Denise Healy had always been a source of tribulation for his family. At the age of eight he had seen the back of more police cars than most adults do in their whole life. He was a problem child, they would say, and his reign of terror was known across ten states.
Wether it be setting fire to the school cafeteria in Pennsylvania or stealing lawn gnomes in Idaho, Denise was always in trouble (be it big or small). Turning on the sprinklers in the art room during critique time was just another way to start the day. Putting the science lab's pet gerbil in his math teacher's salad lunch? A giddy little joke.
Denise didn't take much seriously, and that included inflicting pain on others. In secret he had used rat poison on his homeroom guinea pig and shoved live firecrackers up the ass of a neighborhood dog (which did indeed lead to the mutt's death). Yes, Denise had killed at a young age, but being so young meant he didn't really yet understand it. Life, it seemed, was beyond this young boy's comprehension.
It was from this lifestyle that his parents did what they could to keep him out of trouble with the authorities. They could not see in themselves what it was that had brought out the worst in this little boy. They had been good and supportive since he was born. His mother blamed herself for his current state of mind, though his father believed Denise knew what he was doing and was just trying to get attention.
On the other hand, his ten-year-old sister, Amy, was silent when he was in the same room as him, and was generally frightened of him. His older brother? Framed for burning down the school gym out in California and currently serving time in Yasbeck Juvenile Correctional Facility up state. Yes, not even his grandparents would visit him but for Christmas and even that was so Ben and Samantha (his parents) wouldn't bring the child into their parent's home.
Yes, Denise was all kinds of trouble, but he was on the cusp of finding it all very boring. There were only so many things you could burn, explode, or blame other people for. He'd wanted more. More pain and blood because those things interested him… not dinosaurs, baseball, or action figures.
The only thing that seemed to sedate him in any way was video games. Though he was violent even before playing them, his parents would see days without trouble from him directly after buying him a particularly violent game. The only downside was that occasionally he would gain inspiration from such games… but they decided it was a small price to pay for some quite now and then.
Prince Herald's Unfinished Kingdom was a game that Denise had long since forgotten. He'd never really played it much as he enjoyed Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto more. It wasn't until he was talking with a fellow deviant he'd met over X-Box Live that he'd up and made the choice to try this game 'for real'.
As the man named 'Shoot@Me' was quick to point out, PHUK was an adult, M-Rated game that allowed one to be just about anything. Originally it sounded a little non-specific and a lot of boring, but as S@M continued to explain, if you got the fabled 'Total Immersion Suit', it would feel like you were really there. The body, the breath, even the heartbeat would all sound real.
This idea intrigued Denise, and he started to ask about authorities. It was explained to him that every race and every walk of life had cops and guards and police of some kind, but that most Players found those tasks and duties to be quite boring. Who wants to guard a starting town from being ganked by high level PvPers all day long? Some did, but they were few and far between.
Ask was explained to him, most all the authorities were NPC's, and the GM's almost never got involved in day to day crimes. They had taken a stance on the boards that The Kingdom was what you make of it, and if the whole world was to devolve into lawlessness because people didn't seek out justice, then that's just what would happen. It was like a game economy except instead of money there were morals.
If S@M (Sam) was to be believed, then Denise could be just about anything. Super Villain, Crime Lord, Corrupt Diplomat, or even a Tyrannical leader. The same things he could be put in jail for as an adult he could freely do in a setting such as PHUK. The world was whatever he made of it, and he sought a burning planet.
That would be cool, he surmised.
It was really no effort at all to convince his parents that there was this video game (an option that had worked in the past) that was downloadable only… and that if he were to have a TIS (it would cost them only a few hundred dollars) that he would be out of their hair for a solid month (or even longer). If this game was all it was cracked up to be, he might be 'cured'.
They didn't even ask why. Loving and caring as they had both been, they just wanted their child to stop his torments… to be normal. If this game could quell his violent and deviant urges, then they would gladly pay any price.
It was on this day that Denise found his TIS waiting for him on the dining room table. His mother wasn't yet home from work, and his father was gone for the next two weeks on a business trip to Europe. All was prime for him to make the most of the weekend now before him.
As he opened the package, he found a note on a card. Direct from the creators of the game, it read: "We hope your small stature will find the big times awaiting your arrival in Prince Herald's Unfinished Kingdom. Knowing the circumstances leading to your trial of The Kingdom we have inclosed a free additional character slot, and an Epic, Giant class of character."
Denise smirked as he ran a hand through his short blonde hair. Apparently his parents had detailed that the reason for the small suit was that he had some kind of condition. Whatever it takes, he thought as he checked the instructions just to make sure it was obvious. About the only thing odd was de-robing before putting the suit on, but he went ahead and did it anyway.
As he lay on his bed, making sure the suit was secure, he turned on his vision to find himself standing in the hall of heroes. Having already patched the game earlier on Monday, he recalled the warning message given out. Though he saw the one free slot for a where he could make a Giant, all the other slots on his account (having tried it briefly months earlier) were already filled just as other existing accounts.
Denise's ghostly form walked the isle of statues representing the six characters on the account. A wicked smile crossed his face as he determined that each and every one of the face he saw… no matter how extravagant, otherworldly, alien, animal, or even mundane… anyone and everyone could be a killer, murder… rapist.
In The Kingdom, There Are No Limits...