Embrace the Darkness, Carpe Noctem

by musicman722

Tutorial (2)

5….

4….

3….

2….

1….

Game start….

I woke up to the light of the sun shining in my face (I was always an early riser even if I stayed up a bit late). I lifted up my hand to block out the sun and I saw a shocking sight. My entire arm was a tendril of black mist and my hand was comprised of long, black, bony fingers.

“AAAHHH!! WHAT THE HELL?! What the fuck am I?!” I quickly jumped up and looked at myself. I was made of a dark mist like substance from head to toe that made me look like I was a walking cloak. I found that I barely retained any semblance to a human form from what I could tell of my ‘arms’ and ‘legs’.

'Okay, calm down.' I thought, 'What do I know?' I searched my memory for last night for any details of drunken debauchery and voodoo magic but was instead met with memories of striking a deal with a Games Master named Erebus.

'Erebus. Why does that sound familiar? Well, at least I know what happened last night, but that doesn't answer what I am. Guess I'm going to have to experiment with this new body.'

I began the experiment with my body movements, starting with the ends of my arms. My fingers still functioned normally and on closer inspection, my fingertips had been replaced with wicked claws. 'It feels the same but they don't look strong enough for punching. I suppose I could use a palm attack style, like Negi Hyuuga does. Though I would have to be careful of the new claws. It'd be kinda awkward to scratch without hurting myself.'

I then began on trying to use my nonexistent legs to move around and found out quickly that it was going to be harder than it looked. I could still feel my legs, but I couldn’t really use them at all. It was like they were fused together into one solid, or in this case, ghostly, appendage. 'What the hell did the developers do to make my legs stick this way? I bet it’s a glitch in the system.' I wondered.

I bent down to look at my legs and found myself moving forward. “What the-!” I yelled as I jerked back up and came to a stop before I could hit a tree. I thought about the sudden changes and felt a sense of déjà vu. I searched my mind for the familiar feeling and after a few moments, recognized it as the time I once tried a Segway. That thing was hard to control at first but after controlling your balance and making small adjustments, I could move it around easily.

'So I move around by shifting my center of gravity...I give props to whoever came up the idea. Still not sure if it’s a glitch though.' I thought. Grinning at this, I applied the familiar feeling and controls to my movements. Soon enough I was floating around the clearing like a pro, though I had to keep this movement in mind. I briefly wondered if it was possible to get my legs back, not that I was complaining, but I still liked my legs.

I push aside the thought to take note of my surroundings. I was in a small patch of shaded clearing surrounded by jungle trees and bushes. I barely see a white, sandy beach off to my right and a cluster of hills to my left, further inland. It didn't look like there were any monsters nearby, but thinking it was safe is a quick way to get killed.

'Right now I need to prioritize and plan my next move.' I thought as I began to make a list of priorities that came to mind.

1. Find out what the hell I am.

2. Find food (Do I even need to eat?)

3. Find out where the hell I am.

4. If this is an RPG, then lvl up quickly.

5. Survive. Don’t Die.

6. ???

7. Profit to the infinite degree.

“Okay, the best way to learn about this game would be from the pause menu. The question is, how do I access it without a controller?” I thought aloud. 'Wait, how the hell did I talk if I don’t have a mouth?' I lifted a hand to my face and felt my mouth, surprised to find that my teeth were now all sharp, jagged canines. I felt the rest of my head and noticed that I didn’t have a nose or ears. ‘Note to self: Look for a mirror later.’ I thought about the game mechanics and tried to figure out a way to get to the pause menu. After discarding several ideas, I decide to go with the simplest solution to see if it worked.

I took a deep breath and shouted, “Pause.” Sure enough, my surroundings darkened and became blurry as if I was looking through a fogged up window. In front of me, a black rectangle appeared and words flickered into existence on it. It seemed to be a touchscreen, which I confirmed as I began to touch the different tabs that lined the side. My curiosity sated, I returned to the main screen. It showed me the other tabs, a mail notification, and my current objective: Get to the Mainland.

'Okay, so that means I’m on an island of a sort. Unfortunately, it doesn’t say how to get there. I hope there are people on this island that can help me.' I thought. I decide to take a look at the mail notice. Touching it, the screen changed to message reading format as words began to appear. I begin to read, hoping that this message will clear up some of my questions.

Dear Player,

If you’re reading this, then I assume you have already woken up inside the game and already have a multitude of questions for me. Assuming I’m correct, I will answer some of them for you. Your first question is most likely: What am I? Well my dear player, you are currently a Night Shade (a.k.a. a Wraith), a creature of darkness, a dark ghost or living shadow, if you will.

As a Night Shade, you have three inherent abilities: Consumption, Fade, and Shape Shift. You can receive additional abilities as you level up but for now, I will explain these three. Consumption is an ability that doubles as an attack and your method of feeding. To use, simply bite down upon victim and drink. Night Shades feed upon the life force of others, so you are only able to eat plants and animals. For maximum energy intake, feed upon victim while it’s alive. Anything dead, will only give you less than the original life energy.

I stopped reading and reread the explanation about several times. ‘Holy. Shit. Badassery levels just skyrocketed on Night Shades. I can take down enemies with ease by just biting them! Not to mention the intimidation factor on groups. Enemies would be less likely to fight after seeing what happened to their buddy.’ I thought before I continued reading.

As a Shade, you can fade into the shadows as if it was an alcove cut into the wall and travel along them. This ability is useful in hiding from enemies and having a safe place to rest. With practice, you can travel long distances almost instantaneously provided that the shadow path is unbroken. Be warned, only you and any items on your person can meld into the shadows, which means other creatures will not enter with you.

'Okay, I half expected this ability to come up, considering I was a darkness creature. No surprises here, but I’m going to have to remember about the warning about mass objects.' I thought.

Your final inherent ability, Shape shift, is actually a subset of Consumption. Your current, humanoid form is your Base form. Don’t try flying in this form, you can only get up to about 25 feet above anything that's a solid state of matter, so don’t try to cross the sea without a boat or airship, you won’t get far. You can change into any enemy you have previously consumed and each animal you turn into requires a different amount of life energy. You can check this in the Consumption tab of the pause menu. Remember, keep feeding and keep an eye on your energy levels or you WILL DIE.

“So shape shifting is possible with this body...Interesting. After I get some food, I’m going to have to practice this so I can get used to it and be ready for any enemies. Question is: what kind of creatures will I be consuming?” I mused aloud.

Now your next question is probably your location, right? Well currently you are in the middle of the Zebriconian Islands. Your main objective is to make it to the mainland, so start island hopping. Hint: Your best bet would be to flag down a passing airship and get a ride from them if possible.

“Zebraconian Islands? That’s an interesting name. I gotta look at the map later. Wait. Did he say airships? Like a blimp? Oh, I’m gonna have fun with this world’s technology.” Technology, real or fictional has always fascinated me. I loved to think up new ways to use tech to solve problems, be it killing the enemy or opening that stupid pickle jar cap.

“It’s dangerous up ahead, take this!” This is too true for this world, so you will need a weapon. You don’t have it now, but you will receive it upon your first battle with instructions. For now, you'll need to improvise.

While I was excited to get a weapon, I wasn’t eager to look for a fight in case the weapon I get would be ineffective against them.

Those are the only questions I can truly answer now. Any other questions must be answered by exploring or experimentation. Before I go, I will leave some advice: Keep an eye on your energy levels, Try not to piss off certain people unless you’re a smooth talker or a fast runner, your Harry Potter books will come in handy later, and don’t do anything incredibly stupid. Ta-ta for now.

Sincerely,

Erebus, God of Darkness

I reread the advice and even then, I was still confused by what he meant. “How would Harry Potter help me?” I wondered, “Does he mean Latin-based spells? I remembered when I read the series that I got really interested in Latin and started to study it a bit to make my own spells. My English paper was actually about Latin, now that I think about it.” I looked back at the signature at the bottom, “And, Erebus is a god? Doubt it. It’s probably a code name or something for political purposes.”

I closed the message and returned to the menu screen. I looked at the other tabs I could access: Inventory, Consumption, Weapon, Map, Data, Quests, Achievements, Skill, and Options. I started to go down the list. My current inventory: nothing. Consumption levels: enough to last me a few days if I can stretch it. I couldn’t open Weapon. Map only showed me what I’ve currently seen. Data had nothing yet. Quests only had my current goal: Get to the Main land. If Achievements was anything like a normal video game, then I would have to save it for later when I have time to look at it. Skill showed me at level one with my current skills. I decided to come back to that later. Options was pretty standard in terms of choices. It was similar to that of a normal game's Options screen except it only had HUD options (mini-map, health bar, weapon icons, tips, notifications). I turned on everything and left it alone for now. Seeing nothing else that could aid me, I went back to Skills.

The skills menu was basic for an RPG. There were seven skills that each needed to be practiced in order to level up: Endurance, Speed, Strength, Combat, Stealth, Marksmanship, and Magic. Currently they were all at level one but I intended to change that soon. I noticed that the next level increase for all of them was at 50 XP.

'Elder Scrolls style, eh? This should be easy, but then again, it never is.' I thought wryly

I close out of the menu and noticed that the sun hadn’t moved in the half hour that I was in the pause menu. I guessed that it was about mid-afternoon, probably about three or four. I also noticed the HUD that appeared in my vision. My health bar coupled with an image of my current form was up in the upper left corner of my vision and a mini map in the bottom left corner. Apparently I was now facing south west. A reticle appeared in the center of my vision. Unfortunately, there was no indication of a weapon, yet.

“Let the games begin.” I thought aloud.

Looking around, I decide that the best place to start searching would be the coastline and then make my way towards the center of the island. I start heading out towards the coast, quietly observing my surroundings. There wasn’t much besides the occasional bird chirping and the sound of waves crashing. The plants and land really stood out to me. It was a simple, yet realistic animation with vibrant colors and outlines, like it was out of a kids cartoon. The thing that really surprised me was that I could feel it. I could feel the soft grass under me and the breeze that passed by.

“The Game developers really outdid themselves on this one. If I didn’t know this was a game, I could swear I was in another dimension, but that’s impossible.” I said, smiling at the surrounding landscape.

I reached the beach and stepped out into the bright sun, only to jump back into the shade yelling in pain, “GAAAHHHH!! SONUVABITCH THAT HURT!! I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID! THE DEVELOPERS SUCK!” I felt like I had just stepped into an oven covered in gasoline. My essence was being burnt away slowly and I knew it because my health bar dropped a bit. “Quick! Stop, Drop and Roll!” I began rolling around on the ground, trying to pat out the imaginary flames and slowly, but surely, the pain subsided.

“Owowowowow.” I moaned. A message appeared in my vision, showing my Base form and the sun: Your base form is weak in sunlight. Shape Shift to travel in the light.

I sighed, “I should have expected that. Well looks like I have to stick to shade for now and check the island out at night. Maybe I could make myself some clothes to go out in the light with until I can Shape Shift?” I sat up and looked at myself to see my form was looking really withered. I needed a pick-me-up to get over being burnt, NOW.

'Wait, didn’t Erebus say something about this?' I remembered the message from before about how I was to feed. I glanced over at the palm tree nearby; I could almost see the life energy flowing through it. I licked my lips in hunger. I opened my mouth, leaped toward the tree and bit down on the bark with a satisfying crunch. I closed my eyes and began to drink as if I had bitten into a juicy fruit, the life energy of the palm tree rushing into me, rejuvenating me and replenishing my health bar and then some. I barely registered that the palm tree’s energy tasted like coconut milk.

When I finished, the last of the energy I had to squeeze out like a juice pack, I opened my eyes and was surprised at the sight before me. “Dafuq?” The healthy palm tree had now been reduced to a brown, dried husk; its fronds all bent and colored a sickly yellow, and the coconut fruit now looking like rotten grapes. It looked like it could turn to dust just my touching it. I poked a claw at the rotted wood and the tree collapsed upon its own weight. “Whoa!” I jumped out of the way into the shade of another palm tree. When the dust settled, the once beautiful tree was now a pile of wood chips and sawdust.

“Damn. Erebus wasn’t kidding when he said that it would get mummified. I’m going have to conserve my energy if I want to stay alive. Plus I’m going to have to keep these hunger pangs under control when I find other people. It’d probably be bad if I made contact with civilization only to have to eat someone on the spot.” I looked around for a moment, “Can’t stay here for long. I have to keep exploring. Now Erebus said that I can hover in this form and he hasn’t proven wrong so far, so I guess it’s time to test it out.” I gather myself together and I leaped forward into the air like a snake.

When I saw that I didn’t immediately fall to the ground, I also noticed that the rest of my body trailed behind me like a smoke cloud. It was almost like I was swimming through the air. Hell, I was swimming through the air! I flew past trees as fast as I could, leaving a black contrail behind me. I weaved in between the trees, bobbed up and down around branches, and did barrel rolls a few times.

“WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!” Stray branches passed through my body, but I barely felt them. All I wanted to feel at the moment was the adrenaline rush. On impulse, I pulled up hard and flew up as high as I could, about 30-40 feet, before careening back to the ground. I met the ground with my face but I couldn’t feel the impact, just the feeling of a solid barrier, kinda like a gas. Oh wait…

I laid there and glanced at my health bar. “Fuck! Well so much for energy saving.” My health bar had dropped to the levels I had when I started out. 'I have to be more careful or else I'm going to die quickly. Maybe if I could complete some achievements and try to extend my energy endurance? Okay, new list!'

1. Level up/increase endurance

2. Find Civilization and try to make friends

3. Find monsters or info about monsters

4. Get weapon

5. Get off island

6. ???

7. Profit

Content with my new list of priorities, I began to make my way to a place I could make a shelter when I heard some movement nearby. I moved toward the sound as stealthily as I could. I sneaked past some bushes to come face to face with an animal. It was a zebra that wore gold rings like the African tribes and had a crew cut Mohawk on its head. I noticed it had a mark on its ass (flank?) that looked like a pair of tribal drums. We stared at each other in bewilderment for about a minute. I decided to break the silence first and opened my mouth, “Sup.”

I noticed the Zebra’s eyes bulge a bit and he began to run away screaming.

Comments

[Troutking]

Ah hello have you seen the new rules?
If so who did you check the story with?
if not please check them out and check your story with one of our regulators.
Ciao!

[TheEnemyCube]

Hmmm. Me like... Me like how he was convinced it was a game...

[musicman722]

962640 Rules? I just published this last night. i didn't know about any new rules. imma go check it out.

[musicman722]

.962640 okay just read the new rules.... umm so how do i do this? do i send it in a message or what?

[Troutking]

963635
All you do is pm one of the regulators to look over your fic to see if it passes our quality check and is not to far from canon.
But you have to ask them....
Like a certain trout themed regulator who already read your fic *cough* me *cough*

Your sexy friend,
Troutking

[AppleTank]

Hmm. The pause menu doesn't really 'pause', does it? It just summons a menu. That also makes me wonder if I would like a reticule in front of me all the time. When will he meet the pieces? This guy is the only guy who can summon "menus" right? That would be so meta.
Or not, I'm not really sure if the word meta would work here. It would just be weird, at least.

[musicman722]

978054 actually i'm reworking some details of the story. i wrote this when i was sleep deprived and eating candy to stay awake. so the chapters will change a bit and i will release them with the new one as soon as i can

[PieisGood4U]

CH 1
game i was playing at the moment----- I
so i continued--- I
controls i have---- I

There are a couple more of them to find through both chapters.

My brain is still in a existential debate so I can't answer anything productive other than before mentioned tip.

[musicman722]

985969 actually, i just re-vamped the first ch. will have it uploaded soon. then gotta look over ch2 and then finish ch3.

[Reaper1543]

Good story and i have to ask that when does this take place in the timeline?
Also, what would happen if youe char meets another chess piece.
Would he try to convince them that this is a game? Or will he believe the other pieces?
Hmm, hmm, mysteries of life.
Anyway, good story.

[musicman722]

987839 in order: not sure but around the GGG. gonna try to get as many chapters out so i can meet other characters.

well, shit will go down across different CGotG universes (i.e. one universe i make friends, in another i make enemies) btw, as a gamer, my character has a bit of a mercenary mentality. (this will not end well for anyone)

it would go a bit like that while the other chess pieces convince him its real. he will probably deny it on account that its a virtual reality game. not sure what would happen if he believed them.

[nightmaster0]

This is pretty good.

[musicman722]

996155 thanks. i'm working on the thrird chapter right now. gonna try to get it out tomorrow if possible.

[Sandman]

Oh dear lord, this shall be GLORIOUS.
Consider this Watch'd by someone who plays like this:
i.imgur.com/WGyvd.jpg
i.imgur.com/I9PjP.jpg

[MiiaTheLamia]

Late post is late:

Why do I think of this guy (minus the blades):

dotgamerclan.com/announcementsblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Nocturne_Splash_0.jpg

When I see your description?

[burning-ruin-666]

i really like this, and the pause menu damn creative XD

[Husster72]

Just started reading this I LOVE IT!!!

[Ghostdad7]

1167241
That looks badass

[Pupsrus13]

1561936 His name is Nocturne, from League of Legends.

[Paladin Redflare]

Lolololol that last part made meh laugh, ima enjoy this.

[Bubbabob]

Why does every Chess Piece rip-off Echo's list?

[Shadow-Dancer]

i want a game like this it would be awsome

[RealityCheck]

Now comes the question: when and how does he realize he's not just in a game??

[My Life of Discord]

2419254 What exactly do you mean? Are you talking about what is in the list like the 'Find civilization', or are you talking about the '???-Profit' part?