New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alexander and Kary disappeared into the clouds, Alex beating his wings madly, a sense of hurry overcoming him.

"What do you think this means?!" Kary shouted over the wind brushing her skin.

"I don't know! Violette once told me our bodies disappeared when we disconnected! But it seems they didn't, in that dungeon! I doubt we were the only ones who got this message!"

Kary frowned at his statement. She had also read online that their bodies didn't stay in New Eden when they disconnected.

For them to receive a notification from the game while disconnected was all but normal. She only hoped everyone could log back into New Eden in time, if they were in danger.

Across the world, another eight people received the same notification, bringing a frown to their faces. A few of them quickly headed back home to reconnect into New Eden, a few even making it faster than Alex and Kary.

But some otherwise could not move as quickly. Of them, Hector, also known as SharpTusk, who was currently miles away from home on his motorbike, enjoying the morning breeze, could hardly spin around on the highway.

Edvin almost had to fight his boss, just to get him to move out of his way as he darted off from the garbage triage center. He knew this would put him in a world of trouble, but he wasn't sacrificing his character for this crappy job.

Gaspard and Jeanine had to shove what remained of their breakfast crepes into their mouths and flag down a server rushing to pay for their food. They then ran their way home, sometimes hitting other people on the sidewalks, apologizing without stopping.

Two of the players in the party, Christine; character name Twinxie, and George; character name Food Goblin, who didn't have pods, didn't even receive the notification. They were made aware by Clarissa, or Peaceful Grove in New Eden, who had them both on her friends list.

Christine had to fake illness, just so her teacher would let her leave school, which took her a lot more time than she would have liked, while George lied to his boss that he had a family emergency, so he could leave the office.

The first ones to log back in were Violette and Galtion, who were still home when they received the notification. When they opened their eyes, what met them was a blazing ceiling.

All around both of them, in each of their respective rooms, the walls, ceiling, and parts of the floor were on fire.

Violette quickly started channelling her magic to stop the fire from spreading in her room, while Galtion bolted out of the room, bursting through the door. As he did, he quickly saw the extent of the fire.

In the long hallway filled with doors, a few of them were ajar, with people running toward the staircase at the end of the hall. But all the doors to his companion's rooms were still closed.

He couldn't let them burn, so he did the only thing his mind thought of.

Slamming his body into the first door next to him, he entered the room, which seemed empty. Galtion hadn't paid attention to which rooms were theirs, and he realized this, now that he had to look for his friends.

Seeing nothing but an inferno in this room, Galtion ran back out, just in time to see Violette bust out the door, a bubble of water surrounding her, and water jets fusing in every direction.

"Violette! We need to find the others!"

Violette spun her head to Galtion, calling to her, and nodded briskly.

"I'll take the end of the hall! You go towards the stairs!" she shouted back, running past him.

Galtion didn't dally, dashing past her as well, as he started slamming into every door on the way toward the stairs. He quickly found a person, although not one of his friends.

In the back of the second room he opened, was a woman savagely trying to break open the windows, with little success. Grasping at her robe, was a little boy, whose eyes were streaming with tears, that dried up before even reaching his chin in the blazing heat of the room.

Galtion pulled out his spear, and dashed forward, shouting "Move!"

The woman jumped back in fright, when suddenly a man in metal armour lunged toward her, spear at the ready. But as she moved aside, the man kept moving and charged through the windows, exploding them outward, along with the wall they were part of.

She looked at him, mouth agape, as he turned his helmeted head towards her.

"Go! Now!" Galtion screamed.

The woman snapped out of her stupor, grabbing her son and looking out the now busted outer wall. The jump down wasn't very high, as they were only on the second floor, but she couldn't hesitate. She jumped down with her son in her arms, landing with a muffled cry, before getting on her feet and limping away from the burning inn.

Galtion nodded to himself, before moving on to the next room.

As this happened, Violette was already breaking open a door further down the hall with a pressurized water jet, sending the door exploding inward in a shrapnel rain. In this room was Twinxie, whose Pixie friend was buzzing frantically around, visible to the naked eye.

Violette ran to the bed.

"I can get her out! Get to a safe place on her!"

The Pixie held her hands forward, a menacing glow around them, before recognizing the girl in the water bubble. She floated to Twinxie, getting inside a tunic pocket, as Violette channelled her magic.

A massive gout of water exploded from her water bubble, bashing into the wall of the room that led to the outside, and shattering it like a house of cards. Violette then focused the gout downward, making a ramp with it, and turned her head to Twinxie.

With her left hand, she made a twisting motion, willing a water bubble around the fey girl, and rolled it into the gout of water. The water bubble suddenly jerked forward, following the flowing water downward, like a ball in a tube, until it rolled on the gravel road below.

Violette nodded to herself and snapped around. Her job wasn't over yet.