by A P Gore
“Wait, how can she be six years old?” Noah searched his mind, but there was no memory of anything like this happening. He remembered putting his four-year-old daughter to sleep last night. “Why can’t I remember this?” It was his daughter, those blue eyes and that attitude… It had to be his daughter. But he couldn’t remember a damn thing playing on the screen.
The feed moved forward.
Noah was in his lab, working on the Crystal of Quantum. Someone walked in, asking him some questions. Noah shouted in anger and shot him with a lightning bolt. The person ran away.
The feed changed.
Now Noah was smiling at the device he held. He tapped on a button, and a door to the fourth dimension opened. The black tendrils jumped out, but this time they couldn’t touch Noah or the device. Another man, an older one, walked in and congratulated Noah. But Noah hit the man with the device and threw the man and the device into the fourth dimension. Guards ran in, but Noah went berserk, destroying everything in the lab. His research papers, his equipment. And then he left the lab, shooting people that came running at him. He sprinted straight to the server room and fried all the storage drives. Peter, Nimi’s husband, was in charge of the server room, Noah killed him too.
“What sorcery is this?” Why would he do that? It was his research, his life. Why would he destroy the work of his life? Noah's heartbeat raced like a spaceship hurtling through space.
Why would he kill Peter? Peter was his friend. Nimi had been like a second mother to Tia after his wife’s death. No, it didn’t make any sense.
The feed continued.
When Noah was done frying the server room, he destroyed the backup server room.
They were performing a secret project, so no data was stored on the communication network. Everything was stored in one physical place, and he had destroyed it. Noah leaned forward to watch the feed. And then something even more unexpected happened.
Noah shot a spell at his own brain and fell to the ground, unconscious.
The feed stopped, leaving Noah speechless. His heart had plummeted to his stomach.
“How much of this you remember?” the glass-man asked in a dramatic voice.
“Nothing.” Noah looked through the glass-man like he was made up of transparent glass.
Was that real, or made up? Why can't I remember anything?
His skin was crawling with fear and self-loathing. If it was all true, then he was a monster in the cloak of a human.
“Now I can answer your questions. You're in a game because you fried your brain with some unknown spell. Being in the game is the only way to keep you alive and talking.”
“But I was chained in a chair, talking with you, like ten minutes ago.” All the anger and rage drained from his voice. But a tiny hope remained in his heart, that it was all a dream. A bad dream.
“It was ten days ago, mate. We thought we’d found a way to wake you up from a magical coma, but we were wrong. Once again, you absorbed magic from your surroundings and went berserk. So, we put you down. Right now, your body is in coma, an induced coma, and your mind is in the game.” Silence overtook them for a moment, and then glass-man smirked. “Didn’t you notice your tummy and beard are gone? You have a generic game avatar now. The only similarity to your old self is your face.”
Noah gawked at his stomach. The man was right. The slight bump in his abdomen was gone. “But how does this game help me?”
The glass-man shook his head in disappointment. “Here in the game, you have no magic—at least, no real magic, and your brain can't put you in that fuzzy state again. And then there is time dilation helping you to process everything easily.”
“I don’t believe you. This must be a joke.” Noah grabbed his head. He was in denial.
“I’m sorry for this, mate, but this will help you understand everything.” The glass-man floated in the air and shot a green glowing orb at Noah. The orb hit his right shoulder; pain and agony lanced through his right arm, and it went completely numb. He couldn't even lift it an inch.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Noah begged. “Just send me home. I want to see my daughter.”
“If you trust me, this will go smoothly. You are not in the real world anymore. Just see this.” The glass-man waved his hand, and a screen flew in front of Noah. It had access to the communication network. Noah accessed and read through the communication network in hope of finding the actual truth, but everything screamed at him with the year 4058 sign.
With a heavy sigh he pushed his back on the chair. “How much time am I missing?” Helplessness kicked his gut. There was nothing to prove the glass-man wrong.
“For the last twenty years, you were lying in bed, in a coma. And that was in 4038.”
“So, right now I’m missing twenty years of work and twenty years of being in a coma. That explains why my daughter looks forty-four years old.” In 4038 he fried his brain and went into a magical coma. Now was 4058, but he couldn’t remember anything beyond 4018. That meant he was loosing 20 years of memories, 4018-4038 and from 4038-4058 he was in coma. So, in total he was missing 40 years’ worth of time. The worst part, Tia he remembered was 4 years old in 4018, and now she was 44 years old, and he was missing the time he spent with her in 4018-4038.
Noah went to move his hand through his long hair, but realized he had none now. He was in the game, not in the real world anymore, and this seemed to be his only shot at redemption. “Okay, now what?”
“We have a hunch that the time dilation will help you regain your memories, so you go in the game, chose a class, and go and play the game until we discover how to keep your brain out of the fuzzy-coma. Until then, have fun.” The glass-man smiled.
3. Class System
S taring at the ceiling, Noah blinked few times. For being in the game, everything felt so real. The intense, painful white light, the pain in his shoulder from the glass-man’s spell, the smooth texture of the chair cushion. How could everything feel so real?
But nothing soothed the pain in his heart. The pain of helplessness.
“I can't do this. My daughter needs me. Who will look at the little...” He gulped down the words. His daughter wasn't a four-year-old girl anymore. She was forty-four years old, and he didn't even remember her childhood.
“That’s not possible. You can’t go back. If we take you out of the pod, you will die.” Glass-man leaned on the word “die,” but it didn't matter to Noah. Without memories of his daughter, he was as good as dead. Those precious memories had been wiped out by his own hand.
“What’s in it for you?” Noah asked, locking eyes with the glass-man. He didn't want to miss any lie coming out of the glass-man's mouth.
“You destroyed the tech, mate. We need that research, and the only place it’s present is in your fucking brain. If you die, the tech dies with you.” He pushed his glasses up his nose hard. “And I won’t let that happen.”
“Hmm.” The glass-man was right. If he died, the tech would die too.
But why did I destroy it in the first place? And how am I going to get those memories back?
“There is another benefit of being in the game,” Glass-man said. “I told you about time dilation, right? It works in 1-12 ratio. One month in the real world is 12 months in the game world. Technically, your brain is slowed down to take everything in, and I have a hunch it would help you regain your memories. The moment you get them back, give us a nod, and we’ll contact you right away. Think about what humanity can do with the tech. And I’ll throw another cherry on top. I’ll get your girl in the game, once you get the memories back. It’s expensive to get her in the pod, but I'll pull some strings.” He winked.
Tia.
The thought of her interrupted his rumination. Yes, he wanted to see his girl, to talk with her and ask her what her life had been like without him. His whole in-game body shuddered at that thought. She’d had no one to look up to, not her mom, and not her dad.
God, why did I do that to her?
Mayb
e this was his chance to do things right. It the time-dilation theory worked, he would get his memories back and get a chance to meet his daughter too. Damn! They had so much catching up to do,
“Get her now, or else I won’t search for those memories.”
“Can’t do that, mate. There are restrictions.”
“Then forget about the tech.” He hated to be douchebag, but if it would get him a chat with his daughter, then so be it.
“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it once I get out of here. But promise me you’ll do everything in your power to get the memories back.”
“I will.” Noah said. He planned to get them back at any cost. There were many things he missed, and he needed his memories to understand those things.
“Fair enough, mate. Go through that door, and you’ll be able to select your class.” Glass-man waved, and a door appeared in one wall.
Noah took a deep breath before opening the door. It was a life-changing event, and he’d better be happy about it.
♦ ♦ ♦
Noah entered another room—a black one, with a table at the center and a document atop the table. The right wall of the room was covered in drawers, hundreds of them. He wondered what he would find in those. More documents?
A man in a black suit flashed into existence and took a seat across the table. He wore thick black goggles and a suit and tie that had been out of fashion for ages. The strangest thing was, he smelled like the rotted flesh of some animal. Not at all plausible.
“Mr. Meddison. Can you take a seat, so we can discuss the terms and conditions of the game?” He sounded like someone from the legal department of Laxania. Those men wore black robes and always spoke plainly and to the point.
Noah hated them. They’d been a pain in his ass when he was working on the secret project. They always used to come up with some new legal hurdle for him. He hated them to the core.
“Okay.” Noah sat. “So, who are you? I thought the glass-man was from the company.”
“He is just a mediator associated with the company. I’m…” He paused for a moment, flipping the pen over in his fingers. “How can I put it… I’m a crossroad demon.”
Noah chuckled. “A demon, like in the fiction books?” He was a fan of paranormal books. Demons, vampires, and werewolves were popular tropes in his day.
Forty years ago.
Sadness filled his mind.
“No, an actual one from the Earth. Anyway, let’s forget about it for now. We have work to do.” He pushed the document on the table toward Noah.
Noah picked it up and flipped through the pages. It was a standard contract, stipulating that the company wouldn’t be responsible for any damage to the user, and so on. But then he found one section which piqued his interest.
“What is this?” He placed his finger on the words. “Reserve my magic?”
“Oh that. It’s a necessity to maintain full immersion. Everyone donates some portion of their magic to the game. Once you are out of the game, it will be returned to you. But it also gives you a special power in the game, a different type of resource and a unique spell which only you can use. It’s fascinating, trust me.” He wore an intriguing smile.
Noah understood squat, but if everyone was doing it then he shouldn't have any problem. There were four options: 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, and 75 percent.
“Which one should I choose?” Noah asked.
“Hmm, you have a unique condition. You’ll be in the pod for devil knows how long. And you have enormous raw magic in you. So, go ahead with the 40-50 option.”
“Why not 75?” What other had he for his real-world magic, if he was going to remain in the game for years to come?
“There are some dangers associated with that.”
“What dangers?”
The self-styled demon leaned forward. “I don’t tell this to just anyone, but you’re a special case. So, here it goes: 75 percent enables the highest possible immersion level you can get out of this game.”
Noah traced his finger on the arm of the chair, feeling the rough texture of the wood. Wooden furniture was a luxury in his overcrowded city. But he had it in his house, because he could afford it.
“You’re not making any sense.” Noah leaned back. What did immersion have to do with reserving magic?
“It increases pain. So, if you’re hit in the game, you will feel pain. It also enables you to experience adultery with NPC’s in many ways, and it comes with two unique skills you wouldn’t learn anywhere else.”
Noah thought about it. If he was going to spend years in the game, he would be better off with all the advantages he could get. “I’ll go with 75 percent.” He signed the paper.
“Great. Let’s decide your class now. For your unique skills and resources, you will learn about it in the game once you discover your deity.”
“A deity?”
“Yes, they are the gods in the game, and they provide their followers with lots of blessings and things like that. You don’t have to follow one. You can carve your own path and become a deity yourself. Consider that an extra tip from me.” The demon winked, leaving his corporate demeanor behind.
“Okay, do I get a manual or something? I know little about the game terms.”
“We have online forums, help sections. Let’s do one thing: go through them right now, so you don’t select the wrong class and end up cursing me. I’ll wait here.”
“Okay.” Noah waited for the demon to conjure a book or something for him.
“What?”
“Give me the book or whatever. How am I supposed to go online?”
The demon chuckled. “Just will it with your mind.”
Noah willed it, and a screen appeared in front of his eyes. He could access the forums and all the game details from there. He scooted through the main game terms, read a few guides on the forums, and then moved on to the class descriptions.
There were hundreds. But all the classes were divided into three main branches.
Mage: Practitioner of the Mana based school. Divided into two sub classes, Light Mages and Dark Mages. He could guess what they did, but kept reading.
A mage could learn various spells, including healing and damage spells. There were subclasses from which he could choose, and few sub-classes were.
Blood Mage: Practitioners of blood magic. Can manipulate own blood or opponents’ blood to conjure powerful spells.
Soul Mage: Manipulates his own soul to conjure a soul weapon.
The list went on with Arcanist, Illusionist, Elementalist etc.
Melee: Specialist in close and ranged combat. Uses weapons like sword, dagger, bow, etc. This had two main branches: Close Combat and Ranger.
The sub-classes were: Rough, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Trapper, etc.
Creatures: Practitioner of the Spirit based school. This class is divided into two branches: Dark creatures and Light creatures.
It had further sub-classes like Shaman, Druid, Beastmaster, Zombiemancer, etc.
Noah went back and forth through the user guides, learning that mages were powerful, even the dark ones. But an almost equal number of players played the melee classes. He was a mage in real life, and he didn’t like the other mage sub-classes like illusionist or ritualist. Creatures’ skills were unpopular and weak, according to other players, so he chose a melee class.
He went back to class choices, and one particular class attracted his attention. He read the class description.
Paladin: Bearer of the light. Uses a shield and a one-handed weapon to keep enemies away. Specializes in Aura Based skills. Can use spell gems starting at level five.
“What are spell gems?” Noah asked. He didn’t find any information in the forums, which was strange.
“Leave something for in-game discovery,” the demon said.
“I want to be a Paladin,” Noah said. He would like to play a melee class and play defense. He used to love defensive games when he was a child, and auras seemed awesome.
“Okay, that�
�s your main class. What would you choose as your second class?”
“Another class?” Noah didn’t understand, so he flipped through other sections of the forums.
“Ah, there it is.” He read the mechanism. The game allowed any character to use more than one class. Each one unlocking at level 5, 15, 30, 60, and so on. But there was a catch to it: only a few skills were available from the second class, and each skill cost two skill points. So every class had a class tree to choose skills from, which was level-specific. As a paladin, he would get shield bash at level one, weak healing aura at level three, and new skills every two or three levels. If he chose the second class as a light side of mage (Here, the restriction was based on the spectrum your first class was in. So a light paladin wouldn’t be able to learn necromancy and so on.), an Elementalist, he could get access to spells like fireball, thunderstorm, etc. But each skill would require him to dump two initial skill points to get it, and then one point after that. For a third class, he would require three initial skill points, and then two points in each skill to level up. It increased by one skill point with each new class he chose.
“I get it now. I’ll go with Arcanist.” He was a lightning mage in his real life, and he would love to use same magic in the game too.
“Good. Open drawer number 756 to get your key.” The demon waved his hand, and the drawers shifted. It was like watching a moving train. After a few moments the drawer slider stopped. Each drawer must have been a combination of classes.
Noah opened drawer 756 and obtained a golden key.
“You can choose new classes or select a unique class—if you manage to discover one—once you reach the required level. For now, this key will take you to a random human town.”
“Can I spend some time here reading through the game forums first? I need to know more about this shit.”
“Sure. Enjoy your time in the game, Noah.” The demon shook his hand and walked toward the door that had appeared after Noah had picked up the key. Just before opening the door, he turned back. “One more thing. If you reach the respected level of reputation with the human king, the company will allow your daughter to visit you in the game once every real-life month.”