The idea of the game was simple. A broken crown, the shards scattered across eleven different realms.
When the game was first teased, it got a lot of publicity. A large amount of people pre-ordering the game, myself included.
But after three whole years of nothing from the devs of the game, people lost interest, taking it off wishlists and overall just forgetting it's existence.
But it was still there, and I'd still had it pre-ordered.
My mouse hovered over the few games in my library, unable to make up my mind. Then something appears. The game. 'Crowned Shards'.
I recognised the name faintly. Something I'd bought ages ago. After clicking on the game, I realise it had already been downloaded. While it loads on my computer, I trace the edge of the blank screen with my mouse absentmindedly.
Then the application shuts, my computer powering down along with my lights. Plunged in darkness, I jump to my feet, startled. Did the power go out? It must have. I fumble for my phone, which had been sitting on the desk before me, but my fingers glide through the empty air.
But it wasn't just my desk that was gone. I back up a step, expecting to stumble over my chair, but find only a space where it had been previously.
I spin around frantically, my eyes still not adjusting to the darkness. Wait. It was still day time. I had windows in my room. Why is it so dark?
What the hell?
A strange scent of rotted wood faintly seeps into the room.
The lights suddenly flicker back on, but not from the light bulb above my head. From a candle. A candle sitting on the floor in front of me. But everything was different.
The carpeted floor was now boards, rough and worn. The walls were wooden too, uneven and unstable-looking. I fall back, eyes wide.
Catching myself with my hands, my eyes catch on something falling from thin air. A book. Or, maybe the word tome is more appropriate. It lands with a loud thud on the floorboards, right in front of the candle.
Immediately, I lean forward on my knees, reaching for the old, brown book. It's pages are thick and leathery, the corners rounded from use.
It's smell is distinct and musky, exactly how it looks like it would smell.
I turn the cover, staring at the words inked onto the first flimsy yellow page.
'Thank you for downloading Crowned Shards.'
I drop the tome with a loud thud that echoes in my ears. It keeps echoing. Is that... my heartbeat? My heart thuds. What's going on. My trembling fingers reach to feel my face, a burning need to feel something familiar taking over my actions.
Surely this isn't real. It's some sort of hallucination. I shut my eyes, hands trembling as I cover my ears, pushing until all I can hear is white noise. But despite this, the sound of a little ding is clear and audible. My hands drop the ground is shock.
I snap my head around to where the noise sounded to my left. A little yellow dot with writing beside it is suspended in the air, facing right at me.
'Objective: Read the manual.'
My head slowly turns to look at the book. Another little yellow dot sits above it. The manual?
I try to steady my breathing. I should go along with this. Even if it's just some kind of induced hallucination, going along with it can't do any harm.
My trembling fingers pick the book up again and hold is closer to the flickering candle light.
I reread the words on the first page. Is this the game? Am I playing the game right now? Of course I'd read things about people becoming a part of a video game, but... doesn't that seem... kinda cliche? And... unoriginal?
The teasers didn't go into depth about the game, but it had said a few things about it. The basic premise of the game was to restore the crown, which had been shattered into eleven pieces. Each piece was located in a different realm across the planet of Aaveryian, the game's setting. I guess this book would probably say more about it.
The next yellowed page has a splattering of ink across it, making the words difficult to read.
'Aaveryian - the world without a king. For almost 100 years, this world has been without any royal family or world-wide ruler after the rebellion of the Last Prince, Hugh Lance of the Lance Dynasty.'
A dynasty? I wasn't a historian, but I am about to graduate from high school. A dynasty was like a royal family, though that much could be pretty much inferred. But the idea of a prince's rebellion isn't original either. Whatever.
'Prince Hugh, on the day of his crowning, post his father's death, broke the crown. The eleven pieces scattered, falling from the palace, located on a floating island in the sky. Each shard was found in a different realm. But -'
The spilt ink makes it impossible to read further. On the next page, it's just blank. Flicking through the book, the rest is just blank too.
I tilt the book, trying to see through the ink to no avail.
Setting down the tome, I turn to look at the objective again. But this time it's different.
'Open inventory -press i.'
That's helpful.
I lean back on my heel, squinting in the faint candle light. There's one window in the room, but it's shutters are closed. I stand up slowly and make my way over to the window. Digging my fingers into the rotted wood, I manage to fling one open.
Outside, brick buildings line both sides of a cobbled street. Not a single person is out there. In fact, not even the lights are on in the houses. I turn back to the flickering candle and dusty book, sitting in the centre of the dim room.
Sitting down on the floor, I lean against the hard wood-paneled wall. I gotta work out just what's going on right now.
Sighing, I slump down. What the hell's going on?
A sudden ding sounds again. My head jerks up to find a timer above my head. 2:58. Then 2:57. It keeps going down. I jump to my feet again, eyes wide. A timer?
"Wait-" I half-shout, unsure of what I'm trying to accomplish. Suddenly, a pause symbol appears in front of me as the rest of my vision dims. Three options are written, hovering beneath the pause symbol.
'Controls.'
'User.'
'Restart.'
I tentatively reach out a hand for the first option. 'Controls'.
'Change controls to physical?'
'Yes.'
'No.'
I select 'Yes.'
The menu closes and suddenly the objective's changed.
'Open inventory - control panel.'
Another yellow dot appears above my wrist with a ding.
I roll up my black sleeve and see a small mark on the inner part of my wrist, right below the palm. A blue triangle. I press it lightly.
A new menu appears at the side of my vision.
'Inventory.'
'Health: 100.'
'Mana: 25.'
'...'
I scroll down with two fingers until no more options come up. Then I go back to the top and click 'Inventory'.
A new table comes up on my screen, with 10 empty grey squares.
The objective dings again. I press the 'X' and close the inventory as I turn to look at the yellow writing.
'Put the manual and candle into your inventory.'
With my newly improved grasp on the controls, I use two fingers to swipe the book up and drag it to the writing on the right of vision that says inventory. The book doesn't budge.
I clench my teeth and crouch beside the tome, staring it down like it's an opponent.
Just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of this.
My hand suddenly flings forward involuntarily and two fingers tap on the cover. Before I can regain control of the fingers, the book lifts with my hand and gets dragged towards the triangle on my arm. It shrinks down instantly and disappears into my wrist.
My eyes widen and I choke on the spit in my mouth. I stare at the candle. With my newly regained control on my arm, I tap on the candle base. Slowly, I lift the hand carefully and, when the candle lifts, my hand splays in surprise and the candle falls down the centimetre I'd lifted it.
I try again, this time bringing it to the triangle and watching it shrink down and disappear into non-existence.
Opening the inventory, I check, and sure enough- they're right there. Using two fingers, I drag the book to and from my inventory, watching it materialise and then become trapped back into a frame. I'm almost mesmerised by the impossibility of it.
The dinging of the objective brings me back.
'Tutorial completed - exit the building.'
A yellow dot appears above a door that hadn't been there before. Used to the strangeness of this place by now, I make my way to the wooden door and push it open slowly. The air outside is cold and dusty, hitting me abruptly.
The objective disappears.
I turn in a full circle. It's the same street I had seen out the window- empty, cobbled streets, not a person in sight.
Suddenly, a door creaks open.