《Last Hope》 Unforgettable vision A beautiful sunset shone upon the dome. Even if it was regularly battered by radioactive storms, it seemed that today nothing could disturb the peace which prevailed inside it. In fact laughs and shouts emerged from the university¡¯s athletics track. While emptiness, destruction and finally death were prominent outside, a few million people had sheltered inside one of mankind¡¯s last five known refuges. On the edge of the track, a young man wearing sport clothes was silently watching a hologram projected by his cellphone. He had a slim but muscular body, his brown hair fell in front of his eyes . He looked fascinated by what the hologram was showing. A handful of journalists were questioning representatives of Aether Corporation,commonly called AC. They were promoting the last game of their company, Last Hope. Games had become mainstream in this society, even older people played it; it allowed to forget the mistakes made by humanity. With her red dress, the press officer was attracting all the looks and her sweet smile prevented people from detaching their gaze. ¡°Will players be able to customize their character ?¡± ¡°Of course. Furthermore, their actions, spells will not be limited by their class, they will have total freedom. ¡± ¡°Are you telling us that players can create whatever they want?¡± ¡°Almost, weapons like guns cannot be created and to imagine a new spell might require more than what you think.¡± ¡°From what you are telling us nothing looks really innovative, how do you plan to differentiate yourself from other games ? At this moment, an evil grin appeared on the face of the press officer as if she was waiting for this question. She willingly paused for a few seconds and looked toward a female assistant on the other side of the room. The doors opened and waitress started to distribute a Dive helmet. It looked a bit more sophisticated than Liam¡¯s one.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, please use the device. A file has been uploaded in it and for everyone watching us through the internet, the file is available on our website. Still I must warn you, the old device commonly use can only utilize 50% of our game potential. ¡± Waiting for everyone to be ready, the red lady started to play with her hands it was a nervous tic she had whenever she felt nervous. Seeing this, her associate put his hand on hers and looked at her with a gentle smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Cassandra.¡± When everyone was ready Cassandra got up and said: ¡° I present you, Last Hope! ¡± The young man remembered way too well the moment he opened the file last night: he had sat on his bed to watch the interview to please his father who worked for this company. He had used the same device as the journalist, a gift from his father. It allows to access games as well as the internet. When he had opened the file at first it was all black, he had felt as if transported in the void then little by little light could be seen. He had heard sounds but they seemed distant. His vision soon came back but it was all blurry. It was the same sensation as being under water. Little by little his hearing improved and sounds like roars or swords clashes were heard. Finally all his senses came back and he found himself in the middle of a big battle. Humans and beasts were fighting to death. He even saw angels, griffins and wyrms in the sky. Their movements were graceful and their clashes looked like a ballet. Knights and soldiers were shouting to raise the moral of the army: ¡°In the name of our Goddess, slaughter their archers! ¡± ¡°Kill Hades priests, Apollo power will help you.¡± What shocked him the most at this moment was not the tiger like creature rampaging near him but the wind blowing through his hair, the smell of blood entering his nose and this feeling of wearing real armor. He was amazed and couldn¡¯t tell if this was reality, everything looked so genuine. While the other games only gave the feeling of manipulating a puppet, this one allowed you to feel what your character felt. Gradually a sensation of oppression grew. People were collapsing near him due to the heavy pressure. With difficulty he raised his head and saw on the other side of the battlefield a man standing proudly. He was wearing a dark armor that seemed absorbing the light. His black cape with golden embroideries was dancing with the wind, she almost felt alive. The point of view suddenly changed. He was watching the battlefield from the eyes of the dark knight. He immediately felt better and even more. Power was flooding his body. When a group of knight rushed at him, he waved his hand and a golden dragon passed at lighting speed near him, crashing in the middle of the knight. At this instant fear appeared in the eyes of his enemies and they tried to escape. But like a wild beast the dark knight got into the fray. When he had started to realize what was happening everything had become black once again and his bed was pressing into his back. Quickly he had switched back to the interview, there had been a heavy silence. A lot of emotions could be seen on everyone face: fear, disbelief,joy. But, the most prominent was shock. A big smile had appeared on every AC employee. Cassandra had been enjoying the moment. A normal day inside the dome A shout coming from the athletics track brought him back to reality. ¡°Liam! You have 1min to be in position or you will have to wash everyone shirt for tomorrow! ¡° ¡°Yes coach, I¡¯m coming.¡± Liam was part of the athletics club. He always loved running. In fact he was the ace of the club with a personal record of 10.9s for 100m. Even if his running skills were high enough to take part in the dome¡¯s competition he chosed a scientific path and kept running for fun. His coach had no mercy for him because of his decision but he had not resentment. He perfectly understood his reaction after he trained him for years and saw him grow. But today Liam was not in the mood and neglected his training. He got scolded for this quite a few times yet his head was filled with images of Last Hope. He couldn¡¯t forget this feeling of freedom and wished to explore this new world free of radiation. Since his childhood he has always wanted to explore the world in a way to see more than what a travel between cities allowed. After the training ended he made his way through the university to go back home while listening music. Near the exit a tall male student put his hand on Liam¡¯s shoulder to stop him. He was one head taller than Liam and was quite in shape. Liam guessed the man just ended his training too since his rugby jersey was full of sweat. ¡°Hey what¡¯s up Liam?¡± ¡°Same as always¡­ wait, did you see Last Hope trailer ?¡± ¡°You mean the new game developed by AC? Everyone in my class was talking about it today. I can¡¯t understand the popularity of this game.¡± ¡°Come on Luca. Just watch it, trust me.¡± ¡°Yeah maybe. Anyway, did you get the number of the waitress?¡± ¡° No, she was not my type¡­¡± They kept talking about girls on their way home. Luca was Liam¡¯s best friend, they have know each other for 18 years already. He loved girls as much as he loved himself and had a certain popularity among the university¡¯s girls. He was according to Liam a crazy person, always searching for new sensations but he would always be here to help if needed. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. When they split up Liam started to run, he enjoyed feeling the wind on his face. When he got home, his sister Celeste rushed toward him and jumped. Liam caught her and started kissing her forehead. She was wearing a red skirt with white circles and a red headband. Her eyes gave an abnormal feeling of intelligence for her age,she was ten. Their father often left late his work because of the game development and their mother worked at night at the hospital. She was a famous neurologist. Liam had to take care of his sister most of the time and had little time left for himself. But soon his father as well as his colleagues will have a one month holiday. His father promised to take care of Celeste during his free time. Tonight Liam made hamburgers for dinner with a tomato salad. Hamburgers were Celeste¡¯s favorite dish, Liam tried to please her as much as possible. When they finished eating Liam washed the dished and went to his room. He turned on the Dive helmet and read AC¡¯s forum. People were over excited after the announcement and grew impatient to play Last Hope. AC¡¯s forum was saturated, people wanted to know more and asked various questions on it. Most of the time admins answered: ¡®¡¯No information will be disclosed. It¡¯s up to players to discover it.¡¯¡¯ The effervescence created by the teaser obligated AC to disclose information about Last Hope creation. According to its press officers, the engineers improved the system of other Virtual Reality. They were able to encode smell, touch and taste in addition to view and hearing. Furthermore they enhanced the realism of NPCs by collecting the data coming from the dive helmet. NPCs behaved like real humans and thought of players as world travelers. The game release date was scheduled three weeks later which coincided with the beginning of the holidays. They planned to attract as much people as possible during this month of break. Few television channels already planned to change their schedule as they hoped for Last Hope to become a common thing in the life of the dome¡¯s citizens. Strangely enough, even national tv channels , which were not known for broadcasting entertainment, planned to do the same. Suddenly a window appeared in front of Liam¡¯s eyes: it was his father calling him. ¡°Liam, is everything okay at home ?¡± ¡°Yes dad, I already cooked for Celeste, she went to her room few minutes ago.¡± ¡°Thanks son for taking care of your sister every day¡­ .¡± His father stopped speaking for few seconds. Liam felt remorse in his father¡¯s voice. ¡°Anyway, I hope you watched our trailer.¡± ¡°Of course, it was fantastic. I feel proud knowing my father contributed to this game.¡± Hearing this his father laughed a bit. They spoke for another ten minutes before Liam hanged up. With the end of the call, he could once again browse through AC forum. He looked for information but found none that were interesting, a few caught his attention but their veracity was doubtful. Someone even proclaimed that the dark knight was the final boss but considering his username, xXx_Dark_Shadow_xXx , Liam rapidly changed page. At some point he just gave up and switched to his guild chat room which was literally a room. Old forums were replaced by these rooms where people would meet and chat just like in real life. Most of his guildmates were planning to play Last Hope at his release and already planned to reform the guild in it. His guildmaster already announced that he would also stop playing their current game in order to focus on Last Hope. He was a good guildmaster who knew how to manage a guild or even lead a 100 characters party to kill a boss. He was charismatic leader and his announcement convinced even more people to switch game. Liam started talking with 3 of his guildmates with whom he often played with. All four of them used to play light melee class and little by little a deep friendship bond grew between them. They all lived in Naporia or, as they used to call it, the dome of death, and often met in real life. Knowing that Liam father¡¯s was working on Last Hope they bombarded him with questions but unfortunately for them Liam knew as much as them on this matter. After a long talk he disconnected and slept. The beginning The next three weeks went by at crazy speed. Days were all the same: Liam woke up at 7a.m, went to school at 8a.m, trained at 4p.m for 2 hours, prepared lunch for his sister just after and browsed AC forum in his bed before sleeping. He couldn¡¯t find tangible information on it, most of the threads were mere speculations and those that claimed to be true were almost instantly denied by an admin. The only new information he had were those disclosed by AC press officer which were: A war between gods was bound to happen but the actors of this conflict had yet to be known. These gods were part of the Greek Mythology, which hearing it gave a big smile to Liam. He has always liked this mythology and its heroes, who defeated huge and ferocious creatures; the death of Cronos was his favorite story of all. Even if there are Greek gods, the game will not take place in Ancient Greece in fact the world has yet to be finished: the AI will create new lands as players advance. Liam woke up at 10 on monday full of energy, today was Last Hope release day but the servers would not be online before 1 p.m. His sister was still sleeping on her first day of holidays and Liam didn¡¯t wanted to wake her up. He put on his shoes and left the house. Even with the dome the sunlight dazzled him, after a few seconds he started running. He went to the center of the dome where the largest building was erected. The building hosted the dome council where all decisions concerning this dome were made. It took him 2 hours to make the roundtrip. When he came back sweating, his sister was watching the TV with a bowl of cereal. ¡°Hey Liam, dad called he takes me shopping this afternoon, do you want to come with us ? ¡° ¡°Na, I¡¯m gonna play Last Hope today.¡± ¡°My friends were talking about it yesterday, they plan to meet and play together.. Maybe i should ask dad for an helmet. ¡± ¡°But you never played video games.¡± ¡°I know but if everyone plays it, I don¡¯t want to be left alone.¡± ¡°Well, you might have fun and find new friends¡­ I¡¯m gonna take a shower and prepare something to eat, do you want some ? ¡° ¡°No I¡¯m fine.¡± After 50min Liam was lying on his bed with his helmet on watching Last Hope countdown.
5 min 48 seconds
5 min 47 seconds
5 min 46 seconds
¡­ He grew impatient as seconds pass. When the countdown reached 0 a window appeared in front of him.
Dear player, we are happy to present Last Hope but please read the following conditions of use carefully.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ----------------O---------------- I / General Conditions 1 ) User health condition ......
Liam had no time for that and scrolled down to the Accept button. Suddenly all the world around him changed. He found himself in the middle of nowhere, no light reached him, it was just void. A powerful voice surprised him but he couldn¡¯t tell his origin. ¡°Little one, why did you come here? ¡° Hm ? First time a game asked him why he played it. ¡° To have fun I suppose ? I mean, it¡¯s a game.¡± ¡°A game ¡­ maybe for you but not for this world inhabitants, unlike your kind they do not resurrect. Some of them are even more intelligent than the majority of you and yet you are calling it a game. You should see it as travelling from your world to another one. Anyway, I got carried away.¡± ¡°Yeah don¡¯t worry , I got it, it¡¯s a sensitive topic. I was wondering, where am I ? And what/who are you ?¡± ¡°Who am I ? I am the beginning of everything, a timeless being, I am Chaos and this is my realm The Rift. Everything you will see, every creature, god, animal was once a part of me and so you are. You¡¯ve got to choose one of the three available races. Will you be an human or a beastkind ?¡± After waiting for 2 whole minutes Liam realised something. ¡° Wait, you wont give me any more details about each race ? What about humans adaptability or beastkind raw force ? And how come only 2 races are available for such a game ?¡± ¡°You build your own path, I am not one who will decide for you. Choose wisely because you won''t be able to change it unless a god helps you, only them can alter life. ¡° After a pause that felt like eternity for Liam, Chaos added: ¡°The others have yet to be discovered and they will accept only worthy beings.¡± ¡°Come on, you can¡¯t give me a hint at least ?¡± Clearly annoyed Chaos answered ¡° Humans will be easier to handle, now choose !¡±. After 5 minutes of reflexion Liam answered. ¡° I choose the human race.¡± Without warning the invisible floor shrinked under his feet and Liam started falling. His heart almost skipped a beat as his speed increased exponentially. Soon after a planet appeared below him, at 80km from this planet surface a sharp pain invaded his lungs, he couldn¡¯t breath. Little by little as he fell the oxygen quantity increased and the pain reduced. But Liam was still falling, wind blades rushed at him and he had to cross his arms in front of his face in order to protect it. As he got closer, he saw houses, temples, streets full of people, even ramparts that towered the nearby houses. According to Liam they were at least 10 meters high and 5 meters width. ¡®Some nasty creatures must lives in the vicinity if they need such protections.. Isn¡¯t the temple below me really huge ? Wait, I am rushing at it and my speed doesn¡¯t decrease. I¡¯m gonna die. I¡¯m gonna die right at the beginning, that¡¯s great. Thank you dad really ¡­ ¡® 2 meters before crashing on the temple roof, he suddenly stopped mid-air and after a few seconds got teleported in a circular room. He was still levitating but before he could regain his senses, the power holding him vanished and he fall on the room floor. Unlike superheroes who land in a fashion way, with their cape floating in the wind, Liam landed landed on his feets unprepared and collapsed. He slowly got back on his feets and got stunned by the view. The room was circular with white columns. There was no window but torches attached to the columns provided enough light for him to see what was situated between them. Statues representing people with differents accoutrements were towering Liam. There was enough light to illuminate their faces but the tops of the columns were in the dark. Liam recognised the one right in front of him as Poseidon. He was holding a trident in his right hand and a net in his left hand. A loincloth made of seaweed was his only garment. His muscles as well as the waves carved behind him looked almost alive due to the flames movements. His gaze was directly pointed at Liam which send shivers down his spine. He also recognized Hades, Zeus, Artemis and Athena. All of them looking directly at him as if they were judging him. On the floor a mosaic represented a hero fighting a multi-headed hydra. Liam remained in this room half an hour mesmerized by its beauty. When he finally left he found himself inside a typical Greek temple. On his right a priest kneeled in front of a statue of Apollon. Seeking information Liam headed toward the priest who hearing him coming standed up. He watched him advance and, once Liam was right in front of him, said: ¡°Welcome hero¡±. Amphipolis Hero ? That was the first time someone called him a hero, it felt a bit strange given that he had no merit or whatsoever. ¡°Why are you calling me a hero? I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s the first time I come here.¡± ¡°Indeed it is your first time in our world. Your parent sent you to fight for him in the incoming war. Should they unleash their power here, our world would fall apart immediately. But you should focus on becoming stronger before thinking about taking part in this war.¡± ¡°Slow down please. Your parent. They. Who are you referring to ?¡± At this moment the priest looked at him in disbelief and Liam grew anxious. Did he said something wrong ? Why was the priest looking at him like this ? The priest sighed before answering. ¡°Gods. To whom else could I refer to ? ¡° ¡® Interesting, unlike other games where you spawn as a random adventurer,here you actually are a Greek Hero, son/daughter of a deity. That¡¯s so cool, I want to try Heracles twelve labors, if they still exist though. But wait, if I am a hero, who is my parent ?¡¯ ¡°You say that one of my parent is a god, who is it ?¡± ¡° I don¡¯t know ..¡± , at this moment all his expectations collapsed, ¡° .. yet ..¡± , once again he felt hope, ¡° .. but you will have to wait two weeks before being acknowledged.¡±, hope that, soon after, died again. But something caught his mind. ¡° What do you mean by being acknowledged ?¡± ¡° In two weeks, if you are worth it, your parent will send you a gift. ¡° Surprised by what the priest said, Liam quickly asked: ¡° If I am worth it ? What do you mean? Not everybody get recognized ? ¡° Before the priest could answer a group of soldiers entered the temple and the priest left Liam and went to meet them. ¡®What a rude priest leaving me on my own.¡¯ But Liam was still intrigued by those soldiers who got all the priest attention. There were three of them, one was talking to the priest while the others stood behind him. They wore a black cuirass certainly made of leather, a belt with a silver wolf head and a black leather pant matching their cuirass. Attached to it was a long blood colored cape which with their helmet representing a wolf head gave an ominous feeling. Completing their equipment were 2 swords attached to their ankle. As Liam left, the soldiers fixed their gaze on him, which scared him a little and he started walking faster. When he left the temple he stopped abruptly, in front of him was a crowded avenue where merchants had their stalls installed, differents flavors reached him, fresh bread, fish ¡­ ¡® During my conversation with the priest I forgot where I was but .. wahou, this feels so genuine even if it¡¯s a game. These people do not look like normal NPCs, they behave like real people, I can¡¯t find a pattern in their behavior .. ¡®. Liam went down the stairs were a soldier was standing. ¡°Excuse me, I would like information.¡± , as Liam talked the soldier turned towards him. ¡° Yes hero ? What can I do for you ?¡± ¡° How do you know that I am a hero ? ¡° a smile almost unnoticeable appeared on his face as he called himself a hero. ¡° Obviously from your clothes.¡± Liam checked what he was wearing, it was a sober white tunic with golden embroideries maintained by a plain belt and a pair of leather boots. ¡° From your look I can tell it¡¯s your first time in our world, follow me I will lead you to the forum, Captain Alkimos will be able to answer all your questions.¡± Liam followed the guard for 20 minutes and he learnt quite a bit from him. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The city he appeared in was called Amphipolis, it was famous for its dungeons linked to dark old gods and its dark wolf legion, the same soldiers Liam saw inside the temple. According to his escort, only soldiers who cleared a famous dungeon or shone on the battlefield could join their rank. They were called dark wolves due to their first commander who killed a wolf deity running amok near the city, he later created this order and chose the best fighters in order to protect the city from powerful beings. The soldier also told Liam how heros started to appear around the known world after the Oracle saw in her vision a war claiming millions of lives. Liam entered the forum alongside the soldier, they passed through a dozen of rooms before finally stopping. They were in a huge room filled with people, some were talking while others read or played a game similar to chess. The soldier led them in front of a huge table, a man wearing full plate armor was talking to an old man clinging to his staff. ¡® A wizard ? ¡® ¡° Excuse me Captain, this hero just arrived and seemed a bit lost.¡± As soon as the captain nodded the soldier left the room. Captain Alkimos was a tall man, his well developed muscles as well as his numerous scars were a proof of his experience as a soldier. A large claymore was attached on his back, it was almost as tall as him, its handle was made of gold while its blade was pitch black. ¡° What¡¯s your name boy?¡± ¡°Liam.¡± He gave his real name without a second thought. ¡°Liam ... We used to provide lodging and a training ground for newcomers but with the incoming war we had to change our plans, right now we can only offer you a contract . If you wish to take part in this war we can train you with our soldiers, provide you a tent, food and weapons but you will have to fight for this city, otherwise you will be considered a traitor and will be hunted down.¡± ¡° It seems to be a fair offer but before agreeing I want to ask a few questions. First, I suppose that I am not the first one who got this offer, what did the others answer ? Secondly, should I refuse your offer, what other profession can I do in this city in order to become stronger ?¡± ¡° As you must suspect, most refuse it and prefer train on their own, they don¡¯t want to be associated to our city so quickly. Some of them register in the Mercenary Guild or join the Magic Order, other prefer to adventure alone and more rarely they become the personal guard of nobles. ¡° ¡° How is it possible for them to become the personal guard of nobles so quickly ? I mean they arrived 3 hours ago at best. ¡° ¡° I don¡¯t know what you mean but heroes started to appear 2 months ago.¡± ¡®2 months ? How is that possible ? Are these heroes beta testers ?¡¯. Captain Alkimos looked at him the same way the priest had looked at him 1 hour ago when he asked who was his parent. ¡® Even if adventuring sounds cool and exciting, free meals and training from experienced soldiers are unvaluable in the early stages of the game¡­ I may even become an officer before the beginning of the war, I want to give it a try !¡¯ ¡° I accept your offer captain, when do I start ?¡± ¡° Right now ! ¡° . At this moment the captain grew serious and yelled :¡± Doru come here !¡± A man came running ¡° Yes captain ?¡±. Doru had long black hairs that fell below his shoulders and partially covered the round shield attached to his back. ¡° This is our new recruit, he will train with your pentekostyes from now on, keep him safe but do not spare him. In a week he will come with us to clear the dark dungeon near the river.¡±. As Alkimos talked, Doru became aware of Liam¡¯s presence and glared at him which made him uncomfortable as Liam could only see Doru¡¯s eyes through his helmet. ¡° Yes captain, it will be done !¡±. ¡°Follow me.¡± Doru turned and started walking, he led Liam to a training ground where fifty spearmen were training. The soldiers were stabbing, slashing and parrying invisible enemies in unison, as they did they always took cover behind their shield which has the same symbol as the one carried by Duno, two black spears crossed on a white background. ¡° Show me you Status Screen. ¡° ¡® And I forgot the basics of RPGs ¡­ ¡®. ¡° Status Screen ¡°
Character Status
Name: Liam Race: Human
Gender: Male Leven: 0
Strength: 8 Endurance : 13
Agility: 14 Dexterity : 11
Intelligence: 7 Willpower: 9
Duno scanned Liam¡¯s stat, mumbled something after each stat and finally said: ¡° Light type.. Boy, I will assign you to the scout team. ¡°