Death

It was a normal day in the Starling company, there were rows of VR capsule where guildmembers played the game Upsilon Online. Everything was as usual, Jake was headed towards the weekly meeting of the guild to discuss the affairs of the guild and the rivals that were trying to destroy us.

Arriving at the meeting, the important members of the guild were quiet as usual waiting for the CEO of the company, Daniel Starling.

He was a man who grew up poor without any money, building his company from the ground to the heavens. He was starting to get old and wanted to let one of his sons to take control of the family. However, every single one of his sons disappointed him that is until Jake was born.

Jake was not perfect by any means, but he had the mind of a businessman. He thought of the future and about how his actions would affect the company. He was capable of everything to achieve his goals but there was one line he would never cross which was betraying his friends. Therefore, he was nice with his friends, and he did, most of time, as they wished.

He was able to help the guild reach new heights since he was the best player of their entire guild, starting the game late, Jake, found a talent in playing video games. He was even approached by professional teams, but he always refused for the sake of the guild and the power they could gain.

As the CEO walked into the room, the tension everyone of them was feeling increased tenfold.

"How is the business of the guild going on?" asked the chairman

"Nothing changed since last week" answered the chairman's son

"Very well, changing the subject, this might come has a surprise, but I have an announcement to make about the future leader of the guild. Since has you all know I am getting old, I will nominate the person which will replace me after my retirement."

This nomination was the most important in the life of everyone in this room since it would dictate their position in the future.

"This person is Jake. The reasons I chose him are that he is responsible, strong, capable, and fair with everyone in this room. I hope you respect my decision."

"But but father why is it not me I trained everyday to get stronger. I hunted monsters after monsters all year long. Please give me a chance to prove it to you that I am the best candidate" said the first son, panicked by this sudden development

After this statement, some allies to chairman's son started to voice their disagreement with his decision and wanted him to give them a chance.

But they forgot who they were talking to, he was someone that had a mind of steel, he created this entire company from the ground. He knew his instincts were one of the best in the entire world.

"No, I will not change my decision. Jake will replace and that is all there is to it. We shall end the meeting here, thank you for coming." said the chairman

Walking out of the room, some of the members of the guild were pissed about this decision and decided to do something in the days to come.

----

3 days later

Jake went out to the restaurant with his girlfriend, Ava. It was their 3rd year anniversary, so they went to the best restaurant in town to spend some time together.

As they were eating, Jake started to feel weird. It felt like he was losing consciousness.

"Ava, do you feel weird too?" asked Jake, feeling sleepy.

"No why do you ask?"

"Humm… I don't know, It seems like I'm getting weaker and weaker it seems"

"Well, that's normal since I poisoned your food. Max come here, let's show my boyfriend what we were doing behind his back" said Ava, with an evil smile.

"Oh, hi friend I didn't see you there, what's happening are you okay?" said the first son, Max. As he was talking, he was interrupted by Ava who kissed him like she never kissed anyone.

"See this is the man that I love. You are nothing to me, the only reason I was with you was because of the orders of my beloved. I NEVER loved you, in fact those years we were together were the hardest of my life"

"Why why are you doing this? All I ever did was help you succeed, I never tried to compete with you." asked Jake, his eyes filled with tears.

"Well, you are quite stupid, did you really think we wouldn't do anything after learning that you would take control of my father's company. How stupid you are. Not everyone is like you, Jake, we want power. We are greedy for it, all the actions I ever did was to please father, but he never seemed to notice. I was jealous of you and the special attention you were receiving" said the chairman's son, Max.

"Fuck you! I was always supporting you. I did everything you ever asked of me and now you want to get rid of me."

"Yes, I guess that's true but that doesn't matter now does it. Now, die."

"If, I ever comeback from the dead beware of my REVENGE" said Jake, on his last breath

…

Ahnt! Ahnt! Ahnt!

An obnoxious noise caused Jake to wake up. He stared at the ceiling still with some tears in his eyes. The feeling of being betrayed his loved ones was still fresh on his mind.

Then, he realised that the place he woke up in was not the hospital or his house. He had a weird feeling about where he was right now.

"Impossible… this my appartement I lived in when I was in my twenties" muttered Jake while getting up from his bed.

Eventually, he approached a mirror, and he could not believe his eyes. It really was him, the younger version of him. Obviously like everyone there was times where he wanted to go back in time but he never thought it would actually happen to him.

While happiness was overwhelming him, he started looking at everything in his appartement: computer, cell phone, mail, the calendar.

And that was when it hit him "Its the 30th of September, tomorrow is when Upsilon Online will be released"

'Do I have enough to buy a VR capsule' thought Jake

He opened his bank account to see just how much money he had. He had approximately 6000$.

Seeing he had enough money to buy a VR capsule, he quickly went to the store to buy one of the best VR capsules that existed at the time. It cost 4000$ which in the eyes of many is a waste of money but that wasn't the case for Jake, he knew this game was the future and investing money at the start was the option to take. The main reason it cost so much was the fact that a person could be nourished while never leaving the actual game.

This benefit was very important since at the start of a game. Every second counts.

Since the launch of the game was tomorrow morning, Jake decided to spend a good night of sleep to be prepared for the opening day.

Five minutes before the launch, Jake started planning in his head

'I should probably go for the hidden epic quest in the beginner village' he thought

Entering the capsule, a timer popped up

0 :03

0 :02

0 :01

Welcome to Upsilon Online!