Chapter Text
It was a normal day in the office, Michael and Gavin were bickering, Geoff was downing his third beer, and Ray and Ryan were setting up for a Let’s play of a new game that Jack went to pick up.
The game was called Alternate Universe. The player created a character and set out to find the different universes. Some would be very close to the original, like everyone with red hair was now a brunette, while others were drastically different like the world never moved from Pangaea and all people looked alike.
Many were calling it a knock off of BioShock Infinite’s concept or fanfiction in game form, but many were excited for it as well, and when the developers emailed Achievement Hunter, giving the group first dips on game play, Burnie and Matt practically forced Geoff to say yes. So the six guys were piled into the office, now with characters loaded, and ready to start the game.
“Ready boys?” Geoff said as he pressed start.
Welcome Achievement Hunter to Alternate Universe To acclimate you to the system, we will start in the Universe that you are most familiar with.
“This is interesting…” Ray said as the screen loaded into an aerial view of the office, with each of the character at their respective desks, Ryan was even on the couch.
This is the Achievement Hunter Office, but what would happen if you walked through a door to an Alternate Universe?
The door to the office in the game opened, and the screen moved to show a row of seven doors.
Each of these doors will lead to a world very much like your own, but very different at the same time.
Choose wisely.
“This game is freaky.” Jack said, looking around the room.
“And you all thought I was crazy.” Ryan muttered.
“Do we all pick, or just Geoff since he’s the host?” Michael asked.
“I have a prompt, so might as well start from the beginning.” Geoff moved the glowing curser on the screen to the first door, and pressed A. The screen turned black then they were back in the office, except their characters looked much different.
“What! I have wings!” Gavin said, zooming the camera to get a closer look at the tawny wings and tail that were now on his characters back.
Each of the characters had some sort of animal trait.
“Nice horns Geoff Ram-say!” Ray snickered, whispering a ‘got em’ to himself.
“Shut up Ray-bbit!” This pun didn’t work as well, but still gained a few laughs from the others in the room.
“Hey Ryan, feel bad about keeping Edgar in the hole now?” Michael said, moving his character closer to the bovine hybrid on the screen.
“Well, can’t say he didn’t have it coming, “ Ryan chuckled, “But hey, at least I’m not a kitty cat.” Michael was hoping the others hadn’t noticed the ears and tail of his character.
“Aw! Micool! You’re cute, bet Lindsay would love it!” Gavin said, nudging the man next to him.
“Shut up! What about Jack, he’s a cat too!”
“Actually, I’m a lion. Mane and all.” The teasing continued for the rest of the day. The boys explored the sandbox like world, trying to ignore how eerily it looked like Austin and their office. Suddenly, just as Gavin had climbed to the top of the building to try and fly, the game turned black.
Thank you for participating in Day 1. To continue through the doors come back in 48 hours.
“There’s a time limit on this game? It just keeps getting weirder.” Ray muttered, shutting of the recording and starting to convert the file.
“Well, we’ll pick it back up in a couple days.” Geoff said, starching and finishing his beer. The day went on normally, recording and editing other videos before all parties decided to end the day and head home.
Unbeknownst to them, all six of them went to bed with pain, in their head and backs. In the morning, Gavin being an early riser on days when not hung-over, was the first to notice something weird. His shoulders, though he slept fine, were extremely sore. The Brit sat up groaning, stretching his neck and shoulders. Then he noticed his bed was covered in feathers, he didn’t notice that they were tawny, and not white like his pillows, “Musta busted a pillow…” He said to himself before trudging to the tiny bathroom and clicking on the light.
He stopped. Reflected in the mirror, was himself, with a pair of tawny wings, partially folded again his back.