Intro

Braxton went to the dumpster behind his favorite restaurant. He could always find a decent meal in the upscale side of town late in the evening. The trick was not getting caught.

He'd been homeless for two years. Since he ran away from an abusive father. Living on the streets was difficult and he wasn't old enough to get a job without his parents' permission. He was only fourteen. It was a difficult life he had chosen for himself but, at least he was now in control.

He slipped unseen, or so he thought, into the parking area behind the Jade Palace. As he had done many times before, he lifted the lid and slid inside before turning on his flashlight. His feet hit the bare floor of the metal container and the sound reverberated hollowly. His light shown onto an odd sight.

There was a table with a chair in the center of the room. The dumpster was clean, as if it had never been used before. The aroma of the meal sitting on the table was intoxicating. A large plate of beef and broccoli was piled high over rice. A man's figure could be detected opposite the plate.

"Have a seat young man. Eat up. We will conduct business after you've finished. I would highly recommend you finish this. It will be hard to say when your next chance at a meal like this will come again, if ever." The dark figured man informed him.

Braxton shined his light on the mysterious figure, but the light seemed to be sucked into the man. Rather than wash over him and provide any insist into who he might be.

"Who are you?" Braxton inquired as he tried to lift the lid on the dumpster and escape.

"This is not important for you to know. Do not test my patience or you will forfeit the benefits of the meal." The dark figured man pointed to he seat across from him.

The lid did not have any give. It most certainly did not feel like the lightweight plastic lid he'd always encountered in the past. His hand had come up against something hard and unyielding. He resigned himself to going to eat. His mind whirled with possible escape plans. Eating the meal could by him time to think if nothing else.

Braxton reached the table in two short steps and sat down. He began eating slowly. While he was eating he could feel the nourishment entering his blood. His daily food intake was not enough to sustain his body's needs. He suffered from malnutrition. This meal tasted amazing but it was more than that. It seemed like the nutrients were flooding into his muscles directly.

The man began talking. "You have been coming here once a week, every week, for a few months now. It was not hard to know when to expect you. We have been feeding you trace amounts of crystal nanites for a while now. We tuned them into the blood you left on the container during one of your many trips here."

The man pulled out a device and held it up in front of him. "You are at ninety-five percent. If you had not decided to eat you would most surely have died before you entered the blood furnace. That would've been a shame to be sure. On the other hand, it would have been useful for our data collection."

Braxton decided he may as well ask a few questions while he tried to finish eating and find a way out of his current predicament. "What is he Blood Furnace?"

"It is the first stage of a game-world being designed for mankind to escape reality. You are lucky number, nine hundred and ninety nine. Those before you have all perished. The willing participants have stopped coming so, we've decided to collect the criminals and lowlifes in the area. We are putting them to use. It really is a community service and if you survive you will be richly rewarded. That is about as much as you need to know about what it is I suspect." The dark figured man informed him.

"Can I ask one more question? What did you mean I'm at ninety five percent?" Braxton inquired quickly.

"You had ingested ninety five percent of the minimum nanites required for your User Interface to upload. Without enough nanites in your body, you would be completely on your own." The shadowy man replied.

"What do the nanites do?" Braxton questioned trying to buy more time.

"I'm not here to play twenty questions with you. I'm here to collect you and prepare you physically. If you survive long enough, you will learn along the way. That is a big if." The dark figured man's voice trailed off as he finished. It was like his focus had shifted to something else.

Braxton felt the floor under him slowly start to move. He jumped up with a start, as light below the floor started to flood into the space. It wasn't a bright light, but it cast shadows. None of it seemed to touch the man he'd been talking with. The ceiling disappeared above him as the floor picked up speed in it's decent.

"Sit down and finish your meal." The man exclaimed roughly.

Braxton complied sheepishly. He picked up his chopsticks and filled his mouth.

"Put this armband on when you have a minute. It will attune you to the world. Do not lose it for it will contain your weapons and inventory. You will find it to be an endlessly useful asset in he days, weeks and if you are lucky, the years ahead." The man set an average looking black wristwatch with a digital interface screen, in front of him.

Braxton took the watch and looked at it. The watch was far heavier than he expected it to be. The small watch must have weighed a full five pounds but it was less than two inches in diameter and less than a half inch thick.

"I'd recommend putting it on your non dominant wrist so the weight doesn't impair your fighting abilities." The dark figure said.

The lift was coming to a stop. Braxton could feel it slowing down. He took the watch and slipped it onto his left hand. It quickly started to interface with the nanites under his flesh and was sucked under the skin. Braxton screamed and fell to his knees grasping his wrist. "Ow! What the fuck is this thing?"

"I've already told you what it is. You have no hope of fighting or escaping. Why would I lie? It is better for our research if you succeed than if you fail. You will be entering the Blood Furnace in a couple of days. I suggest you learn all you can from the masters assembled prior to entering. Train hard and prepare well before entering. If you reach the Hellmouth level we will meet again." The dark figured man slowly vanished and light flooded into the space he previously occupied.

"Shit I should've just stayed home." Braxton said half under his breath.