Genesis Sync

Atlantia Year 112 AG (After Genesis)

Seventy percent of Atlantia’s surface is covered by ocean; the majority of the remaining thirty percent is five giant landmasses, the biggest of which is the continent of Essnoris.

It was early morning on the continent of Eloa, and the rising sun was just starting to illuminate the grand skyscrapers of the human city, Dawnscape.

Within a tower block in the poorer part of the city, we find a small single-roomed apartment filled with old, moth-eaten furniture, walls desperately in need of a new coat of paint and old, well-used-looking schoolbooks.

Leftover cartons of the type of meals you heat with hot water littered the floor around the kitchen area, while a small pile of clothes congregated in one corner of the apartment looked dirty and in need of cleaning. Hanging from the ceiling on a few coat hangers was a simple, battered t-shirt, a pair of jeans with multiple holes in them and a very old, well-used school uniform.

In the old bed covered in thin sheets, a young man slept until the sound of an old alarm clock pierced the silent room

"Ugh," the young man groaned as he rolled over and turned off the alarm clock before trying to hide from the glare of the sun that peeked in through curtains too thin to stop it.

After a few moments, he found the willpower to climb off his old bed, which creaked and groaned in protest as he moved.

The young man was approximately 6 feet tall and had shaggy brown hair that appeared to be in desperate need of a cut. Behind his long bangs, you could just make out two piercing blue eyes, though right now they were still half closed from sleep.

His one admiring feature would be his muscled body, which he got from all the manual labour and menial jobs he took to earn enough money to pay rent.

This young man's name was John Michaels, and he turned eighteen today.

Today would mark the day his school year had their initiation for the virtual mirror world, Genesis. As the youngest in his year, John, who was already looked down upon by almost everyone in his year for being a poor orphan, now had their dislike for him magnified because they had to wait for him to turn eighteen.

Unfortunately, the rules stipulated that you could not join Genesis until you were eighteen, and because schools and the government did not want to fork out for the initiation every time a student turned eighteen, it was decided that the entire year would go through initiation together.

Everyone looked forward to being able to finally enter Genesis because they all believed they would be the next Silver Serpent or Blue Ice Queen, two of the most famous humans in Genesis from their generation.

Young adults entering Genesis dreamed of being war heroes, powerful guild leaders, famous explorers or rich merchants who brought fame and glory to their race.

Since its creation one hundred and twelve years ago, Genesis had evolved in a way no one expected, not even its original creators, the five races, had anticipated that it would influence the real world so much.

Its original intention was just a place for wars and conflicts to be held instead of on Atlantia; however, after it came online and many of the more peaceful races saw its potential, they asked the artificial intelligence that ran Genesis, Tia, to expand it in a way to give them somewhere they could relax.

Tia had done far more than they asked; what she did was basically make an entire second world, from plants to animals; she had duplicated the world of Atlantis, only changing the location of towns and cities from what the races had in Atlantia, along with reducing the technological level back to a stage where firearms had only recently appeared.

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) were introduced into the world to add more interaction; she created a quest system based on computer games with a levelling system to allow the players to grow stronger and feel more powerful in the game.

Tia made the world so realistic and successful that when people of each race did not have urgent requirements in the real world, they spent their free time in Genesis.

It officially became the second world of Atlantia, so much so that gaining power and wealth in Genesis meant you gained power and wealth in the real world, with bank accounts being linked so they could move money back and forth as they wished.

Alliances formed in Genesis more often than not carried over to the real world.

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While those who found love there also found it in the real world.

John, however, was one of the few who was not particularly bothered about joining Genesis; it's not that John did not want to play and enjoy Genesis, it was the opposite, he wanted to escape the shitty reality life had dealt him. The problem was that if he did not work his after-school job, he would not be able to pay rent or even eat.

{At least if that happened, I’ll never have to complain about how shit reality is ever again.} John groaned as he rolled out of bed and made his way towards his small bathroom.

As he entered the small bathroom, which consisted of a toilet, shower and leaky sink, he pulled off his boxers before taking a quick shower, after which he went to make himself a quick breakfast, which consisted of an instant noodle pot he poured boiling water into.

After finishing his meal, he quickly got dressed in his well-used school clothes before leaving the small apartment.

“Morning, John,” An elderly voice called as soon as he closed the door behind him.

“Morning, Mrs Thompson,” John replied after turning to see his elderly neighbour and greeting her before he headed for the apartment's staircase.

He could have taken the elevator, but John had long since got accustomed to walking almost anywhere he went. This included going to school, since he couldn’t be bothered with the bullying so early in the morning, as well as not being able to afford to pay the bus fare.

Fifteen minutes later, he had left the residential district where he lived and arrived at a huge intersection where two different dual carriageways met, and was full of modern electric vehicles passing by.

As he was waiting with the crowd to cross at the intersection, John looked up at a huge skyscraper with a holographic screen on the side that showed the latest news, weather updates and commercials. However, he quickly looked away when he saw that it was advertising the latest album of a world-famous human diva.

John had no interest in celebrities since following them would not help him eat or pay rent.

As the diva's advert came to an end, a song that everyone on the planet knew suddenly came from the television and attracted the attention of not just John but everyone waiting to cross the intersection.

It was the intro music for Genesis News; the main information source for anything official that happened in Genesis. It was even said that Tia herself verified any information before it was released to the public.

Genesis News had two separate channels on each continent, one that was exclusive to that specific continent as it covered news pertaining to its races, and the second was a world channel that every continent could watch.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to Genesis News. We have just received a breaking news report regarding Silver Serpent and Blue Ice Queen, who I am sure everyone knows are the two most famous humans of the new generation in Genesis as well as humanity's most talked-about couple.

We have just received news that Blue Ice Queen recently discovered Silver Serpent had been cheating on her with Golden Phoenix. Reports say that Blue Ice Queen walked into their bedroom at The Silver Guild’s headquarters just as Silver Serpent and Golden Phoenix were naked on the bed together.

After finding the two of them together, Blue Ice Queen apparently flew into a rage, killing both Silver Serpent and Golden Phoenix as they lay there naked in each other's arms before she went on to the treasury of The Silver Guild. After using her vice guild master position to gain entry to the treasury, she ransacked half of everything that was within it before teleporting away and quitting The Silver Guild.

According to reports of our sources inside The Silver Guild, Blue Ice Queen left Silver Serpent a message in the guild chat just before quitting. At this point, we would advise parents to cover the ears of young children in the vicinity, and we will give you a moment to do so.”

The presenter waited a few seconds before saying, “Blue Ice Queen’s message reads: Fuck that bitch's pussy while you can, Daniel, because in the future I will be back for revenge and destroy everything you hold dear. As I’m sure many of you know, Silver Serpent's real-life name is Daniel Sanders, and he is the son of Clifford Sanders, the mayor of Silver City.

We will bring you more information as it becomes available."

While the other people waiting at the intersection broke out in excited discussion, John merely looked away and waited until the intersection's crossing signal turned green before he proceeded to school.