THE MOMENT
[System Message: Thank you for being with us all these years! Dragon Fantasy World Adventure server will shut down for the final time in one hour. Please enjoy your final moments.]
Ruben sighed at the text on his screen. In the real world, he was alone in his apartment huddled in his computer chair. He had a mixed mess of clothes on the bed and on the floor with no division between used and fresh. Dirty dishes were piled up on the edge of his desk. He planned to clean up after the game shut down; he wouldn't have anything else to do. But, in the meanwhile, he did not want to miss a single moment. In the game, his knight character was walking around the starter city one last time.
Despite the 60 minute deadline, Ruben held a faint hope that it wasn't the last time. Dragon Fantasy World Adventure almost shut down over a year ago due to a low player count. But, at the last moment, the studio announced they were bought out. They promised to keep the servers up indefinitely regardless of low numbers. For a year, they kept that promise. Ruben was the only one that actively played. Unfortunately, like all greedy corporations, Sharp Development chose to break its promise in the name of money. A week ago they announced the last server was going to be taken offline.
Ruben sent an angry, passionate email to the president of the company, Mrs. Melody Sharp, to explain how much the game meant to him. It was his one, affordable escape from his miserably plain life. He never received a reply. He stared at the city's plaza on screen as he remembered all the good times he'd had. But, suddenly, a new player spawned.
She had short rainbow hair and an icon over her name that indicated it was the first time she logged in. Her name was Monday and Ruben did not waste any time striking up a conversation. He moved his character closer and /waved.
"HI! You picked a really bad time to start playing, LOL," he said into the chatbox.
"Hi, Ruben. I'm not actually playing," she replied. Ruben was surprised she knew his real name; his character was named Rion. "I'm here to talk to you."
"Why? Who are you?" Ruben typed. Monday shook her head.
"Can I come over instead?" she asked. "Using a keyboard is annoying."
"Sure," Ruben typed out the response without actually giving the question any thought. She was a total stranger that had no idea where he lived. Then, she disappeared. The local chat said she logged out.
"Oh, it's kinda...," a girl's voice made Ruben jump in his seat.
"WHAT THE!" He whirled around to see the same rainbow-haired girl. She looked like a young teenager and her complexion was paler in person than on the screen. But, the swift action caused him to shove the dishes off his desk and into a pile of shards on the floor.
"... disorganized...," Monday said. "Can we go somewhere else instead?" She threw a black card at the only clean spot on the floor and it opened a large black hole.
"C'mon, I'll explain everything there," she said. Then, she jumped into the hole. Ruben died a little bit when a roach scurried out from beneath the broken glass. At that moment he decided somewhere else was better and followed Monday into the hole. It was nighttime in his room, but this new place was bright as day. He heard running water as his eyes adjusted to the brightness and looked toward the source. It was a fountain exactly like the one in Dragon Fantasy World Adventure. He glanced around in surprise and realized he was in the starter city. He recognized all the NPC guards and vendors.
"Am..I dead...?" He asked. It was the only explanation he could come up with. He had to be in Heaven. Monday shook her head.
"I'll give you the short version. Then if you have questions, I'll take you to someone that can answer them," she said. Ruben nodded and she continued.
"Mrs. Sharp was moved by your email so much that all this...," Monday gestured at the plaza around them. "...is for you, if you want it."
"What?" Ruben asked. "What do you mean?" There weren't a lot of ways to interpret her words. However, Ruben was on the verge of having all his dreams come true. He did not want to get his hopes up or make a fool of himself by assuming the wrong thing.
"Alternate universes are real," Monday said. "This is an alternate Earth that has been modeled after Dragon Fantasy World Adventure. And, I'm offering it all, the entire Earth, to you. Mrs. Sharp is impressed by your devotion to the game."
"...what am I going to do with an entire Earth?" Ruben asked. His mind decided he was either dreaming, dead, or this was actually happening. In all cases, he wanted to play it out to see what happened. Monday shrugged at his question.
"You've been alone in the game for almost a year now; just do more of that. But, you'll also be able to open your server up to other players."
"What other players?" Ruben asked. It was an odd suggestion considering she just confirmed he was the only player.
"There are thousands of parallel Earths connected in a network called, 'The AlterNet'," Monday said. "This AlterNet server was modeled after Dragon Fantasy World Adventure for you; but, you can make any changes you want. If you connect it to the AlterNet, you'll get players from other universes."
"I'll take it!" Ruben did not waste any time on disbelief. His dream was coming true before his eyes. He would have given anything to live in his favorite game, and it seemed a god of some sort finally smiled on him.
"Wonderful," Monday said. "Let's talk about payment," she pulled a red clipboard from out of nowhere.
"...payment??" Ruben asked. "You said this was all for me! I impressed Mrs. Sharp!" Monday nodded.
"You impressed Mrs. Sharp enough for me to offer this server to you. But.. it's an entire Earth. Did you really think you were getting it for free?" Monday's voice had a light tone; she was almost mocking him.
"I don't even have enough money to move to a larger apartment; how am I going to afford an Earth??" But, Monday shook her head.
"Oh, don't worry about that. She's not asking for money," she said. "But, I believe your email used the phrase, 'I'd trade my soul to keep Dragon Fantasy World Adventure going.'"
Monday pushed the clipboard at Ruben with a matching red pen. "Sign here please."