This is a time dilation game! Because of time difference your brain must recalibrate from game time back to real time. You will not be able to log out before the timer is complete. If you must Emergency Log Out, your emergency contact (on file) will be notified. Please see ReadMe for side effects of Emergency Log Out.
WARNING!
Gameplay timer set to max allowed time (12 hours). Please make sure that you're in a safe place and your family knows what you're doing. Iona recommends a minimum of 12 Real Hours between play sessions.
WARNING!
Time Dilation set to MAX (1:365)
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Michael briefly glanced over the technical specs just to make sure nothing had fritzed out and then checked them again... and a third time. He was part way through his seventh review of the configuration when he got the five minute alert from his timer.
He quickly saved all the settings again and logged into the Iona program that the pre-release had installed. This time, instead of being greeted with a "Play Intro" button, he was greeted with a "Enter Iona" button. He quickly smashed it. If he had any physical strength here, he was sure he would have broken the thing with his enthusiasm.
The world went dark.
Michael tried to look around but found that he couldn't move his head. It wasn't that his head wasn't responding, instead it felt like something was holding it. He tried to open his eyes. No luck there either.
Suddenly he realized that he couldn't breathe. Something was wrong!
'Oh shit. Im gonna die before I even get to play'
Very real panic swam in his brain as he struggled to draw a breath. He couldn't move and now he couldn't breathe. As he fought the rising tide of adrenaline that threatened to drown him.
He heard a scrabbling sound. Like rocks moving in a landslide, but from far away. He focused on that sound. He felt the pressure around him moving. The thing holding him still began to lessen as the noise grew louder, and he figured it out.
'
Oh dear sweet christ, I'm fucking buried alive!'
he screamed to himself. Michael had never been one that had many phobias, but this one suddenly shot to the top and promised to stay there forever.
'Whatever is digging me out please hurry!'
Michael's vision started to swim and his lungs burned from lack of air.
Suddenly light! More importantly, air. He hauled in a deep breath and received a mouthful of dirt for his trouble but didn't mind. Oxygen. Blessed oxygen. Nothing in life has ever tasted so good.
A strong hand gripped his shoulder and heaved him out of the ground, hoisting him aloft like a rag doll. Michael coughed and spit dirt out of his mouth as he struggled to catch his breath. A hand patted him on the back as he slowly became able to function again.
"There we go now. You're alright. Get it all up Michael."
That voice! He recognized that voice from the pre-release. Blinking, trying to force his damn pupils to dilate, he stared at the source of the voice. Sure enough it was her in all her angelic glory.
She stood taller than him by a good head and shoulder, which meant she must have been a few inches taller than six foot. Her skin was a beautiful olive tan that was obviously melanin instead of skin damage. Her blond hair cascaded past her shoulders, held back only by a loose leather tie around her forehead. Her eyes were a piercing blue that almost seemed to glow with intensity.
She was curvy too. An ample bosom and lovely derriere that brought thoughts to his mind that are best reserved for the dead of night, instead of introductions to an angel.
She watched him study her and smiled. "Yes Michael, I'm real. You can close your mouth. You look like a carp" she snickered.
"How do you know my name?" He asked her. There had been no character creation screen, or any sort of introduction.
"You asked me the same question the first time I saw you two weeks ago. You've been foretold Michael. Iona desperately needs a hero like you. I'm so glad that you came. I have to admit I was lonely here without you."
"Wait, hang on. You mean to tell me that the pre-release introduction wasn't just a cut scene? That was actually the game?" Michael looked around. Sure enough, he was right back on that hilltop. The village of grass huts down below, had replaced the town he had seen. The puddle nearby seemed to have dried up and the breeze was gone, but it was the same spot. He didn't remember seeing the forest off in the distance, or the lazy river behind him, but the pre-release must have been a small rendered copy.
"God damn thats some next level programming." he murmured to himself.
"Thank you! Built it all myself. Glad to know you like it. It means a lot coming from you."
He stared at the angel. Her response was too human. "Are you one of the programmers for Iona?"
"You could say that. My name is Sara and I built this world for you. I'm the local goddess! I'm in charge of everything you see."
