Chapter 3 – Beginning of the end
We brought the wolves fur to the huntsman.
He gave each of us, five silver coins, with suggestion,
that we may need horses, especially, that soon we will need
to travel a lot. When we finally finished that job, we
decided to visit tavern. It was almost filled with other
players. Inside seemed really comfy. The ceiling was only a
bit above my head, so people taller than me had to incline.
The tables and benches were made out of oak wood, but the
second were covered with wolf fur. In the middle of room,
there was stone oven, on which boar meat was cooked. Some
parts of the walls were covered with random animal furs,
what was giving us really great feeling. Against the front
doors, there was counter, and after it kitchen room. We
decided to take a seat at one of the places near wall.
Innkeeper was walking from table to table,
giving people their food. Me and my friend decided to order
two cramps burning, which cost us one silver coin. - I
still can't believe that you managed, to actually meet a
girl. But who knows. Envy you Nesti. Maybe I will be lucky
enough, to meet one in future. - I was still wondering ,
how did they picked players. Maybe it was 50/50. Ten
thousand girls and boys, to make this whole world more
realistic. Nesti looked at me. - It is indeed funny. Maybe
I just have natural luck? - He answered me with smile. I
rolled my eyes, and decided to observe the inside again. At
the table near us, there was a group of people, consuming
some kind of a soup. There was a warrior, from the
mountain people, elf archer, mystic woman, and heaven
human, as a lancer. They were having really intense
conversation between each other. After a while, the owner
of tavern came to us with our food. I ripped off one of the
legs, from my “some time ago” alive chicken. -
Interesting... I'm actually really hungry. And this smells
so delicious.- I
said to Nesti. I took my first bite, thinking in the mean
time, if I will actually feel any kind of taste.
Instantly, I felt like
I have just received a bitch slap from my taste buds. The
taste of chicken meat was even better, than I was ever able
to feel from real life dish. - Och... my... god... - I
heared from my companion, who seemed, like he felt the same
thing as me. I was feeling, like in heaven.
After twenty minutes, when both of our
finished dishes were already gone from table, we cam back
to our conversation. - I wonder how does the other cities
of beginning look like. If they exist... and I think they
should.- I was definitely curious about it, because I would
like to know, how big is that world. - Sooner or later we
will know. By the way... I saw something weird. When I was
talking with the elf girl, she said, that she is from
Netherland... And she was talking in Pol... - Nesti has
jammed in half-word. Same as me, he opened his eyes widely.
- We are not talking in Polish! I don't know what kind of
language is that, but I know it same well, as Polish...-
We both looked at each other surprised. We didn't even saw,
that we are talking in other language. I went up with an
idea. - Consol. Open overlap. Guide. - After calling out
the proper command, a half visible window has appeared on
front of me. I went to Table of contents, and searched for
anything connected with word “language”. After a while
of searching, I found “National language”. After
clicking the shortcut, the guide has skipped to around
half. - From what they are typing over here, Game
Development Company has created kind of language, which we
start to use, after logging into game. It allows players,
to actually communicate with each other, without a single
problem. So that is something ne...-
In that
moment, all of the conversations were cut in half. On front
of every player, appeared a window with text “Administrator
message”. Some people started to whisper with each
other, about what they may want. The video clip has begun.
On the beginning, the creator of the game has appeared.
Some people actually recognized him. - Welcome users of
Diverion Online. I'm the creator of the game, same as the
virtual reality helmet “MANY”. That message have on
target to warn you all.. The world of Diverion is your new
home. No one had heared wrong. From the moment, when the
video window has appeared, we removed from your consoles
the option to log out. Permanently. From now on, you became
the citiziens of this land, as long, as someone won't
finish the last quest, which you receive at the 150 level.
One more thing. Who
dies in the world of game... dies in real life. The helmet
“MANY” after your death will create short circuit,
which will cause your hear to stop, and will destroy your
brain. From now on, 18 549 players, have on task. To finish
the game, without dying. Don't take it as penalty. Treat
it, as a reward. Helmets will keep your whole body alive,
for the whole time you are in game, as well as keep your
body metabolism in low condition, so you will be able to
stay alive for long time. The battery, which is
implemented in the machine, will allow you to survive a
month, without power source, but the try of taking the
helmet off your heads, will result you to die.
One day for year, you
will heave the possibility to contact with your families,
with special item, which you will receive at the New Year
Eve. At the midnight hour, it will disappear from you
equipment for the duration of whole year. Your
characters will be given back default look, so you will
play as you from real life. Good luck. -
Heart of every single player has stopped for a quick
moment.
Everyone was looking at the empty space,
where a while ago there was a message. I started to hear
panic commands of people, trying to log off. In one moment,
I realized the meaning of those words. I looked at Nesti. I
grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the tavern. He
wasn't even resisting. He looked like him, from real life.
I knew that the same thing happened to me. I stopped few
meters away from tavern, turn to him, and bitch slapped
him. He woke up from the confusion. - But... why... we
can't..? - His voice was crushing. I felt the same thing
as him, but I knew, that it is not the time, to sit and
cry. - That's why or fuck sake. If there is no enter, then
we need to survive. We need to organize a group. Who we
need it healer and archer. Look after the second one. -
This was the only possibility to stay alive. Alone, we
didn't had a big chance, because we didn't even knew how
the game engine is working. I saw lot of people, running
around without real purpose. How I though, half of the
players were girls. I saw someone, sitting under one of the
house walls, hiding face in hands. It was a girl, with
healer class. I didn't wanted to be rude, and use her
moment of weakness, but I just had to help. - We will meet
at the huntsman house. -
I moved
quickly to the girl. When I stopped just on front of her, I
putted my hand at her arm. She looked a bit younger than
me. I guess, around 15-16 years old. She looked up at me.
I smiled to her, trying to don't show any fear. - There is
nothing to worry about. Everything will be fine. - I tried
to talk, how softly I could. She was only a bit smaller
than me. Her long auburn hair were freely falling at her
back. They could reach her waist. Her eyes were in the
light green color. She looked friendly, due to her soft
features. Instantly, she hugged me, how hard she could. -
I'm scared. - She cried. - Everyone is. The most important
thing, is that now, we need to stick with each other, and
fight for our safety.- I answered her. I gently hugged her.
It was obvious, that she had to cry now, to clam down a
bit. I know what she felt like. We were putted on front on
the question, if we want to die right away, or if we want
to give it a shot, and fight for our life. We stood like
this, for good four minutes, before she stopped crying. -
Can you... Can you promise me, that I will be safe? - I
stiffened. I didn't wanted to promise her something, what I
won't be able to keep. I couldn't have forgot myself, if
something bad would have happened to her. - Sadly... I
can't. But I can promise, that I will give my best effort,
to keep you safe. - I said. - I think... it should be fair
enough for me. Thank you... really. - She answered, with
already more calmed voice. I opened the console, and added
her to group. When she accepted, I saw, that her name was
Lotty. - We need to go. My friend is probably already
waiting. - After those words, I grabbed her hand, and moved
to the regroup place. She obediently followed me, squeezing
my hand.
Finally we managed to break though that
crowd of people, running around without single purpose.
Nesti was already standing near Gerom house, with some boy,
who had bow on his arm. Before anyone could say anything, I
added the guy to group. - We need to buy horses, and off we
go. As soon, as we will get some experience boost, we will
be a bit safer. - After those words, I lead the way to
stable. Lotty was still squeezing my hand. When I was few
meters away, I heard NPC shouting after us – Good luck
Wulfery! Be careful! - I looked at him for a second, and
smiled weakly.
Nesti
reached up to me. - Wulfy... I wanted to apologise, for
that moemnt of weakness. That archers name is Alaus. He
seems like organized dude, although, I'm not sure about it.
- I didn't had time to look closer at the additional member
of group.
I will see, how useful he will be in fight. That is the
most important part I think. - We will see, how useful he
is. Now we don't have time for this. - When I finished my
sentence, stable appeared on front of us. Expect us, and
the stable owner, there was no-one around. - Maybe we are
the only one, who though about it... but I'm not sure about
that. - I whispered to myself. We went to the owner. -
Hello... Do you maybe have four horses, for me and my
friends? The NPC turned to me. He looked closely at us, and
went to the stable. Soon after that, he went out of it,
leading four horses, already saddled up. All were in the
same chestnut color. - Fifteen silver coins. - After those
words, he pulled the open hand to me. I knew that I have
enough money at me right now, so to don't waste time, I
just gave it to him. Maybe later I will have some time, to
talk about some payback for that from rest. Stable-master
gave me the control over horses, and went back to his old
job, so sleeping at the chair. I quickly signed each horse,
to proper member of team. - Let's don't waste more time. On
horses and off we go. - After those words, I helped Lotty
to settle down. Soon after, I was already on the horse.
When we all were already ready, I grabbed the reins and
lead the horse to the gate, leading out of village.
- We need to move away from the city, and
look after some mobs, which will allow us, to actually gain
some proper experience and gold. Sooner or later, rest will
think the same way, and then breaking out of the early
level would take ages, as every proper spawn point for mobs
would be already controlled by other group. Hopefully we
won't meet any Player Killers. Humans from nature are doing
evil thins. Be careful, with who you trust. - I was sure,
that community will soon get more organized, but at the
moment, there are going to be massive fights. Probably lot
of people will die, just because they went into argue with
other nervous player. In cities, you can't fight with other
people, but in wilderness, you may be attacked by a single
moron, or by a whole bandit group.
We were
already far from the city of beginning, although the
forrest was going on unstopped. I saw a group of forest
dryads on our left. I quickly pulled the reins to me, and
stopped horse. After it, I jumped off, and went quickly to
help Lotty. As we were all already on ground, I turned
toward the archer companion. - You... Alaus right? Can you
hit one of them, from this distance? - I asked him, during
thinking over possible script of attack for dryads. The boy
seemed like older than me. He was dark haired, with slight
beard. His eyes had intense green color. He wasn't same
broad-shouldered as Nesti, though, definitely more than me.
Even though, he was a bit smaller than me. - Without a
single problem. It will be around one hundred meters. -
After those words, he pulled him bow from his shoulder, and
took one bow out of quiver. He put it on the string, and
pulled to the limit. After five seconds of aiming, the
arrow went out with big speed, and loud whistle. I saw how
it travels all the way, to finally hit our opponent right
in the arm. Dryad turned toward us, and during summoning
bunch of spells, run in our direction. I took a long step,
to stand the ground on front of Lotty. Same did Nesti
towards Alaus. We both placed our weapons in the defense
position, blocking the incoming green mystic arrows. The
dryad was getting closer with every single second,
summoning more skills of the way. When she was few meters
on front of us, I pulled my heavy axe up, and took a quick
swing from left, and Nesti tried to make quick stab with
his dual-handed sword. Dryad blocked my attack with a
spell, and summoned in the mean-time a boar, which took the
hit of Nesti on itself. Over the arm of my friend, next
arrow went all the short way, and hit Dryad in the other
arm. Her life bar has went half the way down. In this
moment, Dryad made impossibly quick turn towards me, and
attacked with her claws. Her whole body was made out of
wood, expect hairs, which were leafs. Before I could even
react, her attack reached me, and destroyed bit of armor,
also leaving a long shallow injury. I didn't cared about it
a lot, and made another swing at her from up this time. She
wanted to make dodge, but Nesti stabbed directly her side.
This has blocked her possiblity of move, for long enough,
to let the axe dip in her head. After few seconds, she has
dematerialized. Due to her attack, I lost ten percent of my
life. If I would have to deal with her alone, it would have
probably end way worse than only that. I looked at Lotty
with smile and asked. - Miss... will you be able to fix
this injury pleas? I mean, the blood is kinda messing my
armor! - She smiled back towards me, and started to heal my
wound with special spell. When she was healing the wound,
both my body and armor was getting re-constructed.
It's been few hours, since players were
informed, that this land is their new world. From
statistics, it seemed like over five hundreds of players
were already dead. The moon was somewhere at the sky, but I
didn't even wanted to search for it. I was looking at the
campfire, which I had to keep going on, as it was defending
us from the creatures, who were automatically getting
focused, when we were around. Somewhere near camp, I could
hear some little waterfall, which was only adding epicness
to this moment. I could hear around as well hooting owl. At
least I had time to over think it all... I slowly started
to understand, what has happened. It is possible, that we
will stay here for a really long time. For now, we only
reached level three, out of 150. It is really not a lot.
And what more, with the raise of the level, amount of
required experience will rise as well. Even though, that
now, monsters were easy to beat up, with the passing of
time, they will get more dangerous. I can only hope, that
I will manage to get into some guild. It will either help
me to survive, or kill me faster. I started to think, about
what I left in real life. Parents, few friends, uncleaned
room, and probably turned on light in the dinning room.
Funny. Even though, that I was separeted from this all, I
couldn't even feel any kind of sadness. Parents never gave
a lot of care about what I was doing. More were doing
friends with who I was playing in the online games.
Everyone was always busy doing something else, so I had to
learn how to live alone. Maybe... Diverion Online, was a
new chance for me? Chance for a new life? To fix my
mistakes? I changed a lot, after only one day. From small
kid, who always needed some help, into man. I have to
decide sometimes, about really hard things. I gave Lotty
promise, to keep her safe. This world is dangerous, but it
allows me, to find in me, the side, which I always dreamed
about.
I heard rustling. My eyes went to the source
of the sound. Lotty had sit down, and look at me, with her
sleepy eyes. - Sleep. I'm taking care over us. - She smiled
with appreciate, and went back to sleep.
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