Life/Hack: Episode 1
Chapter 1: Victory/Defeat
Richard sat at his computer knees pressed up against his tan chest arms out stretched clacking away at his keyboard while his mouse sit nearby. His entire computer glowed and hummed like a jet engine, four tubes pumped liquid specially designed to keep a minimum temperature to protect his CPU from melting down or some nonsense. Money was no object for Richard the son of a couple of wealthy bankers he was free to do whatever he wanted with his life. With all that privilege and opportunity Richard decided to spend his every waking hour after high school graduation in Next Level Online the most popular massive multiplayer game in the world. Richard had a dream while his parents were rich they were boring and just cogs in the machine Richard wanted to be special he wanted to be noticed.
When you signed up for Next Level Online along with a hokey what is your name intro you get to input a special little detail that only you will ever know, what is your greatest wish? The lore of Next Level Online was that the world was cursed by an evil god bent on destroying it the God however was a playful and childish entity so he decided to make the apocalypse a game. Erecting a massive tower that reached to the realm of gods in the center of the world he declared. "I am the master of destruction and death, I am the one who created your world and the one who shall destroy it, the only way to stop me is to climb my tower, defeat my guardians, and meet me face to face, whosoever can achieve this feat shall be granted one wish, one wish they can use to save the world or to save themselves, let the race begin." So the back cover read but Richard didn't care about the story he only cared about the leader boards. Every week the best players would be shown, people who climbed the most levels of the tower and got the furthest, that was the goal go the farthest by the end of the week. Some people spent an entire day struggling only to be surpassed by a slow and steady pacer it provided the most unique aspect to Next Level Online the quest for advancement. At the end of the week, you would be reset to the first level but you would start at the level you finished at so your position was reset but not your progress. This drove people to keep playing in a brilliant psychological ploy, they wouldn't lose any progress from playing but if they didn't climb back to where they were the following week they would lose all that progress, not to mention the penalty for dying was regression down to the first level. So the game went where people would claw and scrape for their 'actual level' the good rose to the top and the bad fell to the bottom. There was no boosting or inflated players NLO humbled its player base by showing them exactly where they stood.
Richard knew the bottom of the boards well, he spent many months there practicing and training level one was his home for the first year he spent playing the game but as he familiarized himself with tips and tricks from forums and interviews with the best players who gained near celebrity status with streams and online events he knew one day his name would be not only at the top but that he would be the first and only player to ever break level one k. There were officially nine hundred and ninety nine levels of NLO that was it after nine hundred and ninety nine or three nine as it was called you could go no further but a rumor existed that there was a backdoor to the fabled level one k. Level one k was apparently a bug that would preserve your level as level 1k displayed just as it read meaning you could never drop below nine hundred and ninety nine it was the status if immortality. This was Richards destiny when he entered his wish he simply stated that he wanted to be the most famous player ever. It was long and tiring with many set backs but four years after making his first character DBLDWN read as Double Down because Richard always went in no matter how dangerous it was Richard stood at the precipice the entry way to level three/nines. This level was especially impossible because the moment you entered every single hostile enemy on the level counting over one million monsters was alerted to your presence and they were coming for you, to brutally murder you and send you back down to level one. Every single player who ever stepped foot on the first square of this level was greeted by the gates of level one a few short minutes after but not Richard. Richard knew an exploit, if you never entered the level, you would never be flagged. Every level was actually a sphere a world or planet all to itself separate from the other levels by gates at the start and end of every level. From the gate there was a small area to shop and rest up to regain your lost health and resources on the three/nines rest area there was a secret back door.
Richard didn't know if this was true or not but apparently behind the shop if you angled it just right and used a teleport spell you could blink through the back wall and go outside of the level travel around the zone to the gate and pass into level one k. He lined himself up on the screen and slowly reached his finger down pressing the button on his mechanical keyboard. The click was like the hammer of a gun, all his hopes relied on this, he needed to be the first one to reach one k the only one to reach one k if he shared the glory it meant that he couldn't be the star by himself. The screen went black then Richard turned his camera around and saw it, the sphere of level three/nines and the thousands of smaller spheres collected around him. He had done it he managed to get through the wall. From this point he'd have to continuously cast the most intensive spell in the game Translocation. Moving him only short distances away as he had no traction but he circled the sphere and finally found the gate smiling in victory as he cast the spell one last time. A flash of light erupted from his screen and then he saw, nothing, endless, vast, expansive, nothing. It was a clear void where no level had been made. Richard had made it, leaning back in his chair victoriously he began to click the screenshot button the level beside DBLDWN's name plate reading one thousand.
"Wait until everyone see's it, I can't wait!" Richard was also recording the feet so nobody could claim he faked it, he was going to legitimately be recognized for his accomplishment, and how right he was. Turning away Richard broke his eye contact with the screen to grab something to drink and eat, when he looked back his avatar was gone DBLDDWN had vanished. "WHAT!?" Richard threw himself forward nearly headbutting his monitor. "HE WAS RIGHT THERE WHERE DID HE GO!?" Richard put his hand to the screen to shake it but slowly noticed that his thumbs were pressing forward and not stopped by the display. "Wha..." That was all Richard got out before a clawed hand reached out and grabbed his face closing its fingers on it and clutching him it pulled him towards the monitor. Flailing and kicking Richard knocked everything on his desk over but the monitor stayed active, even when his computer hit the ground with a crash smashing the cabinet and pulverizing his power cord he was still being dragged in. Unable to scream or not even sure if anyone would come Richard was pulled through the monitor before it flickered out and went completely black.
"Well, well, well, I thought a lot of things would happen before someone finally reached me but I never though I'd meet a cheater!" A tall dark scaled dragon stood before Richard nearly a football field to itself from tip to tail completely colorless scales that shined like slick oil reflecting his own image back. DBLDWN was gone before the dragon stood Richard Polk a twenty something year old leopard male with yellow fur and black spots wearing casual t shirt and baggy sweat pants. "Hello, little cheater." The dragon moved its head and the wind nearly knocked Richard over his tail curling behind him in fear. "Welcome to the thousandth floor, the god floor, where the first one to reach will be granted their wish." The dragon looked down at Richard its eyes as big as he was. "So what is your wish cheater, you obviously wanted it so bad to employ such dishonorable tactics." The mighty midnight black dragon curled a finger and poked its chin.
"I want to go home." Richard said quivering in fear and the dragon laughed shaking the space of infinity making Richards ears tremble and fold to keep from bleeding.
"HOME, you were home then you came here, and sorry to say that the gateway is closed, the connection cut off, you're stuck." The dragon chortled and rolled his eyes. "This is annoying." In the space of a second the dragon shrank down to a scaled humanoid with sharp fangs and red eyes a quarter of Richards size, a whelp. "There now I can talk without blowing your eardrums out, I am Golzabel, black dragon and god of chaos and destruction of this world." Golzabel bowed long black strands of hair hanging from his now tiny head. "You my friend are very lucky, you are able to have one wish of yours granted so long as it is all that silly going home business, besides this world is fun right you spent..." Golzabel pulled up a screen whistling at hours played per week. " Near every single minute of every single day here, you sure you aren't home already?" Golzabel closed the window and extended his hand to Richard. "How about we make you a king of a doomed world, that would be fun!" Golzabel clapped in amusement and then frowned Richard was petrified.
"Look, I'm sorry, I cheated, I really, really wanted to be the first one to get here, but it was wrong I learned my lesson I spend too much time playing I promise I'll never play again just.. send me home I don't care how I'll do anything!" Richard put his head to the ground and begged making Golzabel sigh and frown.
"You're no fun, alright, YOUR portal closed but there's nothing saying another portal can't be opened, all you need to do is clear the game again, but this time no cheating!" Golzabel cautioned. "Should be simple for a super star like you, so lets give you a handicap, lets seeeeeeee." Golzabel opened another window browsing it and smiling as he found what he was looking for. "We can't have you walking around all self aware and everything it would ruin the game for others so, you can go back home, if you manage to beat level nine hundred and ninety nine as this players avatar!" Golzabel turned the window which floated in open space to show a young woman with thick rimmed glasses staring at the other side of the invisible window, her long ears and button nose indicated that she was a female rabbit, not a very pretty one at that, plain looking with brown fur and blue eyes. "This player is brand new to the world and spent three hours on character creation oh my that is impressive!" Golzabel closed the window and offered his hand to Richard. "How does that sound, my friend?" The wicked god smirked and looked down at Richard with a fanged smile his eyes burning with power and destructive impulses.
"Yeah, okay... all I have to do is win, that's not hard, I'm okay with her being the one who reaches the last level I'm done with this game forever..." Richard was nearly sobbing why did this have to happen to him all he wanted to be was famous.
"VERY GOOD!" Golzabel exploded to his actual size and raised his palm. "I wish you luck then, treat her well and you should be back home in no time!" The dragon thrust his palm down and SPLAT Richard was crushed beneath the dragons claw killed instantly as if a bus had dropped on him. But Richard did not stay dead, he groaned sitting up recognizing where he was. The ferry to the first level, filled with other similarly defeated players and brand new players. Blinking he could see a window behind his head just out of his peripheral vision with a brown furred female rabbit with thick glasses looking back at him.
Samantha wasn't a very social girl, she got along well enough in school but she never made connections. Fearing others she developed a phobia about openly speaking and became known around school as Squeak, Squeak was as good as any name to give to her character in this popular online game that her therapist recommended for helping her get over her social phobia. Samantha filled out her registry form until she got to the wish part, she never knew what she really wanted, she guessed to save the world that was the goal of the game right but a personal wish was not something she considered though if she had to make one she would answer honestly. "I want a best friend." She entered into the box and hit send and then stared at character creation for nearly three solid hours before finally hitting randomize. The screen blacked and then looking back at her, was a taller male leopard with yellow fur and black spots wearing a white t shirt and sweat pants. "How immersive." Samantha adjusted her glasses and leaned in she could swear the character was looking at her.
"GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Richard yelled and noticed something, odd, above his name was a nameplate that read Squeak beside it a number one. Looking at the startled girl jump back and fall out of her chair he sighed, he was really doing this, a complete noob and he had to be HER avatar and help HER clear the game earning HIS fame, it was a joke, that cruel black bastard god was going to pay, he'd find a way to kill him.. but first he had to figure out how to move on his own....