Hi everyone, :hi:

As this is my first fanfic and English isn't my first language I'm allways open for suggestions, criticism and ideas. Be it regarding story, spelling or grammar. I also don't have a proofreader, so if you point out any mistakes I will try to correct them.

You can always post in the "Suggestions, criticism, stats and skills" thread or just at the end of each chapter.

So please enjoy.

P.S.: I put a bunch of quotes and references in there, hope you like it^^

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Don't Fear the Reaper

Chapter 1 – The Road so Far

He was nervous. More nervous than he wanted to admit and a lot more nervous than he showed to the world. The girl he had a crush on asked him for lunch today. She was his childhood friend, he was almost embarrassed how much of a stereotype that was. Still, he liked her since they were kids.

During the time they were in elementary school and after that, when they lived next to each other. They went to the same school after that and still spent a lot of time together.

It happened when he just started his second year in High School, shortly after his fifteenth birthday. While visiting some friends his parents died in a car crash. He took it hard. Of course that's no surprise, he was just a kid who lost his parents, his only family and the people who cared for him most in this world. Taking it hard may be an understatement.

He was devastated because he lost his place in life. He was placed in an orphanage across the county and of course nobody adopted him at his age. Something that suited him just right. Unfortunately he also lost all his friends, his home and everything he ever knew.

Never though did he forget his parents and honored them the only way he knew. He aced pretty much every class in school and worked when he didn't have to study. His family wasn't rich and the death of his parents left him penniless. Although he didn't have to pay for food and housing in the orphanage he still needed money.

So he did physically demanding jobs. Nothing horrible or abusing but it still cost him most of his free time and in addition he closed himself off from the world after the death of his parents. All that prevented him from developing close relationships with his classmates and colleagues.

In the orphanage he was by far the oldest and most kids didn't stay very long. Those years were incredible lonely ones. When he watched himself in the mirror after graduating from High School he almost cried as he always imagined celebrating with his parents. His eyes were a little dim and the dark circles under them were proof of a difficult time.

He also lost a lot of weight. The small chubby (rather fat) but happy and friendly kid that always ran his mouth changed into a solemn and silent guy. He was a lot taller at around 190cm, his fat changed into lean muscle.

Not bulky or overly broad as he never really trained. But he usually only ate much when he was happy or bored and that just didn't happen that often anymore. In addition the hard work helped him develop a decent muscle tone.

After graduating High School he wanted to enroll in a famous university but of course he didn't have the money as he was now an adult and was pretty much kicked out of the orphanage. After thinking hard about it he joined the Army and spent two years serving his country. Well more like saving up money. He actually enjoyed most of the time there.

He saved a lot of cash as he took almost any extra shift possible, worked long hours and took advantage of every program and service the army offered. Through camaraderie and a new purpose in his life he slowly regained the light in his steel blue eyes.

He more or less came to terms with his parents’ death and became a lot more open and gained a lot of close friends in his unit. As the army paid for almost everything, he stayed on top of things academically through various programs and classes.

The physical training helped develop his stamina. He even joined a close combat class. It was by far the most enjoyable time since his parents died and although it was great he knew he had to move on.

So with a glowing recommendation from the army, a decently filled bank account and his amazing marks in school he actually got a scholarship and could finally enroll in his first choice university that was close to the town he lived in while his parents were still alive.

He got quite a couple of stares in his first engineering course. Without himself noticing he transformed into quite the looker. As he never had contact with a lot of women he didn't really know how he should handle their glances.

His black hair was short and had a military cut, he was cleanly shaved and wore a simple black t-shirt which was a little bit too tight around his biceps (new stuff was expensive) and although you couldn't see it, the muscle tone below the shirt was pretty impressive. He still wasn't really bulky but you couldn't deny he was well built. He barely grew during the last two years but still was among the tallest in the room.

On this day he met her again in the cafeteria. She was studying chemistry and became even more beautiful than he could have imagined. Her long black hair was like velvet and her skin so flawless it reminded him of precious porcelain. When he approached her his heart was pounding hard. "Jane, it's you right, do you remember me?"

She was used to guys approaching her. She was always beautiful so she usually had a flock of men behind her. Be it school, the year after that she spent traveling or her first university year. In recent years her father made quite a lot of money and so her social standing changed fast.

Although she never noticed, this resulted in her becoming quite arrogant and her friends, who were mostly rich and likewise beyond pretty, had similar shortcomings. So when someone approached her on the first day of her third semester with a lame line she just wanted to send him off as she usually did. Her friends looked equally bothered. When she saw him she closed her open mouth, furrowed her brows and thought about how she knew the familiar looking boy.

He was casually clothed and was obviously pretty poor. Good looking, tall with a decent muscle tone, a face with sharp edges and steel blue eyes. He could seem scary if he wasn't smiling broadly. After a couple of seconds she knew and widened her eyes.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Frank, is that you? Is that really you?" He was incredible happy she actually still remembered him. He didn't even notice the glares of the guys on her table. It was a mix of hostility and disgust. Looks that clearly rejected his presence as he didn't belong with them.

And although Frank didn't notice, Jane did. So she took him away from her friends to catch up. They talked for hours about what happened after Frank had to move away. How they both regretted not keeping in touch (he didn't tell her how he often thought about her over the years). Their school life, travels, university, his time in the army. Although she mostly talked and he listened.

From then on his life was pretty good. Classes, although highly advanced, were pretty easy for him and he usually stayed a couple of weeks ahead in every subject, just to be sure.

Many sport teams and extracurricular groups tried to recruit him. In the end he joined an army sponsored group where they learned about warfare, historical and modern, strategic movements and planning. They had to study about battles and logistics of troops and also had to train in different types of combat. He even tried to fight with different blades and really enjoyed it.

Frank made a couple of friends in his classes, dormitory and extracurricular activities and stayed in contact with his buddies from the army. Every now and then he met Jane, but she seemed to be rather busy. So time went by and we arrive at the day Jane asked to meet him in the university cafeteria.

When he arrived his mood took a dive because he saw she wasn't alone. Another girl and three guys were sitting at the same table. He really couldn't stand those arrogant pricks. Especially that one guy, Steve, tall, blond hair, number one member of the swimming and tennis team, rich bastard and grade A asshole. His eyes seemed to be filled with contempt for pretty much anyone who had a lower social status than him. Most of all Frank hated how Jane sometimes looked at Steve.

While grinding his teeth Frank sat down. What was most irritating was how the others where kind of friendly to him which meant they didn't look like they wanted to kill him. Though Frank just thought he may have to thank Jane for that.

After some awkward silence he asked with blatant annoyance. "So, what am I doing here?"

Jane looked at everyone and then started talking. "Frank, I'm sure you know about Novus Vita. “

He nodded, of course he knew. Everyone knew. The first real VRMMORPG ever. There were TV channels and radio shows, weblogs and magazines about it.

A game that was bought by over 200 million people within the first three months. It was a phenomenon, the greatest thing since the internet and it spread like wildfire. A fantasy world with dozens of races and hundreds of classes, a world for the taking. Undiscovered continents to explore and kingdoms to conquer.

Frank loved the idea of it and he desperately wanted to play. Unfortunately it was rather expensive, well actually he could easily afford it, he was just cautious when it came to money.

Frank was not stingy or cheap, anything but actually. Still, two weeks ago he couldn't resist anymore because he really wanted to play and he was sick of everyone talking about it without being able to join them and so he ordered a capsule which arrived today and if Jane hadn't asked him a for a meeting a couple of hours ago he would be playing right now.

Though he wanted to meet Jane, he really looked forward to Novus Vita, fighting valiantly against monsters, saving gorgeous damsels from evil dragons and maybe trying magic.

He even thought about making some money. As his bank account was far from empty, even though the purchase of his new capsule made a little dent in it and his scholarship was a sure thing he wasn’t in immediate need of money, but a couple of hundred dollars a month extra wouldn’t be so bad. In addition he would have the feeling of earning money and not only playing around. Maybe he would just be tricking himself but it eased his conscience and that was enough for him.

After he nodded Jane continued talking. “And do you play it?” He wanted to shake his head but then hesitated. “I just bought a capsule so I guess I will start today.” A smile appeared on her face. “That’s great, you see we are currently doing a quest and we need six people for it and we are currently only the five of us.” He looked at each one of them nodding and agreeing. “I understand but why do you ask me? I would just be level 1 and not be of much help to you, just the opposite I would just be baggage.” As if she was expecting the question she continued. “It is a special quest and we want someone with us we can trust would you help us please?” She even went so far as to put her hand on his and looking deep into his eyes her lips slightly trembling.

“Pretty, pretty please….” Crap, how could he say no to that? “Alright, just give me an hour to get home and set up my capsule, then come and pick me up, I don’t think a level 1 can go where you need me to be.” Jane’s face showed a relieved smile and before Frank could stand up and leave she told him “Great, thank you so much, please start in the Bredon Kingdom in the West, in a town called Fostein, we’ll wait for you in the city square next to the big fountain.”

As he left he had mixed feelings, he planned on playing with Jane, but he also knew she and her friends played almost since release of Novus Vita so he wanted to catch up to them as not to seem like a total weakling. Shrugging and forgetting about it he went to the dormitory and installed his capsule (it was surprisingly easy).

His exams were already finished so he didn’t have to worry about that and he handed in every paper for the next two months. His schedule was clear, his classes just formality for the next three weeks. Excited and a little bit nervous he switched off the lights in his room and lied down inside the capsule, closed it and switched it on.

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