by Keith Robinson
THIS BOOK IS COMPLETE AND FULLY UPLOADED. A published ebook edition is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited here: US - https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0CYKLTCNF UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CYKLTCNF I'm now hard at work on Book 2 and expect to publish around June 2026 if not earlier. Thank you! SPLIT REALMS LEVEL 1: THE CRIMSON CLOAK Arlo Cross, an odd-job man, shows up to clean out a shed for an old lady. But her grandson has built a Virtual Reality game and is paying test subjects to try it out. Wearing the headset for an hour will seem like four days in a richly detailed fantasy world. The game experience is immersive. Everything is so realistic that Arlo can’t believe it’s computer generated. A medieval village, amazingly human NPCs, and a simple quest to reach the top of a cliff and travel to a place called Midway and then onward to Pinnacle, where he will make a choice to save the good people. But save them from what? It seems the real threat in this place are the other Players. They’ve already completed the level and are sticking around in Free Play to cause havoc with the locals. “It’s just a bit of harmless fun,” they say. “NPCs aren't real.” They sure seem real to Arlo. When a young woman named Emery offers to help him on his quest, he finds himself falling for her... and his objective to save the good people suddenly takes on new meaning as he fights to protect them—and especially her—from the vicious gang of Players. A non-crunchy gameplay fantasy adventure with a Westworld vibe.
