New Game

Author Note:

 This is a story inspired by all the gaming-related media that I love - including tons of games that I played as a kid. This includes Skyrim, Runescape, Maplestory, as well as D&D, Sword Art Online and Log Horizon. There are so many easter eggs, and pop-culture related references, including experiences I had playing runescape as a teenager. I hope you enjoy!

Rain fell gently from the sky over Hendon Central station, which was quite normal in North London, especially considering the time of year. What wasn’t normal was how long the train was taking to arrive at the platform. 

Sebastian threw his hands into the air.

‘Why today?! Of all days!’

He pulled a coat out from his bag and threw it over his red blazer, completely covering his school uniform.

‘C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,’ he said, tapping his foot on the ground as he looked at his watch. Contrary to when he was bored in class, time seemed to be moving faster rather than slower, as always happened when he was in a rush. His two best friends, Sophia and Alister, were probably wondering where he was; he was about to miss an opportunity of a lifetime.

It had all started a week earlier when Sophia had suggested signing them up to an exclusive beta testing program, for a state of the art console that was in development.

***

‘I think it’s something like VR, but it’s supposed to be more interactive, and much better!’ Sophia told him in her thick proper British accent.

‘That sounds SUPER cool,’ Alister said, ‘if you can get us a spot, I’d be SO into it! You’re keen, aren’t you Seb?’

The three of them walked through the courtyard of their school towards an indoor area, weaving around other students as they went. The clouds above them were grey, and promised rain – miserable, but no different to every other day in London.

‘How did you even find out about it?’ Sebastian asked in a hesitant tone.

Sebastian was feigning an air of scepticism, an attitude you kind of have if you lived in London, or rather, if you wanted to survive in London. But inwardly, Sebastian was excited. His family had never been super rich. They’d gotten by, but when it came to gaming consoles, Sebastian had always been a console behind. When all his friends had been playing games on a ps5, he’d been suck on an old second-had ps4. When the switch had come out, he’d still be playing the 3ds. He had never even seen a VR headset in real life – so the opportunity to beta test something that was even further ahead of VR technology was a tempting one.

‘Josh Wiley told me about it. Apparently, his uncle works for someone who gave him a link to a website. It’s a really exclusive, one-time use link – so he can’t share it. But he gave me… well… this email address. Someone we can contact. There’s no guarantee we’ll get in – but Josh thinks our chances are pretty good. They’re looking for people our age in the greater London area.’

‘You already know I’m in!’ Alister said.

Sebastian scratched his chin.

‘You know Josh only told you about it because he likes you, right?’ Sebastian said.

‘Who cares!’ Alister retorted with a smile, ‘plus we all know he doesn’t have a chance.’

‘Mmm, I don’t know…’

‘What you think he has chance?’ Alister said.

‘No, I was talking about doing this beta test. We all know he doesn’t have a chance.’

‘Why don’t you let me be the one to decide if he has a chance or not,’ Sophia said – even when she was arguing with them, she couldn’t help but sound gentle in the way she spoke.

‘C’mon, man! You’ve got to do it with us! It won’t be the same if you don’t come,’ Alister said.

Sophia smiled. No matter what mood Sophie was in, she always had a comforting look about her. She looked at him with her soft, dark eyes, swished her black hair, and gave him a face that almost broke away his façade completely. Sebastian knew that Sofia didn’t mean to be this way, comforting and sisterly to the point where she could get her way with him whenever she wanted, but rather it was something that came naturally.

‘You don’t have to come, Sebastian, if you don’t want to. Alister’s right, though, it wouldn’t be the same without you,’ Sophie said.

Alister slapped him encouragingly on the back, though it was a little harder than Sebastian would have liked it to be. Alister was acting like he was simply waiting for him to agree to the idea.

Both of them knew him well, and both of them wanted him to go do the beta test – but they expressed that in different ways. Alister’s red hair burned with the same fire that fuelled his personality. He had a freckly face and was usually always wearing a cheeky grin, like he was about to pull a funny prank – or get into trouble by doing something stupid. Sebastian knew that whenever he hung out with Alister, they were going to have fun. But there was probably a chance he was going to get a phone call home to his parents. Sebastian always found it hard to match Alister’s confidence and energy, as hard as he tried.

The three of them had been friends since primary school. Life had been different back then. They used to game more frequently, hang out after school more regularly, and they just had more time to waste. Now they were in Year eleven, and were supposed to be concentrating on their GCSEs. Their year coordinator organised a meeting almost every second week during form time just to tell them how important their exams were, a meeting that couldn’t have been more of a pointless waste of time. Sebastian was sick of hearing about Sixth form, the targets they were expected to hit, and their predicted grades from their mock exams.

A day out with his friends, beta testing a new game was probably just what he needed.

‘I’ll think about it,’ Sebastian said.

Alister’s quick mouth didn’t even have a chance to reply before the bell rang and cut their conversation short. And then Mr. Taylor appeared in front of them as though he’d just materialised into existence, and began shooing them towards the school building.

Sebastian wasn’t lying. He did think about it. And he continued to think about it throughout his whole English class while he pretended to listen to his English teacher lecture them about War Poetry.

‘War Photographer has a cyclical structure. It ends where it begins. The cyclic structure represents the futilities of war. In your exams you can also talk about strong language and imagery. You’ll probably want to compare this poem to something like Exposure or Charge of the Light Brigade…’

And on and on his English teacher droned.

At least Sophia was concentrating, or she looked like it anyway. English was one of the few classes she shared with Sebastian, and they’d convinced the teacher to let them sit together, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a random seating arrangement, because they worked well with each other. Usually they actually did work well together, but today Sebastian wasn’t feeling it. All he could think about was a VR headset, putting it on, and playing a new state-of-the-art game. Running around. Swinging a sword. Casting a spell. No. It had to be a scam. It had to. But still…

‘Sebastian?’Sophia said tapping him gently on the back of the head.

‘Huh?’

‘War Photographer. We’re supposed to be annotating it.’

‘Oh yeah.’

Sophia began talking to him about literary techniques, the writer’s intentions and all other kinds of jargon that would probably help them get good marks on their exams, but didn’t much to help with the daydreaming problem he was having that afternoon. He always found it hard to concentrate in English. Well, he had problems concentrating in other subjects too – but English was particularly good at putting him to sleep. The only reason he’d passed so far was because of Sophia. Intelligence just seemed to come naturally to her; she was better than him at almost everything. Writing, puzzles, languages, talking to other people. The only real thing he had over her was that he was better at video games. Sebastian always carried her.

After English he had Maths and then Science. Alister was in his science class, but they sat on opposite ends of the classroom. Unlike Sophia, whenever he was with Alister, the two of them always got into trouble. Sometimes they tried to communicate with each other across the room using hand signals when the teacher’s back was turned. Other times they’d throw paper balls at each other and try to blame it on other students (always unsuccessfully). That particular afternoon was a little less chaotic though. Alister kept looking over at him during that class, when he could afford it, shooting him a curious, questioning look. Sebastian knew exactly what Alister was thinking about.

When Sebastian got home that afternoon, he sent Sophia a message. Just three words: sign me up.

He got a message back a few minutes later with three emojis: a heart, a thumbs up, and a smiley face.

But nothing seemed to come of it.

Neither Alister nor Sebastian could contain their curiosity.

‘So what happens now?’ Alister asked when they met up during lunch break.

’I don’t know! I just got a generic response from the website, we’ll be in touch soon. Or something like that.’

’Well, they’d better get in touch soon,’ Alister remarked.

‘I bet Josh Wiley set the whole thing up just to get your number,’ Sebastian said.

‘You think Josh is that smart? Besides, aren’t you lowkey dating Tyler West?’

Sophia shook her head.

‘Not anymore. But I don’t think that Josh would make the whole thing up…’ Sophia hesitated as though she were doubting her own words, ‘no. He’s too nice. Maybe it is a setup or a scam, but if so I don’t think he’s behind it.’

Sebastian slapped himself on the forehead.

‘Don’t tell me that!’

‘Relax Seb. It’s probably legit.’

‘I guess the only thing we can do now is wait.’

***

A few days passed before anything happened. They’d almost forgotten about the whole thing, when suddenly, on a gloomy winter’s Wednesday night in North London, each of them received a separate phone call about an exclusive beta testing program; Project Pheonix XD. They fit the criteria, and the age demographic, and each of them were accepted . Of course neither of them knew that the others has also gotten a phone call and been accepted until the three of them met at school the next day. Sebastian had to admit, the call seemed extremely professional, which gave him hope that maybe this thing was for real.

A couple of days after, each of them were sent a link by email. Attached were a bunch of documents – most of them were terms and conditions which Sebastion glossed over and agreed to nonchalantly. Though he did have to sign a non-disclosure agreement before any further information could be sent. The form stated that he wasn’t allowed to reveal any details about the beta test to anyone in the public, nor was he allowed to talk about it.

‘This is going to be awesome! I can’t believe this is happening for real!’ Alister exclaimed as they strolled around the school yard.

‘Keep it down, we don’t want anyone else overhearing,’ Sophia rebuked him.

Sebastian inwardly agreed. If any word of the beta testing got out, they’d be liable for damages. And a big company would likely try to get them for a lot of money to make an example.

‘It’s fine. How would they know it was us that leaked any information,’ Alister said as carefree as anyone could have been, ‘maybe Josh Wiley was the one who told his friends about the beta test. They don’t know.’

‘I’m sure they have their ways of finding out. I’d rather not end up having to pay a ridiculous amount of money because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut Ali,’ Sebastian said.

‘We’re better off playing it safe,’ Sophia said, pretty much summing up what Sebastian had said, just a little more gently.

Alister flicked his wrist, brushing off the thought as nothing.

‘Are we heading over together on Thursday afternoon?’ Alister asked.

‘I can’t,’ Sebastian said, ‘I have a Spanish revision session. I’ll meet you guys there, though.’

‘We’re supposed to be there by five-thirty. It’s all the way over in Bethnal Green, are you sure you’re going to be able to make it?’ Sophia asked.

‘You’re not suggesting I skip my revision session, are you?’ Sebastain laughed.

‘Well…no…but…’

‘You’d never suggest that, would you Soph?’ Alister teased, ‘but I would. Sebastian, why don’t you just skip it?’

‘I’d love to, except I’m failing Spanish. Since Sophia decided to take French instead, I don’t have anyone to get me through.’

Sophia shrugged her shoulders innocently.

‘Je suis desolé’

‘It will be fine!’ Sebastian continued, ‘Forty-five minutes on the northern line and another fifteen on the central. No problems.’

***

And it wouldn’t have been a problem if the trains weren’t backed up. But they were. And now it was a problem. Sebastian looked down at his watch as the rain began to patter down a little harder. It was four-thirty. He could still make it, probably barely in the nick of time, if the next train came when it was supposed to.

A second passed like a minute, and a minute passed like it was an hour; time moved at the pace of a snail, as it normally does when you’re both late and stressed, which Sebastian certainly was. He looked up at the sign that displayed the times until the next train was due to arrive. Five minutes. But those things were so flimsy, and could change like the direction of the wind. He crossed his fingers.

4 minutes.

3 minutes.

2 minutes.

1 minute.

The train finally arrived and stopped at the platform with a light screech before the doors opened slowly.

Despite the crowd of people waiting to get on, Sebastian was the first one through the door.

Sebastian looked up at the sign plastered above the window, just below the roof, which displayed every station and every stop. He counted every single one of them, as well as every passing second.

Naturally, he was also the first one out the door of the train when it stopped at Bank Station. He sprinted through the station, trying to dodge the hundreds of commuters passing him by, and apologised briefly every time he accidentally knocked someone.

It was a five-minute walk from the northern line to the central line, but Sebastian got there in two minutes. The central line was always crowded during the peak hours, and he had to squeeze himself on so that he was packed in like a sardine, to avoid having to wait for the next train.

The rest was straightforward.

Sebastian got to Bethnal Green station, ran up the stairs, tapped out of the gates and bolted down the street. The rain was still coming down, making it harder for him to navigate using his phone, every time he touched the screen, it either wouldn’t respond or it would bug out. At five-twenty-nine he rounded the corner onto the street where they were supposed to meet. It wasn’t far now. It was 5:31 when he finally saw Sophia and Allister waiting for him out the front of the place where the office was supposed to be.

‘And here I thought you had gotten cold feet,’ Alister said as Sebastian ran up to them with a red face.

‘Trains…delayed…got here…quick as I…could,’ Sebastian said as he huffed in lungfuls of air.

‘Well you made it on time. We wanted to wait for you so we could go in together. All three of us,’ Sophia said, ‘we hadn’t decided what we were going to do if you didn’t actually come.’

‘Well…I’m here,’ he replied, still out of breath. He’d always known how unfit he was, but this really was another unfriendly reminder.When Sebastian finally composed himself, he looked up at the building in front of them.

‘Is this the place?’

‘I think so,’ Sophia replied.

‘It doesn’t really look like all that much, does it,’ Alister admitted.

The streets were lined with generic buildings, brown bricks and white windows. Though this particular building was on the street corner and looked a little different from the rest. It was a single-story building, with boarded windows and graffiti on the front. It looked more like a storage shed than the headquarters of a corporate business.

It was quite the contrast to the professional phone-call they’d received a week earlier. Sebastian almost suggested that they back out; that they go get an ice cream or something to eat instead. But suddenly the door opened, and a young blond-haired lady dressed in formal attire stepped out. She held a clipboard and some papers in front of her. She looked around carefully and then asked ‘what are you doing loitering out here?’

‘We’re here for the beta testing!’ Alister shouted.

The lady stepped back, as though Alister’s words were hitting her like bullets.

‘Shh! Not so loud. I assume you’ve been given a password?’

‘Red apples,’ Alister said before Sebastian or Sophia could get a word of caution in.

‘Names?’

‘Alister, Sophia and Sebastian,’ Alister spoke for the three of them.

‘Follow me,’ the lady said opening the door widely for them.

‘Let’s go,’ Alister said turning and running through the door.

Sophia looked at Sebastian. She too seemed to be a little hesitant now.

‘What do you think?’ she asked.

Sebastian looked up at the door, at the lady holding it open, and then back down at Sophia, then up at the door again.

He huffed and said ‘the worst they can do is mug us I suppose. And this dodgy phone is almost at the end of its life anyway.’

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