Adonis Online, or simply AdOn, was the very first game to come out using OnLive’s virtual reality technology. It was a launch title that boasted near reality in a virtual space. For years, it was heralded as one of the best things to come out of the gaming industry for a long time. 

Now however? It has become nothing more than a shell of it’s past glory. It was inevitable, of course, that a game would lose its luster after a few years. Still, it’s regarded as one of the best games of the century, pioneering the technology forward. 

Maybe it was to honor its effect on the company, or even the world at large, but OnLive kept its servers up and running and promised to keep it running for as long as the company existed. Even a hundred or so years later, they still kept their promise. 

There’s a thing in the industry called “Nostalgia Gaming” where people look past the aged appearance and still play their old childhood classics, as would a bookworm re-read his favorite books. Similar to that, I’ve decided to do my final act of nerdhood, to die in real life within a virtual world of my choosing. 

I was nearing my limit, even with advanced healthcare and technology near sci-fi, the siren call of death was ever looming. I was already aged 231, my life was way overdue. I had given the company to my heir and asked him to keep my promises alive for the future, no matter what. I don’t trust that idiot son of mine, but I want to think he’d at least honor it. 

I shrugged the thought off. No, I didn’t want to die with worry. I wanted to live the rest of my life in the world of my creation, in the world I’ve crafted with several of my best writers, the best of my tech team, and a shitload of money. In a way, you could say that I’ll die where I stood and where I started. 

I laid down on the white bed with a smile as content as I could show. I had several line hooked on my body, all lines preserving the very inches of my life. I’m sure it was an astronomical amount, but now I’m free of it. 

Several of my doctors stood beside me on the bed. All ten of them not even half my age. Their faces were solemn and did not speak a word, but I could tell there was a sadness in them. 

“You did your best, good men and women.” I told them as I rest my head on a metal headrest. “You’ll lose your paycheck after this, but what can you do? Even if I add another trillion dollars to my health, best I could hope for is a few more months.” 

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“Chin up, lads and lasses. Give me a damn good smile in my passing, and tell my idiot son to atleast visit my grave every so often. I’d get lonely.” I eased up the atmosphere, and I felt it lighten up slightly. 

“The contract’s off after I’m dead. Use your research on this frail body to help the world. Hell, you guys might even get as rich as me with that.” I weakly pointed at the back with my thumb, to the machine that kept my alive for so long. “Sell it for whatever, I have it on my will to give it to Xavier.”

One of the doctors, an aged one walked up to my bed. He was half my age with several cybernetic attachments to his body. His mechanical eyes scanned me with a red laser. He nodded to himself, mumbled, and faced me. 

“Finally kicking the bucket” The old man said, his voice was monotone and mechanical with gear wheezing as he spoke. 

“And here’s that piece of shit quack, You going to miss me?” I push up my hand and flipped him the bird, my one last act.

“Now I will be world famous as the man that controls life.” 

“On my dime.” 

“Irrelevant. Tell me, when did investors have their name on the product?” 

“Were they also a genius that pushed technology over a hundred years?”

Xavier clicked his tongue with a wheezing of his mechanical nature. He closed his eyes, then heaved a sigh from his mouth orifice, now actually using his own voice. His was a voice ragged and cracked as mine. “Yes, I’ll miss this friendship.” 

“Called it. Bring out the pool!” 

“Here!” One of the younger doctors shouted across the room, in his hands was a clipboard with several stacks of papers pinned to it. He gave me a thumbs up and a cheeky, toothy grin. “And that’s a million dollars to me.” The doctor said off-hand.

“Now I’ve got a billion dollars more to bring to the grave.” I laughed.

“This is what I get for oiling my mechanical heart?” Xavier returned to his robotic voice as he stepped near my headrest. “You have said your goodbyes, it is now time to enjoy your life in the next world.” He said, placing his hands on the handles of my virtual reality machine, ready to clamp it all the way down. 

“In Adonis Online.” I gently called out to its title. 

“For Crossia, may her reign prosper.” 

I gasped. “You remembered my favorite faction.” 

“You never shut up about it. Good night Chris. I will meet you there when my time is to come.” 

“Looking at your ugly mug, it’ll be soon.” 

Leaving with those words, Xavier harrumphed with his characteristic artificial voice and closed the lid on my virtual reality machine. It covered my entire body and once it was clamped shut, I felt the nerve gas exhaust from the many small holes in the container. The last thing I saw was the sad face of my best friend over the glass. 

Most possibly, the last Xavier saw was my shit-eating grin.