In the middle of a large intersection, a large television screen began to play loud music. The black background slowly dissipated as a bright voice could be heard coming out from the large speakers beside the screen. “Welcome to the world of Felnia!” The screen showed a smiling young woman dressed in a simple white one-piece dress with jet black hair that went past her shoulders. “In this world of fantasy and magic, you can become whoever you want, and do whatever you want!”
The background behind her changed into a grassy plains with small animals roaming around. “The lands of this world are new and unexplored,” she continued, “leaving much adventure and wonders to be found!” As she spoke, the background continued to change to show different scenery, like rocky valleys, snow-covered peaks, and lush woodlands. “But with adventure, also comes danger.” She said, as her voice became more serious.
“The world of Felnia is filled with all sorts of terrible monsters, ready to attack those who are unprepared.” The background then changed and began showing various monsters making threatening poses towards the screen. Then the scenery changed into a bustling city as the woman continued to talk. “Of course, that’s not all it’s filled with. In this world you’ll find many new allies and friends, rivals and comrades, and perhaps even romance.” The screen then began showing a montage of people from different races, ranging from lizard-like to beast-like people, with all of them smiling. Finally, the screen stopped in the middle of a large plaza with many people standing in it.
The woman then appeared in the center of the people, and said with a large smile on her face, “We await your visit to the world of Felnia!” Then the people in the plaza began waving and cheering as the screen faded to black, while the words: Come join the new world! appeared on the screen. The television then began playing another commercial, and people continued to walk about the intersection.
One youth who appeared to be in his late teens continued to stare at the screen as he grinned, just barely containing his excitement. This youth’s name is Simon Aden and he had immediately ordered for a Game pod as soon as the game True World Online was announced. It was the first ever Virtual Reality MMO game to ever be released, and today, he had finally gotten confirmation that he would be among the first people to play it. He continued to stare at the screen until his phone vibrated, and he read the text message sent to him.
“Geez Helen, stop sending me to do your shopping.” He said with a sigh as he began to head towards the mall.
*****
Once he had grabbed the items he needed, he headed over to the cashier and proceeded to pay for them. Once the woman at the register saw what he was buying, she asked “Shopping for your family? Or maybe a girlfriend?” Simon blinked and looked at her with a surprised face before nodding and asking how she knew. The woman giggled while saying, “Well the fact that you’re buying about 4 stuffed animals alongside a single book light sort of gave it away.” He simply gave a wry smile as he quickly bought the items and left.
Taking the bus and making a short detour for some lunch, Simon finally arrived at his destination: Tenick City Hospital. Walking through the doors he greeted the receptionist who smiled and greeted him. “Good afternoon Simon. I assume you’re visiting her again?” He gave a quick nod and after waiting for half a minute he was given the okay to visit her room. Heading through the long white hallways, he greeted a few familiar faces who he had gotten to know through his frequent visits to the hospital. He finally stopped in front of room 203 and knocked before hearing a muffled voice say “Come in.”
Simon stepped into the room and saw a girl the age of 16 sitting upright on the hospital bed playing a 3DS. Her body was thin and looked incredibly fragile, so much so that it seemed simply hugging her might cause her to break. Her eyes seemed to demonstrate radiance though, shining with a bright amber glow… though the glowing might just be because of the game screen. Her face contained delicate features, all of them fine and exquisite, which came together to form a beautiful image. All of that was encased in her wavy brown hair which went down to her shoulders.
Once he entered the room the girl stopped playing her game and said “Hey bro, did you pick up what I asked for?” He nodded and took out the book light and she took it and put it beside her. “Thanks! I got a nice book recently from one of the nurses and I was going to read it at night.”
“You shouldn’t be reading books at night…” Simon said with a sigh as he continued, “It’s bad for your health.”
“It’s fine.” She said, waving off his concern. “Anyway, you bought more stuffed animals?” She gestured towards the other shopping bags that Simon brought with him. Simon let out a grin as he brought out the animals one by one. The small collection consisted of a fox, a dragon, a mouse and a round sheep. Simon wore a somewhat proud expression as he lay them all out in a row.
“You have a really weird hobby, you know that?” Helen said while eyeing the animals. “Hey, I just happen to like soft things okay?” Simon complained. “Besides, they look cute so it’s fine isn’t it?” He said while re-positioning them to make them all face Helen in a semi-circle. Helen simply shrugged as she went back to playing her game.
Simon took a seat beside her to get a better look at what she was playing. “Ah, Monster Hunter huh?” He said as he recognized the game. “Yup,” Helen nodded, “I’ve been hooked on it lately since one of my gaming friends recommended it.”
“Oh, there’s an opening.”
“I know... Ahh! My combo!”
“Ha ha, those small rollers are the worst aren’t they?”
“I swear I’m going to kill them all once the monster leaves the area...”
“Watch out for the fireball.”
“I know! I don’t need you to remind me.”
“Right. Oh, that’s a tail sweep.”
“Gah!”
“Here comes another.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Urgh!”
“Dodge the lunge.”
“Simon would you plea- DAMN IT!”
“Aww, too bad. If you had reacted 0.3 seconds earlier you would have gotten away from it.” Simon grinned as he watched Helen just barely contain her anger.
“*sigh* You’re the only person I know who’s capable of dodging things like that in a split second.” Helen muttered as she closed the screen before making a depressed face. Her expression quickly changed once she focused on Simon though as she complained. “Anyway, I was doing perfectly fine before you distracted me!” Then she pouted and turned away from Simon.
“Anyone can dodge things like that with enough practice. You just need a bit more.” Simon began patting her head as he said this. “Also, turn that frown upside down. My cute little sister doesn’t look as good when she’s depressed.” He said with a laugh. Helen seemed to be distracted with her head being patted, and her pout slowly turned into a contented smile as she enjoyed the feeling of Simon’s hand on her head. After a minute of this though she quickly came to her senses and threw off Simon’s hand while saying “Don’t touch me so casually!” with a frown on her face.
“Are you sure?” Simon asked with a teasing tone. “It seemed like you enjoyed it quite a bit though…” *ahem* Helen cleared her throat to interrupt Simon, but he continued to tease her once he noticed something about her face. “Is that a bit of a blush I see on your face? Looks like you did enjoy it after all. Be a bit more honest with yourself okay?” Simon said, as he poked her cheek. “It’s fine if you’re a bit more spoiled you know.”
“Wha-, That’s-, I’m not-” Helen stammered as she attempted to get her mind back on track. She turned away from Simon in order to hide the pink flush in her cheeks, and then asked, “How come you look so happy today?” In an attempt to change the subject. Simon’s eyes immediately gained an excited gleam, and he stopped teasing his sister as he began to tell her the news. “Heh heh heh, don’t be too surprised but… I got a game pod for True World Online!”
“Seriously!?” Helen exclaimed as she quickly turned around to face Simon, the blush on her face gone, instead replaced by the same excited look that Simon wore. “Ahh, that’s so lucky!” Helen said with a melancholic tone. “It sure is.” Simon confirmed. “I just barely managed to get into the first million units produced. Those rich bourgeoisie types are scary. I heard a rumor that one of them even paid half a billion dollars just to be the first one to receive a unit.”
This was no exaggeration by the way. Once it had been announced that a fully immersive, virtual reality game was being released, the world went crazy with almost everyone talking about the game, and many people went to great lengths to make sure that they could play this game. Despite the fact that more game pods would be released within another week after the initial 1 million, people still wanted to play the game as fast as possible. Whether that was for making sure that they had a lead over other players, or if they just wanted to experience another world was up to debate, but no one could deny the amount of attention it True World Online garnered upon its announcement.
“Aw man, I really wanted to play it too…” Helen muttered while slowly becoming depressed. “Well, maybe I couldn’t play it with my body being like this.” she added while looking down at her legs. Simon followed her gaze and had a pensive look on his face as he stared at them. Helen had been in an accident seven years ago and her legs hadn’t been able to move since. While silently watching Helen’s depressed figure, Simon suddenly remembered a rumor he found on the internet while searching up forums about True World Online
(A/N: which will now be referred to as TWO).
“Actually… maybe you could play the game.” Simon said slowly as he gauged her reaction. Watching Helen, it was like someone was winding up a doll, as her face slowly morphed from deeply depressed to one that was filled with a burning desire. “TELL ME.” she demanded as she gripped Simon’s shirt. “TELL ME HOW I CAN PLAY!” Simon felt a bit of a shock go through him as he was intimidated by how intense his sister’s gaze looked, but he quickly got a hold of himself.
“Okay, listen closely dear sister…” Simon began. Helen nodded furiously as if this was life changing information (which in a sense, it was). “Now, this is only a rumor I heard on the net, but it seems like there’s a program that some hospitals will be doing for disabled people to be able to play the game. Apparently it’s to give them the chance to move limbs they can’t move or used to have, or possibly remove some mental blocks by allowing them to do it in game. Anyway, it’s still just a rumor but maybe you can check with your nurses if there’s anything like that?”
Helen’s mood slowly went back to normal as she heard and digested the information, then she let out a little smile as she muttered “I could move my legs again… I could- I could dance again!” Simon raised an eyebrow before once again reminding her that it was just a rumor. Helen simply shook her head and let out a radiant smile as she said “No, it’s fine, thank you. That information is more than enough to give me a bit of hope. Thanks Simon.”
Simon found her smile nice, so he began patting her head again. This caused another outburst from Helen, and they played around until visiting hours were over.
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A/N: Welcome everyone! This is my first fiction that I've ever written (actually that's a lie. I've tried writing other stories but stopped after like 1 chapter XD). After a lot of debate with myself and my friend, I've finally decided to post the story I've written online. I'll get criticisms, sure, but what I want is to let other people experience the world I've created in my head, and hopefully get them to enjoy it. So please, don't hold back with any criticisms and share your opinions on my story. Please, go ahead and read with reckless abandon. I hope you enjoy this story!
Fun fact: Simon and Helen were originally supposed to have a pet fox named Wapu.