Chapter 3: 003 The True Beginning
... One year ago ...
No matter if they are die-hard gamers, coffee shop owners, or big shot CEO's everyone was talking about [Breaking Chains]. It is an upcoming virtual massively multiplayer online role-playing game that is said to revolutionize the gaming industry once again. The development of the game started shortly after the first virtual reality helmets where released 10 years ago.
After ten long years without advancement in virtual reality technology the gaming company in charge of [Broken Chains] announced it is releasing a new virtual reality technology alone with their game.
Rather than using a VR helmet the player lays in a capsule that syncs with their body allowing them to fully feel the world they are entering. It allows them to feel, smell, and taste everything in the game.
Another announcement was that rather than 24 hours in a day there is a time dilution while in game. Rather than 24 hours the days last for 48 hours thus allowing the players to enjoy the game twice as long.
Previously when the company had their initial press release they said they would limit the player's gaming time. The servers would go off line during normal business and school hours. It was said the company did not want to interfere with the player's real world work and school schedules. However, all of a sudden there was another press release saying they lifted the restriction.
It was unknown why the game company changed their minds but the world was in an uproar. Along with the announcement there was news of an upgraded gaming capsule. This capsule included a nutrition system build in. This system would allow the player to play longer without the need to logout to eat and drink.
An upgraded capsule also meant an upgraded price point. This capsule was easily twice as expensive and the nutrition packs would have to be bought separately. There were different grades of packs ranging from Rank D to A with A being the best. While they all supplied the minimum amount of nutrition an average person required, the better quality packs also meant improved nutrition. It was like comparing two people eating different foods; one was eating fast food and the other a high class steak.
The gaming industry used to be a moderate sized industry and eSports were just starting to be successful when VR came out. Shortly after the release of VR there was a boom in the gaming field. A plethora of VR game started their development and release cycles. Savvy companies learned they could make money by doing RWT (real world trading). They would hire people to play the game and farm in game currencies and items to sell to players for real world money.
There were mixed responses from the VR companies. Some cracked down and banned RWT and other's created a proper in-game system that allowed RWT but charged a tax so the company would make money. These companies only cracked down on those who went outside their system to sell outside the game. The game companies that completely banned RWT died off completely.
Many players came together to create guilds to tackle the game's hardest content and to battle head on with one another. It did not take long for the gaming communities to declare their opinions on the top guilds. The names often brought up in discussions, forum posts, world's first, and tournaments were Desolate, Solemn Sword, Above the Heavens, and Oblivion.
These guilds dominated the gaming scene where ever they went. Now they have their eyes on [Broken Chains]. A fierce fight to be the top would soon being.
.....
James was happily laying in his comfortable bed while listening to his sister's story. To get a better look at his sister he commanded the bed to rise up. The bed listened to the command and slowly folded so that his back was angled and he was now facing his sister. He could now better listen to his sister's story.
While he got to see various celebrities and famous actors he firmly believed his sister was the second most beautiful person he was ever met, the first of course being his mother.
She was telling him a story of her trip to Asia. She told him of the rustic villages, beautiful forests and breath taking waterfalls. She left no detail unexplained or left out. He felt as if he could imagine himself there in her shoes. His mind roamed around so much that her voice disappeared. While he could no actually hear his sister his fantasy followed her story exactly. He could see the beauty that she saw, taste the food she ate, and smelled the crisp air that carried a light scent of the woods. He was in bless.
Since a young age he was able to put himself in a state like lucid dreaming. He could hear a story and accurately put himself into it as if he was living it himself. This was one way he could escape his chains that kept him trapped in his bed.
He asked questions after her story was finished and his sister happily answered him. Most of her stories revolved around gathering foreign plants, animals, rocks and other weird things. His sister was not the only one who travels and seemed to be looking for the unknown. Both his father and mother also told stories of their expeditions.
They all explained at one time or another that it was their jobs to search for new species to study as they were all different types of scientist. He was proud of his family. They were all smart and capable people. He trusted them without question.
What his family left out was what exactly their research was for. They were all desperately searching for ways to cure him. They searched high and low for anything that could heal him.
His father, mother and sister were indeed exceptionally smart but they all knew their intelligence paled in comparison to James's. He learned as an astonishing rate. He completed a doctoral level of education at the young age of 12.
When his family was out and he was bored he wrote marvelous stories using his imagination. His family secretly published his stories for the world to read. He was unknowingly the world's bestselling author. His father developed an AI for his computer so that it would never show search results dealing with anything James produced.
By the age of 18 James was writing complex scientific theory papers. He wrote about out of the box ideas. While most of his topics were not useful or practical there were a few that caused great waves in the science world.
He once theorized that there ways to accurately track weather conditions that would be hazardous to life. Scientists all over the world furthered his theory and found that they could indeed predict dangerous weather conditions. Two years after his publication no one died to natural disasters again.
James unknowingly wore two aliases; the book author Envision and the scientific pioneer Dr. Lounge.
James not only loved to listen to his family's stories but also moved movies, dramas, and the theater. His parents would book private shows from famous actors and theater groups to keep James entertained.
He so desperately wanted to put on shows of his own but knew he could not. He had to restrain himself from writing plays and movie scripts that he would never be a part of. His only outlets of his creativity were is books and day dreams.
.....
While James was engrossed in his day dreams his family was in his father's study. His parents and sister were gathered around his father's desk looking at an ancient looking map.
"Honey, are you sure about this? If everything we found and read is true these ruins are the most dangerous we found yet."
His father was looking at his desk while being filled with worry and wearing a serious face, "I am almost 100% sure this is where the final piece is at." Pausing to look at a display case containing 3 floating objects he temporarily sunk deep in thought.
He turned back to the desk, "All the other information we gathered at the temples lead here. We started our search almost two decades ago. Hell, Julia even joined us after she graduated college 7 years ago. We cannot waste this opportunity."
"It is unbelievable, Dad, I almost cannot believe that you are expecting us to find Lost City of Atlantis."
"I know is seems strange. But all of that ancient writing we found took over a decade to decode. The medical technology we created using fragments of their lost technology is proof enough that what we are searching for is real. Our competitors swear we are using technology that should not exist for decades and they are right."
Continuing his dialog, "We would be considered traitors of human kind of they found out what we know. The wealth and resources we found alone would cause countless wars; let alone the fact that we know something otherworldly absolutely did visit the planet and bestowed technology that should not be around for centuries to the Atlanteans."
"As scary as it is your father is right. James's condition is proof enough. We have secretly been infusing his food and drink with the strange energy from those relics like the Atlanteans wrote about. The cat-scans, MRI's, blood tests, and bone marrow testing are all showing that his bodily systems are slowly repairing themselves."
Her father also chimed in his thoughts, "Hell, even the water that we submerged those relics into turned highly nutritious. It is also self-sufficient. All you have to do is add a single drop of the modified water into a batch of normal water to instantly convert it. Fertile soil my a**, a little sprinkle of this water would turn any soil and crop into something magical."
"You say that dad, but I cannot believe you are selling the nutrition water to that game company. I still do not get why you are helping them. First it was the design for the capsule but you even redesigned it to include those nutrition packs. I thought we were doing this for James and not more money."
"It is for the greater good. [Breaking Chains] would have still been a pioneering company for VR without my interference. The technology they originally came up with would have given James roughly the same experience as the current capsules. I was however unhappy with their technology in the end. I want the best for my boy. The game will help his brain rewire itself. With the capsule syncing with his brain it will aid in the development of his motor functions that he should have learned since birth. Even with the Atlantean technology we'll have, it would all be in vain if he can't get his arms and legs moving properly."
All three sunk into a quiet and focused state. After dismissing their worries they all agreed that they would head out to the ruins of Atlantis together. They only have a two weeks until the game is released so they do not have time to spare.
They all arrived at James's room and told him that they were going on another expedition on an unexplored island the found. They did not give much details but James still wished them luck.
Shortly after leaving James's room his father picked up his phone and made a call. "I am giving a green light on operations Lost City and Revelation."
The mysterious voice on the other line was excited at first but turned to doubt quickly, "Rodger that! Huh? Did you say Revelation? Are you sure?"
Taking a deep breath his father turned dead serious, "Yes."
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