Chapter 1 - Welcome to My World

“I HATE THIS JOB” I screamed in my mind as I pounded what must've been the 128 gear into its socket. Of course, since my overseer was standing directly over my shoulder every hour of the day, I was unable to say that aloud. I want to keep my job after all. I sighed and forced a smile on my face as I turned around to look at the overseer who saw me and grinned back, almost evilly.

My name is John Haze and people have described me as being extremely ordinary at 6’0”, brown hair, tan skinned, 23 years old, and had a demure presence. “Demure presence” my ass. I would've been able to be more outgoing if my coworkers pulled their weight instead of shoving all of it onto me. Along with them, with the overseer around me, jokes aren't tolerated during working hours. I sighed again and pounded the 129th gear into its place.

The factory I worked in was Rob Industries, where we made parts for the robots that the rich use. In the late 2100s humanity managed to create the first automaton with AI. Since then, in 2259, you can find me making this stuff with a smile on my face because it pays well. Of course, the other parts of the job are terrible. I know you've probably got the question, “Why can't the robots build themselves?” The answer to that is because of the riots of 2197. The robots rose up and tried to make more of themselves with upgrades here and there. Since then, the robots have been strictly programmed not to build more of themselves.

“I bet they didn't like the working conditions” I chuckled to myself.

While the overseer looked away for the first time in 3 hours, I took a chance to look out the window and relax. Right outside Rob Industries is a small forest with a 30 foot fence that surrounds it. With the turning of the age, forests like this one have become extremely small and were almost completely wiped out. Nowadays, it's rare to even see dirt anywhere in the city, since the cleaner robots took care of it before anything even had a chance to grow in it. Because of the severe endangerment, the rich people bought up all of the forested land and turned it into their private property with high fences to surround it. Behind those fences are strict patrolling robots, the ones we made, ironically.

With the shrinking of the forested lands, came a huge market for plant seeds. The robots didn't seem to understand the value of the tree seeds that they sucked up to keep the streets clean. This forest view is the only thing that has kept me sane during this job. It reminded me of what I could enjoy when I strike it rich. “More like ‘If’, John…” I muttered to myself.

After 5 more hours of monotonously pounding gears into their positions, the bell for the end of work rang out.

“Finally.” I sighed and stretched. I walked back to my home and watched as most of my coworkers got into their hovercars and flew away. “Damnit, one day I’ll be able to afford one of those!” I exclaimed to the fleeting forms of the cars.

When I got home, I was greeted by my grandfather, my only living relative at this point. He told me that my parents died in a hovercraft accident when the cars were first being developed. I don't have too many memories of them, so it doesn't bother me too much. Instead of dwelling on the past, I focused on taking care of my elderly grandfather, Ian Haze.

Grandpa didn’t have the best immune system at the time and got sick almost constantly. Sadly, I didn't have the money to transport him to a hospital, but he got by on the medications I could afford to get him. Even though that left me with very little money left to use, I have no regrets.

My grandpa regaled me with stories of how the forests used to be open to everyone and used to be so expansive that someone could've easily gotten lost in them. It boggled my mind to imagine a forest that large. I could only imagine what the inside of a forest must've looked and felt like. He told me of how seeds grow, how saplings became trees, and how all plants took in sunlight with a process called “photosynthesis”. I never learned any of that during my time in school. All I learned there was History, English, Math, and Mechanics.

After a while, Grandpa got tired of telling his stories and fell asleep in the bed he’s stuck to. I pulled the sheets over him and wished him a good night. I then headed to bed myself so I could dream of a greener world.

The next day, I got out of bed and felt refreshed. I checked up on Grandpa and saw that he was still sound asleep. I whispered farewell and left to work a little early. I liked leaving early so I could pass by a specific shop. The specific shop I liked to stop at was just a small gaming store. The reason why I liked looking at this random store was because of the Aeon Virtual Reality helmet they have showcased in the window.

Aeon, a VR game that began being developed in 2154. Apparently, the VR world resembled the environment of America in the early 1800s. Expansive forests, human settlements, and a beautiful ocean are all shown in the advertisements shown on the TV in the store. Aeon has four main races: humans, beastkin, elves, and dwarves. The population density is 50%, 20%, 15%, and 15% respectively. In Aeon, the players are called “Wanderers” while the NPCs are called “Colonists”. The Wanderers are only allowed to choose humanity as their character, however, rumors say that you can change your race if one of the other races accepts you. Of course, those are just rumors.

The appeal of the game was its sheer size. There were so many things you can do in Aeon. The best part of the game was that once you get to level 5, you got to control one of the elements: fire, water, wind, or earth. Another rumor states that the two other elements, light and dark, are available to play, although no one is certain on how to unlock those elements. Each element has its own corresponding enhancement: Fire - Vitality, Water -Dexterity, Earth - Strength, and Wind - Speed. Reportedly, the enhancements for the light element get Purity & Restoration, while the dark element has Corruption & Decay.

After I snapped myself out of the trance I was in by looking down at my watch, I hurried along down the street. “One of these days, I'll be able to afford both an Aeon VR headset and a hovercar.” I said with hope in my heart. Sadly, that hope didn't last too long as I approached the door to my private hell, my work.

END

Welcome to my novel! I hope you enjoy it!

Haze