It occurred on that night time in the midst of August. My dad and mom got here by as common to kiss me good night time and picked my brother as much as go residence. My mom stroked my hair and wished me candy goals. My father purchased me some gaming magazines to have a look at. I thanked them each with a smile. After they left I closed my eyes to sleep, by no means to get up once more.

Correction.

I did get up, however after I opened my eyes I used to be in a very totally different world. To be precise, I used to be inside a farmhouse. How did I do know? Nicely, there have been so many farming instruments neatly hanging from the hooks on the wall, duh. There was just one merchandise that was not typical of a farmhouse. There was a large standing mirror in entrance of me.

Vibrant morning solar rays shone by the window and bathed the entire room in a golden mild. Weirdly, the room together with the out-of-place mirror appeared awfully acquainted to me. I simply couldn’t put a finger on it. When had I ever visited a farmhouse?

I used to be standing on their own within the large room. What was this place? I used to be simply excited about going exterior to search out out extra about this unknown place when out of the blue an oblong display screen appeared in entrance of me.

I child you not.

There was a hovering consumer interface display screen that was tilted at a snug distance and angle from my face. There have been no strings connected to it. I checked. As if that was not shocking sufficient, I really knew what the display screen was displaying me. I had solely seen it a thousand occasions within the final six months. After all I knew what it was. It was the login web page of Afterlife Dream!

The blinking cursor on the username field appeared to prod me to enter my account data. My fingers itched.

I stood there and crossed my arms obstinately. So if I didn’t need to transfer, what may anybody do to me? I used to be already useless anyway. Nothing else may harm me. After some time, a mechanical voice sounded in my ears and caught me off-guard.

“Daniel Weston, welcome to Afterlife Dream. Please enter your full title with an underscore for username and your delivery date for password.”

On the finish of the instruction, the acquainted BGM of Afterlife Dream began taking part in.

“…”

There was no such account.

Why would I exploit my actual title and delivery date as username and password? This scammer was too silly. I moved my finger in hesitation and began to kind within the data that the mechanical voice advised me to enter within the clean bins.

Enter.

The display screen switched to the subsequent web page. The character web page. It was empty.

“Please create your avatar.”

My avatar. Heh. What higher solution to protect myself than making an avatar that appeared precisely like me? My fingers deftly moved on the display screen and picked a male avatar with brown hair and brown eyes. I custom-made it to look as near my actual self as potential.

I giggled after I picked the newbie garments. God, this was so humorous. And infuriating. I didn’t need to begin a brand new account.

After I used to be completed customizing my avatar, I by accident threw a look on the large mirror. What I noticed virtually made my coronary heart soar. My hospital pajamas have been gone! They have been changed by the very garments that I picked for my avatar. My finger trembled as I picked one other set of garments.

Wonderful. My garments switched into new ones similar to that. With one click on. Waow. I squinted into the character creation display screen. Waaaaiitt a minute. My avatar contained in the display screen was standing inside a farmhouse. And there’s a large mirror in entrance of him.

“…”

Okay?

I clicked “Settle for” to finalize my seems. The mechanical voice didn’t take lengthy to proceed with the subsequent step.

“Please enter the ID that you simply want to use whereas staying inside the realm of Afterlife Dream.”

ID? Hm.

PneumoniaWarrior. Hahahah. Okay, no. Ewww. Why pneumonia?

I didn’t know why, however I out of the blue considered my adoptive father once more after I stared at my newly made avatar. My adoptive father was an enormous fan of astronomy. Earlier than he bought married, he usually went on solo climbing journeys to look at the celebs on high of mountains and hills. After he bought married and settled into the mundane lifetime of a working salaryman, he may not take these journeys. As an alternative, he contented himself with telling his sons bedtime tales about stars that he used to have a look at by the telescope lenses. The tales labored magic for Jaden. They have been so boring that he fell asleep inside minutes. It didn’t work as properly for me, particularly after I had a coughing match so dangerous that my eyes grew to become watery from the sheer power. In that approach, I listened to his astronomy lecture far more than Jaden did.

My adoptive father usually fawned concerning the largest star identified to males in his era which he known as the famous person of the universe. The title of the star was Antares 233. “Huge stars don’t reside lengthy, however once they die, they die with a bang.”

His adoptive father mentioned that sentence just some days in the past with glassy eyes. I used to be not silly. I knew what he needed to say. He needed to say that I used to be like that large star. I didn’t get to reside lengthy as a result of I used to be too large for the earth. After I died, I’d die with a bang. Solely that I did not.

My finger moved unconsciously on the display screen and entered the title, Antares. I didn’t need to kind within the 233.

“Please select the job that you simply like.”

Warrior, archer, mage, murderer. I had all the time been a mage. Click on. Mage.

“Please roll the cube to find out your primary attributes.”

STR, DEX, INT, LUK.

Magicians will need to have excessive INT. Hah. Nothing beat begin. I rolled the cube many occasions till I rolled the very best preliminary worth for a magician. 4,4,12,4. I felt like a genius. A shameless grin unfold over my face. This sport could be a cake. Convey it on, Afterlife Dream!

“Good to fulfill you, Magician Antares. Have a pleasant Afterlife Dream!”

The display screen lit up and turned to white. The entire room was bathed in a mysterious white mild. I appeared down at myself.

“What the…”

The blinding mild fell on my physique. I noticed my toes disappearing. Then my arms. Then my torso. Then my…

I disappeared utterly along with the room, swallowed mercilessly by the oppressive, blinding mild.