Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

1 We're Here

The room that Anna led them to looked to be some kind of standing theater. There was a single large screen that hung over the group and wrapped halfway around the circular room. The screen was blank so Sam instead focused on the lovely Anna as she made her way up to a small stage.

"Okay everyone, we are now here at our official studio. A few floors above us, the programmers, designers, engineers, and other developers are hard at work making their final preparations for the test. Below us is where your Dream Chairs are located. That's where you will be stationed for the duration of this alpha test. Our project doesn't have an official title yet, and the developers have had the toughest time thinking of a way to condense everything the game is about into two simple words. What I brought you here to this room for, was to show off some of the game footage that we've captured. Are you all ready?"

A collective "yeah," boomed throughout the spacious room. Anna's micro mic broadcasted her playful laugh then she signaled for the lights to be cut. The chatter fell to pure silence as the group was covered in dark.

Anna quickly shuffled off the stage and right after the screen that stretched around half the room displayed a bloodshot moon with symphonic background music playing from the speakers in the walls. The moon was soon engulfed in flames as a woman's siren like voice cried out in a haunting soprano solo.

Soon the video cut to a chaotic war torn battle between two kingdoms. There were knights on either side, rushing forward on horses and on foot with swords or lances in hand. The battlefield was already littered with the dead and even more fell as the fighting intensified. The camera panned to two opposing captains then to a solitary man, an old grey beard dressed in light armor with a dark cloak over it. The old man wielded what Sam thought was a broadsword in his right hand. He smirked then ripped his cloak off and revealed huge muscular arms and clutched a hand full of fire in his left hand which grew bigger and bigger until it exploded and engulfed the whole battlefield.

The screen cut to a spiky red dragon flying through a blue sky. The scaly dragon landed on a rocky cliff and breathed an unending stream of fire unto a group of four adventurers who were trying to hide below it. The next screen was of a female mage fighting some kind of giant clad in armor. She acrobatically dodged his attacks and held up her staff, retaliating with a cluster of fast moving blue energy spheres that pierced the creature's armor.

There were then huge sweeping shots of several gorgeous vistas, including gigantic mountains, decrepit cities, a lava filled volcano, a dark forest with skulls strewn about the ground, a green hilly valley, a roiling blue ocean, then there was a montage of intense and creatively designed creatures. Creatures that Sam knew he would soon have to come face to face with. After that was a montage of deaths from all sorts of characters like knights, assassins, wizards, and what looked to be a cleric.

Another round of deaths, most likely player deaths, was broadcasted in first person. Each one was more gruesome than the last, with the final one being getting ripped in half then eaten by a giant cyclops looking monster. The video ended with a montage of various weapons and spells being used. Once the lights came back on, Sam swallowed hard and breathed deep. He was definitely ready to play now.

"That was pretty kickass, right? And from the looks on many of your faces, terrifying. Okay, come on everyone. We have one more person to meet before we get you all strapped in and logged into the game world." Anna said then made her way through the crowd back to the door they came into. She led them down to the right wing of the hall and into a huge room filled with padded reclining game chairs.

The chairs were arranged in rows and spaced out to allow a person to pass comfortably on each side. There looked to be medical attendants all around, mostly women. In the middle of the room was a tall woman who stood out from the rest of the staff. They wore blues and white scrubs, yet she wore a green and white lab coat with what looked like professional office clothes underneath. She was wearing a skirt like Anna's, only hers was longer and white. The woman's long hair was tied into one thick braid and was a redder shade of auburn and her eyes were brown. Anna walked up to the woman and waved her hand over her as if displaying a prize.