As Nathan hears the voice, his heart rate increases dramatically, and he spins while putting up his fists in what he believes is a fighting stance.
Once he turns around, he doesn't see anyone.
He starts to frantically turn every which way trying to locate the voice.
Nathan feels his heartbeat in his ears while the blood rushes faster with each beat and his back breaks out in a cold sweat. Eventually, he works up the nerve to call out to the voice in what he hopes is a confident tone.
"I am having fun so far. It's such a nice day, why don't you reveal yourself so we can travel to Hammers Rise together."
Nathan checks his mini-map out of the corner of his eye hoping to see some type of marker on it giving away the position of the other person or if they are hostile. Sadly, it reveals nothing except his position in the middle of Nail Nest Field.
'Well, this map is fucking useless.' Nathan thinks to himself in anger. 'I'm going to get worked over by someone and I won't even know how or where they are.'
"Ha-ha-ha," a melodic laugh is heard to Nathan's comment.
"I knew I didn't choose incorrectly with you Mr. Emblem. Did you miss me?" A blue sprite fades into existence a meter in front of Nathan.
"Scion!" Nathan shouts out in disbelief.
"The one and only," Scion says with a huge smile on her face and starts twirling around.
'She must be my game tutorial sprite or something like that from Firestorm. Nice.' Nathan thinks to himself while giving a mental thumbs up to the developers.
"Scion it's great to see you. Do you know where we are and why we're not at the same starting zone as the beta testers?" Nathan asks while calming down and trying to analyze the situation.
Scion stops twirling and cocks her head to the side giving Nathan a look like he's stupid.
"Are you talking about Precipets Glory?"
Nathan nods his head, excited that Scion knows the information he is looking for.
"Yes, my friends and I were planning to meet up at the Four Hoof Inn and then start experience grinding."
"He-he-he, your macabre sense of humor is the best," Scion says while giggling. "The Inn is gone along with the entire Precipets Glory plane. My Lord's Legions were victorious and razed the entire plane. Everyone living in that plane is either dead or enslaved."
Scion continues to go on as Nathan is dumbfounded.
"You could travel to that plane to "grind experience" as you said but, as your backer, I would recommend gaining some strength before heading there."
Scion pauses and puts her hand under her chin while she contemplates.
"The Lord's purpose indeed is to pit Champion versus Champion however, Kregol the Legion Commander stationed there is no small fry. Especially now that he'll be rewarded for the flawless execution of his plane assignment."
Nathan waves his hand in front of himself to stop Scion from talking.
"Hold on, what do you mean by "backer" and what's with the "my Lord" talk?"
"Do you truly have no idea?" Scion says as she flies over and sits on the ground in front of Nathan.
Nathan shakes his head and motions Scion to continue talking.
"God's damn it, I know Neothak is nuttier than a fruitcake, but he wouldn't go against the Lord's decree, and not explain to you all before you ascended what was going on."
Scion starts going off about how Neothak is useless and cursing him.
Nathan quickly interjects. "You mean to say the crazy person speaking as the Dive started wasn't part of the game and what he said is true?"
Scion stops her tirade against Neothak and looks at Nathan in annoyance.
"If Neothak did his job, why are you asking all of these questions?"
"I'll explain it to you then because you and I are bonded via our love for waffles."
"This is a game but, not the type of game you humans think it is.
My Lord personally descended onto your dirtball realm and made a proposal to the most powerful person in your realm.
He was intrigued by your race's love for entertainment and technology and decided to grant your realm his blessing.
His blessing includes the power to actively grow and develop a select group of people into Champions.
These potential Champions will be selected by backers and lottery and will fight in the planes to grow their strength through the Lord's blessing.
Eventually, they will gain the ability to hold their own in the ongoing battles of powers in the planes."
'A plus to the lore team' Nathan thinks to himself.
"What was the proposal? If you don't mind me asking." Nathan looks at Scion in hopes she'll continue her explanations.
"The proposal was the Lord would not annihilate your home realm as long as one of the 25,000 the man selected does not waste the Lord's blessing and rises to become his Champion."
"Isn't that kind of screwed up though? You said the people were selected by "backers", but the "backers" work for this Lord. So, this guy didn't select anyone, the Lord technically did." Nathan says as question marks appear around him as he tries to make sense of what Scion said.
"This is why I like you Mr. Emblem. You figured out that the Lord has absolute power and the man who released Sanctuary Annihilation Online is just dancing to the Lord's beat."
"It's why you 25,000 are pitted against the Legions and Legion Commanders. The Lord only spared your realm momentarily because of your entertainment value."
"The Lord wins either way."
"So, let's make sure we put on the best show!"
Scion says in a matter-of-fact tone and flies up and sits on Nathan's shoulder.
"The most important task right now Mr. Emblem is to raise your strength and stop the legion commander in this realm from doing the same that happened to Precipets Glory."
"I'm glad you experienced part of the Lord's blessing by increasing your attributes. I would recommend using his other blessing and get yourself some skills."
"The journey to Hammers Rise is not going to be safe, and your fighting stance is lacking he-he-he." Scion laughs at Nathan's reaction to her from earlier and jumps off his shoulder to mock his fighting stance.
The moment Nathan thinks about skills, a massive skill tree appears in his vision.
Currently, he only has access to the base of the tree. Even with only the base accessible, there are hundreds of options to choose from.
"This skill tree is intricate." Nathan gasps as he is overwhelmed with the number of choices presented.
"Might I make a suggestion to you since our fates are essentially weaved together?" Scion says as she flutters around him sizing him up.
'I knew she is my tutorial sprite' Nathan thinks. Aloud he says, "Of course, I'm open to anything."
"I would focus on necessities before venturing into more specific skills. There is an entire section with masteries, which are passive skills that will give you a master's foundation in whatever you choose."
"These masteries also only need to use skill points once and get stronger the more you practice them. Most of the skills will get stronger as you practice them, adding additional skill points will only skip the practice part and jump its strength directly."
Scion explains to Nathan more about how masteries and the skill tree points work.
"You severely lack an offensive skill set. I would start there."
Nathan starts to ponder about which weapon he would like to learn to use, and the skill tree automatically zooms into a section that shows different weapon masteries he can choose from.
'I have no weapons right now and there could be times I'm not allowed a weapon. I should learn how to fight with my body and turn myself into a weapon.'
The more Nathan thinks about fighting with hand-to-hand combat and thinking of the martial art movies he's watched the more fired up about this idea he becomes.
'I only start with three skill points to place and have no idea if I get any when I level up. I'll select two and leave a point open for later'.
Nathan chooses the "unarmed combat mastery" and places a skill point.
After placing the skill point, the air rushes towards Nathan and he feels a burning in his brain and tingling sensations throughout his entire body.
Once the phenomenon fades away Nathan is left standing there breathing hard. He stands there a few moments staring at his two open palms as he clenches and unclenches his hands into fists.
"Are you ok?" Scion says and breaks Nathan out of his daze.
Nathan's eyes light up and he stares at Scion intently.
"I know kung fu," he says to Scion.
"I'm not finishing that movie quote!" Scion berates Nathan. "Choose your other skills and let's get moving."
Nathan chuckles to himself and looks back to the skill tree.
After choosing the unarmed mastery there are now multiple branches leading off it leading to more in-depth specializations.
'I've never really been a fan of monk classes in games, so I'll save another skill point for one of the weapon mastery choices.'
"I think a mastery in footwork would be good for me," Nathan says to himself under his breath.
Nathan selects "Basic footwork mastery" and places his skill point.
The phenomenon happens again, and Nathan now feels like his body is nimbler and he subconsciously moves to keep Scion in his line of sight.
"I see you still don't quite trust me yet." Scion grins at Nathan's natural reaction.
"What? I trust you, what do you mean?" Nathan asks confused.
He didn't realize he moved in a way that betrayed his body's natural reaction.
"It's nothing, let's get out of the open. You never know what or who is watching." Scion says while flying back to Nathan's shoulder.
Nathan takes another look around, then starts heading in the direction of Hammers Rise and the human and sprite duo start their journey.