Nathan could not believe his eyes as he read and reread the email over and over.
'I'm going to be able to play Sanctuary Annihilation Online!' Nathan is giddy as he thinks to himself squirming on his bed. 'I'll surprise the guys tomorrow before school and show them the email'.
The next morning Nathan hops out of bed before his alarm even goes off due to the anticipation of the day. He hurriedly gets ready and throughout the morning he is continuously checking his phone to verify the time.
Once it hits 7:00 am, Nathan starts to make his way down the street to meet up with Zach and the rest of his friends.
'Zach is going to shit himself when I show him the email' Nathan laughs smugly to himself.
Surprisingly, before he even gets to Zach's house, he sees Zach speed walking toward him.
"Bro! You'll never believe what happened last night!" Zach yells while waving at Nathan.
"Oh yeah? Wait until I tell you what happened with me too." Nathan replies with an aloof smile on his face.
"Did you apply for Sanctuary Annihilation last night? Tell me you did, and you got in." Zach grabs ahold of Nathan and earnestly looks at him while asking.
"Ha-ha, of course, I applied last night. Judging from how you're acting this morning, you must have gotten in. I don't think I've ever seen you ready and outside without me having to drag you out of the house this early in the morning." Nathan grins happily at Zach.
"I –"
Nathan cuts Zach off with a wave of his hand.
"Let's wait until we meet up with Kevin and James before you say anything." Nathan looks up the street and sees his two friends in question running and waving toward them. "There they are now, come on! Let's see if they have good news."
The group meets up at the corner and they start making their way to school.
Kevin leads the conversation, "Did everyone apply to Sanctuary Annihilation last night?"
All the guys nod their heads affirmatively.
"What did you think of the question-and-answer section? It was super long like Mr. Mariano said." Kevin asks while looking to see the others' responses.
"I thought the questions were hilarious if I'm being honest," Zach responds while chuckling. "The A.I. Dinn was cracking me up the entire time. The little dude lost his mind over oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies."
The other three pause in their steps and give Zach a weird look.
"You're A.I. was called Dinn?" James asks with a questioning glance.
"Yeah, are you sure it was named Dinn?" Kevin follows up with.
"It wasn't a blue sprite-looking girl named Scion?" Nathan questions.
"Blue? Scion? Dude, the A.I. was called Dinn and it was orange and most definitely was a guy. The little dude asked me questions for almost two hours. I'm pretty sure I'd remember it correctly." Zach turns to the rest of them and answers.
"You guys had a sprite ask you questions? I only had a robotic voice that called itself Mesmer talk to me the entire time." James says while looking between the other three.
Kevin strokes his chin while he ponders out loud, "Perhaps everyone gets a different A.I. for the application. That's kind of cool I suppose. I had a robotic-sounding A.I. called Trist asking me for all my information."
"Yeah, it started robotically, and then during the question-and-answer portion, the little sprite dude shows up on your screen. That is what happened to me." Zach nods while explaining how his application process went to the others.
"Mine was the same as Zach's. I went through the first couple of sections with a robotic voice that called itself Scion. Once the question-and-answer section started. A blue sprite with wings appeared and asked me a bunch of questions with some random scenarios added in. Was pretty easy because I just had to talk and not type anything."
Zach nods his head to Nathan's explanation. "That is exactly what happened with me except I had a male sprite, and it was orange named Dinn. I'm so glad I didn't have to write out answers or choose a bunch of multiple-choice answers. I think I would have killed myself if I had to do that for 2 hours straight."
James and Kevin give awkward laughs as they listen to what Zach and Nathan said.
"I had to choose from multiple choice answers throughout the entire section during my question-and-answer. I also had to type out answers for some of the scenarios. It took me 3 and half hours to complete the psych test, just a bit longer than Mr. Mariano said it would take." James shuffles his feet as he explains what happened with his question-and-answer.
"I had the same process too. I was allowed to record my answer via microphone for some of the scenarios I was given though and did not have to type everything." Kevin adds.
"Weird, maybe it was how you chose to answer the first two sections? Did you guys allow streaming or not?" Nathan ponders as he asks everyone.
"I said no to streaming." Kevin quickly answers.
"I said yes." James states.
"I said yes." Zach nods.
"I also said yes," Nathan answers as well.
"I suppose that crushes that theory. Maybe it is how long you had a firestorm account?" Zach asks.
"I have had an account since Bladestorm days. Started playing it when I was six so that's almost eleven years." James answers.
"Damn, I didn't know you played Bladestorm. That's already longer than I have had my account so that throws that theory out." Nathan shrugs at the group.
James starts to go off explaining how he used to play Bladestorm every day with his dad. Kevin continues speaking out loud his different ideas on why everyone had a different A.I.
"My dudes, you're all getting off track. Who cares even if you had a naked woman jiggling being the thing asking you all the questions for your question-and-answer section? The real question is… Did any of you get in?" Zach interrupts the theory crafting and asks his main question.
"What are you talking about Zach?" You would not know yet if you got in. The email after you completed the pre-selection application states you would hear the results in the next 24 - 48 hours." James looks questioningly at the group.
"That just goes to show you all that I, the great Zach, am the greatest because I got my acceptance email instantly once I completed my pre-selection application. Matter of fact Dinn told me right after the last question." Zach announces in a cocky tone and starts to laugh uproariously.
"Bullshit!" James yells.
"You can joke but, don't use "the great Zach" line with us. The email clearly says 24 – 48 hours." Kevin says while showing the email to Zach.
Zach laughs triumphantly and pulls his phone out. He pulls up his email which he then shows to the other three.
James and Kevin stand there dumbstruck as they read the email. Nathan looks on with a sly grin on his face.
"I can't believe they accepted this idiot," James mutters to himself.
"Nathan, do you believe this nonsense? How could they accept Zach?"
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" Zach stares at Kevin with a hurt look on his face.
"Fix your face, you aren't hurt, you ass. You know we're just jealous. I really can't believe you got in though. That's amazing!" Kevin thumps Zach on the shoulder.
"I guess the rest of us will have to wait and pray we get selected in the lottery. Maybe that is what is meant by 24 – 48 hours." James sighs while also giving Zach a thumbs up.
"Nathan, you're being awfully quiet over there. Aren't you going to congratulate your best friend here?" Zach looks over at Nathan with the smuggest grin on his face.
Nathan turns around and starts walking away and heading to school without saying anything to the three.
"Dude! I was just messing around. You don't have to get so upset about not getting in." Zach yells to Nathan as he starts running over to him.
Nathan quickly turns around with a big grin on his face while he says, "who said I am upset? I'm not going to congratulate you because I also got accepted into Sanctuary Annihilation Online. Why congratulate you when instead I'll be seeing you on the other side."
Nathan laughs out loud as he looks at the dumbfounded look on his three friends' faces and turns back to walk to school.