Mike sat on his bed in his mother's basement and was playing video games as an escape from his dreary life. At 21 years old he already felt like a failure. He was held back during his freshman year of high school; a lot of things sucked about being held back. The greatest of all for him was how it utterly destroyed his social and dating life.
All the friends he had grown up with in his youth were separated from him and actively tried to avoid him. Trying to get a date as the held back 'dumb kid' was nearly impossible. He was the only one held back in his entire high school and there was no escaping that stigma. He had hoped when he finally got his GED and went to community college things would be different.
No other kind of college would accept him. His goal was to get good grades and then transfer to a 4 year school. Sadly, getting good grades was never his strong point. After a year of frustration and going through a chunk of his savings he earned while in high school he saw the writing on the wall. It was the same writing on the wall everyone else saw.
He dropped out of college and looked for a job. Something that he could get paid decently for and no one would care about his inability to do complex math, write a good English paper or remember a bunch of stupid science facts that didn't matter. The best fit he found was a janitor. Honestly it wasn't that bad a gig. The pay, as far as low skill jobs go, was okay. He got to pick his shifts a good amount of the time too.
He preferred 1st shift with a couple 3rd shifts thrown in. People didn't tend to bother you on 3rd shift and at this point he had gotten use not talking to people much. Once he managed to get 30K in the bank he would move out of his mom' house and find his own place. Not that his mom wanted to kick him out. He just couldn't stand to see the sadness in her eyes. She loved him but he knew she had larger aspirations for her son.
His father wasn't in the picture to be disappointed. Mike figured he was already disappointed by the prospect of being a father. It did have the bonus of taking pressure off of you with one less parent to be a failure of a son for. So Mike continued with his usual night of playing video games before soon going upstairs to eat and talk with his mother over dinner.
The nights had started to blend together at this point. As he was playing his video game online he received a message to his account in-box. After he was done with his session he check it to see what it was. It surprised him to get a message from any player as he had no friends at all. Not even online.
*Dear Mike, after careful vetting we have concluded you are eligible to play THE GAME. If this is something you wish to take part of please dial the following number xxx-xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxx into any phone. When you dial we ask you be alone and available for a fairly lengthy period of time anywhere between 5 minutes to 1 hour. If you succeed in completing the game you will get various options for rewards. Details will be given once you decide you wish you play.
Choosing to sign up to play is completely voluntary and details about your game and potential prizes are to be given upon acceptance to play the game. No money or personal information required!
Sincerely, Game Master.*
What the hell kind of joke was this? Why was the phone number that long? He had never seen one that long. Was it outside the country? It had to be some kind of scam to get his credit card information. Not that he even had a credit card. What a stupid thing to do. Then again, he didn't have anything else to do tonight and he had to admit it sounded pretty odd and interesting.
He put the number in his phone. As he called it he heard from upstairs “honey, dinner is ready!”
“I'll be there right there ma!” he yelled as he walked up the stairs. He heard a pleasant but clearly artificial voice on the phone.
“Hello and thank you for your time, your call is very important to us. Have you dialed this number to play the game or was it dialed in error? If dialed in error please hang up. If you were invited to play the game please press 1.”
Mike pressed 1 as he opened the basement door to get ready for diner.
“I'm sorry, your call can not be completely at this time. Please reread the rules on calling the number and try again when you have enough privacy. Thank you for your call, it is important to us.” The call hung up.
That was odd. Did it give out this phone number and send this message as an elaborate joke? What was the point? He put his phone in his pocket and decided to forget the whole thing and sat down with his mother at the table. It was pan cooked hamburgers and fries from the oven. His mother wasn't a very good cook. Neither was he, so he had no right to complain. If dinner was left up to him it would probably be Kraft Macaroni.
“Thanks for cooking ma” he sat down across from his mother.
“You're welcome dear, so how was your day?”
“It was okay, I mean, saw you it. I played video games and went to the gas station. Then I watched TV and played more video games. Now I'm eating with you”. He hated answering this question. He never had a day worth talking about. He thought if he told to truth and kept sounding like the failure he was she may stop asking this silly question.
“Well, I hope your games were fun.... Mike, I wanna ask you something. Have you given any thought to going back to college or maybe looking into some kind of internship job training?”
“Can we not have this discussion again ma?”
“I just want what's best for your sweetie.”
“And I want to not have this conversation again.”
“Maybe now that you are a bit older, school will be easier and you can get a 2 year degree in something.”
“School will never be easier for me. You just need to accept the fact your son isn't that bright. That's a tough break, but hey, at least I don't have down syndrome right?” He laughed a bit at that inappropriate joke.
“That's not funny Mike.”
“No, but it's true. Can't you just be thankful for the son you have? I mean, I don't go around committing crimes and I don't drool down my chest or hear voices in my head. I'll never get a fancy job or wear one of those white collar shirts to work. But is that really the worst thing in the world? If you just accepted that like I did, you'd be happier.”
“I'm thankful for you Mike, you're a good son and I am proud of you no matter what. Just I hate to see you waste your potential.”
“I'm fulfilling it. This is my potential. Some people are just born to be janitors. Sorry you got stuck with a son like that. I won't be cruel and make you look at your disappointment while you eat your meal.” He grabbed his plate and walked towards the basement.
“Don't be like this Mike! I just want to help you.”
“I know, thanks for dinner. I'll wash my plate and be up later.” Mike closed the door behind him and walked down the basement stairs with his plate. He knew he was being a jerk to his mom but what else could he do? He had to get it through her head this was the son she had. He didn't want to waste any more time and money on useless school when he could work shifts and save up. There was just no point.
He sat down to play video games again while he ate. He needed to take his mind off that conversation. The burgers were just a little burnt but pretty okay. He played games and vegged out to let all the stresses and disappointments disappear. His phone poked him in hi pocket uncomfortably. He pulled out it to place it on the table; but there was a text on it.
“The line you called previously is now open if you wish to play!”
What the hell was this about? Why was it open now? He put down his controller and called the number again. He heard the same voice as before and pressed 1. He was welcomed as a new player and asked if he wanted to play the game. He spoke “play game” into the phone as instructed. This was just too damn weird and he had to get to the bottom of this.
“Thank you for choosing to play the game. We detect that you are alone and ready to play. For future games, simply connect using your status screen. No other phone calls will be required. Please enjoy your game!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Couldn't he get the option to talk to a real live person on this line? Suddenly he blacked out on his bed.
He felt a hand pushing him. That was such an odd dream about the game. It was a sign he needed to lay off that gas station nachos probably. The push became stronger and her heard an insistent “wake up... wake the hell up already!”
“Ma, I told you I have my own schedule now. You can't just come down here and tell me to wake up.”
“Do I sound like your fucking mother? Now get your ass up! We need to figure out what the hell is going on!”
He opened his eyes sat up with a jolt. In front of him was a big 40-something year old man. He was about to ask what he was doing in his room. Only then, he realized they were not in his room. He saw another person huddled in the corner. Before he could ask what the hell was going on a powerful flash of bright light filled the room.
Like lightning, it came down in a flash then was gone. Where the flash had been now lay an unconscious girl. She was beautiful, but too young for Mike. At least he thought so. She didn't look a day over 16 at most. She had an innocent face and the look of an angel as she slept. Oddly enough, the way the light in the room caught her hair which seemed to puff in the back, the shadow she cast on the wall looked to have horns.
The guy who was trying to wake him up quickly turned from mike and went over to the young girl. He was a bit too excited to see her for a man his age. Mike noticed the places the man pushed her to try to wake her up were closer to some questionable locations on her body then were needed.
Suddenly, in front of him he saw a green window display
*Congratulations on entering the game! We wish you the best of luck! For more instructions see the help menu and to see your status see the status screen*
Mike didn't know much in this life but he knew about games. Maybe if he was smarter he would have over thought all this and asked a lot of questions.
“Status Screen”
MICHAEL PHILLIP THOMAS
AGE: 21
HT: 5’11
WT: 160
SKILLS: NONE
CLASS: N/A
HP: 20/20
MP: 0/0
LV: 1
STR: 12
INT: 7
DEX: 15
WIS: 15
STA: 10
CHA: 5
Points: 5
*Would you like to spend any points at this time or see point option screen?*
Damn, he really needed to put on some muscle. He should have been talking to everyone else about their situation but he was too absorbed by all of this.
“point option screen”
The game gave option for skills and items. When he checked skills he saw the lowest level skills cost 10 points. Well, he only had 5. No point looking at that for now. Items were the same as the lowest priced ones started at 10 points. This was a dead end for him at the moment. He saw the girl on the floor was coming to. He probably should walk over to check on her, but he wanted to keep checking this system out.
“help menu”
A different menu popped open in front of him. He saw a list of of things he could choose to look at. Game settings was an option. He gave it a quick look over but it didn't seem to have much that was useful. He could customize his status screen but not too much he noticed beyond that. He checked the help tab with a list of command short cuts for other options. Then he checked the game play manual. It was long so he just scanned over the table of contents for now.
The guy sitting in the corner gave him a weird look “what exactly are you doing there? Do you know what's going on?”
“No, I have no idea what's going on. I'm just looking through the menu options to see what all this is about. It really is just like being in a game. Have you checked it out at all?”
“Only my status screen” the guy sitting in the corner of the room said. “It's just so odd that I can't get my head around it all.”
He seemed like he was about to say more but Mike interrupted “I want to try something with you if you'd be willing. It seems we can form parties in this game if we choose, but I need your name to do it. Would you like to try that with me and see what happens?”
“How the hell do you know all this?”
“It was in the help menu and under short-cut commands. So what's your name?”
“Bill...”
“Send party invitation to player Bill.” Bill looked above his head to see a green box pop up. It was the first green box Mike saw in front of anyone else. He read in the menu each player can only see their own boxes and ones of their party members. He guessed this green box counted as both of theirs for now. Bill accepted the party invitation by clicking yes.
Mike went to the Party screen and found a single name on there. He clicked it.
WILLIAM CHARLES DAVIDSON
AGE: 23
HT: 5’7
WT: 145
SKILLS: NONE
CLASS: N/A
HP: 20/20
MP: 0/0
LV: 1
STR: 10
INT: 13
DEX: 10
WIS: 10
STA: 10
CHA: 10
Points: 5
Well this was interesting. He could see Bill's level and stats. It looked much the same as his. Bill had nearly twice the points in intelligence compared to himself which was annoying; but it seems they were in pretty much the same boat.
“So your name is William Charles Davidson huh?”
“How do you know that?”
“Once we join a party I can click your name and have access to your information. If you want you can probably do the same to mine.”
The 40 year old man and the young girl were now on their feet “what the hell are you two going on about? We need to find a way to get out of here! Someone has obviously kidnapped us or something. Can't you see how scared this woman is?
Mike thought she didn't look all that scared, just quiet. Also, a 40 year old man calling a girl her age a women didn't seem right. He decided it wasn't important though.
“Have either of you played this game before?” Mike looked at both the 40-something man and the young lady. He knew William hadn't obviously. He had almost the exact same beginner stats as him.
“You think this is some kind of game you little shit? We were kidnapped! How the hell can you call this a game?”
Mike wasn't sure why he was angry at him. It wasn't like it was his fault they were here.
“Well, I dialed the phone to get here. Did any of you 2 do that? I mean it has to be the reason we were all sent here right? We dialed the phone to play the game. Or am I mistaken?”
The middle age man looked like he was about to explode. “What the hell does that have to do with anything? You think they gives them the right to take us out of our homes?”
“No.”
“Then what the hell does it matter?”
“It'd just be nice to know more I suppose. Speaking of which, it might be a good idea if both of you joined our party. There could be some benefit to doing it and probably no negative effect for not doing it from what I can tell.”
He grabbed the girls arm and protectively pushed her behind him as if Mike was some maniac about to pounce on her.
“You're fucked in the head kiddo. We're not joining your party or having anything to do with you. Hey you! William right? If you have anything to do with this guy we don't want anything to do with you either!”
Mike thought he was being a moron and trying too hard to show how protective he was of the young girl. Mike was bored of this guy already. But the young, pretty, angelic looking girl behind him was another matter. She never said anything. She never made any unneeded movements.
It was like she was happy to be a prop in the background and just let everyone else do all the talking. Mike for some reason didn't get the impression it was shyness. Something about her and they way she acted seemed off to him. Mike wasn't the smartest guy in the world but he did notice people pretty well and notice when they acted weird. Something was very weird about this girl.
“What's your name young lady. If you don't mind me asking?”
The old man clearly was annoyed he dared to ask her anything. Mike saw she hiking about if she should answer at all. There seemed to be a lot of calculating going on behind her eyes. He didn't like that much thinking being done over deciding if she should answer a simple question or not.
“Lisa.” She then allowed herself to be steered away by the older man.
“Don't talk to that boy, he's nothing but trouble and only interested in one thing I bet!” Lisa became silent again and tried to fade into the background by looking at no one and keeping quiet.
A red messaged appeared in front of everyone.
*Thank you for playing. It's time to begin to the game. Please select the difficultly of the game by picking levels 1-10. Remember that the higher the difficulty, the more points you'll win. This challenge is a mental game. If you have above 25 points in intelligence or wisdom you get double points for completion*
Another messaged appeared below
*At least one new member is in this group. Groups with new members cannot pick a difficulty higher than 5. Please select difficultly level and remember no member can pick the same difficulty level 2 times in a row*
Mike didn't talk about it with anyone. He knew the obviously move. Just as discussion broke out over what level they should pick he selected level 1.
*Can not select level. No player can repeat the same level twice*
“What the hell do you think you're doing? We haven't even fully discussed which level we should pick yet!” The middle aged man was about to blow his top.
“I tried to select level 1 and it wouldn't let me.”
“Do you know why it didn't let you?” William was curious. He still was having a problem accepting the situation. Thinking about how all of this was even possible. But this seemed important.
Mike asked the older man and young lady “has either of you ever played this game before?”
“Of course not! Do I look like I've played this before? I still want to know what the hell is going on.”
Mike asked Lisa if she had played before. She didn't say anything but shook her head no and seemed to try to hide more behind the middle aged man.
Mike sighed “well, you can all try selecting level 1 if you want. It didn't work for me. If not then we may as well select level 2... seeing as we are all new. the easier we make this, the better.”
They all seemed to try to select level 1 but it didn't work for any of them. He figured they all got the same message he did. In the end William was the one to select level 2.
Right after William selected it he got a text screen message from Mike. With them being in a party, it was a way they could communicate and no one else could see.
“One of them is lying and has played this game before I think. That's the reason we couldn't select level 1.”
William looked at Mike and texted back
“Why would they lie about that though?”
“I don't know, but we should be careful.”
*****
The 40 year old man was talking to Lisa about how it would all be okay and he would be sure she got home safe to her family. Lisa Ann Heart was more interested in what the hell the 2 guys were messaging each other back and forth. She couldn't see the damn party messages. This Mike guy didn't seem that bright, but he caught on quickly to the situation.
She was hoping to save up enough points to afford a 100 point skill today. With a level 2 game and 4 players this game would be worth 16 points. Add in her intelligence double bonus and she would get 32 points. Even if this game didn't have any bonus mini-game to get points she would have enough to get the skill as long as no other players finished the game. She wouldn't let some upstart newbie fuck this up for her. Maybe she should try to get rid of that troublemaker Mike first...