Notes of the author: Through this entire story, the fourth wall will remain perfectly intact. If a character says something that seems to suggest otherwise, they're just being weird.
For Soul Singularity, I had the excuse of the idea being in my mind for years and I’d only just got around to writing it. This is not the case with NC; I will cheerfully admit that this time, I’m hopping on the bandwagon. It looked fun up there.
Finally, if you’re expecting an absurdly overpowered main character… this is not the story for you. I’m much more fond of strength via reliable allies, negotiations, and intelligent use of resources rather than just brute force.
Nevrisea Cascade
Chapter 1: Subverted Expectations
--------{POV: Amber}--------
Another refusal, is it? Even though I possess pretty much all the qualities you could possibly want in a librarian? I ranted angrily, arriving home after one particularly annoying job interview. Several months before, I had graduated from high school with above-average grades, but when I tried to get a job so I could pay for college, they all apologized and said that they wanted someone with experience! How was anyone supposed to get experience if they couldn't get the job?
Slamming the door to my apartment, I kicked off my shoes and crossed over to my desk, finally deciding I'd had enough. I was sick and tired of this blasted, illogical planet and its inhabitants. You couldn't get a job unless you'd already had the same job previously. You couldn't go to college without funding, at least not in the country I was in, and said funding required a job or scholarship. Neither of which I had.
It was so much simpler in books, where everyone would get what they deserved. Usually. I tried to keep away from the books without happy endings; there was nothing quite as depressing as cheering a protagonist on through countless struggles only for them to be brutally murdered at the end.
Well, fine. If reality wouldn't satisfy my requirements, I'd just have to enter a story instead.
Sitting down at the desk, I opened and reached into one of the drawers, rummaging around inside and producing a small package. Opening it, I found the treasure I'd so carefully been guarding for the past eight years: an unopened copy of that most infamous of MMOs, Nevrisea.
I say “infamous” because, thanks to it, just over 100,000 people remain missing (presumed dead) to this very day.
Nevrisea was never an exceptionally popular game, requiring an expensive monthly subscription. People were limited to one character per copy, and if they wanted a new one, they'd have to buy a new copy. Finally, to add insult to injury, it was rife with bugs. Really, the only redeeming features seemed to be a well-made magic system and graphics almost equal to real life.
...And then, one day, every single last player of Nevrisea vanished without a trace, along with their copy of the game. Nobody saw where they went, and even popular streamers had their cameras or other recording software turn off just beforehand.
There was no explanation for their disappearance, and even the usual conspiracy nutcases were stumped; there wasn't anything known that could cause almost 90,000 people to vanish in one go. At least, not with no sign of forced entry, fighting, or even a disturbed fleck of dust.
A few thousand more people vanished before every possible channel of communication was temporarily hijacked to spread word of the danger Nevrisea somehow posed. After that, all known copies were confiscated to make sure nobody was tempted to follow in the footsteps of other players. Most copies were destroyed, but a few were kept around for study, something difficult to effectively manage. Since any and all attempts to read the code or copy it lead to the game breaking, it wasn't long before people regretted destroying a vast number of the original 200,000 copies.
The studies yielded little information of actual use. Whenever anyone playing the game was observed, nothing would occur; it was only when there were no observers that the players would vanish. ...Even from a locked, secure room 50 yards underground, or so I'd heard.
There was no explanation, none at all; for the first time in several centuries, humankind didn't have even the slightest idea of how to explain what was going on. Not one theory that made sense... or at least, not one with any scientific basis to speak of. Personally, I was rather fond of the “abducted by aliens” or “trapped in the game” theories. Plenty of precedent was provided in the form of countless books and stories.
Eventually, they simply ran out of copies to study, and the whole thing is chalked up to being the greatest mystery of the universe. Still, the end result was a new-found interest in exploring every field of science that we don't know everything about yet. Some wish to recover lost relatives, but most are just invigorated by knowing we're missing so much knowledge. I used to be one of the people interested in the latter, but, well...
I slumped back in my seat. Nobody's found anything as of late, and it's gotten to the point where people are just auctioning off any new copies of Nevrisea that are located. Nobody's interested in attempting any real research anymore...
It seemed as though the initial hype had faded after the first year or so, crashing against the brick wall of despair. All the people who gained a new-found love of science, including myself, quickly lost interest when it was proved that Nevrisea fell into the domain of magic. ...Or sufficiently advanced technology, but it amounted to the same thing.
If stories can be treated as an actual indicator for possibilities as opposed to just the creation of an author's imagination, then Nevrisea was probably trapping players inside the game. Or acting as some sort of signalling device for aliens. Or a portal to another world that merely looked like the game. Or just eating the players. If I were to list off all the possible alternatives, then I would have been there all day.
Regardless, the important part was that people who played it were gone, which was what I desperately wanted to be right now. I inserted the disk into my computer and waited about five minutes for various patches before I had the option to enter. Wait, how is it even doing that if all the servers have been taken offline? The heck?
Opening the game, I was greeted by the annoying ding of an alert message.
You are the first user to register or login in 207,416 minutes. While we
appreciate your interest in a long-dead game, about 55% of the quests and 95% of the dungeons require a team of 3-80 people. It's simply impossible to fully enjoy the game by yourself. Do you wish to proceed regardless?YesNo
I blinked in surprise. Nobody mentioned anything about it in the pirated source code of the Nevrisea. A well-hidden easter-egg, I suppose...? Still, an annoying little ping wouldn't slow me down in the least.
“Yes.”
As you wish. Since the game is currently devoid of other players, game balance will be discarded. Normally, you would be permitted to be either an orc, goblin, dwarf, or human, but would you rather choose from the available NPC races? WARNING: This function is not tested or planned, so you will be unable to pursue any faction-specific quests. In addition, game-play will likely be rife with bugs. Please consider carefully and then pick from the following options.ElfDwarfOrcSee Full List
“See full list.”
A search bar appeared on-screen, along with about thirty monster names, starting with “aardvark” and going until “attack dog”. Unfortunately, none of them even remotely interested me, so I shrugged and tried to move on.
“Scroll down.”
...No result.
“Next page. Next entry. Move along. Move on...”
This continued for about five minutes before, frustrated, I finally gave up. Rife with bugs was correct; they didn't even properly finish up the character creation.
“Activate search. Include tags: humanoid, elite, sentient. Exclude tags: abomination, tiny.”
That yielded a much more appealing set of results, although I could still only see 30 of the 136 matches. Fortunately, among the entries was the mythological creature which had popped up in mythology and legends since ancient times: the dragon.
Want! WANTWANTWANTWANTWANT!
“Observe dragon details.”
DragonsSkilled manipulators and seekers of treasure, dragons have acted as friend or foe to heroes since ancient times. Contrary to popular belief, their default body is that of a humanoid; only stronger dragons are able to turn into the form they are so famous for. Dragons acquire this ability through a process known as ascension, but unfortunately, the process itself is unknown to outsiders.
Dragons have the potential to become some of the strongest monsters on the planet, although most are hunted down and exterminated before they ascend.
I waited patiently for it to list the racial perks, downsides, and bonuses, but it didn't look like it was going to go past the description. Still, I've always wanted to play as a dragon in an MMO, but I hadn't managed to locate any before Nevrisea.
“Select race: dragon.”
The following racial subspecies of dragon are available:LightningEarthWater (Salt)Water (Fresh)DemonicDevilHolyDivineFireWindShadowRainbow
Once again, no strengths or weaknesses were listed, so...
“Select sub-race: lightning dragon.”
[Class selection: normally, you would be permitted to choose from-]
“See full list.”
There are four main categories of classes. Choosing one of the following will display the full list. Please note that the entirety of the Crafting category is intended for NPCs.PhysicalMagicalHybridCrafting
“Hybrid.”
Another 30 entries cropped up, ranging from Acrobat to Criminal (class category). Once again, it wouldn't let me scroll, so I looked at several before determining that there was nothing that even vaguely interested me.
“Activate search-”
An annoyingly loud alarm sounded, followed by a mostly-irrelevant warning.
Be advised that the search engine will view all categories by default.
“Yes, yes, okay.” I said, starting to get impatient. Since there were too many to choose from and I couldn't scroll, I decided not to bother with the search function.
“Deactivate search. Select random class.”
You have selected Unholy Berserker. Are you sure you wish to play as this class?
Even if I was rushing through now, there was no way I'd play something like that, despite the high chance of it being temporary. If it wasn't, I didn’t want to be stuck with a class that I wouldn’t even remotely enjoy using.
“No. Select random class.”
You have selected Death Knigh-
“No. Select random class.” I interrupted.
...This is going to take a while, isn't it? Stupid bug-laden...
That nonsense occurred another dozen-some times before I finally ended up with something that sounded interesting and not completely contrary to my play-style: divine minstrel. I had no idea what it was supposed to do, but I was guessing it was some kind of support class.
Race and class selected. Proceeding to avatar creation...
I frowned with frustration as a copy of myself appeared on the screen, practically pasted directly from reality. Since I think my appearance in reality is just fine as is, I immediately moved on. ...Is what I'd like to say. Unfortunately, I'm the sort of person who spends hours in character creation for even the simplest RPG, and I could modify all aspects of my avatar, so I got to work, forgetting my earlier anger toward the buggy creation process.
I was happy with the brown hair I possessed in real life, but since my character was probably going to have some lightning-based abilities, I felt blonde would be more appropriate. I'd never read a story with a brown-haired lightning mage.
In terms of appearance, I wasn't ugly, but... well, I thought I looked rather average. Even the wings on my appearance looked wrong. There was an additional option for horns, and I tried all the various kinds, but it only made things worse.
Okay, so I'm going to have to perform some serious body modifications. Fine. Irrationally annoyed that I, as I was now, wouldn't fulfill my own standards of what a dragon should look like, I got to work.
It didn't take very long for me to make an avatar worthy of being a dragon, but then I kinda started to get carried away. I started to make her as close to perfect as I could manage without making her look disturbingly unrealistic. There was a point after which being too attractive started to look wrong; no human is meant to be without flaws. Although my character was technically a dragon, she didn't have any horns, scales, any of that; the only evidence that she wasn't a pure-blood human were the golden wings sprouting from her back.
After I'd finished, I sat back and regarded my character with mingled satisfaction and annoyance. I was pleased that I'd done a good job with making her, but unless the “trapped in the game” theory was correct, I'd just wasted several hours of my life for nothing. If it was...
I frowned. Wait, do I even want to end up taking on her appearance? I mean, I'm not really noticed by guys now, but if the most likely possibilities come to pass, this will cause me quite a bit of trouble in the future. If I avoid that fate, it's always the pretty girl who's torn to shreds by monsters... Although, I'd be a dragon; if that makes me a monster girl, then it means that I should be able to kill anyone who tries to accost me. But then there's the possibility of being a cheap mini-boss instead...
Head swimming, I picked up the box Nevrisea arrived in and scanned it for the information I required. Namely, the rating. Teen. Okay, I should be safe; worst case scenario, I join up with a hero as a groupie, and there are sooo many ways I can take advantage of that.
Satisfied and believing I'd be fine, I clicked to finish character creation, glad that it was over and done with.
...And nothing happened. Or at least, nothing I'd been expecting; when the game was done loading, I was in what appeared to be the lair of a dragon. Well, that was anticlimactic. What gives? Shouldn't I have vanished by now?
Considerably disappointed, I tried to play the game normally, but failed utterly. Through some cruel bug, my default spawn point was at the end of a raid, and the giant dragon already there did not take kindly to my existence. Every time my character respawned, she would just be one-shotted before I could take a single step.
“Rife with bugs” is an understatement; this is just plain out stupid!
Glancing at the clock, I noticed that it was somewhere around 4:00 AM. I had been working on my character or pointlessly trying to play for seven hours now. Incredibly annoyed and disappointed, I went to log off.
Did playing as a dragon break whatever it was supposed to do? Well, I just wasted my one chance to find out what happened to everyone...
Getting up from my seat, I headed off to bed, determined to report this to the world in the morning. I don't know if the information I gained will be helpful, but at least I'm the first person to play Nevrisea without vanishing.
I hadn't even left the room before I was seized by dizziness, the ground rushing toward me at an alarming pace. My vision started to grow cloudy and dark, my consciousness fading. Before I fell completely asleep, I had one last, amused thought.
It’s to be the stereotypical symptoms of world-hopping, huh?
I returned to consciousness an indeterminable amount of time later, feeling incredibly odd. It took barely any time to determine what the problem was: my body structure had completely changed, leaving me as a petite beauty. In addition, I had the unfamiliar presence of wings on my back. ...As expected, I had turned into my character.
“I was right! Goodbye, earth, and hello Nevrisea!” I triumphantly shouted.
Getting up and scanning my surroundings, it seemed that the theory of entering Nevrisea was correct... mostly, anyway. While Nevrisea as a game merely had exceptional graphics, this was amazing in every way, a perfect copy of real life. Although, there did seem to be some practicality issues- mainly, how did I get into a miko outfit, anyway? Okay, it had holes in the back. That's nice and all, but it was only large enough for the base of my wings. If I were to try to undress, they plain out wouldn't fit; I'd have to cut part of my clothing just to get out.
Amusing myself with mocking the world for clearly having generated my current body out of thin air, it was quite a while before I resumed my scan of the meadow I’d spawned in. When I got around to turning my gaze upward, I froze. As opposed to the crimson skies of Nevrisea, I looked upon the light blue skies of earth... or, at least, an earth-like planet. I was pretty sure I would have heard about orcs, goblins and whatnot appearing had it actually been earth. Turning around, I spotted another major difference: this planet barely had a moon. It appeared to have been mostly destroyed.
If this wasn't the inside Nevrisea, however, it meant that I was stuck with absolutely no knowledge of my surroundings. All my carefully-looted knowledge of what dungeons gave the best loot, the ideal party layout, the abilities of most early-game bosses, the spawn timers of rare creatures... all of that was utterly useless. This revelation threw a bucket of cold water on my enthusiasm.
“Well. I seem to have made some grave miscalculations...” I muttered in a voice not my own, in a body unfamiliar to me, infinitely far away from home.
{---Fifteen minutes later---}
Ceasing my pointless sulking about what had already come to pass, I sat down in the middle of the floor, not quite sure how to manage my wings yet. I wasn't sure if I could die or break bones in this world, but that was something I could do without learning. Although they were large, almost twice the size of the rest of my new body, I doubted they’d be particularly durable.
Let's see, what generally happens when someone goes world-hopping? I thought about that for a little while, then started to mentally compile a list. I think it was rather fortunate that there weren't any monsters around the area I had spawned in, or at least none that wanted to eat me. Had something come along which intended me harm, I wouldn't have noticed until it was gnawing on my arm.
I'll almost certainly make a mistake here and be rescued by a more experienced individual who will either act as a mentor figure or at least set me up someplace. ...Or some hero who will have me join his party. If the last occurs, I'll end up just being another member of a harem, judging by past track records. Advisory #1: avoid major danger at all costs. Even if it's a relatively low chance, I don't want to end up as a brainless wallflower.
With my current physical appearance, I'll probably have to deal with a lot of perverted stares from guys, even with the wings. ...I'd rather not determine all the ways that chain of thought could end, though. I shuddered.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Avoid anyone who's too nice- no, wait, that path leads to being the loner girl attacked by monsters. Maintain a healthy amount of caution when dealing with new people, then? ...Then something awful will happen to me that will cause a breakdown and slow recovery with the nurturing of a hero. Be nice to everyone? ...But then I'll probably be subject to something unusually awful to make me close up, until, once again, a hero comes along.
I started to twist a lock of hair in frustration. Why are there so many variants!? Are you trying to betray me, storytelling?
After very little time had passed, I’d managed to calm down; most stories were intended to be realistic, after all. I shouldn't consider each possibility to be mutually exclusive; if I become an unstoppable force of destruction, for example, I could then turn into a villain, be converted to the side of good by a hero, and so on. Frowning, I realized I'd wasted a good two minutes on my little temper tantrum ...Get back to your analysis, you stupid woman. I chided myself.
If priestesses in this world wear the same clothing as I have on, it opens up a rather unfortunate set of possibilities. Priests are almost always regulated to a support role with little or no offensive capabilities by themselves, and I'm traveling alone. I'm almost certainly going to be attacked or kidnapped, although the chance of my rescue by a hero or heroes is close to 100%. Although, even if I am rescued, the damsel-in-distress flag would already be activated and I'd have to deal with it at least once a darned month. Plus, there's no certainty I'd be rescued before the worst occurs. Advisory #2: Get another set of clothing on as fast as I possibly can, even if I have to steal it.
I briefly thought about how to go about fighting monsters, but decided that was a pointless train of thought. Since different stories have different means of fighting monsters, the same should go for different worlds. ...Actually, come to think of it, techniques changed between different species of animal back on earth, too. Advisory #3: Determine the nature of this world and general tactics for dealing with monsters as quickly as possible.
I would probably have continued my ineffectual meditation for quite some time, but fortunately, reality decided to interrupt before I could go too far along the wrong rails of thought. The method in which it did so also answered quite a few questions I’d had about the nature of the world I was in.
The effects of “Say Character Information” have worn off.
Under the circumstances, I really shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was anyway. Migrating to another universe was one thing, but having said universe resemble a game, complete with status alerts, seemed rather weird. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what it wanted me to do. I was rather amused that it was necessary as opposed to just having a normal alert, though.
...Well, I might as well just roll with it. Too late to back out now.
“Character information.”
Several windows opened with a quiet *ding*, and I began reading through them in order.
Character InformationName:AmberGender:FemaleLevel:1Class:Divine MinstrelRace:Lightning DragonBirthplace:InfulianGuild(s): NoneStats:Health:475 / 475Health Regen:14.25 / MinStamina:225 / 225Stamina Regen:36 / MinMana:120 / 120Mana Regen:12 / Min-Strength:4Agility:14Vitality:30Endurance:5Intelligence:15Wisdom:8Presence:18Luck:1Physical Resistances:Slashing:0%Piercing:0%Bludgeoning:0%Critical:0%Elemental Resistances:Arcane:0%Nature:0%Water:0%Wind:20%Fire:0%Cold:0%Holy:20%Unholy:20%Lightning:ImmuneEarth:-75%Light:0%Shadow:0%
My scores in strength and endurance are incredibly pitiful, but at least it looks like it’ll be rather difficult to kill me. Still, I don’t really have a basis for comparison yet, so my vitality might just be average and the rest abysmal. Moving on, I flicked that window to the side, overlooking the “active effects” section for now in favor of finding out what my abilities were.
Keeper of Secrets (Racial Passive)Mana Cost:---Casting time:---Stamina Cost:---Cooldown:---Domain:---Duration:---Knowledge is power, a fact that those few dragons who survive until ascension know well. Sometimes, it can be exchanged for treasure, favors, or many other things of value. Newer generations of dragons are taught various mental exercises to ensure that no valuable secret is ever lost. Once Keeper of Secrets is gained, a dragon will never forget a piece of information they view as potentially valuable.
...And then I show up, not having done any of these exercises, and I have KoS anyway. Seems pretty messed up, but I suppose I might as well be happy with the free skill.
Continuous Current (Racial Passive)Mana cost:---Casting Time:---Stamina cost:---Cooldown:---Domain:LightningDuration:---Upon being hit with a lightning spell or effect, a lightning dragon may direct a portion of the incoming power toward a new target. If they do not, their body will be electrically charged for several seconds and potentially harmful to anyone who comes into contact with them.
...I am suddenly reminded of a small, yellow rodent. Still, it sounds kinda useful? Although, it seems as though anything that shoots lightning at me will itself be resistant to lightning...
Siren Song (Passive)Mana cost:---Casting Time:---Stamina cost:---Cooldown:---Domain:HolyDuration:---Most musicians or appreciators of song will tell you that music often contains or is used to convey emotion. Divine Minstrels take this rather more literally than most, whether intentional or not; regularly infusing their voices with magic results in some rather odd side effects. Mainly, the emotions that a living being experiences from listening to a Divine Minstrel's song are intensified. Siren Song functions regardless of what that emotion may be and whether it's intentional or unintentional; for example, should a Divine Minstrel have a particularly bad performance, there is a good chance that the resulting irritation experienced by listeners will be converted into dislike, hatred, anger, or fury.
Well, that sounds unusually ominous. Not liking where this was going, I tried to test and see how different the voice of this body was from my original. I wasn’t a professional singer by any means, but I was confident in my ability to sing some things.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little sta- oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!”
It was wrong. Completely and totally wrong. My voice didn’t sound bad, exactly, but my control over it was atrocious; the result was identical to if I had been completely tone-deaf. Probably. I hadn’t exactly ever heard a tone-deaf person sing, so I might have been doing them or myself an injustice.
Vaguely starting to regret changing my body structure so much, I continued reading my abilities.
Voice of God (Skill Category)Mana cost:VariesCasting Time:VariesStamina cost:VariesCooldown:VariesDomain:VariesDuration:VariesPermits the Divine Minstrel to focus her songs toward a specific purpose. Effects and cost scale with the amount of time a specific voice is channeled. More voices are learned based on meeting preset conditions and/or leveling up.
Voice of ProtectionMana cost:Base of 5Casting Time:ChanneledStamina cost:NoneCooldown:NoneDomain:HolyDuration:Base of 30 secondsAllows the creation of immobile barriers of varying sizes. Only one barrier is created per casting, but there is no limit on the number of barriers a Divine Minstrel may have active at once.
Voice of RecoveryMana cost:20/secondCasting Time:ChanneledStamina cost:NoneCooldown:NoneDomain:HolyDuration:---Restores the health of one or more living being(s). The recovery rate is slower if more targets are selected.
Voice of LightningRacial Bonus: Mana costs from Voice of Lightning are halved.Mana cost:15/secondCasting Time:ChanneledStamina cost:NoneCooldown:NoneDomain:LightningDuration:VariesAllows the creation and/or control of electrical phenomenon. Precision and strength greatly increases the longer a single casting lasts.
Okay, so I’m a support, as expected. Can’t really say anything on that end until I actually try out my abilities in the field, though...
Ceasing my procrastination, I finally got around to looking at the dreaded “active effects”.
Active Effects. . .Speak No Evil (Debuff)Duration:PermanentDomain:ArcaneType:Hidden curse of restrictionYou may not speak, write, sing, imply, convey, or otherwise communicate knowledge about or of your former world, directly or indirectly. You are forbidden from even discussing the existence of said alternate universe with other reality-hoppers, if you have been placed in a world that has them. Should someone read your thoughts or memories, said knowledge will be closed to them, replaced with blank areas. This curse cannot be detected by outside sources. This curse cannot be removed.
Summoner’s WarningDuration:2 days 6 hoursDomain:ArcaneType:Mark of warningLest some waste their time on trying to find a way back, please be assured that none exists. Nevrisea was a one-way portal, and even if you were to somehow create additional copies, the laws of whatever reality you were planted in do not permit further reality-hopping. If you so desire and they agree, your family or close friends may be brought to you after we plant doppelgangers in their place. One final warning: Many realities are very, very strange. However, one thing remains consistent among almost all of them: if you die, you will probably remain very, very dead. This mark cannot be detected by outside sources.
Gift of ArmageddonDuration:3 hoursDomain:ArcaneType:Spell StorageGrants the ability to use "Armageddon" once. Cannot be detected by outside sources....ArmageddonMana cost:---Casting Time:5 minutesStamina cost:---Cooldown:One-time useDomain:ArcaneDuration:PermanentReduces the level of every being capable of levelling up to 1, with the appropriate stat and skill changes. Gives out a global warning five minutes prior to finishing. Cannot be undone. Only usable once.
...Well, Armageddon sounds like it’d actually be pretty neat. Since good people vastly outnumber evil ones, wouldn’t this overthrow any evil empires this world has? Not to mention monster hunting would be much easier… and I can start at the same level as everybody else... I feel sorry for the people who’ve worked hard on raising their level, but I can’t really see a downside besides that. Sorry, adventurers of this world!
Without thinking nearly as hard as I should have, I uttered two words that would turn the world on its head.
“Activate Armageddon.”
----------------
More notes: Feedback appreciated, as always. I solemnly swear that I didn’t realize the vague similarities between her main abilities and names from a certain open-world game until long after I’d typed it up. I do, however, find said accidental similarities incredibly amusing, so I’m keeping them.