Chapter 1: Betrayal
Within a long, dark corridor, two men could be seen conversing. The red carpet and gold-forged throne at the end of the endless expanse of pillars only enhanced the atmosphere for their talks.
Kneeling before the one seated upon that very throne, was a silver-haired man. His eyes widened as he listened to the one upon the throne.
"As an apology for the inconvenience, the guild will allow you to keep the Sunny Drawn Manor, and give you a severance pay of 1,000,000 bytes," the enthroned man drawled.
Although 1,000,000 bytes was a lot of money, it would never compare to the many cities the silver-haired man owned in the game.
The silver-haired man shot up from kneeling, "After all I've done for this guild... you take my account and leave me with crumbs?!"
"These are no crumbs, any commoner would be jealous of your position! Stand down now, Faceless!"
Faceless, the silver-haired man, shouted out, "Without me, Relentless would be nothing! Although my account is signed off to you, you would really..."
The man on the throne stepped down, bringing his red hair and handsome face underneath the moonlight. He swept back his crimson hair as he said, "To be honest, I hate you. The fame and fortune you've received, it was supposed to be mine, Faceless. No one knows of my name, despite me running the damn place. Now, the elders have finally agreed to get rid of you!"
Faceless unsheathed the sword at his waist, "You believe that you could replace me? Do you not know of my abilities?"
"Yes, yes I do. In fact, you've grown old! Your brain can't keep up with Realms Online anymore, your reactions have dulled! Our entire younger generation would prove to be much more useful should they have your account!"
Before Faceless could rebut, the red-haired man waved his hand lazily, and a swarm of guards ran into the hall.
Faceless simply dropped his sword and looked the red-haired man in the eyes.
"Fine, Guild Leader Zion. But you'll regret this."
Faceless brought up the in-game menu and tapped the "Logout" button. The guards only sighed as the man vanished.
-
He woke up and was immediately greeted with the smell of a freshly-cleaned office. And even with such a magnificent office, contained in an even more magnificent Sunny Drawn Manor, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"They took my account, but I'm not the legendary Faceless without reason. I'll come back, stronger," he declared as the blue screen slid into the metal contraption that he laid in.
"Besides, they can't take my simulation cabin, nor can they take my years of experience."
He turned to look at a picture frame on his desk, not so distant from his simulation cabin. "Has your son made you proud?" he asked the pair on the image.
'Even if I didn't, I'm sure I will.'
With that thought, he downed a bottle of water and sank back into his simulation cabin. "Maybe this time, I can choose the class I really want."
The world went black.
When he opened his eyes, he didn't encounter the character creation screen that he expected.
Vaguely, he could hear the clamoring of metal and water, and the distinct smell of jasmine-rice flooded the area he found himself in.
"Did I trigger an event?" he thought aloud before a voice suddenly called out.
"Alden, breakfast is done!"
It was a voice he hadn't heard in 8 years. A voice that was so nostalgic, that he even jumped a little. 'I haven't been called Alden... for who knows how long. Everyone who used that name is gone!'
Then, the voice called again, "Alden?"
He took in his surroundings, and vaguely, they reminded him of something. It was almost a sense of deja vu.
"This is... my room? Yes, yes this is my room!"
But it wasn't the dull, lifeless office that he had considered his room for the last few years, it was his room from nearly 11 years ago!
"Alden, hurry up!"
Then, his head jolted in the direction of the voice. It came from downstairs. 'If this is my room from 11 years ago... then that voice... could actually be...'
He sprinted down the stairs, almost falling over as he did. In the corner of his eye, many images flashed, all recognizable to him. There, he saw them.
Two middle-aged people, a man and a woman. The man had black hair and his skin showed many years of sun damage and hard work. The woman was milky-white, but her hands were rough, and her brown hair was short and curly.
He choked up.
"M-Mom... Dad..."
The two people immediately got up, noticing the tears in his eyes.
"Son? What's wrong?" the older man questioned.
"Did you have a nightmare?" the woman chimed, going in to hug him.
It was confirmed, the hug his mother was giving him felt too warm, too real to be a simple dream. This feeling was even more real than that of the simulation cabin.
'They're alive...'
"You're our Alden, so you can tell us anything. What happened?" She asked.
'That's right... I'm Alden. This is mom, and he is dad. This is real...'
-
Soon, the trio finished eating breakfast. Alden quickly accepted the reality of his situation. The food was delicious as he remembered it, and his father speaking about politics during breakfast was as annoying as ever.
'Annoying, but I missed it.'
Then, his mother spoke up, "Alden, wasn't that new game coming out today? Aren't you going to be late?"
Alden's head perked up. 'Realms Online releases today? So I'm 18... today was the beginning of my never-ending string of mistakes.'
"You're right, Mom. I ought to go now, the line will be super long!"
Alden's dad nodded at the side, "I know you saved enough bytes for the basic visor, but I worked overtime to chip in. A little extra is on the shoe rack, maybe you can get the advanced visor."
A warm feeling spread throughout Alden's chest. In the past, he thought he was being kind by refusing the money. As he aged, it became one of his regrets.
"Thank you! With the advanced visor, your son will rise to the top of the gaming world!"
Alden ran out of the house, grabbing the extra bytes on the way. He knew that his parents underestimated what he could actually do in Realms Online. After all, not long from now they'd insist on him going to university.
'In that life, I didn't listen to them, and I was right in the end, but it definitely put a rift between us.'
Thankfully, the game store wasn't far off far from Alden's own house. In only 15 minutes, he arrived. A long, long line was stretching out from the store.
Alden simply arrived at the end of the line. Being able to get the visor first wouldn't give him an inherent advantage anyway, since Realms Online's servers would only be up at 12 a.m.
'Still, this wait is going to be ridiculous.'
In his past life, Alden got here much earlier but still had to wait for about 5 hours. In this life, it would definitely take longer.
Then, as if answering his impatient pleas, Alden heard a voice from the front of the line, "Those of you purchasing the advanced visors, please come line up here!"
Immediately, he switched lines, "It seems it'll be quicker than I thought!"
Since, this time, he was at the front of the line.
'Turns out getting the advanced visor is already helping me.'
Then, a voice sounded out from behind Alden.
"I know right? I was NOT ready to wait that long."
Alden turned to see the source of the voice, only to be shocked. "Baron?"
The person he saw was a young-looking man, about the same age as him. With a head of ordinary brown hair, but large arms and a chiseled face. Clearly, they were athletic.
'And in my past life... they were my only true friend.'
Baron was a little confused, having only spoken up out of boredom. "Have we met before? I don't recall!"
Alden nodded, "Yeah, but don't worry about it. I don't leave much of an impression. Are you getting Realms Online too?"
Of course, it was obvious, since Baron was in the same line. But, Alden wanted to steer the conversation in that direction anyway.
"Uh... yeah!" Baron nodded awkwardly.
The familiarity oozing from Alden's tone only slightly put him off.
"Great, this little one will carry you! What will your username be?"
The two discussed, and Alden told Baron to send him a friend request when Realms started up before he went to buy the advanced visor.
'With this, my starting point is already better than before.'
Not only had he met his friend earlier, but he also got the advanced visor earlier!
With optimistic prospects, Alden rushed home.
"All I've gotta do is write down my knowledge of the future before I forget, and then, I'll definitely be ready for Realms' release tonight!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Reawakening
Reawakening New novel, I can't wait to make this one. I know the VRMMORPG market is flooded, but I really have a fun idea, I promise.
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