Chapter 3 - Alive
Moirai Technologies researcher Sarah Collins sat back comfortable in her computer chair, rubbing her left temple.
“It makes absolutely no sense…” she said quietly. She sat for a moment, before looking up at her computer screen to check the time. “Seven o’clock? Where has the day gone?”
She quickly saved the report she was typing up on her computer, titled ‘Visible Triggers of the Hydra Evolution - None’. She powered down her computer before standing and opening a drawer on her computer desk. She reached in and retrieved her cell phone, which indicated had a missed call.
‘MISSED CALL - DAPPER DAVID (1) - 3:41 PM’
She giggled as she read the notification. A few nights ago she and David had met at his place to watch a classic psychological science fiction horror movie named ‘Donnie Darko’. When she his house later that night she got a call on her home phone from David, informing her she left her cell phone at his house. She realized this was the first time she had heard from him since that night, and couldn’t help but find amusement in the fact that he had apparently changed his contact name from DAVID to DAPPER DAVID.
She clicked the button on her cell phone to return the call, but it immediately went to David’s voicemail.
“You’ve reached David. I have literally no clue what I could be doing that is preventing me from answering this call, but whatever it is I’m doing it. Or my phone died. Leave a message.”
It wasn’t uncommon for it to go straight to voicemail when calling David. He always forgot to charge his phone, it would often die on him without realizing it. Sarah figured it best to leave him a voicemail though.
“Hey there DAPPER DAVID,” she started, giggling. “Not sure what you need earlier but it was a super busy day and I lost track of time. You know how it goes. Or do you? Anyway, I’m leaving for the night so call me back whenever you recharge your phone lazy bones. Love ya.”
Sarah walked across her office and collected her coat and bag from a table and dropped her phone inside her bag. She put on her coat and flicked the light switch to off before heading out.
As she exited her office she noticed three security guards standing in front of the elevators. One of the guards noticed her and began to speak.
“Hey Ms. Collins,” he said. “Sorry but I got some bad news. The whole research division is on lockdown for two weeks. The kitchen has been fully stocked and the dorm rooms prepared for an extended stay.”
“Wait, what?” asked Sarah. “Lockdown, why? And two weeks? That’s absurd. I actually have very important matters to attend to tonight.”
“You know that I don’t have that information, Ms. Collins. And as you are well aware, your contract with Moirai Technologies has a clause for this specific situation which you willfully agreed to.”
Realizing the truth in his statements, Sarah nodded in affirmation to the guards and turned to return to her office.
“They might not know what’s going on,” Sarah thought to herself, “but someone certainly does.”
.oOo.
David slowly began to feel as though as we waking up. He tried to open his eyes, only to realize his eyes were already open. He had assumed his eyes were closed, because all he saw was darkness. After a few seconds he saw what looked like lines of white text in the very far distance.
Translating to primary host language…
Calculating realistic scenarios…
Scanning memory and experience architecture…
Integrating host anatomy and design…
Loading Titans Online…
Initiating Immersion.
As the text faded away, a voice began to speak as blurry images materialized in front of him showing a beautiful and fantastical world.
“Hello, player David, and welcome to Titans Online. The world you see is your new home. Think of it as a new beginning. Your people call this world Elios and while it is certainly beautiful, it’s also dangerous,” the voice said.
“My new home?” David thought to himself. “Damnit, I’m not actually awake. This is one HELL of a dream.”
David began to recount the events that took place up to this point. Going to his Hydra exam, being drugged and taken to a Moirai Technologies facility, placed in a strange stasis chamber. And that incredibly painful feeling that shot into the back of his head.
“If Moirai Technologies was actually telling me the truth, this must be a potential side effect...a deep sleep dream of sorts. Usually, when I realize I’m dreaming, I wake up,” David thought. Before he could continue pondering the situation further, the image of the world in front of his eyes faded away and the image he saw was a human body, wearing only tattered rags for clothing.
“Is that--that’s me!” David exclaimed, realizing the body he saw was his own. Of course, this creeped him out as it seemed as though he was viewing himself from a third person perspective.
The voice continued, “It is now time to decide your lifestyle, David. Titans Online is unlike any game you may have played before. Seeing as this is your new home, you must choose not only a combat class, but a job as well. The amount of choices for both may seem a bit overwhelming, but the plethora of options is crucial to giving you and your people the freedom of creating a world as you see fit. Furthermore, additional classes and jobs may become available to you as the world and your own personal endeavors progress.”
“Me and my people?” David thought. “This dream is turning strange really quick.”
Suddenly an interface phased in around the model of himself.
NAME: David
AGE: 20
SPECIES: Human
CLASS: Undecided
JOB: Undecided
FACTION: None
GUILD: None
David stared at the interface for a moment before deciding to try and interact with it the same way he would in a VR game on the Hermes; using his hands.
He noticed the fields labeled Name, Age, Species, Faction and Guild were grayed out, and trying to select them did nothing. He then selected the Class field and the model of himself updated to be wearing what looked like a type of leather armor. The interface changed to show details on what he assumed was the default class. A voice read over the text as it appeared in front of him.
CLASS: Berserker
Description: One of the original classes of Elios, Berserkers originated from the sheer will to destroy foes with great force. Berserkers start by wielding a heavy two- handed weapon, but as they gain expertise with their class unlock the strength to wield a heavy two-handed weapon in each hand. Their ability to do massive damage, however, is countered with their inability to negate and mitigate damage. Their proficiency in wearing light armor does provide some light damage absorption.
David had always loved the idea of playing a class in a VR game that charged into battle with massive weapons and proceeded to just slash and smash through enemies, but his preferred play style and outright strengths when it came to roleplaying games seemed suited more towards ranged classes. David enjoyed making use of the ability to strategize a fight from afar and adapt accordingly based on what he saw.
After looking at over fifteen class choices, David finally found one that piqued his interest.
CLASS: Beastmaster
Description: A newly found class to the world of Elios, Beastmaster’s harness an innate ability to recruit the wildlife of the planet to join the Beastmaster in battle. While current Beastmaster’s have only been able to tame smaller primitive creatures of Elios, many believe someone truly exceptional in the arts of beast mastery would be able to larger creatures that roam the lands and perhaps...even titan’s themselves. A Beastmaster allows their companion’s to do the up close fighting while they aid from a distance with their ranged weaponry.
“Whoa.” David thought. “Tame a titan? That just SOUNDS cool. He looked at a couple more classes before backtracking to the Beastmaster. “This sounds right up my alley.”
He chose the Beastmaster as his class, then selected the Job field.
David couldn’t help but be amazed by the enormous amount of jobs that were available.
“Damn. I wish I wasn’t dreaming,” he said. “An online RPG with this many options sounds insanely fun.”
The possible job choices seemed endless: Alchemist, Woodsman, Explorer, Miner, Blacksmith, Herbalist, Armorsmith, Trader, Carpenter, Diplomat, Enchanter, Mason, Entertainer, Musician, Researcher, Artist, Entrepreneur, Innkeeper, Physician, Banker, Chef, Fisher, Astronomer.
That was just a fraction of the choices. David originally hadn’t noticed as he cycled through each possible job and glanced over their details, but under each job title was a series of stars ranging from one to five.
As David continued looking through his job options, a particular job caught his eye. It was simply titled ‘Leader’, but had a gold glow around it which none of the other jobs seemed to have. Intrigued, he cycled over to it and read the description.
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JOB: Leader
★★★★★
Description: A true leader puts the care of his friends and allies before the care of himself. Their commanding presence and ability to lead others allows them to provide extremely useful buffs and perks to allies both in combat and out of combat. Leaders early in their job path may only be able to lead small parties of allies, but eventually they can lead large raid groups and even command armies to fight titan’s and other threats. A successfully leader may even find themselves as King of their own kingdom some day.
NOTE: This job is not available to everyone and has been unlocked for you specifically based on your initial scan. You are extremely qualified for this job as is depicted by the five star rating below the job title. Leader’s are extremely rare in Titan’s Online, so it’s recommended that you do not share this knowledge to anyone other than those close to you until you have increased your level. After all, people may specifically target those who may someday challenge them.
David reread the text one more time to fully understand what it was saying. Him? A leader? This essentially confirmed to him that he was currently dreaming. Leadership roles didn’t typically present themselves to David. He had never been a leader in any format throughout his many jobs, and had not led a guild or even a raid group in any of the games he played.
Despite what he believed to be inexperience as a leader, the thought of being a leader intrigued David. He thought it over carefully before choosing Leader as his job. He then saw a bright green button appear in the bottom right corner of the interface labeled ‘FINALIZE’.
Text flashed in front of David as the interface and model of himself faded away.
Character Profile Completed.
Welcome to Titan’s Online.
It seemed as though the world began to materialize around him. First the bright blue sky with a large pink sun high in it. Followed were the large trees all around him. Last came the dark green grass below him.
David opened his mouth and inhaled a huge amount of air into his lungs. It felt oddly fresh compared to what he was used to breathing. For a dream, this was as realistic as it got. He looked down and noticed that for the first time since he had been dreaming, he could see his arms and legs. He tried to lift his right arm and nearly scared himself when it actually moved into the air as was his goal.
He began to stand up while taking in his surroundings. He was in an open glade in what looked to be a thick forest. He noticed at his feet was a small wooden shortbow, a small quiver filled with arrows, and a tattered brown loincloth. David looked down again and realized the intent of the loincloth.
“Aw hell!” he said angrily. “I’m naked!” He quickly picked up the objects at his feet and realized with each object he picked up, a notification box popped up in the bottom right corner of his vision and scrolled upwards before disappearing.
You have obtained a Crude Wooden Shortbow.
You have obtained a Small Quiver.
You have obtained 12 x Crude Arrow.
You have obtained a Rugged Loincloth.
It as at this moment that David realized an unobtrusive interface that surrounded his vision. Various buttons were visible that all seemed incredibly useful: Character Profile, Inventory, Equipment, Class Info, Job Info, Quest Log, and a handful of other buttons that simply said ‘Unavailable’.
He also noticed in the top left of his view was what appeared to be a three bars. He glanced over the three bars and read the small text beside them.
Health Points: 14/14
Energy: 5/5
Experience: 0%
“Pretty standard by most roleplaying game standards,” David muttered to himself. “Wait, fourteen health? That doesn’t sound like a lot!”
David remembered he was naked and decided dream or not, he should probably put that loincloth on. He wasn’t quite sure exactly how it happened, but he just thought of browsing his inventory and sure enough his inventory window popped up. He looked at the slot holding the loincloth and it appeared in his hands along with a popup window.
Rugged Loincloth
Armor Type: Light
Armor Slot: Legs
Quality: Common
Effects: +1 Armor
Description: Pants. Well, sort of. More of just a cloth that covers your backside...and frontside.
David wrapped the loincloth around his waist as a notification in the bottom right scrolled across the screen.
You have equipped Rugged Loincloth.
He reopened his inventory and looked over the other loot he had just picked up.
Crude Wooden Shortbow
Weapon Type: Ranged Bow
Quality: Common
Effects: +1 Damage on successful arrow hits.
Description: Some would call this a shoddy bow. Others would call this a twig with a very thin twine wrapped around its ends.
Small Quiver
Accessory Type: Quiver
Quality: Common
Effects: Holds up to 20 low quality arrows.
Description: A simple small quiver that gets the job done, which is holding some low quality arrows.
Crude Arrow x 12
Ammo Type: Ranged Bow
Quality: Common
Effects: +1 blunt damage on successful arrow hits.
Description: A small twig with a small sharp rock attached to its end.
David found the humor in how even in his dream game he had to start with the absolute worst equipment possible, which was common in the roleplaying games he played. He equipped everything
You have equipped Crude Wooden Shortbow.
You have equipped Small Quiver.
You have placed Crude Arrow x 12 in your Small Quiver.
Right after equipping the low quality equipment, a notification flashed in his view.
You have obtained a quest: Learning the Ways
As David read the name of the quest a window popped up revealing the details of the quest while also reading it aloud.
Quest: Learning the Ways
Description: A rabid small wolf has wandered nearby, and isn’t looking to make friends. Use your newly found equipment to slay the rabid small wolf.
As the quest dialogue finished, David heard a rustle in the woods behind him and quickly turned around. Sure enough, a small rabid wolf walked slowly out of the woods, showing its mangy teeth and dripping drool as he let out a low growl.
David instinctively reached his hands behind his back, grabbing his newly acquired shortbow. He reached into the quiver and nocked an arrow and pointed it at the wolf while slowly backing up. David stared at the wolf, trying to anticipate its plan.
The wolf lunged at David and he released the crude tension on his shortbow, firing the crude arrow at the wolf. The arrow struck the wolf the side of its head and then snapped in half. Though the arrow didn’t pierce the wolf’s skin, it did disorient it and cause the momentum of its lunging towards David to halt. David noticed a series of red text scroll above the wolf's head.
Small Rabid Wolf received 2 points of damage.
As David reached for another arrow the wolf snapped forward at him, swiping his left arm that held the shortbow. It ripped open David’s skin and a little bit of blood oozed out. He noticed the health points bar in the top left of his vision drop change from 14 to 12 and then realized the scratch hurt like hell.
“Holy shit! That hurts, it burns!” David screamed at the wolf, looking as a little bit of blood continued to dribble out of his arm.
“I’ve never experienced pain in a dream,” David thought to himself. He assumed the stasis had created a dream state so deep that even pain could be felt. It didn’t really make sense, but how else could he explain it?
The wolf growled ferociously at David and he quickly decided he didn’t have time to interpret what was actually going on, but told himself that dream or not what was happening felt so real that he didn’t want to risk getting bit by the damn thing.
He jumped backward while grabbing for another arrow and aiming it at the wolf’s eye. He released and sent the arrow flying at it as it continued to growl. The crude arrow slammed into the eye of the wolf before bouncing to the ground below it. A bit of blood poured from its eye as it let out a loud whimper.
Small Rabid Wolf received 4 points of damage.
“Well, that was better,” David said aloud.
The wolf dashed in David’s direction and he quickly tried to jump out of its way. Unfortunately for David he wasn’t fast enough and the wolf’s bit into the David’s calf. Two large puncture holes appeared and blood began to seep out of them. David’s health points bar dropped from 12 to 7 and David felt a surge of adrenaline surge through him.
David turned towards the wolf and slammed the one end of it down onto the wolf while reaching for another arrow.
Small Rabid Wolf received 2 points of damage.
As David lifted the shortbow back up into the air he placed the arrow into position, aiming at the wolf’s injured eye. He released the arrow quickly and watched as this arrow slammed into its eye and rip a couple of inches into the wolf’s head. He wasn’t sure if that arrow was somehow sharper than the rest, or if the wolf’s eye was damaged from the previous attack, but he was happy to see it work. The rabid wolf instantly fell to the ground. A flutter of notifications filled David’s vision.
Small Rabid Wolf received 6 points of damage. You have killed the Small Rabid Wolf.
You have gained three experience points.
You have completed the quest Learning the Ways.
David noticed his experience points bar had changed from 0% to 14%. “Not too bad,” he thought to himself. He decided he wanted to open his his quest log to see if it indicated how to actually turn it in, when he heard a loud wailing noise.
David turned to see another wolf, but instead was saw a humanoid looking creature stumble from the woods and fall to the ground face first. Though the creature looked humanoid in appearance--two long legs, two feet, two arms, two hands--David realized its skin was light blue and even a little translucent.
David was intrigued by the creature that lay before him, so he walked over to it slowly.
“Uhh, hello? Are you okay? Sir? Err--thing?” he called to it quietly.
When David reached the body of the creature, he reached down to try and roll it over. Doing so revealed that the head on the creature had three narrow indentations into the top of its head that almost looked like gills on a fish. As David touched the creature to turn it over it let out a loud wail and a vision appeared in David’s view.
David saw what looked to be hundreds of creatures much like the one he had just touched. They were underwater and appeared to be swimming around with each other. It looked as though they were playing a game. Some of them were the same size as the creature he just saw--probably adults--while others were smaller and looked to be children. The vision faded out as another one filled his view.
The creatures climbed out of the water onto a shore. The planet in this vision was lush with bright red plant life, and had plants and trees unlike anything David had ever seen. The creatures seemed shocked and excited that they were able to breathe successfully above the water and began jump and even seemingly dance in excitement. One of the younger looking creatures walked over to a bulbous red plant and grabbed it. The plant exploded, blowing off the arm of the creature. All of the creatures panicked and wailed as they grabbed the young one and then quickly ran and jumped back into the water. Once again the vision faded out and another filled David’s view.
This vision seemed to be much later than the events he had seen so far. There were now tens of thousands--maybe even more--of the creatures underwater. Not only were there many more creatures than before, but they had large underwater homes and structures that they swam back and forth between. David wasn’t sure how to explain it, but they no longer looked happy. Rather than dancing and playing, they were cruel to each other. They argued and even appeared to get into physical altercations. The vision faded out and the final one entered David’s view.
What looked to be explosions rippled in the distance as destroyed underwater homes and thousands and thousands of body parts from the creatures filled his vision. As David began to realize what had happened a bright red bulbous plant seemed to sink into the water from above and exploded right in David’s view, ending the vision.
As David seemed to snap out of the vision, he quickly let go of the creature that was lying on the ground in front of him. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt disgusted...angry...and most of all, scared. He took off running through the woods from the creature as a mix of emotions engulfed him. He could’ve sworn he felt a tear stream down his cheek as he ran through the forest. What did he just see? Why did it feel so real to him. So personal, even?
As David ran through the woods, not really knowing why he felt this way or why he was running, he didn’t see that he had approached a cliffside. As he realized he tried to stop but it was too late and David began to fall. The ground was at least thirty feet below him, now. For a second, he thought, “At least I’ll wake up from this dream. You can’t die in your dreams, right?” But as he fell, he realized everything about this dream seemed very very real. He quickly felt a rush of panic as the ground rapidly approached from below him.
He slammed into the ground as the bones inside both of his legs snapped and jutted outwards through his skin.