Legacy

October 1st, 2042

With the sound of a door opening, a young man wearing prep school attire stepped into his home in the early evening. The warm light of the sunset reflected his tanned skin and dark curly hair that had faded sides. His neon purple irises shined brightly in the darkness of the interior as the door behind him came to a shut.

"I'm home!" He shouted, hoping for a response this time yet nothing came after a few moments.

Sighing sadly, the boy combed his fingers through his hair as he stepped through his single-story home the lights turned on with every step he took to enter the kitchen. 

"Of course, mom's not home, not sure why I expected it would be different this time…" he muttered angrily before picking up a sticky note on a plastic container he found after opening the refrigerator. 

It read, "Marcus, I left a lot of food for you but this is ready for you to heat and eat. Be sure to save some for breakfast tomorrow! I was called in as extra help for tonight and tomorrow so I will be back tomorrow evening. Love Mom!!!"

Crumbling the sticky note, Marcus groaned and heated his pre-portioned food using the microwave before taking it to his room as he ate and scrolled the internet using his holo phone. While it seems like Marcus may resent his mom, he knows she works to keep him full of food and in school so he cut her some slack since her job is demanding. 

Though this would make the 6th day in a row she worked and her 3rd 24 hours of the week, he understands she does it for them. After all, with his father passing more than 16 years ago, only a couple of months after he was born, he was raised solely by his mother to the best of her ability. 

The holo phone or holo for short, was a brain chip inserted in the base of the skull that allowed the user to access actions usable on smartphones through just their thoughts. It was quite the innovative tech a couple of years back but now Marcus was excited about the next big thing.

To be honest the world as of late has been fairly peaceful, a United Government was created after nearly starting World War 3. The mission originally was towards the progression of fixing climate change and preventing any more conflict between regions so we can better focus on saving the world we live in. What a good goal for the world to focus on. 

With that being the case for more than 15 years the world has progressed substantially as many new pieces of technology were created or enhanced immensely, virtual reality for example. Now, back to the young teen who had discovered something as he entered his room.

"Full Dive Virtual Reality…" he whispered as he chewed his food while sitting on the bed eyeing a pristine box on the end that read "Legacy, Create yours NOW".

Legacy was a new one hundred percent realism game where immersion was lifelike and AI felt like real people. By the time he received his copy, the game had been out for the better part of 5 days so he was behind a lot of his friends who had already reached level 20 and reached their first major city. 

Seeing another sticky note on the box, Marcus quickly removed it to read. It said, "Happy Birthday Son! You've become a fine young man. I'm sure your father is proud of us making it these past 17 years… I left this in your room before you had to leave. I also got myself one so be sure to help me when I start or grounded! I'll have my name be ChosenMum! Can't wait to play this with you on my days off!!!"

Smiling to himself, Marcus put the sticky note next to his computer before turning towards the box and ripping the plastic away. 

Opening the box, Marcus smiled widely as he pulled out the black and gold Legacy-specific full dive headset. The headset itself was shaped like a visor to lessen the weight and trouble of the previous headset designs.

Smirking with anticipation, he devoured the rest of his food in seconds before beating his chest at the brief pain that followed. After some time and setting up his visor, Marcus lay on his bed excitedly as he closed his eyes and spoke the words to connect to the world of Legacy.

"Begin Legacy!"

…

..

.

After a couple of seconds of a weightless feeling, Marcus heard wind around him causing him to open his eyes to find himself standing on solid air thousands of feet in the large cloudless sky. 

He found himself overlooking a massive world with lush green fields and vibrant forests to his left and a vast desert to his right. Though there was no ocean close to his current area rivers and lakes were cutting through the land. Honestly, he was shocked by how real it all looked despite him being so far in the air. 

While he was looking around a blue cat lying within a bubble-like orb floated down from the sky before stopping before Marcus drawing his attention to it as it stretched and yawned.

[Greetings User, I am the AI that governs all actions within Legacy. You can refer to me as Rudy. Now, would you like a brief tutorial for character creation or are you an experienced player in vrmmo games that would like to do it on their own?] Rudy, the AI cat, asked as it returned to a lying-down posture.

"I will do it on my own, thank you Rudy," Marcus replied as he gave a once-over of the blue feline AI before him. The playbase loved the design of Rudy and a good amount of people were upset they could not pet him under any circumstance they enjoyed his occasional check-ins with everyone under the guise of getting reviews of the game so far.

[Not a problem user. Please call for me whenever you have a request] Rudy mused as he closed his eyes and entered a standby state.

[Beginning Character Creation]

"And now it begins…" Marcus mumbled, his voice elevated in excitement at the thought of his journey starting. One that would later decide the fate of millions.