Spoiler Alert for the book Realism: The Alpha Tests.
In the Beginning
No true documentation of what happened during the Alpha tests exists, only statements from the four Alphas themselves and a couple elves and fairies exist to tell this part of our history. (There, happy Zane? Can you stop editing this now? -Kadin) The four 'Alphas' were originally contest winners for this new virtual reality game called 'Realism.' However, upon entering what they thought was a game they came face to face with the harsh reality that this wasn't a video game. They had been transported to an entirely different world. (Or so they believed -Zane) They struggled to survive for a while on their own, until they eventually stumbled into Elwood Village, a village belonging to the elves.
While in Elwood village they spent a considerable amount of time learning about the world from the elves. They learned about a century-long war that had been going on with the demons, one that seemed impossible to win. The demons had opened rifts into this world, and as long as those rifts were open the demons could endlessly charge into the world, die, spawn back in hell, and come right back. The elves had no such luxury, death was permanent for them. The Alphas ultimately ended up assisting the elves in ending a century-long war against the demons by discovering a way to close the rifts. However, now that the demons realized that it was possible to close their rifts they mounted a full scale attack on Evean, using everything they had to fight back. The Alphas rushed to Evean ahead of the elven military and fought the first battle against the fairies without the elves.
This battle was a heavy loss for the Alphas and fairies. King Asri ultimately had to sacrifice himself with blood magic to delay the fight for two weeks so everyone could prepare better for it. Freezing the battlefield in time for the duration. When the two weeks ended, the Alphas returned to the battlefield alongside the remaining fairies and the elves, and battle was almost lost again. It would have been lost, had it not been for the intervention of Thomas and Inami. Thomas, the son of the man who created this game, was able to finish the abyssal demon off with his holy magic, buying just enough time Inami, the strange panda girl (She is a glitched AI and you know it Kadin, stop editing this. -Zane), to break and seal the rift. The Alphas lived in this world for two years following that battle, living out ordinary lives as adventurers, scholars, and explorers.
The Beta Tests
Then the beta tests started and the four Alphas split up to do their own things. Zanath built a mansion in what would later be Belesara city, then stayed in his lab, experimenting with new technology and looking for a way out of the game. He would occasionally assist in rescuing beta testers. Estellese took some of the betas and started a small farming village called Bele Village, giving them shelter from the monsters and bringing a steady supply of food to the humans. Mendores took more of the betas and created the law enforcement, which at first worked as guards in Bele village and would later become his attack force to recapture Oline city from the dragon and goblins that infested it. And Kadin disappeared.
But it wasn't long after that, that Kadin resurfaced, with a small group of betas. Him and his assassins, known as the Moderators, pushed forward and attempted to take over the world. Attacking and conquering Bele village, the rebuilt Oline city, Era city, Port Redwarren, and Barre Village. Bele village was burnt to the ground and completely destroyed, all of the other places Kadin conquered were just forced to evacuate. The attack caught Estellese and Mendores off guard and they where to scattered and disoriented to fight back. Kadin won at first. But the other three alphas quickly pulled themselves together and fought back. Mendores's guards along with many others who volunteered to fight back against the Moderators, became the Spartan army, an army built up with the sole intent of driving the Moderators back. In the following battle, Zanath and Estellese lead the betas to free the captured cities and to stop Kadin's assassins. While Mendores faced off against Kadin alone.
Any onlookers of the battle would've had a difficult time following it. Half the battlefield was a green sea of hundreds of magic clones. Lead by Mendores. And the other half was dark as night, as if all the light had been sucked out of the area, Kadin was hidden amongst the shadows in there. The end of the battle between Kadin and Mendores was in the darkest part of Kadin's side. Where nobody could see them. However, when the battle ended and the darkness cleared away Mendores and Kadin were just standing there, talking. When their conversation ended, Kadin left. His assassins pulled back from all of the cities and villages they controlled, and everyone was able to move back into their homes.
Constant conflict.
Everyone recovered and rebuilt after the battle. But, it wasn't long before Kadin struck again. Fighting with Mendores and the Spartans. It was the beginning of what was called "The Alpha wars." Named so, since the Alphas where doing most of the fighting, and the war seemed entirely based off the Alphas' personal problems. One day, the war would be a ruthless and bloody battle where countless lives where lost. And the very next day it would be a childish prank war, where Kadin and Mendores where more focused on annoying each other then fighting. Kadin and his Moderators attacked and killed hundreds of spartans, Mendoraes and the Spartans would attack him back killing 'Moderators.' Kadin would retaliate by building a giant steel wall that cut Belesara city in half overnight, just to piss off Mendores and Estell. Mendores would retaliate by teleporting Kadin's city underground while he slept and disabling magic within the city. Which prompted more killing in retaliation. It kept going back and forth, making it difficult to tell if they were fighting or just fooling around (with the lives of their soldiers no less -Zane).
It was around then that the Royal Army, lead by the beta tester Zane from the city Port Redwarren, showed up. He had said the Alphas where abusing their power over the players and gathered a following of humans who were fed up with the Alphas. Initially, his existence was a peaceful one, offering a city to live in without the rule of the oppressive Alphas. (I'm sure the elves loved their stay in the prison cells you kept them in. -Kadin) However, the elves soon attacked Port Redwarren and the Spartans and Moderators suddenly put all of their differences aside and teamed up and jumped in to assist them. Attacking the Royals and Port Redwarren. (Due to the elves being enslaved, and us having an alliance with them -Kadin)
In response to the unprecedented attack on Port Redwarren, Zane launched a counterattack on Oline City and Belesara City. At that point, Zane found a secret weapon, his ace against the Alphas, and persuaded that weapon into joining his side. The weapon was documented as a strange-looking drider type of monster. Zane released that weapon, along with a massive attack force on Belesara and Oline cities. However, his "weapon" had a mind of its own, and started trying to destroy the world. (No, Kadin, he followed my orders to get everyone out of this game. -Zane) It was a huge battle that ultimately resulted in the complete destruction of Oline city through collateral damage. But the Alphas managed to just barely scrape by and win the battle. The four Alphas faced off against this secret weapon on top of Belesara's Spartan Tower, then later in the streets, and finally in some unknown location Kadin portaled them to. All four Alphas were killed in that fight against the secret weapon, but the weapon was defeated by them in their final moments and never seen again. The Moderators and Spartans together held back the Royals long enough for them to give up and retreat. It was at this time that the new leader of the Moderators informed everyone that there was this place called the "Ninth Ring Challenge" that could revive the dead. The Moderators explained that you needed an item belonging to the dead person you wish to revive, and said they had collected items from every almost player they killed in the war to revive them later. Keeping to their word, with the help of the Spartans, they revived most of the people killed in all of the previous wars, even the Royals, and the four Alphas were also revived.
Temparory peace.
Both sides of the war had taken a very heavy hit. But since then, they have recovered and rebuilt. Most, but not all, of the casualties from the war where revived by the surviving lead Spartans/Moderators, including the Alphas. The last three months since that massive battle have been peaceful. However, last week thousands and thousands of new players started appearing in the world. Realism finally reached its worldwide release, and people from all around the world were flocking to the game in droves.