Chapter One: Preliminary

            I was falling.

            It was a strange sensation, to be standing on solid ground and yet have my body feel weightless, my stomach protesting at the endless lurch.  My family – my little sister, my older brother, and my parents – were with me, but the rest of the amusement park crowd around us had vanished, as had the amusement park itself.  Instead, apart from the rapidly changing patch of land underneath cycling through different forms with dizzying speed,  our surroundings were simply an endless kaleidoscope sky rushing up and away from us, and nothing else.

            My teenage sister let out an eep of surprise, while my graduate student brother looked around in confusion.  My parents were silent; I glanced at them to find them staring at the strange environment in shock.

            And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.  We were in some sort of cave, damp and cool, lit only by the strange smokeless torches attached to the statue in front of us.  The stone carving stood perhaps twenty feet high, the likeness of a man in a robe holding a sword forward as he raised his other hand high nearly perfect.  At its base, a large plaque covering in strange runes served as our only greeting.

            “What just happened?” my father said, suddenly alert for threats.  He wasn’t a violent man, but I knew he would do anything to protect his family, and though his tall frame wasn’t rippling with muscle like a bodybuilder or a sports player, he was deceptively strong from his regular workouts at the gym.

            “Where are we?” my sister added, sidling up to my mother with an expression that showed curiosity warring with fear.  She was endlessly inquisitive, but such a sudden and strange occurrence as this was too much, even for her.  And though she loved nature, a cave wasn’t exactly the most thrilling of natural environments when the only feature worth noting was a manmade statue.

            “I don’t know,” my mother answered, wrapping an arm around my sister protectively.  She was our family’s glue, whose steadfastness, love, and stern guidance held us together.  It was also from her that my sister probably got her curiosity; my mother had a deep and abiding love of science for the wonders it provided.

            My brother stepped forward, leaning in to examine the runes.  He, like my father, was the scholarly sort, and his first thought seemed to be to examine the surroundings for clues.  He adjusted his glasses – all the males in my family had them – and squinted at the carvings.

            “I have no idea what these are,” he admitted after a moment.

            I, in my infinite wisdom and not-at-all-impulsive-idiocy, stepped up beside my brother and placed the palm of my hand against the relief.

            There was a loud ding, as from a toaster oven, and suddenly I could hear an androgynous voice in my head.

            [For being the first in your group to touch the Statue of Champions, you have been designated as Leader.  The others in your group have been designated Members of your Party.  Your Party has gained the ability to read Runescript.  The Class options available to your Party have been adjusted based on your subconscious desires.  Please make your Class selections within the next hour, or those who have not chosen will be assigned random Classes.  You may select one Primary Class and one Secondary Class.]

            The runes didn’t change, but suddenly, I could understand them.  Judging by my brother’s sudden exclamation, so could he.

            “What was that?!  Why can I read these runes all of a sudden?”

            I read silently along with him as he read aloud.

            “Welcome to the Trial of Champions.  Within lurk hazards, traps, and monsters.  Should you pass the Trial, you will be transported to another world of adventure and danger.  Before you begin, you must first choose your Primary and Secondary Class, which will grant you the powers you need to endure the challenges ahead.  As you accomplish feats, your powers will grow stronger, enabling you to tackle more difficult tasks.  You have one hour to make your decisions, after which the Trial will begin.”

            There was a great rumbling as pedestals rose out of the stone around us, each bearing a torch on its side and a hovering object above its flat top.  It took nearly a minute for the dozens of pedestals to finish rising up, after which silence fell over my family.

            My sister was the first to move, her curiosity overcoming her fear.  She practically dashed over to a pedestal with a statuette of a tiger above it.  I heard my brother mutter, “What is this, a LitRPG?” as he went to examine the nearest pedestal, which held a what looked like a potion bottle.  My parents just looked perplexed.

            “Don’t touch anything,” my father warned.  “We don’t know what’s going on.”

            “Be careful,” my mother added.

            As I investigated, I realized that each pedestal had a small plaque with the name of the class that the item on it represented.  It didn’t take me long to realize that many of them at the least shared a name with classes from a certain popular roleplaying game.

            The sword: Fighter.  The shield: Paladin.  The book: Wizard.  The tiger: Druid.  The wand: Sorcerer.  The… lute, I guess: Bard.  The staff: Monk.  The bow: Ranger.  The lockpicks: Rogue.  The cross: Cleric.  The axe: Barbarian.

            But others were different.  There was a four-leaf clover labeled Herbalist, a potion labeled Alchemist, what looked like a sack of coins labeled Merchant, a strange rod with liquid inside visible through a glass slit labeled Artificer, and many more.  In total, there were thirty possible classes to choose from.  Some of them seemed like support or creation classes, others were clearly for combat, and some were magic-focused.

            My parents quietly talked to each other and tried to find a way out (there wasn’t one) while we siblings explored.

            [Time remaining: Forty-five minutes.]

            I wasn’t the only one to hear the voice that time.  We regrouped to discuss what to do.

            “As crazy as this situation is, I say we roll with it,” I said.  “I mean, if we can’t get out of here, isn’t it better to try to equip ourselves as best as possible to handle whatever comes next?  It kind of sounds like this is a life-or-death thing, and I really don’t want to die.”

            “I agree,” my brother said.  “Besides, as strange as this all is, it’s fascinating.  Don’t you want to learn more, Dad?  There has to be some kind of explanation for all this.  It’s like something out of a game novel, but there must be rules to how all this works.”

            “I’m kind of scared, but also excited,” my sister added.  “What if this is real magic?”

            “I don’t believe in what I don’t have evidence for,” my father said.  “We don’t know what’s happening.  We can’t jump to conclusions.  Our main priority is staying safe, followed by finding a way out of here.”

            “Your father is right.  But you’re also right, Yuan, and so are you, Todd.  I’m concerned, but like Renee, I’m a little excited, too.  Science is all about experimentation and studying how things work, after all, and if we truly have been brought somewhere with new rules we don’t know…”  There was a gleam in her eye, one I recognized from when she used to volunteer to teach science at the public school when we were kids.

            My father sighed.  “All right.  But don’t touch until we’ve discussed together.  Now, you kids seem to have some idea of what might be going on.  Todd, you said this seemed like a ‘game novel.’  What’s a game novel?”

            Before my brother could respond, I jumped in.  “More frequently called a LitRPG, which stands for literary RPG, where RPG stands for roleplaying game.  Basically, it’s a novel where the world follows videogame rules or similar.  There are often classes, which determine what capabilities people have, and you can level up to get stronger or advance your capabilities, often by learning skills or fighting monsters.  The whole mention of classes and the names of some of these classes seems very much like that sort of thing.”

            Todd nodded.  “Yeah, like Yuan said.  Some of these pedestals are labeled with familiar class names, which could give us an idea of what they do, but others are new.”

            “For example, Druids are nature magic users in a lot of games, often with animal sidekicks,” I said.  My sister’s eyes lit up.

            “I want that one!” she declared.

            “I’m leaning toward Wizard, myself,” Todd said.  “They learn magic through study in many stories and games.  Scholar mages, if you will.”

            “Depending on whether these classes actually correspond to the game they seem to come from,” I said, “Sorcerer may be my first pick.  They do magic more intuitively, with magic running in their blood.  Of course, if it’s not corresponding to the game, it might be ‘pacts with evil spirits’ type magic, and that would be… bad.”

            “Which is why we need to see if there’s any way to investigate what the classes do before choosing them,” my brother concluded.  My mother nodded in agreement.

            “What about this shield one, Paladin?” my father asked.  He was also a scholarly type, which is probably where my brother got it from.  “Does it have something to do with Charlemagne?”

            “Er… no,” I said, suppressing a laugh.  “The word Paladin hasn’t referred just to the knights of Charlemagne in a long time.  It’s basically a holy warrior.  In the game that these seem to come from, Paladins are focused on smiting evil and healing others.”

            “Why is the symbol a shield, then?”

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            “Beats me.  Maybe it’s intended as a protector class?”

            We continued discussing things until we received another notification.

            [Time remaining: thirty minutes.]

            “We’d better start figuring out what the classes actually do,” I said.  “I’m going to try something.”

            I walked over to the wand and poked it.  Information popped into my head.

SORCERER

A mage who uses magic by intuition.  His spells are etched into his very blood.

Starting Equipment: Enhancement Wand

Starting Features: Spirit Animal

Starting Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Minor Telekinesis, Force Armor, Magic Missile

            “All right.  Just touch the item – but don’t take it – and it should give you a brief description.  Also, yoink.”

            I grabbed the wand and removed it from the pedestal.

            [You have chosen Sorcerer as your Primary Class.  Spirit Animal will be summoned based on personal preferences.  Granting spell knowledge.]

            Darkness swirled around my ankles, and moments later – moments during which the knowledge of how to channel magical energy into the listed spells poured into my brain – a small black cat appeared right beside me.

            “Uh… hi?”

            The cat rubbed up against my ankle, purring.

            “I’mma name you Shadow,” I said.  The cat kept purring.

            I glanced back up to see my father frowning at me.  I probably should have asked first, shouldn’t I?

            My seventeen-year-old sister followed my lead, poking the tiger figurine.

DRUID

A mage connected to nature itself.  Her spells are granted by that connection.

Starting Equipment: Short Spear

Starting Features: Animal Companion

Starting Spells: Create Water, Detect Poison, Purify, Lesser Healing, Animal Speech

            Why was I seeing the same information that she was?  Maybe it was because I was the leader?  In any event, she pulled the figurine off, almost immediately dropping it as it started to move, transforming in seconds into a full-grown tiger.  A one-handed spear coalesced out of what looked like mist, dropping into her outstretched hand.

            Todd prodded the book.

WIZARD

A mage who unravels the secrets of magic through diligent study.  His spells are inscribed in his spellbook.

Starting Equipment: Spellbook

Starting Features: Spirit Animal

Starting Spells: Magic Sight, Lux, Decipher Script, Force Disk, Silent Illusion

            He grabbed the book, and a white raven formed on his shoulder.  Huh.  He didn’t have any attack spells.  That seemed like an oversight.

            I turned to my parents.  “We should probably all pick our primary classes before any of us pick secondary classes,” I said.  “What about you guys?”

            They were much less eager to pick the first class they checked, but in the end, my father picked Paladin and my mother picked Alchemist.

PALADIN

A shining knight who uses both martial might and blessed magic.  A stalwart defender, his magic is not limited to spells alone; the blessed power comes from within.

Starting Equipment: Shield, Sword

Starting Features: Healing Hands, Smite Evil

Starting Spells: Blessed Armaments

ALCHEMIST

A magic scientist whose experiments yield potions, poisons, transmutations, and more.  While she cannot cast spells, she can create a wide variety of magical effects with the right recipes.

Starting Equipment: Portable Alchemist Lab, Ingredients for Starting Recipes

Starting Features: Substance Identification, Mixing Intuition

Starting Recipes: Healing Potion, Firebomb, Steel Transmutation, Mist Grenade

            My father now had a large shield-shaped shield (I didn’t know how else to describe it) and an arming sword.  My mother, on the other hand, had a backpack full of equipment and a bandolier for holding potion bottles.

            [Time remaining: ten minutes.]

            With not much time left to decide on our secondary classes, my siblings just picked things that suited their personalities.

BARD

A mage whose magic is embodied in music and dance.  Her spells spring forth from her performances.

Starting Equipment: Musical Instrument

Starting Features: Magical Performance

Starting Spells: Dancing Lights, Auditory Illusion, Lullaby, Charm, Frighten

ARTIFICER

A magic crafter and engineer who creates equipment, tools, and garb imbued with magical traits.  While he does not cast spells directly, his creations might enable him to mimic them.

Starting Equipment: Portable Artificer Lab

Starting Features: Magic Imbuement, Sculpt Mana

Starting Skills: Woodcraft, Metalcraft, Tailoring

            My parents and I had more trouble deciding.  I wanted a way to fight without magic, but I wasn’t very physically impressive.  Eventually, I settled on Ranger.

RANGER

A hunter who fights with sword and bow alongside his animal companion.  He possesses some minor nature magic to complement his martial prowess.

Starting Equipment: Bow, Sword

Starting Features: Animal Companion

Starting Spells: Animal Stealth

            When I removed the bow, I also got a quiver full of arrows, an archery glove, and a single-edged straight sword.

            [You have chosen Ranger as your Secondary Class.  Animal Companion will be summoned based on personal preferences.  Granting spell knowledge.]

            After a few seconds, a bald-eagle-sized hawk appeared out of nowhere, landing on my instinctively-outstretched and inexplicably gloved left hand.  I hadn’t even noticed the glove appearing.  Odd.

            My mother, after the countdown hit five minutes, chose Merchant; my father picked Summoner.

MERCHANT

A savvy and clever buyer and seller of goods.  She has great people skills, able to use her words and manner to convince others to like her, enabling her to get good bargains and make trade contacts easily.

Starting Equipment: Gold, Silver.

Starting Features: Magnetic Charm, Silver Tongue

Starting Skills: Bargaining, Gather Information, Appraisal

SUMMONER

A mage who calls upon the aid of spirits and monsters whose outlook is in line with his own.  His spells are drawn from the veil between dimensions.

Starting Equipment: Enhancement Talisman

Starting Features: Summon Spirit, Summon Monster

Starting Spells: Daze, Lux, Bolster, Draw Attack, Heal Spirit

            [The Trial of Champions will now begin.  Complete the Trial swiftly and with flair and you will be rewarded with a Boon.]

            With another grinding noise, the pedestals began to sink into the ground.  The statue began to sink as well.  When it had completely disappeared into the floor, a white circle whose circumference was composed of various tiny geometric shapes shimmered into being in its place.

            “Is that some sort of teleportation circle?” I said.

            My cat meowed and my hawk shuffled its feathers.

            “Yeah, I think so,” my brother’s raven, which was sitting on his shoulder, squawked, startling all of us.

            “You can talk?” Todd said in surprise.  “Oh, right, you’re a raven, and raven famil—I mean, spirit animals can talk.”

            “Yeah, I can.”

            “Fascinating.  Do you have a name?” he said, adjusting his glasses.

            “Nope, not yet.”

            “So you’re waiting for me to name you?”

            “Yeah, I am.”

            “Hm… how about Albee?  Short for albino,” he explained.

            “Yeah, works for me.”

            I looked at my bird.  It wasn’t supernaturally intelligent, being an animal companion instead of a supernatural being.  “I’mma call you Rusty,” I said, mimicking my brother and naming it after its coloration.

            “Sheena,” I heard Renee say, and I glanced back at her to find her stroking the tiger’s head.  It seemed remarkably calm about that.

            My mother laughed nervously.  “All these animals…” she said.

            My father, who was holding his sword and shield at the ready, looked like he was contemplating something.

            “I’m going to try summoning a spirit,” he said at last.  “According to the knowledge shoved into my head” – he sounded displeased about that – “I can only form a bond with one spirit upon summoning it for the first time.  I wouldn’t believe any of this, but after everything I’ve just seen, I’m suspending my disbelief until we’re safe.”

            He closed his eyes and concentrated as we all watched, his mouth moving to unheard words. A full minute passed, my arm starting to grow a little tired from holding Rusty.  Then, suddenly and without warning, there was a flash of golden light in front of him.

            When my eyes adjusted, I was met with the sight of what was obviously an angel.  The man had smooth, porcelain-white skin, shimmering silver hair, bright blue eyes, large white-gold-feathered wings, a spotless white toga-like outfit, a golden bow on his back, and a silvery two-handed double-edged sword in his hands.  He swept his eyes over all of us, then turned to face my father, who had finally opened his eyes.

            “Mortal,” the angel said in a strong, melodious voice.  “You have summoned me from the celestial planes to bind us together.  Only one with a strong sense of what is right is capable of such a feat.  Tell me, mortal: who are you, and what is your goal?”

            “My name is Jonathan,” my father said, his voice wavering, his expression screaming that he couldn’t believe what was happening.  “And my goal is to protect my family.”

            “A noble goal.”

            “Are… you an angel?” my father said skeptically.

            The angel smiled.  “I am Arkenthra, angel of the celestial planes.”

            “Celestial planes?”

            “I’m like, ninety-nine percent sure we’re not in the same universe anymore,” I interjected.

            Arkenthra glanced at me.

            “Yes, this place does seem to be an unusual plane, artificially designed.  You and I must indeed come from different worlds.  I feel sorrow that you have been taken from your homes and brought to this place.  Should we form a bond, I will do my utmost to ensure you are all protected until such a time as you find a way to return.”

            My father shook his head as though trying to clear his thoughts.  “Then let’s form a bond.”

            “Do you vow to be righteous in your conduct always?”

            “I do.  I chose Paladin for my other class, after all.”

            “Then the pact is forged.  Do not fear to place me in danger; I cannot die when not on the celestial planes.  I will fight for your goal: to protect your family.  Now, to that end, we must with haste use the teleportation circle, because I sense that this chamber is about to collapse.”

            “I guess whatever’s in charge of this Trial doesn’t want us to stay here!” I said in alarm.  “Shadow, up on my shoulder!”

            My black cat jumped onto my extended right arm, then raced up onto my right shoulder.

            “I’ll step through first,” my father said.  “It might be dangerous wherever it takes us.”

            He strode with purpose onto the teleportation circle, followed by the angel.  Both vanished as soon as they were completely past the edge.  My brother went next, followed by my sister, and then I went, my mother close behind.