A New World
It was New Year's and everyone was celebrating from the poor to the 1% of people. The reason was that it had been the 25th year since the world had officially issued a peace treaty for every country. At that time they decided to focus their time and resources on fixing serious issues like world hunger, poverty, climate change, and health.
As time went on technology took a huge leap, especially video games. People wanted to find an outlet for all the time they now had. What was especially shocking though had to have been VR games they had advanced decades. They had gone from simple controller-held games to games that could be controlled and played with your mind there while simply lying down.
You could play a game and fly around as Superman or play as Spiderman and save New York City.
In a small and cramped room on the fifth floor of an apartment building. A man was lying on a bed exhausted from work the other night. He had been working until four in the morning. Light peaked through the bleached white blinds and fell onto the man's face. His face scrunched up and flipped over on his side ready to fall back asleep.
Instead, though his body refused to fall back asleep and the man let out a groan. He looked at the clock on the side of the bed and the blinding red numbers quickly made him shut his eyes again. Letting his eyes adjust he opened his eyes and saw that it was 7:30.
He mentally screamed in his mind at the fact that he only got to sleep for three hours. What sucked too is he had to get to his second job in a couple of hours. The man started getting up to start getting ready for the day. Taking off his work coat that he accidentally slept in as he was too tired to take it off. The name tag had his name on it, Jake Solace which was special to him as he was named after his uncle.
Gathering his clothes he went and took a shower, afterwards made some coffee and breakfast before he brushed his teeth. After a full breakfast though very cheap, as he couldn't spend much money as he had a tight budget, he went on his morning run. He had been running in the morning for the past couple of years after he had moved out. He had wanted to retain decent health and a decent-looking body.
He was no model but he didn't look half bad a solid 7/10 on a good day probably 8/10. Anyway, he went to follow his normal route but that idea was quickly destroyed when he saw some work going on, on the road. Taking a detour that went through the more popular part of the city he eventually got to a red stoplight and stopped next to some people.
"Bro, did you hear about the new VR game coming out in a few months," one of them said. He couldn't help but overhear about what they were talking about. Even though he didn't have much time on his hands he still liked to play video games. Especially ones that had some immersion, the games with deep lore that he could spend days and weeks exploring and learning about.
One of his favorite series had to be the Dark Souls series. The game's challenge, scenery, and lore dragged him in and he couldn't let go. Nowadays, VR games are advancing at rates that would normally take decades and made gaming all the better.
"Yeah, apparently it's supposed to be a worldwide game and more advanced than anything out". Naturally that made him curious about what it was but before he could ask them about the signal changed and he continued on his run. About an hour later he finally got back home and took another shower. After getting out he got on his phone and looked up recent VR games.
Seeing an ad for what he was assuming was the new VR game coming out he clicked on it and watched the trailer.
"A new world awaits in Life Online, not only does time pass three times as fast in the game but the world alone is double the size of our wonderful planet. It is set in a mix of a medieval-style world but with aspects of a futuristic world. There are 10 different classes for players to explore and learn about. Everything you can imagine is here in this world all that awaits is for you to play it".
Jake was captivated, this game looked amazing and the time dilation effect would allow him to play and work simultaneously. Also, the size of the world interested him the ability to explore so much and discover new things was the main reason he got into gaming. He had started gaming a long time ago with his brother, though he could never beat him. Anytime he came close he did something completely new that always made him come out on top it was annoying.
Anyway seeing the time he realized he had to be at work in a bit so he got his coat and went on his day. Day after day he went to work came home did a workout and repeated and just like that 3 months passed.
[3 Months Later]
It was around mid-April and Life Online was supposed to be out tomorrow. Jake had called off of work sick for a few days even though he was perfectly fine. He had camped outside the store six hours before it opened waiting to buy the headset for the game. He hated it though as it was mind-numbingly boring but it would be worth it.
Eventually, night turned to day and the rays of light peaked through the clouds and shimmered across his face awakening him. Awakening with back pain from sleeping in an uncomfortable chair he looked at his watch and saw that it was Six-Fourty which wasn't bad as the store opened at seven.
Getting up from his seat and folding it up as he could handle standing for twenty minutes. Time passed slowly from the nervousness and excitement but everything came eventually and finally, the time for the store to open came.
A beautiful young lady stepped out of the store, dressed in branded clothing for the game. She held in her hands a sign to be put on the wall that said they were selling the product.
"Welcome all those who have come and waited for this. We will be offering three different helmets bronze, silver, and gold. Each helmet offers better performance than the last but gets more expensive for each level. So come now a new world awaits!". Every person waiting in line felt a rush of excitement course through their bodies. This was something new something amazing and they couldn't wait for it.
As soon as the door opened people rushed inside pushing over those in their way. Luckily he was at the front of the line so by the time most of it had started he had already picked up a silver helmet to use. He would buy the gold one but he didn't want to spend too much money on a game plus he had a limited budget.
The cashier at the front of the store watched all of this with a weighted breath. Watching people rush in for a game, she couldn't understand it, to her it was just a game. Yeah, it was better than the rest but still, it was just a game. Though she couldn't care less about whether she liked it or not, the amount of money it was going to bring her and the company were everything to her.
Walking in line to pay he saw one or two people with gold helmets, which was not that shocking but still it was expensive. The bronze helmet was $600, the silver helmet was $1000, and the gold helmet was $2000. Most people had bought a bronze helmet as it was all they could afford or were willing to spend.
Eventually, his turn came and he handed over the money as fast as he could. Though it pained him a little bit to be spending this much money, the game seemed worth it. Rushing home with the box in his hands he got to his door and almost dropped his keys from the shaking of his hands.
Unlocking his door he got to his bed, got comfortable, and laid down. Plugging the helmet in and putting it on he saw the battery sign in the corner of his eye which had an infinity symbol. He took a deep breath and without a moment's notice got ready for the start of his journey.
"Log on" his voice held confidence in it. Even though he had never played this game before. Even though he had never gotten this serious about a game he felt somewhere inside him he would do great, that he would stand out among the crowd.
[A/N: If any people are reading this if you have suggestions for anything or would just like to show support then comment and I will try to respond. Also, updates might be slow I am a first-time writer and I'm trying my hand at something I thought would be cool. Anyway, have a good day to anybody reading this]