Stage 1: the Game

[Scoinwolf]

Rewrite of The Game, which I started about a decade ago. I've expanded so much on the world building and the lore since then, the whole thing started following the plotline of a dream I had had and it's rather hard to follow so now that I'm a bit older I'm gonna give it another go.

Nova Terra is the original world for Wayward Bound, which focuses on events long after the humans leave the planet. It explores the drama of the creations they left behind and it's not necessary to read one to understand the other. Wayward Bound is currently on pause while I figure out how to continue with it, I have the outline all written out but drawing pages is very time consuming and I don't have a consistent style for it. I've also added a lot to the world since starting WBound so I'll be remaking the reference sheets for that as well. Start from the basics, build my way back up to continuing with the comic.

And the very first stepping stone for that is The Game. Most of what I write nowadays happens within this world, so to attempt to give it more context/content I'm going to be (slowly) rewriting and finishing this.

[Scoinwolf]

Nova Terra: Planetary Facts

Three Continents

Triple Moons

- the largest is known as Off World and is populated with its own ecosystem

One Sun

36 hour days

- 21 of daylight
- 15 of night
- vice versa if on the other half of the planet
- 36 hour time and 18 hour time used on watches/clocks

Inhabitants

Natives : Daemonis

Known On Planet Creatures :

- Hyperion Hunters
- Dao
- Lumothera

- Fjyres, "the Laughing Spirits"
- Hay'drine
- Gryp-phron
- Herd Beast
- Ringrhock

Known Off World Creatures :

- Krska'av Wyvrids
- Cassian Scorers
- Pseudao Laminariales
- Dread Moose
- Rugged Dao

[Scoinwolf]

Other References

[Scoinwolf]

Dark woke with a gasp, fists clenched tightly, whole body trembling. The young adult scrambled to look at the clock by his bedside, the steady green glow calming his frantic mind. Slowly he managed to ease the grip his fists had formed. Painful half-moon welts were left deep in his palms from where his fingers had curled in. He studied the marks left by his nails with narrowed eyes and watched as sparks flickered across them, a side effect of the magick that saturated the room.

A shaky exhale forced itself from his lungs and the man settled back down against his pillow. The thin blankets on his cot were tangled around his legs but Dark didn’t care to unwind them at that moment. He slid chilled hands across his chest, seeking out his heartbeat, breathing in tune with it until both breath and pulse settled to something more normal.

He hadn’t had nightmares in years.

Perhaps it was the stress from work. They had been advancing rapidly with the prototyping and one of the experimental creatures was almost ready for release. The dusky grey creature unnerved him. The way it stared into his soul with that swirling white void where eyes should be .. Dark shuddered just at the thought.

It had taken a liking to him, this particular creation of the geneticists he worked for. The project manager had joked about giving the thing to Dark as a handler for it - the security guard and his companions were not amused at such a prospect. Since day one the beast had been nothing but a hassle for them. Called into the labs from their post at the monitors, the guards had had to wrangle the panicking cub into submission as it attempted to claw its way out of its enclosure. They had been left bloodied, bruised, and beaten though emerging victorious from the scrape. From that unfortunate scuffle all the way to when the damn thing actually got out into town .. it was more than enough for the poor guards to require more mental health days than an average job would typically allot.
It was on one of those mandated breaks that Dark found himself returning to the family farmstead. He’d been given the week off and so decided to surprise his parents and sister with a visit.

Macey had been thrilled to see him. She’d hugged her older brother so tightly that Dark could feel his ribs creaking in protest. Thank the gods his parents were more reserved in their greeting.

The lab staff had judged their first creation to be trouble from the moment their contracts were written up. It was a notion that stuck to the beast, becoming so common a way to refer to it that the nickname stuck. It was this word that he gave to his parents when they grew concerned about his battle worn appearance.

“I had a run in with trouble the other week.” He’d laughed it off and dismissed their worries with a wave of his hand. Unwilling to elaborate and not legally allowed to explain that trouble was actually Trouble, Dark had played his encounter off as something unfortunate but not hazardous.

How he wished he’d accepted a normal job. As if there was such a thing in these early centuries of Nova Terra.
Nova Terra. The New Earth.

Hundreds of years ago, Earth had collapsed. Uncontrolled manufacturing of technological advancements sacrificed the world’s natural balance, causing the global warming to accelerate into global freezing, entering the next glacial period of the ice age without fully completing the interglacial period. And as in most sci-fi novels of the time, when Earth was failing to sustain the human race, they took to the stars.

Or at least the elites did. Scientific pioneers, world leaders, and select tradesfolk boarded The Arc, a civilization sized spacecraft named after a reference from a religion long forgotten. They settled here, on Nova Terra, a planet somewhat smaller than Earth but with a similar enough atmosphere that the humans could adapt after a few generations living there.
There wasn’t much more versatile than a human, after all.

In another classic humane dispute, no one could settle on a name to call their new world, so Nova Terra was used as a placeholder. When no agreement could be reached, the placeholder remained, until it was too encoded in their new colony that it would be too difficult to replace in all the records and vocabulary.

In this new planet, this new Earth, the humans settled on one of three continents. The largest one to be exact, mostly barren and abandoned and perfect for terraforming. In a combination of tried and true trades work and modern innovation, towns and cities were established. And as they settled and divided into 13 colonies, each being named after primary characteristics of the region, the native inhabitants of the land began approaching. The few species that had managed surviving on this continent were mostly bestial creatures, but contact with the other two continents, when it happened, brought a variety of new flora and fauna with it.
One of those new life forms was a humanoid race, sentient and sapient in the same way the Earthlings were, just different in appearance. Not only that, but they had unique abilities woven into their bloodlines that had come about through a combination of evolution and the unusual characteristics of the energy that permeated the planet itself. When the humans found out about these other life forms, for it was inevitable that they did, they called them the Daemonis. Demons.

Being a superstitious lot, the humans avoided contact for a while. But also being curious by nature, of course individuals would make the journey across the waters to the other lands. They would interact with the Daemoni (who had no name for themselves), exchange languages (a feat the humans were notably better at), made friends, and, to many’s surprise, more. Mixed ancestry families were born and trade pacts were made, establishing connections between the two civilizations.

Dark was what those in their world considered an “abhuman”. This was the term given to those children born of these mixed families, and to all of their direct descendants who displayed the characteristic connections to this planet's energy. Now, if the bloodline continued to merge with the Daemonis, eventually the children born would be indistinguishable from the planet’s natives. And likewise with the more human lineages - except every now and then a child would pop up with their own gifted abilities, a reminder of the union.

As an abhuman, Dark had a connection with this world that both the pure human descendants and gifted folks were never able to obtain. The unique quintessence that wove together Nova Terra had a way of intertwining itself intimately with the molecular structure of its natural born residents. Abhumans were marked with this signature energy and so developed a range of abilities more commonly found within the planet’s creations instead of man’s.

The gifted hold a diluted strand of this connection to their surroundings. As such there is typically a heavy emphasis on one element of the heightened awareness abhumans possess. One might be more in tune to vibrations through the air and so have a better hearing range. Another could be able to access the space between time, enabling them to move from one location to a faraway destination with little to no work being enacted. These quirks and instabilities of the new world allow for various adaptations if only one could access them.

Gifts of the same nature often show up in a family’s tree. If, for example, one were to have advanced healing abilities then it would be more common for any descendant to also have that gift than one of a differing ability.

There was little research behind the way Nova Terra works, where this “energy” was coming from. Instead of trying to understand how these “gifts” are possible researchers focus on incorporating them in a way to work with the “magick” instead of against it. The quintessence furthered scientific work only when left a scientific mystery.

That was their world’s history as it was known. Supposedly, at least.

When the humans had first settled, they’d thrown together a rudimentary council to oversee the colonizing efforts. As the years turned into decades that council turned into a government, and from there as the decades bled into a century they established more and more power. Now, hundreds of years since the initial settling, the government stood unchallenged in its authority, the head of both civil and scientific developments and research.

It was this government that Dark worked directly under, in the genetic research facilities. While he was just a guard, the work being done was highly advanced, and a complete secret to the general population. As was most of the research being done, but these genetic modification projects were cards held close to the chest.

So when two agents stopped by midway through Dark’s mandatory “vacation”, he was surprised, but not really. Not until they explained why they were there, sitting around his parent’s coffee table, little sister definitely not straining to listen in from her room across the house.

“I’m sorry?” Dark blinked, looking over at his parents for support. Peter and Abigail were pale, sitting next to their son on the couch, squeezing each other's hand for support.

“You’ve been selected for a training program, one being spun as an entertainment show for the population.” One of the agents repeated. “Several people from your department, your trade rather, have been selected to be placed amongst civilian contestants to prevent any unwanted accidents from happening, and to survey the course for potential dangers. It’s a way for us to gradually release technology we’ve been working on to the general population, get them accustomed to the idea before integrating it fully. The research division you serve under isn’t the only one participating, and the other plants won’t know who each other are.”
“Won’t it be dangerous?” Peter rumbled, glaring at the agents.

“No more so than your son’s usual line of work. There shouldn’t be any.. trouble, along the way. Just milder introductions for the first rounds, nothing too much too fast.” The other agent assured.

Dark felt some of the tension leave his shoulders, his neck and growing headache relaxing. So they wouldn’t be dropping that on unsuspecting people at least. Some of the more benign creations maybe. Their genetic modifications weren’t exclusive to fauna, they worked with meal supplementation as well, enriching the nutritional intake of some of the native plants and such like that. It wasn’t a bad plan, per say, but still. “Why a game show?”

The second agent scratched his jaw. “Why not? Look, I don’t know the why of it all, just the what. And it’s less of a game show, more survival based. For this iteration anyways. You’ll be crossing a stretch of land specifically formulated to show off some of the new inventions that have been in development over the past few decades, and if it goes well, there’ll be more seasons. Think of it like a test run but in a controlled environment and open to the public eye.”

“Does he have a choice in participating?” His mother was frowning.

The silence was enough of an answer.

“Well, I’ll do it.” Dark clapped his hands against his thighs. “If that’ll be all, I assume you’ll be in contact with me at some point to finalize details?”

“Correct.” The agents looked relieved that there wasn’t much of a fight. Dark wondered if they’d had trouble with some of the other so-called contestants. “For now just remain on leave, we’ll email your work address with more information as things progress.”
“Excellent.” Dark shook hands with them, led them to the door. As he watched their vehicle retreat down their isolated driveway, he felt rather than heard his sister come up behind him.

“Sounds sketchy to me.” Macey muttered. “Why you of all people?”

“Maybe it’s because of our bloodline.” Dark shrugged. “They know I’m gifted, maybe they think it’ll help me do any damage control.”
“Just gifted?” He could hear the eyebrow arch in her tone and he rolled his eyes, knowing that she’d know he was doing that.
“Just gifted.” He confirmed. “Unless you want to be on the registry as well..”

“I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Macey pushed at his shoulder, turning around and going back deeper into the house. “C’mon. You should let Mom and Dad fret over you for a bit. It’ll make them feel better.”

[Scoinwolf]

Dark stood before the imposing doors, the wood polished until it felt like marble underneath his fingertips. He rested some more of his weight against the ten pads, gauging how much strength it would take to fling them open and make an entrance. As the last to arrive (by far) it was his duty to do so, after all.

The sound they made hung heavy and low in the air, a perfect announcement cry as he lingered a moment more on the threshold, allowing the not-so-hidden cameras a chance to get their slow zoom. He may not have been on a show such as this before, but he’d watched enough tv to know the drill.

An agent’s briefing on the matter hadn’t been wasted either.

The receptionist at the desk made a good show of concealing her jump as he strode confidently down the high class carpet, one not unlike that that the kings of old Earthen tales used to walk. He had to give it to the producers, they chose the perfect hotel for this sort of entrance.

Or maybe they’d made it. Terraforming had given rise to rapid expansion of the construction industry, something like this could have been done in a manner of a few short months.

The rest of the contestants were sitting in a ring in one of the wings of this gilded hall. The chairs looked unnatural clustered all in one group, and Dark had the notion that they’d dragged them all together themselves from wherever their original designations had been.

He presented his envelope to the receptionist but she barely even glanced at it before setting it down and clearing her throat. “You’re the last to arrive.” She tried hard to keep her tone mild but Dark knew he’d rattled her with the force of his entrance.

“Sorry. I know I’m late.” He smiled, soft and bright, trying his best for the easy charm Macey had drilled into him in preparation of the show.

Listen, Dark, I love you. But you’re my brother and I kinda have to. Macey had rolled her eyes, holding up a hand to stop him before he spoke. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s corny. But by the gods would I be embarrassed to admit that when you become a national star. You’re not cute enough to be as standoffish as you are - not for the public. And if you’re gonna be put before the screen like this you gotta have the public on your team. It’s a game show, yes, but all game shows are popularity contests at the end of the day.

She wasn’t wrong. And so it was with his best effort that Dark put on a show of his own.

It seemed to work well enough, the receptionist relaxing and forgetting how he’d startled her.

“Right.” She blushed, clearing her throat. “Well, anyways - this is your room key, and this is your name card. You can personalize it if you want, it’s mostly so everyone can get to know each other. Here’s your next letter, dinner is at 21, make sure you’re not late.”

A clock on the wall confirmed it was a quarter past 19. He smiled again, closing his eyes this time as he did so. “Thank you. It’s much appreciated.”

“Don’t.” There was a hint of pain in her voice, then a hesitation, like she’d revealed too much. “Uhm, it’s no problem. If you have any questions while you’re here the reception desk is manned all 36 hours of the day. You can drop your bags off in your room and then join the other contestants to mingle before everything gets started.”

He’d been alert to start but that slip up, that raw honesty, got him. He didn’t allow his mask to drop, simply humming and nodding and continuing down the hall. Before everything gets started, huh. He was no fool. The show started the moment those agents stepped foot in his home.

-

He’d managed to find his room with only a little difficulty, an aide directing him where to go. For all the grandeur of the hotel, only a small portion of it was being used. It made him feel small in comparison and he was glad to enter his room and shut the door behind him, leaning back against it and allowing himself to relax from the carefully maintained posture he’d been holding.

They'd been assured their rooms were private so there was no need for him to keep up the mask.

Much like the rest of the hotel, the room was unnecessarily large, a king sized bed barely taking up a quarter of the living space. It was placed in the middle of the room, headboard against the same wall as the door, which was positioned with the bed to the left when walking in, a wall to the right with a coat closet and second door that must lead to the bathroom.

A desk and chair were just beyond the bed, tv and stand across from the foot, night stands on either side. Dark pushed all of them aside, lining them up on the same wall as the tv, then turned his attention to the bed. He struggled at first to find purchase but soon enough managed to slide it down the room until it hit the far wall, settling it in the corner.

He hated the openness of a bed in the middle of a wall. The corners always felt more secure. Even if this was just for the night.

Digging through his bag now he pulled out a change of clothes. A dark black undershirt, a more mild black button up. Tanktop, boxers, nicely pressed pants that were yet another shade of black. He scrounged around for some new socks. They were in there somewhere.

A quick shower and he changed into his nicer clothes. He debated on a tie for all of two seconds while he fed a belt through the pant loops but decided against it. That would be too much. Instead he pulled out his silver pendant from the neckline of his undershirt, let it drop on top of the cloth instead of hiding behind. Leaving the top two buttons undone and manipulating the fabric of his overshirt, he made sure the necklace was on full display.

It wasn’t anything fancy, a small silver bar with a rune carved into it, black cord to tie it. Macey had made it when she was little, presenting it to him proudly. The rune was illegible and when he asked what it meant she’d smugly told him it was a protection spell against the beasts that lurked in the night.

Dark didn’t believe in that sort of magick.

He’d never taken the necklace off.

Rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, Dark exited the room and made his way back down to the common area with more ease than he’d had getting to his own. As he walked he pinned the name card to his left breast pocket.

He wasn’t entirely sure how to go about making his introduction to the other contestants but that problem was solved for him when he approached their circle of chairs. One of them, a young woman about the same age as he, jumped up and exited the ring to greet him, sticking out her hand with a challenge glimmering in her eyes. “Hi. I’m Madeline Stone but just call me Maddie.”

He met her wicked grin with one of his own, grasping her hand tight and leaning in, meeting her challenge with one of his own. “Smith, Dark Smith. There’s no nickname for that as far as I know, but feel free to make one.”

“Dark, huh? Now that’s an unusual name.” Maddie raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess - Noctis region?”

“Close, I was born there but I grew up in Summit. Guess my parents wanted a name to remind me of my roots.” He flashed a smile with too many teeth. “From your accent, I’m guessing the Inferno District?”

“Damn, and here I thought I was speaking Terran like a natural.” She flipped her shoulder length hair back out of her face, straightening up and squeezing his hand one last time before dropping it. “Guess that comes from being the only district with a regional language.”

“Though not the only one with a distinct dialect.” Dark countered. They made their way back into the circle, dropping down into the available chairs.

“We’ve all introduced ourselves already but we can go around the circle again for our latecomer.” Maddie directed and Dark got a sense she’d become some sort of social settings leader for the group. It certainly came more naturally to her than him so he wasn’t going to complain about the easy out. And from looking around at the rest of the awkward faces he wasn’t the only one content to let her take charge of the conversation.

“You already know me, I’m Maddie Stone, and this here is Dark, Smith was it?”

He confirmed his last name, knowing that she had not forgotten. This was just a tactic, her show personality.
Maddie went around the circle, pointing people out, and Dark did his best to memorize them all.

Connor and Colin were twins and hailed from Typhoon, a seaside district. Jason from Gyhlls, Jessie the Valley. Emma from Silva, Trevor from Apline, both of whom Dark recognized as tradesfolk his father had worked with before. Marissa, Trevor’s cousin, was from Ravine. She also seemed vaguely familiar but Dark couldn’t quite place where from. He wondered at that, the odds that he had interacted with quite a few of these people before. Then dismissed it. It would have been intentional. There was no way the government wouldn’t have known.

Seth Raydur from Noctis was next and this man was someone Dark had worked directly with. He was careful not to show it, and Seth’s gaze passed uninterested over him as well, but he was rather relieved at least to see him. While they’d not been friends, Seth had always been friendly towards the guards, and he was a rather competent handler when it came to managing the Beasts. Dark didn’t know the full extent of Seth’s work, but he knew enough to know that whatever the government was planning with this “demonstration” they’d never do anything to put one of their prized scientists’ assistants in danger.

Jakob from Caelum. Cassidy “Cass” from Onslaught. The only regions left out were Tempest (mostly filled by government structures) and the sparsely populated wasteland of Maelstrom.

12 people, from the majority of the regions, all of which were gifted. No one said it, but Dark could see it. The faint glow around their outlines, the haziness to their figure when he allowed himself to attune to the flow of the energy around them all. He breathed in, bringing them into focus as he did so. Seth was jagged, spikes rippling around his frame like lighting on a rod. He, Dark expected that from, knowing what he did about the man. But Cassidy too, he was surprised by, as she seemed to draw in energy from around herself. An abhuman?

She caught his eye, winked at him, and he felt his cheeks flush before he could stop it, embarrassed at being caught. No one else seemed to notice and she carried on with her chatting.

Dark allowed himself to be drawn in to Maddie’s conversation, small tidbits about lives. He mentioned his sister and both Emma and Trevor asked after her, recalling her from prior visits to the smithy. They were both involved with the lumber industry, which made sense with both their regions, and had been friends for a number of years now. He learned quite a bit about them and their habits, Maddie asking easily expanded upon questions that the two were happy to answer. But for all she was participating in the conversation - she revealed next to nothing about herself. And Dark noticed.

He was doing the same, after all.