LUTHER

The mighty blade of cold polished silver glinted brilliantly in the early morning light as it sliced effortlessly through the air with ease and finesse. The force of the strike could only have been found in the practiced strength of a master swordsman.  A strong downward slash of the blade made contact with its foe. The sword severed its way smoothly through the tough flesh of the wicked charging goblin adorned in red armor as if the foul creature were made of nothing but paper. Once the last goblin carcass collapsed to the floor defeated, surrounded by legions of its fallen brethren, Luther wiped his brow clean of sweat. The lone victor of a long and glorious battle. Once the fighting was put to rest a flood of adoring fans rushed to him. They proudly cheered for him and shouted his name with voices filled with nothing but pure admiration.

” Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! '' The chanting of his name slowly changed from happy and cheerful applause to angry and irritated shouts of frustration.  Luther found himself forced awake by his seriously annoyed best friend Morgan. She was shouting at him and shaking him out of bed like a rag doll, in an attempt to wake him up. Just as Luther finally opened his eyes, he was met with the cruel awakening of a bucket of cold water drenching him and his entire bed in ice-cold water.

SPLASH!!!!

“Lu! Lu! Lu!” Morgan's voice sounded increasingly exasperated. “Oh, come on Luther, get up!”
Luther groaned, turning his face back into his pillow. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.
“Ohhh, no you don’t! Did you forget what day it is?” Morgan snatched the pillow away. “Life Sentence is finally being released today, in less than half an hour!” She whacked Luther with the pillow when he opened his mouth to complain. “You would have had more time, but you kept ignoring my friendly wake-up calls,” she explained, without an ounce of sympathy, “so, I had to resort to desperate measures to wake you up, Sleeping Beauty!”

“Okay, okay just don't call me Luther again it makes me sound like a balding supervillain or something, and while we are at it. The nickname Sleeping Beauty dies here and now as well.” Morgan only chuckled and rolled her eyes. “ Also, don't you dare wake me up like that again I was having a very nice dream. Are we understood? Just keep calling me Lu like always, because it sounds so much cooler!”  Luther lectured growing more and more frustrated.

However, despite Luther’s frustrated protests, Morgan was unfortunately right today was a huge deal. All across the world more than a billion people were soon about to be entering into the largest most realistic VRMMORPG (virtual reality massively multiplayer online roleplaying) game ever made for the first time in just a few minutes. Life Sentence was a historic achievement for not only video games but all fields from science to architecture. Some of the beta testers had even declared Life Sentence to be, “More real than real life.” so it was no surprise that it had been the only thing anyone was thinking about for the five years leading up to its release on today the long-awaited day.

“Yeah right, that nerdy nickname you chose is definitely... Something!!” Her sarcasm was so unsubtle that it almost physically hurt. Thankfully Morgan did return to the actual point she meant to talk about originally.

“Well, whatever, that's not the point! Don't forget If you don't enter as soon as possible, everyone else will snatch up all the good items and guests in the starter area and you will have to wait forever to find anything good," she said jumping into Luther's favorite chair. "I don't know why you are being so grumpy about it when you're the one who asked me to wake you up so early. If you want to be upset at anyone you should be upset at yourself, and leave me out of it!"

Unfortunately, everything Morgan said was true. But, what she said had at least gotten Luther's attention almost immediately. He quickly whipped the tiredness from his eyes, and the two best friends turned their attention to the virtual reality capsules they had ordered many months ago in anticipation of the release day, which after so much waiting just so happened to be today.

The virtual reality pods were cold, sleek silver devices. Grimmly reminiscent of metal coffins adorned with blinking lights, all surrounding the large ink-black sword and shield logo that stood for the Locke corporation. Little was known about the mysterious company behind the creation of the truly advanced Virtual Reality technology used in the creation of the VRC (virtual reality capsules). The VR capsules somehow not only mimicked but perfectly recreated reality even down to the smallest sensations. They could even recreate the feeling of your eyelids straining against sudden light or the type of dampness that lingers on the skin after a long hot shower. The pods were designed to contain a human being and transport them into the virtual world, replicating the person's real sense in the virtual world. They were truly the most advanced technology of its kind in this world. 

Suddenly and without even the slightest warning Morgan gave the state-of-the-art piece of machinery a strong impatient kick. The sudden impact to the side of the device made the capsule give off a loud metallic clanging noise that reverberated throughout the entire room.

“ What in the pure insanity do you think you are doing?! Have you already forgotten how many long painful months of mind-numbingly bland work it took for us, or should I say me, to save up the money to get our hands on these in time for the release day!? And now you decide to kick it like a psychopath! If you break it I expect you to pay for it. To be clear I expect whatever you pay to be with interest.”

“Sure whatever, I just can't get over how creepy these things look. I keep telling you, it's messed up how much they look like a massive silver and glass coffin. You couldn't pay me to get into one of those terrifying death traps”

“I don't know why you're complaining now, you could have saved us both a lot of time and money if you decided you didn't want one before you made me buy one for you. And now that state-of-the-art piece of technology gets to be used as an overpriced coffee table.”

“Come on I already apologized a thousand times, what do you want me to beg for your forgiveness on my hands and knees, because I'm telling you right now that is never going to happen. Now grow up, and get in your shiny metal coffin already!”

Luther grumbled a bit frustrated at the provocation, but unwilling to show it. Instead, he climbed silently up into the inside of the virtual reality capsule. Once inside he fastened himself into the black leather seat at the back of the device. The seat seemed to slope steeply upward like some sort of science fiction painter's eisal. The actual inside of the device seemed something almost halfway between an office chair and a twin-sized futon.

The sight of the glass doors of the VR capsule sliding shut, and Morgan waving to him sarcastically through the glass door was the last thing Luther saw.

“Good night sleeping beauty, or with the glass coffin should I call you snow white?” she said snickering to herself.

Before he could say anything he watched as his mind was plugged into the game and the real world faded away. The device began to whir and soon Luther could no longer feel the firm leather seat of the pod beneath him. A spiral of intense lights and color filled his senses brighter and more vibrant than anything he had ever witnessed before. 

As the lights came to a stop Luther felt himself open his eyes or at least he thought he had. However, instead of opening his eyes to see the inside of the pod once again, he saw something altogether different. It was his game avatar that had opened his eyes, Luther had to keep telling himself that because otherwise, he might have thought he had just suddenly teleported into an infinite white void.

The void fist seemed to split in half creating a floor and a horizon. The ground beneath him suddenly felt hard and solid beneath his feet, because yes these had to be his feet he could feel them, move them, and even feel them move. Even the smallest movement seemed to feel just like his own movements in the real world. No actually, his body here felt so much better than his real one. The small aches and pains that Luther had long ago given up on as an everyday part of life were suddenly gone. Amazed by his own body he had nearly missed the sight of thousands of glowing blue gridlines slowly taking over the void as the virtual world slowly took shape around him. The world around him took on the shape texture and appearance of a picturesque forest glade. Beyond the treeline, a massive beautiful city towered above the horizon. Luther suddenly stood at the top of a gentle hill beneath the comforting shade of a single large oak tree.

The world of the game stretched out in front of Luther showing a stunning new world of endless possibilities. The character selection screen appeared in front of him and offered boundless possibilities of who to become in this new world. It was a decision more important than he could have possibly known, because he would never be leaving the world of life sentence alive.

“Let’s see, who should I become in this new world? No! I think I know exactly what I want to be!”