He entered the shifting room and saw his transformation. He almost flinched, not recognizing himself. He was what people would consider 'handsome'.
'Remaining time on transformation: 1 second.'
He saw his body start to deflate and lose its volume. His previous healthy body has now become skin and bones. His ribs showed themselves, his muscles disappeared, and his throat felt itchy. It wanted to eat.
Hunger burned through his stomach. He felt tired just walking through the hallways of his house. He almost tripped so he had to use the railings on the wall to walk to the kitchen.
He fiddled with the touchscreen on the refrigerator. He bought everything he could see, wanting to satiate his thirst and craving for nutrition. He ate raw meat, vegetables, seared salmon, spam, chocolates, sour candies, and to top it off he drank pure virgin oil.
By the end of his binging session, his fat had returned to his body. He was back to being obese, back to being weak. He felt like he had lost a limb. He missed the power coursing through his body and how everything was in control.
He was tired. He went on his way to the wide spiraling staircase towards his bedroom. Oil paintings of battlefields set in outer space littered the walls. It depicted a single hero walking alone amongst dead bodies humans and monsters alike.
This was a literary depiction of Matusa, the first person who activated his Desire after venturing outside the galaxy. No one knows exactly how he did it but it was all thanks to his efforts that they now have powers for themselves.
Another painting depicted an army of humans defending against a hoard of monsters of all kinds and shapes. The contrast of the dark and gloomy monsters against the white self-righteousness of the humans who wore a giant insignia on their chest that printed 'CDA'.
Hugh ignored the obvious propaganda by the CDA and opened the door to his room. It was spacious. A kingsize bed was placed on the right corner of the room below a window that was covered by a navy blue curtain. In the middle of the room was a couch facing a large flatscreen tv. On the other side of the room was a digital fireplace but Hugh could feel heat emanating from it.
The sides of the walls were lined with floating shelves waiting to be filled with books and electronics. He slid his hands across the shelves and saw no dust on his fingers.
He laid down on his bed, comfortable like a hug from the clouds. It was neither too soft nor too hard, just enough for his taste. The pillows gave his head just enough height for his neck to be in a comfortable position. The best part of this was that the bed didn't creak when he laid down on it. High-end mattresses really are different from the cheap ones.
He felt bored as he spoke inside the room.
"Open television"
The flatscreen television opened and displayed a news section on a channel. It was a mature woman that had long and curvy black hair that complemented her perfectly oval face. Her sky blue eyes sat atop her slim eyes that had double eyelids.
"This just in, theories about the sudden formation of a crater in the Travek forest garnered some attention in the local forums on the internet. Here's our correspondent John for the interviews"
The shot cut to a scene outdoors in the middle of a bustling street. Some people ignored the cameras, some looked in wonder, and some waved for attention. At the center of the screen was a young man with finely combed hair wearing a light blue long-sleeved shirt.
"Thank you Carestina, I'm here right now in the lower right side of town questioning passengers about their theories as to why a sudden crater appeared in the forest."
The scene then cuts to a businessman wearing a black suit and suitcase.
"Isn't it because of the frequent appearances of the mutated monsters there?"
The camera then cut to another scene with a woman in her late thirties wearing casual clothes and had coffee stains on her long skirt. She was carrying groceries made of leafy greens and bread.
"Oh my! Did that really happen? Thank goodness our house is away from that."
The camera cut again to an old man with a full white beard and disheveled pepper hair. His face was dirty, full of oil and dirt. He was sitting in an alley with a makeshift house made of scrap metal.
"Aliens! They've come to us in search of retribution! Save yourselves! No one will get out of this aliv-"
The camera cut before the old man could finish his sentence. It immediately transitioned to a male teen wearing gold plated necklaces over his uniform. The teen was talking to his friends and being boisterous.
"That? Yeah, I know what happened. It was Avery, I saw him fighting a giant tyrannosaurus rex with my very own eyes. Their fight was so intense it created a shockwave that created the crater."
John the reporter showed himself behind the camera and faced the teen.
"Did you say it was Avery? The man on the 4th seat of the power ranking?"
"Ye- yeah. He's just one step away from entering the fifth advancement."
"Yo, we're gonna be famous. I'll upload this to MySphere."
The teens' friends joked around each other until the scene turned back to the beautiful female reporter on the desk. She smiled at the camera, entrancing every man and woman that saw her. That was her pride.
"That's all for today on our internet segment. Now onto our next piece of news, is it really safe to travel to planet Braxton with rumors of a civil war brewing?"
Hugh still couldn't understand what happened back at the crater. Like the people interviewed, all he could do was to hypothesize about what happened without any real evidence.
His eyes closed as the television noise became like a lullaby that hummed him into sleep. Hugh slept comfortably that night as the mattress did wonders for his back. He didn't notice it but the injuries he sustained in the fight disappeared completely even when his transformation was over.
Hugh woke up to the sounds of laughter on the television. He struggled to open his eyes which wanted to sleep for another hour or two.
"Hahahaha yeah, it truly is a wonder with this game."
A middle-aged man with long black hair flowing down his back laughed as he crossed his arms. He had a goatee which made him look older than he seemed.
The scene cut to a woman, the same beautiful woman from the news segment last night. She wore a red dress that complimented her curvy body and her red lips only served to allure the audience more.
"So tell me, is this the new game the kids are playing?"
She questioned the middle-aged man with curious eyes and her body leaned forward, indicating her interest in the subject and showing off a little peek at her cleavage.
The man looked down at the curves she showed. When he realized that he stared at it for too long, his cheeks got red with embarrassment as he tried to calm himself down.
"Yea-yeah. It's called Planets&Monsters. It's a fully immersive virtual reality system in which players can create their own worlds and have other players immerse themselves there."
"Why does it feel like I have heard this concept before?"
"Oh yeah, we gathered inspiration from an ancient game where people played with pen and paper using only their imaginations."
"Wow! That sounds amazing"
Carestina put her chin on her palm as she listened to the developer with interest.
"Not only that but we also have an official server where we created the worlds. In there, missions and other activities could be completed to gain crunchmoney which could be exchanged to real currency."
"You're selling this game too good! Now I want to play it!"
"I'm honored miss Carestina. Don't worry, the capsule will scan your whole body to replicate your appearance and your Desire. If you want to remain anonymous, you can change your appearance but you can't change your Desire."
"It looks like everyone will be playing this game!"
"I'm confident that they will. We also have a power ranking system inside the official server to attract the top powers to play this game."
"Well, there you have it folks. If you weren't convinced for yourself then go try it out. It's available right now in any game store and compatible with the Ycircle and the Workmove."
Hugh turned off the television as he focused on the daily mission he just acquired.
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DAILY MISSIONS:
Eat 10 types of wood (0/10)
Eat 10 types of metals (0/10)
Eat 30,000 kcal (0/30,000)
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