Liam Barrett:
I still don't know how I did it, but I managed to do it. Somehow, through blood, sweat, and tears, mostly sweat and tears, I managed to survive the literal "line from hell".
I watched countless vendors walk up and down the line, holding hot dogs, pretzels, and more glitter-glue-covered Mountain Dew. Despite how hungry I was and how dry my throat was, I couldn't afford any of them. I had to save my money for the Gaming Cube. The sun moved across the sky as I kept waiting and waiting until it happened.
I step through the sliding black door into my private room. With shaking hands, I slide the quarters into the slot, the clinking sound of each coin sounding like heaven. As I slide into the last quarter, the machine hums, and the green lights in the room start to glow brighter and brighter.
"This is it," I tell myself, "EpicFailGamer94, round two. Let's make some content!"
Another bright light blinds me, and I see myself wearing armor again, with a sword strapped to my hip. Back in Honeywood, I barely take a step when I realize something is very different.
"Move," a young man with heavy armor and an axe strapped to his back, pushing another man in mismatched armor out of the way. "Come on! Come on! No, no! Noooo! Oh, come on!"
Watching the axe man chasing a chicken, he loses sight of it among the massive crowd of players.
"Ahhh, I hate this stupid quest!"
"Oh wow," I mutter. "This place looks like Black Friday at Walmart."
Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn, I see players with their usernames floating above their heads, packed shoulder to shoulder. They're running to and from, shouting about different quests, waving shiny new items, and even tripping over the village's livestock. The merchants' stalls are overflowing with players and gamers, all of them acting like an angry swarm of paparazzi.
"Hey, man," another gamer says, holding a glowing grandsword while standing in a dramatic pose. "How do I look?"
"Awesome," the gamer's friend answers, shooting the gamer two thumbs-up.
"Okay, everyone ready?" another player dressed in a hood asks. Standing next to him is a small group of other people, all of them also wearing hoods. The group nods and raises their hands.
"Okay. One. Two. Three!"
The group of people, all mages, fire. Fireballs quickly form in each of their hands and shoot into the air.
"Hahaha," the first mage laughs. "Oh my god! That was so fucking awesome!"
The first mage runs along the group, high-fiving all of them as they also laugh and cheer.
"Cabbage," a third player shouts, holding up two bright-green cabbage heads in each hand. "Cabbage! I have cabbage! Who wants one?"
As the cabbage merchant sells ten heads to a customer, a rogue player with a cloak, another gamer trips over a goat and falls onto his stall.
"My cabbage!"
Pushing my way through the massive crowd, I squeeze between warriors, mages, rogues, and even a dog before finally stumbling out of the Honeywood and onto a bricked road.
"Okay," I say, taking in a deep breath and dusting myself off. "Hmm. I don't want to keep doing fetch quests like before. If I do, I'll get bored, and so will any future subscribers. They'll abandon me faster than I abandoned my share of the rent. I wonder..."
Tapping my wrist, my menu pops up. It takes a few minutes for me to learn everything, but eventually, I learn how to scroll through the options.
"Stats. Inventory. Setting. Yes, found it!"
Seeing a button with a tiny icon of a rolled-up map, I tap it, and a massive map bursts out. On the digital map, there are mountains, forests, seas, and more towns. They're painted onto the digital map, like a fancy, fantasy tapestry. In bold, shining letters near the top of the map is the word Aetherion.
"Holy crud. This is...one really big freaking world."
Spotting an arrow on the map, I guess that it's my current location. Right outside Honeywood, I follow the road west for a bit before coming to a nearby town.
"Briardstead?"
The name is glowing faintly on the map. I feel my heart racing.
"Briardstead," I think. "A new town? New NPCs? New quests? Maybe even new monsters to fight. Maybe not that one. But still, fresh content no one on YouTube had shown yet."
Pulling and tightening the straps on my armor and sword's sheath, I push the drone button again. My little drone appears out of thin air. It hovers around me, flashing the tiny red light, before going invisible.
"Hello, hello, lads and ladeoo. My name is EpicFailGamer94, and I am here to bring you back into the fantastic world of Aetherion! Now, unfortunately, I wasn't recording it at the time, but let me tell you this. Honeywood is packed. I mean, packed! Full of people! Too many people to get anything done. Besides, I don't want to do anymore fetch quests. I mean, they're not bad if you need some quick EXP or gold coins, but still. Time to do some real questing! And our first stop is the town of Briardstead. Let's go."
With that said, I follow the path and start running west. I leave the crowded, beginning village of Honeywood and head to the new, hopefully not as crowded, Briardstead village.
"My subscribers are going to eat this up. Yayyy!"
As I walk along the stony path, I find myself in a lush, green field, with rolling grass, chirping birds, and even the occasional butterfly fluttering across the path.
Enjoying the cold breeze against my slightly hot face, I stop when I hear familiar laughing. Almost like on cue, a pack of goblins jumps out from the grassy field.
"Oh, come on," I yell, pulling out my sword. "You guys again? Seriously, leave me alone."
Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I swing my sword as the first goblin lunges toward me. Hitting and killing it, another golbing jumps and grabs my leg. Before I can do anything, the bastard stabs me with a dagger.
"Ahhh! Get off me!"
Kicking the golbin off my leg, I watch as my red health bar sinks.
"No, no, no!"
Seeing more goblins jumping at me and pulling out their crude weapons, I spin around as fast as I can and swing my sword. By the time the fight is over, all the goblins are sprawled on the dirt, and I am out of breath.
Looking at my HUD, I see that my red health bar is less than half and my green stamina bar is even lower.
"Okay," I wheeze, sheathing my sword. "Note to self. When fighting goblins, don't do it by yourself."
Bending backward and cracking my back, I go back to walking down the path. Seeing a curve in the stone path, I decide to cut through the grassy field, but after a few steps, I accidentally hit and trip over someone.
"Ouch! What in the world?"
Pushing myself up and looking back, I see a small group of players, knee-deep and hidden in the grass, picking flowers.
"Hey," one of the players shouts. "Those are my flowers! I need them for my quest."
"You can't claim flowers," another player shoots back. "Besides, I have the same quest! Hey!"
"Too late, I picked them," a third player yells.
Deciding that I would rather not be involved in the "Dandelion War of Aetherion", I quickly back away, making sure I didn't step on any flowers.
As I keep walking further down the pathway, I notice a set of wooden doors buried into the hillside. It looks like some sort of entrance, with lanterns hanging outside.
Hearing some familiar music, drums and horns, the words "Hollowvein Mine Discovered" appear in front of me.
"A mine? That's so awesome! Secret dungeon content!"
I walk toward the mine but stop when a shadow creeps out from behind some rocks. The shadow is wearing raggy armor, has a name above his head, and is armed with a short axe.
"Level 5. Bandit."
"Walk away," the bandit says, gripping his axe with both hands. "Now."
".....Okay," I say, turning around and walking away.
Quickly leaving the mine and getting back on the stone path, I follow it all the way to Briardstead. Thankfully, there were no further incidents on the road.
The trees thin, and the forest ends as I exit it, now entering a wide plain with a bunch of tiny houses, vegetable fields, and even a small, Instagram-worthy river. Just pass the houses, fields, and the river, I see giant stone towers, banners flapping in the breeze, and a massive city, with a single stone wall circling it.
Hearing more drums and horns, I smile when I see words appearing in front of me.
"The City of Briardstead Discovered."
"EpicFailers," I say, "Welcome to the big leagues."