A Power Game

The hardest part about the game, Mhykol found, was simply walking. Standing was easy, he barely had to support any of his own weight, but as soon as he tried to move forwards, he had problem. After the first time nearly falling on the point of his own sword, he was more careful. Without taking his foot from the ground, he slid it forwards over the spongy grass. To his relief, it held steady.

Damn, this was harder than he thought. It took him a nearly another twenty minutes of half-sliding, half-stepping to get the motion of movement down. A half hour later, he was walking. Running, he decided, would come later. Besides, he had boosted his speed stat by 4, which essentially meant he would be able to move 4 times faster than normal when he activated it.

We must all walk before we can run.

Breathing steadily, still enjoying the feeling of the warm sun against his skin and the dry summer wind, Mhykol decided to explore around. He moved casually into the trees, ears and eyes peeled for movement. He expected that there would only be starter-level monsters in the spawning forest, but this might be one of those games that threw you into combat too high level at first in order to get you experience. Mhykol didn't know what happened if you died in the Netgear, but he expected it wouldn't be pleasant. The pleasure of the Netgear was so real, he expected the pain would be much the same. Silently, he vowed to try not to get any swords stuck through him any time soon.

His clothing was plain. He wore a button-up white dress shirt, made of a light, comfortable material and unbuttoned to his chest. Over it was a black leather jacket, with a single white gem on the left shoulder. Studying it closely, Mhykol decided that it must be a diamond replicate, or possibly some kind of expensive quartz. His hands were covered in black biking gloves, which were cut-off just before the first knuckle on his fingers. Good for grip, he supposed. Long grey pants, which felt strangely loose, wrapped around his legs almost right to the ground, nearly hiding his black-leather boots. They flowed around his legs in the slight wind, but still managed to keep his legs warm.

And then, there was his sword. He would have to decide on a name for it, of course, but that could wait. He wanted to find out more about this new world he was in, first.

"Is anyone there?" His deep voice carried in the quiet woods. The only sound he could here was a small animal rustling in the leaves nearby, a few birds chirping in the tall trees, and the repetitive splash of water falling from the leafy canopy.
"Hello?" He dragged the word out in the long question, but it was met by the same response.

"Well this is just fantastic." Mhykol sighed, tapping his hip lightly with one gloved hand. "Guess I'll head towards that smoke I saw. At least someone's going to be there, friendly or not."

As he walked, Mhykol peered closely into the forest around him. It was still the middle of the afternoon, and light spilled through holes in the leaf canopy above, creating a holy atmosphere in the trees. The forest was seemingly lifeless, but it definitely wasn't. Along with the small animals that scurried around the base of the trees, there seemed to be a ... presence ... to the forest. It was as if the entire forest was a alive. Not in a malicious way, but simply there. As if every tree and leaf was part of a giant, sleeping being. It put Mhykol slightly in awe.

"Anybody there?" Mhykol tried again, hoping he would be close enough to the source of the smoke to get an answer. Stopping for a moment, he angled his head slightly towards the direction.

"Your worst nightmare." The voice was growled in his ear, but it was definitely feminine. Mhykol spun halfway around before his legs were kicked out from under him. He landed sprawling on the soft ground, gasping slightly as the air left his lungs forcefully. His mind reeled as he tried to comprehend what had happened.

How the hell did she get behind me so silently?

Mhykol scrambled to stand and face his attacker, but froze as a chill went up his spine. Something pressed lightly against the base of his neck, sharp and cold. The touch of metal.
So much for not getting any swords stuck through him, Mhykol thought vexedly.

"Don't stand. Turn to face me."

Mhykol sighed, but rolled on his back until he was staring up at his ambusher. To his amazement, it was a young woman. Her long black-brown hair was tied back from her face in a thick braid, and her face was that of a hunter, sharp and narrow. And incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, at this moment, it was curled in distaste. For him, Mhykol assumed.

"What's an assassin doing in these parts?"

"I don't know."

It was the truth. Mhykol had been slightly hoping that this girl could tell him where he was, and where the closest town was, but at this point it seemed she was more likely to just take a piece of him off with the thin, silver blade in her hand. His answer just seemed to make her more suspicious, if anything.

"A new player?"

Mhykol nodded slightly, as much as he could with the sword pressed to close to the skin of his neck. The girl was of average height for a woman- standing between five and six feet, he guessed - and willowy. Not feeble, but slender, like a dancer. The strength in her long arms was obvious by the way she held the sword, outstretched and stable in one. The girls blue-black eyes stared down at him like a she-wolf.

"What are you looking for?"

Mhykol glanced meaningfully at the sword, which she had pressed forcefully into his throat, and she backed it off a few inches. Her expression turned slightly apologetic, if a wolf could look apologetic. Mhykol swallowed once.

"I saw smoke above the trees. I was looking for ...." suddenly, Mhykol realized he didn't actually know what he had been looking for, "people. I guess."

"You found one." The girls voice was flat and hostile, but no longer angry. "Unfortunately for you, you just wandered into the boundaries of a PVP zone."

"Player versus Player?"

The girl nodded, her face still thoughtful. Suddenly, the stepped backwards, withdrawing the sword from his throat. "Ragnarok will be angry that I let you go, but I don't kill when I don't have to." She sheathed her sword, slamming it back into the silver-engraved case at her hip. It was only then that Mhykol got a good look at her.

He stood, brushing the leaves and dirt off the back of his clothing. The girl stood a few feet away, studying him with a slight tip to her head. She was about 5'6", with pale skin and dressed in forest green. When she stood still, her clothes seemed to blend into the leaves behind her, making it look somewhat like she was just a floating head.

Best-looking floating head I've ever seen, Mhykol thought, and pressed his lips together slightly in order to stop from smiling.

"What?" The girls voice was sharply suspicious, and her ocean-colored eyes met his like razors.

"I was just thinking that you are a very pretty young woman."

The girl continued staring at him for a full five seconds before relaxing, her hand easing away from her sword handle. The tips of her lips curving up in a small, rebellious smile, she breathed through her nose in amusement.

"Thank-you." She reached out one hand in greeting, "I'm Rain."

"Mhykol." Mhykol stepped forwards, shaking her hand lightly. Just as he was about to release it, the girl tightened her grip, and stepped behind him, bending his arm around in a perfect lock. The girl put one booted foot on the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel. As the girl leaned down beside his face, Mhykol could smell the scent of light pine smoke and cherries clinging to her. Turning her head, she whispered in his ear faintly.

"Well, Mhykol. If you think compliments will get you anywhere with me, you're wrong."

Mhykol nodded, his eyes squinted in pain. Damn, this girl was stronger than she looked. That, and the fact that she was more vicious than a cat with rabies. Good this she was beautiful, he supposed, because she was terrifying.

"Good."

She released him, and he fell to all his knees and hands. Rising slowly, he massaged feeling back into his right arm with his hand. He shot the girl an aggrieved look, and she had the gall to look amused. "Now, do you know anything about Euphoria?"

Mhykol shook his head, still feeling slightly assaulted.

"This is one of three spawning areas. There's the Glowing Caves, Gate of Heaven, and Clearing of Life. You, obviously, spawned in the Clearing of Life. All three are surrounded by what's known as a "battleground". It's basically an area that high-level players can enter to train, or to pick on the new kids. Think of it as a screening. It weeds out the weak, the stupid, or the unlucky."

"But that's not why you're here?" Mhykol's voice was cautious. He didn't want to be thrown into another unprovoked arm-bar. Luckily, Rain simply shook her head.

"My brother went missing a few days ago. Last report said he was seen somewhere around here, but I've been here for three days with no trace of him. He must have moved on."

"I'm sorry. I hope you find him." Mhykol's voice was apologetic, but Rain waved it off.

"It's okay, you didn't know." She turned to glance at him through her long black eyelashes, "But watch yourself. I'm not supposed to mention it, but strange things have been going on recently. The newest update changed some weird things, and ... people have been disappearing. Look at this." She stopped walking, and Mhykol stopped with her. Swiping one hand through the air in front of her face, she opened a menu. Clicking on a smiling icon that had the words 'Friend List' beside it, she scrolled through a list of people. Suddenly, she stopped, pointing to a name.

'Terry Goodin'.

"That's him. Look at the icon beside his name."

Glancing at the icon, Mhykol frowned. It was a grey circle with a black 'T' inside. Looking at the other symbols, they were simply a red circle for those offline, and a green for those online.

"I can't even tell if he's online or not. I think he may have blocked me."

Mhykol swiped the air in front of his face, opening his menu. He quickly navigated to the friends page, and entered 'Terry Goodin'. He hit enter, and the same icon appeared beside his name. "Not blocked, then."

"I think it might be a server error. The new update is said to be ... buggy."

"Why don't you just log out for a moment and talk to him?"

"I've tried. He's living in England right now. He goes to school there, and I haven't been able to get in contact with him. Apparently nobody else can either. It's like I said. He vanished."
That sent a chill down Mhykol's spine. "It's happened to other people too. About a hundred and forty so far, bu the number seems to be increasing drastically."

Rain continued walking, swiping the menu away from her face angrily. "Anyways, let me tell you a bit about the game. Once - if - you survive the starting area and PVP zone, you can look for villages or cities. There's hundreds, but the closest to us are Arenvale, Shairak, Menlauqious, and Durendin. We're heading for Arenvale, I have friends there that can help you. Killing monsters or people gives you experience points known as Ba, money known as Ka, and sometimes rare item drops. The higher level the monster, the better the items they drop, the more experience, so on and so forth."
She paused.
"I could go into detail about the political aspects of the game right now, but it's confusing when you're new. What you mainly need to know is that there's two ruling factions;" She held up two fingers, checking them off, "The Royal Thrones, and the Brotherhood of Magic. There's also the Northern Raiders, The Dead Syndicate, Knights of Justice, and Sun Rah Hai, but they're more minor powers. Personally, I'm of the Royal Thrones, but there's no enmity between the two major powers right now, so it makes no difference what one you join. Or if you join one, for that matter. Many people don't."
She paused again, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, like she had grown tired talking. "There's other things you'll figure out with time, I'm sure, but here are the most important. Stay away from three things; Mount Doom -" She pointed to the north, "Black Rock Dragon", she pointed south-east. As she said the name, Mhykol thought he caught a whiff of sulfur, acidic and sour. "And finally, and most of all, The Caves."

"What's so bad about caves?"

Rain looked at him with a deadly serious expression. "Everything. It's called the caves, but it's actually a winding maze of passages under Mount Doom, stretching for miles in every direction. They're filled with high-tier monsters and Class 4 boss fights. So far, every player that has entered the caves has disappeared. Well, that's not strictly true. One of them survived. He hasn't stopped talking about insects since he's come awake." Rain snapped her fingers together. "Madder than a hatter."

Mhykol made a mental note to stay away form The Caves at all cost.

Something told him he'd be breaking that oath sooner than he wanted.