1 Alice

Antares was the breakthrough game of the year 2051. It was said to be a revolutionary game that utilizes "Virtual Reality" and created an expansive new world that was opened to many people.

Alice was a great woman in real life. She was a billionaire, philanthropist, and leader of a worldwide corporation. However, unknown to many is that she enjoys playing games. The moment that she learned of the existence of Antares she immediately bought the game, as well as a portion of the stocks of New Era Games, the company that created and owned Antares. She also bought stocks of Vir-Tech, the company that created the virtual reality gear needed to play virtual reality games.

Alice wanted to play the game the moment she got the copy of the game, as well as the equipment, however, her busy schedule didn't allow her to do so. She worked extra hard for the next six months to clear her schedule and immediately filed for vacation after that. She plans to catch up to other players that already played the game in the past six months.

"Finally! My schedule is cleared!" Alice screamed. She just got home and she excitedly ran towards her room. She ran so fast she was basically flying through the air from the front door towards her room.

"Hey! Shut it!" A man's voice was suddenly heard from room next to Alice's. "I know you're excited but please don't cause too much of a ruckus. And don't play the game yet. Let's have dinner first, I'll cook."

"Sorry 'bout that, you know me. He he." Alice said apologetically. "By the way, what level are you now? How strong are the player currently? Can you tell me Dylan? Please!!!"

The man named Dylan willfully ignored her. To which Alice started pouting. Alice may be a big shot, mature, smart, and sly businesswoman and to the whole world she's the epitome of success, within the confines of her house and in front of her closest friends, she's extremely childish and bratty.

"Change your clothes then come down. I'll start preparing the food." Dylan said while turning his back on her.

"Fine." Alice answered dejectedly and turned towards her room and closed her door and changed her clothes into something comfortable.

When Alice came down, she was greeted with the amazing smell of Dylan's cooking. Dylan was one of her closest friend and they both treat one another as the best of friends and their friendship is in the stage where they are practically siblings. Which makes sense since Alice doesn't like her relatives because they just want to leech off of her money.

"Eat up. Then you can play the game." Dylan said as he put on the plate on the table while Alice sits down. "Get strong quickly in the game so that we can start playing the game with one another."

Dylan said this with the knowledge of how stubborn his friend is. Although he has been playing the game in the past six months and is considered to be one of the best player in Antares, he wouldn't offer to "carry" his friend. He knows she wouldn't like that, he knows that Alice would want to experience everything in the game and learn all the ropes by herself.

"Don't worry, just give me 1 week, 2 weeks at most, and I'll be able to kick your ass in Antares." Alice replied while gulping down the food on her plate.

"Yeah, yeah." Dylan said dismissively. "Clean up after you eat."

As Dylan said this, he stood up and started to walk to his room upstairs.

"You're not eating?" Alice asked him before he could take three steps.

"I already ate, this is for you. This is a small congratulations from me to you for finishing your work and also a gift before you start your mad dash in the game." Dylan answered smiling while continuing to walk upstairs.

"Thank you, Dylan." Alice replied to Dylan "Don't worry I'm will kick your ass big time as a "Thank You" for this."

After that exchange, Alice continued eating. After she ate, she cleaned up and prepared to go into the game.

Alice lay on her bed and whispered "Alright, It's showtime." She whispered as she put on her virtual reality gear.