1 Where?

A young man stood in the center of an ancient-looking circle. He had bags under his eyes and he wore simple overalls with a white shirt underneath. He had tanned skin and strong muscles however he wasn't muscle bound in any way that would affect him.

His eyes were as dead as a fish and his hair was a plain black color like thunderclouds. If you looked closer you could see a fine scar cutting across his cheek to the edge of his lip.

Slowly like water flowing through the cracks of the floor, the outline of the circles and the runes inside it started to glow from the outside and moved towards the center.

Three days ago, this man was called Alex Roger and he had been farming and enjoying his simple life however when sleep overtook him he found himself in this room. Around him stood thousands of people, huddled like a pack of sardines inside the circle.

Most of them appeared to be frightened, however, there were a select few who looked excited, joyful even. "I need a fucking cigarette" He groaned out loud.

With a flash of light, Alex was sent to the middle of nowhere with the people who crowded around him nowhere to be seen. It was a colorful forest with nature as far as the eye could see. Alex looked like a fish out of water in the situation however he relied on the skills he had gained through his survival days to regain his composure.

First, he looked at what he had on him. In front of himself he laid out a sharp survival knife with serrated edges, a silver flask to hold and store water in as well as a blue backpack with a folded tent that connected to the bag.

In the side pocket of the bag, he found a basic spyglass that could increase his vision by a bit. All the equipment had the small letter D- on them. Alex wasn't sure what it meant but it looked important. He also had some flint which would be quite useful for making a fire.

Alex packed up his equipment and focused. He enhanced his mind and focused on his surroundings, he managed to hear the thrashing of a lake near his location. He trudged through the mud and led by the sound he eventually found the lake.

The water was clear and seemed clear enough however just in case Alex made a makeshift filter. It wasn't complicated and was just a few leaves shaped like a funnel filled with pebbles.

Alex decided that this was probably a good location to set up a camp. He threw down his backpack and unpacked his tent.

After he gathered some dry wood set up a circular fire. With a few strikes of flint, the kinder set alight and the small fire rose up into the sky. Alex sat outside his tent and realized that his stomach was beginning to grumble. Luckily he noticed a harmless small rabbit eating some grass.

Alex grabbed his knife and stalked his prey. He kept his feet flat and made as little noise as possible. Alex knew he wouldn't be able to get close enough to stab the bunny and so instead he held the tip of the blade and aimed.

With great accuracy, the blade cut through the air and hit the bunny's head. *Peng* The sound was like a board wobbling and it hit the bunny's head. Alex walked up to the bunny and pulled his knife out before skinning it and cooking it over the fire on a makeshift wooden grill. Soon the meat darkened and was ready to eat.

The next morning Alex woke up and his fire had been exhausted leaving a pile of ash behind. Alex packed up his things and decided to explore the area. He headed north and found himself inside a city. If you looked around you could see collapsed buildings made out of some sort of shiny black steel while the roads were filled with dirt and muck.

Futuristic remains were all that was left of the city. Alex picked a house and walked inside of it. The floor above had collapsed blocking of any further access. The only way to continue was the stairs to the right.

As Alex walked up the stairs he realized that this building was bigger then he thought there were many flights of stairs and corridors that were easily unnoticed from outside. Alex walked down one of the corridors and entered a practically empty room. It looked like the other rooms, destroyed and collapsed however in the center of the room a metal crate was led there.

Alex walked up to it and stretched out his hand to open it. The top of the crate opened and a lot of smoke poured out of it as if a fire was burning inside. After the smoke cleared Alex looked inside of the crate and saw a large bow and some arrows in there. The bow was made out of the same type of metal as the buildings and although it was hard it was also flexible. The arrowheads were made out of the same meatal however sharpened to have an end as sharp as a claw.

Alex held up the bow and noticed a D+ on the wooden part of the bow. It seemed as if it was burned into the metal. It wasn't rough or jagged as you would expect but clean as if a robot had made it with a 0.0001 error.

Alex was about to walk out when he heard footsteps and ducked under the window. 2 men entered the corridors and a blonde man in the left said: "Haha there are a lot of newbies this time around, easy picking" And the man on the right asked "Yeah, but why did boss send us to this map? That treasure must be really important to him"

The man on the left suddenly went as pale as ash "Dude, don't ever question the boss, they say the last guy who did that was killed" "You really believe that? Haha, what a pussy" The men left the corridors and Alex let out his breath.

Alex walked back to his tent however he noticed movement. Immediately, he hid in shrubbery and drew back his bow until the strain was too strong. A man was attempting to loot his camp however it was basically empty and Alex basically stored nothing there other than a pelt, tent and some meat.

As the man was about to enter Alex's tent

*Swish*

An arrow cut through the air and pierced the man's arm. "Shitty bo," said Alex as he stared at the bow as if it was his son who was asking for praise after failing at life. He had aimed for the heart but the bow had no accuracy and went off course. Alex prepared another arrow to fire but the man fainted and collapsed onto the floor. "Weakling," he said with disdain.

Alex ended up healing the man up with herbs and plants that he had found from around the forest. After all, now the man was captured he could get information from the captive. The man slowly opened his eyes and tried to get up. There were vines tied around his arm to a tree meaning that he couldn't get up. There were many vines tied around each other so brute force wouldn't work. The man struggled but after a while, but eventually calmed down.

Now the man had stopped struggling Alex could see him properly. He was wearing a green pair of glasses and he was skinny as if he hadn't eaten for days. His hair was a shiny black, unlike Alex's messy black hair. He wore some plain green top and black jeans.

Alex started to question the man "Who are you? Where am I? Why are you here?" The man replied with "I will never answ-"

Alex kicked him in the stomach. "Sorry Sorry, I am Jack Young and I'm factionless. You are in a forest and nobody knows why we are here." Ignoring the second question the info helped quite a bit.

Alex thought a bit before asking "What do you mean factionless?" "Wow, you must be a complete newbie" Jack looked at Alex's glare and changed his attitude instantly.

"In this well ...'game', there are many faction and groups. Factions try to take over maps and get easy wins while the factionless mainly just hide in bushes until the time runs out" Annoyed by the explanation Alex replied, "Explain, what do you mean?"

"Right, there are many maps to play on with a time limit" Alex couldn't be bothered to learn all of this at once so he just waited for a bit. Before he knew it his stomachs and Jack's stomach began to ache and grumble and stared at Alex.

Alex went out to hunt and a few hours later came back with a pair of rabbits. "Thanks for getting me one," Jack said with an expectant look. Alex looked at him as if he was an idiot and ate both the rabbits.

Jack had a look of heartbreak and looked as he was a dog and his owner had just taken away his food. After eating his meal Alex went up to Jack and cut off the ropes. He then said with an expressionless face "Now go".

Jack looked at Alex before saying "Nope" "What?"

Alex looked strangely at Jack as he said that. "I will be your advisor, I will help with strategies, information, and intelligence. I can see it, I have met many people in this world but none have given off the feeling that you do. I know that you will become a powerhouse of this game one day, all I want in exchange is for you to do something" Alex decided to go along with this.

"What?" "When we get strong enough..." Jack's eyes lit up with bloodlust "Exterminate the Beast Faction" "Nope".

At first, Alex denied but after hours of begging from Jack, he finally agreed, however, Jack had to gather his own food and resources. He could follow but not stand by Alex's side.

While exploring with Jack, Alex noticed a man. He had pale skin, walked slowly and had white eyes. He was about to walk towards him but Jack stopped him and spoke

"That is a zombie" Alex looked at Jack with judging eyes. "No really, Every map has some sort of enemy other than other humans, this one just happens to have zombies."

As Jack said that the ground rumbled and 20 vehicles came out of the trees. They were quite small however they drove fast and the sound would be enough to frighten anyone.

As they passed the zombie they shot at it causing it to go down and never get back up. Jack gave his input "That was a faction, probably finding a place to create a base". Alex suddenly said "We have to leave"

"Why?" "Because they weren't finding a base, they have a base. If they were searching for a base they would split all the small vehicles off and protect the resources. They were probably clearing the area for more resources or people."

Jack mumbled something but eventually agreed and they headed off. Alex packed up his gear and headed south back to where he came from. He wanted to get far away from here since he couldn't handle a faction by himself.