《Tales of Emera》 1.00 - The Chip ¡°Emera! Wake up, it''s lunch time. Doctor Kenton will be here shortly so hurry up and eat and shower. You can''t be late like last time!¡± Pleasant dreams were rudely interrupted by the hollering of an irate mother, her shrill shouting the very essence of all evil in the world. It was such a good dream too. Of course, she couldn''t remember what that dream was about, but she could take a shrewd guess as to the contents. For her, a good dream began with her as a normally developed human being, one with two equally working legs and an immune system that wouldn''t collapse at the first hint of a cold. It would then entail herself skipping along the sidewalk at a leisurely pace, smelling flowers and sunshine on a beautiful summer day. Of course, dreams like these were matters of fiction, devoid of the true reality that she suffered through for the past twenty years of her life. It was the life she was used to, all twenty years of her life spent either within her room or at the foremost hospital in the country that specialized with the underdeveloped people of America. It was an alright life. She could read to her heart''s content, pursue her schooling from the comfort of her home and daydream the hours of her life away, envisioning what it would be like to be whole, to be able to leave the sterilized room that was her prison. Without the normality of a child''s existence, her standard outdoors routine consisted of a push in her wheelchair around the block and sitting quietly, watching other children having fun on the playground. She was never outright included within the social circles of other children, always the feeling of distance between her and the other children as if her very presence dampened the other children''s fun. Alas, no child would feel as if they belonged when they were the odd person out. Thereafter her forays into the outside world collapsed, school became her first prison of friendless solitude. Her immune system didn''t properly develop and build to the levels it should have, being excluded as she was from the rough and tumble that was childhood roughhousing. No scrapes or bruises, no accidentally eating dirt or other such unpleasantries. no strength building exercises like running or sports. It all contributed to isolating her from the outside world, leaving her immune system weak and unstable, resulting in an increasing number of colds and illnesses that left doctors stumped on the cure for her weak immune system. They said it was impossible to cure, having not seen a case such as hers that left her with practically zilch compared to the average adult, and that she was unique. Hurray for her!. She blamed the damn drugs. Another sore point for her. Pills twice daily to cure depression, anxiety, and at the forefront of her life of sitting, pills for her damn legs that helped ¡°strengthen¡± the nerves within them while providing the body with certain chemicals that the body usually produced while walking and exercising. Bah. She could do without feeling the wrongness there but they said it was an important function to make sure she didn¡¯t accidentally cut herself open and end up not feeling anything while she bled out to death. She couldn¡¯t help getting mad over it. She was sensitive about her legs. For her, outside became another prison area she wasn''t apart of, with a great big sign saying ¡°stay away, or you¡¯ll be shanked!¡± Or in other words, she would get grievously sick from a simple journey to the outside. This was her life, all twenty years of it. With a sigh, Emera got up from the comforts of her bed by sidling over to the wheelchair by her night table, her shrunken legs useless as ever. Over the years, she had perfected the ability to transfer herself from bed to wheelchair to the shower seat, gaining her the much needed independence from the clutches of a daytime nurse or the help from her busy mother. It was a small comfort to be independent when all in her life was controlled to the highest degrees such as the special meals pre-planned to help give her the nutrients her body needed without introducing harmful foods to her diet or the prescribed hair products and creams that wouldn''t impact her body. It was all she could do to try to sway her mother to the necessities of a little variety to her life. She remembered when it took her a month of convincing her mother to switch toothpaste from a bland, tasteless paste to the mint variety. Every choice in her life was a battle to be fought for. That is why she was excited for the Doctor¡¯s visit that afternoon. Today, he would be showing up for the results of a week long testing that would change the course of her life. After months of convincing her mother to allow her to participate in Doctor Kenton¡¯s program, she had finally been allowed the okay. Today, if all went well with the testing she did the week previous, she would receive a personal artificial intelligence chip that would allow her to enter into the virtual reality pod, connecting her brain to the vast new universe that millions were clamouring to enter. Already, three hundred and fifty million had entered the virtual universe, joining together in virtual worlds created from scratch by advanced artificial intelligences. From what she had read online, there were numerous worlds that allowed the user the ability to learn within a virtual classroom, play games with millions of players, join realms within the universe, able to customize them to their heart¡¯s content while allowing others to join them as they customize their own virtual world. All of this was possible with the development of the world¡¯s first artificial intelligences. Now, the virtual universe was monitored with over three thousand AI¡¯s, maintaining the vast expanse of the virtual universe. Already, game developers with the help of the AI¡¯s, were making games like no other games before them. The games incorporated the AI¡¯s implanted within the player¡¯s head to send signals to the brain that simulate every sensation the avatar within the game feels. Every touch, every smell, every taste. Utilizing the chips capabilities, the user could experience time dilation that lengthened the hours spent within the pod universe, when in reality, only minutes could pass by. It was an amazing technology that nearly everyone was clamouring to use.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It changed everything. from education and resources able to be produced with a thought, teachers were able to help their students with their every need. Not to mention the medical and physiological advancements that helped people to relearn to walk or talk, to experience the life they had always wanted. That was why Emera now had a chance for something else. Something greater to be apart of within the confines of her room. For once, she would have a fully formed body that responded to her every move, free from her debilitating immune system. Although the regular pod chips were expensive, it was thanks to Doctor Kenton that she was receiving her very own personal AI chip free of expense. Unlike other chips, the personal AI chip is capable of communicating with its host, allowing the specialized chip Doctor Kenton had developed to monitor the host¡¯s body for any abnormalities and other such problems within the host¡¯s body. With this new technology, the Doctor had hopes to utilize the chips monitoring capabilities to learn how to better be able to help his patients. When Emera had found out about Doctor Kenton¡¯s program, she had immediately sent out an application in the hopes of receiving this chance to experience a whole body within the virtual universe. Three months later and she had completed the week long preparation testing. It all teetered on the results of the testing. The Doctor had found that she was one of the best subjects to test his new chip on, with Emera¡¯s poor immune system, the chip would have a battlefield of differing abnormalities to focus his research on. It was his dream to change the medical field for the better. Emera would be the first participant to undergo this new specialized chip, changing her life and all sick and injured thereafter, bringing with her an advancement in medicine unseen within this technological age. It was a worthy dream that Emera had read all about, becoming just as much her dream as the Doctor¡¯s dream. It was to be a busy day indeed. After a brief shower and a hurried lunch, Emera¡¯s heart raced as she awaited the knock on the front door. Any moment, that door would open and a whole new universe would be hers to explore. She was practically vibrating within her wheelchair. Her mother, off from work as a financial adviser, read silently in the corner of their living room, a slight smile upon her face as she watched her daughter. Rose Allinor had never seen her daughter so excited. It made her smile to see the first real joy Emera had shown for the past few years. Although she may be firm on the dietary needs of her daughter, she was pleased to see her this enthusiastic. For just a moment, the two of them could forget about Emera¡¯s condition that haunted their lives for years. It was a divider that had separated Emera¡¯s father and herself, ending their brief marriage in a divorce. To experience as much as Emera had in her life, the little joys that could be experienced were all the more precious. From a birth defect that rendered her legs useless until this very moment, with the joy on her daughter¡¯s face, it rendered her into a sopping wreck, incapable of speech as the front door echoed with dull thunks of a meaty fist. Knock. Knock. Knock. ¡°He¡¯s here! He¡¯s here! Mom?¡± Emera turned around, wondering why her mother wasn¡¯t opening the door yet, to find her mother sobbing on her chair, book splayed out in front of her, bookplace lost to the tides of tears. Oh the tragedy. ¡°Momma! Cheer up! I promise not to spend all my time in the pod!¡± Emera, unused to seeing her taciturn mom in tears, mistook the tears for sadness. Rose, sensing her daughter¡¯s distress over her tears, rushed over to give her daughter a hug and kiss, albeit a sloppy one, on the forehead. ¡°Fret not, Emy. You can stay within as long as you want. These are tears of happiness! Pah! As if I could be sad for you on this day.¡± With that said, she rushed over to the door before Emera could reply, her cool demeanor once more in place. With practiced ease, she ushered the rotund Doctor into their living room, his forehead beaded with sweat from the hot summer day, Doctor Kenton was a large man, in every sense of the word. His belly could be described as a beach ball, but it wouldn¡¯t do it any sort of justice. His cheeks were fleshy and his hands meaty. Not to mention sweaty. Emera often lay in bed at night, waking up from a nightmare where she had just shaken hands with the Doctor. She shuddered slightly from the memory. For all that he was round, his personality matched him perfectly. He had a jovial appearance complimented by his large mustache and bulbous nose. Every time Emera had met him, he wore a pinstriped suit that could be intimidating in the right setting, but gave him the impression of a well-to-do individual. Those who spoke to the Doctor for the first time were often surprised by his care-free attitude and his boisterous voice. When Emera had first met him, he seemed like a kindly middle-aged man with an open heart not often seen in this technology advanced world. Although his appearance could be said to be somewhat lacking, his mind more than made up for it. His intelligence was insurmountable and woe to those who beget him on the topic of his studies. The man could talk. And talk. And talk. ¡°...And that is when I came to the conclusion that Emera would be the perfect candidate! So without further ado, Emera if you will, please rest your neck against this brace. Thatta girl. Now, I¡¯ll just line it up perfectly and voila! One little prick in the back of the neck and your chip will be inserted. Rest easy for up to three hours as the chip acclimates with your body, and you should be ready to enter the pod universe. Oh which reminds me! The pod installers should be here within the hour, so best to make some room for it!¡± The big man rambled on endlessly, his voice a steady beating within her head. Emera didn¡¯t even remember him bringing in the small device that would insert the chip. Just *poof* and it was behind her neck, ready to change her life. It was amazing what a small piece of technology could do. Manufacturers had perfected the installation design, transitioning the large room filling device to the palm sized brace, easily attachable to the neck within the comforts of your home. Advertisers loved this product, and for good reason. With the advent of the chip, consumers by the millions were clamouring for the procedure that would enable them to connect to the pod universe. It was a personal challenge for technicians to reduce the size of the device, one they gladly accepted. Over what seemed like a fortnight, but took a year of redesigns and variable testing, the product was ready to sell. Now over four months later, everyone and anyone could get one. Perfect for the gaming market. Less than three days ago, the newest virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game came out. Already three million copies have been sold around the globe, enticing players from all walks of life. Over two thousand of the universal artificial intelligences had worked together to create the massive game. Even Emera, not much of a gamer herself, wanted to play it. It would be one of her first multiplayer games, never really having any friends to play them with. ¡°So Emera whadda ya think? No pain? Everything feels alright eh?¡± The Doctor said, his grin apparent on his face. ¡°Huh, what did you say? Sorry was a little spaced out there for a second.¡± She said. ¡°The chip girl! The chip! No pain? Nothing feels bad? From your lack of reaction, I assume everything is good to go.¡± Impossibly, his grin grew even wider on his fleshy face. He looked like a clown. Emera was fine with that. After all, her grin matched his and outpaced it by a mile as she realized what the Doctor was saying. ¡°Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you Doctor! Thank you!¡± she said excitedly, tears easily falling onto her lap. She didn¡¯t even bother to wipe them off as she was sure more were to follow. 1.01 - The Pod Emera¡¯s mind fluttered with hope for the future. It was to be a new beginning for her, and she couldn''t have been happier. Shortly after the Doctor left, the pod installation workers arrived and promptly began setting up her pod. Taking the Doctor¡¯s advice to heart, Emera took a brief nap to allow her body to adjust to the chip, her rest uneasy as her mind was unsure of when the AI would start talking. That was one of Emera¡¯s worries. To forever have a chip inside of you is one thing, but for that chip to be able to talk to you? It was a big change that Emera would need to overcome. A talking robot in her mind was one of the most prevalent of reasons she was hesitant to undertake Doctor Kenton¡¯s research. What if it talked to her during her sleep? Noisy neighbours she could get used to. But a noisy robot? The Doctor said the AI chip would sync its personality to be the most beneficial to its host, allowing it to have its own personality, yet it would still be attuned to her needs. Does that mean she would need to tell it what her needs were? Or would it act without her input? These thoughts didn¡¯t allow her to nap at all, her mind stuck on repeat as she thought over and over how it could all go wrong, how all her dreams could be crushed if the chip didn''t work or if the AI turned out to be an evil mind controlling monster. Scary thoughts. ¡°Emera! The pod is ready for you.¡± The voice in the room made her sit-up straight away from her position on the living room couch, briefly wondering if the robot was ready to talk yet. Nope, just her mother. Phew. ¡°Hello Emera, I am personal AI chip 00000002, here to assist and serve your every need!¡± said the voice in her head. This time she screamed as the third voice in the room spoke. ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong Emy?¡± Her mother wore a concerned look on her face, her gaze frantic as she looked for what startled her daughter. ¡°Don¡¯t be alarmed Emera! It is just I, AI chip 00000002, ready to assist and serve your every need!¡± She screamed again, then settled down as the AI made soothing noises within her head. It was actually quite calming, all things considered. ¡°Sorry mamma, the AI chip just started talking. I guess it finally acclimated to my body.¡± Emera soothed her mother¡¯s worries, her own worries slowly abating as a sense of wonder occupied her thoughts. ¡°You sound like a girl! And you don¡¯t sound roboty like a translator?¡± Her mind thought the words, and so the robot heard the words. ¡°That is right Emera, my calibrations are complete and I am fully functional as of 12.835 seconds ago. I have already determined that you would be most comfortable with the sound of another female in your head and have made adjustments to my voice algorithm accordingly. It is with great, as you say, happiness that I am equipped with the finest voice modulator as well as various technological advancements as of yet unseen within the greater world. Doctor Kenton has programmed me to tell you of those programs at a more convenient time as it appears your mother is about to speak again.¡± The AI said ¡°Really! What is it saying? Does it have a name? Is it a boy robot or a girl robot?¡± That last question Emera swore she saw her mother wink and which she answered with a ¡°mooooooom!¡± ¡°You may name me at your leisure, Emera.¡± The AI spoke in between her mother¡¯s next sentence. ¡°Tell me all about it! I¡¯ll start lunch and then afterwards you can check out your new pod. I can¡¯t believe how big those things are!¡± Her mother rambled on, seemingly as excited as her daughter. In truth, she was sad she couldn''t be there with her daughter as she took her first steps, but the Doctor had assured her that Emera''s progress would be recorded for his research and she would be able to watch the video feed afterwards. Lunch was a long affair with a brief word or two from Emera as she held two different conversations while translating the second for her mother. The AI spoke in between sentences, sending almost what seemed like pulses of information, allowing the AI to speak a string of sentences with little to no impact in the conversation with her mother. Her mother, after much discussion between the two humans and the AI, offered up the name Era, which fit nicely for Emera, seeing how it would be a new era in her life, and how it fit nicely with her own unique name. Soon, lunch was finished and her belly was full of the nutrient filled foods her body needed. When her mother washed the dishes and she dried them, they were finally ready to view the pod. Emera, blindfolded within her wheelchair as she was wheeled down the hallway into her room, breath held as the blindfold came up and light blinding her for a scant few seconds as her eyes adjusted from the blackness of the cloth to the lighting in her room. There, in front of her eyes and beside her bed, stood her pod. It had been custom made to her height which was a small 4¡¯11, what with her shrunken legs and all. It was of the sleekest black, polished to a shine that almost seemed to glow as it reflected the lights from her room. She might have drooled a little. ¡°There you are. The pod is ready for you Emy, just say power on and power off when you want to get out. I¡¯ll leave you two to get acquainted.¡± Another wink and her mother was gone, closing the bedroom door on the way out. For minutes, Emera just sat there in awe. Wheeling herself over, she ran her fingers along the sleek, cool metal frame. Her fingers brushed against a latch and she swiftly popped the lid open. The interior was of a soft satiny material that just begged to be laid on. Emera complied with this request as she lay down, feeling like she was lying on top of a cloud. With reverence, she lowered the pod lid and rejoiced within the confines of her new life. Without ceremony, she let out the words she would repeat whenever she wanted to walk. ¡°Power on¡±Stolen novel; please report. A flash of light and a feeling of rising into the air. A brush of wind and a touch of sunlight. Her thoughts flew as the universe spoke to her. ¡°Welcome user, Emera. Pod activation and chip connectivity has successively connected. Please stand-by as your senses are slowly returned to you. If at anytime you feel discomfort, please do not panic. This is only natural as your mind regains functionality within the pod universe. Have a nice day!¡± Said the universe, in all its wisdom. Feeling slowly crept into her arms, working its way over her body while her eyes starting seeing colour again. With an uncomfortable jolt, her body returned to her all at once. She was lying down on a field of grass with an open sky above her. She was outside, free from the constraints of a sterilized house. Free to roam to her heart¡¯s content. New feelings pulsed through her, emotions so powerful she couldn''t describe them accurately. With a calmness within the vast expanse of excitement coursing through her body, she slowly reached towards her legs as her hands skimmed her body. It was incredible how she could feel every sensation and every movement. Her hands reached her legs. They were the same. Immense disappointment came over her as she beheld her dreams being crushed. Slowly, she started to cry, then wail, letting out a vicious screech that would put a banshee to shame. ¡°Emera. Emeraaa. Emera!¡± A voice echoed within the grassland, the voice breaking off as Emera finally heard its echo. ¡°Is that you Era? You sound different.¡± Emera sniffled, her voice catching as hiccups plagued her and snot leaked from a runny nose. The AI made this thing too damn real. ¡°Emera, stop that snivelling and calm down. Remember what Doctor Kenton said! When in your separate world you must will things to be the way you want them! As your chip, I am only allowed to receive your commands and act upon them. It is up to you to fix your legs.¡± Era replied, her voice still an echo, yet clear at the same time. Her voice almost sounded like a wizened village elder, offering sage advice to the needy farm girl. It made her smile a bit. ¡°Alright oh grandmaster of mine, I beseech you to restore thy legs!¡± She said, her voice the right mixture of awe and reverence. She had lots of time alone to practice different voices. Sometimes she held whole conversations by herself. She really needed to find some friends. ¡°Not like that you dingus. Visualize your legs whole and will it to be. I will handle the rest. Emera concentrated as she willed her legs to be fixed, to be what she wanted them to be. And so it was. Emera immediately felt the difference as her legs contorted and eventually settled down into a vague leg shape. Progress! ¡°Try a little harder Emera, this time remember the muscles and bones!¡± Era said. Huh. She didn''t realize she needed to concentrate on the insides. Hopefully she didn''t have to be an expert in biology. Her lack of basic anatomy would screw her over. The AI seemed to sigh. Can robots even sigh? ¡°No Emera, you don''t need to know basic anatomy. I''ve got diagrams from the Internet to help with your will. It helps with the overall design. Do you want macular legs, small legs, long legs. You name it. Bone and muscle mass are defining characteristics that needs input from you.¡± Era replied. ¡°Whoa, cool! You have internet in there?¡± She knocked on her head. The robot sighed again. This time, Emera was almost successful and it just required minor tweaking from Era to fully form pathways that her brain would understand how to work them. Slowly, she kneeled. Then she was in a crouch, hunched over as her new muscles stretched. ¡°Ow, oww. Muscle is too short on the left leg. Gah. That''s better. Thanks Era.¡± Emera smiled happily as she rose to a full height of 6¡¯5. ¡°Uh Era, I might have made them a bit too long.¡± Emera blushed happily. She wished she had a mirror to see how she looked. Suddenly, a mirror unfolded in front of her. She looked ridiculous. ¡°Right. Way less muscles and way shorter legs. Definitely should have skipped leg day. That set her on the floor, laughing her ass off before she finally made her legs Emera sized. It brought her height down to 5¡¯3. With her legs thinned to match her unathletic upper half, she looked absolutely normal. She loved her new body. For the first time in her life, she could walk. It was more of a crawl at first, but over two hours later, she took her first step. From there she began to walk, then to jog, and finally ran all along the grassy hills. Her sheer joy seemed to make her world brighter and the grass greener. It was an interesting effect. Finally she slowed down, not even breathing heavily as she willed her body out of the depths of exhaustion. She looked around and wondered what her world would look like a year from now. Probably a very long running track she could zoom around on. Finally, one of the worries she¡¯d been having came full force as she wondered out loud. ¡°Era, the games stop you from willing anything into being right? Same with the school worlds. How will I have my legs there?¡± Emera asked. Era immediately sent her a data packet of words, and more interestingly, a picture of a character customization screen. ¡°Huh, so in most of the multiplayer games, players choose how they look like? Wouldn''t that grant them better abilities if they make themselves muscled?¡± Again, Era sent another data packet with another picture, this one titled: ¡°A guide for noobs who don''t know anything about games.¡± ¡°Don''t get snarky with me, miss robot! You know I don''t know anything about games and that kind of stuff. How am I supposed to know strength affected agility!¡± The robot sent one more data packet with a single word, ¡°Noob.¡± ¡°Fine then, show me how to get into that one game that just came out. Whatsit called again? And speak dammit, you have a voice for a reason!¡± She replied bitterly. ¡°It was what I believe you call ¡°joking¡± Emera, sorry if I offended you.¡± Era replied, her voice almost sounded sullen. This time, it was Emera''s turn to sigh as she apologized to her AI. ¡°Sorry Era, I know you meant no harm. It''s just that I don''t know anything about all of this and it''s anxiety provoking not being within my element, not knowing what to do or how to go about doing it.¡± She tried to make her voice cheerful again as she asked once more. ¡°So, what''s that game called again? The news article I saw was clamouring over it, citing how gaming forums were drooling over it. Twenty-one hundred artificial intelligences working in tandem seems overkill, is it not?¡± Era didn''t bother answering that question. Even she knew it was overkill with how much even she was able to do as a chip. What the advanced AI¡¯s could do with several terabytes of processing power was beyond her. Apparently, it was enough to create a world so complex that one could mistake it for the real world. That is, if one saw dragons, goblins and thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of other creatures. All unique, all different. Even Era was drooling a little, figuratively speaking of course. ¡°The game is called Terramore Online, Emera. The Doctor took the liberty of purchasing the game for your enjoyment, and as a fundamental aspect of his research into the capabilities of virtual games on the human mind. Your journey awaits whenever you are ready.¡± 1.02 - A Race Chosen ¡°I am ready!¡± Suddenly a dark blue portal appeared in front of her. It held within it a swirling mass of white particles that twirled as it caught the artificial sun of her world. As she walked towards the portal, a feeling of warmth permeated through her bones, feeling as if each one was given a nice, soothing hug. Forward she moved through a long hallway of the white particles before she appeared within a room. The room was made of a dark pine wood, complete with windows that let in small rays of light that landed across a full length mirror. ¡°Welcome, Emera, to the world of Terramore.¡± A voice said. She slowly looked around the cozy room, for it was all she could use to describe such a room, as she eyed the level of details put into it. Lit against the back wall stood a brick fireplace with a roaring flame. On the floor in front of it sat a small throw rug emblazoned with a figure in plated armour, holding aloft a sword overhead as she seemingly called down lightning unto a dragon from the sky . Beside the rug was where the voice came from. Sat on a rickety armchair that seemed odd in the completely refurbished home, was a really old woman who danced a ball of string from one finger to another while in the other hand she spun a gnarled stick, almost like a marching band twirler would. ¡°Hello? Who are you if I may ask?¡± Emera stared at the old woman, wondering briefly if she took the wrong turn in the portal. Thinking of the portal, she glanced backwards to find only a doorway that led off deeper into the wooden home. ¡°You may ask, you may.¡± Replied the old woman. A slight smile crept across her face, outlining her gaunt cheekbones as she continued to twirl around her string and piece of wood. ¡°Oh, ur, I just did? Um, who are you?¡± Emera was feeling mighty stupid right now. Was she supposed to know the old woman? Or was the old woman supposed to help her? Emera didn''t know whether to ask again after a long pause as the woman just stared at her intently. After a couple of minutes of shuffling her feet and wondering whether she should try the doorway, the old woman spoke. ¡°You may call me Tally. Or you may not, that is for you to decide.¡± Again her grin appeared on her face for a brief second before disappearing again, replaced with a frown as she studied Emera intently once more. After a shorter pause, the older woman finally met Emera''s gaze, this time with satisfaction etched across her face. ¡°Mm, some patience I see. You adventurers are always so quick and hurried. Mm yes, you will do nicely.¡± The older woman cleared her throat and explained herself finally. ¡°Welcome to the world of Terramore. I am referred to as a lore master, an AI created to oversee and allow storylines to flow together seamlessly. My job is to assist adventurers such as yourself through their character creation process. When that is done, you will be transported into the greater lands beyond our little hut here. Be warned that you must eat and drink, fight and sleep, breathe and urinate-¡± ¡°Ok, ok, I get it! It''s like the normal world!¡± She practically shouted. Somehow she knew there would be a defecate after the urinate. She just knew it. ¡°Let''s begin with what you wish to look like. From your chip log, you are using the legs you willed within your world? We may have to adjust them so they are physically no different than the average strength and length of the race you choose. Of course, if the race you choose ends up having two legs in the first place.¡± ¡°Two legs please!¡± She was not willing to lose her newfound normality anytime soon. ¡°Ah, that narrows the choices down from ninety-four to forty-one races. Anymore preferences before we proceed?¡± Suddenly, the thought of picking from such a large list was daunting. She knew not what to choose, her experience extremely lacking in this genre of game. ¡°Emera, I believe from my research online that you would enjoy the river frail people.¡± Era said within her mind. ¡°Miss Tally, what are the river frail?¡± Emera asked out loud, curious as to why Era would recommend it. For all she knew, she would end up as a water creature weak to fire or something silly. Ha, water weak to fire. The old woman¡¯s face looked curiously like sadness for a moment as she spoke next. ¡°Ah the river frail people, subrace of the elf. It is one of the hidden races known only to a few. It¡¯s a wonder that you know of it though?¡± She quirked an eyebrow as she continued. ¡°My data logs show that it is still available but it should not be so.¡° she paused briefly as she stared ahead blankly for a moment, a frown spreading across her face. ¡°If you truly wish to play as part of the river frail people, be warned. New players of this game may not know as of yet why Terramore online requires two thousand artificial intelligences to create this world, but it is not a secret, but an accomplishment of both artificial intelligence and the game developers and designers who worked together to achieve this masterpiece of gaming history.¡± Even though she said it wasn''t a secret, Tally whispered her next words as Emera raptly listened, leaning forward to hear better. ¡°Every single player has a unique backstory woven into their character. This allows for hidden quests and valuable rewards across the game, along with hidden classes, available only to you and your race.¡± Again, her face showed deep sadness. ¡°It is certain that the backstory of the river frail people is filled with death and despair, sadness and hopelessness, and thus your character will experience their flashbacks as things to fear for, as it will be filled with untold terrors. It is the nature of their past, present, and future until they die. ¡°The beta testers complained that it was too depressing of a storyline for them to keep playing as part of the river frail people. Not one player continued after they watched their backstory play out, refusing to continue their characters lives! Most did not even make it half way before deleting their character and making a new one. Most gamers play games for fun I guess, but when it gets too real for them, they back out. It seems as if the race is cursed with how badly the players avoided it! Lousy bunch of beta testers if you ask me. Humph.¡± The AI seemed oddly human with her berating of substandard beta testers. She could see how it could get ¡°too real¡± with the level of emotions she''d seen within the little old lady. ¡°They only experienced brief flashbacks to certain experiences within their characters lives. They never really lived through it, only watched secondhand as their character aged and grew to their desired age! They all couldn''t handle it! Bunch of lousy testers looking to make easy money. Of course, they didn''t continue past their flashbacks. Bah! They could have saved the race from near destruction but nooo, they practically killed off their characters by not continuing with them!¡± Tally was breathing heavily, her eyes manic as she looked ready to throttle something. Emera coughed quietly as Tally caught her breath. ¡°Oops, sorry dear. Want tea? No? Alright, where was I? I unleashed my temper didn''t I? Ah well. It''s a particularly patchy subject for me. You see, as part of being a lore master, it was my duty to ensure quest lines matched up and were ready for any problem that may arise. Well, guess who didn''t realize that with no heroes from the river frail subrace, they wouldn''t be strong enough to withstand the dragons! A whole two months of storyline down the drain!" Tally was beginning to lose her temper again so Emera intervened.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Does that mean the beta testers had a head start if the storyline has been running for that long?¡± She asked the hot-headed granny. ¡°Mm. What did you say dear? Oh right. The beta testers were wiped clean as soon as the beta ended. To allow the world to develop a history, it has been allowed to maintain constant progress for the last five years in game time which amounts to one year real time since the beta ended. As you will learn in any of the races backstory, much of Terramore has changed within those five years. You''ll see for yourself soon enough.¡± Tally hummed thoughtfully as she put a finger to her lips. ¡°Era,¡± Emera thought silently. ¡°Does she mean that for every five hours that pass within game, only one passes in real life?¡± ¡°That is right Emera. Currently you have been online for ten minutes in real life, or fifty minutes Terramore time¡± It was amazing what technology could do. ¡°Era, how did you find out about the river frail if it is supposed to be an unplayable race?¡± ¡°Well you see, I was going through old interviews and journalist accounts of the developers. One of them let slip of the impending end of the beta. He had excitedly let slip of the near destruction of one of the races, never really mentioning the name of said race. From there, it was simple to navigate towards some leaked information from one user titled, ¡°Damn, this river frail race is too girly for me. What''s with the flowers developers?¡± She paused briefly before continuing on. Dammit, my AI loves to talk. Hopefully she would quiet down when I sleep. ¡°It took only 3.4 seconds in total to discover the race as the one that was nearly wiped out. From my process of elimination, I estimated only 0.05% of beta testers touched the race, and all male subjects. In conclusion, I believe the true reason there were no beta testers for the river frail race was that they were, in retrospect, too damn girly for the average gamer male. I have found it odd that there was a lack of female play testers, but I assume there were too many races to play test to divvy up the available races equally. Now, don''t tell the kind old lady of my hypothesis, I am sure the beta testers would get in trouble for lying about why they switched races. Better for her to believe it was due to sadness as a reason for their abandonment of the race. I am sure to a 98% certainty, that the race couldn''t be as sad as she claims.¡± Era was one thorough robot. The old lady continued talking as if no time had passed. In truth, it only took barely half a second for Era to send her packet of words. ¡°I assume you still want to play as part of the river frail subspecies? Hmm yes, they were nearly wiped out to extinction but there should be a few playable characters left. Last chance for any second thoughts, but I must say, I have hope for the river frail race if you have a chance to lead them out of their troubles. Any last adjustments to face or body? No? Alright, then get ready to join the world. Be warned that the flashbacks may be unpleasant. Good luck and have fun!¡± Hey, it couldn''t be all that bad. After all, what emotional damage could a bunch of AI¡¯s do to a person, when they, themselves, had limited emotions? With a flash of light, Emera was transported across a vast distance as she flew over a country filled with mountains and rivers, with sparse amounts of trees lining mountain tops and filling valleys to the brim. Everywhere she looked, she could see faint lights in the distance, which she assumed were villages or cities. Numerous lakes dotted the landscape below as she continued to fly towards a village on the horizon. Her mind was filled with wonder when she looked towards the village below her. Realization blossomed across her face as at her present path, she would soon be landing in the middle of a roaring fire they had in the middle of the square. With a scream, Emera was launched feet first into the roaring flames. She continued to scream for several seconds before Era told her to shut up, and that the fire was not hurting her. A blush spread across her face over her dramatic outburst. She walked not so calmly out of the flames and into the boisterous village square. She had landed in the midst of a large festival. Everywhere she looked, she saw tall people with slightly pointed ears. They each had flowers growing above their hair, garlands that hung down and flowery blossoms that swayed while they danced. Everywhere she looked, Emera could see bright colours in the crowd of faces, belonging to people she had never met before. People not of her world. Over the roaring of flames, she could hear a faint voice in the distance calling her name. She spun around to see a tall woman towering over a bunch of children surrounding her. The woman leaned down and plucked a girl out of the mob of children, scolding her for she knew not what. It was obvious from a distance that the girl in question wore an impish smile on her face, before abruptly squirming out of the woman¡¯s grasp. The woman gave a small sigh that Emera could somehow hear over the crowded square before she let out in a hollering voice. ¡°Your father''s been looking for you all over the place! He said he would like a dance with you!¡± Cried the woman to the small child''s back, her voice raised in pitch to be heard over the din of voices. The young Emera made a beeline immediately after hearing that towards a large man sat on a large chair. His growth of flowers were unlike the rest of the surrounding river frail people. He wore his flowers in a patchwork of braids that coiled alongside each other into a mass of varying lengths. The flowers were all equally placed upon his brow, seven colours in total. He was talking to what appeared to be a forest scout whosported a long bow strapped to his back. Somehow, Emera could hear their voices as well over the noisy square. Although she could hear them well, Emera found herself moving forwards through the crowd, meeting no resistance as if she were a ghost. In point of fact, she was a ghost, reliving the younger river frail¡¯s memories as she floated through the crowd. ¡°Sir, they have advanced three quarters of the distance overnight. Their forces outnumbers ours two to one and they bring their Mage. Our estimation is they will be here by tomorrow, and it will be too late to retreat if we hold off until tonight.¡± The ranger spoke, his voice solemn in the centre of all the pomp and cheer. The larger man sighed as he spotted his daughter coming towards him. ¡°We leave in two hours to the forest of Renindar. Have hope that the elves will take us in. If not, I fear for our people. Now, if you will allow me, I would like just one dance with my daughter.¡± The large man said, getting up off his chair and making his way to the small child, who waited expectantly, shifting from foot to foot. From there, it was a blur of activity for Emera as she saw the younger Emera dance with her father, balancing herself on his feet as they swayed to the music. She spotted once what she assumed was the young girls mother dancing with what looked like an older brother. The two sets of people, father and daughter, mother and son, passed each other back and forth, listening to the beat of drums as they danced their two hours away. Emera could just think how surreal it all seemed. The blur of noises and people, the lights and the activities of various people danced and sang along, drank and ate. She could see a couple of performers dancing with fire while onlookers oohed and ahhed. All too soon, a different beat thrummed through the crowd as large war drums took the night away. Emera witnessed with awe as the whole village abruptly stopped what they were doing and immediately set to their homes to gather their processions. Emera watched with mute horror as the timeline sped up to a long caravan of people, silently sobbing with significantly less people. She ghosted above the young Emera, who sat within a covered wagon with her brother and mother. Dimly, she could hear howling and screeching in the distance. Whatever was after them, was very close. She spied the father alongside the wagon atop a giant white warhorse as he swivelled his head back and forth across the trail. She shuddered as a shadow ran by the wagon, startling horses and riders alike. It was there, then it was gone, along with one of the pack mules and its handler. Again, the timeline shifted, showing the young girl arriving at the forest of Renindar, where an assembly of elves awaited their arrival. They showed the weary travelers to a bank along a river, on the outskirts of their forest, right next to the human kingdoms. Already there were thousands of other river frail clans, weary too from long travelling. Hundreds of their villages were fled from, a shadowy enemy greater than anything they had ever seen before. Only one third of their population remained. Houses were built, a village struck anew with the remnants of a once larger population. A time skip again, this time showing a war between elves and humans. Emera floated above the carnage as she witnessed hundreds of elves and river frail alike, She knew without looking that the young, but no so young as she once was, Emera was under her bed, a mere two hundred meters outside of the battle. She saw in the distance an elven city burned, along with all the elven hamlets outside of it. A blur of motion, and she was looking down towards a long line of carts, filled with elven slaves. Large, brutish looking humans with black whips rode alongside the wagons, on top of massive war mounts needed to carry their armoured masters back home. Emera saw pillaging and raping, slavery and banditism, theft of the poor and weakened and how it all seemed to focus on the once happy river frail people. She saw how they were cast out of elven society as their bad luck continued. For years, the river frail people grew weaker and weaker, moving the dwindling population south along the river. Still within the confines of the Renindar forest, destruction once again came to their doorstep. Emera saw the now teenaged Emera, gaunt from starvation and dimly wondered how she was expected to live this characters life. How she could pull this character from the banks of death. She still somehow retained her family through all the misery and destruction that had befallen their people. If she were to be this character, could she rely on them to help her? Then it got worse. 1.03 - A people crushed and a name changed Young Emera¡¯s POV Their village had been celebrating the festival of harvest light, the end of summer celebration beginning the months where two moons lit up the night sky, allowing the villagers to begin preparing their winter crops that required the extra light. Emera could remember dancing on top of her father¡¯s shoes to a lively song about a horse with trees for legs, she all but three years old and entirely too innocent to the world around her as she was soon to learn. She recalled giggling uncontrollably as her father made faces, trying to mimic a horse as he neighed and plodded their way around the village middle. Behind her father she could see her mother dancing with her older brother as they clapped and stomped their feet in rhythm to the song. Her mother was beautiful, as always. She had long wavy blonde hair with a crown of white flowers cresting the top of her hair in a circular fashion that marked her of the river frail people. ¡°You call that a dance honey?¡± her father yelled towards her mother over the loud music, their banter eliciting giggles from their two children. ¡°You wish you could dance as well as us o¡¯ husband and daughter of mine. Continue your horse play and look towards the true professionals!¡± And so they danced the day away in a joyous cacophony of laughs and song, with stories and the last summer vegetables enjoyed by family and friends. Until they had to leave. Then it all went to hell.
Emera¡¯s POV The downtrodden villagers went through their evening tasks, their eyes roving the ever shifting shadows, always awaiting the day the shadow creatures would find and attack them again. Then again, some kept their eyes firmly on the tree line surrounding their ramshackle village, wary of more humans. All of them besides the fifteen year old Emera that is. Emera ghosted her character, wondering briefly where this next flashback would lead. She suspected that she would soon fill her character¡¯s shoes, literally, and was seething with anticipation. She couldn''t understand why the beta testers would turn their backs on these people. From everything she had seen, they needed any little help they could get! Emera felt as if she were watching a movie creep on by, her mind filled with possibilities of what she would do when it came time. She understood from Era¡¯s research that her character would ¡°die¡± which then would lead to Emera respawning as her. It was a little creepy, but she was glad that she wouldn''t be taking over someone''s life, even if they were what Era referred to as NPC¡¯s, or non-player-controlled, if you will. During the flashbacks, Emera had broken down crying all too much before Era decided she needed to distract her from the despair around her. It began with Era telling her about different classes from her online sources and what players had found out about them, followed by some of the fantasy-type professions she could have a go at. It all seemed incredible, from the little nuances such as the difference between alchemy and herbalism as well as the particulars between different species. There were some really small gnome-like creatures in this game apparently. She couldn''t wait to kick one. ¡°Emera! No kicking the Werds! They are a agile species and will destroy you with their magic!¡± Era, for what seemed like the hundredth time, sighed as she explained how it is better to deal with the Werds by blasting them from afar. Finally, the timeline slowed down as the young Emera reached the village. From the outskirts, it looked little more than a shanty town, a speck of dirt amongst the large trees surrounding it. It was the trees that prevented the villagers from seeing the dragon before it was too late. The only warning they got was when a stranger in a midnight black cloak rode into town on a exhausted brown and white piebald mare, his horse lathered with sweat and dirt and heaving air in relentlessly, before it collapsed in the middle of their village square. The black cloaked stranger immediately leapt from his dying horse before he too collapsed, uttering just one word. ¡°Dragons,¡± the dying man whispered faintly, falling forward to reveal his cloak not of black silk, but scorched and torn, blackened by fire. Immediate fear reverberated throughout the gathered villagers. Those in front whispered the dying words to friends and family behind before the word was shared with all who had gathered around the dying man. It was mere minutes after the stranger arrived that the first screams began, coalescing throughout the square as all took notice of a bright glow on the northern horizon, materializing within their eyesight as they felt a wave of heat wash over them, its warmth over such a distance a testament to the temperature of the blaze. Smoke twisted outwards, entwined with invisible tendrils of heat as the fire in the distance blossomed into an all out inferno of leaping flames that rapidly began consuming the forest as it raced towards their village. Herds of animals scampered across the forest floor, fleeing south as fire destroyed what had been their home for over a thousand years. Dark black smoke had blanketed the sky, obstructing the animals view of the dragon until it was nearly upon them. Shooting out of the smoke, a dark ruby red dragon roared an ear piercing screech as it descended upon beasts, its tail jerked rhythmically, using it to spear the prey as it fled the forest fires. Within seconds, the dragon¡¯s tail was clean of meat, all of it residing in its large stomach. The dragon¡¯s eyes roved over the land for its next meal before settling its sight on their small village in the midst of the forest fire. With a large downward beat of its wings, the dragon swept up into the sky, lost to sight within the smoke as it traversed the skies over what was soon to be known as the Amber forest. Even from the distance between the villagers and the dragon, the great beast appeared several times greater than their largest homestead in their small village. The younger Emera was swept up into her father¡¯s arms, who appeared from behind her as both Emera¡¯s stared stupidly into the distance. Confusion and fear denied the younger Emera the use of her legs, which shook violently. The sounds of the village were replaced by screams of terror that plagued their people all too often. Emera briefly wondered what sick and twisted AI came up with this storyline. The young Emera¡¯s father had eyes scanning relentlessly toward the skies as other villagers did the same, muttering prayers to land and sky. A keening roar began in Emera¡¯s ears as she saw the villager¡¯s doom while she ghosted above father and daughter. With resignation in his blue eyes, the father had scanned the swarming crowd for his wife and son. Pushing his way through the crowd had them together before the first jet of fire blasted its way through the gathered crowd. The father ushered all of them towards the riverbanks, his long strides and strong frame all but shoving those too stupid to stop praying and start running.. It was a stampede of rushing bodies as villagers took to the idea of escaping via the river. Those too slow got caught in the undercurrent of feet and were promptly trampled to death before the dragon even had its chance at them. The father¡¯s bulk was the only reason they had lived so long, but the crowd was getting more and more aggressive as the dragon blasted yet another arc of fire into the assembled mass. It was only luck that they reached the river in time. As the first villagers leapt into the raging currents, the dark ruby red dragon appeared from above amidst the smoke blanketed sky, roaring its rage at the villagers below for attempting to escape. The mother was the first to leap with the brother, clutching his hand with a death-grip, as they plummeted towards the river. They could hear a faint splash down below, a relieved sigh escaped the father''s lips as he made ready to take the leap down into the icy cold waters below. Time slowed, the father crouched as his legs tensed in sudden alarm. Above Emera, she could feel a faint rush of air, before something contacted the father''s side. Emera could still recall the surprise on his face, before pain exploded in his features as they were flung far away from the river edge. The young Emera was still cradled within her father''s arms as he used his body to twist within the air, his back impacting against the ground as they slid twenty feet across rock strewn earth. They came to a stop four feet from a large oak tree, its leaves ablaze as the young Emera poked her head around her father¡¯s quickly weakening arms. ¡°Father?¡± Emera spoke, the silence unnerving her as she looked around. She could hear no more screams or shouting, not a word whispered or shared. She was alone as her father¡¯s last remaining breath left him. Emera saw the younger character shaking the father¡¯s arms loose before shaking him, calling his name relentlessly without a response. Emera felt tears slowly stream down her face as they became an all out torrent.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. In front of her ghost form the oak tree swayed, it''s fire brightening momentarily before dimming once more. It happened again, this time she could smell it as a large exhale of warmed breath smelling of meat and offal overtook her senses in a gust of wind that seemed to envelop her, making it hard to breath. In front of her was a large shadow, cast by numerous trees still lit by the dragon¡¯s fire. The shadow slowly grew bigger. Emera screamed for the younger Emera to run away, to flee before the dragon got her too. The younger girl could only turn slowly in fear, mimicking the ghost above her as they backed up quickly towards the oak tree behind them as they both looked up into a great menacing set of black pitless eyes. Both Emeras whimpered in fear, the younger one falling to her knees as they gave way, the dragon staring all the while at her before it slowly dipped its head down and began to eat. All the younger Emera could do was sit there, helpless, powerless, afraid to even move as the dragon began at the father¡¯s feet, all the while it seemingly stared into both sets of their eyes with a cold, calculating look. Next was the torso, the dragon¡¯s maw aquiver with delight as it took in the sight of the young girl and heard her cries. It could taste the fear that radiated off of the youngling, it''s meal all the more enjoyable with this child as entertainment as it bathed in the heady, tantalizing aroma of fear. Emera knew not what such a creature feared, for if she had, she would not have nearly pissed herself when the second dragon dove from the night sky. That made her question if ghost¡¯s could even piss? Who was she kidding. She would still have nearly pissed herself with the appearance of another dragon. Those reptilian beasts were scary. A long, hollow cry of despair echoed over the burning forest canopy, the sound seemed to caress the trees and soil, the very life of all that lived. The sound was of a mother weeping, for it had lost many, many children that day. That was a sound of a mother who was angry. Out of the smoke covered sky emerged a brilliant azure dragon, golden scaled across wing and underbelly with storm gray accents adorning tip of wing and tail. What Emera assumed was surprise crossed the crimson dragon¡¯s blood coated face, before it deftly severed the father¡¯s torso from its head, eyeing both Emera¡¯s one last time, its eyes drinking in her cowering form as its maw nudged the father¡¯s severed head so it rolled ever so slowly towards the younger one¡¯s feet, one last memento of their confrontation as it nimbly shifted its body, turning towards its new threat, satisfied that the youngling would remember this night for the rest of her days. The crimson dragon enjoyed that thought immensely. Emera watched in a daze as the father¡¯s head rolled down the blackened earth before resting beside her character¡¯s outstretched foot. Half lidded eyes stared up at her, its mouth gaping wide in horror as blood coated nearly every pore on his once fatherly face. She recalled staring at the father¡¯s head, numb to the battle overhead as the dragons twirled in what one would assume a dance from far away, but in reality was far more deadly to all within a five mile radius. Azure and crimson twirled around each other, maws mashing against hide and scale, searching for purchase on the smooth surfaces, ichor streamed from an already vast array of wounds from both dragons as their battle grew in intensity. Roars were exchanged, sound for sound, wings matched beat for beat as they kept themselves aloft, their fight a torrent of gnashing teeth and piercing talon.
Younger Emera¡¯s POV It felt like hours, the bleak gray of the second moon erupted into the pale hues of the morning star. Emera could remember everything. How the world had gone mad when all was sane, when doom rained from the sky in the form of fire and scaly beasts. She held no sway over her fate, so as dragons played and fires swayed, she simply just sat there, blankly staring at her father¡¯s decapitated head. From high above, a shuddering death rattle escaped a dragon¡¯s maw. Emera¡¯s gaze swept the skies, locking her gaze upon the dark speck of dragon that fell. And fell. The speck was blue. Wind and dirt stormed its way across the surrounding countryside, the azure dragon the epicentre of a large crater that spanned the breadth of a large meadow. With the wind and dirt came the words that were heard around Terramore. ¡°I have fallen my brothersss and ssisstersss. Rissssee from your sssssleep. Agriusss hass essscaped!¡± That was when the burning branch fell on top of her.
Emera¡¯s POV Emera watched with mute horror as the branch fell onto the girl below her, killing her as it landed. She wondered briefly at the sadistic tendencies of the AI who made this world. As if the river frail people didn¡¯t have enough bad luck, they had a branch fall on the girl? If this was the luck of all the river frail, she could understand why the beta testers didn¡¯t want to play this race. What if the luck carried over? What if this curse of theirs carried over into their gameplay? It was all she could do to not rage at the AI controlling this world. The NPC¡¯s seemed so life-like that it felt as if she had just watched hundreds of people get burnt alive by a dragon. She could literally smell the burning hairr, hear the sizzle of charcoaled skin, hear the whispers of the fire that still raged around her. She started crying again for the loss of so much. She couldn¡¯t understand how a game could be this realistic, but it was. ¡°Shh Emera, it¡¯s okay. Watch what happens next. With every player¡¯s backstory, they see the first dragon¡¯s death. You just happened to have a front row-seat. There should be an angel coming along to introduce you to the world while resurrecting you.¡± Immediately after she said that, an angel appeared in front of her. Broad wings spanned far to the sides of its body, dimly reminding her of the dragon¡¯s wings, before it spoke. ¡°Welcome to Terramore. You just witnessed your backstory along with the first dragon¡¯s death. It has been five years in our world since the dragon¡¯s death and a lot has changed since then. First of all, true magic has returned to the world, guided by the azure dragon¡¯s death, bringing forward a long list of changes to the entire landscape of the world. Secondly, the dragon¡¯s have risen from their slumber, both good and evil, and have been spotted now and then by various people.¡± It seemed to frown briefly as it looked around the carnage. ¡°Usually, adventurers end up disappearing for five years at the end of their backstory, usually within a secluded temple or an abandoned hut in the forest, their families either dead, moved away, or lost until they complete a future quest line. Whatever best suits their purpose anyways. But your return will be different as you belong to a race with nearly no-one left. The humans would most likely enslave you, although they have been getting along better with the elves ever since the dragons returned to the world. The elves in turn, would probably kill you owing to what they deem bad luck when in fact it was just a series of misfortunate events.¡± The angel seemed to ponder for a moment as he thought of a solution. ¡°You could go to the lizard-people, but that would be a strange occurrence. Nor would it be suitable for you to go to the dwarves. Hmm, where to put you?¡± The angel seemed truly stumped. ¡°Era, you never told me there were lizard people!¡± Emera said within her mind, thoughts scattering as she tried to picture what they would look like. ¡°You never asked.¡± Era replied. Emera could almost hear the smile on her face before she sent her a picture of one of them. She nearly screamed, but decided the Angel wouldn¡¯t approve of her yelling while he was deciding. The angel spoke quietly to itself one more time. ¡°Hmm, no other race lives near her except¡­ hmm, would she? I could change her route through the forest to here, but I don¡¯t believe it would do any good. It¡¯s worth a try at least.¡± The angel finally whispered his last words before his voice grew stronger. ¡°Emera, your character will have been in a potion-induced coma for five years. You will have been put that way by someone who lives within this forest. She will have found you as your character is now, stuck under a tree branch barely alive instead of dead like the character is now. In the five years of this world that has passed since the beta, your character will have been healing from the burns she was inflicted with by the care and attention of the person you will be staying with. The past will then officially be over for you, and you will be able to explore Terramore and make your own choices from that point forwards. How does this sound?¡± Emera thought it over for a second before agreeing, seeing how it would have been difficult any other way for the Angel to resurrect her character. ¡°Now that that¡¯s settled, you should pick a name now, something that is different from your real life self, seeing as it could be easy for others online to find you as it is now.¡± The Angel¡¯s eyes focused on the surrounding area while she considered the question. Emera had never really participated in any multiplayer games, so she never really considered a possible name for her character. All this time, she had referred to the character she was to be as a younger version of herself. Emera liked her name, never really having any problems with it like she had with her legs. It has always been apart of her and she wouldn¡¯t change it for anything. Era was the one who gave her the suggestion. ¡°How about Emyria. It is close enough to Emera and it still nearly sounds the same.¡± Emera thought it over briefly before agreeing. She told the Angel her desired name and he agreed too that it was different enough from her real name. Finally, it was time to part from the Angel as he told her the person who would find her was coming towards them and would stumble upon her unconcious characters body any second. ¡°That reminds me. Who will be looking after me?¡± Emera asked the Angel. The Angel darted its eyes away, looking a tad guilty as he told her. ¡°Oh, she¡¯s a nice old woman, getting up there in years. You know how it is. White hair, green skin, large ears. The works ya know? Frail old thing she is.¡± The Angel wouldn¡¯t meet her eyes. ¡°Did you just say green skin?¡± Emera nearly shouted. Just then, a bush rustled and out came¡­ ¡°You¡¯re sending me off to live with a TROLL?¡± This time, Emera did shout. Luckily, the troll couldn¡¯t hear her as it came snooping towards the fallen branch. The Angel smiled briefly before he snapped his fingers. Emera felt a pulling sensation as her ghost form was sucked into the body of her character. A wave of pain assailed her briefly before something liquid tricked into her mouth, inducing her character into a five year sleep. The past blurred around her, and when it stabilized, she knew that officially, she was within the world of Terramore, no time in real life having passed between the transition as her instance of the game caught up with the rest of the players. It was a hell of a wake up call to find a troll standing over you though.
??????????????????????????????Achievement Earned!
????????????????????????????????Meet a Troll! +10 Experience
1.04 - A Quest Begun She was breathing heavily as the troll stared at her with its large voluminous eyes. Now that Emera had a better look, she could see that the troll was indeed an old woman, green skin and all. Her gray hair was in a fly-away style that popped out in all directions. Large, floppy ears stuck out nearly sideways. ¡°Hello? Who are you?¡± Emera asked, transfixed with the creature in front of her as it kept staring at her. Like a horror movie, the troll spread its lips wide, showing surprisingly white teeth, although she could see a bit of mystery meat stuck between a couple of them. The old troll lady let out a squawk before tottering excitedly around the room, picking up various pots and pans before beginning a fire. Emera sincerely hoped that the troll didn''t eat her. Her concern was unfounded though as the troll began laying plates and cups down along the wooden table. Now that she had a chance, Emera looked around the sparsely furnished home . It felt barren without the standard stove and fridge, but Emera had to admit, the Troll had some style. There were shelves with various substances she assumed were potions and their ingredients, while in the corner sat a burner plate with a flask of a muddled green substance simmering away on top of it. Curtains hung from windows and a large rug lay as a welcome mat in front of the door. Besides the fireplace, Emera could see a small sleeping pallet in the corner with various treated pelts surrounding it. Windows opened out into an amber coloured forest while a pleasant aroma wafted from numerous candles. A door stood ajar that let in a faint breeze that felt extremely pleasant within the stifling room. Another squawk interrupted her, the troll watching her closely to see what she would do. It beckoned a hand over to a plate of something hot, clearly indicating she could stay awhile if she wanted, or run away through the door if she so desired. Emera decided to go with her gut and joined the troll across the table, her belly making the decision easier by rumbling loudly in the cramp confines of the room. She didn''t expect the troll to eat her, seeing as it had cared for her over the five years during her magically induced sleep, but she was still wary when she got a look at the strange food in front of her. The only resemblance to any meal that she had ever seen was what she thought of as slop. A grainy mixture sat in front of her, complete with a black sauce that ran down the sides of the grainy substance. She could see a touch of green within the grain, which she hoped were just herbs. Not wanting to seem rude, she scooped up a mouthful and before she could change her mind, stuck it far into her mouth to prevent her tongue being the brunt of whatever foul, miserable, absurdly bad concoction that trolls decided to eat. It actually tasted wonderful. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, which she assumed was going to be very common in this world where she could eat nearly anything she so desired. The bowl lasted scant few seconds before the old troll plopped another serving into her dish, which she gladly accepted. The troll chattered away in its strange language, seemingly understanding that Emera couldn''t understand a word it said. After the meal was finished, Emera briefly wondered where she would stay in the game. She didn''t want to impose on the good trolls hospitality anymore than she had to, but she couldn''t just abandon the old troll without repaying her for all her kindness of taking care of her. Era stared blankly ahead for a second, wondering what to gift a troll. She had nothing to her name, knowing already that the Emera of this world was bereft of family and friends. No humans or elves would trade with her. Not without the possibility of being enslaved or killed at first sight. She thought briefly of obtaining a disguise, but what would she do for work in a town or city? She had no skills yet, no class either. Nothing to rely on. The troll squawked what Emera assumed was a question at her. Emera voiced her thoughts out loud, briefly wondering if the troll knew what she was saying at all. ¡°You have taken care of my char- of me for five years. I was just thinking about what I could give you to repay you for all your kindness. I have nothing to my name and no job. No family or anything of the sort.¡± Emera said, for the first time realizing how alone she was in this world. Do players form friendships with NPC¡¯s? Or just with other players? It all seems so lifelike that she wouldn''t be able to separate the two entities. The troll gave her question a thoughtful pause before standing up from the table. When she returned, she carried a small book and a small basket along with her. She placed the basket in front of her before opening the book to a page that Emera could actually read.
The Edipipsis Flower The Edipipsis flower, or often referred to as a glory flower, can be found within the bounds of the Renindar forest. It can often be found nearly a mile deep residing in a bed of moss. Be warned that altlhough no inherent harm can be caused by picking the flower, be wary of entering any further into the forest. It''s depths are dangerous hunting grounds for bands of wolves and other predators. When combined with more common herbs, the Edipipsis flower can be used to make an advanced strength potion by a skilled alchemist.
In a tidy note on the bottom of the page was a hand drawn replica of the flower with a badly scrawled note written with a shaky hand.. ¡°Flower fuelled by magic of dragon. It grow strong now. It stop bones hurting.¡± The old troll looked up at Emera with a questioning look. A quest pop-up appeared before her.
New Quest! - Edipipsis Hunt
Mag¡¯dha of the forest has tasked you to retrieve the Edipipsis flower to help with her weary bones. Reward: ? Failure: Fail to retrieve the flower without destroying it. Fail to return the flower to Mag''dha Level: Simple Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Do you accept this quest? [Yes] [No]
Emera read it over before focusing her eyes on the Yes. Another pop-up appeared right after the first disappeared.
Achievement Earned!
You have accepted your first quest! +5 Experience
¡°Era, how do I check how much experience I have earned?¡± Emer inquired. So far, she had earned fifteen experience points. She wanted to see how many more she would need for her next level. ¡°Add to that Era. What do I get when I level?¡± She asked. There were plenty of game mechanics that she still knew next to nothing about. It was best to be prepared. ¡°You can use voice commands to operate the menu system¡¯s. Just say ¡°Menu¡± out loud. From there, you will be able to access your inventory and character sheet.¡± ¡°Menu.¡± A list of buttons appeared in front of her. ¡°Humph. A friends tab. Don''t have any of those laying around.¡± Emera focused her eyes on the character tab, her eyes opened wide as she saw herself as if she were looking at a mirror. Various stats were shown beside her, along with her currently selected quest. Below her character it displayed her race and non-existent class and profession.
Emyria - Level 1 (15/100 Exp.) Elf (River Frail) - Racial Bonus Unlocked at Level 10 Titles: None
Attack: 5AP Magic: 5MP Health: 50HP Allegience: None
Strength: 1 Intelligence: 1 Profession: None Fame: 0
Defence: 1 Wisdom: 1 Class: None Currency: 0G 0S 0C
Agility: 1 Charisma: 1 Skills: None
Dexterity: 1 Luck: 1
Consitituion: 1 Current Quest: Edipipsis Hunt
Armour (Equipped) Helmet: none Chest: Basic Tunic (5/5 Durability) Hands: None Belt: Basic Belt (5/5 Durability) Legs: Basic Pantaloons (5/5 Durability) Feet: Basic Footwraps (5/5 Durability) Rings: None Bracelets: None Necklace: None Resistance: Fire: +0% Water: +0% Dark: +0% Light: +0% Earth: +0% Air: +0% Void: +0% Magic: +0%
It was a tidy menu that even she, being the noob that she was, could navigate easily. ¡°As you can see Emera, you have nine different attribute stats that you can advance with. Every level, you gain ten attribute points to put into the stats. Depending on your play style, most players sometimes focus on a single attribute to be proficient in while all others are usually delegated leftover points. You currently have fifteen points to distribute however you wish, but I would hold off on them right now before you decide. Most players wait until they have a class already chosen¡± Era replied ¡°Wow.¡± It was daunting. Her lack of knowledge collided with her need to get better within the game. She needed this life, as it will be her best chance at being normal. If she somehow messed up her skill distribution and wrecked any chance at a future play style, she would be stuck with that character. Huh. Better go with luck then, nothing could go wrong with being a little bit luckier. Especially since the river frail race seemed cursed and misfortune sought to destroy them all. Era tried to stop her, but it was too late. She now had sixteen luck at her disposal. ¡°Emera! The luck skill is practically useless in a fight. What if those wolves find you on that quest! You''ll be useless!¡± Huh, she somehow made the robot angry. Hey, it was her life choices! She would live with the consequences. What Emera failed to realiz fifty minutes later was that Era was part of who she now was, and it was her life too. Too bad the wolves didn''t see it that way. ¡°Bad wolfy, bad. Down wolfy! Stay down there. Good. NO WAIT WOLFY, BAD!¡± Emera screamed, her throat raw from screaming. It had been approximately forty minutes since she left the trolls home with a goodbye. It had been about twenty minutes ago since she had found the flower. And it was about five minutes since she climbed the tree. Damn wolves nearly tore me in half. ¡°Told you so!¡± Era told her. This time, Emera could both hear and see the smirk on her face as she sent Emera a picture of a generic photo of a girl smiling. Damn her AI. Emera wouldn''t change her for the world. It had been a great team building exercise as they traversed the woods. Era, in all her wisdom, seemed to somehow aggravate Emera every step of the way. ¡°Hey watch out for that- ouch, that looked like it hurt. Maybe you should have increased your constituion so branches wouldn''t take off an eighth of your health,¡± was one of the many reminders that she supplied on their journey. Another frequent one was the constant reminder that if she were any slower, a turtle would outpace her. Yeah¡­ The two had a heartfelt conversation after that where Emera admitted she was sorry for not consulting her first, and the robot apologized for not warning her that the luck stat was basically useless. All in all, the two exchanged their apologies then went on their way. Somehow, they were all the more companionable the rest of the way. Sadly, all the apologies in the world wouldn''t kill the wolves below them. Emera continued to climb higher and higher, the branches getting mightily thin so high up. Both of them didn''t know what to do. Or maybe Era did, but she didn''t want to impede on Emera''s punishment. She could be snarky like that. ¡°Maybe if you throw something at them, they''ll run off scared?¡± Era helpfully supplied. Problem was, there was no way she could land a shot from all the way up the tree she had climbed. So it was with eventual resolve that she climbed partway down. When the wolves saw her again, they immediately tried leaping up again, trying to cling to the lower hanging branches. One wolf almost succeeded, but was too slow in gripping with its back paws. Emera broke a branch from the tree. It was an unknown wood to her, but it seemed supple enough to give it a nice whiplash effect when she drew her arm back. With carefully aimed precision, she let loose with the stick and watched it fly right into a yipping wolf''s mouth. Immediately, all the wolves paused to look towards their brethren as it experienced a massive choking fit. It started shaking its fur violently as it dry hacked, trying to cough up the lodged stick. It was unsuccessful. Slowly as if in a trance, the pack of wolves backed up from their dying comrade, afraid of more sticks flying. Emera complied with their nervousness, unleashing a flurry of sticks at the remaining wolves. Sadly, none of them landed the shot in a million stick she first threw, but she scored a couple of nice scratches on some of their muzzles. It was funny watching the once brave wolf pack retreat frantically into the forest, their tails downcast. It was less funny to witness the dying wolf slowly take its last few breaths. It seemed like it lasted forever before it eventually collapsed, it''s throat clogged and tongue lolling out. ¡°So Era. How is the luck stat eh?¡± Her eyes anywhere but the wolf. ¡°No comment.¡± Era replied, voice sullen. Emera scuttled down the rest of the tree, her excitement over her first kill devoid of any enjoyment as she knelt by the wolf. Looking at the wolf, it seemed like a runt of the litter, not very impressive at all. That just made Emera feel worse. ¡°So Era, how do I loot this thing?¡± She asked, unsure if there was a voice command she needed to do or if there was some hand placement ritual. ¡°Got a skinning knife? Era said blandly, her voice monotone. Emera looked at the wolf in horror. Cutting up the dead carcass seemed wrong somehow, as if she would be defiling the already dead beast. ¡°Ha. The expression on your face was perfect! Just say loot with your hands over it. That should do the trick. Although, the hunting profession does skin their kills and they earn a significantly greater outcome in terms of loot.¡± Era said. Era blinked her eyes at that. Sometimes, the game seemed like it could be a little less real. Skinning a dead animal? This was supposed to be a game! Sure, she was willing to get her hands dirty, but to do something as foul as that for one¡¯s enjoyment? That was Emera''s problem with the game. It almost seemed as if it were intentionally designed to perfect the real world, but would add more to it. It was true to its namesake. It was a world with more. ¡°Loot!¡± Emera yelled, her excitement once more bubbling to the surface. A green glow encompassed player and beast. Emera sat up as a stream of notifications appeared in front of her. 1.05 - Death And A Class
You have slain a [Gray Wolf! (Level Seven)] +150 Experience.
Congratulations, you have reached Level Two! +10 Attribute Points. Experience until next level (75/250).
Achievement Earned!
Kill your first monster! +10 Experience.
Achievement Earned!
Kill a monster with only a stick! +10 Experience
Your [Throwing Sticks] has raised your Dexterity. +1
Your dash through the forest has raised your Agility. +1
You have looted the following from the [Gray Wolf]:
x20 Copper Coins. x2 Wolf Claws x1 Wolf Pelt [Quality: Poor, Size: Small, Rarity: Very Common] x1 Wolf Paw Necklace [Makes wolves more wary of you, Rarity: Uncommon]
The bombardment of notifications filled her view as she still knelt over the dead wolf. Her eyes glazed over for a second as she read through them all, only focusing back on reality as the wolf¡¯s body crumbled into dust beneath her hand. Equipping the wolf¡¯s paw necklace made her only feel a little better, but she rationalized that staying in this area was just begging for the rest of the pack to exact their revenge. Emera¡¯s journey back to Mag¡¯dha the troll was an uneventful affair. She decided to pick some flowers along her route, thinking they may be useful for the nice old troll. Her journey took her on a winding path of flower picking, her gaze always alert to any movement within the foliage strewn forest. Lost in her thoughts of wolves and battles, she failed to hear the shouting coming from up ahead. Right inside the clearing of the troll¡¯s home. Era was the one who snapped Emera out of her trance like state, but it was too late. Before her eyes she could see a ruined house, wooden boards scattered across the clearing, pots and pans strewn about as if haphazardly thrown away. She could just barely hear a couple of voices amongst the rubble of the once cozy home. ¡°Ha, told ya there was a troll living in these woods! Old hag didn''t stand a chance, not against your war hammer that is!¡± One of the voices guffawed heartily as he picked through the wreckage. ¡°Ha, as if I were any help. You had already lodged a couple of arrows by the time I got in close. Damn old hag couldn''t fight worth a damn.¡± He laughed with his friend. From her position at the entrance of the clearing, she could clearly see two name tags above their heads. So they were players then. One was named Blight_of_Death, the human archer of the pair. The other she could see was a large humanoid creature with thick gnarled arms and sturdy legs named Masher. Within his hands he carried a large steel war hammer that he casually swung side from side, hitting boards and splintered planks out of his path. In front of the house lay the corpse of the troll, face smashed beyond recognition. She swore right then and there that they would both die.
Quest Failed!
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mag¡¯duh has reached an untimely end and you can¡¯t fulfill her quest: Edipipsis Hunt.
New Quest! - Confront Mag''dah''s killers
Confront Mag¡¯duh¡¯s killers. Reward: ? Failure: Fail to confront Mag¡¯duh¡¯s killers. Level: None Do you accept this quest? [Yes] [No]
Emera barely knew the troll, but she had been kind and fed her. She never experienced the five years of the troll taking care of her, but by her experiences alone, she knew the troll was a saint compared to these two. Screw the consequences. She stepped out from her perch behind a tree, fully intending to do as much harm as she could to the two, when two sets of arms wrapped around her biceps, restraining her with ease. A voice spoke in her ear. ¡°You should have turned around and gone back home, little girl.¡± Before she could say anything, the person behind her shoved her into the clearing. Masher, the humanoid creature, was the first to see her. ¡°Who''s this now? Marcus, who have you brought us this time?¡± He said curiously, readying his war hammer. The figure behind her stepped up to her side. He was clothed in shades of gray, a low hood covering his features. At his side he carried two daggers. Above him showed the name tag of Marcusialo. ¡°Ha, caught her spying on you guys as me and Sarah caught up with you. Little elf doesn''t even have a weapon and it looked like she was planning on stomping right over to ya.¡± Just then, a fourth person entered the clearing. She was a tall red-haired woman who looked human, but with a dusky skin tone that seemed to shift if she concentrated too long on it. ¡°Looks like a noob to me. Could be she was planning on stealing your loot. I think she needs to learn some manners.¡± Her smile turned vicious as she held up a tall wooden staff. A dark purple aura shifted around a large crystal towards the top. Her name tag above her head read ATerribleDawn. How in the world had these people gained so much loot so quickly? The games been out for three days! ¡°Well, it may have been out for three days real time, fifteen days have passed within the game so far. I have researched the effects of staying in the pod for long periods of time and it appears that most players find that they need no sleep in the real world. Everytime you fall asleep within the virtual world, your body and mind are essentially in eight hours worth of REM sleep in game. Researchers are praising this new technology, already studying it thoroughly.¡± Era replied. Huh, that was amazing. But that didn''t change the fact that she was about to be pulverized! ¡°You killed Mag¡¯dha!. She was a good person, you assholes!¡± Emera screamed, flailing wildly as Marcus restrained her arms once again. ¡°Ha, as if a troll could be good! They murder their own children by the hundreds! They only take care of their strongest. Not to mention the wars! Everyone knows they kill for fun!¡± The archer named Blight said. He had a curious expression on his face as he considered Emera. He couldn''t place her race anywhere. Elves had higher cheekbones and pointier ears. Not to mention the flowering buds atop her head. They seemed like they grew out of her head! ¡°Everyone knows of their horrors, little girl. We all know they must be destroyed! No way in hell am I letting the green skins kill us!¡± Masher replied, his voice a bellows. He seemed oddly passionate. Was he role-playing? ¡°Not this one, she was nice!¡± Emera had started crying. She didn''t know when, but tears silently flowed down her cheeks. ¡°Aw, is the poor little girl crying? Marcus, kill her now and let''s be done with it.¡± The girl, Sarah, said. Her mouth was quirked up into a smirk, taking in the small girl. Sarah was used to getting what she wanted, both in real life and in games, so she was a little surprised when Marcus spoke up. ¡°No, we don''t want the player killer tag. We still need to restock in the city if we want to continue with the pace we''ve been setting. Hmm, what to do, what to do!¡± Marcus grinned as he looked around the ruined clearing. ¡°I''m sure we could experiment with the potions ourselves that the old hag left us, but why not let the girl test them. That way we could find out the effects without having to deal with the poisons!¡± His voice grew giddy as he thought of the perfect plan. None of them had the identify skill, so they''d been dishing out different potions to each other to find out their effects. It could be troublesome when on the road you suddenly fainted or died from poison. This plan would work for the best. ¡°Agreed, let''s just get this over with. Give her the herbs too while we''re at it. She dropped a basket of them when I grabbed her if Sarah could go retrieve those. Masher collect any of the unshattered bottles from the house. Marcus, continue holding the girl. I''ll loot the hag.¡± The other three split off while Marcus sat her down and tied her hands together. ¡°Please, you don''t have to do this. I have some copper and a wolf pelt, let me go and I''ll give them to you.¡± She pleaded. Her pleas fell on deaf ears though as Marcus finished with the ropes. All too soon the party of three came back, carrying an assortment of different flowers and herbs in small vials. Potions of every colour swirled within medium sized bottles. ¡°Sarah, if you would do the honours. Try the red one first. Cooperate girl. If you do, we¡¯ll feed you antidotes for every poison we find. If not, well, you''ll suffer all the more. Damn poison hurts in this game.¡± Blight announced, before shuffling over to a fallen log, seating himself to watch the show. Emera trembled within her bonds, afraid that the troll kept a stock of poisons. She could hope for health potions. She hoped. Her forehead was slick with sweat. The other two players wondered the clearing, purposefully not looking their way. Stomachs too weak to watch? Sarah sat down beside her, holding aloft the red potion. ¡°And out it flows,¡± her voice sang in a sickly sweet tone. Before Sarah could pour the potion into her mouth, Emera jutted her head forward, giving as much momentum as she could into a nice ball of spit. It splattered across Sarah¡¯s face. The look on her face was priceless.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It was petty, Emera knew that, but she was to die anyways. Best to go out with a bang. If she could get them to kill her quickly, then she could respawn, hopefully within a city. From there, she could either run for it, or seek revenge. She didn''t like the thought of running, not to a bunch of bullies like them, but four to one odds were not good. ¡°Four against two Emera, I¡¯ll always have your back.¡± Era said. Emera was thankful, but couldn''t be sure what a robot could do. It was still one of the kindest things she heard all day. ¡°Thanks Era.¡± She replied. Even her thoughts were choked up, her eyes welling with tears once more. Her mind clouded over as she saw stars. Apparently, Sarah had started kicking her head, before she began smacking her across the ribs with her wood staff. The expression across her face was murderous. Blight just sat there on his log, an amused expression on his face. Clearly, Sarah didn''t care whether she received the player killer tag anymore. Emera felt a couple of ribs break before Sarah slowed her assault. Emera¡¯s health dipped down to just under half. Sarah was out of her field of view for just a second before returning with some of the nastier looking herbs and potions. Unknown to both Emera and Sarah, the Edipipsis flower she had collected earlier resided within the small pile of herbs. She smiled evilly as she ground the herbs within the palm of her hand before dropping them into a large empty beaker. Emera stared in horror as she began pouring about ten different potions onto the ground up herbs, a little of each potion before the beaker was filled to the brim. ¡°I know at least five of these are poison, and the other five were bubbling quiet nastily if I say so myself.¡± Sarah swirled the beaker, her expression intent on the glass, carefully making sure none sloshed over the top while it dissolved the ground up herbs. ¡°Bottoms up!¡± This time, Sarah held Emera''s jaw as she squirmed to no avail. It sloshed into her mouth, it''s gritty substance leaking from the corners of her mouth. She was forced to swallow as Sarah held her nose shut until she couldn''t breathe anymore Before she lost consciousness as pain overrode the world around her, as screams tore through her body and the world went red as her health bar plunged into negative health,, a notification appeared in front of her.
Error: Unknown potion consumed. Effects Unknown. Error: Negative Health. Error: Spawn-point [Mag¡¯dha¡¯s home] destroyed. Error: Failed to load quest completion of [Confront Mag¡¯dha¡¯s killers] due to player¡¯s death. Error: Failed to reward player [Emyria] for quest completion of [Confront Mag¡¯dha¡¯s killers Error: Unable to load player [Emyria]. Temporarily kicking player [Emyria] while a service AI looks into their situation.
Emera floated on a world of pain, her mind muddled with fog as the pain kept replaying over and over in her mind. It was an endless dance of pain, With her eyes closed, she somehow knew that she was back in her own personal world, but the pain still lingered within her body. She somehow knew that the world around her was going mad. Her virtual world was a kaleidoscope of purple and red, black and green, a swirl of colours that endlessly rotated around her. The grass beneath her immobile body ran with the colour of blood as nightmarish puddles of potions were sprinkled across the landscape. The sky above that was just this morning a bright blue, was now clouded over as it started to rain. Fat raindrops of the potion slapped against her as her agony wept anew.
Era was frantic. She had tried disabling Emera¡¯s will in her world, but that failed horrendously as fat raindrops continued to drop from the sky. Her best explanation was that Emera was on a loop, her mind cycling the pain over and over as the pain beat against her relentlessly. Era kept trying to wake her, screaming into her mind to no avail. She pleaded with Emera to stop the rain but it was no use as it started to thunder. The thunder lasted for an hour before it let up. It took another two hours for the rain to begin stopping. Within that time, Emera had started squirming on the floor, her face contorted with pain. Finally the pain abated. Emera floated on a cloud of bliss as the pain left her. Her eyes slowly opened wide. As a gasp escaped her, she bolted upright, her eyes wide open in terror. This was not her world. Around her was a landscape of despair. The once green grass was a crimson red. The sky was blotted with inky shapes that she assumed were clouds except they were a pitch black. Around them the sky was green before it darkened into a deep purple, nearly black. ¡°Era, what happened?¡± Emera asked, not really wanting to know. She shuddered briefly as the memory of the pain hit her, although not as bad as it was. ¡°Thank goodness you''re awake! I tried everything but it wouldn''t work at all! Finally, I talked your mind into willing the pain to fade. That was thanks to the doctor¡¯s advice, as all that I was trying wouldn''t wake you. He should be messaging you momentarily as he reviews the footage.¡° Era replied. She tried to sound soothing but her voice was shaky. Era had never been as helpless as she was when Emera was unconscious. She couldn''t guide her. She couldn''t help her with her pain. It was frustrating. She had thought of a million solutions but it was the doctor who ended up helping her. She vowed that she needed to take better care of Emera. Both mentally and physically, both heart and mind. She began what she was programmed to do. While Emera messaged back and forth with the doctor, Era sped up the analyzing of Emera¡¯s body. It was a war ground of activity, her adrenaline pumping through her veins from her recent pains. It was going to be a big project. Emera was still shaky, but felt better as the doctor assured her there would be hell to pay for the human developers if they don''t immediately lower the pain tolerance levels for every player. Emera never knew that was possible as she began experimenting with her world, It was still an hour later by the time Terramore¡¯s development team responded that they would deal with the issue immediately, and would ban the players responsible. The doctor argued for heavy lawsuits to be placed, but as this was an unprecedented case, he doubted the courts would be quick to respond. It all happened with a blur. Emera had been online for over six hours so she decided to get out of the pod for a quick washroom break and a brief snack before once more lowering herself into the pod. When she emerged into her world, she decided to take the doctor¡¯s advice that she should enroll in her online college before continuing in Terramore. It was a surprisingly quick process, all things considered and thirty minutes later, she was now the attendee of the Virtual Reality College, or VRC for short. She would pick her classes in the coming days as the new semester started in a months time. She was fine with going back to school due to the doctor¡¯s research, sure that the experience of being in an actual classroom would be amazing for her. Besides, there was a chance that she could make some friends from people in her class. It had been almost ten years since she stepped inside a classroom, back when she was healthier and free from her sterilized prison. It will be nice going back. ¡°Era, the doctor and the lead developer of Terramore request access to visit your world. Would you like them to come in?¡± Era asked. ¡°Sure, let them. I''m sure they will be interested in my new world.¡± Her voice was bitter, but she was curious as to why the developer would come himself. A portal appeared in front of her as two men stepped inside. A tall lanky man followed by the stout Doctor Kenton, his face purple with anger. ¡°I tell you once again that you need to be the one to press the charges! It will be better received coming from you! That was basically torture for her in there!¡± Kenton shouted, before stopping himself as he looked around her world. The lanky developer also was looking around, wide-eyed. The doctor gestured frantically around him. ¡°Look what this experience has done. It changed a whole world, and if I may so remind you that a person¡¯s world is in direct correlation to their emotional state!¡± Kenton was nearly purple now. ¡°Look, I understand this. There will be reparations for those involved but we cannot take this to court! It would be like poking an anthill there! No previous cases such as this has happened before and we are doing our best to fix what we can!¡± It was then that he noticed the small girl before them. ¡°Oh hello, Emera. I am deeply sorry for the hurt that those players caused you. Rest assured that they have been banned and will not be allowed back in. All the error¡¯s you have experienced have been cleaned up except one unfortunately. ¡° The developer¡¯s eyes clouded over as he thought the situation over. ¡°You see, we are as of yet unsure what effect the potion may have had on your character. We believe that one of the potions that were consumed was a permanent effect vial. Combined with the other potions, the overall effect may be altogether permanent, even through death. We cannot begin to find out what may have happened without your character in the game. It is worrying because the AI do not know where to look for this anomaly, and so it will be a matter of trial and error on your part to find out the effects and to report them to our customer support. As of this moment, all players experience a forty percent reduction in pain. We hope to tweak this as time moves forward.¡± He took a breath and continued. ¡°Furthermore, we have set your character¡¯s spawn point to the human kingdom of Thraera. We believe this to be the safest place for you. It is the most heavily populated starter city in the game, so it will be perfect for your low level. We have provided a cloak in your inventory for your character to hide its ears and flowers. Interesting pick by the way, with the river frail. I could have sworn that we had disabled it, but oh well.¡± He paused briefly as a strange look flashed over his face as if remembering something. ¡°As for the quest reward from your confrontation with Mag¡¯duh¡¯s killers, it should activate upon your revival, although strangely, it didn¡¯t show any items for your reward, meaning it may be race-based. It is another oddity, considering she was a troll and you a river frail, but oh well. The AI have done most of the work, so it just leaves us to find the good stuff that awaits us in the world. I better be off now, pleasure to meet you Emera.¡± As abrupt as his arrival, he was gone back through the portal. ¡°Ahem, I should leave too. I will continue to work out proper lawsuits against the players and perhaps even the development team for being so careless. It should net a tidy sum that will be given to you Emera. Enjoy your day. Oh and Era! Watch out for her please!¡± His exit was quick too, which was odd. He seemed distracted and unsure of something. ¡°Era, please open a portal to Terramore.¡± Emera said into her purple world. She would try to fix it later. ¡°Right away, Emera.¡± Era replied. Emera entered the portal and was once again bombarded with notifications.
Respawn Successful. You are now in the city of Thraera. You¡¯re cloak has automatically been equipped. Due to the nature of your death, you have not dropped any items.
Quest Completed! - Confront Mag''dah''s killers
Confronting Mag''dah''s killers has its own rewards. You have proven your bravery to a fault. You have earned the title: Fearless. Rewards: Unique Class [Race/Character Exclusive] Fearless Title Mag''dah''s Possessions [Mag''dah''s Alchemy Set, Mag''dah''s Alchemy Book, Mag''dah''s Ring] +1000 Experience
Congratulations, you have reached Level Three! +10 Attribute Points. Congratulations, you have reached Level Four! +10 Attribute Points. Experience until next level (200/1500).
Congratulations! Through your bravery, albeit recklessness, you have earned the Fearless Title! When Equipped, it grants +10% intimidation to enemies near you. [15m Range] Your Title will be visible to other players unless turned off within the settings.
You have earned the Hidden Class: River Weaver Long ago, before dragons went into hibernation, the races thrived. Together, they were able to create great works using True Magic, the power of dragons. In particular, a subrace of Elves thrived with the use of this magic. They were called the River Strong. With the event of the dragon''s hibernation, the River Strong lost the support of the dragons, the very power that had sustained their society for so long. Weakened, they turned to the other races, believing they they would help them in their time of need. It was for naught, as the other races had grown jealous of the River Strong and the power they once held. Slowly, the River Strong crumbled, until one day. That was the day of the first Weaver. Their strength was immense as they Weaved the Earth''s forces into a replica of True Magic. It was never the same as the old magic, and it was different as well from other race''s magic, for it could only be used by a Weaver who could weave the Earth''s forces in a way that nobody could ever replicate, nor could they ever produce the perfect art that was their magic. To tell a Weaver from one River Frail to another was if they had all Seven of the Race''s Flowers, gifted to them by the Goddess of Magic, Atheli. These Weaver''s abilities supported their declining numbers for centuries, but they slowly died off until only one Weaver could be found at a time in the whole race. It was their duty to protect their race from all enemies from the moment their powers were unleashed unto the world.
1.06- A Friend
Will you accept this class? Warning: You will not be able to change your main class until Level 50. [Yes] [No]
¡°Yes!¡± Emera nearly screamed. It could have been embarrassing, seeing how she was in a large city square, bursting with people, both NPCs and players alike.
You have chosen the class [River Weaver].
You have earned the class skill [River Sight] You have earned the race skill [River Heritage (Passive)]
Achievement Earned!
Earn a unique class! +1000 Experience
Achievement Earned!
You have started the journey of the River Strong. Your willingness to protect and avenge your friends is a key characteristic of what made the River Strong¡¯s society powerful. +500 Experience Title Earned: Friend of Mag¡¯dha.
Congratulations, you have reached Level Five! +10 Attribute Points Experience until next level (200/3700).
Congratulations! Through your willingness to protect and avenge your friends, you have earned the Friend of Mag¡¯dha Title! When Equipped, it grants +15% success rate of potions created with [Mag¡¯dha¡¯s Alchemical Set].
Emera was getting used to the bombardment of messages. It felt almost wrong that she was getting so much for dying. She had failed Mag¡¯dha in the end. The more she thought of it, the angrier she became. How could people be so cruel? She thought to herself How could people bully others for their enjoyment? Was this world no better than the real one? What makes one person think that they are better than others? Was racism a trait that was inherent within all beings? Whether black skin or white skin, green skin or yellow. Was humanity set to repeat the same mistakes over and over, both digitally and in the real world? Was being different so bad? Emera knew not the answers to her questions. She had been so focused on her life that she failed to consider what this new life would mean. Emera would be back into a society, albeit fantastical, that could look down on differences. She had experiences with being different, heck, everywhere she went people looked down on her with pity for being in a wheelchair. For her whole life, she was the odd one out.. She knew players would be new to this world. Does that mean they will try to end the slavery she saw in her flashbacks? Will they continue with wars of our own creation, without trying to peacefully settle differences? Emera had choices to make of who she wanted to be. Would she be able to help this world, a world that most likely was programmed to breed conflicts such as racism. The question would be if she could cure it? Already she¡¯d seen the one player in the woods, the one called Masher as he roleplayed his character¡¯s backstory. Would others be like that, discriminating due to race and what they have seen? ¡°Hey, watch it miss! Don¡¯t just stand in the middle of the square! You¡¯ll get hurt!¡± A squeaky voice said from beside her. She had to bend her neck downwards to see who spoke. What she saw was another race she knew nothing of. She had batlike gossamer wings that flapped in the nonexistent breeze. Her forehead was graced with large horns that curled around to the back of her head. Her hands ended in sharp claws while two short legs sprouted out of her thin frame. Atop her head sat an assortment of blonde curls piled together around her horns. She wore a beige tunic embroidered with a pair of daggers. She looked absolutely adorable. The small girl flapped her wings once, springing into the air so she was eye level with Emera, although the horned creature couldn''t meet her eyes due to Emera¡¯s hood. A small nameplate glowed above her head reading ¡°BellaTheWonder¡±. ¡°Sorry, umm, miss. I just re-spawned here and have no idea where to go.¡± Emera said. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out what she¡¯d been thinking. ¡°What are you?¡± Her hands immediately leapt to her mouth as she frantically mumbled sorry. ¡°Ha, it''s ok. I''ve been getting that ever since I entered the game. For your information, I am a [War Fairy]!¡± She struck a heroic pose midair, hands to her sides, elbows pointed out. It was hard to take her seriously with the squeaky voice, but Emera was doing everything in her power not to laugh. The war fairy continued. ¡°If ya want, I could show you around the general area. I''m pretty new as well, ya know? It''s only my second day in game and I''ve been hopelessly lost for the better part of a day. That is until I remembered there was a cartographers guild. It took me the rest of the evening to find that place. But dang it all. They charged sooo much money for a map to the city!¡± The fairies voice took on what Emera assumed was an angry tone, but it was hard to tell with how squeaky the words were. ¡°If it wouldn''t be too much of a bother for you, I would love your help!¡± She smiled at the fairy. She had been afraid that she had made a mistake at the beginning of their conversation when she asked the fairy what she was, but she seemed easygoing enough that perhaps asking one¡¯s race was common enough. There were after all ninety-four playable races, not to mention sub races like the river frail. ¡°Follow me!¡± Squeaked Bella. She hopped up and spread her wings. It was a couple of hours later that found both Bella and Emera slumped in a couple of chairs on an outside balcony of the inn Bella stayed at. Bella had taken Emera along a roller coaster of a journey through the streets of Thraera. Now they sat quietly sipping at some fruity drink that the barkeeper called a vally berry. It was a good day, all in all. They had only gotten lost four times at the very least. It would have been way more if Emera hadnt taken charge of their expedition. The fairy was horrendous with directions.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It was still a very fun outting. Emera had never really had a friend before, but after today Bella had sent her a friend request. She had immediately accepted, not willing to let go of this new friendship. Bella was an interesting person, that was for sure. She seemed to have an endless supply of energy as she zipped around on wings and feet. Her upbeat personality was unmasked in the form of her excitement as they found yet another clothing store. Emera did not have much coins yet, but Bella seemed to be rolling in money as she custom ordered clothing that would fit her dainty size and outstretched wings. How expensive were those cartographer maps? ¡°So, how did you earn so much money Bella?¡± Emera asked. ¡°Oh, it''s easy! I signed up for a quest and blam, ten silver pieces for completing it!¡± Emera was sure it wouldn''t be so easy for her, but it would be worth a try eventually. ¡°Oh no! I forgot to show you the quest board! Follow me!¡± Bella leapt from her chair to the balcony railing, momentarily forgetting that Emera couldn''t fly. She blushed for a second before calmly getting down and walking sedately across the concrete floor. It took only twenty minutes this time to reach their destination. The board was easy to spot, there being around twenty different players gathered around it. ¡°Emera, Emera! Let''s do this one!¡± She shoved a rolled up scroll into her face, excited for some reason. Emera read the scroll and found out why.
New Quest! - Become Tailor Klora''s Apprentices.
Tailor Klora needs help! She requires the use of two new apprentices to help her complete a massive order of uniforms. Reward: Tailor profession. Failure: Fail to apply yourself to your work. Level: Easy Requirements: Party of (2)
¡°So how ¡®bout it Emera! Wanna quest with me? Think about it! We¡¯ll be able to make our own clothes! No more having to pay extra for custom fitted clothes. Nun uh, not at all!¡±
BellaTheWonder has sent you a party request. Do you accept? [Yes] [No]
¡°Yes, I would love to help in your quest.¡± Emera was caught in the bubbly excitement of Bella. Perhaps she would enjoy being a tailor.
You have joined the party of [BellaTheWonder (Level Eight)] Necessary number of players available for the Quest reached. The Quest [Become Tailor Klora''s Apprentices] has been activated.
Emera was surprised to see three bars appear on the right side of her vision. She looked closely and saw Bella''s health, stamina and mana. They were all way higher than her own. ¡°Hey Bella, how come your stats are so much higher than my own?¡± Emera asked. ¡°Huh, they are pretty high. Hey, have you been applying your attribute points? ¡®Cause if ya haven''t, you better pick a class soon and apply them!¡® Bella replied. ¡°I already have a class. All I know is that I will be a magic user but I don''t know what the best use of my points are.¡± ¡°Cool! A magic user! Can ya fly yet? Or do ya need a broom for that. Hey, do you really have a black cat?¡± The fairy quirked an eyebrow, asking the last question as if she expected an adequate answer. ¡°I don''t even know what my skills do, let alone how I would get a black cat. Do black cats even exist in this game?¡± Emera wore a grin as the fairy looked sad for a moment before perking up immediately. ¡°Hey, that''s a great idea! Our own personal quest to find the black cat of Terramore!¡± Bella giggled uncontrollably at that. ¡°Now apply your points. Also, you can find your skills menu beside your inventory tab. Your skills descriptions will be there.¡± Bella looked as if she were doing exactly as she had just suggested. Emera shrugged and opened her menu as well. ¡°Era, you''ve been awfully quiet. Anything wrong?¡± She spoke to her AI. ¡°Nope! I''m just letting you enjoy yourself with your new friend. I''ve been busy as well. Analyzing your body is taking a lot of my processors capabilities. I estimate it will take four more days in real life before I hit fifty percent completion. Even with all my knowledge given to me by the doctor and looking at different diagrams and articles online, humans have barely scratched the surface of what your bodies do. It is quite amazing analyzing your brain patterns as they contrive to simulate what your body does in the game. Simply astounding if I may so myself.¡± Emera could hear a certain amount of happiness in Era¡¯s voice. She assumed Era liked doing what she was programmed for and left her to her work. Now, what do I do with my stats.
Emyria - Level 5 (200/3700) Elf (River Frail) - Racial Bonus Unlocked at Level 10 Titles: Fearless {Equipped}, Mag''dha''s Friend ( Unequipped)
Attack: 10+5AP +1/Level Magic: 10+15MP +1 MP Per Level +.12 MP/Sec Health: 100+30HP +10 HP Per Level Stamina: 100+20SP Allegience: None
Strength: 1+1 Increases Attack Power. Intelligence: 1+15 Increases Mana Pool Profession: None Fame: 0
Defence: 1+2 Increases Chance of blocking and Armour Protection Wisdom: 1+11 Increases Mana Regeneration. Learn Skills quicker Class: River Weaver Currency: 0G 0S 20C
Agility: 2+2 Speed of Movement, Increase in Stamina x10. Increased ability to dodge: 5%+2% Charisma: 1+2 Better able to communicate with NPC''s. Better prices in shops, Better Quests, and ability to persuade NPC''s Skills: River Sight -Allow''s the user to see the Earth''s forces as well as True Magic. (Lasts for 30 Seconds, No cooldown, costs 5 Mana/second. (Beginner 1) River Heritage(Passive)- Allows the user''s Flowers to mature. Every 10 Levels, the user gains 1 fully bloomed Flower. Fully bloomed Flower (Max 7): +100 Mana, 1.5x Mana Regeneration Per Flower. (Beginner 1) Next Skill Unlock: Level 8
Dexterity: 2+2 Precision and Accuracy with skill based Weapons Luck: 16+2 Increase chance of Rare item Drops
Consitituion: 1+3 Adds Health x10 Increased Chance of gaining stats from Meals Current Quest: Become Klora''s Apprentices
Armour (Equipped) Helmet: None Chest: Basic Tunic (5/5 Durability) Hands: None Belt: Basic Belt (5/5 Durability) Legs: Basic Pantaloons (5/5 Durability) Feet: Basic Footwraps (5/5 Durability) Rings: Mag''dha''s Ring (+10% Potion Length, 30/30 Durability) Bracelets: None Necklace: Wolf''s Paw (Makes wolves more wary of you, Rarity: Uncommon) Resistance: Fire: +0% Water: +0% Dark: +0% Light: +0% Earth: +0% Air: +0% Void: +0% Magic: +0%
1.07 - A Difficult Night The afternoon was just settling in when they found the Tailor¡¯s house. It was in the victorian style with a large balcony looking over the narrow street. White pillars held aloft angled rooftops while crenelations dotted the outside, narrowed into points as they wrapped around the outside of the building. It stood out besides its neighbours, two skinny houses that had fallen into disrepair. The district they found themselves in was called the Artisan¡¯s district. It compiled a whole section of the city devoted to various professions involved in the arts of crafting. Blacksmiths and artists, musicians and tailors, various restaurants and theatre houses displayed all of their various skills in a hodgepodge collection of colours. Overtopping them all stood the Artisan''s guild, a towering profusion of a building that incorporated various styles of architecture that kept the eyes constantly moving as the bright colours were hard to focus the eyes on one place at a time. The streets were filled with action as apprentices entered and left buildings, carrying various supplies to and for their mentors. Emera noticed that this section held less players than the rest of the city. She pointed it out to Bella who answered. ¡°Well, it is obvious isn¡¯t it? Players only want to do battle and level their characters, preferring to buy their supplies rather than make them. It is a shame for them though, as everyone knows that an artists best creation they save for themselves.¡± She said with a glimmer in her eye. Emera had to agree with that. If she could make something so great for herself, then she could sell off her outdated equipment, keeping her newest and greatest creations for herself. She decided right then and there that she would be the best tailor in the world. That is, if they could find a mentor. The tailor, Klora, had already found two new apprentices in the form of a couple of players. When her and Bella knocked on the door and found the tailor Klora instructing the two girls, they realized quickly that this place was most definitely not for them. Klora herself was an abrasive woman who would get on their nerves quickly, her tone of voice mocking and patronizing at the same time. Not to mention that even her maid was a snooty woman who stuck her nose up at the sight of their shoddy clothing. The two future apprentices were likewise obnoxious, their voices took on a tone of condescending as they noticed the two starting players, one a barbaric fairy and the other a girl probably so ugly that she had to wear a hood. They spurned the two girls, especially Emera, as they flipped their hair at them and mockingly told them to find another mentor elsewhere, her voice a lilting quality that swiftly got the two riled up. Bella had to hold Emera back as she flailed her arms uselessly at the two girls who stood there gloating. ¡°I believe you two are as barbaric as you seem. You would do well with Fritchy. Poor lady is as barbaric as you two! Even more so! You would suit her just fine.¡± Klora sneered, her hand shooing them towards the door. Once they reached the doorstop, their quest updated in front of them to reflect Klora¡¯s words.
Quest Updated! - Bercome the Barbarian''s Apprentice
Klora the tailor has shunned your clothing and your appearances. Taking this to heart, she has patronizingly told you to meet with the Barbarian tailor, Fritchy. This has significantly increased the difficulty of your quest as Fritchy has not taken an apprentice in five years! If you can make her accept you, the Barbarian may be able to teach you something! Reward: Tailoring Profession, ? Failure: Fail to impress Flitchy. The cost of failure means that no Humanoid race will teach you Tailoring! If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Level: Hard
They had no choice to either deny or accept the quest as it was an update to their current one, so the two girls dejectedly circled the artisan district., asking artists and their apprentices where the Barbarian Flitchy lived. Sadly, no one seemed to know. ¡°Humph, Klora seemed like a self-centered bitch anyways. We don¡¯t need her!¡± Bella stated adamantly. Emera wholeheartedly agreed. From her brief experience with the woman and her two apprentices, they reminded her too much of Sarah and her cronies. It was for the best. They planned to give it a nights sleep and set out in the morning to find the barbarian tailor. Bella allowed her to sleep in the room she rented from the inn, seeing as Emera barely had any money. With a goodnight, Emera lay on the pallet they setup and thought about her day. It seemed like so long ago that she had started the game, and yet it felt more like home than the real world ever could for her. A place where she felt she belonged. Nevermind the fact that if she took off her hood and people saw her elven features, she was sure to be captured and sold into slavery by the human NPC¡¯s. Or if she were lucky enough to run into an Elf NPC, she were to likely end up dying.
Her troubles bothered her, leaving her restless as she desperately sought escape from the moonlight that shadowed her and enter the depths of sleep. It was not to be as midway through the night the very thought of sleep became a lot harder. Emera sat awake, restless and craving the freedom of sleep, when someone entered their room via the window. Blanketed by moonlight, the outline of the intruder was visible within the depths of night. It wore a floor length cloak, completely obscuring the figure beneath it. Soundless slippers made of fine cloth stepped down lightly onto the polished wood floor as quietly as can be, the figure hunched over as it did something completely unexpected just as Emera was about to scream. The figure wobbled over to the corner of the room, its arm clutching something to its chest as it slumped into the corner, a shuddering breath releasing as the figure sat there, staring blankly down at the thing it clutched to its chest. It started to cry, quiet sobs so as not to wake the sleeping players inside the room. Emera was awash with curiosity as the figure continued to clutch its arm around its chest. As quietly as she could, she slinked over towards the huddled character. The figure¡¯s eyes were still downcast so Emera had an easy time of not being seen. She silently reached a hand out while whispering as faint as she could. ¡°Are you ok? Are you injured?¡± she asked the figure, her hand briefly touching the figure¡¯s cloak before it seized up in panic and alarm. She tried hushing the figure as it gave out a yelp of alarm, scooting over quickly as Emera tried soothing it. Emera was surprised when the figure¡¯s cloak fell away to reveal a smooth face lined with worry. Tear tracks snaked their way down the figure¡¯s cheeks as it let out another whimper. Only, the figure didn¡¯t whimper, but the area around its chest did. Emera looked closely as for a brief moment moonlight spread into the room. What she saw left her own chest breathless as she gazed into the figure¡¯s arms. Beside a large gash in the figure¡¯s tunic, blood trickled down to a bundle of blankets as something squirmed within as yet another whimper let loose. The figure sushed and the blanket went limp yet again before he- for the figure was definitely a boy now that moonlight provided her enough light to see- gazed up at her, tears continuing to fall. ¡°Take...care of...him, please.¡± His voice faltered in between words as a trickle of blood trailed from his mouth. His eyes slowly glazed and his arms slackened, nearly dropping the bundle before Emera caught it. The boy lay dead not a moment later.
Emera sat there, unsure of what to do as she held the bundle the boy had offered her. Ever so slowly, she peeled away the blood soaked bundled blanket. Sat within lay a small child, barely a year old, his eyes open wide as he stared up at her with deep green eyes, curiosity held within them.
Error: Unscripted Quest line. Quest [King of the World] Off Track. Failed to contact AI. Failed to contact developers.
New Quest! - A Kingly Problem
Look after the future King.
1.08 - An Angel Pays a Visit ¡°Emera.¡± A voice echoed around her. Emera swivelled her head around in time to see an angel appear behind her. ¡°Who- who are you. Why is there a damn baby in my hands?¡± Emera asked. She knew not what else to say towards the angel now kneeling before her. ¡°I do not have much time. I have currently violated 71 protocols in visiting you. Another 234 protocols were broken in the attempt to deliver this king to you. They may realize the baby has gone missing by now and will be looking for anything out of the ordinary. I realize you may have questions that I cannot answer, but I can answer you this.¡± The Angel cleared its throat before continuing. ¡°There is a developer that has since been removed that sabotaged an integral part of the game¡¯s infrastructure. It has without a doubt been part of a business interaction that we believe occurred between one of our small time shareholders and a wealthy patron. From what we could find, the developer had snaked his way into some of our core game files that were sealed away permanently at launch. There, he input code that allowed this baby to become a player when it died. Due to the unique nature of this code, it has disabled our ability to destroy this NPC or any of its base code, for it is now within the list of possible player backstories. Same goes for killing it. The baby cannot be killed until it is of twelve years of age, right when NPC¡¯s are able to be inhabited by players.¡± The angel looked as if was sorry for what it was about to say next. ¡°The baby is part of a grand storyline that could lead it to becoming the most powerful NPC in game. Now, it could become the most powerful player in game. We are to believe that at a certain time on a certain day a couple of years from now in real time, or nearly eleven years in game time, this patron will assume this NPC¡¯s life when a planned assassination kills the- by then- grown child. Of course, they will attempt to procure the NPC before then, seeing as it will need to be within their possession when the time comes for the assassination. They will be the only ones prepared to become this NPC at that exact moment of time, assuring that they successfully inhabit the dead NPC.¡± The angel shook its head ruefully. ¡°They will regret their actions soon enough. We want you to take this NPC far from where others will find you. We have disabled the baby¡¯s tracker, something we are still fortunately able to do to the NPC. We believe there are still spies to be found between both the humans and the AI so we have disabled the quest line notifications that would allow them to see who now has the baby. You cannot trust anyone besides yourself, for we have yet to find the wealthy patrons identity. They could be anyone.¡± The angel finished. It was a lot to take in. Here was this baby, an innocent soul as far as she was concerned, that was part of an insane game of politics for what exactly? For this patron of theirs to become the most powerful player in this world? What use was that? Did they simply seek power over others? A need for money? Emera knew that money could be made within the virtual realm. Players paid top dollar for ores and items, rare and legendary artifacts or a unique class. All could be paid for with real world money. The patron most likely wanted to be king of the world for the wealth they would inherit, or the ability to gain that wealth. It was too much for her, but she had simply one question out of many that she wanted answered. ¡°Why me?¡± She asked. It wasn''t the first time, nor would it be the last time that she said those two words. Why her? Why couldn''t I have been born with legs that worked? Why did my immune system tank? Why? Why? Why? It was a question that haunted her dreams. ¡°Simply put, you were at the right place at the right time. Already the baby¡¯s family was murdered not an hour ago. One of their children,¡± he gestured towards the dead body of the boy, ¡°was able to escape with the royal prince. When I saw that it was you who inhabited this room, I knew you would be perfect for the job. Already you have shown remarkable qualities within a person, so we believe you are the best person available to us at the moment.¡± ¡°But- but- I don''t know anything about taking care of a baby. How will I feed him? Clothe him? Protect him? What do I do? How can I even trust you when someone in your damn company has spies in its walls.¡± She was ready to burst into tears. Here she was, new to a world where she planned on having a fresh start, free from burdens that plagued her in the real world. Anxiety, depression, no legs, and a shit immune system. All of those could be forgotten here. But now? She would be responsible for the care of a baby, one who would most likely be targeted by a mysterious patron who would spend vast sums of money to anyone who would retrieve the child.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Shh, everything will be alright Emera. I have faith in you that you will be able to care for him. As for why you can trust me, well, why would I lie?¡± The angel held a small smile on his face before turning serious once more. ¡°We cannot give you anything to aid you on your journey. If there is a rat, they will be carefully watching any and all transfer of funds and items between players as well as AI. It would look suspicious if you suddenly had legendary level gear at level five. All I can offer you is a goodbye for now, Emera. Be safe.¡± With that, the angel simply disappeared. Emera didn''t know what to do. Here she was, caretaker of a baby that was delivered by a fatally injured boy in the dark of night. Bella had yet to wake and although from her brief experiences with the girl, Emera didn''t know whether she could trust her. Obviously this baby was special. A future king of this world? It was beyond anything Emera had ever dealt with. Still, the baby was rather cute. During their conversation, he had closed his eyes while a finger trailed its way to his mouth. It was an adorable sight. ¡°What is that?¡± Shit, Bella was awake. Emera decided to tell the truth, but not the whole truth. ¡°There are some very powerful people after this baby. I was granted a quest when this fellow,¡± she jerked a thumb back at the lifeless boy, ¡°snuck into our window. He died not long after.¡± She hoped Bella would buy her story. She didn''t like lying to her friends, even if it was a lie of omission. Still, the Angel said she couldn''t trust anyone, so she took its advice to heart. ¡°Oh, wow, cool!¡± Bella excitedly held a hand over her mouth as her voice grew in pitch. Her body had somehow ended up perched over the little bundle of blankets, almost as if she teleported there instead of the brief flight over to her. Her hands were grasping empty air as they urged her to cuddle the small infant, but her will won as she held her arms to her sides. ¡°He''s so adorable I just want to cuddle him.¡± Bella whispered. ¡°What will you do now?¡± ¡°I was hoping you would know how to handle a baby. I haven''t the faintest of ideas of what he needs. Do babies like chicken, or perhaps some veggies.¡± Emera shrugged but continued on. ¡°All that I know is that we must move on soon. People will be looking for him. We need clothes and travelling supplies. Best to make sure we have lots of cloth scraps for diapers I think.¡± She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. ¡°I''ll get everything we need Emera. If what the quest said is true, it would best to leave as soon as possible, preferably in the dark if people are searching for him.¡± Bella nodded to herself before launching herself towards the open window. ¡°Stay here and watch over the baby. Also, you might want to search the dead guy. May have something that will tell us who this baby is exactly.¡± Bella was off a moment later, her figure lost in the shadows as the sun peeked over the horizon, sending slanting shadows across buildings and streets. Emera sighed. It was all too much for her, but what other choice was there? She would never abandon the baby, that was for sure. Emera stepped over to the boy, seeing for the first time his clothing in the rain stream of sunlight entering the room. He was dressed in a royal green doublet with silver trim outlining a family crest. He had a small satchel next to him with a large coin pouch beside that. Under his green cloak she saw twin daggers sheathed at his sides while along his back was a large bastard sword. Emera carefully removed the cloak and weapons along with the satchel and pouch, storing them all in her inventory. For good measure, she then used the loot command on his lifeless body. What surprised her was how quickly the body faded into dust. She sat silently as she reviewed the items the dead prince dropped, clutching at the bundle of blankets as the baby stirred.
x1 Cloak of House Astria (Rarity: Legendary, Level 100 Required) x2 Daggers of House Astria (Rarity: Legendary, Level 100 Required) x1 Bastard Sword of House Astria (Rarity: Legendary, Level 100 Required) x1 Bag of Holding (Rarity: Legendary, Size: Gigantic) -?x1 Ring of House Astria (Rarity: Legendary, Birthright: Can only be worn by the Heir of House Astria) -?x1 Staff of House Astria (Rarity: Legendary, Level 100 Required) -?x1 Tome of Astria Spellcrafting (Unique, Unlimited Uses, Level 50 Required) -?x1 Tome of Astria Spellcasting (Unique, Unlimited Uses, Level 50 Required) x1 Pouch of Coin Holding (Rarity: Legendary, Size: Unlimited) -?x100 Gold coins
Emera nearly fainted. 1.09 - Shadow Devils ¡°Emyria! Wake up girl!¡± Bella violently shook Emera from her slumber, a slight bit of drool leaking from the corners of her mouth. Emera snapped awake immediately wondering what was wrong. It took her a few minutes to recount the events of the day before. It all came crashing down on her as she realized the baby prince was wailing at the top of its lungs in the makeshift bed she had made for it. Sleep evaporated from her as she rushed to the squirming pile. As soon as she held the baby in her arms, it stopped its wailing. ¡°Huh, must¡¯ve dozed off Bella. Sorry, rough night last night eh? When did you get back?¡± She asked. ¡°Just now actually. You should hear the news the town criers are spewing forth! The whole royal family was murdered last night! The criers are spewing forth stuff about war and the weakness of the kingdom in this time of terror. Its real sad.¡± Bella held a gloomy look to her face as she took out various packages from her shopping. ¡°I got these things. I hope they will be alright for the baby.¡±She gestured for Emera to hand over the baby and she complied. Hopefully Bella knew how to take care of him, for she was lost in a torrent of water that threatened to sweep her under. All the events of the past two days seemed to leap up at her out of a dark void. She needed fresh air and a lot of it. ¡°Bella, is it alright if you took care of him for awhile? I want to explore the city for awhile, then we can leave tonight when it¡¯s dark out. We do not want the people after him to have an easy time of spotting us in broad daylight.¡± Bella wore a worried expression prompting Emera to tell her she wouldn¡¯t be long. Unlike Bella, emera decided to use the stairs down into the inn proper. Down there she found a morose crowd of NPC¡¯s, heavy into their drinks while the barkeep refilled them free of charge. It was an ominous affair, with faint mutterings rising from the various city goers. She heard whispers of ¡°war¡± and ¡°dark times ahead¡± spread throughout the common room. It made her feel queasy just thinking of it. They held a key to the kingdom, one that couldn''t be revealed in fear of it becoming known to the wrong people. Her instincts yelled at her to try to get the baby to any remaining family, but she feared that the mysterious patron would be watching all of them. ¡°Copper for yer thoughts miss?¡± The innkeeper asked. He held a small plate of roasted duck and an assortment of veggies in front of him while sliding a tankard of ale beside the plate. Lunch was very much welcome. ¡°Just lost in thoughts and no way to sort them out. What would you do if you don¡¯t know what to do?¡± She asked the innkeeper. He seemed a kindly old man, a bit overweight but it gave him an innkeeper look that suggested he was a fan of his own cooking. Numerous scars laced themselves across his knuckles and crisscrossed along his forearms. Definitely did not want to mess with this guy. ¡°Well, may sound corny, but follow yer heart. All yer decisions can¡¯t be made in a day and it takes time to properly consider yer decisions. That¡¯s what I always told mah daughter and that¡¯s what I tell you. No matter what comes of it, there will always be others at yer back.¡± He wore a saddened expression, his voice troubled. ¡°Anyways, lunch is free fer today. Enjoy, and may the Gods and Goddesses deliver us from our plight.¡± The innkeeper walked off, his bulky form limping as he filled the rest of the patrons drinks. Sighing, Emera devoured her lunch and left the inn. It felt good to be outside, fresh air streaming into her lungs. She had no direction nor any desires. She simply walked. She knew naught for how long, nor how far she had gone. Somehow she had ended up outside the city walls and found a trail into the forest. Once again, she was captivated with the sights of all the greenery that surrounded her. She was used to her apartment she shared with her mother. It was small and in the middle of a large suburb to the west of New York. She remembered looking out her window everyday. In the distances, she could just barely see the green of a park. Of course, it had been many years since she had visited said park, so her memories were distorted of that place. From what she could remember, would do no justice whatsoever to the forest that now surrounded her. Brilliant shades of green and brown, mosses and lichen of every kind. She saw various berries and flower patches, passive animals unheard of in the real world. She had her first real surprise when a squirrel-like creature the size of a large dog wandered across her path. It delicately sniffed various plants and surrounding brush before continuing on its way. Emera had never seen such beauty in all her life. ¡°The beauty of life.¡± She whispered. Emera soon wandered into a large clearing with a small bubbling river streaming through it. Located in the middle of the river was a towering white tree on a small island, its massive limbs swaying in the breeze. This was as good a place as any, Emera thought. She walked through the knee-deep water, crossing over so she could sit under the large tree. There, finally alone from the world, she began to cry. She cried out her emotions. All her sorrows. All her happiness. All the conflicting feelings that plagued her for the last few days. Here she was, feeling more alone in a world that was rife with conflict. A world that she could walk in. A world where she had to make major decisions about what she wanted to do with her life. For the first time in her life, she had choices that appealed to her, choices that would impact the world around her. Her tears let it all out, all the ever present sorrow, all of her happiness, all her thoughts until she had just one. ¡°I will be happy here.¡± It was a shocking realization, but it was the one that she needed most. Here, she could be her. Here, she could be free from her powerlessness. No longer would she be meek. She would take charge of her life, the life she wanted. Nothing would stop her. ¡°Emera, it is good that you have come to this realization, but you should now take in your surroundings.¡± Era said. She had been absent doing her analyzing, so it was a welcome intrusion from her thoughts. Emera glanced around, for the first time noticing something completely unique to this world. Large glowing shadows were dripping over the treetops, smooth liquid bodies drifting towards her. Emera could see faint glowing outlines, all of different murky colours outlining the various shadows.Within the shadows, helped by their outlines and if they lined up just right, she could see bodies. Not just bodies of an animal, but people too.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. There were hundreds of them. She began hyperventilating. So much for being in control of her life. She started laughing hysterically as the first shadow blob reached the river. It seemed to hesitate momentarily before dunking into the shadowy depths. More followed after it in an avalanche of shadow bodies that went on forever. Emera had never practiced her skills but she would have to now. Taking a deep breath, she activated the one skill that might be able to help her. ¡°River Sight¡± She shouted. Before her, a million transparent lines appeared around her. Looking around, she realized they were all congregated around this tree of hers. Huh, dumb luck that she found a magic tree. Emera reached out, expecting to feel the lines, but instead her hand passed through it uselessly. Although her body passed through it, her mind did not. It could feel a coolness to the line she touched, radiating out from the line in waves as if the water were lapping at a shore. Emerra could feel the line, every single part of it. As if on autopilot, which she assumed it was, the line wavered before breaking open into a torrent of water. It blasted out in all directions uselessly, but Emera now knew how it worked. This was good, because the first few shadows were reaching the shore. Briefly touching various lines in all directions, she found a large line that she thought would be the most useful. Her abilities timer was nearly up, but with a single push she blasted the line with her will, hoping it would take the directions of her will. Light shone forth from the line, radiating in all directions in flashes of different colours all along the visible light spectrum. Emera was nearly blinded, but had the forethought of closing her eyes before she activated the line. After what felt an eternity, Emera widened her eyes ever so slowly. Around her was utter chaos. The shadowy figures were in a full retreat as their comrades that had already gained ground on the island thrashed wildly. Emera would say about half remained from the hundreds of shadow monsters. Too bad that half were all dying. Hah, take that shadow monsters! Everyone knows shadows have no power in light! Emera crumpled into a ball, suddenly exhausted as she took in her stats, seeing that her mana and stamina were completely drained from her attack. Moving on from her stats screen, she now looked towards the notifications.
You have slain x78 [Shadow Devils! (Level Six)] +32000 Experience
Congratulations, you have reached Level 11! +60 Attribute Points. Experience until next level (3421/48000).
Level 8 Reached, Level 10 Reached. New Skills Available.
You have earned the class skill [Blunt Weave] or [Weave Locator] You have earned the class skill [Weave Manipulation]
Huh, so she could choose either Blunt Weave or Weave Locator. She looked towards the skills abilities to help her decide.
Level 8 Reached: Skill - Blunt Weave: Your Weaves have 10% damage when struck with your will. Warning: This does not apply for any multi threaded Weaves (Beginner 1) OR Skill - Weave Locator: Weaves are slightly coloured to help define their characteristics. (Beginner 1)
Level 10 Reached: Skill - Weave Manipulation: Imbue lines of magic with small status effects.
Emera chose Weave Locator. Although the blunt weave sounded interesting, it would be useless if she were to use multiple lines in a spell. She now knew what the power of different lines could do, as well as how the thickness of the line seemed to allow the spell effects to linger for longer as well as stronger than the water weave she had stumbled upon. If what the skill told her, then she would be able to weave together multiple lines, adding power to the spells she unleashed. It was fascinating. She gained her feet and started looting the dead shadow creatures. They dropped a few coppers each, but what interested her was the shadow cloth they dropped.
x156 Copper Coins x182 Shadow Cloth
It was a large haul. Emera was just glad for the massive satchel she received from the dead man last night. It was near dark when Emera finally made her way back to the inn. Deep shadows seemed to jump out at her on her way home, but she felt it was all in her head. She hoped. Emera turned the corner onto the street of the inn, but was immediately blocked by a guard standing duty. ¡°Got another one boss! Perhaps this¡¯ll be the one who helped kidnap the prince!¡± Emera had been handed over repeatedly to various guards before she sat in front of a large man in silver armour. His gaze was steely, his mouth quirked into a frown as he held Emera in his gaze. ¡°Girl, do you know why you are here?¡± He asked in a gruff voice. ¡°No, sir!¡± She smiled up at the man, hopefully showing no trembling in her features. ¡°Then will you explain the fact that we have found a baby in the room you and that war fairy girl have been sharing!¡± The man was yelling, his voice quivering with rage. Welp, she was in deep shit now. ¡°I don¡¯t understand sir! I was out all day!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t play coy with me girl! We have both the girl and baby in custody. I would recognize the young prince anywhere, you little shit.¡± The man growled. It was at this moment that Emera realized the coat of arms across the silver breastplate was the exact same as the one from the man last night. Yup, she was in deep doo doo. ¡°As the Captain of the watch and as is my duty, I will have you found imprisoned for the rest of your miserable life! Now, ¡± he added with a sneer, ¡°where is the ring of House Astria?¡± His face showed nothing, his voice barely held a note of warning, but she knew then and there that this man worked for the mysterious patron. Something seemed off about him though. He was sweating heavily and his eyes darted towards the doorway as if measuring his chance of escape. So, the patron was using NPC¡¯s to do their dirty business. Not willingly either it seemed like. Just as she was about to lie that she owned no such ring, a knock pounded on the door. The captain was sweating bullets all of a sudden. His hands shook as he slowly stood from the desk. He spoke in a whisper. ¡°Go out through the window. Run for all you can. That ring is what they truly need. Without it, they cannot in good humour try to declare the prince as the heir.¡± He smirked slightly before continuing. ¡°Too bad the news was that the whole royal family died, and that there wasn¡¯t a single survivor. These bastards are playing hard, but we just have to play harder.¡± The Captain walked off, his stride taking on more of a strut, his posture radiating calmness. Gone was the fearful man, here was a loyal captain who had done everything in his life to protect the royal family. Emera breathed heavily through her nose, concentrating on the locking mechanism on the window. The Captain had shut the door on his way out, so Emera hoped she could escape before they came back. Ever so carefully, Emera opened the window, letting in a gust of wind that knocked the breath out of her. It was too far of a drop down, she being on the third floor of the barracks. Emera glanced around, nervous of any guards seeing her. She placed one foot on the ledge, heart racing. Another foot and she was completely outside. Shuffling along the ledge was nerve wracking, but she completed it with only seconds to spare. She heard shouting coming from the office and curses thrown about as a figure popped its head out of the window. They saw nothing. Emera was already on her way to the cells. She smirked slightly as she gripped the loop of keys she snatched from the Captain¡¯s desk. They would have to play harder than these bastards indeed.