Virtually New to This

      It’s hard to describe the feeling of taking a life for the first time.

           The guy- that’s right, I didn’t even know his name- was on the ground in a pool of his own blood and vomit.

           Okay. Maybe a little bit of the vomit was mine.

           Just a little bit.

           I hadn’t felt myself remove the knife from his body, but it was still there in my hand, and not in him, so I must have at some point, right?

           I was aware of someone calling a name. Someone’s name. My name?

My name.

           “Jackson!” Dahlia called, the anger in her voice potent like venom. Or like a knife wound.

           God there was a lot of blood. I hadn’t expected it to smell like this, either. Not that I expected a smell at all.

           “Jackson!”

           I looked up at Dahlia- she was much closer to me now. She grabbed my wrist and yanked me behind cover with her. Just in time- the dirt where I had just been standing erupted in a spray of dirt, debris, and blue flames.

           “I thought you said this wasn’t your first time,” she hissed through her teeth. While I formulated words, she peeked behind the large rock wall we’d hidden behind. “Ugh. I’ll yell at you about this later. For now, we need to go.”

           “Sorry,” I managed, wiping a bit of excess vomit off on my shirt. “I just… stabbed a guy.”

           “You sure did, buddy,” Alec said, coming up behind me and slapping my shoulder. I bolted from the cover in shock, only for Dahlia to grab my arm and pull me back in, just in time to avoid another blast of blue flame and debris.

           “Did you get the goods?” Dahlia asked.

           “Yep,” Alec popped his lips on the ‘p,’ accentuating it as if we hadn’t left a trail of death and destruction in our wake. He held up a leather bag concealing a suspiciously head-shaped object dripping suspiciously blood-like liquid. “So, how are we getting out of here?”

           “You’re asking me? I thought you knew the floorplan,” Dahlia hissed.

           “Uh, no, I’m not the floorplan guy. That’s Jackson’s department,” Alec said, looking to me.

           Oh shit.

           I fumbled with my bag, but Dahlia grabbed my arm. “No time. We need to move. We’re going that way.”

           ‘That way’ was across the yard- the same one with a guy that had notably less blood than when he’d encountered me last- past a few stone walls with varying degrees of stability and through a tunnel that looked less structurally sound than some of the partially destroyed walls.

           “I have concerns,” I said.

           “I don’t care,” she said.

           “I also have concerns,” Alec added. “Is this supposed to be this squishy?”

           “Ugh, just move,” Dahlia groaned. She rolled up her sleeves and gave her staff a twirl, then slammed it on the ground. Astral armor covered her robes, and she wasted no time sprinting out into the chaos. Alec moved after her, chanting a quick incantation before turning invisible.

           That left me, the idiot with armor and a bloody knife who had totally lied about his experience level with these kinds of jobs.

           To my credit, I only froze a moment before running out after Dahlia. I had heard that in these kinds of missions, a basic fighter like myself should focus on covering the mage, so that’s what I planned on doing. I ran alongside Dahlia and raised my shield once to deflect some arrows. A few thudded off, and three embedded themselves into the wood of the shield.

           “Hah! Did you see that?” I asked, already breathless from a minute of running.

           “Shut up.”

           I saw the enemy swordsman just in time to swivel my feet into a sturdy enough position to absorb his first blow with my shield. “Stay behind me!” I shouted to Dahlia, as I grabbed my handaxe. I raised it to strike yet another killing blow when the earth rumbled beneath our feet and vines grew from the cracked earth, entangling the assailant. I lowered my axe and turned to argue, but when I saw her, she’d already started off across the field again.

           I sprinted to catch up, “I could’ve handled that!”

           “Yeah, because you handled the first one so well,” Dahlia muttered. “Incoming!”

           A blast of blue flame hit the wall nearest us, and it crumbled. I lost sight of Dahlia altogether. “Are you okay?!” I shouted. My heartrate could rise anymore, or I might die of a heart attack.

           “Fine,” Dahlia called back. “Meet us by the opening! We’ll wait for you!”

           Shit, shit, shit, shit.

           I turned the opposite way and ran back from where we came. The battlefield was like a maze with enemies scattered throughout. I ran into one directly after turning the first corner- a man with an axe far larger than mine, and a lot less armor.

           I spun my axe, going for the same level of confidence Dahlia showed with her staff, but only succeeded in fumbling the weapon.

           The man uttered a battle cry and hefted his axe high over his head before bringing it down on me. I caught the blade with my shield and shrugged the blow off. He was strong. Stronger than I was, at least.

           He swung again, and I cursed the action economy- if I had stayed with Dahlia, we would have a much easier time with this guy.

           “Hey, ugly,” I said, mind flipping through one liners. When I came up dry, I decided it was probably best to focus on fighting rather than dialogue. I lunged, swiping his legs with my axe. He staggered back and went to bring his axe down on me. I dropped, rolling out of the way.

           Apparently, rolling out of harm’s way is way harder than it looks.

           He was on me before I could heft myself up, legs straddling me while he raised his axe overhead. In a panic, I pulled the move no man should and kicked him in the groin- hard. It was easier to dodge his axe when it fell from his grip, and easier still to take it and embed it in his back.

           Gods, I was glad Dahlia wasn’t here to see that one.

           I left the axe in its owner and picked my hand axe back up, jogging around another corner. I couldn’t even see the tunnel entrance anymore, and had a creeping feeling that if I took too long, Dahlia and Alec would absolutely ditch me. I could hear the blasting of that blue fire and the crumbling of walls- as well as yelling, screaming, the clash of blades.

           I circled around back to where I’d come and felt fresh panic. I did not  have time to be circling, and I didn’t have time to navigate this damn maze.

           Time to break some rules.

           I sheathed my axe and climbed atop the walls. Immediately, I became a target for every archer around, meaning I had to move fast- and panic had a funny way of making your legs move just a bit faster. I leapt over gaps in the crumbling wall and dived through an onslaught of arrows, catching some with my shield. Unfortunately, I caught one with my left shoulder, and the momentum knocked me off the wall.    

           I landed with a grunt and let myself lay defeated for a while. When my breath returned to my lungs, I sat up and bit down on a leather strap I was carrying for gods-know what reason while I snapped the shaft of the arrow. I groaned in pain, but forced myself back to my feet.

           I wasn’t dead yet, and I’d be damned if I let Dahlia and Alec leave without me.

           Kicking your body into a run with an arrow lodged in your arm was more difficult than anticipated, and waves of pain were spiking my nausea again- except I had nothing left to vomit. Lady luck smiled upon me, though, and I found my way out of the maze. There was just a small stretch between me and the tunnel, but I knew I couldn’t sprint it- and there was all kind of battling going on in between me and it, with no cover.

           There was simply no way.

           There was simply no other way.

           I took a deep breath and unsheathed my axe, then sprinted into the fray. When I came upon my first enemy, I raised my axe high, and let out my fiercest battle cry, and then-

           Nothing.

           The battlefield fell away, the sounds of the fray ceased. I groaned and took off the VR headset, putting it on the table.

           Dahlia and Alec- also known as Jaime and Riley- looked at me with annoyance. “What the hell, Ron?”

           “What?!” I asked, standing out of the pod and stretching.

           “I thought you said you’d done this before?” Jaime asked, just as she had in game.

           “Well, yeah, I’ve played D&D before,” I replied, “Just not… virtually… and in a pvp setting. That was intense.”

           “Yeah, well, we lost the game thanks to you,” Jaime said, giving me a playful push. “Next time, you’d better bring your A-game.”

           “Speak for yourself,” Riley said, picking up a tablet and showing us his inventory triumphantly. We stared in disbelief. The item all those players were looking for was displayed proudly with a little label that read Legendary Item: Medusa’s Head.

           If Jaime was mad at me, she was furious at him. “You knew the floorplan all along, you snake!” she said, bludgeoning him with blows. “My level 12 Sorceress just got merc’ed for nothing!”

           “Awh, I wouldn’t call this nothing,” Riley said, swatting her blows away. “In fact, some players will pay a very pretty penny for this thing- IRL! But don’t worry. I will honor your noble sacrifices by buying you all dinner later.”

           “Ugh, this blows,” Jamie said. “C’mon, Jack, let’s go get some misery ice cream.”

           “Ooh, I’m going to get a sundae!” Riley sang.

           “Not invited!” Jamie hissed, grabbing my arm. “So, you’ll play with us next Saturday, right?”

           My stomach felt more than a little knotted, and I was dizzy from the whole ordeal, but I couldn’t deny I’d had a blast. With a full grin, I replied, “Absolutely!”