The booming, commanding voice falls silent as displays open in front of me showing stats and symbols. Text plays out in the lower center above a health bar.

You are currently logged in as ‘guest’, do you wish to continue?

“Yes?” I look around the vast, dark hall, unable to see any further details, save for the polished, quartz-like floors, as the status screen follows my line of sight.

The monk, as close as I can get to him, gives off his own glow, or rather, is translucent and glowing. His white robes, marked with a golden “V” from shoulders to navel, don't reflect the light of the crystals as I first thought. From my vantage at the edge of a chasm, thirty feet from the man, his features stand out. No bald monk here, with short-cropped black and gray hair, hooked eyebrows, and a short, forked goatee. Not the things you think of in a monk, unless you follow wuxia. Jonesy described the Lenscape as a multitude of gaming types, with his preference being the RPG sort of adventures. Quests, battles, monsters—stuff we grew up with. So I suppose the monk-dude fit in.

“Jonesy?” No answer from him, but the game voice speaks again.

As a guest you have the option to choose from:

Continue your previous session.

Or

Enter the Haven.

The two options appear on my screen. “How do I choose?”

Nothing.

The monk hovers in silence and it isn't clear whether he spoke or some game engine interacted with me. Really, it was all a game engine, AI, whatever.

Moving my hands failed to place them between myself and the screen.

Access your Lenscape device to scroll through your User Interface.

“What's a Lenscape device? Where is it?” That's when I notice a slate on the back of my right hand flashing on and off. With a tentative tap of my left hand, it activates a section of the status window. Swishing my fingers across the device, a cursor symbol appears as options glow from one to the next.

“You'd think this would be voice-activated.”

Should you wish to, vocalize your choice. As you continue in the Lenscape, you will familiarize with your interface such that it will become intuitive.

“Uh huh.” Studying the two options to recall the damned name of my destination, I decide not to continue wherever Jonesy’s last conquest left off. Pun intended. “Enter the Haven.”

You have chosen to reenter the Haven. Your achievements on your last quest are accessible in your User Interface and your Armory.

Armory, that sounded cool.

A shimmering wave arcs from the darkness above in a tornado of light around me and just as quickly spins out on a pink marble floor as I am transported to a place of white marble columns, colossal structures, and gardens that shame Washington and challenge Olympus. Mixed crowds of people walk the wide avenues between the impressive buildings and monuments to elder beings. Each wear unique garb from various stages of gameplay.

Surrounded by the megalithic wonderment, I decide to glance down on myself and see the unexpected—boobs.

“Nice, Jonesy, nice.”

Clearly his guest option gave him the opportunity to play with whomever he happened to be dating. Besides a modest set of breasts, I'm wearing ornate leather clothing with numerous tag-like tassels marked with arcane sigils. Hanging from my back is a short lance.

“David, there you are. I've been sending chat requests to you.” As the voice reaches me through the crowd, a text message repeats on the glowing screen crowding my vision.

Turning, I see a decidedly more impressive version of Jonesy, his avatar, waving at me, behind my intrusive status screen. With wider shoulders and larger muscles, his avatar wears a plated body suit that only enhances the lines of his trim form. Glowing lines and patterns marked areas of raised plates, giving me the impression of exaggerated circuit graphics. I guess this wasn't simply a fantasy game.

“Jonesy, there's all sorts of things flashing in my eyes.” I wave my hand in front of my face. “Everytime there's a voice, text repeats what’s said. How the hell do I turn it off? Is it like a hologram? Can you see it too?”

“No. And you must have the alerts muted. Hold on.”

“Why am I running around as a woman?”

“Now who's not being ‘politically correct’? Who do you think I've been playing with?”

“Yourself.” I shake my fist up and down.

“That's real funny. Look, we're just doing this to get you used to the game, if you don't want to see yourself, stay in first-person view. The hell does it matter?”

I shrug. “I am in first person view. You mean I could see myself if I wanted?” The speech to text or whatever no longer repeated everything Jonesy said. "Look, just set my avatar to a default male body, please."

“Okay, I’ve adjusted your settings, but all you need do to close the HUD is double tap the Lenscape slate on your hand and when you create your own character, you just need to think about accessing it.”

Create my own character. I'd have to buy the game system first. “So it's a heads-up display. Can I see my character sheet?”

“Character stats? Sure” He shifts his weight, waiting for me. “Oh come on, man, think about your character.”

“She's got a nice chest?”

He slaps my shoulder. “Your abilities. Call them up.”

Character

Name: Lia.

Species: Human.

Level: 1

Class: Warrior.

Subclass: Trovain.

Affinity: Clan R’aio.

HP: 10/10

MP: 150/150

Attributes

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 100

Movement/Speed: 10

Combat Rate: 3

Constitution/Endurance: 30

Physical Defense: 2

Energy Defense: 6

Body: 30

Stun: 60

Recovery: 12

Intelligence: 10

Mental strength: 30

Senses: ?

Presence/Charisma: 30

Abilities/Skills

Resistance to electric shock.

Weapons

Trovain Thunder Lance.

“Hot damn, that's a long list!”

“You must've called up the full stats. What matters is your strength, dexterity, intelligence, constitution, and of course, your hit points and experience.”

“XP, right? I don't see it.”

Jonesy sighs. It's there, you're locked at level one. You know, my guest user login. But if we go out into the Wilds around here, we can unlock the level and at least familiarize you with all of this. I asked you to at least go online.”

“I don't even own the gear. How was I to do that?”

The sigh again. I clear the stat screen and focus on Jonesy. His arms are crossed.

“The voucher I gave you?”

“When?” I raise my arms.

“Months ago. The months ago since I saw you last?”

“Oh.”

“Oh.” His eyebrow rises on a face etched by annoyance.

“You bought me a Lenscape gear package?”

He looks to the side. “I earned it. Money earned in the game is valid for Lenscape purchases. It's also a subject of the pending legislation.”

“It makes sense to gift me a game so I can begin purchasing too, but how the hell do they make money if the currency you earn is their money? What about in-game purchases with your real dinero?”

He turns his head back to me. “Are we going to have that discussion about the Fed again?”

He meant the theory that the US Federal Reserve and all central banks are not managed or controlled by the countries in which they reside. But, I simply meant it sounded odd that a digital currency in a game held a value to the company that generated it.

“No. We don't want to get back into that discussion.” I say.

“It's like Galacom. They don't charge people for their service.”

“I still question how that works. A multimedia, entertainment platform based on watching and being watched.”

“Same here in Lenscape. There are more people who log in to watch people play then do play.”

Horrified, I look up and around me, past the marble architecture into the mottled, azure sky. “People are watching us now?”

“No, we'd have to turn our streams on.”

Pointing at the PCs around us I shrug. “What if their streams are on? What happens if you cross the streams?”

Ignoring my joke, he waves me off. “Nah, at best we might appear as a glowing soul orb. Privacy settings.”

“The hell?” That was closer to my joke than I intended. “A soul orb? Like ghosts?”

“Orbs when we're alive and boxes when we die.”

“Boxes?”

“When we die, a soul box hovers over your body, giving you the option to reclaim it after you respawn. But, there are character types that can do more than loot your corpse, there are some out in the Realms that can steal your XP direct from the soul box, or outright steal your soul box.”

Weird as the thought of a bunch of orbs and boxes floating around was, it did make sense, this is an RPG game and normal is boring.

With his arms held out, he gestures around us. “Anyway, it's all about the souls. Money makes the world go round and the economy in here will affect the real world.”

Sighing, I nod. “Must be how farmers and the like felt in England during the industrial revolution.”

“The steampunk era?”

I begin walking. “Sure, the steampunk era. So what are we doing here, how do we get to the Wilds? Let's get our grind on.”

“Dude, don't say it like that. Especially in that avatar. That's not how it goes.”

“So, what are you wearing?”

He shivers. “Damn, you gotta stop doing that until you've chosen your own avatar.”

“Shut up, man. Look, change my avatar now, before we do anything else."

He laughs before calling up his UI, and I continue. "That armor, is it a power suit?”

“Not the way you think. It's called a leygun, and it runs off, well, mana or magical energy. Life force.”

“Leygun, like leylines? Standing stones and alignments across England and Europe? Or Dragon Lines in Asia?”

With a blank look, he shrugs. “If you say so. If you stare at the armor long enough, information will pop up and tell you stuff.” He raises his hands toward me before I can try.

Eye roll. “But don't stare at you in this avatar. Very funny.”

He slaps his ass. “Only if you want to.”

I wait as he finalizes the revertion to a default male avatar. Light flashes around me and when I switch to third person POV, I see a dark skinned male similiar to Jonesy's avatar.

"Such a shame." He says.

This is why people called us Davy Jones. Same humor, same sarcasm. If opposites attract, I suppose my future wife will be dramatic and humorless.

*

We move to the Wilds by a fast travel method known in the Lenscape as the Way of the Walk. Jonesy filled me in on the details. Available within the region of the Wilds around the Haven, the Way of the Walk also serves as one method to journey between worlds, across the settings of the Lenscape. The primary way to cross worlds is the Grand Gate, located at the center of the Haven, near the Citadel Crystalline, where I entered the game and ogled the monk hologram. Only new players and guests spawn within the Citadel, and new players create their characters within. Below level six, players cannot enter the Grand Gate and level up to do so to venture out into the Realms.

We're surrounded by thick jungle canopy, the type jungle lords roam, full of mystery and adventure. Huge trees, dozens of feet across at the base rise up from dense green undergrowth, hiding any number of dangers just waiting to give up XP. And talking of experience, this game is intense. The scent of flowers, rotten leaves, water, and damp soil assaults me. The humidity clings and messes with your breathing they way it should. Sweat builds under my clothing and insects buzz all around. That itch that builds as you think about bugs starts and I rub the back of my neck.

After a short walk, members from Jonesy’s gamer group join us outside of a place known as the Labyrinth of Quad, a dungeon in the literal and gaming sense, and a good place to help me gain some experience playing the game.

“Everyone, this is David.”

There are a number of greetings and smiles from the six members. A tall woman in silver armor, with an ornate helmet, steps forward as her faceplate opens. “Hi, David, guess you haven't chosen an avatar or a handle yet?”

“My in-game name is Greywaters.”

“Mine is Lia, and my real name is Lisa.”

After a round of introductions and an explanation of my borrowed avatar, I learn Jonesy goes by the tag Shadow Fox. Of course he does.

One of the players, a Stellar Knight wearing heavy armor under a blue cloak, shakes my hand with vigor. “Hey David, do you remember me? Paul?”

Paul, Jonesy’s roommate from college, I sure do. Strange fella. The three of us got lost in video games so much we missed classes. “Damn, man, it’s been a spell.”

“Hasn’t it? Why haven’t you come around?”

That old chestnut, damn. “Work, it never ends, and I get sick a lot now.”

“Jonesy said, yeah. But that shouldn’t stop you from playing online.”

Yeah, they never understand how sick I get, what sick means. Everyone goes through spells of illness, the flu, measles, chickenpox, but only those suffering from diseases can begin to understand, just as I can’t understand what they go through. At least I'm only sick sometimes, usually due to stress or something I eat.

The long answer. I give him the short answer. “The struggle is real.”

He nods and I decide to change the subject.

“What happened while we fast traveled? I feel a sense of deja vu.”

“Well, like I said, fast travel is used on quests. But new players, they tend to want to level up so they can get into the game you know?”

“Isn't the point to explore?”

“Yeah, once you've played a while. Anyhow, Way of the Walk doubles as a sort of cut-scene, where we train and gain knowledge about the places we pass on the way to a destination. If you pass a place and return to it later, you have some knowledge of the location, in a vague way, but more than actual deja vu. The cut-scene aspects familiarize a player with the skills required on a quest. Players are further advised and tested by beings assigned to them known as imps. We are truly tested during a quest—we learn by doing. That's why you need to enter the labyrinth.”

“That makes sense. Are we all going into the labyrinth?”

“No.” Placing his hand on my shoulder, Jonesy tosses his thumb over his shoulder. “Our levels are too high, we can't enter with you, so the group and I are going to complete our own quest. But, we should be done by the time you beat this thing and we'll meet back up.”

I'm confused. “So why meet here?”

“We play the dungeon from time to time to gather more gold to spend. Besides, it's time you met everyone, two birds with one stone.”

Another member of the group, a tall muscle-bound warrior named Granger, steps forward. “You got this, David, it's EZ.” He leans with one arm slung over an enormous ornate war hammer.

Lisa separates from the group. “Actually, I'm going to wait here with David. Something’s come up that I've got to deal with at home. It's safe enough here outside the labyrinth to leave my avatar while I deal with it.”

Winking, Jonesy claps my shoulder. “You can enter the group chat and holler if you need us or have any questions.” I know what he's suggesting by that wink.

“Yeah, that's cool.” I turn to Lisa. “Thank you. Is everything okay?”

Distracted, she hesitates. “I'm cool, I'm going to switch focus back to RL, but like Jonesy said, if you send an alert text, I'll hear it.”

With that, her avatar’s eyes glaze over and I'm alone as the last of the group fast travel to their quest point. I turn back to the vine-covered, aged, and weathered black stones hidden beneath the thick jungle canopy. The labyrinth is square, maybe two hundred feet across and some forty feet high, with four, round, sixty foot towers at each side. The ten foot high, five foot wide entrance is at the corner facing me, making the dungeon a diamond from my vantage. Despite the various hints of technology in-game, the architecture looks ancient. Constructed of mammoth ten foot blackened blocks, the labyrinth consists only of four layers of stone, with enormous ceiling stones peeking out from a thick layer of vines, saplings, moss, and leaves.

As I stare, a HUD pops up.

Encounter: Wilds Wraiths

Location: Labyrinth of Quad

Challenge: Dungeon. Find the items of power to help defeat the Wilds Wraiths and win the treasure at the center of the labyrinth.

Constructed in ages long forgotten, the chronicler Norash described the labyrinth as a relic of the time of the Great Tamers, before Atlantis rose to prominence. Will you brave its depths?

Reward: 75 XP and 500 GP.

Options replace the text.

Y/N

Grasping my thunder stick, I choose to enter. “Yes.”

The darkness consumes me within twenty feet of the yawning entrance, the walls of the passageways as black as the stygian depths of the dungeon. Cold and damp, I'm surprised by the continuing immersion of the senses. Lenscape is crazy real. Dream-like. I'm not entirely sure what to do, what to use as my light source.

Engage your Thunder Lance and harness the power of the written thunder.

If only the damned HUD was a hologram and provided a light source. Squeezing the grip around my Lance I feel for a trigger, or button, anything to turn it on. The hell is “written thunder” anyway?

Lightning arcs from the Thunder Lance.

Thunder Lance unlocked.

“That explains that.”

My foot kicks something, I misstep and stop. Glints of light, warm reflections on gold, catch my eye.

Loot.

Looking down, I see gold coins trailing down the passage. GP just waiting for me. A trap? I wait. Silence.

“Hmmm.” Kneeling, I collect the coins and that's when I hear it, the ungodly screech.

Challenge: Wilds Wraith.

Should have followed my first mind, “It’s a trap!”

*

For the seventh time I respawn beside Lisa and hope she isn't seeing me fail. Each time I enter, a Wilds Wraith chases me through the labyrinth, soon followed by three more as I lose my bearings and time passes. Lost and backed into a corner, one of the wraiths descends on me, ripping my soul out. Then I'm looking at my dead avatar with an option to respawn or return to Haven.

What have I learned? Well, Jonesy's pulling a prank on me, this damned dungeon crawl is friggin' Pac-Man. There are four wraiths that protect the treasure hidden at the center of the ancient labyrinth. When I enter, the passage leads directly to the center of the labyrinth, and a blank wall, before branching. At this point, the first wraith leaves the room somewhere on the other side and hunts me down. If I manage to avoid it, the second wraith joins the chase. Once leaving the treasure room, each of the four wraiths haunt one of the four quarters of the place. They don't pass through the walls, but know the routes through the circuits. If I last long enough, they return to and remain in their quarter of the labyrinth unless I start to collect the gold strewn through the labyrinth. If I try to defend myself or attack, my Thunder Lance doesn't hurt the wraiths, but does respawn with me.

On my third entry, I decided to blast the wall and enter the treasure room. I respawned after the blowback killed me.

I glance at Lisa. Like Jonesy, it's probably an idealized version of what she really looks like, but damn, she's stunning. And what's far more attractive to me? She's friendly. I didn't really get that from most of their group. Jonesy did have a habit of hanging with those sorts, people more into themselves. The outsider in me clawed at my brain.

Crossing the threshold for the eighth time, I walk with caution into the dank dungeon, past the center intersection, turning to and fro, deeper, waiting for the screech of the first wraith to echo down the twisting passages of this crucible of anxiety. Do I avoid the gold? Only the wraiths count toward XP—the whole point of being here. The gold is a definite trigger, drawing the wraiths to me. Best leave the gold coins this time. I turn to search the first quarter of the labyrinth.

Unlocked: General Skill: Insight.

Could it be that easy? If so, the developers have a retro sense of humor.

Two, almost three, minutes pass before I find it, a bright glowing orb that I hear long before I see its glow around the final corner of passageway. Entering the first tower, the two foot diameter orb hovers at chest height as I reach out for it.

Touch the orb and gain HP against the Wilds Wraiths. Watch them scatter and run, or pursue and destroy them.

Duration: Four minutes.

Not bad, that was one minute per wraith. One problem, no wraiths. My head drops forward. It took me almost three minutes from the entrance to this corner of the labyrinth. The center must be one minute away in a straight line from the tower, two if I managed to find the correct route. There's no way to know the exact route. The gold trail is too obvious, being scattered at random anyway. Looking up I search for stairs or windows. Nothing. The ceiling is hidden in darkness and the walls are bare of scaffolding. No stairs, stone or wood, the towers house the orb and nothing more.

“The maze isn't open anyhow, no way to see it from above, tower or no tower.” I crack my knuckles. Whoa, I cracked my knuckles, this place is too real. Fortunately, the wraiths tore my soul out several times without pain. Only sadists play a game with realistic pain settings.

What do I do? A couple of choice curses and a whole lot of effs escape me.

It is possible to beat this dungeon. It is and I'm going to do it.

Touching the orb releases an immense flash of light and a shower of sparks. As the light fades I run deeper into the maze.

*

This dungeon is a pain in my ass. EZ? I don't think so. How the hell is one person able to make it through the maze to the center?

I've respawned outside the labyrinth.

Again.

The first wraith tried to run and I went after it. Killed it too, and the second, but I didn't take into account the distance around the entire maze takes four times as long, about two minutes for each quarter zone, if I choose the right path without reaching dead ends or doubling back. Or both. I've not gotten that far, so I will get lost.

Beside me, Lisa's avatar remains unresponsive. Asking her for advice is downright embarrassing. Not right to interrupt her family business or whatever it was. It sounded important. Hoping she's alright, I turn away and focus on the entrance for a ninth time. The usual information displays and fades as I enter.

“The problem is, I'm rushing this.”

Turning down the five foot wide passageways, I reach the first tower and its orb. I activate my four minutes of glory and head off for the next tower. There is no screech or wailing from any wraiths, but I don't dare give in to the temptation to book for the central treasure room. The path, literally littered with gold, gives me an idea. Picking up several coins, I wait.

Nothing.

They wait for the orb’s effect to end.

Insight: Success!

“Okay, you bastards. I gotcha.”

Over a minute later, I enter the second tower, reaching out to the second orb. Poke. Poke. I palm the orb and nothing happens. It doesn't extend the effect, not while the first orb is active, so I wait.

A few minutes later I hear the screams. Bitches be coming for me.

I let the wraiths close in.

Each time I've entered, they exited the treasure room one by one, hunting me, and given time, separating to haunt their quarter of the maze.

Right now, they are heading toward me with a hunger for my soul. I stand facing the entrance to the tower with my hand held above the orb, ready to slap it like I mean it, at the first wraith's entry into the tower.

The howls grow louder. The golden glow of the orb pulses behind me and a red nimbus, the aggro aura of the wraiths, forms around me once again.

“Come get some.”