#3 The plan

"Dad? Where are you? And what are you talking about?" Daniel had enough. "A new world? What new world? What is going on!!" A bright light started to shimmer at the edge of his vision and he tried to close his eyes in time but wasn't fast enough. It flashed him and he screamed out. They hurt so bad, he felt like he was going to go blind! He had to crouch on the ground or whatever he stood on while clenching his eyelids shut. Tears started to roll down his cheeks.

Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. It felt warm, embracing, kind. Daniel had always believed that a person could make out the character of another by the hand's touch. How did the hand feel? How did it touch? What was its intention? Daniel had learned about the subtle communication of body language and how much information it could convey with a single movement. The touch felt familiar, he just couldn't remember why.

He tried opening his eyes, but they were still no good and tearing up immediately. While he clenched them shut once more, trying to calm them, a subtle melody caught his attention. It was so harmonic, that he almost thought it was music he was listening to, but somehow he knew it wasn't. Daniel tried listening closer and he heard it again, only a little louder. It was a voice! Someone was talking to him!

"Daniel, pleeease open your eyes. The world is much too beautiful to keep them closed."

He gave himself a push and lifted his eyelids in one fast movement. He crouched on a giant round marble platform, seemingly floating in the sky, crested with delicately crafted ornaments, creating the impression that they were flowing to the centre.

The sun was shining and Daniel was reminded of a scenery that had been very similar to this. He had captured it with his smartphone some time ago from a plane window and shown it to his father, blabbering on and on about his utter disbelief about the beauty of nature. Blinking towards the horizon, in the far distance he could make out, what he thought was a tree crown.

He surveyed his immediate surroundings, in search of whatever had touched him, but he saw nothing.

"See? Isn't it amazing?" the voice whispered in his ear, the air touching his skin. It giggled, when Daniel immediately turned around in shock, only to stare into blank air.

"It is. It really is, but where are you? And what are you? And where are we?". His attention detached from the dazzling view, Daniel suddenly had thousands of questions.

"Haha", the voice laughed in an almost bell-like fashion. "Aren't you a curious one? I am Elisa, the creator of this world and what you can see below is Elisa'a, my creation."

"Your creation?" Daniel asked confusedly, glancing down the sides of the platform, but he couldn't make out any features other than the giant tree crown."I can't see anything, but that giant tree. I can't even see you !" He tried to follow the direction, he thought the voice came from, with his eyes, but noticed his useless attempt when the voice spoke up behind him.

"No wonder. After all, you only just arrived here. Give it some time and you will see just fine." The voice explained. "You're Daniel, right? I've been informed about your arrival by MY creator."

"Ähh, yeah, that's right. How did you know that?" Daniel asked, realising shortly after, that the creator must have told it, adding the question "And who is your creator?".

"You will know soon enough" the voice giggled once again. "But first, let me tell you something about my world, your new world. Elisa'a has existed for 2 years now. As you can imagine, it's an untouched world at its beginnings of civilization. Currently, everything is determined by strength and strength alone. There are no rules. Kill or be killed. Due to its rich resources and mana, many different races with different characteristics live here. But there is no need to bore you with all those details. You will get to know them sooner or later anyways.

Each year the inhabitants of my world hold a giant tournament to determine the currently strongest party. The winner can select the sector that will be their territory for the next year.

The sector you ask? That's right. The world is split into different sectors, each with different qualities. You will understand it best in terms of resources. Some sectors are more dangerous but inherit more valuable materials, like metal in different rarities, magic stones and so on. Don't worry. You will get the hang of which sector is which and so on.

Soon, after the creation of my world, different tribes were created that now split the world among them. Joining one of them is your safest bet to lead a relatively safe life. Currently dominate the tournament amongst themselves, so joining one and climbing up its ladder can lead to great wealth. Tribes also give their fellow tribesmen protection so...

Well, it's not like you'd get away with not joining a tribe anyways".

"Wait, wait, wait…" Daniel interrupted. "Okay. I have a gist of how this world works. You're weak, you die. But why are you telling me all this?"

"Hahaha, oh Daniel! Because you will be joining it very soon!" The voice chuckled.

"Wait, what?" Daniel was shocked. What was the voice telling him there? He would be joining this world? "Hey, you can't be serious right? What is this? A trick? Am I sleeping?".

A loud "DING!" suddenly ripped through the air, like someone had hit a giant triangle a bit too hard.

"Oh, I think the upload is complete. It was nice meeting you Daniel." the voice said while getting softer and softer until Daniel almost couldn't hear it anymore. "Good luck on your journey in my world! I'm expecting great things from you!" it whispered. Then she was gone and Daniel was all alone with his questions once again.

He went to the edge of the platform and looked down. The voice was right. Now he could see the ground, speckled with mountains and great forest areas. Behind them, he could see blue oceans coming through. He turned towards the giant tree, now visible in all its might.

He didn't have much time to think about what he had just seen before he noticed that the edges of the platform he was standing on were ceasing to exist! They just vanished into thin air, the platform getting smaller and smaller.

"Shit! Fuck! Shit! What is going on!". Panicking and trying to win some time to think, Daniel ran to the centre of the platform. The edges didn't stop vanishing. "Fuck, what do I do? It's not like I can fly?". He looked at the ground, trying to find hints of a puzzle in the ornaments, but if there was one, he couldn't figure it out. In the next few seconds, he would be falling to the ground, if he didn't have an idea of some sort, to save himself! All of a sudden, he saw blue runes light up beneath him, slowly encircling him.

Great! Now he had to deal with two issues at a time!

Unsure of what to make of them, he tried to extinguish them with his shirt, but it was no use.

There was no help in sight and Daniel accepted his fate. "Can it get any worse?" Daniel asked himself, as the ground beneath him ceased to exist and the blue runes shone brightly.

Two seconds later, Daniel had vanished.