8 Real World

I quickly logged out and felt a tug upon my mind as my consciousness returned to my body. I sat up and removed the VR headset. I took a second to adjust to the physical world, then went downstairs.

As I walked down the stairs I heard male and female voices coming from the kitchen. I walked in and heard, "Surprise!!!"

My family had come over to surprise me for my birthday.

I lived with my Aunt Zila, and Uncle Arthur. I moved in at age seven when my parents died. They were very loving people. They weren't super rich but we always had enough to get by. I had learned to appreciate what I had and be grateful for it.

After the initial "Surprise" they all told me happy birthday and my Aunt Zila made everyone sit down to eat lunch. She had made my favorite, homemade chicken and dumplings.

Aunt Zila addressed everyone sternly, " Now its Nathans birthday and his only wish is to play his little game today, so we are only going to keep him for an hour, max. "

Everyone laughed and nodded their agreement. They knew how much this day meant to me. I had talked about it non-stop to anyone who would listen.

She had invited over her brother, my Uncle Charlie along with his wife my Aunt Lisa. They had brought their kids, my cousins Jake and Emma. Emma is a 12-year-old pretty blond, and Jake is a dorky looking 16 year who hadn't grow into himself yet but believed he was grown.

As we began to eat, Jake seemed like he was about to burst. He couldn't hold it anymore and excitedly said, " Nate, you have been in the game so you didn't see the news. Big stuff is going on, Dad can I show him the video! Please! "

Jakes dad, my Uncle Charlie had worked at a Gold farming company for the past ten years. He is currently leveling up a character in B.L.A.N.K. and getting paid to do it. How lucky.

That being said, he is always up to date on the latest news involving anything B.L.A.N.K.

Uncle Charlie shrugged and replied, " Go ahead and show him."

Jake excitedly pulled out his Tablet and as the video loaded he said, " Ok, so recently the big guilds have been working on the main storyline quest, right?"

I nodded, fully aware of the current "Endgame".

Jake continued talking, " Well, the competition has bottlenecked at a particular quest line, and now they are stuck. "

I nodded and asked Jake, " What is the quest? "

Uncle Charlie interjected, " They are supposed to find a long lost prince who is the last remaining heir to the throne. He is to be the next emperor. He is in hiding in one of the beginner villages. "

I nodded and said, " Yeah so what's the hold-up? "

Jake chimed back in, " Because the prince has gone missing! No one can find him anywhere! "

"This is putting a huge strain upon the Five, allowing independent guilds to catch up. They are furious. ", said Uncle Charlie.

I nodded and pointed to the tablet.

" What's the video about? ", I asked.

Jake pressed play as he replied, " So someone watching took this, and it went viral. It already has 500k hits. This is the last time anyone saw the prince. The video is called demon. "

The second he pressed play I knew what I would see. When he said the name of the video it just confirmed it. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing.

The video was only two minutes long but was very good quality.

It showed a young man with a dark black aura surrounding him and luminescent eyes approach a man with a bucket of ice water. As I watched the video of myself my mind spun out of control.

What the hell is going on? Olaf was a drunken slob that nobody cared about, how could he be a prince?

That's when all the pieces fell into place.

The ruby necklace, his lack of combat training and general likability. Once I began to think of him like that his behavior made much more sense.

The video kept playing and I watched myself begin to beat poor Olaf until he passed out, his cries of pain etched into my mind.

The video showed a player trying to stop him, but the guards intervened and took him away. It ended with me dragging the man into the dark of the alley.

My Uncle and Jake were watching me for some kind of reaction, but I showed none.

Jake put down the tablet and said, " This was the last time anyone has seen the prince. The major guilds are on a manhunt to find this demon. "

I slammed my fist on the table, stood up and yelled, " Those bastards!"

Everyone was silent at my sudden outburst.

My aunt asked, " Are you ok Nathan?".

Realizing I was making a scene I tried to calm down. I took a breath and apologized, " Yeah, I'm sorry, you know how I get worked up."

" Uncle Charlie, Jake can l speak with you in private for a minute? ", I asked with a sense of urgency.

They were confused but agreed. One minute later we were upstairs in my room.

Jake expressed his confusion, asking, " What's all this about? "

I was freaking out by this point. I was pacing and wringing my hands together nervously.

"Ok, guys this is bad like I'm freaking out!", I exclaimed.

They were unsure what was going on. Uncle Charlie asked, " What are you freaking out about? "

I grabbed Jakes tablet from his hand and pointed at the picture of the "Demon." displayed on its screen.

" Because that is me!"