"If I died you would go insane". My brother looked at me with his stupid grin after making that comment.
"Keep telling yourself that". We kept walking across the street, the sun was bright, the city was as lively as ever, and the birds were singing.
Recalling our conversation, he was right. Who would have guessed my fate.
"I'm sorry, he didn't make it". My brother died at 12 years old, he was smarter than me, more athletic than me, more popular than me. Then why, why he had to die?
As the doctor tried to comfort me, I started crying. That's it? Everything is gone like that? What's next? Without him what's my purpose. I was scared, I was scared of being alone. I felt my very soul freeze as he was the one to keep it warm.
Without him my future looked empty, no, without him I had no future.
I spend the next days rotting in my bed, there was no point to persevere, everything had lost meaning to me now. I thought that this would end, after all I couldn't give up like that, that's not what he would have wanted. But time passed and I came back, I kept going on despite everything, but since that day I've felt empty, slowly waiting for my finale.
***
Two years had passed, and it was my 15th birthday, 26 of march. I walked through the hallways of high school and arrived at my class. There my best friend Alec threw confetti at me.
"Happy birthday!". He shouted and everyone followed. Everyone was smiling but me.
"C'mon Adrian, at least show a hint of emotion". He tried to cheer me up and I thank him for that, but after all I was a mood killer. A slight smile crossed my face as he handed me a present. It was a videogame.
"Hehe, I knew you would like this, but I'm sorry to inform that I selected the game at random!". My face returned to normal after hearing that.
"It was that hard to pick a videogame?".
"Imagine this as a lottery, if you're lucky you'll win the big prize! Anyways I heard that it's a promising VR game". Ignoring Alec's antics, I decided that I would try the game when class was over.
When the classes finally ended and I went to my dorm. I immediately plummeted towards my bed and I started scrolling down my phone in a vicious cycle. I had homework, and I had to try that game, but I didn't feel like it, I never feel like it. After time passed, I finally succumbed and fell asleep.
I was in a city alone, the moon was the only thing that illuminated me on the cold night. I started walking, the city had a rare charm that made me appreciate each and every sight, I felt like I wasn't there, i was moving without my control, without my input.
When I realized I had lost control of my body I freaked out, I fought back again and again but nothing worked. my body was slowly moving to the city park, with each step I felt my very being slowly fading until my body finally stopped.
"Greetings Adrian, It was harder than I expected for me to finally meet you". An ethereal voice spoke and I regained control of my body. When I raised my gaze to ask some questions, I was overwhelmed.
I felt something invisible crush my body and mind. Sweat marks appeared on my forehead as I tried to ask my question.
"Hm, that was careless of me, if you want answers I recommend you to play that game". But I refused to go without any answers, so despite the pain I asked.
"Who, no, what are you?". I heard a small laugh.
"You should have asked me my name first, it's Faye by the way".
The city itself started to disappear and I felt like I was going to die. A divine light enveloped the world and as I accepted my fate, I woke up.
I checked my phone and it was midnight, I was still trying to comprehend my weird dream when I heard a sound from my console. I got up and sat on my gaming chair. That game somehow inserted itself on my console. Before I could be suspicious of everything that has happened the game finished loading and I saw the title. [Saga of the new heroes].
Before I could do anything the game demanded me to put the VR headset on. I completely forgot about that and looked around to finally find it besides my bed. This whole experience felt surreal and I hardly could understand what was happening.
After I put the headset I felt I had been transported to another world. I felt the wind, the white floor, the clothes I was wearing, and also ¿my dagger? Confusion overwhelmed me as I looked around this white space that I was in, it wasn't long before I found something, it was a floating pile of text that spoke. [Please wait until the beta releases [11:38:21 hours left)]. I was shocked at the realism of the game but I was unable to do anything on this white space.
I had a lot of things in mind, but before I could do something the game closed itself and I was forced to go back to sleep.
After that I had another dream that was just a desperate attempt of my brain to mimic the first one.
The next day I forgot almost everything that happened, but I had the feeling that I was missing something.
***
2 years later
***
Two years had passed since the first time I discovered Saga of the new heroes, and I must say, I've been hooked to this game since the start.
The VRMMORGP became the most popular game of the world with a daily player count of 1 million, the NPCs were so real that the community made its own laws to avoid committing crimes to them.
The gameplay was insane and even pushed people to learn martial arts, and the best part was that the story wasn't fixed, the players themselves decided what path this world was going to follow. Some factions wanting to save it and others to end it.
"Adrian hop on this afternoon, we have a quest to finish!". Hearing Alec's exited voice I assured him that we would play. After the classes ended I went to my console and loaded the game.
Looking at my status I felt proud at what I achieved.
[Name: Grey]
[Race: Human]
[Class: twin sword master | Title: The blue lightning of Solaris]
[level: 367 exp: 2,987,000 / 30,370,000]
[hp: 63,200/63,200
mp: 254,000/254,000
strength: 598
dexterity: 982
resistance: 327
wisdom: 459
perception: 895
luck: 37
free points: 0]
[Skills: Dash(B), Ice spear(C), Mana blade(B+), Blood manipulation(D+), Pierce(D-), Mana shield(B-), Aura(A+), Lightning bolt(S), Fireball(C+), Ice spikes(D+), Repel(B-)]
[Blessings: Lightbringer (God of lightning)]
[ Affinities:
Fire: 6.4/10
Water: 2.1/10
Earth: 5.3/10
Wind: 3.9/10
lightning: 7.8/10
Dagger proficiency: 6.1/10]
[Equipment: Flare Twin blades (legendary), Lirelium light armor (Rare)]
This is the culmination of years of patience, in this game each time you die all your progress gets reset to zero, I had different skills, weapons of choice, and even blessings, and for all of the characters I had this is the strongest.
I was on the upper side of players, partially because I started playing on the beta.
Hours passed and I had to log of to cook dinner. But before that, I had to buy the ingredients. While walking through the city I reminisced about my brother, I imagined his smile while playing this game, I kept daydreaming until I noticed something strange.
I hadn't arrived yet to the shop, in fact, the only thing that I could see was an endless road. Calming myself I tried to call someone, but I realized that I didn't have my phone. When I tried further searching, I realized I didn't have hands, nor a voice to speak, nor a body to run.
The world itself started to crumble on itself and in the end I was alone on a void of nothingness. But I wasn't alone, some time passed and my senses slowly returned. When I finally was able to feel my body a voice spoke.
"Greetings, I've been waiting to meet you again".
Opening my eyes I saw something that I could only describe as divine. My head started to hurt as I remembered that dream I had 2 years ago, but now I knew who or what she was. After all, she was a character of Saga of the new heroes.
She was Faye, the Goddess of fate.
--------------------------
Random fact: Adrian loves chocolate