Vina awoke early the next day. The quest marker displayed 20 miles in her vision and she couldn’t help but be eager to reach it. Priya had said she left another note at this place, and Vina was determined to reach it. Twenty miles was a heck of a walk, but Vina felt if she focused today, she could finish this quest.

She was so determined, she didn’t even pause her walk when a window opened in her vision.

Skill Level Up: Firetending has reached level 5. Fires you light and maintain are 12% less likely to suddenly go out and burn 20% longer. You have gained one skill point. You have gained 75 experience from leveling a skill.

Where would you like to spend your firetending skill point? Option 1: Fires you light and maintain burn 5% hotter while using less fuel Option 2: Fires you light and maintain are 5% more bright Option 3: You are now 5% resistant to heat and flame

Vina was intrigued by the third option. “What would it be like to be resistant to fire?” She whispered. “I have to know what that’s like!” Vina selected the third option. Vina immediately felt a warmth on her skin all over. It didn’t hurt, but it was intense. It was gone in a matter of seconds and she couldn’t identify any difference. “Guess I’ll check it later?” she muttered.

Vina focused back on her quest marker and pushed herself hard. She didn’t spare any time today to forage for food or practice any of her skills. She only filled her canteen when she needed and pressed forward. When she was just two miles away, Vina began to feel a little apprehensive. The last time she had visited a landmark, she had been attacked. Would there be more spinerlings at the quest marker? Vina tried to stiffen her resolve as the quest marker drew closer. She was not surprised when a window popped up in her view.

Quest Updated: Find Priya’s notes changed to Enter the Sinkhole.

Vina stared at that message. “A Sinkhole?!” she exclaimed aloud. She walked toward the quest marker and was soon greeted with the view of a massive hole in the ground. It was about 60 feet across and very deep. She stood near its edge, and watched as a portion of the river flowed into the pit. The sides of the sinkhole were solid stone and sheer without handholds from what she could see.

“How in the world…” said Vina, her voice echoed into the hole. She stopped her sentence when a thin blue line zipped down the sides of the hole in a circle. It was slight, but she could see it. She heard the sound of stone grinding on stone. Vina started to use her Observe skill, but there was no need. Slowly stone steps emerged from the rock face. Vina laughed in an attempt to control her disbelief, fascination, and anxiety. “Does Priya really expect me to walk those steps?” She said. They looked far from secure.

Vina walked around the sinkhole to arrive at the first step. With a hand on the wall she descended. The steps circled the edge of the sinkhole as she headed down. She looked down, but immediately regretted her choice. "Just one step at a time", She said to herself. Although the height scared Vina, her agility was more than up to the task of stepping from stone to stone. She descended as fast as she dared and soon reached the bottom.

She looked around the perfectly circular stone chamber. On the floor was a carved rivulet that guided the water to the sides of the room and seemingly further down into the sinkhole. She realized this may not have been naturally formed. Someone had created this stone platform after the sinkhole had formed.

So far down, the room was not well lit. Vina activated her Observe skill, hoping it could highlight anything valuable. With the chamber being so dark and still, Observe did not overwhelm her senses as it had previously. She used the skill to slowly sweep across the chamber. She took several rounds before Observe found something. At one edge of the room was a thin outline of a door. When Vina stepped near, the door lit up.

On the door was a grid containing hundreds of engraved icons. She saw creatures, buildings, mountains, animals, and more. She scanned the icons until she saw one she recognized. "That's the Seattle Space Needle!" She exclaimed. She reached out and touched the icon. It lit up blue but nothing further happened. Vina slowly scanned the icons again and recognized another one. "That's Mt Rainier with its cloud hat." Vina started to see more and more icons that she recognized and soon she had selected a circle that looked like Earth and another circle that was definitely the Moon. She laughed when she saw the Seattle Seahawks logo.

When she pushed that final one, the engravings went dark and the door slid down into the floor. Vina hesitated before she stepped across the threshold. After she had crossed, the door moved back into place behind her, taking away all light with it. Vina whipped around and ran her hands along the now closed door, but couldn’t find a latch to open it. “Am I trapped?” she thought. She turned back around and walked carefully down a pitch black corridor with her hand against the wall. After she had taken a few steps, a light appeared and she could see its source was from a wall sconce. She walked toward it and another one lit up further down.

Vina took a moment to examine the wall sconce.

Item: Runic Wall Sconce of Shadow Scattering Rare This is a rare wall sconce created by a rune master. This wall sconce makes it 20% more difficult for shadows to form.

Vina looked down at her shadow and sure enough, she did not see one. “Why shadows though?” Vina said to herself. She followed the sconces until she entered another circular room, seemingly carved out of the stone. In the room several wall sconces lit up with a soft blue light. It was just enough that Vina could see a modern backpack from Earth sitting in the center of the room. Vina approached the red backpack and examined it as well.

Item: Vina’s Runic Backpack of Storage Epic This is an epic rarity backpack created by a rune master for Vina. This backpack has increased storage by 304%. Items contained in this backpage weigh 32% less. This item is self repairing.

Vina leaned down and opened the backpack’s main compartment and looked inside.

Vina’s Runic Backpack of Storage is now soulbound.

Backpack Inventory: Priya’s Note #2 Priya’s Sealed Note Runic Lantern of Shadow Dispersion 150 Regals of The Watch

Vina reached for Priya’s note and pulled it out. The note seemed to be right on top of everything in the backpack, but she had to reach her entire arm in to pull it out. “That’s a strange feeling.” muttered Vina to herself. Vina looked inside again and saw everything appeared further away than the backpack’s physical depth. She thought about grabbing the lantern, and it suddenly moved to the top. “Wha?!!” Vina exclaimed. She dropped the backpack in surprise.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She bent back down and picked up the bag. This time she imagined taking Priya’s note. It popped to the top and she was ready. She easily took it out and began reading.

Dear Vina,

  Happy Birthday! I know this gift is likely a few days late, and I am sorry I could not be here to celebrate with you today. I hope this bag and its contents can express my love for you and how regretful I am to not be here with you now. Regardless, I am so happy to have you as my daughter.

  There is much about this world I need to tell you, but I struggle to figure out how to share it all with you. Let me try to start at the beginning. For as long as anyone can remember, a person named Trina existed in our world. Trina was a kind woman who helped the people of our world. Every person she helped was inspired by her and worked hard to be a better person every day after meeting her. No one really knows where Trina came from and Trina would never elaborate on her beginnings, but she was timeless. To encourage everyone to grow and become better, Trina said she created the leveling and skill windows you see now. She had said she wanted everyone to be able to see exactly how they could improve every day.

  Unfortunately, around 700 years ago Trina vanished. The day she vanished is what we call The Severing. The history books tell us the world quest to recover the stolen Aspects was created the same day as The Severing. Soon we found these red stones called Aspects scattered around us. It did not take long for us to understand these aspects were in fact aspects of Trina herself. Despite all our searching, we could not figure out how to return the aspects as Trina had requested of us. A few decades later, the other world quest appeared. This one asked us to destroy the fake aspects. At that time, many felt if they could not return the real aspects, they could at least destroy the fakes.

  Slowly though, the world began to accept Trina’s aspects as a normal part of life. Instead of destroying the fakes, they adopted them. They found they could bond with them, both real and fake, and suddenly do amazing, sometimes horrible things. The path of self improvement slowed and a new path was suddenly available: the path of self indulgence. Most people who could afford a fake aspect could bond with it and immediately gain power.

  On the day of The Severing, something else happened. The shadows of this world came alive. Not all of them, but sometimes the darkness moves and shifts. Sometimes it interacts with our world, usually in detrimental ways. The shadows have been known to take people and hurt them. Among the gifts I have given, you will find a lantern designed to reduce your shadow and other shadows around you. I strongly urge you to use this anytime you are in the darkness.

  I made the lantern by hand using the rune carving skill. Rune carving has always been a passion of mine. I spent so much time making runes, sometimes my hands would bleed! I hope you might pick it up if you find it interesting. Unfortunately, I was not allowed as much time to practice as I wished.

  A true aspect of Trina was given to me. It was the Aspect of Travel. With this aspect alone, I could go anywhere I had previously visited, instantly. When I combined it with my rune carving skills, I began to create portal rings. One such portal ring exists in this room. I’d like you to examine the wall at the far end of the room. See if you can use your Mastery to learn Rune Carving and activate the portal.

  Besides the shadows, there are other things in this world. About 400 years ago, creatures began to appear. We do not know where they came from, but they have quickly spread and multiplied. They’ve become part of the ecosystem now, which is what caused Trina to lock down the world. There are many theories about their source, but what truly matters is they can also level up. The ability to level was originally limited to only the sentient species. Given the threat that a leveled up creature can be, I strongly urge you to apply some of your focus to combat base skills. You need to be able to defend yourself.

  I have placed another note in this backpack, but it is locked using a runic seal. You will be able to break the seal once your own Rune Carving skill is high enough. Your next destination is the Town of Prosit. I urge you to study hard and unlock the note before you leave Prosit.

  Please, Vina do not seek out and bond with any of the fake Aspects of Trina. Not every aspect is compatible with every person, and you could experience catastrophic consequences if you use one not fitted well for you. Trina always encouraged us to develop our skills, and I am advocating on her behalf for that continued pursuit.

Love,

Priya

Quest Updated: Enter the Sinkhole updated to Read Priya’s Sealed Note

Vina’s head swam from all of this new information. She read through the note several times, trying to glean any new understanding. As Vina walked to the wall Priya told her to look at, she talked to herself aloud. “Okay, so there are magic red stones that are the powers of some kind of person named Trina.” Vina nodded her head, trying to simply accept it as fact. “These stones are dangerous to some people so I should avoid them.” Vina muttered softly, her voice falling. “How could anyone resist magic though?”, Vina whispered to herself. “Oh! And the shadows are alive!” she yelled to the room as she stopped in front of the wall, her voice echoed back to her.

Vina looked closely at the wall and could see small scratches. Vina started to use Examine, but stopped herself. She chose to use Observe instead. Vina watched for a long time as her stamina drained. When she bottomed out, she sat down and read Priya’s note once more.

“Priya mentioned my mastery attribute.” Vina’s voice trailed off. She opened her attribute screen and increased her mastery by three more points.

Mastery 16: You learn skills 24% faster. You are 6% more likely to learn a skill on your first try You have 2 attribute points remaining.

Vina waited for her stamina to recover and once again stepped up to the wall. She activated Observe again as she moved closer. When she got close to the scratches, her Mastery was telling her something. She felt the need to reach out and touch them. She traced her fingers along the curves and edges, her dexterity kicked in to control her movements. She found herself using her index finger to trace through the scratches and suddenly they lit up in her vision. Vina used Examine.

Writing: Runic Writing Rare This wall has been carved with runic letters.

Vina wasn’t even disappointed. She could feel the progress even though she had not yet earned the skill. She traced her fingers over the runic lettering. She changed the order over time. Starting from the upper left corner, but that didn't feel right. She started tracing from the upper right corner and went left, almost as if reading backwards. After a few tries, this began to feel wrong as well. She kept trying different variations until starting in the lower right corner and tracing upwards and then back to the bottom and upwards once more felt right.

Vina was forced to take several breaks as minutes turned to hours. This skill was something on a different level than the ones she had learned before. All of her previous skills had come very quickly, but Rune Carving was literally like learning a foreign language without a guide.

She was staring at the wall when an epiphany hit her. She took out her knife and started to copy the runes she had traced. She had traced the letters so many times, she had memorized them at this point. She carved the entire alphabet, but nothing happened. She did it again and again without any progress, but only had a feeling of wrongness. Vina groaned, tired of her Mastery telling her she was wrong without providing more hints. She was tempted to drop her last two points into her attribute, but stopped herself. The warning about shadows was still on her mind.

Vina took a step back and decided to take a longer rest. Her stomach was growling from all of this work and she needed some refreshments. Vina picked out her largest foraged foods and really indulged. She loved comfort food when she could get it. She also felt she was close to learning this skill if her mastery attribute would just be more communicative. If Priya’s notes were right, this portal might well lead to the Town of Prosit, and she was excited to return to civilization.

Once she had a full stomach, Vina returned to the wall. She looked at the runes that were carved there and she looked at the ones she had done. “Wait…”. She facepalmed when she saw what she had done wrong. The runes were not just a writing; they were a constellation. Up to this point, she had been focusing only on the lines, but the lines only connected the points. The points defined the letters. Vina took her knife out once more and drew the constellation alphabet without the lines connecting them. She grew excited as each letter she drew lit up on the wall when she used her Examine skill. She could barely contain herself when she finished the last constellation letter. But still nothing happened.

Vina punched the wall in frustration, breaking the skin open on her knuckles. Suddenly one of the letters turned red, without her even examining it. Vina stood dumbfounded. “What? How?” she sputtered. She reached out to the letters. She touched them, but this time they did not turn red. Vina looked at her bloodied knuckles. “My blood?” she said with fascination. She held her bloody knuckle up to one of the runes. It quickly absorbed the blood and turned red.

Vina stepped back in fear. Her mastery attribute was screaming at her that this wasn’t right and she felt sick to her stomach. However, she knew it was too late when a window popped up for her.