<span style="font-weight: bold"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #8080FF">Launa O'Dare</span></span></div></span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #FF8000">"Hello there miss, I take it you have no idea as to where we are either? Well, either way, I could really get used to that view."</span></span><br/><br/>She wasn't registering any movement or sound outside of her captivation with the planet through the dome. In her head, she could recall somewhat the picture of what Earth should look like. She knew about the Earth, what it was and that she humans lived there along with other primates and a vast assortment of creatures. As she stared at the planet, however, she couldn't tell if it was Earth or not. Every now and then she could see bright circles of light come and go.<br/><br/>"What?" She said absentmindedly, finally noticing the people around her. There were an assortment of interesting figures. There was someone who had flora for cloths, which caught her attention. More people, some young and other very old, kept flooding into the large room. Each one had the same reaction after looking up. She could hear the wonder in each of their voices, but she still felt so overwhelmed that she couldn't understand what anyone was saying.<br/><br/>"It's just a picture," she finally said, "it has to be. A very HD picture."<br/><br/>She looked at the small group that had gathered near her. She was about to say something when-<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Sleepers." </span><br/><br/>A voice, something that sounded like a person, but yet also sounded like a computer, spoke throughout the halls and echoed through the dome. Some of the younger kids got really frightened.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Congratulations on making it through the Waking. Some of your cohorts did not manage to wake up. Their bodies will be removed and their rooms made available for the second wave of Sleepers.</span><br/><br/>"Let us go!" An old man said, shouting at the dome and looking around frantically. "You have no right to keep us here."<br/><br/>There was silence before the voice spoke again.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Death is the only freedom you will be awarded, Derek Longman, or finish the games.</span><br/><br/>"What games," Launa absentmindedly asked the small group near her.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"The games, Launa O'Dare, will now be your purpose for existence. Finish the games, finish the task, and I will grant you what you want."<br/><br/>"You likely are wondering what the games are. They are too complicated to explain in technical terms to your kind, therefore I will simply compare them to virtual reality simulators. However, simulator is a bad choice of word since what will be happening in the game will in fact be very real. You will die in truth, if you die in the game. Those you find in the game are not actors, they are not simulations. They are living and breathing, just every bit as real as yourselves. <br/><br/>In order to beat the game, you must fulfill the task or requirement. Your bear will be in every game and will provide you with special abilities, if you can find it. It will be hidden somewhere in the game world, but never more than half a mile from your first location.</span><br/><br/>"Why can't we remember who we are?" Launa asked.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">"Unimportant. You have ten minutes to reach the Amphitheater. Refuse to participate and there will be dire consequences. Your first game will be a test."</span><br/><br/>Launa was about to ask where this Amphitheater was, when all the lights shut off suddenly, only the light from the sun entering through the dome. One of the halls lit up and a few tentative steps were taken before people finally started filing through.<br/><br/>Launa turned to look at the others, "What do you guys think?"