Darkborn, p.2
Darkborn, page 2
part #1 of The Unbinding Series
“Ah, yes. The undead racial defence trait. Don’t worry, it’s an at will ability.. Well, you will it, and then you need to wash up afterwards… it’s great for hiding in graveyards… and abattoirs… But be aware that the natural world tends to be unhappy about the aberrant creatures of the world.”
“That’s okay. Let’s finish those trials you mentioned. I’d like to get this show on the road!”
“Your enthusiasm is noted. The first trial was adjusting your mind to the existence of this world, and to allow the basic sensory input to register with your mental state. The next stage is to inhabit your new body, and to practice movement. Expected time frame is 1 hour, modified by the undead attunement factor to 1 hour 45 minutes.”
There’s a brief bright flash and the feeling of falling, then I’m standing where I was looking, looking towards where I was standing. Up until now the experience was mostly mental, but now, I couldn’t believe how real this all felt. I put my arms out and look at my hands. My skin is pale with a green tint. I can almost hear my tendons move. This body probably needs some upkeep. I wonder who I was when I was alive…
Hidden quest found: Who were you?
How did you die? Most undead accept fate with a solemn demeanour, but you will not go gently into that dark night. Maybe there was foul play, maybe you offed yourself. If you can discover any information about this, it could be a defining trait for you.
A block of text hovers in front of me. There’s a happy yes button, and a sad no button. This game seems to like to ensoul things that shouldn’t really have emotions.
So that’s how quests work then. It’s a nice touch I guess. I’ll take it
The game takes that as a yes, and the quest is accepted.
Quest gained: Who are you?
Ability Discovered: Curiosity
Ability Discovered: Focus
And I get stat gains by accepting quests? Nice.
Are you paying attention to me at all?
It makes me smile. On my acknowledging the window, it vanishes.
Good. Now please go through the following routine for me..
I take three hours to finish the first trial. The game makes me jump in place for long minutes. Spinning in place. Touch your nose. Regular field sobriety test. It culminates in a thrilling 20 meter shamble, where I realise how difficult it is to move a body that I wasn’t born in, that I didn’t grow up in. After a few faceplants, my Attunement meter increases to 30%
Trial 2 completed. Your Guide will inform you of the requirements for Trial 3
Ephraim floats towards me, and with a shock I realise he’s no longer a green square, he’s a 2d sprite of a cherub.
“Well done Shae! You completed your trials in… time…”
A sideways glance makes me think the time isn’t exactly great. Fine, it took me some time to finish. Sue me!
“Now, the next step is normally to either begin combat training or crafting training, depending on the path you selected. Since you selected the path of Jack, you’ll be able to select which one gets priority. First, you need to go back above. Please use the ripcord functionality of your UI to go back out. You will be disoriented when you wake up, with a mild headache. This function exists so a user is able to flee from any dire situation, but we have to make sure you know what it is and how it works. When you get up, you will need to wait 24 hours before you come back inside. While you are out there, please read the documentation sent to your email address. It will help in the last trial. Thank you for coming here. I am happy to be able to serve you, Above as Below.”
I give him an awkward smile, a half hearted wave, and notice a glowing handle icon in my UI. It probably only shows up when I look for it. I focus on it and pull it with my mind. There is a whoosh, a sucking feeling and a weird light-show, then everything goes dark once more. The sheer sensation of panic doesn’t come back. Sounds of the world come back. Wind, cars, children. I remove the helmet, wincing a little from the stiffness, and stare at the ceiling.
That was awesome…
Chapter 2 - Hazing
I get up and rub my eyes to clear out the confusion. Wow… the real world is such a bummer… It’s more muted, less vivid than I remember. Even my thoughts are slower than they should be. A crash of pots and pans alert me to my parents’ presence downstairs. They’ll be making themselves some food before they head back outside with their friends. They belong to a group of people who reject a lot of the modern technology available. They refuse to use autocars, relying on dumcars when they were legal, and bikes now they aren’t. They harp on about the new generation of smartphones being “too smart”, and long for the time when all they’d use a phone for was games, web browsing and chatting. New technology like the neural interfaces and AI-like assistants are nothing but waste of resources better spent on social activities and drink. It’s one of our big points of contention. I go out to see if there’s anything to eat yet, and am met with two grown people staring at their phones, tapping away. I roll my eyes and try to get to the fridge undetected.
“Hey Sharon, how’s life in the all-consuming machine?”
My father, the failed hipster quips without looking up from his phone. I sigh and open the fridge as my mother looks up.
“What’s going on with your hair? Have you been sleeping? It’s the middle of the day! How was your appointment with Dr. Peters?”
Oh good, she’s learnt to feign interest.
“He says I’m fine and shouldn’t worry too much about stuff. Same as every time. Hey, I’ll be busy in my room for a few days. I’ve got a new job online.”
Best not to mention too much about tech experiments to these two.
“I’ll get up to Basic 1 for the duration, so I can add more to the rent for a while.”
Also a good idea to keep the amount of money to myself. My parents give each other a look I’m not sure how to identify.
“What kind of job? Online? In your room? Are you involved in online porn?”
My face warms up as blood rushes in.
“No mom, I will be field testing some new technology for a company. It’s not a big deal, but I need privacy when I’m working.”
“Okay… Just set your account to active so we know you’re alright”
Yeah, and so you can access my money when you need to. Pragmatic as always, dad.
The conversation drops off rapidly, and I escape into my room with some high nutrition bars and water. I’ve never seen the point in fancy food or lots of sweets. Where all my surplus weight comes from is anyone’s guess. I duck back into my fortress of solitude, lock the door and log back onto the website. This time I can use the headset to navigate. It’s running on low immersion, as the cooldown period won’t expire for a day. There is an avatar on the site that seems way too chipper for its job.
“Hi there! I’m Melody! Welcome to the interactive manual for the Below. Would you like to start with the beginners tutorial?”
Okay. That’ll do. I indicate yes.
“Wonderful!”
The fairy-like creature spins in place, waves a wand and the website transforms into an interactive guide.
It turns out to be less in-depth than I’d have preferred. It goes through the simplest theory, the basic premise of the game, some legal stuff about sharing of information. Seems that private forums are frowned upon, with in-game taverns being the best source of game lore and rumours. The world is comprised of various planes of existence, with the one most players inhabit being the Prime plane. There are three meta planes surrounding the prime, which are the astral, ethereal and echo planes, each representing the merging of the prime plane with one of the Elemental forces. The Elemental forces are more basic than the classical elements, like a fantasy version of quantum theory. There is the Physical element which is the primary element of the current cycle, the Essential element which is in decline, and the Magical element which is in ascendance. Each cycle can last millions of years, and changes when a champion of the ascending element defeats a champion of the current element. The current element goes into decline and the declining element gains the ability to choose a new champion. There are also Affinities for each of the elements, and planes based on those, but I decide to wait until later with that. All this theory is making my head foggy. I spend the rest of my day painting. Dark colours with grey shadows, two yellow orbs surrounded by a white smokey collar. I cry myself to sleep.
When I log back into the game, I can’t find Ephraim anywhere. As I search for him, I look around in amazement at how real everything seems. I bend down and feel the water. Cool and fresh, little whirlpools form in the wake of my hand.
“Welcome back Shae!”
The voice is sudden, startling me.
“Aah! Don’t sneak up on people like that! You’ll give me a heart attack!”
“Oh, please don’t worry about that. As a member of the undead, your heart has already stopped. You’re pretty much immune to all normal diseases. Watch out for fungi though, that’ll be hard to get rid of.”
Oh, great. Fungus. Wait, do I rot? I clear my voice to ask the question but Ephraim beats me to it.
“Well, yes and no. It’s time to continue the lessons about your body. Please come with me.”
I get the feeling of being in a moving car as my point of view flies towards him. I’m turned around and get the opportunity to look at my new body in more detail.
“As you can see, your hair falls out when you pull at it, your nails fall out and go away and, as you can probably imagine, wounds do not heal on their own. All this conspires to make for a poor sentient race, or at least not a long lived one. That is why your race has been gifted with an Elemental affinity to Magic even though you are physical creatures. This affinity lets you absorb Mana from your surroundings and use it to keep your body in repair. There is a basic upkeep cost based on your physical development and age, so if your Mana handling abilities fall behind your age or progression, your body will eat itself and rot. In that case, you’ll either become a non sentient skeleton, or cease to exist. However, if you go the other way, and gain too much Mana in too short a time, your body might change, allowing your spirit to exist beyond the Prime realm. This also means your jaunt in this body ends.”
“Huh… so I’m all about magic and physics then?”
“Not exactly… First, it’s Elemental Magical and Elemental Physical. Second, as a Prime creature, you also have a spark of the Essential in you, which is where the concept of gods and divinity comes from. Your constraints on Mana generation and storage means that the path of a Mana user would be extremely difficult for you. I’d say you were more about the managing the Magical and holding on to the Physical for dear life.”
“Fine, fine, can we get to the actual learning? I still have a lot of attunement to accomplish before I’m considered fully integrated in the game.”
I’m tiring of all the theory. Ephraim smiles… Wait a minute, is he more real now? Instead of the 2d sprite, there was a fat little green tinted cherub flying in his place. Very blocky, like an old fashioned video game.
“Ah, yes. As your attunement increases, you will see me more … correctly. This is my penultimate form. The next one will be a real charmer.”
He winks at me as he finishes the sentence.
Ick.
My movements feel much more natural now. I’m given small tasks by the system, like ‘pick up 5 sticks’ and ‘throw sticks into pond’, all intended to make me understand the game system better. By the time I’ve gotten sick of this, I realise I’ve increased strength, agility, endurance and even luck, besides some minor skill increases.
Skills increased: Body control, Aim
I feel very cool, even from this simple progression. After these simple tests, I pick combat as my next trial. Ephraim has me beating a poor spider to a pulp with a stick I find on the ground. Afterwards, I get to make a basic club from spider silk, a stick and a rock I found. Each step of the process, every action I perform takes my breath away, and my muscles ache after even the simplest effort. Finally finished, I wipe the sweat from my brow and look at Ephraim. I gasp as I realise he’s turned into the most beautiful vision I’ve ever seen. Golden curls, chiselled bronze skin, alabaster wings. Where a fat little cherub had stood before, a full grown angel stood in its place. His smile makes me tingle.
“Well done Shae. You have completed the trials set before you and have achieved a high degree of attunement to your new avatar. With this accomplishment, the right to travel the world Below on your own has been earned.”
“Oh, wow, Ephraim… What will happen now?”
I felt a touch of panic come on. Alone in this mysterious world?
“You will do fine here, Shae. You will follow your desires and shape your future in this world. From here on out, you will be in the Prime, and not in this bridge realm. That means that time will become dilated, and for every minute spent in the world Below, 20 seconds will pass in the world Above. This is one of the gifts we offer the tethered souls who visit.”
I take one last at little azure pond. This place doesn’t look quite so real anymore. The sheer colours are starting to feel overdone and tacky. There is no life here, other than the trees and flowers. Not even wind shifts the scene. How did I not realise this before? Maybe it’s the attunement speaking…
“Before you go, I have some parting gifts for you. A cloak to keep you protected from the elements of nature. A celestial stone which will provide you with fire when you need it. And this.”
He hands me a silvery chain, the locket the length of my hand. I open it and see a perfectly preserved alabaster feather.
“With this, you will always have me near. I will always be around your tether, honouring your mandate to the world Above of course. But always keep that close, and I will be able to help you when you need it most.”
My eyes started a little, as I couldn’t find the words. His smile brightened, and the world grew faded into the radiance. And with that, my adventures truly began.
After the flash of white light, the world comes into focus. I’m in a forest. Deep inside, by the look of the trees. The biggest ones created a green canopy high above, with smaller trees and bushes in between. The ground is dry and reddish brown. There’s the taste of cold in the air, with a hint of soft decay. I have a look around and notice my HUD. There is a comfort metre, letting me know I’m perfectly comfortable right now, but getting less comfortable by the minute. There’s the ripcord handle, waving slightly from the attention I give it. No inventory screen, no health bar, no mana, spell book, minimap or compass. I do notice a small question mark. I focus on it, triggering a message.
Would you like to learn more about your HUD?
Yes (full tutorial)
Yes (short tutorial)
No (all tutorials are available offline in a non-interactive form)
I focus on the short tutorial. I’ve never had patience for walls of facts, or video tutorials. If it’s not taking me on an adventure, I will not be interested.
Your HUD is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. You can change your settings from the settings menu. The only icon which will always be available is the ripcord handle and comfort scale. General health and mana values are available as they become necessary, and you can turn them on in the settings screen. You will need an Orienteering skill to use a compass. A map is needed to display the minimap. To make a map, the map making skill is necessary.
Huh… it knew what I wanted to know and kept it short. Useful. I dismiss the box and begin to explore my surroundings. The forest floor is remarkably uncluttered. I expected broken branches everywhere, wildlife around me and leaves. As I kneel to the ground, I realise the leaves are flattened against the ground, creating a carpet over the ground. The weather makes me thing that soon the leaves will turn yellow and fall and create another layer. As my head is closer, I notice the sound of scratching. I try to brush some leaves away, and a large flake comes loose. From underneath, a mouse scampers, fleeing away from me and into a hole near a tree.
Skill Discovered: Perception - Subskill: Forest Perception
I stand up and start inspecting myself. I find the club I made, hanging from my belt, the cloak around my shoulders, the fire starter and the amulet in pouches on my belt. Adjusting my equipment, I begin walking in a random direction. A whole new world! Sadly, the new world is entirely composed of brown trunks, red/yellow/brown ground, and in the distant heights, green. I quickly get tired of the scenery and decide to try my hand at climbing. I find sturdy tree with low branches and pitted bark. How hard can it possibly be? I rub my hands together, for no better reason than I saw it in a movie once, I grab the tree with both hands, and try to pull myself up. There is no effect. I’m too heavy for this approach, and the angle is wrong. Turns out, I’ve never climbed a tree before. I bet my parents would get a good laugh out of this. I reach higher, trying to find purchase on the tree, and discover an indentation a bit higher up. This lets me climb to the lowest branches. I grab a hold of one and try to get a leg up. There’s a loud crack, followed by a brief period of vertigo and a short stop against the ground.
Damage received - 20%.
Stunned effect gained (30 seconds)
Skill discovered: Climbing
I lie perfectly still for 30 seconds, moaning softly. I could move, probably, but everything hurts, and the universe seems to want me not to. Best to oblige. When the effect finally fades away, I’m left with a general soreness.
“Gee, I’m glad nobody saw that…”
I look around to confirm, and spot something that looks like a squirrel. It shakes its head slowly, then runs back up the tree. I ignore it and try again. On my next attempt, I get to the lowest branch. At least the part I didn’t pull off the tree. I manage to use the branches to get higher, being careful not to put all my weight on a single limb. I make it to the canopy, ignoring the screaming pain in my arms.
“That’s okay. Let’s finish those trials you mentioned. I’d like to get this show on the road!”
“Your enthusiasm is noted. The first trial was adjusting your mind to the existence of this world, and to allow the basic sensory input to register with your mental state. The next stage is to inhabit your new body, and to practice movement. Expected time frame is 1 hour, modified by the undead attunement factor to 1 hour 45 minutes.”
There’s a brief bright flash and the feeling of falling, then I’m standing where I was looking, looking towards where I was standing. Up until now the experience was mostly mental, but now, I couldn’t believe how real this all felt. I put my arms out and look at my hands. My skin is pale with a green tint. I can almost hear my tendons move. This body probably needs some upkeep. I wonder who I was when I was alive…
Hidden quest found: Who were you?
How did you die? Most undead accept fate with a solemn demeanour, but you will not go gently into that dark night. Maybe there was foul play, maybe you offed yourself. If you can discover any information about this, it could be a defining trait for you.
A block of text hovers in front of me. There’s a happy yes button, and a sad no button. This game seems to like to ensoul things that shouldn’t really have emotions.
So that’s how quests work then. It’s a nice touch I guess. I’ll take it
The game takes that as a yes, and the quest is accepted.
Quest gained: Who are you?
Ability Discovered: Curiosity
Ability Discovered: Focus
And I get stat gains by accepting quests? Nice.
Are you paying attention to me at all?
It makes me smile. On my acknowledging the window, it vanishes.
Good. Now please go through the following routine for me..
I take three hours to finish the first trial. The game makes me jump in place for long minutes. Spinning in place. Touch your nose. Regular field sobriety test. It culminates in a thrilling 20 meter shamble, where I realise how difficult it is to move a body that I wasn’t born in, that I didn’t grow up in. After a few faceplants, my Attunement meter increases to 30%
Trial 2 completed. Your Guide will inform you of the requirements for Trial 3
Ephraim floats towards me, and with a shock I realise he’s no longer a green square, he’s a 2d sprite of a cherub.
“Well done Shae! You completed your trials in… time…”
A sideways glance makes me think the time isn’t exactly great. Fine, it took me some time to finish. Sue me!
“Now, the next step is normally to either begin combat training or crafting training, depending on the path you selected. Since you selected the path of Jack, you’ll be able to select which one gets priority. First, you need to go back above. Please use the ripcord functionality of your UI to go back out. You will be disoriented when you wake up, with a mild headache. This function exists so a user is able to flee from any dire situation, but we have to make sure you know what it is and how it works. When you get up, you will need to wait 24 hours before you come back inside. While you are out there, please read the documentation sent to your email address. It will help in the last trial. Thank you for coming here. I am happy to be able to serve you, Above as Below.”
I give him an awkward smile, a half hearted wave, and notice a glowing handle icon in my UI. It probably only shows up when I look for it. I focus on it and pull it with my mind. There is a whoosh, a sucking feeling and a weird light-show, then everything goes dark once more. The sheer sensation of panic doesn’t come back. Sounds of the world come back. Wind, cars, children. I remove the helmet, wincing a little from the stiffness, and stare at the ceiling.
That was awesome…
Chapter 2 - Hazing
I get up and rub my eyes to clear out the confusion. Wow… the real world is such a bummer… It’s more muted, less vivid than I remember. Even my thoughts are slower than they should be. A crash of pots and pans alert me to my parents’ presence downstairs. They’ll be making themselves some food before they head back outside with their friends. They belong to a group of people who reject a lot of the modern technology available. They refuse to use autocars, relying on dumcars when they were legal, and bikes now they aren’t. They harp on about the new generation of smartphones being “too smart”, and long for the time when all they’d use a phone for was games, web browsing and chatting. New technology like the neural interfaces and AI-like assistants are nothing but waste of resources better spent on social activities and drink. It’s one of our big points of contention. I go out to see if there’s anything to eat yet, and am met with two grown people staring at their phones, tapping away. I roll my eyes and try to get to the fridge undetected.
“Hey Sharon, how’s life in the all-consuming machine?”
My father, the failed hipster quips without looking up from his phone. I sigh and open the fridge as my mother looks up.
“What’s going on with your hair? Have you been sleeping? It’s the middle of the day! How was your appointment with Dr. Peters?”
Oh good, she’s learnt to feign interest.
“He says I’m fine and shouldn’t worry too much about stuff. Same as every time. Hey, I’ll be busy in my room for a few days. I’ve got a new job online.”
Best not to mention too much about tech experiments to these two.
“I’ll get up to Basic 1 for the duration, so I can add more to the rent for a while.”
Also a good idea to keep the amount of money to myself. My parents give each other a look I’m not sure how to identify.
“What kind of job? Online? In your room? Are you involved in online porn?”
My face warms up as blood rushes in.
“No mom, I will be field testing some new technology for a company. It’s not a big deal, but I need privacy when I’m working.”
“Okay… Just set your account to active so we know you’re alright”
Yeah, and so you can access my money when you need to. Pragmatic as always, dad.
The conversation drops off rapidly, and I escape into my room with some high nutrition bars and water. I’ve never seen the point in fancy food or lots of sweets. Where all my surplus weight comes from is anyone’s guess. I duck back into my fortress of solitude, lock the door and log back onto the website. This time I can use the headset to navigate. It’s running on low immersion, as the cooldown period won’t expire for a day. There is an avatar on the site that seems way too chipper for its job.
“Hi there! I’m Melody! Welcome to the interactive manual for the Below. Would you like to start with the beginners tutorial?”
Okay. That’ll do. I indicate yes.
“Wonderful!”
The fairy-like creature spins in place, waves a wand and the website transforms into an interactive guide.
It turns out to be less in-depth than I’d have preferred. It goes through the simplest theory, the basic premise of the game, some legal stuff about sharing of information. Seems that private forums are frowned upon, with in-game taverns being the best source of game lore and rumours. The world is comprised of various planes of existence, with the one most players inhabit being the Prime plane. There are three meta planes surrounding the prime, which are the astral, ethereal and echo planes, each representing the merging of the prime plane with one of the Elemental forces. The Elemental forces are more basic than the classical elements, like a fantasy version of quantum theory. There is the Physical element which is the primary element of the current cycle, the Essential element which is in decline, and the Magical element which is in ascendance. Each cycle can last millions of years, and changes when a champion of the ascending element defeats a champion of the current element. The current element goes into decline and the declining element gains the ability to choose a new champion. There are also Affinities for each of the elements, and planes based on those, but I decide to wait until later with that. All this theory is making my head foggy. I spend the rest of my day painting. Dark colours with grey shadows, two yellow orbs surrounded by a white smokey collar. I cry myself to sleep.
When I log back into the game, I can’t find Ephraim anywhere. As I search for him, I look around in amazement at how real everything seems. I bend down and feel the water. Cool and fresh, little whirlpools form in the wake of my hand.
“Welcome back Shae!”
The voice is sudden, startling me.
“Aah! Don’t sneak up on people like that! You’ll give me a heart attack!”
“Oh, please don’t worry about that. As a member of the undead, your heart has already stopped. You’re pretty much immune to all normal diseases. Watch out for fungi though, that’ll be hard to get rid of.”
Oh, great. Fungus. Wait, do I rot? I clear my voice to ask the question but Ephraim beats me to it.
“Well, yes and no. It’s time to continue the lessons about your body. Please come with me.”
I get the feeling of being in a moving car as my point of view flies towards him. I’m turned around and get the opportunity to look at my new body in more detail.
“As you can see, your hair falls out when you pull at it, your nails fall out and go away and, as you can probably imagine, wounds do not heal on their own. All this conspires to make for a poor sentient race, or at least not a long lived one. That is why your race has been gifted with an Elemental affinity to Magic even though you are physical creatures. This affinity lets you absorb Mana from your surroundings and use it to keep your body in repair. There is a basic upkeep cost based on your physical development and age, so if your Mana handling abilities fall behind your age or progression, your body will eat itself and rot. In that case, you’ll either become a non sentient skeleton, or cease to exist. However, if you go the other way, and gain too much Mana in too short a time, your body might change, allowing your spirit to exist beyond the Prime realm. This also means your jaunt in this body ends.”
“Huh… so I’m all about magic and physics then?”
“Not exactly… First, it’s Elemental Magical and Elemental Physical. Second, as a Prime creature, you also have a spark of the Essential in you, which is where the concept of gods and divinity comes from. Your constraints on Mana generation and storage means that the path of a Mana user would be extremely difficult for you. I’d say you were more about the managing the Magical and holding on to the Physical for dear life.”
“Fine, fine, can we get to the actual learning? I still have a lot of attunement to accomplish before I’m considered fully integrated in the game.”
I’m tiring of all the theory. Ephraim smiles… Wait a minute, is he more real now? Instead of the 2d sprite, there was a fat little green tinted cherub flying in his place. Very blocky, like an old fashioned video game.
“Ah, yes. As your attunement increases, you will see me more … correctly. This is my penultimate form. The next one will be a real charmer.”
He winks at me as he finishes the sentence.
Ick.
My movements feel much more natural now. I’m given small tasks by the system, like ‘pick up 5 sticks’ and ‘throw sticks into pond’, all intended to make me understand the game system better. By the time I’ve gotten sick of this, I realise I’ve increased strength, agility, endurance and even luck, besides some minor skill increases.
Skills increased: Body control, Aim
I feel very cool, even from this simple progression. After these simple tests, I pick combat as my next trial. Ephraim has me beating a poor spider to a pulp with a stick I find on the ground. Afterwards, I get to make a basic club from spider silk, a stick and a rock I found. Each step of the process, every action I perform takes my breath away, and my muscles ache after even the simplest effort. Finally finished, I wipe the sweat from my brow and look at Ephraim. I gasp as I realise he’s turned into the most beautiful vision I’ve ever seen. Golden curls, chiselled bronze skin, alabaster wings. Where a fat little cherub had stood before, a full grown angel stood in its place. His smile makes me tingle.
“Well done Shae. You have completed the trials set before you and have achieved a high degree of attunement to your new avatar. With this accomplishment, the right to travel the world Below on your own has been earned.”
“Oh, wow, Ephraim… What will happen now?”
I felt a touch of panic come on. Alone in this mysterious world?
“You will do fine here, Shae. You will follow your desires and shape your future in this world. From here on out, you will be in the Prime, and not in this bridge realm. That means that time will become dilated, and for every minute spent in the world Below, 20 seconds will pass in the world Above. This is one of the gifts we offer the tethered souls who visit.”
I take one last at little azure pond. This place doesn’t look quite so real anymore. The sheer colours are starting to feel overdone and tacky. There is no life here, other than the trees and flowers. Not even wind shifts the scene. How did I not realise this before? Maybe it’s the attunement speaking…
“Before you go, I have some parting gifts for you. A cloak to keep you protected from the elements of nature. A celestial stone which will provide you with fire when you need it. And this.”
He hands me a silvery chain, the locket the length of my hand. I open it and see a perfectly preserved alabaster feather.
“With this, you will always have me near. I will always be around your tether, honouring your mandate to the world Above of course. But always keep that close, and I will be able to help you when you need it most.”
My eyes started a little, as I couldn’t find the words. His smile brightened, and the world grew faded into the radiance. And with that, my adventures truly began.
After the flash of white light, the world comes into focus. I’m in a forest. Deep inside, by the look of the trees. The biggest ones created a green canopy high above, with smaller trees and bushes in between. The ground is dry and reddish brown. There’s the taste of cold in the air, with a hint of soft decay. I have a look around and notice my HUD. There is a comfort metre, letting me know I’m perfectly comfortable right now, but getting less comfortable by the minute. There’s the ripcord handle, waving slightly from the attention I give it. No inventory screen, no health bar, no mana, spell book, minimap or compass. I do notice a small question mark. I focus on it, triggering a message.
Would you like to learn more about your HUD?
Yes (full tutorial)
Yes (short tutorial)
No (all tutorials are available offline in a non-interactive form)
I focus on the short tutorial. I’ve never had patience for walls of facts, or video tutorials. If it’s not taking me on an adventure, I will not be interested.
Your HUD is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. You can change your settings from the settings menu. The only icon which will always be available is the ripcord handle and comfort scale. General health and mana values are available as they become necessary, and you can turn them on in the settings screen. You will need an Orienteering skill to use a compass. A map is needed to display the minimap. To make a map, the map making skill is necessary.
Huh… it knew what I wanted to know and kept it short. Useful. I dismiss the box and begin to explore my surroundings. The forest floor is remarkably uncluttered. I expected broken branches everywhere, wildlife around me and leaves. As I kneel to the ground, I realise the leaves are flattened against the ground, creating a carpet over the ground. The weather makes me thing that soon the leaves will turn yellow and fall and create another layer. As my head is closer, I notice the sound of scratching. I try to brush some leaves away, and a large flake comes loose. From underneath, a mouse scampers, fleeing away from me and into a hole near a tree.
Skill Discovered: Perception - Subskill: Forest Perception
I stand up and start inspecting myself. I find the club I made, hanging from my belt, the cloak around my shoulders, the fire starter and the amulet in pouches on my belt. Adjusting my equipment, I begin walking in a random direction. A whole new world! Sadly, the new world is entirely composed of brown trunks, red/yellow/brown ground, and in the distant heights, green. I quickly get tired of the scenery and decide to try my hand at climbing. I find sturdy tree with low branches and pitted bark. How hard can it possibly be? I rub my hands together, for no better reason than I saw it in a movie once, I grab the tree with both hands, and try to pull myself up. There is no effect. I’m too heavy for this approach, and the angle is wrong. Turns out, I’ve never climbed a tree before. I bet my parents would get a good laugh out of this. I reach higher, trying to find purchase on the tree, and discover an indentation a bit higher up. This lets me climb to the lowest branches. I grab a hold of one and try to get a leg up. There’s a loud crack, followed by a brief period of vertigo and a short stop against the ground.
Damage received - 20%.
Stunned effect gained (30 seconds)
Skill discovered: Climbing
I lie perfectly still for 30 seconds, moaning softly. I could move, probably, but everything hurts, and the universe seems to want me not to. Best to oblige. When the effect finally fades away, I’m left with a general soreness.
“Gee, I’m glad nobody saw that…”
I look around to confirm, and spot something that looks like a squirrel. It shakes its head slowly, then runs back up the tree. I ignore it and try again. On my next attempt, I get to the lowest branch. At least the part I didn’t pull off the tree. I manage to use the branches to get higher, being careful not to put all my weight on a single limb. I make it to the canopy, ignoring the screaming pain in my arms.
