End Online: Volume 1 (4 page)

“Good afternoon, is there
anything I can help you with?” A nerdy looking store clerk with large glasses
came up and asked tentatively. Thinking this is a good opportunity I decide to
ask for his opinions.

“Actually, I recently got
a VL, I was wondering if you have any recommendations for games.”

“Well, there actually
isn’t an overly lot of games, after its initial launch 5 years ago not many
game developers branched into it.”

“Yeah, I remember back
then, the hype and expectations were far too high to be sustained by the lack
of software, resulting in a massive amount of negative public
opinion.”

“Indeed. However, it was
just 3 weeks ago that one developer released a role playing game that is
turning around that opinion and building up a significant amount of traffic on
the internet. Considering your... well... situation,” he
momentarily glances down from my face to the wheelchair, at least he
was trying to be polite,
“
it would give you the chance
to explore an incredible world. It was odd though, they didn’t
release any information on the game itself, just about getting started and
everything before logging in, but after that, nothing. All they said was
for you play your way.”

It definitely seems
interesting. I used to play the role playing games on my computer when I was
younger so I shouldn’t have too much trouble adapting. More than anything
though I really want to use my legs again, I feel like I have these ghost limbs
that are itching to move.

“You have my interest!
Well, I would like to get it, how much?”

“The game itself costs
$130,” Ouch, that’s considerably expensive, “And there is a subscription cost
of $30 per month, however we do have a deal at the moment for the game and a
three month subscription pre-paid for $200. We will also provide the required
full body scan and storage card free as well. Everything you need to
play the game.”

Well, it was definitely a
great deal, but there was a lot to just play the game.

“Okay, I was sold already
anyway, but why are you required to have a full body scan to play the game?”

“You actually need it for
the V-Link itself, there was a big issue in its production that controlling a
body of different proportions to your own took some time to adjust to the
differences, and once you were, you would have the same difficulty controlling
your own body after leaving virtual space. Now this made some extreme health
and safety issues, you can imagine if you were to go driving in a body you’re
even little uncomfortable controlling the risk of a fatal accident raises
exponentially. That’s just one example, and now you need a scan not older
than 6 months to even use the device.”

I never even considered
the possibility of such a thing, but it makes perfect sense once I thought
about it a little.

“Also, with this game you
are actually forced to play a character extremely similar to your own, there
are some minor modifications you can make, but how you look in the game is
exactly how you are now.
Plus, whatever equipment in the game
that you wear.
There
has been rumours
of being
able to play as an elf or other species, but no one has ever seen it.” He seems
to be finished explaining it all, but something still seems to be on the tip of
my tongue that I just can’t seem to think of.

“Oh yes, it completely
slipped my mind, but what is this game called?” That was it, this entire time
he hasn’t told me the name of this game yet.

“But of course, the name
of the game is,” He had grabbed a small box off a shelf and held it in front of
me, surely that was it, and it was called, “End Online.” The box was rather
simple, it appeared to just be a black hole with light emanating from deep within
it and the title printed across the middle.

“Allow me to put this
through for you, and the storage card for your scan of course” Running the box
across the counter and another small case where you could see a tiny card about
the size of my thumbnail through the clear plastic on top, “So that will be
$200 all up, are you planning to pay with cash or electronically?”

“Electronically,” I
replied, tapping my phone against the money receiver.

“Okay now, next is to
get you into the body scanner.” Joelle and Shari stood and watched as he pushed
me to what looked like a changing room at the far end of the shop. Placing
the storage card from the box into the machine near the door, he
astonished me by grabbing me out of the wheelchair and moving me into the cylindrical
room of approximately one meter in diameter, probably more accurate to call it
a capsule.

“Now, it wasn’t intended
for the purpose of it, but there are two handles on either side you can use to
hold yourself up. Also, for the purpose of the scan in order to prevent any
inhibitions,” clearing his throat with a few coughs before continuing, “you are
required to be completely naked.”

Hang on, wait right there!
nobody
mentioned anything about that before now.

I’m not going to go into
great detail what happened next but another man stripping me in a very confined
space is surely one thing that I shall never forget, especially when he left
the capsule. Luckily there were no onlookers passing by or otherwise they would
have glimpsed and incredibly horrifying expression of a young man
completely nude and holding himself up by his arms.

The scan only took a
minute or two hum a light hum running up and down the walls a few times. The
nerdy shop clerk didn’t miss the chance to slip back in after it was done to force
some clothes on me and help me back out into my wheelchair. The entire time
this was happening, another shop clerk appeared to have distracted my sisters
by showing them some games aimed at young girls, how devious.

The nerdy shop clerk turns
to me and says, “Okay you’re all set, also, seeing the... injury on your
back, I fixed that up digitally on the scan so
your
in game character will look completely normal,
it’s a small feature we are allowed to do.” I honestly didn’t know how to thank
him enough. I will definitely be coming back here again for his help, despite
his forceful stripping.

He thanks me and sends me
back to Joelle and Shari, who got to push me back on the way home. After an
exhilarating trip home thanks to Shari being overjoyed to be pushing me again,
the sun starts to sink onto the horizon.

The game and the girls
clothes aren’t all we came back with, we also picked up two medium sized
pizzas for dinner that are currently sitting on my lap.

Another hour later and I
had the girls go to bed a little earlier due to tomorrow being Monday, a school
day. From what I gather they disappeared from school for a week without saying
anything to the teachers at all, they really need to be back there now.

I unpack the VL from the
box and inspect it over, placing the power cord in the wall and move myself
onto my bed for comfort. There’s isn’t a need to plug it in, the VL has a
battery life of approximately 12 hours, but you don’t get to use it to its
fullest unless it’s plugged into a power source. I find positions in the back
of the helmet to place my personal storage card and the game card, I was told
that the PSS not only contains data on my physical body but also all the
data for my game subscriptions as well.

Placing the helmet on my
head and relaxing into a position on my back, I press the power button
just inside the helmet on the left hand side. Nothing appears to happen at
first. Before I know it the visor gradually lightens to a white, opening up a
room that envelops all my vision, I’m standing inside a large empty white room
a window pops up in my vision in this large white room.

I do so,
and surely enough a flick is enough the send the message off to my right,
slowly fading away as it moves.
Although, another message
shortly replaces it where it was.

Wow, what a lengthy message.
I dismiss that one too and no more pop up, it seems quite simple enough. The
size of my locker that I’m in is considerably large, about 30 meters
in wide and the same long, The ceiling is about 6 meters high, and on one
of the walls there is a panel, walking over to it I-

Wait, walking? I look down
to see I’m standing two perfectly healthy legs that move as I tell them to, I
don’t even care that I’m completely nude. Pinching my legs revealed I can
feel the pain, dulled through the VL sure, but still! It was like being
caught in a building collapse and crushing my spine was nothing more than
a mere dream.

Yet, at the same time it
had a real bitterness to it, reminding me of what I have lost and will never
get back again.

My locker is a little
boring, it’s just four white walls, but at least it’s clean. I wonder if there
is a way to customize
it, that
would definitely be
nice. I move in front of the panel and I can see that there are a few options
but the only one I am currently interested in is the ‘Connect to End Online’
button.

Pressing it causes the
room around me to
dissolve,
it was a little weird,
because whilst I was still standing, I couldn’t feel a hard surface beneath my
feet. A script starts playing out in the bottom right of my vision and before I
know it I am standing in an endless grass meadow that extends as far as my eyes
can see.

In front of me there is a
perfect copy of me, embarrassingly naked still, but me. In front is a menu that
allows some minor adjustments to the body, such as muscle tone, hair and skin
tan. Playing around I manage to turn myself into a carrot, before resetting the
changes and just continuing as I normally am. Hopefully I won’t begin this game
naked, surely that must be a massive breach in personal privacy.

Next comes server
selection, a list of available servers with my city already preselected comes
up,
all I need to do is press ‘OK’. A map that I
assume is of the game replaces the server list. Three points
glow with the names
Swordbreak
,
Grenton
and Iceridge. I randomly decide and press on
Iceridge and the image disappears. Every strand of grass beneath me suddenly
turns into fog, enveloping everything.

It disperses quite quickly
however, looking down I can start to see my body wearing a thick white coat,
grey pants and chunky brown boots. Once it is completely gone I
realize I am lying down on a thick stone alter at the far end of a giant
church. There are a few stray icicles hanging down from the ceiling and
a
I can feel a cold breeze passing over my exposed fingers
and face.

Shaking off the
disorientation of going from standing up to lying down, I get up and inspect
the area. There isn’t anything particularly odd or unusual about the church,
but there is a tiny icon of a wolf in a circle at the bottom right of my
vision, and no matter where I turn it stays there. It doesn’t take me long to
realize if I try to touch it without moving my head it opens up the menu for
equipment, backpack, and a large panel for status.