CHAPTER 1
“How can I ever fit in”. thought Kevin. He had tried to join the RPG club at college. He just couldn’t connect to anyone if he tried to talk to someone.
Kevin was walking down a dark alleyway heading towards his apartment a few blocks away. Kevin breathed out a sigh of frustration as his breath formed against the cold air. He wore a grey drawstring hoody over a black T-shirt to keep himself warm with a pair of blue jeans. There were discarded boxes, dumpsters full of trash, and all sorts of litter thrown about the alleyway. The smell in the air was rotten from old food being left to rot in a dumpster. A storm drain rain down the length of the alleyway to catch any rainwater. The ground was mostly made up of cracked concrete with a few occasional bricks for the roadway. He just wanted to get home since he was mentally breaking apart after embarrassing himself in front of the RPG club. He decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway, even though some of the back alleyways could have gangs hiding there. He knew this wasn’t the best idea. “Better be careful. Who knows what can be lurking around here.” He was weak for his age. Years of isolation kept him from being his best.
He thought mentally of just playing Dungeon Dwellers GO! When he got back. The only social interaction he ever had was playing VR games and other online games. It helped him mask his true feelings of himself to the world. He liked to interact with others but could never get to the point of getting into parties because his sudden awkwardness made him leave before being fully accepted. He had heard recent rumors that the game had been plagued with glitches lately. The company tried to hide the most severe cases under the rug, trying their best not to scare players away. The most extreme cases had portals opening from the game world into the real world. He just ignored it knowing how most people liked to play pranks on him in games he played. Unfortunately, those rumors turned out to be true as Kevin would soon face it head on in the alleyway.
As he was walking down the alleyway. He failed to notice a spawn of goblins that had appeared out of a portal. The portal was on one side of a building. The portal had a purple-blue color that was a wavy half semicircle. There were five goblins in total milling around. The goblins were very short in height with Kevin who was 5 feet 11 inches. Whereas the goblins were around three feet in height. The goblins wore nothing but little more than rags. Their skin was grey and wrinkled as a paper bag. Two of the goblins had bows, another two had short swords, and the last one had a wand in its hand.
Kevin happened to spot the goblins. Am I hallucinating right now, or are the rumors of spawns appearing in front of players true? Most likely I am just seeing things from too much stress anxiety. He thought to himself tiredly. He walked down the alleyway where the goblins were. Unfortunately, one of the goblins happened to spot him. He was halfway toward the end of the alley. When he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.
“Awwgghh!” Kevin yelled. He turned around to look to see an arrow sticking out of the back of his left shoulder. Blood started to bleed from the wound with a black liquid.
“Is that poison on the arrow?” thought Kevin as his eyes widened looking in horror.
Before he could figure out what was going on a message displayed in front of Kevin. “You are now in an instant dungeon! It read aloud. The area around him changed. He was still in the alleyway. The only difference was at both ends of the alleyway. A flew of green numbers were blocking both ways out of the alleyway. The numbers were scrolling in a matrix effect on an invisible surface.
Then his character’s game screen from Dungeon Dwellers GO appeared. It showed his hp had been depleted by 10 points with 140 remaining and dropping from the poison effect from the arrow. After he saw this, he began to panic and run. The two goblins with short swords ran after him. Kevin took his book bag off his right shoulder and slugged it at one of the goblins with a short sword. His bookbag was green and worn in color. He succeeded in knocking the goblin out but not killing it. “YES”, said Kevin. He then tried to lug the second goblin with the short sword but ended up throwing his bookbag into the portal as he felt another pain in the back of his right leg. Kevin cried out in more pain. AGGGGH!. He fell to his knees. Another arrow hit the back of his right leg.
The second goblin warrior struck out with its sword. Trying to aim for Kevin’s neck but missed as Kevin fell to his knees. The goblin then swung again for Kevin’s neck. It never got the chance as the mage goblin vaporized the warrior goblin with a fireball. At first, Kevin thought someone had saved him. He looked up thinking. “I’ve been rescued.” Then he realized the horror. The mage goblin had blasted the warrior goblin to bits. Kevin’s HP on the character screen was dropping fast. He now was facing a double poison bleed effect. 1 HP got knocked off every 5 seconds. He had lost a total of 40 HP within the time of being stuck by two arrows dipped with poison. The blood loss in real life wasn’t helping either. Kevin began to panic as he thought. Am I going to die?
Kevin then thought about his character and looked at his inventory. He had his character’s gear he only grabbed a sword from it. He charged at the 3 remaining goblins, bleeding, and in a poisoned condition he took out the mage goblin with one stroke of his sword before it could cast another spell. It dissolved into particles of light. He then swung his sword at one of the two archer goblins dealing a fatal blow to the neck not before getting shot by the second goblin in the hand holding the sword. He dropped his sword Kevin screamed in pain louder this time. AGGGGHHHH!!!!!! The second goblin had run out of arrows. The goblin saw Kevin no longer as a threat and arrowless grabbed a dagger from a seethe by its side. In final acts of desperation, Kevin pulled the arrow out of his hand, stabbing the goblin in the heart with the arrow. The goblin froze and fell to the ground, then disappeared into particles of light. It dropped the dagger. The dagger made a clanging noise as it hit the ground. Kevin still wasn’t out of danger yet, there was the unconscious goblin he knocked out earlier he had to finish off. With his last bit of strength, he got up, picked up the fallen dagger, and stabbed the goblin in the heart. It also dissolved into particles of light.
Kevin checked his status his HP had now dropped to 20. For the first time, he noticed people walking around him, and he yelled for help. No one paid attention to him like he was completely invisible. Kevin walked up to the invisible barrier and banged on it in desperation hoping someone would respond.
Another message appeared. All mobs must be defeated before the dungeon can be exited. It read.
I need to stay calm. Kevin thought as he took control of his breathing. First I need to treat my injuries then hopefully get some help from friends. He continued. Kevin immediately opened his inventory and grabbed an HP potion and bandages. He then pulled the arrows out one at a time as he bandaged each wound the best he could. He did the best he could to bandage his wounds and drank the HP potion. Kevin then checked his stats and thought to himself. At least the bleeding has stopped, and my HP has gone back up, but the poison is still in effect. There is no one in the real world who can treat this poison, I need a healer.
Kevin then thought of his friend list and looked to see if anyone could help. He doubted anyone could get to him though. He had a few friends showing online. He messaged them for help, but they had no idea how to help since they were in the virtual world and not in the real world. A few of his friends didn’t respond though. He just sat there knowing he was going to die from his injuries from the poison effect. His vision started to get fuzzy. He stared over at the portal that was still open from where the goblins had come out of. Suddenly four figures loomed out of the portal. He looked over the four figures and thought, So I guess I am good as dead. He looked over the group. After the four figures stepped out of the portal. Kevin began to lose consciousness. Just before he blacked out, he saw one of the four figures running over to him.
