It would’ve been nice if Wyn’s first days in the magical world of Eden were nice and simple. Isn’t that how all RPGs are supposed to go? There’s some NPC there, guiding you on the first tutorial quest as you go through the little tutorial town. Games are designed to ease you into things as you get accustomed to the mechanics, or at least games other than Eden are designed that way.

  Wyn’s first sensation in the new world is pain. Before she even has the chance to suck in her first breath of air, a sharp sound flies by her ear. Wyn’s senses are still waking up, and she barely has time to consider what made that sound, when an arrow pierces her side. The pain sears into Wyn like a hot iron. She tries to let out a pained shriek, but finds she doesn’t have air in her lungs.

  With a gasp, Wyn opens her eyes and sucks in her first breath of Eden. Wyn’s eyes dart across her surroundings, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Nearby, steel clashes against steel as something snarls with deadly intent. To her left, a gruff voice barks out orders to soldiers clad in chain mail.

  Another arrow lands near Wyn, barely missing her.

  Wyn rises to her feet, having fallen when the arrow struck. It hurts like hell, feeling far more real than any VR game she’s played before. All around her, battle wages. Short green creatures with distended bellies and spindly claws fling themselves against the soldier’s shields in a frenzy. The group works together and use their numbers to their advantage. As each creature falls, another clambers onto the corpse to strike at the soldiers in a never-ending deluge of teeth and claws.

  Wyn turns away from the battle and runs. Each step sends new stabs of pain shooting up her spine as the arrow, still lodged in her side, threatens to shred her internal organs.

  Another arrow thwips by her ear, and Wyn dives to the ground, trying to make herself a harder target. She drags her injured body across the rocky plain of battle as more arrows crash to the ground, inches away from her.

  Thinking herself rather clever, Wyn rolls to the side behind a bush, trying to get out of the archer’s line of sight. Sadly for Wyn, she didn’t take into consideration that she still has an arrow sticking out of her. As she rolls, her weight presses on the arrow, driving it deeper into her torso. Her vision goes red as the pain threatens to overwhelm her.

  “A little help…” Wyn stammers out despite the pain.

  Wyn’s continuousness begins to fade. The sounds of battle dim. In the distance, the armored man shouts some words in her direction, but her mind is already gone. The last vestiges of her consciousness all but faded away.

  Wyn’s train of thought is interrupted by life flowing into her veins. Energy, far different from her own, and teeming with life sends a shock to her system. Her heart accelerates. Her wounds close, and awareness returns to her. Sound, touch, sight, each sense returning one by one. The pain subsides and nearly vanishes thanks to this fresh energy flowing into her veins.

  Wyn opens her eyes, and all she sees is… blue? That doesn’t make sense. Why would she be… Wyn glances about frantically; the sounds of battle continue to rage. Wyn sits up and scans the surroundings and sees only the bush in front of her, making for at least some cover against an archer.

  “Calm down. If you keep moving, I can’t heal you.”

  The voice is harsh and demeaning. Wyn looks for its source and finds a young woman standing over her, clad in chain armor. The woman holds a gleaming gilded pendant at the end of a chain. The glowing pendant dims as the woman’s piercing gray eyes stare directly at Wyn, a deep frown of annoyance crossing the healer’s face.

  “This will be rather unpleasant. Try not to scream too loudly.”

  Wyn doesn’t have time to ask what the woman means when another, even sharper pain hits Wyn. Wyn’s side is on fire as the arrow is unceremoniously ripped out of her. Blood spurts out of the wound. Each gush of blood sends yet another rush of pain through Wyn. Once again, Wyn’s vision goes red, but unlike before, Wyn’s rage at her insolent healer keeps her conscious.

  “You could’ve warned me!” says Wyn.

  “Hmph. You’ll live,” responds the healer.

  Before Wyn gets the chance to complain further, the wound closes, and the pain subsides. The pendant glows brighter as more and more healing magic enters Wyn’s body. After a few moments of healing, Wyn feels good as new. Feeling at her side, Wyn finds no gaping hole or sign of the arrow wound, other than her bloodstained robes. The simple robes are properly ruined, as they now sport a large hole and a crimson stain. Despite her healer’s rather abysmal bedside manner, Wyn is extremely grateful for the healing.

  “The hell?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Wyn yells at the healer, her cheeks going as red as her robes.

  “It’s only what you deserve for teleporting into an active Battlezone like that. Now, either you teleport back to wherever you came from, or you stand up and fight.”

  “What… I didn’t!” says Wyn, confused.

  She’s cut off by the healer’s withering glare. If looks could kill, Wyn would be six feet under. This woman is angrier than just about anyone Wyn can remember. Except maybe that one guy whose bow she stole back in Elysius. The healer’s gray eyes glare at Wyn, daring her to keep talking. Every aspect of this woman screams fury; her face bears a scowl deeper than Wyn thought possible.

  To answer her question, a shrill voice pierces her mind; a voice she’s already grown tired of hearing.

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  “Excellent Question! Would you like to use your Rudimentary Insight ability?”

  “Yes, Psai.” Wyn rolls her eyes internally, annoyed at the AI for having read her mind.

  “Excellent! Just like before, focus on that ability in your mind and it will activate.”

  Wyn nods and focuses on the ability. Just like in character creation, a screen appears.

  Name: Unknown

  Race: Elf

  Rank: Apprentice

  Class: Unknown

  . Rudimentary Insight worked great on her own abilities, but apparently shows very little about other people. It at least told Wyn that the woman is an elf and that she was an apprentice. The woman’s pointed ears should’ve given away the healer’s race, though Wyn is clueless what the system means by “Rank: Apprentice.”

  “Who were you talking to? Do you have a messaging ability?” The healer asks, her scowl deepening.

  “What? No… I don’t think so?” says Wyn, hoping that honesty will help her out of the strange conversation.

  The healer just stares at Wyn, her mind clearly racing. Suddenly, the healer’s attention shifts. She holds out her left hand to the side and grasps her pendant once again. A bright whistling sound approaches the two women as a magical barrier appears in front of the healer’s outstretched hand. The arrow, which was moments ago whistling its way towards them, shatters against the glowing yellow barrier.

  “Mirana! Stop messing about and get back to work. These damn goblins won’t kill themselves!” says the armored man.

  The armored man stands well over six feet tall, his armor covered in a slurry of red and green blood. The healer, apparently named Mirana, stands up, making sure to give Wyn a good scowl as she does so.

  “Yes sir. I think this—”

  “We’ll deal with her later. Now do what I trained you for, dammit!” Says the man, shouting at Mirana.

  Mirana bows her head and begins casting healing magic again. The elf shivers as she casts her spell, despite the warm weather.

  “Sir, I’m close to freezing out. I don’t have much Essentia left.” Mirana says.

  “Damn. Alright. Go easy on yourself and make sure you don’t get Frostburn. Don’t overexert yourself. We almost have these goblins handled.” Responds the armored man.

  Mirana nods and stands at his side, equipping a physical shield and deflecting attacks from the goblins. Wyn, not wanting to be left out of the goblin slaying fun, rises to her feet.

  With a thought, Wyn takes her dagger and staff out of her inventory. Wyn feels the Essentia flowing through her, and while she might not know how to use it, she’s determined to try.

  The armored man turns to Wyn as his massive blade finds purchase against one of the goblins.

  “Are you just going to stand there gawking, or are you going to fight?”

  Wyn didn’t need anymore prompting than that. Wyn feels the power inside her and attempts to channel it into an attack.

  Wyn feels the energy trickle out from the pit of her stomach, through her chest, and out towards her staff. Little by little, the magic coalesces into a swirling ball of energy. Wyn lets out a cheer, garnering confused looks from nearby soldiers. She ignores them and grips her staff like a baseball bat. With a mighty swing, Wyn hurls the swirling ball of magic towards the nearest goblin. The ball of energy zips through the air and collides with the goblin’s chest, detonating instantly. A glowing purple burn forms on the sickly green skin of the goblin. It snarls at Wyn, its brown teeth dripping with disgusting saliva.

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” says Mirana with an audible eye roll.

  The goblin charges at Wyn, either unaffected or unbothered by the attack. Wyn wracks her brain to find a way to deal with this creature.

  “Affirmative. You have one ability that deals damage.”

  Wyn focuses her mind, giving a silent prayer that the system will give her what she needs. The goblin charges forward, snarling at Wyn, ready to strike. Wyn takes a step back, getting ready to flee if the system doesn’t respond as she hopes it will.

  Wyn blinks at the sound. In the top left of her vision, a bell icon appears. Selecting it with her mind, a message appears.

  New Panel Unlocked: Abilities.

  Wyn takes a few more steps backwards as the goblin nearly reaches her. Mirana groans and leaves the armored man to stand by Wyn, holding her shield at the ready. Not wanting to be totally useless, Wyn activates the new Ability panel and is rewarded with exactly what she was hoping for — a list of her abilities.

  Abilities:

  Rudimentary Insight: Crude

  Essentia Manipulation: Crude

  Mage Bolt: Common

  Illusions of Beyond: Uncommon

  Oblivion Shroud: Rare

  Mirana glares at Wyn as she holds up her shield to the goblin. It slams into the shield, clawing away at it.

  “Do something, dammit! I can hold it off, but you’re going to have to kill this thing,” shouts Mirana.

  Already, Mirana’s defensive position is faltering. There’s no time to examine the ability and figure out its proper use, so Wyn bulls forward on instinct alone. Wyn feels the energy pit in her stomach activate once again, and a small ball of energy coalesces in her right hand. Just like before, it spins with energy until Wyn focuses on the Mage Bolt ability. The ball of energy spins faster and faster as a huge amount of Wyn’s Essentia pours into the ball of energy. Wyn smirks. The first ball of magic she threw at the goblin used maybe a tenth of her Essentia, but this attack will use nearly a third of it.

  “Mirana. DUCK!”

  Mirana begrudgingly does so, and lowers her shield, letting Wyn have a clear shot at the goblin. Wyn winds up and hurls the ball of Essentia at the goblin. It accelerates in the blink of an eye, shifting from a ball of energy to a streak through the air. The chaotic blue energy collides with the goblin with a loud thud.

  The bolt of magic buries itself a few inches into the vile creature before the swirling Essentia detonates in a flash of light. The Goblin doesn’t even have time to scream before the energy tears through it. Each strand spins through the goblin, slicing like a razor through its flesh. In the blink of an eye, Wyn’s attack turns the poor goblin into a myriad of fleshy chunks.

  You have killed: Goblin Whelp, Level 3. Experience Earned.

  Level up!

  Class: Basic Mage, has reached Level 2.

  “YES!” shouts Wyn. Just like it had in the character creation room, a yellow light emanates from Wyn. It’s not nearly as powerful as what she experienced in the character creation room, but damn did it feel good. After less than a second, the yellow fades away entirely. Wyn frowns; the sensation was far less euphoric than in the character creation room, and it faded much more quickly. But that sadness fades as quickly as it came, and Wyn grins wide, proud of her first kill and level up in Eden.

  Mirana, of course, does not share Wyn’s elation.

  “You idiot. Now they all want to kill you.”

  And just as Mirana promised, a large group of goblins abandon their targets and run straight for Wyn. The Goblin whelp only had its long claws to fight with, but now goblins with swords, armor, and even one goblin with a skull-topped staff all make their way to her.

  Mirana turns away from the goblins and sprints as fast as her legs can take her.

  “Run! We can’t take all of them.”

  Wyn frowns. Wyn begins casting a Mage Bolt as she counts. By the time Wyn hits double digits, she realizes Mirana was very correct. Wyn, having at least some self-preservation instincts, turns to follow.

  Wyn springs forward, lungs pumping hard to put some distance between her and the group of goblins. Right where Wyn just stood, the ground hisses and bubbles as an acidic ooze splashes down. Wyn turns and sees an acrid black mark on the ground, and the shaman casting another spell. She needs no more prompting. Wyn bursts into a flat-out sprint and chases after Mirana.