The first day of my adventures in a whole new world was about to begin. A world that would change my life and the life of everyone around me forever. But first, I had to wake up.

My alarm buzzed and I groaned trying to find my stupid phone under the sheets. Every night I forgot to place it on the charging stand and yet despite reminding myself, daily, to put it back. I never did. Not that it mattered after the events later that evening, but we'll get to that in a moment.

First, I had to silence the alarm. That done I ambled towards the bathroom. Yes, ambled I was not awake enough to stomp or meander. So ambling suited me just fine.

As I reached for the bathroom door, it opened, and out came a cloud of steam and the smell of Old Spice. I'll tell you now that, I hate the smell of Old Spice, it reminds me of my grandfathers old house out in the woods. He was a grumpy old man that always reminded my parents that having a grand daughter was all that he'd ever asked of them. A simple, 'your a disappointment' didn't suffice I guess.

"Morning, Carrots."

Oh, yeah. I also hate it when people call me “Carrots”, but growing up my parents kept feeding me carrots. They insisted I needed it so that I wouldn't need glasses when I grew up like they did. It didn't work. The full Irish from my mother and some German from my father left me pasty, short, four eyed, and big ears to top it all off. When I told the story to a friend as a child, I lived to regret it as that story made the rounds and ultimately resulted in people calling me Carrots. My name is actually Zander Valecross, which I much preferred, but nicknames being what they are and all.F

Back to the scene. The person that greeted me was my roommate Alexander Philanof. Tall, dark, and Russian. He had a solid foot and half on me, but then again most people were taller than me. Apparently neither the Irish nor the German genes wanted to kick in and boost my height. Another thing my grandfather choose to bring up each time we went hunting and the overalls were too big.

"You ain't feeding the boy enough protein," he'd say. I mean, it wasn't wrong. Carrots are mostly fiber.

Regarding Alexander, well I'd met him when we were placed in the same dorm room Freshman of College year and we’d stuck together until now, our Senior year.

It was still to early in the morning to do much besides grumble and push past him into the already steamy bathroom to get ready. I hadn't forgotten the importance of that day. It was going to be an exciting day, a day that would forver change things. Not that I knew that, I was excited for other reasons, but that didn’t change the fact that mornings, suck.

Finishing up my morning routine, I headed into the living room to find people rummaging through the cupboards. Butes and Suki are in the midst of making breakfast.

"Morning!" Suki said with a cheerful smile behind her enormous round glasses and expertly cut bangs. Her mother was a hairdresser so it was no surprise she was well put together. She'd double majored in biology and chemistry because her mother had also taught her to appreciate quality organic, all natural products. Thus Suki didn’t trust any store bought brands and would rather make her own.

"Oh, he's awake? I thought ‘Carrots’ weren't in season yet!" Butes was definitely more Alex's friend than mine. They met before we became roommates and she came along with the package. She had a faint Spanish accent that had started to fade away from her time living in Portland. Her parents were able to provide a good life for the family of eight leaving little money for college. But Butes was not to be kept away from reaching her goals, and College was at the top of her list. So, she was finishing up her degree in Business Administration.

"We're making gluten and dairy free, cardamon pancakes for breakfast. You okay with hemp milk or did you want me to get the batch of oat milk I just finished making?" Asked Suki.

"Uh, yea. Carrots choosing between, homemade oat milk or store bought hemp? That's a no brainer, I'm getting the half and half from the fridge. I'm pretty sure Alex has some in here." Butes replied.

Suki scowled at her while I sat at the counter rolling my eyes. Truth be told, Suki's pancakes were amazing, sans butter and all.

"Are you just going to watch us cook?" Butes asked pointing the carton of half and half at me.

"Of course he is," came Alex’s voice from behind me, "You cook, we clean. That was the deal wasn't it?"

“Oh how modern of you!” Butes exclaimed as she set a plate on the counter with some pancakes and eggs. Suki was all natural, but not quite vegan.

“I’m a 20th century boy,” Alex said as he grabbed the plate and sat on the sofa.

“Right. Just eat your breakfast, we have a long day ahead of us,” Butes put another plate on the counter as Suki cracked a new set of eggs. Her fingers were nimble and she was able to get them cracked with a single hit on the edge of the pan. Pink nail polish on her fingers looked fresh on all but her thumb where she'd bitten down most of the nail. She'd always had the tendency to bite her nails or fidget with her right bang as it draped over her rosy cheeks. Her lip gloss was just slightly faded near the center of her lips where she…

“Carrots!” Butes called me out of my stupor and I grabbed the plate, cheeks burning.

We enjoyed breakfast together as Butes and Alex joked about me a bit more. It had something to do with how I looked when Alex bumped into my before my shower, but I wasn't listening. Getting a fresh glass of orange juice, I took a seat as Butes asked, “So, you all know the plan right?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Alex snickered, “You think we forget so easy?”

“Yea, well, it’s an important release, okay?”

“Yea, yea, we get the point. You’re just excited to try out the smuggler class they’ve been talking about. Set off some explosions with big guns in your hands.” Alex nudged me with his elbow and I force a smiled. That got a smack from Butes, Alex chuckled.

“You looking forward to the game?” asked Suki, her green eyes were enhanced by the magnification of her glasses bringing out the golden flecks that glimmered even under artificial light.

“Of course he is!” Alex cut in, “He’s looking forward to all the alien women he’ll meet online!”

I laughed nervously.

“Carrots and alien women? You mean all those guys that will roll female characters just to play dress up in VR with their ridiculously shaped bodies?” Butes said waving a piece of pancake at me.

That night was the release of Frontier Epoch a sci-fi Virtual Reality Multi-Player Online game.

It was the spiritual successor to the game we all played - obsessively - Altera Online. When Alex and I met during Freshman year, we didn’t quite click until I pulled out my head set and logged in, only to be dragged out by Alex exclaiming, ‘You play Altera?’.

Since then, he'd introduced me to Butes and Suki online and that's how we started our raid group. Despite the recommended group size being five through ten, the four of us were able to take on some of the largest raids and world bosses on our own. Butes was our tank, Suki the heals, with Alex and I ran as ranged and melee classes.

I wasn't not as much into damage classes, or DPS, but it’s the class I usually ended up playing. But realistically, I missed playing games like Infinite Wars online, where you could level up your character freely and have a direct influence on the world around you without having to fit a specific role. Not just that, but in IWO, you weren't just a role in a group, you were integral to growth of others, of the community. You were part of something far bigger than a group looking to get new gear or beat the latest content. The content was something you made yourself. Exploring, building, protecting, it all came down to your choices and the people that you surrounded yourself with.

Unfortunately IWO had been dead a long time and despite their being prolific amounts of emulated servers, they just didn’t hold up to the original experience.

But with Frontier Epoch coming out, not only would I get to experience a full immersion VR MMO, but the world was built specifically to be player driven from the ground up. I'd get a chance to be part of a world like IWO, but even more immersive, more meaningful.

“He’s not denying it!” Alex dug his elbow into my side and I grimaced. The girls both rolled their eyes.

“The helmets should be arriving by eight pm today, so get everything ready. Pre-order instructions said that we need to get the DDCs before we go online tonight,” Butes was all business suddenly as she got up to put her plate in the sink.

Deep dive capsules, or DDCs, were like multi vitamins times one hundred. They kept your body nourished for a few days at a time by releasing nutrients into your system on a timer. The details were beyond me, but Suki geeked out when people asked her about them. I made sure to do so before today. Her explanations always captivated me despite how much people accused her of rambling. Her voice was sweet and calming.

Alex pushed he plate towards me and I stood taking Suki's as well to the sink to rinse them. The grin on his face had me thinking about the choice I'd made about the game. A choice I'd yet to tell the group.

“It said we need to make sure that we’re well fed and rested before going online during the launch tonight, so let’s get everything settled,” Butes continued.

Alex stood and grabbed the glasses to put them in to the sink saying, “Your bladder bags ready Carrots?”

A fork felt through my fingers and clattered into the sink.

“We don’t want a mess when we wake up,” He chided, eyebrows bouncing. I could have stuck the fork in his forehead at that moment. Instead, my cheeks flushed with anger and I glanced at Suki as she brought out her tablet. Regardless of how close we'd all become as an online group, it’s always embarrassing to talk about bodily functions. Embarrassing but unavoidable with Alex around.

“Alright, let’s get everything ready. Do you all know what class you’ll pick to start?” Butes asked.

“Enforcer,” Alex didn’t even hesitate. It was a bit surprising since it was a melee class focused on close range combat. Especially given that he played a Ranger in Altera, and a Sniper in IWO.

“Bio-Engineer.” Chimed in Suki. That one I expected since she played a Priestess in Altera.

“What about you, Carrots?” asked Butes.

It was time. During my research into Frontier Epoch, I'd found out a lot of things.

The Bio-Engineer class was interesting since it started with some basic stim packs and I could backup Suki, but I didn’t know if I wanted to be a healer.

The Ranger really drew me in because it had the ability to handle all ranged weapon types from the start and played well into my DPS role. But, again, I wasn't sure I want to be a DPS class anymore.

The other options announced so far were Enforcer, Artisan and Citizen. Artisan started with several schematics for items right away and Enforcer was what Alex had already picked. Neither of those two options really appealed to me.

Citizen, though, had very few details revealed. In fact all we knew is that it had a different starting zone and didn’t have any perks like schematics or skills. It was literally a blank slate.

That was why I had decided to pick it.

“I’m going Citizen.” I said.

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Are you crazy?”

All three of them talked at once.

“That’s the worst class to start with! We know nothing about it,” Alex almost throws a sheet of DDCs as he gestured wildly.

“Not only that, you actually start in a different zone and people are saying you have to level up your perks enough to get off the starter island!” Suki was surprisingly upset as well.

Butes just looked at me, I wasn’t sure if it was disapproval or not but her expression wasn’t very good.

“Yea. I’ve read the forums, but that’s all speculation. There hasn't been any leaks or even mention of Alpha tester, all people know is that it exists.”

“Yea, but you’ll take longer to catch up in leveling if you start at a disadvantage! You’ll slow us all down!” Alex actually threw the sheet at me that time.

“I get it! But I still wanna do it!” I said catching the sheet with one hand.

“We don’t know anything about the Citizen class. What if it doesn’t just slow you down. What if they don’t have racial bonuses? Or what if the Devs purposely put in a class that would be impossible to enjoy unless you were a glutton for punishment.” Alex continued.

“It’s not that I want to suffer or start at a disadvantage. I just don’t want to be cast into a role until I get a chance to experience the game.” I replied, feeling my cheeks flush again.

“But you’ll have wasted all that time!” Alex shouted.

“It's my time to waste!”

Butes put up her hand to shut us up and glared at me, her expression pensive and curious, “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. You’re on your own to start then. No asking for power leveling later," Butes said with a sigh.

“I know.”

A droplet of water splashed in the sink and a buzzing sound went off. Butes pulled her phone out. After a moment she shook her head and said, “They’re here! Time to get this show on the road.”