[Choice A (WattpadGaming): Pick up a sword and start farming. Can't beat the bosses if I'm underleveled.]

"Hey, Player. What's your name?"

Groaning, Tarah cracked her eyes open to find a tall man with a long grey beard bent over her.

"Hey, Player. What's your name?"

"What?" Tarah asked, pushing herself into a sitting position and staring at the old man. Everything about him was grey: his beard and hair, the long, pointed wizard's hat and robes.

"Hey, Player. What's your name?"

Tarah frowned. "I heard you the first three times. Where am I?" Slowly getting to her feet, she looked around. Dear God, where was she now? She stood at the top of a hill, the grass too bright to be natural. Confused, Tarah took a few steps forward and looked down into the valley below: massive red mushrooms burst out from the ground.

Tarah's eyes widened and she looked up. Cartoon clouds floated across a bright blue sky. Slowly, she turned around and realized that she had been leaning up against a large green pipe.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Hey, Player. What's your name?"

"Oh, shut up!" Tarah snapped. "My name's ... uh ... Annabelle!"

The wizard smiled. "Welcome, Annabelle!" he declared. "This is the final level. In order to reach the boss and the end of your game, you must travel across the Eastern Fields, climb the Spectacular Plateau, swim across Ladybug Lake, and only then will you reach the Islingcana Islands. Here is an Item Bag, ten Potions, and a Simple Sword."

Tarah stared, dumbfounded, as the wizard pulled these items from empty air and dropped them at her feet. "W-what?"

"Oh, I can't forget your Map. Simply hit the 'plus' button on your sword to call it up."

A scroll popped into existence at Tarah's feet. She reached down to pick it up, but it eluded her grasp and shot into the air, unfurling into a shimmering, colorful graphic with red arrows marking the four places the weird wizard mentioned.

"To call up your Item Bag, press the 'minus' button," the wizard continued. 

Head spinning, Tarah bent to pick up the sword—which looked like one of those toy swords kids would play with. She turned it around, wondering how the hell she was supposed to fight anyone with such a dull blade. As she examined the hilt, there were indeed two buttons near the cross guard—a plus and a minus.

"Hey, how am I supposed to use—" Tarah spluttered to a halt as she turned around and realized the wizard had vanished.

TUTORIAL SKIPPED, scrolled across the sky in big, blocky letters.

"What?" Tarah gasped, throwing her arms wide. What tutorial? Where the bloody hell was she?

------------

It didn't take Tarah long to put the pieces together. As she trudged down the hill, bright, cheerful music began playing out of nowhere. As she reached the bottom, one of those brown creatures suddenly turned around. Without thinking, Tarah swung the Sword. There was a light ping sound and the mushroom creature vanished; a faint, green-colored "+5" appeared in its place, rising into the air before it too disappeared.

Ding!

Tarah looked up and watched in delirious confusion as a small bar popped over her head. It filled up and was replaced by the words "Level 1".

Dear God, she was in a freaking video game!

Well, if there was one thing Tarah was good at that Annabelle Zhao was not was video games. Setting her jaw determinedly, Tarah struck out across the Eastern Fields, destroying every monster that she came across. It was only when the points gained from farming these low-ranking creatures failed to raise her level did she move on.

After consulting the Map, Tarah made her way to the Spectacular Plateau, paddled across the Ladybug Lake in a little coracle made of a giant turtle shell, and emerged on the shores of the Islingcana Islands.

A giant purple castle cloaked in shadow and lit by blazing bonfires was listed on the Map as the final dungeon. Rolling her shoulders and high off of her achievements, Tarah strolled across the draw bridge and entered the castle. The music that had been following her the whole time suddenly shifted into a dark, ominous melody.

As she crossed the threshold, a metal gate slammed shut and the music swelled to a crescendo. Tarah heaved the Sword and waited.

Torches burst to life, illuminating a path up a long staircase. Mouth set in a grim line, Tarah walked up the stairs; there, she stopped and looked around. There was nothing up here—no door, no set of stairs leading elsewhere. Just a long purple curtain hanging from the wall.

With a frown, Tarah approached the curtain and yanked on it. It fell to the floor and vanished, revealing a tall, oval mirror on the other side.

Tarah stared as her reflection emerged—not the girl she was in the other world, but Annabelle Zhao. The reflection smiled and gestured Tarah forward.

"The only way you're getting out of here is if you destroy me," the reflection stated. "It's time to go back."

No! She couldn't go back! Annabelle was everything that she wasn't.

"But who got you through this game?" the reflection asked. "Not me. It was Tarah, with her knowledge of video games."

Tarah gripped the sword and started to back away, mouth dry. Her foot touched the top of the stairs and the stone instantly crumbled. Gasping, Tarah jumped forward, toward the mirror. All around her, the castle began to disintegrate, revealing a void beneath it.

"If you don't destroy me," the mirror said, "you'll be lost forever. There's no going back, no more lives."

Tarah spun around wildly as more and more of the castle broke off and floated away. No! She didn't want to leave this body and all of its skills behind.

But she didn't want to die, either.

Swallowing her fear, Tarah gripped the sword and raised it.

"Goodbye, Tarah," the reflection of Annabelle Zhao said as Tarah smashed the mirror. It shattered into a thousand pieces and Tarah was enveloped in a flash of white light ...