Light in the Dark

John woke up to the sound of water. He sat up. It was dark. Moisture-wet walls led to both left and right directions. He sniffed the air which smelled like mold.

He got up off the floor and sprinted to the other side. As he moved to the other corner, words flashed in front of him.

Welcome to Icarus.

Your health is displayed by a red bar in the upper right-hand corner.

You can access the game menu by saying “game menu” at any time.

A red bar was sitting in the corner of his vision. Either he hadn’t noticed it before, or it had just got there. He decided to try out saying game menu.

He cleared his throat. “Game menu.”

A slightly translucent screen appeared in front of him. Half of the screen was a picture of his character and on the other half it was blank. On the bottom of the screen, were numbers, and next to it was an option button. Underneath that was a button that read “skill trees.”

Health: 75.00/75.00

Carry Weight: 0.00/40.00 (0%)

Status: None

“Options” he yelled. A big red box appears which read quit. He then said “quit”.

Warning: Logging off in a dangerous location will keep you **** for 30 seconds.

Dang if I quit in the middle of adventuring a monster or even another player. He didn’t know how combat worked in the game, and he also had no idea what would happen if he was to die.

He canceled his logout and moved to the skill tree. A box on the left corner asked him if he wanted to view active or passive skills. He pressed to view the the passive skills. The screen was black.

He closed the screen then opened a screen on the other corner which read passive skills. There was a tab that read “Sprinting”. He tapped it and another box opened.

Sprint Speed: Run at high speeds. Skill level effects maximum speed and duration. (Modifiers: Vit, Agi)

Level: 1

Progress: 0.10%

Alright. So the only skill he’d used was the only one that showed. Maybe trying other things would fill in the other gaps. He assumed that the 0.10% was from sprinting that small distance. Well he’d better start running if he wants to increase his progress.

And the bit at the end-modifiers. Vit and Agi. John had played a lot of games, and he recognized the shortened version of those statistics immediately-Vitality and Agility. So, he did have stats, and they affected his performance, even if he couldn't see them. At least, for the moment.

"Close menu." The layers of boxes and screens vanished. A moment later, more floating words scrawled themselves in front of him.

Human generations have been born and died before the dragon was awoken.

It is written that the dragon-mark pose a grave danger to the humans. Such cursed individuals, marked by darkness, are thrown of a tower.

The tower is vast. Its breadth was made great, and its height must be still greater.

Powerful magic course through the tower, remnants of the passing dragons, their artifacts and guardians, their essence forged into the walls and rocks. Magic unchecked gives rise to things both great and terrible. For magic is the power of change, and change begets change.

And change...well. Change can be good, and it can be bad.

The text vanished.

He glanced up and down the tunnel. The water kept dripping. He was alone, naked, and relatively helpless.

John picked a direction at random and started walking.