Day Two

Everyone, wake up.

After a restless sleep, the kids awoke at seven thirty. Jake was among the few who were rattled by the previous night’s dream. He spent several minutes trying to convince himself the alien he met was not real. After failing, he decided to try to get on with his day. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, took his medicine, and reclaimed his seat at the computer. He booted up the game and saw that it was waiting for five more players. This forced him to reflect once again on his less than comfortable dream. He still had trouble convincing himself it was only a dream. Well, if it was real, then I should still be able to warp reality, right?

He reached a hand towards the shelf above his head and flicked his wrist upwards. The foam dart gun sitting there floated a few inches into the air. Jake rolled his eyes and remembered that his own senses were not the most trustworthy sources, especially not this early. He turned his back to the computer and saw that another person had logged on. The loading screen showed a chat window.

>>> Jake Morris has arrived.

>>> Frank Hunter has arrived.

[Frank] Good morning, Jake.

[Jake] good morning.

[Frank] I have not gotten to speak much with you.

[Jake] this is true.

[Frank] So what do you like to do?

[Jake] i like playing video games... which i guess is obvious seeing as i’m the one who got you all in on this one.

[Frank] Ha! That’s true. Do you know anything about this game?

[Jake] not really. i knew it was sci-fi and that was enough for me.

[Frank] To be honest, it does not look very much like science fiction yet.

[Jake] i observed that as well. i’ve also heard that there is a really interesting story to unravel here. full of deceit and betrayal and all the good tried and true plot twists. from what i’ve heard the whole thing is like one huge mystery.

[Frank] Is that so? I love a good mystery!

[Jake] heh. so i’ve heard from... constantina, right?

[Frank] Yeah.

Here was a long pause.

[Frank] So, Jake?

[Jake] yes, frank?

[Frank] You have paranoid schizophrenia, right?

[Jake] Yes.

[Frank] How are you doing?

[Jake] I am doing fine.

[Frank] Have you seen anything weird recently?

[Jake] All right, Frank, please stop. Yes, sometimes my senses are not totally trustworthy. Sometimes I believe weird huvaloo that makes absolutely no sense. I have gotten help, and I have a friend to whom I talk about this stuff. If I want to talk to you, I’ll let you know, OK?

[Frank] Yes! Right! Of course. Sorry...

[Jake] no, i understand. thank you for your concern, but i’m ok.

>>> Constantina Hunt has arrived.

[Frank] Good morning, CH!

[Constantina] Good morning. Good morning Jake

[Jake] Good morning.

The chat grew quiet for a while.

>>> Gary Lake has arrived.

[Gary] Guys, something weird is going on here. I dont know how safe this game is.

[Frank] What? Do you mean like the “Spit into the disc drive” thing?

[Gary] No. Ok, lets start with the weird dreams. Jake, tell me about yours.

[Jake] well, i, uh, woke up in a bed. the bed and the room were all of one solid color. and there was this weird alien in the next room.

[Gary] Good. Anything else?

[Jake] well... i had this power that let me alter reality. i went through another door and ended up in a nightmare.

>>> Tabitha Overton has arrived.

[Gary] Yes! Good! See, in mine, I was able to read most peoples thoughts and see the past and present with perfect clarity! But then my vision went black when I hit this game. Also, I was able to see that this game was going to set in motion something huge. I dont know what yet, but Im worried.

[Tabitha] wow, Gary! usually I’d only expect such paranoid delusions from Skitz! so what? you and your pet had similar dreams.

>>> Alexis Roydon has arrived.

[Gary] Screw you, Tabitha!

[Alexis] Woah! What’s going on?

[Alexis] Ugh, Tabitha! Be nice.

[Gary] Ha! Nice? I bet she couldnt even define the word!

>>> All six players are present.

[Jake] Let’s just be civil and play the game. They can go off on their own if they want.

>>> That would actually be unwise.

[Gary] Woah... what?

[Jake] Are you talking to us?

>>> Stick together.

>>> Don’t die.

>>> Game beginning.

The game started off with an opening cutscene this time. The screen started out black and the game’s main theme began playing. A view of the clearing in which they started faded in to the sound of spacey ambience and the arpeggios of a synthesizer. The camera panned down to show a series of six aliens which the kids all silently recognized as being like the ones in their dream. With a sudden thematic switch in the music, the aliens were shown using a variety of powers to besiege a futuristic city inhabited by yet another race of aliens. The carnage only worsened as the music picked up. They slew innocent citizens as well as soldiers. In quick succession, each one was seen gaining some sort of power-up that caused their ability to maim and kill to surge. Then everything dropped out except the spacey ambience and massive alien ships coming to populate the city.

The cutscene disturbed all the kids, but those less familiar with video games assumed it was normal and kept quiet. CH would not dare admit even to herself how unnerving it was. Jake, however, was definitely shaken.

That’s not right! Jake started shaking. Those… things were like the alien in my dream! He insisted he was real-- was he one of those?! Did I make them real with my Power? Am I in cahoots with evil tyrants? No, he was… the game’s starting. Maybe I’ll get some answers.

When the game finally started, each of the players saw their avatars in their huts. They immediately returned to the clearing. The three groups of best friends rushed together. With a single glare at Gary, Tabitha decided to walk away with Alexis apologetically behind. Frank and Constantina sidled away. Gary shrugged and looked at Jake.

“You OK?” he asked.

“How did you know about my dream? Can you read my mind? Can everyone read my mind?”

“No. Your mind is safe. Mind-reading is a part of my Power and only mine. Even with that said, I can’t read yours at any point in the past, present or future.”

“Then how did you know?”

He’s hyperventilating. Maybe I could just not tell… “It was basically a guess, but it was a well-founded one. Despite being unable to see clearly what is to happen with this game, I can sense many things about it. It requires six players each possessing a unique Power and Element. Because of this, I knew we all most likely had similar dreams.”

“What do you know about the aliens?”

“Not much of import to us here and now. They came from a planet without a proper name. Theirs was a violent species that saw killing just an everyday occurrence. The aliens would gauge a creature’s worth based on its strength. Then a band of misfits escaped the annual Cleansing and stumbled upon a video game without a proper title. Then I can’t see anymore.”

“So they do actually exist, and you’re not just messing with me?”

“I’m not messing with you.”

“So your Power works outside your dream?”

“Yes.”

“Man, were those even dreams?”

“Not really, no. It’s complicated. Your brain is still getting enough rest to survive, but you’re still technically awake, I think. What is your Power, may I ask?”

“Realitywarping. I don’t know how it works, though.”

A piercing scream tore from the direction Tabitha and Alexis went. With only a glance at each other, the two sprinted towards them.

Meanwhile, Constantina and Frank were wandering through the forest, talking to each other. She talked ambiguously about her Power and what she did during training. She refused passively to name her Power and explicitly to state what she did, only admitting that she felt horrible about it. Finally Frank had had enough.

“Look, CH, It’s okay! Whatever you did in there, it wasn’t you!”

“How do you know? You don’t even know what I did!”

“I know who you are. I know that if you were to do something as awful as you’re implying, then it isn’t who you are.”

When CH was about to thank her friend, they were attacked! An odd creature which was likely this planet’s equivalent of a wild canine sprang out from the brush and bit Frank. A head-up display appeared on the screen, reminding the players that they were playing a game. A red circle around the players’ portraits in the lower left side of the screen represented the players’ health and a bar across the bottom showed actions the players could perform. Constantina looked at the indecipherable images and decided to press 1 and engage the first power shown. Her avatar thrust its hand forward and a yellow beam of energy branched out in several directions… none of which were that of the monster.

“How?” Frank called.

“Press one!”

Frank looked at his own weird hotbar. Its elements were constantly changing. He wondered how Constantina could make any sense of hers and pressed 1. His avatar reached forward and emitted a yellow beam that wriggled in the air and dealt a lot of damage both to the alien wolf and to CH. The latter panicked and pressed a button at random. A yellow sword materialized in her character’s hand, and she struck the creature, finishing it off.

“Is there any way of making sense of these icons?” Frank asked.

“Not really. Usually there’s a description, but this game doesn’t seem to give one. If you see anything green with a plus sign or something similar, that’d be helpful.”

While Frank was staring at his rapidly changing hotbar when another Frank popped into his room.

“Hello from a few seconds in the future. Press four.” The future Frank then left the room.

Present Frank then pressed 4. At that moment, the icon happened to be a red plus sign against a green background. White energy flew away from Frank’s avatar’s body and into CH’s. He watched with satisfaction as the red health bar above her head filled back up. After this, he jumped back in time to fill in his past self and then back forward into his seat. When he was about to resume his conversation with CH, the two heard a scream from somewhere in the forest. They rushed towards it.

While this ordeal was happening, Tabitha and Alexis happened to be engaging in one of Tabitha’s favorite pastimes: talking about people she dislikes behind their back.

“Why do you act so mean to Gary and Jake?” Alexis asked.

“OK, I am sorry for what I said to Gary. I don’t hate him”

“What is it you have against Jake, then”

“He’s just so fake! He says he’s schizophrenic, but frankly, I don’t buy into it.”

“Really? Did he do something to make you think it’s fake?”

“He told us! I mean, if I had some freaky disease, I wouldn’t run around telling everybody about it! He’s clearly trying to get sympathy! And I really like Gary. He’s a nice guy. But he can’t tell that Skitz is just abusing his benevolence!”

“Have you told him what you think?”

“Yes! He stick stubbornly to his ‘friend.’”

“You know what, next time we meet as a group, I’ll talk to Jake, and you and Gary can talk. Except this time, actually communicate!”

“All right, fine.”

As this conversation came to an end, the two happened upon a huge stone gate. An arch above it bore the inscription: Only to the hands of a man shall this gate open. Of course, Tabitha was furious, but Alexis tried to calm her, reminding her that “man” can refer to a human. Perhaps, in the game’s universe, each species has its own gate and this is humanity’s, she proposed. Tabitha was assuaged and tried to open the door. When she failed, she let out a frustrated scream. Moments later, everyone rushed into the clearing. They were all curious about the red bar above Frank’s head, but more worried about the scream that summoned them all. Tabitha filled them in on the case of the sexist door.

“OK, so… I’ll just open the door?” Frank ventured.

“No!” Tabitha cried to Alexis’ chagrin. “This isn’t right! Some lame-o techie nerd shouldn’t get to impose his misogynistic agenda on us!”

“Why must it be a he?” Frank muttered to CH who shrugged.

“I don’t think the door cares…” Jake chuckled under his breath to Gary.

Tabitha proceeded to give a lengthy tirade about social justice. Alexis stood valiantly behind her friend, but it was obvious that she felt at least a little awkward. At the end of this speech, she insisted that they all sit in front of the door until it opened. Hoping to find a tactful way to open the door, Jake looked at his hotbar. The icon in the first slot depicted a person walking past people with their eyes covered. Figuring this was some sort of invisibility, he pressed 1. The other avatars fell prone, clutching their heads and screaming as though they were utterly terrified of something. Jake maneuvered his avatar to the door and threw it open before allowing himself to break down. He knew the people in real life most likely were a little confused, but he could not convince himself of that. He grabbed his head in real life.

The hell was that, Skitz?!” Tabitha shouted when her character had come to its senses.

“I-I don’t know!” Jake stuttered. “I just- I thought it’d tu-turn me invisible and I--” Jake froze completely. He wanted to type something more, but his muscles would not respond.

“He made a mistake, Tabitha!” The computer’s analyses did not disappoint in interpreting the sharpness in Gary’s voice. “Do you have any clue what those things at the bottom of the screen mean? At least he got the door open!”

“Enough!” Alexis shouted. “Look, there’s a chest.” She pointed at a treasure chest beyond the opened door. “Let’s just open it.”

CH crept out from behind Frank as Tabitha approached the wooden container. Seeing Constantina struck Jake with another pang of guilt. She was overstimulated before he shot them all with Insurmountable Fear. Another angry scream interrupted her thoughts.

“What are these things?” Tabitha cried as she threw several grey coins on the ground.

“Three Shekels,” said Mr. Slick’s voice from no discernible point. “The material from which they are made is similar to gold on your planet in the way of scarcity and value… but Shekels are the only form of currency here, so three are basically worthless.”

“After all that work we get nothing?!”

“All that work?” Mr. Slick came from behind one of the doors, laughing. “That was supposed to be the easiest puzzle of the game! You’re supposed to see ‘only a man can open this door,’ get a male player, and open the door!”

“It wasn’t right!”

“The door doesn’t care!” After an especially tense silence, Mr. Slick finally said, “Well, I’ll get going now…”

“That’s right! Fear our combined power!” Tabitha cheered.

“Your combined power comes nowhere near scary to me. Scripted defeats just feel dirty.”

The players spun around and saw a group of aliens approaching them. The one at the front was covered in scars and had a massive dent in the top of its head. It moved with circular pads. It pointed at the human player, and the group attacked. The kids mashed buttons, but only served to lower their teammates’ health. One by one, their screens went black with only the white text: “Do not wake up.”

Tabitha’s phone lit up with a text from Alexis. “You have to talk to Gary. Tonight.” She groaned and opened up her conversation with Gary. It had been forever since she had texted him. They used to be on really good terms. Rather close friends, in fact.

“Hey, Gary?” she finally sent after spending the better part of forty minutes rewording the message.

“What? Oh no, let me guess. You’re going to warn me about how Jake’s been lying to me about his schizophrenia, right? I didn’t even need my magic all-seeing eye for that.”

“I don’t know. You believe in it so vehemently, but I can’t understand why. I guess what I’m trying it do is ask why you believe him?”

“Why do I believe him?! Why don’t you?!”

“He told us all! He just decided to tell everyone all about his disease out of the blue. I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds like screaming for attention.”

“I told him to tell you all.”

Tabitha sat silently for a couple minutes, trying to process that. “Would you tell me the story from the beginning?”

“I don't think he would like me doing that.”

“Ok.” She was starting genuinely to feel bad. She decided it would be best to text Alexis back.

Alexis’ phone vibrated in her lap. She picked up the device and opened the text.

“I texted Gary.”

“How did it go?”

“Not especially well.”

“Did you rail on him?”

“No. I still think I may have said something wrong, though. He got upset and clammed up like he does.”

“And then you clammed up?”

“The only way to open a clam is to break it, and I neither want to break nor think I can break him. I plan to talk to Jake as soon as I get an opportunity.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“Man, Alex, I’m tired.”

“It’s only… wow. Never mind, it’s actually really late.”

“Well, I mean, it’s only 9:30.”

“Yeah, but it feels like we were playing only for several minutes. But I’m tired too…”

While those two prattled on about time getting screwy, Constantina talked to someone who is -- or should be -- better qualified for that conversation.

“How long have we been playing?” Frank asked CH over the chat client.

“The thing shows that we were only playing for about thirty minutes”

“But it’s so dark! We started at 7:30, right?”

“Right. It should be 8:00 AM, but my computer’s clock shows 9:00 PM”

“What’s odd is that I’m tired like I am at 9:00.”

“Yeah. My meds are wearing off too, I think”

“It’s funny, actually. I think I’m supposed to have some power over time or something, but I have no clue what’s going on with this.”

“Power over time?”

“Did I not tell you that yet? Sorry. They say I’ve got Timebending or something like that. I was able to travel through time, but it almost sounds like I should have some other powers… I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure out as we go along. You still not wanting to tell me about your Power?”

“I don’t know. I’m not wanting to hide my Power as much as what I did”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“I just got really mad, okay? I was sick of Mr. Slick. He gives me a weird feeling”

“Mr. Slick was in your dream?”

“Yeah. I assumed he was in everyone’s dream?”

“I’m probably different because of time stuff.”

“Well, anyway, when I saw him, I got really mad. I created a huge storm. I don’t want to believe it was me... I guess I’m not as much better as I thought”

“No. Don’t do that to yourself! It’s not wrong to get angry, okay.”

“Not that angry! I don’t know what I would have done if I caught him… or the alien there… and they were so excited to meet me…”

“Well, firstly, if you don’t know what you would have done, don’t blame yourself for it. And second, just explain to the alien the next time you see them. If they can’t forgive you, that’s they’re problem.” A brief moment passed. “*their. Dang it, I knew that’d happen sooner or later.”

“They probably hate me”

“Then they're missing out. You’re a wonderful person.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to sleep now.”

“Message me when you wake up?”

“I promise.”

Before Gary’s conversation with Tabitha, at the same time as CH and Frank’s conversation, Gary and Jake held a conversation about similar subjects.

“Gary, can we talk?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“so i have power over reality, right? i can… warp it, i guess?”

“If you have Realitywarping as you said, then yes.”

“so what even is reality then? i mean, it was hard enough already to tell what was real and wasn’t. now everything either is real or can be?”

“Im afraid so.”

“what do I even do? why do we need powers?”

“I dont know that much. All I know is that we have them and they will be extremely important.”

“so… why can’t you read my mind?”

“Youre an Enhanced. Beings with a Power are considered Enhanced. There are several power levels and anyone on any level is unable to use their Power directly on anyone on the same or any higher level.”

“okay. i guess that’s good… don’t really know where i meant to go with that…”

“Ha. Thats all right. Hey, this weather is weird, eh? Its almost… nine thirty! Surely we haven’t been playing that long!”

“uh… i might be partially to blame for that…”

“What did you do?”

“i kinda hoped it would be night so this day would just be over with and suddenly it was night.”

“Yesterday passed pretty quickly too! Was that also you?”

“maybe? i don’t know for sure.”

“Well… Im not sure where I was going with that either. On this mutually awkward note, I guess this is goodnight?”

“sure. goodnight, Gary.”

“Goodnight, Jake.”

The team all crawled into their respective beds, set their alarms for 7:30, and went to sleep.

End Day Two?

In a mysterious location, apparently late at night, two wholly inhuman creatures were congregating. From where they conversed, the cries of humans being subjected to tortures specifically engineered to be as physically painful as well as as emotionally grueling as possible could be heard.

“Is this really necessary?” one whispered with a loud rasp.

“Of course. They have to overcome this in order to progress. It was only a year ago for us, remember?”

“Of course I remember; that’s why I hate doing it to them!”

“I do too, but it’s important.”

The first alien remained silent, but knew the other was right. He only hoped they did not fail.

End Day Two