The book.

We followed Leomorn around the castle, full of small hallways and so many turns I got lost. I couldn’t have found my way out even if I’d had a map. I think that’s what Leomorn was hoping for.

The whole time I followed him I kept saying I needed to get home; his only response that the book would explain everything.

The book. The book. The fucking book. I hoped the book was a manual on how to get the fuck out of here.

He led us to a small room with two small beds and a small chest in it. The walls were bare. There was one small window and a small pot with water in it. I think monks had larger living spaces. We went inside and he shut the door from the outside and I heard it lock.

Oh hell no.

I pushed and pulled on the door but it wouldn’t open.

Varris sat down on one of the beds and said, “He’ll be back.”

I sat down on the bed to think about how the hell I was going to get out of here.

We’d come up some stairs and I looked out the small window the room had. I could see the torn-up courtyard and the burned platforms and people already working to clean them up. Beyond the walls were beautiful green hills that reminded me of the kind of scenery you’d see in a movie set in Ireland or Scotland. Below the hills was a small village on the banks of a river, a windmill turning in the breeze. If it hadn’t been so messed up this place would be cool.

Soon Leomorn came back and handed me a set of clothes. I guess he didn’t have anything in Varris’s size. He told me to put them on and then left again without another word.

Fine. But what was wrong with my clothes. Other than they were torn and dirty and smelled like it was possible during fighting a very real dragon I may have crapped myself, nothing was wrong with them.

I check out the clothes Leomorn had brought. There was a shirt made of thick cotton that seemed like it would itch and pants made of, you guessed it, leather. There were some thick cotton things that resembled shorts but were huge.

Varris put his feet up and closed his eyes. He was as cool as a cucumber.

I took my clothes off fast hoping I could get changed before Leomorn came back and got an eyeful of ass. I used the water in the pot and a rag to scrub at my pits. I was so foul I could smell myself. I wasn’t sure it helped but it was better than nothing.

I figured out the clothes and then check the pockets of my jeans. I had forgotten all about the M&M’s I’d smuggled in. But there they were. The bags were wrinkled but the little round orbs inside them felt intact. I took them out and put the two unopened bags in the pocket of my new leather pants.

I poured some of the candies into my palm from the bag I had opened earlier. I could always use some chocolate. I threw one up in the air and opened my mouth under it and caught it and bit into the sweetness. It tasted so good. I wondered if I would ever make it home to experience things like chocolate candy again.

I looked and Varris was staring at me. “What is that?” he asked.

I almost didn’t want to share. This was my little slice of home. What would I do when they ran out? But he had saved my life, sort of. He at least had told me to run for it.

I thought about it for a split second but didn’t want to be rude to my new friend. Who knew what I’d need help with. A little candy would go a long way.

“It’s candy,” I said. “From where I’m from. A chocolate-covered peanut.”

Varris sat up. “What’s a chocolate-covered peanut?”

“Open your mouth,” I said and took a brown one in my fingers.

Varris looked skeptical so I popped the brown one in my mouth and chewed and took a green one out.

He must have been convinced I wasn’t going to poison him so he reluctantly opened his mouth.

I launched the M&M straight into his mouth from across the room. He looked startled then chewed for a second then smiled. “Can I have another one?”

We polished off what was left of the opened bag of M&M’s and I was sitting on the bed scratching where the shirt was making me itch when Leomorn knocked. He entered before I could say anything, a thick leather-bound tome in his hands.

Varris looked over my shoulder.

“This is it,” Leomorn said with great reverence. “The Book of the Mages.” He handed it to me carefully.

I acted like I dropped it, then caught it. Leomorn’s face went white.

Varris laughed and said, “Good one, kid.”

When Leomorn realized I was joking his face turned red and he slapped me on the head. Say what you want about virtual reality, but everything sure felt real.

I looked at the leather-bound book, heavy in my hands. There was a symbol on the thick leather cover, a shape that looked like several stars intertwined together, but no writing. With my head still hurting I opened it to the first page.

The same symbol stared back at me on the first page.

“Have you ever seen that symbol before?” Leomorn asked me.

I hadn’t. It looked pretty weird. I shook my head.

“It is the symbol of the mages. Only a true hero, one chosen by the mages themselves before he was even born can read this book.”

Oh. So there was zero chance I could read this thing. Great. How was I going to get home?

I flipped to the next page and saw crazy symbols arranged like words. It was like somebody had written in a cipher but I had no idea what the symbols meant.

I flipped to the next page and there, in English, written at the top above all the crazy symbols was;

“If you are reading this, then you are already dead!”

I froze for a second. That sucked. But answered a lot of questions.

I flipped to the next page. In English:

Just fucking with you. No seriously, if you’re reading this I’m dead, and you are statistically likely to be dead too soon, that isn’t a joke. I just thought it would be funny to make one of those like ominous things where a book reads, if you’re reading this then you’re already dead.

What the hell? Who had written this? And their little joke had been both scary and not funny.

I flipped the page again. More symbols that I couldn’t read. More words written in English, this time on the top and in the margins.

Ok, so you’re probably wondering what’s going on? I bet Dennis didn’t tell you that you were going inside the actual game. That asshole. We’ll get to him. But first, let me tell you all about the game.

The words were written everywhere. At the top, on the sides, at the bottom. Anywhere those weird symbols weren’t someone had written in English.

My name is Gary. I was here. And now, I’m probably dead. So you’re here.

You see, this is a video game. Sort of. You’re inside Dennis’s newest creation. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. I was a coder on part of the game but it all looked normal to me. Then one day they ask me to look at some different code. It was weird and complicated. You wouldn’t understand. Hell, I have a master's in computer science and I didn’t get it. At first. But then I did. It all made sense. The weird code, the missing animals. Then the missing people.

I kept reading and flipping.

I bet Leomorn is watching you intently, thinking you’re reading the hell out of this thing. That’s good. That’s what you want. Because he needs to think you can read this. If he thinks you can’t, then you’re no use to them, and let’s just say, they don’t take that too well. So keep reading.

It all started with Dennis wanting to create a new RPG. But something with some kick. Something that anyone who’d ever held a controller would want to play. He wanted to push the limits.

Again, I have no idea how they did it, but they did. They created a living, breathing, immersive game. No, they created another dimension. And you’re in it. Yes, you read that correctly. You are in the game.

And there’s no way out.

You see they created the game. But they didn’t create an out. They created a game that can actually kill you.

Obviously, when you die in a regular video game it’s just your character—not you--you can go back and load your last save or restart or whatever, right? But they overlooked that part! Or maybe there just isn’t a way to do that since you’re actually in the game. Either way, when you die in this game, you die. Period. The end. Full stop. It’s over.

And they’re trying to fix it. But they can’t advertise that their game actually kills its players. That would be bad for business. Which is why you’re here. It’s why I was here. Well, that and I figured out what they were doing and they put me in here to freaking kill me! But I was also a test subject.

At first, it started with animals. A rabbit, then a cow, then a cat, then a dog. Those guys sitting at their computers next to the Inhaler—that’s what we called it, The Inhaler—they can see everything going on in here. And they saw all those animals get killed. I think they even put a monkey and a lion in here!

But nothing comes back. Nothing can come back. Because when you’re dead, you’re dead, right? That’s how life works. So they’re trying to figure out a way to put people in the game and when they die in here, they don’t actually die out there.

Maybe by the time you read this, they’ll have figured it out and you won’t be able to die. But I seriously doubt it.

So after the animals weren’t working they wanted to test people. Seems like they woulda got it right before that but that’s not how Dennis operates.

He just thought he needed a person and it would work.

Everything starts in the dungeons too, as far as we can tell. It’s the game's starting point.

So they put in one of the coders who had helped him create it. The guy didn’t make it past the hanging part. I think the dragon glitched or something. They actually hung the guy. Which isn’t supposed to happen! It’s like the prologue. You’re supposed to be on the platform when the dragon attacks. Then you get to shoot the dragon and that starts the quest. Oh, and you hit the dragon no matter what! So no, you aren’t some badass archer. That’s the script. After that though, it’s supposed to be immersive and adaptive. But it isn’t supposed to kill the people playing it. They are trying to fix that by putting in people with no friends, no families, and who won’t be missed.

So after that little glitch, they put someone else in. They died, too.

So now Dennis is convinced he just needs someone to finish the game. To complete it and give them a full test.

So what does he do? He hires a team of Navy Seals and puts them in. Guns and everything. It was a mess. They shot their way out of the dungeon, took poor Varris hostage, and then figured they could take everything on Navy Seal style.

Didn’t work.

By this time I’d figured out what was going on. Stupid me I went to Dennis and told him I’d go to the press. I should have just taken it to them and ran.

So they put me in here.

Which was a good thing for you. Because I can help you. And maybe you can finish it and get out of here—if that’s even possible. I have no idea if that’ll work, but it’s your only option. Finish the game and see what happens.

So how do you play? Easy. You survive. And complete the main quest.

Do that and it may let you out of here.

Oh, and none of the NPC’s remember the previous heroes as far as I can tell. It’s like the whole thing resets.

This game is called Dragon Kingdom, and if you haven’t already guessed, you have to fight a lot of dragons. Real ones. Or real to you. I wasn’t able to tell if you’re really in here or just your brain, but either way, they kill you just the same. And I don’t think it’s like the Matrix where you can realize you can do anything and do it. It doesn’t work like that.

But you can level up. Which is pretty cool.

So close your eyes. When you close your eyes and concentrate you’re going to be very surprised.

I closed my eyes. I just saw the back of my eyelids. I opened them and Leomorn was watching me. I reread the part about closing your eyes and then tried it again.

I closed them and relaxed and made no assumptions about what I was supposed to see.

Suddenly my mind was filled with a picture of me. Wearing what I was wearing right then. Off to the left, I had inventory slots that were empty and some that had my current clothes pictured in them, just like an RPG menu.

My eyes shot open and the image was gone.

Leomorn was still staring at me.

I closed my eyes again and pictured the image and it popped up. There I was, dressed in the shabby clothes Leomorn had given me. There was a tab that said SKILLS and in my mind, I floated a mouse over to it and clicked on it.

There were three trees of skill that started at the top with one and branched down to two, then three, then four. Each skill tree had a different name. Warrior, Rogue, Magic. Each skill did something different.

I went back to the book.

Did you see it? Your inventory and skills tree. Just like an RPG, right? So here’s how it works. You level up and you get a skill point. Put that point in any skill you want. Then you get better at that skill. It really is just like an RPG. You’ll get the hang of it. Oh, and you level up just like any other game… You get experience by killing stuff. And not regular people—monsters only-- so no matter how tempting it is, don’t stab anyone in the castle.

Now, to get started you and Varris, he’s like your partner or sidekick, need to go to The Devils’ Wench. It’s a tavern a couple of towns over. You’re in the prologue now. But when you’re done with that you’re free to go wherever you want. But that’s where it starts. It’s part of the main quest. But you have some things to do around the castle first. I won’t ruin it for you.

Oh, and how do you find The Devils’ Wench? Close your eyes again and look in the top right corner.

I closed my eyes again and thought for a second and the menu with the picture of myself popped up. I noticed there was a tab that said MAP. I just simply thought about a mouse pointer and one appeared and with my mind, I scrolled it over and clicked on the MAP tab.

A large map appeared where the inventory screen had been. That was pretty cool.

The map was greyed out everywhere, obviously because I hadn’t been there to discover it, except for a little spot in the middle where a marker sat. That was my marker apparently. Off to the left of my marker, in the grey area that hadn’t been discovered yet, I saw a yellow icon with MQ on it.

I opened my eyes and started reading the book again.

It works just like an RPG. You can do the quests whenever you want. But here’s the kicker, now you’re asking yourself, why not just not do the quests and live here forever? Because Dennis and his team have total control and they can send countless enemies to kill you if you’re not moving forward. Trust me, someone already tried it. The only option is to complete the main quest in a timely manner. It’s fine to complete side quests. They will help you get stronger. But you can’t just be sitting around all day drinking and farting or they will send every monster, demon, dragon, zombie, vampire, and anything else they can think of to kill you.

And you’re probably asking yourself why they don’t drop a bunch of people in all at once like they did with the Navy Seals? Well, they won’t be trying that again. Ever. It almost cost them the whole game. It was crazy. Long story short, this is a first-person—one-player—RPG. You’re on your own. The NPC’s can’t recognize more than one player at a time or they glitch and everything goes to chaos.

Dennis loves his project too much to let it be destroyed.

Oh and I almost forgot. The main quest. So here it is. Something or someone, has awakened the dragons that have been asleep for thousands of years. Everyone thought they were gone, but apparently, they were just sleeping. So something has awoken them and you have to figure out what and save the kingdom.

To start that you need to find an artifact. The Mages Orb. A magical orb that the ancient mages used to force the dragons into hiding, then they lied and told everyone they killed them all. Why are you important to finding this? Because you’re the only one who can touch it, being the hero and all. NPC’s won’t touch it.

So that’s why you’re needed. You have to find the Orb, figure out how to use it, and battle whoever woke the dragons up. You know, the usual stuff.

Also, like a thousand years ago—game time of course—there was a war between the Mages and the Dragon Priests. The Mages wanted to preserve the world by destroying the dragons and the Dragon Priests served the dragons and were their human counterparts in their efforts to rule the world because you kinda need opposable thumbs to get some things done. So there was a war and the Mages won but they were all destroyed. And now you’re here and can read the book and work the Orb so you’re the shiznit.

Got all that? Doesn’t matter. You’ll figure it out.

That’s really about all I can tell you. You’ll see. So far, at the time of this writing, that’s all I know. If I figure more out I’ll let you know but for now, you’re on your own.

Just play the game fellow gamer and if you’re reading this then hopefully you’ll have better luck than I obviously did.

-Gary.

I flipped through the rest of the book and saw a few more things written by other players. None of it seemed helpful, most of it was curses directed at Dennis.

Gary never wrote again. I took that to mean he died. That sucked. I really wish Gary had done me a big favor and finished the game. Then I’d be at home and not stuck here.

Leomorn looked at me expectantly. Varris looked bored.

I closed the book. “So we need to find the Mages Orb and figure out why the dragons are attacking, then use the Orb to stop the dragons.”

Leomorn’s smiled. “So you can read the Mage’s ancient writing.”

Varris punched me in the shoulder. “Way to go, kid.”

I didn’t want to sound too confident. “Of course I can read it.” I mean I was the chosen one. And by chosen one, I meant I was the latest victim to be forced into this nightmarish hell.