Ris’s head still ached from the procedure. But that wasn’t unexpected. It had only been four hours beforehand. She was still in recovery, in one of those ridiculous paper like gowns they make you wear if you even breathe the word doctor. Gerald and Alphonse walked into her room carrying a tray of hospital food and water for her.
“How ya feeling, champ?” said Gerald, taking an apple off the tray.
“Like someone just probed my head. How long before the headache goes away, Alphonse?”
“It should be gone by tonight, and we can get you synced up. You’re more than welcome to stay online after the sync is done, but that’s up to you. We have the rest of your rig installed at your house. Tonight we’d like you to come to the clinic on Esperia Online’s HQ for the first sync, just to make sure everything is goes as it should.”
Ris blinked, “brain chemistry and all that?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll hop on with you Ris, and my character can show you the ropes,” Gerald said with a grin.
“I think you’re going to like him. He’s like me.”
“He is you, Gerald,” Ris said reaching for the ham sandwich on the tray.
“Not when he’ll be with you. He’ll be me, but not me.”
“Look, I just had brain surgery, can we not do that whole, I know that you know that I know crap?”
“Come on, Gerald, let’s let her rest for tonight. We’ll see you there, Ris. Get some rest.” Alphonse had to drag Gerald away from the tray on the bed. Gerald almost got the cookie, but Ris was faster.
“Hah, get your own cookie!” Gerald pouted as he was pulled from the room.
——-
A few hours later and feeling much more refreshed, Ris sent a probing hand up to the back of her head. There she could feel the hub had interfaced with her skin. It was waterproof and they’d worked out the whole brain hookup stuff a long time ago, but they still had a long way to go on making it less creepy feeling, never mind that it was a direct link access to her fundamental self.
She got changed and left the hospital heading for the on site clinic at EO’s Headquarters. The auto cab that took her there seemed to be more aggressive than usual in its driving, but it got her to the doors of the clinic before the suggested time of arrival, so she didn’t complain.
Ris looked at the bleak monolith like structures in front of her with the setting sun behind them. The campus seemed to have a block theme, wherein all the buildings had the same rough shape with an even number of cooling towers rising from the top of the squat forms. It was as if giant’s played with legos and left them on the floor, just waiting to be stepped on. She approached the door of the building with the helpfully marked sign that simply said, “Clinic”. She couldn’t see any windows on the structure, but assumed that there was some modified one way glass; nobody was that cruel to their employees that they couldn’t see the world outside the entire time they were working in the building. After coming to the door, it opened automatically without a sound, revealing a brightly lit waiting room with a few people shuffling about.
Stepping in, she could see the typical setup, gross coffee dispenser in one corner, bored receptionist in the other, and a pair of vid screens set up like a pair of dueling pianos - both were vying for the attention of those confined. She walked up to the receptionist and said, “Hi, I’m Ris Haden, I have an appointment.”
The receptionist seemed to register that she did indeed have someone bothering her, and through her daze put the name into the computer. “Have a seat Ms.Haden - wait, no we are ready for you now,” the woman said with a surprised look on her face. At this new development, the receptionist was revived back to life, “Come with me please,” she said standing up and ushering Ris to another set of doors.
Ris looked back into the room, and saw the hate and envy on the faces of those trapped in the confines of that waiting room. I guess its good to have a few friends sometimes.
She was led through a series of corridors that eventually led to a room that was set up with three couches. One of the couches had additional medical equipment hooked up to it. The couches reminded Ris of her father’s office, with his long leather lounging couch that he would talk to his patients on. She smiled at the memory, that couch was comfortable.
“Please have a seat on that, Ms. Haden. My name is Jane, if you need anything. Dr. Dres will be with you shortly.”
Ris hopped up onto the couch, her feet dangling off the edge. Within a few moments she heard some footsteps and voices coming from the hallway.
“I’m telling you Alphonse, we should take her through the city first!”
“No, no. She needs some time to get adjusted, I know the perfect place. Have a little faith. I have been doing an extensive survey over all the regions for the past three weeks, Ger. I’ve even asked for our avatars to be sent there.”
Gerald’s eyes opened wide, “what did you do to G2? He was working on his smithing! I really wanted to finish that set. Gah, its going to take another month if he didn’t finish. You know that the metal had to be forged by the light of the moon!”
Both men were so rapt up in their conversation that they didn’t see Ris sitting quietly on the couch.
Ris coughed and said, “that was by far the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard from you, Gerald. Who knew?” Both men were broken from their conversation by the sudden noise and flinched, looking at her. She hopped down to come closer to the others. “Now, what’s the plan?”
Alphonse and Gerald looked at each other, and then Alphonse called some more staff into the room.
After a few moments, Ris was hooked up to just about every machine around the table. Except for the one that was labelled, ‘crash cart’. She didn’t think she wanted to be hooked up to that. A man in scrubs asked her how she was feeling. “A little tense, what’s with all the hook ups?”
“Just a precaution,” Alphonse said from his couch, “I had them and so did Gerald when we first used our implants. In fact, why don’t Gerald and I go first. We’ll see you in the game! Gerald, age before beauty.”
Gerald huffed at that, “I’m only two months older than you, dude.” He looked over at Ris, “It’ll be fine, I’ll see you there in there.” And with those words, his eyes became unfocused and glassy.
Alphonse sat back up and said, “I won’t have much time to spend in the game this time around, but I’ll make sure you start off on the right foot, so to speak. Besides, my one week is up. Let’s play a game with it as well, shall we? I have a bet for you.”
“Seeing as I am rather encumbered,” Ris lifted an arm covered in patches and wires, “you have me at a disadvantage. I’ll give it a try, anyway. What’s the bet?”
“I want you to tell me when I leave the game and my avatar takes over. When you get out of course.”
“Heh, some code versus a person, that’ll be easy. What’s the wager?”
“Hmm, how about 500 platinum?”
Ris looked a little confused, “Is that a lot?”
“You didn’t read the material I left on your tray about the game?”
“What material?”
“Oh dear, this will be exciting then! Yes, it’s a lot. But you’ll make that easy, if my instincts are right.”
“Fine, I’ll take the bet!” A little starting money to grow the nest egg.
“Very good, see you soon,” with the last of his words seeming to fall out of his mouth as his eyes, too, went glassy and unfocused. Both men shifted on their couches, like a pair of bears getting ready for winter.
“So, how do I activate this thing?” Ris said to the man in the scrubs.
“You’re already plugged in, so it’s already active, you just have to think about accessing the game.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“What, like-” were the last words out of Ris’s mouth as she seemed to suddenly fall out of her body and the world around her a realm of infinite darkness.
———
Ris came to floating in that same infinite darkness, but it had changed to reveal a since mote of light. Time didn’t seem to move here. Ris reached for the mote, but couldn’t get any closer to it than she had before. She flailed a bit, trying to swim toward the mote. All she ended up doing was looking like a frog in a very large pond. That also happened to be infinite in all directions. Frustration building with tears, she recognized that she was getting flustered. She started to employ the breathing techniques that had gotten her through every hard thing in her life. The breathing exercises her father had taught her had helped her in more than one situation.
She calmed and willed herself to come closer to the light. Slowly, she moved to the mote, and as she approached, she saw that the mote was getting bigger. She accelerated toward it, Newton’s laws propelling her into the reality that was the light. Finally, her vision full of the brightness, so bright that her eyes couldn’t open, she felt a ‘pop’ and reality snapped back into being. She was present in a small room that was well lit on all sides by glowing crystals and candles. The crystals reflected and bent the candle light so that the room looked to be ablaze with candles. On the far side of the chamber was an altar.
She felt the floor solidify under her feet and she took a tentative step forward. Her footfall broke the silence and the candles seemed to dance at the sound. She approached the altar, walking the few steps up the dais to reach it. As she approached, she could see the markings drawn into the marble like stone of the altar. Some were clearly old looking, while others were new. She placed a hand on the altar, and the light seemed to bend to the other side.
Before her stood a being made of pure candle light. A hand, palm open formed in front of her.
“To gain access to our world, an offering must be made,” A whisper in the chamber spoke. “An offering that will start your journey. Some have given hair, and some have given blood, but what would you give?”
Ris thought for a moment, remembering that her cheeks were still wet. She reached up, and carefully gathered the tears that were there and let them fall into the hand made of light. The light shimmered and coalesced even more to prevent them from falling through.
Another voice broke through, louder than the whisper, “Tears, that was unexpected. They are so hard to read sometimes.”
From another direction, another voice was heard, “Oh hush, they are just something that you have to think about. You can have tears that are sad, happy, angry, or a combination of the three. But really, it comes down to what she wants them to mean. Honestly, I don’t know why she’s here at all. It’s quite out of line for Boreas to be giving her favor like that. Especially since she hasn’t even done anything yet.”
“You’ve given plenty of favors, Frenda, don’t give us that,” another voice retorted. “Come, let us focus and let the little one go on her way. She has quite the trial before her.”
The hand of light transformed into a symbol, three circles; one inside the others; with the circles being of blue, silver, and gold color. Ris’s hand reached up to touch the circles, and they shrunk in size. They placed themselves on her palm, and branded her there. The sudden pain flaring in her mind. It seemed to reach far deeper than the skin that was burned. After the bright flash, her hand closed and she felt something cool in it, but the pain was such that she couldn’t open her hand up.
A whisper in the chamber said, “may these help you start your journey.” And again, the pain flared until she lost herself in it.
————
She became aware of a character creation screen in front of her. It showed the typical flavorings of these kinds of things. A few interesting races, some mammalian, some reptilian and avian, and one even elemental. She tried to select one of the other races, but the toggle wouldn’t allow her to confirm her choice. Figures, I swear if that Alphonse did this… Her current race was Sin’rakh, whatever that was. It didn’t seem to be any different than a normal human. It did have some options, mainly in hair. Well Ris, do you want copper brown, or brown copper? The skin tones were also restricted to a darker complexion. It went from sun-kissed tan to a very dark brown, almost black color. She adjusted the height to be a few inches taller than what she was in real life. She was an average 5 foot 7 inches in real life but now she was 6 foot even. She looked at this version of herself, the same prominent cheekbones, and soft chin from the real world were there, but now set upon a slightly larger face. The muscles of this body were also well built, not that she was out of shape, but now there was tone. She looked at this warrior before her and was proud. It’s not as imaginative as I’d like it, but she still looks like she could kick some serious ass.
She toggled the confirm appearance button, and the face zoomed in close to hers. She could see know that the eyes were not normal, they were three colored in bands: blue on the outer most, silver, then gold around her pupils. A prompt popped up, and the face whispered the words on it: “What is my name?”
She thought about this other half of herself. She was robbed in most of its creation, by an outside force, but at least she got to name herself.
You are me, little one, you are me. She spoke the name like a word of power, and the world trembled as the syllables came forth. “Risseln Keal.”
The face came closer to hers, and like an incomplete puzzle, the pieces were joined together to form the whole.
———
Ris blinked twice as the light of the bright sun overhead reached her mind. A shimmering box seemed to be just out of focus, and as she focused on it, it coalesced into a prompt.
Greetings Traveler! Welcome to Esperia Online! As you may (or not) know, we pride ourselves on an immersive experience. As such, there is no such quantified system for leveling that you will see. That does not mean you don’t have the typical attributes and skills and spells as in other games you may (or not) have played. What this means is that if you work hard, you can shape yourself in a way that you wouldn’t believe. We at EO believe that it isn’t quite as rewarding to level up and then put your points into an attribute. We've found that in other games, putting a point into wisdom doesn't actually mean you're more wise. Instead, if you learn that a situation could be handled better, then you know it could be handled better. No discrete number will let you know that! With that we ask you to keep an open mind and keep adventuring!
Behind this prompt, Ris could also see another prompt:
During your creation, you were blessed by one of the gods. Your race is now the fabled Sin’rakh, who used to rule the deserts of Dul. Though your race may have faded with history, its mark upon this world was drastic and forever changing. Unfortunately, as a near mythical being, many common people will be mistrustful of you until you establish yourself like one of your fabled race. Good travels!
After dismissing the last prompt, the world seemed to come back into focus, and the wind seemed to slide around her like a piece of silk. “Is she done with those prompts? I forgot how annoying they were!” said one voice behind her.
“Looks like she’s coming to now,” said another voice, “Hey Ris!”
She spun, far faster than she was used to, and in the middle of her spin realized that she was carrying a spear. “Woah! Watch where you’re swinging that thing! It’s just us.”
Before her stood two creatures, one was lithe and gaunt, with the telltale points of elven ears, and the other was more square and squat, the green scaley skin seemed to reflect some of the light from above. The elf wore simple robes that seemed to shift in the sands about him with the wind.
“Guess who is who, Ris. I bet she’ll never get it,” said the elf.
She squinted to focus on the faces and could see the shadow of Alphonse in the elven features. “You’re Alphonse, and that,” she said pointing to the scale covered humanoid, “is Gerald.”
“Aw, thats no fun. Why’d you pick human anyway? Wasn’t being one in real life boring enough?” said Gerald through his elongated reptilian mouth.
“I didn’t really have a choice. What did you all sacrifice in the room?” The two men looked at each other.
“Uh, what room?” both of them said.
“The spooky room with the candles and the altar. In the very beginning before you create your character.”
Alphonse started to look increasingly worried. “That’s strange, you can’t actually interact with the game until you create a character. Back in the beta testing they showed that people feel that the game is too real if they don’t create that ‘wall’ right in the beginning.”
Gerald nodded, “Was that what took so long? That was by far the longest character creation I’ve ever had the unfortunate pleasure of waiting for.”
Ris had a flash back to the waiting room in the clinic and shuttered. “Well, I made my sacrifice, and I started hearing voice. They were calling each other gods.”
Gerald shook his head, “Yeah, there are gods in the game, but they aren’t able to directly interact with anyone unless the character has a really really high in depth knowledge and faith of that god.” He looked over at Alphonse, “Are you sure this isn’t transference feedback?”
“I’ll check after we are done here. I’m sure it was nothing.” He said with a wave of his hand.
“Anyway, cool spear, Ris. Even if you nearly gutted me,” said Gerald.
“So what are your names in here?” asked Ris.
“What makes you think we have different ones?” replied the reptilian man while sticking his tongue out at an awkward angle.
Alphonse sighed, “In here I’m Al’Fanal Qin’Sinael. But please, for everyone’s sake just call me Al” Ris giggled at the name, “Nerd.”
“Says the girl who builds AI’s for a living. I’m Ger and I’m a Crocrin. Don’t call my people alligator or crocodile, they really really don’t like that,” the reptilian man said, scratching at his leather tunic.
“Uh, isn’t that ironic?” said Ris, “You’re wearing leather as a reptile? Shouldn’t your hide be strong enough?”
“One: I don’t think I can tell the difference between irony and coincidence right now, and two: I don’t think people would appreciate seeing my junk just hanging out like that.”
“But reptiles don’t have junk, they have cloacas.”
“Well, my race certainly does because reasons. Let’s get this train wreck moving.”
“Where are we anyway?” Ris asked whipping the spear in her hands around, it felt surprisingly good to hold.
“Oh, let me fix that,” said Al, “my guy has been journeying for the better half of a year now. Give me your hand.” He reached out and she clasped it. She got a feeling like she was just asked a question about whether or not she wanted to share maps. She thought that it would be a great idea and suddenly she could recall seeing quite a few places. Mountains, valleys, rivers, cities, oceans, and this desert filled her mind. She reeled from the influx of information, but she seemed to do a decent job of keeping it catalogued. “Yeah, it can be a lot for the first time, sorry about that. We can take it slow back to town.”
Ris pushed off her spear as she stood tall again, a proud warrior. She saw the scene below and gasped. They were standing on the top of a mountain of a dune, several hundred feet above a valley of smaller dunes. In the distance she could see the twinkle of the ocean waves sparkling like gems on the water, and between the savagery of the desert and the calm of the ocean sat a small town, green and alive, with smoke and people moving about.
“Anyway, welcome to-”
“Dul,” Ris said as she looked upon the land that the Sin'rakh, her people, once ruled.