FEBRUARY 20th, 2022
"Congratulations and welcome to the world of Elysium!" A voice boomed from the helmet. I had just plugged in the world's first virtual reality video game made since the government crashed back in '13. Gaming wasn't the highest priority in the recovery process so it was no surprise that it had taken as long for people to get back to the important stuff. Nothing like the old assassinate the president and several high ranking officials until the people are driven to mass hysteria bit to keep people light on their feet. Real fun. (It wasn't really all that fun). I was only ten when it happened. I didn't really remember much about it aside from the fact that it happened. Welcome to the new world, Elysium. Your new casa de not-broken-country.
The bombastic voice that played whenever the Adatech helmet was plugged in was a little cheesy, I'll admit. But you know what? When everything else hits the fan sometimes a little cheese can go a long way. But let me tell you, Jen would be searching for the off switch as soon as she heard it — she's not fond of a little…personality, I'll call it. She's my younger sister, but you really wouldn't be able to tell — we look nothing alike. She's been in the phase of acting older than she really is — and frankly I can't understand it. She was so quick to grow up she even got a job as a waitress at fourteen. No thank you, I'm good being me for now.
I haven't ever tried on one of these helmets before — apparently only five thousand were actually made. I guess that's the benefit of not living in one of the places the people tore to shreds like Denver. Aurora's nice like that. I dig it.
I slid the helmet over my head and the black visor blocked everything from my bedroom out. It was a strange feeling—the weight on my head threw me off balance at first, but then I stabilized. The only thing I could see was a single line of text, "Your adventure begins now."
The text entered from the left. I followed as it increased in speed and began to circle around me. It bled into one straight white line and filled my vision with colors of all sorts. Words appeared in front of me in flashes and I could hear echoes of strange sounds under the surface. My body shook and then I lost feeling in everything.
I didn't pass out.
The colors stopped and I wasn't in my bedroom any longer. It was cold — much colder than my bedroom. It was harder — stone probably. My eyes were opened to the depths of graying stone bricks built around me — above me — below me. It was a small enclosure probably only about ten feet long on each side. The only way out was a low-arched exit on the far side. I stumbled over toward it and felt the weight difference immediately from my real body — it felt like nothing I'd felt before. I was a little heavier — Jen always made jokes about how I never seem to gain any weight. It's never really been something I noticed…until now that is.
I took one step and let my foot come down. Another step followed like it was wading through jelly. As I kept trying it felt more natural until I didn't think about it at all. My avatar resembled me — I've never been the creative kind of person. It never made sense for me to make something that didn't look anything like me. So the create-a-character section was pretty short-sweet-and-to-the-point. Raven hair, green eyes, a thin nose, and a skinny face. It took me some time to fit inside my body. Outside the archway was a darkened hallway that I had to feel against the wall to keep straight.
There was a pungent, musty smell that clung to the walls. It sent my mind reeling as I backed away from it to steady myself. I looked down at my hands—more to where they were since it was so dark. They felt like gloves, not quite the feeling of skin, but it was close.
"If you focus on your footsteps you can hear that they thought to make it sound different down here," a voice called out from my right.
I jumped and turned toward the source of the voice. I squinted and could barely see thin shapes running from the ground to the ceiling. They were prison bars. I stepped closer and could see through them much better than out in the hallway — a figure was lying on-top of a cot hanging by two rope strands on the wall. He had long reddish-brown hair tied under a brown headband. The only other part of him I could see — and the first thing after his hair — was the crimson armor he sat in.
He shook his head and yawned. "They really put in that little detail and most people won't even care to listen, you know?"
"Who…? I asked.
He turned, "Oh! Shit! I didn't actually expect anybody to be there! I kept imagining I was hearing those footsteps so I've been saying that hoping it will attract someone to come and help me out — I never expected it'd actually work."
"Uh, what are you doing in there?" I asked.
He chuckled, "I've been in here for a while — I played when it was in beta, and it seems that progress does indeed transfer over. Just my luck. I basically nuked that account because I assumed the server would be wiped for release and everybody would start new."
"So you got yourself locked in there?"
He sat up finally, pivoting and standing tall. He looked like he was a few years older than me. "Yeah. I was a little annoying trying to ask for raid partners. I can be a bit…much. Other people said so and I guess I understand but I can't really help it can I? Ha ha ha." He raised his hand to the back of his head and sighed, "Supposed to be a ten hour time-out — I don't remember if I waited any of it back in beta. Hell, I doubt I did."
"So you've got a whole ten hours in there? That's harsh." I said. "What's your username?"
"Klein." He nodded. "And you?"
"Dex." I said. I'm not stupid enough to use my real name, but I guess it's just like my avatar — an approximate with variance. "You need any help with that? I'm new to the game here so I'm not really sure if I can, but I mean if I'm able to…" I asked.
"I'm not too sure. I've never been locked in here before. But the devs went out of their way to make your footsteps sound differently in different areas so maybe they put in the details of hiding a key somewhere to spring out the jailbirds?" Klein mused.
"That's reaching for fruit on a tree I'm not sure I can even see," I said.
"I don't even know what that means. Come on, just go look for a key, okay? I mean, uh, if you wouldn't mind…please?" Klein grinned and cocked his head.
I let out a breath, "Yeah, sure, why not? I was planning on checking the rest of this place out anyway. I'm gonna need to go find some light first."
"Oh, I know where you'll find that. Follow that path down say maybe half a minute. You'll reach a large room with torches you can interact with and take with you."
"Oh, so you are familiar with this place!" I said.
He grinned and sat back down on the cot. "I'm familiar with the outside, yes. This is the lowest level dungeon that exists within Elysium. Well, you're new so I guess you wouldn't know. This is the Castle Depths. The Depths lead up to the wonderful world beyond — think of it as your tutorial dungeon."
"Are you my guide?" I asked.
"Ha, fat chance. I'm in jail, remember?"
"Right, bad moral compass."
"Oh bug that. I'm not that bad. I just thought the server was gonna wipe. Is that so horrible a thought?"
"All right all right calm down," I said, holding my hands up. "I'll go check this place out and see what I can find. Who knows, maybe the devs took pity on you after the beta and really did hide a key in here."
"Yeah yeah okay, thank you, Dex. I appreciate it. Uh…if you can't manage to find anything don't sweat it too much. I mean I can just log off and sleep for the day and get back in…"
"Nuh-uh," I shook my head. "You already asked me and I already accepted. None of this giving up talk now. We're getting you out of there and that's final. I'll be back." I nodded and turned away from the cell. As soon as I did the dim light faded and I returned to the darkness. Klein's voice echoed as if it was half a mile away from me, "you're the best."
I continued down the path until I found the large room that Klein had mentioned. At the very rear was a staircase that looked like it was carved for giants. The room was lit by golden ember-light of the hung torches. They bathed the crimson carpet that now covered the stone floor and instantly the idea that this was a castle took shape. Other than that, though, it was entirely empty. Nobody else was here it seemed.
I walked over toward the nearest torch and held my hand out to grab it — but my hand went right through it. Of course…it wasn't real. A window popped up asking if I wanted to take the torch. I accepted, and realized it was going to take a little to get used to not grabbing things like a normal person.
The torch materialized off of the wall and into my hands, bathing me in the ember-glow. I look around the rest of the room, and once I confirm there really is nothing left to do but to leave I start to backtrack through the hall. It was just as empty on the way back — solid walls were all around me. There were two other cells I passed by on my right and left, but they were both empty.
One thing I did notice was a sign beside each of them — a small wooden thing tacked to the wall. "Punishments decided by Game Master. Beta Punishments can be forgiven by an unrelated party. -GM"
"Huh," I said, which alerted Klein back in his cell.
"What? Did you find a key?"
"No, but maybe just as good." I walk the few steps back to his cell and see him grappling the bars like some diva on old sitcoms. "There's a sign on each of the walls outside of these cells that said unrelated parties can forgive old debts."
He looked at me strangely. "What?"
"Never hear of that?" I asked.
"No, that wasn't in beta."
"Huh, guess not. Well, I'm pretty unrelated to you. I assume that's so griefing buddies can't just forgive obvious shenanigans."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense…sorta. Boy am I lucky you spawned here too…It's been like an hour since anybody had."
"Yeah yeah, you can thank me later. Now let's see here…" I raise my hand to the bars and a similar looking window popped up from before. Only two words appeared, "Forgive Punishment?" I accepted, and the bars slowly vanished from view.
He stepped out and shared the largest grin I think I'd ever seen.
"YOU ACTUALLY DID IT!"
"You seem surprised."
"Well, uh, don't mind my pessimism because trust me your attitude fired me up — but I wasn't actually thinking you'd find me a way out. I totally owe you one…hey wait a minute. I can let you join my party!"
I cocked my head, "That makes it sound like I'm doing you a favor…again. Wouldn't it be you'd join my party?"
"Potayto potahto," said Klein.
"Who actually says Potahto?"
"I dunno, it's just a thing to say."
"Well, this place is just a place to be. You would think that a multiplayer game would have more than two people in its spawning locations," I said, walking over back toward the room at the end of the hall. Klein followed along.
"You thought everybody would be spawning here? That's crazy. You do know that they have multiple spawning zones set up, right?"
"Oh?" I asked, turning to face him as I walked. "You made it seem like this was the only tutorial dungeon."
"Nah, there's a few scattered around. Same concept though."
"Kind of a lame dungeon if you ask me. It looks like a straight shot to the doorway — not even any rats or snakes or anything like that."
"Yeah, no. Those things are boring as shit. Everybody expects rats and snakes in the dungeon. Besides, it's more a tutorial for your body. Learning how to walk is a lot different than outside — that's why it's a straight shot. So players can get used to it before they enter the real deal."
"Ah, that makes sense…"
"Besides, if everyone spawned here then it'd be a madhouse in this tiny little hallway. It'd be crazy and we'd all overload the server," he said.
"Yeah, that's fair." I said. "So, that armor you got was from a beta drop? Looks a little…uh, nice, for something exclusive to the beta."
"How'd you know it was exclusive?"
"Oh come on, all betas give out exclusive trophies to their testers so they can flaunt it come release."
He grinned wildly, bringing his right hand to his chest, "Yes, yes. I guess that is quite right. I got this sweet stuff from a Terraclops raid on the second floor dungeon. Only a select few were chosen for the beta test, so it's not like many are at an advantage. We only got to explore the first couple of floors or so."
"Ah, so it's like a rogue-like."
Klein looked at me with a confused look, "You're not aware?"
"No spoilers. I told you I was coming in blind."
"That's a lotta faith man."
I shrugged. "Or I just heard word and wanted to check it out."
"That's a very expensive taste to just check out, but you do you. I hope it's worth it. So, where are you from? Don't worry — I'm just curious and nothing more."
"I'm from Colorado," I said.
"Well I assumed," Klein said. "Regional servers and all. "Town, I'm from Thornton."
"Well sheesh, I didn't know. I'm from Aurora."
"Ah, sorry. That's my uh, personality getting a little thorny again. I guess that's what people didn't like," said Klein.
I shook my head, "Don't worry about it. You're not too far all things considered."
"Ha ha, yeah. I'd ask to maybe meet after we log out of here but that sounds too much like me asking you out." Klein said.
"I wouldn't miss out on the post-exit sleep for the world. And I wouldn't have thought it like that anyway — I'm straight. Nothing against you or anything like that though."
"Oh…oh! I didn't mean to imply…aw shit." He sighed. "Sorry, I'm trying to be a bit…better at handling people like…that."
"That?"
"Don't make me say it. Thornton's a different kind of place. People don't like certain kinds of people, and that's all I grew up around, so sometimes I say stuff that's against those kinds of people and don't realize it. I'm trying to be better about that."
"Uh…huh…" I said. I didn't understand really what he wanted me to do with this information. "I'm going to be honest, it's a bit strange to hear such personal issues when I barely know you. And it's more than a bit strange that you'd pass off your feelings towards gay people to your hometown. That's a you thing — not anybody else's problem." He didn't have a response. "I, uh, am down for being in your party — I still need some help getting around, but frankly I'm not that comfortable with oversharing of personal stories. I won't treat you to any of mine if you of yours, and so on."
"Right…right," his face was sullen and he realized his mistake — probably not the same mistake I called him out on, probably the mistake of sharing. "Yes, we'll keep it to the game."
I stopped, we were just before the room with the staircase. I looked to him and extended my hand, "To the game," and smiled. Because in the game who we really were didn't matter. Wasn't that the whole point? He shook my hand and nodded. Instantly I could tell something wasn't right — he'd noticed something I hadn't. His eyes darted behind me and he slammed his arm against my gut to push me out of the way.
I couldn't keep balanced on my new legs. I hit the ground just as a large ball of what looked like fire soared over my head and burnt against the stone wall. I could feel the heat in the air from the trail it left…actual heat. A remnant smell from the flame sent me deep into my memories—summer-night bonfires that seemed to exist in another life entirely. It had been so long since that memory surfaced and it was so strong. I cut back and a figure from the shadows pounced into the center of the room, and then another. And then a third.
"Get up and keep behind me!" Klein yelled, pulling a large silver sword out of thin air. At this distance I could see that the figures were all wearing the same heavy-set black robes with blue snake-like markings.
I made my way to my feet and looked at him, "What should I do to help?" I yelled back at him.
"We have to get up close. We can't hold them off from this distance. You should have a bronze sword in your inventory, get it out and join me!" He charged toward the figures who casted more fireballs his way.
"Inventory?" I asked. Of course I knew what an inventory was…but bloody well if I knew how to access mine here.
"What are you doing?! You're going to-" Klein tried to say, but he was cut off when one of the robed figure's attacks landed just to the side of him and exploded when it hit the ground. Some of the remnant sparks burned against his armor. A health bar appeared by his head and drained about a third of the way down. I was too busy looking at him when I see the red inferno coming my way just in time. I drop to the floor and avoid being burned. "Where's…your sword?" He said, grimacing and stopping behind a stone column to his left. His face turned into sudden realization. "Swipe the air with your right hand. I hope you can manage it from there!"
I nodded. I select the sword and it forms on my back in its own sheath. I leaned forward, adjusting to the new weight on my back. I pulled it out and found that it felt best in my right hand. I followed Klein. Seeing the fireballs up close made it a lot easier predicting where they were going to travel . I felt that I ran a lot faster here in Elysium — there was more weight propelling me along. It was an exhilarating feeling.
We closed in on the robed figures who fired more rapidly as we came closer. Klein moved in first with his sword glowing with a blue aura as he raised it upward and impaled the rightmost robed figure. Their health bar dropped to zero instantly. He fell to the floor and vanished. The others were startled by the attack and readied their close combat spells.
"Dex, now's your chance! Use your sword skill!" Klein called out.
I take a look at my sword and remembered that blue aura that surrounded his sword. I could do that too?
I raised the bronze sword above my head and just like Klein's silver sword it began to glow — albeit a much duller glow than his. I thrust it out to stab the center-most robed figure, but the light left my sword completely — traveling to my left hand; forming an entirely new similar sword made entirely of the red light. I get a glance of the words "dual wield" out of the corner of my eye and thrust my left hand forward to join my right. The bronze sword made a cut on the robed figure's arm which cut out a small portion of their health. The light sword went right through his chest and drove through fully, bringing him down to half of his health. Klein finished it up with a vertical slice that ended his game before he could send out another spell.
The last robed figure cast a new spell — a large black hand extends out in front of him that grabbed me around fully. He was interrupted by Klein who had slammed into him from the side, releasing me. I dropped down and the second sword in my hand dissipated. Temporary, huh? No matter. I ran toward the both of them and swung my sword and watched as his health dropped to zero.
The battle was over. I was breathing heavily. Klein was silent. The only other sound came from the crackling embers in the torches. I knew it wasn't real, but it still took a lot out of me. Klein walked over toward me, clearly not as out of breath as I was. He was, however, looking at me with awe, "How did you do that? The dual wielding, I mean."
I shrugged, "Like how you did. Just raised it up and boom. What, is it a rare skill or something?" I ask.
"To my knowledge, not even any of the beta testers were able to get that skill. You're the first I've seen to have it. I guess you're not totally useless in battle," He began chuckling.
"Thank you," I said. "You gut punched me out of the way of that first attack. I didn't actually expect there'd be enemies down here based on what you said."
"I didn't expect them either, but those weren't normal enemies. Those were a bunch of members of a nasty guild that started up back in beta called the Pythons. They thrive on PKs."
I cocked my head, "What's a-"
"A PK," he interrupted, "…is shorthand for Player Kill. They found it fit to loot from other players' inventories instead of earning their own keep. They started small in beta but must've gotten new members through referral at launch. People who knew beta testers in real life got referred in and started early with some of their gear. I haven't met the leader, but I've seen a few of the admins around on raids. Not a fun group of people to be around."
"Well, these guys here didn't really seem like they knew anything about anything to be fair."
"Don't underestimate them — don't underestimate anyone, really. Those three were not exemplary of the group. They probably started around the same time you did. And to be fair if I wasn't here to save you they definitely would have had you cornered."
"Yeah, that's true…are these Pythons allowed to just up and fight anybody anywhere?" I asked.
Klein shook his head and showed off a gentle smile, "No, not just anywhere, thankfully. Towns are usually a safe haven. That doesn't count for personal duels, those can happen anywhere, but that requires both parties to agree to it. Out here in the starting zones we're sitting ducks." He said.
I stood, stretching, "Well then, let's get a move on and get into a safe zone for the night, huh? I've got to go to school and all in the morning. I'm remembering that I did mention I wasn't going to be missing this sleep for the world." I said.
"Yeah, yeah, okay. The first town should be located through those doors, at least, the entrance to it should."
"What time is it anyway?" I asked.
"Well, according to my menu here it said it is about one in the morning," Klein said, looking down.
"One?!"
"Yeah, we better head in before any of those guys respawn and come for revenge," Klein said.
We walked towards the giant door at the top of the staircase, but it didn't have any visible way to open it.
It easily towered over us, probably three times as tall as either one of us.
"How do we get through here?"
"Same as you did with the cell door. You just tap the air in front of you and another prompt should show up."
I turn back to the door and repeat the process, this time the dialogue prompt said, "Enter Elysium?"
I accepted saw a white light that formed around me. I was bathed in a cocoon of light until a slow hum began to rise and I was on my way forward. This was amazing. Several new viewpoints were erected with the old landscape's data. Just as the castle walls rose around me so did several buildings — not anything like buildings in Aurora. They were made of stone with old roofing.
In a matter of moments a small, but bustling town was in front of us. Behind us was a large gate connected to a wall that encircled the town on every end — it seemed to go on and on. When I saw that Klein was by my side we started to walk into the town proper — the road began to clear up as we came closer. I saw people — tons of people as we entered. Smiling, laughing people of all colors and assortments. All shapes and sizes.
There were several small groups of people talking among themselves. Some vanished into buildings and others appeared out of nowhere from other doorways. The whole town had a very noticeable Victorian aesthetic. The buildings themselves look to be made in Victorian times. My mouth was left hanging off of my jaw onto the floor as I looked at it in its entirety.
"Yeah, I was amazed the first time I saw the level transition too," Klein blurted out, placing his hands on his hips and looking forward.
I blinked to make absolutely sure I wasn't imagining anything. I looked up towards the sunny blue sky. "So, we can just log out here? We're fully safe, right?" I ask.
"Yeah, this is the place I visited on my first time through, Novus Dandé," Klein answers, taking in a deep breath of digital air and letting it all out slowly. "Strange that it's day out — but the host server must be set in a different time zone. Dunno why they'd make all the regional servers be on the same schedule."
I swiped up the menu and stopped listening to him when I noticed something seemed off. Klein must have done the same thing, because he asked the same question that is in my mind.
"Hey, where's the log out button?" Klein is hurriedly going through all of his menus, desperately searching.
"Maybe…it's a bug? I bet you someone is getting fired over that one." I said, trying to make myself believe it as much as I was trying to get him to.
"C'mon Dex, let's go to the center of town, maybe someone else knows something about this," Klein was running now. He pushed past some of the other players, some of them regarded him with confusion, meanwhile others yelled after him in a rage.
I chased after him, apologizing to the other players as I slipped by. One with a forceful grip grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back, "Hey! Excuse me, but what the hell is your buddy there in such a rush for, tiny?" I looked around to see a man with bright blond hair that curled just behind the nape of his neck.
"I'm sorry, I really can't speak right now, I have to-"
"Oh, mind me mister important." He held up his hands irritated.
I looked to the side and saw several different signs, some announcing the name of the town, "Novus Dandé." Others announced the location of the inn and even a marketplace. They all seemed to be empty. I continued past the one that mentioned the town square. I finally made it.
Everyone was crowded together a mile down. I spot Klein in his gigantic armor amidst the other players wearing the same usual getup as me. There was another armored fellow or gal every so often — other beta testers, but the majority wore plainclothes.
Everyone was chatting and even yelling among themselves. It was hard to hear anything above the growing crowd-talk. I caught my breath and looked around as the world beneath me started to vibrate. The sky dimmed to a dark crimson and text filtered across so everyone could see.
"INCOMING MESSAGE."
The sky parted down the center. A ball of light floated down from the void and took shape of a fifty foot figure shrouded in golden robes with red accents. The figure's face was hidden beneath the robes, but it wouldn't have been hard to guess this was the GameMaster.
"Hello players of Elysium! I wish to welcome you to this world! It is unlike any you have ever seen. I bet you all have some questions. I will lay them all to rest," he said. "This game isn't like many games out there, you do not rely on experience points to grow stronger. We aren't using arbitrary numbers here to demonstrate your strength. We're going off of pure strategy and skill. The goal of the game is to reach the top floor of this world, it is there where you will find me. By now you may notice that there is no log out button on your menu. This is no bug. This is how Elysium is to be played. You may also notice that there are a lot less of you than when the game had originally started. Or, you may not have, but this is the truth." The crowd was silenced. "Approximately four thousand of the original five have lost all of their health in this game already, all complacent little ants who got way in over their head. When your health depletes to zero…" He trailed off, letting the suspense work its way in like maggots into a corpse, "…you die."
Panicked screams emanated from the crowd. People began panicking and ran for any exit they could get to. It was futile as any exit from the town square was blocked with some sort of force field. Klein and I were standing in horror, jaws agape. The crowd in turn stopped attacking the force field and turned towards GameMaster. "Let us out of here, you freak!" One player yelled.
"Yeah! How do we know you aren't lying?! I want to leave!" A female player pitches in, her voice is in shambles.
"You can leave…but only if you win the game. Find and defeat me on the top floor and then and only then will the log out button will then be restored to every player that survives. It truly is quite a pitiful state. I mean, I wouldn't want your families to find your brain-dead corpse rotting away in your bed, now, hm? About four thousand families are already going to experience this in a few hours when they go to check on their son or daughter." I stared up at him with a mad disgust. "Oh, or even better if a small child finds their mommy or daddy in that condition…I almost wish I didn't have to miss that."
The crowd grew wild again, shouting things like, "You monster!" and "Heartless!"
"Now, now. This is the punishment for death in Elysium. Don't die. It is that simple. It looks like my time here is up. I hope to see you all succeed, but we all know that not everyone standing here today will make it out alive. Look to your left and right and be grateful you stand now, because that privilege may just be taken from you, whether it be from a monster, or maybe even another player. Who knows, maybe it will be me that gets to take that privilege from you? I would certainly like that. It's been nice chatting with you all. I hope we meet again soon." He lifted his right arm up and then dropped it again. "Oh, I almost forgot, a parting gift from me…" he swiped his hand in front of him. A giant mirror appears and he pressed a button on the hilt of the mirror. White lights envelop every single player character and they changed to look like a completely different person.
Some people changed drastically while others there were only minimal changes such as eye color or hairstyle. I shrank a few inches, my hair flopped down shorter than Dex's hair. My eyes changed to a lighter shade of green, the green I'm used to. I'm no longer Dex, but myself. He changed us from our avatars.
Our clothes remained the same, but nearly every person has changed from the white light. GameMaster transformed back to the ball of light and vanished without another word. The sky rejoined together and returned to the previously bright and sunny blue.
Every player in this game is subject to die in the real world if we die in this one. A horrible realization dawned on me. I remembered those players we encountered back outside Elysium. I saw their robed figures being cut down, one by one, each one shattering into nothing. We had killed them. One of my golden rules, broken. Just like that, with a swing of a bunch of zeros and ones a life had ended. I took a step back and Klein noticed me. "Hey, Dex! Are you okay? You don't look so good," he walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
I backed away, taking one step after another. One more back and I tripped over my own feet. People began stampeding around me, trying to find an exit, or at least a way up to the next floor. The force field must have left when GameMaster did.
It felt like I was going to throw up. I was sure if this were the real world I'd have broken some bones in this stampede. Yet I lie here, unharmed in this world in which we are prisoners. This world that I was a murderer.