Nexus Online. What a game. It didn't matter how many times he sat at position 64,526 in the queue. Nope. Didn't matter at all, this was more than a mere game, it was a lifestyle. What could possibly be more important than a day of gaming? RAID NIGHT!
"Yeah, let's go," he said as he pumped his fists in front of him, "ce-le-brate good raids, c'mon!"
The benefit of living alone in a studio apartment at twenty-four years old? Well, it meant he could get away with singing cheesy songs to himself and gaming like a no-lifer.
He stretched, moving from the end of his double bed and walking behind his gaming chair. Still over 40,000 positions to go, "Ah, well. Hope Xyrantir's on tonight. Healer last week was absolutely terrible," he said to himself as he mulled over last week's disappointing showing. Sure, the healer had a decent gear level, but they'd obviously been boosted.
His phone buzzed.
"Hm?"
It kept buzzing.
Elias walked back over to the bed and picked up his smartphone. Incoming call: Boss(!!Don't text!!), "Oh, c'mon! Not today."
Maybe if he ignored it, he'd leave him alone? Doubtful. He'd just get it over with, he knew he wasn't working today, so it'd just be Hannah or Liam failing to show up, as usual.
"Ok, be chill. It's all good." He said.
He answered the phone and put it to his ear. The moment he did, a familiar and abrasive voice barked at him, "Mate, where are you? Why'd you keep doing this? Shift started four minutes ago!"
"Huh? What d'you mean?" he replied as a wave of anxiety rushed through his stomach. He wasn't supposed to be in. Was he?
His boss responded, "Don't give me any of that, just got off the phone to Liam, said you said you'd cover for him, and before you say anything, he sent me the texts too. You'd better be less than a minute away or I'm docking your pay."
He was right. Why was he right? It came flooding back to him, he'd a hundred-percent told Liam he'd cover. He just hadn't realised it was raid night. Why did it have to be raid night?!
"Hey?! Mate, you'd better be listening to me--"
Need to deal with this, damnit, "Ok, ok! Look. I'm on my way, give me ten."
A short pause ensued, followed by the inevitable eruption, "ten minutes?! You serious? Have you even left yet? I tell you what, mate, I don't know why I employ any of you. Absolutely no commitment, none. Might as well run this place by myself"
"Woah, woah, woah. Look, Harry, I'm coming alright? You can dock me half-hour or whatever." He said.
Yeah, that was never going to work. Harry yelled back down the phone, "Oh you bet I will mate! You can't just rock up whenever you want and expect us to deal with it all, no consequences. What d'you think's gonna happen if--"
"I'm hanging up, Harry, see you in a bit"
As he went to hang up the phone he could still hear Harry ranting. Thank god for an understanding boss, huh. But, well, he was right. He'd absolutely forgot about the shift and that was on him.
"Goodbye, cruel world," he said dramatically before he looked down at his current dress state, rainbow-patterned boxers and Mark 1 skin-suit, pale edition. Yeah, that wasn't going to work.
He rushed about the room and chucked on a pair of 'washed in the last week' jeans, definitely-not-yesterday's top and a pair of mismatched socks, which, surprisingly, had been washed. Win.
House keys, check. Phone, check. Nexus Online, queue position under 10,000, sadly, yes.
He left his apartment and swiftly encountered his next foe. The stairs, he hurtled down them, work was about fifteen minutes away and that was without the traffic trying to run him off the road.
A couple of flights down he stopped. Just below, he saw a girl walking up. He recognised her. It was Jess. He smiled and got his breath back, she was amazing, one of the nicest girls he'd ever met, and what's even better than that? She actually talked to him first. They were absolutely going on a date in the next week or so and he couldn't wait.
"Hey, Jess." he called out.
She looked up the flights of stairs to see him and immediately smiled, "El. You alright?"
He definitely wasn't alright. It was raid night, he was going to work and his boss was going to dock way more than half an hour of his pay. But, she absolutely didn't need to know any of that, "I am, so good. Like, great. Wonderful. You?"
She laughed and ascended a few more steps.
"You're so weird," she said as she looked him up and down, "and you absolutely look like you just got out of bed."
Oh dear. She caught me.
"No?" he replied with his attempt at an innocent smile, "Ok, I did. You're right. But you look like you've been up for a while, so it all works out."
"You going out somewhere? Thought you'd be holed up in your room with that game you like so much?"
Oh, god. Please don't mention the game, it's a sore subject right now. "I don't game that much!" he said in response. It didn't matter whether he did or not, he really wanted this girl to like him. Or at least, not hate him.
She laughed again, "You're so funny sometimes, El. You remember about tonight right?"
Tonight? He absolutely did not remember about tonight. What's tonight? "Yes?" he said expectantly.
Her bubbly demeanour shifted slightly and her hand closed over her chest to hold her shoulder, her eyes moved from him as she spoke, "Oh, no. Don't worry. It was silly anyway right."
DAMNIT!
He'd not only forgotten his shift, but the memories of his commitment flooded back to him. He had promised to watch a film with her. Just the two of them. How had he forgotten? He brought both of his hands to his face in horror, "Oh my god! I'm awful. I'm so sorry, my boss just called and I absolutely forgot that I'd promised Liam I'd cover his shift and my boss was so angry and--"
And she wasn't smiling anymore. Brilliant, good job El. You've smashed it. As always.
"--I'm-I'm sorry Jess."
He went down a couple of steps and gently touched her arm, "I was looking forward to our date-ah, damnit, I meant the film-"
"Date?!" she said as her face lit up, "You think it's a date?"
"Isn't it?"
He really hoped that it was a date, he just didn't want her to think that he thought it was, if it wasn't. You know?
Her smile returned and she looked up on him, "It absolutely is El! Totally! Ah, I uh. Maybe we can go this weekend? If you've got work? If you want?"
Without any hesitation he responded "This weekend? Yes. Definitely. Sure!"
She looked into his eyes and for a few moments there was nothing but silence, it was a comfortable silence. He loved how pretty she was, her wavy blonde hair, green eyes, her jawline was out of this world and, she didn't wear make-up. He loved that.
Then, he remembered.
"Oh, damn! I'm so late. I really need to go!"
She giggled, "You go, see you tomorrow El, I'll text you."
Without so much as a warning, a wave of butterflies engulfed his stomach, and his heart raced. He had to go, he ran passed her, looked back and grinned before continuing all the way down. He was actually going on a date with Jess. It didn't matter how much his boss wanted to bring him down today, didn't even matter that he'd miss the second ever run of Temples of Atzulu, Jess was a real girl and WAY out of his league.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and pushed through the fire exit door, ran straight to the bike store and began to fiddle frantically with the bike lock.
"Hah, you did it El, you actually did it!" he said to himself as he buzzed with excitement.
The bike lock snapped open and he stumbled back, "Huh?"
What's going on? The ground was starting to shake, the bikes were rattling and the absolutely ordinary ,overcast and monotone day gave way to a sudden burst of unusual occurrences.
He pulled back from his bike and took in his surroundings. It wasn't just him that was surprised, he noted a number of other people around who'd stopped just like he did. He heard a crack of glass, then more.
Everything around him began to shake violently, glass crashed down from windows and he ducked for cover. An earthquake?
White light flashed all around him.
And a thunderstorm?
He fell to his knees, and the white flashed violently again. A ringing buzzed out in his mind, and he grasped his head as an uncomfortable pain pierced his head. What the hell was going on?
Some of the others in the street began to scream. Cars came to a stop in the middle of the road. Everyone was affected by it.
Then, he just saw white.
His vision was completely overtaken as a neutral voice rang out in his mind:
[Welcome, Elias Thorn, to the integration of Universe 101]
[Congratulations, you are 1 of 9,422,731 Human Type Entities chosen for Species Retention for Planet: Earth into Universe 101's Integration]