Knock, Knock, Knock.

The bag of burgers I was holding gave off an uncomfortable amount of warmth to my bundled-up chest. I stood in the cold, already annoyed from dropping my drink. The sun was still peeking over the horizon, it would go down soon. Even if it was only a little before seven.

I wasn’t really sure if coming was a good idea or not. I preferred to keep my work separate, which meant not hanging out with co-workers. But… here I was, standing in front of the door of my co-worker’s apartment. Lazorra was a nice guy, really everyone at the warehouse was pretty cool. A lot of the guys at the warehouse thought he was a bit of an ear sore. His indoor voice defaulted to loud. He also liked to talk people’s ears off and share WAY too much information about him and his girlfriend…and every other graphic detail of his life to anyone and everybody, but he was still generally a nice guy. Lazorra idea of entertainment tended to lean towards the geekier side of things. Which I didn’t mind but I usually could only meet him halfway on most subjects, either because of my lack of knowledge or difference in opinions.

I tended to blow off his invites. It wasn’t personal, I blew off all my other co-workers invite to hangout too. Unfortunately, Lazorra invitations always sprang to mind because unlike everyone else. He didn’t get the gist of me not liking to do stuff with anyone. It might have been because I was the only one at the warehouse that seemed to share any kind of interest with him. I mean…it felt nice that he kept inviting me, but everyone knew what my answer was going to be. Still didn’t help that he always gave the same hurt expression when I said no. Though like I said, it wasn’t personal. I just liked to keep my work and private life separate. I mean I never said no if he or anyone else needed help moving or something.

I couldn’t help but blink as his blinds near his door shifted. A sliver of fingers and a portion of, probably, Lazorra’s face peeking to see who it was. His eye widened at me before he shuffled away. It wasn’t long before he flung his door wide open.

“WHAT’S UP MAN!”

I couldn’t help but flinch at the shout but popped a smile at him anyways.

“Hey, Martin. I decided to take you up on your offer.”

He hadn’t been his usual self, for the past week or two. Even when he invited me, it seemed to be more out of routine than wanting me to come.

“But you never want to come.” Lazorra argued.

“I know, but you seemed… uh, down lately.”

He motioned me inside. Walking in, I was greeted by the kitchen and living room. I went straight to the kitchen table to place the food down.

“Oh, I brought some burgers from Ambrosia’s.”

“Ugh sorry. I would have bought some groceries, if I knew you were going to come.”

I couldn’t help but frown at the comment about groceries. Glancing at the kitchen didn’t really garner any information as the cabinets were loosely shut but tight enough that I couldn’t see anything.

“It’s cool man, I’m the one that showed up unannounced. Double cheeseburger, no tomatoes with extra pickles, right?” I asked, lifting his burger in the air.

“Oh, yeah!” He exclaimed, as he snatched the burger out of my hand.

Lazorra sat across from me on his table. So, I sat as well, handing him his nasty diet cola. He smiled at the drink before noticing, that I didn’t have a drink with me.

“Finish your drink already?” He asked, hand reaching out for his fries.

I couldn’t help but groan as I explained.

“No, dropped the damn thing coming up the stairs.”

“HA! What the heck, how?”

“Fuck off. I tripped, and it was either my drink or the food.” I cursed, tossing a stray fry his way. He made an effort to try and grab the fried side dish with his mouth. Only for him to curse as it hit him in the eye. I let out a snort before sitting down to eat with him. We chatted for a bit while we ate. It didn’t take long for him to get into the bigger issues, well for most people, of his life.

“I love her, Dallas. She just needed to cut her fricking family out. She always told me how her mom always controlled every little thing in her life. Alwa-”

Lazorra tirade about his girl was about the usual stuff. Him not being allowed to see her more often, her family not liking him, his family not liking her, her never giving him a clear answer on why she just won’t move in with him. It was a sad fact of their relationship but honestly it was hard for me to care. Since these were the exact same issues, he told me about almost a year and a half ago when I first met him. They probably just needed to breakup, but I doubt he would listen to me. I mean he had a better track record with relationships than I did, I don’t even know why he kept asking me about advice. My last relationship was… it was a while ago.

“Yeah… so, ugh I don’t know Dallas?” Lazorra sighed, scratching the back of his head.

And I didn’t know either, so I let his question hang in the air. Maybe being here, I could at least alleviate some of the stress. I tossed the remains of my food into the bag before reaching for his. He shooed my hand away as he began to get up.

“You’re good, I got it.”

After tossing our food away, we headed to the living room. Lazorra grabbed a controller from his couch before heading towards the tv, to grab another. As I sat, he tossed his CD folder on the coffee table in front of me.

“Go ahead and pick.”

Lazorra began the process of untangling a wired controller. He was really the only other guy at the warehouse I could talk about the more fantastical side of media with. While we both had our game collections, mines was a shadow of a shadow of his. He usually splurged his check on all the new releases, while my newest games usually included winning a championship or shooting another player in the face. I always liked hearing about his growing collection of games. Now I even got to see them and there were some I REALLY wanted to play. But this was my first time hanging out with him, so it would probably be better if I let him choose.

“Actually, there anything new you wanted to show me? There’s been a few titles you been bringing up at work a lot.” I asked, flipping through the folder.

He didn’t answer immediately. After a minute,I glanced up from the discs to see Lazorra just standing there.

“Yo, Martin you good?... Martin? Martin! Lazorra!” I yelled, dropping the binder on the couch as I got up.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m good.” He answered, still staring off.

“You sure man?” I replied, walking around the coffee table to get closer.

 Lazorra finally looked my way from the controller, nodding faintly.

“Yeah…there’s actually something I wanted to show you… I just… didn’t think you were actually going to come.”

His voice was quieter than usual. He put down the controller, then waved for me to follow. We walked through the short hall, before entering his bedroom.

“You’re not going to try to seduce me back here, are you?” I joked, eyeballing the open delivery boxes that laid on his bed.

“Shut up.” He snorted, reaching for something through the mess.

Lazorra handed me a video game case, though it looked more like a box for a phone. The cover art was very simplistic. It was just the initials E.W. scorched into cracked pavement, the scorch marks still burning with purple and green flames.

“Enchanted Wastes? Never heard of it.”

“New game, check the bottom sticker.”

Zeroing in on the corner of the box, I read the print on the circular sticker. Eyes immediately lighting up at the description.

“From Black Stone Studios. The creators of the Nuclear Falls 1, 2 and Mojave Wastes!” I exclaimed.

Nuclear Falls was one of my favorite game franchise and Mojave Wastes, might be one of my favorite games in general. That incarnation of the series might have been almost two console generations ago, but it didn’t stop me from loading the bad boy up every so often. I flipped the case to the back, my eyes scouring the cover for every detail. One bit of information caused me to pause.

“Wait it’s an M.M.O.? I didn’t even know they were making an M.M.O.”

“It’s not actually a Nuclear Falls game, it’s a spiritual successor.”

A spiritual successor? Well even if it wasn’t Nuclear Falls, Black Stone could do no wrong in my eyes. Though I wasn’t sure what console the game was actually for.

“Um… What console is this for anyways?”

Lazorra shuffled through the mess on his bed, before revealing a blue metallic cube. And that was honestly the only way to describe the thing. It was slightly bigger than a Puzzle Cube but there were no distinguishable features on the thing. Other than one side having two quarter size circles etched into the top half of both corners.

“That supposed to be a console?”

“Yeah, its supposed to be virtual reality. I got an invite to test the thing out.”

“That’s great news, man!” I said, as I patted him on the back.

I was happy for him. But a bit jealous he got to test out a N.F. copy made by Black Stone. Actually… was it still a copycat, if the people making it made the originals? The only thing I could do was shake my head. Looking around the bed I didn’t see any V.R. goggles.

“Where the goggles?”

Looking back at Lazorra, he fiddled with circles on the cubed console. The box made a feint humming sound, signaling it was now on.

“It’s not actually V.R., they call it M.R. for-”

“Mister.”

Lazorra simply rolled his eyes, as he went on.

“For Mind Reality. I tried it on yesterday but haven’t really messed with it.”

Mind Reality? That didn’t exactly inspire excitement like the N.F. game did. I walked up to him, to see if he needed help.

“Martin.”

He glanced my way, before handing the box to me.

“Don’t break it.”

I couldn’t help but make a face at that. He continued to speak on.

“Testing the M.R. is going to be a fulltime thing, I’m not even supposed to show anyone it.”

“Ooh hiding secr-” I paused, stopping to look at him.

“Aw wait man, so you’re gonna quit.” I complained.

“Yeah, I was going to tell the boss man this Sunday. That that would be my last day.” Lazorra explained.

“I’ll miss you man but you gotta do what you need to.”

“Thanks, Dallas.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not even going to put in your two weeks.” I joked, as I went back to the box. The circles finally popped off after a bit.

“Hey, once we’re not co-workers, maybe you’ll actually come over more.”

I smiled at the implication. I inspected the circular gadgets, they had circuits running though the entirety of their surface. I couldn’t help but frown as it also looked kind of slimy.

“Eww.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re supposed to place them on your temples.”

I hesitated; the name Mind Reality was already off putting. But now that I had to put something on my head, that wasn’t glasses. It made me second guess if I really wanted to play. Lazorra didn’t seem to have the same hang up, as he grabbed the circular gadgets from my hand.

“They’re fine. I’ll even put them on first.” He comforted, as stuck the items right above his eyebrows.

“You see!” He taunted.

“Whatever. And those aren’t even your temples.”

He scoffed, as he grabbed the console back. Then began to explain the process of the game.

“Sure, they aren’t. Anyways after you stick these guys on. You’re supposed to click this button.”

He pointed to the top left corner, of the circular slot on the box.

“To… warm up the game or something.”

“Or something?” I echoed, worryingly.

He ignored me, as he pressed the button. We stood for a few seconds. When he began to tilt over, my hands shot forward to grab him.

“Shit, Martin you good?”

“Yeah, just been under the weather.”

He plopped himself on his bed, holding the console steadily.

“You want to go first?” He asked.

“After that fall of yours?”

“I’m just a bit sick, don’t be chicken.”

I stared at my co-worker, for the comment. He didn’t seem overly out of sorts, and simply rubbed his nose into his forearm.

“Just give me the damn things.” I sighed.

Lazorra pulled the discs off his head, making a slight pained expression as he did. My face must have faltered. As he made an effort to say he was fine, before handing me them. Sighing I placed the two discs on both of my temples. My actual temples, and not just above my eyebrows like he did. Something like a slight headache formed as I put them on. But for the most part I didn’t really feel anything. With that over with, all I could do was ask what was next.

“Now what?”

“Instructions said you’re supposed to firmly hold the box while you press the button on the right.”

He held the little console toward me. As he held it, I grabbed hold of it too and clicked the button. Lazorra’s scream was brief as he slumped into his bed, still holding onto the console. No pain came but my entire body tensed up. I wanted to let go but my hands refused to budge from the device. I tried to shout, to do anything but my body refused to obey. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do as I began to drift to sleep. The floor began to rapidly get closer, but I never felt the hit. As the darkness engulfed me.

A jingle rang out.

“What hap-”

A text box lit the darkness, filling the entirety of my view.

“Huh, how the hell did it know my name?”

The jingle rang again.

“Is it… reading my mind?”

It was hard for me to really get a gist of the situation. I tried to look around but the pop-up box was the only thing in view. The box wasn’t even telling me what was happening. It just updated if there was a new problem, with the same stupid jingle. I scoffed realizing my previous comments.

“Mind Reality, of course its rea-”

Another jingle cut me off.

Another jingle.

This time no jingle rang, as the box finally disappeared. I’m not even sure how long I waited in the dark. It could have been hours, though it was probably just a few minutes. I couldn’t do anything as a blinding light enveloped me and for some strange reason, I felt like I needed to burp. It wasn’t until I slammed, back first, into the ground did I realize. I was now officially in the game.

“Oww…”

While I ached, laid out on the floor. I realized the warmth of sun rays on me and that I was staring up to an open sky. A cold wind flew by, causing chills to run down through body. And the sensation of needing to let the air out of my chest was still there. After a minute I sat up to look around, but the damn jingle rang in my ears again.

So, the game wasn’t strictly apocalyptic? Well, I guess the name should have been a dead giveaway.

“Wait, why am I even going along with this. Game log out!”

The text box shrunk drastically before me.

 “What? Game log out now!”

The box blinked before reappearing again.

What was I supposed to say to that? I didn’t know how Mind Reality worked. I didn’t even know it existed until today. I glared at the text box, then waved it away. This was something out of an anime.

“Damn it.” I sighed.

Maybe if I waited a bit then it would let me log out or maybe if I left the area? I didn’t know what it entailed to get out of here. I mean it took forever just to log in and it wasn’t like I could actually die here. This was a starting area after all, so it shouldn’t be too hard to beat.

Lazorra was able to let out a scream before all this happened. If that didn’t get people’s attention, then us being gone definitely should. It was probably best if I just focused on the game for now. I couldn’t just pick up any class. Discovering skills were going to become an issue.

“Well, I doubt they would put anything super generic like… I don’t know, blinking.”

I didn’t play many MMORPG’s growing up. I didn’t have the money to pay for a monthly subscription. So, while RuneScapade was a loyal, free, and fun companion. I was stuck with free trials or scavenging cereal boxes and watching cartoons for special codes to unlock pets on browser games.

“Huh.”

Hopefully collecting some pets wouldn’t be to difficult. Maybe there was a class that specialized in pets like hunters in Craft of War. Though hunters, might not translate a hundred percent in this game. Speaking of hunters; should I go ranged, magic or melee? Magic would be pretty cool but if you had to use runes, then I might as well stick to a bow. Well, they had guns too but…

“Maybe I should stop thinking so hard about it for now.”

Looking at my clothe, it seemed to be the same things I put on this morning. They were simplified though, as the logo was no longer on my blue hoodie. Glancing at what used to be my sneaker, showed they were now just generic black and white shoes. A thought popped up in my head, causing me to lift my shirt and hoodie. Disappointment set in as a six-pack wasn’t there.

“Nope, still got belly fat.” I sighed, releasing my clothe.

I stood up, and saw I stood upon a massive hill. Looking around the fantastical apocalyptic landscape, made me realize it leaned heavier toward the apocalyptic side of the spectrum. Hopefully that was just this area. The land had an eerie green tint, like most post-apocalyptic media. The view was barren, it looked like it was copied straight from a postcard from some dessert town. Large rock formations surrounded by cacti and other desert plant life. But the usual red-orange rocks where more of a drab gray. A speck of movement caused me to squint. I could make out the silhouettes of strange creatures. There were some that were a lot closer, that I could make out the feature on some of them. Vast areas separated the beasts, if I guessed the distance from here.

“Is there a way to see information about them?”

I tried poking at the silhouettes, but nothing came up. Maybe I had to say a command?

“Show me text box. Show me info. Show me information?”

But time and time again, nothing came to fruition.

“Show me information! Analyze! Study! Investigate! Inspect!”

Maybe I just wasn’t close enough to the creatures yet.

“Yeah, whatever.”

I turned away from the view to be greeted by a lone skeleton. It wasn’t an undead skeleton from what I could tell, he sat perched up on the near by boulder. A bigger spectacle was unveiled a bit further. As a small town laid not to far behind him.

“Guessing that’s my starting zone.”

I couldn’t see any of the NPCs but maybe they were just further inside. I could go look after. Walking up to the skeleton, he didn’t seem too spectacular. He was pretty bare bones if anything.

“Heh.”

His bones were dried to a degree, that they cracked under the sun. Whatever clothe he had once warn, had long faded to the elements. Though interestingly a pair of binoculars still laid in his hands. I bent over to grab it, since he probably didn’t need it anymore.

“Better than nothing.”

I headed back to the edge of the cliff to get a better look at the far-off beasts. The view from the binoculars, were blurred from scratches and dirt but they were still viable to see out of. The first creature I made out, was a fearsome looking bird. The feathers on its body were a grayish light blue, they contrasted the much darker blue feathers that covered its head and wings. A massive feathery crest adorned his head. Its beak looked damaged, though it gave it a more fearsome appearance, as the side of the beak looked like it sported fangs. Smaller versions of the bird surrounded it. So the blue one must be the leader. They were brown in contrast and had less prominent crests. One of the smaller birds passed a cactus. Showing they weren’t exactly small, as the bird was only a few heads shorter.

“No fucking way.”

I jerked the binoculars back towards the massive blue bird. While it was hard to tell its height with the cacti being varying sizes. Only a few of them were taller than the beasts and those were the ones that I could see from here. Before I could say anything, a text box for the beast appeared.

“Guess it’s a mental thing.”

A named elite that was too high a level for me to even see? I assumed the flavor text didn’t take binoculars into account. What kind of starting zone did they put me in? I jerked the binoculars toward one of the smaller creatures.

Even the mobs were higher level than me and that was only the Rundowners! Did rare correlate with a silver enemy? I didn’t need the binoculars to see, there were many other types of creatures. Going out there, was a downright death sentence.

“Looks like it’s the town for now.”

I pocketed the binoculars, as I didn’t see anything about an inventory. I turned to walk toward the town. Passing the skeleton, I glanced around if there was anything of note I could pick up. As I got closer, an invisible force seemed to greet me. The force didn’t keep me out, it felt more like a hard breeze as I wandered in. I couldn’t help but finally let out the burp that my body had been holding in.

“Ugh excuse me.” I burped, a familiar jingle ringing out after.

I stopped, mouth gaping at what I was seeing. I was lost for words. A burping skill was no better than a blinking one! I didn’t think they would let you unlock anything stupid, but I was clearly wrong. What was I even supposed to do with that?

“You got to be fucking kidding me. What kind of fucking shit is this!”

TadaCal13

Wrote this out of no where, as my NANOWRIMO didn't go as planned. Seems that I suck at writing on a schedule. So I'm hoping putting this out will force my hand at getting better at it. Don't be afraid to criticize anything and everything. This is my first original work, so I'm going to need it.