Chapter 22

　　The Darkness faded, revealing a scene of utter devastation.

　　Kal stood on a plain. The sky above was grey and murky. In the distance, a city burned. Its skyscrapers crumbled as they succumbed to the flames. Overhead, fire trails streaked through the clouds from a barrage of missiles, each adding to the destruction and sending great gouts of fire and debris skyward.

　　Its realism instantly brought him back to the fall of Caledon. Even the scent in the air was the same, smoke and the acrid sting of ozone.

　　In front of Kal, squads of Mechs fought each other for dominance. Bluish-white laser fire from Heavy Lasguns burnt holes through cockpits, each accompanied by thunderous loud cracks` as they discharged.

　　A hovering Mech shot a railgun at a shielded Colossus.` The depleted uranium round ricocheted off its powerful shields, burying itself into the ground and leaving a smoking crater.

　　It was overwhelming and terrible but majestic, a scene that left Kal stunned.

　　"In a Galaxy without the guidance and benevolent rule of our Emperor, lawlessness and chaos rage across the stars. Will you become a unifying force or take advantage of the turmoil for personal benefit?" A voice thundered out as the sounds of fighting faded.

　　Kal found himself in blackness again, the word MechTech BattleWarrior` lighting the sky above like a moon.

　　"Impressive." Kal whispered.

　　He stood in a white room, the wall in front of him a mirror, reflecting his image onto himself. On the mirror`s surface, words scrawled across, written in scarlet ink.

　　Character Creation. Note: Your height and weight cannot be adjusted, as this will affect gameplay.`

　　It made sense. Kal was doing this simulation to prepare for actual combat. It would not be easy to adjust if he changed his physical attributes. He had enough difficulty adapting as it was. It would be too great a change if he shrunk by two feet or became a giant.

　　Standing before the Mirror, Kal saw himself reflected perfectly on its surface. His height, weight and face matched his virtual avatar. While he wore a black and red uniform in real life, his avatar wore a simple outfit: blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

　　Curious, he focused on his face, willing his avatar to shift some of his features. He couldn`t alter his nose, cheeks or the shape of his lips, but he could make his hair different colours, modifying the length and style.

　　To obscure his identity, he settled for a long messy hairstyle with strands hanging over his face, keeping the black colour to avoid attention. Focusing on this jawline, he willed` a beard to sprout, keeping it untidy and untrimmed.

　　Kal laughed as he saw his appearance. He reminded himself of his Grandfather from some of the Holos he had seen. A thousand years ago, Emeritus Caledon looked similar, although significantly tidier. He doubted his Grandmother would have accepted the Duke looking like a scraggly wanderer in a t-shirt and jeans.

　　Aside from his height and his handsome features, Kal doubted anyone who didn`t interact with him regularly would recognize him. By accepting his appearance, the mirror faded. The wall showed another sentence.

　　State your chosen name you want to be displayed to others in-universe. Note: Your location will automatically be added to your chosen name to reduce duplication.`Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author`s consent. Report any sightings.

　　Kal thought for a moment. Adding of Caledon` may draw some attention, but over 5 billion people lived there. There would likely be thousands of players with that title.

　　"Merit of Caledon." Kal said, deciding to honour his Grandfather. Who would ever guess that the current Baron of Caledon would playing a game? He doubted anyone would be astute enough to connect the dots if he didn`t try to draw attention to himself.

　　The white room faded, his vision darkening before he found himself on a dust-covered street. A few buildings surrounded him, small and ramshackle constructions that appeared to be made out of materials the residents had scrounged together. The wind was blowing, ratting an old-fashioned wooden sign that read New Haven.`

　　In the corners of his eyes, Kal could see something similar to a HUD, a compass at the top with several symbols highlighted. One hung above what appeared to be a shop, a simple gun. At the same time, another armour chest piece symbol was next to another structure.

　　He had a green bar on the bottom right of his vision with the word Health` above it.

　　Before he could grow confused about what he was supposed to do next, a voice whispered in his ear.

　　"Welcome to New Haven. It has only recently been colonized on the very edge of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm. Why don`t you help some of the locals? I`m sure they will be willing to assist you in return."

　　"Alright." Kal replied without thinking. It was an automated message, and he didn`t need to respond. Several markers appeared on his compass on the top of his eyesight.

　　Looking around, Kal saw several people standing in doorways or strolling down the street. He assumed they were part of the game from the vacant look in their eyes and lack of names above their heads.

　　From what Kal could tell, New Haven was a tutorial, a way to learn the basics of the game.

　　As he walked down the street, he didn`t see any other players, leading him to think it was a closed space designed only for him. It was likely that once he completed the mission here, he could leave and meet other people.

　　Shrugging his shoulders, he followed the closest Marker.

　　� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

　　A man sat on a rocking chair on the front porch of an old-style home on the outskirts of town. It had been easy to find him. Kal only needed to follow the marker on his compass until he arrived. The dialogue played as soon as Kal arrived at the indicator.

　　"Hello, Stanger! I`m having trouble with Rottes. They grow big here in New Haven, and I need someone to clear them out of my field behind my house." An older man said to Kal. It was strange to have a person speaking to him without matching his eyes as if the man were talking to the air.

　　"If you can handle it, grab that gun over on that table and a box of bullets." The older man finished, gesturing to the table beside him. An antique bolt action rifle sat on it. Rusted and tarnished, it looked ancient enough to have seen use on Terra itself before the Exodus.

　　Shrugging his shoulder, Kal approached the weapon. As his hand neared it, a text box appeared above the gun.

　　Bolt Action Rifle

　　Ammo: 7.62x63mm

　　Description: Old, reliable and cheap to manufacture. The perfect weapon for hunting Rottes in the outskirts of the galaxy. It`s better than using a rock and a pointy stick. There`s a reason weapons like this can still be found in the frontier worlds.

　　"Wonderful. I don`t even know what a Rotte` is." Kal said, picking up the archaic rifle and the box of bullets. Carrying one in each hand, he walked toward the back of the house, where a field of yellow wheat stretched for miles.

　　New Haven must be located on a recently terraformed world. The style of the buildings, the lack of infrastructure and the non-native plants and animals all told a story of the initial steps to colonize a frontier world on the galaxy`s outer rim.

　　Finding a stump where the farmer had likely cut a tree down in the past, Kal placed the box of ammo on its surface, pulling out a handful of bullets and stuffing some in his pocket. Hefting the gun, he took a moment to figure out how to load the weapon.

　　Pulling back the rusted bolt handle, he fed a bullet into the chamber before pushing the handle forward again.

　　"I should at least try it before finding one of these Rottes." Kal whispered, looking for a target. The Farmer had conveniently left a few glass bottles on a fence post, undoubtedly for this very purpose. Lifting the rifle, he secured it against his shoulder, aiming through the iron sights at one of the bottles.

　　With a bang,` he fired, completely missing the bottle. He watched as his bullet impacted a tree far behind and to the right of where he was aiming. As much as Kal wanted to blame the rifle, it was far more likely that he was just a terrible shot.

　　"This is going to take a while." Kal stated, reloading the rifle.