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  A Mage Prepared (The Chronicles of Herst 1: A LitRPG Novel) Synopsis

  Yanked across the universe to the land of Herst, Vol Adare must learn his place in it. Or carve out one for himself. It is a world of swords and sorcery, slavery and violence. Here actions have consequences and often, might is right. Vol must build his strength to survive against those that wish for his fall. If he fails all he works for could be taken, along with those he comes to care for.

  Copyright © 2018 Thomas L Whipple All Rights Reserved This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my amazing wife Elizabeth for all your support. You have been amazing and even took the time to help in the editing as well as letting me bounce ideas off you. I also appreciate the support of my family for the positive attitude that always keeps me motivated in my writing.

  Prologue

  My name is Lynn Marstens and I woke up to a mild headache and a blinking icon in my vision when I opened my eyes. The icon is in the lower left of my vision. It looks like three dots in a thought bubble, and it seems to move with my vision. After the icon in my vision I take notice of the surrounding forest I have found myself in.

  "Where the hell am I?"

  I am 26 years old and I am, or was, working as a technician for an internet provider in my home town. I am about 6 feet tall with light brown hair and eyes a grayish green color. I'm a little skinny but still in decent shape. Living in a small apartment in a moderate sized town in Arizona, I was a bit of a loner. I don't have much family that I ever see, and spent most of my time gaming. This is why most of my friends are people I gamed with but have never met.

  My foggy mind starts to clear as I remember what I was doing before. I was playing a VR game called Universe of Fantasy Online, or U.F.O. for short. I was playing my favorite character, a high level shaman class. It gave some cross over with melee and caster type damage with some protection. Plus, I got to shoot lighting from my hands. Who doesn't want to do that right? Over the years I have been playing U.F.O. at first, I liked this versatility but found that the longer I played the less I used melee and the more I tried to focus on my spells. Fine, I admit it. I just wasn't very good at melee, and the full movement required with the VR helmet felt odd to me. I tried to take a few martial arts classes at a local Dojo when there was time from my job and gaming to attend, but was only mediocre at best. I just wasn't comfortable with it, and didn't feel like it fit the way I wanted to play.

  Last I remember I was in game with my guild running an end game raid, of which was said to be the hardest one in U.F.O. called Halls of the Fallen. An end game raid is a place where only those that have maxed out their game character's level can tread. The lore for that place was very interesting since it was supposed to be the place that forgotten gods from the world of U.F.O. retreated to. All the while these gods fester in their own hatred of the sentient races of U.F.O. for forgetting them. I thought the gods themselves looked reminiscent of gods I remembered in different cultures from Earth. I was thinking that, despite the background, the developers were a little lazy in their design.

  The guild members and I had fought a man with a staff who flew around with little wings on his gloves named Merseh in the first boss room. There was a man on horseback (if a skeletally thin scaled equine shaped animal that can breath fire can be called a horse) that wore a helm with antlers attached and used a horn to summon spectral warriors. His name was just seen as "The Hunt" above his head. There were others as well but the last one, and where my memory ends, was an 8 foot tall blond man in a toga with sandals. His name was Usez, and he was accompanied by a slightly shorter man in armor that was wielding a hammer. His name was Roth and you could see small electrical discharges from the hammer.

  "Angle, try to disrupt the caster from throwing those lightning bolts" says Oric the human Paladin tank. He was the guild leader and our raid's main tank. A tank's job is to take the hits so the rest of us don't and he is currently focusing on Roth in melee combat. When he says that, I look over and see him take a heavy overhand strike on his shield. With the electrical discharge from the hammer he is still taking damage but the healers are focusing on him. With the support of the healers he is not currently in any danger. It's Sanzu that I am really worried about. He is the off tank and is trying to keep Usez busy while everyone focuses on Roth.

  The cool down that governs how often I can cast a certain spell has finished, so I raise my staff and fire off another Hoarfrost to slow Roth. It also causes a DOT, or damage over time, effect to be added to Roth. Then I follow it up with another Winter's Revenge to continue chipping away at the huge health bar for Roth. This has been going on for a while and during that time I found that ice spells work the best. I tried everything, but ice worked better than anything else that I had. That was annoying since lightning was my specialty, and these guys take almost no damage from it. The ice is doing ok but limits me a little when it comes to my big damage dealing spells.

  After a few more casts, and a rather good beating to Oric, Roth's health bar hits zero. Unfortunately he doesn't go down though. He stops moving and just when Oric calls all the DPS, also known as damage dealers, to switch targets we all see electricity building up on Roth's Armor. Oric yells "RUN FOR IT," but it is too late and a wave of lightning washes over all those near to Roth. A few of the melee DPS who were running around had headed toward Usez and were lucky enough to be out of the blast radius, but the rest died there. All except for Oric, who had the highest health and defense as our tank. Still, he was below 10% Health (HP) before the healers took care of him. Out of the twenty five of us that started this fight fifteen were left after eight melee DPS died in the explosion from Roth and a couple of casters took stray lightning bolts from Usez. We are left with the two tanks, four healers, four casters (including myself), three archers, and the last two melee DPS that survived.

  As Oric starts running to Usez to help out Sanzu, I am already throwing ice at the Zeus wannabe. I hold back on my spells because I don't want to cause too much damage and draw his attention. When Oric finally gets there he immediately taunts Usez to get the focus on him since Sanzu is under 50% health and has been getting manhandled mercilessly. Finally I can start ramping up the damage as well as the rest that were holding back. Usez seems pretty straight forward since he mainly throws lightning at the one who has the most threat but every once and a while he randomly picks someone to hit. Luckily, he only chooses a target within a certain distance of him and all of us squishy and nearly defenseless casters can target him from out of that range. Not so lucky for the melee fighters, but they have far more health and defense than us.

  Finally, after what seemed like an hour but was probably only 10 or 15 minutes he hits 75% health on the bar above his head. When that happens Usez claps his hands in front of him and from that a shockwave knocks us all back and onto the ground. I sit up and 25% of my health is gone instantly. Looking around it seems that I am one of the fortunate ones because those that were closer took far more damage. One of the Archers had stepped a little too close just before the clap from Usez and took a stray lightning bolt. That coupled with the damage from the clap instantly sent him to meet the rest of our fallen guild mates at the graveyard.

  I catch a glimpse of the archer's corpse as it dissipates into yellow motes and fades away. I look back to Usez just as the electricity that has been constantly sparking off his body increases. Slowly spreading his hands apart from the clap we all see that the electricity from his body is flowing there and forming a ball of golden l
ight. It is so bright that I can barely look at it. This is a game though, and I am wearing a helmet so I activate the auto dim function and the light is reduced a little. Well, probably enough to prevent it from damaging my retinas, I think. Now that I can see the glowing ball of doom again I can see that it is now free of Usez and floating around the room with electricity arcing off it to anything that gets near it.

  Oops, one of the melee DPS wasn't quick enough getting up after the knock back from Usez and got hit by the floating ball of doom. Yes I know, I am not good at naming things. So now we are 13 after he bites it. So, same thing as before with everyone pummeling him and all the ranged fighters trying to stay back far enough avoid the random lightning from Usez. This time, for added difficulty, we have our friend the lightning ball of doom to keep us company. The next 25% of his health takes even longer now that we are down two and have to constantly dodge the floating light ball. When we do get there the Melee all back off some in anticipation of what comes next. And sure enough we get the clap and another floating ball of light is spitting lightning.

  I never get tired of being able to use magic in this game, which is a good thing since it takes so long to bring Usez down another 25% that some might get bored. Then again, we are dodging the two balls of doom and it is getting increasingly difficult to do so. One of the healers and another archer get caught when the two floating spheres converge on them and they don't have anywhere to go fast enough. The combined damage is just too much for healers to keep them alive while also keeping Oric from falling. So it is that we are down to 11 when Usez gets to 25% overall health. I can feel it as we all hold our breath for what comes next.

  Usez looks like he is going to clap again, but this time only moves his hands forward with the palms facing upward. The floating lightning balls speed to him and hover over his hand, one over each palm. He then spreads his arms out to either side with them following along, and after a second suspended there they explode sending lightning discharges throughout the room and taking us all off our feet once again. As I rush to get back up I can already see motes of yellow floating up from fallen friends.

  I look at the ground to my left and see SusieQ2U fading away with a frozen look of disappointment on her face. She was another of our healers and I can see a few more icons for group members go grey in my heads up display (HUD). All told we lost SusieQ2U, two casters, and Angle, our last archer. Down to only seven of us, I am really starting to doubt our chances for finishing this boss and the raid we started hours ago.

  "BURN HIM" screams Oric.

  That's the signal for everyone to use everything that they got. I down a mana potion to restore as much as I can while activating a couple things I have been saving for just this occasion. I can barely hear Oric over the sounds of spells and abilities being activated while he is telling Sanzu to switch Usez back and forth between them to try and last as long as possible while we are down to only two healers. This is made harder when Usez hits 10% because he becomes enraged and doubles the speed of his attacks. I can see the tanks activate their most costly skills in order to just hang on for another minute, or second as seems to be the case.

  5%

  The last caster besides me goes down.

  4%

  Another healer bites it.

  3%

  Sanzu can't keep up and takes a critical hit from a lightning bolt to the face. Only one tank left.

  2%

  When Sanzu went down Usez switched to the Melee DPS for a second before Oric could taunt, but that's all it took to kill him.

  1%

  I am charging up my last trump card. The ability allows me to cast any spell twice in succession instantly. The time it takes for cooldown is ridiculous but this is exactly what it is for.

  .5%

  The healer couldn't keep up with the damage on Oric and dies immediately after Oric does.......But, I finished.

  0%

  I watch as Usez stops moving completely and ice starts to spread out from his chest. Frozen Heart does extra damage to enemies with low health adding the Hypothermia debuff if the enemy lives or freezing them solid if they die. As I stand there, stunned at this development, I ignore the messages that are appearing and scrolling through the log in the corner of my vision like a waterfall. Before me Usez freezes over completely and cracks start to form. They spread and spider web out from his chest, right where the heart would be. When the cracks have covered the whole of the ice sculpture that was Usez, there is a pause, and what is left of the last boss in the Halls of the Fallen crumbles to the ground.

  Alone there in the large hall, I witness as a glowing white crystal floats above the remnants of Usez. The glow gets brighter and brighter until it feels like it is stabbing into my very brain. I close my eyes but the light still seems to be there, and I feel a sharp pain in my head like the worst migraine ever happened all at once. I rip the headset off but all I can see is still the overbearing whiteness from the crystal in the game. I stumble to the side in the living room of my modest apartment and fall to my knees, unable to stand up any longer. The disorientation only seems to get worse and I still can't see anything as I flop down on my side. An eternity later, but what I'm sure was only a few seconds, my vision begins to tunnel and I welcome the darkness encroaching on the tyrannical white that has consumed my eyes. Smaller and smaller the light gets until it is nothing but a pinprick in the night.

  And then there is nothing.

  Chapter 1

  In a realm of darkness dotted with the glimmering lights of stars in all directions stands a woman on a floor that can't be seen. Snow white skin can be seen peeking out of the long flowing robes at the hands and bare feet. Her robe has long flowing sleeves and though black as the empty space around her, the light of the stars behind her still can be seen as tiny sparks. Above the neckline continues the snowy white skin leading to delicate features and slightly tapered ears. Her glowing hair is violet and her blazing eyes release an intense light of the same color.

  Unmoving, she stares into the far distance at a slightly larger twinkle in the starscape. Or not quite the star, she is looking at a planet circling that star. The planet that can't be seen with the eyes of a mortal, but for a god....

  Out of the darkness between the stars in the background comes a gravely voice. Like that of a lifelong smoker gargling glass. "I heard you finally took the role of a patron once again."

  Stepping from the darkness into the light of the woman's hair is a robed figure. Unlike the woman, this figure wears a robe so black it seems to suck in the light from around it. With nothing showing outside of the robe and the hood up, the hunched over figure appears as if it is a moving shadow. Stopping behind the woman's right shoulder, the shadow makes the motion of pushing up a pair of glasses, as though subconsciously adjusting what is not there or can't be seen within the dark folds of the hood. Peering over her shoulder, it's as if it is searching for what the woman is so intently focusing on.

  "A Human? And from Earth no less."

  "I have my reasons Morsith."

  "Gwydia, how many times must I say it? Just call me brother. I prefer it since everyone usually curses my name."

  "You are the god of death and mortals often fear the unknown."

  "Bah! I probably know that better than anyone. Let's get back to the topic at hand. Why would the goddess of magic choose a human from a world without mana?"

  "I have my reasons brother."

  "So you said." Morsith reaches up, and out of his sleeve a skeletal hand of bleached bone appears. He places his hand on the shoulder of Gwydia, a motion of comfort and support. "I hope you know what you are doing little sister. Jehovah will not be happy about the transfer to our world."

  Finally she turns to Morsith, looking into his hood as if she could discern his expression through the impenetrable darkness there. "They are all His worlds, and we only look after them for Him. Besides, I had His permission."

  A sound like the snapping of bones being struck together can
be heard from within the hood of Morsith. With a glint in her eye and the slightest of smiles on her ruby lips, Gwydia turns back to watching the far distant planet with its new arrival. Morsith steps back and makes to leave her but just as he disappears again into the darkness she hears him mutter.

  "This, I think, will be int-er-est-ing."

  *******

  After that last memory I only have more questions. Like, why the hell do I have the VR helmet on again? I reach up to take the helmet off but there is nothing there. At that moment I feel a sharp pain on my left arm You suffer -1 HP.

  Instinctively I slap the spot on my arm where the sensation originated.

  You deal 1 blunt force damage to enemy.

  Enemy dies.

  Looking down at my hand I see the remains of some sort of insect. I can't tell what kind of insect because, obviously, I smashed the hell out of it. The messages weren't bothering me because that happens in a game, though I need to turn off the messages so they don't automatically appear and obstruct my view. As I am wiping the bug off my hand onto the grass next to where I am sitting it hits me.

  "I felt that."

  OK why did I feel that? Now that I am paying attention to it I realize I can feel the grass under my other hand. I can feel the slight breeze on my face, and smell the dirt and pine in the air. OK. OK. I can handle this.

  Alright, I handled that badly. Ok, I freaked out. A lot. I had a panic attack for what must have been 30 minutes or so. That done, mostly, I sit on the ground with my legs crossed. I even out my breathing and try to calm down a little so that I can think clearly. Very slowly I am able to clear my mind and slow my breathing from somewhere around hyperventilating to something like calm. OK take two. I was a boyscout in my youth, so what do I need to do first? Assess the situation and my condition. Find water and search for shelter nearby. And finally, address the food problem.