Sparrow walked through the city. Minutes passed by like seconds. He wasn’t sure what was real or not. Was he dreaming, or was this hell?

  He accepted that he might have died. No one knew what happened after death, this might be the after life. However, why did he want to rule out the possibility that this was limbo?

  As Sparrow walked past countless players, he considered asking one of them to check on his body in the real world. He wanted confirmation on his status. Had he died, or was he in a coma in some hospital. The chance of him surviving that fall was slim.

  If he did, he most likely would be in critical condition. An eight story drop isn’t something a person could brush off.

  He’d be better off dead if he managed to survive. Not much of life to live if he was paralyzed or brain damaged.

  It was still weird how he was logged in. Even if he had survived the fall, he shouldn’t be connected to the game anymore.

  Then a thought occurred to him which caused him to pause mid walk. What if he wasn’t actually himself, but a collection of memories.

  That isn’t possible? Right? What if his consciousness was uploaded into the game during the game’s start up.

  After saying “game start” it takes around thirty seconds for the player to be transported into the game. It might be likely that a glitch occurred.

  Sparrow rubbed his head in frustration.

  What the hell am I going on about!? A simple glitch in the system shouldn't result in this sci-fi nightmare.

  At this point however, this was the most likely explanation. Otherwise he’d have to accept the fact that this was the after life.

  I need to get outta here somehow.

  Logging out wasn’t an option. Sparrow didn’t understand why pressing it didn’t disconnect him. Perhaps Sparrow might be a different entity entirely in the game’s system and logging out was one of the things that couldn’t be afforded to him.

  He thought about sure fire ways to get booted out of the game. One way was through getting the admin’s attention.

  If he were to just start verbally assaulting people and spewing profanities, maybe he would get reported and he’d get banned. However the thought of that bothered him.

  While it would be extremely embarrassing, Sparrow wanted to take his own life. He didn't want it taken by the hands of others. Especially in such a degrading fashion, like being deleted by mods for having an outburst.

  If they never encountered a situation like his, he might be studied rather than deleted.

  Sparrow stopped in place. A few censored curses were thrown at him by the people walking behind him.

  It was a funny feeling knowing that these players were oblivious that they were in the presence of a dead man. Maybe.

  Sparrow left through the city gates and began wandering aimlessly. Trapped in his own thoughts, he felt like a spectre walking through the world.

  He passed by parties of players, on their way to and from quests. In the background he heard parties engaging monsters and the sounds of might and magic.

  Sparrow looked out at the players and wondered if God's idea of infernal punishment would be to stick him in a MMO.

  Eventually he saw a group of blue slimes laying several meters off the pathway. They were a bit deflated, kind of relaxed. Perhaps they were just enjoying the sunlight.

  While it had been a while since he played the game he still remembered how to mark enemies.

  Sparrow slightly squinted his eyes and stared intently at one of the slimes. In an instant its entire body blinked red.

  A name appeared at the top of Sparrow’s vision.

  [Blue Slime lv 3]

  [Hp: 50/50]

  “Marking” was a feature every player had that allowed them to check the name, level, and hp bar of all enemies and other players.

  Sparrow already had a destination in mind however this presented him with an opportunity.

  He doubted death in combat would change anything but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

  He walked off the path and started approaching the blue slimes. Once Sparrow got a meter close away from them, they inflated a bit, giving them more volume.

  Then, one of the closest slimes to Sparrow crouched down and started shaking. It then threw itself into Sparrow.

  The slime didn’t have enough strength to topple a person normally but Sparrow went ahead and fell on his back after it bounced off his chest.

  Sparrow just laid back as the slimes jumped onto him and began eating away at his health. The first slime jumped onto his face and began to envelope it.

  An annoying tingling feeling was felt around the parts the slimes were “dissolving”.

  Players couldn’t feel real pain in ReQuest, but the game needed to give feedback when damage was taken and instill some discomfort at the idea of taking damage.

  To Sparrow’s surprise the slime’s assault was a tiny bit more pleasant than uncomfortable. The slimes were cool to the touch and their attempts to dissolve his flesh tickled him.

  Sparrow’s hp was at 84/100. He had been on the ground for about a minute now. This would take a while.

  He relaxed and started making a list of things to do if this death fails to change anything. He was there for several minutes. His health was now at 4.

  It would be a tiny bit embarrassing if this worked. The game’s weakest creature ends the life of the world’s greatest player. While he was renowned in a different game, it still seemed a strong contrast.

  Just as he was beginning to enjoy the irony of that idea, the slime on his face was ripped away from him.

  The stranger leapt back with the slime in hand and Sparrow tilted his head up to see them.

  He took his short sword and impaled it, his forearm stuck halfway into the slime before it shook and disintegrated.

  The other slimes on Sparrow’s body leapt towards the stranger, then a fireball blew one up and a beam of light obliterated another. Blue viscous sludge scattered everywhere and all over Sparrow.

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  After his impromptu saviors killed the other slimes, the man with the short sword reached his free hand towards Sparrow with a smile.

  “Are you okay? Looks like we barely made it!”

  Sparrow marked the man.

  [Darius Lv 12]

  The player was wearing a humble leather tunic and seemed to be of the fighter class. His companions were a mage and a cleric of a similar level.

  Sparrow swatted the fighter’s hand away and sat up.

  The cleric knelt next to Sparrow and began healing him while whispering. A warmth began enveloping his body.

  Noticing the scowl on his face, the fighter sighed sympathetically.

  “Look nothing wrong with losing to slimes, everyone starts somewhere.” He chuckled. “Although I can see how frustrating it can be to lose to-”

  Sparrow growled.

  “You a$*#@!!!” The censorship system kicked in again.

  The trio was taken aback and they gave him a bewildered look.

  Sparrow shot up and stood before them.

  “I wanted them to kill me! It took those slimes so long to get my health that low. All that time… wasted! So thanks a lot, heroes!”

  The cleric stepped up next to Darius.

  “Hey there’s no need to get angry with us!”

  She was beautiful and her generous figure made for an erotic contrast against the cleric’s holy cloth.

  It was only the player’s in-game avatar, and she most likely looked nothing like her in reality. However it didn’t stop Sparrow from feeling a bit flustered being in her presence.

  Sparrow didn’t care if he was in the wrong, he wanted to yell at them.

  As he opened his mouth to shout profanities, he was reminded of all his angry outbursts which landed him in hot water all those years ago. He pushed his anger down and felt ashamed.

  “I-I’m sorry. I was just trying a glitch I heard about. Please don’t mind me.”

  Before the party could say anything Sparrow ran past them and began heading down the path.

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  Over the course of a couple hours, he ventured past the starting plains, the great woods, then found himself standing before a hiking trail.

  At the base of the mountain, Sparrow pulled an arrow out of his shoulder with a scoff.

  Earlier he encountered a pack of feral wolves along the trail. Thinking he could get a redo of earlier, he let them savage him.

  Of course, yet another group of players stumbled upon him and came to his rescue. The archer of the party missed and accidentally struck him with an arrow.

  To give this party some credit, this time he truly looked like he was in peril. The wolves were visually trying to rip him apart. Biting, clawing, dragging and tossing him around like a rag doll.

  He didn’t go off on the party and instead thanked them while hiding his annoyance.

  This mountain trail he was on was familiar to him. He had hiked it countless times with his friends on many occasions.

  Eventually Sparrow made it up the mountain and to the location he sought.

  He stared out at the grand vista before him. Even in his current predicament he was able to appreciate the beauty of the view.

  From here Sparrow could see the capital, the ocean in the west, the royal palace, the expansive green planes, and the forest at the bottom of the mountain ridge.

  Even after being away from the game for over six years, the view had seemingly never changed.

  There were many other cities and areas to explore. However his account was new and he didn’t have access to the teleportation crystals connected to those locations.

  He sat for a while, trying to sort out his thoughts and coming to terms with his predicament.

  Since all of his options were limited to what he could do in the game, he might as well exhaust all of them.

  If he didn’t want to resort to embarrassing himself, and getting banned by administrators he would just have to wait out the death of the servers. Luckily for him that would come about in a month.

  ReQuest was going to celebrate its 10th anniversary in four months and with it they are rebooting the game with a revamped world and gameplay system. In a month’s time they will shut down the servers in preparation.

  Players right now are in a rush to tie up loose ends and get as many quests done as possible.

  He was just going to bide his time and try other ways to bring about his end. Such as an in game death, which he had been robbed of twice since leaving the capital.

  Sparrow stood up and took several steps back. He broke into a sudden sprint and jumped, throwing himself off the cliff.

  The wind rushed past him and the forest below became the ceiling. His heart beat out of his chest and his breath was caught in his throat.

  He wondered how his body looked in real life, falling from the balcony.

  First the rustle of leaves and snapping branches in his descent surrounded him. Then once he broke through the foliage, the ground met him with a sickening crunch.

  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

  Sparrow came to his senses immediately. He grasped at his neck and started coughing violently.

  That was fucking horrible! What was that?!?

  Sparrow had fallen to his death in game on many occasions, however nothing was as visceral as the feelings he had just experienced.

  Upon impact, he felt his head being crushed against the ground. He felt his neck bending and breaking at extremely uncomfortable angles.

  It was only a fraction of a second, but it felt longer. Long enough to experience…

  Pain. Real pain. The game shouldn’t be allowed to make the player feel any sort of pain outside of a mild discomfort.

  Usually in the past, when he did die from fall damage, his body would buzz when hitting the ground, and if the fall was lethal then he would be met with a game over screen.

  Sparrow’s stomach lurched and he threw up. On all fours he retched, trying to get ahold of himself.

  The vomit as well. There was no such thing as vomiting. All this pain and suffering, shouldn’t be possible in ReQuest.

  As he wiped the vomit and tears away, he realized that he didn’t see the game over screen. The game didn’t even allow him to hit the respawn button.

  Sparrow had just immediately spawned back in the city square.

  That’s when he noticed it. The silence.

  He looked around him and the players were either standing still or stuck mid motion, frozen in time.

  He saw a party of players pushing their way through the Adventurer Guild’s doors, unable to set out on their journey in earnest.

  The fountain behind him came to a halt. The streams of water shooting out were captured in beautiful patterns as if winter suddenly hit it at full force and froze it, turning the streams of water into crystalline statues.

  Birds were hovering in the air, their flapping wings betraying the stillness of their momentum.

  Sparrow was morbidly entranced by the spectacle.

  What is going on?

  “Hello!? Anyone!?”

  He shouted in all directions. Why did he expect anything to happen? He didn’t believe anything would.

  Sparrow yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?”

  Good to see that stupid censorship system is gone.

  After gathering himself again, and realizing the world wouldn’t let him feel complacent for even a moment, he looked around and he saw a group of familiar faces. It was the party he encountered on the plains.

  Sparrow walked up to them and confirmed their identities. The fighter, mage, and cleric. They seemed to be on their way towards another quest. Sparrow walked up close to them and observed their facial features.

  They were mid conversation. Sparrow could look into the mouth of the fighter as he was laughing heartily.

  This is so freaky. Then a thought occurred to him. What would happen if I were to touch them?

  Sparrow imagined his finger leaving a dent in their flesh where he made contact. The idea of rearranging the fighter’s face enticed him.

  Sparrow’s eyes then wandered over at the cleric, then they naturally made their way toward her chest.

  Sparrow remembered those raunchy “late night stories” he read where the protagonist got the power to stop time. Admittedly he was at the lowest part of his life when he read those.

  Sparrow raised his pointer finger and aimed it at her.

  He could easily spit in the face of this tense atmosphere and ruin it for whoever might be doing this to him.

  He sighed and instead reached out and poked the cleric’s cheek.

  A blinding pain shot through his arm.