Ch 3: A Busy Day

A thousand years later - or maybe more, everybody had lost count of it anyway- the war came to a sudden halt. Creatures of similar breed came together and segregated themselves towards isolated spots and thus,the era of a proper civilization and progress began once again. Whether it be humans or demons or the vilest of creatures, nobody waged a war after that; even the many unintelligent species...their instincts screamed at them to stop the war...or go extinct. Among all these species, humans progressed the fastest. Their resilence, intelligence and their adaptability surpassed all the other species. Few centuries later, smaller skirmishes broke between humans and other creatures whom the humans now referred to as 'monsters', and soon these became common. Fewer human lives and several lives of monsters would be snubbed every single time. Humans started feeling pride for this newfound dominance over every other species they met. Soon this pride gave way to a new zealous emotion among them - glory. The survival instinct of humans now shifted to glory; it was even the basis of humans judging other humans. This however only continued for few generations. After that, humans had formed a biased opinion that the world revolved around their own decisions and thus renaming their insecurities as wisdom, they once again started the war...which continues till date.

Trrrriiinggggg

The sound of the gong of the electric bell buzzing nonstop broke through the corridors, instantly brightening the previous gloomy atmosphere of all the classrooms and brought an end to the hectic school day, which was further accentuated by the extreme heat of the summer sun.

Students started packing their bags without any delay while the teacher of a certain classroom kept on speaking in a loud voice in an attempt to have the attention of her students.

"Tomorrow we are going to have a lab day...read the theory that you shall find in the manuals..."

She went on with more details, though few even paid any attention to it.

Most of them simply glanced at their studious friends and thought 'Well, shall ask them later...'

On top of that, today was the release of the most anticipated game of the decade ... "Zenim: An Unexplored World", the first VR game!!!

Many of them looked at the classroom wall clock, noting the time to be 3:15 pm...the game was to be released at 4 pm.

Excitement shimmered among the die hard gamers and the casual gamers as well, for this was the day many would see the fictitious game of the novels firsthand!

Jurel was also one of them, his excitement ready to burst out.

Even though he tried to maintain a calm composure, the slight trembling of his forelimbs betrayed him.

'Few more minutes and i shall finally be playing it' The black haired boy thought as he cycled through the bustling crowd which at this hour consisted mainly of students returning to their homes.

His joy was palpable at this point, his wish to play at exactly the releasing time fueled more by his desire to secure his gaming name in the game -- Lone Boy.

While seemingly an ordinary name, in the gaming world this name was anything but simple. The idol of millions of younger generation gamers ...though he was young as well...this figure shrouded in mystery was right now cycling towards his home.

Yes,you heard it right! Mystery!

He was someone who had never gone livestream but his name at the top of leaderboards of several games was enough of a prove to his incredible gaming skills. And as such, several hundred fan pages-- all dedicated to him were swirling online.

But Jurel never intended to expose his identity.

He played for he loved playing and that's it!

It was in his opinion that his gaming career would have a lot of pressure should his identity be known to all...which he considered an unnecessary burden.

"Mom I am back!" He shouted and went upstairs to his room, slamming the door shut behind him...poor mother,she couldn't even reply to her only son.

Anyway, the bast--ahem, the boy named Jurel quickly freshened up , sat on his bed and eagerly watched the time and for any news update on the game. His attention then shifted to the polished cylindrical gaming pod, which was kept at one of the corners of his room.

This pod was one of the groundbreaking invention of the last many years, which can help you connect your neural system to the virtual world of the game, thus effectively shifting your consciousness from one place to another. The interesting thing is that the person within the pod won't face any backlash and through several wires connected to the interior of the pod, it would keep on providing nutrients to the body for straight 6 hours.

Though Jurel had found rumours stating that the top tier products can help you for an entire day...meaning one can remain in the pods for as long as they like.

But he didn't want anything to do with such luxurious items.

'Its not like I shall be playing the game the whole day.' He mused inwardly before getting up from his bed, switched off his television,then walked over and stood before the gaming pod.

Keeping his growing excitement in check, he then said "Open" and watched as the two sleek doors slid inwardly in the thick walls of the pod, allowing him entry.

Jurel took a long breath in and then the space occupied by Jurel vibrated with a strange power before a robotic feminine voice greeted him.

"Welcome visitor. Please get ready for our first ever VR game: Zenim- An Unexplored World. The game to be launched in: 3 minutes 15 seconds..."

With that, Jurel found himself looking towards a timer with the said numbers and a green neon light flashing everytime a second went down. Just above the timer he could see a digital clock merged with the calender system.

'This is certainly helpful...i guess small things matter a lot' Jurel's thoughts drifted as he found himself appreciating the space around him that somehow looked to have...more volume?

He was sure he wasn't imagining it, the volume he found himself in looked a lot more than it should have been.

Just out of curiosity, he extended his hand towards one of the walls, and found his hand striking the circular wall...though he could still see the wall was more ahead of that.

'Wait a damn minute... don't tell me it's an illusionary thing?! Damn how the hell did they even create this!' He then shook his head remembering that he was about to immerse into a type of game that only exists in novels.

'I guess technology has advanced so much that I still can't grasp it's vastness' His lips concorted into a small smile before it vanished and as if a chord had struck within his inner self, he understood the need of the illusionary volume.

'Ah right...it must be for the claustrophobic people... wow they really have all things covered up haha'

At around the same time, the timer went down to zero seconds and a loud beep accompanied by a red flash of light echoed within the enclosed space of the pod, before eventually dying down.

Jurel suddenly felt himself feeling dizzy,his vision slightly blurring. Dark stains spread at random points on the walls of the pod like blotches of ink spreading on a paper,which startled him very much so.

His consciousness faded away as he found himself suddenly standing...no, was he levitating in the air?

All around him was nothing but a blue grid system as if he has been sucked in a matrix.

From the depths of this grid, several bluish fragments rose up,moving at an incredible speed and assembled themselves in front of an awestruck Jurel who couldn't at all comprehend all those things.

To him, who was used to seeing a mundane reality, this deviation from his daily life left him dazed, as if he had stumbled on a dream from which he couldn't seem to wake up.

Instinctively, he tried balancing himself before he observed that he couldn't feel his body at all.

All he could do was watch the fragments which have finally assembled themselves to reveal a greyish screen with a darkish perimeter and slightly rounded at the corners.

"A system! It's a fucking system!!" Jurel could no longer hold his excitement and shouted in awe.

What he had once thought to be just a fiction was now a reality!

A treat to all the gamers and die hard readers!

"Wait a minute, shouldn't there be a protagonist then?" He couldn't help but grin at his own nonsense before adding "There should be an apocalypse as well!!"

He chuckled before his eyes widened...

[~Ding~]

Yes...he heard it...the Almighty System!