Adam had just woken up. Feeling a bit disoriented he took a good look around the room that he was currently in. On the otherside of the room there was a antique desk and behind it sat a victorian styled chair. "How odd.." he stated outloud to himself. "Where am I?" he kept thinking. He located the door to the room, but when he attempted to open it, the door remained firmly closed. "Did they lock me in?" he mused. Adventually he sat back down on the couch that he had just gotten off of. After a short time he heard the door being opened up. To his surprise, it was not what he was expecting. He had assumed that the office had belong to therapist of kind like the ones on TV he had seen. Instead at the door was a man in a suit. He walked to adam and extended his hand to shake it.
The suit: Well I'm sure you have a lot of questions about where you are and why. Everything will be explained in due time.
He extends his hand in a formal greeting.
Steve Jonsca: My name is Mr. Jonsca. You can call me steve if you want.
He extended his hand as well to receive the greeting in the same manner. He wasn't sure what to think. He sat back down and decided it would be best to get more information. He couldn't remember how he got here. Going over the events in his head, when he realized that he had been hit by a car. He had saved a little girl who was texting on her phone. She hadn't noticed that the crosswalk near his house had turned red and began to cross the street. A car was coming up fast and he had made a split decision to save her. He had pushed her out of the way, but he took the full force of the blow from the vehicle. He remembered it hurt. The pain was so unbearable... then he blacked out.
Adam began to break into cold sweat
Steve: I guess I should began. You jumped into traffic to save a young lady from a horrific accident. Unfortunately you did this at a great cost to yourself.
He look at his arms, his legs, then began to place his fingers on various areas he couldn't see. He began to check everything he could. He remember the pain and shuddered. I feel fine. I got hit by a car though... How is that possible?
Steve: Quite perceptive of you. Now if you'll hold off any questions you have until after I finished.
nodding his head.
"Now as you can see your in perfect condition. The reality is that you aren't."
Adam was confused by the statement. He felt fine.
Steve noticed the puzzled look. After a moment he chuckled. Then his face locked up suddenly. I see. Let's start there first. We are currently not in reality. You're currently hooked up in experimental full dive medical pod. Truth be told your body is in critical condition.
"Am I going to die?" he asked
Steve: No, not if we can help it. Ishida's Corporation owner Mr. Bruce Young was the owner of the car that hit you. He currently is unavailable at the moment. We plan to cover your medical cost until you've made a full recovery. Until then we will be offering you a lifetime subscription to our product Nova Burst Online. Latest, greatest and only VRMMO on the market. You'll be able to play to your hearts content while your recovering. Would this be acceptable to you?
Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had mixed feelings. He was almost dead, but at the same time this man was offering him the chance of a lifetime to play the best game on the market 24/7 for saving a girl. He was being rewarded because he decided to do a good deed? " the one time I ever do something nice for someone and I almost die for it" he mutters out loud to himself.
Staves seems to have heard him. A big smile spreads across his face. "You did a good thing." is all he says.
Adam rushes his words " is she okay?"
Steve: Yes, clipped her knee on the pavement when you pushed her. Other then that, the young lady seems to be in perfect condition.
Adam: "Well it's not like I'm able to do anything else while I'm recovering." he thought.
He holds his hand out to shake Steves. "You've got yourself a deal sir"
Steve gets up from his chair and shakes hand. He then briefly adjust his tie and sits back down.
Steve: When your ready you can proceed to the game by walking out of that door. If you ever need a break just ask. We've setup the appropriate function to your characters options menu. I should also warn you. Time in game progresses slower than time outside the game. For every hour that passes on the outside, four hours will have passed in the game.
Adam's face broke into a grin. "That's alright"
He could never afford playing games growing up. He was a single child with no family. His parents had left him with a massive debt after they died in car accident a few years ago. He spent most of his free time working two jobs after school to earn money for his apartment. He had recently graduated school and had a total of four jobs that he worked throughout the week to help pay off his bills and keep the debt collectors at bay.
" I have a debt I won't able to pay it off" he said suddenly.
Steve: Yes about that. This is an experimental medical dive system. With your formal consent we would like to pay you for testing our product. We would give you 4,000$ a month and...
Adam couldn't hear him anymore. His mouth opened. You said 4,000$?
Steve: Yes, and...
Adam blurts out "Deal! I don't need the specifics!"
Not only were they going to pay him to play a game, but he now didn't have to worry about his debt collectors when he recovered. Who said karma was a bitch?
Steve: Very well. It seems you've decided.
They shake hands again and Adam makes his way to the door. This time the door gives when he tries to open it. As he steps through the door he realizes that there was nothing under his feet. Yet some how he wasn't falling. He eventually discovers another door in the corridor of vast darkness. Above was a sign that read Nova Burst Online. He opened the door then stepped inside. The room itself wasn't anything special. It reminded him of the last one. Inside he found a young woman wearing skimpy looking outfit. It reminded him of an exotic dancer. She leered at him for a moment. He realized he had been ogling her and apologized.
Kristy: I'm Kristy, pleasure to meet you young hero. I'm a personal GM that has been assigned to watch over you medical care during gameplay. She smiles at him.
Adam: So where do I begin? He sounded impatient so he quickly apologized again
Kristy: "Currently the available races are: Human, elf, gnome, orc, halfling, dwarf, and beast. Each race has sub categories. Variations are endless." She swipes at something in the air. Then multiple rows of different versions of him appeared. Tall, short, fat, round, hairy, cute, and plain ugly. The room seems to be expanding to accommodate the different versions of him.
Adam starts walking between the rows examining the different versions of himself. He began to remember the bulk of every review he had watched online for this game. They had always consisted everyone playing as humans. So humans were out. He decided he didn't want to be the same.
"Pull up halflings and gnome versions of myself please. "
She obliged and various images disappeared. Remaining in their destruction were two avatars
Kristy: "Gnomes are known to tinkerers. They start out with better mental stats but they lose out on strength and health. Halflings are similar. They to lose out on health, but they more nimble. You should know that neither one of these are popular choices." she adds in hastily.
Adam: Well I did always enjoy playing with junk when I had time.. after a moment he replies the gnome please. The halfling model falls away. Leaving a shorter elf like version of him self.
Kristy: Would you like to make any alterations?
Adam: Could you make him a bit bigger? Not in height, but could you just bulk him up. Also could you give him like a mountain man beard? Oh yeah and alter all hair color to a dirty blonde.
she oblige. "Anything else?" she asked
Adam: Hmm he walks around his avatar inspecting it. "Can we add some scars?"
Kristy: What did you have in mind?
"Faded rend from a bear claw" he replied instantly. She again added in the settings. He cringed from what had appeared. "could the scar not be so deep?" She laughed "Yes, no problem" He again studied the avatar again. It had a rugged feeling to it. "That will do just fine" he said.
Kristy: Well if that's it, where would you like to begin your journey? Available to you at the moment are Finias, Charas, and Kingsholm.
Adam: Any real difference between them?
Kristy: Yes, Kingsholm and Charas are both river side cities that are rather large. Finias on the other hand is more towards the mountain, but it is smaller with a notable size difference as well.
He sat there for a moment. He decided he would go to the smaller city in hopes that it would be less crowded.
Adam: Finias
Kristy: One more thing! What would you like you pain settings at. At the moment your set to receive 20% of the pain you receive. We can lower that for you at your request.
Adam: Lower it? Can you raise it?
She raised an eyebrow
Well I mean I'm going to be stuck in a capsule for god knows how long. I might as well treat it like new chance at life. If it isn't an issue could you raise the pain settings to 100%.
Her mouth opened but no words came out. She eventually collected herself. "One moment" she said. She again began to swipe furiously at the invisible screen in front of her. She smiled with an evil looking grin. "I can, and fortunately for you only because I'm able to monitor your life signs at all times. I have been given permission to allow it. If it causes your heart rate to rise to dangerous levels I will quickly override the controls to reduce the settings. When this happens the game will automatically force you to log out as soon as it is able. You'll appear back in this room. Do you understand?"
Adam nodded
"Okay have you decided on name for your character yet?" she asked. "First and last name will be enough." she added.
Adam: Cobblebelly Quartz
"Good" she replied. " If that's all, welcome to Nova Online!"
Before he could say anything she hit something on her invisible screen and he blacked out. When he woke up he found himself in the back of a wagon with his feet and hands in manacles. Around him were a few other people in manacles. Two elfs, one dwarf, and a catfolk of some kind. Then he noticed three more people. They were not in manacles. They wore dirty looking leather armor. They smelled a bit rancid like they hadn't showered in years. The wagon itself look as if it were in rough condition too. Some of the boards being rotten at a glance
???: About time you woke up you little shit. We were afraid you died. How do you expect me to make profit if you die?
They dumped a bucket of ice cold stream water on him. Adam quickly opened his eyes from the shock of the icy feeling the water gave him. After they see him sit up one of the men throws a piece of dried meat at him. The meat slaps him in the face and falls to wood.
"Eat up, this is the last free meal you get from us until we get you lot to the auction." he bellowed
He was confused. I thought I was supposed to start off in a town. Why am I being auctioned off? "Did he just hit me with a piece of dried meat?" he thought, seeming to had just realized what had happened. Normally he would of been furious, but his hunger didn't give him the opportunity too. After devouring the meat he asked if he could have a cup of water.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Oh sure thing!" the man replied in a mocking tone.
He walked down to the river and filled the bucket full of water. The man came back and pulled out a cup and dipped it into the bucket. He then he turned towards Adam with the cup in hand. When he got close enough he swished the water around in his mouth. Then he handed him the cup. He took it gratefully, but when he look at the cup there was no water. He looked back up at the man, and as soon as he did a burst of water came out of his mouth spraying him.
"Drink up boy" the man said in a cold tone. "What's wrong? Not thirsty still are you?" he was angry now. "Fight me" in harsh tone as he spat on the man's face. He watched as the man's muscles in his jaw began to convulse in anger as his other two associates jeered at him. He walked up to adam and punched him in the stomach knocking the wind out of him with most of his rations he had just eaten. Then he was thrown to the ground and kicked in succession. The pain came so suddenly. Kick after kick each one feeling sharper than the last. At some point during this beating the other two had stopped the man from kicking me.
Endurance Increased by 5
Endurance Increased by 5
Endurance Increased by 5
Endurance Increased by 5
Endurance Increased by 5
The status window showed up multiple times during the beating. He sat there trying to read it while he thought it was over. Then one last hit came to his head, and he blacked out for the second time that day.
When he woke it was when another prisoner was attempting to dab at his wounds with strip of fabric she had torn from her own cloths. It was one of the female elfs. He began to look them over when one of them spoke.
Fresco: You can call me Fresco, and this is Arial my little sister. You've been unconscious for three days now. My sister and I have been taking care of what wounds we can. Unfortunately these manacles have anti magic spell of some kind on them.
Arial: What that man did to you was horrifying. We thought he killed you!
"I thought I almost died again." he mumbled
Arial/Fresco: Again?
"I almost died in my world before coming here" he replied
The sisters looked at him and Arial spoke up " You're a traveler then!? I've heard the rumors they were going to be appearing, but I never thought I would get to meet one." she squealed
???: Shut up back there
Arial calmed herself down
"Traveler?" he whispered?
Fresco: In an ancient prophecy the gods had declared that one day travelers from another world would soon appear to tip the balance of good and evil in our world. "Some will fight for justice. Others may become more evil than we could have ever imagined. " They said.
Arial: "You're not evil are you" she stared at him as if inspecting him to see an outward manifestation of some kind. Fresca didn't seem to care, but she was watching him the same way her sister was.
He wasn't used to beautiful women staring at him. They were elfs. These two were both like a nine out of ten for him. They caught him staring at their chest and Arial giggled.
Fresca: We may be kind, but don't act so boldly looking at us with those lecherous eyes.
He blushed, and quickly turned away. "Sorry" was all he could say for a moment . Then taking the time to think it out he spoke " I'm not used to women of your caliber talking to me. I really can't thank you two enough for what you've done for me already. I'll return the favor." he promised.
Intimacy gained with Fresca and Arial
+3 charm
+2 Charisma
What the hell, I get stat bonuses for being nice? Right I'm in a game. I can't forget that.
Several more days passed. The three stooges apparently had no sense of direction from what he could tell. If he had to guess he would of bet they were lost. He resumed his conversation with Arial and Fresco. They told him about their village and how it had burned down. How they barely escaped with their lives. Unfortunately like me they lost everything so suddenly. Both their parents had died as well. I was able to sympathize with their situation.
"My parents died too" he said as they finished their story.
Arial: How?
He wasn't sure how to describe a car to them so instead he said "A piece of machinery killed them"
Fresco raised an eyebrow: "Tortured?"
"No nothing like that. They lost control of it. It came so suddenly from what I hear. My parents just didn't have time to escape"
Arial: "So you're like us now. Welcome to the team"
He smiled at that. Last few days he had forgotten it was a game and had gotten rather attached to the two sisters.
Eventually their captures pulled over for the night and set up camp. He had fallen asleep and was jerked awake by the sisters being dragged out of the wagon. The three stooges had a bit to much to drink from the look of it.
"What are you doing?!" adam said.
???: "None of your damn business boy" he snapped back
????: "We just gonna have a bit of fun.
??????: Grinning " Yeah just a bit of fun."
I heard the elder sister scream as I heard her clothes being torn.
"Don't do it!" he shouted. They ignored him. He struggled with his manacles, but he just couldn't get them off. Again he heard more screaming. Screaming suddenly stopped. He called out to Fresco "FRESCO, FRESCO, ARE YOU OKAY?" No reply. The other sister was no longer screaming either, she sat still with a silently sob.
????: Now look what you've done.
???: If she wouldn't of bit me I wouldn't of stab the damn bitch.
??????: Grinning "we still got this one " as he looked down at the small girl in his hands.
"no, no, no, no. This is a game how could this happen. He liked those girls. They were some of the first people in a long time he had decided to get close to. Just like that life just decides to everything from him again." He prayed "I need more strength he begged." he didn't know what else to do.
???: Look she not even struggling anymore.
"Please---" he pleaded. "Please--, I'll do anything don't hurt them anymore." he cried out.
As the words left his mouth time seem to slow down. The fire was no longer dancing. The sounds of the night cut off as if someone had turn down the volume. Then a voice came with a loud base volume. It sent shivers of fear down his spin.
"I have heard your cry for strength young mortal." It laughed. "I shall give you what you desire. It will come at a price."
"Anything" he replied. "I'll do whatever I have to, to save her."
"You hardly know the girls" the voice mused.
"Now its my turn to show kindness where it wasn't shown to me." he spat. "I've made a decision to do this so are you going to help me or not"
"Will you agree to serve as my champion mortal, right or wrong?"
"Yes" his brief reply came.
"Very well, I shall give you the strength that you desire, don't complain."
"I don't care what it is" his retort came.
Time speed back up as he watched tendrils of darkness began to wrap around himself. He watched as they wrapped around each of his arms, down his back then around his legs. Then the pain came. His bones began to twist and crack. Then his skin began to stretch and tear. Black hair began to run up his arms and across his skin. The boys face began to elongate. So much pain. He felt he couldn't breath anymore. It felt as if all his ribs had broken. Fixed themselves, then broke again.
System Error 1Q9fkMaJk22 has occurred.
?????? stared in disbelief. He let go of the girl, and began to try to run. "Demon" he thought. He wasn't a religious man. Now wasn't a bad time to start. From what he could see. The boy was crying in pain at first. When he looked up to see what all the fuss was about, all he saw was a hulking figuring writhing in pain. It sounded like the boy at first. As the transformation continued it became more of a low sounding snarl. His muscles were pulsing from the pain. They got bigger and bigger. Hair was spreading across the boys body at a lightning speed. None of this is what lead him to think of a demon. Instead it was the horns. Very slowly, but surely, the boy cries of pain ended. When he looked what was once a boy had turned into a beast. But it had the body of a man. And its eyes glistened in the campfire light. The rage he felt coming from the beast made him piss himself. The horns grew to an arms length. Then all sound stopped.
Adam: Several new windows came up, but he swiped them away without looking. He ran the first man down in a second. It had been the one that had spat on his face earlier that week. He was on top of one of the girls. Grabbing his head with a single hand. He shook the man like a rag doll till the body stop moving. He threw the body into a nearby tree.
?????? Was still trying to run away. He had just managed to collect his wits. When suddenly an inhuman cry of rage rang in the air causing his legs to lock up on him. He hit his legs "move damn you, move"
He swung his head down at ???? his horns to his surprise had pierced the man. With little effort he lifted his head up, causing the man to rise into the air. Blood rolled down from the wound and on to his face. He slung his head down causing the man to slide off his horn and onto the campfire. He didn't have the strength to get off the fire. Burning to death, the screaming eventually ended. This feeling was overwhelming. " Power to kill anyone. The power to kill everyone" he smiled. Then something hit him. His eyes now bloodshot from the rage. He look down to see it was Arial. She was hitting him and talking to him. He was having a problem processing what she was saying. He saw her crying and just as the sound had decided to leave the world, it came back.
Arial: "Stop it don't kill anyone else. I'm not sure how, but I know it's you Cobblebelly. Come back please. Don't leave me alone. I don't want to be alone " she continued to wail.
?????? took this time to run "DEMON, IT'S A DEMON" he shouted as he ran blindly through the forest.
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Okay so I've edited this because I did research on how to table. Honestly don't expect me to spit chapters out like these other writers.