Chapter 1: Starting Off Wrong

It had been only a few hours since Isaac had started his adventure, and he was already lost. He hadn't even had the sense to buy a map from the starting town of Ramperia.

"Where's the road? What direction am I going? Where should I be headed?" These questions filled Isaac's head as he wandered around what seemed to be an endless plains. He could see strange bird-like creatures flying above, and heard a distant roar from some unseen beast.

Isaac began to wonder if he should just start over, as he had already wasted time, and he had no resources or means of gathering any food or water. He logged out of the game, which instantly transported his consciousness back into his real body. He removed the VR helmet and took a breathe of air. It tasted stale, and he laughed. "I've been breathing the simulated air of the game, and that seemed so much fresher than the air of the actual world!"

Isaac looked around his apartment, which was dark, and allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim light emanating from the only window in the room. "Next time, I'll have to leave a light on so it's not as disorienting when I get out" he thought as he rubbed his eyes. The clock on the wall read 12:30 A.M. "Time to get some rest and then I'll start over tomorrow."

It was at this point he noticed the flashing red light on the top of the VR helmet. "Figures, who knows how long the battery sat before I bought this game?" The game in question was called "Lore of the Myst".

Lore of the Myst had been out for about a year, created by SenseSmart Technologies. SenseSmart Technologies was the industry leader in Gaming Technology, and they had decided to branch out and try Virtual Gaming.

Needless to say, Lore of the Myst had become a huge hit! Even though it had been out only a year, there was a small group of players who had reached player level 100 already.

Isaac had been anxiously waiting for the release of the game since he had heard about it. When it finally came to the week of launch, he had waited in line at the local game store for nearly 43 hours to get his. What the advertisements didn't say was the cost beforehand. No one knew the price until the day of release. "$1500?! That's insane!" Isaac exclaimed. "I can't afford that price!" And so, with disappointment in his heart, he left the game store empty-handed.

Although the price tag seemed a bit high and there were many more people like Isaac who couldn't afford that price initially, it didn't seem to affect the overall sales of the game, as it completely sold out of its initial stock in the first month. Isaac could do nothing more than read gamer reviews online and watch a few gameplay videos from hard-core players who streamed their gaming online. His apartment cost him nearly all of the money he made at his job, with the rest going to necessities such as food, clothing and other essential items.

Isaac was determined to obtain a copy of the game unit, so every month for the last year, he had been saving the few dollars he had left from his paychecks, and even went as far as doing a couple of odd jobs for some friends and family to make up the difference. Finally, he had saved up enough money to purchase the game! It was his turn to start the adventure!

As he turned on the VR helmet, he heard a soft humming coming from somewhere within the device. With excitement and anticipation, he placed the helmet over his head. There was a ding, and he heard a voice in his ear. "Welcome adventurer, to Lore of The Myst. please keep your eyes open, as the retinal scan is about to begin." Although he couldn't see anything, Isaac wasn't concerned. He had read that this scan served two purposes. First, it ensured that no one could steal your account, as the retinal scan was used to verify ownership. Secondly, it had something to do with the mechanics of how they transported your consciousness into the virtual world, though no one knew for certain exactly how it was done.

There was a breif flash of light, followed by a red beam crossing his eyesight. Then the voice again: "Retinal Scan Complete. Please state your name". He spoke as clearly as he could: "Isaac Brewer". "Voice File saved for recognition. Please Wait". He felt an odd sensation, as if he was drifting off to sleep, and then he was standing in the middle of a giant stone platform, that looked like it had been there for centuries.

Isaac heard the voice again, but this time it sounded like it was echoing all around him. "This is the login platform for the game. Here, you can select whether to change your look, as well as create your character name." Isaac opted to keep his looks, although he changed the color of his eyes to a solid Blue with a sparkle, to show Mysticism when people looked at him. He also set his name to just 'Isaac', then saved his game.

He was instantly transported to just ouside a small village, with huts built out of mud and straw. "This is the town of Ramperia, adventurer. Your adventure starts here. Good Luck!"

Isaac took a few steps, and heard a magical melody play, with the words LORE OF THE MYST rolling across his screen in an old-style font. He felt so much excitement, and ran to the village. As he entered, he noticed the village people seemed rather sad, so he walked up to one of them.

"Hello, can you tell me why the villagers all seem so sad?" he asked an elderly lady. "We're saddened by the loss of our greatest treasure, the Horn of Jarem. Without it, our village is cursed to wither away and die within the week!" she replied, bursting into tears.

Isaac heard a ding in his head, followed by the echoing of a different voice than the one from before: "You've discovered your first quest! Quests will grant you experience, as well as items you can use later on. Some quests will even offer you gear of different qualities and strengths that you can equip. Try asking the townspeople what happened to their treasure, see what you can find. You can learn a lot of information to help you progress just by talking to NPCs."

He heard the magical melody again and looked up to see more writing appearing in the sky.

*Ding* [Quest Updated: Find out what happened to the Horn] [Reward: 100 XP]

Isaac followed the advice of the voice and talked to as many townspeople as he could. He discovered it had been stolen by a group of bandits who sought to sell it at a black market auction in the next town. They had only been through yesterday, so he had a chance to catch up to them.

The magical melody again.

*Ding* [Quest Complete] [New Quest Acquired: Hunt down the bandits and recover the Horn of Jarem] [Reward: Horn of Jarem; 200 XP]

Isaac was getting used to the tone of the melody, so he wouldn't need to look up again every time he heard it. He decided it was time to go find these bandits, and on impulse, just ran out of the village in the direction of the next town.

After traveling for what seemed like hours, he realized he had no idea where he was going. There wasn't a set path from the starting village, so he had just run off in the general direction the villagers had told him to go. He began to regret his decision, even kicking himself for not stopping at the small merchant's stall he had seen. "Perhaps they would have had a map! Where's the road? What direction am I going? Where should I be headed?"

And so the adventure would have to wait, until Isaac could start fresh the next day. He brought up the options screen, logged out of the game, and took the helmet off as soon as he was transported back into his real body. Isaac took the helmet off, plugged it into the charger, and went to bed.