VRMMORPG: HEAVEN'S DESCENT

Cyrus Hartman woke up with a throbbing pain in his head. Lately he'd been experiencing a series of fluctuating migraines, but today was different, worse. It felt like a hammer was constantly being pounded on his forehead, and it was becoming worse as seconds went by.

He sauntered out of bed, but fell on his knees moments later, it had gotten even more intense, he could feel the light fading away from his eyes, but just then a familiar voice called him back to reality. He recognized the voice, how could he ever forget the voice of his only sister, Fiona Hartman.

"Fiona?" He questioned abstractly. There was no one here except for him, but he was sure it wasn't a hallucination, he had heard his sister's voice call out to him just now.

"Cyrus, why haven't you heeded to my calls for so long?" The voice questioned him. There was no doubt about it, he wasn't going mad because of the pain in his head, he was really hearing the voice of his sister, and seconds later his suspicions were confirmed.

She materialized before him, dressed in the same attire she wore on her deathbed. Her facials were just as graceful as he could remember, and her beauty hadn't waned even in death. Though the hospital dress she was cloaked in concealed most of her physical attributes, the protrusions on the area of her curvatures were still visible.

The graceful figure of Fiona floated towards her awestruck body, and her cold slender fingers cupped his cheeks. Her pearly crimson eyes stared into his shocked own, and her warm tears soaked his nightwear.

"Fiona.." Her name was barely a whisper, "How? Why are you here, you should be resting" Cyrus cried. His once shocked eyes had contorted into ones of sadness, and it wasn't long before his tears were flowing too.

"How can I be at rest when you've forgotten the promise you made to me" Fiona reminded, her tears flowing even more.

Cyrus reached for his sister's face, and with his thumbs he wiped away the tears that cascaded down her cheeks,

"The promise..." He trailed off. Once again the pain his head had overwhelmed him, and his mind faltered to provide him the words he needed. Before his very eyes, he saw the image of his sister fade away, and in the next second he found himself on his bed, only awake because his alarm clock had prompted him to.

"A dream?" He questioned himself subconsciously while examining his palms. It all felt so real, everything that happened felt so authentic, and he could argue it wasn't all a dream.

Cyrus touched his cheeks to remind himself of Fiona's touch, before reaching for his nightshirt where her tears had soaked. But nothing was there, it was all a dream after all.

Disappointed, he reached for the electric alarm clock with the intention to put it off, but something on its screen caught his attention.

"Tuesday, 12th March, 2031. 7: 03am"

"Impossible!" He exclaimed, before racing towards the calendar on his wall. The year was the same, and the date corresponded with that of his alarm clock. Curiously, he stared out of his apartment window and realized that everything was just the same as of that day.

12th March, 2031, three months before Fiona's death, and the same day he'd failed to secure a job at one of the wealthiest and biggest Visual Reality game company, Primal.

"What's going on?" He asked himself once more. Just then his phone chimed, and he received a message. It was a reminder from the hospital Fiona was admitted, reminding him that he was yet to clear the twenty thousand dollar debt that he owed them.

Could this all be true, or was his mind playing games with him just like it did with his sister's appearance, Cyrus was curious, and confused.

He was sure his sister had died two years ago from lung cancer. The cure was available, but after he'd failed to get a proper paying job, he wasn't able to pay for her surgery bills, and other medical fees. His sister had passed away due to his incompetence, and that was when he'd made her a promise.

"The promise" His mind clicked, Fiona had reminded him of it moments ago, perhaps all of this wasn't a scam. Perhaps he'd been given a second chance by the universe to save his sister from death.

He glanced at the alarm clock once more, and took a reading of the time, 7:28am. If he was really back in time, then his interview with Primal was in less than two hours.

This was unlike anything that had ever happened to Cyrus before, even though humans had advanced greatly in technology over the years, he hadn't heard about the perfection of time travel yet.

He rushed into the bathroom and readied himself, today was the day that decided his fate. He wasn't going to let his sister die on him twice, he was finally going to make up for all the mistakes he'd done before.

Cyrus was already aware of how difficult it was to get into Primal, even with his ten years experience with visual reality games, he'd still failed to be acknowledged by Primal. Their technology was more advanced, and everything about their games superseded anything humanity had ever created in history.

The interview to screen players who would play in their newly developed game was today, and only fifty persons would be selected out of the thousands that had applied. The pay he would get from passing the screening process would be more than enough to get his sister out of the hospital.

Cyrus was over excited, he had lived this day before, and he knew all the mistakes to avoid during the screening process. The universe had granted him another chance and he wouldn't waste it, he was going to save his sister from cancer, and he was going to play the hottest Virtual Reality Multiplayer Game.