Chapter 6 - Second Beginnings

A black world enveloped me, like floating in an abyss. A sensation of being conscious within one’s dreams yet on a whole other level compared to regular lucid dreams.

Suddenly, a birth of colors that my dreams would never create came into existence. A whole world came into vision. Shocked, I could only admire the view. There were forests everywhere with small human settlements along the coastlines. When I looked closer, I could even see huts in and among the trees and mountains. There also were huts in the savannahs in this world.

“Welcome to Aeon.” The words flashed across my mind. “This world is a whole different reality, where you can enjoy living to its fullest of extents. Aeon is the world where one can be a hero or be a villain; it's all up to the choices you make.”

With my blood flowing and my mind prepped, I grinned like a young child going to their first day of school.

When the words stopped, I went into a white room. After closer inspection, there was a woman with white clothes standing behind a white desk. “What the hell? Have I died? Why is everything so bright white?” I thought to myself.

“Welcome once again to Aeon, the world of possibilities.” The person, whom I'm assuming is something of a receptionist, said to me. “We will now begin your character creation selection.”

After finishing that sentence, a semi-transparent blue window popped into existence in front of me. “Please choose how you will look in our world,” the window stated. I'm not a creative person to begin with so I first ordered the screen to show what I looked like on Earth. My body appeared before me, giving me a very out-of-body feeling.

The body in front of me was fairly plain, with the only thing that stood out being my eyes. My eyes still looked like they were made of dark emerald. I didn't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I decided to keep the eyes the way they were. In the end, I gave myself less tanned skin, a tinge of green in my brown hair, and a clean shaven face.

When I hit enter on the blue screen, it flashed out of existence and was replaced with another screen asking for a name in this world.

After much deliberation, I could only think… “Why is this one so difficult!?” I gave up and sighed. I looked at the receptionist who was still sitting quietly at her desk. She was only looking at me silently, but I could feel that there was something that was wrong with her. “Are you, by chance, not a NPC?” I questioned her. I knew what NPCs were because I have some coworkers, well, HAD some coworkers, who were really into VR games. They taught me a few things about it.

She didn't respond to the question and just continued sitting silently. I walked over to her, with the blue screen floating behind me. I didn't even think that screen could move… I disregarded that for now though. She was looking up at me, as we looked into each other's eyes. Her smile suddenly twitched at me being close enough to feel her breath.

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“HA! I knew you weren't fake!” I exclaimed triumphantly.

She sighed and said, “Most people don't even care to look at me and think I'm just part of the background. Why is it that you came over here?”

“Well, I first wanted to ask for some help with deciding a name. But, I realized you are probably somewhat lonely in this space all alone.”

She looked at me, shocked. ‘This is the first time someone who cared about a computer generated character has come into this game,’ she thought to herself. “Most people just think that this is a game, therefore we should just act as NPCs and not question the players. Much to the harm of the townspeople. Thankfully, the number that think that are low, so it doesn't cause too much trouble.”

She began rambling with me nodding at listening to her words. “I see. Moving on from that unpleasant topic, what's your name? I mean, I could keep calling you ‘receptionist lady’ in my head, but that's a bit long to keep saying.”

Her eyes widened in happiness. “My name is Bea, thanks for asking!” She obviously hadn't ever been asked for her name before.

Shocked at Bea’s ecstatic declaration, I replied calmly, “Well, it's nice to meet you Bea, my name is John. Though, I'm not really sure what my name is going to be in the game though.”

Remembering her professional role, she changed her attitude back to the dutiful receptionist. “I can randomize your name for you if you wish,” she asked me. It didn't sound like a bad idea so I agreed.

Foris.

That's the name that came out. Apparently it meant forest, according to Bea. I liked it so I accepted it.

“Congratulations on making a character. Your character is human by default, however know that there are multiple races alive on Aeon. Elves, dwarves, werebeasts, and humans all coexist on this planet. You might have a chance to change your race, but that's a secret in this game that you'll have to discover on your own.” Bea explained a lot about the game to me.

“One of the major things about this game is that, once you reach level 5 you are gifted with the ability to control one of the elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. If you're lucky then you could even get light or darkness as an attribute. For the levels 1-4, you will be confined to the starting city.”

I made sure to commit everything Bea told me to memory.

With tears beginning to form in her eyes, she said, “Thank you for playing Aeon, I hope you will enjoy your time in the world. Yeah, Foris? I wanted to say thanks for relieving even a little bit of this tedium. It means a lot to me.”

I took a step forward to reach out and console her, telling her that I wouldn't forget her. Sadly, black particles started swirling around me, obscuring my vision of her. The last image I saw of Bea was of her smiling widely with a single tear running down her white cheek.

The darkness enveloped me once again as my reach couldn't touch her anymore. I hardened my heart once more, making sure that the ‘receptionist girl’ Bea would make sure to stay in my memory.

Color once more appeared in my vision, painting everything a ruddy brown for some reason. My body moved on its own and I came out of what seemed to be a boat’s cabin and into the fresh salty air.

I, Foris, was about to begin my second chance at a better life.

END

Wow, I wrote that better than I had previously expected.

Haze