“Ah finally after more than 30 years, my dream finally bears fruit” one man sitting on a wheelchair staring at a huge spherical mechanism that is suspended in the air with several huge wires as large as an adults leg connected to it. The man is so thin and seems weak that might disappear any time now.

Another man who is holding the wheelchair behind him is also staring at the mechanism, wearing a seemingly expensive suit with a strict air around him.

“Hahahaha yes my old friend finally”

“We have been in this for years and the long wait is over, sadly it’s also the end of the line for me *cough* *cough* *cough *” a tear can be seen falling from the man’s eyes reminiscing the past hardships and experience throughout the years.

“Please don’t say some depressing things; we made it through a lot of hardships and finally achieved our dreams”

“I know *cough * but you should also know that I only have a little left before I die”

*sigh* looking at his friend with deep concern in his eyes “My friend, I also know that today is your birth day that’s why I prepared a gift”

“What’s the point? *cough *you know I’m dying and this is my last, the *cough * only good thing is I manage to finish it before I die. It’s my greatest *cough * creation and I’ve put my entire life in it. But there are a lot of sacrifices that I’ve made. My family *cough * abandoned me and even now I do not know their whereabouts”

“Don’t say that, you also know that I lost my only son and his wife, still I’m fortunate that my granddaughter manage to survive the ordeal” Having a very sad expression on his face. You can tell just by looking at him how much pain he felt while thinking about his family.

“Well let’s cut to the chase *cough* as part of my final wish I want to be the first to try the full beta version *cough*”

“Of course it’s already prepared along with my gift for you”

“You’re still talking about that? *cough*” the frail man paused for a moment and think for some time and said. “My friend you know how I love my family *cough* but I” *sigh* staring at the spherical mechanism, tears began to blur his vision as it poured down more and more. “I just hope*cough*, at least make my grandson whom I never seen in my life became happy with this *cough*”

“Do not worry about it, I promise that before I die I will give your entire inheritance to him and if I did not make it I will write it on my last will, for my descendants to fulfil this promise on my behalf”

Wiping his own tears while giving a faint smile after he heard those word from his friend “you’re just exaggerating it *cough* for me to feel much better, but with those words even if it did not happen I feel at ease *cough*since it’s you saying it”

“Please have faith in me, besides it’s my fault that you were unable to walk and…” he stop his words and tears began to fall from his eyes that is filled with regret. “I ….. If I only listened to you at that time, I … me and my beloved family would never fall from those bastards schemes” the man moves to the side of the frail man, he kneeled down and continued “you sacrificed you’re wellbeing for my sake, even though I almost betrayed you, even though you only manage to save my granddaughter, I never blamed you and there is only me to blame, even now deep in my heart I still cannot forgive myself”

“Raise your head idiot *cough*, that time my family already abandoned me and I cannot sit idly and let the person whom I thought as my second family to suffer as I do *cough* *cough*. Do not bow down to me because I still failed”

Still on kneeling position the man became silent but his emotions are still rushing out and want to let it all out.

“No it’s enough, I think of it as punishment for my sins, to you and to my family. In the end this is the only final gift I can give you, this might come as a negative thing for you but for me it’s a way that I won’t permanently loose a good friend”

“…”

He then stand up and push the wheel chair out of the room towards a certain area where several people are already there waiting for their arrival.

Several people lift the frail man off his wheel chair then put him on the bed and attached several mechanisms on him.

During the whole process no one said a word. Every single person on the room has deep emotional attachment to the frail man. Some of them have feelings of gratitude’s that cannot be paid for a lifetime, yet their benefactor is dying before them. Some were people whom he spent his years and shared some laughter, tears, accomplishments, they were together most of the time completing this project, yet they cannot do so anymore.

The feeling of saying goodbye is so sad, so heart breaking, especially when you know you cannot meet anymore.

After assembling the mechanism one approach the man who the frail man considered his most trusted friend and gave him a remote with nothing but a single button.

“Is everything ready” he asked the people on the area. Everyone gave a nod and move beside him.

“My friend, you will always remain in our hearts………… Have a pleasant dream” and so he push the button and a mechanical voice can be heard.

[Commencing boot up sequence…]

[1%......10%.......34%.....58%......70%......90% ……. 100%]

[Boot up sequence complete ….. Checking for any errors and anomalies….]

[1%......10%.......24%.....48%......66%......93% ……. 100%]

[No error or anomalies detected… Initiating DREAM WORLD…]

[1%......10%.......36%.....53%......69%......95% ……. 100%]

“Thank you my friend”

[“Welcome to Lucid Dream”]

-=+||+=-

In the year 20XX, the race to create the best virtual reality boomed and different companies began to compete fiercely. These types of virtual reality games though not what most people imagined are still considered one. These types include a screen wide and big enough to cover ones vision, inserted to a pair of googles and several attachments included. Consumers began to play these expensive yet exciting games, not until in 2XXX.

To everyone’s surprise a certain company named Game Platform Technologies (GPT), announced a full dive virtual reality game and at that time they were looking for one thousand beta testers who will play the game.

> this game shattered the gaming industry which caused a lot of companies go bankrupt. On its BETA state, all the chosen testers were given a virtual reality set (VR set). The result?....... ITS MIND BLOWING!

Those testers uploaded their videos and experiences on the game, fighting large dragons, exploring different dungeons, and creating their own legend. Different ‘out of this world’ scenes like underground crystal palace, islands from the sky, different views atop of a gigantic tree, enchanting forest, and many more.

With just these are enough for the consumers to grow exited and even before the half year period of beta test ended, lots of topics regarding the game flooded different blogs, forums, and video sites. Different reviews and speculations surfaced but the greatest question is ‘how much will it be?’

Since this is a very high end game, most discussions were focused on how much each VR set will cost. Many people began to worry and some even said that there will be a high monthly subscription since most probably the maintenance cost will be high.

One month before the beta test end GPT announced a two month server maintenance and updates along with the most awaited answer ‘The price of each VR set’. The price is lower than most expected and what made all people around the world celebrate is that the game is a ‘FREE TO PLAY’. This announcement made the world go insane and this gave hope to those people who gave up the idea of playing because of its cost.

The VR set of the most awaited game hit the stores one month before its launch and in just 3 days hundreds of millions sets released were sold out. These forced GPT to produce even more sets and promised to deliver at least a week before the launch.

Talking about the VR set, it has three devices on a set one is the Pbox or the processor unit, Red bracelet which monitor the user’s health, and lastly the Head Gear or the VR sensory helmet.

The Pbox is the main component or in other terms the ‘BRAIN”. It has a power cord to be connected to an electric outlet and in case of electric shortages each Pbox is equipped with an emergency power supply which will last for more or less than eight hours. There is also a warning to be sent to the user in case this happened. For those who worry that their network connection is slow or does not have one at all, Pbox is equipped with a mysterious personal network line which is not mention on how it really works. The only explanation is that with this personal network GPT promises that there will be 99.9% no time lag even if the users are at each end of the globe. This also prevents any harmful attacks to the main server.

Red bracelet is what has been said earlier is a device worn on either left or right wrist which sole purpose is to monitor the user’s health.

Lastly the Head Gear, it has a lot of sensors that allows the user to navigate inside the game. This device allows the user to enter a lucid dream state which deceives all the senses of the human body and making it possible to actually feel the game more lifelike. It also has an iris scanner for log in authentication and other features.

Everybody eagerly waits for the launching date when at exactly five days before, a case has been filed and its contents, it is not safe to use.

Different claims towards the game by different individuals surfaced and it caused a huge uproar. Most people thought of refunds but on the third day before the release it surfaced that these individuals are paid by different big companies in order to cause some chaos. These companies knew that with the launch of > will be the start of their decline.

On the day of its launch, the most awaited event of the whole wide world is about to begin. More than hundreds of establishments and schools petitioned for a holiday and since it’s the making of another history, some countries announced that it will be a non-working holiday. Well some did not get what they want but nonetheless it caused a world record of the most people online on a game’s first day of launch.