Chapter Text
The weekend was finally there. And not just any weekend. The new adult themed virtual-mmorpg ‘eternal-wars’ was just to release.Not much was known about the game. Stealth marketing was currently the big thing in the gaming sphere. With gaming rigs being able to hijack your consciousness via the new brainstem-neuralinks, the war about graphics or NPC behavior were suddenly over.It was now possible to upload yourself to the game server then when logging off, copy all that memories back to your brain. The world became real while playing it, and with AI-NPCs becoming more and more indistinguishable from real Humans it was less and less about the technology of the game.The distinguishing feature was the world, the setting. The game world to delve into. Thus the secrecy of NP-Tronics was understandable. Their last game Bloodmoon-Wars was a hit game. It was a world of Vampires in an eternal War against humanity. With Players taking both Sides fighting an ever escalating war over 6 years. With drama and real live espionage going as far as reaching the real world. But the most surprising thing was, when after 5 years, 3 months and 16 days, the Vampire Fraction actually managed to finish a war ending blood ritual. Sacrificing a whole continent, full of players, guilds and NPCs the vampire-elders started a ritual that decided the war in one stroke.
And what was even more surprising, was that the game was shut down just after that.
Now 3 years later, everyone in the virtual sphere was jumping on the chance to get on the next chance to live gaming history. To make history in this new game.
Not much was known. Only that you needed to be 25 to play in the game, as it world was said to be even darker than the gory predecessor blood-moon. It was said that there was no longer just 2 Factions, but a faction system spanning over 100 City-State factions.
You could only start the game in groups of up to 5. And your starting location, and thus the city-state you would play for, was decided by random.
You were never a big virtual gamer, playing mostly strategy games, or retro games. But the hype going around social media did not leave you untouched. When your older sister’s group of lost their 5th player, she somehow convinced you to get a virtual-port yesterday to be able to start with them today.
You just turned 26. Being a loner social outcast, programmer in your day to day, solo gamer in your night to night, your social skills stood no chance when your older sister did visit you unannounced yesterday. You folded like a wet tower paper and now had a new virtual port in your neck, freshly exposing your brain steam to electric signals.
She was staying over night on your sofa, and was currently checking the virtual pods for the last time.You were lying already in your bed, the head-plate on your head and the small cable going from your neck to the virtual pod. In a few minutes the servers would start, and your consciousness would get copied over to the game.
Your plan was clear though. Just play a few days. Enjoy catching up with your sister. If things went really well, speak a few sentences to her childhood friend, who you still remember having a crush for, when growing up. And then after a few days, find some bullshit excuse, this would be the hardest part, and try to give your account to the player that currently could not play. Or something along those lines.
You always had a knack for finding excuses to pull away from social obligation. A skill honed over years to perfection. Only a few extrovert people, mainly your older sister, always poked and prodded at your well built defenses. And the little shithead wasn’t even aware of what was happening. Just smiling and being happy to share her stupid hobbies or trying to set you up.
If you just didn’t love her oblivious annoying ass so much…
“Don’t forget, the group id: nb132jj2 the password is ‘Look don’t touch‘, like the newest Anna Carry film.” Were the last few words you haired for the 100th time, when a stinging needle started to drill into your brain.
Your vision being replaced by a white fog. Wafting all around you, until all you could see was white. But the craziest thing was, you could smell the fog. A smell of burning wood, wet morning dew mixed with a hint of ocean.
A androgynous voice, missing any natural inflection, started to speak. Please enter your GroupId and Password, or speak ‘I want to play alone’, to enter your battle for survival.
Without any hint of annoyance the voice started to repeat, the same sentence again. I was so overwhelmed by just smelling and looking into the white nothing, that it seemed minutes must have passed. It was fascinating, you always expected your sister’s raving on about the greatness of the virtual-games were exaggerated. But just standing here was so realistic.
Looking down to your body, your whole body was see trough. A darker mist. Having limbs but clearly undefined, always moving, always changing, but still always you. This trippy feeling was catching you off guard. This is what a drug trip must feel.
“nb132jj2, password look don’t touch” you recited.
A towering women in brown leather-armor walked out of the mist towards me. A round Wooden Shield and a bloody Axe in each arm.
I am Freya, your new goddess. Your only true goddess. You and your group chose me by majority and so you will do my bidding in the realm of mortals. “I told the lot of you all about my realm, before you choose me, But who are you?”I blinked confused. Did i take to long for the Intro? Did my group do the Intro without me?
A bunch of boxes started forming out of mist floating Around me. Symbols on each.When i tried to focus on one it started to somehow become a solid rune tablet.
“The Amazon Berserker. Among her Tribe only she can become the Matriarch. And only in combat to the death can she prove her dedication to the godmother Freya. By eating mushrooms she will be put in a frenzy where only blood and complete subjugation of her foe’s will appease her anger.
I swiped it away with my mind. Veronica my sister’s friend had sent me an unexpected instant-message a days before. She asked me if i could do a healer for her, as she was planning to play a fighter. And knowing none of the other team members would take a role like that.
I still remember growing up, Veronica coming over when visiting my Sister. I didn’t see her for like 10 Years, but in my mind It didn’t matter. I had a huge crush on her growing up. Sometimes seeing her and your sister tanning in the garden was enough to make you dream up whole fantasy stories about asking her out, becoming her boyfriend and so on.
Somehow all the tablets you found were about blood thirsty warriors, shamans, witch-doctors with skulls plastered around their tablets and similar classes.
You noticed that your Race Slider already had a preselection: “Amazon-Viking-Citizen of Haitaba” seemed to be preselected. Guess i must change my race if i want to play a healer.
Trying to swipe at that box, you hear a warning coming from that androgynous voice again. Straying away from the continents preselected race might make your game experience harder and is adviced against, if not in a group.
Shrugging your shoulders you swiped at the box again and you could yourself shrinking, when the selection went to the next box. “Halflings a race of peace loving, jovial, good natured people. Because of their non threatening stature and complete inability to use magic they are on of the few races able to cross state borders and trade between city states.” The text continued on and on, but you stopped reading quickly.
It seemed the selection of Races was huge. “Is there no good class for magic…” you sighted. “I want to be fast with this and not miss out on the next Tutorial”.
“Selecting a race as old as time, well versed in arcane magic.” you could hear the androgynous from the side.
The tablet read: “Elf, Once feared because of their arcane magic, the Elfin-Empire spanned nearly all the continent. After a long war 200 years ago, all male Elfs were wiped out out of fear of creating another cruel mage-king. Now all that remains are few female’s living out their long lasting lives without any hopes of dreaming about a elfin state again.”
What a sad background story. But as far as healers go this seemed, ok. Strangely it seemed there was only one class for this race. Maybe because there was no faction for elves the developers only created one class:
“Elfin-Sorceress: As feared as elfin males were for their devastating destruction magic, females are the protectors of the race. When a elfin girl comes of age, she instinctively learns a passive protection magic, being able to restore and her and is able to heal her back to the state when she first awoke that magic. Refining that magic sorceresses are able to heal nearly all ills, restore a broken body and even protect from magic and harm altogether.”
“Much care is taken by the mothers, to only awaken the powerful instinctive magic, when the women has reached a suitable age. Because once the mythical force awakens in them, their own healing magic will stop them from aging and always strive to heal itself back to the state it was when awakened. Preventing any more aging of the body.”
“In the long and cruel decade of the elfin wars some conquerors even abusing this quirk of nature. Making a conscious effort to create a so called eternal maiden. A eternal virgin, with the body restoring even the maidenhood over and over.”
“After the end of the elfin wars, it is just in rumors and stories of the past, that such folklore is passed down. Most elves in servitude having taken their live after hundreds of years. The ones left are a mere shadow, an afterthought of what was once the most powerful empire. The race most in tune with magic. The only free ones left are hidden away, in remote places, where only beings of magic are able to survive. Demonic realms, fairy dimensions, or other places no human can even dream of surviving longer than a few days in.”You felt a shiver running over your spine, what a sad story. You could nearly feel the pain of the loss. Pictures of a brutal war flooded your senses. Screams of elfin- children crying out in pain and terror. Someone falling next to you with a painful hiss. Yourself running behind someone warm holding your hand, shouts behind you. The burning smell of wood from earlier, being replaced by a pungent smell of burnt meat. Making you breath trough your mouth and making your eyes burn.
You felt a panic attack creeping onto you, the all to familiar fight or flight freezing you. Similar to when you were in crowded spaces with too many people. What kind of game was this. You wanted to get out.
Deciding to just bring this whole creation behind you as fast as possible, you whispered “Please get me out of here”. Nearly instantly the androgynous voice said: “Use customers face, age, characteristics as fallback. Let the group leader decide on stats and perks. Say ‘I accept to skip custom character creation‘!”.After you said I Accept you could feel vision blurring rapidly. Falling into a deep peaceful dreamless sleep.