《BASE Status: Update (BASE Status 2)》 Act I - 1. Setup Willow glanced around the busy market, not exactly sure what she was looking for, or who, to be more exact, but the crowd made her feel overwhelmed and like it was going to squash her. She couldn¡¯t stay here for much longer.
Violet: Just a couple more steps, you¡¯re almost there.
Yeah, like that was much help. She had no idea where Violet was guiding her and there were so many people around her that she had no idea where she was even going.
Violet: To your left now.
Willow looked over her shoulder and came eye-to-eye with a large and imposing statue. What?The dark statue looked like a gigantic wolf and as she eyed the name hovering over it it read ¡®Fenrir¡¯. It tickled something in her mind, a memory, but she couldn¡¯t really place it or why it sounded so familiar. The wolf seemed to be bound by some invisible ropes, though she couldn¡¯t see a place where they attached to keep it in place. As Willow looked around, she realised that a lot of people were looking at the wolf, and as she took in the buildings over the crowd, she could mentally recall what these streets normally looked like. This wolf hadn¡¯t been here last time she had been.
Dawn: Okay, now take two steps back and take a screenshot of yourself with the wolf.
Willow had no idea why Dawn was poking into the chat she was having with Violet, or why he was even around. She pulled up a quick keyboard, her fingers flying over the keys as she put in the commands for a camera to take a selfie with.
Meadow: Why? Violet: Just do it. Meadow: Fine.
Like she had much to lose¡­ Willow turned her back to the statue, pulling up the camera in front of herself, it looked like a mirror so she could easily see what she was taking a picture of. The statue didn¡¯t look any different in the camera, just big and imposing and dangerous, like it had looked before. She sighed, took the picture and put the ¡®camera¡¯ away again.
Meadow: And now?
Was something supposed to have happened?
Dawn: Turn around.
As she turned, she saw movement from the corner of her eyes, her heart starting to race as she realised that the wolf was moving, the statue was moving. The wolf shook his head and body, breaking free from his constraints. It looked at her with his red eyes, like the hearth of a fire, before it let out a snarl and rushed past her. It bumped into her as it did so, almost pushing her off balance, and then disappeared into the crowd. It took her a moment to realise that while it had been able to bump into her, it seemed like the other players didn¡¯t see it, or were affected by it. The wolf just ran right through them. She took a couple of deep breaths, putting her hand over her heart, trying to calm it down again. What the?!
Meadow: What was that? Violet: A hidden quest.
Violet almost sounded like she was enjoying this, and right as she said the words, text appeared in the middle of Willow¡¯s view. *Quest accepted: Bind Fenrir* She opened the quest log for it, curious about the pop-up. That was new.
Your vanity has diminished the ribbons keeping Fenrir in place. Now you need to collect six mythological items to craft Gleipnir and bind this creature safely back in place. Collect: 0/1 Cat¡¯s footfall 0/1 Beard of a woman 0/1 Spit of a bird 0/1 Breath of a fish 0/1 Roots of a mountain 0/1 Nervousness of a bear
What? What kind of list was this? These things didn¡¯t exist, right? And how did Violet and Dawn know about it?
Meadow: When did you find this?
Willow hadn¡¯t heard of any of these items before, or even the whole quest line, and six months into the game, they¡¯d found most quests and items that were around.
Dawn: I found it last night, right after the update came out.
Why wasn¡¯t she surprised by that? At least, not since she¡¯d got to know Dawn better and found that he was actually pretty vain, which could explain his choice of race or his outfit most of the time. So, of course, he¡¯d be the one to find a quest like this.
Meadow: You know that this is going to get annoying at some point, right? You taking pictures of everything is going to get us wiped at some point. By a mob or some player who isn¡¯t fond of selfies. Dawn: At least it will have a cool action shot before it happens.
Willow sighed, smiling, then she pulled her cape closer around herself and pushed through the crowd, trying to get to one of the quieter streets. On her map, she could see Violet follow her closely, probably still on some rooftop, as she tended to do since she found out how to get onto them in the cities. Violet said that it was much faster to get around when she wasn¡¯t constantly trying to get through crowds. At the edge of the map, she saw a dot representing Dawn, a turquoise dot, also come into view, coming over to her at a high speed, crossing streets and buildings with ease. He was probable flying or something. As Willow slipped behind some stalls, getting out of a throng of people, Violet landed right next to her, grinning widely.
Violet: And?
Her eyes shone and she moved like it was hard to contain her energy.Stolen novel; please report. Willow sighed, glaring at Violet. Like they had the time to do even more strange sidequests these days... Her job at the BASE division of content curating was taking up enough of her time, and going on weird magical hunts... When would she have time for that?
Meadow: I don¡¯t know...
Dawn appeared next to them in a cloud of colours, almost like magic, which it probably was.
Dawn: Please, please, please? Join us? Dawn: I¡¯m fairly sure they¡¯re all new dungeon drops and we¡¯ve not done a good dungeon run together in weeks. I¡¯m pretty sure these all come from new dungeons too.
He was right about the not having played together for a long time. They¡¯d all been really busy with work and getting all their schedules to match up for a run had proven more difficult than expected. It was strange, before the whole mess with Helheim Fallen Online and exposing the corruption of the mother company, most of them had been playing Destruction of Elysium and it never seemed to be a problem to get everyone together back then, even though Willow had been the only one in the group without a job or school at the time. But with two new people in their group and now most of them had jobs, things had gotten a little more complicated. She missed having everyone around.
Meadow: Do the others know about the quest yet?
Violet shrugged as Dawn shook his head.
Dawn: They¡¯ve not been online this morning. You were the first.
Right. Well, that made sense. Also, wait...
Meadow: You two have been online all night?
She looked between them and they both didn¡¯t meet her eyes now, almost like they were ashamed. Right... *One hour until work* The internal timer Willow had set up for BASE to tell her when she had to be off to work came in handy, as she could easily get lost in these worlds if she wasn¡¯t reminded that she had to return to the ¡®normal¡¯ world sometimes, especially since the ¡®normal¡¯ world was a boring apartment where she was on her own most of the time. At least in the game, she had her friends around. Dawn looked at her, and then looked off to the side, probably checking something in his own interface, before he looked back at her.
Dawn: Work?
Willow nodded.
Dawn: Anything cool today? Meadow: I think today is just some office suit program or something. And maybe some puzzle game, nothing really that interesting.
After Willow had found a coding flaw in the engine that Helheim Fallen Online ran on, together with her friends, and they¡¯d prevented the flaw from blitzing hundreds if not thousands of accounts, breaking them and kicking the owners from the BASE platform, she¡¯d been offered a job as a tester for the BASE main company. She, and her guild mate Sage, were hired to find security flaws, like the one they¡¯d discovered, before games were put into the system. There had been some cursory testing in place before, but nothing like they were doing now. And it was pretty cool, if a little brain-draining, most days. The fun part was playing some of the games and getting paid to crawl through their code just to find flaws, but the constant data being thrown at her, the constant sensory inputs, was pretty exhausting. This also meant that at the end of the day, she usually just wanted to hang out with her friends instead of doing even more exhausting things, like playing new dungeons that they¡¯d have to figure out and all... Even though the job was exhausting, she still loved it. She never expected that she¡¯d be able to get a job, let alone one that actually paid as well as this one did. Her whole life, she¡¯d been told that because she was autistic, that she couldn¡¯t get a job or do anything useful in the world. So she¡¯d dedicated her life to games, since that gave her some feeling of actually making a difference, and now she was getting paid to keep doing what she loved.
Meadow: I¡¯ll be back after work.
She really had to get ready since she¡¯d want to spend some time sitting in quiet so she could prepare her brain for the work ahead. If she didn¡¯t, she was usually much more exhausted after work, this way she felt that she¡¯d at least get some fun out of her day after she was done with work.
Dawn: Good luck! Violet: Want me to log off too?
Violet often chatted with her before she started work, it kind of was their thing. Being with Violet, chatting with her, it calmed her down.
Meadow: Sure. Meadow: Off now.
She swiped her hand in front of her and a menu folded open. She hit the ¡®log out¡¯ button and the world around her went dark apart from one simple message. *You are logged out of Helheim Fallen Online* She almost didn¡¯t register the words anymore, that¡¯s how used she was to them showing up each time she logged on or off. As she disconnected the VR system and put it to the side, she sat up, stretching her muscles as she looked around the room. Her room was as white as ever, as light as ever, and it was making her more and more frustrated. Things had moved on in her life, but she was still stuck here in this almost sterile place. Not long after, she received a call invitation from Violet and immediately accepted it. ¡°Hey.¡± Willow got up out of bed and walked to her desk. It had been empty for years, but these days she used it a lot, usually to store notes and other things on that she may need for her work, all pen and paper. It wasn¡¯t the most high-tech, but that didn¡¯t matter, it didn¡¯t need to be high-tech to be useful. ¡°Hey. We didn¡¯t want to annoy you, you know. We just hoped that maybe it would encourage you to come play with us more often.¡± She could hear Violet move around in her own apartment, her voice quiet. ¡°I know.¡± Willow sighed, smiling softly. Then she went into the living room, making herself comfortable on the couch. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I just... I don¡¯t know... I¡¯m just so tired lately.¡± Not really from work alone, but from life in general. Things that had been mere ¡®annoying¡¯ before were getting on her nerves and it was draining her energy. It also didn¡¯t help that she was still scared that every program that she¡¯d open would try to blitz her like the coding in HF had been programmed to do. But she hadn¡¯t told Violet about any of that, she didn¡¯t want to put more strain on her friend. ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good.¡± It wasn¡¯t like she could explain it in a few words anyway. It was just something that was slowly nibbling at her and maybe she really just needed to get over everything already. Even though her psych had told her that that could take time. She didn¡¯t want time, she wanted to feel safe again already. It also didn¡¯t help that she felt so responsible for her work that she¡¯d been pushing the hours for it to the limit of what BASE would allow her to work. It was stretching her thin. Willow was autistic. She¡¯d been diagnosed at a young age, and that meant that her life had been pre-planned for her from the moment she¡¯d been diagnosed. She didn¡¯t go to normal schools, she¡¯d had ¡®private¡¯ lessons most of her life and nobody ever expected her to have a job or support herself or anything like that. As soon as she¡¯d turned sixteen, she¡¯d been moved to a ¡®low sensory¡¯ building where she¡¯d be able to live ¡®her life to the fullest¡¯ by ¡®getting the exact right care¡¯. But in reality it was a building where they¡¯d store her for the rest of her life, pretending to do so much for her while in reality she was really just stuck here until she¡¯d die. She used to get ¡®classes¡¯ in ¡®life skills¡¯ like cooking and how to ace job interviews, but she knew that it was to keep her busy and to look good to the parents who dumped their kids here, but nobody ever expected the people who lived here to actually use those skills in the world. She was heavily discouraged from talking to any of the other people living in the building ¡®out of safety for other people¡¯s senses¡¯ or from going outside the walls surrounding the building into the ¡®sensory overloading¡¯ outside world. It wasn¡¯t exactly a prison, technically, but it wasn¡¯t very far from one. Willow was just stored here because she wasn¡¯t ¡®normal¡¯ enough for the outside world, and while people made it seem like living here was in herbest interest, she¡¯d never been sure about that. It felt more in the best interest of a great many other people¡­ For years, the only way she could manage living here without falling into a deep depression was because she had her friends. She met her friends online in Destruction of Elysium, the first MMORPG that she got really into and it helped her to not feel so lonely all of the time. According to ¡®experts¡¯ autistic people didn¡¯t need a lot of social interactions because it would overstimulate them, so the few people who came by to ¡®help¡¯ Willow with her household and her psych were seen as enough social interactions for her, but she needed her friends, she needed the people around her. She always had needed them. But BASE, the Bioelectrical Augmented Synapse Enhancer, allowed her not to just connect to the VR system and play games with others, but to always be in contact with them, to never be alone. Without BASE, she probably wouldn¡¯t have survived living on her own here. Because she knew that without her friends, she definitely wouldn¡¯t have. 2. Responsibilities Willow stood up, stretching the muscles in her legs and arms, needing to move for a while. There was only so much time she could spend sitting still and not moving as she looked at code.
Sage: Yo.
Willow: Yo.
She¡¯d been working for hours. It was past lunchtime, though she¡¯d been working through the break, because she¡¯d been so hyperfocused on what she was doing.
Sage: Anything interesting today?
They were both working on different programs, as was usually the case. The department didn¡¯t have the manpower to let people work together on the same program because of the high pressure to get through the backlog of programs as quickly as possible and there weren¡¯t enough people hired yet to do this. Not enough people who¡¯d passed the tests and everything. Plus, as Soleil had once told her, there were too few people with experience coding in C++ in the world, and most of them were already working for other companies. So BASE was training a lot of new people to help them soon, but that could still take months.
Willow: I don¡¯t know. Nothing interesting code-wise, but that doesn¡¯t mean that it couldn¡¯t be hidden in some strange corner.
They were looking for abnormalities in the coding of programs that would expose the user data to someone who shouldn¡¯t be allowed to see that data or could put users¡¯ accounts in danger. The engine that Helheim Fallen Online was based on had been using a critical flaw in the BASE platform to pinpoint players who they deemed ¡®unwelcome¡¯ to then break into their accounts and blitz them. Blitzing was the scrambling of the data of an account, which made the user unable to get back into their account. It would lock them not just out of a game but also out of the whole BASE account. And since BASE was connected to everything from jobs to schooling to banking details, people would basically lose everything they had in seconds. And before Willow and her friends had exposed the flaw, that data would have been gone forever, even from backup servers, as this particular engine would then insert a worm into the targeted account that would destroy all traces of it, on all servers where the data had been stored on, going back as far as it could. Everything they¡¯d ever owned, anything they¡¯d ever done, gone. Willow and her friends had been lucky when they¡¯d found what was going on and, as far as they knew, when they¡¯d deleted the offending trigger code from the HF ¡®release update¡¯, they¡¯d stopped the engine from doing too much damage. In total, there had been reports of ¡®just¡¯ dozens of accounts affected by this thing, but it could have been in the thousands, or ten of thousands, if they hadn¡¯t stopped it. HF had been the first big game that had been made in this engine, but the people who created the engine had gone missing after their coding had been exposed. So nobody knew who they were or where they were, and they could be up and running and breaking into people¡¯s accounts again already. Now, the BASE main company ran a totally new department, purely for the testing of new engines, programs and games, trying to prevent something like what was about to happen with HF ever happening again. Willow and Sage had been among the first to be hired into the department. But for Willow, there was more than just the trying to find bad code going on. She sometimes still woke up from nightmares in which her friends¡¯ accounts got blitzed and that she lost all contact with them. She¡¯d have nightmares that she accidentally didn¡¯t test a program well enough and thousands of people would have their accounts blitzed because of her failing. She was scared, and it made her work long hours. Even after she¡¯d log off work, she¡¯d still be thinking about the code she¡¯d been working on that day, never really letting it rest. A green blinking started at the side of her view, she was getting a call from someone. Then she saw the chats from Sage.
Sage: Willow!
Sage: Yo!
Sage: Earth to Willow!
As she pulled herself back to the now, Sage¡¯s name slid from the side to the middle of her view, still blinking in green. She accepted the call. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sage¡¯s voice was fast, like they were a little out of breath. Willow purposefully stepped forward, she¡¯d been staring off into nothing, frozen in place in the middle of her living room. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± This hadn¡¯t been the first time this happened, not even this week. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She took a deliberate breath. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure.¡± She walked over to the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water. ¡°Have you been¡­¡± Sage¡¯s voice got quiet for a few moments. ¡°Have you been sleeping well?¡± Willow stopped in the middle of filling the glass. Sage knew her a little too well sometimes, especially when it came to when Willow wasn¡¯t at her best. ¡°Have you told Violet or Soleil?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Why would I? It¡¯s not like they can help.¡± ¡°Why not?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Because¡­¡± She sighed deep, tears slowly forming in her eyes and she let out a shaking breath. Then she moved her hand and a keyboard formed in front of her.
Willow: There isn¡¯t anything that they can do to stop the nightmares.
She¡¯d told Sage about the nightmares before, they were the only one who knew about what haunted her in her sleep. ¡°Why not?¡± Sage replied by voice, not by text.
Willow: They can¡¯t go into my head and stop them.
Willow: It¡¯s just¡­
Willow: I¡¯ll have to get over them at some point. They can¡¯t come to my rescue every time.
¡°What if they want to? What if we all want to?¡± Willow stared off into space again, Sage¡¯s words going through her head. ¡®What if we all want to?¡¯
Willow: No.
Willow: It¡¯ll get better, I just need to sleep more.
She just had to exhaust her brain more, let herself sleep more soundly. It would get better at some point, she was sure of that. It just wasn¡¯t right now.
Willow: I¡¯m taking a break for a little while.
¡°Okay. Take care of yourself.¡± Sage disconnected the call and she was on her own again. She knew that her friends cared, she really did, but she had no idea how they could solve the nightmares, or the fear running through her. She really just needed more time, her brain would find something else to grasp onto soon enough. She just had to wait it out. *** Willow was curled up on the couch, her arms around the plush hippogriff that Violet sent her for her birthday once, and hiding under a fluffy blanket. She stared into nothing, trying to keep her brain from wandering off too far and trying to not freak out. After the chat with Sage earlier today, something bad had taken hold inside of her, a deep, dark panic that she couldn¡¯t seem to shake off. Every time her mind went to something good, it would turn it bad and she just couldn¡¯t deal with it anymore. She couldn¡¯t do this anymore. Suddenly, strong arms grabbed her and almost dragged her off the couch, pulling her against a warm body, holding her in a tight grip. ¡°Willow. Willow.¡± It was Violet¡¯s voice, there was an edge to it that she didn¡¯t know how to interpret. What was Violet doing here? No. Violet was supposed to be at work right now. She couldn¡¯t be here. She wasn¡¯t. This was just her brain playing tricks on her again. ¡°Willow.¡± She was moved, and then the blanket was pulled from her head. Violet stared down at her, her dark eyes wide, a line between her eyebrows, her full lips pressed together. She seemed¡­ worried. But she was really here. Willow shook her head, not able to answer her, her tears slowly starting again and she pulled the plush hippogriff tighter. What was Violet doing here? Why was she here? How? Violet took a few deep breaths and pulled Willow closer against her, hugging her tightly for a while. Then she carefully put her back on the couch. Why was Violet here? What was she doing here? ¡®Why?¡¯ Her mouth formed the word, but no sound came out. She couldn¡¯t speak, it was locked inside. ¡°We were all worried.¡± Violet crossed her legs and sat down in front of the couch, still looking at Willow. ¡°This morning too¡­ And then Sage messaged me¡­¡± Sage? They¡¯d told Violet? Why would they? ¡°They didn¡¯t tell me anything but that they were worried about you. I promise. They were just¡­ They were just wondering if I¡¯d been feeling that you were different lately too.¡± Willow could finally move her fingers again.
Willow: And?
Violet¡¯s eyes shot to the side, the crease between her eyebrows lessening as she saw the message, then she looked back at Willow. ¡°Yeah.¡± She let out a slow breath. ¡°Lately, you¡­ You¡¯ve not been over to my place in weeks. And it¡¯s been more than two weeks since I was here last.¡± Had it been that long? Had she really locked herself inside her own house, her own mind, for that long? It couldn¡¯t be. ¡°You didn¡¯t realise?¡± Willow shook her head. Understanding now why Violet and Sage had been worried, even though¡­ It wasn¡¯t like they could do much to help¡­ Violet nodded and stood up slowly. ¡°Have you been sleeping?¡± Willow nodded. She kept looking at Violet, knowing that looking away would reveal her lie, but maybe looking at her too intently would too¡­ So she looked at Violet¡¯s feet instead, at the rough army boots that she wore. Violet walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge, probably looking inside, and then Willow heard her take one of the cans of energy drink she stored there. Willow¡¯s heart sank, Violet wasn¡¯t supposed to find that. Then Violet came back over to the couch, putting the can on the floor in her line of sight, before sitting down next to it. The corners of her mouth almost looked turned down, her shoulders slumped, and she let out a deep sigh. ¡°I think I¡¯m staying here for the evening.¡± Violet reached out, slowly sliding her fingers over Willow¡¯s cheek and Willow¡¯s tears soaked the blanket under her head.
Willow: Don¡¯t tell anyone, please.
She didn¡¯t need the others to know. It was bad enough that she had a hard time hiding what she was doing within the BASE health logs. She¡¯d found a way to alter the logs after Soleil had done it a few times back when they were still trying to find Violet and still figuring out what was going on with HF. So she¡¯d been lightly altering it to hide the high caffeine intake and her bad dreams. Nobody needed to know, especially not her doctors. ¡°I won¡¯t. But you can¡¯t keep doing this.¡± Violet stood up again. Only this time, she lifted Willow¡¯s head and then sat down on the couch, putting Willow¡¯s head in her lap. Violet¡¯s long fingers carefully played through her hair, rubbing her skull, soothing her. They sat like that for a long time. Just together, not doing anything else, at least, not as far as Willow knew. She relaxed, finally, her mind slowing down, the tension from her body slipping away. It wouldn¡¯t stay like that for long, she already knew that, but for now, she¡¯d take it. She¡¯d take any rest that she could get. ¡°Willow?¡± Violet¡¯s voice was barely over a whisper. She nodded, slowly. ¡°Want me to order a pizza? Or would you like something else?¡± ¡°A pizza, please.¡± Her voice had come back. It was still rough, and it felt weird to speak, but it was back, no longer kept inside by the darkness. Willow knew that this calm wouldn¡¯t last. There were hundreds and thousands of games and programs that needed to be tested. Thousands of opportunities for some rogue code to ruin people¡¯s lives. She had so much work to do to make sure that what happened to Violet and many others wouldn¡¯t happen to anyone else ever again. She had a responsibility to keep people safe, and she knew that that would never let up. She had to keep going. But for tonight, maybe she should relax, just a little. Just a little. 3. Unexpected Turn Willow had no idea how Violet could afford it or had taken care of it with her work, but she stayed with Willow for almost a week. Willow had put in a few hours at work during the week. But between Violet, Sage and Soleil all telling her that maybe she wasn¡¯t doing so well, she realised that she should probably take a few days off work herself, or at least cut down on the hours significantly. Most days, they¡¯d spend playing HF, trying to figure out what the different clues to Fenrir¡¯s quest could mean and which of the new dungeons and events would give them the right items. It seemed that with the update that introduced, in a way, the Fenrir quest, a handful of new small dungeons and challenges had been added too. They¡¯d been added to the game, but they¡¯d not really been announced anywhere, which made them all wonder what the new creators at HF were going for, if it wasn¡¯t some trap, but both Juniper and Opal promised them that it was safe. When HF was still in pre-release, they¡¯d found out that something bad was happening and that people¡¯s accounts were being blitzed. They¡¯d been able to prevent further damage and then also taken Daryl, the creator of the game, out of his position. Of course, this hadn¡¯t gone unnoticed and they¡¯d all gotten multiple job offers from different places. Juniper, who really didn¡¯t like the game at first, and Opal, who loved it from the start, now both worked at HF and they were involved with content creation and testing. Juniper to keep an eye on attracting new players and Opal to keep an eye on keeping the original players. At first, Willow thought that they¡¯d be able to get the inside scoop on all the new projects and plans, but she¡¯d soon found out that Juniper and Opal were really good at keeping their mouths shut. Willow had never expected it, that they would be so good at it, she always thought that Juniper and Opal were such chatterboxes, but they could keep secrets, that much was obvious now. Of course, with all that happened to the group, they¡¯d become a little hesitant about trying exciting new things. But, luckily, when it came to soothing their fears, Juniper and Opal would always pull through and make them feel safe again. Which was good. Juniper and Opal explained that the new content simply hadn¡¯t been announced because it wasn¡¯t meant to be a big thing at the moment, but instead it had been created as content that people of any level could complete and was designed to get them to explore the game world more. It was apparently the first part of a range of similar types of quests. It had sounded interesting and rolling it out slowly had made sense in that setup. Even though Juniper and Opal had been able to tell them that the quest was safe, they both had no idea what the quest actually was about, it¡¯d been created in a department that they weren¡¯t part of. So the whole guild could explore the quest at the same time, without anyone being able to spoil it for the others. The Binding of Fenrir quest turned out to be quite a confusing one. There had been a few dungeon like areas introduced in the update and a couple of hints were given in some story thing elsewhere in the game, but in general, not much about it was available anywhere and since so many players were all still at the start of the quest, they were all trying to get through it at the same time. Which was exciting, in a way. The first thing they¡¯d figured out, the ¡®sound of a cat¡¯s footfall¡¯, had lead them to an area close to some mountains and surrounded by forests on all sides, where they could see the shimmering area that indicated the start of a dungeon. The while guild was here, Willow, Violet, Sage, Juniper, Opal, Soleil and Dawn. It had brought the whole group together in a single spot, at the same time, it had made them more of a guild again. And that was something few things had been able to do lately.
Dawn: What do you think?
He eyed the entrance, a little sceptical, but then, the guy was deaf and they had no idea what the whole ¡®sound¡¯ part of this quest would entail, if he¡¯d even be able to play it. Violet shrugged.
Violet: I think we¡¯ll only know if we go inside.
Willow nodded. That was the only way to do this. But also, they didn¡¯t want to fall behind or have others spoil the fun for them, not now they¡¯d gotten here. She couldn¡¯t see any other players around, but that didn¡¯t mean that others weren¡¯t on their way or had been potentially here even as little as five minutes ago. There was only one way forward.
Meadow: Let¡¯s go in.
She looked over the rest of the group, who all nodded too. Violet grabbed her hand and then Dawn grabbed Violet¡¯s hand and on and on, until they all turned into one long line of people. Of course, they were in a party together, but they¡¯d found that actually touching each other sometimes helped with not getting lost inside a dungeon starting location. HF had this weird idea of what ¡®cool¡¯ things they could do to make things more ¡®dynamic¡¯ for players and one of the dungeons they¡¯d played near the beginning had plunged them right into a deep darkness and until Willow had pulled up her attack to provide some light, they had no idea where the others had been. And another time, Dawn had spawned at some totally random location at a totally different part of the dungeon somehow, split into a secondary starting location, they had to go pick him up first before they could start the real part of the dungeon. Forming one long line made them feel safer and more certain that they¡¯d stay together, of course, nothing was certain, not in HF. Willow stepped forward, reaching out and touching the entrance of the dungeon. The world around her went dark and a string of words appeared in front of her. *Few things are as fleeting as sound.* *One moment it¡¯s there and the next it¡¯s gone.* *Can you hold onto it?*This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Then she appeared in a cave, a single tunnel on the other side going from it to somewhere beyond into darkness. As they all looked around, two final lines of text floated in front of Willow. *Can you beat the cat to the end of the dungeon, but be as quiet as possible or you¡¯ll be caught.* *If the cat makes any sound along the way, catch it.* What? What was that supposed to mean? As Willow looked around again, she spotted a cat near the start of the tunnel.
Juniper: Catch the sound? How? Opal: I¡¯m more worried about the other part of the quest. How are we supposed to race a cat to the end of a tunnel without being heard? And heard by whom?
Knowing HF, there would definitely be creatures who could hear them in the tunnel, but how could they avoid being heard?
Sage: Do we sneak? Is that a skill? Juniper: Of course it is.
Juniper looked at them like they should know this, then she took a deep breath and as she started to move again, her character became less opaque, like she became partially see-through. *Whoa!* Willow hadn¡¯t seen something like that yet in HF. She eyed Violet, who was a hunter just like Juniper, but even she looked surprised. Then Juniper became fully opaque again.
Juniper: It¡¯s a tricky skill, but I figured it out a week or so ago during work hours. It¡¯s not easy to train, I have to admit that. But it¡¯s not a class specific skill as far as I can see. Opal: So we have to learn the sneak skill to get through? Violet: Probably.
That sounded sensible, but there was just one small issue¡­ Willow was huge, draugar were tall and kind of sizable, and her bones creaked as she moved since she was basically an undead creature, no matter how carefully she moved. How was she going to sneak? She made sounds that everyone could hear, no matter how carefully she did things. Willow took a deep breath and extended her leg carefully, but at the first step she took, one of the joints in her leg made a popping sound and she let out a sigh. Yeah, that was going to be fun¡­
Meadow: How?! Meadow: How am I supposed to do this?
Juniper laughed and came over.
Juniper: It¡¯s not just about moving, it¡¯s also about intending to be as quiet as possible. A lot of it is about intent as you do it. Violet: It could be a type of magic?
Juniper raised an eyebrow and shrugged, and Willow thought about that for a couple of moments. Okay, if intent was the most important part, then maybe she could make it work another way? Willow gathered the magical energy inside her and instead of pushing it out like she did for an attack, she focused on silence, on everything being quiet. Then she stepped forward and while this was slower, since she was focusing so hard, she couldn¡¯t hear her body move anymore. That was good, right? She took a couple more steps. Severely impressed at how quiet she could move if she focused on it well enough. Then she looked at the others, grinning. She did it! But that excitement faded as the others only frowned a little and were blinking her way. She saw that Violet was mouthing something at her, frowning and she let the energy go, standing normally again. ¡°Willow!¡± Violet¡¯s loud voice finally reached her, almost making her ears hurt. Why was she shouting at her?
Meadow: What?
Willow looked at Dawn, who shrugged, also apparently not quite sure why the others were acting strangely. But before anyone could explain anything, a new button appeared on Willow¡¯s skills bar. [Silence] [Channelling Caster ability] [Sometimes you just need a little quiet in your life. Creates a bubble of silence.] Oh. Right.
Violet: All the sounds stopped. What did you do?
Willow shrugged sheepishly. Magic, apparently, even though she hadn¡¯t intended it.
Meadow: Cast a silencing spell apparently¡­
She had no idea she could even get another spell at the level she was at, was this new from the update too?
Dawn: I didn¡¯t hear or feel anything.
Opal looked at Dawn with an ¡®are you kidding me¡¯ look.
Opal: Fairly sure that you wouldn¡¯t be able to hear anything if you can¡¯t hear anyway, or don¡¯t have the sounds of your game turned on.
Opal looked at Dawn again, who smiled sheepishly, and then he looked at Willow, who they knew had most of the sounds turned off too.
Dawn: Sounds are off for me¡­ That would explain it. Yes. Meadow: But it¡¯s not sneaking. We need the sneaking skill for this dungeon, right? Rotnem: No clue, actually¡­
Soleil had been keeping to the back the whole time, but then she looked at Juniper and Willow could see the way she was thinking.
Rotnem: Do you think we can restart this dungeon easily? We could just test the theory. Rotnem: Juniper, you could go ahead first, right? You¡¯ve got the skill already. Rotnem: Because in the dungeon notes, I¡¯m not seeing anything about this being a group dungeon, we¡¯re just all in here because we all went in at the same time. So we¡¯re not all connected, if one of us has to respawn, the others won¡¯t have to.
Willow pulled up the dungeon notes, which were really sparse¡­ [Catch a Cat¡¯s footfall] [Dungeon] [Group size: ~] [Race the cat to the end of the dungeon while catching any sounds it makes.] [Complete: 0-100%]
Meadow: It also doesn¡¯t specify how many sounds we¡¯re supposed to catch.
Which could mean anything from there being a lot of sounds to catch to it simply being a game mechanic that they could use, but wouldn¡¯t have to¡­
Juniper: True.
Then Juniper looked at Soleil.
Juniper: You want me to go ahead? Rotnem: Just a little bit? You¡¯ve got sneak unlocked. You¡¯d be the easiest to test.
Juniper nodded and walked up to the cat. The beautiful tabby creature looked at her and as Juniper came closer, it changed into a Lynx, which was significantly bigger and would be easier to interact with, right? As Juniper was within a foot of the creature, it suddenly pulled away and darted into the tunnel. Juniper looked back at them one last time and then turned that partially see-through again, going into sneak mode, before following the cat. They had no idea what to expect next, what would happen next. They could only wait. It didn¡¯t take long before the cat respawned at the start of the tunnel and moments later Juniper blinked into existence not too far away.
Dawn: And?
They all stared at Juniper, who started to grin broadly.
Juniper: You¡¯re going to LOVE this! Juniper: Up ahead, there is a group of creatures you have to sneak past, they respond to sound. You can see them on a ledge, but they¡¯re not looking at you until you or the cat makes a sound.
She moved her hands erratically as she explained it, she was that excited about it. Then Juniper looked at the cat, which had turned back into its small form.
Juniper: They also respond to the cat¡¯s sound, and as soon as they turn to it, they will spot you too. Opal: So, why are you grinning? Juniper: Because I know how we can beat it. We don¡¯t even all need to learn the sneak skill for it.
She eyed Willow, her eyes going even brighter. Uh-oh. 4. Dubious Plans Juniper¡¯s plan to get through the dungeon was deceivingly simple, but also kind of tricky to pull off. It was within the ¡®rules¡¯ of the dungeon as they could see it, or, at least as they had tested it. Juniper had made Willow walk to one far edge of the cave they spawned in and summon the silence bubble around her as the others walked to the other end of the cave, testing how far the spell reached. It was a decent range, but not that far, about nine to ten feet, definitely a doable range to keep them all covered at the same time.
Dawn: Are we sure on this?
He looked over the others in the group, finally his eyes falling on Willow, who nodded.
Meadow: I guess. We can always retry if it doesn¡¯t work.
But for now, this seemed the best course of action.
Violet: That¡¯s the spirit.
Violet grinned and as a group they walked over to the cat, who looked them over. As soon as they got near, it changed into the lynx again, and when Willow reached out to it, because it looked really soft and would probably feel really good under her fingers, it darted away into the tunnel. Willow looked back at the others one last time before she stepped into the darkness of the tunnel ahead. It instantly became lighter as they moved further along, guiding them along. Up ahead was a widening of the tunnel, another cave-like place, that was where Juniper said that the first creatures were. Willow pulled a quick sprint to get closer to the lynx, trying to keep it well within the bubble of the silence spell. Then, as soon as the cat stepped into the cave, Willow started channelling the spell. The only clue she had that it worked was that she couldn¡¯t hear the creaking of her body anymore, a sound she¡¯d actually gotten really used to while playing, even if it had surprised her at first. She kept her eyes on the cat, trying to keep the channelling going and staying as close to the cat as possible. From the corner of her eyes, she could see some of the others walk nearby. They were all staying within her bubble so that they didn¡¯t have to worry about sounds. The lynx suddenly jumped up on some crates that were thrown around the place and then jumped off them again, an interactive element popping up over it. The interactive element looked like the half-circles that some old school devices used to indicate how loud a sound was. It startled Willow, she hadn¡¯t expected it and almost made her break the cast of the silencing spell.
Juniper: Keep going, they¡¯re not hearing anything. It¡¯s going well.
Willow dared to look up higher into the cave and the trolls on the ledge were still with their back to them. Juniper had been right, they only reacted to sounds that they could actually hear. The interactive element of the lynx may have popped up, but they couldn¡¯t hear it. The cat moved again and Willow tried to stay as close as possible to it. She could do this. They¡¯d almost made it to the end of the first cave. As soon as the lights around her dimmed again and they¡¯d reached the next tunnel part, Willow dropped the silencing cast, feeling a little worse for wear by now. The channelling of the spell pretty tiring to do. The mana drain of the spell wasn¡¯t a joke either, but this way, they could all complete the quest without Willow having to learn how to sneak, hopefully. She checked the progression bar of the dungeon, 22%. Okay, they had to keep moving, because the lynx hadn¡¯t stopped when they did. Juniper had made it as far as the first cave on her first try, so now they were getting into unknown territory. Willow started walking again and the others kept following her closely. She pulled a quick sprint as she saw the next cave come up, trying to get a little ahead of the lynx this time. She glanced at her mana, about three quarters full, they¡¯d had to chance it. Willow took a deep breath and started channelling the silencing cast again, all sounds disappearing from around her. As she moved through the cave, she kept glancing around, trying to predict the path the cat would take as she stayed close to it.
Opal: Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll focus on the rest, you just stay with the cat.
She nodded, but also saw that her mana was running low-ish and they still had a while to go in this cave.
Dawn: Don¡¯t worry. Stay focused.
She felt his hand on her shoulder and then her mana pool stopped shrinking, instead staying stable. Dawn had a spell that replenished mana pools, but with the drain of the constant cast, it would be hard for him to keep up with it, but it gave them more time if she didn¡¯t run as as fast this time. Next to her, the lynx did the ¡®sound¡¯ thing again, where it would jump on top of something and then down from it and the icon appeared. Sage shot forward, interacting with it the icon and a message appeared in front of her. *The cat couldn¡¯t let out a sound.* But that was all, nothing else happened. As the lynx moved again, they were travelling to the other side of the cave. What kind of dungeon was this? Just caves and tunnels? Apart from trying to keep up with the lynx, what else was there to it?
Rotnem: Keep going, we¡¯re almost there.
Willow looked up and saw the next tunnel and relief flooded her. Finally! But as she no longer looked down, she lost her footing and stumbled, breaking the silencing spell.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. No. No, no, no! She tried to cast it again, but her mana was now too low to initiate the cast. No! She fearfully looked around, trying to figure out where the creatures who could spot them were, but couldn¡¯t find them before Soleil grabbed her arm and dragged her the last distance to the tunnel.
Opal: What happened?
He ran right next to her, staying with her as his eyes kept going from side to side.
Meadow: Tripped. Opal: Jikes.
Though, the dungeon didn¡¯t give a clue that they¡¯d triggered some alarm or something, and there weren¡¯t any angry troll sounds or anything, and to top it off the lynx calmly walked past them as they were recovering from the surprise.
Meadow: We¡¯re still good, I think.
Juniper nodded, her hand on her chest as she breathed deeply.
Juniper: Seems to be. Dawn: How is your mana? Meadow: Not good.
It was still recovering, but it was going slowly, and since they¡¯d probably have to cross another one or two of these caves¡­ She needed a lot more of it. And with the lynx just keeping moving on, they didn¡¯t have the time to let her recover normally.
Dawn: Here.
A trading screen popped up between them and Dawn had put a mana potion in it. Willow didn¡¯t normally carry them, her inventory space was much too valuable for it and she didn¡¯t use them anyway, but it was pretty handy right now.
Meadow: Thanks.
She accepted the mana potion and drank it, her mana immediately replenishing about half of the total pool. That was a potent potion and she glanced at Dawn, who grinned. The guy had a high alchemy skill, which did come in handy for this, though it hadn¡¯t been through potions like this that he¡¯d gotten there¡­ The guy seemed to have a preference to making bombs and other explosive things with his skill instead¡­
Juniper: Not to be a bother, but we¡¯ve got to keep moving.
Willow looked around and saw the lynx had walked pretty far ahead of them. She let out a short sigh before pulling a sprint over to it, the last few moments she could feel how the skill was running down its timer as the world around her felt ¡®heavier¡¯, like running through water, and as she started walking normally again, that feeling disappeared. *You have reached sprint level 52.* She smiled at the notification. Sprinting was a pretty easy skill to level, as it just grew the more she used it. Although, now that she¡¯d reached max level for her main class and she was nearing there with her skills too, the notifications showed up much less frequently. The end of this tunnel came in view, another cave opening up.
Meadow: Okay, let¡¯s do this!
*** Willow watched nervously as her mana pool got down from triple digits into the double digits¡­ She was running low on it and that was with Dawn constantly casting the replenishing mana skill too. It was just a little further. This last cave was much harder than the previous ones as they had to walk quite closely past the trolls and they were at the end of the cave, they could see into the next tunnel already. Almost there. Almost¡­ Willow couldn¡¯t break the channelling spell now or they¡¯d be found out. They were only a couple of feet away from a group of trolls. Luckily, this dungeon only reacted to sounds, although, Willow¡¯s undead stench was probably easily hidden by the stench from the trolls themselves¡­ Come on. Come on¡­ Some of the others walked in front of her now, trying to get as far away from the trolls as they could, in case her spell ran out before they reached the end of the cave. Willow took shallow breaths, totally focused on not being detected, on being as quiet as possible, as silent as possible. They had to make it. They had to. They¡¯d gotten this close, they could totally do it! She felt Dawn¡¯s hand on her shoulder grip her tighter, and as she glanced up to the mana and health of the others in the party, she saw that Dawn¡¯s mana was also running dangerously low. He couldn¡¯t keep this up for much longer either. They had to make it. In front of them, Juniper shimmered and turned her sneaking skill on as she made a beeline for the other end of the cave, to the tunnel and as she reached it, sparks circled around her. What? That was the end of this dungeon already? Really?
Juniper: Run! Sage: It¡¯s too far. Juniper: Run! This is the end. When you¡¯re here, you¡¯re safe.
Soleil darted past, she¡¯d been the only one still walking behind Willow, keeping an eye on monsters behind them. She ran to Juniper and even though the trolls behind them made some sounds, as soon as the shimmers around her started, they quieted down again. Okay. That seemed to work. Willow only had thirty mana left¡­ That was dangerously low.
Meadow: Run!
They had to start running before the cast was over or they¡¯d all be caught. Sage and Opal looked at her, but then nodded and ran over to Juniper and Soleil. Now it was just Violet, Dawn and her left. They were the last ones.
Dawn: When I say go, we run. I have just enough mana left.
Left for what? She was about to ask it but then she saw the little icon for Dawn¡¯s speed spell pop up and both Violet and Dawn pulled her along to the end of the tunnel. He never did warn her to start running¡­ She had to drop the silencing cast, she couldn¡¯t keep it up anymore, she was too exhausted and running and casting weren¡¯t a good combination. Behind them, the trolls started to make a lot of noises and as she glanced behind them, they were getting closer and closer, totally ignoring the lynx, running straight past it, right for them. They weren¡¯t going to make this! This wasn¡¯t going to work. The trolls would get to them and they would have to start all over again! But right as one of the trolls was about to grab the back of her cape, everything stopped and a swirl of light danced around her. They¡¯d reached the end of the dungeon! They¡¯d made it. As Willow was trying to catch her breath, she saw the lynx reach the end too, and a new cave a little further into the tunnel lit up. They stumbled to the final cave, everyone a little out of breath and Willow felt strangely giddy. This was¡­ Wow. She let herself drop to the floor as her breathing got a little easier again and watched as her mana refilled. That had been such a rush, so different from just running a dungeon and trying to kill things as fast as possible, this was a totally different experience. *You¡¯ve completed the dungeon.* *You caught the cat¡¯s footfall.* *Bind Fenrir 1/6 completed.* The words hovered in front of her, reminding her why they¡¯d gone into this dungeon to begin with. When they¡¯d hit the second cave, it had become much more about being as quiet as possible and getting through it, she¡¯d kind of forgotten why they were here, the game had changed for her. But they did it. They¡¯d gotten the first part of the quest done now. They only had five more items to find now¡­ And if they were all dungeons like this¡­ she had no idea how soon they¡¯d finish the whole quest¡­ This could take a while. But if it brought the group together like this¡­ it would be totally worth it! It would definitely be worth it. Now, she just had to sit down for a while, because draining so much mana for long stretches of time was exhausting and drinking mana potions didn¡¯t really help with the general energy drain of casting a spell, it just replenished her mana. It was more like caffeine, it gave a temporary boost to energy, mana in this case, but it didn¡¯t stop the exhaustion and it only got worse the longer she kept going. She closed her eyes, just for a moment. She was so tired. 5. Opportunity The sun was setting over the lake behind the guild house. Willow was sitting on the roof with Violet, Soleil and Dawn, the others had already left. They¡¯d finished the dungeon a couple of hours ago and had spent most of the time since just sitting around, not doing much of anything apart from trying to bring together everything they knew about the next items for Fenrir¡¯s quest. Which wasn¡¯t much, but now they¡¯d completed the first part, they at least knew that this was going to be a curious quest to finish. Normal ways of trying to interpret the clues weren¡¯t going to work, that much was obvious. The next item they had to find was the beard of a woman, which didn¡¯t have much in the way of clues as how to complete it. They¡¯d found something about the item coming from the same location as those who created Gleipnir, the ribbon that bound Fenrir in the first place, which wasn¡¯t that much to go on, as the answer would be ¡®the dwarves¡¯, but that was about what they¡¯d found. The ¡®spit of a bird¡¯ hadn¡¯t gotten them much further either. Before leaving HF, Sage had grumbled something about ¡®woman¡¯ not being the opposite of ¡®those who can grow beards¡¯, but they¡¯d been complaining about that from the start that they¡¯d seen the quest and Willow did have a suspicion that HF wouldn¡¯t do something horridly sexist for a quest item, she hoped anyway. Of course, HF could just as easily do something horrid for the quest, it hadn¡¯t been below them before, but with the new people running the game, they did seem to be a lot better. For now, they¡¯d completed the first part of the quest and were going to have to get back to it after they¡¯d all rested some. Of course, in the hours since, Juniper had been able to teach most of them to sneak, so that they¡¯d be able to do it when they wanted to. Both Willow and Dawn never seemed to be able to get a hang of it, but like Willow, Dawn had learned how to do the silence channelling spell instead, so that would have to do. Maybe they¡¯d be able to pull it off at some point in the future, but since it wasn¡¯t an essential skill, just the silencing spell would be enough for now.
Violet: I guess I should go to sleep soon. I¡¯m getting tired.
She yawned, which made Willow yawn too, which then made Dawn and Soleil yawn.
Meadow: Meanie. But I guess you¡¯re right.
She didn¡¯t want to get back to the real world, she wanted to stay here, in the early evening sun and just being with her friends.
Rotnem: Before you all go, I¡¯ve got an idea.
Even though Soleil sounded neutral, her face was all scrunched up like she did when she didn¡¯t know if what she was going to say was something that she wanted to share.
Meadow: Idea?
Soleil nodded.
Rotnem: Do you think I should sign us all up for the internal testing for the new BASE features? Dawn: Wait, what? Go back a step.
Willow knew what Soleil was talking about, this new update was something that had been whispered about among the BASE employees for a while now. Some of the features had sounded really interesting.
Meadow: You can get us into the test?
Soleil grinned at her and winked.
Rotnem: I can get us in, I think. Rotnem: You¡¯ve all heard about the new VR/AR mix thing? Where they¡¯ve been able to update the BASE system far enough that you¡¯re almost in VR when you turn it on?
Dawn shook his head, but his eyes grew, he seemed interested.
Rotnem: A while back, they found a safe way to blend BASE even closer to our brain frequencies, a jump in progression we¡¯ve not seen in over a decade. Rotnem: It makes AR even more realistic and integrated into whatever you do. Instead of just projecting elements to interact with, you can project whole worlds right where you are. Rotnem: Imagine that you¡¯re sitting on the couch, but what you¡¯re seeing is that you¡¯re sitting here on the roof. It¡¯s being in VR without being inside the VR.
Soleil frowned now.
Rotnem: Actually, you¡¯d probably see a projected room, as the program works to show you things that blend seamlessly with the world you¡¯re actually in. Anyway. Rotnem: They¡¯ve started to open the testing up to a larger audience. Still mostly BASE employees only, but I¡¯ve been getting the feeling that I should be able to get all you guys in too. Which would be cool, right? Dawn: And what would be the advantage? I can still log onto VR to game and just sit on the couch when I game. Rotnem: Firstly, no more logging in, so you still experience the world around you, you can still see people and talk to them while you¡¯re gaming. Secondly, they¡¯ve changed the sensory settings in a way that¡¯s very close to VR too, so you¡¯d be able to regulate sounds and lights in the real world almost as well as here in VR.
The sensory regulation thing had been what had interested Willow the most, which she had been looking forward to the most. She¡¯d love to be regulate it better because it meant that she didn¡¯t have to worry as much about overloads when she was out and about, something that had given her anxiety for a long time. That would be over with this update. She¡¯d be able to go outside the walls of the place she lived more easily, without being too overwhelmed. That had been such a cool and strange idea for her, but she¡¯d been looking forward to it.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Dawn: But it¡¯s not compatible with HF, right?
Soleil shook her head.
Rotnem: They¡¯re also testing a new game together with this BASE update. It¡¯s an exploration and MMO-type of game. You create a character and fight monsters and complete quests, but you play it out in the new AR world and instead of the real world, you¡¯ll be able to see whatever world is in the game. I¡¯ve seen internal video of people testing it, it¡¯s really cool.
Her eyes were shining as she moved her hands. Soleil really was so excited about it.
Violet: But if we¡¯re all playing in our own part of the world, what¡¯s the use of participating in it when we¡¯re all living in different places? We come here to play together, would we still be able to? Rotnem: Yes. They¡¯ve thought of that. It¡¯s not perfect, but you can join people from other places in the world through VR still. Rotnem: I know, not ideal, but it¡¯s the only way they could make it work since different places in the world look differently. And since you¡¯re interacting with the real world, outside, in public, you don¡¯t want people accidentally falling off buildings or running into the street and stuff like like.
Soleil smiled now and then looked at Willow.
Rotnem: You want me to try to get us all on the list? I think it would be cool.
Willow nodded. Yeah, it did sound really cool and she¡¯d seen some stuff from the game too. It sounded like a really fun way to play games, especially since it meant that she didn¡¯t have to worry about where she logged on. Plus, it had seemed like there were random quests and things like that, just in her normal life. How cool was that? She could quest without having to go through the trouble of logging on and such.
Meadow: I¡¯m into it. Especially the sensory thing.
She winked and Soleil grinned.
Dawn: Better sensory settings sounds great and so does playing just in random locations. Sign me up. Violet: I get to play with everyone, and play new games. I¡¯m always up for new games.
Willow raised a single eyebrow as she looked at Violet, who just grinned at her. Of course, that had been exactly why Violet had gotten in trouble a couple of months back, her insatiable need to play new games.
Rotnem: I¡¯ll get us on the list, then. Of course, we¡¯ll have to ask the others too, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll disagree, right?
Knowing Sage, they wouldn¡¯t mind, and Juniper and Opal probably wouldn¡¯t either. They all loved playing new games, even just to test them out, but the idea that they could all play closer together and in ways that would let them basically travel all over the world¡­ That sounded really interesting to Willow, really, really interesting. *** Willow and Violet were having pizza while sitting on the couch, projecting some old movie on the wall opposite them. Sure, they could play one of the modern all-immersive movies, but they preferred to watch one of these. These seemed to be filled with so much more wonder with the world and at the same time, this was easier when they were eating pizza, not as much jerking around and things like that. Violet leaned against her, putting her head on her shoulder. ¡°I wish we could always do this together.¡± ¡°Watch a movie?¡± She glanced at Violet sideways, though she couldn¡¯t see her face from this angle. Violet let out a laugh. ¡°Sure. But I meant just hanging out together. But I can¡¯t stay here the whole time and you can¡¯t really come to my place.¡± Violet lived in what was basically the ¡®slums¡¯ of the city, the neighbourhood dark and dingy and the building she lived in wasn¡¯t even really safe. Willow had been there a couple of times, but most of the time Violet came here, which they both preferred. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Willow sighed. Though she had no idea how to change their situations. It just seemed that this was always how it went for people like her, no matter what she wanted herself. ¡°With the jobs we¡¯ve got now, we should be able to get a bigger place to live, right?¡± Violet sat up now, looking at Willow. ¡°We make enough money. We¡¯ve got legal jobs.¡± Which hadn¡¯t always been the case for Violet in the past¡­ ¡°What¡¯s stopping us?¡± Was that a fire in her eyes? Willow shook her head, looking down at her hands. ¡°It¡¯s not that easy. Look around you. They¡¯re not letting me out of here.¡± She looked at the white walls, the sterile furniture. ¡°Why not?¡± Violet¡¯s face fell. ¡°You could just up and leave, right? You¡¯ve got the finances.¡± ¡°Theoretically, yes.¡± She swallowed hard, a darkness settling in her chest. ¡°Theoretically?¡± Violet reached out to her, taking her hand. ¡°Theoretically.¡± She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s in my account. I can use it to play games, buy food, stuff like that. But I don¡¯t have access to my account for more than the most basic of things. I can¡¯t even buy a couch or new VR headset without having to fill out ten forms and talk to twenty people about it.¡± She¡¯d already looked into it before, moving out of here, but the way these systems worked were not set up to let get go of someone once they were in. They were created to ¡®protect¡¯ her and everything she owned until her death. Fighting to get out of the system would mean convincing not just the doctors, the ¡®experts¡¯, the legal system but also her parents that it was a good idea. But they all saw her as someone who needed 24/7 protection and supervision. She wasn¡¯t even allowed to make her own meals. The people owning the building took care of everything from meals to cleaning and laundry and everything else. She was technically living on her own, but in reality, she was still treated like a small child. ¡°We can do something about that, right?¡± Violet pulled her closer and Willow put her head on Violet¡¯s chest, feeling safe here. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I can¡¯t seem to find a way¡­¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She felt the word more than she heard it. ¡°Not even if I get us a place and you move in with me?¡± ¡°How many visitors do you see when you come here? Do you see anyone who is dating? Any relationships? Heck, any friendships?¡± She stopped talking, getting more upset about this than she wanted to. She didn¡¯t need to think about this. She didn¡¯t want to, because knowing that she¡¯d be alone for the rest of her life because of all this ¡®protection¡¯ was more than she could handle today. There had been one thing that hadn¡¯t been in the brochure her parents got about this place, and that was the high levels of depression and suicide the people in this building, and other like it, experienced. Some ¡®experts¡¯ had ¡®concluded¡¯ that it must have been because those people were more suicidal than others, simply because of their neurovarience, usually their autism, but Willow had become more and more certain that it had more to do with the way the people here were isolated from the outside world. For the last months, when the weather had been good, she¡¯d been sitting outside, watching the others in the building, and the lack of non-support staff visitors had shocked her. It seemed that her parents not visiting her since she moved in here hadn¡¯t been an abnormality, it was the norm. Nobody got visitors, they all lived on their own, by themselves, alone. When Willow had tried to talk to a couple of her neighbours, staff had come over pretty quickly, intervening and getting them away from each other. They wanted them isolated, that wasn¡¯t an accident, that was a rule. Which hadn¡¯t been any better for Willow¡¯s depression that had been building inside her, and had made her more and more sure that she had to do her job extra well, because it meant that she had at least done something right in this world. Even when most of the world was trying really hard to make her disappear, like she never existed. It reminded her too much of the worm that the people who blitzed the accounts in HF had used, the worm going through players¡¯ data after they¡¯d been blitzed to make every trace of them disappear, right after they¡¯d made the people themselves disappear from the digital world. It had made her obsession with her work only worse, so much worse¡­ 6. Growing Up ¡°I¡¯ll come visit you again in a couple of days, okay?¡± Violet gave Willow a tight hug. It was early in the morning and Violet had to get to her own place and then get to work. Unlike Willow¡¯s job, they expected Violet to actually show up at an office and stuff like that. It was much more involved, which fit who Violet was and her job, but Willow knew that she probably couldn¡¯t do something like that herself. ¡°See you soon. And don¡¯t forget that we¡¯ve got another meet up with the guild tonight, for the next clue.¡± She held Violet¡¯s hand, not wanting to let her go just yet. ¡°Yes. I remember. Maybe we¡¯ll figure it out tonight.¡± Violet grinned, squeezing Willow¡¯s hand a little. ¡°Finally.¡± ¡°Finally.¡± They hadn¡¯t had much luck since they completed the first dungeon a couple of days ago. ¡°Good luck at work.¡± ¡°You too.¡± Violet smiled. ¡°And please tell Soleil that I also expect her to be there tonight.¡± Her grin turned almost evil and Willow wondered what those two had been up to this time. They could be so childish, but they seemed pretty evenly matched when it came to pranks and other silly things that they pulled on each other, so it wasn¡¯t too bad. She¡¯d been nervous at first, but then eased up when she realised that they both enjoyed the joking. ¡°Will do.¡± She had a meeting with Soleil in a few hours, talking about some BASE related job stuff, and Soleil checking in on her. After all the stuff with HF had gone down, Willow had slowly started to realise how much Soleil had actually been keeping an eye on her, how much she knew about Willow¡¯s life. And these days, they¡¯d just sit down and talk about things together, instead of Soleil having to go out of her way to find out. It was one of the highlights of her week when they met up, it just felt good, to talk to someone who understood her at a level that she hadn¡¯t found anyone else was able to. They were both autistic, and while Soleil¡¯s parents had been able to keep it out of her medical files, Willow¡¯s parents hadn¡¯t been able to, or hadn¡¯t wanted to, which was how she ended up here. They quickly hugged and then Violet walked off, down the stairs and out of view. Willow stepped onto the landing and looked after Violet as she crossed the lawn in front of the building, past the fountain, which was now turned on, and then walked out of the gate. And she was alone again. Although, alone wasn¡¯t the right word. She was physically alone, but her friends were right there, in the digital space. Although, no digital space could make up for the safety she felt from getting hugs in the real world. She always thought that it could, mostly because she didn¡¯t know any better, but these days¡­ she knew that it couldn¡¯t. In no way was it the same. Willow went back inside and then went to her bedroom. She made herself comfortable on her bed and put on the VR headset, logging on. *You are now logged into Helheim Fallen Online.* She spawned in her room in the guild building. The cosy bed, which she couldn¡¯t sleep in, the shelves with books she couldn¡¯t read, the dressers and closets filled with items, but mostly just to keep her inventory as empty as possible. It looked warm and homey, even though nothing here was used the way it would be used in the real world. Now that she¡¯d started to think about maybe not living in the building anymore, the ¡®low sensory¡¯ building which had been her house for the last years, she¡¯d also started to think about the people she wanted to live together with. That maybe it would be coom not to just live with Violet, but also have the rest of the guild all living in the same house. Sure, apart from her, she was pretty sure that all the others all lived by themselves, and moving all of them into a single house from wherever they lived now in the world would be really complicated, but it also made her happy to think about. And she wasn¡¯t sure that the idea would make all of them so happy, as she had no idea how much the others would enjoy sharing a life together 24/7. But that didn¡¯t take away the fuzzy feeling Willow got from just thinking about being able to do it. A guild house in real life. That would be pretty cool, and with the new VR/AR upgrade, even Mira, their digital pet, could live with them. But she knew that those were just dreams, because no matter if they¡¯d be able to pull off the whole thing logistically, there was still the matter of her not being able to move out from where she lived now.
Dawn: Morning!
Willow almost jumped as she saw the message appear, a little lost in her own thoughts.
Meadow: Morning. Anything going on? Dawn: Pretty sure Opal is trying to get his ass kicked by some other guild this morning. No idea why. Also no idea where he is. And Juniper and Sage just went offline, I think they¡¯re off to bed.
That would make sense, though she was a bit sad that she¡¯d missed Sage, she loved hanging out with them in the early morning. But with Violet leaving this morning, she¡¯d spent time with Violet instead of logging on to HF like she usually did.
Meadow: What are you up to? Dawn: Come look outside, out back.
She frowned a little, but then looked out the window and saw Dawn standing in the middle of their garden. Okay¡­ She quickly went to the garden, passing through the house, which was much more comfortable than the real place she lived in. Outside, she walked over to Dawn, though she had no idea what he was doing or why he was grinning so much at her.
Meadow: And?
Dawn pointed back at the house and Willow saw that the back of the house had been painted a sky-blue, though it was strangely streaky and blotchy.
Meadow: Ehh¡­
Then Mira, Willow and Violet¡¯s AI pet, and Aya, Dawn¡¯s fylgja, came over. They were both the same blue colour as the house. Well, that was obviously part of the source of it¡­
Meadow: What did you do? Dawn: We painted?
He shrugged, looking almost boy-ish. Then he looked a little more serious.
Dawn: I crafted some blue paint and then I gave it to Mira, who somehow got the idea to fly up and just drop it against the house¡­ I have no idea how or why.
Mira was AI, so she had to have learned it somewhere, she shouldn¡¯t be able to come up with things like this on her own. Especially if she hadn¡¯t seen anyone else do it before.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Meadow: You¡¯re sure that you didn¡¯t teach her?
Dawn levelled a look at her, raising his eyebrow, it didn¡¯t look very convincing¡­
Dawn: What do you take me for? Dawn: It wasn¡¯t me. I promise.
He held up his hands, his sky-blue hands.
Meadow: Fine. What now?
Dawn shrugged, looking back to the house.
Dawn: I kind of like it? It looks fun? Meadow: You¡¯re going to have to do the rest of the wall too, it¡¯s not looking very nicely right now. And you¡¯re not allowed to get Mira involved again.
She¡¯d have to clean Mira to get the paint off, though she hoped it was just a debuff and that it would clear up by itself soon enough. For good measure, she glared at Dawn and he grinned back.
Dawn: Fine. I¡¯ll do it after I get back from work later today.
Then he turned to the lake, looking out over it, his face softening.
Dawn: Did Violet leave yet? Meadow: Yeah, she¡¯s on her way home now. Dawn: Okay.
Then they both sat down and Mira made herself comfortable behind them, letting Willow lean back against her. She hoped that it wouldn¡¯t make her clothes blue too, but she didn¡¯t care too much, she¡¯d deal with that if it happened.
Dawn: Anything interesting at work today? Meadow: Not much, same as always. You? Dawn: We¡¯re testing some new guidelines, walking through the steps and such. Boring, I tell you.
But he was still smiling, so it couldn¡¯t be too bad. She knew that he loved his job.
Meadow: Where do you live? As in, living situation, I¡¯m not trying to get behind your location.
Giving out living locations wasn¡¯t very common, especially not these days, when stuff like that was all basically hidden from view. But she knew where Violet lived, and even before she knew the actual location, she¡¯d known that Violet didn¡¯t live in the best neighbourhood. Opal lived fairly simply, on his own and in a decent neighbourhood, just like Juniper, pretty standard, especially for people in their late teens who weren¡¯t students. Sage lived a bit more curiously, in a communal building with a lot of other people. But that had been their own choice and they apparently loved it. Soleil lived in a nice house, not too far from where Willow was and also lived on her own. A lot of people lived on their own these days, or maybe that was just more common among Willow¡¯s friends¡­ Dawn smiled at her, closing his eyes for a moment as he leaned back.
Dawn: I live pretty close to my parents¡¯ place. They¡¯re also deaf, most of the people in our community are. I do have my own place to live, though.
He looked at her like she¡¯d doubt that, but there was no reason for her to think something else. She¡¯d heard that autistics weren¡¯t the only ones that people tried to sort of ¡®push out¡¯ of society, but it made sense if Dawn lived in a neighbourhood where he wouldn¡¯t be the only deaf person, especially since she knew that he¡¯d been born deaf and that his parents were also deaf. Having a close community made sense.
Dawn: My apartment is a living room, bedroom, bathroom, balcony. Meadow: Balcony?
It was almost like he blushed as he looked down at his hands, why did he get that response, just from the balcony?
Dawn: I have plants on my balcony, I love growing them. I know it¡¯s not common, but I love growing real life plants. Meadow: Hence the elf?
Dawn let out a laugh, grinning at her.
Dawn: Maybe. I guess.
Then he looked her over, more relaxed now.
Dawn: What about you? Meadow: Living room, bedroom, bathroom. No balcony, but there is a communal garden. No potential for my own plants though. Dawn: Communal living or apartment building? Meadow: Apartment building.
Both options weren¡¯t uncommon in this day and age, loads of places for people who weren¡¯t in relationships were like that. Houses for single people often either came in communal living, where people had their own bed and bathroom but would share kitchens and things like that, or apartments like Willow had. But unlike most apartment buildings, Willow¡¯s place was a lot more locked down and closed off¡­ Since Dawn didn¡¯t seem surprised by any of her answers, and he looked like he may be interested in chatting more, she became more bold.
Meadow: What would you think of communal living, but like¡­ with the whole guild?
She watched as his eyes sparked, before he frowned and then shrugged, his shoulders sagging a little.
Meadow: What¡¯s wrong? Dawn: The idea is nice, but I¡¯m deaf and you guys aren¡¯t. That means that we¡¯re going to have to communicate differently and I don¡¯t know how easy that¡¯s going to be for everyone. Dawn: At home, I sign. I don¡¯t type or speak, I sign. And I don¡¯t know how easy it would be for all of us to find ways that will work for everyone.
Willow had to think that over for a while. Dawn was right, while Willow could speak, though she regularly didn¡¯t want to, Dawn was deaf. And even though there were options in BASE that could let him hear, it probably wasn¡¯t how he normally lived and it would create a communication barrier between some of them. They were all different, and while typing came naturally to Willow, she knew that it wasn¡¯t the same for everyone. Even for her to be living with for example Opal and Juniper, it would be very different, as they preferred to speak and not type. Although, Violet and Soleil didn¡¯t seem to care too much, they¡¯d just speak even when Willow typed. Communication problems could always be an issue¡­ Right. *** The weather was really nice, not too hot, but lovely sunny, so Willow and Soleil sat outside in the garden, enjoying their time together. There were some others from the building outside too, including staff, but everyone kept away from them, as was usual. ¡°I heard back from the people in charge of testing the BASE update, we may be part of the update in the next few weeks.¡± Soleil grinned at her. ¡°Really?¡± Because that would be so cool. Sage, Opal and Juniper also seemed interested in the idea of doing some tests with the new BASE system. So they were going to do this as a group, as a guild. ¡°You will have to do a big update, which means restarting the BASE unit, which can be a little scary.¡± Soleil now looked at her, her eyes serious. ¡°Okay¡­¡± Willow shrugged. She could deal with that, right? Small BASE updates just happened while they were asleep, but for big updates, the BASE unit had to be reset, which could freak some people out. Though it wasn¡¯t that scary, it was just peculiar because there was no way to connect to other people while it was happening. It meant total disconnect from everyone she knew. At the same time, they would be back online as soon as the system had rebooted, so it wasn¡¯t exactly that bad¡­ ¡°You want someone to be with you while it happens? I know some people prefer that.¡± Soleil reached out and Willow took her hand, holding it comfortably. ¡°Well, if we¡¯re all in the test¡­ We could all update at the same time. You, me and Violet, all at the same time. We could, you know, talk during the reboot. Hang out?¡± Willow started smiling and Soleil grinned her way, then her smile got even bigger, her eyes sparkling. ¡°I¡¯m thinking¡­ ice cream and maybe some music from that old computer of yours? We could build a fort in your living room and just hang out together. I heard the update could take a couple of hours. Not just the reboot, but the whole thing added up.¡± Soleil¡¯s smile was almost juvenile, which reminded her that Soleil wasn¡¯t that much older than she was, even though Soleil was very far ahead of the rest of them when it came to jobs and stuff. Soleil had just started working at a much younger age, she¡¯d been a ¡®child prodigy¡¯ when it came to coding and had started working for BASE quite early, which is how Soleil had first met Willow, since Soleil had worked in the same department as Willow¡¯s father. ¡°Sounds like a plan. If we get in, that is.¡± Willow nodded. ¡°I¡¯m fairly sure that we are, if simply because everyone at BASE knows who you guys are and what you did. I think they want you in.¡± ¡°Soleil¡­¡± Willow glared her way. ¡°You did not¡­ Did you?¡± She hadn¡¯t leveraged their past to get them spots in the testing, had she? Soleil quickly shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t, it¡¯s just in your files. I didn¡¯t have anything to do with that. I promise.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Soleil nodded, a slow grin on her lips. ¡°Impressing them, that was all you.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Willow sighed. It made sense that those things would be in their files, though she didn¡¯t know if that made her happy or not. Taking down the creator of HF would follow her forever, it would follow them forever, with all the consequences that would bring. Great¡­ Like she didn¡¯t have enough ¡®interesting¡¯ notes on her file¡­ 7. Accomplishment: Stylish The guild sauntered into the capital city of the dwarves. It had been built inside a cave and decorated with the most beautiful stone carvings Willow had ever seen. It took her breath away as she looked around. There were so many beautiful things to see around her. She hadn¡¯t been to the city before, it just hadn¡¯t been on her way anywhere, it was kind of an out-of-the-area location. But she totally should have come here before, because there was no time to explore today, they were here for just a single goal, the quest item. When they couldn¡¯t come up with whatever item or skill could complete the ¡®beard of a woman¡¯ item, they decided to follow the single clue they had, that it would come from the same location as where the ribbon binding Fenrir came from, from the dwarves. So, that was their goal today, find out whatever they could in this city instead.
Sage: Let¡¯s split up, see what we can find.
Willow nodded, they would be able to cover the whole city sooner if they all went their own way. She started following a street on her right side and not long after, Violet joined her too, simply walking next to her.
Violet: What are we looking for? Rotnem: Anything that could give us a clue? Meadow: Which basically doesn¡¯t mean anything. As we have no idea what the clue could even be. Just that it¡¯s probably somewhere around here.
She sighed, getting distracted by some intricate carvings on the side of a building. Willow could barely believe how complicated it was. Of course, this had all been created on a computer, this was just digital and even though she could feel every rise and fall of the stone, of the ¡®carving¡¯, the actual thing she felt had just been created digitally, no real sculpting involved. But that didn¡¯t stop her from marvelling at the details.
Juniper: OF COURSE! OF COURSE!
Willow almost jumped, even though it was just a message, no sound or whatever.
Sage: What? Juniper: I found it! Juniper: I think.
Willow checked Juniper¡¯s marker on the map, she was in the trade district, then she looked at Violet, who nodded. That was the best news they had all week, and they made their way towards Juniper. Juniper was staring at a building with a ¡®clothing seller¡¯ on one side and a ¡®weapon store¡¯ on the other side. Juniper grinned as she pointed at the stone signboard over the door.
Juniper: Here. I think this is it.
The sign said ¡®barber¡¯. Which, sure¡­ That would have to do with beards, generally, but what did it have to do with the beards of women?
Meadow: And?
Juniper looked at her and sighed, almost rolling her eyes, or maybe the game couldn¡¯t properly render her doing it.
Juniper: Open it. Open the menu.
Willow did and was transported to a small instance that included a whole barber shop, it was as if she¡¯d stepped inside. Next to her, the others all appeared, one by one. Willow still had no idea what to do here, so she interacted with a guy behind a counter.
Barber: Do you want a fresh haircut or would you like to learn the barber skill?
A few options appeared under the text:
- Change appearance - Become an apprentice barber - Learn about changing your appearance - Learn about the barber skill
They could learn how to change other people¡¯s appearance? What? How was this¡­ When had this been added?
Sage: So? We can learn this barber skill, but what does that have to do with specifically a beard? Juniper: Not saying more now. Just¡­ figure that out for yourself.
Willow looked away from the words in front of her, at Juniper instead. Juniper obviously knew something and wasn¡¯t telling them. Willow clicked on the ¡®Change appearance¡¯ option, and was instantly given a whole range of options, from her hair to her facial hair, to her eyes, to all sorts of things. The only things she didn¡¯t seem to be able to change were her race and her class. On impulse, she clicked on the ¡®facial hair¡¯ option. Maybe? *** Willow couldn¡¯t stop laughing, she held her arms around her waist as she sat in the grass behind the guild house. The barber skill wasn¡¯t just usable on other players, they could use it on pets too and Violet had given Mira a bright red beard and had painted some of the scales on top of her head a bright pink. It was¡­ special.
Meadow: Violet¡­Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Though Mira didn¡¯t seem to be able to understand what was going on, just loving the attention she got as she ran after Violet, but it still wasn¡¯t the best idea. And after Violet had been through painting Mira, she¡¯d gone on to try and find a new target for her brand new skill. They were spending a few more hours at the guild house. The ¡®beard of a woman¡¯ side-quest hadn¡¯t been that complicated in the end. Once they¡¯d found out where to get it, it turned out much simpler than they expected. They simply had to complete the intro quests for the barber skill and the final one of those had been a quest to help a lady grow a beard and then to shave it off again. It¡¯d been simple enough. Though, it turned out that if they levelled their skills on NPCs the NPCs would sometimes get angry if the change didn¡¯t work out as they¡¯d asked for or if the skill failed and they accidentally nicked or otherwise hurt their customers, and then they¡¯d not pay as much for the haircut. That had been a bummer, though Willow wasn¡¯t sure that the same happened if they tried it out on other players¡­ Apart from Violet, the others had simply completed the quests and then moved on. And everyone had been smart enough to avoid getting close to Violet while she¡¯d been on her hunt. Finally, Violet sat down next to Willow, grinning. She was currently sporting a dark purple hairdo and had a very posh moustache in the same shade, it even curled at the ends.
Violet: What do you think? Meadow: I like the colour, not so sure on the style. Violet: No? Meadow: No. I think I like you better with your hair loose.
Violet had given herself a strange set of twin ponytails, almost on top of her head, and they were constantly moving, almost like floppy dog ears. Violet thought for a moment and then she had her hair bound back into a long braid, going all the way down her back.
Violet: I prefer this, makes life a lot easier, no hair to get in the way when I kill stuff. Or try to craft things.
Well, or that, that looked good too. Then a line of text appeared in front of Willow. *You have a message from BASE, check your messages in the BASE platform to read it.* Hmm? That was curious. Next to her, Violet also frowned a little.
Meadow: BASE message?
Violet nodded. Willow pulled up her BASE overlay, since she couldn¡¯t access most of her account from inside a game, but this way she could see some notifications when she needed them, but it was only the bare minimum. New Message: BASE - You are invited to test the new BASE update. - Just now Oh, wow. Really? She thought it would have taken a couple more weeks for their names to get to the top of the list.
Meadow: I got an invite to the update test. Violet: Cool. Dawn: I got an invite too, just checked.
He stepped behind them and then sat down, putting his head on Willow¡¯s shoulder.
Dawn: So, I guess that we¡¯re going to update soon, then? Meadow: I probably will. Soleil, Violet and me are going to get together to update, keep it fun. Dawn: Yeah. It¡¯s going to be a long update, and, on top of that, the game too¡­ Violet: Yep. That¡¯s going to last a while. A looong while. We¡¯ll have to be allll without you that whole time. Dawn: Pff. It¡¯s not like you guys don¡¯t sleep and we¡¯re not all on at different times most of the time anyway¡­ Dawn: It¡¯s nothing that dramatic. I was just talking about it going to be pretty heavy on the downloading side of things. Not everyone has super fast connections.
Willow could almost feel his eyes on her, she did have really fast internet. Mira came strolling over to them, letting herself fall onto the ground in front of them. The beard and extra colours were already gone, she was back to being a regular dragon again and while the dress-up looked fun, it wasn¡¯t really a look for Mira. Willow raised an eyebrow towards Violet.
Violet: I wasn¡¯t going to do anything permanent. She looks good enough like this. Meadow: I agree. Dawn: Okay, since this will take a while for me to download and all, I¡¯m going off. I¡¯ll see you again when everything goes back online. Meadow: See you later. Violet: Later!
Then, with a quick blink, Dawn was gone and they were the only ones here again. Soleil had already left pretty soon after they¡¯d found the new item for the quest and the others had all left not too long after, some of them having to get back to work or just having to do other stuff.
Violet: If I log off, I¡¯ll be at yours in half an hour or so. Deal? Meadow: Sounds good. I¡¯ll let Soleil know. Violet: See you soon. Meadow: Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re probably offline for a while.
Violet grinned at her.
Violet: I know. Later.
And she was gone too, leaving Willow behind with Mira. Willow stood up, Mira immediately getting up too. She pet Mira as she walked over to the guild house, going inside. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, girl. I¡¯m going offline too. But I promise that I¡¯ll be back soon and maybe we can even hang out more if everything goes well.¡± She gave Mira scratches and then pulled up the menu in front of her. If everything went as she expected, she could maybe move Mira with them to the new game too. *You are now logged out of Helheim Fallen Online.* *** Willow opened the door, letting Violet inside. Violet was carrying a huge box and Willow shook her head as she stepped to the side. ¡°What is that?¡± She closed the door behind Violet and followed her to the kitchen table. ¡°You don¡¯t recognise it?¡± Violet grinned at her, then she opened the box and revealed the old computer that Willow had given her. ¡°I know that you haven¡¯t replaced it yet and this way we can at least watch something or whatever on it while we¡¯re offline.¡± She sat down on one of the chairs, grinning. Willow sighed, smiling too. Violet and her ideas¡­ ¡°Fine. Though, I did have something else to play stuff on. But this is fun too.¡± She also sat down. ¡°Soleil is going to pick us up soon. Since the new game interacts with the world around us, we thought it would probably be more fun to try it out in a place with a little more¡­ space around us.¡± Violet nodded. ¡°Makes sense. And she probably has an even faster connection than you do here, right?¡± She flashed Willow a smile and Willow grinned back. ¡°I was thinking that too. Plus, I¡¯ve not been to her place yet, so it¡¯s probably pretty cool to see.¡± She knew that Soleil lived in one of the fancier neighbourhoods, but that was about all she knew. The houses were bigger there, but she didn¡¯t really know what to expect, how big ¡®big¡¯ really was. The bell rang again and Willow jumped up, opening the door. Soleil was standing there, smiling at her. ¡°Are you ready to have your mind updated?¡± Willow let out a laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t think there are many things to ¡®update¡¯ about my brain. But I think I¡¯m ready to have the BASE unit updated.¡± Soleil grinned at her, giving her a quick hug. ¡°I¡¯m with you on that.¡± When she spotted Violet at the table, with the box, she raised an eyebrow. ¡°And that is¡­?¡± ¡°Computer.¡± Violet stood up, coming over. ¡°I thought we could use some entertainment.¡± Soleil shook her head a little, still smiling. ¡°Oh, well, I guess we could use that too¡­¡± ¡°Why?¡± Violet looked at Soleil. ¡°Nothing¡­ Nothing much. Just that I¡¯ve got some plans of my own.¡± She winked. ¡°Let¡¯s get that in the car. And then we can get moving. I¡¯m hungry and I think we should probably order something, like pizza.¡± Willow nodded, getting excited. ¡°I¡¯m always up for pizza. So I¡¯m game.¡± She grabbed her jacket and the bag near the door with her own things. She was going to spend the next hours with her friends and then they were going to play a new game together too¡­ That definitely sounded like something she would enjoy.
Friends? Check. Games? Check. Pizza? Check. Great time in the making? Check.
8. New Situation Whatever Willow thought that Soleil¡¯s house would be like, it was about ten times bigger than that¡­ The place they were driving up to was huge, no, that was an understatement, it was gigantic. ¡°Soleil?¡± Willow blinked, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Soleil grinned at her. ¡°Don¡¯t be too impressed. This is not just my place. Some of the younger BASE employees live here. My apartment is in the back, looking out over the garden.¡± Willow didn¡¯t know how not to be impressed. The place was almost like a castle or something. ¡°I¡¯d still bet that Willow and my place together would fit five times into your place.¡± Violet leaned between them, looking at the house in front of them. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m pretty sure of that. Yeah.¡± Soleil grinned as the car stopped in front of the front door. They all got out and Violet grabbed the box with the computer from the back. ¡°Okay, where to go next? This box is heavy.¡± She walked up the steps. ¡°Follow me, we¡¯ll go through the hallway, it¡¯s easier for you.¡± Soleil started walking in front of them, opening the front door with her palm print and then they stepped into a gigantic hallway. Willow stopped, staring around. The inside of the building was all white walls and things like that, but while it looked to be all sorts of expensive materials, they also didn¡¯t look like they were real. It was confusing. ¡°It¡¯s built well, and looks fancy enough, but no, it¡¯s not as expensive as it all looks.¡± Soleil let out a laugh. ¡°We just thought it looked nicer like this than the concrete that it used to be. When we moved in, it was just bare concrete walls and the bare minimum in the other things that were in here. We designed it mostly to our own tastes. If you turn on the AR in here, it looks much better. But we¡¯re going to do that later, gotta get Violet to my place first. I¡¯ll show you around after that.¡± Soleil started walking again, and even though Soleil had said that she¡¯d show them more later, Willow turned her AR on anyway and suddenly the whole hallway was filled with trees and flowers and statues and things like that. It was like a rain forest or something. ¡°Ehhh¡­ Soleil?¡± Willow frowned. Soleil looked behind her and let out a laugh. ¡°Yes, this is the summer theme. You should see it in the winter.¡± ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Violet looked around her, a little confused. ¡°Turn on your AR.¡± Willow stepped next to her. ¡°Can¡¯t, got my hands full.¡± Violet let out a sigh. ¡°A moment.¡± Soleil made a few movements with her hands and then touched next to Violet¡¯s eyes, who gasped. ¡°Okay. Yes. Impressive.¡± Violet looked around and almost tripped as they kept following Soleil. ¡°I guess that¡¯s what you get when you put BASE brains in the same house¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡± Soleil laughed, then she waved at a guy who pulled his arm back like he was using a bow. ¡°Hi, Micah!¡± After he¡¯d let the shot go, he looked up at them. ¡°Hey! Getting the update today?¡± ¡°Yep. How are you doing?¡± They passed him by and even though Willow couldn¡¯t see anything that he was seeing, she could imagine what he was doing, probably trying to defeat some creature. ¡°Finishing up my daily quest. Got to concentrate, or I¡¯ll miss this one.¡± He nodded their way. ¡°Good luck on the update!¡± Then he pulled his arm back again, all bow-like, and let another arrow fly. They followed the hallway a little longer and then Soleil stopped in front of a door. ¡°And this is my place.¡± She unlocked the door again with her palm print and then pushed it open, revealing a new hallway, this time in pastel colours, though a little on the darker side of pastel than the colours that Willow had been able to choose from for her own place. This actually looked nice. ¡°Living room is down the hall, way in the back. Rooms here are two extra bedrooms and a few storage places. Upstairs is my bedroom, a bathroom and my office, and a balcony.¡± ¡°Definitely bigger than my place.¡± Violet grinned, putting the box down. ¡°Wow.¡± She slowly walked down the hallway, and then turned back to Soleil, frowning. ¡°You don¡¯t have any AR here?¡± Soleil shrugged a little, smiling. ¡°I like to keep things calm around me, the world is busy enough. I don¡¯t need to bring that into every part of my life.¡± Violet nodded as she turned back, opening the door to the living room and Willow looked at Soleil. Violet may not understand the underlaying words of what Soleil was saying, but she did. This was Soleil¡¯s safe place, this is where she went to calm down. The calm may have been forced onto Willow where she lived, but it wasn¡¯t outside what she herself preferred anyway. But this place looked great and like she would love living here too. If she¡¯d be able to move out of her apartment building¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t give up hope.¡± Soleil¡¯s words were soft as she touched Willow¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We may be able to make this happen for you too. Don¡¯t give up.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. She nodded and then they both walked to the living room, a very bright and light living room, and Willow couldn¡¯t help her grin. She could definitely see herself living here. Definitely! *** ¡°No way! I don¡¯t think so!¡± Violet bashed the buttons on her controller, trying to get her character, Kilik, to move faster, but he wasn¡¯t going to win from Soleil¡¯s Ivy, not this round. Soleil had Violet caught in a corner, Ivy¡¯s whip attack eating away at Kilik¡¯s HP by the second. Slash, slash, slash. It wasn¡¯t fast, but it was steady. Willow sat back in her bean bag, looking at the decently sized monitor on front of them, which had been a huge size about twenty or thirty years ago, or whenever it had been made, but in comparison to even the simplest of projector screens that they could augment these days, it didn¡¯t compare at all. Soleil had been even more into old-school things than Willow originally thought. She knew that Soleil had been into coding and computers and even old phones, apparently, but she hadn¡¯t had a clue that Soleil had collected consoles from the early ¡®00s too, and a TV to go with them. They were currently playing a fighting game called Soulcalibur and eating pizza. Soleil had just won from Willow and was kicking Violet¡¯s ass too. It was a little unfair, as Willow didn¡¯t have much experience with old console controllers, her only sort of ¡®old¡¯ stuff she used was that she loved to use a keyboard layout that looked like those actual keyboards they had in the ¡®20s but that was about it. Most people either voiced the chats that they often used or used more modern keyboard layouts which had more to do with how the person themselves typed than how keyboards used to look. But no, she didn¡¯t have enough experience playing on console controllers and Soleil obviously had a lot of experience. The BASE system was currently downloading and then starting the install of the update, and they couldn¡¯t access the BASE platform at the moment, since their system could be more vulnerable for attacks during the update and it was taking a lot of power to perform the update. So, instead, they were gaming and eating, spending their time together having fun. ¡°Yes!¡± Soleil pumped her fist into the air. ¡°I won.¡± Violet glared her way. ¡°You have no shame, do you? Defeating poor little us?¡± Soleil grinned at Violet. ¡°No. No, shame at all.¡± Then she looked to the rest of the house. ¡°At least I can win from you guys. Some of the others in the building¡­ Their reflexes aren¡¯t as fun to play against. They always win from me.¡± Willow sat up a little, grabbing a new slice of pizza. ¡°You do this often? Go offline and just play old games?¡± Soleil shrugged with one shoulder. ¡°Not really offline, we tend to stay online, but yeah, we regularly get together to play old games. When you work with cutting edge software and such, sometimes it¡¯s just fun to do this. Sit together and play something simpler. Something that isn¡¯t ¡®fully immersive¡¯.¡± She leaned back, her eyes going from side to side and then she let out a slow breath. ¡°Update is getting close to reboot for me.¡± Then she grinned at them. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t take too long, we may be able to join Micah in Shades of the Spirit World. If he¡¯s not off to work yet.¡± She stood up, stretching. ¡°Anyone want something to drink?¡± ¡°Fizzy stuff?¡± Willow looked back to the kitchen. Soleil let out a short laugh. ¡°You¡¯ve tried strawberry, lime, lemon, blue something, kiwi¡­ More?¡± In her head, Willow ticked them all off. She¡¯d tried five different drinks already, so that sounded about right. ¡°That leaves¡­?¡± Soleil opened the fridge, one of the rows was filled with fizzy drinks, some new brand that sent a whole load of trays to the BASE headquarters to let the employees try them, and apparently Soleil had gotten a whole tray with all six flavours in them and had put them in her fridge. ¡°We¡¯ve got blackberry left.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± Willow grinned. She was ready to try anything tonight, she felt bold. Although, it would probably exhaust her, as it always did when she felt like this. Soleil looked at Violet. ¡°You?¡± ¡°Same as her.¡± Violet grinned. ¡°Though that blue something wasn¡¯t my fav.¡± Soleil grinned and grabbed two cans of blackberry and then grabbed herself a bottle of some coconut drink, which seemed to be her go-to. Then she sat down, handing them their drinks. ¡°To an evening filled with cool things, hopefully.¡± She raised her bottle. ¡°I can drink to that.¡± Violet raised her can and Willow did the same. Then a row of text floated in front of Willow. *The system needs to reboot to apply the update.* *Reboot? Yes/No* Her heart started beating louder and she put the drink down. She knew this wasn¡¯t something to be scared of, the system would simply reboot and while she¡¯d be locked out of the BASE system for only a little while, it suddenly felt a lot bigger than that. ¡°Reboot?¡± Violet reached out to her, taking her hand. Willow nodded. ¡°We¡¯re here. And it only takes a few moments of darkness. We¡¯re right here by your side.¡± Violet squeezed her hand and Willow leaned back in the beanbag. When the BASE unit shut down, it would disconnect from all her senses for a few moments, which could relax her muscles for a few moments too. It shouldn¡¯t be scary, but right now, it did feel it. She focused on the message in front of her. ¡®Yes.¡¯ The world around her went dark and she could feel the jolt go through her body as she lost and regained control. Then, as she blinked a couple of times, she saw again, the sounds around her louder, the lights brighter, everything so much more intense. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to regain her composure. The BASE unit was now turned off, and she hadn¡¯t realised how much she¡¯d already been messing with the systems, how much she¡¯d been muting the settings. ¡°Willow?¡± Violet came closer. ¡°You okay?¡± Willow nodded. ¡°I¡¯m good. I think.¡± Violet smiled and then let out a short breath. ¡°It seems I¡¯m up too.¡± She leaned back in her own beanbag, closing her eyes. It seemed like something flickered in front of Willow¡¯s eyes for a moment, and then the lights and sounds were lower again. *BASE has been rebooted and is still updating.* *Please wait until the update is finished before changing any settings.* She looked at Soleil, who was smiling at her. ¡°I¡¯m about to go up next. Any changes yet?¡± Willow shook her head. ¡°Nothing much, back to normal for now.¡± Soleil nodded. ¡°What I¡¯ve heard, it¡¯ll be much better for you. But, of course, nobody is the same, so it can feel different for you.¡± Violet sat up again, looking around. ¡°I never realised how different this could be.¡± She let out a laugh. ¡°Well, at least I now know what people in the old days would feel like.¡± ¡°I prefer BASE.¡± Willow smiled too. ¡°It was a bit too much for me.¡± Violet nodded. ¡°Yeah. I get that. Now, to wait for the rest of the update.¡± ¡°And the download of the game.¡± Willow grabbed her can of blackberry fizzy and took a sip. It didn¡¯t feel any different yet, but that didn¡¯t mean much for now. She was looking forward to trying out the new settings, probably more even than trying out the new game. But they were both important to her. They were both interesting. 9. I want to be a… The download of the game still took about half an hour, even with the really fast internet at Soleil¡¯s place, but once it was installed, Willow finally allowed herself to relax. Everything had gone according to plan and they¡¯d had their pizzas and snacked on things that Willow didn¡¯t even know existed, some odd candies that Soleil had, they were now fed and hydrated, and Willow was pretty high on sugar. There were two programs Willow could boot from within the new BASE interface, the ¡®Extended AR Experience¡¯ and the game that everyone wanted to play ¡®Shades of the Spirit World¡¯. She had seen some videos from the game, and it had looked pretty neat, but she didn¡¯t know if she actually wanted to play it just yet, if she was ready for it. It had been a long day, and she wasn¡¯t sure she was awake enough for it. So, she booted the Extended AR Experience first, just to see what it did. The room around her went fuzzy for a few moments before going back to what appeared to be normal, but small ¡®tags¡¯ had appeared over items all around the place, even Violet and Soleil¡¯s names hovered over their heads. Willow stood up and walked over to the window looking out over the garden, touching the plane. *Do you want to put in place a special view?* *Yes/No* Nope. Nope. Not what she was trying, she¡¯d just wanted to look out, not change anything. Then she walked over to a plant in the corner, a tag hovering over it too. *Water this plant for 1 XP* She¡¯d get XP for watering plants? What the?! That was odd. She walked along the wall, over to another plant. *This plant is sufficiently watered, try again in twelve hours* Okay, so it could read the state of items and know when they needed something? Like it would understand when plants needed water? Interesting, and curious. As she walked around the room, she touched different items, like the old consoles on the shelves which would show the name and make of it, or the collection of games, which would show a still from the game for each one she touched together with the name and release date. The extended AR experience was pretty extensive in its data, even if she didn¡¯t know what she could really do with it. But the idea of being able to gain XP for her character with simple daily tasks did appeal to her, maybe it would help her not forget things¡­ ¡°Willow?¡± Violet called out to her from the beanbags, and as Willow turned around, Violet grinned at her. ¡°Are you liking it?¡± Willow shrugged and then went over them. ¡°It¡¯s different, but I guess I can get used to this.¡± ¡°Want to dive into the game?¡± Soleil sat up a little. ¡°I know that the start isn¡¯t like super active or something, just simple character creation. It¡¯s not full-dive, so you¡¯re not really transported anywhere, you¡¯re just where you are.¡± Not a full-dive? Of course. She was just there in AR, it wasn¡¯t like diving into VR where she would be shut off from the rest of the world. This was just in AR, that didn¡¯t sound as exhausting. ¡°Okay.¡± She sat down again in the beanbag. ¡°Let¡¯s do this, then.¡± Willow booted the program and the Shades of the Spirit World logo spun a few times in front of her, before the room changed into a clearing in a bright forest, the trees overlaying on the walls and an opening between the trees where the door to the garden was in front of her. She could see Violet and Soleil as their normal RL selves, but they were all sitting on some mossy lumps, their beanbags having been changed in AR to fit the rest of the aesthetic. ¡°Oh, pretty.¡± Violet smiled, running her hand over the moss of the lump she was sitting on, the moss moving as she touched it, as if she was really touching it in real life. ¡°Oh. You can actually feel it.¡± Willow reached out too and felt the soft and tickly feeling of the moss under her hand, how it bent as she put pressure on it, how it brushed against her skin, nothing like the way the beanbag felt, this was all AR. That was cool. A Shrine Maiden appeared in front of them, the name hovering over her head, most of her face hidden by the shadows of the big hood of her red cape. She opened her arms, revealing slightly odd hands, like a mixture between human hands and cat paws.
Shrine Maiden: Welcome to Shades of the Spirit World.
She could see the maiden¡¯s lips move, just barely visible, but there was no sound, just the text in a small text box. That was a good start, it meant that Willow¡¯s normal settings were already set in this game, she wouldn¡¯t have to figure that all out later. Then the shrine maiden pulled her hood back and Willow let out a slight gasp. The shrine maiden wasn¡¯t exactly human, she was what some would call a ¡®cat girl¡¯. She stood up like a human, built similarly too, in her shoulders and hips, but, like her hands had been partially claws, she had cat ears near the top of her head instead of human ears down the side, her eyes were shaped like a cat¡¯s, in a deep amber colour, and her nose and lips were more cat-like too. But the way she held herself, it was much more human. Willow couldn¡¯t see much else of her, as she was wearing a long robe, hiding the rest of the shrine maiden. Then the maiden smiled at them.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Shrine Maiden: If you pull up the starter menu, you can choose how you¡¯ll look inside the game. People using the Extended AR Experience program and the Shades of the Spirit World game will be able to see you as your character. Shrine Maiden: Go ahead.
As Willow looked to the side, she laughed as she watched Soleil switch through different hair styles, shaking her head a couple of times, and frowning at some of the odder styles. When she looked to the other side, she watched as Violet held up her hand, which kept changing just a little, longer fingers, narrower fingers, smaller hand, shorter fingers, more hair, less hair, different nail shapes, all sorts of things. Then Willow let out a deep breath and pulled up the starter menu with a swipe of her hand, the same as most other games used, pretty universal, just a simple flick of her hand in front of her, moving down a little and the menu unrolled. [NEW - Set Character Profile] [Character Stats] [Game Settings] A pretty simple menu, not much there. She opened the character profile, since she was pretty sure she didn¡¯t have any stats yet, since she hadn¡¯t played anything, that would have to wait until later. In front of her, her own body appeared, like a projection, and she could turn it around to take a look at herself, not that she really wanted to, she¡¯d seen enough of herself in the mirror. Then, she noticed the buttons down the side of the interface with images for eyes and hair and other things on them. She first opened the ¡®body type¡¯ menu, which seemed to be a more global setting. She had a couple of sliders for height and body width, and then separate settings with names like ¡®fur¡¯ and ¡®musculature¡¯, but what she was most looking forward to was the option to choose her own race. There were a lot of ¡®preset¡¯ body types hovering over her projection, just the outlines as if they were shadows, and one of them appeared to be exactly what she wanted. She reached out, tapping one of the girls hovering over her projected self and it lit up, gaining colour. Yep, exactly what she wanted. A cat girl. Yay! Without doing anything, the projection of herself changed into the cat girl she touched. The game could interpret her excitement, of course, so no annoying choice boxes. Her projection was still wearing the exact same clothes as she was, but she could now see that her legs were shaped a differently, since cat legs were a little different, the knee and the ankle were in much higher locations and she was standing on her toes. As willow looked down at herself, her legs, curled up on the beanbag, had changed too, into the legs of the cat character in front of her, and as she reached up, she could feel the cat ears, both the sensation of the fluffiness of them on her fingertips as she touched them as the way her ears felt as she ran her fingers along the edge of it, much longer than she was used to, and hairier. Okay, cool, she really had turned into a cat girl in this game. Neat. Then she went back to the main menu for character creation, time to fiddle with her fur colour and things like that, make it more her style instead of generic like it was now. She could probably do this for hours¡­ *** After they¡¯d all finished their characters, Violet had turned into some tall elf-like creature, still with her dark skin and tightly braided back hair but her eyes were an icy blue, and Soleil was human-like, though her ears were a little pointier than before and Willow was sure that the green colour of her eyes wasn¡¯t natural either, they went outside, into the garden, since walking around the living room wasn¡¯t really that safe with everything there. The game wouldn¡¯t start inside a small room, it was a safety feature, as the change of breaking things while playing was too high. They had more space out in the garden, enabling them to actually play the game. As Willow stood outside, the world around her a mixture of AR and reality, the shrine maiden appeared in front of them again, her hood down around her shoulders, not as imposing, mostly just very cute.
Shrine Maiden: Are you ready to play the intro quest? This is not an optional quest. Without completing this quest, the game will not turn on into ¡®game mode¡¯ and will effectively function as the Extended AR Experience program does.
Okay¡­ She wasn¡¯t a fan of mandatory quests, but since she still hadn¡¯t chosen a class or knew how to fight or otherwise interact with the game, she didn¡¯t have much choice. Violet touched her shoulder, her hand heavy and comforting. ¡°Can we do this as a group, do you think?¡± Willow looked back at her, but Violet was looking at Soleil instead. Soleil shrugged. ¡°We can try. Let¡¯s see¡­ Can we get group options?¡±
Shrine Maiden: Would you like to form a group?
Willow hadn¡¯t expected for the answer to come from the NPC¡­ Or to be directed at her.
Willow: Yes. Shrine Maiden: Who would you like to have in the party? Willow: Violet and Soleil.
That was pretty obvious, right? ¡°Accept invitation,¡± Violet and Soleil both said next to her at the same time. And now Violet and Soleil both appeared in small round portraits at the side of her interface, close enough into her line of sight to see comfortably, but not close enough to the middle to be in the way, and their names over their heads turned purple from the simple white they¡¯d been before. ¡°Oh, cool.¡± Violet grinned. ¡°We¡¯ll have to figure all this group and guild thing out at some other time. But for now¡­ I guess we can make this work.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start the quest together.¡± Soleil grinned too. ¡°I¡¯ve heard so much about the game, but I¡¯ve never actually seen footage of the early part of the game, the intro quest and stuff. Just things that are in the overarching game, not this part.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± Willow smiled. That meant that they all started this for the first time, together.
Willow: I accept the quest. Shrine Maiden: Introduction Quest Activated.
The world around them went black for a few moments, probably putting them into a more instanced experience than they had been in and Willow was surprised by how smooth it went. It really was like she was in VR, but at the same time, she wasn¡¯t. She could still feel the wind on her skin, hear the sounds of the real garden she was standing in, the steady breathing of her friends at her side. She was in a digital world and the real world at the same time. This update really was something totally different than she¡¯d ever experienced before. This was next level cool. 10. New Skills As the world came back into view, the first thing that Willow saw was that there were three little red hearts in the top left part of her interface, and that next to Violet and Soleil¡¯s portraits, which were right under it, were also three red hearts. That was their HP? She¡¯d seen this before, in old games like in Legend of Zelda games or in Minecraft, but it was definitely not something that was used commonly these days. She let her eyes flit over the rest of the interface in front of her. In the top right of her view was a small map of her surroundings, as most games had, an easy way to navigate, and there were three little purple dots in the middle of the map right next to each other and an orange dot next to them, the purple dots were the three of them and the orange dot was probably the Shrine Maiden. As she looked around more, she saw there were a couple of buttons on the lower right side, looking at each gave her what they were, [character], [questing], [inventory] and [general menu]. Not much, but either more unlocked later or there would be sub-options, something like that. On the lower right side of her interface was the chat box, also pretty standard. The game had taken what was familiar to most gamers and had given it their own spin, but still kept close to what they knew, which was a good idea as it would let people get into the game easier. But it wasn¡¯t so much what she did see in the interface that pulled her attention, as what she was missing. She couldn¡¯t find any slots for skills or an XP bar, or any of the other things she¡¯d expect from a game, especially an MMORPG. What the?!
Shrine Maiden: Welcome to the introduction quest. This quest will walk you through a range of interactions, which will unlock parts of the game, and at the end you will receive a starter set of items and the ¡®game mode¡¯ option, which will allow you to switch between the actual game and the AR enhancements. Shrine Maiden: Firstly, your health is measured in hearts, you find those at the top left of your interface. The more hearts, the more experienced player or stronger NPC. Don¡¯t try to fight others who have many more hearts than you have, unless you¡¯re in a group.
Well, that was interesting. So, no XP then? The number of hearts someone had sort of gave an idea of how strong the other was? Curious.
Shrine Maiden: Secondly, it¡¯s a good idea to train offensive and defensive skills, as they¡¯re both important for your survival.
The Shrine Maiden took a couple of steps back.
Shrine Maiden: Now, there are a couple of skills that you can train in, the offensive ones are swords, bows, maces and magic and the defensive ones are physical defence and magic defence. These skills will unlock new abilities and cross-skill combinations as they¡¯re levelled up. Look out for cool combinations as you gain more experience. Shrine Maiden: The first test is to try out each of the weapons scattered around and use them to attack the training dummy.
And right at the end of her sentence, four training dummies appeared with weapons next to three of them, one just having a small stand in front of it, nothing else showing and no more directions. Willow looked at Violet and Soleil. Okay¡­ it seemed that they now had to actually do something themselves. Violet shrugged, looking at the dummies. ¡°I think I¡¯m trying the bow first. You know, since that seems to be my preference anyway.¡± ¡°Cool, I¡¯m going for the sword.¡± Soleil nodded at one of the other dummies. Now they both looked at Willow, who looked around. ¡°I¡¯ll just¡­ I¡¯ll try all of them and see.¡± Violet smiled softy. ¡°There has to be something that works for you, you know? You¡¯ve got a lot of practice with a lot of weapons these days.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong¡­ Willow followed Violet, as there was another dummy right next to the one which had a bow and a quiver full of arrows in front of it. Violet stopped at the one with the bow and picked it up. ¡°It¡¯s pretty light, and feels good to hold.¡± Then she pulled one of the arrows from the quiver, putting it on the bow and pulling the string back. Then she slowly let the string get back to normal. ¡°I like the feel of this.¡± They both stepped back, making space for Violet to shoot at the dummy. Violet often used bows in games, it was one of her favourites, together with guns¡­ Violet put the arrow back on the bow, pulling the string back and after a couple of seconds, the arrow flew towards the dummy, hitting it in the head. Violet grinned widely. ¡°Cool.¡± She nodded. ¡°I can get used to this game.¡± Then she looked at Willow. ¡°What are you going to try? You want to unlock this skill?¡± She held out the bow to Willow. Ehhh¡­ ¡°Sure.¡± She took the bow from Violet, who went back to the quiver and grabbed it, taking it over to Willow. ¡°Now, you know how to shoot, right?¡± Violet handed her an arrow. Willow may not favour the bow, but of course, she knew how to use one. She took the arrow from Violet, putting it on the bow and then she pulled her arm next to her head, tightening the string until she felt the way it stopped getting much further. Then she took a steadying breath, pointed the tip of the arrow at the dummy and let go of the string. A couple of things happened at the same time.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. First, the string of the bow hit her wrist, as she hadn¡¯t been holding the bow correctly, painful and not good. Second, the arrow flew past the dummy ending up in the bushes at the side of the garden, she wasn¡¯t that good at aiming arrows, that was obvious. Third, a notification popped up. *Bow level 1* *You have unlocked the Bow skill tree* Ah, so that was what Violet meant before. By using a skill, you unlocked it. So it was probably a good idea to actually try all the weapons here and unlock them before they started the game. ¡°Not bad.¡± Violet bumped her shoulder into Willow¡¯s. ¡°Not everyone can be as good as you.¡± Willow handed the bow back to Violet and walked over the next dummy, which just had a stand in front of it, not much more. Looking at the stand, there was a paper on it and a box with four rings. [To unlock the magic skill, take the ring of the element you would like to use and focus on the dummy to use the attack.] The four rings in the box each had a differently coloured stone in them. There was red (fire), amber (earth), blue (water) and white (wind). Okay. Willow looked at each one, she was used to using elements like fire and water in other games, but earth and wind sounded more interesting. She picked up the white ring. Wind was an element she hadn¡¯t played with in previous games, so that was probably the coolest thing to try out. She put the ring on, a shiver going through her for a moment, but she wasn¡¯t sure if that was just from the game in general or if that came from the ring. Then she stepped to the side of the stand and held out her hand to the dummy. Well, the game hadn¡¯t given much instruction on how to do the attack, so it was probably similar to how she used it in other games, right? She held the hand with the ring in front of her, her fingers outstretched wide, the palm towards the dummy. Then she pulled energy from within her and pushed it out her hand, similarly to how she did it in Helheim Fallen Online. A cone of wind shot from her hand to the dummy, hitting it right in the chest. It almost looked a cross between a sound wave and a sideway whirlwind. Curious, but wind attacks were probably not easy to animate otherwise. *Magic level 1* *You have now unlocked the Magic skill tree* ¡°Awesome.¡± Soleil stood next to her. ¡°Which one is that?¡± ¡°Wind.¡± Willow nodded, dropping her hand at her side. One thing that this game did do differently from most other games was that it didn¡¯t require her to hold some sort of ¡®weapon¡¯ while using magic. She never liked using one anyway, and this way, she could just use her magic and not think about weapons or anything like it. And a ring at least gave her something to upgrade or swap out. Willow opened her character screen. [Player: Willow] [Skills:] [Sword: 1] [Magic: 1] The rest of her sheet was suspiciously empty, as in, a lot of empty space which obviously was meant to fill out more as she gained more skills. Then she focused on the magic skill and a new screen opened, this time, there was a tree shape on the sheet. At the bottom there was a circle, quartered into four colours and each colour had part of a symbol for an element. Part of a flame in red, part of a cloud in white, part of a water drop in blue and part of something like a mountain in amber. So, she wouldn¡¯t have to train each element separately it seemed. It also meant that the ring decided the elemental magic she used, so she could carry multiple rings just to keep all elements available to her. Then, above the first circle, following a line, there was another circle, this time just an dark grey outline with a silvery five in it, above that, the tree split into two with two circles with 10/30 in them and above that another circle over each with 20/40 in them. Okay, so that was a pretty straightforward skill tree. Nothing fancy. Gain the levels, unlock more parts of the tree, and she probably had to choose something at the higher levels. Which allowed for some specialisation in the game, although, the Shrine Maiden had said something about there being ¡®combinations¡¯ to be unlocked. Great¡­ That both excited and already tired her. Willow closed the screens and looked at the ring on her finger, the magic skill was pretty cool, that was for sure. But she should probably try the other ones too, just to unlock them. She put the ring back on the stand, and looked around. Two more skills to try. *** As soon as they¡¯d all tried the different offensive skills, the shrine maiden started to glow faintly. Which was¡­ Okay, interesting. Willow already knew that she wasn¡¯t much good with a bow and the sword also didn¡¯t do much for her, but it turned out that the mace was a weapon she also enjoyed. Maybe because it was so physical, like the racial attack she had in HF, just a lot of raw power to destroy something. Even though she didn¡¯t think she would, she enjoyed it. They all went over to the shrine maiden, as there was probably more to this quest.
Shrine Maiden: Great! You¡¯ve tried the offensive skills. I hope you¡¯ve found at least one you enjoy.
Willow shrugged, what was it with the excitement from an NPC?
Shrine Maiden: At the end of the quest, you will receive a weapon for each skill so that you can train each one as preferred.
So, they really weren¡¯t going to be forced into choosing just one or two skills, they at least got the tools to level every one of them.
Shrine Maiden: Being able to attack things is very important, but there is a second part to survival. You need to be able to defend yourself. When you¡¯re ready for it, you¡¯ll first face off against a creature that does physical damage and then face off against a creature which does magical damage. In each of the battles, you can only block, not attack the creature. Shrine Maiden: Are you ready?
Willow stepped back, shaking her head. She was getting tired. She was going to have to defend herself? How? ¡°Willow?¡± Violet stepped closer, her voice soft, and she reached out to her. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Willow shook her head again. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I like this. It¡¯s¡­¡± Willow stepped closer to Violet, who wrapped her arms around her. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯ll hurt.¡± Violet¡¯s voice was low. She nodded. She didn¡¯t like pain, especially not if she was going to get hurt on purpose. Why would this be part of a quest? Why did this have to be part of the intro quest? Especially when there was no way to skip this, and she couldn¡¯t even really defend herself by attacking the creature. Why? 11. Questionable Quests After the shrine maiden had told them that the next part of the quest was basically them being beaten up by some creature, they¡¯d taken a short break. They were back in Soleil¡¯s living room and snacking on some popcorn, all sitting around the kitchen table. ¡°I like the skills, and the skill trees.¡± Violet popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth. ¡°At least we¡¯re not so locked into a single class now.¡± Soleil nodded, taking a sip from her drink. ¡°Yeah, I like that too. Though, I think they may want to change the intro quest¡­ I don¡¯t like the idea of being beaten up just to unlock some skill. And I don¡¯t think a lot of other people like the idea either.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Violet sighed. ¡°They may want to change that.¡± ¡°I like the thing they do with the magic, not locking you into an element or something, just letting you use whatever.¡± Willow looked around, putting her head on the table. She wasn¡¯t looking forward to the next part and that wasn¡¯t good on her mood. ¡°Oh.¡± Soleil sat up. ¡°I just got a message from Micah. He¡¯d like to join us. You guys okay with that?¡± She looked them over, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Sure.¡± Violet shrugged. ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± Willow sat up too. ¡°Wait¡­ He¡¯s been through all this, right? So he¡¯ll at least know more about the next part of the quest.¡± Soleil nodded, smiling slightly. ¡°Yeah, he probably would. Though, I¡¯m not sure how much he¡¯ll share. I¡¯ll tell him to come over.¡± They went back to snacking, until there was a knocking on the door to the garden and the guy from earlier was standing in the doorway. Well¡­ It was probably him, but he didn¡¯t look the same, they could now see his Shades of the Spirit World avatar instead. He was shorter than before, was built blocky and had dark hair, including a fancy beard. He was wearing some leather armour and had a bow slung over his shoulder as he held a shield in his other hand. ¡°Evening.¡± He smiled as he stepped inside. ¡°Evening.¡± Soleil grinned. ¡°Now I can finally see what you look like in the game.¡± Micah grinned as he came over, spreading his arms. ¡°What do you think? This armour was hard to get, you know?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Hi. I see that you¡¯ve all started the game too, cute characters.¡± He looked at Willow a little longer than he looked at the rest. ¡°Cat girl?¡± ¡°It¡¯s soft.¡± She smiled, then cocked her head to the side, she felt the way one of her ears moved to the side even more, and the guy laughed. ¡°Right.¡± He sat down next to Soleil and took a sip from her drink. ¡°So, have you completed the starter quest yet?¡± Violet shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re on the defence part of the quest, it didn¡¯t sound too much fun.¡± She pulled a face. ¡°Ah.¡± Micah let out a sigh. ¡°Yeah. The quest isn¡¯t as bad as it sounds, it¡¯s not you getting all beaten up, it actually teaches you how to block and avoid attacks. It¡¯s actually pretty cool.¡± He flashed them a big grin. ¡°It made me ask for another offensive class, one where you fight with your bare hands. Since, you know, there are so many fighting styles in the real world that have nothing to do with weapons and they¡¯re sorely lacking one in this game, even though they apply some of it in the defensive skills.¡± He shrugged and finished Soleil¡¯s drink, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Soleil didn¡¯t even seem surprised, like he did this all the time. Willow hadn¡¯t yet considered how close she¡¯d been to the other people in this house, but if she spent a lot of time with the others in the house, gaming and such, why did she keep hanging out with Willow and the others? It made no sense, these people were more of her age and she probably shared a lot more experiences with them. ¡°Think of it more as classes in self-defence than really about just blocking or getting beaten up.¡± He grinned, standing up again. ¡°But, also, after you¡¯ve finished that part of the quest, you¡¯re actually out of the intro, so depending on how fast you finish it, we could all play together later¡­¡± He stretched and then went over to the fridge, grabbing another drink for each of them. ¡°Not a lot of people here in the house have the update and the game, so I¡¯d love to play with a couple more people.¡± He handed them all their drink and sat down again. ¡°Unless you¡¯ve got other plans?¡± Willow shrugged, she didn¡¯t have many plans, but Micah was being very familiar with them, which made her a little uncomfortable. She stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back, I¡¯ve just got to¡­¡± She pointed to the garden. ¡°Just gotta talk to someone.¡± She fled to the garden, the shrine maiden was still standing right where she¡¯d been standing before, and Willow walked past her, turning a corner and sitting down against the wall at the side of the house. It was quieter here and she needed a little quiet, things were getting a little intense in her head. She opened a chat with Sage.
Willow: You there?
She closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath, before opening them again.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Sage: I¡¯m here. How are you doing? Did you get the update yet?
Willow smiled, her head calming down.
Willow: Got the update, and started the intro quest of the game with Violet and Soleil. Sage: Cool. I¡¯ve completed the intro quest. So I¡¯m ready to join you whenever you¡¯d like to. Sage: It¡¯s kind of empty¡­ No other players here. Willow: I get that. Have you spoken to the others yet? Sage: I spoke to Dawn, but he¡¯s not updated yet, something about needing a little more time. Why? Willow: Nothing, really, just curious.
She just wanted to make sure that the others were safe too and hadn¡¯t gotten in trouble or something. No matter that it had been months since the whole HF thing, she was still nervous and not being in constant contact with her friends made her even more nervous.
Sage: What weapon are you going to choose? Willow: Magic, probably. It was the easiest. Sage: I thought that you would. I was thinking the same, or maybe the bow.
Talking to Sage always calmed her down. Sure, so did talking to Violet or Soleil, but not when there were others around. She just had to take a little break¡­ *** Willow looked at the creature in front of her, he was big, but like Micah had said, this wasn¡¯t so much about getting beaten up, but about learning how to defend herself. As the creature struck at her, she pushed his arm away and turned, making sure that she got close enough to him that he couldn¡¯t hit her again. It was like a dance. Get out of the way, avoid getting hit, getting close enough that he wouldn¡¯t be able to hit her, all the things. She had no idea how this could help if the creature she¡¯d be fighting would have a sword or something and she only had her magic, but she¡¯d probably find out soon enough. The creature pushed her away, back to where she¡¯d started the battle. *Physical defence level 1* *You have now unlocked the physical defence skill tree* The big creature disappeared and instead there was now a fairy-like creature floating in its place.
Shrine Maiden: Magical defence is up next. You can avoid the attacks, but throwing the opposite element at the caster or otherwise getting the attack to change direction also works.
Sure¡­ But since she had no weapon here, not even a magic ring, she couldn¡¯t really use any of those tactics.
Shrine Maiden: There is also a minor magic shield that you can use, though don¡¯t try to use it against large magic attacks.
Well, that was more like it. The fairy-like creature threw a small earth attack her way, like rocks being lugged at her, and Willow threw up her arms, trying to protect herself against them, and felt a magical field surround her arms. Okay, so that actually worked. The pieces of rock bounced off the small field, ending up next to her on the ground. Willow lowered her arms again, looking at the fairy. Would there be more? The next moment, the fairy threw a wind attack at Willow and she pulled up her arms again, this was a much bigger attack than she¡¯d been able to do before when she tested the magic herself, it was also a much longer attack. As the wind kept blasting at her, going and going, Willow glanced up and saw that she¡¯d lost half a heart, and as she looked at them, another heart disappeared. What? Why? ¡°Avoid!¡± Soleil yelled and Willow blinked. Of course. She stepped to the side, keeping her arms up, and the magical field, and stepped right out of the stream of wind. It was so simple, avoid or defend, don¡¯t try to keep defending when you¡¯re obviously not strong enough, or you¡¯ll keep losing health¡­ Duh! *Magical defence level 1* *You have now unlocked the magical defence skill tree* It was curious that not getting hit would also gain her (invisible) XP towards a skill, but that made sense. If she could manage not to get hit, that was the obvious purpose of the skill, so both defending and not being hit would both let her gain levels for it. But it still felt weird.
Shrine Maiden: Congratulations, that concludes your introduction quest. Please speak to me if you want to complete the quest and leave this instance.
Okay, but she was just the first one to do these things, Violet and Soleil both had to still finish the quest, so she wasn¡¯t leaving just yet, there was no reason to. She grinned at Violet. ¡°You¡¯re up next.¡± She went over to the steps behind the house and sat down next to Soleil as Violet went over to the ¡®arena¡¯ that had been conjured up in the AR. Violet took a wide stance, waiting for the first creature to appear. Soleil bumped her shoulder into Willow¡¯s. ¡°That was a strange quest.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Willow let out a breath. But at least she was done with it now, she didn¡¯t have to worry about it anymore. ¡°You looking forward to it yet?¡± Soleil shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think this really is that hard. But I get why they¡¯d put it into the intro quest, it¡¯s important.¡± She put her head on Willow¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But this is definitely more intense than just doing things in VR, my arms are sore, I think I overdid it on the sword trying out earlier.¡± Willow laughed as Violet started fighting the creature in front of her. ¡°Yeah, you did seem to have a lot of fun with it.¡± ¡°I just wanted to see if I could gain another level here, or if this was just capped at getting to level one.¡± Soleil moved her head a little. ¡°It¡¯s capped.¡± Micah spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ve tried. It just unlocks the skills, nothing more. You can¡¯t gain any levels here. You need to get out into the real game for that.¡± ¡°Boo.¡± Soleil sat up again and pulled a sad face. ¡°That¡¯s mean.¡± Micah let out a short laugh. ¡°No, it¡¯s against people trying to get to level however-much before they¡¯re even in the real game. It¡¯s smart coding.¡± ¡°It is.¡± Willow nodded. She would have expected it anyway, not being able to gain more than just the skill, just to keep things equal. Plus, this game was rough enough anyway. Violet was already really good with her bow, even though she was just level 1, but that was because she¡¯d already been good with a bow before. Things that you already knew how to do really influenced the lower levels here. Which didn¡¯t make her feel very easy, because she had no skills to use in this game, apart from being able to shoot bolts of magic at things¡­ And that wasn¡¯t really a rare skill, anyone could do that. She was already behind on the others, because everyone else had experience with weapons and such, and Willow had always been a caster, a skill anyone could do without much practice¡­ That was going to be fun¡­