Chapter 1 - Wishful Thinking
I would have never believed that I would find myself in this position, the thought of such a thing happening left simply to dreams and nightmares. Yet here I am, somewhere, somehow, floating in the air, some ways above the ground, a frozen landscape mirroring my visage a thousand times. A screen is floating before me and a voice reads the words out to me, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I try to wreck my mind, searching for something that would explain what is going on, yet coming up blank. I throw myself back in time, searching for some stability in memories so recent they make this situation even more absurd.
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The knife cuts through the sticky tape with ease, the package jumping open and revealing a perfect ball of gold. I scrunch up my eyebrows, not remembering having ordered anything lately. They must have dropped it off at the wrong address. I turn around the box, checking the shipping label, my confusion growing. Autumn-Avenue 11, Paul van Fordstein. Now somewhat curious about the strange package, which is indeed meant for me, I take a closer look at its content. The ball is quite heavy for its size, yet unfortunately doesn’t carry the weight of gold. Rolling the object around in my hand, reveals an imperfection, an engraving in the otherwise perfectly smooth surface.
“Bored?”, the inscription simply reads, two rectangular shapes engraved below the question, “Yes” and “No”. Touching around some more reveals that the rectangles around the answer aren’t just simply engraved in the metal but rather perfectly level buttons. Ever curious and in the mood to follow the weird package’s whims, I decide to take the question seriously. You never know. I am not bored in the traditional sense of not having anything to do, no, that is rather the contrary. Nevertheless, there certainly is some excitement missing to spice up my time, and well, maybe this ball could add that little bit of spice. Steeling my mind, I hover my finger above the “Yes” button for a second before pressing down, the metal sliding further and further inside.
Almost my whole finger goes inside the hole created by the button, my curiosity slowly shifting to confusion and then a little panic. The ball itself fits perfectly in the palm of my hand, yet my index finger does not yet touch the opposing wall inside the ball, its insides seemingly endless. Before I can pull my finger out of the weird object a clink resounds from the metal ball, the button falling away from the shaft. Then everything gets weird, the ball before me falls apart into countless hexagons, dissolving before they hit the ground. Only a single cube of metal is left, the “Yes” engraved into it mockingly staring at me as I look at the floor, dumbfounded. Then everything goes black.
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I try to shake my head, yet no matter how much I try to do so it does not want to move. Not in the way that it is held down and I can’t move it because I am restricted, but rather my commands not reaching the muscles. I quickly rip my attention from the disconcerting fact, the journey down memory lane giving me some control in this truly alien situation. I focus on the screen hovering before me, taking up almost my whole field of view, only some of the strange environment visible through the translucent message. My eyes stare back at me thousands of times, reflected by the frozen-over leaves of the trees surrounding me, my body floating in the middle of a clearing. The message pulses once before me, seemingly impatient, annoyed at my antics.
Welcome Forerunner!
Congratulations are in order, you have been selected to be one of the few Forerunners testing the System before it might descend upon your world.
I read through the message, my mind working hard to process what is going on and quickly throwing out all useless, panicky, thoughts, about how this could even be possible. Just as I finish, coming to the end, the greeting vanishes, replaced by a blinking typer rapidly writing out a new Message, my mind racing after it.
Before the Tutorial will begin and you start your journey through the Trials, you have the chance to roll a dice to decide your start|
My eyes rush across the message, thousands of hours spent reading keeping up with the cursor. Just as I come to the end, questions already at the tip of my tongue, not many of the terms used making any sense to me, the Screen falls over. I don’t know if it's the Screen simply falling over or my mind not being connected to my body, but no question leaves my mouth. A dice appears on the surface created by the window, identical to the metal cube with “Yes” engraved on it. Deciding to follow the overlords that seem to have absolute control over me, the impatient pulse of the message from before framing the master behind these windows as not too patient.
I almost fall over as I suddenly regain control over my own body, my arms flailing wildly and cold sweat breaking out across my body. My heart races and quick and sharp breaths send my panic to the next level. I close my eyes, bracing for the impact, feeling the wind rushing by me…, not rushing by me. I open my eyes, finding the same scene as before, my feet standing on thin air, not rushing towards the ground. A deep breath returns my heart to more normal speeds, still racing, though not anymore in danger of a heart attack.
The window-turned-surface pulses impatiently before me. I gingerly take a step, not knowing if or where the ground I am walking on extends to. Balance training in boxing and some experience climbing kills the last of my nerves and after the first step, I simply focus on the raised area before me, trusting the rest to my body. A second pulse goes through the window, slightly stronger and impatient than the last and I quickly pick up the 6-sided dice before me. Small, rounded incisions are made into the cold surface of the metal cube, counting from zero to ten. Wait. I feel around the SIX-sided dice again, a side perfectly smooth, followed by nine others with a steadily increasing number of dots.
A third pulse goes through the surface, the ‘table’ turning a light red and sending a shiver down my back. Deciding that I could find out the dice’s weird mechanics later and not anger my omnipotent and impatient overlords, I roll the dice. A blow and a kiss on its cold surface increases my luck, and melodic clinking echoes across the frozen landscape as the dice touches down on the table. I hold my breath until the last clink sounds from the dice, the cube coming to a stop. The surface almost smashes into my face, the dice flying past me, into the distance and my attention is focused on the writing appearing on the window.
Congratulations, you have rolled an Eight, rejoice, as luck graces you.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Fill them with what your heart desires!
My heart almost drops out of my pants as the screen begins to count up, any second there might be a Rocket rising into the sky next to me or the whole world might go down. Luckily before my racing mind can craft the most horrific ways the System could count down/up to my life, the numbers stop. “Fill them with your heart desires!”, quickly calms down my racing blood pump and puts it back into position, my mind racing in another, much happier direction. I try to control myself, acting before I truly know what is going on is never a good idea. Expecting some intelligence from the System, able to write out these messages, I open my mouth for the first time since being here.
“Could you please further explain to me what you mean by ‘Filling them with what my heart desires’.”, I ask the pane, feeling a little stupid.
A second screen jumps up beside me, a message quickly forming on its surface, my overlord luckily taking no offense at my foolishness.
Fill these eight slots with a wish, a single,
Knowing all too well then no one can do all.
You might wish for the world to end, or for peace to reign,
yet do not want what you can’t do, for how should I
I am just you.
As the last verse imprints itself on the floating screen a poetic voice echoes from amongst the frozen leaves. Only then do I notice the world slowly starting to move again, leaves clinking in a slight forest breeze, though the movement still drastically slowed. The voice carries with it a lot more meaning than the mysterious words, so alien compared to the System’s normal writing. The voice tells of being humble and respectful, of not wishing for what one can’t give themselves, of being polite and realistic. As the sound echoes out, the countless frozen leaves eating the reverberations, I focus back on the screen.
The first question is what I need right now. Definitely something warm. If I am to be dropped off here, I better have something to protect against the cold. Second should be some supplies like food, water, and other knick-knacks. Also, something to defend myself, if what I think these Trials are going to be is true, I’ll most certainly need some kind of weapon and protection. Lastly, for my basic needs, shelter, and some tools I would need to survive, that could be neatly summarized under Equipment, wasting only a single of the precious wishes. So that's Clothing, Supplies, Protection, a Weapon, and Equipment, though I might need to work on Clothing a bit, which could also just be a tank top, I summarize.
Getting the knack of the wish system I continue my musing, another pulse shaking the window before me and urging me to speed up. Next, maybe something on the more intangible side, for all I know the System could also impart me with knowledge. Knowledge might be too broad so let's narrow it down to Information for what is going on and Skill, so I’ll know what to do. Down to the last one. I decide to be a bit riskier with this one, not knowing for sure if it would be possible, but the upsides to big not to try it. Thus, as the window pulses for a fourth time, an angry red, I rattle off my wishes and the window flashes a last time before me.
You have made your choice:
1. Wardrobe
2. Supplies
3. Protection
4. Weapon
5. Equipment
6. Information
7. Skill
8. Luck
I flinch a little at my poor choice of the substitute for Clothing, fear of the Overlord’s retribution for making them wait forcing my hand. Before I can curse myself too much the force holding my body aloft vanishes and the ice-cold wind rushes past me.
A bright flash comes from below me and I touch down on something wooden, my fall luckily aborted early as I crash into the object. I gingerly get up, looking around me, my eyes met with trees surrounding me on all sides, their leaves frozen solid and reflecting the scenery. The melodic sound of a wind chime dancing in the breeze comes from all around, as the leaves clink against each other, creating a magical ambiance. My enjoyment of the sight though is greatly reduced, a chaotic wind whipping ice-cold air left and right. Snow dances, coating the ground and the trees in white powder, snow which slowly covers the items strewn all around me. As I am climbing down the wooden structure a screen jumps up before me, covering my vision.
Trial 0: Tutorial
The Glaring Forest is a harsh environment for those not used to its freezing cold temperatures and reflective flora, yet this did not stop Ellaina Evergreen from deciding that this would be just the perfect place to set up camp. Sadly, conviction does not do anything against the biting cold or her lack of a map and foolishness even less.
Objective: Escort ‘Ellaina Evergreen’ to her destination
Reward: Finish Trial 0
Limit: Don’t let ‘Ellaina Evergreen’ die
Punishment: Death
I curse myself as I read through the description, not enjoying my task, more so as I read the last portion of the Task’s description. If this, apparently naive, girl is the end of me I’ll ask for a second run just to take her down with me once again. My mood sours even more as I dismiss the message, quickly getting the knack of the windows and messages. A wooden box, roughly my arm-span wide covers my vision, two doors opening to reveal a sad array of clothes, my wardrobe wish coming to fruition exactly how I hoped it wouldn’t.
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Deciding to curse myself when I had the time to do so, I quickly loot the inside of the closet, doing my best to cover my cooling body. Joining my T-shirt is a vest made from rough fabric, two buttons closing the garment and giving me some protection from the cold. Luckily a pair of very woolly socks and fitting shoes covers my most dire need, some feeling quickly returning to my toes. Lastly, a large white coat covers the rest of my body while giving me some camouflage in the pale landscape.
Finished with looting the closet I look through the rest of the stuff strewn around my position. My first and arguably most important find is a large backpack, a fire starter, a length of rope, and a compass, most likely belonging to the Equipment wish. I stuff the large backpack full of the little food there is before the snow can cover the apples and loaf of bread, lastly attaching a water skin to the side of it. Next, I find a curious tool lying next to the wardrobe, almost fully covered in snow, only the glint of metal hinting at its position.
My fingers, red from the biting cold, carefully burrow around in the snow, grabbing hold of some leather. I fish out the item and my brows jump up at the familiar sight. One bored day in my twenties I decided to have some fun and went cruising through the Internet, coming upon a curious sight. One side a sharp blade, flipping out from a long wooden hilt wrapped in leather, the other, two sticks acting as tongs, an elastic rope stretched between them, a slingshot-knife. The forces behind the floating messages seem to have been feeling generous, giving me a trusty tool I am already experienced with. I sling the elastic rope around my shoulder, flipping the blade into the hilt, and continue digging through the snow for my last items.
I curse under my breath as I find the next item, a map on rolled-up parchment, the drawing on the paper sadly splotched and somewhat destroyed, the melting snow ruining parts of the scripture. Next to it is a thick book, a heavy tome which I quickly store in my backpack, the cover reading “Bestiary”, though all the pages are completely blank. More hectically I continue searching through the snow, not wanting a repeat of the somewhat destroyed map. After what must have been ten minutes, almost no feeling left in my digits, I only find one more object, a glass vial filled with a dark blue liquid that seems to hover between fluid and solid, semi-frozen.
My fingers needing a rest from the cold I huddle behind the large wardrobe, not wanting to hide inside and maybe miss an animal walking into the glade. There I open my backpack and go through the items. Food and a water skin from Supplies; rope, a fire starter, and a compass from Equipment; The splotched map and an empty bestiary from Information and lastly a vial with some blue liquid inside, no clue from what wish it came from. Besides that, I have the backpack itself, my trusty slingshot-knife, and the clothes looted from the wardrobe. The only wishes that are missing are, Skill, Luck, and Protection, though one of them has to be the weird potion sloshing around in my backpack.
With no clue of how to find the rest of the items, if there even are any, of the unfulfilled wishes, I get up from behind the wardrobe. The threat of death looming above me quickly gets me into motion, my eyes scanning the edge of the clearing, searching for the first part of my Quest, finding the person I’d have to protect. Even under the layers of cloth, the cold is relentless, gusts of icy wind trying to find their way under the fabric. Not finding the woman in the clearing I head for the closest cover of trees, the tall timber hopefully breaking some of the wind.
Just as I reach the edge of the clearing, the trees radiating some warmth in the freezing environment, no snow or ice able to hang onto the bark, a desperate call echoes through the woods. A shrill scream telling of imminent danger, a shout for help in a dire situation. The call for help resonates with something deeply ingrained within me, adrenaline flooding through my body as my instincts as a human almost force me to answer the call. Before I can do so a second voice joins the first, from a different direction, though not too far away from the first, much deeper.
Most likely having found the person I should protect I quickly head towards the origin of the first scream, hoping that Ellaina is a girl’s name and not some weird cultural twist. The wind is much softer, the gusts broken apart by the trunks, their leaves covering the sky and giving recluse from the extreme environment. Not knowing the situation and the environment I am in, yet needing to be quick, fearing my quest’s journey ending before it even truly starts, I shuffle my way through the thick layer of snow.
A second call for help rings out, this time much closer than before, though the direction hard to discern, the clinking leaves of ice shifting and changing the sound. Again, shortly following the first, a second voice screams into the icy forest, mirroring the words of the first, yet much deeper and rougher. A sense of unease starts growing inside me as my paranoia kicks in. Two voices calling for help, yeah, no problem, normal in a dangerous situation. But both using the same exact phrasing, the second voice seemingly perfectly copying the first. Suspicious.
The voice rings out a third time, “Help!! Oh, please help me someone!”. The sound is much closer, the leaves once again twisting and morphing the origin, the voice seemingly toning from all around me. Seconds later it is followed by a second call, the phrasing once again absolutely identical, only heightening my paranoia. What finally gets me to the origin of the screams is the sound of claws on wood, feverishly scratching at the bark. I slowly make my way over to the sound, a particularly large tree blocking my vision. I stay close to the ground, my knees strafing against the snow cover, white cloak covering my whole body and hopefully giving me the drop on the attacker.
Loud clinking of icy leaves colliding with each other fills a small break in the tree cover, a large, furry beast on four legs clawing at the trunk of an old tree. Very careful of any sound I make I lower myself further to the ground, hiding behind a large tree and peeking forth from behind the wood. Long white fur reaching down to the ground, covers a very lean bear-like animal, its front legs, almost arms, quite a bit longer than its hindquarters. The long tail of a tiger flows from the back of its body, swishing around wildly, impatiently, clearly frustrated at something. Ever so slowly, though with some need for quickness, I step out from behind my cover, shifting over to another tree to get a better view of what the beast is trying to get at.
A face like a baboon, the stark contrast of red skin against white fur, the beast’s head searches for a way into the trunk, a large, yet not large enough, hole, hinting at a space within the wood. Another scream echoes out, clearly coming from within the tree, the voice of a woman desperately searching for help, her cries more and more frantic each time. I use the cover of her noisy calls to get closer to the action, the scream for help joined by the large animal. It raises its head, a long neck giving it great flexibility, and in a human tone, hiding most of the beast’s origin, it copies the call for help, much deeper yet still convincingly human.
The beast stops for a second, its call forcing its head out of the hole it is trying to burrow inside and freeing its vision. For a second, I freeze in primal fear, the flight or fight instinct smashing away any other thought as the human in me, developed for tens of thousands of years to survive, rears its head. I choose fight since flight would only get me killed as soon as the beast reaches its victim and the payload I am tasked to protect. I’m not stupid though, as soon as the beast spots me, I jump behind the closest tree, quickly get up, and continue my mad dash towards the next obstacle.
The ground shakes as the monster rushes towards me, not only the size of a bear but clearly also sharing its weight. Snow, reaching far past my ankles slows me down greatly as I push through the powder towards the next timber, throwing my vision behind me. The animal thunders past my previous position, all the momentum behind the large beast making it impossible to quickly shift its momentum towards me. I pray to the gods like I never have and most likely never will, nothing but divine intervention able to save me from this situation.
Long arms scramble against the frozen ground as the beast turns its momentum towards me and we begin a mad dash, waving between trees. At first, this plan of mine goes well, the beast tiring itself out as it madly dashes after me, its large body not allowing it to quickly dodge around the trees in its way. Though it quickly becomes obvious that while the human surely is an endurance hunter, I am simply not built for the arctic cold, the animal steadily gaining on me. Desperate for any new plan I call out loudly to the woman, mirroring her earlier calls, yet my cries aren’t answered. Cursing the woman who seems to have it out for me, seemingly wanting me dead, one way or another, I get rid of the backpack weighing me down.
The bag is quickly thrown behind a tree as I rush past it, giving me some of my speed back and hopefully giving me enough distance to execute the second part of my plan. Fiddling around in my pants I unclasp the slingshot-knife and quickly equip it, jumping up at the next low branch and plucking a handful of frozen leaves. Trying to shuffle, running, dodging, and loading up the sling almost ends up with me trying for a convincing nail costume. Luckily the extra dexterity without the backpack weighing me down is enough and I get a leaf tucked inside the sling’s pouch without head-butting the wood.
Slowing down behind a tree I quickly turn around, take cover behind the trunk, pull back, and with a loud whip the projectile leaves the elastic rope. Luckily for me, I had training in this weapon, oftentimes shooting down birds, flies, or leaves when bored in the garden. The frozen and somewhat sharp leaf hits the beast square in the face, an all too human scream escaping its mouth as the pain registers to the animal. Not being fooled by the beast’s call I quickly continue my mad dash, getting some distance between us, the animal somewhat distracted by the sudden injury.
Getting behind the next tree I repeat my successful attack, though deciding to go for more damage and less accuracy, the beast large enough to warrant two leaves going into the sling’s pouch. Another whip is followed by two cuts appearing on the beast’s side, its fur taking most of the damage, though the skin underneath surprisingly delicate. A deep rumbling “Nooo”, echoes through the forest as the animal screams out disconcertingly, using human words, yet clearly having none of the intelligence behind its eyes.
I am able to get off four more shots in before I make the first mistake, 7 more cuts appearing on the animal’s body, one particularly vicious one forming a river of blood that covers one of the beast’s eyes. I shuffle between a dense array of trees, the large timber blocking my vision and only after dodging the last timber realize my fatal mistake. The cover of trees opens up into a large clearing, a familiar wardrobe standing proudly in the middle of the area. With no option but to continue forward, dodging left or right only ending with me in the beast’s jaw, I push my body to its limits, adrenaline rushing through me.
With a victorious “Ohhhhhhh”, sounding all too pleased, the animal crashes into the clearing, immediately accelerating over the open ground and gaining on me, fast, too fast. I turn the weapon in my hands around, flicking open the knife, a double-edged blade greeting my face, my reflection contorted in fear. With the beast almost upon me, the safety of the tree line still some ways away, and the wardrobe just a bit too far, I violently throw myself to the side. Before my whole body makes it out of the way, a set of claws on a much too-long arm reach towards my legs and shred through my left foot.
Pain, like nothing ever before rushes through me, a primal scream leaving my mouth, no words coming to my mind as any thought is wiped of by the blinding agony. The snow somewhat softens my landing, though my shoulder still smashes into the ground, hard, the air forced out of me. A loud crash breaks through the pain clouding my mind, the animal much too fast to dodge the wardrobe standing in the middle of the clearing and smashing directly into it. Energy I never knew I had rushes through my body at the reminder of my opponent, still out for my life.
Getting my arm under me I push my body off the ground standing on one leg and testing the second, only for blinding pain to break my balance, almost sending me back to the ground. My left foot is a mess, four long gashes revealing the bone of my ankle, shredding the bottom of my leg, and just about leaving alone the shoes protecting my foot. Though with that injury there won’t be any need for it anymore, any plans of running, jumping, walking, forever leaving my mind. My focus is brought back to me as, for the first time since the start of the fight, the beast roars out, the top layer of snow blown away from the power behind the call.
My wish for luckiness seems to have been heard, the pole of the broken wardrobe, holding the cloth hangers, impaling the beast, the bottom half of it embedded in the beast’s shoulder. Clearly heavily injured, the beast tries to get up, the stick not only taking its right arm out of the fight but the rest, still sticking out, drastically reducing its mobility. Having regained my balance, I fumble around in the pocket of my trousers, getting three shards of the frozen leaves in my hand. With the beast so close I quickly reload the sling with all three projectiles, pull back as far as I can, and release, the elastic rope whipping past my cheek.
A particularly lucky trajectory ends with one of the shards not just cutting apart the beast's face but remaining there. Another roar breaks free of the beast’s mouth, the snow billowing forth and with a loud crack from its shoulder, the lance in its body breaks in half. Keeping the injured arm above the ground the animal starts slowly, then faster and faster, stumbling towards me, my injury making it absolutely impossible to evade the beast. With the animal almost upon me, the only thing I can do is flip over the knife, barring the sharp end, and pointing the implement at my opponent.
The Forerunner Trials has been written by Yotro, and is solely being published on Royal Road. If you find this book anywhere else it is piracy, please contact me in this case to let the book be removed.