A pale light blue orb appeared in the distance in front of him and hovered still at head height. Rubbing his eyes in utter disbelief, Jack took a few moments in an attempt to process what was going on and what had appeared before him. After a deep breath, Jack slowly pulled himself up off of the floor, and gingerly approached the floating orb. Much to his surprise, the cautious approach proved worthless, as the orb didn't move, nor attack him as he came closer, it remained stationary floating in silence, only giving out a shimmering glow.
Observing it from afar and getting close to the orb changed nothing, however, there was a change within Jack and that was the internal struggle against human curiosity was lost. First, he leant forward and blew his breath onto it, nothing had changed. Noticing nothing was different, he became slightly braver, leaning forward once more to place his face close to the orb, he sniffed it, but once again nothing had changed. Concluding that this orb had no detail on it, apart from a bright light, it didn't move even when blown on and didn't smell of anything, Jack chose the very undesirable next step of checking what it was by touching it. In his mind, he assumed that if it neither moves nor smells, it can't be anything too bad.
The tension of the situation arose, the closer he got. His heart beating faster and his breath escaping from his mouth as he slowly leant forward, reaching out his index finger to make contact with the orb. His finger slightly shaking as he nervously stretched his arm out, made contact with the orb. The orb gave a sensation of pressing inwards, similar to a mechanical keyboard's keys, then a loud click sound echoed from the orb.
All of a sudden, the orb shrunk to the size of an atom, then erupted into a great light, blinding Jack so badly that he could only cover his eyes with his hands. The great glow dissipates and slowly returns to a relaxed glow, that wasn't too bright to look at, very much like an idle computer monitor. Seeing this in his peripherals, Jack lowered his hands and was astounded at what he saw. He let out a slight chuckle in disbelief, with his jaw hanging at his ankles and eyes wider than the ocean.
"Haha… You've gotta be kidding me, this can't be real…"
In front of him was a light blue video game-like HUD. A neon square border with a text prompt in the centre and a fingerprint scanner at the bottom of the HUD, underneath the text.
[Would you like to integrate the Pixel Realm System? If yes, please scan your thumbprint for registration.]
Still spaced out and completely in disbelief at this dream-like situation, that's only ever seen in the stories he read online, during breaks in the game lobbies, Jack didn't hesitate and immediately placed his thumb on the circular scanner area on the HUD. A white light began to scroll from top to bottom, underneath his thumb, like the photocopier on the printer he had at home. After three scans of his thumb, a loud high pitch ping came from the HUD, followed by an automated voice.
[Thank you for becoming the registered owner of the Pixel Realm System. For the purposes of an introduction to the Pixel Realm system, the system shall embody a familiar automated voice for the tutorial. Once the tutorial is over, the registered owner can choose to maintain or remove this voice for future purposes. If you understand please double-tap the finger scanner.]
Unfortunately for Jack, the automated voice that the system chose to use, was the same voice from the last game he played before his death, 'League of Champions'. Very quickly reminded of both his death and the rage-induced moment prior to it, his expression went from bewildered, yet excited, to a face that could only be summed up as 'you've gotta be kidding me'.
"…Really? Of all the voices you chose, you had to choose this one… Whatever, this voice will definitely be gone as soon as this tutorial is over."
After rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he let out a brief sigh before following the system's instructions of double-tapping the finger scanner. The text within the HUD quickly shrunk, then expanded once more with new text, like a high school PowerPoint presentation.
[Welcome to the Pixel System. The system has been provided to give the user a second chance at life, as requested by the user. The system will now give a description of how it works and how to operate the system.]
[Due to the user's love for games, the system has adopted an interface that is friendly to the user. The system has features such as levels, skills, and skill progress bar. A skill that is at level 1 will be a lot less effective and beneficial to the user, than when compared to its completed status at level 5. When a user interacts with something in the world, sometimes it can trigger the spawn of a new skill. This skill will be from a game, that is comparable to the situation, for example, if the user was to cut grass, the user could activate a skill-based on the game 'Gardening Simulator'. At level 1 this skill would allow the user to be more proficient at using a rake to gather loose grass strands, but at level 5 the user would have the abilities of a veteran gardener.]
[Lastly, the user will only be able to gain skills from games that are not part of the 'AAA' game level, until the user is at a higher level. Only after level 100, the user would be able to unlock the access skills based on 'AAA' games. In order to level up, the user must progress through life and gain 'life experience', to progress through the levels.]
[If the user understands these rules, please double-tap the finger scanner.]
Although the voice of the system, was frustrating Jack the more that it spoke, he understood the way that system worked fully. It was very advanced, yet simplistic. This system that heard his screams into the void and answered his call, would be the thing that would finally allow him to change his ways and return to the world. It would be the thing that gave him the opportunity to live a fulfilling life and a life that fully embraced writing his wrongs towards his family, his mum in particular. Once again, using his index finger he double tapped the finger scanner.
[Thank you for completing the tutorial. Would you like the system to keep this automated voice for future use? Tap the finger scanner once for yes, twice for no.]
Very quickly, without giving time to contemplate future use, Jack double-tapped the finger scanner. With how much the voice had irritated him, the thoughts of future ease of use didn't even reach the trail of thought.
[The Pixel Realm system will now give a user note. When the user returns to the world, the user must double-tap the lower part of the back of their head twice, just like the finger scanner on the HUD, in order to turn the HUD on or off. When back in the world, only the user will be able to see and interact with the HUD.]
[If the user is ready to fully integrate the system and activate it, please double-tap the finger scanner.]
A faint smile comes to Jack's face as he double tapped the finger scanner. As he tapped the finger scanner, the whole HUD began to spin as it collapsed and shrunk back into the orb shape it was before. Once it was back in its orb form, it floated upwards, then quickly sped towards Jack and flew into his forehead.
All of a sudden, the glowing lights from the HUD, the floating Orb and the automated voice had all disappeared. Once again, all that remained was Jack, the big, empty, dark space and silence. Jack was left confused, the system told him that this was his big opportunity to have a second chance at life after falling to his death and entering this limbo prison.
Then out of nowhere, the sound of a door creaking, the type you'd hear out of a horror game, came from behind him. An ice-cold shivering sensation ran up his spine the moment he heard this creepy sound, coming from behind him. Very slowly, Jack mustered up his courage and slowly began to turn round, starting with his head pivoting over his shoulder to look for what was making the sound. Behind him he found a birch wooden door, that looked very familiar. The door was slightly worn around the handle, had clouded glasses panels on the top at head height, and a cheap-looking golden letterbox. This door looked very familiar, but no matter how deep in his mind Jack searched, he just couldn't place it.
Finding comfort in the sense of familiarity with this door, he approached it, losing the fear he had moments ago with every step forward he made. Reaching the door, he placed his hand on the handle, feeling a rush of warmth run through his body, and a very strong scent that gave the ultimate feeling of comfort, coming from the other side. He took one last big breath and pulled the handle down, entering towards the other side.