1 Game, Start!

An open plain of grass stretched for miles, devoid of any creatures except for one lone man. The man looked like any ordinary person you would pass on the street, with short messy black hair, a plain face, and an average height. He was wearing only a simple cotton shirt and pants, holding what looked to be an average iron sword.

In the distant sky, a black dot could be seen rapidly approaching the man. As the black dot got closer it kept getting larger and larger, and when it was almost upon the man it was large enough to blot out the sky. A jet black dragon as large as a mountain was heading straight for him.

The goliath let out an earth shaking roar, one that could be heard from hundreds of miles away. Brandishing his sword, the man looked completely unfazed by the calamity heading his way. He even had a smile on his face.

Memories flashed before his mind, he remembered his whole life.

The sickening hunger in his days at the orphanage. Tirelessly practicing the sword so he could one day join the royal knights, proving commoners could do great things too.

The feeling of fighting for his life, surrounded by enemies on the battlefield, and equally surrounded by dead allies. Pushing through his limits, and emerging victorious.

The honor of being crowned the strongest knight. Recognized for his achievements.

The smiling faces of the ones he loved. Laughing with his friends and comrades, enjoying life.

He let his entire body relax. Every bit of his essence as a person, everything that shaped who he was, he channeled it into his sword. The Sword Emperor swung his sword in the direction of the dragon at a speed that even an Amateur could see. To anyone who looked it would just be an ordinary slash.

Everything in the surrounding area went silent, it was as if existence itself had come to a complete standstill. The Sword emperor collapsed to the ground, with that smile still on his face. Every fiber of his being was channeled into that slash, a slash that could exemplify an emperor.

A perfectly straight line bisected the dragon, the clouds in the sky, and the earth for miles. It was a feat that ascended past the realm of possibility.

The titanic dragon came crashing into the ground like a meteor, causing tremors so violent an earthquake was felt around the world.

Panning into the sky, you could see the words, "Ascension 6/6/2110," embolden in gold text in the sky. Then the video ended.

-

Sitting on a couch in front of the screen were two young men, Jimmy and Austin, watching the trailer. While Austin was looking to explode in excitement, Jimmy had a look of apathy on his face. "That looked so cool!" Austin was grinning from ear to ear and asked, "What do you think, it's awesome right?"

"It looks interesting, but you know I haven't played any VRMMORPGs before, what's so special about this one?" Jimmy gave a half-hearted smile in response to his friend's enthusiasm.

"What's not different about it!" Austin put on a tone not so different from a car salesman, and continued, "Ascension has been in development for over 10 years and has had the collaboration of many of the top experts in the VR field! It has cutting-edge tech all across the board, making it feel almost no different than the real world. They are advertising the world as a whole to be as good as a second life!"

Jimmy leaned back on the couch and gave a helpless look. "Nice sales pitch, but you know I'm broke. I can't buy the game unless you're paying for me."

"No, I can barely afford to buy it for myself, but check out this." He pulled out his zPhone 92 and showed the screen to Jimmy. On the phone, the official Ascension website was shown, and it was offering free copies of the game to 100 lucky people who entered into a raffle.

"It's not likely we'll win, but I was thinking if we both enter the raffle and by some chance one of us wins, we could play together! You don't lose anything by entering after all."

Jimmy sighed and said, "You sure are optimistic about such ridiculous odds… But I'll give it a try. We can try to give lady luck's skirt a lift."

Austin laughed, giving Jimmy a slap on the back. "That's the spirit! It says on the site that the winners will be notified privately in two weeks, and the free dive capsule will arrive a week after."

They both signed up, then Jimmy said his goodbyes and headed home. It was a weekday, and they both had to wake up early for college in the morning.

Jimmy had a small apartment near his college which his parents paid for. He chose to go to that college away from home because his friend Austin enrolled there. He didn't really care which college he went to, as he had simple plans in life. He didn't really have any goals or dreams to accomplish. He just planned to graduate with passing grades, get a 9-5 job, and live a quiet life. If he didn't want to stick with his friend so much, he would have just gone to the local college next to his parent's house.

After getting home he showered, brushed his teeth, and got ready for bed. He settled into bed and decided to read a couple of chapters of the current fantasy book he was reading.

Normal day-to-day life was boring, so he spent most of his free time reading fantasy books. They took him into much more interesting worlds than the monotony of the real world. It was his way of escaping from it all.

He yawned and started feeling tired, so he put the book down and started going to sleep.

'I guess VRMMORPGs are Austin's way of escape. I don't have high hopes of winning… but on the minuscule chance it happens, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to join him,' he thought as he fell asleep.

-

Two weeks passed and Jimmy pretty much completely forgot about the competition, as he was not expecting to win anyways.

He had just gotten out of class and was walking outside of the college building to head home as he noticed in the corner of his eye someone running toward him. That person was his good-looking friend Austin.

He was pretty noticeable even from a distance because of his massive height of 6'6". He was the local lady killer between the height, chiseled jawline, blue eyes, and short blond hair. Jimmy thought it was hard not to be at least a little jealous.

Not to say that he himself was ugly or anything, he was just a little plain looking, with messy black hair, brown eyes, and a height of 5'10". Compared to his model-type friend, he looked worse by comparison.

Austin caught up to Jimmy and had an apologetic look on his face.

"What's up pillar man? Don't you have archery practice after school?" Jimmy was confused about what would cause his friend to rush over to him.

"Have you already forgotten? Today is the day the Ascension raffle ended. I checked and I didn't win, so I came over to apologize. Did you win?"

"Oh, I completely forgot. Wait a sec, I'll check now." He said as he pulled out his old zPhone 88. When he opened his email he was completely flabbergasted. He had somehow won!

With a weird look on his face, he said, "I… I actually won."

"Hell yeah! Congratulations!" Austin shouted out loud as he put Jimmy in a bear hug.

"Let...Me….Go… I can't… Breath!" He managed to squeeze out his plea as his organs were displaced.

"Whoops sorry about that." He said as he let go.

Jimmy was able to breathe again, and the pearly gates in the distance closed. Meanwhile, nearby people were giving the two weird looks as they walked past.

"Well, I have to go back to the archery club to practice, see you later!" Austin said as he ran off, back the way he came

"He's as energetic as always..." Jimmy muttered to himself as he straightened his messed-up shirt. But he enjoyed that energy as it always kept things interesting after all.

He returned to walking home, this time with a small smirk on his face.

-

A week passed quickly, and the day finally arrived, in a couple of minutes, the game Ascension was about to go live.

Jimmy looked at the massive contraption taking up half of his living room. He had to get rid of his small couch and table to fit the capsule, but it's not like he used them anyway.

He climbed into the dive pod and put on the dive helmet inside. A dive pod is a top-of-the-line machine built just for the game Ascension. It includes comfortable padding, A/C, and a headrest for maximum comfort while playing. Although you can't feel it while playing, it makes a big difference in how you feel after you get up. The pod even includes a body monitoring system that can shut off the game and call an ambulance if a health problem occurs while playing.

He sat there waiting a couple of minutes for the game to go live until a screen popped up in front of his eyes. An androgynous voice rung in his head, "Ascension has been launched!"

He readied himself and said the phrase to launch the game.

"Game, start!"