Deep in an dark and wet alleyway of Escaiya, I Eric hoffman laid on the concrete floor, my tattered clothes gripping my emaciated body. Last night I drank all my sorrows away with the money that I received from begging. Ever since I lost my business this had become my life and there was no reason for me to change it. I couldn’t change it even if I wanted to, they made sure of that.

I laid my head against the wall behind me and turned on my virtual chip. The virtual chip was like a TV, phone, radio and General practitioner at once, however, because I had lost all my money, I could no longer afford the subscription fee as such, the only thing I could watch was the news. 

I turned on the news and watched for forty minutes straight.  The world wasn’t in a stable place, I could feel the powerful turning over in their chairs and that made me happy until I saw the title, 

“ Governments worldwide have banned the use of all Virtual Reality Dive machines until further notice”… 

“We do not know what could happen if we allowed people to go to that world, the resultant could be catastrophic. We are already struggling with all the demands to change people back to their human forms. Furthermore, we don’t know if what Hisato Hayashi said is true, until we can confirm all these things for the safety of you, the people going to that world is illegal. Those that intend to break the law will be charged. Treason is a crime that can result in your execution. That will be all thank you.”

After hearing that, I knew it was all bullshit, what the governments and those that controlled them were really saying is we want you out of that world so we can establish ourselves and discover the resources to increase our influence.

I stood there with my fist clenched tightly as an old yet familiar feeling welled up inside me- purpose.  I wasn’t going to allow them to best me twice, I knew I had to pull all of whatever strings I had left to get myself into that world. There I just knew I could reinvent myself and do what I was always meant to do.    

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In a lab that was almost black only the faint glimmer of a TV and another source giving the place light. I stood holding a vile, in it my greatest creation ever. It glowed with a toxic green colour which was fitting.

‘Finally after 30 years of experiments, I have created a disease that will wipe out the stain of this Earth called humanity using this synthesized pathogen! I could have released the earlier versions but they would only kill a percentage of humans which would be of no use since they will fuck like rabbits and re-destroy the Earth. Yes, this can only be solved by killing everyone and that day has finally come!’

“ A week after Hayashi’s speech also otherwise known as The July Rubicon, scientists have discovered that even though people now know how to return to their human forms their genome is completely different than before… Modern medicine will no longer work on them nor do they get infected by viruses that effect the everyday human. Once more research is conducted we will know more about this matter.”

Hearing the news, I stood still, my face expressionless as my grip of the vile in my hand loosened little by little…

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Its been a month since the July Rubicon, the world has changed a fair bit since then. 

For starters, going to what is now referred to as the New World is no longer illegal. The government had to change that law when nobody was listening to them. More than 10% of the Earth’s population joined despite the warning, this 10% excludes those that have already been there.

Because going to the New World is now legal new business ventures opened up. 

You can now find many companies or independent retailers that sell and buy items from the New World. If you think you have a valuable item and want to sell it then you can do so. Numerous people have found success by selling items, however, many people have also lost their lives to greed. As such, although there is a new world, the thought that they can die to things they have never heard of keeps them in this world contributing to its economic growth.

If you walk in the streets, you will see a lot of people walking around in their true forms ranging from beastkin, dragonborn to elves, ogres and a whole lot more.

Although it unsettled most of the older generation of humans, the younger generations love them. Some people have rose to stardom purely because of how their true form looks. There is now a huge list filled with new celebrities who are famous because they confirmed that they are Kings/Queens or other prominent figures in the New World. 

Others rose to fame, taking part in team or single battles at the newly built colosseum. Watching otherworldly beings fight each other with fire, lightning and other sorts of magic was immensely entertaining. A lot of money was being made and invested in this department.   

All in the world was beginning to thrive as it became more stable, the New World opened up a lot of new opportunities for a fulfilling life.

I, on the other hand, had yet to enter the New World since then. My life wasn’t perfect, far from it but it wasn’t that bad that I was willing to live in a world where I could die to many things. It was a dog eat dog world were killings between players were common. 

Although on Earth it was illegal, in the New World it wasn’t. If you died, it was purely your own fault for entering the world knowing full well you could die. With that in my mind, I couldn’t find a reason to go there while everyone and there mother was looking for me. News about the only appointed fifth king reached the media stations that reported everything New World. On top of the system points the various Kings/Queens offered they were willing to pay 50000 credits for information on me.  

Although, at the moment no one knew who I was, if I made a mistake it would be one that could cost me my life. The only thing that made me want to go back was what Dr. Hayashi said, “ Follow your heart, do what you want to do.”

I had only seen the man once in my life when he came over to our branch to see if things were going as reported. On my way back from the toilet he stopped me and told me to follow my heart and do what I wanted to do. At the time I thought he saw that I was far younger than the average age there and was encouraging me to work hard so that one day I’d be as successful as him.

But now I don’t think so anymore. Shortly after his words I began “testing” the game for bugs because I wanted to play, I was following my heart. What if that is what he wanted? I know how vain that sounds but it’s not as if the notion isn’t plausible. These are answers I’ll never know unless I go back…

The truth is I really wanted to go back to the New World, I was just letting reason get ahead of me but no more, I made my decision, I was coming home!

Shortly after I made decision, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and saw it was my mom, I took a deep breath and answered, “Yes mom.”

EssenceOverlord

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