In the northern part of the kingdom of Haileth. A city called Cerverstein was established. There were hundreds of cities that existed. But only about 10 were chosen as beginner spawn points. Mostly due to the surrounding monster levels in the area. But also the main reason being, the game dev's decision to move the main story forward at a slower pace. The story in Silver Skies progresses by completing quests. So most quests that players can complete that change the future of the world exist within high level zones. The reasoning behind this is to stall for time before the next major content update.
In one of these very beginner towns, a young girl appeared in the center of town. She was surrounded by a crowd of players moving from left to right. It took her a couple of minutes to escape the crowd before she found herself in a market area of sorts. The girl was, as you may have guessed, Luna. Once she entered the market, she got a better feel for her surroundings. Cerverstein looked to be a large city from the middle-ages. Homes, NPCs, and even other users had a fantasy vibe to them.
Luna herself was no exception. The world around her felt so real. All five senses were replicated. Unlike other games Luna played before. This game made it feel like she entered a second world. But unlike in the real world. In this one she felt strength. Her always tired and fatigued body was gone. It was replaced with the body of a trained warrior. She couldn't help but smile.
At her waist was a shortsword. Luna wanted to swing it around with her new strength. But with her current crowded location, Luna couldn't exactly pull it out and practice. In the distance, there was a large opened gate. It looked to be the gate to leave the city. So Luna decided to leave the market area and follow the main road to leave the city. In her short walk, she took note of a couple of things around her.
The first one looked to be other users. They were shouting offers for materials, gold, and parties. Unlike what Luna thought, it looked like you had to manually make the party and find teammates. The same thing also seemed to hold true with trading for now.
The second thing Luna took note of was the sheer amount of homeless people along the streets. Or at least they looked to be homeless. They were everywhere on the main road and shouted at nearby passersby for gold. It was sad to see, but Luna didn't exactly have any money to give up in the first place. So if it weren't for the sword on her waist, she would be in the same situation as them.
Finally she left through the city gates and entered a vast field. In that field she saw farmers plowing their fields and overall a peaceful atmosphere compared to what she thought. In her head, Luna imagined monsters roaming outside the city and loads of beginners like herself killing monsters. It looked like the walk to a monster filled area was a bit longer than she thought it would be.
In the far distance was a forest. And it looked like other players were following the same trail as her and venturing down the main road into this forest. After a 15 minute walk, she was finally in the territory to fight monsters. The reason she was able to figure this out was due to the window now in front of her.
[Undine Forest - Recommended Lv 1 to 3]
"Alright now it's time to start hunting!" Running through the forest like a child, Luna went looking for monsters to fight. One minute of running later and Luna came face to face with her first enemy. It was a bug, more specifically a beetle. It was the size of a large dog and immediately charged at Luna upon seeing her. Not a great scene for non-bug lovers.
She drew her blade and readied it against her foe. With all of its body weight behind it, the beetle went to bite Luna with it's mandibles. Her first strike against it was a miss and it's mandibles pierced her sides. Thankfully the pain was about the same as someone pinching her.
It was able to topple her over without much difficulty and tried to attack her face. Now in a desperate situation, Luna could only use her sword to keep the beetle from chewing her face off. The battle was already off to a bad start. In most cases for beginners, the beetle will leave them traumatized. It wasn't the nicest sight having an insect a few inches away from your face. Especially when it wants to viscously eat you.
Luna gave the appropriate response in a situation like this. "EW! EW! EW! GROSS! GET OFF!" Using all her strength, she was able to push the beetle off of her. The beetle landed on its back and was shaking, trying to flip itself over. A smirk came across Luna's face. Without any mercy, Luna used her sword to repeatedly stab into the beetle's abdomen, spraying insect blood everywhere.
[You have earned experience points]
"Ugh this is not the type of first battle I was expecting." Luna said, defeated. She may have gained a new trauma, but she also learned the beetle's weakness. With newfound experiences, Luna set out for her next battle.
-
It was 6 hours ago that Luna started hunting. She was completely and utterly exhausted. Her instincts told her to get some rest. But she had no idea where she should go. After running around like a maniac while covered in insect blood, Luna was now lost. She had hunted a decent amount and leveled up 3 times. Now she was level 4 and needed to return back to Cerverstein. But she had no idea where the city was. There wasn't a compass or map for her to see her current direction or location.
She hadn't come across any players for the past 4 hours and was beginning to think she was stranded. Without a direction to keep going, Luna took it upon herself to try and find shelter. The sun was already setting and she would just get more lost if she wandered in the dark. So finding a temporary place to stay put was a good idea.
"Huh, a cave?" She hadn't come across one yet so this was a surprise to her. A large opening in the rock was revealed to her as a cave. It was a good place to stay the night so she walked right in. Luna took a look around and noticed nothing along the lines of monsters. But after five steps into the newly found cave, a new message appeared.
[You have discovered The Cave of Nightmares]
[Would you like to put your name in the hall of fame?]
"Nightmares?! No way! I'm out!" Luna was completely afraid of nightmares. It was the main reason she couldn't use prescription sleeping pills. For some strange reason they always induced nightmares for her. It woke her up in the middle of the night and reduced her sleep from what it already was. Nightmares were her biggest fear and that made this cave a big no no.
In her outburst she accidentally refused the request to put her name in the hall of fame. Although it didn't exactly matter to her as she would never want to involve her name in anything remotely related to the word nightmare.
Luna went to leave the cave as she heard a whisper. The voice was faint but it sent shivers down her spine. It beckoned her to enter the cave. "Maybe it's ok if I just sit right here." She sat right at the entrance of the cave. Spending her time watching the deep darkness that laid deeper within.
As the sky grew darker. Luna started to shiver as the temperature went lower. This wasn't exactly all that fun. Slaying the beatles was fun because of the adrenaline she felt when fighting. But Luna was never a big fan of horror. This game was known for being able to simulate real life. Including the idea of real life horror and the danger of dying. Although dying wasn't an issue because it wouldn't affect her real body. Everyone still had the problem of fear when up against death.
"It's dark, cold, and there's whispers coming from in there. This is definitely some nasty ploy by the game developers to scare me!" Luna tried to rationalize herself. If she kept thinking this was a game, then her fear would lessen. After Luna shouted the whispers suddenly increased and got louder. It was like it was trying to ask something of her.
"....hel-...m.....cape" It was faint but the voice was getting clearer to understand. "Who are you?! I swear I'll slice you right in half!" Luna yelled at the thing behind the voice, but a reply didn't come.
"Alright you asked for this! You're going to die by my mighty blade!" The voice didn't ask for anything and her sword was not mighty. But threats aside, Luna was slowly entering the depths of the cave. Her knees shook in fear as she took each step. Seconds left like minutes to her.
Her knuckles turned white as she gripped her sword tightly. "I-I never knew I w-was this afraid of nightmares." Luna said as she traveled deeper. "It's just another type of monster like the beetle. You can do this Luna. This is all just a game." She felt like crying. The anticipation was steadily increasing her fear.
Finally she reached the end of the cave. Standing face to face with a large door, Luna mentally prepared herself. She then placed her hands on the door and tried to push the door open. It wouldn't budge. The door was too heavy for her to push it open with brute force.
"Welp, I can't open it so I guess it's time to turn back." But then Luna felt an extreme sense of sluggishness come upon her. After two more steps, she fell to her knees. "Huh? What's going....on" Luna fell to the floor and quickly succumbed to slumber. Fast asleep in the middle of a cave that has the nightmare in its name was a worse case scenario.
The voice from the shadows then spoke up. "-ease...help-.....me...cape" Sadly Luna wasn't there to hear it. As she had already entered the world of dreams.