Crystal Pillars
You couldn’t leave the Astral Ruins just yet though. You needed to meet the CARETAKER. Each Hub had one, and they keep track of all the people within the Hubs. It was a standard rule to meet with one when you were moving from one hub to the other. They should have their home at the exit of the ruins though.
Although… the Arcade did sound like a fun place to visit, and you hadn’t even visited the Crystal Pillars yet. Hmm, you suppose getting a house could wait for your exploration to finish. You go the way Kenny did, you also pull out your map hud, to take a look at everything in the Astral Ruins.
The Astral Ruins is a constant in each HUB, it was the spawn point afterall. It used to be constantly crowded, but some of the Players recommended that other Players leave the spawn point and help them expand deeper into the underground. Those Players, who are now known as Admin, were called Builders at the time, because they used their creative abilities with purpose, they shaped the Ruins first, they made it large, and they made it beautiful. While the Astral Ruins only had the Crystal Pillars a site to view at first, overtime people began to follow in the Admins footsteps and began turning the Astral Ruins into a home, while others went out and had help to create Codeville, then because we wanted to know more about what was happening, the LabZone formed, then eventually we got to the population growth where we could form entire cities, so we built Administrative City. Each of these locations exist on the hubs. Although the sights were different for each one. The Crystal Pillars were the constant in the Astral Ruins. The Archive was the constant for Codeville, and the Laboratory was the constant for the LabZone. Everyone had their own ways of doing things after all. While the names were the same, the structures were different. The Astral Ruins itself was massive. It was mostly empty rooms and Player Homes, but it was big.
You return your focus back to the world as your blip enters the location marked Arcade. Then you looked at the place… It was exactly as it said on the tin. A ARCADE, a Nineties Arcade for that matter. How long did it take for the creators to make this place?!
*Welcome to the ARCADE, Have fun and enjoy the games!
There were games that you had never played before, such as the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, or Smash Bros the N64 version. You had played some of the newer consoles before your death, but that was about it. These guys must have recreated the games purely from memory. You were certain that you would come back and get some copies so you can play at home, or you would play here. You look at Fox. They were watching an overview of a [FIGHT]. You can tell if there is a [FIGHT] or not by the black box with white edges on each side. You go and take a look. The Purple Soul is dodging attacks from two massive scythes with extreme skill. You watch as the turn phase ends and the battlefield completely changes. It’s now a platformer and the Purple Soul is now Blue. The Soul quickly jumps from platform to platform to get to the goal. You would watch some more, but the crowds get a bit too big for your tastes. You duck out and begin to head to the Crystal Pillars.
It’s actually not that far from the Arcade. Following the straight pathway brings you to the room. It’s not that big, but it is amazing, it was the first creation other than the Astral Ruins in order to bring a sense of Art to the Hub. You look at the different colored Crystal Pillars, some were cracked and leaning against each other, bringing you to think about the story of how they were formed. The Creators of the Artwork weren’t exactly savvy engineers. This showed when they threw whatever they thought was good at the pillars. They made it into a massive community thing, where everyone would create different colored crystal pillars. When the thing started to collapse it panicked everyone, they used their intents to form so many things at the time, from the magical floating crystals to machines that would hold the pillars in midair, it turned the Crystal Pillars from a bunch of multi colored crystal pillars into a shattered masterpiece. Your smile grows wide at the sight of it, mainly due to the intent you could feel from the pillars.
HOPE, TRUST, KINDNESS, LOVE, NEW BEGINNINGS, and HEALING. If you needed an HP boost there was nowhere else to go but the Crystal Pillars.
Hmm? There’s the Lizardman! Swampy! “Swampy!”
“Huh, Oh Reader!”
He seems amazed. “Have you not been to the Crystal Pillars before?”
“No, people kept recommending I visited it, but I never got the chance.”
“Yeah, it’s a pretty nice place. When you get to the Archives you should read about it. It’s a pretty big part of the HUBs history.”
“I can tell… I haven’t felt this happy since I came here.”
“Yeah, they worked hard on making this place deliver as much hope as possible.”
He looked a little lost staring at the pillars. “It’s amazing Reader, I’ve never felt this hopeful before, hope to see the future. You know, at home I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I had to take a lot of medicine to even begin to feel like this even then, I didn’t really feel much. I didn’t even want to be depressed. I just… couldn’t help it.”
“That’s clinical depression for you, it’s not something you can help, your brain just does it. You might be as happy as can be, then suddenly have it the next day. Still, you must not feel that way anymore right? A Player Body has been proven to not act like a Human Body. Haven’t you noticed that you haven’t been hungry since you arrived?”
“Now that you say it… I haven’t. We aren’t human?”
“Of course not, if we were human do you think we could come back to life like we do? We are Players in a game of our own making… It’s a pretty fun game if you think about it. There are friendly people everywhere and even when they are a-holes you can just fight them off with extreme prejudice or get some help from the HUB Guardian.”
“HUB Guardian?”
“Ah, no one’s told you?”
“No?”
“Well, the HUB Guardian is basically like a Moderator of a group. They make sure everyone follows the rules. There is one HUB Guardian per HUB, and each one is really powerful.”
“So they are the law enforcement? Instead of the Police we have Guardians?”
“Well. No, we actually do have a police force on every floor. Just the Guardians are more experienced and stronger. You met the resident Guardian when you left the spawn zone actually.”
“TrueGuardian32?”
Suddenly there is a flash of red as a shadowy figure appears.
“False Alarm Guardian, I’m just teaching him how Guardians work.” You say to the newly arrived TrueGuardian32.
“Oh. Umm… sorry for interrupting your outing then.” They disappeared.
“Wow…”
“Yeah, when you call out their full name while in the HUB they will teleport you in an instant. I once saw a Guardian split into three people to solve a problem someone was having and then recombine. So they are definitely a strange kind of powerful.”
“Thank you Reader.”
“No problems, I got to get to the Caretaker of this HUB so I can register, you sit here as long as you want.” They wave you goodbye.
Now then… It’s time to get to the Caretaker and fight your most hated enemy… paperwork.