“Virtual reality. It is the idea of creating, well, a virtual reality. I know, truly poetic, but what can I say, at least I’m accurate. Anyways, virtual reality is a pretty big thing in our everyday lives. In the past people would go on planes and ships to sail the world, yet now whole new ones were at all of our fingertips. People could visit jungles, space, oceans, hell, heaven, and even Canada, all without leaving their home. Of course, they were all virtual reconstructions of the real things, but the realism of it all left little to complain about. This is all thanks to one company named Liber. In 2054, Liber was but a floundering company, on the edge of bankruptcy, and out of the eyes of the people. Yet by 2056, they had risen into the households of every house in the world. With their creation of the Gate. The Gate, was the first true virtual reality device that could be afforded by the average middle class family, and although it only featured some sports, tours, and a virtual library, the Gate opened the way for the next era.”

“Jacob.”

“Yeah?”

“You do realize that your speech was enough to put both Sarah, and Dawson to sleep right?”

Looking over to his left Jacob was greeted by the tranquil sight of Sarah face down on the table, and Dawson, leaning back with his eyes closed as he slept peacefully on the couch.

“Well, was it really that boring?”

“Yes, the only reason I’m not sleeping is because I’m curious about what you’ll be saying after your fantastic introduction.”

“Yeah Jordan, just like Nicole, the rest of us would prefer it if you would just get to the point.”

“Alright, since you guys were this patient, I suppose I can tell you.”

“Just get to the fucking point already Jordan”, muttered a rather annoyed Sarah, having woken up when the mind numbing intro ended.

“Ok, Ok, so you guys know how Liber, is launching their new game ‘Fractal Lands’?”

“Of course, didn't we enter that video contest to try and win access to it?” Dawson said without opening his eyes.

“Yep, we didn't just enter the contest though,” Jacob said with a hinting voice.

“What else did we do then? Besides spending hours working on the fucking thing, I don’t remember doing anything else with it.”

“We did do one thing though, and that, is…”

“Either spit it out, or I’ll make you spit your teeth out!” Sarah, clearly amused by Jacob’s theatrics, voiced her opinion rather openly.

“We won.”

“ “ “ Eh?” “ “

“We won the contest. Our video was selected as one of the winners.”

“So you’re telling me, that a short video of us pretending to fight each other won a contest in which thousand of others entered as well?” Muttered Nicole as she regained her composure once more.

“Pretend my ass, did you see the way Sarah was swinging her fists! It was enough to make even the greatest of fighters run!” Dawson cried out before seconds later he was laid out onto the floor.

“Anyways guys, They will be installing custom Gates for each of us tomorrow. I already told Jordan, Morgan and Michael yesterday, since their flight won’t arrive until after everything is installed.”

“Seems like our boredom will be dammed for a while”, happily exclaimed Nicole as she started to help Dawson back up.

“What time will they arrive?” Asked a frighteningly calm Sarah

“Tomorrow at around 8 is what the email said. Why don’t you guys come over at around that time?”

“Well in that case I’m off to bed, don’t want to be too tired when everything arrives.”

“Mind if I join you?” Called out Dawson, before he was once more reacquainted with the floor.

“Good night Sarah”, Jacob said as Sarah started to head home.

“I’m off too then.” “Me three.”, exclaimed Nicole and Dawson, as they hauled themselves down the hall and out the door.

Closing his door after them and throwing himself onto his bed, Jacob thought about what he knew of Fractal Lands. First, it was a fantasy themed MMORPG that was coming out from Liber. From the trailers and interviews he watched he wasn't able to conclude much more than that. All he knew was the genre and the fact that the developers took great pride in how free the game was to let people be.

‘The world will be created for all of you. Whether you will be saints or demons, conquerors or paupers, famous or obscure, all of these choices are up to you. You must only reach out, and grasp it within your hands.’

And with the words of the Fractal Lands trailer playing in his head, Jacob drifted off into the land of dreams.

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Hello everyone! This is my first story, and although English is my first language, if you catch any errors or areas to improve please comment them as I would like to be able to fully express the ideas that I have. Anyways Thank you for reading the first chapter, although it seems to be more of a prologue :/