Aetheria

Aaron Vale opened his eyes beneath a wooden awning with rain falling three metres in front of him. The droplets struck a stone road, gathered between shallow grooves and travelled downhill toward a town whose rooftops were already visible through the trees.

For several seconds, Aaron remained where he was and listened.

Rain against wood.

A cart rolling somewhere beyond the bend.

Voices.

A dog barking twice before somebody called it back indoors.

The glasses had reproduced sound better than Aaron expected.

He raised one hand and turned it beneath the grey morning light. His fingers looked exactly as he had designed them during character creation, including a narrow scar across the right thumb that he had added because his real hand carried the same mark.

The rest of him had changed slightly.

His shoulders were broader than they were on Earth, his hair was shorter and the plain brown travelling clothes felt more convincing against his skin than any costume simulation Aaron had previously tried. He rubbed the fabric between two fingers, then pressed his palm against the cold stone beneath him and felt moisture trapped in the cracks.

Aaron smiled despite himself.

The demonstration had been advertised as experimental.

Experimental had apparently been underselling it.

His interface appeared when he focused on the faint sensation sitting just behind his vision.

Aaron Vale

Species: Human

Class: Ranger

Level: 1

HP: 46 / 46

Essence: 18 / 18

The rest of the information unfolded beneath it.

Attributes occupied one section, equipment another, while three abilities sat at the bottom of the display.

Ranger's Eye — Common

Improves visual focus, distance estimation and recognition of tracks or disturbances in natural environments.

Steady Draw — Common

Supports stable ranged attacks while using bows or similar weapons.

Trailstep — Common

Improves balance and movement across uneven natural terrain.

Aaron read each description twice.

He had chosen Ranger after spending nearly forty minutes comparing the physical classes available to him. Warrior offered better immediate durability, Duelist looked excellent in close engagements and Scout provided mobility Aaron liked, but Ranger gave him access to ranged combat without forcing him entirely away from knives or other practical weapons.

The class also appeared useful outside combat.

That had mattered more than the cloak.

The cloak was admittedly good.

Aaron stood carefully and discovered a shortbow resting against one of the awning posts.

A quiver hung beside it.

He counted twenty arrows.

A hunting knife, waterskin and small canvas pack completed the equipment left for him.

That answered several immediate concerns.

The town remained close enough that Aaron could probably reach it within ten minutes, while the road between them looked maintained and recently travelled. He slung the bow across his shoulder, checked the knife and stepped into the rain.

The first creature he encountered was a rabbit.

Aaron saw it beneath a hedge near the road and stopped because something about the animal seemed slightly wrong. Its fur was mottled green and brown rather than grey, while two small horn-like growths curled from its forehead.

A label appeared after he focused.

Briar Hare

Level 1

Aaron considered drawing the bow.

The hare considered him.

Neither committed.

Aaron decided that murdering the first harmless animal he encountered would be an unnecessarily strange way to begin.

He kept walking.

The Briar Hare returned to chewing wet leaves.

The town appeared fully once Aaron cleared the trees.

A low stone wall surrounded most of the settlement, although the main road passed through an open gate wide enough for two carts. Guards stood beneath a tiled shelter beside it, wearing leather armour and carrying spears that looked practical rather than ceremonial.

One of them raised a hand when Aaron approached.

"You came from the north road?"

Aaron glanced behind himself.

"Apparently."

The guard looked at his clothing, bow and expression before nodding toward a small building just inside the gate. "If you're another Outsider, speak to Mara at the registry. She'll get you somewhere dry before you wander into trouble."

Aaron paused.

"Another?"

The second guard laughed softly. "You lot have been dropping into the countryside for three days."

That changed the shape of the morning considerably.

Aaron entered the town.

The settlement was called Larkhaven.

He learned the name from the carved wooden sign outside the registry, although the woman behind the desk repeated it after Aaron sat down anyway.

Mara looked exhausted.

Several stacks of paper surrounded her, and three damp teenagers occupied a bench along one wall. Two looked roughly Aaron's age, while the third might have been several years older.

"You remember Earth?" Mara asked.

Aaron's attention sharpened.

"Yes."

"Good. Name?"

"Aaron Vale."

"Age?"

"Seventeen."

"Class?"

"Ranger."

Mara wrote everything down.

Aaron watched the ink dry across the page.

"How do you know about Earth?"

"I don't."

Mara tapped the paper with the end of her pen. "The first group told us. Then another group arrived yesterday, and another this morning. You all know the same place, use some of the same words and look confused whenever we ask which kingdom you're from."

She slid a second sheet toward him.

The page contained names.

Dozens of them.

Some entries had classes written beside them, while several contained only basic descriptions.

"That's everyone who's reached Larkhaven so far," Mara said. "Other settlements are reporting the same thing."

Aaron read the first few names.

Priya Desai.

Miles Carter.

Jenna Walsh.

Luis Ortega.

Hannah Park.

More followed.

Mara gave him directions to a public hostel being used for new arrivals, along with a small wooden token that covered meals for three days. She also marked three locations on a town map: the healer, the guild hall and a shop where new arrivals could replace damaged equipment without being overcharged.

"There's work if you want it," she added. "Nobody expects you to start today."

Aaron looked toward the rain outside.

"What kind of work?"

Mara smiled for the first time.

"You'll fit in."

The hostel smelled of wet clothes and soup.

Aaron found twenty-seven people from Earth inside before lunch.

Most had arrived separately.

A few recognised each other.

One pair had apparently been siblings using the glasses in neighbouring rooms when both disappeared into Aetheria within minutes of one another.

Nobody understood why.

The conversation moved constantly between excitement and fear.

Some people wanted to know how convincing the world felt.

Others had already discovered there was no obvious way to leave.

Nobody had found a logout option.

That subject returned repeatedly, although every discussion eventually reached the same wall.

They had no information.

Aaron listened more than he spoke.

A girl named Priya sat across from him during lunch and explained that she had arrived the previous afternoon beside an orchard south of town. Her class was Apprentice Mage, and she had spent most of her first hour trying to work out whether the old woman who found her was following scripted dialogue.

"She got annoyed with me," Priya said while breaking bread into her soup. "I asked the same question three different ways because I thought there might be alternate responses."

Aaron looked toward the kitchen, where the old hostel owner was arguing with someone about muddy boots.

"What happened?"

"She asked whether I'd hit my head."

Aaron laughed.

Priya smiled and continued eating.

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Miles joined them a few minutes later.

He was nineteen, broad-shouldered and currently wearing the starter armour of a Warrior. A round wooden shield rested against the bench beside him because he had already learned that carrying it everywhere indoors resulted in damaged furniture.

Miles had arrived nearest the town.

He had woken in a wheat field within sight of Larkhaven's wall, walked directly to the gate and spent the rest of the day helping unload supply wagons because he had not known what else to do.

"You fought anything yet?" he asked Aaron.

"A rabbit and I reached a peaceful understanding."

Priya looked interested. "Who won?"

"The rabbit is still outside."

"Then probably the rabbit."

Their first actual work came that afternoon.

The guild hall had several boards covered in handwritten notices, most of which involved ordinary local problems rather than anything Aaron would have called an adventure.

A farmer needed help clearing burrow beetles from a storage field.

Someone had lost three goats.

The southern orchard wanted Briar Hares driven away from new saplings.

A miller offered payment for gathering bluecaps growing beside the river.

Miles chose the beetles.

Priya wanted the bluecaps because the notice mentioned Essence-sensitive fungi.

Aaron considered both before suggesting they take the orchard contract first. It paid less than the beetles but remained close to town, and Priya had not yet used her spell against anything capable of attacking her.

Neither argued.

The orchard owner handed Aaron a wicker basket when they arrived.

"We're killing them?"

The old man looked horrified.

"Absolutely not. I sell the pelts after winter. You're chasing them beyond the stone markers."

Aaron looked toward the trees.

Briar Hares moved beneath nearly every third bush.

The job lasted two hours.

Aaron discovered that Ranger's Eye made spotting movement between branches considerably easier, while Trailstep helped enough on wet ground that he stopped slipping after the first several minutes. Priya learned that her Common spell, Ember Dart, frightened the animals far more effectively when she aimed at the ground instead of trying to hit them.

Miles mostly ran.

His shield proved surprisingly useful for steering anything that tried circling back.

They finished with muddy boots, soaked clothes and twelve copper pieces each.

Aaron enjoyed himself far more than he expected.

The beetle contract came the next morning.

Burrow Beetles were roughly the size of dinner plates.

Their shells were dark red, their legs surprisingly quick and their mouths strong enough to chew through old timber. The farmer explained that they had begun tunnelling beneath one of his grain sheds and needed to be removed before the structure shifted.

Aaron inspected one from a distance.

Burrow Beetle

Level 1

The first fight lasted less than thirty seconds.

Miles trapped the creature against his shield, Priya scorched one side of its shell and Aaron put an arrow through the softer joint beneath the head.

The beetle stopped moving.

Aaron stared at it.

Combat felt different from shooting targets.

His hands shook slightly afterward.

Priya noticed because hers were doing the same thing.

Miles exhaled slowly and looked toward the grain shed where several more beetles were moving beneath loose boards.

"Maybe one at a time."

They agreed.

The second beetle injured Miles.

It slipped around the shield and clamped onto his boot hard enough to tear through the leather. Aaron's next arrow struck the shell and glanced away, while Priya's Ember Dart landed accurately but failed to stop the creature immediately.

Miles kicked free.

Aaron changed targets.

Ranger's Eye picked out the moving joints along the underside, and his next shot entered between two shell plates.

They finished the contract before noon.

Miles had a bleeding ankle.

The town healer cleaned the wound, applied a green paste and closed most of the damaged skin with a simple spell that cost four Essence.

Aaron watched carefully.

She sent them away after telling Miles not to run for the rest of the day.

The instruction lasted until evening.

Their first level came separately.

Priya reached Level 2 while helping clear Ember Mites from the mill's basement two days later. Miles followed after a patrol contract near the western fields, while Aaron gained his level during a hunting job that involved tracking three Reedfoxes stealing chickens from riverside farms.

The experience changed less than Aaron expected.

His body felt slightly stronger.

His Essence reserve increased.

Three unassigned attribute points appeared.

Aaron spent one in Perception, one in Agility and one in Endurance after considering the choice overnight. Perception improved what Ranger's Eye already supported, Agility helped both bow use and movement, while Endurance addressed how quickly he tired during long periods outside town.

Miles pushed heavily into Strength and Endurance.

Priya divided most of hers between Intelligence and Spirit.

Jenna, a Scout who began joining them regularly, had already put nearly everything into Agility and regretted it after discovering that long contracts left her exhausted.

They started sharing lessons.

That became more useful than sharing builds.

Jenna taught Aaron how to move quietly through dry brush.

Aaron showed Miles how to recognise Reedfox tracks.

Priya discovered that Ember Dart could be held for a fraction longer before release, increasing its heat at the cost of more Essence.

Miles found that Shield Bash became much more effective when he stopped treating it like a skill that began from stillness and instead carried his forward movement through the impact.

The guild posted jobs matched to what people could actually handle.

The healer treated injuries.

The blacksmith repaired equipment.

Farmers explained which creatures were dangerous and which merely looked dangerous.

Aaron gradually stopped expecting every stranger to introduce themselves as part of a scripted interaction.

The people here had schedules.

Arguments.

Families.

Debts.

Bad moods.

The blacksmith closed early one afternoon because his daughter was ill.

The baker refused to sell Miles a fourth honey roll on credit.

Mara at the registry misplaced Aaron's paperwork twice and blamed both incidents on the increasing number of Outsiders.

By the end of the first week, Larkhaven felt less like a starting point and more like a town that happened to be dealing with a sudden population problem.

Aaron reached Level 3 during that week.

Priya did as well.

Miles reached it the following day.

They were not the fastest.

A group that had arrived before them included two experienced competitive players who spent nearly every waking hour taking contracts. One had already reached Level 5 and earned enough money to replace nearly all of his starter equipment.

People talked about him.

Aaron mostly wondered when he slept.

The differences between classes also became clearer.

A Level 2 Mage could produce effects Aaron could not imitate at all, while a Ranger at the same level could stay useful for much longer without resting. Warriors handled direct combat well but struggled with distant enemies.

Parties formed naturally.

Some lasted one contract.

Others became permanent.

Aaron, Priya and Miles kept ending up together.

Jenna joined often enough that eventually nobody asked whether she was coming.

Their first real scare happened twelve days after Aaron arrived.

A supply cart failed to reach Larkhaven.

The guild sent several groups along the eastern road, expecting a broken wheel or injured animal.

Aaron's group found the wagon overturned beside a shallow ravine.

The mule was dead.

Three men had taken shelter behind the cart.

Something moved through the trees above them.

Jenna saw it first.

A lean animal stepped onto a fallen trunk with grey-green fur lying close against its ribs. Its front legs were longer than its rear pair, giving the creature an uneven posture that became much less awkward once it moved.

Hookjaw

Level 5

Aaron's stomach tightened.

He was Level 3.

Miles stepped forward automatically.

Aaron caught his shoulder.

"Wait."

Another Hookjaw appeared farther uphill.

Then a third.

The men behind the wagon had crossbows but almost no bolts remaining.

Priya's Essence was full.

Jenna whispered that the nearest tree line continued down the ravine toward open ground.

Aaron watched the creatures move.

They were not charging.

They were waiting.

The first Hookjaw shifted whenever Miles moved toward the wagon.

The second watched the trees behind them.

Aaron understood.

"They're trying to keep everyone separated."

Miles glanced toward him.

Aaron pointed down the slope.

"We stay together and move toward the wagon. Slow enough that they don't rush us."

The plan worked until the third Hookjaw disappeared.

Aaron lost sight of it for six seconds.

Then Ranger's Eye caught movement beneath the brush.

"Left."

Miles turned in time.

The Hookjaw struck his shield hard enough to drive him sideways.

Everything accelerated after that.

Aaron's group reached the stranded men while Priya threw Ember Darts into the brush to deny the animals easy approaches. Jenna moved between the cart and tree line, calling whenever one attempted to circle behind them, while Aaron concentrated on forcing the Hookjaws to hesitate rather than wasting arrows on poor shots.

The creatures were faster than anything he had fought before.

They were also cautious.

One took an arrow through the shoulder and immediately withdrew.

Another learned how far Miles could lunge after being struck once by his sword.

The third stopped approaching Priya directly after she burned its muzzle.

They adapted.

So did Aaron's group.

The fight stretched into a tense retreat rather than a clean battle.

They moved the injured men away from the ravine, yielding ground whenever the Hookjaws pressed too hard and using Priya's remaining Essence only when the animals threatened to break their formation.

The turning point came when the wounded Hookjaw attempted another flank.

Aaron had been waiting for it.

His arrow struck beneath the jaw.

The creature collapsed.

The remaining two stopped pursuing within another minute.

Nobody chased them.

Miles had several deep scratches across one arm.

Jenna's leg was bleeding.

Aaron had lost thirteen arrows.

Priya had almost no Essence remaining.

The three men from the cart were alive.

They returned to Larkhaven after sunset.

Aaron reached Level 4 before the gate came into view.

He barely noticed until later.

The healer kept them for nearly an hour.

Mara arrived halfway through treatment and shouted at the caravan men for taking the ravine road after locals had already reported Hookjaw tracks nearby.

Aaron sat against the wall while she continued.

His hands were shaking again.

Less than after the first beetle.

Still enough to notice.

Priya sat beside him with both palms wrapped around a cup of water.

"That was awful."

Aaron nodded.

"I think we did well."

"We did."

Neither sounded excited.

Miles looked across the room from where the healer was wrapping his arm.

"Tomorrow I'm buying better armour."

Jenna laughed tiredly.

Aaron decided to buy more arrows.

They returned to work two days later.

Several weeks passed.

Larkhaven changed around the Outsiders.

A second hostel opened.

The guild dedicated one board entirely to contracts suitable for new arrivals.

Someone established a trading table outside the market where people exchanged equipment that no longer suited their classes.

Priya bought her first proper staff there.

Miles replaced his wooden shield with iron-rimmed oak.

Aaron traded two Reedfox pelts and most of his savings for a better bow made from layered ash.

Their levels climbed gradually.

Aaron reached 5.

Then 6.

Priya stayed close behind him, while Miles occasionally pulled ahead before spending several days recovering from injuries that forced him to slow down.

Jenna became the best tracker among them.

They took longer contracts.

The nearby forests expanded into hills where stronger creatures lived, although the guild's maps clearly marked areas new arrivals were advised to avoid.

One of those regions contained Level 12 Stonebacks.

Aaron saw one from a distance during a scouting contract and immediately understood why nobody near their level hunted them.

The animal looked like a boar covered in layered mineral plates.

It knocked over a small tree while scratching its side.

Aaron's group changed direction.

By then, the absence of a logout option had stopped dominating every conversation.

That did not mean anyone had forgotten.

People simply needed to eat.

Contracts needed completing.

Equipment broke.

Levels rose.

Friendships formed.

Someone started a weekly meeting in the guild hall for Outsiders trying to collect information about Earth and the glasses.

Aaron attended twice.

They knew very little.

People had received devices through different routes.

Some came through university demonstrations.

Others knew employees at technology companies.

Several had received invitations that contained almost no useful explanation.

Dates aligned closely enough that most people believed the arrivals had happened during the same short period on Earth.

Nobody had returned.

Nobody knew whether death returned them.

Nobody volunteered to test it.

Aaron eventually stopped attending every meeting because the same questions remained unanswered.

He kept the notes.

Priya kept more.

She had started writing everything she learned about Essence in a bound notebook purchased from the market.

Most of the pages contained spell observations.

How quickly Essence recovered after sleep.

How different foods affected fatigue.

Whether Ember Dart changed in rain.

How much additional Essence concentration altered heat.

Aaron found the notebook interesting even though he understood very little of the magical sections.

One evening, Priya sat beside him outside the hostel and tried something she had learned from an older local mage.

She closed her eyes.

Her breathing slowed.

Aaron watched.

After several minutes, faint Essence gathered around her.

Priya opened her eyes afterward.

"That's cultivation."

Aaron had heard the word before.

"What does it do?"

"I'm still figuring that out."

She explained that the mage described cultivation as deliberately drawing, circulating and refining Essence rather than relying entirely on natural recovery. Priya had expected something immediate.

Instead, the process felt slow.

Subtle.

Difficult to maintain.

Aaron tried it the following morning.

He managed almost nothing.

The ambient Essence existed.

He could feel it once he knew what sensation to search for, but drawing even a small amount deliberately required concentration that made using an ordinary Ranger skill seem easy.

He kept practising anyway.

So did Priya.

Miles lasted three sessions before deciding he preferred physical training.

Jenna fell asleep during her second attempt.

Nobody considered this particularly important yet.

There were too many other things to learn.

Aaron reached Level 7 during a contract near the northern wetlands.

The achievement came almost quietly.

They had spent three days mapping flooded paths, driving off Reedstalk Lizards and helping repair a watch post damaged during a storm. Aaron gained the final experience while carrying timber rather than killing anything.

He laughed when he realised.

Priya found that deeply unfair because she was still Level 6.

Their next destination appeared on the guild board the following week.

A larger settlement called Highcrest lay several days west along the trade road.

The guild wanted escorts for two merchant wagons.

Aaron had heard about Highcrest for weeks.

More Outsiders lived there.

The town had proper class trainers, several crafting halls and access to contracts extending much farther beyond the beginner countryside surrounding Larkhaven.

Miles wanted to leave immediately.

Priya wanted access to the larger library.

Jenna wanted maps.

Aaron looked around Larkhaven before deciding.

The town had become comfortable.

That was probably reason enough to move.

They accepted the escort contract.

On their final evening, Mara from the registry found them in the hostel.

She carried the same exhausted expression Aaron remembered from his first morning, although the stacks of paper under one arm had grown considerably larger.

"You're leaving tomorrow."

Aaron nodded.

"For Highcrest."

Mara handed him a folded sheet.

It contained names.

Aaron recognised the format immediately.

"More arrivals?"

"Reports from surrounding settlements."

The list had become much longer.

Hundreds of names now covered several pages.

Some had locations beside them.

Others had question marks.

Mara pointed toward several blank entries near the end.

"We're trying to work out where everyone appeared. Highcrest has been collecting reports from farther away, so give them a copy when you arrive."

Aaron folded the papers carefully.

"How many people are there?"

"Nobody knows."

Mara leaned against the table.

"Enough that every town between here and Highcrest has seen at least a few."

Aaron looked down at the names.

Some belonged to people he knew.

Most did not.

For the first time, the scale of the arrivals felt larger than Larkhaven.

Aaron put the list in his pack.

The next morning, four Outsiders left town beside two merchant wagons.

Aaron walked near the front with his new bow across his back.

Priya carried her staff.

Miles wore repaired armour and an iron-rimmed shield.

Jenna had already disappeared ahead to scout the first bend.

Larkhaven's walls receded behind them.

Aaron looked forward.

The road stretched west through green hills beneath a clear sky, crowded with merchants, travellers and possibilities none of them understood yet.

They had survived their beginning.

Now Aetheria was getting larger.

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