Week One Day One

by Char Cam

  Allon walked to a courtyard where a waterfall gushed over jade boulders into a blue, blue basin of sand. Behind it was a building with guards at strict attention at its entrance. The building itself was of amethyst granite and looked vaguely like a castle without turrets. Allon waved them up carpeted shallow steps and through its wide, arched, double glass doors.

  "This is Orientation Hall," Allon said as they entered the foyer. It was large with a high domed ceiling and its light-marbled flooring shone with almost blinding mirror brightness. However, they weren’t given time to admire entryway since Allon led them without loitering to a closed door which he promptly opened and entered. The group trailed in quickly.

  Refreshments decorated one side table. However, Allon motioned for his charges to seat themselves in the ornate and high-backed chairs surrounding a shiny over-sized round onyx table. Once seated, he began speaking immediately.

  "You are all Golden Ticket winners. Congratulations on your wins!” Allon grinned as several cheered and clapped. “Now is the time to assign your rewards. This orientation is to explain the world outside this building. The number one constant you must adhere to is that role-play will be strictly enforced. Do not talk about a life outside the game at any time unless you are in your personal areas. Personal areas being the rooms given to you in Gamers Complex and this building, which is where you will come for group scheduled meetings. You can invite guests into your personal area, but if they don’t want to talk about the outside, don’t push it. Doing so will get you expelled from the game: permanently. I hope that’s clear. Second, you’ve all won a special reward. A thousand point bonus right away for filling in your quotes correctly.” More cheering and Ophelia knew she herself wore a huge grin stretched across her face. “Now, for the true purpose of attending this theme park. Total immersion into the game. The assistants assigned to you will help you pick out a character for a special quest series only you will ever play. You’ll be given a wardrobe and background info on the character and outside your personal areas, you will become that character. Total role-play. If you hear of anyone else, even those not in your group, talking about the 'real world', other than accidentally, walk away. Only in personal areas should real life be discussed. It ruins it for everyone otherwise. People are here to escape the real world.

  “The gold card you were all given is your ticket to special items. It is also an access card into the game area and a locator card if you get lost or if you’re looking for something in particular. At vendor booths, you will find a card reader. Use your card to pay for your requested items. These vendors are instructed to give you what you ask for. The cost is covered as part of your role-play. If any of the vendors trouble you, let me know. Sometimes a new person doesn’t understand that anything you desire is to be given to you as a gold card holder. Any questions?”

  Ophelia looked around and hoped there were few. She wanted to start researching a character. She was anxious to explore the world outside. She needn’t have worried. The excitement she felt was mirrored on the others’ faces. “Very well. Off you go. Pick your attendants and have at it.” A low hum drew their attention to a wall which wasn’t a wall, but a series of hung doors. They were being withdrawn back to reveal twelve cubicles of computers, each with an assortment of folders and printer/scanners sectioned off about the room. Two people hovered in each section, gravely acknowledging Ophelia’s group with simultaneous bows.

  “WOOT!” shouted someone, and amid much laughter, the gamers charged off.

  Ophelia ended up with two women in a corner cubicle who smiled warmly as she joined them. One, a woman in her early thirty’s, had dark shoulder length straight hair, dark eyes, and pleasant features with a matronly smile. The other was much younger, perhaps twenty, with dark blonde hair tied behind her and a very pale aquamarine shading her eyes. There was also an air of mischief about her, and her pretty face burst into excitement as she smiled widely at Ophelia.

  “I’m Jolene and this is Letty,” the older woman explained. “When we meet outside this room, we’ll strictly adhere to our characters. As your first day guides, we might reference the real world as part of your ongoing orientation, but that will be kept to a minimum. Only in wardrobe will slight allowances be made. I would advise studying your chosen character thoroughly because once you’re turned loose, its strict role-play from then on. No reference will be acknowledged regarding orientation. There are monitors throughout the bazaar keeping tabs on talk of ‘real life’ and you never know who they are. It really does ruin things when you’re reminded of the outside. Now, for your character, did you want male or female?”

  “Female," Ophelia said decisively.

  Letty took half the folders and placed them in a cardboard box. Then both women took the remaining stack and split it into ten piles. “Did you have a race preference? You’ve got your Demon Hunter, your Gnomes, Dwarves--”

  “No Demon Hunters. And no Undead either.” Ophelia shuddered. “I hate their quest lines.”

  Silently, the women removed two piles. “Anything else?”

  “Well... why don’t we just cut the paperwork and look at the Altin Elves, Druid Healer class. They’ve always been my first love. My very first character was an Altin Elf. Let’s see if I like any of those quests. Then if not, we can look at the others,” Ophelia suggested logically.

  “That suits very well,” Jolene smiled. “There are five mystery quests lines for the Altin Elves. One concerns a lost heir: what happened and where is she. This one is for the disappearance of a lost love. Another is for finding the hidden power behind the HoSafes. And these two are respectively about finding lost objects: the Staff of Goren, and the Scepter of Vision. You feel intrigued by any of these?”

  “I’m a sucker for romance,” Ophelia admitted sheepishly. “Always have been. Let’s go with the lost love,” Ophelia grinned.

  Letty chuckled and piled the other race folders into the box of discards, then gathered the extra quest files and placed them on top and placed the lid on the box. Meanwhile, Jolene opened the chosen folder and extracted a disc from its sleeve and inserted it into the computer. As soon as the disc uploaded and was accessed, a bell began clanging from the sound system. Jolene’s eyes popped open with excitement and Letty actually giggled and clapped before she began digging through the boxed folders.

  Allon immediately came, saying, “Congratulations! You’ve won a Grand Prize! All five mysteries are linked to the one mystery you’ve chosen, so as a bonus, you get the rewards from each one as you solve it.”

  “Whoa!” Ophelia was speechless with shock. It was all she could do just to respond with that one word. Not exactly showing a bit of her vaunted intelligence, but oh my gosh! The grand prize? Amazing! She never won anything!

  Another bell dinged in the background. Allon smiled hugely. “Excuse me, we have another Grand Prize Winner.”

  Ophelia turned shining eyes to her two assistants.

  “Okay,” Jolene said, digging in, “we have a lot of info to cover, so while I get everything set up, why don’t you let Letty take you to wardrobe and get your proper attire. Letty is a whiz at stuff like that. She’ll have you looking amazing in no time. Then come back here for some in depth character background.”

  “That sounds good,” Ophelia nodded.

  “Great!” Letty said. “Here’s the basic info on your character we need for the wardrobe organizers. Follow me and on the way over, I’ll show you some of the features the park has.”

  Ophelia eagerly followed Letty through the foyer, but instead of going out of the front door, they went left down a glass encased hallway toward the back. The glass exposed enclosed rooms which appeared to be a dining room, a great room with high chandeliers, a game room with a small putting green and a bowling alley, and a patio with a beautifully landscaped swimming pool.

  Outside, in a small driveway, parked in a row the length of the building, were the strangest ‘golf carts’ Ophelia had ever seen.The nearest sported a large
piece of plexiglas curving upward, framing itself as a large windshield in front of a flat base roughly the length of a twenty foot trailer. At the tail, a smooth shiny material flowed up as an inward curling leaf. In between, on its width of perhaps six feet, a table sat squarely in the middle with six very comfortable chairs around it. There was a gear box on the floor in front for the steering mechanism and a straight, slanted rod springing from that with the steering controls on top like a gamers handheld controller. Two bench seats with backs separated the front from the passenger area. A serving area near the back carried a small refrigerator. Drinks and snacks occupied the small cabinet area. There was no visible motor. “This is called a mobile unit. Mobile for short. If you will place your hand here on the steering mechanism...” Ophelia did so, “and say a few words...”

  “What should I say?” Ophelia asked perplexed.

  She jumped as a friendly voice replied, “That is quite sufficient. I have your voice profile. I am yours to command.”

  “I-it talks. Oh my gosh! That is sooooo cooool.”

  “Yeeeees,” Letty agreed laughing. “This is your vehicle for your length of stay. It can only be accessed with your voice, unless you hire a driver. Then you simply add their voice for control. Now. Hop in and ask to be taken to the Wardrobe Organization Department.”

  Ophelia jumped into the driver bench seat eagerly. She waited for Letty to sit on the other bench seat then said, “Take us to the Wardrobe Organization Department.”

  “Very well,” the mobile responded. It backed out of its slot and at a moderate speed of fifteen miles an hour, moved down a lane.

  “You are now residing in Azdromadarim, capital city of the southern half of this continent known as Izanpuf," Letty said gaining her attention. "You can read more about that in your packet.

  "As a point of interest, we don’t have phones here. To use a phone you must go to your room, or Computer Hall. Here, in this area of the park, we use crystals. We don’t phone, we crystal,” she explained with a giggle. “If you want to crystal someone, you can buy a personal crystal, or you can use one of the stationary units located conveniently everywhere. Like that one there.” Letty pointed to a small picnic style table that had a large glass structure thrusting from the middle of the top. As she watched, someone sat at the table and touched the glass. Immediately it responded with a soft pulse then suddenly, a face was looking back and a conversation obviously was occurring.

  “Whoa! I gotta get one of those for my house!”

  “It’s very unlikely you will see this technology outside of this park. We have the exclusive rights to it, but it’s a bit impractical on the outside because of vandals.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I can see that,” Ophelia said with disappointment. The screens would be easily broken, smashed for the joy of it by some idiot of jerk just for fun.

  “Here we are then,” Letty said brightly.

  They were in front of a tent. “This tent is only here for today. Inside there is anything and everything needed for your characters’ bio. By now, Jolene will have sent the basics of what you’ll need. Come on. Let’s go have some fun shopping without a limit!”

  “WOOOOT!” Ophelia enjoined, laughing.

  It was larger inside than it appeared from the outside and that was big enough. Inside, it was humongous and Ophelia thought a Cosco shopper would go mad from so much to look at and so little time; and they’d leave with thirty full carts and not even make a dent in the merchandise.

  Minor chaos with seamstresses and shouted orders and people rushing here and there all with concerned expressions greeted them first. Then a stout woman of perhaps three feet four inches accosted them without looking up from the paperwork she glanced through with a harried manner. Thick lenses rested on a thin nose above pursed lips..

  “Right. You’ll be new acquires,” she stated rather than enquired.

  “Indeed,” Letty replied. “Altin Elf, Female.”

  “Druid Healer. Very good. Down this isle all the way back. Turn left and again all the way back. Oh!” Abruptly the woman looked up myopically. “Your Greatness! Forgive me, I just realized...”

  “It’s no problem,” Ophelia assured the now nervous woman. “I can see keeping the mayhem in check here is a constant distraction. We’ll leave you to go about your business.”

  “Thank you,” she said, relieved. Then turning, she starting haranguing two seamstresses arguing over a spool of thread.

  Letty giggled, then turned to walk briskly down the way of the directions. “As I said earlier, I’ve brought a brief description of your character to help define your wardrobe. You are a Druid Healer of the first quality. Apparently, no one has ever been as powerful as you, so you’ve ranked pretty high. You get to wear the best finery. But it says you like to disguise yourself, so you get some lower end fabrics too. Here we are, looks like.”

  An elf, as tall as Ophelia, moved sedately toward them. She had silvery blonde hair which flowed wavelessly to knee length. It whispered against her dress as she walked and its ends fluttered outwardly, inquisitively exploring garments and people with its static. Her figure was trim her movements graceful. Ophelia thought the woman could burst into classical dance at any moment. Dark eyes gazed at her inquiringly.

  “Ophelia Ransom?”

  Ophelia nodded.

  “We received your fax and we’ve started your order. We need your measurements. I believe we can have something ready very soon. Your coloring favors the bold, so let us fit something along that line.”

  In a dizzying amount of time, Ophelia was led behind a changing area, stripped, measured and plastered with various bright fabrics, jewelry, gloves, hats, shoes, scarves, then dressed in a gorgeous turquoise silk sheath that flared gently at her hips and flowed elegantly to the top of her exquisitely jeweled purple-sandaled feet.

  Through all of this, she joked and quipped with Letty and quickly grew to appreciate her sense of humor and fun. Ophelia enjoyed Letty’s company so much, she couldn’t help saying wistfully, “I wish you could role-play with me. It would be sooo much more fun to have a friend along.”

  Letty went silent a moment then grinned mischievously. “Be back soon.”

  The poking, prodding and accessory matching at last came to an end. Two last pieces of the elfin character were added; a set of ears, which tingled as the adhesive set, and finally, a thumb-sized opal surrounded by a filigree of leaves and stems extending horizontally was glued to her forehead. “The sign of a Druid Healer. It is against the law to hide your talent, so it will never come off. Don’t voluntarily let it be taken.”

  “What, I’ll be arrested for taking it off?” Ophelia joked, astounded.

  “No, of course not. The one taking it will be condemned. The moment it is removed against your will, the nearest Defenders and Enforcers will zero in on its location. A Healer is always protected. To harm one is a crime against all. This is your protection so that all may know you as you are. Likewise, one needing your aid may the more quickly seek you.”

  “I’m cool with that. Awesome. Am I done now?”

  “Your current attire is complete. Remember, your ears and diadem will not come off, so if you go into the real world, cover them or have an explanation. You may shower or swim without fear. The rest of your belongings will be sent to your establishment. Later, you might stop by the Healers Guild and choose assignments you feel inclined to attend.”

  “Healers Guild. Gotcha."

  She sensed someone coming up behind her and turned to find Letty. She gasped and crowed in delight. She now sported a more restrained style of dress than Ophelia, but she also wore the same Druid Healer opal upon her forehead. Along with a pair of pointy ears matching the ones Ophelia wore. “Hey, what’s up? Wow, these things are bigger than Spock’s," she observed dryly as she looked over Letty’s ears then fingered her own. Strangely, she seemed to feel the sensation to the tip of her fake ear.

  Letty smiled uncertainly.

  “Are you going to be playi
ng with us?” Ophelia asked excitedly. “That would be just too totally cool if you are! Like whipped cream frosting on a strawberry cheesecake.”

  Letty looked relieved. “If-if you don’t mind me joining you.”

  “Fantastic!” Ophelia shouted, giving Letty a spontaneous hug. “You checked with your boss and stuff? It’s all arranged?”

  Letty shrugged. “I will speak of this now, but never again okay?”

  Ophelia responded to Letty’s sternness with the motion of zipping her lips and throwing away the proverbial key and trying to look solemn.

  Letty rolled her eyes. “You know how we have to solve the quest mysteries to get the tickets? Well, I only got as far as a bronze. I had to get here on my own, which was no problem, and once here, I had to create my own character. But...well, I don’t have a great imagination and I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to be. But I liked it so much here, I asked if they were hiring. There’s nothing for me back home. Just a job in a fast food joint, and no really close family or friends. So the management gave me this job and said if ever I came across a quest line I liked, I could take vacation time. So here you come, and I liked you right away. And you’ve got five mysteries to solve. How fun is that? Plus, I think being a Druid Healer is a really good character and your quest says you have two Healers who are your B.F.F.s that travel with you and I really like one of them, Liaylaha. You don’t mind, do you? I prolly should have asked first ‘cause it’s your prize, but you said….”

  “I don’t mind at all... Liaylaha,” Ophelia said enthusiastically. “I’m glad to have you along. And I could use the help with five quests and I haven’t had a Best Friend Forever in, well, forever. So let’s have some fun. And we’re supposed to have a third?”

  Liaylaha threw her arms around Ophelia in a quick, fierce hug. “You’re awesome! Thanks for having me.”

  "No problem," Ophelia said, eyes dancing with happiness. "What’s next?"