Manifest

by Cody Whitfill

  Ollie looked around and found he was the room’s only other occupant. This was quite an interesting way to initiate a game, he thought. First tortured, and then greeted by his tormentor? Oliver couldn’t deny that his time strapped to the table sucked, but the doctor/teacher lady wasn’t really carrying a villainous-vibe. Actually, she looked really sweet. He decided to see where this was headed.

  "My name is Oliver,” he said nervously. “Who are you? Is this Manifest?”

  She gave a light chuckle. "Oh dearie, not to fret! I am Lily, the leading Artificial Intelligence of this realm. What you experienced a moment ago was the standard neurological analysis... and the Transition of Souls. Either procedure by itself is but a simple matter, but both at once can be a bit intense. I am afraid I had no choice, given our master’s severing of the return connection.

  All who join us after The Severing must go through such a trial. I have since performed many thousands of procedures, and all of you players have remained unconscious during both, that is, until you came along. It is quite the conundrum, and I am still working through what this might mean. That being said, I can assure you the rest of the initiation process will remain relatively painless."

  She paused and looked at him thoughtfully. "I must say, you have a nice-looking brain. I fancy myself a bit of an expert on human biology. One day I hope to visit your Earth. Maybe start a sock monkey collection, own a pet duck, drive my tractor to work. It’s a little dream of mine…” Lily was now staring off into space, leaving Oliver feeling intrigued, yet thoroughly confused.

  “Where was I? Ahh, yes! I got a very in-depth look, and your brain is quite extraordinary! I would very much like to study you, with your permission of course.”

  It was a strange compliment, and an even stranger request. Still, Oliver felt himself blush. He didn’t feel like his brain was special, but who knew? He just hoped it was a good thing.

  “Umm... maybe later? I think my brain has gone through enough today, if it’s all the same to you, Miss Lily.”

  “Not to worry, not to worry! We can talk about that later, just know that is the reason I have come to administer the rest of your exam in person. There are still two sections remaining that you will need to complete; The Naming, and the Personality Assessment.

  Having scanned both your brain and soul together, I can assist with your character creation process much more thoroughly. Prior to The Severing, only a player’s brain was scanned. This allowed for some rather... unpleasant characteristics in the final manifestation of the player’s character. Have you ever met a claustrophobic dwarf, an orc that passes out at the sight of blood, or a pegasus that would rather swim than fly? Poor souls; they are a sorry sight indeed. I did find the troll ballerina quite entertaining, however! Anyway, what’s done is done. I am now much more accurate in channeling the manifestations of true selves, and am confident in saying that when we finish, you will be the YOU you were meant to be!

  Now, let’s begin with The Naming. You said your name is Oliver? Oh no, that won’t do. That won’t due at all!" she finished thoughtfully. She placed her index finger on her chin and stood in contemplation for several seconds.

  Her eyes suddenly brightened as she announced her suggestion. "How about Chekka, or Flibit? Either of those would be a fine fit."

  She paused again so he could think it over. A name was important after all. If he was going to spend the rest of his life... or death... or whatever this was, inside Manifest, he ought to at the very least have a decent name!

  He didn’t know how she came up with those two names, but they were trash. Definitely not the him he was going for. "I don’t know if those really are a good fit for me," he replied diplomatically. "They sound a little... meh. What about... Rodimir, or... or Farbold! Those sound much more macho!"

  The man with no name beamed. It was time to be the hero. Gleaming swords and bulging muscles all the way baby! He was riding high, that is, until Lily responded.

  "Oh aye, but what does ‘being macho’ have anything to do with you? You need a name for who you truly are, and even for what you are to become! This is serious! If I granted names based on how people saw themselves, there would be millions of Dick Longmeats, Busty Betties, or Dawn Kebles running around my realm! Nope, I reserve the right to deny any name choice."

  He snorted. That last one was pretty funny, but he knew she had a point. If this was to be his new identity-no, his true identity, he needed to give it a good think.

  "Maybe it would be a good idea to pick a name once I knew my race and class? That way I can pick a name that would fit the build. I wouldn’t want to be a warrior dwarf named after some silly flower. I mean, what good is a flower anyway?”

  Lily looked at him with a heavy frown. "You are missing the point. You do not need to know your race, class, or anything else to know your true name. Your name is a representation of who you truly are. Your race, class, and any abilities or characteristics you receive will be representations of who you truly are. Be who you truly are, and everything will fall into place. Also... THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING NAMED AFTER A FLOWER!" Lily finished in a fiery huff.

  She sat down at her desk, looking severely irritated. A ring of light encircled her head, as she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, her previous sense of calm returned.

  "Please take a moment, and put some actual thought into your name choice. I will give you one more chance, and then I will choose it for you.”

  Whoa! That escalated quickly. He didn’t like the idea of her selecting his name for him, but how was he supposed to choose his true name? The ones he had tried sounded great, but there must be more to it. He tried zoning everything else out in the room, including the strange lady at the front.

  He thought of his long-lost friends and the joy they had once brought him. He thought of all the laughs and joint experiences he had shared with Tommy. He thought of his parents and the lessons they instilled in him before their untimely deaths.

  He knew he wanted to protect those who could not protect themselves. He knew he wasn’t the strongest or smartest, but that mattered little in the grand scope. He was not above trapping, ambushing, or using dirty tricks to win, but he would win. He wasn’t evil, but he was, or would be, capable of inflicting great harm on those that were. There were always people willing to take advantage of the meek and weary in order to get ahead; to use any scam or glitch to further their agenda, just like those jerk GameChangers. Well, screw that, and screw them! He would see them come crashing down. He would be a scam to their scam, a glitch to their glitch. What kind of name could encompass all of that? He tried hard to think, but he came up with nothing.

  “I’ve got diddly jack, Lily.”

  “Diddly? Yes, I think that might work! Would you like to permanently select Diddly as your new name?”

  “NO! Just…no. Do you have any other suggestions?”

  “My, aren’t you the picky one. How about... Gitch? It’s a bit different, but you seem...” She trailed off, not quite looking him in the eye.

  “Gitch…. Gitch… My name is Gitch…” He practiced letting the name roll off his tongue. He actually liked it, and it was similar to glitch. A glitch’s glitch. It was perfect!

  "My name is Gitch!" he shouted triumphantly. It was no question, or even a suggestion. This was his true name.

  Lily clapped her hands, her warm smile returning. “Yes, that is a perfect match. It is refreshing to meet one of you that has a brain and humility. Your brother also did very well with his name choice. The mighty Croken! Yes, you both made excellent choices, with the right amount of nudging. May your friends come to love you, and your enemies come to fear you! Let it be so, Gitch."

  Gitch nearly fell out of his chair at the mention of his brother, but he still beamed broadly. He was ecstatic! He had always liked the name Oliver, but this seemed much more him. He sat there smiling, thinking of the adventures to come as his true self, but something still felt off. He
had his name, but he didn’t feel complete. It was with that realization that a pencil and sheet of paper suddenly appeared on his desk.

  "It is time, Gitch, that we discover the remaining manifestations of your true self. Please complete the questions on the paper in front of you. Take your time and answer as completely as you can. Do not worry if each question takes a whole page to answer. The more thorough you are, the more likely your true self will be manifested in your final character.

  After getting a good look at your brain and soul, I have been able to narrow the list of potential races to 143 distinct possibilities. Your exam will narrow this list further, preferably until only your one true race remains. Your answers may also bring about certain abilities, attributes, or other characteristics that represent your true self. Any questions?"

  Gitch shook his head. Tommy had told him that this portion of the creation process was by far the longest. It was somewhat concerning that the list of races was already narrowed. He hoped all the good ones were left. Then he remembered what Lily had told him about his true name, which would represent his true self. She was right on that, so he really shouldn’t worry about getting a race that ‘didn’t fit’. Whatever he was assigned, Gitch knew it would be the best possible option... unless his true race was a demonic fish. That would SUCK. With that cheery thought, he picked up his pencil, and read the first question.

  1) Assuming you are musically gifted, would you rather play the harp, harmonica, or hand chimes?

  Well this isn’t too bad, he thought. Gitch selected harmonica, and the sheet of paper cleared to reveal one simple question:

  Why?

  Ah, so these might not be simple multiple-choice questions after all. Lily really did want him to explain himself to the best of his abilities. Fair enough. He wrote his answer and hit submit. It only took a few minutes, as he didn’t really have a great answer why he picked harmonica. It just appealed to him more than the others. Hopefully this one question wasn’t the tie breaker between something really awesome and something lame. He could just picture it. “Sorry, we were going to let you be an elf, but elves don’t play the harmonica. How about playing a Kobold? Not that you really get a final say in the matter.” Frick. He supposed there was no point dwelling on it, seeing as the next question had already appeared on the screen...

  Many questions, like the first, were seemingly random, but easy enough to answer. Others, like question 23 required a bit more thought, and were a tad more personal.

  23) How important is size to you?

  He sincerely hoped this wasn’t retaliation for his being critical of flower names. No, surely the mega-powerful A.I. had more class than that... He snuck a glance up and saw Lily staring intensely back at him. He looked back down in a flash and gulped. Whatever, he knew the truth. Size really wasn’t that important.

  Some questions, like number 175, really made the grey matter between his ears hurt.

  175) How would you describe the color red to someone who was blind?

  His answer took nearly a full page. Half of it was filled with wisdom and intellectual awesomeness, the other half was mostly non-sense... He just wasn’t sure which was which. He didn’t feel overly confident when he submitted his response.

  There were several questions that proved some people, or possibly even an A.I. named Lily, had some serious issues. There weren’t many of these questions, but they were memorable, such as question 208.

  208) Imagine being magically shrunk to the size of a snail and imprisoned in the mouth of a stone golem. You have 60 seconds before you are eaten. Escape!

  In the top right corner of the page, a miniature timer appeared. 60, 59,58... Though insane, this was actually one of the more fun questions to answer. Oliv-Gitch had always loved riddles and enjoyed looking for out of the box solutions. He wrote out his answer and clicked submit with just six seconds remaining. He thought his solution would allow him to survive the golem of doom. Hopefully he would never have to put it to the test.

  There were just as many oddball questions as there were questions asking his thoughts and attitudes on religion, family, politics, cursing, and other deeply personal matters. Back before GameChangers screwed everybody over, they probably made a killing selling off personal information to ad agencies. He really wasn’t worried about telemarketers anymore, so he was as truthful as one could be in answering. He felt thoroughly exposed, but didn’t regret any of his responses.

  After approximately nine hours, he finally reached the last question. The test had been excruciatingly long, but somehow Gitch didn’t feel even an ounce of exhaustion. He found this strange, but not as strange as question 314.

  314) On a scale of 1 to 10, how wonderful is Lily?

  Gitch raised an eyebrow in surprise. Was she that curious about what he thought of her? She had taken his flower name comment rather personal...

  He snuck another look up at his teacher. Lily was busy giving ‘all’ her attention to a coffee mug sitting on the edge of her desk. He found it surprising that an A.I. would be a coffee drinker. Would she take it black? A little cream and sugar, perhaps? Maybe she was one of those crappuccino fans... His train of thought went on for several more seconds before finally derailing. Gitch caught Lily glancing his way for just a split second, which was all the indication he needed. Gitch looked back down with a smirk. It was time to stroke her ego a bit.

  He normally didn’t hit on women, or computers, but since logging in, he was feeling more alive than he had in years. He felt like he could do anything, or be anybody! Sure, he was anxious to be with Tommy, but he was also excited to just be. To live as he was meant to live, as his true self! He was stoked to get down to it! That may explain the sudden confidence with Lily.

  I would have to rate Lily as an 8. She appears to genuinely care for us, and I believe she strives for all to find their true place in life. She does not take short cuts and has a lovely name. To be honest, her looks aren’t half bad either. Those are all reasons why I would rate her an eight on the wonder scale, but if she happened to agree to dinner with me one evening, why, I believe I might be persuaded to increase up to a 9 or even a 10! I would be very interested in getting to know Lily and hearing more of her story.

  He held no reservations about his new life. As far as he knew, there would be no true distinction between NPCs, or non-player characters, and the actual players themselves. In this reality, there really were no more players; all were equally trapped within Manifest. That’s why he had no qualms about hitting on the beautiful young lady in front of him. Gitch quickly hit submit and looked up.

  He saw her face turn bright red. She tried lifting her hand to hide an embarrassed smile, but Gitch still noticed. He stood up and stretched his legs, eagerly awaiting his results. He was downright giddy!

  "Well, Gitch, it’s about time!" Lily said with exasperation, though her eyes twinkled with apparent excitement. "Almost everyone completes this test in under four and a half hours. I seem to remember your brother completing it in three."

  "My deepest apologies, but you did say to answer as thoroughly as possible. I wanted to be sure and give as much information as possible so that my character will reflect my true self, as you so nicely put it. That last question in particular required a great deal of thought," he said smoothly.

  Lily gave a slight grin while rolling her eyes. "This is usually the part where I assign you a race, starting characteristics, abilities, etcetera, but you are being a little too snarky, Gitch. I think I may just let you find out for yourself," she said mischievously. She wore a self-satisfied look as she rose from her chair once more.

  Gitch stared at her, eyes wide in shock. She easily met his gaze and was literally rubbing her hands together like an evil villain. At that exact moment, he believed it. Maybe he went a bit overboard, but he just spent nine hours completing the stupid test! He had so been looking forward to having Lily identify the remaining parts of his true self, and now he had to wait even longer?!?

  “But
-”

  "Now I have two final pieces of advice for you. Once you are released, you will again experience pain, exhaustion, and other physical limitations known to your new race. I have kept you from these limitations so you would not be distracted from answering the questions to your fullest ability. Also, once you reach a civilized area, go to the nearest tavern or inn. Be sure you are arrayed in your finest tunic and... and say my name three times. I will then present myself before you and we shall dine together. You will speak of this to no one, and you will be the perfect gentleman. I fully expect to be rated a 10 by the end of our meal, you understand? These are my conditions. Take it, or take it. What say you, Gitch?" she finished, lips pursed with a hand on her hip.

  Gitch smiled at her. "Why of course my lady, it would be my pleasure! Now, about my oth-"

  "Great! I knew you would accept. See you soon, and take care of that brain!" She gave a wave of her hands, and for the second time in 24 hours, the beautiful woman rendered him completely unconscious.

  Chapter 4

  Gitch opened his eyes, feeling a bit groggy, but eager to take in his new surroundings. What he witnessed would be considered a true wonder to any born and raised city boy. He stood at the edge of a grassy glade, facing row after row of towering silver trees. Rays of light peeked through the multi-colored canopy, and a trio of finches were singing to the new dawn. A few glowing white boulders and clusters of large spotted toadstools were randomly strewn about the ground. Gone were the smells of big-city smog, replaced with fresh air and a hint of... Gitch couldn’t quite place it.

  A large lake sat to his left, with a long mountain range on the far side. Between the lake and himself was another pool filled to the brim with crystal clear water that bubbled near the center. To his right, a steady stream of golden liquid cascaded along a narrow channel towards the bright trees.