Rising Shards

Lillia was put in charge of setting up the game in front of Zeta and Oka, as Kalei wouldn’t be able to stop giggling. The group of four had checked out a private study room that Kalei had temporarily “modified” for the perfect horror game experience, putting black paper over the windows. Now Zeta and Oka had only been told that they would be playing a ‘spooky’ video game (by Lillia, as again Kalei would have been laughing nonstop and revealed the scheme). The girlfriends planned to paint their nails while Kalei and Lillia switched off playing a game titled “The Ruination of A.C.,” which was dubbed by critics as one of the most genuinely unsettling games of the year. Was it mean to lure the non-gaming and easily startled Oka and Zeta into this? Potentially yes. Were their reactions going to be hilarious? Most assuredly.

“You all set there?” Kalei asked as she finished putting extra tape over the paper.

“Yes,” Lillia said, making sure the game was fully updated before leaving the system on its home menu to avoid all suspicion of the game they’d be playing. “Now have you been practicing holding it in so you don’t scare them off before we even get to the city?”

“Yes, but I might step out when they get here and say I gotta pee or something if I feel a laugh coming on.” Kalei said.

Lillia checked her phone. “They’re on their way according to Oka.”

“I’m so excited,” Kalei said. “Those two don’t know anything about games, so all this is gonna be so pure.”

“Truly.” Lillia said.

Oka and Zeta arrived shortly after, with Zeta carrying a box of nail polish and Oka bringing a shopping bag.

“Heyuhh,” Kalei said. “What’s uuuup?”

“I’m feeling pretty seasonal,” Oka said. She plopped the bag down on the study room table. “Since we didn’t get to do much Fang Moon Web business this year, and I’ve never really gotten to before, I brought cupcakes and candy! Oh, and limited edition blood red ColaBlu.”

“Aw, sweet!” Kalei said, opening up the cupcake package immediately and devouring one with purple icing.

Lillia gave a Tier 1 glare to Kalei as her face quivered for a second. It was too late to feel guilty now even if it was very kind of Oka to bring sweets. Kalei met her look and nodded slightly.

“We did have that costume party but yeah, we didn’t really have a Fang Moon Web this year.” Zeta said. “I got some seasonal nail polish. It’s got like, a lot of oranges and purples. And deep blood reds!” She strummed her fingers on the box. “Now is this going to be a scary game?”

“It’s spooky.” Lillia said.

“How spooky are we talking here?” Oka asked.

“It’s atmospheric.” Kalei said.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.” Oka said.

“I’d say fairly spooky, right Lillia?” Kalei asked, clearly doing everything in her power to hold a mostly neutral reaction. As she faintly smiled, Lillia could see Kalei’s jaw clenching subtly. She got up to turn the lights off, leaving one set on so Zeta and Oka wouldn’t be painting nails in the dark. Kalei really wanted to have all the lights off, but Lillia said that’d give away what was happening too quickly, and they couldn’t risk Zeta and Oka running off early.

They all snacked on the food and pop as Lillia started the game.

The game began with an image of a title card that said “[ambition]” on it.

“I thought this was called Ruination?” Zeta asked. “Or is that the…game making company?”

“No, it’ll make sense in a second,” Kalei said. She nodded eagerly at Lillia, who clicked new game.

The title card panned backwards, revealing a desolate office. A man in a gray leather trench coat with a camera slowly walked around.

”Stepping into the studio behind [ambition] carries with it a surreal feeling,” The main character narrated as Lillia took control. “The thoughts about the last days of this place fills me with enormously enough dread, let alone seeing it in person.”

“How…spooky is this again?” Zeta asked, the hand holding her orange icing cupcake with a little pumpkin design on it frozen in front of her face.

Kalei clamped her hands over her mouth.

“His voice is kind of off.” Oka said. “Or is it the writing?”

“It’s a weird localization.” Kalei managed to say without giving anything away. “It’s part of the experience.”

“Much of course has been written so far about the incidents that befell this studio. Maybe too much. [ambition] was one of the most anticipated video games of all time. Perhaps it is such that if we can understand the [ambition] of their creators, we can understand the unspeakable tragedy that occurred within these walls.”

Lillia led the main character to the front desk, where he slowly picked up a clipboard that had a list of names on it. She selected the first name, and the screen went dark.

“So it’s like a game within a game kind of thing?” Zeta asked.

“This is a scary game, isn’t it?” Oka asked.

Kalei and Lillia didn’t answer, so Oka and Zeta went back to their snacks before, with some trepidation, starting to prep their nails for painting. Probably also so they could hold hands as the game steadily felt more unnerving.

The two needed that hand holding as the first chapter unfolded, steadily bringing the group into the world of a promising game development team that maybe formed a demonic cult and was clearly filled with at least five potential serial killers.

“OK, th-this hand’s good.” Oka said, forcing a whimper out of Zeta when she let go of her right hand. “The purple looks…really nice.”

“While my hand’s drying,” Zeta said very cautiously. “I hope…” As she said that, Lillia’s character turned a corner. “There aren’t any—AUUUGGH!” Where the character found a mangled body hanging from the ceiling. 

Oka screamed too, especially once a demon with five smiles began limping towards the game’s main character, forcing them to slowly jog away.

“Wait, run! Lillia, make him run!” Oka yelped.

“This is him running.” Lillia said. “We better find a weapon…”

“Why’s he running so slow? Why won’t he go?” Zeta asked, her tail fluffed up behind her from the shock.

“This is a scary game, isn’t it?” Oka asked.

Kalei had a wolfish grin as she nodded.

After they barely escaped the demon, Lillia waited in a safe room, making sure Oka and Zeta weren’t too scared to continue.

“You two good?” Kalei asked. “Didn’t mean to spook you that bad…”

“We absolutely did.” Lillia said. “But apologies if that was too intense.”

“It’s very intense,” Zeta said meekly, getting a sip of her soda bottle with a shaky hand. “But…”

“But I…kinda gotta know what happens to this studio?” Oka finished.

“Yes!” Zeta said. “And what’s going on with that weird guy in the prologue? I’m pretty sure I saw a shadow in the window watching him, so he’s probably not safe either.”

“Oh, you caught that?” Kalei said. “Why didn’t you say so? That’s kind of hard to spot…good eye, Zates.”

“There was a guy in the window?” Oka asked. “In the prologue?”

“Do you want me to replay the beginning?” Lillia asked. “There is a lot of foreshadowing in that brief scene.”

“I’m good…” Oka said. “But keep going, this pause screen is scaring me.”

“As you wish,” Lillia said.

“Is there gonna be another jumpscare soon?” Zeta asked. “I want to make sure I don’t have to keep my hands still while I flip out. Or leave a weird paint streak on Oka’s hands.” She sighed. “Of course you’re not gonna tell us.”

“And ruin the fun?” Kalei asked.

“Fine, keep going.” Oka said. “As long as they pace out the scares, I can—AHHH!” She yelped as the floor gave out under the player character, dropping him into a monster made of sawblades.

“Oops,” Lillia said. “Forgot about that one.”

“You so didn’t!” Oka said. “I saw you pilot the guy right to that weird spot! Just so he could fall through the ground and get all cut up!”

“Guilty,” Lillia said, smirking.

“Can you…do it one more time? I didn’t get a good look at that monster.” Oka said.

“No!” Zeta pleaded. “But…OK, yeah, I do kinda want to see that again.”

Kalei held up a hand to high five Lillia. This was going to be a very fun gaming session.