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Chapter Two; Gist of the Game

Chapter Two

Gist Of The Game

UPON reaching the bottom, Kiers quickly leaped out of the tube and surveyed his surroundings, strangely finding nothing strange and purgatory-esque like he had seen in the movies.

It was just a plain garage.

There were various outdated arcade games strewn around a eroded cement interior, posters of bands from the last century, some wires, broken pieces of things, and as Layla said, a set of stairs that lead outside.

There was one major support beam for the PODS, which appeared to look like auto-massaging chairs where someone was supposed to lie down on, with a helmet section and a glass white covering over the chair, which was filled with complex wiring and keys.

How was this supposed to be self-explanatory again?

Cáel excitedly rushed over to study the configuration of such amazing devices, as Onyx, Suigeneris and Winston glanced around and experimentally touched a few of the objects.

Kiers glanced at the highly out of place, contrasting, state-of-the-art flat screen monitor supported on the beam, and slowly stepped forward.

Something about it . . . was just . . . not right.

Step by step, the closer Kiers got, it abruptly flashed black and white with static noises, as Kiers was taken aback instantly and backed away.

The others instantly turned in shock as she slowly concentrated around the pole.

The screen flashed a few times, before a blurry image was formed, and as the pixels grew more and resolution higher, the picture was crystal clear in high definition.

Staring back at them was a shrewd-looking man in his late twenties, in a fine designer suit, sitting in a huge genuine leather chair, a halcyon smirk on his face. Dark hair framed a guileful, yet attractive face, which spoke of charisma and class.

The boys instantly froze and stared at the image, as their jaws dropped to the floor (except Kiers barely managed to compose himself, he was Kiers, after all!)

"B-benjamin Eclat?!" they all spewed at once, blinking and rubbing their eyes to make sure the image was real.

The CEO gave a humble bow of acceptance and smiled, "In the flesh."

"And the Great Creator himself!" Suddenly Mr. Eclat was pushed aside (his chair apparently had wheels) by an employee--an eccentric man in a coat and cap. The man tipped his hat to the camera and smiled. His boss cleared his throat before pushing back the other man so they both shared the camera equally.

"This is Frederick White," Mr. Eclat introduced beckoning the grinning man beside him, clearing his throat.

"Call me Fred," Fred said immediately, waving.

"Can I have your autograph?" Cáel suddenly gushed in reverence at his idol, the greatest video game designer in all time.

Mr. Eclat and Fred looked at each other for a moment, as Cáel stiffened, realizing his mistake that there were two extremely epic people in front of him.

Fred suddenly brought his face right to the camera, smirked and winked, "You won't need my autograph when you're more famous than me; but I'll give it to when Sir Ben flies you guys over to New York and hands you that check!"

Kiers had a dry smirk on his face, while everyone else remained rather expressionless.

"Now, I'm here to tell you a bit more about Empire Wars," said Fred, "it's meant to be difficult, and there is no surefire method we've concocted to defeating the game, there's going to be a million and one ways to die, and don't expect any gaming clichés with our stuff."