Gary Swamps walked out of school and sighed in relief. On his face was a slight smile. He could hear birds chirping nearby. Gary loved the sound of bird song. It always put him on ease.

Not only was it a nice day outside, but the weekend was finally here! Even better, in Gary’s mind, was the upcoming release for the next big virtual reality game, ForeverQuest Online! The game would be out tomorrow, April 12, 2036.

“It’s Friday! Most righteous!” Dom hooted with his usual enthusiasm. The pale boy stood to the left of Gary, his shaggy black haircut barely coming to Gary’s shoulder. The boy was dressed in a black t-shirt and skinny gray jeans.

“I thought school would never end!” cried Cedric. While Dom was short and pale, Cedric was tall and dark. His well muscled arms bulged at the straps of his backpack, and he sported a fresh afro.

Gary yawned while the gentle breeze shifted his dirty brown hair in front of his eyes. The soft chatter of birds filled the ears of the relieved boy, who had spent the last couple days stressed out over a math test. “Glad we made it, guys. That Trigonometry test was stupid,” Gary mumbled.

“Heard that!” Cedric agreed. “We going to hit up the gas station?”

Gary shrugged, his backpack flopping up and down on his skinny frame. “Sounds good to me.”

Dom grinned, showing unusually sharp teeth. “You know it!”

The three boys walked toward their favorite station. It was about a half mile away from school, and on the way to Gary’s house. The convenient location made the station the boys’ favorite place to grab snacks.

Dom ripped out a his skateboard from his backpack, and soon he was popping effortless kickflips. The faded deck-art of his board featured an ice-blue dragon with ragged wings and fangs like icicles. Gary and Cedric casually watched Dom while they continued their afternoon stroll. Cedric looked up at the sky and smiled. A gentle breeze wafted through his afro.

The temperature was perfect, the sky big and open, clouds drifting slowly in midwestern glory. Around the three boys, the grass was green and complacent. Dom skated past wheatgrass whipping in the wind. They were in southern Illinois--farm country.

Soon, the boys arrived at their go to 7-11. The sign had rusted into a decrepit off-white, but that did not bother the boys in the least. They loved this station, after all, they came there almost every day after school.

Gary went straight for his drink of choice. A Red Bull, the aluminum can cool in his hands.

Cedric and Dom also grabbed Red Bulls. When it came to energy drinks, the three friends were of one mind.

Spencer, an older man with short gray hair and a winsome grin, was working the register as usual. “Hey boys! Are you excited for Forever Quest Online? I’ve already preordered my copy.” The old man had a gleam in his eye, as only a veteran gamer could.

Spencer was alive for the birth of MMORPG’s; he had played the classics like Runescape and World of Warcraft back when they were still popular.

Gary couldn’t imagine being around to witness the rise of video games. To him, they were such a common part of life. Those classic games still had a small player base, but they had changed so much since initial release at the turn of the twentieth century.

“Of course we are excited to play! It’s only going to be the best game ever,” said Cedric as he paid 10$ for his Red Bull. Another great thing about the 7/11 was the fair prices. Gary hated paying over 10$ for a can of Red Bull, but some stations would charge as much as 15$, which was a total rip-off, as far as he was concerned!

Spencer winked at the boys as Gary payed for his drink. “Nothing like the release of a new MMORPG to make me feel like a kid again,” the old man joked as he scanned the Red Bull.

“You think it’s going to be a good one?” Gary asked.

Spencer took a moment to think. “Yes, I very much so. The leveling mechanics are innovative, graphics completely immerse, indistinguishable from real life, if the trailer is at all accurate. I think this is going to be the virtual reality game that people have been talking about for years.”

“It has to be better than Full World Universe,” Dom says with a groan.

Full World Universe was the disappointment of the decade for gamers. Millions of dollars spent on a VRMMORPG game that promised to be “Like real life, but better.” Instead, the game caused intense nausea in some, and bitter disappointment in others. It was simply a poorly built game. Sure, the graphics were impressive, but there was little thought put into the rest of the game. Full World Universe was riddled with bugs, the servers crashed constantly, and even when the game worked, it just wasn’t fun.

After the failure of Full World Universe, no developer wanted to invest time and money into another virtual reality game.

That was before Dragon Mastery Studios, of course.

Spencer smiled. “Dragon Mastery Studious will do us right, I almost guarantee it. I’ve been around long enough to know a good company when I see one.” The man handed over the Red Bulls. “See you kids in the game!”

The boys headed out of the store, Red Bulls in hand.

Gary opened his can with a satisfying fizz. Cedric and Dom followed suit. It was their ritual, of sorts. Gary took a sip of the sweet drink, and let out a relieved sigh. Gary loved the taste of Red Bull. It made him feel both excited and oddly peaceful.

Dom took a long sip from his can. “Yo, so we got enough money to get the game, right? It’s 600$.”

Gary nodded. “Got it! Took me awhile to save up, but I’m good.”

Cedric sighed. “I’m a few bucks short, unfortunately.” The boy chewed on the side of his lip, as he often did while nervous.

Dom took a long sip of Red Bull. “Really? Most unfortunate, Cedric! You have to get it right away, so we can all start at the same time!”

Gary dug a wallet out of his pocket. “Hey, Cedric, I think I got you. Let me count here real quick….” Gary pulled an 150$ bill from his wallet and handed it to Cedric. “Think that will be enough?” Gary asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Cedric stared at the bill. “Gary, I don’t know if I can accept this--”

“Of course you can,” said Gary, a quiet smile on his face. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Cedric took a moment to think, his usually airy confidence gone, if just for a moment. He then jammed the money in his pocket with a big smile. “Alright Swamps! I owe you one!”

Cedric playfully punched Gary in the shoulder, and the three boys laughed.

They continue on their way to Gary’s house. Dom hops on his skateboard again, while Cedric and Gary chat about Forever Quest Online.

“You really think it’s true? What they said about the leveling system?” Gary asked.

Cedric shrugged. “I’d say so. The thing is, I’m not sure how it will work. How are they going to know your real life skills?”

“Dunno,” said Gary. “Some technical magic with the haptic suits, maybe? They can do anything these days.”

Dom, who was performing a very long manual, suddenly slipped on his skateboard, sprawling back onto the concrete with a groan. His board skidded towards Cedric, who grabbed it.

Dom writhed on the ground, holding his ankle in evident pain.

“Dom, are you okay?” Gary asked. Gary had seen Dominick wipe out countless times, but he still worried about Dom getting hurt.

Dom hopped to his feet, slightly limping, and laughed if off. “Gary, I’m fine! Falling is just part of skating, for real.”

Cedric handed the board back to Dom, who hopped right back on, and started skating again.

The three boys reached Gary’s house while the sun was still high in the sky. His home was an unassuming, medium sized brick structure.

Thankfully, the house was big enough to accommodate all three boys, and in a fairly nice part of town. Dom’s house was too far away from school to be a meeting point, and Cedric's parents were very strict and didn’t like him playing games all the time, so Gary’s place had become the meeting point for the boys.

Mrs. Swamps met the boys at the door.

“Gary, Dom, Cedric!” She cried, happy to see them all. “How was your day at school!” The small woman was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Great mom, thanks,” said Gary. “We are just going into the basement to research this new game, alright?”

“Okay!” Mrs. Swamps replied brightly. “Just tell me if you need anything!”

Gary yawned. “Sounds great.”

“Thank you Mrs. Swamps!” Cedric and Dom said in unison as the three boys jogged downstairs.

The basement was completely covered with video game posters, most of them from classic titles of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. A giant Super Mario 64 Poster covered the far wall, while multiple Runescape Logos were plastered everywhere. A life sized sticker of Banjo and Kazooie was prominent amongst the mass of posters, and there must have been nine or ten tributes to the Legend of Zelda franchise amongst the clammer.

Not only was the basement completely decked out with old school video-game posters, but it was also littered with older systems and video game paraphernalia. Broken PS2 consoles, a Super Meat Boy pillow, Pokemon cards, Old SNES and NES cartridges, GBA’s, Nintendo DS’s, practically every system ever created was there, most of them broken. The three boys had taken two fulls weeks to repair an old Nintendo 64 to get it working again. Although Nintendo currently manufactured systems to play old games, the boys wanted the experience of fixing up a retro system. They had a blast finding old parts and throwing it back together.

Gary, Cedric, and Dom had become fascinated with older video games thanks to their Video Game History class at school. Truth be told, that was just about the only class Gary enjoyed at all. Gary thought that the other classes, like World History, were dull, and taught with little enthusiasm. Although, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Video Game History is more fun than World History, Gary thought. Also, Gary’s game history teacher, Mr. Tonks, was pretty cool.

Dom fired up Mario Kart 64 on the antique console, while Gary and Cedric researched all the information available about ForeverQuest Online.

There were several trailers released. The most popular one featured a medieval castle placed in a verdant meadow, the sun lighting the scene like a movie. Like Spencer had said, the graphics looked incredible! Pasty green goblins prowled in nearby woods, while the camera followed a knight in steel armor as he rode a mechanical tiger through the fields. The tiger itself was breathtaking, a whirring contraption of gears, smoke, and steampunk-themed steel.

The knight then leapt off his mount in epic fashion, performing a front flip to land at the feet of a massive red dragon.

In some games, dragons simply looked like big red lizards with silly forked tongues. ForeverQuest Online had different standards. The beast was complete with bone-like spikes protruding from its spine, a tail like a muscled whip, and serpentine wings that made even an eagle envious. The ancient lizard looked as battle worn and proud as a dragon should.

The knight and dragon then engaged in glorious combat, the dragon stomping at the knight and lashing out its tail, while the knight absorbed blows with a kite shield, and retaliated with quick strokes of his sword.

Suddenly, the dragon lowered its head and bathed the knight in a torrent of flame. The screen darkened, and the logo of “ForeverQuest Online” flared with intense symphonic music playing in the background.

Gary had seen this trailer many times, but he never grew tired of watching it. “Dude, it just looks so fun…” Gary said softly. “I wish I knew more about the skills. There’s gotta be magic, right?”

Cedric scratched his head. “I’d hope so. None of the trailers show very many magic attacks, but I agree. There should definitely be some magic. Personally, I want to focus on melee combat, so it’s not a big deal to me.”

“Broski!” Dom shouted as he swerved his Yoshi driver through a tight corner on Banshee Boardwalk. “I always roll mage. There’s gotta be magic! This is ForeverQuest online, the next big game.” Suddenly, a red shell slammed Yoshi, and the poor creature went tumbling off the bridge. “Lame!” shouted Dom as the Lakitu came to fish him out of the water.

“Hey Dom, I don’t think you can roll any spec in ForeverQuest.” Gary said. “From all the pre-release material, it looks like there are no classes.”

Dom was back on the course, and driving like a madman to catch up. “Yeah, whatever. You get what I mean.”

Of course Gary did. He knew that Dom always focused on magic skills. Cedric, typically, was more of a brute. Gary, on the other hand, would try to be an all-rounder. Sometimes, it worked great. Other times, it kind of failed, depending on the in-game mechanics.

However, Gary was confident that ForeverQuest would be well balanced, and it might really benefit him to be a jack of all trades in the beginning. Especially if he was questing with Dom and Cedric, Gary always felt like he needed to be more balanced, if not slightly stealth based, as neither Cedric nor Dom typically had any interest in stealth combat.

Tired of reading content that he had already read many times, Gary said, “You guys want to play Super Smash?”

Dom, who had just won the race, flipped off the console and switched cartridges. Although they had repaired an old system, they had decided to purchase a new Super Smash game, because it was almost impossible to find any of the original games at this point.

Additionally, it was possible to run any of these old games through an emulator either on a computer or through a VR headset, but the boys preferred the old-school approach. It just worked best.

Super Smash was a classic, and the friends constantly played. Gary chose Link, his favorite. Dom selected DK, and Cedric picked Luigi.

Hyrule Castle was the first level of many that the boys played that night. They were all almost equally skilled, with Dom being a slight edge over Gary and Cedric. That night, Dom won seven games, while Gary won five, and Cedric won four.

Gary let out a big yawn. “Yo guys, I think I’m going to hit the sack! We gotta get up early tomorrow to grab ForeverQuest! I’m setting my alarm for six!”

“Most definitely,” Dom said as he started fiddling with a old pull-out couch. He opened the bed, and flopped down on it.

Cedric walked to the closet, and retrieved a few sleeping bags, throwing one to Dom and another to Gary.

Although Gary had his own room, he usually preferred to sleep down here, in the “gamer den.” It just felt like home.

Gary slipped into his sleeping bag, thoughts lingering on what ForeverQuest would be like. He hoped it was going to live up to all the hype.