Aaron Hope plays video games, like a lot, just not professionally. When he entered the EpiX! Games! PVP World Championship on a lark, this college senior never expected to make it to the final round, nor to get drugged and shoved into the alpha test for World of Ruul. The premise for this virtual reality MMO is simple. Find all eight treasures scattered throughout the world before the maelstrom’s forces devour everything in sight. The only catch? You can’t log off, and if you die… well, let’s just say what happens in the game doesn’t stay in the game.

When Aaron and his friends got sucked into the virtual reality game World of Ruul, they quickly realized the only way out would be to acquire all eight soulstones and beat the game. Unfortunately, they’ve somehow managed to incur the wrath of the Skeleton King, an ancient warrior whose vengeance can only be quenched by blood and death. Now, if they want to survive long enough to find those soulstones, they’ll have to find a way to stop him.

Save the girl. Beat the dungeon. Get epic loot. After a few minor setbacks, Aaron and Crash find themselves all alone in the World of Ruul with only one chance at survival, finding the legendary soulstones before the maelstrom’s forces eat them and their friends. Worse, the only way to get strong enough to save their friends is to enter a dungeon no one’s ever beaten before, defeat the four elemental bosses who reside inside, and shatter the massive statue trapping them inside. Sure, it might be impossible, but if it were easy, everyone would have done it, right?