Stepping into the building, Freddy unlocked the second apartment to the right and entered, closing the door behind him.
Appearing in a small livingroom, Freddy began taking off his shoes "I'm home, sorry I'm late."
However, receiving no reply even after he took off his shoes, Freddy raised his head and glanced around "Kelv?"
"In the bedroom" a voice replied this time.
Turning towards the right, Freddy passed through a door to arrive at a narrow corridor with three doors on the right side.
Ignoring the first door on the right, he passed the second door and entered a little bedroom.
Two beds on opposite sides, a wardrobe and a cupboard in the middle and a desk and chair with a laptop in one corner.
Sitting on a wheelchair before the desk and skimming through the laptop, a teenage boy of around eighteen years, with low locs and line up looked up at Freddy as he entered.
"Welcome back big bro" the boy spoke in a calm tone, his blue eyes glinting faintly.
"Hey what's wrong?" Even though he tried to mask it, being his elder brother Freddy could immediately feel the anger and sadness his brother was trying to hide.
"Nothing, I'm fine. How was work today?" Kelvin asked, yet he couldn't meet his brother's gaze.
"Kelvin Ocheme, what's going on?" Freddy asked in a serious manner.
Hearing his brother call him by his full name, Kelvin sighed and spoke up "My 'Forgotten Land' account was confiscated."
Freddy stood there surprised. "Who confiscated your game account, and why?"
While Arcadia Online was the first game with a 95% immersion, they were other games before it. The current one being played by pro players is Forgotten Land.
"Apparently you were right, a guild formed by rich a*shoes definitely doesn't promise much to nobodies like me" Kelvin replied with a wry smile.
"So you're saying your guild confiscated your game account?" Freddy asked to which Kelvin nodded. "Why?"
"They feel that I'm beginning to gain influence in the guild, and I don't let them control me so..." Kelvin spoke halfway and left the rest unsaid.
Walking up to the desk, Freddy ruffled his brother's hair and pushed him towards the living room "Don't let it get to you, it's their loss for kicking you out"
"That account was so close to breaking into the alliance top one thousand on the pro gamers ranking" he lamented as they arrived in the living room and Freddy began plating their meal.
"You'll climb the ranking again" Freddy replied "I'll try to get you the VR headset for the new game tomorrow."
"What about you big bro? are you playing?" Kelvin asked out of nowhere.
"I won't be playing, I've got work at the garage in the morning and I gotta head to the construction site in the afternoon, so I don't have the time to play" Freddy sighed.
Freddy is a hard worker juggling two jobs everyday, an intelligent mechanic working at a garage in the industrial region in the morning, and a jackhammer operator for a construction company in the afternoon.
"The game is time inverted, with slow temporal law and doesn't conflict with sleep, you can still play if you want to big bro" Kelvin hurriedly replied, not planning on giving up.
"I don't think I'll play, leave it at that" Freddy said and started eating.
"Then I'm not playing either" Kelvin replied and started eating as well.
Freddy only shook his head and smiled wryly.
Not having the strength to begin convincing his brother, Freddy decided to change the topic "Oh right, turn the TV on, Knockout Joe has a match this evening"
If there was one thing Freddy was very passionate about, it was kick-boxing. Even though the world was still recovering, the entertainment industry retained a stable hold on its viewers.
Watching the fighters prance around in the ring, the brothers ate and chatted, with Freddy narrating the store incident.
Not long after the match which ended in a huge victory for knockout Joe, Freddy cleaned the dishes, and both brothers retired to bed.
---
"Mom, I gotta pee" a little boy with short low cut locs, squeezed his legs together as he nervously shifted in the back seat of a moving car.
"Oh sweetie, can you hold on a little? we're almost there" a lovely lady in the driver's seat replied, glancing at the boy through the rearview mirror.
"I can't, I really need to go now mum" the boy spoke up, his little brother next to him enjoying the view of the moving car.
"Alright fine, but make it quick okay?" the woman sighed and pulled over to the side of the road.
The little boy hurriedly exited the car and ran towards the side to relieve himself. The lady and the younger kid waited in the car.
Having relieved himself, the boy happily walked back towards the car with a sheepish smile.
Glancing at the boy walking at leisure, the woman frowned slightly "hurry it up will you?"
As she talked to the little boy, a strange sound of heavy bouncing came from the front.
Raising their head, what the mother and children saw horrified them. A huge trailer at high speed was upon them.
Before anyone of them could react...
Boooom!! Craaassh!!!
Snapping his eyes open, Freddy sprang up gasping. His pupil were filled with lingering fear. He spent a few moments gathering himself before he sighed,"it's that f*cking dream again"
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before opening them again.
However, to his absolute disbelief, he was actually not in his bedroom where he he had fallen asleep.
He immediately jumped up and looked around, only to discover that he was standing in a large empty coliseum.
The surrounding was illuminated by the warm glow of the setting sun, some areas of the sandy ground were dyed blood-red, and the air was filled with thick, metallic smell of blood and rot.
"Where the hell am I ?" He thought as he surveyed the surrounding. His movement soon stopped however, as he saw a person standing on another side of the coliseum.
"Where is this? How did I get here? Where is Kelvin?" Different questions floated into his mind.
Now within hearing range, Freddy decided to call out to the person "Excuse me"
Yet there was no movement from the person. "Hi excuse me, could you tell me where this is?"
Still no reply.
From the distance he stood, he could already tell that the person is a male. Dark skin, lean but slightly muscular body clad in blood-stained leather armor. His hair was also in locs, however his locs were red as if soaked in blood.
Standing there quietly with heads drooped down, and a serrated, slightly curved, heavy looking blade pierced into the ground before him, he gave off a vibe of ruthlessness and slaughter.
"Where is this place? And Who the hell is that guy?" Freddy's brain was working overtime yet no answers were given.
When Freddy arrived at three feet away from him, he finally raised his head and locked eyes with Freddy.
What Freddy saw made his eyes widen while his pupils constricted.