Survival Zer0

Shade inspected the spot on his arm where the wolf had bitten him. His wound was now healed without even a scratch remaining. They had failed to notice it earlier but the game had rewarded them each with a healing potion for slaying the wolf. Thanks to this, Shade was able to treat his injury without issue.

"So, how did you end up here?" Asked Arora who was walking by his side. "I mean, I know an old guy pushed you in an arcade and all but why were you out so late at night anyway?"

"I was hungry so I decided to buy a snack," replied Shade.

"To buy a snack? Couldn't that wait until morning..?"

"I hadn't eaten all day because I had nothing to cook."

"What about your parents..? Couldn't they have made something for you?"

A moment of silence then passed before Shade responded. This made it evident to Arora that she had just touched on a sticky topic.

"I live alone so I have to prepare my own meals," replied Shade slowly.

"Oh... Where are your parents then, if you don't mind me asking..?"

"That's not important right now."

Arora bit her tongue. Shade barely knew her yet she was asking him quite a few private questions. It was rude of her.

"I'm sorry about that... I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. Maybe I'll tell you about it another time."

Shade then quickly adjusted himself before initiating a topic change. He had only just met Arora so he wasn't very interested in revealing too much about himself just yet.

"Enough about me. What about you? You still haven't told me how you got in here yourself."

"Oh, right! Sorry about that-"

Just then, before Arora could begin explaining what had happened to her, she began to glow with a strange blue light. They then immediately pulled themselves to a stop in anticipation.

"W-what's happening to me?!" She panicked.

"No idea, but be careful!" Warned Shade.

"Shade, look! The light's surrounding you too!"

Shade then quickly looked down at himself only to realize that the same blue light was radiating from his body as well. He had no clue as to what was happening.

However, before the two could exchange another word, a bright flash emerged, causing them to close their eyes to block the harmful light. A few seconds later, the light vanished and the sound of chatter and confusion came into play.

Upon reopening their eyes, they noticed something strange. They were no longer walking through the forest. Instead, they now stood in a small town filled with thousands of different people who looked just as confused as they were.

"What happened..? How did we get here?" Inquired Arora.

"I get it now... That blue light from earlier was meant to transport us to this town. It seems that someone force teleported us here!"

"Force teleported us..?"

"Yes, and it seems that it's not just us. Everyone else here looks just as confused as we are. I'm willing to bet that the same thing happened to them..."

"But why would anyone teleport us here?"

"I think we're about to find out. All that information that I've been wanting might just be given to us now!"

Almost on queue with Shade's words, a massive hologram of someone appeared in the sky above the town. To his surprise, the figure looked just like the old man who had pushed him into the arcade.

"Welcome all to the grand opening of the world's #1 survival game!" Began the old man, grabbing everyone's attention. "I'm sure you all must be confused but I assure you that I will explain everything shortly!"

Unfortunately, instead of staying calm and listening to what the old man had to say, a majority of the crowd began shouting angrily towards him.

"You said that I would become rich if I followed you!" Shouted one man.

"You tricked me!" Argued another girl.

"You said that I could get a girlfriend!!" Complained another.

The crowd was relentless. They all cursed the old man bitterly as if each of them had been tricked by him.

However, this allowed Shade to realize something important. He and Arora weren't the only ones who had been tricked by the elderly man. It seemed that every other person present had been tricked by him as well.

But this confused Shade particularly. How was it possible for the same person to trick thousands of people? To make it even weirder, Shade had a tugging suspicion that everyone had gotten trapped in the game around the same time. If his theory was correct, then it would be impossible for one person to do so much by himself. There had to be more to it.

"You are all inside a game called Survival Zer0!" Continued the old man. "Every one of you had decided to follow ME to the arcade because you had something that you wished to gain. ME also promised you that you could gain the answers to your needs once you had done as ME requested. Playing in Survival Zer0 will grant you the answers to your needs!"

"That's bullshit!!" Continued people from the crowd.

"We didn't sign up for a game! You tricked us!"

"Let us leave!"

The old man then continued, "As I'm sure all of you have already realized, there is currently no way to log out of Survival Zer0. If you wish to leave then you must beat the game. Now, how does one beat the game, you may ask? Please turn your attention to the screen that will appear momentarily. It will provide you with the necessary information!"

"Damn it! Let us out!!"

"We won't play this game!!"

The crowd continued to complain despite the old man's words. However, the old man had no intention of allowing anyone to leave.

Shortly after, a large screen appeared as the old man had predicted. It held the important details that were needed to understand how to beat the game. Shade and Arora then quickly turned their eyes to the screen.

According to the information provided to them, Survival Zer0 had a total of exactly 10,000 players. To win, each player needed to complete every available stage present within the game. There were a total of 20 stages starting from stage 1 with each stage situated in a different area or town.

Furthermore, each stage was PvP only. This meant that at every stage, players would be forced to challenge one another instead of bosses like a regular video game. Any player who was defeated in any of the stages would be eliminated from the game permanently, also meaning that they would die.

Shade hissed upon reading the instructions. A majority of the instructions were normal but the addition of players competing against one another with the losers being killed was horrendous.

Fear quickly washed over every player who read the instructions. There was no way things would end well.

"You're having us fight against one another and die?!! Are you out of your damn mind?!!!" Cursed a random player. The crowd quickly supported him with a mountain of complaints.

"The screen before you does not tell you everything!" Quickly announced the old man. "To make things easier, every player is allowed to join a team of 10. Members of a team can be transferred to different teams but team captains must remain with the team that they rule for the rest of the game. And finally, I advise you all to treat this game like real life! That will be all. Goodbye."

The hologram then vanished without a trace. Players immediately started panicking as they desperately searched for a way out.

Shade however remained calm as he took Arora's hand and moved through the chaos.

"S-Shade, I'm scared... What are we going to do..?" She cried.

Shade pondered. Many hadn't realized it yet but Shade had noticed that there was still a lot of missing information that the old man had not provided. No information in regards to weapons or special techniques had been mentioned.

There was also no information on how to create teams or how to even join them. The old man had even refrained from telling them how to make it to the first stage. These were all very important details that seemed to be purposely left out. Were they expected to figure things out by themselves as they played the game?

"Shade..? Are you listening..? What do we do next?" Asked Arora, snapping Shade from his thoughts.

"Sorry, but we need to keep gaining information if we hope to survive. Follow me!"