It has been three months since the beta testing program for Alderix was held.
Now, in the present day, the new VRMMORPG called Alderix was launching officially.
The whole world was excited about the news. Human beings all over the world waited in long queues to get a copy of their Synapse gear.
To them, it was a good thing.
Meanwhile, the announcement was not in any way exciting for a particular individual.
Seth Snow.
...
...
...
It has also been three months since the sudden disappearance of the members of the Snow family.
The case of their disappearance went under the radar and was never investigated. It was expected since they were nobodies.
The Snows did not contribute tangibly to society nor were they among the cream of the crop.
Their disappearance along with that of two hundred and six other families was swept under the carpet and everyone continued their lives like nothing happened.
The case that was opened by a concerned mother whose son never returned home after going to the Neu-Ron company for the beta testing, was slammed with a stamp that read 'CLOSED'.
No matter how much she wept in front of the station and how loud she yelled, it was not going to change anything.
Like the Snow family, she also did not matter.
After a few days, the concerned mother also disappeared as her son did.
That was the cruelty of their advanced world, a world that was at the beck and call of the quadrillionaire, Gregory Beckwell.
No one could go against him and win. Absolutely no one because in both his hands were power and wealth to buy off anybody and anything.
...
...
...
In a random restaurant in Tophill State.
The interview of Gregory Beckwell was televised where he showed his gratitude to the people who purchased the Alderix Synapses.
Everyone seemed to agree with Beckwell, showing their excitement and appreciation to the Neu-Ron company as they conversed over their meals.
All except one person — a certain individual who sat at the end of the restaurant that was opposite the television.
He was dressed in a red hooded sweater that slightly hid his face.
The more he heard Beckwell's voice, the angrier he got. He gritted his teeth underneath his hood and clenched his fist so tightly that his nails made marks on the skin of his palm.
"What would you like to have, sir?" a feminine voice interrupted the surge of emotions rising within him.
He paused and relaxed his fist before looking up to see the young lady in front of him. She was slender and curvy with a beautifully grim face.
He stared at her and blinked a few times, not knowing what to say.
"What would you like?" she asked again.
This time, he heard her clearly and removed his hood, revealing his face.
It was Seth Snow.
"Nothing for now. I'm actually waiting for someone."
The lady shook her head, revealing the many piercings on her ears.
"You have to order else you'll have to leave," she said. "Sorry, new order from the boss."
Seth sighed. She was distracting him from his thoughts and Seth wished she could just scram.
"A cup of coffee will do. Thanks."
"With—" she tried to inquire further into Seth's taste.
"Just a cup of coffee. Nothing else."
Seth shut her out immediately and discharged her from his presence. He turned his attention back to the television but they were done with Beckwell's interview.
Seth stared at the waitress with a narrowed gaze as if blaming her for him missing the interview but there was not much he could have done anyways.
There was no way he could reach Beckwell through the television.
Seth looked around, taking note of his surrounding and then leaned back in his chair before putting the hood of his sweater back on.
About half an hour later, another unknown individual walked into the restaurant carrying a brown box.
He stopped and glanced to his sides and finally saw the person he was looking for... Seth.
He walked up to Seth and sat at his side.
"Sorry, I'm late. Here it is."
He put the box on the table and slid it gently to Seth, who opened it and peeked into the box briefly.
"Thanks a lot. I owe you, Gabe."
"Sure you don't want to sign up for Neu-Ron. Heard there's a mouth-watering reward for the first player to complete the game among their recruits.
"You should sign up, Seth. You're good in games and stuff."
Seth boiled inside as Gabe rattled on about Neu-Ron proudly but Gabe could not be blamed. He did not know about his friend's tragic ordeal three months ago.
Seth faked a smile and shook his head.
"I'll pass, Gabe. I want to be a solo player."
"That's cool too. That way you don't have to share your spoils with anyone. Anyways, it's thirty bucks for the gear."
"I guess."
Seth nodded and reached for his pocket. He took out more cash than requested and gave it to Gabe.
"Keep the rest—"
"Here's your coffee."
The waitress ushered herself into their conversation unannounced and interrupted Seth.
Gabe leaned back a little, allowing her space to put down the cup of coffee that Seth ordered.
Seth quickly glanced at the cup of coffee and then at the waitress, repeating this three more times but did not say a word.
He took out some money from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I hope you enjoy your coffee."
As she was about to leave, Seth noticed the tattoo on her left forearm. It was drawn to appear like a black scaly dragon coiling up around her arm.
"That's a nice tattoo you have," Seth complimented her.
She looked at her forearm and Gabe did too, nodding in approval.
"Thanks," she responded, smiling at Seth.
"It's cool."
Gabe watched the two of them silently while wondering what is going on. He did not say a word, only to start teasing his friend after she had left.
Not long after, Gabe stood up and took his leave.
"Give my regards to Adam and Eve, man. I gotta go."
Seth froze, hesitating to take the hand that Gabe extended to him.
Gabe gave him a curious look. "Are you okay, man?"
Seth snapped back to real life and bobbed his head.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good," he answered while hurriedly shaking Gabe's hand.
"Thanks for this, Gabe. I appreciate."
...
...
...
Seth returned to the abandoned warehouse while he had been hiding for months.
There was no way anyone would come that far from the city to look for him in a place that catches no one's eye anymore.
An old warehouse that found its way between old, deserted factories with a roof that had a third of it broken down.
He sat on a heap of straws and opened the brown box to take out his equipment.
It was a jet-black device that looked like a gas mask with silver-lined edges and a pair of glasses attached to it.
Seth admired it very much. It was neatly carved and no colour would have been better suited than black and silver.
Gabe had brought him one of the first sets of the Synapses made by Neu-Ron: the Obsidian Alpha model.
Seth held the gear with both hands and kept on staring at it. He had his memories from three months ago flashing through his mind in a split second.
He exhaled.
Seth was only thinking of one thing — how to get revenge on Gregory Beckwell and the Neu-Ron company for all they had done.
From his investigations, Seth could hazard a guess on the real reason behind the disappearances of different individuals of the societal lower class.
He was disgusted and made up his mind to bring an end to it all but first things first.
The only way was to complete and crash the game Gregory Beckwell went the extra mile for. Seth thought deeply about it for months and always came to the same conclusion.
Alderix must have been very important to Beckwell, even more than his life, for him to go that far.
But to carry out his plan, Seth had to find Eve because he cannot do it alone.
For Seth to find Eve, he would have to become a player in Alderix.
Seth made up his mind and put on his Synapse.
The pair of glasses turned dark and a prompt appeared, written in blue.
Seth followed the instructions and successfully activated his Bonding and S-N Link without any troubles. Those tasks were a piece of cake.
Mind-To-Synapse command was also set up and Alderix Category files were accessed and integrated.
Within a few minutes, Seth was done and the prompt that he was anticipating finally appeared on his shades
<< Welcome Player >>
<< Player Has Been Tagged With A Number >>
<< Player Is Player #3567234 >>
<< Welcome To Alderix, Player #3567234 >>