Chapter VI: Lycée du Ciel
Since my mother bribed me with the Neural Sphere, it took a lot more effort than I care to admit to resist falling back into old habits. A part of me wanted to start playing these VR games and lock myself away like I did when I was Jacob Hansen.
That got me nothing but an early grave and a lifetime of regret. I had to remind myself every day that this was my second chance, and that I couldn't shut myself off from the world again. No matter how tempting it felt, I had to stay strong. Before Prime Vale, it was easier.
It was four years later when I heard the first thing about Primal Vale since that dream meeting with the so-called goddess. A goddess that I haven't heard from SINCE that day. I started to wonder if maybe I did imagine it. The game that would decide the fate of this galaxy, supposedly, hadn't beeb announced until four yeara after the Neural Sphere was released.
On the first day of January 2028, at 9 pm in Paris, Stardust Studios began a broadcast. I watched as promotional artwork of a fantasy game was displayed on the screen, a shining city in the middle of dark grasslands. Two words were emblazoned below the artwork: Primal Vale.
My musings on the probability of Athena being a dream vanished as the announcer began to speak of the world's first true Virtual Reality Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game. It was going to be the biggest VR game to date, with a map the size of China. Before now, the biggest map was Megacity Alpha from Quantum Racer and it was the size of Tokyo.
"From Tokyo to China, Stardust Studios continues to impress us!" the announcer spoke. "Every since Stardust studios was founded here in Mayfield, Texas, they have continued to impress us! The Z series might be under development of Stardust Technologies, but the working pro types were invented by the C.E.O of Stardust Studios!"
Stardust Studios had taken up residence in my town. Huh. I wondered if my small little town was bigger these days.
"From June 1st to August 27th, Stardust Studios has also announced a Closed Beta for Primal Vale! One thousand gamers from North American, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia will be chosen to take part! Altogether that will be six thousand players across six servers! Registration will be open for one week and at the end of that week, the lucky players will be chosen! The link to sign up is down below!"
I signed up immediately. I was going to be one of the thousand players from Europe, I was sure of it. Athena had guaranteed it when she recruited me for this game between her and her brother.
Sure enough, a week later I got an e-mail telling me that I was one of the lucky one thousand to get a spot. I had twenty-four hours to submit my information or they would select someone else. I sent them a copy of my French ID and gave them my address. An automated system sent a reply back, telling me that my beta copy and account card would be sent in May.
I didn't know how long four months could be, but I wanted to play Primal Vale so badly. Sure, I might be the pawn of a literal goddess, but this was the world's first VRMMORPG and I was excited to play it. The part of me that drove me into my apartment to play video games for years was itching to get its hands on a copy.
On May 16, my copy of the game arrived. The Cartridge had the word Beta Copy scrolled across it and while we would be allowed to keep this copy of the game, it would stop working after August. It was doomed to become a paperweight.
Along with my copy of the game was a black card with golden letters and symbols written across it. According to the manual, this was an account card. All my data would be saved on this card until the end of the closed beta when it would be deleted by the system. However, the official game would also be sold with beta cards, so I was getting a free one. That was nice of them.
I guess this account card was like a memory card.
I still had fourteen days before the beta servers would come online and that was driving me crazy. In September, my private tutoring would be coming to an end and I'd have to attens a real school. I wasn't looking forward to it, and it was sure to cut into my free time. So I wished the people behind the game would just launch the damn game already.
The day before the beta was going to start, my mom left me in Paris for another tour. I could have come with her, but if I wanted to see the high school I would be going to, I would have to stay here. I didn't mind living alone and Daliah came around every day to make sure I had work that I could be doing. And to make sure I was doing it. If only my Japanese tutor would come around half as much.
My school was called Lycèe du Ciel, which translated to Sky High School in English. It was a new school that was just opening this year, and according to its website, it had hired some of the best teachers around Paris. The second and third years would be taken from some of the overcrowded schools, but my fellow first years and myself would be the first graduating class to attend the school from year one.
I was loaded onto a school bus that looked like a normal French bus. So maybe it wasn't a school bus after all. I was going to be taking this group with a fourth-year middle school class. They would be joining me in September as first years. When we arrived at the school, there was a crowd of adults waiting for us. Everyone from the principal down to the janitors had come out to meet us.
Lycèe du Ciel was bigger than my high school in my last life, coming to stand at three stories, as opposed to my old school's one-story building. The exterior of the school was grey with a blue cobblestone roof. The building had twelve high-arched windows that were tinted blue. The steps leading to the entrance were wide, though they got a little smaller, not by too much, as they approached the door. Said door was a double door made of handsome dark wood, with gold handles. Above the door was white, blue, and red banner, with the school's gold crest in the middle of it.
"Welcome to Lycèe du Ciel, children," a bearded man in a black overcoat announced. "I am Pierre Bisset, principle of Lycèe du Ciel. I would like to welcome you to your new school."
"He's too preppy this early," someone whispered with a yawn. A girl giggled while a familiar boy rolled his eyes.
I turned to see the offenders and I was shocked to find Euphie, Kanade, and Amos, the kids that I had met a couple of years ago when they came to an Aphrodite concert. The same kids I had forgotten to exchange information on WhatsApp with.
The Asian girl, Kanade, turned right then and we met eyes. She looked as shocked as I felt. She tapped on her friend's shoulders and whispered something. All three of them turned to face me.
"Come children." Principle Bisset called before they could do anything. "Follow me."
He led us inside. The central portion of the school was an open air-courtyard that looked pretty cool. Along the walls were doors that led to rooms, stairwells, and even an open utility closet. Wooden benches dotted the area around the courtyard, all empty at this time. The courtyard itself was made of black concrete with painted white lines forming a basketball court. On either side of the courtyard were two basketball hoops.
Better basketball than soccer. I may have been reborn as a French kid, but I wasn't a sports guy. It didn't matter that everyone around me liked it, or called it football, soccer was soccer and I was not a fan.
White support pillars were scattered around the area, supporting the level above. The courtyard itself was at an incline, with small white steps that led to the stone walkways.
I stayed away from the group of friends, keeping to the other side of the crowd. I saw them looking at me and talking quietly to each other, but I pretended to ignore them. We weren't exactly friends. None of us had even gone out of our way to speak with each other.
We were taken up a stairwell to the second floor. The platform jutting out from the wall was made of blue metal and allowed people to get around. The platform blended in with the blue pillars, that held up the next level. Various classrooms and studios were scattered around the second level.
At the very top of the school, the third level was the library and the computer lab. They had a white staircase leading up to them, with gold trim on the stairs and the guardrail. Hanging down from the ceiling were crystal chandeliers that gave the hallway an heir of decadence that I hadn't expected from a French school. Above the library and the computer entrance was a gold fleur-de-lis painted on the white stone.
The principal took us down to the courtyard and to the very back, where another large double door was located, made of the same fine wood. This door led to the cantine or the cafeteria. The hallway leading into the room was long and narrow, with high ceilings and tall pillars. The walls were white brick and the floor and ceiling were painted black. The end of the short hallway led to a staircase, though it was shorter than the stairwells.
The staircase led into a circular room that sprouted out from the back of the building. The walls were glass, offering a perfect view of the track and soccer field behind the school. The walls were sloped, bending forwards at the ceiling.
The lunch line would begin near the front of the stairs. It was lined with posters of vegetables, and slogans about staying healthy. The principal explained that we would have to scan our hands to get lunch, at which point a machine would give us a tray.
The foot would be laid out buffet style so we could take what we wanted. The food would be laid out on various counters and he assured us that all the options would be healthy.
The cantine kitchen was on the right wall, behind the counters of food, but there were no windows that let us look in. Only a single door. I got the feeling that the students weren't supposed to see inside.
The middle of the room was filled with tables, where cups and pitches of drinks would be laid out for us.
And so concluded our tour of Lycèe du Ciel. The school staff thanked us for coming, led us back outside, and shuffled us onto the bus.
I went to the back and took a seat on the right. Setting my book bag beside me, I took out my Aqua II and clicked the screen on.
"I'm kind of excited to come here next year," a familiar voice said right next to me.
I looked up and the golden-haired Euphie was sitting right next to me. Sitting on the seat right in front of us was her friends, Amos and Kanade. Euphie leaned over the seat to look at my phone and smiled.
"That's Primal Vale, isn't it? Everyone is talking about it. I heard the beta testers have already been chosen."
I clicked my phone on and slipped it back into my pocket. "I'm one of the testers if you can believe it."
Her eyes lit up. "Really?"
I nodded. Euphie pulled out her phone. "Exchange information with me?"
"Um... Sure."
"When the game comes out, will you show us the ropes?"
***
If you would like to support me, you can do so on pa tre on. It would mean a lot, but no pressure.
https://www. pa tre on .com/RWForsyth
If you'd like to keep up with my random thoughts or writings, it would be twitter. I'll try to be more active and post.
twitter.com/R_W_Forsyth