《Haven》


 Chapter 1

    <h1>Chapter 1</h1>


    Welcome to Haven, your second life where you can be who you really are¡­


    I listened to the words as they passed by and then pretty much ignored them. I was about to start playing Haven the VR game that had taken the world by storm ten years ago and was now the best-selling game of all time. Every year new content was made available and levels were added as well as the NPC AIs being dramatically improved. It was said that people could not tell NPCs apart from the real thing anymore. Not that people are so great I thought as I recalled my morning.


    I had been asked by Shilo my ex but still a good friend to pick up a few items from the store for her. As I was opening the car door a gust of wind caught it and it made contact with the car beside mine. Unfortunately, the driver had just approached and began to berate me for damaging his car. I quickly looked at it, no damage done and turned to the man and his wife. He was still going on about me banging on his new car. I apologized and explained it was a wind gust and that there was no damage done.


    The bugger just would not leave it alone accusing me and muttering to me about his new car. After letting him vent for a few minutes I noted he was just getting on a roll. By now I had more than enough of the guy and told him to fuck off. I don¡¯t mind admitting when I screw up but this was too much. No damage was done to his car, I had apologized once and then let him grind his gears on me for several minutes to vent. But he just would not let it go so I let him know I was done. He shouted ¡°What did you say to me¡± which was answered with another F-bomb. He took a good look at my face and must have realized the game was over and left with his wife all the while still muttering at me.


    Yep, I was sick of people and wanted to get away. I could not afford a vacation away from the city so going virtual was my only hope for some fun, rest, and relaxation. I booked a month off from work and set up the gaming cube. Commonly known as the coffin when they first came out they were now the main way of connecting to the net and playing games, going shopping and doing anything else in life that could be done online. I was a bit of an archaic and preferred using my phone and tablet to do my job. It worked for me and that is all that matters.


    The introduction to the game finally ended and I watched as my options were displayed for me to choose. Race, location, faction which could be light or dark and gender. A player could also choose a class but that was something that could be put off till level ten. There were ten starting zones, two were located in the north five in the middle and three in the south. The game world was one big continent with huge inland seas and dozens of mountain ranges. Each zone was divided into several kingdoms but each zone had a hub city. It was where most of the trainers and merchants were. These cities had lots of low-level quests and were the most popular areas to begin the game.


    Players could, however, start the game in any village or town they wanted to. Haven was made for people to have fun in and challenge themselves. I decided to start my journey with the game in a small village far to the north. The upcoming patch was going live today and the hub cities were abuzz with players. The admins had posted about the guild Grief having discovered an artifact called the Tears of God. With it in hand Grief had reached out to several other guilds and now five of the largest guilds were joining forces to use the Tears to summon the lesser God Janus who was known as the Gatekeeper. Lore said once he was killed the Keys of Heaven would appear and a whole new continent could be summoned. It sounded fun and all but I suspected killing a God was not going to be easy and while the rewards from the new content would be great, Haven had so much content already that a person could not finish the game unless he played full time for years.


    Selecting the village of Timberlake as my starting area I noted with appreciation that the entire north zone was pretty much empty aside from the Hub city. A few trappers, miners and the NPC villages. Cool climate, not too many quests and no one around to be dazzled by your splendor. This was my kind of place. I had decided to wait till I hit level ten to choose a class. The typical classes were available along with some hybrids. While I enjoyed being OP I did not like the idea of having a demon as a pet so warlocks were out. Mages were powerful but one good shot and game over. Warriors depended on the anger management system too much without getting really mad they could not access a lot of abilities.


    Priests were kinda cool once you hit level ten you could go dark and become a DPS but they were still fragile. Way better than locks and Mages but still a snowflake. Druids were a fun class and popular thanks to an old series of books published twenty years ago about a Shammy in a VR world. Singing to summon elementals and to DPS was just not for me, that left Rogues and Paladins as well as the Thief. Hunters and Gunmen also were playable but to be honest, nothing appealed to me.


    The benefits of choosing a class did not really kick in till a player hit level ten so being classless was not big deal. I would hold out and see what I liked first. Generally, I wanted something pretty self-sufficient and that meant a hybrid class probably a Paladin or Dark Priest. I was not sure that I wanted to be a follower of the Light as a Paladin as that would limit my training to the Hub cities with their major temples or I would have to go way off the beaten path to some hidden monastery. Being a Paladin was a pretty popular choice, heavy armor blessed gear and weapons lots of established chain quests. The ability to self-heal and doing darn good DPS. Always wanted in groups for the buffs and backup heals or tanking abilities.


    Yes sir, thinking about all that I decided being a Pally was not for me. I just did not want to be around people or be responsible for them. I looked around the small room I was in and observed a doorway with a green color, green on doorways meant exit. I closed the class selection screen and observed as my basic stats came into play. More would be added as players leveled but to start with all players had twenty-five points and five areas to invest them in.


    Stats


    Strength


    Agility


    Stamina


    Wisdom


    Charm


    Luck A Bonus Stat


    If I wanted to play solo I would have to choose my own combination of stats. All the different classes came with a preconfigured template, Warriors, for example, would get lots of stamina and strength and a bit of agility but no wisdom. I would have to be careful I did not pigeonhole myself I really needed everything but that would not be the most effective way to develop. Fortunately, Haven was so huge and much of it still unexplored, I was betting that I would find a low-level dungeon near my starting zone.


    If I did I would get plenty of low-level gear to help balance out any deficits in my build. Almost all starting zones had several of these dungeons nearby, and when the game first started these starter dungeons were farmed pretty hard. Now, these dungeons were left alone, the gear they dropped was too low a level for players in a hurry to hit the endgame content and with most of the major guilds working at power leveling their new candidates, the need for these starter dungeons had dropped, but it was more work than it was worth to remove them. This should benefit me.


    Quickly assigning my points I observed a set of floating dice reaching out and touching them started them spinning and once they stopped I observed I had rolled a nine.


    Stats


    Strength 7


    Agility 4


    Stamina 6


    Wisdom 4


    Charm 4


    Luck A Bonus Stat 9


    Wow, that was kinda cool having just earned a nine in luck. I had read the higher the luck stat the luckier you were in the game, hopefully, this would work for me. I was pretty much done here unless I choose a class. Deciding that I still wanted to wait until I reached level ten I walked out the green door and observed as everything went dark. Once the light returned I observed I was standing outside of the door with a number 7 painted on it. I was in a wooden hallway, that ended with a set of stairs that went down to the common room.


    I could hear the noise of people talking and smell roasting meat and gravy. Taking a deep breath I appreciated the total realism that I was experiencing. Turnin I made my way down the hall to the stairs and slowly went down to the common room. It was a large room with a huge oven in the middle with a round table that surrounded it. Part kitchen part bar it was a busy place with many people eating at the tables and along the booths that edged the outer walls. It was about half full with perhaps fifty people eating and drinking. I was startled when a cute girl grabbed my arm and said, ¡°I am sorry sir, I don¡¯t recall your name, but I have a small booth here if you would like to have some supper?¡±


    I noted everything seemed to freeze and a small dialogue window appeared, and I read, ¡°Please choose your gaming name at this point. Names can¡¯t be changed so choose wisely.¡±


    I nodded to myself, I had heard of people who had to choose crazy stupid names to join a guild, sadly, things that were once popular faded and guilds dissolved but the names remained. Some had to delete the account and start over while others just quick playing. One player had apparently been banned for refusing to change his name. Shudafucup was asked twice and then the banhammer came down. Some people had found his name offensive and reported him. For me, I just wanted to have an average easy name. Half an hour later I realized that easy average names were gone. I was getting sick of the message, ¡°That name has been chosen, please select another.¡±


    Taking a deep breath in I said Octo and waited, after several seconds I read, ¡° The name has been accepted, please enjoy Haven Octo.¡± I began to relax as the movement came back to the world, and I felt the barmaid guide me to a small booth. As I sat down she smiled at me and said, ¡°I will be right back with some beer and some of the Roast elk on fresh bread covered in Gravy. Then with a wink, she was gone and I sat still just observing the crowd. There was no way that this could not be a scene from real life, except that the place was to clean, the people did not smell and no one was being an ass.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    I could just stay here for the month I thought as my mind wondered. With the two to one time dilation, it would seem like two months. I could live with that I thought but even in a game, you had to pay for stuff. Inns cost from one silver to one gold per night and opening my bag display with a thought I noted that I had twenty empty slots and 4G99S in my wallet. 100 coppers per silver, 100 silvers per gold and 100 gold per platinum. Money was easy in Haven and each quest rewarded a percentage of XP and cash. This Inn only charged me 1 silver per night which was great, but looking around I knew that I had to head out at some point, I would just get bored here after a couple of days.


    I had planned on my activities for the next few days to keep me busy, first, gather all the baby quests in the village and do them which would only take a couple of days tops and should get me to level two. Then buy some basic gear and weapons and begin to explore the woods and farmland around the village. Once I found a low-level dungeon I could claim it which would stop anyone else from entering it till I had finished it. Then farm the dungeon till I was done. Fortunately, players can set the revive point just in the dungeon which stopped PK players from kill camping them over and over. Also once the first level of a dungeon was cleared it would not respawn giving players some safety. Once in a dungeon, no one can see you and you are safe from anyone outside the dungeon.


    The pretty barmaid approached and dropped off a large plate full of meat and gravy and a huge mug of beer. Grabbing a silver from my bag I dropped it into her hand and told her ¡°Thanks.¡± Her eyes widened at the silver and then she gave me a big smile and slowly walked away. I could hardly take my eyes off her as she seemed to be much more sensual as she strolled to the bar. Shaking my head and laughing I began to eat, the taste was great and the beer was ice cold. When I was finally done I thought my gut would pop but in truth, I felt full but had no sign of the lead belly. I could grow to love eating in the game I thought. Glancing out one of the windows I saw that it was still light out, summer time in the northlands. The light be visible till around 11:00 pm Glancing at my minimap display I saw that it was now about 5:00 pm, standing up I made my way to the door and stepped out.


    In an attempt to make the game as realistic as possible no NPC would walk around with an exclamation mark over their heads nor a question mark showing that the quest was completed. To find a quest you could go to a big quest board located near the center of town and touch one of the quests listed. Alternatively, a player could talk to any NPC and receive a quest if they had one. This was also the main way to discover hidden quest chains that all locations were supposed to have.


    Walking slowly I nodded and smiled at the villagers as I made my way towards the center of the village. Suddenly a world chat screen opened up and I read, ¡°The guild consortium lead by Grief has used the Tears of God and summoned the lesser God Janus in the Hub city of Centralport. The guilds have attacked with many non-guild players joining in attacking the God. A count of over a five thousand players is engaged in combat with a steady stream of players porting into the city to attempt to attack the God. One hit on Janus assures the player of a portion of the XP as well as a chance to roll on gear, which is thought to be part of the Divine tier.


    Grimacing I swiped the world chat away from my view, I was not interested in the event. Finally standing in front of the quest board I observed only three quests. This first was, ¡°Little Toby the puppy has escaped, he likes to run around the village, find him and return him to his family. 100 XP and 5 silver. The second quest stated, The Widow Olga needs assistance in her summer garden, harvest her crops and water her plantings. 200 XP and 1 silver and a belt which is hand made. Continuing on I read the last quest, ¡°The mayor is willing to pay 500 XP and 1 gold for any adventurer who can track down the lair of the Gobbys.¡± I accepted all the quests and then began to walk around the village looking for little Toby.


    It became apparent that the village was larger than I had thought and it took about an hour to walk the circumference. I was near one to the gates in the wooden palisade when I came across Toby, he was sleeping against the fence. Scooping him up I observed an arrow appear on my minimap and followed it till I arrived at a two story log house. Knocking on the door I greeted the man who opened the door. ¡°Looks like I found your dog,¡± I said as I handed him the sleeping puppy.


    ¡°My thanks, here is something for your trouble.¡± I let the coins drop from his hand into mine and smiled, ¡°Your welcome,¡± I replied then I turned around and left. In this game with the advanced AI that the NPC had being polite would help more than being rude. Most players did not get that and struggled when they had to develop a reputation with different factions. Some players had even been jailed ingame for inappropriate actions. When a woman says no it means no even if they are an NPC.


    Walking back to the Inn I noticed several stalls were still open. Seeing a tobacco stall I approached the counter and talked with the man selling his tobacco. ¡°Most people prefer the pipe, but several folks like the papers. What is your pleasure, sir?¡± Now I smoke, it is not fashionable nor really accepted in modern society but we all have our vices. I started in the military and have continued off and on since. I appreciated that you can smoke in Haven. It had been a risky decision by the developers but in the end, they had pointed out that almost every fantasy story and movie had people smoking pipes. People had protested but the ones that were really offended did not need to play.


    Purchasing a bag of tobacco and a bundle of rolling papers I set off towards the Inn glancing at the hustle and bustle of the village as the evening farmers market started to come to a close. I was about to leave the small square when I noted a small tent with a table set up in front of it. Curious I walked over and looked at the table. It was covered in cheap daggers and swords. All low level and worthless, If I had chosen a class I would have received a better starter weapon appropriate for my class.


    ¡°Do my wares interest you?¡± I glanced over at the man sitting in the tent, he had a dark complexion and black curly hair. Shaking my head I said, ¡°It is all low level not really worth purchasing, as it will be discarded within one level. If you have anything better I will look at it, but not for these crazy prices for this kind of junk.¡± I waited as we stared at one another, after thirty seconds I turned to leave, I guess you can find dickhead NPC within the game I thought. As I was about to step away I heard the merchant say, ¡°It is obvious that you are discerning, so I will make you a deal. For one gold I will sell you this chest, I found it on my travels, and while I know a thing or two on how to open a lock I have never managed to open this. What do you say?¡±


    I looked back with curiosity, he was holding a long and narrow chest, it could have held two swords or several daggers. The workmanship was exceptional and the chest itself was in a blue haze. A rare item. Grabbing a gold I tossed it at the merchant and then grabbed the chest. Stuffing it into my bag I made my way back to the Inn. Stopping in the common room I sat down with several NPC from the village and bought a round of drinks, and then another. It is all about earning reputation I thought as I entered my room. Taking off my shirt I collapsed on the bed and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.


    The morning arrived too early for me but much to my surprise I felt full of energy. Deciding to make it an early day I grabbed a coffee as I left the Inn, then I began to follow the arrow on my minimap as I made my way to the widow Olga''s place. I knocked on the door of the small cabin and as I waited, I noted the neat yard with flowers and hedges. Around the side and in the back I could see a large garden and several fruit trees, it looked like apples and pears. The door opened and an attractive woman in her fifties stood there looking at me.


    I smiled and said, ¡°Hello, you must be Olga, I saw you were looking for help on the board in town and I thought I would see if you still needed any assistance?¡± I smiled at her and waited for her reply, usually, these quests would repeat but I doubted that anyone had actually done them for a long long time. This village was in the middle of nowhere, not the kind of place that people came to.


    Olga continued to look at me and then said, ¡°I have a need for my fruit trees to be harvested and my garden watered. If you can fill up two barrels, one for the apples and one for the pears then water my garden I will feed you for the day and pay you what I can, plus I will give you one of my hand made belts. What say you, stranger?¡±


    I nodded and replied, ¡°Widow Olga I will do all that you ask, and begin now if I may, but one question, where is the ladder I will need to harvest the fruit?¡± Looking around at the trees I could tell I would need a ladder. They were about twenty-five feet tall and had many high hanging fruits. I would need a ladder to harvest the top half. Following the widow Olga, I grabbed the ladder from the back of the house and a couple of small buckets. I then spent the first three hours of the morning picking all the low fruit from the bottom half of the two trees.


    I stopped for a smoke around 10:30 and put on world chat, it was full of the fight with the God. He was down to half life and tiring, there were now 50 thousand players attacking him with most of the original five guilds having been spent to respawn countless times. I shuddered to think what the repairs bills would be like, the higher the level and the better the gear the more costly the repairs. I soon had the ladder out and was busy harvesting the top of the trees, after working for another three hours two things occurred. First I heard a ding and then saw that I had gained another point in agility. Swinging from the upper branches had proven to be one way to develop agility. I opened my stats and saw that the point had been added.


    Stats


    Strength 7


    Agility 5


    Stamina 6


    Wisdom 4


    Charm 4


    Luck 9


    Not bad I thought as I lowered myself down to the ladder. I was heading down as the second thing that had happened was Olga calling me for lunch. The meal was simple but good, a hearty chicken stew and home made black bread with tons of butter on it. Finishing off the lunch I made my way to the corner of her yard where a small stream cut across. I had finished filling both fruit barrels and now was the time to water the garden. I managed to fill both of my buckets up walk a few steps and empty them in the garden. I repeated the process many times that afternoon only stopping when the garden had received a good watering.


    Olga had been preparing supper as I finished, roast kebabs with tomatoes and onions and lamb. It tasted even better than it smelled and it smelled pretty good. After eating my fill I turned and thanked Olga. ¡°That was a great meal, very satisfying. Thank you for the meals and the work.¡±


    She nodded and then handed me one silver and a small wrapped item. ¡°Take this with my thanks,¡± she said. ¡°I am too old to climb the ladders and haul the water so I appreciated your hard work. This belt is my handiwork and is a good item for you. Now I must clean up and get ready for the night.


    I nodded the hint was obvious it was time to go. Thanking her once again I headed for the Inn. I was not that tired but decided to have a couple of beers and then go to bed. I hoped that I could talk to the locals and gain some information about the surrounding area, maybe get lucky and find a dungeon even. As I walked towards the Inn I once again put on world chat, the God was down to 30 percent, but things were slowing down. Half of the hub city was destroyed and people were dropping out of the fight. The God would lose but at an extremely high price that the players would have to pay. I was glad I was far away from there. The rest of the evening passed in a pleasant time of smoking drinking telling stories and gaining a little information.


    Apparently, there was an old mine half a days journey to the west, and I would bet one gold that was the dungeon. The other news I heard was the Gobbys were also seen leaving the village and farms and they always headed west. I might be able to kill two birds with one stone, I thought just before heading up to bed. I glanced at the chest I had bought from the merchant, I would have a closer look tomorrow after breakfast, and with that, I was out.

 Chapter 2

    <h2>Chapter 2</h2>


    I awoke early before the sun had come above the horizon, the Inn was silent with only the early morning staff at work in the kitchen stoking the ovens and preparing for the day. I left the Inn and slowly walked towards the western gate, swinging my arms and rolling my shoulders, I did not feel stiff from all that I had done, but I still wanted to loosen up. In the real world, I worked out three times a week and ran at least twice a week.


    Sitting on your ass working with computers could soften a person up. I tried to make sure that I was in good shape. Once I left the village I began to run slowly stretching my legs and increasing my speed. My breath came easy and I flew down the road. I wanted to know what running would be like once my stats hit the high double digits.


    Eventually, I came to a clearing and stopped, finding a fallen log slightly off the road I sat down and pulled the chest from my bag. Balancing it on my knee I began to examine it. The chest was locked with what appeared to be a small padlock, there were some scuffs on the keyhole where I guessed the merchant had tried to pick the lock. Taking a closer look I noted that the steel shackle was slightly loose. I recalled breaking into Sandra Kents locker years back in high school. All I had done with slide a thin piece of metal down the side of the shackle until it pushed back the locking tab. It would be worth a try, I thought as I put the chest back in my bag. All I need is a lock pick set or a thin prong from a fork.


    Feeling satisfied with what I had found I put on world chat and listened in, the players were still working away at the lesser God Janus, he was down to ten percent, the analysts expected a new group of players to be logging in to take part in the kill. Mid afternoon was when the end would come.Putting out my smoke I smiled, good luck to them all, I had my own plans. Continuing on down the road I soon came to a range of hills and looking up I observed a side trail that led off the main road and towards the hills. I turned off the road and began to scramble up the trail, soon I was going around the side of the hill and there before me was an opening, a man made cave about halfway up the hill.


    The trees covered the slope of the hill but I knew that it was accessible. Scrambling up I soon came to a pathway that switchbacked all the way up to the entrance. There was a ledge in front of the entrance about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. I stopped for a breather and to look out over the valley that was below, it was covered in trees but at the far end was a narrow lake, and going through the valley I could see a stream that fed into the lake. It was a scenic view the kind of place where you would want to build a cabin. As I thought of that it occurred to me that I could do just that, once I had cleared out the mine.


    In Haven you could own property, most people preferred to buy it in one of the hub cities but a few determined players built their own home. You had to buy blue prints and follow them but this was the wild lands of the north. I could easily build a small cabin, I had the experience of doing it in the real world and I am sure that the skills would transfer over. Making a mental list of what I would need I grabbed the thick branch I had found, it was some kind of hardwood with a huge wooden knot on the end. It was a club and my only weapon, equipping it I took a deep breath and entered the cave through the shimmer at the entrance. A popup appeared and I read, ¡°Welcome to the Larth Hills mine instance, do you wish to claim the instance?¡±


    Accepting I continued to wait as my eyes adapted, soon I could make out the details of the bracing timbers and I could hear a faint murmur off in the distance. I crept forward trying to move as quiet as I could and looked around the corner, there I observed a small fire with three Gobbys longing around it. They were sleeping and did not wake as I crept up to them. They stood about a foot and a half tall had green skin pointed ears and slit eyes.


    Taking a breath I swung the club down and then immediately stepped on the Gobby next to the one I had just smashed. His chest flattened and he was gone. Swinging the club over I caught the last Gobby on the side of the head with enough force that his neck let out a loud crack, his toes twitched once and he was gone. I stopped moving and waited for a moment, hearing nothing I bent down and waved my hand over the bodies. I looted two Gobby swords, the looked like letter openers and were dull and a small bow with ten arrows in the quiver along with a small container of poison, at least it had a skull painted on the side. I noted that the arrow tips had been dipped in the jar.


    I threw everything in my bag and continued on down the passageway. I soon came upon another group, this one had four Gobbys but it ended the same way. By the time I came to the first boss at the end I had taken out about twenty groups, giving me my first level in the game and adding 1 gold to my wallet along with plenty of crap gear in my bag. I was also awarded 9 new points to use, people would be beginning to work on their class build by now. Not having a class I put three points into strength and two into agility. I then put three into wisdom and one in luck, Once I hit level five I would start working on wisdom, stamina, and luck as I had decided to become a dark priest.


    Stats


    Strength 10


    Agility 7


    Stamina 6


    Wisdom 7


    Charm 4


    Luck 10


    Closing my stats screen I crept up towards the miniboss and observed her. She was a female who stood twice as tall as the male Gobbys, her figure was actually attractive with a narrow waist and large breasts, her butt was tight and she wore an outfit that clearly showed her figure. She was holding onto a Toddler Gobby who was about 8 inches tall, kind of a cute little monster. I crept towards her keeping to the shadows, and once I was behind her I grabbed a rock from the floor and tossed it against the far wall, the fire in front of her was causing shadows to race each other on the wall.


    At the sound of the pebble hitting the wall, she froze then slowly lowered the sleeping toddler. Once he was down I saw the beginning of two small fireballs form with each of her hands. Damn, she is a mage I thought as I watched her toss the fireballs against the far wall. As she looked at the now brightly lit wall I made my move, leaping forward I slammed my club against her hip. With a grunt of pain, she fell to her side but I noted that she was already casting a fireball at me as I dived straight at her.


    My outstretched hand became entangled in the front of her shirt and with a rip, it was torn off her. Her breasts were firm with large green nipples and were covered in some kind of a runic tattoo. Tearing my eyes up I noticed her scornful look as she flicked her wrist at me bathing my shoulder in a small fiery explosion.


    That hurt I thought as I twisted to land beside her rolling onto my back so I did not land on her. It was kind of crazy I was trying to kill her, but I could not help but respond to her as a small attractive woman. This thought was driven from my brain as she jumped up and straddled me with one hand becoming covered in flames and the other pushing my chest down. I knew that if I got hit in the head my life would be done, a respawn back at the Inn awaited me. I lifted my arm and grabbed her left breast, softly squeezing it as I thrust my hips upwards this cause her fireball to explode behind my head as she dropped her weight across my waist.


    Reaching out I grabbed her around the waist and attempted to throw her off me as I bucked wildly against her. She responded by grabbing my arms and squeezing her thighs against me. It was apparent that neither of us had on any underwear as my little soldier suddenly freed itself and with one thrust of our hips buried itself deep within her womanhood. Our bodies continued to move soon finding a fast rhythm, that was echoed by her ragged breath and my soft moans. After several minutes I felt my body tense and then release. Her body continued to move against mine as I looked at her. Lifting my hands I slowly began to rub her nipples as her breath caught.


    She slowly opened her eyes and then said, ¡°How did we end up making love when we were trying to kill one another?¡± We stared at each other for several moments and then she slowly stood up. ¡°You have defeated me, I will leave this level and report to my queen, but be warned if you continue to go down we will be waiting now.¡±


    I suddenly spoke without thinking, ¡°Don¡¯t go, stay with me or wait outside, something here has happened I am not sure what but I don¡¯t want to fight against you.¡± I watched as she sadly smiled and I knew what she was going to say.


    ¡°I am the youngest daughter of the queen, and I must report what has happened. You will meet me again on the fourth level as I stand in defense of my queen. It is what it is. Take this chest as your reward for your victory. I watched as she pointed to the far wall and then observed as she grabbed the toddler and walked to a small doorway, opening it she faced me and gave a grim smile. ¡°I am not sure what happened but it cannot happen again human.¡± Then she was gone and I was sitting in front of a dying fire wondering what the hell just happened.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Shaking my head I stood and wandered over to the chest, opening it I discovered a set of sandals with plus 2 to stamina and a ring of plus three wisdom. Equipping them my stats now were


    Stats


    Strength 10


    Agility 7


    Stamina 8


    Wisdom 10


    Charm 4


    Luck 10


    At the bottom of the chest were two scrolls, opening them I stared with amazement. They were teaching scrolls, one for Fiery blast level one and one for Icy shards level one. These scrolls cost about 5 gold each in the Mage Arcanum schools and would only be sold to mages. The fact that I had them meant I could learn to use them without being a mage. They could also be sold for about two hundred gold for the pair, a vast amount at level two. This would take some thought, having access to mage class spells would be an advantage, but so would the gold.


    The truth was having two spells would not make me an overpowered low-level player but it would give me a definite advantage as I leveled up. I continued to think about the scrolls and the miniboss I had just met until I approached the entrance. Stepping through the haze I observed the late afternoon light shining on the trees below me. Lighting up a smoke I stood near the entrance and then put on world chat.


    Someone was giving me a running commentary on the God fight, he was down to one percent. I stood there listening as the players pressed the attack. Suddenly I the chat went silent and then was flooded with comments, ¡°Where the hell did he go, did he die, is the quest complete?¡± I started to laugh after all that effort and time it sounded like the God had escaped. Shaking my head at the absurdity of it I glanced up just in time to see a body heading in my direction, moving very fast.


    ¡°What the f¡­¡± I started to say when I was suddenly hit and knocked right back into the instance. I slammed against the side wall of the tunnel and went tumbling down the passageway picking up road rash and lacerations. Once I finally stopped I could not move, my green health bar had dropped into the red zone and I saw that I had about one percent health left. I glanced up the tunnel and saw the man who had knocked my back into the mine, my gaze observed that he was almost dead to and if anything was in worse shape than me. I finally noted his name, Janus. It took me a moment and then it hit me, this was the lesserGod Janus, the God that had been in combat for the last twenty-four hours.


    He had escaped somehow just before he died and headed for the least populated area he could, only to land on top of me. I was doomed, this area would be swarming with players as soon as they tracked him. My thoughts raced as I slowly recovered and at about twenty percent health I slowly sat up and then stood. Limping I made my way over to Janus and observed him. He had one percent health but did not look good. I think he was dying, which left me in a real quandary.


    I could get on world chat and tell everyone where he was, I might even get some rewards for doing that. I could also try to help him, having a God owe you might not be a bad thing. Last I could attempt to kill the God, the items he would drop would last me till the game ended. Not knowing what to do I decided to grab Janus and drag him closer to the entrance and make him more comfortable. I was weak and covered and blood and he was heavy and covered in blood.


    By the time I made it to the entrance I was very glad that blood illness was not in the game. Laying Janus down I left the instance and made my way down to the nearest trees. Stripping off as much foliage as I could I entered the mine and made a depression and the placed all the leaves in the hole. I then managed to get Janus stretched out on the floor with the greenery providing a small mat for him to rest on.


    At about this time I began to feel funny, both hot and cold, I could feel currents of electrical energy running inside my body. Looking down I observed what looked like sparks and little flickers of lightning darting from laceration to laceration over my whole body. ¡°What the heck,¡± I said and then fell down onto my side leaning against Janus. Once I awoke I noted that my health was back to one hundred and I felt great.


    Looking at Janus I saw that his health was still one percent and he looked worse than ever. I could see that it was morning outside and realized I must have passed out all night. Ths confused me because I would have thought that the area outside the mine would have been covered in players waiting for me to come out and then invite them in to finish the God. I may not be the sharpest marble in the bag but I usually figure things out a little quicker. No one knew where Janus was when he flew into me and knocked us both into the mine it blocked all player attempts to track him. The mine was a low-level dungeon, a world unto itself.


    Janus was perfectly hidden and no player would ever locate him until he left the mine and as long as I claimed the mine no one else could enter it and discover him. The problem was how did he enter the mine, only me and someone in my party should have been able to enter the mine after I claimed it. On the other hand, he was a God and if a god wanted to enter an instance I am sure he could.


    I grabbed my papers and rolled a smoke to give me time to think, this was an opportunity here, yet somehow I could not bring myself to alert the thousands of players that were porting all over the world searching for the lesser God. Nor could I bring myself to kill him, he was a wounded and broken figure. I just did not have it in me. Sitting down I stared at Janus and said, ¡°You have put me in a pretty pickle. Probably half the game world is looking for you to finish you and here you are sleeping, I hope you are worth it because if anyone finds out what I have done by hiding you my life will be short and painful.


    I was surprised when his eyes opened and he spoke, ¡°Your life is will be worth as much as mine eh? The truth is we are now joined together with blood when I die you will die.¡± I stared open-mouthed at him and finally said, ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± Now normally I would be a lot more respectful but I was in shock, Janus who I thought was dying now slowly stood up with his health at ninety percent.


    We stared at each other for a moment and then Janus spoke, ¡°When you moved me somehow we shared blood, some of my divine blood now flows within you and some of your human blood is now pumping through me. I am not sure how this happened but there you are, it was actually fortunate for me, I believe exposure to your blood helped to save me, and my blood has wrought changed in you. More than a human but less than a God. What strange times we are in. Tell me mortal why did your people attack me?¡±


    I thought for a moment before replying, what the hell did he mean more than a mortal but less than a God? Focussing my thoughts I bowed and said, ¡°Pardon my rudeness, I was startled I thought you were at death''s door. My understanding of what happened is lacking but I believe the guild Grief found an artifact which they used to summon you. The goal was to kill you to get the Keys of Heaven which would enable them to open up a new land. This would allow them to gather riches and grow in power.


    They aligned themselves with other guilds and summoned you. The battle raged on and more people joined in, I guess they found out killing a God is not an easy task. Just before your demise, you vanished and then showed up here, knocking us both back into this dungeon. This has hidden you from the players who are searching for you.¡±


    We stared at each other for a moment after I finished speaking, then with a smile, Janus said, ¡°Guess that it that, I had warned the other Gods that mankind would turn on them one day.¡± Thrusting out his hand he offered me a brilliant gem that flickered from red to gold to blue. Grabbing my hand he said, ¡°Take it,¡± and then pushed it onto my palm. Holding my hand he smiled at me and said, ¡°Human this is going to hurt, only due to the fact that you have the blood of a God mixed in with your blood will allow you to survive.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± I cried as the first wave of pain hit me. It literally felt as if some one were taking a drill and putting it into the palm of my hand. The pain was more than I had ever felt, and the game limited pain to what they called ten percent of the norm. I blacked out for a moment only to reawaken as Janus slapped my face. ¡°What the,¡± I gasped as the waves of pain began to depart.


    ¡°Mortal I have gifted you the Keys of heaven, for saving me,¡± Janus said with a savage grin. However, know this. There is no love lost between me and you.¡± I stared at the lesser God in shock the pain dampening my brain. Still holding my hand we both suddenly disappeared into a blackness and then I reappeared in an alley. Janus was gone, but staring at my hand I could see the jewel was now embedded in the flesh and while the pain was fading the memory of it was still fresh.


    Opening my map I saw that I was now in the hub city of Centralport. As I rocked back a window suddenly opened and I read, ¡° Congratulations you have completed the hidden quest, To save a God. You have been awarded ten levels and now must choose your class, also your bonus points are available to be assigned. Well done player.¡±


    I quickly went through my interface hiding all the details of my character. I needed to find a set of gloves to hide my hands and then arrange a portal back to the village of Timberlake. Swearing softly to myself I noted that I also had received a permanent buff. The blood of a God, it increased all my abilities by twenty percent and would scale up as I leveled. Better than nothing, I thought as I began to walk out of the alley.

 Chapter 3

    <h2>Chapter 3</h2>


    As I walked out of the alley the city looked like the wrath of God had struck it. Which was pretty much what had happened. I glanced at the sky, it was filled with roiling black clouds that were lit from within by nether energy, with purple and red lightning flashing almost constantly. The magical forces that had been released during the battle had somehow combined and were now self-powered. I suspected Centralport would not see too many sunny skies in the near future. I was on a hill and looking down I could see the harbor, it was trashed with half a dozen half-sunk ships poking their masts above the water.


    Continuing down the street I came across a group of giant rats, they stood about four feet tall and while looking feral, they were armed with sharpened sticks and small knives. I recalled reading about them on one of the game forums. They dwelt in the dark sewers of the city and were considered an NPC, but no one had found any quests that dealt with them. As I studied them I saw one of them looking at me, the intelligence in his stare left no doubt that this was not just some overgrown rodent.


    They had been digging in a mound of rubble but as I approached they slowly backed off and then vanished into the dim lighting of the sky. Looking down I could see a tail sticking out of the rubble, it was slowly moving. I knew that they were trying to rescue one of their own, so glancing around and seeing that no one was watching I quickly began to clear away the larger piece of rubble that the rats had not been able to move. Within several minutes I had moved enough stones so that the rat was able to twist himself free.


    Looking around he saw that I had freed him and then suddenly the other rats appeared. Backing off I gave them room and watched as they began to walk away into the gloom. The freed rat whispered something to one of the others and then gave him something. This courier rat looked at me and then raced over and held out his paw. On it was a ring which I accepted. The rat whispered at me, ¡°You freed the prince, now he has given you the ring of friendship. If you ever come down to our kingdom you will be welcomed.¡± Then he was off, within seconds he had faded from view. I looked at the ring and saw that it had a +10 to sneakiness and was considered the princely seal of the Rat Kingdom.


    Wow, that was totally unexpected and something that I am sure would prove useful over time I thought as I slipped the ring on my finger. Continued down the street I felt the first raindrops hit my face. Could life get any better than struggling through a destroyed city in the midst of a violent storm only to have it rain on you? I did not think so until the raindrops began to shock me each time they hit exposed skin. I trudged on hoping to find something or someone that could help portal me back to Timberlake.


    Eventually, I was found, it turned out the all five of the guilds that had joined forces to combat Janus were now searching the city. So many other players had joined in the battle and fallen only to have found that much of the destroyed city had buried their bodies. They were on cleanup and rescue duty. I had been walking down the street when a group of three members of Grief found me. The took one look at my bloody and torn gear and assumed I had the misfortune to start my game at Centralport in time for the battle. I did not bother to dissuade them but rather asked if I could be ported out to a different starting city.


    I decided to take two or three portals before heading back to Timberlake. Paranoid, yes but not if they really were out to get me and looking at the damage done to Centralport and the fact that so many players would have huge bills, if they found out I was the new Key Master, I would be toast. I also wanted to select my class and get some training in, so heading to a different Hub city was what I had to do. The guys in Grief were professional and quickly led me to a camp that had been set up. I was told that I could portal out at first light and then shown to a soup kitchen where about a hundred players were smoking, drinking and eating. I grabbed a bowl of stew and a coffee and then sat down in a corner and began to eat.


    It was simple fare but tasted great and filled me up. Once done I lit a smoke and began to enjoy the coffee. After about an hour and a couple of cups later I was about to put out my last smoke when a group of three officers approached my table. The lead one stared hungrily at my smoke and then asked, ¡°Hey man, any chance you could spare a smoke or two. I can pay you,¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, you guys look like you have gone through a cheese grater here, let me roll you a few smokes.¡± True to my word I rolled about a dozen smokes and handed them out, the guys each lit up and then they slumped down at the table. They began to speak and I soon realized that this was the leadership of the guild Grief. ¡°Hey guys, do you want me to vacate the table,¡± I asked? They turned and looked at me then the female said, ¡°No don¡¯t bother, anyone can see what has happened here, we have nothing to hide, and if we did there is no place to hide it now.¡± The guys all laughed at this and I realized that they were right, it was all over world chat and there were a lot of pissed off players.


    ¡°So, what really happened,¡± I asked? ¡°I mean I was taken down too fast to see much, lucky I did not die. But the whole damned city is in ruins. It looks like something nuclear happened.¡±


    The officer who had asked for the smokes spoke up, ¡°The names Glee, and that would describe it, we summoned a God and battled for a long time, almost had the bastard, he was about to die when he shifted into a human form and then blasted off, he went supersonic as he went out of sight. Lots of people are searching for him now, every guild has sent out teams.¡±


    ¡°What if he went back to heaven or wherever the Gods hang out here?¡± I asked as I looked around.


    ¡°If he did that, then we are done. But I don¡¯t think he did.¡± The girl answered, ¡°The quest shows that the thing we were after is still here somewhere in this world. The name is Deb but my friends call me DD.¡±


    I stared at her, it was a given in the game world that almost everyone had a model''s perfect body, but DD lived up to her nickname. I nodded and then said, ¡°Can you guys track down what you are looking for?¡±


    Glee spoke up, ¡°Not yet but once we have put the mages in each Zone we can begin to try to triangulate the position. Real world science powered by magic. I frikken love this game.¡±


    ¡°Wow, that is cool,¡± I said, glad that years of playing poker had left me with a face that would not reveal anything. I was so deep in the brown stuff all I could do was go with the current for now. I started rolling more smokes as the conversation ebbed and flowed. Standing up I offered them each half a dozen smokes and then said, ¡°Well guys it was something to see, but I am going to portal out and get going, I don¡¯t want to stay at my level forever.¡± DD stood up and said, ¡°Here, I want you to have this,¡± as she handed me a hundred gold.


    ¡°Oh well damn it I can¡¯t take your gold. ¡°I stammered, ¡°I mean I did not die or lose out on expensive repairs, you guys probably broke your guild bank here. Thanks, DD but I would feel bad taking the gold.¡± I looked at the Grief officers as they stared at me, finally Glee spoke, ¡°Octo you are alright, listen once you hit level twenty apply to our guild, I am adding you as a friend, you do the same DD. I appreciate that you have a good brain and are not a greedy bastard like so many of the new players in Haven.¡± Looking at the third officer he said, ¡°Threads, spin Octo a Griefer friend patch along with the Godfight insignia attached to it.¡±


    I looked at Threads who had grunted in reply to Glee and watched as his hands began to glow, once the glow stopped he handed me a cloth patch that spelled out Grief in black letters with a green glowing border. Along the bottom were twin crossed lightning strikes hitting the outlines of a city. ¡°Thanks for the smokes, man, just stick this on your chest or shoulder it will stay on until you pull it off when you upgrade. The patch is the Greif patch we all wear, the green outlining means you are a prospect and friend. The bottom means you fought in the battle of Centralport. These patches are going to garner some respect down the line.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    With that he shook my hand as did Glee, DD stood up and said, ¡°I am going to walk our new prospect to the portal guys, it is not every day a man refuses a gift from me.¡± Both of the guys laughed and Glee called out, ¡°Better run boy, she is single and looking.¡± I glanced at DD and saw her face turn red but she smiled at the comment. As we walked on with DD leading me we stopped several times as DD introduced me to several of the other officers of Grief.


    Eventually, we arrived at the portal and DD nodded towards the small platform. ¡°Octo, please keep in contact with me. I have a feeling that we will be seeing you again, and I can tell you that you impressed both Threads and Glee. If this was not a total shitshow, I would run you through a few dungeons myself to get you leveled up to join Grief, but there is a lot of work to do cleaning up this ruined city and then hunting down Janus. But stay in touch okay.¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Thank you, I will.¡± Giving her a wave I stepped onto the portal stone and thought of where I wanted to go, calling out Treetower I was ingulphed in a circle of flame than with a snap I was gone.


    The darkness was complete, and the lack of any external sound caused my heartbeat to sound louder than it really was. Where the hell was I. I waited, but nothing happened, it was somewhat like being in an isolation tank, I could not hear or see anything. Closing my eyes, I began to center myself, slowing my breathing down, slowing my racing heart down, calming myself through meditation. When I finally opened my eyes, I called up the system clock and realized that I had been here wherever the hell that was for several hours.


    Glancing around I noted that off in the distance was a dim light, slowly I started walking towards it. I had no sensation of being on solid land yet I could tell I was getting closer to the light, or it was getting closer to me. Sighing I continued to walk, I was not sure how long it took me to arrive but I was now tired and thirsty, and in front of me was a mountain. It descended below me and extend far above me.


    Eventually, I walked onto a narrow pathway and suddenly the darkness was gone and the mountain did not glow anymore, in fact, I was not in the darkness but rather was standing on the solid ground of the earth. It was now early evening and glancing at and expanding my minimap I saw that I was in an unknown and unexplored area of Haven far to the north and east of the closest city or town.


    Sitting down I tried to figure what had happened, I had no clue, I had never heard of this happening to anyone in the game. It must be a bug, they did occur but were rare. Opening my chat function, I quickly wrote down what had happened and then sent it up to the GMs in the hope that they would respond, I had heard that when things did go wrong they sometimes gave players bonus items to make up for the bug.


    It was now dark enough that I could look down the mountain and in the distance, I could make out the lights of a settlement, checking my minimap I saw that nothing was listed. Looking up the mountain I saw that around the shoulder was a glow, there was something up there. Facing the choice of walking several kilometers down a steep path in darkness or climbing up to a much closer light I decided to ascend.


    Closest being a relative term I thought as I slipped for the tenth time. Still falling on your face was much better than falling on your ass and then sliding down a steep mountainside. Eventually, I climbed over a ridge and saw that I was on a small plateau that stretched into a valley hidden on the shoulder of the mountain. I could see a small stream twinkling down through the trees so I made my way over and lying flat dunked my whole head in the water to drink, it was cool, crisp and satisfying.


    After drinking my fill, I stood up and followed the stream through the trees till I arrived at a small clearing, here was the source of the glow I had seen. It looked like a cross between a trapper¡¯s cabin and a shrine. I listened but could hear nothing, walking to the shrine I stared at the mountain where the stream started. It was carved into an alcove with a pool deep enough to swim in with the stream exiting over a small lip at the edge. There were carvings on the rock face that showed a man holding up his hand with a lightning bolt above him. On the other side was a carving of a man who seemed to be blessing a group of people on the ground below him.


    Studying the carvings for a few minutes more I shrugged, they were interesting but did nothing to help me. Turning I walked over to the cabin, knocking twice and hearing nothing I entered. The cabin was glowing on the inside, much like the mountain had glowed when I was floating in the darkness. I glanced around, seeing a table and a couple of chairs, then a fireplace/oven built into the wall. On the far wall was a bed, and just beside the doorway was a large amount of wood for the fireplace. Suddenly I realized that I was both cold and tired.


    I quickly started a fire and soon had the cabin warmed up. Walking over to the bed I grabbed all the bedding and dragging it outside I beat it against the cabin wall until all the dust was gone then I went back in and made the bed. I went back outside and grabbed another drink from the stream and then entered the cabin, barring the door I noted that the glow had gone and only the light of the fire was visible. Walking over to the bed I took off my dirty clothing and stretched out. I was asleep within a minute.


    I woke up early feeling comfortable and at home. It was a strange feeling one I had not had in a long time. It reminded me of staying with my granny during my summer holidays, sort of a fun peaceful contentment. Stretching, I made my way to the woodpile and grabbing a couple of small pieces which I then arranged on the flickering coals and soon had a small fire going. Opening the door, I walked out to the stream in the dim prelight of the dawn. It was cool and looking down the valley I could see fog coming off the stream and filling the valley.


    Cupping my hands, I grabbed several handfuls of water and drank my fill, then turning around I noted an old woman sitting in the lotus position floating above the pool of water. ¡°What the hell,¡± I whispered, surprise coloring my words. I was sure I had not been followed, heck I did not even understand how I had ended up here. Seeing the woman, I knew that something was off, but I did not know what. I noted that the woman had opened her eyes and was looking at me, through me, examining my very soul.


    I stared back at her because as real as this was I knew it was still just a VR game. After several minutes of silence, the woman spoke. ¡°My name is Iris and I am the Goddess of the Rainbow and one of the messengers of the Gods.¡± She stood there waiting for a response as I evaluated what she had said.


    I bowed my head and greeted her with respect, this was a game but why piss off a Goddess who could do who knows what within a game. ¡°Goddess, why are you here,¡± I asked. I noted her studying me and I did the same to her. I would guess about 6 feet tall and tanned a dark brown, her hair was brown but with golden highlights and her eyes were an electric blue. She had a full figure, but there were muscles clearly visible. Her eyes were her most stunning attribute as they almost seemed to glow and she gave off a vibe of repressed power.


    I wondered what she observed as she looked at me. ¡°You are not what I was expecting,¡± she stated. I just nodded, I had no idea what she had been expecting. ¡°You have somehow had the blood of a god mixed with your blood, and you have managed to find your way to your own place of power from the Great Darkness. This is something that no mere mortal could have done.¡± I had no idea what she was getting at but when in Rome act like a Roman.


    Continuing she said, ¡°I have been tasked with informing you that as the first being to achieve becoming a higher being, what you humans would call a Demigod, you have earned a place in the heavens.¡± Seeing my eyes widen she smiled and gestured around, the lower heavens. Your place of power is located on the shoulders of the great mountain Olympus. No mortal will ever be able to ascend here, and as for you, time will test your strength as you try to ascend higher.


    Suddenly she was next to me with her warm hand on my head, and I could hear her say, ¡°the doorways are open.¡± Then there was a loud pop and she was gone. I looked around slowly but all I could see was the interface windows blinking. I had gained another 13 levels and had a ton of points to spread around. I had also achieved a new title, the Lord of the Mountain. I quickly hid that and then took note of the fact that I had three new abilities. The first was called Truesight, and it allowed me to buff myself or others. The buff would allow me to see the true name and stats of anyone playing. Handy buff, it would stay on until canceled.


    The second ability was called the Maximum Overdrive and it used Godly power to increase both my spell power and physical power by a scale of ten. It could only be used once an hour and would last two minutes. The last thing I noted was that the cabin was now considered my hearth and I could now teleport myself here once a day. All in all, I felt pretty special, yep I was turning into a snowflake, unique and somewhat special. Crap. It was now full dawn and I decided to head down the mountain, I wanted to get to the village I had seen. This would enable me to upgrade my gear and grab a portal back to Timberlake. I had a lot to think about. I knew that I was getting sucked into the storyline of the game. I glanced at my stats as I started down.


    Stats


    Level 25


    Strength 10


    Agility 7


    Stamina 8


    Wisdom 10


    Charm 4


    Luck 10


    I decided to wait until I hit the village before I assigned the points to my stats. I wanted to train and choose the Dark Priest class.

 Chapter 4

    <h2>Chapter 4</h2>


    I had been slipping and sliding down the mountain for the better part of an hour. I ran when there was a path and I broke bush when there was nothing. Eventually, I came to an archway, it was lit with glowing green and blue runes and the pathway ran right through it. It was clearly some kind of a portal and I would guess that it transferred people from Olympus to a normal mountain. The only way I was going to find out was by going through it.


    Taking a deep breath, I stepped under the archway and into the blackness, I felt the ground disappear and darkness once again surrounded me. I looked around and then suddenly I emerged with a crack into a small room. Stepping down from the small platform I had arrived at I exited through the door and found myself in a corridor. Walking along I noted that my minimap now showed that I had arrived in the hub city of Treetop.


    I exited the building and then made my way down the street, stopping at a vendor I purchased a map of the city which transferred itself to my minimap as soon as I opened it. Expanding my minimap I put in several waypoints, one to the merchant¡¯s bazaar, the next to the class trainers and the third to the shrine of all Gods. Following my map, I soon arrived at the bazaar and began the long process of getting new gear. I emptied my bag of all the gear I had collected fighting the Gobbys. After some hard bartering, I now had 8 gold. I then laid out the Fiery and Icy scrolls and looked at the merchant, judging by the way he was licking his lips I knew he wanted them.


    ¡°I will give you 20 gold for both and believe me that is the best offer you will get from anyone here,¡± he said.


    ¡°No offense to you but if you are going to insult me we are done,¡± I replied. My good mood was rapidly turning dark, I was coming to realize that I did not much like most people real or NPC. Stopping the merchant¡¯s protestations, I said, ¡°Three hundred gold, or we are done.¡± I watched his face begin to turn red and then as he began to whine I swept the scrolls up and turned to leave. The merchant finally found his voice and called out, ¡°Fine I will pay you 200 gold for the scrolls.¡±


    I turned and looked at him them flipping him the bird I left the store. I was expected to get a hit on my rep with the merchants of Treetop but was surprised when nothing happened. Probably due to bartering about goods, I thought. I went to three more merchants before I sold the scrolls and with each one I left if they tried to screw me around. The last one merely looked at them and said, ¡°Hard, very hard to acquire, the damn mages have a monopoly.¡± He agreed to pay my 350 gold which gave me 358g and 49s.


    This was enough gold to keep me in some solid green gear but before I bought anything I had to choose my class. Gear is very class dependent, I did not want to buy some stuff that would not work for me. I eventually found my way to the class trainers, located in the Halls of Training. It was a wooden building located on a hilltop. Once I arrived a guard met me at the gate and led me inside. Taking me to a small room I sat me down and asked which trainer I had come to see. He seemed a friendly sort and open to listening so I told him I was not sure.


    ¡°That is not a problem, some people come without knowing their calling, we have a Seer here who can ask the gods for their blessing on you and to point you to the path you should take. All we ask for is a donation of 1 gold.¡±


    Aha, I knew that it was a scam, but still, why not, it would not hurt and perhaps the Seer could actually give me some good advice. Pulling open my wallet I brought out 2 gold coins. Giving them both to the guard I said, ¡°Thanks for your help man, please accept my small gift to you and the other is for the Seer.¡± His face cracked open with a warm smile the guard thanked me and left. The gold would probably go to the lonely-hearts club found in most taverns where men of all ages would go and drink and remember the fire of youth and the pain of age. Or naught. It was easy at times to forget this was just a game.


    Several moments passed and then the curtain was pulled aside and a small person entered the room, pulling the curtain shut she removed her hood and I could see a woman whose eyes reflected wisdom and power in a middle-aged face. She nodded at me and then asked, ¡°What is it you are looking for young man? I can ask the Gods blessings for you and for their wisdom but perhaps you already know what road you will walk down?¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°I had planned out my future and had decided on my path and place in the world, but events have overtaken my plans. Originally I wanted to be a Dark Priest but now I am not certain that would be the wisest choice.¡±


    She looked at me and with a smile said, ¡°Give me your hand child, and I will see what the Gods will show me.¡± I held out my left hand for her to hold and taking it, she closed her eyes and began to pray. ¡°Oh, highest Gods listen to my prayer, I come before you here and now to ask for your guidance and wisdom for my brother, give us directions and knowledge and help us to understand what his choice should be. We thank you and wait for your words.¡±


    I could feel an eldritch energy about the room as she prayed and I could also feel the power within me respond. After several seconds, a darkness came into the room and suddenly there was a flame floating above the table. It flickered briefly at the old woman and caressed her once then it turned to me. Once it flickered towards me it suddenly grew in size and then a female voice spoke from within the fire.


    ¡°Little brother, I see you have met my servant, and have asked for my advice. It is freely given but be warned it must be freely taken also, to not act is to incur the wrath of the Gods. Take my blessing and wisdom or my wrath, Octo.¡±


    I was startled but opportunities don¡¯t come that often in life and so I said, ¡°I gladly accept your wisdom and knowledge Goddess.¡±


    I could see the flame dancing on the table in front of me but was still surprised when I heard it say, ¡°That silly boy Janus actually allowed his blood to mix with a mortal and here you are. Very well you must train in both magic and the physical arts, once you are ready I will summon you to receive your divine training as a Hero of the Gods, and Gatekeeper but do not allow others to know who or what you have become. In order to facilitate your training, I hereby commission you as a dark Paladin with both the powers of a Dark Priest and those of a Paladin of the Light. If you need to reach out to me go to any of the temples or shrines of Aurora, bringer of light. Place your offering down and then call out for me, if I do not respond tell one of the priestess¡¯s that you need to speak to Avia. I will come to hear you. But only call me in your time of need. Hero¡¯s must be strong.¡±


    Suddenly the fire flickered and then grew bright and then went out, the presence of the Goddess had left. I closed my eyes for a moment and thought of what I had heard, opening them I found the seer staring at me with an intent and hungry look in her eyes.


    ¡°You who are most blessed by the blood of a God, and yet you are a man, yet the Goddess herself spoke of helping you and told you to call her Avia. Who are you.¡±


    I stared at the seer and slowly shook my head, ¡°I am no one special, just someone that was pushed into something larger than himself.¡±


    She smiled at me and then said, ¡°Yes but you are the blessed of the Goddess, for I know that in the thousand years I have served her I have never heard her tell anyone to call her Avia, which means Grandmother.¡±


    ¡°One thousand years,¡± I spoke slowly for the woman before me looked no older than a youthful 40 years of age. Looking at her I could see that under the shawl she wore over her robe her figure was that of a woman with curves but no fat. Her face had happy lines from smiling and her lips were fully curved into a smile as she saw me stare at her.


    ¡°My Goddess has granted me life and a small amount of power to help those who truly need it. I have spent most of my life traveling from city to city and temple to temple to help people. My time here is now at an end and I will be traveling soon, but while I am here may I accompany you?¡±


    Her eyes were burning into me and I felt something, a stirring within, crap I hope I was not getting a woody. I knew that my body was beginning to respond to the allure of this woman and I had to stop it. Staring at her I said, ¡°You can come with me while I am in the city, but stop whatever it is you are doing, you don¡¯t need magic for men to find you attractive.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    As we stared at each other I saw her nod and then sigh, so I spoke up, ¡°What is the problem, miss? It is clear that I find you attractive. Does that bother you?¡±


    I was startled by her response, ¡°My name is Tilla and I have outlived three husbands and have been abandoned by two others. Being chosen by the Gods has its rewards but it also has its price. When I realized that you have a destiny with the Gods I felt something, a connection of some type with you. It is something I have not felt in a long time. That is why I wanted to spend time with you.¡±


    I stared at her and I could see that there was still something unsaid, reaching out my hands I grabbed her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go see what the hell a Dark Paladin is and what I need to learn.¡± We walked out of the little room and Tilla led me down towards the center of the building. At the center of the building was a table with a dozen men sitting and drinking, chatting and reading. They all stopped as Tilla and I approached.


    ¡°Classmasters, I have brought before you this man Octo, who the Gods themselves have laid their mark on, to be trained not be one class trainer but by two.¡±


    The room was immediately filled with debate and denial, no one had heard of such a thing and these old bastards were not too happy about it. Tilla stood tall and silent as the argument continued. I was done with it already, and I let them know that. Frikken arrogant greybeards. I shouted out in the same voice I had used in the military many many times as a sergeant. ¡°Shout the f--- up you bunch of geriatric old bastards. Tilla has spoken, the Gods have spoken and now I am speaking. I want the Dark Priest and the Light Paladin here front and center. NOW.¡±


    That caught the attention of the group and soon two men were in front of me. I pointed at them and said, ¡°Do your humble mumble or whatever the hell you do, and do it now. They both looked at me with scowls, clearly, I was winning no friends here but I lifted my hand and opened it. When they stared at me I said, ¡°That was me freeing my last Fu¡ªnow I have no Fu--- to give so let¡¯s get on with this.¡±


    The Paladin shook his head and said, ¡°Such arrogance, it has no place in the ranks of the Paladins of Light. Still, if the Gods have chosen you I will bless you with the knowledge of training.¡± As he placed his hand on my head he whispered, ¡°I will make sure every order and Paladin will know that you are not a true brother. Dickhead.¡±


    I winked at him as a cosmic light went off in my head and I felt a seismic shock shoot through me. I suddenly knew about the light and the fight against the darkness and was aware that I had received two spells, Holy Fire, which surrounded me with a 5-foot circle of fire that dealt damage to enemies and brought healing to myself and those allies who touched me. I also received the Banhammer, a one-handed mace made up of light itself with I could fling at an enemy. It would temporally ban them to a place of otherness where for ten seconds they could not attack me but I was free to attack them with the Banhammer and real weapons.


    As the Paladin stepped back I thought of sending him the universal symbol of love but decided against it. He was just another prick in this life, and I would soon be past him. The Dark Priest soon was standing in front of me and we both stared at each other with curiosity. I saw a person of average height with a small paunch and florid cheeks. His breath was bad and his hair greasy. His eyes glittered and I knew that this man was the closest I had come to meeting someone bad in the game. I suddenly had the feeling that this man was a predator and that is not just because he was a priest and dressed in priestly garb.


    He laid his hand on my forehead and suddenly I was once again flooded with knowledge and information. Two more skills were now available to me. Suddenly I felt a pull and as I looked at the Dark Priest I saw him smirk. The bastard was trying to do something to my mind, and I was not having any of it. Suddenly the dormant power that was now a part of my blood flared to life and I reached out, grabbing the front of his Cossack I lifted him and threw him across the room.


    He was knocked out, turning to the other Classmasters I asked, ¡°Do you all use your gifts to try to steal the thoughts if those that come here?¡± My voice was flat, I was feeling a surge of rage throughout my body. Tilla grabbed my arm and whispered, ¡°Stop whatever you are doing Octo, we are done here now.¡±


    She turned to look at the men, many of them looking with anger at me several looking at the Dark Priest and shaking their heads. ¡°Listen to my words, that Dark Priest is no longer to be an honored member here. He has gone over to completely serve the Dark Lord and has made a covenant of evil with the Darkness.¡± At her words, all the men looked at the Dark priest who was starting to move. The Paladin and one of the other men were suddenly on each side of the Dark Priest and grabbing him they pulled him from the room. Tilla nodded at the men that were still there and then grabbing my arm led me out of the room and then out of the building.


    As we left I heard a fanfare sound and my interface showed a popup. Congratulations on your choice of a new class, the Dark Paladin. This class opens the doorway to both the light and dark quest arcs. Become familiar with and use your new powers. Good luck.


    I closed the popup window with a thought and then gently squeezing Tilla¡¯s hand I asked, ¡°Where are you taking me, pretty lady?¡± She looked at me and snorted and then said, I am taking you to my Inn where you will spend the night, you have succeeded in annoying several of the most powerful men in this city, and I think if I were not with you, you would be sharing a cell with that Dark Priest. I mean really what in hell were you thinking, pissing off the Classmasters.¡±


    I looked at her, with her ageless eyes and her pretty mouth turned down in disapproval at me, she had a point I was being a bit of an ass. I did not like people all that much and with Haven being so life like it was no wonder that I was reacting as I would in real life. We continued to walk to the Inn my silence bothering her, but how the hell could I explain that I was not a happy human being. I lived my life in a way that brought me peace and I truly believed that was all a man could ask for.


    The American dream, forget it, it was dead and buried by 2025. I had served my country like many others, going over to the Stan¡¯s for 3 tours. Then doing another tour in NK after we nuked the fat bastard. I was finally put out of the army when I was at an NFL football game back home in Minnesota, some asswipe with a complex started waving the rebel flag and screaming the south will rise again. Then he detonated three vans full of homemade fertilizer bombs outside the U.S. Bank Stadiumlocated inMinneapolis Minnesota. Holding over 66000 people it was a miracle that only about 15 thousand died.


    I was one of the lucky ones, I survived with few injuries. Really, all I had was an extreme dislike for crowds and people in general. Not knowing how to share any of this with Tilla I decided to say very little. Not talking to a woman when she wants to talk is not a game-winning strategy I thought as the silence deepened and I could feel waves of irritation pouring off Tilla all directed at me.


    Yep, I was not going to be spending the night in this lady¡¯s room, I thought. Turning to Tilla I stopped her and said, ¡°Tilla this is where we part ways, I have some things to do and while I had thought it would be fun to hang out, you are acting like a wife with 20 years of disappointments built up. To be honest, I don¡¯t need this shit, your approval or disapproval so Fu¡ªit. I stared at her face and watched her anger changed to shock, I guess no one has spoken like this to her in hundreds of years.


    ¡°Thanks for your assistance and have a good trip when you head out. See ya.¡± I turned to walk away when I felt a hand grab my arm, stopping I looked back at Tilla and asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡± We stared at each other for a few seconds the Tilla spoke. ¡°Octo, I am sorry, I have presumed much and I apologize. I have not met someone like you in hundreds of years, you are like the men of my past. Simpler and more in touch with who you are. We are so proper now, things are done in a certain way and protocols must be followed.


    When you showed up and I realized that you are touched by the Gods I knew you were special, but then when I saw how you handled the Classmasters I felt like you were nothing more than a simple man, a peasant. Rude and boorish. Then when the Dark Priest tried to steal your thoughts and you showed your power I became confused and when you refused to explain anything I grew upset. No one in 1000 years has ignored me, yet you, you stand there even now with a bored look on your face.


    I stared at her as she began to cry, and I realized that we had attracted a bit of an audience. Looking at Tilla I said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go to your Inn and once we have some privacy we will talk. Now is not the place nor the time. Glancing around at the crowd I could see that they would have preferred us to discuss our issues here with them. Frikken bore sheep always looking for something new to occupy them for a moment or two.


    Making our way to the Inn Tilla had a tankard of ale and a bottle of wine sent up to her room. Once it was delivered we began to talk, I had decided that I would not lie about anything if I did not want to tell her something I would let her know. By the time the moon had risen and was visible through her window I realized that I had told her most of my life story. We had also ended up cuddled together on her bed with some of our clothing half undone.


    I was staring at her as she drank her wine, and softly speaking I said, ¡°You are like a fine wine, you only improve with age. I was not surprised when she kissed me, her lips tasted of honey and sweet berries. In moments, we had no cloth on and in the flickering light of the candles I stared at her, golden brown skin with dark wavy hair and a face that was pretty enough to attract a second glance. Her breasts were heavy and firm with no sag and her tummy was flat, her body was muscled and trim. I stared in her eyes as we kissed finally closing my eyes to the moment.


    Pulling slightly back I whispered, ¡°Are you sure that this is what you want?¡± I watched as her eyelids grew heavy, and felt her breasts as she pressed herself against me. There was the scent of Jasmine in the air and I let her tongue and mouth work their way down my chest as her hands grabbed my arms. I had wrapped my hands around her hips and was gently caressing her smooth skin. As for the rest, a man should never speak of the women in his life. Suffice to say that I awoke early with a beautiful 1000-year-old woman in my arms and I felt pretty damn good for someone who had just made love to a MILF.