As she lay in bed, reflecting on her last 98 years of life that had seemed to flash by like lightning, remembering all the hardships mixed in with the brilliant moments of happiness, she found herself encompassed by an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety of her unknown future, the gravity of her situation threatening to crush her.

She knew this would be her last day on this earth. The pain was becoming unbearable and her body had trouble expanding her lungs to provide herself with air. Each breath took so much effort, effort that she no longer wished to give. The metal taste of blood often filled her mouth as her bodily functions were giving out. Overall, she had a good life. She had a lot of fun and was able to provide for her loved ones and got to experience many things; though she wished to experience even more.

If only she could have another lifetime to do all the things she didn’t get to in this one. She just needed more time. While she believed this wasn’t the end of her soul, she knew today was the final page of this story. Her uncertainty of the next book was what she feared. She was religious and believed in reincarnation and the arcane, but what life could she live without the memories of this one? She wanted her life to go on, like a message ingrained in wood. She didn’t want to forget. Didn’t want this life to fade like some sort of illusion. Didn’t want to start all over from scratch. Didn’t want to lose who she was inside at this moment. Didn’t want the fire in her heart to burn out.

Despite the fear that crept through her like ice, she knew the inevitable could not be stopped. The song that was playing softly from the radio next to her bed, and filled the empty space around her, faded away as she turned to look over at the large picture of her family again, her children with their children surrounding her and her spouse.The legacy of her covenant she made long ago with her love. Now, she made a new vow with herself to be brave. With a serene smile, like a shimmer across still water, she kept her eyes on the picture, and prayed with all her spirit to her beloved Lord and Lady among the stars that she would not forget her family, would not forget all the years that defined her very being. Then, as the light slowly left her eyes and she was plunged into the endless dark, she took her last breath and acquiesced to death.

.

..

…

..

.

And then she woke up.

“Good morning, Asterix,” said a calm soprano voice from somewhere to her right. She slowly opened her eyes in a daze and was met with a low yellowish pink light, like it was sunset or perhaps dawn considering the salutation. She blinked a few times trying to chase away the blur in her eyes. As her sight came into focus, she realized she was in a nice, clean, and smooth white room. It was small but had a little table and chair against the left wall, a nightstand with a clock that read 13:42 and the lamp giving off the sunrise glow to her left. As she turned to look straight ahead she noticed a small seat with a lid in the far left corner next to some cupboards that lined the rest of the wall. To her right she saw the woman that spoke to her who seemed of Asian descent with pretty almond-shaped eyes, olive skin and jet black hair. The owner of the voice sat quietly, dressed in the same snow white as the rest of the room, and simply watched her silently and patiently with a warm smile on her lips.

Asterix opened her mouth to speak and found a voice that sounded much higher and squeakier than she remembered having come out, “How do you know that name?” her hand instinctively went to her neck, indicating her concern with the change of voice.

“Do not worry, Asterix. I know much about you and I hope that my explanation will not be rejected or fought against. I know that out of the many people in our system you are one of the few who believe in the improbable and are highly adaptable to change. ‘That name’ is the one I use because it is the one you chose yourself.” The stranger sat still the whole time she spoke, watching for any and every reaction Asterix might make.

“Ah,” she replied simply as her hands moved to her lap and she finally realized she was sitting in a bed with a large fluffy white blanket over her lap. She stared at her hands for a moment, which seemed smaller and smoother than she remembered. Then she wiggled her feet under the blankets, they also seemed shorter than she remembered but maybe the bed was just bigger than she was used to after that small hospital room, “What’s your name?”

“You can call me whatever you want. I belong to you, so I do not have a name until you give me one,” the strange woman replied matter-of-factly.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Asterix grimaced and looked up into the stranger's shockingly green eyes, “Please explain everything now. Where am I? Didn’t I die? Who are you? What happ-”

“I will answer all your questions, Asterix,” she interrupted, trying to reassure her before any kind of panic set in. “To start with, you didn’t really die. You woke up. Everything you know up to this point was a simulation of the real world 500 years ago.”

“HOLY SHIT! I was in the Matrix?!?” Asterix exclaimed loudly.

A light laugh echoed in the room, “Similar, but not quite as dastardly.” Her smile was big as she continued her explanation, “It is called the Hypnos system and you were experiencing what is called the ‘Tutorial’ and it was primarily designed by humans, not AI; though, they definitely help maintain it. Its sole purpose is to educate and introduce topics, history, technology growth, stories, personalities and hardships to its users. We have brought ourselves to a near utopian societal structure now with the advent of many more technologies than you ever got to experience. But we found that the best way to preserve it was to have our citizens truly experience a harsher and less advanced world in the hopes of not repeating mistakes and cultivating appreciation for what we have built. We are currently in the world’s capital, the city of Elysium.” Asterix nodded slowly taking in everything as the woman continued, “Every citizen born here, at birth, is put into their own Tutorial to experience their own life based on the choices they make in tandem with the histories we have recorded. If the system notices a necessary event hasn’t happened it will slowly introduce it to them, such as the loss of a loved one to experience grief and the concept of death or a mate to stimulate the different feelings of love. Once all criteria are met, apart from poor choice making resulting in a restart, the user will wake up here, greeted by their personal companion,” she gestured to herself. “I, and others like me, are what you would consider very advanced androids. My appearance is the result of a culmination of what you find most comfortable to be around, so as to put your mind at ease when first waking in the real world.”

At this revelation Asterix could feel her face get warm and flushed as she glanced away, slightly embarrassed though she wasn’t entirely sure why. The android continued speaking as though she hadn’t noticed even though there was no possible way she missed it, “My job is to assist you in your completion of the Tutorial by explaining the current world, handling your governmental documents, assisting in this world should you choose to remain awake and continuing observation should you choose a new Scenario at any point.”

Asterix’s head snapped back towards the droid, “Wait, choose to remain awake? You mean I can re-enter the Matrix? I mean, Tutorial.”

She frowned very slightly, “Not really. The Tutorial is meant to be a one-time play-through. While you could re-enter a similar Scenario with adjusted settings it would not be where you left off. Generally, we discourage a user from replaying the Tutorial as it offers no real benefits or growth and we find most users tire of it quickly.”

Asterix looked down into her lap, slightly depressed now, “Oh, so I won’t get to see my family again… wait, did my family even truly exist?” she could feel the tears well up at the thought of the family she loved for so long being the equivalent of a long and vivid dream.

Her companion carefully moved to sit on the edge of her seat and said passionately, “You’re family DID exist. Just because they were part of a Scenario doesn’t make them any less real. Their lives and personalities were results of your choices and the impact you had on their programming. And to be completely open, only your ancestors and predecessors were for sure part of the Tutorial Scenario. Any users in the Tutorial share the world with each other. It’s quite possible you knew someone who is another user like yourself,” she then placed her hands over Asterix’s as a gesture of support.

Asterix felt slightly better at her words but her brow narrowed as she looked at the android's hands fully encompassing her own, much smaller ones. Her voice quavered a bit, “Um, is there a mirror in here I could borrow?”

Carefully the droid got up and walked over to the right side wall that was the most open and tapped it lightly which triggered a section of the wall to change into what resembled a mirror. As Asterix turned to look at her reflection, her jaw dropped involuntarily. It was a toddler that stared back at her, something she vaguely recalled from childhood pictures of herself. Long brown hair, big brown eyes in a round rosy face. She noticed she was also dressed in a simple white camisole and that, while she had a blanket over her lap, the bed was not exactly a bed. She pushed back the covers to reveal white shorts to match her top and that her body was half submerged in some sort of clear gel substance that shimmered and sparkled in the light.

The android responded before she could ask any questions, “Don’t be alarmed. The bed is a solution that keeps your body strong and healthy while you’re in a Scenario. It is called ‘Styx’. It is what allows you to move, see and speak even though you just woke up. As for your appearance, we input your DNA into the system when you were born so the body you have in the Tutorial is reflective of your real self. However, the Scenarios run at faster speeds than the real world…”

Asterix looked back at her reflection as she whispered, “How much faster?”

“The Tutorial is twenty five times faster,” she replied in the same hushed tone, “You will be turning four years old soon.” She let that sink in for a few seconds and then continued, “Most users live in the tutorial for about that long. Some who end it too young are restarted but most live to be old enough to be considered as having completed the Tutorial. If a user chooses to do another Scenario, the speed increases.” She paused again as though debating how much information to give the newly awoken child but continued with her knowledge dump, “The standard right now is 1000 times real life speed. Most users choose to play through many more Scenarios before choosing to remain in Elysium. With the technology as it is today most users are projected to live around 350 real years; during which time they can experience approximately 3,500 Scenarios. That number varies with how long they spend within each but the average seems to be about 100 Hypnos years. If that is what they desire, of course.”

“Could you explain to me what the other Scenarios are? Like, I get that the Tutorial is a Scenario and that it’s basically what all the simulations are called but for those who do choose another Scenario, what are they?” Asterix asked, shaking herself from slipping into grief and adapting her mind to the situation. She was here now and needed to learn as much as she could to cope with this world. She had lived her full life in the Tutorial and instead of dwelling in the past she needed to focus on the here and now.

“Basically, any story you heard of or can dream up can be a Scenario. There have been many fantastical worlds dreamed up by humans over the past millennia that have been translated into Scenario settings. You get to keep your memories you’ve made up to this point, or suppress them if you wish, and get to design how you start the Scenario and then just enjoy the experience. If you want to be a superhero fighting alongside the Avengers or Justice League, you can be. If you want to be a spell-casting wizard battling alongside the famous Boy-Who-Lived, then you can. If you want to live in Atlantis or be a Greek Demigod or an Ancient Samurai, you can. Perhaps you want to travel many regions, catching pocket monsters or roam a post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of survivors. Maybe you just want to be a wealthy heir to enjoy a life of luxury or explore the vastness of space for new life and cultures. You can customize to your heart’s content so that whatever you want to do, you can do.” She smiled kindly again and pressed on the wall once more. The mirror vanished and the wall was filled with a scrolling gallery of moving images that gave a glimpse into hundreds of different virtual worlds. She then sat back down in her original chair and waited.

Carefully, Asterix moved herself through the gel bed and stepped onto the smooth cool floor towards the wall to look closer at the pictures. She glanced back at the droid thinking for a moment and said, “How about the name Chii?” Her assistant just smiled and nodded in acceptance. Asterix placed her small hands on her hips and turned back to the digital gallery, “Well Chii, I think I want to do a Scenario. I want to finally experience being what I've always wanted to be and experience the things I've always dreamed about.”

Chii stood next to her and glanced slyly at Asterix while giving a coy smile, “Let me guess… Magic?”

Asterix grinned wildly and looked straight back at Chii, “Magic!” she said exuberantly. “Can you filter high fantasy magic Scenarios only?” she asked Chii but the screen seemed to respond automatically and shifted suddenly, showing a bunch of squares with popular fantasy symbols, some of which Asterix actually recognized from her previous life.

As she looked through the images, Chii raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you leaning towards first?”

Asterix scanned the rows upon rows of images while contemplating Chii’s question. “I’m thinking something like D&D meets Pokemon meets The Last Air Bender scrambled into the ‘Tales of’ or Final Fantasy game series,” she replied after a few moments.

Chii smiled and pressed an image with a brightly colored symbol of what appeared to be five stacked squares turned 90 degrees with each tier and each corner a different color with a symbol in it. Chii spoke with an almost reverent tone, “Then I recommend this world: Selesola.”

Asterix smiled brightly, placing her trust in the amusing android, “Awesome! Let’s do this!”

Chii nodded and double tapped on the image which caused the wall to go blank and the bed to glow slightly. The droid gestured to the bed and carefully Asterix climbed back into it and laid back the way she remembered waking up. “Before you enter the Scenario, you can design yourself in the Lobby,” Chii informed and Asterix raised a questioning eyebrow at her, “The Lobby is a sort of limbo. You’re in the Hypnos system but haven’t actually started the Scenario yet. It’s where you specify any settings such as your appearance, age, abilities, etcetera.”

Asterix nodded in understanding as she closed her eyes, anxiety threatening to overtake her as she felt her heart begin to race.

Suddenly, she was standing in a small zen-feeling room, holograms floated in the air around her with little labels: ‘Avatar’, ‘Setting’, ‘Inventory’ and ‘Abilities’ were waiting to be pressed and decided upon. Asterix walked up to ‘Setting’ and pressed the holographic button. It disappeared to be replaced with an image of the current selection: ‘Selesola’. Asterix smiled slightly, as the image began moving with an overland montage of the world. She jumped slightly as she turned to go look at the other selections and almost ran into Chii, “Gah, what are you doing here?”

“I can materialize at will in the Scenarios,” she said candidly and walked over to the ‘Abilities’ button and selected it, “You may add any kind of setting here that you wish, both practical, like being able to do karate,” she explained as she selected the said ability, “or even something more fantastical, like being able to fly.” She closed out of the abilities menu and gestured for Asterix to go to ‘Avatar’, which she did, as Chii followed behind. “Here you can design what you want to look like. May I?”

Asterix nodded, curious to see what the android that watched over her for her entire life would choose for her to look like. A hologram appeared in place of the button of what appeared to be a young and very handsome man dressed in a comfortable looking yukata. His black hair and golden eyes were striking against his tan skin and sly smile. He was lean and looked like he could handle himself, almost like an action movie star, overall he just looked cool.

Upon realizing what this man was supposed to be, Asterix’s face turned red and they turned away quickly in embarrassment. Nobody had known their darkest desire, the desire they continually wished for yet wrote off as impossible and continually reminded themself that it would only hurt those around them if they tried to actually pursue it. They couldn’t change their DNA no matter how much they prayed, begged, or cried for it. As those memories threatened to overwhelm them, they felt wetness on their cheeks as their vision blurred. Asterix tried to wipe it away without being totally obvious, when they felt a gentle hand on their shoulder, “You don’t have to be ashamed of who you are, Asterix.”

They couldn’t hold back as the tears came out now and their small chest heaved with ragged breaths. Their knees buckled slightly as their small hands rubbed at their eyes, “I wished so hard and for so long. Silently. Always afraid how people would treat me if they found out. I knew it was impossible but I couldn’t stop hoping. The tech wasn’t where I needed it to be. I didn’t have a workplace that would support a transition. I didn’t know how to explain my stupid wish to my family, to my children. My selfish desire wasn’t worth the pain and disruption it would cause everyone else.”

Chii patted their back softly as they cried and the droid spoke soothing words, “It’s okay, you won’t have to feel that way anymore.” After a few moments, Chii stood up and walked them over to the holographic avatar, “Make any changes you would like, this is going to be your new body after all,” she said softly before walking over to the other sections and messing with their configurations.

Asterix wiped the last of the tears away as they nodded and began to make some tweaks to the design of the person they were about to become. Excitement began to replace their sorrow and regret as they realized that they would finally get the body that matched their mind and they would never have to deal with that kind of dysphoria again.

Chii appeared at their side once more, looking over the avatar with interest as she spoke with a matter-of-fact tone, “I have a good starting point and backstory ready based on my knowledge of your interests.”

Asterix smiled while continuing to press holographic buttons, “Good, it would spoil the experience if I knew too much. I just want to finish creating my character and start a new game and learn while I play. I don’t want to know people or places; I like surprises.”

Chii smiled in an almost too good-natured manner, “I assume that means you don’t want god mode, virtual assistant, cheat mode or other similar settings enabled, correct?”

Asterix nodded only half paying attention to the android, becoming further immersed in their task, “Sure, why would I need to cheat? I’m obviously going to be awesome as the main character of this story.” Their mood was obviously improving with the familiar and enjoyable act of character creation.

Asterix made the right golden eye a slate black giving him a very striking look. They added two longer locks of hair, starting just behind his right ear, that spiraled around each other, making one of the curls a contrasting blonde. His facial features were almost impish with a smoother jawline and small button nose. “There! Done!” Asterix exclaimed finally after about an hour had passed of them trying to make their new avatar just perfect.

They scurried over to stand in the middle of the room again where Chii was waiting for them. Asterix was brimming with excitement now as they gave one last glance towards the body they would soon wake up in.

Chii bowed to them in farewell, “Everything is set now. Enjoy your Next Life, Asterix.”

They nodded with enthusiasm as they almost bounced on their toes with impatience. An idea came to them though and they held out both of their hands suddenly to stop Chii, a huge grin lighting up their face, “Wait, wait wait… Let me say it!”

Chii sighed with a bit of feigned drama before smiling indulgently and nodding.

Asterix smiled triumphantly and yelled out “LINK START!”