[Dear Nocturne,

We here at Unicorp Entertainment are excited to offer you a unique opportunity! You are 1 of 100 players that have been selected to test the latest in cutting edge Full Dive technology, the Dive Pod. The testing will be set for 360 days wherein you will be playing our newest game title, Shattered Realms 2, at 10x time dilation. You will be in-game 24/7 for all 360 days with your body being kept fit and healthy by the Dive pod. For your time you would be paid $800,000 and be considered for a permanent position within Unicorp Entertainment.

If this offer interests you, then please review the contract attached to this message.

Thank you,

Doug Houser, VP of Public Relations and Outreach]

I looked over the message one more time before I could begin making sense of what it was saying. I was being offered a once in a lifetime opportunity here, the chance to be paid to play test UE’s newest rig and the title game they’ll be releasing alongside it. The job offer alongside that was just icing on top of the cake.

“Well shit, guess I won’t be getting much time to play today…”

Right now I needed to look over the contract, not dick around in Shattered Realms.

Opening the document I found myself suddenly facing thirty pages of technical contract writing that I had about as much chance of understanding as I did an advanced astrophysics lecture. The vocabulary being thrown around on the first page was so complex that it made me wonder if what I was reading was even in English. I gave up on understanding the contract on my own.

“Mila, log me out. Oh, and send a copy of this to my home network.”

The pleasant and seductively low voice seemed to whisper into my ear.

“Of course Lux, one moment please.”

Suddenly I was in a dark room sitting on a velvet soft arm chair listening to some classic hard rock from the early twenty first century, when music was more than just random noise occasionally accompanied by vocals. Waiting for my brain to sync back up to normal time was always the worst part of logging out, but it was a small price to pay for the convenience of the 5x time dilation. Chilling out for a few minutes as my brain got used to operating at normal speeds again wasn’t all that bad either, it gave me some quiet time away from everything. In this dark room I could just be.

As the music faded into quiet I found that the dark room had vanished around me and I was left with just black. Opening my eyes I wiped at my face as I sat up on my bed. As it always did after a lengthy dive reality looked sort of fake and wrong to my eyes. The colors seemed off and there was this disconnect between my mind and body that made it feel like my real body was lagging behind my actions.

Shaking my head and trying to fight off this latest bout of dive sickness I got up from my bed and reached up to take off my Dive Band.

“Need to send the contract to Mickey and eat something…”

I wondered into the kitchen and stumbled my way to the fridge. Looking inside I saw that I had enough ham and cheese to make one and a half sandwiches and maybe half a glass worth of milk left in a jug.

“Good enough. Gotta remember to order some food later though…”

Grabbing myself a plate I started making myself a sandwich. I didn’t feel all that hungry, but I knew that I needed to eat something. That was one of the problems with eating when you dived, your brain remembered the meal and convinced your body to do the same. There were a few people each year who ended up starving themselves to death because they ignored the reminders and warnings to eat and relieve yourself that the Dive Bands gave. Forced log outs after the second warning was all it took for most people to get the idea, but for some it wasn’t enough.

Chewing on my ham’n’cheese I looked down at myself. I was thin, but not dangerously so. Nothing a bacon cheeseburger or two couldn’t fix up.

“Need to start working out if I want muscles though…”

I let out a sad sigh as I went back to my sandwich. Going from a handsome supernatural creature of the night to a scrawny guy that routinely got mistaken for a girl…

I let out another sad sigh.

“At least I’m not ugly…”

I had heard plenty of stories about people who turned to suicide because they couldn’t handle the differences in appearance between their real selves and their avatars online. I didn’t come anywhere that level, but I couldn’t deny that it was a bit disheartening to look into the mirror sometimes and see this face look back at me. I remember that one time after that two day gaming session, after logging out I went to take a shower and when I saw my reflection I thought some cute girl had broken into my house. The shower after hadn’t washed away the embarrassment and shame, only time had accomplished that.

Scarfing down the last of my meal and finishing off the milk straight from the jug I sat back and really thought about the offer I had just received. I would be making a yearlong commitment to testing this Dive Pod, and it sounded like I would be forced to play the game constantly. I had heard about dive testers who were basically put into medical controlled comas to dive without stopping, but usually they weren’t asked to solely play one game.

“10x time dilation for a year, that will be a decade of dive time…”

I had sunk at least that much time, and probably much more, into Shattered Realms on my own so it wasn’t something I was against per say. Still a decade of uninterrupted play time seemed a bit excessive even to a game junkie like me. Yet on the other hand it wasn’t like I had anything to prevent me from making the commitment either. I didn’t have a job, no close friends or family anymore either. I was basically living life as the classic NEET from an anime.

“Hell, I pretty much live inside my Dive Band already so it wouldn’t change all that much about my lifestyle… Plus I would only lose one year of time in the real world. That isn’t too much to worry about.”

I was starting to lean pretty heavily towards accepting the offer from UE, but I was also getting ahead of myself. I wasn’t going to sign or commit to anything until Mickey gave me a rundown on what that contract actually said. And for him to do that I’d need to actually send him the thing.

“Shit. Knew I forgot something.”

Putting my plate into the sink so it could be washed and automatically put away I went back into my bedroom.

Picking up my Dive Band from where I tossed it I slipped it back around my head and laid back down on my bed.

“Mila, log me back in.”

*Mike*

Things had been quiet for a while. Too quiet.

“I’m telling you man, they’re gonna try flanking us.”

“And I told you, no one is dumb enough to try going through the Black forest with such a small party. Doesn’t matter what items or classes they have, with just three people the Black forest is suicide.”

I glanced back at the two rookies that the guild had stuck me with. They were supposedly big shot PKs from the west islands, but in my eyes the two seemed to be too reckless and shortsighted to be in the guild. This was supposed to be a sort of trial run for the two of them, and if they didn’t succeed then they weren’t going to be let into the guild.

After all Reapers only took in the best, and our reputation as the best PK guild in all of Shattered Realms couldn’t afford to let us take in casuals or wannabes.

I could run the Black forest with no gear and no skills, assuming that your target can’t do something because you yourself couldn’t is just stupid…

“Whatever man, I’m going to keep my eyes on the tree line. You just focus on the road if you want…”

I found myself nodding at that. Trusting in your instincts and covering every route of approach was a sign of a seasoned player. Maybe this guy wasn’t as hopeless as his partner was.

We had been waiting here for forty minutes now and it was clear that we’d need to wait quite a bit longer. It seemed that the trio these two were supposed to kill had actually decided to cut through the black forest and gain a few levels on the way to the Grimjaw raid. I was betting that we’d have at least another hour wait ahead of us before anything happened, and that was when the message came in.

“Mike, you have a message from Lux. Would you like to hear it?”

The smooth voice of my Virtual assistant rang in my ear and I felt a smile cut across my face. Trust in Lux to pop up when you least expect him. I turned around and moved a bit away from the two rookies.

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“Yeah, play it.”

Suddenly I heard Lux’s voice in my ear.

“Mickey, long time yada yada yada. Anyway I need a favor, UE sent me this contract and I can’t make heads or tails of what it says on my own. I need your supper legal skills and lawyer powers, Mickey. Help me, you are my only hope!

Oh, and if you don’t I’ll start hunting down Reapers, so you know…

‘Kay, talk to you later! Or if you don’t want to talk at least send me a message with a summary of what I should know before signing.

Your bestest friend ever signing off!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Only Lux could both beg and threaten for a favor in the same message. Honestly I sometimes wondered if the guy was bipolar, but I knew his manic act was just that: an act. The real Lux was a lot calmer, and Nocturne in game apparently had a noble demeanor.

“Fine, I got some time…”

I was also wondering what Unicorp Entertainment would be sending someone like Lux.

Opening up the attached document I began to read over the first few pages in the game’s in window document reader, but I quickly stopped and scrolled back to the top of the document.

This was some high level stuff. Waivers, consent forms, non-disclosure agreements…

“This will definitely take me more than a few hours…”

Turning around and going back to where I had been standing before I resolved myself to tackle this contract of Lux’s once the guild’s trial mission was over.

Lux could wait for his summery, and if he wanted answers faster than this then he could hire a lawyer like everyone else instead of mooching off my legal expertise. If it weren’t for the fact that he might go to war with my guild in game I’d even message him back and tell him that myself, sadly Nocturne was a scary SOB in game. My guild might even kick me out if I was the reason a level 93 vampire king decided to hunt down and zero out each of its members.

I need to make better friends…

I looked back at the two rookies who had gone back to arguing over the best way to kill their three targets.

Then again I could do worse…

*Sam*

I had read over the message from UE more times than I think was remotely healthy. I could literally recite it word from word now.

“Vicky, Log me out.”

My dungeon in Shattered Realms disappeared and I found myself staring out at the ocean from where I stood on a sandy jungle beach. I always felt that this was the perfect place to relax as my mind synced back up with real time.

“Testing out the next gen dive rig… Not only that, testing it out by playing the sequel to Shattered Realms. I’ll be getting paid to do something that I’d happily do for free…”

The only hang up was the length of time. The year in reality could be worked around and wasn’t too bad, but spending an entire decade essentially trapped inside a game… It was like the plot out of one those cliché online fictions. I liked gaming as much as the next girl, but I don’t think I could live ten years in a game without going crazy.

“Still, it could be fun.”

Mom and Dad were always on my ass to find a job after I was let go at the publication studio. If I could snag a gig at UE then I’d be able to get them off my case, and maybe even restart my professional career instead of livestreaming my time in game for cash.

“I guess it’ll depend on what David does…”

If I had gotten the message then there was no doubt in my mind that my brother had gotten one as well. After all, Odin was a top level player that headed one of the largest guilds in the game.

“Vicky, Call David…”

The sound of waves crashing was replaced by the soft spoken voice of my digital assistant.

“Of course Mistress, connecting you to your brother…”

As the pleasant ring of a connecting call rang out through the beach I found myself leaning towards accepting the offer. If David wanted to do it, then I’d probably end up accepting the offer too.

“I guess I want to do it…”

A click sounded before my brother’s voice started speaking.

“Hey Sam! Did you get a message from UE too?”

*Odin*

“Alright, see you then sis.”

I motioned to end the call and then let out a deep sigh. Fenrir wouldn’t be a problem for my guild with sis leaving, and the Ragnarok guild will collapse in on itself without sis at the helm. Thor or Freya could take over when I’m gone and the guild’s position in Shattered Realms would go mostly unchanged.

A smile formed on my face without any prompting. Sam and I always liked to oppose each other in games, but here in Shattered Realm things had gone beyond even that. Though I loved my twin sister dearly, I hated Fenrir with a burning passion that never ebbed or faded. Fenrir was an enemy that I had devoted six years in game to destroying, yet she always seemed to avoid or surmount my best attempts at zeroing her out.

“It looks like our little feud will be carrying over into the next game…”

Sam had been warry of the large contract and the huge time commitment that came with this opportunity, but I was different. I couldn’t imagine anything more appealing than an uninterrupted decade of Shattered Realms, I would spend a decade as my best self and wouldn’t have to be the pathetic David for a whole year in real time. I had already signed and sent of the contract, and I had a bought a tram ticket to take me to the UE research building just an hour ago. By this time tomorrow I hopped to be in one of these new Dive Pods and living as Odin in a new Shattered Realms world.

“But there are still ninety eight other players to worry about too, and if they were looking for the hundred best players…”

My mind turned to the top players in the game. Locke was the head of what was considered to be the best guild in the game, Gram had never turned down a duel and had a surprisingly high victory count, Umbra had created the strongest spell in the game, Nocturne was basically unbeatable at night, York was a ranged specialist who could kill anyone before they even knew he was after them, and Thanatos ran the single most deadly guild of PKs to ever exist in the seven years the game has been out. There were others too, but if I tried to guess every person who might have received a message from UE then I’d be sitting here naming people all day.

“Anyone over level 90 could be a candidate.”

After level 90 a player couldn’t level normally anymore, you could only gain a level by accomplishing unique and crazy feats in the game. So far no one knew how to get to level 100, or if they did no one was saying anything. Some players didn’t even think the level existed despite what UE reps said, but I was sure it did. The highest level player anyone knew of was Ark the level 99 godslayer, and people only knew about Ark because the name and level was carved into the corpse of Sin the god of evil two years ago in game. By now Ark could be level 100…

“And if Ark ends up joining us in the test and playing the new Shattered Realms game alongside us…”

I would track them done, and when I did I would carve my name into their corpse like they did with Sin. Odin would be recognized as the best player in the game, not some mystery player.

“Yes, Ark and Fenrir. Those two will be my goals for the next ten years…”

A smile grew large and twisted on my face as I imagined the future and all the good that would inevitably come my way. Odin was the name people would look up to in the Shattered Lands sequel, not Fenrir, Locke, or Ark.

*Ark*

As I signed my name on the last page and sent off the contract I smiled to myself. The idea of testing new dive tech seemed a bit scary, but the hook of being one of the first players in the new Shattered Lands game was just too enticing to give up.

“I wonder if I’ll have to reset my character… Probably so, huh?”

I had spent years growing my character to level 99, and all that time I had been on my own. Well, almost all that time. For most of my thirty combat levels I had been in a party of four, it had been me, Nocturne, Zee, and Oni. The four of us against all the worlds of the shattered lands.

I shook my head at the memories that suddenly surfaced. That had to be at least two years ago in real time and practically a decade in game. We had only partied up for a few months of in game time too, none of them probably even remembered me. I had been the quiet one of the group, the one who tended to fade into the background unless Nocturne or Oni pulled me into a conversation.

I smiled as I thought back at those two, they had been so competitive with each other. Zee hadn’t helped matters, egging them both own with her comments.

“Maybe one of them will get this same offer and accept… It would be nice to run into them again.”

I had tried my best to keep track of each of them when the group broke up, but I never had the courage to actually meet up with any of them again. The way our party had broken up had been… bad. Things were said by everyone and plenty of feelings had been hurt. Even I had said things I regretted, but I wanted to see my friends again. I wanted to play with them again.

Nocturne is level 93 and is on almost as much as I am so he probably got the message, Oni is 92 but he isn’t online for all that long anymore so he might not have gotten the message at all let alone accepted the offer, Zee is 94 and she probably would have accepted just because Umbra would probably also get a message and accept.

I let out a sigh as I thought about what my old party members had done after the party broke up. Nocturne had converted from human to vampire and embraced the change fully as he started role playing the evil vampire lord. Zee had doubled down on her spellcraft and entered into a one sided rivalry with Umbra. Oni had made his own small guild of elite players and seemed to be famous in certain raid circles.

“Meanwhile I went around chasing myths and legends in the game…”

My last nine levels had come from either discovering something mythical that had been hidden away and never seen before by players, or from killing something that was mythical and hidden away…

“I could probably use the change of pace.”

Besides I was lonely. I had started playing the game in the first place because I didn’t have any friends in my real life, and somehow I had managed to become just as alone in the game as I was in reality. After my old party had broken up I hadn’t wanted to play with anyone else, and before I knew it I was just used to playing solo and going on my obscure treasure hunts. Now here I was alone and bored, one level away from the cap in the game, and I was almost as miserable as I was in real life.

“Even if none of the others end up in the test group I’ll try to make new friends. Someone in the group should want to group up, I mean there will be ninety nine other people so there has to be at least one person there I can become friends with…”

I clenched my fist and nodded my head at my new conviction. I may have promised myself to make new friends many times before both in game and in real life, but this time I would follow through with it.

“And maybe if I happen to meet a guy who is nice…”

I felt the flush creep across my face.

I wasn’t the sort of girl who would turn heads in real life, but without my glasses and freckles, and with a bit more curves to my body I should be cute enough to catch a guy’s attention. I mean Nocturne and Oni had complemented me on my avatar before, though Zee always said I should have given myself boobs… Still my face was cute enough without glasses and freckles to get complemented so if I add a bit of chest to things too…

“It would be nice to have a boyfriend…”

There was a goofy grin across my face, I could tell, but I couldn’t fix my expression.

“New goal. At least one friend and one boyfriend. Or maybe girlfriend, but only if she is cute and nice and ok with a bit of an open relationship…”

I nodded my head and firmed my determination.

“Sebastian, log me out please…”

I would need to pick out my clothes for tomorrow, and I’d also need to call Mom and tell her what was going on. Oh, and it would probably be a good idea to print out the contract so I had a hard copy of it too…