Sarah (or Sajya) had been walking for a while when the message appeared in her field of vision. It was written in the same style as other notifications, though the typeface was different and smaller; it was also accompanied by the same sensory feedback on her body.

It was a quest. In this game, quests were called “tasks”.

TASK: Talk to the Sorceress

You are walking through the Enchanted Forest, one of the many realms of the Anderworld. Magical beings have made it their home for thousands of years — and among them, the Sorceress is one of the most powerful. She can give you valuable information about this realm and maybe, if you play your cards right, she might even have a gift for you.

Reward on success:

- information about the Anderworld

- initial mana: 60

- 100 XP

- increase in Charisma

- potentially: Numinous object

The notification was similar to the ones Sarah was used to from testing the game during development, including the parts about mana and XP (experience points), but that bit about the Numinous object was puzzling. She had never encountered that class of objects before. I guess it’s a form of high magic, she told herself as she followed the trail in search of the course of water.

When she finally found it, she couldn’t help revelling in the beauty of the scene. It was truly an astoundingly beautiful landscape, and so lifelike that she had to remind herself that this was only a VR simulation. The creek ran down quickly and happily, flanked by rocks and scrubs and glistening to the sunlight that made its way between the leaves, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow as the stream jumped capriciously and followed its course.

And that was just one thing.

The other thing were the nymphs.

Sarah couldn’t see them at first, but they gradually became visible as she looked at the creek and its surroundings. Even so, they never turned completely opaque, but remained partially transparent, as if they were holograms instead of being physically there. There were half a dozen of them, and they were all thin and pretty and small, really small. The tallest of the bunch was maybe three feet tall. Maybe.

They were singing and whistling as they washed their hair in the stream, like nymphs are wont to do; one would think that nothing could ever make them worry.

“Hello,” Sarah said.

The nymphs immediately stopped what they were doing, turned to her and screamed. Two or three started running away, while the others just stood there, frozen in shock.

Well, that was unexpected.

“H... hello,” she repeated. “I’m Sajya.”

“C-c-can you see us?” one of the nymphs asked. Her chest went up and down so fast that Sarah thought she would have a stroke right there. Oh no, please. I’ve had enough of that for the moment.

Then she realized that the nymphs were supposed to remain invisible and unperturbed as the rest of the creatures of the Enchanted Forest meandered around. It was her Perception trait that let Sarah see them, albeit faintly for the time being. If she ever got to add more points to that trait, she would see the nymphs as fully opaque.

“I can see you... kind of,” she replied with a shrug, as if apologizing.

“You must be a player then,” the nymph said. “We’ve never crossed paths with a player before. Well, except Uberyn. But everyone has crossed paths with Uberyn.”

“Uberyn?”

“You don’t know him? You must be new.”

The game was in development until just a few hours ago. For how long has this Uberyn been playing? Who is he anyway? Sarah wondered. It was interesting. Evidently, the game had been in this alpha state for some time, with people playing it seriously as opposed to testing bits and pieces like she had done as part of her job. It was evidently unfinished, but there were already players that were well known and had spent a lot of time ingame — at least in this scenario, the Enchanted Forest.

Why would they kidnap Mike, though? And who are the others that were drugged in the tanks?

She wished she had paid more attention to those others, but she had been in shock at seeing Mike and she just couldn’t think clearly at the moment. Maybe Sumiko knew who they were. Maybe they had all been kidnapped for the same reason, and this reason could lead her to discover the way to rescue her boyfriend. But where was Sumiko? How would she communicate with Sarah from outside the game? She still had no clue.

“Yes, I’m new,” Sarah said. “I’ve just received my first task. I must talk to the Sorceress.”

“Wow,” a second nymph said. “Nobody gets that as an initial task. Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake somewhere?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the Sorceress is... dangerous,” the nymph replied. “You’d be better off staying away from her until you have leveled up quite a bit. Are you sure you didn’t miss any other tasks before this one?”

“I’m pretty sure I haven’t.”

“Well, in that case,” the first nymph said, “be careful. She keeps out of sight, though. You won’t find her unless she wants to be found.”

“Well, I found you and you were pretty shocked,” Sarah said with a grin.

“I guess that changes things a bit,” the nymph replied. She was breathing almost normally now. “The Sorceress dwells beside the lake. Be warned that you might find some dangers in the way.”

“What kind of dangers?”

“All kinds. This is a magical place. Anything can happen here.” The nymph let that sink in for a few seconds, and then added, “The lake is that way. It’s not a long walk. An hour at most.”

“I suppose the lake is enchanted, too,” Sarah said scornfully.

“Of course it is. Let’s hope you don’t find out how,” the nymph replied.

* * *

The color of perception is blue.

Sarah thought this in lowercase, but in fact she was thinking about Perception, the trait she had chosen to pump up a bit for her trip through the Enchanted Forest. The nymphs had been embraced by a very, very subtle blue glow besides remaining partially transparent, something that reminded her of the color of a TV when seen through the screen of another TV. An electronic hue that permeated her sixth sense, reminding her that she was in a game after all.

Now her whole field of vision was tinted with the faintest tone of blue. She hadn’t realized at first, but now that she had arrived to the lake, the influence of her Perception in everything she saw was pretty noticeable. There was a lot of magic there, and there must be many magical creatures, both friendly and hostile. All of them remained hidden for the moment, though, and as she looked at the calm water, she only saw peace and quiet.

“WATCH OUT!”

“What the—?” Sarah turned around in shock. With all her appreciation for her newly improved Perception skill, she hadn’t even noticed there was someone around. Much less any kind of threat.

The first thing she saw was the goblin jumping at her. It was short, greenish, and undescribably ugly — much uglier than the version she had seen in her testing. Sarah caught a glimpse of its teeth, which were yellow, pointy, and many, before her body reacted instinctively. Before she knew what she was doing, her left leg was up in the air, meeting the hideous creature in the groin, making it bounce backward. In midflight it lost half its head. Sarah’s right arm had swung the sword with such foce and speed that the cheap blade encountered little resistance and cut the creature in two between the eyes and the mouth. The body fell back, pushed by inertia, and the half-head ended up at Sarah’s feet after executing a gory somersault.

As adrenaline pumped inside her veins, Sarah was greeted by a notification:

Skill acquired: Melee Defense

Immediately after that, a new legend flashed briefly:

+5 XP

She registered the scene as quickly as she could. There were more goblins, each one uglier than the previous one, some of them coming at her, others fighting against a force just out of her sight. The trees obscured part of the action so she couldn’t see who had warned her. One thing was sure: her Perception ability had utterly failed in this occasion, giving her no warning about the goblins or even the person who was nearby, fighting them.

“Raaaaaaawwwrrr!!!” Sarah yelled, and charged forward. Two goblins stopped dead in their tracks, pondering whether they should keep attacking or turn around and run. A third one stood its ground, brandishing a flail, its eyes glowing with a malevolent yellow hue.

Sarah ran at the hideous thing with her sword held high. When she was close enough, she attacked. The goblin tried to hit her with the spiked ball but Sarah was faster. The sword came down on the creature’s red hat and embedded itself in its head. The goblin died instantly, and his blood sprinkled on Sarah’s face and torso.

A new notification appeared. The sensory feedback was barely noticeable with her heavy breathing and the thrilling sensations of danger and power.

Skill acquired: Melee Attack

And again, briefly,

+5 XP

“Wow.”

That voice again. Sarah looked up and this time she saw the guy.

He was handsome, his face showing the signs of a careful design during character selection. He hadn’t just combined a default appearance with a given constitution and clothes to match; he had tweaked every aspect of the face to create a personality. He had blonde hair an a stubble that made him more attractive. Tall, ripped, and wearing a leather armor, he had chosen a sword as his weapon, too, but his sword was big and shiny. It was now almost completely covered in goblin blood, though.

“Hello,” she said. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Nevermind,” he said with a smug smile.

All around him lay the corpses of the goblins he had dispatched. Sarah counted seventeen, and wondered how long it had taken him to kill them all. Just a few seconds had passed since his warning and her killing of the two creatures. Before that, she had heard nothing at all; everything seemed to be peace and quiet beside the lake. And now there were nineteen dead goblins lying on the ground.

“I’m Uberyn, by the way,” the handsome stranger said.

Of course you’re Uberyn. Your reputation precedes you.

“I’m Sajya. Nice to meet you, Uberyn.”

“And what are you doing near the lake? It’s dangerous here. There are all sorts of nasty creatures. Like... you know, these redcaps,” he said, pointing at the general area of the massacre with his sword.

Sarah didn’t answer at first. She didn’t know if he could trust Uberyn yet. He seemed to be powerful and experienced, so he could make a good ally... but she decided it was better to wait before revealing any information to him. According to the nymphs, the task she had received was not common for a new player, and the bit about the Numinous object sounded like something she should keep to herself for now.

“I’m just exploring. And there’s no map,” she shrugged. “I got here after meandering for hours.”

“Well,” Uberyn said pensively, “I’d said this is the most dangerous path you could have taken. By this lake lives the Sorceress. Nobody feels comfortable with the Sorceress around. Not even me.”

“So what are you doing here?” Sarah fired back.

“Ah, that’s a long story,” Uberyn replied. “If you do me the honor...” He offered his hand.

“I’ll walk with you,” Sarah said. “No hand holding for now.”

“As you like,” Uberyn replied, bowing theatrically.

They started walking among the dead goblins, occasionally using their swords to open their way. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and some light made its way to them, drawing flashes of red light from Uberyn’s blood-soaked blade. Up there, the singing birds filled the forest with their own enchantment.