The Mysterious Boy
The young boy appeared on the steps of an orphanage in a metropolitan city in the middle of the night.
An android opened the door and stared down at the crying baby. It bent over, picking up the basket, and started at the child.
"Well, hello, human child." The android said with a sweet feminine voice. She raised her hand and wiggled her mechanical finger against the baby's lip.
"Let's get you out of the cold…" The android said, turning around as she grabbed the baby and placed him against her metallic chest, tossing the basket into a dumpster across the street.
Without magic in the world anymore, humans expanded and slowly forgot about Themiscrya, eventually renaming the planet Earth.
Over thousands of years, humans evolved and transformed the planet into a futuristic paradise. The human population plateaued at around 20 billion.
Shortly after, advancements in cybernetics and artificial intelligence allowed humanity to stop working and begin pursuing their dreams.
Many people began hobbies and using androids to handle their work and bring in money, while humans had fun.
With a sudden influx of spare time and freedom, humanity entered another golden age of technology and ushered in even greater technological advancements.
Humanity had grown even further, reaching a peak population of 35 billion, and eventually, the 195 countries split into two factions.
The World United Federation was led by the United States and a council of a dozen nations, overseeing over 125 counties.
The New World Order was formed by a joint effort between Russia and China and held the remaining 70 countries opposing the WUF.
The NWO and WUF engaged in a brutal Artificial Intelligence campaign against one another and eventually broke out into a full-fledged World War III.
Despite being engaged in an all-out war for over eight years, most people didn't bother with it due to the battles being waged by AI.
Virtual Reality Goggles were created shortly before the war ended, and soon, the war transitioned into VR, starting a second Cold War between the two factions.
Eventually, nearly 30 billion people began spending more time in the virtual world than in reality. Many companies competed against one another to create the best VR tech, but the sudden appearance of CyberNexus changed everything.
They released a Virtual Reality Visor that offered more significant synchronicity than the goggles currently on the market and at a reduced price.
After a few years, CyberNexus announced at a press conference they were launching a new product called the Virtual Reality Dive Pod, along with a flagship service: Savage Gods Online.
CyberNexus promoted the game as an infinite amount of new experiences and a never-ending world to explore.
SGO was included as a base service with a Dive Pod, and they launched a few months later, completely sold out during the preorder phase.
On day one, over a billion people accessed SGO for the first time, and people worldwide swarmed to the BattleTube, a live-streaming platform created by CyberNexus for their pods.
The game became a massive sensation, with billions more requesting their own device to access the servers.
CyberNexus soon responded and announced the next wave was in production and over four billion more pods were being prepared for sale.
Citizens of the NWO struggled with the embargo on CyberNexus products in their countries. A mass exodus threatened the government, forcing them to open their borders to the WUF.
After a year, every Virtual Reality company had shut its doors and been absorbed into CyberNexus, creating a sole monopoly across the entire planet.
After another five years, over 30 billion players were logged into SGO, averaging eighteen hours daily. The NWO began offering a currency exchange between the game and their New World Tokens.
The WUF looked down on the NWO exchanging currencies with SGO and resisted implementing it; however, their reluctance created a fraudulent currency system.
People would use their Federation Credits to convert into the cheaper NWT currency and then swap into SGO's currency.
It was at this time that the WUF contracted with CyberNexus and created an official channel for exchanging currency, completely shutting down the NWO.
Within SGO, an unofficial war broke out between the two superpowers and ended when the NWO was forced to surrender and became a part of the WUF a few years later.
Shin sat in the office of the android caretaker, silently waiting. The nine-year-old remained motionless as he stared at the blank face of the AI.
After a long wait, a man in a black suit and hat with a black trench coat entered. The android stood up and stepped back, bowing.
The man sat down at the desk, ignoring the android, and opened the tablet before him and tapping on it rapidly.
"What's your name, boy?" The man asked in a gruff voice, not looking at him while he read his information on the screen.
"Shin, sir." The boy answered flatly, remaining calm before the investigator.
"Last name?"
"I don't have one." Shin answered, prompting the man to remove his hat, revealing his short-cut brown hair with a silver streak running past his temples.
"Where did you come from then?" The man asked, grabbing the glasses from his face and removing them as he stared at the young boy.
"According to Mary, I just appeared and only had my first name written on a note." Shin explained, and the man turned to the android.
"M4-RY bot, replay the scene of his arrival." The man commanded. The android nodded, and her vision sensors lit up as the blinds closed behind her.
Suddenly, a projection appeared from Mary's eyes; she revealed the scene of her discovering the child a decade prior.
"Give me your hand, boy." The man commanded, holding out his hand across the desk. Shin complied and reached out.
The man gripped his wrist, pulled a sleek vial from his trench coat, and pressed it against Shin's wrist. A needle shot out from the vial and sucked his blood into it.
He released the boy's wrist and stared at the vial. After a moment, it beeped, and a projection of the information on file appeared.
Unfortunately, no information was on file, and only an error appeared. The man turned to the android, glaring at her.
"Is this accurate? How is there nothing on file?" He asked her, a tinge of anger seething off each word.
"It is, sir." Mary bowed, "I have brought it up with the Governor's office, but after nine years, 364 days, fifteen hours, 35 minutes, and 22 seconds, you are the first to investigate."
"When was the last time we discovered an undocumented child?" The man asked, leaning against the desk and closing his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose.
"That was thirty years ago, nine months, three weeks, four days and six hours, 22 minutes, and 15 seconds ago." Mary answered.
"You hear that, Shin? Over thirty years, and you just magically show up?" He sighed, shaking his head, "Where were you born?"
"I don't know." Shin answered blankly.
"What did the nearby cameras reveal?" He asked, turning to Mary.
"Nothing, sir." The android replied, "All potential witnesses were experiencing a mass blackout and were rebooting when he was abandoned. Myself included."
"Convenient." The man muttered, stroking his peppered goatee and staring down at the tablet with the results of Shin's competency exam, revealing a perfect score.