A New World, an immersive game experience

"I don't know." This time it was Eldrian who avoided her gaze. "I didn't want to, I don't want to fight people's beliefs. I just want the world to be peaceful. To be able to enjoy a simple life..."

"I wish I had never bought into their stories. I wish I had never decided to play..." Eldrian's tears fell freely. Regret filled him, but regret did no one any good. Thus he pushed it down, pushed it into the abyss of his mind. 

He had learned the truest truth. War is only enjoyable in games. Games where no one is truly hurt, where it is all just for fun. 

That is not what it is here in ANW, nor is it how it is on Earth.

"Help me save... Everyone." Eldrian pleaded, desperate to gain some type of support. To no longer be alone in his struggle. 

"I will." Nodding, Sofiera went to get the books of myths and legends. It was mostly considered folktales, but in these circumstances, it seemed that they might have been more than just tales. Ignoring something because of a label would be another type of ignorance. 

"I'll also start to contact the temples, there is no Lightstone in Kynigo. However, we might be able to organize one."

"Thank you." Eldrian was truly grateful that he hadn't even needed to ask. 

"I am also certain that Pelaros will give you a Magic Crystal should you explain everything. Which will only leave the element of time..."

Eldrian nodded and decided to share the last secret he still had -outside of the origin of the AI-- of the gods of this world. "I might already have it."

"What do you mean?"

"I've recently discovered something unbelievable, even among all the other things I have gone through."

The sentence helped Sofiera prepare herself, however, no matter how much she would have tried. She would never have been able to see this coming. 

"I'm the element of time."

Upon saying this, Eldrian suddenly felt something inside him awaken. His consciousness pulled to a different realm, he watched... No, he lived flashes of memories. 

"You impress me. Of all our blood, you are the first to stumble on the truth so early." A cold distant voice spoke into the void of space, filled with countless lights of countless galaxies. Each light telling a story, often- no, always ending in death.

"And who would you be?" Eldrian countered back, having had enough strange encounters to no longer be surprised by something like this. 

"Me, I am no one. Nothing, and everything. A collective consciousness, something that does not exist."

"If you don't exist, then how are we talking."

"We aren't, you are talking with the lingering memories of your blood."

"What do you mean?"

"Watch!"

The space changed and Eldrian found himself in some historical ruins. Only, the ruins were not ruins. The temple still stood, artwork adorned the walls, people in ancient Greek-style clothing stood around him. 

He was kneeling before someone on a stone throne, this person had pure white hair and a beard reaching to his chest. His gaze was that of a tyrannical king. 

"You would have us relinquish our power!?" This king shouted in fury, lighting filled his eyes and sparked around his hands. The stone throne turned to dust under him. 

"We must!" Eldrian replied and the next thing he knew was excruciating pain as he died. The last image was of this king striking down at him with a sword of lighting. 

***

Eldrian woke with a start back in his body, sweat dripped down his back as he truly felt like he had just died. A death truer than any he had experienced before. 

"Eldrian, Eldrian?! Eldrian are you alright?" The centaurette moved to catch him as he started losing his balance. It took Eldrian some time to recover from those-- memories.

"What happened?" Sofiera asked when Eldrian seemed to have stabilized. 

"That was my line." Eldrian countered while smiling wryly, trying to distract himself while his mind figured out what that was. "I just suddenly seemed to be someone else, and I died."

Explaining a bit more did not really help, but Sofiera did offer a good suggestion. 

"It sounds similar to an oracle."

"Oracle?"

"Yes, it also comes to them as a flashing memory. Showing them as someone else watching the scenes unfold. Normally, they are unable to move or speak, yet the body they inhabit will do so."

"But, I'm pretty sure this was not through divinity." Eldrian countered. 

"Yes, it does sound strange. Oracles normally depict the future, though it is never set in stone and always open to interpretation. What you described, it seems more like it is something from the past."

'Indeed, I'm pretty sure that was Zeus who killed you... Or whoever you were inhabiting.' Two commented. The shock of the experience brought him out of his reading.

"Is there anything else that was strange?"

"Yeah, everything," Eldrian replied offhandedly, however as he thought of it more he realized something else. "Wait, before the person I was in died. This king or whatever shouted at him about relinquishing their power."

"Why is that significant?"

"Because I think this was on our homeworld, on Earth. And if it was, then I am pretty darn sure who the one was who killed the person I was is. But what doesn't make sense is why they simply disappeared from history as a simple myth."

"Time?" Sofiera offered, it was how most things entered the realm of myths. 

"Of course, but... It wasn't that long ago. You would think if it was only two or three thousand years ago that there would be some proof of their existence left behind. Why..."

'Is it again something that has been hidden from the public? No way! It would be impossible to hide it so well... Unless there was some secret organization working on this since ancient times.'

'The descendants or allies of the one who was killed? Or maybe.' Sighing, Eldrian gave up. 

"Let's drop it for now. I want to try and reach the next Tier. Do you know any books about legacies?"

Sofiera shook her head, it was a term she had rumors of. At least in regard to what she felt Eldrian wanted. Basic family legacies she was certain he wasn't talking about and there were no official records -at least to her knowledge- of true legacies. 

"Then, can I get books on arrays and formations, and inscriptions?" Eldrian asked instead, willing to continue on without a template. As he had always done.

...

'Why take so many books?' Two asked, their inventory was now almost filled just with books. 

'I don't want to rush. We've only managed to get twenty mana crystals thus far.' Eldrian replied. 

'Which is plenty, that is about twenty thousand mana points right there.'

'Which isn't enough for what I am planning.'

'I know what you are planning... I still think it is insane.'

'So what if it is? With your help, we should be able to push much further.'

'And if it fails? Do you think things will just end peacefully?'

'Of course not, I am prepared to die and lose a couple of levels for this.'

'And you are sure we would make it out fine?'

"I see no reason why not," Eldrian replied, quickly looking down as he realized he said that out loud.

He normally talked out loud Two, on Earth. Doing so here would make him seem like a madman, it was better to not present himself as such.

Talking aloud was one of his coping mechanisms, to make their conversation feel more like it was between two people and not just him talking to himself. It also helped him sort out his thoughts better, and his emotions in particular too. 

AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.