Bowling Green, New Jersey

Logan Ramsey stared at his 32 inches big doorway to heaven and could not believe it. His heart just skipped a beat, and he felt another layer of depression pressing down on him. He rubbed his eyes and his face and shook his head, even pulled on his hair, trying to piece himself together.

But numbers did not lie. He knew it.

Four years at his present job as a life-security specialist had left him wishing for anything that would not require calling on possible clients and trying to persuade them why they needed to buy one kind of insurance or another.

Saying he did not like his job was an understatement. If he could, he would take a shotgun and shoot his job, then take a baseball bet and smash it even after it was blown to pieces.

It was not his co-workers. He got along with them just fine, even formed a very friendly let’s-eat-lunch-together relationship with a few of them. It was not his boss either who tried to be a good guy more often than Logan probably deserved it. He really tried to bump him up, take him out of the claws of depression, and Logan appreciated that enough to fake a smile and a positive attitude.

It was just a stupid job he thought should have never been invented in the first place.

“Why the hell was I doing this?” was the question he asked pretty much every morning he would drive to work.

The answer to that stared him back from the screen of his PC gaming rig he purchased a few months ago.

“So, if I keep my present level of earnings and savings, I would be able to pay off all my debt in twenty-five years? How can that be?”

He looked again at the numbers he fed in the accounting software, expecting maybe that there might have been some extra zero he added there.

Studen loan outstanding balance still 54,000 with a monthly payment of 300 bucks.

Car loan outstanding balance still 15,000 with a monthly payment of 412.

Well, I’m still missing 45 payments there. With the rate I’m going, I will be driving the same care for like… till the wheels don’t fall off.

Credit cards… Total debt 25 big ones. How the hell did I do that? Better not even look. I need to pay at least a grand a month on that.

Rent and utilities… over a grant as well.

Groceries… I’m going to have to cut back there. Back to being a student. I did it once, and I’m just going to have to do it again. Ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches. Or maybe, I can stop eating altogether.

He looked at the pizza box with the last slice of meat-lovers delight still inside. “Well, let that be my last piece.”

Medical bills still outstanding… 6,000. At least I paid most of that off. Just can’t afford to get sick again. Even with insurance, the deductibles would just eat me alive.

He sighed, lifted his hands to hold his head up, thinking.

So, I’m twenty-five and have already succeeded to be over a hundred grand in red. The job I hate with a passion. Talking about passion... The last girl I dated was like six months ago. Why don't I just shoot myself now? Fuck them all.

Then a thought, definitely as a self-punishing one, passed through his head.

Should he move back to his parents? Ask them for help? They would just love that. I told you so, would be his father’s favorite chant, a morning greeting, and a goodnight send-off. Even when he would not be saying it, he would be thinking along those lines. Logan would see it in his eyes, the smirks on his face, his snortings, head shakings.

His mother might not be that brutal. But she would think just the same. Maybe would not tell him anything. Oh, no. She would keep that for her talks with Lucy, the neighbor lady. And, in the end, it would all come back to him with interest.

No, he needed a better way out.

He refreshed his email page. Nothing. Nothing but two spams. Ten new job applications still gave him no answers.

They say how everyone is looking for workers. I really would like to meet that everyone.

Maybe, I should become a carpenter. Work on homes and make a few grand a weekend doing a roof for some old lady. Yeah, but who would give me the first job? I never lifted a hammer in my life.

How about a truck driver? I know how to drive. Hey, maybe that? Just drive and leave all this shit behind. I can buy a really good laptop and take it with me, so every night when I stop I can even play. And I can live in the rig, so, that would save me a whole bunch every month on rent. It would just be me and the road, baby.

He searched online, clicking on the top three results.

These guys want 3K for classes to get you a license.

He looked again at his checking account balance of 600 and a change, hoping that it somehow got miraculously higher during the last few minutes.

I can’t use my credit cards to pay for it. What if it does not work out? And how long would this take? Would they guarantee me a job? What would I do if…

The noise of a bird coming to his window made him turn around. It hit the screen and seemed to have knocked itself down. It lay there by the window, not moving.

Probably just numbed.

He thought about opening the window, seeing if it was alive.

Yeah, and what if it gets nervous and scratches me, gives me some kind of bird virus?

So, he decided to leave it for tomorrow morning and turned around to his screen again.

Another spam email. He sighed and in desperation, opened it up.

Are looking for alternative ways to achieve financial independence?

Live in a fantasy world?

Fight the monsters?

If you are looking for a life-altering experience, click on the link.

If it is a virus, I’m fully protected. But do I want to risk it?

He clicked it without answering that question.

The blues screen of MOLI instantly wrapped itself around him with a welcoming message.

Well, this is cool and new. I did not even know I had the hardware capable of this…

"Sure I accept, are you kidding me? Bring it on, MOLI!!”

Right away, he got a message displayed in golden letters, saying:

You have been auto-selected as a SLAVE

"A slave? What? I don’t want to be a slave? I’m a slave already?!? What kind of a stupid game is this? I want to be something else."

Advancements can be earned. But the mode provided to you is limited. You are - 1000 ducats in debt.

“Why does that not surprise me? Why would you be different, MOLI?”

Self-pity will not help. You can choose to enter and earn ducats for the jobs successfully completed.

“Well, I guess that’s what I’m going to have to do. Just don’t ask me for my credit card. That you can’t have.”

No credit card is required. Just accept and the transference will be completed.

“Well, then, what are we still waiting for?”

The light flashed and he screamed in pain, "Damn, this hurts!"

When he opened his eyes, carefully to make sure there was no more blinding light there, he found himself sitting on the gravel road in front of Dover's Tavern.

The sun seemed to have disappeared a few minutes ago behind the hills to his left, and the light was swiftly disappearing with it.

He looked around, amazed and pleased at the same time. His attention was swiftly focused on the dots of lights that were traveling toward him on the dirt road by the river.

As they came closer, he realized they were knights in black carrying torches.

These guys look dangerous, he thought and decided to find a hiding place inside the cover of the trees, looking there for sticks or anything he could use as a weapon.

Logan watched as the riders stopped by the tavern, and one who seemed in charge started to bark orders.

"Barth and Tin, you stay behind and wait for the next lighting. Garnex, you stay with them too. Without a torch. Hide someplace in case they need a backup. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sergeant!" answered the man who was referred to as Garnex.

"And whatever comes with that lighting, you take it in. Alive or dead. The Queen herself wants to see it. Whatever it is, you do not let it escape, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sergeant!" all three of them answered.

"The rest come with me. The Oswan's Farm and Big Mills also saw this kind of funny lighting from the clear sky."

Logan watched the riders pass him, counting twenty of them, looking all menacing, scary stuff.

Would I be able to take one of them down? I don't know. My skills are so bad, aren't they? How do I access my skills? The next time the blue screen pops up, I'll sure as hell ask about that. I need to know all my attributes, speed, agility, and the rest. Everything. need to figure this game out.

Logan was hiding for like fifteen minutes when the lighting scrapped the sky and thunderous noise made Logan duck down, expecting rain.

When the light of the thunder had died down, he saw a very skinny Asian-looking man dressed in relaxed jeans and a loose dark shirt appear. He had long dark hair tied in a ponytail.

He wanted to call him, get his attention, but before he could even whistle, the soldiers started to approach him.

Then he watched, first in shock, then in outmost awe how Goro deposed of three knights. The way he moved, so fast and furious, the way his dark, long hair had suddenly loosened itself up and covered half of his face... It all looked so familiar, and he knew it exactly where he saw it before.

Sure the clothes were different, but the long black hair, the way he moved that sword…

He watched Goro for a few more moments, watching how he inspected their bodies, found their daggers, some gold coins, and took it for himself. Then he seemed to be talking to himself, and Logan sure was not ready to disturb him then.

"This is an awesome game. I have to interact with this guy, I bet he can help me," he said to himself and summon enough courage to finally step out of his hiding place before Goro was ready to move into the forest.

“I mean no harm! I’m just a visitor here,” he said, lifting his hands in the air as the Asian man noticed him and put the sword up in a defensive position.

“Battousai!” Logan called on to him. "I'm on your side! Please don't hurt me."

"I'm not Battousai," Goro answered in perfect English.

“If you do not like Battousai, I can call you Kenshin, actually anything you want Mr. Battousai.”

“Battousai? Kenshin?? I’m not a character in some anime or a movie! I’m a bloody biology teacher!"

“Oh, really? Where do you work?"

“Instead of asking me stupid questions, help me move these bodies to the woods. Maybe they should not see the morning laying there."

“There is a river beyoned the tavern. We can throw them in there,” Logan suggested.

“Oh, yeah… that’s a good idea. with that heavy armor, it would take days before their bodies bloat up and are seen floating. And if I open their bellies, maybe never.”

Carrying them was not an easy thing, their armor probably weighing as much as fifty pounds. When they stopped for a short respite, Logan took a deep breath and looked at the clear sky above, brighted with countless stars and two big moons.

“This is a freakin’ awesome game, don’t you think? Look at that graphics. Never seen a nightsky like that. And it’s multi-player, even better.”

“I am not sure what this is, to tell you the truth,” Goro said mysteriously and decided to keep it at that.

After they threw the bodies in the river, they took their swords and daggers, and after Goro picked a spare blade for himself, Logan decided that he should carry the rest of it with him.

"We can probably sell this someplace," Logan offered, remembering his balance of negative 1000 ducats.

"I cannot do that. But maybe you can."

"Sure. If I can sell insurance, I sure as hell can sell these fine blades... I mean, the ones we do not need."

Logan picked the sword and weighed it in his hands. It was heavy, making him appreciate even more how Goro managed it so effortlessly.

"You're not just a biology teacher, are you?"

Goro sighed and decided not to answer that.

“Would you teach me how to do what you have done? With the sword?”

“Do you have any experience in training with a sword?”

“No, not any whatsoever.”

"Any martial arts skills."

"Nope."

“And what is occupation here?”

“I… I don’t have any.”

“You came here without the occupation? You know, like I’m a swordmaster or whatever.”

“Yeah. Completly without one.”

“You’re lying.”

“Well, not really. Okay… I, I was labeled a slave.”

“A what?”

“A slave. So, I really was not lying to you, Battousai.”

“Don’t call me Battousai. I’m Goro.”

“Goro… Goro," Logan let the name roll over his tongue, saying it as if it was a sip of wine to be tasted. "Goro... Even better. Sounds even better! Well, if you are a biology teacher, take me in. I can be your pupil. The student of sword. Obviously, teaching should come to you naturally then.”

“You know, to tell you the truth, I was getting really fed up at being a teacher.”

“Oh, I know. I was so tired of my old job. Would do anything but…”

“I guess, you got your wish then,” Goro interrupted him, not really ready for a long conversation.

Logan nodded his head, figuring out that the man probably wants to be left alone. But still, he asked. “So what do we do now?”

“I was gonna go to the forest and hide there for the night.”

"It’s getting cold. I bet we can start a small campfire there. I can get the wood."

“Yes. If we go deep inside, it will probably be safe to start a small fire."

“That sounds good to me,” Logan said, happy that he was not told to bug off, happy that he could be usefull for a change.