The first thing John saw when the darkness of the portal faded was a small popup.

You have now entered a new plane, map generating…

Planet designation: XR2

Visually, it was stunning. In every direction there were rolling hills of sand that were a myriad of colors ranging from crimson red to washed out white. Above them stood four massive bodies, tinted by the green hue of the sky, three suns and what looked to be a planet. The three were each very different from one another. One a sickly pale color and quite small, another significantly larger than the others and reddish in hue and the last a yellow one that was middling in size. Far larger than even the largest of the suns was the planet, easily taking up half the sky on its own. By what John could see of it, it was also utterly beautiful. It looked nothing like the pictures of Earth he had seen but much more like a giant ball of gas. Colors mixed in an exquisite way on its surface, layers upon layers of different hues of red, yellow and brown weaved into each other and moved around with parts of it flowing and changing at a moment’s notice. John's limited knowledge of astronomy indicated to him that he was probably on a moon of that planet. Luckily one with a breathable atmosphere, since he wasn’t already dead.

Air pressure increase detected: Oxygen poisoning will set in in 192 minutes, Nitrogen narcosis in 24 hours

‘Fuck,’ it was obviously not entirely safe either.

Orianna had moved away from John and was now sitting on the ground, bandaging her leg. The pain was obviously quite bad, given her suppressed groans of agony. John also noticed that her leg seemed to be regenerating much quicker than normal, as skin was slowly appearing alongside the familiar glow. Soon enough, and after a few minutes of awkward waiting from John, who didn't know what to do, the wound was mostly patched up. The hotheaded biomancer didn’t look any better, however, she looked worse, breathing heavily and laying on the sand.

The air around them was almost completely still, and the whole planet was utterly quiet apart from the two of them. John, thinking of nothing else he could do, went to check on Orianna.

“Hey, you ok? How’s the leg?” He asked, sitting down on the sand near her.

“I’ll be alright… If you can buy me some time. There’s something wrong about the air here, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, my system is telling me we’re gonna get some bad effects if we stay here for too long-”

“Then you need to go look for some supplies. We can’t go back through the gate until I’m healed anyways, I can’t imagine you can deal with half a pack of wolves with me over your shoulder,” she said, coughing loudly.

“Ok… But you sure you’ll be alright?”

“Just go, don’t make me have to do it myself,” the biomancer angrily told him and tried standing up, almost falling face forward.

“Fine, just take care of yourself,” John responded immediately, helping her settle down once more before heading away from the gate in a random direction. The young man looked back before the gate was hidden behind a sandy hill, his companion was getting worse by the second. Her face red and her coughs louder and more frequent. Whatever supplies he could find needed to be found quick, or he would return to see her dead.

The dunes stretched out as far as the eye could see. John was now sure he was wandering aimlessly. Having found nothing but more sand, silence and stark desert for the miles he had already travelled. It had been an hour and a half since he left, as the timer had now reached 100 minutes, and the heat wasn’t helping either. Near the gate it was quite cool, but now the young man felt the scorching desert heat he had read about. What remained of his spare clothes were now draped across his exposed skin, to help protect him from the sun.

Still looking for supplies, he continued meandering around the dunes. Until, minutes later, he smelled something strange. It was the smell of rotten eggs, or more likely, ammonia. The smell was terrible, but it wasn’t long before its source appeared. A rumble shook the ground beneath John’s feet and the dunes around him began sliding, almost as if caught in some sandy version of a whirlpool. The Gamer quickly reacted and jumped out of its effect, but he could see something else in it. What looked to be a mouth, like some strange variant of a sarlacc was slowly uncovered by the shifting sands.

Only a second passed before he heard something else, and a variety of terrifying creatures dug out of the exterior of the pool. They had scorpion tails and hyena like bodies, were as big as both combined, and had both fur and scales covering their chitin-like form. It was so unlike anything John had seen that it took him too long to process their existence. His only thought was to run, and this time he knew it was his best option. Likely nothing else could be found in this vast desert and his time was running short. Sprinting back towards the gate with the minimap guiding him, he could hear the chattering and skittering of the creatures’ legs chasing after him. Eventually, he heard them less and less, though they never truly disappeared.

Thirty minutes later, he finally arrived at the gate. Orianna was laying there, now completely unconscious, though John could still hear her breathing. The chattering was quickly heading towards him, so he pursued the only option he had. Her body was heavy, but he picked up the biomancer. Bring her slowly to the gat and readying a round of Arcane Bolts as he jumped through it.

The next thing he saw wasn’t the darkness of the cave and a pack of wolves ready to lunge at him that he had expected, but what seemed like a platoon of personnel. Men were hanging around the same cave with work lights and equipment scattered everywhere. Soon enough a large gathering surrounded him, with a familiar face at its center. As soon as he saw them, he collapsed onto the floor. His body was too tired to continue, and he blacked out.

He woke up gently, laying on a couch in a Victorian styled room. It was quite large, and one that reminded him of a living room of sorts. A fireplace was positioned comfortably close, and the heat felt genuine. Other couches were placed around, and it was all in all quite grand. It wasn’t long before he sat up and saw a figure standing before him.

“Congratulations, John. Good to see you back on your feet. It took our medics almost a day to nurse you back to health,” Ingrid stated warmly, addressing him by his first name now.

“So, we finished your test?” John said, more angry than actually curious. He was thrown in there with nothing but a goal and told to fend for himself. And while they did manage to complete it, it was only because of Orianna’s help. Help which he wasn’t sure she would survive the costs of.

“You did, much faster than I expected as well,” Ingrid responded, her tone still pleasant.

“Why all the secrecy?”

“Sadly, I can’t tell you that yet, but I’ll be able to say why after we officially induct you into the guild.”

“If you tell me I have to get through another test I will just walk out of here.”

“No more tests, just some formal nonsense, nothing like what you just went through. Even if some of us still consider this part of the ceremony,” she explained, ushering John out of the room, “we’ll need to get back to the hall, it will take place there.”

Ten minutes later, John found himself standing in the center of the hall as an empty chair was added to the round table. Once again many men and women gathered around it, but Ingrid was standing behind him. Utter silence filled the room, and the fireplace was the only sound that could be heard. It felt cold, colder than should be natural. Maybe it was just the tense environment, but John wasn’t so sure.

John was told to sit, and so he did. The chair was comfortable, though obviously hastily prepared, and on it were engraved his initials. A sword was soon softly placed on both his shoulders, as if he was being knighted, and he was given an oath to read. One which was both ominous and curious. He spoke it regardless.

“By command of our people, the Abyssals across the world, we were brought together for one purpose. To explore, to discover, to survive. For we are the torch that lights the darkness, the unknown sitting beyond our view, the scouts sent to foreign places, the colonists brought to settle. Until my dying breath and the dying breath of each generation after me, I swear to uphold those values, for I am now one of many. My family is one of many. Those who were sent to explore.”

With all the flair of a popup appearing in his face, he knew he was now an explorer.

Guild Invitation received: If accepted you will join the guild “Council of Exploration” with rank “Explorer”

Accept or Deny

John pressed accept, even if he still had his doubts, he wouldn’t back down now. He had enough of being in the dark, so the first thing he intended to do after pressing that button was demand some answers. Instead, he was pulled into Ingrid’s office by her before he could act.

“Ten questions,” she said, her voice calm and calculated. Soon afterwards, she sat down and indicated John to do the same.

“What?” John replied, taking a seat as well. It was the same office she had brought him to before. Though he now noticed several bookshelves that were strewn about the room against the various walls, containing books whose titles he didn’t recognize.

“I have time for ten questions, so ask whatever’s on your mind,” she paused to give him time to think, and John took advantage of it. Going over questions in his mind for a few minutes, he decided to start with something simple.

“Ok,” John stopped for a second and sighed, “is Orianna alright, and if so, where is she?”

“She should be fine. Her wounds are being treated by our healers right now, although she has been placed under quarantine. I’ve been told her injuries caused her to catch a disease that we believe came from the planet you were on. She will make it through in one piece regardless, but if you wish to visit her I will have one of my servants take you there. I’ll be able to work while you are gone, so don’t worry about wasting your other questions,” Ingrid stated, casually

‘Servants?’ John thought, realizing just how different his world was to hers. That she would say something like that and not see it as strange at all shocked him. Even if Abyssal society had advanced technologically, at least this section of it kept to very old traditions of social structure. He knew that much now. Regardless, he took up his new boss on her offer.

“Yes, I’d like to see her.”

“Good. There should be enough time for that, but my butler will make sure you won’t waste any.”

Ingrid then instructed John to wait for a few minutes before a man dressed in what he recognized as a butler outfit came into the room. The man then led him down a few corridors and few stairways made out of polished wood and into a more industrial looking area. Wooden flooring turned to stone and tiles and the walls changed similarly, being made of metal and polished rock in many places. Eventually, they reached an area of walls and flooring made of purely white tiles. John figured it was probably one dedicated to science or medicine, or very possibly both.

Further in, there was a small lounge filled with medical personnel and quarantine equipment. What looked to him like hazmat suits and plastic sheets were placed haphazardly along the room. All the personnel were lined up towards a metal door with a yellow quarantine sign across from him. Once John tried to enter the door, one of the men in the lounge stopped him. He helped the Gamer put on the hazmat suit, a blue suit which carried a long pipe behind it. As soon as he had donned it, he was let through the door and into a small room. It didn’t take more than a few seconds till the door was sealed behind him and he was told to connect the pipe to a device he didn’t recognize.

Entering the room beyond, he saw several more medical staff were tending to Orianna. She was lying on a hospital bed of sorts, thrashing about with seemingly no regard for her own safety. Despite that, she appeared physically fine, her injuries were bandaged and looked to be healing. No blood was on the cloth bands tied around her legs. Soon after John appeared, she began screaming. Her head turned towards him with a fierce look in her eyes, as if she was trying to kill him simply with her gaze. John was shocked, the look in her eye was so different than what he had seen before. It didn’t make any sense for her to be acting that way. Frozen, he didn’t know what to do until she finally settled down, and he was asked to leave the room.

He was led back to Ingrid’s office immediately, with a guarantee that Orianna was fine despite what he had seen. A guarantee he wasn’t quite sure he believed.