Chapter 2: I Dream of Djinnie

Eugene got home and set about getting the Djinnesis hooked up to his tv. While he was working, he started thinking about Alyssa, and how he just left her at the mall with Matt and Derrick. He couldn’t explain his actions, they really didn’t feel like his at all. He just had a feeling he needed to get the system home as fast as possible. He got it hooked up and turned on the power. Nothing happened. He looked over the connections and checked the tv channel. It was on 3. He reset it to 4, and on the screen, it said SEXY Djinnesis presents: Alladin’s PuzzleQuest. He waited through the load screen to see what the game was about. The load screen just showed a 16-bit character riding a horse in place. Finally, the screen said Psh A to Start.

On the screen, words started scrolling: “Long ago, in an ancient land, there was an evil sorcerer. He enslaved the magical creatures, trapping them in ever-changing vessels. He did this to keep anyone from knowing what the vessels looked like, so he could hide them in plain sight. Your Quest is to solve this vessels puzzle and release the being within. Your rewards will be Magical.”

“Cheesy opening, not very original.” Thought Eugene as he sent the premade avatar on its quest. It felt like an early Zelda game with Tetris and PacMan all mashed together. It was strange and frustrating. After an hour of playing the same level over about 100 times, he got tired of it and turned the tv off. He didn’t turn the game off since he was back to the point he had kept dying and there was no save feature. Eugene decided to lie down and take a nap. As he slept, he had a vivid dream. It was of a girl and she was telling him to save her from the game. She kept promising him untold riches, and sex. He seemed more interested in the sex, but then, he was 15. As the dream continued, it got darker. The girl kept looking over her shoulder as she began to beg him to hurry and solve the puzzle. Amidst her begging, there were flashes of another vision. This one of Alyssa, screaming “No! Don’t! Please stop!” Then he awoke in a sweat, but with a purpose, as the dream’s visions faded. Eugene attacked the game with a vengeance. He didn’t understand why, but he knew it was important that he figure this out now. After hours of advancing just a little, but dying and having to start over, he finally reached the final boss. Behind the Sorcerer, there was a shelf, and on the shelf was a single item. A bottle. Eugene knew he had to defeat the boss on his first time. He just felt there wouldn’t be a second chance. He settled in and began his battle. It was over faster than he thought possible. After all that, the boss was the weakest character in the game? Weird, but he would open the bottle and see what magical potion it contained. When his avatar opened the bottle, there was a pop and a surge of electricity went through the console. Smoke began to pour out of the cartridge! Eugene reached to unplug the system, but before he could reach it, he passed out from the smoke.