Chapter 1

It was a day just like any other, the sun high in the sky, the sound of birds in the sky chirping and the world looking like a bright and happy place but if you really pay attention you might see a few uncurrent of unrest. However a young person dragging his body back from his job with a weary look on his face was stopped on the street watching a news report on his phone.

"We're here today to celebrate the launch of a brand new game, The Secret World Online, an exciting new VRMMO game to replace all the others that have gone stale over the years" a reporter on website says, the youth just shakes his head at this report. So many games over the years have proclaimed the same, they'll revolutionise the industry and that you need to get in early to get the best experience. He got caught up in a few others but they all got boring within a few weeks and constantly asked for money so he has a bitter smile while reminiscing about the past.

This tired youth's name is Jack Hurt, a 25 year old University graduate from Australia now working at a super market because of a crappy job market, he lives alone right now as his parents went missing when he was younger, he does have a younger sister that lives in another country who got married last year. He's as common as could be, born to nobodies and brought up by the state, he has no where to truly call home.

He currently lives in a single bedroom within a shared house, there are several other people in his situation so he doesn't feel too bad about his life as he's glad to have a roof over his head and a job. As he's dragging his body along the street he suddenly gets stopped by a mean man with a bandanna over his face, holding what looks to be a knife in his hand within his pocket still.

"Hand over that phone and you wont get hurt" the man yells while making a threatening gesture. Jack just lets out an audible sigh, this is the 3rd time this year that he has been mugged. He took up some karate lessons to try to learn some self defense but he couldn't afford to stay with it.

"Ok, ok it's not the first time I've been through this shit" Jack says while slowly reaching into his pockets to grab his wallet.

"Hey, keep that hand where I can see it" the man says, his movements while talking looking twitchy as though he's on something. Jack just stops moving his hand and looks at the guy with a weird look.

"Don't you want my wallet?" he asks.

"Yeah, yeah I do but don't move your hands, just give me your pants and your shoes too" the man says while taking the knife out of his pocket, it's just a traditional butterfly knife, able to cause some serious damage. Jack sighs to himself in resignation and slowly takes off his pants and shoes.

The man quickly grabs the pants and shoes, he already got Jack's phone which is still blaring a news report about the new game 'World Online'. He starts to run away so Jack sighs under his breath, "Enjoy it you degenerate fucking methhead", the man stops running away and comes towards Jack who knows that he heard that comment.

"What was that you little shit?" the man asked.

"Nothing, enjoy my stuff" Jack resigns himself to a headache to get out of this situation.

"I don't like your tone, maybe a few extra scars will make you learn some respect." the man says while waving his knife and stepping closer.

Jack can feel his heartbeat start to accelerate while he backs away, cursing himself for saying his thoughts out loud while the situation wasn't over. Suddenly a loud explosion is heard overhead, the whole sky looks like it is on fire instead of the usual blue sky.

The man and Jack both look up in the sky, during which Jack takes the chance to kick the guy in the crotch and run away not bothering that he left his items with the man. The sky is still red after Jack ran away for a couple of minutes.

Jack rounds a few corners and comes down from the adrenaline rush of getting away from a violent mugger, he would report the incident to the police but the mugger also got his phone. Looking down at his bare legs, Jack decides that he can't walk around like this but he has no shoes, no phone and no money.

Suddenly a crystal is somehow floating in front of Jack while he is standing in the same spot trying to work out what to do, not knowing what the crystal thing is, he reaches out and grabs it. As soon as his fingers touch it, he receives an electric shock and his vision is transported from where he was standing to a huge old looking room.

The room has hundreds of crystals in the air, all giving off different sparkling light giving off a magical feeling. Jack takes a few steps and feels as though he is walking like normal, looking down he can still see his bare legs. It's like he was just magically transported to this room.

Not knowing what is happening or what to do, he yells out "Hello is there anyone that can help me?" but he gets no response, the crystals in the air are still sparkling and suddenly he is transported back to the corner where he was.

The disorientation is momentary, like he is being rushed from one location to another. He looks up in the sky, the red sky has disappeared but the sun looks like it hasn't moved as though no time has passed. The crystal is no longer in front of him and not knowing what it was, Jack just decides to keep walking home. More like sprinting home as he's a grown man half naked on the streets.

After a mad dash home, Jack felt less exhausted than he would usually but attributed that to the adrenaline rush.

"Where's your damn pants man?" his first roommate asked as soon as he walked through the door.

"Some methhead decided he liked the look of my $5 khakis from kmart and took 'em, along with my fucking phone and wallet" Jack said while bitterly laughing at the situation.

"That's shit man, at least he didn't want to take anymore or you'd be labelled a perv on top of getting mugged" the roommate said, John the stoner is his common nickname, all he does is stays at home and gets high all day, no one is sure what he does for an income but he's never late on his bills so everyone gets along with him.

"Yeah I guess that's true, did you notice the red sky earlier? Do you know what that's about?" Jack asked John, clearly both Jack and the mugger saw the red sky so maybe other people did.

"Nope but I haven't been outside, I did hear a few things on the internet about it but nobody got any pictures" John replies while slowly sitting back down on the couch.

"Alright, weird" Jack says while heading into his room knowing John wanted to just keep sitting on the couch, have a cone and do whatever he does on his devices.

Jack enters his room and quickly takes off his shirt from work, sighing that he'll need to buy a new pair of pants. He wont bother reporting the mugging because the last two times nothing happened and he didn't really have anything worth much.

He turns on his computer and walks into the bathroom to have a quick shower, strangely the shower didn't feel as hot as usual but when he steps infront of the mirror without any clothes on he notices a few changes.

Jack's body was never really in shape, he wasn't fat but he was never muscly, but now he looks like he regularly does competitive weight lifting. There is also a weird glow coming from the centre of his chest, he can't feel any difference when touching but it's noticeable when viewing from the mirror.

Remembering that weird situation with the crystal, he has a faint feeling that they're related but he can't do anything about it. Not knowing what's going on, he just gets dressed and sits down on the computer.

He starts to login to his services and cancels his bank cards and orders replacements, ordering a new simcard for his phone so that he can keep the same phone number. After doing that he relaxes and logs into his usual gaming services and starts reading some chatrooms.

'The secret world online looks interesting but I'm too invested in Chaotic Space Marines to switch, why doesn't everyone switch to Chaotic Space Marines, it's soooo fun'

'Did anyone see the red sky an hour ago?'

'pft Chaotic Space Marines is so crap, you can't even sell your items in game for money, World Of War is the best, I made over $5000 last month from selling free stuff ingame'

'The Secret World Online is coming, I got into the beta test and it's going to change everything'

'Lucky you got into the beta, I heard those codes go for over $10k'

'I heard The Secret World Online needs special hardware to use?'

...

A bunch of people talking about the goings on in the world, strangely someone else did notice the red sky and looking at the user's details, he is someone that lives in another country so the event did happen across other countries.

Reading a few more comments, it's mostly people excited for the Secret World Online but people not wanting to abandon their old game, people talking about how the red sky event is impossible and just the usual gaming chatter.

'Hey bro, you there?' a message comes up from someone that Jack hasn't spoken to in years, they went to high school together and just drifted apart, Jack ended up getting stuck in his meagre life while he went straight up the corporate ladder and then was never heard of again.

'Long time no see, yeah I'm here, just got back from work after getting mugged and have some free time, what's up?' Jack is rather curious about this message out of the blue.

'Sorry to hear that, I've been given a few beta codes to The Secret World Online and remembered that you kept going on about a game like it during high school so thought you might like to try it out early for free' Tom replied, shocking Jack that Tom would willingly give out something so expensive.

'Uh sure man, I don't have any VRMMO gear anymore since I sold it last month will that be a problem?' Jack responds not wanting to seem too poor.

'Haha, it's fine, they have their own hardware that you need which they're giving out for free, you just gotta sign up and wait for the delivery, it should be there pretty quick, I can't stay for too long right now so give me your email and I'll send the code there, along with my details in game so we can talk more' Tom replied.

'Sure thanks man, here's my details ** I'll talk to you in game then, good to catch you again after so long'

'Alright sent all the details, catch you around' Tom says and quickly signs off.

Jack is left in a daze, someone he hasn't talked to in years has invited him to try out the hottest new game that has codes selling for over $10k, he can't say he isn't tempted to on sell the code but ultimately decides to just sign up for the game.

The process goes smoothly, requiring no payments or any real sort of identification, literally just an account and an address saying that postage will be 'quicker than expected' treating everything quite vague. The website actually looked quite suspect and from the 90s, but it all worked fine and it was the correct domain.

After signing up Jack just continued to do his usual daily routine, he had a day off the following day so he was up late into the Night playing his usual games, reading news and just chatting to people in his life. His house is full of life with the 6 other guys, playing their own games, watching movies and just doing whatever.

The night advances and the house slowly turns silent while everyone is asleep, including Jack but if one were to look in Jack's room, one would notice that the glow that is in his chest is slowing spreading throughout all his body, moving up and down, getting brighter and duller and as the sun is coming up, disappearing as though it's slowly absorbing into his body.

Suddenly, *BANG BANG BANG* "Delivery", there's a knocking at the door and obviously a delivery due but it's 6am so no one is awake and no one stirs awake because no one honestly cares about accepting a delivery this early when no one announced it.

The banging continues with the delivery person announcing, "Urgent Delivery for Jack Hunt, open the door" everyone in the house is now awake and someone yells out, "OI JACK GET THE DAMN DOOR YOU CUNT" followed up with other people in the house yelling out in agreeance.

Jack quickly puts on some clothes and rushes to the door, he opens it and sees a man dressed in a black suit looking nothing like a delivery driver, not knowing what to do Jack just announces, "Uh I'm Jack Hunt" while looking confused.

"Thumbprint here and signature here" the man says while holding out an ink pad and a signing pad. Jack had never heard of any sort of delivery that needs a thumbprint, so he just does what the delivery person does while asking, "What is being delivered?" since he's confused about what is going on.

"You'll know when you get it, hurry up I have a few more deliveries" the delivery driver says while looking impatient, Jack quickly signs for the package and the man quickly runs off then speeds off.

Jack is left at the door watching the guy flying off, still extremely confused. He looks down at the package that was left in his hands, it's just a blank cardboard box, it doesn't feel like it has any weight to it and nothing rattles when the box shakes.

Walking inside Jack can see a few angry glares at him for waking up the whole house at 6am after a long night, he just bitterly smiles and explains that he has no idea what that was about. No one really cares about it and he just walks to his room in defeat trying to work out what's going on.