He opened his eyes slowly, and after getting up, he let out a loud yawn. Then he looked around and got to his feet. Had he fallen asleep in the virtual reality camera? No, if so, the software would have automatically disconnected. Dolwyn suddenly felt a sharp pang of pain in his head, and finally remembered the moments before he had fallen asleep: the white room, the stretcher, the anesthesia... and finally, the strange gadgets that the scientists were manipulating while he fell into a deep sleep. Everything had been real? The man of only twenty-four years observed the room in which he was now, since it had little to do with the experiment: huge paintings and tapestries that represented incredible scenes of battles between beings never seen before by humankind adorned the walls, while carpets of an exquisite quality, prevent his feet from directly touching the ground. In short: he was in the room he had built for himself a long time ago in Aulharia.
«Amazing.» He said to himself. «So it's seem like this was the true objective of the company...»
As he thought about it, the great doors of the room opened, and Ashreg, the guardian he had created to defend his fortress, looked at him with hatred. The scene that followed was ridiculous. The young man had to smile to avoid a loud laugh, and when he explained to his servant who he was, he realized that his appearance had nothing to do with the one he had in-game. In fact, he still maintained his original human form.
"I need some proof to know wether you are really who you say you are " apparently, Ashreg had taken the trouble to stop spitting the words with contempt to treat him more politely.
"Well, ask anything."
The guard hesitated for a moment. "What do you detest the most about Aulharia?"
"Oh, that's easy" Dolwyn didn't even have to think it twice "the generic sound of the game when you level up. It's annoying as hell and it takes away all the grace to continue advancing in the game"
Ashreg dropped to his knees. It was him! He was before his master, after more than a thousand years! He was about to let out a tear, but restrained himself and still overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment asked:
"My lord, where have you been all this time? I ... I thought I would never see you again"
"What?" Dolwyn didn't understand the question of the servant "What do you mean by all this time"
"W-well, I mean the thousand years that have passed in your absence."
The Great Lord frowned and for a moment didn't know what to say. Would Ashreg be kidding? He dismissed the idea quickly: he would never do something like that to him. So... how was it possible that so much time had passed since the completion of that test on Earth? He had the impression that the guardian was reading his mind, because he answered the question at the right time.
"I'm sorry I took so long, but let's say there were certain complications... Someday I'll explain it to you."
"Don't worry about that, master! You don't have to give me explanations of any kind regarding what happened. Besides, you're already here, and this fact fills me with happiness" the servant's words said one thing, but his face expressed something quite different.
"I promise that one day I'll explain it to you. So don't let it worry you now." Dolwyn folded his arms. "Oh, there's something that have been bothering me for a while. Don't call me master, please. Instead, use only the title of sir, okay?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Well, now I'm going to need you to put me a little bit up to date: in these thousand years some things must have changed."
"With your permission" Ashreg got up, cleared his throat and continued talking. "In these thousand years Aulharia has undergone an immense transformation, and I think it's due to your absence, my lord. As soon as you disappeared, the magic began to weaken all over the world, and little by little it disappeared. At that time, the Confederation broke up between conspiracies and civil wars, plunging the continent into a state of chaos for nearly a hundred years. As a result of these disasters, six kingdoms and empires were formed, all of them divided around the territory of The Sphere. Another consequence that has occurred and more recently seen, has been the involution of culture and sciences, which are nowadays at such a low point that a fair comparison can't be made with the times of The Confederation. "You see, sir, without you, the world has become a shadow of what it was. But... but I'm sure that now you're here, things will start to improve very fast.
So much new information in such a short amount time left Dolwyn a bit perplexed, and he had to organize and analyze it in his head before continuing the conversation. «The Great Empire of the original game no longer exists. Now other states have emerged that may well be completely different from what I knew.» The young man ran a hand through his hair. «I'm going to have to spy on the entire aristocracy to better understand this new world.»
"Okay, thanks for the information, Ashreg. One last question: has everything been in order in The Sphere? Hasn't any intruder penetrated?"
The guard frowned, and annoyed but respectful, answered the question:
"My lord, it offends me your doubt of my abilities."
"I don't doubt of them, in fact, I know that you have the power to devastate the whole continent if you propose it. However, as you said, they've changed so many things that I no longer know if we have been in trouble for the past centuries."
"There's nothing to worry about, sir," Ashreg said, more relaxed. "While it's true that during the first years after your departure there were certain groups of people with magical attitudes who tried to access the Sphere, their abilities were far below what was necessary to penetrate even the first of the magic barriers."
"It seems that The Sphere has never been in danger or will run on it in the near future."
"So it is. In these thousand years I've read all the books of the Knowledge sector, and more than half of them without using the reading spell. Imagine how things have been here for me to have achieved such a feat."
At that moment Dolwyn gathered the information that the guardian had given him: the changes in the governance structure of the continent, the unsuccessful attacks against the Sphere and the disappearance of mag... «What? There's no longer magic in this world?» The Great Lord swallowed and for the first time since he had woken up in Aulharia, he became nervous.
"Give me a second, Ashreg. There's something I want to check." The young man stretched out his right arm and clenched his fist. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated, imagining what he wanted to project in his hand. He formulated the word 'Iluminae' to himself, and when he opened his eyes and likewise his fist, a blinding light flooded the corridor, making it almost impossible to see. The young man wiped the few drops of sweat on his forehead and stood watching the servant, who looked at him confused.
"May I ask you the reason for performing such spell at a time and place like this, sir?
"Let's say that I wanted to check how much things have changed."
Ashreg shrugged and continued the march, guiding Dolwyn through a series of labyrinthine corridors.
"Do you want to go to a specific sector or room?"
"Yes, please, come with me to the kitchens. I want to have some breakfast, and you should too, my friend, since we'll have a lot of work ahead of us. Your boredom days are over, Ashreg."
The guardian smiled, and quickened his pace to avoid losing time, until he realized a detail that had gone unnoticed.
"My lord, wouldn't it be better to use teleportation? The walk will take us about twenty minutes.
Dolwyn stopped and let out a laugh.
"You're right, I still have to get used to this. I mean, being the Great Lord of Annihilation."