Cut off, I felt myself being blasted into a trillion particles, and pushed rapidly back together again. When I could form an actual through from the nothingness my first word was ‘cold’. That was all I could think of until the word ‘dark’ came, and so forth. It was like rebooting a 10 year old computer, however instead of minutes, it most likely was seconds and for me felt like decades.

I honestly don’t know a thing about torture, nor imprisonment, or anything devious like that but I could believe that’s the closest thing I’ll ever get. I felt like I was in a space where time was a simple ball and you were the hamster in the middle just running around and around and around.

Once I could open my eyes, it was like they had been closed for 2 weeks, everything was piercing.

“Good morning.” Alpha said beside me.

“Good, good morning my ass you bastard.” I said, trying to sit up.

“Yes, it’s because you’re still alive. Never forget that warping feeling. Not only will it keep you alive and going, it will always give you empathy for those whose lives you might have to extinguish even for those couple respawn minutes.” Alpha scolded me.

For once in my life I was speechless. I wanted to be mad as hell at him, whoop his ass back and forth what for he made me experience, but at the same time, he was right. This reality isn’t going to be roses and sunshine, at times it's going to be brutal, dangerous and most importantly unforgiving. If I wanted to play the pope, I could of course, however if I wanted to play the warlord I would have to come to terms what I would be putting each and every person I killed, through.

“Alright I get it!” I said, having enough.

“Okay, well, don’t just sit there, have a look around you.” Alpha said, holding his arm out like a presenter.

In the middle of my rage against the machine, I almost missed the splendor that was around me. The landscape was straight out of green acres, I swear if you around long enough you’d swear the land went on infinitely. The pastures were long, the blades of grass were deep with texture and stood with grandeur. I couldn’t truly example the peace of the environment with words, only emotions. Alpha took advantage of my momentary silence and awe to proceed with the teachings.

“I take it you like you are quite struck with the scenery?” Alpha asked with a smile on his face.

“Ye, Yes. It’s quite...expansive and detailed.” I replied.

“I’m going to capitalize on this moment of speechlessness. This is the “starting” pasture; meaning this is the land you’ll start out at after our intense ‘learning’ session. Behind you is the capital of Paradose, Gigia: The Morning Star.” Alpha finished.

Once I actually decided to turn around I could see why the capital was named the morning star. Every point in my vision looked as if it either reflected light or was made to resemble being built out of light. Meaning the buildings were almost purely white in color, and shone like diamonds in the sun. To look directly at it felt like I was being blinded either by it’s reflective properties or something I had no idea about. I had to shade my eyes from fear of going blind within the next minute.

“How the hell can I even step in that place when I can’t stand looking at it for more then a few seconds?!” I said.

“That’s because your eyes need to adjust to the magic you’re being shown. Look down at the dirt trail and then back to the town about ten times and you’ll see what I mean.” Alpha replied.

So my eyes bounced back and forth between the city of the undying eye destroying sun...I’m paraphrasing, and the dirt trail leading to the main entrance. As stupid as this is and how I must of looked like a whiplash victim, my eyes started to adjust. The capital didn’t lose any of it’s outwardly wonder and awe, but it’s blinding light started to dim to the point below visibility annihilation.

“Now that’s much better!” I said, breathing out.

“Yes, and before you go heading into there, not knowing what the hell your doing, it's time to unlock all your social abilities so you aren’t a hermit.”Alpha said.

“Social abilities? What do you mean? Do you have a Facebook here or something?” I said, dumbfounded.

“Eh, I could call you an idiot, but I was talking about friend’s list, communications, party/guild chat, etc. Let’s just say you were close enough.” Alpha said.

As Alpha finished, there was system messages popping up everywhere.

*System: Friend’s List Unlocked!*

*System: Party/Guild/Friend Chat Unlocked!*

*System: Combat/Raid Chat Unlocked!*

I felt like now that I know that these things were held back that I didn’t miss them, until now. At least now I feel a little more complete, I can walk around, talk to people and start climbing this world and making it bow down.

“You’re smiling strangely, if you think things are going to be that easy or that ‘normal’ you’ll have a tough road ahead of you.” Alpha stated.

“Yeah, yeah, anything else I need Yoda, before I head inside?” I said, shrugging off his advice.

“Yes, let’s get you some shoes and a shirt. You look like a homeless vagabond.” Alpha said, waving his hand.

Just like that, shoes and a shirt appeared in front of me, and not for the first time I started to question if Alpha was more than an A.I. Putting on the ‘gifts’ I was full of confidence and cockiness but his warning of it not being easy stuck inside my mind, and it was annoying as shit. It wasn’t because I was scared, but it was because I was two parts excited and one part cautious.

“Well...I guess this is goodbye?” I asked awkwardly.

“What are you talking about? I’m your A.I. I’m going to be around everywhere. You aren’t going anywhere without me however creepy that sounds.” Alpha said.

“That sounds creepy as shit. But if I can’t get rid of you, just don’t get in the way of my greatness.” I said, putting on my shirt and shoes.

“Oh holy one, I’ll be sure not to get in your way of greatness…” Alpha, faking a bow.

Once I was turning around to throw a right cross at Alpha’s pride, he was just gone. I’m not talking about walking away, but David Copperfield gone. I would never admit this to his face but at that moment I missed that little bitch. Anyway, as everything was unlocked the first thing I did was mentally pull up a window and send a message to Dimitri.

“Hey assface, are you here?” I said, sending the message.

I waited a couple of moments before I approached the front gate guards when a window popped up.

“Yes, nice to hear from you too…” Dimitri replied.

“Well, it's my calling card, what do you expect?” I answered.

As our banter went back and forth I felt a hand placed on my shoulder, stopping me dead cold.

“Sir, where are you coming from, and what is your intent within our capital?” The guard asked sternly.

Now, at this point I would usually have some smart ass answer at the ready like a loaded gun, however based on his muscle tone I had to second guess my road to ass beating town. The dude had muscles on top of muscles who made the Juggernaut look like skeeter from that old cartoon Doug. That being said, I went along with everything he said, did, or needed me to do.

“I honestly just came from the tutorial and wanted to explore the world...sir?” I said meekly.

His gaze felt as if he was looking deep into my soul and went for a full two minutes while a shifted back and forth, and side to side. Needless to say I thought I was going to be hamburger meat until he began to talk.

“Okay sir, I believe you check out just find. Welcome to Gigia, Mr Soluto. My name is Daniel.” Daniel stated.

“Well, thanks...Daniel, I’m sure i'll enjoy my stay here,” I said quietly as I walked as fast as possible past him.

I never, ever want to see that guy up close and personal, ever again. I think my balls shrunk three sizes after he was finished staring at me. Yeah, I made a pseudo Grinch reference, fight me.

“What where you’re going!” I female yelled as I ran into her.

“I’m so sorry…?” I said, turning around confused.

I was in mid apology when I locked eyes on this little cute doll looking girl. She looked as if little orphan Annie was crossed with a white mage, just well….cute.

“You’re damn right your sorry, don’t let it ever happen again!” She yelled, seeing my awed expression, which made her rage grow.

“Okay, okay, it won’t hap-..ow! Shit!” I bellowed as I was kicked right in the shin.

Yeah, that sneaky asshole waited until I was distracted and threw a right kick directly at my shin. She smiled like a cheshire cat the whole time I was bouncing around looking stupid. Now, I was pissed, and as soon as I was going to open a can of one hundred percent ‘whoop ass’ I saw Daniel look over at me and causally looked at something, anything in the sky. I wanted no parts of that stripper guard. The corner of my vision captured my attention as a window was blinking, I opened the window to a message from Dimitri.

“Where are you? What entrance did you come in from?” Dimitri asked.

“I didn’t even know there was multiple entrances. How long have you been here? I couldn’t tell time in that damn torture zone. Some little asshat of a girl kicked me in the shin when I accidently bumped into her.” I rattled off.

“Only you would get into some crazy shit. There are two entrances, I’ve been here about an hour or so. What the hell happened in your tutorial? Mine was easy as hell, taught everything and then was thrown here.” Dimitri said nonchalantly.

“Let's go back to the little goblin that kicked me! She ran away to the stripper guard before I had a chance to whoop her tiny ass.” I angrly stated.

“Wait...what...how? You’ll have to tell me in person, lets meet up. Once again, where the hell are you?” Dimitri repeated himself.

“I don’t know I just strolled in town, I was just going to wander around until I started seeing things over and over again. You know, like the twilight zone.” I said sarcastically.

“Okay smart ass, lets ignore the fact that I know you’d most likely actually do this, and pop up the map.” Dimitri said.

I grinned, my best friend knows me entirely too well, however I didn’t know I had a map as well, Alpha cleverly forgot to tell me about that. A transparent map of the capital overlaid my vision and I saw a small golden dot with the little ‘you are here’ above it. Somehow I think this map was edited as a lovely going away present by Alpha.

As I heading towards our meeting spot which seemed to the middle of the capital near a fountain, I started to see a developing pattern, The houses, offices, weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, etc were color coded, sometimes solid colors as yellow to those colored in red and blue in a checkered pattern. I wasn’t crazy or anything but just..well...strange as hell.

As I kept looking around like a tourist in New York City in the afternoon, I noticed, no one on the street had the bright eyed bushy tailed look like me, so of course I felt like a asshole newbie running my eyeballs all over the place. My attention was caught up with gazing around until Dimitri caught my eye waving his hands around stupidly, so I shaded my eyes and walked over to my embarassing friend.

“Put your hands down, Mr. Mom…” I said.

“Oh god, shut up. How was everything for you? Mine was simple and quick, learned a lot and brought here.” Dimitri said.

“I’m glad you’ve gotten the luxury tour….” I said, angrily.

“What are you talking about? What happened during your tutorial?” Dimitri asked.

As I told him, well...everything. I left nothing out besides I might’ve made myself look a little better than I remembered when talking about the horses...Okay I told him I punched then in the face when they didn’t obey so set them straight, he actually believed it. What the hell do people think of me? I go around punching ponies and shaking babies? I mean, babies move entirely too much to shake like that...bad joke.

Once I get to that part he was enthralled with my storytelling so I finished the story where that part of my story actually ended.

“So that’s when I met that rude ass little girl.” I said.

“Did she kick you in the shin and run towards the guard after you bumped into her or after?” Dimitir asked.

“After of course, why would she do it to me beforehand?” I asked back.

“I ask because for the past hour she's been doing that to a lot of people around here. No one knows if she's a real person or an non player character. She keeps doing repetitive things like that, however she acts like a player besides that, going about her business.” Dimitri explained.

“I don’t care, the next time I see her, i'll make sure everyone finds out if she can respawn or not.” I said with annoyance.

While I was in my own mental torture room with the shin kicker, a lingering thought came to mind that I just had to ask about.

“I’ve got to know, what the hell is with almost everything in this city being different colors? It’s like I’m on an acid trip once I turn my neck around to see something different.” I said.

“I know what you mean, everything is just so colorful and wild! The colors represent the guild factions here in the capital.” Dimitri answered.

Now we were getting somewhere, back to feeling like a game again. I thought I was losing myself to Alpha’s sweet talk but here comes another game mechanic to bring me back into focus. Side note, I still can’t believe I’ve only been in this damned place for about two hours, it’s felt like a lifetime already.

“I still don’t know why you were kept in that space for so long.” Dimitri said, puzzled.

“I don’t know either, that stupid A.I, i'll beat his ass if I ever see him again…” I said, annoyed.

“You had a A.I too?! I had one, but when I tried to talk to anyone else about it, they thought I was crazy.” Dimitri exclaimed.

“Wait, no one else had one? I assumed everyone came with one to complete the tutorial.” I replied, surprised.

“No, everyone I’ve talked to went through the basic ‘prompt, command, repeat’ steps like any normal game.” Dimitri answered.

At this point I had a million thoughts going through my brain. Some included: What was wrong with our starting points? Where we given A.I’s as a handicap, or a gift or penalty or some sort we weren’t aware of? Besides the basics, what was different about everyone else's starting tasks and learning? I needed answers to this questions before my mind ran away with itself and I started yelling ‘What's in the box!?’ or something similarly crazy.

“Wait! What was your A.I’s name?” I said, a feeling forming.

“His name was Beta. What was yours?” Dimitri asked.

“Mine was Alpha, that's interesting...I wonder what it means…” I answered, thinking to myself.

Like it was clockwork, my mind started spiraling into different situations, scenarios, problems, and anything else that might even be conceivable but still, ‘prepare for the unexpected and expect your preparation to destroyed’. As I continued my mental trip through endless planning, I heard a far away snapping, that was slowly grabbing my attention.

“Hey, Ryan! You’re doing it again, let’s focus on what’s important, Carmen Sandiego.” Dimitri said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry, got a little caught up there. It’s like I can think faster, process everything at a much faster rate, it’s strange.” I said, still partially in thought.

“I know what you mean, everything just feels...more efficient. I think it’s because of our stats.” Dimitri said.

“Wait, say that again..” I said, stopping in mid-step.

“What? About feeling efficient because of our stats?” Dimitri summarized.

After everything that’s happened my dumbass had forgotten to check my stats. That bastard, Alpha didn’t even give me a choice of point allocations, or heard me out about what I wanted within my attributes. At that thought I brought up my statistics window and my eyes were wider than a full moon.

“What happened? Stats aren't as you’ve wanted them to be? Beta guided me based on what my desires were. I don’t know how he knew, he might’ve been a mind reader because he knew what I was going to say before I even said it.” Dimitri recounted.

“No…” I answered.

“Oh good! Mine weren’t too shabby if I’d say so myself, however I didn’t even put them against anyone else. Strength is at 20, Dexterity is at 17, Intelligence and Wisdom are at 20 and Charisma is at 19. He said communicated well, and had a good brain in my big head...asshat. However he said I could use some weights and jog a little more. Wait, what do you mean no?” Dimitri said.

“I mean that my stats seem quite high for a Level one player, all but one that is…” I grumbled.

“You can’t keep me hanging on by a thread here..” Dimitri demanded.

“I’m not, just in disbelief is all. I thought all the tests I did, I failed. I honestly thought I was going to start with points I chose myself, so I at least had a chance to skew the chances a bit, but didn’t expect him to pick them for me. My Strength is 17, Dexterity is 18, Intelligence and Wisdom are both at 17, but my Charisma is at 12.” I said, disgusted.

I think I went over the edge once Dimitri started laughing his stupid ass off in the middle of me being pissed off. He was laughing from his stupid belly, on his stupid ass on the stupid ground. Yes I know I’m being a child but I don’t give a shit, I’m damned charismatic….

“Laugh it up, the second a slime drown’s your ass you’ll be ‘Ryan help me! I’m so sorry I laughed at your greatness’ mmhmm.” I said, sticking my tongue out.

“Oh god, okay, okay I’ll stop, besides you need to be caught up to speed.” Dimitri said, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah, let’s get the obvious out of the way, what's with all the colors, solid and mixed together. It’s been bothering me, as if two plus two was put in front of my face and I had no clue how to solve it.” I said, vixed.

“The capital let alone this entire world has a universal guild system in place that kind of governs the everyday goings on.” Dimitri explained.

“Oh like in other games? Simple groups of people, raids, etc?” I asked.

“No, the guild system is complex in the way that each are color coded, have exchange programs with other groups, have hybrid members, quests, raids, ranking levels, promotions, etc.” Dimitri said, listing each off in his fingers.

“Oh...That sounds as if I’m going to be in for quite the learning…” I said, sorrowful.

“Well you better listen up and learn, the first place we’ve got to go in the CC, or Cortex Center. This is where everything takes place, from the beginning of the guild’s history, to testing, missions, etc.” Dimitri explained.

“Wait, testing? What kind of testing?” I asked nervously, thinking of Alpha.

“Testing to see which traits can pull you into which guild. You don’t have to join the guild you’ve tested into, however you might do better and have a easier time within that guild. For example the combat guild known as the Falcons might be easy if you are prone to fighting, however for someone who likes magic it would be like climbing a mountain. It depends on your physical, mindset, resolve, and innate talent as well. This is what’s tested within the center.” Dimitri taught me.

“Well, just, shit. I mean that’s kind of a lot of information, and stuff that goes into all I’m sure. Wait, did you just learn all this stuff or have you already been over and been tested?” I asked, curious.

Dimitri just smirked at me and proceeded to walk towards the giant pillar in front of us which I could only believe was the Cortex Center. The center looked like a bigger version of Stonehenge. Within its block frame there were multiple windows, levels, and busy people running in and out of the center like New York, New York. There was no one looking up from their individual studies, just kept walking up and down their seemingly automated paths.

“Some things just don’t change, no matter which world you’re in.” I said, shaking my head.

“No, they don’t my friend, it’s just like anywhere else, some people aren’t looking ahead at the path their making, but at the ground where they are presently.” Dimitri replied.

“Whoa, slow down kung fu, I can’t keep up with all the lessons.” I said, making ‘high ya!’ sounds.

“Excuse me sir, Martial Art lessons are in the building behind you, excuse me.” A nerdy looking boy said while passing me into the center.

“Yeah, thanks...I’ll keep that in mind.” I shouted after him.

As Dimitri snickered, we entered the revolving doors of the center. As soon as I stepped inside the entrance, I automatically thought of the Library of Congress. The internal view of the building was miles beyond its outside appearance. It looked like it was carved out of the deepest, richest onyx known to man. The stairs, pillars, railing, and everything else looked like night was captured within the center’s domain and used as a beacon for its glory. I stood there, while rivers of bystanders flowed around me like a rapid river, marveling at the spectacle.

“I know right? I felt the same way the first time I came here.” Dimitri said.

“So you have been here! I knew it! You’ll have to tell me what’s going to happen!” I said accusingly.

“You’ll have to see for yourself bro, its...an experience that’s for sure.” Dimitri said, turning away and leading the way.

I might be thinking far too into this but the way Dimitri said that last sentence, seemed, well...ominous. It was like he saw something that stayed with him over time, granted it’s only been two freaking hours. However, I’ve learned through family interactions that trauma only takes second to happen and time to really settle in, like cancer. As we walked along the sea of busy people, we land in front of a huge ass desk with a tall gentleman with a perfectly tailored suit, who strangely looks familiar.

“It took you quite a long time, I knew you were slow, but not that slow Ryan.” the gentleman said.

“Well! I never thought I’d see your ugly mug again Martin!” I said, smiling.

It felt like such a long time since I’d seen him. I know it’s been a couple hours, but in here time is seemingly getting away from me, second by second. It could be chalked up to the dilation but still, something in the back of my mind points to something else, I just can’t put my finger on it.

“You are oh so funny, Mr. Soluto…” Martin said, with the shadow of a smile.

“Are you the only one in here? Or is Dr. Karen in here as well? I’m just curious…” I said, innocently.

“Oh I bet you are, keep your curiosity in your pants, no she isn’t here.” Martin replied.

“I’m sure you are just wondering….” Dimitri chimed in.

“Anyway, what’s the next steps from here?” I asked, quickly changing the subject.

Martin came out from behind his big ass desk, and yes I’m going to keep calling it that. He walked past us from where we came and made a sharp right towards a corridor I didn’t take notice of before.

“Was this here before? I didn’t see it.” I asked, confused.

“Yes, but you were made not to see it by a masking spell. You most likely are having a feeling of dejavu because your mind has mapped out this place, but the masking spell distorts things in this place.” Martin explained.

I will have to remember that ‘masking spell’ for later on. We talked down the hallway, as if we were wading through a rushing river and landed on the other side. Once the flow of people stopped, we were left alone, traveling through with no one saying anything, so of course I had to be the one to say something...anything…

“Well, this is cozy...Let’s not all talk at once.” I said jokingly.

“I’m sorry, just focused on what lies ahead of us.” Dimitri said pointedly.

“You keep saying crazy shit like this, like you’re a character from manga or something. I want to know where we’re going and why you’re so freaked the fuck out.” I demanded.

“Wonder no longer, we are here Mr. Soluto.” Martin said, as we stopped in front of a door.

The door looked like it was crafted from reinforced steel, and the wood had decorations. I think even Superman would have a hard time knocking this thing down. There was a quote in gold lettering in front of the door, it read: ‘The truth will expose the lies told by oneself”. That’s just want I need, a damn in-game lie detector or some other crazy off the wall type shit. Martian pushed the door open and the room was almost empty.

There were five chairs lined up against the wall in the colors of red, blue, white, black, and yellow. Before I had a chance to ask about them I was being pushed towards the middle of the room. On a small pedestal lay a softball sized metallic orb. Being near the thing felt, uncomfortable, like something you had to do or say but you knew it was going to come back and bite you in the ass type of deal.

“All you have to do it place your hand on the orb and we’ll start the testing.” Martin said.

“Wait, what kind of testing will this be? I’m not just going to take your word for it and just stick my hand somewhere I’m not sure it’ll come back from, sorry.” I said, with no remorse.

“I understand, you’ve been informed by Dimitri I take it? It tests what ‘affinity’ you have with each of the five guilds, gives your abilities, positive and negative attributes about your personality, and many other kinds of information.” finished Martin.

“Will this harm me in anyway?” I asked, experiencing death once already.

“No this won’t do any physical harm to you at all.” Martin said pointedly.

I noticed he said ‘physical harm’ but chose to keep that can of worms closed until the proper time, later down the line. Instead of playing the game twenty-one questions, I walked up to the orb and stared it down like it was the worse thing in the world.

“Just what the hell did you do to my best friend?” I whispered angrily, and raised my hand.