Spirits of Mithzara - 1. Tutorial

Kyle Stevens went to bed early the day he got Spirits of Mithzara. He was already a week late getting started in the game and didn’t want to wait any longer to try out what was being called the best fantasy simulator ever created.

Nestled in the cushioned bedding of his Cube, the nineteen-year-old college student shut the transparent lid over himself and closed his eyes. Winding down enough for the transition into his sleep was always difficult, and with a game to dream in now, Kyle found it even harder to find sleep.

But the Cube was designed to help with that. Quiet music began playing, and a gentle pressure descended on his arms and legs. Kyle yawned, and his breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm. It took only a few minutes before he faded from the world, and found himself in the dream state.

After a year of owning the Cube, Kyle knew his way around pretty well. He was in a central hub for all of the movies and songs he had downloaded. But there was a new option now, aside from a theatre and a concert hall, and Kyle directed his steps toward it.

Walking through the entrance, he found only a single item inside the hall, a door with the words Spirits of Mithzara painted across it. Opening the door, he stepped into the darkness.

“Welcome to Spirits of Mithzara.”

A woman’s voice spoke around him, as a light brightened the area around him. Kyle stood in an empty room, with a large white circle taking up space in front of him.

A holographic woman appeared in front of him and spoke.

“You will now be directed to create your character. Please note that this will be your only character unless you face an untimely death in your adventures.”

Another holographic body appeared in the circle. It looked exactly like Kyle, but opaque.

“Please choose your race now. You can choose between Human, Elf, Kitsune, and Dwarf.”

The hologram split into four copies, each taking the form of a different race. Kyle approached the kitsune version of himself, taking in the orange and yellow fur over “his” body. The eyes were like amber pools, and he saw a pair of fox ears sticking out of the top of the head. Walking around the body, he saw a tail hanging limply on the back.

The furry in him screamed at the opportunity to have an actual tail. But he looked over at the elf, trying to decide.

Tan skin, eyes the same blue as his own, and ginger hair that hung to his shoulders. It was an elf, and that was really cool as well. Except for the hair. He didn’t like the colour.

Almost as soon as he thought it, the hair changed shade, darkening as more red entered it, until it was almost crimson.

“Whoa!”

“Please remain calm. Your avatars are merely responding to your thoughts,” the holographic woman spoke.

Even the kitsune’s fur had changed colour, becoming more red, though it still retained its yellow undertones.

Kyle’s hand reached out to touch the fur, and he felt a tingle as his hand passed through the hologram.

“It’s a real-life furry. I can’t pass that up,” he sighed.

The other three holograms vanished, leaving the kitsune Kyle behind.

“You have chosen to play a kitsune. Members of the Fae realm, they enjoy a certain amount of physical and magical prowess and gain five stamina to start the game with. Kitsune and elves start in the town of Lankin, east of the Garthal Mountains.”

A map appeared on the ground, showing Kyle the location of the city.

“In this game, you may become anyone you wish to be. To that extent, you do not start as a member of a class. Instead, you have ten points you may place into any of three attributes, Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Each can be used in multiple ways; for example, a wizard may use strength to better harness the complex energies of his magic, while a rogue might use intelligence to better understand how to pick a lock.”

The map was replaced with a chart of the three stats, all set to one. Kyle took a moment to think, before putting a point into everything, and splitting the rest between strength and intelligence.

“Similar to the classes, you may use any weapon you choose in the game. However, you will start with a basic quarterstaff, and from there, you may expand your knowledge and collection of weapons. You have completed character creation. Please choose a name for your character. You will be known by this name unless you choose to give someone your real name.”

He already had a name picked out, Gaius Aetherian. It was the name of every mage he had ever played in a game. Perhaps it didn’t fit well for kitsune, but Kyle wasn’t much a roleplayer, so he felt it would fit just fine.

“When you are ready to start the game, please enter the hologram.”

“I’ve been ready,” Kyle chuckled, before stepping into the body of his character.

He was suddenly transported into a dark space. He felt small, weightless even. Uncertain what was happening, Kyle looked around him.

There was a blue orb suspended in the darkness in front of him, and he willed himself to move toward it. Suddenly picking up speed, he gasped as the orb grew in size, realizing it was actually a planet.

Kyle tried to scream as he sped toward the surface of the planet, but no noise escaped his lips. Flames appeared around him as he entered the atmosphere, and Kyle levelled out slightly, speeding towards a huge landmass. A city flashed under him and was gone in an instant. He saw hordes of goblins assaulting a castle, but that, too, vanished in an instant.

Nearing a chain of mountains, Kyle dodged a large red dragon flying through the sky. He felt himself slowing down, though the land below him still sped by. Turning, he looped around a mountain, before continuing in a direction his mind labelled east. Forests passed beneath him, a welcome change from the desert to the west of the mountain range, but they vanished too soon, replaced by a large plain.

Spying a town in the distance, Kyle fell lower, slowing even more. He passed by buildings and humans at work, before blowing through a building.

A figure lay in a bed below him. With barely a moment to think, Kyle slammed into the body, and everything went dark.

Jacob Ashford could not get over the rush of falling from the heavens. He had done it twice now, and if he had his way, he’d do it again before the week was out.

Not that he was going to try to get this character killed. But accidents happen…

The elf stood up from his bed and dressed quickly in the grey tunic and pants waiting for him. Grabbing the staff and rucksack that sat against a wall, Jacob walked toward the door, ready to be immersed once more in the world of Mithzara.

“Oh, you’re awake!” a brown kitsune said, standing up from a table. “I’m Hekara.”

Jacob took the offered hand with a smile.

“Garyn,” he introduced his character. “It’s nice to be back in this land.”

“You’ve been here before? Great! Let me know if you need any assistance. Many villagers could use your help. And the more help you give, the greater we can reward you for your efforts.”

“Thank you Hekara.”

Jacob nodded to her, then walked out of the building. He blinked in the morning light, his eyes quickly adjusting. The town of Lankin was surprisingly busy, elves and the occasional kitsune going about their business. Most were NPCs, but Jacob spotted several players as well, including a crimson kitsune who was turning in a circle nearby, taking in the sight. The nameplate over his head said Gaius Aetherian.

Jacob chuckled at the newcomer. He hadn’t seen anything yet.

Walking over to the kitsune, he said, “First time?”

The fox jumped and spun to face him.

“Um, yeah. You?”

“I was in the beta. It’s nice to be back though. Hopefully, most of the bugs are fixed.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but we can log out, right?” the kitsune questioned.

Jacob checked his menu, finding the option easily.

“Yep, the option’s there. Have you completed the tutorial yet?”

Gaius shook his head no.

“You best get on that. I’m heading to the chemist to offer my services as a gatherer. If you’re interested, I could use some company.”

“Um, sure. Thanks.”

Jacob nodded and pointed toward a small building.

“I’ll meet you outside there when you’re ready.”

“Right…”

Gaius took a breath, searching around him. He started walking east uncertainly and Jacob chuckled again, watching the kitsune’s tail flick back and forth warily.

The elf walked to the shop he had mentioned and leaned against a wall, enjoying the sight of the world around him. The smell of manure from a nearby stable left a bad taste in his mouth, but even that added to the charm of the game. Every sense was useful in this game, and Jacob intended to use them all.

He lost himself in the world and was a little startled when someone cleared their throat nearby. Glancing around, he saw Gaius standing sheepishly, looking at him.

“I did the… um, the menu tutorial,” the kitsune said.

“Great. Are you ready to go pick some flowers?”

Gaius nodded. Jacob knew it likely wasn’t what he had imagined when he got the game, but picking flowers would be a good starter quest for the kitsune, safe, with not much risk of killing the characters they had just spent time creating.

He led the kitsune into the chemist’s shop, finding a brown kitsune busy boiling what smelled like wine. The fox picked up a pestle, sprinkling crushed leaves into the cauldron situated over a burning hearth. The shop filled with the scent of burning pine and Jacob heard a small rush of breath from Gaius.

“I’ll be with you in a second,” the chemist said without looking over.

Her hands flipped an hourglass over, her tail flicking in concentration as she timed her movements just right. As the last grain of sand fell through the glass, the kitsune dropped a marigold petal into the concoction, stepping on a bellows to heat her workplace. Another turn of the hourglass followed, and when it was spent, the kitsune began pouring the potion into flasks, filling five with the orange-brown liquid.

“How can I help you two?” she asked, forcing a cork into each of the flasks.

“We were wondering if you had any jobs for us,” Jacob led, showing Gaius how to play the game.

“I could use some more marigold, and some extra nettle,” the fox replied, setting the filled flasks on a shelf behind her. “My assistant Neira is ill from a rat bite and cannot collect the plants for me.”

Jacob nodded his understanding.

“Do you need a certain amount?”

“No, no, as many as you can bring will be great. I can give you a copper for each nettle and two coppers for each marigold you bring me.”

“Great! We’ll bring some back,” Jacob smiled, motioning for Gaius to follow him out of the building.

Kyle knelt on the side of the dirt road out of town, his fingers seeking the base of the strand of nettles. His hand stung slightly every time he touched the leaves and he was getting frustrated with the task. Picking flowers? Is that really what he bought this game for? He could do this in the waking world.

He finally got a grip on the stalk of the nettle and yanked it out of the ground, wincing at the stinging of the plant. The plant vanished and Kyle yelped.

“It’s in your inventory,” Garyn said behind him. “Nine more and you’ll get a one percent resistance to poisons.”

“All poisons?” Kyle frowned, turning.

His eyes soaked in the elf’s body, his mind blanking. Garyn was hot. He had seen it when they first saw each other, but it still blew him away when he looked at the elf. The kitsune wasn’t sure if that was normal elf stuff. Maybe he just had high charisma. Except there was no charisma in this game...

Shoulder length black hair framed a narrow face, tanned from the sun. High cheekbones made the elf seem fragile, but the body under the tunic hinted at a solid torso, muscles obvious in Garyn’s arms and legs.

“Gaius, are you listening to me?”

Kyle blinked.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, hoisting the bag off his shoulders.

Garyn shrugged it off.

“Yes, the resistance is against all poisons. You should get a point of intelligence if you pick ten different types of useful plants,” he said.

“Well, that’s useful,” Kyle smiled, looking at the nettles and dandelions around his feet.

Kneeling, he plucked a dandelion, watching it vanish before attacking another nettle.

“Let me know when you get ten,” Garyn added. “There’s a field of marigolds we can raid. It might have a few rats and you can get a taste of combat.”

The elf frowned suddenly, his eyes closing.

“On second thought, I have to go in about an hour. I’ll show you where the field is now and you can go whenever you want.”

“Oh,” Kyle frowned. “Will I see you again tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Garyn smiled.

A white scroll appeared in front of Kyle, and he tentatively reached for it, realizing it wasn’t real. The scroll opened.

‘Garyn Belker wants to be friends.’

Below the words were a green checkmark and a red x. Kyle reached for the checkmark and the scroll vanished.

“We can meet up in the town tomorrow and finish grabbing plants if you want,” Garyn continued as he reached in front of himself.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kyle smiled.

He definitely wanted to see more of the elf. All of the elf, if he got his way.

They stood in the field of orange flowers, the scent of wet grass filling the air. Jacob inhaled deeply, enjoying the smells. This was the pinnacle of gaming, a world so real you could smell and even taste.

He knelt to the ground, picking one of the flowers. Another elf stood a hundred metres away, a bare patch surrounding her. Jacob raised his hand in greeting and she responded, but he was not going to interrupt her gathering.

“Pick as many as you can carry,” he said to Gaius. “Generally you start with sixty inventory slots. You can get extra slots from other bags and increase your weight limit from increasing your strength.”

“What about stacking?” Gaius asked, plucking a flower that promptly vanished.

“It depends. You can’t carry anything that won’t fit in your bag. Flowers generally have stacks of fifty. Arrows have stacks of twenty. Daggers have stacks of five. Other things are different.”

Jacob checked the time, realizing he had barely ten minutes before his alarm would wake him up.

“Hey, I have to log off now. You can get back to town on your own, right?”

Gaius smiled.

“Yeah, it’s only a twenty-minute walk,” he said.

“Great, see you later.”

Jacob opened his menu, hitting the logout button as Gaius said, “See you tomorrow.”

He returned to the empty room where he had made his character. The hologram of his elf stood in the middle of the room, complete with clothing and staff.

Slowly Jacob faded from the room, his mind returning to wakefulness. He lay in his cube, thinking about the kitsune. Gaius seemed nice, friendly, and Jacob was happy to help him learn the game. He seemed to have a strong reaction to Garyn, but that must just be an elf thing.

His alarm went off and he sat up with a yawn. His mind had been awake all night, but in a dream state, and he felt well-rested. It was a feeling that would fade during the day, but for now, it felt nice.