Jake thought his defeat of the boss would be met with cheers, but for some reason, everyone else in the party left instead. Were they really just jealous that Jake could finish the boss by himself, or just mad that he didn’t listen to them a himself die instead to win?

  He did his best to put himself in their shoes, but he just could not uand how they could be so upset. He looked over to the loot he had earned with a sigh.

  While it was important tress his own character with better equipment, he was more looking forward to having a team to take on the dungeon. Still, there was nothing for it. He would have to find a new party to team up with and take on the dungeon again to proceed through more bosses, as the Infernal Demon was not eve one.

  It was at that momeiced he had earned an achievement, [Last Man Standing – finish a raid boss as the st one alive from over 5 pert health]. The effect of the achievement had an odd, perhaps ominous, statement: “At Marked.”

  Jake finished his usual post-raid tasks of replenishing his potions and reviving his summons and logged out of the game. Jake pted, there were several dungeons beyond the ohey took on, but a party that didn’t put in the kind of effort Jake did would be hard-pressed to ever reach them.

  He sighed as he looked at his photos o his puter. Each picture showed him at a different school, with different people. Orpha the young age of 8, he bounced from foster home to foster home until he came of age and was able to live on his own, moving into his own pce before even finishing high school. He could not immediately afford college, so he had gotten a job w the third shift so that he could both afford his own pd save up.

  Jake always felt that he only had himself, so personal improvement had been high on his list of priorities: he had taken up boxing for personal fitness and to also have something to focus on. He had also worked hard to keep all his grades up. While he hadn’t earhe Valedictorian at his school, primarily due to his switg schools almost every year: he had still e very close.

  He yearned for family and thought that erhaps why he had chosen the Summoner css in the first pce: he wao be useful, to be desired, as he felt that this css had a lot to offer teaming up with anyone. He also didn’t like being alone, something that a Summoner hardly had to worry about; an escape from his real life.

  Not only was his world of gaming running into roadblocks, but his career and personal life, too. He had retly quit his job w the third shift at the warehouse to finally look for a job that would use his puter sce degree he had earned online, but it appeared there were no true entry-level positions. Every pany wanted years of experience, even those jobs beled as entry-level. On top of that, the few internships he applied for scoffed at his online degree.

  Then on a personal level, he had struck out enough times oing app that he was losing fidehere as well. It’s not that Jake was bad looking: 23 years old, at 6’1, brown hair with hazel eyes, and i shape.

  Jake felt he was attractive and had plenty going for him. The problem he had thought was due t the third shift–his avaible time was simply not meant for being involved with normal people. This was one of the main reasons for leaving his third shift job. To be ho with himself, between work and schooling, he did not feel he had the time for a retionship previously.

  Jake got up from his gaming desk. He would not spend any more time feeling bad for himself. He would tio work on and improve himself, and things would ge naturally on their own. Jake would tio focus ohings that he could ge and aowledge the things that he couldn’t. That was why he pursued his degree onlie w full-time at the warehouse and why he kept in shape.

  If they wouldn’t hire him because he had no experiehen he would write his olication or make his own game. He would be his own boss and be successful at best, or he would at least have something in his portfolio to show prospective employers at worst.

  Jake decided he would also take a small break from his game and go back to volunteer work. Jake had given it up before due to simply not having enough time between work and school, but now, he had nothing but time. Volunteering both felt good and was a great peet people. He decided he would go for a run outside. Just as he was about to head out the door, he heard a voice.

  “That was a good showing, kid. You even had a few more cards to py if that blight dragon wasn’t quite enough, didn’t you? Jake Hart, isn’t it? Your drive and iy are exactly what we need.”

  Jake was shocked by the voice. His apartment was locked, and the voice came from all around him. He began to wonder if he was halluating–

  “You’re not imagining me, kid. I’m very real. I’ll start from the beginning. o meet you, I’m Odin.”

  The st few words came from behind him, and Jake spun around. In front of him was definitely someohat looked like he could be the god Odin. He had ach, white hair, and a wizened face despite looking middle-aged, wearing some kind of armor that exuded power and a spear.

  There alpable energy leaking off of him, giving Jake a feeling he had not felt before. His body felt heavy, as if the man’s mere presence would push him to kneel. Was this divinity?

  Odin had a smirk on his face, and he was holding out his hand for a handshake. “Are you going to just gawk at me? I greeted you–you are being a little rude. Yes, I’m hearing your thoughts as if you were speaking them aloud, and yes, you are experieng my divinity,” Odin said.

  Jake shook himself out of it and reached out and grasped Odin’s hand to give it a shake. “I- I’m Jake. A pleasure…”

  His hand was engulfed in power, and he felt like the other man could crush him with ease. Odin released Jake’s hand and replied, “Yes. It is. Now, as I said, we need you. I’ll do my best t you up to speed here. Many of the fantasy races aings that you know of are actually real, and their respective universes are part of a greater multiverse.”

  Jake was about to ask a questiohat bomb was dropped, but he was cut off by Odin, “Save your questions. They will all be answered, iime. My time here is limited, however, and the information I provide you is restricted. We, The Alliance, are fighting a war with outsiders: eldritch-like beings as you know them. Their goal is to e and e until nothing is left. Their atta our multiverse is an insidious thing, an expansive web spanning all over the multiverse as something that you might know: a dungeon. Tartarus, an infinite byrinth.”

  Jake was surprised, as this felt a lot like the game he ying. Still, he wondered what oh this had to do with him and why a god was now in his pathetic living room.

  Odin interjected, “I’ll get to that, in time. Just listen for now. Maybe this will help.”

  Odiured to his side, and what looked like a hologram of a giant tree appeared. As Jake looked, the leaves were made up of what looked like bubbles with worlds inside, with the branches being some sort of pathway that ected them.

  A giant bck being of darkness and hate appeared, encroag uporee. Jake saw a bunch of gods he reized, from Greek gods such as Zeus or Ares, to Nordic gods like Odin himself, to Ra on his skiff, aian god. There were many others from all over the world and many that he had no idea who they were.

  “This being arrived ages ago, ing everything in sight. Us gods fought it, and many of us died. With eae it ed, it became strohe war against it was a losing battle, so we had to ge how it was fought. We formed [The Alliance], and together, we created a barrier called: The Framework.”

  Odin tinued, “The gods all worked together, gathering their various energies and powers.”

  A rge barrier formed around the tree with a brilliant golden illions of hexagons formed this sphere, and as Jake looked closely he saw pathways for entering the barrier. The beiered the barrier and how it moved or even looked became pletely different.

  “With this barrier, we created a trap. In order for it to enter our multiverse, it would have to fight us using rules like a game, simir to The Labyrinth you pyed. In order to e or enter our worlds, it would use its dungeons and various other means, such as tests. These resemble aspeO games you are familiar with. By doing this, it gave us a path to victory, as The Framework would allow us to take power from the enemy itself, instead.”

  Jake looked on in i. The sphere began to move with the tree and the outsider inside. Eventually, a world not inside a bubble appeared and started to ehe shield.

  “The tree floats through the os, and new ps it enters are called Fringe Worlds, such as Earth. They must gh a Trial to be ied into the Yggdrasil and protected from the outsiders. During this Trial, it spawns dungeons as a form of test. Enough victories of dungeons or trials by the inhabitants ah will be forever protected, or with enough losses, the world will bee tested, where it will have a ce to be ed.”

  Small tentacles split off from the creature, made of blocks. It surrouhe world on its way into the barrier, several streams from the monster.

  Odin tinued, “For everything they destroy, the beings they kill, and their soul ed, Tartarus expands more. It spawns more incursions and so on, and it will tiil it has ed everything if we do not stop it. We have slowed it down, but we are not winning. It was a major victory itle against Tartarus, creating the barrier that is [The Framework]. But so far, it has only prolohe loss of the war.”

  Odihat ominous statement sink into Jake’s mind. “Earth is lucky, being on the fringe of where the outsider reach. Its inhabitants are kept mostly unaware, as us gods and goddesses choose who participates in the first test, but it is still utack.”

  Odin tinued, “If things get worse, monsters spawn oh and the invasion begins, everyone would be forced to fight this evil, making the world tested,”he sighed. “But still another ce to save the world.”

  Jake saw as the tentacles reached Earth, and the view of it ehe world taking up his whole room. Portals appeared all over Earth, evil creatures emerging, attag the people on it. A progress bar appeared, and as the invaders succeeded iroying cities, the bar progressed for the invaders.

  “There are tless worlds that are at this stage, where they are actively defending against dungeons and the creatures that Tartarus spawns on the surface, but it is a losing battle. With every death, they are only emp their enemy. While we have won bae worlds, we have lost many more.”

  The progress bar pleted with the invaders winning, and then the world was surrounded by bck tentacles as the view zoomed out once more. Almost as if it was a result of it ing the Earth, more tentacles grew out of it, approag other bubbled worlds oree.

  “To bat the outsiders, The Alliance has e up with mahods for accumuting power to fight them, and means of recruitment. I like to use games like [The Labyrinth] oh, to test people’s mettle and introduce them to the cepts o be successful.”

  The hologram shifted to show a warrior that almost looked like Odin himself. An orb floated he warrior and overid on top of him.

  “My Einherjar, and those that I recruit to The Alliance, make use of The Framework. You think of The Framework as an artificial intelligeempte and guide all is purpose is to guide us in the war against Tartarus and raise warriors. Like the game, you choose a tempte or css that fits you. It then quantifies your adva, and awards you for defeating enemies in the dungeon, granting skills and knowledge as yress, as your soul grows, to tain them.”

  The warrior fought through enemies, and with eaemy he killed, the rew slightly. The warrior’s attacks became faster and stronger, and he eventually powered up. He then cast a spell that looked like a fme.

  Odin tinued, “It also guides your adva, helping you bee better at your spells and skills, being a better warrior. Time is a valuable odity, and those able to train you are ofteer used pushing back the outsiders. You might know of fighting through boxing, and that will help set what I sider the bare minimum, but you are not a warrior, at least not yet. The Framework will help make you into one in no time. “

  Jake was filled with doubt. Him, a warrior? He was hoping to be a puter programmer!

  The hologram shifted back to the tree and the evil ientacles grew out from Tartarus, and golden orbs or portals blocked them.

  Odin tinued, “Lastly, there’s the Artificial Intelligence portion of The Framework. It ects incursions from Tartarus to what we call Refuge’s, allowing the initiated to destroy them and take that power back for themselves and to grow The Framework. It is like a general that directs our war against the outsider.

  Drafting or initiating people into The Framework has a cost. It has various bes, but that cost is part of the reason we don’t just draft everyone. A rge portion of that cost is proteg the soul so that those defeated are not used to grow Tartarus, and instead, those people’s souls be revived or used in various ways to tihe fight against it.”

  Jake took that in. It appeared that those so-called drafted into The Framework were effectively immortal, or even more like how a video game character was. Still, despite this long introdu about this Framework and the alliance, Jake wondered what this had to do with him–

  Odin once again interrupted Jake’s thoughts, “So, I wao gratute you. You’re being drafted! Wele to The Alliance.”

  Jake gawked at Odin, “Wait a minute! Don’t I get some sort of choice?”

  Jake thought that such a major task was not for him. He was no warrior, as Odin pointed out. Surely Odin should grab some Navy SEAL or something? Odin snorted but replied.

  “Don’t you know what being drafted means? Of course, you don’t get a choice,” Odin smiled. “Now, you accepted the agreement when you joihe Labyrinth that said that you would join The Framework if you were called upon, does your word not mean anything?”

  Jake was wide eyed. Was Odin talking about the terms and ditions nobody read when logging into the game? Odin ughed. “You should really read something before you agree to it! Now, you mentiohe Navy SEALS. I have recruited a few of those guys, and they do well enough. A few have even bee [Einherjar]. But they are few and far between, and at the end of the day: they are only human.

  The multiverse tains a myriad races, ahlings are extremely soft. Those SEALS train, being the best of the best on moderh. But do you really think they pare to Spartans that traiheir entire lives to use onry that works well against outsiders practically from the day they are born?

  Let alohe equivalent of those but as a Titan, on, or something like this? That’s not eveioning the other paths to power in adva in the multiverse outside of those that use the css temptes you’re familiar with in The Labyrinth. The rules that the Framework forced outsiders to use outw advanced onry such as guns. This goes both ways, as now the dungeon won’t be able to spawn gun-wielding goblins or shoot a fire on at you for setting off a trap.”

  Jake realized that, of course, Odin was right. Just within The Labyrinth, Jake didn’t even py a Human for his character; they were just not very good.

  Odin tinued, “With that said, there’s only so many Navy SEALs, and many of them have lingering attats. Drafting them is still done, but sparingly. For recruitment, we have to cast a wider . We have hundreds of methods of finding people to draft, The Labyrinth was just one of them that I or many of us use. And don’t look down on humans. I started out as one, after all.”

  Jake resigo his fate. He tried to look on the bright side that he would be a part of something greater, but he had a hard time picturing where he would truly be successful as a warrior. Even in the game, he did not focus at all on doing damage himself, even if there were offensive summoners.

  Even fighting that boss, he only had creatures that could situationally produce a lot of damage, usually meant to be w together with his allies. He had a hard time imagining being some kind of immortal warrior, clearing dungeons of monsters.

  Odin looked at Jake, and his one good eye glowed. The feeling Jake got was that Odin’s divinity spiked and grew, and he guessed that he was drawing some of his power. He fondly smiled at Jake like a father to his son, and Odin spoke,

  “Jake Hart, know this. It takes a special person to be alone and kicked while you were down over and aiill remain positive and tio improve yourself and even help others. Many would give up or be filled with rese instead. tio work hard as you always have, and you will find what you have been searg for all your life: a family and to matter in the world. Work hard on yourself like always, and you will be an excellent Summohat helps us fight the outsiders and obtain glory and love beyond belief. I know that you will be mad that I forced you into this, but it is for the best.

  I will be turning this pto ye. A shame that it’s a dump, but everyone has to start somewhere. At the very least: it will be familiar to you. Even your puter will remain, but your ability to tact the outside world will be removed. I know you have no lingering attats; that’s part of why you were drafted. You will find new bonds, and you will find neiness, that I promise you.

  This is all the time that I have and all the information I am allowed to give you without both of us paying for it. I will now initiate you into The Framework, activating your possibility fic. I will even leave you some gifts. Good luck to you, child. The Einherjar will wele you once you are strong enough to plete your Trial and visit worlds outside ye, but you are wele to join any fa within The Alliance. We are all a part of the same team, after all.”

  Odin reached out his hand towards Jake faster than he could react. All of the hair on Jake’s body stood on end, and his heart nearly stopped from the pressure building in his chest. He felt a burniion, and then his visio dark as he lost sciousness.