Chapter 13 - Avatar Creation (Part One).

The icon for the Olympians vanished and Søren flinched as the darkness was once again replaced by a pervasive, bright white mist. An awful pins and needles sensation washed over him. When it finally faded away, he felt his feet touching the floor. Søren looked down and discovered his mental construct had been surrounded by a featureless body made of white holographic light. This is wild, he thought to himself and waved his arms around. He looked like an emoji of a person. A smooth, vaguely humanoid form reminiscent of that yellow running man an old ISP in the US used.

Two figures walked out of the mist and stood before Søren, both completely nude. On his left, it was himself, twenty years younger. As if he were looking in a mirror through time. The figure on his right was him, but female and also appeared younger. A will-o-wisp of light appeared, floating between them. The brightness of the light it shed varied in intensity as the holographic construct spoke.

"Greetings Traveler, welcome to Avatar creation! Our statisticians have determined that a majority of our guests prefer to create an Avatar that is an idealized version of themselves at the prime of their physical existence. As such, we have extrapolated and applied a set of default values to your Avatar based on the physical potential determined through a rigorous evaluation methodology. Using the controls, you may make any modifications you wish up to and including a gender swap."

As the new Guide explained all this to Søren, a set of panels appeared on the left side of his vision with a significant number of sliders, color pickers, and options for hair styles. A second set of panels appeared on his right side, greyed out and overlaid with an icon that Søren guessed was a lock.

"Additional options are available for our more discerning guests, unlocked by purchasing the Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Orichalcum packages. Would you be interested in upgrading your package Mr. Quinn?" the Guide asked. Søren glanced at the male version of himself snorted in amusement. Bah, still a child, he thought as he chuckled again.

"What are my options?" he asked.

"Let me check the details of your account Mr. Quinn."

Søren focused on the progress bar at the bottom right corner. His featureless face revealed nothing of the consternation and confusion he felt at the small amount made of progress towards completion of the upgrade.

[Universal Translation Interface and Node Integration]

13 hours 51 minutes 50 seconds remaining (42.23% complete)

██████████████████████████████████████

"Augh, this just raises so many questions," Søren said with a frustrated growl. "I just... I just need one piece of concrete evidence to sort this whole damn situation. To get everything to fall into place." His rant was interrupted by the return of the Guide.

"Sorry for the delay Mr. Quinn. Your presence here was unexpected. We have not hosted any Travelers from your world in over nine hundred years of operation. In fact, the Ring Gate on Earth was presumed to be lost and destroyed in the cataclysm that struck Atlantis. However, the company was able to find a genetic match to an account holder with Chorus Entertainment Incorporated. As the only surviving relative of the account holder, you are granted full rights and access to said account pursuant to the Recovery and Preservation of Records of the Permanently Deceased Act of Section 13, Chapter 7 of the Resurrection Accords of the Grand Empire of Atlantean Supremacy."

Søren waited for the headache that had happened the last time Atlantean was mentioned. "What happened to them?" Søren tentatively asked, still expecting a blinding pain inside his mind at any moment.

"It appears they were a victim of violence post-Merge." The will-o-wisp darkened considerably as it relayed this information to Søren.

"What was the Merge?"

"I apologize, but that information is restricted per security protocols. A memory transcription package has been provided and will be unlocked after Avatar creation is complete and you have translocated to Gaia." If the will-o-wisp form of the Guide had darkened any further, it would have vanished from sight. Søren closed his 'eyes' and lifted his 'hand' to his face to try and pinch the bridge of his nose, but the shapeless stump at the end of his arm just bumped into his featureless face.

"Bah, fine. So what can I do with this account of theirs?"

"We have taken the liberty of creating a new account for you Mr. Quinn and stored a complimentary datascan of your mind. Unfortunately, through no fault of your own, it appears that your natural body was lost during the catastrophic translocation event that preceded your arrival and resurrection here at Gateway Station Alpha. The company is willing to indemnify the cost of a replacement body and a return to Earth provided that you waive any further liabilities resulting from said incident. You will be required to stay on Gaia until travel restrictions on Gateway are lifted by the Security Bureau of the Grand Empire of Atlantean Supremacy and a means of travel to Earth can be approved."

"That doesn't seem like a very fair deal to me," Søren said with an edge of anger in his voice. "How long until these restrictions are removed?"

"Unless the situation on Gaia changes, never. Further information is restricted per security protocols." The Guide bounced side to side as if to shrug. The light from it darkened temporarily again.

"Of course it is," Søren sighed. "So, what are my options?"

"After eight hundred and twenty-four years, seven months, twenty-two days, and two hours of interest, you have access to a considerable sum of credits Mr. Quinn. Were it not for the current circumstances, you would be considered a very wealthy person by Atlantean standards. Even so, the Orichalcum package would put a significant dent in your resources. At the current interest rates and investment exchanges, provided the rate of growth continues as expected, it would require approximately forty-two Imperial Standard years to recover the funds spent. Longer if you decide to purchase any additional upgrades."

"Whatever. Sign me up for the Orichalcum package. Can't spend Atlantean credits on Earth." Søren shifted side to side on the rounded stubs for legs he currently had.

"Excellent choice Mr. Quinn! With your purchase of the Orichalcum package you are entitled to a complimentary upgrade to a Dual Path Avatar. The Dual Path Avatar allows you to advance two Paths simultaneously, but the cost in time and TEK to unlock upgrades are increased by one-hundred and fifty percent. Each rank above Copper reduces the increase to time and TEK costs by ten percent. Would you like to accept or decline the Dual Path Avatar upgrade Mr. Quinn?"

"Sounds suspiciously like a pay-to-win scheme," Søren said.

"Indeed, there are many who see it that way, but here at Chorus Entertainment Incorporated, we pride ourselves on maintaining a delicate balance between paying for convenience and paying for advancement instead of earning it. We will admit that the upgrade options available to our discerning guests do provide a slight edge, but in the long run, everyone can experience all we have to offer equally if they but have the skill to achieve it."

Søren groaned at the litany of corporate marketing speech directed towards him. He glanced at the greyed out, locked panels on the right side. A few of which had become available to him after purchasing the Orichalcum package. The top panel, titled Species looked fairly interesting, at least from an academic point of view. Søren wasn't sure about changing species, let alone gender. Not on a permanent basis.

"Fine, whatever. I'll take the upgrade. What other options are there for purchase?"

"I am glad you asked Mr. Quinn," the Guide said, their cheerful tone was definitely more recognizable to Søren as a sales pitch, rather than welcoming. "As a member with the Orichalcum package, you have access to any available species based on the site scenario. Unfortunately due to the extenuating circumstances of the ongoing world-wide event, that leaves you with two choices. A standard Atlantean body at peak physical condition before enhancements or upgrades are applied or the Olympian Progeny. The progeny is born from a mortal and divine pairing, has superior attributes, and the potential for a divine ability, though there is a pesky family tragedy flaw that is inherent to the species as well.

"In addition, you have access to a maximum of five attribute enhancements per attribute. Keep in mind that enhancing attributes is a delicate process that favors a balanced approach. Strength without grace makes you a brute. Grace without strength and you're a willow in the breeze. Extreme imbalance can have unforeseen detrimental effects to your health, both physical and mental."

"Can I afford all the upgrades?" Søren said brusquely. His words were short and clipped.

"Yes Mr. Quinn. You have sufficient funds with which to purchase each upgrade available to you. At the current interest rates ---"

"I don't care. I'll buy them all and sort it out later."

"Excellent choice! You may proceed with Avatar creation. Good luck!" The will-o-wisp vanished with an audible pop that would not have been out of place in a Saturday morning cartoon for kids.

"Good luck? Why the fuck do I need luck during character creation?" Søren said with bewilderment in his voice. "Hello?!" With a sigh of resignation, he looked at the Species panel and briefly considered selecting the Olympian Progeny, but decided against it. Who knows what they meant by family tragedy flaw? Could have ended up with a family on Gaia. That would be weird. Would have been both disturbing and depressing if they recreated family members from my memories. I think that would have been much worse.

Søren swiped at the Species panel on the right, seeing a number of alien looking species, including the one that matched the chameleon-like appearance of the corpse he had discovered in the gateroom. The name was blurred out however, as well as the information regarding the species. "Dammit. Of course they'd hide that information in order to tempt you into purchasing access to the species." He collapsed the Species panel into a single bar and looked at the other greyed out and locked options. A staggering number of locked weapons, armor, power armor reminiscent of Iron Man, and more scrolled by in a seemingly endless list of stuff he couldn't buy. Stubborn perseverance kept him scrolling through the list until he reached the very end and an item not greyed out or locked was revealed.

"Hmmm, what's this? A Trans-spatial Atlantean Reducing Device for Improved Storage," Søren repeated the words slowly, sounding them out and then read the description. "Huh. Bigger on the inside." He tapped the icon to purchase the upgrade, heedless of the cost. When the icon didn't grey out, he tapped it again, and again, and again. After the fifth purchase, the icon greyed out and the lock icon appeared. A series of notifications popped up into the center of his view.

You have purchased the maximum number of dimensional storage upgrades (5/5). Personal storage space increased by 100 percent with a 90 percent reduction to the weight of stored items.

Congratulations! You have earned the [It's bigger on the inside!] achievement. Personal storage space increased by an additional 100 percent!

Congratulations! You have earned the [Big Spender] achievement for spending one billion Atlantean credits. Currency limits increased by 200 percent!

"This is ridiculous," Søren said as he waved away the notifications. He shook his head and examined the two versions of him standing nearby in a vaguely heroic pose. The arms were flexed slightly, fists closed, and chin tilted up as if looking off into the distance. All that was missing was a cape. Søren looked over at the feminine version of himself. Could be interesting, but I'll stick to what I know in this strange situation. I'm already having enough trouble trying to figure out whether I'm stuck in a virtual world, dead or dying and this is the afterlife or a dream, or if I've somehow been transported to an alien planet.

Søren stepped over to the near mirror image of himself, though twenty years younger, and brought up the panels for customization of the Avatar. He scrolled down to the hairstyles and flipped through them, each one seemingly more wild and exotic than the last. He was just about to scroll back to the top and select bald when the styles changed to a more conservative appearance. He selected a close-cropped cut that would be easy to maintain regardless of whatever conditions he ended up in after completing Avatar creation. Near the bottom of the list, Søren found an Age slider and moved it around. Despite moving it to the end, the version of him standing in front of his currently featureless Avatar, still looked fairly young for 120 standard Atlantean years old. Ah. This is with whatever enhancements I've purchased. He tapped an option he had noticed to hide upgrades and enhancements and was surprised to see how much like his father he looked like at an older age. Grief and sorrow made him toggle off that option and he slid the slider back down to twenty-four.

"This'll do." Søren hit the cyan icon that he hoped would select and apply the current settings. His point of view faded to black and when he opened his eyes, he was standing where the other had stood and the featureless white avatar raised its hand and waved to Søren. Søren lifted his hand numbly and waved at the other and watched it fade away into the white mist still drifting in the area. The female version of him had vanished as well, replaced by the will-o-wisp of white light.

"Congratulations Traveler! You've completed the first part of your Avatar creation. When you're ready, we can explore your Potential and select your Paths!"

"I'm ready. Let's do this."