While the rest of the group was off exploring the camp to see if there was anything of value Brandon began consulting with Trinity to see if camping here was a possibility.

"Well, you technically could setup camp here, but the problem is there are a lot of re-spawn points in their cave." She explained. "If you did set up a camp using the camping function it would disable all of the re-spawn points within a 50 meter radius of the camp, but it wouldn't prevent monsters from running in here."

"Wait what's the camping function." Brandon asked.

"Oh well your party has the ability to set up one camp almost anywhere in the world. Tents and a campfire along with a few other amenities will automatically spawn wherever you decide to set it down. It will last for 12 hours before it disappears and you have to set up camp again. The only problem is if you set up camp here all the monsters will re-spawn the moment the camp is deactivated, and you'll have to clear them out before you can setup here again."

"This would have been useful information before we came here and I almost died." Brandin said frustratedly towards Trinity.

"Hold up, I would have mentioned it, but it was literally just added. I didn't even know about it until now." Trinity told him.

"You mean that guy whose voice we all heard just put in this new feature?" Brandon asked in surprise.

"Yes, along with a feature for building structures like houses, businesses, and other public works projects!" Trinity added.

Brandon opened the menu, and he saw a new tab on the far right past the Friends List section that was labeled construction. When he opened the tab he saw two boxes; the left side had the word "Housing" in the middle, and the one on the right had the words "Business/Public Works".

After Brandon looked at this section he received two separate notifications for two side quests. The first one was to setup his house, and the other to setup a business/public works building. The reward for each was 50 points. Brandon also found the camp feature under the party menu.

"Well Trinity is there anywhere we can go to setup camp that isn't so close to a re-spawn point?" Brandon inquired.

"On the safer side of the island... Yes I can think of a place that should work." Trinity claimed.

"Okay then. Once we're finished up here take us there." Brandon told her.

"Okey dokie. You got it sir!" She said as she playfully saluted him.

The party managed to pick up everything they could find that was of value at the goblin camp, but before the left Brandon managed to grab the equipment from the person the Goblin Chief had killed. He was hoping to find a decent place where they could give him a proper burial. Unfortunately, all they had left was some tier 1 equipment and a few bones.

The group followed Trinity outside of the cave via the southern exit of the cavern. The exit placed them within sight of the eastern coastline, and the continued to go straight south for about half an hour.

It was already dark out, so they had to rely on light spheres and torches, but Trinity managed to get them to place she was talking about without running into any trouble.

It was a large field that was several miles in each direction. They could see some small critters scurrying around, but nothing that seemed threatening.

"This is the best place to set up camp, and the best place to use to set up a base as well if you ask me." Trinity insisted. "The only spawn points in this area are for small, harmless creatures like birds, owls, squirrels, and maybe a few field mice. Also it's not too far from where you guys started either."

"Well then, I guess we'll setup camp here guys." Brandon told the group while shrugging his shoulders.

Nobody argued so Brandon went over to the party category of the menu, and activated the camp. Suddenly, five tents each with their own torch outside of it surrounding a campfire popped out of the ground. There were three logs around the campfire, and it also had a grill over it for cooking food. There was a sleeping back inside each tent, and it looked like there was a hitching post off to the side of the tents as well.

"Wow that administrator fella really took all the fun out of camping." Cass stated disappointed at how easy it was to set everything up.

"He probably did it because most of the people he brought here don't know how to do this kind of stuff." Tenjin explained.

Cass sighed, and proceeded with the others to pick out their tents.

By the time everyone got settled down they all decided to sit by the campfire. From what they could tell it wasn't that late into the night, probably not even 8:00 PM, so nobody was able to fall asleep. It was kind of warm outside, and from what Trinity told them it was late spring but she didn't have an exact date.

The other were just making small talk while Brandon was admiring the stars.

"Hey Trinity, is this a completely different universe, or just a different planet?" Brandon asked.

When Brandon asked this question suddenly the chatter amongst the rest of the group ceased and everyone turned towards Trinity to see what she would say.

"It's a completely different plain of existence, or universe as you call it. But it's not like the one you guys are from. At the moment there's nothing beyond the moon and the sky except for empty space, and the stars. No planets, or intelligent life of any kind." Trinity explained.

'Are you saying there was intelligent life beyond earth back on our universe?" Brandon asked curious if she knew anything about their original universe.

"I'm not sure if there was intelligent life beyond earth in any of your universes." Trinity replied.

"Wait, you're saying that we're all from different universes?" Brandon asked surprised by her statement. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because you didn't ask me, sheesh." She retorted.

The rest of the group was shocked. They had wondered whether or not there were other universes in existence and this confirmed it for sure. There were others besides the one they came from, and the one they were in now.

"Well some of you, but a lot of people here are from the same universe, just different times." Trinity added.

"Wait really? Okay everyone tell me what year it was when you guys died." Brandon asked eager to learn about what the future of his earth might look like of anyone was from there. I'm from 2016. Oh and I lived in Los Angeles.

"I'm from Tokyo, Japan 2009.” Tenjin replied.

“I'm from London, England 2013.” Ava said.

“Dublin, Ireland 1996.” Cass answered.

“Bamberg, Germany 2122,” Felix stated.

Everyone looked at Felix a little surprised by his answer.

"What? I guess I'm from the latest date in history out of all of us.” Felix replied.

“It appears so future boy.” Cass while trying to tease him. “I guess that makes you the youngest one here. Who knows you could run into one of your ancestors out here.”

“Any of us could run into our ancestors.” Felix retorted. “Hell, we could even run into our descendants, or even our children.”

“I don't think any of us had children before coming here did we?” Brandon asked.

“It could happen!” Felix asserted.

“Oh really? So, you had a special someone back home that you made a baby with before you died then did you Felix?” Cass asked mockingly.

“Well, no, but some of the others could have right guys?” He turned to look at everyone else, but everyone shook their heads.

Cass laughed at Felix, and continued to mercilessly tease him. “I bet you still have your chastity belt don't you Felix?”

Felix began to blush along with the others unable to believe she actually went there.

"Well, I... I'm not telling you that!" Felix shouted.

"Oh, you're such a shy boy. That's so cute Felix. I'm sure you'll find yourself a girl one day though Felix. Keep your chin up lad!” Cass joked

“I.. I... Well what about you? Did you have any children, or any boyfriends you did it with that we should know about?”

Cass began to giggle, and start counting with her fingers. “Well Felix it's rude for a lady to kiss and tell.”

“Oh, come on! Brandon, Tenjin, help me out here would ya!?” Felix pleaded.

“Oh, don’t worry Felix. I think that belt looks really good with that gi you’re wearing.” Brandon stated deciding to get in a few quips.

“Okay that's enough you guys!” Ava demanded. “You're making me really uncomfortable.

“Sorry.” Cass said as she continued to laugh at Felix.

“Anyways Felix, what were things like in your time?” Brandon asked.

Felix paused for a moment trying to figure out exactly how he wanted to start his story...

Felix sat down on one of the logs surrounding the campfire, he rested his elbows on his knees, and folded both of his hands together while he thought about where he should begin.

“In the year 2032 the U.S and China were at all-out war with one another. The conflict ended when the U.S gained the ability to bombard other countries from orbit leaving China unable to defend itself, and having no choice but to surrender.”

“The U.S occupied parts of China for the time being, and tried to establish a democratic regime, but the amount of resources required were enormous. The U.S ultimately pulled out of China after 4 years, and the old regime immediately regained power. The U.S on the other hand began experiencing another Great Depression as a result of the war.”

“I don't know all the details of how it happened, but in 2071 the United States was embroiled in a Civil War. There really wasn’t a winner in that war, and the two sides ended up decimating one another. An unknown third party ended up rising in popularity in that time, and they turned the United States of America into the Utilitarian States of America.”

“The whole country fell under the control of an imperialist regime, and by 2091 they had built up their military and technology to the point where no country stood a chance. They began invading the rest of the Western Hemisphere and remained unchallenged.”

“By 2102 all of the Western Hemisphere had been assimilated into the new regime. There were still pockets of resistance, but nothing that truly threatened the regime as a whole. They began invading Russia in 2103 with an army of drafted soldiers from South America. Russia used their usually scorch and burn tactics by the U.S military was smart. The U.S ceased providing food to foreign powers, and used the excess to supply their troops in Russia. It only took them 10 months to conquer the entire country after it essentially burned itself to the ground.”

“They established garrisons at Russia's western border, used prisoners of war, and political prisoners who spoke out against the regime as slaves to build new oil pipelines, and constructed nuclear power plants across the country, and naval shipyards along its coast. With that foothold it wasn't long before the bordering countries began to fall, or swear their allegiance and be absorbed by the U.S.”

“Once all of Eastern Europe was under their control in 2112 the spent several years building up their military and infrastructure again. Of course, they were still taking islands in the Pacific Ocean, and were in the midst of a naval campaign with Japan. That didn't last long though, and by 2119 Japan fell under their control as well. From what I can remember the U.S was planning to release a chemical weapon on China that would wipe out most of its population.”

Felix's tone of voice got especially somber at this point in the story. "They tested it out on a border town in Germany. Most of the people didn't get out in time."

The entire camp fell silent at that moment.

Brandon looked down at the ground. Being an American it was hard to believe that his country would do something so drastic. He looked up at Felix again to speak. “Did you know anyone there?”

“No, but I've lost a lot of people because of that war.” Felix replied remorsefully.

“I'm sorry.” Brandon replied.

“It's not your fault.” Felix began to wipe his eyes while trying to hold back his tears. “Beside, you weren't involved. This all happened long after you would have died of old age if you hadn't have died already.”

After a moment of silence Felix continued to tell his story. “By 2120 the European Union declared war on the U.S, along with China, the newly unified Korea, and whatever other country had a strong enough military to have a chance of defending themselves against an invading army.”

“Things in the middle-east exploded as well with Israel and Palestine declaring all-out war. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other countries were all at war with each other as well.”

“I joined the German military as soon as I was eligible, and my first and last mission was a joint covert operation with rebel forces to liberate a high ranking American commander in the resistance from a prison camp. That's where I saw all of those atrocities.”

“We were ambushed on the way back and that's when I died... I'm not sure I'll ever know how the war turned out.”

Cass looked down at her feet. She suddenly felt a little guilty about giving him a hard time earlier. She couldn't imagine what kind of things Felix had seen in his life, but it sounded like things weren't very easy for him.

“Sorry... about earlier.” Cass said rather sheepishly. “I didn't know things were so tough for you in your old life.”

“Don't worry.” Felix looked at her with a warm smile. “Despite everything I had it pretty easy up until the war. I don't regret anything I did I just wish I knew what happened to the rest of my company and my family.”

The others couldn't help but wonder how things were going back home where they were from. Their families obviously missed them, but they all began to wonder if they would run into them on this world.

“I had a little sister back home.” Ava stated trying to fill in the silence that befell on the group after listening to Felix's story. “Her name was Penelope. She was the cutest thing. She was 16 years old when I died, but the whole 7 years difference between us didn't stop us from being friends. She used to talk to me about all kinds of things, but one of the most recent things was a silly show she was watching. I couldn't remember the name of it because I must have dozed off part way through, but I do remember her talking about this one episode where the main character who was some time traveling doctor was trapped inside a virtual world contained within a library archive in the distant future with a bunch of other people.”

“Who knows maybe that's what's happened to all of us. Maybe we're all just trapped inside some kind of virtual reality playing some future programmers’ sick game with no hope of going back.” Felix stated.

“There is still a chance we could really be in a parallel world.” Tenjin stated.

“For all we know we could all be from different world’s, and different times.” Brandon added.

Tears began to bubble up in Ava's eyes, and the others could help but feel the same way she did. They had no way of knowing if this place was real, but they did know for sure that the only choice they had was to survive in this strange new world. Still, that didn't stop any of them from shedding a few tears as well.