In the early 22nd Century, the technology has advanced to a point where the development speed was unfathomable. One of the most advanced industry was, of course, the entertainment industry. A company, Arclight Entertainment has developed the most advanced VR Helmet called Phantasm after their previous model that can easily simulate reality for the user. To celebrate their release they invested huge amounts of money to a game development company that created "the ultimate war simulation game" named Warzone.

Warzone was marketed as a game where it mirrored Earth in a fabricated way. Players were to choose between 2 factions, Federation and The Empire. Their selections would send them to the countries as soldiers, equipped with nothing but standard military gear. The objective was to climb through the ranks, command your troops and dominate the opposition to rule the lands.

Connor, a 19-year-old who enjoyed reading all kinds of books and playing games. He liked war strategy games more than any other genre, it wasn't that games were his everything. He had an above-average lifestyle. Had a group of friends, wasn't too handsome nor too ugly. But he enjoyed brainstorming in the games, it was his most favourite activity after reading books.

"I think it's all set now..." Connor happily said wiping off his forehead with his arm. He had been cleaning his room and working on setting up his brand new Phantasm VR Helmet to play Warzone that was going to release in a few hours.

After putting the helmet down he sat down in front of his computer and went to Warzone's website to check for information.

"Account Management... Forums... Support... Ah! Getting Started, here it is." he clicked the final option and was met with a small introductory video.

The video began with the logo of Warzone. Then a female voice started talking in the background. "Warzone is an Action-oriented Strategy game where the player will have to select between two factions, Federation or The Empire. After your selection, you'll be transported to your faction's headquarters with your starting gear and starting rank of Private. Your ultimate goal is the elimination of the opposite faction. As a private, you have to obey the orders of your superiors. As you fulfil your missions, you will be promoted to higher ranks which in return will allow you to command soldiers, access authorization for all sorts of military vehicles and ability to wear different kinds of equipment. After logging into the game ......" the video continued with basic instructions on how to see your character stats, accessing the equipment management and vehicle list, tips on how to rank up etc.

He glanced at the clock that was located in the top left corner of the website, it was 5:54 PM. Only 6 minutes left until the release of Warzone.

Connor got up, walked to his bed and sat on it and started connecting the cables of Phantasm. After he finished connecting the cables, he put on the helmet and laid down on his bed.

He opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness, the helmet was off. He grimaced.

'Can't believe I forgot to turn on the helmet...' he reached out to the back of the helmet and pressed a button.

After a short moment, a bright white light enclosed his vision. Connor subconsciously closed his eyes and opened a few seconds later. He wasn't in his room nor he was laying down anymore. It was bright all around, it seemed like he was put in a white room.

"Thank you for purchasing Phantasm." a feminine sounding voice said.

Connor scratched his hair, "Uh... you're welcome?"

“Please look towards the light.”

Connor’s eyes moved towards the light that was shining onto his face.

"Iris registration is now complete."

"User registered, Connor Ironheart."

"Welcome to Arclight Library, please select your type of entertainment."

As soon as the voice said that, a menu opened in front of Connor that seemed like a computer program, there were different kinds of options from action movies, adult movies, old mainstream VR games even a VR Chess! He quickly browsed through the selections and found what he was looking for, Warzone.

He lightly tapped his finger to the transparent screen to confirm his selection.

"Selection confirmed."

“Please select your in-game faction.”

Connor was met with a screen as soon as he clicked on the icon of Warzone, the screen had prompted him to select between Federation or The Empire.

‘Hmm… they more or less look the same, but Empire definitely sounds cooler.’

Connor thought and clicked on the icon of The Empire.

"Loading Warzone..."