Forest (Gaia's Rebirth Book 1) Read online

  Forest

  Gaia’s Rebirth: Book One

  Copyright © 2017 Caiden Walker

  All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce, copy, or distribute this work in any form without express written permission from the author.

  Please note that this is a work of fiction. All characters, settings, and companies contained within these pages are fictional.

  Contents:

  Chapter One: A Party of Three

  Chapter Two: Nika Joins the Party

  Chapter Three: So Many Choices

  Chapter Four: Tutorial

  Chapter Five: Leveling Up

  Chapter Six: Stuck

  Chapter Seven: Forest Creatures

  Chapter Eight: Blake in the Real World

  Chapter Nine: Rebooted

  Chapter Ten: Level Three

  Chapter Eleven: Pixie Stage Right

  Chapter Twelve: Traveling with the Pixie

  Chapter Thirteen: Ambushed

  Chapter Fourteen: Blake in Deep

  Chapter Fifteen: Escape to Riser’s Creek

  Chapter Sixteen: Communication Station

  Chapter Seventeen: The Tiger’s Story

  Chapter Eighteen: Mage Seductress

  Chapter Nineteen: Making Camp

  Chapter Twenty: Mage’s Quest

  Chapter Twenty-One: Ranger’s Quest

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Striking Striker

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Cavern Save Point

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Return to Riser’s Creek

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Ash’s Mission

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Amazon’s Quest

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Grand Theft Treasure

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Orc Battle

  Chapter One: A Party of Three

  Nika glanced up from the files in front of her to look out the large glass wall of her corner office. As CEO, now that her father had passed, she commanded the best real estate of the company. The penthouse corner office was huge and literally surrounded on three sides by nothing but glass.

  Of course, most office buildings were built with glass these days. Strong, thick, light-adapting coated glass to take advantage of the sun's warmth in the winter and to keep the heat at bay in the summer. The best of both worlds, and it cut down drastically on the need for solar heating.

  Well, solar panel heating anyway. Rooftops hardly had the space to support enough panels for an entire multi-floored building. The solar trees helped. Using a vertical layout, they managed to get more panels per foot than the old fashioned flat horizontal ones. Still, a roof top could only hold so many, so the less energy expended the better.

  Her eyes traveled over the city outside, running briefly over the high-rise offices and apartments surrounding her building. Really, what was the use of a room with a view when the view never changed? Nothing but one building after another and most of them pretty much identical in looks. It was like looking into a multi-faceted mirror.

  Such was the world in this glorious year of 2070. Truthfully, Nika was surprised that mankind had made it this far without blowing itself up. But then, there was always tomorrow.

  The files that had been keeping her interest all morning were the dossiers of the winners of their company lottery. When word had gotten out that Gaia's Rebirth was getting close to a beta test, people had come out of the woodwork wanting in. One had offered an unseemly amount of money to be one of the first testers allowed into the virtual world.

  But Nika wasn't interested in money. Not really. Gaia's Rebirth had taken up most of her life in one way or another. It was the brainchild of her father and herself, a joint effort that she had played a large part in since turning ten years old.

  If she could have had one wish, it would be that her dad could have lived to see the beta test complete. But time had not given him that opportunity.

  A part of her would like to be included in the first run through, but her responsibilities on this end of the game were far too great to allow that. It wasn't as though she hadn't already experienced the world. She had.

  In fact, she had been the first person to go in, although her father would have been horrified to have known that. But she couldn't let someone else take that risk. So when the system was deemed fully functional, she had entered the world in the dead of night.

  It had been nothing short of amazing. Of course, her visit had lasted only an hour, and these testers would be living in the world for a couple of weeks. They had chosen, each one of them, to play the game instead of taking the time as a vacation.

  Once past the tutorial, their ability to log out would be stripped. At that point, the only way out of the game was through the portal after beating Gaia herself and bringing balance to the game world.

  At least, as far as the players would know. The game was riddled with back doors and one of the company's best coders was going in as well to accompany the small party and look out for them.

  Evan Taylor was a good man and one she trusted implicitly. He had been her father’s number one man for years, both before and after she had joined the project as a true member.

  She opened the first file and looked inside, even though she had already memorized the details by heart. Ash Tanner, twenty-three years old, had been playing the online version of the game for the past several years and had made a good showing of herself.

  Ash's character of choice was a human mage, a powerful one after all these years. Of course, for the beta test in the virtual world, her character would be reset to level one. Everyone going in, even the inside person, would be starting from scratch.

  They had opted for a small party of three. Two lottery winners and one company representative. Working together, they should be able to finish the game and give it the thumbs up within two weeks, tops. Longer if they really enjoyed it and decided to grind some levels for the maximum experience. Nika could definitely see Ash as a grinder.

  The other lottery winner was Dean Malone, twenty-six years old. He, too, had played the online version, though only for the past few months. Still, his leveling had been impressive. Probably because he had been a gamer all his life. His character was an elven ranger.

  Rangers in the game pretty much had their choice of weapons. Dean had chosen a long bow as his weapon, preferring to fire upon enemies from a distance. Good thing, probably, as Rangers generally wore light armor and were therefore somewhat on the squishy side.

  Both winners knew the game mechanics and should make for an interesting run-through of the new world. Nika smiled. Of course, playing it online and actually living it were two very different things. She hoped they knew what they were getting into.

  Gaia's Rebirth was a world reset to the very roots of civilization. There would be trees, flowers, and animals that no one in today's age had ever had the blessing to actually see or experience. With their virtual world, now they could.

  The world had taken so long to build because both she and her father were perfectionists and wanted the experience to be as real as it possibly could be. That had taken tons of research and time.

  But it had been worth it.

  Anyone entering Gaia's Rebirth, whether it be to play the game or simply take a vacation from today's overcrowded world, would be able to experience life as it had been centuries ago. No cities or high-rises, no paved roads, no cars or vehicles of any kind. In short, at least to Nika, a little piece of heaven.

  She sighed, closing the files as she stood. Everything was as ready as it could be. Tomorrow, the virtual world that she had helped to bring into being would be entered and enjoyed by the beta testers.

  And everything would be monitored right here in her office.

  Godspeed to them.

  A
part of her still wished that she would be joining them. But even if Blake, her new husband, could handle the responsibilities on this end of the test, the timing just wasn’t right.

  Their marriage was only a few weeks old and still very much in the honeymoon phase. She really couldn’t ask Blake to let her leave on an extended play through of the game.

  He’d been a trouper so far with all the hours she had been spending at the office getting all the last-minute details finished up and ready for the test. They hadn’t even gotten to go away after their wedding, opting instead to put off their trip until after the beta test when they could both breathe a bit easier.

  When her father had passed, she had been truly lost. Blake had started working for the company three years ago. Nika had seen him around, after all, he was kind of hard to miss, but she had always felt him far out of her league. She was a simpleton when it came to relationships, and still a virgin on their wedding night.

  On the other hand, the handsome Blake Nolan was very much a man of the world. He had come highly recommended and had worked his way into the coding department in a very short time. While she may be a tad bit biased, she truly felt that some of his coding had actually been the best in the game thus far.

  When her father had passed, Blake had stepped up and offered to help her make all the funeral arrangements. He had lost his parents the year before and knew what needed to be done. She had leaned on him heavily during that time and bit by bit they had grown to love each other.

  The shy, nerdy girl actually won the jock’s heart. She was still amazed by that. Yes, Blake was a gamer—it was kind of required of all their employees—but his muscular frame let everyone know that he spent a fair share of time at the gym too.

  It was her hope that once the test was completed, they might be able to sneak away into Gaia’s Rebirth itself for their honeymoon. What could be more perfect than that? After all, Gaia was what had brought them together in the first place.

  Punching a button on the remote on her desk, the one non-glass wall in her office came alive with a vision of Gaia’s Rebirth. She took a deep breath, imagining that she could smell the fresh clean air in the small village shown on the large screen. Instead, her nose was assaulted as always by the scent of the week that they added to the recirculated air in the building.

  Her nose crinkled, only now realizing that the scent had changed yet again. This was supposed to be a light pine scent. But who could really question it? Few people in this region had ever seen a pine tree, let alone remembered what one smelled like.

  But at least they tried. The scent was supposed to revitalize and freshen the air, and she didn’t have the heart to tell the maintenance team that to her it just made it more obvious that the air they were breathing was stale and regenerated.

  The light on her phone started blinking, and she sat back down before answering it.

  “Nika here.” The call was coming from what they jokingly called command central—the staging area set up to house the betas during their stay within the game.

  “Um, Nika, you might want to brace yourself.”

  Normally just the sound of Blake’s voice would put a silly grin on her face, but she didn’t like his tone or words.

  “I’m about as braced as I can be. Has something happened?” She held her breath, waiting. Please, oh please, say no.

  “Yes, actually,” Blake hesitated. “Are you sitting down at least?”

  “Yes, I’m sitting,” she said shortly. “What’s going on?”

  There was a moment of silence. She had never spoken to him in that tone before. Her nerves must really be getting the best of her.

  “Evan’s mom just called in hysterics. His dad up in Seattle just had a massive heart attack. He needs to leave tonight for Washington State.”

  Nika’s heart started racing. “But the game starts tomorrow at nine in the morning. It’s too late to pull the plug. The winning gamers are already here.”

  Literally here, as in they were being housed in two of the building’s employee apartments that they had readied for the occasion.

  “We’re going to have to find someone to take his place, though where we could look at this point is beyond me. We can’t trust their guide to just anyone.”

  No, they most definitely couldn’t. Too much was riding on this. Evan had been studying the world for the past several weeks and had already taken several trips in, with her usually tagging along as a backup. Except for herself, he was the undeniable expert on the virtual world. Blake came in a distant third behind them.

  Her breath was starting to come in gasps now. She was hyperventilating. “Let me call you back in a few.” And without explaining, she hung up the phone. Opening her desk drawer, she drew out the bag she always kept on hand. It had been a while since she’d had to use it, so long in fact that she had thought she had outgrown her tendency for panic attacks.

  Apparently, that had been wishful thinking on her part, she thought as she forced her breathing to slowly inflate and deflate the bag. Her mind raced the entire time which meant it wasn’t a short process.

  By the time her breath was under control and the dizziness had passed, she heard the ding of the elevator telling her she was about to have a visitor. Up on this level, there was only her office and the conference room, divided by a small landing with a single elevator to service the penthouse.

  She wasn’t surprised to see Blake walk in the door. Nika barely had time to stash the bag before he was standing before her.

  “Hey, Hon,” he said. “You okay? You sounded a bit shaken, and I got worried.”

  Nika nodded. “I am more than a bit shaken, actually.” She bit her lip, a sign that she was thinking hard. Mentally, she was going over every employee in the company that had the working knowledge to lead the betas into their world. The list was frighteningly short.

  Herself, possibly Blake, and the now unavailable Evan.

  Swallowing, she looked up at Blake. She was afraid he really wasn’t going to like this. But what choice did she have?

  Chapter Two: Nika Joins the Party

  Ash stretched out on the bed in the room of glass. It was a lot nicer than what she was used to.

  Born and raised in a city just a few miles from this one, her entire room—the place she had in life—was scarcely as big as this bed alone. Being in the other half’s world was nice. Too bad it was only for a few days.

  But then, she hadn't come to enjoy the life of luxury. She had come to play Gaia's Rebirth and experience the wonder of the virtual world and all it had to offer. Ash had always thought that she had a good imagination, but for the life of her, she just couldn't grasp that in but a few hours’ time, she would actually be living the game. It was a dream come true.

  She really hoped that she could impress Nika Nolan with her performance. Rumor had it that if a player did well, they might be offered a chance of employment as a guide to future gaming teams. If that rumor was a true one, she wanted nothing more than to be first in line with her application in hand.

  Living in a game world would beat the crap out of her current life slinging the tasteless slop that classified as food now. Of course, being born squarely in the lesser half of the population, what she was slinging really was more slop than food. But it kept their bodies moving, so at least it served its purpose.

  According to the game's brochure, the food in the game would taste as it did centuries ago, back when food was grown on farms instead of in laboratories. How they had managed that, she hadn't a clue, but she was more than willing to give it a try. It had to beat her normal fare.

  For the hundredth time, she glanced at the small clock on the nightstand by the bed. It was an old-fashioned wind up one with a second hand and everything. She picked it up and held it to her ear to make sure it was still ticking. Yup. Guess time had only seemed to stop.

  When the room's phone rang, she jumped and dropped the receiver in her haste to answer it.

  "Hello?" she said, uncertainly
.

  "Ash?" the voice asked.

  "Yes."

  "This is Nika Nolan. There has been a brief change of plans and we were wondering if you and Dean could join us down in the basement bar for a quick meeting."

  Ash's heart sank. "The beta test hasn't been canceled, has it?"

  There was a smile in the voice. "No, nothing that drastic. Just a guide change. I'm actually going to be joining the party, and I wanted to make sure neither of you had a problem with me in your party."

  Her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I can't see that would be a problem. Though, truthfully, I'd probably go in with Satan himself in the lead." Ash paused. "This is really a dream for me, you know."

  A short laugh came over the phone. “Hopefully I won’t be nearly that bad,” she said. “Are you free for a short meet in about fifteen minutes?”

  “Sure, I’ll see you then.” Ash disconnected and went to pull an outfit out of her travel bag. Her normal attire when alone was a single, simple tee shirt. Guess that wouldn’t be true for the next few weeks anyway. She’d have to stay dressed the entire time.

  As once in the game, her clothes were going to be computer-generated, she hadn’t really bothered to pack much. Not that she really had much to pack. Her bag held a total of three pairs of pants, two of those jeans and one the dressiest pair of slacks she owned in the world, and four shirts. If she spent much time out of the game here, she’d have to find a cleaning facility.

  As she dressed, she thought about the new change in plans and hoped it wouldn’t ruin the fun. She had met Nika Nolan and her husband Blake only briefly when she had arrived yesterday. After that, she and her fellow party member Dean had been handed into the care of Evan Taylor.

  Evan had been great, and the three of them had meshed immediately over their true love of gaming in general and Gaia’s Rebirth in particular. She hated that he wasn’t going to be entering the game with them. He had seemed totally stoked about it. What could have happened to change that at this late hour?