Varying Perspectives [G/T Oneshots]

29 - DEW

The game was called DEW.

And the first thing that caught Jack off guard was that there was no loading screen.

Nothing showed his vitals like in any of his other survival games. There were no thirst or hunger displays to be seen. There was no inventory either. He couldn't see yet and waited for the time when something would tell him how to rid himself of the infuriating black screen. But, he soon brought his awareness to his eyes, noticing they were closed even though Mark had put him into the game with them open.

When did he close his eyes again?

Everything was fuzzy, all he could remember was Mark's voice telling him to relax as he placed the visor over his head, and then nothing. And then the present.

"Whu-what?" He whispered through a dry throat, opening them and all of a sudden being assaulted with a harsh yellow light that seemed to come from all around him. On reflex, he raised his arms to block whatever was causing it and give himself some shade.

With no need for controls or the pressing of buttons, Jack had opened his eyes and raised his arms. Not the character's, it was his body that he moved as if in real life.

What the hell...Mark...

Climbing to his unsteady feet with nothing but his own will, Jack groaned deeply as the blinding light still hadn't subsided, forcing him to hold his hands around his eyes as protection.
What is this fuckin' light?

Jack reluctantly turned his gaze skyward, to see the hot flares of a sun shining along the outlines of what looked to be strange trees, huge and swaying overhead. No branches, just a thick wood, covered in short fuzz.

Where am I?

Other than the thousands and thousands of fleshy green trees, the granular dirt beneath his sneakers, and the scattered boulders, he was alone. He was going to speak, but, felt there was no need to. This wasn't a multiplayer game, so there would be no other voice to respond to his voice, yet there was no silence. Just peace

The clouds floated up in a sky that seemed impossibly high and expansive, and Jack could feel the wind in his hair, the strong breeze rustling the trees and throwing some soil around. Despite not knowing what was going on, the only thoughts in the Irishman's mind were along the lines of:

These graphics are phenomenal. So freaking pretty.
Where do I go first? Stay on this soil path or go into the forest.
I wonder if Mark will let me play this again.

And with a large and genuinely happy smile, he brought his legs to a fast run into the wild forest. While exploring the strange world, he saw things that he'd never imagined to see, reminding him simultaneously of Subnautica, and Shadow of the Colossus. Jack soon encountered the many alien beings that were the only inhabitants of the world of the game, giant insect creatures, their tough exoskeletons possessing a sort of white iridescence.

They watched this intruder with their holographic, hexagonal plated eyes, clicking their numerous mouthparts and gnawing steadily away at the trees, like dinosaurs, millions of times bigger than the everyday fly. They were somewhat confronting up close, covered in spike-like hairs that stabbed through the tough skin like spears, pulling the breath from the human's lungs in an almost excited gasp. He couldn't believe the scale of the insects, how realistic they looked and sounded. But one thing bugged him.
They didn't interact at all. And that's not what he wanted.

He'd drunk from large dewdrops of water to quench his thirst, he'd felt the hooked touch of an alien's antenna, he'd even explored down an empty alien burrow and found some crumbs of what tasted like a giant cake. But he was still unimpressed.

Jack wanted two things to appear in the game, he realised, as he sat beneath the shade of a different tree from a forest about a few kilometres from his start, with four thick, leafy branches instead of just a trunk.
> He wanted something that fought, growled, something he could fight.
> And he wanted someone that spoke, someone with his level of intelligence, someone that gave a clue to what the whole game was about. And just as he thought it, as if controlled by his very brain, something spoke.

"Gamma 4, is that you?"

The voice was loud, like a jet engine, even though whatever producing it didn't seem to be consciously trying to yell. Jack hunched over with his ears covered, swearing over and over again under his breath.

WHATINTHEGODDAMNNAMEOFCHRISTWASTHAT!WHATINTHEGODDAMNNAMEOFCHRISTWASTHAT!WHATINTHEGODDAMNNAMEOFCHRISTWASTHAT!WHATINTHEGODDAMNNAMEOFFUCKINGCHRISTWASTHAT!SHIT!!

He was scared. No, not scared, terrifyingly curious. His heart still managing to pump out of his chest, adrenaline was pumping through his entire body. But still, the majority of him wanted to explore around and face whatever had called for this 'Gamma 4'. His breathing was so shallow and fast he had no knowledge of the air filling his lungs but he was still alive, still able to bring his blue eyes upward to the forest of the clover-like trees, where something large eclipsed over the horizon.

"Gamma 4, is that really you?"
The voice startled him again, echoing around into silence. He took cautionary steps forward to where the voice seemed to be emanating from, gaining his confidence as the silence lengthened and nothing jumped out to grab him. But then, there was a loud grunt, and the ground began to shake as the air was filled with the sounds of heavy, human, breathing and the scratchy sound of cloth rubbing against itself. Then all fell silent, and the soil settled down.
A sharp and distinctly human face now filled the view above the clovers, blinking its giant eyes in the bright sunlight and raising a hand that could easily flatten Jack to cast a shadow over its face.

If Jack was to guess, he'd say it was over 100 feet tall.

He couldn't see the rest of it, but he assumed an appropriately sized human body was spread over the forest just a few feet away from him, crushing the trees beneath a monstrous weight. The head turned, and eyes that each must've been bigger than cars landed on him. Large brows raised closer to a forest of dark and wavy hair, and the monster's lips parted as he watched through his slanted eyes. The Irishman knew he'd been seen.

Fuck me.

Jack felt goosebumps explode up his arms, all his hair standing on end as he began to step back, looking around for a weapon to defend himself with. His eyes were hard and not once leaving the giant before him, but he felt fear building and creeping into his fingers, making them shake uncontrollably.

But something else was growing, an immense familiarity the giant had that soon occupied every space between the dark splotches of fear. If Jack wasn't focused on the crushing terror that was contained within him, he was focused on the fact the monster really looked like...
"Mark?" He murmured, face blanching and his mouth dropping open.
Why was..this can't be..did he program himself into...

"Gamma 4!"
~~~
Oof I haven't been on here in a long time.
But congrats on getting the book to 12.5K!! It was a pleasant surprise and I hope we can keep on growing. This chapter took me about 27915 years to write, but I'm finally happy with it. Inspired by the way Jack loves the scale in both Subnautica and Shadow of the Colossus. He'd probably love being a tiny..
~Tsunami