★ 𝙰𝚕𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜 ★

★ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 1 ★

✰ Chapter 1 ✰

Max's POV:

Max walked home from school, not looking at where he was going. Due to this, he managed to trip over a rock, and fell straight through a wall. As he landed on a wooden floor, he noticed that he was not on the street anymore, which majorly freaked him out.

As he looked around in panic, he noticed his hands looked different from normal. He shifted into a sitting position, looking down at his clothes, which were completely different- he wore a red sleeveless hoodie with ripped jeans as well as fingerless gloves.

As he observed his surroundings, he noticed that he was in some kind of treehouse, presumably in the living room. He was sitting on a somewhat comfortable carpet, behind a darkly-coloured sofa. He cursed under his breath as he tried to get into a safe position, but he started to hear voices from the doorway.

"Are you sure you heard anything?" A masculine voice queried- it almost sounded glitchy. "It could just be the wind, or something."
"Of course I'm sure." Another voice replied, this one had a noticeable British accent and sounded quite harsh. "When am I ever wrong?"

Two.. people?.. entered the room, immediately spotting him, despite his having tried his best to hide behind the sofa.

One was taller, wearing dark grey trousers and a grey sweater over a white shirt. They were literally glitched out, like a game model, and they wore boots. Max was quite confused about the little glitch particles- how would something like that even work? The person also had 2 badges on their sweater, one pink and the other yellow.

The other person was shorter, and wore a black, tight sleeveless turtleneck sweater with a black and white off-the-shoulder striped jumper layered on top- Max had the impression that if they knew that there were visitors, they would have dressed more impressively. Strangely, they also had a tail similar to a peacock's, but mainly white with some black.

He wondered if the tail of the shorter person and the taller one's glitches were fake, but decided not to question.

Looking up, he noticed they weren't human- they had eye heads. The taller one had curled grey horns similar to a ram's and a tail, as well as 2 line shaped pupils, one smaller than the other. They also had smaller, pointed horns above their larger set.

The other had an X-shaped pupil and a pair of black-and-white horns, matching their tail. He noted they also looked quite tired due to their eyebags, and they had quite long lower eyelashes. He also realised they were wearing eye makeup, and wondered if they were female, but the voices he had heard were more masculine.

"I told you so!" The shorter one spoke first, they were the one with the British-sounding voice. "I suppose we have a new arrival. I had better call Walter, then."

They did just that, shouting this Walter person's name a few times until yet another strange eye person came in. Clearly feeling like they had done enough for one day, the shorter person sat down sideways on one of the chairs with their legs dangling over the side.

"Hiya, what's up? I heard Astor calling me." The third said in a more calm voice. Max took a liking to them almost immediately.
"Hello." Max greeted the person, his voice shaking a little. He still hadn't got over the shock of arriving wherever this place was, but he was quickly getting used to the absurdity of it all.

"Hey, I'm Walter. Do I know you?" Walter did a quick headcount before looking at Max slightly differently. "Oh, you must be new. Well, this is Codey."

He pointed to the glitchy, tall one, who stood slightly awkwardly in the middle of the room. Was he okay? He hadn't really spoken up too much. Codey waved, looking relatively friendly, and Max calmed down a little bit.

"And this is Astor." Astor was presumably the one sitting in the chair; he leant back and looked at Max for a second before switching his gaze to Walter again.

"So, who are you?" Walter asked. Max felt all eyes on him and his sense of safety dissipated immediately.

"Well.. um.." Max felt he wouldn't be safe giving out his real name, and most likely the others' names weren't their real names anyways- like, who actually calls their child Astor? He did have a sort-of acquaintance at school with a similar name, but that wasn't relevant. He settled on a name he had heard quite a few times, one he'd actually like to have. "I'm Leo."

"Well, it's great to meet you, Leo!" Walter said in a friendly tone, making Leo feel better. He offered a high-five, which Leo reciprocated, and Leo felt way less pressured.

He turned away, noticing a massive mirror on the mantelpiece, and flinched, seeing his reflection. "What the hell?!" He exclaimed, looking into his own eye- he looked the same as the others and hadn't even noticed-, and noticing the horns that floated above it. He was not wearing his normal clothes, either, and his skin was a shade of grey.

Walter tried to soothe him, saying, "Don't worry, this is normal. This happens to everyone.", but Leo couldn't listen.

He was too busy freaking out, until Astor started to speak.
"So, basically, we aren't in the normal world. This is essentially a game, and you can go back whenever you like -I'm sure somebody will show you the way back- but unfortunately you can't choose when you go in. With a bit of luck, you could get in when you wanted to, but it isn't guaranteed. We aren't all players like you, there are some NPCs, and the Moderators, obviously." His tone darkened mentioning the Moderators, whoever they were, and Walter cut in.

"Excuse me, but would anyone like a drink?"
"May I have some water?" Leo asked, trying to be polite.
"I'll take a soda." Astor chimed in.
Codey didn't say anything, he merely glanced at Leo reassuringly.

A few minutes later, in the kitchen, Leo and Codey sat at the kitchen table, while Walter and Astor were talking in the living room.
"Hey, guess what?" Codey asked; Leo was sure if he had a visible mouth he'd be grinning like mad.
"Huh?" Leo asked after a sip of water, wondering absentmindedly why Codey didn't ask for a drink too.
"Look in the mirror." Codey stated.

Leo did so, noticing that one of his horns were missing. He turned back to Codey in wonder. "Can all of you do that?" He asked, probably looking amazed.
"Oh, no. Imagine if Astor could edit the code. He'd probably sort it all by shape and colour." Codey joked, cheering Leo up significantly.

After a while of talking all together in the living room, Walter kindly showed Leo the way back, and Leo took it, thanking Walter.
He luckily reappeared back in his bedroom, and flopped onto his bed. He was so exhausted, he fell asleep immediately.