“I have come to turn in a quest that I received from Ammononeth, the Divine Proxy of Strength and Battle.” Edge of Eternal Knight said to the Sage, Guardian of the Divine Temples.
The Guardian Sage of the Divine Temples turned slowly and looked down his nose at Edge, as if Edge were an impudent bug, too foolish to realize it was about to be swatted.
“Kneel upon the platform for examination, Adventurer,” said The Sage.
Edge put one knee down upon a wide, circular disk of a dark slate color, hovering about 6 inches above the marble floor. His stomach gave a little lurch as the cool feeling of a system scan washed over him.
The Sage’s eyebrows raised as the trumpeting sound for a Legendary Quest rang out. A system message popped up in the middle of Edge’s field of vision
System has detected one quest for turn in: Legendary Quest: Battle Stations. Would you like to turn in this quest?
Edge selected “yes” with a wide smile on his face. In ten years of playing Divine Frontiers, this was his first Legendary quest.
The thought of the sweet item rewards soon to come his way and how the perks that went with the title reward of Conqueror of the Dark Legions would change his stature and that of his guild made him almost lightheaded with glee.
This would not only save his guild, it would pave the way to a stable, triumphant future.
He had to remember to thank Desoclese. He could never have completed the 17 stages of this year-long quest without the help of the Bard, Desoclese.
A new message popped up, interrupting his pleasant thoughts of victory:
System has detected quest completion above A-Rank. S-Rank hidden reward available.
S-rank! Secret reward! Edge could barely contain his excitement.
He was waiting with barely leashed anticipation for the system message to detail what the hidden reward was when the Sage moved forward.
The Sage approached the dais and lowered his head towards the platform where Edge knelt, scrunching his eyebrows into a frown and squinting his eyes, as if there were something on the raised dais that he could read.
Edge saw nothing but slate. He was about to ask the Sage what he was doing when the man abruptly snapped his head back, his body going rigid.
The Sage’s look of pompous disdain crumbled as his eyes widened and his pursed lips melted into an open-mouthed Oh shape. He raised his eyes to Edge and began backing away slowly, clumsily, until he stumbled over the hem of his long white robes and sprawled onto the floor..
“What are you—” The sound of Edge’s voice seemed to galvanize the man. He shot up from the floor, turned around and began running away at full-throttle. Before Edge could finish his question, the man was gone.
Edge shook his head. That was bizarre. Hard to get good help these days, I guess. Edge had never liked that Sage anyway. More like a pompous, eccentric butler than a real sage of power.
Quirky NPCs were nothing new in Divine Frontiers, but still, his running away like that was weird, even for the Sage of the Divine Temples.
Edge didn’t have time to ponder the weirdness of the Sage for long. A new message appeared, commanding his attention.
. Player Meets Requirement One: B-grade nutrition fluid stream detected.
That was strange. His nutrient fluids had never been a quest requirement in any other Divine Frontiers quest over the decade he’d been playing. ‘Requirements’ showing up at turn-in that were not stated in the original quest text were new too. If he didn’t meet the ‘requirements’, did that mean he wouldn’t get his secret reward?
Further text was scrolling in: B-grade nutrition fluid stream is minimum required. S-grade is recommended and A-grade strongly preferred over minimum required. Do you want to change fluid stream before proceeding?
Since the A-grade fluid was far too expensive for him to afford, let alone the S-rank only seen by the rich and powerful, Edge selected “No”. A third message appeared.
Player Meets Requirement Two: Upgraded habitat pod meets neural interface connectivity speed requirements.
How many ‘requirements’ were there? A tendril of unease coiled along Edge’s spine. Neural connectivity check? Why would that be needed?
The next message appeared with a loading bar next to it, turning the feeling of unease from a wispy, coiling shiver into a clench of ice in his stomach:
Scanning organic neural systems for compatibility with upgrade…
What kind of a data dump would have to check the neural pathways with this kind of thoroughness? And what was with that loading bar? Loading time mattered in Divine Frontiers. It was an indicator of complexity and significance.
A new message finally appeared:
System Warning: Quest reward will install new habitat pod software that will directly download data into Player’s organic neural network. Changes to your organic mechanisms are permanent. Would you like to proceed?
Edge froze in shock. Permanent changes to his…brain? This didn’t sound on par with the normal body diagnostic or curative actions that his pod would automatically deliver. It also didn’t sound like the regular neural downloads he might get to quickly learn something new.
‘Permanent changes to his organic mechanism’ sounded like somehow changing his brain!
But how could that be? His living pod regulated every bodily function and would certainly reject any software update that interfaced directly into his brain if there were any possible harm or compatibility problems.
This wasn’t the first time he’d had an organic update but somehow, it felt different. He’d never had a loading bar that took 3 minutes to do the necessary scans, for example. He’d never seen ‘System Warning’ in bright red letters either.
He thought back to the Sage’s reaction with a shiver. Had the Sage known what would happen if he turned in this quest? Was his reaction a warning? Should I be running away too?
That was ridiculous. Divine Frontiers had never harmed anyone. All of the Super Guilds had already turned in Legendary Quests and there had never been any rumors of any kind of harm to any player.
But he’d never heard of an NPC, a Sage no less, leaving their post to run away from a quest reward either...
Should he chance it? He gritted his teeth. There wasn’t really a choice here—this was his one chance to change his life. And it wasn’t just him—the fate of his entire guild was at stake as well.
As guild leader, he was responsible for the well-being of over 5k people who’s status, economic opportunities and even the quality of nutrient fluids they could gain access to, would be determined by the status and resources of their guild.
Eternal Knight was not a top grade or super guild with significant corporate backing. In fact, they were on the cusp of destruction and Edge desperately needed the rewards of this quest to keep his guild operating independently. It wasn’t like there were options outside of Divine Frontiers anymore and becoming a Vassal of one of the top grade guilds in Divine Frontiers made the bile rise in his throat. He’d be little better than a slave.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
There was no real choice here.
He had responsibilities and he would just have to hope his Pod would be the guardian and protector it had been since the day he was born. Besides, he was probably getting all worked up over nothing.
With a grimace on his face, he pressed ‘Yes’.
He felt the slight tingling in his head that indicated that data transfer was taking place, depositing information directly into his neo cortex. The sensation was familiar, and he relaxed. He hadn’t realized that he’d been clenching every muscle in his body. This was just a normal download.
He mocked himself inwardly for his earlier indecision. Next you’ll be crossing the lane to escape white cats. He sighed in relief and systematically began to work his way through every muscle group in his body, consciously relaxing each muscle, one by one.
He had just reached his abdominal muscles, intending to focus on relaxing them, when the sensation in his head changed.
He began to feel pressure across his temples. At the same time, a high-pitched screeching sound began, sounding as if it were coming from a far distance but moving closer.
The sound got closer and closer...louder and louder. His hands went instinctively to his ears, pressing the palms in as far as possible to try to escape from the escalating sound.
His temple felt bound by an iron band. The sound was becoming unbearable.
His hands clutching his head, he was trying to block his ears against the sound but his fingers would not cooperate. They simply gouged his face and yanked at his hair as if they had taken on a life of their own.
Just as he thought he couldn’t stand another moment of this pain, he fell off the dais and onto the marble floor and a blessed, blank darkness enfolded his mind.
***
Edge woke to the sound of his alarm. He reflexively waved his hand in the standard motion to dismiss it.
That sound. It produced a feeling of anxiety in him. He groggily wondered why.
He glanced downward to the bottom right of his visual field to see the time and date stamp. What was today? He felt so groggy and disoriented. The date barely registered. He couldn’t seem to think properly.
Edge sat up and looked around. He saw a small compact bed, a tiny desk and one round window situated up high on the wall. Where the heck was he? This was not his Mansion on Caravan Plains.He began to remember the previous day. Was it the previous day? His brain felt sluggish, like a pipe filled with sludge that his thoughts couldn’t flow through.
The sound of his communicator rang out, causing him to jump. Bit twitchy there. Calm down!
He accepted the call with the thought Answer.
“Hello?” he said.
“Edge, where are you?”
It was Viper, his best friend and right-hand man in the guild.
“I’m—I don’t know. Something strange happ--”
“Edge, you’ll miss the sign up!”
“The sign up for—”
“They are already talking about closing the line! If you don’t hurry you won’t get to compete for the free Pod upgrade! You need to login to Carta Five right now and run to the Cathedral before they cut off new entrants!”
Edge shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. Free Pod upgrade?
“What are you talking abo—”
“We’ve been planning this for 6 months—I can’t believe you’re late! Did you oversleep? If you don’t qualify, you’ll never be able to afford the update by the time Divine Frontiers is released!”
Edge listened without comprehension. The moment seemed frozen…his breath stuck in his throat, sound slipped away, his vision blurred and the whole world seemed to narrow to the one sentence that had penetrated his comprehension: “…by the time Divine Frontiers is released.”
“Edge? Are you still there? ... Are you on the way yet?”
An alarming thought burst into Edge’s mind… This room…. He looked around in horror.
He looked down at the date stamp again… This was not the right date. He stood up abruptly and turned in a circle, slowly taking in every detail of the room.
Was this his university room from ten years ago??
***
On release day for the video game Divine Frontiers, Edge was among the first in the queue to login. Determination was shining in his eyes and he focused on the screen like a predator, alert and purposeful.
He suppressed the ripple of unease that seemed to be his constant companion these days. He had been given a second chance and he meant to make the most of it. He had to keep his focus on that comforting thought.
The login queue showed 4,847 people ahead of him in the queue and a timer counting down the last ten minutes before release. As he waited, his thoughts turned back to the very strange situation he found himself in.
He didn’t know how, but he had awoken a few days ago to find that the date was ten years earlier than it had been after he blacked out in Divine Frontiers.
He was still reeling from the enormity of that fact but he had investigated thoroughly In the past three days and he was sure the date had changed. Or at least… people believed it had.
As astonishing as it was, it was a fact that the past ten years had been wiped away without a trace with the exception of his own memories.
His call with Viper three days ago had ended abruptly as he tried to piece together what had happened between turning in the Legendary Quest and Viper’s wake up call. Luckily, Viper took his incoherent babbling to be just waking up from a dream.
Edge’s immediate shock and disorientation had worked in his favor that day. He was so overwhelmed and confused that he had simply focused like a drone on doing what Viper said--logging into Cart Five and dashing straight to the waiting line. He took the test and qualified in the top 50, which got him a brand new Pod upgrade, capable of playing Divine Frontiers. Again.
He had done the same thing 10 years ago at Divine Frontiers release. He was so poor, he wouldn’t have been able to play for months if he hadn’t won that free upgrade through his talent.
Over the course of that first day, his head had slowly cleared and he had begun to investigate. He had kept his mouth shut and his ears open.
He had spoken to dozens and dozens of people, checked every possible forum, news site and archive and logged into over 100 different game worlds. He had found absolutely nothing that would explain how he had memories of the past ten years but no one else did.
The game queue began to move and Edge snapped his attention back to the screen in front of him. 4706…4553… 4274…
Although he was unsettled with the situation and especially, with the game, he really didn’t have a choice as to whether to play or not. Divine Frontiers had started out like any other game world but its unique features had made it the center of not just gaming, but of commerce and social life, within two years of its launch.
Edge ruthlessly pushed his uneasy feelings down before they could become that panicky feeling that choked him. He ruthlessly forced himself into the present moment.
He had to keep his focus on the advantage of the situation and on his plan for the future.
Divine Frontiers was an incredibly complex game—after ten years, there were still new discoveries made every day—and he was starting with a decade of advanced knowledge.
4106…3925…3267...
If he was going to survive financially, he had to play the game, there was no question of that. But the answers to the questions pounding away inside his brain might also be found in the game…
Had he time traveled somehow? Was he caught in some sort of time loop? Had The Divine Overlord program of Divine Frontiers somehow altered the memories of humans?
He knew he wasn’t crazy or brain damaged because his first move after the contest on Carta Five had been to initiate a complete brain scan and mental health review through his habitat pod to find out if that quest had done something to his brain. Everything checked out as perfectly normal.
But what is normal? Would it be so hard to change records?
And what is crazy anyway? That stray thought had teased on the edge of his consciousness for days. If you don’t have control of your own mind...isn’t that crazy?
Had everyone else’s memories been wiped and the date reset or were his own visceral, emotional, detailed memories implanted?
Are your memories real...real...real….? The thought echoed over and over in his mind.
What is real? What is real? What is real?
Focus! He reminded himself. Focus or truly go crazy!
If the date was reset across habitat pods and the various realms, he could find that out fairly soon. His friend Jacob would be returning to his habitat pod in 5 days at the end of his Old World sabbatical. Memories in the real world could be wiped, he supposed, given the neural network interface of the habitat pods, but memories created in the physical old world could not be wiped, could they?
2688…2391…2211...
He wished the dam queue would move faster.
He ran through the elements of his Grand Plan in his mind. The Grand Plan had been the only thing to soothe him over the past few days. You can deal with anything if you have a plan!
This go-round, he would set his sights high in Divine Frontiers. He would use his knowledge and experience to create his guild, Eternal Knight, again but this time, they would skyrocket into the elite echelons.
If he could take an early lead over the major powers, he had a chance to be a real power broker in this new world of Divine Frontiers, not just a pawn.
2102….1969…1370...
Edge latched onto that thought---the only one keeping him from falling apart. He had a second chance, he had an excellent, detailed plan for success and he would not defeat himself by letting fear get a foothold in his mind. You can deal with anything if you have a plan!
907...551…247…88…
Welcome to Divine Frontiers, Player. Choose your starting zone.