1 The Invite

An avatar of giant ice cream served with a delicious waffle cone appeared at the top left of the screen. The avatar bloomed with a white outer glow, and a male voice spoke, "Hallo!"

He spoke in German with a slight yet distinctive Asian accent.

<Ice cream waffle>: "Hallo! Can you guys hear me," his voice continued to echo in the channel.

<Ice cream waffle>: "Haaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooo! DO YOU BITCHES HEAR ME," he bellowed with all his strength through the headphone.

Not surprisingly, another avatar appeared right below the giant ice cream; it looked like a kid peeing into the ocean. The new icon glowed.

<Kid peeing in the ocean>: "Goddammit shut up, Ed. We're in the middle of a game here. Go and fix your fucking mic," the new user replied with an even heavier Asian accent than Ed.

Before Ed could utter a response, another avatar appeared. It resembled an anime girl striking a risqué pose.

<Risqué anime girl>: "Eh cunt! What are you going? Quickly come to B," he yelled. However, the way he articulated his words, the infusion of Hokkien slang and a rich Asian accent can leave many non-Ostasien bewildered.

<Kid peeing in the ocean>: "Wait! Chill, I am on the way."

<Ed>: "What are you guys playing?" Ed quietly tried to slide a question in; amidst their intense battle.

<Risqué anime girl>: "Me and bitch boy Jinhai here are playing Weltkrieg 1945," followed by a louder yell, "Oi Jinhai! This cunt, where are you?"

<Jinhai>: "Chill hoe, I'm almost at B," followed by a surprised shout, "Eh! What the fuck is our Übermensch doing?! He's fucking charging at the enemy tank and Übermensch alone." His cries continued to rise in volume, "Fuck! Eh, Yixiang comes and supports me. We can't let this idiot suicide by himself."

<Yixiang>: "Wtf is this kind of teammate! We should just let him die and pick up the Übermensch power up ourselves."

<Jinhai>: "Don't be so toxic! At least, let the idiot soak up damage for us whilst we destroy their tank."

<Yixiang>: "KK! Just trail him and I'll come right in a bit."

Amidst their fierce exchange, Ed sat comfortably on his chair and slowly browsed the Stellarium games store. As a man of refined taste and culture for the past ten years, Ed had accumulated more than three hundred games; yet, his avarice still flared up with every Stellarium sale.

<Ed>: "Are yall going to buy anything this summer sale?" he asked the rest whilst scrolling through the extensive store catalogue.

<Yixiang>: "Got anything good meh?"

<Ed>: "I'm still looking through."

<Jinhai>: "I'm going back to Johor next week. Don't think I can play, though!"

<Ed>: "Oi cunt! It's not like you're travelling to a different 3rd world country without internet or wifi. We're in the same country, and it's like a 20 minutes train ride." Sick of his friend shit, he aggressively replied.

<Jinhai>: "Unlike someone, I would like to spend this precious time with my extended family," Jinhai jokingly replied.

<Yixiang>: "Fuck off with your bullshit! You can always come back and play later. Ed, just go fucking a game, then we'll see."

After that short exchange, Ed went back to lazily scrolling through the site whilst the two other noisy chimpanzees he called friends continued to troll around in Weltkrieg. After roughly an hour of doing useless stuff, he paid attention to the channel again.

<Ed>: "Are there anyone else online apart from you two idiots?"

Surprisingly, an avatar of a brown cartoon dog with a poker face appeared, followed by a tired yet soft male voice.

<Poker face cartoon dog>: "I'm here," he softly replied. From that softness came a clear and precise articulation of the German words with a hint of Korean accent on top.

<Ed>: "Eh! Chunghee! Why are you here?" Ed was surprised by the newcomer's arrival.

<Chunghee>: "Why can't I be here," he joked. "I ran out of novels to read. That's why I'm here to check if you guys are playing anything fun."

<Ed>: "I don't know though. Nothing fun, eh!" after a few minutes of pause, he continued, "By the way, Chunghee, are you going back to Korea during this holiday?"

<Chunghee>: "Should be. Although, I have no concrete plan yet. I think I will just take the Spatial Link back next Saturday or something."

<Ed>: "Let me join, eh."

<Chunghee>: "Mr Eduard Lee, don't you want to go and spend time with your family," Chunghee teased his friend.

<Eduard Lee>: "Err, they are always on business trips to either Cochinchina, Tonkin or Annam. Even if I go home, it will probably be an empty house with only me and Christina. It's better to travel. Plus, I can use that up and coming business deal between our parents as an excuse to go to Korea."

<Chunghee>: "Err, K. We'll see by the end of next week."

Finished with his plan regarding the upcoming holiday, Eduard was surprised by the lack of zoo animals grunting in the background.

<Eduard Lee>: "Yall done with your game already, meh?"

<Yixiang>: "Our team was hot garbage, but still I managed to unlock …" before Yixiang could finish his sentence, his zoo partner in crime cut in.

<Jinhai>: "Hallo," mimicking his friend's action a while back. He continued to chant out, "Hallo! Hallo!"

<Yixiang>: "Shut up cunt. You're so damn loud."

<Jinhai>: "Are you still playing or not Yixiang?" after stopping his stupid antics, he jokingly questioned.

<Yixiang>: "Nah, I'm going off already. Going to go and watch my anime."

<Jinhai>: "OK hoe. Then I'll go to the other chat and see if anyone else wants to play. I want to quickly finish this season's quests."

After saying their goodbyes, the loud grunting and howling of animals stopped. Like a paradise on earth, it's now quiet and serene. However, Eduard still focused on his quest.

To find the opus magnum amongst the trash.

To find the holy grail amongst broken chalices.

To find diamonds in the desert.

It was an arduous task. Yet, Eduard soldiered on. Until.

<Ding>

He suddenly received a notification. All of his friends should be doing something else, so who could be bored enough to spam him at this hour. As Eduard brainstormed about the idiotic culprit, his cursor moved to the top right of his screen and clicked the new notification.

<Congratulation! User Erectile Reptile.

Thank you for your continuous support of Stellarium Games throughout the years. With your help, we managed to bring better games to players worldwide.

As a thank you, we would like to invite you as an alpha tester for our latest game, Outer Rim. Rather than our usual shooter or open-world adventure title, in Outer Rim, you play as a guardian deity of a settlement. With you at the helm, guiding them through their trials and tribulations.

Bestow them your grace and teaching so that they can ascend the tree of knowledge.

Grand them your might and zeal so that they can defend themselves.

Confer them your wisdom and history so that they will never go hungry.

Build, manage and survive.

Anything could happen.

Not everyone could endure.

We have attached the trailer below to tell you more about the game.

[Outerrim_Trailer.mov]

Finally, we have provided you with a master game key. It will allow you and anyone you invite to play the game together, as long as they are in the same game as you.

[Click here to receive the key]

We at Stellarium Games hope that you will enjoy our latest game and love to hear your feedback good.

Stellarium early access team.>

Due to his weird sitting position and the surprise invitation from one of the world's leading game companies, he managed to destroy the equilibrium of his body and chair. Hence, his face quickly met his keyboard.

<Chunghee>: "Oi! Did you trip yourself after trying to achieve the legendary one hand tissue grab whilst immobile on your chair technique," Chunghee sniggered!

<Eduard Lee>: "Fuck off! I was trying to read the new game invite from Stellarium."

<Chunghee>: "Share screen eh! I thought they just recently released Weltkrieg 1945 and the new season just came out too. Are they abandoning the game already?" asked his friend in a surprised tone.

<Eduard Lee>: "I don't know though. They just sent me the invite and key. This was probably made by a new team. You know these triple-A companies like to gobble up smaller indie companies. Give me a moment; let me share my screen."

After a short while, Eduard managed to reposition himself properly on his chair and started his screen share.

<Eduard Lee>: "Do you see my screen?"

<Chunghee>: "Holy shit! That's a legit invitation. Click the trailer! I want to see the in-game graphic," he urged his friend hastily.

Eduard clicked on the trailer first. A bird-eye view of a continent appeared in front of his eyes. Beautiful landscapes sculpted by the gods emerged. Strange yet majestic trees hold up the sky. Purple rivers divided the earth.

<Eduard Lee>,<Chunghee>: "Holy shit," they uttered in surprise.

The camera then slowly glided toward a village by the riverside. Short palisades surround the primitive hold. Within it, exposed compacted wooden houses could. Few villagers moved about to the rhythm of their mundane lives. Everything seemed normal, peaceful and tranquil.

The video quickly sped up. Through time, from a small outskirt village, it expanded. Within a season, more villagers joined. Traders and friendly tribes came to visit, trade and negotiate. The settlement quickly and aggressively gobbled up more lands around it. As they progressed came the introduction of better technologies to the village, from a simple trade beacon to wind turbine. The settlement prospered.

Then, they came; beings dressed in nothing but war masks that resembled daemons from mythological books. They arrived in dozens and wielding nothing but crude swords and spears. Yet strangely, those weapons they carried were barely sharp enough to cut meat, let alone humans.

Contrary to Eduard and Chunghee's expectation that they will all charge in and die, the crazed naked weirdos started to glow with a red hue. Emerged from their bodies were faint glows of runes, symbols and tattoos. The light spread like a contagion devouring its victim, quickly moving from their heads to every nook and crannies; even their equipment was not spared. The cascading light finally stopped at the tip of their weapons. Weapons that could be at best sold at a dollar store; now glow viciously with a bright red hue. They are so sharp that looking at them makes you wince.

<Eduard Lee>,<Chunghee>: "That's magic," they uttered in joy.

Not to be outdone, the settlement villagers came out with a random assortment of guns; some carried rifles; some bore pistols; some held SMG. Yet, undeterred by the weirdos and their antics, they stood tall, brave and ready.

As the first shot fired, the weirdos charged. Some were hit; some were grazed; some managed to get out unscathed.

As the weirdos were about to touch the villagers' line, all the characters on the screen froze.

Yet strangely, the grass dripping with blood still swayed to the wind. The missed bullets continued on their distant journey. The leaves glided on the gentle breeze.

Finally, the title screen appeared.

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