CHAPTER 3

As I walked out of the alley the city looked like the wrath of God had struck it. Which was pretty much what had happened.  I glanced at the sky, it was filled with roiling black clouds that were lit from within by nether energy, with purple and red lightning flashing almost constantly.  The magical forces that had been released during the battle had somehow combined and were now self-powered.  I suspected Centralport would not see too many sunny skies in the near future.  I was on a hill and looking down I could see the harbor, it was trashed with half a dozen half-sunk ships poking their masts above the water.

Continuing down the street I came across a group of giant rats, they stood about four feet tall and while looking feral, they were armed with sharpened sticks and small knives.  I recalled reading about them on one of the game forums.  They dwelt in the dark sewers of the city and were considered an NPC, but no one had found any quests that dealt with them.  As I studied them I saw one of them looking at me, the intelligence in his stare left no doubt that this was not just some overgrown rodent.

They had been digging in a mound of rubble but as I approached they slowly backed off and then vanished into the dim lighting of the sky.  Looking down I could see a tail sticking out of the rubble, it was slowly moving.  I knew that they were trying to rescue one of their own, so glancing around and seeing that no one was watching I quickly began to clear away the larger piece of rubble that the rats had not been able to move.  Within several minutes I had moved enough stones so that the rat was able to twist himself free. 

Looking around he saw that I had freed him and then suddenly the other rats appeared.  Backing off I gave them room and watched as they began to walk away into the gloom.  The freed rat whispered something to one of the others and then gave him something.  This courier rat looked at me and then raced over and held out his paw.  On it was a ring which I accepted.  The rat whispered at me, “You freed the prince, now he has given you the ring of friendship.  If you ever come down to our kingdom you will be welcomed.”  Then he was off, within seconds he had faded from view.   I looked at the ring and saw that it had a +10 to sneakiness and was considered the princely seal of the Rat Kingdom.

Wow, that was totally unexpected and something that I am sure would prove useful over time I thought as I slipped the ring on my finger.  Continued down the street I felt the first raindrops hit my face.  Could life get any better than struggling through a destroyed city in the midst of a violent storm only to have it rain on you?  I did not think so until the raindrops began to shock me each time they hit exposed skin.  I trudged on hoping to find something or someone that could help portal me back to Timberlake.

Eventually, I was found, it turned out the all five of the guilds that had joined forces to combat Janus were now searching the city.  So many other players had joined in the battle and fallen only to have found that much of the destroyed city had buried their bodies.  They were on cleanup and rescue duty.  I had been walking down the street when a group of three members of Grief found me.  The took one look at my bloody and torn gear and assumed I had the misfortune to start my game at Centralport in time for the battle.  I did not bother to dissuade them but rather asked if I could be ported out to a different starting city.

I decided to take two or three portals before heading back to Timberlake.  Paranoid, yes but not if they really were out to get me and looking at the damage done to Centralport and the fact that so many players would have huge bills, if they found out I was the new Key Master, I would be toast.  I also wanted to select my class and get some training in, so heading to a different Hub city was what I had to do.  The guys in Grief were professional and quickly led me to a camp that had been set up.  I was told that I could portal out at first light and then shown to a soup kitchen where about a hundred players were smoking, drinking and eating.  I grabbed a bowl of stew and a coffee and then sat down in a corner and began to eat.

It was simple fare but tasted great and filled me up.  Once done I lit a smoke and began to enjoy the coffee.  After about an hour and a couple of cups later I was about to put out my last smoke when a group of three officers approached my table.   The lead one stared hungrily at my smoke and then asked, “Hey man, any chance you could spare a smoke or two.  I can pay you,”

“Don’t worry about it, you guys look like you have gone through a cheese grater here, let me roll you a few smokes.”  True to my word I rolled about a dozen smokes and handed them out, the guys each lit up and then they slumped down at the table.  They began to speak and I soon realized that this was the leadership of the guild Grief.  “Hey guys, do you want me to vacate the table,” I asked?  They turned and looked at me then the female said, “No don’t bother, anyone can see what has happened here, we have nothing to hide, and if we did there is no place to hide it now.”  The guys all laughed at this and I realized that they were right, it was all over world chat and there were a lot of pissed off players.

“So, what really happened,” I asked?  “I mean I was taken down too fast to see much, lucky I did not die.  But the whole damned city is in ruins.  It looks like something nuclear happened.”

The officer who had asked for the smokes spoke up, “The names Glee, and that would describe it, we summoned a God and battled for a long time, almost had the bastard, he was about to die when he shifted into a human form and then blasted off, he went supersonic as he went out of sight.  Lots of people are searching for him now, every guild has sent out teams.”

“What if he went back to heaven or wherever the Gods hang out here?”  I asked as I looked around.

“If he did that, then we are done.  But I don’t think he did.”  The girl answered, “The quest shows that the thing we were after is still here somewhere in this world.  The name is Deb but my friends call me DD.” 

I stared at her, it was a given in the game world that almost everyone had a model's perfect body, but DD lived up to her nickname.  I nodded and then said, “Can you guys track down what you are looking for?”

Glee spoke up, “Not yet but once we have put the mages in each Zone we can begin to try to triangulate the position.  Real world science powered by magic.  I frikken love this game.”

“Wow, that is cool,” I said, glad that years of playing poker had left me with a face that would not reveal anything.  I was so deep in the brown stuff all I could do was go with the current for now.  I started rolling more smokes as the conversation ebbed and flowed.  Standing up I offered them each half a dozen smokes and then said, “Well guys it was something to see, but I am going to portal out and get going, I don’t want to stay at my level forever.”  DD stood up and said, “Here, I want you to have this,” as she handed me a hundred gold. 

“Oh well damn it I can’t take your gold. “I stammered, “I mean I did not die or lose out on expensive repairs, you guys probably broke your guild bank here.  Thanks, DD but I would feel bad taking the gold.”  I looked at the Grief officers as they stared at me, finally Glee spoke, “Octo you are alright, listen once you hit level twenty apply to our guild, I am adding you as a friend, you do the same DD.  I appreciate that you have a good brain and are not a greedy bastard like so many of the new players in Haven.”  Looking at the third officer he said, “Threads, spin Octo a Griefer friend patch along with the Godfight insignia attached to it.”

I looked at Threads who had grunted in reply to Glee and watched as his hands began to glow, once the glow stopped he handed me a cloth patch that spelled out Grief in black letters with a green glowing border.  Along the bottom were twin crossed lightning strikes hitting the outlines of a city.  “Thanks for the smokes, man, just stick this on your chest or shoulder it will stay on until you pull it off when you upgrade.  The patch is the Greif patch we all wear, the green outlining means you are a prospect and friend.  The bottom means you fought in the battle of Centralport.  These patches are going to garner some respect down the line.” 

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With that he shook my hand as did Glee, DD stood up and said, “I am going to walk our new prospect to the portal guys, it is not every day a man refuses a gift from me.”  Both of the guys laughed and Glee called out, “Better run boy, she is single and looking.”  I glanced at DD and saw her face turn red but she smiled at the comment.  As we walked on with DD leading me we stopped several times as DD introduced me to several of the other officers of Grief.

Eventually, we arrived at the portal and DD nodded towards the small platform.  “Octo, please keep in contact with me.  I have a feeling that we will be seeing you again,  and I can tell you that you impressed both Threads and Glee.  If this was not a total shitshow, I would run you through a few dungeons myself to get you leveled up to join Grief, but there is a lot of work to do cleaning up this ruined city and then hunting down Janus.  But stay in touch okay.”  I nodded and said, “Thank you, I will.”  Giving her a wave I stepped onto the portal stone and thought of where I wanted to go,  calling out Treetower I was ingulphed in a circle of flame than with a snap I was gone.

The darkness was complete, and the lack of any external sound caused my heartbeat to sound louder than it really was.  Where the hell was I.  I waited, but nothing happened, it was somewhat like being in an isolation tank, I could not hear or see anything.  Closing my eyes, I began to center myself, slowing my breathing down, slowing my racing heart down, calming myself through meditation.  When I finally opened my eyes, I called up the system clock and realized that I had been here wherever the hell that was for several hours.

Glancing around I noted that off in the distance was a dim light, slowly I started walking towards it.  I had no sensation of being on solid land yet I could tell I was getting closer to the light, or it was getting closer to me.  Sighing I continued to walk, I was not sure how long it took me to arrive but I was now tired and thirsty, and in front of me was a mountain.  It descended below me and extend far above me. 

Eventually, I walked onto a narrow pathway and suddenly the darkness was gone and the mountain did not glow anymore, in fact, I was not in the darkness but rather was standing on the solid ground of the earth.  It was now early evening and glancing at and expanding my minimap I saw that I was in an unknown and unexplored area of Haven far to the north and east of the closest city or town.   

Sitting down I tried to figure what had happened, I had no clue, I had never heard of this happening to anyone in the game.  It must be a bug, they did occur but were rare.  Opening my chat function, I quickly wrote down what had happened and then sent it up to the GMs in the hope that they would respond, I had heard that when things did go wrong they sometimes gave players bonus items to make up for the bug.

It was now dark enough that I could look down the mountain and in the distance, I could make out the lights of a settlement, checking my minimap I saw that nothing was listed.  Looking up the mountain I saw that around the shoulder was a glow, there was something up there.  Facing the choice of walking several kilometers down a steep path in darkness or climbing up to a much closer light I decided to ascend.

Closest being a relative term I thought as I slipped for the tenth time.  Still falling on your face was much better than falling on your ass and then sliding down a steep mountainside.  Eventually, I climbed over a ridge and saw that I was on a small plateau that stretched into a valley hidden on the shoulder of the mountain.  I could see a small stream twinkling down through the trees so I made my way over and lying flat dunked my whole head in the water to drink, it was cool, crisp and satisfying.

After drinking my fill, I stood up and followed the stream through the trees till I arrived at a small clearing, here was the source of the glow I had seen.  It looked like a cross between a trapper’s cabin and a shrine.  I listened but could hear nothing, walking to the shrine I stared at the mountain where the stream started.  It was carved into an alcove with a pool deep enough to swim in with the stream exiting over a small lip at the edge.  There were carvings on the rock face that showed a man holding up his hand with a lightning bolt above him.  On the other side was a carving of a man who seemed to be blessing a group of people on the ground below him.

Studying the carvings for a few minutes more I shrugged, they were interesting but did nothing to help me.  Turning I walked over to the cabin, knocking twice and hearing nothing I entered.  The cabin was glowing on the inside, much like the mountain had glowed when I was floating in the darkness.  I glanced around, seeing a table and a couple of chairs, then a fireplace/oven built into the wall.  On the far wall was a bed, and just beside the doorway was a large amount of wood for the fireplace.  Suddenly I realized that I was both cold and tired.

I quickly started a fire and soon had the cabin warmed up.  Walking over to the bed I grabbed all the bedding and dragging it outside I beat it against the cabin wall until all the dust was gone then I went back in and made the bed.  I went back outside and grabbed another drink from the stream and then entered the cabin, barring the door I noted that the glow had gone and only the light of the fire was visible.  Walking over to the bed I took off my dirty clothing and stretched out.  I was asleep within a minute.

I woke up early feeling comfortable and at home.  It was a strange feeling one I had not had in a long time.  It reminded me of staying with my granny during my summer holidays, sort of a fun peaceful contentment.  Stretching, I made my way to the woodpile and grabbing a couple of small pieces which I then arranged on the flickering coals and soon had a small fire going.  Opening the door, I walked out to the stream in the dim prelight of the dawn.  It was cool and looking down the valley I could see fog coming off the stream and filling the valley.

Cupping my hands, I grabbed several handfuls of water and drank my fill, then turning around I noted an old woman sitting in the lotus position floating above the pool of water.  “What the hell,” I whispered, surprise coloring my words.  I was sure I had not been followed, heck I did not even understand how I had ended up here.  Seeing the woman, I knew that something was off, but I did not know what.  I noted that the woman had opened her eyes and was looking at me, through me, examining my very soul.

I stared back at her because as real as this was I knew it was still just a VR game.  After several minutes of silence, the woman spoke.  “My name is Iris and I am the Goddess of the Rainbow and one of the messengers of the Gods.”  She stood there waiting for a response as I evaluated what she had said.

I bowed my head and greeted her with respect, this was a game but why piss off a Goddess who could do who knows what within a game.  “Goddess, why are you here,” I asked.  I noted her studying me and I did the same to her. I would guess about 6 feet tall and tanned a dark brown, her hair was brown but with golden highlights and her eyes were an electric blue.  She had a full figure, but there were muscles clearly visible.  Her eyes were her most stunning attribute as they almost seemed to glow and she gave off a vibe of repressed power.

I wondered what she observed as she looked at me.  “You are not what I was expecting,” she stated.  I just nodded, I had no idea what she had been expecting.  “You have somehow had the blood of a god mixed with your blood, and you have managed to find your way to your own place of power from the Great Darkness.  This is something that no mere mortal could have done.”  I had no idea what she was getting at but when in Rome act like a Roman.

Continuing she said, “I have been tasked with informing you that as the first being to achieve becoming a higher being, what you humans would call a Demigod, you have earned a place in the heavens.”  Seeing my eyes widen she smiled and gestured around, the lower heavens.  Your place of power is located on the shoulders of the great mountain Olympus.  No mortal will ever be able to ascend here, and as for you, time will test your strength as you try to ascend higher.

Suddenly she was next to me with her warm hand on my head, and I could hear her say, “the doorways are open.”  Then there was a loud pop and she was gone.  I looked around slowly but all I could see was the interface windows blinking.  I had gained another 13 levels and had a ton of points to spread around.  I had also achieved a new title, the Lord of the Mountain.  I quickly hid that and then took note of the fact that I had three new abilities.  The first was called Truesight, and it allowed me to buff myself or others.  The buff would allow me to see the true name and stats of anyone playing.  Handy buff, it would stay on until canceled.

The second ability was called the Maximum Overdrive and it used Godly power to increase both my spell power and physical power by a scale of ten.  It could only be used once an hour and would last two minutes.  The last thing I noted was that the cabin was now considered my hearth and I could now teleport myself here once a day.  All in all, I felt pretty special, yep I was turning into a snowflake, unique and somewhat special.  Crap.  It was now full dawn and I decided to head down the mountain, I wanted to get to the village I had seen.  This would enable me to upgrade my gear and grab a portal back to Timberlake.  I had a lot to think about. I knew that I was getting sucked into the storyline of the game.  I glanced at my stats as I started down.

Stats

Level 25

Strength 10

Agility 7

Stamina 8

Wisdom 10

Charm 4

Luck 10

I decided to wait until I hit the village before I assigned the points to my stats.  I wanted to train and choose the Dark Priest class.