Drew gasped awake. He could still feel the darkness that had come after the green flash on his phone. How long had he lain there, in his coffin. No, he hadn’t died then, had he?

He could hear birds chirping, and odd insect sounds and was left scrubbing his eyes until the dappled shade of the tree he was under clarified, and he found himself in a sunlit clearing. Drew furrowed his eyebrows, closing his eyes for a second to adjust to the light. New York. Night. Storm. Game. He slammed his eyes open before the coffin could reach him again, yet his heart pounded as though it had. His ears buzzed as he looked around at the sporadic apple trees that appeared all around on the empty field, lush creepy forests on either side and a cerulean blue sky flowing above. He swallowed nervously as he tightened and relaxed his fists. Drew knew this place. He shook his head as the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the swift tap-tap of keys came to memory. He blinked, and realization washed over him.

“What the f*** just happened?” An unfamiliar voice reached him, turning back, it was a black adolescent on the grass. He wore an orange jersey and shorts and a clear dry raincoat. Beside him, an old man in a hospital gown stood glaring at his surroundings. “Oh God, I’m gonna puke.” He saw a woman with glistening red hair gag at the base of the tree, but his attention shifted quickly to a small blue eyed boy wearing a backpack who was watching him with expectant eyes. Until the boy narrowed his gaze before looking past him.

Drew turned, immediately stopping the young woman next to him from stepping out of the shade of the tree. “Don’t. The ground will swallow you up, I kid you not.” Her gray eyes turned to him, her face turned all knives and daggers sharp in contrast to the confused look she had on earlier. “What?” She scoffed in disbelief.

“WELCOME TO CURSED.” He let go of her wrist as a loud voice boomed from the sky. Behind him, he could hear the others slowly stepping towards the edge, and he warned them to not cross the line either, but he didn’t have to because the second a small squealing mouse dropped from the sky, the clearing was quick to prove his point. The ground began to shake, pushing the group and him back in caution as small cracks extended where the tiny rat ran, like he was walking on thin ice. And then suddenly, one of the cracks opened up like jaws. In the blink of an eye, Drew heard what must have been a savage snarl and the echoing scream of the rat, before a loud bang. When he looked back, the rat was gone, the ground was cleared, and the people around him were left gaping.

“Boo.” Drew stumbled a step back when he saw a red demon looking baby pop up infront of him. “Fall?” He said, gaping, the recognition was instinctive.

“You guys know each other?” Leo asked, making a face.

“Uhh-”The demon baby gave them a sharp smile before flipping in the air so he was no longer upside down. His black wings beat fast as he moved backwards. “Hello, Drew.” He said mockingly, before nodding to the other guests one by one.

“Tony.” The old man.

“Angelica.” The gray eyed woman.

“Ranger.” The demon’s voice softened as he announced the little boy.

“Daphne.” The pretty redhead.

“And Leo!” The teenager in an orange jersey.

Drew remembered creating this character. An NPC, and the player’s guide. This version was just a bit too real looking.

“What a pleasure it is to see you all here!” The demon boomed. “I’m Fall, your guide in this game.”

“Hold up. I’ll stop you right there.” Angelica raised her hand. “I’m not playing. Neither will my little brother. Now I would like to leave this set, and if anyone tries to stop me, I will call the cops.” She gave Drew a sideways glance, before making to step out onto the grass, but she hesitated.

“Careful now Angelica. If you haven’t realized already. All of your phones are…hmm, unavailable right now. And you won’t get them back until and unless you win the game.” The demon smiled proudly.

“What nonsense are you getting at? I don’t want to play your stupid game.” Tony growled, stepping forward to grab Fall by the neck, but the NPC only lifted upwards to avoid him.

“You all were unlucky enough to be the first few people that were in near vicinity of Drew’s device when he started the game. So now, you shall play it.

“Excuse me? So we’re hostage now?” Daphne questioned, newly appalled.

“Hmm. Yes. If you lose or die in the game, you die. If you win, you get to go back to the real world! This is not a simulation.” He turned to Drew, his words ice cold. “And everything is not as it seems, creator.” 

All eyes turned to him. Drew only stared at the ground, coiling and uncoiling his fists like he always did when he was ashamed. “You can’t do this.” He remembered the emails he had been getting from the company that built the software he had been using for the past year to create Cursed, his newest video game. The threats that if he didn’t ‘pay with souls’ to fulfill his debt, they would delete his game. He had ignored them initially, but they had repeated, and he had considered relocating his half done creation, but he had quickly realized that the features, graphics, and sense of reality the software provided was too good to miss out on. Ironically, he couldn’t even remember the name of the software, but he did remember checking the sketchy site he had got it on, only to find it missing of reviews or anyone who might have had a similar problem. Then, the emails had stopped coming, until the last one that had told him to either begin play right when he had opened that email, or watch his game be deleted. And now, he was here.

“I agreed to play, they didn’t consent to this. Why can’t I play this in single player mode? And, I didn’t sign up for this, version.” He scanned his surroundings with well shrouded uncertainty. “Just, let them go, and let me get back to my apartment. I’ll play from there. Whatever state of unconsciousness you have all of us in, let it go. You all will go to jail for this.” If we survive, he chose not to say.

Fall only smiled, lifting higher into the air by the second. “No.”

“Your debt is being collected Drew. Win, and you’ll get back your game too. Lose, and I’ve already told you what happens then. I will see you all at next checkpoint. Remember.” His dark eyes shone when he looked at Drew. “Find and restore the heart of the life tree, save the land, and you will win. Good luck!” And he disappeared, in the blink of an eye. Leaving all of them stunned.

“YOU created this?” In less than a second, Drew was pinned to the bark of the tree, his throat constricting as Angelica held him there with an iron grip.

“Come on Angel, don’t do the man like that.” He heard Leo say, and Tony click his tongue but she didn’t seem to have heard the young man, too keen on the chokehold.

Under different circumstances,this might have been more enjoyable, but from the storm clouds in her eyes, she seemed like she really did want to kill him before this game would.

It was weird how she was shorter than him. “You’re going to get us out of this, dipshshit.” She let him go. “Since you created this crass game, I bet you know what you’re doing.”

Ah, that. How was he supposed to tell her that he had little memory of what he had been doing for the past two years for nearly 10 hours a day?

That’s when he saw it, an orange flash in the sky behind her and it seemed to be getting closer.

“What is that?” Ranger asked curiously, pointing up at the sky.

Drew could see the air around the bird bending now, like it was flaming hot.

“Is that a phoenix?” Leo asked, squinting.

Yes. Yes it was, Drew thought. His eyes widened when he saw its lit tail and body. And it was headed straight towards Angelica.

“Scatter!” He screamed, bulldozing her out of the way, and the bird cawed angrily, its gold beak headed straight for him like an arrowhead.