As the players looked around through the glasses, they saw that they were inside of a beautiful castle. The aroma of flowers permeated the air, much to Wesley's confusion.
"How—?" he began before a sweet-looking servant approached him and cut him off.
"How can you smell that? Simple. There are vents located there, there, and there," as she explained, she pointed at small vents on the ground, "through which scents rise to give you a more realistic experience while you play."
"And who—?" she interrupted once more.
"Who am I? I am a servant here in the castle. The director made a whole bunch of artificial intelligence to help him run this place. So that means that I'm not saying what he asks me to say, but rather saying what my feelings, which were given to me by him, prompt me to," she answered simply.
"And," she began to stop him yet again, "Wait! Let me finish this time. Where do I go from here?"
"I actually have an announcement to make about that…" her voice suddenly became loud and raspy as she called out, "Attention players! For the first night of the contest, you will be staying here."
A whisper rushed through the crowd, "First night?… Wait, what?… We'll be here overnight?"
"Why do they look so confused?" the boss himself was now confused, "The flyer said they'd be here for a few nights, didn't it?" He looked around the room, but the others all averted their eyes, "Didn't it?"
"I, uh, may have forgotten to put that in the flyer, sir," a programmer admitted.
"Damn it, I needed one thing! A damn flyer!" he grabbed the microphone sitting on his desk and spoke into it, sending his booming voice out into the playing field.
"Players, please excuse this interruption, but there has been a miscommunication," a loud voice rang throughout the castle, "It seems that our flyer failed to mention that this event will take a few days to complete. If anyone must leave because of this, please do so now."
The crowd seemed to all groan together as eight of the fifteen groups shuffled out of the castle.
"Do you think we can stay?" Robert asked his brother.
"I think so. John? Will?"
John nodded as Will doubled over and grabbed his stomach, "Oh, God. I think I'm too sick."
"Okay, so it's decided, we're staying," Wesley announced.
"Anyways," the servant continued, "tonight, we will hold a feast with all of your favorite foods," Will suddenly stood upright with wide eyes, "and afterward, you may sleep in the beds we have ready for you. In the meantime, please feel free to explore the castle and the garden. Everything outside of that is out-of-bounds for now, as it is being prepared for tomorrow's festivities."
With that, everyone dispersed. Wesley and Sarah walked hand in hand into the garden and looked around at the flowers with Rosalina and Daisy trailing closely behind them.
"Look at all the plants. They're so… serene," Sarah smelled a flower.
"Serene?"
"Yeah. The trees all stand there so majestically," she looked up at Wesley, "I know, it's stupid."
"No, I think it's sweet," he flashed a charming smile and reached up to grab a peach for her.
"They're not real, remember?" Sarah reminded Wesley.
"Oh, yeah. Well, I guess we can do without a peach."
The boss looked through the screen on the right, which produced vision similar to that produced by the glasses. He observed Wesley trying to reach one of the non-existent peaches, and pressed a button on his keyboard, followed by his rapidly typing in a command. As he did so, a peach became visible through the screen on the left, through which he could see reality. He had truly blended the virtual and reality.
"Are you excited, Sarah?"
"Well, yeah. I just don't want to compete against you."
"I know, me too, but our friends would have been so mad if we had left—" a peach fell on Wesley's head, and he looked up at the tree, perplexed. He picked up the peach and bit into it, expecting it to be made of Styrofoam, but as his teeth sank into it, juice gushed out of the flesh and into his mouth.
"Is it real?"
Wesley stood in awe for a moment before answering, "Yes. Try this, it's so good!"
Sarah then tried it herself and experienced the same sensation. Wesley reached up into the tree and grabbed two more, handing her one and keeping the other for later. Rosalina and Daisy then approached the tree and got their own (meanwhile, the boss was struggling to keep up with the hungry beasts' appetites).
When they all decided to go back inside, they wanted to investigate upstairs. When they ascended, they knew that the ground was really flat, but somehow, the feeling of walking up stairs was recreated, as well as the appearance.
When the time for the feast had finally come, everyone met in the grand dining hall. Of course, Sarah and Wesley sat next to each other, as this would probably be the last time they would get to be a team until the contest was over.
"Hello, everyone!" the servant who Wesley met earlier smiled, "At this feast, you will get to enjoy your favorite meal before you go off to battle. Now, as the servants come around to serve you, I will explain the rules of the game," as she spoke, many other servants walked into the room carrying silver platters and placed them on the table for the player to enjoy, "Rules are: anything goes! If you find yourself in a situation where you could easily eliminate your competition, take the opportunity! Your goal is to win. Each of you has one life, meaning when you die, you're dead. That's that. Now, the goal of the game: Tonight, while you are all sleeping, the villain of our game will come into the castle and abduct one team."
Everyone threw each other nervous glances and tried to pick out which team the victims would be, "If you are on the team that gets kidnapped, your goal is to escape. If you manage to kill the villain and escape the dungeon, you win. However, you will likely be tied down to prevent your escape, making it slightly harder, so you get an extra life. All other groups, your goal is to reach the dungeon they are being held at and rescue them."
The players all ate in silent meditation, sometimes glancing around the room to figure out who was most likely to get kidnapped. More than once, Wesley made eye contact with a dark-haired young woman across the table who wore far too much eye shadow. Each time, she gave him a menacing stare, and on one occasion, Wesley leaned down and asked John if he knew her.
"Yeah, I met her outside earlier. Her name's Belle. She called her group the 'Sirens.' They all look pretty terrifying, so I doubt they'd be picked to get kidnapped."
"Do you know any of the other teams?"
"Mh-hm," devouring a slice of his pizza, "That one over there with the bald spot is Olli. He's a clown. Like, literally, a clown. He said he just came to the tent to find a job, and found this instead. And that girl, the one with the blonde hair, that's Cameron. Not a real threat, but still somewhat feisty. That weird foreign-looking guy is Edgar. He's a scientist. And, lastly, that girl's Sierra. Her team is really hardcore and athletic. They're probably the biggest threat here."
John and Wesley sat through the rest of the meal discussing their tactics, while the other teams all came up with their own. Finally, they all went up to bed, a place that they should have been able to feel safe… but couldn't tonight.