It was barely sunrise but there was already someone knocking on the bedroom door shouting at the top of their lungs at the residents inside.
"Bro, wake up. The toilet broke." Angel, Charlie's younger sister, who was barely eight, was pounding on the door.
Inside the room, Charlie was pissed at having to get up so early. He couldn't get enough sleep considering he left work delayed again.
"I'm coming. Let me grab some pants." He shouted at his sister to calm her down and quickly grabbed the cargo jeans that lay on his chair. He went to the door and found it was unlocked. "Why didn't you come in? The door wasn't even locked."
"It's Saturday." Angel said in a stern voice.
"Saturday? So?"
"You're supposed to take me to the game club. All the other girls are coming. You promised me you'll take me."
"But it's only five."
"Game club opens at eight sharp. If we are late we won't get a spot."
"Let me clean up and change. Why don't you go down and grab something from the fridge."
"Be quick."
The girl ran downstairs while Charlie returned to his room and grabbed his phone to call mom, going through his clothes to find something that wouldn't embarrass his sister. Most of his clothes were faded.
The phone rang for a while before it was picked up. "What is it Charlie? It's everything alright?"
"I'm taking Angel to the game club. Dad's coming home today. Think you can pick him up after work?"
"When is his flight landing?"
"Noon."
"Alright, I should be home by eight. You take care of your sister. I'll pick dad."
"Thanks mom. Love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
Charlie looked in the mirror as he buttoned up his shirt. It was the only one remaining that wasn't fading. It was a shirt his ex-girlfriend gifted him after their graduation. Maybe it's still girlfriend, they never really broke up. Just drifted apart. Charlie eventually heard she was marrying an old classmate of theirs. He never bothered to check on her. She went to med school, while Charlie failed to pass the scholarship bringing his academic future to an end. Thankfully, his parents were well off and were able to find him a job.
"BROTHER, WHERE ARE YOU???" His sister's voice came from downstairs.
"I'm coming. Just can you calm down. We'll get there in time."
"We need to pick Ashely. Her mom called. She can't make it."
"Yes, it's fine. Oh you already got me the food? Thank you."
"Now eat it fast. I'll go fill the water bottle."
"Stop rushing everything. It's barely seven. We still have enough time."
"You've never been there before. There are a lot of people. And we won't get a spot if we're late."
Charlie was forced to stuff the bread into his mouth as his sister dragged him towards his car.
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The two picked up Ashley on the way. By the time they reached the game club it was almost eight. The crowd Infront was large making it difficult to find the other kids and the moms. Thankfully, they had reserved spots for the kids beforehand making it easy for them.
The game club was a new business that became popular once the gaming era grew. With how costly electronic equipment became, it was almost impossible for the common populus to obtain a PC let alone an advanced gaming console. At first major gaming companies were against the idea of a single common store and console, as time went by more and more gamers left the industry due to the unaffordable pricing of the hardware forcing them to accept the new system the government proposed.
There were countless drive equipment within each game club ensuring that the players could choose whichever was the most suitable for them. Later studies showed that the games kept the humans occupied making them complain less. The human population was also decreasing everyday at a rapid pace. In the end, for the betterment of humanity humans childbearing choose to seek entertainment in the dream world.
Over time the VR aspect was slowly adapted to the education system of earth making it one of the essential parts of the growth of society. As Charlie watched his sister letting into the pod, he saw her smile beautifully. Seven was the minimum age for entering the virtual networks. Charlie has yet to try out the virtual technology. Angel on the other hand was pushed by her friend to join and have some fun together in the children's world, a planet that was strongly monitored by the child services and other central agencies. Since Charlie hasn't had his induction done he wasn't allowed to join the world and was forced to wait outside till it's done.
"You must be Charlie, Angel's brother." Charlie heard a voice behind him as he was watching Angel's pod locking.
"Yes" as he turned around, he met another young man around his age extending his hand for a shake.
"I'm Jon. My parents went on with my brother, Mendis. That world is boring. Thankfully, I found you or they would have forced me to join them. It's going to take a while, why don't we figure something else out?"
"I haven't done an induction." Charlie said, to which Jon could not stop gaping.
"Are you one of those weirdos? It can't be, they wouldn't come to a game club let alone bring their siblings over."
"No, I always wanted to get into med school. Just couldn't win the scholarship."
"Oh, that sucks. so, wanna do the induction? It will be fun. They are launching a new game soon and it's an MMO. It's like the first MMO in ages ever since they banned it."
"I doubt I'll play one but sure. I don't see the harm in it."
"Hey, Sir!" Jon called for one of the staff. "He hasn't done his induction. Is it possible to get it done here?"
"Yes, no problem. Induction is free." The dude in white shirt and black pants took the two to the cabin at the very back. "Just step in and follow the instructions. It's just taking your body measurement."
"Thank you." Charlie said inside the pod and was slowly lowered into the ground. After a few minutes of some serious work out the pod rose back up. Charlie was sweating all over.
"You might wanna clean up, bro. And welcome to the virtual world."
***
After spending the entire day with the kids at the game club, Charlie and Angel returned back home to see both their parents sleeping soundly in their room.
"They are always too tired. So, brother, when are you going to join me in the v land? I saw you coming out of the pod today. I know you had a great time too."
"It was just an induction. You know I never got involved in this VR business. I don't want to splurge all our parents' hard earned money."
"I heard you could join the new worlds and get paid a lot. I'll be eight soon and I wanna be a v star. That way, I'll make a lot of money as well and then mom and dad can stay with me."
Charlie just looked at his little innocent sister. It wasn't that easy to make money playing games. Maybe, it's possible to get enough for one's livelihood but supporting a family with just the income from gaming is a childish dream. Even if she was eight, to become a v star, it was mandatory to be already 13 years old. "All right. I promise I'll occasionally join you once you are playing one and help you out."
"You want to play games?" His father's rough choice that he hadn't heard in days made the two startle. "Maybe it's the right time for you to join the gaming world. I heard some news that a new game is coming out soon and it's going to be one of those old fashion MMOs. You know, the one with sword and magic. You might be able to make some progress in it since it's just about to start. Our company is also investing in it." James, his father, was woken up by the squible of his two children.
"How was your trip, dad?" Before James could answer, Angel had already climbed on to his lap with a loud scream walking up their mother.
Alice was dribbling on the pillow and a little disoriented from the loud noise. "What's going on?" She got up and left to wash her face.
"You are tired, mom. Get some rest."
"It's ok. I have the day off. So what's got the three of you worked up so much?"
"Charlie wants to play games and I think it's a good idea."
"The new one? Yeah, it's creating some buzz. Something about mutual fund transactions and enhancing talents. Too much techno jumbo for me but it's a revolutionary product from what I hear."
"No mom. I was just thinking of joining Angel to help her out a little is all."
"You've been wasting your time in that coffee shop long enough. Why not try streaming out something. I know you are good at things. Maybe you could even become famous. It's not like we need you to support us, Charlie." Mom walked into the kitchen to check out the fridge. "Looks like I need to grab some more eggs. Besides, most of my friends and their kids are playing some of those games. Maybe you could grab the attention of some girls as well."
"MOM!"
"Brother is mine. Brother doesn't need other girls." Angel jumped and clung on to Charlie's shoulder.
***
"New MMO releasing", Charlie was curious as to what exactly an MMO was. If it was possible to make money out of it, it wasn't that bad. Besides, most people played games and he was always an outsider when it came to gathering. He always found himself isolated due to his lack of interest in the gaming news.
-MMO World- world's only VR MMO- Approved by the Federation-
-Massively multiplayer Online game-
-unlimited potential-
'So big?' Charlie went through the ads and found the details unrealistic. Even the best games currently available were extremely inferior to what this new company was claiming.
-Dive into the MMO World and discover your true self-
-Become whatever you want (if you are capable)-
-anything and everything within reach-
"Create a character, roll for a talent card, enjoy the game."
'Looks like the game is simple. I wonder how long it takes to complete it? Sword and Magic?'
Charlie looked through the requirements and found that he didn't require anything special. The federation was even providing the pods for free to everyone old enough to join.
'Looks like they want you to play it. I wonder what the catch is.' Charlie looked at the countdown on the screen. 12 hours to go. 'This better be worth it.' Charlie ordered a pod, since it was free anyways.