CHAPTER 1
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As we were sitting outside the store the cold autumn wind made my skin prickle under its harsh torment. It wasn’t particularly cold but being outside when it’s only 14C (47F) degrees out is never a smart idea, at least not if you’re stupid and don’t bring a hoodie. Well, that wasn’t entirely correct, if you don’t bring a second hoodie.
“Why the frown?” Sarah asked as she looked at me, wearing my FFDP hoodie and a huge smile on her face, “You should be happy as few, the store is opening soon.”
“Well, it’s rather cold, seeing how someone forgot to bring clothes.” I said, giving her a playful smile.
“Yeah, that was stupid of you.” she said, giving me a shiteating grin.
“Oh yeah you’re so funny aren’t you”
“Of course”
Oh, how I wished we could’ve just wait in the car, but the unfortunate truth is that if we wanted to get these VR-headsets we needed to be first in the queue, which is why we’d been in front of this store for the better part of a day, much to the annoyance of the protesters on the other side of the fence.
“So, you really think these headsets will work?” Sarah asked sceptically.
“They’ve been fighting in court for a long time so they better.” I responded. “RexVR has created a whole new world, and soon we will be in Regnum Armis.”
Regnum Armis is an artificially created dimension created by RexVR with the help of a very powerful AI. Though the same AI that helped them create the dimension went rogue and won’t let anyone tamper with the dimension. The state concluded that the AI wanted to protect the citizens Regnum Armis and therefore decided to cut off RexVR’s control. The whole dimension was created to be the game world of a very lifelike VRMMO, but since they can no longer control the game world it has been deemed too unsafe to use as a game world, mostly the greedy bastards just don't want to be sued. So RexVR then decided to sell one-way tickets there. A way for your consciousness to get transferred into Regnum Armis, at the cost of your real body dying.
They had to battle in court for years about selling suicide, but since assisted suicide is already legal, they managed to get the product out. Though they are very clear about the fact that they take no responsibility for what happens on the other side, I mean, it’s not that anyone can come back and complain anyway. It's taken four years for it to finally be released, but tonight is the night of suicide. Well, it's not really suicide, but that's what the politicians and protesters saw it as. I saw it as an opportunity for a better life. The harsh truth is that the world does not give a shit about you and now it is our time to say “fuck you” back.
“How can we afford this? I mean don't misunderstand me, I just hope you didn't get in trouble for this. “
“Don't worry Sarah, everything is fine, I just did some construction work off the books, so it paid well. The owner didn't want to fail the inspection.“ I said reassuringly. She simply didn’t need to know that I’d been selling drugs for the better part of two years.
“Well finally you will get away from that shithead boss of yours. Or maybe you will secretly miss his big muscles?” she teased whilst laughing.
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As the store opened we rushed in and grabbed two headsets from the huge pile centre of the store. The first thing that struck me was how bloody heavy they were, my guess would be 40 kilos or so. I guess transferring to a different realm is a heavy burden, literally. It did not become better when I realized that Sarah wasn’t able to carry it and had to scoot it along the floor. Now I’d worked construction, but 80 kilos would have been way too much for me, heck I was struggling with the 40 kilos my own headset weighed. Sarah was nimble and agile, but strong she was not.
“Do you need a hand with that?” A man suddenly asked from behind us. He was like a mountain standing next to Sarah, probably 2 meters tall, filled to the brim with muscles, both sides of the hair shaved with a short mohawk in the middle.
“Eh… I am sorry?” I said a bit stunned by the sheer pressure emanating from this beast disguised as a man.
“Well, your friend seems to have some problems carrying her headset, I could help. I’m getting mine as well”
That’s when I noticed the headset on the floor by his feet. Phew, that meant he wasn’t trying to steal ours, not that I could’ve stopped him even if I wanted to.
“Yes! Please, we’re barely at the register yet and I’m spent” Sarah said panting as she was pushing on her box.
“No problem”
The man then moved his box and sat it atop of Sarah’s, then promptly lifted both up as if they weighed nothing.
“Name’s Sam, what about you two?” Sam said happily, a feat which seemed a bit scary coming from such a big man.
“I’m Sarah and this is my big brother Will, short for William.” Sarah said with obvious excitement but still panting a bit.
“Hey” I said a bit noncommittally, Sarah was always a bit too fast to trust people but he didn’t seem like a bad guy.
Sam proceeded to carry both his and Sarah’s box to the register, letting us pay first and then paid for his.
“Do you have a car nearby or do you need help carrying it home?”
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“Yeah, my car is in the parking lot, it’s an old thing, but the rustbucket still works.” I answered with a smile.
As we walked out of the store Sarah was skipping along us in happiness, this whilst I was struggling to not drop my box, luckily the car wasn’t much further. Meanwhile Sam looked as if he could’ve carried my box as well and still be fine. Finally, my old Ford came into view, it was old and rusty but it got the job done, and I got it for free after helping a friend clean up his scrap yard, needless to say this car was part of the scrap. Finally reaching the car I let my box slide down on the ground and opened the trunk.
“Hey kids, I don’t mean to meddle, but can I ask if you are really sure about this? I mean it is your life and you do what you feel is right, but are you sure you really want to leave this world behind? What about your parents?” Sam asked with a concerned look on his face.
“Well, you already did” I said sarcastically. “But yes, we’re sure of our choice, trust me when I say this is our shot at a better life, this one does not have much in store for us, there’s nothing holding us down.” I said seriously. “But since you seem to care so much about us, what about you? You look to be in peak form and healthy as few, I can’t see any reason why you would do this.”
“Yeah, that is how I look on the outside I suppose” Sam said with a chuckle.
“But the truth is, I have terminal cancer. Doctors put my survival chance at around 10%. My family and I discussed it, and I’ve decided that this is how I want my family to remember me.” Sam sighed with a heavy tone, no longer that smile I saw earlier, but at the same time I swear I could’ve seen relief on his face, like he was happy to finally share.
“Damn… I…. I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean to be a dick.” I said, feeling a bit bad that I said it in such a dickish way.
Sarah just turned around, a tear in her eye and went to the big man and hugged him, like a tiny koala hugging a gorilla.
“Don’t worry Sam, we will all get a shot of a new and better life, I’m sure this will turn out great. We will make loads of new friends and have lots of fun”
This was the type of magic that only Sarah had, the magic to make everything feel okay, like it will all turn out good in the end, no matter the odds. Sam slowly backed away from Sarah, a smile on his face.
“You really are a gem Sarah. Will, you better take good care of your little sister. I’ll let you get home now, but maybe we will meet ingame at some point.”
“Hey, about that, we have a plan on how to meet up.” I said before he could turn away
“A plan to meet up? Is there not a chat system and you start at your racial town?”
“As far as I’ve been able to gather, that's not the case. The spawning is random, and its systems are lifelike, so no messaging across great distances or such.”
“Damn, yeah that would seem to make it harder to meet up. But yeah, I like you guys, so let me hear this plan of yours.”
“Okay, so the name of the dimension is Regnum Armis, this is latin for Kingdom Conquest or at least I think what it means, but anyways. From this I guess the world will be centred around different kingdoms, like medieval Europe. Our plan is to go to the Human kingdom, and if there’s multiple we do alphabetical order. So first A, if that doesn’t exist then go for B, and so on.”
“Damn… you have actually put a lot of thought behind this. That might actually work, but how do we find each other once we are there?”
“Inn, we should try to meet up in an inn, now there’s probably going to be multiple so let’s go for the shabbiest inn there is inside of the capital. I think we should try to meet up on the 10th, 20th or 30th, if there is a calendar system. If not, maybe try for around the full moon?”
“Why not just stay there once we get there”
“Well there’s a few problems, one, it will cost money, two, shabbiest inn doesn’t usually have a good clientele, thirdly, we need to get strong if we are to survive, no way to do that if we’re cooped up in an inn.”
“That is fair enough, that seems like a good plan. I actually feel less nervous about this now.” Sam said with relief in his eyes, it even kind of looked like he was breathing steadier.
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After saying our thanks and goodbyes to Sam we drove home to our apartment, luckily it was only a five-minute drive, so my sleepy brain didn’t have to drive for long. I then carried the headsets inside one by one before finally entering our flat. It wasn’t much, a 20 m2 room with two mattresses stacked against one wall, a desk with a computer against one and a small cooking area against the other, there was also an armchair facing a small tv on a table. It wasn’t much but it was home to me. We’d worked hard to get this tiny flat for ourselves, so I wasn’t about to complain.
When we unpacked the box the first thing that was on top was a note asking if we’re really sure that we want to do this, and that if we don’t tear open any more of the box, we can still refund the headset. Naturally we ignored this and tore right through the packaging that revealed the headset and subsequent minicomputer that came with it. I say mini but for being so small it weighed a metric ton, I really wanted to take it apart to see why that is, but my better judgement stopped me from damaging the equipment that had burnt a hole through my wallet.
Luckily, the setup was easy, just plug it in, put on the headset and press start. It was almost funny how they were like those old plug & play consoles that I had seen in museums when I was younger. We didn’t waste any time and had everything plugged in and ready to go in about 5 minutes or so. I erased my internet history before we went to the store, so I was ready. When we laid down on our mattresses and put on our headsets, I felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness swell up inside of me, but now was not the time for second thoughts, let's do this.
“Are you ready Sarah?”
“Yeah, I think so. Let’s do it before I chicken out.”
“Remember stick to the plan, we need to meet up asap”
“Yeah, I know, don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.”
“Three, two, one”
I counted down and then pressed my start button. Suddenly my whole vision went black and my head felt way too big for my skull. It was the worst pain I’d ever felt in my life, I wanted to scream but my body wasn’t responding to my will. I was sure that my head was going to explode any second, and honestly I would have welcomed my death if it meant the end of this agony. Then as suddenly as it came, it went away, and I was alone in an empty void.