It felt like I was selling my soul. In all reality, I knew that Ancient Realms MMO was only duplicating it digitally, and being nervous as expected. In my mind and in a small fortune of my retirement funds, too. The ugly modern painting on the cream-hued wall wasn’t nearly as interesting as my blank stare made it out to be. I was excited, but my skin has been too wrinkled for video games for a long time. Everyone has heard of Ancient Realms, the revolutionary form of VR entertainment.

“Mr. Rowman, did you hear me? I said you just need to sign this last document,” his rumbling voice softly spoke. The agent impatiently tapped the table next to the tablet, like a panther enticing his prey. I immediately straightened my posture, rewarding myself with an expensive creak from my spine. This man was an employee of Ancient realms, dressed diligently in a white lab coat. He was no doctor, so the lab coat was either aesthetic

“I understand the gravity of the decision,” The agent started. I almost snorted at that. My imagination made that weight a reality, the past few sleepless nights making the burden all the harder to hoist. “But I have other clients to meet with.” I quickly scribbled my name above the indicated line. I had been slow to make a decision, but I think I secretly knew the choice I would make all along. The innate fear of death did more to a person than they realized, try as they might shove the effects aside. The agent stood up after looking at the tablet for a second, then moved towards the door behind me.

“Let’s go now. Follow me.” I teetered to my feet and made for the door. As he walked and I shuffled, he spoke. “The process will take most of the day, but you will be unconscious. Even with our high spec machinery, we like to ensure that the entire transition goes smoothly. Small errors could result in catastrophic consequences to the future of your digital mind. After you wake you may feel slightly dizzy for about ten minutes, but it will pass.” The glaring sterilized white of the walls, floor, and ceiling were reminiscent of a doctor’s office, though lacking the distinct smell. After a few doors passed, we turned down the next one and a hulk of machinery confronted us. My gaze traveled from a mass of cables snaking along the wall from multiple unrecognizable sockets. Lights and levers haad been arranged in careful arrays across the sterile white surfaces. The ambient humming of the electronics vibrated through me. I wished I knew how it worked. Less noticeable than the machine, there were two doctors there wearing crisp lab coats and neutral faces. A technician of sorts, was focused on the machine, adjusting some variable or such with a panel of controls. One of the doctors gestured toward a white chair attached to the machine. I sat down. The chair was as white as the machine, very similar to a dentist’s chair in its color and uncomfortableness. A motor whirred as a crown of high-tech electronics descended onto my head, and shadowy tendrils overtook my vision.

My eyes opened immediately. The first thing I noticed, even before my surroundings, was the feeling. Or more accurately, the lack of almost any feeling. The constant ache in my shoulders and back were gone, and other parts of my body that I never remembered aching felt better now, too. I felt full of energy, young even. Even my mind seemed to have a weight lifted, thinking faster than it had even in my youth. I felt a rushing cocktail of excitement, nerves, and curiosity but then I almost jumped. It felt... different. The emotion had an artificial undertone, not feeling in the way it used to. But, I hadn’t felt normal excitement in years, so maybe I was just unused to it. I felt another strange feeling, guilt. I was alive in this digital body, a copy of myself, while the ‘real’ me was withering away, life and mind leached by brain cancer. I guess it was silly to feel guilty, after all, I was me, so I had saved myself at the inevitable expense of myself and my physical body. I am overanalyzing now. I finally turned to my senses. I rationalized that I must be in the digital world now. I wanted to know, for sure, exactly how long it had taken. Even being among the first groups of beta testers to undergo the process of copying and downloading the entire brain, it seemed to be a complete success. I let it sink in. It was nearly Immortality. Thinking it over, the only things that could terminate this copy of my existence were a major malfunction or the collapsing society, therefore the internet. I couldn’t process the fact, it didn’t feel real. I gazed around in fascination. Suddenly the price I paid to get here felt so cheap.

In the corner of my vision, there was a circle with three dots in a vertical line. I carefully examined my environment, the walls were a blinding white, and the furniture of the room I found myself in was also white. A couch, an immersion pod, a coffee table, a flatscreen TV, and a doorway towards another room. It was the menu; there was a small pulsing blue circle on the upper left side of the circle. How do I do this, I thought, pawing at the icon in vain. Unsurprisingly, my hand passed through the icon. I glared at the icon in annoyance, and it conveniently opened the interface. The menu was expansive, containing buttons and settings for all kinds of customization. I could customize the room I was in, turn off certain senses, limit or enhance my emotions, or customize my appearance. Some of these things I was too afraid to mess with, it wouldn’t feel right to artificially dampen my emotions. I vowed to be careful with these settings, or I could probably mess up my consciousness beyond repair. I shuddered and stopped going through the list of problems I determined could be caused by these settings. I had to stop overthinking so much.

One of the Ancient Realms employees called me and asked a few questions about how I was doing. I told him truthfully that I was feeling better than ever. But now I had a lot of time to myself. I could have hundreds of years to myself. The only thing I had to do was Ancient Realms. There were plenty of other popular immersion games, but Ancient Realms was the only one compatible with a digital mind like mine. I gazed toward the immersion capsule. I had inspected the capsule, and it wasn’t a capsule, only shaped like one. It served a purpose similar to an icon found on a desktop. I had tweaked the setting of my living room, removing the television and replacing the space it had occupied with a window facing a thickly pined forest. It reminded me of home, a place I would never see again. This was my home now.

I couldn’t help trying out the immersion pod. I was far too curious, I hadn’t tried one since I was a young whippersnapper. I had only been here for a couple of hours, but claustrophobia waited for nobody. I snuck toward the white coffin as if it would hear me if I made too much noise. I threw open the lid and was greeted by a glassy prompt: “Lie down here to access the immersion pod. This can be configured in settings” I complied, lying down on the cushioned interior of the pod. Normally there would be numerous life support systems inside, but this one had only a smooth lining of white. The life support was unnecessary, my bodily functions, of course, being nonexistent. The lid closed around me, but my growing sense of claustrophobia was soothed by it. Even though I was being trapped in a box, I was also about to be set free onto a whole new world.

I was greeted by a crawling grey line. A loading screen with the words “Ancient Realms” painted above them. They seemed to be suspended in midair above a stilled battle of epic proportions below. The bar reached its climactic 100% point, and I found my vision momentarily veiled in darkness. The darkness lifted and I was in a new place. An expansive cavern gave my eyes a rest from the glaring white of my recent surroundings. Warm orange light scattered shadows forth from a huge gemstone far above. The steady rhythm of rushing water from somewhere filled my ears. My clothes were suddenly different as well. In my digital home, my default attire was a hoodie and sweatpants, but here I was sheathed in very plain wool clothing. It was generous to call it clothing. I flinched sharply as a clattering noise like a rockslide sounded right in front of me.

“GREETINGS,” A low mechanical voice rumbled. “WELCOME TO ANCIENT REALMS, NOBLE TRAVELLER,” The source of the sound was a tall, dark hulking mass, difficult to distinguish in the feeble light. In the shadows, I could see protrusions at odd angles. All around the cavern, stone lanterns floating in midair appeared in full flame I could now see that the creature before me was a huge, humanoid cluster of stone and pebbles, holding a spear twice as tall as me. As with the lanterns, glowing globes of orange fire conjured into the places I expected his eyes should be. The golem made a sound synonymous with clearing its throat, and an awkward silence ensued.

“Usually it is polite to respond,” the golem sounded almost sheepish, shifting its enormous weight uncomfortably. “Oh my, pardon me. My name is Angor, Defender of the Depths. Please tell me your name.” Despite the jagged edges of the golem’s voice, I could only describe his voice as polite. I could have sworn he gave a little bow in his apology. An ornate blue rectangle appeared in front of my view. [Choose Your Hero Name]. some text above the box said. I put in my actual name, Gabriel. As I pressed enter, a red message flashed: [Error: Name Already Taken]. Had to try it, I suppose. I pushed my fingers through the surface of the message. It looked so solid, I couldn’t help myself. I instead typed in my old gamer tag, “Archangels_Advance” [Success!] a notification told me. Edgy, I know, but nostalgia was my favorite feeling. Another box immediately followed the dismissal of the name box. [Would you like to customize your character? (Notice: if you change your appearance, you will miss out on the opportunity for an achievement and a title)]. I was in no hurry to lose rewards of any kind, and I didn’t care what I looked like. I chose the no option. The message dissolved in the air to nothingness.

“Now it is time we choose your class,” Angor shuddered through his magical-mechanical voice, “I see you are among those who join the realm more permanently. Would you like to undergo a soul scan?” [Because of your recent procedure with Ancient Realms, you may undergo a soul scan. Accepting the spiritual scan will allow you to unlock unique classes tailored to your preferences, but will remove some standard class options.] There were no button options to press, so instead, I spoke.

“Please begin the soul scan.” As I watched Angor, he slammed his spear down in front of him with both hands with an echoing bang. I watched in fascination as snakes of the same golden light as in the divots of Angor’s eyes swirled through runic indents on his chest. I heard the thrum of a gong ring from somewhere, and then an invisible force put so much pressure on me that I staggered to my knees, the wind knocked out of me as a literal pressure emptied my lungs.

After what could have been days or only seconds, the light snaked back out of the spiral in Angor’s chest, and into his core. His posture relaxed, and mine relaxed enough that I collapsed onto the floor.

“It is done,” Angor said with a tone of finality. I felt no different, but a new box was hanging in front of me. I was kind of getting sick of them. But this one was different, lined in gold swirls and shining brighter than the others. [One unique class found! Class: Analyst - a master of knowledge, an analyst can use their senses to their full potential in conjunction with their mind to outwit their foes. “The strong defeat the weak, the smart defeat the strong”]

There were no other class options, only two buttons: [Accept or Decline]. This was probably the most important decision I would be making in this new life of mine. I rose to my feet, thinking harder than Angor’s Rocky muscles. He remained helpfully silent as I considered. I knew the normal classes that would be offered, and I would probably be able to choose from those if I declined. Choosing this would mean giving up any dreams of firing fireballs, sneakily slashing, or even resurrecting resentful undead. But knowledge... I had worked as a Librarian for years, and I wasn’t idly sitting at the counter the entire time. I had read just about the whole library before I retired. This class would probably effectively become a machine of knowledge and learning. That old addiction stirred, the one I had conquered years ago...