Long awaited! Arcadia Act 1 is finally out! Clocking in at 3477 words is finally complete! I am so so happy that people have supported me through out this writing process-this will be a very world buildy fic so I hope you enjoy each part I write!
No trigger warnings for this one! Please enjoy!
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Arcadia Act 1: Press Play
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It was a warm and calm summer day. The air was humid and the sky was a bright blue and the cicadas hummed and buzzed.
Wilbur stared out the window, looking at the telephone pole while he waited for the light to turn green again so he could get home.
He had been doing some shopping and he just wanted to go home after being out and about since five thirty in the morning.
He squinted his eyes, humming in thought as he read the sign aloud to himself.
“Yard…sale…closes twelve fifteen…” he glanced at the clock in his dash before shrugging as he changed his turn signal to the right. He’d swing by, take a few pictures and maybe buy something.
Though he did have to hurry he had a little over twenty minutes before the yard sale allegedly closed.
He looked up at the light and put his foot back on the gas, looking carefully for the address of the house and smiling a little. It was obvious which house it was and thankfully he was able to park.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of his car, heading over to the yard sale.
The old man at the sale gave him a polite smile before going back to most likely reading the paper or looking for coupons in the newspaper.
Wilbur paid no mind though as he searched for video games and other childish shit. His friend Fundy said he wanted a cool game to try and code and who was he to not try and provide?
He hummed, picking up boxes as he went through each paper, file and folder. Each time he finished a box he checked his watch.
12:09…
He cursed quietly under his breath. “Damn Fundy’s gonna be dissapointed…”
“Need any help mate?” Wilbur jumped a little and turned around to see the old man running the sale.
Wilbur gave him a sheepish grin and nodded. “Uh-Y-eah-“ he cleared his throat and tried to make himself look a little less awkward than he felt.
“Do you have any video games?”
The man laughed and slapped a hand on his shoulder that he immediately tried to shrug off as the man led him over to the makeshift register he had.
“I’m given’ those away with everything bought! If you just want a video game I’d be delighted to let you look through the bin!”
Wilbur’s eyes widened and his mouth went ajar only for him to close it and nod quickly. “I-I’ll uh-give it a look thanks-“
The man smiled although…something felt off to Wilbur about it…he was sure it was just his imagination though.
He wasted no time rifling through title after title of popular games until he stumbled across to games he’d never heard of.
Arcadia and The Bird and His Chicks.
The second one sounded too childish but the other one sounded perfect. It was interesting and cool. He got up and walked over to the man. “I found one uh-can I just-“
The old man shook his head and Wilbur opened his mouth to speak again but he was cut off. “It’s free! Why don’t you take the other games as well.”
Before he could say anything the man was gone.
Huh. Not that he’d expect any less weird a service from a yard sale though. At least he was getting a free game-maybe two if Fundy took pity on him and gave him the game he coded.
He headed over to the game box and grabbed the second, more childish game. He’d give it to Fundy and see if he could make it interesting and worth playing.
With all that settled he headed to his car and unlocked it before starting up the car. One glance at the yard sale sent a chill up his spine however.
The guy in charge of the yard sale was just standing there waving. As if they were both close friends. It felt uncomfortable and he was about ready to speed away.
Of course he didn’t though-he just tried to act normal till he reached the main roads. He wouldn’t speed in a suburban area where there may be kids after all.
He just grit his teeth and bared it as he drove out onto the main street and put into his gps his address. Taking out his phone while he waited for the light to change.
He dialed up Fundy and put it on speaker before going back to driving. “Hey Fundy I got you some creepy games I’ve never heard of!”
“Really? What does that mean?” Fundy asked.
“You’ll find out when you swing by to pick up one of the games. I’m playing one though, ok?”
The coder on the other end huffed. “Really? Why can’t I have both and then give you the games!”
“Cause I bought them and because I said so.” Wilbur laughed and turned onto his street. “Now come over in…an hour? Hour thirty at the latest.”
A few key clicks on the other end told Wilbur he was just trying to write down in his calendar the time frame he should head over in. The ginger often did that when Wilbur didn’t give him an exact time.
“Alright, got it! See you soon.” Fundy hung up and Wilbur pulled into his driveway with a smile. He unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed the games.
Unlocking the door, he headed over to the trunk and popped it, tossing the games in one of the grocery bags before unloading them.
Slowly but surely he brought all the bags in and began to unload them, shoving cans into his cabinets and putting anything that would go bad if left out in the fridge before he pulled his games out.
Well he had options. Play the game before Fundy came over so he knew which one he wanted to keep or he could wait for him….
He hummed as he kept putting away his groceries into the cabinets and then into his fridge.
Should he eat now or wait? He could wait. He wouldn’t mind making some lunch if Fundy was hungry and besides-it’d give him a reason to neaten the house up.
With that thought in mind he began to go around the house and open the blinds and windows up a crack. The summer breeze felt nice and he took a deep breath in. The house felt lighter and it certainly felt less cold.
Less lonely.
He smiled and flicked on the fan to keep airing the room out before he headed back into his kitchen and grabbed the two games.
They were certainly old and they felt dusty…but that wasn’t what felt off. He couldn’t pinpoint it but they felt cold in a wrong way.
He ran a thumb over the scratchy case with the tape label on it and hummed. He glanced at the more childish one.
It was bright and it looked more official. More workable for Fundy who by all means was going to make the game into…well it’d be more of an interesting game. He set the disc case down and hurried to grab a piece of paper.
Rifling through his messy drawers for a pen, he grabbed the first one he found and scribbled on the paper to test it before starting to write it out.
‘I’m upstairs. This games your’s. I wanna try the cool one out first though. -Wilbur p.s-Make this game cool seems a bit childish for me-make it intriguing’
He put the pen down and grabbed some masking tape before attaching the note to the case as he headed towards the stairs.
Fundy didn’t know his garage code so he’d be going in through the front door with his spare key. He made sure the game was somewhere visible before he dashed up the stairs.
He went to his office before turning the door knob and heading inside, closing it behind him with a soft click as he headed to his desk and pulled out his chair. He took the game out of the case and brought it to his open window, blowing off the layer of dust coating it.
God, every part of these games was ancient-from the casing to the game itself, it was coated in so much dust you’d think it’d be millennia old…
Yet it was, from what the small date inscribed on the disc said, only fifteen or so years old.
He headed to his desk and sat down, pulling the faux leather chair up to the desk before he bent down and put the disc in the reader.
After that he powered up his computer, the tell tale buzz it made had seemed like a problem years ago but, since it hadn’t exploded or anything, he kept it and now it was routine to hear it when he booted up the monitor.
He pulled his mouse pad out and set the mouse on it, grabbing his keyboard so it was closer to him as he typed in his password.
Once he was logged in, he went to the discs icon on the desktop and clicked it a few times before a pop up opened.
‘Are you sure you want to open this game? :)’
He raised a brow and paused, glancing over at his door. Maybe he should wait till Fundy got here to ask about this. It didn’t make sense. Usually when he bought an old game it gave him a normal file open question-
Never had his computer asked about opening specifically a game and he had especially never put a goddamn emoticon smiley-
Still. He was just a bit curious. So against better logic and reasoning, he clicked on the ‘run file’ button and waited for it to load up, tapping his foot before crossing it across his other leg as he waited.
He knew the game was old but prime-was it supposed to take this long? He didn’t think it should be-other games he had bought second hand loaded up comparatively faster than this.
He leaned in, the screen beginning to dully flicker back to a color and he blinked a few times. Huh.
He was met with a barely palatable red screen that faded into a cartoonish battle field with a castle in the background, an imposing, maniacal figure loomed behind it, just an evil look was visble from the shadow.
In the front was a man with a dark, billowing cloak. ‘He was totally the hero-‘ he smiled to himself a bit. He couldn’t see the color of the hair, covered by a green hat.
Honestly the guy looked like a tropical bird in a way. The bright, saturated green went well with the pitch black cloak. They seemed to glimmer like a shining sky.
He found himself entranced by the whole scene before him. The game must be well designed-hell- he was sure it had some better art than most games he played lately.
He clicked the cartoonish start button and was brought to a character screen.
And the best part was that the art was still gorgeous. He found himself unable to take his eyes off the character art. The one that grabbed his attention was the picture for the leader trait. Obviously the art was meant to be as blank a canvas as possible for the player.
But it still drew him in as he stared at it. The cape was only to one side and covered half the shoulder but the pose was confident and the shirt was almost all white aside glittering gold speckled near the hem.
It was like the opposite of a night sky. Like if the blue sky held glittering golden stars and the night held nothing but inky black.
The rest of the options were ever so slightly grayed out-and that was a little weird-he would admit it was odd that all the traits were seemingly locked but he shrugged it off-
Maybe it was just some game file glitch. He’d get Fundy to look at it for him later.
He clicked on the icon for the trait he wanted and clicked the yes button when it asked to confirm.
The screen blacked out and all that was left was a faint glow. Wilbur frowned. He really hoped that it wasn’t broken-
He brought a hand up to the screen and pressed his palm against it. He jumped away, falling to the floor once he saw how it practically absorbed his hand.
“What the fuuuuuuuuuck..”
He slowly pushed himself off the ground and back up to his desk, looking at the screen in wonder before putting his hand through the screen again. It was…strange feeling but cool.
He moved his second hand to the screen cautiously before pushing them both through, his arms all the way in his computer.
This was some insane shit. He pushed in a little more before letting out a yelp as he was pulled through the screen by-by something he couldn’t even see.
He shut his eyes tight until he landed with a thud and he groaned, a bright light most likely above him. Maybe he just died. That would suck but he wouldn’t rule that out.
He began to peek open his eyes before he saw a crystal blue sky above him, large green leaves and trees soaring high above him.
His eyes fully opened as he stared in amazement at the stunning, lush world around him.
He pushed up off the ground and looked around him, trying to find where his computer was.
To no avail.
Great.
Just great he was jumanjied into a fucking video game-could it get any worse?
Loud booming thuds shook the earth around and he already felt the dread pooling in his chest. He should have waited till Fundy had shown up…
The sounds grew louder as birds began to quiet and leaves started to fall from their branches as Wilbur got onto his feet and made a slow creep towards the treeline.
Once he had hidden about three trees away from the clearing he had been in he waited patiently for…whatever that was to come through. He expected machinery with how hellishly loud it was.
He was proved wrong when he saw a giant boot and a loud, booming voice. “God damn it we lost it!”
“But-But I saw it here sir! It wasn’t moving at all!”
There was a loud growl heard and Wilbur began to back away from the scene.
He had to find a way out of here that-that was not normal-none of this was normal-
He jolted and let out half a scream before his mouth was covered and the rest of his body was dragged back.
He tried to shout out for help, his voice muffled while he grappled at the hand over his mouth.
His assailant stopped before shushing him as he was dragged further and further away from where he started. Into an unfamiliar world full of giants. Great.
The rest of the way to wherever was silent, the only sound was the dragging and occasional noises and struggles from Wilbur.
Abruptly, he was dropped to the ground and he groaned out in pain, rubbing the back of his head as he looked up.
The first thing he noticed about his attacker was the fact that he looked young.
The second was that he looked like he was fighting using guerilla warfare.
He wasn’t sure what he should be worried about.
“Get up bitch-you’re lucky I saved your dumb ass.” The kid crossed his arms and looked at Wilbur expectantly.
Wilbur got to his feet and looked at the kid in annoyance. “You grabbed me from behind and dragged me from where I was hiding.”
The blond grabbed the front of Wilbur’s shirt and tugged him in. “And hiding isn’t ever enough-god every time I think you guys can’t get any dumber you do!”
He shoved the other back and let out an offended noise. “I’m right here I’m not fucking deaf you asshat-jeez sorry I didn’t know there were fucking giants I just got here!”
He crossed his arms, looking away from the kid. What right did he have to call him an idiot…
“You aren’t from here…?”
The voice sounded confused and all the previous anger sounded like it had been drained.
“No! If I knew about those-those things I would have ran into the forest a lot lot faster!”
He turned around to face the boy only to get tackled to the ground in a hug.
“FUCK YES! Oh my gods holy shit!! You-You’re from Earth right? Real life? Where there aren’t giants??”
The boys eyes shone with joy as he hugged Wilbur much tighter.
“Y-Yes-” he winced and he fumbled while trying to shove him off. “Now please get off of me-getting jumanjied into a game is a tiring affair.”
The boy eagerly got off and gestured upward. Wilbur’s gaze followed and he raised a brow before looking at the blonde for answers.
“First we head up to my treefort. We’ll get picked up by a friend soon. Then we can talk m’kay?”
Wilbur shook his head. “First names then you explain what the hell is happening.”
The blonde boy headed to the otherside of the tree the fort rested on and Wilbur could only assume the ladder was there.
A head poked out from behind it. “Name’s Tommy! Yours?”
“Wilbur. Thanks for saving me back there Tommy.”
He headed around and found that his assumption about the ladder was correct. He followed Tommy up and once inside he sat down on the blanketed floor.
“Now explain to me what is happening please-”
Tommy shrugged. “Well you got sucked into the game you put on your computer yeah?”
He nodded his head.
“Well congrats-you’ve joined the club! There are three people now! My friend, you, and me!”
Wilbur’s eyes widened. “Wait wait-this game has done this before??”
The kid nodded his head. “Mhm. You read the plot of the game right?”
Wilbur didn’t respond right away before giving a half hearted shrug. “I read some of it. Not all of it though.”
“Well…Then we’re in the same boat-”
The kid laughed and punched his shoulder, still laughing. Wilbur rubbed at his shoulder.
“You’ll fit in here Wilbur! I think we’ll be great friends.”
He didn’t want to fit in. He wanted to go home. Fundy would lose his shit without Wilbur-they were best friends.
Best friends don’t disappear without a trace after they invite a friend over-
“How do I get out of here?”
Tommy laughing died down and he blinked, looking just as confused as earlier.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know.”
Tommy’s smile reappeared while Wilbur tried to contain his mounting feelings of horror.
“But y’know big man-it isn’t bad here! I promise-it’s fine-!”
Wilbur just looked at him as if he was insane before grasping his hair tight, tugging it. “Holy fuck-I-I cannot be stuck here! I can’t! I have my own life!”
The brunette noted how Tommy’s face seemed to fall and grow sad. Only then did he realize that because Tommy was like him, that the kid had a family.
Tommy probably wanted his life back too. Before he could apologize-maybe even find out more about the kid, there was a loud shout from below the tree house.
The blond scrambled over and poked his head down the hole.
“Tommy! The General is looking for you! Where the hell have you been?”
The voice sounded a lot older yet still younger than his own. He curiously looked through the hole to see a fierce, petrifying warrior with…pink hair. The hair was a bit of a surprise but the guy still looked bad ass.
“Sorry Commander-I was checking the place where you found me cause that’s what I always do y’know an-”
The warrior rolled his eyes and let out a growl or a grunting noise-Wilbur couldn’t tell. “Let me guess-you found that npc-” he pointed at Wilbur. “And decided to bring him here so he wouldn’t get killed by a giant?”
Wilbur glared and before Tommy could say anything, Wilbur lept to defend himself. “I’m not an npc! I’m from Earth!”
The pink haired warrior looked over at Tommy and raised a brow. All Tommy did was nod.
“I got jumanjied here I swear-”
The warrior narrowed his eyes before nodding his head slowly. “A pop culture reference. Alright…I’ll believe you since no one else here would know that movie.”
Tommy grinned and finally spoke again. He looked at Wilbur. “That’s the Commander-He only tells people his name when he trusts them. I’m sure he’ll tell you soon though. Now let's go!”
Wilbur looked confused. “Go where?”
The kid smiled a bright, pride filled grin. “To the center of the revolution.”