Online RPG Blues* I’m trapped inside another world, where orcs raze villages, and animate the dead. The subscription fees, alone, amount to a large pearl. The king’s army still three days’ march, the flower girl repeats with each click, “I have roses of the reddest red.” I’m trapped inside this programmed world. Someone sets fire to the fields, snakes pop in a smoky blur, and our Elven scout has died of hunger again. Now, rations in the shop’s menu cost a giant pearl. When the evil warlock’s (are there good ones?) flag is unfurled, we flee to the low-res hills, stealing the townsfolk’s last loaf of bread. I’m trapped inside this glitchy world. Ravenous, I trace the other players by their log-in URLs, and kill them, hoping to be transferred to Lord Alfred’s quest to save his goat-daughter using a magic pearl. I should have chosen to be a mage who can hurl fireballs. Instead, I keep the bodies in a freezer, bled out and trimmed, in case of siege. I’m trapped inside this world, as orcs in sniper gear string the rooftops like black pearls. *RPG = Roleplaying Game (think: Dungeons & Dragons, for example) Edit: S1L1 "trapped inside this world" to "trapped inside another world" s6L4 "like an oyster, as orcs string..." to "as orcs in sniper gear string..."
|