Prologue

I skipped down the aisles of the supermarket unable to completely hold back my glee. After finishing my final circuit around the main floor I make my way to the staff break room/offices at the back. Four am, end of my eight hour night manager shift at the local supermarket and if you couldn't tell – the whole skipping thing – I was excited for it to be over. I am not normally one to skip, especially not around my workplace at four in the morning.

Today was a bit different however. Very different.

Today was Elmeron's release date. Elmeron, the new VRMMORPG created by reclusive VR rig and Age of Heroes inventor Atashi Niko. The Japanese genius, who not long after releasing his brainchild to the world withdrew from it. No-one had heard from him in over a decade, before out of the blue, Atashi Entertainment announced he was back, and a new game he was working on for the past decade would be out sometime next year!

Needless to say this caused a minor uproar among video game fans everywhere. After that announcement a further ten months had passed before Atashi entertainment announced it was searching for Beta Players.

I had of course volunteered, but the vetting process was strict. Ahem, Not really. The first hundred to apply were accepted. Damn them button mashers! And damn Atashi Entertainment for being based in Japan of all places!

Those of you quick on the uptake will have realised that when they announced they were open to beta testers, and that the website had the forms available for submittal, it was nine am. In Japan.

Which means that it wasn't until I got home after my night shift four whole hours later, that I instantly regretted accepting the 'exciting' and 'career enhancing' promotion from floor manager to night shift manager just a few weeks beforehand. As a gamer I didn't exactly care what time I worked so long as I had plenty of time for the aforementioned games. A promotion that not only increased my salary but also reduced my hours from five days out of seven to five days - or nights - on and five off seemed like a win win.

I totally wanted to punch the smug bastard from upper management who offered me the new position for a whole week after I realised why I'd missed the deadline. One am after all isn't exactly late for a gamer and I might have stood a chance of being accepted.

Once I'd calmed down I realised that even if I had been able access the internet at that time the Atashi website crashed just five minutes after the announcement because they received millions of requests in that time.

I still attempted to sign up as a beta tester in the following days, I wasn't the only one of course, and the website crashed again. You'd think such a high flying company would have better servers but noo.

In any case the reason that I was so chipper is because I would be woken up in the morning – later this morning that is - by a drone delivering the game chip to my basement flat, assuming I managed any sleep that is.

I made it back to my office to see that Gary, the morning shift manager had just arrived and was settling in. Despite being a 24/7 supermarket upper management wouldn't swing for separate offices for their store managers. Damn them upper management types!

"H'lo Gaz" I said scampering in.

"Mornin'. You're looking awful happy, normally yer all red eyed and half asleep by now."

"Yeah" I said, trying to pull the reigns on my enthusiasm, "normally I am but today Elmeron comes out and I've been hyper all night. Haven't even had any coffee!"

"No coffee? You been sleepin' at your desk again?"

"Hey! It was only the once!"

"Once is surprisin' enough, this chair is getting worse by the day."

"Yeah, yeah" I grumbled, then I narrowed my eyes at him "I'm still not convinced it weren't you that drew on my face..."

He laughs but doesn't otherwise respond to my accusation, someone drew things on my face using a permanent marker, and when I figure out who it was, well, payback is a bitch and all that.

I grabbed my bag and coat then turned to leave. "Laters Gaz."

"Night, or morning. Or whatever." He's not paying attention to me anymore. Probably watching porn again or something.

The roads were dead this time in the morning but I drove as slow as I could on the way back. Time wasting really. The next few hours were going to be dull and I still felt like I was riding a caffeine high.

I flicked the lights on in my flat then made my way towards my desk, hopping and cursing. The landlord still hadn't fixed the light outside and I'd stubbed my toe. Again. Ugh.

Once my computer was on and I'd stopped rubbing my toe, I fired off a quick email reminding him about it, then settled in for a long morning surfing the web for any hints on Elmeron.

Some time zones would already have come online so I assumed that there would be lots of information about it as the first bloggers, vloggers and pod casters made their reviews.

It seemed, however, that despite being out for hours already in some places, no-one had logged off yet. My excitement grew as this was a testament to how good their game must be. I also got slightly annoyed, knowing all these people will have had an advantage starting off and I'd have to play catch up.

The drone making the delivery was late. Something to do with opposing winds. I spent the extra five minutes muttering and flapping about on the doorstep in my dressing gown, hoping nothing would go wrong. I ignored the stares from the neighbours. Stuck up old prunes, the lot of them.

I practically yanked the package from the drone when it arrived and launched myself back inside, almost forgetting to close the door in the process.

The VR pod was already hooked up and ready to go, so after I ripped the packing off, I shoved the game chip inside then sat back, waiting for it to update.

It took almost twenty minutes to update the pod. I spent this time alternating between message boards online and staring at the progress bar.

When it finally finished loading, I pull my dressing gown off and throw it somewhere behind me. Entering the pod I hooked up all the wires and drips and so on that were necessary for long term immersion, including the fun ones downstairs. Yeowch.

I skipped through all the opening stuff as fast as I could and hit Yes to allow me into the game as soon as possible.

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