1 Forsaken World

Under the carpet of the heavens, the forest was silent - save for a single person.

The soft sound of feet scuffling through the empty temple halls resounded through the moonlit night. A pair of determined eyes forged their path onwards through the shadows.

Although the temple seemed abandoned for many centuries, it writhed with a mysterious power.

Hems of her robe brushing against the dusty and ruined architecture, she paid no heed to the slow dirtying of her garments.

She had more important things to worry about.

Clutching the old and musty grimoire, the female figure pressed forwards to the altar in the middle of a grand amphitheater.

"It's here, isn't it?"

She turned her attention back to the grimoire.

On the cover of the grimoire was a large gemstone, and lines squiggled almost chaotically through it like veins.

A single point of light where the lines intersected shined with increased brilliance as she neared the altar.

"A full moon on the Winter Solstice, the year 1000. It's time."

If you looked closely, you could see her slender fingers shaking in anticipation.

Despite the excitement in her voice, it was also damp with anxiety. Her thin brows were set in a grim frame, lips pursed.

Everything depended on this moment.

Taking deep breaths to still the butterflies bubbling beneath her ceremonial gown, she tied her long red hair back into bun, before drawing a small athame from the sheath at her hip.

"It's been one thousand years. One thousand years since magic and divinity disappeared from the world of Ketting."

Her name was Lota, the last faithful High Priestess of the Old Pantheon.

Even one thousand years from the event known as the Forsaking, her bloodline carried on the near-forgotten traditions of the ancient world.

Over the years, she had many times where her faith had wavered.

Sometimes she even wondered if those days of old – the days of magic and divinity, were nothing more than fiction passed down by her ancestors as misunderstood bedtime stories.

Nowadays, the world was so mundane. Without the patronage of the divine, people were unable to harness the magic flowing in the environment, yet the magic continued to corrupt into the terrifying Shades.

How much longer could humanity last?

Already, they were pushed to the brink, seeking bunker in the scarce remaining cities. Only Lota, with the assurance of the grimoire's protection, dared to travel alone.

"I don't have any more time for doubts."

She lifted her head and gazed fervently at the moon as it hung lazily in the sky. The moondial on the alter was almost completely aligned.

She looked down at the grimoire.

"Passed down by my mother from her mother, this grimoire is the last remaining holy canon from the Old Panthenon."

The moondial was aligned.

Gritting her teeth, she ran her athame across her palm and pressed it down onto the gemstone on the cover of the musty old book.

The blood soaked into the gemstone, and the once blue gem veins went crimson.

A soft hum ran through the walls of the temple, and Lota watched as the grimoire began to quiver erratically.

"It's working!"

The alter thrummed with energy, and a blue light began to seep through the cracks in the temple bricks. Foliage began to sway back and forth wildly as Lota struggled to hold her hand steadily down on the page.

Her hair whipped wildly in the wind, coming undone from its hair tie.

Suddenly, the power emanating from the alter became too much, and Lota was flung away from the grimoire.

The grimoire rose into the air and flipped open to a blank page. Blue letters began to slither into existence, like small snakes painting the ancient parchment.

Standing up with a struggle, Lota clutched her bruised arm as she addressed the grimoire. Leaning forward to resist the blowing of the gusts, she stated her intent.

"I, Lota, High Priestess of the Old Panthenon, pray in the name of all that is divine! The Old Panthenon has forsaken this world, so we forsake the Old Pantheon!"

With her words, a crisp bell noise rang through the halls of the deserted temple.

It was like an old gong from a clocktower, yet with the clarity of shattered glass. It echoed through time and space itself, making the entire forest come alive.

Outside of the temple, fauna and flora alike seemed to perk their ears at the sound of the crisp noise, looking in the direction of the temple.

"I pray as such, to the heavens beyond! In the name of the New Panthenon! Renouncing the Old Pantheon, we seek guidance from the New!"

The grimoire shuddered, and snapped shut.

On the front, the gemstone, shaped like a square with rounded edges, began to rearrange its crimson lines.

The crimson lines formed the design of a throne topped with a crown.

"Amen!"

Tearing itself from the cover of the grimoire, the gemstone shot into the sky between the gap in the roof. Like a streak of red and blue lightning, or a shooting star, it crashed into the dome of the heavens.

The moon seemed to turn red and blue for a moment, before the skies returned to their normal countenance.

Lota collapsed to the floors.

In another world, a high school student lay back lazily on his dormitory bunk bed. Scrolling through his phone using his precious data, he perused the new additions to the App Store.

It was midnight, at a time where others would be sleeping or cramming for tests or assignments.

Only he formed a portion of the exceptions.

That's right – Layne was a phone addict, one of the mortal enemies of the education system.

Not even the internet deprivation strategy of West Green High could stop his electronic escapades, and he was a professional procrastinator.

"Pantheon? In the New Releases?"

Layne was curious and chose to investigate it.

The app icon itself was quite captivating, a red and blue throne and crown. It seemed like it would be a typical Mobile RPG, maybe a Kingdom-Builder.

Though Layne actually had a good hand in making games, his terminal laziness dictated his continual presence on the App Store.

Why spend time and effort in building what you could get for free?

"Does it cost anything? It looks like it might still be in Beta. Sure enough, only one hundred spots for the Beta."

Layne chose to ignore the description of the app for now.

After all, due to its presence on the app store, it could be said to be mostly reliable. Nowadays, with the development of the gaming market, each game required rigorous screening for publicization.

Since it was a Beta with limited spots, he wanted to snatch it up as soon as possible.

Layne quickly skimmed the terms and conditions and other pleasantries, and was soon greeted with a download bar.

While waiting for the download bar, he looked over the app profile.

"The game producer is called Lota Grimoire? What a strange name. I don't recognize it from any other gaming platforms, so it should be a start-up company, with Pantheon being it's breakthrough into the market.��

Layne was a veteran in the gaming community – much to the ire of his parents.

His parents were actually a bit hippie in that sense. They cared less about his excellent academic records and more about his social records as an experienced shut-in.

Anyways, whether it was computer, mobile, console or VR games, Layne had a presence in all of them.

Also, unlike casual players, he paid more attention to the behind the scenes work.

"It seems like I was correct. It's an idle RPG Kingdom Builder. Wait, it's actually an MMO?"

Layne was a bit surprised.

Even though MMO Mobile games weren't unheard of, they weren't the most popular types. The large quantities of programming ate data at fast rates, and was prone to glitching.

Besides, on such a small screen and with stereotypically complex movement and playstyles, only hardcore gamers would say they were enjoyable.

For MMORPG's, most people preferred to play on computer or console.

Mouse and keyboard simply provided more flexibility, and the larger screens allowed for the players to feel more in control of their gaming experience.

As for VR games, they were only popular as novelties.

They were only in the early stages of development and had too many technical difficulties to sustain an MMORPG. The current market still centred around mobile, computer and console rather than VR pods.

Of course, in the future, with the new sensory engineering technology, the focus would shift to VR.

Who wouldn't want to experience a whole new world outside of the everyday mundane one?

"If they wanted to break through into the Mobile market, why wouldn't they have gone with a simpler idle game?"

Moreover, he didn't see a single notification warning him about in-game purchases.

How were they supposed to ensure an income?

Layne couldn't see a single review, though he expected it since it was only in its Beta. However, that also left him in the dark as to just how Pantheon operated.

Bringing up a search engine, he did a quick search for the app and it's company, but couldn't find anything.

"They must be super underground. I don't even see any publicity campaigns, nor official websites."

It made Layne question just how good Pantheon as an app could be. However, for the sake of stemming his boredom, he didn't even care if it was a flaming pile of garbage.

At worst, it would just give him something to laugh at.

Layne lowered his expectations for Pantheon, and continued to browse through the app profile.

"Maybe they're releasing in-game purchases after the Beta tests?"

Though some games chose to do in-game advertising, that way of securing an income wasn't consistent with the usual MMORPG template.

Nowadays, games fit in to the two categories of 'pay-to-win' and 'watch-ads-to-win', or some unholy combination of both.

Layne certainly didn't believe that Lota Grimoire was that kind-hearted to ignore profits for the sake of its player.

If not for the effort it would take to bypass the App Store security, Layne would want to dissect Pantheon to sate his curiosity.

Instead, he read over the game description.

"Pantheon. The world of Ketting has been forsaken by it's old Pantheon of Gods, leaving humanity vulnerable to the fearsome Shades with no way of fighting back. Without the guidance of the divine, humanity will only continue to fall deeper into it's downward spiral."

Layne hummed. It was interesting setting. It wasn't completely unique, but it had just enough niche value to separate itself from the norm.

"By acquiring the faith, prayers and sacrifices of the NPC's, you will path your way to take your place on one of the thrones of the New Pantheon."

Layne nodded.

It seemed like those three things – faith, prayers and sacrifices would be the points used to develop your 'kingdom'.

"The graphics in the pictures are quite good, but the gameplay seems just as complex as I thought it would be."

Nowadays, the publicity graphics were simply too different from in-game to be called reliable. Layne wouldn't be surprised if the game's actual graphics were half the quality of those on the app profile.

The download bar was almost finished – quite a good speed for an MMO.

Layne gave a wry smile.

"Looks like I'm going to be having a late night again."

Layne quietly shifted up from his position of the bed, and ensuring that his phone brightness was on the lowest level, began to navigate the swarms of apps he had stored on his device.

He found the downloaded Pantheon and tapped on it lightly.