‘Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School! Boarding School!’

Zane chanted the thought in his mind like a mantra.

He wasn’t exactly sure why the thought stuck, but for some reason or another, it did.

It was providing insights into matters that Zane could not decipher before.

A stroke of genius – can’t handle the kids?

Send them away!

Problem solved!

‘But now is not the time for such thought.’ Zane mused, but still, he couldn’t help but think about it.

A little consideration never hurt anyone.

Zane rolled his wheelchair out of the dining hall, passing by the door that Nissa called her ‘Private Studies’, and into the long corridor that seemed strangely misfitted for the house.

The house was 1,800 ft. by 2,000 ft., but this specific corridor seemed to stretch for eternity.

The lack of any lighting in the corridor didn’t help with the horizontal perception, but the white walls with red splotches more than made up for the lack of visibility.

How did it make up for the visibility?

Zane still couldn’t see anything in the corridor, but the splotches of red against the slightly visible white paint made for the eerie resemblance of being watched by a hundred demonic eyes.

Zane couldn’t help but roll his wheelchair a bit faster every time he was in the corridor, so he barely felt the distance by the end of the corridor.

Footsteps echoed behind Zane’s wheelchair, and he couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Nobody liked the dark, creepy demonic corridor, so Nissa and the others would give him some time to get ahead before they broke into a run down the corridor.

Oftentimes, when the kids were younger, Nasa would be the slowest of the bunch, and she would lean against the wall of the corridor bawling her eyes out.

Of course, Nasa quickly got rid of this habit when she realized nobody would come back to get her.

Zane made it into the Virtual Screening Room first, followed closely by Nissa, carrying the Premium Grade Nutrition Packs.

Jimmy and Nasa were next, followed silently by a sulking Emily.

The entire family had now gathered, examining the virtual chambers in the sealed room.

The room had no windows, and it was empty aside from chrome-coated oval chambers that were intricately connected to a network of Smart Light, Fiber Optics, AVARAY ATXs, and regular wires present beneath the floor.

The Oval Chambers were, of course, the virtual chambers – the medium through which the transition into VWFGO was made possible.

Nissa, Emily, Jimmy, and Nasa walked over to their respective virtual chambers, tapping the chrome coating of the machine to lift the outer shielding, allowing a quick examination of the internal components.

“Rotate,” Zane instructed, and like clockwork, everyone switched to the next nearest Virtual Chamber, examining the components and connections with a critical eye.

This way, everyone could be double or triple sure of their safety.

“Rotate,” Zane instructed once more, and the switch was conducted again.

This time, Zane rolled in front of Nissa’s pod, and he briefly checked that all components inside the Virtual Chamber were up to the standard.

‘Nutrition Compartment online. The power connector and grounding mechanism are intact. The Frequency Vibrators for Muscle Stimulation are active. Smart Light Retro-Scanner with AVARAY Particle injector is filled and ready for deployment.’

Satisfied with the examination of each Virtual Chamber, Zane made a gesture to the wall, causing the previously hidden compartment to partially eject from the wall.

Inside the compartments were unstable micro-molecular clothing, suited to the biometrics of each individual family member.

After everyone was dressed, including Zane who took the longest, they each hopped into their respective Virtual Chambers, lying down, and strapping in.

“Everyone ready?” Zane questioned, needing one more confirmation that everything was fine.

“Ready.” Nissa’s reply came from the inbuilt coms system.

“Ready,” Emily responded.

“Si,” Nasa shouted.

“Righteous!” Jimmy replied, causing everyone to groan subconsciously.

“Commence activation phrase.” Zane instructed, and the family whispered in unison. “Et Supermos Absit Hoc Hodie!”

                                                          ۞۞

Zane’s eyes snapped open, greeted by an array of shifting colours that looked almost glitch-like.

But Zane knew it was no glitch.

It was impossible for AVARAY Particles to ‘glitch’.

Nissa, Emily, Jimmy, and Nasa were all experiencing the same phenomena, separated from each other by a thin virtual film meant to preserve their individual egos during the transition.

They drifted apart as the strange array of colours grew brighter.

The array of colours, also known as ‘The Tunnel Effect’, was the phenomenon shown when the synapses in the brain were being synched to a semi-virtual environment.

The tunnel of multi-coloured light served as a variance test to convert the brain’s perception of real colours into the indistinguishable equivalent of virtual colours, hence tricking the brain into thinking that virtual was reality and vice versa.

The tunnel effect was also referred to as the ouroboros effect; there were even some experts that proposed questionable documents suggesting AVARAY Technology, in its early stages, trapped the minds of Military Testers in loops of their worst nightmares.

Anyone else would have dismissed such research as nonsense, but Zane just happened to know it was true.

There were certain synchronicity quotients that had to be achieved by the player and the AVARAY particles to achieve full immersion in VWFGO.

Simply put, all players had to have an open mind.

The TRANCE System offered basic training and explanations to all those joining VWFGO for the first time.

‘If you live in an upright world and it is somehow turned upside down, your mind will adapt to the change.’ – was the explanation given by the game developers.

Zane indulged in his subconscious thoughts as he drifted along the tunnel.

It was a euphoric feeling - being able to access all of one’s self.

Eventually, as the light at the end of the tunnel was drawing nearer, Zane saw it prudent to adjust his stats for the final time.

Nissa and the children did the same in their respective sections of the tunnel.

-------------------

Name: Zane Crawford

Class: One Man Army

Age: 51

Sex: Male

Guild: The Crawford Family

Strength: 5

Agility: 16

Focus: 4

Stamina: 5

Vitality: 10

-----------------

Name: Nissa Crawford

Class: Transport Specialist

Age: 49

Sex: Female

Guild: The Crawford Family

Strength: 2

Agility: 9

Focus: 7

Stamina: 2

Vitality: 4

-----------------

Name: Jimmy Crawford

Class: War Hero

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Guild: The Crawford Family

Strength: 7

Agility: 12

Focus: 0.5

Stamina: 2

Vitality: 11

------------------

Name: Nasa Crawford

Class: Intelligence Commander

Age: 17

Sex: Female

Guild: The Crawford Family

Strength: 1

Agility: 5

Focus: 10

Stamina: 3

Vitality: 5

-----------------

Name: Emily Crawford

Class: Executioner

Age: 19

Sex: Female

Guild: The Crawford Family

Strength: 6

Agility: 12

Focus: 1

Stamina: 5

Vitality: 9

----------------------

The transition this time was underwhelming.

One moment, there was the usual whirlwind that accompanied the tunnel effect, and the next moment, there was the popping noise of displaced wind that sounded eerily similar to bursting bubble wraps.

A weather phenomenon meant to herald the descent of players into the virtual world, stroking their very incomparable egos, was concluded with a pathetic pop as if the whirlwind had failed at the last moment.

And that was exactly what happened – the whirlwind phenomenon failed at the last moment.

Zane barely managed to keep standing after falling three meters to the ground, a sudden weakness flooding his system from the tips of his toes to the follicles of his hair.

It was immediately obvious that something was wrong.

Coordinates were a big deal in VWFGO, so appearing mid-air, unintentionally, was a clear sign that the orientation system was off by a couple of infinitesimal decimal places.

And, as everyone knew, supercomputers, especially AVARAY-powered supercomputers, did not miscalculate.

“Something is wrong,” Nissa whispered, placing a hand on Zane’s shoulder to calm him down.

Zane’s fingers were already twitching, ready for what may come.

“It feels different somehow.” Nasa joined her parents, followed by Jimmy and Emily, with equally solemn expressions on their faces.

“This field is the problem,” Jimmy stated, extending his arms wide, gathering the attention of his family to the field upon which they stood. “I have never seen this area before.”

An enormous field stretched from horizon to horizon.

Usually, one would be able to discern the subtle arch of the planet, but as far as the eyes could see, Zane only witnessed a flat plane.

The flat plane was filled with flowers: some big, some small, some colourful, some dull.

Every type of flower in existence could be seen swaying gently to the wind’s whims.

Flowers grew atop flowers.

Beneath flowers.

Some flowers had mouths as if they could speak, but Zane could hear nothing being carried along with the wind; maybe, they didn’t have anything to say as yet.

Flowers scurried from one side of the field to the next, moving at superhuman speeds on tangled roots.

It was as magical a sight as it was dangerous.

Parasitic flowers drained the vitality from small quadrants of the field, but surprisingly, the flowers in that area didn’t die.

They may have waned in beauty a bit, but they did not die.

The more Zane, Nissa, Emily, and Jimmy examined the field, attempting to find some sort of pattern, the more their heads started to hurt.

They did not have the mental fortitude to understand even a bit of the complex ecosystem VWFGO had designed.

Luckily, Nasa was the genius of the family, and where they failed to see the pattern, she could see nothing but...

Unwilling to look upon the field any longer, Zane turned his gaze to the sky.

‘Now that’s beautiful.’ He thought.

The sky was a dull grey, directly contrasting the brilliantly glowing array of stars that adopted the texture of the purest milk in existence.

Each star in the sky seemed both individual and wholesome, contradictory and realistic, standing just beyond conventional human thoughts, but drifting slightly in the blank spaces of human perception.

The sky felt like something to be noticed only after one had the wisdom that came with a life of struggle, pain, and gratitude.

Every single star was telling a story, and somewhere in the milky glow of bright lights, Zane felt like he could even witness the story of himself and Nissa.

“I see it too,” Nissa stated, pointing to exactly where Zane had been looking. “I feel like it’s telling our story. A Hall of Fame, maybe? You know, for the final tournament and all?” she proposed.

“Maybe,” Zane replied, hoping it was so.

Yes… he truly hoped it was so.

But more than likely, it would not be so.

Nothing was as it seemed at first glance – not the way they entered VWFGO, not the field of flowers that stretched from one horizon to the next, and definitely not the stars in the skies that seemed equal parts Hall of Fame, and epitaph.

Call Zane a pessimistic man, but he didn’t get to live this long by trusting the whims of the heavens, so much less would he trust the whims of a supercomputer trying to mimic the Heaves.

Feeling that such complex worries were beyond him at the moment, Zane slid his hand around Nissa’s waist, admiring his wife as she admired the beauty of the land that surrounded them.

But even though they seemed distracted in a world of their own, Nissa and Zane couldn’t help but smile, gazing into each other’s eyes, knowing very well they were both paying attention to all the players popping into existence across the field.

Usually, the time of Players’ appearance would be synchronized upon entrance into the Virtual Landscape, but right now, Players were popping into existence at random intervals, all over the flowery field.

“The spacing-” Emily was the first to notice, spreading her fingers, using her hand as a makeshift measurement tool, and straining her eyes to gauge the distance between players. “The spacing is combat distance. One thousand meters in front or behind someone, and twenty meters next to someone else.”

Zane’s and Nissa’s eyes gleamed; that was indeed combat distance, meaning combat was to be expected.

‘But what type of combat?’ Zane questioned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

This was not a sensation he was accustomed to.

Zane was comfortable with being the Hunter, but as he glanced around the field, meeting eyes with some of the best Gunners in the world, Zane could tell that most of them were no less than him.

For the first time in his life, Zane was equal parts predator and prey.

But thankfully, he had one advantage everyone else lacked.

Nissa curled her fingers into Zane’s subtly trembling hands, forcefully intertwining their fingers.

Nasa snuck from behind Zane and forcefully inserted her small body under his arm.

Emily shrunk her abnormally tall stature, barely managing to lower her head onto Zane’s shoulder.

Finally, Jimmy placed a manly, righteous hand on his father’s shoulder, not nearly as clingy as his fathercon sisters.

As for the advantage Zane had that no one else on the battlefield possessed?

Of course, Zane had his FAMILY!