《Eternity》


 Chapter 1: Eternity

    ¡°Hey James!¡±


    Waking up from a sound sleep, the boy known as James groaned internally as a female voice called out to him and he tried to mentally cling onto the dreams that were quickly escaping his grasp. As the final sleep induced vision blurred into the deep recesses of his mind he rolled his body around so that it was facing away from the disturbance to his peaceful sleep and covered his exposed ear with the bed sheets. As he finished turning he grinned sheepishly and dozed off, not even noticing the sound of his window creaking open or the light footsteps that followed.


    ¡°James.¡±


    A few more seconds passed before the female voice called out to him lightly, waking him up completely. Although he was awake, as soon as he had woken up he recognised the voice and stiffened his body so that it appeared like he was still soundly asleep. He knew that if he made a single movement the person behind him would immediately take the opportunity to disturb him somehow.


    *Pat pat*


    The slight sound of hands pressing against the bed sheets suddenly filled the room and to him they might as well have been trumpets, each pat sending a shock through his still tired mind. Suddenly the bed sheets were moved back across his body and the girl behind him began to pat his arm to check if he was already awake. He lightly rolled his body along with the force of the pats but his body tensing had already been felt by the other person. A couple of seconds later the patting stopped and he sighed in relief.


    *JAB JAB*


    ¡°ARGH¡±


    Bright sunlight shot into his eyes as his body forced itself upright due to the pain of the jabs that had just been sent into his ribs. Before he could even see the person that had attacked him, the bed that he was sleeping on lifted up underneath him and his body was sent sprawling onto the floor, his mattress following close after him and squashing him under its weight.


    ¡°James you lazy bum!¡±


    ¡°My god Sarah!¡±


    James grunted as he lifted the mattress off of his head but stayed lying on the floor, too tired to move. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the light he blinked and saw the person that had thrown him and his mattress into the air. A slender girl in a white shirt and blue, square-patterned, skirt was staring at him angrily with her hands against her hips. She was looming over him and the light brown hair that was whipped behind her ears made her look all the more menacing.


    ¡°I see that you¡¯re as screwed as always, schools in an hour and if you¡¯re not ready then I¡¯m leaving without you.¡±


    He poked his tongue out at her, ¡°I see that you¡¯re as freakishly strong as always.¡±


    A pillow suddenly materialised in front of his eyes as Sarah threw the weapon she had grabbed before into his face. He jumped into the air to dodge it and wobbled as his feet landed on the ground and he stood up. Before he could pat himself down to see if he was okay more projectiles flew towards him and smacked onto the floor around him.


    ¡°Hey those are my clothes!¡±


    James hastily bent over to pick up the school clothing that had been strewn across the floor and felt a slight breeze against his back. Turning to look at his window he exhaled in exasperation as he saw that it was wide open. He picked up the last of his clothes and looked at the girl.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just come through the door like an ordinary person?¡±


    Sarah rolled her eyes at his words, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t wake up if I did, besides its easier this way.¡±


    He looked at the clothes that she had just thrown at him and frowned. They were warm to the point of almost being hot despite the room itself being fairly chilly. He moved across the room and closed his window, then walked towards the door. As he passed Sarah he ran a slightly chubby hand over her hair and she let out a little squeak.


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    She nodded while grinning and he sighed. Just by feeling his school uniform he could tell that Sarah had ironed it just before coming over. She had clearly gotten up early and snuck inside his room to take them before leaving again. It would have meant waking up at least an hour earlier than her usual time to do it.


    He sighed.


    Sometimes she seemed like such a nice person that he didn¡¯t know what to do. They had been neighbours for nineteen years, as long as they had lived and childhood friends for almost as long. Even if he wanted to keep her out so that she wouldn¡¯t do this he couldn¡¯t bring himself to lock his window that was almost parallel to her own room¡¯s window. He had tried once and she had kept knocking until his mother had yelled at him to open it for her.


    As he walked to the door he noticed that she was twiddling her thumbs, ¡°I¡¯ll make breakfast after my shower.¡±


    She smiled in contentment and he almost allowed a grin to cross his face before hiding it behind his usual expressionless self. They had been friends for so long that he was able to read her like a book, she had clearly skipped breakfast just to iron his clothes, or more than likely just so that she could taste his cooking. As he moved down the small corridor he moved a door back and grabbed a towel from the small cupboard he had opened up.


    He turned into the shower room and Sarah rushed by him towards the kitchen and living room area. It wasn¡¯t any great shame of his to admit that he knew how to cook, and pretty well too. He had started learning from a young age after a horrible incident had imprinted itself in his conscious and subconscious mind.


    During their home economics class in primary school Sarah had given him and their home economics teacher some of her cooking and after they had both come back from the hospital he had vowed that if he could help it he would never allow her cooking to see the light of day again. In turn, he himself had learnt to cook so that she didn¡¯t have to and she came around for breakfast, lunch and dinner almost every day. In fact, it was such a common site for their neighbours to see her entering their house from the window that they had long ago stopped calling the police whenever they saw a shadow moving into the house in the morning.


    ¡°Oh Sarah!¡±


    As James entered the shower room and closed the door behind him he heard the rustling of clothes and shuffling of feet as his mother greeted their guest. She wasn¡¯t even slightly surprised that Sarah had somehow gotten into the house without going through the front door since it was just instinct now to assume that she had gotten in through his room. Any and all sounds of their conversation were drowned out as the water began to flow from the tap and his black hair stuck to his ears as he wet his hair. He glanced at the mirror before entering the water fully and saw that the black bruises that had marred his tanned skin a few days ago were already gone.


    ¡°Oh I¡¯m so glad we have you here to wake up James, he would probably be late to school every day if it weren¡¯t for you.¡±


    Sarah grinned as James¡¯s mother went through the same routine of praising Sarah that she did every morning. ¡°You know I always want to wake him up just like you do but by the time I¡¯m awake it¡¯s already too late, waking up late is a family trait you know. Oh I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do if it wasn¡¯t for Howard.¡±


    ¡°Oh, Ines, how is Howard? I haven¡¯t seen him lately.¡±


    Ines glanced at Sarah at the mention of her husband¡¯s name, he worked the early shift in the mornings and although he sometimes came for a late dinner Sarah hardly ever saw him. Even after years of visiting the house she could count the amount of times she had seen him for more than a few hours on two hands. She knew that he was the only reason Ines was always awake when she came by. Once he had worked an overnight shift and Sarah had returned after school for lunch to find that Ines was still asleep at four in the afternoon.


    ¡°Well he¡¯s a busy man Sarah,¡± Ines jovially pulled out a chair from the table and motioned for Sarah to sit down, ¡°Business has been booming lately so he hasn¡¯t been able to spend much time at home.¡± A hint of sadness tinged her voice and Sarah shook her head as well.


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡±


    Ines pursed her lips in a thin smile and let out a light laugh, ¡°Well I guess it can¡¯t be milk and cookies at the Fernandez household all the time.¡± She set three plates down on the table and sat down patiently, they were both waiting for James to finish his shower and cook them breakfast. ¡°Besides,¡± Ines looked up at Sarah, ¡°Howard likes the work a lot more than the quiet times. He¡¯s definitely a lot more energetic lately, I¡¯m sure you know what I mean.¡± She winked at Sarah and the girl blushed slightly.


    ¡°Oh ho, why¡¯s a pretty girl like you blushing at something like this? You¡¯re so innocent Sarah.¡±


    A glint appeared in Ines¡¯ eyes and Sarah groaned. Since they had talked to each other almost every day for as long as she could remember, Ines had become more like a close friend than her friend¡¯s mother. But she was the kind of friend that liked to snoop and play matchmaker whenever she could.


    ¡°Honey if you¡¯re waiting for that thing over there then you¡¯ll be here forever, the boy¡¯s as thick as a brick.¡± She pointed at the room where they could hear the sound of water hitting the ground as James showered, and then she jiggled her chest playfully while making kissing motions ¡°You¡¯ve got to make your own move. Be that strong, independent woman that your mother¡¯s always telling me you are. Besides you work so hard for that body,¡± she eyed Sarah up and down, ¡°Honestly it¡¯s going to waste and if you don¡¯t make haste-¡±


    ¡®Oh crap.¡¯


    Sarah groaned and tuned out the woman¡¯s words as Ines began to rhyme. She knew that once Ines started with her bad puns she wouldn¡¯t stop until James came back and she was distracted by his cooking. One after the other the bad puns that would make a full grown man cry exited her mouth and Sarah wondered how she managed to come up with new ones every time they met.


    ¡°Oh god, please stop.¡±


    ¡°I heard you dance,¡± Ines ignored Sarah as she once again winked at her, ¡°Why not dance to his pants?¡±


    ¡°That one didn¡¯t even rhyme!¡±


    ¡°But you didn¡¯t deny it either.¡±


    ¡°Deny what?¡±


    Sarah and Ines turned around as James came back into the room. As always his showers were incredibly fast and Sarah could swear that most of the time he spent in that room was taking his clothes off and putting them on again rather than actually showering. She admired his school uniform and how clean it looked, her own handy work. To her chagrin she saw that they were wrinkled in some places. It had probably happened when the clothes had crumpled on the ground.


    ¡®I probably shouldn¡¯t have thrown them at him.¡¯ She thought regretfully.


    James looked calmly at the plates that the women had lain out in front of them and a small smile crossed his face at their expectant expressions. He shrugged his shoulders as though he was accepting that he had no choice than to cook their food.


    ¡°All right then girls, is the regular breakfast good with you?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Ines and Sarah grinned as they spoke at the same time and James rolled his eyes at them.


    ~~~~


    Inside a massive building, various people in multi-coloured shirts and uniforms were idling around or chatting to friends while eating their dinner. Each and every single one of them was an employee of the OmniGame Corporation, one of the multiple gaming companies dedicated to creating virtual reality games to put out to the public.


    The various staff members were coloured in terms of the sections they worked in. Public relations employees were wearing navy blue blazers which were nice to view and quite suave and sophisticated, the manual labourers that maintained the building were dressed in bright orange jumpsuits and various programmers were designated yellow t-shirts and allowed to wear pants of their choice.


    Because it was already seven o¡¯clock most of the employees that were doing the night shift were lining up at the buildings canteen in order to grab the freshly made food before it cooled down and grew soggy. Although the company itself didn¡¯t express any differentiation in treatment between its employees, any outside observer could come in and instantly realise that there were far more groups of yellow, orange and blue than there were groups of mixed colours.


    ¡°Hey Howard!¡±


    As a voice rang out loudly across the room, a man wearing the yellow shirt of a programmer, Howard, turned around to face the source of the shout. His gaze rested on a man in a gray suit, casually moving around the tables of the canteen and startling the nearby staff, their reactions causing Howard¡¯s mouth to turn upwards in a grin. As the man drew closer to him Howard spotted a familiar face, freckled and looking as clean and bare as a baby¡¯s bottom. If he hadn¡¯t known the man since they were both five years old he could have sworn that he was only in his early twenties, rather than his late forties. Howard gathered as much air into his lungs as he could and shouted a reply back to the man.


    ¡°Joey! What do you want you bastard? You¡¯re not coming here to give me more work are you?¡±


    At Howard¡¯s words several of the staff members that had noticed the gray suited man turned and looked at him in surprise. Despite the fact that there were many people wearing blue, orange and yellow uniforms, there was only one gray suited man in the entire building, the Director of this branch of the OmniGame Corporation, Joel ¡®Joey¡¯ Tour.


    The building had several types of employees but in terms of the top brass that actually made decisions there were only a select few, at this branch there was only Joey and the three managers working underneath him. If Joey wanted to he could have this yellow shirted man fired in a second and no one would bat an eyelid. In fact, generally the programmers were seen as the most dispensable of the employees at OmniGame. Programmers were being churned out into the work force every day and most would kill to gain a comfortable position like a job at this corporation.


    At the mention of the name ¡®Joey¡¯ many staff members that were eating their dinners turned their heads and stared in amazement, the director was rarely seen even during company meetings let alone at the cafeteria during dinner time but everybody recognised him straight away.


    Then they too turned to face the man that had so casually addressed him. Did he want to get fired? Several of the onlookers had already decided that this programmer¡¯s fate had been sealed.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Why is a yellow shirt being so disrespectful to that executive?¡±


    ¡°Just watch, he¡¯ll be fired in a second.¡±


    Their looks slowly turned from annoyance to shock as the large man the Director was walking towards suddenly stood up from where he was eating, walked up to Joey and slapped him hard on the back. The Director tumbled forward, almost falling onto the ground and saved himself by ungracefully grabbing a nearby table corner and banging his hand on it to steady his body. Before the Director could react, Howard crossed his arms and repeated himself.


    ¡°Hey you bastard, I heard that you¡¯re sending more work my way. Life¡¯s not like a box of chocolates, I know exactly what I¡¯m going to get here and that¡¯s a lot less time to spend with my family.¡±


    The nearby staff held their breaths as Joey took a second to recover from the shock of the heavy smack. Contrary to the expectations of his employees that were expecting a bloodbath of a lecture and a quick firing of the programmer, a large grin spread across Joey¡¯s face and he laughed.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I have more work for you. But I have a couple of incentives that might convince you to take the job.¡±


    Once the words left his mouth Joey looked around the canteen as though noticing for the first time that he was standing in the middle of a group of employees that were staring wide eyed at the scene happening in front of them. Joey stood up and firmly brushed his hands down his suit, smoothing any wrinkles and adopted a semi-annoyed expression, completely losing the grin that had crossed his face only moments before. He briskly motioned for Howard to follow him and the large man sighed and moved to follow the Director.


    Howard had already finished eating so it was really no skin off his back. As soon as they exited into the long metallic hallway of the building he turned around to face the Director, who he could only see as his good friend, Joey.


    ¡°You always were the smarter one. What sort of incentives are we talking about here?¡±


    Howard dreaded the thought of being given a bigger workload, but the mention of ¡®incentives¡¯ had made him curious. Although the two walking down the hall seemed as different as two people could be, one tall and rough looking and the other small and dignified, they had in fact been best friends for years.


    So it was incredibly strange that Joey would seek him out during dinner time rather than just waiting for him to go back to his programming department. In fact, they had kept their relationship as best friends a secret for most of their time working at the company for fear of Joey being seen as showing favouritism towards a single person. Howard himself was the head of his programming department, a small drop in the ocean compared to the massive OmniGame Corporations overall employee number but still a comfortable position to be in. Should the company think that this was due to Joey¡¯s influence and not Howard¡¯s excellent leadership and programming skills then it might harm their reputations even if the accusations were untrue.


    Despite all this, Howard didn¡¯t hesitate to follow Joey through the metal halls of the building. The pair walked side by side and eventually reached an elevator which would take them to the sixth floor of the building. As the dull music of the elevator filled the small space Howard looked at his long-time friend.


    ¡°You know I¡¯m basically a foot taller than you right? When are you going to fix that?¡±


    Joey laughed.


    ¡®I see Howard is as blunt as ever.¡¯


    He hadn¡¯t been given much time to talk with his friend since he had joined the company¡¯s executive position, and this was including the fact that they were neighbours. He was simply working too many hours in his job to be able to make time for any social relationship. Even his daughter was spending more time eating dinner at the neighbour¡¯s house than with him.


    ¡°I have no interest in body modifications, besides what¡¯s the use of being taller? All I ever hear from you is complaints about how you can¡¯t enter rooms properly because you keep banging your head on the entry way or how annoying it is that you have to bend down to kiss your wife.¡±


    ¡°Well I complain but I actually really like it. Besides you¡¯re a director for one of the largest companies in the world right now, you need the height to add to your presence and confidence.¡±


    ¡°A single branch of the company,¡± Joey reminded Howard and the man shrugged, his yellow t-shirt bulging as his muscles threatened to break through it. ¡°And besides that¡¯s complete nonsense. Nobody has judged a person from their looks for over two hundred years now.¡± He looked up at Howard as they continued to walk down the metal hallways, ¡°Besides I don¡¯t see you sitting in my director seat right now.


    Howard chuckled, ¡°Ouch, that¡¯s a low blow. You know I¡¯m perfectly happy doing what I am, I¡¯m living the dream.¡±


    Even though Howard was chuckling Joey¡¯s face had adopted a frowning expression. His friend was one of the smartest people he knew, in terms of book knowledge he was perhaps a few levels below Joey but Joey knew that his strength laid in his street smarts. He knew how to talk to people, he was perfect at organising large projects and he seemed to radiate a charisma that made him a natural born leader. If Joey was the cool, calculating type that treated each and every staff member like they were cogs in a machine then Howard was the man that instinctively drew people towards him and made them work not because they were important cogs in a machine but because they were members of a family that helped each other out.


    They were complete opposites in every way.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re probably wondering why I brought you here. We¡¯ll I¡¯ll need that magic talent of public speaking you have.¡±


    Joey was of course referring to Howard¡¯s speech making ability. If Joey practiced a speech for hours he wouldn¡¯t be prepared to say it out loud in a meeting, Howard on the other hand could be asked to do a speech on the spot and still have it come out as perfect as the companies writers could have scripted. His ability was so great and uncanny that Joey had always joked that instead of speaking Howard was actually hypnotising the people listening to him instead of talking to them.


    ¡®If only he had joined the public relation department.¡¯


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t like to talk to the higher ups.¡±


    Howard was shaking his head as he walked but Joey understood where he was coming from. He himself was simply the director of one of OmniGame¡¯s many branches and Howard was even lower in the ranking ladder with the simple position of being the head of his programming department. The work they laid into the latest virtual reality game the company was working on, Eternity, was simply a small drop of water in the vast pond of code that thousands of employees were adding to everyday.


    If Joey needed Howard to talk to the people that were above Joey in terms of position then it would be because Joey wanted to pitch an idea to them, and most likely that idea would involve a lot of hard work and stress and be unsuccessful in the end.


    ¡°Besides,¡± Howard looked at his friend as they exited the elevator, ¡°Don¡¯t you have your blue suits for this sort of thing? What¡¯s the use of public relations if you get your programmers to do all the talking?¡±


    Before Joey could reply they finally stopped and found themselves facing a large, silver door. For the most part it was fairly simply but engraved on the front was the OmniGame logo, three triangles interlocked, and Joey reached into his pocket to grab the key card that would open the door.


    *Swish*


    ¡°Well for this thing I want someone that does actual work on the new game to do the presentation. And who else is more involved in our companies work than the head of one of our programming departments?¡±


    The door slid open and the two walked in, Howard stretched his arms and walked straight to the comfortable chair that Joey had ordered for people that were going to be waiting to talk to him. Joey quickly walked over to a box behind his desk and bent down to rummage through its contents. When he came back up Howard was surprised to see a small, furry creature in his arms.


    ¡°You¡¯re planning to bribe me with a puppy?¡±


    Joey smiled, ¡°God no, I think James would forget to feed it after a few days. I couldn¡¯t sentence the poor thing to death like that. This is for Sarah.¡±


    Howard nodded, he couldn¡¯t deny that his son was likely to start something but forget about it after a few days or weeks. He was exactly the same as his father in that respect.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure Sarah will love it.¡±


    Joey brought the puppy over to Howard and the man let the little creature lick his hands.


    ¡°So you¡¯re getting your daughter a puppy, does this mean you¡¯re going to give something to my son?¡±


    Joey nodded and Howard noticed that there was something else in his hands, a large electronic chip that looked like it belonged inside a computer rather than somebodies hands. There weren¡¯t many things that could truly surprise Howard when it came to company work but his eyes widened as he instantly recognised the chip.


    ¡°Is that a neural interface Joey?¡±


    Howard realised his question had come out rather harshly and turned the chair around so that it was facing the Director fully. If there was one thing he hadn¡¯t expected to see for at least another few days it was this chip, the thing he had called a neural interface.


    In fact, it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that this chip was the single most important thing in this building. This was because, theoretically, it allowed the person using it to enter OmniGame¡¯s latest virtual reality game, Eternity.


    Joey smiled at Howard¡¯s reaction and passed the chip to him, making sure to keep the puppy¡¯s curious tongue well away from the electronic piece.


    The chip itself was fairly large, about five centimetres long and wide, but its capabilities couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Every day for the last ten years the entire OmniGame Corporation had spent billions of dollars and sent tens of thousands of employees to do what every game company dreamed of doing, creating the latest and greatest virtual reality game. All of their efforts could be accessed with a single device, this neural interface.


    ¡°Give it to James; I know he shares your passion for video games.¡±


    Howard stared at the chip in his hands. In the beginning of the development of the chip the company theorised that a person could simply connect the neural interface to their neck or body and they would be able to access the game whenever they wanted to. But over the course of time they had found that instead it would be easier, cheaper and more realistic to insert the chip into a computer pod which a person would enter into in order to play the game. The pods themselves were easy to make and had already been around for years as a type of ¡®new age¡¯ game console but as for the chip, that had taken the most time to develop. The neural interface represented millions of hours of the various company branches employee¡¯s work and effort, all condensed into a single form. Perhaps Howard was one of the few people that really knew its value as the head of a programming department that had spent years of their own lives to make this game as perfect as they could.


    But Eternity hadn¡¯t been released for the public yet.


    Something as sensitive and well developed as Eternity had naturally been given the utmost priority in terms of protection, various details regarding the games content and playstyle had been kept hidden from the public. Should any of that information be leaked then it could be sold for millions of dollars online to the rabid gamers waiting for Eternity¡¯s much anticipated release, or even worse, by rival companies wishing to gain some sort of foothold in the game for their own reasons.


    As though reading Howards mind Joey shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we plan to release in a few days and there¡¯s no way that word will get out about this. It¡¯s actually for my own use to test the game but you know I have no interest for these things anymore. There are several thousand beta testers working around the world, one more won¡¯t make a difference.¡±


    ¡®Joey you bastard.¡¯


    Howard knew that his friend was lying. Since they were young Joey had spent his time studying harder than anybody else he knew, the man was undeniably a genius but when mixed with hard work his talent only shone harder. And the only thing that had kept them both together this long had been video games. Even during his university years, even if he had had the important test of his life approaching Joey would always find time to play with Howard on one game or another. He and Howard had both joined OmniGame because they wanted to be close to video games for the rest of their lives. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that Joey had been driven by games to become the successful man he was now.


    And even though they were both a part of the development of Eternity, with the amount of people working on it, it was simply impossible for them to know everything about it. Howard estimated that between them they had knowledge of about one percent of the game and this was still a tremendous amount. If Joey gave him the neural interface it would probably mean that has would go several days without playing Eternity and by the time he entered it he would only be one of many. There was no experience that could compare with being one of the first people to enter a game.


    ¡°This idea of yours,¡± Howard carefully tucked the neural interface into his pocket, the actual product was built to be sturdy so he didn¡¯t run the risk of damaging it, ¡°Better be pretty damn brilliant.¡±


    Howard didn¡¯t comment about any of the things he had been thinking. The fact that Joey had even gotten a neural interface meant that he had pre-ordered it from the executives of the main company branch. But Howard also knew that when Joey set his mind to something he would follow it through until the end. If this idea Joey had come up with was so important that for the next few days Joey would be too busy to play Eternity then Howard would gladly help him see it through.


    Howard crossed his arms and smiled. He would give James the chip as soon as he got home, but for now there were things to be done.


    ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s get to work.¡±

 Chapter 2: Landi and Derek

    ¡°Hurry up or we¡¯re going to be late.¡±


    ¡°All right, all right, just wait up a second.¡±


    Huffing and wheezing from the long walk from his house to the nearby high school which he attended, James was trying desperately to catch up to Sarah. Who had spritely run a few meters ahead of him encouraging him to move faster as she did every morning. Even though James had made this trip hundreds of times over the course of a few years, his body had never quite gotten used to the tough uphill climb they had to make in order to reach their high school.


    Their high school, Spring Valley Heights, lay on the topmost mountain in the suburb. The people who looked upon it could sense a faint feeling of superiority, as though those who were occupying the building were using the high position of the buildings to look down upon those people below, viewing them as if they were less than ants.


    James himself was currently feeling this pressure as he looked up towards the buildings which lay in front of them. Even from a few hundred meters away he could clearly make out the ancient brick walls and large opaque rainbow coloured glass windows which seems to exude confidence and demand attention with an aura born from its years of existence.


    ¡°Do you want to take a break?¡±


    Startled, James tore his concentration away from the buildings in front of him and found a pair of light brown eyes staring at him with concern. James could see that Sarah was mentally kicking herself, thinking that she had been pushing James far too far this morning. They had been rushing up the mountain because they were cutting it close to being late for school.


    ¡°I¡¯m not that unfit.¡± James said with a grin.


    Although James was grinning on the outside, he couldn¡¯t deny that throughout his body he could feel the rough sensation of heat coursing through his veins and emitting from his skin. It wasn¡¯t that he had been running or doing extreme exercises, but the sudden stop after so much uphill walking had caused him to become fully aware of it. It a sensation familiar to having pins and needles in his feet after sitting down for a long time except more uncomfortable due to only being able to feel the heat across his body.


    ¡®Man, I¡¯m really unfit.¡¯ James thought to himself.


    Normally, had he been walking with anybody else they would have naturally made a comment or small joke about how he should probably practice walking a little more or even about how after so many years of walking up the mountain he should have been used to it by now. But Sarah simply stood around, occasionally glancing James to see if he was ready to continue walking. Since he had been little James had been an avid gamer and if he wasn¡¯t playing games then his spare time was used researching other games or studying.


    Sarah had long ago given up on trying to convince James to stop playing his video games even just a little bit less. In this respect, his stubbornness was exactly like her father¡¯s and his father¡¯s in that their lives seem to revolve around playing video games. Of course, she wasn¡¯t so much concern for his well-being and fitness as much as she secretly wanted him to spend more time with her. James himself always spent at least two hours gaming after they got back from high school every day, which was one of the main reasons Sarah went back to her house and only came over again for lunch.


    After a minute of resting James was ready to go again. The pair continued to walk up the mountain and as they drew closer to the school James couldn¡¯t help but admire it as he did every single day. From afar the tall and regal buildings could just barely be seen past the various trees along the path but the view from up close was completely different.


    The entrance to Spring Valley Heights was an incredibly high four meter gate which looked as ancient as the buildings behind it. It was made of bricks and mortar as well as the actual gate door being made of iron bars which spiralled upwards in an intricate pattern and finally ended pointing upwards with spearheads that could have been sharp enough to tip the devil¡¯s trident itself.


    The gate naturally lay open for any and all students who wish to come inside during the day. Since it was the morning there were little to no guards on duty to survey the various crowds of students that were coming inside for their average daily routines of study and procrastination.


    As they walked towards the crowd of white shirts and gray pants James noted that various students were flaunting their pristine and new uniforms and had turn their heads to view the pair. Sarah was considered one of the beauties of Spring Valley High and naturally James noticed that the majority of the heads that had turned belonged to male students.


    Several had already begun cockily undoing their ties; as though their casual disregard of school uniform protocol would somehow make them look incredibly appealing to this member of the opposite sex with whom they were so interested. James also saw a few female heads turn and noticed that he knew all of them, especially one with blonde hair that was viewing him with disdain and a fiery redhead that was smiling as the pair came into view.


    All of the girls viewing them were friends of Sarah, and although they knew that Sarah and James were close childhood friends and acknowledged his existence the two groups generally shied away from each other due to the difference in their social standings. It wasn¡¯t to say that James was poor and the girls were rich but instead, that the girls were considered some of the prettiest in the school whereas James himself was one of the unpopular crowd, being slightly chubby and also an avid gamer with no interest in sports.


    In particular, the blond haired girl viewing him in disdain seemed to hold a particular grudge against him simply for existing. From the moment she had met him it had been clear where she placed his social standing in comparison to herself, with him at the bottom along with bugs and other horrid creatures and she on top.


    Her name was Stacey and she could be considered the other best friend of Sarah, she and Sarah had been in the same class of high school for five years now and in that time they had grown as close as they could possibly be while James and Stacey had grown to hate each other just as much. Perhaps it was only the fact that he had been there first to be Sarah¡¯s friends or the fact that he and Sarah seem to share an inseparable bond which she didn¡¯t have with Sarah. Stacey had never tried to be friendly to James and although they were not openly antagonistic towards each other there was always a certain enmity which lingered in the air when they were close to each other.


    James, in turn, had never ever tried to turn Sarah again Stacey and had never even commented on their silent feud to her since Sarah hadn¡¯t noticed it in all the years they had been together. This was simply because James was secretly incredibly happy that Sarah could have someone as close as Stacey to hang out with during her high school years, he himself knew the pain of not having any friends for a long period of time since he had only gained his first friend three years into high school. Although it was a pity that he and Stacey could never get along he would never try to take such a blessing away from Sarah who had always been his friend and who he felt deserved an incredibly good and memory filled high school life.


    ¡°James! Sarah!¡±


    As a voice called out to him James turned away from his thoughts on Stacey and came face to face with some freckles and a pair of dark blue eyes. Wisps of fiery red hair seemed to cascade across the girls cheeks so naturally that James couldn¡¯t help but take a small breath at the beauty in front of him.


    ¡°Oh, Lindsay.¡± Sarah seemed to lose some of her enthusiasm as Lindsay, the girl with a red hair, drew closer to them with a large smile on her face.


    As Lindsay drew closer James could see from the various looks on the boy¡¯s faces nearby that it was their turn to draw slight breaths as what was considered the number two beauty in the school walked up and stood beside the person that could arguably have been in any other position in the top five.


    Suddenly conscious of so many stares, James made to move forward and out of sight since they had already arrived at school and really there was nothing keeping him from staying together with Sarah now that Stacey was nearby. But as he turned to move Lindsay lightly tapped on the shoulder and a playful expression entered her eyes.


    ¡°Hey there Jamesey, where are you going? Don¡¯t we both have home room together, why don¡¯t we just there together?¡±


    As though a fire had been put out nearby James suddenly felt a chill cross over his spine and he and Lindsay turned to face the source of the chill, finding only Sarah standing there with a slight smile on her face. In response to the smile Lindsay simply shrugged and as though some unspoken agreement had been made between them Sarah suddenly moved in between James and Lindsay and the trio walked towards their home room.


    James himself was feeling extremely uncomfortable under the stares of the various guys and girls that seem to be telling him, in no small amount, that he didn¡¯t belong in this group. In fact, James himself wasn¡¯t even sure why he was currently walking together with Lindsay and Sarah. It seemed that no matter how many times he tried to avoid it this same occurrence happened on a regular basis. He had even insisted that he and Sarah separate as they got closer to the school campus but she wouldn¡¯t listen to him.


    Like Stacey, Lindsay was also high school friend of Sarah¡¯s but unlike Stacey, Lindsay had never shown even the slightest disdain for James. He had never personally been able to consider himself one of her friends, yet she had always acted like he was.


    Lindsay was the number two beauty in the entire school and from the moment James had met her she had never acted the part for a single moment. Whereas James would have expected somebody with such a grand reputation among the guys and even the girls to be arrogant, cunning and perhaps even little manipulative, Lindsay was none of these things. In fact, Lindsay was every bit as flippant and outgoing as Sarah was with him. In the first place it had been her actions that had led to them becoming acquainted.


    A couple of years ago Lindsay had come into his class, stood in front of his desk, leant over and loudly introduced herself to him causing him several seconds of anguish as he was accosted with a feeling of confusion. Why was this beauty was talking to him? At the same time he could feel the death stares of several people in his class, the first of many to come over the years.


    It had taken him a few moments to realise that the playful smile lingering on her lush and full lips was meant for him rather than anyone else, it had been only later that he had found out that she had also been Sarah¡¯s friend. That had been three years ago and since then Lindsay hadn¡¯t hesitated to take every opportunity she could to say hello to James whenever she saw him, making life at high school quite uncomfortable for someone like him who wasn¡¯t used all the attention. Even though Lindsay had such a kind and caring, as well as playful, personality that seemed to match Sarah¡¯s, the two hadn¡¯t gotten along as well she and Stacey had for some reason. James had never been able to figure out why.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡±


    Once again startled out of his thoughts, James felt a momentary lapse in his concentration as Lindsay put her face only a few centimeters from his own and clasped her hands behind her back in a way that greatly accentuated her full breasts. Struggling, and failing, to keep his eyes from wandering to any indecent part of her body, James found himself looking into the death stare that Sarah was shooting at him from behind the locks of Lindsay¡¯s flowing red hair.


    Put on the spot and with nowhere to run he said the first thing that came to mind, ¡°I¡¯m thinking about how I wish this day would end already.¡±


    Even though he didn¡¯t think that he had been particularly comedic, Lindsay let out a cute giggle and he could see a smile threatening to break out across Sarah¡¯s lips. Several of the nearby boys let out small gasps as the courtyard past the entrance gate of the school seemed to light up momentarily with the girls glowing radiance and as though this set off some sort of trigger, a small group of guys began to noisily walk towards the trio.


    ¡°Hey there pretties, what are we smiling about today?¡±


    As the group drew closer their leader called out to them familiarly, Sarah and Lindsay stopped. As they crossed paths, James had to force himself to stop walking, no matter how much he wanted to continue. He took a few seconds to look the newcomer up and down. The person was someone who he would recognise from a mile away, a boy named Landi.


    Hailing from a European country, Landi was one of those boys who was blessed with traits that other guys desired and girls lusted for. With mocha skin and a naturally skinny frame which seem to blend naturally with his perfectly toned and shaped six pack all covered with unblemished skin. There wasn¡¯t a single girl at Spring Valley High that didn¡¯t have a secret crush on him as far as James knew.


    He was also a complete jackass.


    Although Landi would never show it in front of the beautiful girls that surrounded him, James knew that Landi was the kind of guy that was used to being spoilt and having everything that he desired simply being given to him. He was the kind of guy that viewed girls like as any other collectable or trophy, something to be shown off or displayed. Landi himself was the son of one of the directors of a branch of the gigantic OmniGame Corporation and so his family was easily one of the richest and most influential in the area and possibly the richest in the entire school.


    That being said, there had always been one girl that he had never been able to influence and that was Sarah. It wasn¡¯t that Sarah was dense to these sorts of things such as love or simply being hit on, but whenever Landi had tried to make a move on her she had simply laughed gently and brushed him off with a smile, it was one of the things that James most respected her for. Since she herself was also the daughter of a branch director of the OmniGame Corporation, Landi¡¯s economic position in society had never really influenced her and for some reason James had never seen her take an interest in any guys throughout her entire time at high school. If he were to count the amount of male friends she had he could probably list them all on one hand with fingers to spare.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Landi walked closer towards them and several of his friends shot James dirty looks. As though receiving a hidden signal between them, several of them immediately walked over to James and created a physical barrier between him and the girls, under the pretence of greeting him. Landi himself saw the actions of his henchmen and a large grin grew on his face.


    He turned back towards the girls and gently led them away from James with conversation. James was forced to watch as the group slowly drew away from him towards the school buildings. After a few steps, both Sarah and Lindsay shot looks back at James to follow them but he was still stuck behind a wall of male students. He shot them both a look which told them to move on because he would be fine.


    ¡°Getting a little too comfortable for your own good, aren¡¯t you Grub?¡±


    James clenched his teeth as the girls finally left his side and their gentle auras were replaced by the smelling breath and ugly looks of Landi¡¯s best friend, Derek. Also belonging to an extremely rich family with strong connections to the OmniGame Corporation, Derek stuck to Landi like chewing gum onto a shoe; and unless he was in front of women he was the most despicable kind of human. It wasn¡¯t so much that he would swear or even act uncouth, it was simply that Derek was the kind to threaten, beat up and make people¡¯s lives a living hell if he so much as felt like it. Not because they deserved it but simply because he felt like it was a privilege for others to give his life entertainment.


    His goons formed a protective wall around Derek and James, although from the outside it would look as though nothing was happening within, James knew that even if people noticed, they would most likely not care about someone like him and simply continue walking to class.


    ¡°Listen, Derek-¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it James, you know what¡¯s coming next.¡±


    Derek said these words as though there were more a statement and a fact rather than a suggestion and James had experienced what was coming next so many times over the years that he no longer tried to fight it. His shoulders slumped in defeat as the goons lead James through the various small alleyways the populated the school. Due to its gigantic size James knew that it was unlikely that anyone would come across them.


    ¡°I thought I told you not to meet up with Lindsay and Sarah. Again James¡­ really? Are you just trying to be rebellious now or are you genuinely stupid?¡±


    Although James had had no say in whether or not Lindsay or Sarah hung out with him, he knew that no matter how much he objected the same fate would await him. Unfortunately it seemed like Derek didn¡¯t want to punch a sandbag today, he wanted the thrill of the hunt.


    With a single sharp movement Derek lifted his hand behind James¡¯s head and grabbed a fistful of his black hair while shouting loudly into his ear, ¡°are you disrespecting me? Is that what this is about? Listen, I gave you a lot of chances that you¡¯ve abused and i¡¯m going to give you one last warning.¡± James let out a little cry of pain as Derek twisted his hair and forcefully pulled several strands out, making it as painful as possible without leaving any lasting damage, ¡°stay away from Lindsay and especially Sarah. Or else.  Next time I won¡¯t be so kind.¡±


    With these final words Derek let go of James¡¯s hair but this wasn¡¯t the end, as soon as Derek begun to walk away so that he wouldn¡¯t be late to homeroom the various guys that come with him, six in total, surrounded James and pushed him down onto his knees, making sure his shirt didn¡¯t touch the ground so that it wouldn¡¯t get dirty. As soon as he felt his knees connect to the concrete he also felt a fist connecting with his stomach, it was closely followed by a kick to his ribs and another harder kick to his inner thighs.


    Unfortunately, both of James¡¯s arms were being held back by two of the guys and he could only watch helplessly as the boys kicked him only where the teachers and other people wouldn¡¯t be able to see the marks. Every single one of these boys belonged to incredibly rich families and although they hung out with Landi and Derek in order collect some of their leftover fame and benefits, they too held little value for James¡¯s life.


    They mercilessly beat him, not because he had done anything wrong to them or even because Derek had ordered them to, the only reason they did it was to relieve their own stress.


    In James¡¯s view they were the worst kind of human, unfortunately, to the rest of society somebody like him was worth less than all of these boys and if he complained about what they were doing they would simply deny it. The staff too would turn a blind eye to the incidents as long as their private school was being funded by these children¡¯s families and even if they should choose not to ignore it, with the rich kid¡¯s family influences they would easily be able to turn the incident around and it would be James who was being suspended or expelled.


    And so once they were done James did the only thing he could do, he ran away. No tears threatened to break from his eyes and the various students leaving homeroom didn¡¯t pay him the slightest of attentions as he casually walked out of the school gates. To them James was exactly the same as it always had been, quiet and antisocial. They had no idea of the things that were going through his head or the pain that he was feeling as he briskly walked away from the school and down its long winding mountain road, the tall, regal buildings seemingly mocking him with their false promise of acceptance into a higher community.


    To be honest it wasn¡¯t such a shock that there was a student leaving at this time, compulsory attendance at school had been abolished several hundred years ago ever since the curriculum and knowledge acquired by the human race had become too much for single people to learn a lifetime. Nowadays school was seen more as a way to socialize rather than learn, but on days like these James knew that it was more likely that he was only going to get beaten up even more if he stayed.


    The only reason he had gone to such a high end high school was because it was close by to his home and his father had wanted him to attend the same school that he had attended in his childhood. But James was sure that his father had not experienced any of the things that James was experiencing right now.


    James was huffing and puffing when he finally reached his home but to his surprise as soon as he walked through the wooden doors he came face to face with his father, Howard, who was looking at him with his arms crossed and a slight expression of annoyance on his face.


    Unlike his son, Howard was an incredibly bulky man and any layers of fat that remained on his body was covered and replaced by muscles so that it would forever be tucked out of sight. Despite this, Howard had a pair of kind eyes that spoke volumes about the gentle soul that resided in that hulk-like body.


    ¡°James,¡± he stared long and hard at his son who had just arrived, ¡°why don¡¯t you and I have a little talk.¡±


    James felt his heart drop and a small ball of weight gathering in his stomach which could only be described as a feeling of dread, he watched his father pull up a chair in the living room and he took a few steps could pull up a chair and face his father. To his surprise his father didn¡¯t begin to scold him for missing out on school, instead, he held out a hand and with a single motion lifted James¡¯ sleeve and took a good long look at the bruise that had already begun to form. As though shocked by some revelation his eyes widened but even through his shock he didn¡¯t let go.


    ¡°I ¨C I had had no idea that this was happening,¡± before James could reply Howard lifted his free hand to stop him, ¡°now before you say anything, this is completely my fault, I know that I haven¡¯t been here much lately especially now that I¡¯ve been working the night shift more and more, but I would have thought ¨C I would have hoped ¨C that you would have told me that something like this was happening to you.¡±


    ¡°Listen, dad, it¡¯s really no big deal.¡±


    ¡°No big deal?! Who are the little bastards that did this to you?¡±


    James unconsciously moved his body away from his father as Howard suddenly let out what could only be described as a large amount of killing intent. But as soon as it had come Howard calmed down and it was gone again. Instead James was surprised to see an incredibly large grin break out across his father¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t the kind of grin that spoke of happiness, but instead James saw that the grin was the only thing suppressing his father¡¯s rage at the moment. As though reading his mind, Howard moved his hands in a behind his back as though he were stretching to relax.


    ¡°Well, we can have a talk about this later,¡± James breathed a sigh of relief and a frown crossed over Howard¡¯s face, ¡°A very, very serious talk. Actually, the reason I¡¯m home so early was because I was busy setting up something that Joey gave me yesterday as a gift to you.¡±


    Howard lifted himself off the chair and James felt a small pang of regret as he followed the hulking figure down the hall towards his room. He could see that his father clearly wanted to have a talk to him about what was happening. But James knew his father respected his privacy far too much to do that, he knew that if James had wanted to tell him about this then he would have ages ago. In fact, James hadn¡¯t even expected his father to be home so early. His shift usually ended late at night and begun early in the morning.


    ¡°You know son,¡± As soon as Howard reached the room he lifted the door open and pointed towards James¡¯ gaming capsule, then he plopped himself onto his sons bed and lay there with his hands in the air, ¡°I used to be bullied a lot as well.¡± James let out a small choking sound and Howard glanced at him with a small smile, ¡°Yeh that¡¯s right, your tank of a father was bullied, in fact; it got incredibly bad at some times. During those moments I just wanted to run away from the world and curse it.¡±


    James found himself listening intently to his father¡¯s words before he had even realized it.


    ¡°I know the feeling, but sometimes that doesn¡¯t mean anything. So I¡¯ll tell you that there were always two things that helped me through those tough times. One was my best friend, our next door neighbour, Joey and the next was arguably the most important thing in my life, video games.¡±


    James lifted an eyebrow and Howard just laughed at his expression.


    ¡°You already know I love video games Jamesey, and I¡¯ll admit it, the times I had playing video games were the best times of my life. So even if you don¡¯t want to talk about what happened, let me give you this one thing to help you, from father to son.¡±


    He pointed once again to the capsule and James saw that an addition had been made to it, a large computer chip-type device had been plugged into its side.


    ¡°The game¡¯s all set up and ready to go, just go inside and have fun son. I¡¯ll be around just in case, but you know, I¡¯ll think of something to tell your mother. You don¡¯t have to go to school this week.¡±


    ¡®No school for a week?¡¯


    James was shocked. His father had worked incredibly hard during his high school and university years. He had even heard tales from his mother about how his father would stay studying in school instead of hanging out with her while they were dating. But now, not only had he told him not to go to school but he had also given him a new game to play. Judging from how haggard his father looked it was likely that he had probably spent the night at work just so that he could spend the morning setting this up for James to find when he got home from school.


    The gratitude James felt towards his father at this moment was incomparable to anything he had felt recently.


    ¡°What game is it?¡±


    As soon as the words came out of his mouth James silently cursed himself. Even if he was feeling gratitude towards his father he had still spoken so bluntly, as though he were ordering his dad to answer. Howard himself didn¡¯t mind, James¡¯ bluntness only reminded him of himself since it was a trait they both shared.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re into the gaming scene Jamesey, you¡¯ll find out as soon as you get in. I promise. Now then,¡± Howard lifted himself off of James¡¯ bed and walked to the door, ¡°I think it¡¯s time for me to go and catch a few hours of sleep. I hope you enjoy the game son, and remember, if there¡¯s ever anything you want to talk about, I¡¯m here for you.¡±


    ¡®You¡¯ve already done everything you needed to and more.¡¯ James silently thought to himself as Howard left the room. ¡®Thanks dad.¡¯


    As soon as his door slammed shut behind his father James walked towards the gaming capsule and glanced curiously at the computer chip that his father had plugged into it. It didn¡¯t look like anything he had seen before and he really wish that he had insisted on finding out what game his father had installed before he had left the room. But then again, his father had always known just as much, if not more, about games than James did. Clearly anything recommended by his father would be an enjoyable experience for James.


    James opened the capsule door and sat on top of it, putting himself into a lying down position as though he was resting in a bed and allowing the capsule to close around him. He closed his eyes and after a few seconds a familiar sensation of being taken out of his body occurred and when he opened his eyes he was looking at a large glowing image of three interlocking triangles.


    Of course, James immediately recognized the logo as belonging to the OmniGame Corporation, but what was even more amazing to James was the single word floating above the logo.


    ETERNITY.


    ¡°Holy shit.¡± James couldn¡¯t keep his amazement in check.


    ¡°Dad this is one hell of a gift.¡±


    As though sensing his presence a melodious female voice drifted down from the air and seemed to echo within his mind.


    [Welcome to Eternity. The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?]


    Author''s note: Hey guys, I''ve been trying a new style of writing during this chapter, with longer sentences and more descriptions being added than in my earlier works. I''ll be working with this style of writing for the rest of this fiction since it seems like a style which will be very enjoyable to read once it''s done right. But to do that I must practice! :D

 Chapter 3: Account Creation

    [The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?]


    James listened to the harmonious female talking to him as though she were his high school math teacher, the words went into his head and right out again. Right now the entirety of his concentration was focused on a single point, the glowing word ¡®ETERNITY¡¯ which was floating in the sky in front of him.


    ¡°Holy crap dad, who did you kill to get one of these?¡±


    Even though the statement he had just made sounded ludicrous, James wouldn¡¯t have passed the possibility by if he had been given the game by anyone else except his dad. Every gamer knew about the most anticipated game of the year, Eternity. It wasn¡¯t as though James had access to secret information or anything. It was just a fact that the OmniGame Corporation had concentrated a large amount of effort into creating a single virtual reality based game which fans had affectionately dubbed ¡®Eternity¡¯ since the game had been in development a whooping ten years.


    It had only been announced last year that the game, now being called Eternity, would be released to be played by people around the world and since the OmniGame Corporation rarely failed in their products and the world of gamers had instantly tried to find out any and all information about Eternity. Unfortunately the OmniGame Corporation had kept a tight seal on any major information escaping and even to the people programming the majority of the game it was a complete mystery, too big for any one person to know more than a few things about it. The only thing gamers could do was wait in silence and pray that they would be able to get one of the first copies of the game. But Eternity was scheduled to be released a few days from now. One week to be exact.


    This meant that his father had somehow gotten an advanced copy.


    [Do you want to create a new account?]


    As though a flip had switched in his head James realized that in front of him was the most realistic voice he had ever heard talking to him. It was as though there was a real person standing invisible in the air in front of him and he could probably reach out and grab her.


    In fact, he did just that, finding that there was nothing but the twinkling of stars in the sky in front of him. He was a bit disappointed. The thought had crossed his mind that the girl that owned a beautiful voice like that would also be physically beautiful. But that was just the whim of a video gamer discovering new experiences in gaming for the first time.


    ¡°This is definitely higher than fifty percent realism. Maybe even around seventy percent, but I haven¡¯t seen enough to tell.¡± James spoke to himself rather than the voice that was repeating its question at intervals. He often talked to himself in games while he was still working things out. Eventually he simply looked up with a smile on his face and decided to finish this part of the game first.


    After all, if this was just the log in then the actual game was sure to be a hundred times better.


    Once he had confirmed that he wanted to make a new account he voice began to guide him through the usual pattern of signing up for a virtual reality game


    [Select the name of your avatar]


    James grinned at the first question he was given. Since he was almost guaranteed to be one of the first, if not the very first, players then he would also be guaranteeing that he could get an incredibly good name. After this, anybody that picked the same name as him could be considered to be copying him. It may have been petty but it was most definitely one of the biggest benefits of being an early player into a game.


    ¡°Lucifer.¡±


    [You wish to name your avatar Lucifer? Please confirm.]


    ¡°Most definitely!¡±


    He definitely couldn¡¯t think of any name cooler than that of the devil. If he grew popular during any stage of the game it was almost certainly going to be a name that would spread quickly and easily, as well as leave a lasting impression on anyone that heard.


    ¡°If this is going to be the name that everybody sees then I definitely can¡¯t think of anything better.¡±


    Even after so long in the game James was still talking to himself out loud.


    [Select your gender from male, female or neutral]


    James thought about it for a second, on the most recent game he had played he had opted to play as a girl rather than a guy. Then again that had been a small time game and certainly not something done on the scale that Eternity was hyped out to be. It was possible that Eternity would have millions upon millions of players at the very least.


    ¡°Male¡±


    [Eternity has a thousand races. You may select your race from the primary five hundred and ten races.]


    ¡°What race is the strongest physically and magically in the game?¡±


    Even though his preferred race was the human race James wasn¡¯t a fool. He would go for whatever race had an advantage in the game, he had played a couple of games in their alpha and beta stages before and it had been fairly easy to use his small advantage of time to go ahead of the other players and gain power and fame. To James this was already a war between himself and anybody else that entered the game ahead or before him. All was fair in love and gaming warfare.


    [The strongest race in the continent is currently the Demon race, with a starting strength stat of thirty rather than the average starting strength stat of ten. Magically, the race with the most starting intelligence stat is currently the Elven race, starting with twenty intelligence stat as opposed to the average starting intelligence stat of five points.]


    ¡°¡¯Currently¡¯?¡±


    There were actually a couple of problems with what the female had told him just then while describing the races. The first was that she had specifically used the word ¡®currently¡¯ when describing the demon race as the strongest race in the continent. To James this usually meant that there was something that could change this factor in the future, but as to what it was he simply couldn¡¯t find out since there wasn¡¯t any information about Eternity out there in the internet.


    There was also the fact that Elves started with a lower intelligence stat than the Demon race did strength. But again because of lack of information James didn¡¯t know whether magic was strong enough in Eternity that only a little bit of intelligence was needed to match a greater amount of strength. It was possible that he could completely screw himself over by choosing to become an Elf and found out that strength did in fact scale as equally as intelligence in terms of power and as a result he was weaker than he wanted to be.


    ¡°But then again, I did call myself Lucifer.¡±


    It was just a pleasant coincidence that the Demon race had come up as one of the five hundred starting races, in other games they were usually unlocked later on during event quests set up for players or event just kept locked until a world boss was beaten. Just to make sure there were over options, James looked over a couple of races he knew by name. ¡®Devils¡¯ weren¡¯t listed as a race which was a pity, but Humans and Gnomes as well as Dwarves were all listed as starting races.


    Unfortunately, Humans were an even mix of magic and strength, while dwarves were lacking in magic but also limited in their weapon uses as well as losing stats near large bodies of water. Gnomes seemed to be neither strength nor magic users, instead creating inventions with technology to use in fights. But they still seemed weak compared to Demons who had no debuffs in any situations and also had more beginning strength stats than all those races.


    ¡°Make my avatar a Demon¡±


    [Eternity allows alteration of physical appearance. Would you like to change your physical appearance?]


    Simultaneously with the voices words, a life-like avatar of James, no, Lucifer appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Incredible! This is exactly like me, I can totally think of it as seeing me in a mirror!¡±


    James was almost jumping up and down in excitement. The avatar had some incredibly large differences to his normal body simply due to him being part of the Demon race but when he looked into that face he knew it was him immediately. He observed the changes made to him by the picking of his race, a couple of dark red, scale crusted horns had appeared from the sides of his forehead and stuck up a few inches high. His skin was a light shade of red and James was saddened to see that it was rather unflattering when mixed with his chubby face.


    ¡°Umm, voice. Please change the avatar so that it looks like-¡± before James could continue speaking his avatar warped slightly and he saw that his face, and some parts of his stomach, had become noticeably slimmer. Obviously since the virtual reality equipment was actually connecting his mind to the game, any changes he had thought about for the avatar had immediately been implemented. He quite liked the look of his slimmer avatar and found that the dark red horns and red skin only looked the more menacing when mixed with his dark black hair.


    ¡°I like this, thanks.¡±


    [Your account has been activated. Your stats have been allocated to your avatar automatically. Demons can decide their class at level ten. Stats of the Demon race are; strength, agility, stamina, vitality, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom. Ten stat points have been allocated to each primary stat with the exception of strength with a starting stat of thirty and agility with a starting stat of twenty.]


    ¡°Ohh,¡± James sighed in appreciation, ¡°A starting stat of twenty agility? That¡¯s a really unexpected bonus.¡±


    ¡°Er, alright.¡¯ Commoner wasn¡¯t sure what ¡®stats¡¯ were but he would ask Sasha when he met up with her in game.


    [Select your starting continent and city.]


    ¡°What continents and cities are there?¡±


    James had no idea about the world that the game Eternity was set in. Most games lately had virtual worlds which spanned an entire planets worth of content to explore.


    [The world of Eternity spans seven continents, five of which may be chosen as starting continents. These are the continents of Murcelia, Stendrid, Lexor, Rubintish and Chrysalis. The Demon race resides in the continent of Chrysalis and their starting city is the City of Calandor.]


    ¡°So basically you¡¯re recommending that I start on the continent of Chrysalis and the City of Calandor?¡±


    [That is correct.]


    James took an involuntary step back as the voice suddenly answered back to his rhetoric question. Then he began to laugh as he realized that he was frightened of nothing, but at the same time he marveled at the personality the developers had put into sign up voice. It had kicked in later but it was still a pleasant surprise.


    ¡°Very well then voice. Please allow me to start at the continent of Chrysalis and the City of Calandor.¡±


    [Sure thing bub.]


    ¡°um, what did you just say?¡±


    ¡°I said,¡± A girl suddenly appeared from thin air behind his avatar, directly in front of James, ¡°sure thing bub.¡±


    James was incredibly startled by the sudden appearance of the girl. Even though it was his first time meeting her something that she had done had made her suddenly seem incredibly familiar to him. This was definitely something that he hadn¡¯t expected. Then he realized that he had heard the girl¡¯s voice before.


    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re the girl that¡¯s been helping me sign up.¡±


    She made intertwined her fingers and made them into a gun, mimicking a shooting motion.


    ¡°Bingo, right on the money bub. But that was actually just my voice. I was only there for the last few seconds. It was only the fact that there was suddenly an increase in players that I came to take a look around.¡±


    ¡®A game master or something? Crap dad, I hope you didn¡¯t do anything illegal to get this game.¡¯ Surely his father wouldn¡¯t give him an illegally obtained game. At least James hoped he wouldn¡¯t.


    ¡°So um, what¡¯s up? Is it that common to see a new player in this game?¡± James tried to casually talk to the girl, he was praying that his dad hadn¡¯t done anything to get him in trouble but really the girl seemed to be acting way too nice for it to be anything bad.


    She waggled a finger at him, ¡°Don¡¯t you know. There are only six people currently playing Eternity and that¡¯s including you and me. And it¡¯ll stay that way until the game is released.¡±


    James was startled at the surprisingly small amount of people currently playing the game.


    ¡°How did you get in then?¡±


    ¡°Well obviously the pretty girl with the incredibly nice voice would get one of the first spots in the game.¡±


    She did a small pose with one hand on her hip and the other placing two fingers in a ¡®V¡¯ shape above her forehead. After a second she looked at him curiously. Clearly she had a reason to be here, after all, she had worked on the games development itself. And the fact that she could simply interrupt his signing in process meant that she help some sort of power over the game.


    ¡°So what did you do? Win a competition or something?¡±


    James looked at the girl for a second and then shrugged. If he wasn¡¯t meant to be here then he definitely would have been kicked out by now if only six people were currently in the game. It would be quick to identify him and probably the fact that he hadn¡¯t won any competitions for the game. He didn¡¯t even know if there were any ways to obtain a pre-release of Eternity.


    ¡°Don¡¯t know, my dad works for OmniGame and when I got home I found out that he had already gotten the game installed in my computer.¡±


    The girl whistled, ¡°Your dad gave you the game instead of playing it himself?¡± As though a sour thought had suddenly crossed her mind she suddenly frowned sadly, ¡°That¡¯s one hell of a dad you got there.¡±


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°I know it more than anyone.¡± James puffed his chest out in pride, and then realized that it was still his rather puffy chest and that his noticeably slimmer avatar was still standing in front of the girl. She followed his gaze and her eyes were drawn to the red skinned Demon.


    ¡°Err,¡± James was about to think of some sort of excuse or at least something to say to break the sudden tension he had brought upon the conversation but the girl beat him to it.


    ¡°You¡¯re cute.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Those certainly weren¡¯t the words that he was expecting. Not only that, she had been looking at him and not the avatar when she had said that. It sort of unnerved him since it was a new experience ¡°thank you.¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    She suddenly shouted at him loudly and his eyes widened at the sudden shock. She placed her arms on her hips and looked at him with a slightly angry expression with puffed out cheeks and lips.


    ¡°An incredibly pretty girl tells you that she thinks you¡¯re cute and the only thing you say is ¡®thank you¡¯?¡±


    ¡®Pretty girl..¡¯ James took a good look at the girl in front of him and found that he couldn¡¯t deny that she was incredibly pretty. She had platinum blonde hair and light green eyes that seemed to have an almost unearthly fluorescent glow to them, enticing him to talk to her with their enthusiasm. It wasn¡¯t just her eyes, her entire body seemed to radiate a lively aura that threatened to sweep you up in it if you stayed near her for too long, as though she was incredibly happy at a cellular level. Her legs were covered in black tights but James could still tell that they were incredibly toned and yet slender, certainly they would be a feast for the eyes if she were wearing a skirt.


    As for the chest area, James had to admit that she probably had even Lindsay beat soundly. Instead of being unsightly melons, they were more like incredibly big yet perfectly shaped peaches, and mixed into a tight black top allowed her pale skin to contrast with the colour in a way that accentuated every curve and bit of exposed flesh to a level that made James think she had probably changed her appearance through the game system. If not, then she was clearly a girl that would have broken a lot of hearts during her school years. She looked to be around the same age as James, eighteen or maybe nineteen.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just not used to people, I mean girls, telling me that I¡¯m cute.¡± He looked down and ran his hands down his chubby folds of fat and his plump stomach which seemed to speak of a lot more than just prosperity and good food in his life. Sure, she was pretty, but James had accidently let slip something that he hadn¡¯t meant to.


    It was perfectly possible that the girl in front of him was actually a guy.


    James had seen it happen a few times in games. Usually the incredibly sexy girl was actually the incredibly lonely guy in real life and it wasn¡¯t in James¡¯ mental book of gaming tips to fall for the oldest trick in the book. The girl¡¯s voice had even offered the option of changing his gender when he had been creating his avatar.


    ¡°You¡¯re honest. I don¡¯t see that usually, I like it. Hey listen,¡± she suddenly twiddled her thumbs and her face lit up as though she had come up with a spectacular idea, ¡°you know I¡¯m actually part of a guild in the game, well really the only guild in the game at the moment. Did you want to join us? I mean, we¡¯ve only been in game for about a day ourselves so we¡¯re just getting starting it as a way to keep track of people that started the game early. There¡¯s definitely nothing else or a deeper meaning in that!¡± The girl¡¯s face had actually grown slightly red as she sped through her words and she drew ragged breaths as she rested after speaking.


    ¡°Is that okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± she looked at him with a funny expression on her face, ¡°why wouldn¡¯t it be?¡±


    ¡°I mean, aren¡¯t you a game master or something? So the other guys would be too?¡±


    ¡°Game master?¡± She looked at him with a slight smile on her face, ¡°God no, I¡¯m just a girl that happens to be playing the game a bit early. The others are like that too but you won¡¯t be able to meet them for a while where you are. They¡¯re all on other continents, me included.¡±


    James looked at her in confusion, ¡°Then how will you get the invitation to me?¡±


    He sincerely doubted that one of the four other players would cross entire continents just to invite him to their guild. Surely they were already immersed in the game completely.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll get the invitation when you log into the game. I can¡¯t give it to you here since it¡¯s technically not part of the world yet. This reminds me. You have to pick a power.¡±


    ¡°Power? You mean my race gets a set of skills to choose from?¡±


    It was a common thing for James to be able to choose a race specific power in a game. But the girl was shaking her head at him, ¡°No silly. The first one hundred people to join eternity all get a special power of their choosing. It¡¯s really just an extra skill that you get to use no matter what your race. So if your race is restricted from using water magic then you can still pick a water spell from here and be able to use ir or stuff like that. There are like, one thousand powers to pick from but you can¡¯t pick what the others have picked before you.¡±


    There was a special power that was only given to the first one hundred players of the game?


    If James had been with his father at that moment he would have turned around and hugged him while jumping for joy. This would surely give him a boost over all the other players that would join after him, especially with the fact that he still had a week until the game was officially released.


    ¡°What powers are there?¡±


    [Well let¡¯s see.]


    Although the girl was right in front of him he suddenly heard her voice floating into his mind once again. A list of numerous powers was in front of him but it only took a few minutes of looking for him to find the power that he wanted.


    ¡°Fire Fortification seems like the skill I want, yup, I¡¯ll definitely take this one.¡±


    James could swear he heard a little sound of surprise in the girls face as she accepted his choice and he looked around him to see if anything was different. But nothing happened. He had specifically chosen the Fire Fortification skill for two reasons, one, it¡¯s use was to give any weapons he was holding a fire aspect which included increased damage and two, its visual effect set his weapon on fire so it would look incredibly cool when mixed with his devil form. James had every intention of becoming some sort of warrior when he went into the game since he had already chosen his race based on strength.


    ¡®Maybe I have to get into the game to acquire the skill. Seems likely.¡¯


    ¡°Well then, that¡¯s all done. Trinity.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± James looked at her in confusion and she blushed slightly, her blond hair covering her eyes so that he couldn¡¯t see her expression.


    ¡°My name¡¯s Trinity. It¡¯s the same in game and outside. What about you?¡±


    James looked at his avatar, ¡°Well, inside I¡¯ll be Lucifer. But¡­¡± James thought about lying about his real name for a second then immediately discarded the thought, there were a few million other people named James in the world so giving away his name was no big problem, ¡°Outside I¡¯m James.¡±


    ¡°Alright then James, I guess I should send you down there now. Have fun and I¡¯ll be on a different continent but I hope that you¡¯ll meet up with us at the guild at some point. We really only planned to recruit the people that were playing the game before anyone else even after it releases so don¡¯t expect too much activity from us. Just remember to always train! I don¡¯t want to have recruited a weakling you know!¡± With a final wave of her hand the Trinity disappeared and suddenly the world of stars around James blurred and waved.


    He closed his eyes to avoid growing confused by the sudden changes and when he opened them again he found himself facing a rather beautiful red city that was made out of black and ruby coloured bricks.


    Then he looked down and realized that below his small island foothold was a long drop down into a lava lake and that the entire city was standing on the same place he was, some sort of floating island of dirt. It made James weak at the knees just looking down at the lava below, he seemed to sway from side to side and then realized that he could feel the ground underneath him rumbling and moving. To his sides were walls made of black stone and the illumination from the lava below revealed that there was no exit to the outside above, only a stone wall. The entire floating city was lying within a cavern.


    The entire island was constantly moving in the air! And it was carrying the city with it. James, no, Lucifer, looked at the scene in amazement.


    Before he could take in the situation completely a voice called out to him and he turned around to face it.


    ¡°Yo-¡± the persons voice broke off as a loud rumble suddenly resounded throughout the giant cavern James had found himself in, ¡°-dead meat!¡±


    A young man, maybe around twenty five or twenty six, was running towards Lucifer from the direction of the city. He was waving his hands up and down as though telling Lucifer to come towards him and when James didn¡¯t seem eager to oblige he began to run towards him.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I said that if you stay here you¡¯re going to be dead meat. Let¡¯s get out of here!¡±


    Before Lucifer could respond to this random man that was trying to grab onto his arm and lead him towards the city, a giant pillar of flame suddenly erupted from the ground in front of him and hit the arm and leg of the man. He cried out in pain and let go of Lucifer, who was staring at his wounds in horror. He was used to realistic rounds in virtual reality, but this was clearly a new level of realism. He couldn¡¯t smell the burning flesh but he could imagine it would be terrible from the way the man¡¯s red skin simmered and boiled.


    ¡°Oh crap! It¡¯s already here! Hurry, get out of here!¡±


    As the man shouted he cried out in pain again and the pillar of fire solidified and seemed to form a vaguely humanoid shape. Swirls of flames were encased in an invisible barrier which seemed to give it the presence of a man shaped glass bottle which contained a lot of fire. The barrier wasn¡¯t completely intact however since bursts of flames escaped it and surrounded the flame human, giving it the appearance of being some sort of monster. Lucifer looked at the man on the floor who waved his remaining hand towards the city with a wince.


    ¡°Wait, what about you?¡±


    ¡°Just¡­¡± his breath was turning haggard, ¡°go¡­ unless you want to take my sword and actually fight that guy.¡±


    The man suddenly moved his hand into his pocket and was suddenly holding a small sword, tattered and rusty. He tried to hand the sword to Lucifer but he lost his last bit of energy and dropped the sword on the ground. Although the scene was incredibly troubling Lucifer was smiling. Of course this was something that had been programmed into the game, the likelihood of something like this happening right when he entered the game was incredibly low and he had experienced this sort of scenario before in other games. His guess was confirmed the moment he picked up the sword.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have picked up the item: Rusty Beginner¡¯s Sword. Description: This is an incredibly old sword which had long lived past its prime. Because of the lack of care its owner showed for it over the years rust has almost rotted the sword to its core and it is only suitable as a weapon in the direst of situation. Most warriors would rather fight barehanded than with this sword although it does offer benefits to those who wield it. Stats: Damage +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    As soon as Lucifer had finished reading the message about the sword a new message popped up in front of him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Welcome to Eternity young Demon. A lower tier flame elemental has attacked a nearby passerby that was trying to save you from harm by steering you away from the dangerous outside area. Now it is his time to be saved and brought to the city or else he will lose his life. Saving his life is not optional: You have been given the quest; Tutorial Part 1.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Tutorial Part 1: The young man that tried desperately to save you from danger has become heavily injured by a flame elemental in the process and lies dying on the floor. Following the instructions given to you, learn how to use your weapon to fight against the flame elemental attacking you. Quest difficulty: F. When you are ready to start the quest simply close this window.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Lucifer smiled at the message and closed it, facing the fire elemental which suddenly lifted its hands into the air, flames spewing out of their tips and forming what could vaguely be defined as fingers. Eternity was already turning into the finest experience James had ever had playing a game and he had only been in it for a few seconds. Lucifer stared at the monster that was getting ready to attack him with a grin on his face.


    ¡°Bring it on!¡±


    Authors note: Okay... right after this the chapters will speed up in pace a ridiculous amount (compared to the last 3) so get your riding pants on as we start this journey! :D Also, giving myself 2 days per chap left little time to pr, I will fix any mistakes pointed out to me if you find me in chat and I will be making a discussion thread for comments on someone''s recommendation.

 Discussion thread for Eternity.

    Hey guys! It''s only a little bit into the series but on the recommendation of someone in chat I will be making a discussion thread for people to talk about things they think will happen or just to ask me questions they want clarified :) As of chap 4 i will be locking threads from comments because I enjoy having all the comments on one thread which makes it easier to manage (as opposed to checking several chapters for new comments) and if you do have any comments or queries about chapter 3 please post them here :)


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Umm, not sure how discussion threads work but if you want to then feel free to discuss! All opinions are welcome here.