Cole sat at the lounge area of Sierra Corp lost so deeply in his thoughts he had not heard the receptionist call for him. It was hard to after all, the conversation he had earlier with his fiancée just kept replaying itself in his head over and over again. In retrospect it would have gone a lot better, but the engagement ring burning a hole in his breast pocket was proof that it didn’t just not go well, it went just as well as a complete disaster would.

He responded to the calls soon enough, moving through the crowd of people who were here and in line for the same thing as he was. He demurely made his way to the counter, with an exhausted and tired look on his face.

“Mr. Cole… Night?”

Cole gave a stiff nod in return, the obvious look of dejection on his face not even hidden away. The receptionist took pause for a while, not exactly sure what to do with the young man who had the look of a lost puppy in front of her. But she was anything if not professional, and there were hundreds if not thousands more of people waiting in line after him for their registration. She had to be quick about it.

“Mr. Night you passed the initial screening test, being one amongst the 5 million people who have been lucky enough to participate in Titan Rising’s last and final event before the servers for the game is shut down once and for all. By this point you should already know what it entails, and have signed the waiver and customer agreement that was sent to you, along with the contracts for streaming rights and services and expressed your willingness to meet with, should you be lucky enough, sponsors for different brands while you participate in the event. Are you ready to receive your new Neural Dome?”

That confused Cole a bit, he didn’t remember anything about a Neural Dome, or perhaps he did. His eyes widened as he remembered one of the selling points of the commercial that had sent him down this path. There would be a software upgrade, the neural dome in his skull would be replaced with a new version, something that was way ahead of its time. It was a generation 7 Neural Dome; that gave faster processing speed and power and even went as far to be connected to all biological functions in the body, enabling you to monitor most if not everything that could possibly be wrong with you, and gave you immunity to probably 99.99% of all of the most dangerous diseases. But above all, introduced a whole new level of entertainment, especially in the circles of professional gaming.

“I… am…”

Cole could not trust himself to speak as it came out as a croak, so he nodded his head in agreement. Then he for the first time since he’s been standing here, took a proper look at the receptionist. She was young, perhaps a bit younger than his 26 years of age. She looked like she was in her teens, but considering the era of techno-cosmetics they lived in, she could just as well be 87 years old. She had wavy red hair and a smattering of freckles over her nose, her lips had a deep shade of red lipstick with an orange and blue gradient eye shadow that carried the colors of the Sierra Corporation. She was cute, but cute was not his type, and perhaps that was why he had an engagement ring hanging heavy close to his chest.

“The capsule for the Neural Dome is in this case, please ensure you are well at home and lying down on a flat surface when you inject it. Common side effects include dizziness, weakness of limbs, stooling of blood and blackish substances, uncontrolled arousal, headaches, running nose, muscle spasms, epileptic shocks, temporary paralysis and stroke. There are more but all are within controlled parameters of the neural dome and should it get too intense medical personnel would be dispatched to your home immediately. It is advised you abstain from food and drink for the next 48 hours, and make sure after the time is up you eat well and exercise your body for the launch in 3 days. Your biometric and neural chart information has been registered and an account for Titan Rising’s final event has been prepared for you. I wish you good luck, next!”

She did not even ask if he had any more questions, which was the exact opposite of what she has been doing with every other person. But he didn’t care, it was time to go back home. And as he walked out into the streets, monotonously hailing a taxi that would take him home to his dingy one bedroom apartment his conversation from earlier in the day caught up to him. .𝒄𝒐𝒎

[Why do you always have to play games? There’s a hundred other things out there that you can do, lucrative jobs that a guy with your skills can take and get paid well for, why are you so adamant about this! It’s childish!]

[Sarah this is it! I know for the past three years things haven’t been going as fine since we left college, but perhaps this is the big break I’ve been waiting for. I was even lucky enough to be amongst the 5 million that were chosen for the final event of Titan Rising. Even you are a fan of the game, and sure it’s coming to an end, but it’s doing so with a bang, with whatever I earn and the popularity I am sure to accrue from it, my professional gaming career would be launched and we would never have to want for anything again. We can have the wedding we always dreamed of my love.]

[Really! What makes this different from the 20 other times you told me about your big breaks! Just face facts Cole! You’re not good at this, with all of your talent games are not for you. Perhaps when you play it for the entertainment, but professionally you just can’t compare to everyone else who has made a living from it, they’re made of different stuff than you, a level of grit that a rich fourth generation like you could never be able to reach or achieve without your family’s help.]

[They can’t help Sara! I’ve told you this a hundred times! They don’t think you’re good enough for me. And the only way I can get to be with you is if I bend however they want me too, and that’s not what I want for myself, I want to live my life without regrets and be happy, to be with you.]

[But I’m not happy Cole! We’re dirt poor and I’m barely making enough to even pay the rent for this crappy apartment, much less your fucking expenditure when it comes to your battles passes and premium passes or whatever the fuck they call it in whatever new game is your next big thing! I’m done! I can’t live like this, I can’t be happy with you, that’s why I’ve been having abortions! I can’t do it!]

[W-what? What do you mean abortions? As in more than one? H-how? ]

[… Yes! I can’t have a baby with you Cole! I know how much you’ve wanted one, but I can’t. You will never be able to take care of our child, and even worse is to give our child the birthright it rightly deserves. You’re nothing now, and my child can’t be nothing, I’d rather it never even sees the light of day.]

[How could you! Isn’t that something you’re supposed to discuss with me! And you did this fucking thing more than once! Sara! How could you fucking do this?]

[Don’t yell at me Cole! Don’t you fucking yell at me! You know what! I can’t deal with this right now, or ever for that matter, we’re fucking done! Here! Get married to your fucking selfishness and self-righteous ego! The world doesn’t work the way you imagine it to. The only thing that matters, even in those bloody games of yours is power! And money is power! And you have neither of those things! So go die in a ditch somewhere! ]

At some point it was really not about the fact that she left him anymore, it was just weird and crazy that the one thing he had been looking forward to the most was denied him. And honestly speaking if the final event for Titan Rising had not been announced, then perhaps he would have just chosen to end it all. But Cole was never one to run away from his problems, not unless they involved his family and his now ex-fiancée. These were the people he could never really bring himself to face, so he just ran away or apologized.

The journey home was monotonous, the Taxi driver had tried to make small talk during the drive, but it really wasn’t something Cole was in the mood for, and eventually he just gave up seeing as no matter what he did, he just couldn’t get through to the young man. Getting home was still just as awful, the elevator was out of service again, so he had to take the stairs up to the sixteenth floor, then circle the building a bit to get block B and his apartment no 44.

There wasn’t much to be done, and even if there was, Cole was not in the proper headspace to do anything other than lay down on the floor and cry for a few minutes. Then he washed his face and injected the nanites that would construct the neural dome and recycle and repurpose the previous one in his head and discard what was no longer needed. The dizziness didn’t take long to come after, and with it an extreme wave of exhaustion. Cole fell into a dreamless sleep, and so doing gave himself a well-deserved rest; after all for what was to come, he would need all of his strength.