A year of my life, signed away with a few simple gestures on the tablet, standing in a semi-enclosed booth that made a mockery of any sense of privacy. Countless chimes of affirmation sounded as others signed, each for their own reasons. Me? I had nothing left. No job. No friends. No family. This opportunity was a parting gift from my late brother. Of course I signed. Who wouldn't? Veil was marketed as a revolutionary, fully immersive VRMMO. 'A new world, full of possibilities'.

  A series of pulsing lights built into the wall led me to a doorway that hissed open in a spiral. I heard similar sounds up and down the hallway as other participants stepped through their own doors.

  “Good luck,” a heavy-set man to my left said as he stepped into his room.

  We had been standing near each other throughout the orientation and tour of the Habashi Corporation’s facilities, and I was sure he'd told me his name. I'd forgotten it in the whirlwind of activity that followed. Signing hundreds of pages of legal documents presented on tablets, video presentations of what to expect in Veil once we logged in, final medical examinations… It had been a busy morning.

  “You, too!” I called as his door closed.

  I stepped through the circular doorway with a heady mixture of excitement and anticipation.

  The room was small, just five by seven feet. A single pod-like structure took up most of the available space. Tubes and wires hung from the ceiling in a thick bundle, connected to the device, and then led from the base and into the ground. A clinical antiseptic smell hung in the air. My skin prickled with cold.

  In an odd sense of disassociation, I realized this would be my last glimpse in the real world for an undetermined amount of time — per the Alpha agreement. One component of the Alpha test was a test of how their technology maintained the human body while engaged in VR in perpetuity. Theoretically, until the Alpha ended, though the information provided had lacked specifics.

  Our contracts dictated a year of availability — at minimum.

  I had nothing left in the real world. No emotional or familial tethers. Not anymore. It seemed an unfortunately common occurrence, considering the millions of applicants that Veil had received.

  “Please step forward, remove your robe, and have a seat,” a disembodied voice — our guide since entering the building — said from unseen speakers.

  I untied the medical gown I had changed into after the examination.

  A small section of wall slid open. Within was a red arrow pointing down a chute and text that read ‘Discard.’ I dropped in the gown and it slid away as the chute slid seamlessly back into the wall.

  A reclined seat sat within the pod. The surface glistened with some kind of gel-like substance. I sat and was surprised at the sensation —almost like floating.

  I tried a sensory deprivation tank a few years back. Floating in salty water, completely enclosed. I felt that same sense of isolation and weightlessness now. It was an odd absence of feeling.

  “Take deep breaths and begin counting backwards from one hundred,” the voice instructed.

  Small sections of the pod began shifting and moving around, encasing me. I took two deep breaths as it transformed around me. Circular sections began rotating around my chest and waist, locking into place a few inches from my body. I felt a strong pinch in the back of my left arm. Unconsciousness took me before I recovered from the shock of the injection.

  I awoke with feelings of disorientation and excitement, lying on the ground. I could feel the soft grass and the warmth of the sun high above.

  I stood, looking around the gently rolling grassy field that stretched in every direction beyond sight.

  My body had been replaced with a blank white avatar, like a genderless mannequin. I reached up and felt my smooth, featureless face. I had no eyes, nose, or mouth, and yet I retained all of my senses. I rubbed the lingering ache on the back of my arm.

  Cherry blossom petals drifted around me. I looked up and saw them being generated from nothing, about ten feet above. They remained on the ground for a few moments before dissipating. I reached out and grabbed one between my featureless fingers.

  The silky texture gained the faintest hint of moisture as I pressed my fingers together, releasing a familiar perfume.

  I rubbed it gently, bringing it to my face and inhaling. The realism surpassed my expectations.

  The familiar scent of cherry blossom petals reminded me of a festival my city held annually every spring. I had been there with my younger brother a few months ago.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I remembered us walking down a path, laughing and eating a fried pastry we had bought from a food vendor, planning our reunion a year and a half later when he would emerge from the Alpha.

  He had been so excited to be accepted into Veil, the revolutionary full-immersion game that had only accepted 10,000 Alpha applicants from millions of hopefuls. He was the whole reason I was here. I wasn’t selected. I was, however, a close enough biological match to my brother that I had been selected as a backup.

  He died a few weeks ago. A tragic loss of life, the news outlets called it. Dozens dead after a faulty wire ignited the wing of a plane 30,000 feet in the sky. One little spark, and my world fell from the sky. The last living member of my family.

  It felt like it had been months—years, even. It also felt like it had happened yesterday. I squeezed the petal between my fingers harder and it dissipated into nothing.

  Text appeared, floating in front of me.

  System Booting…

  I looked around and the text followed my field of vision, fixed in the center of my view.

  It didn’t give the motion sickness I had come to expect from other VR games when looking at the heads up display. It felt natural, which was an odd feeling, as text floating in my field of vision was anything but natural.

  After a few moments, the text blinked and was replaced with:

  Boot complete! Initiate character creation?

  The question seemed rhetorical, but I mentally selected ‘Yes.’ I felt a haptic buzz in the back of my mind as I made my selection.

  Character creation initializing…

  A large, semi-transparent circular display populated in front of me. It showed a variety of races, depicted from the shoulders up, in headshots.

  Some had asterisks and small drop-down arrows. I saw Elf*, Dwarf*, Halfling, Human*, and Beastkin*. The races with an asterisk had drop downs denoting sub-races. There were several other grayed-out boxes with shadowy figures labelled Not Released. I mentally selected the drop-down for Elf and a submenu populated displaying three options. Wood Elf. High Elf. Aquatic Elf.

  They all looked like variations of the typically slender and attractive elf found in most fictional worlds. Aquatic elves had a bluish tint to their skin and gills on their necks; their eyes had some kind of film over them.

  I closed the submenu and went back to the menu displaying all of the races. I noticed an icon in a box on the bottom right.

  Three arches stood side by side, overlapping and drawn inward at the far left and right. It reminded me of a famous set of golden arches, but with a third arch, and it was a duller metallic color like bronze. I selected it.

  Random - randomizes racial selection and forgoes class selection. This option is not recommended for beginners! Class selection will be completed by an evaluation at the Adventurer’s Guild. Provides a small bonus to the first ten levels of experience as well as bonus introductory quests. THIS FEATURE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE IN VEIL’S ALPHA STAGE

  I looked again at the other icons that were grayed out and marked as unavailable, momentarily confused because the random icon was not similarly grayed out. There was no text overlaying the symbol, like the other unavailable options. The only indicator that it was not selectable was in the description. I pulled up the description to read it again and the entire display flickered for a few seconds before minimizing and being replaced with a wall of text.

  The text was narrated in my mind in an excited voice as I read it.

  You have selected ‘Random!’ Brave choice! The world of Veil is unforgiving and dangerous. You will begin with an experience bonus of 20% for your first ten levels! You will begin with an item: Chit of Admittance. Seek out the Adventurer’s Guild in your starting town for next steps!

  The world exploded in countless pixels that continued breaking apart into smaller pieces as I fell backwards into blackness. It lasted less than a second. I landed hard as the world reformed around me.

  I lay in an alley between two buildings cobbled together from a variety of metals and wood, momentarily stunned by the sudden transition. One of my feet sat in a filthy puddle of liquid that I hoped was water. I sat up, looking at myself.

  Anger and a sense of betrayal surged through me. There was no re-rolling characters in Veil, not in the Alpha at least. The choice had been ripped from my hands by a system glitch.

  “I didn’t choose ‘random,’” I growled.

  My arms and hands were no longer the blank white they had been in the character creation screen. They were now a sickly, pale color, elongated, with pale translucent nails. I was dressed in filthy rags that could barely be called clothing. My shoes were nothing more than two strips of thick cloth sewn to strips of leather, one of which was now soaked, thanks to my unfortunate entrance.

  I stood, and was pulled out of my reverie by a gruff voice from behind.

  “What’s this, now?” The voice asked. His words ran together in a barely understandable slur.

  I turned and saw a human man in a tattered leather vest and pants. He stepped closer, worn boots crunching something underfoot, holding a wickedly curved knife. The anger drained from my body, replaced with a knot of tension and fear.

  “Guards’ll pay gold for your head, baby-snatcher,” he growled. He took another step closer as I raised my hands and took a hesitant step back.

  A notification appeared in front of me, and time seemed to slow as I read it. The text was accompanied by a voice that narrated it in my mind:

  New Quest! Evade capture. You have been recognized as a wanted race. Convince your assailant, through words or actions, not to turn you in.

  Reward: 2x Random Copper Reward Chests, Copper Coins x10, 1,000 Experience Points.

  WARNING! This is a compulsory quest. It will be accepted automatically. Failure to complete this quest will result in negative consequences, up to and including incarceration and/or death.

  so much for reading the first chapter of Veil: A Bardic Progression LitRPG! There are 56 more chapters to go in book 1! Book two will be finished before book 1 has run its course here on Royal Road! My goal is to produce a chapter a day, which will keep me ahead, until the story is complete. Will that be 3 books? 5? 10? I don't know about ten, haha. Right now, I am planning 3-5 books, but we will have to see. Let's go on an adventure and find out!! ^_^

  20 advance chapters available! My first fifteen patrons get a 50% lifetime discount!