A-Zone: Traces Written by AzPhoenix

  It all began when sightings of a strange pamphlet requesting able people to help a world started circulating around the internet. Offering a job with extremely high pay and no requirements was tempting to every jobless person, but there was a catch. The pamphlet would magically disappear after a while, so people should call the number shown as soon as possible. The rumors state that the phone number shown on taken pictures would always blur into a unreadable mess and previous calls to this number would automatically be removed from your phones memory.

  ------------

  A young man was on his way to home from a failed job interview as he stumbled upon the mysterious pamphlet, at first he was about to ignore it, but then he noticed that this piece of paper looked eerily familiar, he had seen some posts on the internet about this kind of 'magic' pamphlets.

  He picked up the pamphlet and looked over it.

  "Huh, It looks just like the one on the internet except this one has a real phone number on it instead of blur"

  The man shrugged and took out his phone and called the number shown. Soon after the call connected.

  "Aethereal's office, Freedom speaking"

  At first the man stuttered, but soon after he gained enough confidence to present himself over the phone.

  "H-Hello, My name is Trace Aqualie. I had seen one of your advertisements and would like apply for the job."

  "Hello Trace, thank you for calling. The interview for the applicants will be at the day after tomorrow 27th of February starting 13:00 at Hendrics Gate 13 A 7th floor. Any questions?"

  Trace was relieved to hear that the location was near his home.

  "Hendrics Gate 13 A, 13:00, 7th floor, 27th of February. Got it I will be there on time"

  "Good, we will see you then"

  "Goodbye and have a nice day"

  "You too, goodbye"

  The phone call ended.

  Trace was happy that the call had gone well in his opinion but he was still sceptical about the whole thing being a scam. He then went home to tell his family about this job, his parents were suspicious about a shady job like that but both of his little sisters were quite optimistic.

  The day of the interview

  Trace woke up early, the anxiety from the upcoming interview did not allow him to get enough sleep, there was still 7 hours until the appointed time and the distance only takes one hour at most, he still had around 6 hours to spend.

  After getting up he took a cold shower to energize himself and ate a healthy breakfast. He opened his computer and browsed through the internet to relieve his nervousness, cat videos seemed to work to some extent.

  After early lunch Trace suited up and headed towards the appointed location of Hendric's Gate 13. After he arrived he still had some time left before the appointed time of 13:00.

  Trace went inside the building and took the elevator to the seventh floor of the building. After the awfully slow elevator reached its destination with a ring. Trace had arrived in a lounge of sorts there were at least 20 people waiting in chairs and chatting with each other. Trace's sight was caught by the bartender at the corner of the lounge. The bartender noticed his gaze and beckoned him to come over.

  Trace went to the bartender, the bartender offered an amber colored drink to Trace and said.

  "You seem to be another applicant, here, to give you courage."

  Trace nodded and hesitantly took the glass. As soon as he touched the glass the drink inside changed color from amber to dark blue, Trace was surprised from the sudden change and the bartenders eyes shined for a moment but soon returned to his usual calm and composed manner, then he said.

  "Don't worry it's not poison nor does it have any alcohol. You can ask the boss about the color change when you go inside." the bartender explained calmly while pointing at the door that read 'Office'

  Trace nodded and thanked the bartender for the drink. Afterwards he scanned the lounge and looked for a place to sit down and 'enjoy' the drink he got from the peculiar bartender.

  The place looked clean and gave an elegant feeling like what you would expect from a gentleman's club. There were around a dozen empty chairs Trace sat down in the nearest one.

  In the room there were some painting on the walls and potted plants growing in the corners. The 20 or so other applicants varied from age to gender to skin color. One thing caught his attention, that was the drink each one was carrying most of them were amber in color but some had a hint of other colors inside them, none of them were blue like his own drink.

  Some people showed curiosity when they saw his drink. Trace took a sip from his drink and was blown away by the strong taste that instantly after swallowing the liquid started to swirl in his insides. He then involuntary shouted from the pain it caused and fell from the chair.

  "Gaah!" *thump*

  The other applicant were all surprised from the sudden shout, some even had worry shown on their face, some just stared at the drink in their hands.

  The bartender walked out behind the counter and carried Trace to the restroom. "Everything is fine, this happens from time to time" explained the bartender while casually carrying Trace on his shoulder

  In the restroom the bartender dropped something into Trace's mouth, while making sure no one was watching and suddenly Trace's eyes sprang open. The bartender backed away a bit.

  "Wh-What ha-ha-happened?"

  He stuttered while trying to talk to the bartender.

  "This one has potential" the bartender muttered in a quiet voice while not paying attention to Trace.

  Soon the bartender snapped out of his world and explained to Trace what had happened.

  "You seem to have passed out due to the stress this situation had caused, I humbly apologise for the inconvenience and hope that you will still continue to the interview. I will give the Boss my recommendation as a compensation, it might prove helpful."

  Soon afterwards the bartender gave a nod and went back to the lounge leaving Trace behind. Trace washed his face before leaving the restroom, There was a hint of blue shown in his brown eyes for a moment.

  Back in the lounge there seems to be a commotion going on, many of the applicants are heated up in a conversation. One of them shouts at Trace.

  "Hey, you! Passed out person, Get over here. I want to ask you something"

  "What is it?" Trace asked a bit embarrassed while walking towards the speaker

  "Just a simple question, Where are you from?"

  "Few kilometers away from here"

  The man sighed and continued

  "Well... That's the tricky part. You see... Where do you think here is?"

  Trace was baffled at the man's question and thought. 'How can he be here if he doesn't know where this is.' Trace then recalled the address of this office and answered.

  "If my memory serves me right. This place is Hendric's Gate 13 A, the seventh floor."

  "Hendric's Gate? Then you must be from Meningwares"

  A woman in her thirties nearby muttered in a low voice "Th-That's impossible..."

  "Correct?"

  Trace answered while tilting his head.

  "I myself am from Morringtown and just from your knowledge I haven't traveled hundreds of kilometers for just a job interview."

  He then continued

  "The things I have deducted are that first, there are no windows so we are not aware of the surroundings and second, There are lot of people here from all around the world and lastly the most surprising thing is that we understand each other clearly, but the words said do not match the movements of the mouths."

  Trace was extremely confused about the things the man had said. Trying his best to understand the meaning behind these crazy accusations.

  "Ugh, simpleton. Let me say it simply, this place should not exist."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Think about it for a while"

  After a while the man answered

  "How can you get to this place from mere seconds from all around the world?"

  An enlightened expression was starting to show on Trace's face

  "Oh, Looking at you reaction it seems you finally understood the crux of this situation. Oh and by the way my name is Shubert Corillis, nice to meet you"

  Just as Trace was going to introduce himself there was an announcement stating that the interview's have officially began and the first person to go in was named Colin Smith.

  "Trace Aqualie"

  "I'm sorry what did you say? I couldn't hear you clearly over the announcement"

  "The name is Trace Aqualie nice to make acquaintance mr Corillis"

  Said Trace and offered his hand.

  After some small talk with Shubert, Colin Smith came back from the office and said.

  "Next one is Trace Aqualie"

  "This one seems to be for you, I bid you farewell."

  Trace the proceeded towards the office. Sudden spike of nervousness hit him as he opened the door. Inside there was a beautiful woman with captivating green eyes.

  "Hello there, no need to be so stiff. Have a seat"

  The women gestured to Trace.

  Trace took the seat and the interview had then officially begun.

  The woman rose from her seat and offered a handshake Trace of course answered in kind by standing up and meeting her hand.

  "I am called Freedom, I am the leader of this installment"

  Trace answered in kind and shook her hand gently

  "Trace Aqualie, graduated from the university of Meningwares"

  "Your past doesn't matter, You are here from a reason."

  "A reason?"

  "Yes, something like fate or destiny. But anyways before we start do you have any questions?"

  "...I... Have some"

  "Then go ahead, I will try to answer with the best of my abilities"

  'Here we go' thought Trace

  "At first I would like to ask if this is a scam as the advertisement pamphlet was extremely suspicious."

  "Ahh, no this is not a scam. In fact its quite the opposite, we will pay the salary of every employee few months before they even start working."

  "..okay? What do you mean by that?"

  "I will explain it in detail later, to the next question if you please."

  "...Then about the drink that was given in the lounge? What was it? I was told that that you can give the answer by the bartender"

  "An affinity potion" She answered immediately

  "An affinity potion? I have no idea what that is."

  "An affinity potion is a drink that boost a person's affinities but it is only useful once in a lifetime, rest of the time it is more of a cool looking party drink. To the next question if you may"

  "A person in the lounge told me that this space is 'impossible' do you know what he means?"

  "hmm" Freedom pondered a moment and then answered

  "He might mean the location of the place. We were aware that other applicants talk to each other while waiting so someone finding out is not out of question. But to answer your question is, yes I do know. This place is in another plane of existence, let's leave it at that, it takes way too long to explain clearly. Any more questions? if not then we can start."

  "There is still one, The bartender said that he will give me a reference for a compensation about the drink making me pass out."

  "Jackson did?"

  Freedom said in while rising her eyebrows.

  "Is it that impressive?"

  "Of course it is, Jackson can only give a total of 2 referrals a year. For him to use the first one on the very first day proves that he sees a lot of potential in you."

  "Also did you say that the affinity potion made you pass out?"

  "Y-Yes" Trace nodded

  "That's a first in a while, What color was your drink then?"

  "It changed from amber to deep blue"

  "Any other colors?"

  "None, that I could tell"

  "In any case that is wonderful, any more questions?"

  "Nothing comes to my mind at the moment"

  "Good then we can finally begin"

  Freedom then picked up a ball from the drawer and gave it to Trace

  "Hold this for a moment, no need to squish just keep it firmly in your hand"

  "Okay"

  As soon as the ball touched his palm it started to emit heat and vibrate.

  A minute had passed and the vibration stopped.

  "You can now put the ball on the table"

  Then Freedom took out a digital meter and showed it to Trace the meter had a number of 219 shown on it.

  "As expected of a blue, This here is your total point value and it includes the referral from Jackson, but before I start to explain about the points I will ask you a question"

  "If you could get a superpower what would it be?"

  Freedom asked with serious look in her eyes

  'What is this nonsense question Trace thought

  "Are there limits at how ridiculous it could be?"

  "Well.. immortality is a no go, but pseudo immortality is still okay. Take vampires for an example. They can live forever unless they go into sunlight or get decapitated and such."

  "Also genie type of powers such as granting wishes are also not possible. Think about a power that is in your mind strong, something that could help you pass through any situation."

  "Something like telekinesis?"

  "Yes, but stronger. Do you think just moving objects is a strong power. Oh by the way now that we are talking about psychic abilities brainwashing and mind control are not recommended. They are useful but most of the time the backlash would kill you"

  "Then what about Super Strength?"

  "Too generic, should be much more unique"

  "Regeneration?"

  "Too simple and easy to counter"

  "How about time control?"

  "Ooh, now we are getting somewhere. Time is a good aspect, but you do not have enough points for it"

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "Huh?" Trace said while tilting his head.

  "You might have guessed it but the points that were given are used to buy a superpower, so let us continue. Any more ideas?"

  "Hmm, What do I need this power for?"

  "To help a world of course, that is what the pamphlet said right?"

  "What kind of world? Are we talking about a cityscape or countryside?"

  "More of a countryside but you can forget about the modern technology totally. More like farmers, knights, magicians and nobles type of a setting"

  "Knights and mages? a fantasy setting?"

  "more or less"

  "Then what about transmutation?"

  "Too cheap, even at high level is not that powerful and way too common, it doesn't need to be like your typical human power it can be from a monster too"

  "From monsters? Like from vampires and werewolves?"

  "Yes, think about different creature's unique abilities like a Gorgon's petrifying gaze or dragon's breath."

  A certain mythical beast flashed in Trace's mind, one that that could rival even a dragon.

  "You know about the Phoenix right?"

  "Of course, the famous elemental sacred bird type monster, when dying it rises from its ashes once again"

  "Yes, then how about that ability?"

  "That ability?" Freedom was puzzled

  "rise from ashes or rebirth? something like that"

  "Hmm.. Let me check..."

  Freedom then took out a huge book out of nowhere and started to quickly browse it through.

  After a few minutes of browsing or so she stopped and nodded with satisfaction

  "Alright, the ability you mentioned is too expensive but its weaker version is still available to you, would you like to have it?"

  "It depends what it does, is it really usable?"

  "Yes, even though it is not as strong as rebirth it still gives you a pseudo immortality and also I will give you some other benefits to help you in your journey with the extra points BUT I can not really tell its name or precise description"

  "Why not?"

  "The ability is still in development phase, but I still guarantee it will be worth it and I'll mention it again but it still IS a pseudo immortality"

  "Like vampires? I don't like to get burned from daylight!"

  "No, no, no, this ability has some flaws but nothing to take your freedom away. My name is not Freedom without a reason you know. Also you got around 40% discount from this aspect as your affinity seems to match well with this one"

  Trace nodded and started pondering about his decision, should he take the unknown possibly very strong ability or should he go with something more generic just to be safe.

  Trace's mind was flooding with random thoughts

  'take the unknown'

  'gaze in to the abyss'

  'something strong she said'

  'I like cake'

  'she is strong'

  'cake's with strawberries are the best'

  Like some little devils were whispering to his ears, funny that none of the voices were telling otherwise. Though there were some questionable things...

  "I'll take the unknown ability. I hope your words will carry their weight."

  "No worries! Now that the hard part is over. I will go through some important things that you should know."

  "First, see this box here, you will have a box of this size which you can fill with anything you might need with you, 2 sets of clothes will be provided on site"

  "Aaand no electronic devices, they do not work there."

  "Second, you will be paid monthly salary of 3000 Credits starting from today until the end of the expedition the money will be paid to a special bank account, this card will be given to your next of kin, closest friend or family member in case you have an accident and lose your life"

  "Third, during your time there, you are not compelled to do anything that you do not want to do"

  "Last but not the least, you duty is to make the world a better place. This however does not tell you exactly how to do it. That is for you to find out."

  "Now that this is over, Please fill out these sheets and sign it in the end"

  She handed the dazed Trace a sheet full of basic questions such as full name, address and phone number and another that was the contract.

  "Yo-you sh-should kno-know that 3000 credits is an enormous amount right?"

  "Of course I do, You can also think of it as a preparation funds. You are most likely unable to use that money for a long period of time when working"

  Trace read through them both and agreed to the terms and conditions of the contract by signing it and filling the question sheet.

  FULL NAME: Trace Maron Aqualie

  GENDER: Male

  DATE OF BIRTH: 21 of January, 20XX

  SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER: 2101XX-XXXXXX

  PHONE NUMBER: XXX-XXXXXXXX

  COUNTRY: Caronis

  ADDRESS: Shiningway 7C, 32, Meningwares

  POSTAL CODE: XX-XXX-XX

  PLACE OF BIRTH: Meningwares, Caronis

  NATIONALITY: Caronian

  SOCIAL STATUS: Single

  NEXT OF KIN: Merry Shian Aqualie, Sister

  NEXT OF KIN'S PHONE NUMBER: XXX-XXXXXXXX

  NEXT OF KIN'S ADDRESS: Shiningway 7C, 32, Meningwares, Caronis

  OTHER COMMENTS: Graduated from the university of Meningwares

  EMPLOYEE SIGNATURE: Trace Aqualie

  EMPLOYER SIGNATURE: Freedom

  OFFICIAL STAMP:[\(o.o)/]

  "Oh, this is a surprise. Normally people would put their parents as the next of kin, You didn't strike me as the runaway type"

  "No, I still live with my parents, It is because my little sister actually supports me more than my parents. I would have put the elder sister but she has always wanted to be totally independent, without any help from anyone since she turned 16 and today she is quite successful. Also my family doesn't really lack money"

  "My younger sister is the right answer. She has supported me for a long time already. I am indebted to her and ashamed as her big brother to not be able to payback the help I got from her, but with this job I will be able to do it."

  "Right... Aanyways now that the whole thing is over we will see in the first day of June, same time and place. Aand before you leave ask Jackson for your card"

  "May I ask that you divide the 3000credits into two cards one for my sister that gains 1000 credits every month and rest to my own card?"

  "This is acceptable, but it might put you in a disadvantageous position as you will get 1000 credits less than others for the preparation period, anyways Jackson will give you two cards then."

  "Okay understood, Thank you and goodbye"

  "Yes, Goodbye"

  Trace then left the room. A bit worried about the time he took inside.

  "Next Gordon Turmo" was heard when he entered the lounge. He then located Shubert chatting with some other people. And headed towards Jackson.

  Before Trace Could even say anything Jackson just gave him two cards one had the name Trace Aqualie on it and the other one just had Aqualie. Then Jackson gestured Trace to move on.

  Afterwards Trace headed towards Shubert

  "Hey, Shubert was it?" he carefully asked

  He turned around and looked at Trace

  "Ahh, It is indeed Trace. Presuming either you failed horribly or you passed with flying colors"

  "How so?"

  "Well, Take a look at this clock over here" Shubert said while taking out an old pocket watch from his pocket.

  "Yes? That is quite the old timepiece"

  "No, not that. Look at the time!"

  "It is 11:12pm the time is kinda weird, isn't that your local time?"

  "The interview begun at 11:00pm sharp and two people have already made their interview, the first person took around 8 minutes in the interview and the second... That means you Trace took less than 4 minutes inside"

  "4 minutes... No way?!? I could swear I was at least 20 minutes inside" In shock Trace took out his phone and looked at time it showed 13:46.

  "This is weird"

  "Well, that my friend is quite the strange thing, if you ask me. I am absolutely sure that my watch is on time but this place is so illogical anyways."

  After calming down from the mild surprise, Trace said his goodbyes to Shubert and left the building.

  "Better not think about it. Nothing good comes from it." Trace muttered in a low voice, as that is part of his motto.

  When he reached his home his sister Merry was waiting for him. "Welcome back big brother!" She shouted cheerfully. "Have you eaten lunch already?"

  "I ate a bit before leaving but some snacks should be fine"

  "Okkay, The lunch will be ready in a moment"

  Merry went to the kitchen happily and took out some food and started cooking or more accurately heating it.

  Trace then sat down in the dining room an started to think about today's events. He even took out the two credit cards.

  'She said I can fill a box of things to take with me? and no electronic devices? What should I take?'

  "What are those? I hope you didn't drag me into any idiotic things"

  "Uuh, Aah, Yeah. I had to choose my next of kin and I chose you Merry. Here take it"

  Merry received her card from Trace. After inspecting it for a moment the look on Merry's face was that of a surprise.

  "Sooooo, why do you have two cards made of Miranium!? THE MOST expensive material in the whole world... One card is worth at least a thousand credits... Trace! That is like the living expenses for the whole family for 10 months!"

  "Ahh, thats right... That card you are holding will gain a 1000 credits a month starting from the next month and mine will get 2000 credits a month" Trace said nonchalantly.

  "Umm, big brother. I don't think the job you got is a legal one... I suggest you to quit while you still can."

  "Let's eat first I'll explain the situation later or the food will get cold before we finish this conversation. I am a bit famished" he said as he expertly dodged the question

  "Yes, Big Brother!"

  After lunch

  "So, Big Brother. What is the deal with your new job?"

  "From what I had seen and heard, my job is about some kind of virtual world as the job description was about saving a world. In my opinnion this is about some new kind of Miratech that will need some testing. The company was very secretive about it's operations, maybe it is a revolutionary gaming technology?"

  "Well.. That is true, with the amount of Miranium in the markets and its pricing, you don't want anyone to know that you own large quantities of it.

  "There are still few things that I can't get out of my mind"

  "Such as?"

  "They asked me to fill a box full of stuff that I can take with me. But why? and no electric devices? Are these like personal belongings or what?"

  "Maybe they are rendered as an items that one would take on a journey. Like knives and fishing rods or such."

  "I'll think about it, I still have 3 months left before it begins"

  "3 months?!? and you get paid? Big brother please quit your job! This seems a bit too dangerous!"

  "Merry, hey, stop worrying. I think they just wanted to secure the potential candidates for the testing as soon as possible"

  "Okay..."

  20:00 when the elder sister Ellen Khaki Aqualie came to visit

  "So, Bro. How did it go?"

  "No, problem sis."

  "What company?"

  "Aethereal under a person called Freedom"

  "Never heard of that one"

  "Mostly because it specializes in MiraTech"

  "Ahh, Then you should be very careful. Everything including Miranium should be treated with utmost care. You never know who might be after you because of that damned material or the research information. Especially after the WWR"

  "Yes, Sis. By the way, what would you take with you if you went to a virtual world? It can be anything except electronical devices."

  "If there are other people I would most likely take a weapon with me, something like a handgun or maybe a shotgun with lots of spare ammo if there are no others then something like a hatchet or a multifunction knife at least.

  "Okay, thanks sis."

  "Huh?"

  ------------------

  1st of June

  Trace was ready to leave. He was wearing a rucksack full of items that he had obtained during these past few months on his back and he is browsing through the training manuals he had completed.

  Doing the last minute checking before heading off to Hendrics gate.

  "Goodbye Merry, I will miss you"

  "Goodbye big brother! See you soon!"

  She answered cheerfully

  At the office

  "Welcome Trace Aqualie"

  "ahh, Jackson, Thank you for having me"

  Jackson then pointed to a open door and said

  "That way if you may, Freedom will meet you in there"

  Trace Then went to the shown location. What he saw was a lot of capsules and chests next to them. Also Freedom was talking with some people that had arrived before Trace.

  "Ahh, Trace it seems you had also just arrived on time. Well, a gentleman should never be late."

  A familiar sound came from behind him. He turned around and greeted this familiar face he also had a bag of sorts with him.

  "If it isn't Shubert. It's been 3 months already or so. Time flies it seems."

  "It sure does my friend, it sure does"

  After a while of exchanging greetings Freedom approached the two.

  "Hello good to see you made it here, Shubert and Trace"

  "Good evening, miss""

  "Hello"

  "So first, put you items into the chest by the capsule that has your name tag on it then proceed to the room on the other side of the lobby and wait there until further instructions If you have any problems come find me"

  "Understood" said both of them in unison. Then Freedom quickly left towards another group that had just arrived.

  "You know Trace, It seems my prediction was correct."

  "What prediction?"

  "About our jobs, These things seem to be some Miranium enhanced virtual reality capsules" He pointed at the nearest capsule"

  "Ahh, that. Somehow it looks weird it does not have any terminals. The ones I have seen before had one"

  "I think this one has it on the inside. You need to be inside to use it"

  "Isn't that like dangerous, what if you get stuck or you need to be moved. There has been many cases of brain damage by just pulling the plug"

  "The old models were not using any Miranium"

  "That is true, we still could ask Freedom about it"

  "Yes, I think we should"

  After looking around the capsules for a while they both found their capsules with their names on them. Soon after they began to fill the chests with the contents of their bags.

  Trace had a guncase, 2 boxes of ammunition, 2 boxes of dried meat, a canteen, a Miratech knife, a first aid kit, a Miratech lighter and of course the rucksack. There was still some space left over in the chest that Trace filled with single bullets.

  Afterwards Trace and Shubert went to the room that Freedom had mentioned. Inside that room was few rows of chairs 'most likely one per person' thought Trace.

  In front of the chairs there were few mannequins with different kind of clothing, nothing fashionable just some casual wears but one thing in common was that they did not wear anything modern like jeans and such.

  More like leather, cotton and wool clothing.

  Behind the mannequins were a stack of plates that had different numbers on them. These numbers ranged from 1 to 10 same as the amount of mannequins.

  Also next to the mannequins there was a big screen that had a some kind of slideshow running.

  As Trace entered the room he noticed that there was 16 others already seated and chatting with each other.

  "It seems like most of us have already arrived" notified Shubert

  "Yeah"

  Shubert then took a look at his pocket watch.

  "The time has come" he said while making an odd pose where his palm is facing his face and he is looking between his fingers.

  "What?!... Is wrong?" Asked Trace baffled as he noticed Shubert's odd acting.

  "Haven't you seen any old eastern entertainment?" He answered

  "Lately I have been studying some pre-war japanese culture, this acting is part of a famous series's 'overly cool and dramatic' acting effect."

  "Maybe I am just doing it wrong" he pondered and took a different type of pose.

  Trace was speechless. After Shubert had done some more posing Trace finally came back to his senses and told Shubert to calm down.

  "..."

  "Sorry, sorry, just kidding"

  "Ahem, somehow as I was making these poses I couldn't stop myself."

  As Shubert and Trace went to get seated two of the people said their greetings.

  "Hello, my name is Colin Smith and this here is Claire."

  "Good day, I am known as Shubert"

  "Trace, nice to meet you two"

  "It, it, could it be?! That Shubert!?" Claire showed a surprise on her face.

  "'That Shubert'?, Are you perhaps, famous?" Trace asked in puzzlement.

  "...I don't think I am that famous..." He answered

  "Oi, Claire who is this person?"

  "What! [Colin]! You should know him, he is the author of 'Mirage Space Project' detective book series"

  "...You...Got To Be...Kidding Me..." Said [Colin] with a disbelief.

  "Mr. Corillis! Ca-Can I have your autograph!"

  The whole room turned into a chaos as the others also heard that there is a famous person in the room with them.

  Trace was just standing there taking in all that had just happened. Like how Shubert was a famous author of a critically acclaimed book series that was said to be the best in the century.

  Shubert Corillis was a person with a prestige so high it couldn't be matched if one were to talk about academic talent or coming up with new stories.

  "What is this ruckus over here?" Freedom asked in a calm voice when she entered the room. Her voice was clearly heard by everyone even though there was a lot of background noise. As if she was speaking directly into their brains.

  "We are sorry miss Freedom, It was just that there was a really famous person here and we couldn't hold back" Someone answered her

  "I don't really mind but please do it in a civilized manner. Also you shouldn't bother a person even a famous person is still a person. Ain't that right mr. Corillis?"

  "That is true, madam. I thank you for your consideration"

  "It is fine"

  "Everyone, please take a seat. We are about to begin" Freedom gestured

  After people had seated Freedom began.

  "Welcome to Aethereal, My name is Hiune Freedom and I am the one who had called all of you here. It is my pleasure to see that all 25 of you have made it here today."

  "Today, Today is a great day. Today, you will be part of something great, something big"

  The speech goes on for a few minutes

  "Some of you might have already guessed it, You are going to use the newest model of Aethereal's reality engine. That capsule you saw in the other room earlier"

  "When you enter that capsule you will be given a brief demonstration on how to use your given skills, other system commands and inventory."

  "Talking about inventory, you people have already seen these dolls wearing different clothing. As I said during the interview, the clothing is provided on-site."

  "Now, the doll go from left to right numbered 1 to 10, each of you can take up to 2 sets of clothing. Just take one to two number plates and put them inside the sockets at the side of the chest and the clothes will appear inside the inventory."

  "After you have chosen your clothes you can proceed to inside the capsules. Any questions?"

  "Yes, Why doesn't the capsules have any external terminals"

  "That is a good question, the answer is that to prevent outside interference. Also there have been a lot of cases with virtual reality capsules when forced log out of the terminal which leads to major problems like brain damage and such."

  "Also we provide the applicants the most immersive and realistic experience ever. Just a precaution though, when you die there might be a chance of you really dying as you will experience 'death'. So avoid dying if possible, think of it as your real life.

  "What about blackouts?"

  "These capsules are equipped with a Miratech power units, that generate power to prevent the dependency of other devices. They are designed to be independent machines"

  "Anything else?"

  No one said anything.

  "Good, Now begin"

  Most of the applicants showed signs of excitement as they were children in amusement park. [Trace] took a look at the clothed mannequins. The clothes from 1-8 were unisex and 9-10 were for females or for those special people...

  Anyways [Trace] took plates for numbers 1 and 5.

  Number 1 had dark brown cotton pants with buttons and a belt along with light brown shirt and pair of standard brownish leather shoes.

  Number 5 on the other hand had a dark blue shirt, a black long coat, a dark blue mantle, a dark blue pants with a belt and black hard leather boots.

  The first one was 'most definitely a casual set of clothing the material was nice and they are most likely the most comfortable and common clothing' thought Trace

  The fifth set was pretty outstanding as they had more rugged feeling on them, the reason Trace took them to be honest was 'That coat looks dope as hell'

  Then he proceeded back to his capsule put the metal plates inside his chest's sockets and went inside the capsule.

  After going inside and lying on his back his consciousness slowly drifting away.

  "Welcome to Aethereal's tutorial session"

  A voice was heard

  "Please open your eyes" as this was said Trace noticed that his eyes were actually closed, he then opened them.

  He was inside a 'white space' and there was a bright floating ball hovering around him.

  "Greetings I am the Core and I will be helping you in this tutorial, we will go through your menu, inventory and special abilities" The sound was coming from the flying ball of light.

  "Shall we begin" it asked

  Trace nodded.

  "Understood, we will begin with the familiarization of your very own gifted ability. The Respawn"

  "The Respawn as an ability grants you an access to dealing with situations with multiple attempts, as every time you die you will come back to life in 10 seconds."

  "So to limit this ability's power you have been given only 10 lives at a time that regenerate in 24 hours from the point of death. But to prevent you from dying without a chance to fight back we have implemented a dramatic entrance feature that gives you different ways to come back to life."

  "Also we have given you the ability to enter a planning room upon dying. This space can be used to plan your future measures against strong individuals and can be used for a maximum of 1 hour per 24 hours"

  "Is this understood?"

  "Sort of?" Trace answered

  "Proceeding with demonstration"

  Suddenly there was a flash and afterwards Trace found a table in front of him. This table had a miniature of a small village on it.

  In the village there were two character models both wearing a sword, one red, other one blue and they looked like they were preparing to fight each other.

  "Demonstration begin" said the Core

  After those words the miniatures began moving inside the small village brandishing their swords. It looked as if the red one had an advantage over the blue one as it was pushed back.

  After a while the red miniature cornered its opponent and inflicted a fatal wound on it. Suddenly the blue one's corpse disappeared and the red one was looking around while having his guard up.

  After around 12 seconds a blue miniature sprouted from the ground, underneath the red miniature and managed to take it by surprise and inflict a wound on it. The red one stubbornly kept on fighting but due to his wound he could not display all of its might and succumbed to its wounds. This corpse did not disappear.

  "End of demonstration" said the Core

  "This is all of the information I am allowed to give, We hope it is sufficient enough as for the rest of the ability you need to find out yourself."

  "Would you like to play the demonstration again?"

  Trace shook his head

  "Continuing to next subject, the Menu"

  "The menu is a simplified interface to access different systems in the world such as events, store and the inventory. To access the menu you need to just think about it and it will open, the location depends on where you want it."

  "Now to the last subject, the Inventory"

  "The inventory is found in the Menu and it has an unlimited storage capacity however it cannot be accessed without certain requirements. At first you can only have your personal items inside of it."

  "End of tutorial, Any questions?"

  "Good, Now please step through that door to begin"

  "Oi, oi, oi, I didn't even have time to answer"

  As Core had said a wooden door appeared out of nowhere. Trace hesitantly opened the door and took a peek inside but before he could see anything something had pushed him inside.

  Back in the office

  "My lady, Everyone has gone sleep already"

  "Good. You know how to proceed, right?"

  "Of course my lady, through the core"

  "Then let us begin"

  Trace woke up in the capsule but to his surprise his body was still unable to move. His mind was filled with fear that he had been paralyzed as not even his head could move, he could only move his sight maybe this was a machine malfunction he thought.

  Suddenly he started to hear noises like some footsteps walking towards him slowly, as the voices were getting louder, the wait felt longer like hours. But he was relieved that someone had noticed him and was coming to his aid.

  "Oh, this isn't good..." familiar voice was heard, this voice came from Jackson.

  Trace was trying to ask for help from Jackson with his gaze, only to notice that Jackson had a reddish glowing dagger on his hand that dripped blood as if it was used just a while ago. His eyes opened wide from the horror and panic, but as he still was paralyzed there was nothing he could do.

  "This is why we should have used a much stronger sleep magic, as you are now conscious this will hurt a lot. Have a safe trip and try to relax, it will make it easier." He said while smiling wryly and brandished his dagger and used it to penetrate Trace's chest.

  Trace begged in his mind that this was just a bad dream, he did not want to die like this. He was momentarily reminded of his sister who tried to insist that the company would be bad news for him. He didn't listen and now he pays the price.

  When the dagger entered Trace's chest it broke something inside, something that wasn't supposed to be there, his core. calling the pain intense would be an enormous understatement, the pain was something that made Trace's every cell shout in agony all the way to his spiritual existence to his soul.

  After a seemingly long time that felt like eternity for Trace he finally managed to pass out.

  INITIALIZING TRANSFER TO CORE WORLD ALDEUS