Godsbound Online

 

A Triple-A upcoming fantasy Virtual-Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Open-world Role-Playing Game.  It was announced at the 2041 X3 conference out of nowhere. When the trailer was revealed, many people were in disbelief of how amazing both the visuals and the gameplay was. The photorealistic 64K resolution graphics, map size comparable to the size of the earth, and realistically fully interactable NPCs. The trailer was shorter than many out there, yet it still managed to grab the world's attention; when would it be released? Who developed it? And how will we get our hands on it?

 

A few weeks went by without a clue from the organizers and there were many more questions being thrown out on social media, many started to speculate the possibilities of it being a public stunt, but all gamers' dreams came through when a company goes by the name "TORRN.ltd" posted a thread on Twidder that they are the Godsbound Online creator, as well as the developer. Each day they would post more screenshots from the game which differs from the trailer which convinces the masses right away. Still, many questions were still left unanswered: "who were they?". TORRN.ltd was a very mysterious company, the founder goes by simply "Novidia Selemus" and had claimed to be a polish single-man company. Many more questions were raised, that could the upcoming AAA game be developed solely by a single person? That's nonsense. Such a thing couldn't be true.

 

One day a random user inquires Novidia of the game released date. He said that it will be announced around winter of 2043. This caused an uproar on the internet. Many were pissed that they had to wait for nearly 2 more years for the game, why would he bother to tease the game at such an early date. And that was when he dropped the bomb. He tweeted the following the next day:

 

 

That was when shit hits the fan. Twidder also crashes for about an hour after that tweed. Many speculations started to theorize the number of people for the beta tests, how many could there be? How could they possibly attain the beta test 'key'.

 

It did not take long before the second bomb was dropped by yet again, the lord himself, Novidia.

 

 

 

Sure enough, Twidder crashes for the second time in the same week and making it becomes one of the most followed Twidder account in the shortest amount of time. 

 

After 2 months, Novidia commences the draw and successfully chosen all 60K beta test players. And now, to the whole community, they are waiting patiently for the beta test date. This was back in January 2042.

 

---

 

14:18 21st April 2042

Siam Square, Bangkok

It has been almost 17 years since Pratch had left Bangkok. Occasionally he would return to Thailand but it would be "work" in the other different parts of the country. His dark hair wavers by the gust of wind blowing into his face by the speed of the sky transit. He touches his trimmed beard to wipe away any filth that might've touched him. His black-rimmed aviators reflect the sunlight as it shines along his body. Today the cloud is clear and the sun is brighter than ever. Personally, this was Pratch's favourite weather. The sun would warm up his skin and the wind would cool off his lungs. He is the man who had travelled all over the world and yet finds one of the hottest countries in Asia to be his favoured habitat. 

 

Pratch stares down the barrier separating him from the balcony to the streets below. Images he committed to his own memories appears to be conflicting with the one he was currently seeing. The city has undergone through many developments and so many streets, vendors and building has been renovated time and time again. It might've been for the better as many insignificant buildings in the area were over a hundred years old at this point, so to go and reconstruct the building to improve the living conditions for the residents was definitely the better option. On the other hand, the country slowly loses its prized culture along with the sands of time; for example, a certain Thai tea shop that Pratch like over 17 years ago is now nowhere to be seen. This slightly ruined his mood. But he went back on his track to a certain restaurant.

 

According to what Eyes said, the restaurant was fairly new, it was a reconstructed cafe-turned-restaurant, running by a popular internet superstar. At first, Pratch didn't want to visit here as he is clearly from a different generation than the target customer of this restaurant. But Eyes insisted to be there as Eyes would meet up with him there as well. Not wanting to ruin their first-time meetup, Pratch decided to endure this humility a little longer.

 

Pratch arrived at the restaurant and checked his phone. 

 

14:29 

 

Just a minute earlier from the appointed time.

 

He walked inside to the restaurant and was greeted by the front receptionist.

 

░▒▓█?????????, ???? ????????█▓▒░

 

With a very heavy synth-mixed artificial voice, it had attempted to greet Pratch in a friendly manner.

 

( This android is very cringeworthy ) 

 

Without trying to break out into laughter, Pratch instructed the Receptionist that his friend had previously made a reservation for two.

 

░▒▓█????? ???? ???, ???? ????????█▓▒░

 

Again, with a much harder effort this time, he tried his best not to burst out laughing.

 

Eyes mentioned in his text, to look for the seat the innermost corner on the second floor.

 

As Pratch scanned the second floor, his eyes stopped on to the table at the far-right corner of the restaurant. A figure sitting in the chair with the back facing towards him, a figure in a bagged green hoodie is sitting there. Somehow he started to feel nervous. Unlike how he went to "work" where he assimilates perfectly to the environment to blend in perfectly and calmly, right now he was about to meet his 20 years long co-worker whom he never talked to face to face nor ever seen his or her face. 

 

That emotion that made him hesitates lasts roughly 2.8 seconds before he decided that in the end he doesn't really care how his partner would be and he should just face and accept the reality just as he did the same for the last 41 years he lived.

 

"Hello, Eyes"

 

...

 

The figure in the hood, turned their face around which stopped Pratch on his tracks to the table.

 

"Why hello, P"