Some people in cloaks lead me out of the room and to what looks like a portal of sorts. One of them spoke up. "This portal will lead you to the city of Abysia, you should be able to find your own way there, if not then oh well."
"And what if I don't want to go thro-" One of them kicked me through the portal…
…
…
"-re you ok?"
Dirt, I guess I passed out on arrival…
There's a digital sounding voice coming from somewhere. "Hey! Answer my question!"
"Hmmm-"
"Jolt!"
There's a slight feeling of static building up, but before the spell's effect is completed, I jump up and it misses. "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!"
In front of me is a projection of a girl with a strange mark under her eye. "Oh good, you're awake. I guess I can call off the medics."
"Were you trying to kill me?!"
"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was just checking to see if I could wake you up."
"So why did you cast magic?!��
"Oh, that… electric shocks are pretty good at waking people up" her face turned into a colon and a three.
"...I can't punch you can I?"
"Nope!" Her face added another three. "I'm completely digital!"
"...great"
"I'm Nim, short for Nimue, I'm an AI that is in charge of the administrative capabilities of Abysia, and I also function as the leader of the "guilds" within Abysia City. You're not on any of my records so how exactly did you end up in a park fairly deep in the city without me noticing?"
Oh, I guess the portal did actually lead to where those bastards said it would. "Some sheep-person and his cult kidnapped me and then dropped me here."
"So Silv already gave you the intro, good. He should have notified me but the Cloth Theatre is a bunch of assholes, granted most of the archives are, so I guess your info never got through. Anyway, that's not that big of a bother, follow me I'll get you registered."
"Where exactly are we right now?"
"So right now we are in Hub Park, it's the largest park in the city. It forms a ring around the central part of the city, which is where we are headed at the moment. The layout here originally was a circle with different parts of the circle being different districts like the manufacturing district or the residential district. As the city expanded the circle shape started to be warped the only part of the city that is still circular is the park and the central district."
"Silv mentioned something about the Soma Archives being the original guild, so why is Abysia City separate from them."
"Oh there's an easy answer to that, see this is technically New Abysia, although it's a piece of ancient trash. Old Abysia was originally in Soma but as more and more guilds were added, the archives got flooded with more and more people. Eventually, the leaders decided to create a central hub to allow the archive to function as just an archive again, and New Abysia was created. Old Abysia was a significantly better city but eh, it was dragged into the Dungeon during a war in the past."
I don't know why but I feel an aura of sadness from around Nim. "What about you? What's your story?"
"Hmmm, oh… I'm nothing special. I was originally an AI made to help people access the archives but as I grew, I was seen as too disruptive for the archives, granted they were not wrong… so they put me in charge of managing requests and missions along with recording the information and advances of different members. When New Abysia was created I was moved here and was given control of the city."
"Oh, interesting. What's the mark on your face?"
"Oh! That's ummm… That's nothing major…"
I guess I messed up… She seems pretty upset, almost sad... I'll just shut up for now…
…
…
Wow, this park is big…
…
…
Oh, Nim seems to be fine again.
"Hey, were here, welcome to the central district."
Damn… from where we are standing I see a large ornate hall flanked by buildings, and a ways behind there's also a large tower… It's gorgeous! "Say Nim, what exactly the point of this place?"
"The Central District is a hub for members of all guilds, so it includes most amenities that they need. There are shops, restaurants, training halls, entertainment, and all sorts of other stuff, all run by the administrative guild. We are one of the two guilds which are standalone and are based out of the big hall over there, that's the gathering hall and it's where members of Abysia go to deal with registration and such. Most of our process can be done remotely because, you know, I'm an AI, but sometimes people just like doing things in person. We are headed there so we can register you and put you through some tests."
"What about the tower?"
"Oh that's the headquarters of the other stand-alone guild, Rainbow Sanctuary, they are our medic force. If you're in trouble go there, they will probably be able to help."
"Wait, you said tests what do you mean?"
"Oh don't worry nothing bad… anyway we are going to enter the hall, keep following me."
Nim just casually floated through the door sooooooo… oh well.
…
Wow, theres a lot of people in here… Oh, there's also a lot of Nim's…
"Jolt!"
I feel static from behind me… I dodged it again…
"Nim! Why are you trying to shock me again!"
"Because it's fun." She made another colon three face… "Here take this and fill it out and I'll scan your abilities."
It looks like it's just a simple questionnaire…
After I filled it out, Nim pulled up a screen and it displayed information about me.
Name: Veronica
Species: Human(x,x)
Homeworld: ?
Magic: Y(Wind and Space)
Weapons of Choice: pistol, knives, brands
Combat skill: Mid
Magic skill: Mid
Defense skill: Low
Special skills: curse resistance, trap resistance, mana nose
Build: ERrOr
Estimated rank: 1
I feel something off from Nim again…
"No… that can't be right…"