“Hurry up or we’re going to be late.”

“All right, all right, just wait up a second.”

Huffing and wheezing from the long walk from his house to the nearby high school which he attended, James was trying desperately to catch up to Sarah. Who had spritely run a few meters ahead of him encouraging him to move faster as she did every morning. Even though James had made this trip hundreds of times over the course of a few years, his body had never quite gotten used to the tough uphill climb they had to make in order to reach their high school.

Their high school, Spring Valley Heights, lay on the topmost mountain in the suburb. The people who looked upon it could sense a faint feeling of superiority, as though those who were occupying the building were using the high position of the buildings to look down upon those people below, viewing them as if they were less than ants.

James himself was currently feeling this pressure as he looked up towards the buildings which lay in front of them. Even from a few hundred meters away he could clearly make out the ancient brick walls and large opaque rainbow coloured glass windows which seems to exude confidence and demand attention with an aura born from its years of existence.

“Do you want to take a break?”

Startled, James tore his concentration away from the buildings in front of him and found a pair of light brown eyes staring at him with concern. James could see that Sarah was mentally kicking herself, thinking that she had been pushing James far too far this morning. They had been rushing up the mountain because they were cutting it close to being late for school.

“I’m not that unfit.” James said with a grin.

Although James was grinning on the outside, he couldn’t deny that throughout his body he could feel the rough sensation of heat coursing through his veins and emitting from his skin. It wasn’t that he had been running or doing extreme exercises, but the sudden stop after so much uphill walking had caused him to become fully aware of it. It a sensation familiar to having pins and needles in his feet after sitting down for a long time except more uncomfortable due to only being able to feel the heat across his body.

‘Man, I’m really unfit.’ James thought to himself.

Normally, had he been walking with anybody else they would have naturally made a comment or small joke about how he should probably practice walking a little more or even about how after so many years of walking up the mountain he should have been used to it by now. But Sarah simply stood around, occasionally glancing James to see if he was ready to continue walking. Since he had been little James had been an avid gamer and if he wasn’t playing games then his spare time was used researching other games or studying.

Sarah had long ago given up on trying to convince James to stop playing his video games even just a little bit less. In this respect, his stubbornness was exactly like her father’s and his father’s in that their lives seem to revolve around playing video games. Of course, she wasn’t so much concern for his well-being and fitness as much as she secretly wanted him to spend more time with her. James himself always spent at least two hours gaming after they got back from high school every day, which was one of the main reasons Sarah went back to her house and only came over again for lunch.

After a minute of resting James was ready to go again. The pair continued to walk up the mountain and as they drew closer to the school James couldn’t help but admire it as he did every single day. From afar the tall and regal buildings could just barely be seen past the various trees along the path but the view from up close was completely different.

The entrance to Spring Valley Heights was an incredibly high four meter gate which looked as ancient as the buildings behind it. It was made of bricks and mortar as well as the actual gate door being made of iron bars which spiralled upwards in an intricate pattern and finally ended pointing upwards with spearheads that could have been sharp enough to tip the devil’s trident itself.

The gate naturally lay open for any and all students who wish to come inside during the day. Since it was the morning there were little to no guards on duty to survey the various crowds of students that were coming inside for their average daily routines of study and procrastination.

As they walked towards the crowd of white shirts and gray pants James noted that various students were flaunting their pristine and new uniforms and had turn their heads to view the pair. Sarah was considered one of the beauties of Spring Valley High and naturally James noticed that the majority of the heads that had turned belonged to male students.

Several had already begun cockily undoing their ties; as though their casual disregard of school uniform protocol would somehow make them look incredibly appealing to this member of the opposite sex with whom they were so interested. James also saw a few female heads turn and noticed that he knew all of them, especially one with blonde hair that was viewing him with disdain and a fiery redhead that was smiling as the pair came into view.

All of the girls viewing them were friends of Sarah, and although they knew that Sarah and James were close childhood friends and acknowledged his existence the two groups generally shied away from each other due to the difference in their social standings. It wasn’t to say that James was poor and the girls were rich but instead, that the girls were considered some of the prettiest in the school whereas James himself was one of the unpopular crowd, being slightly chubby and also an avid gamer with no interest in sports.

In particular, the blond haired girl viewing him in disdain seemed to hold a particular grudge against him simply for existing. From the moment she had met him it had been clear where she placed his social standing in comparison to herself, with him at the bottom along with bugs and other horrid creatures and she on top.

Her name was Stacey and she could be considered the other best friend of Sarah, she and Sarah had been in the same class of high school for five years now and in that time they had grown as close as they could possibly be while James and Stacey had grown to hate each other just as much. Perhaps it was only the fact that he had been there first to be Sarah’s friends or the fact that he and Sarah seem to share an inseparable bond which she didn’t have with Sarah. Stacey had never tried to be friendly to James and although they were not openly antagonistic towards each other there was always a certain enmity which lingered in the air when they were close to each other.

James, in turn, had never ever tried to turn Sarah again Stacey and had never even commented on their silent feud to her since Sarah hadn’t noticed it in all the years they had been together. This was simply because James was secretly incredibly happy that Sarah could have someone as close as Stacey to hang out with during her high school years, he himself knew the pain of not having any friends for a long period of time since he had only gained his first friend three years into high school. Although it was a pity that he and Stacey could never get along he would never try to take such a blessing away from Sarah who had always been his friend and who he felt deserved an incredibly good and memory filled high school life.

“James! Sarah!”

As a voice called out to him James turned away from his thoughts on Stacey and came face to face with some freckles and a pair of dark blue eyes. Wisps of fiery red hair seemed to cascade across the girls cheeks so naturally that James couldn’t help but take a small breath at the beauty in front of him.

“Oh, Lindsay.” Sarah seemed to lose some of her enthusiasm as Lindsay, the girl with a red hair, drew closer to them with a large smile on her face.

As Lindsay drew closer James could see from the various looks on the boy’s faces nearby that it was their turn to draw slight breaths as what was considered the number two beauty in the school walked up and stood beside the person that could arguably have been in any other position in the top five.

Suddenly conscious of so many stares, James made to move forward and out of sight since they had already arrived at school and really there was nothing keeping him from staying together with Sarah now that Stacey was nearby. But as he turned to move Lindsay lightly tapped on the shoulder and a playful expression entered her eyes.

“Hey there Jamesey, where are you going? Don’t we both have home room together, why don’t we just there together?”

As though a fire had been put out nearby James suddenly felt a chill cross over his spine and he and Lindsay turned to face the source of the chill, finding only Sarah standing there with a slight smile on her face. In response to the smile Lindsay simply shrugged and as though some unspoken agreement had been made between them Sarah suddenly moved in between James and Lindsay and the trio walked towards their home room.

James himself was feeling extremely uncomfortable under the stares of the various guys and girls that seem to be telling him, in no small amount, that he didn’t belong in this group. In fact, James himself wasn’t even sure why he was currently walking together with Lindsay and Sarah. It seemed that no matter how many times he tried to avoid it this same occurrence happened on a regular basis. He had even insisted that he and Sarah separate as they got closer to the school campus but she wouldn’t listen to him.

Like Stacey, Lindsay was also high school friend of Sarah’s but unlike Stacey, Lindsay had never shown even the slightest disdain for James. He had never personally been able to consider himself one of her friends, yet she had always acted like he was.

Lindsay was the number two beauty in the entire school and from the moment James had met her she had never acted the part for a single moment. Whereas James would have expected somebody with such a grand reputation among the guys and even the girls to be arrogant, cunning and perhaps even little manipulative, Lindsay was none of these things. In fact, Lindsay was every bit as flippant and outgoing as Sarah was with him. In the first place it had been her actions that had led to them becoming acquainted.

A couple of years ago Lindsay had come into his class, stood in front of his desk, leant over and loudly introduced herself to him causing him several seconds of anguish as he was accosted with a feeling of confusion. Why was this beauty was talking to him? At the same time he could feel the death stares of several people in his class, the first of many to come over the years.

It had taken him a few moments to realise that the playful smile lingering on her lush and full lips was meant for him rather than anyone else, it had been only later that he had found out that she had also been Sarah’s friend. That had been three years ago and since then Lindsay hadn’t hesitated to take every opportunity she could to say hello to James whenever she saw him, making life at high school quite uncomfortable for someone like him who wasn’t used all the attention. Even though Lindsay had such a kind and caring, as well as playful, personality that seemed to match Sarah’s, the two hadn’t gotten along as well she and Stacey had for some reason. James had never been able to figure out why.

“What are you thinking about?”

Once again startled out of his thoughts, James felt a momentary lapse in his concentration as Lindsay put her face only a few centimeters from his own and clasped her hands behind her back in a way that greatly accentuated her full breasts. Struggling, and failing, to keep his eyes from wandering to any indecent part of her body, James found himself looking into the death stare that Sarah was shooting at him from behind the locks of Lindsay’s flowing red hair.

Put on the spot and with nowhere to run he said the first thing that came to mind, “I’m thinking about how I wish this day would end already.”

Even though he didn’t think that he had been particularly comedic, Lindsay let out a cute giggle and he could see a smile threatening to break out across Sarah’s lips. Several of the nearby boys let out small gasps as the courtyard past the entrance gate of the school seemed to light up momentarily with the girls glowing radiance and as though this set off some sort of trigger, a small group of guys began to noisily walk towards the trio.

“Hey there pretties, what are we smiling about today?”

As the group drew closer their leader called out to them familiarly, Sarah and Lindsay stopped. As they crossed paths, James had to force himself to stop walking, no matter how much he wanted to continue. He took a few seconds to look the newcomer up and down. The person was someone who he would recognise from a mile away, a boy named Landi.

Hailing from a European country, Landi was one of those boys who was blessed with traits that other guys desired and girls lusted for. With mocha skin and a naturally skinny frame which seem to blend naturally with his perfectly toned and shaped six pack all covered with unblemished skin. There wasn’t a single girl at Spring Valley High that didn’t have a secret crush on him as far as James knew.

He was also a complete jackass.

Although Landi would never show it in front of the beautiful girls that surrounded him, James knew that Landi was the kind of guy that was used to being spoilt and having everything that he desired simply being given to him. He was the kind of guy that viewed girls like as any other collectable or trophy, something to be shown off or displayed. Landi himself was the son of one of the directors of a branch of the gigantic OmniGame Corporation and so his family was easily one of the richest and most influential in the area and possibly the richest in the entire school.

That being said, there had always been one girl that he had never been able to influence and that was Sarah. It wasn’t that Sarah was dense to these sorts of things such as love or simply being hit on, but whenever Landi had tried to make a move on her she had simply laughed gently and brushed him off with a smile, it was one of the things that James most respected her for. Since she herself was also the daughter of a branch director of the OmniGame Corporation, Landi’s economic position in society had never really influenced her and for some reason James had never seen her take an interest in any guys throughout her entire time at high school. If he were to count the amount of male friends she had he could probably list them all on one hand with fingers to spare.

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Landi walked closer towards them and several of his friends shot James dirty looks. As though receiving a hidden signal between them, several of them immediately walked over to James and created a physical barrier between him and the girls, under the pretence of greeting him. Landi himself saw the actions of his henchmen and a large grin grew on his face.

He turned back towards the girls and gently led them away from James with conversation. James was forced to watch as the group slowly drew away from him towards the school buildings. After a few steps, both Sarah and Lindsay shot looks back at James to follow them but he was still stuck behind a wall of male students. He shot them both a look which told them to move on because he would be fine.

“Getting a little too comfortable for your own good, aren’t you Grub?”

James clenched his teeth as the girls finally left his side and their gentle auras were replaced by the smelling breath and ugly looks of Landi’s best friend, Derek. Also belonging to an extremely rich family with strong connections to the OmniGame Corporation, Derek stuck to Landi like chewing gum onto a shoe; and unless he was in front of women he was the most despicable kind of human. It wasn’t so much that he would swear or even act uncouth, it was simply that Derek was the kind to threaten, beat up and make people’s lives a living hell if he so much as felt like it. Not because they deserved it but simply because he felt like it was a privilege for others to give his life entertainment.

His goons formed a protective wall around Derek and James, although from the outside it would look as though nothing was happening within, James knew that even if people noticed, they would most likely not care about someone like him and simply continue walking to class.

“Listen, Derek-”

“I don’t want to hear it James, you know what’s coming next.”

Derek said these words as though there were more a statement and a fact rather than a suggestion and James had experienced what was coming next so many times over the years that he no longer tried to fight it. His shoulders slumped in defeat as the goons lead James through the various small alleyways the populated the school. Due to its gigantic size James knew that it was unlikely that anyone would come across them.

“I thought I told you not to meet up with Lindsay and Sarah. Again James… really? Are you just trying to be rebellious now or are you genuinely stupid?”

Although James had had no say in whether or not Lindsay or Sarah hung out with him, he knew that no matter how much he objected the same fate would await him. Unfortunately it seemed like Derek didn’t want to punch a sandbag today, he wanted the thrill of the hunt.

With a single sharp movement Derek lifted his hand behind James’s head and grabbed a fistful of his black hair while shouting loudly into his ear, “are you disrespecting me? Is that what this is about? Listen, I gave you a lot of chances that you’ve abused and i’m going to give you one last warning.” James let out a little cry of pain as Derek twisted his hair and forcefully pulled several strands out, making it as painful as possible without leaving any lasting damage, “stay away from Lindsay and especially Sarah. Or else.  Next time I won’t be so kind.”

With these final words Derek let go of James’s hair but this wasn’t the end, as soon as Derek begun to walk away so that he wouldn’t be late to homeroom the various guys that come with him, six in total, surrounded James and pushed him down onto his knees, making sure his shirt didn’t touch the ground so that it wouldn’t get dirty. As soon as he felt his knees connect to the concrete he also felt a fist connecting with his stomach, it was closely followed by a kick to his ribs and another harder kick to his inner thighs.

Unfortunately, both of James’s arms were being held back by two of the guys and he could only watch helplessly as the boys kicked him only where the teachers and other people wouldn’t be able to see the marks. Every single one of these boys belonged to incredibly rich families and although they hung out with Landi and Derek in order collect some of their leftover fame and benefits, they too held little value for James’s life.

They mercilessly beat him, not because he had done anything wrong to them or even because Derek had ordered them to, the only reason they did it was to relieve their own stress.

In James’s view they were the worst kind of human, unfortunately, to the rest of society somebody like him was worth less than all of these boys and if he complained about what they were doing they would simply deny it. The staff too would turn a blind eye to the incidents as long as their private school was being funded by these children’s families and even if they should choose not to ignore it, with the rich kid’s family influences they would easily be able to turn the incident around and it would be James who was being suspended or expelled.

And so once they were done James did the only thing he could do, he ran away. No tears threatened to break from his eyes and the various students leaving homeroom didn’t pay him the slightest of attentions as he casually walked out of the school gates. To them James was exactly the same as it always had been, quiet and antisocial. They had no idea of the things that were going through his head or the pain that he was feeling as he briskly walked away from the school and down its long winding mountain road, the tall, regal buildings seemingly mocking him with their false promise of acceptance into a higher community.

To be honest it wasn’t such a shock that there was a student leaving at this time, compulsory attendance at school had been abolished several hundred years ago ever since the curriculum and knowledge acquired by the human race had become too much for single people to learn a lifetime. Nowadays school was seen more as a way to socialize rather than learn, but on days like these James knew that it was more likely that he was only going to get beaten up even more if he stayed.

The only reason he had gone to such a high end high school was because it was close by to his home and his father had wanted him to attend the same school that he had attended in his childhood. But James was sure that his father had not experienced any of the things that James was experiencing right now.

James was huffing and puffing when he finally reached his home but to his surprise as soon as he walked through the wooden doors he came face to face with his father, Howard, who was looking at him with his arms crossed and a slight expression of annoyance on his face.

Unlike his son, Howard was an incredibly bulky man and any layers of fat that remained on his body was covered and replaced by muscles so that it would forever be tucked out of sight. Despite this, Howard had a pair of kind eyes that spoke volumes about the gentle soul that resided in that hulk-like body.

“James,” he stared long and hard at his son who had just arrived, “why don’t you and I have a little talk.”

James felt his heart drop and a small ball of weight gathering in his stomach which could only be described as a feeling of dread, he watched his father pull up a chair in the living room and he took a few steps could pull up a chair and face his father. To his surprise his father didn’t begin to scold him for missing out on school, instead, he held out a hand and with a single motion lifted James’ sleeve and took a good long look at the bruise that had already begun to form. As though shocked by some revelation his eyes widened but even through his shock he didn’t let go.

“I – I had had no idea that this was happening,” before James could reply Howard lifted his free hand to stop him, “now before you say anything, this is completely my fault, I know that I haven’t been here much lately especially now that I’ve been working the night shift more and more, but I would have thought – I would have hoped – that you would have told me that something like this was happening to you.”

“Listen, dad, it’s really no big deal.”

“No big deal?! Who are the little bastards that did this to you?”

James unconsciously moved his body away from his father as Howard suddenly let out what could only be described as a large amount of killing intent. But as soon as it had come Howard calmed down and it was gone again. Instead James was surprised to see an incredibly large grin break out across his father’s face. It wasn’t the kind of grin that spoke of happiness, but instead James saw that the grin was the only thing suppressing his father’s rage at the moment. As though reading his mind, Howard moved his hands in a behind his back as though he were stretching to relax.

“Well, we can have a talk about this later,” James breathed a sigh of relief and a frown crossed over Howard’s face, “A very, very serious talk. Actually, the reason I’m home so early was because I was busy setting up something that Joey gave me yesterday as a gift to you.”

Howard lifted himself off the chair and James felt a small pang of regret as he followed the hulking figure down the hall towards his room. He could see that his father clearly wanted to have a talk to him about what was happening. But James knew his father respected his privacy far too much to do that, he knew that if James had wanted to tell him about this then he would have ages ago. In fact, James hadn’t even expected his father to be home so early. His shift usually ended late at night and begun early in the morning.

“You know son,” As soon as Howard reached the room he lifted the door open and pointed towards James’ gaming capsule, then he plopped himself onto his sons bed and lay there with his hands in the air, “I used to be bullied a lot as well.” James let out a small choking sound and Howard glanced at him with a small smile, “Yeh that’s right, your tank of a father was bullied, in fact; it got incredibly bad at some times. During those moments I just wanted to run away from the world and curse it.”

James found himself listening intently to his father’s words before he had even realized it.

“I know the feeling, but sometimes that doesn’t mean anything. So I’ll tell you that there were always two things that helped me through those tough times. One was my best friend, our next door neighbour, Joey and the next was arguably the most important thing in my life, video games.”

James lifted an eyebrow and Howard just laughed at his expression.

“You already know I love video games Jamesey, and I’ll admit it, the times I had playing video games were the best times of my life. So even if you don’t want to talk about what happened, let me give you this one thing to help you, from father to son.”

He pointed once again to the capsule and James saw that an addition had been made to it, a large computer chip-type device had been plugged into its side.

“The game’s all set up and ready to go, just go inside and have fun son. I’ll be around just in case, but you know, I’ll think of something to tell your mother. You don’t have to go to school this week.”

‘No school for a week?’

James was shocked. His father had worked incredibly hard during his high school and university years. He had even heard tales from his mother about how his father would stay studying in school instead of hanging out with her while they were dating. But now, not only had he told him not to go to school but he had also given him a new game to play. Judging from how haggard his father looked it was likely that he had probably spent the night at work just so that he could spend the morning setting this up for James to find when he got home from school.

The gratitude James felt towards his father at this moment was incomparable to anything he had felt recently.

“What game is it?”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth James silently cursed himself. Even if he was feeling gratitude towards his father he had still spoken so bluntly, as though he were ordering his dad to answer. Howard himself didn’t mind, James’ bluntness only reminded him of himself since it was a trait they both shared.

“I know you’re into the gaming scene Jamesey, you’ll find out as soon as you get in. I promise. Now then,” Howard lifted himself off of James’ bed and walked to the door, “I think it’s time for me to go and catch a few hours of sleep. I hope you enjoy the game son, and remember, if there’s ever anything you want to talk about, I’m here for you.”

‘You’ve already done everything you needed to and more.’ James silently thought to himself as Howard left the room. ‘Thanks dad.’

As soon as his door slammed shut behind his father James walked towards the gaming capsule and glanced curiously at the computer chip that his father had plugged into it. It didn’t look like anything he had seen before and he really wish that he had insisted on finding out what game his father had installed before he had left the room. But then again, his father had always known just as much, if not more, about games than James did. Clearly anything recommended by his father would be an enjoyable experience for James.

James opened the capsule door and sat on top of it, putting himself into a lying down position as though he was resting in a bed and allowing the capsule to close around him. He closed his eyes and after a few seconds a familiar sensation of being taken out of his body occurred and when he opened his eyes he was looking at a large glowing image of three interlocking triangles.

Of course, James immediately recognized the logo as belonging to the OmniGame Corporation, but what was even more amazing to James was the single word floating above the logo.

ETERNITY.

“Holy shit.” James couldn’t keep his amazement in check.

“Dad this is one hell of a gift.”

As though sensing his presence a melodious female voice drifted down from the air and seemed to echo within his mind.

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Author's note: Hey guys, I've been trying a new style of writing during this chapter, with longer sentences and more descriptions being added than in my earlier works. I'll be working with this style of writing for the rest of this fiction since it seems like a style which will be very enjoyable to read once it's done right. But to do that I must practice! :D