ARCADEIA

GAME START!

DONG-DONG-DONG

A large clock tower rang out with a booming bell. The face of the clock struck twelve midnight. People around me started to cheer, excited for the contest. Then, we were all transported away from where we stood, and placed in a large town square. Thousands of people packed together, shoulder to shoulder, murmuring loudly, confused on what was happening.

Then the sky started moving like it was on fast forward. The night sky got brighter as it shifted to morning, then shifted to day, passing night again and back to early morning. The sky started rotating so fast people started to scream at the flashes. The moon and sun were quickly traveling across the sky as it changed, almost looking like they were up at the same time. Then the sky froze, the sun planted in the center of the crystal clear sky. The clock tower rang out again.

DONG-DONG-DONG

Now it was twelve midday. I felt a nudge on my arm, a girl Avatar was tugging at my shirt sleeve, looking at me.

"Hey, can you see if you can logout? Mine is gone, I'm wondering if it's a glitch," she said.

"Yeah, sure," I said. Tapped my chest, and scrolled down to the settings and to where the logout button should be. But it wasn't, it was gone, just an empty gray space. "That's weird. Mine's gone to... Maybe, it was taken out for an introduction for the Scavenger Hunt?"

"Yeah...maybe," the girl said.

"Do you know this place?" I asked her.

"Nuh-uh," she said. "New to me."

A loud lightning crack boomed in the sky, people screamed, some even ducked. Then as if someone poured Cool Aid over the blue sky, it melted to a blood red. The wind started to pick up, clouds forming and swirling in a spiral over head, forming a large blood red cloud tornado. Rain started to splash down, slow heavy drops at first.

"Woah," the girl said, and looked at me. A large drop of red hit right between her eyes. Before I could say anything, I got hit in the same exact place. Then groans ran out and we looked around. Everyone was getting hit by the red rain in the same exact place, right between the eyes. Heavy rain burst from the sky suddenly, covering everything in red liquid. I looked to the girl next to me, who lick some off her finger, then immediately spit it out. "It's... blood..."

Screams echoed around the massive crowd, then screams of anger. "What the hell?! My stuff is gone!"

"My levels are gone too!"

"I'm level 1 again!?" the girl next to me said.

"What were you before?" I asked.

"40, but now I lost all my XP and Items," she said with annoyance in her voice. "What about you? Did you lose anything?"

I shook my head, "This is a new Avatar."

She shrugged, "Well I guess you got lucky."

"Look up in the sky!" someone shouted, and at once everyone's head's tilted up.

Floating above everyone was a giant Avatar. An Avatar I recognized from Gaming Articles and Magazines. "That's Hades..." I said breathlessly.

"You mean... that's Alt?" the girl said, pointing up to him.

Hades was Alt Kenway's name for his Avatar. Eight feet tall, covered in battle worn Greek armor. A dark tattered cloak wrapped around his shoulders. His arms and hands were wrapped up in ratty cloth bandages. His face was covered by a dark hood, which made smoke swirl around the opening where his face would be, so no one could see his face. Glowing red eyes sat behind the smoke like embers.