Every night, the same dream occurs. The painful dream that always follows when my eyes close. It's not a matter of choice, dreams never are. If I was able to prevent this dream, I would have done so a long, long time ago.
--
A child, not older than four, was happily reading with his father at home. As his father had a job in the government, he wasn't home often, so the boy was ecstatic to be able to spend his time snuggled up in his lap with his father reading out loud for him. A simple tale of dragons, a hero, and a princess in despair. It kept the boy easily amused as the pages flipped, each continuing the story.
His mother was in the kitchen, humming a sweet melody that would always tickle his ears, much to his enjoyment. She was in quite a good mood herself. Her man hadn't come home in months. She was already longing for his warmth in bed later that night. She gazed at her husband, desire filled in her eyes, stealing a bit of eye-candy while he was busy.
The boy looked up into his father's eyes, and his father noticed. The father was proud. How could he not be? This was his son. His own flesh and blood. He stole a glance at his wife, and she blushed and turned her head back to the food on the stove. He grinned. This was what he had wanted in life. A family. Happiness.
The boy was absentmindedly playing with his father's shirt, and his father was smiling, still reading. Then, the doorbell resounded throughout the home.
"Honey, can you get that for me? I'm a bit busy cooking." said the wife.
The husband grumbled a bit, and lifted the boy off his lap. He stood up, much to the discomfort of the boy, and walked towards the door.
The boy turned his head slightly with his forefinger in his mouth, watching as his father opened the door. A man wearing a black suit was standing there with two similarly suited figures behind.
"Excuse me, we're from the 'police department'. We have reports that a murderer has been sighted near your home. Do you mind if we come in?" the man at the door said, a tone of sarcasm in his voice. His father immediately knew what they had come for.
"No, sir. There is nobody here, now if you'll please-" his father said, desperately trying to close the door, when a foot stopped the door. The father looked up into a barrel of a gun, seeing his end shortly after. A gunshot rang through the home, startling both the boy and his mother. The boy, who was viewing, watched as his father slowly dropped to the ground. The carpet underneath slowly dyed red from his blood.
"Stupid fool. You should have let us in." the man said as he kicked through the doorway, stepping over the boy's lifeless father.
"Herald?!" screamed the wife, and she grabbed a kitchen knife, running to the door. She saw her husband on the floor, and tears formed in her eyes. "Herald!!" she screamed once again, and jumped towards the man.
The man slapped her across the face with the gun. She fell to the floor, falling next to the boy's father.
The boy, seeing this, slowly backed away. He tripped and fell into the corner of the room. "Papa.. Mama.." he muttered, his tears falling down his face.
Two other men came into the home, and started looking around. They spotted the woman on the floor. The smaller of the two grabbed her by the hair, ignoring her screams, and looked intently at her face. He then groped her body, as if appraising her worth. He then smiled.
"Not bad.. She'll do for a bit." he said, dragging her by the hair into the room closest to the front door. Her screams continued as he passed the door, then they abruptedly stopped, followed by a sickening smacking sound. "Fucking woman, doesn't know how to be quiet. That ought'a take care of it."
A crowbar fell to the ground, blood at the tip, perfectly in view of the horrified child.
"Don't take too much time. We need to find his files and leave." The first man yelled in the direction towards the room, which a muffled grunt followed. "Sheesh. That fool." The man then noticed the boy.
"Oh..? Well, what do we have here.."
He began walking towards the boy.
The steps grew closer, syncing with the boy's ever-increasing heartbeat. He tried to back away, but found himself in a corner, unable to move. His crying slowly grew louder and louder. The man was then before him.
"Shut it, kid."
A kick to the jaw was followed by darkness.
--
I opened my eyes, sweat drenching my clothes. I looked around to the sight of the kids nearby giggling and murmuring to my sight.
"Ren, what are you doing? Sit back down and stop disrupting the class." said the teacher. I felt the heat flushing my cheeks.
"Yes, sir." I replied, sitting into my seat. The laughter ensued as I put my head to the desk, ignoring the laughter.
I sighed. I watched as my breath fogged the desk, only to defog when I breathed in.
It had been fourteen years since the incident that led to the assassination of the prime minister and the eventual hacking of intel from the country I was living in. My father who, I later learned, was the manager of the prime minister. His death eventually led to the death of the woman leading the state.
This caused a major war between China and Japan, China being the one instigating.
What about me? I spent years in the orphanage, treated like the garbage that they thought I was. Who would adopt a child that had sociopathical tendencies and difficulties speaking with others?
Of course, none.
I stood up, much to the surprise of the teacher once more, and left the room. I had enough of the spitballs and various eraser pieces thrown at me when the teacher wasn't watching. Even when he was, he didn't say a word. He didn't even say a word when I left, just continuing with his lesson. It was well known that Ren Ayzin was the son of the cause of the war.
Humans with their warped views of the world. I honestly don't care what you think about me. You're all trash. You leech off of the negativity of the world and spew it back out of your mouths and minds like a sprinkler, forever giving hell to those who don't want it in their lives.
Screw society.
--
I unlocked the door of my home, welcomed by silence. Luckily my father had an unreal amount about of money saved up in case something had happened. Couple that with his life insurance (which I eventually went to court for because of the circumstances), I didn't need to work most likely for the rest of my life. However, what's the worth of money that has the blood of your loved ones on it?
I headed upstairs and sat down into the chair behind my computer. The light novels and anime that I had up didn't have my attention anymore, so I clicked out of it. I saw Nova's forum's window, and knowing that I had already learned what I could from it, I clicked out of that, too.
I turned off the monitor and gingerly laid myself into the newly acquired Nova SX Pod that was situated to my right, near my bed. I relaxed in place as various lights scanned my body.
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"Fingerprint confirmed."
"Body index recalculated. Body index confirmed."
"Retina information confirmed."
A female voice sounded off, continuously checking various pieces of information. Unlike previous models, the Nova SX is calibrated to a single person. Nobody could share their virtual reality simulation pods with their friends. This was to, of course, promote higher amounts of profit. The top brass assholes inputted this in secret, much to everyone's outrage. I couldn't care less, though. I hadn't any friends to share with.
In truth, Virtual reality has been out for quite some time. The Chinese came out with the first virtual reality pod back about fourteen years ago, right when the Decade War started, imagine that. The Japanese originally were funding the project when some child's father happened to 'give' it to the Chinese.
The stolen data was then used to create Nova, the highest profiting gaming hardware in the world. All other attempted Virtual Reality simulators were blown away. How could basic retina movements that simulated Virtual Reality ever compare to full immersive Virtual Reality with a 6:1 time ratio?
The answer was that it couldn't.
The Chinese, because of their economical power from their Virtual Reality achievements, managed to fully control the world. Though each country is still named the same, the Chinese own them. All of them.
Japan is just a Chinese Province with a name.
"Final Destiny gaming software loaded. Would you like to enter?"
"Yes."
"Final Destiny loaded. Log-in confirmed."
My eyes slowly went dark, and a familiar, comfortable sensation made my body extremely exhausted. After, everything went black.
After some time, an explosion of color caused me to flinch as it uploaded a massive 2D-like title screen with a female avatar situated in a white podium staring down at me. Her eyes were lifeless. I could trust eyes like that.
"New user spotted. Would you like to enter character creation?"
I wonder why they even ask those types of questions.
"Yes."
"Please name your character."
I didn't hesitate and typed in my first name in the display that appeared.
"Error: The name "Ren" has already been taken. Please try again."
I typed another.
"Error: The name "Azrin" has already been taken. Please try again."
Frustrated, I typed another. If this one didn't work, I'll just randomly mash some keys and join.
"The name "Zen" is open. Are you sure you want this name? You cannot change it, even upon account deletion."
Woah, maybe I shouldn't mash the keys. Bad decisions.
"Yes."
"Character name saved. Entering Character Creation."
A familiar 2D display floated in front of me, with an extremely large mirror showing what I looked like. I immediately pressed 'Randomize' with my finger and slowly started to work with the new features. I didn't like looking at my face, so I started anew.
After a while, a sinister looking, yet somewhat handsome avatar was staring into my eyes. I smiled. The avatar smirked back, and I pressed continue.
"Character Data saved. You may only have one character at any time. If you wish to change your Character's appearance or start over from a new Character, you must speak with the Cleric in any large city." said the avatar. Her lips moved in a noticeable pattern. I suppose that it's because it's the first immersive software of such a scale. Can't be perfect.
"Okay."
"Please select your race."
I looked at the various choices, and noticed that there was actually an abundances of races. Confused at how many there were, I cycled through them, looking for something that I could work with.
Human, Beast, Lizardman, Skeleton, Berserker, Vampire, Werewolf, Golem, Dragonia, etc. The list was endless. I scrolled back and stopped back on Vampire. I held my breath.
The Character staring at me in the mirror morphed into a Vampire, and it seemingly perfected the already somewhat handsome look.
I closed an annoying pop-up that appeared and viewed closer information, and nonchalantly sifted through massive amounts of debuffs. A Defence debuff during the day, an inability to equip silver items, an inability to become any holy profession or learn/heal from any holy magic, and the worst one, and inability to ingest anything other than blood.
The only two positive buffs was an extremely high affinity to darkness magic and status, and a Vampyrism ability (healing bonus per damage dealt).
That last debuff piqued my interest. How would you procure the blood? That seems like a pointless class to choose. I sighed and swiped my hand to change races, but was met with an error sound.
"Error: You are not allowed to change races after viewing buffs and debuffs."
"What?! Don't screw with me!" I clenched my fist in anger.
"A warning window was given prior to your choice to view. You cannot override this function."
... Screw it. I'll make a new character.
"Create new character." I said, sighing at the effort I put into this character.
"Error: New players may only create a new character after obtaining Lv.250 in game. I cannot complete your request. Vampire race selected. Please choose your hometown destination."
A world map appeared at around chest level, but I didn't care. I slammed my fists down and screamed.
"THIS IS BULLSHIT. WHAT KIND OF GAME PREVENTS YOU-" I said before being cut off.
"Vivus Region selected. Transferring now." the avatar interrupted. It then pressed multiple buttons on it's podium, and smiled at me. "Please wait a few seconds before being teleported." A sickening, almost mocking smile appeared on the avatar's face.
I looked down in horror before raising my fist off the world map. I had, in my anger, slammed my fist onto the Vivius region, one of the most unpopulated areas in the continent due to the insane difficulty of the monsters nearby. It was so difficult, in fact, that 95% of the newbie players that logged into the region presumably quit and raged about the impossibility of the area on Nova's forums. I had checked previously before logging in, and made the stupid mistake of entering the one region I vowed not to join.
My face paled as I realized what I had just done.
My vision suddenly darkened, followed by a blur of colors. I was now standing in the Newbie Village of Vivius. I fell to my knees, unable to believe how stupid my decision was.
"Welcome to Final Destiny Online."
--
This marks the end of Chapter 1. If you wish to leave any feedback, please do. It not only gives me a desire to continue the story, but also helps others notice it, both equally important. Thanks for taking your time reading, I'll be sure to post Chapter 2 soon.