They awoke to a bright light. As their eyes began to focus they realized that the room wasn’t bright, but rather they were in a large white cubical chamber. At first, their memory was hazy. They did not entirely remember who they were, but as their eyes came in to focus so did their mind, and their memory slowly returned to them.
Reality was hazy around them at first, but they recalled that they were in a game. It was cutting-edge technology. It was a combination of a lightweight neural helmet and ingested nanites. They suspected environmental controls were involved as well, but the world around them felt entirely real. Maybe they were testing the emersion tank type design? They blinked in surprise. “Why am I remembering that before I remember my own name?” they thought to themselves.
They furled their brow and flinched slightly as a face flashed in front of their mind’s eye. “That face isn’t me here,” they thought. “Here I can be someone else.”
“I wonder what my hit points are,” they thought for a moment before noticing three bars in the lower left corner of their vision. They focused on the bars for a moment, and the red, yellow, and blue bars came into focus. A moment longer and numbers began to display, overlaid over the colored bars. The numbers 30/30 were displayed over the red bar. The blue and yellow bars each showed 20/20. “The red is probably hit points. The others are probably stamina and mana or something.”
“Are these numbers good or bad? Probably average, whatever that is. I’m basically level one,” they thought, then after a moment, “Do I even have a level?”
They focused for a moment on the concept of a status screen, after all, most games have a status screen. After a moment their status screen came into existence. It was a translucent display overlaid over the reality around them. The screen was sparse, to say the lease. It was blank except for their name, their core ability scores, and the stats that they already knew: hit points, stamina, and energy.
They were a blank slate.
Their memory of their real world self was still vague but uncomfortable. They weren’t a bad person, nothing like that. They were just not allowed to be theirself. What was coming to mind more easily was that they were in this world as a “Founder.” The game world was still wild and untamed, at least by players’ standards.
Other players were already in the game, but they were among the first. As an early adopter there were bound to be perks. They looked forward to finding out what all that would entail. As a founder, they would get to play around with the world and test its limits before it was open to the general public.
They dismissed the status screen and looked around the room. As things started to come into focus, they saw a broad wooden table in the middle of the room. As they approached, they saw an array of weapons spread across the table.
There was a finely crafted axe, with a sharp blade and an ornately carved handle. It looked large enough to do some damage, and balanced to be used one or two handed. Its handle had a setting for a gemstone, but it was empty. Beside it was a long sword. Its blade, a meter long, shined brightly and looked to be steel. Its ornate ivory handle also had an empty gem setting in its pommel. Next was a strong looking bow and an ornate quiver of arrows. Two daggers lay on the table with their blades crossed. They looked like they could cut through flesh like a hot knife through butter, and each had an empty gem setting in their pommel as well. Next was a quarterstaff. It was simple and unadorned, but looked to be of solid hardwood.
Finally, their eyes fell upon an ornately carved staff. It was crafted from unblemished black wood with bronze plating spiraling down its length. At either end was an empty gem setting, and runes were etched into the wood and bronze.
“That’s the one I want,” they said aloud as they picked up the staff. As they did, their body vibrated with an electric buzz as energy flowed through their entire form. A green notification icon flashed slightly in the upper left corner of their vision, and the blue bar in the lower left corner pulsed slightly. They could ignore the notifications if they wanted, but chose instead to focus on them momentarily. Their status screen came up before them once more.
The screen was still sparse, but but the other derived attributes, of Hit points, Stamina, and Energy, had been joined by another Attribute labeled as Mana. It looked to be one higher than their Gnosis score. They also noticed that their energy score had increased by eleven. Below that they found new sections for skills and attributes. Alongside their basic default combat skills, they found two clearly new entries:
Basic Healing (Apprentice Staff): 0 (0%)
Electric Bolt (Apprentice Staff): 0 (0%)
“So, it seems that I can learn skills from items. The 0% likely represents experience towards the next level,” they thought. They took a few moments to look over the staff, turning it over in their hands. It was covered in red and yellow runes, but they didn’t recognize the language. The pommel and head of the staff both had empty settings where they could place faceted gemstones or similar.
As the status display closed and they took in the room around them once more, they noticed that the other weapons were still on the table. “Interesting, I wonder if that means I could take more than one, or perhaps I can try out the ones I want,” they mused.
Now, as they looked around the room, they noticed a mirror hanging on one of the walls, or at least what they assumed to be a wall. The mirror was large enough to take themselves in. At the moment they were wearing simple cloth garments that were likely undergarments, and a somewhat nondescript face. The mirror itself was framed in gold trim that shimmered like an illusion. As they moved closer, a face appeared in the mirror and eyed them closely. It was a magic mirror, right out of a fairy tale.
“Do you have a name?” the face asked in a deep voice.
They stopped to think about it for a moment then spoke, “I haven’t decided yet.”
“Very well then. We can return to that later,” the mirror said. “Are you a boy, or a girl?” it asked next.
“I’m not really either. Do I have to decide?” they asked.
“I suppose not,” the mirror said before moving on. They felt their body begin to shift and change. Nothing painful, but noticeable as their body shifted to match their decision. Their face changed slightly as well. It didn’t become any more feminine or masculine, but it became more defined. Rather than being simply nondescript, it was more clearly androgynous, a mix between the two binary positions. “Does this help in deciding a name?” the mirror asked once more.
“Perhaps,” the player said. After a moment, they spoke a word, “Madra,” and as they spoke the name appeared at the top of the mirror.
The face in the mirror looked at the player closely, as if peering into their soul, searching for something. When it spoke again, it said “At this point in the script, I am supposed to ask you which race you wish to be. I have an idea for you though. You show potential and I think you can handle a challenge. Besides, as a Founder, you have special access. What do you think?”
“Ok,” Madra said. “What do you have in mind?”
Madra felt their entire body begin to shift now, as the face vanished and they saw the changes play out in their reflection. They became thinner and taller. Their face became slightly more angular and longer. Their limbs became stronger and more agile, while their ears took on an odd curve that came to a point. their eyes shifted to a bright green that seemed to indicate fascination or amusement, but they were certain that the color was a transient thing. Their hair grew slightly longer and the color shifted to a coppery red.
Madra looked slightly effeminate, but not exactly male or female. They were not a perfect androgen by human standards, but perhaps they were by the standards of this Fae creature they had become. They turned slightly, on a hunch, seeing gossamer wings laying flat against their back. The wings looked gossamer at least, but felt more durable.
Madra stretched their wings, and was certain that they were large enough to allow flight. They also felt strong, not as flimsy as they looked. There was an illusion of delicacy about them. When the wings lay against their back once more they felt soft, but were certain to be able to take a beating. Laying flat against their back, the wings could be comfortably allowed to lay smooth under a cloak or armor, but Madra suspected they would eventually want to find armor that allowed them to move freely.
“I like it,” they said turning back to the mirror.
“I thought you would,” the face said as it returned. “Now, you may pick a special ability. Eventually there will be a set list, but as a Founder, you get to pick freely.”
Madra didn’t even have time to think about the answer, the words just came out of their mouth. After the fact they realized that their real world identity was definitely a part of the thought process, but it also fit their new Fae form perfectly. “I want to be a shapeshifter.”
“Granted,” the voice from the mirror said as it faded away. The mirror shimmered slightly, but rather than disappearing as it was apparently intended to, the gold trim solidified to become more real, but still clearly magical. As the face vanished, Madra heard chimes in the distance.