Character

At first, John's life isn't much to write home about. He is the youngest of two siblings growing up in South Side Chicago, his father served in the United States Army, and his mother was a doctor at the local hospital trying to make ends meet. A typical family in the States. Things changed for the worst when John was 10 years old. His father was off-duty for a four-day vacation, and so was his mother after she cashed in some of her vacation days. He and his elder sister would have fun with their parents by going out to eat, going to the theater to watch an action movie, and going to the store to pick up ingredients for a cake as it happened to be John's birthday that day. While things were going well so far, that would soon change when the doorbell rang. Nobody expected visitors at all, so John's father went to check on things. That's when the door was kicked down and three armed robbers barged in. The invaders struck John's father and knocked him to the floor, grabbed John's mother and his sister, and took him as well. His father was unconscious, and his mother was forced to empty the safe of the family's valuables at gunpoint. Things only escalated from there.

Another robber attempted to get too close to John's sister for their liking and both objected to it right off the bat. His father woke up and shoved the robber to the ground. They fought for the gun, but the robber won and shot the man to death. This got the attention of the other robbers who chose to take the nuclear option and shoot everyone. His mom and sister were killed immediately, and while John was shot, he managed to survive long enough for the police and paramedics to arrive. He woke up in the hospital a week later, given time to emotionally recover and was forced to deal with his new reality. The police didn’t have anything on the robbers either and refused to continue the case. He was then picked up by his aunt, uncle and cousin on his mother’s side who volunteered to take him in and raise him. This was followed up by a relocation to Houston, Texas which was his mom’s former home. Things were tense for the next few months. John blamed himself for his inability to protect his family, and he was still in mourning. He attended the funeral and was rather distant afterwards. Eventually, John declared that he would no longer be helpless and dead-weight.

John devoted his childhood to study of the mind and body as a result. He spent days getting his hands on everything he could to learn and would perform well in school because of it. The teen’s favorite subject was computer science and everything related to computers. When John wasn’t shoving his nose into the books, he was training his body. Martial arts training was a must, and he even asked his aunt and uncle if he could learn how to shoot guns. His new guardians owned firearms and were active in tournaments. He spent 6 years constantly doing this. Eventually, his cousin had enough. She wanted him to take a break and actually do something fun for once. She then dragged him into her room where she would force him to try the extensive video game collection she hoarded and even tried to get him into virtual reality which was the newest fad these days. His cousin’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed and his guardians supported it. John relented and quickly fell into the rabbit hole that was gaming and the internet, although he refused to neglect his training. Years later, John would begin working with part-time jobs so he could get a VR system of his own.

Over the years, John became excellent with computers. He fancies himself a hacker, and he visits the dark web whenever he got a chance to after taking many precautions. The teenager started to hear about this mysterious new game called Terrasphere. An illegal, black market VRMMO that nobody knows really knows about. There’s nothing about its developers or their motives. People have claimed to play it before it the US Virtual Regulation and Safety Agency got their grubby hands on it and shut it down for a few years. There were claims that people died while playing the game, although he didn’t put much stock into it. When John was browsing a dark web forum discussing Terrasphere using code words, he got a DM from an anonymous user. John’s curiosity got the better of him, and he clicked. It contained a message saying:

“It’s exciting to see more prospective players interested in this game. Do you want to become one?”

Underneath the message was a QR code for the game. John was hesitant at first, but he made his decision and chose to scan it with his VR adaptor. Once the client was downloaded, the message disappeared like it was never there. Now, it's time to begin the game. ​