Raven- The Beginning

by David Wadsworth

  “Raven, my poor child. Perhaps my champion, or perhaps nothing,” Noctis said as she looked down at me as I opened my eyes.

  Again, I awoke in the world of fog, in the realm of Noctis. I looked above me in shame, not willing to meet her eyes. Even though this was just a damn game, and inside of that game, just a dream, I felt ashamed. I again felt the start of tears forming in my eyes, as I finally looked at her and just muttered one word with my broken voice. “Help.”

  Noctis only tilted her head as she looked down at me, with what looked like a mixture of both rage and sorrow in her eyes. Using my hand to wipe my eyes before any more tears could form, I stood up. I was free to move.

  Gathering what remained of my shattered courage, I looked into her eyes, and again I spoke, my voice still wavering, “Noctis, what… what is going on? Why am I able to feel what is happening to me, why can’t I leave? What’s happening to me?”

  Noctis straightened her head and smiled softly, obviously content with what little bravery I showed by getting back onto my feet and meeting her gaze with one of my own.

  “Child, even though I am the goddess of Chaos within the Veil, I know not what you ask of me. What I can say, is that you are unique amongst all of my other champions, and even amongst those that would destroy me. It is a curious thing that amongst all of the champions, you are the only one that can truly live within this world and cannot leave this world behind when it suits you, unlike all of the other Veil-walkers. As for what happens now, that is for you to decide, my child.

  I ask you again, will you become my champion, able to vanquish those that would oppose Chaos, or will you become a being worth nothing, to no one?”

  Noctis began to pace, walking a few steps and then turning, and walking back a few steps, constantly looking at me as she walked.

  “There are many paths to chose from, and should you chose to become a true champion of Chaos, a true champion within the Veil; not just one of those that can choose to run, to leave the Veil behind, I will continue to support you within the Deitic System and allow you to resurrect from your death. However, should you stray from the path of Chaos and become as worthless as those you have dealings with, I will strip you of my blessings,” she continued, ending her speech with a menacing snarl.

  As she got to her final step before she turned around, Noctis began to disappear from my sight, however, she had one final thing to say to me it seemed, as her voice grew low and soft, “And you will truly be on your own.”

  I looked around me to see if Noctis would reappear and force me out of her realm. When she didn’t, I figured that she wanted to give me some time to think about my future before awakening from the dream world, to think about my future.

  Sitting down with my legs crossed, I looked into the distant fog and began to think. Looking back from the time I logged into the game, nothing really hurt until I entered the mine. Sure, there was sensations, the slight burning from first awakening from being touched by Noctis. The feel of the stones that were in the roads. The way the dagger felt, the way the blood from the wolves felt and what it felt like when they attacked me and I took damage.

  However, nothing was truly painful until I entered the mine. There was that brief migraine when I zoned into the mine though. Did something happen that coincided with entering the mine? Did the pain-limiters of the immersive VR rig somehow bug out?

  Even then, I didn’t think that I should actually be able to feel true pain, not like I had. The pain in my shoulder where the goblin overseer sliced into me, and the rats. Those ugly rats, eating me alive.

  Never before, even in my real life, had I ever felt something so utterly painful. Perhaps no one has, and no one should. One thing was certain, whatever happens in this world is now real.

  Is this what Noctis meant when she said I was unique out of all of the other players? If what I know from quantum dynamics, if my brain’s neurons where entangled with particles that were apart of the quantum servers that helped to run the game, does that mean that my actual consciousness is in the game?

  But then, why couldn’t I leave when I tried to log out? The developers would ensure that their players could leave the game when they wanted or needed to. Did something happen to the VR interface? I just don’t have enough information to know for certain. I could ask other players to contact the GMs, or even try to get some information, but would Noctis consider this to be “straying from the path”?

  I can’t risk that, not if she is truly able to prevent me from resurrecting. A ridiculous thought starting forming and I which made me smile evilly.

  This is a game, governed by game mechanics, and as such, if I become so powerful that nothing can harm me, let alone kill me, then perhaps I won’t need the Deitic System.

  Yes, I can do this. However, I do not want to feel a horrific death as I had felt before I resurrected in the inn. I would need to go slow and not take risks. I’ll need to get help when I need instead of just rezz-zerging as I used to do with ShadowBlood.

  Yes, it will be slow, but if I can’t leave this world and go back to my life of being just some worthless waitress, then I will be damned sure become the best assassin that the Veil has never witnessed. I was not only the best assassin, but I was the best player in the game as witnessed by that stupid tournament that got me into this mess.

  I will become the best again, and nothing, nothing will stop me. Now, I just need to leave this dream world so I can begin fresh.

  “AWAKEN!” I shouted, and as the words echoed around me, I felt myself fall through the world, my vision fading to black.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Into the Mines (Again)

  Waking in my bed the next day, I actually felt refreshed, as if that horrible death from the mine never happened. Except, there was a phantom pain in my shoulder that still ached. Perhaps that would be a good reminder, as sort of a reminder to not take this world as lightly has I did before.

  Getting out of bed, I walked down to the lobby to speak to Isbeil. Since she seemed to want to know everything about everyone, I needed some information.

  “Isbeil, I have a question if you’re able to answer it,” I asked the old dark elf that sat behind the counter.

  “Sure sweety, you know that old Isbeil will help when you need it,” she responded to me with a smile on her face and a look that said that she knew what I was going to ask.

  “Do you know of any other… veil-walkers… that will be going to the mines today?” I asked her. She closed her eyes as if she was deep in thought, and then opened them again.

  “Yes, I heard a group of them, I think it was three if I’m not mistaken. They were talking to each other saying how they were going to go to the apothecary to get some potions before heading up that way. If you leave now, I’m sure that you’ll be able to meet up with them, since it wasn’t that long ago.”

  Giving Isbeil a genuine smile, I gave her my thanks as I walked out of the inn. Instead of trying to catch up to them at the apothecary, I decided to meet them at the village entrance to see if they would allow me to group up with them. No way in hell would I try to take that dungeon again by myself. At least, not until I was significantly better geared and had several more abilities. With a light step, I made my way to the entrance, thinking how phenomenal it would be if I could actually get an unique skill.

  I arrived at the gate and asked the guard if he’d seen a group of veil-walkers heading out of the village, and when he responded that he didn’t, I leaned up against the stone wall next to the entrance waiting for them. Growing a bit bored, I took out my rusted dagger and began tossing it in the air, flipping it, and then catching it before doing it again. For what seemed like an hour, although maybe only 10 minutes went passed, I finally saw the group of three players walking towards the exit of the village.

  “Excuse me,” I said as they neared the entrance where I was standing. “I understand from Isbeil that you are all going to the mine. Would you mind if I tagged along,” I asked.

&nbs
p; A tall, muscular dark elf with green hair looked at me. “He’s probably the tank, I wonder what kind,” I thought, since he was wearing plate armor.

  “Sure, I don’t mind. What type of rogue are you?” he asked.

  “Assassin,” I said briefly, hoping that they would consider my proposal. Assassins weren’t exactly the best at low levels.

  “Do you guys mind,” he asked the other two in his group after he turned around to speak to them.

  The other two members in his group looked to be a healer and a mage of some kind. However, they all had full sets of equipment, which would mean that that they were secondary characters, or alts as they are commonly referred as.

  When the other two gave their consideration and approval for me to join them, he reached out with his hand and said, “I’m Adrian, dark knight. This is Kine, our priest, and Adrianne is an illusionist.”

  After our introductions, a small window appeared to me asking me if I would like to join Adrian’s party, which I accepted.

  “At least this function still worked,” I thought to myself.

  On the left side of my vision, just far enough to not interfere with what I was seeing elsewhere, was the group window which showed their names, health, stamina, and mana bars, as well as the group buffs that the priest had casted on everyone. However, my information was still invisible to me. We started walking out of the village, and I let the three of them take the lead since there was no reason for me to be out front scouting.

  I didn’t have much to say to the group as we walked, content to just see how this party interacted with each other. As we neared the mine, Adrian stopped and turned to look at everyone.

  “Alright,” he began. “Once we get inside, we’ll give Kine some time to reapply buffs to everyone and then I’ll take lead. Since you look fairly new Raven, once I use either Taunt or Viscious Aura, that’s when you will want to use either your Backstab or Assassinate, whichever one you have the most points in. Just make sure to assist me with whatever I’m attacking, ok?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now,” I started to think to myself. I finished my thought while taking some deep breathes, “Ok, calm down Raven. If I was in his shoes, I would think the same thing. People usually give their alts either a few platinum to gear out with, or have a set of crafted gear stored in their account vault to use. Since this is a blank account, I can see why he thinks I’m new.”

  I replied out loud, in a meek voice that it was ok. I also let the group know that I had both Assassinate and Backstab at level 1. He looked at me and gave me a lopsided grin and nodded at me.

  “Cool. I have a level 30 Assassin myself, so if you have any questions, you can always send me a message and I can give you some advice if you want,” he so kindly informed me, not knowing that I already had a level 149 Assassin even if it seemed like a lifetime ago now.

  “Alright, let’s head on in,” he said, as he opened the door to the mine and entered it. I sighed, and the rest of us following him into the mine.

  “Kine, if you would please,” Adrian asked the priest as he took out his sword and swung the kite shield from his back to his left hand.

  The priest started casting the few buff spells he had access to which would help to make this run quite a bit easier than it was when I tried it earlier by myself. Thinking about that, I shuddered. Adrianne must have seen the involuntary reaction, since she put her hand on my shoulder and asked me if I was okay, her eyes filled with concern.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I was here earlier and, well, it didn’t go so well.” I responded to her, looking past her and into the mine.

  “Don’t worry Raven, it might seem real, but just remember that it’s only a game. You can log out whenever you want,” she said, trying to raise my spirits.

  “You’re right, I’m fine,” I said with a smile, secretly wondering how she would deal with the pain and how she would deal with not being able to log out.

  Once Kine finished with his spells, Adrian started moving down the mine. A few minutes into the mine, we reached the bend where I died at, no sign of those damned infernal rats. However, we did start to hear the pick-axes of the goblins hitting the rocks with their picks. I couldn’t believe how close I was to the exit before I died.

  Adrian got ready for combat as he walked around the bend as we followed. The goblin stopped it’s mining and looked at Adrian, it’s eyes narrowing as if it was wondering who we were and why humans would be in it’s home.

  Adrian moved his shield so that it was in front of him, allowing him to block any frontal attacks as he moved closer to the goblin. While he was getting within range, I stepped into the shadows with my stealth ability as Kine got out his two-handed hammer and Adrianne pulled out her unlatched her staff from her back.

  I moved to a better position, positioning myself between the goblin and the support. If the goblin resisted the dark knight’s taunts, it would rush to engage the support instead. If that happened, well, it didn’t know it, but it would need to go through me first.

  However, since this was just a beginner’s dungeon, the goblin did not, in fact, resist Adrian’s taunts. I moved towards Adrian and the goblin, making sure to get behind the goblin without bumping into them. If that happened, then I would be forced out of the shadows, becoming visible and unable to use Assassinate.

  After Adrian used one of his shield abilities, Bash, it stunned the goblin for a few seconds which allowed me to get into a good position to perform my Assassinate ability. I grabbed the goblin’s head, tilting it back as Adrian stepped closer, positioning his sword for a thrust type of attack.

  “Assassinate,” I whispered into the goblin’s ear, slicing it’s throat open. The goblin’s body starting twitching in arms before I let it fall to the ground, dead.

  “Damn Raven, over 500 damage with Assassinate. You must have a good amount of strength and agility for a crit that high,” Adrian said with what looked like admiration in his eyes.

  “I guess, if you say so. I did a little bit of research on various builds before I started playing. Good timing with that Bash.” I responded as I walked back to the rear, allowing him to collect the loot from the corpse of the goblin.

  At least I wouldn’t have to go digging around through the corpses that smelled like mold, death, and something even more unpleasant. The loot would be placed magically in our inventory as long as a group member collected it. After that, if the item was good enough, we could use dice to roll on it, usually in a need before greed type of honor system that was common.

  Like this, we made our way further into the mine, if not a bit more slowly than I would have liked. We killed two more goblin miners before we reaching the first cavern. Even though we were only getting 7xp per miner, I managed to get to level 6, if by just enough. I now had 311/396 experience, even though I still hadn’t allocated the skills or abilities since we kept moving along. I didn’t want ask the group to pause during a push further into the mine.

  There was also no indication of the horde of rats which made me more than a little bit curious as we reached the cavern that had the overseer with his eight miners. It was still in the center, yelling at his miners, “Skrah el’ech! Skrah el’ech!” Not knowing what that meant was starting to bother me, and I briefly thought to myself that I would need to start collecting language books so that I could understand various other creatures and races, even though everyone understood the languages of the races that players could create.

  Adrian moved backwards a few steps before turning around and walking back to us, crouching on one knee as we did the same.

  “Ok, it looks like we’ve all gotten a level, so let’s pause for a minute to get our levels sorted before we go in,” Adrian said as he looked at us.

  Since it was a good idea anyways, I just nodded as I pulled up my stats and skill windows. Adding my stat points, I now had 25 strength, 17 dexterity, 32 agility, and 18 vitality. I also added my skill points into Assassinate, raising it’s level to level 4.

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nbsp; Closing the windows, I looked at Adrian and told him that I was good. After the others did the same, we stood, and Adrian looked at each of us as he smiled.

  Turning around, he started walking back towards the cavern while saying, “Let’s do this.”

  I stood at the cavern’s entrance with both Adrianne and Kine while we watched Adrian run over to the overseer, slashing him. Adrian immediately went into a defensive posture and waited for the 8 miners to get near him. As they neared him, he engaged his Taunting Aura, after which, I slowly stalked towards the first miner that I saw.

  As I moved towards it, I saw a soft blue magic mist cover the entire area around Adrian. The miners fell into a mezz, a sort of standing sleep as their weapons dropped to their sides. After the miners were mezzed, a golden glow surrounded Adrian. The illusionist must have cast an area of effect sleep spell, and then the priest used a heal over time, or HoT, spell that constantly healed Adrian for a small amount for a period of duration. Typically HoT spells lasted 3 to 5 seconds, depending on the ability route and level that the priest went with.