Click, Click.
Sounds of keys being pressed could be heard inside the quiet room. The room was dark, being only illuminated by the light of the flickering monitor.
The clicking became more intense, mouse moving in frantic, erratic motions.
Until—
"Damn it!"
Fists slammed against the wooden desk out of frustration, sounds of rough breathing coming out in uneven bursts.
"I swear to god he was targeting me."
A sigh came out, calming down his senseless outburst. He stared at the screen, eyes drifting to the time displayed in the corner. 7:30 PM. It was still early to his standards but.
"Right, that new game comes out tomorrow."
Heaven's Cradle, a VR MMORPG developed by SoftCord Entertainment, the world's leading game development company renowned for pushing the boundaries of the PC gaming industry.
Heaven's Cradle was their first step in to the virtual reality industry. People were skeptical at first due to their inexperience but after beta testers assured it's quality, hype began to form.
The game was a semi-open world exploration RPG, where players fought monsters and powerful bosses to ascend a hundred floor tower.
Each floor rumored to be different with a plethora of hidden dungeons and trials.
'It's their first time making a VR game, but they're really going all out with even an open world map.'
Just then a soft ring could be heard from his headphones and a new display appeared on the monitor.
[Call From AekKai89]
[Yes] [No]
Without a second thought, he accepted the call.
"Yo Hans, Heaven's Cradle is releasing in stores tomorrow."
He sput out words in an excited frenzy. AekKai89, known as Kai by close friends was someone Hans met online through video games.
They became close over years of playing together.
"Yeah, I just remembered that. It just urks me that's it's sold only in physical stores."
Hans was an antisocial person, outside of the online world he would avoid speaking to anyone if he could.
Ever since he was young Hans struggled with social interactions, being shy at a young age led to other kids ignoring him and leaving him alone, overtime he would find himself being increasingly isolated.
The only friends he'd ever made were made online which inevitably led to his passion for gaming.
Kai let out a light chuckle.
"Right, you hate going out."
And after a pause he added.
"It's weird though, isn't it? They made a whole new headgear just for the game instead of using preexisting ones. You'd expect it to be expensive but no, it's cheaper than most low end devices."
That was true, Heaven's Cradle could only be played through a new headgear SoftCord Entertainment released called 'Angel's Cradle'. Normally products of that caliber would be priced in the high hundreds of even thousands but 'Angel's Cradle' costed a measly 60 dollars. Not that it wasn't expensive but for a VR headset it was nothing. On top of that the game was included with the price.
"It is, when I heard about the headgear I thought I wasn't going to play the game due to its cost, but, it turned out to be even cheaper than some triple A games."
"I'm not complaining though. Well, that's all I wanted to talk about, I'm going to get some sleep. Have to wake up early to buy the game tomorrow."
Kai replied casually.
"Alright, see you."
With the the call ended. Silence returned to the room.
'I should get some rest too'
Although the store was close by, he was still cautious to prevent oversleeping the store opening.
The game was popular and even though tomorrow was a school day, despite that he was sure plenty of people would skip school just to get their hands on the game. As for Hans, he was a dropout. He had never been good with studies and pairing that with the fact that he's antisocial, school felt like hell.
After relentless begging, his parents agreed under the condition that he would find a job, and he did. He started working as a game tester, spending countless hours analyzing gameplay, reporting bugs, and providing feedback.
Though the work was tedious at times, it allowed him to immerse himself in the world of gaming while earning his own money.
He made his way toward his bed and lied down, sinking into the familiar comfort of his sheets. His mind slowly quieted, thoughts of the upcoming game dissipating into fleeting dreams. Before long, he slipped into the warm embrace of sleep.
***
"Shit."
Hans dashed through the front door, his heart pounding as he frantically ran down the street. The cool breeze of the morning air brushed past him. People could be seen walking around the neighbourhood, likely exercising. But not Hans, he was running for a different reason entirely.
'How the hell did I wake up so late, I slept early, set up an alarm, hell I set up two alarms.'
The store hadn't open yet but it would soon. Hans had planned to wake up early to line up, but fate had other plans.
'I have about 10 minutes before the store opens. I might have to wait for hours because of this, there might not even be any stock left by the time it's my turn. Shit!'
After running through countless turns and cutting into narrow shortcuts. He reached it, the store although not entirely remote was in a more secluded section of the neighborhood. Still, outside the store stood dozens possibly in the hundreds of customers lining up for the opening.
"It's this long?" He muttered to himself.
The line was diverse, with people of various age groups, from young kids clinging onto their mothers, eagerly waiting to try out the new game. To the elderly looking to buy gifts for their grandkids.
Some held handheld consoles or scrolled through their phones, killing time as they chatted excitedly with friends. Others stood quietly, eyes fixed on the storefront as if willing the doors to open faster. Posters of Heaven's Cradle were plastered across the windows, the sleek artwork reflecting in the early morning light and only adding to Hans's impatience.
He swallowed his words and took his place at the very end of the line, shoulders slumping as the reality of the wait settled in. A glance at the clock on his phone made his stomach twist. Every passing minute felt heavier than the last. Around him, conversations about the game could be heard.
"They say the NPCs actually remember you."
"I stayed up all night just to be here."
Hans tightened his grip on his phone, his anxiety slowly mixing with anticipation. Despite the long wait ahead, a small spark of excitement flickered in his chest. He was here. Late or not, he had made it. Now all that remained was to wait and hope that fate, having already toyed with him once this morning, wouldn't decide to do so again.
Then, eventually, the store opened it's doors, crowds of people poured inside in a hurried but orderly manner. Even now there were people just arriving, seemingly in the same situation as Hans.
As the count slowly dwindled, it was fast approaching Hans's turn.
"Welcome."
Said a staff member as Hans walked past them without sparing him a thought.
Glancing around, he found the section with the most people. Assuming the headgear would be there, he followed.
People were coming and going, Hans squeezed through the crowd and saw it. The headgear looked like a streamlined helmet, with a greyscale gradient and protective glass cover over the front.
It was packaged inside a box displaying descriptions of it's features and content. The side had a brief summary of how to use it.
'I wasn't too late.'
He thought, letting out a quiet sigh of relief in his mind.
Glancing around he noticed that there was still quite a few of the headgear in stock.
"They must've stocked up on a lot."
Muttering to himself.
He then made his way towards the checkout. The line was large. But not as long as the one outside, even now you could see new people lining up.
When it was his turn he took out his wallet and credit card, sliding it across the machine to complete the purchase.
Finally, he had it. Eager to try it out he rushed out the store and walked back home. His pace was steady, not too fast, no too slow.
He already had a reputation of being a loner in the neighborhood, not wanting to add to that image by running like a maniac with a box in hand he was forced to walk in an acceptable pace.
The morning was an exception as he couldn't afford to be late to the opening.
By the time he arrived back home he was filled with anticipation. Eager to try out the new game.
Rushing back into his room, Hans carefully set the box on his desk, giving it a moment of reverent inspection before tearing open the packaging.
The sleek helmet gleamed under the light, every detail designed to draw him in.
He could barely contain his excitement as he connected the device, the soft hum of the machinery signaling that it was ready.
With a deep breath, he adjusted the helmet over his head and pulled down the protective glass.
The world around him faded and a new one appeared.
Hans was floating in a white void, in front of him displayed a screen.
[Heaven's Cradle]
[Enter]