Beta Test, Commence!

Enter Nexoria
''Bzzt. Bzzt.''

The lone lightbulb in Andrei Sokolov’s garage continued to flicker on and off, sustaining itself of what little power the young man could spare for the room. Covered in grease and wearing nothing but a navy blue tank top and dark grey sweats, Andrei stared at the run down mustang placed in the centre of the garage. He sighed as he stared at the vehicle, tossing a wrench up and down with his right hand, catching it as it fell. Andrei’s sleep schedule today had been strange, having fallen asleep at 7pm on purpose. When he had woken up, it was 3am. And unfortunately, what he was waiting for wasn’t until 5am his time.

At 12pm EST, it was time for the Beta Testing of Nexoria Online. Cross-compatible over PC and VR-headsets, the game was set to be a huge hit. And alongside some others, Andrei was selected to be one of the few that would become Beta Testers. Andrei had one goal in mind with joining this game, to go professional. That kind of income would help his living situation drastically, maybe even give him enough money to leave Russia.

Andrei turned to face the clock on the wall of the garage. 4:40am. He sighed as he made his way back into his small house, not worrying about waking anybody up. After all, he was living by himself. First thing was first, wash off all the grease and oil stains. Freshen up for the game that laid ahead.

4:55am, Andrei plopped down on his chair, turning to face his PC dressed in the same clothes as earlier. His PC didn’t seem to match the aesthetic of his home. Triple monitor display, a keyboard that glowed when a key was pressed and a cutting-edge mouse. It was as if all of Andrei’s money went into maintaining the PC and its appendages.

He logged in, and clicked on the application. The application had been sent to him and the other Beta Testers a few weeks ago, and launching it would open up Nexoria. The purple icon expanded, revealing a gold and royal violet GUI. The logo gleamed in the background, a tower behind even that. But smack in the centre of the screen were two white bars. One of them read “Enter Username”, while the other read “Enter Password.”

Andrei typed in the credentials he wanted, smiling as he entered the username “WrongWrench”. The next screen to pop up was the avatar customization. Andrei clicked what he wanted, before moving onto what appeared to be the final screen. It asked him to pick what class he wanted. He grinned at the sight of Paladin, bringing his mouse down to click it. He suddenly paused, taking in a sharp inhale. Then he sneezed, jerking the mouse down and clicking the “Archer”.

“Nyet!” Andrei cried out. “Fignya, fignya!”

The screen turned white, and Andrei’s character was brought into the world of Nexoria.

WrongWrench, or Wrench for short, was an Archer Road from the Warrior Path. Standing at 5’11”, Wrench boasted smooth caucasian skin with toned features, with ichor gold eyes. Flowing from his head was long crimson red hair, travelling down to his mid chest region. In terms of his clothing, Wrench was wearing a white suit that revealed a deep purple scar that splayed itself across his chest. He also possessed aquamarine pants that blended into steel boots. On his forearms was an armguard to prevent from the bowstring whipping against his arms. And then came his bow. Silver in design with spokes sticking out from the front. Six strings, coupled in two and split in three segments. On his back was a silver colour of arrows, seemingly attached directly to the back of the suit.

While Wrench was upset by the misclick, he began to look around…wherever he was. It appeared like a boundless white void, the colour the only thing Wrench could make out. Out of curiosity, Wrench strung an arrow on his Longbow back and fired it forwards. The arrow continued to fly, before fading into the white abyss.

A GUI flickered into existence for Wrench as Andrei brought it up. It was a map, the top of which read “Floor 0.” The same GUI blipped away as Andrei continued to look around.

Wrench shrugged, guessing that there was nothing left to do except wait for the others to log in.

Close by to Andrei, or at least the next best thing, was Valen Sjöberg in his apartment in Sweden. For him life couldn't be better seeing as the 12pm EST opening hours was merely 6PM, plenty of time to play and no need to worry if his sister was woken up. Valen had done nothing but type endlessly on his PC, never backing away from it.

On one screen to his left was a social media chat named "Rövhål" which seemed to be going back and forth in terms of typing. On his right was another social media chat that seemed to be following updates of Nexoria, a far slower pace that his eyes could keep track on. Right in the middle was what Valen truly cared about though as he waited for a file to finish it's download.

Aldrig. one person in his group chat has replied simply. A smirk grew on Valen's face.

Oh ja, ses snart! was his reply but he could tell it would annoy them. They would have to wait a lot longer than him to join the game and with the tabs closed, his only screen open was the downloading tab, he started to ready himself.

Download Complete! The tab gave him a lot of joy as he was finally ready to join the game, as such he opened it up but before doing so he worked on fixing his microphone and a small application on the right that would modify his voice. Once he felt he had something that was believable, he entered in his username "Vall_Xiocient" and started to create his character.

He took a great amount of time into the female avatar before him, focusing on ensuring she was beautiful but also a fair maiden as he had already decided he was going to become a player who supported a Goddess, more so a made-up Goddess he had spent the pass week creating much like Vall's backstory. Tweaks where made here, tweaks where made there until he was finished. He clicked the class that made the most sense, a Cleric before entering the world itself.

A red haired women stood before Wrench as she entered the area in a glowing pillar of light, her first time spawning in. Stuck at shoulder length it settled as Vall fully came to existence. She twisted the hair a bit nervous to speak knowing that if things had failed her voice wouldn't match up and so she just paced around in the white void before her first. She was much shorter than Wrench and it was obvious that her class was Cleric but the clothes she was befitting.

Gowned in light clothing, there black fingerless gloves, shorts and top it was a rather basic outfit at first glance, her boots were even just plain black. That was until her robe was brought forward, looking much more like a cape since it was so short in length. It was white and gold in it's main colours with a darker red than anything else in the room - for now - was bearing, closing towards a maroon shade. It was incredibly detailed as if it was hand stitched just moments before she appeared. Light armor covered her feet as well as some maroon socks other than her neat and cloth-like black boots. What was odd though, as Vall seemed to get used to the menus before her, was a silver crown that was on her head and a deeper shade of red eyes that seemed to glance at the menu.

She had asked ever so kindly for the special item... had they forgotten or ignored the request? She thought all of this in a panic until she found the inventory, a book being the only object other than her equipped clothes. Quickly she equipped it too as it appeared in a beam of light, a thick book that seemed to float for some moments before Vall snatched it out of the air, clasping it close to her.

"I'm glad," the soft female voice spoke, only a mild hint of a swedish accent being heard to tie Vall to the real identity before the screen, "bless Dia for this gift."

Jason sat down at his desk, checking the download of the game he had been selected to play: Nexoria. It had sounded interesting from when he first heard of its development, the trailers seemed incredibly, and the gameplay looked fun. Given his age (and simply the chances), Jason was delighted to find out that he had won the opportunity to beta test for the game. And it certainly helped that the beta test's release date started after his summer vacation. Although, now that the game was so close, he couldn't hold in his excitement. He'd probably be playing this all summer, just like he did every summer, albeit with different games.

He finished customizing his avatar: Vrath, a tall, handsome archer with a mysterious past. He'd decide to reveal the backstory to the other players as they went along, as soon as he found it necessary. He clicked the start button, and Vrath materialized on his screen.

Vrath looked around the pure, white chamber, a bit confused. Why not start in an actual level instead of a void. He looked over, catching sight of the first two people to log in, a cleric and a...

"Dammit..." Vrath swore under his breath, "I wanted to be the only archer."

The sound of his cellphone alarm woke him up. "5:00am". Hathor Jahad rose up from his bed, and headed to his usual routine, one that would change slightly today. He washed up and began to prepare his coffee. He was glad he didn't choose to give summer classes, but it didn't mean he had no work to do. The third installment of his second book series couldn't write itself. Luckily, the deadline was still in about a year, and he was going at a good pace. He did his morning workouts and after showering, he sat on his computer, glancing at the game that he had taken an interest in. He had still four and a half hours left before he could enter, as such, he decided to write.

He glanced to his right, where a bookshelf stood, filled with books and in the center, the trilogy that made him a recognized author. As a mere sixteen-year old gamer, Hathor had released his first book series, "Malfurion, the Timeless Warrior." Its focus was on a former warrior from Athens, who, by product of powerful magics, was sent through time and space, with the purpose of enacting several roles across various timelines and worlds. The adventures of this ancient warrior was an instant hit, and Hathor was proclaimed as a genius of his generation. But in truth, he was just a lonely kid that wrote and played games. After his best-selling book, Hathor decided to leave his competitive gaming team and focus on his writing skills and education, in order to secure his future. But he continued to play video-games every now and then, there was something about that escape and freedom it brought to him, that not even writing could quench.

The story of Malfurion soon ended, with an inconclusive end that left fans wanting for more. Critics had all different views on this kind of approach, some liked the mystery, while some outright hated the fact that, no one knew what happened to Malfurion at the end. Had he finally gone back to his time, did he continue as an ageless warrior for eternity? No one knew the answer, not even Hathor himself. But this...this world, Nexoria, would be the next chapter in Malfurion's tale. There was a peculiar aspect about this character, and it was that he never had a strict moral standing. His views and his actions changed depending on the time and place he was randomly sent, sometimes even acting as a downright villain.

Hathor saw this game, that offered the latest advances in technology, with never before seen graphics and play styles, apparently one could literally "feel" the world through the avatar, and this was the chance that Hathor saw, as the setting for Malfurion's return.

"12:00pm." Hathor had finished his work and finally entered the game. He turned off his phone, leaving an automatic response saying "he was busy." As the game started, Hathor was surprised at the sheer level of detail in the character creation menu. This was perfect, he could recreate Malfurion up to his most minuscule detail. The red and green eyes that symbolized his status as a warrior that never belonged anywhere, with a mysterious reason for his existence and his actions. "This is already quite interesting." Hathor muttered to himself, as after a long while of extremely delicate detailing and creation, Malfurion was ready, and the Assassin class was chosen. He entered the world of Nexoria, only to find himself standing in the middle of a white void. His clothing consisted of something similar to typical greek and roman attire, with a skulled belt and a cerberus-like shoulder pad. His appearance was strikingly similar to that of the book character, with short, dark brown hair, fair skinned and of average height.

Malfurion looked around, before grabbing the sword sheathed on his back. He twirled with it on his hand as he slashed at the air with incredible speed. He rested the sword on his shoulder, and walked towards the trio not too far from him. He had no desire to interact...or did he? Regardless, he walked closer and squatted, awaiting whatever came next of this Beta Test, tapping the sword constantly on his shoulder. What adventure, and what moral standing would Malfurion follow now? Only time would tell...

"...It's fine, I wasn't planning to go out today anyway," Wendell Guinto stretched his arms out before he quickly tapped his cellphone alarm off to avoid waking up any of his roommates.

11:30pm wasn't the most desirable time to be up playing games anyway, but if he needed to catch up with others, he would have had needed to start playing as soon as his download had finished. And right on time, five hours and a bit and the game was ready to be opened. Rushing to his computer, Wendell began clicking around, opening a chat with friends in the background that had began to liven up, and a video he could listen to as he went through the download process. The download process in question was just the routine clicking and scrolling, as several tabs opened, with several pages that Wendell didn't really look over. At that point, he could have just promised to sell his soul to the game without even knowing. With the amount of tabs and pages that came up, he wouldn't have minded if it meant that he could be done with all the agreements and whatever. After a couple minutes of mindless clicking of buttons and boxes, the game started in a new application screen that was windowed, still allowing him to see the chat with his friends and pause the video that had been playing in the background.

Entering the game under the username 'Gai', he was then greeted with screen to customise his avatar. Wendell's eyes dimmed in life as he dropped backwards into his seat and sighed, rubbing both his eyes with his knuckles before letting out a loud, irritated groan, that might have woke up his roommates if his alarm had not before. Returning to his computer, Wendell gritted his teeth and began clicking through the features, relatively annoyed by how many options there was. "Well hello there, it's been a while." He muttered before creating his character.

After twenty minutes or so, Wendell was finally finished with Gai's appearance: a slightly taller young man, with black and red hair on both sides, dressed in a black hoodie with light pants. The hair style he had chosen seemed to hide his ears too well, but for the other hair styles that Wendell could pick from, this one seemed to fit Gai's character most. Wendell was a sucker for character customisation, and seemed to take it a little bit more seriously than others, but with what the game had to offer, he could move through the process a little quicker than usual. What stood out about Gai more was the tired but piercing maroon eyes that laid under his hair, almost looking directly at Wendell whenever he scrolled around to look at the character's face. Gai looked as though he wanted to be set free into the game's world, though Wendell wasn't sure if Gai was ready to just yet. It took several more minutes of contemplation before Wendell could comfortably release Gai into Nexoria Online, taking a moment during the loading screen to fix up his mic and adjust some headphones over his head to immerse himself into the experience.

Summoned from a pillar of light, Gai took his first steps out in the white blank world, greeted by the sight of other people already logged in. Before making himself known to them, he would pull out a Summoning Tome, an item related his path as a Summoner, before investigating the rest of his inventory. Whilst looking through the pages, Gai failed to notice the creature standing next to him, panting away as he looked over the book's contents. It was when Gai accidentally looked to the side towards the creature's twisted form, did he realise enough to slightly jump back from the sight, disturbed by the creature's black fur and glowing eyes and mouth. This was his familiar? This was what the game chose for him? He had no qualms though, as it did look pretty cool, though it did look slightly different to what the creature was advertised as when he first saw the game. Why did it glow red instead of yellow?

"Hm. Well. I guess I should probably think up a name for you, huh," Gai thought out loud, with it actually being Wendell through the mic, "I think Moxie's a good fit. Yeah. Moxie."

"I like to make myself beliiiiiieeeeeveee." Dan Tejada sung to himself on his modest apartment his voice resounding through the thin walls that separated him from his angry neighbors.

"Damare!" that was definitely his angry neighbor, his voice accompanied by the pounding of the thin wall. Dan managed to respond with a badly enunciated sorry in japanese before his phone rang several times, causing him to jump out of his bed worriedly.

"I-is it time?" Dan swiped the phone’s screen with his thumb, causing the sound to stop as he looked at the time. 1 AM. Excitedly, he shuffled the contents of his desk throwing a few things here and there before his hands finally grabbed what he wanted.

“Here it is!” Dan looked at the VR headset he had asked his parents for his birthday…or well, his next few birthdays. He specifically wanted it for a new upcoming game called Nexoria, which he luckily ended up gaining a spot as a Beta Tester. He wasn’t a hardcore gamer or anything like that but he did admittedly, have a natural affinity to learning fast, and that’s exactly what he’d try to do on this game.

He carefully placed on the headset, which was connected to his computer and through confused motions, he managed to start up Nexoria. First came the username, without much thought he began to write his real name but stopped as he realized he couldn’t let others know that…probably. Deleting the last few letters, he settled on the username ‘Dante’ before continuing.

He customized his character with the broad range of selections before finally, choosing his class as Paladin. His character, Dante had blonde hair and golden eyes. He wore a dark tunic with blue linings as well as black pants and boots. His skin was clear, and his face, for some reason seemed somewhat serious. In terms of physicality, he was slightly taller than the real Dan, and likely more athletic too. A spear was strapped unto his back, and it wasn’t until he was summoned that he realized this.

Gazing at the nearby vicinity, a group of users seemed to be huddled. Dante slowly approached them, somewhat nervous as to who he would meet and what would await.