Both Dr. Richard and Leonard were completely baffled by the young man cowering in front of them with tears in his eyes.
Then Dr. Richard sighed and felt angry at himself for not considering that this could happen. John had only faced hardships from people, so his reaction should have been expected and some precautions made.
Still angry at himself for not realizing it, Dr. Richard shook his head and said in a calm voice, "Please don't be afraid. We are not going to hurt you, we are only here to help you." He then grabbed Leonard by his shoulder and pulled him backwards, and the two of them slowly backed away from John giving him some much needed space.
"He...help? What do you mean?" Asked John still cowering in fear.
"Yes, help. I am Dr. Richard and this here in Leonard Hodges. There's no reason for you to be afraid. Please sit down comfortably on the couch behind you and I will explain everything to you." Answered Dr. Richard in a calm and soothing tone.
After a few moments of silence, John looked behind him and spotted the couch. He slowly got up and backed away, keeping a sharp eye on the two, before finally sitting down on the couch.
Still standing on the other side of the room, Dr. Richard slowly and calmly explained everything to John. From how he is a doctor, and how John had arrived after suffering through a car accident with his parents.
At the mention of his parents, John's eyes filled with fear again and quickly looked around while asking, "My parents.... Are they here too?"
After answering him that his parents were locked away for good in a prison, with no chance of getting out anytime soon, John visibly relaxed a lot and his eyes finally lost their fear, giving way to curiosity.
"So, I am in a hospital now? How long have I been here?"
"Ah... yes... you arrived at the hospital in the year 2023, and it's 2032 right now. It's been 9 years since you had that accident...." Dr. Richard was clearly uncomfortable while giving this answer, as he thought that John would become sad finding out that he had lost 9 years of his life. However...
"Wow! 9 years! I must have been badly hurt for it to take 9 years to get me to wake up hehe... But I feel fine now!"
Exclaimed John while patting his chest. His eyes then suddenly narrowed and he looked down at his body. He widened his eyes in shock and suddenly jumped up while shouting, "OH MY GOD! How am I so tall?! When did I grow so big?!"
He then looked around, spotted the mirror on top of the desk and ran towards it while excitedly observing his reflection. He kept touching himself while saying, "Wow! I have grown up to be so big now!"
Both Leonard and Richard smiled at the child-like reactions coming from the 17-year old. They were glad that John had seemingly calmed down.
After some more running around and exclaiming, John finally calmed down enough to go and sit back at the couch.
Dr. Richard then went on to explain what injuries John had, and how he had been in a coma for the last 9 years. He tried to explain in a simple manner that John was still in a coma and although he was in the hospital, this place wasn't actually the hospital. But Dr. Richard could see that John clearly had no idea what he was going on about. With a sigh, he looked towards Leonard to see if he could help out.
Noticing the look, Leonard hastily spoke up, "Hey, do you know what video games are?"
Surprised at the sudden question, John thought a bit before answering, "Umm... I think they are games you play on TV?"
"Close enough!" said Leonard with a smile. He then walked over to the laptop, switched it on while beckoning John to come closer. "Please take a look at this." he opened up a video and handed the laptop over to John to let him see what it was.
It was a trailer that Cyber Illusions had released of their game Conqueror, showing warriors, mages, archers, monks and many, many monsters. It also showed a large group battle at the end with the words 'become the one and only: Conqueror!'
John's eyes were popping out of his head and he seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in the trailer. When it ended he gave a small gasp and looked towards Leonard with shining eyes.
"This is the game that the company I work for has made, and the game that you will be playing." Leonard said with a pleasant smile on his face.
"WHAT?! Really? I can play this game??" John jumped up and down while asking excitedly just like a child would.
Laughing at the reaction he got, Leonard answered, "Yes, in fact, would you like to start now?"
"YES!" shouted John with eyes as bright as diamonds.
Chuckling to himself, Leonard said, "Alright. Just to be safe, we will be monitoring you while you will play. We will will be able to see whatever you do in the game and if there are any problems we can intervene." Noticing that John's expression, which was excited just a few seconds ago, looked worried again, Leonard immediately asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Yes! I don't want anyone to watch me! If someone is watching then I won't be able to enjoy. If you want to monitor me playing then I don't want to play at all!" exclaimed John with a firm expression on his face.
"Oh, don't worry. If you don't want us to monitor you we won't."
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise" replied Leonard with a slight smile. "Now, shall I send you away to play the game?"
"Yes!" John was back to being full of excitement.
"Alright then, here you go!" And with that, John was enveloped by a bright light and entered the game.
After John had left the room, Dr. Richard came forward and asked, "Why didn't you explain all the circumstances to him? I'm sure he isn't aware that his body wasn't actually real."
"Although he looks like he is 17, in reality he is just an 8 year old boy in the body of someone who is 17. He won't be able to understand right now, and even if he did, why make him confused and depressed after working so hard on getting him excited?" answered Leonard calmly.
"Hmmm... I guess you are right. We can wait a bit to tell him the whole truth."
Both Leonard and Richard looked at the spot where John had vanished, wondering what the future holds for the young boy.
John's POV:
The last few minutes have been so crazy. I went from being afraid, to being relieved, to being confused and then to being excited all in the space of some 15 minutes or so.
It's crazy I have been unconscious for the last nine years! The doctor said it was called a coma, he explained the reasons too but I couldn't understand anything.
Seems like my parents are far away! It's good, I feel much better knowing they can't get to me. But it still seems like they will find a way somehow... I will have to keep an eye out for them. I have to get strong! If I am stronger then them, they won't be able to hurt me!
Yes, I shall find a way to get strong!
It's good that I am so tall now, I hated being short and weak. It's great that I am so tall now! And I must say I look quite handsome now hehehe...
Anyways...
It was really confusing trying to understand what the doctor was saying, something about me being in the hospital but me not being there at the same time? How can someone be in two places at once? Weird.
The video game was cool! I can't believe they are letting me play!! There was magic, and monsters, and warriors, and wars! It looked awesome!
The most worrying thing was what they were saying about keeping an eye on me... Why would they want to see me play? There had to be some other reason...
But I made them promise not to monitor me! I don't know... I thought I would never be able to talk to some other person normally... But Dr. Richard and Mr. Leonard were somehow... different. They didn't have that look in their eyes that my mother and father always had. They didn't look at me like they wanted to hurt me. I felt like I could somehow trust them...?
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Still, they are both humans. And humans are bad. I will have to be careful around them... I think I got a little too excited with the game and forgot to keep an eye on them.
The game!
It was so cool!
When Mr. Leonard asked me if I wanted to play right now, I immediately said yes! Why wait?!
He then said "here you go!" and suddenly I was enveloped in white light again.
When the light faded, I looked around and saw that I was in an empty hall. It looked real... is this the game or is this a real hall?
Then there was another flash of light and Mr. Leonard appeared before me again. He smiled and said, "Welcome to Conqueror! I came here myself to walk you through the tutorial. Now first thing, which race do you want to select?"
I was just processing what he said when suddenly a few more flashes of light occurred and there were numerous new faces in the hall! The one directly opposite me looked vaguely familiar.... Dark brown eyes, a height of about 5 feet 10 inches, short spiky black hair, pale white skin, a short nose and slightly larger then average lips... looked like I had just seen this guy recently.
Hmmm...
Wait a minute! Isn't that me?!? It looks just like the face I saw in the mirror!
With a laugh, Mr. Leonard said, "These are your choices, and how you will look like if you choose each race. You have a choice from humans, the guy in front of you, dwarves, the short bearded guy, elves, the pointy-eared tall, thin guy, and an orc, the huge muscly guy that looks like a monster. We faced a lot of criticism on selecting only 4 starting races, and that too the four classic MMORPG races that are now considered boring. But we thought why not mix up the latest technology with a classic theme? Too many races and it gets complicated, and many gamers don't want that you see. Ahem... Anyways, which race do you want to choose?"
It took some time for me to process all this new information. I didn't know what I wanted to choose.
Human race is obviously out, humans are bad.
The dwarf race looked like they had good muscles! But they were short... I just got tall! I don't want to go back to being short again!
The elf race looked good, tall with pointy ears, it looked like the race was very smart. But they looked too thin... hmmm... I don't think they will be too strong... and I want to get strong!
Now the orc race was cool! Huge with bulging muscles, fierce eyes and a snarling mouth with long pointy teeth coming out! Yeah! They looked like they could be strong! But they did look like monsters... I wonder if people would think badly of me if I chose to become a monster?
This is confusing, I think the orc race would be best but I wonder if somehow I can make it less monster-ly?
Perhaps Mr. Leonard saw my confused expression, because he asked, "Why don't you just tell me how you want to play the game and I can recommend the race most suitable for you?"
This sounded good! I already knew how I wanted to play, so I said, "I want to do everything! I want to do magic, I want to fight, I want to get strong, I want to work... everything!"
"Well then your choice is most obviously the human race. Even though it is the most average race, it's also the most versatile. You can do anything you want if you choose human as your race." said Mr. Leonard.
My heart sank... human race? Really? I had to make sure so I asked details about the other races.
Mr. Leonard then started explaining, "Humans are average, so they get no strengths nor weaknesses. Dwarves are strong, they can be used as warriors but their main strength lies with their crafting prowess. Their weakness is that it takes 4 times more effort and resources to learn magic of any kind. Elves are the opposite, weak physically but extremely strong with learning magic. They are usually used as mages or archers. Orcs are the most strong among the races, their physical strength is unmatched and they are perfect for close-range fighting, but they cannot learn any type of magic whatsoever. So there you have it, what would you like to choose?"
My choice was clear: the human race. I wanted to perform magic as well as fight and make stuff, but why the human race? It could have been anything but the human race...
Perhaps seeing my hesitation, Mr. Leonard added, "This is only the beta test so you can just try out the human race for now. If you don't like it you can start with a new race when the game officially begins."
I guess this sounds good... I still don't know what this beta test means but I'm afraid to ask as I have learned asking basic questions can get you hurt. It sounds like something temporary I guess...?
Reluctantly, I said, "I choose the human race." And immediately all the races in front me vanished except for the human-me.
"Would you like to change your appearance in any manner? You can change anything you like." Mr. Leonard then said.
I was already disheartened with the fact that I had to choose the human race, so I halfheartedly said, "No it's fine." And the human-me also vanished then.
"As it's the beta test, there's only one starting village so you don't need to choose a starting location. Last thing, what do you want to name your character?" asked Mr. Leonard.
My mind suddenly went blank. A name? I never had a name. Or maybe I did? I don't remember any name though... What should I name myself? I only know 4 names... Will, Mary, Richard and Leonard.... I'm never naming myself after my parents, and I don't know if it's okay for me to take Mr. Richard's or Mr. Leonard's name.
"I... I don't know what to name myself..." I said with a small voice.
Mr. Leonard smiled kindly and said, "You know when someone doesn't have a name we call them John Doe? It's a name too... Why don't you keep this as your name for now and whenever you think of something good to name yourself you can change it then?"
This sounded like a good idea... John Doe. Seems fine enough, I'll think of a good name afterwards! I nodded and Mr. Leonard smiled again and then said, "Alright everything is set. No need for a tutorial right now as the Beta itself is one big tutorial! Good luck! Off you go!"
Before I could even ask what a tutorial is light engulfed me yet again and I found myself in completely different place. Blinking rapidly and looking around, I realized where I was...
I WAS OUTSIDE!
No longer in a house, or a room, but outside! The smell of fresh grass hit me and the cool wind blowing against my face was very comfortable indeed! Seems like I am somewhere in the middle of a field and I could see rabbits hopping about and squirrels darting away in the trees in the distant forest!
I immediately started laughing and running around. This was the first time I felt this free! I could run about without anyone stopping me!
Is this what freedom feels like?
If it is, then it's AWESOME!
I've never felt this good in my life! I couldn't even stop laughing while I continued to run around the field.
This feeling... It's almost too good to be true!
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Author's note: I hope this length of the chapter is better?
Three things I would like to clarify:
1) Only 4 races? I always wanted to keep my game-world simple in terms of races and only diversify in terms of classes. I hope you guys don't mind my decision too much.
2) Why the human race? Firstly, I want the MC to get over his fear of humans gradually, and what better way then to stay as a human himself? Secondly, the human race was absolutely necessary for what I have planned for the story and the MC's class. The reason will reveal itself later on down the road... Not anytime soon though.
3) I tried to keep the behavior of John childish. With his getting distracted easily, or his child-like thoughts in his POV etc. I hope it worked... Let me know if it doesn't seem to work out.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! As always, any criticism or feedback is welcome!
Now for some much needed sleep... goodnight!