" For the love of God, why are you so unreliable!" 

A tall man with a well defined body screamed at his subordinate who was kneeling on the floor. Xarier had overslept and forgot to get his supervisor's morning coffee hence he was in this position.

Xavier was your average game developer and despite his great analytical skill he was quite literally at the bottom of the corporate ladder. The company he worked at was neither big nor small so at least he had a stable source of income.

After deeply apologising to his supervisor he gathered his things and went to start another tiring day at work. He had no friends on the office as a past incident had caused his coworkers to distance themselves

Upon reaching his desk he was about to start checking for bugs in the new game they were developing when a woman with blonde hair and a voluptuous figure strode to his desk and hit him in the back of the head.

" What are you still doing here, pervert? I thought you would have been fired today" . Her name was Patricia and Xavier had had a crush on her when he just started working for the company but when he tried to confess she spat in his face.

To make matters worse she was apparently the girlfriend of his supervisor Derek and thus started his days filled with the constant bullying by those two and his coworkers.

"What do you want Patricia?", without lifting his head to see who hit him Xavier started his duties. This pissed off Patricia who slammed her hand on the desk in front of him and yelled "Just because you think you're smart doesn't mean you can act all high and mighty. You're just a nobody I can get removed in a heartbeat."

After saying that she stormed into Derek's office. All Xavier could do was sigh and really question his sanity when he decided to confess to that creature but he couldn't change the past so he was stuck with it.

Time flew by and it was finally time to head home. Before leaving he went to the restroom to freshen up. Looking in the mirror he couldn't help but sigh, he was 5/11 tall and had pale blonde hair. He wasn't ugly in the least but not pretty enough for people to steal a glance; he was just average.

"Who would have thought that even with my "ok" looks I wouldn't even have a girlfriend at 25, dad was right imma die a virgin" laughing at himself Xavier adjusted his circular glances and made his way to a bus stop.

***

The year was 2107 and humans had caused so much pollution that they had to make cities underground to avoid the highly toxic air and high sea levels on the surface. Besides a few innovations like holograms, synthetic foods and household appliances then the only major change was the entertainment industry.

The city where Xavier lived was under downtown New Jersey. His mother was German and his father was from New York, they decided to move from Russia to the states when Xavier was ten.

While he was walking to the train station he was looking at advertisements about a new game called " ", it was the first ever full dive vr game to be released. Xavier thought it looked interesting but did really think much off it.

When he was younger he used to play games like cod and counter strike with his friends from morning to night but after he left school he hasn't had much time.

After taking the train and reaching his old run down apartment he noticed a box in front of his door. Curious, he examined it and say a letter taped to the top with the send being he best friend from Russia.

Though he had left he still kept in contact with him. Taking the box into his one bedroom studio he opened the letter, 

________________________

"I know you said you didn't have time to play games like we used to but I sent you the VR headset and the game that just got released for it. Trust me you won't regret playing it and if u do you'll be able to make a quick buck too

Ps: When u get this DM me

From: Wolfgang the dry beater "

________________________

Xavier chuckled as he finished reading it. He stood up and went to take a shower. After finishing and grabbing a cup of instant ramen he powered up his old pc and when to discord and noticing that this friend was online he started a voice call.

" Sooo did u get my gift? " A high pitched but heavy russian accent came from the other end.

This was Natalia Wolfgang and though she may sound cute to an onlooker she is actually a 6 ft 2 inches muscular beast of a woman. When the two were younger she used to protect Xavier from school bullies in exchange for playing with his console.

" Yh I got it but what's so interesting about it anyway, isn't it just another vr game." Xavier asked while slurping Noodles.

"Sometimes I wonder if you stay clueless on purpose." Natalia couldn't help but shake her head

"Just watch this game trailer i'll send in a bit and be in awe"She sent him a game trailer for the new game " Requiem of Dawn" which he promptly started watching.

The video started with an aerial view of a large ivory castle which seemed to sit upon stars. The camera flew into the main entrance of the castle and flew across its well decorated corridors until it came to a large hall.

The hall itself seemed to radiate immense pressure even though it was only a game but what caught Xavier's eyes was not the mighty hall but the six hooded figures that sat around a round table in the centre of the grandiose hall.

Each figure gave a terrifying aura that could surely bring the mightiest warriors to their knees but all Xavier could feel was a nagging sense of familiarity with these figures which confused him.

 As he continued to watch the video he saw one of the hooded figures reach his hand out over the table and suddenly as by the will of a god the table started to morph. Mountain, valleys, plains, oceans the table seemed to turn into a mini world surrounded by water.

Another figure stretched out their hand and placed it on a table, and from it myriads of creatures flooded out. Some looked like humans and forest animals while some looked like behemoths. Xavier even saw a giant walking crab with a city made of sandstone on its back.

Xavier wanted to see more but it cut to a title card and the video ended. Left on a cliff Xavier was truly invested now.

"Ok you got me I wanna play to see if it lives up to my high expectations" he said trying not to betray how excited he was.

"That's great because the server opens in about an hour," Natalia said while rolling her eyes at Xaviers previous statement.

Xavier was pleased to know he would not have to wait long to play the game; so in the meantime he would set up the VR headset. The headset was made specifically for "RoD" so he had to ask Natalia for assistance in setting up. A scanner at the front of the vr headset took a full body scan of Xavier, he also need to make is internet was stable

After setting things up he agreed with Natalia to meet up in the game. After getting comfortable on his bed he gently placed the headset over his head and waited for the clock on his night stand to show 7 pm.

After what seemed like an eternity the clock hit 7 and he immediately logged into the game. He suddenly felt left like his mind was taken from his body and dragged somewhere else and he lost consciousness.

***

In a dark room filled with monitors and wires sat a middle aged man in a rocking chair, because it was so dark it was hard to make out his details besides his outline. 

He sat there staring intensely at the screen as if he was reading something but the strange thing was that all the monitors just showed static. Like an intrusive thought the man heard whispers coming from one of the dark corners of the room.

He didn't turn around but merely nodded and then the monitors around started flashing strange symbols and then, well there was no then the man just disappeared from his chair and the monitors flickered off one by one.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

Author-nim:

Was popping guys I haven't done anything like this in a looooong time. Man I feel rusty, anyways many thanks for reading, hope you stick around.

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