My head feels like it's being hammered, consecutive waves of pain hit me, clouding my mind. The small cell seems to be spinning... a slow spiral of fetid darkness and damp stone.
My body feels heavy, and it's getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open. The few coherent thoughts I can muster are about what I would do to get some water...
My fellow prisoner has decided to wait in silence.
The system's messages are becoming increasingly frantic and repetitive... everything seems terribly wrong.
"Your captors are getting closer..." the voice breaks the silence, sounding a little annoyed. "Listen, little one, you have a lot to gain by accepting this deal. I'll save your life and get you out of here, in exchange you just have to collect an item and give it to my companion. I guarantee you'll be well rewarded... If you're lucky, you could be very well rewarded..."
The word 'reward' catches my eye, although it's only a promise for now, it's already much more than I have...
"That's right, little one. I swear in the name of Sarthon that this promise is real."
In whose name?
"They're already here. Accept!"
[Cardinal Riannor invites you to join the Veil of the Soul Cult].
I start to hear doors opening.
"All right, I'll take it."
[You joined a faction as an initiate]
[You were promoted to novice]
[You have been promoted to adept]
[You have been promoted to apprentice]
[You have been promoted to priest]
[You were promoted to master]
[You have been promoted to Apostle]
Wait, wait, wait! I wasn't supposed to accept the mission, what's that?
"Pay attention, little one: Anur'riel!"
Riannor seems to use all his strength to announce this name, and yet it echoes like an almost inaudible whisper... And yet it finds a way into my ears, piercing my mind like a red-hot nail.
Arrgggghhhhhh!!!!
AAAAARRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
A group of soldiers advanced down the corridor full of empty cells until they reached the cell where the screams had originated.
"I thank you for the gift you sent me after so long, hahah"
"What did you do, demon?"
"Just a little something to relieve the boredom"
One of the guards ran into the cell, where he saw the prisoner convulsing in a pool of blood. Before he could decide what to do, the prisoner stopped moving, and even though it wasn't necessary, the guard used his skill to confirm that the prisoner had died.
[You have learned the name of a forbidden god].
[You were judged by Anur'riel and deemed worthy of this knowledge]
[You were killed by Riannor]
[Anur'riel brings you back to the world of the living]
…
…
[External interference ended].
[You were forcibly disconnected]
…
...
I open my eyes, seeing the familiar ceiling of my room through the glass of my helmet. Somehow, the pain has followed me into the real world... My movements are slow and clumsy as I remove the helmet. My mind feels numb, as if I've been anesthetized...
I sit up in bed, watching my room go round and round... my body is weak, I don't know if it's hunger or from prolonged immersion.
Huh? Is that blood?
…
…
A woman ran through a large garden to where a group of young men was practicing with swords.
"Roni, we have a problem!"
"I'm on my break, Denise, so it's not our problem, it's yours." A tall man with an athletic build replied indifferently, while listening to a sequence of blows
"... All right, then. I'll talk to Arllana..." The woman turned around and started to leave.
Roni stopped in the middle of a blow, his eyes widened, and he dropped his sword to run after her. If Denise dared to bother a vice master, the matter was very important.
"Wait, Denise, I was joking. Here, let's sit down, and you can explain to me what's going on". Roni grabbed the woman and dragged her to a discreet spot, and after ordering a few drinks, they started talking.
"It was going to happen sooner or later... but I didn't expect the reaction to be so heavy." Roni said after reading the report on what happened in Terhi.
"Do you know who is responsible?"
"Some Hell dive members were hunting Eternity and Stardust players, probably wanting the rewards from the event, but they were doing it outside the village. They ended up pissing off someone they shouldn't have, and the result was this massacre."
"That's no big deal. I doubt that this isolated event will lead to a war, especially at the start of the game...".
Roni wasn't too worried, Terhi was an initial area and would soon be abandoned.
"Read the next page..."
"Oh, there's another page... I hadn't realized..."
As Roni read the report, his smile disappeared and his face turned pale.
"NPCs are interrogating players about the real world and our guilds... and this is happening all over the kingdom of Teanor? Hell dive has been exiled from the entire kingdom and a restriction has been placed on the other guilds... How did this happen in just one damn day!"
"That's not all. We haven't been able to confirm it yet, but I believe that the players who took part in the fight were killed in the real world too. Something about a sensory overload that caused a cardiac arrest."
"Who else has been informed?"
"All the captains and above. A meeting should be called soon"
Roni closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, then looked at Denise and asked: "What progress have the other captains made in Teanor?"
"Varied... The information our beta testers have obtained hasn't been very precise, with most of it being nothing more than rumors or legends... We've managed to confirm some of it, but we're missing the trigger to start the missions..." Denise looked at Roni and rolled her eyes. "But that's not what you want to know, is it? Don't worry, we still haven't found out anything about the mythical mission on the Teanor frontier, it'll probably be considered false information."
A few hours later.
Roni entered a large room, with rows of tables arranged in rows, with a large screen occupying the opposite wall. The space between the screen and the tables was occupied by three tables, where assistants were organizing things while waiting for everyone to arrive.
Roni found his seat and activated the presence sensor.
Eternity was a giant in the gaming world, but it was only five years ago that it won the title of global guild. Eternity had millions of members spread across all the countries of the world, its financial capacity equaled that of some smaller countries, and its influence extended across several areas, including industry, commerce and tourism...
Leading this colossus was the master "The Chosen One", a mere player who created his first character over twenty years ago and with it became a legend.
Below him were the 4 vice masters, each representing a faction within Eternity. Each vice-master commanded one of Eternity's headquarters around the world, and each had 4 generals, who commanded Eternity's armies in the virtual world.
The generals had their deputy generals, who in turn had their captains and finally an incalculable number of lieutenants.
Roni joined Eternity five years ago, as a mere pawn in "Azeroth", and has since climbed the ladder of power until he was appointed captain.
It was the second time he had spoken to Arllana, and he was just as nervous as the first time.
A tense silence fell over the room when Arllana entered. The black rose of Eternity was in her thirties, she wore an elegant dress that revealed her shoulders and back, with her long black hair falling like a waterfall down her back.
"The recent events in Terhi have had repercussions throughout the kingdom of Teanor, forcing us to accelerate our plans. Our diplomatic team has managed to contact the royal family, but we haven't yet reached a satisfactory agreement. We're also worried that spies among the hired pawns, or lone players, will start carrying out suicide attacks to create hostility between the guilds and factions within the game."
Arllana sat back in her chair and began speaking immediately, her voice firm and direct.
"Roni, how is your mission progressing?"
Roni swallowed as he stood up and said, "Ma'am, we haven't found any information, even after talking to most of the locals in and around the village. We were trying to get an audience with Terhi's commander, but the attack destroyed that possibility."
"The mission will be aborted for the time being, you will be given a map of the region, and you must leave Terhi immediately and meet up with Leandro in the city of Salto. The same applies to all our players on the border, after reaching the city, they must dedicate themselves to leveling up until further notice."
"Yes ma'am"
"The legal department is preparing a new version of the contract, to prevent traitors from causing problems, until then, make sure you stay alert... Our leader has already started his mythical mission, and soon we will have some rare classes to reward the captains who stand out in this initial phase... Now, let's talk about the deaths in the game"