Project Anima : A Virtual Reality / Reincarnated Tale

Chapter 0

The human brain is a mystical thing.

It is a wonder of nature, a complex supercomputer, containing more connections than the stars in our galaxy. So complex it is, that it had shrouded us with daunting questions for centuries.

What is soul?

What is consciousness?

Does it reside in the brain, or somewhere else?

Can we replicate it?

And what truly are dreams?

Now these mysteries are starting to become nothing but a fading daydream. Mankind has finally tapped into the manifolds of the human brain, unlocking insane capabilities. By 2032, people acquired a technology to mold dreams—they could now jump into a hypervirtual, hypnagogic, alternate life.

Dreams were now reality.

The technology began with humble beginnings. Two decades ago, scientists made a rat's tail move by exciting the motor cortex of its brain. Then it was followed by brain-controlled bionics for paraplegics. There were also modified non-dive VR headsets, allowing players to play a simple video game with thoughts alone. Another tried syncing multiple rat brains across the internet, making them collaborate while they performed puzzles. And a bunch more obscure, but otherwise brilliant brain-computer experiments.

All of these were the building blocks of the grand neural revolution that is to come.

In 2021, a group of neuroscientists, with the aid of a supercomputer, reached their first milestone at mapping complex pathways of the brain.

Two years later, the first ever commercial mind remote was invented by Arc Technologies—the ArcBand.

It was a light circlet worn around the head, which can read the user's brainwaves by listening from the scalp for clusters of firing neurons, and thus convert thoughts into commands.

It was the start of the first neuro-virtual revolution.

Companies began to integrate this new tech into their products. The mind remote slowly seeped into everyday life—forcing most devices into obscurity. Why use a keyboard and mouse when you can control the computer using your thoughts?

In 2024, this marvelous tech made its way to video games, and esports. By eliminating hand movement lag, it was now a matter of processing speed, rather than reaction time, resulting in a much fiercer online gaming competition. Those who could not process as fast enough as another is at a severe disadvantage.

Around 2030, the same year man had started colonizing Mars and set up vertical farms in alien soil, another profound achievement had been made—the brain mapping project had reached a second, astounding milestone. With the brain slowly being unraveled, the potential was there for the taking.

Arc Technologies saw the opportunity, and seized it.

So in 2032, the first ever, hypervirtual console was invented—the ArcVisor.

With the tech, people could deep dive—a concept where they can enter and manipulate customizable dreams at will.

The console resembled a jet pilot helmet. It was a spherical, carbon fiber helm with a matte finish. A dark smoky visor can be slid to cover only up to the eyes. Its interior held soft leather, lined with antibacterial liners. Inside the material lies an intricate web of electrodes, circuits, coils, neural transmitters, and transducers.

Now the technology behind it, is simply marvelous.

When the ArcVisor is outfitted on the head, visor drawn over the eyes, and strap is cinched, the user is advised to lay down on a flat surface and relax. If one has sleep or insomnia-related issues, the interface aids by normalizing brain activity to the delta wave frequency, inducing a trance-like, somnambulistic state. For this reason, the console also can function as a sleep aid, though people—more often than not—might find themselves tempted to use dream apps instead of resting.