“Are you sure you want to come with us Tammy? I mean, don’t you have family back home?” Max asked his little sister’s nanny. Tammy had been working for the Thorn family long enough to have been Max’s nanny when he was little. Heck, she used to be the nanny for their mom when she was a kid. But though he remembered major things like family and facts, he didn’t remember much about her life.

“Oh it’s fine, I’m the last of my lot, and all of you are like my family now. And someone has to take care of your walking natural disaster of a sister.” She finished with a smile. Though he loved the Thorns like they were related, she absolutely loved teasing Max’s sister Sarah.

But Max focused on the first part of her response, rather than the second. “Oh, I… I didn’t know. I’m sorry that happened…” It might have been because of his past, but hearing that Tammy was the last of her family hit him hard. Seeing this the old woman smiled and gave him a hug.

“It’s alright kiddo, or should I call you old man? Heh, my family all had happy lives, and they were all peaceful when they passed. I’m just the last to go, so don’t be so upse-Max?!” While she was trying to cheer up Max, images were flashing through his mind. He saw smoke rising from buildings, bodies lining the streets, and things more horrific than can ever be imagined.

“Max?! Are you okay? Get up, it’s all right!” “Hey kiddo, are you ready to-What the heck? Tammy what happened!?” “I don’t know, he just collapsed! I think he’s passing out, quick call an ambulance!” “I’m on it!”... “They’re on their way, now stay with us Max. Do you hear me, don’t pass out, come on you’re a fighter.”... “Okay stand back everybody!”... “We got him”...

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Max found himself in a dark room, not sure where he was. But at the moment he didn’t care, as grief wracked his whole being. Agony filled him as searing hot chains flung out of the corners of the strange room. They bonded with the skin on his arms and legs, pulling tight to keep him in place. He screamed out, more out of outrage than of pain.

“Let me go! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you all! You think you can do this to me, ME!? I’m far stronger than all of you, and I will get out of here one day. And when I do, you will all Die!” He raged at his captors, even as his struggles grew less and less. He cried, for the first time in so long, at the loss he had endured. And he vowed that those responsible would pay. Even if he had to wait an eternity.

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Thomas Thorn pace back and forth outside Max’s hospital room. He had gone with him in the ambulance, and watched as they brought him into the building. The doctors told him to wait outside the door as they performed some tests, so that they can determine what condition Max was in. That had been two hours ago.

Tammy had arrived with Sarah thirty minutes after Thomas. The old nanny had been extremely worried for the boy, but the worst came from Sarah. She still wasn’t sure what had happened, and it took Tammy a few minutes to explain to the little girl why her brother was taken away. It had hurt immensely to see the girl cry like that, but she eventually calmed down.

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They had been waiting for about an hour and a half when the doctor had come out to explain Max’s condition. The news had shocked all three of them, he was in a coma. The doctor told them that Max had seemed to have gone into a state of extreme stress, leading to him shutting down, so to speak. They weren’t sure when he would wake up, but assured them that he would be taken care of.

That is until a man came up to the family and doctor. This man was wearing an Altera Corporation uniform, in fact it was the same man who announced the cities that the company was building. He explained that it would be to everyone’s benefit for Max to go with him to the nearby city.

“Mr. Thorn, like I said when announcing the cities, we have some of the most advanced hospitals in the world, and they will be able to take care of your son much better than this place will. No offense doctor.” It took an entire hour in order to convince the family to let them take Max, but since they were planning on moving to the city anyways they finally agreed. The doctor however took a bit more convincing, but like the family, it was only a matter of time.

A moving team was sent to the Thorn’s apartment, where they began expertly putting the families items into their trucks and shipping them to a large building in the city. Thomas insisted that he couldn’t afford such a big house, but the spokesperson, whose name was Mr. Timmons, informed them that due to Max’s special case, the house was completely free.

After that, Max was moved into one of the major hospitals there, being looked over by some of the best doctors the company had. For some reason none of the family could understand, Altera Corp seemed to place a lot of importance on Max, even though they had seen other people in similar situations. But the doctors insured them that everything was alright.

Eventually, after a week passed and Max still hadn’t woken up, it was decided by Thomas and Tammy that Sarah would start going to school again. At first she refused, both for the reason of wanting to stay with her big brother, and for the want of every kid, not going to school. But Thomas was firm, and she finally agreed to go. She was signed up at Alexander Elementary.

A month had passed and with his son still in a coma, Thomas got a job at the police station as a detective. Though he didn’t have to pay for anything, he still wanted something to keep his mind off of his son’s condition. That and he wasn’t sure how long the company was going to keep giving them free things.

Tammy kept herself busy as the months passed. She watched Sarah, took her to and from school, and started cooking dinners. While she wasn’t half the chef Max was, she was decent at cooking. When she had some downtime she would go to a nearby library and read, often finding interesting books written by the travelers involving the history of the world Altera. She was hoping to find something out about what Max had been up to in the game world. But no matter how hard she looked she could never find a single trace of him. For some reason, this made her worried.

A full six months passed since Max fell into a coma, it was a normal day just like any other. Thomas was just getting off of work when he saw multiple missed messages from Tammy. When he checked them he almost dropped his phone in shock.

Max had woken up...