[ Players of Planet Earth. . . ]
[ I greet you with open arms! ]
Will's face twisted in distraught, his mind and body refusing to accept what was happening. His habit of over-analysing and over-thinking screamed 'the end' at this current moment.
His eyes remained fixed. Just now, he could have sworn that he saw a different piece of text? Was it text? It was kind of boxed off…
The screen jittered with the appearance of a new message.
[ You are all in the pre-pre-game phase! ]
[ You might be wondering, what is this in front of you right now? ]
Bewilderment coated his face. This screen... Felt awfully mocking.
[ Well~ All your questions will be answered if you choose wisely! However, right now… ]
[ We need you – yes you! To give your consent to play! ]
[ By accepting our T&Cs, you grant us the go-ahead! ]
Amy rose from the ground, her hand still placed on her head. They both read the messages that streamlined across the screen. This situation felt too surreal.
Cropping into their view unannounced and harassing their eyes, this 'screen' felt awfully similar to an annoying pop-up! But it mentioned the word… 'players?'
[ Players! If you wish to open our T&Cs, just think of it in your head! ]
[ Or say it in your head! Hell, say it out loud! ]
[ Whatever is most convenient for you! ]
[ After all, this will be your designated way of opening the menu in the future. ]
[ You can always change it of course. But your first instance of opening the T&Cs. . . ]
[ Is the default method you'll likely use down the long run! ]
Glancing over at Amy, their eyes met with the same look of turmoil and indecisiveness.
Breaking the silence, Will's voice lightly croaked:
"What should we do?"
Amy's unprecedented headache eased. Still, she displayed distress with teary eyes.
"Is this all real…" Quaking – she didn't know how to respond, "I- I don't know!"
A new message popped onto the screen reinforcing the unease that plagued the air.
[ Oh! By the way, we don't have all the time in the universe, so I decided to put a timer up! ]
[ So, make up your mind before it hits 00:00! Or else you know, something might happen. ]
A timer for 10 minutes was on the top left of the white screen. Swallowing his spit, Will conceded.
"Amy, let's try what that screen says." Trying to calm himself, "I think we should see what it wants us to agree on."
Amy reluctantly nodded. Will's mind was still restless, showering him with warnings. However, whatever was happening right now could not be refuted. Noticing how hesitant Amy was, he wanted to reassure her.
"We just have to think about it right?" His voice broke – trying to lighten their spirits, "Hmm… But it's pretty vague with its instructions."
Nevertheless, Will thought about all the types of terms and conditions he came across on the internet, albeit he never actually read them, but what else could he refer to.
Something felt off – was it an electric shot? Will's eyes strained due to the sudden uncomfortable feeling. Twitching, he saw faint gold sparks in the corner of his vision.
"Huh- what the?"
Suddenly a screen for the terms and conditions appeared, which meant that this method really worked. All he had to do was think about it, well not precisely, just a general concept of the screen was enough. Besides that, it had a similar aesthetic – it was a blank white screen with text on it. And, situated at the bottom, housed two buttons that offered the choices: 'Accept' or 'Decline'.
Will looked over.
"Amy, do you have it up?"
Amy composed herself and no longer tensed.
"Yeah, it popped up when I thought about it…"
"It has loads of paragraphs, as well as a decline and accept button at the bottom."
Will took a deep breath and contorted his face. The fact that something like this was happening made no sense. Insane and absurd, all of it. Well, maybe the most absurd thing was that the screen told them they had ten minutes to 'make up our minds', presumably after reading the dozens of paragraphs onscreen.
Curiously, an idea cropped into Will's head: 'Who said that only you alone had to read this crap?'.
"Let's go back into the house." His shaky voice growing steady, "There's no way in hell we can read all of this in ten minutes. So, let's place our bets on splitting the paragraphs up, maybe we'll make it in time."
Will took Amy's hand and trudged to the patio door.
…
Now inside, it was apparent that the house was in utter disarray. People were arguing and bickering with each other. Some spouted obscenities suggesting that it was the water they drank that caused this. Some even went as far to say that God did this, which was not as a ridiculous theory. Ultimately, everyone was in a state of panic.
Tracing the rooms, his eyes landed on the kitchen. Who he saw was someone he knew: a modestly built, fairly tall figure with dirt blonde hair and misty-blue eyes. Standing still as if he were shell-shocked. Unsurprisingly, he was the only person in the kitchen who wasn't acting in hysteria.
Will approached, keeping a tight grip on Amy's hand. Passing through the door, he steeled himself and called for the man's name.
"Konrad!" Will managed to let out a stern voice.
Broken from his daze, Konrad frantically spun around and locked onto the tensed face of:
"Will?"
Will stumbled on his words but managed to convey his thoughts as best as he could:
"Kon, we need to… We need everyone here to read the paragraphs!"
"There's no time left!" He exasperated and gripped harder on Amy's hand, not realising he was still holding it.
Amy let out a small cry.
"Will! Can you let go now?"
Finally noticing the grip he had, he let go apologetically. Amy reassured him that she was fine and not to dwell on it. Of course, there was a bigger problem at hand.
Konrad lamented and relayed worrisome information.
"We can't read them anymore..."
"Sorry Will, we all chose an option in panic."
Around the room, people had a look of dread. Everyone was left wondering if the choice they made was correct. Some still remained in panic, and some quietly huddled around the corners of the room waiting for an update on the screen.
"But why! We still had time to figure this out!" Will retorted, "Why would you do something so reckless?"
Konrad had already realised that but accepted his fate. The initial high from celebrating had put them in a frenzy – some were already drunk before the appearance of the screen – so it was inevitable that many reckless decisions would have been made.
"… I- I can't take back my choice Will." Konrad's voice shook, "I accepted them, but I don't know if it was the right choice."
Next to Konrad was a man sat down. His head hung low, and defeat riddled his face.
"Dan here… He, uh, chose decline."
"I tried reassuring him that nothing bad will happen but…" Konrad hesitated – of course no one knew what the outcome was, "Everyone else in the kitchen also chose to decline the terms…"
Time was ticking down, only four minutes remained on the timer. More people began to wind down, anxiously waiting for it to hit zero. No one could reason why something like this was able to make them so tense. Many had already accepted that this was something way out of their control.
Prompting himself on a wall, Will slid down, taking a seat on the floor, Amy followed suit.
"I'll read the last paragraph, and you read the first."
Amy nodded, quietly agreeing.
***
[ 01:34 remaining! ]
"I finished the last paragraph. What about your end?"
Amy looked at him with surprise.
"I finished with mine as well. We still have over a minute, should we read more?"
Will shook his head.
"No need, I think I got the gist of things."
"What did the first paragraph say?"
Amy's lips moved.
"It talked about 'game rules' and ownership."
This caught Will's interest
"Hmm, okay, could you summarise it?"
Amy continued.
"It talked about objectives, a storyline and what we should expect..."
"And, how Earth is under ownership."
Will furrowed his brow, processing the information. He then sighed and revealed his findings.
"The last paragraph talked about consent."
"It said that if we accept, we give our rights to our own 'being' away to something…"
"I have no clue what the next text said after that because it was cryptic."
"Either way, we forfeit ourselves to play the 'game'."
It was now obvious that they will no longer have control of their lives if they accept. Moreover, they had to play a game. Amy did mention objectives and a storyline just now, so is it safe to assume that the genre of the game was… An open world type of game?
However, what was more important was that they would give away themselves if they accepted it. They still didn't know what would happen if they chose to decline it. That was the only unknown missing information that made this next segment important.
Therefore, the sure-fire way about this was to:
"Accept it."
"I think we should accept it."
Amy glanced over after hearing Will's direct conclusion – she too wanted to accept it but was cautious. Knowing Will's personality, she thought that he might have found a solution to this problem or maybe even a loophole.
That was not the case. Will could theorise the outcome of accepting the conditions, but not the outcome of declining them. So, unbeknownst to Amy, his decision was a pure gamble.
With thirteen seconds to spare, both clicked the accept button with their fingers.
[ You have accepted our T&Cs! ]
[ 00:13 remaining! ]
…
The streets were eerily silent. Almost as if the world stood still. Matter of fact it did: the clocks did not move a second into the new year. Rather, it stayed at exactly 00:00.
Anxiety and dread haunted everybody. Sweat trickled down en masse and the once celebratory faces, anxiously waited for the timer to hit…
[ 00:00 ]
[ …Remaining! ]
[ ----- ]
The screen cut to black – Will's eyes were fixated on it waiting for the next message.
Then an amalgamation of distorted pixelated sparks of both grey and gold emerged – the grey seemingly overpowering the gold. Then, what appeared to be a poorly kept scroll, unravelled after the slow dissipation of pixels.
The screen had seemingly transformed into a scroll. Simultaneously, what unveiled next were a barrage of messages...
[ Thank you everyone who has answered, and for the ones who didn't… ]
[ We have automatically selected 'decline' for you! Whoops~ Ahah! Sorry not sorry? ]
[ Well, don't blame us – we gave you enough time! ]
[ Now then. . . Onto the fun part! ]
This 'scroll', was mocking them, acting like it was above them.
Curious gold sparks once again emerged next to Will. This time it was a small 'scroll' which was similar to the grey one. Evidently though, it held a uniquely different aesthetic to it. In fact, it was completely different to the grey one, and it displayed something intriguing.
{ 8.7 billion responses analysed! }
"What's that?"
Will muttered under his breath. With a new sound effect, the grey-ashen scroll chimed in, stealing back his lost attention.
Cshht!
[ Let us – drum rolls please :D – BEGIN! ]
Faint sparks pranced around Will and Amy's bodies; others too had similar sparks around them. However, a majority of people didn't.
These sparks were similar to the scrolls', but instead they were not pixelated. They were fiery embers that enveloped the body. Growing in size, the embers traced every contour of their being. And before he was fully enveloped Will cried out to Amy.
"Amy!"
Preparing for the worst, he at least wanted them to be grouped together.
"We have to stick together!"
Closing off, the grey-ashen scroll let out its final messages
[ Players, I will be with you from now on! ]
[ To the non-players… Unlucky! ]
[ Anyway, I shall give you my TRUE formal greeting. ]
[ I Welcome You! To the Greatest Game of all time! ]
Will could feel his body ascending into the air, in his peripheral vision he saw the same gold scroll again, this time displaying different text.
{ Outcome concluded! }
[ And so- ]
[ May you open your eyes to your new world. ]
[ I'll be waiting for you in the tutorial. . . ]
[ ---------- ]
Chapter 2 – Big Fuss – End