Singularity Online

The Singularity - the merger of man and machine into a greater whole - is finally within humanity's grasp. When programmer Jeff Lawing gets the opportunity to join Singularity Online, the world's first realistic VRMMO and the testing ground that will lead to the Singularity, he leaps to accept. Singularity is much more realistic and darker than Jeff had imagined, though. 

Aranos has done the impossible: He's freed the first Fallen Realm in mortal reckoning and returned victorious. He and his follower Geltheriel should be hailed as heroes and celebrated throughout the Stronghold of Eredain. Instead, Aranos finds himself surrounded by elves that are both secretly and openly hostile. He and his new party descend nightly into the corrupted Blightlands to battle the Darkness and to try and reclaim more lands for the Light, but each day the elves place more obstacles in his path, from attempts at treachery to outright attacks.

There are still mysteries appearing in Eredain. The High Roads are far more dangerous than anything Aranos faced in the Blightlands, and the city of Antas has already repelled assaults from both human and elven armies...with no survivors returning. Discovering the more potent Enhanced Aspects of magic will help Aranos penetrate the Library of Antas and its secret Vault, but just using them could destroy him. 

Geltheriel's Cleansing Quest is an impossible task, one set by a treacherous elven elder who wants Aranos to fail. To complete it, he has to travel to the lands of humans and dwarves, where he'll find new enemies and have to build new alliances, all while rediscovering powers lost for centuries. His enemies aren't idle, though, and now the dark god Morx has taken a hand in the Sorcerer Ascendant's defeat. Restoring the Arcane Doors is impossible. Freeing the lands of Darkness is impossible. Facing the Lord of Nightmares is impossible. But Aranos is determined to do the impossible.

Aranos destroyed a Nightmare Beast and wounded a god. The Darkness cannot let his actions stand. Armies are marching, and the lands of the Light are scattered, disorganized, and unprepared for the battles to come. Cities lay under a pall of Corruption, their leaders serving the Darkness while pretending to follow the Light. It's up to Aranos to unite the lands and forge their armies into a force that can withstand the Darkness. To do that, though, he'll have to face hidden enemies, battle the rulers of nations, and convince the people of the Light to march under his banner. 

War has come to the Lands of Light, and the defenders of the Light look to Aranos to fight it. An army of urukkai marches on Eredain, the spider-people move against the dwarven Skollhelds, and a horde of Shadowborn descend on the Human Kingdoms. The elven capital of Cyva Alari has fallen, and the fiendish bodakkai rage freely in the forests under the thrall of the twisted, insane Traveler Lily.

War rages in the lands of Light, and the Darkness seems to be winning. Cities fall as the mad player Lily leads her armies against them, and hordes of Shadowborn descend on the Lightborn, seeking their destruction and enslavement. The Dark Pantheon itself has taken up arms against Aranos and his party, and he has only days to finish Redeeming the Arcane Doors before his Quest fails—which means the end of Geltheriel and the defeat of the Light.