Hovering above the platform, the holographic projection shifts. Little nuggets of earth split from the planet, leaving behind a naked ball of dirt.

Our host, Crin, continues. “With every world we’ve seeded, the planet reaches what we call ‘the point of no return.’ This is when the planet has deemed itself overly infested by the human population and sends a galaxy-wide distress beacon. When this is ignored, it begins to trigger its defenses: namely, the monsters.”

“So we, the Volese Assimilation, have been responding to these beacons in order to pre-empt the annihilation of all civilization and, instead, negotiate with the planet to develop an alternative. I know. I know what you’re thinking. Why can’t we just put 8 billion people on our ships and tell the planets to piss off, right?”

She chuckles. Again, we do not.

“Well, infrastructure, frankly, is a bitch. And we’ve also learned that an evacuation triggers a, shall we say, backlash. This negotiation, truly, is the only alternative. And if you have more questions, you are free to address that with your Houses once you reach that stage.”

“Anywho, this is what we call the Global Initiation, an event that allows the planet to issue its grievances while simultaneously giving hominid participants a chance to vie for a position in our growing intergalactic family.”

“Now, the way the Global Initiation unfolds largely depends on the planet’s needs and wants. Sometimes we talk it out. Sometimes we play a game. Sometimes that game is a battle to the death. Other times, the game is a year-long speed dating tournament. That iteration actually happened before I was born, but I hear it was all rather disturbing.”

“This iteration, we have three planets joining us: Handor, Loxilil, and Earth. And, as you have figured out by now, you’ll be playing in a high-stakes role playing game! Yay!”

She applauds. People remain unamused. I finish off my danish and tuck the plate under my chair before wiping off the chocolatey crumbs on my yoga pants.

“As we previously stated, your world has been split into several million pieces. Soon, each region will be fully disassembled and reconstituted into a total of 500,000 regions, each one hundred square miles wide, give or take.”

“Each of these unique playing fields will be populated with exciting quests, dungeons, strongholds, and more - each rich with lore and mythology from your very own history! Please note that all monsters, enemies, NPCs, buildings, items, and so forth have been reconstructed using the materials at hand. So while they may seem real, they are simply inventions tuned to make your time a more vivid and innovative experience.”

“Furthermore, nanites have been fed into your nervous system to allow you to navigate the game at large. All abilities and gear gained are simply for the game and will not transfer if you manage to join the Assimilation. I understand that may be difficult for you to hear, so we will hear alternatives if you have suggestions. Frankly, this type of game has never been executed before, so you must bear with us.”

“The moment reconstitution is complete, you will all be alerted and given instructions as to how to choose and visit a region. All regions have a recommended starting level as well as recommended starting gear. For instance, we highly suggest that you don’t try out a volcanic region until acquiring the proper fire resistant armor. Of course, the higher the level, the better the rewards.”

“So how long do you need to stay in a region? Do you need to complete all of the quests in the region to win? How do you leave? Well, that’s the fun part. It’s all up to you! Once you’ve teleported to a region, you may complete as many or as few quests as you’d like before returning.”

“However,” she says, her voice losing its chipper tone. “Each region is in a constant state of decay. This state of decay will vary. No matter the variance, the region will eventually erode into non-existence. This usually takes at least a week. Sometimes several weeks, depending on actions taken. Then it’s game over. So don’t get yourself in the middle of a big dungeon crawl if you can’t get out on time.”

“Now!” she says, cheerful once again, “maybe you’re thinking, well, I don’t want to fight monsters or complete quests. Who wants mystical armor and meteor-level abilities when you can spend all day in Pharos? Well, you can, so long as you have days remaining on your visa. Once your visa days hit zero, that’s the end.”

“For now, we’ve given you each one full day to enjoy Pharos. To obtain more days, you’ll need to visit a region and complete whatever objectives necessary to extend your visa. You’ll find each region has several quests worthy of visa extensions, so please, no fighting! Oh, and I must warn you that day-night cycles on Pharos are an average between the three participating planets. That means each cycle is 19 hours long, not your standard 24.”

“Last and most importantly, each region has one major winning condition. You do not need to complete it in order to return via the portal. But if your party or any other party completes that condition, the region’s decay will accelerate and it will collapse, never to return.”

“I want you to think about the repercussions here. When the world’s reconstitution completes and the game begins, parties will likely choose lower-level regions. Parties will then complete these lower-level regions. These lower-level regions will then disappear, and you will be stuck with fewer, higher-level, more dangerous regions.”

“You do not want to be fighting for a visa extension in regions you cannot handle. So do not get yourself into a situation where you have not leveled appropriately.”

“Finally, once all win conditions are met and all regions have collapsed, you will get to join the Assimilation. But we’ll get to that later. Now, let’s hear it from our House Ambassador, Algathal of House Umbra!”

Yeah, so I’m not going to lie. At this point, my brain has sort of iced over. I try to listen to the next speaker, a snooty, regal-looking woman exuding far less excitement than our bubbly host, but her words mostly come out like an adult talking in the Charlie Brown cartoons - just the punctuated drone of a muted trombone.

The gist, as I understand it, is that the Houses are some kind of political players we’ll need to impress later on down the line. Because if Neanderthals in leotards, corporate meetings, and death games weren’t enough to get me so very excited about all of this, what they really needed to add was politics.

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“And our last and final speaker is Global Initiation chairman and game designer, Pataplud of House Vigor!”

A squat, skeevy guy with spiked hair and jutting teeth takes the podium. He’s wearing a transparent tulle dress which is either a step up or a step down from the leotard. I can’t decide.

“Hello,” he says in a flat, dead voice that sounds oddly French. “I am Pataplud. I am a game designer. I am excited to invite you on the next step in your journey. It is the mentality of our team to merge seamless design with player agency and narrative unpredictability. Having researched your history, we have designed an adept experience with a strong focus on versatility that hinges on the ability…”

He goes on like this for several minutes. It’s excruciatingly boring. Honestly, Crin should have started with this guy. No chaos necessary. We would have all been asleep.

“Therefore, your next tasks are to gear up for your first outing into the playfield as well as to choose a class most suitable for your playstyle and the playstyle of your chosen party. You may, in the future, choose a class specialization depending on your House sponsorship, but you cannot change classes. Not ever.”

“This does not mean that you are locked into one style of play. Why? Because while many of your abilities depend on your class choice, other abilities depend on your weapon choice.”

“Thus, you can be in a support-healing class with a support-healing staff, but you may also choose a support-healing class and yet arm yourself with a berserking battle axe. Where you distribute your attribute points and what abilities you choose to utilize will define how you play. Of course, were you to lose such an axe, you may also lose abilities on which you were relying.”

My ears perk up. Now that’s interesting. I really thought I knew which class I would choose, but this could change things. We’ll have to choose a region within the next day, so I don’t have much time to decide. I wonder what everyone else in the party will choose.

Come to think of it, we haven’t actually discussed whether we’re staying in a party at all. Elias already had second thoughts about being in my party to begin with. It’s very possible that dismembering him kinda sealed the deal there.

“Please refer to the Index or visit a library to choose a class,” continues Pataplud the game designer.

“Finally, a reward that was not mentioned. All regions have one very unique, very rare ability available. Those who have defeated elite monsters will have already seen what they can do. Those are but a fraction of what a regional power can give you. This, in addition to visa days, should be your target. It may very well decide your fate.”

“We wish you good luck and happy gaming. Thank you for your time.”

Again, Crin takes the stage, her puffy sleeves floating over the podium. “Everyone, give a round of applause to your Global Initiation team!”

She claps. A light smattering of applause trickles across the audience. It’s the corporate-ness of it all. Some people really can’t help but fall in line, can they? Of course, it could be the squadron of security guards staring us down.

“Now, you all have nineteen hours from when you arrived to choose your class, gear up, and get yourself into the playfield! Of course, if you fail to extend your visa on your first journey out, you may find yourselves without enough time. And no one wants that, do they? So don’t dilly-dally! Get out there and be the best you can be! Thank you all for coming!”

The stage falls dark as the lights overhead flicker on. They actually flicker. I’m telling you, they tractor beamed this stuff right out of a Hyatt.

Quest Updated!

LEARNING THE ROPES: Complete

You have now completed your Meet & Greet Orientation. We hope your experience was both fun and informative. Remember, the Volese Assimilation is with you!

Rewards: (1) Hotel Suite Voucher

I slide out of my seat and fold into the crowd as it leaves the convention center. The moment we exit, we crash into another oncoming mass of Meet & Greet attendees.

For a second, I worry I won’t be able to find Luci, but it turns out her fuzzy white vest is easy to spot. She’s idling against a tree lining the edge of the plaza. The trunk is spindly and purple, its leaves puffing out like cheerleading pom poms. Kind of like Dr. Suess.

As I near her, I give a wave. She seems lost in thought, her gaze passing through me. Then her eyes clear, and she grins. This time, the smile feels natural. Either she’s rebounded faster than I could have imagined or she’s a supreme actress. Or I’m bad at reading the facial expressions of teenagers. It could be that.

Again, it strikes me how much I am not cut out for this.

“What an absolute nightmare, right?” she says as she bounds toward me. “Like, there are other alien worlds? And everyone is a monkey or a cave man or something, and the planets are all alive and hate us, and days are weird here, and there might be like Chinese mountain regions with dragons and stuff.”

“Dragons?”

“Well, in China,” she says, as though that’s totally obvious.

“Yeah, ours didn’t mention dragons. However, there was a man that caused a whole lot of security guards to barge in. How about yours? Any riots?”

“Oh wow. No, nothing like that. But there was this girl just sobbing the whole time. It was gross. But I felt bad for her. I guess I’m like way beyond that now. I used up my quota. That’s it. I couldn’t cry any more even if I wanted to.” She pauses. “Isn’t that a song?”

“Yeah, it goes something like that.” Did she really bounce back that easily? Am I supposed to address this or just pretend everything is normal?

“So when did they say we can pick up Tío Elias? The med center is in the Service District which is on the island past this one. So, pretty far from the hotel.”

“They said he’ll be ready at the oddly specific time of 14:50,” I answer. And boy, do I not want to see him. I know I saved his life, so there shouldn’t be any hard feelings, but I also chopped off his leg, so I would understand if the feelings aren’t exactly mushy. Either way, I’ve gotten through this entire day without substances, and there’s no way I’m tackling a teammate I personally dismembered without getting some level of alcohol in me.

Luci’s eyes shift as she navigates her menu. “Alright, it’s 14:15 right now... So if I put a pin here and the station is there…”

“Did you want me to come with you?” I ask, dreading the answer.

“Oh. Uh. No. Not unless you want to. My parents always said hospitals are for family and close friends. No offense. Like after Liam’s relapse, they wouldn’t let me bring Ava with, which I thought was total trash, but… well. In a way, I get it now.”

“Right. That makes sense.”

“We should go shopping for gear later though! We’ll message you. The hotel monkey said we can send messages through the Index. They have consoles in our rooms and pretty much anywhere. Like, you’ll get a notification but you can only read them from an Index console.”

“Sounds perfect.”

I wait for Luci to reply, but her eyes grow distant. We stand in silence.

“Luci?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna take the train. I’ll message you.”

“Okay…” God, I’m going to regret asking this. “Luci, are you sure you want to do this alone?”

“I’m fine,” she says, answering a question I didn’t ask.

“Really? Everything is okay?”

“Yeah. No totally. I was just thinking…” She lowers her head, her fingers all twisted up in her hands. Then she lifts her head again and smiles. “It’s nothing. Nevermind. We should probably pick a region soon. We have ‘til noon tomorrow, right? Maybe somewhere nice. No dragons though. I don’t think we’re ready for that. Anyway, I’m gonna go catch the train. See you in a bit!”

And she runs off before I can say a word.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to need a drink.