The space Ben had just gone into was a modest, but comfortable 300-sq foot one-bedroom apartment. It had all the bare necessities that a grown man should have, with a functional bathroom and kitchen, a 40-inch LCD screen, some paintings of nature, and a comfortable bed.
He had bought a nice queen-sized bed for himself when he had first moved out here five years ago, when Zack had invited him to join his company in the city and gotten him his job. Zack had told him that he should get a queen-sized bed, as he'd never know if he'd have a girl over, and girls didn't like cots and or twin-sized beds to spend the night.
But such a concern never came to pass as Ben had never once been able to invite a girl over. It's not as though he hasn't been able to strike up some conversations with women before, it's just no matter how hard he'd try, they'd always seem to forget about him one way or the other. It also didn't help that working at Whelman, whenever a girl he had any interest in would come to visit him, when they'd see Zack, what interest they did have in Ben would disappear.
This has resulted in Ben becoming a pure flower in his ripe age of twenty-eight-years of age, his body having not crossed into that border of the unknown element of women as of yet. Now only having two years left from becoming a wizard, the thought of it is always there in the back of his mind.
The one initial silver lining however for this bed is the fact that much VR equipment needed for VRMMO's required space to be set up. VR headsets and their specialized computers needed space to be set down, and the queen-sized bed helped to space out this equipment as Ben would set it up. It's not so much a problem now with the latest advances of VR, with the majority of equipment now just being small headsets that would induce REM in its users to join the virtual space, being the fraction of the size of how they used to be. But for someone like Ben, he liked to toss and turn in his induced sleep, and it was best to not fall out of one's bed when they were playing in a VR game.
Ben sat down on his chair in his room as he undressed himself, now just wearing his pajamas as he looked at his current options. With Christmas Eve coming to an end, there were many Christmas events currently going on for people like him to enjoy if they were to log on.
It was the first thing he had thought of when he had left the Christmas Party, to log onto something and enjoy the virtual festivities, somewhere where he didn't need to pretend not to be who he really was.
His first choice was HeroSaga Online, he had already begun setting up his headset as he got up from the chair and lingered at the edge of the bed, ready to put it on.
But as he held the headset in his hands, he had a change of heart as he set it down.
I don't think I want to play that right now... at least for a while.
Crossing out that option, he decided to go through his list of other options. He had Sci-Fi MMO's, Western MMO's, and a plethora of other Fantasy MMO's he often casually played.
But nothing felt right as he went through his list, crossing one after the other off of potential games to play.
Ben took a sip of his beer, feeling the heat of alcohol beginning to get him riled up as he began to rant to himself.
N-New games just suck! Nothing has soul anymore, everything is just a money grab now....
Back when I was kid, games weren't afraid to try new things... to take risks...
Ben beelined back to his chair by his desktop as he remembered something, a game he hadn't thought of in over a decade.
No way is it still up, it's been so long... He thought as he booted up his main computer and typed in a sentence on his internet browser.
"Is Grand Recordia still around?" He clicked enter, not expecting anything to come up other than disappointing news.
As for what he had just searched up, it was the game that had started it all for him in the beginning, the game he had played in high school as a boy new to MMORPGS.
When it was first released, it was applauded as one of the most advanced MMORPGS of its time, with a massive world at a 1:1 ratio to Earth, and a near limitless class-system. One could choose to become a warrior and spec into magic spells, druidic spells, necromantic spells, and still manage to become some sort of specialized sub-type that was viable to play. But sub-typing too much as a player was usually discouraged as it would dilute the potential you'd have as a class, so it was usually recommended to only sub-class in one or max two different types past your main-class, examples being a [Samurai] main-class sub-typing as a [Ninja] and magic-user. Doing this would categorize your new class as a [Mage-Shinobi], a specialized sub-type that was effective at both magic and assassinations.
Ben's eyes widened as he saw a post from Webbit, a popular news-sharing forum at the top of the page of the search engine. It was titled 'Goodbye to Grand Recordia'.
Clicking it, Ben saw the forum post made by the user 'Hero2Zero'. The post had been made over nine years ago; around the same time he had last logged in during the main server shutdown. Strangely, even though it was the first result on the web search, it had no views on its post other than the single one automatically given by the original poster; it went up a single view as Ben clicked on the post.
"Hey y'all, I'm making this as my last post.
I know we've been hoping for a revival, or at least a sequel to the game... but I think we have to give it up by now, it's been two years since the last update, the main server shutdown is coming, and we all know it.
I just wanted to thank everyone still here for all the fun we've had, and to leave y'all with a little parting gift.
It's a private terminal I've made of the game, call it an offline mode if you will.
It has all of the data saved from the game these past couple of years, it effectively allowing you to visit the game world with your pre-existing characters.
But don't mistake it for a copy of the real game, all it really is just a glorified time capsule; a sort of exhibit you can walk around in.
You're effectively a kind of spectator for as long as you simulate the terminal.
Download it if you want to visit the good ol' days, as nothing will ever come close to how truly epic Grand Recordia really was.
Good knowing you sappy losers,
Hero2Zero out!"
At the bottom of the post enclosed in a file was the title 'Grand Recordia Terminal'. The link was still highlighted in blue, a surprise given to how old this post was with it still being able to be downloaded.
Ben thought for a moment as he hovered his mouse over the file.
A flood of memories began to come to him as he thought back to those times of his youth playing Grand Recordia.
Of the times he had fun, of when he was able to enjoy being himself in a world ready to be explored. When he was younger, he thought his world would open up far more than it ever had at his age. But now, it was all just a pipe-dream-- Ben has never felt more trapped in his whole life.
The low blue light of the computer monitor screen illuminated Ben in a ghostly hue as he hesitated to click the link.
What if it's a virus? It could just be a dead link either way.
Ben thought back to what Zack had said--
'Let's play together again someday!'
Those were the exact same words he had told him when he they had last met in Grand Recordia, the very same game that they had first met as well.
They had both logged onto the game one last time, setting off fireworks at the highest-level zone, Chaos Temple of Yaldabaoth, as the game's in-game timer hit 12:00PM.
They were children then, words like that had more weight than compared to now.
That is, at least what Ben thinks.
I want to play again. Ben mumbled to himself as he decided to click on the link.
It was unclimactic as the link began to download, there was no virus there ready to brick his computer. Instead, it prompted his computer to download ancient third-party software to allow the game to run on his modern system.
The downloads were quick as his modern satellite WIFI made the download that would've made him wait hours back then occurred in mere minutes.
Then it appeared, the prompt itself.
Inlaid into a vintage, pixelated bootup menu was the title in all its glory--
'Grand Recordia'
Just below the barebones, manilla-colored prompt screen was the option to 'Start' or 'Exit'.
Ben couldn't help but laugh at how simplistic the bootup menu was. To him back then, he would always rise with excitement seeing this, ready to rejoin his world of adventure. But seeing this now, spoiled by modern flashy bootup screens, such a thing just made him feel like he was opening up an old program file for work.
Ben looked over at the time, he saw that it was 11:59PM.
In less than a minute, it would've been exactly ten years since he had last since been in Grand Recordia.
I'll click on it when it turns midnight. He thought, letting the mouse hover over the 'Start' option.
Ben didn't like to admit it, but he enjoyed being dramatic when it came to things like these.
He carefully watched the time pass as he readied himself to click the option as soon it'd turn midnight.
11:55...
11:56...
11:57...
Ah crap, I really gotta pee. It'll just have to wait!
11:58...
11:59...
With his finger poised, and a hope to re-experience at least a glimmer of his lost joy, Ben clicked on the link.
12:00
...
The last thing Ben remembered as he suddenly lost consciousness was the gentle warmth of sunlight engulfing his entire being.
---
Ah crap, did I fall asleep?
Huh, why is my bed so stiff? I feel like utter crap!
Ben muttered to himself as he stretched, letting his body loose as he rubbed at his sore back.
He had been lying down on a large, polished stone tablet, the tablet itself was raised from the ground it stood on with intricate embellishing's on its side. It was a masterwork of art, with reliefs of heavenly beings such cherubs and angels carved into its stonework, something only a once-in-a-generation master craftsman could accomplish at the height of their career, a true magnum opus of a piece.
all around the raised tablet were gorgeous flowers in all types of colors and varieties. They stretched out from the stone tablet out onto a large, flower field that seemed to never end as a spotless blue sky lay overhead.
What the hell? Am I dreaming? Ben thought as he rubbed at his eyes, dumbfounded by the miraculous view. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, the vibrancy of his surroundings was too colorful, toobeautiful... it felt unreal.
Instinctively, Ben tried pinching himself to check if he was dreaming. Funny enough, he felt no pain but as he did, he felt the cloth of the fabric he was wearing and saw that the rich texture of his clothes felt very much real as he noticed he was wearing an all-white garment of sorts.
This feels too real. H-Hold on, what if I'm dead!?
Worried, Ben jumped up from his sitting position and got up to his feet. He wobbled a bit as he tried to catch his balance, but his difference in height confused him.
This doesn't feel right, I feel so high up...
As he looked inspected himself further, he saw that the all-white garment he wore had a black, cuirass underneath with golden embellishing's. It was cool to the touch, and it gave a low humming sensation as he let his fingers linger on it.
As for the rest of his clothes, he saw that he had on a sort of cloak-jacket made of soft, yet sturdy fabric and wore white slacks that felt far too luxurious for someone like him to ever afford. As for his feet, he wore study-looking black boots that were in a similar style to the cuirass he had underneath, they were surprisingly light given their heavy-looking build.
Everything about himself felt foreign to him, Ben felt like he was going crazy as he spun around and tried to catch something as he lost his balance again.
But as he tried to catch his fall, he caught himself by planting his hands onto the polished tablet. So fine was the polish of the tablet, that it had a mirror-like shine that he could see his own reflection.
"Who the hell are you!?" Ben shouted as he saw the impossibly handsome man staring back at him. But to his surprise, his mouth moved at the same time as he had shouted.
"Are you... me?" He spoke again; the man's mouth repeated it simultaneously.
It was a man with hair as white as snow, perfectly teased to reveal alert golden eyes, strong cheekbones, and perfect skin. So handsome was he that he had to look away, it startled him how perfect looking the man was that was staring right at him; it felt almost uncanny.
But Ben knew it wasn't another man; it was him who was staring right back at him.
He then realized he had failed to see the most striking detail about this form as the look of him had caused him not to notice it at first glance.
Looking directly above himself, he saw a floating, intricate circlet of gold hovering above him, it was slowly rotating at its axis of top of his head.
It was a halo.
Yep, I'm dead!
But even as Ben thought this, something began to nag at him in the back of his mind.
Just a moment ago, we could've sworn he was about to play Grand Recordia.
There was something about his appearance that made his think of the game the longer he stared at his reflection. A sort of familiarity began to come to him as he studied the look of his face.
Wait a minute... it can't be...
It looked far too life-like, far too impossible to be similar to it-- but he still had to try.
"P-Profile!" Ben shouted into the air, his voice forming an echo far off into the expanse.
And to his surprise, a sheer, white screen appeared before his vision. It was a yard long and wide, and had the following information presented in the format of a player's profile in Grand Recordia, but nothing like he had ever seen before. As for the original game, it wasn't in Virtual Reality, but instead a conventional video game presented in third person on a computer screen. If he had been playing it then, he would've needed to type into his command box to open the profile, but because he had no terminal to type into, he decided to try and just shout it out, much like how modern VRMMO's do.
And there was no mistaking it as Ben confirmed it for himself; this was Grand Recordia.
[User: 'Exceed Light'
Level: 100/MAX
Class: (Main) Divine Healer
(Sub-Type 1) Light Mage
(Sub-Type 2) Puppeteer
Race: (Main) Human
(Sub-Type) Chimera
Statistics:
Health: 100,000/100,000
Stamina: 20,000/20,000
Mana: ???
Physical Attack: 0/MAX
Physical Defense: 10,000
Magical Attack: ???
Magical Defense: ???
Healing Potential: !ER#OR%
Passive/Racial Skills:
Conceptual Puppetry UNIQUE,
Healing Deity EX,
Rite of Savior EX,
Enemy of Evil EX,
Master of Life EX,
Champion of Light EX,
Divine Avatar EX,
Divine Aura EX,
Master Puppeteer EX,
Karmic Augur EX,
Death Resistance EX,
Ailment Immunity EX,
Holy Immunity EX,
Holy Absorption EX
Active Skills:
Heal EX --> Greater Heal EX --> Maximum Heal EX --> Divine Heal UNIQUE
Create Seraphim UNIQUE/MAX: 1/1
Armor of Light EX,
Resurrection EX,
Sanctuary EX,
Pillar of Light EX,
Manipulate Light EX,
Turn Undead EX,
Angelic Flight EX,
Karmic Manipulation EX,
Undead Reversal EX,
Minor Miracle EX --> Major Miracle EX --> Reality Manipulation EX,
Create Puppet EX,
Inspire SS-R,
Protection SS-R,
Poison Cure SS-R,
Venom Cure SS-R,
Astral Projection SS-R,
...]