Chapter 1

 

Robin was startled awake and her body shot out of bed and her body slammed onto the carpeted floor. For a second She looked wide eyed at the ceiling trying to figure out what just happened to her. There was no fire, no cries of dying people around her, no 40-foot(12m) high wall that kept the poor people out. Her eyes swept around the room and landed on the small bedside table with a poorly made framed picture lit by the moon. Pushing her body up enough to see the picture, her eyes displayed shock and surprise. It was a picture of a 14/15-year-old girl and an early 20s-year-old lady. Robin crawled to the table and grabbed the picture. In doing so she also knocked her phone off the table. This caused the phone to light up and reveal its locked screen which showed the time and more importantly the date.

 

"May 4th, 2098. Did…did I go back in time?" Robin whispered. She picked up the phone and used it to light up the picture frame. Her eyes began to water as she stared at the photo. It was of her and her only living relative. Her older sister who put her life on hold to raise Robin after their parents died. Her sister who died in her arms 2 months ago.

 

"No" Robin snapped and looked at the phone again to confirm the date. She unlocked the phone with a practiced motion and browsed the internet to confirm the date. Once 100% confirmed, Robin became ecstatic but a pop-up ad killed all the excitement that was building. 

 

"Join a new world" the ad said while playing striking nature visuals. 

 

"Over 1 billion pre-orders" It stated, while a scene of a sprawling cityscape played in the background. 

 

"Become a member of the hundreds of already forming guilds." Multiple flags and banners floated through the sky. Some depicted animals, some were recreations of real country flags, and a few were just overly designed geometric shapes.

 

"A game created with the support of over 100 countries and hundreds of the largest companies in the world." A scene of coders, scientists, and politicians giving each other handshakes played. At this Robin's souring mood hit rock bottom. She was about to close the ad but then "Play The World Tower when it launches in just 30 days, June 4th" flashed on the screen and her fingers paused. 

 

"If I was unsure about traveling back in time before, this ad proves it. Sigh~ 2 and a half years into the past." Robin turned off the phone and plunged the room back into the darkness. She stared at the door to the hallway, sure that another door was right on the opposite side and that room contained her sister. Her sister that raised her for 7 years and did her best to give Robin a decent life. A life she rarely appreciated… until it was gone.

 

Robin slowly got up and walked to her bedroom door. The doorknob felt familiar and comforting. She twisted it and a squeaking sound cried out. This too was familiar since it happened every time the door moved. Once the door was opened, just as she thought, another door was directly across from hers. There was a plaque on the door that read "Go Away". Seeing plaque made Robin's eyes water. She took quiet steps towards the opposite door and slowly opened it. The room looked exactly like how Robin remembered it. Simple but had character. Most of the furnishings were from second-hand stores or picked up from garage sales. Laying on a queen-sized bed was a woman in her mid-20s lit by the moonlight peaking through the window. She had the same caramel-colored skin as Robin. Her body, while not as stunning as those genetically altered models on the internet, was round in all the right areas. This was true even with the layers of sheets and covers over her. 

 

Looking at the face of her sister, the dam that kept Robin's eyes from crying finally broke and tears streamed down her face. She cried out “Mia!” and pounced on the sleeping sister. This of course startled awake the older sister but before she could get mad, Robin hugged her and the crying turned into subbing.

 

“Robin. Robin! Get off me! What the heck is wrong with you!” Mia yelled but Robin didn’t pay attention to her sister and hugged her even tighter. 

 

“I’m sorry Mia! I'm sorry, I'm sorry…” repeated Robin as she cried into the shoulders of her sister. Mia for her part finally saw that something was legitimately wrong with Robin and just hugged her back, keeping silent until Robin was ready. It took a solid 15 mins before Robin was calm enough to speak.

 

“Hells bells Robin. What was that about?” Mia said, wiping Robin’s tears.

 

“I-I I saw you die. I saw hundreds of people die!” Robin yelled and more tears began running down her face.

 

“Shh shh, robin. It’s fine~ It was just a bad dream.” 

 

“No!” Robin snapped “It's real! Well, not yet anyway.” Robin paused and wiped the new tears. She finally let Mia go and moved a bit away. Not too far as she still held her hand. 

 

“Mia… I don’t know any other way to say this but… I'm from the future and came back after I died.” Robin saw that Mia was about to say something sarcastic to downplay what she just said so she hurriedly continued. “Mia, I'm serious! The new game that's about to come out, ‘The World Tower’ is the beginning of the end! 2 years after the game launches, the game fuses with the real world, and monsters, demons, and other horrible creatures come to earth. Billions died! Including you and me!” More tears threatened to fall but Robin swiped them away. 

 

(Now is not the time to cry) Robin told herself.

 

"We need to join The World Tower as soon as it is released." Robin continued "If we don't then we won't have a chance to survive!"

 

At this Mia made a sour face "Was this all an attempt to get me to buy that game for you? I wouldn't have thought that you would pull something like this Robin."

 

Robin was shocked, then got angry and yelled "Do I FUCKING look like I'm joking! Why would I wake you up at 3 am just to convince you to buy a damn video game!" 

 

Mia was shocked at how Robin yelled at her.  Seeing her reaction, Robin spoke again. " I don't know how to get you to believe me. I know this sounds crazy but you HAVE to trust me. In 2 years the world is going to go to shit. Most governments will collapse and the planet will crack, creating terrible earthquakes and massive tidal waves. Demons and monsters will rain from the sky. Death was everywhere!” 

 

After Robin finished the room got quiet. Only the sound of a nearby old clock’s ticking was heard. After a minute or two Mia finally spoke. Her eyes were locked onto Robin.

 

“First of all, don’t curse at me again. Secondly, I’m going to ask you a question.” Mia said with frost in her voice. “A question that will determine if you really came from the future or not. If you don't answer this question correctly…” Mia stopped and shook her head. Robin knew what she meant though. If she couldn't answer then there will be hell to pay and her relationship with Mia might become strained. With an unwavering gaze, Robin nodded at Mia.

 

“What is the surprise that I was going to tell you in two months?” Mia said in a leveled voice.

 

When Robin heard her, a smile bloomed on her face but a moment later it turned into a frown. Robin sighed and went to hug Mia but instead of giving her a normal hug, she lowered herself to Mia’s torso and wrapped her arms around it. Robin whispered to Mia's belly, but loud enough that Mia could hear “Don’t worry Mason, I’ll save you too.”

 

When Robin let go of Mia and looked at her face there was a surprised expression frozen on it. Robin could tell that Mia finally believed her. 

 

"You even got his name right." Mia said after a moment of silence. "So… the world is going to end huh?" She said and blew out a breath and for some reason, she chuckled. Robin’s eye twitched. Although Mia was mature, she would find something funny out of the most dower of news.

 

"Yes." Robin responded "Well the world as we know it anyway. Humans will survive but I think more than 3 billion people died within the first 6 months. Including us."

 

"I… I need a drink." Mia said, about to get up but Robin stopped her. 

 

"You're pregnant! Why would you drink?!" Robin rebuked angrily. 

 

"One drink isn't going to do anything to him." Mia defended. 

 

"No!" Robin snapped. She took a deep breath and gave her sister a leveled look. "Listen Mia. Mason didn't make it to the apocalypse. You… you gave birth to a stillborn at 6 months."

 

"I what! But-but there hasn't been a stillborn case reported in-in years." Mia said in denial.

 

Robin still with her leveled and calm look replied "Remember what you were just about to do Mia. It only got worse. So much so that even with modern medicine, they couldn't save Mason."

 

Robin's voice took on a hard tone and for the first time in her life, she threatened Mia "If I catch you drinking, I won't hesitate to smack the shit out of you."

 

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A myriad of expressions flashed across Mia's face. Eventually, she settled on natural "I'll hold you to that. Also, didn’t I say don’t curse at me?" Mia flicked Robin’s forehead. Robin fanned to be in pain and Mia went to turn on the desk light. With proper lighting and too much energy to go to sleep, she blew out a breath and said, "So tell me about how the world will end."

 

For the next few hours, Robin told Mia everything she knew about the apocalypse. About 20 minutes in, they relocated to the kitchen where Mia made a pot of extra strong coffee. She also pulled out a digital notebook and wrote down everything. It wasn't until the sunlight began to show up that Robin finished.

 

"And that's pretty much it" Robin said finishing off the last of her coffee. After going through everything from start to finish, more tears were shed in both sadness and anger but after hours of talking, most of her emotions evened out.

 

"This… This is a lot. To take in." Mia replied, still a bit tired even after drinking a whole pot of coffee herself. "Are you sure we can't tell anyone else?"

 

Robin shrugged "I'm not sure. In fact, I forgot about it until I had to retell the story from the beginning. The whistleblowers were smited on live TV by a red lightning bolt but private conversations must have happened for all of the rich people to know. My guess is that as long as you aren't making it public then it should be fine. I told you because I trust you not to tell anyone else. I don't plan on telling anyone, Not even that bitch Becka."

 

Mia rolled her eyes when she heard that name. "You definitely can't tell Becka. The whole internet would know 3 seconds after you tell her. Also from what you told me, she'd sooner stab us in the back rather than help us.

 

For that matter, I can't tell Ronin and Marry either. They aren't as bad as Mia but they might slip up and expose us. Sigh, so we have to prepare for the end of the world while getting our friends to do the same without them knowing. Also, pretending to not know that billions of people will die In two years."

 

"Sounds about right."

 

"Sigh~ I could really use a drink right now." 

 

Robin gave Mia a frowned look. Mia raised her hands defensively 

 

"Hey I know, I know. You've successfully scared me off of the booze. It can't stop me from wanting some though."

 

Robin just rolled her eyes and they sat in comfortable silence. A few moments passed and Mia finally said "So what should we do?"

 

"Well, we obviously join the game, get super strong, and survive."

 

"Yes, I know that" Mia said, rolling her eyes. "I'm talking about HOW we get the game. Looking at the prices, we have to get the S-class model if we want to be as strong as the rich fucks you were talking about but those costs $100,000 for just one gaming pod. Also, the supplements cost $1000 per canister. Which we need to use every day. We need money. A lot of money."

 

Robin smiled at the 'rich fucks' remark. She told Mia about how most of the extremely rich people knew about the game and what would happen 2 years from now. Everyone thought that it was just some rich people blowing millions on a random game. Treating their actions as just another whale situation. But little did they know, the rich were preparing for the end. This however had a positive effect on poor people joining the game since anyone could become rich by selling items to the rich elites or joining any of their guilds. 

 

Thinking of this Robin replied "We only need the start-up cost of $202,000. We can make that back in a few days of playing the game. So the first thing I'll do is go to one of the sharks and take out a loan of what we need."

 

Mia made a disgusted face and said "You mean those high-interest places! Their prices aren’t fair and you'll have to owe them at least $50,000 extra of what you were loaned. We can find a better way or even get a cheaper model."

 

"No!" Robin cut in. "We need the highest tier model to get the early bonus. Also, I might have joined late last time but I know enough about the early game to make enough money to pay back the loans in the first few days of playing. As I said, we only need the start-up cost. After we get the game, everything will fall into place." Robin's smile beamed and Mia just shook her head.

 

After a few more plans we're hammered out, they split up. Mia couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and went to crash in her bed. Robin had a bit more energy but decided to go to sleep as well. 

 

The next few weeks were more frantic than Robin wanted. She and Mia needed to prepare their small 2 bedroom apartment for the game pods that would be delivered soon. Robin pretty much tossed out everything except her clothes. Until the game pods were delivered her room was completely bare. Mia didn’t want to comment that hard to the cause but did decide to get rid of a lot of stuff in her room to have space for the gaming pod.

 

During the lead up to the game's release, Robin and Mia got loans from the sharks. They had to get it from multiple loan places and the total amount they’ll owe back was $310,000 but she thought it was totally worth it. Robin also quit her job. She was going to go all in on playing the game so she wouldn’t have any time to do much else. And while Mia couldn’t play as much as Robin, she too still quit her job. They would live off of the loans until the game paid out.

 

Robin also had to deal with her would-be friend Becka. In the future, Becka sold them out to get into a safe place. This caused Robin and Mia to fall behind other players in levels and couldn’t secure a spot in any guilds. Robin would never forgive Becka for what she did. Not now, not ever. So with hatred in her eyes, Robin cut off all contact with Becka. Mia didn’t agree with this but Robin wasn’t budging on cutting Becka out.  

 

With everything set, they just had to wait until the game pods were delivered. Which didn’t happen until 3 days before the game officially launched. 

 

“Hello miss, where would you like the gaming pods?” The delivery man asked. After directing the man to their rooms, it only took an hour to set up the pods. Banking information, online accounts, etc needed to be linked to the pod. That way they can gain access to them while playing the “game”. 

 

The pod Itself looked like a giant egg with a window. The wires for it were hooked up to a solar panel that also held its own wifi signal. The government told some bullshit story about the advanced technologies used in the pod and how they had servers all over the world so that everyone could play but Robin knew that statement was false. 

 

The real technology was from the higher plane and the “solar panel” was about as useful as a cup with holes in it.  The pod didn’t need to be hooked up to anything and the supplements were just a high vitamin mix that allows a person to play the game for 18 hours without feeling any adverse effects. Robin had no clue how the pod could gain access to their internet and banking accounts even though nothing was plugged in, so she just choked it up to weird higher plane magic.

 

Robin looked at the egg-shaped pod with mixed feelings. This is the start of hell. One of the things that will usher in an age of death and destruction. Robin didn’t want to go back there. She didn’t want to have to fight for her life but she had to. To change the future and live a normal-ish life with her sister and nephew.

 

Three days went by in a flash and there were only a few minutes until the launch of The World Tower. Robin looked at Mia who was pacing back and forth. 

 

“Don’t worry.” Robin said in a gentle tone “We went over this multiple times. As long as we stick to the plan, we can rush to the top and carve out a safe space for us.”

 

“I know, I know. It’s just hard to calm down. If we can’t succeed, then… then…” Mia paused, shaking her head. She subconsciously put her hands over her stomach.   

 

"The only thing we can do is try." Robin said gently. She gave her sister a hug and helped her into the gaming pod. Even though Mia didn't physically need help, Robin did it anyway. This seemed to calm down Mia a bit as she started up her gaming pod.

 

Once Mia was all settled in, Robin went through the house and made sure everything was locked or turned off before going into her own pod. She wanted to hurry up because the time in the game was distorted in a 1:3 ratio. 1 hour in the real world is 3 hours in-game.

 

The interior of the pod was as simplistic as the outside. There was only the comfortable chair, the button to open/close the door, and the supplement injector which already contained the canister of S-grade vitamins. Robin sat down and closed the door. As soon as the door shut a simple blue screen appeared.

 

[ Start Game?]

 

Robin reached out and pushed the screen. Within a few seconds, her vision blurred and she passed out as her mind was transferred to the game. That's what the masses thought anyway. For Robin, she was transferred back to an unwinnable war in hopes of gaining enough power to weather the approaching shit storm.

 

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