1 The Hidden Sleipnir Prison Tower

Amelia stood atop the eastern tower of Sleipnir, one of the five magical academies as yet discovered in the Northern and Southern Continents. She gazed out across the lush forest below, a residency consisting of mostly weak monsters and animals ranging from the more commonly known one-horned-hare to the rarespawn king slime. Monsters of this level posed no threat to the wizard, her level and gear far out-classed what most Transients would consider the appropriate level and gear for the surrounding area below.

She had played the game Awakened Aspirations, or AA, for over a year now and was wearing casual blue robes with a Chronicler book that hung loosely from a well-loved leather strap across her hip, both of which boosted her intellect, wisdom, and stamina to certain small degrees. Even in her rather simplistic garb that wasn't flashy in the least, she far outshone her companion who wore the simple grey robes that Master Residents specializing in magic wore.

Grandmaster Instructor Helena was technically her superior, but as a Resident would never reach the pinnacles to which a Transient like Amelia could aspire. As a Transient Amelia would level up and gain experience and items whereas the game generated Resident, Helena, would likely always be the same. Still, Amelia thought that even Residents had their own nobility. They were incredibly complex constructs designed to simulate real people after all. Many of them would fool the many tests available that were designed to discover digital personas, at least on an entry level.

Amelia had been summoned here by her part-time job master for a special timed event. The quest had been unspecific except for the narrow time window in which it would be available, and she had hurried home from her night classes at the University of Illinois and donned her Neura Dive gear, eagerly awaiting the prompt that would begin the night.

"You know that there were worlds before this one?" The older woman finally asked, turning her solemn gray gaze toward Amelia. "I tell you this because you have become quite dear to me, and I fear what the future may hold for you. Teaching here was a request made to you months ago but no one expected you to stay on as long as you have. The students love you, but most Transients would have left by now in the search of more romantic adventure."

Amelia had been working up her reputation and fame in the academy by teaching rudimentary classes and assisting the Residents in training new players in many of the tutorial courses offered for free by Sleipnir, a famous magical academy in the Brack Kingdom. Truthfully it had been because she enjoyed the work and meeting people who were new to the game, but in large part, it had simply been because some of the scripted dialogs of the Residents had intrigued her after she had been here for more than a month. As her trust and fame went up, some of the Residents would begin whispering as she passed. The status screen would only give her pieces of those conversations.

"...think...the one?"

"...just a legend."

"No way! Instru... would never...."

"...talk about the ...il...White..."

Amelia had taken the time and the free beginner resources provided to her to level up her alchemy and chronicling, professions that garnered no immediate benefit to adventurer Transients but were interesting in their capacity for growth. In AA skills were advanced through virtual action; which is to say if you wanted to make something in the game you went and found, were given, or bought ingredients and you formed items through trial and error based experimentation much as you did in the real world. Except in this world, you were granted bonuses to your skills through continued experimentation that aided you in the future creation of recipes you had unlocked through your own power. The servers were really something else, she reflected. Still, it surprised her that she had tired of alchemy not long into the game. Most of the components and tools used for it sat listlessly in her inventory.

"Amelia?" Helena prompted, causing Amelia to come away from her thoughts and smile at the older woman.

"Sorry Helena, I was listening, just thinking. You wanted to tell me about the world before this one?" Amelia tried to look attentive as the quest dialog started. Amelia inwardly chided herself for spacing out at a time like this. It would hurt her reputation if she just stared blankly or had to have Helena repeat her words.

"Worlds," Helena corrected. "Yes, though it is just a feeling I think I should tell you about the prison tower."

"Prison tower?" Amelia questioned, her brow arching. Was there such a zone in this keep? She supposed it wasn't a big deal to leave the academy if it was needful.

"Yes, though I can say no more until I have your word." Helena cautioned.

Not surprising Amelia at all at this juncture, the AAO world notification window used to explain quests or to read through history moments popped up in the corner of her vision explaining the nature of the request in a little more detail.

--------------------------------------

Quest -- Level 4

-Helena wishes to tell you the secret of the prison tower, but will not tell you until you have sworn to keep the secret. Once sworn she will show you to the prison tower and ask you to perform a task.

-Chain Quest - This quest will lead to a level 3 Quest.

-Completion: Helena will tell you her secret. You will gain Prison Tower key, use 1/1.

-Decline: Helena will never speak to you about it again, and your intimacy with Helena will be irreparably damaged.

-Failure: If, during the duration of the quest, you tell others of the secret, share the quest, or fail in the task you will be immediately expelled from Sleipnir, no other magical academies will give you quests, Helena will be devastated and will have nothing to do with you for the rest of this character campaign.

----------------------------------------

Amelia blinked uncertainly, eyeing the conditions of the quest she was about to receive. An L4 quest was technically a party quest level. Quests varied from 10 and up and it was around the Level 5 area or thereabouts that you needed to start looking for people your level to accompany you. Since this was a lower level area it would probably be fine, as Amelia had just herself reached level 32, but wasn't this a little sudden to be springing a rank 4 quest on her while she was alone? She also couldn't tell anyone so any party formation would never happen.

She bit her lip, eyeing the decline option. It was really a painful choice. She wanted to accept the quest, but the penalties for failure were extreme. She had heard of being expelled and banned from academies and towns before through failure in extremely important quests but those were Level 2 and Hidden Level 1 quests, quests thought to be the hardest and most complex in the game. They were often quests that couldn't be triggered again and were the hated spur of the moment kind, making planning useless. If she failed it would be a big deal. Having such penalties enforced might even have repercussions in the Southern Continent.

"I... gratefully accept and promise that whatever you tell me I will take to my grave." As if Amelia had a choice! Despite the headache she felt forming, the old woman seemed satisfied and smiled handing her a black lacquered key.

"Let us go to the room then. Find a door and use the key. Lock the door, and then unlock it and we shall be on our way." Helena said.

Amelia had a sudden premonition that this wasn't going to be the magical night she had envisioned. A teleportation key that could be used on ANY door... She forced a smile. "Yes, that's a good idea. Can you tell me as we go then?"

"When we are through the door," Helena insisted.

Amelia looked at the old woman and noted that her attempt to be sly had been thwarted. Amelia could have led her to different doors where the chance of being overheard by other Transients was possible. If Helena had been the one to explain the secret and it was overheard Amelia had thought for a moment she might have gotten out of this suddenly painful L4 quest. Instead, that particular hope dashed, she simply walked to the edge of the tower that lead to the stairwell and closed the open door. She reached for the lock with the key... and... was there really a lock on this door before? She began frowning as she locked the door and unlocked it. She opened it full of dread and trepidation and was a little shocked when it swung open easily. Nothing jumped out at her and no tense atmosphere unfolded or anything else that might have otherwise indicated a battle sequence ahead.

Helena walked passed her into a tower that Amelia had never seen before populated by three statues and a number of bookshelves and drawing tables. Amelia carried after her, curiosity beginning to overwhelm her dread. She looked out the window and was surprised to find that the night sky that greeted her was the same one that she had been admiring earlier. She was looking out over the other four towers of Sleipnir, which could only mean that this was a hidden or invisible FIFTH tower. That... was a little impossible right? Did she just stumble on something freaking awesome?

She started to get excited because it was moments like these that made the game great. Places that opened up and were revealed that no Transient had ever seen before. Even the developers of the game sometimes had no foreknowledge of the content that the huge core of AA would generate. They worked on character designs, skills, graphics, and a variety of other visual and statistical information but ultimately the permanent world was generated by the core. Meaning that when a Transient was the first person to see a new area it was almost like planting a flag and declaring this land was for Spain, or wherever pleases you.

"Wow, I'm so happy to be alive," Amelia muttered, trying to squash her excitement and failing.

"Now then..." Helena began, reminding Amelia that there was a task involved. "Come here and I will tell you about the Devil in White."

"Devil..?" Amelia turned around, moving toward the three statues that Helena was standing in front of and taking a good look at them for the first time.