A beautiful sunset shone upon the dome. Even if it was regularly battered by radioactive storms, it seemed that today nothing could disturb the peace which prevailed inside it. In fact laughs and shouts emerged from the university’s athletics track. While emptiness, destruction and finally death were prominent outside, a few million people had sheltered inside one of mankind’s last five known refuges.
On the edge of the track, a young man wearing sport clothes was silently watching a hologram projected by his cellphone. He had a slim but muscular body, his brown hair fell in front of his eyes . He looked fascinated by what the hologram was showing.
A handful of journalists were questioning representatives of Aether Corporation,commonly called AC. They were promoting the last game of their company, Last Hope. Games had become mainstream in this society, even older people played it; it allowed to forget the mistakes made by humanity. With her red dress, the press officer was attracting all the looks and her sweet smile prevented people from detaching their gaze.
“Will players be able to customize their character ?”
“Of course. Furthermore, their actions, spells will not be limited by their class, they will have total freedom. ”
“Are you telling us that players can create whatever they want?”
“Almost, weapons like guns cannot be created and to imagine a new spell might require more than what you think.”
“From what you are telling us nothing looks really innovative, how do you plan to differentiate yourself from other games ?
At this moment, an evil grin appeared on the face of the press officer as if she was waiting for this question. She willingly paused for a few seconds and looked toward a female assistant on the other side of the room. The doors opened and waitress started to distribute a Dive helmet. It looked a bit more sophisticated than Liam’s one.
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“Ladies and gentlemen, please use the device. A file has been uploaded in it and for everyone watching us through the internet, the file is available on our website. Still I must warn you, the old device commonly use can only utilize 50% of our game potential. ”
Waiting for everyone to be ready, the red lady started to play with her hands it was a nervous tic she had whenever she felt nervous. Seeing this, her associate put his hand on hers and looked at her with a gentle smile.
“Don’t worry Cassandra.”
When everyone was ready Cassandra got up and said:
“ I present you, Last Hope! ”
The young man remembered way too well the moment he opened the file last night: he had sat on his bed to watch the interview to please his father who worked for this company. He had used the same device as the journalist, a gift from his father. It allows to access games as well as the internet.
When he had opened the file at first it was all black, he had felt as if transported in the void then little by little light could be seen. He had heard sounds but they seemed distant. His vision soon came back but it was all blurry. It was the same sensation as being under water.
Little by little his hearing improved and sounds like roars or swords clashes were heard. Finally all his senses came back and he found himself in the middle of a big battle. Humans and beasts were fighting to death. He even saw angels, griffins and wyrms in the sky. Their movements were graceful and their clashes looked like a ballet. Knights and soldiers were shouting to raise the moral of the army:
“In the name of our Goddess, slaughter their archers! ”
“Kill Hades priests, Apollo power will help you.”
What shocked him the most at this moment was not the tiger like creature rampaging near him but the wind blowing through his hair, the smell of blood entering his nose and this feeling of wearing real armor. He was amazed and couldn’t tell if this was reality, everything looked so genuine.
While the other games only gave the feeling of manipulating a puppet, this one allowed you to feel what your character felt.
Gradually a sensation of oppression grew. People were collapsing near him due to the heavy pressure. With difficulty he raised his head and saw on the other side of the battlefield a man standing proudly.
He was wearing a dark armor that seemed absorbing the light. His black cape with golden embroideries was dancing with the wind, she almost felt alive.
The point of view suddenly changed. He was watching the battlefield from the eyes of the dark knight. He immediately felt better and even more. Power was flooding his body. When a group of knight rushed at him, he waved his hand and a golden dragon passed at lighting speed near him, crashing in the middle of the knight. At this instant fear appeared in the eyes of his enemies and they tried to escape. But like a wild beast the dark knight got into the fray.
When he had started to realize what was happening everything had become black once again and his bed was pressing into his back. Quickly he had switched back to the interview, there had been a heavy silence. A lot of emotions could be seen on everyone face: fear, disbelief,joy. But, the most prominent was shock. A big smile had appeared on every AC employee. Cassandra had been enjoying the moment.