Hey guys I'm introducing a new character, hope you like it. Don't be afraid to comment I won't bite...

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Synth

In my opinion there are two types of people in this world, and they are by no means easy to discern between good and evil. Well there is no true good no true evil in the first place, since we are after all humans. As humans once we believe something it is sometimes difficult to change our beliefs. A present example of this is the new VR game Second Horizon. Most people that play previous video games before Second Horizon put NPC’s into either of the two categories.

Second Horizon was a game that broke the social norms set by people before the game was created. NPC’s could have ulterior motives that could bite the player in the ass if one was not vigilant. Apparently the less pliant and hardheaded players get the worst of it. Certainly a seemingly nice merchant that puts to good use the phrase “A wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It’s always the slippery two-bit merchants also. That’s a story for another time.

Anyways back to the first topic. The two types are one who is ultimately outgoing and livens the surrounding area without even knowing it, and the other being the more taciturn or less openly conversational. Granted these are the more extremes of the two versions.

My personality is the latter. I have accepted that fact, instead of trying to change it. Unlike many others who fight against it only to be brought back to Earth at the worst time.

The ignorant person I speak of is exactly me from two days ago…

----2 days earlier----

“Hey Synth want to join our group since we found a tank?”

“Hell yeah but who is the tank?” (tank meaning person who keeps enemy focused on himself while the others deal damage, if you didn’t already know)

“His name is Larkfrost, and probably the most handsome person I’ve seen in the game, so keep you paws off.”

She looks at me like I’m some kind of miner that found a nugget of gold at the same time she did. Well it’s fine because I’m not particularly interested in hooking up with anyone through VR. I just need to be positive and support her.

“Calm down Jess its ok, I won’t steal your treasure o’ mighty dragon.”

“Okay just checking. Oh speak of the devil he’s here!”

She turns to look in the direction of the entrance to the tavern we decided to meet in, inside of Blackthorn City. As I turn my head to the door there appears a muscular male standing tall at about 6” 4’ peering through the doorway trying to find Jess. He has blond hair cut short right above the ears, but not short enough to see his full forehead. He also has blue eyes that give off an intimidating feel at the same time a prideful aspect. The armor donned makes the person feel as if he would protect you if a wolf would try to attack. Truly a knight in shining armor.

Well that is if you were looking at it through Jess’s intoxicated lusting eyes and not mine. All I see is an arrogant player who chose to go through the petty qualifications for knight class just to make himself look better on the outside. Maybe his ego inflated too much because after he noticed the gaze from Jess he winked like someone from an 80’s movie that makes you want vomit from “cliché disease.”

After striding over with his chested poked out like popeye with a sore back, he introduced himself just as corny as you would expect though I needed to keep positive so he wouldn’t notice the obvious invisible disdain aura that covers my side of the table.

Once we exchanged small talk and pleasantries it was time to pay the waitress NPC and head to the dungeon. The dungeon is located south after leaving the south gate around a den of wolves which usually scares most of the low-level players off.

This is the reason no one has heard of it until Jess found it recently when she was venting her frustration on the poor wolves because her romance life was a mess. Needless to say, those wolves are dead. They thought an evil demon descended upon the mortal plane and was there to devour their souls, all the while yelling “Damn that asshole, I’ve been with him for 2 years and he grabs the first skank he sees during our vacation to go “deep sea exploring” for a few hours! Well he’ll be exploring the inside of his coffin for a way out when I bury him alive!” It was truly a frightening scene where one would pity the guy who cheated on her. The whole time I was sitting there on a boulder watching her unleash the wrath of magic on the now cowering critters that used to be apex predators of this mountain. But I digress…

Entering the small den-that-used-to-be and seeing the questioning look on Larkfrost’s face as he looks at every corner for any sign of life, we enter the dungeon.

Larkfrost is a Knight-class (human), I am a shaman healer (elf), and Jess is a mage (human). It’s a small group but for these lvl 20-25’s it should be easy to sweep since we are each around lvl 30. The first floor walls are brick with an unlit torch every now and then to help show the way. Jess uses a simple rank 1 fire spell to light the torches so we can see and make it easier for “Sir Lancelot” to shield us from ambushes.

Magic ranking is as follows:

Beginner rank 1-10, then intermediate 1-5, advanced 1-5, and then Master and there are even rumors of a Grandmaster level. Hopefully I can make it there someday.

I make sure that Larkfrost is buffed with “Earth Blessing” that helps increase armor and decrease damage done by enemies.

For Jess I apply “Mother Nature’s Mana Gift” It is quite the mouthful to say but fortunately you just have to think you want to cast it and the AI automatically does so for you. This is only possible because I finished a chain-quest which made me jump through hoops just to get “Chantless Incantation”

This skill is a game-changer as it will prove very useful under dire situations, and so far only the shamans have been able to get a quest to use it. In this game however, shamans have very few attack spells and hardly do damage so it is fairly balanced.

During this whole time I have noticed Jess staring at Larkfrost like he was some god sculpted by Michelangelo. From time to time “Prince Charming” would look back and revel in the awe that he receives, while I try not stop myself from “accidentally” pulling more monsters and “accidentally” stop healing him. After all even if I did I’m fairly certain I can make my way out of the dungeon without dying by myself. But I need to be nice, and it’s good to be social.

Around the time I am thinking this we find a large double door with engravings on it depicting what looks like a court jester from the Renaissance Era, holding a card in each hand.

It’s odd because the one in his left hand is a Queen of Hearts while the one in his right hand is the King of Hearts. Then also engraved is the black Queen of Spades poking out of his chest pocket, however the card is ripped in half.

Before I get the chance to keep thinking about it Larkfrost opens the old door with a creaking sound that makes any person shiver. That is, except for one who struts in there like he owns the place and one would expect he would yell “Hey servant! Where the hell is the heater in here, I’m not trying to make a Popsicle factory in my house!”

Okay maybe not that much, however he did seem oblivious to his surroundings as a demented giggle permeated through the air of the decrepit room.

“Very interesting, 3 people have come today! 1 male and 2 females, certainly it has to be a message from god!”

As the bonehead-knight was about to speak up he was interrupted by the voice again.

“Since there are 3 of you I would like to play a game with you!”

Well if this isn’t exactly like the American movie that I’m thinking about, I don’t know what is. However it’s intriguing because it doesn’t seem like any normal boss monster for sure. Taking this as my chance to gain info I speak up.

“Let me guess, this has to do with the door at the entrance and what the engravings depict?”

“Oh ho, you catch on quick young lady! Yes that is exactly what this is about.”

Showing that he probably going to talk again we wait with goosebumps as to what he might have planned. Then we see the silhouette of the voice and finally the being walking into sight. He is definitely the same court jester from the door earlier. Clothes that are patterned black and red like checkerboard in some areas and stripes in the other and while he walks the miniature bells jingle creating an atmosphere causing my skin to crawl. My body seems to go to instinct fight-or-flight mode and attempts to run away from this situation and just call it a bad joke the creators of the game wanted to add in for fun.

However my body won’t move. It’s as if shackles are tying down my muscles and ligaments not giving me any room to use. The only thing that stops the moment of intense fright is Larkfrosts annoying voice that for the first time helped. Even if all it did was ease the shock.

“So what is this game clown? I’m pretty damn good at checkers!” he says with a stupid looking grin.

“No no no that would be too easy kid. How about we make this personal? I will quickly test your emotions against your morals!

Only 2 of you will make it out of here alive. Lucky for you boy, you are already one who will live. As for the two of you…”

He looks through the mask’s slits, eyeholes, and I see a predator glint that would make the greatest perverts out there shiver in fear.

“The one who will live is the one this boy picks.” It’s said as if it were commonplace for him. That adds another level of tension followed by despair as I see the not-so-knightly-knight pointing at Jess. Totally ignoring me. Well what did I expect? I should have known when I lay my eyes on the door. The hints were staring straight into my face like a stop sign in the middle of a desert.

The symbolical ripped black Queen of Spades in the pocket of the jester. As if it were broken and thrown in the trash. Jess gives me a small glance of what could obviously be viewed as an evil grin. A grin that contradicts my earlier statement. This one was truly evil.

Both then look back at the court jester after deciding and once again he lets out a cruel giggle before speaking.

“My my, it seems you have chosen. Very well, even though the next part is anti-climactic might as well get it over with.”

He then takes out a shield and a staff from his little chest pocket before handing it to the two. After that with just a flick of a wrist a magic circle appears followed by a bright light.

They’re gone. I would have inquired to the jester in front of me about the nifty chest pocket and where I could get one if it had been any other time but now. That’s because at the moment my mind is a maelstrom of different emotions completely tuning everything out. Surges of feelings such as confusion, loneliness, hopelessness, and last but not least anger! Anger that could put Hitler to shame! Resolve deep in my mind burst forth as I swore to seek revenge when I get out of this mess. Then I was brought back to reality by that demonic voice.

“Well how does it feel to be betrayed eh? You feel the change inside of you. The lion that wants to get out of the cage and finally feast on some prey in the coliseum? Good good, use it, let it consume you, let it take the reins while you watch the worst horrors unfold in front of you. Then you will be stronger than your enemies and quench your thirst for blood.”

Damn, I feel something inside of me, something foreign. Something that is making me lose consciousness. Then I sit up straight as I look down at my chest feeling an acute pain because the VR takes most of the damage away.

The mask wearing clown has a dagger struck into my heart. The dagger then shoots spikes from the handle into the court jester’s fingers as he grunts in pain. The spikes seem like needles as some blood trickles into the menacing needles and through the dagger flowing into my heart and stops the beating.

My body goes cold and I feel my teeth moving and positioning even dropping two from the front leaving room. That compact space gets replaced with fangs that should hurt but feel completely natural.

Finally after the teeth were replaced I lose all consciousness but not before seeing a magic circle light up and the familiar blinding light with the court jester probably grinning under the mask. Furthermore it seems like his body is hunched and he has dropped a couple inches, not as springy and joyful as before. it looked as if he gained some years.

Well I can’t say that this is what I signed up for when entering the dungeon. But I know all too well what I’ll do next needs strength, allies that will accept the darker part of me, and at least a couple days to sort this out…

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In the next chapter I will put her player stats and the new abilities she gained with eachother.