“Day-ah-nin?”
“No Tomes, it’s pronounced ‘deyunin’ but spelled as ‘Daennin.’ It doesn’t really work verbally, does it?”
Tomes shook his head in agreement, his shaggy brown mane swayed as he did so.
“Anyway, it’s the best game in the entire world! Well, not really. I’m just biased...really biased. But still, if you try this game, then you’ll know what I’m talking about! And yes, it is that good!”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down there, Spooky.” Tomes said while raising a tan hoof in an attempt to dial down the mare’s enthusiastic attitude. “Before you tell me about how great this game is, I want you to answer this question first. What’s a Daennin?”
“They’re creatures, magical creatures that power a lot of things in the Broken World of Alluna. And all Ruined Kingdoms want them. And-Ugh!” Spooky groaned, interrupting herself. “No, no, no, what am I doing? Show don’t tell, Spooky!” She waved an ashen hoof firmly forward. “Show don’t tell!”
Spooky quickly turned her head to face Tomes, her dark obsidian mane covered her right eye in the process.
“You know what? Buy the game and find out for yourself.”
This is the predicament that Tome Seeker has found himself having. It all started this morning, when he happily declared to his friend and next door neighbour, Spooky Shades that his parents have just bought him a top of the line virtual reality console, the Second Life Engine.
It was an innocent thought at first, telling her that he has one since she has one too. Maybe they’ll have something to talk about it in school. But he never pegged the mare to be an avid gamer. And that’s where the problem began. All day she kept on pestering him to buy an MMO called ‘The Daennin Wars,’ claiming that it was the best game ever.
He never heard any other detail about the game from her, save for a couple vague lines about its quality like ‘it’s so good, or ’it’s the best,’ or ‘it’s the most fun you can have online.’ He only got a few tidbits about the game when he asked her directly. But Spooky still insisted on being unclear about the game’s premise, as if that would help her sell the game to him.
But still, it’s not like he’s going to buy that game anyway. His mind was already set in buying one game and one game only. And that game was called Psychedelic Lilac. It’s a pretty simple game. You get to play as a single petal in the beginning, and as you travel through different kaleidoscopic worlds, you’ll get more and more petals. The game’s main purpose is to help the player relax while playing it. Others claim that that it also relieves stress off of its players, and that’s what got Tomes interested in it.
He was trotting towards the store to buy the game when he came across Spooky, who was so obviously not waiting for him so that she could ambush and persuade him into buying Daennin Wars. And that’s where he was right now, on the way to the game store with a mare in tow who’s dead set in convincing him to buy a game that he’s no idea about.
“I don’t know, Spooky.” Tomes scratched his head, a look of uncertainty on his face. “MMOs are great, but my mind is already set in buying Psychedelic Lilac for the Second Life Engine.”
“Second Life Engine?” Spooky scoffed. “Who says the full term anymore? Just shorten it to ‘SLE,’ it’ll save you the trouble of pronouncing its full name every time. Seriously, Second Life Engine here, Second Life Engine there, it’s a real waste of spit.”
“So anyway, what was I saying again?” The mare’s brows furrowed slightly but were immediately replaced with a bright look once the thought came back to her.
“Oh yeah, would you rather spend a perfectly great VR console playing a dainty gliding petal or would you rather be somepony who has the power to change the fate of an entire world? You can save it, you can crush it, you can even leave it alone and just let things work out themselves, be it for better or worse! The possibilities are almost endless! I’m telling you, Tomes, you won’t regret spending every second in it!”
Tomes almost had the urge to clap sarcastically, but chose not to. “Love the spirited speech.” He nodded his head repeatedly. “I really do, but doctor coin purse here diagnoses a terminally high cost of bits when buying that game. Sixty bits Spooky, sixty bits.”
“So? You have a hundred bits in your coin purse.”
“Wait, how’d yo-”
“And Lilac only costs like, ten bits. Even if you buy the two, you’d still have enough coins to make your purse go jingle jangle jingle.”
Tomes hummed introspectively, carefully scaling the metaphorical weight of the two games in his mind. “Fly in hallucinogenic worlds as a petal or be a warrior whose actions could potentially shape the fate of an entire world?”
Spooky quickly responded. “Why not both?”
Tomes could only give a sigh in response.
Tome’s House
“Okay.” Spooky said while hooking up the game in the console. Tomes was already lying in bed with the console’s sleek, futuristic helmet tightly latched on his head. He’s now all geared up for full sensory immersion, all that’s the left to do now is for Spooky to crank up the game.
“So the intro for this game will be like any run-of-the-mill RPG. Character creation should only take a couple of minutes to finish. And when you’re done, you’ll be automatically spawned in the outskirts of Eubby Town.”
“Newbie Town? That’s a little demeaning.”
“It’s pronounced as ‘newbie’ but it’s spelled as ‘Eubby.’” Spooky tilted her head. ”It doesn’t really work verbally, does it?”
Tomes shook his head in agreement.
“Anyway, once you’ve spawned go to the giant tree that’s standing outside of town. I’ll be waiting for you there. And don’t worry about getting lost. It’s the only tree that’s standing in the outskirts, you can’t miss it.”
“Gotcha.” Tomes replied stiffly. “Anything else you wanna add?”
“Oh yeah. Don’t get killed on your way there. The game prides itself for its permadeath feature. You don’t wanna go through character creation twice in a row now, do you?”
“Wait, what?”
“See ya!”
Those were the last words that Tomes have heard in the real world before he was abruptly warped down to its simulated counterpart. He felt like a meteor falling from the sky, travelling at ridiculous speeds. For a second, he was just lying on his bed and in the next, it’s like he’s skydiving without a parachute.
His ears were ringing. And not those ringing sounds you hear from those old timey alarm clocks with metal bells on top. No. They sound like stretched out tinging sounds, resonating both in and out of his head. It sounded like the spaceships from science fiction when travelling through hyperspace, a thick, echoing beam of tinging hums that feels overwhelming to listen to.
Before, all his body could feel was the comforting sensation of his sheets and pillows. Now, all he could feel was a huge relentless blast of air hurling in front of him. It’s like standing in front of a giant fan. He swore he could feel his open mouth wobble in all directions, like what happens when you shout out loud in a roller coaster that’s rapidly descending from a high arc.
Those were the sensations that welcomed him upon entering the world of virtual reality.
And all of that only happened in a couple of seconds.
He came to a complete stop. And just like that, everything went back to normal, if normal meant standing alone in a place that might as well be called ‘complete and utter darkness.’ At least it’s better than that freaky warp thing from before. Tomes thought.
A small glow suddenly appeared in front of Tomes. From that particular spot, small blocks of light started popping up in large numbers. The glowing cubes began melding with each other, slowly creating something. And not a moment later, the cubes have finally taken a distinct shape.
It was the game’s title, it read ‘Daennin Wars’ in brightly colored characters that are as big as a pony’s head. It was like a shining billboard, getting everypony’s attention like flies to a gas lamp. Below the title were words in white written inside a red rectangular button that said ‘start.’
With a shrug, Tomes pressed the red button. After doing so, the darkness that has once surrounded him dismantled itself like playing a puzzle piece in reverse, replacing the dark emptiness with a barren field of white.
A couple of paces before him appeared a full body mirror. The mirror was not sticking itself on a wall for support nor does it have a stand. It’s just there, floating silently in the empty whiteness. Tomes slowly trotted towards the mirror to inspect it. Upon closer observation, he can tell that the mirror was finely crafted based on its delicately hoof carved wooden frame. Above the mirror were the words ‘Mirror of Reincarnation.’
So this must be the character generator that Spooky was talking about. Tomes silently told himself. But how am I going to use this, though?
And as if by response, a thought suddenly struck Tomes. It’s like the game itself uploaded the instructions regarding character generation directly into his brain. And with that, he was now well informed on how to use the tool in front of him.
“So it’s just that easy, huh?” He thought out loud. “I just have to imagine what my ideal avatar would look like and the mirror will instantly generate it and show it to me as my reflection? Cool.” Tomes closed his eyes while thinking of a vivid image of his avatar in his mind.
After a brief moment of picturing his ideal self, Tomes opened his eyes once more to look at the mirror’s reflection. The image in front of him was exactly what he had in mind. Standing before him was a tall stallion with silver mane. Its light tan fur perfectly complimented his toned body. The stallion’s features were graced with deep green eyes, protruding cheek bones, and a sharp jaw line.
Tomes can’t help but let out a girly ‘squee’ at the sight before him. His avatar was so good looking that it might as well be carved by angels, if angels do exist in this fictional world. Nevertheless, it’s the look that he wanted and it’s the look that he got.
He was still ogling his character when a set of words enclosed in a box appeared on the mirror, asking if he wishes to make any changes on his character before proceeding on the next part of the process. The choices ‘yes’ and ‘no’ appeared beneath the question, also enclosed in a box.
Tomes pressed ‘no’ and his avatar was replaced with a keyboard and a blank space above it. “Okay, for the name...” Tomes said as he used a single hoof type in his username. “Tome_Raider76, nothing beats the classic.” The game asked him if his username was final, along with the corresponding choices. He chose yes and the mirror transitioned into another window.
“Now for the stats.” He said while looking at his character’s unset stats chart. He was a bit disappointed upon seeing the display. “Only strength, agility, and intelligence...are they really using the SAI system here? Either the devs are just too lazy to implement more attributes to the game or they’re dumbing their content down to appeal to the mainstream.”
Tomes shrugged it off and proceeded to input the spare points into the chart. There were already five preset points in each attribute. The chart asked him which one of those three he was going to pick as his main attribute. He chose intelligence, and the stat was raised up to ten points. So now his stats has twenty points set, five in strength and agility, ten in intelligence. And he still has five more to spare.
He added a single point to his strength and added two to agility, the remaining points he put it all to his intelligence. So now he has six points in strength, seven in agility, and twelve in intelligence. Twenty-five points overall. The game asked him if this was final, he chose yes. And the mirror transitioned once more into another window.
The next thing that appeared in the mirror’s reflection was the words ‘Choose an element.’ And beneath those words were four crystal orbs of red, blue, green, and white color. “Okay, now for the elements. Elements, elements, elements.” Tomes said while scratching his chin with a hoof. “What element should I pick? Fire beats air, air beats earth, earth beats water, and water beats fire. Damagewise, both fire and air are quick but light, while water and earth are slow but deals heavy damage. Eh, I’ll pick water.”
Once he had chosen his desired element, the game asked again if his choice was final. After he pressed ‘yes’ the mirror changed its display once more. This time, it’s asking what his starting class will be. He was offered with three options: warrior, mage, and archer. Basically, it’s the holy trinity of RPGs. “I think it’s pretty obvious on what class I’m going to pick here.” Tomes said to nopony. He pressed the ‘mage’ button and again, the game confirmed if his selection was final. After pressing ‘yes,’ the mirror switched screens once more.
Next up is selecting the subclass. Tomes had to drag his hoof down the mirror’s surface to scroll through the plethora of subclasses he could choose. There’s a wide variety of subclasses available in the game. Among these include merchant, scholar, builder, and many others. Since most subclasses were geared towards non-combat situations, Tomes had something different in mind. He wanted something that he could use both in and out of combat, so he chose healer. After selecting his desired class, the mirror asked again to confirm if his choice was final. He chose yes and moved on to the next and last stage of character creation.
The final part of character creation was adding a peculiarity to the player’s avatar. This part was completely optional. Players could just skip this part and head on through the game while others would tend to make use of this part to spice up the gaming experience. Tomes belonged to the latter so he took a look at the limited selection before him.
There are only three peculiarities available, and each one of them was specifically designed to upgrade an attribute while also giving it a bit of a challenge to make it more interesting. The first one on the list was the ‘Grunt’ peculiarity. Choosing it would give the player a ten percent bonus in health while losing ten percent in speed. The second one was the ‘Erudite’ peculiarity, this one gives a bonus of ten percent in mana but the player loses ten percent of their health. The last one on the list was the ‘Spaz’ peculiarity. This one would give a bonus of ten percent in speed but also takes away a good ten percent in defense.
Tomes chose the ‘Erudite’ peculiarity to match his character’s persona. After selecting said peculiarity, the game asked him if his decision was final. He went with yes and the mirror transitioned into a full character card that showed every detail of his in-game character, asking him to review it first before finalizing the process.
He pressed the ‘done’ button below the enclosed question to make his character final. After doing so, the mirror flew several meters up the air and enlarged itself tenfold. From where Tomes was standing sprouted large boulders that were quickly rising from the ground, forcing the startled stallion to immediately back off. The boulders met up with the now gigantic mirror and wrapped around its sides like a huge earthen frame. The other boulders who did not wrap themselves around the mirror clumped themselves beneath it, creating a small hill made of rocks. The mirror’s glass suddenly shattered itself to reveal a large portal, another world can be seen from its other side. The hill of boulders created a staircase that was headed straight to the portal, as if inviting Tomes to come up and see it.
Tomes slowly trotted up newly made staircase of the hill. He ceased his trotting upon reaching the top. He held a hoof into the portal, touching its surface. Like a leaf falling down a calm pond, the portal rippled to his touch.
“New world, here I come.” Were the last words Tomes said before entering the Broken World of Alluna.