3035 AD

Mundane life had not changed in a thousand years. In a strange twist of irony, it was just as boring as ever, and yet somehow that didn’t feel strange at all when one thought about the nature of the mundane.

The endless flow of waking to work, working to live, and passing the days until the darkness came; to then rest and pass the day again in the same cycle was so very -core- to the mundane world. It was depressing, really.

Particularly so for Mina Wes, as she sighed and looked down at the accolade resting in her hands. A framed piece of paper, with some fancy script forming the border, a fancy seal from her fancy institution of education; all very fancifully telling her that she’d earned another laurel for her wreath and crown. “Ground breaking research” it said, for the cause of her award, “Changing the future of mankind” she had been praised and celebrated with; but really, what had changed? Even if the flow of humanity as a whole was shifted through her efforts, through the ages that would stretch after her, what difference did it make now?

What difference, really, had she made in the world that was still so very mundane that it hadn’t changed since the start of the Information Age? Just the thought of that was depressing. Depressing enough that she, a double doctorate, who had multiple lauded projects under her belt at the crisp young age of thirty; was still caught in the rote ticking of the cogs of life. Of mundanity, even with the possibility of hundreds more years ahead of her to try things, do things and achieve more and greater feats; yet for all that she did or saw or achieved, it didn’t change that one indelible facet. The mundane.

Not all the medical marvels of the world, of chasing the infinite of immortality and reaching out to every star, would change this mundane life she lived. Day to day, night to night, day to night and work to sleep and repeat. Even her escapes, her favorite rpg games, were becoming a part of the mundane. A rote journey of building a hero, fight the evil whatever, win and save the world; yet another laurel in her wreath, and then what? Where was the replayability? Where was the novelty, after the fact? Where was the joy, when the mechanics became so very….mundane.

She sighed, reaching over to her coat and rummaging in the pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and tapping it idly against her palm. Tap tap tap, tamp down the tobacco all through the cylinder, open the lid and retrieve; click click click and fwoosh, there went the flame of her manual action lighter. A rote action, a mundane motion that even the pleasure of the nicotine hitting her mouth, seeping into her veins through the mucus membrane and her saliva; had become boring. Dampening the high, killing the buzz, making everything wash in a deep colorless gray of mundanity. Coaxing out a sigh, from Mina, as she set down the accolade and ran a hand through her deep green hair.

The color had been interesting, when she’d first gotten it. A novelty, a break from the mundane, but the care of it had made that novelty wear off; and the rote routine of dye and care and color loss again to re-dye and repeat had killed her enjoyment of the experience. So she had gotten an augment, to just keep it green, and not have to worry about it. Yet another marvel of modern medicine that she’d contributed to. Augments for hair color, eye color, skin color, features or lack thereof and any body shape you could think of. Hell, she’d even spent a week as the wildest hybrid of chimeric features that one could think, and it still felt….boring. Mundane, that she could pick it at the click of a button, the slurp of a needle injecting into her veins.

Golden eyes glared at the computer on her desk, staring at the depressingly ad-filled screen, until something caught her eye. An advert that actually managed to spark a bit of interest in the depressed woman; twinkling with the magic words she never thought she’d see from an MMO. No skills. No tutorial. No stats. An utterly open world, where the only limit to how one could grow, was one’s own ambition. Mulling over the tantalizing advert, Mina was surprised to find she was actually….-excited-, to try it. How long had it been, since she last felt this excited for a game? When was the last time her heart had raced, over anything at all, in this mundane world?

She couldn’t recall, so without even hesitating a moment more, she clicked the ad. Buying the game, and setting it to download in her VR headset, while she got up to get into her suit. Full Dive games had been fun for a while, but she had grown bored of the stories all too soon, completing game after game with ease from the rote nature of the story that never felt like she was -really- there. Her body never ached, after a night fighting monsters, her teeth never clenched at the thought of taking vengeance on another player. She’d had no drive to keep playing, when she completed the maps and the glossaries and bestiaries and side-quests. It had all been too mundane.

But this? This, held the spark of something new, that she was -actually- interested in. So perhaps…..it would maintain that newness, that spark, and she might actually enjoy it for once. That thought alone, making her hands tremble with excitement as she zipped up the suit, putting out her cigarette and scooping up the helmet on her desk; slipping it onto her head and booting up the game. A thrill of anticipation playing through her mind and down her spine, as she saw the title bloom in the darkness.

Age of Ambition

It was so very strange, to go from the black, to suddenly be standing in the midst of a space. A soft clicking sound coming from all around her, as Mina looked about, watching the world “loading”, into being. A flickering of being that flitted at the edges of a large space she was standing in, a space of stone flagstones that felt cool and smooth against bare feet. Making her marvel, at the sensation, before blinking as she realized she was naked, hoping inwardly that that wouldn’t be a continued thread when she loaded into the game itself. It always sucked, when games started a person off naked. But the sight only held her attention for a moment, thought flickering through her mindscape, and she was suddenly dressed in a cotton shirt and soft breeches. Telling her immediately that this game was fantasy based, seeing the familiar clothing.

Though as she stared at it, she realized that no screen was opening. No item stats, no window telling her what she was wearing with corny names for the item like [Novice’s Clothes], nothing of the sort she had -expected-. A surprising shift, that brought a pleased smile to her lips, curling them at the edges as she looked around to take in the space around her.

It was massive, all told, for a loading space. No other players visible, but that was fine, she was only logging in for the first time so this was to be expected. But what -was- visible, were statues, gathered in a ring around the edge of the space; as though ringing in the loading area, each of the statues made of the same stone, and each of them equally strange. All of them stood with bowed heads, their faces and beings blank and featureless, swathed in deep cloaks that only left a few things visible; the weapons at their feet. Padding over to one, she took a closer look, marveling at the strangely detailed egg that seemed to pulse and flicker at its feet; a sense of choice lingering in the back of her mind, as her hand hovered close, before pulling it away. Looking around the statue base, and finding a plaque that was written in a runic language she seemed to know, though she didn’t recall learning it. Reading the words written across it; “The path of the Beast, is fraught with peril, hunted on all sides. Think you a Beast, traveler?”

It was a strange phrase, but as she mulled over it, she couldn’t help but be amused. No games came to mind that let you play as a monster, immediately raising her interest higher. Walking around the space and taking in the statues, quickly sensing a theme, among these “Paths” as they seemed to be called. Each was centered around a different walk of life, from the Beast path and Musician path, to the Fire and Wind paths, to even the weapons that she saw at the feet of the last four statues. Eyeing them a span longer than the others.

The Path of the Bow, the Path of the Axe, the Path of the Spear, and lastly……Her eyes fell to the statue to the left of her, and the sword at its feet. The Path of the Sword, arguably the most iconic of all fantasy styles, heroes using magic swords to defeat demon lords and dragons coming to mind by the dozen as Mina mulled on the blade; her eyes flicking over every detail of the surprisingly simplistic weapon. It wasn’t anything special, not flamboyant like a legendary item, or seemingly possessed of any magic that she could feel; like how she had sensed different temperatures from the elemental paths, or a strange warmth from the Fist, Musician, and Beast paths. This one felt oddly…..quiet.

As though it was waiting for her. Waiting for her to choose, to take hold of it, and the hard road that she would walk in doing so. A simple blade of steel, with a modest guard, and an unadorned hilt. It was iconic, the path of the sword, to fantasy; but that didn’t mean it was -bad-. A bit overplayed, maybe, but who cared if she stuck to a cliche in this game? As long as it was fun, that was what mattered, right?
Fun…..that thought brought her to a stop. When had she last thought of something as -fun-? Mina couldn’t remember, and as she looked around at the other statues, spear, bow, axe, wind, fire, water, earth, holy, and dark; even gazing to the fist, musician, and beast paths, she didn’t feel the same pull of fun, from them. Interesting, perhaps, was how they felt to her. But fun? The only one that felt that way, was this sword. As though an old friend was calling out to her, to see the world through fresh eyes, with a familiar weight at hand.

Smiling to herself, pitying the fact that weapons couldn’t -actually- talk, especially this early into a game; Mina walked up to the sword path’s statue. Eyeing it for a long span of moments, longer, before reaching out and taking the hilt of the blade; and pulling. Only to be immediately off-put by how -heavy- it was! Surprised enough that her arm wrenched a bit, trying to account for the weight, and she grimaced at the twinge of pain it gave. Before reaching out with her other hand and grasping the hilt under her first, grunting as she lifted it with the aid of both limbs. Regretting, in that moment, not hitting the gym more; even as she marveled about how real the weight of it felt in her hands. Taking a few moments to acquaint herself with the feel of it, holding and hefting the weapon, and swinging it a few times; chiding herself mentally at how slow her swings were.

Not even paying attention to the world filling in around her, as the stone hall faded from view, the sword statue the last that she could see as she worked through several more motions. Moving slowly, testing the weight and adjusting her body’s balance to account for it, trying to get used to it but struggling to adjust. It really was a hard skill to learn! Mina had never been more excited~ Grinning like a fool, as she looked down at the blade in her hands, and spoke in her softly hoarse voice to the silence of the statue watching. “So this is what bliss feels like…….How wonderful~ Let’s see what sort of adventures we can have then, you and I.”

She looked to the statue, before glancing around, taking in the strange shift in the terrain. A grassy hill having formed under her that she didn’t notice with the boots she now wore. In the distance, a village was visible, and she could see a road leading to it at the base of the hill that she and the statue stood at; glancing back to the faceless statue and smiling, lifting the blade with both hands in an approximation of a salute. Eyes closed as she offered a sincere prayer of gratitude, in her thoughts, before speaking quietly aloud to the statue. “I will take care of it, this blade you’ve entrusted me with. I will walk the path of the sword as far as my feet can take me, and when I return…..”

She smirked, opening her eyes with a confident gleam. “Then it will be me, who there will be a statue erected for, in your place~ You wait for it, faceless swordsman, alright? You wait for me.” Without waiting for a reply that wasn’t coming, she sheathed the sword across her back and walked down the grassy waves of verdant to the road below; heading towards the town, and none the wiser of the script that had appeared on the plaque below the statue. 

“The path of the sword begins, with a thousand swings…..”