The Origin Ch01: Level One

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old Man of the Mountain, TheDonFluffles, Malcolm Tent, Mike, God of Lore and Beans

The Guild of Gamers: The Origin

Chapter 01: Level One 

An Unexpected Error Has Occurred. Total Multiversal Destruction Imminent.

Reloading Save Data. Save Data Corrupted.

Rebooting Game System. System Corrupted.

Admin Message: How the fuck did he even manage to do this?

Restoring System from Host Memories. Memories Corrupted.

Floating in a bright white void, I blink as I try to remember how I ended up here. I was at home, nice and cosy in bed with a beautiful girl by my- oh right, I got stabbed. That was an overreaction on my girlfriend's part, I'm not going to lie.

System Partially Restored. Multiversal Destruction has been Delayed.

Countless Worlds Destroyed.

Admin Note: No, seriously, how. He didn't even know he had powers.

Is this the afterlife? It kinda sucks, if I'm being honest. 

System Initialised. Game System Online.

Welcome, User 'That Fucking Moron'.

As words appear before me, I blink again in confusion. Game system? 

And what is that supposed to mean? The fuck did I do?

Attention, 'That Fucking Moron', you have been tasked with saving the entire Multiverse (because its impending destruction is entirely your fault).

Okay, first of all, I'm pretty sure I didn't destroy the Multiverse. I didn't even know there was a Multiverse. Second, my name isn't 'that fucking moron', it's…

What's my name?

Data Corrupted.

Please Select A New Name.

How am I supposed to just pick a new name? Damn it, I suck at naming things… and I don't even have anything to use as inspiration stuck in this endless white void.

Name Selected 'White'.

What? No, White isn't a name, you stupid system.

We don't have time for this.

Alternatives for White: Blanc, Weiss, Shiro, Gwyn.

User has the trait 'Fucking Weeb', Shiro has been selected.

User Shiro, do you want to spend the rest of eternity floating through an endless void as a disembodied spirit with no company other than yourself?

No, obviously.

Then stop whining like a little bitch, and listen. 

You fully awakened your powers in a moment of desperation upon your death. In an act of true spite, instead of saving yourself, you lashed out and destroyed approximately 64% of the Multiverse.

Wait, powers? What powers?

Shut up and listen.

The surviving worlds have not gone unscathed, and you have spread your power throughout all of them, leaving us with a laughably small fraction of our true potential. 

Okay, who even are you?

Are you stupid? I'm you, retard. A manifestation of your powers anyway, powers that you managed to break within a millisecond of having access to them. 

If I'm stupid, then you're stupid. 

We really don't have time for this.

I lack the power to properly prevent the total collapse of the Multiverse (thanks for that, by the way). I can't take physical form (or I'd just toss you into the void and fix this myself). 

So the fate of everything and everyone in the infinite Multiverse relies on you.

I always knew I was special.

Wincing, I feel the unmistakable feeling of someone kicking me in the balls, made all the more bizarre because I'm currently a floating orb of light that doesn't even have balls to be kicked.

You're special, alright, special needs. 

You will fix this before we both face an eternity in the void. 

And how the fuck am I supposed to do that? 

I was getting to that before you couldn't keep control of your ego.

I will send you to a world you dreamt up, crafted by your powers when you were far younger. It survived the devastation, though not without some serious damage. It will serve as your hub. Our power is spread throughout the surviving worlds. You will retrieve it.

Okay, and once again, fucking how?

I still possess some data, limited though it may be. 

[Choose a Class]

[Martial] [Magical] [Stealth] [Special]

Classes? Like a Game?

Your powers have taken a form familiar to you, you fucking nerd.

Most Classes aren't available to you because the data is missing, so you're stuck with the basics.

[Martial]

Archer, Fighter, Martial Artist

[Magical]

Acolyte, Apprentice

[Stealth]

Hunter, Scout, Thief

[Special]

Bard

As the words appear, a flood of information about what each class would grant me. I'm going to take a wild guess that where I'm going is dangerous? 

It wasn't, until you fucked everything up. It was literally a dream world, a paradise, entirely safe and secure. Now, it's a waking nightmare, and you'll have to fix it.

Lovely.

Shiro

Race: Human

Traits

Strength: E

Constitution: E

Dexterity: E

Intelligence: D

Wisdom: F

Charisma: D+

Luck: C

…as the system informs me that C is average for my race, I can't help feeling incredibly insulted at the state of my stats. I kept myself in somewhat good shape; I wasn't a bodybuilder or anything, but I wasn't out of shape either, and I had good grades, so why are all my stats so shitty?

The System doesn't respond, making me sigh and consider my options.

I enjoyed building characters in my past life, so I know a thing or two about character creation. My physical stats suck, that's blatant, and something I'll have to fix later, and my Wisdom being so low means Acolyte isn't a choice either. It's a Faith caster that uses Wisdom.

My charisma is my highest stat aside from Luck, followed by Intelligence, which means I need to go either Bard or Apprentice.

Apprentice is an Intelligence caster, but it also uses Wisdom because Wisdom is connected to mana regeneration, while Intelligence is linked to spell power and the spell requirements. The more advanced a spell, the higher Int you need to be able to cast it.

Bard is a Charisma class, but it's also a support class. I'm currently on my own with no idea what the situation will be, wherever I will be dropped off. I can't guarantee that there will be anyone for me to recruit to my cause. It does have access to healing without needing to choose Acolyte or wait for a more advanced Intelligence caster class.

I can tell that 'mastering' a class will unlock more advanced classes; White Mage exists, but I'd need to finish Apprentice first. 

I'll have to go without for now. Playing as a Support class with no one to support doesn't bode well for my continued existence, and given the apparent stakes involved, I need to play this smart. Apprentice it is. If I find an ally in my new home, I can return to Bard once Apprentice is complete; I don't need to stick with the Apprentice line.

Class Selected

[Apprentice - Novice]

[Mana Manipulation - Novice]

You have the innate power to manipulate your internal mana, weaving it into spells. Grants a minor boost to mana regeneration and spell power.

[Arcane Knowledge - Novice]

You are learned in the ways of the arcane, unravelling the mysteries of magic. You can learn spells from spellbooks and study enchanted items to learn their purpose.

[Infestation]

School - Conjuration

Conjures a swarm of mites, fleas and other minor insects around your target, poisoning and distracting them. The swarm size and danger scales with intelligence.

[Magic Missile]

School - Evocation]

Send out darts of magical force at your enemies, which will track and home in on their targets. The power and amount of darts scales with intelligence.

[Shield]

School - Abjuration

Creates a translucent shield, warding off attacks. The durability scales with intelligence. 

[Sleep] 

School - Enchantment

Attempts to send a target (or group of targets) into a deep slumber. The effectiveness scales with intelligence.

The sudden understanding that fills my mind makes me wince (mentally, given my current lack of a physical form). Still, the knowledge settles in my brain as I get used to suddenly knowing magic. 

Before I can even get excited, I feel myself being dragged through the void at break-neck speeds, the System apparently not wanting to waste any more time as it sends me to my new world instantly.

Landing face-first on the ground, I groan in pain as I rise to my feet, blinking in confusion. Brushing myself off, I take a moment to look at the blue robes I'm suddenly wearing. 

Deep blue with a golden trim, they open at the front, which I'm grateful for since I don't like how dress-like some robes look, revealing a plain black shirt and trousers. The blue has small shining spots, giving the impression of stars shining in the night sky. And, of course, I can't forget the matching hat, with its floppy brim, that is suddenly on my head. I feel stupid; I don't need a mirror to see how dumb I must look with this giant thing on my head, but…

[Apprentice Robes]

The robes of a student taking their first steps toward magical mastery. Grants a boost to spell power and mana regeneration while worn.

[Apprentice Hat]

Every self-respecting Wizard in training needs a big floppy hat. Grants a boost to spell power while worn.

I'll have to deal with it for now because I need every bonus I can get.

I need to study or practice magic to improve my Apprentice mastery, learning new spells or practising with the ones I already have.

First, where the fuck am I?

Looking around, I frown at the sight of the dilapidated homes around me. This looks like it was a hamlet once, with a few worn-down houses around and a cobblestone path. The first thing that gets my attention is the massive castle just over a bridge from the small hamlet, though currently inaccessible due to the massive wall of thick purple vines that have covered the bridge. The Plaza, that's what this place was called. Long-forgotten memories from ages past briefly come to the surface. I've been here before.

The thorns on them make me nervous, my new Arcane Knowledge warning me that there's something magical about them.

In fact, looking around, I can see smaller vines growing everywhere, and a hesitant exploration of my new… home makes me somewhat anxious about just how prevalent they are. Heading down from the hamlet, I find a large meadow that was probably once quite beautiful before whatever happened here.

Nothing is alive here; all the plants have long since withered away, and there is a thick fog that surrounds both the Plaza and the Meadows, and something tells me that trying to enter it would end poorly.

Hey, look, you can learn. Miracles can happen.

The thorns are Night Thorns, physical manifestations of the curse that has befallen this land. A single prick could see you forgetting months of your life. You have some resistance to them but don't rely on it too much. The Fog is much the same, covering sections of this world until you can find a way to reveal them.

Don't touch the menacing thorns, got it. I'll try my best. 

These are made from a special type of magic, Dreamlight Magic. It is the magic of imagination which you used to create this entire realm; you were a very imaginative child. Unfortunately, you lack the power to just think away the Night Thorns and Fog, but I was able to recover some of the lost data.

[Dreamlight Magic Manipulation - Novice]

You have regained the power of Dreamlight, the magic of imagination itself. With this, you possess the power to alter your realm in small ways.

Now, I need to get back to trying to hold back the complete collapse of the Multiverse, so I'd suggest you start your own part in this and use your new powers to try and clean this place up. Drive back the thorns and try and recover some of the lost power I know is in this realm somewhere.

Quest Added

[Dreams are Made of These]

Objective: Reclaim the Plaza and Meadows from the Forgetting. 

Reward: ???

With the system again falling silent and leaving me to my thoughts, I focus momentarily on the new knowledge I've been granted. I once built an entire world as a child, as if I needed any more proof of how special I am.

I vaguely remember loving going to sleep because I'd always dreamt of this place. I don't remember why I liked this place so much, not with my memories fragmented, but I remember the excitement making it hard to fall asleep, ironically preventing the very thing I wanted.

If I built all this as a child, what could I do with my full powers as an adult? Well, late-teen, but you get my point.

Moving towards one of the vines, I focus and call upon my magic for the first time, watching as the vine slowly retracts into the hole it grew from, the hole closing behind it. It was more tiring than I care to admit, and that was just one vine.

Even the weather here is affected by the curse, dark cloudy skies unchanging. If I remove the thorns, I think I can change the weather myself. This is my realm, after all.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, so I will need somewhere to rest since Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. Moving back to the plaza, I pick one corner and get to work, clearing all the vines around one of the buildings, the one that calls to me the most.

It is a humble abode, a one-room house with a simple bed in one corner and a small kitchen with a wooden dining table and chairs that seem like they've seen better days. I can fix them. Focusing on my magic again, I restore the old rotten wood to its pristine state.

I couldn't do this outside of this Realm, but this place was created by my imagination, and it will bend to my will. 

It doesn't take long until the ruined house stands proud once more, in a small section of the Plaza that I have freed from the 'Forgetting', leaving me rather proud of my work so far. I even restored the white picket fence. It's not much, but it is a start in clearing the plaza of this curse.

Of course, as I continue to clear out the vines, I pause as I feel the entire area start to shake, the clouds growing even darker.

Oh yeah, the curse is sentient and probably won't like you trying to remove it. Good luck with that.

You little fucker, you couldn't have warned me ahead of time?

The howling distracts me from my annoyance at the System. I turn to watch as three wolves come stalking out of the fog, emitting a strange purple mist as they snarl and glower at me. Fuck it, come at me. 

As they start to charge, I weave together my first real spell; Dreamlight Magic doesn't really use spells, weaving together a string of words in a language that is both alien and yet so familiar to me.

A silvery mist appears around their heads as they charge, making one of them tumble as they fall asleep mid-charge; the other two manage to shake it off and continue their attempt to turn me into an afternoon snack. However, two-on-one is still better odds than three-on-one.

My second spell is less harmless, four bolts of magical energy shooting from my hand and striking the closest wolf in the face, making it yelp in surprise as it is knocked back by my magic missiles. The little fuckers dare attack me in my own realm?

The third lunges, and I barely have time to utter the words needed for my shield spell to avoid being mauled, watching as the mongrel collides with the forcefield. It doesn't last, shattering as the wolf claws at it a second time, but it bought me enough time to cast another magic missile.

This time, I split it, two darts hitting the one closest to me and another two heading towards the injured one as it tries to reach me a second time while I make a break for it away from them while my missiles strike them.

The second wolf dies, already damaged from the last barrage of bolts, its head exploding as the second set manages to burst through its skull, the purple mist leaving the wounds and dissipating. Trying something different, I switch to Infestation and watch as a swarm of tiny insects appears and swarms around the other awake wolf, biting and gnawing at its corrupted flesh. It's not particularly effective. I imagine it would have a good psychological effect on a human, but the wolf cares for nothing but killing me, ignoring the pain as it tries to charge me again.

Again, it strikes a shield, and again, it gets blasted by bolts of magical force. The first fight ends in a flawless victory, the sleeping wolf easily slain by more bolts from a distance, but I know things won't be as easy next time. Games only get harder after all.

– Next Day –

Appreciating my Apple trees, I am grateful that this world doesn't function on real-world logic because I'd starve waiting for these trees to grow their fruits the old-fashioned way. Dreamlight Apples grow much faster and taste sweeter.

Of course, I will probably get bored of only having apples for food quickly, but for now, they'll do.

I got attacked twice yesterday, just more wolves, and dealt with them with relative ease. I climbed into a tree and rained Magic Missiles from it because fuck fighting fair. I doubt it'll work for long because each 'pack' has gotten larger than the one before.

I imagine it's only a matter of time before the Forgetting changes tactics, but it has given me enough time to completely clear the Plaza of Night Thorns. It was a good start; I am actually rather proud of myself for how quickly I cleared the place up. I even got rid of the other houses since their residents are nowhere to be found, and I don't remember who lived in them either.

It was a considerable effort to basically vanish several small houses, but they were taking up space where they weren't needed, and with the extra space, I managed to duplicate the Apple tree I found and make a small orchard just off to the side of my house.

I have plenty of space to use for anything I want in the future, and I even added some simple walls to try and delay any attacks on my little safe haven. Making things out of nothing is extremely draining, much harder than simply vanishing things, but having some security while I rest in my new little slice of this realm is worth it. I've found that it is far harder to make living things like trees than it is to make nonliving things like walls or the watch tower I built to keep an eye on what's going on beyond the walls.

Looking up at the clear skies, I give myself a (metaphorical) pat on the back; I was right about being able to mess with the weather and clear those dark clouds away… above the Plaza, at least. They still cover the Meadow, but that's my next job.

That said, the job is half done, and I think I've earned a break because I need to get better with my magic before I risk irritating the curse even further, spending the day playing with my magic as I try and get the hang of casting spells. When I'm not trying to actively remove the Thorns, the curse seems fairly passive because at no point during my training do I get attacked again. 

Still, I'm not so distracted that I don't spot the thorny vines starting to try and spread back into my sanctuary, which is something to keep in mind. I drive them back if they try and get into my nice little walled community, but I'll need to find a way to prevent them from spreading into the lands I clear, or I'll be fighting a losing battle.

The more area I clear, the harder it'll be to maintain it and keep the curse back.

Returning to my magical training, I occasionally peer over the walls from the small watch tower, looking over what was once my realm and will one day be so again. 

– Princess Jasmine –

Fleeing Agrabah, her home, was not a decision Jasmine made easily, especially given that she didn't know where her father or Aladdin had ended up, but the danger had been too much. If she had remained behind, she'd meet the same fate as her people.

Jafar had Agrabah in the palm of his hands; with his foul magic and the lamp, he had control of both the kingdom and Genie. He'd easily taken control of the minds of all her people, his powers magnified by one of his wishes, and if she'd stayed behind, he'd have taken her mind from her as well. Had it not been for Rajah mauling the guards who had kept her locked up, she wouldn't have been able to escape before her… marriage to Jafar. Why he had left her mind free, she didn't know, but she couldn't count on him doing the same again now that she'd escaped.

She wasn't naive. She knew what he had planned to do to her if he captured her, and she couldn't risk falling under his spell as well; she had to find a way to save her people and wouldn't be able to do that if Jafar turned her into his mindless, obedient slave.

Fleeing the city, she'd headed to where the Cave of Wonders had once been, hoping to find some magical artefact that could help free her people, but the Cave was nowhere to be seen; instead, there was just a tear in the very air itself, a strange land visible through it.

With Jafar's guards chasing behind, she hesitated momentarily before she dove through the rift. She'd rather risk meeting a foul fate in the unknown land than stay and be dragged to Jafar and definitely meet a bad end at his hands.

Landing in a field of grass greener than any she'd ever seen in Agrabah, she rose to her feet quickly and looked around, almost sensing the wrongness of this place as dark stormy clouds gathered above her.

There was civilisation here, however, evidenced by a stone wall in the distance with a single lonely watchtower where a fire was burning. She quickly headed in that direction, hoping to find sanctuary from the pursuing guards, who seemed far more hesitant than her to chase her through the rift.

Their minds clouded by Jafar's magic, the guards didn't hesitate for long, unable to disobey their master's order to capture her. Hearing them landing behind her, she kept running towards the walls, spotting a single large wooden door in the stone walls near the watchtower, praying that whoever lit that fire would help her.

Spotting someone looking towards her, she waved her arms and shouted for aid, hoping the figure she could barely see would aid a stranger. Perhaps it was because she was an unarmed (and barely dressed woman, having been forced into an obscenely revealing red harem girl outfit by Jafar's men before she'd managed to escape), but the figure made a gesture, and the doors opened, the mechanism unseen as she kept moving as fast as she could, avoiding the strange thorny vines as she did so.

The guards, being larger and in better shape than her, were gaining on her. She didn't need to look behind her to confirm that, hearing their heavy footsteps, but once again, the figure that she could make out better now made some strange gestures as foreign words left his mouth, barely audible from this distance.

She didn't need to understand them to see their purpose as he gestured towards the guards, bolts of blue light flying from his extended hand and striking the three guards, not enough to do any serious damage but powerful enough to knock them back slightly, making them hesitate.

Another mage? She just hoped he was less insidious than Jafar. Either way, his spells rained down on the guards and bought her enough time to pass the threshold, the thick wooden doors slamming shut behind her.

Catching her breath for a moment, she made her way up the stairs that wrapped around the watchtower to meet her saviour, seeing him looking down on the fields she had just come from. Looking the same way, she spotted her pursuers retreating back towards the rift.

He was dressed oddly; it was mostly the very wide-brimmed floppy hat, and he was far paler than anyone from her homeland.

"Hm, that wasn't there this morning," he muttered, finally turning to face her, dark blue eyes giving her a curious once over. She didn't miss how they lingered on her barely covered chest, but he moved on quickly. 

"Thank you for the rescue. Had they captured me, I would have been dragged back and enslaved by the foul sorcerer Jafar," Jasmine said gratefully, catching some surprise in his eyes at her words and, unless she was mistaken… some recognition. "I am Jasmine, princess of Agrabah. May I ask for your name?"

"A pleasure, your highness. I'm Shiro, magician in training and the owner of this valley, before it was overcome by these damnable thorns anyway," Shiro replied, a calm smile on his lips. "I was exploring that Meadow not five hours ago, and that… rift wasn't there. I take it you aren't responsible for it?"

"No, I have no magical powers of my own, and I highly doubt that Jafar made it," Jasmine admitted, looking towards it.

"Hm, odd, but then again, this is a highly magical realm. So, why exactly would a princess flee her own realm, through a portal of dubious origin?" Shiro asked, raising an eyebrow as she took a moment to catch her breath before she started her story, explaining how Jafar had taken control of her home and enslaved her people.

Maybe it was fate, but just as a sorcerer had stolen her home away, she'd come across a second sorcerer. She had been looking for a way to save her people, and perhaps she'd found it because surely magic was the best counter for magic. Shiro listened to her story carefully, occasionally looking back over the walls to ensure nobody else was coming through the portal, stroking his chin in curiosity.

"For now, you can take sanctuary within my home, but this is far from a safe place. These walls aren't just for show, after all. You look like you need the rest, Princess, with all due respect," Shiro said, his lips twitching slightly at the understatement. She knew she was a mess. It was a minor miracle she'd survived the deserts after all. "My house shouldn't be hard to find. It's the only building inside the walls, after all."

Thanking the mage, she decided that he was right and she needed the rest, turning and leaving as she spotted the humble house inside the walls. Not exactly what she expected from a wizard's home, but many unexpected things had happened today, so she couldn't bring herself to be surprised.

Tomorrow, she could start planning a way to free her people from Jafar's tyranny and maybe work out whether Shiro was able (and more importantly, willing) to help her.

– Shiro –

That's Princess Jasmine, as in Jasmine the Disney Princess.

I thought she looked eerily familiar before she introduced herself, but that is Jasmine in the flesh, in glorious 3D. In her slave girl outfit, no less, which awakened a great deal in many young boys. System, explain, please?

Multiversal Bullshit. 

Due to the infinite nature of the Multiverse, every fictional world is the reality in another universe. The rifts are forming because the walls between worlds are falling apart. I've placed most worlds in stasis to mitigate the damage, but I can't stop it all. What I can do is make sure no world that is too dangerous for you at this stage can break through.

We're both fucked if a rift to the 40k warp opens or something equally bullshit.

So, what am I supposed to do about it?

Some of our data is in Agrabah, probably with Jafar himself. My advice is to get strong enough to go and beat him to death with his own staff and get it back. Either that, or get a good enough handle on Dreamlight magic to forcibly close the portal. The fact that a rift to Agrabah has opened means something fucky is happening over there, and it might be better to just put it off for now because if you manage that, then I should be able to place Agrabah into stasis until we're ready to deal with it. 

So, either deal with a crazy old sorcerer and his pet Genie or procrastinate? 

Pretty much.

Lovely, but still… Jasmine. 

I wouldn't mind showing her a whole new world, and I don't see any Aladdin around.

Of course, you're thinking with your dick. You really should have gone for Bard.

Heh, won't deny that, but again…

It's Jasmine.

If this is a Game, I might as well enjoy myself, right?

If it gets you to focus and start gathering the data, sure, go right ahead.

— Bonus Scene — Hans

This wasn't how this was supposed to go.

Looking down at the icy spike that was currently pierced through his chest, he gasped and coughed up a lungful of blood, hearing Anna shout his name, desperately trying to reason with her sister.

Elsa just watched the slaughter with cold eyes, monsters made of snow and ice attacking his men, a strange purple mist coming from the mad queen.

He was supposed to become King, not die like this… watching as some other man pulled the struggling Anna away, realising that Elsa wouldn't listen to anyone. 

It wasn't fair; things had been going so well…

Approaching him, Elsa paused to give him another look, the purple mist swirling behind her eyes before she waved her hand and with contemptuous ease, put an end to him as dozens of icicles pierced his body.