Hall stood in a virtual reality landscape made up of geometric shapes. Dark-green triangles of various sizes dotted the flat light-green ground, like trees on a grassy plain. White oblongs drifted through the blue sky, partly obscuring a shining yellow sphere.
Red cubes hung in the air.
Graphics aren’t that great, Hall thought.
He reached out with the muscular arms of his avatar and took hold of the nearest cube. The VR data gloves allowed him to actually feel the smooth surface of the shape. It was cool and metallic.
POP!
It disappeared in a burst of pixels, the number 50 floating in its place before fading away.
A collecting game of some sort, thought Hall.
He looked around. There were lots of cubes floating about. He pointed at one and found himself moving towards it. Gabbing it, he collected another 50 points.
After collecting a few more, he found his attention drawn to the horizon. He squinted. There was something glinting in the distance, too far away to see.
For some reason, he was desperate to know what it was. This wasn’t usual curiosity – this was something different and unexplainable. Something way more intense.
He pointed to the horizon and zoomed forward.
It was a computer tablet, lying on the ground reflecting the light of the virtual sun.
The tablet seemed more real than anything else he’d seen in this game. The landscape and the geometric shapes all had an unreal, blocky, computer-generated feel to them. But this tablet appeared perfect – delicately rendered and fine edged. It seemed out of place in this game.
It made Hall feel uneasy, and yet …
He leaned over to examine it closer. There was text on the screen.
<RandomizarBian: I dare you.>
What? thought Hall. How could it say that? Was this another joke? Had his rival hacked into this game?
Curiosity burned within him.
He wanted to pick it up.
Tap the screen.
Find out what would happen.
Of course, he knew it wasn’t real. It probably wouldn’t operate. Nothing would happen. But …
There was an undeniable urge.
He reached out and poked it.
With a whoosh, the world exploded with light. The space in front of him swirled and distorted, then tore apart. It looked like someone had ripped a hole in the atmosphere of the virtual world.
Maybe it leads to another level?
Through the shimmering gap, Hall could see a dark, wet city street. Hi-res and realistic.
His mind snapped back to the OTHER WORLDS site. A doorway to another world, it had said.
Hall felt his heart thumping, adrenaline rushing through his system. But it wasn’t the result of fear. It was …
Excitement!
Yep. Excitement at what lay ahead through this doorway. A new level? Another world? Another game?
There was that urge again. A pull, a want, a need, a compulsion; a craving for adventure like he’d never experienced before.
Hall stepped through and everything jumped, glitched and distorted. His mind and vision spun as if he’d been hit by some unseen force.