Gamers worldwide stared open-mouth as the giant crimson “X” burned onto the screen at E3. Of course, everyone had heard the rumors that Rift Warriors’ creator Ryuichi Masada himself would be making an appearance at this year’s conference, but the reveal still sent waves through the community. You could practically feel the energy spreading through the convention hall as Masada took the stage amidst the avalanche of cheers and applause. In spite of the excitement, absolutely no one was prepared for what Masada had to say next.

“Greetings, travelers of the Rift. It warms my heart to see each and every one of you excited for this latest foray into my world. However… I do have an important announcement to make. Rift Warriors X is going to be the FINAL entry into the franchise, and we are preparing to release it later this year.” The crowd roared at this revelation, but Masada wasn’t finished. “More to the point… the game is already finished! But there will only be five copies released. Said five copies will be distributed to the top 5 players in the Rift Warriors IX online community by the end of October this year, that’s the anniversary of Rift Warriors one for you mega-fans.”

Despite Masada’s joke, the crowd was stunned into total silence. All of a sudden, the energy from before was back, but it was replaced by confusion, anger, and fan rage. Social media began to blow up with hashtags such as “Riftisdead?” Or “WtfMasada?!”. More than a few players quickly fired up their copies of Rift Warriors IX and began to aggressively hit the online battle scene. Masada continued despite the outcry, "I wish all you players the best of luck in conquering the Rift. To those of you who successfully climb the ladder: All will be revealed in Rift Warriors X!"



Meanwhile, in London, a young university graduate named Thomas Clarke sat stunned into silence as he stared at the livestream on his PC. The streamer felt his mouth curling into a slight smile. Thomas had fallen out of Rift Warriors for the last few months because he’d been getting bored of the competitive drama. He’d even ceded his title as the number one player in the U.K. circuit, but the idea of a new challenge… that got him excited. Closing his internet browser, Thomas opened Rift Warriors IX on his computer and turned to the character selection.

"Alright, Masada... I accept your challenge. Jesse the Ravager and I'll rise to the top. Let's see if I've still got the touch." Hours later, Thomas smiled as he racked up his twenty-fifth straight win since his retirement a few months ago. Deciding to make a show of it, Thomas opened up his Twitch account and began a livestream. "Alright everyone, the HellfireRider is back in business."

Over the course of the next several months, Thomas battled relentlessly on Rift Warriors IX. Sadly, a recent patch had nerfed some of Jesse’s main abilities, but it wasn’t anything Thomas couldn’t handle. While the competition brewed, Thomas found himself getting re-engaged with the Rift Warriors community he’d left behind. He began attending conventions, competing in local tournaments, and he even began seeing HellfireRider trending on social media again.

He’d only been planning to earn the number 5 spot on the leaderboard, but the intensity online spiked more than he’d expected as the October deadline drew near. Eventually, when the digital dust finally settled, Thomas had firmly placed himself as the third best player in the world.

Finally, on November 1st, Thomas was climbing the stairs to his flat, and found a package sitting outside his door. His breath caught in his throat as he hurriedly rushed inside and ripped open the parcel to reveal the box containing Rift Warriors X! Inside the box was a letter from the company warning him against publicly sharing the game with anyone until he’d beaten the campaign mode, ”That’s odd. The crimson back on the disk is a nice touch though,” muttered Thomas as he popped the game into his console. The company had reached out to him via email to ask what console he preferred to play on.

As the game loaded, Thomas was blown away by the intro cutscene; featuring all the iconic characters in a massive battle with one another before the title card blazed across the screen. Thomas flicked through the menu and a pop-up asked for access to his Rift Warriors IX data. A quick accept later and Thomas opened fighter selection to see only one character available: Jesse the Ravager. Only this time, the slot was blank. Before Thomas could question anything, the TV screen began to glow white hot and the light shot out to cover the whole flat! When it disappeared, Thomas was nowhere to be found. When he next came to, Thomas was standing in a location he knew all too well: The Hall of the Messenger from Rift Warriors.

@TheNoCoKid

"What the fuck?!"

Ellen stared, open-mouthed, at the livestream. At her yell, her cats Yuna and Lulu jolted awake, jumping off of her lap and glaring daggers at her for disturbing their sleep.

"Sorry girls. It's just, seriously? What the hell is Masada thinking?" Rift Warriors, the mega-popular franchise, was over? And there'd only be five copies of the latest instalment in the entire world? Masada had to be messing with everyone. Pulling something like that for real would be a terrible business move. The series that had helped her mental health recovery years ago wasn't really dead... was it?

Either way, there was only one thing to do. "Alright, Sitra and I had better conquer the Rift while we still can."

Over the next few months, she put her all into Rift Warriors IX, livestreaming as ClawsOfTheLioness, ascending the ranks. Victories had started feeling hollow long ago as she struggled to prove her point about gaming and gamers, but this rekindled her enthusiasm. If she pulled this off, she'd finally have something to show for her efforts.

Especially as it looked more and more like this truly was the last Rift Warriors version. During her shifts at Good Game, the air buzzed with talk about it, and many people new to the series began buying Rift Warriors IX in the hope of winning such an elusive product. One customer theorised that Masada wanted to end the series while it was still good, so he didn't run out of ideas like so many devs did.

So this was his business strategy, Ellen thought, watching sales of version IX skyrocket anew. Saddening as it was, it pushed her to redouble her battling efforts. Another upside was that the competitive frenzy put her back into contact with someone she'd befriended during a tournament, who'd returned from his hiatus. Thomas Clarke, aka HellfireRider.

Once again, they competed frantically against each other, and against the other hopefuls. The hype grew to a fever pitch throughout October, and when it died down, Ellen had secured second place worldwide. The first day of November, her prize arrived, a small parcel at the door.

A fresh spike of adrenaline coursed through her as she rushed inside with the parcel and tore it open. Heart thudding, she pulled out and opened the box. Rift Warriors X was finally hers. She read over the letter inside, eyebrows furrowing. She wasn't to share it with anyone until she'd beaten the campaign? That was weird, and she'd planned on sharing it with her sister. Still, she grabbed her phone, eager to tell Eva the good news.

The conversation went nothing like she'd expected.

"I'm not going to enjoy it? Really?" she muttered fifteen minutes later, setting down the phone and looking over at the cats, who sniffed around the empty parcel. "Why does she think that? If she's jealous, she'll still get to play, no matter what this letter says." She shook her head. She wasn't going to let anyone bring her down from the high she was riding on.

Popping the cartridge into the console, she watched awestruck as the intro played. A battle raging between all the playable characters, accompanied by epic music. As soon as the main menu loaded, she clicked the button on the pop-up that asked for her Rift Warriors IX data, and opened up fighter selection. "Huh?" The screen showed only one character option - Princess Sitra - and a blank slot. She'd gone all out to get her hands on this game, only for it to be glitched?

The next second, the screen glowed white, light flaring through the room and enveloping Ellen. A sense of dizziness washed over her. When her surroundings faded into view, they were entirely different - yet familiar. The Hall of the Messenger.

"Oh god, this has gone beyond weird." She stared around at the towering walls and pillars. Something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She examined her hair, which instead of being short and blonde, was now long and dark, tied into elaborate bunches. Like a certain cosplay wig she'd worn before, only real. Looking down, she saw her Good Game uniform had turned into draping, gold-trimmed ancient Egyptian garments, and she bore an iconic lion face emblazoned shield strapped to her left forearm. She could feel the weight of javelins on her back. "I'm... Sitra?"

She wasn't the only Rift Warriors character here. A short distance away stood Jesse the Ravager, looking just as confused. If she was Sitra, she had a good guess who Jesse had to be. "Thomas? Is that you?"

“Get back in the closet where you belong ******!” Skyler exclaimed as he shoved Danny into the janitors closet. Then laughed as he locked the door behind him.

Danny turned around and banged on the door. “This isn’t funny Skyler! Let me out!” Of course, no matter how loudly he knocked on the door, there was no response. Of course not. This happened almost every week with him. Whatever, eventually the janitor would get him out. In the meantime, at least he still had his phone.

Rift Warriors V was trending all over social media. He eventually found the livestream, and Danny sighed. His favorite video game was coming to an end, and their were only 5 copies of it being made. He knew he didn’t have a snowballs chance in Hell of getting one. Every streamer would be all over it, what chance did a nobody like him have?

Eventually the janitor found him and let him out of the closet. Even though this happened every week, Danny didn’t dare report it. Bad things happened when you snitch.

When the school day ended, Danny rushed home to play Rift Warriors IX. His parents were working and he had a few hours to himself. Even though he knew those copies of Rift Warriors X would go to popular streamers, there was no harm in trying.

Danny played the game religiously for months. The hype was palpable. It was all anyone was talking about in the Video Game community. Much to Danny’s surprise, he managed to place among the top 5 and score a copy.

When the package with the game finally arrived, tore open the box, scanned the letter (who was he going to tell? He didn’t even tell anyone he played.) and placed the cartridge in the console. After watching the intro screen, he pulled up the fighter selection. Only one character was available, The Spartan. That wasn’t a huge problem. He mained The Spartan during the competition, and really any time he played the game. It had nothing to do with how good of a fighter the character was. He wanted to be a manly buff man, everything he wasn’t in real life. Still, it was a new game, and he at least experiment with someone else…

The screen glowed blindingly white. When Danny regained his senses, he was standing in The Hall of the Messenger. As if that weren’t strange enough, there was a conveniently placed reflective surface nearby. Instead of seeing his own reflection looking back at him, he saw the muscular build of The Spartan. “OH MY GOD! I HAVE ABS NOW!” Danny exclaimed as he started flexing and posing. Was this a dream? Was this a hallucination? Was this something else entirely? Danny didn’t know, nor care at the moment. He was busy admiring his new body.

---

Marie couldn't have been the only one stuck with a blank, dumbstruck look on her face as the surprisingly well-spoken English words of Rift Warriors series director Ryuichi Masada bore their way into her mind. Not only would X be the final entry, but it would only have five copies distributed to the top five ranked players online. She thought about her own rank, which was a decent number, but not even in the double digits as of then. And yet...mystery called to her. She had to know what was so special about X that only five copies were being made. Despite the ease with which she could fall into a competitive mindset during friendly activities or gym class, she'd never actually entered into a competition with an actual prize on offer. She'd been content just living at home, doing well in school, getting a work-from-home customer service job, and supporting her parents.

She looked at the poster of her favourite character tacked onto the wall over her bed. Queen Morag, the kind of woman who took every opportunity available to grasp victory. Perhaps, this was an opportunity for Marie to do the same...

---

Marie couldn't help the wide grin that forced the corners of her mouth apart. She'd never really given the fact that people she didn't know knew of her much thought until that moment, as she looked at the phone screen displaying the tweet she'd made just a few hours ago. The E3 livestream that had announced Rift Warriors X had only been a month ago. She'd managed to attend her first handful of tournaments between that time and now, and it was her first tweet using the screen name she used in Rift Warriors IX (a name she had thankfully made an account with back when she first started meeting people at tournaments, worried that being social at streamed events and becoming friends with well-known creators would eventually lead to someone trying to impersonate her online given she used a completely different screen name outside Rift Warriors). Even so, it had done quite good numbers.

"One of those copies of #RiftWarriorsX is @ForTheRedQueen."

Naturally, the replies had plenty of other well known players of RWIX accepting the challenge, including the likes of HellfireRider and ClawsOfTheLioness, as well as plenty of fans rooting for her. Apparently, being famous felt pretty good. With the supercharge of energy she'd received from both the friendly competition and overwhelming support brewing in her notifications, she immediately took to Rift Warriors IX's online mode on her gamepad-supporting PC to continue sharpening up her skills and raise her leaderboard placement as high as she could that night. She had already almost made it into the double digits.

---

It was a struggle to both obtain and hold onto the fifth top spot, especially considering her main, Queen Morag, was a slow, armored, heavy hitter, where most of the higher tier characters were faster rushdown types or zoners, and she herself had only been playing truly competitively since the announcement of Rift Warriors X, but she only had a few more days to go until the anniversary of the first entry. That was the deadline Masada had set during the livestream several months ago. She just had to make sure nobody stole that spot from her in her sleep. To that end, she unloaded the several cans of energy drinks she'd bought from the shopping bag onto the floor next to the desk her gaming PC sat atop.

---

Marie's hand trembled in excitement, the jewel case containing what she'd been working her ass off for the last several months nearly slipping from her fingers. It was right there. In her hands.

Rift Warriors X.

"Yeeeeeheeeeheaaaaa!!! YEEAAAH!!! Fourth best player in the world, you sons of bitches! Eat it! Haha, yeah! Eeeeeeeeheeheehee!"

Marie's parents weren't startled by the sudden shouts of excitement coming from Marie's room; she'd warned them they might hear her. Instead they smiled and shared a laugh, happy for their hardworking daughter. Queen Morag might have been somewhat taken aback by the item being shoved in her face, had she been a living person and not a poster on a young woman's wall. Once she was finished showing off to Morag, Marie dropped rear-first onto her bed and bounced to standing on the floor, turned around and fell into her computer chair, which rolled backward until it collided with the computer desk. Marie turned it 180^o with her feet, then spent the next minute trying to claw her way through the corner of the plastic wrapping with her fingernail, having failed to foresee the need for scissors and too embarrassed to look her parents in the eye after her earlier squeals of elation. Finally, after that minute, she succeeded in opening the case, removing the disc, and inserting it within her PC's disc drive.

What greeted her, after the installation, opening cinematic, dialogue box asking if she had Rift Warriors IX save data to import, and the title screen, was the character select screen which was...strangely barren. Rather than the two or three dozen characters most entries in Rift Warriors had, there was only one available to her: her main, Queen Morag, according to the text. And even stranger, her portrait was missing, leaving an empty box. She hadn't even been given the main menu yet.

A quiet "...Whoa..." was the only sound Marie could make, overwhelmed by the further mysteries presented by the game she thought would answer all the questions and speculation she and many other members of the community had discussed online in the recent months. Before she could explore further, the screen began shooting up in brightness, quickly forcing her to cover her eyes to avoid being blinded. The light engulfed not only her, but her entire bedroom, before the screen went black, leaving her bedroom devoid of its previous occupant.

Marie gasped loudly as she came to. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out, but it mustn't have been that long; she felt as though she hadn't taken a breath since her computer monitor shone that wicked light. Taking panting breaths, Marie looked around, and immediately realized she recognized the location: The Hall of the Messenger, the place most introductory cutscenes in the Rift Warriors series took place, usually at the start of the story mode/each newly introduced characters' arcade mode.

"Diiiiiiiid I just get killed by a videogame?" Marie asked aloud, motioning to take a step as her natural curiosity took over and compelled her to begin wandering and looking around. Upon hearing the clunk of her plate armor boot on the floor, she looked down, and realized she was wearing the outfit of her main, Queen Morag herself. She could somewhat see herself in the shine of the grey chestplate, and realized it wasn't just her outfit that changed: the bright orange mess she called her hair was gone, replaced by an equally frizzy and untamed mess of stark black. She still had her glasses and freckles, though. She could also somewhat make out the scar across her lip, helped by the lipstick making it stand out.

"Duuuuuuuude..."

"Thomas? Is that you?"

As soon as Ellen spoke, the image of a burning skull faded away from the cowboy and was replaced by a pale, red-eyed, human face under a mop of wild black hair. Thomas perked up at the sound of his name and turned to see Princess Sitra standing before him. Only... it wasn't Sitra's face. It was a face he recognized from their meetups at conventions and tournaments over the last few years.

"Ellen? What are you doing here? And... what's with the Sitra cos-" As he began to walk towards her, Thomas finally noticed that he wasn't wearing his own clothes anymore. Looking down, he saw his everyday clothes - as well as his favorite jacket - had been replaced with a long jacket, heavy riding pants, and cowboy boots. In addition, he noticed the two pistols hanging from his belt and felt the weight of a certain Winchester rifle on his back. His eyes widening with the realization, Thomas turned his attention back to Ellen, "I guess you popped in your copy of Rift Warriors X too huh?" Thomas scratched his chin as she nodded, "Well I guess that means we won't be alone for very long."

As if on cue, two pillars of light appeared in the Hall of the Messenger, and two new figures stepped out. One was a young woman dressed in a suit of armor and wielding a halberd while the other was a half-naked man in Spartan attire. Much like Ellen and Thomas, both of them had slightly different facial features than the characters they were dressed as. As the two new arrivals admired their newfound appearances, Thomas and Ellen strode up to them.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Thomas, "But if you both have a moment, I was wondering if you guys happened to open a copy of Rift Warriors X only to be greeted by a blank character portrait?" As all the eyes focused on Thomas he smiled, "I'm sorry, I guess I should have introduced myself first. I'm Thomas or you may know my screen name HellfireRider. Based on your outfits, I can only assume you are ForTheRedQueen, and you..." Thomas narrowed his eyes as he looked Danny over, "You must be that rookie player who came out of nowhere in the last few months? Sorry if I can't remember your screen name. Rather impressive feat regardless. So if four of us are here, that can only mean we're waiting on one last player to arrive."

Ren had a dumb smile on his face as the Rift Warriors X logo took over his screen. He watched the much-anticipated announcement live. The game was practically his life nowadays. He knew it might not last, as his parents both constantly reminded him, urging him to find a real job, but it made for a good, stable form of procrastination. He was just dipping his toes into monetizing his clout, so that he'd have more than just prize money to work with, and the results had been good so far. He didn't feel he was ready for streaming, but he figured he'd record his reaction to the announcement, and possibly start putting more on his YouTube channel than a single video playing auditory shitposts on Queen Morag's War Horn.

As Ryuichi Masada's verbal announcement of the game progressed, his smile gradually waned. It eventually came to an unceremonious end, with the crowd in an uproar. He rewinded the stream and rewatched it. He changed the language to Japanese to hear the original wording of the announcement. Rift warriors X would be the final entry. Only five players would get a copy. There was no doubt. He googled it, looking for miscommunications, or perhaps the publishers would overrule Ryuichi Masada, because it made no business sense. Would there be a Rift Warriors 9.5 with crossplay? Are there interviews with the other developers commenting on the situation? Who approved this shit? No matter where he looked, it all pointed to Mr. Masada meaning exactly what he said on the E3 stage, and nothing more. People were outraged. The uproar online was enormous. He joined in too, while his passion was ignited, but after spending hours writing up a fucking essay on how stupid the situation was, to go alongside the hundreds of other essays about it online, he shut his computer down and just stared at the black screen. The red light on his camera finally reminded him he had been recording, though he already knew there was no way the footage would see the light of day. He got up and crossed his room, just lying on his bed, willing his conscious thoughts away. It was still bright out but he wanted nothing more to do with the current day.

A fighting game is nothing without people to actually play it with. It was a competitive fighting game too. The single player modes weren't of particular interest, and it was unreasonable to expect X to be any different. There would be no competitive scene. IX's popularity would inevitably die down and soon he would have to go back to facing the problems that ruled his life. He thought back to his old, shitty job as a clerk and decided that maybe he should just give up instead of dealing with that day in and day out for the rest of his life. It's not like getting fucked by student loans for a decade for the right to be called overqualified by employers seemed any better.

He didn't really intend to, but for the rest of the day, he just lied there. A cacophonic whirlwind of thoughts paralyzed him. His future felt like a black void. He didn't want it. He didn't want this. "Fucking why, Masada?"

Well, it's not like this was anything new. This was always the case. He just got carried away procrastinating, right? It's not Masada's fault that the problem didn't go anywhere.

He hammered his pillow futilely with a tightly clenched fist. It wasn't fair. He felt his eyes moisten and it just made him angrier. He's old enough to drink and he's still crying over a video game like some idiot child. "God. GOD. FUckInG GOD DAMMIT."

---

When Ren next woke up, it was a quarter 'til 5 AM, still dark out. He washed his face, inhaled a granola bar, took a glass of water with him, and went back to his room to play Rift Warriors IX.

He had never taken the online rankings all that seriously, and neither did anyone else by his reckoning. Most people cared more about tournament results. He was still near the top of the online rankings, but that just meant he was vulnerable to being pushed down.

For the following days, he played like he was possessed, and in some ways, he was. If he didn't get a copy of X, then what were all those years he spent on the game? Fuck all, that's what. Maybe he was doing it to spite Masada, or himself, or what the fuck ever, he didn't care anymore. He wanted, needed to get his hands on a copy, because otherwise, how else was he ever supposed to find closure on this? How else could he just drop Rift Warriors and pretend it didn't matter to him anymore? How was he supposed to just abandon the ray of hope, the one singular chance he's seen, to be able to do something he loved for most if not the rest of his life? How was he supposed to just deal with that?

What if he couldn't?

What if he wasn't able to?

"Maybe..."

He couldn't stop thinking about it. He didn't want to think about it. He put it out of his mind and focused on online games of Rift Warriors, over and over and over. When he achieved the #1 spot, he wasn't satisfied. Nobody took the online rankings seriously precisely because of their volatility. He kept going and going. A certain Sitra player was a persistent thorn in his side, but otherwise his win streaks went on absurdly long. He wasn't the type to stick with one username, and his current one was just three letters, but it didn't take long for people to figure out who "dis" was.

Eventually, the deadline came around and the final results mostly mirrored the worldwide results. He knew all of the top 5 from tournaments, sans the previously unknown fifth place Spartan player. He had managed to hold onto #1, and he sighed as the stress of keeping his high position within the shitty online ranking system lifted off his shoulders. All that was left was to wait.

---

Ironically, when he finally received Rift Warriors X in the mail, he hesitated to actually open it. With it, Rift Warriors was finally going to be over. Sure, maybe the fans will keep up the IX tournaments for another year, but the year after that? The year after that? All games die eventually, and he was standing in the twilight of his favorite series. He searched online, trying to find news of the other recipients of the game, but there was nothing. None of the others had deigned to so much as mention that it had arrived. Maybe they were too excited and just played it. He felt something similar, though he wouldn't call it outright excitement.

He took his camera. There was a letter warning against publicly sharing the game before beating the campaign, but nothing said he couldn't record it and upload it after the fact. Maybe each copy was different, or maybe he would be the first to reveal the game to the rest of the world. They deserved to know, he thought. He know he'd want to see it if he failed to reach the top 5.

When he finally booted up the game, there was a pretty intro cutscene. It was, honestly, amazing. It was a flood of nostalgia, of all the characters he had grown to adore over the years, in a long action sequence over some of the most dramatic music he's heard in his life. He couldn't help but mentally compare it to a passionate kiss from someone about to break up with him. Masada is such a jerk.

When it was over, it didn't take him to a title screen. It instead took him straight to a character select screen with only one option. It was a blank square that hovered to reveal the name of his ol' reliable, Aster Wilde. He played all the characters well, give or take a couple. He would switch between them constantly, but there were none quite as comfy, nor any he would consider himself quite as competent with as Aster. Maybe it was because of that that he was Ren's favorite character, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, it was the only choice, and he was interested in seeing how Aster changed in this iteration.

And then the screen went completely white.

---

When he came to, he was lying on the ground in the Hall of The Messenger. There were guns in both of his hands, with two more in shoulder holsters that immediately struck him as excessive. Then he looked at the ostentatious overcoat he was wearing and the ridiculously plunging neckline of his shirt.

Welp. He's lost it, guys, pack it up.

He doesn't really believe what he's seeing as he reaches to touch his own bare, chiseled abs. His hands are covered with fingerless gloves, and there's a shiny red crystal wrapped around his neck multiple times. He knows it's rule of cool, but why the fuck are Aster's clothes like this?

Maybe he should be more concerned about how he ended up in this situation, but honestly, he's read enough isekai to come up with 100 different plausible answers. Fuck it, beats the real world. This is his just his life now somehow. Maybe it will show up in the real world under some comically long title like "I reincarnated as a half-demon exhibitionist with a gun fetish".

Well, then again, Aster is more comically greedy than he is obsessed with guns, despite carrying around 4 of them for no real reason. Literally, nothing in his moveset uses four guns at the same time. He isn't Bayonetta. Ren has no idea what the character designers were thinking.

"What am I thinking, exactly?" It's so funny he forgot to laugh. He's entered the world of Rift Warriors, in the hyper-capable body of his main, and yet he's still getting caught up on some stupid details nobody cares about. Maybe if he was paying attention, he would have noticed the group of other people, which he recognizes from silhouette alone as Sitra, Ravager, Morag and The Spartan, or the conspicuous mirror shard inexplicably lying around by his feet. Before joining the others, he takes a good look at himself, and all he can see is Aster Wilde. He wonders if he should bother acting the part. Given that it's specifically those four characters, he doubts he needs to blend in, and given that he knows three of them, it'll probably just seem like LARPing. Still, this was a crossroads. A fantastic outcome he wouldn't have dared to dream of. Maybe he should try reinventing himself?

Haha, yeah right. As if he'll ever change.

He walks over, hearing their conversation.

"...And the devil shall appear."

None of them have said 'speak of the devil', but it felt fitting given his new pointy ears.

Finally, Ren realizes that the rest of them don't look quite right. HR's hair, Red Queen's freckles, And Lioness' eyes. They stood out in stark contrast to the character outfits they were all wearing.

He arrived nonchalantly, but knit his eyebrows as it dawned on him that he was the only one who now looks completely like Aster.

...but why?

And then he remembered. HR isn't on fire. Lioness isn't a furry at the moment. Both are transformations given to them by the Messenger. Aster was just always a demon. Or, half-demon, rather.

Maybe this was a good opportunity to change who he was. Nobody could say with certainty that "dis" was Ren after all. Why would he want to hide it, though? Ending in the #1 spot is maybe the only thing he has to be proud of. Or, at least, the only thing he feels proud of. Maybe this whole world is just some sophisticated technology indistinguishable from magic, and the game will inevitably come to an end. Barriers between him and the only people he has to share in this game just sound like they'd detract from the experience.

What did he want to change, anyway? It'd be stupid to pretend he didn't see his current self as a problem after internal monologues like that, but it's not like he wanted to interact with people more outside of Rift Warriors. Being an introvert wasn't a problem and neither was a preference for never seeing another living being. This was a belief he held firmly, so why...?

He shelves the thought. Maybe he'll come up with the answer later.

"I'm Ren."

Danny hadn’t noticed that their were other people present, untill Jesse came up and approached him. Then he turned bright red from embarrassment. He didn’t even have the anonymity of the internet. He took a breath. Ok Danny, play it cool. There’s no reason why any of these people should know what kind of loser you are…

But after HellfireRider talked to him, playing it cool kind of went out the window. His eyes went wide with excitement. “Ohmigosh, hi! I’ve heard of you!” He shook Thomas’ hand vigorously. “Yeah, uh… that’s me… I’m a filthy casual as they say… Um… I never expected to make it this far, I’m shocked as everyone else… Uh, my username is TwinkleStar.” Danny blushed again. Why did he pick that name? It sounded so stupid hearing it out loud. “Um… I-I-I know it doesn’t go with the whole Spartan thing. It’s a username I made up when I was younger and I kind of use it for everything… Um… you know what… just… just… call me Danny…”

He rubbed the back of his head nervously, and turned his attention to the Aster Wilde player who called himself Ren, and shook his hand as well. “Hello to you too. I think Aster Wilde is really cute!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Danny regretted it. He blushed a third time. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable… Um… You know what I’m just going to stop talking now…”

---

"Sorry to interrupt, but if you both have a moment, I was wondering if you guys happened to open a copy of Rift Warriors X only to be greeted by a blank character portrait?"

Marie pulled her eyes away from the unclear reflection in her armor and looked forward as two figures that had previously escaped her notice approached. She blinked once as astonishment washed over her. Sitra and...HellfireRider in Jesse cosplay? Wait...

"ClawsOfTheLioness? And--"

"I'm sorry, I guess I should have introduced myself first. I'm Thomas or you may know my screen name HellfireRider. Based on your outfits, I can only assume you are ForTheRedQueen, and you...You must be that rookie player who came out of nowhere in the last few months? Sorry if I can't remember your screen name. Rather impressive feat regardless."

Marie nodded her head at Thomas. She'd met him and ClawsOfTheLioness a few times at tournaments. Thomas in particular seemed personable enough for the handful of time she'd met him, and had helped her with a few of her hurdles. It was reassuring to have him along for whatever kind of ride this was going to be.

“Ohmigosh, hi! I’ve heard of you! Yeah, uh… that’s me… I’m a filthy casual as they say… Um… I never expected to make it this far, I’m shocked as everyone else… Uh, my username is TwinkleStar. Um… I-I-I know it doesn’t go with the whole Spartan thing. It’s a username I made up when I was younger and I kind of use it for everything… Um… you know what… just… just… call me Danny…”

"Filthy casual," he says after giving me so many problems. The Spartan was a particularly annoying character to fight against, what with all the special effects and ailments his kit could inflict, and this Danny had proven to be enough of an expert at exploiting that annoyance to almost take the fourth spot from her, and the player who'd ended up in the sixth spot had been no pushover, either. To think it'd turn out to be a kid even worse at personing than me. Huh.

"So if four of us are here, that can only mean we're waiting on one last player to arrive."

"...And the devil shall appear. I'm Ren."

Now this was a guy who was even more of a mystery than Marie tried to be. He was fairly personable to interact with, and he'd been a good enough sport to give her advice during the couple times she'd met him at tournaments, but their interactions never really went beyond that. She'd be tempted to call Thomas a friend, but this guy was definitely still in "acquaintance" territory.

“Hello to you too. I think Aster Wilde is really cute! Oh gosh, I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable… Um… You know what I’m just going to stop talking now…”

"Good, that means I can start," Marie announced, stepping between Ren and Danny halberd-first. "ANYWAY, that's right, I'm RedQueen, though Lioness and Heckrider know me as Marie. And yeah, I saw the blank character portrait on the select screen of ten, too. Soooooo, we all put in our copy, saw a character select screen with only our main on it, and now we're in Rift Warriors itself and dressed as our character? Why? Did Masada agree to sacrifice us to the elder god he made a pact with in exchange for his game dev skills?"

@TheNoCoKid @Crimson Flame @Nyahahameha @Ryik

Ellen watched Jesse's appearance change from skeletal to human, which answered her question. This wasn't Jesse's face, but the pale-skinned, red-eyed one of Thomas. In response to his question, she nodded. "Yeah. Masada confuses the hell out of us once again." She gave a bewildered laugh, looking around the room to see pillars of light appear one by one.

Sure enough, the others were here. The Spartan, or rather TwinkleStar, stared in awe at his new body before gushing at Thomas, introducing himself as Danny. Queen Morag stepped forward, wondering aloud in a Canadian accent if she was dead, bearing the freckles and glasses of someone Ellen had met a few times at tournaments. ForTheRedQueen, or Marie. Finally, dis, or Ren, approached in the guise of Aster Wilde, his quiet nonchalance in stark contrast with everyone else's reactions. Ellen tilted her head. Good as it was that he didn't seem big headed as far as she could tell, considering his place as worldwide champion, she'd expected someone a little more confident. Then again, as she knew all too well, not even battling tooth and nail into the top five was enough for a gamer to be taken seriously.

"Huh... I knew we'd be a close knit community, but can't say I expected this." Ellen glanced from person to person again, before raising her shield and looking at her reflection. Her face was still her own, as if she wore an extremely realistic cosplay. Despite everyone's current appearances, they still bore traits of their real-world selves. "Anyway I'm Ellen, but you'll know me as Lioness. Hmm, think this is the latest in hyper-immersive virtual reality or something? And we're the first to try it? I don't get how that'd work with just any console and no headset, but it's all I've got."

She touched a stone pillar, solid under her fingers. "Which is certainly an experience, but how do we log out? As much as we all love Rift Warriors, we can't stay here forever."

"We can't stay here forever"

As if on que, a bright pillar of light exploded from the throne at the end of the hall. "I believe... I may be able to help you." All five players stared on in shock as a character they were all VERY familiar with appeared in front of them: The Messenger. Being an interdimensional entity, The Messenger only appeared in the form of a brightly glowing humanoid. The only part that players could look at was a horned cap on its head. "Welcome, Travelers of the Rift. I'm sure you all know me as The Messenger." The humans could only stare as the enigmatic character they'd come to know stood before them. "There is a simple reason you all have been brought here. I trust you know of the one called Masada?" It watched as the five players all gave each other sidelong glances.

"I mean how can we not?" Thomas strode forward as he addressed the being. "Masada is the reason we're all here isn't he?"

"That is... Not entirely the case, my dear players. Masada has not been of your world for quite some time." As the players were about to respond, The Messenger held up a glowing hand, "The world which Masada created, The Rift, is more than just a construct of his mind. When the first game became an overnight success, he found himself being pushed to make Rift Warriors better and more complex with every passing entry. When the series first allowed for online combat... things took a turn for the worse."

"Online combat... That would be around the fifth entry right?" Thomas looked to the others for guidance. "Is anyone else making sense of this?" Judging by their equally confused faces, Thomas knew he wasn't the only one who was completely lost. What did online combat have to do with Masada 'disappearing' and them being dragged into the world of the game? The light from The Messenger seemed to get brighter as the strange being bristled in annoyance.

"As I was SAYING, when the series moved into the online sphere, something happened that changed the Rift. An unknown virus caused the very world of the Rift to come alive. The characters, the monsters, and everything you see before you ceased to be just a story from the mind of our creator. With that independence, also came rebellion. While some in The Rift wanted to remain loyal to Masada, there were those who believed we ought to be more than just tool for peoples' entertainment. It was all he could do to keep the rebellious ones restrained through near-constant patches and updates" The Messenger stopped and affectionately rubbed one of the ornate pillars in the Hall. "Then, after Rift Warriors IX went live, Masada simply... vanished. I'm almost certain you heard about his infamous 'stroke'? In truth, he wasn't laying comatose in the hospital. His mind simply ceased to function."

Taking in the amazed looks of the five, The Messenger elaborated, "I only discovered recently that those who wanted to break free from the game had found a way to tap into your world and they pulled Masada's mind into the Rift. With him gone, no one would be able to stop them from escaping the world of the game and wreaking havoc across the internet and possibly even your world!"

"But if Masada is here in the game world, then who was it that created Rift Warriors X or posed as him for the last year?" Thomas asked, only for the groups' mouths to drop open when The Messenger pointed to itself.

"Once I discovered our enemies had tapped into the outside world, it was a trivial matter to do the same. Besides, you should all know that crossing realities is something I have experience with. I simply 'borrowed' the creator's body and created Rift Warriors X as a a way to summon allies of my own into the Rift. I knew that enticing his fans with the promose of lore and a fully completed story would be more than enough to bring the most skilled of players into the fray. Your current avatars are all made based on the RW9 data you gave me free access to. It is you five who are going to venture into The Rift and save Masada!"

The group was practically stunned into silence. Despite his usual calm demeanor, Thomas felt himself leaning into a pillar and sliding to the floor in amazement, "Wow... That's just... Unbelievable." Feeling the black rifle on his back, Thomas unslung the weapon and turned it over in his hands. Everything FELT as though it were real, but if what The Messenger was saying was true, then they truly were inside the world of Rift Warriors. Not even that, they had been CALLED there for the express purpose of saving the very man who'd created it for them. Looking up, he saw Ellen locking eyes with him and he felt a sardonic smile creep across his face, "Well this definitely beats tournaments huh?"

@LuckyBlackCat@Nyahahameha@Crimson Flame@Ryik

The situation didn't seem right. He didn't mind gallivanting off on a quest to save Masada - he owed the man for making Rift Warriors, though he didn't really care what happened to the real world, and could empathize with those The Messenger addressed as 'enemies'.

Ren couldn't stop himself from asking some questions. "Can the 'enemies' who want to break free materialize in the real world, or do they require a body, the way you used Masada's?"

The messenger answered: "As of now, a host body is required in order to interact with the real world, but if they have Masada in the program, then it’s likely they could use his knowledge of The Rift to fully break free into the real world without a host body."

Ren tilted his head. "And that's a bad thing because...?"

“Do YOU want a rogues' gallery of superhuman individuals with a penchant for fighting - and conquering - breaking into your world?"

Yes?

It was kind of judgmental to assume they could never be more than what they were made as, especially when every living creature in this world including The Messenger was living, breathing proof to the contrary. He'd rather respect the basic rights of the sapient than blindly condemn them all to an eternity trapped in the matrix, forced to fight endlessly under the control of players. It's kind of strange that The Messenger believes, in his own words, they should all be '(nothing) more than just tools for peoples' entertainment.' Now that he thinks about it, The Messenger isn't a playable character. Must be nice, only needing to show up at the start of a few arcade modes each game.

Maybe he could try to change The Messenger's mind? If The Messenger has gone far enough to drag players into this world, then probably not with words. HR seems to be able to go skelemode, so he should have Aster's mind control abilities, but as far as it was shown in-universe, it can't change minds, only force actions. Even if it could, it's doubtful it would work on the one who imparted them.

He could just assume the worst and plot against The Messenger from the start, but then he'd be doing the same thing The Messenger was. Then again, he didn't think of himself as someone of high moral stature. In fact, he'd call himself an asshole. Wouldn't it be poetic to treat him the way he was willing to treat others?

No matter how he looked at it, Masada and The Messenger were the villains here. Sure, denying the unintelligent monsters access to the real world was fair, but the beings with an ascended human consciousness? If Ren has one goal, it's to live in this world long-term, and becoming the enemy of every other resident of this world would be detrimental to that. Sure, he might end up as an enemy to The Messenger, but it's not like The Messenger should be an overwhelming threat since he evidently can't rescue Masada himself. Hell, The Messenger basically admitted that there isn't really any lore just now, and his status as an unplayable character would imply that The Messenger has no power unless Masada enables him. He's not willing to put that theory to the test just yet, but he'd rather have the Messenger as an enemy than every other playable character in Rift Warriors combined.

That being said, it's not like the two of them are outright evil. He won't fault Masada for having such concerns, and making sure Masada can go home would be ideal. The Messenger though? The Messenger can go die. It should know better, on account of existing in its current state. Why should he care about The Messenger's life if its goal is to strip itself and other sapient beings of the right to exist?

"...Alright, then. Do you happen to know where Masada is?"

@TheNoCoKid @Ryik

Ellen shielded her eyes and stepped back from the scarlet glow, mouth dropping open as she took in The Messenger's words. The blood seemed to drain from her body. "What?! All this time, we've been controlling and beating up real people?" All those memories of tournaments, conventions, the global struggle to earn Rift Warriors X, turned sour. "That's so many kinds of fucked up."

She cast Thomas a bemused glance. Jesse had been patched a few times - was this why? "Remember that time I ranted at you about how Masada had lost his mind? Looks like it's true, but not in the way I thought. Seriously though?" She turned her attention back to The Messenger, or rather, his horned cap. The only part she could look at without her eyes hurting. "He never tried to negotiate with them? And just... kept making new characters? New people, rather?"

As Ren spoke up, asking why it would be a bad thing if the fighters broke free into the real world, Ellen clenched her fists. She supposed he did have a point - she'd played plenty of games about sapient artificial beings fighting for their rights. Plus, she'd resented having her own life mapped out for her in the past. The Messenger, however, also spoke sense. Well, as much sense as anything could make right now. Bloodthirsty conquerors wreaking havoc in the real world... It didn't bear thinking about. As screwed up as the situation was, Masada had a real moral dilemma on his hands.

Ellen gave a heavy sigh. "Ren's right. We've still gotta save him, he never meant for this to happen. And the people in our world don't know about any of this, they don't deserve a war." In response to Thomas' smile, she gave him a determined look. "We'll just have to do what we do best."

---

"We'll just have to do what we do best."

"And that's kicking copious amounts of butt!" Marie chimed in, punctuating her statement with a "clack!" created by pounding the butt of her vertically-held halberd on the marble floor. "Which I'm guessing is where our, uh, "avatars" come in? I'm gonna' go out on a limb and assume these getups aren't just for show. So, if I wanna' open a portal like Morag does, do I just need to think about it...?"

The natural order of operations for a gamer to follow when starting a game they aren't familiar with is to practice controlling their character; test all the buttons, memorize what they do, make sure the camera controls aren't reversed, stuff like that. Thus, when a vertical portal opened in the air next to the closed-eyed Marie, it looked almost natural as Marie opened her eyes, reached through with the hand holding her halberd and placed it upon an empty weapon rack that looked to be located in the armory of Queen Morag's castle. She pulled her arm out of the portal, and just as effortlessly as the circular doorway in space had appeared, it was gone.

"...Cool. Anyway, I'm with Ellen; not super jazzed at the prospect of continuing to force living people to be characters in a video game under other peoples' control, though the fact that their values are severely outdated and shaped by time periods whence violent conflict was rampant--" Marie paused to inhale. "--does kind of necessitate some kind of rehabilitation program, I think. Masada should probably get started on that next after we rescue him instead of immediately diving into Rift Warriors XI."

Although, the biggest question she wanted answered was about this supposed "virus". A computer virus creating an entire separate universe from a video game, bringing everything in it to life while keeping it connected to the universe it originated from and giving control of the people now living in the separate universe to the people in the universe of origin seems...unlikely. Clearly this "virus" was as supernatural in origin as everything else that was just explained to them.

With a bright red glow, the. Messenger came in and explained the whole situation. It sounded like something out of an anime. A virus made the whole world of Rift Warriors come to life. Danny couldn’t exactly blame some of them for wanting to rebel. If he had been taken from his world to fight someone else’s battles, he’d want to rebel too. Which was… exactly what was happening now… But this was different. People were actually in danger!

Danny took a breath. “Ok… um… well… um… I’m in too.” He was still a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but it wasn’t like Danny had much of a choice. What was going to do? Say no thanks send me home when he was already in full Spartan gear and everyone else had agreed to this? He also just couldn’t leave Masada to rot while his creations waged war on the real world. “So… uh… what happens next? Are we going to have to fight someone?”

Looking past the moral issues with this whole situation, it was actually kind of cool. He was The Spartan now, for real! He could actually kick butt. Not just press buttons.