Rain poured down on the active city as if it was punishment for the terrible sins committed on a daily basis. Jake was walking back from school, his drenched white hair covered his eyes blocking his vision, his blue eyes seemed to pierce the darkness of the city. He stood above the crowd at a towering 6 ft 4 despite being only 15, he knew that many of his classmates were jealous of his height but he viewed it only as a curse. With white hair and towering stature he was unable to hide from the view of his teachers and parents, all he wanted to do was play video games but was never able to get away from people to do so.
Cars flew past him as he walked across the road, when he reached the other side a hand grabbed him and pulled him into an alley.
"Give me your money" a rough voice stated while pulling something out of its pocket.
Jake felt a sharp pain in his side and the glint of metal caught his eye. Hurriedly he pulled out his wallet and gave all his money to his assailant. The mugger had bags under his eyes with the rest of his face covered by a balaclava, he was large to normal people but still smaller than Jake. He seemed like a drug addict due to the way he twitched and looked around.
After taking the money, Jake was released and could no longer feel the pressure of the knife against his skin. Completely still, he watched in shock as the man ran out of the alley and onto the street. Jake started to walk out of the alley with a scared look on his pale face, he made slow and unfocused movements towards the end of the alley until a glint of silver caught his eye and he decided to check it out.
In a puddle he saw a small triangular shape that resembled a VR simulator, he picked it up carefully making sure not to drop it, he examined it careful eyes until deciding to put it in his pocket. He was ecstatic. It was the only way someone could play the newly released game Horizon War which was only open to play today. According to a lot of forums online Horizon War could be considered a second world for humanity and nations declared that the upcoming world wars would be held on the game so lives would not be lost. It included tons of fantasy elements and even has other worlds within the game, many would watch streamers playing instead of buying VR sims because they were so expensive.
Something as expensive as a VR simulator would normally never be left on the street, they had only recently been released and there were only around 10 million released in each country. Each device costed around a million pounds so to find one could be considered excrement lucky, with a gleeful expression on his face he rushed home completely forgetting the trauma that normally comes with being mugged.
He got back to his home in the poorer region of the city and immediately rushed upstairs to his room ignoring his mother's greetings, his family was poor and living in the poorer district, his mum was more concerned with other people's well-being instead of her own which drove her to work 3 jobs a day to support me and have money to help others in my neighbourhood. She had a good reputation in their district due to the help they gave to their neighbours. Jake's mother was timid, gentle and beautiful, it was clear that Jake was her son due to his charming looks and kindness.
Back in his room, Jake plugged his newly found VR sim into his computer, he immediately checked for viruses on it. Finding none he decided to put the VR sim onto his wrist where it wrapped around till it looked like a bracelet. Suddenly he entered a sleep like state and his consciousness was transported into the game.