Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound

1.1      Finding her Feet

1.1.2    An Immersive Experience

1.1.2.2  Overly bombastic trailer

Reality flipped. She was now floating in a proto-solar system filled with dust. The portal was back in the corner of her vision, but it was now tagged “Reality” and showed a fish-eye view of her bedroom. She put it out of her mind, and turned her attention to the formless firmament before her, striving to see a pattern or decipher meaning from the quiet sound of random static. Then a deep, portentous voice started to narrate:

“In the beginning were the elements and from each was born a deity.”

Eight runes emerged as they were named. She had nothing visual to judge their size by, but they sounded titanic in scale.

“Krev !” Blazing fire was wrought into the shape of a sharp scarlet sword.

“Mor !” A surging sea wave froze in the shape of a dark blue trident.

“Lun !” Ethereal swirls of violet mana danced into a half-moon formation.

“Dro !” Moist soil split and sprouted into a verdant fruit-laden tree.

“Zer !” Warm light shone rhythmically, varying until it was the pulse of a pink heart.

“Rac !” A shimmering mask obscured the light, revealed only by its dark shadow.

“Cov !” Homely stems of wheat wove together into sheathes, neatly stacked as piles.

“Bel !” White lilies spread chaotically like weeds, toppling any piles with weaknesses.

“The strongest of these was Bel who, proud of the beautifully chaotic creation, declared it finished. But brave Cov argued that more could be done, and the others joined hands with Cov to keep creating. Kind Zer ignited a star in the middle, to provide light. Mighty Krev formed dust into a molten ball to orbit it, and Creative Mor cooled it down, forming craggy mountains sticking out of a primordial ocean. Clever Lun swept away some of the larger asteroids to form a moon that started tides and formed an atmosphere to protect against the smaller rocks, starting winds and clouds and weather.”

“This is how life started: seven minds working in harmony. Krev and Mor gifted the new planet into the care of Protective Dro who touched her fingers to the rocky coastal pools, causing green things to spawn and spread. Zer followed afterwards, to admire the variety of Dro’s creations, running through the plains, swimming through the seas, climbing through the trees and flying to remote spots; shifting form as he found convenient. Each time he shifted, new species were spawned, and over time they evolved and some grew capable of thinking. Thus ended the Aeon Naturalis.”

The cinematic surrounded each primordial deity with a montage of images illustrating the story as seen from that deity’s perspective. Kafana picked Cov’s point of view to watch as she listened, and found that the longer she focused upon him, the more sensations she could sense - not just sights and smells, but even glimpses of Cov’s own serious thoughts and kindly emotions. Perhaps it should have startled her, but Xperisense had spent countless hours working on the intro sequence; not only was Kafana not physically aware of the crown on her head in arlife which was doing the work of directly stimulating the emotion centres of her brain, they’d started using it so gently that she didn’t even give it a thought. Which, in a way, was a pity - it was her first proper experience of the full immersion allowed by the new generation of tiara technology, and this moment would change her life in ways she couldn’t possibly have predicted.

A new voice took over the narration; young, female and full of wonder:

“Cov taught these new thinking creatures how to build homes. How to protect themselves from beasts, and how to farm crops and tame nature. Lun taught them simple ways of using magic, to tame the elements and boost their bodies, that one day they too might become deities and walk with their creators among the stars. And for a time, these species gently spread, villages sometimes warring over words or resources, but heroic deeds and personal honour usually winning out as the thinking creatures heeded the advice of the seven deities and tried to improve themselves. But with peace came trade and increasing knowledge. Thus ended the Aeon Legundus.”

A third voice took up the tale now, a ringing tenor full of strength:

“Each thinking species favoured a different deity, and the increased communication between settlements benefitted two species in particular. The Racadan, who prized knowledge and built great libraries, delved deep into ever more complex forms of magic. And the Moradan who prized wealth from trading, which they used to craft ever more complex artifacts. These two joined to found the first empire, and together they built wonders. Floating cities, teleportation systems, colossal golems and fantastical species bred as pets or curiosities. Reality bent to their will, and every bazaar was filled with treasure beyond imagination. But in its hubris, the empire dared create some species that could also think, and these cried out to the two deities that none had yet called upon. Thus ended the Aeon Portentis.”

Now a mature female voice took over, sometimes proud, sometimes seductive:

“Bel heard their cries and whispered back in their hearts: if you would follow me, show me that you are strong. Those who claim they are your masters, don’t you think their claim should be tested? Break your bonds, if you can, and I will guide you.”

“Krev taught them how to organise for war: this peace isn’t natural, and has led to stagnation and unresolved unhappiness. Look to the Drodan whose trees are being chopped down. Look to the Lunadan, whose freedoms have been limited. Make allies by seeking common cause, and practice working together until you are strong, and study where your enemy is weak.”

“And for a time trading ships were sunk by kraken, miners were poisoned by cow-sized spiders, golems were torn apart by drakes, and whole cemeteries of dead rose up to walk.”

“But the Racadan and Moradan did not sit idly. Devices of war and great spells they wrought. Whole countries were turned to ashen wastes. With a tone of satisfaction, Bel stood back and addressed the other deities:

“Have I proven my point? Your creations are flawed. Soon the planet will be destroyed and my beautiful chaotic starfield will be restored once more. You would have been better off never trying.”

Cov courteously replied: “Thank you for letting us try. You have indeed proven that our creations were flawed. But I still believe the attempt was worth making, because in making the attempt we have learned things.”

“Have you now?” said Bel. “Then by all means, have another go, and when you’ve demonstrated your additional learning, I shall test its worth.”

“Then cautiously, in one measureless moment of frozen time, the deities rent the world asunder, laying out the planes and planets anew. Thus ended the Aeon Exitium.”

The montage of viewpoints faded away, drawing Kafana’s attention back to the solar system as a whole where, in a triumph of cinematography, four mirages of Dro’s world split off, to merge with different elements, morph and become more solid. As she watched, an entire complex solar system started being assembled while the narration continued.

“The destruction finished, Bel departed, leaving the other deities to decide what to do about the living. Lun proposed that all living creatures be killed and each species be created again from scratch, to permit tests to be run again and again from exact known conditions, but this did not please Zer who loved his creations.”

Two stars: The pinkish friendly Zerius orbiting the white giant Belius at such a distance that the larger Belius seemed only the size of a fingernail at the end of an outstretched arm. Otherwise only lifeless asteroids and doomed comets orbited Belius; the planets had all chosen Zerius.

“Zer persuaded Cov and Mor, with pleas that the warring races could be separated for long enough to cause even the bitterest of feuds to dwindle into half-remembered superstitions.

Closest in and hottest was dense metallic Krevob, windy and fast spinning. Next came Covob, which had snagged violet tinged Luna as a moon. Then the damaged lands of the original planet, Droob.

“But warlike Krev was unconvinced, and Dro was too busy mourning her damaged lands to care. Rac remained quietly in the shadows, ignored by all, for even Zer assumed Rac’s support of death was a foregone conclusion. Long did Zer argue, but none would change their vote, and Krev’s mind turned to thoughts of the annihilation that seemed certain and the blood that would drip from his sword as never before. Rac watched and, as he watched, he saw Krev let slip the smile of a reader who glows with the type of smug anticipation born from sneaking a peak at a book’s last page.”

Then mountainous Morob with its glittering ring that seemed to extend forever above Morob’s equatorial mountain range. And, lastly, the slow orbiting Racob that shrouded its mysteries in darkness.

“Only Mor noticed Rac silently casting his will in support of Zer, but the actions of a deity can never be reversed, and all reality resonates with their will. The members of each thinking species were widely scattered, seemingly at random but lives intact, as the new unity of vision manifested. A unity touching all things; primarily shaped by Zer’s desires, but inevitably touched back by all it touched. Even by Bel. No matter how much orderly Cov desires it, to every mortal changeable thing will come at least a little chaos and decay.”

Complex information was flooding her now, arriving too fast to analyse but on a level that felt more like being reminded of something she’d already pieced together and was familiar with. It felt natural that concentrated magic could be stored up as ‘mana’, even if she had no idea whether that was an ethereal fluid or something more abstract like gravitational potential energy. It went without saying the collective mana of primordial element (one of the eight that everything was made out of), could manifest itself as an individual sentient being with its own distinctive voice and personality, a deity, and at the same time also be equally manifest as a planet-sized chunk of rock or a force of nature.

In less time than a minute, while her conscious mind was distracted by the spectacle of populations spreading across the planets at a vastly accelerated speed, a carefully crafted tutorial gifted her with instincts designed to make her first minutes in the game a positive experience. That wasn’t the only reason why XperiSense had made the long cinematic unskippable for all players connecting for the first time but, despite the many feedback complaints in their forums about ‘boring irrelevant backplot’ by gamers only interested in combat and swift levelling, it was the only reason they mentioned publicly. The other reason? The measurements the game’s expert systems made of how each player reacted to different bits of the narrative, and the decisions they made based on that? Even inside the company only a handful of the earliest employees knew that reason, and they breathed not a word.

The narrator with the mature female voice spoke as though confiding an intimate secret.

“Mor gazed with curiosity at the pattern of the people and the planets, seeking sign that any parts of it had been shaped by patient Rac, to some deeper purpose yet unrevealed. But, if signs there were, the chaos from Bel’s touch concealed them. Even unto this day his reasons remain ineffable to mortal kind. Of dragon kind, Heidikur of the Deeps has in his care all the stories that Rac is finished with. But this is a living tale and even dragons, primal and ageless though they be, lack the power to predict all that shall befall.”

Now the four narrators finished off together, chanting in unison, as Kafana’s viewpoint zoomed in towards Covob:

“This is the Aeon Resurgemus. The fate of creation hangs in the balance. To you we offer great power to shape it; to touch it as deeply as you let it touch you. Welcome to Soul Bound, Adventurer!”

She found herself falling…