Mike walked down the street eager to be home for the day. It had been another ordinary day of his rather ordinary life, going to work at the cafe down the road to earn some income, walking home after to enjoy what that income allowed him to afford. Nothing exciting happening at all.
He was eager to get home today due to the text he had received part way through his shift. His mother had informed him that the state of the art VR console that he had ordered had finally arrived, packaged with its first game, Discovering Magic.
Speeding up his pace as he turned onto the road that he called home he fast-walked towards the house he shared with his parents and sister, mind spinning as he thought of the device that he had saved up money to purchase over the last year.
The DreamCaster was cutting edge technology, or at least had been about 8 months ago when it was released. It was a game console that used said technology to project a game into your dreams, instead of onto a computer screen or television.
The software and development for each game were entirely different from past generations, mainly consisting of the rudimentary AI that is built into the console, and programs for said AI to manipulate the dreams of the user in a specific manner. Creating an experience like a lucid dream that can be programmed into a vast number of games, thus its name, the DreamCaster.
Finally arriving in his home's driveway Mike headed straight for the front door, calling out as soon as the door swung inward, “where is it?”
“In your room,” his Mum called out sardonically, “good afternoon to you as well.”
“Afternoon Mum, thanks for signing for it while I was at work!” he called back as he shut the door behind him and hurried straight for his bedroom, passing his Mum in her study as he turned into his bedroom, the box for the console sitting on his bed. “Talk to you later Mum, got to set this thing up and try it out,” he said as he swung his bedroom door shut walking towards the package on the bed.
***
Aldus Fairgold, King of the Fairgold Kingdom, Vassal of the Gilded Empire, sat atop his throne in silence as he worried for the future of his kingdom.
"Your majesty, I beg your forgiveness, but my humble village cannot afford to supply the throne with the required amount of grain in tax this season!" Said the Mayor who had requested an audience with him. He was on his knees and bowed at the waist in supplication.
This was the ninth town Mayor to visit him in the last month, the harvest season was coming to a close and the crops were coming in, but not enough of them. The levies for the armies of the Gilded Empire had taken too many young men and it was hampering the abilities of the farmers to harvest in time. So their village heads came to him or the Lord of their region to plead forgiveness, and beg that they may keep enough of the harvest to feed themselves through the winter.
Aldus glanced to his advisors to either side of him, his head Treasurer to his left and his Captain of the Guard to his right. They looked to him for his response no advice or solution to give. "You may pay the Crown what you can spare good Mayor, I will send a man back with you to evaluate what that might be, but we will not have you starving through this winter," he gestured with a wave of his hand to an armored man to the side of the audience chamber, signalling dismissal to the supplicant and for the guard to lead him out of the palace.
He sat in silence as the man left the audience chamber letting out a sigh as the large door shut behind him, trying to hide the emotions that warred within him, Sorrow that his people had to come to him and beg for their livelihood and regret that there was so little he could do to help them. He let out a sigh, looking to his treasurer and speaking. “What do you think we should do for our tithe? The representatives of the Empire will be here any day for our reports and we do not have enough to pay what they desire. Not with all of the town representatives coming to me like this.”
His treasurer sighed in turn. “I do not know your majesty, the reports I have been getting from the men you sent with the past supplicants have been that they are telling the truth, they do not have the resources to offer what the crown is demanding of them.”
“Your Majesty,” his Captain of the guard spoke up, “for the good of the kingdom we may need to send some of the Guard to retrieve the extra grain, The Empire won’t take it lightly that we cannot pay what they demand, its army on the front require this grain to survive,” he stood straight-backed as he made the observation.
Left unsaid was the fact that if they didn’t get it, they may be sent to simply take it. The Royal Guard that policed his Kingdom was well trained, but they didn’t have nearly the numbers required to stand up to the forces of The Empire, amassed from all three kingdoms.
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As the Aldus sat back to contemplate this situation, there was a creak as the door to the audience chamber swung inward. The guard that had escorted the mayor out of the Palace entered and walked before him. “Your Majesty, another village Mayor has come to see you, and he says that he wishes to offer tidings, he spoke to the previous supplicant and agreed to journey back with him so that the collector might visit and assess his village too. He did, however, leave for you a very curious item, he says it was found in the woods by one of the village huntsmans and that it might be of interest to your majesty, after seeing the item I very much agree.”
He listened to the Guardsmen speak in silence and when he finished replied, “Let me see this Item then, is it a treasure of some kind?” The resignation was still clear through the curiosity, he doubted this Item could solve his troubles.
The guard exited again and returned some minutes later followed a group of men carrying a large item covered by a large piece of rough fabric.
Aldus sat up straighter in his seat as he saw the item, not having expected something so large. “So what is this curiosity?” he asked looking the concealed object over it was almost a dozen arms lengths tall and tapered to a narrow tip from a wide base, every inch of it covered.
“The Mayor explained what he knew of the item, he said that it causes odd phenomenon when people look into it and that he believed it must be of the Spirit realm, having seen it myself your Majesty, I agree,” he waved his hand back to the men still around the object.
They pulled on the rough covering and revealed it. Aldus found himself standing in surprise at what was beneath. It looked like the surface of a lake had solidified, its mirror surface perfectly maintained.
He walked forward, down the steps before his throne, approaching the wondrous sight. It was wide at the base as he saw before, but it seemed flat like it didn’t have the depth of the item that he saw transported in.
The guard spoke up again, “The Mayor said that it appears flat from all directions, like looking into a pond, but when covered it appears to be round at the base, narrowing towards the top.”
He was right, as Aldus approached it seemed like he was approaching an upright surface of calm water, it was incongruously Jagged at the edges as it tapered upwards to a point that looked like it would rival a dagger for sharpness.
As he finally arrived before it he could see his reflection in its surface, clearer than any mirror he had ever owned, as if he was looking back at himself through the surface. He looked old, he rarely considered himself old, but it seemed that time had crept up on him and taken his youth away. His once dark brown hair was lighter and solid grey at his temples, with more grey hairs spread throughout, though he was not balding as many did in their old age. His face was lined with worry from the weight of being King. Was he this old? What had happened to his life since he was young, he had never even married or sired an heir, who would rule this kingdom when time finally took him? These were his thoughts as he stared into his own pale blue eyes in this shard of a lake.
“Your majesty I was told to tell you not to stare too long at yours…”
He was interrupted as a deafening screeching sound exploded from the surface of the object.
***
Mike finally plugged the DreamCaster into the power board beside his bed. Sitting up again he inspected the console. The box was matte black and the size of a couple of loaves of bread side by side, sitting on top of it in a charging cradle was the interface apparatus, almost spider-like in design, meant to sit on the face and have it's six arms contact the skin of his head in various places.
Beside it was the game he had ordered, he picked it up, examining the cover, a pentacle on a black background beneath the elegantly written title 'Discovering Magic’. Though as he shifted it the pentacle seemed to shift colours from icy blue, the colour of his eyes, and deep green to dark red and a regal purple.
Flipping it over he looked at the back reading over the description he had read dozens of times online, “Venture into your mind and into a new world, one where there is Magic. Magic that is nascent and unexplained, one where you can be the one to discover it, by delving dark dungeons or examining magical beasts, by studying ancient scrolls or by finding lost gods, your imagination is the only limit.”
He chuckled, the developers certainly liked their grandiosity. He had read about the game extensively online, and while it was given high praise and reviews, it still had its problems and limitations. The Game had been praised most of all for the sensations it was able to make the mind emulate in the dreamlike reality, apparently the magic in this game felt real.
He sighed and picked up the apparatus from its cradle and lay down on his back, he got as comfortable as he could before laying the apparatus on his face, making sure that each of the contact pads had enough contact with his skin.
He took a deep breath and pressed the activation button, he immediately started to feel drowsy, his senses blurring.
He could hear something, it sounded like a glass shattering on tile a distance away, then he heard it again, more like a continuation of the first sound. It was getting louder and closer.
As the sound continued to approach he could feel something like his eyes opening and some of his senses returning. Suddenly the sound of shattering glass was all around him and he screamed.
It felt like he was being shattered, his body was hot and cold in completely random places and his thoughts were growing blurry, then he could sense something, like part of his mind but not, it was completely alien, then he blacked out.