1 A New Kind of MMO

Sil had stood in line all night to be one of the first to buy the deluxe edition of this game. The game was called VRMMO: Fallen, and the deluxe edition including a choice of three hidden character classes, 1000 gold, and heritage equipment that was otherwise unavailable to any other player in the game who couldn't buy it. Now he was home, with the game installed on his computer and his gear on, waiting until midnight for the games official launch. He was ready and waiting, the clock on his visor read 23:59. One more minute and he'd be logging in and creating a character.

24:00.

Scanning Biometrics, an electronic voice issued from the headset.

Scanning Brainwaves.

Skill Level Confirmed.

Logging in to VRMMO: Fallen.

Good Luck Player.

Good Luck?, he thought to himself. What's that about?

The character creation screen appeared before his eyes prompting him to choose a class, he scrolled past the usual choices until he found the classes he was looking for. The three choices provided to him were: (Hidden Class) Spell Blade, an assassin type class that also uses enhancement and elemental magics. (Hidden Class) Brutal Gunner, a heavy hitting long range class that can use any ranged weapon type, they are as sturdy as tanks and hit just as hard as any melee class. (Hidden Class) Blood Knight, a self healing melee class, this class drains the life force of enemies they encounter with every swing of their swords, replenishing their own health.

He has to put some thought in his decision, as all the classes had their perks, but he had been leaning towards the Spell Blade class from the beginning. After making his selection he chose the character name DeathBringer and hit the log in button.

The world around him faded away and he could see an introduction to the World.

Welcome to the World of Fallen, the voice of the narrator sounded sinister.

Trust nobody and you might live to explore the many lands.

Falter even once and it could mean your life.

Do you have what it takes to be the most powerful in all of the lands young Spell Blade?

Farewell and may the Gods ever protect you.

The visual effects during the introduction speech showed a world veiled in darkness, monsters roaming the land, and a large crimson moon hanging in an inky black sky. The place looked accursed and wrought with doom.

With a flash of light the world around him changed again and he found himself in a decrepit old church that was well overdue for repairs and condemnation. A few other players were also in the church, seemingly trying to figure out what they should do. This game had not come with a manual, or even a starter quest line it seemed. Well, I'll figure it out.

The gift box icon was flashing in his field of vision. He clicked on the symbol and a message flashed before his eyes. New Items Recieved: Dagger of the Sacred, Short Bow of the Sacred, Armor of the Sacred, Leggings of the Sacred, Gauntlets of the Sacred, Shoes of the Sacred, Mask of the Sacred. New Notice: 1,000 gold has been added to your game account.

He had gotten an entire heritage leather armor set and two heritage weapons. Heritage weapons and armor in this game leveled with you and become stronger with each new level, making them something you can't replace, and they are the only weapons and armor in the game that are account bound. They can't be stole, traded, lost, or broken. Standing in line for all of those hours had really paid off for him.

He quickly left the church and ran into a dark shadow at one of it's corners. There he equipped his new weapons and armor, and checked his ability panel.

Active Abilities:

Shadow Meld, an ability that allowed him to stay invisible until he attacked.

Flash Strike Lvl 1, a quick attack that cannot be dodged, while using Shadow Meld this attack dose double damage.

Escape, this ability allows the user to teleport no more than 1 kilometer away in any direction.

Passive Abilities:

Shadowbinder Lvl 1, stepping into the shadows makes the caster virtually invisible to all but the best eyes, even in daylight.

Poisoned Blade Lvl 1, the weapon used by a Spell Blade will always be treated as if it's been coated in poison.

Master Thief, this ability greatly reduces the risk of getting caught while stealing from vendors, npcs, and other players.

Sil smiled to himself under the rune covered black leather face mask. This game was going to be fun. He activated the Shadow Meld ability and with a quick flash of the runes on his armor he faded into near invisibility and made his way through the edge of the woods, watching the other new players and their every move. He needed to learn how to use his new abilities flawlessly, and this game had a huge focus on open world pvp, where losing your life meant losing your armor and weapons and losing 20% of your total experience, resulting in level loss. Well at least Sil didn't have to worry about that. Due to the deluxe edition of the game, the worst things he'd have to worry about is level loss.

He had narrowed his search down to a lone Warrior traveling much farther ahead of the rest. He was alone and walking with a sense of purpose. Probably trying to jump the gun on level grinding and hoping for the best items and equipment. The first drops from each monster type were always the best.

Sil crept along the edge of the forest following the Warrior until the road came close to the forest edge. His time to strike was coming soon. 1... 2... 3... The moment the Warrior stepped past him he darted forward and activated Flash Strike.

The Warrior's armor was nothing when confronted with the Dagger of the Sacred. The blade pierced armor and flesh like a hot knife through butter, the double damage output from using Shadow Meld had cause the attack to be a one shot kill. The poor Warrior had never even had the chance to see his attacker, let alone realize he had been attacked before his HP bar depleted to zero, causing him to vanish in a flash out light.

A few silver and copper coins, and some armor and weapons he couldn't use littered the ground where the Warrior once stood. I gathered the coins and noticed something with a faint blue glow to it hidden under a chest piece. It was a map.