1 Chapter 1 - Press Start

The start.

At the start of the year 2020, a new online community came into existence. No one ever explained what it was, and neither understood what it was about. There was a huge mystery as it seemed people inside were from other worlds.

The common theme was them talking about a particular world that combined all the magical stories as well as all of the eastern novels together into the world where it all existed together.

The world was named "Game to Live".

On January 15th 2020, Kyle saw it in an online community of his favourite MMORPG. An elf character, level 62, mentioned that "I have decided to accept an invite to 'Game to Live' I hope that there I can grind to my heart's content." After reading the thread further, he didn't find anyone else mentioning it. After he refreshed the page, the comment was gone and that persons account got banned. What's more that it seemed anything that person posted ever online was evaporated from the server.

'That's weird...' thought Kyle to himself. Searching further also didn't get him anything.

The days passed, and life went by with Kyle going to his 9-5 job. All of Kyle's free time was spent playing games and especially different MMORPGs. Winter was getting softer, and it would be spring soon.

But before that, on January the 31st, Kyle's life changed.

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Kyle was a dreamer, who always loved to play games and every day logged into one of his favourite games in hopes of distancing himself from the boring world outside, to the exciting worlds of magic and power. 

In this worlds, Kyle knew what he had to do to get stronger. He had a clear plan that would lead him to success.

At 23:00, he suddenly got a buzz from the Intercom. It was his neighbour, a very young and elegant woman, around 35 years old. They usually greeted each other in the hall with a nod. At one point, she borrowed an egg from him once. Also, Kyle helped her move some boxes from her car around the start of the year. That was about as much as he knew about her

It was surprising that she would come so late, but he opened the door to ask what was the matter. What followed surprised Kyle even further.

"Good evening Mrs Anya. How can I help you so late at night? Is it another egg?" Joked Kyle.

"No... Mr Kyle, I know that we don't know each other too well, but I have no relatives, and due to my past, I also have no friends…" it seemed that she wasn't sure about explaining further, "I will be going on a trip tomorrow, and I want you to have some of my things for storage if that is okay with you?."

Kyle looked at her with a questioning eye, "What things? I am sorry, but I don't think I can accept anything too serious from you. We are not related, and I am not sure that I want to safe keep anything. I am pretty messy myself." He couldn't understand what was happening, but he had a gut feeling that he didn't even want to know.

"No, I won't take a 'No' for an answer -" Anya suddenly got angry, "and I have very little time, please come with me." She grabbed Kyle's hand and walked to open the door to her apartment on the other side.

Kyle really didn't want to go to her apartment, as he was doing a dungeon, and the thought of being kicked didn't appeal to him. He would have to widely wait 30 minutes before once again being able to enter.

"I promise, you want these things. I am only doing this because I have no choice. You are the only person I can leave this with!" reassured him, Miss Anya.

"Okay, show me what you want to give me fast. I have an important task I need to finish" killing the boss can't wait, Kyle thought.

He went into her apartment and was astonished. There were 3 rooms and a corridor connecting all of them. There was no furniture in any of the rooms and only empty boxes that were azure in colour, the colour of spring water. Those were the same boxes he helped her carry.

'How did she even cook that egg she borrowed in here? The kitchen is empty! There isn't even a stove or a rice cooker!' Kyle was astonished. It was impossible to live here.

In front of him, he saw 3 other boxes, full of something. 2 of them had his name on, stuck to the side.

"Okay, here I am. What did you want to give me? How long is this trip anyway? Will you want these things back? You might not know, but I haven't lived here for a long time, and I am not expecting to stay much longer." This was a lie. Kyle was getting nervous. He was not going to move anywhere anytime soon, but maybe that would push her from giving him unnecessary responsibilities.

Anya looked back at the boxes and said, "Don't worry, let me explain. These first 2 boxes are things that I can't take with me, and it is either thing you can sell or something that you can use. Also, promise that you will only open these boxes after we are done talking, and you go back to your place?" Anya looked with hopeful eyes. "As for how long will I be on this trip… probably too long. Don't worry. This is a gift from me to you. I won't ask back for any of this," she slightly smiled, "from neighbour to neighbour."

"What? Why? You are not going to poison or explode my apartment? What have I ever done to you for you to be either so nice or so mean to me?"

'That box can contain poisonous snakes for all I know,' Kyle thought.

"You would have to believe me on that one. Just trust me; you will not regret this." Anya words made Kyle's uncertainty go down a bit.

"Okay, so what about the third box?" That box seemed too different and was too well looked after, with no dust, and no marks from moving that box.

Anya hesitated herself, "I didn't want to give you this one at first. It was for someone else…" Anya bit her lips in unhappiness. "This box contains an invite to the same trip that I will go to. There is a guide inside of it, and you can decide whenever you will be interested or not. Only open it after you get back, though! This is very important!"

This whole situation seemed like a total mess that Kyle wanted to be no part of, but he always had a soft heart for women. He couldn't say no to someone who certainly looked desperate and had no other choice, it seemed.

"Okay, I will take the boxes. One condition, though. I want to record this on my phone, that if anything happens, I have evidence that I got those boxes from you." He looked from top to bottom at the boxes.

'Smart thinking man, way to go. Now it doesn't matter what is inside. I can prove I got it from a neighbour!' Kyle felt proud of his brain to himself.

"No problem," said Anya. That really caught Kyle off guard. 'Since when girls are okay with cameras anyways?'

This kept on going for a while. Kyle and Anya talked and exchanged some awkward questions and answers. Kyle got no new information from her.

As soon as it hit 23:55, an alarm started going on Anya phone, and she insisted that it is too late and he needs to take boxes to his apartment as soon as possible.

"Are you sure you will be alright in this apartment? It has no furniture or anything" Kyle wanted to show that he wasn't a jerk to leave a girl alone here.

"I will be fine — it has all that I need.", she finished off in a whisper.

As soon as Kyle moved all off the boxes and left them in his apartment hall, there suddenly resounded the best sound of his life.

The bells from the churches nearby indicated that it was 00:00, and they were beating in unison at the same time. Just outside his door, some wonderful music accompanied those bells. This has never happened before. It felt as if music from heaven itself was coming down. It was a harp, the trombone, the piano, and every single instrument coming together for the best masterpiece ever.

Kyle stopped as soon as he heard the music, just as he placed the last box down. Rather he got stopped by the music. He couldn't move at all. Suddenly, everything went black.

When he opened his eyes, it was already morning, and he was in the V position, lying head down and butt up on the floor. His whole face was hurting, and he might have broken his jaw.

"What the $*%# was that?!"