Virtually Existent

Chapter 01 - Enter Elias

Coming close to midnight, the city was as dark as it ever got. For one day every year the strength of a dedicated nuclear reactor was not enough to sustain the population, and certain sections of the city were forced into brownouts to keep the centre lit. Laser shows, massive display screens, clubs and shops staying open for hours and being packed with far more people than they should reasonably have are some of the big drains on power but the true drain was the Grand Melee's holographic projecter. A huge beast of a device that could show the latest highlights nearly a kilometre above the arena, visible from the rooftop of every building in the entire state on a clear night.

Eli grinned cockily as he walked down the competitor’s corridor within the stadium. The huge arena around him was packed, people crammed together so tightly it looked like a tidal wave of faces closing in on the giant holographic projector setup in the centre. But despite the projector and ninety nine others also walking towards it all eyes were on him, the news story of the century. The man who got away with murder in plain sight, Eli Jameson.

A little under a year ago, Eli had a personal guard of androids he had programmed himself. When he was being harassed by journalists their artificial intelligence deemed the best option was to restrain the man, and as the man fought back the robot accidentally broke his neck. The court found that the journalist's agression towards Eli was what ultimately resulted in his death rather than any action Eli took. Regardless of the legal process, rumours persisted that Eli had paid off the jury.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the eighty seventh annual Grand Melee!” a testosterone filled voice blared over the sound system. The competitors lined up in a square around the projector, standing a fair distance apart from one another. Eli looked at the two nation entries to either side of him, powerful men with strength, stamina, and skill built up over years or decades of training. At the thought, Eli cocked his jacket collar up on his neck.

These men and women were athletes and soldiers alike, most of them had served in live combat and those that hadn't were fighting practice targets from the age of five. Master tacticians at the peak of physical condition, all of them. Most of the entries had billions of dollars behind them to prove their country's greatness, and were trained by champions of the past as well. Eli was probably the only non-nation entry that thought he could win, but that didn't mean he was stupid. He'd spent nearly ten years himself training full time in his favourite combat styles with virtual programs, getting him on par with some of the lower tier nation entries. His ego was what made him consider himself above the top tier. 

The announcer began rattling off the names of previous champions, to a chorus of cheers from the stadium crowd. The holographic projector fired up to display images of the past competitors, posing dramatically with battle scars in front of the metal city behind them. It took some time for the announcer to finish, and by then Eli had made the record books for being the only competitor to actually sit down during the showcase.

The barriers were drawn back into their places within the ground, and the first row of spectators were allowed access to the field. Enormous bodyguards and security officials alike arranged the fans into neat lines for their favourite pick. Eli stood up and brushed his hair back as his horde of admirers closed in. “Ladies, ladies,” he started while signing a picture of himself with one hand and a breast with the other “Come on, there’s enough of me to go around."

He only did it to humor them as they would be heartbroken if he didn't. He often wondered why they idolized him when he hadn't really done anything. He had money and looks, with a famous father, but hadn't done anything world changing. It was a bit depressing to him that of all achievements in life that he did have they probably only liked him because of how he photographed. Eli had been blessed with the face and body of a greek god, and oh how he knew it. 

A huge part of the field rose upwards, opening like a trap door in a way that thrilled and stunned the crowd many years ago but now had become little more than routine. It revealed a huge freight elevator that was originally to transport the gear for the Grand Melee in and out of the facility but now also served to lower the entries in the most dramatic way the organisers could think of. Eli stood amongst the crowd as the media took their final group shot. A fair share of the attention remained on Eli though, many cameras focused exclusively on him as he placed a piece of gum in his mouth.

"Elias Jameson," said a very sterile sounding woman, who to Eli's relief didn't look as dire as she sounded. As soon as he approached her she walked off towards the virtual reality pods and Eli guessed that he should follow. He approached her and smiled at the pretty attendant. She laid him back in the pod and began attaching monitoring devices. “Why don’t you come in here with me?” Eli asked her with a wink, to find that her response to such approaches was to slam the metal case shut on him “Fair enough.”

Being the first time he’d entered the Grand Melee, Eli didn’t have a clue what he was doing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he did with the other virtual reality pods, opening them to see the cityscape stretching out before him. Hoppinh up and down in his new boots, testing out how it felt to be in a virtual world, Eli found it to be uncannily realistic. He pinched himself and gasped in surprise at just how effectively pain was recreated here. This wasn't any normal virtual world.

Eli checked out his outfit. A plain pair of black pants and an even plainer black shirt to match. Underneath the shirt was a lightweight bullet resistant vest, but it wasn’t going to do much later in the Melee. The pair of combat boots to protect his feet already felt worn in rather than tough.

“Contestants! You have been selected out of a massive list of volunteers for this year’s Grand Melee. Everyone has been transported into the city, and in exactly one minute from now the zoning walls will be removed and pickups will be enabled. Fight well!”

In just a minute the virtual world would come into it's own. For now a force field ran down the middle of every street to cut up the city in order for people to make barricades or work out their surroundings, but that would only last for a short time before releasing everyone. 

Eli took in his surroundings. He’d been spawned in on top of a skyscraper. From here he could see a few other figures preparing themselves atop identical towers around him, and there would be many more down on the streets or in lower buildings getting ready too.

Determined to not be the first one eliminated, Eli turned to the stairwell door and burst straight through it. He flew down the staircase, hopping over the railings a floor at a time. The sheer white of the building’s interior turning to complete darkness as Eli continued down the stairwell.

Landing on the bottom floor, Eli grasped for the next rail and nearly fell over as his hand passed through empty air. Pushing open the door, Eli got the chance to see the shimmering blue walls placed in the middle of the streets just before they vanished. Carefully looking out onto the street Eli knew that this was it. The start of the game, and he had just reached street level.