Bored and tired of his everyday life, Arthur left his usual 9-5 workshift.
“Aight guys, see you tomorrow…” Waving his hand while not expecting an answer from his fellow co-workers, Arthur left the company premises by foot.
Kicking the occasional soft drink can that drifted towards him with the wind, he just felt like a NPC in the games.
‘’Pppffft…And the hamster wheel turns again.’’ With a small mutter, he lamented his repeating cycle of life.
At the age of 27 he started to feel the social pressure mounting on him bit by bit when he saw his former highschool friends getting married or achieving milestones in their life, but what did he have in comparison? Couple acquaintances from high school, no wife or significant other and the only family he had left was his sister, who moved abroad a few years back.
Well, I gotta look at the bright side of things too. A Stable job, relatively athletic and I still have a head full of blonde hair. This was his mantra to chase away the gloominess. Arthur’s deceased parents always told him that everything tends to always resolve itself, no matter how bad things are, and he treasured those words from the bottom of his heart.
Well, the NPC life ain't too bad I guess? At least there are quite interesting things coming up in a while. Arthur pulled his crappy old phone from his pocket and saw a notification for unread emails.
With some anticipation, he opened his mail and filtered the spam quickly and saw the mail he was waiting for.
He looked deeply at the brightly colored title ”A new world, a new era” and got goosebumps in his arms as he daydreamed what the future of gaming beholds.
It was just a couple days ago Arthur had applied to participate in next generation virtual reality testing.
He opened the email with great expectation and saw an invitation to the VR company's local headquarters. The invitation specifies only the place and first come first served, so I better get going then.
He kept the golden words from his parents always in mind, such as: ”If something seems too good to be true, it probably is not.” But this time, Arthur was only giddy with anticipation.
A virtual reality where one could be something completely else. In the real world, he could be a NPC, but maybe, just maybe, he could be something…More.
While daydreaming of a possible glorious life in a virtual reality, Arthur wandered the bustling streets, until he had already arrived at the street mentioned in the invitation.
'Number 237… Where is it? I’m next to 230 so it should be ahead.'
While looking around the street, Arthur noticed that the amount of pedestrians and traffic was getting lower and lower when he approached his destination. 'It does make sense tho, I think there’s not too many shops or residential areas here. 237, there it is.'
Walls and stairs made of white marble, a glamorous staircase to the old arch style entrance leading to a magnificent high rise building and what made Arthur raise his eyebrow was that there was not another soul in sight.
Arthur started to climb the pure white staircase while wondering if the company was some sort of sweatshop where people were kept working 24/7. It does make sense that they would be super busy if the VR is just as they advertised.
At the top of the stairs, Arthur cautiously opened the grand, spotless glass doors and entered. A vast hall with nobody in sight came into his view. No reception, no staff, nothing.
Arthur scratched his head awkwardly while thinking that he may have made a mistake with the address, but to his luck he saw a small sign in bold letters “Alpha testers” above an unassuming door.
Walking next to the door and slightly hesitating with his hand hovering above the doorknob whether to open the door or not, the door creaked open slightly.
Inside the room, a man in a luxurious suit with slick hair yawned and read the newspaper on a comfy looking sofa.
Noticing the door creaking open, he cocked his eyebrow and finally let out a kind business smile.
“Welcome! I have been waiting for someone to find their way in.”
“Uhh, is this where you wanted testers for the new VR game? I got an email with this address on it.” Arthur asked with some uncertainty in his voice.
Hearing the question, the man in suit stood up from the sofa and walked next to Arthur and hooked his arm around his shoulders in a familiar manner.
“I say lad, this is indeed the right place if you wish to start anew. All you need to do is nod your head, and you can start a whole new life in the Aztar world.” With a wide, honest smile, he steered Arthur into sitting and took his familiar seat opposite of him.
Hearing the answer, Arthur could not help but feel that there was something off, but he could not put his finger on the issue. “A new beginning sounds perfect, but are you guys not even bothering to check the invitation or ask any questions?” While scratching his ear awkwardly, he continued. “This feels awfully like some new ponzi scheme…”
“Nononono! It is absolutely free, no scams! I can guarantee that you will enjoy the world filled with mystical creatures, magic, adventures and much more. There is unlimited freedom on what you can do there. The whole point is to ‘Start from anew’, so all the participants will have to make their own rules and whatnot.” The man excitedly started to give a lengthy speech.
After listening to the man's explanation, Arthur subconsciously nodded his head and voiced out his willingness to participate. “Well this does sound pretty goddamn good, count me in!”
The man in suit grinned foolishly, walked next to Arthur and hooked his arm around Arthur's shoulders once again.
“Faaant-astic, you will be among the first batch from here, so as a starting bonus I can tell you that to get started, you should build an altar first.“
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Altar, right? I’ll keep it in mind. But just to be clear: Unlimited freedom without restrictions?”
“You got it lad. So when do you want to start?”
“Well time is money, so the sooner, the better?” Arthur replied without hesitation.
With Arthur’s answer, the man revealed his white teeth and laughed out loud. “Decisive, I like that. Off you go then.”
As soon as Arthur registered the man’s voice in his head and saw the strange smile on his face, a blueish dome formed behind him, instantly sucking him inside with a resounding “AA AAAAAA AAAA!!!”.
The horrified scream from Arthur echoed throughout the building for a long, long time, leaving the man in suit behind plugging his ears with his fingers.
“Tut tut tut, I knew the kid would be a screamer.” Shaking his head, the man relaxed again and opened his newspaper once again.
----------------------------------------
After an unknown amount of time, Arthur drew a deep breath and sat up in a panic.
Where am I? What happened?
He looked around himself and saw boundless blue skies, tall forests to the left and grasslands where he currently was. On the horizon to the right he saw mountain ranges stretching beyond horizon and the highest peak was as high as the clouds in the sky and behind him he saw light glimmering from the surface of the water.
“He.hehe. HEHEH AHAHAH. I already entered the game? But it feels so real…”
Arthur welcomed the moderate wind with his arms wide open and yelled excitedly. “I can actually feel and smell the freshness!”. After enjoying the fresh seabreeze, Arthur made up his mind to go see if there was a proper beach near the water. In his excitement, Arthur didn't look ahead and tripped on a protruding rock.
“AWW SHIET! It hurts!” With a yell, cursed and held his slightly bruised knee while sitting down. While focusing on the sensation of pain, he realized that he should be inside a game.
But the pain feels so…real. Don’t tell me. Reeling with confusion, he tried to push back the bad feeling crawling up to his spine. Maybe, just maybe this was not just a simple game.
Okay, calm down. Let’s think this through for a second. Maybe I can try some of the usual game commands and possibly get more information from there.
“Status.”
Right after Arthur spoke, a translucent board appeared before him.
✶ Arthur Cromwell ✶
Title Class/Job None None/None
Level 1 Primary attributes Secondary attributes Talents Unspent attributes Strength - 13 Luck - 8
----------------------------------------
0 Agility - 11 Charm - 10
----------------------------------------
Vitality - 13
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Stamina - 10 Hp 130/130 Intelligence - 12 Mp 80/80 Spirit - 8
With a cursory scan, he familiarized himself with the status board and tried to find a possible exit but to no avail. Countless thoughts ran through Arthurs mind and after trying everything he could think of, he finally accepted the reality he found himself in.
Falling down flat on his bottom, he began to incoherently mutter. “I did say a new beginning would be amazing, but not like this… THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING HERE.”