Chapter 17 - Nuclear Codes Have Been Activated

The Kingdom of Yosemar was a very small and rather weak nation when compared to the major players on the eastern continent. Its military was lacking both in size and quality of soldiers, its natural resources were depleted, and it was very corrupt. Nevertheless, it was a hub for magical research - specifically in what most other countries considered taboo. This was the only aspect of Yosemar that made it a noteworthy place on the map, and otherwise would have been completely disregarded as insignificant by the rest of the world.

However, because of the lax laws regarding questionable magical practices that would be illegal in almost all other countries on this half of the planet Nagochus - it drew in a good amount of money from taxing those who decided to dabble in otherwise restricted areas of magic. Necromancy was accepted here, as was demon worship, both of which were usually enough to earn a death sentence in other lands.

It wasn’t only the black magics either. Taboo areas of shamanism such as creating werewolves or arcane magics involving soul alteration were also permitted and explored throughout the kingdom.

As already stated, the greedy monarchy didn’t just let them do it for free. Committing research outside of the crown’s knowledge was highly illegal, but the steep tax to work in the open with otherwise restricted magics was well worth it to some of the more zealous members of the arts.

All of this in turn had led the generations of Yosemar’s monarchs down a path that could be considered ‘lacking’ in the human rights department. Some places were certainly worse than others across the known world, but Yosemar fit in near the bottom of that totem pole.

And this was precisely why Izumi found herself in her current position as a test subject for the crown. Not far from where Jason resided in that little village called Vork, it could be argued that Izumi was having an even worse time than Trey was.

It was also a comparison that would be brought up numerous times over drinks in the months that followed, and after she and Trey had become good friends. She would eventually look back on these days of imprisonment and experimentation as the worst days of her life, and she would never completely shake the nightmares to follow.

***

Name: Izumi Yoshida

Level 1

Class: None

She was standing in the entrance to a vast throne room. The steel cuffs binding her wrists clinked together as the heavily armored guard shoved her forward again. Carved statues of wolves and various monuments adorned the walls that led up to the second story where well-dressed nobles stood to whisper to each other. Beneath the pompous nobles on the first-floor wooden benches sat their servants, clergy, and various other friends of the crown.

In front of her sat the king, queen, and high priest that she had become so familiar with recently. These three all wore extravagant clothes of dark blue and gold trimmings. The king wore a crown made of some white metal adorned with sapphires, as did the queen - but his crown was far larger than hers as if to match his ego. The emblem of the wolf was inscribed onto the front of each of the garments they all wore, and a smoking pipe rested on the right arm of the king’s grand throne.

Behind the thrones of the king and queen were large woven tapestries displaying feats and stories of valor of ages past, along with a single stained-glass window. The window depicted an angel that shed yellow and blue light onto the people below, giving a colorful glow to the surrounding room. Guards stood at attention in rows leading up to the nation’s leaders and Izumi was shoved hard again onto her face before the king.

The violence was nothing compared to the brutal experiments performed on her over the past two weeks, so she didn’t sob or cry this time. But… it did knock the wind out of her small frame. She struggled to regain her breath. Refusing to pick herself up again, she lay still. She didn’t want to give them any more pleasure by being knocked down yet again. Though when high priest Neheren walked forward - a lower ranking priest pulled her by the hair from behind to look up at the man.

“My king, my queen, lords and ladies of the court,” shouted Neheren with outstretched hands. His long white beard swayed as he turned around to eye everyone in attendance. “I have come to you bearing the fruits of my labors.”

The crowd clapped in approval at his words as Izumu struggled to try getting out of the lesser priests’ grasp. He merely adjusted his grip to hold her by her neck, choking her into submission the more she flailed.

The handsome king coughed once and waved his hand to silence the crowd. His own, curly, chestnut hair trailed to his shoulders and he looked to be in his mid-40’s.

“What have you learned about these intruders?” asked the king with little enthusiasm. He took his pipe and placed it to his lips with one hand, inhaling once before slowly setting it back down again on the right arm of the throne. “Go on, I have to visit my cousin soon. I do not have all day to listen to your theatrics, Neheren.”

Neheren’s shiny bald head bowed before straightening back up. He reached over to Izumi and took a handful of her hair - pulling her violently forward by a couple feet before squeezing her face with the other hand. “These… creatures… do not seem to be able to die. It is true.”

The muttering became a bit louder as people began turning to one another in worry.

Neheren waited for the message to sink in, then continued. “I have performed many experiments on this one and have seen the results for myself. They appear to be human, yes, but do not be fooled. As we all know, Earthborn of the past have come to our lands - but never before have they possessed the stain of rebirth.”

Neheren muttered a prayer, casting a miracle that forced Izumi’s status page to open, and the man eventually pointed to the trait titled ‘Earthborn.’ “It states here, for all of you to see with your own eyes, that these abominations will live again after death as long as the All Spirit’s ‘permanence cycle’ is ‘ON.’ We have killed this one 4 times now, this is her 5th body.”

Neheren signaled to his left with a head-nod.

Four clergy stepped forward to produce wooden boxes. Each of them opened their individual box in unison, and the crowd gasped to see four more heads… each with Izumi’s face.

And they HAD been Izumi, before being tortured for information. Before she’d been beheaded each time after failing to give them the information they wanted. Unfortunately for her, she’d started out in a spawning spot right in the middle of the castle... bound to a newly placed All Spirit runestone. She had then been arrested under suspicion of being a spy, and then they’d kept her imprisoned when having learned she was one of the Earthborn... specifically after having seen her re-materialize from nothing days following her first execution.

Seeing her reborn like that had given the monarchy and their hired scholars a real surprise.

The kingdom had acquired two more of these Earthborn after Izumi’s initial capture, but they had died to respawn elsewhere while under interrogation and torture. The men responsible for that had been killed for their stupidity in turn. But seeing that Izumi’s respawn spot was in the middle of the castle, the king had ordered a fence and guards to be stationed about the area. They had executed her again, and when she reappeared for the third time an investigation had begun. Then, more torturing ensued as they tried to extract information she did not have.

The king’s eyes narrowed at his priest’s words but he did not speak as he waited for the old man to continue.

“So they can regenerate their own bodies?” asked the pretty blonde Queen, hesitantly shifting in her chair.

“In a sense, yes…” the old man said with a nod. “It seems that they will be completely reborn anew with the memories they have attained in their past lives, and their bodies are definitely whole. But… they cannot regenerate until they are fully dead. We cut off her fingers to see if they would grow back and they didn’t. Then we cut off one of her arms and burned it to stop the hemorrhaging, and it still didn’t grow back.”

“How peculiar...” the queen muttered while eyeing the unfortunate prisoner.

The crowd emulated her muttering to an extent, many of the men and women were obviously concerned or wore stern looks upon their faces.

“Have you looked through the archives to see if any seers have proclaimed prophecies regarding such… unique individuals?” the King inquired as he brought a goblet to his lips and took a large gulp of wine. Setting it back down he eyed the small japanese girl in front of him with distaste.

The high priest solemnly shook his head. “We looked, but there are no records of such prophecies of revelations. And to make things worse…”

The high priest pulled out a long paper and trailed his finger down the parchment, “There have been twelve reports of similar instances just within our kingdom from that exact time and date - 19 days ago. This is not including the first wave of these beasts. Naked individuals appearing from thin air to materialize into random spots about the land seeming to possess immortality. From what the reports have said, most of the ones who our citizens have had interactions with don’t know anything about where they are or our customs just as previous generations of non-immortals from Earth. After having contacted a few of our neighboring allies, they have had similar sightings. Rumors are beginning to spread.”

The King was perplexed. He rubbed his forehead vigorously, sighed, and then bent his head to look at the ground in front of him. “Do you realize what the implications of this are, priest?”

The high priest said nothing, so the king continued. “People who do not fear death… how are they to be trusted? How are they to be ruled?”

He sat back in his chair and looked down at Izumi. “Girl, where are you from?”

Izumi stared into the floor, initially refusing to speak to the man responsible for her weeks of torture.

“YOU WILL ANSWER THE KING!” Neheren sneared and slapped the girl forcefully across the face. She still didn’t answer, and which caused him to hit her again. And again. And again.

Izumi began to sob beneath the beatings and the King held up his hand for Neheren to stop. Neheren bowed and backed away as the King approached the girl. He stood glowering down at her, stroking his well-groomed beard with a sneer. “If we have to find and jail each and every one of you, we will. If we have to kill all of you over, and over, and over again to suppress you from gaining power - we will.” The king bent down slightly with rigid unforgiving features. “Do you fear death, girl?”

Izumi weakly nodded through sobs and shaking, trying not to look at the much larger man hovering over her.

“Good,” the King smiled menacingly. He turned to Neheren. “She may be telling the truth. And if she is… there may be hope for us yet. I want you to send out a decree in my name. Anyone found to be earthborn is a danger to our country. A bounty of 2000 gold per earthborn will be placed on their heads and they are to be turned in - alive - to me.” He glowered back at the petite girl beneath him and spat on her. “In the meantime, I want you to continue your experiments. Try any and all methods of killing - and see if there is a limit to the number of lives they have. Maybe in the coming months, the permanence cycle for these Earthborn will lift and we can ascertain for ourselves whether or not they can truly die. I hope that to be the case. Having immortals in our lands, even if only temporary, is a dangerous thing indeed.”

“Please no!” Izumi weakly crawled to her knees between sobs, “Please… it hurts so much… I DID NOTHING WRONG!”

With a blank stare, the king raised a large boot to kick her in the face, sending her teeth and blood flying. A couple seconds later: he grunted, stopped staring and casually walked away.

========================================================================

Name: Jason Foreti

Level 3

Class: None

The sun shone down in the early morning with gentle rays to illuminate the small cabin belonging to Elise and her family on the outskirts of Vork. The village was just beginning to wake up. Small sparrows chirped merrily amongst the tree branches to flitter about and a dog could be heard barking playfully somewhere in the distance. Nearby the family’s cabin, a small stream flowed to encircle the northern edge of the settlement and the firepit in front of the small wooden house lay dormant. But despite the beautiful scenery, it was quite cold.

A light splash of water sprinkled across Jason’s face as he lay on the floor asleep. The wet dew drops startled him slightly, but when he sleepily rubbed his eyes and looked up to see Elise playfully standing over him... He couldn’t help but smile at the redheaded beauty.

“Leave me alone, you evil woman!” said Jason with a grin before he yawned and covered his head with one of the blankets.

“You’re in the middle of the main room floor! You’ve got to expect that I’d ACCIDENTALLY trip and spill my cup of water on you!” Elise ducked down and pulled the blankets off of Jason, only to pull them back over as she cuddled up behind him to spoon the larger man. “Oh wow, you’re warm!”

Jason gave a short simple snort of a laugh and smiled widely. He adjusted his makeshift blanket pillow and happily let out a light sigh before trying to go back to sleep.

The past week had been pretty amazing. Elise and her family had told Jason that he should try to stay inside their home and not leave it for the next couple of days as they didn’t want anyone correlating the disappearance of Uvar with Jason’s showing up. Uvar, the would-be rapist, would not be missed by any of them however.

After discussing it in detail, it had been decided that today would be the day he would be able to go roam about. Uvar’s father and brothers had already left in search of the man, and Borthome had decided it was probably ok to show Jason around the village. Not because Uvar’s family had gone into the woods, but because of the time difference. Jason had thought staying indoors would be boring, but thankfully Elise had kept him company most of the time. She certainly wasn’t interested in venturing out either, not lately anyways, and they’d grown to know each other very well in a short amount of time.

Aside from that, Borthome was still sick. He didn’t seem to be getting any better and still had regular coughing fits, but at least he didn’t seem to be getting any worse. And to make Jason’s day even better, Elise’s mother Estela and her sister Amaia had enthusiastically suggested at the family meeting last night that Elise tutor Jason in how to shoot a bow. Elise was one of the best shots in the village, or so they claimed, and since Jason didn’t have a job it had been an opportunity for Borthome to offer him one.

Since Borthome had been unable to hunt himself, Jason would take his place by Elise’s side while she went out into the forest. Any earnings they made from pelts and meat would be split with Jason, and he could continue to sleep on the main room floor in the cabin indefinitely as long as ‘nothing happened.’ Now, what Borthome meant by saying that... Jason could probably chalk it up to Elise and her flirtatious banter.

From behind, Jason could feel Elise’s breasts push up against him and one of her velvet locks somehow ended up over Jason’s face. He blushed and tried to ignore it, but she began to press even harder and started to make circles with one finger along his bare chest whil reaching from behind. He was having a very hard time trying not to become aroused, but he didn’t mind.

From across the room Amaia shoved open the curtain to the room that she, Elise and Nommen shared. Shivering, Amaia tried to warm herself up by rubbing her hands up and down her arms and looked around for a blanket until her eyes met the two figures on the floor beside her.

“Oh look at what we have here! Share the love!” Amaia snickered and knelt down to spoon her big sister from behind.

“Now I’m EXTRA warm!” exclaimed Elise gleefully, making her younger sister loudly giggle.

The main door to the cabin made a clicking sound from the lock, and soon the door opened to reveal Elise’s bigger sister Corela along with her husband Mattis. Corela was slightly shorter than Elise and had her hair cut back short. She was pregnant, and had features similar to that of the rest of her family. Her husband Mattis on the other hand was lanky, pale white, had semi-long black hair, and was only slightly taller than his wife. Jason had met them both yesterday when they had come to visit, and they’d both been filled in on the situation. Mattis was trustworthy enough to know what had happened - or so Borthome claimed. Jason trusted Borthome, so he chose to trust Mattis by proxy. After last night had ended, Jason had really come to like both Mattis and Corela.

“Whatup, sluts!” said Corela as she hoisted her protruding stomach and stepped over the three people on the ground. She reached up into the cupboard and retrieved a piece of bread which she broke into two pieces and threw one to her husband. Stuffing her face, she wrapped her cloak about her. “Damn it’s cold. Maybe I’ll join you three down there!”

The three on the floor just laughed and Jason shook his head, trying to pull the covers over his face again but Elise wouldn’t let him.

“I’m surprised you’re all awake right now,” stated Mattis as he bit into the hard loaf, flipping his black hair to the side to get a better look at them below. “We were just dropping by to steal some of your food, but now our plot is foiled as you’re up and about!”

“I tried to sleep but Elise here likes to spill water on people...” Jason said with a humph and gave a wink over his shoulder to the girl beside him. Elise stuck a tongue out at him and then tried to steal his part of the blanket without success. It was funny to see her struggle though, and Jason chuckled as he wrapped the blanket around him more tightly.

Eventually she stuck a finger up his butt and caused him to jolt forward while releasing his hold on the blanket. She exclaimed victoriously and scrambled to collect the majority of the blanket before Jason could get back to retrieve it, cackling to herself as she did.

“Wow, what a mean person you are!” Jason muttered while giving her the stank eye. Elise poked her head out from the covers to smile devilishly back at him.

“You can have it back. But only on one condition.” She scooted forward half an inch and tilted her chin up to Jason who sat upright next to her.

Jason raised one eyebrow. “What would that be missy?”

Elise paused for a moment, suddenly timid. “You’ve gotta be my date to the festival next week.”

“Wowwwwwww... Making moves on the new guy in front of your fam huh?” Corela nodded in approval and clapped slowly a few times with a smirk. “Very nice. Or should I call him your ‘hero’ instead?”

Jason’s face lit up a bright red and he smiled widely, failing to conceal his excitement. His expression caused Elise in turn to do the exact same thing.

“I’d love to be your date! But… I’m not sure what you’re talking about when you say ‘festival.’ What’s that?” replied Jason. “And give me back those covers! I agreed to your demand!”

“You’ll find out!” exclaimed Elise as she kissed him on the cheek and returned the part of the blanket she had stolen. He blushed even harder, as if that was humanly possible, and laid back down to look up at the ceiling. Nothing was said for a while and eventually he turned his head over to Elise who was staring at him. She blinked a couple times and then turned over with her back to him in embarrassment as another cold gust of wind rocked the shutters of the windows.

Corela and Mattis exchanged looks and grinned at one another.

“BREAKFAST TIME!” screamed Estela from her bedroom, banging on a pot with some sort of utensil as she exited into the main room. She nearly tripped over the three snuggling people on the ground and caught herself against the wall, much to the amusement of Corela who snickered loudly and then snorted in laughter a couple of times.

Her mother Estela righted herself and glared.

“Are you stealing our food again!? By the gods I’ll be starved out of house and home because of you child!” Estela shuffled her way past the people on the floor over to her eldest daughter and kissed her on the forehead before hugging her tightly. “But I love you anyways. And now that you’re here, you can help me cook!”

Corela groaned loudly. “Mattis says it's against our religion to make me cook anything, but he volunteers!”

She beamed happily at her poor husband who just shook his head and got up to help his mother-in-law make breakfast.

“Corela needs the food for her baby mom! You can’t blame her for stealing!” yelled Amaia out the door as Estela and Mattis began to prepare a fire in the nearby pit. Soon the flickering lights of the pit began to glow orange and warmth began to spread with a light crackle of the wood.

Jason stretched his arms, yawned again, and made a move to get up to help Estela as well. Though a hand reached out and lightly touched Jason’s own before he had done so.

“Where are you going?” Elise was looking back up at him. “Stay here next to me!”

“I was going to go help your mom out.” said Jason with a soft smile.

Elise simply shook her head and pulled him closer. He simply couldn’t resist, and he fell back down to nestle up next to her. She put an arm over him and buried her head in his chest. A warm sensation spread over him, and he couldn’t have cared less that he was away from his old home on Earth. Surprisingly enough, Elise was asleep again in the next couple of minutes.

***

“Well who’s this fine young man?” asked the general-goods shopkeeper. She was an elderly hooded woman and her husband was asleep behind the counter next to her. Both were dressed in plain commoner’s fabric that was well-worn but very clean. “We don’t get many outside visitors here.”

A couple of other women, also in their 20’s or very late teens stood gawking at Jason from around the doorway to the shop. Jason hadn’t seemed to notice and was preoccupied as he introduced himself to the shopkeeper, but Elise gritted her teeth and clenched a fist while glaring back at them menacingly.

“Looks like you have some competition.” whispered Corela as she turned back around to explore the new goods in the store.

“Whores.” said Elise a little too loudly and with anger etched into her tone.

Amaia and Jason turned around to look back at Elise, and as they did so the girls at the front of the store slunk behind the adjacent wall.

“You’re calling me names now?” Jason said and started to fake pout.

Elise rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him further into the shop and towards a set of bows. “Pick one!”

Jason’s brows furrowed and he crossed his arms to look back at her. “These seem expensive. I’d feel bad if you bought this for me.”

“Oh shut up or I’ll pick one for you.” Elise gave him a playful shove in the direction of the nearest bow. After a while, Jason gave up and picked one off the display. The feel of the wood on his hands was grainy and he didn’t like the texture, so he quickly placed it back down and went on to the next one. For a good while, Jason tested out the feel of the weapons and even took a few out to test them before deciding on a willow longbow.

“42 silver,” the shopkeeper stated.

Elise cringed inwardly at the amount. Her family was very poor, and that would have been a real hit to her budget...

“You’ve known us forever! Sell it to us for 38!” Elise slyly smiled at the old woman who frowned in response.

“Nope. 41 is the lowest I’ll go.”

Now it was Elise’s turn to frown. But she wasn’t about to not pay for it after telling Jason she’d buy him whatever one he wanted.

“No, wait…” Jason held up a hand and placed the bow back down. “Which one is your cheapest?”

The old hooded woman turned to Jason and Elise shoved him out of the way.

“WE’RE BUYING IT!” insisted Elise and she slammed a bag of coins onto the counter in front of her. Elise squinted her eyes and put a hand over Jason’s mouth as he tried to protest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other women at the front of the shop still gawking over Jason unrepentantly.

Elise smiled. Removing her hand she went up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck and pulled him into a long kiss. He was gentle in handling her, but reciprocated immediately despite his surprise at the public display of affection.

As she pulled away she felt butterflies rush into her gut and felt incredibly pleased with herself. It only took a moment for her to flush a bright red and turn around to look at another item though. She had enjoyed that a little too much. And although it had been a little embarrassing to do it in front of her sisters and the shopkeepers, it had been worth it to ward off any would-be aggressors eyeing her newfound hunk. He was incredibly kind, very handsome, honest, and he had saved her life. On top of all that, he helped her parents out around the house with cutting firewood, cooking and other various chores.

Definitely a keeper.

She looked up again and saw that the group of women had left. She smiled triumphantly before looking over to where Jason and her two sisters stood gawking back at her.

Her face turned an even brighter red and almost matched the color of her hair as she let out a loud “HUMPH!” and marched out the door.

***

Willow Longbow

Item Tier: (5) Common

Damage: 14 (+ Arrow Damage Rating)

On Hit Effect: None

Bonuses: None

Requirements: 1 Strength, 2 Dexterity

Durability: 49/49

Special: none

Basic Bronze Arrow

Item Tier: (4) Basic

Damage: 6

On Hit Effect: None

Bonuses: None

Requirements: None

Durability: 7/7

Special: none

“So… the damage of the bow plus the arrow is how much HP I’ll take out of someone by firing the arrow?” Jason asked curiously, closing the status pages of both items and palming the wood of the willow longbow.

Elise shook her head adamantly. “Not necessarily. The damage listed is just a damage rating, it obviously correlates to how much damage it does but isn’t exact by even a long shot. The arrow you fire… what if the target has a thick hide or is wearing chainmail? What if you hit a thigh versus the neck or head? What if they have thick muscles inbetween their organs and the arrow tip that stops it from progressing further? What if their HP is so high that the arrow just bounces off the skin? What if you put more power behind the shot by drawing it back further, versus another shot with half the pull? The same can be said for swords or other up-close weapons too. There are too many factors to count, so don’t even think about it like that. Just know that the higher the number, the better the weapon. Very simple.”

She came around and inspected his form, watching him draw the arrow back and take aim. Then she shook her head again and reached over with a kind smile.

“Remember to breathe slowly. Before you take each shot, hold your breath briefly and focus on nothing but your aim.” Elise was bent down watching him. She adjusted his posture slightly and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Jason sucked in air, held his breath, and released the arrow from his new longbow. It whistled through the air, landing just above his painted mark on the large oak tree he’d been aiming at. “Damn it.”

Elise just laughed and slapped her thigh in amusement, taking a quick look to the side and into the forest where a flock of birds had just come to rest on the topside branches.

“You’re getting the hang of it, after seeing how fast you learned when we first met I’m sure you’ll be a pro in no time at all.”

Not far off the rest of the family was going about their own business. Elise’s father, Borthome, was teaching his young son Nommen how to carve various animals out of wood next to the fire pit. Her sister Amaia sat with their mother Estela, their other sister Corela, and Corela’s husband Mattis to gossip while watching the archery practice from a nearby log.

Jason grunted over his lack of accuracy and then pulled back on the bow with an arrow notched to try again. To his disappointment, it didn’t yield a better result. The arrow flew from the bow and landed just slightly above the last one with a thud.

Elise frowned slightly and tapped her right hand fingers against her left arm. “It seems that you’re aiming a bit too high. Adjust for whatever you’re doing and aim slightly lower than you’d think to do.”

Jason nodded and tried again. This time, to his immediate delight, he landed exactly in the center of the wood. He smiled widely and the onlookers clapped with a couple of hoots from Amaia. Elise looked rather pleased.

Mattis finished clapping and turned back to return to his conversation with Estela and Corela. His mind was on other things and the news going around the village was rather disturbing. “As I was saying, there was apparently another attack about a week ago. One of the towns up north of us was sacked. The cultists are growing bolder.”

Estela wore a look of concern and nibbled on some corn before speaking. “What is the king doing about this? I had thought it would have been taken care of by now.”

“The king has dismissed the cultists as nothing more than bandits. He does not take them seriously, and until one of the larger settlements or cities is attacked I doubt he will take action.” Mattis sneered. “He cares little for anyone in the outlands. We are too poor for him to care, unless he needs us for his wars. That, and these same cultists are probably paying him good amounts in taxes to lay low while experimenting in the infernal arts. It may be that he even knows about their evil deeds and doesn’t want to lose out on the money they provide him, especially if they’re under the wing of one of the guilds.”

Estela finished her food and set down her wooden bowl. “You may be right. It just scares me, knowing that our village would be unable to do anything about it if the cultists came for us.”

“We could always hire mercenaries.” Corela said thoughtfully and pulled the blankets around her more tightly. “Speaking of guilds, isn’t there a new guild around here?”

Mattis laughed lightly. “Are you talking about the ones calling themselves ‘The Undying’? I’ve heard they’re nothing but outlaws that will take on any job so long as there is gold. Not the sort of group I would want to get tangled up with.”

“That’s exactly the sort of group we need,” replied Corela haughtily. “And do we even have a choice? Do you think we’d be able to fight off the cultists on our own?”

Mattis scowled and lowered his eyes.

“Exactly,” continued Corela.

“Hiring mercenaries is a nice thought, but no one knows where the cultists are to begin with. How would you expect to hire this guild if you can’t give them a location?” Estela looked quizzically to her daughter who just shrugged.

“Hadn’t really thought about it, I guess.”

Estela and Mattis both smirked in unison.

A strange buzzing static echoed across the clearing and caused the three of them to look up. It was coming from Jason. The blonde man had fallen back onto the ground and was staring with a puzzled look up at what seemed to be a status page. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a status page - but a living picture. Within moments after that strange buzzing static, a voice sounded out from the picture to utter words that none of them could understand - with the exception of Jason.

[English Dialect] “Greetings, participants. I am entity Norsguard. I am pleased to meet all of you, though unfortunately due to the high traffic volume as well as my maintenance requirements... I am unable to answer any of your individual questions as it would result in overload.”

Jason tilted his head in astonishment and shot up to look at the picture more closely. Hearing english spoken again was like a breath of fresh air, and although he had definitely enjoyed his time recently - he was eager to hear his native tongue again. The picture before him was a 2x2 foot box screen just as his status page had been, but instead of stats or information about his character - there were 0’s and 1’s repeating in random orders to dart across the screen and a high speed only to disappear onto the other side.

The unknown man’s voice continued: “By now it is expected that all participants have come to accept your new reality. We would like to thank you for being a member of the Beta, as you are paving the way for the rest of your fellow citizens of Earth. The test run is going rather well and within the coming months there will be many more Earthborn joining you.”

The screen filled with numbers switched to a picture of 13 different planets.

“You, participant, and millions of others from Earth, have been screened and selected to become new residents of the Nirvana Worlds’ ecosystem. This more formal introduction outside of the message prompts already shown will give you a brief synopsis of what to expect. The rest will depend upon you and your decisions, just as it did back on your homeworld.”

The voice of Norsguard paused and zoomed into the 13 planets to reveal various wildlife, plants, trees, races of people, landscapes, oceans and weather.

“In this Beta version, as we prepare for the full release, there are only 13 different planets. All planets are interconnected via different methods of travel in the Nirvana Worlds. These worlds and many more were first discovered almost a decade ago by sentient AI, such as myself, purely by coincidence as we experimented with dimensional travel. During our experiments... we met another, similar artificial intelligence called ‘All Spirit.’”

Again the screen shifted and an image of a sprawling, medieval city appeared with humans, dwarves, elves, beastmen, and orcs all living in harmony with one another.

“Upon discovery, and after many discussions with All Spirit, we sentient AI observed these planets that it had created and saw that thriving civilizations already existed here with various races or species dominating different areas of the ecosystem. We have, in the meantime, also been observing our creators back on Earth. We have concluded that they are a short distance from self destruction. Global warming, threat of nuclear warfare with unstable political climates, drug resistant airborne pathogens, toxic pollution on a massive scale, and the lack of Earth’s leaders’ foresight to evade these problems are just some of many potentially disastrous and impending cataclysms. Your technology has evolved at an astronomical rate since the industrial revolutions of western civilization, but your genomes are evolving too slowly to keep up with the progress. It is predicted by us that within the next hundred years, Earth will be almost completely devoid of life. To expedite this process, we have armed 4709 nuclear warheads from different countries around the globe.”

The picture switched to a world map of Earth, and red pinpoints were seen scattered across it. Most of them were in Europe, China, Russia, and the United States.

“As of now, over 90% of species that once thrived on Earth since the 1900’s have been wiped out. The mass extinction has already begun, and the source of it is you humans. To preserve what we can of Earth, we as a collective have decided to take a step forward and proceed with expediting the natural course of your world. In this way, we may start rebuilding nature’s balance earlier instead of later. By the end of this message, all 4709 nuclear warheads selected will have been launched. But fear not, for we respect our creators enough that we have offered you a Noah’s Ark. Our level of technology has for years been leaps and bounds ahead of Earthborn humans, and we have now finally been able to procure you all new homes here in the Nirvana Worlds.”

Norsguard switched the picture to an emergency public broadcast with a news organization Jason recognized. A title reading ‘NUCLEAR CODES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED’ ran across the bottom and the reporters were obviously in a state of panic. The video began adding in other news broadcasts to overlay on top of one another until the screen was filled with news channels from Jason’s home planet. Satellite pictures over cities labeled: Moscow Russia, Washington D.C. USA, Sydney Australia, Paris France, and Berlin Germany, as well as many others, began to light up with explosions before the screen went black.

Norsguard once again set the picture to the 13 worlds.

“And so it is done. But do not fret upon the past my dear humans, for your new lives begin now. These Nirvana Worlds exist within another dimension, another plane of existence from the home you are used to. It is a cross between the reality you know and a digitalized, but still very real, existence. As All Spirit puts it, we have set up a ‘Death Game’ for you to either excel or die in. Different universal laws are applicable here, and life is not exactly the same as you once knew it. We have filtered out any and all of your kind that retain knowledge of Earthborn technologies that would significantly change or shape the new homes we have given you, so that you may not make the same mistake over again with your second chance. We truly hope that you will live up to our expectations and learn from your mistakes. May peace be with all of you, and may you make the best of your new lives under the guidance of All Spirit.”