Blood and Thunder

Chapter 6 - Black Spaces

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Alexander awoke to the sound of birds singing from the trees. Without checking the time on his lenses, he slung his legs over the edge of the bed onto the soft mat on the floor and prepared himself for the day ahead. He didn't need to know the time, he didn't want to know, it was light outside and that was enough for him today.

He picked up the blue and black bag from beside his school bag. This bag was bigger and his parents insisted on him having a bag for school and one for everyday. Rummaging through his school things, he picked out a thick notebook, still blank from the school year. They were given exercise books to use at school when they weren't using computers, and now their lenses, which was rare. He hadn't quite got the hang of typing with his lenses yet. He prefered pen and paper.

He grabbed an assortment of pens and pencils, and placed them into his pencil case before throwing that into his bag. He grabbed a clean hoodie from his wardrobe before slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading downstairs for something to eat.

"You missed breakfast." his father pointed out as soon as he saw Alexander, "Everything okay?"

Alexander nodded and explained he overslept. His father expected him to say something else but when it was clear he wasn't in the mood to talk anymore he told his son to go and get Ira to whip something up for him.

As his father left Wilbur came out from the dining room with his normal smile on his face.

"You missed breakfast."

Alexander was starting to wonder if everyone was going to say the same thing when they saw him.

"Want me to grab you something to eat from the kitchen?"

"Yes please, and could you also make me a pack lunch as I'm going out. I'll be in the games room."

The room was more for entertainment than just games. It was one of the biggest rooms in the house and it needed to be. His father had it installed when he was younger and they first found out about his ADHD. It was somewhere Alexander could learn things in his own way through gaming and videos. It had been his life saver when he was much younger.

It had recently been upgraded so it could work with the new contact lenses. Anything to make the experience better. The lenses allowed the computer to manipulate more within your peripheral vision which Alexander was excited to try out. He stepped into the room and it was like stepping into another world. The first part of the room was black with a tv on the wall and beanbags on the floor. A place for films and relaxing. This part was only small, but that's all it needed to be.

He walked up to a grey door on the wall and waited. It was scanning him, and connecting with his lenses.

"Welcome Alexander Alister Fawn." The robotic voice confirmed everything for the computer. The door slid open and he walked in and stopped in the center. The room was full of white panels, each one full of millions of pixels. A keyboard appeared in front of him. The room was full of sensors and holograms, allowing the player to literally step into the game. He selected the game and placed a cap onto the game, he only wanted to play for thirty minutes. Just a little warm up for his day.

He waited as the room adjusted, transporting him into a different world. The best part for Alexander was that your talents didn't matter here. You could only use the powers the game gave you, meaning that while he was in this room his talents were numbed. No visions in this room.

He walked through jungles, hunting for things like food and shelter for his character. In here he could be anyone. He fell down a hole and he felt the pressure in his ribs. Although this wasn't real, the room tricked his mind and body into thinking it was. The floor moved when he wanted to move. But the truth was, he never moved from that spot. A careful trick of the floor, meant that as he walked, it detected the pressure and transferred it into the game. His own movements controlled the game.