There wasn’t a character creation screen, there wasn’t a class option, there wasn’t even a welcome sign. In one moment he was in Reno having brain surgery performed, and the next he was well, who knows where.

He was on his back staring up at a sky that was picturesque blue, the kind photographers would have to enhance for hours to get just right. One lone cloud lounged in the blue, it’s white fluffy form unchanging in the days light wind.

The only thing that seemed to be out of place in the peaceful setting was his clothes, and the fact he didn’t have any outside of his underwear. The grass under him had started to produce an annoying itching sensation across his arms and legs.

He tried sitting up, but his legs felt dead, no numbing sensation, just dead. he wasn’t able to move anything but his upper body. Inside he started to panic. His mind jumping to conclusions with the little information he had. It didn’t seem all that unlikely that the pod had poked into the wrong part of his brain. No brain surgery operation should take three minutes. The dead weight of his legs made the task of sitting up take longer then he would like to admit, when he finally did nothing was around. It was just him, a small hill and miles of flat grasslands with no one as far as the eye could see. The nausea started to settle in.

No, He couldn’t focus on that yet, it was probably part of the game, a loading screen. Stacy had to go through all of the testing before she could let him in with everyone else. There was absolutely nothing to worry about, right? No, everything was fine. He still had the same arms and legs and his hair still felt shaggy as it ever was. He even had the two scars on his index finger from his botched cooking attempts. They hadn’t turned him into a hideous ogre when he was knocked-out, well at least no more than he already was.

The silence stretched on, his only company the slight wind that blew every so often, rustling the tall grass around him. Seconds turned to minutes and the minutes turned to what felt like hours. As each moment passed his boredom inched ahead of his concern.

Maybe he was already in the trial, and this was all part of the test. he could just start crawling, see where it led. Anything was better than the itching and waiting. Yet, as he tried to move his arms to crawl his body wouldn’t respond, as if everything went dead. His boredom turned into blinding fear and he raged inside to gain control.

“I would stop struggling if I were you, Mister Morris. It’s not going to help you in anyway.” The voice sounded nasally to Jason. “Now I’m going to give you control of your upper body. Don’t do anything stupid. There” He felt his upper body again and he shot up to look at the man before him. The man was dressed in puffy embroidered purple and yellow clothing. The kind overly dramatic people would wear at renaissance fairs. The cap on his head had a large grey feather that protruded towards the sky. Yet, Jason found he could only focus on the man’s face and his dismissive look, as if Jason was useless, lower then the dirt he sat on.

“Good, now that we have that– “

“Where am I”

“Oh, so you’re the type that asks obvious questions that have obvious answers.” The man sighed “Why do I always get stuck with the stupidest players. You didn’t even have the decency to ask me my name before getting into the questions, which is Jerry by the way, not that you care. To answer your last obvious question, you’re in a game and I’m your administrator. it’s very rare to meet an admin. In fact, you should count yourself lucky, or rather unlucky depending on your prospective. Actually No, in your case definitely unlucky.”

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Jerry’s movements were erratic as he spoke, his arms and hands making gestures with each exclamation, as if he was a presenter at a circus. Jason wondered if it was part of his act, or if the man was truly eccentric, by which he meant crazy. Very, very crazy.

“so, this is like a tutorial.”

“No this is not “like” a tutorial. This is the part of the game where individuals who are so stupid that they don’t think we can find people entering into our game illegally get punished.”

“Oh”

“Yes oh, how stupid can you be? Did you really think we wouldn’t notice not one, but two of our old employees entering the system? Needless to say, Tommy, Alan and I have already had this conversation.”

“So what, you guys are just going to keep me here until security throws me out of the machine.”

“No, that would be much too expensive. Do you know how much it cost to place someone in the system? I can give you a hint?” the man continued in a whisper “it’s more than you’ve ever made in your life. Which isn’t saying much if I’m being honest. I should know, I checked! See it’s right here.” A flash of blue light appeared by Jerry’s hand, as it faded away in its place was a scroll. “yes, let’s see, no job, no education, average, strike that below average grades. You are well and truly a waste of space. Completely and utterly unremarkable. No wonder why you sneaked in. Your perfectly below average, and we don’t even accept perfectly average, which makes you perfectly useless to us.” The man’s self-satisfied smirk infuriated Jason and if he could move he was sure he would have smacked it off his face.

“You don’t-” Jason started

“Mr Morris, please do shut-up and let me finish. There are over 600,000 of your betters starting today, and I really don’t have a lot of time to talk to some petty vagabond.”

“Vagabond, really” Jason replied raising his eyebrows

“Yes vagabond, it means you uncivilized – “

“I know what it means the word’s just a little dated don’t you think? Who in the world uses the word vagabond nowadays?”

“That is now the third time you have interrupted me. One more time and the first experience you will have in this game is being dropped into an active volcano. I’ll make sure you feel each second of it. And vagabond for your information is the perfect word to use here. Look up, look around this isn’t exactly your world and your era anymore Jason.”

“Your taking this all a little too seriously don’t you think, this is just a game after all.”

“If you think this is just another game then you should have never joined. With that attitude you don’t have any chance at actually becoming king of this land and winning the ten million dollars. Which you’re going to desperately need to do because we aren’t going to pay you a dime while you’re in here. “

“You can’t do that! As long as I’m working here I’m an employee!”

“That’s not what the contract said. Section six, subsection four clearly detailed this portion. You did read the contract, didn’t you? Who am I kidding of course you didn’t.”

“Then let me out. If you’re not paying me let me out.”

“You really don’t want to do that. The contract states you have to stay here a year, which is about two in game time.”

“I don’t care what your contract said you can’t keep me here without paying and you can’t keep me here against my will!”

“While it is true in our contract that any player may leave at any time, if said player has not fulfilled their end of the obligation the Nexus has reserved the right to sue, specifically you, for the amount it cost the company to perform the surgery. If you think your broke now, well I’m sure you get the picture. I probably should remind you I have the right to kick you out of the game at any time, at which point the company will sue you.” Jason stared at the man biting his cheek to hold back the retort that tried to spill out.

“Look at the fire in your eyes, it’s wonderful. Get mad, get serious, it’ll be great for the streams.”

“Alright that’s everything. I will be watching over your development as time passes. As always, we hope you enjoy your time at the Nexus and have a great day.”

In a cloud of blue dust, the man disappeared. Jason tried to get up again but fell to the same result. He still couldn’t feel his legs.

“How do I get out of –” and then he was gone from the field as well