Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure Page 4

  There is no game over in Elora. You respawn at a graveyard if you die, find your body as a ghost, and resurrect. Nothing killed me in the dungeon, either.

  I have no idea what has just happened to me. Am I playing Elora still? Is this some part of the high-end dungeon? Some secret quest?

  But the cold thing on my forehead. I didn’t make that up. The pain, the sound. The sound was with my real ears, not the headband implanting the audio.

  What has happened?

  The letters fade away to black melting into black. I close my eyes. Wait. Count to five.

  I open them and see.

  CHAPTER 5: DARK WORLD

  Sure, I open my eyes, but I feel more than see. I feel… Elora. Smell her soft, moist, foresty scent. I feel her air, and even through the haze of looking at a rainy, gothic graveyard with red lightning streaking through the night clouds, I smell her. The rain makes me wet, and I feel a chill.

  My interface is back.

  What has happened to me?

  I feel strange. I reach up to take off my headband, but I only use my character’s hand and pluck at my hair. I can feel it. It’s long, no horns on my head. Why can’t I use my RL hands?

  I turn on guild chat. Nothing. I’m not in a guild anymore.

  Where am I and what has happened to me?

  Why am I feeling Elora with my senses and actually getting wet from a storm?

  I stifle the panic. I have to act, I just know it. I have this general feeling that’s what I need to do, and I don’t know if it’s because of the panic or in spite of it.

  I wipe rainwater from my eyes as a burst of thunder claps my ears. I look around.

  Yes, this is a very gothic graveyard. The tombs have gargoyles, twisted characters of all races forever honored in stone statues on some of them. All around the medium-sized graveyard is a dense wood, only blocked from overtaking the cemetery by a black, wrought-iron fence.

  It’s so dark. I can hardly make anything out. I access system controls in my interface, but they won’t open. I can’t lighten up my visuals.

  I walk, just to move, in the direction I had been facing when I opened my eyes after the bizarre event I can’t explain. I wipe my eyes continually, trying to see through the downpour of rain. Ahead of me, near two gray graves that are simply arched, I spy an NPC Nuudle named Calla holding an umbrella. Her back is to me. Maybe she holds a clue as to what is going on.

  I reach her. “Hey, hey you?”

  She turns. “Why, hello there! I’m so very happy to meet you! Welcome to Dark World—Total Immersion Mode!”

  “What is this place? What happened to me?”

  “Welcome to Dark World!” she says again. She’s my height, oddly, black-skinned, has silver hair down to her waist, and big, violet eyes. She has a Nuudle cryptic marking on her forehead, one I’ve not seen on a Nuudle before. It looks like a cross between a bird and a dragon, artful and colored yellow. “Come under my umbrella with me. We will begin your transformation!”

  “What transformation?” The umbrella certainly looks inviting.

  “It’s the beginning of Total Immersion! How very exciting for you! I’m so very happy you are here. Come, come!” She gestures for me to join her.

  The rain does suck, and I can feel goose bumps all over. Whatever is going on, the umbrella, whatever comfort it might offer, is too tempting and I step under it.

  A blue-tinted bubble suddenly sprouts up around us. “What’s that?” I ask, pointing at the bubble.

  “I’m so very glad to have met you, but I don’t even know what to call you! Let’s pick a name now, okay?”

  “I have a name.” I try stepping back out of the bluish bubble, but it’s like a wall. “Why can’t I get out?”

  “Because you don’t have a name or class yet, silly thing!”

  What? “I’m Sid Vicious, I’m a Maniac. Come on. What the hell is going on?”

  She shakes her little head and holds a finger over her pink lips. “Now, now. No need to use foul language. You should be happy! You get to start all over! How many people get to do that? Now, in Dark World, you have one name. You can pick your first name or last from Elora. What will you choose?”

  “What do you mean? I’m not in Elora?”

  “We’ll discuss that at another time. You are in Dark World for now. That’s all you need to concentrate on.”

  “What is Dark World? What is this ‘Total Immersion’?”

  She shakes her head again. “So many questions. You’ll find your answers once you begin your new adventure! Now, which name? Sid or Vicious?”

  “I don’t want to do this, I want explanations!” I’m angry, frustrated, confused.

  “It’s quite simple. You’re either Sid or Vicious!” She grins and winks.

  “Fine!” I yell at her to be heard over thunder. “Fine, I’m Sid. That make you happy?”

  Her violet eyes widen. “Yes! Yes, it makes me very happy! You are Sid!” She grins again. “Now, to pick your class. Here, I’ll make a mirror so you can customize your appearance.”

  “My appearance?”

  She waves her wand and silver spouts out the tip.

  Calla casts Mirror.

  A shining, silver-gilded mirror appears next to me and I turn to look into it.

  Oh, my god. I’m a Nuudle. A friggin’ Nuudle! “What the fuck?”

  She pats my shoulder. I feel it, a dainty pressure. “What did I say about the language? A true Nuudle doesn’t say such things as every word and word placement has special meaning. Look, look! What hair will you pick? What color skin? Oh, and the marking!”

  I glare at my image. I’m wearing a white cotton robe, have the standard Nuudle template anyone is given to begin making their character. “I don’t want to be a Nuudle.”

  “But this is Dark World, where you are flipped! This is chosen for you. Someday, you’ll see why. Or maybe now! But you can’t change who you are.” She shifts and puts her hand on her hip. “I think you’d look nice with black hair. Or purple. Or green!”

  I don’t know what to do. I think for a moment, staring into the mirror. A Nuudle! I hate Mage classes. I’ve never been one in this game, but have tried it in other MMOs. Not for me. Boring. I’m a melee fighter by nature.

  And I’m so damn small!

  “Take me back to Elora.”

  “You are in Dark World! You really should be more excited. Very few are given the chance to be in Total Immersion mode.”

  “But what is it?”

  “You ask too many questions. Where’s the fun in knowing everything? Now, select your image. You will make such a cute Nuudle!” She sways back and forth, smiling up at the red lightning crossing the sky.

  I don’t know what else to do, so I access my menu. Black hair, curly, down to my shoulders. That’s fine. Silvery skin. Sure. Blue eyes. Man, I miss my dragon eyes. Nuudle eyes are big, round, and have enormous pupils. I make my Nuudle skinny.

  “Very good!” says Calla. “Now, which mark for your forehead? This is very important!”

  “Why?”

  “Because it demonstrates your class, silly. Don’t you know anything about Nuudles?”

  “The marking has nothing to do with class.”

  She looks to the side. “Well, maybe not in Elora, but it sure does in Dark World.”

  “In that case, don’t you think I should pick my class before choosing a marking?” I say.

  “Well, now that’s the attitude! Let’s pick your class, then.”

  I go through my menu of choices. All the usual ones are there. I scroll to my stats.

  Holy crap. All my stats are at 1.

  Holy crap.

  Well, INT, CON, and MND are at 15. Those are the Nuudle starting stats. If I want any chance here at all, I’ll have to pick a mage job so I’ll at least have some more stats. I quickly check my bags.

  Empty. Not even a weapon.

  Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

  “Something the matter, Sid? You’re taking an aw
fully long time.” She puts her hand on her hip again, tilting the umbrella even though the blue bubble keeps rain far away.

  “I have nothing! No stats! No weapon! What do you think is the matter?”

  “Hush, hush now. It’s okay, you can take your time.”

  “I don’t want to be a mage. I want my old character back, my Dragonbane Maniac. I can’t be a mage just for the stat boost.”

  “Well, that’s awfully close-minded of you.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  “There you go again. So rude! Nuudles have more class than that.” She shakes her head in disapproval.

  “Okay, fine. What class do you think I should be, then?” I ask. My irritability and confusion fight each other.

  She taps her pink lips. “You know, I think you would make the best Mystic I’ve ever seen!”

  I glare at her. “Mystic? Mystic! It’s not even listed as an option, stupid NPC.”

  “Hey! I’m not stupid! I’m a high-level teacher in the Temple of Nuudlel. I just happen to know you’d make a great Mystic! The Mystic to tower over all Mystics!”

  “Mystic. How am I supposed to select it when it isn’t even an option?”

  She leans in toward me. “Look again,” she whispers.

  I check the class options again. Lo and behold, Mystic is listed now, in light purple italics. Wow, I’ve found out how to unlock the ever-elusive Mystic class! I must be in Elora, some secret part of the game.

  Sure, a secret part where I can feel… everything.

  “Okay,” I say. “Sure, I’ll be a Mystic. Why not?” I need the stat boost, and I admit, curiosity has set in. Mystic? Really?

  Would I someday be able to summon Ananta? By God.

  “Excellent choice! I told you I wasn’t stupid. I can see right through you, Sid. Now, you have a choice between four markings. Usually I offer three, but for you, I offer four. Here.”

  My interface shows me in the mirror with four different marks on my forehead. One captures my interest right away. It is a blue serpent, and Ananta’s made of blue serpent heads. “That one,” I say, and point at myself in the mirror.

  “Wise choice. Maybe you aren’t stupid, either.” She laughs wildly. “Here, a gift in your inventory. Also, check your quest log. I have given you your first Mystic quest. Use the rune tattoo on your left hand for the quest. You’ll figure out how. May the blessings of Mystic and summons follow you, and be sure to make friends. They will help you more than you know, more than they did in your life before.”

  “What do you mean, my life before?”

  But the blue bubble around us fades, as does Calla. “Don’t forget to look behind you.” She keeps smiling and waving as she disappears into nothing, and the rain pelts me.

  I’m alone in a storm in an unknown graveyard. I look at my left palm. There’s a marking of five men clothed in furs and baring horns, faces shadowy and twisted from untold lifetimes of deviant being.

  I access my inventory to find a Shaman Stick, a weapon, and equip it. I don’t know if it does anything special. No stats on it. I check my stat menu next. INT and MND are now 20, and CON is 32. DEF went up to 5, ATT +2.

  Next, I look at my quest log.

  Battle the Counts of Hell is the only quest in my log. I have to fight them to claim them to be able to summon them.

  Calla said to look behind me, which I do. I read the names on the two black marble tombstones there.

  Sid Vicious, one reads, with an etching of my old character’s image on it, and beside it, I read The Seeker, with his image carved into the rock.

  What the hell happened to me? What is this place? What am I to do?

  CHAPTER 6: CHANGED AND THE SAME

  First, I need to figure out where the hell I am. I open my map. My icon is in Sunset Forest, the supposedly haunted area between White Elf Territory and Nuudle Territory. Full of undead mobs. But it’s not called Sunset Forest. It’s called Forest of the Dead.

  That’s not the only difference this map has from Elora’s map. Yes, the world is shaped the same, but some names are different. One stands out to me in particular. The Fallen Wall of Bane is simply the Wall of Bane. The Red Snow Mountains, the pass between Dragonbane Territory and White Elf Territory, is called Snowy Mountains. The legend in Elora was that the Red Snow Mountains were called that because of Bane’s battle with the White Elves there when he tried to conquer White Elf Territory. That’s where Kane defeated him, after allying with the Nuudles and White Elves. They hadn’t done magical work together in 1,400 years at that point because it always ended in destruction.

  The White Elves cast a spell over the mountains after the battle, which they won, so that no Dragonbane could ever cross it again. The barrier spell kept snow from falling onto the mountaintops, keeping the snow red from blood spilled in the historic battle.

  All the capitals of the territories are the same, except that Kane, the capital of Dragonbane Territory, is called Bane. Is Dark World somehow part of the past of Elora? I seem to be where… or when… things that are world-building pieces of story in Elora are now fact. It doesn’t make sense to me.

  The quest for the Counts of Hell is marked on my map at a cave near Kleeple, the capital of Nuudle Territory.

  How am I supposed to get through this damn pitch-black forest and to Nuudle Territory with nothing but a Shaman Stick with no stats?

  I access my friends list, knowing nobody will be there, and I’m right. Blank menu. I can’t even get my keyboard to send a message to someone I know… I have no RL hands.

  Wait. I can access my interface with my eye movements. I am doing that, right? Suddenly, I’m not so sure.

  This is too weird, too bizarre. What is happening to me?

  The map is getting soaked, and I’m freezing in this weather. More thunder overhead, and then a spider web of red lightning follows. I look up at it and sigh in frustration.

  Something at the far edge of the dark graveyard catches my eye.

  I look to the corner of the wrought iron fence and make out what looks like a Siren player with silver hair and light gold skin watching me. Her name over her head is Anella. She’s wearing black gear and robes, with the silver hair spilling out in front of her from beneath a hood. I’ve never seen that gear in game before.

  Should I approach her? Tentatively, I wave.

  She just keeps staring at me.

  I slowly walk through the cemetery, bare feet getting soaked and water inching up the hems of my cotton robe. Anella watches, and as I get to the fence, she hops backward over it and ducks behind a tree. I get the sense she’s timid, but I need help.

  “Hello?” I call to her. “Can you help me?”

  I move slowly as I climb the fence. My wet robe catches on a post, and I fall flat on my face in the mud on the other side.

  I hear her giggle, and I look up. She’s peeking around an enormous tree trunk and covers her mouth, and then disappears behind it. I get to my feet, wiping cold, wet mud from my face, and say, “Hey, hey, Anella.”

  She pokes her head from around another tree beside the one she had been behind. How did she do that?

  “Can you help me?” I say softly. My instincts tell me to be wary. Or it could be that everything is so strange that I’m, well, terrified. I can feel everything, and if she attacks me, will I feel pain, too?

  I’m betting I will.

  “Are you Mystic?” she whispers.

  “Yeah, yeah, I am now.”

  She smiles slightly and approaches me. “Not just anybody gets the option to choose Mystic. Nobody has that marking on his forehead. You’re like me.”

  “What do you mean?” She’s standing right in front of me now, and I’m afraid of the attack that might come.

  “I am The Hidden, and that quest line only is an option for certain players. People. Situations.” She reaches down and rubs some mud off my cheek. “You poor soul. Nothing makes sense, does it?”

  “No. Can you help me? Explain what’s happened here?” I rub wate
r from my eyes. “Where am I?”

  She backs away, eyes wide. “I can’t help you. Not right now. You’ll have to figure it all out like the rest of us.”

  “Why? I mean, if you know, why not just tell me?”

  “It’s… complicated.” She waves her gold, webbed hands in the air. I get the feeling she’s a little off in the head, but wicked intelligent.

  Anella casts Shielding from Horrors on Sid.

  A greenish hue of air surrounds me in a bubble. I reach out and touch it. It feels thick and slimy. The rain stops pelting me, and I realize she’s cast a Hidden spell that protects me somehow.

  “This will last for three hours. You will be able to get to where you need to go. And one more thing, one more gift, if you will.”

  “Thank you, but I need help figuring out how to get back to the Elora I know, the character I know.” I’m grateful the rain no longer soaks me, but I can’t understand why she won’t simply explain what is going on.

  She swirls her hands around again and they glow white. “Hold out your Shaman Stick.”

  I do.

  Anella ignites a Lightning Shard.

  Anella uses Enchant Weapon on Shaman Stick.

  “That’s all I can do for now. Good luck, Sid. Make good friends.” She backs away.

  “Wait, wait! Come back!” I follow her, but her eyes widen and she turns, using something like Blessed’s Swift Feet.

  Anella casts Scatter.

  Her figure zooms away into the trees and splits into many images of her until they are all gone. I have nobody to follow.

  Damnit, what the hell?

  I look at my Shaman Stick, which now glows a soft eggshell white with little sparkles of silver dancing around the crooked, pale, notched wood. I look in my menu to see what enchantment she put on it.

  Shaman Stick is enchanted with White Lightning, causing lightning damage to target equal to ATT stat.

  I have a weapon. Wow. She really helped me out. I can do 2 extra damage every time I use the Shaman Stick.

  If I’m remembering correctly, these woods are full of the lifeless. But they are high-stat mobs. Dangerous. One hit from them and I’d be back in the graveyard. Or would I?