Chapter 1: Awakening

"Hey, sis. Whatcha playing?"

I looked up briefly at my sister before returning my attention back to my phone.

"Nothing. I'm installing a new app game. If I play and get my stronghold to level five, I can get diamonds for my mystery search game. It's some sort of promotional thing."

"What's a stronghold?"

"No idea. I think it's some kind of building. Whatever it is, I'm gonna get it up to level five and uninstall. I just want my diamonds."

My sister shrugged and left the room, but a second later, I heard a click and the power in my room went out. I groaned. She must have turned on the bathroom light. That stupid light switch constantly tripped the circuit. This was the third time this week!

"Could you reset it?" I said loudly. "I'm still charging my phone!"

The lights in my room came back on. Good thing I had plugged my phone into a power strip and not to the wall directly.

With a shake of my head, I looked back down at my phone to the game I was installing. I frowned. It went up to 100% then went back down to 99%.

"What the…"

A second later, it went back up to 100% installed, and a push notification popped up saying the game had been successfully installed in my phone.

I shrugged. Whatever.

I went to my game folder and touched the app to open it. Time to get through this game so I could get those diamonds.

Citizen 100F opened her eyes and blinked several times as she looked around. Soft glowing lines of strange symbols swirled around her and slowly faded away. Next to her several rows of other citizens were also opening their eyes and taking in their surroundings.

They were in a large room with marble floors and high stone ceilings. Grand pillars encircled the room, and the same soft glowing light that had surrounded Citizen 100F a few moments ago was running along the edges of the floors, walls, and pillars.

Suddenly, sparks spouted out from the lines of lights. The lines expanded and spread out like a net from the walls and pillars to the floor and moved towards all of the citizens still awakening in the middle of the room.

One particularly fat line of light streaked across the floor straight towards Citizen 100F. She blinked at it and within moments, it had reached her feet. A great spark of light and strange symbols burst out of the line and hit her hard in the chest.

She let out a startled cry and fell backwards. Instantly, chaos broke loose and all her other fellow citizens jumped back and ran away from the lines and their sparks. Most avoided getting hit, but a few let out small cries as sparks of light spouted out and hit different portions of their bodies.

Citizen 100F's chest burned and glowed with light. That fiery heat inside her quickly spread to the rest of her body, and for several moments she couldn't move. She vaguely heard a voice.

"Oh no! Malfunction! Something's happened to the new citizens! Go get the manager!"

Citizen 100F blinked up at the high stone ceiling and for the first time in the few minutes she had been awake, she admired the grand arcs and lines of the ceiling's architecture and wondered who had designed them.

"Are you ok?" a concerned male voice said.

Citizen 100F shifted her eyes from the ceiling to her fellow male citizen. She knew his designation immediately. He was Citizen 53M. Portions of his chest and legs were glowing, but it was hard to see it because there was a slight glow to everything.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes, stopping when she noticed the glow coming from her hands. She then looked at herself and realized that her whole body was glowing.

Citizen 53M gently helped her into a sitting position.

"You got hit the worst," he said.

"Is everyone uncorrupted and undamaged?" a deep voice said.

Someone else had entered the room. He was tall and muscular. He had on loose robes and his hair, which was shoulder length, fell in waves.

"They all seem functional, sir. The power surge raised their information absorption rate. They're much more aware and active in a shorter span of time than the previous group. Otherwise, no damage done. The sparks are already fading."

Citizen 100F blinked and looked at the citizen who had spoken. The name came to her mind. Citizen 4F. And she was right. No one was glowing anymore, except for Citizen 100F. She still had a slight glow on her body, but within a few seconds her body was back to normal.

Citizen 100F looked back up and noticed that Citizen 4F wore a long flowing light purple robe that went all the way down to her feet. Citizen 100F looked down at herself and saw that she wore a skin-tight white suit that covered her from the neck down to her ankles. A sudden longing to wear one of those lovely robes filled her.

Manager 2M nodded at Citizen 4F.

"My name is Manager 2M. I help orient newly awakened citizens. Welcome new citizens to the world of GOWFA!"

Next to Manager 2M, several other citizens came in. The men wore one-shoulder togas that came to their knees, and the women wore long flowing dresses like Citizen 4F. Each citizen held a set of clothes and leather sandals in their arms.

With Citizen 53M's helping hand, Citizen 100F got back on her feet and eagerly waited for her set of clothes.

"Once you've all dressed, we will show you the city. The Player has not entered our domain yet, but the first opening should occur soon."

Everyone put on their clothes. The instant the lovely light yellow robe went over Citizen 100F's body, the skin tight white suit underneath disappeared. When she finished putting on her sandals, she followed Manager 2M out of the room, which she learned was the Awakening Room.

The room opened out to a grand circular chamber with a domed ceiling. Manager 2M pointed out the other entrances that led to different rooms. Every entrance encircling the chamber looked identical to each other, but somehow Citizen 100F was able to pick out the Awakening Room with ease. As soon as Manager 2M introduced an entrance and said its name, she could pick out that room, too.

"As you can see, this area has all of the important rooms vital to the function of our city. We have the Awakening Room, the Quests Room, the Items Room, the Alliance Room, the Mail Room…"

Citizen 100F listened to what Manager 2M said and noted each room he introduced, but her gaze wandered to the center of the chamber. The center area dipped down several stone steps to a great table that glowed and shimmered with different symbols on it.

Manager 2M finally turned to the center and said, "That table at the center is the command center. It lies at the heart of this structure we're in, which is known as the Stronghold. We are currently at Stronghold Level One, but that will soon change. That table displays all the actions of the Player and allows us to communicate our Player's commands to the rest of the city. Follow me."

Manager 2M led the group to one of four entrances that he hadn't introduced. As soon as they went through one of them and out into an open area, those four entrances were set in Citizen 100F's mind as exits.

They entered a semi open area. There was still a stone roof and ceiling above their heads, and the floor was made of marble like the rest of the rooms, but instead of walls and doors, there were stone pillars lined up all around.

Manager 2M pointed out a soft glowing line a few feet before the pillars.

"Once the opening occurs, don't go past that line," Manager 2M said. "When you go outside to the city streets, you become visible to the Player. For now, the opening has yet to happen so follow me."

They all followed him past the pillars, and Citizen 100F had her first view of the city. It was empty but impressive. Large expanses of empty stone slots descended down elegant steps to three different tiers of large expanses of flat stone or grassy areas. In the center, a large irrigation system poured water down all three tiers like an enormous fountain. Grand statues of noble warriors or elegant women stood proudly above the waters. Beyond the city tiers, Citizen 100F could see the city walls and she even glimpsed the city gates. Past the gates, she saw empty patches of barren land.

"Look up there," Manage 2M said and pointed above their heads to a white orb floating above the city.

"That is the Player Orb. It's our connection to them."

"Player?" Citizen 100F said and gazed curiously at the orb.

"Yes," Manager 2M said. "The creators of the world are called MZ, but the Players are the ones who take care of the cities. Each city has one Player. Ours hasn't arrived yet."

Suddenly, the globe, which had been dark and cold, lit up. The warm light emanating out from the orb soaked into Citizen 100F, and she closed her eyes with a happy smile.

"The Player!" Manager 2M said in an excited and yet alarmed tone. "Back to the stronghold! Quickly! Before we're seen!"

Citizen 100F opened her eyes and frowned.

"Why can't we be seen?" she asked, but everyone had already retreated back into the shade of the stronghold.

Citizen 53M pulled her along, too.

Manager 2M said, "Protocol states that no citizens may be seen by the Player unless walking in straight uniformity along the paths designated by the creators."

Citizen 100F frowned again and followed Manager 2M's pointed finger. All the bridges and streets in the cities had a single glowing line. The area just in front of the stronghold didn't have any lines like that.

"Also according to protocol, the number of citizens allowed to walk the city lines are limited to a certain number in each sector. There are too many of us here."

Citizen 100F sighed and tried to peek out into the city again to look at the orb, but it wasn't visible from where she was standing.

A grand, feminine voice suddenly filled the air.

"It's Athena!" Manager 2M said with a broad grin. "Athena only appears for the Players. She'll walk our new Player through the first few steps on how to take care of our city."

"Look! What's that?"

Citizen 100F and the others crowded behind the line to look at the empty slot that had suddenly started glowing.

"Aha! Athena is teaching our Player how to send out commands to build a building!" Manager 2M said. "We have work to do citizens! Time to build!"

The citizens followed Manager 2M back into the inner chamber to look at resources and when to build what kind of buildings. Behind them, Citizen 100F heard Athena's booming voice again.

"Welcome! Congratulations on completing the tutorial!"