- Chapter 1 -

One Step Forward

It scared me, the darkness. The absence. The void. The way it was everywhere, all-encompassing and all consuming. That's what it felt like. Like it was gnawing away at me, like I was losing myself bit by bit. I couldn't remember how long I had been here in this accursed black expanse, trying to fend of the deafening silence with my screams of frustration, my wails of misery. The eternity had long since stripped me of any resemblance of calm and was steadily chipping away at my sanity. “What do you want,” I yelled. “When will this end?” Of course, there was no reply. There never was. “Let me guess, nothing new? Why not spice things up for once?”

My rage flooded in, fuelled by frustration and helplessness, it pushed those dreaded feelings out of sight, out of mind- a luxury that was becoming harder and harder to indulge in. “Come on!” I jeered, “Tell me what's on the menu for-” I froze, the words caught in the back of my throat. I couldn't see. Not because of the darkness that typically blindfolded me, but light. It was bright, too bright. As the light faded unhurriedly, my impatience grew to unbearable levels. But slowly, right there in front of my face, I could see it, at long last; change, bringing along with it, hope. Whatever it was, it was getting clearer. It was indistinct, but there! And clearer still. My excitement mounted. Until, finally, I could see it. And I saw a… a menu? What the hell? I thought.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes. It was still there so I stared. There’s a menu in the middle of the void… I dismissed my swirling thoughts because, obviously, I'm just going crazy. Not that I was going to argue or even complain, despite the urge to do both. Something new, a novelty, had inexplicably offered hope of something else. Anything else. An oasis in the desert. It was a distraction at the very least and in all honesty- on the off chance that I wasn't crazy- then this just might be a way out! Either were justification to be overjoyed. Beggars can’t be choosers, I reasoned, So I'll play ball with me… my subconscious? …What's the part of you that's responsible for crazy? I took a moment to try and steady my breathing, to calm myself before investigating further. It didn't work.

I scrutinised ‘the menu’ as best I could without touching it. It looked vaguely holographic and was rectangular- the size of a decent monitor. I couldn't see anything connected to it, nor anything responsible for projecting it in front of me. How it floated in mid-air was beyond me. Wait, am I floating? Oh, whatever then. So, forget the floating thing. Apparently, been able to float is normal. Most of the screen was flickering and distorting the information it attempted to display due to what I could only assume was a glitch. However, the dead centre of the screen showcased a box that remained unaffected. That was what really drew my attention, no doubt because it remained steadfast against whatever plagued the rest of the system, oozing 'I’m important’.

I reached out with my hand towards the menu. My hand jerked back reflexively as a spark of paranoia flashed through me. Taking a moment to stifle the emotion, I hesitantly tried again, touching the menu without incident. Well, there was the fact that it felt solid. Pulling my hand back once again, my eyes darted left and right, searching for a change in the environment. Of course, I saw nothing beyond the thick cocoon of darkness that wrapped around the sphere of light emitted by the menu. My refuge. The contrast of light and darkness only served to make the latter look more solid than ever. After a brief internal debate, I made my decision and chastised myself, Stop stalling. You have NO other options. Focusing on the alert, as I decided it was, I could see it read:

Initiate Automatic Integration? Y / N:

Ok, maybe I should consider other options. Thoughts fired off one after another, I mean ‘…Dungeon Formation Protocol’? What is this? A game? No… that's just it, there aren’t ‘other options’. As weird as this Computer? Thing?! I still don’t even know! I sighed. …As weird as ‘it’ is, ‘it’ is my only hope. So, let’s not delay the inevitable, I lamented. I tapped ‘Y’ and hoped for the best. Immediately followed by regret, a lot of regret. It scaled with the pain. I screamed. It felt like someone shoved a cold blunt rod in my mind and whipped it around as fast as they could, intent on rendering it into paste. What I wouldn’t give fo-

***

I don’t know how long I was passed out for but the psychotic menu was still there- for better or worse- when I woke up. It was also no longer flickering, but throwing out a steady source of light, glitch free it seemed. It appears like that fixed it. What kind of technology needs to scramble my brain to fix errors? What was it doing? Integrating me? I hope it didn’t do any permanent damage.

I don’t know how long I debated with myself over even looking at the menu, let alone touching it again. Not that it mattered, with no other form of stimuli I was bound to cave sooner or later. Part of me knew that and so I did. I caved. The menu mocked me in silence for it. The way it was just hovering there, unmoving. Smirking at me without a face. Laughing at me without making a sound. I hated its guts. The menu now read:

Y / N: Y Proceed? Y / N:

I did a double take upon seeing ‘critical system error’. I suppressed my growing panic. Think! Think! I just need to reason my way through this. I’m a tech savvy guy. Surely, it’s doable, I thought, clutching at straws. “I assume what went wrong was me. At least the first error was. This hopefully means that this system doesn’t need to scramble my brains every time there is a problem because I don't think I could take that…”

Switching gears, I mulled over the terminology used in the menu, “Hmm… 'Searching for Physical Tether' and 'Matching Core Not Found'.” I paused as I considered what it could possibly mean, they sounded more involved (abusive) then 'integration'. “Is the problem just cascading into every new step? Wait, could that be computer talk for an exit?!” I wanted to be optimistic and courageous but I couldn’t with my only chance of escape hinging on bug riddled future tech. Please no more pain, I begged helplessly. What did I do to deserve this? Screw it! All I need to do to be brave, is to be stupid! I gritted my teeth and hit ‘Y’ with vigour and heroism. I started to cower in trepidation waver, just a little bit, as I waited. My wait was followed, thankfully, not by regret and pain but a new screen.

A glorious, pain-free screen. “Yes! Progress,” I cheered. The new menu divvied up the screen into two sections, with the left looking like a series of tabs and the right displaying the corresponding content. The tabs:

(Error: Spawn Countdown Invalid)

(Conditions Met - Initiating)

Seeing the four tabs was devastating, especially the last. The final nail in the coffin. My enthusiasm deflated like a balloon. “So, it is a game!! What. THE FUCK. Is going on!?” I fumed.

It took me some time to calm down. “It’s my own fault for getting my hopes up. I’m never going to be able to leave this place.” I bemoaned. Taking a sudden swipe at the screen, I growled, “But I want to leave.” There was no response. Why would there be? I slumped back down, feeling the will to fight leave me.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with a game?” I mumbled. My eyes went wide as I realised, “Oh, well… I suppose… I suppose I’ll play it. Kill some time.” I tried to psych myself up. I knew I should be grateful for this distraction but escape is what I wanted, needed, and this, this… ‘game’ is just the shitty consolation prize. What a pitiful pep talk. Hope flared up again when I eyed the ‘Spawn Location’ tab. I knew I shouldn’t think along the lines I was thinking along but I couldn’t help it. If I was smart I’d squash that hope right now ignore the spawn location tab. Getting up from the foetal position I had retreated into I selected ‘Spawn Location’.

The map on the screen showed a bird's eye view of some untamed grasslands, swaying in a breeze. The movement caught my eye. Is this a live view? Of the real world?! It’s so realistic, so it must be, I thought. Excitement swam through my veins, an exhilarating feeling after all the doom and gloom. In the back of my mind a thought whispered, How hard would it be for tech like this to fake a video? I flicked the thought away like a insect. Imposed text revealed the name of the area as Dousaw Plains. Never heard of it, I conceded, wondering, Is this the… outside? Of wherever, whatever, this void is? Obviously not enough to get my bearings, I pinched the screen, zooming out. I saw towns and people and… castles? What? My worry was growing, threatening to drown me. I struggled to keep it at bay. I kept zooming out until I could see something I recognised. Well, that was what I originally intended. Eventually I couldn't zoom out any further. I saw the map and its contents in their entirety. It was at that point I felt a chill slither up my back, and all that mounting worry came crashing down, inundating me. The excitement in me dissipated, vanishing into thin air. For I was looking at some foreign world. Not the Earth I knew.