The Game: Beta Testing

By A. V. Dalcourt

All Beta releases have bugs – but in this program, they’ll try to kill you.
Academy All-Star Seth Wright was already less-than-enthusiastic about his role in the annual school play, broadcast nationwide in thrilling Virtual Reality – and that was before he discovered there was a glitch in the program hungry for his blood.

Now, Seth and the rest of the cast are trapped in a hyper-realistic swords-and-sorcery adventure – one that’s so realistic, the digital dogs, dragons, and dark wizards can kill you for real; faster than you can say “Game Over.”

With time running out, and the murderous glitch sending ever-more deadly enemies his way, Seth must reluctantly step into the role of hero and leader – and learn an important lesson if he’s to have any hope of saving his friends.

The Game: Beta Testing is a fast-paced dark fantasy adventure set in the Awakening Fractured Memories series by A.V. Dalcourt – filled with tension, emotion, and epic symbolism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A. V. Dalcourt
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780987902740

A. V. Dalcourt

Amber V. Dalcourt was convinced that her childhood home was haunted. Distorted visages made their presence known to those who dared stare at the hallway’s walls for too long. In a certain room, the constant sense of being watched by a malicious voyeur drove many guests to seek refuge from their discomfort. In the basement, the voice of an elderly man sowed confusion and discord. These experiences and more left a lasting impression and affected how she crafts the unsettling elements of her stories.Amber drew on her occult heritage to conjure up demons, ghosts and things that go bump-in-the-night to fill the pages of her imaginary world. Later in life, she drew on the subtleties of human behavior to craft her demons influences and exploring her rules for magic and its effects.She is a lover of modern sorcery, psychological character portrayals, epic battles between good and evil and the huge grey area that separates them.She is writing two non-romantic dark fantasy projects.

Book preview

PREFACE

Awakening Fractured Memories is a series of short stories set in an alternate universe to the Awakening series. Featured characters and scenarios may or may not have played a role in the current Awakening stories. These short stories give readers more time with the characters and in the world in which they exist. The Fractured Memories are add-ons to Awakening which is, as of this writing, in its third draft stage. You can keep an eye out for progress reports on the Awakening website over at:

www.AwakeningAnthology.com

I base most of the short stories on a series of dreams recorded in a dream journal that later shape the world and characters of the Awakening. The few stories whose plots don’t stem from the dream journals are exercises in exploring and developing characters and ideas that stem from the main work of the Awakening series, or reader requests.

The Game: Beta Testing is based on a few lines jotted down in my dream journal. A school play production is broadcast to the nation. An overly dramatic lead actress swoons: Take me to my father and you will be handsomely rewarded. The hero hesitates.

The Game: Beta Testing is the start of the development of what later becomes the Ghost in the Machine arc of Awakening: Prodigy.

THE GAME: BETA TESTING

The Council Academy’s auditorium buzzed with nervous energy and excitement as the students, dressed in costumes suited for their roles, rehearsed lines with dramatic flare.

Every December, like clockwork, the theatrical festivities aired live across the nation. The former government considered frivolous entertainment a waste of time, desiring instead for the population to focus their time and energy on intellectual and physical pursuits. As a reward, they had allowed for a small period at the end of the year for community entertainment. The current government, known as the Council, took a more measured approach. Though they shared much of the same attitude toward the overabundance of time-wasting activities, they acknowledged the need for the population to unwind and engage in social activities as a community, as long as the activities adhered to the strict government guidelines.

Each school presented several teams for the showcase, each team capable of winning valuable funding for their place of education. Knowing that government funding was won based on the number of parents watching their children on the live stream, it was not uncommon for struggling education centers to create a large cast of characters and force students into insignificant roles.

The Council’s Academy didn’t rely on viewership for government subsidies since the elite funded them through increasing tuition costs. The elite sent their children to the Academy for four things: education, opportunity, connections, and notoriety in one of three educational branches.

Contributions won from tonight’s event would be donated, in whole, to charity. These public acts of charity improved the reputation of the school, the students taking part, and their parents, who would boast about their children’s event rankings and scores. Everything at