by Max Jager
"And, where do you study this magic? Can we learn it too?" Ashley asked.
"Yep, I'll explain it all in detail but the short version is that you can learn magic, and you can gain superhuman abilities, like speed, strength, and durability, if you train enough. But the training and studying required is so intensive you can't get everything, you must pick and choose. I chose mainly magic, so I have no superhuman physical traits. But I do have enhanced durability and slightly enhanced strength, just not superhuman."
They continued their conversation as they walked, she briefly explained everything from how to use the menus and the virtual keyboard, to the elves and fairies, magic, the world, and everything she could think of.
- Next Chapter: The First Human Settlement -
Chapter 22: The Calm Before The Storm
- Chapter 22: The Calm before the Storm-
Several days had passed. Estellese and Mendelen were standing on a small wooden stage, surrounded by about a hundred people who were all looking up at them. Behind them was the beginning of a small village, just a few wooden cabins, farms, and larger stone buildings. In the distance a few fairies could be seen hovering around a half created building. A green fairy was using nature-element magic to make wood grow out of the ground, shaping it into the outline of a house. While the earth fairy was clearing out the dirt under the house and making a stone foundation and basement grow in its place. And a metal-element fairy was taking metal from a nearby supply and making it bend and shape itself around the wood, to support it. Other humans could be seen going about their lives in the completed buildings in the background.
"Has Zanath returned yet?" Estellese asked.
Mendelen shook his head "No. Not a word from him."
"You think he's okay? The desert is dangerous, even for us, and he went alone." Estellese asked.
"He's fine. He can handle himself. We should start this before they wander off." Mendelen stated.
"I guess so." Estellese used her signet to switch one of her elements to Aether and used a quick spell on herself and Mendelen, before addressing the crowd. "Hello everyone, I am Estellese." She started. The spell amplified her voice, making it loud enough for everyone in the crowd to hear. "We brought all of you here today to give you all some bad news, news you may already know. Unfortunately we were all sold a lie, the video game Immersion does not exist."
She paused for a moment to let the crowd take that in, before she resumed speaking. "My friends and I here were supposed to be the Alpha testers of the game, we entered this world a little over two years ago. I can tell you from our experience, that this is not a game, this is not Immersion. I do not know how, or why, but we have been transported into an entirely different world and there is no way to go back, we are stuck here. And because this is not a game, death, pain, illness, all these real world problems, they are all still real and still exist in this world. If you die here you are gone for good. We need to continue taking care of ourselves, like we would have back on Earth. This is why we brought you all here."
She paused for a moment before continuing. "Humans did not exist in this world before we came, there was just the empty remains of one human city that was taken over by goblins. So here, behind me, we are making the first human civilization, Bele Village. I have taken the responsibility upon myself to lead and protect this village, and my friend Mendelen has plans to take back the other human city. He will discuss that after. This world is dangerous, probably far more dangerous than any of you know, so we are opening our gates to anyone who wants to seek refuge in this village as long as you are willing to play your part in helping out. Those of you who are skilled in combat, or willing to learn, we need guards to keep this town safe and for those who are exceptionally skilled in combat we need adventurers to go secure loot from dungeons. For everyone who is unskilled in combat, have no fear you do not need to learn to fight. We have non-combat jobs, farming is a big one right now because we will all need food, but as the village grows we will need people to fill in for all the jobs you would expect from a normal city. You are safe here, we can protect everyone in this city, and we will provide housing to everyone who wants to stay. We suggest you stay here, even if it's only for a short time to get your feet on the ground and prepare for the dangers out there. You're safe here."
Estellese took a moment to catch her breath, then continued. "For those who intend to travel outside of the city, one of the most important things to remember is that this is not a video game. This is not a fake world. The monsters and other creatures you see out there are not AI, they are real living creatures. Please do not harm them unless it is self defense, they are alive just like we are, we need to work together with them. Monsters inside of dungeons do not count, they do not appear to be sentient. That was agreed upon by many of the other races who live around here. We are all in a big alliance. To keep you safe I will be handing out special rings to everyone, they are magic rings, wear them for a few days and they will give you a unique power as long as you're wearing them. In addition to all of that, upon entering this world we gained one new power right off the bat. If you wave your hand palm-down in front of yourself you will summon a holographic keyboard and screen. With these things you can post on the global message board, send direct messages to players, or access your stash. Your stash is a secret room only you and people you want to enter can enter. It can be opened anywhere there is a door frame, but you must have a door frame nearby to open it. Um, that's all."
Estellese stepped back once she was finished with her part of the speech and let Mendelen step up. "Everyone out there, I need your attention. There is an entire modern human city to the west of here, on the other side of the forest. This city is overrun by goblins, some giant spiders, and worst of all a massive dragon. I am gathering together an army to go and take this city back, we can definitely do it. That city could help and house so many people, and it has supplies that we could use, despite needing some repairs and cleaning. I know there are some true heroes out there, those of you who believe you are one of those heroes, those who want to help and can either fight well or are willing to learn come to me in the large stone building over there after this." He pointed at the building. "Those who help will be paid in equipment, I will provide you with signet rings, some equipment, and some magic to use in the battle and you can keep everything you use. In addition to what I provide, the training will include tackling several dungeons, in which whatever you find is yours to keep." He finished and looked through the crowd. "And again, I will be in that building over there. If you have the skills to be a hero, or are willing to learn, come join me."
When Mendelen was done Estellese stepped back up. "I have put out signs in front of the buildings. If you do not intend to stay here, there is an inn to rest in. For those who do intend to stay and live here, seek out the buildings for things you think you can contribute to. Like if you think you have combat skills or are willing to learn, the guard post is your building. If you want to assist with farming, the farmhouse is your go to place, and so on. Anyone who wants a signet ring, the ring that gives you a unique power while worn, line up in front of me. And remember, this world is not a game, the other creatures here are alive, please refrain from killing them and make sure you keep yourself safe." Estellese finished her speech.
Mendelen stepped up once more "And if you choose not to stay here, remember that you are always welcome to come back if you later find the world to be too dangerous. Your safety is guaranteed here, we will protect you."
The crowd seemed distracted by something behind Mendelen though. He glanced behind himself to see Kaden walking up to the stage. He assumed Kaden just came out of a portal and freaked everyone out, that spiky black armor and the giant scythe he carried tended to scare people. "You're really going to make that a guarantee?" Kaden stated. He didn't have Estellese's spell so only the people close to the stage could hear him.
"Where have you been?" Mendelen questioned. "Estell, this conversation is private, en
d the spell please."
Estellese nodded and ended the voice amplification spell on Mendelen. "Everyone, if you'd like a ring line up in front of me now, otherwise you're all free to enter the city or go your own way. I think I explained everything already." She said as she began handing the rings out to each person in line.
"I've been out saving people." Kaden answered. "I repeat my question, you're really going to guarantee their safety when you know very well you can't commit to that promise? What's going to happen when you fail to protect them?"
"We won't fail to protect them, because we can keep the promise. There's no monsters in this area that we can't handle. And within a week or two we won't even be needed to defend the village from anything but the worst case scenario because we will have trained some guards." Mendelen answered.
"You can protect them from any monster in the area? What about the ones right in front of you? They are more dangerous than most monsters you'd encounter in the wild." Kaden gestured to the crowd.
"What are you getting at Kaden?" Mendelen glanced at the crowd and turned back to Kaden with an unamused expression on his face.
"This world gives every human being immense power, once they grow into it. What happens when one of those human beings decides to be a criminal?" Kaden stated.
"We will stop them and handle it appropriately at the time. There's more good guys then bad guys, the criminal won't get far before they are found out and shut down by us." Mendelen stated.
"But you can't stop them from killing people." Kaden pointed out.
"We can, and will." Mendelen insisted.
"How? What if I just decided to start killing the people here, right now. How are you going to stop me? You can't." Kaden opened a portal beside himself, a tactic he often used when preparing a long-ranged attack with his scythe. Since he could swing it through his portal to strike people wherever he opened the other portal.
"We would take you down immediately. If you think for a second that Estellese and I couldn't take you down you are insane." Mendelen firmly stated, giving Kaden a questioning look.
"I know I can't beat you both. But who says I have to? I could just not fight you and keep attacking the people. With my portals you'd never be able to get anywhere near me." Kaden reached through the portal he had made and pulled out a plate of freshly baked cookies.
Mendelen at first looked angry, but then had a very confused expression on his face. He sighed and shook his head, making one quick gesture with his hand. As soon as he did a clone of himself appeared behind Kaden. This clone was unarmed, unarmored, and didn't seem capable of moving, but it had Mendelen's dark undershield spell attached to it. There was a big black circle on the ground under its feet which covered most of the stage, putting Kaden near the center of the circle. As soon as the circle appeared his portal closed. "Kaden. Don't be a cocky asshole, it is this easy for me to strip you of your ability to use portals. Go ahead, try opening another one, you can't. With this one spell I've taken away your portals and all of your magic. Without that you are effectively harmless."
"If you say so." Kaden replied. "But without my portals I can't get the rest of the cookies I made for everyone. So you probably don't wanna do that." He then shoved the plate of cookies into Mendelen's hands. "Enjoy"
Mendelen noticed how quickly Kaden changed the topic and knew that meant he had won the argument. Kaden had no counter to that and must have known he was defeated. He seemed confused when he was given the cookies, and watched as Kaden walked out of the anti-magic zone. Mendelen shrugged and headed towards the building he was supposed to go to, eating a couple cookies along the way.
Once out of the circle Kaden opened another portal and got another plate of cookies. This one he gave to Estellese, who looked equally as confused. "Made you some cookies."
"Since when did you know how to make cookies? And how did you do that?" Estellese asked.
"The fairies do have a functioning magic kitchen that is open to the public. With enough time one can learn to use it to cook food from the old world. Plus the fairies and elves already have similar foods to learn from." Kaden answered. "I made a lot, I already left a few big plates in the main buildings for everyone else." Kaden shrugged.
"I know about the kitchen, I lived there Kaden. I meant how did you specifically do that. It doesn't matter though, thank you. I'm assuming you didn't come here to help?" Estellese questioned.
"Yep. Came to say hi and bring cookies." Kaden answered. "I pointed the survivors I found in this direction, literally, but that's all the support I will give. It won't be on me when everyone here dies."
"That isn't the right way to look at this situation Kaden." Estellese stated.
"Well, it's the truth. Some day everyone here will die to a disaster, and every tragedy needs a villain. Who else will be the villain, if not the ones who gathered everyone to this one spot and failed to fulfill the promise to protect them. I don't see anyone else stepping up to take the blame." Kaden turned and began walking away. "I'd stay to chat more but you're busy, and I have work to do."
"What work do you need to do?" Estellese questioned.
Kaden shrugged "I have people to save, as usual. And Zanath asked me to go check something out." Before Estellese could ask him what he meant, he opened a portal and left. The portal closed immediately after he went through, as it usually did.
Estellese handed out the rings to everyone who was in the line and looked around her village. Everyone seemed scared, but they were safe and just going about their day. Several people were working on the farms, a few people were helping build the city by constructing furniture from materials summoned by Estellese and the fairies, there were a few groups training in the background, following her written instructions. She smiled a little, this village was going to be okay, it was one happy little village.
As she walked around and checked on everything she spotted Zanath and his group of survivors walking into town. He had found quite a lot of them. She also spotted Inami energetically bouncing around by his side. "Zanath there you are, I was worried about you." Estellese greeted "You found Inami?"
Zanath nodded "She was in a cave with a few of these people. I contacted Thomas and told him that I brought her here, he should be here in a day or two."
"Oh good, you can send these people to the inn for now, I will give them their orientation tomorrow." Estellese replied, then crouched down to talk to the little panda girl. "You okay Inami?"
Inami nodded and smiled "I ok. Thomas coming soon. Zannie help find him." She answered
"Zannie?" Estellese gave Zanath a curious look and Zanath just shrugged. "I should call you that from now on."
"Please don't." Zanath sighed and shook his head.
"I'm kidding." Estellese laughed, then turned back to Inami. "We will give you your own room in the inn alright? Aou just need to stay there and wait for Thomas."
"Estell, there is something I need to discuss with you and Mendelen. Privately." Zanath stated.
"I figured. I saw Kaden a few minutes ago and he said you sent him to check something out. What's it about? Or what can you tell me now? I'm curious." Estellese asked.
"I have not confirmed its existence, but there could be something very dangerous wandering around the desert." Zanath answered.
"That's all? We can handle it, we handle dangerous things all the time." Estellese asked.
"I'm serious. If the information I have is correct, it could be more dangerous than the abyssal demon." Zanath stated flatly.
"Oh." Estellese looked both surprised and concerned. "Well that certainly would be a problem. Mendelen is working with the betas right now, he plans to take back Oline City, but tonight we can all chat. Unless it's an emergency?"
Zanath shook his head "No not an emergency, it's probably still in the desert. But we should discuss and handle this sooner rather than later."
Estellese nodded "Yeah I agree, we need a plan incase it finds us. For now just escort the betas to the Inn and we
can all talk later."
That night Zanath told Estellese and Mendelen everything about what Inami said, about the green wall, and about the strange feeling the drider-shaped ruby she carried gave off. Mendelen decided it was best to take the ruby from her and run some tests on it to find out what magical properties it had. However, the next morning when they tried to find Inami she was gone.
Since Zanath had told Kaden all of this beforehand, Estellese and Mendelen assumed Kaden had beaten them to it and taken Inami to try and figure it out on his own. They messaged Kaden, and Kaden said he didn't have her, but Mendelen knew better than to take him at his word for that.
Over the next few days Estellese watched over and managed her village. The village was rapidly growing and each day more and more people were wandering into it. Not everyone stayed, many people ventured off or just used it as a rest stop in between their personal adventures. Within a few days the people training to be town guards had become strong enough to defend the village from most of the local threats. The local threats were mainly just goblins, skeletons, and minor enemies. Occasionally a giant spider or two from the mountain but with a big enough group the spiders weren't very threatening.