Looking around his room, Alex looked forward to the night ahead. The grey walls of his 4 room quarters were bleak, but his spirits were anything but.
Checking his communicator to confirm the meetup time for tonight, he double checked that all of his prep was complete. Clear schedule for the next 48 hours, liquid IV prepped, and nerve stimulation equipment cleaned and ready.
Putting on the NSE, Alex lowered themselves into the sleeping pod in the back of the room and plugged in their neural implant. Nestled into it's soft, warm cushions, he quickly felt sleep creeping its way into his mind. Feeling a pang of anticipation that slowly faded with the rest of his mind, Alex's breathing evened out.
Suddenly realizing his surroundings have changed, Alex looked around at the new scenery. A soft, messy bed under him with a wooden frame and black sheets, large windows showing a view of a city skyline, and dark walls of marbled stone. Stretching and getting up, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, gathering his thoughts for a moment.
His "Home" was as dark and quiet as always, just to his liking. Of course it was, since he customized it himself. Reaching up to unplug his neural implant, he touched nothing but the skin on the side of his neck.
'God, that still trips me up. Force of habit I guess…'
Still adjusting to the Dreamweb, Alex got out of bed and got dressed in some casual clothes; black, white, and grey only of course. Walking out of the bedroom and into the living room and connected kitchen, he took in the sight.
'I can never get over how much of an improvement this is over the real world. No cramped housing, no mundane jobs, and no tasteless synthetic food. At least they made the Dreamweb, even if it was just a way to desensitize everyone.'
Walking over to the similarly decorated kitchen, he reached into the fridge to grab a glass of water, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
'20 more minutes. Might as well head to the waiting room though.'
Setting down the glass, Alex walked to the front door of his Home, and set his gaze upon the panel to its right, just beside the handle to the standard looking door. The panel displayed a variety of images, all representing the Dreams he had recently dived into, as well as a search bar at the top of the screen.
Tapping on the search bar, he typed "Heart of the Wild", the name of a relatively new Dream developed by a lesser known group of "Weavers". The Dream had only launched a month ago, but it had rapidly amassed a record breaking amount of Dreamers into its realms. The Dream was advertised as having extremely versatile and deep mechanics, so anyone could enjoy its high quality. Made up of several realms all connected by the central loading rooms allowed for Dreamers to use a single avatar for numerous different realms, almost becoming a second life.
The different realms allow for many types of experiences; if someone is interested in experiencing the story of a lone dreamer, they can go to the realm that only simulates your avatar, and no others. Most, however, prefer the global realms, where all Dreamers can interact with each other if they are in the same realm. The most popular of those are the War Realm, a realm of warring kingdoms, states, and other various factions that Dreamers can join or even make like a giant turf war, the Civilization Realm, a realm of mostly peace where everyone can own property, hang out with friends in a mundane setting, or even go build a house with their bare (technically incorrect) hands.
Selecting the icon for Heart of the Wild, his home's front door rumbled lightly, then a sonorous voice spoke out.
*Now Loading, Heart of the Wild. Would you like to send an invitation, or host a Dream?*
"Host a Dream."
Hearing another light rumble, the lock on the doorknob clicked, signifying that it was ready.
"Alright, here we go…"
Alex grasped the doorknob, and opened the door outwardly, exposing a scene that didn't match what one would expect at all. In front of him was a large room with white walls, a marble tile floor polished to the point of reflection, and a seating area with 2 brown leather couches and a coffee table in between them. On the side opposite of his Home's door, an elevator door starkly contrasted against the white walls with its metallic grey doors and flowing orange open button, along with a similar panel to the one inside his Home.
Walking over to the sitting area, he took a seat on the couch facing the wall and leaned into its cushions. Not initially visible, Alex looked at the digital clock in the center of table.
'Only 5 more minutes. Looks like they're taking their time.'
"Web."
As if chanting a magic spell, a partially transparent menu appears in front of Alex's eyes.
*Welcome, Alex, to "Heart of the Wild". As this is your first time opening the Web in this Dream, I will explain the basics of Dream. In Heart of the Wild, you will first be directed to make your Avatar to fit your preference. As with many other Dreams, you will have the option of maintaining your standard appearance or customized Avatar within the Dream. During Avatar creation, you will be directed to select your ancestry, profession, and native realm. The first, Ancestry, is a combination of your species, social background, and natural affinities. This choice will be the most important one for the subtler sides of your Dream. Profession, on the other hand, will be the most important for your general style of experience. Profession is a combination of both an expertise in certain areas and your method of protection, whether offensive, defensive, or anything in between. Some examples are "Swordsman", "Archeologist", or "Scout". During Avatar creation, you will have a limited number of option, and be able to choose a secondary profession from among the choices, only it will have fewer benefits compared to your primary profession. In the Dream, you will be able to upgrade professions to higher variations when you have accrued enough "levels". The choices for change granted to you will be dependent on your actions in the Dream, which will be explained further when relevant. The final part of Avatar creation will be selecting your native realm. This will determine the realm you start in, and you will not be able to change realms until you have accrued 10 levels and upgraded your primary profession. Your starting realm will determine very little about your Avatar in the long run, but may affect your choices early in the Dream. Thank you for listening.*
'Huh. Well, I guess we should keep communication on for the realm selection.'
Almost as if in queue, the sound of a door opening snapped Alex out of their thoughts. Turning toward the new door next to his Home's door, he saw a figure step out of a red wooden door that looked straight out of a suburban sitcom from 1990. That figure was G, his best friend.
G was a fairly tall person with long, light ginger hair in a pony tail, palish skin, and green eyes. They wore a pair of faded, ripped jeans, a dark tank top, and an unbuttoned flannel shirt over the tank top.
"Hey Alex. Sorry for the wait, but I'm not as good at passing out as you. Did you already listen to the tutorial message?"
While they spoke, G walked over and planted themselves into the opposite couch.
"I did. I assume you did in advance?"
"Yeah. We still sticking with the plan? Starting in one of the global realms then grouping up?"
"That's the plan. Let's dive into the Dream and get started then. I've been shaking for the past few days in anticipation…"
Standing up from the couch, Alex exhaled lightly, then walked over to the panel next to the elevator doors. G slowly rose as well, giving Alex a smirk as they went to the panel.
"You can go ahead and enter first since you're so excited… any idea what you're going to choose? Profession wise, I mean."
Alex, hearing G's question, hits the button next to the panel, causing a ding to resonate from the elevator as the doors slid open. Inside the elevator was a wood paneled chamber with a handrail attached to the wall at about hip height. Stepping into the room, Alex turned around.
"I'm thinking something ranged, like usual. I guess it depends on what realm we choose, but I'm thinking about choosing something archery related. You know I'm a sucker for bows."
Letting the doors close as he spoke, the elevator started to gently ascend.