After seeing the conference of Nora Klouthen, it’s already 6 pm and a youth who reached adulthood in German laws was running fast as he could, full with glee, to reach his train. Fortunately he barely got on before it closed its doors and went away. The particular youth’s name is Amil Aschrich.
Born from parents who have very mixed ancestries, his father has part European, part African and part American while his mother has a mixture of Asian and Australian ancestors. Almost every blood of the world flows in him.
Although having different ancestors in Germany is now common place, he still stands out from the others. Aside from having a light dark skin, his face would be considered good looking or handsome.
He considers his face average but acceptable. Beside those features he is 176 cm and his body frame is properly toned and athletic from constantly training with different kind of martial arts and sports. He unfortunately has no one he can consider a friend, with the exception of his family (Father, Mother and 3 younger siblings) and relatives, due to constant mistrust of other people and because of his unfortunate past that still plagues him.
The only things that can give him comfort are reading fictional works (comics/manga/manwha, fan fiction, light novel, fantasy, sci-fi & so on), history, lexicons, encyclopedia about animals, religion, mythology, video games, news & etc. and Tv Tropes website; playing mostly “retro” and “old” old-school video games like Contra, Twin Bee, Pokemon games, DS Castlevanias, Metal Slug, Suikoden V, Aero Fighters, King Of Fighters series, Ikaruga, Sonic, Mario, Sunset Riders, certain MMOs, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy (Yes, including XII but not XIII), Devil May Cry 3, Dragon Quest IX & etc., and weird and interesting games like Okami, Viewtiful Joe, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced series, Elite Beat Agents, Rhythm Paradise, Katamari Damacy, Valkyria Chronicles and so on, and when in countries where video game arcades are available Time Crisis series, Project Justice, Power Stone, Guilty Gear, MvC and etc.; hearing classical music, various rock musicians/bands (King Crimson, Rolling Stones, Yes, Queen, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Budgie, Meat Loaf and etc.) and other musicians/bands in rock sub-genres like Hard Rock/Heavy Metal (NWOBHM, Van Halen, Rainbow, 70’s Unknown Hard Rock and etc.), Punk (MC5,Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Damned and etc.) and so on; writing something when bored; wandering around a whole city; watching some DVD movies and documentaries of almost every kind of thing; tinkering on some things, cooking, playing every kind of instruments, observing everything, some that would be considered as not normal or as hard work like learning blacksmithing from some relatives, office work or helping on a construction site and so on.
Yes, he has so many hobbies and habits he doesn’t even bother anymore to have any real friends or remember names of his former classmates at all. But then he realizes he may have everything but there is nobody he can share his interests. That’s why he preordered, with the help of his parents dealing a condition with him, the Amalgam Gear that comes in purchase with game: Gaia’s Universe.
“Meet a new world that has no limits”, the motto of the game said by the Amalgam Company itself. Excited to come back to his apartment at 8 pm, 7 big packages in front of his door have already arrived. He read the particular part, “Addressed to Amil Aschrich.”
“Whoa!! It already arrived earlier than it should be.” Not being able to hold himself any longer he brought the packages inside his apartment to the very spacious living room. Amil himself rented 1/8 of the apartment so he could have some freedom. The owner of the apartment, Rainer Hokamp, about in his mid-forties is an acquaintance of Amil’s parents and he is also part of the “family” too for Amil. An uncle of sorts. Considering Amil occupied the most part of his apartment, Rainer isn’t bothered by it. Rainer’s daughter, Orianna is sort of childhood friend of Amil starting 13 years ago. Amil always take care of his daughter when he is not available. Love never blossomed though as Amil always looks at Orianna as a sister, not as a woman to be loved.
Seeing the door of Amil being open, Rainer knocks at the door 3 times. “Hello? Is anybody here?”He looked around to see if there is anything odd and then he enters inside and closing the door as well. Looking around again he intrudes Amil’s living room and notices 7 big packages being stacked and a large odd-shaped capsule. Soon he notices Amil’s presence being on the ground reading a booklet very focused. Not until he notices Rainer’s presence too as well.
“Hehe..Hello.” Amil can’t hold his giggling at moderate.
“Say, is this what you preordered last year?”, Rainer asked worried.
“Yeah and also assembling it was fortunately too easy”, smiled Amil.
“Seriously though, next time you bring something in, close the door or else thieves would use the situation.”
“Sorry, I won’t forget it next time” answers Amil a little bit depressed.
“Now, Now. So, does it work?”
“Yeah, I push the on/off switch and it activated. But I didn’t use it yet.”
“Say, I heard that time inside is faster. I mean 1 hour outside is 6 days inside. Don’t you think you can try it out now?” grinned Rainer.
Rainer himself was once an avid video game professional and once famous in the gaming community before settling as an apartment owner. He is practically like a grown-up Amil. Though Amil himself isn’t famous.
”Ahh...Uncle, you just want see it in action.”
“Of course, I want see it in action. It’s new video game console and very advanced for its time.”
“Well, I’ll get in there and try it. And also you can also try it and while I’m inside you can take a look at the video game casing and borrow its guide. And the gear allows me to have an alarm clock in-game and I set it so that I get notified when it’s morning already”
“Hey, don’t tell me you plan to play without sleeping!?” Even though Amil is already an adult Rainer still considers him a child.
“Uncle, relax. Don’t worry. And as I said read the game guide. It says that I can still play even in REM-state. Meaning I can still sleep and play at the same time. Well, I’m practically not even awake when I’m playing”
“Oh, you’re right.” As he looked at clock that that says 10:25 pm he says his little goodbye.
“Well, see you in about 60 days if you enter that thing precisely at 10:29 pm!!” As his ‘uncle’ went away with the guide, Amil mumbles in his mind.
“Seriously, Uncle!! How good are you in Math!!?”
He always adjusted his own alarm to wake him up at 8:30 am. Rainer knew this because Amil always have a habit adjusting his clock at 8:30 since he was a kid.
As he regained his composure, he went inside already wearing sleeping clothes with a blanket about 10:30 pm. He checked his surroundings whether everything is alright.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Hey!!! It’s very comfortable. Thanks Amalgam!!” thought himself. As he closed the capsule and pushed the power button from inside, a mixture of a man’s and woman’s voice suddenly reached his ears.
- Scanning brain waves. Complete. New User confirmed. Create a new account?
He was suddenly startled by the sudden change of his surrounding into pure white, by the voice and him already standing up but it should be expected by the information of the game guide.
”Yes.”
- Name your avatar.
Ever since he knew of the game, he was searching for a name that suited him or liked the most since he can only create one character even though it’s supposed to be a game without limits.
“Isaiah.”
A biblical reference though more of a reference to a certain individual who loves humanity and inflict pain at the same time to humanity with the exception of a blond superman that he hates mostly; and always seek chaos in a part of a Japanese urbanized city. Of course he is fictional.
- Would you like to add a surname? You can also think of it while in the game.
Of course, Amil thought of this. He thinks that the possibility of being thought of an NPC if one added a surname to his avatar means less hassle from other players. He thought of a random name that wouldn’t be odd in a fantasy world.
“Yes. Wolffram”
Amil always liked very exotic sounding names. Of course it includes his real full name.
- Isaiah Wolffram, select your gender from male, female or neutral.
He already expected this kind of exchange. Though he is kind of disturbed by the possibility of a male player posing as a female. Female players playing as male avatars doesn’t disturb him though.
“Male”
- Please select your race.
Suddenly, darkness envelops him and various models of races appear in front of him seemingly surrounding him. In front of him right now are a human, an elf and a dwarf. At the feet of the primary races circular lights that are leading him behind to races who have different ancestries like a Half-Human Half-Elf, a Half-Elf Half-Dwarf and a Half-Dwarf Half-Human. At the very back is a model that has characteristics of a human, an elf and a dwarf. Though you can decide how much of human, dwarf or elf blood your avatar is. Other races are still covered in a black silhouette meaning sooner or later they will be unlocked and other mixtures will be possible. How that’s possible, Amil can only question.
He also notes that the possibility of unlocking some races should have already happened considering how fast the time in-game is. Since he got his gear and game early because of preordering, it is also possible that most Asians and some eastern Europeans, who also preordered, already got them much earlier too and unlocking some races that are a little bit sci-fi or anything was expected. Maybe the requirements to do so are very hard. He also counted that about 105 races are still restricted. He goes behind the models just to be blocked by an invisible wall. Beyond them are more models covered in silhouette.
“Seriously! How huge is the game!!!?” Soon he decided for the most balanced.
“Human”.
- Would you like to have a “Random Fate Factor” for your avatar?
He read that “Random Fate Factor” could decide that your “Human” is not fully a human, your “Elf” is not fully an elf and your "Dwarf" not fully a dwarf & so on. It indicates that your avatar has an ancestor of one of those unknown races or one of the other primary races or is really not the race that it represents. With the “factor”, you’ll also appear in the game somewhere random still near your chosen starting point and something different is there for your avatar but disclosed. It’s also sort of a gamble that can decide the difficulty of your own avatar. Fated to become something great or terrible or both or something along the line. A gamble he chooses for fun.
“Yes, I would like to have one”
- Would you like to alter your appearance?
“No, I’m fine with myself”
- Please select your starting place
With the models disappearing, 3 floating windows immediately appear showing a map. The map he chose displays the Zalmat Continent. When he looked at the map, there is nothing marked.
“Say, can I ask question?”
- Go ahead, Isaiah.
“Why is there no place marked?”
- You can choose your own starting point. In a forest, in mountains, in the sea or in a middle of nowhere. The choices are limitless.
“This game really wants to surpass limits huh”, thought Isaiah.
“Then can you please color the map which country is which?
The AI accepted his request and the continent is now covered with various colors. Also on the colored ones have their names indicated.
“Let’s see here….Hmmm…. Knight Kingdom Ferium, Magician City State Albus, Island State Maharika, Merchant State Buhjer, Sea Empire Watakuni, Holy Nation Yehrem, Black Country Origa …Hmm…Interesting. About only 13 countries are available right now and the other 22 are still restricted …Ha! I know now what I’ll choose.”
For a long time professional gamers, who gets money by gaming, always thought that waiting first for the first batch of players fooling around in a new game is good to assure higher probability of surviving and gaining more advantages in the game. But the ones who receive the new game earlier than others also have many advantages because of experience. Also the time flow faster than usual in Gaia’s than your usual normal game. It’s like the game is a Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
”Eumeria Queendom, Sky City Elestus”
- Confirmed. “Warning!”
Contact with other players from other countries will be available if the game is officially released at 10 am in their respective time zones including your own. The time outside right now is 10:31 pm. Do you wish to proceed?
“Didn’t expect the disabled contact and I’m pretty sure it will be a little bit troublesome. And Seriously!! Didn’t think I took only 1 minute with the character creation. Maybe it’s because I’m in Narnia right now even thou I took about 2-3 hours!! HaHaHaHaHaH”, joked Amil out loud.
He almost forgot the question the AI gave him.
He answered but not before coughing:”*cough**cough*Yes, I wish to proceed”
- Welcome to Gaia’s Universe. We wish your journey bring you good luck and we hope you fulfill your dreams.
As soon as the AI finished his/her sentence, Amil is abruptly blinded by a white, flashing light.
<--Prologue Chapter 2-->