Have you ever believed you were something special?
A soul that would transcend others or lead people?
Sometimes a fate is bestowed upon oneself that paves the path of others like a lighthouse leads the way of ships during the night with their flame.
On other occasions you are just one of the moths that flys in sacrificial delirium towards the brightest flame around you.
But what if something , that has been burned in your mind , is whispering sweet nothings to you telling you that your flame is the strongest and the brightest of all the small candles?
Would you believe that call to greatness even though the imprinting in your mind has done nothing for you except demand sacrifices?
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While Benedict Gray was checking up on his long term stocks , again and again a pop up appeared on the virtual screen he was operating.
>the other world< an exciting new adventure awaits! Was the headline while a 3d image of a dragon and a company of various humanoid creatures were challenging it.
A virtual reality based on the latest system of quantum generated world forming enabled one to dive into this new world.
The interface device that was used with this brand new game has been out for years and hasn't changed much since it's publish kent 30 years ago with the first vr games.
What changed were the places one could " dive " into.
Ben with his somewhat disheveled dark blond hair that reached his shoulders and the piercing ice blue eyes wrinkles his brows in displeasure as he swiped away the felt 100 add of the same kind in the last 5 minutes.
" Best ad-block available my ***" he muttered to himself.
Ads the bane of existence even 200 years after the creation of the intraweb. Ben thought.
For some this exciting new game with all the promises of better execution regarding the general immersion and feeling of being part of the story not just a bystander and the promise of absolute freedom concerning the choices one makes would have been a welcome ad.
For Ben on the other hand this ad was a curse. 'Nothing more vexing then being reminded of the years wasted being in therapy' he thought.
Numerous session with the most glorified of shrinks went down just the other day , when Ben received a rather large packet of carbonized fiber.
After it floated , self autonomed parcel delivery , into his living room , so a member of current society wouldn't even have the chance of injuring their backs, a loud mechanical voice required identification.
Ben was just a thought away of disposing of the 70cm-70cm piece but his curiosity got the better off him. With a swipe off his hand in the general direction of the packet a confirmation sound rang out and immediately his home hologram decoder was hacked.
Now he really wanted to slap the b***h who was the sender of this packet as her image appeared standing ontop of the clunky black parcel that was laying on his carpet.
" Hi , Ben !" The perky voice of the sender was transmitted over the audio as if it originated from the 3d image of her.
" You know I'm missing you. Haven't heard anything from you the past 5 years! How could you do that to me, I'm your fiancé! That's horrible!" more garble and nargel were audible but Bens mind short circuited.
" Hive record the scene and send a illegal charge off hacking into your unit with the instigator name of Lili-ann Ward." The deep voice that sounded off a mid between husky late until the morning activity and vocal chords being used as a tire tube for driving on a gravel path came from Ben.
" Lili-Ann Ward not found in data-base. Lili-Ann Ward-Gray found. Hive advises against criminal charges of your soon to be spouse Mr. Gray. "His home server replied in a mechanical tone.
Normally Ben would have a laugh whenever the virtual Ai that governed his home referred to itself in third person , something which Ben had a fantastic time in teaching the program ; but not today.
He was just pissed off.
"Keep that idea and stick it up your virtual ..."
" Acknowledged the beings designated as Homo sapiens tend to reason on emotion instead of logic. "
Ben scratched his head in irritation and sighed loudly. Then he began counting from ten backwards just as the shrink pre-described.
Laughable , 400 years after the 21st century and the psycho doctors still defy the novelty of progress. Ben thought.
Meanwhile the illegal act was recorded analyzed deemed a offense and a court notice was sent to his fiancé. The hive minimized the 3d image and muted it , since it was a forces program that expired as soon as it was over and couldn't forcibly be shut down.
The box opened and inside lay the collar shaped device of the first gen. dive systems. Numerous scratches on the mat black surface and dulling of the sapphire in the mid of it told of its age.
Why first generation some would ask , well this was the device Ben has used for over 10 years of his life and the reason he had gone to a quack.
His mother. A seasoned virtual gamer that made billions or the precise trade of exchanging virtual blows with people and tricking the system when the first gen came out 30 years ago.
Even his Grandfather , the late Benedict Gray Senior , was a famed veteran of multiple games. Although that was before the time of the Virtual reality hype.
This helm was one of the two devices his mother had bought on its release date , may she forever remain on her lake view estate overseeing the forever eternal lava lake of hell. Even though Ben couldn't prove a damn thing but he swore that hitler , musselini and the antichrist himself visited her often. For brunch perhaps or for some R&R.
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Especially his helm , the one he trained with ever since his 5th birthday since his mother was convinced that her legacy would shine brighter if her son carried on the prestige the Grays had earned through 3 Generations of Gamers.
Will not could. A fact nothing left to chance. Just like his mother he began training all those years ago using the latest sniper rifles and dancing on the corpses of my enemy in simulated programs before Ben went over to the competitive play at the age of 8 and dominated the e-sport ladders for another 3.
Then he switched to fighting games alla street fighter and tekken style. Which he dominated just as well.
Genius player , marketing Bad-boy and just like a wolf with his bone he never gave anything up willingly. In 21st century terms ; if you want my world championship titles take the goddamn controller out of my cold and dead hands! Was the slogan the PR company came up with.
That year with its retro revival of the 21st century games was a bane to Bens mind.
But Ben was drawn to the recently rediscovered rpg games. Levels , quest , attribute points , skills and such. Nothing beats the essence of dynamic role play with fast paced action he thought.
A big argument latter , with the torturing mistress of Styx-vill Athens Greece , Ben packed up his own acquired millions and started on a generic titled vrmmorpg that was the latest trend in competitiveness.
Weekly team based battles with ye old sword and board , cloth draped magicians or armored crusaders with holy powers.
Ben reveled in those days with his elfen highly specialized dual sword master. But sooner rather then later he was kicked out of the team because he stole everyone's spotlight and the highly specialized build he pursued was lacking compared to the red Mage classes.
Hybrids. A warlord level warrior with sundering earth magic and pocket Heals. Arcane archers that rained hell from 200 yards away. Summoners with legions of undead or constructs while still being able to eat damage like a Adamantium covered Tank.
Ben fell behind with his short sighted ness in the late game. His mother ... His fiancé ... His career ... And his glory all but disappeared in the blink if an eye as he tried to correct his elfen characters play style to shook the world once again.
Off to the shrink he went. At the age of 26 , 5 years after he quit gaming , the b***h of fiancé that refused to sign the legal papers of the divorce sent him the one thing he never wanted to see again.
Addiction to spotlight , the simplest term his Shrink gave the condition Ben was diagnosed with at the age of 20. Addiction to the glory he achieved in Games lead to the Shrinks conclusion of Ben having to quit playing any Games and lead a normal life.
Ben chuckled at the notion while he eyed the black weathered necklace critically. After the relapse at 19 that lasted until the age of 21 Ben even surprised himself as he completly forgot to think about games.
All of his Old posters and the framed gold weight belts of World Championships went into attic and he simply quit.
" Just checking it out won't hurt ... " Ben said out loud to no one in particular.
After the words left his mouth he carried the device to the nearest desk and carefully placed it down. He handled it as if it were raw eggs or a new born baby.
After a few swipes and waves Ben landed on videos of > The Other World<'s Beta. What surprised him were the missing health / mana / stamina bars in the 1st person viewer standpoint he was watching the video from.
Also the lack of any quick slots for skills. The gamestyle he was used to from the old times.
The more he watched the more amazed Ben became with the game. Flurries of motion , the 2 people that were pvping ( Player vs player) had done so in ultra speed. Parry after parry. Counters , feints , dodges and even a few ripostes. Things he still knew from his VR days of Streetfighter or Tekken.
Well besides the fact that in those days he used crowbars , broken bottles and even sometimes the overly acurate projectile weapon... okay it was a manhole cover but still those things flew pretty darn good!
Even though his coordination had become rusty and the occular muscles in his skull lacked , he should be able to see all the details of this fight but much to his surprise he missed quite a few attacks and defending moves.
The next scene showed 2 people just talking and the conversation flow was exceptionally good , almost as if it was a scene from a Hollywood production. This confused Ben , but then the video stopped and in big letters > The other person was a NPC < flittered across the scene.
Some would believe Ben would be trying to catch flys with his open mouth as he was in complete shock , but let us not mention this anymore lest he grows embarressed.
Multiple landscaped filled the scene and even more then anything else this fascinated Ben. Even though he just watched a video , the mystic atmosphere of the magical forests or the barren wastelands was transmitted over the Vr screen in-front of him.
" Should I give it a try?" Ben muttered under his breath. " Yeah , I should. I'm definetly not addicted to gaming anymore. "
Thus the Story of Ben in > The Other World < begins. But not as you think. More fails then anything entails as he acclimatises to this completly new system of VR gaming. Old grudges are settled one way or another as he takes his life back into his own hands and he just maybe ... continue the Legacy of the Grays!
Guess who's back , boys!