Chapter 1 - Joining the Group

“Hey!”

I’m studying.

“Hey, Nio!”

Not now...

“Nidal!”

I grabbed my phone and turned off the music. “What?” I yelled to no one in particular.

“Open the door! I’ve got something for you!”

I swung myself out of my chair and ran down the stairs. It was a Saturday morning, and I had almost finished my homework from yesterday. My parents were out of the house, and I didn’t have enough friends to hang out with. So I knew exactly who was at my front door.

“What, Nic?” I sighed as I pulled the door open. Nic was standing outside, with a large bag in his left hand. His ruffled blond hair matched pretty well with the white “I ♥ PYTHON” T-shirt. His left leg was still in the brace he’d gotten back when he tore his ACL a few years ago. His blue eyes were bright with excitement. “Ah. Something big, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, real big.”

“That’s cool.” I looked at the clock hanging on the opposite wall. “Do you want to come in? It’s just about lunch time.”

“Sure, thanks.” He began to come into the house.

“Don’t forget, shoes off.”

“Right.” I wasn’t listening. I was looking over him at my other guests.

“Hi, Delia. Meg. Come on in.” I slightly bowed in mock respect as they stepped inside as well.

“Respectful as always,” Delia quipped. Her stringy blond hair fell to just below her shoulders, framing her light blue eyes and pointed chin. Her favorite blue blouse and blue denim jeans slipped straight past me and into the living room.

“Shoes.” I reminded.

“I was wearing flip-flops.” She pointed at a pair of gray-blue flip-flops that sat right at the edge of the carpet.

“Fine...” I moved them to the side, away from the living room limits. “I’ll start lunch. Any requests?”

“Neopolitan.” I glanced at the client.

“Meg, you know my parents never stock spaghetti. Why do you even try?”

Meg pouted. “I could at least hope.” Meg’s long hair is just as blond and as ruffled as her brother Nic’s. Today, she wore a red-and-blue t-shirt with shorts, departing from her usual white-green-and-blue palette. At least she remembers the “shoes” rule. I thought.

“Anything, I just want food.” muttered Delia.

“Yes, ma’am, right away,” I grumbled as I pulled a few ingredients out of the fridge. I set a pan and a pot of water on the stove and turned on the heat, then turned to the paraphernalia of vegetables and whatever that I found. I first grabbed the penne pasta and poured the 16-oz box right into the pot with a bit of salt. I capped it with the lid and turned to the counter once more.

I chopped two red onions and a green pepper down to thin slices and moved them to the side. Then I grabbed a pack of sausages, cut two out and diced them, then packed the other four away safely. I sprinkled the meat and veggies onto the pan, turned the heat to medium high, and swirled a bit of oil to start the fry.* The rhythmic sizzle of boiling oil and the low rumble of the boiling water almost got me to start singing a song to the beat, but I wasn’t about to put on a dinner show. I settled for a bit of humming instead.

After about ten minutes, I scooped the penne out of the pot, drained it, and mixed it in with the vegetable and meat mix. Then, following kitchen safety procedure, I turned the fire under the pot off and left the pot to cool down.

Mix, mix, mix. Add a little ketchup, and mix, mix, mix. I repeated that in my head for a while. A fragrant plume of aroma signaled completion, so I turned the heat off and proceeded to plating.

...

“Three Anythings, coming right up!” I placed the pasta in front of my friends, then packed the leftovers for my parents. If I didn’t save some, they wouldn’t be too happy.

I threw a few things into the blender and started it. It doesn’t really matter what goes in, I mused to myself.

I poured the purée into a glass and joined my friends at the table.

“Delicious as always, Nio. You don’t disappoint.” Nic complimented between bites.

“You said we weren’t having Neopolitan!” whined Meg.

“I never said that, I just said we don’t have spaghetti. And thanks, Nic.” I always feel warm when people enjoy what I make.

“Nio, with your looks and great cooking, you’d be a great housewife. Just accept it and change your-”

“Delia, no! I am not going to do that, and I forbid you to say it.” Delia always teases me about this stuff - my effeminate appearance, my housekeeping talents, my weakness for sweet things - and loves making me feel awkward. I mean, I AM a guy. I’m just a little different.

“Darn.”

Nic eyed my drink. “Nio, what is that?”

The smoothie was green in color, with intermittent bubbles and chunks of carrot. “Oh, that’ll be my lunch.” I said plainly.

Delia jumped out of her seat, almost knocking her almost-empty plate off the table. “Nio, no, not this again. I’ve already told you you’re not supposed to do that!”

I waved it off. “Come on, I won’t die from it.”

She stood firm. “But you don’t know what’s in it, either.”

Point taken. But, “Who doesn’t like a little adventure?”

Nic and Meg’s plates were now empty, and the two siblings were watching the exchange with amused looks plastered on their faces.

“Your sense of adventure is going to get you killed.”

“Well, I’ll probably be lucky, then.” I reached for the glass.

Delia reached for the glass, but I pulled it away from her reach. “Nio, you’re not supposed to do that. People don’t usually do that!”

“You said the same thing when I chewed gum the other day.”

“You looked like a camel!”

“Whatever. I’m hungry. Down it goes!” Before she could stop me, I began gulping the potion down.

It tasted amazingly horrible. A mixture of kale, onion, carrot, strawberries, and more scraped the taste buds off my tongue. Something slimy rolled down my throat, but it went down before I could gag. I managed to take the whole cup down before I put the cup down as quickly as I could, then swayed right off my seat.

“Nio!” Meg yelled as Delia came around the table. I was picking myself up off the ground by the time she got around, though.

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” I was. Whatever I put in that potion had given a huge energy boost. “Hoo! That was quite a ride.” A hard smack nearly knocked me into my chair.

“You are a crazy, reckless, complete -” Delia seethed.

“- genius, I know, thank you.” I rubbed my arm and sat in my chair. “So, what was the big thing you wanted to give me or whatever.

“First of all, I’m curious. What did you put into that?” Nic asked as Delia took her seat.

“Oh, kale for sure, carrots, maybe some garlic or was that onion? Strawberries and apples, and I think I felt a raw egg go down -”

“Stop, stop, I’m going to be sick.” Delia looked a bit green.

“Oops.” I got up and quickly cleaned the plates away.

Nic closed his mouth. “Wow. Your gut’s made out of steel.”

“Your turn.”

“Right. Anyways, remember the beta test Delia, Meg and I participated in a few months ago?”

“Yeah.” It was about the VRMMO system that Samsung released in collaboration with Sony. It was one of those full-dive systems where your consciousness was connected to the Internet. They kind of looked like visors with a plug sticking out of the back. It started out slow, back in 2015, but over the past few decades VR has advanced faster than self-driving bikes. My friends joined the beta for “Third Life”, where you basically could control what you wanted to become instead of following set class trees. It sounds absolutely amazing, but the systems costed fortunes. I wasn’t getting one any time soon. “How’d that go?”

“It was amazing. Do you what else? Third Life is going to be released tomorrow! The official server!”

“Wow. That soon?”

“Yep, and we got a few perks for being betas.” He put his bag on the table. “We’ve already got accounts and systems, but you don’t. So...”

I watched in disbelief as he pulled a system out of the bag and set it on the table.

“... here’s yours.” It was pure black, which was strange. Most systems were white with orange screens, but everything about this one was black. A commemoration model?

I looked up. “Dude, there is no way I can take this. I didn’t even take part-”

“Sure you did.” Delia was smiling. “Who brought us home-cooked meals while we were diving?”

“And at the strangest of times?”

“Oh, remember the time he packed us an entire meal at midnight?”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” I stopped the discussion. If they kept going, we’d be here for hours.

He put the system back in the bag and handed the bag to me. “This is for your behind-the-scenes efforts. Use it, and play with us tomorrow.”

“Alright.” I put the bag down.

“Oh, don’t forget to register your traits online. Just plug the system into your comp, set your char, and boom! You’re ready to go.” Delia chimed in.

“Okay.” I nodded. “Do you guys want to stay and play some video games?”

“Uh, no.” Delia said bluntly. “Man, you’re so outdated. Consoles in this day and age? We’ve got beta prep to take care of, Grandma.”

“At least make it Grandpa.” I muttered.

“Anyways, we have to go.” Nic said as he got up. “I’ve got therapy today.”

“There goes my ride,” chorused Meg and Delia.

“Okay, bye.” I managed before the three sprinted out the door. I closed the door. “Now to clean up.” I muttered as I faced the kitchen.

...

“Third Life... and Enter. ‘Registration for Third Life’... Here we are.”