The Keyboard - Part 1 [The Twilight Zone]

[Viking4s 10,791]

The Keyboard
[The Twilight Zone]

 

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone."

— Rod Serling

 

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Part 1

 

The place is here, the time is now, and the journey into the shadows that we are about to watch is the journey of Jānis – into The Twilight Zone.

 

 

"Yahoo!" said Jānis, staring at the screen of his computer. "I won it, I’m the best!" The exuberant boy jumped from his chair and dabbed victoriously.

 

A couple of minutes ago, he was filled with anxiety as he opened the web page of Tanki Online’s forum to check if the results of the contest were finally announced. He had put lots of effort in this contest to guarantee victory. He was not disappointed. He'd won the keyboard he coveted, one that did not come cheap.  

 

"The Keyboard Rhod 400 RGB, every ambitious gamer needs a keyboard witch features game-play facilitating functions, such as Anti-Ghosting or functional keys, and will additionally look great thanks to high quality back-lighting," claimed the product description on the leaflet. Surely it would be far better than the crappy one he currently owned. So far, he failed to impress at numerous clan training sessions, and blamed his lack of results on the low-priced equipment he possessed. Now it was a different story; his game-play would be slick and his stats would improve. This newly acquired equipment was a golden ticket to enter the best clan team, he knew it.

 

Jānis was what we called a "no-lifer" in the gaming world, he spent all his free time playing online games, mainly massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), either MMOG first-person shooter game (MMOFPS), MMO real-time strategy game (MMORTS) or MMO role-playing games (MMORPGs). You named it, he played it.

 

He lived in the centre of Riga, the Latvian’s capital, by the Daugava river in a small student bedroom and followed a curriculum at the Matemātikas un informātikas institūts (Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science). Jānis had no friends in real life, but on TO, where he was known as Martins666 (a.k.a. Beast, because of 666), he had many. They were mostly clanmates and other friends he made while playing.

 

A week later, after the release of the contest results, the long-awaited package had arrived and he collected it late afternoon from the concierge. He quickly ripped out the yellow and brown pack, stamped with Russian letters, from the protective wrappings. Then without further ado he plugged in and tried the brand-new keyboard. First verdict: smooth touch, streamlined moves and no key-ghosting. Bliss. After getting familiar with it, he connected with his TO clanmates on Discord to prepare for a clan war.

 

Jānis is a good player, he can pull some stunts but he never really had the magic touch that would make him la crème de la crème, so he presently plays as a sub most of the time. His ambition is to be the best of the best. If only his teammates could see his potential. So, in the meantime he waits in the lobby until he is summoned by the clan leader. The moment came, but as he joined the game, a strange pop-up windows appeared titled: "Initiate Active Gaming Emulator System; Yes / No."  

 

"What the Mult?"

 

Jānis was perplexed, underneath the question, he read another sentence in small characters stating: "I have read the Terms & Conditions.", accompanied with a tickbox. And then just below a button labelled "Start".  The boy was still pondering, until a voice broke the silence in his earphones.

 

"Beast, are you playing or not?". He heard from his impatient clan leader.

 

"Sorry, I have something strange that just appeared on my screen!"

 

"Noob, I don’t care! Get your sorry ass here, NOW!"

 

"Ok, jā jā." He grumbled and he quickly selected "Yes", ticked the box and clicked "Start". Immediately, his eyes caught the intermittent red flashing light of a button on his keyboard where the special functional keys were lodged.

 

"What is that new thingy again?" he wondered, but he had no time to investigate. "I’ll see to it later." He took his eyes back to the screen and brought his focus back to the fiery battle at work.

 

The five following minutes he played were the best he had ever played since he started TO. Everything he tried, did or planned actually worked out without any snags! He could not believe it. This equipment turned out to be the best keyboard ever!

 

"Beast, you were on fire today! Really impressive stuff you pulled off. Well done!" his clan leader commented at the end of the last round. After that his clanmates left but he stayed and played a few more amazing battles. He finally went to bed past midnight, a little more tired than usual. It was the best day of this life...or was it the last one?

 

That night his sleep was agitated, and he had a weird dream. It all started well. He was on a luxurious yacht moored by on a calm azure sea.  It was a warm afternoon with a cool and soft breeze. He felt young, strong, self-confident and invincible. Facing starboard, he surveyed the beach with gold sand and plentiful vegetation. A shadow appeared from the deep of the forest and walked toward the boat. Suddenly, he felt that the wind had turned colder and the water surface went into motion. A heavy atmosphere was filling the air with uneasiness and looming clouds in the sky were announcing the prelude of something sinister. He felt oppressed and incapable of moving… then he woke up feverish and sweating heavily. He disregarded this dream/nightmare and put it on the account of last evenings excitement and carried on with is life as normal.

 

But in reality, from this night onward, Jānis’ life is far from being normal.

 

TBC...

 

 

Read Part Two here 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Viking4s

[tweezers 1,034]

Approved.

 

-Extensive grammar corrections. 

-Rephrased a few sentences for clarity. 

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

Can't wait to see how this unfolds! Kinda reminds me of Stephen King's "Word Processor of the Gods."

[Viking4s 10,791]

Can't wait to see how this unfolds! Kinda reminds me of Stephen King's "Word Processor of the Gods."

Thanks. I have the start I and the end of the story, I only miss the middle part with the progression of the plot. It's my first short story.

 

I haven't read any of SK works, I only saw a couple of movies. My story have different source of influences, mainly "the twilight zone" for one, and one aspect found in "The covenant". There is another notable influence but I don't remember the title of the movie, it was a black and white EN movie, I think it was call something like this: The right hand of the devil. You can buy a hand that will give you success in the area you work. The story was about an author who cannot find idea for his next book, so he bought the hand from a beggar and he then wrote a successful book thanks to it, all was well until everything else went wrong, as the hand start to act on its own and doing evil stuff. So the author doesn't want it anymore, so he met again the beggar and ask him how to get ride of the hand. The guy, who miss his right hand now, tell him that in order to get ride of the hand he needs to sale it to someone else cheaper than the previous buyer paid for it (and his right hand would be severed). But I don't remember exactly how the story end, I think he realised he had paid a penny for it, so he cannot sale it to anybody else. I'm trying to find the plot details online but I have failed so far.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Viking4s

[Viking4s 10,791]

Mmm...interesting. Does this by any chance to do with Mr.Latvian :ph34r:?

Mmm...interesting. Maybe...

[Hippin_in_Hawaii 639]

There is another notable influence but I don't remember the title of the movie, it was a black and white EN movie, I think it was call something like this: The right hand of the devil. You can buy a hand that will give you success in the area you work. The story was about an author who cannot find idea for his next book, so he bought the hand from a beggar and he wrote a successful book, all was well until everything else went wrong, the hand start to act on his own and do evil stuff. So doesn't want it anymore, so he met again the beggar and ask him how to get ride of the hand. The guy, who miss his right hand now, tell him that in order to get ride of the hand he needs to sale it to someone else cheaper than the previous buyer paid for it (hand his right hand would be severed). But I don't remember exactly how the story end, I think he realised it had paid a penny for it, so he cannot sale it to anybody else. I'm trying to find the plot details online but I have failed so far.

 

I know the story you'r talking about. Gimme a day or two, and the name will pop up in my head.

 

Actually, that didn't take long. I think you're mixing two stories together.

The Monkey's Paw is a story about a mummified monkey's paw that grants the bearer three wishes, but they come at terrible costs.

The Bottle Imp is about a bottle with an imp that grants wishes, but if the owner dies, his/her soul goes straight to hell. The bottle cannot be abandoned, but must be sold at a loss.

 

Both of these have been the bases for numerous movies.

Edited January 16, 2018 by Hippin_in_Hawaii

[Viking4s 10,791]

I know the story you'r talking about. Gimme a day or two, and the name will pop up in my head.

 

Actually, that didn't take long. I think you're mixing two stories together.

The Monkey's Paw is a story about a mummified monkey's paw that grants the bearer three wishes, but they come at terrible costs.

The Bottle Imp is about a bottle with an imp that grants wishes, but if the owner dies, his/her soul goes straight to hell. The bottle cannot be abandoned, but must be sold at a loss.

 

Both of these have been the bases for numerous movies.

Thanks, but it's none of the stories you proposed, it's definitely one stories/movie (or TV movie) and the key plot was about the cursed hand that is passed from one person to another and provide skills to the owner but then turned out of control. The other details are blurred but that is clear. There is other stories where a limb is transplanted (hand of dead killer or heart of someone) and then take control of the new body it is attached, but no that's not those stories either.

Thanks anyway. :) 

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Interested to see how this story develops. :)

Edited January 17, 2018 by GrandExecutioner

[Viking4s 10,791]

Interested to see how this story develops. :)

The second part is coming :)

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

The second part is coming :)

Damn that procrastination.

[Person_Random 4,991]

Damn that procrastination.

Vik's even better than I am at procrastinating lol

[Viking4s 10,791]

Damn that procrastination.

Vik's even better than I am at procrastinating lol

I learnt from the best. My master Yis would be proud. :)

Half of it was already written a year ago :ph34r:

 

The TV series is coming back this year