"Who's driving tomorrow? My car is still in the shop. I know it's supposed to be my turn, but I don't have my car back. I can pay for gas if you want me to," Mike asked, leaning on his locker. Chad and Drake were standing next to him, stuffing their books in their own locker. It was the end of the school day, so they were preparing to head home.
The three friends usually took turns driving the others to school to save gas. Each of the boys lived on the same street, making it easy for them to share the driving. There was no sense in all three driving separately.
Slamming his locker closed, Drake looked up at Mike. "I can drive." He offered. "You can take one of my turns after you get your car back, so it will be fair."
Mike was the tallest of the three friends, reaching six feet two inches. He had soft brown eyes and chocolate brown hair that looked like mocha coffee. His black t-shirt stretched tightly on his athletic frame. It was something he was proud of. He worked out hard during football practice and spent a lot of time in the weight room at his school. He was also the oldest of his friends; he was 17 by only a month. The other two were 16. Being the largest of the group, he towered over the other two.
Chad was the shortest of the three. He was only five feet five inches. He didn't like being the shortest, always hoping he would go through a growth spurt. Like Mike, he was athletic. He was an archer, so he wasn't large. His body was covered in hard, lean muscle. He spent most of his time practicing. Since he was on the school's archery team, he was able to practice whenever he wanted. He was an excellent shot.
Drake was different from his two friends. He was five feet seven inches with silky black hair and bright emerald green eyes that looked like shimmering gems. He always wore a large T-shirt that made his thin frame look even thinner. There was no muscle to speak of. Unlike his two friends, he preferred video games rather than sports.
"Yeah, I can take one of your turns to pay you back," Mike responded.
Chad stayed quiet. He wasn't much of a talker. He was the last one to finish putting his books away. He stepped back and waited. Drake, seeing that his friend was finished, headed down the long hallway that led out of the school grounds. Mike and Chad followed close behind.
Although Drake was frail in appearance compared to his friend, he was a natural leader. Something about him makes others want to follow him. Of course, it helped that he was a genius.
Drake looked back at Chad. "Didn't you have your archery stuff this morning?"
Chad stuffed his hands in his pockets, continuing toward the double doors that led outside. "I already put them in my car."
"Are you going to play that new game tonight?" It was Mike who asked. Drake wasn't like the others. He was the only one who played video games, and he wasn't into sports. Mike strived to include Drake in conversations, so he always tried to ask about his gaming.
Drake grinned. "Yeah, it looks cool. I set it up this morning, but haven't played it yet."
Drake pulled the door to the school open, holding it open for his two friends to walk through. They stepped past him and continued toward Chad's car.
Mike sighed, seeing that Drake wasn't going to elaborate. He knew that Drake got a new game, but had no clue about what the game was. He wanted to make Drake feel like he was interested, although he really wasn't. "So, what's the game like?"
Drake perked up. He enjoyed talking about his games. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that his friend was only asking because he was trying to be nice. He decided to answer anyway. "Well, you build your character, then you jump through a portal and fight monsters. This one is a little different. All the character options are human. All my others have elves and mages and stuff."
Chad stopped walking. "That's weird. What's the point of a game if you can't pick something really cool?"
It was clear that Chad didn't play many games. He only knew of a couple, and those all had magical races in them. Drake's new game did not. At least not in the character options. He didn't have much time to see if there were any in the game a NPCs.
Shaking his head, Chad continued to his car.
Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he looked over at Drake. "What's it called?"
Drake waited for Chad to open the door, and he and Mike got in. Drake soon followed. He didn't answer his friend until they were already driving out of the parking lot of the school.
"It's called 'Dimension Master'." Drake shrugged. He didn't elaborate or give any further information.
Mike looked back at him. "Aren't you going to tell us more?"
"Well, I don't really know much about it. I haven't played it yet. All I know is you form a party or cohort, whatever you want to call it, then go into the dimension. I haven't figured out anything else yet. If I can play the game tonight, I will know enough to explain more tomorrow."
When the trio arrived at their street, Drake was the first one to get dropped off. When he entered his house, there wasn't anyone home. Running up the stairs and into his room, he tossed his backpack on the bed and went to the computer.
"Time to play," he grinned.
Sitting down in his gaming chair, he pulled his headphones on and got ready to play.
"Ok, first things first. Create my character, then add supporting characters for my cohort."
What confused him was that he had to create cohort members, too. Usually, you just team up with other players. This new game was different. Reading the screen in front of him, he found he had to create at least two cohort members.
Drake didn't have much imagination when it came to the human characters, so he created his main character to resemble himself and his two mandatory cohort members to resemble his two friends. When he was finished, it looked like he and his friends were in the game.
The strange part about the game was that in the character development, it didn't give him anything. It was just an unarmed human that looked like him. He didn't even have a backpack or something to carry loot. He was surprised to find that he was able to put the same style of clothes on his characters that he and his friends actually wore in real life.
Once he had his cohort characters complete, he moved on to the actual playing. Pressing for the game play to start, it set all three of his characters in the middle of a field. There was a swirling dimension portal in the center. Moving his character toward the portal, his small cohort automatically followed him. He didn't have to try to control all of them. They acted on their own.
After making his own character step through the portal, his cohort followed, and the dimensional portal disappeared.
His computer monitor showed scenery that resembled a clearing with a forest surrounding it. There was nothing else on the screen.
"I guess I should just move around. This is an open-world game, so I'll explore."
He tried to move his character forward, but the game wouldn't let him. He watched the three figures on the screen. They looked around and at each other as if they weren't sure what was going on. He could do nothing else.
"This sucks! What the heck am I supposed to do? It won't let me do anything!"
Drake took off his headphones and tossed them on the desk. Looking at the box, it came in, he found no instructions or information on the game. It showed three shadowed figures standing in front of the porter, just like his cohort was. The name of the game was above the three figures. Turning the box around, he read the very short description written on the back.
He read the back: Dimension Master, your key to an open world where you will fight magical beasts, collect loot, and grow your cohort's power. Find the hidden quests for real-world rewards.
"That's it? How did I not notice that was all that's written?" Drake couldn't understand why the description was so short. It didn't tell him anything. He also couldn't figure out how to move his characters in the game. "How the heck am I supposed to play if I can't do anything!"
Switching the monitor off in frustration, he gave up. "I'll try again tomorrow."