The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror: a Ready Player One story

Chapter 1

Level 1

Do you remember all that stuff that happened a few months ago? The egg? The Sixers? Three gates? Well that's not really big news anymore. Parzival still runs the Oasis, and IOI was disbanded, but other than that, it's really not too much different than before. Everyone still plays like normal. There's no more hype for the hunt, and new quests come out every few weeks.

When I first started, I was able to empathize with Parzival. But the contest changed him, and even though he was the one who saved the Oasis from the sixers, he wasn't the same. I was stuck on Incipio for the longest time, just like him, and I could only afford about one round trip teleportation fee per month at best. I had to return to a safe zone to make sure I could log out safely. It really just depended on how much my father made working. My father tried to keep me away from the Oasis for as long as possible. He probably hoped I could appreciate the real world, or what was left of it. But once the flu got my mom, he had no choice. He managed to take me off to hunt whenever he had enough extra coins, but like I said, not very often. I was only a tenth level when he died. I still remember the last time I saw him.

We were on a low level planet just trying to build my avatar up. Easy kills and a lot to hunt. We played all day and I was halfway to level 11 when he told me we had to leave soon. "You've got enough to make it back to Incipio on your own. You can stay and hunt for a while longer if you want but I need to go out for groceries before night." I nodded to him. "I'll be careful, and won't take on anything too big." He smiles to me and ruffled my hair. "We can come back out again soon. Don't worry." He walked off towards the transport station. I continued hunting, and a few minutes later I heard him take off his Oasis visor and begin to pull his haptic gloves off. He walked across the room to me, and spoke the last words he would ever say to me. "I'll be back soon." I just wish I had hugged him, or even just told him goodbye.

I woke up because my Oasis visor was chiming an alert sound. I looked into it, and it was a notification telling me that there were two men at the door. I put the visor on and activated the door cam. When the camera feed turned on I saw two police officers standing at the door. When they saw that I was watching through the camera, one of the police officers spoke. "Mr. Donavan would you come to the door please." I turned the microphone on and said. "I'm sorry I think you meant to find my dad. I'll go wake him up, hold on a sec." I got up and was about to take off my visor when the cop spoke again. "No we need to speak with you son, it's about your dad. Come to the door please." I pulled off the visor and went to the door. When I opened it, they asked me to come with them. They drove me to the hospital, and then led me around for what seemed like forever, until we came to a room, where I saw my father on the bed.

From what I could figure out, he was on his way out with just some canned goods when the power went out. No one hesitated for a second. Either they were running around for safety from the crazies, or the crazies were trying to steal as much as they got their hands on. My father tried to run out and get back to our home, but a man with a gun stopped him. A witness said the man demanded the bag of cans, and my father pleaded him to just let him go. But the man was more of the 'I'm only gonna ask you once' type.

The hospital had managed to get the bullet out and stabilize him. But he wouldn't wake up. Me being underage, I had no say in what happened to him. So they decided that the chances of him waking were too low, and with no one to pay the medical bills, they pulled it. I got to say goodbye, but not properly. Not the way I wanted to, not that I wanted to at all though. But then the same police officers brought me home to collect my stuff. I had a small box filled with clothes, some small stuff from my father, and two Oasis visors, as well as both sets of haptic gloves. Before I could leave though, one of the officers stopped me and said, "Hey kid, you don't need two Oasis setups. Leave one, it'll go towards the hospital bills. So will everything else, and the rest will be given to you." I looked at the officer for a moment, and then set the box down. I pulled my goggles and gloves out and set them on the table. Then I walked out of my home for the last time.