Follow the... Line?

Kain opened his eyes in a brightly lit, white room. It seemed endless, but Kain could see the slight bends of the wall corners. He smiled slightly, remembering his first time in this room.

'Welcome to True Life' was displayed overhead. Kain stepped towards the words, a menu lighting up in front of him. It read, 'Congratulations on returning, beta player: Wraith.' It still remembered his previous account name.

Kain, newly redubbed Wraith, placed his palm against the screen. This caused a physical pulsing to erupt from the screen. The character screen then appeared.

"Hmm? Why do I have..."

Wraith tapped the character panel. His character was already made, causing immense confusion. After he tapped the character, a visible representation spawned beside him.

"Ah damn. I can't modify it if it's already made... and it looks almost exactly like me. Hairs a bit... nevermind. It looks just like me."

He sighed to himself, tapping the confirmation.

"Screw it. Can't make a new one either way."

His smile grew as he faded away from the white room. As he left, a solemn voice appeared.

"Forgive me, young adventurer."

---

Wraith reopened his eyes within a small village. He scanned the area, watching as a few other players started spawning in. They ranged from edgelords and slutty ladies to the funniest looking characters he had ever seen.

"Poor bastards. They'll look like that until they delete their accounts... I just wanted to keep my status from my beta days. Too bad I can't play my old Wraith... so Little Village? Don't remember this from before."

Wraith scanned the map slowly, most of it blurred out due to the area being unexplored.

"The map... hmm. Where to go now... the arrow should appear soon, right?"

Wraith looked down, watching the ground as a translucent line spread out from his feet. This line leads to the first questline for new adventurers to take on that'll help them get used to the game... but...

"Everyone else is going that way? Is mine because I'm a beta player?"

The line coming off of Wraith led out of the small village and deeper into the forest.

"That area is Venry Forest. I should be fine if I'm attacked, but just in case..."

Wraith lit up his status screen, scanning it slowly.

'Name: Wraith

Race: ---

Class: Adventurer

Level: 1

Health: 100

Mana: 10

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Vitality: 5

Intelligence: 5

Spirit: 5

Speed: 5

Luck: 0

Charisma: 3'

"That's a lot more stats than before... but why is my luck zero and my race blank? Ugh, whatever. I'm here to have fun, not worry about early glitches!"

The excited Wraith began a slow sprint towards the forest. He grabbed the simple Iron Sword every adventurer started with and scanned it.

'Weapon: Iron Sword (Tier 1 Novice One-handed sword)

Attack Speed: 1

Attack Power: 5'

It was the basest of the basics.

Wraith entered the forest, the line leading him in deeper and deeper. It was lush and beautiful, but ominous and spooky. The massive trees cut out most of the sunlight, but Wraith could still see through it.

"Haha! Lookie here boys!"

Wraith turned on his heels. Four large men came from within the trees, his arrow... leading directly to their feet.

"Hehe. Looks like we got us some special loot."

Wraith backed up, his eyes looking over their heads.

'Level 36 ???'

'Level 32 ???'

'Level 27 ???'

'Level 50 ???'

They were hostile NPCs that saw Wraith as nothing more than product they could sell off.

In his quickest moment of fear, Wraith snapped his wrist. This caused his menus to open up as he attempted to log out.

"W-where is it? Why can't I log out?!"

His fear getting the better of him, Wraith fell to his knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks as the level 50 man grabbed ahold of him.

"Sorry kid. Looks like you got fucked over. Hahaha."

His mind grew fuzzy as his eyes slowly closed. Wraith passed out as the man loaded him into a cage, stealing his sword away and tossing it into the forest.

---

In the time that Wraith was kidnapped, a young girl appeared in the world of True Life. She blinked slowly, her crimson eyes taking in all that surrounded her.

"Hehe... this'll be fun. Can't wait to kick some ass!"

Her excited tone caught a few people by surprise, but they just watched in wonder at the beauty that just smiled widely. Her eyes glew bright, while her hair hung at her waist the deepest and darkest black one could see. Even in the basic adventurer attire, she looked clearly divine as a breathtaking pale beauty.

She opened her own stats, giving them a casual once over.

'Name: Eliza

Race: Human

Class: Adventurer

Level: 1

HP: 100

MP: 10

Str: 10

Dex: 10

Vit: 10

Int: 10

Spr: 10

Spd: 10'

In her excitement, she sped off to her first quest. The line led her to where all the other new players went.

"Ah, welcome Young Miss. I hope the way here was not too hard on you. I am the Chief of this village, Rocas."

Her eyes flitted over his head.

'Level 6 Chief Rocas'

She smiled brightly, her memories of the beta making her bubbly.

"Have you seen an adventurer named Wraith? I just have to find him."

The gleam in her eyes made Rocas visibly sweat.

"Forgive me, but no Miss..."

"Eliza."

"Miss Eliza, I have not met any young man named Wraith. I do, however, know where you may go to gain the experience to find this information yourself."

His hand lifted, pointing off towards the next town.

"Kale Nifren lives that way. A young man that can lead you to gather information through... various methods."

With a happy skip, Eliza darted off. Rocas sighed out slowly.

"That girl will be the greatest boon to that boy... if she can find him."

He spun on his heel, his withered self fading out. His identification shifting as he disappeared.

'Level ?? Roca, God of Shadows'