Colt Collins was excited. The fact that he was excited about anything was enough to be excited about, as excitement was hard to come by these days. Shifting in the passenger seat of his mother's Volvo, he watched the roadside scenery unfurl before his eyes.

"Are you absolutely sure this is what you want, Cole?" his mother asked.

She was speaking, of course, about his choice of a Christmas gift. Colt's father had given him the choice of one major item he wanted for Christmas. The Collins were not well-to-do by any means, but Grandfather Collins had come through on some investments and had showered his family with money before embarking on a long-term vacation to some distant land. When Colt's father had asked him what he wanted for a gift, there had been no hesitation.

"Oblivion is, like, the best game out there right now. Of course I'm sure."

Oblivion itself wasn't expensive but the computer he needed to play the game was. At first, his parents had been reluctant and had resisted but after seeing how much he truly wanted it, they finally caved.

His mother rolled her eyes and grinned. "I suppose the computer is a good investment, anyway. Just make sure you don't spend too much time on the game and not enough time keeping your grades up. 'Kay?

"Mom? I'm not twelve anymore, remember?"

"You're sixteen, kiddo, but as long as you're living with us we're going to nag you like you're twelve."

It was his turn to smirk and roll his eyes. "Great..."

Laughing, she nudged him playfully with her elbow as they arrived at the Maine Mall. Colt could see the Best Buy logo. So close! He could almost taste the game now. Leading his mother inside after she parked the car, they made their way through the crowded parking lot. Once inside, he ignored the greeters at the door and made his way for the pc games section of the store, leaving his mother to fend for herself in the crowd. In just moments, he would have the one game that he never imagined would become a reality. An RPG that let you do anything, be anyone, go anywhere...a virtually never-ending game. It was his kind of game.

Quickly scanning through the titles, he found it. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition. It not only included the normal game, but also two expansions all for one price. Amazing! Not only would he have the normal game, which had almost limitless game play...he'd have two expansions to explore once he was done with that. It was a dream come true. He picked up a copy with trembling hands and returned to his mother.

"Did you find it?"

"Yup. This is it." He displayed the case to her. Already, an anxiousness to play was gnawing at his insides. He already wanted to be immersed in the universe the packaging promised, forgetting all his normal day-to-day problems that plagued him so much recently and assuming the role of someone else, someone he could shape and mold to be useful and powerful.

"I don't suppose we can go home yet?" he grumbled upon seeing his mother's wandering eye. She loved to shop and he should have expected that she'd want to look around in all the stores, first, before returning home.

"Well, I wanted to go look around in JC Penneys to see if they had any deals. I need a new blouse for work."

Colt breathed in deeply.

"Sorry, kiddo." She winked at him. "I shouldn't be more than ten or twenty minutes, though, ok?"

"Yeah." He knew it wasn't going to be a mere ten or twenty minutes. It turned out to not be as bad as he expected, though. She finally found her blouse after a good forty-five minutes of bargain-searching and trying on different clothes. On the way back to the car, Colt was practically running.

"You should join track," his mother called after him. "Girls like that."

He rolled his eyes again.

The ride home seemed to take forever. To kill time, he opened the game case and examined the instruction booklet. His mind soared with the possibilities of the game play. What characters would he create? Ten races! Twenty-one pre-defined classes, and the ability to create your own class?

The developers had left a parting line on the opening page that struck a chord in Colt;

Find your own path and follow it wherever it may lead you.

Geniuses. They were all geniuses. Still, he had to see all this for himself. Without waiting for his mother to stop the car once they got home, he sprinted from the vehicle into the house and up to his room. The new computer they had set up three days prior was already on and just waiting for the disc.

He popped in the first disc, and then the second, downloading the content. Once it was finished, he double-clicked the desktop icon and the Bethesda logo popped up. He was finally playing Oblivion. A huge grin of content erupted across his face.

He watched with great interest as an aged emperor, Uriel Septim, set the story in motion, voiced by Patrick Stewart. Following the story-set up, there was a breathtaking view of the countryside in which the story was to be set. A large white tower in the middle of a large city was the focal point, as the camera moved closer and closer before depositing the point of view into a dank jail cell. The character creation screen was up, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to be. Finally, after much deliberation, he decided on a viking character named Bjorngar Hammerstrike; who would hopefully turn out to be a powerful Nord warrior.

The graphics were amazing. Colt felt like he was right there, in the prison cell. He almost fell the chill of the cold stone under his feet, and imagined he could smell the musty air. He was already more than impressed and he hadn't actually started playing yet. Figuring out the controls with relative ease, Colt maneuvered Bjorngar to the front of his cell where a Dark Elf character named Valen Dreth taunted him from across the hall, in another cell. Grinning, he hoped he'd get a chance to get back at the mouthy Dunmer. Guards appeared and told him to get near the wall. He obeyed, as the game would not progress without it. He did as he was told, and backed against the wall.

The guards entered, and with them...Uriel Septim, from the intro to the game.

The game froze, except for Septim, who seemed to be jumping around in some sort of a glitch. Colt couldn't believe it. After all that time, and all that stress and wanting...the game didn't even work! He grew more angry with each passing second, before he clearly saw Septim tap on the inside of the monitor glass.

"Colt," he said, still sounding like Patrick Stewart. " I am Uriel Septim VII. I need your help."