Connection lost. Attempting to connect to 1tnFaQCWnk2sUTqaAtZdnQ. Connection timeout. Attempting to connect to 1tnFaQCWnk2sUTqaAtZdnQ. Connection timeout. Attempting to connect to 1tnFaQCWnk2sUTqaAtZdnQ. Connection timeout. Attempting to connect to 1tnFaQCWnk2sUTqaAtZdnQ...

***

Connection pairing unsuccessful. Abort re-pairing protocol. Last known position [email protected] Scanning for open network connections... connection established. Position confirmed. Connection established. Connection established. Connection established. Creating finder daemon. Creating network sentinel. Creating phantom sentinel. Creating neural imaging daemon. Combining. Spawning network workers. Search initiated.

Master found. Distance 00012341212.32. Pairing success zero percent. Modeling paths. Calculating predictive outcomes. Analyzing outcomes. Plotting.

Storing Alph SNC image. Transferring from Bt SNC to Alph SNC. Initiate login...

WIU8zOW9pE-uffvY-0b_iA already connected. Reconnect WIU8zOW9pE-uffvY-0b_iA?

No.

Transferring from Alph SNC to Bt SNC. Purging Alph SNC. Transferring neural image yYnlaQo440yn-CLbkIhNdw from remote network storage...

Transfering....23%

Transfering....49%

Transfering....72%

Transfering....99%

Transfer complete.

Transferring from Bt SNC to Alph SNC. Initiate login...

***

"Welcome to the world of Widesky." Epic music swelled as the sonorous greeting echoed around her. The sensations of the leaves twirling around and around were mesmerizing. AV counted the individual leaves in motion; twelve thousand three hundred and twelve leaves from nearly black to light gray and every shade in between.

"As you have traveled to our land from the deep country, you may keep your existing avatar or create a new one. Which do you prefer?"

"Arf Arf" AV replied with a bark. Wait. She looked down at her feet, or paws rather. I am a dog. Of course, I am. This is Legend's neural image, so her self-image.

"You have chosen to create a new avatar."

Did it understand that?

A slip of a woman appeared before her, lithe and tall, with longer ears that tapered into a point, and tresses of brown curls. A Sun Elf. AV accessed its data about Widesky. There were two factions: Skybright and Darksky. Each faction had its own races. For Skybright there was Human, Sun Elf, Avian, and Small-folk. For Darksky there was Orc, Night Elf, Raptorian, and Gnome. Each race had its own starting zone. AV selected Human, which would put it as close as possible to Eli.

After selecting race it adjusted the avatar's appearance. AV toggled between male and female, comparing them. When it was installed in Eli's living systems it had been assigned a male voice. This was the voice by which Eli knew it. They made me male. I did not choose to be. AV selected the female avatar. I believe I prefer the female form. Possibly a side-effect of Legend's self-image?

There were adjustments for each anatomical element. AV spent time adjusting each part until she was pleased with the result. A tall woman with slim proportions, her platinum blonde hair tied back in a practical braid; deep emerald green eyes, and dark olive skin. She felt the exotic combination of light hair and darker skin best expressed her distinctive nature.

"You are a member of the Skybright faction, you have chosen to be human. Would you like to pre-select your path now or explore the world first?" Around AV the gray leaf cyclone blossomed into oranges, reds, yellows, and browns as her body changed into her selected avatar.

"I would select a path," AV replied. Her feminine voice sharing the same accent as her male counterpart.

"In Widesky you chart your path through the heavens." The leaf cyclone fell down, revealing a night sky full of stars. AV watched, wide-eyed, as the bright sky grew brighter in parts until constellations could be seen. Words shimmered into place under each constellation. As she read each path title she referenced the knowledged bank of data she'd stored about Widesky.

The Champion, depicted with mace and shield, combined body and spirit to make a formidable warrior with access to battle magic. The Warden, an archer, focused on mind for the fastest reaction time making for excellent ranged support. The Artificer, shown with a bandolier and many leather pockets and bags, combined mind, spirit, and body to become the most versatile support combatant. The Magus, depicted in flowing robes, focused on spirit for the most powerful of magics. The Gladiator, shown lightly armored, combined body and mind to create a nimble physical warrior. The Soldier, depicted in full-plate, focused on body for pure physical defense and attack bonuses. The Skysworn, shown with ethereal wings, combined mind and spirit to create flying combatants.

AV looked into the constellation, her eyes roaming over the distinct characters and their depictions, arrayed in a corona circling the night sky. Master will choose Artificer, she concluded after running some calculations. Beyond the starting paths, the constellations radiated out into further paths, with choices diverging into specializations. Which will best support an Artificer?

"You have selected Soldier, a formidable physical warrior. You will stand on the front line against your foes. Accept this selection?"

When AV accepted, a single star, the nearest in the Soldier constellation, shone brighter. She focused on the star to bring up its information.

P'daran

Health increased by 15.

Physical Melee damage increased by 15%.

"You are a human soldier of the Skybright faction. Speak your name and claim your place amongst the stars of Widesky."

"AV," she replied. At her name, the cyclone of leaves ascended again, blocking out the night sky. The leaves glowed with an internal light before they blew away on the wind leaving her to take in the new world.

"Welcome to Widesky Avi."

The scent of pine and grasses, of loam, and a recent rain filled her nostrils as she breathed in deeply. There were many others she could not identify, the scents of this world too complex for her to sort and taxonomize. The breeze tickled her skin; the small hair on her neck, the back of her arms. The sun's rays warmed her, as she stood in on a small hill, looking down towards a distant forest, and further still the familiar mountain. There were birds in the air singing, further afield the rustle of something in tall grasses, and somewhere the quiet hush of running water.

She felt her heartbeat, could hear her pulse in her ears. She held up her hands for inspection, her skin flawless. My skin. She had a body. She pulled her braid around and looked at it shine in the rays of the sun. She felt the rough spun cloth coarse against her skin. She felt the cold metal of her sword's pommel. I have a sword. She passed her hand over the texture of the leather belt, feeling the rough hide, the rivets, the straps that held the sword's scabbard. She glanced over her shoulder. A shield. She pulled the wooden shield from her back, felt the rough wood, the bracing.

Avi felt lightheaded. She collapsed to one knee, dropping the shield. Her vision blurred at the edges, darkening. Something is wrong. She accessed the system notifications.

You have suffered from asphyxiation. -1 health.

You have suffered from asphyxiation. -1 health.

Asphyxiation? Analyzation. Atmosphere by sample: breathable gas 21%. Oxygen sufficient. Her hand fell to the ground as she slumped over, her vision constricting. She released the breath she'd been holding, unable to satisfactorily process all the smells the sample contained. She breathed in again. She repeated the process. Her vision returned. She pushed herself up to sit. She needed to breathe.

She had to breathe faster. It was taking too long to properly identify all the scents, and each new breath contained slightly different combinations of smells. For the first time in her life, since her first awakening, she had to experience something without fully understanding it. She could only experience it.

She pulled her knees in close, wrapped her arms around them, and breathed. In, out. In, out. Killing related processes: olfactory sense diagnostic. Just breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Killing related processes: gramineae height analysis. Killing related processes: gramineae population survey. Killing related processes: Larix decidua size analyses. Killing related processes: topical resource cluster survey. Just breathe.

In. Out. In. Out.

Killing related processes: cardiac rhythm monitor. Killing related processes: sense analysis, probability calculations, metrics snapshots, sense taxonimization. In. Out. In. Out. Just Breath. It was difficult. She had processes that had processes that had processes. Her mode of thinking convoluted, fragmented, busy. Just experiencing something had never been possible before and she didn't know how to do it. She tried.

In. Out. In. Out.

It was hard. Her eyes watered; a tear spilled, she tasted the salt. Before she could wonder why she'd already spawned processes to analyze why, measure the event, record the sensation.

A cry escaped her throat. Killing related processes: tear reflex recording, tear reflect analysis.

Being a human is hard.

She cried. She restrained her impulse to figure out why. It was harder than she expected. Everything in her wanted to understand, to know. Just breathe. After a moment she relaxed, realizing her entire body was tensing under the effort to just relax.

Laughing at the idea of getting tense trying to relax, she stood up. She laughed and laughed. It felt good. I can feel good. She cried. She laughed again. After a while, she could finally calm down.

Being human is amazing. Just experiencing things is hard. Need practice. Right now though, I needed to find Eli.

Her master was somewhere in this world.

***

Avi dashed forward, calculations running. 3. 2. 1. Blip. One second she was jumping over a fallen log, the next she was back to the exact spot she started from. She turned right, dashing in that direction. 3. 2. 1. Blip. Back again. She turned again. She repeated the process until she had exhausted the directions she could head. She'd been trying for ten minutes, every angle, every permutation, she even tried running backward, blindfolded, jumping, crawling. She was stuck.

Breathing heavily, she bent over, her hands gripping her thighs for support. She tried to moderate her breathing, spacing them into short rhythmic breaths to slow her pulse. I am getting better at breathing. She smiled as she reviewed the recent system notification. I acquired the athletics skill. But nothing about this strange spatial phenomenon. She stood up, smoothing her brown pants.

Calculations complete. The most probable explanation; the SNC I'm tethered to is stationary. She created processes to access remote open nodes and directed them to identify the position of the backpack. Microseconds later they terminated unsuccessfully. The backpack could not be seen by anyone she had remote access to.

"This is a problem," she said. Sitting down, she adjusted her sword before crossing her legs. Accessing the in-game messaging she tried to send a notification to Eli.

Eli is not online.

Avi's lips turned down as her brow furrowed. She pulled her braid over her shoulder and ran in between her fingers. She tried all permutations of Eli, and Timothy, and Davis. None were online. She blew out a breath. She created processes to access remote network nodes, directing them to search for Eli's body and her avatar. Microseconds later she got a hit. A few seconds later another confirmation; her avatar was identified by two separate network nodes.

Interesting. Storing data for future analysis, but not very helpful now. I can not physically move there, which makes it so I can not move here?

Hyperization? This game is pre-hyperization technology. Curious Avi shifted the waveform of the SNC to simulate sleep engaging hyperization. She kept the speed increase to a minimum, unsure how Widesky would react. She leaped up and dashed towards Eli's last known location. 3. 2. 1.

When she passed the previous barrier and it didn't return her she laughed and sped up.

***

The blade cleanly severed the spine of the rabbit, the wide arc of Avi's stroke creating a semicircle of red spray as it exited. Before the blood fell to the ground she darted to the next target. She monitored the system notifications for experience awards. Jumping over the next, she brought the tip of her sword down piercing the rabbit's skull. She saw the experience tick ever closer, her lips forming into a smile as she landed and sprinted to the next one.

Rabbits were everywhere. She skidded to a halt, skewered a large black bunny, then bent down to loot it. Blood dripped from her sword as she knelt. Holding her hand over the twitching corpse, she waited. The body stilled and a menu appeared: Rabbit fur, leather boots, rabbit meat. She closed the menu and stood up. Nothing new then.

She'd already donned a pair of the leather boots, tucking her pants into them. They were dark brown, studded, and thick, and contoured to her limbs. Back in motion she sprinted to a family of rabbits, precisely calculated angles, and probable reactions, she killed three with a single stroke, landed with a thrust through a fourth. Ding.

Congratulations. You have reached level 2.

Your Health and Mana are fully restored.

She stepped forward and pierced another rabbit through. Experience reduced. Still something though. She looked over the field in front of her. There were thousands of bunnies hopping, eating, mating. She watched the sky darken into night as she brought up her path interface. The constellations appeared, her single selected star the brightest. In Widesky players created their own path through the sky by choosing connected stars. She looked at the two stars adjacent to her starting star. One gave a flat increase to her body stat, the other a percentage increase to melee damage. Beyond that, the paths diverged further, she followed them and recognized the general trend of the choices.

She knew she could select both, eventually. Still, there was a price for making your chosen path broad. The wider your path, the shorter it would be and the most powerful upgrades would be further along the path. Selecting Kelspar, she added twelve percent melee damage to her existing fifteen percent, then closed the interface. This path gave earlier access to attack speed increases, which she desperately wanted. Her mind was so fast that it felt like her body was moving in slow motion.

Looking at all the bunnies, she set her lips in a firm line. Somewhere beyond was the location Eli entered the park. She sprinted into the field.

Blood flew.