An excited and chipper voice sounded in her ear, “Tantrum over?” She leaped up and stumbled to the wall glaring at the still smiling sprite creature as it bobbed in the open air, its wings unmoving.
Maria stifled a scream and hefted her makeshift weapon bringing it down in a crushing arc.
When she opened her eyes she was shocked to find that the bar had in fact collided with the sprite. The broken and lightless female body was splayed on the floor, its torso twisted and malformed inward wrapped around the heavy weapon.
She blinked and stumbled back, dropping the weapon in the process. Did I just kill her? I didn’t mean to do that? What is this…
She was cut off when a familiar chipper voice sounded off from her shoulder, “Alas, poor Connie Blue, we hardly knew ye!”
Maria scrambled away, swatting at the air and screaming. There was another tiny sprite now floating above her glaring downward. It was, in all ways, an exact replica of the recently deceased creature now pasted onto the filthy floor save that the constant smile had been replaced with a smirk and this little being was a luminous green.
The little sprite placed a hand cupped at the edge of her mouth and giggled, “Oh, I have no doubt that your experience in Eilyth will be filled with blood and pain, little Player.” The sprite drifted backward through the air toward the stage and spoke in a voice dripping with acid, “Now, simpleton. Are you ready to do your duty or will you spend eternity sitting in this ruined room crying your eyes out?”
And the sprite did not speak again. Maria spent many long minutes simply sitting and glaring at the light of the creature now floating above the distant table. She stood and made her way around the room, testing the confines. There had been a door to the kitchens, it too was now gone and replaced with solid stone.
When she had exhausted every avenue she turned a glare on the small green creature and said, “Why won’t you let me go home?”
With an exasperated wave she muttered, “Can’t I just wake up?”
The sprite drifted for a moment and then sharply turned its head to regard her, “Have you exhausted your tantrum?”
She cursed and kicked a plastic tray across the room. The inescapable room loomed around her. After a deep breath she turned and said with barely restrained fury, “Explain the five items.”
The sprite spun merrily and spoke as if reading from a script, “You may take five items from this chamber for your journeys into Eilyth. Even if you are killed, murdered, dismembered…,”
Maria cut her off as she ascended the stairs, “I would appreciate you stowing the scare tactics.”
The sprite beamed at her and floated over the items on the table casting them in an eerie green glow as she said, “They will remain with you. They will never lose durability and unless you willingly give them up can not be destroyed.”
Maria moved to the table and walked along the length running through the possibilities of this escalating nightmare. Perhaps if she went through with this she could wake up. Whatever they had given her at Banner Medical definitely had, ‘strange lucid dreams,’ on its list of side effects.
There were an entire range of odd items arrayed on the table. They all had a decidedly anachronistic feel. There were all manner of blades including swords, knives, and axes. There were bows, crossbows, and even a small handheld musket. Each of them was of basic and uninspired construction. There were suits of clothing, armor of various types, and all manner of basic hiking equipment.
“Is there anything else I need to know about these items?”
The sprite floated closer until it was drifting right in front of her. There were no reluctance or fear despite the fate of its sister only minutes before. It said, “You have five legacy item slots. As you gain experience you have the ability to gain more slots. As I said, if you are killed while undertaking your task…”
“Killed?”
The sprite’s smirk did not abate, “Yes simian, you may die while undertaking your tasks on Eilyth. You will return to life either at the place of your summoning or to the location of your scroll.”
Maria’s eyes bored into the creature and she asked, “This is like a game?”
The sprite spun and giggled, “Except, all the pain and misery is real!”
Her shoulders slumped and she took a deep breath.
‘You’re going to wake up and this stupid dream will be over,’ she thought as she turned to the table. After a breath she thought, ‘Still, what if this isn’t a dream?”
She gave the sprite a scathing side-eye and said, “I don’t suppose you are going to tell me what this quest entails?”
The sprite giggled and said, “You need only look to the tales of heroes passed! Exciting crawls through darkened dungeons! Treks across wild and untamed wilderness! Saving the devout people of Eilyth from destruction!”
Maria did not like the sound of that last enthusiastic proclamation and what it suggested. It reminded her entirely too much of how her mother acted when she came back from a particularly hot and heavy sermon from the padre and proclaimed that they were all going to be proper Catholics.
Luckily, her mother had a tolerance where a need for wine, cigarettes, and judgemental bullshit overrode her desire to lead a religious revival. Nothing ever stopped the guilt train though. Layla got the worst of that.
This whole thing sounded like she was being conscripted by some religious zealots. Great. Mom’s bullshit in the waking world. These asshole sprites while she was dreaming.
Alright Maria, start thinking.
She had spent the last eight years of her life working outdoors. Without much thought she reached out and grabbed a green canvas pack with a hiking frame made from wood. She glanced at the sprite and said, “That’s one.”
The sprite clapped its tiny hands together and spun in a circle, “The player has made her first choice. Only thirty three minutes and twenty two seconds have elapsed!”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Maria took a deep breath and moved down the line. She reached out and snapped a single edged shortsword from the table and looked up at the sprite, “Two.”
She glanced down at the rags that she was wearing and moved to the many armors displayed. Reaching out she touched a suit of well oiled and full leathers, “Three.” The armor vanished from the table and she was shocked when it appeared around her. Her body was briefly constricted and she gasped for breath before she and the armor itself adjusted to each other.
As she moved down the table she paused and looked at a bladder that looked as if it were meant to be slung on the belt. She poked it and felt it yield and reform, obviously filled with liquid.
With a narrow eyed glance at the sprite she rasped, “What are the rules for items filled with things?”
The sprite cocked its head, its smirk faltering as it said, “Elaborate?”
She pointed at the bladder and said, “Does the durability of the liquid count?”
The sprite studied her for several long moments and then turned its gaze toward the ceiling before saying, “Inquiring.”
After two flashes the sprite responded, “The liquid within refills every twenty four hours, at midnight.”
Maria snatched the bladder off the table and said, “Four.”
She walked the line and stopped before the array of ranged weapons, running a hand over a bow and then the quiver beside it before saying, “The bow and the quiver are separate?”
The sprite flitted around her head singing the words, “Of course they are!”
Perusing the items she found something strange. A small ceramic pot with a fine tipped wooden brush inside. She lifted it and sniffed the liquid, wincing from the harsh smell. She glanced up at the sprite and said, “What the fuck is this?”
The sprite giggled, vacilating quickly back to its chipper mood at the drop of a hat, and said in a sing song voice, “It’s nail polish silly!”
Maria narrowed her eyes and said, “What good is nail polish in this nightmare game you have cooked up?”
The sprite giggled and clapped its hands, “Spoilers! I can’t tell you that dum dum!”
She put the pot of strong smelling polish back onto the table. She could not, for the life of her, fathom why nail polish would be important. So, without much thought, she moved on.
Making her way to the miscellaneous items Maria kept looking between a box containing flint and steel and some kind of oil and a simple knife. As she did her eyes flitted across something strange.
The item was on a leather thong meant to hang around the neck and appeared to be a metal rod that seemed to be drilled with holes along its length in a spiral pattern. The item seemed to be the most machine worked and modern looking item amidst the assemblage. It also appeared to have absolutely no use.
She picked up the trinket and held it up to the sprite, “What is this?”
The sprite’s eyes narrowed at the strange necklace and it said, “That is the symbol of a defunct power. The Dominus.”
Maria considered the evasive tone of the sprite and inquired, “If it’s defunct why is it included?”
The small woman seemed to be entranced by the item as if surprised by the question. Just as Maria was going to inquire again with the stiff faced verdant figure its expression flickered like a glitching computer screen and its smile returned, “A remnant of a previous version of this experience, the system recommends ignoring this item, as its worth is negligible.”
Maria smiled for the first time since this horrible nightmare began and shrugged as she turned her attention to the strange hexagonal rod, running a finger over the smooth bored hole. Finally she grinned at the strange creature regarding her with barely restrained contempt and held the symbol up to the sprite, “Five.”
She was not sure why, but something about keeping the trinket, the symbol as the sprite called it, felt right. It was the only thing that she had found in the entire assemblage that remotely spoke to the culture and nature of whatever world this Eilyth was.
Just as she spoke the number there was a rumble of thunder that she could feel through her feet. The sprite bowed its back as it glowed intensely and it said, “The player has chosen the five.”
Beneath her the floor lowered. It seemed to melt down to the level of the rest of the medical ward and the table with its myriad items went with it. Around them the walls curved and flowed moving to form a circular arena.
Maria raised an eyebrow at the sprite as the verdant illumination surrounding it faded. She turned and took a step back as she saw five figures standing at the center of the circular room. They were forming out of the off-white material that made the walls and slowly changing color.
She blinked in surprise as she recognized the features of the strange figures. Some of them were small, less than three feet tall, one was easily six and a half plus feet and as wide as a sprinter van.
Their faces all had the same features.
Her features.
Walking over to the one that most resembled herself she paused when the figure’s dark eyes turned to regard her sharply. It had her undercut half shaved head, her swarthy olive complexion, her narrow slightly upturned nose and a confident smirk on its face. It was short, barely hitting five feet and covered in tattoos. It had stars on the backs of her hands, a vivid red rose entwined with bright green vines on its neck, and an intricate series of Mayan glyphs above its breasts that represented the name of the first site she had worked on during her field school.
It was wearing form-fitting brown and green leather armor bound tightly with belts, a simple sword at its side, and a pack on its back. Leaning close Maria saw the leather strip holding the symbol of the Dominus tucked into the top of the leather breastplate.
She reached out a hand toward the figure and an array of statistics filled the air, actual text and numbers floating in mid-air somehow, indicating the benefits of being ‘human’.
Humans, or as this fucking nightmare game seemed to define them, were a race far more mutable and capable of innovation than its contemporaries. All of the statistics were conveyed by numbers, or ranks. Humans could place two bonus ranks with two base statistics; like strength, cunning and vitality. In addition they chose two major skill groups and did the same. Major skill groups covered entire branches of skills like athletics, and persuasion. Minor skill groups like running and deception seemed to be uniformly lower than their major counterparts. In addition they appeared to have two additional skills called ‘Fast Learner’ and ‘Specialist’.
Maria scrunched her nose at the two unexplained abilities and looked toward the sprite who had taken to floating slowly around the five figures and humming under her breath. She was loath to speak to the little beast but forced herself, “How do I know what these extra abilities do?”
The sprite drifted to a stop, her little arms carrying on in front of her as she lifelessly turned with an annoyed expression. She raised her tiny hand and spread her four digits into a claw-like shape. Maria tightened her jaw and raised her hand over the floating text corresponding to the Fast Learner ability. After a moment it highlighted and expanded into more text.
The sprite regarded her with the same annoyed expression for several moments and then shifted back to a bright smile in a jarring snap as it said, “You may do this with any Eilyth menu. Fully opening your palm will further expand the window if needed. It is recommended that before leaving the Tutorial you try this same gesture without in system text. It will open your character menu!”
With that the sprite’s rictus smile vanished in a flash and it returned to drifting slowly around the area.
Maria watched the strange creature for several more moments before turning back to the text:
“Fast Learner: Humans gain skill points 1.5x faster than other races!”
Followed by the second ability:
“Specialist: Humans have 0.5% less penalty when raising their sub skills above their major skills!”
She muttered to herself, “So humans can be better at baseball than they are at sports in general.”
The system seemed basic and being human seemed to be the most no frills version one could choose. Above the statistical minutiae there was a block of text defining humanity as it applied to this world Eilyth.
