[Pulse]
.:Location: Land of Portum:.
Loading bits...
Processing world...
Uploading data...
Welcome to Novum Vita. Enjoy your stay.
Pulse opened his eyes to a brand new world. It was hard trying to realize that he wasn't actually in the real world anymore and that the maid bringing him a glass of orange juice wasn't actually a real person with any real feelings, but a simulated program made with codes and data. Their hands brushed as he received the glass from her and she felt warm and real and... No. He shook his head. He couldn't allow himself to believe that this was reality or he would fall into despairing delusions. That was just not a road he needed to travel down. After all, he had enough wrong with him in the first place. He didn't need delusional maniac to that list. Keeping the ties between reality and fiction was the number one rule in the book of rules and instructions given to him when he first learned about this game. At the very least, he'd follow it.
He stared down at his glass of orange juice and frowned when he realized he couldn't make out a reflection. The color was too solid. With a sigh, he drank his down and pulled himself out of the bed of the hotel room and got himself dressed in the outfit he'd designed for himself the day before. It wasn't anything special, but it was comfortable and flexible and just versatile enough to get him through the game without too much trouble. He'd probably need to look around for some armor or or something thicker later on, but for now, this would have to do.
Just as he was pulling his shirt over his head, a voice sounded in his ear. "Tavrin, welcome to day two of Virtual Loss. How are you enjoying the game so far? Did you do as we asked and stay indoors for the first day?"
Pulse sighed dramatically and ran a hand through his hair to fix it up. The best thing about being in a video game was looking flawless without even trying. Perfectly unblemished skin, no bedhead whatsoever, and he got to wear the same outfit every day without the consequences of having to wash it or worry about it getting dirty. The dirt would brush right off. The only issue was it getting cut up, but if he did what he planned to do, like always, then that shouldn't be too much of a problem. "Of course I did. I'm not going to do something stupid and get myself deleted on the first day. It's not like it's my fault the game is busted. You told the other players about it, right? Do the rejects know it, too? Where even are they?"
There was a pause from the voice. He could just imagine one of those old, blind idiots squinting at a screen through their glasses trying to find where each individual player was on the map. Unfortunately, Pulse didn't have that kind of knowledge. That was only for the game masters. They could see the position of everyone in the game, players and hackers both, at any given time. What they couldn't see was where the keys were. Apparently, it was randomized or something like that. That's why this was supposed to just be a simple test run. They were supposed to find the keys and beat the game, then the game would reset and the game makers would see if it got randomized again and all this other stuff that Pulse didn't really pay all that much attention to because he was too busy being way overly excited to get into this game. Yeah, a lot of fun this turned out to be. Now he was stuck with no way out and those idiots upstairs were just spazzing out about every little thing.
The voice returned. "They're in the hotel with you. The rej...er, Hackers appear to all be in Portum, too, but they're...scattered for some reason. The original game files were meant to start the player out in the Portum Hotel. The player would start out with a key--you still have your key, don't you?"
"Yes, I still have the stupid key." He felt his pocket just to make sure and it was definitely still there. "Look, I know all of this stuff already. Can't you game masters go bug the other players about their safety regulations for the hundredth time or something?"
"The others are doing it while you and I are talking. There's more than one of us here, you know, Tavrin. You met them all. Now really isn't the time to be forgetful." Pulse swore he heard just a slight 'tsk' somewhere in that suspiciously passive aggressive sentence, but he didn't care enough to call the old guy out on it. Man, he just wanted to reach into his head and strangle the guy. It was his fault, and all the other smart guys up there who developed this game, that he and the others were in this supposed mess. Now the whole game was ruined. He couldn't even have his fun because they were being all safety conscious and junk. Yeah, well, bump that. He wasn't going to listen to everything they had to say. He risked some serious trouble coming here to be in this game. This was the greatest thing to ever happen to him and he wasn't going to let a little glitch ruin that. He was still going to play the game the way he wanted to play it.
Pulse left the room and looked each way down the hall. The rooms were closed and he wasn't a sociable enough guy to bother talking to them. "You should make friends with the other players and even the hackers. There is strength in numbers and we don't want any of you getting separated in the game."
"Do you have an off button or something? You're like that stupid fairy in Zelda. I just want to smack you on the ground and stomp you into fairy dust." Pulse rolled his eyes and went to the lobby, his foot stopping at the last step as he made it just in time to witness a total crash course into humiliation-ville. Some poor faceless girl was apparently trying to carry too many trays and slipped and fell. Pulse glanced over at her to check if she was alright--of course she was alright, she was just a computer simulation--and there was blood coming from her hand where a shard of glass cut into her palm.
"Jezzie! Are you okay?" And just on cue, a faceless boy just her age came running to the rescue. He leaned on one knee to check her hand and Pulse swore he was going to puke at how obvious it was that they were some sort of in-game couple or something.
Suddenly, that annoying voice came buzzing from inside his head again. "Watch carefully. This is an important plot point in the game."