“What sort of event is that?” Selene asked as she stared at the popup.

“Well...sounds about right for a game,” Galmi said with a shrug.

Selene dismissed the window with a sigh. She pushed her thoughts away from it, and instead studied the world around them. With her knowledge gained from studying the maps while offline she’d managed to figure out their rough position.

She pointed at a distant hill that loomed higher than the rest. “I think it’s that way.”

Galmi shouldered his staff. “Yeah, let’s get moving then,” he said as he trekked on ahead of Selene, though Scarlet waited for Selene.

Selene hurried after him, making certain to summon her book from the inventory. When she grasped it the system checked if she wanted to summon a magic quill, but she dismissed that since it was only useful in combat.

They were unmolested by any goblins in their walk to the hill, and ascended it in little time. When they reached the top of the hill a vast plain stretched out in front of them, while off in the far distance the smudge that was Freedon could barely be seen.

Selene felt a tingle of excitement at the sight, and floated down the other side of the hill without urging from Galmi. Scarlet bounded after her, the excited puppy barking in joy the entire descent.

Yet a hint of concern began to fester in Selene before they were even halfway to Freedon, as smoke billowed out from random areas of the distant city. Even from their place miles away they could make out the movement of people and something else outside the walls.

“What are those?” Galmi wondered as he stared off at the dots.

Selene squinted, but couldn’t make out what anything else. “I’m not sure, but we should probably hurry!”

Selene spread her wings and pushed forward, her body accelerating faster than if she’d tried to run across the field. Soon she went past Galmi and ended up being the first person to reach Freedon.

The first thing that Selene saw was a man in armor fighting against a giant lizard. The monster was large, easily the size of a horse, and had a long tongue that extended out from the mouth.

Selene’s presence near the pair caused the dark green monster to turn, red eyes glistening as they focused on her. She went rigid as the eyes settled on her, and though she wasn’t afraid for some reason her body refused to respond.

“Look at me!” the guard cried at the monster, as he tried to step in close enough to stab at it.

The eyes moved off of Selene and so did the sensation of paralysis. Selene tightened her grip on the book and summoned the magic quill, the tip of it dancing in the air as she crafted a word.

“Fireball!” Selene shouted, and as the magic formed the word she’d written was absorbed into the flames.

A significantly larger ball of fire shot at the lizard. The spell struck it in the side of the head, with enough force to stagger it. The long tongue retracted, and the creature hissed as it glared once more at Selene.

Selene had already averted her gaze when the head began to turn. Due to her time in the library at Faeriver she’d read a few tales that involved a lizard monster, and so she suspected it was a basilisk.

There was a flicker of a shadow as an object passed over Selene’s head, and then the basilisk shrieked. She hesitatingly looked at it, and noticed that a wooden staff was embedded in one of the eyes.

All the hesitation was gone as Selene’s quill darted through the air, and aimed the book at the basilisk. “Aero slice!”

The head of the basilisk was cut off by the massive blade of wind, and by the time it hit the ground the rest of the body had exploded into particles. Selene turned and smiled at Galmi, as he approached her.

“Thanks for that,” Selene said, “it has a paralysis effect if it looks in your eyes.”

Galmi went to pick up his staff. “I was wondering why you were just standing there, was worried you disconnected.”

The soldier who they’d helped coughed to get their attention. “Thank you for your assistance, I must return to protecting my sector. Please help the others inside.”

Selene watched the stiff movements of the guard as he returned back to the drawbridge, and glanced at Galmi with an upraised eyebrow.

Galmi gave a shrug to her unasked question. “Guess they’re not allowed to help out?”

Selene couldn’t resist smiling, but opted to focus on something else. She called up the communication system and attempted to connect with Nika.

“Yo!” Nika shouted, her connection with Selene not shared with Galmi, “bit busy here!”

“Galmi and I are outside of the city, where are you?”

“Galmi? Wait, is that that guy you’ve been hanging with?”

“Yes.” Selene turned away from Galmi as a blush crept onto her face. “That doesn’t matter though, where are you? We can come help.”

The sound of a man screaming transmitted through, and Nika suddenly said, ”Right, uh we’re near the big crack in the south-east. Gotta go!”

Galmi had stood patiently off to the side, his gaze set on the drawbridge. “We’re near the southern entrance, right?” Selene asked.

Galmi looked at her with a blank expression, glanced up at the sun, and then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

Selene eyed him and wondered why she’d even asked him in the first place. He was useful in a fight, friendly, and Scarlet was very cute, but his sense of direction was questionable at best.

“Nika said they’re at a big crack in the south-east.”

“Nice, let’s get moving then.” Galmi scooped up Scarlet and handed her to Selene. “Keep an eye on her for me?”

Selene stored her book before she accepted the wolf. She hugged the little ball of fur to her chest, smiling at the soft sensation. “Gladly.”

Galmi paused to stare at her as she held Scarlet, long enough to make her start to fidget nervously. The sound of shouting drew his attention from her, and instead to one of the guards on the drawbridge. The man had ended up in a fight with a figure adorned with a black cloak.

“I bet that’s one of those cultists!” Galmi exclaimed as he darted across the drawbridge.

Selene chased after him, using one hand to hold Scarlet tight, and cast her free hand forward at the cultist. Magic shot out as she called for it, though soon enough new cultists appeared to replace the first.

Galmi and Selene worked their way across the drawbridge, the guard they’d helped in turn joining them temporarily. The cultists who had managed to take over the southern gate noticed their approach, but between the magic and Galmi’s aggressive offense they’d soon breached the city.

Selene threw out her hand, a burst of electricity striking a nearby basilisk. The creature was frozen before it could turn to face the pair, and Galmi had enough time to crack it hard in the head. A few seconds later the monster was already dead, and they stood there panting.

“This is getting out of hand,” Galmi said as he leaned against his staff.

Before Selene could respond a new crowd of cultists approached from the west. Selene clutched Scarlet closer to her chest, her wings flicking nervously at the sheer number of the group.

“It’s a fairy!” shouted one, who was then pummeled in the face by Galmi.

Those words started a veritable flood of black cloaked men. They came from seemingly all directions, including from out of the damaged buildings of the city. Selene cried out in horror at them all, floating up into the air with the hope of escaping imminent death.

Galmi was swept under the hoard of cultists, trampled by them. Yet none seemed to even notice him, and instead all reached up at Selene in an attempt to pull her back down.

Some of the cultists to the east were sent flying, which was followed by a loud crunch of stone as something hit the road. The noise and tossed cultists were enough to disrupt the crowd, who all turned to see what had caused the interruption.

The source was a man draped in the heaviest armor Selene had ever seen. The steel plated form was dotted with spikes, and eyeslits revealed crimson glowing eyes. The cultists closest to the figure took a few steps away.

The armored figure tore a massive axe out of the cobblestone road, the blade undamaged by the stone it’d shattered. Both gauntlets tightened around the heft of the weapon, and slowly the axe was raised overhead. The downward chop was swift, to the point of being a blur, and hammered into the cobblestone once more.

The impact of the weapon sent a burst of rocks up into the air. Selene wrapped her arms around Scarlet and winced as they pelted her, though the damage was negligible. The cultists closest to the impact, however, were thrown back into their compatriots.

While Selene attempted to make sense of everything that’d happened a howl pierced the midday sky. Though there was a sun above, for a moment Selene thought she saw a full moon in its place.

A shape flitted across the battlefield, emerging from behind the armored figure, and moved into the crowd of cultists. Claws stretched out that slashed into their cloaks, and the men screamed in horror as the monster cut through them.

The newest arrival glided through the group, none of them able to offer much in the way of resistance. The cultists near the fringe of the group watched in abject terror as their friends died, and finally broke and ran when the beast let loose another howl.

With the enemies gone Galmi was revealed, his body covered in bruises and cuts. Selene floated down, and reached out to help him up.

“Thanks,” he muttered as he stood up, and then pulled out another roll of bandages from his inventory.

While he worked at dealing with his injuries Selene looked at the other two. The armored figure had remained where they’d arrived, but the creature had started to approach her.

She flinched instinctively away, as it was not a regular man. The only thing she could call it was a wolf, but one in clothing and walking upright. It reminded her of the werewolves she’d read about.

Golden eyes studied her as a wolfish grin appeared on his face, a long tongue lolling out. He lifted up one hand and pointed off to the east, down a street that had a few shattered buildings scattered across it.

“Your majesty, I don’t believe she’ll comprehend that,” the armored figure said, their voice unmistakably masculine, “I shall guide them, but you must promise to join us soon.”

The wolfman gave a nod of his head, a small crown temporarily coming into view. He leaped away a second later, easily clearing the height of the nearby buildings.

The armored man lifted his axe up with one hand, and beckoned to Selene with the other. “If you would be so kind as to follow me, my lady, I was requested to show you to Lady Nika.”

“Wait,” Selene said, “who are you? She never mentioned anyone would help.”

The man who’d started to turn away paused, his gleaming red eyes glaring at Selene. “I am Maxwell, and Lady Nika did not mention it due to the suddenness of her request.”

Selene jumped when a hand came down on her shoulder, but she calmed down when she realized it was Galmi. “Let’s just trust the guy,” Galmi said, “we can always run if we have to.”

She didn’t have much to say to argue against that, so they followed Maxwell as he walked past the shattered buildings. It didn’t take long before they arrived near a giant crack in the ground.

Beside the crack was a bit of an odd group. Numerous men in armor, similar to Maxwell, stood near the crevice with weapons drawn. Nika and Marcus stood off to the side, along with a young looking woman who had a beautiful dress.

Selene had to resist the urge to laugh at the exaggerated hat the girl wore. Given how small she looked it just didn’t seem to match.

Any laughter in her throat died when she noticed Nika’s face. Marcus, with one hand on her shoulder, seemed to be intently whispering to her. Yet it was to no avail as Nika stared at the rubble of numerous buildings near them, her face pale.

At the sight of Nika there was only one thing Selene could do. She ran over to Nika and hugged her, making certain to not crush Scarlet in the process. She buried her face hard into Nika’s chest and squeezed.

Two hands reached around her and hugged her back, and then a quiet thanks was whispered into her ear. With that Selene let Nika go and took a step back, pointedly ignoring Galmi’s confused stare.

“Is that a fairy?” the strange girl near Nika asked, as she peered at Selene’s wings.

“It sure is, Ariana,” Nika said, “that’s our friend Selene. She’s the first fairy player in the whole game!”

Ariana’s attention caused Selene to withdraw a step, but she tried her best to smile at the girl. “Hello.”

“You’re so pretty,” Ariana said as she leaned in closer, “and your hair is so beautiful. I wish mine looked like that.”

Selene reached up with her free hand and touched at her hair. “Thanks,” was all she managed to mumble.

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I think we should go kick some cultist butt,” Nika suddenly declared, her gaze turned away from the fallen buildings.

Maxwell cleared his throat to get their attention. “I would recommend against that. It would seem that the fairy is their preferred target.”

“All the more reason to go out there, we can use her as bait,” Nika replied.

As the group continued to debate Selene noticed that Galmi had started to wander off. He walked over to the giant crack in the ground and peered inside.

“Oh my goddess, is that a puppy dog?” Ariana exclaimed, as she clapped her hands rapidly.

Selene’s gaze snapped back to the young lady. “What? Oh, this is Scarlet,” Selene said, her fingers tightening protectively around the pup, “she belongs to Galmi.”

Ariana put one finger to her mouth, a puzzled look on her face. “Galmi?”

Selene pointed over at him. “He’s over there, he helped me get here.”

At the mention of his name Galmi stood up and turned back to the group. He awkwardly waved at them, and then started to walk away from the giant crack. As though the shift in the weight was enough, the ground beneath him gave out and he fell backward into the unknown.

Help Files

Classes

Every sentient being in The Cracked Earth is capable of acquiring a class. This applies to players and the non-playable characters.

There are multiple ways for anyone to gain a class. Some can be unlocked by gaining enough skills, or upgrading existing ones to a high enough level. Other classes can be gained as rewards for quests, or after gaining enough reputation amongst the populace.

Classes will almost always have some type of evolved form to them, with only a handful not fitting this criteria. A swordsman can, for instance, evolve depending on the style they choose for fighting.

There are as many classes in the game as there are players. Everyone can potentially end up with an entirely unique class, though that would require severe dedication to unlock it.

Once a class has been picked the player is locked into it. They can always pray to the gods for a repeal of this class, if they wish to do so, but that may come with a heavy price.