Liam Barette:
"This is brutal," I think to myself. The line isn't long; it's astronomical.
I check the time on my phone, and my eyes go wide when I see a whole hour has passed and I only took three steps! Biting my tongue, forcing myself not to scream, I instead choose to mentally do it.
"Aaahhhh!"
Thankfully, the dragon man turned out to be an awesome person. While we wait together, he offers me a few small bags of Lay potato chips and even a Coca-Cola. While standing in line, I overhear a pair of cosplayers wearing cardboard armors a few spots behind me.
"I told you we should've just come straight here," one of them says. "Then we wouldn't be all the way back now!"
"Hey, be thankful we stopped at the gas station," his friend replies. He reaches into the shopping bag and pulls out a handful of cookies, gummy worms, and water bottles. "Otherwise, we would be like that guy over there."
The friend nudges his head toward another person, a slightly elderly man, about ten spots ahead of me. The elderly man's face is as red as a tomato. He is sweating and panting. As the elderly man fans himself with his hand, a teenage boy walks by with a tray of drinks.
"Authentic in-game potions," the boy yells, raising one of his 'potions' in the air. Even from all the way back here, I can still tell the potions are nothing but Mountain Dew bottles with glitter glue on them. Still, the elderly man waves the teenage boy down and buys three. He rips off the cap of one of them and chugs the whole bottle in three gulps.
"Two hours in," I whisper to myself, staring at an empty bag of chips beside the empty soda bottle, "And I already have so much regret. Damnit, Liam. You idiot. You should've brought an umbrella, and maybe some sunblock."
Looking at my hands, turning them over, and seeing that they are getting closer to also being like a red tomato, I start blowing on them, hoping to keep myself from dying of heatstroke.
Inch by inch, hour by hour, I shuffle forward. By the fifth hour, I can see it! The entrance looms, with its glorious, glowing green light. Despite my aching legs, my screaming bladder, and my sanity teetering over the edge, or maybe I already lost it, I'm not sure, I feel a burst of joy, sending sparks and re-energizing my body.
"This is it," I whisper. "I am back, baby! Wait, what?"
While looking at the entrance, so close but also so far away, I notice a new sign above it, with bold letters.
"Gaming Cube opens," the sign says, "Quarters only. 1 quarter is equal to 30 minutes."
I think my head snaps. I hear a strange, cracking sound coming from somewhere, and the world turns black. Shaking my head and blinking a few times, restarting my brain, I look again and see the same sign.
"...Quarters? Are you kidding me? The Gaming Cube is an arcade machine now! Why?"
Patting my pockets, I reach in and pull out gum wrappers, some crumpled receipts, a single button, a handful of dimes, nickels, and pennies, and thank heaven, four quarters!
"That's two hours! Yes! Two hours to make history. Or die horribly. Again."
I grip the coins as if my life depended on them because, in a way, it does. Finally, after a few more hours, watching the sun fall and the moon rise, I finally reach the front of the line. Running into the very crowded Gaming Cube, literally squeezing my way through, I see the same screen from before, showing dozens of different players' views as they trade with merchants, slay monsters, and travel through lush, beautiful forests.
Looking around for a bit, I see one player slide his quarters into a slot beside the black and green door.
"Those are new."
When he puts in his last quarter, the door slides open, hissing like from a sci-fi movie. The player then enters, and the door closes behind him.
My heart is pounding as I search for an empty gaming room. Finding one near the end, I slide my four quarters into the slot and enter the room. I step into the room, the whole thing feeling like it's happening in slow motion. As I enter, the first thing I see is the wall, the same wall pulsing with that familiar green glow.
The door shuts. The walls and floor dissolve, and a blinding flash hits me. I don't even look away or close my eyes this time.
The flash disappears, and I see myself standing in a sunlit meadow, with tall, yellow grass swaying as it follows the wind. Standing there, feeling the smile on my face growing.
"Yes," I shout, shooting both my hands into the air. "EpicFailGamer94 is back! Hahaha..."
As I cheer, my HUD appears in front of me, and the first thing I see is "Welcome, new player."
My hands drop like rocks. My smile shrinks before turning upside down. The birds' singing sounds like nails against a chalkboard. I read the second line.
"Create a new character."
"Oh come on! I lost my progress! I lost everything! My axe? My armor? My experience? Well, that last one I didn't really have, but still! I have to restart. Ahhhh!"
Screaming at first, I stop but only to catch my breath. Thinking with a slightly clearer head now, I sigh and look at the HUB. Taking a deep breath, I start remaking my character, starting by typing in my username, EpicFailGamer94.
"Thanks, Cube, for saving my data. You're really generous and not at all annoying."
I groan and drag my hand around.
With only two hours on the clock, I can't waste time. I speed-read the instructions and then speedrun the tutorial, bolting down the meadow to the dirt path, and straight back into Honeywood.
When I finally reach the town of Honeywood and see the same gate, the same stone wall, and even the same bard playing a new song, I smile despite having a sweaty forehead and back. Giving myself a quick sniff, tears form in my eyes, and I pull back my head.
"Oh man. I am really glad this is all VR."
Cracking my neck and back, stretching my four virtual limbs, I then reach into my pocket and pull out my money.
"Strange. This feels lighter than before. Wait, what? No, no, no! Ohhh, man."
I count the gold coins, expecting to have 100 coins, but instead, I only have 50!
"You know what? Fine. It works. It works. I'll take it."
I run back to Rogar Steelbrand.
"Hello, adventure---"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, hello Rogar! Come on, come on! I have less than two hours. Let's go, let's go!"
With my 50 gold, I can only buy a sword so dull it looked like it was forged from soup cans and leather armor that somehow looks even worse than the cardboard armor those coplayers were wearing in line. Even if I complain, I doubt it would make a difference.
I strap the itchy leather armor on and sheathe my dull sword. As I scratch my chest and wrist, I look around before marching toward the river.
"Please still be there," I beg, "Please still be there."
Crossing my fingers, I pray that Mildred the Widow is still there. However, before I can find Mildred the Widow, someone else stops me.
"Hey, you! Excuse me."
Hearing a high-pitched voice, very player-like and not in the scripted, stoic tone of an NPC, I turn around and see a girl in a light blue robe with a hood and a staff in her hands. Her eyes are sparkling, and above her head is a bar with her username.
"So I was right. This is a player, not an NPC."
"Um, hi," the player starts, waving at me. "You're new too, right? Listen, I got this quest, but there are a lot of goblins, and I was wondering if maybe we could--"
The player goes on, but I didn't hear what else she has to say. My mind freezes on the word goblins.
"These ugly bastards," I think, "Time for revenge!"
A ding sounds in my ears, and a new glowing icon appears over the player's head with a new message.
"Party Invite Pending."
"That's new," I whisper.
I think my heart skips a beat. I couldn't believe it. I have a real quest partner, and it's not some wannabe leader, a fire mage with very bad aim, or a rogue. At least, I hope this mage doesn't have bad aim. Nevertheless, I push the button and accept the party invite.
"Yes," I yell, "Absolutely! 100% yes. I will help you fight those butt ugly goblins."
The female mage smiles. My HUD pings, and a new transparent screen appears.
"Party invite accepted. New quest added: The Stolen Band. Retrieve the stolen ring from a pack of goblins in the nearby wood."
"Really," I say. "Again? First a necklace and now a ring? Man, these goblins really have a thing for fashion. Oh well."
I pull my rusty sword.
"Let's go show some goblin who's boss."