Fantasy World Online I: New Roads

Chapter 1: The Interview

My name is Benoit Maximilian de Verand. I know, it's a mouthful. My friends call me Ben.

I'm a twenty two year old single guy who spends half his waking time working in an office and the rest of the time playing online games. No girlfriend, only a little sister in university and divorced parents.

My father got remarried and is now living with his new family. My mother is retired and likes to spend her time gardening, painting, and reading. She lives in a small town an hour away by car.

My sister, Annie, moved in with me about a year ago when she started university. Needless to say, since then I have learned to clean my apartment and started actually cooking.

Usually, my day starts with sharing breakfast with Annie, followed by dropping her off at the campus. I then go to work and spend seven hours in front of a computer, verifying data logs concerning insurance complaints for an insurance company.

I once got a bonus for managing to find a way to counter a client's claim, allowing the company to avoid paying a billion dollars to a poor guy. Yes, life is a joke.

But that's not important, what is important is what I do back at home. Once I made sure Annie's day was fine and that she has dinner, I lock myself in my room and start playing video games.

I love video games. When I was a kid, I used to play all sorts of games, and then I tried an MMORPG. That's when I got hooked. From then on, I tried them all. Shifting from one MMORPG to the next.

In 2023, a company called RetroGame Corporation launched their own video game, called "The Path". It was a futuristic first person shooter in an open world map the size of Australia. In the game, players had to battle against bandits and alien invaders. Throughout the game, your actions would lead you to become the leader of a fighting squad, a land owner, an outlaw, a spy, or a simple soldier.

Needless to say, it was the biggest online platform ever. The game quickly became the most played video game in the world. I was instantly charmed and awed by that world and started dedicating myself to this sole game. When I started, I was seventeen. I created several accounts, one for each class and made them all join the same guild, which was mine. Slowly, but steadily, I ranked them up. My sister would sometimes help me, borrowing one of my avatars. A few friends would too, at times.

Without my knowledge, people started seeing my guild, The Verand, as an elite group of players that rarely came together and were shrouded in mystery. This impression was reinforced by my constant refusal of new members except my friends and some high-leveled player that I would sometimes team up with. I was totally oblivious to it as I only played for fun and didn't pay attention to blogs and sites. about The Path.

When I turned eighteen, I started selling my unneeded loot on an online auction site. That's how I became a professional gamer. Simple, right? But still wasn't enough to pay half of the rent, hence the crappy job.

But that's not the story. No, the story begins two weeks ago.

Retrogame Corporation announced that they would be presenting their brand new game that utilizes a brand new technology in a live interview. It is their first video game since The Path was launched. Everyone was excited for it.

It's now a friday evening, and my sister and I are sitting in front of our TV, waiting for the interview to start. Right now, the host of the game-specialized channel is talking to a beta tester. The guy is around 30 and has black hair.

"So, tell us Jeremy, this new game. How is it?"

"To say it simply, it's unlike any other game I've played so far. The map is the size of the earth and is divided in several continents and lands. Each has its own history, culture, clothes, food, food, architecture, hierarchy, climate, flora and fauna... It changes everything."