Chapter 1
It was a relatively normal fall morning. The sky was overcast, a remnant of the light thunderstorms that had been a constant feature for the past week or so. As my alarm I had set on my phone sounded, I groggily reached over and picked it up, getting partially blinded since I forgot to turn the brightness down before I went to bed. The screen reads: 8:15am, Tuesday, October 5th, 2026.
It was a bit unusual for me at the time to be waking up so late into the morning. Most of the time I had to be up before 6am to prepare for my remote job, just a simple data entry job to pay the bills while I looked for better employment. But today was unlike most days, as it was a day I had eagerly been anticipating for years. I even took the whole week off from work.
I still remember it so clearly, I suppose I would have to in order to be writing this book, but still. It was the day the first true full immersion VRMMORPG was released. Was it really true? I had followed the bits of news so closely, but the developers of this technology didn’t have any public betas or tests, and I couldn’t find any private ones that I could sign up for. One would have to assume that this kind of tech would need to be severely tested to ensure the users were safe, but there was no outward evidence that anything like that ever took place.
Either way, myself and fifty thousand other individuals were willing to trust in the company and ideally be a part of history. This kind of advancement would not only change the gaming industry forever, but potentially the world, as it could have plenty of uses outside of entertainment. They also stated that there would be no more players allowed into the game for at least a month after release, so I wanted to get in as early as possible.
Before I get ahead of myself, who am I? My name is Arthur Ward. The reason I’m writing this is to hopefully shed some light on what happened from the perspective of someone who actually played a part, but that’ll come later. I’ll generally be writing in the first person, but occasionally I’ll add some context from the current me that the old me wouldn’t have known.
At the time this book takes place, I think I’d say I’m fairly average in most aspects. I stand about 5’8, with short dark brown hair and greenish brown eyes. I try to work out sometimes but probably not enough. I live in a small studio apartment that I keep pretty clean, if only for the fact that I have a lot of free time. I’m also 23 years old.
— — — —
Back to the day itself. After getting out of bed, while the excitement was starting to build, I knew it would be for the best to do my normal routine. After all, the game doesn’t technically release till 9am. Even though the equipment to run it arrived about a week ago, the stuff wouldn’t even turn on. Seems like they really didn’t want anyone messing with it till the game officially came out.
After eating some breakfast and taking a shower, it was getting pretty close to release time, so I started preparing the equipment. I must have read the instruction manual at least three or four times by this point, so I knew how to set everything up. After plugging everything in and attaching what was needed, I put on the headset and laid down on the bed.
I’m not going to pretend like I’m an expert on how this worked, I just know the result was it was a full immersion experience where after putting on the headset and entering the game, you were essentially in the game. Your physical body remained of course, but it was like you were in an induced unconsciousness. You could use all your senses in the game just as you would in real life, they could even be better in the game than real life as well. Of course, that included pain. While there were some restrictions on how much pain you could actually feel, it still did exist and I can imagine dying in the game, while not life threatening, would still feel pretty unpleasant.
After putting the headset on I just laid there, staring at the black screen on the inside of the helmet, patiently waiting for it to alight. I probably put the helmet on a bit too early, as it was a good five or six minutes before anything happened, but hey, I was excited. Then, it happened. The screen slowly brightened, revealing the title of the game:
Aevum
Almost immediately after seeing the title on the screen, I closed my eyes and then opened them again, and I was no longer in my room. I didn’t have the helmet on, and now I was standing in what appeared to be a main menu-esque scene. I had full freedom of movement, as I looked down I saw I was wearing some fairly nice clothes, although simple. Just a t-shirt and pants.
As I looked around I truly took in the surroundings for the first time. It was almost ethereal the first time I saw it. I was in a small clearing in a forest, near the edge of a cliff that was overlooking a valley below. There was a winding river running past me that disappeared into the trees below, then reappeared much further down the valley as it led into a small town. The town had walls and watchtowers, with extensive farmland surrounding it. It must have been a relatively populous place.
I walked forward a bit and was eventually met with a shimmering wall of blue hexagons that only appeared when I got close to this invisible border. I walked back a few steps and they vanished from sight once more. I was then met with a pop up. The text was opaque, but it had a slightly see-through black rectangle around it with rounded corners and light stroke on the outside glowing blue. The text itself was glowing the same color, with a triangle on each side slightly moving towards and away from the text.
▸What is your name?◂
I had given this some thought prior to today, and came to the decision that while conventional logic suggests that for online games you want to use some anonymous screen name, I think I want to use something that evokes who I really am. After all, this game does use what you actually look like, so there is no creating a random character to conceal your identity. I entered a nickname that my friends and family call me: Arty.
▸Pick your starting equipment◂
This was something I wasn’t expecting. It was revealed early on that Aevum would have a class system more advanced than anything that came before it, so I thought I would be choosing my class right away, but it seems like you won’t be getting your class until later. Maybe they want to give you time to get used to the full immersion system before you lock in a choice? Either way, I had plenty of options.
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It was kind of a mix and match system where you could pair any weapon with any armor and consumables. You want to use a bow and arrow with heavy plate armor? Go for it. A greathammer and a wizard robe? Have fun. I can’t imagine most people would go for things like that, but hey, I’m not gonna tell them how to play.
For me, I grew up loving the one handed sword and light to medium armor aesthetic, so I chose that. After confirming my options I closed my eyes, ready for the equipment to materialize onto my body. I could feel some energy that was unlike anything I felt in the real world, instinctively I knew it was the magic of this world. As I waited with my eyes shut, I heard a thud on the ground in front of me.
Tentatively opening one eye, I’m stung with a tinge of disappointment. Sprawled out haphazardly in front of me was the equipment I had chosen. It was probably a way of saying that while this is a game, don’t expect everything to be done for you. I didn’t get another pop up immediately so I gathered that it wanted me to equip my gear first. After fiddling around and struggling to figure it out, I eventually managed to get everything on in generally the right way, at least I thought I did. It must have been good enough for the system too as another pop up appeared in front of me.
This pop up along with the next few were more so of the tutorial sort, teaching me how to use the system. In the top left corner of my vision, I could see my health and mana bars, but only if I focused on it. It also included the time, which was nice. If I wanted to bring up the menu, I could either just think about it or pinch my fingers and pull diagonally down from anywhere.
Inside the menu was a quick overview of my info, stats, equipped items, as well as a few options. In order from top to bottom it goes:
▸Stats
▸Skills
▸Inventory
▸Social
▸Settings
▸Exit
It was good to know how it worked, but the options here seemed pretty self explanatory so I closed the menu for now by pulling up from the bottom right corner. After finishing the tutorial popups, I got another one that surprised me.
▸Pick your starting town◂
The developers of Aevum said that there would be over five hundred towns you could start your adventure in, but I am only presented with three options. Although I’m a bit confused, I push that aside to consider what’s in front of me.
▸Freyword. A town in the central region of Findris. Surrounded by rolling hills, this town serves as a trade stop for surrounding cities.
▸Brackenhold. In the northern mountains of Findris, this town is a relatively safe forward settlement into the uncharted reaches to the north.
▸Port Amos. Near the eastern coast of Findris, this town is an early port for a river that runs deep into the continent from the ocean.
Theoretically, each of these options should be generally similar in difficulty. It would be kind of messed up to have them vary wildly and not say that in their description. Let’s think about it carefully though.
Freyword, while stated as a trade stop, seems like it could also have a lot of farm industry around it. Located centrally means it would probably be a good place to begin if you wanted to travel early. I just think it’s a bit too simplistic for me.
Port Amos seems like a good choice as well, located near the coast could allow you to sail the seas early on, but the developers only announced the continent of Findris, there’s no guarantee there would be anything to find out in the ocean.
Brackenhold is the town that immediately interested me. I tend to enjoy the winter months every year, and it also seems like it could be at least more of a challenge early on. With that belief, I made up my mind.
“I choose Brackenhold.”
After saying the words, I felt the magic essence I felt before begin to build as my vision faded to white. A few seconds later, I feel my senses return to me. A second after that, I thud into what feels like a snow bank, sprawled out on my back. Looking up towards the sky, I can see it is covered in dark clouds, similar to the real world earlier today, but these feel a bit more ominous.
As I get up and wipe off the remainder of the snow, I can see that I’m in some kind of forest with trees that seem a bit too big for the climate they’re in. They kind of resemble pine trees, but much wider and taller. It’s pretty chilly, but not so much that it is immediately uncomfortable. As I’m making sure all my equipment is still where it should be I get a pop up.
▸Quest: Reach Brackenhold◂
“Well, I guess I better get moving,” I think to myself. The quest seemingly accepted itself, and now resides in the top right corner of my vision when I look for it. It has some flavor text reading “Follow the path to reach the town of Brackenhold”. There is no reward labeled for the quest, which is alright since I would need to get to the town either way. I’m just glad I’m getting some direction. And so I set out on the lightly traveled path through the forest.
— — — —
While the trek has been enjoyable for the most part (experiencing this world is incredible), after an hour passes with no end in sight, I begin to second guess my choice to pick this town as a starting location. The only solace I can take is the belief that the starting quest for the other towns were of a similar make. Maybe I would have been dropped in the river near Port Amos and the system would say “Good luck!” and be on its way.
The cold was starting to bite at me now, so I lit one of the torches I had from my starting equipment. It was similar to other games where your inventory existed in a kind of sub dimension space which allowed you to carry more than you could realistically carry, but the starting inventory space wasn’t that much. Realistically it might be equivalent to the trunk of an SUV in the real world.
The warmth from the torch definitely helped keep the cold at bay, and although the scenery was beautiful, I really just wanted to get to Brackenhold. Another thirty minutes passed, and I decided I wanted to take a proper break. While keeping my torch lit, I gathered up some dead branches and made a small fire. I cleaned off some snow from the ground and sat down.
Opening my menu, I went into some of the options I had skipped over before. The Stats menu had your normal MMORPG stats, constitution, strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. All of them were at 5 for the moment, but I’m sure they would grow in time. The Skills menu was empty since I hadn’t earned any skills yet. The Social menu had what seemed like a friend’s list and a messaging feature, but I couldn’t test that as I hadn’t seen any other players yet. The Settings menu was just the standard settings options for the most part as well.
As the fire was dying down, after a few minutes I heard a slight rustle in the snow. I immediately stand up and look around, and I immediately see it. Approaching me is a massive horned creature, the only thing I can compare it to would be a moose, but even that isn’t right. It stands about eight feet tall at the shoulder, with antlers extending out three or four feet on each side of its head. It has long, thick legs that end in large hooves. It’s coated in dark brown fur with splotches of black throughout.
I’m expecting a health bar or name to pop up over its head at some point but it never does. While it’s not exactly the same, I know that moose in the real world are herbivores, so I’m feeling relatively safe at the moment. There is still about ninety feet of distance between us so I’m trying to stay still and just let it pass.
As it continues walking in a sort of sideways direction to me, I can see it sniffing the air. After a few more steps, it stops, and turns to look directly at me. At this point, I’m starting to go into panic mode. It takes a step toward me, I take a step back, it takes another, I respond. The creature begins to pick up speed, and I do the only logical thing I can think of.
I ran like hell.