Chapter 7 - A Rough Start

"What else is there to do?" Ash grumbled as she looked over all of the information she currently had access to, scowling just a bit as she realized that her race was very clearly labelled as Starborn Unicorn.

"First up is fixing that," Luna said, pointing out a small series of buttons Ash could interact with that allowed her to obscure her race, "Certain npcs will be able to see things like your full name and if you have any warrants out for you, player kill records, pk for short, and the circumstances behind them, that kind of thing. Even they won't be able to see your race now that you've obscured it. Any oracle of Sidus or his partner will be able to see it though they should have enough brains to not say anything about it."

Eventually Luna sighed slightly, "So, this game doesn't work like a lot of the other ones out there. You don't get a tutorial per-se. The systems involved will scan the place you choose as your starting area," she pulled up the screen though she cautioned Ash's hand away from it, "And it will find a good place to put you where you'll feel natural to the world. That means you won't appear in a city or anything like that. It's going to slip you into the story that's currently unfolding in there as if you belonged to it the whole time."

She frowned slightly at what that could mean for her dear friend, "That means you might start out in a dangerous situation, Asha, but someone will be nearby to help you. The game won't let your health bar bottom out during this introduction bit, that won't even be an option until you willingly leave your first safe zone. Pain exists but it's minimal, more a reminder to not carve yourself up or let yourself be beaten half to death than anything else. There are systems in place to keep other players from harming you as well and you'll always have the option to go through any sort of teleportation circle straight home. It might be a little while before you can message me after you start, but tell me what town you end up in and I'll come find you," Luna paused one final time, "Enjoy this, Ash. I know it's not reality and you aren't going to be up and galloping about the forests of our home but…Take this opportunity to find yourself again and find all the bright things in life once more."

Ash smiled slightly and reached for the starting area Luna recommended, a large area labelled as the Elven Wilds. It was where Luna had started as well as the location of the main temple for those that worshiped Sidus as the gods had been worked into the story of the world. It was also where her glade was, though she wasn't certain when she'd be able to see it or the small home she'd built there.

The world faded to black and a small introductory cutscene played in the background. At first Ash payed it no mind, thinking it to be a pregenerated sort of thing. Her attention was quickly caught, though, by the scene of someone that looked just like the avatar she'd designed for herself running swiftly through the woods, small reptilian creatures in hot pursuit.

It faded to black once more as a blade nicked the fleeing figure and they fell. It was accompanied by a slight sharp pain in her side where it had struck as well as a bit more where she crashed to the ground, or so she assumed, unable to see anything at the moment.

The notification was the first of many, beautiful script hovering in the center of her vision that she dismissed with a thought as the darkness receded.

Another slight prick of pain met her immediately before she could force herself to her feet to flee once more.

There was no blindness poison coating the blade that had struck her so she could still see, could watch as the creatures surrounded her. They seemed to be communicating to each other as a few of them picked her over, likely to see if she carried anything they wanted.

What was slightly more concerning at the immediate moment were the bars in the top of her vision and the icons and counters that lingered beside them. A small bolt of lightning indicated the paralysis: the number beside it marking it as lasting a gut-wrenching five minutes. If moderate poisons lasted so long and creatures that were, theoretically, low level had access to it Ash feared she was in for a less than pleasant experience.

Her health bar, dyed red like the blood dripping from the wound that had most recently poisoned her, was slowly depleting even as she felt the clothing around it grow damp. The bleeding wasn't listed as lasting much longer, just ten seconds though it would put her health very low. She wasn't sure how much damage the two blades had actually dealt to her considering there was no log of the blows themselves doing damage that she had access to so far as she could tell.

The mana drain poison was ticking her mana bar down lower with each passing second. Mana exhaustion came with disorienting dizziness that made most magic users think twice about depleting their stores too low unless their life was on the line. It wasn't deadly and a short rest would generally fix the problem, but it was highly unpleasant.

She was just beginning to worry that Luna had somehow been wrong, that she'd die out in the wilds and be eaten or something, when distant shouting reached her ears.

"They went this way," someone yelled, "Chasing something, we need to hurry if we want to catch them."

The elves burst into the clearing not so long after, a variation in appearances telling her there was more than one type of elf present. The one in the lead leapt from his mount, skewering one of the small lizard creatures as he landed and forcing them away from her, "We've got someone down, looks like its probably the poison the little rats stole from our camp. Get me the antidote, quick!"