Realm of Mystics

by Raelyn Drake

  Copyright © 2017 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

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  A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

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  For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.

  Images in this book used with the permission of: © Melkor3D/Shutterstock.com (dragon), © iStockphoto.com/trendobjects (snow background), © iStockphoto.com/Thoth_Andan (grunge background).

  Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std 12/17.5. Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  The Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Realm of Mystics is on file at the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-5124-3989-2 (lib. bdg.)

  ISBN 978-1-5124-5359-1 (pbk.)

  ISBN 978-1-5124-4878-8 (EB pdf)

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1-42238-25787-3/15/2017

  9780778780878 ePub

  9780778780885 mobi

  9780778780892 ePub

  To my husband

  It is the year 2089. Virtual reality games are part of everyday life, and one company—L33T C0RP—is behind the most popular games. Though most people are familiar with L33T C0RP, few know much about what happens behind the scenes of the megacorporation.

  L33T C0RP has developed a new virtual reality game: Level Up. It contains more than one thousand unique virtual realities for gamers to play. But the company needs testers to smooth out glitches. Teenagers from around the country are chosen for this task and, suddenly, they find themselves in the middle of a video game. The company gives them a warning—win the game, or be trapped within it. Forever.

  Chapter 1

  “Welcome to Level Up.”

  Eyes still closed, the player tried to slap the snooze button on her alarm, but her hand met only rough wood.

  “Congratulations! You have been randomly selected to beta test the Realm of Mystics scenario of our new game, Level Up. L33T C0RP thanks you for your participation.”

  The player’s eyes snapped open.

  A middle-aged man in a white suit and sunglasses stared down at her. He smiled, and his teeth glinted a brighter white than his suit. The player had a feeling that the smile didn’t reach the eyes behind those dark lenses.

  She lay on the floor of some sort of wooden shack. She tried to remember how she had gotten there, but everything was blank. “What’s going on?” She sat up, pressing a hand to her aching forehead.

  “Do you need me to repeat the welcome message again? I thought it explained the situation rather nicely.”

  “No, I just—”

  The man flickered, pixelated, then snapped back.

  She blinked a few times. “Did you just—are you a hologram or something?”

  “I’m the Game Runner,” he said, as though he was stating something obvious. The player would have found the man’s smug tone annoying under normal circumstances. “This is my avatar in Level Up. As you can see, there are still a few glitches to work out.” He smacked the side of his head as if he was trying to get water out of his ear. “That’s why we need beta testers before we release Level Up to the general public.”

  The player suddenly realized why this all sounded so familiar. She remembered seeing a headline in her news feed that L33T C0RP would soon be releasing a fully immersive virtual reality gaming experience. She hadn’t bothered to read the article. She had never been great at video games.

  “What if I don’t want to be a beta tester?”

  “You already signed a contract,” the Game Runner said.

  She frowned. “I don’t remember doing that.”

  The Game Runner smiled again—it seemed to be his default expression—and shrugged. “Memories are often misplaced during the login process—”

  A door at the back of the shack burst open. A girl the same age as the player appeared, her long black hair arranged in dozens of tiny braids.

  “Hey, let’s get going already.” She pulled her braids back into a ponytail. The player noticed text floating above the girl’s head: Rox_Ur_Sox. That must be her name in the game, she thought. The text disappeared after she had a moment to read it.

  Rox_Ur_Sox wore cherry-red armor that gleamed in the last rays of sun shining through the shack’s windows. The player looked down at her own clothes. She was dressed in midnight blue robes, belted at the waist and sprinkled with silver sequins like stars. “What the—?”

  Two boys followed Rox_Ur_Sox into the room. The boy with tousled black hair wore a knee-length brown leather coat. Floating above his head was the name E1_Kapitan. The skinny redheaded boy in a black hooded cloak—D4rkHunter—knelt to finish lacing up his boots.

  “What kind of video game is this?” the player asked.

  Rox_Ur_Sox raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, don’t tell me you’re a n00b . . .”

  “A what?”

  D4rkHunter whispered behind his hand like he was sharing a secret with her. “Gamer slang for ‘newbie.’ She means you’ve never really played video games before.”

  She shrugged. “Do phone games count?”

  Rox_Ur_Sox rolled her eyes and sighed. “Can we just get started?”

  “This player just needs to select her gamertag,” the Game Runner said, gesturing to the player. Everyone turned to look at her.

  “My what?”

  “This is the name you will go by in the game. Everyone else has already chosen theirs.”

  “Umm—”

  “Time’s up,” the Game Runner said. “A gamertag has been generated for you. Welcome to Realm of Mystics, Em3ra1d_with_3nvy.”

  Em3ra1d_with_3nvy noticed E1_Kapitan staring at a spot above her head. She looked up and saw her new name floating above her. It too disappeared after a moment.

  “Em3ra1d_with_3nvy,” he repeated. “That’s not a bad gamertag for a n00b.”

  “Envy is right, when she sees how real gamers play.” Rox_Ur_Sox smirked.

  “Can we call her Em3ra1d for short?” E1_Kapitan asked the others. “That name is kind of a mouthful.”

  “Do you all know each other?” Em3ra1d asked, still trying to wrap her head around the situation.

  D4rkHunter shook his head. “Not in real life. Kap and I hang out on the L33T C0RP gaming forums, but I’ve never met him offline. You and Roxy are new.”

  “I’m not new,” scoffed Rox_Ur_Sox. “I just don’t waste my time by socializing with other gamers.” She turned to the Game Runner expectantly. “I’ll feel better once I get to fight something.”

  The Game Runner smiled. “Your quest,” he explained, “is to complete four levels—Water Level, Earth Level, Fire Level, and Air Level. These challenges have been designed to test your deepest fears and take advantage of your unique strengths. If you complete those four levels, you will then face the Boss Battle level, which you will beat by releasing the princess and defeating the dragon.”

  “Sounds simple enough,” D4rkHunter said.

  Em3ra1d snorted. “Sure. Simple.”

  “You have all been assigned weapons based on your type of character in Realm of Mystics,” the Game Runner said. “Rox_Ur_Sox, you are a Warrior, so you get a sword and shield.”

  “Sweet!” Rox_Ur_Sox said. The sword and shield appeared in her hand out of thin air. She slashed the blade experimentally, with the round wo
oden shield strapped to her opposite arm for defense.

  “D4rkHunter, as a Ranger, you will get a bow and arrows.”

  D4rkHunter slung his newly acquired quiver full of arrows over his back and tested how far he could bend the wooden bow. He nodded approvingly.

  “E1_Kapitan, you are a Druid—”

  “What’s a Druid?” Em3ra1d asked.

  “Druids have the power to control nature,” the Game Runner explained. “E1_Kapitan will use a magic staff.”

  E1_Kapitan took the wooden staff, which was nearly as tall as he was, and thumped the floorboards with the butt end. A vine with spiky black flowers sprouted from the top, curling and coiling down the length of the staff.

  “Cool,” E1_Kapitan said, nudging D4rkHunter and smiling.

  “Em3ra1d_with_3nvy, you are a Mage—a magic user—and you get this spell book.” The Game Runner handed her a leather-bound book.

  Rox_Ur_Sox groaned. “The n00b is the Mage? We’re so screwed without a good Mage.”

  Em3ra1d flipped through the book. The spells all had names like Fireball and Teleport.

  “I don’t know if I feel very safe with only an old book to protect me. Didn’t you say we were going to have to fight a dragon?”

  The Game Runner seemed to ignore her. He handed them all leather wristbands. On each, a red crystal and a blue crystal glowed brightly. “Every time you get hurt, you lose Health. Your red Health crystal recharges slowly, but if you lose all of your Health before it can recharge, you die.”

  “What?” Em3ra1d exclaimed, her head jerking up from the spell book.

  “We don’t actually die, dummy,” Rox_Ur_Sox said. “It’s just video game death. You come back after you respawn.”

  “You each get three lives,” the Game Runner continued. “When you die the third time, you lose; three strikes, you’re out—you get the picture. The four of you together form a group called a ‘party.’ If all of you die at once, then everyone loses instantly. One or more of you can finish the game, but it will be much easier to win with all four party members.”

  Em3ra1d raised her hand. “So what’s the blue crystal for?”

  “Whenever you use a spell or a weapon, you use a bit of Power. Like your Health crystal, your blue Power crystal recharges slowly, so make sure you ration it out during battles.”

  The players nodded thoughtfully and attached their wristbands.

  The Game Runner turned to Em3ra1d. “Why don’t you try out a spell now? Aim your hand at where you want the spell to go and shout the name of the spell.” He gestured to the blank stretch of wall next to him.

  Em3ra1d looked at the spell book. The page was open to a spell called Light. She held out her hand toward the wall as if she was about to shoot lasers from her palm. I probably look ridiculous, she thought.

  “Light?” she said. It was more of a question than a shout. She felt a blush creep into her cheeks.

  A tiny sphere of golden light appeared suspended in the air between her and the wall. Then the light sputtered out with the squeaky whistling noise of a balloon deflating.

  Rox_Ur_Sox groaned.

  Em3ra1d felt that the Game Runner hesitated a moment too long before he exclaimed, “Good!” and flashed his insincere smile.

  Em3ra1d looked at her wristband. The blue Power crystal had dimmed slightly.

  “I’m afraid the rest of the tutorial isn’t available in the beta version,” the Game Runner said.

  “But wait,” Em3ra1d said, “I still don’t get—”

  The Game Runner ushered them out the door of the shack. “You’ll just have to pick up the rest as you go.”

  Chapter 2

  The players found themselves on a wooden pier that stretched away to either side of them, forming a half circle open to the ocean. Ten other shacks that looked identical to the one they had just left lined the pier. Here and there, wooden ladders slick with algae and sea spray descended from the pier into the murky water five feet below.

  In front of them, the sun had just dipped below the ocean’s horizon, streaking the sky with peach and lavender. Behind them, the first evening stars flecked the horizon. Beyond the pier, a forest rose toward a distant mountain peak ringed with smoke.

  It all looked so real. A fresh sea breeze stirred her hair, carrying with it the tangy scent of salt and seaweed. It even smelled real. Em3ra1d could hardly believe this was virtual reality.

  “Now don’t forget,” the Game Runner said from behind them, “the most important thing is having fun! Well, actually the most important thing is winning, because otherwise you can’t leave the game. So have fun. But also win. Good luck!”

  “Wait, what?” Em3ra1d turned around, but the Game Runner had vanished. “What did he mean, we can’t leave?”

  “If we lose, we’re stuck in the game forever,” Rox_Ur_Sox explained.

  Em3ra1d bit her lip. “That doesn’t seem very fair . . . or legal.”

  Rox_Ur_Sox shrugged. “It was in the contract, apparently.”

  “I sure wish I remembered signing that thing.”

  D4rkHunter suddenly yelped and jumped back from the edge of the pier, his eyes wide. “There’s something in the water.”

  The other three crowded around him and looked where he pointed. The waves below lapped around pillars caked with barnacles. But there was no other movement.

  “I don’t see anything,” Em3ra1d said. The water was so dark it was almost black.

  “It was there a second ago, I swear,” said D4rkHunter.

  “It was probably just a fish,” E1_Kapitan said.

  D4rkHunter looked doubtful. “Yeah, maybe . . .”

  “What are we even supposed to be looking for?” Rox_Ur_Sox asked. “How do we defeat the Water Level?”

  “The Game Runner never said,” mumbled D4rkHunter as he eyed the water warily.

  “C’mon,” Rox_Ur_Sox said, “we should see if there’s any useful stuff in the other shacks.”

  While the other three players explored every building on the half-circle pier, Em3ra1d studied her spell book, trying to memorize the spells and what they did. I might be terrible at video games, she thought, but no one can cram for a test like I can.

  Eventually, the rest of the party returned.

  “Nothing!” Rox_Ur_Sox said, throwing up her hands. “This is stupid. There’s no loot and no Health potions.”

  “We’ll have to monitor our Health and Power crystals carefully then,” D4rkHunter said.

  It was still twilight on the pier. The sun hadn’t moved at all, and the sky hadn’t grown any darker. Em3ra1d wondered if the game was designed that way. The only difference in their surroundings was that a fog was beginning to creep in.

  “Look!” Em3ra1d pointed at a golden glow in the water.

  “There’s probably something in the water that we need to get,” Rox_Ur_Sox said.

  “But who’s going to get it?” E1_Kapitan asked.

  D4rkHunter cleared his throat nervously. “Guys, I think this first level is meant for me.”

  “What do you mean?” Em3ra1d asked.

  “Remember how the Game Runner said that each level would test our deepest fears?”

  “Yeah?”

  D4rkHunter took a deep breath. “When I was a kid, I used to go to the ocean with my dads all the time. But one time, I went out swimming, got caught in a current, and almost drowned. I’ve been terrified of water ever since.”

  “That’s crazy!” E1_Kapitan puffed up his cheeks and blew out a little puff of air. “I’d be scared too, if that had happened to me.”

  “How do you shower, Hunter?” asked Rox_Ur_Sox with a smirk.

  D4rkHunter rolled his eyes. “Dude, Roxy, obviously I shower—I just don’t like being in any water that goes above my waist.” He looked down the ladder at the water. “This looks like it would definitely be over my head.”

  “We’ll be right here if you need us,” Em3ra1d said. “Don’t worry. I volunteer as a lifeguard during the summer.” She wondered
if being a good swimmer in the real world made any difference in the virtual world.

  D4rkHunter smiled weakly. “Thanks, Em.” He turned around and descended the ladder. He gasped as the water sloshed past his waist.

  “What is it?” E1_Kapitan asked.

  “It’s super cold!” D4rkHunter lowered himself into the water and paddled with one hand to keep afloat. He seemed reluctant to let go of his handhold on the ladder.

  “You’ve got this, man!” E1_Kapitan gave him a thumbs-up and a cheesy smile.

  D4rkHunter let go of the ladder and swam toward the golden glow. “There’s definitely something here,” he shouted, “but I’ll have to dive to get it. It’s on the bottom.”

  Em3ra1d thought she saw a flash of scales and something twisting just beneath the surface.

  “What is that?” she asked, grabbing Rox_Ur_Sox’s arm to get her attention.

  The water rippled as the surface broke again.

  “That’s not a snake, is it?” Rox_Ur_Sox asked.

  Em3ra1d swallowed. “I think they’re eels.”

  “Hunter, look out!” Rox_Ur_Sox called.

  D4rkHunter turned just in time to see an eel coming toward him. He thrashed in the water, trying to stay afloat as he reached for the quiver on his back. He grabbed an arrow and shoved it into the side of the eel. The arrow broke off at the shaft, but the eel hissed and slid back under the water.

  “There’s a ton more of those things!” D4rkHunter shouted, looking around frantically. “I’m gonna need some backup!”

  “I can’t reach them with my sword from here!” Rox_Ur_Sox said. “Warriors aren’t really meant for long-range attacks.”

  E1_Kapitan aimed his Druid staff at the spot where the water was churning. Thorns launched from the end of his staff like darts and sliced into the water.

  “Good idea, Kap!” D4rkHunter said. “I think you got some of them.”

  A weird clicking noise filled the air. “What is that?” Em3ra1d looked around for the source.

  With a crackle of electricity, the water glowed neon purple.