“Ow! Damn!” Ash fell to his knees as he popped into existence. Studying his surroundings, he appeared to have materialised in the middle of a small courtyard. He stood slowly, and looked down. “Woah.” Ash was not used to being six feet tall. The ground seemed so far away that he was sure that if he fell, he would not survive.

Upon inspecting himself, everything seemed to be in order. Of course, his knees were bruised from his less than graceful entrance, and his palms had small indents, formed by the grooves in the stone as he caught himself. Most of all, he was astounded by how real it all felt. He could feel everything he normally would, and more. He felt as if he could tell someone about every single thing he was experiencing. He could feel the heat beating against his face, the stone under his bare feet, and even the small beads of sweat forming just below his eyebrows, but just above his eyelids. Of course, he could probably have done the same in the real world, but the fact that this felt so real, yet wasn’t, was unnerving.

Finishing his self-inspection, Ash looked around again, and saw a singular door on the far end of the courtyard, which was propped open. As he approached the door, Ash become increasingly aware of a slight green glow that seemed to frame his vision, almost comparable to a vignette effect. Blinking before deciding to ignore it, Ash took the final steps towards the door. It was made of wood, and appeared to have repaired a few times in the past. Opening the door slowly, Ash stepped inside.

“Ah! You must be Ash!”

Ash, who was indeed Ash, conducted an ever so slightly frantic scan of the dimly lit room in an attempt to locate the owner of the voice. Soon, his eyes settled on the only humanoid in the room, an extremely tall person, if that’s what you call it, who was standing against the back wall, with its arms crossed.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m an elf. My name is Jamie. I’m supposed to show you around.”

Ash stumbled over himself before addressing the elf before him. “Oh, uh, ok.”

“Let’s get to it, shall we?” Jamie had a certain tone to his voice that made Ash uneasy. He sounded a little bit like a customer service representative. Jamie motioned for Ash to follow him, and began to walk out of the room. Ash quickly traversed the room to follow him. This room seemed to be some kind of reception. A polished wooden desk sat on one side, with a few chairs, all wooden and without padding, sat on the opposite side. They exited the room, and found themselves in some sort of hallway. Ash became aware that there was no electrical lighting, and instead, oil lamps lit the hallway.

“Welcome to Delta Online! As you know, Delta Online is a fully functioning virtual world based on fantasy tropes. In Delta Online, you can enjoy a normal life in a town, or fight monsters and save princesses! In Delta Online, the opportunities are endless.” Once Jamie was done with his little ad spiel, Ash tried to speak, but before he could even open his mouth, Jamie had the answer.

“This may seem confusing, but I am Jay. See, as an AI in charge of accomplishing a goal, I have multiple characters at my disposal, all which help to accomplish this goal. This goal, of course, is to integrate players from your world, into mine, without causing too much disruption. I take multiple forms depending on where in the world I am, and who I am talking to.”

Ash blinked, a little bit overwhelmed, before clearing his throat and nodding. “Uh, yeah, ok.”

“Right. So, right now, we are in the city of Adion. Adion is the capital of the Western region of Delta. This is where all new characters from Earth will start. Since you are the first, you might be a little lonely for a couple days. But I assure you, you’ll have plenty of friends soon!”

“Okay. So um, where do I stay?”

“A great question! Follow me.” Jamie, who had up to this point been standing in the hallway, facing Ash, spun around and began to walk down the hallway. Ash quickly caught up, and they walked down the hallway, took a left turn, and found themselves in another room. This room seemed to be some sort of common room, with plush couches lining the sides of the room. The couches looked remarkably out of place with the rest of the room, which was decidedly not lavish. Like clockwork, Jamie addressed this thought. “You may notice the couches look incongruent with the rest of the room.”

“Yeah,” Ash answered, acting on a suspicion. “Are they from Earth?”

“Exactly! We have placed some objects from earth in the preliminary living spaces of those coming from Earth. This is intended to help ease you into the world of Delta Online.” Jamie said with a smile that was just a little bit too wide for Ash’s liking. “Would you like to see your room?”

Before Ash could answer, Jamie spun on his heel once again, and the pair made their way through one of around five doors spaced around the room. This door, to Ash’s surprise, had some sort of metal plaque on it, which read “ASH.” Inside the room, there was a bed, which to Ash’s surprise, looked a lot like a hotel bed. The sheets were tucked under the mattress, in that way that only hotels do, and the bedding was all stark white. In addition to this bed, the room contained a dresser, a small desk, and a chest at the bottom of the bed, all of which looked quite out of place next to the ultra-modern bed that was the centerpiece of the room.

Ash suppressed a chuckle, and walked into the room, taking in the atmosphere. From the doorway, Jamie spoke. “Shall I leave you for the evening? It is around five in the evening. The initial log in can often be tiring.” Ash did not feel particularly tired, but he wanted an excuse to be alone, to try to gather his thoughts.

“Yeah, that would be great.”

“Alright, well, sleep well, and I’ll come get you in the morning. If you decide you want the tour before I come to wake you, you can find me in the room just outside your door, with the couches.”

Ash nodded, and without another word, Jamie left the room, methodically closing the door behind him. He sat on his hotel-esque bed and soon found himself lost in thought. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt a certain sense of dread coming over him. He looked at his hands, or Ash’s hands, or whoever’s hands they were and muttered to himself.

“Otis, my name is Otis.” Soon though, the thought was replaced by an incredibly potent tiredness, and Ash, or Otis, or whatever his name was, fell deep into sleep.