Hope Blossoms

Lightning crashes. The ground shakes. Creatures in the brush scatter. The split second of daylight tells EmoryEdge everything he needs to know. As his opponent tries to elude him by making a circle around him through the underbrush, a single grappling hook latches onto a canopy branch. EmoryEdge pulls himself up, then a second hook snares his running opponent.

KarlTheK1ll3r snarls a curse as he's tugged upward at breakneck speed, then it's over. A barrage of knife blades come at him, too fast for him to track or even attempt to evade. 30 damage points here. 50 there. 1,000 from a blade that goes directly into his brain. Torn to ribbons, his lifeless avatar dissipates before it hits the forest floor. EmoryEdge unhooks his grapple with a smirk, and leaps from branch to branch on his way down. A "cha-ching" sound confirms what he already knew; he's won the bracket, pocketing 80,000 credits.

"Oh yeah!", EmoryEdge cries, "New grappling hooks, come to papa!" The excited boy leaps into the air as applause erupts around him. His weapons vanish and his avatar's casual clothes reappear. Below his shock of blue hair, EmoryEdge wears an open white leather vest, simple jeans, and a pair of sneakers designed by another player who makes their living creating and selling in-game goods for real money. His emerald eyes sparkle, catching the lobby lights as they come back up.

All around him, EmoryEdge sees thousands of players cheering, some gleefully and some with envy and even contempt. The players surge forward to shake his hand and hug him. Before he knows it, he's lifted into the air as the chant goes up. "EmoryEdge! EmoryEdge! EmoryEdge!" With a grin, the triumphant hero posted a message in the air for all to see. 'Later, everybody! Love to my fans!', the transparent billboard read. EmoryEdge placed both hands on his chest and bowed his head, and his avatar vanished.

Elias Mora peeled himself from his chair with the slow vigor of somebody getting off an intense roller coaster. His headset made sucking noises as it was slowly removed from his sweat-soaked head. After a brief cleaning, it came to rest next to his computer tower on the wood desk in his room. Elias took a few seconds to adjust to being back in the real world. Long stretches playing always did this to him.

The floor didn't feel right under his bare feet. The air buzzed angrily around his face. The small sounds of the real world, like wood settling and the other people in his house walking about downstairs, burst like fireworks in his eardrums. He closed his eyes for just a bit and stood still. He made a conscious effort to acknowledge and embrace the sensory overload. The virtual world seemed much simpler, easier, to him. Finally, he opened his eyes, feeling less overwhelmed, then smiled and made his way downstairs.

Elias loved when his mother cooked, and hated how rare that was these days. Grilled vegetables tickled his nose. Roasted peppers and sauteed mushrooms made his mouth water. Fluffy yellow rice promised delight as its buttery fragrance drifted to him. He hadn't even reached the kitchen yet, but he could already taste his family's heirloom recipe, affectionately known as 'more please rice and veggies'. Elias took his mother by surprise, wrapping his arms around her from behind and resting his head on her shoulders. She giggled in response.

"Geez, kid," Lydia's melodic voice rang, "You don't have to rub it in that you're only eleven and already taller than mommy, ya?" She turned and kissed him on the cheek. "How are you feeling today, mom?", he asked brusquely. He felt like he wouldn't like the answer, but he asked her that same question every night at dinner time. It was his way of preparing himself for the loss to come.

Before she could answer, the front door crashed open and Elias' mood instantly soured. "Daddy home, bitches!", his father's gruff voice echoed. "And look what I scored at work today!" As Rudeus Mora rounded the corner into the kitchen, Elias' jaw hit the floor. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. In Rudeus' hands was a SnakeBiz Heretic, a legend among knife collectors. Only 500 of the odd blade were ever produced, and many of those were bought by SnakeBiz employees.

The hardened steel glinted in the waning sunlight coming in through the window, showing a mirror-finished sharpening job that had only been slightly dulled by whatever the tool had gone through between when it was abandoned and when Rudeus found it. The handle and trim were in perfect condition. The wavy blade was in near-perfect condition, with no warping or chipping anywhere to be seen. The large knife beckoned to Elias, and he drew closer.

Rudeus smirked at his wife and son. "Whatcha think, guys?", he asked smugly. "Pretty awesome find, eh?" Elias gazed longingly at the blade, scanning it up and down. "Dad, this is in such awesome condition...", he whispered, "How on earth could somebody have left this behind?!" Rudeus simply shrugged. "We knocked the convenience store down and there it was, man.", he said matter-of-factly. "Guess I've got a new daily driver!"

Elias was hit with a new wave of disbelief. "Dad, did you really just say that?!", he spat, "This knife is the rarest of the rare, and it's in perfect shape! It's gotta be worth at least a couple grand! It's practically sacrilege to carry it around and actually use it!" Rudeus scoffed. "What good is it to make a high-quality knife if you don't intend the buyers to use it?", he spat back at his son, "I'll never understand you collector types. A knife is a tool first and a work of art second." Elias shook his head, defeated. "Whatever, dad. I just know if that thing was mine, it would be on display, not on my hip."

Rudeus stabbed the ornate knife into the wooden table before him just to spite his son. "Don't you start, boys.", Lydia said, "Not when I'm about to put out plates of more please. If you guys ruin dinner, I'll add the knife to my cooking collection. In a rare moment of connected thought, father and son gulped nervously at the idea of Lydia using the rare cutlery to slam apart frozen chicken. The two glared at each other, figuring out which one would get the final word. After a tense few seconds, they settled on silence and simply sat down across from one another.

The plates of pure deliciousness hit the table, and Lydia sat down to lead the family in prayer. For the next half hour, nothing else mattered. They were a happy family. They were too busy chewing rice to argue. They were too busy slurping down oily veggies to criticize one another, or talk about Lydia's worsening condition. Nobody mentioned how she had already outlived doctors' estimates. Nobody brought up how they would handle household expenses without her disability check. Nobody even thought about a funeral. They simply enjoyed their meal in peace and silence.

After dinner, they gathered on the living room couch. Rudeus pulled Lydia into his lap and his hands slid under her dress. Her subtle attempts to evade having her breasts groped with her son sitting next to her went unnoticed, and she resigned herself to being molested. Hands busy with his twin prizes, Rudeus waited soundlessly for his son to turn on the TV. "Edgar, TV, please.", Elias said with deliberate enunciation. The large flat screen mounted on the wall across the living room came to life, showing the action movie channel that Rudeus had been watching before work.

Only a few seconds after the TV came on, the channel hit an ad break. Nobody said a word as a commercial for a new coffee additive came and went. The silent tension in the room only mounted as the corporate jingle of a food company filled the space between the couch and the television. The third ad of the break, however, caught the interest of everybody in the room. The family collectively leaned forward.

"Hey, Elias," Lydia said softly, "Isn't that the game you play all the time?" Elias nodded. The Blaze of Souls logo faded, and the narrator took over as videos showed players battling each other. Elias blushed briefly when footage of one of his own fights was shown. "Blaze of Souls is always evolving and expanding," the velvety voice cooed, "And we want to share that growth with you. We picked up two million players in our first year, and we've been through a lot together." Elias perked up. He knew in his gut that something big was about to be announced.

"Next month, April 2025, kicks off the world's first cash money VRMMO tournament. If you've got the skill, you could win a cool $5 million. Second and third prizes are available, too." Elias' blood ran like fire and his heart pounded. His first thought was his mother. Just last month, his online research had turned up an experimental neurological treatment that could reverse her Alzheimer's and give Lydia her life back. When Rudeus brought her to the facility, however, they found that their insurance wouldn't cover the procedure. The family wasn't exactly poor, but the $20,000 asking price was far out of their reach. Now, the solution was right in front of them.

"I'm entering.", Elias piped up immediately. Rudeus shook his head. "Good luck, pipsqueak. You're going to be playing against pro gamers. "I sure am, dad. And I'm going to win it all. For mom." He looked to his mother with fire in his eyes. She could feel his resolve, and so could Rudeus. The tension in the room twisted at that moment. Hope blossomed, and Elias and his mother couldn't hold back their emotions. Lydia broke free from her husband's groping hands and held her son as the two sobbed, sprinkling tears of joy on each others' shoulders. Rudeus watched with a smile, but inside, he was conflicted.