Lightbringer

Chapter 1
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He had to remain calm.

This was surely just a bug, or perhaps a product of his apparently wild imagination. Perhaps he was far more exhausted than he thought and had passed out while playing. This could very well be a dream. Or was this all somehow a surprise update to the game instead of the servers shutting down? Maybe. Another possibility, and the thought was tantalizing enough, was that this was actually some last-minute major event the devs decided to pull before truly shutting down the game.

Whatever this was, it was certainly not quite the YGGDRASIL he was familiar with. The last thing he remembered was standing alone on a balcony in one of the many soaring towers of the Royal Palace of Asgard watching the beautifully-rendered starry night sky as the clock struck midnight. Then, as expected for the planned server shutdowns, everything went black for a few seconds before he inexplicably found himself alone in the middle of some unknown forest, underneath a vastly different night sky.

He felt a strong sense of unease settle in his gut almost immediately after.

It wasn't so much because he was alone, since there were barely, if any, players left playing the game as the servers were scheduled to shut down. It was typical these days to not see anyone for hours, especially because of how vast the game was – there were 9 whole worlds to play around in. He was also a solo player after all, at least for most of his time in YGGDRASIL, so being alone was the norm.

And even though he was in the middle of a forest that he couldn't recognize and it was the dead of night, the golden-white glow emanating from his avatar was bright enough to clearly illuminate the area at least twenty feet around him, the light fading further away until it dropped off almost completely at around sixty feet in a radius around him. This was all due to his passive [Divine Aura] skill that came naturally with his Angel, Archangel, and Seraphim racial classes. So the unease wasn't about the darkness of night either, which in this case wasn't so dark at all in his immediate vicinity.

No, the unease was caused by something else. It was because this wasn't what he expected to happen when the clock struck midnight. Not only were the servers apparently not shut down, but he had somehow been transported without his consent or knowledge to an unknown location and no matter how many times he attempted to access his player console, nothing happened. The console wouldn't respond, or even appear for that matter. That meant he couldn't log out. He couldn't check for announcements or messages. Neither could he use any methods known to him to get in touch with a Game Master (GM) or any other player for that matter.

In all the years he had been playing YGGDRASIL, and he had been playing practically since launch day, why did it have to glitch out now at the end of it all?

Perhaps most troubling, though equally as fascinating, was how drastically the game had changed in the short time since he had been mysteriously transported to these unknown woods. Full-Dive games allowed people to truly immerse themselves within the game world by simulating sight, sound, and even touch to some degree depending on your available equipment, but there was still a very clear separation between what was real and what was digital if you looked or thought hard enough.

Now though, there seemed to be no difference at all. At least not that he could tell. In fact, the game he was in now was as real as it could possibly get in his opinion, and it baffled him how the developers were able to accomplish this. And why hadn't they rolled this out sooner? Surely the game would have been revived and the servers wouldn't have needed to be shut down if they did as players flocked back to the big daddy of all VRMMORPG Dive games.

He could actually feel the weight of his armor, how it fit securely and comfortably to his body, and how the fabric of the robes underneath felt against his skin. There was the moisture of his breath as he breathed from within his enclosed helm. The crystal clarity of the foliage that surrounded him and the rustling of leaves. He could hear and even feel the cool breeze that blew across the forest through the minor gaps in his armor and robes, as if he were physically outside and not lying in bed in his room at home with the VR gear attached to his body.

There was some body weight effect applied by the Dive gear before, and there was some basic haptic feedback available, but never to this level. It truly felt like he was physically present in the game. He took a hard step, feeling the firm ground as his metal boot landed with a solid thud against the earth, flattening the grass and kicking up a little dirt.

He stared down at his hands, the gauntlets encasing them ornate and glowing a little from his aura. He stretched his arms up a little more in front of his face to get a closer look, and then clenched his fists. The movement, the feeling of the armor against his skin, the tightness of his hands as they balled into fists, it all felt so vividly real. He could even smell the dirt and foliage around him, something unthinkable in a video game. Smell! His heart raced with excitement. The graphics of this YGGDRASIL 2.0 – for what else could it be? – were astonishingly photo-realistic, to the point that there were no longer any tell-tale visual clues that he was in a digitally-created game world.

There were plenty of major advances in Dive gaming technology in the past decade since it really took off, but nothing had ever come this close to the level of sensory stimulation he was experiencing at that very moment.

How? How did they do this? How could they have achieved such mind-blowing realism in a video game?

"Amazing..." he whispered. Even as he said that, he felt it was not even close to properly describing the magnitude of this technological leap.

YGGDRASIL 2.0 was certainly going to skyrocket the game back to the top of the heap among VRMMORPG games, and he was glad. Even more so that he unwittingly seemed to have been selected to beta test it. Surely this was why he was here, right?

At least he recognized the armor he wore, which meant that he had all the gear he was wearing before the servers were supposed to shut down. Sure enough, his gauntleted hands felt for the two short swords at his hips and the handle of the great sword strapped across his back. Though not being able to access his player console was a big problem because that probably meant he couldn't access his inventory or his skills.

Or could he? If the [Message] skill worked in this new YGGDRASIL 2.0 or whatever it was they were planning on calling this, then that meant some skills and magic still worked. Then surely his inventory was still intact somehow too? But he had no idea how to access it now that the console was no longer working.

He thought for a moment, raising a hand to his chin, his armored hand touching the bottom of his helm as he did so.

He let out a small gasp as the mere thought of his inventory led to a mental imprint of it to suddenly appear in his mind, and he could see clearly all the thousands of items he had stashed there over his many years of playing the game. Almost as if he could reach out and grab one of them...

... and he did just that. Reaching out and realizing that his hand seemed to go into some strange hole in reality to what he could only describe as a "pocket dimension" where his inventory apparently now resided. His hand clasped the item he had seen in his mind's eye – a random item that he didn't really know why he thought of – and pulled it out of that pocket dimension with little effort. To anyone watching it looked as if he had simply pulled it into existence out of thin air, like some ultimate magician.

It was a very strange experience for him to say the least.

He looked down at the Pitcher of Endless Water that he now held in his hands, the clear crystal vessel filled to the brim with the purest water. With great interest, he tipped it over and observed as, true to its name, the pitcher poured out a seemingly endless supply of pure water.

After a full fascinating minute of this, the ground beneath him now thoroughly soaked and muddy, he stopped and turned the pitcher upright. It was still completely full, as if he hadn't just spent a minute trying to empty its contents out. Checking the now muddy ground at his feet once more, he placed the item back in his now seemingly inter-dimensional inventory and let out a small sigh of relief. It appeared that items still worked correctly as well.

Now what?

He could just wait here for the GM's and developers to figure out how to fix the player console, or at least wait for some global server announcement regarding the issue. That wouldn't be the worst idea.

But... if this was a new game, or even if it was simply the most hyperrealistic dream he had ever conjured up in his life, he didn't really want to just sit around and wait idly for something to happen or for someone to come along. May as well explore a bit and see what he might find in this strange new world. Perhaps there would be other players who had some answers, or if he was lucky he could stumble upon a GM by chance.

If nothing else, perhaps some of the NPC's in this new world might be able to answer some important questions.

In the old version of YGGDRASIL, he could control how bright his aura shone to some extent, even able to remove it completely in case he needed to be more stealthy or something. In this case, he figured it would be wise not to draw too much attention to himself in this unknown land, so he wanted to remove the glow for now to avoid any unnecessary fighting. YGGDRASIL was a PvP game after all, and he figured the new 2.0 version was no different.

But how to do that?

There used to be a button and a slider menu that allowed him to easily adjust the brightness of the aura. Now, without a console, that was no longer possible.

He tried to analyze how he might accomplish the task when again, all of a sudden, the very act of thinking about what he wanted to do caused a strange sensation to swell in his mind in a similar fashion to how the image and "feeling" – for lack of a better term – of his inventory appeared, but this time it was a feeling related to his skills and abilities.

All his skills and magic were simply there, in his mind, waiting to be accessed. He once again couldn't explain how he knew that he could access his magic and skills this way, only that he did know. He realized after further introspection that he could even feel the amount of mana and health that he had, as well as the costs and cooldowns of each of his spells.

Reacting almost instinctively with this new sensation present in his mind, he took a moment to focus on his [Divine Aura] and then managed to will the glow to extinguish itself. A second or two later and the area around him was plunged into total darkness.

"Wow..." he breathed, happy that it had worked, though still totally at a loss as to how it actually worked.

He was beginning to lean more towards this being a dream than an actual game, since the game mechanics were seemingly light-years ahead of what he was used to seeing. However, his gut was telling him that this wasn't the simple answer to his situation, that there was more to it than simply being a dream.

Could this be happening for real? Was this really a game world and not a dream?

His eyes took a brief moment to adjust to the sudden darkness as his passive [True Sight] skill activated now that there was insufficient light to see clearly. Sure enough, after a handful of seconds he could see as clearly as if it was high noon on a perfect summer day, not the middle of the night like it was now.

For one last time, he tried to [Message] a GM, or any of the people on his short friends list. Not that he was able to actually see the list itself, but he knew, kind of like the way he knew with his magic, that by thinking about one of the people on the list while using the spell it would try to reach out to them specifically.

Although he was somewhat comforted by the fact that using [Message] allowed him to hear a dial tone beeping sound that meant the communication spell was activating properly, that small comfort was dwarfed by his increasing anxiety over the fact that nobody was responding to it. He didn't expect any of his few in-game friends to respond, knowing that most of them had stopped playing the game ages ago and it was highly unlikely they had stayed until the midnight shutdown like he did, but it was most disconcerting that none of the Game Masters were responding.

How long was he going to be stuck here? He had work in the morning! And he was really looking forward to heating up some leftover pizza too before heading to bed for some much needed sleep. He had been playing the old YGGDRASIL for hours before the scheduled shutdown and knew that he was probably hungry, even though he didn't feel that way in the game at all right now.

Shaking his head to focus his mind, he tried to think of what to do next.

First things first, he needed to survey his surroundings and find where the nearest settlement was. To do that, he figured it would probably be easiest to fly around instead of trudging on foot through some strange, unknown forest. Regardless if he was max level with some of the highest tier equipment available, and even with his more than ample battle experience, he needed to be cautious for now in case there were any PKers nearby.

There were still too many unknowns in this new game world, and perhaps most importantly he didn't know what the penalties for death were in this new world. Without knowing the revival procedures in this new version of the game, and not having any friends online to resurrect him should the worst happen, it was probably best not to find out the hard way.

With another brief concentration of thought, massive feathery white wings unfolded from his back, spanning almost 15 feet across from wingtip to wingtip, more than double his own height. The wings glowed briefly with divine energy that lent them a certain regal beauty before the light faded to match his now muted aura and they looked more like regular feathered wings.

With a mighty flap that pushed the air beneath him with explosive power, he leaped into the air and shot straight up into the night sky like a rocket. The rushing wind was cold across his skin and roaring loudly as it rushed past his ears.

Flying in the old game was a lot of fun already, but this... this was something else. He couldn't contain himself as his lips parted in a huge, boyish grin. With the novel hyperrealism elements in this new version of the game, flying wasn't only fun, it was absolutely fucking incredible. He relished the feelings of freedom and excitement that flooded through his system – along with a healthy amount of what he felt was adrenaline – as he soared across the night sky, losing himself to the activity for a few minutes as he did loops, barrel rolls, and other aerial tricks.

All the while, he was whooping and hollering, not that he could really hear himself that well as he moved so quickly the wind drowned out his voice. This was what it felt like to truly fly, to be like a bird or even a dragon moving through the vast expanse of the open sky!

After a while of enjoying himself with flying, he calmed down enough to gather himself and refocus on the task at hand. He wasn't sure how high he was exactly, but he managed to break through a handful of thin clouds that lazily sauntered through the air. Leaning back and bringing his legs back underneath him, his wings beat powerful as he came to a stop and was floating in the air. He took a moment to admire the beauty of the world that lay far below him at that moment.

There were snow-capped mountains in the distance, rolling hills, plains, forests, rivers, lakes, and all sorts of varying geography around. All of it was unrecognizable to him. Nothing he saw looked like anything he had seen in the nine worlds of YGGDRASIL, nor in any other media related to the game that he could think of in all the long years he had been playing.

He was absolutely certain that this was a new world, and he would know having visited all nine worlds that the original YGGDRASIL had to offer. He had spent years of his life scouring most of the faces of each planet, so he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't on one of those worlds.

It was strange to think that they would add another world to the original nine, but perhaps this was a lost world now found again? Definitely within the realm of possibility, especially given the new update theory. Still, to add such a massive update at the supposed end of the game without any sort of announcement didn't make much sense. What were the devs thinking?

Looking up at the night sky that hung overhead, he couldn't help but stare in wonder at the innumerable stars that shone so clear and crisp that he thought they seemed more real than any stars he ever looked upon back home. So beautiful, and so alien. This was a night sky that did not look at all familiar to him, and he loved to stargaze whenever he could because it was for him the most realistic and eye-catching feature of YGGDRASIL.

He noted that not even the night sky in reality could compare to what he was currently looking at, though part of that was due to the intense light and sometimes air pollution of the real world that he lived in that usually obscured the stars above. Still, to be reminded that YGGDRASIL developers could come up with something like this was a truly a marvel.

Without a moment's hesitation, he told himself that he would gladly pay any amount of money to continue playing this game once they fixed the major bugs and issues – like logging out. Not that he really wanted to log out anymore. The more he saw of this world, the more he wanted to explore and learn about it.

He was starting to think that perhaps the player console not being accessible was actually a feature of this new version of the game. Since there was a way around it to access one's inventory and skills, that seemed entirely plausible. But how was one supposed to log out? Since thinking about certain actions seemed to activate them, he tried to think about logging out.

Nothing. He sighed. It was worth a try.

With that thought, he remembered the main reason he took to the skies, and he turned his attention once more to the world beneath his feet. He didn't really notice at first glance before while sweeping his gaze across the world, so caught up was he in the breathtaking view that it hadn't really registered until now that there were lights.

The lights of civilization. Some near, some far, and in varying directions. One of the nearest cluster of lights appeared to be a small village of some kind based on how few and spread out the lights were. Closer inspection even revealed pillars of smoke rising from chimneys poking out of houses made of wood and stone. Judging from the number of lights and the spread, he assumed that it was a small village.

"Perfect," he whispered to himself. Hopefully he would be able to get some answers there.

He angled towards the village and flew at it with great speed, gradually descending as he did so. With a mighty flap of his powerful wings that emitted a brief whirlwind gust, he came to a stop a foot off the ground for a second and then landed deftly on his feet in the middle of the village amidst a small cloud of dust that swirled around him.

"Eeeek!" cried a feminine voice almost at the same time that he had landed, followed by a light thud and the clumsy clattering of wood.

His wings folded and disappeared behind him in one smooth motion as he looked around for the person who had yelped.

His eyes settled on the form of a young girl who looked to be in her late teens, with thick, curly red hair that brushed the tops of her shoulders and large emerald eyes that stared back at him with a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and fear.

She had fallen backwards to the ground on her butt, one hand clasping at her ample chest and the other covering her mouth. Beside her were several scattered pieces of what appeared to be firewood.

Well this was new. She was clearly an NPC of some sort, given her lack of equipment and the fact that she didn't attempt to defend herself or attack him, but never had he seen an NPC look and act so lifelike before. Although he reasoned that given everything else in this new version of the game, it made sense that she and any other NPC's in this world would be more real.

Squinting his eyes a little while he studied her more closely, he noted her shallow, panicked breaths and the rosiness of her flushed cheeks. Her eyes were wide and beginning to wet. Her mood appeared to quickly be shifting away from a mix of surprise and terror to simply terror, and were it not for his own stunned silence at her very real emotions and actions, he would have already said something to try and allay any fears.

Still, better late than never right?

"Hello, young miss," he spoke with a voice that was calm and soothing, but with an undercurrent of strength that carried an air of authority, "I mean you no harm. Please be calm and don't be frightened." He could hear himself, and the voice that came out of his mouth was definitely not his real one because the voice that was coming out of his mouth right now was heavier, more mature, and more commanding than normal.

The young woman didn't respond as she continued to stare silently at him, her body shaking a little as the fear apparently gripped her completely.

He could understand her reaction. A strange being with wings just happened to fly into your village in the middle of the night. It wouldn't be outrageous to think that he was some kind of demon or monster come to do nefarious things. Still, he was once again amazed at the hyperrealism of this whole situation. To have such a realistic reaction from an NPC was impressive.

With a small sigh, he took a few steps towards her and she immediately jumped in her skin and instinctively scrambled backwards away from him.

"P-please..." she said, her voice tight and wavering, "d-dont eat me!" she managed to say from behind her trembling hand.

"What?" He blinked. Honestly, did he really look that terrifying? Sure he had his armor on and all, but he hadn't even brandished any weapons, nor did he make any bestial noises to make it seem like he was some kind of flesh-eating monster or anything of the sort. He was pretty sure he looked like an armor human. Why was she so scared?

"I d-don't want t-to die," she whimpered, tears now flowing freely down her pretty face. Her eyes shut as she hugged herself and assumed a fetal position on the ground, totally breaking down.

If he could have sweat-dropped at that moment, he would have.

"Look, I'm-"

"Cheshire? Cheshire! What happened? Are ya alright girl?" boomed a panicked male voice off to the side, quickly followed by the sound of footsteps. A heavyset, bull-necked manly man with a perfectly bald head and a fiery red beard, thick eyebrows, and an even thicker mustache appeared, his large calloused hands wrapped firmly around what looked to be a simple woodcutter's ax. He was wearing what seemed to be a plain cotton shirt and trousers, both pieces of clothing weathered and a bit ragged but good enough to still be worn.

There was brief moment of silence as the burly man took stock of the situation, his eyes glancing uncertainly between the girl's crying prone form and the strange man clad in fine armor and robes that stood close by. With eyes narrowing suspiciously, though with some reservation at having to face such a well-armed foe, the man spoke very carefully but no less threateningly.

"Who are ya, stranger? And what are ya doing to my daughter? Speak plain and true or yer head might be rollin' on the ground!" the big man spat as he finished his sentence. If ever there was a man with more bark than bite, this was he. Sure, he was big and burly, but there was no way his ax was going to bite through the armor of the man standing before him. And they both knew it.

Lucifer had to hand it to him though, he was putting on a very brave front. For a moment, he considered answering with his real name, the one he was given at birth back in the real world, but then decided against it. If these were NPC's and he was still in a game or a dream, what good would that do? Might as well continue the role playing for now and act as his character. Besides, this might be a lot of fun with the new realism effects – the dialogue and reactions from the NPC's alone were something else and he had barely scratched the surface!

Letting out a long breath of air, he reached up and removed his helmet, tucking it under his right elbow. His golden eyes were glowing in the dimly lit street, his white hair spiky up front with two bangs falling to either side of his face and the rest of his hair flowing a little past his ears. His features were sharp, regal, and delicate all at the same time. His skin was as smooth and youthful as his face was symmetrical and proportional, which was to say it was very much so.

To say he was handsome would have been an understatement. As a prince of the heavens, he was supposed to be.

"I assure you, good sir, that I mean neither of you any harm. I'm only here because I'm in desperate need of some answers," he paused for effect and then bowed with a flourish, "As for who I am... well, my name is Lucifer Morningstar, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"