Jacquie Lamarque:

"I wanna go home..." I softly murmured.

Ahhhhh... I'm going bat crazy here.

Right now I'm surrounded by a couple of people I don't really know.

Argghhh... I should have know better than to let Jen and Ash drag me to this party.

"Hey babe, wanna dance?"

I looked at another Justin Bieber wannabe for the umpteenth time tonight. Despite my boredom I really don't want to offend anyone.

With a practiced smile, I flatly rejected him softly.

I turned around and looked for somewhere to park my derriere.

OMG... Really gotta get outta here. New updates finish today, just wanna login.

With this boredom, I can't help my thoughts running away from me in all sorts of direction.

Hello. My name is Jacquie Lamarque, and I'm an addict!

I can't get by without my daily fix. It's currently 11 hours 22 minutes and 17 seconds since my last fix. But who's counting?

Arggghhh... I feel a cold turkey coming on. My hands are shaking and my body is starting to shiver. Goose bumps develop on my skin. The air feeling so cold and sharp cut onto my skin. Drops of liquid on my forehead... Drops? Liquid?

I tilted my face upwards. Sigh, the AC unit is right above me.

No it's not meth, coke, or even MJ. It's the game Transcend: Online.

I know... people say it's just a game but they haven't played it yet. So no offense people, play it first then we can talk, that is if you can tear yourself away, Bwahahaha.

Thinking of my alter ego there. [Hellwinter] my level 12 mage. Just a little more and I will be level 15, then I can equip the loot I got from a boss, [wisdom shroud of the Lycan king].

Wonder how many mobs do I kill to level up?

Speaking of mobs, doesn't that guy look like a goblin shaman? With his beak like nose.

"Hehehe" I snickered quietly.

Oops, he's looking this way. I turned away and zeroed in on another guy from the football team.

Ohhh... Definitely an ogre. And that one's a kobold.

I looked around me and see this wave of mobs, just waiting for the slaughter.

Offer yourselves to me, HELLWINTER MAGE OF ADLANIELL!!! BWAHAHAHA...

A small sneer threatened to breakout of my calm facade.

I felt some people are starting to look at me strangely.

Sigh... I seriously need to get outta here.

Where are those guys?

Anyway, how did it become like this. Let's do a quick flashback. I thought back to my younger days.

********************************************************************************

Ever since I was young I wanted to be a hero like the ones I saw on TV. Flying across the world, firing power beams from my hands, blowing up planets!

I wanted to be a super saiyan!

I even knew what to do. I just need some DNA and maybe radioactive materials... I was sure mom's gonna be mad if I blew up a lab, so, no explosions.

There is only one person who could do this...

"ERIC!!!" I yelled as I ran to my big brother's room.

My big brother is the smartest man in the world, I'm sure he can do it!

"Stop yelling, Jack! What do you want?"

He was sitting in front of his computer studying.

"IWANTTOBEASUPERSAIYANLETSGETSOMEDNAANDRADIOACTIVEWASTSESAND..." I gestured wildly to my brother.

"Stop! Slow down!"

I stopped and stared at my brother with pleading eyes. I started once again, this time slowly outlining my plan.

"Sigh... Jack you really shouldn't take those animes seriously. First... The saiyan race is extinct, their planet exploded galaxies away so we can't get DNA. Second radioactive materials are expensive. We can't afford it..." My brother gently explained to me with a slight quiver on his lips.

I was heartbroken. I was about to cry.

"Oh no! Jack don't cry." My brother said in a slightly panicky voice.

"Tell you what..." He pulled me towards him and we sat side by side on his computer chair.

"Let me teach you how to play a game. This is called Eternal Dungeon Online. It's an MMORPG. Here, you can choose to be whoever you want."

I looked at the screen showing a couple of pictures of people in different outfits.

My brother slowly explained each picture to me.

"This is a crusader, they can equip the best armors and have sword skills, do you want this?"

I looked at the picture of a man in a great bulky armor.

"NO! It's ugly!"

"Okay. How about this. This is a priest, they have holy powers and can heal their friends."

"He looks like a wimp! I want somebody strong that can blow up monsters!"

"Ahhh... How about this. This is a wizard he can use magic. He makes monster go boom with magic!" He said with a smile.

"Yay! That's it! I wanna be a wizard!" I hugged my brother.

He patiently taught me the mechanics of the game.

And me? I fell in love with it. It's all I can talk about at home and in school.

Unfortunately as I grew up my friends started looking at me strange when I talk about these games. I don't understand all they talk about is make up and boys. Boring!

But I don't want to argue with them, so I just don't talk to them about it. It's hard but I try to blend in. I tried to get used to it.

Day in and day out.

Question:

How much time do you need to exhaust a topic?

Answer:

Apparently, talks about boys, accessories and make-up is inexhaustible. Sigh...

Then one day, while hanging out in the mall with some of my friends. We passed by a gaming store.

A promotional video of a game was playing on one of their large TVs.

I stared closely at the monitor. Intently watching the action sequence.

Two figures faced each other in a desolate location. Corpses of various races could be seen in the background. It was the scene of a war.

On one side, a mass of hulking muscles can be seen, based on the tusks that protrude upwards from his mouth, I guess this was an Orc. He was wearing a rough metal armor complete with spikes on strategic locations on his body. He was holding a massive axe in one hand and a large sword in the other.

His adversary was the one that caught my attention though.

She was simply beautiful.

An elven maid. Silver hair hung down to her waist. Her verdant eyes glowing, brimming with power. She was wearing a shimmering robe opened in front. Inside, the graceful and elegant sigils that adorn her armor can be seen where the robe doesn't cover it. In her hand an oak staff with bands of gold. On top of it a crimson orb flared with intensity.

She squinted her eyes as she prepared to attack.

With a wave of her staff, dozens of fire balls flew towards her nemesis.

The orc seeing the barrage of fireballs responded quickly.

The hulking mass of muscles put his great axe in front of him and used it as a shield.

The orc didn't wait for the hail of fire to abate. With his axe in front of him he charged towards the elven wizard in a zigzag pattern, making it difficult for the maiden to accurately hit him.

3 meters away from the elven beauty, the orc suddenly jumped up.

He raised both weapons above his head, staring intently at his adversary.

His eyes filled with fiery hate towards his enemy, intent in her destruction.

Focusing all his strength in his arms, his muscles bulged more and more, veins popped up, threatening to explode.

Using his momentum and the pull of gravity, he brought his weapons down upon the seemingly frail elf.

With a smirk on his face he knew he has won the battle.

As for the wizard, a mysterious smile bloomed on her face as the orc bore down on her.

[BOOM]

A huge explosion blew dust and smoke all over the place, covering the whole screen.

As the dust cleared, a lone figure appeared. Shaped like small mountain, arms raised in victory as roared towards the sky. Celebrating his kill.

Not far from where the orc was standing, a figure flashed into existence.

It was the elven maid! She was alive!

Clearly she used one of the magic users' most trusted skill in their repertoire. Teleport!

She didn't look any worse for wear.

In fact she looks unmoved by the orc's all out attack.

The woman closed her eyes.

Her lips, silently moving.

A low chant can be heard. The words, indistinct but getting faster and faster by the moment.

Abruptly she opened her eyes.

Her pupils turning from green into red. Like crimson fire burning in her eyes making them shine like the sun.

With practiced grace she swung her staff around, complicated pattern shimmering in air appeared with each swing and with a mighty wave she slammed her staff to the ground.

"POWER OF THE ELEMENTS! HEED MY CALL! PASS JUDGEMENT UPON MY ENEMIES. VISIT THEM WITH THE MIGHT OF EARTH AND FIRE! METEOR!"

With the sudden outburst from the elf, the orc turned around. Shock evident in his eyes as he saw the the wizard not only uninjured but also priming her attack against him.

With a roar of rage, he gripped his weapons hard and prepared to bull rush the elf.

As he prepared to attack, he suddenly looked up. His eyes widened.

The clouds were swirling around a black hole.

From the black hole an enormous rock emerged.

Intense blue flames surrounded the meteor as it fell down from the sky.

The orc knew there was no escape from that calamity.

In bitter defiance of its fate, he stood tall and roared at his approaching doom.

You can hear the bitterness from its voice as flames devoured his body before being ultimately crushed by the massive meteor.

[BOOM]

An ocean of fire and destruction covered the whole area. The figure of the elven wizard with her billowing robes and glowing eyes can barely be seen.

Words slowly cascaded onto the screen.

When the battle begins where will you be?

The choice is in your hand.

Live the way you choose... Transcend: Online.

It was so beautiful, I almost forgot I was with my friends. Good thing they were busy checking out the hunky clerk.

My eyes fixed to the monitor. It took me a moment to recover. Wow! It was so real. What game is this?

I looked at the displayed merchandise.

What I saw made goosebumps rose up on my arms, my almost popping out. I feel the excitement flowing through my body.

It was a a helmet. Not just any helmet. It was VitaGear 2.0!

I can see the elegant prints on the box:

Transcend: Online

Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer RPG

90% Immersion!

I couldn't believe it. Is this really true? I pinched myself hard.

Ouch! Note to self. Don't do that again!

I wanted to jump for joy, but restrained myself.

This is it! A chance to be whoever or whatever I wanted! No more holding myself back! No more giving in! This is my chance!

I rushed my friends out of the mall and went home in a flash.

For days I stalked my parents. I begged, nagged, appealed, coerced.

In the end they finally gave in. With double the chores and a promise of stable grades from school they bought it for me.

I was on top of the world.

That night I finally hooked it up and logged in.

Welcome to VitaGear

Please wait as we configure VitaGear for first usage

Registering VitaGear 2.0

please wait...

Loading plugins

please wait...

Downloading Resources

please wait...

Logging in

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Here we go! Goodbye old world and HELLO NEW WORLD!!!

****************************************************************

"Jack! Jack!" A somewhat out of breath voice broke my reverie.

I turned around an saw my two bff's.

Jenna Fay, blond and blue eyes, somewhat of an airhead but always nice and pleasant.

Ashlea Folmar, a feisty brunette, her Asian heritage evident on her almond shaped eyes.

"Thank god, you're finally here. I'm really dying here." Grateful now that they're here. Maybe we can finally go home.

I looked at the two again, there seems to be a weird vibe coming from them.

"Anything wrong guys?" I hesitantly asked.

My two friends looked at each other and then at me. They started to tell the story circulating around the campus.

"SHE DID WHAT?!?!" My ears already turning red from anger.

"HE DID WHAT?!?" I turned around rushed home directly.