Note : Contains A lot of change in POV as numerous events are leading to a turning point of the story.
Somewhere Unknown
The setting sun's last ray illuminated a small building. It was a small standalone room, much like a cheap rented settlement. The road beside the lonely structure was very irregular and non-metaled. Surrounded by dense woods, it was well camouflaged. Seldom did anyone use the road.
A well built man with long, matted hair was sitting on a stool just outside its facade, overlooking the sunset. His eyes were bearing dark circles, as if he had not slept for days. His face was gaunt and looked as if he needed a shave. Though he showed signs of weariness, his smile said otherwise. It was terrifying, an epitome of malicious.
He was scrolling through a file on his wireless. A large one.
With a small whisper, he said to himself,
"Reality?"
........................................................................
Inside a very familiar apartment
The three hobbyists were munching away at their breakfast. Not a word was exchanged between them during that period. It was their unwavering policy; no conversation during meals.
As Alex was devouring his steak, a sudden thought came to his mind and vanished.
His eyebrows contracted in a prominent frown as he put down his fork. He tried to remember what that was, but was unable to do so. He turned his head towards his mates, who, luckily, had not noticed him.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then rather though not to.
"What was that?"
His gaze wandered back to his unfinished steak.
"Better finish this first."
..................................................................
A joint conference at the company
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...
RIZE!!"
A loud round of applause followed the announcement.
"As all of you know, we all have been anticipating this very moment for years. With the help of hundreds of developers, computer scientists as well as neurologists, we have finally completed the development of the final beta release of the first ever live reality game. We have toiled for each and every day, revamping the code when required, improving the design again and again, till we have reached near-perfect standards."
"With the investment of a gargantuan amount of money, we have achieved what could not have been achieved in years to come. We... finally have created a program that could allow the human brain to achieve suspended animation and experience a world radically different from ours. We can do what we could not have done here, in reality. Humans now can experience what they couldn't in their present lives."
"We have created something which cannot be competed in a million years."
"We have created the impossible."
.....................................................................
The inside of the room was something unexpected from what somebody would have guessed, from its exterior.
The inside was covered with zinc walls to avoid detection via bugs. The floor was neatly paved with sterile white marble and was covered with a soft, woolen carpet. The room was fully air conditioned and bore no windows. But its center of attraction was a large PC with a standalone, gigantic hard disc drive.
The man was sitting in front of the monitor. It had been 7 hours. Even though his neck was straining, he didn't move a muscle. It had to be done. His story needed to be acknowledged. He was the protagonist of his story. The world shall know him and abide by his greatness. He was the hero.
The excitement in his eyes was blocking all of his tiredness. He did not give shit about his body.
He thought to himself,
" I shall now pave the path for a new world."
........................................................................
The company, floor 100
Lucius Attenbourough was pacing tensely in his office. He needed results. He needed rock solid proof. It had been 6 years since the start of this ambitious project and today was the day when he will bear the fruit of his patience. All of his revenue, he had gambled in this very creation. He cannot sustain a "no".
There was a gentle knock on the door.
"Get in."
The door opened and in came Christine Chauffer, the mastermind behind Rize. She was a gorgeous woman of 32 and the head of the Design board.
"Ah, I've been expecting you, Christine. Please make yourself comfortable.", He pointed to a chair right in front of his desk.
Lucius sank into his own chair as Christine occupied the seat right in front of him.
"So, how would you like to entertain me?"
A triumphant smile spread over her face as she spoke in a graceful tone, "We have achieved positive results, sir. The beta tests were successful. We can now enter SA whenever we want and exit it at our own will. You shall receive the file of the results today itself. Moreover, tests are being conducted as we speak on the game's story line compatibility as well. Once we have completed those, the game would be fit for release."
"Very well, I look forward for it. You may leave. Send the file via regular procedure."
"As you wish, sir."
As the door closed behind him, Attenbourough released a sigh of relief. Things were going as he had supposed it would. The production had been stable over the years and there had been no significant losses. All he could now see was success.
...
The man removed his shaking hands from the keyboard. His plan had been perfect. The screening was perfect and the company couldn't detect it. It had been done. His story has been created.
........................................................................
The next day
"Cut it out Winky, you are smearing resin all over the damned chips. Do you know how much they cost?"
Winky and Alex had been busy for a whole 2 hours constructing cheap mini -PCs for sale.
In other words, they were short on money.
"Get the work done on that one... yes.. that one." "Shut up, I'm doing the best as I can."
"It's nowhere near perfect."..
A sudden cry from the next room halted their argument. Marty yelled at the top of his voice, "In the name of goddamn Jesus!!"
Both Alex and Winky sprinted to the next room.
"What the hell happened ?", asked both Alex and Winky simultaneously.
"We have got a very serious problem. I was running combinations on the company's mainframe firewall. Somehow I managed to get the original copy of RIZE's code."
"Bro that's apocalyptic!"
"Pop your balloons, we got a crisis here. Somebody tampered with with the original code and locked it. The company wouldn't even know as he created a different copy of the original code and put it on their servers. The company would never be able to know that their goddamned game has been altered ! Even I can't crack it. The code is RC, I could never get to the original file, my coded bots could never read the language, its practically non-existent!"
Alex was speechless. Not a word escaped from either him or Winky's mouths.
Finally Marty broke the silence. "The @#$% company wouldn't ever believe us. Moreover they could sue us on breaking into their mainframe.
This person here could do anything! He could literally wipe out the whole humanity off the face of the Earth and transport them to a non-existent virtual world!"
The loud "ting" of the doorbell broke their conversation.
A Few seconds later there was a loud ramming on the door.
Another few seconds later a loud crash roared through the apartment.
All three of them were frozen stiff rooted to their spots. A man brandishing a steel rod was right in front of them. He was wearing a tracksuit and a mask over his face.
"Goodbye, boys"