Jeremy was now floating in the middle of a blue, spherical space. Around him were five small colored orbs, each with an insignia floating at its center.

"There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

As he caught his breath, several registration screens auto-filled in front of him. Tomi's doing to speed along the process. Jeremy began to wonder about in whose hands he had been left. His life would be in danger in this game. Was a teenage girl, no matter how apparently advanced she was, really ready and able to watch his back in this situation?

"Just tell me what to do next," he said. "Are these obs the servers?"

"Yep. Gonna have to choose one, Jer-bear. The highest rate of deaths occurred on beta server. The other teams started there."

"The other teams?"

Tomi either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. "Hold on, I'll turn on the developer overlay."

A bar blinked over each server. Beta server had a large red bar under it, and the number 250. The second largest bar was on zeta server. It was labeled 99. The alpha, gamma, and delta servers were labeled <10, indicating that less than ten incidences had occurred.

"Alright. We'll start there then."

"Are you sure? It's a PvP server. That means other players will be able to challenge you. Beta server is famous for its intensity."

"I'm here to solve a murder, Tomi. I don't give a damn about some sexually frustrated prepubescent idiots."

"Suit yourself, Jer-bear."

"Stop calling me that."

Tomi only giggled. Jeremy found that if he made a swimming motion he could move forward. He moved over to the beta orb, a black orb with a 'β' symbol inside it. He reached out to touch it, putting his hand inside. The orb began to emit a glow, a blue ring counting the time until the server was selected. When the ring met its other end a prompt popped up.

Create Character in Beta Server?

Yes?No?

Jeremy tapped 'Yes' and the sphere and orbs all dissolved around him into blackness.

"What's going on?" Jeremy said.

"Shh. It's the intro."

A voice echoed in the darkness, as it spoke, white-lettered words captioned it in front of Jeremy's eyes.

"In the beginning there was the First Esper, sleeping dreamlessly....

In the darkness appeared an enormous being, monstrous and vaguely dragon-like. It was far larger than a mega-corporation skyscraper, or even one of the smaller space stations Jeremy had read about.

"Ah!" Jeremy yelped, falling backwards. Tomi giggled. He got the feeling he was going to have to get used to the sound.

"It's all virtual, Jeremy," Tomi reminded him.

"Tell that to the people who lost their lives in here," Jeremy said. Tomi was silent in response. The intro continued as the enormous figure faded back into darkness.

...Then, the there was the Dream....

The Dream took form, and from it the High Espers were born.

Around him five smaller beings, similar in form to the first but about half Jeremy's size, appeared. They were all different colors.  Jeremy could feel a soft breeze on his skin. It was only then that he realized that he was naked except for a generic looking pair of boxers.

"What the hell, Tomi!" he said, covering himself as best he could.

"Sorry, Jer-bear. You've got to wait for the character customization menu. Besides, you're not really naked. Now hush."

The figures faded away as Jeremy appeared in the middle of an open field, a large, ethereal sun setting in the distant mountains.

The High Espers created the world within the dream, and it was good.

A grand city of formed around Jeremy. Underneath his feet were cobblestone pathways, as merchants selling their goods pushed their carts along the streets. Brick buildings rose around Jeremy, one of them a bell tower that rang in the distance. Kids ran around his legs and disappeared into a side alley. He couldn't help smiling at the sight of it. The world was beautiful and detailed. Jeremy hadn't been a gamer since they still used controllers, but he was impressed.

But the Dreamer stirs....

The scene followed the children into the alley, the world sliding around Jeremy. One of the children stopped and the other bumped into him. The were both looking at a dark corner of an alley, frightened as they backed away. In the dark corner, two red eyes opened.

And nightmares threaten to wake him, destroying all the High Espers have created and protected...

The children screamed as a bestial figure leapt out of the darkness. Instinctively Jeremy tried to jump in front of them to protect them, but scene switched to a group of warriors standing on a cliffside, looking at the horizon.

You have been chosen to undergo the Trial of Espers and realize your destiny as a protector of the dream.

Jeremy realized, with a jolt, that he was one of the figures standing on the cliffside.

"Uh. Tomi?"

"It's not you. One of the cool little tricks in the game. What you're looking at is a blank, generic mannequin. When the game senses you looking at it, it stimulates the part of your mind that recognizes an image of yourself." Jeremy found this information incredibly creepy. Try as he might, when he looked at the figure he saw only himself. The scene changed again, the cliffside fading into darkness.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Good luck, hero. May the Dream guide you to greatnes....

Jeremy appeared in a room with a full length mirror. He again saw himself in the mirror. Next to the mirror appeared a prompt:

[table]

"What is this prompt talking about, Tomi?"

"Geez. Didn't you do any reading up on this game?"

"I didn't exactly have time. I was hired yesterday."

"Don't worry about it right now. Just get dressed."

On the other side of the mirror appeared a wardrobe. When he opened it a grid appeared.

[table]

Create Character Through Trial of Espers?Yes?No? Select Clothing Styles (One from each row):SexyFormalCasualKnightNoblePeasantScienceFantasyBoth/Neither

"I suppose I should tell you at this point that the game is constantly psychologically assessing you. It begins building a profile from this point on. It'll show you clothing styles based on what you choose, but it will remember those choices in preference and connect those points of data with other behaviors in game."

Jeremy chose 'Casual', 'Knight', and 'Both/Neither'.

"Were there any similarities in psych profiles for the victims?"

"Hmm. Let me check."

Jeremy looked at the options that appeared in a grid inside of the wardrobe. There was one that was a plain white-collared shirt and khaki slacks. Not the sort of off the wall options he had expected to be forced to chose from. He found one that had a white collared shirt, black slacks, clean dress shoes, and a shoulder gun holster and selected it. It appeared on him, a perfect size.

There was another menu in the wardrobe for selecting body type, but he selected the default option. As bad as his life had been lately, he felt uncomfortable about being anyone but himself.

"Alright, Jeremy, I've got it. Looks like there were a few points of connection. They were all introverts. Hardly surprising, given that they were all gamers that spent a lot of time online. They're profiles also pegged them for bouts of loneliness and depression."

Jeremy considered this. "They were all players that spent a lot of time online?"

"Mostly, yeah. Still, that's not much to go on. There are a lot of people in this game that are like that."

Jeremy put it away in his mind to mull over later.

"Alright, Tomi. What next?"

"You're going to have to choose between creating your character stats yourself or going through The Trial of Espers."

"Whichever is fastest," he said. If he was going to be spending some time in the game world, he needed to understand the game to some degree. Still, he wished this could go faster.

"That would be the Trial of Esper. It creates an esper for you based on a psychological assessment hidden within the trial itself. The  self design option has an intentionally designed steep learning curve and intimidating amount of options to discourage its use for first time users."

"Why's that?"

"The game gets to know people in order to cater the experience to them. Every decision you make in game is monitored, recorded, and sent through complex algorithms to change your experience accordingly. The deepest and most important of these test is the first one, the Trial of Espers. Taking it is mandatory for every employee. You might as well get it out of the way."

Jeremy wasn't exactly sure he was considered an employee, but if it was faster that point was moot. He walked back over to the mirror and took a good look at himself. He had to admit it: he looked good. It wasn't exactly casual, but somehow the game had known what he wanted. He pressed yes to the Trial of Espers prompt next to the mirror, and the room faded into blackness.

The first thing he heard was a blast of cheerful music as he appeared in a glen with other people. They all looked different, about as different as you could imagine. He spotted a french maid with flowing golden hair, a knight in spiked armor with an enormous sword, and a cyber-implanted punk-rock chick with a mohawk. A bit all over the place, but he supposed the amount of options was part of the appeal of Chrysalis. A mission prompt appeared in front of him.

Quest: Trial of Espers

You have been chosen to undergo the Trial of Espers. Proceed to Montebank Cave and retrieve your Esper from the Spring of Contemplation.

A red mark appeared on the mini-map in the upper right hand corner of his vision.

"This is going to take you awhile. I'm gonna take a snack break," Tomi said cheerfully.

Jeremy sighed. Well, he probably wouldn't be murdered in the intervening time. He headed toward the mark on his map, following the hoards of other people moving in the same direction.