6 Begin (2/2)
Allan in response before asking, ”Did you contact your lawyer then? You can't get scammed like last time. Like holy damn, even while being one of the best assaulters in the league you still get paid like a 3rd tier player.”
”I'm not gonna renew the contract with them,” Shesmu responded simply.
”Oh, did you get a massive offer from someone else? Who was it? DragonForce? TSA?”
”No, I'm not gonna quit Demon Heart actually.”
Allan stayed silent for a moment before chucking, ”Is this some kind of joke? Why would you do that? You're eighteen, you still have like ten years before retirement. You still haven't even gotten your first million-dollar cheque yet!”
”Oh, believe me, I'll get that and more. It's just that if I stay under anyone, it's my sanity that I'm gonna lose.” Shesmu then stayed silent for a few seconds before continuing. ”You… you too should get out of Dawn. They are just bad news overall.”
”... I'm guessing this whole talk is because of something that happened in the future. They pulled out some weird crap on us, didn't they?”
Shesmu nodded with his head in response.
”The bastards,” Allan seethed. ”So, what's the plan? What do we do after we get out of Dawn.”
”There is this new game that I want you to play. Ashes of Gods.”
”Oh, it's an O9 game, right? But what about it? I looked at it, it has nice concepts. But that's what O9 always was: Nice concepts, trash execution.”
”This one is different,” Shesmu replied. ”Dude, I come from the future, this game is gonna be the bomb. By year two, it was the most popular game on the planet. The government itself got involved with it. They started making government-sponsored jobs inside the game, dude! Has that happened in any game before?”
”Okay, okay, you got me interested in that. When is it coming out?”
”The beta is in four days,” Shesmu responded. However, before he could continue a cold gust of wind made him shiver with his whole body. ”Dude, it's getting cold. Let's go back to the car and then we continue talking.”
Allan was hesitant a bit, ”Yeah, but what about the microphone recorders and stuff. You don't want people to know that you're coming from the future, now do you?”
”Yeah, I'm not stupid enough to talk about it in there, we're just gonna talk about the game and that's it. It's not gonna raise any flags.”
Allan gave Shesmu an unimpressed look at his response. ”Oh, really? Then what about before in the park?”
Shesmu got embarrassed at the mention of the earlier incident. ”That's something else.”
Allan rolled his eyes. ”If you say so.”
The two then made their way to the car and then into the city. They talked all the way about Ashes of Gods and what prospects it showed. However, Allan had to, unfortunately, miss the open beta as his contract with Dawn wouldn't be over by then. He did promise Shesmu to join him once the live servers come out though.
After being dropped off by Allan at his own house, Shesmu went to his bedroom and ordered a Dreamscape Capsule from the Omega9 website. The shipment would take six hours.
The next few days went by without much to talk about. He would meet Allan every day at seven, go to the forest outside the city, and tell stories about what happened in the future. The adventures they embarked on, the treasures they found, the bosses they fought. They would keep talking until Allan would have to go to his usual training sessions with Dawn's Resonance.
In the meantime, Shesmu would research every corner of the internet. Even if the hope was miniscule, he needed to check if the unknown sender would leave a hint to his identity somewhere. Unfortunately, Shesmu's efforts were all in vain.
The day came, July 1st, 2041. Shesmu calibrated his body to the capsule before turning it on. He then entered the capsule and closed the lid. The light dimmed and he could barely see the honey-colored hue of the glass lid.
Begin
Finishing his mental command, the darkness surrounding slowly started shifting into a blinding light. At the same time, a female robotic voice sounded in his head.
Boot… System Ω9 3.2 Active – Ashes of God