Hero

"C'mon, you little queerbate!" sneered Marcus. "You're getting your ass kicked either way. Come take it like a man."

Andy hid behind the green dumpster, the smell of rotting Chinese food assaulting his nostrils as he crouched, shaking and sweaty. Marcus and his crew had chased him all the way from Dwight Eisenhower Junior High to this alley downtown. There was a fence behind him, and Marcus and four other 8th graders blocked the only exit from the alley. He was trapped like a rabbit before five mean, vicious hounds.

The sounds of lasers, assault rifles, and zombies emanated from the partially open doorway behind him. 1up Arcade, Andy's favorite after-school hangout was just next door. The door was only open a few inches, however, a small red brick allowing the sounds of fun to leak into the darkened alleyway. Marcus and the others would see the door open if he went that way.

"I know you're right behind the dumpster, dumbass. Come on out and take your medicine. You don't want me to have to come back there" Marcus warned. Footsteps on broken glass clinked and echoed down the alley as Marcus approached Andy's hiding spot.

Andy decided at last to take his chances hiding in the large and gloomy arcade. With a leap, he opened the door to 1up and dashed inside, Marcus calling out in surprise. Andy ran through the arcade, darting around old cabinets of Galaga and Streetfighter II, Marcus and the other boys hot on his heels. He earned a trio of angry yells from some high school boys when he leaped straight through the rocking cockpit of Afterburner: Vietnam, losing Marcus and his cronies in the jumble. Andy kept running until he came to the other side of the arcade and the door with the warning sign "Employees Only." Andy opened the door and plunged quickly into the dark room, allowing the door to swing shut behind him with a clang.

Andy leaned against the door, breathing heavily, sweat running down his forehead and stinging his eyes. He listened with his ear against the cool metal, trying to make out the sound of Marcus and his friends talking over the din of the arcade. After what seemed like hours, Andy concluded that he had lost the bullies. He turned to take a look at his hiding place.

Andy's eyes slowly adjusted to the soft blue light, revealing a small room with a single arcade cabinet. The cabinet was about the size of a photobooth, with a seat inside. Intrigued, Andy walked around and sat down. The console had a joystick and six unlabeled buttons, the screen above displaying a piece of parchment with a single word in a fantasy-style script: HERO. 

Looking down at the coin slot, Andy saw that it was covered with a piece of duct tape. Moving this aside, he slipped in one of the many quarters in his bulging left pocket. A sound like a sword being drawn boomed from speakers set behind his head. Text began to crawl along the screen from bottom to top and a voice with a refined, British accent read along:

"It is a time of death and sorrow in the land of Id-Ithia. The kingdoms of Id and Ith have lived for a millennia as happy allies. Now that long era of peace has been shattered thanks to the disappearance of the Sun Stone. A magical crystal said to have come from the fires of the Red Volcano, the Sun Stone provided Id-Ithia with a dome of light which protected it from the forces of darkness which seek to destroy the land and its people. With the stone gone, evil creatures stalking the darkened landscape, and neither kingdom entirely trusting the other, the land of Id-Ithia seems to be in dire peril. The kings of Id and Ith sent their nations' greatest heroes on a quest to the Red Volcano to bring back another Sun Stone, if one even exists, but they have failed to return and few believe that they are even still alive. The land is in danger and needs a HERO. Will you be that HERO?"

"Hmmpf...that's a little over-the-top," Andy muttered to himself, hitting a button to start the game. 

He was rewarded with a view of a map of the land of Id-Ithia, rendered in beautiful, 8-bit graphics. A road was marked in black leading from the city of Ith, through the Forest of Wolves, over the Plains of Morkar, and into the Mountains of Fire. A flashing red dot indicated his position in Ith. Pressing the joystick up, Andy moved the dot into the Forest of Wolves and the screen changed to a first-person view - now in slightly-better, less muddy graphics - of a dark forest, a knobby, wooden staff held before him by leather-gloved hands. The sound of crickets chirping sounded lightly from the speakers behind his head. A lone wolf howled.

Andy pressed the various buttons, causing his character to swing the staff, thrust forward with it, make a blocking motion, and jump up and down. Another button opened an inventory screen. The last button made him throw himself forward in a ducking roll. 

"Alright, pretty simple controls. Let's explore these woods I guess," Andy said, moving his character forward into the darkness.

Suddenly, a wolf burst from the brush to the front and left of Andy's character. He swung the staff but missed. The wolf hit him high and his view toppled backward, now looking up into the snarling face of the wolf, backlit by the stars through the canopy of trees. There was a flash of red and Andy screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his neck. 

Andy reached up to his neck to feel the wound, but there was nothing there. He looked at his hand, expecting to see blood, but it was clean. "Man...I was REALLY into that game," he said, laughing nervously. He looked back up at the screen.

"YOU WERE KILLED BY A WOLF.

 THE KINGDOM IS LOST.

 YOU ARE NOT THE HERO. 

GAME OVER."

"Only one life?! What the hell?! That's ridiculous!" Andy reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of quarters, setting them on the shelf below the screen and slipping one into the coin slot.

""It is a time of death and sorrow in the land of Id-Ithia. The kingdoms of Id and Ith have lived for a millennia --"

"Yeah, yeah, kingdom, death, Sunstone, Hero, I got it. Let's go." Andy said, pressing a button. Again he saw the map. Again he went north into the forest and was again plunged into a world of darkness and ominous ambient noise. 

"No wolf is going to startle me this time!" Andy declared.

Andy played for hours upon hours, repeating the cycle over and over again. Each time he got a little further into the forest before being killed by a virtual wolf. After what seemed like days, Andy's character finally emerged onto the desolate, moon-lit Plains of Morkhar.

"Well...at least nothing can sneak up on me out here," Andy said. "That was starting to get a little annoying." 

Just then, a winged beast faintly resembling a gargoyle screeched out of the sky and snatched up Andy's character. The ground quickly shrank below him as he was lifted up. Suddenly, Andy fell from his seat and landed on the thin carpet next to the arcade cabinet, banging his elbow on the way down. "OW! What the hell, man?!" Getting back up into the cabinet, he was greeted by the all-too familiar admonishment for his failure to avoid random beasts:

"YOU WERE KILLED BY A GARGOYLE.

 THE KINGDOM IS LOST.

 YOU ARE NOT THE HERO. 

GAME OVER."

"DAMNIT!" Andy said, taking another quarter off of his shrinking stack and slamming it into the coinslot.

""It is a time of death and sorrow --"

"Yeah, yeah...death, sorry, Heroes, wolves, blah blah blah!" Andy muttered, starting over again.

Andy beat snarling wolves with his staff. He found a bow and arrow and shot gargoyles from the sky. He pulled a sword made of fire from a stone in a dark mountain cave and beat trolls and goblins by the dozens. He stood atop a pinnacle overlooking a lake of fire and fought and slayed a demon named Ruoffa. He at last stood before a glowing red rock.

"YOU HAVE FOUND THE SUNSTONE.

THE KINGDOM IS SAVED.

YOU ARE THE HERO.

CONGRATULATIONS.

GAME OVER."

"Finally! Man...that felt like it took forever!" Andy looked down at his pile of quarters, reduced now to 50 cents. Then he looked at his watch. The luminescent numbers showed the time: "1am?! Holy crap! I'm going to be in so much trouble!" Andy ran from the room. He emerged into the arcade, still dimly lit by two dozen arcade cabinets. He ran back out the back door he had come in. As he went through the door, he tripped and fell face first onto the dirt floor of the forest.

Andy picked up his staff and got to his feet, dusting himself off and looking around him at the darkened woods. The sound of crickets chirping sounded lightly from the surrounding trees. A lone wolf howled.