"Man, no good games," said 15-year-old Amanda Cyr as she walked down the
computer games isle for about the 7th time. It was the last two weeks of
summer vacation and she needed a new game to start and win. She was about
to leave when something gold caught her eye. The box read ' The World" in
bold print.
"That game was just released today," said someone behind her. Amanda pulled
her eyes away from the box and saw the manager. She hadn't realized someone
else was there, let alone she had been staring at the game for several
minutes. Something was telling her, no making her buy it. "How much is it,"
said Amanda, still entranced by the game. " $60.00, but I'll let you have
it for $30.00," the man replied with an edge. Did he know something she
didn't?
Slowly she picked it up and realized there was nothing else written on the
box, just the title. Then she realized her box was gold while the others
were silver. This game had her baffled, why had she never heard of it
before? Quickly she paid and left.
As she left the store she looked at the small world in which she lives in. It was a tiny island, called Straeh Modgnik, mostly covered in sand; there were few shops and only a couple of dirt roads. There were only 30 people that lived there and nobody visited. Halfway down the dirt path she hears a familiar voice, "Beware of what awaits ye." She looked around but no one was there.
Later, when she arrived home, her parents were still out at her grandparent's house and her younger brother was out with his girlfriend and buds, like always. But she enjoyed having the house to herself; it was about the only time she got privacy.
After setting the bag in her room she tried calling her best friend Nina Montalto again. Busy. It had been that way all day. Nina was a quiet girl of 14, who enjoyed the simple things and like the small island and spent little time outside. They had little in common, Amanda was always out exploring, and was curious about the other worlds and lands out there; and quite frankly was always trying to get away from the island. Not that she didn't like the island; she just was trying to find an adventure. Nina didn't want anything to do with her escapes but they were still close friends and a dynamic duo. Nina the brains, Amanda the bronze. She sighed deeply and went back to her room.
Several times she had tried sailing away from the island, or stowing away in a cargo ship to the other worlds. But a girl named Megan Ashley, who had always hated her, foiled her every attempt. Ever since Amanda refused to be part of her stuck up cheerleading snots, Megan has ruined every opportunity to practically everything. But still Megan wasn't satisfied, because Amanda had been able to beat her at pretty much everything. Except geography, everyone can beat Amanda at that In the bag lay the entrancing game. Strange, the only things in the box were a plain disk and a set of goggles you couldn't see through. When the computer had booted up she stuck the disk in and slid the slot shut. Suddenly the screen went pitch black and blood red letters rolled across the screen. "Are you ready?" they read. She wondered what that could mean. "Put on the goggles," it then said. 'What's that supposed to mean?' thought Amanda, as she put them on. Without warning she disappeared and plunged into darkness. "Where am I?" Amanda said as she fell. It felt as if she was really falling. Was she? She looked at herself and realized that when she started falling she had changed clothes. Now she was wearing blue and white tennis shoes, blue cargo pants and a skintight yellow sleeveless shirt with black a black back. Also she had on black leather gloves, black wristbands, and black crossed shoulder straps. The other strange thing was that her hair had turned silver-blue. "Welcome to The World, Light Spirit," said a distant, yet distinct voice. "Choose your username and password," it then said. Before she could even think about them they popped into her head, "Username Neokogine, password Light Spirit" She had no idea where she got the name Neokogine but it something was telling her to say that. "Very well, you are one of the 7 chosen spirit users. Your weapon is the light sword," the voice echoed from all areas of the darkness. Out of nowhere a sword fell and she caught it. This sword had some distinct power that she couldn't put her finger on it shined a bright light when she grabbed it. She looked at her reflection in the sword and noticed she had the sign of light on her face. Two blue triangles on each cheek, her shoulder length silver hair blew violently in the icy air as she continued to fall. "Your path has been chosen, venture forward and find the other spirits. Thought you think your heart to be strong, you can easily be overcome. Yet only you can defeat the heartless," the voice said. With that she fell even faster. A blinding light filled the area as she suddenly stopped falling she seemed to be outside, 'where am I?' she thought to herself. Everything felt and smelt so real. When she looked up she saw that she was in an apple tree. "Excuse me," said a familiar voice from the ground. Neokogine looked down and saw a girl about her age, wearing a purple skirt, white spaghetti strap shirt with black lining, purple shoulder band, and yellow wristbands. In her hand she had some sort of staff with a cloud on the top. "By any chance, do you know where I might be able to find Amanda Cyr?" Neokogine, being always stubborn decided, to have some fun. "Hmmmmmmm, Amanda Cyr, is that her username or real name?" The girl said "Real," quietly. "Who's looking for her?" Neokogine edged on. "That is for her to know only," the girl replied. Neokogine got fed up and jumped down from the tree landing beside the girl and crossed her arms, "Well I should know, considering I am Amanda Cyr, call me Neokogine." The girl got embarrassed and said "Sorry. Oh by the way I am Mingna, formerly known as Nina Montalto." It was Nina. "What are you doing here?" Neokogine asked curiously, the Nina she knew hated games. "Well I was in the store today and I was drawn to this game. I knew you liked new games so I figured you would be here somewhere," Mingna replied happily. Neokogine felt very relived knowing her friend was there with her. "That was one weird login, huh?" Neokogine broke the silence. Mingna giggled. "Yeah, wind spirit, can you believe they called everyone that?" It was then that Neokogine noticed something strange. "Mine said light spirit. Then it mentioned 6 other selected people were given different spirits." Mingna looked at her. "Mine too," she said plainly. They looked at each other. "You mean us and 5 other people were selected, at random, to do something big, we don't even know about yet?" Neokogine said, a little flattered. Mingna nodded a bit. "And what was with that whole, 'your heart isn't as strong as you think, and how easily you can be overcome,' talk?" Neokogine said leaning back in the tall grass. Mingna looked at her strangely, "What are you talking about?" Neokogine sat up, "You know, after that whole boring login talk and getting your weapon. It said that and said something about me being the only one to defeat the heartless." She saw the puzzled look on Mingna's face and realized she really didn't have a clue about that part, "Just forget it," Neokogine said sighing a bit, much more confused than before. Something caught her eye, the mark on Mingna's face. It was the sign of wind. On Neokogine's face was the sign of light. Quickly she explained to Mingna. "All we have to do is look for the sign of their spirit on people's faces, how hard could it be?" Mingna burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Neokogine asked a little upset. Finally Mingna stopped laughing, "Over 720,000 people have joined since noon! Still think it will be easy?" She laughed even harder when Neokogine's jaw dropped, "Something tells me this game is going to make a lot of money." Neokogine dropped down beside Mingna to think. How were they supposed to find 5 people out of 720,000? "Well we should head to the closest town. Uh? Exactly where is the closest town?" Neokogine said clueless. She knew absolutely nothing about geography. Mingna was glad to help. "I've heard of a place called Nevranda really far from here. But it's the closest place," Mingna said with a little regret. Neokogine smiled. "Exactly how far?" asked Neokogine. She and Nina had two different prospective on distance. Mingna groaned and said "About 7 miles." Neokogine laughed. "That's not far at all." She stood up. " Which way is the town." Neokogine could tell that Mingna didn't want to go but would always follow her. Mingna pulled a map out of her pocket and pointed to a small dot in the north, "That's where we need to go," she said. "Let's stock up on food before we leave," Neokogine said pointing to the apple tree she had landed in. They each carried two apples. "All right, we should be able to get about ¾ there if we don't stop till night fall," Neokogine said with a quick estimate, looking in the direction of the town.
Mingna cocked her head and said, "You've done this before haven't you." Neokogine grinned, "Yeah, spend your entire life in a place like Straeh Modgnik and you get use to it." All of a sudden Neokogine said, "Oh crud." "What's wrong," Mingna quickly said. "My parents are probably home by now. Listen, stay here and I'll be right back. Man how do you save your game?" asked Neokogine desperately. From the sky a voice said, "Game save activated. Neokogine's progress has been saved." Neokogine then disappeared. Amanda was suddenly back in her room and in her own clothes. She pulled off the goggles and left the room. Nobody was home, what a relief. Halfway back to her room she saw there were 3 messages on the answering machine. Message one was from her parents. "Hi, honey its mom. There is a horrible storm going on here at nana and papa's house. We're having major car trouble so we'll be staying here for a couple of days. Take car of your brother. And be sure to take a shower. Love ya!" Message two was from her annoying little brother. "Hey, Mindy. I'm going to be staying over at Tyler's house tonight. Bye!" Short and to the point, the way Amanda liked it. Final message, "Beware of what awaits ye." It was the same voice she heard when she had left the store. 'Who is it, and why does it sound so familiar?' Amanda thought to herself, as she quickly deleted the messages. Amanda looked outside. It was starting to rain, and hard. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning danced across the sky. She enjoyed storms, though everyone else on the island was terrified of them, to her they were somewhat calming. Since she had the house to herself she decided to go back to The World. Once again she picked up the goggles and logged in. It was much easier than the first time. Neokogine was right where she had saved. It was actually raining in the game and she was really getting soaked with real water. Thunder and lightning clashed and Mingna was standing under the apple tree, whimpering a little. "You actually stayed here?" Neokogine said surprised. "Yeah, I said I would stay. Plus I wouldn't get far without you. So should we wait out the storm?" Mingna said all at once, now seeming quiet frantic. "Your nervous, aren't you," Neokogine said, not too surprised, back in the real world she always had to do the dangerous stuff because Mingna wasn't brave enough to. "Well duh! I mean everything seems so real! What should we do?! How are we going to find these people?! What are we supposed to do when we finally find them?! There is just too much pressure! I may as well just quit this stupid--" Neokogine cut her off " Mingna you are not a quitter. You and I are chosen ones. I am going through the same problems as you are. But I don't intend to quit now or ever." She took a deep sigh. "Lets just stop fighting and start walking." Her talk got through to Mingna, "I'm really sorry Neokogine. I'm just not use to what you are. I mean, you've been going after adventures your whole life, and I'm trying to avoid any. Let's face it, the only adventures I've been on that aren't books are the ones you forced me to try." Neokogine smirked, this was incredibly true. "And you aren't afraid of anything. Me? Anything that moves makes me jump," Mingna added. Neokogine crossed her arms, "That's not true, I'm scared of bugs. and report cards." They laughed a little and had almost completely forgotten their earlier argument. After picking up the apples they started walking in the towns direction. Neokogine told Mingna about how she could stay here all night because her parents and brother were out. She didn't mention the third message; Mingna would probably freak out. She could also stay all night because her parents had gone to visit her aunt Cilia that lived across the sea, which she hated. Neokogine was longing to get away from her real home, she had been born and raised on Straeh Modgink. Nothing ever happened there and Neokogine was the kind of person that lived on adventure. She sighed and looked at the ground, "At least you had the chance to get out of here." Neokogine had never seen any other world and had tried to escape several times in a raft, but that goodie-goodie girl, Megan Ashley, always caught her and turned her in. How she hated that girl can never be expressed. Mingna looked over at her realizing how much Neokogine really did want to get away. She had recently moved to the island and enjoyed its simplicity. But when she became friends with Amanda there was hardly a day that they didn't go on adventures, sometimes they wound up grounded because Megan told on them. Yet most of the time they made it out with a clean slate. "Hey, I just noticed something," Neokogine said, trying to start a not so depressing conversation. Mingna looked at her as if saying 'what is it?' "When I was in the real world it was raining at this pace. The weather is changing with the real weather. That means that as long as it is raining here I can stay here," she said with a slight smirk. A half an hour later it was raining really hard, so hard that the drop felt like rocks, and the wind was practically pushing them back the way they came. "How can a game actually feel real?" Mingna said through gritted teeth as water streamed down her face, though it was hard to tell if just rain or tears. She went on. "Can we stop now, please Neokogine?" Neokogine shot her a glance, and then strained her eyes to see through the storm, not bothering to reply. She didn't really want to stop; she wanted to get to the town as quickly as possible. But as they continued on the storm grew worse, till finally you could barely see, let alone hear what the other person was saying. "We'll stop there and till this storm passes," shouted Neokogine pointing toward a dense forest. At that Mingna burst out running in that direction, eager to get out of the rain. Neokogine laughed and ran after her. Their race ended with Neokogine beating Mingna by several feet. The forest kept them dry but they were still freezing.
As she left the store she looked at the small world in which she lives in. It was a tiny island, called Straeh Modgnik, mostly covered in sand; there were few shops and only a couple of dirt roads. There were only 30 people that lived there and nobody visited. Halfway down the dirt path she hears a familiar voice, "Beware of what awaits ye." She looked around but no one was there.
Later, when she arrived home, her parents were still out at her grandparent's house and her younger brother was out with his girlfriend and buds, like always. But she enjoyed having the house to herself; it was about the only time she got privacy.
After setting the bag in her room she tried calling her best friend Nina Montalto again. Busy. It had been that way all day. Nina was a quiet girl of 14, who enjoyed the simple things and like the small island and spent little time outside. They had little in common, Amanda was always out exploring, and was curious about the other worlds and lands out there; and quite frankly was always trying to get away from the island. Not that she didn't like the island; she just was trying to find an adventure. Nina didn't want anything to do with her escapes but they were still close friends and a dynamic duo. Nina the brains, Amanda the bronze. She sighed deeply and went back to her room.
Several times she had tried sailing away from the island, or stowing away in a cargo ship to the other worlds. But a girl named Megan Ashley, who had always hated her, foiled her every attempt. Ever since Amanda refused to be part of her stuck up cheerleading snots, Megan has ruined every opportunity to practically everything. But still Megan wasn't satisfied, because Amanda had been able to beat her at pretty much everything. Except geography, everyone can beat Amanda at that In the bag lay the entrancing game. Strange, the only things in the box were a plain disk and a set of goggles you couldn't see through. When the computer had booted up she stuck the disk in and slid the slot shut. Suddenly the screen went pitch black and blood red letters rolled across the screen. "Are you ready?" they read. She wondered what that could mean. "Put on the goggles," it then said. 'What's that supposed to mean?' thought Amanda, as she put them on. Without warning she disappeared and plunged into darkness. "Where am I?" Amanda said as she fell. It felt as if she was really falling. Was she? She looked at herself and realized that when she started falling she had changed clothes. Now she was wearing blue and white tennis shoes, blue cargo pants and a skintight yellow sleeveless shirt with black a black back. Also she had on black leather gloves, black wristbands, and black crossed shoulder straps. The other strange thing was that her hair had turned silver-blue. "Welcome to The World, Light Spirit," said a distant, yet distinct voice. "Choose your username and password," it then said. Before she could even think about them they popped into her head, "Username Neokogine, password Light Spirit" She had no idea where she got the name Neokogine but it something was telling her to say that. "Very well, you are one of the 7 chosen spirit users. Your weapon is the light sword," the voice echoed from all areas of the darkness. Out of nowhere a sword fell and she caught it. This sword had some distinct power that she couldn't put her finger on it shined a bright light when she grabbed it. She looked at her reflection in the sword and noticed she had the sign of light on her face. Two blue triangles on each cheek, her shoulder length silver hair blew violently in the icy air as she continued to fall. "Your path has been chosen, venture forward and find the other spirits. Thought you think your heart to be strong, you can easily be overcome. Yet only you can defeat the heartless," the voice said. With that she fell even faster. A blinding light filled the area as she suddenly stopped falling she seemed to be outside, 'where am I?' she thought to herself. Everything felt and smelt so real. When she looked up she saw that she was in an apple tree. "Excuse me," said a familiar voice from the ground. Neokogine looked down and saw a girl about her age, wearing a purple skirt, white spaghetti strap shirt with black lining, purple shoulder band, and yellow wristbands. In her hand she had some sort of staff with a cloud on the top. "By any chance, do you know where I might be able to find Amanda Cyr?" Neokogine, being always stubborn decided, to have some fun. "Hmmmmmmm, Amanda Cyr, is that her username or real name?" The girl said "Real," quietly. "Who's looking for her?" Neokogine edged on. "That is for her to know only," the girl replied. Neokogine got fed up and jumped down from the tree landing beside the girl and crossed her arms, "Well I should know, considering I am Amanda Cyr, call me Neokogine." The girl got embarrassed and said "Sorry. Oh by the way I am Mingna, formerly known as Nina Montalto." It was Nina. "What are you doing here?" Neokogine asked curiously, the Nina she knew hated games. "Well I was in the store today and I was drawn to this game. I knew you liked new games so I figured you would be here somewhere," Mingna replied happily. Neokogine felt very relived knowing her friend was there with her. "That was one weird login, huh?" Neokogine broke the silence. Mingna giggled. "Yeah, wind spirit, can you believe they called everyone that?" It was then that Neokogine noticed something strange. "Mine said light spirit. Then it mentioned 6 other selected people were given different spirits." Mingna looked at her. "Mine too," she said plainly. They looked at each other. "You mean us and 5 other people were selected, at random, to do something big, we don't even know about yet?" Neokogine said, a little flattered. Mingna nodded a bit. "And what was with that whole, 'your heart isn't as strong as you think, and how easily you can be overcome,' talk?" Neokogine said leaning back in the tall grass. Mingna looked at her strangely, "What are you talking about?" Neokogine sat up, "You know, after that whole boring login talk and getting your weapon. It said that and said something about me being the only one to defeat the heartless." She saw the puzzled look on Mingna's face and realized she really didn't have a clue about that part, "Just forget it," Neokogine said sighing a bit, much more confused than before. Something caught her eye, the mark on Mingna's face. It was the sign of wind. On Neokogine's face was the sign of light. Quickly she explained to Mingna. "All we have to do is look for the sign of their spirit on people's faces, how hard could it be?" Mingna burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Neokogine asked a little upset. Finally Mingna stopped laughing, "Over 720,000 people have joined since noon! Still think it will be easy?" She laughed even harder when Neokogine's jaw dropped, "Something tells me this game is going to make a lot of money." Neokogine dropped down beside Mingna to think. How were they supposed to find 5 people out of 720,000? "Well we should head to the closest town. Uh? Exactly where is the closest town?" Neokogine said clueless. She knew absolutely nothing about geography. Mingna was glad to help. "I've heard of a place called Nevranda really far from here. But it's the closest place," Mingna said with a little regret. Neokogine smiled. "Exactly how far?" asked Neokogine. She and Nina had two different prospective on distance. Mingna groaned and said "About 7 miles." Neokogine laughed. "That's not far at all." She stood up. " Which way is the town." Neokogine could tell that Mingna didn't want to go but would always follow her. Mingna pulled a map out of her pocket and pointed to a small dot in the north, "That's where we need to go," she said. "Let's stock up on food before we leave," Neokogine said pointing to the apple tree she had landed in. They each carried two apples. "All right, we should be able to get about ¾ there if we don't stop till night fall," Neokogine said with a quick estimate, looking in the direction of the town.
Mingna cocked her head and said, "You've done this before haven't you." Neokogine grinned, "Yeah, spend your entire life in a place like Straeh Modgnik and you get use to it." All of a sudden Neokogine said, "Oh crud." "What's wrong," Mingna quickly said. "My parents are probably home by now. Listen, stay here and I'll be right back. Man how do you save your game?" asked Neokogine desperately. From the sky a voice said, "Game save activated. Neokogine's progress has been saved." Neokogine then disappeared. Amanda was suddenly back in her room and in her own clothes. She pulled off the goggles and left the room. Nobody was home, what a relief. Halfway back to her room she saw there were 3 messages on the answering machine. Message one was from her parents. "Hi, honey its mom. There is a horrible storm going on here at nana and papa's house. We're having major car trouble so we'll be staying here for a couple of days. Take car of your brother. And be sure to take a shower. Love ya!" Message two was from her annoying little brother. "Hey, Mindy. I'm going to be staying over at Tyler's house tonight. Bye!" Short and to the point, the way Amanda liked it. Final message, "Beware of what awaits ye." It was the same voice she heard when she had left the store. 'Who is it, and why does it sound so familiar?' Amanda thought to herself, as she quickly deleted the messages. Amanda looked outside. It was starting to rain, and hard. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning danced across the sky. She enjoyed storms, though everyone else on the island was terrified of them, to her they were somewhat calming. Since she had the house to herself she decided to go back to The World. Once again she picked up the goggles and logged in. It was much easier than the first time. Neokogine was right where she had saved. It was actually raining in the game and she was really getting soaked with real water. Thunder and lightning clashed and Mingna was standing under the apple tree, whimpering a little. "You actually stayed here?" Neokogine said surprised. "Yeah, I said I would stay. Plus I wouldn't get far without you. So should we wait out the storm?" Mingna said all at once, now seeming quiet frantic. "Your nervous, aren't you," Neokogine said, not too surprised, back in the real world she always had to do the dangerous stuff because Mingna wasn't brave enough to. "Well duh! I mean everything seems so real! What should we do?! How are we going to find these people?! What are we supposed to do when we finally find them?! There is just too much pressure! I may as well just quit this stupid--" Neokogine cut her off " Mingna you are not a quitter. You and I are chosen ones. I am going through the same problems as you are. But I don't intend to quit now or ever." She took a deep sigh. "Lets just stop fighting and start walking." Her talk got through to Mingna, "I'm really sorry Neokogine. I'm just not use to what you are. I mean, you've been going after adventures your whole life, and I'm trying to avoid any. Let's face it, the only adventures I've been on that aren't books are the ones you forced me to try." Neokogine smirked, this was incredibly true. "And you aren't afraid of anything. Me? Anything that moves makes me jump," Mingna added. Neokogine crossed her arms, "That's not true, I'm scared of bugs. and report cards." They laughed a little and had almost completely forgotten their earlier argument. After picking up the apples they started walking in the towns direction. Neokogine told Mingna about how she could stay here all night because her parents and brother were out. She didn't mention the third message; Mingna would probably freak out. She could also stay all night because her parents had gone to visit her aunt Cilia that lived across the sea, which she hated. Neokogine was longing to get away from her real home, she had been born and raised on Straeh Modgink. Nothing ever happened there and Neokogine was the kind of person that lived on adventure. She sighed and looked at the ground, "At least you had the chance to get out of here." Neokogine had never seen any other world and had tried to escape several times in a raft, but that goodie-goodie girl, Megan Ashley, always caught her and turned her in. How she hated that girl can never be expressed. Mingna looked over at her realizing how much Neokogine really did want to get away. She had recently moved to the island and enjoyed its simplicity. But when she became friends with Amanda there was hardly a day that they didn't go on adventures, sometimes they wound up grounded because Megan told on them. Yet most of the time they made it out with a clean slate. "Hey, I just noticed something," Neokogine said, trying to start a not so depressing conversation. Mingna looked at her as if saying 'what is it?' "When I was in the real world it was raining at this pace. The weather is changing with the real weather. That means that as long as it is raining here I can stay here," she said with a slight smirk. A half an hour later it was raining really hard, so hard that the drop felt like rocks, and the wind was practically pushing them back the way they came. "How can a game actually feel real?" Mingna said through gritted teeth as water streamed down her face, though it was hard to tell if just rain or tears. She went on. "Can we stop now, please Neokogine?" Neokogine shot her a glance, and then strained her eyes to see through the storm, not bothering to reply. She didn't really want to stop; she wanted to get to the town as quickly as possible. But as they continued on the storm grew worse, till finally you could barely see, let alone hear what the other person was saying. "We'll stop there and till this storm passes," shouted Neokogine pointing toward a dense forest. At that Mingna burst out running in that direction, eager to get out of the rain. Neokogine laughed and ran after her. Their race ended with Neokogine beating Mingna by several feet. The forest kept them dry but they were still freezing.