Zones of Alacria- The Dragon Gate Read online

  An hour later, after a tense carriage ride with the other three aberths, we finally pulled up outside the most gravity-defying building in the town. It was one of the few ancient buildings still standing. Built back in the early 22nd century, it was the only building in the area with more than one floor. It loomed over the town, just like the Cartel loomed over our society. Everyone was constantly aware of its presence and what it meant.

  One day, the nobles would have a rude awakening, but I doubted that day would be today. Even when it happened, it would probably have very little effect on my life anyway. I was essentially a slave and would stay that way for the foreseeable future.

  The Cartel’s building was used for one purpose, and one purpose only. The lottery and its results. I had no idea where they calculated all the crop reports, and managed our society, but as far as I could tell, it wasn’t from this building.

  I’d read all about computers and the games people used to play back then, but that technology had been lost to time years ago. The only vestiges of that life still hanging around were in this huge, ten-story building covered in shiny, black squares.

  While it represented the potential end of my life, it never ceased to amaze me how the building looked like it had been carved out of a single block of stone, then covered in thousands of little, shiny squares. If you looked closely, you could even see smaller squares within each one, like they went on forever. It was part of why I loved reading about the past. It was as close to magic as I was ever likely to get.

  The large glass doors were already open, with a constant flow of people all dressed in gray filing through them. We joined the back of the line, providing tiny bursts of color on the gray backdrop.

  Finally, we were all settled in the huge central room where the lottery was performed each month. We were sitting high up, at the back of the room, with the other nobles and their aberths. Liandreth was craning over the balcony to look down at the proceedings, pointing things out to the Duke and laughing at his responses.

  Like the people down below, all hunched over and trying not to look up at the raised section of floor next to them, I was feeling rather nauseous. At least if Liandreth’s name was picked, I only had a one in four chance of entering the culling. The people huddling together on the main floor were definitely going in if they were picked.

  Suddenly, a hush fell over the room as a tall figure in a hooded black robe walked out onto the dais.

  “Welcome to the May Lottery for New Haven, I am the Operator. As you all know, the Earth has become too crowded to support us any longer. So, having a monthly lottery for each town segment is a fair way to determine who should be removed for the benefit of all. The sectors which have been underperforming in their efforts to feed their residents are the ones whose names will be up for selection. That way, there are fewer mouths to feed with the reduced amount of food.”

  “Today, as always, four brave souls will be picked to enter the ancient game. Two male and two female, to make sure the gender balance is preserved. Once inside, they will have six days to solve the puzzles within the game. If they prove themselves up to the task, their consciousness will be stored within the computers in this building. In this way, they will live on forever. If they do not, they will die when their body ceases to exist on the seventh day.”

  “As usual, in order to protect important bloodlines, the Nobles who are of culling age are allowed to substitute one of their aberths should their name be picked by the Randomizer,” he said as he swept his arm toward the small gray box sitting next to him.

  “The names of those who are currently pregnant have already been removed, as the transfer of a dual consciousness would result in failure. If you are selected, you will be given fifteen minutes to say your goodbyes, then the guards will escort you to one of our VR capsules from which you will enter the game. I wish you all the best of luck, and may those chosen to become immortal be forever remembered,” he said, holding his arm up as a salute.

  He reached over to the Randomizer and pressed the large red button on top of it. In glowing white letters, the words Female One shone on the front of the box, accompanied by a low humming sound. After a few seconds, a chime sounded. In a voice completely devoid of emotion, the box announced the first name:

  “Saris Carter.”

  Wailing broke out down on the floor as an older woman flung herself at what could only be her daughter. A young woman dressed in ragged looking clothes, with dark brown hair held back with a piece of string, stepped forward. Despite being so thin, she was obviously used to hard work and held herself rigid as her mother sobbed at her feet.

  The low hum started up again, causing the room to fall silent, the sense of dread almost palpable now that one person had been chosen. Male One was now displayed on the front of the Randomizer. Within a minute, another chime sounded. Once again, the flat, emotionless voice announced the next name:

  “Baynor Richards.”

  This time, a commotion broke out among the tradesmen. A very tall, lanky young man started walking resolutely toward the dais. The only thing that betrayed the calm he exuded was the continuous clenching and unclenching of his hands.

  Female Two now glowed on the front of the box. The eyes of everyone in the room were glued to it in the hopes of forcing it to ignore their daughters.

  A third chime caused the whole room to hold their breath once more.

  “Lady Liandreth Templeton,” the voice announced, and my stomach suddenly felt like I’d swallowed a rock.

  There was a thud as someone passed out and hit the floor. I looked over to see two of the other aberths crouched over the third one, frantically fanning her face.

  Liandreth’s face had gone even whiter than it usually was under the layers of cosmetics. She’d enjoyed telling us who her next choice would be at dinner the previous night, and that was the girl who was now lying on the floor, out cold. She took a deep breath and was about to announce to the Operator which of us would take her place, when the Duke leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

  Her mouth fell open and her eyebrows disappeared into her hair as she swiveled in her seat to look at me. I caught a glance of the smug grin on the Duke’s face before quickly looking away.

  “I nominate Orianna Aberth-Templeton to take my place,” she said, staring straight ahead, her nose in the air.

  The world ground to a halt.

  Blackness crept in at the sides of my vision as I wondered what lies the Duke had fed her.

  A firm hand appeared under my elbow. I gasped and looked up to see the older guard who’d always been outside our suite standing next to me.

  “This way, Miss,” he said as he marched me toward the stairs between the seating.

  I barely heard the last chime as I was helped down the stairs and across the floor toward the dais. My legs were shaking so hard I was actually glad for the support, even though it broke every rule that had been instilled in me for as long as I could remember.

  “Lord Colt Stratford,” the hollow voice said, announcing the final name for the month.

  Even with my head feeling like someone had filled it with wool, I still managed to feel some shock. Stratford was one of the oldest houses left in our area and its one and only male heir had been even more unlucky than Liandreth with the lottery. He’d already sent all 10 of his aberths into the game, so now he had no one left to take his place. The family now had a single female heir, Colt’s younger sister.

  I glanced around to see a dark-haired young man with well-defined muscles walk up toward the dais as if he owned the world. His mother was wailing in the background, while his father was loudly objecting that the lottery must be rigged.

  The rest of the audience, now safe from the lottery, broke out into excited chattering, the fate of the four of us all but forgotten. There was now going to be a power vacuum in our area with the Stratford heir gone and his parents too old to have more children.

  “Follow me,” said the Operator.

&
nbsp; We walked through some double doors at the back of the hall. The young Lord was out front, as if he were heading a procession, rather than walking to his death. We automatically followed in order of status. As the only aberth, I was the last in line, just behind the other girl, Saris, who was clearly from the poor quarter.

  “One room each,” said the Operator, “Put on a haptic suit from the closet as your family will be in to say goodbye shortly.”

  He walked off, leaving us to each pick a room. Each door looked the same to me, but the others clearly had a preference, leaving me staring at the final, nondescript door.

  Once inside, I picked the smallest looking haptic suit hanging in the closet. At just over five feet tall, all the others would have swamped me. The suit was like nothing I’d ever seen before. Black and rubbery, yet so thin it was almost like a second skin. There were gloves and boots made of the same material sitting on a shelf next to the suits.

  I took off the white robe I had on, identical to the one I’d worn every day of my life, and the only color I was allowed to wear as an aberth. Folding it up and putting it on the shelf, I quickly pulled on the strange, stretchy black suit.

  Each step I took walking around the small room was accompanied by a squeaky sound as the material rubbed against itself. At least it was easy to move in.

  After 10 minutes of sitting there on my own, listening to the muted crying and voices from the other three rooms, a guard finally opened the door.

  “It’s time to go. Follow me, please.”

  We didn’t wait for the others, instead, he led me to an oval-shaped black object. The first thing that came to mind was a coffin with rounded corners. Trying to put that thought out of my mind, I took the strange, flat goggles he held out toward me.

  “This is one of the VR capsules. You’re going first since you had no visitors. Please step inside and lie down,” he said, lifting the lid.

  A group of men and women in white coats descended on me, attaching all sorts of tubes and wires. One man approached me holding a huge syringe and my heart started beating so hard I thought it might explode.

  “This is the solution with the nanites that will provide your body with what it needs over the next six days, as well as keep track of the number of days you have left. Once your six days are up, these little machines will be responsible for stopping your body from functioning and also dissolving it so it can be flushed out of the pod.” He took hold of my arm as my vision started to swim, “Hold still, please.”

  While he was injecting me with whatever these nanites were that would kill me in six days’ time, my vision narrowed to a little point in front of me and everything else faded away. I wanted to scream even though it wouldn’t do any good, but my voice had abandoned me as well, so all that came out was a strangled croak.

  A thick looking liquid flowed into the capsule, and within a couple of minutes, it was already covering most of me.

  “Everything is now ready, you can put the goggles on, and in a few minutes, you’ll be in the game. Good luck, and may you be forever remembered.”

  The lid closed with a loud click as I put my goggles on. All I could hear was a faint humming sound. At that point, the liquid reached the level of my face and started to cover my mouth. I desperately fought to hold my breath, until finally, everything went completely black.

  3

  Floating in Nothingness

  I could hear music in the background, getting louder and louder. It reminded me of a cross between a trumpet fanfare and ancient 20th century muzak.

  The blackness dissolved until I could see the words “Welcome to Zones of Alacria” written across an image of mountains with dragons flying in the sky.

  The image faded to black, and then the character creation screen popped up. The figure of a short, thin girl with glowing, sun-kissed skin, long, dark brown hair, and my blue eyes was turning slowly in front of me. The only thing that took me by surprise was a wide turquoise streak down the front left side of her hair.

  “Because you are an aberth, the avatar adjustment features in Zones of Alacria have been disabled,” an expressionless voice said in my head. “You also have an additional color added to your hair in the house colors of your benefactor.”

  “What? No, I don’t want that!”

  “Your name has been set to Orianna. Please confirm your name by saying OK.”

  “No.” My protest was met with silence. “I don’t want that stripe in my hair, can’t you just remove it?”

  “That is not possible at this time. Please confirm your name.”

  “But I don’t want to have a constant reminder that my mother sold me at birth, OK? So…”

  “Thank you for confirming your name.”

  “No, I haven’t confirmed anything,” I yelled as the character creation screen disappeared and I heard a bell chime. In front of me was a beautiful view from high up on a mountainside, looking down at a rustic little village with a shimmering circle at its edge.

  “Welcome to the Zones of Alacria, Orianna. Humanity’s refuge from the overcrowding on Earth. To progress between the different zones, you have to solve the riddles and retrieve the sigil for that zone. Each zone will be different and offer you a variety of challenges. You will be able to travel between any zones you have finished and your current zone at any time by passing between the portals. You have 6 days to solve the first riddle and get the mark before your earthly body is disconnected from the game. Your trainer will give you the first riddle at the end of your training. Good luck, and may you be forever remembered. Enjoy your immortality.”

  The screen and voice vanished as my body materialized, and I found myself standing in a little garden. The grass felt cool beneath my bare feet. A gentle breeze rustled through the trees and I could smell the flowers around the edge of the lawn. It was as real as the Earth my body was currently living in.

  I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and I looked over to see a young man walking toward me, smiling.

  “Hello, Orianna. I’ll be your trainer for the duration of the training instance.”

  “Hi, can you help me get rid of this?” I pointed at my turquoise lock of hair that I assumed must be there.

  “No, once you’ve left the character creation screen, no further alterations can be made.”

  “Arrrgh.” I slumped to the ground dejectedly.

  “Now, onto the game details. The first thing you need to know is how to pull up your map, so you can see where you are. Any areas you’ve been to will be in full detail on your map, however, any you’ve yet to visit will be shrouded in fog. To access your map, all you need to do is think ‘map’ and it will pop up at the side of your vision.”

  I gave it a go, and sure enough, a little map of the immediate area popped up on the right side of my vision.

  “If you wish to see a larger map, simply wish it bigger. Then, when you’re done, you can either wish it smaller or dismiss it altogether.”

  As I imagined the map getting larger, my entire vision was filled by a map of the area. The tiny little spot labelled ‘Training Instance’ was in full color, while the rest of the visible area was all blurred out in a grayish cloud. I imagined the map disappearing and, as expected, it vanished completely.

  “In the top right of your vision, you should be able to see a large, red number.”

  I looked up and there was indeed a large, red number one.

  “This is the number of days you’ve been in game. It will always be there, and it only goes up to six, there is no day seven. The days in game are longer than you’re used to, but the nights are much shorter, so this tells you how many days you have left to succeed.”

  I nodded.

  “If you wish to see your stats, your inventory, your quest log, your currently equipped gear, or any settings, all you have to do is think about them and they will appear before you. You have the option to see a full version of your stats screen with explanations of what each stat does, or, if you prefer, you can bring
up a condensed version at any time as well.”

  I pulled up my full stats screen to see what I’d gotten to start with, what stats existed in the game and what each of them did.

  STATS, ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS

  NAME: Orianna

  RACE: Human

  LEVEL: 1 (Progress 0%)

  GUILD: n/a

  HEALTH (HP): 100 (10 x Toughness + 0 Level Bonus + 0 Gear)

  MANA (MP): 100 (10 x Intelligence + 0 Level Bonus + 0 Gear)

  STAMINA (SP): 100 (10 x Endurance + 0 Level Bonus + 0 Gear)

  STRENGTH: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Increases all physical attack damage & improves your chance to block incoming physical attacks by successfully countering the force behind it.)

  DEXTERITY: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Increases all physical attack speeds, ability to dodge, movement speed & critical chance for physical attacks. It also improves your ability to perform intricate tasks.)

  INTELLIGENCE: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Defines your mana base – each point increases MP by 10. Increases your magical attack damage & determines the level of magical spells you can learn.)

  TOUGHNESS: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Defines your health base – each point increases HP by 10. Increases your health regeneration speed & your defense against physical attacks.)

  ENDURANCE: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Defines your stamina base – each point increases SP by 10. Increases your stamina regeneration speed & how much weight you can carry.)

  FORTITUDE: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Increases your resistance to mental attacks, fear and pain & your speed of learning new skills.)

  WISDOM: 10 (10 base + 0 gear)

  (Increases your mana regeneration speed, defense against magic & your problem-solving skills. Decreases your casting times. Determines the number of magical spells you can learn.)

  KARMA: n/a