EPISODE 1: THE BEGINNING

Arthur's POV

RECORDING OF THE CK INTERVIEW

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Interviewer: And in latest news Fable of Fantasy, the game which you all have been waiting is finally set to hit the stores early April. The beta test will soon begin with a lucky 1000 people getting to play it ahead of its release. Today we have

Mr. Luthor with us, the CEO of DreamIsle and lead designer of Fable of Fantasy. Mr. Luthor, how exactly do you classify this game of yours?

Luthor: Mindy Czari, right? Did I get it right? I did? Well Mindy, what you got to understand that Fable of Fantasy is the complete VR experience that people have been waiting for since the headgear was first introduced in 2022. While there may have been other games, none of them I assure you, Mindy, had a development cycle of 16 years. Well now that we are releasing the game, and with the trial footage that’s come through, with this game, I personally am promising that not only will it change the way we play, but also the way we live. We –

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intelligent A.I. – yes - - - - why of course - - - play type is yours to choose -- -- can I -- - - Tolkien’s wet dream -- - play with Rober ---

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Yes, all those would be impossible without Robert. He would have finally seen the dragon he was chasing all those years dead. It was his dream, you know. He loved role playing games. I would give anything to play with Robert again. It was a great loss to the community, when Robert and Arthur’s death was.. you know.. We will never forget them. There is an in game commemoration too, for them and all the imagineers who moved on during the making of the game. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. I must –

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A red light, which was just fixed above the TV had started glowing ominously. This woke me up from the lethargic trawl through the game interviews.

The CK media interview contains the most information about the game, and even that is quite scarce. From the looks of it, the game will be given the “Royal Road” treatment; skills with different levels, stat gains by leveling, hundreds of primary and secondary classes and so on. The Royal Road treatment had become common in the post VR era games.

Only the actual “Royal Road”, the first VRMMORPG ( for and made by the Koreans of course), the game had miserably failed, due to server failure, and of course, the AI processing allocation. DreamIsle, from the data on the other hand looked to vault of these bars easily.

“Doctor? Can you hear me?” I called Dr. Crane, my partner, or as I called him, Old Goat.

“Old Goat, you sleepi-”

“I told you not to call me that! What in Tesla’s name is wrong with you? Why can’t you just - How did you manage to gain access… The cell frequency. That’s why you were asking about cobalt level encryption yesterday. But that still doesn’t explain how you managed to find a broadcasting channel. Wait, did you-”

“Doctor, focus please. Our bird has left for his nest. It’s time to begin.”

“Phase 1? But - ”

“Yes. The next step has to be carried out now.”I sighed, “Are you ready?”

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Edward Crane’s POV

“Ready? I can’t just be ready just on your say so! Why don’t you get your ass down you’re here and do it? Why do you get to sit in your comfy sofa and order me around? Huh?”

“Doctor, we went over the plan together. You agreed to do this. In fact, as I remember, you specifically wanted to do this. Give me an actual role already, damn it! – your own words.”

“I know what I said. But I just wanted to know it again. Can’t a man ask something if he forgot?”

“You have asked the question five times in the last fifteen minutes. Doc, if you are scared, there’s no need to force -”

“I am not forcing myself. I am not scared. You aren’t listening.”

“You’re nervous.”

“I am NOT. Okay, I haven’t done something like this, ever before in my life. I mean, yes, I might have lied, but they were small lies. And I felt bad afterwards. I have never even stolen anything in my life. Well, perhaps once, but - ”

“Stop rambling…. just calm down and wait there. I am coming, alright? You don’t have to do a thing.”

“No. I said I can do this, didn’t I? I am going to do this, just you wait. I was the leading actor in my school’s drama club. This much is going to be child’s play.”

I couldn’t let the boy show me up again and again every day. No, it was best that I change the topic. Find something else to focus on.

“Man… kids knew manners. This damn generation, you know! And I have a doctorate, too! If you can’t respect your elders, then at least respect your betters! Why do you have to say it condescendingly like that, anyway?”

I had played the age card. That always got the boy’s blood pressure up.

“Seriously, you are going to bank on the I’m older, therefore better bullshit again? You want to do this now? Huh? And let me remind you, that I have two doctorates. Not one, but two. Why don’t you call be Dr. Dr. Arthur? No Doctor, blaming a generation is not going to work in this case, and let-”

“Oops, I have reached the nest. Got to go.”

A small lie, as I had to cut the rant midway before it caught steam. Sometimes the kid is so damn dense… at least I get to have a few laughs.

With my mind at ease, I walked up to the building door.

“One last thing – I am not sitting on a sofa. It’s a chair. A big comfy executive chair. I am not that lazy.”

Always needs to have the last word in any conversation, doesn’t he?

Or perhaps he wanted to calm you down by distracting with nonsense. That’s another possibility.

I pause, thinking over this for a moment. Nope. Definitely sure it was his ego at work.

I examine my clothes and props for the last time, clean my glasses and ring the doorbell.

*ding-*

Let’s do it.

“Yes !” An overly eager middle aged wife responded and brightened when she saw my fake I.D.

“I am Duncan Kim, from Suntec-“

“Yes, Please, come in, come in.”She ushered me inside quite quickly. Damn it woman, I had rehearsed that line many times, at least let me finish!

“Can I offer you anything, Mr. Kim? Tea? Coffee?”

“No, thanks.” I was starting to get a hold on my panic. This looked it like it was going to be easy after all. “Excuse me, but where is your son. I actually have a lot of other business, so-“

“No problem at all! Tom! TOM! Get your ass down HERE AT ONCE! THE LOTTERY MAN IS HERE !!”

It looked wherever I go; I was to be constantly interrupted. Do I even get to complete one sentence today? And what’s up with that lottery man? Is is like Super man or Bat man ..

My thoughts were interrupted when a lanky 19 year old came down the stairs at double speed.

“Where? Where?” Right here, you stupid boy.*Ahem*

“Is your name Tom Ferrell,” “YES!” “son of Maria Ferrell” I decided to push on despite the interruption “and did you participate in the Suntech lucky draw with a grand prize of with a two way trip to Hawaii for 4 weeks?”

“YES!”Both mother and kid shouted together.

“Well, as you were informed you have won the grand prize. I am here to give you your tickets and check your credentials. Sign these forms, please.”

The boy did his illegible scrawl across several pages. Finally I offered him my custom made portable fingerprint scanner and saved his fingerprints onto the crystalex. *Phew*. The first hurdle was over.

“And here are your tickets for today!”I beamed at them.

“Wait the ticket is for TODAY?!”

“YES! Wait, didn’t they tell you?” I said.

“No!Oh no! We have to pack!Tom, quick , pack your things.”Turning to me “ Please excuse us…” the mother dashed off the hall.

I was only happy to leave.

They left for their flight at 10:30 p.m. I watched inconspicuously from the street, making sure that I was not seen.

I broke into their house exactly 2 hours later.

“First a conman, now a thief..”I muttered to myself.

“Don’t be upset, Goat”,the voice in head fuzzed. “As long as you aren’t caught, there’s no problem. I fed the cameras a loop. They would never know about you. Just go with the plan.”

The plan. The insane plan. Right.

Once I did break in from the back door, I decided to make my way to the couch and watch the TV. Because that was the plan.Right.

THE NEXT MORNING

When the delivery came, I was ready.

“Mr. Ferrell, you are the lucky winner of the Fable of Fantasy beta test. Please open the door, so we can install the VR pod.”

I opened the door and did my best surprised impression.

“Really?! Come in! Come in” My enthusiasm was infectious as they soon started smiling too. I had already scoped out the kid’s room and had the installation done there. It didn’t matter, as the thing was going to be removed soon anyways.

Once the installation was finished, I even tipped them generously. They would be singing praises for Mr. Ferell a long time.

Once they were gone, I adjusted the saved crystalex from the kid on the machine to get the admin access. There. I had done my part of the PLAN.

Now, it was time to vanish with the machine.

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Arthur’s POV

Well, Dr. Crane had outdid himself. I admit I was worried when he offered those workers sandwich. The silly Doctor could easily mess that up and our cover could have been blown. But fortunately they had refused.

But I was finally inside DreamIsle. Finally getting a chance to play the game. DreamIsle’s entire network was off the grid. To access it, I or Dr. Crane would have to physically connect a port to their mainframe. Which was impossible, as the mainframe was inside the DreamIsle’s top 20th floor of their iconic building.

However, they had slipped up. In order to prevent favoritism amongst employees, they had outsourced the beta key randomisation to the military. But, formidable as the military cryptology was, I was even more formidable. Once I got the list, it was simple enough to send one guy to Hawaii (by making sure he won), get his fingerprint (the company database had been updated that Duncan Kim was a new employee) and getting the pod, which led me straight back to the DreamIsle’s server, before they had a chance to patch their mainframe for the big release. Easy, see?

And now I was in.

I could almost feel my heartbeat.

For too long have I waited for this moment. Far too many years preparing for this game since the day my father died.

I have dreamt of this day every cold, black night since then.

That I would one day return.

Return and wreak vengeance on those who dishonor the memory of my father. The corrupt that prey on the poor. The perverse who gorge on the innocent. They all will pay.

Every last one of them will soon wish that I had died those 5 years ago.

It was finally beginning.

Back to Main Page

The loading screen

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Author Edit: Hey guys, this is my first fiction here. Please do leave comments and your criticisms about the story when you can. They mean a lot to the upcoming authors. Also I am not a native speaker, so forgive any spelling errors or the like. There is no proper update schedule, but I will see that the next chapter is posted within the next 2 weeks. So long then.