Aiden and Winterhell had left the gateway behind and were following the road leading deeper into the Ruined City of Lockhaven.
They found themselves surrounded by a once-majestic metropolis that had long since been forgotten by time. As they marvelled at the scenery, they could see that every structure and every street was crafted from an ivory-white stone.
The buildings rose proudly, their elegant architecture reaching toward the heavens as if aspiring to touch the sky. These structures, once gleaming in their pristine whiteness, had weathered the centuries, their surfaces bearing the marks of age and decay with their once-glowing white colours taking on a matted grey.
Despite it not even being midday, the city was cloaked in shadows, and a soft, haunting breeze whispered through the crumbling buildings.
Inside the city, the moss-covered road was replaced by a broken cobblestone street that was littered with rubble from abandoned buildings. The stark contrast to the vibrant Evergreen Glade they had just left behind rendered both Aiden and Winterhell silent. The ruins exuded an air of mystery and foreboding, while a sense of excitement mingled with trepidation coursed through their bodies. As they carefully made their way through the bleak scenery, their every step was accompanied by the crunch of debris underfoot.
As they ventured further into the desolation, they came to a crossroad where they halted in front of an ancient-looking street sign. When they inspected it, they saw letters etched deep into the weathered surface, a green patina embraced the grooves of each character, a testament to the centuries during which the city had been abandoned. The sign informed them that the street they had been following was called “2nd Street”, and the street crossing it, was called “Bleeker Street”.
“That’s an odd name,” Winterhell said. “It doesn’t sound like one of the typical names we normally come across in high fantasy settings.”
Aiden paused for a moment before answering.
“It’s a strange name…" he finally said pensively.
“That’s what I just said,” Winterhell said with a frown.
“No, you said it’s an odd name, which fair enough, it is. I simply added that in addition to being odd, it’s also a strange name.”
"Wow, that’s what I get for talking to you? Well aren't you a natural conversationalist," she said mockingly.
Aiden’s lips curled into a small smile as he leaned back, seeming to enjoy her exasperation.
"You know, the High Council is known to occasionally do weird things just to throw off the playerbase," he said, with a facial expression as if smiling at a joke only he understood.
"Do you really think something as unimportant as a street name would have come all the way from the High Council?" she said, sounding unconvinced, as they turned to the left and onto Bleeker Street together.
"Not necessarily,” Aiden said. “They obviously have legions of world-builders and lore-crafters who are typically granted astonishingly large amounts of creative liberties, but there have been cases where the High Council specifically requested minor details to be added or changed simply because they thought it would be funny, or they wanted to make a reference to something just to see if players would catch on to it."
"Huh," Winterhell said with mild surprise in her voice. "I didn't realise they were that involved."
"Oh they are," Aiden said. "There was this one time during the early ROTA days where players had to enter a 6-digit code to be able to participate in an legendary raid. The code was a ranking of each of the films from the first two Star Wars trilogies according to Jesper's own personal opinion."
"That doesn't sound so bad. I bet one of the deep nerds or ROTA scholars was able to dig up the answer from an old interview or a forgotten forum post right? Plus there are only so many different codes one can try before eventually getting the correct one," she said while mentally trying to guess what the correct ranking might be.
"That's the thing," Aiden answered. "It turns out that MadDog and Phenara had already made their own personal rankings known to the public, but Jasper never did, and since each player only had one chance to enter an answer as part of the event, people had to make uneducated guesses while hoping for the best. In addition, since it’s absolutely forbidden to share any details relating to high ranking events, nobody even dared to post any speculations or actual answers anywhere for fear of getting hit with the ban-hammer.”
“Did anybody end up getting it right? Winterhell asked while stepping around an old guardhouse that had fallen into the street.
Aiden who seemed to deeply enjoy delving into ROTA lore raised a knowing finger, and said “From what I recall, there were less than 100 who ended up answering correctly. Apparently, Jesper’s favourite character was Count Dooku, so Episode II was ranked first, and Episode III dead last.”
“Those must have been lucky guesses though, right? There’s no way anybody knew that for sure,“ Winterhell said. "Then again, I’m not that big of a fan of space operas to begin with, so I wouldn’t have known the first thing about Jesper’s likes or dislikes.”
Aiden felt an avalanche of sudden emotions flood through his being, beginning with incandescent nerd-rage, confusion and sadness, followed by the suspicion that Winterhell was simply lying or that she came from a parallel universe were for reasons unknown to him, people never learned to appreciate one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic epicness of all times, and then finally, acceptance that not everybody has to like the same things as he does, only the throw out that last idiotic thought because while he subscribed to the idea of the many-worlds interpretation, which suggests that there are an infinite number of worlds with an infinite number of versions of himself who have an infinite number of opinions, he refused to accept that in any one of them, he or anyone else could ever perceive Star Wars as "not awesome".
In the sudden and uneasy silence that followed, they each looked at their surroundings more closely, their previous conversation having soaked up much of their attention. Bleeker Street proved to be little different than 2nd Street. While it appeared to be marginally narrower, the overall cityscape continued unchanged, with rubble and fallen blocks of occasional decorative archways slowing their progress. The broken cobbled street was slightly curved and seemed to go on endlessly, giving them the impression of perpetually rounding a bend with every step.
After following Bleeker Street in an awkward silence for what felt like an eternity, Winterhell was about to suggest they enter any building at random to start exploring, when a large circular plaza presented itself to their left. She pointed in its direction and they made their way towards it.
The plaza was a beautifully crafted place, its perimeter defined by a low stone wall. Half a dozen benches placed on its outer edges facing inwards, made of the same stones as the rest of the city around them. Inside the ring of benches were four circular fountains with shallow basins. Rising from the centre of each fountain was the impressive figure of a wyvern. Each of the identical figures was poised to take flight, their wings unfurled, their heads facing towards the sky with their jaws wide open in an eternally silent roar that in a forgotten era used to spout a stream of water above its head.
At the centre of the plaza, on a tall pedestal stood a statue that appeared to depict what Aiden would have described as a classic rpg-adventuring party. He could see the familiar shapes he had witnessed on countless occasions in similar constellations. On the left side, a broad-shouldered Half-Orc barbarian raising a large two-handed sword towards the sky. To his right stood an Elven hunter holding an impressive-looking longbow, an arrow nocked and ready to be shot. On the right side, in a crouched position was a cloaked Halfling rogue, twin daggers in hands and ready to strike. Beside the rogue was a Dragonkin mage, staff held aloft, her robe flattering behind her as she prepared to command the elements. In the centre of the group stood a Satyr bard, holding a harp in one hand, the other hand gesturing forwards towards an invisible foe.
The statue and the plaza, set against the backdrop of their surroundings,offered a striking contrast, as they appeared to have been spared the crumbling fate suffered by the rest of the city. While there were large cracks on the benches, stones from the wall that had fallen onto the ground, and parts of the fountain’s basins that were missing entirely, it still only appeared to be in a state of disrepair rather than one of utter ruin.
“Can places have plot armour?” Aiden said more to himself than Winterhell.
Winterhell gave him a cautious glance. “I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret asking, but what are you talking about?” she said.
Aiden, who felt drawn by the characters on display, ignored Winterhell’s question and stepped closer towards the statue. He was curious to see if there was an obvious reason as to why the plaza was in better condition than its surroundings. As he stepped closer towards the middle of the square to inspect the statue more closely, something laying at the feet of the statue’s carved characters drew his attention. He thought he could see something small glimmering, when a brilliant azure light erupted behind them, piercing the eerie silence, all while illuminating their surroundings with an otherworldly radiance. Its brilliance was followed by a deafening boom of thunder, so loud that it rattled the crumbling cityscape all around them.
Startled, Aiden and Winterhell instinctively turned towards the source of the commotion. The Evergreen Glade and the ruined city, which had until moments ago been fairly quiet, was now in the throes of a sudden, violent thunderstorm. Lightning streaked across the sky, arcing with furious intensity, and the heavens themselves seemed to weep torrents of rain.
"What in the world is happening?" Winterhell shouted over the tempestuous winds.
Aiden, drenched by the sudden pouring rain and with windblown hair plastered to his face, couldn't help but offer a sly grin, his voice barely audible over the storm. “Haven’t you noticed? On top of everything, It’s raining!”
With a mischievous twinkle in her eye, Winterhell quipped, “Oh, I thought it was just nature’s way of making us look dramatic. Who needs an umbrella when you can have cinematic flair?”
Aiden nearly choked with laughter as a gust of wind blew torrents of rain in his face, causing him to stumble over a large stone laying in front of him. As he was recovering, Winterhell pointed towards a nearby villa that had a tall turret rising above it.
“We should be able to see what's going from up there,” she said while walking towards the building.
Aiden, who didn’t like the sight of the dilapidated structure one bit said,”Great idea. Let’s escape this horrible weather, that could very well have been summoned by an evil wizard, by entering the crumbled ruins of a house and its charming tower that probably hasn’t been up to code for at least 200 years.”
Before following her, Aiden approached the statue to look for the source of the glimmering he had seen before the storm had announced its intention to end all mortal life in the area.
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Laying on the pedestal, between the feet of the Elven Hunter and the Satyr Bard, Aiden could see a fist-sized orb. It was sleek and dark, like a perfect liquid black mirror. An orange light was emanating with a veiled brilliance from within its core, and as Aiden stared at it, he had the impression of gazing into a deep void.
Without a second thought, Aiden gave the mental command to move the orb into his inventory, after which it immediately faded out of existence. He made a mental note to inspect it as soon as he and Winterhell found a safe place that would provide them with shelter from the storm. He then promptly turned around and ran to catch up with Winterhell.
While approaching the villa Winterhell and Aiden quickly realised just how bad its state of disrepair truly was. The villa, once a grand and imposing structure, had stood taller than most buildings around it but was now little less than a testament to the ravages of time. Its stone walls were cracked and weathered, and large parts of the roof had caved in, leaving a pile of broken tiles and beams scattered across the courtyard. Vines and Ivy had crept up the walls, reclaiming the building as their own.
Winterhell, undeterred by the building's sorry state, began to make her way through the courtyard, but was held back by Aiden calling for her to wait.
“Hang on a second, I need to check something,” he said, while giving the mental command to open his inventory.
Winterhell turned around to see what was holding him back, when she saw that there were three grey dots above Aiden’s head, indicating that he was currently looking at his inventory.
As the three windows appeared in front of him, this time Aiden didn't pay any attention to his character sheet and dismissed it with a thought. Instead he decided to review the content of his storage. He had noticed that it wasn’t entirely empty when he first opened his inventory while reviewing his character sheet in the Evergreen Glade, but inspecting its contents had slipped his mind.
There were currently only three items in his storage, a red apple, the mysterious orb, and a wooden club. He wasn’t expecting much, since he knew better than to hope for anything all that useful, but even this felt a little thin. He selected the wooden club and gave the prompt to inspect its properties.
Item: Wooden Club
Rank: Common
Effect: None
“It’s better than a stick, but only just barely.”
Aiden couldn't help but let out a short, humourless laugh. "Looks like we're not being set up for success here," he said with a frown. After coming to terms with his disappointment, he accepted that something was indeed better than nothing and added the wooden club to his weapon slot. As he did this, the club materialised at his side, attached to the thin belt at his waist, held in place by a worn leather strap.
He dismissed his inventory with a flick of his wrist and as the world came back into focus, he saw that Winterhell had followed his example by examining her own inventory more closely, made evident by an identical wooden club attached to her own belt.
“It’s definitely not my weapon of choice, but if we need to kill rats in a village basement, I guess it’ll do the trick,” she said as they crossed the courtyard and made their way up a flight of stairs and through a set of broken double doors, into the villa's interior.
Inside, the villa's grandeur was a distant memory. The main hall was dark and foreboding, while the furious storm outside provided the only light, filtering in through shattered windows. The air was thick with the musty scent of age and decay, and cobwebs hung in every corner.
As the storm continued to rage outside, the villa creaked and moaned, protesting against the wind. Aiden had the uneasy feeling that the whole structure wanted to come crashing down, burying its intruders under dust and rubble.
"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered as he took in the main hall’s ruined state.
The pair walked past a once-luxurious candle holder that had crashed to the ground when a portion of the ceiling had caved in. Its fine craftsmanship, a blend of bronze and glass, now lay in a heap of bent and broken arms, while shattered fragments blended into the rubble strewn across the main hall.
Winterhell flashed him a grin. "Where's your sense of adventure? Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen? If we die, we'll just respawn in the Evergreen Glade."
Aiden's voice shifted from the previous lighthearted banter to a more serious note, "You don't know that for sure," he said. "Competitive events like this one have a permanent death rule just as often as they don't."
As he spoke, Aiden realised that he may have already been given clues, suggesting that he might be right.
As he pieced together the puzzle in his mind, he asked Winterhell, “When you logged into the event, what message did you hear?”
"I wasn't paying that much attention, to be honest," She answered, "I was busy feeling excited to see what the hype was all about."
Aiden rested a finger on his lips for dramatic effect, then said, "The game told us to prepare for glory or be ready for death. And if that's not enough, that ominous text-crawl wasn't exactly reassuring. If anything, I'd be willing to wager that its claim that life isn't fair and all that isn't just a warning to keep us on our toes, it's a promise.”
Winterhell's playful expression was replaced with one of slight concern. Her eyes widened as Aiden's words sank in, and she realised that despite the wonders and secrets ROTA had to offer, events such as the one she was now a part of, meant business for a lot of people.
Her voice quivered slightly as she admitted, "I... I didn't realise it could be this serious. I thought it would be just another adventure, you know?" After a pause during which she stared down at her feet, her hand slowly gliding down one of the candle holder’s bent arms, she continued, “This is my first competitive event. I knew that it could be over quickly, but it never occurred to me that something as harmless as entering an empty building could mean the end.”
Aiden, seeing her distress, moved closer and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay," he said softly. "I didn’t mean to upset you. Just remember, we need to be careful, stay smart, and not take unnecessary risks,especially since we still don’t know all that much about the event yet."
Winterhell nodded, her embarrassment slowly passing. "You're right. I’d hate to miss out on the whole thing because of a stupid mistake."
They made their way through the grand hall and up a once-proud staircase, its steps hewn from the ivory-white stone prominently seen all over Lockhaven. Their clothes and hair were dripping onto the dust-covered stairs after having been soaked by the storm outside. The railings, intricately carved with long-forgotten motifs, were cracked and their overall state caused Aiden to believe that they were best left untouched. He led the way, on the lookout for any signs of danger, while Winterhell followed closely behind, ready for whatever challenges lay ahead.
While carefully climbing the broken stairs leading to the upper floor, Winterhell gave Aiden an inquisitive glance. She had noticed that while he’d given in to her playful banter willingly enough, he seemed to be more cautious regarding the nature of the event. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was because he was generally more experienced in ROTA than she was, or just due to him being a little paranoid, seeing dangers when there were none.
After a moment’s hesitation, she bit her lip and asked him, “Say, you’re not just a casual participant am I right?”
Aiden stopped climbing the stairs and looked at her, taken by surprise by her direct question. It was common practice to not ask any questions about another player’s real life unless you had explicit consent to do so. One’s status as a pro, or even semi-pro was however generally seen as an aspect of ROTA, though there were conflicting views regarding the tactfulness of asking about it outright.
He smiled at her question and said, “I wouldn’t say calling myself a casual is entirely accurate, though I’m not exactly a high-ranker in the global standings either. I like to think that I've done well enough for myself.”
“You know, answering a question with both yes and no doesn’t make you modest. It makes you sound smug,” she said, her signature smile back on her lips.
Aiden took a theatrically deep breath, as if summoning the patience to speak to a child, then said, “Well, one should know better before going to an Elf for counsel.”
“Oh, so we’re just doubling down on the smug thing, are we? Also, we’re both just about as distant from being Elves as possible,” she said, as they both started laughing while approaching the top of the staircase.
Upon reaching the landing, they found themselves at the precipice of a grand balcony, from where the main hall they had just left behind could be seen from above. On the landing, they faced a large empty wall, where an opulent tapestry once hung, that now formed a moth-ridden heap on the ground. To their left was a corridor that had been made entirely inaccessible due to the ceiling having collapsed. To their right, another corridor was filled with portraits of long-forgotten nobility hanging askew on the stone wall.
As they made their way down towards the right, they walked past a number of rooms. Some had smashed in or broken doors, allowing Aiden and Winterhell glimpses into rooms filled with ruined furniture, torn curtains and shattered mirrors.
At the end of the corridor, they found a narrow, spiralling stone staircase that led upward. It was evident that this staircase would take them to the villa's turret, the tallest point of the building, where they hoped to gain a vantage point to observe the strange occurrences in the Evergreen Glade.
The spiral staircase was so worn and crumbling in places, that Aiden half-expected him and Winterhell to fall to their deaths. It was a tight squeeze, and they had to be cautious with every step, but their determination, mostly Winterhell’s unwillingness to turn around, pushed them forward. Aiden, who much to Winterhell’s delight was slightly taller than her, had the repeated privilege of clearing out dozens of barely visible spiderwebs with his face.
When they emerged onto the turret’s uppermost platform, their efforts were rewarded. The circular chamber at the top of the villa provided a breathtaking panoramic view of the city of Lockhaven and the Evergreen Glade. Despite the ongoing storm, Aiden and Winterhell stood side by side, their breaths visible in the cold air, as rain lashed at them from all sides and the wind threatened to knock them off balance.
From this vantage point, Aiden needed a couple moments to take in the sheer scale of the Evergreen Glade. He could see the distant shapes of other players running towards the ruins of Lockhaven, seeking shelter from the storm. He could see the remaining walls of a round building that may have once been a watchtower losing their battle against the storm and crashing down into the ruined streets.
While taking in the scenery around him, he couldn't help himself from noticing an odd feeling come over him. Despite the bleak ruins and the violent storm raging around him, despite the wind lashing at his clothes and the thunder rolling in waves that shook the ground, something about the scene felt strangely… peaceful.
He knew that in all reality, there was nothing altogether peaceful about the entire situation. He still wasn’t entirely convinced that the tower he and Winterhell were standing on wasn’t going to yield to the elements and crumble at any given moment. He could hear the creaking and moaning of the heavy wooden beams. He could feel the tower shifting with the heavy gusts of wind. He could hear his inner voice shouting at him to leave the tower and to find proper shelter, but against his own expectations, he let himself breathe. He closed his eyes briefly, letting the sounds of the storm blend into a steady rhythm. He was here. Standing above it all, watching the world unfold in all its wild, chaotic beauty. And for reasons he couldn’t quite understand, it was enough.
“Aiden look!” Winterhell’s voice shook him as he felt himself being pulled back into the present moment.
He shook his head and the reality of the situation came crashing back to him. He could see Winterhell point out towards the centre of the Evergreen Glade.
“Aiden, look!” she repeated, her voice carrying a blend of awe and excitement. “There’s something happening down there,” she said, her finger tracing a line toward a single point where the storm seemed to be swirling tighter and the darkness thickened, pooling like ink.
Aiden followed her gaze, his sense of calm replaced by a sharp, electric tension. There, in the heart of the Glade, the rain twisted into a tight spiral, as if pulled by an invisible force.
“Do you see that?” Winterhell whispered, eyes wide. “It’s like the storm’s… bending.”
He nodded, barely able to tear his gaze away. “Yeah. And I don’t think it’s stopping.”
A blinding spark burst from the centre, expanding outward in jagged, crackling lines that tore into the ground, marking the grass and soil with harsh, angular symbols. The circle of light surged with an unnatural energy, each symbol gleaming like molten metal against the rain-soaked ground. The air around it grew thick, almost charged, and Aiden felt a prickle along his skin, like the space itself was vibrating.
“Is that… a summoning circle?” Winterhell asked, her voice laced with both awe and unease.
Aiden swallowed, feeling a knot of anticipation and dread forming in his stomach. “Looks like it. But I don’t think it’s summoning anything small.”
The ground within the circle began to tremble, splitting along the glowing lines as the summoning circle surged brighter, casting long shadows across the Glade. The light pulsed erratically, casting a cold, metallic glow that painted harsh shadows across the Glade. A portal began to rise; it lurched upward, jolting as arcs of energy crackled across its surface, scorching the earth wherever they landed.
Winterhell gripped the edge of the crumbling stone wall beside her, her knuckles white.She let out a shaky breath, still watching the circle pulse with unearthly energy. “So... should we be getting closer or running the other way?”
Aiden, eyes fixed on the scene below, needed some time in order to find his voice. “Uhm….Yes?” Was all he managed to say after two failed attempts to answer.
Bit by bit, the portal began to rise from the centre, swirling in shades of azure and violet, lifting itself from the earth. Arcs of energy crackled along its edges, casting a stark, unnatural glow across the Glade. For a brief moment, Aiden thought he saw twisted shapes flickering within the vortex—like jagged shards caught in a storm, barely contained.
“Aiden… what do you think is going to come out of that thing?” Winterhell murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
He shook his head, transfixed. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling this is just the beginning.”
-
A system message appeared in front of both Aiden and Winterhell.
New Quest available - Defend the Portal
Aiden stared at the system window in his field of vision with an expression of disbelief.
Then after a moment, he finally managed to speak, “Uhm….what?”