I suddenly found myself under a starry night sky that dazzled with the full beauty of the cosmos, laying in a darkened field with high grass blanketing me from the cool breeze wafting through.
“This is definitely not my dorm room.”
“What just happened? I was gaming in my dorm and now I’m outside in the middle of nowhere.”
Normally, my mind would be racing searching for an explanation for what had just happened, however I, after the long day I just had, was more annoyed than curious at my current predicament.
“sigh Okay, let’s get my bearings.”
I get up off my back and take a better look at my surroundings. I find myself in an open grass field with tall trees encircling it on all sides, only opening up for the sandy crystal blue shores to my south. I look to the sky.
“Judging from the lack of light pollution, I’m likely quite far from civilization.”
I verbally assessed my current situation as I paced around the field, scanning the stars for any sort of information.
“Now that I’m looking closer at them, the stars don’t look right at all. I can’t make out any constellations, I can’t find Polaris, and where is the moon?!”
“Ugh. This is getting nowhere, maybe I can figure out where I am from higher up.”
And so, I set out towards the trees, I scanned the darkened treetops for a suitable vantage point until my eyes settle on a particularly large tree, it’s leaves seemingly giving off a faint dark blue glow in the distance.
“Is that real? Last time I checked, trees don’t glow blue. Well, only one way to find out.”
As I encroached the tree line, my growing sense of alienation towards my surrounding environment grew even more. The flora of the forest was far more exotic than anything I’d have ever seen; the flowers took on unusual shades and shapes with some possessing noticeable veins that flowed with a glowing multicolored energy. The trees bore leaves that came in a bizarre variety of colors from dark magenta to aquamarine with green being somewhat of a rarity, even the mushrooms that grew on their roots glowed with an incandescent baby blue which, thankfully, made navigating the darkened forest rather easy.
Guided by the mushrooms, I eventually found myself standing before a sizeable grove that swarmed with the fluorescent fungus.
In the center of the grove stood a massive tree that from upon first glance I could tell was ancient. It towered over all the other trees, its likeness resembling that of a weeping willow whose leaves glowed with the same blue of the night sky which was contrasted by the bright blue glow of the fluorescent fungus that swarmed its massive roots. I couldn’t even see the top of the ancient willow from where I was standing.
“That will work nicely. I’ll definitely get a great view from all the way up there. Hopefully I won’t cough up too many spores later.”
Gripping the withered bark, I was reminded it had been quite a while since I had climbed a tree, the last time I had was when I was trying to practice astrology, carrying my telescope and handmade astrolabe to the top of the tallest tree in the forest in order to get a better view of the night sky, much like I was doing now.
“Looks like I’ve still got it, onwards and upwards.”
As I climbed, my mind began to turn back to the events that brought me here to this dreamlike forest in the first place.
I remember that it happened after I had finally defeated the dragon Mulruun after months of preparations and attempts.
Thanks to the combined efforts of all of my companions I had finally completed Star Fantasy Online, my favorite childhood game, after 12 years of playing. I had every title, mastered every spell, completed every quest, and now had every contractable summon in my service. I had finally fulfilled my dreams of being a wizard, at least in the game anyway.
Which brought me to my meeting with “them”.
It was just another evening in my college dorm room, me in front of the computer unwinding from a long day classes with what would likely be my last session of Star Fantasy Online for a long time. I was paging through the list of my accomplishments and quest log until I noticed in the log a quest that I apparently hadn’t completed yet, let alone even heard of. The quest giver who had given this to me went by the alias “The Creator” and simply requested to meet with me at a specified location, one of the very first places I visited in the game, the flower field of Sundils Village.
However, when I had arrived there, what I encountered was unlike anything I had seen before.
Amidst the numerous chimeric blooms field hosted, stood a featureless humanoid figure that radiated a kaleidoscope of every single color at once yet they themself remained the dull gray associated with an untextured 3D model.
According to my quest log, they were the one who requested I come here so, I approached them. However, before I could even hit the interact key, they turned to me.
“Greetings young wizard. Be not afraid as I have come before you now to merely inquire with you about some questions I have.” The figure spoke.
“In the 12 years you have traversed this realm, you have achieved so much, and I am curious as to why. So, if you would allow me, I would like to know more about you, young wizard.”
The figure proceeded to ask various questions about my time and experiences in the game. I had assumed at the time that this was just merely a way for the developers to collect feedback from players until the figure asks me a question that caught me off guard.
“What is your dream? What do you desire in this life?”
“Why the hell do the developers want to know that? They don’t need to know about my dream, they’d just call it childish or delusional anyway…” I thought to myself. And because of that, I left the text box before me blank and proceeded.
“There is no need to feel embarrassed young wizard. We all have desires that we do not wish to share aloud. Rest assured, whatever you say here will be kept in the strictest of confidences.” The figure responded.
I figured that was just the developer’s way of saying “we are still obeying our privacy policy so please don’t sue us” which was somewhat reassuring to know yet not enough to make me fess up. I typed “I don’t have one” and proceeded.
“… that cannot be true. You have accomplished so much, and you say there was nothing that drove you to do all of it.”
The figure, despite the lack of a face, appeared to be deeply scrutinizing my response. They then spoke further.
“That aside, all living things hold within them desire. Be it the desire to eat, mate, or just survive. So, to say that you hold no desire within you at all is simply false. Now, I must insist you be truthful here.”
I was starting to become slightly annoyed by the game’s insistence. “My desire is that you just let finish this quest already, but if you want me to be truthful, then fine.” I thought to myself.
I reluctantly typed “I want to be a wizard.”
The figure, satisfied, then spoke “I see. Then you have accomplished exactly what you set out to do in this realm. However, based off your responses, that isn’t the case in your realm. Is it?”
“How many different responses did they program into this guy?!” I thought.
The figure wasn’t wrong though. I still wished that I could sling spells, uncover the mysteries of the creation, and traverse the starry skies like I can in the game; it’s just that I live in a world of science and technology where magic is nothing more than a superstition.
With a serious tone, the figure spoke “I have one last question for you. Would you like to live your dream?”
“Of course I would, I would give nearly anything to live my dream.” I spoke.
“Very well, I know of a place where you can fulfill your dream to its fullest extent. I will open a rift there now. May you live a wonderous life of purpose and happiness. Farewell Quinn Flinn.”
The figure then disappeared with a rift opening in his place. Curious, I approached the rift and a message popped up before me.
“You are about to leave your realm to another one and will be unlikely to return for some time. Are you certain you wish to procced?”
I didn’t think stepping through that rift was going to lead anything significant. However, looking at the beautiful landscape stretching out before me from so high up, it finally sets in that I am no longer on earth and in another realm entirely.
From atop my night tinted perch, I scanned the landscape to find any sort of trace of civilization. I looked back where I came from and saw the field I woke up in and the crystal lake, I also noticed a small wooden dock on the lake’s shore with a small shed built into it that had clearly caved in on itself.
I continued to survey the landscape to find any trace of civilization only to notice a strange characteristic of the landscape. The landscape seems to just seems to…end after some distance, no ocean, no horizon, nothing, just empty space. Even the crystal lake just seems to fall off about halfway. It begins to dawn on me just how out of my depth I am being in another world that definitely doesn’t seem to follow the same laws of physics that I’m familiar with.
I scanned further and spotted what appeared to be the wreckage of a crashed ship close by, except the wreckage lay on the trees and not the shore that was a quite distance away from it. It was obviously odd and it did confirm people at one point came here except I doubt the crew would still be living inside of it due to how exceptionally old and rotted the wood appeared to be all the way from my perch.
A sense of unease began to fill me as I nearly finished my survey until I saw it. A lone stone tower nestled among the trees. It reached up higher than most of the trees surrounding it and appeared dilapidated in some areas of its pointy blue roof yet stood tall like a grey beacon of hope. I knew instantly that tower would be my best chance of finding any sort of civilization and so I decided that’s where I’m going next.
As I made my way back down the massive willow, I couldn’t help but notice the many wooden nests that populated the tree as they were far larger than any bird’s nest I have ever seen, they were supported by multiple branches at once and made of sizable multicolored branches from other trees and stuffed with what seemed like fur; they looked as if a large dog could comfily sleep in them. I thought to myself that the birds here must be rather large and carnivorous. I then decided to hasten my pace.
However, when I had finally gotten close to the ground, I heard the distinct sounds of howling and the flapping of numerous wings from above. When I looked up to see the source of the noise, I was meet with a choir of golden eyes, snarling teeth, and low-pitched growls.
And they all began to slowly converge down onto me.
(End of Chapter)
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