The Game: Prologue. (closed, see ooc)

[JuNii]

OOC:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=197341

ok, the purpose of this is to give me a test run... to see if this will work here... god I hope it does. and to give you... a glimpse into what I got planned. please sign up if you are intrigued...

***
the landscape looks like something out of Dune..or Mad max. Ruined buildings lay crumbling... a testament to the once glorious civilization that stood here.

over head, the sky is orange with streaks of black that swirl in the aether. the air is heavy and thick. as if the whole planet is holding it's breath.

the newcomers stand and look around. ash, or sand, covers everything. there is no wind... no movement, only sand and rock.

of the desolate surroundings... a building seems to stand out. it seems more complete than the others tho it too is in ruins. inside, it looks like somone made some attempt to cleaning up. the ash and sand isn't as thick inside... desks and tables lay scattered around. it looks like a roadside diner... tho there is no power and definately no other utilities. no water comes from the pipes. in the corner, there is a payphone.

[JuNii]

Earth. Axanna Grant:

Axanna tossed the pills that the med student prescribed to her. every night, it's the same thing... the shakes... classic withdrawl symptoms...

funny, but she didn't recall hearing anyone else going through this... was it really addicting?

she pulled out a slice of cold pizza and turned on her TV... the news was running.

she absently muched on the the slice as she stared at her cell phone.

Damnit... ring why don't you... she closed her eyes as tears, once more, threatened to come out.

again, our top story is the rash of missing persons that seem to be once again spreading around the world. reports are coming in that people in canada,New Babylonia, and in the US as well as other countries have vanished without a trace. and like the last time. Rumors of Nemesis and Psyren are starting to appear. Local Authorities are on alert all over the globe as...

Axanna pulled out her card. she sighed as she fingered the corner where a digital readout of '0' was plain to see. so... it's begun again... damnit... call me... I want back in...

this time, threats were over... the tears flowed from her eyes as she clutched the Blood Red card tight enough for the edge to cut into her palm.

[JuNii]

A middle aged man entered the building. he looked confused as he scanned the area. "Hello? anyone here? anyone know what the fuck is going on?"

others started entering... a couple of high school kids... one apparently unconcious, being carried by the other.

"Hey, you got that strange phone call yourself?" a thin wirely man asked as he ran his and over what was left of the furniture. he sat down.

By ones and twos, people started to gather in the abandoned ruin. unsure of where else to go.

[New Babylonia]

Al walked into the half-standing building. Where was he? This place was strange...and still. The air never moved, even when breathed. All was quiet, and still. All seemed to be dead, except for the growing group of people entering this rundown, sand-filled building in the middle of a town that looked like it had been used for target practice. With a nuclear missile. He looked at the people around him. All but one of them seemed as confused, or perhaps more so, than himself.

"So, uh.....the fuck is going on? What his this place? Better question, why are we here, and what is this 'game' i've heard of?" He didn't expect anyone to have an answer, but he'd thought give it a try.

[The new old world]

John appeared, in the street, alone. He quickly looked around, and saw people talking in an abandoned building, a while away. "Oh, thank god for civilization in such a desolate place. Wait, what is the standing of religion in...Nemesis? Was that what they called this place? Then he remembered what was going on, from a personal, not educational, point of view. And he ran. Fast. Very fast, straight towards the people.

[JuNii]

"So, uh.....the fuck is going on? What his this place? Better question, why are we here, and what is this 'game' i've heard of?" He didn't expect anyone to have an answer, but he'd thought give it a try.

a thin, weasily man chuckled, "This is it... the Game that people's been talking about... you know, don't think about the game or you lose... the one the Evergreen Foundation is offering $500 billion for information on... we got it made dudes! we're set for life!"

"yeah... let me know when you send the text message..." a muscular man said as he checked his cell phone. he cursed. "Dammit... no bars... someone check that payphone!"

"Already done," some else shouted. "Deader than Micheal Jackson!"

"Fuck you guys then... I'll keep the reward money myself." the thin man shouted as he regressed into a sulk.

ooc: any player not inside the building by tomorrow will be disqualified... with prejudice...

[Elipida]

"Wha-" Disbelief was Jason's first reaction when he woke up on the dry arid desert. "Where am I?" He examined the empty landscape. There was nothing but old ruins scattered about as far as the eye can see.

As he tried to stand up, the brilliant sun's gaze fell upon his eyes. "It was freezing cold in the dorms about a minute ago, now i'm sweating?" he said as he brought his hand over his eyes.

He started to laugh. "So this is what happens when you watch too many 'end of the world' documentaries eh? You start dreaming about it" Almost immediately he tripped onto the desert soil. "Ah, that hurt..."

As he stood up again, he noticed a small ruin nearby. Without knowing where to go, he started to walk in that direction. "In the very least, I should try to get out of this bloody sun"

[JuNii]

as soon as Jason, the last of the players, enters the ruined building... the pay phone begins to ring. at the fourth ring, a woman's voice echoes in your head.

Welcome to Nemesis, the game has just begun. the task is simple, find the Gate and you will return to your world.

an image of a wall mounted phone appears in your mind. the phone is next to a window overlooking an unusual rocky cliff side... the walls are polished to an almost mirror-like sheen as it reflects the sun.

minutes after the woman's voice anAd image appear in your head, a lonly siren echoes over the landscape... the sound seems to orginate from the north.

the unconcious high school girl seems to twitch at the sound of the sirren.

"What the fuck was that?" the heavily muscled guy exclaimed. "did anyone else hear that bitch?"

"Psyren..." the thin weasily man read the word on the phone card... "Siren... we just heard a siren just now."

"That's it..." a business woman stood up. "it must mean we head towards the siren... that makes sense... we could spend months searching for that gate home. the siren has to be a clue..."

she and several others begin to leave the building... heading towards the siren. the high school boy who seems to be caring for the girl stands up.

"Hey, becareful out there... there are monsters out there that will kill you dead."

the others laugh. you hear comments like "no signs of life", "Didn't see anything on the way in", "Crazy punk kid" as they file out.

soon all that is left are the high school students and the players.

[Dalkarth]

TG/Prompt/Previous Post

Nemesis? Wait where am I?

Ellie thought as she was cut off from her very stable T3 internet connection with nearly no down time. She stuck out her hand to express a disgust at her computer but instead of landing on the side of the monitor her hand landed on the side of an iron hard pipe with no water dripping from its open end. Dust filtered out into the air because of the waft of Ellie's hand. Ellie then took her hand back in astonishment and ran her finger through the red rust dust that now laced her right hand.

Hmm...

She sighed rubbing her thumb and index finger together mashing the fine rust dust into even finer grits slowly sifting to the hard dark brown-tainted ground. It was at this moment, Ellie, looked at her surroundings and noticed that the color of brown inhabited each part of the strange unrecognizable world before her that was no longer her office at home. Even the shadows had a tint of brownish red in them. But, the strangest thing here was...

People? Here?

As if she wondered how there could ever be people anywhere and like it was the first time she had ever seen them. Until she came back to reality realizing that it would not be an anomaly.

I am here. So, there must be others. It would only make sense.

Then she noticed even more people entering and chatting in the room most of them worried about, "How in the hell they got here!" or "What do we do." Ellie though she heard a familiar woman's voice before this strange environment appeared before her. It stood on the edge of her mind.

"That's it...Psyr..."

*SIREN*

Ellie heard a strange noise sounding like a siren of an emergency situation. It finally dawned on her when the noise sounded in her ears? Brain?... That this was what she had knee-jerkingly agreed to a few months back when she was asked the ominous question.

Damn...VR technology must have come a long way or at least a lot further than I've ever heard about. So, a game? A game of what?

---

Ellie had been working on a new rpg to stretch her career into new horizons. The Hunger Games had become a very popular series and the company she had freelanced out a few programming issues for in the past invited her to become an integral part of the team. She was the first to be able to test run the game. She noticed design flaws in the HUD, a few calculation bugs, and an oddity of a series of events. But, beyond the more programming bits she thought there was something missing from the game in a poetic fashion. A route to win the game without killing anyone until the last two were standing. A series of ten emails consisting of "All you need to do is make one kill to win the games." A strategy of either being noble and moral or being avoidant and sneaky.

---

Ellie took a moment in half step when she was just about to follow the group of people leaving the room and decided to use that sort of laid back strategy.

Well if this is a game...then there must be some sort of game mechanics here. I wonder how they work...perhaps I should wait and see what happens and let someone else decide what to do then disappear at the best opportune time then reappear at that critical moment? Perhaps, this isn't a game at all and were stuck here and there is no gate. How am I supposed to even know what a gate looks like here? A backdoor in the system?

Ellie begin pondering through all her knowledge on programming games and looking for possible anomalies in the surrounding world, of course besides the obvious anomaly that she truly had no idea how she got here. All she could do now is be friendly to the still remaining people in the dust laden room. She started with a friendly smile winning lie...

Hello, everyone, I'm Psyren. I'll be you computer generated guide.

[Elipida]

(OOC: Strange, i could have swore i posted something here that really reflected my character was...)

"Siren...?" Jason paused when he heard the word. His pronunciation was off. Not siren, Psyren.

He heard it somewhere before. Right, it was from one of his room-mate at the University. He was a programmer, and an amazing one at that. The wonderful bastard was somehow able to recover 98% of his files, including his hundred-page essay that was due the following week, when he accidentally spilled coffee on his laptop (True story). He had 'contacts', to say the least, in almost every technical organization from Microsoft and Apple to The American's Central Intelligence Agency.

He mentioned 'Psyren' quite a few times. something to do with developing VR-tech or something. Not that it mattered, unless the ass was testing experimental tech on him to see how he'd react.

"That's it..." a business woman stood up. "it must mean we head towards the siren... that makes sense... we could spend months searching for that gate home. the siren has to be a clue..."

"Or a trap" Jason voiced. Few flinched, however with no where else to go, many began to venture off.

the high school boy who seems to be caring for the girl stood up. "Hey, becareful out there... there are monsters out there that will kill you dead"

"Kill you dead?" Jason was almost laughing. Either at the situation, or at the boy's grammar. "You in high school boy?"

He turned to the others who were also laughing. They too were also leaving. "Well kid," he started, "If there's anything you'll learn, it's that you're safer in numbers. As long as there are a number of us in a group, the chances of being attack is minimal"

If only he sounded more convincing. He knew that this is probably going to be a death game, and everyone here are will become his enemies. But even so, an alliance, even temporarily held together by the fear of death, can be beneficial to both parties. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer

[New Babylonia]

Al squinted at the commotion. He first chuckled at the boy's grammar, who was no older than he was. And then chuckled at everyone, who seemed about as intelligent as your average pile of rocks. He stepped out towards the entrance of the building, where he could see the sun.

"North?" he said with a disgusted tone. He examined, the sun, the direction of his shadow, and other factors.

"I'd guess.....north east. By at least 10-20 degrees. Three-and-half years of direction finding, and lost people searches, you'd think i'd know this approximately." He shrugged, and looking to his right he saw a small portion of a metal pole. He grabbed it, and forced it from the rubble pile. It would seem that being buried under rubble, protected from the weather, that the steel pole was only dusty. He smiled, he'd had alot of training with polearms. He found a rock, which had what looked like a sharp edge to it. Well, sharper than the others, at the least. He picked up the rock, which had grown hot in the bright sun. It almost burned his hand as he took hold of it, forced it into an end on the pole, turning it into a makeshift spear. He hoped he could find another along the way, and turn into a double-edged spear. But he had no time for this. Despite the sound coming from the north-east, he didn't know if he could trust it. And those people....they seemed.....almost, not human. In fact, as he gave it thought, they gave no thought to it at all. There was no thought process. Even the most un-educated human beings, in survival, that is, still gave some thought to it. And by that, more than three minutes. Something was up, and he knew it, just didn't know what.

"Well, if any of you care to try a different route, seeing as how i don't trust any of this, nor those bumbling fools who give no thought to their actions, i'll be heading the opposite direction. I doubt any of you will trust me, or follow me, but give it a chance if you want." With that, Al jumped off the steps, and began walking away. He didn't look back to see if he was being followed, not yet. He'd wait until he'd exited the ruins, the harsh sand surrounding him, waiting to attack his soul. What wonders awaited him in this wasteland? Perhaps we wouldn't live to find out.

[Elipida]

"Hey kid" Jason yelled as he jumped to his side. "I'm coming with you. Why? because something tells me that our goal won't be so easy to find. A siren can attract a lot of attention" he was referring to his training at the Royal reserves. One day they told us that they will be having a base raid at midnight and wants us to all be at the courtyard when the siren went off.

However when Jason and his fellow recruits got there in their sleepwear, the Drill-Sargents sprayed them with paint balls. Our lesson? Be prepared at all times. Sirens attract a lot of attention, some is unwanted.

[Asterdan]

as soon as Jason, the last of the players, enters the ruined building... the pay phone begins to ring. at the fourth ring, a woman's voice echoes in your head.

Welcome to Nemesis, the game has just begun. the task is simple, find the Gate and you will return to your world.

an image of a wall mounted phone appears in your mind. the phone is next to a window overlooking an unusual rocky cliff side... the walls are polished to an almost mirror-like sheen as it reflects the sun.

minutes after the woman's voice anAd image appear in your head, a lonly siren echoes over the landscape... the sound seems to orginate from the north.

the unconcious high school girl seems to twitch at the sound of the sirren.

"What the fuck was that?" the heavily muscled guy exclaimed. "did anyone else hear that bitch?"

"Psyren..." the thin weasily man read the word on the phone card... "Siren... we just heard a siren just now."

"That's it..." a business woman stood up. "it must mean we head towards the siren... that makes sense... we could spend months searching for that gate home. the siren has to be a clue..."

she and several others begin to leave the building... heading towards the siren. the high school boy who seems to be caring for the girl stands up.

"Hey, becareful out there... there are monsters out there that will kill you dead."

the others laugh. you hear comments like "no signs of life", "Didn't see anything on the way in", "Crazy punk kid" as they file out.

soon all that is left are the high school students and the players.

Gale had arrived just before the voice had began speaking. He looked down and noticed that he was still in his wrestling attire, which was a pair of loose-fitting jeans and boots. He was glad that he usually entered wearing a T-Shirt with his world famous logo.

"Umm, what the heck is going on?" he asked simply.

He was confused and, to be honest, he was quite worried. Gale was scheduled to defend his title, which was probably still setting in his dressing room. What would happen to his his title? His match? What would happen to his job?! Austins looked at the red card.

[Rupudska]

Agathe had arrived just as the voice began speaking. She had come from a different direction than Gale, so she didn't see him (Or anyone else) until she entered the strange building. Thankfully she was still in her non-combat training uniform; while it was certainly hot, it was no reason to go around in one's underwear.

She stepped through the door into the building. "Vhat the hell is going on?" She was about to continue, but she then heard them. Sirens. They sounded a bit like air raid sirens, so she instinctively ducked her head, before she realized that she could have seen any planes coming and that there was no way in Hell there was an air raid going on. It seemed to be coming from the north.

Should I go with them? She examined the two planning to go north. Naah, I'll wait to see if others want to go.

[Asterdan]

Gale watched as another woman entered, asking the same thing he had. He just looked at her and shrugged, smirking slightly as she ducked. Noticing the two heading to the north, Gale took a step towards, about to follow. Suddenly, however, he had stopped, not knowing why, and looked around.

"I don't know why, but I get the strangest feeling we should to the west." Gale said simply, knowing noone would listen.

He looked around and found something about the size and weight of a kendo stick, his 'weapon' of choice in the ring. Gale smiled as he looked around, then, using some knowledge he retained from his one-maybe two-years of boy scouts, he headed off to the west. The New Extremist was probably wrong, but he didn't care. It felt right to him.

[JuNii]

Several minutes after the last person left, the unconscious school girl wakes with a groan. she holds her head and mutters something about 'overdoing it'.

She looks around and comments "is this everyone? did you get your instructions?"

The school boy nods. some of the idiots left, heading towards the siren... others went the opposite direction... but we", he indicates the others still in the room "are still here."

"they went TOWARDS the siren?" the girl looked shocked. "Oh gods... they're dead.... what about the map?"

"Map? What Map."

She held her head and gently shook it. "that's right... no one would know... check the phone, there's a button marked 'memo' under the 'redial' button... hit it..."

She dug into her backpack and pulled out a pad and pen. she tossed it to the person next to the phone. "Copy down the map... all the symbols, the discoloration... everything."

she laid back down with a groan.

+++

THOSE GOING ANYWHERE BUT NORTH.
you walk for several minutes away from the town. a sea of sand surrounds you. in the distance, you can see what looks like a cliff face... several hours away.


+++


those going north

Several minutes of walking takes you out of the city ruins. in the smokey distance, a tower becomes visible... it looks like a mess of girdles... but it's a structure, standing tall and proud.

[Dalkarth]

There was yet another oddity in the small room that began to draw Ellie to it, the clean payphone. It stood in a dust covered world dustless and out of place. She walked over to it slowly as if not to arouse attention in case she was able to find something out.

"Hmm...wonder if collect calls work here?"

Ellie went to dial 411 for information but three inches before she pressed the ominous looking four, a sleepily acting girl in the room expressed information about the phone holding a map within it.

A person that seems to have prior knowledge? This could become a problem...or a blessing.

She was given a pad of paper and a few utensils to jot down a map.

"Two maps...one privately real, one publicly fake."

Ellie began to jot down the first one taking her time with it.

"Damn...I drew it backwards!" she said aloud before flipping the pad and starting anew. After a few more minutes passed she completed the second map. She drew one contiguous map over a series of two pages but instead of drawing a completely accurate map she switched the names and symbols of places from the left-side to the right-side so that she could be the only one able to read the map correctly. The map would become completely readable if you held the two pieces of paper together and looked up at the sun using the faded symbols as the correct ones. It was all thanks to...

---

JUNIOR YEAR---
ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP

tbs flash-b for post prologue stages, nonessential atm.

[JuNii]

Ellie tossed the pad back to the students... she pulled a ruined table over and placed the map on it. she called the others over and pointed.

"This symbol is the starting point." it looked like a phone receiver connected to an 'S'. she then pointed to something looking like a satalite dish. "This is the exit. this tower..." she pointed to what looked like a rough drawing of the effiel tower, "Is the siren tower... to go there is to die. no questions about it." she looked at the map, then at the phone. she rotated the map in relation to the phone.

"Wait... I thought you said the people headed towards the siren to the north..." She tapped the tower symbol... which was south of the start point. She turned to Ellie, "did you copy the map exactly?"

"Yes, they went in that direction." the male student spoke as he pointed out the window. The female student rotated the map till the tower symbol was aligned to where he pointed. "then... the gate should be..."

she muttered. "This doesn't make sense... it's back tracking..."

[Elipida]

"Well, this is just wonderful" Jason sighed as he and the others who have gone south walked along the edge of a dune hill. "The closest thing we have to a 'structure' is a stone wall several hours away. we don't have enough water or food to get there in one piece" he looked back at the trail of footsteps leading back to the town.

"Maybe we should have gone North" he stared at his survival watch and stared at the compass function. "Hey guys, let's head back; maybe we missed something"

[JuNii]

The female student sighed. with no response from Ellie, she grabbed the pad. "this isn't going to work..." she went over to the phone and began sketching.

"ok," she put the new map on the table, "the map," the sketch was an almost cicular crater. near the center was an S with a phone reciever. due north was a tower in a shaded field and to the left of the tower, a picture resembling a satellite dish.

"This" she pointed to the first symbol "is the start. it's where we are now. this" she pointed to the 3rd symbol "is the gate home. where we need to get to. the siren tower is a trap. the shaded area is a danger zone... at this point... if you go there, you're dead. no questions."

she reached into her backpack and pulled out a sickle/chain weapon and attached that to her belt. she pulled out a large bottle of water and took a sip. she offered it to the others.

"This is a rather large group... good. better chance that one of us will make it out while the others are being eaten. " she smiled.

"Hey you... get in here!" she shouted to the group that appeared outside (Jason). "Stick together... and keep your eyes peeled for any movement. just because we're not in the zone doesn't mean we're not in danger."

"oh, and by the way... the name's Samantha, from San Diego. this is my 9th trip here. this is Bill," she pointed to her classmate. "This is his first. and all things considered... I think you're all first timers."

[Elipida]

"oh, and by the way... the name's Samantha, from San Diego. this is my 9th trip here. this is Bill," she pointed to her classmate. "This is his first. and all things considered... I think you're all first timers."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa" Jason exclaimed after Samantha introduced herself. "This is your ninth time here?!"

before she could respond, he took a deep breath and calmed down. "Sorry, the heat must be getting to me. I'm Jason, a university student from Toronto" he wanted to ask a few questions, but to him, she acted strangely, almost downright suspiciously.

[JuNii]

"oh, and by the way... the name's Samantha, from San Diego. this is my 9th trip here. this is Bill," she pointed to her classmate. "This is his first. and all things considered... I think you're all first timers."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa" Jason exclaimed after Samantha introduced herself. "This is your ninth time here?!"

before she could respond, he took a deep breath and calmed down. "Sorry, the heat must be getting to me. I'm Jason, a university student from Toronto" he wanted to ask a few questions, but to him, she acted strangely, almost downright suspiciously.

"Nice to meet you Jason... yes, my ninth. I'm sure you have questions... I know I did... but I'm gonna say what was said to me by the person who taught me alot. 'lets get the fuck outta here first then we can talk all we want.'"

She looked down at the map and muttered to herself. "then he got himself eaten..."

"Actually... no, this is good..." Samatha sighed. "let's get to know each other..."

[JuNii]

She ran. she was just a legal secretary for a New York Lawfirm... she had no business being in this hellhole.

she ran.

She and six others had followed the siren, thinking it was leading them to the way out of here...

the tower could be seen through the hazy fog when that thing struck. a rather heavy set man ran ahead, towards the tower, excited at the prospect of going home and getting some reward or something.

He was waiting for everyone to catch up when that arrow went through his skull. As everyone watched in stunned silence, it appeared, literally among them. one of the muscle bound guys... some military man, hit that monster, repeatedly. as it grabbed another man and threw him into the rocky wall several yards away.

She sobbed as she remembered the tall lanky thing, dressed like a butcher, dropping it's crossbow and reaching out and grabbing the soldier in his two arms and ripping him in half. a few seconds and about half of them were dead.

she didn't stick around after that. she turned and ran.

she could imagine it was following her... she didn't want to slow down to glance behind her. her lungs burned as she ran back towards the ruins... perhaps she can hide...

did they travel that far?

she saw the buildings sunk in the sand. she screamed for help as something heavy hit her from behind.

she couldn't draw her breath... she looked down and stared, in confusion at the arrow tip sticking out of her chest. she couldn't breathe... as her legs collapsed beneath her.

she fell, a few feet short of the buildings. the wind, stirring the hair on her now lifeless head. as a figure walked up to her and without effort, pulled it's arrow free. It looked at the buildings and sniffed the air.

[New Babylonia]

Al stood there, for awhile. He contemplated what he should do. Perhaps he should return to that town. Now that he thought about it, that payphone was....strange. Out of place. Then again, everything in this wasteland was out of place. As looked South, he began to wonder if there were sandstorms here. He shook his head. He picked up, then, the hollow steel tube, which, really, was about 1/3 of an inch thick. Strange size for steel tubing. He looked at the edge, the stone which he had awkwardly forced into one end. He picked up a rock around him, it reminded him of dolomite. Perfect. Dolomite was used by Egyptians to craft marble, surely he could do the same here. But he didn't like the idea of sitting there. Perhaps that Jason guy had a point. He picked up the 'spear' and began walking, attempting its edge at the same time. He had a long walk ahead.

Some time later, he found himself in the so-called town. Where was that restaurant, building, whatever it once was? He spotted it, and began moving in its direction. Looking behind him, it was probably better to be in some sort of shelter. This place was perfect for sandstorms. Except for the wind, which it direly lacked. But otherwise, he could be in trouble real fast if a strong gale came by. God forbid that happens. As if he believed in god. God had never helped him. Just watched him miserably try to fight through life. He didn't need any god. All he needed was 'Me, myself, and I.', And that would be enough.

[JuNii]

Samantha looked around at the others. most stood or sat in silence. as if waiting for something.

She groaned. and whispered loud enough to Jason to hear. "We're here... and people are just sitting around? talk about lifeless. at least one person here shows brains." it was clear she was NOT talking about her classmate.

She climed on the sturdiest table and looked at the group. "OK, Listen up you primative Screwheads... For whatever reason, you were chosen to play this game. you lose, you die. but if you survive, you just might learn the secrets of this game. Now, unless you were actually prepared for this... none of you have any food or water. and trust me, there isn't any to scavenge so let's get it in gear an lets blow this popsicle stand."

She coughed into her handkerchief, then passed her hand ove her eyes.


"I guess no one is going to move unless they're spoon fed like babies... OK, everyone, grab your Red Phone card." she pulled hers out of her bra and held it up for everyone to see.

"Hold it against your forehead... like so." She pressed the cool card against her forhead for a couple of seconds.

now, read the back.

the back of the card now had words on it.

You are now Nemesis Drifters, Players of The Game

Drifters are parties that have answered the survey, sealing a contract with Psyren.

The Game will continue unill your card is used up.

Always carry your card on your person.

Never Speak to Non-Drifters about Nemesis or Psyren or the fact that you are playing The Game.

Always Check the Map at the Start Point.

The Towers are Dangerous. Do not approach them unless you weld sufficient Power

When Nemesis Drifters are ejected from The Game or break the Rules, they will turn to ash.

May Good Fortune befall the Nemesis Drifters as you traverse time with Psyren and undertake journey to change the future.

The student turns her card over. "In the upper corner, you see a number. it should be 49. one point was removed when you answered the survey. when your card hits 0. your time in The Game is done. and you will no longer be a participant. so... are you all ready to get off your assets and get the flock outta here?"