Hussain was a normal, young man, depending on your outlook, of course. His life was filled with simple, yet effective routines. His motto in life was as follows; ‘Just relax, don't stress and keep it simple.’ This phrase had come to his aid many times through life. It was useful when a few years back when he had rented an apartment with his ex-girlfriend. He was not the tool in the shed but he was far from stupid - he understood the value of hard work. With his motto always at the forefront of his mind, he decided to learn a trade skill instead of going to university. He reasoned that people in developed countries could not function without two basic things: water and electricity. Therefore, those two avenues would always need workers. Thus, his chosen profession was as a plumber/electrician.

Due to the recent economic downturn caused his girlfriend to give up her studies and work full time, to make ends meet after the grant she received was rescinded. Hussain being a laid back type of person was not fond of arguments or confrontations. However, his ex seemed to want to pick arguments all the time. He was worried because they had good chemistry. Hussain figured that if this was the case, he should find an extracurricular activity to occupy his time and give her some space, he decided to join a gym but he eventually gave up on that.

He was out on a job to repair a faulty capsule for some game he had heard about that hugely popular those days when his phone rang. It was his mother. Apparently, she wasn't feeling well, and needed help so his mother had always depended on him. Hussain was never bothered by that because it was his mother, so it wasn't anything too serious. Hussain finished up his job, and decided to catch the train to his mothers house. He decided to ring his girlfriend at the time to tell her that he was going there. He rang four times, but each time, the phone went to voicemail. He found it strange that she didn't answer, but left a message telling her of the situation.

Upon arriving at his mother's house, he found an ambulance outside it. Dropping his tools, he rushed into the house, to see his mother with the paramedics. He found out that she had fallen down the stairs. She would need to rest for a few weeks and needed supervision. Weeks turned to months,as one problem after another kept coming. His mother was diabetic, had high cholesterol and high blood pressure - she was now off work and he was too. However, his mother needed constant care, so it was his filial duty.

Months went by, and Hussain was still at his mother’s home. He had not gone back to his rented apartment, and had been using his mother’s savings at her request. He then decided to use his own money, as he had a sizable amount of savings. Unable to contact his girl after numerous calls, he tried her family. They gave him the cold shoulder, saying she was OK, but that's all they were at liberty to tell him. He scratched his head at that.

Everything came to a head one day, as Hussain was walking to the supermarket to get some shopping done for his mother. He suddenly laughed to himself as it dawned on him what had happened. Shrugging his shoulders, he approached the cash machine, REPLACEed his card and tried to withdraw £20, but a message showed on screen stating ‘Insufficient funds.’

"Huh?"

Hussain re-REPLACEed the card and looked up his balance on-screen, which stated ‘£0.07’. Hussain stared at the figure for a minute, smiled, shook his head, took his card, looked at it and wiped it off on his pants. He then put it back in and requested the balance once more, to once again see £0.07. Shocked Hussain instantly started perspiring, his armpits were wet and his sides felt itchy, he started scratching and forcefully rubbed his forehead. He stood there looking at the screen, thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to piece together what had happened to all his money. He knew he had not spent anything since staying at his mother. He didn't have any outstanding debts or loans, so therefore, the amount should be over £25,000. Hussain felt nauseous, his vision was blurry, and he wanted to punch the cash machine, when a voice broke his chain of thought.

"Hurry up mate.."

Hussain caught himself, retrieved his card and backed away slowly with his card in his hand. He turned it over a few times,looked at it strangely and headed home. He called his bank, only to find out his girl had made a large withdrawal, and had attempted to close his account. But that would have required his signature.

Hussain then recalled the time when she had begged him to put her secondary to his account. At the time, a thought ran through his head, as to whether or not he should. He thought that in doing so, things would return to how they were prior to her losing the student grant, thus improving their relationship. The woman on the phone asked if she could be of further assistance, Hussain said no and hung up.

"Wow.. Just wow.. That bitch."

Hussain's mother, concerned, asked what had happened and he relayed the information. His mother was speechless, then said not to worry. That these things happened for a reason and to keep his head up, that one day, things must get better. Hussain wasn't having none of that, he was in fit of rage and needed to cool off.

He decided to got for a walk. He was walking and shaking his head, he wanted to hit something. He couldn’t think straight, someone called out to him, but he was deep in thought. Hussain was thinking that he might track the bitch down and get back his money, when another sound came from behind. Hussain stopped, turned around with an annoyed look on his face, to see a smiling elderly gentleman with a full beard- the local Imam.

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"As-salamu Alaykum brother, (peace be unto you)" he said, smiling with his right hand outstretched.

"Wa Alaykum Salam ya Sheikh, (Peace be with you also oh Sheikh)" Hussain replied, clasping the man’s hand, the built-up stress slowly fading, a smile slowly creeping onto his face. Nodding his head and laughing, the Sheikh said, "I haven't seen you at the mosque in a while brother, I hope you haven't been slacking off too much and have been reading your salat?"

Feeling embarrassed, Hussain hung his head low and replied, "You don't understand what's been going on Sheikh, so much has happened, it’s like everything is coming down on me all at once - I feel lost."

The sheikh smiled and said, "My brother, it is all a test, the creator never gives us more than we can bear; Sabr and Shukr brother - patience and Gratitude." The sheikh continued, "Why don't you come later for maghrib prayer at the mosque? If you want, that is. Just remember, God doesn't need us, we need him. Something might work out. If you have done something wrong, it's between you and the creator. I cannot intercede for you. Come along later for Maghrib Jamaat. Stand firm brother. All is as Allah wills it."

With that, the sheikh looked at his watch and bid his farewell. Hussain and the Sheikh shook hands once more, embraced each other, and went their separate ways. Looking at his own watch, Hussain realized that Maghrib was upon him. He decided to head home to freshen up, make Wudu and then head off to the Mosque.

Hussain arrived at the Mosque a bit early, taking his shoes off, he headed inside.The mosque was rather packed for a Monday evening. Moving to the back, Hussain overheard a group of brothers talking about something passionately. Moving a bit closer for a better listen, he heard one brother say to another,

"Brother, trust me, the game is legit - its like real life."

"Yeah, true that, I heard people are making money like sand off that game," replied another, then one of them started laughing,

"I gave up my full-time job and have committed full-time to this. I make 3x as much as I did at my regular job. All I do is farm stuff and sell them on the auction site of the game. I just bought a new car at full price with no problems, and I'm still comfortable. I even bought a second capsule just in case my main one breaks down, brother."

The other brothers all replied in unison,

"Yeah man, that's pretty smart, you know."

The call to prayer was heard, and everyone went to their places and the prayer began; the sheikh, spotting Hussain, gave him a nod. With the Jumaat prayer finished, Hussain looked for the brother who spoke about making money in the game.The brother in question was about to head into his car, when Hussain approached him.

"As-salam Alaikum brother."

The brother turned around and replied, "Wa Alaykum Salam brother."

Without wasting the brother’s time, Hussain questioned him about the game; what it was all about. The brother told him it was called Royal Road, and how everyone was playing it.

Hussain asked how much the game was. The brother told him that he couldn't recall exactly, but he had just purchased a new capsule, and it came with a free copy of the game. Hussain told the brother that he remembered fixing a capsule when he was working in the capital. The brother looked at him with a big smile and proposed a deal, if Hussain would agree to fix his capsule if it broke down, he would give Hussain the new capsule. Hussain accepted immediately, and shook the brother’s hand. After giving his address,they went their separate ways.

Hussain quickly headed home, turned on his computer and searched Royal Road, the internet was littered with information on it.There was even live footage of some guy playing, called "The adventures of Weed". Hussain watched a little of the footage, as this guy was flying on some dragon that seemed to be made of ice, and using magic to rough people up. Upon seeing this, Hussain was instantly hooked. He closed the stream and did a bit more research. He found out a bit about different professions, quests, dungeons, etc.

Then, came the sound of a car horn from outside his house. Rushing over to the door, he saw the brother backing up out the driveway with the capsule in the back. Hussain thought to himself that this guy wasn't wasting time, and neither should he. They greeted each other, spoke a while, then said farewell. Hussain took the capsule into the house, plugged it up, booted up the system, made sure it was working correctly - even if these things are new, you never know.

Hussain quickly did a bit more searching to learn what he could about the VR-MMORPG, before the installation was complete. There was a beep, it was the capsule notifying that the installation was finished. He quickly perused the manual, then decided to step inside the capsule. He put on the mask, and then everything went dark...