Vikram took a deep sigh to extract all the pent-up frustrations he had amassed during the day. Unfortunately, unlike his expectation, it only made things worse as he now calmed his mind and couldn’t help but think about him doing the exact same stuff again tomorrow. Vikram poured the leftover rum from the now-finished bottle into the glass and gulped in all in a single go before slamming the glass on the table.

“Why is it so tough to make a living these days?” Vikram lamented out loud finally letting himself out. Soon Vikram slammed the bottle in the trash and did the little bit of cleaning that was required before plunging into his bed for a good night's rest.

Vikram was currently unemployed and had been so since the beginning of the pandemic. Just after completing college, Vikram was filled with excitement about what his future had for him and lucky for him he was not made to wait long as only after a month after his graduation a company offered him a job. Vikram without a second thought took the offer because any other person in his stead would have done the same.

The company suffered a huge loss during the initial days of the pandemic and ended up laying off a lot of its staff in order to save whatever little money it could. Vikram who had just recently joined with not much contribution to the company was among the many who were laid off. That was the point from where Vikram’s life started spiralling downwards.

After that, unable to get a job and being an orphan, he was forced to find whatever odd jobs he could find even during the lockdown to make a living and that was his current state. Exhausted from toiling in the extreme heat all day. The contractors showed no mercy to Vikram and people like him as to them the only thing that mattered was whether the work was done or not. The sun soon rose from the horizon and Vikram’s mobile started ringing indicating that it was time for him to wake up.

___________

Work was like usual for Vikram today in the construction yard. This place was going to be a mass isolation ward so there was a lot of work to do in very little time. There was a lot of pressure on the contractors and they relieved themselves by hurling abuses on the laborers who were already trying their best to do things as fast as they could.

Getting scolded and abused was nothing new for Vikram as he had mastered the art of listening through one ear and letting it out the other. After completing his shift Vikram ate his lunch as he gazed at the sky while sitting on a pile of stones. The rest of the day was free so he decided to just relax at this place for a while before deciding on what he should do for the rest of this day but his leisure was soon disturbed by the sound of sudden brakes.

*SCREEEEEECCH*

A black sedan stopped on the road and from inside a middle-aged man came out with a cardboard box in his hands as he shouted while looking at the car “You’re crying for not being able to play this game? Seriously? I’ll dispose of this thing right in front of you to let you know that you will never be allowed to play any game until your addiction disappears as for your gaming equipment? It’s going straight in the trash, where it belongs!”

On closer look Vikram realized that the man was shouting at a child who was bawling his eyes out inside the car, Vikram saw the man who was most likely the kid’s father yell at him as he threw the box that he carried beside the trash. Unfortunately, there was quite a distance between Vikram and the man as a result he didn’t hear what he said to his child.

All this happened quite quickly as the car soon went past Vikram just the way it came. Curious at what was thrown in the trash bin Vikram walked towards it and opened the lid. He saw the latest gaming gear which was quite popular these days lying there in the trash. Without a second thought, Vikram quickly picked it up and hurried back home afraid that the person who threw it away would come back to retrieve it.

Closing the door of his house shut, Vikram finally took out the equipment. It was a VR Gear. Something that became very popular during the advent of the pandemic. Why? It was because it promoted people to stay indoors. Many gaming companies took advantage of this and sped run their development in the VR sector. Still, only a few succeeded in capturing the eyes of the consumers and soon these few lessened to being only one.

‘WrathCraft Corp’, the company responsible for creating the only hundred per cent fully immersive game in human history. The moment it came into the market it took the market by storm leaving all the competitors behind and finally becoming the only one worthy of being called a ‘virtual game’ in the truest sense because of its hundred per cent immersion rate. All the rest of the games lost their lime lights and slowly got forgotten as WrathCraft’s game, ‘Odyssey’ took the main stage.

Vikram was quite familiar with it thanks to the popularity of the game, it was not that Vikram was interested in the game itself but he was more interested in the personal stories of players that played the game. Many of them had made a considerable amount of money by playing the game, some are even more popular than celebrities thanks to this game whereas the exceptional few who could be called the best, ended up creating their own multi-billion dollar companies.

Vikram would always get jealous when he read such stories of underdogs who made it big just by playing the game, it would unconsciously make him compare himself with them which would at the end of the day fill him with guilt. It’s not that he didn’t want to play the game but the game was something which someone like him couldn’t afford so easily as a result he could only satisfy himself by reading all the stories online about the game for now.

Seeing the gaming equipment which had a logo of a blue circular orb shape Vikram couldn’t help but punch at the air excitedly to express his happiness. This was the logo of the Wrathcraft Corp and the only VR game that they had was, of course, Odyssey. Never in his life, Vikram could have thought that he would be able to get this game in such a manner.

Vikram thought of the small chump of his savings that he had been stacking in order to buy this equipment. If things had gone normally, it would have taken him around 3 years to afford even the lowest of the low-tier gaming equipment. Thankfully, luck was with him and he was blessed with this VR Gear.

Vikram did the necessary procedures of setting up the device before he could dive right into the game. After a few minutes while looking at the completed setup in front of him Vikram was filled with eagerness to enter the world of Odyssey.

Vikram put on the helmet and lay on his bed as he said to himself before closing his eyes, “Odyssey! Here I come!”.