My eyes wander up to the already—obsolete Christmas ornaments lining the near—empty hills our special train runs through. I wonder how many people have seen these and understood every little reference to Gintream's games? How many people have trekked up these hills to take the dive?
Eventually, the decorations stop and all I can see are the wind turbines lining the property. My Dad's silvery blue eyes glaze over the sights as we go further and further up Ginty's oddly perfect hills. It would be dead quiet if it were not for the clanky sounds of the old—fashioned train's machinery.
Despite our conversation a few days ago, there's discomfort, anxiety, and unrest in my Dad. I know there's a scene coming from him once we get to the Gintream building, or another awkward conversation about why I think plugging my soul into the internet is a good idea. I love him a whole lot but I don't want to take his shit about this anymore, especially since this is my money and my choice.
The fog has made it hard for us to see the building from this point, but I know we've made it once my dad gets out of his seat to take a look through the haze. I stare in the same direction and I see the Gintream building in all it's perfectly cylindrical glory.
After a few minutes the single train car we rode in on drops us off at a Disneyland—esque train station outside the building entrance. We step out of the train station and walk through a garden clearly designed after the Monogram Plaza in the game's Yodoliza City. I appreciate the attention to detail in replicating aspects of the game world but have a distaste for the amusement park kitsch of it all.
A pair of glass doors open for us as we reach the lobby of the Gintream Headquarters. What immediately strikes me is the 1:1 recreation of the Gintree beginning right there in the lobby and reaching to the top of the building. The Gintree in the 'Verse is a tree that forms the core of the universe that just so happens to grant wishes. In the lore of the game, it's fabled the first wish made with the leaves of the Gintree was for the finest bottle of gin ever made. So, the name stuck— not just to the tree, but to Gintream as a whole.
The second we pass through the doors, a receptionist with fluffy bronze hair and in a cute cosplay—like uniform flags us down. Floating above her shoulder is a blue Charamin hologram superimposed over a small robot. A Charamin is a friendly artificial spirit magic users can create in the 'Verse. Their natural simplicity and cuteness has sold a lot of merch for Ginty the past few years— even I have a couple Charamin plushies.
"Ah, are you…" The receptionist's eyes move over my face as her Charamin scans me. "Robin Staylin?"
I nod as she moves over to my Dad. It takes a little longer for her to pull up his name, leading to a bit of awkward silence.
"Er— I'm Nic—"
"Nicolas Staylin, correct?"
Dad gives off an exasperated look as the receptionist cuts him off, but the receptionist just meets him with a polite smile.
"Okay, your credentials are all set. Please follow me to the Immersion Bay."
The receptionist moves mechanically, leading us into a giant hall filled with natural light. It's a strangely beautiful room: the floor design has tons of natural curves and everything looks to be made of a thick, sturdy glass. Along the walls are human silhouettes within partially opaque glass cylinders. Built into the floor are high tech pools filled with bubbling white liquid, like hot tubs full of pricey vodka. I eye all of the tech in the room as well as the dozen assorted engineers, scientists and doctors on the floor and a feeling of amazement and wonder washes over me.
I don't even have to look at my dad to know this room scares the absolute crap out of him.
The receptionist steps away from us just as an engineer comes to greet us. The engineer is pretty young, he looks to be only in his early 30s with short dark hair and has a casual ambience about him. He's probably the only guy with a t-shirt and jeans under his official Gintream engineer jacket.
"Hey guys, how's it going? You're the Staylins, right? I'm Dr. Hyun—Ko Mae, nice you folks."
Hyun—Ko greets us with a warm smile before pulling up his HoloTablet to check my case.
"All right, all right. We got your DNA sample, your payment came in this morning, your Gintree Universe account is connected so it's looking like you're all good! Thank god, I hate doing paperwork just before we gotta connect. So, are we ready to begin—"
"Uh, wait a sec, can you answer some questions?"
My Dad speaks up and a bit of the excited energy in Hyun—Ko's face drains.
"I'm open to answer any questions you may have, Mr. Staylin. What's up?"
"Well," my Dad clears his throat as I ready myself for an onslaught of queries that could've been answered if my father just read the damn article I sent him.
"Will my daughter require any surgery to get wired in?"
Dr. Mae's face betrays a little annoyance with this easily Google—able question as he goes into his explanation.
"Absolutely not! We specifically developed the Immersion Dive system we have here to ensure no use of risky and expensive surgery. Our system only requires a one-time injection of nanobots and a few added stimulants to aid the process as well as make the transition smooth."
My Dad furrows his brow a bit at the mention of "stimulants" but overall seems pretty satisfied with the answer.
"What about her mind? Is it possible that you could have any issues retrieving her after the year is up?"
"We have a 100% success rate of retrieval, sir. A part of our users' consciousness is always within their physical mind, so we can retrieve her within minutes if anything were to happen, as extremely unlikely as that is. And, before you ask—"
My father's mouth abruptly shut as Dr. Mae spoke.
"There's no issues with physicality after returning from a long stay. The synthetic fluid our guests are stored in helps to maintain physical prowess alongside regularly administered muscle massages. When she returns to the mortal plain in 365 days, she'll feel just as she does today, if not better. Any more questions?"
My father opens his mouth but nothing comes out. He racks his brain, but nothing comes.
"Uh, no."
"Stumped my dad in record time. Good on you, Dr. Mae."
"Well," the engineer says with a coy smirk. "I wasn't the absolute worst member of my high school debate team for nothing. Anyhow…"
Hyun—Ko points toward a changing room at the back of the hall.
"Unless you want your clothes to dissolve during your stay, you'll want to change."
I embrace my father for the last time before I go, and at that moment it sinks in that I'm leaving my Dad for the longest time in my life. No trips during Christmas, no Thanksgiving dinner, just… a physical absence from the only flesh and blood I have left. I get a good hard look at his face and try to memorize every detail.
"I'm gonna miss ya, Robbie."
"I'm gonna miss you too, Dad. If you wanna come and visit, I left my FMD on your desk, shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to log in."
My dad nods his head as teardrops trickle down his face and through his overgrown Van Dyke. He puts on a wide santa-like grin to make them look like happy tears… but as much as I want to believe they're joyful, I know they're not.
"Y'said that you'll write, yeah? Said they had some kinda service for paper letters?"
"Yeah, I'll write as much as I can. I gotta go, I'll see you soon."
I turn toward the engineers in a rush to move on, but I feel my father's hand on my shoulder.
"Jus' want to let you know… I'm proud of ya, Robin. It can be hard to go your own way, and even though I don't understand all of this, I love you so damn much. You've grown a lot over the last year and if this is what you need to get past… all of it and uh- move on, I understand."
Dammit, now it's my turn to cry. I know I shouldn't drop my cool but even after trying so hard to keep it together, I still find myself cracking. I look back to my dad with tears in my eyes but leave him with a smile and a nod. As I meet his gaze, we know we've said all that needs to be said.
I try my best to cut myself from the emotion of the moment as my feet meet the edge of an immersion pool surrounded by Hyun—Ko and his small team. Hyun—Ko places a specialized VR headset on my face and ears as another technician fastens a breathing apparatus onto my mouth.
"You can still hear me, right?"
Dr. Mae's familiar voice surrounds me in a stereoscopic echo: I give the thumbs up.
"Good, good. So here's what I'm gonna do- I'll give you the injection now..."
My arm shoots with temporary pain as I feel the injection complete in seconds.
"Then, we begin the dive process. Just follow the idiot—proof two-step program. First step is to grab my hand."
His hand reaches for mine and I grasp it without realizing the strength of my grip.
"Wow, you're a squeezer, eh?"
"Dammit, I'm sorry-"
"Don't worry about it. Now I'm going to guide you into the pool, take small backwards steps then lay back…"
As I follow his instructions, the bubbling liquid gradually covers my entire being. I lay down in the fluid and my legs touch the bottom of the pool for just a few seconds as I reach equilibrium. My mass drops to the bottom nor floats to the top, it merely balances in the center of the liquid.
"Okay," says Dr. Mae's echoing voice. "You're doing great, Robin. After this it's going to be a little bit weird but right now I need you to close your eyes and let go of my hand. Open your eyes a few seconds after that and then we're done."
I nod silently as I follow the procedures. I let go of Dr. Mae's hand as I feel my entire body sink in a body of water much larger than the pool I left. I reach up as far as I can for the hand I held but it's gone in an instant. My eyes open but all I can see is darkness. I look up, I look down, but there is nothing but black.
Finally, I notice light: a glowing outline of a circle on a vague surface below. My being involuntarily drops down to it, and the moment my feet meet the interior of the circle, a word meets my toes: LOADING.
The light of the outline and the text refracts through my non-body like a prism. There's a vagueness about my current presence that's slightly uncomfortable. Despite feeling all that I would normally feel, even with the light it doesn't seem like I entirely exist.
After a minute of silence, a booming voice surrounds the space and the blackness transforms into a sunset.
"Long before the Gintree, it was the era of Yggdrasil…"
Oh, this again. I've seen this intro cutscene at least a hundred times by now, but it never really gets old.
I take a seat as the pure sky around me adds fertile soil to the floor of the planet and several miles away from me, Yggdrasil appears. Yggdrasil is as you'd expect: a massive tree glowing with magical energy, but with christmas ornament-like spheres attached to its branches. The ornaments are amazing: they each have a glassy layer of water at their exterior and entire unique cities encapsulated within them.
"The World Tree brought balance to this plane of existence for millenia," spoke the booming voice yet again. "It protected the worlds it grew on it's branches, but from that protection came separation. Yggdrasil stood for a long time, but eventually, it would fall…"
The strong, healthy tree grows old in front of my eyes. It's branches bend and limpen where they once were strong. In a minute, the fertile soil I sat on turns to cracked wasteland. When you watch this as a cutscene at home it's mere exposition, but sitting in the dying soil and watching the tree rot is surprisingly affecting.
The orbs drop from the branches of the tree and the liquid shells break open, covering the earth in foaming waters. Everything but the kitchen sink rides the wave that covers the landscape: anything and everything you can think of from fiction or reality passes by me in a whirl. In the distance, Yggdrasil is gone.
"We lost a lot when Yggdrasil fell, but gained one thing: union. From seperate worlds, we built a universe… just take a look!"
I see the horizon shrink, the texture of the earth changes, and I suddenly realize I'm no longer sitting on the ground, but on a planet. Dozens of other globes surround me, though I'm unsure of the number as I peer at some of the twinkling spheres in the distance.
I get some new kind of whiplash as the planet expands around me in an instant and I'm back to sitting in the same spot. The earth around me is covered in green moss and fertile soil, and where Yggdrasil once stood is a single green bud.
That bud erupts into a new tree the same size as the Yggdrasil, with crystalline dew at its leaves. Thousands of people surround the tree: some praying to it, some admiring it, some with an easel to paint it, and a few attempting to climb it.
"The son of Yggdrasil, the Gintree," says the Narrator. "Is the core of this chaotic, wonderful new universe that is both old and new. It's been a hundred years since the fall of Yggdrasil: what part will you play in this new world built from the destruction of the old ones? Only time will tell…"
My being glows and I feel it take physical shape. What begins as vague and amorphous gains more and more detail until finally, my body is how I designed it. The glow of my being covers the world around me until it all fades into white.
"Now, off with thee!"