Chapter 1 New Beginnings (Part 5/5)

"Wow! This is drastically different from other Virtual Realities." I uttered aloud to myself. Sitting there for a moment with the book laying open on my lap, I thought about what this would mean for me. It was odd to think that there wouldn't be levels or skills among other things. Also, they seem to be very firm in stating and emphasizing that this is a research project and not a game. With a sigh I closed the book and lay back in my desk chair as I let my mind wander. Although, it was disheartening (after my prior disappointments) to have to return to the Virtual Reality world that I originally had chosen to have left behind, it seemed like it would be best to not make any preemptive judgments. Doing what I normally do to relax when I feel troubled or uncertain, I closed my eyes, relaxed my body, and opened my mind. Reaching into that place of unknown origin to pull upon a power that I had yet to fully understand, I knew what to expect. Empowering warmth and hope flowed through me as I basked in its comforting embrace. Time seemed to slip by as I just took in the feelings. As the feelings began to swell, I felt a minor stinging sensation begin to grow in my nose and eyes causing tears to threaten. Depending on how much of that sensation I could grasp at a moment it could become painful to a degree as if my body were not able to handle the prolonged flow of energy without increasingly negative feedback. Admittedly I was able to handle more of the sensation now before feeling those distracting side effects as opposed to when I first discovered what I could do, over a decade ago. As I was lost in thought and in those sensations, I heard a knock on my open bedroom door and turning my neck I saw clipboard-guy waving to me. Clearing my expression, I turned all the way around in my swivel chair till I faced him directly. "Anything I can help you with?" I asked him. "Nope," He replied. "Just coming to let you know that it's all set up." "Oh! Okay, uh do I owe you anything?" With a laugh he shook his head. "That's all taken care of, but we'll be getting out of your way since we've got several other deliveries to make today. Good luck." After seeing them out, I hurriedly went to look at my new capsule. The size of the thing shocked me. Sleek and black, resembling an over-sized coffin more than anything else, I had maybe 2 feet between the capsule and the even more cluttered mess of my storage bedroom. Easily twice my body width and its length was about 1.5X my height, it even came up to my waist while standing. Pulling open the lid it opened with a hiss without tipping over. I hadn't realized till now, that they had somehow sealed the massive base to the floor! Oh well . . . I figure that Millennial Enterprises had its own methods to repair any damages if anything occurred. Looking at the inside, I saw a thick blue-tinged yet metallic looking gelatinous fluid that lay about 6 inches below the lip of the capsule. Reaching down, I pressed upon it with my bare right hand. A light tingling of electricity could be felt as I pressed further into the fluid, which easily gave way to pressure. Feeling almost like Jell-O yet retaining the permeable aspect of water. Barely a single ripple crossed the surface as I moved my hand through it. "Amazing. . .." I whispered to myself. Looking at the time I saw it was almost 9 am. With the time ratio difference, I'd be able to get in a good 10+ hours VR time, before I had to log out for work at 2 pm. Excited to begin, I went to the bathroom to make sure I wouldn't need to go anytime soon, then stripping bare as the instructions had said. It was just after 9 am and to be careful since I wasn't sure of how time would be tracked in virtual reality, I set the interior alarm clock just in case for 1 pm to have enough time to get ready for work at 2. That being done, I lay down in the odd feeling gel that made up the interior of the capsule. Once I was comfortable, with only my face peeking up out of the gel, the lid began to automatically close in on me. I had to admit that at that moment, I had a small surge of claustrophobia as complete darkness surrounded me. Pushing my apprehension down, I waited to see what would happen next. I didn't have to wait for long as a stream of words crossed my vision. *Initializing* *Testing DNA* The words appeared in front of me laying there suspended in the darkness. *DNA verified* *Scanning body – Please remain still. * A sort of phantom crawling was felt all around my body, including my ears which really made me want to shudder at the invasiveness of it. I had to remind myself multiple times with mental thoughts such as 'Remember this is Millennial Enterprises, and that they are known to be at the top of the technological and biological fields of the world.' 'I'm doing this for my studies and my sister' 'No matter how weird it feels, they are very unlikely to create a VR capsule that harms the user for risk of lawsuits.'. . . These and other thoughts ran through my head as I watched a progress bar filling up, taking about 30 seconds before I saw another display . . . *Scan complete* Suddenly a bright light filled my view, blinding me entirely and then with a brief sensation of swift moving vertigo, I was somewhere else entirely. "Wow!" I exclaimed as my breathing intensified in reaction to the experience. "That was a rush!" Never before had I experienced that kind of a transference when starting a Virtual Reality Game. Normally there was a gradual pixelation where my sight in the capsule slowly changed from the dark interior of the capsule or game helmet to Virtual Reality. Gazing about me at the room I was now in, I took in the massive windows displaying various forested, desert, mountainous, water, city, and other scenes. Were it not for the fact that the scenes were right next to each other or that they changed every few seconds to a new scene, then I would have thought that it was simply a window to those places. Gone were the trace signs of digital overlays and in their place was what seemed like reality itself, where I could reach out and run my hand through the desert sand or feel the water droplets coming off the waterfall amidst the forest. Tearing my eyes away from the ultra-high-definition screens, I took in more of the details about the room I was in. White walls filled most of the remainder of my view. To my left, opposite of the scenic wall was a mirror. Looking at my reflection, I realized I wore a white kimono or bathrobe of sorts. Comfortable beyond belief, I hadn't really even thought to look at myself till confronted by the mirror. It was a nice neutral piece of clothing that seemed to hide my flaws and accentuate my lightly tan skin tone. While I was busy trying to determine if I qualified as strikingly handsome or not, I heard the clearing of a throat to my right. My head snapped in the direction of the noise and I saw that I was no longer alone in the room. Standing between the various displays of scenery and the grand sized mirror I looked at the opposite end of the room. Seemingly out of nowhere a white desk had appeared and a man wearing khaki shorts and an untucked polo shirt was lounging against the front edge of it. "Good Morning Mr. Matherson. Or should I call you Andrew?" He enquired of me. "Um, Andrew is fine. . . Sir" I replied feeling somewhat awkward. To be honest, with his casual look I couldn't help but feel a bit relaxed. But still, as I looked directly at his face, I discovered that I really couldn't see his expression. The diffuse lighting in the room appeared to produce shadows that perfectly hid any discernible features on his face. Oddly enough, it didn't seem out of place in the white and mostly well-lit room. Realizing I might have come across rude for not asking, I quickly asked, "How may I address you?" Wringing the side of my robe with my hands, I waited in anxious anticipation to see what was in store for me. "Nice to meet you Andrew, I will be your guide to this new world for you." With a pause and an audible smirk, he then added "as for who I am, let's not worry about that for now." The stranger simply replied before continuing. "Did you by any chance take the time to look over the booklet that came with your capsule?" "I did sir." Going on to tell him what parts I had covered, he appeared to nod appreciatively before stopping me from speaking further. "You have done well and read more than most do in these cases. That will make things easier. Do you have any questions before we begin?" I shook my head in the negative. "Alright then." Waving his hand at the wall to my left I turned again to look at it. Again, I saw a mirror image of myself but this time it was different. I could see that just behind it, in a regressive circle, there were different versions of myself fading back into obscurity. Almost without thought, I waved my hand in front of me as if to swipe at the view so as to cycle through the options. I was somewhat surprised that the view actually changed as I did so. As each version of me came to the forefront, I could see it cycle through avatars that ranged from minor differences to vastly different features with tones and features hinting at my individual identity. Lighter and darker toned elves with various exotic traits, shorter and more beefy dwarves, flighty and lithe fairy-like creatures, elementals, various horned and hornless demons, and so much more filled my view. I had to admit that this was the largest selection of avatars I had ever come across in a VR setting. There were even a few different types of Mermen. Each of those avatars had a different expression whether it be somewhat haughty like the high elf, somewhat vanilla as the regular human, to all the way appearing downright vicious with some of the demons. Knowing that I could merge them together, I was more interested in what the system had thought up for me. Turning back to the man I enquired. "Sir, I read that we might be given an option to choose a specially made avatar for us?" A smile seemed to fill his face though I couldn't be sure until he spoke. "Oh, so you wish to try it out? Most people don't like others choosing for them." His tone had a sense of obvious mirth and mild derision in it, the latter of which didn't seem to be directed at me, but in it was something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Yes Sir." I replied. Waiting for his response I felt the room become quiet as he walked behind the desk to activate some controls that I couldn't see from my end. The stillness in the air became very palpable as I wondered just what this choice entailed. A kind of static charge passed through the air around me and settled within my thoughts, or so it seemed. "Very well." Breaking the silence and growing haze over my mind he spoke again. His eyes appeared to glow for a moment, and his voice became deadly serious at my response. "What I am saying to you right now and your following journey will not be remembered after, unless we unlock this memory. You will be tested and if found capable, then you will receive your true avatar. If you fail, then you will lose any chance of gaining this avatar again. . .. At least in this life" His head bowed and sorrow tinged his gently spoken last words."I see a lot of myself in you, and your actions Andrew. Don't disappoint me." Before I could vocalize any objection or query, and even before I could show any surprise, I was engulfed in a white light once again.