Coming back to reality, Dr. Richard arrived at the nurses station on the third floor to find it surrounded with almost all the nurses of the floor with worried expressions on their faces, all of them looking at a certain direction. Following their gaze, Dr. Richard saw the subject of their worry to be 3 official looking guys in black suits with their expressions set in stone.

Walking forward hurriedly, Dr. Richard introduced himself, "Good morning, I'm Richard. What seems to be the problem here?"

One of the 3 official guys stepped forward and opened his mouth ready to speak only to interrupted by a bright voice from behind.

"Good morning! Nice to meet you Dr. Richard. My name is Leonard Hodges."

A young man, around 25 years of age, walked from behind the three men with his hand extended towards Dr.Richard and a bright smile on his face. He had short, curly dark-brown hair, a slightly large nose for his oval face and light-blue eyes that seemed to shine. He stood at about 5 feet 9-10 inches tall, wearing casual dark-blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

Shaking his hand with a polite smile, Dr. Richard was deep in thought as this person in front of him looked vaguely familiar. 'Leonard Hodges...' He thought, 'Why do I get this feeling that we have met before? His name and face both seem familiar.... WAIT! Leonard Hodges! THE Leonard Hodges! The young and bright CEO of Cyber Illusions?? Surely not!'

Seeing his expression, Leonard chuckled to himself while saying, "Looks like you have recognized me. Perhaps we could move to a private room and have a little chat?"

Still in shock, Dr. Richard absentmindedly nodded and led the way back to his office.

Leonard asked the three official guys to stand outside for a bit while he entered and lightly sat down on one of the seats in front of the desk while Dr. Richard took his own seat behind the desk.

"So, you might be wondering what I am doing here?" Leonard asked to which Richard nodded, still in a daze. With a chuckle, Leonard continued, "As you have recognized me, I think I can safely assume that you have heard of our company Cyber Illusions and our new game, Conqueror?" Another nod. "Great! Then this conversation can move forward quickly!"

"As you may know, our game is designed in such a way to make it seem as real as possible. The players can even set the pain threshold at 100% if they want to! Of course, I don't think many would change it from the default 15% setting." said Leonard laughing to himself.

"Anyways, the point is that our game is so real that it is hard to tell if it really is a game or if it's another world! Which is where your hospital and the patient in room 306 come in. We have recently found out that playing this game might actually help in strengthening the minds of the players who play it."

Dr. Richard, now out of his daze and giving full attention to the conversation, tilted his head and looked at Leonard in a puzzled manner, saying, "That is all well and good but how is this relevant to John?"

"Well, as soon as we found out about the possible benefits of the game, we immediately started looking for people who could be helped. We came to know the terrible fate that had befallen a young boy 9 years ago, John you say he is called? His story is filled with nothing but despair, yet there may be a silver lining at the end.

We were hoping that the hospital may allow us to give John the chance to play our game, even if the chance that he may improve is tiny, we would like to take it. Even if he doesn't improve physically, he will at least be able to enjoy the game. Our Beta test will start next week, so if you could give us your answer before then, we will bring the specially designed console for John immediately and help set it up.

I must take my leave now and I look forward to your response. Have a good day!"

With that, Leonard got up, turned around and left, leaving Richard behind still unsure of what exactly just happened.

After about five minutes of thinking, Richard snapped out of his daze and left his office to move back towards the third floor.

Arriving on the floor, he noticed the lack of any nurses around the nurses station. Smiling to himself, he went towards room 306 sure he would find them there. Like he thought, almost all of the nurses of the floor were gathered outside the room with fierce expressions on their face like they would kill anyone who would dare try to hurt John inside.

Almost all the nurses and doctors present in the hospital knew John's story, and all of them cared about him. But the nurses of the third floor took it to a whole another level, all of them took care of John like they would care for their own son/younger brother. They took upon themselves to make sure one of them was always present near the room, and if anyone entered room 306, be it a doctor or the cleaning staff, one or two of them would follow them inside and stay in the room up until the person left it. Many times the administrative department had tried to reason with the third floor nurses, trying to make them see that no one here wanted to harm John in any way, but they blatantly refused and continued their special treatment with resolute eyes.

When they saw Dr. Richard approaching, they immediately gathered around him demanding to know what all the fuss was about. With a smile, Dr. Richard explained to them about his conversation with Leonard and the reasons for their visit.

When he finished, some nurses looked excited but most of them were nervous as they thought this could be a bit dangerous. Dr. Richard assured them that no decisions had been made yet, and that he would discuss with everyone present before the final decision is made.

He then went inside the room to find nurse Sandra sitting beside the patient's bed. She was actually one of the nurses who treated John when he first arrived 9 years ago along with Dr. Richard. An elderly woman, about 50 years old, she considered John as her adopted son and would almost always be found sitting near his bed during breaks, speaking to him or reading him a book with a kind expression on her face.

After informing her of what transpired, Dr Richard and nurse Sandra both fell silent and looked at the unconscious patient in front of them. Now 17 years old, John still had his pale skin and a thin body, though not anywhere as thin as when he first arrived. Though fully clothed right now, both Richard and Sandra knew that his entire body was covered with scars showing all that he had went through.

Looking at the peaceful face of John, Dr. Richard turned and left with a firm expression and vowed to help him no matter what it took!

Over the next two days, after many discussions, debates and arguments, it was finally decided to give this experimental treatment a try. Leonard Hodges was informed of the decision, and 3 days later room 306 was filled with 2 nurses, Dr. Richard, Leonard Hodges, 3 technicians, a custom-made pod by Cyber Illusions and of course, a 17 year-old young man on the patient's bed.

After experiencing so many hardships, all Dr. Richard hoped was that with this John would finally be able to experience some form of kindness that humans are capable of.

-----

Author's note: Are the chapters too short/too long? I somehow think I am rushing through and not providing a decent enough back-story. If this is the case please do let me know.

Thanks for reading! Any feedback is always welcome!