<<replace>>I pick up the controller. <<becomes>>I close my eyes.<<becomes>>I breathe.<<becomes>>[[And before I know it...|there]]<<endreplace>>\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
[[Come back next week for the FINAL CHAPTER of...|end2]]\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
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We're sitting at the LAN. It's 5 against 1. Everyone's using a mouse and keyboard. Except me. \n\nJames pauses the game. "Mark, There's something we haven't told you about the [[Iron Controller|vibrate]]."\n\nI wonder [[what it could be|the gift]]?\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
I have the Iron Controller. I can't lose.\n\n"Alex, I don't know what happened to you over the years. I don't understand what's going on, but if that's your wish I will grant it. 1v1 mate, I will do this. But you must understand, I'm not the same person who left all those years ago..."\n\n"You're not the only one who's changed Mark. And soon [[you'll see that|enough talk]]."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
A lot has changed over the years.\n\nShane Warne posters? Really? Yoghurt. Everywhere. In the mugs, in the bowls. Unwashed. Coffee mugs. Way too many to count. \n\nThere's darkness here. So much darkness. Literally and figuratively. An inescapable oppression of tennis, Esports and...\n\n[[Wait a goddamn minute.|where]]\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Now you're strong enough." Continued James, "We believe that now, in your current form, you have the ability to use the Iron Controller for its [[true purpose|lights]]. To enter the cheat codes to the universe itself."\n\n"Now [[you can go home|but how]]. Without destroying time and space. Probably."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
Back home... back to Kotaku, back to me chair and my porridge and my website. \n\nThe dream still [[burns bright|why]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"I'm fine. At least I was fine until you showed up.\n\n"But I knew this day would come. I've been planning for this day all my life.\n\n"So I have [[a proposition for you|proposition]].\n\n"I'll play you for it. I'll play you for control of Kotaku Australia. You and that fancy new controller of yours against me on my elite, PROFESSIONAL mouse and keyboard."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Bend space and time?"\n\n"No, it lets you bend space and... Wait how did you know that?"\n\n"I wasn't being serious. [[ARE YOU SERIOUS|what2]]?"\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
I am [[there|kotaku]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
I feel the Iron Controller shake in my hand. \n\nWeird, [[the game's paused|the gift]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Wait... I've been here all these years and you're only telling me this now?"\n\n"I could have gone [[home|home]] years ago!"\n\nDan leaned in. "Not [[exactly|precision]]..."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
I look at the Iron Controller. I see light eminate from its casing. A low rumble. It vibrates on the desk, [[calling to me|but how]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"You already <i>know</i> how."\n\nAnd he's right. I can feel it. A tether stronger than any bluetooth. The Iron Controller is part of me and I am part of the controller. I already know.\n\nI already know how to use this controller. I already know how to bend [[space and time to my will|control]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"From the moment we laid eyes on it, we knew the Iron Controller was special, but we weren't prepared for [[<i>how</i> special|how special]]. The Iron Controller has the ability to..."\n\n[[Let me enter the game, physically?|enter the game]]\n[[Make the perfect porridge?|perfect porridge]]\n[[Bend space and time?|what]]\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Your porridge is gone Mark, like it never existed. Much like your influence on this website."\n\nI don't understand.\n\n"Alex? Is everything okay? [[This isn't like you...|fine]]"\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
A familiar place.\n\nA familiar [[voice|alex]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Wait," I replied. "I can... travel through space and time?"\n\n"Does that mean what I think it means?"\n\n"Does that mean I can go... [[home|home]]?"\n\n"But that doesn't make [[SENSE|why]]!"\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"You still don't understand the <i>power</i> of the Iron Controller." \n\n"If you had tried, as untrained user, to travel through space and time..."\n\n"The results could have been catastrophic. The delicate dimensional balance that now exists could have tipped, tearing a hole through time and space, destroying everything you hold dear. But now, you have the skill."\n\nDan folded his arms.\n\n"Now... you are [[ready|ready]]."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
This is it. This is what I was born to do.\n\nWith The Iron Controller in my hands, [[there's no way I can lose|chapter 5]].\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
James\nDan\nTanya\nCeleste\nJo
<<replace>>"Welcome back."<<becomes>>[[I open my eyes.|eyes]]<<endreplace>>\n\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
I recognise that voice from anywhere. Alex, my trusted deputy.\n\nBut deeper, [[weathered somehow|hello]]...\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Let me enter the game, physically?"\n\nTanya closed her eyes and pinched the the top of her nose. "That's not a real thing, Mark. That only happens in movies. No, this controller lets you [[bend time and space|what2]]."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
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"Years of study. Years of speculation. But we could never truly know... until you arrived. \n\n"Until you -- the one -- came to this hallowed cave and truly awakened the [[Iron Controller's powers|the gift]]."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Make the perfect porridge?"\n\nTanya raised an eybrow. "No, Mark. It... Wait, I don't even know how that would work. It lets you [[bend time and space|what2]]."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"It was [[just a theory|study]] at first, part of the prophecy."\n\n"But we always suspected."\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>
"Where the hell is my [[porridge|porridge]] Alex?"
"I've been expecting you Mark. The others took you for dead but I always knew this day would come."\n\nI open my eyes. Different. So different. What the hell has [[happened to this place|new kotaku]]?\n<<set ga('send', 'event', 'passage', 'loaded', 'Chapter4 - ' + state.history[0].passage.title); >>