Zenith Affinity

Time.

The bane of any gamer. There is never enough no matter how much planning or hard work, we always need more. It might sound a bit melodramatic when speaking of a hobby like gaming, but it is still a true sentiment. We all get older, have less time for fun activities and move on to other responsibilities.

Many games are just fine to play, but MMORPGs are a different story. They are a different monster all together, requiring significant time and more often than not, scheduled gaming sessions. Like it's something you have to plan for.

Finding a game that truly speaks to you can be as difficult as it is to find the time to play it. But once you connect with a game and get people to join with you, the excitement and sense of adventure just keeps building.

Just a step into another world, just a window in which we can poke our head in and get a glimpse of a different way of life. MMORPGs are truly an amazing concept, but having all the circumstances come together for a player to actually put a few hundred hours into it is a rare thing.

For some people though, having time for an MMORPG is a necessity, a way of life. Realizing that people and games come and go isn't easy to deal with but nothing feels better than an event big enough to draw your friends in.

One Gamer with the account name 'Azure_Sky' just joined the voice chat program called Vent-cord where an old friend waited.

"Sky? That you?"

"Hehehe."

"Eh? What's up, Sky!?" The account named 'Glacial_Touch' said.

"Touch! I am doing fantastic, how the hell are you?"

"Just peachy, especially with that news!" Touch replied.

"Right? I couldn't believe it!"

There was only one reason why they were meeting, a large event had indeed come. The two gamers hadn't played in a while, but that was nothing new. Sometimes people grow apart and sometimes reconnecting is as simple as a new event in game.

"I mean a whole new line up of servers, a full restart, AND a chance to play a new class without making a second account?! Are you kidding me?!" Touch said excitedly. “And on your birthday? What an amazing gift!”

"I know, I know, the big 24. A fantastic birthday gift from the gods of gaming. Have you been able to get a hold of Dark or Ivy?" Sky asked.

Glacial_Touch sighed, "Yeah, but they aren't sure if Dark can get the time off now that they are married. You know how it is."

"Ah, well it will be epic if they can make it...I got a buddy I made recently that is looking for a starting group who would be a perfect 5th. That is…if you are able to join?”

“Oh, I am definitely in. There is no way I am missing this!”

Zenith Affinity was without a doubt a unique MMORPG. One in which you can only have one character on any specific server. This would normally be met with outrage in any other game, but this one had a uniquely 'tough' development team that only ran the game how they wanted.

It didn't earn them the best reputation in the form of newer players, but it also formed a uniquely dedicated and fervent player base. One that would be playing this game for years to come.

"I might have someone as well, but we need to double check Ivy and Dark...please just message them. Hopefully you can annoy them enough to agree," Touch said with a smile that Sky could hear.

"Hah! Alright, hold on."

Sky wrote up a message with extremely persuasive arguments, tagging their other friends in it. The message had two parts and was very simple: "Ivy, you don't have to heal." and "Dark, you can tank."

"So, who is this other player you have?" Touch asked.

"Just this guy I have been running PvP with, he is really good at different DoT builds that are super difficult to take down. He said something about wanting to make a bleed-blight warrior or something...I can't remember, but the guy is crazy good at PvP. We actually won a couple of the duo Blitz Tournaments together."

"He got an account name?"

Knowing where this was going, Azure_Sky linked his online Zenith Affinity profile, "Yup, 'Dread_Sloth' but I have a link to his profile right here."

It would show all of his characters on any and all different servers.

Before Touch could fully investigate, the sound of two new guests entering the Vent-cord channel echoed through both of their headsets.

"Hello?" Sky asked sheepishly.

"SKY! What the hell kind of arguments were those?" A male voice spoke out.

"Uhhh, Dark, that you?"

Account name 'Dark_Hero' spoke up, "Who else? Course it's us and we will be what we choose to be...Should we decide to play..."

Sky laughed, "That's what I like to hear!"

"We didn't confirm anything Sky! Calm down!" Account name 'Wild_Ivy' said.

"Yeah, of course not," Sky agreed, diplomatically.

"How are you guys doing?" Touch asked.

"We're doing great, Touch! Good to hear from you!" Ivy said.

“Happy early birthday, Sky. 24 now?” Ivy asked.

“Tomorrow! If you guys join you won’t even have to get me any gifts!”

Dark laughed, “Okay, I’ll just go ahead and toss what we already got you!”

“Hey!”

Laughter on Sky’s behalf was a common thing.

"So, you guys are updating or what?" Dark asked. Referring to the new patch and the reset server.

"Yup, you?" Touch said.

Dark didn't respond, trying to leave it as a mystery.

Sky couldn't help but smile in delight. The feeling was coming back. That euphoria and excitement that comes with a new playthrough with friends, the rare and fleeting feeling that he could only harvest at the rarest of occasions! IT WAS BACK!

He couldn’t officially confirm it, but Sky had a feeling that it was going to happen.

Sky did his best to hold the waves of excitement inside, "So, have we thought about classes? I would like to go mage again, you know I love AoE.”

“Going flame mage again?" Ivy asked.

"Ehh, it's fuuuunnnnn, but I don't know... I am ready for a different one. Was thinking of going solar mage this time since there is a build that increases their affinity to an obscene amount."

"Solar mage huh? What race?" Dark asked.

"Celestial without a doubt, the racial bonus to the solar affinity is exactly what I need. Racial stat stacking is key for top tier AoE wave clear. I would be Solar, Gravity, and Spatial," Sky explained. Not all races could be every class, and some were even locked to a single race or gender. For example, the Valkyrie class could only be played by Celestials, and only female ones at that.

Dark laughed, "Fair enough, let me know where you line up that boob slider-" His voice was cut off by a solid whack as he and Ivy played right next to each other IRL, "Ow!"

"Well, stop dreaming about Sky's new character...it's creepy," Ivy said. "I am still going as a druid healer but from my last two minutes of google searching I am looking at an interesting Water, Light, and Holy Druid build. Really good cleansing, like obscenely good, though I have to find a way to deal with curses."

Dark grunted positively, "AoE healing and cleansing, solid crowd control, and plus you are unstoppable underwater. Yeah Ivy, that looks like a strong build. What about you Touch, monk again?"

"Nah, I am going Rogue, I want a bit of stealth this time," Touch said.

"What, Dark, Poison,....something?"

"No, poisons are kind of nerfed a bit, but Ice got buffed when they added force damage alongside the piercing. So right now it is great for Dark, Ice, and Spatial or Void, causing obscene crits, stealthy utility, and a whole host of single-target debilitations. But choosing Void or Spatial will depend on our 5th. If we decide to play, obviously," Touch said the last part quietly, but loud enough for them to hear.

"We need one more though right?" Ivy asked, knowing the full party size is 5.

"Yeah, I have one that can take a sort of off-tank position, he’s really good, but I am not sure how well it will be without another support class. I was doing some PvP with him recently and we have been on a tear, if he decides to go with that I can switch to an enhancer of some sort," Sky explained.

"Why don't you invite him in, Sky?" Touch asked.

"Alrighty, one sec."

Another sound of someone joining, "Hey guys..." A very relaxed male voice spoke up. He had a sort of surfer-dude accent.

Ivy and Dark muted themselves which meant they were probably laughing.

"Hey Dread!? What's up dude?"

"Skyyyy! My dude, good to hear you. This the group you were talking about?"

"Yup! We have Touch, Dark, and Ivy - Single Target DPS, Tank, and Healer respectively."

"Alright, alright. I did say that I was interested, but I have a slight issue..." Dread said with a nervous laugh.

"Nice to meet you, Dread," Touch said.

"Hey, cheers!"

"What is the issue?" Sky asked.

"Well.... remember how I told you I got a girlfriend?" Dread asked.

"Ah, so that worked out then?"

"Yeah, and she was in that golden laurel guild, or whatever their name was."

"Saints, something or another, can't remember," Sky replied.

Touch must have recognized it, "Oh! Golden Saints?"

"That's them! Huge RP guild and what not, but anyways, I think I'll be starting with them," Dread explained. RP meaning that the guild focused on Role Play instead of other content. Not that they didn’t do it, though.

"Awww, alright. Well, join our guild at least?" Sky asked.

"Yeah, actually, Lyssa, that's her name by the way, said that the Golden Schmucks or whatever aren't starting over as a guild. So we might just be looking out for your Zenith Star banner," Dread said.

"Zenith Star? I like that," Touch said.

"Yeah, that's a dope name," Dark added.

"I am good with it, as long as I don't have to be treasurer or anything," Ivy said.

"I knew you guys would like it. Well, alright Dread. Hopefully we will see you around the start of the second tier?" Sky asked.

"Yeah! I will get a party together, sounds good?" Dread said.

"Hell yeah! And don't forget...100 for 100!" Sky cheered.

"100 for 100!" Dread replied with just as much enthusiasm.

"Oh god, now there are two of them," Ivy said.

"Aww, come on Ivy! We need to do something to get noticed right? Plus, the original saying had like 5 more 100's in there!"

"100% to level 100?"

"More like 100% to be top 100 at level-"

"Please stop," Touch said tiredly.

"You got it."

Dread laughed, "Alright, good to meet you all. See you in game!"

He logged out of the chat.

"Anyways, what race are you all going as?" Ivy asked.

"Celestial!"

"Yeah, I know Sky..."

"Sorry."

"Nothdren or Dark Goliath," Dark replied.

"What are Nothdren again?" Ivy asked.

Dark explained, "It's kind of funny since this server start is getting fully story reset, but the Nothdren are a type of being from the Realm of Frost. In the lore they took the essence of Ice elementals and mixed it into their blood...sending them to the Zenith World. Just a bit of lore, for you. They don't actually make it to the game until the 4th expansion, but they are letting us take any race to start."

He continued, "As good as that is though, I should still go with Dark Goliath. Goliaths have been available for a while, but the basic dark version comes with a huge affinity for the element. Perfect for Shadow Paladin," Dark explained. "And it would be kinda cool to go a little more edge-lord this time around."

That drew a whistle from Sky and an impressed 'hmm' from Touch.

Touch spoke up, "I am going with Dark Elf for my race. Human's, halflings, and a few other races are all great at Rogue, but I just love the idea of being a sexy ebony-skinned elf with silver hair. Bonuses for Dark Affinity as well."

Ivy laughed, "Oooh, Dark, maybe you should go as a Dark Elf too?"

"They are way too small for a paladin," Dark defended.

"Oh yeah, he likes to be the max character size with edgy black armor, right?" Sky asked.

"I feel attacked," Dark said.

That drew laughs, but it was still an accurate statement.

Ivy sighed audibly, "We still aren't sure if we are going yet guys...Dark might not get approved for the time off."

Dark spoke up, "We can at least play for a few hours on your birthday, Sky, but no promises for the whole weekend. I don't know if you want to drop us because of that though? I wish we could just leave this world and get a fresh start in Zenith World, jobs aside."

"Well, just play tomorrow and if we need others, Touch and I will crank up the rizz and find some other people. It starts tomorrow at 8 AM your time. 5 AM my time, and 4 AM for you Touch," Sky said.

"Ahh, no worries, just gotta go to bed before ten or so tonight and I'll for sure be there. We should gather our party and make our characters right now though, Sky you said the RP server right?" Touch asked.

"Always! I don't know the exact name but it's always more fun on the RP servers," Sky said.

"Hey, I agree. Let's make our characters right now and declare our starting party. Even if we don't have a 5th or you guys stop playing, we will get better XP while leveling together for the weekend," Touch said.

Ivy spoke up, "Okay...but I am going as an elf and she's going to be a babe!"

Dark spoke up, "You already are a-"

"None of that!" Ivy said with a laugh.

Touch spoke up, asking Ivy about her character, "So, Elf-Healer with Water, Light, and Holy? Wouldn't a Myrim be better? If you are taking water as your primary element, they have a flat 50% casting speed with water spells compared to the 10% arcane casting speed increase of the Elves. That isn’t even mentioning their huge affinity bonus as well as their proclivity for nature-type classes."

"Myrim are blue though..." Ivy replied quietly.

"So? Myrim are still babes, like mermaid babes!" Sky said. "He's not wrong though Ivy, that is a huge deal there, water is so versatile as well! Lot's of skills in that tree."

"Yeah, they are good looking too and have the same pointy ears!" Dark said.

"I am going to have blue hair and golden eyes, so I will also be weird looking," Sky said, referring to his new celestial mage.

"Of course, Sky will be making a beautiful Celestial, aren’t you Sky?" Touch asked.

Sky laughed, "Yeah, you know I always play female characters, and if they aren’t gorgeous then I am doing something wrong."

"Please, don't tell me you are maxing out the boob slider, Sky..." Ivy asked.

"I mean...aren't you?"

"I'm not even mad, I'm just disappointed," Ivy said.

"That's, well, that's fair. Fine then, you tell me where on the bar I should go that is appropriate."

"Look if you are going further than 70% on that thing, back problems are the real deal, and if you are going less than 30% you better have a fine ass," Ivy said, leaving the room silent for a second.

Dark finally broke the silence, "Yeah, just do what she says Sky."

Laughter for a bit before they continued on character creation.

“70% it is,” Sky said, as he slid the bar to 75%.

"I still don't get why we need character names when they only show our account name in game anyways," Touch said.

"Yeah, never made much sense to me either, but whatever. I am done," Dark Hero said. "We will be on bright and early, at 7:55 tomorrow morning! Coffee in hand."

“Wait! Make sure you fill out your Lore Windows! Please, don’t forget!” Sky said.

“Already have mine filled out!” Touch replied.

“Ugh, why do we need to have these filled out? Aren’t they just for personal lore reasons?” Dark asked.

“Of course they are! But this is an RP server, and we have to have a reason why we are who we are in the world!” Touch said.

"Touch is exactly right!" Sky said.

"Wait, Touch, did you say you might have a 5th?" Dark asked.

"I had one in mind but they didn't answer..." Touch said.

"Storm_Kite?" Sky asked.

"Yeah, he was the best Enhancer out there, I figure we only need an Enchancer with some more CC and we are good," Touch explained.

"Well, we can find one tomorrow, everyone starts in that first square right? No big deal," Dark said confidently.

"Yeah, LFG is massive in the first month...it should be easy to find an Enhancer of some kind. Which server again, Sky?" Ivy asked.

"Daylight is the RP server I think," Sky said, the sound of his mechanical keyboard going to work in the background. "Yup, just checked, Daylight is the name of the server."

"It's like it's meant to be, Solar affinity mage playing on Daylight," Sky said with a proud voice.

"Yeah, yeah, it will be fun. Accept my party invites right now! See you guys in the morning," Touch said.

"Done!" came the chorus of replies.

Often, people would have their starting parties last the entire race to level 100, and the Developers loved the idea, so people could fully make their characters and parties before new servers opened.

"Great, we should all start together, as long as we log in at the same time, don't be late!" Touch said as he logged off.

"Wait, what race was he?" Sky asked.

"He said Dark Elf right?" Ivy confirmed.

"That is a great choice!" Dread said.

"And I am going as a very cute and very blue Myrim Druid," Ivy said. “Except my hair will be purple.”

"An even better choice!" Dark encouraged.

"Hmph! Better be, good night everyone!" Ivy logged out.

"Yeah, good luck Sky, it sounds like it's entirely your fault if she doesn't like the-OW!" Dark said as he logged off.

Dark and Ivy logged off, leaving a smiling Sky to finish his character backstory.

≪ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ≫

An odd event happened all across the world that night.

People began disappearing.

It would take a while before anyone noticed.

At midnight in each timezone, everyone who had made a character for the upcoming Daylight RP Server Restart was no longer on Earth.

And there were thousands of them.