I looked over` the  various characters surrounding me. One of them stood out from the rest, a young man with black hair, blue eyes and a roguish appearance watched me as I looked at him. Above his head were the words

Taimin, Royal Assassin/Esteemed Necromancer level 200 (MAX)

He wasn’t my only character of course, next to him were four other low level characters not even worth mentioning. They only existed to test out various other classes and I hadn’t put nearly as much work into them as I did Taimin.

But I had grown tired of playing as Taimin. It was time to create another character.

I walked over to a spot where a vague outline of a body was standing. On that outlines chest sat the words

Create New Character

I tapped those words with my hand. The world warped around me as I was brought to a different room.

A figure sat across from me and a large list of options appeared on a screen in front of me.

I selected Male and adjusted the various appearance options. As I adjusted the options, the figure sitting across from me changed.

I stopped when I realized I was getting ahead of myself. First things first, I need to choose what race I want my character to be.

I looked over the various options for a moment before I chose Beastman:Cat. The figure across from me changed as two black cat ears appeared on top of its head and a black tail started dancing behind it. After that, I designed it’s facial appearance to be similar to Taimin’s with the same roguish look. I adjusted the eyes so that they were a light green and made his appearance younger than Taimin’s. My new character now looked to be in his late teens. After a little bit of messing around with various options, I left him as he was.

My final version was a green eyed, black haired youth with a roguish appearance and black ears sitting on top of his head.

Please Name Your Character:

I chose the name Drew, and clicked Done.

You may choose two classes:

I spent a little more time on this option, but I had already decided on my choices before I had entered the game. I chose Cleric and Swordsman.

Are you ready to enter the game?

Yes/No

I looked over my character before tapping Yes with my hand.

Loading…

Loading…

Welcome to the ga-

An intense pain went through my body and the words in front of me started to phase in and out. I tried to initiate an emergency Log Out, but it didn’t work. The pain slowly increased until I blacked out.

Uuugh, did I fall asleep? I reached out with my hand and felt something I hadn’t expected. What is this?  I opened my eyes and quickly closed them again, blinded by the sun. Where am I? I rolled over and slowly opened my eyes, I was lying on a bed of some long grain that I guessed to be wheat. I slowly stood up and observed my surroundings.

I was in the middle of a large field of the wheat-like substance I had landed on. I looked into the distance to see a small farmhouse.

As I stood up, I felt something tap my arm. I spun around to find nothing but more wheat. Something touched my arm again, but this time I was ready for it and grabbed it. As soon as I grabbed it I realized what it was. I let it go and touched the top of my head. Am I still in the game? The thought flashed through my head as I realized that I was a little closer to the ground then I am used to.

On top of my head were two cute little ears. And the thing that had tapped my arm? That was my tail.

The game didn’t have this kind of realism. You couldn’t actually feel things. So why am I in this body?

“Status.” I said out loud.

Nothing happened. Well. It was worth a try.

I examined myself and found myself to be in the common clothes you would start with in the game. On the right of my waist sat a dagger in its sheath and on the left was a long rapier, the starting equipment for the the Swordsman class.

Which means… I felt my neck and found a necklace of faith, the starting equipment for the Cleric class. I took it out and looked at it. No god was represented on it, which means that I will still have to choose a deity, before the majority of my abilities will be usable.

I hid the necklace underneath my shirt. There is no way of knowing how valuable something like it might be. I certainly wouldn’t want someone to try and steal it off of me.

I didn’t have access to my status screen, but I did have all of my equipment. Maybe… I unsheath my sword and held it in front of me. I tried to perform some moves and my body started to move on its own. I moved like a professional Swordsman when I had never, in my life, used a real sword.

I stopped and thought over the skills that Swordsman start out with. Then I willed myself to use one of the skills I had.

I moved three meters in an instant and cut down all of the wheat in my path. So I can still use my skills.

It took me a few minutes, but I figured out how to access my inventory and brought out one of the pieces of bread  you start with.

After eating my bread. I started walking towards the farmhouse I had seen earlier.

I walked up to the farmhouse and was about to knock on the front door when I smelled something that scared me. It was the smell of rotting meat.

I stepped back and mentally prepared myself before I unsheathed my rapier and dagger.  I listened at the door carefully,  a small shuffling sound could be heard, but nothing else.

I stood to the side of the door and opened it carefully with my foot. Nothing came flying out, so I looked inside.

Inside was a scene that I knew I would never forget. Three rotting corpses lay on the floor of the room while a fourth corpse stood over them.

The fourth corpse turned around and stared at me. Before it charged at me.

My body took over, while my mind was still in shock. I dived and rolled out of the way as the thing jumped at the spot I had been standing. It turned around and silently screamed at me.

That knocked me out of my reverie and my mind caught up to where I was. I cast one of the few Cleric spells I had available to me.

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“[Minor Heal]” I said as I felt some power drain away from me.

The creature fell to the ground, but started to bring itself back up again.

“[Minor Heal]” I cast again, causing it to fall again.

It took three more casts of minor heal before the creature stopped moving.

I fell to the ground, exhausted from using so much of my mana. After a few minutes, I got up again and walked to the dead creature.

I looked down at it and used the only other spell available to my godless cleric.

“[Cleanse]” Then after a second I said a small prayer “May your soul rest in peace.”

I walked over to the rest of the dead family and casted [Cleanse] on all of them before saying a small prayer.

Cleanse is a spell used to create holy water or to cure food of basic poisons. It was the only thing I could think of that was appropriate.

I looked over their bodies for anything to identify them with and ended up taking a small necklace from the woman. I cleansed the necklace before putting it away.

As soon as I walked outside, the horrible things I had seen finally hit me and I spent a few minutes puking in the bushes.

The sun shone down on my back, almost mocking the experience I had just gone through. Still it was a little comforting to have that warmth on me.

As far as I could tell, my killing that creature hadn’t caused me to level up. But I felt close to it.

I looked around and saw a small stable, I walked up to the stable and found a beautiful black mare, she had run out of her food and water. She looked a little crazed and bucked as I approached her.

I backed off and looked around the farm until I found some food and water in a small hut nearby. I gave as much of it to her as I could without hurting her. You don’t want to overfeed a starving animal.

My aunt and uncle had owned a small ranch and they would have me visit them almost every day, they were the people who taught me to take care of animals. Luckily for me, they had a couple of horses that they would let me take care of.

I shook myself out of my reverie and looked away from the mare to look at the sun. It mocked me again with how little time had passed since I got here.  It still stood high in the sky.

Maybe I should have been more freaked out by everything that had happened, but to be honest, I had secretly wanted this. This escape from reality, where I could be anything I wanted, do anything I wanted. Sure, I would miss my old life, but I had no real ties. My girlfriend had left me, my family was in a pile of debt and I was getting buried by trying to balance med-school and a job.

The mare stared at me thoughtfully as I brought my attention back to her.

“You wouldn’t happen to know the way to the nearest village would you? I need to tell someone that your owners died.”

The mare continued to stare at me before she lowered her head and brushed my palm with it. I patted her and tried to forget about the scene I’d had the unfortunate luck to see.

After a moment of petting the mare, I walked over to the rest of the mare’s food and placed it in my inventory along with a barrel of fresh water.

I found some unknown coins hidden underneath the mare’s food and took them for later use, sending a small apology to the family.

Grabing the saddle for the Mare, I slowly approached her. When she didn’t react, I let her out of the stable. There wasn’t a bit, or reins, which meant that I would have to use my feet and legs to steer her.

I brushed her off and placed a blanket over her back, then placed her saddle on her. The saddle wasn’t very good, but it was something. I calmed her and whispered into her ear some nice things before I mounted her.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden such a beautiful creature. Forgive me if I make any mistakes.” I said into the mare’s ears as I held on to her mane and started us off at a brisk walk down the only trail leading out of here.

I could only hope that I appeared near some civilization or another.

I talked quietly to the horse as we rode. The creatures that could be nearby worried me, so my voice was nearly a whisper.

It was a good twenty minutes before we arrived at a larger road branching off in two directions. I considered my options for a moment and turned towards the sun, letting it shine on my face as we walked.

My thoughts wandered as we traveled down the lonely road. If I remember correctly, and I’m sure I do. I have to decide what deity I want to serve in order to advance my cleric’s abilities. But In order to serve a deity, I have to go to their temple, which requires some kind of civilization.

My attention was brought back to the real world when I saw dust being kicked up in the distance.

I stood up in my spurs, trying to see into the distance. The Mare looked up when she noticed my attention focusing.

I sped up a little, but also loosened my sword from its scabbard.

A large caravan with ten guards leading it, slowly came into view.

As I got closer, a guard moved ahead of the caravan to meet me.

“Ahoy there!” The guard said as he got closer.

I gave a small thank you to the gods that we spoke the same language.

“Hello!” I responded.

He stopped his horse a few meters away from me. “What is your business on the road?”

I thought for a moment and decided to go with something close to the truth. “I got lost. I had just run out of supplies when I arrived at this road. Could you point me towards the nearest village or town?”

The guard looked over me before nodding, “You came from the wilderness? That is quite an accomplishment. We are heading towards the town of Iowan, ourselves. You could join us if you wish. It is always useful to have an extra sword in these treacherous times.”

“I would appreciate that a lot.” I said honestly.

He took his helmet off to reveal two wolf ears on top of his silver hair. “Just remember this if you are going to join us, you aren’t allowed to go past the inner ring of guards. If you do, we won’t hesitate to kill you.”

I drew back a little, surprised from his bluntness. “I’ll remember that.”

“Follow me.”

He lead me to a spot in the back of the caravan and introduced me to the guard there. “This guard is Damon. I’m afraid that I haven’t caught your name.”

“It’s Drew.” I told him.

“Damon, keep an eye on Drew please. Now then, I will be off.” The guard who greeted me walked away.

“You guys aren’t very trusting around here are you?” I said to Damon once the guard was out of hearing range.

Damon only grunted in response.

I sighed and turned to my mare. “People aren’t very nice around here, are they?”

The mare snorted and kept walking.

“Now that I think about it, I should probably name you. It’d be rude if I kept calling you ‘mare’. How about Maria?” The mare looked at me before looking away. “I’ll take that as a no. Do you want a regular horse name? Maybe Moondancer?” The mare sighed. “Too corny huh? How about something simple like Luna?” To my surprise, she perked up at the name. “Luna it is then.”

The rest of my day was spent talking to my horse as we rambled along. I saw some of the other guards giving me weird looks, but I didn’t care. Luna had given me the little bit of stability that I desperately needed.

The caravan stopped at the edge of the village and started to set up camp. As they set themselves up, I walked into the village. I carefully kept track of who I saw. Interestingly enough, the village was mainly composed of beastmen who had long antlers coming from their foreheads.

The villagers avoided me as I walked through their village, so it was rather impossible to find directions to the place I was looking for. I wandered the village for a few minutes before I found the building. The priest kneeling in prayer was all the evidence I needed.

I didn’t say anything to the priest as I kneeled next to him and prayed along with him. A few minutes later he stood up. I followed him as he lead me into the small temple.

“Welcome kinsman, what brings you to my humble temple?” The priest asked me as we entered the building.

I considered his question and answered with as much truth as I could.  “As always, there are many things on my mind. But I seek you and your temple for two main reasons. Please, let me start off with the lighter of the two.” I gathered my thoughts and said. “I seek your temple because I need a path to follow. Please tell me the story of your gods.” I found myself falling into my role as a cleric as I spoke. My days as a roleplayer may have influenced my word choice a little.

“You say that you have started with the easier of your two problems. And yet, your question does not have any simple or easy answer.” The ageless priest said with a smile. “The tale of our gods is a long and arduous one.” He stayed quiet for a moment before he lead me to two statues holding each other in an embrace. “This is Sai and Maya, the two lovers, and the first creators.

“Sai was first. She was alone, she knew nothing but loneliness. An emptiness so great and unlike anything we can ever know. It is said that the loneliness we feel inside ourselves is a reminder of that great loneliness. After an unknown amount of time this loneliness grew so unbearable that all Sai could do was wish for an end, and in her pain she ripped herself in two. From her other half came Maya. Maya felt that loneliness and wished to end it and by her very creation, she ended that terrible loneliness. A romance developed between Sai and Maya, together, they birthed a son and two daughters. Dios, the god of change, Maria the goddess of protection and Tia the goddess of dreams and imagination.

“As they got older, the three sibling grew bored, so they asked their mothers for the ability to create. Sai and Maya, loving their children greatly, granted this power to them. Together they created our world and the first creatures, now known as celestials or fae. Finding it to be a lot of work to watch over all of their creations, and wanting something new. The three decided to create more gods with the power of creation. And an age of creation was started, where gods of all types were given life. It was a prosperous if tumultuous time.

“Things changed when the god of conflict was created. The god of conflict grew bored with the small tasks given to him, he desired something more entertaining. So the god of conflict, Clore, convinced his father Dios to create the Devils. These Devils fed off of the Celestials, fae and the lesser creatures such as us beastmen. Maria, the goddess of protection cared deeply for her creations and gave them the power to defend themselves. The god’s chose sides, thinking that it was a game, they soon lost that notion as blood was shed. Thus, the first God-war started.

“Seeing the destruction caused by their children, Sai and Maya took the power of creation away from their children, limiting their powers greatly. Still, their children faught. As the Gods, Celestials, Fae and Devils fought, so did their lesser brethren. Humans, Beastmen, Demons, Elves and various other races. Tia, the goddess of dreams grew tired of the war and created a tenuous peace between the gods. Tia was joined by the many creatures tired of bloodshed and became a powerful faction capable of stopping a full blown war. Unfortunately small fights between the gods could not be stopped.

“In order to stop her brethren from killing each other, Tia forced them to choose representatives from the lesser brethren. These representatives fight for their gods in order to gain favor and power.”