I certainly saw it... Thousands of bright lights appeared in the night sky. However, they were not stars... I get a searing pain in my abdomen. What is this? A Lance? Then waves of flashing lights drew closer and closer... All of it heading to my direction. I could only close my eyes as the lights flickered.

×××

Tok... Tok... Tok...

The sound of the knocking came from the door. Having a good distance from it was a good idea since it lessens the noise I'm hearing right now... I seriously don't want to wake up...

"Randell! Wake up! Mira's here so I need to tend to her... We'll be in my room if you need us okay!"

"Hnnn... S, sure..."

What time is it? Isn't it still 6 in the morning?

I turned my gaze at the clock and saw that I had a wrong assumption... It was already Noon... I stayed up late watching anime and I forgot to close it and it still playing... Thankfully the air conditioner is on so the CPU didn't overheat.

I can't have that after all the thing I've been waiting for this whole month is coming.

As I have been picked by the company who have made the fully functional VR machine. I will participate in the early stages of the game [Arkandia Online]. They were trying to fix every bug in the game and so they picked several people to play. About 15,000 people were asked to participate. Having that many people to play in the early stages this company really is loaded with money.

I cleaned my room and closed the computer even for at least a few minutes. After cleaning I head downstairs to look for something to eat... Having this kind of body really does have some disadvantages...

My name is Randell Hall, Randell for short, studying Multimedia in a not-so-famous school. Engaging in my first year in college problems piled up and I needed an outlet. That was when I started getting hooked in online games... Mainly MMO type of games. Luckily, one day I got into a thread in a forum in the online game that I was playing recently... It was news about the VR machine that was still on progress up till that day. The company was looking for players that wanted to join on the game's development and said that "if interested mail us [[email protected]] and wait for our reply"

Well, with luck I was picked to participate in it.

Ding... Dong... Ding... Dong...

"Hey, Randell! Answer the door will you! It must be mom or dad!"

"Yeah, yeah! You don't have to yell sis!"

Ding... Dong... Ding... Dong...

"Yes! Yes! Coming!"

Walking at a much faster pace I swiftly made it to the door... As I opened it a man wearing a cap of a delivery man revealed itself with a box in hand.

"Are you Randell Hall?"

"Uhhh... Yes? What could be your business here?"

"Uh... We needs you to sign this form... Here... Here... and here..."

He points to where I should sign on after I signed everything... He bows lightly and rides away with his scooter...

"He must've had other houses to deliver..."

The box didn't seem too heavy and it's of the size of the box of a circular bulb.

"Could it be?"

I went inside and hurriedly went to my room leaving the food I prepared uneaten in the kitchen...

"This... This is!!!!"

Feelings of happiness burst out of my voice as I happily pranced around my room. Having a heavy body large stumping sounds could be heard as I landed on the floor ever time I leapt up...

"With this I can play [Arkandia]!"

I turned my PC on ignoring the call of my sister saying "Hey! What happened? Something wrong?" I might've given her the wrong idea of what happened but whatever I'm installing it!

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I opened the DVD box and what I saw was not a DVD but a flash drive. A peculiar black coated 16gb flash drive was inside it. It's slick appearance took me by surprise. But it didn't stop me from injecting it inside my PC.

Click... Click... Click...

"I agree... Standard Installation..."

Ping!

"Installing... Guess it'll take a bit of time till it ends I'll eat first..."

I leave my room and headed downstairs... My sister were blocking the hallway and asked me what happened in my room... I brushed it off with "Got a new game console so I kind of got overjoyed by it..." and continued to the kitchen to take my food...

"You know Mira right?"

I nod at her query and looked at her... She looked at me with reproachful gaze... I could only avert my gaze to a different direction but as I did that another figure appeared... It was Mira... Sis' best friend since middle school... How would I not know her she's been here almost my whole life! What's with that question anyway... I retort in mind as I once again averted my gaze...

"Do you really?"

"Yeah! I know! She's been here since like middle school... I waved to her sometimes when we see each other at school... How could I forget such a person?"

"I see! Good! You can rely on her since she's basically a sister to you as well..."

"What?"

She's being weird these days...

"Well, whatever..."

"Mira let's go upstairs!"

"Yeah..."

The two of them gets up from the sofa in the living room and trotted upstairs... I always felt Mira's gaze aimed at me... She must've thought I was a disgusting person since I have those kinds of thing posted up in my room...

As the last spoonful of rice entered my mouth... I hurriedly washed the dishes and went upstairs to my room...

"Woah! That was fast... I didn't think it would be finished after I finished eating..."

I opened the program and it said to equip the VR machine. It was at the same size as a eye glasses the box was filled with cords to connect it to... Here goes to... and that goes to... and this goes to... aaaaaaand done!

There was one more slot in there it was a USB port... There was one more cable and as I thought it's the USB cable wire... This must be the power socket using the computer's electricity to operate it.

"Yes! Now to calibrate..."

I started to do the actions as per the voice's instruction coming from the eyeglass VR machine. After thirty minutes the calibration was done the system rebooted. After that I can enter the game...

"It really is a new day! Thanks sis for waking me up early..."

Well, not really early since I woke up noon already... It was already 2:24... 2:30 was the server up time right? Let's see...

Click... Click... Click... Click... Scroll... Scroll... Click...

Ah there it is... It really was 2:30...

My account I forgot what was it... Mail... Mail...

Click... Click... There!

Username: [GrandEdge4212]

Password: [BetaTestNo.13778]

It's already 2:29... Almost time... I donned the VR machine on my head and stated the words to login...

"Game Start"

After I entered my username and password... My link to the outside world was cut off.. My consciousness fades and after a few minutes everything turns to black...