Chapter 1. False Start

I needed to act fast. If I didn’t help the Elemental during its power-state, I wouldn’t be able to finish my quest. We were seconds away. I whispered into the air, “Talk to Spirits,” holding my palms up, dramatically. Nothing happened. I panicked, looking at Janica, my game guide, for help.

“Open your Spell Book,” she said. “A spell is a complicated thing. You have to understand it with nuance before you can just call out the name of it. But for now you can open your Spell Book and activate it the slow way.”

“How do I open my Spell Book?” I asked.

“Just think ‘Spell Book’ and it will appear.”

I did, and a holographic book appeared in my hands. I paged through Rejuvenate and Lightning Strike, spells that I couldn’t cast. Yet. On the next page in bold, gothic lettering, the title read “Talk to Spirits.” My eyes scanned the page, its contents full of diagrams, symbols and mathematical equations. It reminded me of DaVinci’s notebook.

“Put your hand on the page,” Janica said. “Think ‘activate’.”

I followed her instructions. A rush of energy flooded through me. A tingling in my fingers. A sort of mental awakening that came about all in an instant like I had jumped into a cold pool. A line of yellowish-white cords shot from my head toward the Elemental, weaving their way toward it and connecting us.

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Its head turned for a moment and met my eyes. A silent acknowledgement.

A prompt appeared in front of me.

Do you wish to abandon your party and join Earth Spirit? Doing so will mark you as hostile to all players in combat with the Earth Spirit. Yes/No

“Wait, wait,” the man said, holding his hands up. “Hold up. Warren, you need to start at the beginning.”

I sighed, letting the flow of telling my story slip away. “Like, from the moment I logged into the game for the first time?”

Two people stared at me from the video call. Each in their mid thirties. The man wore a baseball cap backwards and a black t-shirt. The woman had hair that was dyed purple, and her eyes were made up to look like cat eyes. Yet, the words that labeled them on the video call indicated that they were not lost concert-attendees. Matt, Senior Game Master, Integration Online. Carol, Head of Player Relations, Integration Online.

The woman shook her head. “No,” she said. “Before that. Start the day before you logged in.”

“Why?” I asked. “Is all of that necessary?”

Matt leaned into the camera. “Give us a sense of where you’re coming from. Remember, this is kind of a hearing. We’re trying to determine if we need to ban you from the game. The more you give us, the better of a decision we can make. The events of the past week have been… unusual.”

I nodded. “Alright. Okay. A week ago, then. I was working a shift at the clothing factory.”