by Kong, Aleron
The Land: Founding
By
Dr. Aleron Kong
I am who I am only because of the love and time that many people have dedicated to me, and so I dedicate this book to you. First and foremost, I dedicate this book to my mother, Stephanie Hisako Kong. You have taught me much, and more than anything else you have taught me to be strong. I love you.
Table of Contents
THE DARK COURT
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
The Dark Court
The Prince sneered at the back of the throne room. The sycophants and greedy court leeches pleaded their cases to the Dark Queen. Every day, every year, every millennia was exactly the same. Hearing their complaints of needing more power, or their false pride in capturing a few more souls, the Prince tried to summon anger, disdain, or hatred, but all he felt was boredom.
In any other reality, these would be gods, demon lords, or spirit kings. In this exiled pocket of space and time however, they were pathetic! The members of the Dark Court fought each other for the meager scraps of power the Queen doled out, like cubs at her teat! Though he also lived at her mercy, the Prince would not do so for much longer. Today, he began the plan. Today, he brought the first Earthling to The Land. Today, he was one step closer to escaping this eternal prison! The Universe had long ago exiled all the members of the Dark and Light Court to this small shard of reality. The lock to their prison was the world simply called “The Land.” Despite having vast powers, no being had been able to escape the pocket dimension.
Coming back from his musings, the Prince nodded to the Grand Vizier, who slowly nodded back. The Vizier appeared to have a hunched stature, but his true form was unknowable. He had never been seen out of his dark robes, and the garment completely covered his body. The Vizier was his closest ally, and one of the few Exiles that was older than the Prince. He was not a friend, however. There were no friends in the Dark Court.
Nonetheless, the Vizier had convinced the Prince that all previous attempts to escape had been too small in scope. Why even try to escape the perfect prison? If instead, they could destroy the lock, the pocket dimension that held them prisoner would open, and they would all be free. Most importantly, HE would be free. The conclusion was simple. The Land had to be destroyed. The question was, how to do it? That was when the Vizier had told him about Earth.
The Earth was a world almost completely devoid of magic. They had no gods to tell them what they should and should not do. It had created a population who committed atrocities on par with the most heinous of the Dark Court’s residents. What truly made Earth unique however, was that every human was born with a small seed of Chaos in their souls.
For millennia, the Prince had watched the savages of Earth. He saw their civilizations rise and fall. If there was one constant, it was that when enough of the Earth humans were in one place, destruction inevitably followed. The Chaos inside of them made such a conclusion inevitable. The Earthlings had already come close to destroying their own planet several times! If enough humans could be brought to the Land, all of those seeds of Chaos just might destroy it! He would be free!
That just left the problem of how to get enough of them there to accomplish his plan. Though the Prince was powerful, he could not just force them to go. Each and every being in the Universe had free will. The Earthlings had to choose to go to the Land. It was true that the Prince had collected a few souls here and there. There were always mortals foolish enough to trade their immortal spark for material wealth or power. It was not enough though! He needed millions of Chaos Seeds in the Land, causing havoc and destruction. How could he convince so many? No answer presented itself. So he watched and waited.
Ultimately, the people of Earth found a magic of their own, called science. Their faith in science replaced older faiths which had warned of beings like the Prince. Their belief in science had even caused them to lose faith in the existence of the soul! He could not help but chuckle as paradoxically the amount of souls he captured increased. Who wouldn’t accept wealth and power in exchange for something they didn’t even think existed?
As more and more of the humans predictably sought to escape their mundane and banal existence, they found that release in many ways. Substances to cloud their minds, war, suicide, and other amusements. It took only a few centuries after their discovery of electrical power however, for them to develop games to distract from their pointless lives. Soon after, came the creation of virtual realities. These digital worlds gave millions of humans the escape they craved with their whole hearts, and unknowingly with their whole souls.
That was the key, the Vizier explained to him one day. Why try and convince these humans to trade their souls, when they were already begging for a new life? Why not give them what they were already asking for? It didn’t take much work for the Prince to have one of his agents create a virtual world modeled after The Land. With his guidance, it quickly became the most popular and pervasive game on Earth. Millions played every day! They became the orc shaman that was powerful in a way that the tax account playing him in “real life” never was, or the sexy elf maiden who finally found that attention she craved, but no longer received as an aging housewife.
And as for the pesky matter of free will, each and EVERY player agreed to come to the Land willingly. They signed their digital names to the contract when they started playing the game. After all, the Prince thought with a small smile, who had time to read all that fine print?
PROLOGUE
EARTH, North America, 2037
“I swear to God Silk! If you get caught on the way in just because you’re trying to steal some cheap loot, I’m going to nail your nuts to a stump and kick you backwards!”
“Calm down Crush! Jesus! Where the hell do you get this stuff?!” Silk put down the gold candlestick he had picked up, hearing the sound of chuckles over the group chat. “I’m on it.”
The rest of the party watched safely from behind a grove of trees several hundred yards away, nearly invisible in the dark. They would not have been able to see anything, but Jewel had cast the spell Shared Vision to let the rest of them see through Silk’s eyes.
“I will not calm down!” said Crush, “You’re messing with the big payday!”
“He’s not wrong Silk,” said Loki. “It has taken us forever to first find this castle, then fight through the Wilds, and finally break through the defenses to allow you a small window of time to get in! No one on the forums has even heard of the Castle of Transition! The loot we could get from this place will probably be artifact!”
“Okay, okay fearless leader! I’m on it.” As Silk spoke, he looked down and gave the four of them a great view of him scratching his virtual balls.
“You’re a dick, Silk!” said Daliah.
A low chuckle came over the group chat as Silk made his way down the stairs to the lower levels, “That’s not what you said the other n-” The rest of the comment was lost to everyone as Daliah sent a psychic pulse through the spell connection. It was the ment
al equivalent of stubbing your toe in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom, minor but insanely irritating.
“Enough Silk!” shouted Loki, “and cut that crap out Daliah! I hate that!” The rest of the group was nodding and glaring at Daliah, who had the good grace to look down and away.
Silk, for his part, stopped the chatter and continued down the dark hallway he found himself in. There were no torches or other light, and if not for his Sense of the Bat skill that Rogues only found upon reaching the lofty level of 130, then he would have been knocking into walls. Luckily their entire party was ranked in the top 100 groups in The Land, so none of them were noobs.
What was strange was the complete lack of monsters and NPCs (non-player characters) in the castle. The lands surrounding the castle were teeming with creatures and difficult terrain. It had taken Jewel a solid day to burrow a hole in the shield covering the castle, burning through countless replenish mana potions. It meant that the castle shield had an ungodly amount of HPs (health points)! And the hole had barely lasted a few seconds before shutting again. Silk had managed to squeeze through, but no one else had been able to follow. It meant that if he got in trouble he was totally hosed!
He had yet to encounter any resistance though. The layout had no hidden traps he could detect, no maze like corridors and no enemies! It was like it was inviting him in… hopefully inviting him into the treasure room, Silk thought gleefully. He would love some artifact level gear, like those Gloves of Dark Beckoning that Chinese kid had posted he’d found in a secret labyrinth. Lucky a-hole!
As Silk made his way down a fifth spiral staircase, green light came from the bottom, and the entire party held their breath in anticipation. Months of work were hopefully about to pay off. He stepped into a round room, and they saw the source of the light. It was coming from an arch of black crystal. In the arch was a rippling Dartmouth green energy field. Looking at it was almost like staring straight down into a deep and limitless ocean on a stormy day. In front of the arch was a short column with the indentation of a hand print on top. In the rest of the room there was… nothing else.
“Are you effing kidding me? Where is the loot,” Crush shouted. The rest of the group kept quiet, but all were sharing the same disappointment.
“Maybe it’s back up top,” Jewel said. “Down another corridor?”
“So what do I do here,” asked Silk, “do I put my hand on it? Do a little dance maybe?”
“You could make a little love,” Loki said.
“Maybe get down tonight,” Crush finished, light chuckles coming over the chat line.
“Uhhhh, I say touch it,” a voice said.
“Was that you Daliah? I don’t know why I keep expecting you to be smart just because you’re psychic! What should I do Loki?”
“Uh… touch it,” he replied.
“Thanks oh fearless leader,” Silk exclaimed. “You’re about as useful as a swiss cheese condom.”
He braced himself to touch the pedestal. He was really hoping there wasn’t any pain. Even though the game muted it down, even a minor burn or electrical shock could ruin your whole morning. Still though, they hadn’t come all this way for nothing! Silk placed his hand on the imprint.
“Are you the agent of your people?” a deep voice boomed, seeming to come from all directions at once. At the same time the only door leading out of the room clanged shut.
Immediately lowering his body and drawing both daggers, Silk quickly looked around. There was no place for anyone to be hiding. They could always be cloaked or veiled, but his True Sight had maxed out forty levels ago, and no players or NPCs had been able to hide from him for quite a while. Assuming it must have been a game prompt, he tried to chat with his group, but no one answered his queries. Shrugging to himself he answered.
“Uhhh, yeah.”
The voice spoke again. “Do you embrace a life of adventure and danger, love and betrayal, power and wonder?”
“Yes.” The words came out stronger, Silk’s greedy little heart imagining the top shelf loot they were about to get.
“Will you be among the first to move forward, preparing the way for others?”
“Hell yeah,” Silk shouted, throwing both fists in the air.
Silence greeted his shout. After a few seconds, he realized that unless you are an asian time traveler who had saved a cheerleader, you just couldn’t pull this stance off. Before he could lower his arms though, he heard another voice. It was quite different from the previous deep bass, and it said in a self-satisfied tone, “Thrice heard and witnessed.”
The world flashed white and…
CHAPTER 1
James covered his eyes against the sunlight that seemed determined to drive ice picks (naw, I’m better than that… fire picks? yeah, much better he thought sleepily). Yes! Fire picks through his eyes just because he had slept in! It was Saturday wasn’t it? He was having trouble remembering the night before. Reaching down, he tried to pull the covers over his head, except he couldn’t find them. In fact, as his hand fell back to his mattress everything felt remarkably, well… grassy! Also his pillow felt surprisingly like a rock jabbing into his back!
Showing bravery on par with assaulting a horde of giants, or talking to a really hot chick sitting at the bar, he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in a small glen studded with wild flowers and colorful plants. At his back was a large shelf of stone, and beyond it were the foot hills of mountains rising in the distance. The trees in front of him formed the other boundary of the glen. They rose tall and majestic. The scent of pines mingled with the fragrance of the flowers. Birds of various types could be heard performing call and refrain. The moss growing on the trees was a brilliant green, and there was a crystal clear pool several feet in diameter between him and the stone outcropping. It was one of the most serene and beautiful settings he had ever seen. It evoked in him feelings of connection and tranquility, and he expressed himself accordingly.
“What the hell!!!”
He sat upright as quickly as he could, not at all helping the headache that blazed in intensity at his swift movement. Looking down, he imagined it might have something to do with the curved rock that had been under his head, and the tender lump he felt as his fingers searched his scalp. As he took in his surroundings he was interrupted by a slightly off key, and resigned sounding voice, that spoke from just over his left shoulder.
“About time you woke up!”
Turning his head, slower this time, he saw the small form of an imp lazily flapping its wings as it hovered three feet off the ground! It had gray dusky skin, and pitch black, bat like wings perched on its back. Its body was humanoid, if only one foot tall. James stared at it in fascination. The VR module had never produced a creature so lifelike and unique before. Standing up, he slowly walked closer examining it in wonder until he was only an inch away. Which was the moment right before it kicked him in the eye.
“Ahhhh, you dirty little,” James immediately began swatting at it with his right hand while holding his eye with his left. It lazily floated out of the way of his swing, and rolled its eyes while sighing heavily.
“Look,” it said. “I’m here to help you and even if I wasn’t, it would take a lot more than a friggin noob to take me out. Now if you don’t want me here, I can always leave.” It turned its back as it spoke, and started to gain altitude with a faster flap of its wings.
“No wait!” James said quickly. “I just don’t know what’s going on. Last thing I remember, I was in this castle, and then there was just a light, and now I’m here. And who are you calling a noob?!”
Ignoring his question, the imp faced him again and regarded him silently for a moment. It was almost like it was daring him to say something else to offend it. With a small nod to itself (himself?), it began to speak again.
“Okay noob, you are in The Land. You are NOT playing a game anymore. I’m going to say it slowly this time. You… Are… NOT… In… A… Game! Your mind and soul have been transp
orted here and placed in this body. Let this sink in. If you look around you, you can see that you are in a small glade. This is a safe haven, but as soon as you leave you can die. If you die, then you will come back to this point, unless you find another safe location or town to bind your spawn point to. The good news is that no one else should be able to find their way here. Even if they did, the enchantments on this glade should keep them out unless you lead them in.”
James opened his mouth, but stopped when the imp raised its hand.
“This will go a lot faster if you just listen. A being a lot stronger, and I’m guessing smarter, than you has paid me A LOT more than you’re worth to talk to you. Believe me, millions of those other noob Seeds will not be getting this treatment, so just listen. As I was saying, you were brought here by some higher being. No, I don’t know who. I’m here to give you some basic info about this world so you don’t become troll dung in the first few minutes.”
“The Land is bigger than the world you came from. You are one of the first of your people to be brought to The Land, and you were lucky enough to be brought to this little safe haven. Apparently where most of you will land is random. Some of you might be in towns or cities, some in forests or mountains, and some will probably be dead on arrival because they fell into oceans and drowned. Who cares right? You have landed in the Forest of Nadria, on the Rivers Peninsula. Do you remember anything about this location?”
“Yeah, it’s near the Kingdom of Yves. Supposed to be a section of land with a crazy amount of rivers crisscrossing through it. As far as I know the patch to travel here wasn’t released yet though.”
“Good, you’re not completely useless,” the imp said. “The Land is not exactly like the game that you remember. Your character won’t be either. Case in point,” the imp snapped his fingers and a hand sized wasp flashed into existence. The imp casually looked at James and simply said, “Attack.”