Cain closed his eyes, blinded by a sudden burst of light.
He felt as if he was floating in outer space for a few moments. He was not affected by gravity and could hear nothing except his own heartbeat.
There was only light.
Seeing nothing but the blinding radiance and being assaulted by the deafening silence left him feeling disoriented and slightly nauseous.
'This feels strange. I'd be freaking out if I hadn't read the beta reviews online.' Cain thought, mesmerized by this alien sensation.
Was this how astronauts felt?
Even if that were the case, Cain just wanted this feeling to go away.
Suddenly something around him shifted subtly.
'Ugh, I'm going to hate this. Here we go!'
Cain felt like he was falling - getting faster, faster and...
There was wet grass beneath his bare feet, the air smelled of a fresh summer breeze and a pleasant ray of sunlight was warming his back.
The sweet lullaby of an unknown bird floated through the wind, accompanied by the rustling of leaves.
Cain opened his eyes and looked around. It was evening, and the sun was about to vanish behind a small mountain in the distance.
He was standing at the edge of a deep forest of tall, ancient trees, their leaves glowing golden in the light of the setting sun.
Behind him, there was a lavish field of the greenest grass he had ever seen, populated by a myriad of flowers that looked oddly familiar but still unlike those he knew.
Cain paid the beautiful scenery no attention, reminding himself of the rules he had set for himself after reading the beta tester's articles online.
First off: risk assessment.
'I see no immediate threats. There are no beasts and this place seems rather peaceful. There are pillars of white smoke in the sky above the forest so there should be a village or something of the sort somewhere ahead of me. Great, I can go there to seek shelter before night falls.'
New Eden was a special game in many regards. The first and arguably most important rule Cain had discovered was "one player one chance," which meant that every player could only create one account, which would be deleted if they ever died.
That in combination with the second rule made it so important to immediately analyze the surroundings once you spawned into New Eden.
The second rule Cain had gathered from the numerous articles was... well there were no rules really.
The entire game was open world and there were no quests, no instructions, no set paths for players to follow, and no real restrictions limiting the player in any way.
It was an incredible feat of virtual engineering!
'How did they even program all of this?' Cain asked himself quietly, scratching his head in disbelief.
The game looked incredibly realistic, to a degree that Cain couldn't even tell he was inside a game at all!
'Okay let's not get distracted. Remember, you only got one chance, Cain!'
After analysing his immediate surroundings Cain shifted his focus to his body. He was wearing a short white tunic made of linen fabric. It wouldn't do much good in deflecting any incoming strikes but at least it looked durable.
'No weapon? Come on!' Cain cursed internally.
Getting some sort of means to defend himself was of paramount importance and near the top of his priority list.
'At least my foot doesn't hurt anymore.' He sighed.
After searching for a few minutes, he found a stick that looked durable enough to hold out for a few strikes if needed.
'That should do it for now.' Cain thought, hoping he wouldn't have to use the stick at all.
"Alright, time to go. Let's just hope for the best." Cain mumbled, looking at the sun that was beginning to set behind the mountain in the distance.
Following his estimations the village should be around twenty to thirty minutes away. He would have to hurry if he wanted to make it there in time. He quickly memorised the approximate location of the smoke pillars and looked back at the sinking sun one last time.
Motivated by the thought of having to spend the night in the dark wilderness of an ancient forest, Cain grabbed the stick tightly and began making his way through the forest.
Whether it was through sheer luck or careful treading, Cain didn't come across any dangerous beasts or other threats.
Slowly but surely he made his way toward the village.
'Wait, didn't I already pass this tree five minutes ago? Damn it! It's getting colder and I can barely see anything anymore.' Cain cursed, lamenting the thought he might have gotten lost.
Just then, he heard a muffled pained scream from somewhere up ahead.
Cain paused, thoughts shooting through his head at lightning speed, fueled by adrenaline.
'Enemies? Someone from the village? Should I go help them? They might be able to guide me. Could it be a trap?'
He shook his head, it didn't matter. If he didn't find the village soon he would likely freeze to death in the icy night winds.
He steeled his resolve and began running in the direction he heard the scream at full speed.
Soon he heard a cacophony of noises ahead. Commands were being shouted, pained roars both human and inhuman rang through the air, and the ringing of shields being struck and swords hitting their marks vibrated through the night sky.
Before he reevaluated his choices in running here, he saw the warmth of a burning flame through the trees.
'Finally, a hint of civilization!' Cain thought ecstatically.
It didn't matter to him that said civilised people seemed to be fighting, what mattered was that there were people here at all!
One's spawn point in New Eden was determined entirely at random and Cain had found that statistically speaking spawnpoints near or inside civilised territory had a way higher rate of survival for obvious reasons.
'Lucky me! Now I just need to find a way to safety while avoiding this conflict!' Cain celebrated internally, almost jumping around happily. Of course, he instead simply observed the battle in front of him through the cover of the trees.
'So this is where all the forest beasts were all this time!'
There under his studying gaze, a large horde of otherworldly beasts was assaulting a large caravan of wooden horse-drawn carriages guarded by a small army of humans clad in shiny metal armor.
It was a vicious, desperate battle for survival but the humans seemed to be holding the advantage.
For now.
While both sides were fighting for survival, Cain sat on a large branch of a tree, debating on what to do.
He didn't really care for which side would emerge victorious, he only wished for the warmth of the campfires that lined both sides of the caravan, to ensure his survival for the night.
'No, let's think of the bigger picture. Where are these people going? It could be beneficial for me to join them on their way.'
Beneath him, the deadly battle was slowly reaching its conclusion. More and more dead bodies littered the ground and some beasts simply snatched one of their fallen comrades and ran off, seemingly not seeing any merit in continuing their assault anymore.
Slowly Cain made his way down the tree, careful not to alert any of the beasts running past him. He waited for the perfect moment and then ran toward the caravan at full speed.
Just when he thought he would make it over safely, a creature that resembled a brown bear, an endangered almost extinct animal from Earth, broke out of the formation unexpectedly, its escape route crossing Cain's path to the caravan.
'Shit.'
Panic filled every fiber of Cain's body as the beast drew closer and closer. Its terrifying maw was wide-open, vicious saliva dripping from its long, sharp teeth.
It was covered in shallow cuts but looking at how none of them were bleeding much they likely weren't fatal in any way.
It hadn't noticed Cain yet but it would see him any moment now.
He had to make it to safety!
Cain leaped forward, one step, another step, and...
He locked eyes with the creature.
His mind went blank.
Then something deep inside of him boiled over and a cold determination filled his mind.
'Kill it!'