*Shit shit SHIT!!!* was what the poor boy thought as he saw the truck rushing towards his broken body. *How was it possible that this could happen TODAY of all days?* But no matter how much he thought about it or tried to think of a way out of it, there was no way he would survive this. Then everything went dark and he felt his mind slip away from his body. The last thing he thought was *If I only could have played Omnis Online then i could die happy.* While loitering around in the darkness with only his own thoughts as company he started thinking back to how this event happened. It all started 5 years ago when Presia Industries announced that they would release Omnis Online.
5 years ago
Quickly turning on the TV he saw that the interview with the world leading gaming company Presia Industries CEO was just starting. This interview was revealing a milestone when it came to gaming, namely FIVR or full immersion virtual reality. The boy could barely contain himself when he heard the CEO announce that in 5 years they would be releasing the world's first full immersion virtual reality game. While the CEO went on to talk about many different things none really stuck in the boy's head. All he could think of was that in 5 years time he could start playing but that also meant that he only had 5 years to prepare all the necessary funds and equipment needed. He immediately started planning on how he could save up enough money to purchase the game, its components and have enough to last a few months of subscription.
3 years ago
Today was the day that the prices of the game and its equipment came out. The boy was impatiently waiting for the news to know if his calculations were correct or if he would need to change his budget to afford the game.* AHHH!!!! COME ON!!!!* screamed the boy, though only in his mind since he didn’t want the people in his apartment complex to think he was weird. Just as the boy was on his way to throw something at the wall, the information came out. The boy immediately stopped his angry antics and looked at the screen. The FIVR Unit which basically was a human sized pod cost €4500, the game €90 with a monthly subscription of €8. *YES!!!* thought the boy since the price was within his calculations so he would be able to afford it by the time the game came out. That meant that all the boy had to do was train and study while waiting for the years to pass. While many of his friends wondered why he suddenly paid so much attention to school and training there was a very simple answer. The boy was one of many that believed that your capabilities in the game might be affected by your physical and mental health IRL(In Real Life) so he made sure to be in top shape to get as big of an advantage as possible.
2 years ago
The boy had been training for a year now in preparation for Omnis Online. He trained everything from Martial arts to swimming for physical perfection and studied everything from war strategies to politics for mental strength and to be capable to handle any situation ingame. Today he was mountain climbing and that's when it happened...he fell. Sadly for him his climbing equipment was old and this safety line broke from the sudden strain on it. The boy fell to the ground and felt immense pain. The pain was to much for his mind so he lost consciousness. When he woke up he was in a hospital bed with his family worriedly hovering around him. Looking around at them he asked “why are you all looking so sad?”
His question was meet with silence. After what felt like hours of silence his mother asked with breakin voice “ho-how aaa-are you feeling?” His immediate response was to say fine but when he thought about it he couldn’t feel his own legs.
“Why can’t I feel my legs?” he asked even though he feared the answer. At that moment a doctor came in and asked everyone except his parents to leave. When all of them had left the doctor started talking.
“I’m sorry to inform you that your fall caused your spine to break in such a way that you will be unable to walk ever again.”
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After that piece of information the boy broke down. He cried and cried into his mother's arms. The doctor looked sadly at the young boy for a few seconds before he left leaving the boy and his parents to their sorrow.
The boy fell hopeless that all his preparation were now useless. While his family mourned that their energetic son/brother would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life all that mattered to the boy was that he would be unable to play the game.
1 year ago
The boy sat in his wheelchair and looked out of his window. It had been a long year during which he had managed to get over the fact of him not being able to play Omnis Online and instead he had focused on other problems. He had decided to take all the tests to finish high school now instead of being in school for another year and the final test came back today. If he had passed then he would be free to do whatever he wanted...scratch that, whatever he was physically capable of doing. He no longer looked at the gaming news so he didn’t know how wrong he had been a year ago until his sister burst through the door with a gaming magazine in her hand.
“Stop moping around you silly little duck” his sister said in a cheery voice.
“Why should I, it’s not like I have a job yet so what else is there for me to do except mope around?”
“Well for starters you could read this article and then I think you would realize what there is to do.”
“Fine as long as it makes you leave me alone.” he said before grabbing the magazine from her hand and quickly started reading the article in question. As he continued reading his mood became brighter and brighter until he was finished and exclaimed “SERIOUSLY!!! Our physical state doesn’t matter?”
“Nope you can play Omnis even if you're crippled though braindead might be a problem.”
“Haha” he answered sarcastically “you do know I'm not braindead right.”
“What you're not???” His sister answered with mock surprise.
“”Yeah yeah, just get out will ya, I need to contemplate what I should do now with this new piece of information.”
“Kay,kay just remember dinner is in an hour.” his sister said as she left the room. After she left he started thinking about if there was something he could do during the remaining year until game released and he realise that he could still train mentally as well as his upper body. He had completely forgot about the final test results that would come today. While he was a bit angry it was mostly because he had according to him wasted the whole past year in pity and self hatred instead of being productive...since completing high school a year early is wasting time and not being productive… anyway now that he knew he could play the game all he had to do was change his schedule a bit and he would be back on track.
Back to present
*Oh well not much I can do about that now* he thought just as an enormous amount of pressure was exerted onto his being. And just as suddenly as the pressure had started it disappeared a few seconds later. Then it reappeared and disappeared in a continuous cycle. After what felt like an eternity he noticed a that the darkness around him was receding and in its place a soft light was growing.
After a few more cycles of pressure he suddenly felt free and was surrounded by a massive amount of light. Opening his eyes he saw that he was surrounded by giants with what looked like a happy predatory grin on their faces.Scared he tried to run away only to realise that his body did not obey him. As the predatory faces closed in he did the only other thing he could think of. He screamed his heart out.