Axton awoke early in the morning and, as he opened his eyes, he saw a holographic projection hanging over him. The technology in a generic Smart Building had advanced leaps and bounds since the initial days, and now every place where people lived, relaxed, ate out, worked, and more (save for some, special places) had enough tech in it to pull off things one might have expected from a sci-fi story. Some even wondered if this was a prelude to some kind of ‘Fantasy RPG Apocalypse’, but you can be at ease, dear readers, because this is not that kind of novel.

No, the alert was nothing really that special, only telling Axton that the full release of Heavy Metal Dawn was now only a few hours away. Lazily lifting his hand, Axton made a swiping motion and dismissed the alert, which faded quickly as it flew off to one side. Axton rose from his comfortable bed and at the same time, the Smart house altered the central air control system and changed the ambient temperature.

Awake, he went about the process of fulfilling his daily morning routine. His shower was quick, his breakfast hearty, his teeth were brushed, and his clothes were put on, though not necessarily in that precise order. With that out of the way, Axton opened up the forums about the upcoming game that he was getting ready to hop into. Nothing major was being said by those who made the game, but the speculation was still at an all-time high. Although, that was likely due to bots keeping the people engaged than anything else.

There were too many people talking about their in-game experiences for it to be anything but bots or proxies. After all, there were fewer than 6 billion people alive on Earth, with less than 1% of 1% of that number being rich or connected enough to get access to the game early. Hell, even Axton only got the Pod and the game by sheer dumb luck, so for there to be threads with roughly 25 million ‘people’ talking in great length of their ‘unique experiences’ meant that something was fishy.

Still, that didn’t much matter to him. He was a person who, after over a decade of experience, could see through the bots. Not that such a talent was getting any easier to boast about, as the bots only increased in complexity with each passing few months. Regardless, he was able to sift through the fakes and find actual information fairly well, or at least he felt that he was so capable.

With the normal daily browsing done, Axton made sure to check if the VR Pod had nutrients and an empty waste container. He would be in serious trouble if he entered the full build of Heavy Metal Dawn and got into some big event only to have to exit in the middle to change the containers. As he made sure the waste container was empty and the nutrient container was full, he mentally patted himself on the back for having the foresight to do so. Not that any hardcore gamer worth their salt would dive into such a game without preparing for a long haul ahead of time.

Axton entered the Pod roughly 30 minutes ahead of time and kept the lid open so that the internal virtual time dilation wouldn’t take effect. Heaven forbid that he wait for what would be around 5 or more hours inside the virtual space when he could afford to wait an extra twenty or more minutes outside and not have to worry about the boredom nearly as much. As the clock ticked to just 10 minutes till release, Axton powered on the Pod and watched the lid close, and then felt his consciousness slip into the virtual space.

…

White.

Just white.

White in all directions for what seemed to be an infinite distance.

Seemingly no floor, ceiling, or walls, yet the place he stood at had a very tangible ‘floor’.

This was the main menu of the Virtual World made by the VR Pod; a place where, without direct input from the person inside it, there was nothing but a white void in all directions. It was… unnerving, to say the least. But what could one expect from a completely blank slate? Axton had not spent the money needed to furnish this white room, partially because he didn’t want to spend the funds on such a superfluous thing and partially because he only had one game and didn’t really need to do any decorating.

Thankfully, there was no strain on the virtual body in the Virtual World, so Axton stood and waited patiently for the countdown to end. Of course, to keep from possibly going mad from the sheer lack of anything around him, he did keep his digital eyes closed and used the time remaining to let his mind wander. If there was one thing that he was good at, it was using his excessive imagination and creativity in his mental space as a method to stave off boredom, which itself was a trick he picked up over time.

He locked himself in his daydreams for what felt like a few hours until he heard a sound much like that of a bell at an old-fashioned hotel lobby’s front desk. Opening his eyes, he saw an alert that he had received two messages, with both being from unknown senders. He opened the first one and cracked a smile as he read the contents. Thomas had sent him that ‘Friend’ request at long last, and Axton happily accepted it. After accepting, he received yet another message, this time from the person who he knew was Thomas. It was an invitation to ‘link’ Virtual Spaces, which the message claimed would allow Axton to avoid needing to pay an excessive amount on filling the void he was in right now.

What kind of person would he have been to refuse that offer? After accepting it, the white nothingness around him began to shit and fill itself with things. When all settled, it was as if Axton had been picked up and then dropped into a high fantasy-style tower of some kind, and Axton was very impressed by the quality of it all. Before going off and meeting his old friend, Axton opened the other message that he had gotten.

As he popped it open and read the contents, his former smile turned into a heavy frown. He dismissed the message and sighed to himself as he entered the ‘magic’ elevator in his newly linked out-of-game Virtual Main Menu area.

“Of course he wouldn’t forgive or forget. God damn it, Blythe…”