1 The Dream Spark
Throughout the night, heavy thunderstorms raged and showered around a house relentlessly.
Lightning lit up the skies and quicky illuminated a dark room through a crack in a bedside windows curtain.
Soundly sleeping paying no mind to the war of thunder and lightning raging outside overhead, spilling rain like blood and sweat; a young boy dreams.
Within his bed he quietly dreams of an unfamiliar face. A woman with hair as long as the night, white as morning light, and a expression filled with freight.
"She is beautiful", thought the boy. Thunder and Lightning raged over her head, rain erupted from the skies and covered her face. All the beauty the boy saw was then painted over by red.
The sky was bleeding, her body now drenched in the color of blood. It streamlined down her head, past her vibrant green eyes that reflected the sky she watched intently. Down her nose and mouth to drop into the palms of her opened hands.
Pooling up until it spilt over, she looked down into her reflection in the blood and realized she could see only the young boy.
Just as quickly as the storms outside erupted, the dream was shattered by a crack of lightning. The boy arose from his bed, drenched in sweat and breathing as quickly as the rain fell above him. He looks to his left and reaches to find his phone charging by his bedside on his wooden desk.
He grabs it quick and turns it on, jerking it from it's charging cable. He is somewhat blinded by the light of the phone but manages to make out a text from his mother. He unlocks his phone and reads the words, "Hey Strife, look outside the moon is so bright!"
Strife crawls out from under the covers and to the window to the right of his bed. He peers outside to see nothing but darkness and the illumination of rain falling past a nearby street lamp. He sees its 5:34 AM on his phone screen, looks at the text and sees it was from three hours earlier. 'The moon is most likely setting by now, he thinks to himself.'
Strife plops back down into the cocoon of his blankets, "Whatever, I'm going to back to sleep.", he says in a tired tone. The rain continues to fall outside, easing him into his slumber once again.
The next morning Strife awakens to the blinding lights of day shimmering through his curtains and striking him directly in his eyes. As if ordered by the sun to specifically blind him. He reaches out under the covers with his foot and moves the curtain in a way that it blocks the light.
"Herggggffffstupidsunpggffff", he grumbles to himself as he lays back and stares at the ceiling.
"Also, what the hell was that dream last night!?", Strife yells to the air around him.
He peers around him room, just the usual pile of dirty clothes on the floor and retro gaming aura his room emanates. Strife designed it this way, shelves filled with old consoles and games. Starships dangling from the ceiling by string and posters of old movies scattered across his rooms walls.
Despite everything in his room being out of date for his time and especially for his age. Strife finds some comfort in the older generations sense of style.
Strife picks up his phone again, realizing he forgot to plug it back in last night and now the batteries drained to 17%. "Son of a bitch, I'm such an idiot!" Strife mumbles as he plugs it back in.
The year is 2217, within this age technology has far outstretched what was perceived as 'logical' back in the early 2000's. In the year 2192 human technology took a dramatic leap forward as engineers discovered the ability to create near infinite memory within some of the smallest pieces of tech. Following this discovery, humanity was able to craft hyper realistic AI or 'Artifical Intelligence', fully harness programs that shifted through data to intricately design cures for diseases outside the minds capabilities. Yet, most promising for some was the new invention of virtual reality. With such an expansive memory capacity, video games took on a whole new personality. This new age was named 'The 22st century spark'.
The dreams of humanity, the fantasies of the average person could be portrayed perfectly through their games. Strife just recently turning 16, grew up with this tech but hasn't lived to see the first virtual reality come to fruition. That is, until today.
Strife stumbles through his social media on his phone when he notices that he's got a lot of notifications. "What the hell is going on?" Strife says as he opens up a message from his friend Marcus. "Strife! Dude! IT'S HAPPENING, WE ARE ALIVE TO SEE IT!" included on his message was a link.
Strife opens the link and is taken to a website from a company called, 'The Dream Spark'. He sees bold and colorful advertisements for many things but one thing stands out. It's their newest item, Strife reads out, "Lock, our newest technology fulfills the promises and dreams of the past decades desiring Virtual Reality. Be the key of our new system we've termed 'Lock'. Be the visionary for the world's that are to come. Be prepared, come with a thriving imagination, and above all else, have fun!"
"What the hell is this?" Strife whispers to himself as he continues to read. "Purchase today, be one of the first alive to step into our brave new world." There is a price listed on the bottom of the advertisement listed at 1000$ a console.
"There is literally no way in hell, this thing can be worth that much, or even real. Gaming industries have spit out cheap knock off VR systems for over a hundred years and they've never figured out what we want." Strife complains as he starts looking up this companies reliability.
"Our system utilizes new technology for it's expansive world generating abilities, and perfect replication of all five humans senses within the virtual reality. Our system monitors brain activity on a cellular level, any shift, any thought of motion, and sense is transmitted directly to the VR world. No other company has obtained such results, we are dedicated to providing humanity with perfection. Your dreams of VR have come to fruition here. Don't believe it, try a demo version free. Enter your full name, email address, and mailing address in the 'Mail me the demo' link below and we'll have it shipped in less than a week. Our demo system is a smaller interface, a simple earpiece that has the same premise and functionality as the original console but is strictly limited to a demo phase. You'll be able to play in VR using this device for only a limited time, 24 hours. We are confident that will be enough time to convince you of the power and functionality of our Lock. Thank you for being here, have a pleasant experience. Sincerely: CEO of The Dream Spark, Aaron Nostalgia."
Strife takes a moment to reflect what he just read, he looks to his phones battery life now at 33%. "Hmm, looks like intriguing I suppose, better message Marcus back to be sure on this. I don't want to have this device delivered to me and it be a piece of trash and now some shady website knows where my house is." Strife thinks to himself as he leaves the website.
Strife opens up Marcus's previous text and replies, "Yo, dude, got your text, read the websites advertisement. Is the VR system what you were talking about? Seems shady man, never heard of this company before." Strife delivers the message and is texted back immediatly with another link. "Um, ok?" Strife says as he clicks the link.
He's brought to a video posted by one of the companies major shareholders wearing the console for the first time. The console looks sleek and new on his head. It's silver mostly with bits of light blue crafted in between the parts. It extends over the entire head and looks to fit perfectly as if they're wearing a thin helmet. It doesn't cover the ears or face but does cover the eyes.
"It's not even plugged in." Strife says as he clicks play. The video starts with the man already wearing the helmet, a large screen shows what he sees in the VR world. It shows him playing a game Strife is unfamiliar with. Strife skips to the end of the video to see the man who was wearing the device now crying. The headset is on the ground and his hands are now covering his eyes holding back tears.
"What the fuck?" Strife says as he gets another text from Marcus.
Marcus-
Dude, it's legit, they've been working on this for decades they said in secret so that other companies wouldn't take away their moment. I already ordered the Demo, we can play the only game they got released right now on it together for 24 hours. You down?
Strife-
I guess man...let me order mine real quick. If you get yours in before me, let me know but don't play it until I get mine. I want to play with you if I can.
Marcus-
For sure, we'll experience the NEW WORLD TOGETHER!
Strife-
Don't be weird man, it's just a game.
Marcus-
Hehehe ;)
