Life is not the end, and death is just the beginning…
~ Rebecca McNuty
"Quickly! Stop the bleeding! She's losing too much blood!"
"No! The wound is too deep, she's not going to make it!"
"Adrienne!"
"Adrienne!"
"ADRIENNE RIVER!"
A pale beauty lay weakly on the floor. Her straight long hair settled messily on the floor. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and she could feel herself slowly losing consciousness. The voices around her rang noisily in her ears yet she could not hear a single sound. Seeing their anguished looks full of grief and the fear in their eyes, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curve upwards into a sad, self-depreciating smile. She wanted to apologize to them, even though she knew how hypocritical that action would be as she was the one who plunged the knife into her own chest. Her vision blurred, as her eyes filled with tears from the intense pain coming from her chest. She no longer knew whether this pain was from her actual wound or the various emotions within her heart. Her eyes feeling unimaginably heavy finally closed. And with it her vision turned dark.
….
[Loading… Loading… Ding!]
[Welcome to REALMS Online]
[Do you wish to proceed with the tutorial or begin your character design process?]
Adrienne felt confused. She clearly remembered committing suicide and dying, yet why did the afterlife look just like the starting room in the famous VRMMORPG
[Logging Out…]
Opening her eyes she found herself in a basic gaming pod. She immediately got out and inspected her surroundings. What met her eyes was a large clean room, no smaller than 20 square meters. Beside the gaming pod she came out of was a neatly made bed. At the corner of the room there was a well-organized desk with an expensive laptop on top of it. This room looked incredibly familiar to Adrienne, almost too familiar. Adrienne recognized this place as the apartment room she had lived in for almost six years before moving to her seaside villa. Realizing this, Adrienne immediately ran into the washroom next to the bedroom. Looking at the younger version of herself reflected in the mirror Adrienne couldn't help but feel extremely conflicted. She looked at the smartwatch on her wrist. The black screen clearly showed the time with the date in white letters in the top right corner, July 1st, 2143. Adrienne paused while processing all this information and finally couldn't help but sigh in disbelief. It seemed that her conjecture was right.
'Reincarnation huh. Returning to 17 years ago, when the game was just launched.' Adrienne thought. 'How unrealistic.'
She smirked mockingly. "What a cruel dream."
Adrienne was an atheist. She definitely did not believe that this was "god's will" or something like that. She walked slowly to the kitchen with a strange glint in her eyes. Upon reaching the kitchen, she turned her gaze to the knives located near the sink.
If you were personally there, you would notice that her eyes were glazed over, she clearly wasn't thinking straight.
"A dream is just a dream. Reincarnating so conveniently after dying is simply absurd. Maybe, this is a sweet dream for the afterlife?"
Adrienne mumbled incomprehensibly,
"All dreams will eventually end. Rather than having expectations that will lead to disappointment it's better to wake up."
*BZZZZT* *BZZZT*
The sound of a phone vibrating woke Adrienne out of her daze. She loosened her grip feeling a burning pain coming from her hand. A kitchen knife with blood still on it tumbled out of her hand. She froze. Adrienne looked at the palm of her hand seeing a deep gash in it. Ignoring the vibrating iPhone on the kitchen table, she walked back to the washroom. Opening the cabinets above the sink she used her uninjured hand to fumble around, before finally grabbing out a first aid kit. She carefully cleaned and bandaged her wound. Adrienne then walked back to the kitchen and picked up the still vibrating phone. She looked at the screen
"It's already 11 o'clock, Aria don't tell me you're still asleep. What took you so long to answer the call. If you're still feeling annoyed because I badmouthed your family yesterday I'll apologize okay? Hello? Aria are you listening to me?"
Adrienne could feel her throat constrict.
"I'm… I'm listening."
"… Are you really feeling okay? If… If your family forgot your birthday again then we can have a mini celebration together at my house tonight. You don't need to push yourself, you know?"
Adrienne felt her eyes tearing up from the sincerity in Ayden's voice.
"I'm fine. I was just… just trying out the new VRMMORPG I bought."
Adrienne could feel her voice waver slightly.
"Oh, I see! You mean the one called
Ayden said enthusiastically.
"I'll message you later, I've gotta go now. See you later, have a Happy Birthday!"
Ayden had hung up before Adrienne could respond.
Hearing Ayden's excitement about the game, Adrienne shook her head. Back then, she too had treated "Realms of the Divine" as just a game but little did she know the influence the game would have on the real world. Just two months after the game's release almost all the other game companies had declared bankruptcy and invested in
Adrienne's mood suddenly dropped. Thinking of what happened in her previous life, she could feel her determination grow.
"This time.."
She whispered to herself.
"This time will be different."
She walked back to her room and re-entered her gaming pod. Closing her eyes, she logged back in.