Never an Escape

My Xbox 360's cooling fan gently whirred to life as I pressed the power button on the console faceplate. The TV went black for a second, and then the power-on animation for the Xbox 360 gaming console started. I opened the disc tray, placed a rental game in the tray, and closed it.

The game loaded, and I selected "play game" on the Xbox 360 dashboard. I skipped past the game intro by repeatedly pressing the A button, as I had already seen it many times. I pressed the Start button when the game prompted me to, and I selected 'New Game'.

I was brought to the character selection, but something was not right. Sam B's face wasn't exactly the right shape, nor was his skin tone.

The other four character's faces and skin tones were also morphed to similar appearances as Sam B.

Nothing else seemed to happen, so I selected the newest playable character, John Morgan, the Hand-to-Hand expert.

I was then given the option to: 1. select a preset skill distribution from level 15, 2. start at level 1, or 3. start at level 15 and distribute the skills myself. I grinned happily, and selected 'Begin at level 1'.

I watch through the pre game-play intro with no quirks other than the ones noted before.

When the game was just about done with the intro, the screen went static and shut off, as did my Xbox 360.

"What the Hell!" I growled.

The screen turned back on, but the words upon it will forever curse my mind: “Jehrnjv lwlg ljdi, mjd mg jlwlg srmjvli"

"Nothing ever ends, and war never changes" I unconsciously muttered.

I don't know how I understood that code so well, but before I could comprehend its meaning, two black tendrils rapidly snaked out of the TV, grabbed my arms beneath the shoulders, and whisked me into the black expanse of nothingness that was my TV.