Something was definitely not right.

“Where did you get that code, Scales?” Charles muttered as he scanned the gamescape.

He was in the desert. Sand stretched as far as he could see. The sun gleamed on the golden expanse with only rocks and a few small, stunted plants breaking the stretches of scorched dust.

Oh, wait, that was probably a cactus.

He couldn't quite tell because it looked weird. He's seen the Legends of the Universe graphics in the many teaser trailers and leak videos that had come out in the past year. Legends was sleek. It had sophisticated facial animation and realistic movements. It had sweeping vistas with impressive buildings and shifting perspectives. It had freaking palm trees that waved in the breeze. It had sharp-needled walking cacti that looked like cool metallic porcupines, if porcupines were green and six feet tall.

That was one of the most popular game trailers—Ranger, the game's cyborg cowboy, jumping over cacti and shooting with his cyborg arm. It was one of the most impressive visuals Charles had seen so far and he'd been hoping it would be a character highlight video.

But these cacti didn't look like the Legends cacti. The shape was the same and he suspected that its role in game was similar to that of the Legends cacti, but it looked a lot more primitive--just a couple of ink strokes and shading without the sharp coloring typical of the Legends game.

Come to think of it, all the colors were a bit dull. The whole sandy expanse seemed to be composed of endless shades of sepia. It kind of reminded him of the creepy etchings his father used to have in his study. Those drawings, however, were old, and when he said old, he mean ancient. His father had been a professor of Latin American folklore at Antipode University and some of those things were ancient engravings straight out of Mayan and Aztec works.

And the soundtrack? This was a far cry from the Legends epic orchestra. This sounded like an Atari version of an old cowboy television show theme. Maybe it was a glitch. That would explain why Scales had said that something was wrong.

The other aspects of the game seemed fine. The sun was shining and he could almost feel the heat of it on his skin. The must be some kind of psychosomatic response. His brain expected heat and it created a ghost feeling.

It was eerily real, though.

So that part of the VR system worked. Now what about the rest of the game?

He pressed a button and a screen popped up in front of his line of sight.

Welcome to Cincoworld, Pak-Man.

Charles frowned. His username was correct, but…Cincoworld? The Western-themed world in Legends was called Scorch Gulch. Why was he being welcomed to a place called Cincoworld?

It made sense in a way. The Legends' big pitch was its five interlocked maps, each with a distinct environment and new threats and treasure. Each of the Legends heroes came from one world and they all joined forces to vanquish the big baddie that was trying to take over their universe.

So far, so simple. But what was with this name? Matthew Cinco named a game after himself? It sounded awkward, like it was the original name of the game, before the marketing mavens stepped in and turned it into something catchier.

The welcome screen disappeared and more letters coalesced in front of his eyes.

Character Selection Screen.

The letters faded and a procession of humanoid shapes took their place. He recognized a familiar poncho-clad cowboy in front, flanked by two more characters on either side.

Now this was more like it. These seemed to be the characters he'd seen in the trailer--Ranger the cyborg cowboy, Tekaneer the hacker pirate. Primemonger the lizard barbarian, Knightstrike the medieval warrior, Skinblade the ninja.

But they all looked different, just like the cactus did. It wasn't necessarily bad, just a stylistic change. The basics were there. Each character was a different color and each color had an advantage and a disadvantage against other colors. Ranger was gold and he was strong against blue and weak against purple. Tekaneer was purple and she was strong against gold and weak against red. Primemonger was green and he was weak against blue and strong against red. Skinblade was red and she was strong against purple and weak against green. Knightstrike was blue and he was weak against gold and strong towards green. It was tricky to figure out, but there was a handy little circle chart on the upper left hand corner of his screen, in case he needed a reminder.

Now that he was getting used to it, the art even seemed kind of cool. Ranger looked a bit cartoony in the Legends teasers--just a shiny superhero in cowboy gear. Here, however, he looked rugged and simple, almost like a real cowboy.

Same with the other characters. Tekaneer was a blaze of cryptic lines, a cyborg eyepatch and a haughty expression. Primemonger looked a lot scarier as an old-fashioned line drawing, his eyes gleaming in a sinister manner. Knightstrike was a towering, shadowy figure with sharp armored edges, and SkinBlade was a short metal blur with cunning eyes.

Like Ranger, they all looked a bit more intense than the characters Charles had seen in the teasers. Tekaneer's arrogance was clearer. Primemonger's smile was more sardonic.

It was not, he had to admit, a bad change, but he wondered what caused it. Maybe they were beta testing a different version, or the visor changed the player's perceptions?

Well, they'd been told to expect the unexpected. This definitely matched the brief.

He stared at Knightstrike's outline. Charles had been attracted to Ranger's character from the start. The lone wolf, Clint Eastwood type was his favorite heroic persona, and the iconic poncho and cigar didn't hurt. Ranger looked like a character from the old Western movies he’d watched with his father. That’s why he’d always been attracted to that particular avatar.

But Knightstrike was looking pretty neat right now. Charles had dismissed the character as a dimwitted tank type, but this design looked different. It looked darker.

And there was something to be said for dimwitted tank types. They had plenty of health points, not a bad thing to have when exploring unknown terrain.

"Scroll," he said, expecting the hero avatars to spin so that Knightstrike replaced Ranger.

But it didn't happen.

He pressed a button. Nothing.

"Knightstrike," he said out loud.

Again, nothing. The voice recognition didn’t seem to be faulty. The character, however, appeared to be locked.

Come to think of it, Knightstrike's outline did look fainter than Ranger's. Charles hadn't given it any thought because all of the other characters were grayer than Ranger, so he'd assumed it was just how the hero carousel worked.

He tried again, “Tekaneer."

Nothing.

He tried all the characters in turn.

Nada.They were all locked.

This made no sense. The whole point of this game was to be able to play all the characters. You needed to collect each character’s power weapon during the game and then use them all in the last level. Locking the characters made no sense.

"Ranger," he said.

With that word, he was sent back to Ranger avatar. It appeared the voice recognition was working fine.

Letters appeared on the screen. You have chosen well.

Charles snorted. He hadn't chosen at all. Ranger was his only option. Not necessarily a bad thing, since Ranger was the character he'd been attracted to from the start. The game, however, didn't know that.

Why had it picked Ranger? Were all his friends stuck playing this character? Hopefully not. That would be a very frustrating game. Scales, for one, would be livid if he was stuck with the crap cowboy, as he called it.

The letters were replaced by Ranger's smirking avatar on a slightly shaking screen.

Charles smiled. The avatar looked even more badass than before. Forget Knightstrike. This was his guy. However, there was a downside to Ranger.

"Stats," he said.

A set of letters and numbers appeared, glowing next to the cowboy's head. They were, well, they could be better. They were based on a twenty-four point scale. Agility and Intelligence were both twenty-two. Aim was twenty-four. Those weren't bad. But strength was a measly eighteen and health was a groan-inducing sixteen points. But his special moves were sweet. He had Dead On, which improved his accuracy and Two-Step, which let him do multi-step moves, like shoot two-handed or jump and shoot. They weren’t as showy as Scales’ Fist of Fury, but they should let him so some pretty cool stuff.

"Inventory," he said.

Symbols appeared, seemingly floating in mid-air. He had two healing potions and one healing pack. If the game mechanics remained the same, he'd be able to find more healing potions along the way. In addition, both Knightstrike and Primemonger—one a paladin class and the other a shaman class—were healers. Once he found Scales he’d be fine in the health department.

And, speaking of Scales—“Chat,” he said.

More letters appeared. There’s no one nearby to chat with.

Weird. Scales, Grace and the rest of the kids should be logging in as well. “Do I have to be close to someone to chat with them?”

The character needs to be in sight range for chat to work.

So he’d have to find his friends. Okay. That shouldn’t be a problem. Scales would be in the jungle-like Primal Peninsula hunting dinosaurs, and living out his Black Panther fantasy. All Charles had to do was head there.

"Scroll," he said, trying to figure out what he would need for a trip to Primal Peninsula.

The rest of his meager inventory circled in the air--cans of baked beans, a winter poncho, a gun--

Wait, a gun? It was a nifty 1873 Colt revolver, but why did he need it if he had the cyborg arm with all the firepower anyone could ever--

He examined the avatar again. The cowboy's left arm was covered by the poncho. It was almost as if he had no left arm at all.

Which he probably didn't. Charles sighed. He had a sneaking suspicious he knew what was going on. He raised his right hand. The avatar imitated his motion. That arm worked fine.

He raised his left arm. Nothing.

He sighed. This must be his tutorial--a chance to get to know the game with an introductory adventure. Oh, joy.

And he thought he knew what the tutorial objective was: Find the cyborg arm. It was kind of clever when you thought of it. He liked games where they gave you a lot of character storyline and going through the origin of the cyborg arm was an excellent tutorial. Kudos to the game designers for thinking this one up.

"Map," he said.

The avatar, the stats and the inventory were replaced by a two-dimensional map of the area. It wasn’t very detailed, but it gave him a general idea of where he was. This area was called The Wastelands, which was appropriate since there seemed to be composed of a whole lot of desert, a decent amount of cacti, and a small town called Scorch Gulch. The town had a saloon, perfect for getting information, a church, which seemed like a likely source of healing potions, and a blacksmith's shop.

He smiled as he moved the cursor over the blacksmith’s shop. An arm-like silhouette appeared above it.

Bingo. All he had to do was head to the blacksmith and pick up his arm. Tutorials were usually dead easy, so this shouldn’t take too long. As soon as he had his weapon, he’d be ready to head to the Primal Peninsula, find Scales, and—

He peered at the shop icon. It seemed to be glitching, pixelating and un-pixelating and changing its shape until it turned into—a skull?

It was a stylized skull, one of those Dia de los Muertos calavera designs with the empty eyes that drew you in. He’d had one at home once, hanging next to the china cabinet in the dining room, and it had always creeped him out. This one had a crow’s beak, which was different.

Glowing green letters floated in front of him.

Username @Virus: Get Out While You Still Can.