Chapter Six

  The entrance to the turret required climbing through a passageway that angled upward at a steep enough grade to require crawling. The surface was smooth enough she had to dig her sneakers into the angle to keep from sliding back down.

  The passage was so inconveniently sloped that Alex had to prop her feet against the opposite walls to bang against the door, hoping that Professor Marzio wouldn't keep her long because she didn't know if she could hold herself in that position long.

  A cough and a scrape of a chair across the floor later, the door opened. A man with a tightly kept beard, bald head, and intense gaze was looking down at her.

  "Professor Falker? I mean, Marzio?"

  For a moment, she thought he was going to push her back down the passage, but a switch went on behind his eyes, bringing a toothy smile.

  "You must be Alexandria," he said, reaching to help pull her into the turret.

  "Thank you," she said, once she was in the room, which was angled away from the center of the Hall.

  Professor Marzio motioned towards a chair before a desk.

  "We're really glad you could join us at Gamemakers Hall," said Professor Marzio with his hands clasped on the desk, staring intently at her.

  "I'm...glad to be here," she said.

  He slapped his hand on the table. "Excellent. Then I'm sure you'll do great."

  Professor Marzio dug through his desk while Alex sat patiently. He pulled out a bag of hard candy, unwrapped one, and popped it in his mouth before returning to the papers on his desk.

  Alex counted to ten in her head before asking, "Uhm, so where do I find my room? And what about the classes? And I thought I was supposed to link myself to Patron Dimple so I don't get faez madness."

  Professor Marzio looked up, a frisson of surprise on his forehead as if he hadn't expected her to still be sitting across from him.

  "That's right, I'm very sorry," he said in a way that Alex almost took as sarcasm. "We should get you sworn in."

  He stood up suddenly and rushed into a side room with Alex right on his heels. In the corner of the rhomboidal-shaped room was an obsidian cube. The glossy black surface seemed to absorb light.

  "Put your hand on that," said Professor Marzio.

  The surface was cool. It felt almost alive under her palm, though she could detect no movement.

  "I want you to open your mind, let faez collect there, but do nothing with it until you feel it pulled away from you like a string. It will be slightly unpleasant at first, like falling asleep on your arm, but then it will not," he said.

  Alex knew what to expect, since she'd temporarily linked herself to one of the professors who'd run the Trials, but they'd been present for the procedure. She was confused about the presence of the obsidian cube.

  "I don't understand. Where is Professor Dimple?" she asked.

  "Traveling," said Professor Marzio. "But this cube will connect you to him. Nothing to worry about."

  Feeling a little overwhelmed by the strangeness, Alex decided it was best that she just follow the instructions. As soon as she summoned faez, a tug pulled on her mind. Her first reaction was to hold fast, but then she let go, and the raw magic slipped away, leaving her whole body tingly. Then after about twenty seconds of discomfort, the prickly feeling left, and a wave of euphoria rushed in after.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  "There, that wasn't so bad," said Professor Marzio. "Welcome to the club."

  As he walked her back towards the door, she asked, "When do classes start?"

  His lips squeezed flat, while his forehead knotted as if he didn't understand. "Whenever you want. Just ask one of your fellow Gamemakers. They'll show you where to go."

  "O...kay. Anything else I need to know?"

  Distracted by a buzzing phone on his desk, Professor Marzio said, "You must reach level twenty by the end of the year or you won't be able to return."

  Professor Marzio practically pushed her through the door, before slamming it shut. Alex slid down, landing with a hard bump on the main floor.

  "Level twenty. Now that's something I can understand."

  Alex spent the next hour investigating the rest of the building. She made up her own rule of exploring any room with an open door. This led her to a messy kitchen filled with pots in the sink, surrounded by empty ramen wrappers and pizza boxes. The eating area seemed small for the size of the building, but was much larger than the table in her trailer.

  Along the way she found numerous empty bedrooms that looked hastily abandoned. The beds only had a mattress, and the desk chairs were usually knocked over or stacked on another piece of furniture. She found a dozen power strips, two that still had cords attached, as if someone had grabbed their laptop but forgotten to unplug the power.

  In one room, she found a slim tome with common spells. Alex couldn't find a name in it, so she slipped it into her bag.

  It wasn't until she reached the third floor by way of the iron spiral staircase that she found her room. As soon as she stepped inside, she knew that's where she'd be staying. It was the upper section of the gothic church, so the ceiling was angled and the back wall was covered with a massive circular window that looked out at the Spire. Sure, there were a few industrial wrecks behind Gamemakers Hall, but the view was expansive enough that she could avoid the mess.

  With bags unpacked, Alex went in search of another soul. Gamemakers Hall seemed big enough to hold fifty or sixty people, but she'd only seen Bucket, Professor Marzio, and a girl asleep on a couch with a book over her face.

  She made her way back to the arcade, running into Bucket when he was leaving. He tried to step around her until she moved in his way.

  "Excuse me, new kid."

  "The name is Alex."

  "Good for you," he said, and tried to step around her again.

  She growled under her breath. "I need you to help me."

  Bucket blinked a few times as if he didn't know how to process her request.

  "Look, I found Professor Marzio and a room, but this place is a ghost town. He told me I have to hit level twenty by the end of the year, which sounds like a total cakewalk, but I don't know where to find this game. Gamemakers Online, right?"

  Bucket nodded vaguely before trying to slip past her again. Then he stared at her with a frown firmly attached to his lips.

  "If you won't let me past, I can't show you where to go."

  Alex made an elaborate bow, flourishing her hand down the hallway.

  Bucket led her into a lower section through a door with a password. As soon as she entered, she found herself inhaling with surprise.

  In the center of the room was another obsidian cube, except this one was as big as a city bus. Scattered around the room were squishy pillows all over the floor, making it look like a harem.

  "Here you go," he said, nonplussed.

  "This is Gamemakers Online? I thought I was going to log into an elaborate VR system," she said.

  He seemed confused by her lack of understanding, but shrugged and explained, "This is the game portal. It's made of obsidian because that's the best material for teleportation. Except this isn't teleportation, not really. Instead, you'll appear in a simulated world which is housed inside the cube. It's the same magic-tech they use for the Second Year Contest."

  "Simulated world," said Alex breathlessly.

  Her whole body tingled with anticipation of "logging" into the game.

  "How do I get in?" she asked.

  "Get comfortable on one of the pillows, place your hands on the cube, then let faez fill your mind. The cube will do the rest," said Bucket.

  "And then?"

  A sly grin rose to his face. "Game on."

  Alex rubbed her hands together. She couldn't wait to get started.

  "Any hints?"

  "If you need those then you shouldn't be here," he said.

  "Fair enough," she said, crouching on a pillow. "What about classes? Do we meet with the professors in between game time?"

  He nodded towards the cube. "Everything you need to learn is in there."

  "Really?"

  "Really."

  Alex sighed as she considered what was being expected of her. It was strange, but it was also exciting.

  "Thank you for showing me where to go."

  Bucket shrugged as he moseyed from the room, muttering to himself, "It's not like you gave me a choice."

  It took a moment for Alex to get comfortable. She didn’t want to wake up with a backache after the session, if that's how it worked. She found it odd that no one else was in the room. Did that mean she actually disappeared from this reality into the cube? Or was everyone else taking a break?

  Further questions were dispelled by the anticipation of getting to play a new game. There was nothing in the world that excited her more than that first time of logging on. So many possibilities unfolding. What class would she pick? What kind of creatures would she encounter? It'd be a whole world to explore, and she wouldn't have to wear bulky VR gear or alt-tab to access chat programs.

  She placed her hand gingerly on the obsidian cube. Her fingers tingled as she let faez flow into her mind. She found herself holding her breath, and forcibly exhaled before reaching out to make a connection.

  Alex joined Gamemakers Online.