My heart races as I watch the words slowly dissipate and then the screen disappears. I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but I know this was incredibly stupid of me. What if this isn’t what I was sent back to do? I pull up statistics for the degree plan that I’m currently in and start to waver. In six weeks, I could have my degree and start the slow climb politically. Yes, there was a huge chance that I couldn’t figure out what was the cause of the bombings, but it was safer. Then I look up viewership rates and cross reference them with how often their faces are seen to how politically revered they were, no matter their past. Money, power, success, and most importantly being able to talk with the people that know something about immortality.

It isn’t about how much you know, it’s about how much the population likes you. Being likeable is the key factor to becoming the small percentage of people that owned everything. I needed to be able to rub elbows with these people, I need to be seen as one of them. It has been this way since the turn of the new century. Lunar Lander was just one of the companies that was part of several other companies that were effectively owned by the same company. I have a sinking feeling that no one is actually aware of what the company does and with a team of lawyers behind them, they would be virtually unstoppable to do as they wished. What were they planning to get out of us in the competition? As much as I hate to admit it to even myself, this was the only way I was going to be able to get to where I needed to fast enough.

I close out the tabs, and then open the game back up. The official meetup was in a week, which means that the contest isn’t going to official start until after the interview. It makes me wonder, if our current scores will actually be used, or if it is going to reset us to zero. I’m hoping that it will be based off of our current scores and that they will start officially grading us based off of the rules. I frown thinking about that. If that’s the case, I definitely have some catching up to do. I look at the time and gasp. I have wasted two hours dicking around with the contest entry. It is past three in the morning and I haven’t even started on the game. In a blind panic, I open up the scoreboard and sigh in relief. Eric’s score hasn’t changed, he must have decided that it was a large enough gap and that he could relax tonight. He’s probably snoring his head off about now. I eat the last portion of the candy bar slowly and then finish off the coke. That was probably the last time I was going to be able and enjoy something that tasty in quite some time.

I know my nervous bladder was going to be a huge issue, so I make sure to take care of business before hopping back on. I push the table back into its place against the wall and then slide the headset over me. I decide to remain in a relaxed seated position, knowing that this will keep me comfortable for at least eight hours. I’ll refrain from drinking any water unless I absolutely need it and I have the pitcher next to me with a two glasses in case I do. On a more gross level, I have a second glass here if I find the need to relieve myself again. Having a nervous bladder is the worst. I generally have to use the restroom several times before doing anything that I know will be time intensive. I know it’s all mental, but it hasn’t stopped, so I assume it’s pretty safe to say that it’s not going anywhere.

I’m back to the title screen again, but this time I’m looking it over. The colorful pixel images greet me and I’m looking them over with renewed interest. Why is this so different from the main game? And in our time, the fact that the graphics are outdated is the understatement of the year. Especially considering that you can’t distinguish reality from fantasy if it wasn’t for the fact that you were wearing the gear. If I had really splurged, I would have turned this entire space into a fully immersive world complete with wind effects, smells, you name it. It might be my youth kicking in, or stupidity, but I’m really debating on doing that with some of the funds I pull out next month.

I’m really not sure how kids could take these games seriously back then. The bright, flashing colors hurt my head. I don’t want to stare at this longer than I have to, but I know I should be more careful and pay attention. Eric didn’t just get that score off of beating the Night Queen alone. That was an impossibly large score for the first boss battle. I relent, looking at the score. Was there any game I could actually think of that kept a scoring system at all like this? Especially, a first person shooter? Hell, even a puzzle based RPG, or role playing game, like Dragons of Evermore that released last year. It was considered one of the toughest games to complete and was notorious for taking so long to complete raids or dungeon crawls that a few people had been reported dead while playing it. I was with a small amount of people that believe this was a publicity stunt set up by the game company Fantasy, Lunar Lander’s biggest competition.

A raid is basically a large team of people online that ban together to defeat a particularly hard boss. Dungeon crawlers are viewed as incredibly redundant to some people, but I love them. And with the luck of the draw on loot mixed with randomized terrain, or dungeons that included crypts, mountains, underground, abandoned buildings, or even other planets─ the possibilities are endless. You have to bust your ass to gear up and somehow defeat something that has several times your hit points, or health, and find a way to outwit them. I am excellent at figuring out patterns, which is why I love this type of adventuring. As much as I love loot, I love the storylines even more. They are often tales of tragedy, or a people wronged. Basically, it follows some nobody from a random village who is destined to save the world. It’s one of the oldest tropes known to the western world but I can’t get enough of that shit. Ironic, considering the position I’m in if I can’t locate my own crew.

I’m wasting too much valuable time thinking about this, so my attention goes immediately back to the flashing images on the screen. Phantom scrolls from the top of the screen to the middle and blinks a few times before fading. On the bottom right a guy walks across the screen and pauses in the middle. His hair is brown, and he is wearing a pair of blue pants, and what looks like a white sweater. His hands go up and a bunch of pixelated mean-looking cops enter from the left, their guns drawn. One of the officer’s fire and the man holding up his arms falls to the ground. Red pixels fill the bottom of the screen and then the entire screen turns red. Then, it twinkles and turns into the night’s sky. This is all that happens, before the scene replays.

I watch it for a fourth time, trying to see if there is some clue based off of what they are all wearing, but nothing is jumping out at me. Then I notice it. The background is a pixelated version of the constellations, all slowly twinkling. The only reason that I realize this is because the pattern of the twinkling. Sudden, the shape of Ursa Major, or the big dipper. Pops out at me. Next, I spot Hydra and then Virgo, which is incredibly hard to spot until I watched it for a third time and realize that the star Spica, which represents the ear on a grain of wheat from her hand is there. Then one last one appears and I stare for a moment at it. The pattern looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t exactly remember which one it is.

My mother, bless her, she loved looking at the stars and she taught me everything there was to know and what time of year you could see them from the Northern Hemisphere in the US. My grin goes ear to ear at this revelation. Ok, so I know that if both Virgo and Ursa Major are visible, this means that the constellations are exactly where they would be in the night sky right at this moment. I’m not sure how this is going to help me, but I have to try. I pull up a map of the night’s sky this time of year and prompt the program to name each constellation. It confirms and starts the long process of mapping the night’s sky visible to me. I keep the start screen playing, as I wait for the software to finish, when I hear the pleasant series of jingles I know that it’s finished. I open it up and I’m immediately overwhelmed by the amount of names listed. This won’t do at all. I need just the name of one particular constellation, not this mess. Then it dawns on me, “Alexa, take a screenshot when I tell you.” “Of course,” she responds. I flip open the screen and wait patiently at the final rotation. When it comes back around, I’m practically on the edge of my seat with anticipation. The final pattern twinkles and I yell, “Now.”

There’s a pause as the program takes a photo. “Photo is prohibited and is against the developer’s privacy policy. See the gamer’s manual on page─” “That’s enough, Alexa, thank you. Please open a free drawing program.” A drawing program opens and I hastily sketch the shape onto it and then save it on my cloud drive. “Alexa, compare the sketch I made to any known constellations recorded.” “Sure, no problem.” She says cheerily. Barely a few seconds pass before she is back. “This drawing best matches with a known constellation called Cassiopeia.” My brows go up at the mention of the constellation, I’ve never heard of this before. “Alexa, what is the mythology behind Cassiopeia?” A pause.

“Cassiopeia was known as the wife of the king Cepheus, which is represented by the constellation Cepheus next to Cassiopeia. In mythology, she boasted that her beauty far surpassed that of the Nereids or the sea nymphs that were fathered by the Titan Nereus. Angered by her bold statements, the nymphs appealed to Poseidon, the god of the sea to punish Cassiopeia for her words. Poseidon was married to one of the nymphs, Amphitrite, and so he obliged and sent out Cetus, also known as the whale, to decimate Cepheus’s kingdom. Cepheus turned to an oracle for help, and the oracle revealed that in order to please the angered god, they must sacrifice their daughter, Andromeda to the sea monster. Andromeda was saved at the last moment by Perseus, a Greek hero that happened to be traveling that way. After saving her life, the two became engaged. At their wedding, one of Andromeda’s suitors named Phineus appeared and claimed that he was the only one who had the right to marry her. There was a great battle, in which Perseus was gravely outnumbered. In desperation, he used the head of Medusa, a monster that he had recently slain to defeat his enemies. For you see, one look at the beast’s head turned the viewer into stone. Unfortunately, in the chaos the king and queen both died gazing upon the head. Poseidon then placed both the queen and the king in the night’s sky. Cassiopeia was condemned to circle the celestial pole and spend half of the year upside down as punishment for her vanity. She is usually shown as sitting on her throne, combing her hair.”

Upside down, I muse. That’s what is throwing me off. There was something else bugging me about this, but I can’t figure out what. What did an ancient fairy tale have to do with the game? I don’t even bother glancing at the time, I knew it had to have been close to five in the morning. It wouldn’t be long before I would lose every advantage I have with Eric choosing to sleep tonight. Maybe I should just play the game instead of messing with a stupid title screen. Maybe it was just some artistic flair the developers decided to add to do something different. That was a more popularized trend these days, finding a way to really stand out from the others. Games were often portrayed as fully immersive and real life. Especially first person shooters. They were beloved by people because it was something that they could use to get away from real life. It was a way to finally become that action hero that saves the world and is adored. It wasn’t just that way with first person shooters. Many people could live out dating sims, survival horror, pop idols─ you name it, it could be simulated in a way that was exactly like real life. Somewhere along the line, people traded their own dull lives for living in an online adventure. Who honestly wouldn’t? Compared to what was actually available in the real world, why would you even second guess? It isn’t entirely present now, but it’s getting there. Soon, any and all social events will be converted to online and no one will have a need to come face to face with each other. At least, for the next year.

What was interesting about what Lunar Lander was doing, was that no one had used the pixelated graphics like this except for nearly fifty years ago when there was a revival of the old pixelated games. This is the reason why it was so different, and why I was so hung up on an opening screen. With it being a huge point of debate on all of the online forums only strengthens what I originally thought. I pull up the Phantom forums, including the sites that are most known for helping others. We’re talking the sites that you have to click on several different links and read through thousands of comments to find. Usually only the most popular votes appeared at the top, but you have to do some digging if you are going to find what you need to. Almost all of the sites I pull up are huge disappointments. Since the competition was announced people have either removed their comments, or moderators have in the spirit of the game. This meant that not only did Eric probably know more than me, he also had gotten to see all of the clues on the message boards. Not only him, but potentially thousands of others that had read the comments before me. My heart sinks as I think about not only the people that saw them, but the moderators. How much do they know? The trail was going to be completely cold on all of the major sites that much I know. I need more time to think. It’s like the world has pulled the rug out from beneath me and I know I’m about to fall, but I’m protecting myself along the way to prevent too much damage.

It’s seven a.m. when I spot it. I’m literally at the end of my rope, and nearly about to give up when I find my first real clue in one of the most unlikely places. It’s a single comment in a child’s game forum. The game is called Mini-Game Haven and it’s a collection of all the puzzle games ever created within every game ever made in recorded history. Its sole purpose was to let kids play just the mini-games if they didn’t want to play the actual games themselves. Everyone else is discussing how to defeat Medusa in the third mini-game of Pantheon. Pantheon is a game in which you played out all of the Greek or Roman gods’ stories and how I actually remembered learning ancient history in one of my specialty courses. All of them were comments geared toward how to defeat her, except for the one comment about two-thirds of the way down the main page. I’m laughing at myself for actually believing this person, especially since the user’s name is uncle strawberry. I stare at the sentence, trying to scrutinize if it is legit or not. No one in the forum has caught on to what they are saying because it actually has nothing to do with the mini-game. It even has several down votes and people calling him an idiot. The comment reads, “For you see, one look at the beast’s head turned the viewer into stone.” There is a line break and then it is an asci picture of the upside down constellation of the woman. She looks the same except for one difference, there are a series of points on the top of her head. I take a screenshot and then pull up the story. The others on the forum might not be aware of what this is, or how much this is actually worth, but I am. This has got to be a clue, or one of the most well-placed troll comments I’ve ever seen. I scan the few lines of text and then compare it to the information that Alexa has gotten for me. I scan through the fairy tale and then pause halfway through. Cassiopeia was defeated by Medusa’s head which is what caused her to ultimately die and be placed in the night’s sky as punishment. I lean back and look at the art again, then back to the information. What was it I was missing? What in the blue hell did this have to do with the game? I thought on what I actually had revealed with the game.

Lunar Lander had not only done something different with the main access page and credits, they also had done something that was unprecedented. They had done something that would have caused most major gaming companies to lose all of the money they actually put into their game and tank horribly. No one actually knew what the game was about. The trailers, were simply of the developers and the designers talking about how it was going to be something that changed the way the world played games. That’s why so many people found it intriguing. How could you expect to actually gain a following if people didn’t know what it was about? Yet somehow, it had the complete opposite effect. The game had an unholy amount of people that downloaded it, and the game forums had blown up talking about what they knew. Until yesterday when everything was removed.

Here’s what I do know from what I’ve played: The main character, Victor Credence wakes up in a single cell room with no lights, no running water, and what appears to be a completely sealed room. He remembers his name, but little else. Sure, it sounds like every dumb action or mystery trope everywhere but this one feels different. Not only are you able to be fully immersed in the world, you could actually feel yourself crawling through spaces, smell the stale air, and hear the rats scuffling through the spaces and the soft murmur of the men. You have no other information than that, just a name. I have no idea how it manages to make me actually smell what the main character does, because my headset isn’t even capable of doing that. Part of me thinks that it must be lighting up the sections of my brain that causes smelling and that it is just creating the illusion that I am there when the character remarks about the smells.

There is a co-op version, but you have to play through the beginning solo and then you are able to meet up with the other players. But that was only in the player versus player arenas. The main story mode had to be played single player. The first part of the game didn’t leave you with much. All you literally had to figure out how to exit the room was the clothes on your back. I could hear muffled talking on the other side of the walls, so I had known that there was a way out. Banging on the walls only resulted in a slat opening and a single dart shooting through. This was a completely frustrating in-game time out. I had been locked out for twenty minutes until my character ‘woke up’ and I could try again. After figuring out that drawing attention to myself was not the way to go, I started really looking at the space that I was in. The entire room appeared to be made from an extremely durable plastic that was bonded with some sort of thick resin. When I knocked on the hard surface, the sound came out muffled. After nearly an hour of being stumped and several minutes of me cussing out the walls, a thought occurred to my dumbass.

In hindsight, I gave myself tons of shit for not thinking of it beforehand and losing my cool like an idiot. The room would need a ventilation system. I wouldn’t need to leave this room for anything other than the restroom, but this was a game and bodily functions were never taken into account in the digital world. Since it was a game that meant it was probably going to be something outlandish. Instead of pace the room like I was doing, I decided to sit on the floor and close my eyes. At first, I was just a jackass sitting in the middle of the floor in a game. After several seconds though, there was a distinct sound to my left and just behind me where a window might be in an actual jail cell. As soon as I stood, it went away. When I walked over to where I had heard the noise, nothing happened. Frustrated, I sat down and closed my eyes again. There it was. It was now coming from my right since I had switched myself around the face the area I had first heard it. When I stood again and it ceased, I knew that it must be something I would have to view from the ground, or that I was activating it by placing pressure on the floor. I literally scooted my ass along the floor toward the sound and then broke into a smile. It had gotten louder and now I could feel it brushing against my skin.

Point is, after several more wasted minutes I figured out that the breeze was coming from a weak area in the back of the cell near the floor. When I’d finally managed to remove a hunk large enough to dig at the rest of the wall and pull myself free─ I was met with a new problem. The cell was part of many other cells that were suspended over a drop. A very large drop. The kind that you knew if you fell, there wasn’t going to be much of you left. My hands had instantly got sweaty looking down at it and I had to tuck my head back in to relax and take a deep breath. So the traditional ‘dropping down some ventilation shaft trope’ was a no-go. It took many more hours, but I had finally found out that my character had something called a stamina meter which appeared any time I had to climb, or exert myself. Given that there wasn’t much in my cell implied that my character was probably weak from sitting and doing nothing, or just doing push-ups and sit-ups. That meant that I had little means to train myself for lifting my actual body weight. There were no bars, which meant if I had managed to work out I couldn’t strengthen my hands or fingers to grip. They really had taken everything into account with this game, the sheer amount of detail was insane. I had no way of knowing who was keeping me here, or how long I had until they came back, but the music was becoming increasingly foreboding which meant I probably had little time before they discovered what I had done. Whoever ‘they’ were. Shit, for all I knew I was a damn criminal trying to escape.

Maybe I was the bad guy. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to get the hell out of there. After several failed attempts and having to go back to my cage, I finally found a small indention that was marked every two feet. The notches weren’t much, but it was enough for my fingers and toes to grasp onto. I was nearing the top when my cell started to move. There was a tremendous rush of air behind me and I snapped my neck around to see what was going on. Loud buzzers went off as a roar filled the enclosed space. I actually had to turn the volume down on my headset it was so loud. At first, it reminded me of a rushing train or the tornado simulations I’d heard but then I realized with growing dread what it actually was. Water, lots of it.

There was a groan, and then suddenly I was weightless. Terrified, I climbed the rest of the way to the top of the giant cube. The only thing I can think that kept me on top was the sheer terror of my grasping onto my hand controls as I gripped the cable at the top. Well, that and dumb luck. I smacked my head and jaw as the structure made contact with the water. The entire thing twisted and spun as the other cubes landed around it. Then, we were on the move yet again. Even though I was spinning violently, I somehow managed to hang on. I felt like I was one of those men riding a bull, one-handed and blindfolded. There was so much water splashing around me that I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. After several seconds of struggled to orient myself, I realized where I was heading. It was the only place that made sense since it was where the air had been rushing from. The dark room had quickly faded behind me as the blinding light charged in at an alarming rate. The cubes around me were funneled behind my own and it took a moment to realize that there were bumpers on either side of the room. I bent my head around at the open space and gasped.

There was an entire city out there, one that I had never seen before. The lines of the buildings were so smooth, it was almost unrecognizable as a city at first but then I noticed the gleam from the light and realized it was a reflection. Only one thing in nature actually did that, and it was water. Those shapes were too geometric to occur in nature, which meant that it was definitely man-made. I managed to twist myself around while holding on to the cable as the bobbing subsided and the ride was starting to even out. Everything slowed as we neared the edge of the giant open doors. This was probably the next area we were supposed to travel toward, but I knew it was probably going to take quite some time to get to. Judging by how long it had taken me to get to this point, I knew that traveling to a city that appeared to be several miles out, wouldn’t be easy. We had slowed nearly to a crawl and I was just starting to relax─ but then, I looked down. The only thing I knew to say was a word that was repeated over and over again, the whole way down the waterfall. That word, was shit.

That fall was so intense, I had nearly thrown up. Roller Coaster simulators had nothing on that drop. I’m not sure how the hell I managed it, but somehow my ass snapped into self-preservation mode and I had leapt over the side with the cable. I tumbled into bottom of the cube feet first and rolled to the opposite wall. The next thing I know, there is a huge crash as my cube hits the water. Now I know why the walls are so thick. Even though they are padded, every part of my body is singing in pain from crash. The cube topples a few times before it rights itself. Then it dawned on me, there must have been some sort of weight in the bottom of the cube to make it tip back. I was screaming like an idiot, whooping and laughing my head off when the next problem happened. In all my excitement to actually be alive, I’d forgotten two things:

one, I was inside the cube that now had a hole in it and two, we were in water.

As fast as the water rushed in, the color left from my face. Then I remembered the cable. The room was too small to gain enough leverage to get my way out, and the water was rushing in which meant I wouldn’t be able to have the strength to pull myself out. The current was my advantage here with the cable, it wouldn’t pull it from my hands. I needed to wait until it was mostly submerged and then pull my way through the space. The water had been icy cold that much I remember, and once it reached over my head, I had barely been able to feel my fingers. But I did it. I drug myself through the two and a half foot space. When I surfaced, epic music greeted me on the other side as I drug myself toward the tree-lined shore.

Enter me, currently.

This was where I had left off the first time that I had run through. I had been lying when I told him that I’d made it to the queen in the first part. The truth was, I had barely figured out how to get to the damn shore. I was only aware of the Night Queen because of all the forums online talking about the first big boss. The only reason I was second on the score charts, was because I hadn’t died yet. Apparently, each time you died it meant you had to work twice as hard to score higher points. Many of us had suspected that it was a way to also let the moderators grade us on our use of creativity. I’m not sure what I had done differently than the rest of them, but they must have liked something that I did.

And here we are, back to me staring at these lines of text and an archaic way of drawing art on a computer. Ok, so a goddess placed in the night sky upside down and defeated by Medusa. Then a particular part of the text sticks out to me. Not a goddess, a queen. A queen placed in the night’s sky. “Alexa, give me all the names that Cassiopeia is known as.” “No problem,” she says, then, “Cassiopeia is also known as Queen of the Night’s Sky,” I ground my jaw in annoyance. Duh, I think sarcastically. “She is also known as Queen of the Night, and Night Queen.” My eyes grow wide as I make the connection. This was it, this was why it was placed on a random game forum. This beautiful person was giving us a clue on how to help with the Night Queen. The Night Queen was none other than Queen Cassiopeia and I had a huge clue on how to defeat her. I’m bouncing in my seat and clapping for joy when suddenly my alarm goes off. “Attention, tenant 10127, you have been online for eight hours. This is your daily reminder that you need to eat, use the restroom, and drink at least eight ounces of liquid. You also have not gotten in your four R.E.M. cycles, which is required to repair your body─” “Yes Alexa,” I interrupt. “I’m aware. Thank you for the warning, I will be fine for one day.” “Understood, however, your system is locked until you first complete these necessary tasks to ensure your survival.” I frown at the computer, “All of them? I can simply take a nap, right?” There is a slight pause. “You may take no less than a ninety minute nap to sustain normal bodily functions for the day.” I nod my head, “Yes ma’am, you’re the boss. I’m going to get up and stretch and do the other stuff.” “Understood, 10127.” Despite my grouchy-ness, I manage a smile as I stand, remove the headgear, and stretch. She was probably right. I get a whiff of my underarms and grimace. Yep, definitely needed a shower. My stomach growled loudly as I padded toward the kitchen. “Alright, alright, I get it,” I say patting my waist. I leaned down and pulled the door open, then remove a nutrition bar from the fridge. I quickly down it and a glass of water impatiently. The faster I got in a few hours of sleep, the faster I could get caught up to mister two million points.

I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the small shower, letting its heat massage my aching shoulders and neck. I really needed to invest in one of those fully immersive models, that way I didn’t have to sit uncomfortably for several hours. Which meant I could spend way longer than eight to twelve hours at the headset. The real problem was my damn body having actual needs. I didn’t even know Alexa monitored my sleep patterns, but it made sense. If bots were programmed to assist us that meant that they are going to remind us when our needs haven’t been met. My mind whirls with the possibilities from my earlier discovery. I might have figured out a clue on how to kill the night queen, but why was the comment there of all places? It could just be something as simple as someone didn’t want their comment deleted, so they placed it in a spot that no one would think to look. But that only raised more questions. If that is true, why would someone actually try to help other competitors if they are a competitor themselves? At this point, the entire US probably knew about the contest and with everything being pulled from online, even if someone wanted to help others they couldn’t. So why had this comment been spared? With all the search engines and bots that could have easily found it and deleted it, it was still there. Unless. Was it possible that this had been a clue planted by the Phantom creators themselves? Had Lunar Lander actually hidden this for someone to find? Then I think about how much trouble I had to go through to even enter the contest. This is absolutely something that they would do. I can’t believe it. I have found an official clue on how to beat the first boss. If that’s true, it is almost as if they wanted all of us to get to a certain point before the contest begins. The official orientation, much like the forms we are supposed to fill out, isn’t our interview. This was.

“Alexa, wake me in exactly 90 minutes or when I have completed exactly one R.E.M. cycle.” “Affirmative,” she responds, “your alarm is set and I will be monitoring your sleep patterns.” “Thank you,” I say following it up with a big yawn. I’m more tired than I realize, but the motivation to find more in-game is strong. I crawl into bed and slip beneath the covers. Thank god it’s Saturday and I don’t have to worry about class until Monday morning. “You’re welcome, tenant 10127.” My mind wanders as I feel my mind slipping away. Despite my obvious need for rest, I can’t sleep until I ask it out loud. “Alexa?” “What can I do for you?” her soft reply comes. “Can you call me something different?” There is a brief pause as she pulls up a personalization bar on the wall. “Sure. What would you like me to refer to you as?” “Please, call me Hull.” I whisper. The letters appear on the wall, “Is this correct?” I look over at them, “Yes.” “Confirmed. I will change this in all of your preferences and personalize your online experience.” “Thank you, that’s all.” I say. “Ok. Get some rest, Hull.” I only manage a nod before my eyes close and the world fades away.

My dreams are filled with blurry, white shapes speaking to one another against a pitch-black canvas. They are blotchy like a painting, yet smooth as fabric along the edges and shine like miniature diamonds against the abyss. They appear to be light years away from me, and yet I can hear their voice as clear as if they are sitting right next to me. “Have I gone too far?” the sorrowful voice asks. It’s masculine and deep, like thunder rolling in the distance. The second white shape speaks, its voice is feminine, and easy on the ears like hundreds of wind chimes in complete harmony blowing in the breeze. “No, dear. She brought this punishment on herself.” The first voice sighs and then says, “I suppose. Surely, the man did not deserve what has transpired against him?” “Ah, but that is where you are wrong,” the second voice twinkles, “you see, he made his choice when he chose to side with the queen from the beginning.” The man grunts then adds, “You are, of course, right my dear.” There is a long pause before she speaks again, “I wish I wasn’t, but in this case everything is as it should be.” “Yes,” he agrees, “but how long do you propose we keep her up there, upside down and all?”

The woman chuckles, “for as long as the stars remain in the sky.” “Perhaps,” he says, “or maybe we could simply build a bridge to her.” The woman’s response becomes muddled, I can no longer make out what she is saying. His next response is also too soft to make out and I find myself straining to hear. Then something does sound. It’s soothing, like the sound of birds calling in the distance and the warmth from sunlight is washing over my face. I blink a few times and prop myself up on my elbows. I look around at my room before realizing it is my alarm. “Good afternoon, Hull. This is the time you requested to be woken up, do you wish to remain awake, or would you prefer to sleep longer?” “No, I would like to wake up. Thank you, Alexa.” “It is my pleasure. As promised, your VR unit is now unlocked for use. Would you like me to pick up where you left off?” “Yes, thank you.” I respond. I hear the familiar soft jingle and then my headset begins glowing blue.

I stand, make my bed and then pad over to the restroom. It felt good to get a little shuteye in. Oddly enough, I’m not feeling groggy at all. I was worried that by sleeping I was going to be sluggish and ill tempered, but honestly─ I feel great. I grab more cool water from the fridge and then walk over and suit up. I pull up the run simulator and jump onto the treadmill. I chose ‘mountain path’ and then start a light jog. It feels great to finally stretch my legs. I know I’m wasting a little of my time working out, but after all that candy and sugar, my body feels a little bloated. This should help get my body going. Exercise helps me think, always has and I needed to prepare myself for the next several hours I was going to spend getting through the game. The Rockies are every bit as beautiful as I would imagine them in the distance as I run through Rocky Mountain National Park’s trails. I knew that I could run literally anywhere I wanted to, even the moons of Jupiter, but today I wanted the crisp cool feeling of mountains and forest near me and Colorado really was exceptionally beautiful. It was my thinking spot. As I neared the part of the trail that crossed a large river, I paused along the shore. There was nowhere to get across and it seemed like it was nothing but water and trees as far as the eye could see. I decided to head east when less than half a mile up the shore, I spotted what looked to be a path. As I strode closer, I realized that it was a small, animal-made bridge of trees. Probably randomly generated by the computer to allow me across. I let out a sigh and picked up the pace, continuing north toward the mountains. The trick to this simulation was that you always saw the mountains in the distance, but you never actually reached them unless you set a goal. It’s not like I haven’t been to the top before, but today I just wanted a good run in. I glanced down at the screen and initiated a cool down sequence. Man, I missed being young. I have run six miles today without breaking a sweat. I grin and blot my face with the towel I keep hanging over the edge. Feeling renewed, I walk over to the bathroom and take my second shower of the day. Then I’m in some fresh, comfy clothes and pulling the headset back into place.

Stolen story; please report.

“Welcome back, Hull.” The announcer shouts as I pull up Phantom’s title screen. I’m grinning from ear to ear at the use of my new name. Ash and the others would definitely approve. That is, if they are still alive. It’s weird, living two different lives at once. Part of me feels like I’ve lost everything, while the other feels like I’m just getting started. In the end, it’s that youthfulness that wins me over. I may not see them now, but I have to believe that I will find them again. And the best way to help them all, is to keep everyone from dying, especially the good ones. Harris could go choke on a bag of dicks. I know it isn’t right, but secretly I’m hoping he really does not make it to the future. The only reason he did was because of his family connections. Two in the bunch were there because of that very reason. They didn’t have any special training, nothing our society could have really used. Sure, at the very end it didn’t matter because money was absolutely useless by then, but it helped them survive all the way up until when it actually mattered. I still find it hard to believe even now that only five people survived out of nearly twenty billion others. To be fair, that number got pretty low after the nuclear war. Roughly only a quarter of the population survived the fallout. Then another twenty percent died from complications to exposure and helping to build facilities that could contain the sick and treat them. All in all, it was mostly the wealthy and the few lucky ones with useful professions or skills that survived it all. Which only left somewhere around one billion people on the entire planet. Which we later found out that the human population hadn’t been that low since before the twentieth century around the year 1804. There were many people in the future that believed it was some kind of natural selection or cleansing. The truth of the matter was, there was nothing natural about all those bombs going off and all of us had paid for it.

I shake my head and pull up the information one last time. I was eager to log into the game, but something was warning me not to just yet. The constellation that I noticed before was in the title screen, but it was in the final rotation. Why had it chosen to show that one last and what did it mean? This had to be some sort of puzzle. Then, it hits me like a ton of bricks. Why else would it have been on the title page, it looks different, and the clue was placed in a random online forum for kids? Because, it wasn’t random. The title screen was a mini-game. I’m shaking as I watch the guy walk across the screen, put up his hands, and get shot. Then the stars come in. Ok, I know that it has something to do with the upside down queen. The Cassiopeia constellation pops up and my stomach lurches into my throat. I touch the screen anywhere I can and suddenly, it pauses. But that’s all that it does. I hold my breath, frantically searching the page for any sort of clue. I sigh in frustration as the screen fades and it goes back to the title screen. By the second time, I tap and hold my hand there. This time, it pauses and I’m able to look at it for longer. I’m hoping that by holding it open, the screen will stay paused. When it stays paused, my shoulders relax and I sit back to get a better view of the constellation. She’s just like she’s supposed to be, upside down and combing her hair. I think back to the forum comment. The clue they had given me was the crown on top of her head, that’s what made me realize that it was talking about a queen and the main boss’s weakness had something to do with her story. You’ve gotten this far, I tell myself, don’t give up. There were no other shapes on the woman except the stars that had been connected in the original drawing. So, I try this first. I connect all the lines that make up the constellation of Cassiopeia. Nope, nada. Then, realizing my mistake, I draw her, the comb, and the mirror. I growl in frustration as nothing happens. The screen pauses every time, so I know I’m on to something. But, there’s something that I’m missing. Something so simple that a kid could probably guess it.

A kid. I pull up the comment again and take a look at the drawing. I am doing it right except for one simple thing. If this is right, I’m going to kick myself for not seeing it sooner. I patiently wait as the title screen fades. Then, the constellations. Finally the queen shows herself and I pause it. This time, I include the mirror, the comb, and her crown. The screen goes crazy and begins flashing from green to blue. I stare in awe as the man pops up in the center of the screen. He smiles and waves, then just like in ancient style video games, a series of text boxes pop up:

Welcome, Hull, to Medusa’s Madness! Press start to begin.

I hover over the button and then click enter. I can’t believe it. I cannot believe that I have finally figured out how to do it. I was beginning to wonder if I just had an overactive imagination, but this was my proof. I’m so excited that I can feel my entire body trembling. Secretly, I’m hoping that Eric has struggled with it as long as I have so I don’t feel like more of a jackass than I already do. Even that hour and a half felt like it was too much time to wait. Why in the nine hells did we not have a damn pill that made us bypass sleep yet? I mean, shit, we had anti-aging treatments and everything else, why not anti-sleep pills without side effects? The truth was, what we later discovered was that people could actually train themselves to get enough rest within four hours, but it took time and a strict schedule. Guess I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to compete. I need to actually train my mind how to sleep efficiently and I know Alexa can help me. She has with everything else. I’ve always found it curious that we tend to call A.I. female names or associate female genders to them. Much like cars, or aircrafts. I wonder why that is. The screen fades back in and I lean forward. True to the older game style, text start scrolling from the bottom of the screen to the top. It reads:

Welcome to my journey, traveler. Though many have been, none have played it from my side. I was born from Phorkys and Ceto, who were children of Gaea and Oceanus. With great pride, I was taken under the goddess Athena’s wing. Known as the embodiment of wisdom, purity, and reason I could ask for no other greater mentor. However, I was to remain celibate if I would become one of her disciples. Poseidon, god of the sea, knew that the very same blood coursed through my mortal veins. In a moment of curiosity, I was lured by the king of the sea away from my righteous goddess’s side. Not only did he steal my innocence, he doomed me to forever become something loathsome to mortals and gods alike. Once I was a creamy skinned, fair haired woman, now Athena has cursed me beyond recognition. Every lock of my golden mane has been replaced by venomous snakes. My skin is now tinged a sickly green and scaled like my creatures. And the most horrific of all, I once had beautiful eyes that could rival that of Venus herself. They were replaced by two bloodshot orbs and a look of fury forever plastered to my face. Now an outcast, I have fled to the edge of the ocean and hid myself inside of a cave with my sisters, Stheno and Euryale. My sisters are lucky to be that of a god, but I am nothing like them. And now I hear, that a god slayer is coming for me. One that was advised from Athena herself, armed to take on an entire mortal army─ let alone a mere mortal and a few lesser goddesses. I could leave, I could get myself as far away from this place as possible, but where shall that leave me? To yet again be cursed to walk the land as I am, shunned from anyone that may come into contact with me. Death will be easy, I say let it come.

The screen fades away and I find myself wondering what sort of mini-game this would be. It was already sounding pretty damn depressing. What sort of journey would leave you dead in the end? And if you knew it was coming, and yet didn’t fight it─ what sort of hero did that make you? Medusa, you weak-ass bitch, stand up and own those assholes. For shit’s sake, she could turn men to stone by looking at them. Why didn’t she just walk outside and be like, ‘alright, bitches, I own this planet. Don’t like it, then I’m turning your ass to stone.’ Seriously. I mean, there had to be one decent person on the planet that would actually look past all of that scaly stuff and chill with you. I was hoping it was going to be me playing something more, I don’t know, awesome? Why not play the hero that freaking kills Medusa. Less than five minutes ago I was super pumped, but now I’m pissed off. Was it too much to ask that I play someone that didn’t have a death wish? I let out a long sigh. I was being silly and I knew it. There was probably a reason why I was supposed to play this mini-game before the actual game and I know that it has something to do with the Night Queen. I just needed to suck it up and put on my big boy pants.

The man from the screen earlier appears, however this time he is dressed like a warrior. He’s carrying a shiny shield, flying boots, and a grand helmet. He’s sneaking into the cave where I am sleeping with my sisters. After looking at the instructions on how to open my inventory and to do simple actions, I’m confident that I will be able to pull off a little bit of fighting and, I don’t know, turn him to stone maybe? I don’t know what this bitch wanted, but I definitely wasn’t just going to roll over and die. He gets part way through the cave when I choose to wake my character. She snaps awake, then shakes her head. Her deep sultry voice rings out and I jump at the first words in the game, “No, let him take me. It will be better this way.” I grind my jaw in annoyance as she lays back down and closes her eyes. Three choices hover over her head and I relax a degree. Ok, so they were at least going to provide me with a different outcome. I scan over them and switch my screen to the man walking. I didn’t have much time, just a few more seconds. I could either stay asleep, wake back up and fight, or wake back up and try to reason with the man. The last two sounded more my speed, but I still weighed my possibilities. Finally, with only a few seconds remaining I chose option two. Medusa springs from the bed, the snakes fanning around her head. Her sisters wake and follow behind me. Finally, some freaking action. The man runs immediately halts and then switches to being invisible. I was so confident with the fact that I was going to catch him that I didn’t stop to realize that he may have special abilities. I freeze in the room and take a look around. The only thing in the cave is the occasional water dropping from the ceiling and small puddles on the floor. Within a matter of seconds, my character drops to the ground, her head removed from the rest of her body. Well, that didn’t work out so well. The second, and third time result in the same thing. I’m glad they are at least giving me several chances, because I definitely need them.

By my fourth time through, I’m starting to lose faith in myself. I needed to look at my surroundings, see if there was anything that I was missing. Maybe I was supposed to try and talk with him instead. I pressed this option and my character sits up, and closes her eyes. The man halts in the entrance, but sees that my eyes are closed. He enters slowly and then approaches me with caution. After several moments, he looks at his shield and raises his sword to remove my head.

“Warrior of Athena, why do you seek my death?” she says. The man jumps back and hides beneath his cloak. My character holds up her hand and motions for her sisters to leave them be. The sisters leave the room. “It is just you and me, worry not, I will not look at your face or harm you.” The man becomes visible again. “Remember foul beast, if this is some sort of trick, I will make myself invisible again and slay you.” Medusa nods, but says nothing. “Tell me, then.” The young man relaxes, but keeps his gaze averted. “I do this to save my mother. I believe the man that she is betrothed is less than honorable. He has held a banquet in his and her honor and requested that horses be brought. He knew that I own none and in my haste, I offered that I would be able to do anything that he requested. So he tasked me to take your life, so that my mother’s may be spared.” My character stays quiet for several moments before responding. “And this will ensure her safety?” The man again nods. “Then you must do it. A mother is a sacred thing.” This time, the man takes a while before answering my character, “Why is it that you are so eager to take your own life, monster? Surely, now that I have known you we can find another way.” She looks to the cave entrance, careful to not meet his gaze. “You have been asked for something of mine, no doubt, as proof.” The man stiffens and then shakes his head, “Yes, my lady, I have been asked to bring back your head.” She smiles and then nods, “You ask, and I will tell you. There is no place for me here. Use my life for good, as surely in death I will be more useful than in life.” “What of your sisters, the gorgons?” She waves her hand, “worry not, simply put on the cloak that hides you and sneak past. They will be unable to see you.” The man draws himself up and bows before the mortal monstrous queen. “It will be my honor to do this for you.” She closes her eyes, “May I ask but one thing of you?” He smiles, “Of course.” Her voice comes out low and soft, “make it quick.” Without giving her a chance to blink, his sword is swift and sure. Her head rolls to the ground, her large, red eyes unblinking. He looks away and places her head into a large sack. Then he races toward the entrance as he hears the sister’s screams at having lost their queen.

The screen goes black and then a few words appear:

Congratulations, Hull, you have completed the first mini-game! Achievement: indigo has been unlocked.

I blink as my score jumps from 875,000 to 1.5 million points. I’m screaming and jumping as I return to the main screen. I can’t believe how much I’ve gained just from playing a simple story-driven mini game. It wasn’t hard at all, it was more so a re-telling of an old story. I know this from what I have read earlier with the Night Queen. I wonder why they felt the need to give me such an in-depth storyline for the mini-game itself. It did say that I beat the first mini-game, which means there is either more in the world of Medusa, or there will be others like it. It was an incredibly sad intro and made me feel for her. Why had she decided to not look for some way to cure herself? Surely not all the gods in the game hated her. I mean, she basically holed herself up at the end of the world. I laugh at myself and pull up the tablet function on my VR. I have a tendency to really get caught up in these sorts of things, especially since I’m a bit of a loner. Eric is pretty much my only friend. I chat on online forums often, and I’d have what I call several acquaintances, but I’d really only call Eric a true friend. I quickly jot down some notes so that I can remember everything that happens before I log into the actual game. Unable to contain my curiosity, I find myself logging into the forum to check the scoreboard. Sure enough, I have jumped all the way to second place only behind Eric. I’m not sure how long it is going to take me to get to the Night Queen, or what the point of that mini-game was, but I knew enough to know that my score was going to trump his. I’m practically glowing when I see it at the bottom of my avatar─ the indigo badge. I instantly deflate. There was no way that he had earned that by playing the mini game and playing against the Night Queen. But that would explain his outrageous lead. Was I wrong? Maybe he had completed both. If that is true, then that means that I’m not as ahead as I thought I was. I instantly feel like an idiot. Of course that is why his score is that high. But if I already earned that much, this meant that the actual defeat of the queen only gave away five hundred thousand points. That means that our scores would tie. Shit. I am further behind than I anticipated. My only hope is that somehow I did something different that would make my score shoot up. I’m hanging onto a small thread of hope that I will figure out this next part faster. His score hasn’t budged, but I know he’s probably back on the game at this very second. I jump up and run to the restroom, then snag another glass of water. Medusa’s Madness had only taken me a measly hour and a half to beat, which meant that I had the rest of the day to beat the big bad queen of darkness and I am going to need it.

I’m in the zone, when my headphones light up. It’s Eric’s avatar complete with his newly acquired indigo badge. I wait a few seconds to collect myself and then hit the answer button.

“Did I catch you on the pooper or something?” I grin from ear to ear. Doesn’t seem like this part will change between us. “Yep, big ‘ole log. Want me to send pics?” he chuckles and I hear his clothes rustling. “So I just saw the big news, grats, Hull.” He places emphasis on my newly chosen name. I’m again grinning like a big idiot. “How did you figure it out?” He’s laughing on the other end and my face grows hot as I answer my own question. “Right,” I say out loud, “the avatar.” He does what he usually does and ignores my dumb comments when he knows I’ve figured it out. A lot goes on between us that’s unsaid, I like that about him. I never have to explain myself, he just sort of gets it. “You figured it out, eh?” I’m a little startled by his words, but I’m not surprised. Once he saw my score today, he knew that I had at least cleared the mini-game. There’s a moment of silence and then I speak, “Since we both figured it out, can I ask what you did the first play through?” He snorts, “Trying to get secrets, huh?” “Ah, come on man, we both beat it and got the badge. We’re the only two that can really talk about it. You see the other scores? Not even close.” He’s quiet, which makes me even more nervous. Maybe he knows something that I don’t. “Look, I’ll talk about mine first ok?” I offer. I tell him about my research and how I stumbled across the kid’s forum. Then I tell him about how I figured out the lady’s name and finally how I managed to get into the mini-game. I’m so excited, I’m practically rambling as I finish my story, glad to finally get it off of my chest. He’s still silent when I’m finished so I look over at his avatar to make sure that we’re still connected. When I notice that we are, I speak up, “What, did I wow you with my superior knowledge of ancient Greece or what? You saw it, you were there.” I can see his mic has turned on, then muted, and then turned on again. “Come on, Eric. You’re creeping me out. Say something at least.” Finally, after several agonizing seconds, he speaks. It comes out weird and small, “You figured out all of that in one night?” I’m stunned into silence, both of us are. Finally, I speak, “well, yeah, didn’t you? I mean, you got that kick-ass score yesterday and are way ahead of the curve.” There’s a weird tension hanging in the air. This isn’t like him at all. “Eric, have you been…” The call discontinues and I stare blankly at the screen. What the hell was that little display all about?

I decide to go ahead and switch over to the game, no sense in trying to figure out what that display was about. He’ll tell me when he gets done brooding over it anyway. The music starts up and I’m thrown into the title screen sequence. I blink a few times at it, then hit escape to make sure I am in the right game. When I realize this is in fact Phantom, I can’t believe my eyes. The entire opening scene has completely changed. When I beat Medusa’s Madness, I must have unlocked the real title screen. My excitement mounts as the scene opens like a movie. We’re talking fully immersive, surround sound, epic music─ the whole she-bang. For this, I knew better than to just stick to the normal options. This baby was going to be completely optimized for my viewing pleasure. I hopped over to the settings and made it widescreen, then I switched my headphones over to noise canceling. From here on out, I would not be able to experience anything except what was happening in-game. My mind is feeding me information at an alarming speed, as it is starting to come back to me. Less than two days ago, I would have skipped out on the chance to not only play the game of the century, but to fuck up the chance to save humanity while I was off wallowing in my own shit in rehabilitation lock down. Not only do I plan on making up for lost time, I aim to do it in style. The once cheesy announcer’s voice has taken a sinister turn. It sounds like it’s his tougher, seven foot tall older brother with a serious need for his pound of flesh.

‘You think you know pain? Let me tell you about pain.’

My eyes roll at the dramatic opening line, but secretly─ I freaking love it. I can’t believe I’ve finally unlocked part of the story. The scene opens with my character locked in the same spot that I was before. I’m slowly starting to worry that maybe this isn’t an unlocked story at all and that somehow, my progress wasn’t automatically saved. Then, my worry turns to curiosity as my character starts doing a play-by-play of my exact moves in yesterday’s game.

At first, I didn’t know what to think. But I’m trapped inside this hell hole and something tells me that if I don’t get out soon, I won’t live long enough to figure that out.

I’m freaking hooked, and getting more-so by the second. Not only have they added music to all of my dramatic scenes, they have managed to cut out all of the boring parts where I sat and thought about my next move. They have literally taken my game-play and turned it into an action film for the opening sequence. I have been making my own movie, retold to me by the creators of Phantom themselves. Holy shit. This was hands down the single most epic thing I have experienced in my entire pathetic existence. Lunar Lander is god tier level in my eyes at this very moment. Despite all of the cloak-and-dagger with forms and jumping through hoops for the game, this alone made up for all of that hassle. Their inner monologue is exactly like my own, eerily mirroring what I was thinking at the time as I glance outside at the city. I nearly choke I’m laughing so hard when my character yells my exact expletive over and over. I’m whooping in my chair as they expertly dive into the side of the hole and then crash into the water. They panic at first, fighting as the water started to fill the space. It zooms in on my face as I take one last breath and slip beneath into the icy blue. The music has become somber as I grip the rope. It almost looks like I have given up hope. Then, loud rock fills my ears as my character’s eyes shoot open. My face scrunches up and I yell, then start pulling at the rope to get my ass out of there. My character breaks the surface as the hardcore music continues and the voice-over comes back.

‘I’m not sure what all of this means, but I do know one thing─ I’m in for a hell of a ride.’

The last scene shows me up on the shore, and then turning toward the city that I saw before. It drops to blackness and then the crazy announcer’s voice is back again.

Are you ready?

It gives me a few seconds and then my character is front and center, right where I left them in game. Something bothers me, and then I realize what it is. The main character in the story has been replaced with my avatar. From the nearly lavender-white hair, to the deep brown eyes, every detail is in place. The character model is much like my own body type, low body fat with a decent amount of muscle. If it was one thing I prided myself on, it was the amount of time I took to keep myself in shape. You wouldn’t think so, since I was on my headset at least twelve hours a day, but that was why I spent extra on my entire rig. If I wanted to do strength training, I would simple strap on my ten to twenty pound vest, or leg and arm weights and go to town. Typically I would do my cardio five to six days a week and strength training three days. My mother had drilled the importance of keeping your body maintained, especially since most of our lives were soon to be moved to entirely online. I remember rolling my eyes at how often she worked out and would invite me to come along. I rarely joined her for her outside jogs, but the few times I remembered us going were absolutely some of my fondest memories. She usually chose to run past the lake, or down some of the few remaining dirt paths in the woods. Before the city had heavily enforced curfews, and taken out nearly all of the lighted streets, we would sometimes go out at night to do a little star gazing. Thankfully the first thing to go had been the light, and then the curfew. It was a no-brainer after all the robberies and deaths near our lofts. The daylight was beautiful, especially the warmth from the sun on cold days, but the nights were what I will always remember. With the light pollution nearly gone, all you could see were the lights allowed to be turned on in people’s homes. With all of the automated pilots, there wasn’t a need for traffic control signs, or lighted runways or planes. They were directly programmed to their destination, which meant there was less than a one percent chance of any sort of crashes happening. Unless, of course, the systems were hacked. That happened on occasion, but the amount of times it ever resulted in a crash were little to none. The amount of backup systems and protocols that were in place made sure that any craft that carried civilians was the equivalent of riding in Air Force One. That meant that the visibility was ridiculous, you could almost see the cloud from the milky-way in the middle of Downtown Dallas. That was virtually unheard of nearly a hundred years ago.

I don’t know what it is about this game, but it energizes me. I feel like I could play this a thousand different ways and never get bored. Part of me wonders if they made it this way so that each person experienced it differently. Was there an ultimate goal, a story? Or were we all just making it up as we went? This part of it fascinated me the most. While playing, I noticed yesterday that there weren’t any other people, or non-player characters in my area. This could mean a whole number of different things. Perhaps it was a self-contained world after all with an overlying story arc, or maybe only certain parts of it were and then you met up with other players. No one really knew if this was strictly single player, or if they eventually would create a co-op, or multiplayer area. Hell, maybe one already existed and we just haven’t gotten to it. That was the end of it, we just didn’t know. I studied my character from the third person perspective. Every element of my avatar was in-place, including the belt with all of my colorful badges displayed. My newest indigo badge was shining brighter than the others. I was dressed in my casual attire with black tactical pants tucked into boots, and a short sleeved dark navy shirt. My clothes weren’t as nice as many avatars I have seen online, but I shelled out nearly two hundred bucks on the get up. It wasn’t much, basically the cost of a good meal and some toothpaste, but it was mine and I had saved up for nearly four months to get them. I wasn’t big into blowing money just to blow it, but I figure if I’m going to be online all the time, I’d like to at least stare at something that makes me feel more comfortable. The standard issue avatar was dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt, and some tennis shoes. That white shirt bore into my eyes every day and even though we were able to at least change our hair, eye, and skin color for free, our clothes were something that was considered a luxury. Sometimes, you could unlock special emotes or received a gift, but your avatar was locked to only certain displays when you were either visiting someone else’s home, or playing in-game with other players. It was pretty much a way for others to flaunt all the different things their avatars could do based off of what they bought. People could teach their avatars how to play the violin, ballet, the way that character walked, or talked, learn elaborate fabricated dance numbers from movies, games, or books─ if you could think of it, there was someone out there that had created that emote, for a price of course.

After ogling my character for several minutes, I’m shocked to look at the real time. It would be dark soon and in all this time, I haven’t reached the Night Queen. Eric is behaving beyond weird, so I know he probably has fired up Phantom and is determined to beat my ass into submission. I definitely needed to get my head out of the clouds and get on it. I gesture to go back into first-person mode and I’m seeing from my character’s perspective.

It. Is. On.

The first thing I do is take a look around the area, make sure there isn’t any immediate danger. There’s a small clearing in front of me before what appears to be a dense wooded area. Nothing seems to be near me except some tall grass on the bank and the muddy shore. I’m standing on a three foot shore that appears to go to a tree-lined infinity on one side, and back to the falls on the west side. My jaw drops when I see the height that I fell from. It’s so high, that I can barely make out what appears to be the top of a mountain. I don’t know what these cubes had been made of, but they definitely must have been some heavy duty shit. I’m disappointed when I look down the other side of the shore. I was hoping to catch a glimpse at the cubes and see if I could inspect a few of them, but they have long since floated down the river. The next thing I do is check my inventory, just to make sure that I didn’t start with items, or pick up any items along the way. Yesterday there wasn’t anything in my inventory, today was a different story. Something that appears to be a bag is there and it has a small, glowing halo around it. It looks like every other brown color sack that you would get in a game, complete with draw strings on either side. I double tap the screen and frown. Nothing happens. Then I try right-clicking the item─ it only has two options: destroy or bank. No other information is given about the item than this. Usually in most games, you are able to see if there is a certain level your character has to get to before the item is unlocked, what the item is, and some of its stats. This had absolutely none of that. It was like getting a grey/white colored newbie item in game, but with nothing else to offer. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? I exit out of my inventory and the field in front of me opens up. There’s a short cinematic of the tall grass and trees blowing in the wind and a close-up of my character closing their eyes and enjoying the moment. The final part of the cinematic pans over what appears to be a bunch of very tall rocks, there’s a brief glint from the sun and then it goes back to real time. I know what that spot is, it’s the city I saw earlier before I dropped a million miles to the shore. It was a gentle way of nudging me to head in that direction without spelling it out for the player.

Normally, you have a mini-map or a map that you can refer to when playing games, but this one didn’t have that. If this was based off of the rules on Earth that meant that I needed to wait a few minutes to see which direction the sun was going before I could get my bearings. I knew which direction I was walking to get to the city, but I needed to be able to tell which way was what so that I was able to get back to where I started, or if I managed to somehow die or get lost in the woods. I searched the ground and found a stick, and two small stones. I know the sun should be bright enough that a basic sundial will work. The issue I would run into in the woods would be that without sun, I would have to use markers so that I wouldn’t lose my way. That wasn’t a sure-fire solution, and there was a chance that animals or creatures might tear them down. Then there was an even more troubling thought, if I did manage to get all of that area marked so that I knew if I was going in circles, what if the game reset the area after you left it? I have no idea what I could possibly be up against and needed to be prepared for anything. I would need to do a few purposeful circles to see if they did, in fact, do just that. Then there was problem number two. If my markers did mostly stay and creatures left them alone, there was the trouble of the actual creatures themselves. Would I even have time to plant these markers? I couldn’t if I was being attacked and what the hell would I use to even defend myself with? With all of these questions in mind, I decided my best course of action is to calm down and tackle each problem as they happened. Just like in the ship with the crew, I reasoned. Finally, my older, wiser self is taking control and I relax a degree. Don’t lose your head Hull, I scold.

I stand the stick upright in the dirt and then place one of the stones at the tip of the shadow created. Then I wait fifteen minutes in-game time as the shadow moves slightly. I place the last stone on the end of this shadow as well and then remove the stick from the ground. Using my best judgment, I visualize a straight line and place the stick flat on the ground behind the two rocks. I am excited to discover that the large river runs near-perfect east and west. Now that I have those directions established, I know that the city is just about due north. I close my eyes and visualize the scene again. Since my prison is from the east, I know that the city isn’t exactly north. That means I need to head northwest as close to a straight line as I can manage. I’m hoping that the woods aren’t too thick and that I am able to find a patch of sun to use while daylight is still useful to me. A red glow borders my vision and I look down at the bottom of my screen. I know that I have a stamina meter, but what I hadn’t noticed before is there are others as well. This one seems to be glowing red, as opposed to the light blue bar for my stamina. I spin around to make sure nothing is attacking me and then sigh in frustration when I don’t see anything. Ok, so if nothing is attacking me that means there is some sort of other danger. If this game seems true to real life, then it must mean that my character is either thirsty or hungry. I glance over at the water. Since I don’t have any tools, I can’t gather water. That means I will need to go find something to put it in so that I can actually cook out any harmful bacteria. A lot of people believe that you can drink water if it isn’t stagnant water, this is false. You always need to at the very least boil the water. Am I being overly cautious? Hell yeah I am. I’m not putting anything past the Phantom creators, and I’m willing to bet no one else should either.

I reason that those cubes have fallen out of an area that isn’t good to go back to, so I need to head along the shore to the west. If I don’t find anything that can help me, I can make a makeshift filter with dirt, and use bark from the trees to boil the water with. Fire, I had down pat and I already had a stick, and some dry rocks. Now all I would need is to find some dry grass to start the fire. I was on my way. This was my first chance to test my theory about marking the spots that I would walk through. I create a triangle pattern and shove another stick into the middle, making sure that it is far enough back that the water won’t wash it away. Hopefully the game won’t reset and it will still be here when I get back. I charge along the shore, noting that I should probably not travel more than a mile and just use what I have around me. I have no idea what night will bring and that means playing it safe.

I’m maybe half a mile down the river when I spot it. On first glance, it looks like a spec, but as I get closer I recognize instantly what it is. It’s nearly covered in dirt, but the handle is sticking out of one end. It’s a pot. Finally, an item! I pick it up and it instantly appears in my inventory. I’m feeling extremely proud of myself walking back when I hear it. It’s small, and guttural─ similar in sound to a large bird. I freeze as it loudly chirrups in my direction. Three options float above my head:

1. Book it.

2. Turn around.

3. Pull out the pot and stick.

A timer flashes above my head. I have ten seconds. Ten. If I run, chances are the creature is on four legs and will outrun me. Nine. If I take the time to turn around, it may pounce and be alarmed at my presence. But if it’s anything like a large cat, or black bear I may be able to intimidate it. Eight, Seven. I try to open my inventory but a warning message pops up that I can’t do that while in combat. Six, five, four. There was my answer, ‘in combat.’ I had only one weapon on me. Three, two….ONE. I click option 3 at the last second and wait. My character pulls out the pot and stick and strike the two together. There’s a sharp hiss and a shuffle of feet splashing across the water. I spin around, but whatever was there has only left a few watery prints on the other side of the shore and some broken brush. I’m about to relax when my red warning flashes across my screen again. My stamina gauge has refilled, but I still had to deal with my thirst and hunger. I don’t waste a second and get the hell out of dodge. Whatever that thing is, it doesn’t want to be friends. Those footprints looked to be about twice my own and my character is weak. My stamina bar is nearly depleted from running so hard and I’m at less than a quarter of my full bar on my red meter before I come to a halt. I finally come out from the canopy into the small opening that I first arrived and open my inventory. I fill the pot to the brim and then turn back toward the grass. I need to get to the trees so that I can find some bark and wood for fire. The creature I encountered earlier might possibly be there, or more of them. To be fair, I am in its territory so really, I’m the invader here but if it’s between me and that bird-raptor-lizard thing, then I’ve got bad news for it. After I fill up, I turn back toward the shore and let out a long sigh of relief. All of the stones and sticks are exactly where I left them. Things are starting to look up.

The woods aren’t nearly as bad as I imagined them. For the most part, I can see daylight coming through and they aren’t terribly dense. I head directly northwest through the line of trees, careful to mark them every so many feet in case I get turned around. I should be able to build up a defense and sleep shelter if I need to stay a night. I don’t think that it will come to this, but what this game is teaching me is that I should be prepared for anything. I find a small clearing and set down the branches, shredded kindling, dead grass, and dead trees that I could gather flammable wood from. I detest the stick method to start fires, but it looks like they have given me little to no choice. With one stick, I start creating a small groove in the wood. I can’t find a sharp enough rock, but I’m sure I’ll be able to locate one later on to create a faster way to make fire. Satisfied with the groove, I begin moving the stick back and forth across it to create dust and increase the temperature. As the dust starts flying, I slowly add the dry grass and bark mixture and puff little spurts of air into it. It’s taking quite some time, and I’m no expert, but I finally manage to build up enough of a spark to ignite the little pile.

I’m rewarded with a nice, warm fire after nearly forty-five minutes of hard work. I’m pretty sure that I got my entire day’s work out in that time. I wait a solid minute of boiling the water before I allow my character to drink from it. That should kill off anything that would possibly make me sick. I grin from ear to ear as I think about all the people that have probably lost their shit from this part of the game. The only reason that I know half of this shit, is because dear old mom loved the outdoors. She taught me everything that I would need to know to survive if for any reason we got into trouble while camping. The other things I learned, well, those were best left to stay distant memories. After the bombs went off, there wasn’t much left that people hadn’t done to each other. Those of us that had survived were forced to do horrible things to those that have lost their humanity. More importantly, their compassion.