"What new world!" William screamed defiantly at the towering figure who looked down at him as one would a stubborn ant.
YOU'LL BE GIVEN A GUIDE, THIS WILL CONTAIN EVERYTHING YOU NEED, THE RULES OF THE GAME, YOUR POWERS AND….
'It ignored me completely'
…. SPECIAL ABILITIES, IT'LL GUIDE YOU ALONG ON YOUR JOURNEY, USE IT TO YOUR FILL BUT I MUST WARN YOU, IT COMES WITH A PRICE.
'A price? What do you know this might be a scam afterall.'
YOU'LL BE GIVEN A LIFE SPAN OF TWENTY FOUR HOURS.
'A life span of twenty hours, what does that even mean? If I ask, I'll just be ignored again.'
AND YOU'LL HAVE TO SURVIVE FOR SEVENTY TWO.
"That doesn't make any sense," someone said, which was loud enough for William and the others to hear.
William turned and saw the young man that had said it, it was a round faced boy with even rounder glasses.
When he realized everyone had heard his outburst he shrinked alway and his face flushed with red and as William watched him his face only got redder the more he thought about it.
'He's not wrong.:
William couldn't take it anymore, his worries were mounting, so he screamed at it again. "What do you mean we've only got a twenty-four hour lifespan?"
The statue stopped talking and glared down at him, but william stood his ground and said,
Then how can we survive for three days if we've only got a day to live. The crowd began to murmur his sentiment and even mimic his courage, their voices quickly grew louder and louder as the statue calmly watched them all.
They heard the creaking of rocks like a large door was being moved but it was just the statue moving itself to its original position.
GIVE IT TIME, YOU'LL FIND A WAY!
Suddenly its eyes shone brighter than they ever had and the whole crowd, including William. screamed.
An immense pain had struck them all, it was the statue's passing gift. They all grabbed their arms as the pain burned from there, they groaned and cried and screamed at it
"What are you doing to us?"
YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN A TREASURE, NOW BEGONE!
Instantly everyone collapsed into a deep slumber.
William saw her on the train again, all alone and patiently waiting.
[GUIDE ACTIVATED]
[NONE:GLITCH IN EFFECT]
These words appeared on a large blue screen superimposed over his dream, he could still see her faintly through the screen but he couldn't get the screen to go away.
Glitch? That sounds bad. Did he mention anything about a glitch?
The screen flickered and the information on it changed completely.
[TIME ACQUIRED GUIDE]
[PLAYER SUMMARY]
[TIME LEFT: 24:00:00]
[RESOURCES: NONE]
[TOKENS: NONE]
[BASE ABILITIES:
[1] HORUS (THE EYE)
[2] TRANSFER (+)
[3] STEAL (-)
[4] SHIELD]
******
'Jeez, what's all this jargon now? Twenty four hours as promised, unless that's twenty for minutes unless we're counting every millisecond.'
'I've got no resources, no shame in that, whatever that means. No token either, boy I'm really missing out on all the fun.'
'Horus? Is that the eye of Horus or pizza franchise, oh right it says it there.'
'Transfer, steal, shield, right.'
'Special abilities, I've got nothing too… wait there's that glitch again.'
'Maybe I should have said no, probably be reborn as an animal already, something intelligent, like a dolphin or a crow. Nah a crow, they hold grudges, that's why I can shit on all their cards, every single one of them, everyone that had a hand in getting me killed will be faced with the minor inconvenience of wiping shit off their cars for as long as I live!'
Fuck! What now?
Soon he began to feel wet as he slowly regained his consciousness and before he knew it the blue screen disappeared and everything faded to black.
'Damn it, I'm getting sick of this.'
He opened his eyes and realized he was lying face down in a pool of water
He gasped for air then quickly pulled his face out of the pool and began coughing up water.
He could hear others doing the same, he looked around and recognized a couple people from before he was unconscious.
From his left to his right, they were people everywhere and behind them all was a wall of darkness that surrounded everyone.
The light from the room came from a single spot light over there, they couldn't tell where the light was coming from.
William looked straight ahead and saw the only path that led out of this dark place, it was a tunnel,round and made of cement with steel pipes running out of it.
William got up and looked around some more, to his dismay there was no other path.
William scratched his head as he thought over what his next move might be.
'Maybe there's a path hidden in the darkness, I don't like to be forced into anything, looks like that block head is trying to force us all down those tunnels.'
"It must be the entrance to the trials," someone said. The voice sounded familiar to William so he turned and it was the round face boy from before.
"Don't you play video games, he said to the person closest to him. We've only got twenty four hours, you don't want to go off the designed part, that could be very dangerous."
"Right!"
But I can see that our time hasn't started moving yet.
William looked at him and wondered if he was on drugs or something as he appeared to be looking intensely at nothing with his palm held out in front of him.
"Eye of Horus? Should I use that?"
William gasped as the words left the boys mouth, he remembered he had seen it too, but where? His dreams were coming up all blurry.
"What are you looking at?" William asked him.
"Can't you see it?"
"No."
"Must be the privacy settings," the boy said to himself in a whisper.
'This kid is even more odd than me.'
He walked up to william and tried to touch him and william got defensive and immediately the boy apologize.
"Sorry, I thought I'd show you."
"Do you have to touch me to do?"
"Yes"
Okay, William dropped his guard and the boy placed his hand on his shoulder and suddenly he could see a small blue screen floating over the boy's hand.
"Woah?"
"You must have it too, that's the treasure he talked about."
"Treasure huh? But how did you learn to use it so fast?"
"I don't know, it appeared when I was unconscious and when I woke up, I've just been trying to understand it ever since."
"Damn, how long was I out?"
"Try getting it out."
"Get what out? ooh right. How?"
"It must be in your palm, it seems like the ideal place, so just try to flex it."
William couldn't help feeling like an idiot as he repeatedly flex his right hand over and over again but nothing happened.
"Try the other hand."
William did the same thing with the other hand but still nothing happened.
"You could try doing it with more enthusiasm."
*Enthusiasm?"
"Yes, with more intention, do it like you mean it."
William furrowed his brow and gave in. "Well I guess I'll try."
William raised his hand in front of his face and stared at it like they was so much more to see there,
"Can you see it?" he asked william.
"No?"
William sighed then close and open his hand,
WHOOSH, PING!
The blue screen popped out, hovering over his hand and it was just like he had remembered it in the dream but this time something was different, something was counting down.