The darkness was ever present at first. Did he die? Maybe this everlasting darkness was his own personal hell. Boredom to the end of ages. He could not say how long it took at all but eventually it changed. The black was now calming, different from before. Music started to play. Very slowly at first. It was just a calming melody and hardly a song. Suddenly blacked turned into a white-grey. It felt like he was standing on a platform, yet it was very confusing to feel this uncertain about his whereabouts. “Welcome to Alpha Seven-O-Six.” A female voice spoke in a robotic and calm manner. A slightly greyer wall appeared behind it with the runic engraving “Midgard”.

Finally Milo understood. He was not dead, he was in the capsule and his mind was projected into this grey area he perceived as loading screen. The Alpha 706 continued. “According to your status as player Alpha 706 will activate control systems 0-one and 0-two. This process of activating your control system will take a few minutes.” Milos head was racing. How long had it been? If he was in a Alpha 706 at least 60 days should have passed. Two months unconscious? Most likely explanation would be a coma. But how was he active in the reality capsule then? The loading screen voice demanded attention again. “Synchronisation finished. You will experience a quick transition in 3,2,1…” The very next moment all blacked out and faded to grey again.

This time he found himself in his own body. It was a virtual replica but it felt so real. The experience was indescribably intense. A feeling like putting optic glasses on for the first time and seeing everything clearly. “You have three new messages.” He could not see any option to open his new messages. “Where do I open my messages?” The voice immediately responded. “All orders are voice and thought activated.” Interesting, not only voice but thought activation. He tried thinking Open Messages. A popup window appeared before him. Neat. The popup moved alongside him, just in range to tab something. The three new messages were from Alpha Games, the community that brought the reality capsule to life. Hastily he went through the messages.

Hello Milo. As you might still remember, we were part of a horrific accident just a few weeks shy of today. After we gave our condolences to your family they drove a hard bargain to try and work with your doctors and figure out a way to let you play while you reside in the comatose state you are in right now. Sixty days passed since and we are hoping that our little project worked, please reply as soon as possible, as this messages are the only way of communicating to you right now.

He never loved his family as much as at this moment. They really understood him well after all. Milo always believed they were in no way understanding of his decision to play so much, but this redeemed them in everything. Thrilled he continued to read the second and third message.

The doctors have concluded that you are now perceived as unable to be awoken from coma by anyone other than yourself. We believe that the heightened activity your brain goes through while playing might give you the ability to pull out of coma. We welcome you to Midgard.

-your Alpha Games - Team

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then followed a heartwarming story from his family, how they missed him and their idea to give him the only thing he would have wanted. For most people that would be the most important message, but he was not sentimental enough to care about that considering the fact that he was able to play. Immediately he wrote a reply.

Thank you for your help. I will try my best to regain my functions while playing so that i can wake up.

Thinking that this was kept a little short he included some cute story about his family and how much he missed and loved them and added that they now all have to go on a journey around the world, that he would pay for it and they should not worry about him and just enjoy themselves. That way they would bother him less. After that he put the message settings to silent. He would check them periodically but he wanted to enjoy the game more freely and did not want to be bothered. Then he called for the menu. There he used “Start Game” and Alpha Seven-O-Six began to load the game.

Just a second later he found himself in a beautiful forest area with a sky blue lake behind it, everything in him screamed that he was outside standing in the sunlight, breathing fresh, cool air. But the character creation site before him made him rejoice. “Midgard Alpha Launch will start in 07:01:29. You can start to create your character and select your name right now in order to start immediately.” Well then, let's see… Name: One. As he would be the first player it was only natural to choose this name. Character. There were a lot of options to choose from. Kid, Teenager, Young Person, Grownup, Middle Aged, Old. Both were playable as men and woman. He hovered over “Character”, further information was displayed. Depending on your Age-Class different Events will be triggered on the Beginning of your Adventure. As “Kid” or “Teenager” and “Old” your base stats are a bit lower, but can be trained back up to normal level. Milos head was racing. Which would be the best?

His gut told him to choose on of the three handicapped ones, since they most likely had some perks that made taking it worthwhile. Hovering the “Name” section, he also found new information. Depending on your chosen name, you will either have assigned a random Event or the Event bound to your chosen Name right at the start. This was also very interesting. His fictive “One” name would most likely trigger a random event as it would be in no database. Depending on your character creation you might start off better or worse than others. Should he choose “Thor” or “Olaf” for a fixed setting on iconic nordic names? But it was also possible that those trigger events that are less fortunate for the player. Milo decided to stick to his own name. He chose the “Kid” setting. “Warning. Starting on setting “Kid” means to play on reduced base stats. It is not recommended to players inexperienced with Role Play-Games.”

Normally reduced base stats in the beginning of the game would make him change the setting, but the message that it is only for “more experienced” players made him want to do it really badly. He continued and set up a child. For hours he designed every inch of the kid's body. Black hair, wild hair and clear shining blue eyes and creepily unemotional looking. His resting face was set the be very intimidating for a kid. A little like in a horror movie, when a kid just stares across the room silently. Neat. The timer said 01:43:22. Quite enough time to get used to his new, smaller body. “Open Messages” He checked his inbox. A lot of questions from doctors and his family, but nothing very concerning. “Hi, enjoying the game. Very impressive. I will give my best to get used to it and maybe wake up. Don't worry about me I will be ok. I love you all. Thank you!” This should keep them busy for the time being. After all he did not want to be disturbed now.

The best part of a new game is not the start for nothing.