CHAPTER TWO : NEW WORLD ONLINE

I got to watch the last moments of earth.

Fifteen hours….

Fourteen hours…

Time was moving at a crawl. I wondered where my body was. Did we leave earth yet? Did everyone in the line get aboard? I watched as a new hud appeared in my vision. A drop down bar that read,

STATUS :

INTERNET :

RECREATION ROOM:

DESTRUCTION LIVE:

Destruction Live was lit up. I guess this was what I was doing watching the destruction of the earth live. I clicked on the internet. I had full access besides a small note that read I would lose access when the ship was far enough away from Earth's servers.

I looked up live footage of the ship people were still lined up as far as the eye could see. "Are they going to be able to get this many people inside before we have to leave?" I looked up another camera which made my stomach cringe at the back of the line. People were trying to force themselves in the line rioting fighting screaming. The people that did were shot by soldiers in full metallic gear.

"They're going to die anyway. It makes sense that some people want to go fighting. Doesn't make me feel any better about all this though." I didn't want to watch anymore on it so I changed to lookup more of the game… well I guess I should say my new life. It's called New World Online. An MMORPG that is completely virtual reality. Where they are trying to recreate life as it is now. All the good stuff and the bad. Pain death joy… sex all has a place in the world.

I was hoping we would get started right away, but it seems they didn't want the people in the front of the line to have an unfair advantage so I get to watch the world… end.

Thirteen Hours…

The world is ending. I can see it now it's huge. The meteor that will end everything I knew. It's going to destroy the now empty hallways of the school I went to. It's going to destroy the apartment that I called home for the better part of the last five years. My computer my fridge… that I had many regretful late-night meetings with. I chuckled to myself, "It's hard not to think about how everyone's feeling right now how scared they are."

I clicked on the dropdown bar again this time clicking on Rec Room. I was no longer on the moon but in a large gymnasium. A new drop-down appeared labeled spawn item. Of course, I spawned a basketball. I was on the basketball team growing up through elementary middle and high school. "Not how I was expecting to spend the last hours of earth," I said to myself as a basketball materialized out of thin air into my hands.

I dropped the ball and let it bounce back up to my hands catching it. The ball felt nice I could feel every ridge in the ball. I felt the ball's weight… perfect. I smiled dropping the ball back down this time slapping it back down as it came back up… and again and again.

BOUNCE

BOUNCE

BOUNCE

THROW

SWISH

"Wooh!" I yelled out happily. Maybe I got a bit too excited it was just a basketball… but it felt amazing getting the ball in the hoop first try in a new body that I wasn't even sure what I looked like. With that line of thinking I opened the spawn list and spawned a handheld mirror. I smiled or at least what I remembered smiling to look like as I didn't have a mouth… or a nose or eyes. The only right thing was my skin tone. I didn't design myself yet, so I guess it makes sense that I look like this.

I put the mirror down laughing shortly, "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that. Being able to play in the rec room made the time go by quickly. I didn't need sleep I felt like I had an unlimited amount of energy.

12 hours….

11 hours…

10 hours…

Liftoff…

"Liftoff?" I questioned to myself pulling the drop-down list and went back to DESTRUCTION LIVE: Sure enough, I could see the spaceship was leaving from the opposite side of the planet the meteor was coming from. The ship looked so small from the moon. My body is on that ship. That was a weird thought. Here I am standing on the moon watching a ship leave the earth that I'm on… and I'm going to get to watch it all get destroyed.

I heard a beeping sound and then a female's voice along with text scrolling across the top of my vision, "Logins will start when the counter hits zero. Please enjoy the final moments of earth… soon you all will be in the New World. Congratulations and enjoy the journey." The beeping sounded again when she finished and the text disappeared.

9 hours…

I went back to the rec room this time spawning a swimming pool. I had some of my best memories from when I was in a pool. Time with family. Laughter. How long ago was it that I got to share a laugh with family? Doesn't matter none of them have been sound for a long time now anyway. I walked down a stair into the shimmering blue indoor pool. The water's temperature felt perfect. I took a few more steps down and laid back into the pool letting myself float around aimlessly.

6 hours…

4 hours…

When the time comes do I want to see it happen?

3 hours…

I'll be watching people die.

2 hours…

I should at least see my home planet off before I go. It'll be the last time I could see it.

1 hour…

I sighed and clicked back on the DESTRUCTION LIVE. The meteor was close it looked almost like a large moon about to hit the earth. The meteor was on fire it was entering the earth's atmosphere. This was it Earth's last moments. The meteor got closer by the second until it finally made contact. Where it touched red spread throughout the earth along with what looked like molten cracks. It continued to spread as the entire world was rapidly encrusted with red and flame. In an instant, almost seven billion people died.

3…

2….

1….

Everything turned black like someone turned off the TV screen.

"Welcome to The New World Online." A voice said as everything began to light up revealing what I know as the character creation screen.