Afterlife Dream

I did not have to worry about waking up late to our morning rendezvous, because HellWitch was better than any alarm clock.

The incessant dinging sound that came from my user interface screen woke me at five o'clock in the morning to my greatest dismay.

"Wake up! Antares, wake up!"

"Wake up!"

"Wake up!!!"

"For heaven's sake, stop spamming!" I wrote into the message box quickly before more "Wake up"s were sent into the box.

"Good, get ready. We are on our way to your house."

Wha...?

I glared at the clock on my nightstand.

"It is all your fault," I resentfully poked at the innocent clock.

After that, I quickly ran to the bathroom. Trying my best to be as stealthy as possible, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and looked for new clothes to wear.

Mom already laid out my first-day clothes and put them at the end of my bed as usual. This morning I was going to leave home to run away to Gathersby. Feeling like a little rebel, I rummaged into my closet and picked out a black jacket, black pants, and a black-and-white striped T-shirt.

After I changed into them, I nodded at my reflection in approval.

Something's missing, I thought.

I pulled out a black cap and put it on.

Better.

I stuffed whatever I thought I would need into my school backpack and off I went.

HellWitch and Lazarus arrived not five minutes after I sneaked out of the front door. The cab pulled up in front of my house and I climbed in hastily.

"You guys ordered a cab???" I asked in bewilderment.

"Of course. Do you think we will walk to the train station? It is quite far, you know!"

Oh.

Well, I didn't know that.

It was good that HellWitch was used to being independent. Just as she said, we needed thirty minutes by car without traffic to reach the train station.

After buying our train tickets and hasted to the platform, we only had ten minutes before the train to Gathersby arrived.

Allen was already there. He looked as sleepy as we all were.

"Hi," he greeted us languidly and gestured toward the train that approached from a distance.

"This is the one."

"Have you checked?" HellWitch asked.
"Yup, just go aboard..."

It was my first train ride. Although I wanted to look at the passing scenery, it was still dark outside. Next to me, HellWitch and Lazarus had already fallen asleep in their seats. Allen was sprawled in his seat. If there was no seat in front of him, he would slide to the ground right away.

I yawned.

Before I fell asleep, I had the good sense of setting an alarm on my user interface screen to 8.15. The train was supposed to arrive at Gathersby at 08.25.

That was the right decision because who knew how comfortable the seats were? Or maybe it was because we were too tired.

At Gathersby station, Livina and Cecilia were already waiting for us.

They were chatting in a low voice, their facial expression serious with a certain level of gloom. As soon as they saw us, they beamed with makeshift enthusiasm.

"Heyy!!!"

HellWitch gave Cecilia a cold "Good morning" before she went right down to business. "Shall we?"

Cecilia nodded awkwardly.

"Okay, this way..."

Cecilia led us to an escalator that led to a particular Exit D.

As soon as we got out of Exit D, we came face-to-face with a bustling town.

I whistled.

Since the town of Gathersby hosted the MMORPG convention of the year, I knew that it was far from being a small, deserted one. In the morning hours, the big streets were full of cars and pedestrians who were trying to get to their workplaces. As we walked along the streets, we could see signboards with arrows pointing toward the convention venue. To further help visitors to find the location, luminescent footprints were painted on the pavements.

"It looks so much fun," Lazarus whispered.

"Totally!" ZhaoYun nodded fervently. They made a point to walk on the footprints for fun. After walking for more than fifteen minutes, we finally arrived in front of a skyscraper with a huge digital billboard on its front side. On the billboard, an advertisement about the convention was played again and again in a neverending loop.

Lazarus and ZhaoYun were beyond ecstatic.

"Oh, gosh!" I heard their cry. "It is the MMORPG Convention!"

"For real!"

By the time we arrived, a lot of people were gathered in front of the building. They were mostly adults or young adults. The entry to the building was blocked by two burly security guards who stood tall with stern faces. It was almost 9 AM so everyone was rather impatient.

"Stop pushing!"

"HEY, don't step on my toes!"

"Back off!!!"

"Please stay behind the yellow line!" a security guard yelled at the crowd.

I wanted to stand together with the crowd, but Cecilia tugged at my sleeves. "No need. I have special tickets."

Confidently, Cecilia walked toward the security guards. Once she held up her identity card and the six tickets, one of the security guards untied the rope barrier and let us in. Those who were standing in line almost broke into a riot.

"WHAT THE HELL! GUARDS, WHY ARE YOU LETTING THAT GIRL AND HER FRIENDS IN???"

"LET US IN AS WELL!"

"IT IS SO UNFAIR!!!"

I cast the protesting crowd a worried look and urged my friends to go in as fast as possible before the mass came after us and dragged us out of the building.

"No worries," Cecilia said with a smile when she saw our pale faces. "They won't be able to get in."


It was good that they could not get in, because if they saw what they were missing out, they would set the building on fire.

The MMORPG convention took place in a massive hall. Inside the hall, there were countless booths to represent various MMORPGs. Two-dimensional, three-dimensional, fantasy, historical, novel-based, movie-based, comic-based, eastern, western, earth, space, war-themed, dance-themed, you name it. Everything was there.

"Wow," Lazarus mouthed. He and ZhaoYun walked along the stands in disbelief. They were thoroughly mesmerized by what the convention had to offer.

Each stand had two or three representatives in cosplay costumes, presumably dressing up as one of the NPCs or the characters. Most of the stands were ready to receive visitors. They cutely waved at us when we passed by.

At the backside of the hall was a platform reserved for a single MMORPG, and it was none other than Afterlife Dream.

"So what do people do here, other than looking around at the booths?" I asked Cecilia.

"Those who want to work as paid gamers can approach the MMORPG booth of their choice and apply for sponsorship," Cecilia explained to us. "Otherwise the various MMORPG companies are also looking for promoters and influencers to broadcast about the MMORPGs."

"Really?" Lazarus asked, making big eyes at Cecilia.

Lazarus had always wanted to be a pro gamer.

Cecilia nodded vigorously. "Yes! This is basically the place where the dream of all gamers comes true!"

As soon as 9 AM arrived, we heard the cheerful cries of visitors coming from the hall entrance. The visitors poured into the hall like water breaking through a dam.

HellWitch looked around for a while. When she did not see the person we were there for, she turned to ask Cecilia, "So where is Devin Wentworth?"

As if to answer HellWitch's question, an Afterlife Dream representative who was dressed in a Dark Moon costume stepped forward on top of the platform and spoke into a microphone.

"To all visitors of this year's MMORPG Convention, welcome!!!!"

Everyone cheered in delight.

"To kickstart this convention, let's welcome our first speaker of the day, Mr. Devin Wentworth who invented the number one MMORPG of the year, 'Afterlife Dream'!"

Wow.

This seventeen-year-old guy invented the Afterlife Dream?

Devin Wentworth, a young man who was dressed in a white tuxedo and white boots stepped into the platform and stood before the podium. His gaze swept on top of everyone's eyes before he gave his speech.

"Good morning, everyone," he said with a smile.

The excited crowd yelled back in response, "GOOD MORNING!!!"

Devin Wentworth smiled, displaying two rows of bright teeth.

"All of you who are here to visit this convention are MMORPG lovers, am I right?"

"YES!!!" came the answer.

"If I may ask... what does MMORPG mean to you?"

A bespectacled young man in the front row waved his hand in excitement. The representative that was dressed in a Dark Moon costume approached him and gave him a microphone.

"It means everything to me!" he spoke into the microphone.

Devin smiled.

"And what would you do if you can no longer play MMORPGs?"

The young man's face fell almost immediately.

"I would be very sad," he honestly answered. The answer brought smiles to all of us.

"What if I tell you that MMORPG will forever be part of your life instead?" Devin asked again.