Kingdoms Of The Soul: Chapter 1

== Prologue ==
The gaming world was in a state of mass excitement, with the arrival of the first true Full Immersion Virtual Reality Mass Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game (FIVRMMORPG). A game that was expected to change the entire gaming world forever. The technology to enter a true virtual world had come about by accident, but in the space of a few short years every gamer's dream had come true. The fantasy MMORPG "Kingdoms of the Soul" had sold out in just a few short hours with just 20,000 able to obtain the machines capable of letting them play. 
As the final countdown to launch started the players gathered their equipment and got ready to go online. "Log in within the first 10 minutes and get the bonus prize of 20,000 crowns for your character" A prize too tempting for any MMO player to resist, a huge free starting bonus just for logging in. Just like all the others John could not resist. He put on the helmet and laid back on his bed, his pulse racing as he counted down the seconds, 3....2....1....Start!
The helmet felt suddenly tight like it was shrinking onto his head, the inside of his mind was filled with a shrieking wail like his entire mind was filled with screams. He could feel his body convulsing hard, his entire body going stiff and shaking. The convulsions got stronger and faster, as a searing pain filled around his head. His entire body stiffened and his mouth was forced open, as he silently screamed out as all became blackness.
== The Orc Zone, 6 Months Later ==
Aurelian felt the blood trickle down his face, the burning sensation reminded him of the day they had all arrived in this world. The day he'd been dragged from his old life and stuffed into this new body, the knowledge and memories of John still clear and intact. The 6 months since then had felt like a lifetime. He could see his blood dripping off the first of the creature in front of him, its grunting snarls filling the air. The sounds seemed to take form after they entered his mind, the magic implanted there doing its job. "Where are the others of your kind interloper?!" 
The Orc Zone had been hard on everyone since they had arrived, but it had been especially so for the scouts and skirmishers moving ahead of the main group; the people like Aurelian. Many had been captured in ambushes and taken to the dungeon he was in now. He pushed back against the ropes binding him to the chair, there was just enough give that he could move a little; it was enough to work with. 
"What others? I was just out for a walk in the woods when your pigs grabbed me." The Orc snarled and lunged forward, throwing a heavy left handed punch. Aurelian shifted in the chair, his move just enough to let the punch slide past. As the Orc overbalanced then fell forwards, Aurelian lunged his head forwards and struck the creature between the eyes. It collapsed into a crumbled heap next to the chair, not moving. As the Orc lay groaning, Aurelian wriggled his way down the chair; using his muscles to move the bindings so he could slide under the rope. It was difficult work, but he managed it within under a minute as the Orc began to stir. He quickly grabbed the rope that had bound his and wrapped a loop around the Orc's neck. He placed his boot in between the Orc's shoulder blades and pulled with all his strength. The Orc flailed beneath him, clawing at the ground before a suddenly crunching sound brought stillness to the room. 
Aurelian sat on the floor behind his wound be torturer, Now the real mission began, rescue the lost scouts and clear the caves that had become their dungeon. He caught his breath before moving to check the door, the stealth skills he had spent six months cultivating let him open the door silently, one Orc stood guard. He let the door slide closed without a sound and began to recover his gear. 
He pulled on his leather armour with its thickly padded under layers and picked up his bow. As he'd expected the Orcs had cut its string, he pulled out the replacement string he'd stashed in his boot and strained to string the simple longbow. It was a difficult task to completed silently, yet within a minute he had managed to complete it. Finally he lifted on his quiver and cloak, checking his ammunition for damage from the careless treatment of the Orcs and found none. 
His trusty bow now back in his hands, he nocked an arrow turned and fired a shot straight into the fallen Orc's head. He was fairly certain it was dead, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He'd seen more than one man, laid low by an Orc playing dead. His ears pricked up as a sudden snorting grunt sounded from the other side of the door. Aurelian felt his heart in his throat as he waited for the inevitable crash of the door flying open. The crash never came and Aurelian decided in that moment, it was time to deal with the guard. In a single smooth movement he opened the door with one hand, pulling an arrow from his quiver with the other; as the back of the Orc's head came into view he buried the arrow tip into the base of its skull, his free hand snapping forward to covering the creature's mouth. The guard made a muffled pig-like squeal then dropped to the floor. He made a mental note to acquire a reliable knife at his neck opportunity. Using his arrows as melee weapons was wasting ammunition.
Aurelian pulled the body back into the room and used the guard's trouser leg to wipe the floor clean. He'd learned quickly that unlike stealth in games, people and creatures tended to notice things out the ordinary. Unexplained pools of blood tended to fall into that category. Moving low and fast down the corridor, he had his bow in hand and was listening for the slightest noise other than his own. Slipping around the corner and saw an open hall filled with cages. He strained his eyes in the poorly lit gloom to make out how many Orcs he was up against. He could make out none. 
He slipped into a corner, disappearing into the flickering shadows of the torchlight with practiced ease. The rules of this world were different than where he came from. In this world learning skills was easier, it just took repetition and the skills became second nature within days. He had gone from knowing how to hold a bow to being able to regularly hit a target in just a week. In the 6 months he'd been trapped in this world he'd become an expert with a bow and able to move silently with practiced ease.
As he cast his eyes around the poorly lit room, he spotted the cages where his fellow evocarè looking distinctly worse for wear. They were battered and bruised, some with limbs bending in the wrong directions. He silently cursed the injuries his fellow Evocati, they would slow down their withdrawal to the extraction point. He'd have to use up the healing crystals he'd been stockpiling in order to get everyone out alive. The healing items were not popular due to the extreme pain they inflicted when used, yet in order to survive his fellow Evocati would bear the suffering. 
An Orc entered the dimly lit hall dragging an unconscious looking human by their hair. Their inert feet dragging noisily along the floor behind the uncaring Orc. Aurelian felt his anger rise at the sight, nocking an arrow sighting and firing in an instant. The arrow whooshed through the air striking the Orc in the ear making the Orc drop to the ground with a motionless thud. 
Aurelian resisted the urge to run out and check on his fellow Evocati, waiting to hear if the shot had been noticed. The silence stretched on eerily and yet no shouts of alarm came. Assured he hadn't been discovered, Aurelian slipped out to drag the inert forms of the Orc and Evocati over to the cages. The first of people in the cages had noticed his movement and began hissing for his attention. Aurelian pulled the unconscious bodies to the hissing man in the cage. 
"Hey! Get me out of here!" The man whispered through the bars. Aurelian had to supress the urge to respond with sarcasm, resisting the temptation to inform the man that he was just out for a stroll. Instead he pulled the crude dagger from the Orc's waist sheath and passed it through the bars. "Stay quiet, we'll all move out together." he instructed as the Evocati began cutting the rough rope tying his wooden cage shut. 
Aurelian reached deep into his quiver and pulled out the concealed leather pouch he'd secured within. As he opened it out it revealed the healing items laid out like dull shining gems on the ground before him. He picked up a small red stone and rolled over the unconscious Evocati he'd rescued. The woman looked as if her face had been trampled in a stampede, but the rest of her body seemed without signs of obvious injury. Aurelian sighed with resignation, he was loathe to use a healing crystal on someone who couldn't consent to it but time was not on their side. He pulled open the woman's mouth slipped the red stone between two molars, withdrew his fingers then slammed his hand up to force her jaw to bite down hard. 
He heard the distinct crunch then pop of her teeth cracking and the stone breaking. Quickly a red light shone from within her mouth, the real ordeal beginning. She began to convulse as if she was having a seizure; Aurelian forced to quickly cover her mouth to prevent her strained screams from travelling out of the room. Her convulsions were short lived however and soon she rolled onto her side gasping from the discomfort. He placed a hand on her shoulder "Sorry, but if we're getting out of here we couldn't afford to wait." he said apologetically. The woman waved his hand away "If we live, I'll buy you a drink" she said simply then laid her head against the cool earth.
Whilst this had been happening, the freed man had been moving around the hall. The Orcish knife making short work of the rope bindings on the cages, the Evocati inside were making their way as quietly as possible to where Aurelian was crouched. As the last of them arrived Aurelian raised his hand to get their full attention. "I'm here to get you all out, but this is not going to be a cake walk." he said sternly, his eyes meeting each of the Evocati in turn "We'll need you all at full strength, that means healing stones for serious injuries before we move out." He saw each of them flinch at the mention of healing items, he quickly continued before the objections came. "Use them or be left behind, we have no room for baggage on this run!" he hissed harshly.
He could see the hurt looks on some faces gathered around him, but they could understand what he meant. They were deep in an Orcish lair, they'd need every available hand to fight their way clear. "Take a stone and pair off with anyone who is injured. Keep each other quiet!". Aurelian slipped towards the entryway where the Orc had entered; as the Evocati with serious injuries paired off with ones holding healing stones. Even knowing they were coming the muffled screams made him jump, making him glance back to see a leg rotate almost 360 degrees before snapping into a normal position. Feeling thoroughly nauseated, he dragged his focus back to keeping watch down the corridor.
Within a two minutes all the assembled prisoners were ready to move, although several of them were still moving gingerly as the pain of the healing process lingered. Aurelian looked at them carefully assessing their condition "Does anyone know what they did with your weapons?" He asked. He knew the Orcs wouldn't make use of most of the weapons, they were too dainty to be much use in the enormous hands of an Orc. The man he'd given the dagger to raised a hand for attention "Yes?" Aurelian asked "The Orcs have a Goblin with them, I saw him when they last dragged me back." The man's shuddered at the memory "He was carrying some swords into a room not far from here."
Aurelian nodded assertively "Then you're on point with me and everyone else follows behind." He looked seriously over the assembled group "Keep quiet as possible. We won't get out without a fight, but I'd rather we had weapons when the fight starts." The group nodded silently, nobody was willing to risk going back into captivity. 
Aurelian led the way around the corner an arrow nocked, but his bow string undrawn; he'd only draw at the last moment as he fired. The group moved quietly through the muddy corridors. Their eyes scanning every small opening for signs of movement, yet none came. Aurelian flinched at every overly loud scuff as the group progressed. His heart skipping as if the next moment Orcs would descend upon them to finish what they had started. 
He rounded a corner to spot a small flicker of movement and froze. He held stock still, fearing any sudden movement would draw more attention than already had. A twitch of movement down the passage to his left caught his eye. The flickering torch light reflecting of greenish skin as a small figure backed into the main corridor, its arms filled with a lumpy sack that blocked its view. He quickly realised that it was a Goblin and turned to the man next to him for confirmation. The man's silent nod was all the confirmation he needed. 
Aurelian moved into a groove in the wall to observe the Goblin as it carried it's obviously heavy burden. It lurched down the corridor, weaving left and right as it headed for its destination; completely unaware of the danger that stalked behind it. The Goblin reached a room the end of the passageway and began trying to shove open the heavy wooden door that barred its way. It felt the door lurch open as it made one gigantic shove, causing it to overbalance and land face down on the dusty ground. The goblin rolled over onto its back to find an arrow suddenly pressed against its nose. The drew breath to scream, but was silenced by the arrow striking home in its head. 
Aurelian looked around the room seeing the gathered equipment of many Evocati lining the walls of the squalid little room. A regular treasure trove of arms and armour, taken from the captured and fallen. The Evocati moved quickly to recover their equipment and armour. As they did they made far more noise than Iohanes was comfortable with, but it was an unavoidable risk. He positioned himself by the doorway, an arrow on his bowstring waiting to be drawn. 
A clang of metal on stone rang out through the corridor as someone dropped their shield to the ground, it continued to ring out as it rolled past Aurelian side out of the room. Li