RaMarcus' Virtual Reality - Guild Inn

Sarge · 28-06-09, 01:45

Part One - The Interview

Central London, England. The capital of fashion, shopping, food and a big melting pot of culture. Marcus was a twenty-one year old guy, just trying to scrounge his way to a decent lifestyle. He had failed all of his GCSE's leaving him with pretty much no qualifications at all and no way of getting a half-decent job. The main thing that caused this was gaming - Marcus loved his gaming. He could name every class on World of Warcraft backwards. He'd seen pretty much every pixel in Grand Theft Auto and could complete Contra without the Konami cheat. He used to bring his old laptop to school every day just to spend the day grinding on Guild Wars. After school, him and his best friend Chris used to go to the arcade every night and spend all their pocket money on the games and machines there. Just another go, he would tell himself, just one more coin in the slot.

Now, almost six years later and still no job, he found himself walking through Oxford Street just trying to find some work. He was just about to give up hope when something caught his eye - an advertisement in a shop window. On closer inspection, the notice read:

VIDEO GAME TESTER WANTED
SKYFORGE CORPORATION
FOR WORK ON TOP SECRET VIDEO GAME
PAY UP TO £10,000 A YEAR
NO QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED
CALL 07956851765 FOR MORE DETAILS

To Marcus, this sounded to good to be true. Although a little shady, this still was the opportunity he had been looking for.

After calling Skyforge, a particularly pleasant woman named Felicia informed Marcus that he could go for his interview today, if possible. Marcus got changed into his best clothes (which weren't much) and set off for 9 Park Lane. On the way there, he started to wonder why he had never heard of the Nighplay Corporation before. If they could afford to pay a mere tester ten thousand a year, then why hadn't they released any big name titles? A growing sense of unease started to grow over him.

Marcus arrived at the place. It was shabby looking, no bigger widthways than a terraced back-to-back house. As soon as he walked in there was a block of dimly lit stairs, which he proceeded to walk up. At the top he was greeted by a man in a black waistcoat and a stetson hat tilted at an angle so you couldn't see the mans eyes but you had the feeling he could see you. He was stood in the manner you would expect of a security guard of sorts, but he looked strangely relaxed and laid back. The dim orange light meant that hardly any of his features were distinguishable at all.

'The name's Jackson', the man said, reaching out a hand. He talked in a scottish accent, a voice seemingly hardened by past experiences.
'Marcus', he replied, shaking Jackson's hand. Marcus stood there for a minute like he was waiting for something, but when he realized Jackson had turned back to looking at the floor and didn't likely have anything else to say he swiftly proceeded through the door he was stood at.

Marcus entered into a room almost as shady as the man he had just met, even dimly litten and featureless except for a table and a chair on either side at the far end of the room. Even the walls looked bare and featureless, with a dark orange tint coloring them. There was a man sat at the table, so Marcus guessed that's who he was looking for. He walked to the table and sat down.

The man sat at the table looked about in his middle thirties, with medium black hair and a black suit on. His features looked chisled with jet black eyes that seemed to pierce through you. The man smiled subtly as Marcus sat down. A gold plated name tag was on the top of the desk, reading 'Mare'.

'I believe you're here for the job?' Mare said before Marcus had even sat down.
'Uh, yeah, I saw your ad in..' Started Marcus, before he was abrubtly cut-off by the man opposite him.
'There's no need for details, just sign here..' proclaimed Mare, producing a paper form out of what seemed like nowhere and sliding it across the table. He picked up a golden pen from the desk and also handed that to Marcus.

Marcus tried to read through the contract thoroughly, but the lack of light and the distortion the orange tint seemed to be doing to his eyes rendered it near impossible. In the end, he just signed where it was indicated. What could go wrong? As Marcus finished the details of his signatures, the pen started to burn ferociously in his hand. He dropped it onto the table, to a confused look from Mare. Mare grimaced.

'You are now a games tester for the Skyforge Corporation. We'll contact you when we need your services and you'll receive your first pay check on Friday. Adiós!' Mare exclaimed.
Marcus was quite surprised at how quickly this had taken, and was in shock. Was he really going to be paid ten grand a year? He started to ask but was stopped short by Mare.
'You can ask all questions when we next need you. For now, go home and prepare for a phonecall from us.'
Obediently, Marcus exited the room. He didn't see Jackson on the way down the stairs as he was stood next to the door, but he could sense his presence.

As soon as Marcus exited onto Park Lane, something was different. He couldn't tell what it was, but something was definitely different. And that was just the beginning.

Part 2