Zack ran and Akma floated along beside him. His legs burned and his chest ached. As an e-sport athlete, cardio was very low priority. He slowed to a walk every few hundred feet, but every time he tried to rest Akma would say “You can keep going.” then nod approvingly as he sped back up to a jog. Zack’s vision blurred and all of a sudden Akma said “Stop! But don’t fall down. Stay standing, and above all stay conscious.” Zack put his hands on his knees as sweat fell like rain off of his face. Other joggers passed him with ease. Taking a full five minutes for him to recuperate enough to continue.

Twenty foot tall blue portals had appeared in every city that lead to the protective barrier dimension, but so far everyone who had stepped into one had not returned, all except for one documentary crew who had been turned away shortly after entering. They had tried to tell people what they had seen but for some reason their mouths produced no sound when they did and their written words were illegible.

Akma had explained why there was an information lockdown “I only want people who have the courage to step into the unknown. The human race has quite a few invalids who choose not to affect the world around them and the privilege of knowing about the multi-verse is not for them.”

Zack asked while through panting breaths as he ran “So you’re not going to divulge anything even though you’re a living database?” then he slowed down.

The blue goblin like thought projection nodded in response.

Walking briskly, Zack passed one of the blue portals. A man wearing full military camouflage carried a large metal briefcase in one hand and was leaning on a crutch in the other.

He spoke in a deep gruff voice “You’re sure there are no hostiles in beyond this portal.” seemingly talking to the air, but Zack knew that he was talking to his own Akma. The disabled veteran stood for a moment more then stepped through.

With his one mile route over, Zackery Taylor entered the gamer hub, took a shower, shaved the few whiskers he had from his cheeks, got dressed in his normal clothes, the most comfortable clothes ever made, fluffy blue pajamas. He talked to a few people about what their plans for the future were, most had decided to stay as pro gamers but curiously enough, he couldn’t find Ace.

With a knock on his coach’s door, he heard “Get out of here.”

Zack said through the wooden barrier “Is this a bad time?”

”I wasn’t talking to you Zack. You can enter.”

He opened the door “Akma?”

Coach Kamozuto gave a nod “Where have you been all morning?”

”I’ve been out running.”

”Why?”

Instead of answering, Zack sat down in one of the chairs and let the coach figure it out for himself. A habit he had that infuriated everyone he had ever met. But thinking is always good for people.

Kamozuto frowned “You were building up your body so that you could join Akmadouric’s army.”

Zack nodded“Right, and now I am here to talk about canceling my contract.”

The coach said “You have a year and a half remaining on the contract. The early cancellation fee is fifty grand.”

Zack asked “You already checked?”

Coach said “I checked for everyone.”

”Huh, well I was hoping that you could wave it under the extraneous circumstances clause.”

Immediately the Coach said “Denied.”

”That was way too quick. Why not?”

Coach Kamozuto said “It’s not like I don’t want to, but the economy is going to do things that nobody can predict. And this company needs the financial protection. But the thing I don’t understand is; Why are you in such a rush to join Akmadouric’s army? The life of 'Empires Collide' is going to run on for another two years, then an expansion is going to be released after that. You can wait to work for this Deity later on in your life, from what I understand about this interdimensional war is that it has gone on for thousands of years and will continue for just as long. There is a time limit for your career while this…thing’s offer for immortality is not going anywhere.”

Zack said “Well actually the expansion is the reason why I am canceling my contract early.”

Kamozuto’s brow furrowed in confusion “Explain.”

“I am in the middle of the hierarchy of professional gamers. I mean, I beat Exoudicai for a major upset last year during the Red Bull circuit, but other than that I could get knocked off at any moment by someone in the challenger league.” Zack paused and bit his lip “Especially since people from other dimensions are going to be introduced into the game and they may not even be human. I mean Akma could decide to enter the E-sport scene. In case you hadn’t noticed he does like to screw around.”

The Coach sat back with a look of annoyance on his face while the floating head of Akma appeared, smiled and started rotating in the air.

Zack continued “So I had a thought: immortality is not likely to be the only thing that I can gain from signing up with Akmadouric’s army. If he can give people back their limbs and cure autism, then if I gain enough of this currency called ‘favor’, I will be able to find some way to get a leg up on the competition.”

Kamozuto shook his head in disgust “You’re a damn cheat is what you are.”

Zack waved his comment off “What’s the phrase? In love, life, business and war, use all advantages. Victory is all that matters”

“You butchered that Sun Tzu quote.” Kamozuto sat back in his chair “And yes, I agree. For all we know those Koreans have a natural genetic advantage regarding their hand eye coordination, which comes from generations of kung fu.”

Akma stopped rotating and said “Actually the technical names of Korean Martial arts are Taekwondo, Tae Soo Do, Subak, Hwa Soo-”

Coach put his hand in front of Akma’s face and raised his voice “I don’t care! Okay Zack. I’ll tell you what, I will wave fifty percent of the cancellation fees, so you will owe me twenty five thousand dollars. I will even give it back to you when you return.”

Zack got up and turned to leave but then Coach Kamozuto said “Ace had a much different reason for leaving.” he cracked his neck a bit “The guy figured himself to be an explorer. Left this room saying: the multiverse awaits.”

“So how does this having two bodies thing work?” asked Zack as he approached the blue portal.

Akma explained “When you die in your second body, I will use your connection to the network to transfer your consciousness to your true body. It’s a system that father had to create because the battles were getting too intense and he was tired of losing those precious to him.”

“What happens to the true body?”

Akma said “See for yourself, the first group that went through should be coming back right about now.” and on cue, several people exited the opposite end of the portal, each carrying what looked to be black capsules that were just as large as they were “Those are their true bodies. Which are frozen in time. You can’t see them because light doesn’t have the time to enter into the frozen space, that’s why they look black.”

Zack touched one as they passed and felt that they were very smooth “Well, I have put this off for long enough.” he stood just outside the event horizon of the twenty foot tall blue portal, hesitating due to his instinctual fear of the unknown, then stepped into it.