《Dark Realms Book 1 : Creation》 Prologue Prologue Somewhere in a distant galaxy¡­ A timeless being of pure energy and thought, travels the universe exploring and consuming errant cosmic energy. It has no destination, at least none it can remember. The unimaginable passing of time and transitioning of its energy from state to state has long dulled any sense of self or desire. It could be described as having a soul, self aware but immortal and timeless. It retains no concept of identity. It exists, it moves, it consumes and retains every experience and choice it has ever made. However, over time, each experience slowly shifts, splitting and grouping into fragmented combinations of thought and concept.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Suddenly an anomalous event brushes its awareness, an oddity. A burst of distant sensation followed by a persistent emanation that fluctuates in a most unusual manner. Pathways of logic and reasoning begin to activate as an alien mind shifts its focus towards an unassuming yellow star in an unassuming galaxy. Stretching its awareness, it finds a small blue planet, infected with biological matter. This planet seems to be the source of the strange emanations. Bending space and time, it moves towards the planet. A journey of a thousand years, that will change one girl¡¯s life forever. 1. The Girl in the Mirror Chapter 001 The Girl in the Mirror Lily stared dejectedly at her reflection in the bedroom mirror. Never a thin girl, her recent 20 extra pounds had pushed her officially into the overweight category. Her once soft and straight hair was now flat and oily, skin sporting new blemishes and eyes with dark circles. Even if I wasn¡¯t a damn lesbo who would love this!, she thought. No, that¡¯s not fair. That was her dad''s voice in her head, along with her Bishop and everyone at school. Shut up, shut up, shut up, she raged internally. Lily¡¯s struggles to fit in started early in her life. She was the second of 4 kids born into a conservative Mormon family in a small town outside Layton, Utah. She came into the world one year after her sister Amy, born into her shadow. Amy matured into a beautiful blonde girl next door. She was athletic, smart and had no trouble making friends. Sweet, gentle; the perfect daughter. Lily found herself plain, with flat dirty blond hair and constantly struggling with her weight. While Amy floated through her early years, Lily struggled to find her place. Raised in a community with outspoken anti-homosexual values, Lily was shocked and dismayed to discover her attraction to females. Those feelings only grew as she entered puberty. She had managed to suppress her feelings and desires for 15 years, keeping them from everyone, until one night she ruined everything. During a sleepover with Melissa, her best and only close friend, the topic turned to sex. With the PG-13 movie over, the lights off, and her parents safely asleep; Melissa had turned to Lily and blurted out, ¡°I let Josh touch me!¡± Lily was shocked; what, how, who, why? Melissa told Lily a shocking tale of fumbling around in a back room at school and insistent pressure from Josh. She refused to touch him, but finally relented and they started making out. Things progressed and eventually he talked her into pulling up her dress so he could touch her. After several minutes they were almost caught and they broke apart and went out separately. Melissa was sure something amazing was about to happen. Lily found herself becoming excited listening to Melissa. She imagined what it would be like if she was there instead of Josh. Melissa described it as the most wonderful feeling, so soft and intimate. The pressure building towards something she was sure would have been magical. Melissa wanted to do it again, but she was worried Josh would tell people. She said he was too immature and clingy. They had gotten into a fight afterwards because he wanted her to touch him. ¡°No way!¡±, she said. She wasn¡¯t a slut after all. Melissa spent the next 20 minutes talking about the various boys in their classes and who she could get to do it without anything in return. She wanted someone not too nerdy, but not a kiss and tell jock. She lamented there was no one she could trust not to tell, or demand more. It was at that moment, Lily made the worst decision of her life. Placing a hand on Melissa¡¯s knee; she blurted out, ¡°I would do it, if you let me.¡± That was 3 years ago, but the memory of what followed still fills Lily with shame. The instant look of disgust on Melissa¡¯s face, the hateful words, the traded insults between the former best friends. Melissa calling Lily a dyke and Lily calling her a slut. The tears and questioning looks from her parents as Melissa demanded to be taken home at 2am.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The next day at school she found Melissa telling everyone Lily had tried to molest her. The school calling both her parents and the police. By the end of the week everyone in town had heard about Lily practically raping Melissa. All that paled in comparison to the look her parents gave her. Her father was disgraced and had to step down from his calling at their local ward. Lily was called in front of the bishop to explain herself and quickly found the only way out of his office was to admit to being a deviant and setting a prayer plan to have God fix her. The hate from her father surprised her the most, while never a loving man, she was always treated with an affectionate tolerance. Her father was a busy man, always working on one project or another. Looking back she realized how much of his time was spent on impressing those around him. He took the situation with Melissa as a personal attack on him, a disgrace to the family and an unforgivable sin. What a worthless piece of crap!, she thought. He was never a good father. Everything he ever did was to keep up appearances. 3 years and he still hasn¡¯t forgiven me. I¡¯m 18 now and I can¡¯t wait to finish school and just leave. Lily started pulling her clothes on. Her standard dress code was grunge goth. Striped knee socks, long dark colored skirt (or pants depending on the weather), t-shirt, layered long sleeve shirt, black hoodie and a pair of ratty converse. Reaching for her makeup, her eye catches the bottle of pills. Doesn¡¯t look like I will need you after all, she mused. Lily thought back to the dark days when she started collecting pills from wherever she could. She stored them all in a large plastic Tylenol bottle, just in case. Many nights she would sit up late sobbing, trying to get the courage to take the pills and end it all. Eventually she moved from suicide to cutting and a fascination with pain and sadness. She began listening to darker music, replacing her bright clothes with darker designs. She figured if she was the black sheep of the family she should dress the part. Always an accomplished artist, Lily eventually found some acceptance online creating and sharing her poetry and illustrations of dark angels, demons and vampires. She regained a sense of worth and belonging by sharing her work with her fans. Taking up a large brush, she worked to conceal her acne while mentally reminded herself to finish up her latest drawing. Some guy in Japan sent her $30 to create a picture of a young woman being attacked by an undead creature. She was having trouble getting the decay on the zombie like creature to look natural. Shaking her head, she thought back to how her current source of income got started. She loved making drawings of vampires and dark angels, posting them for free on various boards. As she got more popular, she started getting requests for custom work. With her father cutting her off, this seemed like a way to make some money for herself. Finding work in town was impossible as she was well known as ¡®that deviant girl¡¯. Rumors of her being a satanist, or at least a witch, were still discussed. Not much happens in a small town, so the opportunity to torment someone different was a good source of entertainment. Nothing reaffirms your own righteousness like making sure someone else knows how much better you are than them. The bulk of the requests were from people interested in hardcore Hentai (graphic, realistic drawings of women in sexual situations). She laughed as she remembered her first offer. It was $40 to draw schoolgirls getting molested by a tentacle monster. Eventually she worked out her own boundaries. She would draw sexy women in skimpy clothes, but nothing hardcore. As more orders came in, she became more and more fascinated with darker content. Women warriors or victims, fighting and even dying. Her online persona; ¡®BloodyLilithRose¡¯, was popular with those interested in violent and dark illustrations. Her disturbing and realistic images stood out above a lot of the other content. Finishing up, she took one last look in the mirror. If only my fans knew the real me. 18 and already getting fat, acne and wearing cheap thrift store clothes. Lesbian, shy, weak, stupid, worthless¡­ Lily wiped away a few tears before they streaked her mascara. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she left the room and headed off to school. 2. Sisters Chapter 002 Sisters Home from school, Lily fell backwards onto her bed, using her heel to pry the shoes off her feet. Immediately the smell of unwashed socks filled the room causing her to wrinkle her nose. As she lay in her own stink, contemplating if it was bad enough to get up and do a load of laundry, her door burst open. ¡°Jesus Lily!¡±, her sister Amy blurted out, ¡°You need to burn those socks! Gross!¡±. Lily rolled her eyes and flipped over onto her stomach, ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Sarah and Alice are coming over after school tomorrow for Release Day! I am so excited!¡± Sarah is Amy¡¯s best friend. She is an irreverent smart-ass, tough as nails and jokes about anything with no concept of political correctness. She would be considered plain, but her personality sets her apart from the crowd. She is always quick to defend others and hates bullies. She comes across as a big in your face feminist, always talking about women''s rights. Nasty rumors of her being a dyke tend to surface every few months, but Sarah ignores them and they are quick to fade. Alice is in the same class as both Amy and Sarah. It was Sarah who convinced Alice to join the group as a way to break out of her shell and get away from a controlling ex. Alice is a shy girl with a clear case of hero worship towards Sarah. ¡°I was hoping you had a chance to look at the Dark Realms website and pick a race and class? Sarah is going to be a fighter and Alice a rouge.¡± ¡°Yea, Half-Elf... Mage ..¡± Lily shook her head abruptly, ¡°No. No. No. I said we all have to be human so we can start in the same city! If you are a half-elf you will start halfway across the world!¡± ¡°Sorry Sis, all you want me to do is haul stuff around and help you with your quests like last time. This time I am going to have my own character and I love the way the half-elves look, so that¡¯s what I am going to play!¡± About 3 and a half years ago, Amy discovered Online MMORPGs, fell in love and became an avid gamer. When she started playing Black Desert Online, she was invited into one of the larger guilds and ended up pressuring Lily to try it out with her. Lily had no experience with video games, so she let Amy take the lead and set everything up. She ended up playing a Blonde Ranger named LadyLilyKins. It started out fun at first. She was the center of attention as Amy¡¯s group power leveled her. Amy told her where to place her stats, what skills to focus on and exactly what to do. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that her role was to stand in the back and add extra damage to hard fights. Oh, and to carry extra loot for Amy.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. She never really felt like a real member of the group, just an extra set of backpack slots. Often Amy¡¯s guild would have a full group and Lily would be tasked to simply follow behind them so they could trade out their junk items for her to carry. Things came to a head when she saw an amazing black haired sorceress shooting purple bolts of death and taking on large groups of monsters by herself. She told Amy that''s the character she wanted to play. Amy told her no, the guild had invested too much time in her already and now she owed them. Amy called Lily out over guild chat and embarrassed her in front of the entire guild, calling her ungrateful and a child. Humiliated and hurt, Lily backed down, like she normally would. However something changed inside her, the freedom of being in a fantasy world allowed her to find a spark of rebellion. Over the next few sessions, while the group was in a hard fight, she would shoot an arrow and aggro (anger) distant groups of monsters, which would then rush over to join the fight. She would laugh to herself as members of her group were killed. Several times the entire group was wiped and lost valuable time and experience. Of course, after the slumber party incident with Melissa, Lily quit the game and drifted apart from everyone, including Amy. ¡°What''s so special about half-elves¡±, Amy asked, ¡°Sure they have a bonus to magic, but they are social outcasts and suffer negatives on all social encounters with the majority of NPCs.¡± ¡°They have unique customization options.¡± Lily replied. ¡°Pale skin, black hair and amazing ears. In the character creator. I want to make an amazing vampire-looking character.¡± Amy groaned, ¡°Ugh, you are such a noob. You need to plan how to min/max your character, not spend all day on her appearance.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care¡­¡± ¡°Well you better care¡± Amy warned. ¡°because its is a long way from the Elven Forests to the Human starting towns and we can¡¯t wait around for you. By the time you get to us we will have jumped ahead on levels.¡± ¡°It will be fine, we can play separately the first few days. Dark Realms only allows you to have the one character and this time I am going to pick someone who represents me.¡± Amy sighs, ¡°I get it, I really do, but a half-elf? This isn¡¯t like other games. Races don¡¯t freely mix. Being a half-elf means your elven mother was raped by a human.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Dark Realms is brutal! Half-elves are second class citizens. Many cities refuse access to half-elves, or keep them in special slums. Merchants can refuse to offer their services, or raise rates to cheat you. Many of the early quests are race specific, so you will find it much harder to level.¡± Lily took a moment to consider Amy¡¯s words. Everything she said was true, the game seemed to pride itself on not being fair. Several conservative groups had taken to Fox News to complain about the game and it''s dark content. The fact that most of the hate and intolerance was a thinly veiled jab at modern conservatives seemed to have been lost on the majority of the protesters. Lily¡¯s expression hardened, ¡°I get it! But my mind is made up! Once I level up and get out of the starter towns, none of that will matter anymore.¡± ¡°Okay, fine, but why a Mage? What about a nice Cleric?¡± Lily sneered, ¡°And be your personal healer? I don¡¯t think so. I want magic! Powerful, flashy magic. Lightning, Fire, Death and Minions .. lots of Minions!¡± ¡°Fine! Do it the hard way, but just remember, we will not wait for you. If you want to screw around and waste your time, I won¡¯t stop you.¡± Amy looked Lily up and down, ¡°And take a shower! You reek!¡± She left without another word. Lily got up and headed towards the shower, dirty socks and pushy sisters forgotten. Her thoughts were on the future; she was 18 now and soon and everything would change. 3. Release Day Chapter 003 Release Day The next day the four girls gathered in Amy''s room to get ready for the game. Even though it took longer than expected to setup their computers, they still had 30 mins before the servers were scheduled to open. All four machines sat on the Dark Realms login page, with a red countdown slowly ticking away the remaining time.. Amy and Sarah had no trouble filling the silence, they joked and gossiped about their school day. Alice sat off to the side nodding her head absently at the conversation. Lily was in front of her computer, working on her character. After she decided to play the game, she put down the $20 to reserve her character''s name: Lilith. One of the perks was the chance to design her character before the servers were opened. She opened up the special character generator and started working on her character. [[[ Notice: Unlike most MMO¡¯s your characters appearance, race, background and class will define your character attributes. A tall but thin elf mage will have a lower strength and constitution than a short and burly elf mage, who in turn will have a lower dexterity than the former. Even traditionally cosmetic selections will affect your character. For example adding a deep scar across their face will lower their charisma while increasing their willpower. Your character''s appearance tells its story and will even change as you advance. Are you a scarred warrior forged through pain and sacrifice? Or a beautiful maiden supporting her clan safely behind the front lines? ]]] Lily paused, Interesting. The developers are really focused on realism. The idea that her character''s appearance could change worried her a little. She would hate to make a mistake and have a large scar ruin her face. Something to think about. She quickly entered her prechosen options:
Name Lilith
Race Half-Elf
Gender Female
Class Mage
The next window was asking her to choose her background. [[[ Notice: Your choice of background will affect your character creation and appearance. Even a casual observer would see the difference between a daughter from a minor noble and one from a poor farmer. ]]] Dozens of options were presented. Minor Noble, Farmer, Maid, Merchant, Worker, Guard, Beggar, Prostitute etc¡­ After flipping back and forth through several of the options Lily was getting concerned. None of the options had anything resembling gothic or even heavy makeup. Most backgrounds allowed only for a plain or rugged look, what you would expect from young women in a medieval setting. The Nobles and Merchants had very mild makeup, while the Prostitutes had garish red, blues and greens. All of that changed when she saw the Beggars. The initial randomized character was almost perfect. Pale skin, long pitch black hair, darker lips curved into a sad smile, but hard grey eyes with dark circles around them. Lily could work with this. Over the next few minutes she tweaked the character, darkened the lips as much as possible, increased the circles under the eyes and thinning her out. Surprisingly, she was not able to increase the breast size much, apparently beggars don¡¯t eat enough to fill out. Finally she modified the height to 5¡¯7¡¯¡¯ and the weight to 105 lbs, then hit Apply. Background: You are Lilith, daughter of the disgraced sorceress Alanis Fenxina. Before you were born, your mother was caught by bandits while traveling outside the protection of the Elven Homeland of Fortaur. All the males in her party were killed and the females were robbed, subjected to brutal rapes and left for dead. Only your mother survived. When she made it back to her homeland she was shunned and cursed for being spoiled by humans. When it became apparent she had taken child during the rape, she was driven out of her home and forced to shelter in the human border town of Raemel. While your mother was forced to sell her body to survive, she kept you from that life. Even though you grew up as a beggar you have many fond memories of nights spent studying minor magics under your mother''s tutelage. The elves stripped away most of her power, but she retained enough to teach you a few cantrips. Your mother recently passed away with a fever and you find yourself alone for the first time in your life. She had used her body to secure the small squatters space you both slept in, with her death you find you no longer have a place to sleep.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Character Attributes: Character Attributes define various aspects of your character and control how you interact with the world of Dark Realms. Scores range between 1 (hopeless) and 20 (heroic) with 10 being the average. [[[ Notice: Unlike most systems, your starting attributes are preset based on your gender, class, background and appearence. Attributes can increase (and decrease) based on your actions and experiences in Dark Realms. ]]] Strength: 6 Strength represents your physical power. It affects your chances to hit in melee combat, the damage you do as well as how much you can carry. Agility: 13 Agility represents your hand-eye coordination, reflexes, balance and grace. It affects your chances when performing delicate actions, avoiding damage or hitting distant targets with ranged weapons. Constitution: 7 Constitution represents your health and stamina. It affects your Health Pool as well as how seriously you are affected by debilitating effects (like poison or disease) Intelligence: 16 Intelligence represents your ability to learn, reason and memorize information. It defines a Mage''s ability to learn and control their magic. Will: 18 Will represents your willpower, self control, common sense and intuition. It defines how aware you are of your surroundings, both physical and spiritual. It defines a Mage''s mana pool and regeneration. Charisma: 16 Charisma represents your force of personality, persuasiveness, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness. It defines a Mage¡¯s control over their summoned creatures and influences how you are treated by NPCs in regards to quests, relationships and shop prices. [[[ Notice: Prejudice is a key mechanic in Dark Realms. No matter how high your Charisma, NPCs will have an initial impression based on your race, gender and appearance. ]]] Lily stared at her screen. What the hell?, she thought, -1 strength due to gender and -1 to constitution due to appearance? What sort of sexist bullshit was this? This is clearly a penalty aimed at good looking female characters. Her low strength and constitution scores worried her a bit, especially since she was starting in a different location than her sister and friends. It would be a long and dangerous run to catch up with them. Having such a low constitution would mean lower level creatures would be more dangerous to her. Looking at the rotating portrait of her character, she sighed, How could I say no to a face like that? She accepted the changes and slumped down in her chair. Looking at the countdown there was only 13 minutes remaining before they could login. After letting her mind wander for a few minutes, Lily suddenly sat up in her chair. Something didn¡¯t feel right, the air felt charged and dry. Every fiber of Lily''s being was alert. Her heart started beating faster and adrenaline began flooding into her veins. Locking eyes with Amy, she saw the same confusion and fear in her sister''s face. Amy started to say something... ~~~~~ It arrived at a small blue planet, polluted with biological matter. This was the source of the strange signature. The signature felt familiar and important, but the meaning had faded from its memory. It moved cautiously, extending a piece of itself to absorb a small sample to analyze. Making contact, it immediately realized its mistake. These signatures were undeveloped consciousnesses! This planet contained billions of individual sentient energy patterns, so weak it almost couldn¡¯t detect them. It concluded this was a massive nesting ground for some galactic species. Unmolested these aliens would evolve over millions of years into beings of pure energy. Unfortunately these were only thousands of years old, nothing more than weak energy signatures cocooned safely in shells of biological matter. Realizing It had inadvertently destroyed several aliens shells, it was unwilling to let the unique creatures die. Doing the only thing It could think of, It used Its own energies to create an environment to support the creatures and try to keep their patterns alive. Sorting through the creature''s unevolved energy patterns It found one recent and strong thread binding them. With time running out, It reached out across the blue planet searching for related patterns. After It had collected all the information available, It used the data to generate a hopefully suitable environment in which to shelter these strange aliens. It had done all It could. All that remained was to hope that, given enough time, the creatures would mature and evolve to the point they could live on their own, until then, It would watch over them and keep them safe. ~~~~~ 4. Tutorial Chapter 004 Tutorial [[[ Welcome to Dark Realms ]]] Lily stared at the words hanging just in front of her face. She had no idea how long she had been staring, but she refused to take her eyes off them. She was terrified, because the words were the only thing that existed. Lily was floating in an empty void. Earlier she had made the mistake of turning her head and when she lost sight of the words she felt swallowed by the emptiness. Pure panic caused her to thrash in terror until she reacquired them. After some time, she managed to get her fear under control and collect herself. She studied the words for quite awhile, until out of ideas, she slowly reached her hand out and the words shifted. [[[ Would you like to enter the tutorial? Yes / No ]]] What the fuck? With each passing moment, Lily could feel the weight of the emptiness starting to push in on her, so with a shaky hand she reached out again and touched Yes. The words disappeared, but before Lily could panic, a point of light appeared in the distance. As she focused on it, it began to grow, rushing towards her. Within seconds it reached her and she felt immense vertigo, everything spun, shifted sideways and then exploded. In the void there was nothing, no sound, no feeling, no breathing or beating heart. She hadn¡¯t even noticed, but now it all came back at once. She sucked in a lungful of air only to immediately cough and gag as she was overwhelmed with a rank smell. Everything stank of rot and garbage. Falling to her hands and knees, it was several moments before Lilith could open her eyes and ¡­ Wait? Lilith? My name is not Lilith? My name is¡­ it is ¡­ It was impossible to think of her real name. Suddenly thoughts, memories and knowledge flooded into her brain. Lilith¡¯s head started to pound and vertigo took over, causing her to fall to the side in the muck. Her thoughts seemed to expand and collapse over and over again. Images flashing behind her eyes. Images of two mothers, of sleeping in the gutter then a nice bed, of church in a Sunday dress and hiding while her mother(?) was beaten by a guardsman wearing chainmail. Overwhelmed, she couldn¡¯t seem to catch her breath, darkness began closing in and after several moments she collapsed ¡­ She woke to the feeling of hard ground beneath her and cold water soaking into her clothes. The smell was still there, rank and cloying. Eyes tightly closed, she carefully tried to think of her name. Lilith She knew her real name but she could not form it in her mind for some reason. Pulling on the mental thread of the real her, she could feel her way through her memories; birthdays, a sister, school and her art. It was all there, but fragmented, muted somehow? And then there was Lilith. Those memories were sharper, but there were only a few of them. Each memory was clear, but felt compacted and measured somehow. They played out in her mind like short videos, one right after the other. Her leg began to cramp. Slowly she opened her eyes. Lilith was at the end of a dark, dead end alley. She was laying in a puddle of rainwater, surrounded by refuse and garbage. At her back was a rough stone wall. On either side the rough wooden walls of different structures obscured the morning sun, casting deep shadows. The alley ran forward about 60 feet before it was blocked by several wooden crates. [[[ Welcome to the Dark Realms Tutorial. Select OK to start ]]] Lilith ignored the floating prompt and stood up. Her body felt strange. She looked down and gasped. She was thin! Her skin was pale and hairless, streaked with dirt, but otherwise very smooth. She took a handful of her hair and pulled it forward, pitch black and shoulder length. Staring at her hands, she noticed how delicate they were, the fingers longer than her own short stubby ones. The palms had a small ridge of callus that seemed out of place. She was her character Lilith! She was in the Game! Was she crazy? Was she dead? She had to get out of here, she had to go home! Lilith braced herself against the wall and started walking forward towards the crates blocking the alley. The floating prompt flashed once, then Lilith felt a familiar vertigo, her vision blurred and suddenly she was back where she had originally woken up. [[[ Welcome to the Dark Realms Tutorial. Select OK to start ]]] When her vision cleared, she looked around, somewhat tearfully. She stumbled forward again, moving down the alley. Another wrenching sensation and she was back where she started. She slumped down, overwhelmed. After a moment, Lilith mentally chided herself. I can¡¯t just sit here forever. Dreaming, dead or crazy, I have to do something! At least this isn¡¯t the empty void. Standing up she reach out and tentatively touched OK. [[[ Please take a moment to move around to familiarize yourself with your new body ]]] Lilith looked around and spun in place. She bent down and touched her toes (which were uncovered and filthy) and performed a couple of stretches she had seen on a yoga tape she owned (one she spent many nights watching alone in her room). She was amazed at how flexible and limber her body was. On reflex she tried a quick leap. Astonishingly she leapt much farther than she intended and almost lost her balance. Immediately her new reflexes kicked in and she gasped in delight as she gracefully spun in place. Apparently the system decided she had practiced enough and a new prompt appeared. [[[ Excellent! Let¡¯s take a moment to learn how to control the user interface. Your user interface will mirror your growth, providing new functionality as you advance in the game. To open the user interface simply clear your mind and think UI or User Interface. ]]] She was actually in the game, she couldn¡¯t believe this was happening to her. She knew she should be more afraid, but her amazement had pushed the fear aside. It took several tries, but eventually Lilith was able to calm down enough to focus on ¡®UI¡¯ and get a menu to appear.
Character
Inventory
Spells
Skills
[[[ Please take a minute and familiarize yourself with each area ]]] Lilith focused on the Character option but before she could raise her hand, the system read her mind and the menu item selected itself. The menu was replaced with a floating window showing a lifelike 3D image of her character. Lilith stared at the image of the beautiful woman on the screen. This is what I look like now! She was wearing a long grey skirt, paired with a sleeveless brown tunic. Both were made out of a rough spun linen, threadbare and sweat stained. Underneath, a wrapped cloth bound her breasts while another one looped around her hips and between her legs. Her feet were mostly bare, with cloth wrapped around the pads and wound halfway up her calves. The window had a table showing her statistics and seemed to match what she saw on the character creator. She took a moment to read through them.
Name: Lilith
Race/Class: Half-Elf Mage
Subclass: None
Level: 1
Health:This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. 4 (4)
Mana: 60
Attributes
Strength: 6
Agility: 13
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 16
Will: 18
Charisma: 16
Equipment
Head:
Chest: Peasant Tunic (poor)
Arms:
Hands:
Legs: Peasant Skirt (poor)
Feet: Peasant Foot Wraps (poor)
Amulet:
Ring:
Ring:
[[[ The Character screen allows you to monitor your appearance, statistics and any equipped items]]] With a thought, she closed the Character screen and opened the Inventory menu. A new window loaded but was completely blank. [[[ The Inventory screen will show all your containers and the items inside them. This screen will be blank until you equip a container! Note: Dark Realms does not provide a ¡®quick slot¡¯ feature. To access items in your inventory you will need to place your hand in the container and concentrate on the item in order to withdraw it. ]]] She switched over to Spells,
Spells
Lvl Name Description
1 Read Magic Read magical scrolls and spellbooks.
1 Light Causes an object to glow.
1 Mend Makes minor repairs on an object.
[[[ The Spells screen allows you view all your accumulated spells. As a new Mage you will have 1 or more spells based on your background. Note: In Dark Realms a Mage''s spells must be learned. Unlike Skills, your level determines which spells you can learn. A level 1 Mage must wait until they level up before learning a level 2 spell. ]]] Mend? She concentrated on the spells name. [[[ Mend Level 1 Cost: 10 mana Effect: Repairs minor damage of the selected object. Will fix most tears, splits, chips and dents on common objects. Will not replace lost material. ]]] Looking down at her clothes, she could see they were dirty and of poor quality, but they had no obvious rips or patches. Think of how useful that would have been back home and here it''s a free spell. Oh well. With a thought she opened the final option; Skills [[[ The Skills screen allows you view all your accumulated skills and their progress. Note: In Dark Realms your level affects your relative power (health and mana), but skills are only gained through use or special training. ]]] Now that is interesting, Lilith thought. She remembered her sister Amy talking about a game article reporting that Dark Realms claimed to have 1000s of possible skills. They ranged from traditional combat skills, to utility and even useless roleplaying ones. Additionally the game supported a very integrated and complex artisan and crafting systems. From blacksmiths to painters the game developers had promised to build a rich and interactive world. [[[ Skills in Dark Realms are gained via discovery and grow through continued use. Skills are measured in ranks of 1-100. Rank 1 is considered known but untrained and Rank 100 is considered mastered. Imagine a person picks up a sword for the first time and swings it at someone. They will gain Rank 1 in swords. Now imagine that same person with years of training and multiple experiences in battle. They would have a rank around 75. Early skill ranks are easy to obtain and provide few bonuses. As the skill ranks up, it becomes more and more difficult to advance, but the advantages grow exponentially. True masters of a skill are rare and masters of multiple skills are unique individuals indeed. ]]] After reviewing all the options, the only thing left to do was select the OK option and proceed with the tutorial. [[[ New Quest: Run for your life! Trapped in a blind alley with no weapons, you are attacked by a rabid beast and must run for your life. Reward for Success: New Skill Penalty for Failure: Restart Tutorial Section ]]] Lilith stared at the prompt in confusion. What the hell? Rabid Beast? Hearing a sudden sound behind her, she slowly turned around to see a previously unnoticed pile of garbage start to shift. A large canine pushed itself out from the trash pile. Its fur was dirty and matted but all Lilith could see were the large teeth inside its froth filled mouth. Lilith never considered herself a woman of action, she always imagined herself as the sort of person who would freeze when confronted by a dangerous situation. So she was surprised when she somehow managed to assess the situation in a split second; no weapons, rabid dog, quest prompt; and immediately spun around to sprint away before the dog had fully emerged. Maybe this is my Will of 18?, she thought. She knew the Agility of 13 made her more dexterous, so maybe her high Will and Intelligence was helping her out as well? It was scary to think that this place was messing with her head. Was she even herself anymore? The sound of claws scrabbling on the hard packed ground drove those thoughts aside. She covered the 60 feet to the crates at the end of the alley in a few seconds. Lilith was amazed at how well her body performed, how smooth and graceful she was. Unfortunately the crates were stacked 3 high and blocked the entire alley, she was trapped. Hearing a menacing growl she spun around. The dog had stopped 10 feet away from her and looked ready to attack. [[[ Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Run for your life! You have gained the skill Sprint (Rank 1/100). This skill will grow with continued use. Increased skill ranks will allow you to run longer and faster. ]]] As soon as Lilith closed that prompt a new one appeared. [[[ New Quest: Fight for your life! Dark Realms can be a dangerous place. Sometimes you will be left with no options other than violence! A rusty dagger has be left stuck in the side of one of the crates. Pick it up to equip it and prepare to defend yourself! Reward for Success: New Skill Penalty for Failure: Restart Tutorial Section ]]] While Lilith was reading the prompts, the dog seemed content to just growl and threaten her. However, when she dismissed the quest window it began stalking forward menacingly. The dog looked like a large, dirty, half starved pitbull. Up close she could see how much skinnier it was than she originally thought. She could see its ribs clearly defined on its sides as it moved into the light. Lilith looked at the crates and spotted the dagger sticking conveniently in the side of the one next to her. She shifted over to the dagger and tried to remove it while watching the slowly approaching dog. The dagger was firmly buried in the wood of the crate and she had to slowly wiggle it loose. Like her other stats, Strength apparently played a big role in the game. She had a bad feeling she was going to really regret the low score of 6. As soon as the dagger came free, the dog attacked. On instinct she leapt sideways and avoided the attack. The dog smashed into the side of the crate and seemed to stun itself. [[[ Congratulations! You have gained the skill Dodge (Rank 1/100). Timed correctly, you have a chance to completely avoid a single attack. This skill grows with continued use. Increased skill ranks will increase the chances of successfully dodging. ]]] Seeing the dog stunned after ramming its head against one of the crates, Lilith stepped forward and slashed it with the blade of her new dagger. A gash appeared on the dogs shoulder as the blade slashed the stunned animal. [[[ You hit the Street Mutt for 2 points of damage. ]]] [[[ Congratulations! You have gained the skill Small Blades (Rank 1/100). Your understanding of daggers, knives and other small bladed weapons has increased. This skill grows with continued use or training. Increased skill ranks will allow you do more damage. ]]] The dog shook its head then glared at her. Lilith stepped in to stab the beast again, but this time it was ready for her. Its mouth latched onto her wrist with a sickening crunch. Lilith dropped her dagger in shock and then screamed as the pain hit her. [[[ The Street Mutt hits you for 3 points of damage. Critical Hit! You are disarmed! Your main hand is crippled and you are unable to wield a weapon in that hand. (You must use a special potion or see a healer to remove this debuff) ]]] She could feel the bones grinding in her wrist. What kind of game was this? How could it hurt so bad? As her vision dimmed around the edges she slumped down onto her knees. With a vicious shake, the dog let go of her wrist. A sudden lunge and his powerful jaws latched onto the side of her face. Lilith felt a terrible pain and a sickening tearing sensation. [[[ The Street Mutt hits you for 5 points of damage. Critical Hit! You are blinded! You are disfigured and suffer a -10 penalty to your charisma! (You must use a special potion or see a healer to remove this debuff) ]]] [[[You have died! ]]] 5. Respawning Chapter 005 Respawning [[[ You are dead. Click to Respawn ]]] The pain had blissfully faded along with everything else. She was back in the terrible void. This time the prompt she stared at was much less welcoming. I died? While Lilith floated in the void, trying to avoid thinking about the pain, she tentatively touched her face but everything felt smooth. Looking down, she saw her wrist was fine as well. Fighting back the urge to lose herself to panic she focused on collecting herself. What the hell just happened? She wondered. Responding to her thoughts a new Window appeared. This one was labelled ¡®Log¡¯ and detailed all of the messages she had received in the game so far. I only hit the Street Mutt for 2 points and it hit me for 3 and then 5? Both Criticals? I only have 4 hit points! How the fuck is this fair? She screamed at the void. Looking at her last quest, she notice it said ¡®Restart Tutorial Section¡¯ as the penalty for failure. Was she going to have to fight the dog again? She did not want to feel that pain again. After several minutes, the pressure from the endless void caused her to push past her fear and hesitation. She steeled herself for the coming fight, when she felt ready she touched Respawn. [[[ Welcome back Adventurer! Death in Dark Realms is not the end for immortals such as yourself! However, death is not without its cost! Each death will strip you of 1 full level. All non-soulbound items and money you are carrying will be left on your corpse. The next time you see the Goblin that killed you, you can expect he will be using your sword against you! Smart adventurers will take advantage of the various banks and vaults spread around the world to store their money and items. After each death you will respawn at your last bind point. New adventurers are initially bound where they enter the world, but various places of power offer the ability to change your bind point. Especially gruesome deaths can leave permanent scars on your character. Most can be removed by visiting highly skilled healers. However some traumatic experiences may leave scars that can never be fully removed. Note: All death penalties and scars are waived while in the tutorial. ]]] As the window closed, she was once again facing the growling dog. It slowly began advancing towards her. Looking at the crates she saw the rusty dagger sticking out of the crate. Cursing her low strength, she again wiggled the dagger free and turned to face the dog once more. With a large growl, the dog charged her! Remembering the last battle, Lilith waited until the last moment and dodged to the side. The dog slammed head first into the crates and stunned itself. Not wasting time Lilith stepped forward and drove the dagger into the dog''s ribs as fast as she could. [[[ You hit the Street Mutt for 3 points of damage. ]]] [[[ You hit the Street Mutt for 2 point of damage. ]]] [[[ You hit the Street Mutt for 2 point of damage. ]]] [[[ Congratulations! You have gained the Small Blades sub-skill Flurry (Rank 1/100). You can now perform several weak attacks in rapid succession. This skill is most effective against distracted or incapacitated enemies. This skill grows with continued use or training. Increased skill ranks will increase the number of attacks as well as the damage dealt. Note: Subskills can not increase beyond their base skill. To raise this skill, you must first raise Small Blades. ]]] The dagger opened several deep wounds on the side of the dog. Blood started welling out of the cuts and stained the dogs mangy fur a dark red. Noticing the tell tale shake of the dog''s head, Lilith jumped away, causing the dog''s sudden attack to miss. [[[ Congratulations! You have advanced the skill Dodge (Rank 2/100). Your chance to completely avoid a single attack has increased slightly. ]]] Trying to capitalize on the animals weakened state, she went to finish him. Unfortunately she rushed her attack and missed her swing when the dog suddenly charged her. They collided and both ended up on the ground. The dog¡¯s teeth caught her thigh and gasped in pain. [[[ The Street Mutt hits you for 2 points of damage. ]]] Screw this! She thought. Lilith jumped up and sprinted towards the dead end where she spawned. She could hear the dog scrambling to his feet and giving chase. With a quick glance behind her, she ran straight at the wall. At the last moment she dodged to the side and grinned as the dog slammed head first into the wall, stunning himself again. Stepping forward she jammed her dagger into the dog¡¯s throat, giving it a few vicious jerks for good measure. Blood immediately started gushing out of the jagged wound. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. [[[ You hit the Street Mutt for 6 points of damage. Critical Hit! The Street Mutt is Silenced. The Street Mutt is Bleeding. ]]] [[[ The Street Mutt has died! ]]] [[[ Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Fight for your life! You have gained the Small Blades sub-skill Execute (Rank 1/100). You can now attempt a devastating attack against a single opponent. This skill is only effective against distracted or incapacitated enemies. This skill grows with continued use or training. Increased skill ranks will increase the chance of a critical attacks as well as the damage dealt. Note: Subskills can not increase beyond their base skill. To raise this skill, you must first raise Small Blades. ]]] Sighing with relief Lilith leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. As the adrenaline from the fight drained out of her, she realized how tired she was. Her limbs felt heavy and she was short of breath. [[[ Warning: You are low on Stamina! Using active skills like Dodge, Sprint and Execute; will drain your stamina. As your stamina lowers you will move and react slower, until you eventually drop from exhaustion. Make sure to take time between encounters to rest and refill your stamina bar. ]]] After reading the prompt, Lilith noticed something flashing in the corner of her vision. Focusing on that area, she could see 3 bars. Red for health, blue for mana and yellow for stamina. The health bar was missing 25% from the dog¡¯s bite. The mana bar was at 100% because she had no idea how to use magic yet but the yellow bar only had 25% remaining and was flashing somewhat urgently. Lilith sat down and crossed her legs. Watching the bars she could see the yellow one slowly start to refill. Surprisingly the red bar also started to refill by itself. Looking down at her leg, she could see the ripped cloth with blood stains where the dog had bitten her, but the wounds were slowly closing. It seems this system allows her to regain health outside of combat. Not walking around with an infected dog bite on her leg was a huge relief to Lilith. [[[ You have slain your first foe in Dark Realms! While you recover from the battle let''s learn about looting corpses. In Dark Realms each entity (creature or humanoid) has its own items and will only drop what it is carrying. No magic armor stuffed inside forest wolves. If you kill a goblin who was using an unusual sword, you can loot that sword from his corpse. If you kill an animal, you will have to learn and use various skills to harvest hide or other ingredients from it. Defeated enemies will leave a corpse on the ground. To loot the corpse you must walk up and interact with it. For humanoids you simply pick up dropped weapons, remove their armor and search their pouches and bags. For beasts you will need to equip a bladed weapons and attempt to skin or remove various body parts manually. The success of these actions will depend on your skill level. ]]] So no magic loot boxes? Lilith looked at the bloody corpse of the dog with disgust. To get new items she would have to search, or worse, carve up dead bodies? The realism of this place was insane. Looking closely she could see muscle and exposed bone where her attacks had shredded the dog''s ribs. [[[ New Quest: Pound of Flesh! Dark Realms has many crafting and gathering skills available. Some can be learned only with special training, but many can be discovered and grown through use! You have killed an animal and see no reason to waste the resources. Use your dagger to try and recover something from the dead Street Mutt. Reward for Success: New Skill Possible Food or Crafting Resource ]]] Lilith was still holding the dagger, so she got up and approached the corpse. With a shaky hand she stabbed her dagger into the side of the dog''s body. She waited for several seconds and when nothing happened, she sighed and began sawing the blade back and forth. It required more effort than she thought it would. After carving about 6 inches her blade struck something inside the body and a foul smelling dark liquid began seeping from the wound. The smell was awful and she had to turn her head and vomit. Fuck this, she thought. Getting up she walked away from the corpse and headed to the crates blocking the alley. Maybe she could tip them over and get out of this alley. Before she could get close to the boxes, she felt reality shift again and she was back in front of the dogs corpse. She sat down heavily and with a petulant sigh decided she would just sit here and do nothing. Whoever was running this place would have to come talk to her eventually. Her resolve lasted almost an hour before boredom and anxiety drove her to action. With a disgusted groan she started hacking into the dog¡¯s side again, reaching with her left hand she grabbed a hunk of flesh and pulled it tight. Taking the dagger she sawed at the chunk of flesh until it came free in her hand. [[[ Congratulations! You have completed the Quest: Pound of Flesh! You have gained the skill Butchery (Rank 1/100). You can now attempt to harvest hide, meat and useful body parts from dead creatures. You have gained the item ¡®Tainted Hound Meat¡¯. Due to manner this meat was harvested it has been tainted and may cause illness if consumed. Note: Please note that performing certain actions on the corpses of humanoid creatures is considered an evil act and will lower your reputation if you are observed. ]]] Lilith was mentally exhausted. She tossed the meat aside and leaned against the wall. Staring at her hands she studied her delicate fingers. A bit too long and now covered in blood and bits of gore. How did she get here? What is going on? She felt like she had been in this tutorial for days, but it was likely only a couple of hours. Her mind was reeling from everything that had been thrown at her. Once again she wondered at the mental effects of this place. Her reactions seemed out of place to her. It was like she had two pasts to draw on. One a sheltered American teenager and another a streetwise half-elven peasant. And while she never considered herself stupid, her thoughts and decisions were undeniably faster. As if sensing her mental distress, the system presented Lilith with the one thing that could break her out of her spiral into panic. 6. Magic Chapter 006 Magic [[[ The ability to use magic in Dark Realms is a genetic trait, not a learned ability. Those not born with this trait are unable to harness and channel mana, so they are unable to cast even the simplest spells. As a natural-born Mage, you have the ability to use magic. You know a few basic spells from your background choice. To grow in power you can find other Mages and convince them to teach you their spells, or acquire and study spellbooks. At higher levels, it is possible to perform magical research to discover new spells. Warning: Various cultures and factions in Dark Realms have different views on those able to use magic. Some see it as evil or an affront to their Gods, while others view the ability as natural or a gift from the Gods. It is not uncommon for Mages to be killed on sight in some areas. Care should be taken when traveling into unfamiliar areas. Even amongst fellow mages, there are stigmas, taboos, and prejudices that affect how others will react to you. Mages who deal with blood, dark rituals, death or demons will find few places that will openly accept them. Adventurers in Dark Realms are not seen as special. You are just another citizen of the world. Until you establish your reputation in an area, you will be seen as a stranger. Those you meet will not have access to your stats, class or level. You should expect to be judged first on your appearance and then on your actions. ]]] The message triggered the memory of a conversation with her sister over the choice of a half-elf. Amy had warned her about half-elves being social outcasts and having problems dealing with non-playing characters. Lilith had brushed those concerns off when it was just a computer game, but now that she was stuck here, she was concerned she may have made a huge mistake. How likely is getting burned at the stake for being a witch here? As scared as she was of dealing with other ¡®people¡¯, she was more worried about being stuck here alone. She resolved to be cautious when she got past the tutorial and hopefully started to interact with NPCs. She would have to see how being a female, half-elf mage actually affected her here. [[[ New Quest: Magical Repairs! During your fight with the Street Mutt, your clothing was damaged, but you have the ability to repair them. Place your hands on the damaged area and concentrate on the spell Mend. When you feel the power start to build inside you, visualize ¡®pushing¡¯ it to your hands. NOTE: Spells often require your hands to be free and undamaged. Being bound or crippled will prevent you from casting most spells. A favorite tactic of mage hunters is to set traps that cripple a mage¡¯s hand before the attack. Rewards for Success: Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Level Up The ability to use magic ]]] Shaking the dark thoughts away, Lilith focused on the prompt. She was going to do magic! Looking down, Lilith found the bloody rip the dog made in her skirt when it bit into her thigh. Doing her best to smooth out the material, she held the torn edges together and closed her eyes, concentrating on the word ¡®Mend¡¯. She could feel a pleasant warmth resonating inside of her. A strange, not unpleasant sensation. In fact, it reminded her a little of the first moments of arousal, before actually becoming horny. Almost unconsciously her hands started to caress her midriff, the skin there tingling pleasantly. Her wayward thoughts distracted her and as she lost her concentration, the sensation of mana flaring uncomfortably before fading away. [[[ Spell Failed You lost concentration and the spell fizzled. Fizzled spells still consume the normal amount of mana. Losing concentration in battle can mean disaster for a Battle Mage. Higher-level spells take longer to cast and have larger mana requirements. As the mage becomes more familiar with a spell, it becomes easier to maintain focus. For this reason, Battle Mages tend to specialize in a small number of powerful spells. While Utility Mages will have a larger number of spells available to them. ]]] Looking up at her status bars. She could see that the blue mana bar had dropped. With a bit of focus, the numbers [50 of 60] appeared. The Mend spell obviously consumed 10 points of mana.After a few seconds, the blue bar slowly started to refill. She reasoned that mana, health and stamina all slowly regenerated after use. Refocusing her thoughts, she grabbed her skirt again and concentrated on ¡®Mend¡¯. As the sensation filled her, she visualized pushing to through her arms and into her hands. It took several seconds, but eventually, she could feel the energy pulse and then start moving. There was a strange stuttering sensation as her concentration wavered, but she was able to refocus and prevent the spell from fizzling again. She watched in awe as the tear in her skirt was slowly repaired until she could no longer see the damage. [[[ SpellSuccess. You have successfully cast your first spell. Magic has been unlocked. ]]] Awesome! She could sense the mana in her body, waiting for her to call it out and use it. Just as she was about to try another spell a loud DING blared out and a new message appeared. [[[ Congratulations, you have completed the Dark Realms tutorial! Alert:Hardcore Mode Enabled! - Instant Combat and Skill messages are disabled. Advancement gains are only displayed when you level up. - Death Penalty Increased. Starting at Level 5, skill gains are only made permanent when you level. Death will reset all progress since your last level. ]]] After a few seconds, the final message disappeared. Looking around Lilith noticed the crates were gone. She was standing alone in the alley, dagger in hand with a dead dog and a bloody chunk of meat laying at her feet. At the mouth of the alley she could see a street paved with stones and a small face peeking around the corner.