9 Chapter 9: Tutorial

Everyone was thinking in silence. Jaeger too was now deep in thought taking in all of what he was told, his calm mind was still there but the fervent thoughts of danger and yet adventures were pounding away at his calmness.

While everyone was thinking, Malcom had moved over to the window and was gazing out into the thick fog.

*Whoosh*

'Eh?'

*Whoosh*

'What the living hell is that' Malcom pressed his face to the window and cupped his hands over his eyes to try to get a better look. Shadows were dancing by in the fog, they weren't quick but were deep enough in the fog to look like faint blurs.

"Guy's…" Malcolm tried to whisper.

Over near a table Jack was tapping on a table while Solomon and Jaeger began to talk.

"There might be something wrong with the fog too…it could be enchanted, magic like that exists…powers like that exist…but I feel we are gauging this fog through the lenses of those two. This fog is of a higher realm then anything we could know…we should travel by the sewers"

Jaeger shook his head, "As much as I like that idea…and it is indeed safer…we will find out more above ground, if we don't combat what is in the fog and merely tread past it…why would they allow it to be that easy?"

Solomon nodded, "You're right…if we don't find out how to take a punch we will always go around our problems…but since this is the first time, I just believe it be easier to try it just this once until we get to the safe zones…"

"You heard what the Imp said though….magical items, artifacts…they all exist here for the taking, I can only assume that the safe zones or sanctuary that has the temples he spoke of….they probably give items, the powers he talked about….but I believe that what is found in danger will be far greater."

"You know…we played dragons and dungeons as well in the arena….you don't have to sound so proud, I know when to take risks for items."

"Oh pfsh…Still, we have to confidently come to a consensus. I am just stating my thoughts…"

"Guys…" Malcom whispered a little louder.

"Well I guess…"

"Guys gods damnit listen! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET YOUR FUCKED ATTENTION" Malcom shouted out to them, everyone raised their brows and looked over to him.

"YEESH" he turned back around and pointed out the window.

"Huh?" Everyone got up and stacked their heads in front of the window. They peered out the grey fog as shadows were dancing by.

"It has increased…while you all were talking" Malcom stepped back a bit from the window like it was a hot oven.

"What are they?" Ana asked trying to focus her eyes out the glass.

Solomon and Jaeger looked at each other and sighed, "We will have to go find out"

Everyone looked at the two with hesitance, but it soon vanished as that feeling could get you killed if you weren't confident in your approach to danger.

Jack opened the door with the blade in his other hand. The fog angrily rolled in as if it had waited too long for it be let in. They didn't all tie ropes to each other as before, only tying one between Ana, Alexandra, and Malcom. It would allow Jaeger, Solomon and Jack to freely fight while Malcom would be able to spot Jack or Solomon with his eyes.

The blurred shadows had disappeared, in their place were shambling undead creatures.

"Wait…some of these people were the ones who recently disappeared…" jaeger racked his brain as he tried to remember some of the faces he was told about, and the style of clothing displayed some of these people were from the northern section of the city.

"It means…if you don't survive the tutorial…you become undead, or rather if you are too weak something turns you…" Solomon whispered.

As they were walking, and staying away from the shambling people a loud bang sounded out in the fog. Everyone swiveled on their feet to see a man running as fast as he could.

"Fuck…" If they ran to get away and hide, they would be spotted much easier. However, if they didn't move and allowed this glowing firefly of a man to run towards them they would get caught up regardless.

*Bwing* A small sound like a cord being struck sounded out. The man gave a blank expression before dropping just 5 meters from them. A large crowd of undead was following him and advanced at rapid pace before ripping his body apart down to the bone.

Jack looked at Malcom who slowly hid away his hidden crossbow. He patted his shoulder and nodded, "It was the right thing to do…"

Solomon and Jaeger waved them forward down an alley to continue their trek.

Jaeger was the main lead, as he knew the city, as large as it was, like the back of his hand. Especially the north and western sections. He had travelled these streets all his life; even if his eyes were blind his feet could still point him in the right direction.

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Soon they came by several shops, but stopped as a faint glimmer came from the right.

"Huh?"

It was a portal. It was as if the wall that made up the one touching the street into the shop had been cut away with a scalpel. At the back of the shop was a glowing swirling portal!

Several figures were crouched next to it coughing, one looked unconscious. Solomon looked to Ana who nodded, "We might as well find out…if they are bad we can kill them, but if they know of the portal we can ask." Jaeger was the first to walk forward drawing his pistol from his waist.

A man looked over and pushed a woman behind his back before looking around and pointing a broken board at Jaeger, "Stay back…" he was whispering regardless of whether or not he felt danger, "I might die…but I can still take one of you with me"

Jaeger shook his head, "We just entered the fog…we just found out this is all some devious game built by the gods…I only have some questions, we can heal your friends as compensation. Only if you tell us some things afterwards…" The man noted that Jaeger wasn't giving off one of those evil auras like the back stabbing players and gently sat the board down.

"Please…she is my wife…save her and my friend…did you see our other friend on your way here? When a bunch of undead saw us emerge and smelled the blood…my friend glanced at us and then ran off drawing their attention as he clattered about…" The man knew his friend was either dead or dying. Nobody in the fog would willingly make themselves a target.

Except for him.

"Yeah….yeah we saw him…we tried to save him but couldn't make it, so we did what we did to make it easier for him. Knowing that now…he was a good man indeed." Malcom said silently, the man nodded to this with a sadness in his eyes and yet a determined look. Ana came over and looked over his wife and friend, "I can save them".

Her ability wasn't godly, she had what you could say a certain amount of healing she could do a day before she was drained out. If she was fully rested and ready, she could grow a man's arm back and yet afterwards wouldn't be able to do anything the rest of the day. If it were superficial wounds, she could heal those almost endlessly. Luckily, the friend was unconscious with at worse a concussion and his wife had merely gashes across her arm and right leg.

Ana began to heal, as jack and Malcom peered out the door with Alexandra to guard against undead. Solomon and Jaeger bunched together next to the man and lit up a smoke together.

"What is the portal…and how far is the closest 'sanctuary', do things come into the sanctuary?" Solomon was the first to ask several questions. The man didn't seem to smoke at first, but the more he pushed past the coughing the calmer he felt.

"The sanctuaries are safe…but they aren't massive. Merely a block, or a mile radius at most. There are ten of them discluding the 'hidden' spaces everyone keeps hearing about from the information Imp…if you want to go from one place to another to reach a different god to vow to or a different area for certain supplies or items… you have to travel through the fog…which isn't normal. People like you know the distance from one place to another, and yet when you travel it is far longer than it appears. As if the space is warped… could take a month to travel just 10 miles…"

He took a deep breathe in, suppressing the coughing. He looked over to see his wife with a content feeling before she drifted off to sleep now that the pain wasn't racking her. His friend woke up too, and he passed the smoke over to him.

The man sighed, and layed down on the ground as he smoked.

"He actually smokes…but I like these though."

Jaeger smiled to the man's words, "Same…same…"

"However, if you start to know the 'paths' between places that space that seems endless it can become shorter. Sometimes taking only 2 lefts and a right can bring you a mile away…there are maps in the sanctuary that can be displayed from these watches they have where you can mark those paths…or buy them from others who have travelled them…the closest place is down this street…take a right into the alley…walk through the building at the end, and then take another right and then a left…it'll be right there."

Solomon noted all of these things, "The portal?"

"These? They are all over the place…the sewers…in the scrapers…here…supposedly there are thousands of them. Every once in a while a large one appears in the sanctuaries called an event…but that won't matter for now…the gods in the temples also create some to test you when you join. Nothing deadly though…"

Jaeger looked at Solomon, his eyes said 'One of many?' which caused Solomon to nod with a downcast gaze.

"What is the point of these portals here then" Solomon pointed to the one not far away.

"Walk over to it, you will see information float from it and you can see what can be acquired there. It will never tell you what is on the other side, just the reward for completing it. Some are a fairy land, and some are death reincarnate. Be careful what you choose…the time inside isn't the same outside."

Solomon got up and walked over to the portal, a strange scene occurred in front of his eyes as a string of words floated towards him and spread out.

"Silent step boon: By completing this portal area you can gain the boon 'Silent step' that can mask your sounds as you travel. Running, jumping, skidding, it will all become silent. Beware, the sound you make away from your body will not be silenced.

Difficulty: L"

Jaeger was reading over his shoulder and looked back at the man, "L?"

"There are ratings that go from A to H. 14 in total…these ratings apply to the skill or boon you can acquire with of course the higher the rating the higher the power of the skill. The difficulty rating always applies to the level of skill…so the skill you would get would be considered third to last amongst the skills you can get. However some skills even though they say they are weak…can be powerful too. Think about someone who is silent and deadly, and uses assassin skills getting this? Compared to a tank type person, it would extraordinary."

Jaeger chuckled, "You an assassin?"

"Yeah…I am." The man said this non chalantly as he reached over for his wife's hand.

"Really?" Solomon looked the man up and down.

"Don't let my looks fool you…even wounded, like I said I could take one of you out with me…there are classes you can choose from the god that is in that sanctuary. For me it is the assassin mage, and a lot of my spells and abilities are related around conjuring silent weapons. Doesn't mean I am one of those ninja's hahaha…it's just the class style."

"What is the name of this god?" Jaeger asked as everyone gathered around.

"He is one of the ten Prime gods…his name is Enigma and he is the god of Magic. You are lucky to have come to this one first trust me…the other greatest god in people's eyes is the one called Spectre, who grants powers. Enigma can manipulate Fire, water, air, earth, lightning, metal, nature, space, time, theory, it doesn't matter…if it is magic, he can do it. He can also grant those with magical affinities upgrades, manipulations, changes, boons…sucks this city ain't got a lot of mages, so the sanctuary isn't packed with people. However, there were a bunch in the underground hidden from the power users up there in the scrapes…they're slowly coming out of the woodworks, like…myself."

Jack looked over as he overheard, even Malcom did. God of magic?

"These abilities, boons, skills…are they related to powers or magic?"

"Both…"

"What?" Everyone eyed him strangely, except Jaeger's eyes widened.

Jaeger spoke to the man more seriously, "What do you mean"

"They aren't a power, and yet some are…some need magic to work…some don't…it depends on which one, but sometimes it just 'Is'…like this boon of silence, it is just there, no off button. It makes less sense than other things…"

Jaeger understood, was the magical power he got from that old man Isaiah Crowell something of a version of a high tier ability or skill? He did say it needed a transmuter type with a power related to such a type as well. It was specific at the time, and seemed vague, but with what this man said maybe to get the highest tier skills you would need to fit very specific designs for it to work.

Jaeger had never met another person with the ability to pull in elements and become one with them, or a spirit like his that could do the same. Thus, to fit the design or find someone with it would be beyond difficult.

Was the old mans story a lie? Or was he a player from the last game? Or someone who was a player from the game, pass down the theory of the skill? Malcom said he saw magical energy around me, so was this magic...or both.

It fit far too well with what the man said. The old man had to be related to all this.

Malcom couldn't help but ask, "Whats on the other side of the portal?"

The man took the smoke from his friend and gave it a deep gulp with air, "When we went in…we found out there was a time limit to be there, 2 months…we thought alright? Then, it said the reason for this was because we had to survive inside for two months…we said, alright? Survive what? Information didn't come after that. We found out later this…this…horrid creature…lurks there. We came with a group, you could say a piece of a faction from the nearby sanctuary. When we learned this was here of course some would come to get it, and the limit of people to go in was 20 which was surprising…sometimes a portal only lets one person in, others 100. Anyway, we thought we had the numbers but…that thing isn't the same as a monster, it stalked us like a ghost…slowly picking us off if we took a shit or looked around without someone.

It wasn't what we thought it would be…the key to survive, was to find the reward WITHIN, to gain silent steps to SURVIVE the creature…but we couldn't find it…It was a building in the woods….like a mansion, real high end looking…with an endless forest surrounding it. During the day the creature wouldn't come, the trees would be vibrant and the scenery beautiful….we never heard wild life though. We found out why later when the trees withered outside the windows and fog pervaded the surroundings…we had to keep a generator in the basement going, but it wouldn't always stay on…not a lot of us had knowledge about mortal technology….wish we had, the light kept the thing at bay…"

"Limit of people…do some portals obviously unknown to the people going in first…require people of certain skills sometimes?" Jaeger had a thought in mind.

"Yes…we never thought we would've need that though…the funny thing is too…we couldn't use magic when we were in there…some places do that too…take away powers, or magic…or both. Some places have some real horrors I hear too….wars…killers…curses…undead…lost cities…ruins…portals are like other worlds and yet other hells…the fog doesn't seem so bad when you have been through such places…the only thing bad in the fog is that…"

The man looked behind his shoulder and around the room before as silently as possible whispering, "That ghost of the fog…nobody seems to be able to kill it…it haunts you until you arrive back at the sanctuary and if you become lost and you're out there for a month…you're dead…"

The imp had mentioned that 'spirit' too, "What is it?"

"Some say…it has a grudge against those that go through the fog…some say it is also what makes the undead as well that walk the streets…the fact you see so many undead proves it's a deadly creature…it is when you see it…that you are cursed, if it comes…look down and do not look up. It won't attack you if you don't look at it…but don't stop moving either…if you stop…then it will get you…like…like it smells your fear" The man turned away from the group who had a cold chill come up their spines.

"Fuck" Jack said under his breathe.