Haven

Chapter Four

Before he knew it Ben was on the plane and back in front of the DigitalDynamics building. Rain had been falling steadily for some time and passing cars splashed cruddy water at him. As his driver pulled away he took a step towards the front doors, a behemoth of an entrance with 30-foot arches and statues of post-collapse inventors, and a stranger brushed against him leaving something in his pocket.

Ben spun on his heels trying to get a glimpse of the mysterious person, but they moved like a shadow and had already disappeared into the crowd. He felt inside his pocket and felt a smooth flat stick. A flash drive? Ben hurried inside the building to his office where he closed and locked the door before pulling the small storage device out of his pocket. People only put something on a new physical drive you can put in your pocket if it was important enough to protect from would-be thieves or corporate spies.
He initiated a few privacy protocols on his computer and plugged in the drive, anxious to know what it was someone gave him. Hopefully, it isn't malware or someone installing a backdoor into DigitalDynamics mainframe for espionage purposes. Damian would pop a blood vessel if Ben was an unwitting trojan horse. He decided to run a security diagnostic on the drive itself, and when it came up clean he unzipped the text document it contained.

"Stay vigilant. Memorize this number."

That was followed by a 64 digit number. What ben thought may be a security code to access something that is digitally secured. Ben rubbed his eyes struggling to understand. Why would a stranger give him this? Did it have something to do with Haven? DigitalDynamics? Something else? He didn't have the information to decide. No harm in memorizing the security code. He repeated it a few times to be sure he wouldn't forget. Ben turned on some music and crawled into his cot.

The rhythmic drums and syncopated electronic melody lulled him off to sleep. He was glad he didn't have any messages from Damian and he was even glad Elliot had not been here to greet him. He needed to get some rest and think about everything.

Ben woke early. Well before he needed to be up for the morning meeting. He decided to jump into Haven. Since the game was still technically in testing and not actually released to the public, ben had to use one of the test accounts. He chose a human character with a rangers skill set.

He set the character to God mode so he wouldn't have to worry about any combat and soon his vision became a view of the Capitol of the Elven empire. Great trees rose hundreds of feet into the air with spiraling staircases carved into their massive trunks, leading to various structures built onto and carved inside these ancient trees. Haven was made up of two main factions.

From here he decided to explore the city. He loved the elves of Haven. Made up of wood elves and imperial elves. The wood elves are the original elven culture. They are the oldest of the races and much of Havens legends and lore come from elven culture. Ben knew the histories well. He wrote the majority of them. Imperial elves are city dwellers. They left the forests of their ancestors and joined the other races in their quests for power and control. He began the long climb up the largest staircase leading to the royal palace. He was flanked on both sides by shimmering banners depicting the royal crest. A white flower on a forest green background.

Fairies flitted this way and that on their dragonfly wings, the caretakers of the forest, helping the trees grow big and strong with their magic. He noticed in the background of the banners there was circles and lines shimmering and dancing. A slightly darker green, they were hard to make out from a distance. But they were there. Swirling in beautiful spirals and slightly changing the shade of green they were, "so much detail. It really is amazing."

Ben was still surprised at how vivid and lifelike the visuals of the game are. He continued his climb and came to the massive gate cut directly into the trunk. Carvings of the queens of the past seemed to come live around the edges of the portcullis. Two guards stood on either side, bows across their backs and ornately carved staffs in their hands that we're clearly magical. As he stepped forward the guard's eyes stared straight ahead. A thousand yard stare not acknowledging his approach.

"The queen requires your presence. Follow me willingly or be put in chains."

Ben paused mid-stride.

"What does the queen want with me Mr. Guardsmen?"

Ben was confused. He should know about all the quest paths in this region. He was heavily involved in writing the elven quests.

The guards remained silent so Ben acknowledge his compliance, "Well ill happily follow along for an audience with your queen."

Without saying a word the guard roughly grabbed him by the shoulder, causing a slight rumble to go through his arm. He was pushed along until he came to a grand chamber in the center of the tree. When the entered the queens' throne room the guard loudly announced their presence in the elven tongue. Ben stood quietly, not wanting to interrupt any protocol. When she spoke to him it was in the common tongue. Which is really just English.

"Traveler, my name is sha'Lorian. Welcome to our forest home. Please tell me your name."

Her voice was melodic. Pointed ears and slanted green eyes, she had on a thin crown of white ivory, a gift from the elk lords for the love and care the throne has shown their forest habitats over the millennia.

Ben recited his characters generic title merrily, "I am Sir Henry, The Tester."

The queen frowned, "Now is not the time, it seems."

She sounded disappointed. Hearing her disappointment broke his heart somehow as if something about her or this place compelled all things to try and please her. To help her achieve her goals. She seemed like the embodiment of innocence and grace. It was evident to all those who spent time in her presence that her heart is of the purest good, and ben found it difficult to pull himself away from haven when he got a message through the test characters comm-links.

He sat and crossed his legs and thought about lifting his visor until he finally did just that. His thoughts having returned to his dull room in a dull world. Where he was already ten minutes late for a meeting.