The cool summer wind blew across the treetops, while the bright sun reflected off the roofs of nearby houses.
It was the first day of the summer break holiday. For many kids, their emotions were running high as it was akin to experiencing freedom after being locked away for months in isolation. Children of all ages could be seen out on the streets having fun and conversing with their friends.
Yet things were hardly as festive for one sixteen year old who shut herself off within her room, and blocked all sources of light from entering.
Serenity wanted nothing more then to just lay in bed for the entire day, within her warm blankets and comfy pillows. A hope that would prove to be impossible as her tranquility was soon disrupted when she heard someone walking up to her door. She didn't move from her spot but instead turned her auditory perception towards her door. It didn't take her long to figure out who had arrived at her door. She could tell almost instantly that it was her older brother Liam due to the gently tapping she could hear from outside a trait only he possessed.
Her brother usually would softly tap on the wall next to the door whenever he came to her room. He did this because he knew that she didn't care to much for loud knocking or loud sounds in general and preferred gentle noise, so he would often gently tap on the wall instead. If she was awake she would call out. Her parents would also knock gently but she could usually distinguish between each member of her family's knocking.
Knowing that her brother wanted to talk to her, she slowly shifted her head before calling out softly.
"Come in Li."
After she called out lazily, it didn't take long before the door gently opened revealing a handsome, tall, twenty one year old man holding a large box. He had short black hair, as well as soft sky blue eyes that seemed to glisten from the bedroom light. His looks alone could land him a modeling job somewhere due to his good Italian genes which he got from their father. However that wasn't where his passion laid.
"Were you sleeping Ren?" Liam called out with humor evident in his voice, seeing his adorable sister lazing about.
"Mmm...no, just relaxing." Ren said, her voice barely audible.
Walking over to the large king sized bed, where one could only see a clump of silky black hair surrounded by pillows and blankets, Liam gently sat on the edge while placing the box he had entered with at his feet.
"I know you want to be lazy but it's time to get out of bed sleepy head. I came to talk about something interesting that i know you'll enjoy. You know how I'm interning at [GateVR] right?" Liam question as he slowly pulled the covers down exposing the tiny head which the clump of black hair belong to.
Serenity didn't lose in looks when compared to her brother. She too had long black hair which reached below her waist when she stood up, which she inherited from her mothers half Korean blood. Possessing thin lips and a small nose, while on her face one would have trouble finding any blemishes or imperfections. The only thing which took away from her looks was the fact the her eye lids were closed. Due to the fact that she was born blind, she hardly ever opened her eyes as a child so she doesn't possess the muscle strength to keep her eyes open for long. Because of this fact she usually keeps her eyes closed and just wears sunglasses when she's outside in public so people don't question or wonder why she's walking around with her eyes closed like some 'freak'.
"Yeah, you told me when you started interning. It's that Virtual Reality company that's been on the news lately right? What's up? Usually you're pretty secretive about your job." Ren said as she slowly shifted her position due to losing the warmth of her blanket.
"Well, I have something for you if you're interested." Liam said cryptically before reaching down and lifting up the box he had previously placed on the floor. He then placed the box next to her on the bed so she could feel it.
"Hmm? What is it? If it's a game you know I've tried playing those 'VR' games before and aside from the board games which I could verbally command I'm not very good at anything else." Ren spoke softly while sitting up cross legged on her bed and feeling the outside of the box. The texture made her realize that it was by no means a cheap box. It felt as if it was built to protect whatever was inside from any kinds of collisions or weather conditions. On each face of the box she could feel a design of sorts. Tracing her hand over it, she recognized the words 'GateVR' and below it, 'Ver. 4'.
"Open it, trust me I think you'll enjoy this one." Liam said as he gently grasped her hands before helping her open the box. If it was a normal box, he had no doubts that she could manage on her own. This however was anything but a normal box.
"Hmm? What is this?" Ren said questioning what she was feeling. After reaching into the box that Liam helped her open, she pulled out whatever was at the top first. The thing in her hands felt cold and hard to break. The shape reminded her of a head accessory or helmet of some kind, so her first guess was a VR helmet, yet the two of them had tried those before and it was nearly impossible for her to operate. Although VR companies have advanced quite a bit over the past few years and have started taking the needs of people with vision and hearing problem into account, for Ren who couldn't see at all it still proved to be a challenge.
"I know what you're thinking Ren but [Gate] as a company is different from all the others. I'm only an intern so I'm not privy to the inner workings yet but [Gate] seems far more advanced than any of their competitors in the field of VR or technology in general for that matter. Although it's not so advanced as to give sight to someone who originally cant see anything, it's a lot easier to operate for people with disabilities." Liam boasted, feeling proud at having been able to gain an internship at [Gate].
Although Ren couldn't see his face, she could practically feel his enthusiasm. Smiling at her brothers antics she couldn't help but ask.
"How does it work then?" Ren asked, slightly hopeful at the idea of being able to play online games for the first time.
"Well you see, I don't know..." Liam said before sighing.
"Ehh?" Confused, Ren turned her attention away from the device in her hands and turned towards the direction her brother was siting in.
"I honestly have no clue. They are very secretive and I don't know exactly how they achieved it but rather then the rudimentary methods of VR, [Gate] took the technology to a completely different level. Their progress in the field of neuroscience is far beyond what the public knows. Apparently they have agreed to share their findings with the government and military so long as their allowed to do their own thing. Like I said I don't know the full details but it seems like there was a massive breakthrough in technology that was hidden from the public." Liam said with wonder.
"Then, how is the game like? Have you played it before and is it safe?" Ren asked slightly concerned as to whether something so 'secretive' is safe.
"Yep it's 100% safe. [Gate] gave a few samples to the military for testing and everything checked out. At this point the military has actually begun ordering more units to use for training purposes. The game enables you to fully enter the virtual world, linking yourself together with that of an in game avatar. It's going to be released to the public soon as a surprise release. Due to my studies related to blindness and visual impairment. My boss who's in charge of my internship pulled some strings and I was able to take part in some testing. [Gate] brought in people with visual impairments to test out one of their new versions of the hardware and I was in charge of assisting the testers during the process. As a thanks they were going to gift me the normal set called [Ver.1] a week in advance before it went public. Taking the chance I asked the project leader on [Ver.4], which was the product i was called in to help on, if I could instead get one of the [Ver.4] models for my little sister who has been blind since birth, and he agreed." Liam said smiling before gently running his hand through Ren's hair to fix her bed head.
Lowering her head and feeling his gentle touch Ren didn't know what to say. This was just the type of person her brother was. Rather then getting excited at the opportunity to demo a tech before it was released he instead gave up his chance for her.
He always gives up things in his life for her...
Although she knows he does it because he wants to, that doesn't make her feel any less guilty.
"...Thank's idiot..." Ren said softly before giving her brother a hug.
"Hehe don't mention it. I'll help you get set up later. If you don't like it you can always quit but I have a feeling you'll like it. In a week's time I'll be able to buy one of the sets reserved for staff and we can play together. Anyways, before we start I need a shower." Liam said before standing up and walking out of the room to go take a shower as he had just gotten home from work.
With mixed emotions, Ren waited for Liam to close her door before sighing and gently placing the head gear back into the box.
Ren was excited to try it out, but she still felt like it was a waste for her to be the one getting to play it early. She might not have even bought it when it came out a week from now, let alone the fact that she might not even enjoy the game. So for her brother to go through so much trouble for her left her conflicted internally.
'Li...You do so much for me yet I can never do anything for you...I wish I could be helpful to you, mama and papà someday.' Ren thought to herself.
Standing up from her bed, Ren moved over to her computer before sitting down and surfing the internet for any information she could find about [Gate]'s new game.
She was often thankful that she was born into a rather well off family. Her mother was an actress during her younger years before opening her own clothing brand which became popular in Korea and the US. While her father was a pilot in the military, but retired after getting married and having kids. He ended up staying with the same line of work and got a high paying job as a civilian pilot flying internationally. Although he usually takes a lot of time off to spend with the family, as her mother was the primary money maker of the family.
The family is happy with that situation though as mom can often delegate her work to others as her business can pretty much run itself at this point, while her dad takes long time off at the sacrifice of money. This allowed the family to be together quite often which my parents wanted more then anything after I was born with my condition. They would often become worried or stressed if away for to long, especially my mother.
'Sometimes it's a bit much though...' thought Ren as she turned her attention back towards listening to her computer.
She didn't have much luck so far. All she was able to dig up was that the game was called [Hollow Reign]. It was supposedly an MMO which was pretty unique when compared to others within the genre. Yet information about classes or anything else was a mystery.
Figuring it would be better to just ask her brother, she took off her headphones and let some music play through the speakers on her second monitor before sitting onto her 'comfy fluffy chair' and letting her thoughts consume her.
*Tap*
"...Huh?" Ren called out absentmindedly before turning her awareness to her surroundings. Realizing she had dozed off before she knew it, Ren sighed to herself at her own lazy nature.
*Tap*
Hearing the tapping sound from her door, she knew her brother must be done showering so she got up and moved towards her door. Opening her door, sure enough her brother was there, and judging by the smell, with a tray of food.
"What's up, why are you all dazed? Did you go back to bed or something?" Liam asked seeing his sisters state.
"Yeah I dozed off listening to music, is that Kimchi fried rice?" Ren asked sniffing the aroma in the air.
"Haha, when has your nose ever been wrong little puppy? Eat first while I start setting up the game for you." Liam laughed while walking into her room and placing the tray onto a foldable table that Ren usually kept in her room as she often ate in there.
After placing the food down he soon got to work preparing the game. Although the hardware made things easy for blind people to operate it, it would still be pretty confusing to someone who doesn't know what to do in general, as Ren has rarely if ever played MMO's.
Listening to her brother busy himself, Ren decided to do as she was told and began eating her food. It was around noon so it technically counted as lunch but during the summer her eating and sleeping schedule became rather random. She would often even forget to eat meals if it wasn't for her family. Instead she mostly just made something small to snack on whenever she was hungry.
"That should be it, the rest would be things you yourself need to do." Liam said as he finished setting up her account. Although some might complain about someone picking a username or password for you, Liam knew what she always puts as her username and password for everything as he was usually the one who helped her set up anything tech related, so it wasn't to hard.
"The company put a lot of importance on player security, so your information will be safe in their database. I already saved the family bank card and anything else you might need into your account so if there's something you want to buy in the game using money you'll be able to. You already know the rules regarding that card so go wild. Your user, and pass are the same as always. From here on it's just in game stuff such as your in game name, race, class, ex. There will be auditory instructions which you'll be able to answer each questions verbally and any questions you have can be asked auditorily." Liam said before placing the head gear onto the bed and walking over towards the box on the ground which the gear came in.
"Awesome, thanks Li! Is there anything else I need to know?" Ren asked before placing her empty dishes to the side and walking over to her bed.
"I'll be checking in on you every now and then during your first time in the game in case you have questions or problems. The only thing left is to put everything on." Liam said as he began removing things from the box.
"...Put what on? Are there other things aside from the helmet?" Ren asked confused.
"Yep, you didn't check through the box completely? There is a heath monitoring suit which will track your physical condition while playing and should anything happen which surpasses the 'safe zone' the system will shut itself down and exit you from the game to ensure nothing bad happens to you." Liam said like it was nothing before passing her the suit.
"Eh? Is that normal? You sure this isn't dangerous?" Ren asked rather skeptically.
"You normally only play games which you can physically touch so it may not be normal to you but people more often then not fail to take care of their health while gaming, leading to health risks and at worst cases even death. It's not an issue for most people but the company still needs something they can fall back on in the event someone immerses themselves to much into the game and forgets reality." Liam said before walking towards the door to give her some privacy.
'Makes sense...' Ren thought before taking off her pajama's to put the form fitting suit on. Although she could probably wear it over her clothes she guessed it wouldn't be to comfortable if she needed to stay in one spot for a long period of time.
Fitting herself into the black full body suit, Ren couldn't help but wonder what it looked like. She had a pretty good idea based on the feeling but she couldn't help but to be curious.
After letting her brother know she was all set, Ren proceeded to lay down on her bed before initiating the start up procedure.
The last thing she heard before her sense of hearing was cut off from the outside world was her brother giving her one last reminder.
"Remember kiddo, have fun."
Smiling, Ren prepared herself for whatever was to follow.