“My land is named the Sinarius Realms.”
“Really? Did your company buy the rights to Enter the Dark Realm? Because that’s the end-game world.”
“Your mortal masters have no sway over the realms,” Lilith told me. “Many may wish to destroy them, and many have tried. All have failed; I am your master now.”
“What the hell was I thinking, asking you that question?” I said with a shake of my head. If DarkTech hadn’t secured the rights, then they were risking a seriously expensive trademark battle. “Of course, you don’t know. You’re programmed into the game, not one of the developers.”
“I helped construct the Sinarius Realms at the beginning of time.”
“So, you’re a developer? It seems kinda arrogant that a developer would program herself into the game to look like some beautiful goddess.”
“You think me beautiful? I am the least alluring of the goddesses. Even the demigods are more beautiful than I am.”
“False modesty. Nice. Remind me not to ever meet the real developer.”
“God? I am afraid you would not like him very much.”
“Very funny. So, what’s the hook for your game? Why would I want to play it when I could be playing 100 others?”
It was hard to shake my marketing brain and the way this goddess acted made me think she was actually controlled by a human rather than an AI. Even the best NPCs in other virtual reality games couldn’t answer every question a player could ask, so there was no other explanation. The terminal and its starter games were all still in beta, so it wouldn’t be unusual for every player to be given a personal introduction from one of the customer service team members controlling an avatar.
“I have been preparing for your arrival for quite some time, so I have used the means available to me to make your quest… enjoyable.”
“Dungeons, loot, and monsters. The usual staples.”
“Oh, there will be plenty of those, but I am referring to the other dungeon cores. Many are beautiful females. Not quite human, but sufficient for your male tastes. I understand you human males from Earth are quite ravenous in your sexual appetites.”
That made me smirk.
“Sure, I like sex, but wouldn’t exactly call myself ravenous.”
“There are rules.” Lilith’s expression shifted from sexy goddess to stern dominatrix. “Just like in your world… laws of nature and laws of science. We also have laws of magic and laws of attraction.”
“You mean these laws of attraction actually function like physics in your world?”
“Indeed. You will learn more of this, and I shall teach you, but now I must show you my world.”
An image of an entirely different kind of dungeon appeared in my mind, and I couldn’t help imagining this beautiful demoness cracking a whip while a tight leather bikini barely stopped her breasts from tumbling out.
I dispelled the image from my head when the goddess lifted her clawed hand and drew a finger across the air. The sharp digit seemed to carve a line through reality, and adrenaline raced through my veins. The stench of sulphur invaded the room as the slit expanded until it was like a window into a whole other world.
I looked at the goddess and grinned. I was tongue-tied again, but for an entirely different reason.
This was unlike any other virtual reality game I had seen before.
“Will you join me in my realm?” Lilith asked.
I didn’t even need to answer, but if I’d been in the mood for puns . . .
Hell, yes.
Chapter Two
When I passed through the portal, I was no longer in my human body. I was a disembodied soul, a red spark of light floating in the air like a fire wisp. I still had all my senses, but they weren’t filtered through a body.
I could see and hear with total clarity, and Lilith’s steady heartbeat sounded like a bass drum as she made her way to a high-backed throne. My form floated across a chamber made of a vibrant crimson stone that seemed to flicker and glow as though embers sparked beneath its surface.
“These are the Sinarius Realms.” Lilith’s voice entered my mind. She waved a hand in front of her, and a square section of the floor in front of me retreated to show a pool of boiling lava. I stared within the fiery depths until the lava retreated, and the ridges in the earth formed a map.
The total area was massive, and the steam from the lava actually formed a fog of war over the majority of the landscapes. I could make out borders separating mountainous regions, forests, cities, lakes, rivers, farms, and fortresses in the sky.
If players could go to all these places, then it was the biggest game I’d ever seen.
“Are all of these places accessible to players?” I asked Lilith. My voice sounded identical to when I’d had a human body, but I was now communicating through a kind of telepathy.
“Yes. There are six realms in total. Infernal, Holy, Cold, Fire, Storm, and Nature. I can only show you the Infernal Realm on this map. I am closed to the others.”
“That explains the fog of war. So, there are six realms in total? Do they come with the release or are they expansion content?”
“You will start in the Infernal Realm, and most of your time will be spent there. It is most unusual for a dungeon core to venture outside its birth realm.”
“Dungeon core? Is that what I am now?” I enjoyed the roleplaying aspect of online games, but being a dungeon seemed a little strange.
Lilith chuckled and gave me a smile that was both schoolmaster and sexy seductress. “No, Dominic. You are merely a disembodied soul.”
“How do you know my name?” I asked.
“I know many things. Like I know I shall seal your spirit to the jeweled heart of an infant Infernal Dungeon.”
“I don’t get to choose what kind of dungeon I’ll be?”
“You do not.”
“Damn,” I said. “Infernal Dungeons sound kinda cool, but I was hoping there’d be more decision making in this game. It seems a little
