It was a cloudy day, the kind where you feel emotional and suffocated.
Okeanos is a thirty year old man with dark red hair, angular but chubby face,with medium build and 5"11" height.
Over the past 5 years he'd been a real estate owner, collecting rent in Mainland China. But his one vice for his time has been "Age of Steller Era" a Full Dive V.R.M.M.O. game produced by "Gravitas" a Chinese company who came from nothing and turned into a giant.
Unfortunately today actually, is the day A.S.E.'s servers are going down.
Okeanos is walking back from his office when suddenly his neighbor Terry calls out.
"Okie are you still gonna go online A.S.E. before server shutdown, you know nobody plays that crap anymore, you're better off switching to another game."
"I'm just gonna reminisce one last time, you know I loved that game, it became my life."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't forget we have to finalize that deal on that building I want to rent from you. I'm gonna start my own internet cafe. Don't get stuck in the game and never come back."
Okeanos brushed off his neighbors rude comments, he's heard it all before and genuinely couldn't care less about how people view him. The only person who loved him, his mom, passed away five years ago. And his two sisters don't talk to him anymore so he has no ties here anyway.
'It would be amazing if I was reborn in A.S.E., a fresh new start. No burdens.'
Okeanos laughs thinking as he pushes open his door to his two bedroom home. He owned thousands of properties, he could even live in the penthouse of one if them, but nothing had ever felt like home besides the two bedroom home he'd lived in with his mom, so he designed the house and had it built in Mainland China after he moved from the United States.
First thing he did was turn on the lights and walk to the kitchen to get some food before he sat down to eat and catch up on the news. After he washed his dishes, he walked to the bedroom which would have been his mom's which now had an alter with a picture of her and an incense holder. He lit an incense stick and sat down taking some water and thinking about how far he'd come since his mom passed away.
'After today I will start a new life, no more moping, no more A.S.E.'
'I'll finally get married and start a family, hopefully I can make you proud mom.'
After the stick burned out Okeanos went to his room and laid down on his bed. Taking his old gaming helmet he slipped it on his head and closed his eyes. Vision going dark he only spent a second before the title "Age of the Stellar Era" and the vast universe were right in front of him.
First thing he did was open the shop, which was a built in market from the first and only expansion, "Fleet Command", which turned out to be a massive pay to win scam by "Gravitas" to help the rich. Not that Okeanos cared much, he'd benefited from it too so he wasn't going to be a hypocrite.
He swiped for a few minutes before noticing the 'new' tab was flashing.
'On the last fucking day, really'
He clicked on the tab, and saw a massive mothership named 'Andromeda'. It was the largest mothership in game and had all the best facilities.
He looked at the price for a second before taking a deep breath.
'Fucking scam'
The price was set at one galaxy coin which was the premier currency in China the represented the wealth of the top 1000 richest people.
'Fine not like I'll go Poor regardless'
Okeanos had never spent his money and naturally after 5 years of being one of the largest real estate owners in Mainland China during its strongest golden age, he'd saved up plenty.
'And buy.'
Suddenly in a flash Okeanos felt himself sitting aboard the 'Andromeda' looking out at his system and at the world's of his capital system. He'd spent the last five years developing in the game to the point he was the emperor of a Stellar empire.
Looking around he noticed all the main stations were manned by androids just like he liked it. He'd never been much of a social person and robots seemed really cool so his entire empire was one big android family.
Suddenly a young girls voice, with obvious robotic tone, rang out.
"Master, Andromeda is fully operational and combat ready with minimal supplies, should we bring over anything?"
"Angel..."
"Bring over a years worth of supplies than just stay with me."
Suddenly a young girl appears out of thin air sitting on Okeanos' lap.
"And besides haven't I said a million times master is cringe and you can just call me father"
"Sorry Father, I forgot. What are we doing today?"
Okeanos sat in silence for awhile with his eyes closed. Thinking about all the fun memories he'd had in this game, how he'd created Angel, how he'd risen from nothing.
As the clock counted down to midnight he just sat there.
Angel sensing his unease, curled up in his arms and fell asleep.
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