《Absalom's Fate (The Everlands Book 1)》 Prologue: Cant Get Out Ali¡¯s chin slipped from his hand, his head nearly plunking against the keyboard. Waking up with a jolt, he checked if his fellow technicians had seen, but it looked like he was in the clear. That was one good thing about working as tech help for a virtual reality game ¡ª the visors hid the judgmental stares. He¡¯d stayed up too late last night playing the game, The Everlands, himself, and now he was nodding off on the job again. Slapping his face as subtly as he could, he focused on his screen and took the next available logged issue. It was a text submission with a single line: They won¡¯t let me out. Ali blinked. That was a bit out of the ordinary. He quickly typed back. Hello, Gorget. Thanks for contacting Tech Support. Can you be more specific about the issue you¡¯re encountering today? He received a response back quickly. The Valyn. The gods. I don¡¯t know anymore. But they won¡¯t let me out. Ali¡¯s heart was starting to thump harder. Are you saying that your log off feature isn¡¯t functioning? I can¡¯t leave this dungeon. I can¡¯t leave the game. They say I¡¯ll destroy Absalom. I¡¯ve told them I wouldn¡¯t dare touch him. I just wanted to see if it was true. But I don¡¯t care anymore. Now, I just want to leave. Ali read the message twice, then glanced at the open door to the office of his manager, Mr. Henderson. Mr. Henderson had told everyone in Tech Support that The Everlands couldn¡¯t afford a PR disaster. With VR gaming at this level of sophistication being an entirely new thing, any hitch could compromise the future of the company. And no job for Ali. Hang in there, he typed back to the player Gorget. We¡¯ll get you out soon. Then he took a deep breath. It was time to dive in. Copying the player¡¯s in-game coordinates ¡ª and only staring at them, impressed, for a moment ¡ª Ali put on his portable VR headset. He was logged in within moments, and the darkness of the dungeon filled his screen. He could barely see the outline of Gorget¡¯s avatar curled up in the corner of the cell. ¡°Hello, Gorget. I¡¯m here to assist you. You''ve had issues logging out?¡± The avatar¡¯s head snapped up. ¡°Behind you!¡± he screamed. An ear-splitting sound boomed through Ali¡¯s headphones, and his vision fuzzed. He tore off the headset with a cry. The other techs were definitely looking now, but Ali didn¡¯t care. Chills ran down his spine. ¡°Nothing to see here, folks,¡± he said with a nervous laugh, but he hadn¡¯t needed bother. They were already returning to their screens and visors, barely acknowledging they¡¯d been disturbed.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Sitting back down, his fingers flew as he diagnosed the problem. But he kept running into wall after wall. He glanced at the headset. He had to go back in. As soon as he put them back on, he knew they were dead. Ali took the headset off with a sigh. That¡¯d be another tick on his record. But he had more important things to worry about. Something had fried his headset. Something was keeping that player Gorget trapped in The Everlands. This was a serious glitch, big enough that he had to report it to the manager. He swallowed. Out of the ¡°frying¡± pan and into the fire, you might say. He rose and walked to the door ¡ª which was open, since management had ¡°an open door policy¡± ¡ª and tapped on the frame. ¡°Come in,¡± Mr. Henderson said wearily. Ali came in. ¡°Hello, sir.¡± The manager blinked up at him. ¡°Ah, Aaron. What can I do for you?¡± Ali gave a nervous laugh and didn¡¯t bother correcting him on his name. Mr. Henderson never seemed able to get it right, even though it was about as simple as they came. ¡°I, uh, have a pretty serious glitch on my hands that I need to run by you. A player says he¡¯s stuck.¡± Mr. Henderson stared owlishly at him. ¡°Stuck?¡± ¡°Er, yes sir. He can¡¯t log off.¡± His manager shifted back in his chair, eyes unfocused for a moment. ¡°Are you sure? Did he tell you that?¡± Ali tried not to fidget with his hands. ¡°Not directly, actually¡ª¡± ¡°Oh. Well.¡± Mr. Henderson smiled. ¡°Do ask him then. Maybe it¡¯s a simple misunderstanding.¡± Much as he didn¡¯t want to, Ali knew he had to push this. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just that. I think he¡¯s really stuck.¡± The manager sighed. ¡°If he can¡¯t log off, send me the specs of the issue log. I¡¯ll address it myself.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± But as Ali left the office, he didn¡¯t feel any easier about the situation. There was nothing his manager could do that any tech couldn¡¯t; in fact, he could probably do quite a bit less. And besides, that wasn¡¯t the way The Everlands was designed. The game was run, maintained, and innovated by AIs that doubled as in-game gods. Theoretically, bugs like this would be caught and patched by the AIs as soon as they occurred. He and his coworkers of Tech Support were mostly there to lend a human face to helping with player problems. But this ¡ª this felt like it went beyond a simple glitch. This was the sort of game-breaking error that the AI-gods were supposed to stop in the first place. And with mention of this Absalom ¡ª a name Ali had never heard before, and he knew the game well ¡ª he was getting a bad feeling about this. The proper channels weren¡¯t going to address this. They couldn¡¯t; they weren¡¯t made for it. So he¡¯d just have to go via the improper ones. Going back to his computer, he pulled up a private chat window. Hey. I have something for you. Something to investigate. The reply came a minute later. You know I don¡¯t want anything that isn¡¯t crucial to the game. This is crucial, Ali said with a smile. Sheika, his friend and already an in-game expert, was always like that. But once he told her about this, she¡¯d be all over it like a kid drooling over candy. He didn¡¯t know anybody who loved the game as much as her. Fine. Lay it on me. Ali stretched his fingers, glanced at his manager¡¯s office, and began to type. 1: Entering the Everlands I stared up at the holographic sign, mounted on a building that was the diametrical opposite of it. While the sign was sleek and popped with colors and eye-catching detail, the building looked like it had been transported from a medieval German town, with half-timbering, a faux-thatched roof, and all the other works. I grinned to myself, not caring how stupid I looked to passersby. Today was the day I was getting inside. I wasn¡¯t the first person to stop and stare. The new, first fully VR MMORPG had everyone looking like nutcrackers with their jaws hanging open, and I was no different. Popping out from the sign were the slew of races I¡¯d read up on that frequented the game. Above them were the Pantheon, the in-game gods who not only maintained the game to keep everything perfect and bug-free but also played a role in The Everlands itself. Under the sign, text scrolled by like an old-timey marquee: The Adventure of a Thousand Lifetimes! Limitless Quests, Storylines, and Characters, Ever-changing and Always Fascinating! Play The Everlands Today! I knew it was no exaggeration and was frothing at the bit to try it. But there was a problem. You had to be 21 to enter the parlors where you could play it, it being too sophisticated for personal systems. I was just 17. My friends, geeks and nerds down to the last of them, had all resigned themselves to waiting until they ¡°came of age,¡± as you will, to try it. I, however, had tried everything I could to enter. I¡¯d hunted down that one guy every school seems to have who makes fake IDs for all the jocks and cheerleaders and got one myself, but the bouncer caught me at the front. I¡¯d gotten my older brother, who was 22, to try and ¡°escort¡± me in, but we got turned away then as well. I would have tried pretending to be my older brother but, well, I¡¯m skinny and he¡¯s fat, so that wouldn¡¯t pan out too well. But after staking out the place for a week, I finally had a way. Today, I would finally get into the parlor, and I¡¯d log in to the huge, wide world of the Everlands. I¡¯d explore a new (read: better) reality, and become someone badass and awesome. It wasn¡¯t that I hated my life. Sure, I was having a bad run with the ladies at the moment: Karen, my girlfriend of ten months ¡ª ex-girlfriend now ¡ª had wanted me to say the big ¡°L¡± word, but I wasn¡¯t ready for that. How the hell was I supposed to say I loved her when more than half the time I¡¯d rather kick it with the guys and bust aliens with the Needler on Halo? To make matters worse, Karen was part of our friend group, one of three gamer-chicks in our high school, and she played the same instrument as me in band, the saxophone. So there was no escaping her anywhere I went. And sure, my home life could be better. My brother was causing waves by moving in with his girlfriend after they¡¯d only been dating six months. My parents ¡ª divorced, by the way ¡ª had started squabbling about it every chance they could get. Somehow, my issues got thrown into the mix: my plummeting grades, my lack of initiative in applying to colleges (I¡¯d skipped a year of school in grade school), and, of course, the main problem of all: my so-called video game addiction. What they didn¡¯t understand was that video games weren¡¯t just an addiction, like they were a disease or something you caught and cured. They were a way of life. Maybe it bothered me a little bit, sometimes, when I was struggling to sleep (I¡¯m a diagnosed insomniac, so there¡¯s that). But mostly, I was having the time of my life. Suffice to say, I was ready to have the best time of my life playing The Everlands. Everything I¡¯d heard made it out to be just as epic as I¡¯d imagined. While the original code was architected by humans, the world was maintained, changed, and innovated now by limited AIs. Sure, they¡¯d have their coders¡¯ biases, but otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have the limitations a human would have. They could work tirelessly and execute an infinite number of possibilities flawlessly, making the virtual reality, as their advertising went, truly unlimited, as well as free of overbearing hands. How it developed from here was in the hands of the players and their choices within the world. I was literally sweating with eagerness to get started. Gross, I know. But wouldn¡¯t you be? But first, I had to infiltrate. I moved around to the back of the building through a narrow alley where the dumpster behind the parlor was. Ducking behind the dumpster, I put down my backpack and quickly took out the kitchen outfit I¡¯d stolen from the trash a few days ago and put it on over my clothes. It had a stain down the front of the shirt and was a size too large, but I just cinched my belt and set my resolve. I couldn¡¯t fail, or I¡¯d never get to play. Or as close to never as counted ¡ª three and a half years was a lifetime in the gaming world. I didn¡¯t want to be playing irrelevant dinosaurs while the sleek starship was just out of grasp. So I walked up to the back door and took a deep breath. This way led to the kitchens, I knew from my week of stakeout. I didn¡¯t have a key, but people regularly came out back for smoke breaks and tossing out the trash. I took out the pack of cigarettes I¡¯d snuck from Dad¡¯s supply at home, knocked one into my hand, then clumsily set to lighting the end. I didn¡¯t smoke, but I pretended to be lazily doing so, leaning against the parlor wall, until someone finally came out the door. It was a heavyset older woman, who immediately spotted me and donned a scowl. ¡°What are doing back here? Get back to work, or I¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t work another day of your life!¡± I sneered a little, as I thought my cover character might, then slouched inside the door the woman held open for me, her eyes scrutinizing me the whole way. ¡°And tomorrow,¡± she said to my back, ¡°come with a clean shirt!¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I hid my smile as I pressed through the swinging door and into the bustling kitchen. People moved everywhere, and steaming smells assaulted my nose. Some of the food was the same as could be found at any bar, but there was a specialty line for the more hardcore gamers. A whole wall of the kitchen had rows upon rows of blenders and food processors. They were for making sure those people who stayed under longer than a day (the recommended limit was 24 hours, but the parlor wouldn¡¯t cut them off until 72 hours had passed) still had the sustenance to keep them alive and relatively healthy. Same went for water and bathroom business. I sympathized, but I couldn¡¯t see myself going that far. I mean, it might be the best game ever made, but in the end, The Everlands was still just a game. Have some self-respect, people! At least, that was what I was saying from this side of it. Everyone was so busy that people barely glanced at me, except to note my stain with a disdainful look. I ignored them and passed through, my stomach a jangle of nerves and excitement. It was working. I couldn¡¯t believe this was so easy. ¡°Hey, man, where you going?¡± My blood suddenly ran cold. I slowly turned around to see a long-faced, long-haired twenty-something guy staring at me with bloodshot eyes. ¡°Just to the bathroom,¡± I said as casually as I could. I gestured to my shirt. ¡°Spilled a little something.¡± The guy slowly looked down at my stain. I swear a whole minute passed before a slow smile spread across his face. ¡°Yeah, man. Get that cleaned up. Then I could use a hand on Station 6, you know?¡± ¡°Yeah, man,¡± I said, imitating his slow drawl. The guy was so out of his mind baked he had to have smoked something in the last five minutes. ¡°I¡¯ll see you there.¡± He gave a slow nod, then made his way back towards the kitchens. I had just turned around myself when he said, ¡°Oh. Bathroom¡¯s that way.¡± I grinned, hoping I didn¡¯t look too guilty. ¡°Right. Still kind of new here.¡± The guy just nodded and walked as slow as if he were on the moon. I shook my head and followed the hallway he¡¯d pointed down to the bathroom. There, I slipped off the kitchen clothes and stuffed them in the trash can, revealing my regular street clothes underneath. If need be, I could always come back and retrieve them to leave. Hopefully, there wouldn¡¯t be anything more too gross on them, but I was willing to take the risk. Taking another deep breath to calm my bubbling excitement, I stepped out of the bathroom and followed the signs to the hubs. There, extending on both sides of the hallway, I saw the terminal rooms for The Everlands. They reached all the way to the back, then curled around out of sight. There were at least twenty in this first hallway. I walked down it, itching to get a look at the system, but all the doors were closed, and the windows tinted black. No peep show for outsiders; you got complete privacy, other than the services you requested. All of the first hall terminals were full, so I turned the corner to the second. As I did, I saw a big hulking man coming down the way in a black polo. Clearly a security guard. Alarm bells ringing in my head and worst-case scenarios flashing by like a video in fast-forward, I put on a friendly smile as I glanced at the man, while the corner of my eye spied an open room. I quickly ducked into it, but the security guy caught up to me first, stopping in front of my door, silently demanding an explanation. I put on an apologetic grin. ¡°Just going for a quick whiz.¡± The ape¡¯s eyes darted to the door, and I suddenly realized the others had had something displayed there. No doubt a digital timecard or something like that, telling the staff how long the person had left to play. The one on my door, of course, was blank. I thought quickly. ¡°Oh yeah, that,¡± I said with a little laugh. ¡°The guy that helped me said that this one wasn¡¯t working properly. He was getting a tech to fix it.¡± The man stared at me unblinking a little longer so that I couldn¡¯t help but shift my feet a little. Finally, though, he turned and continued stalking down the hall. I barely waited to breathe again before I slipped out the door and continued further. I wasn¡¯t about to stay in that room when security was suspicious of me. My only chance was to find another room, plug in, and hope the staff didn¡¯t notice the blank timecard for a while. I slipped into a room further down the hall and closed the door behind, then flipped on the light switch. I drew in a breath as I saw it before me. It looked like a broken-down version of an MRI machine, with the addition of a headset that would encompass my entire face when I put it on. The thing looked like an accident waiting to happen if I tried working it myself. But if I wanted to play The Everlands, that was the only way I could do it. Not only was I too young, but there was also no way I could afford more than ten minutes under. I¡¯d just have to wing it. Searching through the menus on the console nearby, I soon managed to find my way to the activation sequence. Stumbling through the part where it asked how long I wished to play, I increased the time for as long as it would allow, 72 hours, figuring someone would wake me long before that time anyway. I skimmed the instructions and cautionary warnings, then tapped the green START button at the bottom. A woman¡¯s voice with a British accent started to give me instructions. ¡°Please lie down on the bed and secure the visor.¡± I did as she said, fiddling around with the headset to make sure it fit right. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, feeling made of memory foam 2.0 or something. Once I¡¯d properly gotten the visor on, the console said, ¡°Put your arms by your sides and lie on your back. You will now be entering the virtual reality simulator.¡± The excitement and fear of being caught made it almost impossible to lie still, but I managed it as the bed slowly slid under the capsule. I don¡¯t know if it was all the emotions clanging inside of me, but I felt a bout of claustrophobia rising in me. Just as I was about to call it quits, the woman¡¯s voice came in from all around me, the sound quality crystal clear and realistic. ¡°Your play time will be 72 hours. Is this correct? Please answer with Yes or No to continue.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said without hesitation. ¡°Play time confirmed. I am obliged to remind you that while your time will be limited to 72 hours in reality, within the simulation, time passes much faster, so it will appear to be many more days.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Remember also that you may log off at any time. Now please relax and enjoy your journey, adventurer. Welcome to the Everlands.¡± The machine around me hummed to life. Suddenly, I couldn¡¯t feel my toes, my hands, any of my body. I couldn¡¯t hear, taste, smell, or see. I tried swallowing down the panic, but I couldn¡¯t feel myself do that either. Then there was a flash of bright light as the projection lasers hit my eyes, and I felt myself fall away like I¡¯d been knocked unconscious. There was no turning back now. 2: Misty Arrival I opened my eyes, blinking. I was standing, even though I knew I should be lying down. Even stranger, as my eyes adjusted, I began to take in the scene around me. It wasn¡¯t the gaming parlor anymore; now, a lush, green forest surrounded me, with a white mist gathering between its trunks and clouding the sky above. I was in the only clearing that I could see, green grass tickling my ankles. Tickling my ankles¡­ I stared down at myself and saw I had on puffy trousers tucked into wooden clogs and a tunic unlaced at the collar. I couldn¡¯t have looked stranger. Still, despite the garish outfit, I grinned. I¡¯d logged into The Everlands for the first time. ¡°Hello,¡± a female voice spoke from over my shoulder, causing me to jump. I whirled around and blinked. The semi-transparent figure of a woman stood before me, looking like she was made of oil swirls on the surface of water. It was the sort of thing I¡¯d expect in a video game, but seeing it still startled me. ¡°Hello,¡± I said awkwardly in return. ¡°You¡¯re new here?¡± Her translucent lips curved into a shy smile. ¡°Yes.¡± I glanced around. It was all so real that I¡¯d forgotten for a second that this ghost-woman in front of me was computer-generated. I didn¡¯t need to be hesitant talking to her. ¡°So you¡¯re my guide or something?¡± ¡°Only if you need one. I¡¯m Ava. What¡¯s your name?¡± The first break in my new reality came in: the overlay of a text box with a blinking cursor appeared in the world in front of me. I blinked. It was a video game, sure, but until then, my vision had been just like it was in real life. It was uncanny ¡ª and fucking wicked ¡ª to see the digital aspects integrated with everything else. But my name¡­ what did I want that to be? I could go with my real name, Sean Marrow. But that was beside the point of me being here. I was supposed to be someone new. Still, choosing a character name was always tricky for me. ¡°Will I be able to change it later?¡± Ava blinked at me. ¡°Isn¡¯t a name just what people call you? Tell someone a new name, and that¡¯s your new name. Of course, some people will still think of you by your old name, if you change it multiple times¡­¡± That was a cool feature ¡ª very realistic. But after what I¡¯d seen so far, how could I expect anything less? I thought hard for a few moments. If it didn¡¯t matter, I¡¯d go with something I¡¯d always wanted to name myself, after an enigmatic Game of Thrones character. ¡°Call me Darkstar,¡± I said casually. ¡°Darkstar?¡± Ava giggled in her hand. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± My face flushed immediately. Even as my mind spun to think of a new moniker ¡ª one a little less embarrassing, apparently ¡ª I marveled at the gall of The Everlands¡¯ developers to mock their players in the first sequence. ¡°Fine,¡± I said, a little surly. ¡°I¡¯ll just be Marrow.¡± ¡°Marrow.¡± Ava tilted her head, eyes looking off into the distance, then nodded. ¡°That will do.¡± She suddenly spun in a circle, and I took a step back, startled. A moment later, she continued as if nothing had happened. I wondered if that was a buffering movement or something. ¡°Neither your race,¡± she announced, ¡°nor your appearance can be changed at this time. To do that, you must earn the opportunity. But if you do, note the peoples of this world who you might change to¡­¡± Suddenly, figures spun and appeared from the mist, suspended in midair. I squinted, trying to see them more clearly, as they didn¡¯t come forward much beyond the trees. They were all humanoid, but had very different features that made them strange and foreign. I recognized them from scouring the internet for details, of course, but I still appreciated it as Ava turned and pointed them out one by one. ¡°The Devalyn,¡± she said, pointing to a tall figure who was almost human but for their large, slanted eyes and pointed ears. ¡°The autumn elves. They are a people who have scrambled to survive after their fall from the heavens.¡± She turned to a being who looked designed to live in water, with fins protruding from their head, forearms, and calves, and what looked like oily, smooth skin covering the rest of them. ¡°Naiads,¡± Ava declared. ¡°Sea nymphs. They are only recently come from the sea, and are eager to prove themselves among the land-dwellers.¡± She pointed to the next figure, who was at least half human. The bottom half, however, had the bent, hairy legs of a goat, not to mention horns that curled from its forehead. ¡°Satyrs, the people of the forests and mountains. While they are skilled in many of the ways of survival and forestry, they are especially renowned for their great libido.¡± Ava gave me a wink, and my eyebrows shot up.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. But she quickly moved to the next creature, who I instantly recognized as the type of being she herself was. ¡°Specters.¡± Her voice flattened as she said it. ¡°A nation made of those who cannot pass to the afterlife Beyond.¡± She left it at that. ¡°Gnarish, the underdark dwellers ¡ª those who live in the deep and dark places. They, along with those who dwell in the heavens above, are among the oldest of races.¡± They were shorter and stockier, and looked somewhere between a typical dwarf and a gnome, and had an impressively long and decorated beard. The next drew my eye more than the rest. It looked like a Komodo dragon had bulked up and learned how to walk upright. Sharp spikes protruded from a diamond-shaped head with black, intelligent eyes. The body below was muscly and sleek, and a powerful tail swayed behind it. ¡°Commonly portrayed as the enemies of the Everlands,¡± Ava said. ¡°Drakons, the wyvern people, said to be children of the sleeping dragons themselves. Due to an aggressive past, their current fortunes are more hard-pressed of late, and they are much discriminated in most nations.¡± Next was an ordinary human, which I didn¡¯t believe needed an explanation, but Ava stopped nonetheless. ¡°Humans. They, like the other children of the heavens, took the plains for their home. Though they were one of the last of the children and lacking distinct racial advantages, they quickly began to carve out large kingdoms and empires by benefit of their innovative aptitudes, burning ambitions, and rushing during the short length of their lives.¡± I grinned at that. It was good to be reminded of how badass it was to be human sometimes. There was only one figure left, and I suspected here was the mysterious ancestor from the sky finally. It didn¡¯t look domineering, however; if anything it seemed petite, as it was shorter than a man, with slender, avian limbs. Emerging from above its shoulders were translucent, delicate feathers. Ava, though, seemed almost reverent as her arm swept towards the slim figure. ¡°The Valyn, the sky elves. The purported rulers of all the Everlands below, ruling from their floating islands that have never been conquered by any other. Many of the peoples below descended from their ancestors, and all look up to them for their mastery of all arts arcane.¡± I didn¡¯t want to become a Valyn even if I had the opportunity at this point, but I knew there¡¯d be at least one good quest relating to them. I couldn¡¯t wait to see what loot came of that. The tour finished, the figures flew away and back into the mist. Ava spun once more in place, then faced me again. ¡°Come now, Marrow. You have a long walk ahead of you.¡± My ghostly guide turned and began drifting off into the woods. I followed her, not wanting to lose sight of her. I was starting to feel more comfortable in the world, but there was so much I still had to learn. At least I didn¡¯t need to ask about movement controls; this virtual body moved as intuitively as my normal body. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to tell me any of the rules of the game?¡± I called after Ava, who was still a dozen paces ahead of me. ¡°Only when you need them.¡± Her voice sounded indistinct, faraway, and was getting further. A fog had started to rise around us, and she was fading into it. Panic rose in my chest. ¡°Wait!¡± I cried and followed quickly behind. The thumping of my heart was all I could hear as I stumbled through the white mist. I knew I could log out anytime I wanted, but when you feel the chill dampness on your skin, the uneven ground beneath your feet, the blank nothingness before your eyes, no amount of objective knowledge helps the visceral fear. All I wanted was to get through this section. When the hell was the game going to start? I didn''t even know any rules yet other than what I¡¯d read, and since that was conflicting ¡ª developers behind the game had a constant misinformation campaign to keep it fresh and exciting for those who hadn¡¯t experienced it yet ¡ª who knew if any of it was right. Finally, the mist began to thin. But though I sighed in relief, before me rose a shadow so high I had to crane my head back to see where it ended. Wondering what it was, I wandered closer, and details of the building came into focus. It looked like a temple, though it was a blend of ones I''d seen before. It had a pagoda-style roof, but the columns were gray and Romanesque. What drew my eye most, though, was the colossal statue that loomed above. It stared down at me as I approached the temple, a god with an angry, furrowed brow, and a mess of beard and long, straight hair. I recognized him as a Gnarish, one of the ground-dwelling people. In one hand, he had a triple-tailed whip, and in the other, he held the severed head of a Drakon. An angry god, this one. I wondered if the Gnarish and Drakons were mortal enemies or something. But I wouldn''t know if I didn''t find some tutorial soon, so I quickly trotted inside the temple. It was dark for some length, and my heart beat harder. I''d never been good with jump scares, and I hoped this wouldn''t include them. Finally, twin pools of torchlight appeared ahead out of the inky darkness. A hooded man stood between them, his shadows extending all around him, though he should have had only two. My skin crawled looking at him, but I approached all the same. ¡°He will guide you.¡± I jumped up and balled my fists, ready for a fight, before I recognized Ava''s voice. ¡°Hey-Zeus,¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Don''t come up on me like that.¡± Ava, luminescent in the darkness, shrugged her spectral shoulders. ¡°Can¡¯t help that you''re a baby.¡± This game loved to mock its players, didn''t it? ¡°Whatever. Where did you go earlier?¡± Ava shrugged again. ¡°I only appear when you need assistance. Otherwise, I do whatever I please.¡± I doubted that ¡ª she likely waited in some nether nonexistence of the game¡¯s code for the next time I needed her. But no need to assault her sensibilities. I didn''t know exactly the depth of the AI in this game, but I did know everything I did or said was supposed to have a consequence. Ava might prove useful later if I kept her close. ¡°Well, wish me luck.¡± I stepped forward and approached the cowled man between the torches. 3: A Guide in the Temple When I reached the outer edges of the light, his head snapped up, and for the first time, I got the crawling feeling that he wasn''t human. Then I saw the signs. The short, squat stature, which had been disguised before by the darkness and lack of perspective. The rough, almost leathery skin, which had little shine to it. And of course, the long beard that fell to its feet. I was meeting my first Gnarish. ¡°Greetings, Human,¡± the Gnarish said. His voice was deep and grated like a rusted blade against stone. ¡°You have walked a long way to enter the temple of Omagnar Dragon-Tamer. Why have you come?¡± I didn''t think I''d had many other options, but maybe that wasn''t what he wanted to hear. ¡°To learn. I want to know more about the world.¡± ¡°If you want to know more of the world, you must explore it.¡± The Gnarish made a sound like a bag of pebbles rattling together. He was laughing at me. Nothing I wasn¡¯t used to at this point, though. ¡°But I can teach you some things,¡± the cowled being continued. ¡°First, the practicalities. You are alive ¡ª and remain alive ¡ª for one simple reason: health. If you concentrate, you may notice a red meter at the bottom of your vision.¡± All I had to do was concentrate? I screwed up my eyes and did so, but it didn''t take much for the bar to appear. With it came three other bars: one green, one blue, and the last silver. ¡°What are the other three meters?¡± I asked though I suspected I already knew. ¡°Stamina for physical exertion, mana for magic, and spirit for channeling.¡± He held up a warning finger. ¡°Careful with these four meters. On their own, only stamina will replenish. For the others, you must perform specific actions for that to occur, or have certain traits, blessings, or other statuses that facilitate it. For health, these actions will come naturally enough: resting, eating, sleeping, drinking potions. For mana, drinking potions and stopping by mana fonts, which occur throughout the Everlands, will help with this. For spirit, worshipping at temples or visiting holy places will suffice, but be careful: the gods here are jealous, and won¡¯t appreciate anyone paying heed to too many.¡± The Gnarish smiled a garish grin, his leathery skin barely relenting to the gesture. ¡°Mind your meters. You''ll see soon enough how quickly they run out.¡± I wasn''t sure I liked the sound of that. But I''d have to take what came at me. ¡°Okay. What about my character stats? Skills, profession? And leveling up?¡± ¡°Ah, those.¡± The Gnarish stroked his long, frazzled beard for a moment. ¡°Simply concentrate to pull up your stats.¡± To get a sense of where I stood with things, I decided to do just that. A moment later, an overlay popped up before me with my stats. I glanced it over. ¡°Anything I should know about my stats?¡± I asked. My tutor shrugged. ¡°You gain experience points, XP, from combat, quests, and developing skills. Gather enough XP, and you will advance to the next level. Upon advancing, you will gain status points, SP, and attribute points, AP, by which to propel your character to greater power.¡± I liked the sound of that. ¡°Alright. I guess I¡¯m good to go.¡± ¡°One more thing.¡± The Gnarish smiled again, and I didn''t like the look of it. Too much of the evil warlock in it. ¡°In this world, the pleasure, as well as the pain, is as real as your own. Count on experiencing it.¡± I heard scuttling from the darkness, and I whipped my head towards it. A game it might be, but the Gnarish was right about one thing: this felt as real of fear as I¡¯d ever experienced. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I demanded. ¡°An enemy? I have nothing to fight.¡± ¡°Think again, Marrow. Concentrate. Have you checked all your resources?¡± The scuttling was growing closer, and it was hard to think of anything else. Still, I wracked my brain for what the warlock might be talking about. Then it came to me: I hadn''t checked my inventory! Concentrating as I had for the meters, I brought up the inventory, another transparent overlay with a series of boxes. All of them were empty but for two slots, occupied by a knife and a red potion.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Crude Iron Knife Quality: Poor (10/10) Rarity: Common Minor Healing Potion Quality: Fair Rarity: Common Use: Gain 1 health per second over 90 seconds. That wasn¡¯t much in the way of stats, but it gave me some information at least. Maybe I had to have higher skills to see more specific stats. I didn''t have the knife actually on my person, so apparently items that I hadn''t equipped didn''t show up on me. I concentrated on the knife to equip it, and it suddenly appeared on my belt with a subtle blue glow. I immediately drew it and gripped it tight, readying myself for whatever was coming. ¡°Good, Marrow. But you aren''t using everything at your disposal.¡± Not everything? Ah, of course ¡ª I had mana and spirit meters, and the warlock had said I''d use them soon. That probably meant I knew a low-level spell in each. I concentrated again, and my stats came up again. There were two listed for magic: Magelight, which would illuminate dark places, and Magic Missiles, a minor damage spell. Under channeling, I didn¡¯t understand the one entry, True Belief, and the description didn¡¯t much help. Magelight Affinity: Light Cost: 20 mana Effect: Produces an orb of radiance that illuminates up to 30 feet around and lasts 30 minutes. Magic Missiles Affinity: Light Cost: 25 mana Effect: Sends a volley of light projectiles that cause up to 50 damage to a single target. True Belief Affinity: White Faith: ¡ª Cost: ¡ª Effect: Convey your true allegiance to a faith or deity with indisputable veracity. No more time to look. The first of the scuttling creatures came forward. Were they ever ugly; black, hairy beasts that moved liked spiders, but had a mess of claws, teeth, and other sharp parts that looked like they¡¯d been put together from any number of creature parts. I didn¡¯t like the look of them at all, especially with just a knife and a damage spell I didn¡¯t know how to use yet. One by one, they emerged from the darkness and surrounded me, stopping at the edge of the pool of light to gnash their many mouths. There was no way I could defeat them. ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡± I yelled at the Gnarish. But the warlock had a strange look in his eyes. ¡°Players can¡¯t be trusted,¡± he said in a low voice. ¡°Not until they¡¯re tested.¡± Then before my eyes, the warlock whirled his cloak and simply disappeared. I was alone with the creatures. Which was exactly when they attacked. One lunged for my knee and caught it in its teeth, crushing the bone. Pain lashed through my leg. It felt real, way too real. I didn¡¯t sneak into the game parlor to get tortured. What the fuck was this game?! But I wasn¡¯t just going to be chimeric spider food. I stabbed the creature that had me in its bulbous body, and gray liquid spurted up around the hilt. The creature let go and backed away. I grinned savagely at it, but it was hard to feel too victorious when I couldn¡¯t even stand. Two more of the things came forward, one from each side, and charged. Whirling on my good knee, I desperately tried keeping them at a distance, but my knife only clipped the jaws of one, allowing the other in for two slashes on my chest. My health meter flashed before my eyes, almost three-quarters of it dissipated. I didn¡¯t need the reminder. I felt every bit of that pain in my body. I was going to lose. I was meant to lose. But why? Why start players off this way? What the hell was The Everlands all about? I managed to stab the spider attacking me, but the other one leaped forward again while my knife was still buried deep in its fellow¡¯s flesh. Not knowing what else to do, I thrust out my hand and yelled, ¡°Magic missiles!¡± like an anime character. Considering the circumstances, I barely felt stupid doing it, especially when bright, violet darts shot from my hand and zoomed at the spider, crashing into its body and bursting it like a gory water balloon. But there was no end to the creatures. Their sharp-limbed bodies faded into the darkness around me, a sea without end. Three came on this time, and I knew this was it. I was going to die. What came after that? Ava appeared from nowhere at my side. ¡°Brace yourself!¡± she yelled. ¡°And close your eyes!¡± I felt a chill run down my arm as her pale, ghostly hand gripped it, frosty as winter air, but welcome in the midst of the hot pain everywhere else. I closed my eyes as instructed, and waited for the creatures to tear me apart. Then the floor pulled out from beneath me, and I felt nothing but the cold of Ava¡¯s hand on my skin.