The thin, callused finger lazily scrolls through the endless mind-numbingly boring items on the screen. Solitaire, bubble shooters, the annoying clash games. But one stood out. The icon was merely a black background with teal, 16-bit letters. Primordia. The finger hovers, before gingerly tapping the icon. It was a neat little kingdom-builder with beautiful 16-bit graphics. The objective was to plant primordial mosses in a small cave until the cave could support complex life. There seemed to be a wide variety of things to plant. Without hesitation, the finger sternly taps the Download button. As the green bar lazily fills, the owner of the finger cocks his head in amusement. He was the first to download the game, though it was several months old. It hadn't even shown up in the suggested apps bar. Nevertheless, he opens the game to get everything neatly set up. It asks for a name and he inputs his own. Velsek. No other identification windows appear. In fact, the game doesn't even have a tutorial. It simply reads, "Begin cultivating life."
"Alright, what kinda plants can I start with?" At the bottom of the screen, unlabeled minamalistic icons appear, still 16-bit and teal. Soon he finds the organism bank and purchases a simple anaerobic moss, placing it near the water pool in the cave. The currency recieved was called "DNA pathways." A small message floats up from the moss stating the amount of DNA points the moss produced per minute.
"And now we wait, I guess." He closes the app and shuts his phone off, getting up from his chair. "Maybe I'll get to buy a moth tomorrow."
YOU ARE READING
Primordia
Science FictionA young boy finds an app on his phone that piques his interest; a game called Primordia. But as he progresses through the game, it begins to take over his life. Literally.
