Liam Barrett:
The grassy field buzzes with panic, confusion, and one guy who keeps screaming, "Where's the pause button? Where's the pause button? Where is the pause button!"
Another man was screaming, "How do I log out? Oh my god! We're trapped. We're trapped!"
Hearing all the screaming and panicking, the words drill their way into my head, and even I couldn't help but start to panic slightly.
"That warrior is right," I think, "How do I get out of here? How do I log out? What happens if I need to pee or get hungry? What do I do?"
Feeling my breath quickly going in and out of my body, each breath getting heavier and heavier, I scream when another transparent screen flickers into existence in front of me.
"Ahhh!"
Judging from the screams and the jump backs, the same transparent screen flickers into existence for everyone else, too. Patting my chest, calming down my heart, and reminding myself I can't die until I have at least ten subscribers, I take a slow, deep breath, closing my eyes before opening them. I then start reading the screen.
"Welcome to the Gaming Cube," the message starts. "Congratulations, and welcome to the world of Aetherion, a place of legends and warriors, of mages and magic, but be careful, for where there are warriors and mages, there are also rogues and thieves."
"Uhhh," I say. "Is this the tutorial? Oh man. I usually skip these and learn on the go. Too bad I don't know how to do this here."
Looking around, I see all the other people, or gamers, or players, or whatever, staring into space. I look closely and see some of their mouths moving.
"They must be reading the tutorial, too. Okay, let's get this over with."
"You are level 1. To level up, complete various activities such as slaying monsters and finishing quests."
"Wait. There are monsters? There are monsters here? Oh boy."
The tutorial screen vanishes, and the quest log reappears, with the first quest to go to a nearby village called Honeywood. Thinking back and using both game logic and my experience, I slowly step forward and tap the arrow on the quest log. When I do, the quest log vanishes. I don't scream or jump back, but I do make a weird, wimipping sound.
"Hhhaaahhhhaaahhh. What was that sound? I didn't know I could make that sound. Note to self. Never make that sound again."
Looking around now, I see a giant, glowing arrow appear above my head.
"Okay," I mutter, rubbing my eyes to make sure I am really looking at a giant glowing arrow. "Nothing says immersive fantasy like a giant GPS arrow over our skulls."
As I jump left and right, watching as the arrow twists and turns, I hear another voice.
"Fear not, comrades," another warrior shouts, stepping forward. Besides being dressed in the same yellow shirt and brown pants, the warrior is also wearing what looks like a thin leather vest.
"Is that armor? How did he get armor?"
Shooting his hand forward, the warrior, with short brown hair and shining white skin, starts walking. Judging from the direction he is walking and the arrow, he must be heading to Honeywood.
"Follow me, and I shall lead us to Honeywood!"
"Okay. Well, I was right. He is going to Honeywood. I wonder how long before he dies to the first enemy."
I watch as everyone slowly shuffles behind the self-proclaimed leader. He stomps his way across the field like a man on a mission, still holding his hand forward. Joining the group and following our "leader", I stumble immediately and almost fall onto the dirt. Catching myself, I look around at some of the other people.
One mage tripped for the fifth time, with sparks shooting from her hand.
"Ouch! Darn it! Why do I keep zapping myself?
Another player is crouch walking. Probably a rogue, the player keeps crouch walking until he screams.
"Ouch. Tripped on a rock. Be careful, everyone."
As the rogue player pushes himself up, I gasp and slam my hands over my mouth when I see a golden minus two appearing out of thin air before it disappears.
"Oh, come on. Did I lose health?"
"Note to self," I tell myself, "Watch out for rocks."
By the time we reach the end of the grassy field, all of us are panting like dogs in summer heat, and somehow, one of us is stuck in a tree.
"Uhh, a little help. Please!"
"Hold on," our "heroic" warrior leader says, also panting. "Hold on."
Cracking his back, the leader walks over to the tree with the player stuck in it. The player isn't just stuck. One of his arms was inside the tree.
"If this is a game, then this must be a glitch or a bug," I say.
The leader grabs the player's free hand and pulls. About three tugs later, the trapped player stumbles out, his arm thankfully still attached and in one place.
"Thanks."
"Yeah. Don't worry about it."
We walk a little further in the direction the arrow is pointing before a quaint little town comes into view.
"Oh, that looks so awesome," I say. Rubbing my eyes and shaking my head, I look again, and the quaint little town still looks so awesome.
There are a handful of stone cottages with straw roofs, a lumber mill in the nearby, crystal-blue river, and a blacksmith, complete with an anvil, a forge, and even a grindstone. Running all around are people, men, women, and even little children. There are even animals walking around. A small group of chickens greets us players as we approach the large stone wall. Hanging from the gate of the stone wall is a big sign, with bold, painted letters.
"Welcome to Honeywood."
"Okay," I say, nodding, "Okay. This is either the start of a massive, grand adventure. Or the longest tutorial level in history."
"Hey," someone says, elbowing me with his arm. "I bet you five dollars it's both."
As we enter the town of Honeywood, we hear loud, thundering music. Stopping dead in our tracks, our heads snapping left and right, I see words quickly fading into my HUD.
"Honeywood Discovered," the words say. The message appears with music, a blend of drums and horns, sounding very triumphant and fantasy-ish. A new message then appears.
"Quest completed. Journey to Honeywood."
"Okay, okay, yeah, we get it. This is the village of Honeywood. Yay, we found it."
My quest log appears, with a white check beside the Honeywood quest.