by E K Baxter
But his pursuers kept pace. Each time he looked around they were still there, a long way back, too far to fire at him, but always in the distance. Max began to wonder if they’d got a tracker on him. He searched his pockets, patted his clothes but discovered nothing. That didn’t mean anything. There were a thousand places in his body they could have put one whilst he was in the VR pod.
Lungs burning, breath coming in ragged gasps, Max skidded round a corner and found himself at a dead end. Shit. How had he ended up here? He was sure he hadn’t taken a wrong turn. He was surrounded on three sides by the high walls of warehouses, the only way out being the way he’d come in. He turned quickly, looking for something to climb: a wall, a fire escape, anything. There was nothing.
Then he spotted a small door in the wall of one of the buildings. It was colored like the brick and he could see no handle on the outside. He pelted over to it and pushed. It didn’t move.
“Hello?” he shouted desperately. “Is anyone there? Let me in!”
He knew the warehouse was probably deserted—most were—but desperation drove him. He heard footsteps approaching the mouth of the alley and his heart fluttered in terror.
Idiot, idiot, idiot, he chided himself. Did you really think you could cheat the Corporation?
He threw his shoulder against the door, pushing with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried wedging his fingers in the cracks but could find no purchase. Cobwebs filled the gaps. It looked as though the door hadn’t opened in a very long time.
The footsteps were getting closer. Any second now they would round the corner and catch him. Max swallowed as terror tried to claw its way up his throat.
“Please, let me in!” he cried, banging on the door without any real hope of it opening.
So he was mightily surprised when a refined voice said from behind him, “Can I help you?”
Max spun. A man was standing there, head cocked, regarding Max with raised eyebrows.
“What the—?” Max began, looking around wildly. “Where did you come from?”
The man smiled. “Now that, my young friend, is a long story.” He was somewhere around middle age, thin, with a bold nose and large eyes. He appeared to be wearing a dinner jacket.
“I have to get out of here,” Max muttered. He sprang at the door, expecting it to open since the man had obviously come that way, but it was still stuck fast.
“What are you doing?” Max blurted at the man. “Why have you locked it?”
“I haven’t done anything,” the man said. He held out his hand. “I’m Eric by the way.”
Max didn’t have time for this. “Wonderful. Nice to meet you.”
His eyes darted to the alley mouth. Kalrick and two others suddenly skidded around the corner, guns clasped in their hands.
Max’s heart lurched. “Please!” he cried at Eric. “They’re going to shoot me! Let me through the door!”
“I can’t do that I’m afraid, old boy,” Eric said jovially. “Only you can open that door.”
“I’ve tried. It’s locked. Where’s the key?”
“There is no key. Only intention.”
Max stared at Eric. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Eric glanced at Kalrick and his cronies. They were pelting down the alleyway, anger twisting their faces. “Oh dear. Your friends don’t look happy.”
Max shoved at the door again. Desperation gave him new strength but the door still didn’t budge. “Let me in!” he wailed.
“There is only one way through that door,” Eric said. “You have to agree to play the game.”
“What game?”
“The greatest game there is: Rogue Online. If you agree, the door will open. If you don’t...” he glanced meaningfully at the men speeding towards them.
“You want me to play a game for you?” Max asked. “Are you from a rival gaming company? A developer?”
“Nothing like that,” Eric said with a smile. “I came here looking for help. For someone who might just be desperate enough to take the risks we need them to take.”
“I’ll do it!” Max shouted. “Just open the door!”
“Not so fast,” Eric said. “If you agree to this, your life will be changed forever. Things will be asked of you that you think impossible. Things will happen to you that you think impossible. You will need all your skill and ingenuity if you’re to succeed. You’ll be ripped from everything you know. Are you ready for that?”
Max began to shake his head. This guy was obviously cracked and Max wanted no part in it but a bullet suddenly shattered the brickwork above Max’s head.
“Yes!” he cried. “I’m ready! I accept!”
A bright smile lit Eric’s face. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
He nodded and Max turned to see the door standing open. He couldn’t see anything beyond but shadow. Glancing down the alleyway he saw that Kalrick and the others were only fifty yards away now, guns aimed for another shot. Eric was watching Max with head cocked to one side, a knowing smile on his face. Max hesitated, suddenly wondering what he’d just agreed to.
“Hang on a minute, before I go—”
Then another bullet slammed into the wall and, with a shout of terror, Max threw himself towards the opening. In his eagerness his feet tangled and he fell, his forehead slamming into the doorframe. Pain erupted in his head then a moment later a secondary, sharp pain exploded through his chest and he cried out. With a last effort he heaved himself through the doorway then everything went black.
***
He opened his eyes slowly, as though waking from a very, very deep sleep. As he did, a sudden wave of nausea clenched his stomach. Rolling onto his side, he emptied his guts into the grass.
Wait a minute. Grass?
He wiped his mouth and pushed himself slowly up to seated. Squinting, he looked around. He’d expected to see the inside of the warehouse but that wasn’t the scene that greeted his eyes. Instead he found himself in a grassy glade surrounded by a ring of moss-covered standing stones. Above him arched a bright blue sky with wisps of cloud drifting through it. Beyond the stone circle a lush valley spread out all the way to the horizon.
What the hell? Max thought. I must be dreaming.
He pinched the skin on his arm hard enough to leave a red welt but the scene in front of him didn’t change. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, opened them again and nearly jumped out of his skin when he found Eric standing before him.
“Hello, Maxwell.”
Max passed a shaky hand over his face. “Where the hell am I? And how do you know my name?”
“Which question would you like me to answer first?” Eric held out his hand and pulled Max to his feet.
“As to your name, well, it’s on your name badge.”
Max glanced down to see he was still wearing the Corporation security badge from the tournament.
Eric made a sweeping gesture, taking in the landscape. “And as to where you are: welcome to the Rogue Lands.”
Max stared. That name was familiar. He’d heard it somewhere but his panic-flooded brain didn’t seem to be working properly and he couldn’t quite grasp the thought. “I’m sorry, the what?”
“The Rogue Lands,” Eric repeated. “My home.”
Max shook his head as if trying to clear it. A memory suddenly surfaced: Nightshade as she lay dying, her eyes wide with fear. They will take me to the Rogue Lands. That’s where we all go.
“What the hell is going on?” Max demanded, rounding on Eric. “What have you done to me?”
“Only what you asked: saved your skin.”
Max thought back to when he’d ran from Kalrick and the Corporation agents. He’d been terrified for his life and Eric had offered him a way out. He’d stepped through the door, there had been a sudden explosive pain in his chest, then he was falling, falling and...
Waking up here.
He blinked, trying to clear the fog filling his head. As he did so, he noticed something on the edges of his vision. It look
ed like an icon. As he concentrated he noticed more icons in a column down both sides of his vision. It looked like...
“A user interface,” he breathed.
Max concentrated on one of the icons that looked like a scroll. As he did so, stats reeled in front of his eyes.
Name: Maxwell Jones
Level: 1
Strength: 3
Stamina: 1
Agility: 2
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 1
Ingenuity: 1
Mana: 100
He blinked twice and the stats disappeared. This time he concentrated on the icon that looked like a knapsack and an inventory opened in front of his eyes.
Item: Woodsman’s knife +2 attack. What better way to skin a rabbit?
Item: Woodsman’s ax + 5 melee attack. A woodsman’s ax is his best friend!
Item: Flint and tinder. A woodsman’s second best friend!
“A game,” he breathed. “I’m in a game.”
“Of course, dear boy,” Eric said. “Where else would you be? These are the Rogue Lands after all. And you are a True Worlder, our only hope.”
“But...but...” Eric stuttered, trying and failing to process what was going on.
Everything here seemed far more real than any game he’d ever played. He felt the wind stir the tiny hairs on his arm as it caressed his skin, he smelled the grass and soil beneath his feet, tasted the iron-tang of blood where he’d bitten his lip. If this was a game, it must use far more advanced gaming equipment than anything he’d encountered.
“I want out,” he murmured. “I never agreed to this.”
Eric raised an eyebrow. “I’m afraid you did,” he replied. “You said you would play the game.”
Max frowned at him. “You tricked me. I thought you’d take me to some gaming center somewhere. I never agreed to coming here – with no damned memory of how I got here.”
“That’s how it works.”
“Is that supposed to be an explanation? Well, it’s crap. How do I log out? I can’t see the option on my UI.”
Eric shrugged. “The only way out is to win the game.”
Max stared. “Nobody makes a game that you can’t get out of so stop kidding around.”
Eric just looked at him sadly. “I’m sorry, Maxwell. I am not the Maker but merely a guardian. I cannot tell you the way to leave other than to win the game.”
Max growled in frustration. Concentrating on each icon in his UI he scrolled through them in turn, trying to find the log out button. There wasn’t one. Something close to panic fluttered in his belly and he fought it down.
Think, Max, he told himself. There is always a solution.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll play along for now. So, you call yourself a guardian? A guardian of what?”
Eric threw his arms wide. “Of this. Of the Rogue Lands. You are in Theloria, one of the six provinces of The Rogue Lands. High King Jonas rules from the Silver Spire in Vaspard, a once mighty and just ruler.” Something flashed across Eric’s face so quickly that Max almost missed it. Anger. And despair. “It seems a lifetime ago that I stood with Jonas and helped him build this kingdom. Now it is almost in ruins.”
He turned to stare out over the landscape, his eyes full of faraway memories. Max remained silent. Eric was unlike any NPC he’d met before. He seemed to have emotions and memories. Or was that just programming?
“A dark shadow is falling over the Rogue Lands,” Eric continued. “Dire portents fill the night skies, crops fail, animals fall sick and die. And there are rumors... something other is stirring, trying to claim the Rogue Lands for itself. I have done what I can in bringing you here.” He turned dark eyes on Max and pointed with a bony finger. “You, True Worlder, are our only hope.”
Max stared at him. What was he supposed to say to that? “What’s a True Worlder?”
Eric smiled. “That, my friend, is for you to discover for yourself. Do you accept your quest?”
Max considered his options. They were limited to say the least. At last he nodded. “Fine. I’ll play your game. And I’ll win.”
Eric’s smile widened. “That’s my boy. I know you’ll do me proud.” He waved a hand at the stone circle. “This is a haven point. If you die you will come back here and start again—or at other haven points you’ve reached in the course of your travels. Choose your companions wisely. There are both friends and foe in Theloria and it’s sometimes difficult to tell them apart.”
“Whatever you say,” Max muttered. He focused on the scroll icon and his stats flashed up on the screen. He hadn’t really paid attention to them the first time but now his eyes widened.
Level: 1
Strength: 3
Stamina: 1
Agility: 2
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 1
Ingenuity: 1
Mana: 100
“Hang on!” he cried. “What the hell is this? These stats are pathetic! I’m a level 100 assassin mage, not some green-around-the-ears newb! How am I supposed to get anywhere with these crappy stats?”
“Here you’re nobody,” Eric replied smoothly, unruffled by Max’s outburst. “Everyone starts with nothing. You must acquire the skills you need as you go.”
Max ground his teeth to keep from swearing. Great. Just perfect. “Okay,” he said, pulling in a deep breath. “How do I choose my class? I can’t see that option in my UI. I usually play as a spell caster or rogue.”
Eric shrugged. “There is no class system in The Rogue Lands. It’s up to you to decide how to develop as you go along. Like I said, everyone starts with nothing.”
“Then how come I’ve got more points in Strength and hardly anything in Wisdom? Looks like you’re trying to make me a tank and that is so not me.”
“I’m not trying to make you anything,” Eric replied, spreading his hands wide. “Your baseline stats are based on your character traits in the real world.”
Max thought about this for a moment. He had only one point in Wisdom. The import of this sank in. “Hey! Are you saying I’m stupid?”
Eric shrugged. “I’m not saying anything. I make no judgments. My job is to guide only.”
“Right. Fine,” Max said, glaring at the man. “Guide me. How the hell does this game work?”
“Aha!” Eric said, holding up a finger. “Now you’re asking the right questions.” He clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing up and down, talking as he went. His voice took on the tone of a teacher addressing a student. “You can level your personal attributes in two ways. First, every time you gain a level you will earn a stat point which you can assign to any attribute you please. Secondly, you will earn experience points for a particular attribute by exercising skills attached to it. For example, if you do something particularly clever, you will get awarded a certain number of points into Wisdom. When you have 500 experience points in an attribute it will level up automatically without needing a stat point. Improving your overall level is done through completing quests or defeating enemies.”
Max chewed on this for a moment. “And magical ability? How does that work?”
“The attribute most closely associated with magical ability is Wisdom although Ingenuity will also allow you to unlock magical ability if you use it in the right way,” Eric replied. “Each two levels in Wisdom will add 50 points to your mana pool. The more mana you have, the more spells you can cast and the stronger they will be. Be warned though, you will have to reach level 12 in Wisdom or Ingenuity before even the lowest level of spell-casting becomes available to you.”
Max frowned. “And that is?
“Novice, of course. After this there are many levels to work your way through before you become a Master.”
Max’s heart sank. It had been a long, long time since he’d been at the bottom of the food chain like this. Not even a basic spell at his disposal? What kind of savages had developed this game? And no class-system either? How the hell was he supposed to become an assassin mage with this set up?
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He squared his shoulders. No use griping about it now. He’d just have to grind. “Okay,” he said to his guide. “Where do I start?”
Eric pointed. “I suggest you head east.”
With that, he disappeared.
“Wait!” Max called after him. “That’s it? Aren’t you going to tell me what my quest is?”
A faint voice drifted to him on the wind. “That’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.”
With that, he was gone, leaving Max alone in the stone circle. He sighed. All in all, today was becoming a bit of a disaster. He wished he’d just stayed in bed.
Ok, Max, he told himself. Let’s get this party started.
He examined his stats again. With the majority of points in Strength, it looked as though he was playing a tank of some kind—not what he’d have chosen at all. Max had always preferred characters with magical abilities or at least those who could use ranged attacks. That’s why he’d always put most of his points into Intelligence or Wisdom along with secondary attributes that might aid it like Charisma or Ingenuity. It was this strategy that had led to him defeating Nightshade.
And look how well that turned out, he thought glumly. You ended up here!
Just as Eric had said, there didn’t seem to be any way to choose an avatar or class so it looked like Max was stuck with this set up until he earned some XP and managed to level up. Then he could start shaping his skills how he chose. Focusing on the knapsack icon, he opened his inventory.
Item: Woodsman’s knife +2 attack. What better way to skin a rabbit?
Item: Woodsman’s ax + 5 melee attack. A woodsman’s ax is his best friend!
Item: Flint and tinder. A woodsman’s second best friend!
Awesome, he thought sourly. Not a spell book or a potion or a magical artefact in sight.
He equipped the knife and looked around. Eric had said to go east so he turned in that direction and saw that a large woodland carpeted the landscape in a cloak of green. Max rolled his shoulders.
“Okay. Here goes nothing.”
He strode from the stone circle and soon stepped under the branches of the first of the trees. Towering oak and beech trees soared into the sky, far bigger than any trees in the real world. A soft breeze rustled the branches, sounding like sibilant whispering. It was gloomy in the forest, the canopy above cutting out most of the light and a soft covering of moss made the ground underfoot spongy and damp. Max walked with the knife in his hand, listening.