There was still silence after he asked the question. Eli was a mess, he knew it; without his girlfriend and his circle of friends, he became secluded. Even his roommate decided it would be easier to crash at another dorm until Eli “gets his shit back together.” But he was too deep in this theory, and was letting Cass know too little. He knew that she could tell something was definitely wrong with him--they are siblings after all. However, he needed someone he could trust more than anyone else in his life right now, and knew that Cass would be willing to at least listen to the problem.
“Please...just let me think about it for a while.” said Cass, with a hint of disbelief in her voice. “Eli, what’s the name of this game?”
“Fated Realms, it’s the most recent hyper-VR game that’s come out.” said Eli, exasperated after his whole rant and explanation. At that point, it just crossed his mind that perhaps involving his sister in this mess wouldn’t be the best of ideas, but he was running out of options.
“Oh great, so another fantasy RPG? What contrived name are they going to come up with next?” Cass was trying to lighten the mood by being sarcastic, but she knew that wasn’t going to help. “Look, like I said, I’ll think about it, okay? You’ll know my answer by tomorrow, I promise to call you back.”
“Okay then, thank you so much Cass, you have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Don’t mention it. Really.”
And like that, Cass hung up the call. Eli breathed a huge sigh of relief, knowing that he at least got a more positive answer than he expected. He pried the headgear off, rubbing his hands through his dark brown hair--it felt greasy and unkempt. Although he knew he couldn’t get a haircut at this hour, he definitely knew he could at least shower.
Steam rose from the water bursting from the shower head as Eli simply in the shower to cleanse himself. He started to think about how did he end up in this mess, this pit of connections that seemed too ridiculous, yet too logical at the same time. In the past 4 weeks, missing persons cases had a marginal increase over the world, something that Eli painstakingly combed over with whatever relevant data he could get from the news, an activity that he grew to accustomed to. At first, he justified it as a school project to his friends, but they eventually realized that it was more than that. When he began to connect that the disappearances correlated with the game Fated Realms, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Eli winced, thinking about how this “little” project of his consumed him, how the police rejected the mere notion of a video-game having such a international ripple. He teared up when he relived the horrid pleas of his girlfriend when he said that he wasn’t giving up on this apparent problem, and how he might even abandon his hopes of becoming a musician.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“I’m sorry Lily...you have to understand...I hope you understand,” muttered Eli, trying to suppress his sadness. He knew that she wouldn’t though, because she never really dabbled in video-games, much less VR. Her down-to-earth personality and sincerity in the real world was why he loved her so much; it kept him tethered in the real world, to their world.
VR technology started slowly--it was first offering a visual interface, a way for consumers to immerse themselves even more. But that wasn’t enough; countless innovations, like smell, hearing, touch, taste, and a myriad of other senses were constantly being added. All headsets became far too bloated, too heavy, and more inaccessable to the masses; Eli remembered the first time that he and Cass got their headsets about 10 years ago at Christmas that they looked utterly silly. Big, black, and bulky; the only way someone could tell it wasn’t just elaborate helmets was the lighting indicators on the side, and even then, it still looked cumbersome.
It all changed when neurotechnology interface was patented by a conglomerate of several international corporations in the year 2050, and officially announcing a new tech corporation simply known as “VR Entertainment”. Eli still heard the echoes of his high school friends, saying that it was the end for their old headsets. He didn’t completely understand how it worked, but basically by accessing the mind directly, the VR gear could be reduced in size and weight nearly tenfold; truly, an incredible feat. Gone were the days of having restricted smells or smudged internal screens; now, a user only had to place the helmet securely on their head, and information was beamed directly into their minds, creating a world of infinite possibilities and user-freedom.
The first reported case of a coma due to overusage of the new VR headgear happened not even 2 years after the initial release. The details are fuzzy today, possibly due to the huge pull that VR Entertainment could afford with all the international governments, or because Eli was focusing on other things at that time.
“That’s right, the games…’So realistic, you’ll never want to leave!’” though Eli. That was the bottomline of every game that came out for the new VR; the problem was that couldn’t be any truer. He clutched his head in disgust as to how he almost got sucked in when he played his first game, how he was a terrible family member and brother...but practically escaped because of his sister.
“Cass…”
That name meant so much to him, but because the distance didn’t help at all, nor did his ability to repay debts. He desperately didn’t want to drag Cass into this, not after everything, but he secretly hoped in the bottom of his heart that playing Fated Realms could rekindle some kind of familial bond. A lofty dream, to be sure, but he hoped anyways.
Finishing his shower up, he gazed at the bathroom mirror and notice how his fit physique was starting wear down; his veins were darker, his skin stretched, and how underneath his eyes were huge, dark bags. Without another word, he dressed himself in some underwear and collapsed into bed. He dreamt of a simpler time, sleeping more soundly than he has in a long time.
“Stop playing around, Eli!” shouted Cass, after the most recent of pranks played by him. They would end up laughing it off whenever she would retort with a joke to take Eli down a peg. Mere toddlers at the time, even if they were 6 years apart; a time both of them wished they could relive, even if they didn’t know that’s what they desired at the time.
Eli was lifted back to reality, shattering that magical moment, when he woke up in the afternoon with Cass calling him. He nearly skipped a beat when he also glanced at the 2 other missing calls from her, and rushed to pick up his phone.