Before The Great Union

What an amazing day this was supposed to be. It was the release day of Warrior’s Quest, featuring the latest technology in virtual reality gaming. It was advertised to be so advanced, you’d think you were the protagonist, making you able to feel, smell, hear and taste in an almost perfectly realistic way.
I’d been waiting for weeks, looking forward to playing it the day it came out and since my parents had enough money to have a Porsche and Ferrari in the garage, I also didn’t have to save up like most other people.

Anyway, it was the early afternoon and my dad and I carried the huge package into my big room. I had already reserved a corner on the opposite side from my bed for the big gaming console. I put everything together and connected it to my computer, having already made an account online. What I was also really excited about was the extremely exclusive DLC my dad had bought me on top of the game itself. It was called Wolven Fighter and while without it you could only create human characters, this content allowed you to make anthro styled wolf characters. Because the development of such a thing obviously cost a lot more than just simple human character, having to include the feeling of animal parts, this downloadable content cost a whopping 500 dollars extra. There were also two other ones. The Equine Fighter pack included a variety of horse and other hoofed animal parts and the Avian Fighter pack allowed bird-like character customization. I was happy with the idea of a canine character.

I hit the ON/OFF button and in an instant the entire device lit up in blue light. It was amazing to look at and thanks to the fact I’d already created my account weeks prior to the release, I was able to jump in game straight away without stupid loading times or account creation menus. One menu popped up though that I didn’t mind: the character creation menu. There were so many different options. I ended up with a handsome muscular guy with a six-pack and black hair. I left him shirtless and without any other clothes because of the rest of his body: At the top of his head crowned two big wolf ears with earrings on each one, his forearms and hands were covered in fur and they were a bit wider and more wolf-like with the hands having rather bigger fingers and sharp black claws instead of fingernails. The same gray fur that was on his arms and ears covered everything from his waist down. His leg structure was like the one found on a wolf’s hind legs and his feet were big wolf paws, featuring the same razor-sharp black claws as the ones on his hands. To top it off there was a big bushy wolf tail at his rear. After I had finished fiddling with all the options, I finally selected Start Game.

Having the helmet on my vision went completely blurry and I lost all my senses apart from my sight for a moment while the loading screen popped up right in front of my eyes.

Initializing Warrior’s Quest...
Signing in Cole...
Signed in
Synching in game senses...
Sight 100%
Smell 100%
Taste 100%
Touch 100%
Hearing 100%
Senses synched
Starting game...

All my senses came back as soon as they were announced 100 percent. When it was finished loading the blur went away and I looked around finding myself in a big grassy area just outside of a small village. A slight breeze blew across the field and I could only really feel the chilliness on my torso and face which reminded me of my special form. I looked down at my body and was amazed to see my animal parts where everything had been human just about a minute ago. The advertisement didn’t lie. I felt the entire body like I’d always been like this. I felt strong and also very warm and cosy at every part of my body that was covered in the soft fur. I felt my tail wagging behind me and standing on my toes for balance felt exhilarating. The paws felt amazing to stand on and my huge ears picked up a lot more sounds than my human ears did. I touched my ears with my big hands. My taste and smell had also majorly improved. It felt so real, I couldn’t even tell that this was only a game.
I took my first steps and the game immediately got me used to my new virtual body. I opened the map of the massive free roam world and was stunned. The games publisher had announced this world to be big but DAMN it was enormous. I got familiar with the overall layout and made my way to the village.

There were already quite a few other players online, all looking at me as I walked by. I felt awesome at the time with so much attention on me and when I arrived at the village it was even more intense. There were even more players here, all humans. Then I spotted one player that looked similar to me. He had nearly the same body features as me with the exception of brown coloured fur and he, unlike me, was wearing clothes. He had specially made shorts with a few pockets and was wearing a rather olden day looking button up shirt. When our eyes met we gave each other an approving nod. Some people looking at me had a facial expression like they’d just seen a ghost or something like that.

Not really knowing what to do next I looked for one of the usual information based AI in the village. I didn’t have to look for very long until I spotted a middle aged looking women standing outside one of the small houses with an I icon for info above her head.

I walked over to where she was standing and started talking to her.

“Hey there, I’m not quite sure what to do. Can you help me?”

“Certainly young wolf warrior.” she said. I was amazed how well the game took all your account information like the age for example in consideration, knowing that I was only 16 years old and so still young. “Go to the blacksmith and choose your weapon, then head to the north-eastern end of the village and look for some small creatures to gain your first experience points.”

“Thank you.” I said while turning around and walked towards the blacksmith which was situated at the southern end of the village.

When I arrived there I selected the Choose Your Weapon Style option that popped up. I went through the selection of weapons featuring a normal sword, a katana and a bow but none of them seemed to really suit my form. Then I spotted the option DLC Only. I selected it and found my match: the special character specific claw ability.
The description read:

“A destructive power that turns your bare hands/claws into your weapon making combat a lot easier, cancelling out the problem of having to draw your weapon first.”

“Perfect!” I thought. This was exactly what I wanted.

After I had chosen the weapon I headed out to the north-east, but before I really got the chance to try out my newly acquired ability, the same blue light that I saw on the console when I turned it on surrounded me and I was teleported to the so called Monolith. This was practically the base for the entire game from where you could select all the levels and manage all your items.

“PEOPLE OF WARRIOR’S QUEST!” A strange voice said out of nowhere.

I saw everyone looking up at the roof of the huge hall like place so I did the same. There was a strange looking guy floating in midair just below the ceiling.

“FIRST OF ALL I WANT TO SAY WELCOME TO THE GAME! SECOND OF ALL I’M SURE YOU’VE NOTICED THAT NO ONE HAS AN EXIT GAME OPTION! THAT IS BECAUSE NO ONE CAN LEAVE THE GAME!” he said.

“Huh? What?” I quickly opened the menu and was shocked to find out that it was true. The Exit Game option wasn’t there.

“I HAVE TRAPPED YOU IN THE GAME FOR ONE REASON! I WANT YOU TO PLAY THE GAME UNTIL YOU CLEAR IT!” He said.

“Is he crazy? Why the heck would you do that?” I thought.

After many people in the room demanding an explanation he answered.

“BECAUSE I ENJOY GAMES! SO I FIGURED WHY NOT MAKE ONE THAT’S MORE REALISTIC THAN ANYTHING!? HOWEVER THERE ARE SOME OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME!”

I didn’t really know how this could get any worse than a game that you can’t leave.

“IF YOUR HEALTH DROPS TO ZERO IN THIS GAME, NOT ONLY WILL YOU DIE IN THE GAME BUT YOUR VIRTUAL REALITY HELMET WILL ALSO EMIT A MICROWAVE INTO YOUR BRAIN THAT KILLS YOU! ALSO THERE IS ONE OTHER THING I SHOULD TELL YOU! IF ANYONE REMOVES YOUR HELMET IT WILL EMIT A MICROWAVE AND KILL YOU!” the strange man said.

“Who are you?” many people in the crowd asked.

“I AM SHAWN O’ CONNEL! THE CREATOR OF WARRIOR’S QUEST!” he said.

There was silence for a moment.

“I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE I WANT YOU PLAYERS TO CLEAR THE GAME! THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO LEAVE THE GAME! YOU MUST CLEAR ALL THE FLOORS, DEFEAT THE FINAL BOSS, AND BEAT THE GAME!” Shawn said.

“So you intend to kill us?” someone asked.

“THAT IS FOR YOU TO PREVENT! NOW I BID YOU ALL FAREWELL!”

He teleported away and panic spread across the Monolith because most people started to freak out.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me?” I said while choosing to teleport back to the village.

When I was out of harm, out of the crowd I immediately realised that in a situation like this, you couldn’t really trust anyone so I decided to work on my own for now until everyone settled a bit and since I was stuck here for now I thought to make the best of it was my best option. And after all, I was a wolf boy and my parents couldn’t really stop me anyway because they just went off on a business trip for several weeks.

I figured first and best thing to do right now was probably to try and level up a bit before finding about the first boss.
I headed towards the fields again and immediately found a few sheep to shed, no pun intended, quickly realising however that they only gave a minimal amount of XP that it would takes ages if you tried to level up just by killing sheep. I went on the look for more demanding opponents, trying not to go for the wolf packs in the area since that would just feel wrong, understandably. I soon found a big ogre. This was the first time I actually noticed how good my smell was since I could smell the ogre’s bad odour before it was even in my sight.
When the monster saw me it went for me without a warning and tried to smash me into the ground. I quickly dodged his attacks and started slashing him with my claws causing more damage than I thought I would.

“This is amazing!” I said to myself after having killed the ogre.

I started working my way up north through fields and forests until I had collected a decent amount of experience and levelled up a few times. It got late and I opened the map to find out the closest place to sleep overnight. I figured I was already too far from the village I initially started in but thankfully there was another one just over the next hill. It was already starting to get dark by the time I arrived there so I decided to look for the bed shaped icon indicating an inn. This wasn’t difficult and I entered. Once again I got a few looks of people inside but I couldn’t have cared less at that point. It was a really nice place. There was a dinning/breakfast area and a pub-like bar to the right, the main desk close to the entrance and a staircase to the left leading to the rooms on the first floor.
I went up to the desk.

“Good evening to you, wolven warrior.” the owner greeted me.

“Good evening to you too, sir. I would like a room for one, please.”

“That would be 100 gold coins per night. You can check out at any given time but if you intend on staying longer, further payments are always to be made before sunset.”

I was so glad my dad had also bought me a lot of game money aswell, as if he knew this was going to happen. I handed him the coins.

“Thank you. Enjoy your stay.” he said while handing me a key with the number 4 on it.

I took it and went through to the bar. After a couple of refreshing drinks and some more awkward looks from other players, I made my way upstairs to room number 4. I unlocked the door, opened it and turned the light on. It was such a nice little room with two little windows, a comfortable looking bed and little table. There was also a big cupboard and a nice plant in the corner of the room. I felt really comfortable here. After I’d closed the door behind me and securely locked it, I put the key down on the table and went to the south facing window. I could see the lights of the first village shining in the dark far away across the hills and fields. I lay down on the bed not bothering to use a blanket since I was already warm enough and soon closed my eyes, falling asleep.

The next two days following were practically only me slashing apart ogres and levelling up quite a bit so that I was strong enough to defend myself against anything. I got around the map quite a bit but since this game was really realistic, even my wolf feet hurt after a while so I decided to settle around the area where I started out.
Later on I met a guy called Nathan with the nickname Helix while we were both going for the same ogre and got to know him a bit. Since probably only the true players were left at this point, I trusted him and we started to work as a team. A bit later we crossed paths with Kai, Elysia, Arytiss and Zero and we formed a group of six which I still like to call the great union.