When I came home I went straight to my room. Not that I have any other choice in a flat with 2 rooms but you get the idea.

I put down my bag.

“Hey Jason. Back home? How was school?” My mom stood between the door frame.

“Ah, I totally forgot about you. Yeah, I am back. School was fine. Mr. Humble saved my day again. It was so boring until the history lesson but as soon as the subject began it lightened up.”

On first meetings everyone thinks that my mom is really friendly but in reality it’s just her surface. If you scratch it away you will make contact with a ferocious woman on level “Angry pirate killer”. Nah, just a joke.

That’s why I told her that lie. If i would tell her that everyone mocks me at school she would panic and do something that wouldn’t be good for either of us.

“Ah, that’s great honey. Is school really that boring? I thought you liked it more than me. Well, doesn’t matter. I go out at 7. You know where the food is. I didn’t have time to make it.”

It’s more like she doesn’t care for me and watches TV all day instead of making food for me.

“Yeah, I know where it is. I will make something later. Ain’t hungry at the moment.”

“Okay, feel free to do everything you want.” With that she left the room and probably went to her coach again inside her living, sleep or “whatever else she does in there” room.

Great. I got the money. I could buy the capsule and the game at this moment but what I didn’t think about is where I should place it. For real, how could I forget such a simple thing. Ahhh. It’s driving me crazy.

Calm down. Calm down. I should analyse my situation. I can’t place the capsule at home. Should I ask the old man again for help? Nah, that would just ruin our relationship between us or better said his wish to me. How should I find him in an entire new world for me?

So, nothing much left. School won’t work either. Maybe we got a basement?

“Mom, do we have a basement?

“No, why do you ask?”

“No reason at all. Just wondering.”

Basement. Check.

School. Check.

Old man. Check.

Home. Check.

Hmm, where could I play?

I thought about that for some time. Hours maybe. When my mom went out of the house I knew it were 7. So...

Ahh.

I went outside to get some fresh air. Why is there no place where I could play? Why. I got no relatives either. For fucks sake. My entire life sucks because of my family. I wish I could change something. That’s the reason why I want to play Royal Road. people all over the world - our world - talked about it day and night. Day after day. It must be awesome. So please, please anybody give me a hint.

I went around the residential block. If you could call it that. We lived in a apartment house. 10 floors, 19 neighbours. Around it there were some shacks but nothing worth to mention.

Nothing was close. City was an hour away and not to mention the infrastructure. Our house was the only minimal technology sign in the entire district. But everybody plays Royal Road. How is that possible I ask.

After roaming around for some hours still with no conclusion I went home again. I met no soul outside here. No wonder.

But as surprisingly as it seems I met our floor neighbour Mark, a worker on temporary employment around 25, at the entrance.

“Hey there. Long time no see.”

“Jason, what a surprise. Aren’t you supposed to play Royal Road?”

“Me? We don’t even have a capsule at home. I think my mother doesn’t even know about Royal Road.”

“What a pity. I knew that your mom isn’t all that mentally good but... Well if I can help you in any way then just ask me.”

“Everyone knows that except herself... This may sound a bit weird but could we arrange it so that I could play inside your flat? I mean I got the money and everything but I couldn’t play at home with her around.” I asked hopefully. Mark is a cool guy and maybe he understands me.

Mark shrugged.

“Yeah, well I know that your mother ain’t right but with help I meant... Well, you know not that kind of help. Sorry.”

I almost began to cry.

The next day I went to school like everyday. First lessons structured themselves as usual. But then I had history again. I had completely forgotten about yesterday's speech with all that has happened. I was thinking about where I could play when Mr. Humble came in.

“Good day pupils.”

“Good day Mr. Humble.”

“Everyone of you can go home. I have to do some work which needs me elsewhere.”

Screams of satisfaction all over the class. All except me. You could think that I would be happy as well but... But the way Mr. Humble stared at me made me wince.

“I see that everyone of you is high spirited today. Well Mr. Walker would you come with em to my office.”

What did I just hear? Mr. walker would be me but I didn’t do anything wrong. It seems like bad luck follows me almost everywhere. the first situation which was good in my life was the money spending yesterday. I followed reluctantly.

“Mr. Humble if I remember correctly I didn’t do anything wrong. So why should I follow you to your office.”

He looked at me seriously.

“Huh? You really have the wrong idea. I want to help you.”

Help me? Me?

“In which way do you want to help me? I mean I don’t deserve any help.”

“Oh, you do. You just don’t know about it.”

“So what kind of help do you want to give me?”

“I heard that you were looking for a place where you could install your capsule and I got the perfect place for you. In my office there is a second room which I could give you for the time being. You could play there whenever you want. There’s even food and a toilet so you don’t have to worry about nonsensical stuff.”

I was suspicious. I mean yesterday he mocked me and now he wants to help me? And what do I not know about?

“For real? I mean that’s great. I truly appreciate it. So I can call Unicorn right away.”

“What? Why do you want to call the enterprise? Everything is already installed. You just have to pay for it. And I know that you got the money with you so you could start right away.”

It sounded too good to be true. Somehow everything went well since yesterday. How come?

Well who cares if life gives you opportunities you should seize them with both hands.

“So I can play right away? Isn’t the capsule programmed for a special person?”

“Well, that capsule in there was not used till now. So theres no problem with you playing there.

I presume you know how.”

“Ehmm... About that I don’t know how. i never even came close to getting one so I didn’t think about it beforehand.”

“Well, there should be no problem. You are a good student. You will find out how things work.”

He turned around and went the stairway down. No other word.

But before that he gave me the keys.

I went to his office. It was at the end of the floor behind some big lockers. I tried the keys.

Still wondering about what was going on. All this luck piled up. There has to be a misunderstanding.

Well at least I can play now. Or better said emerge into a completely new world.

Make a new existent.

I went inside the room. Saw the door which leads to the second room which Humble talked about. But before I went to my new world I looked around me carefully. Posters, data maps, stats and screenshots decorated the walls. Amazing what a collection he has. I picked up some food, sent my mother a message and went into what? Complete darkness. There was no light inside and I could barely see anything. The lamps in the first room illuminated almost nothing in here. But what I could see was amazing. Inside was a huge, white machine. It looked like you could enter at the top and close it after that. Just like in the movies when they enter their hyper powered mech suits. Freakin’ awesome.

There was a small desk in one corner on which Humble had put some manuals. They looked like manuels that is to say. I went around the capsule which radiated white. Not much but so that you could see it. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I noticed that there was nothing else in here. So it seemed at least.

A giant fluffy red and black coloured carpet covered the ground. Cool feeling I have to say. I could feel at home here. I took one of the chairs. It was one of this gaming bags. SK was written on it. I don’t know what that had to say but well who cares. It had such a comfort, you wouldn’t believe me even if I were to describe it.

I put my mobile phone on the table and took the first magazine from the table. Even if I couldn’T bear to resist not to play I didn’t know where to start so...

The first book “How to begin” stated that I have to wait 4 weeks inside the game after I first logged in to get outside of town. Bullshit. I even have to wait longer. Then he read that times went 4 times faster inside RR than in reality. At least something positive.

Well it seems like this wasn't the right book to begin with.

He skipped through the accumulation. “Skills and Stats”, “NPC”, “The World of RoyalRoad”, …after skipping through what felt like a hundred books he found the book he was looking for:“Getting started, Login and Creation”.

The book was really interesting. He found out some things about the classes and starting cities. How you could change or alternate your avatar. And so on. It was finally time for me to get started. After taking one last bite I climbed into the capsule closed the airlock and emerged into a new world.

“The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?”

When I were connected to Royal Road, the first sound that reached my ears was a feminine voice.

“Yeah, I want to create a new account.”

“Select your avatar”

Hmm, what shall I call myself? Jason Walker. How can you change that name to a fitting name inside a game? Mysterious and powerful all at once. Sonker? Walker? JW? Nah. I already knew it. It will be Jawal.

“Jawal”

“Select your gender from male to fem-”

“Male”

“Royal Road has 49 races. You may select your race from the primary 29 races and 20 sub races. Do you need a summary?”

“No, but I got a question. Can you be a halfling?”

“A halfling? What do you mean?”

“Well, a mix between races.”

Silence. After some minutes he thought the game had a bug but then...

“You, you are the first to ask such a question!” The voice was clearly different from the feminine voice. It was old and powerful.

“Therefore we grant your wish”

“I want to be half human-half elf.”

“Your wish has been granted” With that the feminine voice popped up again.

“You may alter your appearance.”

My appearance? I didn’t think about that when I wanted to be a halfling.

Like before, I want to look mysterious but still powerful.

“Let my appearance the way it is. Just alter my ears. A bit sharper. Make my body more like that off an elf.”

“So you want to be 1,75cm high, have spiky brown hairs with a bright skin? Additional to that your own body state? On top of that blue eyes?”

“Almost. Change my eyes to a sparkling green-purple.”

“Select a city and kingdom you want to start at”

“The citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom.”

His new life began.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

“He’s indeed something special. You had definitely a right intuitive there, Phantom.”

“I guess always right.”

“Do you expect him to change the fate of Royal Road?”

“Everyone could change it”