Post by rayman112 on Dec 1, 2007 17:59:29 GMT -5
Chapter two: Upload!
Rowan Hunter was not surprised when he found himself on his way to the third level. He didn’t quite understand why he was taking the long ride up, but then again he didn’t have to. But for some reason he couldn’t shake how the world seemed so surreal.
“Come on brother what’s taking so long? We have to hurry,” yelled his sister from the trolley’s entrance. That’s right, he thought, if I don’t hurry I’ll be late…but for what? For some reason he couldn’t remember. The world seemed to be rushing passed him and before he realized it he was on the trolley. Lizzie Robin, his childhood friend, was sitting next to him. When had she gotten there and where had his sister gone?
“Silly, I’ve been here the whole time and don’t you remember she went to the bathroom?” she replied. Suddenly, Rowan felt dizzy. When had I asked her that? He thought. Could she read his mind? Or maybe he had asked her without realizing it. But Rowan no longer had time to think about that anymore, because suddenly the trolley dipped to the side slamming its passengers into the aisle or against the windows.
“What was that?” somebody yelled voicing exactly what was on everybody’s minds. But before anyone could answer the trolley nose dived suddenly and everyone fell forward as it began its spiraling decent back to earth. All at once, the world began to spin. Rowan gripped tightly to the chair in front of him. A rip began to tear into the trolley’s roof as jagged claws forced their way into the small vehicle. But no one screamed and no sound could be heard. The claws seemed to have torn through more than jus the train, but through time and space all together!
And, suddenly Rowan was alone. The world melted away, emptying him into a white existence that yielded nothing but eternal despair. All that he had once thought to be reality was suddenly wiped away to show its true ugliness and the memories that he once cherished turned transparent and unimportant. Only the bitter memories of his past remained.
The sudden death of his parents, the jealousy he felt every time he saw the other kids walk home from the play ground with their parents. All came back vividly to him now. Or perhaps, he thought, it had never really left. He had always felt it there like a thorn in his heart…
Before he knew it he was on his knees, tears were streaming from his face and the emptiness continued to close in on him. The loneliness, the despair, all seemed to sneak in on him from the shadows. His heart raced, his breathing had become stressed. The pain was swallowing him! He could already feel his spirit, his soul, drifting further and further away like a leaf caught in a river’s current. The world had turned cold and unyielding and the meaning of everything became trivial. Everything was lost to him now, his friends, his loving grand parents, and even his…sister?
“Brother!” came her disembodied yell that rang through his mind and ears.
Suddenly, a new power filed his limbs as he remembered his purpose in the form of his sister’s face and the second chance he had been given when he received the memory drive.
With all his might Rowan resisted the temptation to give up and pulled himself to his feet.
“What are you doing?” grumbled the voice, a cold whispering that seemed to embody the very despair that filled his heart. Rowan turned in a circle looking for its source but he saw nothing in the emptiness.
“What do you want from me?!” he yelled blindly into the abyss but there was no answer. Instead, a pair of bright cat like eyes appeared out of the darkness.
“Can’t you feel it” asked the eyes “the hopelessness, the loneliness?” Suddenly, Rowan began to feel anger burning up inside of him and he dug his nails into his palms.
“I won’t give up I refuse!”
*______________________*
“It’s too late for that, Mr. Hunter, the test is over,” said Mr. Robin as he lifted the papers off of Rowan’s desk. It had been two weeks since Rowan came back from his trip to the third level and his encounter with the old man.
“Wait, I didn’t write anything on it yet!” pleaded Rowan but, the teacher shook his head.
“You should have thought about that before you fell asleep,” he said as he moved over to the next student’s desk.
In the desk next to him a girl by the name of Lizzie Robin, Mr. Robin’s daughter, giggled. Lizzie lived next door to Rowan and his sister and had been Rowan’s best friend since they were three.
“You sure find the right times to fall asleep,” she commented. Rowan sighed.
“I know,” he replied wryly “I had a hard time sleeping because of these dreams I’ve been having.”
“Yea, I noticed,” she said with a smile “you woke me up with all the screaming you did.”
“Well, at least one good thing has happened,” Rowan said with a smile “I got my memory drive.”
“That’s great!” she said returning the smile “Then maybe we can meet each other on the battle field one day? Right, Rosleta?” As Lizzie said this she pulled out her own memory drive which beeped to life at the mention of its name.
“Correct!” replied Rosleta “What kind of acolyte do you have, Master Hunter?”
Before Rowan could answer the school bell rang signaling that it was the end of school. In an instant the class became a jumble of movement as all of the students stuffed their things into their back packs and hurried for the door. Rowan turned back to Lizzie. Should he tell her about his encounter with the strange man and how he still couldn’t get the device to work? Suddenly he got an idea. One that would buy him time so he wouldn’t have to tell her.
“It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait to see it later in the game,” he said, feeling grateful for his whit.
“Then let’s go,” Lizzie said grabbing him by the arm and tugging towards the door.
“N-now?” he asked “but wait I have to walk Abbey home.”
“Oh please,” she said “you weren’t too worried about her a few days ago. Now come on lets go before the place shuts down!”
*___________________*
A few minutes later, Rowan was taking a familiar seat on the trolley but, this time he wasn’t alone. Lizzie took a seat next to him. For a moment he was reminded of the dream he had in class… Stop that, he thought, that’s not going to happen. It was just a dream. In a desperate attempt to distract himself from his thoughts Rowan pulled his memory drive out from his pocket to examine. The sliding screen was just as blank as it had been when he’d gotten it. There was no sign of life in the small little thing at all.
It was said that an acolyte had the ability to link with its master’s mind and choose its form based off of its master’s personality. Rowan thought back to the dream he had in class. He sighed once more and stuffed the device back into his pocket and looked out the window. Maybe the ride to the third city would be longer than he thought.
The Agilisys building was just as Rowan had remembered it the first time. Compared to the other buildings found on the third level which were normally flat and square. The Agilisys building held an intimidating feel to it because of its indiscreet difference. It was a large dome that stretched high up into the artificial sky, and it had large spires that circulated around the base of its roof.
“You haven’t even seen the best of it,” Lizzie said seemingly reading Rowan’s mind and she started jogging towards the building’s main entrance. Rowan followed, while feeling that he had missed a lot of details when he came to the place prior to this evening.
As the pair started jogging closer to the building they started seeing people. Most of them were employees, identifiable by their grey uniforms. Rowan nodded to them before he and Lizzie walked passed the sliding door entrance of the building.
The inside of the building looked like the waiting room of a doctor’s office. There was a couch, a table, and a desk with a secretary. Rowan noticed that behind the desk there was a shelf display of different memory drives.
With Lizzie in the lead the pair walked over to the secretary’s desk. Stationed at the desk was a short stubby little man with glasses. He was sitting in his chair with a coffee in hand and enjoying a magazine when the two teens stood before him.
“Excuse me um-,” Lizzie leaned closer to read his name tag “Curtis, we’d like to-,”
“Will you be playing the game or purchasing a memory drive?” the man interrupted, not even bothering to look up from his magazine. Rowan and Lizzie exchanged looks.
“Will be playing,” Lizzie replied. Before answering Curtis turned a page in his magazine.
“Take the elevator on the right.”
Rowan hadn’t noticed this at first but at the far end of the waiting room there were two elevators, one to the left and one to the right.
“Why can’t we get on the left elevator?” Rowan found himself asking before he realized it. The clerk looked away from his magazine only long enough to give Rowan an odd look as if to say “Why do you think, moron?”
“Rowan, hurry up lets go!” called Lizzie who was already entering the elevator.
The duo stepped out onto a small slender platform stretched out before an immense cavern that trailed down farther than the eye could see. Along the cavern walls over thousands of pod like structures cork screwing down into the cavern.
“This is…” Rowan started, unable to finish his sentence.
“Yea it is amazing,” said a voice. Rowan and Lizzie both looked up in the direction of the voice to see a man on a small platform hovering down to the edge of the platform. Rowan and Lizzie exchanged looks before they walked over to greet him.
“Hi, my name is Terry,” said the man “I’ll be your mechanic for the day.” Just looking at Terry made Rowan feel at ease. Terry had black hair and dark eyes that constantly seemed to hold a twinkle of excitement, but what was most noticeable was how warm his smile was.
“Nice to meet you I’m Lizzie, and this is Rowan,” she said as she entered the vehicle followed by Rowan.
“Is this your first time going to the game world?” Terry asked as he lowered the platform-like vehicle down into the cavern.
“No, this is my second time but it’s my friends first time,” said Lizzie motioning to Rowan. Terry smiled and nodded as he stopped the hover vehicle at an empty pod. Inside it Rowan could see a leather seat and a helmet monitor that the person using the pod would have to wear.
“Ladies fist,” said Terry motioning for Lizzie to go into the pod.
“See you soon,” Lizzie said waving “goodbye” to Rowan as she stepped into the pod. Terry shut the pod door and started pressing buttons on the control panel next to it.
“What are you doing?” Rowan asked curiously.
“Checking for viruses,” replied Terry without looking away from his work, “because we wouldn’t want anything happening to ya would we?”
Once he finished his search Terry pressed a button on the hover vehicle and they lowered away from Lizzie’s pod deeper into the cavern
“Here’s our stop kid,” said Terry, stopping before an empty pod. Rowan stepped into the pod. It had a leather seat similar to the one he saw in Lizzie’s pod. However, one thing he hadn’t noticed earlier was the memory drive slot on the seat’s arm rest. Rowan sat on the leather seat and found that it was extremely comfortable.
“Are you ready?” asked Terry starring in from the pod’s entrance. Rowan nodded. Giving Rowan one last smile, Terry shut the pod’s door and suddenly, it was dark. For awhile Rowan sat in the dark pod and nothing happened. He was beginning to wonder if Terry had forgotten about him before he heard Terry’s voice come in from a speaker inside the pod.
“Alright kid the game’s ready,” came Terry’s voice “put the helmet on.” Not finding that he had any choice in the matter Rowan complied with his directions and placed the helmet on his head and waited.
“Nothings happening,” replied Rowan, beginning to have second thoughts.
“Did you place the memory drive in its slot?” asked Terry. Rowan remembered the slot he had seen on the arm rest and quickly placed his memory drive into it.
“Alright kid, get ready for the ride of your life.” Terry warned him, un-aware of how true his words would soon be.
Rowan Hunter was not surprised when he found himself on his way to the third level. He didn’t quite understand why he was taking the long ride up, but then again he didn’t have to. But for some reason he couldn’t shake how the world seemed so surreal.
“Come on brother what’s taking so long? We have to hurry,” yelled his sister from the trolley’s entrance. That’s right, he thought, if I don’t hurry I’ll be late…but for what? For some reason he couldn’t remember. The world seemed to be rushing passed him and before he realized it he was on the trolley. Lizzie Robin, his childhood friend, was sitting next to him. When had she gotten there and where had his sister gone?
“Silly, I’ve been here the whole time and don’t you remember she went to the bathroom?” she replied. Suddenly, Rowan felt dizzy. When had I asked her that? He thought. Could she read his mind? Or maybe he had asked her without realizing it. But Rowan no longer had time to think about that anymore, because suddenly the trolley dipped to the side slamming its passengers into the aisle or against the windows.
“What was that?” somebody yelled voicing exactly what was on everybody’s minds. But before anyone could answer the trolley nose dived suddenly and everyone fell forward as it began its spiraling decent back to earth. All at once, the world began to spin. Rowan gripped tightly to the chair in front of him. A rip began to tear into the trolley’s roof as jagged claws forced their way into the small vehicle. But no one screamed and no sound could be heard. The claws seemed to have torn through more than jus the train, but through time and space all together!
And, suddenly Rowan was alone. The world melted away, emptying him into a white existence that yielded nothing but eternal despair. All that he had once thought to be reality was suddenly wiped away to show its true ugliness and the memories that he once cherished turned transparent and unimportant. Only the bitter memories of his past remained.
The sudden death of his parents, the jealousy he felt every time he saw the other kids walk home from the play ground with their parents. All came back vividly to him now. Or perhaps, he thought, it had never really left. He had always felt it there like a thorn in his heart…
Before he knew it he was on his knees, tears were streaming from his face and the emptiness continued to close in on him. The loneliness, the despair, all seemed to sneak in on him from the shadows. His heart raced, his breathing had become stressed. The pain was swallowing him! He could already feel his spirit, his soul, drifting further and further away like a leaf caught in a river’s current. The world had turned cold and unyielding and the meaning of everything became trivial. Everything was lost to him now, his friends, his loving grand parents, and even his…sister?
“Brother!” came her disembodied yell that rang through his mind and ears.
Suddenly, a new power filed his limbs as he remembered his purpose in the form of his sister’s face and the second chance he had been given when he received the memory drive.
With all his might Rowan resisted the temptation to give up and pulled himself to his feet.
“What are you doing?” grumbled the voice, a cold whispering that seemed to embody the very despair that filled his heart. Rowan turned in a circle looking for its source but he saw nothing in the emptiness.
“What do you want from me?!” he yelled blindly into the abyss but there was no answer. Instead, a pair of bright cat like eyes appeared out of the darkness.
“Can’t you feel it” asked the eyes “the hopelessness, the loneliness?” Suddenly, Rowan began to feel anger burning up inside of him and he dug his nails into his palms.
“I won’t give up I refuse!”
*______________________*
“It’s too late for that, Mr. Hunter, the test is over,” said Mr. Robin as he lifted the papers off of Rowan’s desk. It had been two weeks since Rowan came back from his trip to the third level and his encounter with the old man.
“Wait, I didn’t write anything on it yet!” pleaded Rowan but, the teacher shook his head.
“You should have thought about that before you fell asleep,” he said as he moved over to the next student’s desk.
In the desk next to him a girl by the name of Lizzie Robin, Mr. Robin’s daughter, giggled. Lizzie lived next door to Rowan and his sister and had been Rowan’s best friend since they were three.
“You sure find the right times to fall asleep,” she commented. Rowan sighed.
“I know,” he replied wryly “I had a hard time sleeping because of these dreams I’ve been having.”
“Yea, I noticed,” she said with a smile “you woke me up with all the screaming you did.”
“Well, at least one good thing has happened,” Rowan said with a smile “I got my memory drive.”
“That’s great!” she said returning the smile “Then maybe we can meet each other on the battle field one day? Right, Rosleta?” As Lizzie said this she pulled out her own memory drive which beeped to life at the mention of its name.
“Correct!” replied Rosleta “What kind of acolyte do you have, Master Hunter?”
Before Rowan could answer the school bell rang signaling that it was the end of school. In an instant the class became a jumble of movement as all of the students stuffed their things into their back packs and hurried for the door. Rowan turned back to Lizzie. Should he tell her about his encounter with the strange man and how he still couldn’t get the device to work? Suddenly he got an idea. One that would buy him time so he wouldn’t have to tell her.
“It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait to see it later in the game,” he said, feeling grateful for his whit.
“Then let’s go,” Lizzie said grabbing him by the arm and tugging towards the door.
“N-now?” he asked “but wait I have to walk Abbey home.”
“Oh please,” she said “you weren’t too worried about her a few days ago. Now come on lets go before the place shuts down!”
*___________________*
A few minutes later, Rowan was taking a familiar seat on the trolley but, this time he wasn’t alone. Lizzie took a seat next to him. For a moment he was reminded of the dream he had in class… Stop that, he thought, that’s not going to happen. It was just a dream. In a desperate attempt to distract himself from his thoughts Rowan pulled his memory drive out from his pocket to examine. The sliding screen was just as blank as it had been when he’d gotten it. There was no sign of life in the small little thing at all.
It was said that an acolyte had the ability to link with its master’s mind and choose its form based off of its master’s personality. Rowan thought back to the dream he had in class. He sighed once more and stuffed the device back into his pocket and looked out the window. Maybe the ride to the third city would be longer than he thought.
The Agilisys building was just as Rowan had remembered it the first time. Compared to the other buildings found on the third level which were normally flat and square. The Agilisys building held an intimidating feel to it because of its indiscreet difference. It was a large dome that stretched high up into the artificial sky, and it had large spires that circulated around the base of its roof.
“You haven’t even seen the best of it,” Lizzie said seemingly reading Rowan’s mind and she started jogging towards the building’s main entrance. Rowan followed, while feeling that he had missed a lot of details when he came to the place prior to this evening.
As the pair started jogging closer to the building they started seeing people. Most of them were employees, identifiable by their grey uniforms. Rowan nodded to them before he and Lizzie walked passed the sliding door entrance of the building.
The inside of the building looked like the waiting room of a doctor’s office. There was a couch, a table, and a desk with a secretary. Rowan noticed that behind the desk there was a shelf display of different memory drives.
With Lizzie in the lead the pair walked over to the secretary’s desk. Stationed at the desk was a short stubby little man with glasses. He was sitting in his chair with a coffee in hand and enjoying a magazine when the two teens stood before him.
“Excuse me um-,” Lizzie leaned closer to read his name tag “Curtis, we’d like to-,”
“Will you be playing the game or purchasing a memory drive?” the man interrupted, not even bothering to look up from his magazine. Rowan and Lizzie exchanged looks.
“Will be playing,” Lizzie replied. Before answering Curtis turned a page in his magazine.
“Take the elevator on the right.”
Rowan hadn’t noticed this at first but at the far end of the waiting room there were two elevators, one to the left and one to the right.
“Why can’t we get on the left elevator?” Rowan found himself asking before he realized it. The clerk looked away from his magazine only long enough to give Rowan an odd look as if to say “Why do you think, moron?”
“Rowan, hurry up lets go!” called Lizzie who was already entering the elevator.
The duo stepped out onto a small slender platform stretched out before an immense cavern that trailed down farther than the eye could see. Along the cavern walls over thousands of pod like structures cork screwing down into the cavern.
“This is…” Rowan started, unable to finish his sentence.
“Yea it is amazing,” said a voice. Rowan and Lizzie both looked up in the direction of the voice to see a man on a small platform hovering down to the edge of the platform. Rowan and Lizzie exchanged looks before they walked over to greet him.
“Hi, my name is Terry,” said the man “I’ll be your mechanic for the day.” Just looking at Terry made Rowan feel at ease. Terry had black hair and dark eyes that constantly seemed to hold a twinkle of excitement, but what was most noticeable was how warm his smile was.
“Nice to meet you I’m Lizzie, and this is Rowan,” she said as she entered the vehicle followed by Rowan.
“Is this your first time going to the game world?” Terry asked as he lowered the platform-like vehicle down into the cavern.
“No, this is my second time but it’s my friends first time,” said Lizzie motioning to Rowan. Terry smiled and nodded as he stopped the hover vehicle at an empty pod. Inside it Rowan could see a leather seat and a helmet monitor that the person using the pod would have to wear.
“Ladies fist,” said Terry motioning for Lizzie to go into the pod.
“See you soon,” Lizzie said waving “goodbye” to Rowan as she stepped into the pod. Terry shut the pod door and started pressing buttons on the control panel next to it.
“What are you doing?” Rowan asked curiously.
“Checking for viruses,” replied Terry without looking away from his work, “because we wouldn’t want anything happening to ya would we?”
Once he finished his search Terry pressed a button on the hover vehicle and they lowered away from Lizzie’s pod deeper into the cavern
“Here’s our stop kid,” said Terry, stopping before an empty pod. Rowan stepped into the pod. It had a leather seat similar to the one he saw in Lizzie’s pod. However, one thing he hadn’t noticed earlier was the memory drive slot on the seat’s arm rest. Rowan sat on the leather seat and found that it was extremely comfortable.
“Are you ready?” asked Terry starring in from the pod’s entrance. Rowan nodded. Giving Rowan one last smile, Terry shut the pod’s door and suddenly, it was dark. For awhile Rowan sat in the dark pod and nothing happened. He was beginning to wonder if Terry had forgotten about him before he heard Terry’s voice come in from a speaker inside the pod.
“Alright kid the game’s ready,” came Terry’s voice “put the helmet on.” Not finding that he had any choice in the matter Rowan complied with his directions and placed the helmet on his head and waited.
“Nothings happening,” replied Rowan, beginning to have second thoughts.
“Did you place the memory drive in its slot?” asked Terry. Rowan remembered the slot he had seen on the arm rest and quickly placed his memory drive into it.
“Alright kid, get ready for the ride of your life.” Terry warned him, un-aware of how true his words would soon be.
