Saturday, April 16th 2024


    Steve was watching news on TV. Two days to wait until the worldwide release of Transcendance. He had given serious thought in playing the game, considering he did participate in building it, and he hadn’t made his mind yet. Selling his company to NExT seemed like a good idea at the time, but being freed from having a job ever had proven to be more boring than planned in the last two years.


    He grabbed his smartphone and opened his youtube app to find NExT’s pre-launch keynote was starting in about 20 minutes, just enough time to take shower and change. He rose up and walked towards the bathroom, taking off his clothes. He saw himself in the mirror again. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists. “You have to accept it and live with it, move on.” said the doctor, as well as the psychiatrist he was referred to afterwards. He could never forget what happened, the huge burn scar on his left shoulder and the hundred of smaller cuts on his back and his arms were an everlasting reminder of this night. He walked in the shower and turned the hot water on.


    <hr>


    [Wednesday, June 21st 2022]


    Steve was working on his translation device for neural impulses to computer communication. He loved it as if it was his own child, too many hours had been put into it to make it work, he sacrificed so much to get where he was now, so close to a fully working prototype.


    Knock Knock…


    Steve raised his head, no one should be at the lab past 3 am. This was strange. Maybe the cleaning guy ?


    He walked over to the door and opened it.


    Sarah was at the door, shaking and sweating.


    “Steve ! You have to help me. Please…” she was crying.


    Steve took a step back.


    “What the fuck are you doing here. And how do you know I was here.”


    “It’s not my fault I swear …”


    “Look, you can walk away right now.”


    Steve pushed the door back. She blocked it.


    “Steve, you have to run.”


    “What are you talking about ? You mad ?”


    “I will tell it to you on the way.” She stared into his eyes, she was serious.


    “Alright.”


    Steve caught his coat and left the lab with her.


    They walked out of the building and started heading out of the campus, into town.


    Sarah was talking all the way, he stayed silent.


    “I am so sorry, you see, since you left, Marv realised we needed someone to fill in your position and he decided to take it. But we just lost the world championship, you know, the one we were preparing for with you… be careful !” she grabbed his arm to stop him from walking on the road “ And he snapped, said it was your fault for not having the guts to come back. He said he was going to do stuff to you, like hardcore bad things,... I had to warn you, now we’re going some place safe. He is fuckin serious about this.”This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    They just walked past a park when Steve stopped her.


    “Alright, this is all a big joke isn’t it ? You think I didn’t get enough of your schemes and humiliations ?”


    “I am really serious about this.”


    “You come to me two years later, out of the blue, just to save me from an angry nerd ? We’re talking about a VIDEOGAME. A GAME ! Don’t you think he is a little more intelligent than that ? He was probably just ranting about losing.”


    A black van entered the street and stopped right next to them and its side door opened. Two arms caught his shoulders. He tried to turn to his aggressor but he couldn’t. Sarah had dried her face and tears.


    “You see, it’s nothing but a game.”


    She pushed him in the car and jumped in.


    No one heard him scream.


    <hr>


    Steve came back to the living room and sent the live stream on his tv. He sat in his couch and waited for the keynote to begin.


    The stage is all black, except for the NExT logo, shining in the background. A man appeared. Henry Lenscher, the CEO and “brain” behind Transcendance.


    “Evening, ladies, gentlemen, players… As I have said before, there won’t be any video footage of the game shown, as I and NExT want you to be completely surprised when you log in for the first time. This is the first step towards the next evolution of humanity as a species, and the peak of the video game entertainment as the human mind can conceive it. I would like to personally thank the thousands of dedicated engineers, artists, developers, executives, interns, administrators and fans who contributed to the creation of Transcendance. Now I thank you, players, for everything that you are about to do, Let’s all go beyond humanity as we know it, and move forward into the Future !”


    He left the stage facing a standing ovation of 25000 people.


    A couple minutes later, an animator walked on the stage.


    “Hello everyone, I am Malick Senjrassan, CEO of FlareGames, first partner of Transcendance, and I am honored to be here handling the rest of the keynote. Here, at NExt, and at FlareGames, we are all about the players, so please welcome SnoWhite, number one player of The Saviors, a guild with a long history and currently number one of the rankings on Fantasy dream and Outerfield: The Dark Dimension.”


    Someone Steve used to know very well made a remarkable entrance on stage, under thunderous claps from the public. Sarah.


    “Thank you !! Before you ask,yes, the Saviors are coming to Transcendance and we are going to beat this game.”


    “You seem very confident miss SnoWhite. Are you sure the Saviors are up for it ? We watched you lose your last siege battle on Fantasy Dream this week.”


    “Please, everyone’s mind is set on playing Transcendance since it was announced. Cut us some slack, despite being Pros and the number 1 Outerfield Guild on the planet, we are also people who love video games and obviously we did get excited about the first fully immersive VRMMO of all time”


    “True indeed. Onto my next question, are all the saviors moving to Transcendence ? I heard you are 62 players now is that correct ?”


    “So glad to hear you ask me this question ! Yes we are all coming !”


    “Does that mean their is a possibility of seeing Grey Wolf coming back ?”


    “Well of course not ! He was a real jerk anyway and we were all so happy to see him leave the guild. I heard he had an accident, and went through a complete mental breakdown. I think he threw himself under a bridge, but he was the worst. You know, he used to PK newbies just for fun back in the Sword and Wig days.”


    “Such strong words, I hope this guy does not come to cause trouble in Transcendence as well. Thank you SnoWhite for being here with us today, I hope to see you and the Saviors get to the top of Transcendence as well. Now please give a warm welcome to the pro-gamer and international tv star...”


    Steve turned off the TV. How come was she allowed to say all those lies ? Especially during a keynoteheld by such a company ?


    He was boiling with anger. The only one who was sent to jail after the cops found his bathing in his own blood was the driver they hired. They all had clean, shining alibis and he was sent to a psychiatric yard for a couple month just because the authorities thought he had lost his mind considering all the pain he went through. The driver on the other hand didn’t know anything.


    “Alright, calm yourself Steve, what can you do ? Move on.” he muttered to himself “move on, move on, move on, move on.”


    Out of pure rage, he lifted his couch and flipped it, throwing it at the TV.


    “Fair enough, 62 players ? The big bad wolf is coming and he is going to destroy the Saviors. Alone.”