Had an idea of this story at the beginning, but as often is the case it transforms on the page. I like it, but there is a bigger story behind it. Maybe one day I'll explore it.
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Real Reality Games
The way the trees gave off a purple effervescence intrigued him, but
the turquoise light at the end of the path drew him on. Max loved the
feel of this world, even though he knew he should be cautious.
Randolph had told him to go straight to it and not muck about like
last time. He knew Travis and Jonas wouldn’t rescue him again. He’d
only wanted to explore the geometric world; he didn’t know the
rigid structures would be so tightly controlled. Playing a prisoner
had been no fun. It had been touch and go during the negotations to
get him out.
But this world was entirely different; it was already softer and
lighter. Even though the forest could be seen as threatening he found
the sounds soothing. Strange pops and barks, rustles and squeaks.
What made them? He pondered this as he followed instructions to stick
to the path.
Untold treasures Randolph had claimed, but really what would that
give him? More access to other worlds maybe? Certainly not a life of
riches in his own. They’d found objects were worthless when they
brought them back here. The only appeal for Max was the escapism,
exiting his own empty mundane reality. He didn’t care about seeing
different places. He wanted to create something within one of these
worlds. He wanted to stay in one forever. He wanted the fantasy to
become the reality.
Maybe he could be the pioneer: The one who stayed. He liked that. But
would it start a mass exodus? Would it disrupt everything? For now
the public didn’t know much about world tripping. They thought it
was some virtual reality game. It wasn’t, it was a real reality
game. You actually went inside and explored other realities –
realities that the majority of the world thought were only fantasy.
Time parallels and other dimension were fiction to them. Just a
handful of scientists knew otherwise, and he was one of them.
The turquoise light was now dominating the colour spectrum;
everything was lit up around him in varying shades of the aqua blue.
It was magical and fairylike. But where was it coming from?
The trees thinned out into a clearing and there it stood – a ball
of light emanating beams of pure turquoise. It stood way above his
head glowing and deflecting the violet light that surrounded it.
Max was awed by it. He hadn’t seen anything like it in all the
worlds he’d travelled through – and there had been at least a
hundred. What was its purpose? Randolph thought treasure, but this
was much more than that.
He walked right up to it and reached out a hand, but there was no
surface just light. He took another step and then another until he
was engulfed by the light. It was all around him and in him.
He felt his mood rise, a sensation of elation filling him. He felt
like everything was possible that there were no limits to anything.
His mind raced with all the projects he had been working on, and
solution after solution appeared in his mind. He laughed at the joy
of all the knowledge and the feeling of complete satisfaction and
contentment that filled him.
He didn’t ever want to leave this place. He had found home. This
was where he belonged. He felt it in every atom of his body. This was
it, this was his destiny. He never needed to be anywhere else again.
