01: One Thousand and One

The setting appears to be somewhere you'd found in Wonderland. I figured they're trying to reference it with the moderator's character. So, do they expect me to play Alice now?

I stared at the rabbit before me. His height was no taller than three feet, including his ears. A small fedora sat on his head. A bow tie below his chin. He could have looked cute if not for his voice. My hand itched to touch that soft-looking white fur.

"Before you do something unthinkable, I advice you to touch that code on your wrist. It will tell you everything you'd need to know." I did as he told, seeing the number 1001 written vertically. A transparent screen floated in midair with my name on it. My mind is still in a haze, but seeing this made it worse. It was filled by question marks and contained my first name on top of it.

Player #1001

Name: Nero ???

Race: Soul

Age: 19

HP: ???

MP: ???

STATS

Strength: ???

Mana: ???

Vitality: ???

Agility: ???

Luck: ???

Intellect: ???

SKILLS

None

SPECIAL SKILLS

???

Battle Points: 0

I tried to rub the number off my skin, but it didn't do anything. It seemed to be printed permanently on it. I checked what appeared to be my stats and profile. Only my age, race, and name is known. What kind of race is a soul, anyway? Weird enough, even I do not know anything about myself. It looks like I lost my memories.

I turned to the rabbit earlier and found out he was gone. The hole where he came from had vanished too. Moving on, I scrolled on the screen. There are countless of question marks on my stats that I gave up halfway through it. I doubt it'll help in my current situation.

A wooden sign popped out on the bark of the nearest tree. The arrow pointing at the path ahead urged me to go to that direction. Hesitantly, I followed it and ended up in a wide clearing. One after the other, people I do not know of started coming out of the trees around it. Kids, teenagers, adults, and the elderly. Be it male and female. Soon, the clearing was filled with hundreds of them.

After a few minutes, a humongous screen was formed in the sky above us. Various faces and player numbers were shown in there. There were a thousand players participating in this game. I was not included in the list, which added more to my confusion. I observed the people around me and specifically paid attention to their wrists. I perceived the numbers there are their player ID. And mine is one thousand and one.

'An extra participant, are you?' I remembered what Metatron, the rabbit, told me the moment we met on the woods.

"Welcome to the Afterlife, Unfortunate Souls." His voice spoke again from the screen. It displayed his white furry face. Most people were surprised to see him just as I was earlier. Perhaps, not all of them had already met him. "Ah, yes, yes. Every one of you are still confused as to why you were here. I am sure you remember what happened before you found this place."

Gasps filled the clearing. A man nearby fell on his knees with tears welling on his eyes. "I died?"

"Yes! Each one of you died," he said cheerfully. "But do not fret, my dear souls. You still have a chance to live."

A chance to live, the words reverberated through my head. It sounded promising, but such price comes with compensation. Surely, resurrection is the reward of this game.

"Of course, not everyone will be revived. There will be no need to gather you all here if such feat can be done with ease." The rabbit fixed his circular eyeglasses while he explained. "Survive the first stage and you will know what lies ahead towards revival. Remember, survival is the key here. You die, you lose." He raised his small hand as the words Stage One and Begin appeared on the screen. "Let the game begin!"

The screen turned black then quickly vanished. Silhouettes of several objects started pouring down from the sky. As its shadows almost covered the whole clearing, I realized they weren't objects at all. They were monsters from different franchises from the real world. I scrambled towards the woods before I got crushed underneath the falling creatures. The ground shook as their bodies met it. I ran for my life without daring to look back. How did it come to this? How did I even die in the first place?

I tried to remember my life before death. Nothing important came to mind. Am I so unlucky to even forget my own identity?

I screamed internally from both excitement and fear as I saw my favorite electric rat frying the players around it. It still looked cute, but freaking deadly.

Unaware of the game's mechanics, I ran for my life and hid within the forest. An auburn haired man, probably around my age, sprinted with me. Despite his athletic look and my frail body, we ran the same pace and reached the woods without encountering any monsters.

"Hey there! Kinda sucks that we died, right?" He asked joyfully regardless of the topic. "And my best friend was close to answering my confession too. What a bad timing."

So, he's the friendly type, huh? I envy his liveliness. I wish I had that much of energy to waste in pointless conversations.

"I got hit by a car before dying. How 'bout you?" His casual tone felt weird to me. I guess that's just how he is.

"I'm not sure," I plainly responded. It's the truth anyway.

"You loss your memory?"

"I guess." I watched what happened behind the brush we were hiding in. The clearing was very chaotic. Some unlucky people did not reach the woods and died in the clearing. They turned into pixels which rose to the sky. Three big numbers covered the center of it. From the looks of it, they must be a countdown. My guess was proven right when I saw the words above them.

PLAYERS LEFT

824

Eight hundred twenty-four?! Almost two hundred had died already?! The game only started less than seven minutes ago!

Suddenly, I was hurled to the ground with the brunette player beside me. My health and magic bar appeared on the corner of my vision. My HP got decreased by five points. I immediately sat to look at our assailant. A shiver ran down my spine after seeing the furry beast towering over us. Pointy ears. Sharp teeth and claws. Bulky build. Guys, it's a freaking werewolf! It's a mediocre monster in most RPGs, but don't expect me to fight one with this frail body of mine! An average human will not stand a chance against this guy. And I'm below average. I guess this is it for me.

"What the—" Oh right. He's still here. "Is that a freaking werewolf?" Does he have to ask the obvious?

My mind started to process about what I can do in our current situation. With my stats full of questions marks, I doubt I can scheme something. For now, the best plan is to escape. There's no way we can fight that big bad wolf, but I'll surely need an ally to survive.

I dragged him to his feet as we ran deeper to the woods. It's better than being out in the open. Normally, I do not trust any player in online games. But this is a do-or-die situation.

"I'm Luke," he told me once we lost our pursuer. It wouldn't take long till the werewolf find us again. This is the only chance to discuss our plan. "How about you?"

"Nero," I answered him. My eyes darted to his wrist. "Let me see your stats."

He shot me a look of wonder. "Why?"

"I have a plan."