Carl looked at his emaciated body in the old, cracked mirror after taking a shower.

“Ahh,” he sighed slowly, drooping his head helplessly. It was continually getting worse.

Pale skin, protruding ribs and joints, sunken cheeks, dark circles under his tired eyes, strenuous breathing. He was an image of misery.

There was also the constant pain. It wasn't exactly acute, and Carl got rather used to it at this point, but it was still an annoyance, preventing dynamic movements.

So much was left from his athletic silhouette, that he spent two long years building arduously at the gym. Though the eating was probably the hardest part, and definitely the most bothersome. He was an ectomorph, so in order to efficiently gain muscle mass he had to endlessly stuff himself with rice and meat, despite his natural appetite being easily sated.

All that money down the drain …

“Well, at least I don't have to force myself any more,” Carl smiled sadly from the corner of his mouth, finding a tiny consolation.

He hit a double jackpot – a rare genetic disorder on top of an even rarer autoimmune disorder. On their own they were mild and manageable neuromuscular diseases, but when piled up, the onset of one triggered the other to act out, and the symptoms accrued suddenly, resulting in severe muscular atrophy and fasciculations. This overlap was also uncharted territory for medicine, which the messed up healthcare system was not equipped to tackle. The only treatment was mitigation, like cold showers and baths, exercise, balanced diet, and some supplements.

If he knew things were going to turn out this way, he would have saved up for his current predicament. But as it stood, he was broke and alone, only inheriting this shabby apartment from his late Uncle Richard and supported by social benefits until he turned 18, which wasn't so far off any more, merely a year now.

At least he was allowed to stay here and be left to his own devices, since the thought of a foster family – or worse perhaps, a hospice – filled him with even more dread. He just needed to maintain a cheerful and carefree facade in front of the court officer whenever the man came for a community interview, and his peace should not be disturbed until his time came.

How ironic … Carl was an absolute coward in real life, always so afraid of death, or any kind of agonizing suffering for that matter – but now that he was practically one step on his way out already, he only felt numb and emotionless about it. All that was left was overwhelming exhaustion.

He just wanted to lay down and fall asleep, never to awaken.

Discounting his physical plight, at least the living conditions were enough to survive, courtesy of a favorable decision from the youth court. He had a roof over his head, utilities, and a first-rate internet connection, while all the bills were paid automatically from a provisional bank account, to which he was also given a debit card for food and daily necessities.

He sluggishly put on clothes and went to his room at a slow pace. There, on the desk, laid an extravagantly illustrated box, slightly bigger than a shopping basket. Carl's eyes sparkled, when his gaze fell on it. This was his sole remaining financial asset, and a real treasure at that, which – as fate would have it – had only just arrived.

He never would have afforded it under normal circumstances, since it cost as much as a brand new car, whole 40 000 $. Furtunately, his grueling efforts to advertise his obsolete Ethereal Empire account paid off just as he was about to give up. An acquaintance of a guild mate, who amusingly turned out to be Carl's old trading rival in this game, saw some lingering value in the depreciated avatar and purchased it for cash at a fair price.

The guy did haggle, however, and the final amount fell short of Carl's requirements, coming down to 25 000 $, which was still more than he had hoped for. In order to match the price tag on the box, Carl had to additionally sell his old professional gaming pc, together with its VR set and any other gadgets he could.

As he had almost 39k, he reached for truly desperate measures – using the debit card, he bought over a thousand dollars worth of various household reserves like canned foods, detergents and accessories, anything that he could buy without raising the court officer's suspicion, and then secretly resold it all at a discount to his neighbors and school colleagues, or their parents, rather.

This kind of humiliation was indisputably more painful than physical hurt, but it had to be done. Carl simply had no one to borrow the missing sum from. He thus decided to ration his supplies strictly, so that the money he brazenly took from the state would even out with his expenses after a year, erasing the harm he had done. And if he died prematurely, his newest acquisition would get repossessed, since he didn't have any family left. Therefore he wrote a note mentioning his 'loan', and left it in the drawer of his desk just in case.

At last, he gathered the necessary amount, and then spent it all on a bold gambit, using falsified data to apply for a product restricted to adults. After a century of combating cyber crime, advanced AI bots were deployed on many key financial systems in the world, constantly sniffing for fraud, laundering, embezzlement, terrorism, and the likes. Chances of success were low, and a month had elapsed without any response, depressing Carl thoroughly. He wasn't even sure if he would get the money back.

It looked like things were only going to get worse from then on. He was at a really low place at the time, sad and resigned.

And then – a sudden stroke of luck!

He found out about Bellator Labs and their intriguing research topic, which fascinated him as well. He met Jin and swayed him, being granted covert entry into a technological paradise, where illusory marvels turned common reality …

… where he faced his fears and wrestled them into submission.

That would suffice.

But there was more!

Because as he returned home on that dark, cold evening, he found a package carelessly abandoned at his doorstep by some negligent courier. Inside it – Carl's entire capital.

His prized possession was now in his hands, as he sat down on his bed wearily.

“Happy birthday, me,” he toasted faintly. What a day that was!

He never planned to celebrate, as he wasn't sentimental, and what's the point of doing it by oneself?

Fate, however, didn't forget him.

Despite his pitiful situation, a glint of determination appeared in his eyes, as a reminder of his dreams flashed through his mind.

Life in 2109 was grim, boring and pointless. Particularly in Europe, which fell apart completely in the last decades. Well, not in the literal sense – the center of the continent, where Carl resided now, was doing pretty fine in comparison to the rest, the rising temperature actually slightly increasing productivity. But the entire west and the whole world in general was in shambles.

Some smaller coastal cities were already dismantled, abandoned and flooded, those that could – retreated inland, while the remaining ones were forced to erect costly barriers. The weather was in many places too hot and dry, while in others too rainy and windy. Temperate climates were getting more and more unpredictable, making agriculture an increasingly risky and labor intensive endeavor, and the continuing expansion of human population drove the prices of food even further.

The effects of global warming weren't the only culprit for this crisis, though. After all, people were capable of overcoming all obstacles, as long as they were united in high spirits. But the moral degeneration, intellectual decadence, and selfish interests finally did their job, bringing the old first-world countries to their knees.

United States were a mere shadow of their former glory, wrought with internal strife and divided beyond reconciliation. Countries like France, Great Britain or Germany were in ruins, European Union relegated to ancient history at this point. Russia was no better – it stirred the pot for too long, until it spilled. The Western European Alliance dropped a number of nukes on Russian military installations, sending many more into the atmosphere to strike down any ballistic missiles coming their way.

That didn't help much, though – many payloads still landed, and WEA got the bad end of the bargain because of their dense urbanization.

What could have been the beginning of the end resulted in a swift capitulation of both sides, as the US and UN intervened, supported by public outrage, and helped depose those who gave the commands, many heads rolling in the wake of this fiasco.

China, on the other hand, was doing quite well, and was now ceaselessly butting heads with everyone else, hellbent on total domination. Luckily for the west, it had a local challenger in India, which tied up most of its attention. Either way, East Asia and its immediate neighborhood was now the economic center of the world, although it had its share of problems too, mainly overpopulation and starvation.

Africa, unfortunately, drew the short stick – it was hot and arid to begin with, and now it got even worse. The promise of a green continent never delivered because of unrestrained corruption and demographic explosion.

From an impartial point of view, the future looked bleak.

Humans, however, are very resilient and adapt fast – all due to the young generations, and their ability to look at the bright side of things.

To them, all this was normal. That was the world they were brought up in – it was going downhill when they were little, and the trend remained as they grew up. It was all they knew, and thus they were used to it, living as ordinarily as they could, just trying to get by and find little pleasures in simple things, as they always did.

Technology, of course, never stopped racing forward. It developed many miraculous tools for aiding those with a low standard of living, and so it was embraced wholeheartedly by the unhappy people as a means of escaping the dismal reality.

Sure, some countries and many individuals were in good shape, but there just wasn't enough work for everyone to live in dignity. Or rather, there was plenty of it, but the society as a whole was disillusioned, spoiled and apathetic, unwilling to endure drudgery for a pittance. In these circumstances, virtual entertainment became the number one drug of choice for the youths with no perspectives.

It turned into a humongous market, with endless opportunities to get rich, or at least make a decent living, but it was a cut-throat battlefield with merciless competition. So many vied for a piece of the pie, that most ended up with scraps, and very few could turn it into a viable profession. That was especially pronounced in e-sports, which didn't produce any value except for the content from pro leagues and top streams.

And yet, Carl managed to do remarkably well on this front, despite starting from scratch and having no innate disposition for competitive gaming. He was your typical, skinny geek, with all the talent for academics, and none left for feats of athleticism and motor coordination. But that didn't matter, because in strategizing he didn't really need much apart big brains and keen eyes.

After his dad passed away, preceded by his mom, who died a few years earlier in an accident, Carl got sent abroad to his Uncle Richie, who was actually his father's uncle. He was an old childless widower, a kind man, but very sickly, and spent more time in hospitals than at home towards the end. This left young Carl alone many times, which he took advantage of to make something for himself in the blissful virtual world, often skipping school.

Before that became a habit, he had exceptional grades in strict sciences, particularly in maths, where he placed in many competitions. This got him a grant, which facilitated his first computer. Encouraged by stories of success spread by the ever-manipulative media and repeated by his peers, he envisioned himself using his smarts to outplay the competition in games involving real money trading.

That's how he got into Ethereal Empire at the age of 12 – a long-running, flourishing RCE. He deposited the remainder of his scholarship funds into the game using scratch codes, and kept speculating at the in-game auction while doing small errands on the side. He gradually worked out the ins and outs, made connections, multiplied his capital, expanded into face-to-face trading, and dabbled in hunting, gathering and crafting in spare time.

The boom in the game showed no signs of stopping, and it was going so well, that Carl made his first withdrawal at the age of 14 to Uncle Richard's bank account, bought a proper gaming computer with a VR set, and started playing for real, often depriving himself of sleep. The VR was still non-intrusive, but the sensations were incredible nonetheless.

Uncle Richie was rather unhappy that Carl was wasting his youth and potential, but as a poor, ailing pensioner, he couldn't refuse the big bucks that were now regularly flowing in and supporting him. If Carl liked the game so much, then well … what could he do? He just sighed helplessly, hoping it would all turn out in the boy's favor.

Carl soon decided to take care of himself. He couldn't ruin his health like this, and forewarned by his doctors, he picked up weights and swimming to offset the mild symptoms of muscle loss caused by his condition.

He was now grinding relentlessly in the game and in real life, making money and powerful acquaintances, honing his body and trying to keep up with his education. Things were progressing so smoothly … and then his health fell apart without warning.

Simultaneously, old Uncle Richie passed away after a month in and out of a coma, necessitating an intervention from a youth court.

Then, to kick Carl as he was lying on the floor, the economic bubble in Ethereal Empire burst violently. Long overdue, it was pricked and instantly shattered by the sudden release announcement of a first ever full immersion RCE game – Immortal Frontier.

Panic ensued and people began selling out in droves, crashing the market of EE. Carl's account, worth previously a quarter million dollars, lost 90% of its value in the matter of days.

There was seemingly no reason to prolong the misery. He was alone and ill, his career derailed.

But so what?

What does it matter if the enemy you're facing is unbeatable?

What's the point of leading a comfortable life, when all your soul wants is to break all shackles?

No, Carl got exactly what he wanted. He wasn't going to go down without a fight. He looked at the full-dive gaming helmet in his hands, proudly signed by Cybercore.

“If this is the end of my journey … then I'll give it my all!”

Carl's eyes burned with unquenchable fire.

“I will shake the heaven and earth with my roar!”