Robert emerged from the gateway into the plaza he used as his home in the Nexus. Juno was sitting by the edge of a fountain only a few feet away. She was absently tracing something in the water and having a conversation with someone he recognized from one of her classes.

Juno was Robert’s second-longest friend and closest rival in school. In high school, it was like watching a tennis match. Always back and forth. One would win some prize or get a higher test score, and then the next day or week, the other would one-up the other. They went back and forth like that, even when they entered college.

Although they were in different majors, they were always competing with one another for the highest test score or accomplishment. Since Robert had to leave school, they hadn’t had time to hang out as much. He worked all day, and she was in classes, but they made time for one another either in-game or in person when they could.

She was a little taller than average at about five-ten and had a lithe build. Her dark brown hair had always been about shoulder length, and she was the type of woman who never wore makeup. He wasn’t sure if it was because she disliked dealing with it or some other reasons, but in Robert’s eyes, she never needed it to begin with.

One could mistake her for a ballet dancer because of her build, but she was never into those types of activities. In contrast to her appearance, she was deeply into grappling, or she had been since leaving high school. She started taking Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes down the street from their high rise, and she was really into it. She had even mentioned entering a tournament a few weeks ago. With her schedule, it was challenging to find the time.

Robert had also taken classes at the same school but had to stop when his mother got sick. If his circumstances ever changed, he would likely start up again. He was actually the one to bring her for her first class and had been doing it for over a year before she tried it.

Because of the practice, she was strong and in good shape. As she saw Robert approaching, she finished talking to her friend and stood up.

“Hey Rob, I got your message. Is there something wrong?”

He smiled and pulled out a single golden ticket. “Nothing is wrong. I just wanted to give this to you.” He handed over the ticket, and a moment later, her eyes went wide in disbelief.

“Wha… how? Where did you get this?” She asked in a confused tone, not looking up from the ticket.

“Sam won the tournament he was training for, and this was a bonus prize. He gave me one earlier, and I asked him if it would be all right if you got one. We want to build a group for launch, and I thought you, me, and Sam would be a great start. What do you think?”

She looked up at him, smiling, and rushed forward, hugging him. “Thank you, Rob. I was really bummed when they announced the prices for the trial, and I never thought I’d get in before the wide release. This will be so awesome.”

They stayed in the hug for a moment longer. Robert, not knowing what to do and Juno too embarrassed to do anything else. Eventually, they separated, and both started walking together towards the central terminal banks.

“Uh, I’m sorry for jumping on you back there. I was just so shocked. Thank you for thinking of me. I’ll have to thank Sam when I see him next.”

A little embarrassed himself, Robert answered, “It’s no big deal. You can jump on me whenever…” suddenly realizing what he said, Robert stammered, “Uh… I mean… it was just a hug. No worries.” Too embarrassed to say anything else, he just looked away.

“Ok, no worries. Let’s get these tickets registered. I can’t wait to see what the manuals and introduction information looks like. I heard that they built the character systems on an original Dungeons and Dragons template. I mean, there are limited races and classes. Also, there’s supposed to be unique aspects of leveling.”

Catching up with her, Robert said, “Yeah, I heard a bunch of stuff a while ago. I stopped following the threads when I saw how much the tickets were. I just felt like it was a big letdown every time I saw some new rumor.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I still get the stories in my feed, but I just scan them or read the headlines. The public announcement will be on Wednesday, and the doors open on Saturday at eight in the morning.”

They finished walking to the terminals, and each grabbed a spot. The public terminals were where you could access the full Nexus interface. Most players didn’t have full network access on their personal terminals. It took up too much space, and the government wanted to control access points for things like banking and purchasing real-world items. Robert didn’t understand the complexities of why, but it had never bothered him.

He pulled up his display and placed the gold Elysium Online ticket on the display. A moment later, a prompt popped up, telling him to enter his personal verification password. When Sam had given him the ticket, it was hard-coded to Robert, so only Robert could validate and use it. Juno’s ticket was also protected the same way.

After a few seconds of waiting, streamers and fireworks launched out from the terminal like a miniature celebration accompanied by the words Congratulations and Welcome to Elysium Online floating in the air above the terminal. It was a little shocking, but Robert also knew that he was the only one who could see it.

Right next to him, Juno said, “Wow, that was a little unexpected.”

“Yeah, I wonder what’s next.”

Just as he finished saying that, there was a disembodied announcement that said, “Welcome to Elysium Online! A fully immersive world where you can reach your full potential and live any life you want. Are you ready to begin?”

He asked, “Hey, are you going to start right now? I think this is a tutorial or something.”

“No, I think I’m going to log off and get something to eat. Do you want to join me?”

Thinking for a moment, he answered, “Yeah, that sounds good. I have a few things I need to do before I can do anything like a tutorial or something. Let’s meet in the lobby in five.”

“That sounds good. See you in a few.”

With that, Juno gave him a wink and hit a button on the terminal, causing her body to evaporate into smoke and float away. Each person in the Nexus could adjust their personal settings for clothing and even customize their appearance. One of the more popular modifications had always been to modify the log out action. Some people just disappeared. Some people turned to smoke like Juno. Some people had even gotten creative and programmed little dances or movements.

Robert had programmed his own log off as a part of an introduction to Nexus commands class his freshman year. Robert chose the log out action. His avatar took a single step backward into a curtain of shadow that then melted into the ground. He’d been rather proud of it when he created it.