by Adam Myhr
It was indistinct at first, the pain. I concentrated on the pain, trying to find it. I relished the pain because it wasn’t the blackness. The pain came into focus, and I started feeling other things. The pain was a headache. My body was laying on something. No, I was laying on something. I am in my body, laying on something, in the dark, with a headache.
I tried to move and felt my fingers wiggle. I felt something off as I opened my eyes and tried to look around in the dark. Then I realized, the HUD was missing. “Yes!”
“Frank? Was that you?”
The doctor’s voice was the best thing I’d heard since I the simulation faded into view. “Yes, it’s me! You can hear me?! I’m in the real world!?”
“You are Frank. There was a slight problem with the system. I see you found the hardware fail-safe access point?”
“Yes! I just followed directions!”
“Great. Umm, you don’t need to shout, Frank. Just speak normally, and we’ll hear you fine.”
“When are you going to turn the lights on and get me out of here?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I said, when are you getting me out of here? I have class tomorrow, or is it today already? This was only supposed to take four hours.”
There was a long pause. The complete darkness made it feel longer.
“How long do you think you’ve been in there?”
“I dunno man. Hours easily. The light never changed, and I didn’t have a watch. Can you get those lights up a little now?”
There was another long pause. “Sure, Frank.”
The lights came up slightly, not enough to hurt my eyes, but enough for me to feel as if I really was in the real world again.
“Frank?”
“Yes, doctor?”
“We’ll go ahead and start your out-processing if you’d like. Before you decide, you should know you’ve only been in there about twenty minutes.”
“What?!”
“That’s right. And, as per the contract, you’ll only get compensated for the actual twenty minutes.”
“I don’t care. I can’t go back in there.”
“I understand. The nurse will be in to help you soon. I’ll speak to you in a few minutes.”
The nurse dropped me off in an exam room, promising the doctor would be in soon. Physically I felt fine, outside of a massive headache. I was mentally exhausted though. I looked around the room, appreciating the modern touches to the office.
Knock, Knock.
“Hello?”
“Can I come in, Frank?”
“Sure, doc.”
Doctor Jefferson came in and took a seat. He glanced at the computer on the desk before turning to me. “Is there anything you’d like to share about your experience?”
“How about the way it wouldn’t end when I wanted it to?”
“Yes. How does that make you feel?”
“Pissed. Scared. I dunno.”
“It’s perfectly normal to be confused at a time like this. The good news is we have all the data from your session. We’ll be able to go back and play through your entire experience to find out what went wrong.”
“What do you mean play through? Is it like watching a movie or something?”
“Oh no. We don’t do that. It would take forever to slog through everyone’s play experience in real-time. No, we have a computer crunch through and pull out anything out of the ordinary. We also factor in anything the user specifically wants to share.”
“Well, I guess you need to get your help files working. I had no idea what I was doing there, or why.”
“We’ll make a note of that. Anything else?”
“No. I just want to leave.”
“We’re almost done. Are you experiencing any physical pain or discomfort?”
“I have a headache.”
“Is there anything else?”
I stood up and stretched, taking a few steps around the office. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“You’re favoring your right leg. Your medical record doesn’t show any previous injury.”
“Oh. I guess I didn’t notice. I did get beat up in there, even shot by an arrow.”
“Well, we’ll take a closer look when you come back. Reception can schedule your follow-up appointment, or we can call you tomorrow if you’d prefer.”
“Call me tomorrow. I’m done with this, I need some time.”
“So, you aren’t going to come back for another session?”
“Hell no. Hell. No.”
The doctor turned and tapped a few things into the computer before standing up. “Well, Frank, I guess I’ll see you in a week or so.” He reached out to shake my hand.
“Oh, I got one more thing, doc. Can I get something for this headache? I can hardly see straight.”
“I’ll have the nurse bring you something before you go.”
I went out a side door, not seeing the crowd in the lobby again. It dropped me in an alleyway next to the building. I stood there for a while, watching as different people kept passing by the alley, going about their business, oblivious of me. After about ten minutes I realized the people weren’t repeating. The world wasn’t waiting for me to act, it was moving on without me.
I slapped myself in the face, shook out my arms, and started on my journey home. The world felt different as I wandered. Mostly it was less vibrant. The colors were muted. The sounds were muddled, And the people. The people were everywhere. I couldn’t get away from them.
I made it to the bus stop and went to the outside of the shelter to wait. There were people inside the shelter, and the weather was fine. I heard something growl while I stood there, and I jumped, lashing out with my fist as I turned. I caught a young woman on the shoulder.
“Hey! What the hell asshole?!”
She had a small dog on a leash, and that dog was growling at some birds hopping on the ground nearby. “Sorry, ma’am. I’m a little jumpy today I guess. Are you OK?”
“If you call being assaulted by a random stranger for having a dog OK then yeah, I’m peachy.”
I threw up my hands. “Damn lady, I said I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” I turned and went to the other side of the bus shelter, leaving her and her dog behind.
When the bus came, I avoided looking at the driver when I got on, taking the first empty seat I found and making myself look as creepy as I could.
“Good to see you too, Frank.”
I looked up to see my friend Vinnie driving the bus. “Oh, sorry man. I didn’t see you there. I’m not really with it right now.”
“I guess. We still on for tonight?”
“What?”
“You were helping me paint the apartment I rented? So I wouldn’t lose the deposit?”
“Oh. No. I can’t. Not tonight.”
“What? What the hell man? You don’t have any more friends than I do, so I know you’re not doing something else.”
I looked up at Vinny. “It’s that clinical trial I told you about. It wore me down, I can’t do anything tonight.”
“Fine. Just next time, have the decency to tell me what’s really going on, OK?”
“What?”
“You’ve been declined for over a hundred clinical trials over the last year, and you expect me to believe you were accepted and participated in one all within the last hour? Whatever man. Here, it’s your stop.”
I just shook my head and got off the bus. I hoped he’d be fine in the morning. Vinny was the only friend I had.
The door to my apartment opened as I approached. I went in and flopped down on the futon, turning on the live mars crew feed. For years this was my go-to calming routine. Today it wasn’t working. Today I was getting antsy. I was jumping at the sounds of the apartment around me, the sounds of the city outside leaking in.
I turned it off and drifted to a fitful sleep. Throughout the night I kept waking up, nightmares of animals attacking me preventing me from getting a good night’s sleep. The morning found me groggy, tired, and paranoid. I turned
on a light in the bathroom and shrieked at a spider scurrying down the side of the sink. I crushed it with the hand towel next to the sink before I’d finished shrieking.
The rest of my day went just as well. I found myself peeking around corners before walking around them, looking for the exits in every room I entered and wincing at the smallest animal noises. I arrived back home to two messages.
The first was confirming an appointment for the following week to debrief the clinical trial I’d endured. The next was an invitation to come back for another test.
I didn’t want to experience that world again. The thought of facing giant creatures and feeling the pain of claws and clubs again almost sent me to tears. I read through the invitation another time and went to the reply page. There, I watched myself in horror as I selected the red “Accept” button on the right.
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed reading the first Chronicle of Alamor. Please leave a review and let others know about this book. There are many tales to be told in this world, about many different people. Some tales will see new test subjects, some will see previous test subjects return. Eventually, the game may come out of Alpha and go to Beta, Pre-Release, and beyond.
I know you enjoy reading good LitRPG stories. Truth is, I like writing them. Let’s work together on that. Join the mailing list and tell me what you do and don’t like. We’ll work together with everyone else enjoying the stories to bring you the best stories possible. I intend to write not only more Chronicles of Alamor, but also stories from different worlds, ranging from other LitRPG to Space Adventures. I hope to speak to you in email soon!
About the Author
Adam is splitting his time between writing the rest of the Project Sarinder Trilogy, a couple of LitRPG projects, a Space Opera/Marine collaboration, and helping his wife raise three kids. With no spare time to manage separate identities, he’s pretty easy to find on Facebook, Twitter, and the web – though he’s not responsible for any non-story stuff you stumble across. If you’re only interested in the writing, sign up for the newsletter and mailing list here.
Connect with Adam
GreenGiraffePublishing.com
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t be possible without the help of others.
The Indiepub Support group has been a central pillar in my journey as an author, and I look forward to many years of moving forward together.
Nicole Montgomery and Daniel Martone did an amazing job on the cover.
Without readers, there is no support for getting the rest of the stories waiting in the wings out.
My wife and children stood by my side through thick and thin.
Thank you to everybody involved.
