This is the very first Novel/story I have ever written, please do give it a try and give me your honest opinion of it. I plan on continuing it to the end and I shall continue to polish my writing skills along the journey as well to make it better for you, the reader. Any help I could use for writing would be appreciated!
Do enjoy!
Beep Beep Beep
The sound blares from an alarm clock as it rudely disrupts its owner’s comfortable rest.
Beep Beep Beep
Annoyed by the constant ringing of the alarm, a groan is heard from under the duvet as a hand reaches over, patting at the noisy device to stop it.
Beep–
The alarm finally stops its incessant ringing and Arthur, the boy who was rudely woken up from his sleep returns to the comfort, triumphant.
Though, not for long, as he would soon be forced to leave the warm embrace of his bed.
Groaning as he rolls out from under the duvet, Arthur starts dressing himself in front of the mirror. His eyes drift to an old portrait of 3 boys, the two boys in front had bright smiles while the third behind had a sombre look.
It’s all in the past now, and there is nothing he can do about it. Turning the portrait over, Arthur sighs and heads out of the room, smelling a mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen downstairs.
Following the irresistible scent, Arthur peeks in from the corner to see what is being made before being noticed.
“Arthur, you’re awake! Did you sleep well?” the young boy making breakfast asks, turning off the stove as he scoops the bacon and eggs out of the pan onto a plate.
“Yeah… Somewhat,” Arthur groans, tired from having just woken up, “though, you seem pretty energetic today, Sorin– ”
“Of course I'm excited! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this day? Come on… It's the very first MMO game made for the chips in our heads. It’ll be an entirely new world to experience!”
In the present day, many people had Neuralfix chips in their heads after the age of 16, it was mandatory for everyday life as technology advanced, and the process of inserting it inside the brain was relatively safe and simple.
It eventually got to the point where it started being used for entertainment. Able to fully immerse yourself inside a separate space within the chip, many games were developed where you could live inside of that world.
Grim Tale Online was the new hot thing, as it was the very first massively multiplayer online game, where many people would be playing on a single massive server so it was no surprise that many looked forward to the game’s release.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a little excited about it too, I watched all the videos of the gameplay trailers and teasers you sent me last night and it seemed pretty cool,” After grabbing his share of breakfast, Arthur sits down and asks, “So when are the servers opening up? We’ve already got the devices delivered to us.”
“The last time I checked, it said that it should be less than an hour from now– “ Sorin says as he sits next to Arthur and swallows a mouthful of food before he continues, “and when the servers start we’ll join as soon as possible! I really, realllllly want to be one of the front-running players clearing dungeons, and having our names all over the place!”
Sorin might just be having one of his fantasies again but there was some sense behind it. After clearing a dungeon for the first time, the player obtains a unique reward related to the dungeon, and a title called ‘Frontrunner’ The effects the title gave were still unknown. But, from the videos Arthur watched, the devs made it sound like a big deal so many players were eager to get their hands on it.
“The great story of Sorin and his sidekick, Arthur!” Sorin utters, spreading his arms out as if he were some glorious hero receiving praise from the nonexistent crowd behind the table.
“Why am I the sidekick?”
Arthur chuckles, half-listening as Sorin goes on, ranting about his soon-to-be epic tale and all the big plans he has for when they are inside the game.
***
Shortly after finishing breakfast, Arthur and Sorin headed toward their respective rooms.
Arthur laid eyes on a closed cardboard box placed on his study table, gently prying the box open from above. Arthur carefully pulls the device out from within and sets it down on the table after pushing the box to the side.
The device looked like a circular visor, mostly covering the eyes. It had a small compartment on the back with a receiver inside that received power from the chip in people’s heads using an electromagnetic field, the chip itself being powered by the electricity emitted from the human brain.
Of course, doing this causes you to tire out quickly as the brain uses more energy than it was originally intended to, that's why it's often advised not to use the device for too long.
Slowly sliding his finger on the smooth outer rim of the visor, Arthur picks up the device and places it over his head. After lying down on his bed, Arthur looks up at the studded ceiling through the glass of the visor before closing his eyes.
Sinking into his bed as he relaxes on the comfortable duvet, Arthur taps the side of the visor three times and everything goes silent.
Slowly, a sunny shade of yellow fades in. Arthur opens his eyes and scans the room he found himself in. It was a square room intricately decorated with tiny geometrical lines scattered about, glowing in a beautiful yellow hue. It was like he stood in some sort of circuit.
Turning his head to the panel that appeared before him, the panel asks Arthur to select the name and appearance he would like to have inside the game.
“Arthur, Keep the same appearance.”
The panel pings in response as it creates his character.
{Would you like to go through the tutorial?}
[Yes] [No]
Arthur selects [No], he already knows the basic knowledge of the game from all the videos sent by his brother, and he’d rather not waste time when he could be searching for him.
As the system finalizes the creation of Arthur’s character, he is transferred to a sunny field with tall grass waving in the wind. It had a moderate-sized dirt road leading to a large village far off in the distance. Arthur glances around, searching for his little brother but to no avail.
Thinking that Sorin might have headed toward the village, Arthur starts walking down the dirt road, leaving footprints behind with every step.
Soon, Arthur halts at a crowd gathered in the middle of the road. The people are cheering and some are booing, walking through the crowd to see what is going on, Arthur sees a man fighting toe-to-toe with a short green humanoid creature. It had sharp pointy dagger-like ears and held a crooked wooden club, a goblin.
The man facing the goblin is clearly in a losing fight, throwing punches left and right, and not landing a single hit as the goblin easily dodged the predictable punches. The man slowly becomes exhausted with every missed hit, and the goblin takes advantage of his sluggish movements as it trips him.
The goblin cackles as it stands over the man, beating the man on the ground with its crooked club.
“Someone! Please help me! It hurts!” The man pleads for help.
The crowd gathered around him ignores his pleas and watches as he holds his hand out to stop the goblin’s next strike. This time, smashing his hand to a pulp with the blunt force of the club.
“The devs did not have to make it look so real… ” Arthur grimaces at the sight, after deciding to stop the assaults from getting worse, he steps out of the crowd and pushes the goblin off its balance.
The goblin looks up at Arthur and snickers as it attempts to stand up. Stopping the goblin before it could, Arthur crushes its head under his foot.
[Goblin slayed]
[+8 Exp gained]
[Obtained: Crooked wooden club]
Arthur shakes the blood off his foot and heads toward the man on the ground, offering his hand to lift him up, “Are you alright?”
“Alright? What makes you think I'm alright after that? Do you even know how much this hurts!?” The man yells at Arthur as he grabs his collar.
“At least I helped you… “ Arthur looks at the man with scorn. Maybe it would have been better to leave the man to his inevitable doom.
“You’re right… I'm sorry I snapped” The man apologises before letting go of Arthur’s collar, wincing as he felt the pain in his crushed hand, and hurried off toward the village, most likely in search of a healer.
As the crowd dispersed, Arthur spots his little brother shaking and curled up in a ball. Gently walking up to him and getting down on his knees, Arthur pats his brother’s head and offers his hand, “Here you are… Do you still want to go on your adventure?”
Sorin looks up at Arthur with teary eyes and grabs his hand, “Y-Yeah.”
Surprised by Sorin’s response, Arthur smiles and teases, “Still though, the games you’re interested in are quite violent.”
Sorin glares at Arthur before laughing, “It must be one of the things they improved before launch.” Then they head toward the village, chatting on the way.
***
Arriving at the village, Arthur’s eyes wander about as he takes in the buildings around him.
Close to the gate into the village was a butcher with an assorted variety of meat. Down the street was a large inn that seemed to be a place for sleep, not that you would have to sleep in the game as you can log out. But, it's a nice aesthetic Arthur thought.
Close to where Arthur and Sorin stood was a clothier, it seemed like some cooking oil fell on some fabric and was left outside the window to dry. Next to it was a tough and sturdy building with a smoking chimney and bellows placed next to a forge, an NPC stood next to an anvil hammering down on a molten chunk of metal, slowly transforming into what seemed like a sword. This was most likely a blacksmith who sold the equipment you would need to get yourself prepared early in the game.
“Let's go check for quests at the inn?” Arthur questions as he looks at Sorin skimming through his panel. Arthur checks out his own panel as well, swirling his forefinger in a circular motion, a panel appears.
[Arthur]
Level 1 [8/35 Exp]
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Strength:1
Dexterity:1
Constitution:1
Intelligence:1
Wisdom:1
Charisma:1
[Inventory]
Starter tunic (E), Starter breeches (E).
Crooked wooden club (14% D).
[Friends (1)]
[Settings]
“Wow, they really gave us nothing to start with at all” Arthur blurts, closing his menu.
“Yeah I know, let's get some money and buy ourselves better gear because we look so ridiculous right now.” Sorin laughs, pointing toward himself and Arthur.
He wasn’t wrong, Every player in the village was barefoot and had white linen tunics that had clearly seen better days, and funny-looking brown breeches with rips in various spots.
Heading toward the Inn, Arthur and Sorin spot the bounty board that offers basic monster-slaying quests. Before they could take a look at the bounties. A woman stood in front of the board, from what Arthur could make out, she only took a quest that seemed related to goblins.
Turning around, she is surprised by the two idling behind her, smiling sheepishly for a second before changing to a glare as she passes them. She went straight for the large gate heading out to the field.
With no one in their way, the two check out the quests available.
[Slay 5 rabbits: 5 Exp, 10 gold]
[Slay 2 boars: 8 Exp, 14 gold]
[Slay 3 goblins: 15 Exp, 27 gold]
“I guess we’ll take the first two for now… “ Arthur accepts the first two quests and glances at the goblin quest, reminded of what happened earlier.
“Yeah, let's do that.” Sorin nods, accepting the first two quests on the board as well.
After having checked out the rest of the village, and the equipment they plan on getting, the two headed out onto the fields to complete their quests.
***
A few minutes passed after they went out of the large gate as they searched around for their first bounty.
“Oh look, there are four rabbits eating some grass over there.” Arthur points toward a small clearing where rabbits are happily grazing.
After picking up some small-sized rocks beneath him, Arthur throws the stones toward the rabbits. Scattering in the air as they flew, three rocks made a hit and the rest hit the grass with a soft thud.
[3/5 Rabbits slain]
[3 Rabbit carcasses obtained]
[+6 Exp gained]
As the three lie on the ground lifelessly, the rabbit that survived the attack is in shock, before it can run away, Sorin grabs the rabbit by its body as it is preparing to jump.
“What do we do with this one?” Sorin asks as he offers the live rabbit to Arthur.
“You kill it, like so.” Arthur grabs the rabbit by the neck and twists it, the bones make a soft snap as the colour in the rabbit’s eyes fades.
[4/5 Rabbits slain]
[1 Rabbit carcass obtained]
[+2 Exp gained]
“O-Oh… “ Sorin realised, shaken by his brother nonchalantly snapping the rabbit’s neck.
Arthur sighs and pats his little brother on the head, “You’ll have to get used to it, you wanted this right? So It's best if we enjoy it.”
“Ok…” Sorin looked sad, he might have wanted to keep the rabbit as a pet but Arthur killed it.
***
[5/5 Rabbits slain]
[1 Rabbit carcass obtained]
[+2 Exp gained]
[Quest reward: +5 Exp, 10 gold]
After completing their first quest, the two look for a boar that might be roaming the area and eventually find one lying next to a rock.
Deciding that now was the time to test out the item he got from the goblin, Arthur pulls out the club from his inventory and sneaks up on the boar. It soon notices his presence as it hears the faint steps on the grass.
The boar gets up and starts preparing to charge toward Arthur as it kicks the ground with its feet, sharply breathing out of its nostrils as it lowers its head to ram him. It charges toward him with haste, Arthur swings the club like a baseball bat, the boar’s head being the target.
Arthur hits the boar against its snout with intense force, shattering the club into multiple pieces, the boar squeals as it staggers on its feet from the pain.
Grabbing the boar by the head, Arthur repeatedly bashes it into the rock next to him until the boar stops its painful squealing and the panel appears.
[1/2 Boars slain]
[+4 Exp gained]
[1 Boar carcass obtained]
Exhausted from the force exerted just now, Arthur sits down beside the boar, trying to catch his breath and looks at the blood that covers his hands. Then at the boar’s head that lies in its own pool of blood that dripped down from the wound on its head.
Wiping the blood off of his hands on the grass, Arthur snaps and in his frustration blurts “This game is so stupid! It makes us start with absolutely nothing but our damn bare hands! Gods I’m so damn exhausted, just a sword or something would be better but no! Nothing.”
Arthur sighs and looks at the splintered club he tossed aside in the fight earlier, “If I didn’t kill that goblin at the start then I wouldn’t have had it this easy. There’s no way we’re going to be able to kill the other boar for the quest… “
“Alright… L-Lets just leave for now then? Sorry I-I just wanted it to be fun” Sorin mumbles with a slight tremble.
“I mean… The game is alright I guess. But, I'm going to go off for now. I'm getting kind of hungry.”
Arthur sighs, bringing up his menu and looks for the logout button.
…
“Where is the logout button?”
“W-What do you mean? It’s right there–“ Sorin brings out his panel, the logout button on his’ missing as well.
“Surely it’s a bug right?” Arthur asks as he looks up at Sorin.
"Y-Yeah, it has to be," Sorin replies with an audible tremble.
As the two are lost in their thoughts, Arthur decides that it is best to head back to the village before sunset and stands up as they start heading back.
The walk was silent with not a single word being uttered out of their mouths.
Upon arriving at the village, they felt the same disturbed atmosphere among the players.
Many players were arguing whether it was a bug or some mistake made by the developers, but in the end, there were no answers, only questions.
***
As the sun casts an orange glow over the sky, Arthur and Sorin enter the bustling Inn and order meals for the both of them. It was a rather crude meal consisting of hard bread and potato gruel. But, It was finally something that could satisfy their hungry stomachs as they could not eat a single thing the entire day.
Much to Arthur’s surprise, he wasn’t hungry anymore and felt relieved that he wouldn’t be feeling the constant pain of starvation from his body outside of the game.
After booking a place to stay for the night, Arthur lays down on the bed of their room upstairs and scrolls through his panel, glancing at all the settings that were changed while he looks up from the uncomfortable pillow, the damaged wooden joists of the roof barely visible behind the transparent panel.
[Arthur]
Level 1 [27/35 Exp]
Strength:1
Dexterity:1
Constitution:1
Intelligence:1
Wisdom:1
Charisma:1
[Inventory]
Leather chest armour (E), Starter tunic (E), Starter breeches (E).
Iron spear, Flimsy crossbow, 5 Crossbow bolts, 7 gold.
[Friends (1)]
[Settings (Locked):
Pain nullifier: 0% (Locked)
Graphics: (Ultra) (Locked)
Speech & Text translator: (English)
(*New) Mode: Permadeath (Locked)
]
Arthur was panicked, to say the least. Why haven’t the developers fixed it already? Why were several settings changed on his menu and locked out? will they be trapped in this game until they starve to death in their body outside the game? what if he can’t protect his brother from all the harsh monsters in this world that are against them?
What if one of them doesn’t make it out of this game?
Arthur slowly dozes off to sleep.
***
In the cold and dark night, Arthur is startled awake by his brother pleading for help.
Arthur jumps out of bed, grabbing the spear and crossbow they bought earlier the day before. Squinting his eyes toward the direction of his brother’s pleas to make out what is happening in the darkness, a shiver runs down Arthur’s spine as he sees his brother being grabbed by a large fur-covered arm that came through a hole recently made in the wall.
“Stop it! Let him go!” Arthur shouts as he charges toward the hole in the building with the spear in hand, jumping out of the second story of the building and impaling whatever grabbed Sorin, in the shoulder.
The creature roars in pain and flings Arthur off of itself, sending him crashing into a cart on the street.
Feeling dizzy from the impact, Arthur tries to regain his senses as he gets up, his eyes erratically scanning his surroundings as he makes sense of the situation.
Buildings were wrecked and burning. Players and NPCs were fighting off a horde of goblins armed from head to toe. Mangled corpses are scattered about on the streets; of the unfortunate people who fell in the chaos of the large beast’s rampage.
Arthur turns in the direction of the ear-deafening roars, where a man stands out with his large sword, facing the creature that Arthur had impaled in the shoulder. Arthur breaks out in a cold sweat as he looks at the large beast in horror.
It stood towering on two legs covered in brown fur, with hooves for feet. Its upper body resembled a human, except for its bull-like head with two sharp horns protruding from the sides of its head as they curved upwards.
Arthur looks at Sorin being tossed aside by the minotaur, and a hooded figure takes hold of his brother.
The minotaur directs its attention back toward the man holding the large sword, he charges toward the minotaur and swings his blade at the minotaur’s arm, but is stopped as the minotaur picks him up by the body and flails him around.
After getting bored, the minotaur crushes the man in its hand. The sounds of bones snapping are heard along with the man’s screams in agony. The minotaur snorts and tosses the crumbled man to the side, He’s dead.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Arthur grips his crossbow and aims at the hooded figure carrying Sorin. Shooting as soon as he made sure Sorin wouldn’t get hit, the bolt was released at a high speed, whistling through the wind as it passed by the minotaur and piercing through the side of the hood. Purple blood drips on the ground from where the bolt had pierced.
Arthur catches a glimpse of the figure pressing down on what seemed like a pointy-sharp ear. They point toward Arthur, shouting incoherent words at the minotaur, and then they run off with Sorin on their back after casting some spell on him to sleep.
Arthur shouts, “Give me my brother back!” Sprinting toward the figure but is blocked by the minotaur standing between them.
It was quiet.
Arthur and the Minotaur were staring each other down, waiting for one of them to make the first move. The minotaur occasionally looked to the sides from the sudden movement of people running in a panic, trying to pierce them with its horns but they were too far. Arthur rushes toward the minotaur while it is distracted and grabs the large sword that was dropped by the man earlier, Not intending to swing it but instead to use it for something else entirely.
The minotaur turns its head to look at Arthur as it notices him running toward it, throwing a punch of great strength at Arthur to stop an incoming attack.
“Oh no you don’t, you bastard!” Arthur tilts the blade up, pointing it toward the fist coming in fast, and using the minotaur’s force against itself as it pierces itself between the fingers with the sword.
The beast roars in pain and pulls the sword out, throwing it to the side. The minotaur was enraged by the intense pain coming from the deep wound inflicted by Arthur’s attack.
The minotaur’s full attention was now on him, knowing he wouldn’t last a minute in a direct fight, Arthur dashes toward the nearest building on fire. Not hearing the beast running after him, Arthur looks back to where it stood.
It was getting on all-fours, Sharply breathing in and out.
“Oh shit!” A chill ran down Arthur’s spine, he instinctively knew what was coming next.
The minotaur tenses up all its muscles and bursts forward with great speed, demolishing everything standing in its way toward Arthur. Obliterating several carts on the street and sending debris flying outwards from the impact.
The ground shook with every step the minotaur made, and it let out a roar so loud that it felt like the sky was trembling.
It was solely focused on Arthur, and its only goal right now. Was, to kill the man who hurt it.
Arthur jumps out to the side before the Minotaur makes a collision with the burning building behind Arthur, the beast lets out a loud pained roar as it smashes into the burning building, its fur burning and splintered by the debris, and its tough leather skin being scorched by the heat.
“How are you still not dead???” Arthur exclaims, catching his breath for a few moments, before making a run for the blacksmith, “Think! What can I use to kill it?!” Running as if his life depended on it, the minotaur pushes the debris off of itself and Arthur thinks of something.
“The thing it did back then… It always tried to impale whatever suddenly moved with its horn but missed, so it must have a bad sense of depth!”
…As the minotaur arrives at the blacksmith’s forge it looks around for Arthur who is nowhere in sight.
Suddenly, a long suspended cloth, often used to wrap weapons, is pulled to the side of the room and the minotaur immediately pierces the fabric with one of the horns on its head thinking it was Arthur.
The cloth smelled strange to the minotaur and felt slippery as it slid down the horn, drenching its face with a thick golden liquid. Arthur comes from the corner, holding a burning plank he grabbed on the way here.
Arthur throws the plank at the cloth on the minotaur’s head, immediately bursting into flames.
The minotaur makes yet another ear-deafening roar as the hot flames scorch its face, swaying its arms around in a blind fit of rage and destroying several walls that held the building up in the process. It all comes down on the minotaur, burying it beneath the heavy debris of the building.
Arthur staggerly walks up to the minotaur under the debris, heavily panting and exhausted. “Just… Die already…” Finally driving a sword through its thick skull while it was still stunned.
“Sorin… I’m coming.” Arthur utters, losing consciousness as he collapses.