New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After ordering his new gaming pod, Alexander went to take a shower and a small nap. He felt better when he woke up a few hours later.

He no longer felt like he was on the verge of collapsing. He brewed himself a pot of coffee and made some toast.

As he was having breakfast, his door buzzer rang. He got up to check, and lo-and-behold, his pod had already arrived.

He opened up his door, letting the delivery men in. The pod didn't come in any fancy box or presentation, nor did it require assembling of any sort.

All it needed was a power source and to be connected to the internet.

Alexander had them place it in his living room and plugged it into an outlet. He then took the cable that came with it and hooked it to his modem.

The men then had him sign a proof of delivery and took off. They had many deliveries today, Alexander assumed.

The brand new pod came with two 1000ml bags of IV already hooked into it, but he would need to order more before he ran out. And that wouldn't take too long.

It said in the instruction book that it regulated the IV bags to last ten hours per bag. He could hook only ten bags into the pod at the same time.

So he would be good for a little over four days on a full load, but right now, he only had enough for twenty hours.

He looked online to buy some and found a pharmacy nearby that sold them at a unitary price. But the price was not something anyone would afford in the long term.

The pharmacy sold them at one hundred and fifty dollars per bag. That meant he would have to pay one and a half grand just to play for four days.

That was an insane price if you weren't sponsored, which he wasn't at the moment.

He needed them, so he didn't think about it too much. He wrote the address down into his phone, got dressed, and left to go get some, locking up behind him. The pharmacy he needed to go to was just a few blocks from where he lived, so he walked there.

It only took him a couple of minutes to walk there, and he easily found the place. The pharmacy was swarming with people inside and outside.

Most of these people, were dressed in suits and looked like rich handlers or assistants. He guessed these people were here at the behest of their employers to buy some IVs for pods.

After all, why would they come here otherwise, in a local neighborhood pharmacy, if not for this?

Alexander had looked for the closest to him, but he had also seen that the next closest was miles further, in another part of town. He also lived close to downtown, so he knew these people worked for businessmen and women.

He shouldered his way inside and skipped the line to the counter. Since this was where he usually came for meds, they had his file and he had access to renewal through their app.

He went on his phone and picked out eight pouches of IV from the app and checked them out. Then he made his way to the online order line, which was almost empty, and waited for his turn.

Once he got called to the counter, he grabbed the box they gave him and struggled his way out of the pharmacy. He heard a commotion from behind him and could guess what was happening.

They had run out of bags to sell. He quickly made his way out before getting assaulted for his.

Once he was outside, he hastened toward his home. He hadn't made it a full block away before a car pulled up in front of him, almost climbing on the sidewalk.

Two bulky men walked out of the front of the car, and a back window lowered.

Alexander could see a skinny man in the back. The man was not even looking at him when he spoke.

"Listen peasant. I will buy those IV bags from you for triple their value." He said, waving a thick wad of cash.

"No thank you, sir. I need them for my sick mother." Alexander lied.

"Tchh. Fine, I can go higher, how about four times?" The man said, clicking his tongue in disdain.

He clearly didn't want to negotiate with him.

"Sir, I need these." Alexander insisted, holding his box close.

"Listen here, punk. The master wants these. So you either sell them to us, or we will beat the shit out of you and take them, anyway." One of the bulky men said, getting dangerously close to Alexander.

Alexander plodded back, trying to disengage from this confrontation.

"I really need them. I can't sell them to you." Alexander insisted again, refusing to yield.

"Alright enough. Get the box boys." The man in the car said, closing his window.

"Yes, sir!" Both men said, grinning manically.

"Fuck!" Alexander said, swiftly turning around and running for it.

The two men were obviously no slouches and caught up to him in no time. Alexander had never been much of a fighter, so he was never a match for them.

They easily shoved him to the ground, one grabbing the box, while the other kicked him in the stomach.

The men started walking away, but Alexander wasn't to let go so easily. He got back up, his breath still choppy, and jumped on the back of the one carrying the box of IV.

"Let go! That is mine!" He yelled, punching the back of the man's head.

The big man dropped the box, but now he was pissed. The other guy grabbed Alexander by his shirt and threw him to the ground.

Then both men started kicking the shit out of him, cursing at him at the same time.

Alexander covered his head and rolled in a ball, trying to protect his head and ribs as much as he could. He knew he had messed up, but he never was one to let people trample over him.

But this time, he knew these guys would mess him up good. He just hoped they stopped before killing him.

He suddenly heard one of the man's yelp, soon followed by the other. The kicking had also stopped.

He could still hear thudding noises like a fight was still going on, but he never dared to look, scared that he would take a kick to the face.

After a few seconds, the noises stopped entirely.

"Get up, man." He heard from in front of him.

Alexander peeked from the side of his arm and was shocked. His two assailants were down, out cold, and one man had his box in his arms, walking to him.

He sat up, wondering what was happening.

"Grab it and leave, before their boss sees you." The guy said, dropping the box on Alexander's lap.

"Th... Thank you." Alexander stuttered.

"Who are you?" He then asked.

"I'm no one." The man replied, already leaving the other way, putting on his hoodie.

"Wait! How can I thank you properly!?" Alexander shouted, getting up.

"No need!" The other man yelled, getting in a jog.

Alexander was all beat up, so he couldn't run after him. He decided to just hurry home before the cops got here or worst.

He hurriedly unlocked his door and locked it back behind him once he was in his apartment. He was panting and hurting everywhere.

He went to take a shower and tend to his slight cuts and bruises, before setting up his gaming pod.

It took him an hour to tend to all his wounds. He didn't have many cuts, but they bruised him all over.

He applied topic pain relief cream, and put on a light shirt, straining to move because of the pain. It was now close to noon on Tuesday, so if he went into the pod after eating lunch, he could stay in until Saturday noon, giving him eight days of in-game time.

He would have time to do a lot of things in so much time.

He ordered food on his phone. He wanted to have a hearty meal, before going into semi-stasis for four days, so he ordered from a Chinese place near his house.

He ordered 3 different combos, which was enough food for three adults, but he would eat the whole thing on his own. It didn't take long for his food to arrive, and he ravenously devoured it.

With that, he was sure he would have enough nutrients in his body with the IV to not be weak at his exit in four days.

He then did a bit of cleaning in his house. Since he would be in the pod for four days, he wanted nothing to stink up in the meantime.

He did the dishes, put out the trash, and washed a few things in his home. Once all this was done, he bounced to the pod and opened it.

It smelled brand new in there, like when you buy a new car, and it made him giggity. He sat down slowly in the pod and then laid back.

He could feel the gel pads on his back, shaping to espouse his form perfectly.

'So comfy' He thought.

He then activated the pod. It was voice-activated, so he simply said 'Activate Pod'.

From the outside, you could hear a little humming. From the inside, Alexander had already stopped moving, his conscience slipping into the virtual world.

He was now standing in a white room, with a wall in front of him. On the wall, a prompt about needing to be linked to accounts was seen.

So he walked to the wall and entered his account information for 'New Eden' and it found his account.

He could now see a hologram of his character floating in front of him. He could recognize certain distinct traits of his face.

He smiled and looked around, to see if they showed other things. He couldn't find anything.

Inside the pod, the needles had already poked into his veins. At first, they drew a bit of blood, then they started injecting an IV slowly into his bloodstream.

The blood it had drawn was to link the pod to a single user, meaning no one could play from his pod except himself.

Of course, from inside the white room, Alexander felt none of that. He quickly stopped looking for things that weren't there and logged into the game.

All he had to do was say 'Launch New Eden' and he felt the familiar drop.

*Launching 'New Eden'*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth*