“Oh hey, Max. We’re just saying our goodbyes. Last day and all that, right Eli?” Keldan spoke to Max while forcefully patting Eli’s shoulder a few times before taking his hand away.

“Really? I wonder if the playback on his implant would tell the same story.” Max crossed his arms and glared at them.

“No need to check something like that, right Eli?” Jeremy asked with a nervous smile. Eli didn’t reply, nor make eye contact with any of them.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Keldan’s female friend suggested. The boys recomposed themselves quickly and started walking away, without taking their eyes off of Max. They didn’t say more until Keldan got to the door of the room that Max wasn’t standing at.

“Well, at least we’ll still be able to hang out in the game. See you in Orm.” Keldan smiled cheerfully before slamming the door shut behind him.

“Thanks.” Eli managed to get out as he leaned down to pick up his things.

“You do have playback recording settings enabled on your implant right? Were they threatening you or something?.” Max asked.

“It’s fine, nothing I can’t handle.” With his bags in hand he stepped forward to walk past Max, but saw that he stood firmly in the doorway, blocking his path.

“I play the game too, y’know… Everyone’s looking for a way to climb up to the top. Until you get stronger, you’re gonna look like an express ladder for everyone at the bottom like them.” Max replied. Eli didn’t respond at first, instead staring at him with a look of confusion. Didn’t know who this guy was, but it felt like he was trying to lecture him.

“The Spiran Dojo downtown still teaches Kendo I think, so, you know, the trouble with the boar you had-”

“You watched it too, huh.” Eli sighed and shook his head. Max nodded slightly, and Eli noticed now that Max was looking at him with pity.

“Those guys, you, these networks, these streamers, Makaroth... You all realize it’s just a game right? A video game? None of it’s real, yet…” Eli stopped himself after meeting his eyes again. “Forget it.” Eli waved his hands to let him know he wanted to get by, but Max hesitated before moving out of Eli’s way.

“A little boy kicking a ball around is just playing a game, but what about a man kicking a ball in a stadium, in front of millions of people?” Max asked Eli as he had walked past him, causing Eli to pause. “Nothing that you take seriously and put your heart into is just a game, at least not for the person doing it. You may think it is, but to them, it’s much more.” Max finished this sentence, then turned from Eli and began walking down the empty hallways of the school.

“The Shattered World is one of the most popular games in the world right now. Even if you don’t take it seriously, at least understand how important it is to the people that do. Otherwise you’ll end up in more situations like this.” Max’s footsteps trailing off away from Eli as he stood there motionless, partially considerin what Max said, partially annoyed by the random lecture.

Eventually Eli found his way onto the bus back home, albeit much later than usual. His mind was rushing through thoughts and frustrations. Seeing how those people took the game seriously, how they spoke of it, it all reminded him of Makaroth, his Dad, how he stayed locked up in his room playing game after game, streaming day in and day out.

He found himself thinking on why he was trying to play in the first place and all that effort he’d put in to gain that skill, part of him wanted to join in that world, but the face that kept coming up in his mind was his father’s.

The bus reached his stop and he got out, making his way over to his house. He halted a few houses away when he noticed a beautiful GNX-Cruiser parked in the driveway, one of the most expensive autocars on the market. He already knew who the owner of it was and angrily picked up his pace towards his house. To his surprise, before he got to his front door, the car door opened and out stepped David, his father.

“You’re coming home pretty late. Tough day?” David asked. He was wearing a dress shirt with the top buttons undone, sunglasses on with groomed short blonde hair and goatee - he looked cleaner than Eli had ever seen him while growing up, even looked in better shape as well.

“The hell do you want?” Eli snapped back.

“Relax, I’m here for you, won’t be bothering your mother.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you.” Eli began walking towards the door.

“Sure about that?” David raised a card-sized chip in the air held between two fingers, causing Eli to stop.

“What is that?”

“Tuition, paid in full. I heard you were shopping around for a scholarship, figured that might be why you started playing.” David smiled. Eli glanced between the chip and David’s sunglasses.

“Why do you suddenly care about helping me out now?”

“You were desperate enough to try playing a video game. In all your life, you’ve barely touched them, and, let’s just say, these past few days have made it painfully obvious why.” David let out a half-hearted chuckle, but Eli remained straightfaced.

“Look, it’s clear you take after your mom, and this,” he waved the chip around “is the least I oughta do. And if you feel the urge to play still, don’t worry, I went ahead and used my contacts with the bigger broadcasting networks, they won’t be bothering you anymore.”

That’d be it, Eli thought. Staring at him in the face was a solution to all his problems. He could wipe the game from his mind and go on with his life, doing what he wanted to do. He shouldn’t feel bad about it, right? It’s the least a parent should do, pay for their child's education. It’s expected, even. But it still itched - something at the back of his mind kept him irked about the situation. As he was thinking this, David stepped around the car and held the chip out to Eli, wiggling it a bit. Eli hesitated for a moment, then took it.

“Great,” David patted him on the shoulder with a smile. “Now we can go back to doing what we’re both good at. Me being the famous one, you becoming a nurse or doctor or whatever.” As he spoke with this hint of condescension, he let out a sigh of relief and turned to walk back to the car.

“You don’t actually care, do you… you think you’re so much better than us?” Eli spoke angrily as David opened the car door.

“Of course I care, why else would I give you that much money?” David shrugged back with a forced smile, one that Eli was all too familiar with - the same smile he’d always make when he was just trying to get out of a situation as fast as possible, telling whatever lies necessary to get back to his game. Seeing it, it all clicked in his head.

“How generous of you to call off the major networks, it wouldn’t have been because of the bad publicity I was giving you was it? Makaroth’s son, the trash player, can’t even kill a level 1 boar. Must’ve been embarrassing. If they can’t broadcast me, then people will stop talking about what I’m doing and go back to focusing on your greatness. They’ll stop asking you to swoop in and ‘show me the ropes,’ Right? Because we both know that’ll never happen.” Eli shouted.

“C’mon you know it’s not like that-” David started saying.

“You’ve never been interested in me or what I do, or what I’m good at. So don’t start pretending now. You think sitting in a Simbox all day is something special? The only reason you’re on top now is because you could keep playing while Mom held your life together.” Eli interrupted him angrily, clenching his fist around the chip.

“Look, just, take the damn money. You don’t understand what you’re talking about.” David said dismissively.

“You don’t think I understand? That you’ve lived in a fantasy world as a loser for the last two decades? And now because these people worship you, you’re better than us?” Eli shouted - and as he did, he surprised himself. He’d always had hatred for his father, but was able to maintain self-control somewhat, at least much more than he was doing right now, but he felt the anger not only towards father, but all of the kids at his school, all the interviewers rejecting him, everyone, building up into a balloon ready to pop. He felt so justified in lashing out that-

“You think I’m the one living in the fantasy world?” David snapped back, taking off his sunglasses. “I might be playing games, but I’m much more in-tune with reality than you are. You think learning to be a doctor is going to matter in thirty years? Twenty years? More than half of medical services are already handled by nanobots and AI, yet YOU pursue a dying profession like it's something noble. Look around you,” He forcefully waved at the neighbourhood, directing his hands up to the sky.

“This world's problems, almost everything has been solved. Exploration? Adventure? Conflict? Discovery? In this world, it’s all been done. Technology has won. There’s nothing left to do that has any meaning anymore in this world. At least not for me, or for millions of others. It’s in there-” He pointed in the direction of the second floor of the house, to the general area of where the Simbox was.

“That’s where achievements can still matter, where you can experience growth, fame, and wealth. Adventures beyond your wildest imagination, exploring and discovering things and places never seen by anyone else before. Actual excitement, actual thrill.” He shouted with a passionate smile. “It’s not just me that thinks this, or has realized this. Your mother supported me because she knew it, just like those broadcasters know it, the advertisers, hell, even your peers. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to get it. You’re the one living in a fantasy world.” He paused, his voice getting quieter towards the end, and the two were silent for a moment, just staring at each other.

“It’s not my fault that you and your mother couldn’t get interested in the world I live in.” he sighed. “So take the cheque, go study your life away in university, no matter what you achieve out here, it won’t amount to half as much as what I’ve done in there.” He motioned to the general direction of the Simbox again. “Don’t call me a loser and try to undermine what I’ve achieved just because you can’t understand it.”

“I understand it perfectly fine. I played that game, achieving something in there - it’s nothing special. You’re nothing special.” Eli’s voice now much quieter, he’d never heard his father shout before and was taken aback by it.

“Hah, rich coming from you. You spent the entire time playing just dying on purpose - and yeah, don’t think I’m stupid, I know you were doing it on purpose. To get back at me or something, whatever your plan was… be happy, you had your fun embarrassing your old man and belittling his world and you got what you wanted.” David motioned to the chip.

“You think this is what I wanted? You really think it all revolves around you?” Eli held it up and waved it around.

“I get that it’s tough for you, having a famous dad, so acting out a bit is expected…”

“Acting out…” Eli mumbled in disbelief. “All this talk of being famous, all you actually did was play more than anyone else.” Eli replied, to which David sucked his teeth and sneered - Eli could tell he hit a soft spot.

“The fact that you think that just proves you’ll never understand me, or the game.”

“I understand that if I took the game seriously, I could surpass you easily. It’s nothing compared to what it takes to be a doctor, or a nurse.” Eli retorted. David rolled his eyes at this.

“The day someone like you surpasses me is the day I delete my character.” He scoffed as he climbed into the car and sat down, shutting the door, while rolling down the window nearest Eli. “Have fun studying the next few years of your life away for nothing. Compliments of your ‘worthless’ da-”

“D'you mean that?” Eli cut him off.

“Which part?” David asked.

“If I surpass you, you’ll delete your character?” Eli asked, leaning on the door now to glare at him through the open window.

“Hah.” David laughed, but soon realized how serious Eli was being. “Jeez…” he shook his head in disbelief. “What kind of spiteful little boy did my ex-wife raise.” He mumbled to himself. “You know what, sure. Yeah. I mean it. You’re really going to learn to play a game you hate and try to reach the top, just to prove to me that I’m a loser?” David smirked. “I’d really, really like to see you try. It might teach you a lesson, give you some perspective.” He said, followed by another sarcastic laugh.

“Or, you know, you could just suck up your misplaced pride, take the money, and let us both move on with our lives. Cruiser - ON.” He spoke his last words to the dashboard, and the autocar reacted by turning on the engine. “Watch your hands.” David motioned to Eli’s hands that were still leaning on the car door.

Instead of complying, Eli lifted up the money chip and held it through the open window, snapping it multiple times into tiny pieces. His anger had long since taken over his logic, and watching the tiny pieces fall felt as if a heavy weight was lifting off of his mind.

“I’ll see you in game.” Eli said coldly, pulling his arms away. The window rolled up automatically, but the two glared at each other through the window for a long few seconds before David gave a command to the Car and it drove out of the driveway and down the street.

The image of interviewers mocking him, laughing at him and idolizing his father flashed in his mind.

Eli clenched his fists tight, standing on his front yard and staring at the empty street.

The image of Keldan and Swiftstar streaming, attacking him, hitting him, laughing at him flashed in his mind.

He squeezed his fists tighter.

The image of his fellow students whispering, taunting him and making jokes about him.

Tighter. The interviewers following him around, talking about him and judging him. The advertisements for the products of the game, the streams, plastered all over the city. Then finally, the image of David, sitting comfortably in a state of the art Simbox, in a magnificent mansion he’d imagined but never seen, laughing at his leisure life.

Finally he took a deep breath, calming himself down and releasing his fists, his nails having left imprints in his skin.

“I’m gonna crush ‘em.” He whispered to himself before turning and walking inside.