Turning the local camera and mike on his helmet on, Kyle slid over and made himself comfortable on the bed in case Sera wanted to join him there like her and Heather had the last time they all played together.  Logging into his OS while waiting, Kyle noticed that he had two envelope icons floating in thin air, awaiting his attention.

“Read first message,” Kyle commanded to his virtual desktop, and the envelope opened itself and a message appeared on the screen.

[table=black]To all Virtual Reality Information Media Employees,

Late last night, around 4:00 UTC, there was an unprecedented purchase in The Winter’s Tale Virtual Bazaar, where a Scroll of Distant Journeys sold for a staggering price of $50,000 American.  

Our research team has been diligently working non-stop since to determine why such an item was sold for so high above the normal market price, but so far have uncovered no definitive answers.  The current theory is that the scroll must be used for some time sensitive quest, with substantial in-game rewards, though the person who made the purchase, and is performing said quest has not issued any information to the public currently.

Any VRIM Employee who discovers the quest and divulges the information to VRIM will be rewarded a one-time bonus of $10,000.  Any employee who completes said quest, records the event, and shares it with VRIM will receive a one-time bonus of $10,000 plus 10% of all advertising revenue earned during the broadcast of said event.

It is strongly advised that any VRIM employee who currently is in possession of a Scroll of Distant Journeys, save the item as the market price and value has risen in leaps and bounds overnight, with no end in sight.  A SoDJ is the most sought after item in action, and bids keep increasing as players gather and hoard the SoDJ, in case multiple versions of the scroll are needed to complete the quest, or in case of quest failure while attempting to uncover and unearth the full purpose of the scroll and which quest it pertains to.

Winter’s Tale executives refuse to release any public information regarding which quests may or may not exist in game, but they have confirmed that multiple players are already assigned and working on Unique-Rank Quests, which may have untold game altering results upon completion.  Speculation currently exists that the SoDJ may be a required item in such a massive quest-chain, and as such information on this item, quest, or quest-chain is of highest interest here at VRIM, and bonuses will be given to any players who discover the full purpose of the SoDJ.

Sincerely,

Damien Whitefield, Senior Game Coordinator of VRIM Enterprises.[/table]

Reading the message, Kyle’s eyes grew wide with wonder – that was the scroll which Sera said she’d just had drop for her last night.  Talk about lucky!  He didn’t know what the current market price on one was, but it was probably insane; and just going up!

Yanking his helm off, Kyle rolled out of bed and rushed into the next room.  “Sera, you got to hear this!”

“What?” She asked, calm and curious, as she sat on the edge of the bed brushing out her hair, still wearing his shirt.  Apparently she hadn’t actually changed yet, and Kyle stared for several moments at her long, smooth legs before he half slapped himself to keep from getting distracted.

Breathless with excitement, Kyle rushed to tell her, “That scroll you found last night in game, it’s apparently used in some Unique-Level quest!  They’re selling for a fortune now, in game!  Someone at Gramp’s company sent out a message to all employees talking about how important it was and how valuable they are now!  They said for us to save them and not use them, except for the quest!”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I don’t work for the grandfather,” Sera said calmly.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I guess!”  Kyle agreed, and then blinked several times in confusion.  “Wait.  What?  Why?”

“Because I plan on using mine here in a little bit to come to you guys.” Sera stated bluntly.  “I don’t have whatever the quest is, don’t know where to get it, and frankly, I’d rather play with my friends anyway.  I can do a quest anytime.”

“But..  but…”  Kyle stammered trying to collect his thoughts.  “The memo said someone paid $50,000 for one of those scrolls last night sometime.  What if you could get that selling yours?”

Sera just shrugged, uncaring.  “Kyle…  Are you like some of those dummies at school who think I’m a charity case?”  Sera asked, looking serious.  “Last year, Father earned over 1.2 billion dollars.  That breaks down to him earning about three million a day, and that doesn’t include mother’s income either.  That’s just what we get from the mines and other businesses.  I’m not worried about such petty cash, compared to being with my friends.”

“Well…  I guess that’s true,” Kyle said, blushing slightly.  Sera and her family didn’t normally showcase their wealth, and it was easy to forget just how much of it they had.  According to Forbes, her family wasn’t in the top 100 of wealthiest in the world, but it wasn’t far from there either.  Once he’d thought about it seriously, Kyle had to wonder just why they chose to live where and how they did, and then he shrugged it off as probably being Fanny’s idea.  

Sera and her family could live in a palace, any place in the world that they wanted to live in, and for whatever reason, they lived next door to him.  It seems if one owns and controls a diamond mine somewhere, they simply don’t have to think about money matters like other people do.

Laughing lightly, and dismissing the matter as if it was absolutely no importance, Sera turned to the side and held the brush out.  “Here, finish my hair real fast. I don’t want the tangles sticking to the helmet and pulling when I take it off later.”

“Sorry,” Kyle apologized as he turned to leave the room.  “I’ll have to pass this time.  I had another message to read, and I should probably check it out real fast while you finish getting ready.  Hurry it up though, or Heather’s going to be annoyed if we make her wait.”

“Fine.  I’ll hurry,” Sera promised behind him.

Heading back to his room, Kyle still felt foolish thinking about the difference in his family’s finances and Sera’s.  His parents did well, and his grandfather did amazingly well, but they couldn’t hold a candle to what Franklin and Fanny earned each year.  Fifty thousand would be a huge fortune to Kyle, but Sera just ignored it completely.  Not for the first time, he thought it must be nice, as he slid his helmet back on and logged back into his virtual OS, where a single message was now waiting.

“Open message,” Kyle commanded, and watched in amusement as it unfolded itself and opened in thin air.

[table=black]Jerkface,

I’m awake and surfing the net.  Let me know when you’re ready to log in.  (Just reply to this message if you’re too stupid to know how.)

And if you don’t know who this is, you’re even more stupid than I thought, and in that case, DON’T send me a reply.[/table]

Sighing, Kyle knew exactly who that message was from.  “Reply to the message with ‘Logging in, Worthless Twat.  I hope you won’t make me do ALL the work today.  From Nobody.’”

Glancing over the white piece of paper that appeared floating in midair in front of him, Kyle nodded in satisfaction.  “Send that, and log into Winter’s Tale.”

Soon the screen to his OS was fading out, and the darkened cavern where Kylie had camped out at began to fade into view.