The Reality Warper: Opening Pages

Do you prefer to know what you’re getting into when buying a new book? Well, here are the opening pages of The Reality Warper for your enjoyment. To read more, purchase the book online at Amazon or get a signed copy from my Etsy Store.

Chapter 1: This is Your New Normal, Honey

For the convenience of all residents, online communications will be continually monitored. For the safety of individual citizens, as well as for the society of Inner as a whole, dissident, or negative communication will be flagged and punished. Any attempts to sow discontent will be dealt with to the severest extent of the law.

Book of Inner, Rules and Regulations, Chapter 5

Ev ran through the brand-new shipyard, ducking and weaving, just in case a Yeinydd raiding party was nearby. Like last time. The Yeinydd were way smarter than what she was used to, and she was starting to worry that she would never defeat them.

The ground just ahead exploded, debris flying everywhere—they’d spotted her and were throwing parts of her own village at her.

“Rude,” she muttered.

She ducked behind an enormous anchor just as something that looked like it had once been the blacksmith’s cottage came crashing down on the spot where she’d just been standing.

Well, she was at the ship. On her last scouting trip, she’d seen what was on board—giant weapons in all shapes and sizes. Last time she’d grabbed a crossbow. She almost had enough gold to modify it into something a human could use, but she was only allowed to carry one giant weapon at a time. Which meant the rest were still there, waiting to be used against her…

She threw the hood of her purple cloak back, revealing her flowing black hair. She always found it easier to cast her magic when she could see clearly.

She prepared the fire spell she’d been saving up for a ship like this, readied her aim, and…

There was a rustling from the nearby trees.

“Here we go…” she muttered.

A huge pair of hands parted the tree branches and an enormous Yeinydd giant emerged, looking around angrily.

Ev looked up at the enormous beast that could end her game life with one squeeze, took a deep breath and prepared to fire.

“You won’t get me this time!” she yelled. “I’m…”

Evelyn Acorn! The voice boomed out across the shipyard.

“No!” shrieked Ev. “I’m, like, seconds away from achieving the objective!”

Evelyn Acorn!

You have reached your maximum allocation of screen time for today. The “Giant’s Shipyard” simulation will terminate in 5, 4, 3, 2. . .

At the last second, she switched the fire spell for a transportation charm that whisked her away to the Neutral Zone, accessible by all players, a safe haven for their avatars to rest in between games.

“I was so close that time!” she shouted, as she was unceremoniously shoved back into reality. She threw her headset across the room in a rage.

Don’t break!

Luckily, it landed on a pile of unwashed blankets.

Vendavi’s voice boomed out from the many speakers hidden around the room. Evelyn, anger is not becoming of a resident of Inner. Your response to the situation has been logged. Not being angry is a rule. Breaking a rule results in punishment.

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

Too late. Vendavi zapped her with a beam of. . .something, they never told you what it was exactly. . .that left her gasping on the floor, temporarily unable to breathe.

Several painful minutes later, the punishment finally ended.

“Thank you for showing me the error of my ways,” she said once she could talk again.

You’re very welcome!

At least having your lungs disabled was a short punishment. Blindness, for example, could go on for weeks, months even, depending how bad you’d been.

Gone were the purple cape and flowing hair. What was left was a small, skinny ten-year-old girl with dark skin and frizzy hair. She hated looking like herself. Her game avatar was much cooler. Apart from being a grown-up, her avatar never had to worry about cleaning her teeth or getting sick.

She sat on her bed for a moment to catch her breath. She knew she wasn’t very fit, and she knew she could request exercise simulations that would fix that, but she just couldn’t be bothered.

She’d been keeping the Yeinydd giant clan at bay for almost a week, but to pass the level she either had to kill them all or destroy enough of their ships and weapons that they ran away. In fact, she had been hoping for the longest time that she would be able to redirect them to Mike’s village. He was an insufferable, smug little jerk. He’d already dealt with the Yeinydds, but it would be quite a shock to have them show up in the middle of a battle with the final Hoopler clan.

Ev knew that she was the best player of all the kids in her cell. Mike played cooperatively with Steve and Amy, which meant they combined their strengths. . .and split the points. Ev preferred to play on her own. That way, none of the other kids could hold her back. Cooperative play wasn’t fair, anyway. It was just a combination of cheating and luck that meant Mike was at the top of the leaderboard. . .

It wasn’t technically against the rules to gently encourage the giants to storm another player’s virtual village. It worked best if they were in the neutral zone and not there to protect their home. The other kids, even Jonah, had an agreement to never do that to each other, but Ev believed it was everyone for themselves. Evelyn, what would you like to do next?

To read more, purchase the book online at Amazon or get a signed copy from my Etsy Store.