"First test subject? Your daughter?", I ask him, baffled.

He glares at me as he answers in a serious tone, "Yes... The first test subject was my daughter. Five years ago.. I still remember as though it was just yesterday... My kids and I had gone out shopping. My daughter loved shopping but my son was quite the opposite. When we were in the mall, suddenly..."

He pauses for a while and starts speaking again, "Suddenly, a terrorist bombing took place... I grab my son's and daughter's hand and run for our lives, but then..  another bomb blasts, throwing us off the ground. I open my eyes to see my daughter buried under bricks and stone. My son and I pull her out and, yes she was breathing but unconcious. I believed we survived and I carry my daughter out of the mall and to an ambulance carrying the injured."

"The ambulance took us to the nearest hospital there is and I leave my daughter in the hands of one my old trustworthy friend who was also a neurologist. But, time lapsed and she did not wake up. My daughter was declared to be in a state of come and the doctor could do was to ask us to wait. Time passed by, maybe 3 years or more.. but she never recovered."

Tears roll down his cheeks as he says that. "I just felt so useless because I couldn't do anything. Then, I decided to research on a way.. a way to bring back her consciousness. And then, I invented the medicure gizmo... And used it on her. I thought she would come back, but that was my biggest mistake. I realized was a fool who had killed his own daughter.."

He pauses for a while and speaks again, "But one day, I receive an email from an unknown sender. The sender then convinces me that she is my daughter. She told me about the voice you heard and that she accepted the voice's request. She told me about the link of darkness and a world that she had never seen before. Then she told me something. That, she felt lonely and wanted to be with me once again. She asked me to never give up on my research. That's why I decided to push forward and finally it's successful."

I smile a little, "Yes, it has been successful, sir." Then I ask, "So, do you know anything about this girl I met?"

He shakes his head, "We do not have any information on that. All I know is that she is just another soul which can travel anywhere through the internet, like my daughter's current self."

Few minutes pass by, and silence fills the room. Then I ask. "So how is this experiment related to saving the world?"

He answers, "There are rumours that there's a criminal organization being formed. The gizmo security department have found some unidentified manipulations going on with the mirror dimensional worlds. We are not sure of it yet, but soon, the gizmo might turn into a weapon against mankind. That's where you come in. I want you to find the organization's main purpose and try to stop it. I know it's rough on you, but the world's fate lies in your hands now."

I look up. So, everyone's lives lie in my hand now, and I chose this to happen. All I have to do is carry their hopes and save the world!

After that, I get discharged from the hospital and finally go home. The next day, I go to school.

I had to stick with Shu all the time, which was a bit annoying. I sat in the air, pretending to be sitting at my desk. Lectures continued as usual. Many students tried to handshake, hug or pat me but Shu and I remained cautious all the time as I avoided them. It was lunch break, Anderson, Shu and I were sitting together as usual.

Anderson looks at me as he eats his lunch. "Not gonna eat Nuke?", he asks.

"Nope, the doctor asked me to avoid filling myself as much as possible", I reply.

I just couldn't tell Anderson my current situation, I don't know why.

After lunch, we go out for a walk. I could hear the students shouting as they enjoy their lunch breaks, the courts filled with students, the breeze brushing past the trees and making a calming sound. But I couldn't feel anything, I could hear the breeze but couldn't feel it. I wanted to play basketball so much, but I couldn't. I lay down in the air, pretending to be laying on the grass, along with Shu and Anderson.

"Hey, do you know that a new game is going to be launched today?" Anderson says.

"Oh! Really?", Shu asks excitedly.

"Well it's only the beta trial that is gonna be released. I heard about 100 copies of the game are being sold in every country. And the sale is going to start today at around 5:00pm", Anderson says.

"So what's the title?", I ask.

Anderson answers, "It's called 'The Heroes Quests'. There are rumours that it's the best fantasy game and has the biggest map!"

He pauses for a second and asks, "So are you planning on playing it?"

Anderson loved fantasy games and he has a whole collection of them in his gizmo. But, unlike him, I loved action based games, especially those is which I could snipe.

"I'll think about it", I say. Lunch break was over and regular classes took place. It was 3:00 pm by the time school was over, and Shu and I were walking home.

Just like always, the way home was crowded with students. Also, there was a lot of traffic on the ground, as well as in air.

Suddenly, someone shouts from behind us, "Move aside! Move aside!"

I turn back to see a black haired boy, around 5.9 feet tall, approaching towards us on his airboard. The airboard is a hoverboard like structure which glides in air. It's speed depends on the speed of the air current and has an antigravity field surrounding it.

Too late to step aside, he bumps into Shu. As he falls down, I'm sure the tip of his finger had moved past my shoulder. He gets up and dusts himself.

He turns towards Shu and shouts, "Why didn't you move when I asked you to?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?", Shu answers back.

He picks up his airboard as he scowls at Shu, and decides to leave. I look at his name which appeared at the top of his head. His name was Matthew.

He turns back and looks at Shu. He says, "Play 'The Heroes Quests' game. It's beta version is going to be released in two hours. I'll take my revenge over there. And if the stock gets over before you buy it, consider yourself already a loser!". And then, he leaves.

"The game appears to be very popular", I say as we start walking again.

Just like me, Shu loved to play shooting games. Assult rifles were his speciality. But unlike me, he never took games seriously. He had the power which could get him into the top ten, but he never made it, due to his laziness.

Shu shouts, "You know that I hate fantasy games! I'm not going to play that game even if he kneels down in front of me." Yeah, Shu hates to fight with swords and no one can force him to play a fantasy game.

Once again, we stop talking as the chatter of students walking home and the noises of vehicles fill the air. But one thing concernede the most. "Did he notice it when his finger touched my shoulder? If he did, how am I supposed to cover it up? And should I tell Shu?"

My thoughts were filled with questions once more, as I ignore the noises around me.

Suddenly, Shu gets a call from an unknown number.

"Hello! May I know who's speaking?", Shu asks.

Then Shu turns to me and says, "Dr. Stoian wants to talk to you."

"Talk to me? But why?", then I use my powers to slip through Shu's gizmo and speak.

"Good afternoon Dr. Stoian! How are you?", I greet.

"Oh! Hi there! Nuke, wasn't it? I'm fine but I wanted to talk to you about something classified. Can you teleport to my office right now?"

"Okay?", I say as I get out of Shu's gizmo and teleport to Dr. Stoian's office using my powers to travel over the internet.

I arrive in Dr. Stoian's room. He was sitting in his usual place, with his legs folded, over the table.

I sit down opposite to him and ask, "So what was it that you wanted to say doctor?"

He removes his legs from the table and looks at me, "I feel there's something suspicious about this game."

He removes a poster of a game. On the poster it was written, 'The Heroes Quests'. I look at it shocked. But that was the game Anderson was talking about!

I look at him and ask, "Are you sure? How do you know that?"

Dr. Stoian's points to the developers name which was written under the title. It said 'Alex stoian'.

"Alex is my son. He was a great help to me in creating the medicure gizmo for my daughter. After her disappearance, he got pretty mad and left the place. Today, few investigators come to me, saying that they suspect my son is part of the criminal organization I told you about. Maybe, there's something up with this new game."

"So, you are asking me to check out this game now?", I ask. "Pretty much, yes!", he replies.

I get up from my position and decide to leave. Suddenly a thought strikes me, "Dr. Stoian, there's a friend of mine who wanted to play this game since days. Should I stop him?"

"Well, there's no need for that. As I told you, I'm not sure if the rumours were true. But keep an eye on him so that he doesn't fall into any kind of trouble."

"Okay Dr. Stoian! I'll be leaving now", I say and teleport back to my home. It was 4:30 pm. I had half an hour time before the sale starts. I call up Anderson and tell him that I decided to play that game.

Then, after 5:00 pm, I buy it online. The game required the latest version of gizmo which was developed only to run the game. But I didn't need to buy that. I close my eyes and concentrate.

Then, I open my eyes to find myself inside the medicure gizmo that was attached to my body. I choose the game in the list of games that I had bought in the past.

As I start the game, my surroundings turn white and I get teleported into a three dimensional space with a black background. I see huge words pop up in front of me I white colour, which says, "Welcome to the world of 'The Heroes Quests'.

Then, a character setup box appears in front of me. On the top left corner, I had to fill my name. I put my real name, that is 'Nuke'.

Then, it asks for my height, gender and character appearance. I set my height as 182 cm, which is my original height and my gender as male. In the character appearance, I chose the usual appearance that I choose for every game I've played till now. Blue hair and slightly narrow eyes, colour of skin as light brown and a black T-shirt and blue jeans as a beginner costume.

I choose my race as elf and battle type as archer. I had to choose archer because it was the only character where I could aim from a far range. I also needed long range spells for an archer, so I chose my race as elf. In fantasy games, wizards and elves were one of the only magic users.

And then, I press start!

Suddenly, the screen grows dark and I fall unconscious.

When I open my eyes, I find myself in a small room, lying down on a bed. I touch the bed and I knew it at once it was a feather mattress that is believed to have existed in the ancient times.

I get up and look around me. It was a small room with no windows and wooden walls. There was only a single door. The room was illuminated using magic.

Now, I stare at the door. Bright light pops out through the edges of the door, as though there was some kind of glittering treasure behind it. It has to be a portal. I open the door and step out into the bright white light.

Then I could see it. A huge medieval town. It appeared like a usual fantasy world, but it was way more bigger.

The indescribable scenery, the chatter of players around me, the first breath of fresh air after entering the game, kept my mind preoccupied, as though it was an eternal dream! But what lies behind, was a complete mystery.