Chapter 5: Goliath

Raiden wakes up around 10 o' clock in the morning to the sound of crashing waves into the rocks in the nearby coast, with the occational squawk of seagulls flying overhead, the scent of sand dunes, and the salty and mineralic smell of the ocean.

"What a rough night it has been."

Raiden said to himself while blocking his eyes with his right arm because of the rogue rays of the morning sun escaping from the window decorated with sea shells and elegant white curtains hitting his innocent looking face, with no signs of acne or blemishes.

He and his sister Yumi arrived here in his private mansion located in an undisclosed private island somewhere in the Pacific. He bought this tiny island 2 years ago using his assassination missions bounty, by a forged identity he secured the ownership of the island to avoid the watchful eyes of Gurkha.

This island has been his safe haven from then on. With the help of private contractors which he disguised the project as a secret government research institute using falsified documents. He built all the facilities in this tiny island including the 3 level underground bunker with a miniturized nuclear power plant at its lowest level, the 1st level. Supplying all of the island's electricity needs. It is equipped with its own automatic cooling system which sucks in fresh ocean water to cool down the reactor core and pumping it out back to the ocean. The 2nd level is where his laboratory is located, its entrance was locked with a Nanosense scanner and retina scanner in an inconspicuous area in the 3rd level. The 3rd level serves as a basement parking for his 3 Mini quinjets. Miniquinjets are double seater stealth aircrafts travelling at a maximum of mach 7 at its peak and can camouflauge itself when needed. Above ground is an elegant 1,000 square meter mansion at the center of the tiny island. The island was only about 7 acre in size, with a rock cliff and dense vegetation on the north part, a rock cliff on its east with a 20 meter drop to the ocean. To its northwest all the way to its southeast is a long stretch of white sand beach.

Raiden got up from his bed and went to the bathroom to freshen himself up.

While he is changing his clothes to a more comfortable one, he heard his sister knocking on his bedroom door.

"Brother breakfast is ready."

Yumi said while tapping her fingers lightly on his door.

"Just a second".

Raiden replied before he swung open the bedroom door.

"Did you slept well last night Yumi?" he asked,

"Uhumm"

Yumi nodded.

She happily skipped in the hallways of the house leading the two of them to the dinning room while humming a mellow tune only she can distinguised.

Inside the dinning room, their older sister Rachelle codenamed "Cinco" is already waiting.

"Good morning, I just got here around 7 o' clock this morning. I already prepared our breakfast. Rai, you don't mind I invaded your kitchen right?." Rachelle smiled lightly.

"Also I erased our tracks in case you missed some but as expected from you, your tracks has been cleaned flawlessly."

"Even I can't track your whereabouts after we were separated in that alley. It not for your coded coordinates, I will not find this place by myself".

Rachelle said in a hushed voice to avoid their conversation to be picked up by Yumi.

Rachelle look to the direction of Yumi and smiled, Yumi also smiled back to Rachelle.

Seeing these scene, Raiden sigh in relief.

Ever since their parents died in the brutal murder inside their family home 11 years ago, their family has been separated from one another since then.

Only he and his younger sister Yumi which is only 4 months old infant at that time are living together because they are brought in the same orphage.

Rachelle on the other hand is brought to another orphanage in a different city.

They still have an older brother that is missing even when their parents are still alive but they don't know his whereabouts and situation. If he's alive or if he's already dead.

Rachelle and Raiden are trying to search for him in Gurkha identification database but to no avail.

While the siblings are eating their breakfast, the news in the holograpic panel in front of them shows the cinematic trailer of the upcoming game Lightborn.

"Sis, can we play that game please?"

Yumi excitedly ask Rachelle.

"Yes Yumi, you can play it."

Rachelle replied.

"I mean, the three of us. Can we play it together tomorrow when it opens?"

Yumi said with a sad look on her face which made Rachelle and Raiden look at each other.

"ok Yumi, we will."

Raiden replied, which made Yumi's smile return to her face.

"but I will get our VRheadsets in DSC store first, I don't think the Delta Storm Company are selling them on the Online Market"

Raiden said before finishing his breakfast.

At 2 o' clock in the afternoon, Using his mini quinjet. Raiden flew to the nearest city to his island which is the island of Hawaii.

Honolulu, Hawaii-

Before he reach the city of Honolulu, Raiden activated the camoflauge function of his Miniquinjet and parked it to an empty lot just outside the city .

Before he exits his jet, Raiden placed a film in his face and opened his Nanosense.

Not long after, the film slowly molded to an appearance of a mid 20's European man.

Upon entering the outskirts of Honolulu, Raiden hailed a MagLev taxi going to a DSC Store located at the busy city center of Honolulu.

Delta Storm Company Store Honolulu Branch-

"Good day, how may I help you sir?"

the DSC employee greeted the man who entered the store.

DSC Stores all over the world are packed full of customers looking to purchase either a copy of Lightborn or to buy the newest version of VRheadset manufactured by Delta Storm Company.

"3 VRheadsets and also give me 3 copies of Lightborn."

Raiden replied.

"Sir our VRheadsets are currently not available because of the sudden influx of people that wants to play Lightborn they are only available through pre-order which can be delivered at your designated address after 3 weeks."

the DSC employee replied.

Raiden scanned the store, his eyes was fixed at an egg shaped capsule at the center of the store.

"What is that?"

he asked the DSC employee.

The employee's eyes lighted up and explained with enthusiasm.

"Sir this is our newest product the DSC VRCapsule called Goliath. This can handle up to 90 percent synchronization rate to your ingame avatar. For a comparison, the VRheadset can only synchronize up to a maximum of 30 percent, so your ingame avatar can move as if your physical body has been brought inside the game. It also features the Auto Physio Sensing(APS) which connects to your Nanosense and scans your body if it needs to replenish nutrients and release these Nutripods near your Nanosense so that the nanomachines can circulate the nutrients inside your body. You can play for a maximum of 10 days inside in one full load of Nutripods."

Raiden looked at the Goliath and after contemplating for a while,

"Please arrange 3 of these and 3 copies of Lightborn."

he said to the DSC employee which made the employee double take.

"Sir this cost 1.5 million dollars each."

said the employee slightly bewildered because not many people can buy this kind price in a small city of Honolulu.

Raiden walked to the side of the capsule and scanned the plaque with an engraved code beside it using his Nanosense.

With a small beep on his Nanosense, he paid a total of 4,501,600 dollars including a $1,000 tip to the employee. After the payment confirmation, Raiden sent a message with an address outside Honolulu to the employee's Nanosense.

"Please deliver it to this address. I will be waiting for it." Raiden told the employee.

After recovering from his shock, the employee hurriedly processed the documents for the purchase of three Goliaths and 3 copies of Lightborn.

"Sir I will personally deliver this items to the address that you gave. Please give me 30. . . no 20 minutes. Thank you for your purchase Sir." said the employee, still smiling even when Raiden left the store and went back to the empty lot where he parked his Miniquinjet.

Half an hour after loading the capsules inside his Miniquinjet, Raiden arrived at his island and hurriedly unload the capsules from his jet.

He installed one capsule inside Yumi's room first and one to his bedroom after, while Rachelle installed her capsule herself inside her bedroom.

They finished the whole process at around 7 o' clock in the evening.

After eating dinner, they each went to their own rooms.

Raiden fixed the position of his capsule which its back is facing the window and went to bed shorlty after.