World Of Wonders

"Welcome to the World of Wonders! Please stand by as your profile is loaded…"

Hawke woke up with a pounding headache– the sort one would get when they had slept for far, far too long.

He was already used to not having any measure of time, but this was different – heck, everything felt different, but before he could explore it, the voice that had just spoken in his mind returned.

"Profile loaded. Details are as follows.

Player ID: Victorian Hawke.

Age: 27.

S.e.x: Male.

Subscription type: Platinum.

The Character Creator has been loaded. Synchronizing body input and output signals. Synchronization shall be stopped if any problems are found.

Synchronizing senses.

Synchronizing vision…check.

Synchronizing hearing…check.

Synchronizing taste…check.

Synchronizing smell…check.

Synchronizing touch…check.

Synchronizing proprioception…check.

Final check. All senses loaded. One-time synchronization was successful.

Entering the World…"

Hawke had been unable to do anything except listen to this voice until now. It was as if he was asleep- he had no control of his body or anything else, but when those last three words echoed in his mind, everything changed.

Suddenly, he felt as if he was falling through an endless void, and in the next moment, it was as if a bed had come into being under him, catching him in its warm embrace and assuring him that he would no longer have to keep tumbling without control.

It started and ended abruptly, but it had a profound effect: in fact, it reminded Hawke of the feeling that one would get in their sleep, when they imagined that they were falling before waking up in a startled state.

He didn't remember what it was called, but he did know that it was used a lot in a movie about dreams within dreams which had been quite famous a couple of decades ago.

'What the hell am I even thinking?'

Getting this thought after seeing the kinds of things he was remembering instead of wondering about what the f.u.c.k was going on, Hawke opened his eyes.

A bright light was right above him, and it made him wince and squint, before raising his hands to cover his eyes.

Through his half-open eyes, he saw his hands, and this one, simple thing, which should be normal…took his breath away.

"H-how…?"

His mind completely blank, he asked this question, before opening his eyes wide and looking around.

He was in a vast, empty room, with a white floor and ceiling. He could see the walls far, far away, but there were no doors.

His military training, of course, made him search for exits first, but looking down made him forget this right away: he saw his n.a.k.e.d legs, and once again, he was struck dumb.

"Welcome to the Character Creator! First, a little introduction. As you must already know, this is World of Wonders Version 2, which features a completely different theme and engine! L.I.F.E is proud to say that unlike the previous versions, where the difference between the real and virtual world could be identified right away due to the pixellated version of the latter, the Engine that has been deployed here creates a World that is indistinguishable from reality! Hence, it has proudly been named the LifeEngine!"

'You're goddamn right…'

Getting this thought, Hawke continued to look at himself with fascination.

This was the reason why he had been so dumbstruck. In the decades he had spent as an NPC, all of his life had been filled with worlds that were almost life-like, but were never really those that anyone could completely lose themselves in. There had always been a certain cartoonish, pixellated quality to them that had allowed them to be distinguished from the real world, and often, he had found himself wishing that he could at least see a blade of grass and marvel in its natural perfection, instead of remarking about how artificial its edges or its stem looked.

It had always been the same with his own body, too: initially, he had had quite a lot of problems with coming to terms with it, but like all the others, he had adjusted.

Hence, being able to see a 'real' reproduction of his memories, which were actually the most precious part of him…was breathtaking, to say the least.

He couldn't get enough of it. He kept looking at his hands, legs, and c.h.e.s.t, again and again, admiring their smooth and strong curves, and for the first time in a long time…he felt alive, in every sense of the word.

Tears came in his eyes. Just this simple, small thing, which many wouldn't even notice in the course of their lives, meant so much to him, who had thought that he was sentenced to centuries of only living in those imperfect forms in those imperfect worlds, knowing how incredible reality was and missing it, while never having a chance to go back.

Could that old man…really be more than what he had seemed to be?

"Would you like to receive a brief summary of the theme? You can choose to skip this if you have already seen the adverts that have been aired all over the world."

The voice had been speaking all this while, but Hawke had been too absorbed in the pure joy of rediscovering reality.

As it repeated itself for the third time, though, he finally heard it and nodded, following which a galaxy popped up in front of him.

Startled, Hawke moved back, and that was when he realized that he was sitting on a bed in the middle of this empty room.

The galaxy was in front of the bed: it was a circular mass of swirling planetary bodies, all of them shining and twinkling merrily, and Hawke realized that it vaguely reminded him of the Milky Way Galaxy.

"The theme is as follows:

You, the player…are a 'Celestial'. Having reached the ultimate level of existence which brings with it an unlimited lifespan, you have gotten…bored. Hence, to escape the evil clutches of your own mind which will pull you into insanity if you do not escape this state, you have taken it upon yourself to go on a journey that can be sung of for generations. Using your limitless imagination, you created a world with endless possibilities before filling it with various individuals whom you obtained from other worlds, in order to create something that you would never doubt to be 'fake'. Dictating that the primary objective of the journey should only be to bring joy to yourself by doing whatever you wish, you incarnated into it. Whether you want to rule the world under your feet as an Emperor, terrorize it as the Devil, or become revered as the ultimate warrior, anything is possible! Go forth, Celestial, and create your Odyssey!"

The story was accompanied by brilliant images which captivated Hawke, both because of how stunning they were to look at, and because he could sense that this was like the briefing before a mission, where he had to pay as much attention as he could.

When the word 'Celestial' was mentioned, a massive figure with no face was shown with its hands over the galaxy, looking as if it was in control of all of existence.

Insanity was shown as a faintly red-colored void, poised to swallow this being and the galaxy whole. It brought an ominous feeling, and those with faint hearts might even be scared if they saw the way it darkened the entire room.

Finally, the entire thing changed to show a globe, much like Earth, with the only difference being that the land and sea were proportionate, occupying half the globe each, instead of the latter dominating the planet, like it was in real life.

The last three images lingered in Hawke's mind: they were those of an Emperor wearing a majestic crown ordering around armies filled with thousands of people, a demon with horns laughing as thousands burned in front of it, and a faceless man holding a short sword in one hand and a spear in the other while casting spells above his head, bringing ruin on a battlefield singlehandedly with his awe-inspiring power.

Before Hawke could think of anything else, a gigantic mirror appeared in front of him, showing him his own body for the first time.

"Please customize the appearance of your character. Various options can be found in front of you. You can change the features, s.e.x, frame, race, and other characteristics of your character. Please note that there will be opportunities to change race by following certain questlines, if a player so d.e.s.i.r.es. More races will also be introduced with time. Please also note that all changes made here are final- if anything else needs to be changed, player will have to find in-game methods to do so."

In the mirror was an unfamiliar face. It was that of a blonde man with a sharp chin, high cheekbones, and a broad forehead.

Hawke was used to the 'disconnected' feeling of finding himself in a body that wasn't his own.

However…knowing from the announcement that this was something he could finally change, he ignored everything else and identified the part of the virtual interface in front of him which was labeled 'Feature Sculptor'.

They were all floating in the air, in the form of holograms with labels and switches and knobs, and after identifying what he wanted, he wondered how he was supposed to select it.

Knowing from experience that these games focused a lot on everything being 'instinctual', he merely pointed in that direction, and a voice echoed in the empty room again.

"Use the knobs to change features as you wish. You can also pinch your face to sculpt it, or upload a 3D mesh created in a supporting program."

Pinch?

Like a man possessed, Hawke began working on his face.

The minutes ticked by, but he didn't care.

One fear that he had always held deep within his heart…was that he would forget what he looked like.

Taking so many forms could really erode one's sense of self, and it was often those who had forgotten their own faces were always the most depressed and despondent in the world of NPCs.

It was only around three hours later that Hawke finally breathed out a sigh of relief, satisfied with what he saw in front of him.

Auburn hair, sharp nose, strong chin and a pair of clear, dark eyes.

Yes!

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Bursting out into a gleeful laugh, Hawke felt like jumping into the air.

'Why am I stopping myself?'

Getting this thought, he jumped off the bed and did so, whooping joyously and laughing so loudly that it began to echo in the room.

'This is me, Hallorann Hawke!'

He screamed this in his mind, again and again, until he finally knelt on the ground, holding his face in his hands, touching it and feeling it again after what felt like forever.

It was only after a few more minutes that he finally got up and checked out the other things he could change.

Unlike others who might want to escape reality at this juncture, his goal was to return to it as much as possible.

Hence, he modeled his body around what it had been before…everything that had happened.

Soon, the strong, yet fast body of a soldier could be seen, with corded, but proportionate muscles, built to output the best possible ratio of strength and speed.

It was here that his caution kicked in.

He had no idea what his situation was, at the moment, and obtaining what was in front of him after having nothing for so long meant that he treasured it very, very much.

Hence, wouldn't it be risky to c.o.c.kily expose his real face?

He didn't know how what was going on was possible, yet, but it would just be plain foolish to assume that there would be no problem if he made such a blatant mistake. Couldn't someone connect him with his identity, and couldn't this somehow alert the creators of this game, or whoever was behind all this, that someone who was supposed to be an NPC had become a player?

NO! That couldn't happen!

But after living for so damn long with the faces and bodies of others…Hawke wasn't willing to completely become someone else again, either.

His mind kicking into gear, he sunk into deep thought, and he only needed a moment to find an answer: camouflage.

Not even a minute later, Hawke let out a satisfied sigh.

A long scar was present on his face, running from right above his right eye to below it, and even the eye…had changed to resemble that of his namesake.

It was striking: the white in his eyes was replaced by the same shade as his hair- a deep red, and even though the pupil was still dark, the red around it made it pop.

He also changed the style of his hair from the classic military cut to a quiff haircut, and finally, he understood how a very famous superhero from the beginning of the 21st century was able to hide his identity by simply putting on glasses.

All he had made were two changes, but he was no longer the Hawke from before: no, the man who was looking back at him was a stylish, rugged person who looked like he meant business, but when he got a goofy smile on his face, it became clear that he was also down to have some fun, if the occasion called for it.

Satisfied, he flipped through the rest of the options, and laughed when he saw a setting to change the size of his genitals.

He glanced down and patted his dear friend before flipping past, but after a few moments…he came back, and adjusted the dial right up to the spot which didn't seem too unnatural.

Of course, this led to him ignoring the tear-filled look that his friend must be giving him, as he had always assured it that it was more than enough…

Finally, Hawke got to the last option, and by this point, he was sick of this empty room.

Like a starving man who had only been given a taste of the most delicious food, he wanted…more.

"I would f.u.c.k 'em all over, and make this World my bitch."

These words that he had said before to the old man echoed in his mind, and they made a smile come on his face.

However, that smile was instantly replaced by a dark look that seemed to come from the frigid tundra of the north, as he was reminded of everything he had had to go through at the hands of the players.

'Well…I wasn't kidding.'

Flipping through the list of races, Hawke saw that there were a lot of them, and in fact, he was familiar with them all.

After all, spending so much time in previous versions made it so that he probably had more knowledge than any player living, so he didn't have to think too much before making his choice.

'Human.'

A balanced race, with equal distribution of base stats, allowing one to go in whichever path they wished.

"As mentioned before, changes made will be final. Would you like to proceed?"

He simply nodded in response, and in the next second, the room disappeared.

"Entering Starting World. Name: Dimastea. Type: Fantasy. Please buckle in for a ride you will never wish to leave…"

Once again, Hawke entered that 'falling' state, and this time, the thing that appeared to catch him and jolt him awake was not a soft bed.

It was also soft…but it felt much more familiar, and instantly, realizing what it was, Hawke jumped up.

Before he could even see anything, though, a sudden sense of dizziness struck him, and with the world spinning in front of his eyes, he had to sit back down.

However…that didn't stop him from plucking the grass that he felt with his hands, and smelling the fresh earth around him.

He even smelled the grass…and he couldn't believe that he had missed this verdant scent, too.

"Humph, what a weirdo. Here- 5 bronze coins. Can't believe I lost that bet…"

A harsh voice floated into his ears, but Hawke was still too disoriented to even find out where it was coming from.

Yet…a second later, his hand flew out, guided by pure instinct, to catch the leg that was about to kick his side.

"Ha…ha…hahaha…HAHA…HAHAHAHAHA!"

His laughter started slowly, but soon, it was a full-blown roar.

"Wh-what…let go! He's crazy! Someone help me!"

"Too late…"

The hatred and rage that were compressed into these two words shocked the one who was about to scream louder for help into silence, but what he didn't know was that it was only a smidgen of all that was present in Hakwe's mind which had crawled out from hellhole after hellhole.

'THANK YOU, OLD MAN!', he screamed in his mind, before pulling that leg to make the one of whom it was a part fall to the ground.

Then, getting on top of him as he was still unable to see properly, Hawke…started pummeling his face.

Startled screams turned into grunts of pain, and then, even they stopped from being heard as Hawke's fists went through the skin, bones, and tissue.

Finally, the first thing that he saw in Dimastea, when his vision cleared…was a mangled mess of flesh and bones, where his attacker's head had previously been.

No one would be able to figure out how he had looked before.

It looked like there were a lot of people around him, but they had all cleared out, looking at him from a distance.

They expected him to throw up due to the gory sight, or at least act shocked, as he might have acted out of the instinct of self-preservation.

However, all he did…was laugh.

He laughed and laughed and laughed, until his throat went hoarse, and even then, he fell on his back and squeezed the earth beneath him with his fists while looking up at the clear, blue sky before laughing some more.

Finally, when he was done, he raised his hand to make his palm face the sky, and in a swift motion…he clenched it, tight, as if grasping what he saw within it, too.

At the same time, he spoke again in his head, and it was in a tone filled with a whirlwind of emotions.

'I, Hallorann Hawke, am here…and I shall fulfill my promise. I will uncover each and every secret of this damned place while making it kneel under my feet, and when I find the ones responsible for trapping me and so many others…I will make sure they die, even if it means that I have to sell my soul for it to happen. Until then…nothing and no one shall stand in my way, and if anyone dares to…they will meet the same fate. Whether fortune favors me, or not…I. Will. Succeed."