In the morning, I bought mag-train tickets to Silicon City. The only thing left out here was my dad, and according to the doctors he wouldn’t be waking up any time soon. Still, it felt selfish to leave. I’d grown up here; I wanted to stay here the rest of my life. Guess fate and I had different opinions on my future.

In the morning I went back to the house and collected what was left. In my room, a bit of clothing survived, but my computer was destroyed. My hunting knife was hidden in the rubble. A gift from my dad. Downstairs wasn’t much better. The kitchen seemed okay, but I didn’t really need anything from it. Still, I took some non-perishable food and stuffed it in my backpack. Snacks for later?

I rummaged around some more and managed to find a flashlight, an old tablet, and more rubble. Great. Looking around the house, I was reminded how little we really had. Most of our things were farming tools or furniture. I couldn’t take any of that with me.

After about an hour of searching, I headed out for the train station. The taxi I’d taken here had already left, so I called for a new one to Naro station.

To be honest, I hadn’t really slept last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I’d just keep seeing those monsters. I was really fucking tired. On the train, I kept getting weird looks from people as I repeatedly drifted off and woke with a start.

Thunderous stamping hoof beats growing ever louder.

Sometimes I’d yelp a bit as I left the nightmare, but I really tried my best not to scream.

A dark visage of the ominous rider.

The landscape whizzed by us as we hurtled towards the city, a sight I’d been entranced with every time I went.

Piercing howling ripping through the night.

Legs stuck in the ground, they loom over you, unable to move.

Still, I couldn’t help but see plumes of dust in the distance and the silhouette of dark figures atop their giant steeds…

Crushing and grinding.

White hot splinters like static under the skin.

I awoke with a start. Eyes staring at me. Shit, sorry.

The rest of the train ride didn’t go much better.

Ronin was there waiting for me when I finally arrived in the city’s main station. He was dressed in a navy blue sweater with elbow patches and tight black jeans. I’d never really understood his fashion sense.

“Hey!” he yelled as he waved me down, jogging towards me, bright and happy. “It’s been so long, man!” He grabbed my arms and pulled me in for a quick hug.

I chuckled at his enthusiasm as we seperated. “Yeah, it feels like forever.”

He quickly grabbed the bag I was carrying and started walking. “How’re you feeling?”

I shrugged. “‘Bout as good as I could be.”

His face tightened. “I… I’m sorry. I don’t really know what to say.”

“That’s fine, I don’t wanna talk about it anyways.”

A weak grin flashed on his face. Ronin was the cheerful socialite of our old high school friend group.

Ronin tapped his fingers in the air, ordering a cab, as I gazed around absentmindedly at the city. We’d come out from the underground station onto the busy city streets. Towering skyscrapers nearly blocked the sky, covered with screens displaying colorful advertisements.

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We didn’t have many in the city, but static screens seemed to be really popular here. Unlike the relative windows that popped up from the personal system, these screens were fixed at a point in space, and even emitted light. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming.

A cab pulled up in front of us and we hopped in.

“My place isn’t too far from the station. Should be around ten minutes,” Ronin told me as he typed his address in the dashboard.

Unlike my dad’s old truck and most of the large farming equipment, most vehicles in metro areas were autonomous.

“I’ve got a second bedroom but I’ve mostly been using it as my office. You can sleep there til we find you a new place. You have a computer?”

I shook my head.

“You can use mine. The latency for ints isn’t as bad as in the country but wired’s still a lot faster.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. “Anyways, how is it living here? What’re you up to?”

“Oh, well you know I’m a player, right?”

“Yeah.”

“y’might not believe it, but I’m actually pretty good. I’ve got two patrons already.”

“Oh right, I think you said something about that a while ago,” I said. Ronin and I talked pretty often but he only really mentioned his job in passing. I kinda understood why. Growing up together, we were all used to each other’s personalities and quirk, but Ronin’s ability wasn’t something that meshed well with the image I knew.

“mm. Well, I was wondering if you wanted to give it a try?” He gave me a nervous smile.

Really Ronin, me?

“Uh, I’m-- I’m not really sure.”

“Well I think--” the cab stopped suddenly. “Oh, we’re here,” he said.

We quickly got out of the taxi and headed towards the door. The building he lived in was tall and simple with blank, mirrored windows. I looked around and it looked just like every other building on the block.

We didn’t talk until we’d gone up the elevator and reached his apartment.

“You can set your stuff in here,” he said while opening the door of what looked to be a very cluttered office. “Sorry, it’s kind of a mess.”

“I’ll say,” I chuckled as I set my backpack on the floor.

Ronin went out into the living room and I followed. His apartment wasn’t huge, but it was really open. The kitchen and living room were pretty much the same area, separated by a small wooden table.

“That’s the bathroom, and that’s my room,” Ronin proclaimed, pointing to the doors on the far wall. He sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to him.

I obliged and sat.

“So, I was saying, I think you’d be a good player.”

“Why?” I questioned. Ronin had always wanted to be famous. Ever since elementary school he’d wanted to be a singer. Being a player was pretty much the same thing. But me? I’d always been pretty clear about staying with my dad after school.

“Well, your ability, duh. I know, it’s pretty strange, but I was thinking about it, and there’s no better way to make money right now.”

“I don’t know…”

“Dude, I mean you’re basically immortal! I mean, not all players are fighters, there’s a lot of culture and drama streamers, but the action streams are super popular.”

I knew what he meant. Of all the streamers, around 60% were considered to be in the action genre. It was popular because it was gory, violent, and exciting. The drama genre and the others were popular too, but a lot of the good ones were also considered to be action-oriented, at least a little.

“I know it’s not what you wanted,” Ronin started, “but I’ve been thinking about it, and you’re in a lot of debt. It’d take years to make that much on a part-time job, and sorry, but there’s not much you’re qualified for here.”

I sighed. “I know, I just don’t really get it.”

“What?” he asked.

“All of the hubbub over streamers and patrons. What’s so great about them?”

Ronin thought for a moment. “Well, patrons are obvious I think. They give you tons of rep for basically doing nothing. And I mean, we wouldn’t get patrons without streamers.”

RP, sometimes called “rep”, short for reputation points, was the stream-side currency. While normal people like me used EP, or exchange points, RP was used for anything stream-related. Armor, items, clothing, food, accessories, pretty much anything. Although 10 EP and 10 RP could buy almost the same stuff, the exchange was almost 5 EP to 1 RP. I didn’t really know the reason, but apparently there were things that EP couldn’t buy.

“Listen, you don’t have to commit to anything yet,” Ronin continued. “But I think it’s a good idea. We can go to the PA tomorrow and register you. It’s really cheap and it gives you a lot of benefits here. Even if you don’t wanna continue it’ll help.”

I thought for a moment. “...I guess that’s alright. When do you wanna go?”

“How about tomorrow?”