Erebos Read Online Free PDF Page A

the tower a sword was planted in the bare earth, a piece of red cloth tied to its handle. It fluttered in the wind, like a last memento of life in a dead world. Above that, the lettering ‘Erebos’ arched, also all in red.
    Nick had butterflies in his stomach. He turned the volume up, but there was no music, just a deep rumbling like an approaching storm. Nick hovered the cursor over the Install button with the vague feeling he had forgotten something . . . of course, the virus scan. He checked out the files on the DVD with two different programs and breathed a sigh of relief when both gave the all-clear. Right then.
    The blue install bar inched forwards in agonising slow motion. In tiny tiny steps. Several times it seemed as though the computer had crashed – nothing was happening. Nick tried moving the mouse back and forth – at least the cursor still responded, but only slowly, jerkily. Nick shifted around on his chair impatiently. Twenty-five per cent – oh, come on. He may as well go to the kitchen and get himself something to drink.
    When he came back some minutes later, it was thirty-one per cent. He dropped onto the chair, cursing, and rubbed his eyes. What a pain in the bum.
    After what felt like an hour one hundred per cent was finally downloaded. Nick was already inwardly rejoicing when the screen went black. Stayed black.
    Nothing helped. Not banging on the monitor, not all his key sequences nor his angry outburst. The screen displayed nothing but unrelenting darkness.
    Nick was about to give up and press the reset button when something did actually happen. Red letters were emerging out of the dark, words that pulsed as if a concealed heart were supplying them with blood and life.
    â€˜Enter.
    Or turn back.
    This is Erebos.’
    Finally! Tingling with anticipation, Nick chose ‘Enter’.
    The screen went black again – so what was new – for several seconds. Nick leaned back in his chair. Hopefully the game wouldn’t stay so slow. His computer couldn’t be at fault – it was pretty much state-of-the-art. His processor and graphics card were lightning fast and all his games ran without a problem.
    Gradually the screen lightened up, revealing a very realistic forest clearing, with the moon above. A figure was standing in the middle in a ragged shirt and threadbare trousers. No weapon, just a stick in his hand. Presumably that was supposed to be his game character. As a test Nick clicked a spot to the right, whereupon it leapt up and moved to exactly the spot he’d selected. Okay, the controls were idiot-proof, and he would have the rest figured out before long. It wasn’t exactly his first game.
    Right then. But – which way should he go? There was no path, no indication. A map, maybe? Nick tried to call up an inventory or a game menu, but there was nothing. No indication of quests or goals, no other characters in sight. Just a red bar for the life meter and a blue one underneath. Presumably it indicated stamina. Nick tried various key sequences that had worked in other games, but they didn’t do anything here.
    The thing was probably riddled with programming errors, he thought grumpily. As a test he clicked directly on his shabbily equipped character. The word ‘Nameless’ appeared over his head. ‘Even better,’ muttered Nick. ‘The mysterious Nameless.’ He got his ragged character to walk straight ahead first, then left, and finally right. Every direction seemed to be wrong, and there was no-one around he could ask.
    â€˜It’s incredibly awesome, honest,’ he mimicked Brynne’s voice in his head. On the other hand . . . Colin seemed to be keen on the game too. And Colin was no fool.
    Nick decided to make his character walk straight ahead again. He figured that was what he would do if he were lost. Keep on going in the one direction. He’d come across something or someone, and every forest had to end