Author's note: The disappearing chapter from hell is back! It appeared twice I removed one, normally one should be left but then it disappeared too, then later reappear then it disappeared again to finally reappear again. You didnt understand don't worry I didn't either

To sum it up: I suck at posting.

The scan of your iris had determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a StaViCon account?

“Yes.” I finally had one. StaViCon stood for standard virtual connection. It was a headgear connected to a network that allowed its user to access virtual reality (VR). Nowadays, every home is equipped with it. It enabled to play games, to communicate face to face with anyone anywhere in the world at zero cost, to access the world online library and many other applications. It was a basic and very useful tool. And after so many years, I finally could afford it.

Bio-metric registration starting...

Bio-metric registration finished.

Please choose the application you wished to be connected to.

“Forgotten Soul.” It was the only free game in the StaViCon. I would have loved to play it under other circumstances but I had no choice.

Welcome to Forgotten Soul, do you wish to create a new avatar?

“Yes.”

Select the name of your avatar.

“Everheart.”

Forgotten Soul has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the thirty that are currently available.

“Can I see myself as an elf?”

I shivered as a beautiful female looked upon me. She was truly beautiful but I couldn't prevent the disgust that welled up in me. Long black hair, an oval face, high cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, alabaster skin. That was clearly me. I was looking at myself and...I was a guy.

The system had made me more beautiful than I actually was which made me more feminine than I did in real life. I already had a hard time with my real face, if I had a choice I'd rather not make it more beautiful but I didn't so...

“I'll be a wood elf.”

I sighed deeply. Started this year, playing a VR game had become compulsory in school. Each day from eight to two, I would be doing schoolwork and then, the rest of the time I would be playing Forgotten Soul with the school. Not fun.

Because it was a school activity, it was decided that everyone who didn't have an avatar would choose one that was closer to their actual looks. Two races were, then, deemed suitable: human and elf. There was no way in hell I would be human. So by default, I had to be an elf. Happily for me, there were different kind of elves. Dark elves, wood elves, high elves, lunar elves, blood elves...What can I say I liked gardening.

Your gender has been set by default to male. You may alter your appearance.

Under the school directives, I could decide my avatar's name, change my hair color and my eye color and that's it.

“Can I see myself with blood red eyes...and long hair...longer...hmm...okay I'd like to have bangs...longer bangs...longer...okay now.”

I hoped that with all that hair people would not look too closely at my face. In real life, I had long hair, glasses and big clothes so that no one would see that I actually looked more like a girl than a boy. True, it made me looked like a wimp but in my book, it was a hundred times better than looking like a girl.

Your avatar has been created and had also become your default StaViCon avatar.

Your stats and class shall be determined while you play.

Select a city and Kingdom where you want to start.

“Soren town, Anaheim Kingdom.”

May your journey lead you to the emperor's seat.

A white light washed over me. I felt a slight sense of displacement. I closed my eyes as it tried to blind me. As I opened them again, I found myself in front of the statue of a woman. The artwork was a little crude but the statue emanated a calm and serene atmosphere that made it more valuable in my eyes.

You have seen the statue of goddess Lucia. An early work of the Legendary Sculptor Blaine depicting Lucia, the goddess of beauty and harvest, the patron goddess of Soren town.

Effects:

Health and mana regeneration increased by 15% for a day.

The effects do not overlap with another statue.

It was a pleasant surprise for me to receive those buffs. As I looked around, I could see a large group of people talking at the meeting place the school chose. I put myself a little apart from them. I wasn't interested in talking but I did listen. They talked about the different games they had played, their levels and class. I was curious. I looked at my status.

“Status.”

Status[quart=Character name,Alignment]Everheart,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1 (0%),None[/quart][quart=Title,Race]None,Wood Elf[/quart][quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]80,120[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]8,12[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,12[/quart][quart=Vitality,Affinity to Nature]10,10%[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Attack,Defense]2,0[/quart]Magic resistanceNone

“Skill window.”

Archery Beginner Lvl 0

Increases attack power with a bow.

+10 % pr level

Green thumb Lvl 0

Plants grow 10 % faster that normal when you plant them.

10 mana per second.

It was totally different from theirs. Their minimum level seemed to be in the two hundreds. I was screwed. They were talking about skills I could only dream about. And my decision to stay far away from them was, thus, reinforced.

We were all waiting for the teacher to connect. It was going to be excruciating. For four weeks, we'd be under the supervision of our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Johansen. She hated my guts I was considered as a problem child even though I barely set foot on school ground. I always did my homework, always came at the exams, my grades were excellent and I was still a problem child. In my opinion, the others needed to be looked at more closely. If I were a problem child, then what were they? Devils?

“Everyone gather. As said before you connected, I will be taking attendance right now and a snapshot of your avatar. As I call your name, please advance right in front of me.”

I watched closely everyone who was called. I wanted to match every appearance with the right person. There were a few people I wanted to avoid at all cost. I didn't plan to mingle with my classmates at all. Most would probably insult me but there were a few who were never satisfied with insults, they wanted to hurt me.

I was a black belt in karate. I could defend myself. But if I ever laid a finger on one of them, I'd end up in juvenile detention and I sure as hell, didn't want to go. Too bad it didn't prevent them from laying a hand on me. It was time for me to be called. I made sure that my bangs were hiding my face. My hair felt like a black veil that was covering me. I felt all the stares on me.

“You could have done something about that hair.”, the teacher said, an exasperated expression on her face. “Well, let's be positive, you're easy to spot, cousin Itt. Hahahaha”

Everyone was laughing. It was a running joke in our class, I mean, the entire school. According to them, I had so much hair that I looked like the hairy cousin in the Addams family movie. You know the one entirely covered by hair. At first, I found it funny but after three years, it was getting old. Thankfully, I could only hear it the rare times I went to school or I would have already killed someone.

I didn't retort to her crack. I was used to it. If I said something I would be the one in the wrong. It wasn't even a debate. I was always in the wrong even if I just breathe. I stayed in front of her long enough for the snapshot to be taken before moving back to the edge of the crowd. The people I passed grumbled menacingly about not letting my hair fell on them. It was like I had germs ready to jump on their neat little self.

We were in a game, a VR game. There's no way anyone even had germs. They were being ridiculous. I was bidding my time. I only had to spend four weeks with them and then, I would be free. Just four weeks. I'll find a little corner and wait until I could leave. I could avoid them until then.

“You will make a party of four. You will stay together for four weeks. Additionally to your individual activities in the game, you'll have to do group activities. I've sent your schedule and your group composition by mail. For today, you can start by visiting the town and familiarizing yourself with your new environment. Now, have a fun experience!”

“Yeah!”

I remained silent as everyone expressed their joy at finally being able to explore their surroundings. A lot of feeling were bubbling inside of me. I ran out into the town before they came at the surface. I ran until I found myself inside an alley. No one was around. I was angry but most of all, I felt cheated.

I read a lot about VR games. The descriptions people made of them fascinated me so much. Stories of heroes defeating monsters, dragons terrorizing the weak, knights on their white stead saving princesses in distress, warriors fighting for their countries.

I wished everyday to grow up faster so that I could play like the others were doing. I dreamed about building a legend of my own. They fueled all of my fantasies. In my darkest hours when I wanted to end it all, it was the dream of playing those games that kept me going.

When I finally turned twelve, I couldn't contain my excitement, I'd be finally able to play. I asked my parents for a StaViCon. It was the first time that I asked them for something. I was sure they'd get it for me. I had good grades, I was obedient, I never talked back. I was a good kid even if I say so myself. That's why it hurt me deeply when they refused because of the “incident”. I was shocked. I thought that it was behind us.

I went to middle school where the bullying from grade school didn't let up. It ended up being my fault that the others bullied me and I was distracting them from their studies or so the headmaster said. They couldn't throw me out so they arranged for me to reside in the dorm and to receive my lessons and schoolwork by mail. Frankly, I was relieved not to have to deal with classmates and such. I was however still assigned to a class and to a homeroom teacher even if I didn't have to show up for class.

“The incident”, as I called it, happened when I was ten. I didn't do anything. However much I cried over my innocence no one believed me. Over the years, I just stopped saying it. Even when I was bullied, even when fingers were pointing at me, I never again said that I was innocent. But that day, I said it again. I told my father that it was unfair that I was punished again and again for something I didn't do.

The beating I received that day was the last straw that ended my days of burying my head in the sand. I finally saw that the haven I thought our house was, was just my own delusion. Before that, I never questioned much why my father never talked to me or why my mother was always looking at me strangely. After I realized the truth, I understood my father had never forgiven the sin I supposedly committed. My mother's look was a look of disgust each time she looked at me.

That day I cried all the tears I had in me. I also realized that my future was grim. I was sure that they would send me to middle school because it was compulsory but I had no guarantee that I would go to high school. If I didn't go to high school, college would be out of the question. And without a high school diploma, what kind of job could I find when they would threw me out on my ears?

When I heard that VR games had become part of the curriculum I was ecstatic. The place I lived in didn't have a StaViCon but thanks to that new directive, I got it installed for free. I would finally be able to play the games of my dreams and now this happened. I couldn't chose freely my character, I had to play with people I hate. And, I had to be in the same party as them for four whole weeks in real time, that means twenty-four weeks in game time.

I was a noob whereas everyone else had played for a long time. I wasn't stupid, I clearly saw that I was the only one with no equipment and the only one who had to follow the school rules on what my avatar should look like. It was too much. I sit down in the alley banging my head on the wall and tried to think of ways to get out of this situation.

Hp -10

Hp -10

I received notifications informing me that my headbanging was causing me damages. It helped me to snap out of my depressed thoughts. I took a deep breath and stopped short. The alley stank to high heaven. What were they throwing there, dead corpses?

I ran out of the alley coughing and taking as much clean hair as I could in my deprived lungs. I found myself in front of the library. It was a decrepit two-story building with written above the door in fading letters “LIBRARY”. Apart from this, the building was bare of any other decoration or information. Gingerly, I entered the building.

An old man was sitting behind the front desk, lost in the book he was reading. He didn't take a look at me even though I kept standing in front of his desk and tried to gain his attention. I didn't have anything special to ask of him so I waited for two minutes more before shrugging and going directly for the different books I could see on the shelves.

I took the first one I found and started reading it. Reading was one of my hobby and speed reading was something I was actually really good at.

Wisdom +1

Intellect +1

Mp +5

Those message kept popping up. It was so annoying. I deactivated all notifications unless they were about quests. Finally calm again, I logged out.

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