When Alex woke up he was groggy. He had not slept well last night due to excitement because today was his nineteenth birthday, which meant soon he would be able to experience Dream State.
Everyone who turned nineteen began to experience a game-like world when they slept. The way everyone who had experienced it, except the people who claimed it was an affront to god, said it was an amazing experience. Some facilities around the world had even opened and offered to put people who could afford it into medically induced comas.
No one knew where Dream State came from. One day, about one hundred years ago, people started having similar dreams and stated that they had met people from the other side of the world. There was even a massive city in these dreams that people claimed to have roamed around. At first, scientists believed it was a form of mass hysteria, but eventually, even they could not deny their experiences.
When Alex no longer felt like the world was spinning and he could think straight he stretched and then climbed out of bed. After getting dressed in a simple black t-shirt and white pants he opened his window.
Outside he could see other towers, besides the one he lived in, disappearing below the clouds or smog depending on who you asked. Just above the clouds were cars flying to their destinations and walkways going in between the buildings with people walking on them. Everywhere on the buildings he saw there were neon lights and signs, even below the clouds he could see the glow coming from some. One of the larger signs flashed ‘Good Afternoon Citizens of Nimbus City the time is 1203 on 17 September 3035.’ Turning around he walked out his door and towards the main room.
Sitting on the couch was his dad, while Alex, his brother, and his mother all had tan skin his dad had pale skin. Both he and his brother inherited their father's blue eyes while their mother had brown eyes. All of them had black hair.
Hearing Alex Come in, his dad lifted his cyber glasses, “Good Morning birthday boy, are you excited for tonight?”
His mom shouted from their bedroom, “Zachariah says happy birthday!”
“Tell him I said thank you,” shouted back Alex before responding to his dad, “I can’t wait. Zach's not going to make it tonight?”
Alex's dad shook his head, “No, your brother said he needed to get your gift ready for you in Dream State and he figured you would enjoy that more.”
“Well he's not wrong,” Alex said with a smile.
“I know,” replied his dad, “That’s why we all got you gifts inside Dream State this year.”
There was a beep from the cyber glasses on his dad's head who pulled them down over his eyes, “Sorry Alex, I have to take this.”
Alex shrugged, “That's okay I need to head out to meet my friends for lunch, tell mom I'll be back for dinner.”
His dad waved at him in acknowledgment as he walked towards the door. Before heading out he slipped on some black and orange shoes. He also grabbed his black jacket that had glowing orange neon lines running through it and put it on.
Walking into the elevator a little away from his apartment he clicked the button to take him down to the bottom floor. While waiting for the elevator to reach the bottom he watched the city flow down and into the clouds. For a brief second, he saw a reflection of himself and he reached his hand up to comb back his hair. He had a high fade with longer hair on top of his head that had orange streaks running through his black hair.
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When Alex got off the elevator on the bottom floor he got off and walked out of the front doors of his apartment building. When outside he started walking towards the hover car rental that was nearby. The streets of Nimbus City glowed with many different colored lights from the signs. Many of them were trying to get people into businesses while others were advertising something.
Arriving at the hover car rental Alex raised his arm to the medal box and scanned the spot on his wrist where the credit chip was located.
The machine made a humming sound before saying in a robotic voice, “Alex Solari confirmed, How may I assist you?”
“What are the current rental prices?”
“Two hundred and fifty credits per hour.”
Alex winced at that price while he could afford that for a few hours he did not think it was worth it, “Cancel rental.”
“Cancellation confirmed, have a nice day.”
Alex turned and started running towards the restaurant, he was going to be so late.
An hour later he was standing in front of a building with a giant neon jester juggling burgers above the door, Jesters Burger Palace. Walking in he saw the Sterling twins, Johnny and Vera. They were pale-skinned with green eyes and blond hair, though Vera dyed the ends of her hair pink.
As Alex sat across from them he said, “Hey I'm sorry I'm late, Hesta and Zee couldn’t make it?”
“Well hello, sleeping beauty what….” Started Johnny before Vera caught him off, “Ignore him, Hesta couldn’t get the time off work and Zee stopped by for a little bit before he had to leave. Both said they were sorry and happy birthday.”
Johnny piped up, annoyed that his sister cut him off, “You know there are closer hamburger restaurants to where you live that we could have gone to right?”
Alex responded to both, “I'll have to tell them thank you the next time I see them, and Johnny you know as well as I do Jesters has the best burgers in the city.”
“Well yeah but it's not like there is anything important happening today that we needed to come here for,” Said Johnny before receiving an elbow to his side from Vera, “Ow! I was kidding.”
Vera was glaring at her brother, “No, you’re just an ass.”
Alex laughed at his friends while they continued bickering. After ordering some burgers and chatting for a while the twins pulled out a wrapped gift.
“Here before we leave this is for you, it is from all four of us,” Johnny handed over the present.
Alex was shocked, “Oh you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“I know right? That's exactly what I said," said Johnny in a sarcastic agreement.
Alex chuckled, “Vera is right you are an ass.”
When Alex got the gift open he was surprised to find a Dream State token, “These are expensive, how did you get it?”
Dream State tokens were coins that cost a couple thousand to a couple of million credits and were a product sold by guilds IRL. If you got one you could go to that guild's broker and turn it in for a random item from them in the game that was equally valuable. It was how many guilds could focus on Dream State and not have to worry about money IRL.
“We all pitched in but keep in mind it is one of the cheaper ones. Since Hesta and Zee are already in Dream State they are the ones that picked out a reliable guild to get one through. I think they said it was the GearHead Alliance guild,” Vera responded first, “You will have to wait until you have a character before turning it in though.”
“And you will have to tell us all about Dream State when you can. We have another month before we get to join,” pouted Johnny.
“I will, I promise, and thank you both so much. I will have to make sure to tell the other two thank you when I see them next, especially now.”
Alex arrived home later than he intended but that's what he got for not wanting to pay the credits for a rental.
Walking through his apartment door his mom was standing there with her hands on her hips, “First you wake up late, then you leave without saying anything to me, now you’re late for dinner?”
“I’m sorry Mom I lost track of time with my friends,” Alex said in a panic.
His mom let out a sigh, “You’re lucky it is your birthday. Come on, we ordered your favorite burger from Jesters Burger Palace.”
Alex coughed, there was no way in hell he was going to tell his mother that was what he had for lunch, So he ate it happily.
After dinner was done his father handed him a small pill, “Here, normally we would not support this but today is special. This is a sleeping pill designed to make you fall asleep fast. Take it only when you’re lying down in bed.”
Alex looked at his parents hesitantly, “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” they both said with a nod.
Alex grabbed the pill and said thank you before heading to his room. He got changed for bed and before laying down he swallowed the pill. As his head hit the pillow everything went black before a screen appeared in his vision.
‘Welcome to Dream State’