Chapter 37 - Backstories

(Elisa's Point of View)

He cried for a long time... When he stopped and lied down on the ground, I approached him...

"Why are you crying...?"

He quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes. His voice is weak and he's not looking at me...

"Is that you, Elis...? Oh, it's nothing. My eyes are just itchy..."

"I know when people lie..."

"Oh, why do you have to know everything?"

"Actually, I've been standing over there for some time..."

"Oh, man..."

(Lionel's thoughts: That's just embarrassing...)

Silence...

I sat beside him.

"Why are you crying...?"

Silence...

"You'll feel better if you tell me."

Silence...

"My life sucks..."

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(Lionel's Backstory)

Why do we play video games? For many, the reason is simple - They play for fun.

I, on the other hand, play games to escape reality. To escape my real life.

For me, all hands down, no more questions asked, video games are amazing. Period. Once I started to play, I get so absorbed by it. Just think, I'm inside of a fantasy world! I become a "somebody"! Somebody else! Not the "loser me"! I become "The Main Character!" The "Hero of the Story!" Who wouldn't love that? I forget all sense of time, and I forget all my problems... Even if it's just for a while... Even if it's just for a day... Even if it's temporary, I'll take it! I'll take it... Just to get away from my miserable life... And... I must confess, I'm getting so addicted to it... So addicted... That the first thing I'll do when I wake up in the morning is to go to the Convenience Store (A place where you can rent a Game Gear) and play the game, without eating or drinking anything.

But now... Things became suddenly different and personal... The words Andromeia said to me in our final showdown is some sort of a sick wake-up call...

Sigh... Why does that nosy GM (Game Master) have to know too much? Mind your own business, will you? Don't you have any better things to do? Are you so bored with your job that you decided to intervene? Just leave me alone... I don't need your help...

Sigh...

Elisa, I'll tell you the truth... I'll tell you everything about me... I don't have a mother. And my father doesn't have a job and he's a drunkard... He's asleep the whole day and gone all night... It's always the same everyday...

I'm left to fend for myself... That's why I have this sack... I'm a scavenger, a "street urchin", going all around the city, opening garbage cans, looking for metals, tin cans, plastic bottles, and leftovers. I eat what food I can find, and sell all the things that I've gathered in the junk shop at the end of the day... It's always like that every day...

There was a time when I wanted to change that... To change everything... Before I got hooked with S.O.I...

One day, in the past, as I'm walking around the city, I saw a place where a lot of kids go. They play on the playground, run around, eat good food, tell jokes, talk, and tell stories... I also want that... Then, they go to their rooms, seat on armchairs and listen to a man or a woman telling stories... It was a school. If only I could go there and study, and learn something new... Maybe something will change... Maybe everything would be better... That's when I started sneaking into the school. I've never been caught. I know that they wouldn't let me in because I don't have any money to pay. So, I secretly climb to the rafters and listen to them... I still do it up to this day...

I want to learn how to count because I don't know how... I don't know anything at all... I don't know how much I earned and how much money I have. So, I just save them all and hide it in a secret place... I really want to study... And I'm gonna use that money someday, in the future...

I don't have any home. We don't have any money, so we live here, in this abandoned building. The good thing is there's water. The toilets are still working too. And the street lamps lights up the building a little bit. It's windy inside and if it's too cold, there are warm rooms on the upper floors...

This building has been good to me. It's really nice. I like it in here... Except when father's around...

Everyday, I go outside and make my rounds... Everything looks so dull, so colorless. There are no trees, no plants, and no flowers. You cannot see the sun and there is no blue sky or white clouds. The smoke, the tall buildings and the gray clouds cover it all... Everything looks like ash... It's always the same everyday...

That's why I cried... Because I tried so hard to forget... To deny my real life... But I can't... Everything is just so ugly, and my life is so hard everyday... I want an escape...

A great escape...

I cried... because everything I saw is just a game... It's so hard to accept that something so beautiful is not real...

I cried... because I realized that I don't want to wake up from my dream world... It's so nice! I like it in there! I want to live there! But why does it have to end...? For me to see the real me, my real life all over again...?

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(Elisa's Point of View)

Silence...

"Eat some chocolate."

"Huh...?"

I opened a chocolate bar and shoved it to his mouth.

"You'll feel better. You're tired, you're hungry, you're dehydrated, you're deprived of sleep, you're not thinking straight, you're such a drama queen, you're over-acting, and you pity yourself a lot! Eat some chocolate and you'll feel better!"

"Okay, okay..."

Silence...

"Lionel, Please listen..."

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(Elisa's Backstory)

When I was five, I became very ill. Since then, I've been living in the hospital. It's been my school, my playground, my home...

Like you, I have no friends. Books, T.V., comics, and a hand-held game console are my only companions... Mommy and Daddy are always working so they're always absent... I understand... They need to work so they can pay the bills... My hospital bills...

We're rich, you know... But because of me, we became poor... That's why they work so hard... That's why they're not there...

I was lonely and angry at myself... Because of me, all of those things happened...

I want to go outside all the time. I always ask my nurse and my doctor about it but they always say 'no'.

"The dust particle rate outside is just too high. It's very dangerous. It is safer in here."

For once, I want to go outside. I want to get out of that hospital and forget all those things! I just want to run and play and be happy!!!

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Silence...

"That's why when I heard The Server of Iris and how a player can earn money, I joined as soon as possible! So I can help my parents and have new friends! I'm glad their A.I. Algorithm matched us up. It gave me an opportunity to meet you and be my friend. Even if we're total opposites and so different to each other, we actually became true friends! We can play again, be happy, and save everyone from the evil hands of Andromeia once more!"

She looked at the blue-orange clouds and pointed at the sky.

"Lionel, the GM, in his convoluted mind and reasoning, gave you a wake-up call because he cares about you! He wants you to get out of your addiction! There's something better than your dream world and it's called life! Real life! It doesn't have to stay the same as you have told me. We can change it for the better. I'll help you. The GM will help you. But you must also help yourself! So don't cry about it, crybaby! Everything's going to be better now! In fact, it's better already!!!"

Lionel rubbed his eyes and face...

"Okay! Okay! I can hear you! Don't shout!"

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Feeling better now?"

"Yes, and you, Elisa?"

"Chipper than ever!"

We both smiled.

"By the way... There's something that's really bugging me. I really want to ask you this question."

"What is it?"

"In the game, you defeated Andromeia, but the pollens can still affect you with their dreamland effect, right...? How did you do it? And now... You don't wear your oxygen mask anymore... Why?"

"I don't need it."

"Ha?! But you just said your sick!"

"I'm not sick anymore."

"HA?!! That's great and all, but how?! How did you got well?!"

"The pollens cured me."

"HA?!!"

Silence...

"I'm so confused right now, I don't know where to start! It's like fantasy and reality and game and real life is all mixing up! I don't know which is which anymore! How on earth did a fantasy game cured you...?"

"Let me explain, Lionel. The Iris City Enchanted Gardens Nature Park Reserve we visited is real. S.O.I. is Augmented Reality after all. The Morning Glory Flower is also real. But don't get confused now. Andromeia is not real and there was no radioactive meteor or mutation whatsoever. The story type of our game is Realistic Fiction. The story is based on some truths, but all in all, it's still fiction. That's why we're so absorbed by it. The Morning Glory Flower has proven medicinal effects and is used in the past by herbalists hundreds of years ago. I know about it because I always watch National Discovery Channel and read lots of herbal medicine books. I wanted to cure myself. And the flower can cure my Chronic Asthma. But because it's misused and abused by some people, they discovered it's addictive and hallucinogenic effects. They, the criminals, the real bad guys, made it as an illegal drug and peddled it on the streets. Since then, the use of Morning Glory Flower has been prohibited. The government wanted to eradicate the flower. But thankfully, this Nature Preserve protected it and kept it alive. When we were playing the game, I grabbed the opportunity to eat the flower. The rest, as they say, is history.

Coincidence? Yeah right...

That Game Master sure is meddlesome.

(Author's note: If you ever played a video game, any kind of video game, is it just me, or you too have noticed a particular pattern? If you think about it, every end part of the game - when the game is close to its conclusion - there's always this ultimate showdown, the ultimate fight between good versus evil. The player and the final boss monster duking it out, using all powerful skills and casting all ultimate spells to defeat each other... I want my Server of Iris to be unique. In this game, you can defeat a boss monster by outsmarting it, outmaneuvering it, or even by diplomacy. As I have said in a chapter title, Brute Force is not always necessary to defeat a powerful boss monster.)

(P.S. I also noticed something in the gaming industry. When a player becomes addicted to a game and it's starting to harmfully affect his/her health, studies, family, and personal life, the game company, or the whole industry itself doesn't seem to care about it. In the Server of Iris, we do our best to avoid that worst case scenario as much as possible. We care for our players. We intervene when players is developing harmful and unhealthy gaming habits. That's what I aim for - An AR-MMORPG that gives Social Contributions to the Society. It's quite idealistic, I know, but I'm a dreamer. And I want my game to be unique and different.)