GAMEOVER

Chapter 1 [10]

~~~~~

"I'm going to be a clothing designer!" The high pitched voice of a young girl, perhaps 6, chirped. Her eyes lit up and her smile beamed brightly as the small sounds of 'ooo' and 'ahh' filled the air.

"That sounds wonderful Sophia; Kevin, what do you want to be when you grow up?" The kind eyes of their teacher looked at the neutral gaze of a young boy.

"Gonna be rich."

There were echoes of laughs and giggles at the straightforward response, "I'm sure you'll become very rich if you work hard," their teacher praised once more. The classroom was brightly lit, with large, colorful numbers and letters plastered to the wall. Two windows with no blinds sat on two opposing walls while the door to this room was propped open to reveal quiet halls.

This was a school. And in this school the future or Humans, Players, and the occasional OP's were taught. This was just one of many schools that were all across the small kingdom. To the inhabitants, this kingdom was known simply as Rekrium, to the outside world, The False Origin.

But such a name was not known to the people, it has been nearly 10,000 years since the kingdom has had contact with people on the outside of The Ring.

However, before such a thing can be explained, this memory must progress to reveal a certain goofy child with a big heart and even bigger dreams.

A boy with a curly mop of brown hair and odd, but alluring, golden eyes. His name was Adam, Adam Azure to be exact, he was 6 and a three-quarters of a year old, soon to be 7. A Tier 5 student and while sitting in this small circle of Tier 5's, he was eagerly waiting for his teacher to pose the simple question of, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'

He already had an answer, simple but amazing as he would describe it. He thought all the other kids' answers were cool enough, but all so predictable. Why didn't anyone think of something cooler? More daring and adventurous.

"Adam? Adam?" Mr. Stirling, their teacher, snapped Adam from his dreamy thoughts.

"H-huh?" there were quiet giggles that traveled around the circle. He wasn't fazed by their laughters at his inept attention abilities.

"What do you want--"

"A hero! I'm going to be the best hero, like the Players!" The silly conversations held by silly little children halted, the snickering quieted, and all eyes turned to the energetic, golden eyed boy.

At this moment, it is not fully understood what was so odd about this statement. Little kids can dream big, it isn't uncommon for them to say 'I want to be a superhero' or even 'I will fly and shoot lasers' All little kids dream impossible dreams like this. The first being more attainable to certain ranks of people.

In this society, there are many ranks in which the human and the inhuman are divided into. More specifically the human. The human ranks consist of, Human, Player, OP, plus the addition of the Exceptions, which their ranks vary, but that is more complicated. The simplest explanation is the Human rank posses one life, they are physically weak, and suited to live blissful, short lives. Players, have a vast number of lives, the ability to die and come back, a respawn. They're physically stronger, faster, and the protectors of the poor, defenseless rank of Humans. The OP's are a bit odd, possessing a finite invincibility that acts like temporary immortality. Their abilities still being discovered will be explained more in depth later on.

Today in this little class was a day to ask these small children of varying ranks what they hoped to be as adults. Jokes aside, this was a serious day filled with serious, attainable careers or dreams. Not the silly drabble that can be said outside of class amongst goofy friends and family.

"That's stupid, you can't be a hero." The snide remarks of a young child broke the fragile silence.

"Hush Ann, that is not very nice," Mr. Stirling scolded the child before turning to the confused Adam, his gaze softened, "That's very nice Adam, but what do you really want to be?

The young child titled his head to one side and furrowed his brows, he did not understand. Did he not just explain his ideal career?

"I'm going to be a hero, Mr. Stirling," he nodded to the class as if it was obvious, his answer was as simple as that.

Instead of silence this time, Adam was met with laughter, the snorts and the giggles filled the room, and their teacher was powerless to stop them. It felt to Adam he was the only one taking this seriously. He meant every word, so why, why would they laugh so mockingly?

"Human ranks can't be heroes, they would just die too quickly."

Oh.

He understood now. It seemed they all laughed because he was just a Human, not a Player or an OP. To them his dream was mere fantasy. And not one of them believed in him.

Not one.

~~~~~

To the north of this wonderfully busy city was a mountain. With it being around noon the sun was at it's highest point directly above the city. But as it set it would soon be behind the mountain and cast long and dark shadows over the city. Yes, here the sun set in the north and rose in the south.

This city was bustling with chatter and the sound of cars that drove on crowded streets. The castle in which the current king of Rekrium lives was built into the mountain with spires and towers reaching out of the mountain side and high into the sky.

Currently on these busy streets is a young man, 19 years of age. A large grin pasted on his extremely happy face. Well known to be a goofy guy who couldn't and likely never would take life seriously, or ever do anything right.

There were rumors about him everywhere. He was the foolish young man that believed he could do something more than live the normal, peaceful life available to Human rank. Even when no one believed in him, he still believed strongly that he could and would be a hero, he just didn't know how to get there. But right now, that didn't matter, today he was strolling the streets.

Adam lived by himself, he moved out of his family's home after graduating his Tier 1 class and lived by himself in a small complex. He had a decent job in a store for used books, which came with fabulous perks. He could take home any book so long as he returned them in good condition.

Adam loved those books, they were the closest thing he had to stories of grand adventure and heroism. Truth be told, he just left that store after his shift from seven to noon, and after nabbing an interesting book he was on his way home. In his arm was the book with a purple leather cover and silver words spelling out its title, but that did not matter.

For in a few short moments, the man's golden eyes would soon fall upon something that would alter the course of fate and history itself. A destiny would soon rest on his shoulders because of one simple--

"Today's your lucky day ladies! Rare beauties coming from Sooul, only the finest of jewelry, why not try one on and see if they suit your fancy!" A man who was both bold and loud had set up shop a on the street side calling out to the people that walked by.

He was what people would call a con man, he was all talk and no bark, his merchandise were truthfully cheaply made plastic trinkets. And it was obvious that this man, was a dirty, rotten liar. However that did not stop him from setting up an illegal shop in the busiest streets of the Rekrium capital. It was only illegal due to his lack of a vendor's permit, and in an hour or so the man would gather up his stuff and move to another area before anyone was the wiser.

"You there laddie," the man called out to a young man, "Why don't you buy that little lady of yours something pretty." The man he called out to waved in apology and hurried on with his girlfriend in tow.

It was then, that Adam walked by, "Excuse me lad." Adam noticed the man was talking to him and stopped walking to look at the man.

"Yes?"

"You're a young lad, bet you got a girl, why not buy her a little gift?"

Adam felt himself grow a little nervous, he knew these types of people, they made you guilty enough to buy things, it would be best to apologize and leave, plus he didn't have a girlfriend. But his eyes did glance at the small trays filled with cheap trinkets, and one did catch his eye. Slightly buried underneath everything, was something golden. Like his eyes.

Using one had to hold his book, he used the other to pull out the object. It was an amulet of sorts, smaller than the palm of his hand and thin. Its center was purple, but it did not seem like a gem, more like a glass case holding some sort of colored liquid. But the liquid was filled to the top. When he flipped it over to see the other side, there was a white circle, no glass, it was dull, he did not know what it was.

He was intrigued by it, "how much?" Now what Adam didn't know was the vendor had never seen that amulet in his life, it was not part of his stock, but he figured why the hell not.

"20 silver pieces, it's a bargain." Adam figured it was not, but he made more than enough money to buy something like this. He nodded and placed the amulet down and paid for it before leaving with it in his free hand, "Pleasure doing business, I'm sure that is one lucky lady of yours."

Adam knew it wasn't for a girl, but he liked it a lot and there seemed nothing odd about him putting it on himself. He did buy it after all, so why not?

Adam bumped into two strangers that seemed to be in a quiet heated argument, one quickly turned to him and said, "Sorry," before being dragged away by the other. Adam shrugged it off and stared at the amulet once more. Using one hand he pulled it over his head and made sure it was snug around his neck. He liked it, it was a bit heavy, but he was fine with it, all this was done while he made his way home.

He beamed to himself and then winced, he felt a small pinch on the back of his neck. He figured it was just the clasp of the thread and nothing more.

Beep.

Amongst the busy streets and cars and noise of the city he did not notice the beep of the amulet, he did not notice the drips of red liquid that entered the amulets center and blend with the odd, purple colored liquid, and he did not notice the white center of the back of his amulet light up. On the center it became transparent through on the front but solid on the back, and 2 digits appeared.

10.

~~~~~

"Lost it? What do you mean you lost it?" A sour expression appeared on the face of the tall young man. A black scarf was wrapped around this man's neck and ruby eyes glared down on his friend who was only 3 inches shorter. However most of his appearance was hidden under the dark cloak and hood he had draped over his shoulders.

"I had it in my hand and then POOF, it's gone," The other man with a freckled face and large glasses raised his arms in the air to demonstrate the 'poof' and disappearance of the object he once had.

"Things don't disappear like that Tyler, when did you last have it?" The two were making their way down the streets of the capital, having just visited the king on business these two were supposed to be on their way home. However due to a certain idiot and his idiocy, they were now in the process of retracing their steps to find the very valuable, one-of-a-kind, prototype device that would change the course of history. Something like this could not, and must not be lost, or a certain childlike engineer would have their heads. Something that Ty, the red-eyed fellow, did not want to deal with.

"Well, it was somewhere~" Tyler spun slowly in a circle letting his surroundings burn into his mind, "there!" He pointed back in the direction of the castle, then paused as if thinking, "No, not there... but there!" He turned to point in a completely different direction.

In turn, Tyler was slapped on the head, "Idiot! If we don't find that damn necklace I'm blaming everything on you!"

A sudden pit formed in Tyler's stomach and he clutched his head in panic, "W-wait! You wouldn't dare!"

By now as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk arguing, people eyed them oddly, but kept their distance.

"I will, unless you find that damn necklace and then we won't have to speak about this again," Ty glared.

"R-right! Follow me!" Tyler began walking down the streets and Ty rolled his eyes but followed.

They bumped into several people as they traveled down the street and each time Tyler apologized and each time Ty yanked him back to their primary focus, which was not the hurt feelings of civilians but finding the important device they were entrusted with.

"Excuse me Mr. Vender sir," Tyler stopped in front of a stand in which trays of crap jewelry rested.

"Yes lad, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for an amulet, perhaps you've seen it. About this big with a purple center?" Tyler acted out what he described.

"Hm... yeah, I've seen it, just sold it to a fine young man as a gift for his girly," the vendor was no longer interested, these people did not seem like customers to him.

"What! Oh dear Notch, please tell me what does he look like?"

"Golden eyes, that's about the most defining feature the lad has, now if you aren't buying anything, will you leave. I've got customers walking on by...shoo!" The vendor shooed Tyler away who glumly left.

"You hear that Ty?"

"That you are an idiot, yes--"

"Please stop," Tyler whined, "We got to find this guy, a guy with golden eyes--someone has to recognize him, right?"

Ty shrugged.

And Tyler was right. Everyone knew the kid they spoke of. Only guy in the city with eyes like those, heck, maybe the only guy in the kingdom with eyes like those. The man with the golden eyes worked at a nearby bookstore, so that was where they went in hopes of finding him.

Unfortunately, he was not there either, it seemed just an hour ago the man had ended his shift.

"We really must find him, can you atleast tell us his address?"

"Sorry folks, no can do, that is confidential."

Ty stepped forward and cleared his throat, "We are with the AHD, we request this man's address, he unknowingly purchased an item that was stolen. We'd just like to retrieve the item before it is damaged," he only lied about it being stolen for in a sense it was. The vendor sold something that was not part of his wares, thus it became an act of theft.

"The AHD? Adam didn't do nothing wrong did he, that boy is always going on about the AHD and dreaming of joining, silly, I know. But the boy can dream."

"No, not at all," Tyler butted in, "Something of ours was simply lo--stolen, he unknowingly has possession of it,"

"Ah, I see, just to make sure can I see your...badges?" The shop owner asked.

"O-oh! Yes!" Tyler fumbled for his while Ty presented his with ease, the owner nodded and walked towards the back of the store. Tyler and Ty followed, this area appeared to be storage. The room itself was messy and boxes towered dangerously high. The owner opened some drawers and searched through them for a file before pulling out.

Tyler whistled, "Whew, this place looks scary."

"Ha, ha. I sure can't wait till that engineer of yours creates something to make this easier. That way, I won't need to document everything by hand and paper."

"I'm sure something like that isn't too far away into the future," Tyler commented and nodded his head in thanks as the owner handed him a file.

"His address is listed in there," he stood patiently as Tyler flipped through it and searched quickly for the address before handing the file back.

"Thank you sir, we'll be on our way now."

Tyler sighed with relief, "Don't relax now, you're still dangling off a cliff." Ty grumbled, today was a day filled with hassles for them. First a meeting with the king and now looking for a lost amulet.

"I know..." Tyler pouted.

~~~~~

First chapter :D Finally.

First off, anyone see a small F2R Easter Egg? No? Ok.

Next, before you ask where the map is, I decided to do something different than normal. Don't worry, the map is done, however, instead I will show you bits and pieces of the map that will be slowly updated as time goes on. But I still need to make a digital version so D:

Also, I've tried a slightly different writing style, does it sound good? I hope so.

Enjoy!