Chapter 1

“Goodnight Mom, Goodnight Dad.” Said Lewis as he finished putting away the cleaned dishes. “Goodnight louie!” said his mother. Lewis sighed, he had expressed his dislike of that nickname multiple times, to no avail. He goes to his room and opens up his mini fridge by his computer, takes out a coke, and opens it. He sits down on his chair, and boots up his computer. As it’s booting up, his thoughts drift to an idea, the idea that’s been the source of his many hours spent online. What if, the world were a game. Your actions, your money, your ideas, could all be made so long as you had the resources. Anyone could make a store, anyone could become strong. This thought is what prompted Lewis to begin creating a game called The Rift. An idea shared among him and his friends where it would be a world like ours, at half the size, with landmarks exclusive to its world. This world would be known as Gaia. Lewis snaps back to reality as he realizes he spent an hour dreaming of his perfect world, and he sees that his game, has officially released. He smiles, and launches the game. No one would be on at this time, and he would rather simply listen to the melodies created by his friend Takashi. The wonderful music soothes his mind, as he drifts to sleep in his chair.

“System load, complete. Activating player consciousness. Consciousness found, rousing player. Player has awoken, starting simulation…” Lewis hears a faint voice, almost like a female robot. He groans and opens his eyes, he sees his computer, but he doesn't see his desktop, he sees an icon, the icon of his game. He’s confused since they never implemented a loading screen with the Rift logo, yet here it is. “Player, choose your pack.” Lewis turns around at this, trying to find the source of the voice. Instead, he finds 3 bags on his bed. A knapsack, a rucksack, and a duffel bag. He reaches to open a bag, and is unable to, almost as if it was sealed shut. He looks at the bags and notices that the sizes are different. The knapsack is the smallest, while the duffel bag is the largest. Lewis decides the best choice would be the rucksack. He picks it up and the other 2 disappear. While Lewis remains confused the door to his room swings open. Lewis walks out the door, and down the hall he sees a table with guns on it. Knowing he will have to choose one he goes to the table. ¨Choose two primary weapons, a secondary, and a heavy weapon.¨ He sees an AR-15 assault rifle, a pump action shotgun, an AK-47, an Uzi, and an MP5. Knowing he is bound to have both close quarters and long range encounters, Lewis chooses the AR-15, and the pump action shotgun. The guns disappear and instead pistols of all types appear. There's a colt M1911, a colt python, a desert eagle, a P99, a Glock 17, and a Beretta M9. Lewis knowing he would much rather prefer power over anything, picks up the python. The guns again disappear, and in their place appears a strange assortment of, what he assumes to be ¨heavy weapons.” on the table he sees an XM8, an M16, a HK21, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, and surprisingly, a sword. Deciding he already has a pretty good assortment of weapons, Lewis says "Why not?" and takes the sword. The table and its contents disappear and Lewis sees in his living room three sets of armor appear. One looking like a knight from the medieval ages, one looking like a futuristic cyborg suit, and another looking like a Western Cowboy. He selects the 3rd set, and was instantaneously equipped with everything he had chosen. His clothes had been replaced with the robes, his pistol and shotgun lie at his hips, and his assault rifle and sword on the sides of his rucksack. Ahead of him, the other two armor sets disappear,and in place he sees a cowboy hat. He puts on the head wear and is greeted with a strange, but interesting user interface. In the top left corner he can see his health, mana, and level. At the top right he has what appears to be a map of his surroundings. On the bottom right, he sees his currently equipped weapon, and its ammo. Currently it says fists so he decides to grab his python and sees that the weapon name changes, and now shows Python, 6/18, showing that he has 6 rounds in the gun, and 18 left over. He puts the gun back on his hip. After this, his front door swings open. Clearly meaning, that he has to leave. So, since he doesn't know what's out there, he grabs his AR-15, and heads out. What he sees, is something he could never have imagined. From his doorstep, he sees a world of absolute wonder. Where his street used to be, he sees a dirt road. Off in the distance he sees fields of grass, a forest farther away, and floating islands in the sky. He steps down onto the dirt road, and in a flash, his house disappears. Knowing there’s no turning back, he looks down each end of the road. At one end he sees a town, and the other, a forest. He decides to head to the town, eager to learn about this world, and see if anyone else is here. He starts walking towards the town, his rifle ready, should anything happen.

 Lewis walks down the road to the village in the distance, when suddenly he hears yelling. He sees a man running towards him being chased by some creature. It towers over the man, with a very tiny head, and what seems to be a skull for a face. Lewis runs towards the man and asks him whats wrong. The man says, “I was gathering herbs when this Revelo attacked me for no reason.” Lewis looked up and say the creature barreling towards them. Lewis pulls out his ar15, and aims at the monster. “Be careful, It’s skull is one of the strongest materials in the world,” says the man. Lewis shoots once at It’s skull, and the bullet hits it in the forehead. He remembers his dad taking him to a gun range every month, and is glad he did. The shot ricochets with a loud clang. Lewis takes note that its skull is somewhat bullet proof. He pulls out his sword and his Revolver. “Well, if it won't die easily, guess I better get busy.” he runs towards it and jumps, shooting 3 rounds into its leg. The Revelo falls as its leg can no longer support it. Lewis lands on its back and goes to its head. It tries to shake Lewis off, but he stabs his sword into its back, giving him something to hold on to. It rears its front legs and continues to try and shake him off. Lewis looks up and sees that the Revelo doesn't have any protection on the back of its head. He aims his revolver, and takes a shot. It goes through, and the Revelo shudders, before falling. Unfortunately, Because it was standing, it’s going to fall backwards, and Lewis is in the way. He swings off, leaving the sword in its back. The Revelo falls with a loud thump. Lewis gets up and walks over to it. The man comes running towards him, “Iv’e never seen someone take down a Revelo alone. It usually takes 4 or 5 men. Just who are you?” Lewis looks at the man, “My name is Le-,” he thinks about it, and whether or not it would be a good idea to tell this man his real name, “My name is Lyre.” The man looks bewildered, and simply stares at him. “Liar? As in, L, I, A, R?” Lewis suddenly realized how his new name has a double meaning. “No, Lyre, as in, L, Y, R, E.” The man pondered the name, then nods his head and walks over to the Revelo. He pulls out a stone hatchet and removes the Revelos skull. He hands it Lewis, “Here, since you killed it. I’ll take the rest of it, that skull is the most useful part anyways.” Lewis takes it, and cleans it off. The skull has a nice polished look to it. Lewis goes over to its back and tries to pull out his sword. He feels a small bump and moves his finger over it, suddenly a large flame erupts from the Revelos stomach, and Lewis feels the sword move around, he pulls it out and sees the sword is on fire. The stranger looks at it and opens his mouth in amazement. “My god, you have a relic!” Lewis looks at him questioningly, and the man responds. “Relics are ancient weapons with mysterious powers. Anyone who holds them is said to be strong enough to rule a country.” The man then kneels in front of Lewis, clearly the sword holds some form of power. Lewis runs his finger over the bump and the flame dissipates. Lewis cuts the skull in half to where only the front is removed. He puts it up to his face and he feels a surge of power, suddenly he feels something wrapping itself around the back of his head. He pulls the mask off, and sees cords disappearing. He puts it back on his face and he feels the cords again. He removes his hand and sees that the mask stays on his face. He looks around and sees the stranger disappeared. Lewis goes back to the path and continues to walk towards it.

~ ~ ~

“Look , I know as much as you do alright? If I knew what was going on, I would have said something,” Said James, sitting around a campfire on the edge of a town named Roronoa. Around him, were 4 others. A girl named Sophia, her sister Emily, a young boy named Luke, and his twin brother Will. They had all found themselves in this strange new world, with some weapons, and, and some supplies. Unfortunately, the twins, Will and Max, were too young to use the guns, and no one else could use them. So they just sit behind while James carried their guns in his duffel bag. He could still use their ammo, just not their guns. Luckily for him, they choose pretty decent guns, so he doesn’t have to worry about the ammo being useless. It was a strange thing they learned pretty quickly. Only the original owner of a weapon can use it, but the ammo can be used by anyone. “So, what do we do now? I mean, this world seems set in the medieval ages but, we have guns, when all they have are swords. They called us Guardian's, almost as if we were meant to be here. Right sis?” Emily looked up at her older sister Sophia, and Sophia nodded, whatever brought them here, it was for a reason. James was stirring a pot of soup when suddenly they hear shouting. The group of 5 get up and rush to the town square. They see a group of 10 men forcing the villagers to give them everything they own. The men have guns, so clearly they are of the same type as James and the others. They hid behind some bushes with a clear view to the square, thinking what to do. One of the villagers, a woman, has her child taken from her. The men laugh as they joke about making her a slave. James decides enough is enough, but before he can do anything, the man falls, blood oozing from his skull. The kid runs to his mom, and the men look around, scared. One of them grabs a man and yells, “What just Happened!” The villager says, “I don’t know,” and the man tosses him aside and holds up his gun. “If you don’t show yourself, I’ll kill every man and women here!” Suddenly, the man is grabbed from behind and put into a choke hold with a gun at his head. The other men turn and look, as does James, and what he sees sends shivers down his spine. A man with a cowboys hat, a skull mask, and a trench coat, holds the bandit by the throat, aiming a gun at his head. The man yells for his men to shoot, but his men all step back, scared by this stranger. The stranger, The man in the mask, shoots both the bandit’s legs, making him unable to walk. He drops the man and walks towards the other bandits. He aims at the bandits. Sophia scoffs, clearly amused at this cowboy that came to the rescue. The men laugh, and open fire on the stranger,.  James winces, thinking the man is dead, but then they hear the clinking of metal and see the man blocking the bullets with a sword. The group of 5 all look in amazement as the man in the mask blocks the bullets and shoots the bandits in between swings. In a few moments, all the bandits lie dead, with the leader trying to crawl away. He walks to him, and the leader begs for mercy. The man in the mask speaks, and says, “Did you give the villagers mercy when they asked for it? Didn’t think so.” He shoots the man in the head, and walks to the villagers. The villagers are scared, but he drops a bag holding their belongings. He starts walking away, and James can only stare at this amazing person, whoever they might be.

James and the group find the stranger walking out of town, and decided to ask him some questions. Before they can catch up, he pulls out his sword and revolver, and aims at James. James puts his hands up in surrender, but Sophia has her rifle ready to shoot. The man shoots at James feet, and Sophia shoots him in the face. “Sophia! You just killed him!” Sophia looks at James and sees he’s alright, and looks back at the man. She breathes sharply, as she sees the strange man is still alive, a spot where she shot him, and red eyes looking at her from behind the mask. He brought his revolver to her face, and before he could do anything else, a gunshot was heard. They all turn to a man running towards them, and a monster chasing him. The man waved his hands, almost as if asking for help. Before he can get closer, the creature’s claw protrudes from his chest, and blood erupts from his mouth. The beast then tosses his body aside, and sets his eyes on the group. “Run, Run!” James yells, pushing everyone in the opposite direction. The Creature starts running after them, clearly faster. James turns around and pulls out a Winchester shotgun. He aims at the creature, and fires. The creature staggers for a bit, then looks up and keeps running at him. He fires more shots until his gun runs out of ammo. As he fumbles with reloading, the creature gets close enough to attack. As it rears its arm back, ready to swipe, it staggers, falling over. Behind it, stands the strange man, a different revolver in his hand. He puts his gun pack on his hip. Sophia yells, “James! Are you okay?” James nods, and turns back to look at the man. The man nods, and starts to leave. “Wait! Your name, what is it.?” The man turns back, pulls out his sword, and swings a few times on a nearby tree. He puts the sword away, and starts walking. James goes up to the tree, and sees it says Lyre. James turns to look at the man walking towards the castle in the distance. He wonders just who this man is, and why he has a sword and a revolver, instead of other weapons.