The Game

The 2020s, Earth

First-Person PoV

Welcome to the Roaring 2020s, where a pandemic goes rampant and the Stock Market plummets. We have people looting stores, and Facebook moms who worship crystals. What a great time to be alive. Me, I stay in my apartment alone. Just me, some microwaved dinners, and my PC. I just play video games, read some novels, and browse articles about military history in my little refuge from the collapsing society outside. Some people tell me I'm an introverted nerd, I tell them "Shut the fuck up."

Anyways, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Samuel, just Samuel. I´m one of those orphans who never knew anything about their parents. I only know that my parents went missing while on vacation to Italy, they were last seen at the Vatican. They were never found. Sucks, but when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade and argue with strangers on the internet.

Right now, I'm just coming home from my job at the local pizzeria, not the kind with creepy animatronics, the kind where we make Italians cry for mercy. Basically every pizza store in the world. Anyways, I walk up the stairs to my apartment on the 10th Floor, they never sent someone down to fix the elevator. As I reach my door, I notice a brown, unmarked package underneath a small pile of bills and advertisements. I reach down a pick it up. There was nothing written about the sender or any stamps. There was only my name with the word 'Earth' written next to it.

I brought the box into the house and set it down on my desk. I used a pair of scissors to cut away the ropes securing the wrapping paper. Inside was a small book titled: 'The Game', it did not have any cover illustration and appeared extremely old, and its pages were made of papyrus. At least it wasn't a pipe bomb or something. I decided that I would give the book a read before returning it to the post office tomorrow.

I cracked open a can of coke and read through the book. It was quite interesting, it was about multi-dimmensional gods summoning unique individuals, known as 'Heros' from across the multiverse to compete in a competition, the Heros would represent the ideologies, culture, and technology of their home worlds. They would gain the ability to summon anything they want from their world to build a nation that would compete against those from other worlds for dominance. The hero whose nation comes out on top of the others would be given the chance to return home, while the others would be forced to keep competing.

The Heros would be granted the gift of longevity, meaning although they don't age, they can still be killed. If a hero's nation was destroyed but survived, they would be granted a second chance to create a new civilisation. If they were killed, a new hero would take their place. Every century, heroes from newly discovered worlds in the multiverse would be summoned to the game. In the last line of text it was written:

'Now as another hundred years have passed, a new hero, from the newly discovered worlds, shall join the fray. From the new world of 'Earth' a hero by the name of...'

The words suddenly glowed brightly, the book started to flow in the air, the pages flipping. From the corner of my eye I see a new word being spelt out in the book:

S - a - m - u - e - l

The light intensifies again and my surroundings are consumed by the bright light. I blink, and find myself in the abyss. There is no sound, no movement, no light.

< Welcome hero. >

I feel a shock go down my spine as the sudden voice breaks apart the silence, I frantically look around, searching for the source of the sound.

"Who's there? Where the hell am I?"

< Do not be afraid hero, you have been chosen by the Grimoire to represent your home world, Earth, in The Game. > Replied the voice. It seemed to come from all around, like surround sound in a cinema. "I must have fallen asleep while reading that dumb book..." I mutter.

< This is not a dream, you have truly been summoned to represent Earth in The Game. > said the voice, attempting to convince me that I really have just been teleported by higher beings.

"Well damn, has humanity really gone so low that I'm the best candidate?"

< It is unknown how the Grimoire picks who is worthy. Your world has just been discovered and chosen in the multiverse, and you represent Earth. >

"Yes, I've read the book, I'm not illiterate. Who are you anyway?"

< I am merely a construct created by the gods specially to orient new arrivals to The Game. I have no name. >

"I see. Well I'm Samuel, you probably already know that."

< Correct. >

"So now what do I do?"

< You will now undergo the process of creating a civilisation that reflects your world. >

"Umm... okay, so how do I do that?"

A box appeared in front of me. < Inside the box is a piece of information technology unique to your world. > I stepped forward and opened it. "So is it like a notebook? Or something?" It was a laptop.

"Huh, cool." I fired up the laptop which started up almost immediately. "Must have a really good SSD." As the laptop starts up, a program is already up and running, called hero management. It looked similar to Command Prompt. The laptop didn't seem to have any connection but had infinite battery life. < I've never seen anything like that before. > said the orientation assistant. "Really? That's cool I guess." < Write: 'Nation Creation'.

I typed out:

C\: /NationCreation

|System |\:

S\: Welcome user.

S\: Running process: 'NationCreation'

S\: 50%...

S\: 99%...

S\: Success!

S\: Welcome to the Nation Creation process.

S\: Your technological year has been selected based on your area of expertise.

S\: Earth Technology Year: 1942

"I'm more of a jack of all trades though, can you make it 2020?"

S\: Technological Year has been set. You may upgrade it by doing research.

"Seriously? Well fine, I'll make do..."

S\: Pick starting location:

A map appeared, there were about more than 50 nations alongside some smaller states on the map. I decided on picking a small region south of a kingdom situated in a heavily forested area called the 'Kingdom of Silvestria' as well as the 'Kaze Kingdom'. Most of the coastline had already been taken, so one of my goals will be to establish good relations with both nations.

"Can you tell me anything about the Kingdom of Silvestria and Kaze?" I asked.

< I am not allowed to provide any information about what is happening within The Game to you at the moment. >

"Damn all right." I hit the enter key and wait for the last instruction.

S\: Input name of Civilisation:

"Well shit, I suck at naming things... Well since I'm representing Earth, how about..."

S\: Loading. Please hold...

S\: 25%...

S\: 50%...

S\: 60%...

S\: 67%...

S\: 88%...

S\: 97%...

S\: Success!

S\: The nation of < Terra > has been created. Welcome to The Game, Hero.

< Creation sequence completed, transporting hero to The Game... >

The ground below me starts to glow before suddenly I feel myself falling... and falling... and falling... before I look up to see the blue sky above me. Somehow, I manage to land softly on a patch of grass.

< Welcome to The Game hero Samuel, the Council of Game Masters wish you the best of luck. >