Marcus Storm had always believed that rock bottom had a basement, until he found himself unemployed, heartbroken, and standing in a line that stretched around three city blocks at nine in the morning.
The irony wasn't lost on him. Six months ago, he'd been the rising star at Mellory Financial, the guy everyone said would make partner before thirty. He'd had Snow, the kind of woman who made other men forget their own names when she walked into a room. He'd had a future that gleamed like polished chrome.
Now he had a bank account that was hemorrhaging money, an apartment that smelled perpetually of burnt coffee, and a sister who called him almost every minute to make sure he hadn't done anything "dramatically stupid." Amber always did have a flair for understatement.
The worst part, he'd brought it all on himself.
Not the firing; that was pure spite from his bloated toad of a boss, whose wife had run off with a yoga instructor and somehow made it Marcus's fault. But Snow… that breakup was on him. When you're twenty-four and convinced you're destined for greatness, you make choices that seem logical at the time. Like choosing career advancement over the woman you love. Like believing there would always be time to fix things later.
Later had a funny way of never arriving.
Marcus shifted his weight, the concrete was already radiating heat even though the sun had barely crested the downtown skyline. The line hadn't moved in twenty damn minutes, but nobody was complaining. They were all here for the same reason: Dominion, the virtual reality game that promised to change everything. The game where you could actually make real money, where digital gold translated to actual dollars in your bank account.
It sounded too good to be true, which meant it probably was. But when you're down on finances and the job market treats your resume like radioactive waste, you start believing in long shots.
The woman right in front of him had been checking her phone obsessively, muttering about server capacity and beta access. Behind him, two college kids debated character builds with the intensity of military strategists. Everyone had a plan. Everyone knew exactly how they were going to conquer this new world.
Marcus didn't have a plan. He had desperation, which was either the worst possible motivation or the best one, depending on how you looked at it.
His phone buzzed. A text from Amber: "Please tell me you're not doing anything stupid."
He almost laughed. If standing in line for a video game headset at dawn counted as stupid, then he was about to graduate summa cum laude from the University of Bad Decisions. But what was the alternative? Another soul-crushing job interview where they'd ask him to explain the gap in his employment? Another night staring at the ceiling, wondering where everything had gone wrong?
At least in a virtual world, you could start over. At least there, your past didn't follow you around like a hungry ghost.
The line lurched forward suddenly, and Marcus felt his pulse quicken. Maybe it was the caffeine from the gas station coffee he'd grabbed on the way over. Maybe it was the first stirring of something that might have been hope.
Or maybe it was just the summer heat, already making everyone irritable and restless.
His eyes snagged on the woman about twenty feet ahead of him.
'What a knockout figure!'
She was wearing a simple tank dress that revealed creamy shoulders, and a mini-skirt that barely contained what it was supposed to. Her hips swayed with a calculated rhythm that made the pack of wolves behind her forget the heat. Even from his spot way back in line, Marcus could practically smell her expensive perfume.
'Oh, Lisa! What are you doing here? Oh sorry, wrong person. But you look just like my ex.'
'Miss, did you drop this?'
'Excuse me, I really admire your beauty. Could we get acquainted?'
Watching this provocatively dressed girl, Marcus calculated his own approach strategy.
This chick was definitely putting it all out there, but he liked that, at least it made things easier. His mind wandered to less wholesome thoughts. Waiting was such a drag. If he didn't find something to occupy himself, he'd die of boredom before reaching the front of this endless line.
A week from now, Dragonfly Corp would launch the public beta of their virtual reality game Dominion. Everyone was here buying VR headsets. Even though the city's headset stores had been selling for three days straight, the demand was still insane. Marcus counted at least a hundred people ahead of him, with an equally long line behind, and this was just one of thirty-plus stores in the city, all equally packed.
If he wasn't stuck in this line, he'd definitely go chat up that lady at the front! He was already fantasizing about their flirtatious conversation.
"Hey, no cutting! Get to the back of the line!" Some redhead punk tried to cut in front of him, blocking his view of the hottie. Of course Marcus had to speak up.
The redhead kid turned around ready to start something, but when he saw the serious glare Marcus gave him, plus the whole line backing him up, he lost his nerve and slunk away.
He looked like the kind of guy who sized people up in a heartbeat, figuring out who was easy to mess with and who wasn't worth the trouble. Marcus could tell he'd been pegged as the quiet, harmless type. The redhead couldn't have been more wrong. If the guy hadn't backed off, Marcus was pretty sure the next stop on his day's itinerary would've been the hospital.
"Ah, um…" Turns out Marcus wasn't always right either.
The tank-dress girl who'd caught his attention turned around when she heard the commotion behind her, and just seeing her face almost made him jump out of his skin.
She was stunning, just as he'd imagined. But when her eyes met his, a wave of cold shock hit him. Her face was… wrong. Not ugly, but jarringly mismatched to the confident, seductive body. It was a face that looked perpetually tired, with eyes that were too close together and a jawline that seemed to belong to a different person entirely.
He actually owed that redhead punk a favor; he'd saved him from walking into a trap.
He shook his head, a wry smirk twisting his lips. Never judge a book by its cover. Or a woman by her hips.
"What? You don't know Dragonfly Corp? You've never heard of Dominion? My God, were you struck by lightning and transported here from medieval times? Or are you one of those bookworms who study all day and ignore the outside world?"
Voices chattered all around him. News about Dragonfly Corp and Dominion was everywhere, generating enough buzz to overshadow even this brutal summer heat.
Dominion was Dragonfly Corp's virtual reality MMORPG, developed over two decades in partnership with national research institutions. The technology was exclusively theirs, with these exciting aspects:
Dominion was a virtual reality world with almost 90% realism simulation, using advanced DNA-based identity control, one person, one account.
Dominion launched with full government backing and support.
Dominion partnered with the Big Five banks to enable real money-to-game currency exchange (delayed one month after launch for game balance).
Dominion broke traditional gaming models, controlled entirely by the supercomputer "Skynet." Game development and management were handled by Skynet alone, no human administrators or GMs, eliminating human interference and making cheating impossible.
In short, Dominion would become humanity's second world. In the game, anything was possible. With skill, effort, and a little luck, a player could rise to greatness, become a hero, become a king. No wonder Dominion had created such a frenzy.
Marcus had graduated college a year ago and landed a decent job. He'd been full of hope and dreams for the future, but that was when he had to break up with his beloved Snow, the love of his life. Since then, work was all he had. Maybe throwing himself into his career would help him forget the pain and endless longing.
After six months on the job, he'd started building some success. The new environment, new connections, and new friends gradually restored his optimistic personality and gave him fresh motivation.
But three months ago, after his fat, disgusting boss's wife ran off with another man, taking their money. The bitter old man somehow blamed Marcus, as if he'd seduced the woman.
Yes, he had the looks and all, but what had he got to do with that bastard's wife? He treated Marcus like a thorn in his side and fired him on some trumped-up excuse, leaving him unemployed.
But this setback didn't depress him at all, didn't even annoy him. Instead, it brought back his old personality.
He remembered his last day at the company, publicly roasting that pathetic old man in front of everyone. Every insult hit his flaws and weaknesses perfectly, leaving him speechless, just stammering until it looked like he was close to having a stroke.
Man that was absolutely satisfying.
So when Marcus heard about Dominion's beta test, he decided to jump in. The real money exchange feature really caught his attention, and he was sick of working for other people and dealing with their attitudes.
Life should be about happiness and enjoyment, not exhausting yourself or constraining your freedom.
"I'd like one Pro VR headset, please." Finally his turn. Marcus smiled at the beaut
iful saleswoman, though his eyes couldn't help but focus on her impressive chest.
'She's adorable'