Arcadia: Credence

Chapter 1: Challenging Monotony

Time is a strange entity. Like a non-Newtonian fluid, it never operates the way it's expected to at first glance. Sienna was no stranger to this, straining her ears for the soft ticking of the clock behind her while drowning out the voice of her professor. It somehow possessed less cadence than an inanimate object.

She felt herself beginning to slump into her desk out of boredom as the woman in-front of a large digital board babbled about how a quarter of the bones in the human body are found in the foot. Fixing her posture as well as her large rimmed glasses, Sienna attempted to remain attentive despite inhabiting a seat too far back for the lecturer to even care.

Preparing to jot notes into her open notebook, she came to learn that she had lolled into her own mind for too long. The woman speaking was now on an entirely separate subject about the practices of medicine. Discerning this was far too much of a common occurrence, Sienna opted to completely focus on the root of her problems. The lack of fulfillment. Taking a glance behind her, there wasn't enough time to catch up anyway.

Students littering the lecture hall were preparing to vacate, pooling into the isles leading to the doors while the professor began breaking down her area to leave. Pulling her fiery hair into a ponytail, Sienna neatly gathered her supplies, stuffing them into her bag. She then slung it over her shoulder to melt into the hoard of bodies.

The orange glow of the sun elevated itself upon her as she left the shade of the building. Outside, people congregated into their cliques, ignoring stragglers. Occupying her mind with options to curb her general disinterest, she knew she was a big book worm and didn't have a lot in common with her usual group of friends who often went into the city to have a good time.

Figuring she wouldn't be missed too much, Sienna trekked into the deep end of society's commercialized existence. The streets of New York.

The evening was littered with electronic billboards and packed with tourists as usual, causing Sienna to feel invisible. She struggled to even navigate around those taller than she was. This was the reason she avoided even the thought of being anywhere else but open areas from the fear of being trampled in her own head.

Sienna took some liberties in dodging the endless stampede by sticking herself to the glass pane windows of one of those fancy restaurants with an alluring aroma. Scanning the stores around her, she weighed her options utilizing the advertisements that flooded her vision until something caught her eye.

Across the street from her was a digital billboard above a venue with many flashing images, presenting what looked like a first person point of view of intense combat. Many differences were displayed the moment the point of view shifted into showing the area people were doing battle. People like herself in this venue video were wielding mystical pistols, swords or a sleuth of other weapons, however they portrayed much greater levels of strength than anyone she's ever seen being capable of. 

She'd seen these things before though, but now that she was looking for something new to sink her time into, it felt more compelling to give it a try, where previously she had little to no interest. She then thought of her mother, who is often away because of this game. Pulling her phone from her pocket, Sienna thumbed a message into her phone. 

'Want to hang out? Arcadia' Sent.

Raising her head from the screen in her hand, she was determined to cross the street for this new potential hobby of hers. She pushed her way through the river of people, and clumsily veered away from moving vehicles until her boots touched the opposing sidewalk. That smell of the restaurant lingered in her head, even if it was ever so slightly present in the air.

"Evening, Ma'am." A voice softly called out.

"Hello?" Sienna was still catching her breath before she averted her attention to the person who she assumed spoke to her.

"Would you perhaps be interested in perusing our merchandise?" A woman asked.

"I would like to, yep." Sienna admitted to the greeter, fixing her coat.

"Great! Come on in then. It's warmer." She said, opening the door for Sienna, motioning her to enter.

Sienna took the invitation, basking in the warmth of the store.

"So," the greeter clasped her hands together. "What can I help you with today?"

"I'm looking for Arcadia, the Nova-Helm, and your strongest Portable Computer." Sienna stated.

The woman seemed a little stunned. Sienna thought maybe it was her forwardness to such a huge price tag, especially for her humble attire. This would be the only time she's felt comfortable indulging in something this off the cuff in a long while.

"If that's not too much to ask." She added sheepishly

"O-Of course, No. We have all of these in stock. Let me grab the items from the back. Just stand by the counter further down while you wait and prepare for your purchase." The greeter instructed.

Sienna gave her an anxious smile, sauntering past the store's display of electronic items across the walls and atop tables. The store was a sky blue and white mixture of colors. Very techy feeling.

The greeter was swift enough to dust Sienna, entering the back as the red-haired girl patiently waited by the counter, watching gameplay of Arcadia flash all around her from the monitors mounted on the walls. It had become such a phenomena a couple years ago that to her people often treat it like a second life. It's partially the reason why she avoided it so much.

Players were pulling off such impossible feats in combat. She vaguely imagined the feeling of being able to do these things herself, until she considered that she never realistically held a weapon before. It was a daunting thought, but she was determined to find something to strive for instead of being as boring as she is.

The woman from the front waddled out the back end of the store with everything in her arms, placing some things on the floor behind or on top of the counter before scanning the boxes.

"Here we go," She said. "Your total comes to $3240."

Sienna simply placed her phone on the reader until it dinged.

"Thank you, for helping me." Sienna told the woman behind the counter.

"Of course. It's not a problem." She replied, bagging her things before pushing them for Sienna to grab the ends.

Sienna was beginning to realize this was a mistake walking here instead of driving, but there was no point in wasting gas on such a short trip. This would be a long arduous walk back.
It was nighttime before Sienna could even properly catch her breath, placing her newly purchased items in the back seat of her car parked at her college.

It was when she finally got into the driver's seat that her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her jean pocket.

'YES!' her mother texted back.

Sienna wasn't surprised by her mother's enthusiasm, but she was glad that she was able to be around her more often now. She set her phone down, starting the ignition to head home.

Grueling moments were shared with her door as she fought to sway it open, dropping the items barely a meter past the entrance. The intense excitement welled up inside her. She was much too impatient to wait for tomorrow on setting up her equipment

Unpacking, and plugging in everything necessary, it took her almost an hour because she was vaguely familiar with the newer technologies. With her dinky little setup now complete, she was able to admire the indulgence in her new hobby. She ended up repurposing a few things, like a mouse, keyboard and a monitor. Tucked beneath her brown wooden desk, The glowing PC hummed. To the left of that desk was her rearranged nightstand accommodated for the huge piece of equipment meant to fit her head.

Placing her hands on her hips, she gave herself a satisfied sigh. She willingly read the instruction manual for the Nova-Helm a little earlier. All she needed to do now was go for a test run. She picked it up with both her hands as gently as she could, walking it over to her bed as the cords connecting it to the wall and the computer snaked across the floor. Sitting herself down on the edge of her bed, she leaned forward to place the helmet snuggly on herself so the visor rested comfortably over her vision. She grabbed her phone that sat next to her, and began tapping away at the screen.

Just like in the manual, it recommended the users to place themselves in bed before activation. Sienna then raised her legs over her mattress to tuck herself in. Feeling comfortable enough, she pressed a button on the side of her head. The helmet chirped, and gave a prolonged exhale.

Her eyes had to adjust to the holographic nature of the menu through her visor. Using her hands, she manipulated the menu to start her journey into the world of Arcadia.

'Please, close your eyes and relax your body.' A text commanded her.

Sienna now realizing how tense she was, attempted to temper her slight anxiety.

'Please wait. Your consciousness is now being suspended.'

She felt a sudden bite at the nape of her neck. Not too long after, she felt her extremities become warm and tingly, until her thoughts began to fade. This was to be expected. She read the manual after all.

The oblivion was quick, like a good nap. As she opened her eyes, she came to the understanding she was occupying a dark space while on her feet. She had no time to adjust to this stark change, as a popup echoed itself into existence in front of her.

'Custom character' or 'Remain in your own body'

Sienna gave it a thought. She didn't like the idea of inhabiting unfamiliar anatomy. That would be a debilitating sense of body dysmorphia. Choosing to remain in her own body caused the darkness to drain away from her sight, being replaced with something more colorful in comparison, but not by much.

Gathering her senses, her eyes met with the glances of various people who passed by her and noticed others leading wolf-like horse creatures down cobblestone roads. Looking around, grizzly iron buildings towered over her from every turn, ominously illuminated by an orange sun that occasionally peeked through the rolling clouds above her. The atmosphere was surprisingly gray, but she didn't really know what to expect anyways.

Feeling a little light, she looked down at herself, pinching the neck of a white shirt she wasn't wearing before. That feeling of nakedness crept in on her psyche. She wasn't even wearing anything terribly revealing, but she much preferred to wear loose heavy clothing simply for comfort.

"Sienna?" a familiar voice called out to her.

"Mom?" Sienna questioned, turning to meet her mother who she'd seen leaving a building to her right. She had braided ginger hair, a lot like hers and wore brown clothing very different from what she'd usually see her in. She knew her mother was a fan of the dainty look, so it was a striking difference to Sienna.

"Here. Let's get you inside and situated." The woman told her daughter, walking around her back to urge her softly into the direction she just came from.

 "Is that where you live? Why's it so close to where I am?" Sienna asked, complying with her mother's nonverbal demands

"Your intuition is as sharp as ever." The woman joked. "It's for convenience-"

"Evenin' Ava!" a stranger shouted in her direction.

"And to greet others, as challenging as it is for me." She admitted, waving to the stranger in the distance with an anxious smile. "Hurry it up, you're like a slug in shock." she playfully scolded, urging her to keep walking.