3 To find oneself, an adventure unto itself.

Kano smiled as he saw the changes in his knowledge reflected upon his sheet. He could feel the spell bubbling at the back if his mind, like some insane babbling brook made up of madmen. A memory flashed from years ago, of the lore of this world written out on loading screens. Chelandrian lore was always hidden in the background of every screen, if you were bothered to look. With as many hours that Kano had spent at those screens, he just have read each one hundreds of times.

'Be warned, young wizard. For nothing stops you from learning spells so quickly, each one has a power and intent of it's own. Too many, too quickly, and you will lose yourself to them.'

He had always wondered what that meant before, thinking it was some arbitrary way to excuse the game not allowing players to become too powerful too quickly. But now, with that noise in his head, he realised that if there were more of them before he could control it properly, he would go insane.

Kano shuddered as he thought of the monster that mad casters could become. Many had lost themselves to greed and became Wightmages. At one time he had misheard and thought some other players were talking about White Mages and believed it to be a subclass of an Arcane caster that could heal.

He found out on his own that this was definitely not the case. He had found a lone wizard on a hilltop, muttering to himself. Thinking this NPC would have a quest for him, he approached. Only to have the terrifying visage of power gone berserk turn against him violently. He shuddered as he realised the possibility of meeting one for real was a terrifying possibility.

Kano shook his head and cleared his thoughts. He needed to become stronger to survive this world.

"Bonesy, what did you mean, 'chose' me?"

The skeleton almost looked like he was smiling. "What do you remember about the lore of Chelandria? It's the year 3437 of the Cherished Empire."

3437. Cherished Empire. The Faith Crusade. Kano suddenly knew when he was in the timeline. The land had been under the rule of the Churches and Temples of the 'Good' gods since the Overlord Kelvin of Blackmire had been defeated at the Font of Magic. Their reign had been one of peace and prosperity unbroken until roughly 200 years ago.

The gods had discovered that one of their own had broken the Accords of Order. It was these accords that kept them from acting personally. Only an avatar or servant could perform any functions outside of their own personal Plane. None of the gods wanted to be known as the one that broke the Accords, thus began the Faith Wars. The Good gods began to overlook the actions of their chosen and servants. Only Revia, Goddess of the Hearth and Family held her churches firmly to her strictures. She had even struck an unlikely alliance with Svarem, the Nightmare God, for even he knew that a semblance of balance must be kept. Otherwise their would be no more fear if their was no hope to cling to.

All the other gods waged shadow wars across the planes and even their churches and temples began to find reasons to invade other countries to promote their own faith. It was a great time of upheaval and even at the time Kano was playing, it was not revealed which god had started it all or why.

"Shouldn't be too bad, I'll just bumrush every instance till I get strong enough. A few reloads and I'll be the most powerful there is."

Bonesy giggled at Kano's boast. "Kid, this world is real. You die, and that's it. Barring a resurrection from a powerful friend that is. And as if right now, all you have is me. Bye bye! No pass go! No more widdle Kano-kun. Just soul meat for underworld spirits. This world may have been just a game in your world, but it's actually a window to another one. All forms of media are. Books and tales and shows of all kinds. If it exists, it has been done and it is real somewhere. Now, you might want to get started. Every village has a small graveyard."

If Kano was shook about the universal truth he was given, he did not let on. Actually, he was still dealing with the knowledge that he could die here. 'Like, for realsies dead. No respawning, no reloading. Finished. Game over...'

"Game over."

It was those words that Kano repeated over and over in his mind. This was no game. He could not just sit back and play. He had to be serious and careful, or he was finished for good.

"Alright, well at least I have an advantage. Bonesy let's go."

And Kano looked once more about the room for an exit, but found none.

"Also how do we leave?"

"Sorry, master necromancer. You must leave. I can't journey wicha, but you'll find me again from time to time." And without another word, Bonesy stepped back to the wall where he stood for untold years and soon it looked as if he had never been more than a base relief all along.

Confusion spread across Kano's features. "You called me Maste-.. oh. You meant it like an old timey butler type master. As in a master of your trade, or simply an honorific type title. Crapola! Now I have to do this by myself? How do I get out of here? Where do I go? What do I do first?!"

Only silence answered him. He struck the wall where Bonesy stood, but it was stone and his hand started to swell a bit while pain shot through his whole arm. He swung his body about for a bit in a vain attempt to lessen the pain. He yelled and growled in a growing rage as the world became increasingly unfair to him.

The minutes slowly passed by as this young man finally calmed himself enough to think straight. He knew his temper would get the best of him at times, but right now it did no good and he was realizing that. A quick exhale and he forced himself to think about his predicament.