I stepped out of the portal and into the gleaming marble room. Grey floors with gold inlay .

It's ceiling seemed impossibly high , and while the room was bright there was no light source I could see or windows.I'd come from a muddy , dusty , dirty world so a room this clean was slightly unusual sight for me .

Around me me other people stepped out of similar portals .I say people , but they were really more just people shaped brightly glowing air. I looked down at my hands, just like the other bodies in the room they were made of light and slightly translucent. I tried to say something to the figure next to me , but nothing came out. Now this should have been really disorienting , but I've seen and been through a lot of weird shit in my time , so I took this in my stride. I'm not boasting by the way , but when you're a 91 year old man who basically lives in a video game it takes a lot to really shake you.

Other than the light people and the rapidly opening and closing portals depositing them there the room was empty barring a man standing at a lectern , and behind him several thick oak doors , also inlaid with gold filigree.

Anyway compared to the realm I'd just come from things seemed , a little crisper ,its hard to describe since Gates Of Doom online had always felt real , but this felt even more real

Realer than real?

OK I know how dumb that sounds but you'll have to take my word for it..

Unfortunately that meant the headache I currently had also felt real.

As I walked towards the lectern the figures around me gradually faded away . I stopped and took a few steps back and they gradually faded in . I walked back towards the lectern and they dissipated like mist on a sunny morning. So , multiple 'ghosts' to show that other people are logging in I thought , to make a newcomer feel like they were making the right choice joining a large community, fading to a singular experience to make them feel wanted and important , rather than just another cog in the G.O.D machine. . I'd spent a part of my life working on games , at least for a while , and once you do its hard to look at any game, or GATE , or virtual experience without trying to see how its done. Or to put it another way , I'd seen how the sausage was made , and I could never unsee it. I promise I'll try not to use phrases like 'singular experience' again ; as I've just realised how much of a twat that makes me sound.

Oh never introduced myself , lets get that over with .My name's Edward Spencer , although at this point I've been called Ted since I created a cleric called 'FatherTed' in an online video game about 75 years ago , in later games this became FrTed , Father T , and eventually in games that demanded a more 'fantasy' sounding name Tedius (that's Ted -Ee-Us , not 'tedious' although I've been called that too) . As I said I'm a nonagenarian (see me with the fancy words eh?)and over the years I've been a salesman, EMT, publisher, game developer ,lab technician, office manager ,life coach and for one very special week a hand model. I've lived in a fair few places over my life , but I'm originally from Ireland (a small town called Edenderry), and I came back to live there years ago. Well I say live , but its more that my decrepit , 90 years old , barely- good- for- spare- parts ,body is stored in Ireland (a senior storage centre off the coast of Galway)in a life supporting pod connected via a neurolink connection online and me ..the active, virile looks-maybe-thirty-in-a -good- light me, actually lives in a game/realm/shared/consciousness space called GATES OF DOOM Online . At least up until yesterday I did . G.O.D. had been bought out by a large corporation called VODOL , and was getting its first ever reboot. Hence me being a body made of light , having been through the apocalypse and somehow having a hangover from the party myself and my friends had during the end of the world. Which was kind of reassuring in a way , as it meant that the new GATES OF DOOM (VODOL insisted on dropping the online part) was somehow connected to the old one.

I tried casting a quick 'cure all' on myself out of habit , but nothing happened.

Well duh , I was factory fresh , with no spells.

Out of curiosity I checked my stat sheet

[ Name : None Class: none Gender : none ]

[HP:1 %%:0 ]

[Str:0 , Wis 0 Dex :0 Chr:0 Int: 0,Con:0 Lck 0]

[Guild None /Deity : None Title None ]

..and so on . Which made sense .

I was hoping that some of my abilities and stats had made it over, since I was a returning 'advanced ' player, but maybe that'd happen later.

I walked up to the official at the podium.

“Greetings traveller “ he said “ I 'm Articar Primus and I'm glad you made if through the ethereal gate , we couldn't save everyone , but each traveller that makes it through gives us renewed hope. This must seem strange to you but there is not just one reality , but Infinite!. You came from a reality that was destroyed but in its dying seconds merged with ours . From what our sages tell it was very similar to this realm , but in many ways quite different!'

He paused for a second , This was the in-lore explanation for the reboot, and I thought it wasn't the worst way to go , plus multiverses can always lead to some interesting places. I realised he'd resumed talking .

'..and that took a great amount of power which may have caused you to forget abilities and allegiances, you'll recover them , with training and time , or maybe you'll use this as a new start? . The merge seems to be holding , in many cases where there were two similar people in each realm , they've become as one , so on your travels you may find people here who know of your previous renown and deeds. In your case though you have no counterpart so you've come through to us here”

'Anyway , please tell me your name '

He waited for a response ..Aha character creation time!

“Tedius Whitehammer.” I replied ' my voice sounding different and neutral.

“ Whitehammer? I know of that clan They have a tradition of scholars and clerics .You are a man of learning yes?”

I waited , this was a subtle way of confirming gender I guessed

“Yes , indeed , a manly man's man of learning. “ I paused , “ A Man” I continued rather unnecessarily .

“Indeed Ser Whitehammer , can you fill in this familial chart , it may help us connect you with relatives that have crossed over , or merged here'

On a sheet of parchment I was instructed to fill in ..a bare bones template of a family-tree

There were spaces on the chart for names and titles, but I guessed that the most important sections were race and lands . It was slightly more subtle way than asking me to pick say “ Dark Elf : South Rimegate ”, and it also let for a little mixing . I gave myself mostly human ancestors from the west isles , as this was good for mana , but my Granpappy must have spent a lot of good times in the northern mines as Nana was a Cobalt Dwarf , and their son Terris married a woman called Sanah of a similar mixed race upbringing (a little Sol Elven in there too as well as a Frosten Dwarf ).so this gave me some bonuses in constitution and luck(anyone that can survive to adulthood in a Dwarven mine HAS to be lucky). On the other hand some of the 'Racial Purity' based groups would automatically flag me as hated ..but lets face it,if you're pissing off Nazis types you're probably doing something right.

“Ah Tedis , son of Sanah Whitehammer” he said .

Primus took the parchment , and cast an incantation on it .. it folded up into an origami bird , then flew off over our heads ,managing a a rather flashy loop before it flew into a small slot above the doors.

He gave me an ornate silver mirror

[mirror added to inventory]

“Can you let me know if your features were changed at all during the transition? If they were I can help return them to your original form”

[mirror equipped]

Looking in the mirror I saw a sturdy looking, ruddy faced blonde man , with blue white eyes and light blonde hair. Around the edges of the mirror , there were engrained silver markings , pressing them allowed me to cycle through different styles and features . I was able to quickly change things back to as close to 'my face' (or at least the one I'd used online for nearly 30 years).

A mop of black hair , a Roman nose , some slight crows feet around the eyes and a little grey in the hair .I added an extra inch to my height. My last build had ended up being a bit shorter than I'd really liked , although I never got around to fixing it, it'd be nice not to have to go on tiptoes to get things off high shelves

I toyed with the idea of a long moustache , then a rugged , unshaven stubbled look , but eventually with a sigh picked a short beard. Its hard to break old habits I guess . I decided to add another few inches in height .I went for a slightly muscular build (sadly this makes no difference to strength ..but it makes you look strong , and that's half the battle)and a slightly barrel chested upper torso. I added some more inches again to be sure . I looked back . Everything was great , although I was nearly seven feet tall at this point . I dialled the height back a little.

Perfect.

I went to hand back the mirror to the official .

“Keep it “ he said “Although it wont allow you to change your appearance outside these halls , having a mirror can be useful , even just a regular one.

While he was saying this a small boy had burst through a nearby door , handed Primus a note and then walked backwards in the direction he'd came bowing to us both as he did . He stumbled a bit but regained his footing , and then ran out.

“Ah .a note from the Lord Registrar . I didn't realise I was amongst the gentry . My apologies Baron Whitehammer”

Baron? Damn if that wasn't cool! I knew there was some sort of title , and to be honest I'd been hoping for Lord , but when you're a cleric who's a Lord , and you mention your deity ,who you also call Lord it can be a bit confusing for everyone, so Baron was good.

“ I have these effects for you as well he said “ handing me a small bag

“ Also , while we cant return all your family lands , due to the legalities of this new merged world , we can give you this small 5 acre patch in West Aran, it boarders on a wood that provides excellent hunting I hear , and the Shoss river runs through the edge providing great views and fishing..this is really quite an excellence part of Midgaard, if I may be so bold , feel free to invite this humble civic servant for a visit when you build your holding there”

Build...so that meant it was just land , and while I could camp there , or build a small shelter , it probably wouldn't be safe to stay there until I'd built up enough gold to buy the materials to actually put a house there .So I'd be sleeping in inns for a while longer.

As if reading my mind he said “Also here is a key to your small dwelling in Northbrook . It's attached to the Giants Toe inn there , don't be put of by the name , the food is excellent, The innkeeper is a dwarf named Gahan Goldleaf, he'll get you set up . In that bag I believe is a model of your dwellings from your old world , while this will be much smaller than what you're used to , you can use the model to help renovate your new home to be almost exactly like your old one.

That was a pity , I'd built up a nicely sized house in the “old country”. I'm a terrible hoarder, so having lots of rooms to hide the old grafting gear , souvenir boss skulls and broken weapons that I would totally get-around-to-repairing- any day-now had been great and I'd only be able to recreate some of it , for now. Hopefully I could get started on my new country house sooner rather than later , before I filled my two or three rooms full of crap I couldn't throw out.

“You're almost finished here “Primus continued ”you'll be able to pick your starting equipment set ,and initial area of expertise or if you wish not to choose any right now you can grab a 'Champion' set of gear and head out in the world .One last thing , because of your renown , a lot of the sub temples and leauges are eager to have you join , so they've agreed to waive any level restrictions or tests and allow you immediate access Anyway I wish you the best of luck in your travels and possibly our paths will cross again ”.Primus bowed , and automatically I bowed back , not essential but nothing wrong with being polite .

For those of you confused by the last part of the conversation ..here's a crash course in G.O.D class systems . If this isn't for you skip past this part , onto the bit where I try on some new clothes.

For anyone still left , the class system was a little unusual . Rather than a regular list of classes , everyone started in a central class called Champion . Champion was really like a little bit of every class , you could wear any type of armour , wield any weapon , and learn a selection of spells and abilities from other class types . The downside was that you missed out on a lot of the bonuses other classes would receive for wearing that armour (for example a “leather jerkin of the swallow” would give , say a ranger or thief added armour , plus a boost to dexterity , plus a usable once per day burst of super speed for 1 minute . A Champion would just receive the armour stat from it A Sage or a Guard wouldn't be able to use leather armour at all though so it wasn't all bad.

Also while Champions could access a selection of all classes spells and abilities , these tended to be the more basic spells , a champion could level these spells to quite a high state , but the wouldn't match the complexity of a specialised classes spells. Lastly usually Sages dealt in Mana for spells , guards and thieves used willpower , and most knights used rage and fury to fuel their abilities .Champions had to manage all these , plus keep an eye on their health so it could be tricky to use long-term .Also champions were by default neutral , but could align with the elements of Light/Dark/Fire/Water , which gave them access to more spells (but locked off others)Basically Champion existed to give new players a taster of classes to try , but having said that it if you were persistent (or masochist enough) it was possible to get to very high levels as a champion , and while they were jack of all trades and master of none , they could be very versatile.

Branching out from Champion was the four root classes Sage ( mostly your average robe wearing caster)Rogues(your leather wearing , trap spotting, lock picker)Guards (a chain-mail wearing class , usually less damaging than a sage or a rogue , but a lot less squishy) and lastly Knights (your amour plate wearing tanks who could take a ton of punishment) Again you could stay as a root class , you'd get a great selection of skills and spells , and they were easier to play at higher levels than a champion , each of those classes then had 4 subclasses based on fire/water/light/dark , for example my chosen class (a Sage )had Priest , Pyromancer , Hydromancer, and Heretic. In total there were 21 classes , plus there were rumours of further hidden classes that could be unlocked later.

To progress from Champion to Sage the player would have to advance some levels , and run some quests to be allowed to enter that guild. In turn the sub class required more levels and quests.

On top of that you could sub specialise in any of the elements , so a Frost knight , could specialise in Light , and gain some backup healing spells , or specialise in water , for some extra frost damage effects. It was very very complicated , which was the way most players liked it.

What I was being allowed do was skip the queue and go straight to my chosen class if I wished.

As the official bade me goodbye I had a look at my stats sheet , to see if it had updated.

[Name : Tedius Whitehammer Class: none Gender : male ]

[Wis 10 Dex :2 Int:12,Con:8 Str:0 Lck: 5 Arm 0 ]

[HP 16 Level 1 Mana:44 ]

[Guild None /Deity : None Title Baron ]

I realised that while I now had my solid body , I was , bar a modesty saving loincloth , naked.

I checked the bag for anything I could use or equip

[Inv]

Gold pieces 1000

contains

[mirror]

[Regal bag]

contains

[,land deeds , brass key , a teleport scroll:Northbrook

circlet of returned sight ,cape of the reincarnated[scaleable],

slightly stale cupcake , water skin]

I took out the cape , which was red wool , with a silver trim , and the circlet , which was basically a silver headband with a red jewel sitting roughly above my left and right eye

A look at my stats showed an update

[Str:5 Wis 12 Dex :4Int:15,Con:9 Lck 5 Arm 11 ]

[HP 18 Level 1 Mana:50]

The fact the cloak were scaleable meant as I grew in level , it would add higher levels to my stats .

The circlet seemed to do very little other than add 1 point of armour.

After walking through the opened door behind Primus , I wandered down a long corridor . I could see in the distance it opened up into a large open plaza filled with training dummies and instructors I guessed this was the 'Champions' Hall , as it looked similar to the one I'd started in years ago . However on the the left and right sides of the corridor I could see the outlines of two doors either side , as I moved towards them they became more solid . Over the door I could see the crude outline of a figure with a shield , and the other showed a figure with scaled armour with a pike or a spear .

So these were the doorways to the Knight and Guard areas .On a whim I took the circlet off , and the doors disappeared. Putting it back on and they became visible again. So ..returned sight ..not subtle! But something only returning players above a certain grade could use.

On the side of the corridor was an inscription or a merlin like figure with a staff , and a robin hood style person with a dagger . Sage and Thief. I went through the Sage door.

Inside , a small granite floored room bare except for the five doors , and four inscriptions a Sun, a crescent moon , a flame and a wave. The last door had the word EXIT written over it , which looked a bit out of place .Without hesitation I walked through the Sun door .

CRACK!

I spun around , on high alert , searching for whoever had attacked , then realised I'd just hit my head on the doorway , I needed to get used to my new height.

A new room , polished wood , streams of light bursting through the stained glass , catching dust motes in he air ,and the smell of incense , again though almost empty , with no other players or NPCs .just rows of benches , facing a giant mosaic of the Sun. At the far end of the hall I could see a set of double doors , with a stained glass sun mosaic running inset in their middle.

On the edge of five of the rows was a set of simple priests clothes , a grey robe , brown cord belt , some light gloves and slipper like shoes . Each row had a different marking , again a sun or moon , fire , water and a plain circle which must mean neutral .I thought briefly of picking the crescent moon of Baalos , the death god , to gain some offensive spells , but I've played a pure healer for so long I decided against it went to the pew with the sun marking .

I picked them up items and equipped them . My stats increased a fraction , these were pretty much starter clothes , enough to hide your shame , and give you slight boost , but weak enough that you'd cast them off the second something better came along . Still it was nice to be dressed . Underneath them was a simple staff which I picked up.

As I did ,a very plain notification appeared

[Class change selection :Champion ->Sage ->Priest/(subclass light). Is this correct?]

I said yes .

Nothing happened .

I checked my stats

[Str:5 Wis 12 Dex :4Int:15,Con:9 Lck 5 Arm 11 ]

[HP 18 Level 1 Mana:50]

[Guild None /Deity : Solas Title Baron ]

Abilities : Aura of light:Passive: : slowly heals the priest and his party with no mana cost.

..well that was what I wanted , but it was pretty damn unceremonial , maybe this was all coded in last minute? . A lot of people avoided new games for a few weeks to let the bugs get ironed out and for everything to get a bit of a polish. And supposedly there'd been a crunch at VODOL to get the game ready in time .Anyway I walked toward the temples main door and stepped out into the sunshine, and my new life..