Dreaming of Hades

[Dusk]

The white haze of light gradually faded. I'd teleported into a very familiar place, but the sight that greeted me was anything but familiar. Sure, some features I still recognised. I knew I was facing south because the two personal storage terminals were opposite me. And I could see distant buildings away to my right. The mystery orb was in place to the south-east, complete with its equally mysterious red mist and the tentacle-like arms that were reaching out of the ground as if to grasp it, but the buildings beyond that were now gone.

The place was a lot busier than normal. I might have been able to pass this off if someone was arranging a big hunt against the Argos or spiders located to the south of here, but there were other reasons. People seemed to be trading, chatting idly, anything but preparing for a hunt. The scene was reminiscent of Port Atlantis or Twin Peeks. Also, the swamp was gone, and in its place were several tall buildings. I walked forward to take a look, and I could see that many of them were intended for commercial use. "To Let" signs were evident everywhere.

As I looked around, there were market stalls located where the swamp used to be to the north of the teleporter. Looking beyond those, I wondered where the buildings that were normally in the distance had gone. Could the old market have been moved to here? I looked around the stalls - many of the owners were as I'd remembered at the old market. It must have been moved to here. But why?

I walked past the market and could soon see a group of buildings. They were arranged in a grid pattern, and I could eventually see there was twelve of them - all houses of different designs. I walked up to one of them, to be greeted by an Elite-S Sign with a simple message: "Show Home - please look around before selecting this design." I had a look inside. There was a modest-sized sitting room that might be used for a party or just to relax, a small kitchen and a couple of what I assumed to be bedrooms upstairs.

I took the opportunity to look around several of these properties. All greeted me with the same signed message, but all had different layouts. I soon realised that all were located on similar sized land plots - I'd estimate 20 metres wide by 30 metres long. Had Hadesheim now got it's own housing estate? More land to the north looked like it had been flattened and prepared for that very purpose. They're finally going to do something with this place, I thought.

Looking for answers, I decided to head back to the newly-found bustle of the area around the teleporter that I'd earlier emerged from. Once there, I tried to ask a few traders about the changes, but no-one seemed to want to talk. They were more interested in selling me their skins, paints and whatever else they'd got their hands on. In view of this, I decided to walk over to the commercial buildings in search of answers. I found myself drawn to one particular building. I walked into the lobby, before noticing a sign-posted office.

"Residential Planning and Construction", said the sign. I followed it into the office, and accessed one of the bank of terminals that were present. I'd never seen this type of terminal before, but it soon became apparent what their purpose was. They were to allow users to submit an application to build their own homes on a plot of land within the confines of the city. It transpired that the show homes that I'd seen earlier were all options for construction, but that the user could also propose any property of their design, with any materials at their disposal. All they needed was a deed for one of the plots.

The other thing that I learned here was that the plots I'd viewed, as relatively generous in area as they were, were actually the smallest available. There were also medium-sized and large plots. The latter plots covered ten thousand square metres each and were mostly located to the east of Hades C teleporter.

Realising that this was a major development, I wondered what else might have changed in this city. I left the office and headed for the far exit of the lobby. As I exited what was the south side, I was greeted with the sight of four apartment blocks that were under construction. I hadn't been able to see these beforehand as they were hidden from view by the commercial buildings. The apartment blocks were of the same design as the ones at Billton Towers, with the main body supported at the base on a series of pillars.

Now that I'd seen so much change here, I now wondered why the distant South-West sector was unchanged. I walked towards it. As I got to it's edge, I could hear the sound of shouting and gunfire. I excitedly ran in, through an alleyway, only to be greeted with the sight of an angry-looking Argonaut. It was large, possibly a Guardian or a Hunter. I froze with terror - too scared to even puzzle what this beast was doing here. I hadn't come equipped for a fight.

The argo had now seen me. After a pause it growled, then was about to run at me. I turned in panic, to run for my life. I was fearing the worst when I heard the sound of gunfire again. The argo's attention was diverted as a man in what looked like Bear armour killed the animal with six or seven shots.

"Er... thanks", I said, relieved that this man had turned up in time.

"you're welcome", he responded as he turned to run off.

"Wait!", I yelled. Having got this man's attention I asked what was going on.

"What are Argonauts doing in Hadesheim?", I enquired.

"It's all part of the changes here", he answered. "The South-West sector is now known as Hadesheim Zoo!"

Seeing that I was puzzled but excited at the same time, he continued.

"We get regular Argonaut spawns here to allow us to do urban hunts. It's great fun."

"Araneatrox spawn here also sometimes, a couple of times a week on average. But we tend to leave them to the ubers."

"My god", I remarked. "What else spawns here now?"

"We also get Molisks and Armaxes too", was the reply. "But the real fun is when someone sets the zoo up as a hunting and PVP zone for events. The top ubers practice here for the PK Games at the local stadium."

"There's a stadium here too?", I asked.

"Sure, just to the south-east of those apartment blocks that are being built."

This was definitely worthy of investigation. I thanked him again for saving my skin, and while he ran off to continue the hunt, I headed off to beyond the half-finished apartments to see what a stadium in Hades would look like.

From just past the apartment buildings I could see the stadium. It was very similar in build to the biodomes that are scattered around Calypso, but much bigger. I walked up to it to find that it was deserted but the entrances were open. I walked in, up a staircase, and into a seated area. What greeted me was an athletics track and infield, banked seating areas surrounding the track and a huge video screen hovering above the centre of the grassy area, a little below the roof. Just at this point, my attention was caught by an old man.

"Hey, feel free to take a look around", he called from one of the many rows of seats behind the entrance that I'd just come from. He had grey, curly hair, a small grey moustache and looked rather plump in his denim dungarees.

"You like it?", he continued. "I get to do the small maintenance jobs here".

"It's impressive", I replied. "What events go on here?" I asked.

"We do the lot", he enthused. "Athletics, football, rugby, pop concerts, pvp, pk gladiator events, you name it. And we're hoping to get permission for boxing soon", he continued.

"How do you get to stage so many different events?", I asked.

"The venue is fully customisable", he answered. "The seats move, the floor moves, its a real credit to the designers. And it went up in double quick time thanks to the factory nearby that supplied the materials."

"There's a factory nearby? Where?"

"Just a little to the east of here"

I made some idle chatter with the old man before leaving to find the factory.

Heading east, it was true. There it stood. Or rather they stood. There were several factory buildings, but one was clearly in the business of creating building materials judging by the nature of the stock on the forecourt. I looked around to try to get in but there was no obvious entrance.

I was going to look at one of the other factory buildings, but my attention was caught by something else. Across what looked like a freshly laid grassy park area, I could see a very large building. I walked over and as I got closer, I realised that it was a replica of The White House in Washington. The home of the US president. I was able to walk in through the front door. It was cavernous.

"Hi", called the cheery voice, echoing due to the shear scale of the place. "Do you like it? I just had it built."

The man, of medium build, with dyed blonde hair was sat in a huge armchair watching a large screen. There was what looked like an advertisement on at the time. It was promoting tourism in Hadesheim. "Hadesheim - It's your capital city", it proclaimed. The image then faded to be replaced by a continuity announcer. "Welcome, you're watching the Hadesheim Sport Channel", she said.

At this point, the owner of the mansion had realised I was starting to feel a little disorientated. And why wouldn't I? So far I'd seen the city transformed from a dull, almost lifeless place, into a conurbation with bespoke homes, mansions, apartments, office buildings, an event zone, a stadium, factories, evidence of a television station and a tourism department, and people, more people than I'd EVER seen here before now.

"I bet you didn't find the land zoned for the large space port to the south, or the teletransportation system?" the man asked.

"Telewhat?", I puzzled.

"Oh, think of the televators at the malls", he answered, "but these work horizontally to move people to fixed points around the city. That new gym that's been set up in town will be very busy! It’s the only way people will get any exercise now!"

The man continued to talk, telling me that he hoped to use his new home as a nightclub to rival the club due to open soon in the commercial area of the city, but as he did my attention was distracted by a faint, high-pitched buzz. This got louder and louder until it was unbearable...

I looked to my left. I was lying on my back. In bed. I thumped my alarm clock that displayed "7:15".

"Damn it", I muttered to myself, realising that I'd got to go to work. "None of that was real."

But one day, maybe... just maybe... it could happen...

[Pirx Danford]

Wow!

The stadium really sounds like fun :-)