no more nighttime anymore. She checked if it's loaded, and so does. She feels the power in her hands, ready to start this insurgency.
"One last thing," Everette said.
Axel takes out a knife from his pocket and hands it to her, she unsheathes the blade and checked its sharpness with her thumb.
"I feel so much safer now," Everette sarcastically said. "By the way where's your gun? You seem unarmed."
"I'm not holding any," Axel replied.
"It's my turn to fire." Everette looked at him confused and he fired his weapon. A loud bang was heard, like a gunshot. The bullet flew through the air and hit one of the regular players in the head, instantly killing them as blood spews out from their head. It was terrifying. "To kill the enemy, first you have to know them."
Axel then surprised her with a grenade in his hand. Everette took it and checked for herself that indeed, it is live.
"Are you going to blow us up?" Everette asked.
Axel replied, "Only if they catch up to us." He then started sprinting ahead of her, and she followed his lead.
A helicopter soared above them from above the hill they were climbing from before. They ran downhill towards a forested area for cover. Everette nearly tripped when they reached the forest. She took a deep breath and continued to follow Axel, all while checking if her gun's safety is on.
Together, they started their journey of escape from the Land of Peridot. They never knew where to go nor what to do. They just knew they don't want to be stuck here inside the game forever.
Axel asked, "Do you have any friends with different skills?"
"I don't even have friends," Everette said.
They continued their escape while some regular players were chasing after them in the forest. They have guns too, but Everette and Axel is in the open compared them.
"What's your skill?" Everette asked him.
"It's called fast thinking," he replied.
Everette then knew that his mind is what makes him a great player and why he was able to kill people without hesitation. She admired it, but she's always afraid that one day he might just kill her too, regardless of the fact that they're partners.
Everette said, "I think it's time to fight back."
She then raised her gun high above her head and fired at the regular players who were chasing after them. One of them had their leg blown off as they fall down on their face with blood splattering out of it like a fountain.
It was quiet, and no one was chasing after them anymore. Axel then turned his head and saw that Everette blew a hole in someone's leg just now.
He said, "Let's keep going." They continued their journey as they continue to run from the enemy.
"Why don't we stop for a few minutes?" Everette asked as she's afraid of her gun's safety might just get stuck on its own after firing so many shots.
"We can't stop yet," Axel replied. "They're still coming for us." Everette then sighed and started catching up with him, she then tripped on a tree root sticking out of the ground and fell to the floor again.
She said, "I'm more of the run-and-hide type of person."
"So am I," Axel replied. He then helped her get back on her feet and they continued their escape.
Suddenly, a loud helicopter is heard from above them in which Everette aimed at it with her gun while Axel ran outside the chopper's range of fire. They then started to climb up a rocky mountain with no trees on it, but they still have the helicopter following them. Everette saw that Axel has his grenade in his hand and she was wondering if he would use it anytime soon. She also wondered if her gun's safety will get stuck again after firing so many times.
Axel then threw the grenade high up in the air and once it reached its highest point, he ran back to Everette while taking cover behind a big rock. The helicopter started firing at them, but soon, the grenade exploded inside the chopper causing it to lose control and crash into another random part of an island. The helicopter's wreckage is scattered around the mountains with smoke coming up from it. Everette and Axel stood up, watching as they saw that the helicopter crashed into another part of the island. They then checked their map to see where they are now.
"That was too easy," Everette said. "But I'm glad we're not trapped here anymore."
"I know, right? We have to keep moving though. Let's go back into the forest for now," Axel replied. They then walked up to their feet and started walking down the mountain side once they reached its base. "So, what's your story?" Everette asked him again.
"Well, I was born in the City of Diamonds where I grew up all by myself-" Axel replied. "Wait, why are you asking me that? Are you trying to plan something?" He then aimed his gun at Everette's head.
"Why would I do something like that?" She replied while aiming her own gun back at him.
"I was just curious, that's all."
"Curious about what?" Axel asked. "You know something you're not telling me?" Everette sighed and put her gun down while walking ahead of him.
"Of course I did," Everette replied. "But it doesn't mean anything to you right now because we need to keep moving." Axel sighed and followed her lead.
"I wonder if the others are okay," Everette said. "We need to get out of here soon then." They got back into the forest while avoiding all the other players in the game. Suddenly, they saw two people in front of them, one was a guy dressed in blue and another was an autumn-haired girl wearing a green top with brown pants. The guy in blue noticed them first and aimed his gun at Everette.
"Let's not make any sudden moves!" He shouted, "We don't intend to fight." Everette aimed her own gun back at him while Axel aimed his at Autumn.
The autumn-haired girl standing beside them then said, "I'm Autumn. So what are your names?" Everette then fired her gun toward the guy in blue who managed to dodge it just in time. He then started running while firing his own gun at Everette.
"You're pretty lucky to find us, but let's see how good you are against all of us!" He shouted while still running. "It's just me and Autumn here."
"We don't want any trouble," Axel replied while trying to get closer to the autumn-haired girl. "If you leave now, we won't harm you."
"I'm Mitchell," The guy in blue replied while dodging more of Everette's shots. "And we're not going anywhere until we get some food! My health points is so low, we don't even have a healing potion."
"Then maybe I can help with that," Axel said. He then ran into the forest and killed a squirrel, holding it with his hand. Everette aimed her gun at Autumn again and Axel threw the squirrel for her to catch. "Careful! It's still alive."
"Thanks," She replied while killing it with a stone on the ground. She then started skinning it and Axel did the same thing as well. After that they used some branches to cook their food, then they ate the meat happily.
"That was good!" Mitchell said while rubbing his stomach. "We were really hungry." Everette and Axel smiled at him.
"Glad we could help," Everette replied. "Now let's get out of here."