1 Chapter I - An Average Joe

Marcus was your average run-of-the-mill young man who had recently graduated from university. Excelling in nothing and being utterly underwhelming in every subject, he had just barely passed the minimum marks required to graduate. His mother and younger sister were excited beyond jubilation during the ceremony, while his father did everything not to reveal the shame he held for his slacker son.

To say that Marcus was anything beyond average was an understatement, average height, build, looks… if it weren't for his near-eidetic memory, his intelligence would most definitely be average. His only interest was video games, but even then, he was never skilled enough to join the professional circuit or outgoing enough to make it as a streamer.

***

Months had passed following his graduation ceremony, and as he was taking the long scenic route home following yet another unsuccessful job interview. Cursing in his mind, his hands clenched tightly into a fist in the pockets of his slacks, his mind wandered to the past few months since graduation.

The month had just started days ago, and he had already failed three times to land a job… twelve the month prior and fifteen the month before.

Sighing inwardly, his head sunk into his chest.

"Father is going to kill me..." He thought as he stood at the crosswalk, his eyes fixated on the glowing red palm indicating to wait. The lights flashed and the white 'person' indicating it was safe to cross appeared.

His mind was deep in thought, trying to find the excuse he could deliver to his father but couldn't find the answers he needed to stay his wrath.

His father was a corporate mogul who had lost everything due to a takeover, and their idyllic lifestyle was lost. With his paltry buyout, his father opened a factory. Still, due to his reputation as a failed CEO, it never grew to the heights he was accustomed to and remained a small business that mainly dealt with other small businesses.

This had caused strife in the family, as his hopes for his son to bring their prestige back were met with failure after failure, but Marcus was never an ambitious person. He simply coasted through life with a silver spoon before, and he could never break out of that stigma after the downfall.

The heat from the summer day was giving way to the fantastic night as he walked through the massive city. His mind wandered as he strolled down the cramped bustling sidewalk.

The city never truly slept as those running from their offices returning home to their families seceded to the youth leaving their homes to enjoy the nightlife.

Marcus had the time to waste his life away with them, but by no means. To be honest with himself, he didn't really care to spend his time in the numerous bars and nightclubs drinking away his youth and chasing after women he never had a chance with.

After taking far too long to get back home, Marcus avoided all contact with his family and went straight to his room.

The small apartment was just barely able to house the four members, with a makeshift room being set up for him. The small space Marcus generously called his room didn't even have any available floor space, as his bed and desk took up the entire area.

He took his coat off and tossed it on his bed, and loosened his tie. He couldn't even dream about making space for a chair as he sat at the end of his bed and booted up his computer.

As the computer sprung to life, he had to resist the urge to immediately open his favorite MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) and forced himself to complete his due diligence.

He booted up his browser and went through the dozen different job recruitment sites and applied to every single one he felt qualified for; this was becoming even more difficult as time passed as the constant rejections were beginning to affect his confidence.

Next, he went into his email and began combing through all the rejection notices when he saw an email he didn't recognize. The subject read:

'Tired of Your Everyday Life?'

The subject was intriguing, and he almost clicked on it, but he knew better than to open suspicious emails, so it went immediately into the trash.

Afterward, he booted up World of Elders: Fantasy Wars (The World), a game that had dominated the MMO scene following the immersion dive craze. Immersion Dive technology had become the next best thing after the nightmare that was Virtual Reality.

Hailing as the evolution of technology, Immersion Dive took the next step doing away with all the risks of physical injury and psychological delusions that were running rampant that came from using Virtual Reality when he was a young child. Released shortly before his father's company went under, he was instantly addicted; however, after losing everything, he had to sell his Dive Pod to help with their finances and had to settle for the much less impressive sync rate of the Dive Visor.

The difference was night and day; it was akin to comparing 160p to 4K; it just didn't compare. In addition, the Dive Visor could only be used while in a sedentary sitting position, while the Dive Pod could be used in place of sleep and allowed the user to dive for up to two weeks without the need for food or water. It was akin to being placed in cryogenic hibernation.

The drawbacks of going longer than two weeks were too risky, and the company created a failsafe mechanism that automatically booted the user, as the manufacturers couldn't afford the backlash following the testing phase.

Marcus couldn't do anything about this, however, as the pods were astronomically more expensive than the visor. This didn't bother him as he was never able to become a celebrity gamer, and so the quality was only seen, heard, tasted, felt, and smelled by him, so he just enjoyed the game as best he could.

Logging into the only character he had played since its launch ten years ago, AverageJoe, a monstrous level 999 Knight, he was met with the worst news announcement he could have imagined;

"Welcome to the final days of The World!"