Phew, second chapter rewritten. It's surprisingly hard to rewrite these without changing the plot. I've just been going directly over my old .docs, so moving things around and changing words eats up a lot of time. Again, there were no major changes to the plot in this chapter, only some fleshing out and grammar fixes. The big plot changes will be happening from now on. I'll likely just completely toss out the next two chapters and write them anew.
If you find any typos or things that just generally don't sound right, feel free to comment on them, and I'll fix them ASAP.
**Original AN**
Hey again! Here's the second chapter of Monstrous, hope you enjoy! By the way, I'm planning on writing at least one chapter of this a day, though if I go away, you may not get the chapters until I come back. Speaking of which, I'll be going away this weekend (08/14/15 - 08/16/15) so you won't see a new chapter after tomorrow's until the 16th. Anyways, comment any suggestions etc, I'll be looking forward to them :)
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“James Monsere, I presume?”, asked the mysterious well dressed man.
“Uh, y-yes sir.”, James stuttered awkwardly in reply. While he often spoke with friends over the internet, actually talking face to face as well as the sudden appearance of the well dressed man had him shaken. The man in question simply nodded sagely and opened the door wide enough for him to slip through.
Once he’d gotten over his initial shock, he was able to study the strange man. When he looked him over, the only way James could describe him was butler like. He wore an impeccably clean, expensive looking suit with a bow tie and pointy black leather shoes. Like a high class servant, the man stood regally with his back straight, as if he could carry the world on his shoulders and still have the house clean by noon.
The man was nearly bald, with just a short ring of gray hair around his shining head. Under his curling moustache (which was just as shiny), he bore a wide smile that didn’t seem to reach his eyes, as if somebody had taped the corners of his mouth up.
Overall, the man gave James the creeps. Combined with the eerie looking hallway behind him, James felt as if he were about to walk into his own murder.
Turning, the man said in a smooth voice, “Right this way, Mr. Monsere, the other twenty-two are waiting.”, and began walking down the long hallway.
Blinking in surprise, James stumbled his way after him, looking in awe at the elaborate hallway.
To his immediate right, though quickly falling behind him, seemed to be the only door in the hallway; a simple wooden thing with a sign saying, ‘Employees Only’. In fact, there wasn’t a single other point of interest throughout the visible parts of the seemingly endless hallway.
Speaking of which, the whole length of it seemed to be lit by torchlight, though for the life of him he couldn’t find out where it was coming from; it just seemed to bleed from the walls. Walls which were, of course, made of shining white marble to match the rest of the building. They were also adorned with more of the godly depictions he had seen outside, which were made even more intense by the flickering orange light.
The walk was long, surprisingly so. James had known the building was huge, but he didn’t think such a hallway would fit in the space. Rather unnerved, he asked the mystery butler man about it, the first words either of them had spoken in the last fifteen minutes of walking.
The man turned his head to the left, just enough for James to see the tip of his characteristic smile, and said, “There is no need to be concerned, Mr. Monsere. The hallway slopes downward at a slight angle. At the moment we are underground, as is most of the facility. The building above is only a small portion of it.”.
With that short but polite explanation, he turned back to the dark expanse of the hallway and they resumed their journey. As they walked the dimly lit path, James marveled at the size of the facility. Why would they need such a huge building for just the beta test? For that matter, why was there such secrecy involved? It was like they were participating in a secret government project rather than a video game.
James swallowed tediously and struggled to catch his breath. More thinking later, for now the best he could do was make sure he didn’t collapse. He looked ahead dejectedly, wondering if this hallway continued on forever.
No, wait, it was getting a little brighter. Peering around the man, James could see they were coming upon a bright room that appeared to be angled slightly upwards. James hoped that was their final destination, as his legs were almost ready to give out. Only the adrenaline that came with his excitement had kept him trudging forwards.
Upon entering the room, James had to blink a few times to get used to the light, and when he could see, he felt his jaw drop slightly in awe. So far, DGS done an incredible job with the architecture, and this room was no different.
To begin with, it was humongous, probably a little more than half the width of the roman temple office building that was above them. While that may seem comparatively small, the temple had to have been at least two hundred meters squared.
Most of that space was taken up with a gigantic U shaped table made, of course, of shiny white marble. James estimated that there were about forty or so comfortable looking seats around the table, with a microphone and tablet computer set in front of each.
Occupying about half of the seats was a hodgepodge of different people, each seemingly from different walks of life. James looked around the room, noting some of the more interesting people. One man in a business suit seated next to a young woman with a pink mohawk and leather clothing. An extremely overweight woman next to a tiny man that reminded him of a rat. What looked like a father and daughter chatting happily.
It was like DGS had taken samples of every group or clique of people on earth and placed them at this table. James swallowed nervously. He wasn’t used to social gatherings like these. He hadn’t been around this many people since his seventh birthday party.
On the wall the points of the U were facing was a gigantic television screen, which currently was off.
As he was looking around, in the corner of his eye James noticed that the man in the suit was patiently waiting for him to get his bearings, and turned to him embarrassed.
“Please seat yourself at the unoccupied seat next to Mr. Farroh, the bald man in the gray windbreaker. Since you are the last one to arrive, we will begin shortly.”, he said promptly. He then gave a short bow and walked elegantly back into the hallway they had come from.
James turned back to the group of people, most of whom had noticed him by now and were staring, no doubt annoyed he had taken so long to arrive. He sighed, rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and made his way slowly over to the seat the butler man had pointed out.
On his way, James took the opportunity to observe the other participants in a bit more detail. While there was an incredible diversity in the type of people here, most of them were unsurprisingly the gamer type; overweight or generally in poor physical shape, though there were a few who were the complete opposite.
To name a few, one woman at the opposite arm of the U wore a sports top and shorts, showing off an extremely fit body, and a mountain of a man near the base that seemed to be made entirely of muscle. Briefly, James wondered how they had found the time to complete the puzzles while keeping their bodies fit.
Finally reaching his seat, James eased into his chair, leaning his crutches against the table to the left of him.
“WELCOME!”, a booming voice rolled through the room as soon as he was seated, causing him, and a few others, jump out of their seats in surprise. The huge screen on his right flickered on, showing another smiling well dressed man, though this one seemed to be quite a bit younger than the one who showed him in.
“Congratulations on completing the tests you have been given, you have all shown remarkable intelligence and have been chosen to participate in the grand beta test for the up and coming VRMMORPG, Dimos!”, he said excitedly.
“My name is Thomas Walthers, chief game designer for the game you’ll be beta testing. I sincerely would have liked to be here to welcome you personally, but alas, duty calls!”, he laughed heartily, as if he’d made a great joke.
Calming down and coughing awkwardly, he continued, “Now, before we begin, I’m sure you are all famished from your trip, so, please, enjoy some food and refreshments courtesy of DGS.”
He waved his hands dramatically, and a large section of the wall opposite of the screen opened up, revealing a half dozen metal carts laden with a huge amount of food, which were wheeled into the room by impeccably dressed men and women.
One of the carts stopped right behind him, and a woman began unloading platter after platter of mouthwatering food on the table in front of him. A sparkling white plate and silverware were placed before him delicately.
James marveled at the amount of food around him. As a die hard gamer, fine cuisine had never been one of his interests, so instant ramen and power bars had been staple meals for him. Now, with such divine foodstuffs at arms reach, James couldn’t help but want to try everything, despite not being hungry at all.
Before he could decide what to take first, an arm snaked out in front of him and grabbed a muffin off a platter to his left. Surprised, he looked to it’s owner. The man who was seated next to him looked to be in his late thirties, with a head that was just starting to turn bald. He was also so massively overweight, James was surprised the chair could support him.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Noticing him looking, the large man gave James a mischievous smile and a wink, before grabbing a second muffin, and saying, “Might as well eat, we don’t know if the next meal will be free.”. Forcing a smile, James turned away from the man, who had begun pillaging the platters to his left. After some short deliberation, he selected a few pieces of sparkling fruit on his right and a ham sandwich, making sure to stay away from the muffins.
Once everyone was served, the waiters pushed the now empty carts back into the opening in the wall, which closed once they were all through. Once it was, the man on the screen began talking again.
“Since time is short, I will explain what will happen during the next three months while you eat. As you all should know, you will be beta testing the new VRMMORPG that we, DGS, are developing, called Dimos.
Now, while Dimos is set in a high fantasy world with familiar concepts such as elves, dwarves, demons and such, I am confident none of you have encountered anything quite like it before. We have truly created something unique and incredible!” He paused to catch his breath, smiling proudly.
“Dimos is truly the most realistic and immersive video game ever created. You will be able to use each and every one of your senses to experience the virtual world around you, and what a world it is. We used top of the line AIs working alongside professional designers to create a world as beautiful as our own, if not more. You will find, and adventure through deep jungles, rolling plains, freezing tundras, and every biome you could possibly think of, all populated by the creatures from your wildest imaginations!”
Mr Walthers stopped to catch his breath again. He was clearly passionate about the subject. Though, he was the creator after all.
“But, it’s not just the environment that is revolutionary. What is a game without NPCs? Nothing special. And such, we have built dozens of kingdoms, empires, and cultures to populate the world. Each NPC is controlled by their own dedicated artificial intelligence. It would be a mistake to see them simply as dumb programs, as each and every man and woman in Dimos will learn and adapt with every encounter, just like a real person! Nothing like this has ever been done before, we anticipate that we will be at the forefront of the industry for a half dozen years at least!”
Before he could continue, a hand came from the left of the screen and placed itself on his shoulder. A few muffled words were barely made out, and Thomas looked somewhat surprised.
He coughed awkwardly and said, “Ah, haha. Sorry about that, sometimes I get a little carried away. Well, that’s about the gist of it. Each of you will get a personal assistant, who will handle any questions, concerns, or requests that you might have. Once you are finished eating, your assistant will come to collect you and take you to your room, where you will have your first experience in the virtual world. Good luck, and happy hunting!”
Having finished his speech, Thomas have a wide, reassuring smile, and the screen flicked off. There was few moments of silence before the other participants began to talk amongst each other. Looking around dejectedly, James realized many of them had already formed groups and cliques, likely before he had arrived.
He sighed. Looked like he might be going solo this time. That was fine, but he was rather used to having guild mates.
Before he could make any more plans about going off alone, the overweight man on his left suddenly coughed, as if trying to gain his attention. Realizing so, James turned to him, giving him a questioning look.
Seeing that he had James’ attention, the man smiled widely and put out his hand, boisterously saying, “Hey there! The name’s George! Me and Sarah” he pointed at a shy looking blond girl, probably no older than 16, “Were planning on teaming up to get a bit of a head start on the other guys. Whad'ya say about joining’ us?”
James gingerly shook the man’s meaty hand, which was surprisingly sweat free, and said, “Uh, my name’s James.”, he paused for an awkward moment before adding, “I think I’d like that.”
He gave a slight smile to his newfound companions, and they beamed back at him. George opened his mouth as if to say something more, but before he could, the sound of the wall opening up behind them cut him off.
They looked over to see a mismatched group of people, as varied as the players at the table. James managed to catch the eye of a tall woman with bubblegum pink hair, who smiled widely and began skipping over to him. Yeah, she skipped. As in schoolgirl hopscotch skipped. Just for the record, all the others walked normally.
James watched incredulously as she made her way quickly over, a few others following behind at a slower pace. Upon reaching him, she stood rigidly and puffed out her chest proudly.
“Hi!”, she said with a huge smile. Her voice was high and flutey, as is she hadn’t a care in the world. “My name’s Cara, and I’ll be your personal assistant for the next three months! If you have any questions for me before I lead you to your room, now’s the time to ask~!”
Somewhat taken aback by her bubbly voice, James haltingly said, “Oh, um, hi. I’m James. I think I’d like to see my room first?”
Cara giggled lightly and said, “Of course! Do you need any help getting up and walking? Oh, we have a wheelchair too if you need one! Do you want me to grab it? It’ll just be a sec!”
James smiled back with a pained expression. ‘This is going to be a long three months’, he thought with a sigh.
“No thanks”, he replied. “I think I’ll be able to make it on my own.”
With that, he grabbed his crutches and hauled himself up, wincing privately at the soreness in his legs. He wasn’t used to this much walking around. Or any walking, really.
Cara nodded like a jackhammer and said, “Alrighty! Just follow me!”
She did a cute little twirl around and began walking slowly towards an opening in the wall. James was thankful for the speed, if a bit troubled. He hated being any kind of burden on those around him.
As he walked by, George, who was talking with his own assistant (an elderly gentleman with a short white beard and a suit), noticed him leaving and said shortly, “Ah, see you in-game!”, while waving.
James simple nodded his way and kept walking.
Cara, who had started humming a bright tune, lead him through the opening in the wall and into a straight passageway that was, thankfully, lit thoroughly. James was quite tired of creepy torchlit hallways by now.
On their journey, James managed to spot four solid looking doors that were labeled, ‘Kitchen’, ‘Maintenance’, ‘Staff Quarters’, and ‘Communications’. The kitchen and maintenance rooms being nearest to the door, with the others being a few dozen meters past.
After another minute or so of walking, they reached a T shaped split in the hallway. The a sign hung on the wall directly in front of them, with an arrow pointing in each direction. The left was ‘Quarters’, and the right was ‘Lounge’, apparently.
Cara led him down the left into a shorter hallway with doors on each side, spaced apart by seven or eight meters. Each of the doors had names chiseled directly into the wood in stylized font, which James thought was sort of excessive, but still really cool. They walked past three sets until they found his door.
Cara placed her hand on a pad and simultaneously swiped a card in a reader next to it, and a solid click could be heard as the door unlocked. It swung open on it’s own, and Cara stood to the side to let him look through.
“This is your room! Inside, you’ve got a super comfy bed, state of the art computer system, desk, and your own virtual reality pod! The door is unlocked by your hand print and keycard, which I have right he~re.”, she said, before fishing out a similar card to her own and handing it to James. He took it and glanced at it shortly before stuffing it in a pocket. It was nothing interesting, just a small gray card with his name.
What was interesting was the level of security just to get into his room. Well, at least he felt safe.
“Make sure you don’t lose that, it’s a hu~ge hassle to get a new one. Trust me, I know!”, said proudly.
“Right... I’ll keep it safe.”, James told her. Cautiously, he walked into his new room and looked around.
At a glance, the room itself was fairly simple. The walls were covered with a calming blue paint, that seemed to almost undulate peacefully. James was reminded of the sea, and he smiled faintly. He had good memories of the sea before his body fell apart.
To his left was a fairly large bed that looked, in Cara’s words, “super comfy!”. In the corner to his right, a large desk carried a large computer tower and two monitors, as well as a printer and a few notebooks and binders. Near the foot of the bed was a big closet, refrigerator, and microwave oven.
With just this, it was a fairly normal room. Perhaps something you might find a bachelor or student living in.
However, there was one thing that set it apart. Something that made the breath catch in James’ throat and caused his heart beat faster in excitement.
On the wall opposite the door, sat a long, sleek silver pod. It had no visible seams or any discerning marks other than a black screen set into the middle of it and bent to follow the curvature of the device. The whole thing shined chrome and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Hanging on the wall directly above it was a myriad of screens showing blank vital signs and user information.
Even without being told, James knew. It was, of course, his very own virtual reality system.