I remember watching the wildfires

 consuming the edges of the eastern cities of Australia, 

the bravery of the firefighters as struggled to limit the death of a city. 

Then shadow that fell across the land

as if from an eclipse

though none was expected. 

From the shadow

clouds of mist stretched down from upon high. 

 From within the mist, 

heavy dampness formed 

smothering all in its path with a cooling wetness 

that sucked the heat from the very stones of the land. 

and within hours the fires were gone, 

only embers remaining.

Tobias resisted the drive from all and sundry, to participate in the supplied online world, previously a man of means, a man of importance. Now living as part of the masses in a tiny apartment.  As time had passed he had become bitter and angry as one by one his friends and now his family disserted to the game world of the worlds online.

The others had come and taken over the world, and his place was forfeit. His homes in the City Gone. The place in the country Gone. The Job that he had invested himself into Gone, those he had imagined being his friends had only been such for the power he wielded were Gone.  His wife soon after him losing his assets and power had divorced him she was Gone. the children they stayed in contact for a time, but now even they were Gone.

Suicide was not an option for Tobias throughout this time, his pride refused to be crushed. Then the Final Notice arrived. Unless he improved his status within the online worlds the authority would removing him from the apartment and placing him in a shelter for the incapable of society.

This was the 7th time he had received a notice each time, he ignored the instructions, each time the quality level of his accommodation had been reduced.  He was in the lowest level now, No windows, a living space where the couch became a bed, No kitchen, the lowest level of rations, and most shocking of a man of means he had to share the restrooms facilities.  Back in the day even in his country club, all the facilities were private.  Next came shared living and sleeping.

With each reduction in circumstances, he had been able to maintain an illusion of control.  Each morning he had breakfast at the fold-out table, had carefully folded the bed back into couch configuration, watch the business news, then after ordered his meals, prepared the table. once 1 pm arrived sat at the table and eat his main meal, watched the news again.  this had become very much a chore recently as there was less and less news, and more a more gossip as he felt about that damn game. Often the afternoon news was only a repeat of the morning.

Tobias craved control, he needed to matter. He had a weakness he had prided himself that he dealt with people, his Personal Assistant dealt with the Emails. the only concession to technology was a mobile phone. Even then everyone knew that you rang Tobias, you never messaged or Txt'd him as he would never respond.  So it was with annoyance that he opened the wardrobe door for the first time since he moved in. 

In the small wardrobe, there was a stool a helmet, a chest plate and a set of gloves, a far cry from the state of the art immersive system that he remembered his children used back in the days of the penthouse. Step by step, his feet dragging against the floor, Tobias approached the stool sat, clipped breastplate to his chest, placed his stocking feet in the overshoes, pulled the gloves on. A sigh escaped his lips, his head dropped towards his knees, Suddenly he noticed that the door had closed, he knew that had left it open, maybe the noise of the clasps had masked the door, without a choice he hands were moving to grasp the helm, with a fit of fury he straightens his spine and accepted the helm over his head.

The room lights turn off.  and he finds himself formless darkness, then whisps of light flicker across his vision, faint sounds teaze his ears.  Suddenly words form, Walk and the soles of his feet seem to feel gravel and he seems to be moving towards the light. Something slaps him across his face, he raises his hands and feels twigs or small branches.  Rapidly the light increases showing a small stone circle, with a glowing sphere floating at chest height.  Tobias moves out of the forest and across a patch of grass. the Stone feels cold to his feet.  Shocked he looks at himself gone is a late middle age man, he has been replaced by smoothed skin body.  Looking at it it seems remarkable mostly due to that lack of any features.  No hair, no muscles definition, just partial formed body.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The sphere splits into two a male form and a female form made of Light, Choose this was simple he was a Man. He placed his hand in the male form and his body changed, now male. A sense of relief flooded his spirits. Reward 5 Attribute points.  Looking up at the light again Choose, this time there were 3 choices a bicep in a muscle pose, a brain,  an eye, Oddly they all made sense, Strength, Intelligence, and Perception. somehow even though Tobias had never willing read anything about the game knowledge entered his mind.  These were the first choices of many and while creating the basis to start the development of the avatar it was possible to override all choices made with the game just at a cost of effort.

Body- Focus the development of physical attributes, such as strength, endurance, physicality

Intellect - Focus development on the Mind, with attributes such as Intelligence, Spellcasting, Skill learning.

Ego - the focusing on such things as self, resistance, Affinity.  

The player must select the order of the basic three,  from there more choices become possible.

With little thought, Tobias made his choice, Ego was touched first.  

-3 attribute points

+3 Ego points

Then Intellect 

-2 Attribute Points

+2 Intellect points

Reward +3 Aspect points, +1 Skills points

New Aspects available

Ego - Mental toughness (Rare) Strengthened willpower.

Ego - Poison Resistance Able to resist the effects of trivial poisons

Ego - Affinity For Fire Your enjoyment with fire boosts fire-related skills

Intellect - Mana Boost Able to hold more hold more Mana

Intellect - Weapon Accuracy increased the chance of critical damage 

Body - Hit Points Gains a bonus of 10% to Hitpoints

New Skills Available

Smite Adds flame damage to any weaponless blow. at the cost of mana.

Flame Aura - Whenever stuck the opponent takes Fire damage uses mana to maintain 

The choice of skill was simple to Tobias, the flame aura struck him as just perfect, Anyone who hit him should be punished. Next choices came easily as well, Of course, the Rare skill was only his right, and then Affinity for Fire seemed to match the Skill. Extra hit points seemed to be the next best of the options yet an ability to have extra mana was interesting as well. As he pondered the forest grew grimmer, The faint sounds were changing to those of some form of a predator, clearly, he was the prey. Hurried he chooses "Mana boost" since closer to the top of the list.  The icons exploded and once his eyes had adjusted there was a path leading away from the stone circle.  Tobias hurried down the path, branches again whip across his hands and face,  suddenly he was splashing across a freezing stream.  It was shallow and clearly no obstacle but soon after he reached another clearing at this point Tobias could no longer hear the predator. So he took the opportunity to log out.

Player Tobias    Male   Characteristics  Strength 1     Agility  1       Intelligence 3     Ego 5         Hit-points 10 1 per tick   Mana 13 3 per tick Attributes Mental Toughness (Ego)   1       Affinity For Fire (Ego) 1     Mana Boost (Intellect) 1   Skills Flame Aura 2 damage per tick Mana usage = 2 per tick History