June 28, 2023, 6:04 am.

"Forerunner call sign, not established. Please designate your call sign before continuing."

The words appear in front of me, floating in my vision. There's no background, but I have no problem reading them.

Cool, I get to create my character after all. Or at least choose my name. No sign of a menu or logout option yet.

"Pandora," I whisper back. I know it's not original, but I've been using it since I was a kid.

My papa told me the myth, but the version he wove was an older rendition. In his version, Pandora had brought all good things into the world, placing them in her vase for safekeeping. However, one day a fool bumbled in. He knocked the vase over, barely getting the lid back on. In the interim, he'd allowed all that was good in the world to escape.

All except hope.

Pandora's vase contained hope for all of mankind. Even as all other good in the world disappeared, it held onto hope. I've heard the other versions about Pandora's box being all sorts of trouble, but I prefer papa’s version.

"Call sign accepted. Forerunner Pandora Integration - Level 1 initialized. Interface compatibility confirmed. Assessment of base attributes of Forerunner complete. Integration compatibility: 93. Additional distribution of attributes available due to high compatibility: 53. Allocation required to continue integration."

As I finish reading the text, it fades, a transparent window replacing it. For several seconds it flashes, before strange characters fill a table I can’t read.

Did… I just get a character sheet in the wrong language? Wow… The devs are really going to have to fix that. Funny, cause I don’t think I recognize any of the characters. They’re not Kanji or mandarin. And definitely not English.

Still, it almost looks like the Status I was expecting. Just, not in any language I’ve ever seen. Then the window flickers again, the characters switching to English words, one at a time. Once it’s done, the left displays its assessment of my attributes. The attributes themselves seem mostly right, except….

ATTRIBUTES

Strength: -20
Constitution: -3
Agility: 12
Endurance: 5
Intellect: 53
Spirit: 35
Perception: 18
Resolve: 11
Integration Points: 53

What the hell? I'm pretty sure I'm not that smart. Plus, negative attributes? Does that mean zero is average so I'm twenty points below average? Or am I debuffed? Is something else going on? On the other hand, I have 53 points. If that’s a one for one increase, am I going to be crazy strong if I put my points into Strength?

While I'm tempted to invest my points, I move my attention to the right side of the panel where it lists my resources instead.

RESOURCES

Health
Pool: 14/14, Edge: [-3.5], Regen: (7/day)

Stamina
Pool: 35/35, Edge: [1.8], Regen: (18/day)

Mana
Pool: 153/153, Edge: [15.6], Regen: (100/day)

Focus
Pool: 124/124, Edge: [9.1], Regen: (73/day)

Matrix Resources
Facet
Pool: 38/38, Edge: [3.6], Regen: (24/hour)

Health, Stamina and Mana are fairly standard, but what are Focus and Facet? What's a Matrix? Am I going to start seeing lines of code? Also, what’s an Edge?

Adjusting my Attributes is as simple as willing them to increase and decrease. After a little experimentation, I confirm that each Integration point gives a single Attribute increase. And I can’t decrease my Attributes below their starting values. I try to put all my points into Intellect, but it stops increasing when I hit a hundred. Weirdly, I'm still able to assign my remaining points, they just don't have any noticeable effect.

While I'm messing with my Integration points, I notice my Attributes affect resources I wouldn’t have expected. For example, increasing Resolve increases Focus and Mana but also increases my Health pool for some reason.

I decide to try allocating my points to Strength to see if I feel stronger, but I don't notice any difference. Deciding this calls for a test, I grab a rock lying in the nearby grass. Hefting it, I shift ten points into Strength, then toss it lightly in the air. Then I try shifting all fifty points. Nothing.

So, I find another rock nearby. They both seem about the same weight, so I chuck one with no points assigned and another with all fifty-three in strength.

They're both equally as ineffective, the stones barely making it past the edge of the circle.

I guess they just affect my character's Resources which is a relief. Or maybe they only kick in after I confirm my selection. That… would make sense.

Before I can continue perusing my attributes, I'm interrupted by a familiar voice calling my name.

“Alexis? Is that you? What're you doing here?”

Turning around, I see Josh standing with his hands clutched tight to his chest, looking at me. His dark face scrunches up as he focuses on me. He's out here without his customary toque, so his curly black hair is falling in his eyes. Despite being something I don't see often, despite our years as neighbours, that isn't what catches my attention. Because Josh is wearing the most luxurious bathrobe I’ve ever seen.

Even though I want to answer his questions, I'm momentarily stunned by how gloriously pink his robe is. I never would've guessed Josh owned a bathrobe like this. Or any possession, for that matter. The only outfits I’ve seen him in before are his black trench coat, with his equally black glasses, toque and camo pants or the jeans and t-shirt he uses for gardening. Still black.

And this bathrobe isn’t just pink. It has frilly lace at the cuffs, with embroidered roses running up his arms, over his shoulders. There are other roses scattered about the bathrobe, all of which sprout from somewhere on the back of his robe. The collar is white and super fluffy, with little blades of grass embroidered in it. But the best part? The best part is it's definitely his. I can see his name stitched over the left breast pocket.

“Uhm Alexis, hello?” he verbally prods me. Unsurprisingly, I’ve been so fixated on his magnificent bathrobe I may have forgotten there was an attempt at conversation.

Thinking back, I try to respond. “Right, yes. Sorry. It’s me. I think.... I think we’re in the Forerunner game world. I signed up for it, so that’s why I’m here. But I’m not sure what you’re doing here?”

“Unless you signed up too,” I add after a moment’s thought. “And before you ask, I don’t know how I got here. I swear I fell asleep on my couch. The next thing I know, poof, I’m waking up on the lawn with the sun shining on my face, like an old Nordic folk tale.”

While the fact we were kidnapped is worrying, I'm buoyed by the fact that there's an interface and that I have Mana. Mana means spellcasting. In a game this real, spellcasting has to be awesome. Also, if we have been abducted, then we're far away from my mother and my sudden financial crisis.

That might be a factor. Maybe.

A little.

“Anyway, have you figured out what your starting stats are? I’m thinking I’m going to focus on my mental stats, my physical stats are sorta awful, honestly.” I barrel on before focusing back on my status.

“Alexis, what are you talking about? I signed up for the Forerunner Initiative's extreme wilderness survival training program, not some game! And no offence, but I can't imagine you signing up for survival training. Never mind being approved for extreme level training.” Josh is practically panting by the end, pulling me back to reality.

Wait, what? They were running a survival program too? Though I guess even if this is a game world, it's real enough you might be able to do survival training. I certainly feel like I’m outside. The air is even a little chilly. If we weren’t in the sunlight I might be freezing right now. I wonder if I can channel Mana into fire to keep myself warm. And he's staring at me funny because I've been ignoring him for too long.

Again.

Normally Josh is a glance at me, then ignore me, kind of person. Now that we've woken up in a field in our pajamas together, he's looking at me differently, like maybe now I'm a person, and not just that kid next door. Okay, maybe not. Besides our pajamas probably aren't an important part.

But.

Oh. My. God.

So pink.

"Alexis," Josh whispers, staring over my shoulder, "what kind of game did you say this was?" his voice descending into a barely audible hush as he crouches down in the grass.

Pfft, like crouching will help him hide in that robe.

"I'm not too sure. They weren't very forthcoming with.. any…." I trail off as I see what inspired Josh's cautious behaviour. His choice is probably better than my reaction.

Considering I just stand there, staring with my mouth hanging open, I don't set a very high bar. At least I don't scream.

There before us, in all its feathery splendour, is a freaking dinosaur. It's one of those really big ones that are like five stories tall and eats leaves.

A lot of leaves.

Possibly all the leaves.

I think they're called oh-my-god-that's-huge-osauros.

Or something to that effect. It doesn't move quickly, grabbing another bunch of leaves in a slow stretch of its enormous neck, the movement dragging its majestic feathers through the lower branches.

Suddenly, Josh trying to impersonate a rose bush makes a lot more sense to me. But it's a leaf eater. Surely, we're safe? Unless it starts walking towards us of course. Then we’d be pancakes.

Or if it likes to munch on roses. He he.

I wait and watch the giant feathered dinosaur for a full minute and a half before I decide we’re probably safe and it isn’t going to trample us. I base this on the fact that it's been slowly moving away from us, grazing on the upper canopy as it chomps at further and further trees.

Turning back to Josh, I find him flicking his gaze back and forth between me and the dino. When he sees me looking at him, he finally straightens to his full height of nearly two meters. Which, compared to my meagre 154cm, feels almost as tall as the dino.

I watch him open his mouth, but before he says anything he clicks his jaw closed while staring off into the distance. Turning to see what new threat he’s found; I step back while turning in the direction he's staring. All I see is the standing stone, glowing brightly.

While it's cool, with its glowing runes and all, I'm eager to get back to my character sheet.

Trying to be polite, I ask him, “So, we good? That dinosaur’s clearly not going to eat us, so I’d like to set my stats before we get started with our training.”

There, I let him know what I was doing and everything.

Waiting two whole seconds, okay, one second, I take his vacant stare and lack of reply as assent, bringing my character sheet back up.

I’d hardly noticed at the time, but it automatically faded when my attention left it, keeping it from obstructing my view when I wasn't interested in it. Handy feature that. I’m definitely giving positive feedback to the devs about the smooth design.

Occasionally glancing up at our massive neighbour, I check which stats affect my Mana the most. It's definitely Intellect and Spirit, though Perception and Resolve both have a lesser effect as well. I do put three points into my constitution first though. My gamer instincts suggest that a negative con is a bad idea, no matter my other stats. However, even after playing with the stats for a while I'm still having a hard time making up my mind.

"Hey Josh," I whisper at him in a near hiss. Harsher than I meant to. Damnit.

"Yeah, Alexis?" he replies, shifting a little closer.

"What do your Attributes look like?"

"Uh. Attributes?”

“Yeah. Attributes. In your Status,” I say, whispering without the hiss this time.

“My Status?" he replies, blinking at me a couple times. Or maybe he’s looking at his Status, since his eyes seem to be staring off into space now.

"I've got uhm... negatives in most of my mental stats, apparently. But my Strength and Con are over twenty."

Choosing not to comment, I nod to myself. Definitely sounds like his character is the tank. Which means I'm probably the healer or damage dealer. And... I don't feel any magical healing happening. Tapping my elbow where I bumped it yesterday morning, I don't feel the slight bruise recede.

Kay, probably not a healer. Which means probably the mage. Think I'll put half my points in Intellect and half in Spirit. My adjusted stats definitely have a strong focus on magic.

ATTRIBUTES
Strength: -20
Constitution: -3 > 0
Agility: 12
Endurance: 5
Intellect: 53 > 78
Spirit: 35 > 60
Perception: 18
Resolve: 11
Integration Points: 53 > 0

 

Health
Pool: 14/14 > 33/33, Edge: [-3.5] > [-3.2], Regen: (7/day) > (15/day)

Stamina
Pool: 35/35 > 50/50, Edge: [1.8] > [1.9], Regen: (26/day)

Mana
Pool: 153/153 > 153/230, Edge: [15.6] > [23.1], Regen: (100/day) > (168/day)

Focus
Pool: 124/124 > 124/174, Edge: [9.1] > [11.6], Regen: (73/day) > (107/day)

Matrix Resources
Facet
Pool: 38/38 > 38/56, Edge: [3.6] > [5.2], Regen: (24/hour) > (40/hour)

When I think about confirming my choice the interface responds by bringing up what I'm starting to think of as “the notification window”.

“Would you like to confirm the current allocation of Attribute Adjustment Integration points? Warning, once confirmed, these choices will take 24 hours to implement and cannot be reset.”

Okay, that’s weird. What game takes 24 hours to set your stats? Oh well. Maybe I’ll recommend they speed that up, at least for the beta.

“Confirm,” I say to the air. I probably could've confirmed mentally, but this is an important moment. Saying it aloud makes it more concrete.

“Allocation confirmed. Temporal Matrix Integration resumed. Class selection will be available once Integration is complete. Note, skills can be unlocked and quests can be completed prior to class selection.”

I don’t get to choose my class now? But apparently, I’m integrating with a temporal Matrix and I can try to unlock skills? Hmm… it says I’ll be able to choose a class, so maybe I’ll be able to choose a mage then? Or healer if we don’t have one.

Before I can start any new experiments, the notification screen silently displays a new notice.

“Update. Due to the nature of your Integration Matrix, you may spend 37 Facet to accelerate the integration of your class by 18.5 hours. Please note that edge does not reduce the cost of this function.”

Sweet. That sounds great. It also gives me an idea of what Edge might do.

I immediately project my thoughts at the System, confirming that I’d like to spend my Facet… Facets? To spend my resources to reduce the integration time.

Now, only five hours and 29 minutes to go.

I watch the Facet disappear from my status with a smile. As the Facet disappears, I feel sluggish and my thoughts start to slow. It causes me to sway for a second, but I’ve had to fight off greater exhaustion than this. Like when Sab and I stayed up for a whole weekend when she got the latest Pathfinder module. Squinting against the tired, it suddenly breaks, fading away as a new notification appears.

“Skill gained: Temporal Manipulation, (skill level 1)”

The skill notice is welcome. The realization I’ve lost my ability to move?

Not so much.

My body is completely locked in place. It’s as though I’m encased in stone. A small part of me wants to panic, but my internal time sense tells me that for every second that passes in real-time I’m experiencing an hour from my current perspective. My body is literally unable to react to the speed of my thoughts. Also, panicking would require being able to move.

It's not a proper panic, if I can't run away.

Did I just consign myself to eighteen and a half hours of standing here with nothing to do but read my stats while thinking? I take back every nice thing I’ve thought about the devs. This is going to be hell.

That thought I had earlier about logging out? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea all of a sudden.

So, of course, when I mentally try to exit or logout or disconnect, nothing happens. Whether it’s because I’m forever trapped in a game world, or because the dev’s don’t want me cheating out of my ability, I don’t know. Further testing is required. Another solid minute of escape attempts leaves me resigned to my fate.

As I’m waiting, I decide to see if there’s anything else I can access. There isn’t any response when I think about options or help, but when I concentrate on the different parts of my character screen, I get a general sense of what each Attribute and resource represents. It's not much, but it gives me something to stave off the boredom.

Disappointingly though, concentrating on my Attributes mostly gives me textbook definitions.

Strength is physical strength, lifting, hitting that sort of thing while Constitution is the toughness of my body, including my ability to withstand my own Strength.

Agility is my body's coordination and smoothness of movement and Endurance is my body's ability to keep that movement going.

Intellect is... not exactly my smarts, but my ability to process hidden clues in the world around me. And to think faster.

Not sure I need more of that at the moment...

Spirit is... The sense I get, is that Spirit is the strength of the nonphysical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character, aka the soul. Or something.

Again, kinda obviously, Perception is my ability to observe my surroundings.

And then, Resolve is my ability to keep going.

It doesn't give me a sense of which pools or game functions might be tied to any of the Attributes, though I guess I did discover some with my experiments earlier.

The knowledge I gain when focusing directly on the Resource pools is more tangible.

Concentrating on my Health makes me realize it functions as a shield of sorts. So long as I have Health available, I won’t be injured by most physical attacks. Makes me wish I didn’t have that negative Health edge.

Hmm. Focusing on Edge reveals it applies to every action that uses a Resource. So, if I take Health damage, I’m going to take an extra 3.5 damage each time? Am I going to get hurt easier? That… doesn’t seem right. What sort of shield would hurt me more?

Right. A bad one.

Stamina is similar to Health, but instead of injuries, it prevents exhaustion. If I still have Stamina available, I’ll be able to keep running without getting tired. I guess there’s a first time for everything. Not that my Stamina is much better off than my Health. But hey, least the Edge is positive.

In addition to being used for spells, Mana also protects against mental attacks. The fact that my Mana Edge is 15.6, and rising, almost makes up for my negative Health Edge. Almost.

If I can figure out how to cast spells.

Probably should've thought of that before going all in on the mage build.

Knowing my Mana Edge is going to keep increasing as my Attributes go up over the next couple of hours is nice, but I wish I’d figured out what Edge was like ten minutes earlier. Or, based on my internal clock, I wish I'd figured it out nine minutes and 23 seconds earlier. Right before I assigned all my Integration points, leaving my Health out in the cold.

For the basic resources, that leaves Focus. If the feedback is right, Focus can be used to greatly enhance actions. In fact, I think I spent half my Focus when I used my Facet to speed up my class integration. On the plus side, it looks like Focus is regenerating at its normal rate even during my time freeze. My Facet regeneration, on the other hand, is clearly linked to what I’m going to call real time.

I’m glad my nose isn’t itchy…

And I’m wishing I could experiment with my Attributes now that I've initiated this time-freeze-thing. It’s only been twelve minutes and 3 seconds, yet I’m already bored. Too spoiled by my smartphone, I guess.

I try to look around, but I can’t even get my eyes to refocus. Everything is blurry.

This means I don’t have any distractions to keep me from thinking about how my mom stole all my money. Apparently, my time sense works retroactively, because I know it’s been thirteen hours, forty-one minutes and three seconds, real-time since I discovered my account was empty.

The worst part of her taking everything is I don’t blame her. I've known for years I can’t keep money in the house or it disappears. I should've put the money in a new account. Now I have to start saving all over again.

Damn this game, it should be keeping me distracted, not giving me all the time in the world to think about this.

I spend a solid five minutes cursing the game, my mom, and that weirdo on the corner who used to stare at me as I walked past. And myself. For being an idiot. Mentally, of course, since I can’t speak. When I finally stop swearing, I realize my vision has gotten less blurry. I can almost make out the standing stone that Josh was looking at!

Yes! A distraction. I guess I do have control of my body. It’s just slow to respond. That should help with the boredom. At least a little.

Another five minutes then I can see the runes on the stone clearly. They don’t mean anything to me but thinking about their obvious magic reminds me of the notification I saw when I trapped myself. Just thinking about the log brings it back into focus.

Yep, there it is.

“Skill gained: Temporal Manipulation, (skill level 1)”

Realizing I’ve yet to see a skill page, I try focusing on one. Like the rest of my interface, my skill status slides into place at the speed of thought. On it are listed my vast plethora of skills.

Skills

Matrix Skills:
Temporal Manipulation: 1

Combat Skills:
None

Knowledge Skills:
Gaming: 21
Engineering: 5

Support Skills:
Cooking: 0
Cleaning: 4

Crafting Skills:
Woodworking: 1

Movement Skills:
Swimming: 1
Running: 1

Okay, I’m not sure, but I think the System is insulting my cooking.

The Engineering knowledge comes as a surprise. Is that related to school? Or my YouTube binges? Not sure where I’ve learned more, really.

I’m guessing the Woodworking skill is from my time at the mill. Not that I’ve done anything other than watch actual competent people work. The Swimming and Running skills, even at skill level 1, actually seem generous. My ability to swim could be compared to a lead anchor while my running wouldn’t be far behind. Actually, my running would be very far behind. Cause it would be closer to walking.

I wonder if there are any other status pages I’ve missed.

I try thinking about my class page, but I just get a feeling that it’s processing and I need to wait another 23 hours, one minute and fourteen seconds to access the menu. Or another 5.5 hours and seventeen seconds, depending on how you want to slice it.

Okay, that’s out. What else can I try? Inventory? Journal?

I decide to try thinking about my inventory first because it's less likely. When nothing happens, it’s disappointing, but not too surprising. This game does feel like we’ll be packing things by hand. Still, I’ve already learned there’s Mana and the ability to manipulate time, so I’d be shocked if there isn’t magical storage to be found.

Wait. Time manipulation. Like the state of frozen-time I’m in right now! Argh, for all my Intellect, I’m such an idiot.

I immediately try focusing on my Temporal Manipulation skill to glean what I can from it. My first impression is a feeling of emptiness, that there’s nothing to work with. Because it’s fueled by my Facet. My Facet which I just spent to enter this state. Lovely.

Further concentration reveals that I may be able to enter and exit this state with some practice. Once I’ve regained some Facet obviously. However, since my Facet regenerates in real-time, I don’t think I'll have a single point by the time my 18.5 hours/seconds are up.

I guess my amazing discovery doesn’t help.

My remaining two sources of hope for the next few hours are a quest journal and the standing stone in front of me. If I’m honest, at this point, I’m expecting the runes to give me a headache while the journal will be another dead end.

But there’s only one way to find out.