The Eternal Sleep

The Eternal Sleep will be Closing its doors

    It was Naijal Sun, the Naijal Sun in a live broadcast in ‘The Eternal Sleep’, Luca wasn’t aware that such an achievement was even possible. Instead of the usual crisp suit, the middle-aged creator was dressed in a worn, grey jacket and blue t-shirt and leaning on the front of a desk. Luca could feel worry welling up in his as he looked at the visible exhaustion on the creator’s face, wrinkled lines and dark marks under his eyes.

    Luca glanced at the others, all of them also in varying stages of surprise. “It’s a live broadcast, to everyone in the game.” Rena spoke up from where she was hanging over Armando’s shoulder, rod dots quickly building up on a map on his screen, “There’s a viewing on all screens to.”

    “Any idea why this is happening?”

    “Nope, but I guess we’re gonna find out.” She pointed at her screen as the figure of Naijal Sun shifted back and forth, one of his hands moving to rub the bridge of his nose.

    “Good day, everyone.” The voice was gruff and tired, “To all players in the game and to all of you in the real world at the moment, receiving this transmission.”

    Armando shrugged his shoulders as the team turned to stare at him, he could access the real-world information from in the game to check if the transmission was external too. Well, he could of, but that would take too much time, and from the look on Sun’s face, they might not have a lot of it.

    “I know that you all are wondering, ‘Naijal, what is happening?’”, he waved his arms halfheartedly and sighed, “I implore all of you not to panic, I must admit that I come here today as a bearer of bad news, but I need all of you to listen. At this moment, I’ve had all quests and beast battles paused, so do not worry about losing your points.”

    “From… a series of unfortunate coincidences, I regret to inform you… that as of today, the game ‘The Eternal Sleep’ will start closing its doors.”

    Luca rapidly pulled himself to his feet, a surge of panic running down his spine. He could see the others following his example, looks of shock or anger on their face.

    “Do not panic. This is not an immediate event.” Naijal continued to talk, knowing that he had the entire population’s attention. “The creators and workers at Black Crown Industries have taken account of your connection with the game.”

    “Due to a misunderstanding blown out of proportion, the game has, unfortunately, lost its value and will need to be closed to protect its player’s information and the reputation of the workers that placed endless hours of work into this.”

    “The creators of the Luna Gear headsets also sends well wishes and apologies for our current event, lending aid for anyone who appeals for a refund on the headset, as the warranty still stands.” Naijal moved closer to the screen, placing his hands on his pants pockets, “As for the rest at B.C.I, we came up with something that may be an interest to many of you.”

    “We have decided to let the game close the same way we opened it, with a world-wide quest.” Luca twitched as a small ping reached his ear, a message appearing on his feed. “A quest supported by all the sponsors of the game.”

    Armando was quickly flipping through the message on one screen, his broadcast in another and a map on the final. A frustrated look was growing on his face, Jay had an especially stressed look on his face, Rena seemed to be hugging herself and Olivia carried a confused and frustrated look.

    “Ten key-cards will be placed remotely in the game, special clues on the back it as an aid to find another.” He held up a small, black card in his hand as a representation. “You will find these and use them as a guide to find the final boss of the game.”    

    Another message pinged on their feed, “I have just sent to you the first and main clue of the quest, use this as your guide, it will carry you very far.” He smiled, moving around the desk to sit on the chair, “The information on group and individual sign up is included in the message, you must be signed up to participate.”

    “This game will test all of you. Your knowledge, bravery, quick thinking and so much more,” he held up his fingers in counting, a wistful smile on his face, “These qualities that you hide in yourselves will become your greatest attributes. This quest is not for the faint hearted, it’s for those who are willing to undergo the pressure and change into diamonds.’ His laugh was slightly hysterical.    

    “As motivation, the winner or winners of this game will earn a hefty prize… of five million apiece. You have three months to finish this quest.” Luca could feel himself freeze in astonishment, that was  a lot of money. “As the final message as your creator, I wish you luck and hope. Mend your bonds, cover your pride. Carry it all in stride.”

    The broadcast dissolved; it took Luca a few seconds to realize he was staring at the ground. This could be happening, not now. This game was everything to him, it as the one place he could call his own, something that was just out of reach of his real life, and now he might lose it.

    Rena sat heavily on the ground, shock painted on her face, Armando was still trying away rapidly on his screens, Olivia and Jack were oddly quiet. “What just happened?”

    “I dunno, kind of hoping I’m in a dream or something.” Rena rubbed her face, “This can’t be happening, right?”

    “I don’t even know; he didn’t even give a proper warning.” Jay ran his hand through his hair several times. “Did we even know about anything going on with Black Crown in the real world?”

    “Nothing, I’m linked directly to their website, but I haven’t heard anything like this coming up.” Olivia frowned. “I wasn’t even aware about Sun being able to call shots like this, I thought Aidan Jhonnes would’ve been there.”

    “Speaking of Jhonnes, isn’t he on that tour or something?” Rena stood up and began pacing, “I get Sun is the creator, but shouldn’t he show some evidence that he’s allowed to do this, what if this is some elaborate one-year quest?”

    “Yea, it’s only been one year, a game this famous can’t have crashed so early, right?” Luca shot back.

    They were interrupted by a loud curse from Armando, they snapped their heads towards him, surprised by the sound. He was staring at his hand in shock…  a colored glitch spreading though his fingers. “What the heck?” Jay rushed to him, pulling back in surprise as his own stretched out hand glitched.

    “Armando, what’s going on?” Luca yelped in astonishment, pulling away as his own hands passed through his glitching screen.

    “The broadcast,” Armando spoke up, “A lot of people are logging into the game at this moment, it’s causing an overload of the severs.”

    Luca just noticed that the usual blue sky of the town they were flickering between night and heavily clouded, streaks of glowing green and blue code sparking across the sky. The gentle breeze became a whipping gale, sending their hair in their faces and tearing at their clothes.

    “We need to log out, if this crashes while we’re in it, we could damage the headset.” Armando tried to speak over the gale, his usually quiet voice straining.

    “Big problem, I can’t get to my screen!” Jay yelled back, Olivia rushed to help Rena who’d fallen over. Luca’s screen was glitching too much to even read the words, the totem on his hand glowing blue from his desire to just jump to a place where it wasn’t as chaotic.

    “I can log you out remotely, you need to trust me!” Armando pulled his hair behind his ear, trying to type with his one solid hand.

    “No, the glitching is spreading to fast, you’ll lose your chance to log yourself out.” Olivia yelled at him, her voice being torn away from the strength of the wind.

    “I’m not planning to log out, I’m staying here to see what’s going on.” Armando barely gave them any warning before Jay’s avatar suddenly dissolved, gold dust scattering in the wind.    

    “Are you crazy? You could damage your gear!” Luca tried to talk sense into him.

    “Yea, but I’m the only one who could successfully repair mines if anything goes wrong!” Armando glanced at Olivia as she dissolved into golden dust, like Jay moments before. “I’ll sign all of us up for the group, don’t worry.”

    Rena nodded at Armando before she dissolved as well. As Armando looked at him, Luca grabbed his arms as much as he could, the glitch making them ghost-like, “Be safe.” Glowing hazel eyes was the last thing he saw before the world dissolved into blue codes and golden dust.