[CENTER][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/210130/e0cb160ca3d86f8cb8540be25e5665b5.png[/img][/CENTER]

[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=#98A9B1][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Dungeon -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]

[i]Benkei hated being right.[/i] 

They’d all watched the message from the moderators at the same time, and there were three things that were now certain to him: 

1: This was not a hack. 
2: They were trapped in the game. 
3: They could die. 

His eyes went over to Graves and to Seele, two of the party who’d already been hurt, and then turned around to the way back; which was now completely sealed. There was no way back. [i]Something is very wrong.[/i] Alja was screaming. Kalie was crying. Everyone was freaking out. 

[i]His heart was pounding.[/i] 

This was no longer about getting admitted to Aag’s guild. Fuck the guild. Fuck the game. At this moment, what mattered was survival. He had seven other party members with him, and one of those party members was his older brother. He could not let any of them die. They had to escape. 

[color=#98A9B1]“We don’t have the luxury of following the moderator’s orders,”[/color] Benkei said in a low voice, nearly a whisper. [color=#98A9B1]“We have to complete this dungeon.”[/color] His hands were shaking because he knew this was true. The smells, the gore, the pain; [i]it was all real.[/i] Which left him wondering about a fourth thing that he still could not prove, but he was constantly worrying about. What kind of game would filter out smells, pain, and blood. Who in their right might would even [i]code[/i] such a thing in a game? His doubts about the glitch itself were growing, but he knew they had no time to discuss it. 

[color=#98A9B1]“Everyone, we need to heal up, get our energy up and finish this dungeon, then find somewhere safe.”[/color] He looked at the party members who were most scared, and worried. Hell, it was pretty much everyone, in a way. They were all scared, even if some were putting on a brave face. [color=#98A9B1]“I’m sorry. I’m sorry we all got dragged into this. But we have to finish this dungeon because there’s no way back.”[/color] 

His mind went to Aaginim, Luci, and the others. They’d taken the more combat-oriented path, but they were also much more experienced in general. They weren’t going to die. And they would complete this dungeon, and they’d work together. 16 players of their quality? They could find somewhere safe, wait for another message from the moderators. They would survive this. And maybe they would all be friends after this happened. Pariah Online wouldn’t survive an issue like this; it couldn’t. But they could. Humans were strong. They were resilient. History proved how much a person could survive, and get through. They would too.  

He hefted his greatsword up and looked to the others. [color=#98A9B1]“We don’t have the luxury of traveling like some speed running party anymore. We need to protect each other and be ready for anything. This isn’t a game anymore.”[/color] 

[/indent] [/indent] [/indent]