Prologue: An Invitation To A New World
1654 Words
“Are you Genesis John R. Soteria?”
The young delivery guy asked Genesis or rather, Gen, as most people address him.
“I am,” Gen replied, swallowing the fact despite his preference of being addressed as a Rostova. His Mother’s maiden name.
“We have a package for you. Please sign here.”
Gen accepted the computer tablet from him and have it signed. The delivery guy then handed him the package, a box and an envelope.
“Who sent them?” Gen asked upon accepting it.
“It’s a deposit package,” he said. “Scheduled to be delivered during this specific date and time and to this specific address and recipient.”
Doubts rose from Gen. ‘What does that supposed to me?’
He intend to ask more but it seems that there’s nothing more that the delivery guy can share and hence, Gen simply received the letter and package from the unknown sender.
He then returned inside the house and into his room and unwrap the packages, starting with the letter.
Gen’s eyes widened. The letter and the package is from his Great Grandfather.
Dear Gen,
If you are reading this, it means that I’m gone. My means to cheat death can no longer save me and I’m leaving this world with a great regret,
I could not save you and Mia.
We had let you down, I had let you down. I failed to stop my grandson, your father, from causing you pain.
Gen gritted his teeth being reminded of his relation to that man. Calling him greedy and incompetent are not enough to define his rottenness.
He neglected them and his mother committed suicide due to his womanizing.
He is a good for nothing who only leech on the fortune built by their family.
Unfortunately, being the only son of his grandpa, he is the sole viable heir to the empire that his great-grandfather had dedicated his entire life building.
This, had of course, caused a great displeasure among those invested to the company. Though it is self-sufficient and can progress on its own thanks to the hardworks of its former leaders, having his father in charge had procured a violent flow of scepticism.
After that, the unthinkable happened.
The specifics were never publicly unveiled and everything were swept under the rug afterwards, but his father’s vehicle was ambushed. However, it wasn’t him who met the bombardment of heavy firearms.
It was Gen and his sister.
Gen protected Mia, so she was spared from physical harms but the trauma of the attack had taken away his sister’s connection to the world. He, on the other hand, had almost lost his life. It took several operations and almost a year of rehabilitation for him to recover.
At the young of 10, Gen experienced countless o unimaginable pains. But none of those could compare of what he heard from his father when he recovered.
“I’m glad that I wasn’t there.”
The bastard!
His children nearly died but in the end, all he cared about was his welfare.
Since then, Gen carried a deep seethed hatred towards the man he once called father. From then on too, he was enlightened by his wrongful acts including the true cause of their mother’s death, further fuelling his hatred.
Gen, due to my fading strength I had been powerless to change the current reality of things. But I was also not just sitting around the corner, watching. Though my might had long perished I still have a few tricks to pull off and my last one I dedicated to you and your sister.
Knowing your attitude, I am certain that you are now staying in my ancestral home.
‘He truly knows me well,’ Gen thought to himself.
It is true. After everything that happened, he left home and exiled himself into his great-grandfather’s ancestral house.
A sanctuary away from the grasps of his family and his father.
And if you remember, I have a workshop that I kept locked away from everybody inside my old room.
What I wanted you to do now is bring the package that arrived along with this letter into my workshop. The password of the lock is 3733366.
Gen took the package and made his way to his great-grandpa’s room and unlocks the secret room behind the bookshelf.
Upon entering, Gen switched on the lights and inhaled a gasp when he first laid his eyes on the contents of the secret workshop.
Arranged neatly on every side of the room are priceless books of ancient mythologies, machinery, war strategies and battle tactics, and most of all, books for virtual reality, programming and engineering.
That’s not all, several tools and devices are also neatly stacked above the antique mahogany table on the southwest side of the room.
However, what truly attracted Gen’s attention is the huge machinery located at the very end of the room which he immediately recognized as a Simulation Capsule. Switching on the light for that side of the room, the emblem of Jenova Corp at the side of the capsule became visible.
Jenova Corp!
There’s no human being on the planet that doesn’t know the name of Jenova Corp. They are absolutely and without contest the best and the most brilliant game developer ever with their biggest achievement as well as what carries the pride of their company is the development and launching of the most realistic and immersive virtual reality game in the world.
Eternal Empire.
First placed under production back in Year 2101 and was perfected after 10 long years. The VR Game Eternal Empire had hooked, Gamers and non-Gamers alike into playing. With a popularity that surged so greatly that after merely a year since its release, 45%, and still counting, of the entire planet’s population of LVR-Age are logging in into the game.
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Note: After the perfection of the Virtual Reality technology, the government had issued an LVR-Age or Legal Virtual Reality Age. This prohibits any human being below the age of 16 to play or participate in any immersive Virtual Reality activities. Jenova had installed Identifiers to ensure that no underage participation will take place
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Enlightened to this discovery, Gen resumed reading his great-grandfather’s letter.
Gen, five years after the initial production of the game Eternal Empire, Jenova Corp had already perfected the capsules. However, the Synchronization Program that will connect the players to the virtual world is still at its testing stage. Still, even with this at hand, it is enough to make the proper preparations.
With the help from my friends in Jenova, I manage to acquire a capsule even before the completion of the game and build this gaming station in which I called “The Lair” inside my secret room.
Gen, by this time, Eternal Empire had already reached its 1st anniversary and announced finally the company’s goal for its player.
Jenova Corp is offering 15% of their company and 10% of their annual earning to the first person who can conquer the game.
‘15% share and 10% annual earning?’
That’s more than 1/7 of the entire Jenova, and considering how huge of a company it is and with the vast amount of money they are earning from players purchasing the $50,000 capsules and paying the $750 monthly subscription, one can live like a king for the rest of their lives if they get their hands on that money!
But the money is irrelevant. What truly matters here is for you to have a support that can rival our family and Jenova can grant you that.
Gen immediately understood.
His great-grandfather knows the true goal of Jenova Corp for Eternal Empire and the fortune accompanied by it and hence, he prepared this place for him.
Gen, you are a one of a kind child. Your brilliance, courage, dedication, and sheer will are unmatched. If you set your heart onto something, your success is inevitable. That is why I have 100% confidence that you can conquer Eternal Empire and pursue a grander and more meaningful life. You and the Soteria Family no longer meet eye to eye onto the path that you must take and my death will sever the final string that ties you to the family. The conflict will surely impede you into becoming the best of what you can be.
I won’t let that happen. If the Soteria Family will drag you down instead of lifting you up then it is better if you’re severed from it. Thus, during the painful final days of my life, I dedicated it to open the opportunity in which your great tale will begin.
For you and for Mia.
The package delivered along with this letter is the final piece that will complete the starting line of your journey.
Gen finally opened the package and inside was the Synchronization Program which is the lacking piece of the capsule his great-grandfather prepared.
My beloved grandson, I’m sorry that there’s nothing more I can offer except for this. I made a lot of regrets and I can no longer correct them but I am able to find a little sparkle that even though faint still offers a new start and I wish that you will grasp onto and empower it until the day that you can finally soar high and achieve the greatness that is meant for you.
Goodbye and take care,
Grandpa Garret
After reading the final part, Gen couldn’t help but shed some tears.
All of those years, he thought that everyone had abandoned them even the great-grandpa that he loved and respected so much.
But he was wrong. Even after his death, his great-grandpa Garret had cared and looked after him and his sister. He still continues to guide and pull him out of the darkness.
“I won’t let you down Double G,” he said as he wipes the tears from his eyes.
This new beginning that he bestowed upon him and Mia and will not waste it.
- Writer
