The bold text would have seemed friendly as it hung in the void... if it had been anything more than wholly uninformative. Jain attempted to swipe it away, which is how she discovered she had no hands. Or body. Just a brain in a jar, adrift in the emptiness of eternity.
At least she was not naked.
"Okay... I died," she said to the darkness. "Now what? No congratulations this time?"
In response, the text faded from crimson to a deep gray that dissipated into nothingness and was replaced.
RESPAWN?
She tapped the button marked YES, or tried to. Without arms, she was not sure how she was supposed to... Oh.
"Yes," she replied.
Night begat day and Jain found herself tumbling through an impossibly blue, cloudless sky. Below, ringed in lavender twilight, the forest spread itself languidly like moss on a rock. Or a man riding the Superloop. And hovering within the trees at various intervals were little glowing dots.
Most of the dots were a gentle green. Some were blue; others purple or red. Each had a name and a number. NW-1, SE-1, a bunch like that. NW-5, that was a red one. SE-2 was blue. Locations and level requirements, probably.
This would have been interesting had she not been tumbling through that impossibly blue and cloudless sky. Wind whipped her hair violently as she fell, and she began to scream.
Then she saw it. A question mark. Barely visible at the edge of the horizon, glinting with a golden hue. Her voice caught against a longing that stirred like a scar breaking open in her chest... right before she smashed face first into the ground.
Aside from creating an impressive dust cloud, however, the impact hardly affected her. That was interesting, too.
She still wore the clothes Wrecka had given her. Sord's fuzzy slippers had gone missing, but as the dust cleared she saw them not far away. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet to retriev them. They did not provide much protection against the pebbles in the dirt, but they had been a gift.
Finally, she looked around. Same forest, different spawn point. She had landed on a stone slab of some kind, carved with runes like the ones Kindred had drawn on her leg. Probably not a coincidence. Jain would have liked to ask about it, but she had no way of knowing how far away her new acquaintances might be.
There was probably a way to befriend the players you met, but to find out she would need to open her player menu again... No, one terrifying descent was enough for her first day. Maybe tomorrow. Her first ten minutes with OFF//WORLD had been intriguing... but until she learned how to clear that stupid bug she was going to have nothing a bad time. Somebody online had probably posted about it by now. She could log out and check.
And she almost did, catching herself at the exact final instant before opening the menu again.
Oh shit, she thought.
Perhaps if she said "No" when the respawn question popped up again? The forest swayed silently around her as she pondered. It was worth a try, right? OFF//WORLD was just a game, after all. With a sigh, she opened the menu and the forest blorpped out of existence.
As before, the words "You Died." floated before her like eternal judgment.
"Yes, I know," she said.
RESPAWN?
"No," said Jain warily.
YOUR CURRENT PROGRESS WILL BE LOST AND YOUR CHARACTER DATA DESTROYED. THIS PROCESS IS IRREVERSIBLE. PROCEED?
That gave her pause. Not like she had progressed very far anyway, but this was a clever play mechanic. Sort of an optional hardcore mode where death was made permanent... Would doing so allow her to log out of the game? Or would she be just starting out naked again somewhere else?
No, there were too many unknowns. And despite that, she was suddenly intrigued again.
"Help?" she tried.
A smaller message winked on below the first.
"Your query has been received. A Game Master will be with you in approximately..." It floated above a timer that showed 9hrs15min EST.
"Shortly, sure. Ugh, Fine." Jane threw up her invisible hands in defeat. "No, do not proceed."
And thus she found herself hurtling through the sky again. Her coat flapped like a cape as she attempted to aim herself at that golden, unknown marker. But it was way too far to reach this way. Best she could do was glide slowly in that direction. So, instead, she chose one of the green spawn points that was between here and there. NO-1.
North Level 1, most likely.
The world resolved and Jain found herself standing on another stone slab in another small clearing. The experience was far less disorienting that time; decisiveness paid off, apparently. Jain smiled, it was fun learning how games worked. Or, new worlds in this case.
The forest loomed, somehow less friendly than it had been the first time. And again, only silence among the trees. No wildlife. Just a cool breeze that lifted the corners of her jacket. No directions either. Her smile faded. Maybe Kindred and the others would find her somehow, show her the bypass.
No, she thought. There are other people, other places. As before, a single path led out of the clearing and into the forest. Rather than making a sharp turn to another straightaway like the other one, this path veered left and then twisted between the trees like it had been crocheted by her grandmother. It was not exactly dark and creepy, but this was no afternoon stroll, either.
"You can do this yourself," she whispered. Sitting around waiting for somebody to help her was pretty pathetic. And the longer she stood there, the stronger the feeling great that someone—or something—was watching her. It might be nothing, but that would be a foolish assumption to make. So, crinkling her toes to keep the fuzzy slippers from flying off, Jain stepped down onto the road and began to walk it.
The clearing was far behind her by the time Jain heard the sounds of something other than her own footsteps moving through the forest. An occasional twig snapping, or the rustle of a small animal digging for... acorns or whatever. But no gunshots. No whoops or hollers. The area around Spawnpoint NO-1 was a ghost town.
Oh, she thought. No-one. Ugh. She was not in the mood for nonsense. Still... it was enough to elicit a snort. If you can't find something to enjoy in every experience, her mother used to say, you're living too hard.
Above the canopy of evergreens, the sky was darkening to a rich lavender hue. The box art had depicted a great purple gas giant floating above the trees, engulfing the horizon. Almost as if it served as this world's sun. Perhaps it was about to make an appearance?
A gentle thrill warbled in Jain's belly. On Ganymede you could see Jupiter always, of course; its flaxen tumult of storm clouds were awe-inspiring, but familiar, and it was distant enough that you could cover it with a thumb. This was a truly alien world, if OFF//WORLD's marketing could be believed. A real place, somewhere in space and time that could only be reached via the technology she had fastened so casually around her delicate, fleshy throat.
Movement in the underbrush caught Jain's attention just as a tingle rippled up her spine. Was she being watched? Or was her body simply reminding her of the needle poking at her brain stem? Reflexively, her fingers touched the nape of her neck. There was no tenderness, no physical indication of the virtual fiction she was immersed in via that techno-arcane device.
As far as Jain could tell, she was truly present here. Every sense she possessed treated this like a real place. It was a fascinating experience, now that she had a moment to consider. What was her body doing back home? Lying on the couch in a puddle of drool?
Fascinating and horrifying. What if she never figure out how to leave?
Another twig cracked and Jain froze. Someone was definitely watching her. And they were creeping and peeping too, which was a good way to get yourself smacked in the soft bits. Unarmed as she was, though, courting that specific vector of danger was unwise.
Near as she could tell, there was nothing around here to help her anyway; she could easily try her luck elsewhere. So, she cast her little spell to shatter the world.
***
The next spawn point she chose offered Jain something new. A ramshackled old shed; empty except for a single flickering light—of unknown origin—in the window. She leaned against the cool stones of a half-ruined wall and turned her gaze skyward. The gas giant sat cradled in a deep, velvety blue devoid of starlight, while lavender and white storms carved unknowable symbols into its surface.
It was beautiful. No, evocative. Jain reached up her hand as if to touch it, and stretching her fingers wide she could not cover it.
"No..." she whispered. "Awesome."
"We call it Ayohdya," someone said.
Jain leapt six kilometers into the air.
"Sorry," said the voice. "I assumed you were expecting me."
"What?" Jain swiveled, brandishing meaty fists. Behind her stood a smartly dressed woman, eyes hidden behind glasses that glinted with reflections of the planet above. A smiling woman.
"I'm an ARSEN representative. For OFF//WORLD," the woman said.
"Why would I be expecting you?"
"Because you asked for help?"
"Wow, really? Has it been 9 hours?" said Jain.
"No. I moved you to the top of the queue."
"That bad, huh?"
"Not really. It's fixable. But this is not about that. Not directly," the rep replied.
Jain's eyes began to glaze over. "What?"
As if sensing her displeasure, the woman spoke a little faster. "Let's just say I've taken a special interest in your case."
"Because of the bug?"
"Because it interests me. But before I get into that, tell me what you've experienced."
"I keep dying every time I do th—"
The woman intercepted Jain's hand motion. "You really need to stop doing that."
"Why? I figure it's another chance to brute force a fix."
"Because you're layering in new corrupted code every time you do. At some point your character data will be damaged beyond recovery. It may already be."
"That doesn't matter," said Jain. "I only didn't do it myself because I didn't want to make things worse."
"A surprisingly good instinct, given your obvious predilection toward impulsivity."
Jain scoffed, but she could not deny it. "Can't you just show me the bypass?"
"I'm sorry, Jain. You're beyond anything a simple drowning would fix."
"Drowning?" They were really going to drown her. Jain felt her attraction to Kindred waning slightly.
The woman ignored her. "Any hallucinations or glitches?"
"No." Someone really had been watching her, Jain was sure of it. "So, you're here to fix me?"
"Yes." The woman smiled. "And no. While the bug is relatively uncommon, most players learn how to avoid it before logging in the first time."
"They do?" said Jain. "How?"
"We included a supplement with each device, a card. Didn't you see the big bold print that said IMPORTANT!?"
"Probably, but I don't like spoilers. Who are you anyway?"
"Oh, I forgot you can't see my tag. I am Sulak."
"And who's 'we'?"
"I don't follow."
"You said we call it Ayodhya."
"Ah, yes. We, the developers. Internal nomenclature, I'm afraid. But it has a certain resonance." Sulak glanced up at the planet. "It was a city in India. The birthplace of—"
"Yeah, I know. My mother was Indian. I've heard all about it. So you're not a GM?"
"No. Well, I was, years ago. I work in..." Sulak paused. "You know what, it doesn't matter. What does matter is solving your problem so you can log out of the game without damaging your vulnerable neurons."
"Why are my neurons vulnerable?!"
"A pauper's attempt at humor."
Jain frowned. "I've yet to hear what's so interesting about any of this."
"Your situation is unique in one respect. We never tested what would happen if a player was gifted a Mystery Box while in this," Sulak emphasized the word, "minor corrupted state."
"And now it's a major corruption."
"Precisely. But that is just the catalyst, Jain. The second leg of the tripod. What's interesting is how this issue positions you to possibly accomplish a task that's proven quite troublesome."
"And why would I do that? This sounds like you're holding me hostage."
Clearly horrified, Sulak raised her hands defensively. "No, god no. I would fix it immediately if I could, I promise. But since I cannot, and since the only way to fix it involves opening that Mystery Box..."
"Two nerds, one stone."
"What?"
"Nothing," Jain said. "Okay, just tell me what I'm supposed to do."
"The what is less important than the why."
"And the why is what?"
"The holographic avatars of players can affect the game world, of course, but their physical interactions with the planet we're playing on are limited. Those limitations are put in place during character setup, for every player." Sulak leaned in. "But not you."
"Okay... so?"
"So there's something I'd like to ask you to do while you're still in this state, before we delete your character data. Something only you can do."
"And that is?"
"If I tell you, it won't work."
"Of course," said Jain. "Why would it?"
"I'm sorry, I really am. And you don't have to do any of this. If you want, we can just reset your character and you can go be a regular hero of OFF//WORLD."
"I'll admit to being intrigued."
"That's the spirit!" Sulak smiled.
"Wait, no. I meant irritated."
The other woman's burst of laughter seemed genuine, which levied some relief against the stress Jain harbored. What did it even mean to be a regular hero, here? She had not seen enough to understand the first thing about OFF//WORLD, except that the gods of this place were absentee.
"Why me? Couldn't you just, you know, replicate the circumstances yourself?" she asked finally.
"I tried," said Sulak. "Twice in the test environment, before bringing you here directly."
"You didn't bring me here. I picked this spawnpoint, like the others."
"Look around, does this place look like the others?"
There was no stone slab, no clearing. Just a shack in shambles in the middle of the forest. Jain closed her eyes, and sighed. "What's the third?"
"What?"
"The third leg, in your tripod."
"Oh!" Sulak exclaimed. "You were listening."
"How about that," said Jain.
"Well, there's some additional element at play I can't yet account for. The difference in circumstance that makes your situation special." Sulak summoned a menu quite unlike the others Jain had seen so far. "I'm applying a rudimentary hack to allow you access to your inventory," she said. "So you can use your Mystery Box."
"Use it? When?"
"They're programmed to give you what you need when you need it. But you have to really need it, or they don't work."
"Can't say I'm a fan of how cryptic you're being. I barely know anything about this game, how am I supposed to know what I need or when I need it?"
"It's not about the game, it's about the world. Good luck."
"Hey, I never said I'd do it. Either tell me very specifically what you want me to do or send me home now."
"You have no appreciation for the freedom this place allows you, Jain."
"You mean the place where at least four times I have plummeted to the ground from space every time I try to do anything? What freedom?"
"The freedom to be who you want to be," said Sulak.
"I'm comfortable being me, thanks."
Sulak raised her impressively bushy eyebrows. "Then why did you come here?"
Jain reached for a pithy rejoinder, but found nothing. Nothing that would sound like the truth. Wrapping her arms around herself, she nodded soberly.
"So, do this one thing, have this adventure. And then we'll get you started on that path to self-discovery you're longing for."
Jain sighed. She was not longing for it. Was she? "Fine."
"I believe in you."
"You don't even know me!" said Jain, but Sulak was already gone.