“Is that really all there was to attune it?”
He looked back at me and grinned. “Your biometrics were partially obtained by your handprint, and the rest will take place before the game begins. I trust our machine will work its course.”
I nodded and walked Wilhelm to the door and saw that the team he spoke of was already in their various modes of transport. Mode of transport? That was right!
“Sorry, Wilhelm—one last thing.” The man turned to regard me. “What is the system called?”
The man smiled and turned to face me. “Focus testing amongst the employees, designers, and engineers led to a completely unanimous—albeit theatric name—for the device.”
He said nothing else and turned to walk away.
“Which is?” I asked exasperatedly to his back.
Wilhelm called over his shoulder as he opened the door to his blacked-out car “Portal.”
Chapter Three
The wait to get into the “Portal” was truly unreal. I’d begun to see a trend in the most searched words on my favorite browser being “Mephistopheles” and “portal,” though that last one had a lot of mentions about demons offering mortals passage to faraway lands and power for their souls.
Religious nuts—am I right?
After reading all that, and deciding to stop freaking myself out, I grabbed a small stand from my room and pulled it into the room with the portal. I would set my phone and whatnot on it while I was playing. I spent the last hour, just mentally prepping myself to go into the game and start the next leg of my virtual journey.
My friends were chattering in our group text conversation, jokingly accusing each other of having the worst kinds of inherent magic for the game.
Seth will probably have gravity magic—he has his head in the clouds too often! – Allen
Right, and clearly, yours will be water because you never shower, LOL. – Mona
Oh, as if you will be any better, fire girl. – Sondra
Ha-ha, chill you guys. The launch is about to happen in a few minutes! I tapped the device in my hands furiously as I typed.
The Portal says to enter, - Sondra
See you on the other side! ;) – Mona
I looked up, and the inside of the machine before me had begun to pulse with a dull light. I quickly dropped the mesh shorts I had been wearing and stepped into the Portal with my back toward the soft cushions. The clear panel door closed slowly before me as if it were a coffin lid in those old vampire movies my mom had made Mona and I watch as kids.
I couldn’t help the thrill of fear that pulsed through my veins. I went through some breathing exercises I used for when I was running, and it seemed to ease my mental state a little. Until a warm liquid began to filter into the bottom of the chamber, and I had to fight myself to relax, barely winning.
After a minute, the liquid was up to my chest and pulsing with my heartbeat. It was somehow relaxing. When it was above my head, my breath just barely holding, I heard a robotic voice.
Breathe.
The hell did it just say?
Breathe, or you will lose consciousness the improper way.
They were monitoring my vitals, right? They had to know that this was going on. If they knew, then the machine did too. It must know what is going on. I forced myself to exhale, then breathed in deeply.
The liquid was thick and viscous in my mouth, then into my lungs. Everything in my mind told me that this was wrong and that I needed to get the hell out of here. But my body was relaxed. Warm, even. I floated in this tube of metal. This mechanical womb, as the installation guy had called it, had cocooned me into safety.
Download and coding will complete in ten seconds… nine… eight…
My adrenaline spiked again as the gray screen began to show slight dots to it.
five…
More color came to the fore, and I lost track of myself.
three… two… one.
Welcome, player, to Mephisto’s Magic Online.
I heard the words, but I also saw them in a large, clearly legible script that flashed gold and red before my eyes. As if my eyes were open. They were open, weren’t they? As I looked around, the world became less a space devoid of light and grayer in tone.
I felt a firmness beneath the feet that I couldn’t see. I had no body, at least not that I could see, and there was no other tactile sensation other than the pressure against the bottom of my consciousness.
“Welcome!” Boomed a boisterous voice from the right of me. I looked over, and there stood a tall, thin man in the gaudiest outfit I had ever seen.
His long, pointed ears struck out from the sides of his bald head, and his black handle-bar mustache gleamed inky against his pale skin. Black eyes watched me as a ghostly breeze tickled the orange frilly shirt with too much lace for anyone, and bright blue pants that clashed wondrously.
It was a disaster, and I loved it.
“Oh, this dreadful bodiless business is utterly uncalled for, please—choose a race and gender.” He motioned toward me, and a status screen appeared before me. It was solid white with black writing along it. “You will be able to customize more inside my realm soon enough. Choose your body first.”
I looked back toward the screen and touched it, somehow. I felt pressure where normally a finger might be. Weird. As soon as I touched the race options, my attention was drawn to a screen that stood before me.
There was a human there, at first. One that looked just like me. But I didn’t want that. Too many games these days had the player stuck with the race we already were. It was annoying. Why be human in a game where you can literally throw fireballs and hurl lightning?
I pressed no on that, and the screen went to the next option. This one was a mixture of human and elf—half-elf. Common in a lot of the older table-top games, but not my flavor. Still too close to human, so no on that.
After that was the true elf, they had the telltale ears, lean builds, and angled features. I didn’t say no right away. This was a personal favorite of mine for a lot of reasons—the elves of some of the classic movies and games I had played being the inspiration for me wanting to be a magic-user in all these games. Well, that, and they usually had the better magic stats.
The next was an orc. I toggled the male and female switches. Both were attractive for their own reasons. The male orcs were burly, muscular, and looked like they would hold up well in a fight. The females were athletic and looked like they would survive a decent brawl as well. As awesome as they looked, I doubted that they would make very good innate casters.
Then we had trolls, very much the thin, tall cousins of the orcs. They were ugly creatures. But they were a popular race in some games. They were usually counted among the bad guys, though.
There were gnomes, yuck. Halflings, no thanks. And dwarves—while cool—not my style. Bird people who didn’t really have hands—nope. A fox-man kind of people, though cute, not really my thing either. Rabbit folk, nah.
There was one race that seemed interesting outside of the elves, called the Kin. They were creatures that looked reminiscent of demons. Their features were angular like the elves, they had the pointed ears, but they shot out from the side of the heads a little way. They also had horns like a demon might. Why weren’t they called demons?
“Because demons are a true race and an enemy that you will be facing below.” I heard the voice coming from behind me and over where my shoulder would be. His face was serious. “All of the races that you will see here are allied against the forces trying to claim this world. There are still tensions, but they have a larger enemy to confront. Though, with the addition of the immortal wanderers, times may yet change again.”
I frowned or would’ve if I’d had a mouth and checked to see if there were other races. There were mixtures. Minotaurs, which was amazing. Centaurs and other creatures of significant sentience that were a part of the Wild Faction among the races.
I debated between the elves and the Kin for a couple moments. They
both had their perks, although I didn’t see them—I’m sure they did. In the end, I went with the new guy.
I selected Kin as my race and went about adjusting the physical characteristics. The figure before me untouched was a five-foot-tall male, with a lithe build and short hair. His horns reminded me of a Minotaur’s the way they jutted from the sides of his head. Oh, no.
I adjusted the slider for height to the max it will go. Not as tall as I was at two inches more than six feet, but it would do. The build I wanted was a little more muscular than my toned and thin limbs. So, I slid the slider over a little farther above average, then a little more. Until the muscles looked just right, it was like looking at an Olympic swimmer. They were powerfully built, but still slim with broad shoulders and a narrow waistline. My ideal body.
The skin color went from pitch black to milky white. I put it at a normal, tanned skin tone for myself, as that was what I typically looked like. A basic white guy with a year-round tan, though it was more than a little disappointing they didn’t have more skin tone options. The hair was short and cut stylishly with various lengths, and I colored it silver, with green, red, purple, and blue highlights. Had to have something to liven it up a little.
The facial features I left alone; they were handsome in their own right. The angular cheeks that were just this side of sunken in. The chiseled jawline that would make a movie star jealous. Thick lips with just a hint of fang artfully exposed and well-done eyebrows. The eyes I changed to a vibrant hue of yellow.
The horns had a slider that allowed you to change the positioning on the head, size, curvature, and color. The large horns did seem cool to me, but I toned down the size and positioned them so that they laid almost flat against my forehead and curved up over the top of my head and hair. These I was happy to leave black as they looked badass.
All the avatar wore was a ratty, rag-like shirt, a loincloth, and no shoes.
“Excellent choice, wanderer.” The figure clapped. My perspective shifted, and rather than him being behind me; he was in front of me now. “How do you feel?”
I took a mental stock of myself. Other than being aware I now had a body, I felt fantastic!
“I feel great.” I recognized my voice. Good, a recognizable voice would help my viewers recognize me.
“Excellent, what then, will be your name?” He asked once more. As the white screen popped into view once more, he held a hand with too-large fingers in front of it. “Do not attempt to make the name you give yourself something I will find… less than amusing. So far, I find your tastes endearing—do not prove me wrong.”
I typed in the name I had used before, Kyvir Mageblood.
“Kyvir Mageblood.” He stood his full height in front of me, then bowed so low that his head almost touched the floor. It seemed borderline creepy he could move that way, but he still made the movement look graceful. “I am, as you might have guessed—Mephisto. Welcome to my world. Here, there are gods, goddesses, creatures of myth, and lore. And even more important to your kind—magic.”
I kept my face as neutral as I could, but a smile crept over my lips. I felt a small nick on my bottom lip, and the long canine there proved to be sharper than it looked. That was cool, something I would need to get used to. The sharpened nails as well. I flexed my hands and looked down at the physical form I had chosen to represent me in this game—realm.
“I have seen only one so excited as they bled themselves.” Mephisto chuckled. “You are to be reborn as an immortal wanderer, child. Keep the demon hordes at bay—or defeat them if you can—fight the myths and legends and know that I and the deities of this realm watch over you.”
I bowed my head to the god of the world and spoke solemnly, glad my friends wouldn’t be here to listen in.
“I will do my utmost to rid this world of the demons and monsters who claim it with the gift you bestow upon me. I will master the powers you give me as swiftly as I can, as will my friends. The magic does not scare me, nor the quest. Mageblood is my moniker made to help all remember—there’s always some kind of magic out there for everyone. In all of us. About all of us.”
They would definitely have been cackling and droning on and on about my attempt at playing a role in such a grandiose manner. That last bit was how I usually ended my streams, and my friends despised it.
Mephisto held a hand to his lips and pulled it away to reveal a smile of almost-manic glee. “Oh, you will be an entertaining one. And I have just the power you seek—he with the blood of mages.”
I had enough time to look at him oddly as he tousled my hair, then tapped me on my solar plexus before I was cast out of the gray room and into a sea of stars below me. Mephisto’s tall form waved at me, and I felt a rush of cold, then turned slowly midair and plummeted through the skies.
The constellations around me were unlike anything I had ever seen. There were two moons in the sky, their silvery colors seeming to feed between the two of them—though the smaller one seemed to have a more bluish cast to it—both giving off pale light over the ground below. The reflection from the surface of the water below was beautiful and terrifying. Because if I hit the water going this fast—I would die.
As the ocean loomed ever closer, I tried to reason with the fact that it was inevitable. So, I took in what I could. I noted a short way ahead of my position, there was a city. It was surrounded by a thickly wooded forest of trees. At least it had reminded me of one with all the lights and everything.
The water was beginning to close with my rapid descent from the heavens, and I thrust my arms out in a vain attempt to protect myself. A foot from the water, my path of travel physically shifted, and I was rocketing toward the tree line in the direction of the city that I had seen.
I watched in stunned horror and fascination as trees zoomed by me, almost so close that I could reach out and touch them—but I didn’t dare. Because while whatever it was moving me may keep me moving, it probably wouldn’t stop the trees from ripping me to shreds. I pulled my arms and hands closer to my body to keep myself compact.
The wall itself was larger than my house by more than half, made completely of stone and guarded by men with bows, javelins, and an assortment of weapons they carried in case of a melee fight.
It was an interesting thing to see, but I thought that the doors I happened to be speeding toward were drawing dangerously close.
“Ooooooooh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu—!” I shouted. As I was about to become a gamer-cake on the large door to the wall, my forward momentum was arrested immediately.
“Hahaha!” One of the guards on the bulwark laughed heartily. “Never gets ol’ does it, Miff?”
“Na, no, it don’t, Sammy.” The other guffawed. They both wore matching leather armor with some kind of crest carved and emblazoned on the chest piece. Miff, the younger of the two, sported a bow while Sammy held two javelins. One in each hand.
My cheeks heated a little as my body turned in the air and touched down onto the soft ground lightly around twenty feet from the door. The grass and dirt beneath me tickled slightly against my bare skin. It was like having stepped outside for the first time. A warm, sea-scented breeze wafted before me, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the tactile sensations thrilling through me and made me smile.
“This is unreal,” I breathed softly.
“Come ‘ere, wanderer,” A gruff voice called to me from the direction of the door.
I looked over toward the large doors and there was a smaller one on the inside, close to the wall on the left door. A small man—dwarf—beckoned me toward him.
“Get ye inside, so we can get yer trainin’ underway.” He growled. “Don’ wanna be outside in the beginnin’ area at night. All kind o’ unpleasantness about when the sun goes down.”
That was a fairly common trope in a lot of VR games out lately. There was even a mechanic in Blood and Gore that made it so that experience was doubled at night in some areas because the monsters and instance dungeons were so much harder there.
“Oka
y,” I said, and walked toward the door.
As soon as I took a step, I heard a crunch in the tree line to my right. I looked that way, stunned, and a hulking form separated itself from the shadows. Glowing red eyes intent on me. The beast step forward.
“RUN LAD!” The dwarf shouted, fear on his face.
All hell broke loose. Archers on the wall began firing arrows and throwing javelins at the creature, but it nimbly sprinted between them. I froze, all the experience I had in any VR game I’d ever played fled my body. I heard a crash to my left; then my world tilted backward.
Agony filled my existence as the creature slammed me onto the ground with a massive clawed hand and growled deeply.
“Welcome to hell, wanderer.” The lupine jaws of the creature filled my vision. A flash of more pain. Then nothing.
Deep crimson letters faded into view in front of my eyes.
You have died. Welcome, wanderer.
Chapter Four
I sat up a few seconds later, in the same spot I had landed on the ground twenty feet from the doorway. The stars above me were the same I had flown through earlier.
“Yup, looks like I lost that bet, Sammy.” The guard called Miff said, with a grunt to the other. “I owes a drink to you and your da.”
Rather than stay on the ground, I got up, immediately taking note that my clothes were fine, and I felt no blood on me. I beat feet to the door and knocked three times.
The door swung open, and the dwarf grabbed a fistful of my clothes to haul me inside. His gold-blond hair and beard were both heavily braided. The sides of his head were clean-shaven and tattooed with thick black lines. He wore leather armor that looked practical and well-maintained.
“Yer the first he’s got, and he ain’t gone far.” The man spat on the ground. “Why did ye freeze, lad? Yer of a muscled sort—that distance were nothin’ for ye!”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before, and it spoke to me!” I began to shake for a moment, then gathered my wits. “I panicked. I froze. What the hell was that thing?”
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