Arcayne: Journey to Ad Caelum

4.1|The Glitching Touch Given with a Blessing

The light faded away rather quickly. I found myself standing on a light grey platform. Everything else around me was pitch black. An endless void.

"Welcome To Terra Creaturae, adventurer." A deep booming masculine voice greeted me. It surprised me. I looked around for the source but there was none. The voice came from everywhere at once but sounded like a single tone.

"Please choose your name. Determine your name wisely for it will stay permanent with you."

A translucent screen similar to Auxilia's in color appeared in front of me. It was a standard keyboard. Instead of standard letters and numbers, symbols made out of various lines replaced them. I gave it a closer look. The symbols shook out of control until it calmed down. Now, the keyboards had the letters and numbers I was looking for.

-Please enter your new name, adventurer.-

Crap. This was one of the common situations in character creation that had players thinking long. Some wanted their name to sound good, cool or something that rolls off the tongue. I found myself smiling in nostalgia. This was one of the few moments in games I truly enjoyed. The creation of your new identity in a new world of reality.

I still remember some of the ideal names I used in my past gaming days. Aidren, Rovum, Ryven, Ergo... Huh, these names always shared similarities in their letters. Whenever I play a specific genre of a game, take FPS (First-Person Shooter) games, I always use the name Aidren or maybe something simpler, Gunner or Sharpshot. If my memory is correct, which only somehow works on games or my aliases, the first I used was Ryven, then Rovum in RPGs. The name Ryven I took had most memories of RPG. It became sentimental. Later, I switched to Rovum due to some complications I'd leave behind for now. Like the first, it held the same memories, albeit less than before.

"Adventurer, it is best you determine your new name quickly. You've been contemplating there for almost half an hour." The voice said in a reminder-like tone. I could tell that he was getting impatient. Its booming sound had me mentally flinched while having a quick shudder.

"I have? I'm sorry." I apologized in a hurry. Rovum or Ryven? Ryven or Rovum? These game names hold too much sentiment for me as if they're real! Ugh.

"Perhaps the randomizer button could help you.''

"I've got it!" My voice got a bit louder than it should be, making me red with embarrassment.

"Thank Caelum you finally have it!" The voice muttered. I couldn't help but stifle my laugh at his impatience.

-Please enter your new name, adventurer.-

«Nevrym»

Pressing the Enter key, the name screen changed to a confirmation. I pressed the O button without a doubt. Cracks started to spread outwards from the screen's center. It stretched until it reached the sides and corners. As soon as the breaks touched the corners simultaneously, it broke into various sizes of shards. The shards then fell down, becoming dust in the wind before it could touch the black floor.

"Nevrym." The voice echoed throughout my surroundings like earlier. The only difference now was that it came from a single direction, unlike before. Out of the darkness shone a ball of pure light.

The light hovered in midair for a moment. It rose up a bit then floated back down to where it was. I started to walk towards it. That light ball could be the voice speaking to me earlier. It's either that or this is something entirely new.

"Welcome to the Lyfeod Realm. I am Arcus, Lord of the Pentorian Gods and Arcanea's overseer. " The orb introduced himself with a booming voice.

I first found it dodgy for a ball to be a god but I remembered that in RPGs, gods either took pride in their form or they'd mask it in front of an unworthy audience. Upsetting gods, much less asking questions, became an unspoken rule in games because of the misfortune it can bring.