The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

Chapter 48: Population in Flux

(Tuesday, June 1st Game Day / Saturday, February 20th Real Day)

Ah I'm thirsty, I thought to myself as I stretched my arms out. It was still dark out but I kept my eyes shut, since I didn't want to risk fully waking up. Rolling over and letting an arm dangle over the edge, I ran my hand up and down the base of the bed in search of a glass that wasn't there.

"Strange, where is it," I mumbled for no one to hear.

I always left a bottle or glass of water by my bed, so as to have an easily accessible drink in the middle of the night… this time though, I couldn't find one.

"Eh what the hell," I said with a sigh, cracking an eye open to look.

The room was dark but my eyes had already adjusted and it didn't take long for me to realize my mistake. The bed was uncomfortable, which should have been the first sign. The floor was made of wood, which was the second sign. Third, the sheet was made of wool and wasn't the goose down I was so in love with.

Three major strikes.

This wasn't my bed, nor was this the real world.

Rolling onto my back, I opened my eyes and noticed a little emergency exclamation point flashing in the bottom right-hand corner of my visual field. The system was informing me of what I already knew, what I could feel thanks to the game's extreme realism. Dehydration was setting in, and I needed some water… and food.

Somehow, I had forgotten that I had fallen asleep in-game instead of logging out.

It wasn't something that happened often, but it was occurring more frequently recently. I was guilty of spending my nights in-game when I was within the presence of Selene and Katherine, as it was often more… comforting than sleeping in an empty room. They weren't here this time, but it had become a habit already. A strange concept really, that a grown man would enjoy sleeping in the same room with two attractive women, despite not even occupying the same bed, over the privacy and comfort of his own bed.

Yeah, it didn't really make sense to me, but I enjoyed it.

Maybe it did make sense though, who was I to question the results.

Entering the logout sequence, I closed my eyes as everything went black. A few seconds passed as the sounds of the game vanished and the faint whir of fans could be heard instead. My eyes still shut, a faint light could be seen through my eyelids as the room had started to adjust the interior's illumination level with the outside world.

Taking a peek, I let my eyes adjust with the room's lighting as I started to pull off the various attachments that were connected to my body. The process didn't take more than a minute after the hundredth time and I was probably reaching near five-hundred log-in and log-out sequences by now, which basically meant I was a master at it.

Lying back on the chair while contemplating what my life had become, I couldn't help but realize how comfortable the chair was.

It was really comfortable.

I wouldn't doubt it if some people actually preferred it to their beds.

That was what it was designed for after all.

The chair that came with The Cube was meant for people to spend countless hours in it, so comfort and safety were the primary concerns during development. There was even a system set up specifically so players could fall asleep in-game and The Cube would go into its own sleep-mode while you slept. Once you started to wake up, The Cube would detect your movements and changes in brain-wave patterns and automatically start back up, allowing one to wake up in-game as if it were reality.

That's what had happened to me.

It was a neat trick really, especially for immersion purposes.

If you could somehow take care of your bodily functions in-game, well… then there wouldn't be much reason to ever log out, at least not for me. Unfortunately, there were specific things I still needed to take care of. First of which, would be the restroom… then, water, and lastly some food.

I had skipped dinner like a fool and it was already lunch time now.

"So much for my restrictions on gaming," I muttered.

I had clearly become addicted to the game and my health was suffering for it.

By the time I made it to a local Mexican restaurant, the place was fairly empty since it was mid-day and lunch had long been over. It was better for me in the end, since I didn't have to deal with the crowds and long lines. Two beef tacos and a burrito were all I needed, cheap and fulfilling… maybe not the healthiest, seeing as the tacos were fried, but I digress.

Healthy enough for me!

While I was enjoying my food, one of the TVs was tuned into a news station that was currently covering The Dragon's Wrath. The fact that a game was being talked about on a local news channel was somewhat surprising, except the headquarters was located in this city, so it wasn't that big of a stretch really.

I wasn't too interested, but I always paid attention to information regardless.

"News coming out today that AIcorps is now in the production stage of a new gaming system that is planned to be a cheaper alternative to their VR-Cube that is currently on the market," explained the buxom female anchor. "The hit virtual reality game is making waves despite the fact that it is, well, kind of pricey to get into. Joining us today to explain some of the finer details, is none other than industry-insider, and current employee of AIcorps, Emily Addams."

"Thank you for having me," said Emily as she smiled and waved at the camera.

"I'm told you're kind of a fan favorite," inquired the female anchor with a wink.

"Oh hah, I don't know about that," replied Emily playfully. "I'm just a normal gal."

Eh, Emily was a fan favorite… that was news to me.

All I knew of her, was that she led the Alpha and Beta meetings as the announcer and host of sorts, to think she was also their lead public relations girl was quite a surprise. That put some things into perspective though, it made more sense now that she had multiple jobs and a position of power. She had access to an excessive amount of data and I often wondered why; now it was apparent.

"So the game, it's wildly popular, but it's just so, so expensive," said the anchor as she leaned in towards Emily. "This new cheaper alternative, will it really lower that entry point that has been so prohibitive for regular folks like us?"

Regular folks she says, when she probably makes more than most… right.

"It definitely will, that was the major design point after all," replied Emily with a certain charismatic flair that was on par with the anchor herself. "Giving everyone the chance to enjoy our virtual world has been one of our biggest priorities since the inception of The Dragon's Wrath, going all the way back to the initial drawing board."

"And this new system, what can you tell us?" the anchor asked as she clasped her hands together. "How much can we expect to save? I've been dying to try it, but it's just not within a normal budget and not everyone wants to go to a game center just to play."

"Yes, currently our VR-Cube is considered a bargain for what it offers but that doesn't make it reasonably affordable for everyone, we understand that," answered Emily with poise. "With our VR-Egg, we are hoping to bridge that gap between accessibility and value. Numbers haven't been finalized, but we are expecting to see a saving of up to three thousand on a purchase."

"Thr-three thousand dollar savings?" the anchor stuttered as her voice raised, decently enough to mask her fake interest and appear genuine. "That's a huge reduction in price, can the game state handle such an influx of players? I would imagine that everyone and their mothers would be running to buy one at such a price."

"The infrastructure is sound, and since production is limited, there will only be so many new players added every month," Emily stated with a slight frown. "Our manufacturers are putting everything into getting the product out as fast as they can, but unfortunately due to the technical nature of the system and the numerous safety and quality tests that need to be run on each unit, we will only be able to bring a limited number to the market per month."

"Oh… so we might have to wait a little while," asked the anchor with a practiced frown of her own. "Well, at the price point, I suppose it's worth the wait."

"I believe we will be able to reasonably meet player demand, and maintain a steady release within a suitable time-frame," said Emily as she folded her hands and smiled at the camera. "Everyone will be pleased with the combination of value and accessibility."

The two of them continued to small-talk for a bit as I tuned out and focused on the food in front of me. Changes were coming… and I wasn't sure how that would affect the world. As I pondered the possible scenarios, details appeared on the screen that compared the VR-Cube and the VR-Egg.

The chair on The Egg would be much smaller, only accommodating users under six feet tall and under two-hundred and fifty pounds. The outer dimensions were roughly four feet by four feet, by six feet tall compared to The Cube's eight by eight by eight box design. The white-to-black color-alternating walls were gone with The Egg, while the computer station and server would be built underneath the chair, opposed to being separate in The Cube.

The ultra-plush memory-foam, adjustable reclining chair that was used in The Cube was to be replaced with a basic memory-foam chair in The Egg, which contributed largely to the discounted price. So in the end, one would have to sacrifice comfort and support in order to save space and money in the long run.

That meant one thing to me, there were about to be a lot of used Cubes on sale.

When fully immersive virtual reality burst onto the scene, most people couldn't afford it and in turn gaming centers saw a sudden resurgence. Much like when gaming computers originally hit the scene in the very early 2000's and people couldn't afford the luxury, LAN centers popped up all over for kids to hang out at and play.

After some time, with kids stabbing and shooting each other over in-game fights, a lot of those places were banned in larger cities, with smaller cities following suit a while later. I never saw anyone get shot, but I saw plenty of knives and attempted stabbings.

It was a put up or shut up age, and if you wanted to run your mouth you had to deal with the consequences.

Those days were long gone though.

Now, trash talking was excessive and disgusting, yet there were little to no repercussions at all. It was a sad state of affairs… but that's progress, in the eyes of some. It wasn't a physical thing anymore, I guess.

Well, now gaming centers were making a comeback, without the fighting.

Recently a new company picked up on the wave and invested in a bunch of VR systems, and opened VR-Lan'ds all over the country. If one couldn't afford a Cube or didn't have the space for one, all they had to do was rent time at a local VR-Lan'd and that was that. They could easily fit four Eggs in the space of a Cube… and that meant more casuals would be coming to a location near me.

That meant, more bad pugs.

Ah.

I didn't like the prospects.

No, not at all.

Getting back into my car I decided to get some fresh air, a quick drive through a deserted windy mountain road to get the adrenaline going. At one point in my life I was driving a hundred and fifty miles a day, then it fell down to around three-hundred a week, now… I rarely drive at all. My muscle car, my truck, my tuner, and my motorcycle all sat collecting dust.

I should probably sell them, I thought.

I would need the money to continue gaming.

My mind wandered as I drove the long way back to my house, it was a nice day out, the kind of day where I would have spent it at the beach if it were a few year back. A part of me wanted to take a detour, to check out the ocean and see if it looked the same. It always did, but it was always a little bit different too.

The sunsets were always random colors, the waves similar but not identical, and the crowds varied from gorgeous to grotesque depending on the day and time.

The nude beach in particular was especially disturbing ninety-nine times out of a hundred… but every once in a while, there was a hidden gem that made your jaw drop.

Hah, I couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

Well, that was the past though.

My legs were reaching their limit of use for the day, anymore and the pain would start to increase, so it was time to head back.

Back into the virtual world, where life was a bit better.

I also needed to plan for the future, a sudden increase in the player base could change the world drastically. There were a lot of guilds still trying to eke out an existence and carve up small pockets of territory, some of those guilds might pose a threat to me if they become overly ambitious.

Yeah, it was about that time to reevaluate where I stood, and where I would be going in the near and distant future. The North was mine and I had no intention of ceding my territory to others who were late to the party. The wasteland that no one wanted months ago, was now starting to get a little bit more popular thanks to Emily and her blatant advertising. She really knew how to screw a guy over.

Fan favorite huh, well… I wasn't a fan.