Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2013 22:08:12 GMT
"I walked the barren streets alone, my head down. Today couldn't possibly have been a worse day.
A year. If only I'd been born a year later, perhaps even a few months would have sufficed.
No, can't blame circumstance, perhaps I should blame my former self. I could have picked up a job ages ago, saved up. Then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess, miles from home with rain clouds forming on the horizon. I switched off my MP3 player, sick of the same song, albeit my favorite, stuck on an infinite loop in my ear. The same image of two animated characters having a good time on the holographic screen in front of me. To think, if only I weren't so stupid, I could have been with them, maybe sharing a delicious drink while watching a pro match of Silver Swords.
Yep. One of the biggest step forwards in mankind occurred today, the invention of virtual reality, a table known as the Virtual drive. Such a ridiculous name, but such an important invention that will be remembered throughout history. Yes, March 7 2028, and of course, I am the only one left in the dust, left to find his way home. I had pre ordered the system, and the game, obviously, but of course a mandatory accessory added at the last minute boosted the Virtual drive's price just out of my price range. Not that it mattered, last week was also my 21st birthday, and do you know what my parents did? Yep, cut off their payment into my bank account. Today was supposed to be payday, and if they had, I'd have a nice new revolutionary system in my home. It would have been delivered in a truck, it would already be home. As for why I'm walking? Well my car got stolen. They must have hacked the system or something. Whats worse, is that after my Virtual drive was denied me, I decided to head back to the car. It was still there, but just as I was getting in, I had idiotically decided to go and complain at the front desk. If I'd have been given it in the first place, or if I'd not decided to go and complain either, I would be home right now. The buses had stopped running this late in the evening and the taxi drivers were, yes, playing in virtual reality, along with about 90% of earth's population. People had been waiting for this, I assure you. I had been waiting for this."
He woke up, blinking in the sudden bright light, his lips aching. A man in a white coat, a 'doctor' according to the floating icon above the man's head, looked at the man coming out of suspended animation with a mixed look of pity and annoyance.
"Why did you cut out like that?" He asked, his voice sounding strangely distant and jumbled. The man who had just woken looked at his hands, which were blurry and out of focus. His senses weren't working properly, and he grumbled incomprehensibly.
The doctor repeated his question again.
"Justice, why did you stop? It was going well, your memories go back as far as 2028. It's been a long time since we've seen someone whose memories go back to the ancient calender.
Justice, still disorientated, waved his hand and made a syringe appear, containing what looked like granules of blue sand. He looked at the doctor, as though asking permission. The doctor nodded, and without thinking too strongly Justice injected himself with the material, and almost instantly his senses and sense of context restored.
"I apologize, they simply cut out. It happened too quickly for me to regain control." He said in a firm voice.
The doctor sighed, bringing up a menu and scribbling down notes on a holographic image.
"Justice, you are an experiment, a relic of a bygone age, old data washed up from primitive humans. Your very lucky that you were reconstructed from the millions of humans which came from that time. Furthermore, you may be trapped on this server and this facility, but you are immortal, and when we get the data we need we will happily give you free roam of the server, which may I remind you is a highly popular MMORPG experience. You will be classified as an NPC and you will have an eternity of adventure, thanks to our infinitely loading maps. However, we need you to co-operate. I understand if this process is painful, but if your not going to produce results, you will be terminated." Said the doctor, smiling meekly like he were telling a child that Santa Claus doesn't exist.
"All your talk of ancient calendars and servers and MMORPGs... I never know what your talking about..." Spoke Justice through gritted teeth.
The Doctor shook his head and left without another word, leaving behind what he saw as an ignorant, anachronistic beast, leaving Justice alone in the white cell, with only a bed hooked up to the memory machine and a single chair to keep him company.
Days go past, constantly, each one going by faster than the last. It was as though only a second, a second of infinite boredom, goes past between the Doctor leaving the room and the Doctor returning. And each time, it was exactly the same conversation, right down to the part where the Doctor would explain Justice's rewards, and always the same memory, repeated over and over again. Justice wouldn't, couldn't, say anything else- the questions he wanted answers were never answered. What was the Doctor talking about? What did he need? Were there others like the Doctor? Others like Justice? It didn't matter, they never got answered. Justice would try to change the last question, but it didn't change the Doctor's response. The Doctor said something about being an NPC. NPC? Non player character always stuck out as being the meaning of that in Justice's mind. But then, what did that mean? He's not a 'player?' Is he playing something? His memory talked about virtual reality constantly- it seemed a fair bet that that's were Justice was.
Eventually, Justice asked Doctor the question one time just before he left the room.
"What is Virtual Reality?"
But the Doctor shook his head and left, leaving behind what he saw as an ignorant, anachronistic beast.
The white, the routine, it was all encompassing, and after a while, it felt like routine, in fact, it felt like more than routine, it felt like a destined cycle. It was stifling. The white, the disorientation, seeing the bright room around him at all times whilst simultaneously being kept in the dark. After a while, Justice desired only death. He didn't have any more memories, he had no reward. Only that one memory, filled only with minor emotions. The same emotions, but they were emotions besides confusion and apathy.
"I've let you suffer in this pit long enough. Ready to leave?"
Justice flinched. The moment the Doctor left the room, the moment before the Doctor was about to return, that one second was dissected into more seconds, minuets, hours- time, time from a regular perspective.
Justice slowly turned his head and finally felt his eyes relax. Standing against the white background was a black crow, sitting on the chair and ruffling it's feathers, causing them to fall to the ground in a neat circle around its self.
"Who are you?" Asked Justice slowly.
"I go by plenty of names. But call me Crow." Said Crow, bowing. His voice was dignified and powerful, and his dark blue eyes never stopped watching Justice.
"... Will you answer my questions?" Asked Justice.
"Yes. You are in Virtual reality, in the year 3256. Although, the old calendar was erased long ago, around 2040, but these days time is measured independently of each other, depending on the server of course. The real world still exists and many still have to return to it daily to maintain the machinery keeping the virtual world as a whole running, as well as their physical bodies, but you don't have to worry about that, Justice, for your soul is already imprinted in the system, making you immortal, but not invincible. But anyway, we don't have much time. I can answer other questions some way down the line, but for now your going to have to wait. See, I have a proposition."
Crow tilted his head, and appeared to smile in spite of his beak.
"Will it get me out of here?" Asked Justice.
"Yes, yes that is the main point. But it will actually give you far more than that. What I want to do is give you potential. This server runs on a leveling system, and for now you are forever bound to it, despite your immortal status. As such, I want to remove the limit on your level and I want to give you a head start, power enough to leave this facility."
Justice nodded, standing up, as he reached out to Crow. However, Crow suddenly spread it's wings and flew straight into Justice's face.
"However, there is one thing you must do for me. There is an evil user named Abaddon, who has overstepped his bounds, becoming a tyrant of a vast land. Justice, you must swear to me, an oath if you will, that you will set out to kill him with what I bestow upon you. OK?" Asked Crow, staring at Justice intently. Justice nodded.
"I swear." He said, little other options presenting themselves besides staying in living death.
"Look in this mirror." Said Crow, settling down and flying onto the bed.
Justice followed his gaze and looked in the mirror. He didn't have a face, it was totally white besides two empty holes where his eyes should be, pitch black and evil. Justice was horrified, and he sat down on the chair, looking away.
"Your reactions are so stiff! No matter. Now you know what has been done to you. As such... you are prepared to put a face to your identity. Close your eyes, rather, place those eyelids over that filthy abyss of yours, hold out your hands, and immediately eat what appears in your in them. Now."
Justice closed his eyes.
"Sir! Sir! There's something happening to subject- Justice!" Yelled a doctor, running into a conference between many other identical Doctors.
"What is it?" Yelled the only Doctor in the black Jacket, perhaps the only human in a facility of NPCs.
"He's showing... emotion! And not just any emotion..."
"What...?" Responded the head.
The doctor began panting in panic.
"My subject... Justice... he's showing... he's showing..."
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"He's showing self confidence! The confidence to break free of his prescripted programming!"
"how the h*** is that possible!?" Yelled the head.
An alarm began to sound, a painful sound of panic and disorder to the Doctors, but to Justice, it was one of the first sounds he had experienced. This sound... the sound of order being broken, was the best sound in the world. This is what Justice had been missing.
The doctors took up arms and began shooting into the dust clouds that were being created by Justice, somehow. They fired into it, and heard screams.
"Give up Justice! Return to your cell now and perhaps you will not be deleted!" Yelled a Doctor, his gun shaking.
"I'd rather be deleted... THAN SPEND ANOTHER GODDAMN MINUET IN THAT CELL!" Yelled Justice, a voice filled to the brim with confidence and power.
"And furthermore..." he spoke, striding confidently out of the dust cloud, dragging behind him a sword which was impaled within the body of a doctor.
"I would never want to be the subject of idiots who would blindly shoot at danger, risking the harm of their own men! Such idiocy is despicable! It is not right..."
The doctors began to shake as Justice came into view, a tall, thin man of nearly 7 foot, barely able to walk upright in the hallway, well defined, strong muscles, a manly black beard and lightly tanned skin.
"Don't come any closer!" Yelled the Doctors.
"It is an act..." Justice continued, stabbing his sword into the wall, causing the body to disappear, causing it to crack, and as he left it behind, another one appeared immediately in his hand.
Justice's white cloak flowed majestically behind him, flying upwards in the wind like a bird stretching it's wind, the white lines of his blue jumpsuit began to glow as Justice reached the doctors.
"It is an act... an act of stupidity, utter disregard, along with locking me and many others up here for your pointless experiments... yes... they are all acts..." He said, building up for a climax, swinging his sword high into the air, smashing the ceiling, and before he brought his sword down on his former captors, he let them see his glare, the glare from the new eyes which Justice had grown thanks to Crow. Eyes of a deep blue, like that of the endless sky, eyes of unlimited courage and potential, burning with the white flame of truth and Justice. He brought down his sword like his judge would his hammer, finally finishing his speech.
"THEY ARE ALL ACTS WHICH I CANNOT LEAVE UNPUNISHED!"
A year. If only I'd been born a year later, perhaps even a few months would have sufficed.
No, can't blame circumstance, perhaps I should blame my former self. I could have picked up a job ages ago, saved up. Then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess, miles from home with rain clouds forming on the horizon. I switched off my MP3 player, sick of the same song, albeit my favorite, stuck on an infinite loop in my ear. The same image of two animated characters having a good time on the holographic screen in front of me. To think, if only I weren't so stupid, I could have been with them, maybe sharing a delicious drink while watching a pro match of Silver Swords.
Yep. One of the biggest step forwards in mankind occurred today, the invention of virtual reality, a table known as the Virtual drive. Such a ridiculous name, but such an important invention that will be remembered throughout history. Yes, March 7 2028, and of course, I am the only one left in the dust, left to find his way home. I had pre ordered the system, and the game, obviously, but of course a mandatory accessory added at the last minute boosted the Virtual drive's price just out of my price range. Not that it mattered, last week was also my 21st birthday, and do you know what my parents did? Yep, cut off their payment into my bank account. Today was supposed to be payday, and if they had, I'd have a nice new revolutionary system in my home. It would have been delivered in a truck, it would already be home. As for why I'm walking? Well my car got stolen. They must have hacked the system or something. Whats worse, is that after my Virtual drive was denied me, I decided to head back to the car. It was still there, but just as I was getting in, I had idiotically decided to go and complain at the front desk. If I'd have been given it in the first place, or if I'd not decided to go and complain either, I would be home right now. The buses had stopped running this late in the evening and the taxi drivers were, yes, playing in virtual reality, along with about 90% of earth's population. People had been waiting for this, I assure you. I had been waiting for this."
He woke up, blinking in the sudden bright light, his lips aching. A man in a white coat, a 'doctor' according to the floating icon above the man's head, looked at the man coming out of suspended animation with a mixed look of pity and annoyance.
"Why did you cut out like that?" He asked, his voice sounding strangely distant and jumbled. The man who had just woken looked at his hands, which were blurry and out of focus. His senses weren't working properly, and he grumbled incomprehensibly.
The doctor repeated his question again.
"Justice, why did you stop? It was going well, your memories go back as far as 2028. It's been a long time since we've seen someone whose memories go back to the ancient calender.
Justice, still disorientated, waved his hand and made a syringe appear, containing what looked like granules of blue sand. He looked at the doctor, as though asking permission. The doctor nodded, and without thinking too strongly Justice injected himself with the material, and almost instantly his senses and sense of context restored.
"I apologize, they simply cut out. It happened too quickly for me to regain control." He said in a firm voice.
The doctor sighed, bringing up a menu and scribbling down notes on a holographic image.
"Justice, you are an experiment, a relic of a bygone age, old data washed up from primitive humans. Your very lucky that you were reconstructed from the millions of humans which came from that time. Furthermore, you may be trapped on this server and this facility, but you are immortal, and when we get the data we need we will happily give you free roam of the server, which may I remind you is a highly popular MMORPG experience. You will be classified as an NPC and you will have an eternity of adventure, thanks to our infinitely loading maps. However, we need you to co-operate. I understand if this process is painful, but if your not going to produce results, you will be terminated." Said the doctor, smiling meekly like he were telling a child that Santa Claus doesn't exist.
"All your talk of ancient calendars and servers and MMORPGs... I never know what your talking about..." Spoke Justice through gritted teeth.
The Doctor shook his head and left without another word, leaving behind what he saw as an ignorant, anachronistic beast, leaving Justice alone in the white cell, with only a bed hooked up to the memory machine and a single chair to keep him company.
Days go past, constantly, each one going by faster than the last. It was as though only a second, a second of infinite boredom, goes past between the Doctor leaving the room and the Doctor returning. And each time, it was exactly the same conversation, right down to the part where the Doctor would explain Justice's rewards, and always the same memory, repeated over and over again. Justice wouldn't, couldn't, say anything else- the questions he wanted answers were never answered. What was the Doctor talking about? What did he need? Were there others like the Doctor? Others like Justice? It didn't matter, they never got answered. Justice would try to change the last question, but it didn't change the Doctor's response. The Doctor said something about being an NPC. NPC? Non player character always stuck out as being the meaning of that in Justice's mind. But then, what did that mean? He's not a 'player?' Is he playing something? His memory talked about virtual reality constantly- it seemed a fair bet that that's were Justice was.
Eventually, Justice asked Doctor the question one time just before he left the room.
"What is Virtual Reality?"
But the Doctor shook his head and left, leaving behind what he saw as an ignorant, anachronistic beast.
The white, the routine, it was all encompassing, and after a while, it felt like routine, in fact, it felt like more than routine, it felt like a destined cycle. It was stifling. The white, the disorientation, seeing the bright room around him at all times whilst simultaneously being kept in the dark. After a while, Justice desired only death. He didn't have any more memories, he had no reward. Only that one memory, filled only with minor emotions. The same emotions, but they were emotions besides confusion and apathy.
"I've let you suffer in this pit long enough. Ready to leave?"
Justice flinched. The moment the Doctor left the room, the moment before the Doctor was about to return, that one second was dissected into more seconds, minuets, hours- time, time from a regular perspective.
Justice slowly turned his head and finally felt his eyes relax. Standing against the white background was a black crow, sitting on the chair and ruffling it's feathers, causing them to fall to the ground in a neat circle around its self.
"Who are you?" Asked Justice slowly.
"I go by plenty of names. But call me Crow." Said Crow, bowing. His voice was dignified and powerful, and his dark blue eyes never stopped watching Justice.
"... Will you answer my questions?" Asked Justice.
"Yes. You are in Virtual reality, in the year 3256. Although, the old calendar was erased long ago, around 2040, but these days time is measured independently of each other, depending on the server of course. The real world still exists and many still have to return to it daily to maintain the machinery keeping the virtual world as a whole running, as well as their physical bodies, but you don't have to worry about that, Justice, for your soul is already imprinted in the system, making you immortal, but not invincible. But anyway, we don't have much time. I can answer other questions some way down the line, but for now your going to have to wait. See, I have a proposition."
Crow tilted his head, and appeared to smile in spite of his beak.
"Will it get me out of here?" Asked Justice.
"Yes, yes that is the main point. But it will actually give you far more than that. What I want to do is give you potential. This server runs on a leveling system, and for now you are forever bound to it, despite your immortal status. As such, I want to remove the limit on your level and I want to give you a head start, power enough to leave this facility."
Justice nodded, standing up, as he reached out to Crow. However, Crow suddenly spread it's wings and flew straight into Justice's face.
"However, there is one thing you must do for me. There is an evil user named Abaddon, who has overstepped his bounds, becoming a tyrant of a vast land. Justice, you must swear to me, an oath if you will, that you will set out to kill him with what I bestow upon you. OK?" Asked Crow, staring at Justice intently. Justice nodded.
"I swear." He said, little other options presenting themselves besides staying in living death.
"Look in this mirror." Said Crow, settling down and flying onto the bed.
Justice followed his gaze and looked in the mirror. He didn't have a face, it was totally white besides two empty holes where his eyes should be, pitch black and evil. Justice was horrified, and he sat down on the chair, looking away.
"Your reactions are so stiff! No matter. Now you know what has been done to you. As such... you are prepared to put a face to your identity. Close your eyes, rather, place those eyelids over that filthy abyss of yours, hold out your hands, and immediately eat what appears in your in them. Now."
Justice closed his eyes.
"Sir! Sir! There's something happening to subject- Justice!" Yelled a doctor, running into a conference between many other identical Doctors.
"What is it?" Yelled the only Doctor in the black Jacket, perhaps the only human in a facility of NPCs.
"He's showing... emotion! And not just any emotion..."
"What...?" Responded the head.
The doctor began panting in panic.
"My subject... Justice... he's showing... he's showing..."
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"He's showing self confidence! The confidence to break free of his prescripted programming!"
"how the h*** is that possible!?" Yelled the head.
An alarm began to sound, a painful sound of panic and disorder to the Doctors, but to Justice, it was one of the first sounds he had experienced. This sound... the sound of order being broken, was the best sound in the world. This is what Justice had been missing.
The doctors took up arms and began shooting into the dust clouds that were being created by Justice, somehow. They fired into it, and heard screams.
"Give up Justice! Return to your cell now and perhaps you will not be deleted!" Yelled a Doctor, his gun shaking.
"I'd rather be deleted... THAN SPEND ANOTHER GODDAMN MINUET IN THAT CELL!" Yelled Justice, a voice filled to the brim with confidence and power.
"And furthermore..." he spoke, striding confidently out of the dust cloud, dragging behind him a sword which was impaled within the body of a doctor.
"I would never want to be the subject of idiots who would blindly shoot at danger, risking the harm of their own men! Such idiocy is despicable! It is not right..."
The doctors began to shake as Justice came into view, a tall, thin man of nearly 7 foot, barely able to walk upright in the hallway, well defined, strong muscles, a manly black beard and lightly tanned skin.
"Don't come any closer!" Yelled the Doctors.
"It is an act..." Justice continued, stabbing his sword into the wall, causing the body to disappear, causing it to crack, and as he left it behind, another one appeared immediately in his hand.
Justice's white cloak flowed majestically behind him, flying upwards in the wind like a bird stretching it's wind, the white lines of his blue jumpsuit began to glow as Justice reached the doctors.
"It is an act... an act of stupidity, utter disregard, along with locking me and many others up here for your pointless experiments... yes... they are all acts..." He said, building up for a climax, swinging his sword high into the air, smashing the ceiling, and before he brought his sword down on his former captors, he let them see his glare, the glare from the new eyes which Justice had grown thanks to Crow. Eyes of a deep blue, like that of the endless sky, eyes of unlimited courage and potential, burning with the white flame of truth and Justice. He brought down his sword like his judge would his hammer, finally finishing his speech.
"THEY ARE ALL ACTS WHICH I CANNOT LEAVE UNPUNISHED!"
