After selecting the Havok Bringer Class, I expected to get more information, some cool armor, or something. What I got instead were directions.

  Class selected - Progress through the tutorial level for more information on your selected class. You will be fully briefed on your class selection upon completing the tutorial and exiting the tutorial.

  Objective 1. – Progress through the tutorial level. Survive to reach the shipyard and escape.

  Bonus Objective – Defeat Tutorial Boss

  “What the hell?” I said, throwing my hands up in frustration, “I didn’t get anything, I was expecting some cool armor, a badass weapon or something. Instead, I got no information and nothing to help me; what am I supposed to do now?”

  “Stay calm, Andrew. It is not unusual that most participants receive no upgrades until completion of the tutorial level,” Tiff said. “The Lacertines have taken steps to ensure that most participants expire early. The fewer participants who progress, the higher the chances that they won’t have any issues securing the right of reaping.”

  Tiff walked over to stand in front of me, ensuring I was paying full attention as she spoke, “Listen, Andrew. The safe area is about to open. When it does, you have to be ready. There will be enemies of some sort, I am sure of that. They won’t be high leveled enemies, but they will be at a higher level than you. The main goal here is to survive. Once the safe room disappears, you will be back in your clothes with all of the possessions you had during transport. Hopefully, you have something useful, but if not, you will need to move fast and only engage if you absolutely have to. You will receive experience for killing in the tutorial, and it is possible to level up, especially since everything here will be at a higher level than you. Find a tool that you can use to fight. The shipyard will be in the center of the level; it’s usually 4 or 5 miles squared, big, but not so big that you can’t get to the center in a couple of hours.”

  She placed her hands on my shoulders to emphasize the next part: “I need you to listen closely now. There will be a boss. It shouldn’t be over Level 5, but that is still way too high for you to try and fight. If you see it, run. Do you understand?”

  I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Stay away from the boss; it looks like it is only a bonus objective, so I can complete the tutorial without killing it,” I said as I paced back and forth, still covering my private parts, taking deep breaths. It felt like I was about to run onto the field for the season’s first football game. I was nervous; I was scared. The difference here is that the opposing players were literally going to be trying to kill me.

  Just as I finished speaking, Tiff started to phase out right in front of me. One of the four grey walls started to slowly slide down into the ground with a grating noise like concrete scraping concrete, and my interface changed. A large countdown populated the center of my screen with numbers counting down from 10.

  Combat commencing in:

  10...

  9...

  8...

  “Tiff! Where did you go?!” I shouted. My heart was pounding in my chest as the realization of what was about to happen hit me.

  “I’m here. You can’t see me, but we can still communicate. Get ready and be aware of your surroundings,” she said reassuringly.

  7...

  I noticed a figure in the lower left-hand corner of my interface surrounded in green. Does that signify my health? Ugh, I don’t know but can’t think about that now, I thought to myself.

  At the top right was a mini-map with a green dot in the middle and nothing else around it.

  The top left showed my level as 1 with an experience bar underneath.

  3...

  2...

  1...

  I slightly bent my knees and tensed my body, readying myself to move swiftly. Holding my arms by my sides, my focus shifted from my nakedness—now that Tiff had left me alone in the safe room—to the need for speed and preparedness. The alarm’s blare, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, and the flashing of the now red lights in the room accelerated my heartbeat, now almost audible in my chest. As the door completed its opening, I peered out into what appeared to be... roads… and buildings. The mystery dungeon looked like an American military base. I spent some time working on Ft. Cavasos so I was familiar with what a military base looked like. Uncertain of what lay ahead, I had braced for an alien landscape, yet here I was, seemingly about to battle for survival on a familiar military base. Admittedly, the base was in disrepair: overgrown vegetation, cracked streets, and a gloomy red-orange sky. Stepping out of the safe room, I glanced back only to find it vanished, replaced by more overgrown streets and crumbling buildings. The site looked abandoned for years, maybe decades, which was perplexing since the drop had occurred just three years prior. Military bases should have been bastions for officials and dignitaries. How could one fall so quickly into ruin? The answer dawned on me as I inhaled deeply, ran my fingers through my hair, and looked up to see not one but two moons.

  “Well, that answers one question,” I remarked.

  As I walked, my clothing and pack materialized onto my body. I clenched a fist in triumph, relieved to no longer be naked. It was a minor victory given my current predicament, but I embraced it nonetheless.

  “Stay focused, Andrew. First things first, you need to find something to use as a weapon. Keep an eye on the mini-map in your interface; it’ll mark enemies with red dots if they’re close. A red crown will indicate the boss. If you see that, run,” Tiff instructed.

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  I dashed toward a large building that was an armory based on the sign hanging loosely at an angle. It was inaccessible; all entrances were locked. I suspected this was intentional, most likely to force participants to navigate toward the tutorial level’s center rather than taking refuge in buildings. I crouched against the wall at the building’s edge, scanning the area to orient myself.

  “This is a military base; I’m sure there are guns or rocket launchers in this building,” I told Tiff.

  “They wouldn’t have stocked those. This place is designed to resemble something familiar for Earth’s participants to ease the transition, but you won’t find free weapons,” she replied, “Do you even know how to use a rocket launcher?”

  “I mean, it can’t be that hard, right? I know you don’t aim it at the enemy; you aim it at the ground in front of them. If Halo taught me anything, it was that,” I replied.

  “Wow, you are basing your weapons expertise on a first-person shooter?” Tiff asked in disgust.

  “No, of course not!” I protested, “I am basing my weapons expertise on the pinnacle of first-person shooters!”

  “Please focus on the goal here, Andrew. There will not be any rocket launchers to help you, so you need to find something else to use as a weapon.”

  Looking around, I noticed the auto shop named “Sprocket.”

  “The garage door of that auto shop is open. I bet I can find something useful in there,” I said as I ran towards it. I attempted to stay low and move tactically, but realistically, the closest I’d ever come to being a soldier was maxing out my character in Call of Duty. Nevertheless, I was here now and needed to be cautious.

  Approaching the garage, I could see inside. The walls were lined with tools typical of an auto garage. Most were useless, but one item caught my attention—a large, black tire iron with a curved end and a flat spike. “Perfect,” I muttered, stepping out towards the garage.

  As I took my first step, a loud chittering noise stopped me. I stopped, mentally berating myself for ignoring my mini-map, which now showed a red dot where the garage was. A bulbous-headed humanoid creature walked past the open door inside the building. About three feet tall, it had a large head, two almond-shaped black eyes, two small nasal slits, and thin lips. Its neck and limbs were slender, but its middle was round. It was the quintessential alien, albeit orange, chittering as it paced. Above its head, a description appeared:

  Trimean Ground Pounder– Level 3

  I stopped short of the garage door and pressed my back against the wall outside, “Tiff, there is a problem.”

  “What is the problem?” She asked.

  “Something my interface identified as a level 3 Trimean,” I said.

  “I told you there would be enemies. What is the problem?” she asked.

  “It is in the garage. I don’t think I can get inside without it seeing me,” I whispered.

  “You need that weapon,” Tiff insisted. Trimeans aren’t very dangerous; just try to avoid their bite. Their mouths can expand to three times their normal size and are filled with razor-sharp teeth. It could sever an arm if it gets a grip, so try to approach stealthily.”

  “Wow…you’re really selling the not very dangerous thing. I mean, what is dangerous about a giant mouth full of razor-sharp damn teeth?” I hissed in frustration. “So, I’m supposed to try to kill that thing?” I whispered. “I don’t know if I can ki...”

  As I was speaking, the Trimean turned to face me and howled. The sound was terrifying and resembled a dog’s howl.

  “What the hell!?” I screamed in horror as the alien barreled toward me, its beady eyes now angrily focused on me. The Trimean rushed toward me, but its short legs gave me enough time to move. I dodged it and ran toward the shop, hoping to get a weapon to fight this little nightmare. Stumbling into the shop, I made a beeline for the tire iron, but just as I reached out to grab it from the wall, something slammed into the back of my legs—it was the Trimean. It had somehow closed on me and wrapped its arms around me while continuing to howl. Despite its tiny stature, it was incredibly strong.

  I grabbed its grey arms and struggled to pry it off me, but I saw it open its mouth as I looked back. It was like something from a nightmare—three times the size of a human mouth, with rows of sharp teeth and a slimy, purple tongue wriggling inside. It was still howling.

  “IT’S GONNA BITE MY ASS!” I screamed.

  I began to spin, attempting to dislodge the creepy little alien from my back. I saw a large three-tiered rolling toolbox positioned against the wall next to me, so, using my larger body to my advantage, I pushed back and slammed the Trimean against it, pinning his bulbous head in a sideways position. The Trimean grunted in pain but didn’t let go; it still had a death grip on my lower body but could no longer position its head to bite me.

  I glanced over at the tire iron. One more time and with all the strength I could muster, I pushed back, ensuring once again that the Trimean didn’t bite down on my unguarded backside. Simultaneously, I reached out with my right hand and grabbed the tire iron. The Trimean had enough situational awareness to understand that I now had a weapon and let go of my lower body to gain a more advantageous position. Before it could reengage, I spun around, trapping its body against the toolbox with my right arm, allowing me to gain position to strike with the tire iron in my left hand. The creepy little creature looked up defiantly, howling like a rabid dog, its monstrous mouth wide open. Looking into the multitudinous row of teeth and straining, I grasped the tire iron with two hands and slammed the sharp end into that creepy open mouth. The tire iron plunged into the throat of the creepy little alien, the odd sensation of metal piercing flesh and cracking bone registering as I pushed the tire iron deeper. As its purple tongue wriggled, the alien croaked and gagged on a mix of blood and iron as the spike exploded out the back of its big, bulbous head. The alien’s body went limp. Black, thick blood oozed out of the wound in the back of its head as I jerked the tire iron back out. I stood there over the limp, dead body as I received a notification:

  Level 3 Trimean Ground Pounder defeated.

  Experience earned!

  The words blinked across my interface as I stumbled backward into a pile of tools on a workbench. “Jesus! What the literal fuck was that thing?!” I asked as I dropped the tire iron, backed away from the dead Trimean, and put my shaking hands up to my head. I pulled my hands away, realizing, only after touching my face, that they were covered in blood. Tiff explained what this dungeon would be. She told me I would face enemies, but it didn’t register until now. I would have to kill, or I would die. I looked down at the dead Trimean, now lying crumpled on the ground, blood pooling around its limp body. This is the first thing I’ve ever killed. My hands won’t stop shaking. I can smell the metallic tinge of blood in the air. Blood still bubbles from the Trimean’s mangled mouth, and I realize that I took a life. The realization was sobering and horrific but not as sobering as the knowledge that I would most likely have to do it again if I didn’t want to be in the same position as the dead alien lying on the ground in front of me.

  “That was a Trimean,” Tiff said. “Is your interface not working?”

  Tiff’s words snap me back to reality, “Yes, my damn interface is working, but what, what even? I mean, I’ve never seen anything like that!”

  “Andrew, aliens are trying to take your planet; expect to see some weird shit. Process it, and let’s keep moving,” she said, like the fact that I just took a life didn’t even register with her. “You didn’t die, and now you have a weapon. Let’s take an inventory of what else you have and then let’s get to the shipyard.”

  I sat in the corner and pulled off my pack to take inventory. Feeling the weight of the old pack in my hands brought a sense of comfort. This was a piece of home, and it gave me a small sense of security to have something familiar to me in this unfamiliar alien place.

  “I don’t really have much; some food, some water, some first aid stuff, a flare gun…a flare gun!” I said excitedly. “That can be useful, but I only have three shots.”

  “Okay, keep your pack on you; we may need it later,” Tiff said. “We have to get moving.”

  “You did well, Andrew,” Tiff said reassuringly. “We just might get through this tutorial, but you must stay calm and keep moving. Now, take a few minutes to rest. Get some food and water into your system. Then, let’s get to that shipyard.”