The next couple of days at home went by in a blur. His family immediately noticed a difference in him after his night in the capsule, though the feeling of rejuvenation wore off quickly.
"After seeing some of the equipment and meeting some of the people involved, I gotta say I'm feeling a lot more confident about this." Explained Morgan to his family, on the day before he went back. "It's going to be hard not to see you all for a year."
His Mum replied. "It's such a great opportunity for you, I'm so relieved that you're comfortable going into this. The contract states that you'll be able to contact us regularly, so you'd better."
His dad grinned at him. "Yeah you'd better, or she'll sign up as a troll to come and give you a proper hiding."
Mum swatted at him playfully. "Maybe I would. You'll promise us you'll take care Morgan?"
"Yes, Mother dear." He replied with a smile. "I'll contact you when I can, remember that we still have very little idea as to how I'll be spending my time."
Claire chipped in with a cheeky grin. "From a company as philanthropic as Eleos, you'll probably spend your time picking flowers and raising puppies."
Morgan called Moon over, who bounced up to him happily, accepting the scratches. "And wouldn't that be nice. Remember I told you about that guy Ryan I met at the lab? They've got him mining, of all things, so options are definitely open for me to be doing something inexplicably menial."
"We're going to miss you. You'll let us know as soon as possible, ok?" re-joined his mum.
"I will." Morgan reassured her. "As soon as I can."
The next day came quickly, and Morgan found himself once again rolling through the large, marbled lobby of the Lab. His instructions today took him up to floor 5, where he found an identical set of white panelled corridors with navigational streaks of colour disappearing into the distances. He followed another blue line until he pulled up to the door he was sent to and knocked.
A tall man in the ubiquitous white lab coat opened the door after a moment, and beckoned him in. As Morgan entered the small room, he noted it was dominated by a large capsule that gleamed in the bright fluorescent light. His face paled as he looked at it.
The man turned to face him. "Hello, Morgan. I am Doctor Sveinsten. I will be taking you through the onboarding process." His voice was steady and serious as he gestured towards the side of the room. "Please place yourself here, and we will attach the electrodes. After this is done, we will place you in the capsule and administer a sedative to put you to sleep and ease the transition. Is this OK with you?"
Morgan stared at the capsule for a moment. It had just hit him, the unsettling enormity of what he was about to do. To give up the autonomy of his mind and his body for a whole year, to get into that giant, gleaming monstrosity of a capsule. To go voluntarily into a coma while smothered in cables, and have dreams controlled by others. With an effort, he shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind. Everything was going to be fine. If he didn't take this chance, his option was to wither and die, and that wasn't fine at all. Steeling himself, he nodded to the doctor.
"Thank you, Doctor, and yes, that's OK with me."
Doctor Sveinsten talked as he started applying the electrodes. "As you've been told, we will be looking after your body and mind day and night; we're serious about what we do here and have had plenty of practice so please don't worry." He nodded reassuringly to Morgan. "We will pull you out if your vitals or mental state show any abnormalities. The control team is keeping an eye on you, as well as myself and my colleagues on the floor."
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Quarter of an hour later, he was being helped into the warm capsule gel, wires trailing him in. The doctor addressed him. "OK now, Morgan. The sedative will be released into the gel in a moment. Good luck on your new adventure, I look forward to seeing you again."
Morgan rested comfortably in the warm and welcoming gel. "Thank you, Doctor, I'll see you on..." Morgan started, but trailed off as his world quickly faded to black. Doctor Sveinsten fed a tube down the unconscious Morgan's throat, checked the length and nodded to himself. He stepped away, pressing a button on the console. A pneumatic hiss emanated from the supports as they retracted, bringing the lid of the capsule to a close. He saw the level of the gel rise in the capsule through a glass section in the side, covering Morgan completely. With one last look at the console's readings, the doctor turned off the light and left the room.
He opened his eyes to a clear, bright white room. It was so uniformly white he couldn't even see the lines of the wall's edges. Infront of him floated a large leatherbound tome, open and angled so he could read it. Blinking a few times at the sudden bizarre scene, he approached the book. The pages were framed with elaborate patterns, and in beautiful calligraphic letters, he saw his name etched at the top of the left page. There was text below, in smaller but still elegant script,
Character selection.
Type - Full Immersion
Version - T1Y V1.078.001
The next page showed a picture of himself, with the legend,
'Human. Created at the confluence of strength and dexterity, humans are hardy and adaptable warriors, capable with sword and bow alike. +25 STR +25 DEX'
He reached for the corner and turned the page. A picture on each of the two new pages, but both monochromes. The left picture, again, portrayed him but now as a dwarf; shorter and stocky, with a rich black beard. He smiled at the absurd picture and read the legend.
'Dwarf. Created at the confluence of strength and willpower, dwarves are indomitable defenders in battle, and capable craftsmen at home. +25 STR +25 WILL. This race is not available for your version.'
Frowning a little at the last line, he moved his gaze to the right, and saw an even smaller version of himself, not as stocky as the dwarf but sporting almost comically sized hands and feet on its tiny frame.
'Gnome. Created at the confluence of willpower and intelligence, gnomes are versatile and resilient fighters, and capable inventors. +25 WILL +25 INT. This race is not available for your version.'
Again, the same line. He wondered why the races weren't available to him as he turned the page once more. One of the new races wasn't greyed, and he gazed at it for a minute. A humanoid, not dissimilar to the human race picture, gazed back at him with cloudy blue eyes. He was totally bald, with a gaunt and angular face and looked a little frail, but still gave off a sense of strength. Morgan shuddered when he realised that the picture that he saw here looked more like his real body than the human picture had been.
'Magi. Created at the confluence of intelligence and wisdom, magi are potent spellcasters and their heightened regeneration gives them an edge in battle. +25 INT +25 WIS.'
He glanced at the other monochrome picture for a second, it depicting him tall and lithe, with the pointy ears you expect of an elf.
'Elf. Created at the confluence of wisdom and dexterity, elves are quick to react and capable with spell, bow and sword. +25 WIS +25 DEX. This race is not available for your version.'
Well, he was left with just two options. Perhaps it was a character height thing? He'd have to ask someone when he could. He glanced around the featureless white space and wondered how he'd do that. With a mental shrug, he got back to the book, looking at the gaunt spectre of himself as a Maji. From what he'd gathered magic sounded incredibly cool, but not only had he already decided to follow a route that the human seemed well suited for, he also had had enough of looking like a walking corpse. He experimentally tried to turn to the next page, and the new left page showed a list of the five races, with three greyed out. On the right, two words separated by a line.
'Selection:
_________
Confirm.'
He poked at the 'human' entry in the list, and the text migrated above the line that sat between the two words.
'Selection:
Human
Confirm?'
As he pressed the confirmation, an old oak door materialised slowly out of one of the walls. He stepped towards it, admiring it's framing as he pulled it open with the iron ring of the handle. It opened smoothly, and he was suddenly and rapidly sucked into the void of the other side.