CONQUEST
An Afterworld Arcade GameLit
By
Felix von Falkenlust
This is a work of fiction. All people, places, and products are figments of the author's overactive imagination or used fictitiously. Despite this, all characters engaging in irresponsible and slutty behavior are legal adults.
Cover art by Coronius
This painting may be for sale. Check here for details.
Copyright 2019, Felix von Falkenlust
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Chapter Forty-eight
Chapter Forty-nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-one
Chapter Fifty-two
Chapter Fifty-three
A Message from the Author
Landmarks
Table of Contents
Cover
Dedicated to M-chan, who I hope never reads this book.
Chapter One
THE graphics looked so real I didn’t even know they were graphics. With every blade of grass rendered in lifelike perfection, I had no idea that I was long dead.
I should’ve known something was off when I woke up under the huge old oak tree surrounded by a vast expanse of nature. I felt completely peaceful lying there on the ground, but I began to wonder where I was and why. Then I noticed something else I’d never seen, except in museums: a newspaper.
I picked it up, more confused by the minute, and read the headline.
CAR RAMPAGE DRIVER INNOCENT
Analysis of the Weixian Motors Awesoma used in Tuesday’s horrific mass murder at the third annual Connecticut Gamer’s Rights Parade has conclusively shown that the young man behind the wheel had no control over the vehicle, says chief of police Hammer Richardson.
“It is now clear that control of the vehicle was accessed remotely from a device in East Ossetia. It was impossible for the officers on the scene to know this at the time, and we offer our sincerest apologies and condolences to the family of Ace Singleton.”
Singleton, 21, had been only months from attaining his Bachelor’s degree at Central Connecticut State University, and according to roommate Crowbar Williams had gone out merely to pick up a pizza in the moments leading up to the tragedy that killed eleven and injured dozens.
Services will be held on Saturday, and the contents of his mind are being maintained by Digital Afterworld, Inc.
“Wait, so I’m . . .” I stared at the paper, its texture completely real under my fingers. March thirteenth, 2076—decades after the last newspaper had been printed. “I’m dead?”
I looked around. I certainly didn’t feel dead. Everything looked so real, but I had never been anywhere like this place. Then I realized something else: I wasn’t wearing my glasses, yet everything was razor-sharp, even in the far distance, where I noticed a woman in a white robe walking my way.
I remembered studying for exams and uploading my thoughts as Crowbar ordered a pizza, but nothing after. I knew then that while the newspaper might not have been real, the story about me was.
“I’m fucking dead. . . .”
I sat there stunned for a long time, trying to come to grips with the situation, dead and yet perfectly conscious, and then finally I shrugged.
“Well, this ain’t half bad. I feel great, I can see without my glasses, and—”
It suddenly dawned on me that glasses weren’t the only thing I wasn’t wearing. I wasn’t wearing anything at all. I sat in the middle of the field stark naked. I looked down between my legs and gave a cry of alarm.
My penis was missing.
That’s not quite true: it was there, but not all there—it had shrunk. It hadn’t been that big to begin with but now it was tiny.
Then I remembered the woman. I looked up to see her still coming my way, and here I was buck naked and hung like my pinky finger.
The closer she came, the hotter she got. Normally this would’ve been a good thing, but now it was mortifying. If I had still been alive I would’ve died of embarrassment.
I covered up my miniaturized member as she neared. Her flowing gown reminded me of ancient Greece or a wingless angel, and the thin fabric gave tantalizing suggestions of the body beneath. Her black hair cascaded loose and long down to her waist. Her face, which broke into a gentle smile as she stopped in front of me, overwhelmed me with impossible beauty.
“Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone starts out this way.”
“Naked?”
“Naked and . . .” She gestured between my legs as I stood up, my hands still shielding my shrunken manhood. “It’ll grow as you gain more Attraction points.”
“Attraction points? Who are you, by the way?”
“Elise. I’ll be serving as your guide. I’ve been chosen by Digital Afterworld to explain how things work here.”
“They made a good choice.” The words just kind of slipped out.
“Thanks. They do a lot of thought mining to determine your tastes. It’s all in the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.”
I did not recall reading anything about thought mining. “Maybe I should’ve read it more carefully. . . .”
“Most people don’t. Don’t worry, it’s not too bad. Now that you’ve passed, your thoughts are just as hidden to the rest of us here as they were on earth.”
“You’re dead too?”
“Yeah. Bummer, right?” Her laugh was as attractive as the rest of her. “Actually, I think you’ll like this world better than real life. If you come with me, I’ll take you to the village.” She started walking and I followed. I still couldn’t believe how real everything looked, how real the grass felt under my bare feet, how the breeze felt on my skin. Which reminded me:
“So where do I get some clothes? And when do I get my penis back?”
“You have to earn it.” She looked back and I quickly covered myself.
“What? Don’t tell me I have to work. . . .”
“No—well you can if you want. If you can code you can help with level design, or—.”
“Level design?”
“Pretty early on, DA figured out that even though they could make everyone’s wildest dreams come true, ‘life’ would get boring if we simply had everything handed to us. So they set it up so you have to work fo
r the things you want. Or in this case, play.”
“So this is all a game?”
“Not exactly. The main world here is like a life sim: no fantasy elements or avatars or anything. But there’s a huge selection of games in The Arcade. Like mini-games, but there’s nothing ‘mini’ about them.”
“Okay wait, you said there’s no avatars.”
“Right, everyone looks like they did in real life. You can choose your age, but—”
“Hold up, I did not look this when I was alive!” I pointed down to the very thing that a moment ago I had tried to conceal.
She laughed at my dismay. “That’s because this is the spawning point for one of the games. Based on your history of game and book purchases, along with your, uh, video-viewing tendencies, you’ve automatically been selected for—”
A giant black thing raced toward us. I just had time to perceive tusks under a boarlike snout, see the pecs the size of frozen hams, and see the gigantic axe which swung in line with my neck.
Elise pushed me out of the blade’s path just in time, sending me sprawling on the ground, and then a blue glow formed in the same hand that had effortlessly sent me flying. The glow grew into a ball of intense light and she hurled it at the creature. A flash blinded me for a second and when my vision returned I watched open-mouthed as the thing fell back, smoke pouring from a dent in its chest, a horrible beastly cry of agony from its animal mouth.
I had a moment to look at the fur sprouting from the creature’s gray-black skin textured like an elephant before Elise lifted her hand to produce a new ball of light, now pure white. With a scowl she flung this at the laid-out monster.
I stared with bulging eyes as the creature morphed into a stout, pimply young man, as naked as me. Elise glowered at him.
“I’m a mod, asshole.”
“Oh shit . . .”
“No monsters in the starting village. Which means some pretty serious hacking, doesn’t it?”
“I’m—I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I promise!”
“You better believe you won’t. You’re looking at a ten-year ban.”
“Oh, come on, please!”
“You know we don’t tolerate hackers here. Judging by your record . . .” She looked up and she must’ve been viewing the guy’s info, but I couldn’t see anything. “This is not your first offense. I’m pretty sure you’re going to get banned from all the games for a while, but that’s up to the individual mods.”
“Oh no,” the hacker groaned, mortified, as if being banned from this game was the worst possible fate. I would soon understand why.
Elise reached out and grabbed at the air and I watched the world distort in her hand like a handle made of glass. She pulled, and the scenery literally opened like a door. I looked in to see a room, band posters on the wall, a bed in the corner. It really messed with my senses.
Elise said, “Out,” and with a pitiful sigh the guy walked through the door into the room, his head down and a pout on his pimply face. Elise shut the door on his naked ass, moving the scenery seamlessly back in place. I stared at her like an idiot.
“What the hell just happened?”
Her stern frown shifted into a smile.
“Welcome to Conquest.”
Chapter Two
THE village came into view before us, set in a little valley among the rolling hills of the fictional landscape. We stepped onto a crude road, which took us to the village and became the main street. An aging woman washed linen in a tub of cloudy water, a man led a donkey, which in turn pulled a cart, and a large, well-muscled man left a shop holding a giant hammer, which he beamed at with delight until he noticed us and gave me a smirk.
I instantly remembered my naked state and swept my hands back over my pathetic pecker. Elise said, “Don’t worry, nobody will recognize you. We all start out like this. Anyway, the other two are NPCs.” She gestured to the washerwoman and the guy with the cart, who paid us no heed. I reluctantly took my hands away from my midsection to resume a more natural stride.
“It still feels weird as hell strolling through the middle of the street buck naked.”
“Understandable. But at least be thankful you’re not that hacker. That’s what he really looks like out of game, in Verterria.”
“Ver-what-ia?”
“Verterria. It’s the equivalent of the real world here, only we can’t call it ‘the real world’ because someone owns the trademark to that name. And anyway, it’s not quite the real world, because it’s all ones and zeros being processed on a server in the actual world, where people are still alive.”
“That’s kind of hard to wrap my mind around.”
“I know how you feel. I’ve been here almost a year and it’s still hard to get used to.”
“What year is it, by the way? When I died they still hadn’t activated anyone’s consciousness yet.”
“March seventeenth, 2093. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.”
“2093 . . . I’ve been dead sixteen years. . . .”
“My condolences.”
“Wait, how come I’m just now conscious? How did you . . .”
“A few years ago they started signing people up for beta testing. I got in on that. Then about six months ago they began to wake others up in alphabetical order.”
“Oh. Hey, my name’s Ace!”
“Your last name.”
“Oh yeah. Singleton. Of course.”
“Speaking of which, you’re going to need a new name. I mean a username for Conquest. It takes people out of the game-world if we have people playing under ordinary names like Peach, or Hamster, or Blixnor. Instead we try to go with fantasy-style names, like Kevin, or Sharon, or John.”
“My great-grandfather’s name was John.”
“No way! Seriously?”
“Yeah, I’m not kidding.”
“That’s so cool!”
“Isn’t it? Do I get to choose my own name?”
“Yeah, it just has to be approved by the mods.”
I could actually smell the donkey as it passed us. How can I be smelling this, I wondered, if I don’t even really exist? How do you program smells into ones and zeros?
Elise led me through an alley between a few shops and at the other end we came to a tiny thatched-roof house. She opened the door.
“Welcome home.”
I followed her into the little building. A fire burned in the hearth, lending a little light to the dim interior. I held my hand out, feeling the heat of the flames.
“What happens if I touch the fire?”
“You’ll lose a few Health points and it’ll hurt like hell. Not nearly as bad as real life, but trust me, you don’t want to do it.”
I shuddered. “I had a bad experience with fire once, so I’ll pass.”
You’ll notice I capitalize game stats. I’ll do the same for levels when used as nouns, which is not strictly grammatical, but it’ll help with clarity. Anyway I’m dead, I shouldn’t be writing a book at all.
Elise pulled a cloth off a mirror. “The first thing you’ll want to do is pick a face.”
I turned to look in the mirror and at once understood what she had meant about nobody recognizing me. I didn’t have a face.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, and yet the face that looked back at me was utterly blank. I looked like nobody. Not male, not female, just vaguely human.
The body underneath, too, awaited a paint job. The bumps where my nipples should’ve been and where my veins ran were colorless. I was like a model of light gray clay.
A row of faces appeared in the mirror, unnaturally bright in the dark hut. Next to them were the outlines of two bodies, one male, the other female. The female was grayed out.
“I can’t be a girl?”
“You wouldn’t want to do that in this game unless you were into guys, but no.”
I browsed the faces presented to me. “They’re all really ugly. . . .”
“They get more handsome when you get
more Attraction points. Just pick the one that suits you the most for now.”
I reached out and touched one of the slightly less-ugly mugs, and the featureless features of my face grew and shrank until they matched my selection.
“Weird,” I muttered.
“Now for a body,” said Elise.
The row of faces was replaced by a selection of bodies. Not a very choice selection, I might add. I could pick really fat, chubby, average, thin, or scrawny. None had noticeable muscles.
“These are my only choices?”
“They’ll get better with each level, but differently. For example, the obese body has the highest strength potential, but your speed will be limited. The skinniest one has the speed, but you’ll never be as strong or as built as the bigger types. And you have to think about how you’ll look, because it factors into who will engage with you.”
“Engage?”
“Who will let you bang them.”
“Who will let me—”
“I’ll explain everything as we go, but different women have different tastes in men. For example, this one here can get really cut up and defined, but the bone structure will always be small.” She pointed to the skinny body, then to the fat one. “Whereas this one, if you work really hard, can end up looking like a bodybuilder after gene therapy.”
“I always thought that was kind of gross. What if I wanted to look like a more classic bodybuilder, like from a hundred years ago or so, before they started doing HGH?”
“This one here is your best bet.” She indicated the chubby build.
I selected it. The shape of my arms and chest expanded. Unfortunately so did my gut, but I was relieved when the colorless skin assumed a natural tone, every vein painted in before my eyes. And I mean every vein.
“I can’t help but notice I still have a micropenis.” By now I’d given up covering myself, despite the presence of this gorgeous woman.
“That’s a level-one penis. To level up, you’ll need Attraction points.”
“How do I get those?”
“One thing at a time. Pick some hair.”
I checked out the hairstyle options. “Oh my God, these are all terrible!”
Conquest Page 1
