Timber Woods City.
The Widow Sin Dorm stood like a beating heart at the center of New World University—a campus so sprawling, it felt more like a small city. Tonight, that heart pulsed louder than ever, alive with the buzz of a party no student wanted to miss.
In a particular dorm, called Widow Sin Dorm named after one of the founders of the university, a massive gathering was taking place.
Just outside its doors, Sarah and Betty were walking towards the dorm with anticipation in their eyes.
"I can't believe the universe really sponsored this party for the third years. This party is going to be hype!" Sarah practically bounced on her toes, her words tumbling out in a rush.
Beside her, Betty fought with her ponytail, muttering under her breath as the slick strands resisted her every effort.
"Nothing sticks. Perks of hair mutation, I guess." She thought to herself, sighing with frustration.
She was getting to the point of just letting her hair fall freely.
"It's not surprising. The university does it every year to make sure that the students aren't holed up in their rooms all day."
"It would be a bad reputation for the school if its students turned out to be antisocial and don't form networks. It will make it harder for next year's graduates to get into the good jobs." Betty commented after getting her hair in place.
"Eh, why do you have to make it sound so professional?" Sarah pouted at Betty's tone before brightening up again.
"Let's go. Everyone is waiting for us inside." Sarah said as she grabbed Betty's hand and dragged her inside.
As the two of them stepped into the building they were greeted by a wave of warm air and loud chatter as hundreds of students talked with their friends in the lobby.
With their bones and muscles warming up, Sarah and Betty locked onto their planned out group and hastily walked over.
As they got closer, they saw three students hanging out by the stairs. Each one of them were dressed nicely as they talked casually.
Izak's laugh boomed through the crowded dorm lobby, his frizzy gray hair bouncing with every exaggerated movement, that only seemed more exaggerated thanks to his short yet athletic build, and smooth as a baby's bum face.
Standing beside Izak was Starn who was quiet, elegant, and had a constant smirk across his handsome face. His long curly and fluffy black hair was tied into a ponytail that showed no signs of falling apart.
"So lucky," Betty thought to herself as she adjusted her slipping hair tie.
The last of the trio was Gloria. A tall girl with short black hair, she wore a set of thick glasses that made her big watery eyes look even more watery. She always wore a slight frown as she looked annoyed even when she was having fun.
As she put it, she plagued by a medical condition called resting b**tch face.
They were the friends Sarah had made in her college.
"Hey guys!" Sarah's voice cut through the crowd as she waved energetically, drawing the trio's attention.
"Finally!" Izak's grin stretched wide as he threw his arms out in mock exasperation. "We've been waiting forever—we can hit the other floors now."
How are you two doing?" Gloria said with a smile.
She walked over and gave Sarah and Betty a hug as a greeting.
"We are doing good. Sorry we were late. Sigh, I was on round twenty and I couldn't risk pausing or I might lose my flow." Betty said casually.
"While she was trying to get to round twenty I was on my way to round twenty-five. You know how I can be sometimes." Sarah added.
Starn and Izak looked puzzled as they had no clue what Sarah and Betty were talking about. They were talking about COD but from what they remember Sarah hated those types of games.
""Round twenty? Damn." Gloria's complexion turned an even paler shade as she clutched her stomach, the thought alone making her queasy.
"How do you two even last that long? It's so disgusting."
Starn and Izak turned to each other with the same increasing level of confusion.
Disgusting? I thought they were talking about a game.
Do you know anything about it?
Seeing that the two of them subtly asked each other the same question, Izak's face twitched as he couldn't take it anymore and asked.
"What are you three talking about?" Izak asked with clear puzzlement.
Betty and Gloria turned to Sarah to let her explain.
"It's nothing much. We are talking about a game that my old friend back in high-school made called Windor's Siege."
"I wanted to tell you guys earlier but you two have been holed up in your rooms not responding to any of the group chat messages." Sarah said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
"My bad, I was working on helping Starn with his game. So if you have to blame someone, blame him." Izak said as he lifted his hands up to show his innocence.
"God damn traitor!" Starn thought to himself and made a mental note to have Izak's character have a terrible backstory.
Even though he had been betrayed, Starn kept his smooth elegance.
"I'm just a busy man. No big deal." Starn said with a smile.
"You said Windor's Siege. What platforms is it on? I can give your friend some pro tips." Starn continued with pride all over his face.
"You, give Hester advice?" Sarah blurted out before rolling her eyes.
"You need his advice. He's actually a professional game developer."
Betty nodded her head in agreement. Although Windor's Siege had disgusting monsters and the graphics were gory. It was a pretty good game.
After playing it for the past day she's been hooked. She couldn't stop herself from playing it.
She just made sure not to play it before she made breakfast or she would lose her appetite.
"It's not that we don't think you're any good. It's just that Sarah's friend made a pretty good game. It's just that the graphics are…" Betty paused as she pondered on how to say it.
Luckily, Gloria said it for her, "Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting."
Gloria's pale face became even more pale as she clutched her weak stomach. She had always had a weak stomach and playing Windor's Siege was a complete counter to her.
She would play for a few rounds before she needed to vomit because of the disgusting and realistic zombies. She couldn't understand why Sarah and Betty, who also hated horror, liked it so much.
Although, every time Sarah and Betty brought up how far they were getting into the game she felt an urge to play it again.
Sarah awkwardly smiled, "It's not that bad. You get used to it after a while."
"He's just using free assets until he creates better character designs. I asked him to make everything less gory and more cute so we just have to wait until then."
"If the graphics are that bad, I can hook him up with a graphic designer friend of mine. His rates are a little below market but he is good." Starn said after getting the gist.
"Really, thank you." Sarah said as she pulled out her phone.
After getting Starn's friends' contact information she sent it to Jack. Since she was an investor and a player she wanted nothing more to help the game's development. Especially in the graphic department.
"Alright, can we go to the upper floors already? I heard that on the third floor they are serving cooked food from the restaurants around campus. I'm hoping to try out some of that expensive sushi place food." Izak said as he eagerly rubbed his hands.
"Food? I just ate so let's try the other floors first. What are they actually?" Betty asked with curiosity.
"Let's put that thought down until I get my appetite back first." Gloria said.
Seeing that two people weren't interested in eating, the group decided on holding on to the third floor for later.
"Fine, we'll hold off on the third floor for now. The other floors that we can go to are the second floor, fourth, fifth, and sixth. Everything above that isn't allowed unless we live in the dorm."
"On the second floor, they are doing karaoke. Every room is a small private room with the main hall having a singing competition. The fourth floor to be the game floor. The fifth floor is dancing. While the sixth is for people who just want to talk and meet new people." Izak said calmly.
"Let's vote. The floor that gets the most votes we go first." Betty suggested.
In agreement, everyone cast their votes and surprisingly first place was the fourth floor with three votes. Sarah, Betty, and Starn all voted for this floor.
"Starn, why do you want to go to the fourth floor?" Sarah asked with her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
She understood why she and Betty chose the fourth floor. Since it was the gaming floor they could try to get other people to try Windor's Siege and get more testers.
But she had no clue why Starn would want to go specifically. They thought he would be more interested in the sixth floor like Gloria.
"They're letting people play whatever game they want in the main hall." Starn straightened his posture, brushing invisible dust off his sleeve.
"It's the perfect chance to connect my game to the big screen and start building buzz.".
"Oh that's it." Sarah and Betty came to a realization after hearing his explanation and felt it made sense.
"Since you plan on showing your game you must have made a lot of progress. Are you already in the beta testing phase?" Betty asked with interest.
"No, it's still in early alpha. Izak and I had been working our buttons off for the last few days to create a demo level for this occasion." Starn said with a slightly nervous expression on his face.
Izak patted him on his shoulder to comfort him, "Don't worry. The demo looks great and plays great."
"By the way, what's the game called?" Gloria asked after catching her breath. She had been a little quiet since she was queasy but she was feeling much better after a few minutes.
"It was previously called Into the Glass City right? But you changed it."
Starn nodded his head and let out a helpless sigh.
"That's what I wanted to call it. But I just found out that the name had already been taken by a popular game already. If I want to get any traction I have to change the name." Starn answered.
"And not get sued." Gloria added with a smirk.
"Yeah, that too." Starn said as his mouth twitched. He stopped leaning on the wall and started heading up the stairs.
"Are you coming? If we don't go soon all the spots are going to be filled up." Starn said with anxiety.
The group all nodded in agreement as they started following along. As Sarah climbed the stairs, the muffled mumbles from below faded into the background. She couldn't shake the thought of what Jack was doing while she worked her butt off to promote his game.
"It's already eleven o'clock so he might be asleep already. Maybe he is working on the next update."
Sarah breathed out a silent sigh, "I'm probably the best investor Jack will ever have. Here I am, networking at a party while he's—what? Probably asleep or obsessing over his update. He'd better appreciate this."
Across the city, the quiet hum of late-night traffic was shattered by a monstrous roar.
The sound came first, low and guttural, like a beast awakening from slumber. Then, the headlights pierced through the darkness of the streets, blazing twin halos that cut the darkness apart. A massive brown truck, its frame battered and smeared with fresh blood, thundered past the red light without hesitation.
Its engine snarled as it tore down the empty road, each screech of its tires screaming defiance against the rules of the city. The monstrous vehicle seemed to vibrate with a violent energy, its sheer presence swallowing the quiet night.
Inside, chaos reigned.
"Gregory, what the hell are you doing!?" Jack's voice cracked with panic, his knuckles white as he clung to the door handle for dear life.