Chapter 1: Entering the game
"How weird!" Ferris thought as he looked down at his body. Electric blue holographic fingers wiggled with barely a thought. His limbs felt extremely surreal and moved instinctively just like his arms and legs in real life.
However when he clasped his hands together it felt like he'd encountered glass. Smooth and cold, it lacked the softness and warmth of human skin. Ferris didn't find this surprising as he'd been pre-warned about the uniqueness of this place, rather he felt unease due to the unfamiliarity with his new body.
It didn't help that visually his hands were transparent and faintly emitted blue glow. This ghost-like body was his 'Wandering Avatar' it was used as a default for visiting VRsites that he didn't have an account with. Many VRsites allow users to experience special functions or features while on their site, the most notable is a game avatar not being usable in a virtual clothing store. Especially if the clothes are physically delivered in the real-world as the avatar will often have exaggerated body proportions and it's unlikely to have the same sizes as the real body.
There's also the problem of excessive data left over from game skills and equipment which is useless in any VRsite except the game itself. This data is too complex and difficult to seperate the incompatible data from what is needed, so it's much simpler to have a wandering avatar to act as a guest in unfamiliar places. Registering for VRsites would usually give you the option of creating a new avatar that suits the purpose of the site.
The full dive VR had been around for many years now was was constantly improving in quality and accessibility. Currently it functioned similar to the internet, you could enter various VRsites walk around, interact with stuff and it is connected globally, allowing face to face meetings with friends, colleagues and lovers. The pods used to enter VRsites were slowly become more affordable and about a third of the population on earth now owned one and another third had access through work or rental services.
It was Ferris' first time and he was extremely excited.
Upon entering, various features popped up providing 'helpful hints' in white text and health warnings in red. They floated in mid-air and could be shattered by walking through it or dismissed by voice command. Information could be summoned again simply by asking.
Having not set a location Ferris was in a default empty space. And after removing the notifications everything around him was empty and black the only exception being a light grey floor which gently reflected the blue light from his wandering avatar.
With a hand gesture Ferris summoned a toolbar and selected the gaming icon.
"The Realm of Twelve Forgotten Kings" Ferris said clearly, causing a large window to appear. Inside a vast magical forest could be seen with tiny colourful birds darting between tree branches, while griffins and dragons soared above the canopy. In the distance bright flashes of light exploded rocks and felled trees, Ferris could only imagine what sort of magical battles were taking place and his face lit up with unconcealed joy. Realm of the Twelve Forgotten Kings was a game completely designed to maximise the full dive experience, enhancing the freedom and limitless possibilities virtual worlds should provide.
"I want to enter!"
<Checking Authorisation...>
<Confirmed>
A wooden door slowly grew around the otherworldly window and with a click indicated that it was unlocked.
Without hesitation Ferris pulled open the door and ran inside.
The first thing he noticed was the air. He could feel it, slightly warm with a cool breeze escaping from the cracks in the floorboards. The grain of the wood could also be felt beneath his bare feet.
This didn't feel virtual. In fact Ferris thought it was even more real than the real world, his sensitivity to everything even trivial and minor details had not been neglected. Instead they had been enhanced. Ferris almost thought he had left the VR world and walked into someone's hunting cabin.
If not for his glowing blue body, he might have been completely disillusioned. He noticed that touching any of his own skin still gave that cool glass feel. It hadn't changed at all, but his sensory perception of everything around him was flawless.
Looking around, Ferris noticed various strange bones and weapons filled shelves and windowsills, while a mysterious tapestry concealed one of the walls. Ferris couldn't tell if it's spiraling patterns were moving or an optical illusion. Truthfully he wasn't even sure if he could even see the pattern. Was his perception of the tapestry blocked?
How curious.
He walked towards a writing desk, intending to flip through a few of the leather-bound books. However the door behind him suddenly slammed open.
The creature was covered in dull bronze scales. It walked on four clawed legs but stood upright with another two arms above the torso. These arms resembled a humans, with five long fingers.
"How dare you!" It snarled, with a pointed dog-like jaw littered with sharp yellow teeth.
Ferris was scared silly. What kind of thing is this?
He wondered if it would eat him, after all the drooling creature was almost twice his hight and was clearly aggressive.
It charged towards him. Ferris has no chance to dodge and those long sharp fingers immediately grasped his neck. In a panic he struggled, arms and legs flailing. But it was no use. The grip on his throat didn't budge and instead the thing looked down at him curiously.
It's jaws opened releasing stinking hot air. It smelled like rotting fish, the kind you'd find washed up on a beach and decomposing in the sun.
"What are you?" It growled.
Ferris was still struggling when a slimy purple thing slipped out of the monsters mouth and licked his face, wiggling and squirming everywhere.
It really is going to eat me!
He felt like crying and shouting for help but couldn't make a sound. He didn't even have time to be disgusted and could only watch helplessly as those jaws opened, coming ever closer.
Surprisingly it didn't bite down but suddenly spoke in a polite tone. "Are you one of those celestial beings that have come for the selection?"
"My apologies, my apologies. There have been so many thieves about that silly old me didn't even think."
It gently lowered Ferris' feet to the ground and released his neck. Ferris fell to the floor shivering in fear. This experience had been too traumatic and he couldn't control the terror that overwhelmed his mind.
"Here is the selection contact." The monster pressed a book into his hands. It was one of the leather books Ferris had tried to look at earlier.
With shaking hands he flipped open the first page. It simply asked if he wanted to join the Realm of Twelve Forgotten Empires. Ferris pressed down on the 'yes' button, and the next page turned over. A brief history of the world was explained over the next few pages, which Ferris quickly skipped over and came to the character creation part.
Unable to think of anything he simply wrote his own name 'Ferris' for his character's name, and selected his gender as 'Male'.
Next was a map of a fictional land, where he selected a region he would start in. Not knowing the difference between the countries he randomly chose Grey Kingdom which was located in the middle of the continent but still had some coastline.
And lastly he selected between Human, Beast, and Spirit for what type of avatar he would have. All other things like the appearance, job class or specialties would only be achieved inside the game.
Human meant your character would evolve towards a humanoid direction: elves, dwarfs, mermaids, centaurs et cetera. While beasts referred to magical beasts such as dragons and phoenixes. Spirits begin with no physical form, only after they evolve do they become elemental fairies with extreme control over a specific type of magic such as fire, water or stone. It is rumoured that if spirits developed a deep fondness for their element, then the element might reciprocate that feeling and become biased, treating the player as it's own favoured child.
Non-humans is what the game excelled at, according to reports the level of detail put into the sensory perception would allowed one to feel the warm fire bubbling in your chest and the wind beneath your wings if you happened to become a dragon, such a thing was only possible with full immersion VR.
Ferris quickly made his decision, "I will be a dragon and eat everyone else! No one will ever be able to eat me again! Hehehehe!" Ferris was obviously not thinking logically at this point as he excitedly selected 'beast' without any further thought. Instead he felt great relief as a blue light flashed, taking him far away from that hideous monster.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone