“Cash or credit?” Inquired the Cashier.

“Cash,” I replied, normally one would use a credit card for such a large purchase, but given that my name was Jack Frost, everyone would think it would be a fake card.

I fished the right amount from my wallet and received my receipt from the lady as I walk out with my new Virtual Reality headset. The top of line VR headset, Nervous Products Interactive's, or NPI for short, NPI-VR 32S New Fate edition as of 2048. The NPI-VR 32 is NPI's 6th VR platform, with the NI-VR 32S being the 'Superior' version. The New Fate Edition, is the first VR to publicly be released allowing any person to be fully immersed in any of NPI's titles, being able to use every one of their senses within the virtual reality.

Nervous Interactive has actually lead the breakthroughs in Virtual Reality since the NPI-VR 2 Real Pain edition. I may only be 21 years old, but I bought and played almost all of the NPI-VRs I could get my hands on. Though my first VR was actually the NPI-VR 8S Magical Experience edition, where they made a standard in gaming magic sensations. It blew me away, and I was hooked. Since I have been saving my money from the job I work just for rent, food, and gaming, I couldn't wait to purchase this edition in particular. It came with a fantasy game that was to launch at midnight tonight, it is probably the most anticipated game in gaming History, it is known by the name Silent Kingdoms. Silent Kingdoms is so big, and highly anticipated, that even a few governments funded it.

I live alone, so there is no one to welcome me home or to miss me when I leave, or even berate me for playing too many games. I do fairly well at my job, I even got promoted last week. I live in a fairly small house, so my rent is small as well as the utilities. I basically have all profit after my food expenses, and I spend that profit on my hobby; gaming. I take care of myself, so I don't end up a disgusting freak. I even went to college for advanced engineering and programming, as I had a heavy interest in robotics for awhile. I have no debt because I was very studious when I was in school, so I got several scholarships and grants. My interests in robotics died down when an acquaintance introduced me to the outstanding NPI-VR experience.

I happily skip home with my new console swinging in the cheap bag in hand, I even glide over the threshold of my own door. Running up the stairs, I shred the feeble packaging that held my goods hostage. I sat only for a moment to marvel at this new device. It was a smooth headpiece with a phantom like appearance. Strapping the helm to my head, I lie down and activate the machine.

Instantly, my consciousness slipped smoothly from the monotonous everyday life to that of a white screen as my very same consciousness was incorporated into the machine. I closed my eyes and opened them to a white room, a white ceiling connected to white walls that stood on white floors. Only the complete whiteness and a voice that resounded in my head. It said, “Create yourself.” It was in a voice that was very hard to remember, and I'm not exactly sure if I heard it use those exact words, but that was the impression I got.

Now presented in front of me was a mannequin. Though it was a mannequin, its appearance changed with just my thoughts. Hmm, this was new compared to the other models. All options for customizing my home screen avatar was not visible to my eyes, but I knew what they were as the information just flew into my head. It cut done making the perfect avatars from a few hours to a few seconds.

“Let's see... How about make a vampire build?” I know that the home screen avatar is only for looks and has no effect on game play, but hey I like the pale, undead look. The hype for vampires died a while ago, I think before I was born, but the hype was resurrected by Marb Rekots and her novel, “Alucard's Demise.”

Well I say the interest of vampires was brought back, but it might just be me. Once again I look at my mannequin take shape, it's skin was as white as the first snow, and hair as dark as the moonless night. The eyes were blood red and the nose straight and narrow, with ears sharp like the mythical elves. The all around stature was slightly tall and slender.

“And done!” I exclaim to myself, “Now aren't you the looker. What?” I was puzzled as to why the mannequin started to move. I didn't have enough time to grasp what was happening before the mannequin ran at me and disappeared right where the moment of impact was supposed to be.

I quickly checked myself to see if I was okay, though it would be pointless sense I was a disembodied consciousness, except for I actually felt a body. Looking down at my hands I recognized the talon like claws that was on my monster that I had just created. This was indeed a unique way of becoming your avatar, the last series of NPI headgear, you had to possess your avatar like a phantom.

-Would you like to set up 'Home'?-

A cool feature that NPI came up with was the feature of skipping the home screen and jumping straight into the game, but what was cooler than that was if you decided to set up the Home screen you could create your very own world. Since I like creating things, I always set up the Home world, though my opinion is hardly echoed.

What was absolutely amazing from my perspective that not many people knew about was that certain achievements in NPI games would unlock items for your Home world world. I quickly linked up my account with my previous NPI accounts as the option became available to me. Before I could proceed to create my Home world, another pop interrupted my vision.

-Your five previous accounts have been linked. Combined gamer treasury: 4,697,385 gold. Character options unlocked from previous accounts.-

-Due to having an account on every other NPI headset, Nervous Products Interactive allows the you to keep your Home world avatar for an in-game character. Abilities included!-

Oh yeah! That was some information that I would love to hear again. I couldn't help but rejoice from this, I get to keep my character that I just created along with his abilities. Though I wouldn't normally have abilities with this brand new character, but the previous announcement said that it unlocked previous character options: meaning the NPI-VR 16S Hunger for More Edition's options were available to me.

Quickly, I edited myself by looking down at my hands. I added a trait that I missed from the last VR; Vampirism Superioris. As the name implies, it is supposed to be the superior version that only premium members could get out of the many strains of Vampirism. It gave your character the abilities of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Wall climbing, turning into mist, hypnotizing (bad in solo), animal morphing, supernatural recovery and so on, were some of the abilities. The other strains were cool, but I wanted this one particular, I even used all of my gamer treasury on that account. It even came with a princely attire that was very noble like.

Now that avatar was now complete, I accepted the option to enter my Home world. My vision blurred for a second as I was transported from the solid white area to an area that was devoid of light except for the illuminated white ground. A few feet away from my boots, there were two boxes. These two boxes and I were the only things in this seemingly infinite place, so I decided to take a peek.

In the box labeled 'games', I took out a gray cube that was labeled 'Silent Kingdoms.' The now empty box evaporated and I was left with cube with the games name on it and one last box. There was a timer on the cube, counting down from roughly ten minutes on the box. I guessed the time was for it's launch.

The cube shrank from the size of a softball to that of an ice cube, of which I slipped into my coat pocket. I set my sights on the last box. This box was labeled 'Home World.' The only two things in this box was a book labeled 'World Catalog' and an alarm clock. Upon touching the alarm clock, it disappeared but at the same moment I noticed a dull light shining on me and my surrounding area. I looked up to investigate to see that there was now a moon in the otherwise empty sky. Neat.

I grabbed the catalog and witnessed the last box evaporate as well, I turned my attention back to catalog and I decided to leaf through it. From huts to bungalows, from trailers to houses, it had quite a few selections for housing. I didn't see any homes that I liked until I got to the back of the catalog. From my noble attire a few castles were available to me, and due to my disease, a few cathedrals, mansions and dens became available as well as a grave yard. They catalog even had preset worlds available for a bundle price. I chose the 'A Certain Demise' set, given that I knew the reference.

-Purchase of the Dragon's Castle, Spires of Solomon, Dark Forest, Ruined Town, Ancient Ruin, Secret Den, 5 Small Villages, Jutting Cliffs, Chilled Sea and Raised Mountains for 2,500,000 gold. Remaining balance:2,197,385 gold.-

The entire seen shifted before my eyes as everything transformed into a dark creepy seen of a majestic castle that look like the cross between Milan Castle and Corvin Castle on a edge of a giant overhanging cliff that overlooked the sea. Castle was situated on the cliff with the sea to it's back side and an ocean of dark, unforgiving trees to it's front. A long twisted path went all the way up to the front door of the castle. The cliff was elevated above the treeline of the forest. I could see a few villages in the distance despite it being so dark. I looked up once again at the moon and was almost taken aback by its breathless beauty. I could see the entire cosmos, the sky was almost dyed violet from all the light, the moon was blood red which was slightly off putting.

I look back at the villages and saw that there was no life in them. It would have completed this scene. Though what really put the icing on the cake from it's uniqueness, was the giant rocky spires that peaked above the trees and even surrounded cliff. I quickly messed with weather information that was within my head and I customized it to my liking. A bitter breeze blew by. That's more like it. I was about to look into getting some NPCs, but I was disturbed by a certain warmth in my coat.

I quickly fished for the cube, as I knew it was the culprit behind the warmth. The timer on the cube had dimmed as the timer was up, but the entire cube was lit up in a deep violet color. I set the cube down on the ground and watched it expand into a gate. The gate had tiny figurines, that reminded me of the Greek Muses, decorating it. There were some interesting figurines that probably told a story about the game but I was too eager to decipher it. The gate opened at my approach, until I walked through. My vision once again darkened as I entered the game world of 'Silent Kingdoms.'

-As the world of Aezorish has magic ley lines, soaking it's inhabitants with magic, you must chose an attribute that is best suits you.

Water

Fire

Air

Earth

Holy

Dark

Undead

Light

Curse

Swamp

Storm

Sand

Ice

Sand

Magma

If the system held true to it's word, then my character would have vampire skills in the game which would be sweet, but the vampire skills would go best with the magic that even suits my name, and that would be Ice Magic.

-Vampirism Detected. Alternate starts available.

Summoned

Far-traveled

NPI always loved it's hidden alternate options, only to be unlocked when a certain thing was done to unlock it. NPI also loves giving it's massive audience the least bit of information possible when concerning it's games. It is probably the reason why many governments funded it to get information to see if it would harm the public or not. Right now the public only knows that it is another VRMMO, that it is a fantasy set world ripe for exploring.

Also an unknown game mechanic is currently in the skill system, though some can only guess what it is by it's name though it might be obvious, 'Free Range System.' Though some people have their own ideas on what it could be, I guess it allows the user to use the skills in unconventional ways that other games can't do just yet. Like placing an immovable mine on a rock and throwing it as a make shift grenade, for example. Though one of coworkers say it is nothing to do with skills and that it could be just an NPC and map development.

Though to everyone surprise they did mention the map size which was crazy huge. They said that the map was supposed to be five times the size of Earth's, so it could support the entirety of Earth's population and the NPCs that already in it without getting overcrowded. I think the missions can be very local and you probably won't accidentally find someone.

-Choose a Class-

Summoner

Mage

Assassin

Knight

Priest

Beast Tamer

Martial Artist

Hunter

Druid

I chose to the alternate start and the mage class. So, I am going to be a Vampire Ice Mage that is summoned by someone looking to use my services. In my mind, I whisper, 'status.'

Name: Jack Frost

Race: Yxdan Vampire

Class: Ice Mage

Health: 100

Mana: 150

Stamina: 150

Strength: 15

Speed: 150%

Defense: 10

Magical Strength: 15

Accuracy: 30%

Magical Defense: 15

Stealth: 25%

Blood Thirst: 90%

Special Points: 0

Blood Thirst? Special Points? What are these? And why are my stats this high? What kind of vampire was a Yxdan Vampire? Another window popped up before I could contemplate what it could mean.

-Blood Thirst: A trait held by all vampires and some other creatures of the night. When the creature feeds the Blood Thirst percentage drops, returning the being to rational thoughts. Should the percentage get too high, the thoughts become chaos and the being is reduced to an animal.

Special Points: When leveling up, the player gains a specific amount of Special Points that can be used to either boost an attribute, skill or even unlock a skill.

Yxdan Vampire: An attempt made by the Divine God, named Yxda, to combat the legions of Xernurochs, before the Divines eventually had to step in anyway. Yxdan Vampires are considered 'Living Vampires' by the other forces. They have a unique racial ability called 'Double Life', which just turns the Vampire Undead upon death, hence double life. Though they are considered good, the Yxdan Vampire still ultimately crave blood, this prompted Yxda to lock them away in a land known as Yxda's Drawer, a pocket Dimension within the Plane of Creation.

Well, all of my questions were solved, though in an unexpected manner. I feel there is more to the story of Yxdan Vampires but I would have to find out more in the game. I also feel like I should get more information out of this help prompt as well. If I know how this lore is going to work, then the whole other dimension in another plane of existence is an explanation for the lack of vampires on the continents, though that's if there is a lack. At least how my backstory is going to go, I will be summoned, that is how I will enter the game. I wonder about everyone else. Before I dived into the actual game I whisper, “Skills.”

Grace I, Etiquette I, Sword Mastery I, Sword Arts I, Ice Magical Mastery I, Ice Magical Arts I,

Ice Resistance I, Undead Resistance I, Stealth Mastery I, Stealth Arts I, Vampirism I

Double Life: Turn Undead upon death

Ice Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Ice Resistance and Ice Mag. Str.

Undead Affiliation: Increased knowledge absorption, grants Undead Resistance and Undead Mag. Str.

Vampirism: Increased Strength, Stealth, Stamina, and Speed

Mage: Increased Mana, Mag. Str. And Mag. Def.

No titles available

No titles? Well it is an NPI tradition to have titles. Scrolling through the skills I noticed Sword Mastery. If I am going to be a mage then why do I have melee skills? Did something influence this?

Just as I asked myself this question, the answered appeared when my hand brushed by something metallic strapped to my waist. A rapier! I almost forgot about it, though I remembered it just being a prop in the Home world, to think it was an actual weapon. Satisfied with my stats, I stepped through another doorway that resembled a portal.

-Your soul has entered Aezorish, may you live prosperously.-