1 Chapter One. Sandbox

FOR MY BIRTHDAY, my parents got me an Infinitum 8. Not a very expensive model of immersion pod, but one of the best in its class. It was the present I wanted most for my fourteenth birthday because that is the age you can finally start playing the coolest and most popular game on the planet – Disgardium.

As soon as the birthday party was over and the guests had left, dad smiled:

"Can't wait to test it out?"

I nodded. How could I!? An immersion pod is not some steam-powered VR-helmet with sensor gloves!

"Go on then, Alex," mom said and laughed, embracing dad.

"Don't go in too long your first time!" he shouted after me. "Alex?"

"Yes, dad!" I answered, almost running to my room where the new pod awaited me. Just think, it was already installed, calibrated and ready to use! I hurriedly got undressed and went inside. It was vertical, but could change orientation to better reflect the virtual world. Gravity is a heartless little bitch and it's difficult to convince someone that they're standing when their real body is horizontal.

I grabbed the metal handles and waited. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Was this thing defective? I was about to run down and call the manufacturer when a stern voice rang out in the pod:

"Alex, your heartbeat is too rapid for your first immersion experience! Access denied."

"Oh come on!" I shouted.

"Apologies for the inconvenience, but characters can only be generated in baseline physical state..." the voice muttered, probably quoting the user's manual. Then it followed up with some helpful advice: "Alex, please do your best to calm down and try again. Thank you."

With a sigh, I climbed out of the pod and walked out onto the little balcony off my room. There were all kinds of silvery delivery drones flitting about on the backdrop of the starry sky, landing and taking off from the windows of our huge residential complex.

Higher up, a procession of public flying cars darkened the sky. As of today, I was legally allowed to pilot them without computer control. I couldn't wait to try it out. Of course, I would have to pass the license test first, but I had no doubts about that.

A cloud of condensation burst out of my mouth. The cold damp wind made me shiver even though, earlier today, it was pretty clearly turning to spring.

A few minutes later, I was calm and back in the pod. This time I saw no warnings, and the immersion process was able to initiate.

Intragel flooded the pod, going over my head, but it was perfectly alright to breathe. Finally, I closed my eyes.

And when I opened them again, I was in outer space. The sensation of weightlessness took my breath away, and I could barely resist waving my arms and legs. Not that there was much reason to: the pod assumed control over my muscles, keeping them static while the intragel kept my body suspended and out of harm's way. That way, if something went wrong and it lost control of my body, the gel would protect me from injury.

Good evening, Alex!

Please select your preferred immersion environment.

The text was immediately read out by a breathy female voice. In terms of environments, there wasn't much choice. I had the moon-sized test world Infinitum, made to demonstrate the pod's capabilities, or the huge Disgardium, which came factory-preinstalled on all pods.

And that was what I chose. Some system logs ran before my eyes:

Biological age confirmed.

Access to Disgardium permitted.

Notifying Department of Education... Complete... Status confirmed.

Initiating first immersion experience!

Scanning body... Complete... Character appearance generated.

Approved world type: Sandbox.

Recommended location: Tristad.

Unfortunately, I would be relegated to a sandbox until I reached sixteen. They were private locations where only underage players were allowed. Adults from the full version were not permitted, and all content was strictly age-appropriate...

All around me, I saw a flurry of majestic cities and abandoned villages; epic battles and ghastly monsters; the six not yet entirely explored continents; heavenly gardens and fiery wastelands; a billion active players and just as many non-player characters, which was to say nothing of noncitizen workers; seaside resorts and city blocks, teeming with forbidden pleasures...

Welcome to Disgardium, Alex!

Welcome to a world where dozens of nonhuman races live in harmony. A world where sword and magic reign! A world where anyone could one day become a king or hero! A world where you'll want to live! A world where fate...

I didn't even think of interrupting the intro, savoring the massive scale and brilliant colors of this world that was so recently off limits. I had been dreaming of this moment for far too long.

The primer on Disgardium came to an end. I was immersed in darkness for an instant and suddenly found myself in a room full of people.

It was a few boys and girls. We were all wearing identical canvas garb and looking around in surprise. I was just overcome and couldn't hide my glee. It was all so real! The wooden floor creaked underfoot, rafters peeked out from behind the high ceiling, and light from the windows jumped along the walls, playing off our shadows. I could smell a sappy tree, dust whirled in the rays of the sun. The canvas shirt fit loosely over my body and when I touched it I could feel my ribs through the fabric. Unbelievable!

"Woah!" shrieked a girl with long black hair. "Who pinched me?"

Everyone laughed. The girl sneezed, and that caused a new burst of laughter.

"Happy birthday, all!" I shouted.

"Happy birthday!" rang out discordantly through the laughter.

All of us had just reached our fourteenth year, that was obvious. Who in their right mind would put off their first taste of Disgardium?

"Hey, wait a minute! Shouldn't we be seeing our names?"

"We haven't even generated characters yet, dummy!"

In our feverish anticipation, we didn't notice at first but the door had opened.

"Welcome, new visitors of Tristad!" came a sonorous male voice.

We turned. In the doorway, hiding a smile in his whiskers, there stood a respectable man with graying locks. Over him hovered the words:

Peter Whiteacre, level 30

Chief Councilman of the city of Tristad.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you to the free city of Tristad, where everyone has a place be they hero or warrior, bard or wise man, hunter or mage, druid or common quarry worker..." the councilman listed a few more series of classes and professions. Then he ran down the list of races inhabiting the Commonwealth: "And we are equally glad to see people, elves, and gnomes..."

For my part, I was quite engaged. Studying information online was one thing, but finally becoming part of all this was another. The councilman then gave us a brief overview of the state of the world: all races of the Commonwealth were at war with hordes of orcs and barbaric nonhuman tribes. They also repelled raids from the Nether and the senseless attacks of the Reavers, and resisted the dark brotherhoods, the Sleeping Gods, the Goblin League...

Lots of things happened in this world, and it was possible that some of us would remain in the Commonwealth after transitioning to the adult world. Others would certainly take the chance and change their character to a different faction, though.

"I can see that you're all tired from the long journey," Whiteacre said finally. "Now please complete your registration with Carlson the scribe, then I'll answer any questions you may have. If you have no questions, go out and see the city, meet its inhabitants and bring it good fortune..."

We started heading toward the registration desk. There was a plump rosy-cheeked scribe sitting there. I took up the back of the line.

"Complete these arrival forms," said Carlson, handing them out.

That paper, once in hand, unfolded into a character registration form.

In a sandbox, you could only play a person, so it wasn't clear why Whiteacre had listed all the races of the Commonwealth. And we could only choose a class at level ten, so now we could only fill in our name and allocate attribute points.

There was a name I was planning to use for a long time, ever since my dad read me tales from ancient history as bedtime stories.

Name: Scyth.

Confirmed.

I might have said it had no meaning, but that wasn't true. I hope I can live up to the name.

Scyth! You have 15 main attribute points.

In many ways, your attributes will determine your entire life in Disgardium from your combat strategy to the way others perceive you!

Take your time and think carefully! Your attributes cannot be reset!

In school I heard that, no matter what class you choose, you need a ten at least in every attribute. Strength so I could carry lots of weight. Agility and perception so I wouldn't miss my targets and land critical hits. Intelligence defined mana regeneration, and mana was used to make special attacks, even for warriors. And with low charisma, I could forget about good quests and discounts from vendors. Luck, meanwhile, had a small impact on just about everything.

So then, after some brief thought, I put two into each one. I added the extra point to endurance without really thinking, just because it was there.

Scyth, level-1 human

Real name: Alex Sheppard.

Real age: 14.

Class: not selected.

Main attributes:

Strength: 2.

Perception: 2.

Endurance: 3.

Charisma: 2.

Intelligence: 2.

Agility: 2.

Luck: 2.

All finished, I handed my arrival form to the scribe. He scanned it, snorted, gave a strained smile and, with exaggerated enthusiasm, announced:

"Welcome to Tristad, Scyth!"

When I emerged I stopped on the stairs, looking down the central street dreamily and smiling.

Disgardium, say hello your new hero!