1 Prologue

也In the year 2235, the world had undergone a lot of changes. One of the prominent change being in the gaming industry. Gaming had taken everything with a storm. There was no industry that hadn't been influence by it.

But the gaming industry was changing faster than ever before with player bases shifting from loving and living within a virtual world to bringing virtuality to the real world. Virtual reality was being taken over by Augmented reality.

Hundreds if not thousands of gaming companies quickly moved to capitalise on this new and barely touched market. This gave rise to a

"After evaluating the proofs and various testimonies, the court finds Aryan Malhotra to be guilty of sexually assaulting Meera Sharma and hereby sentence him to death. The court is adjorned."

Just like that, my life was over. Who would have thought my fiance would be the one to betray me of all the people. But most importantly, why did my parents, my friends, and even my lawyer, betray me like that?

Why did they give false testimony against me? Why could none of them even look me in the eyes as I was dragged out of the courtroom? Why? Why? WHY!?

"Death sentence for merely an attempt? Oof, the judge's wife must have kicked him in the nuts before the final trial. Haha!"

"Too bad he can't give a death sentence to her, haha!"

Officers around Aryan laughed heartily at the expense of his life. But was it even life when everyone he loved and cared about did something so heartless to him? He simply sat between the officers remembering what had happened last month...

Like always, it was a busy day and Aryan was busy streaming to make a living. Both he and his fiance, Meera were streamers and not just any streamers, they were at the very top.

They had enough money that even if they stopped working, at least two coming generations of their families wouldn't need to worry about money. However, everything went downhill from there.

He and Meera began having constant fights out of nowhere. At the same time, his family and friends began behaving strangely. It was almost as if all of them knew something he didn't. Something that made them do what they did today.

Maybe they were after his money, maybe the reason behind their betrayal was something else. Regardless of what it was, Aryan was doomed forever. His life was over, all because a handful of people colluded against him.

But there was no point wondering about it anymore, they played me like a fiddle. Maybe that judge was a sell-out as well. I didn't even touch Meera and yet there was 'evidence'? Evidence that was seemingly never presented in the court and yet my lawyer didn't even object against it?

Bullshit! It's clear as the day someone had set me up. I kept shouting at the top of my lungs but no one heard me and now no one else ever will.

***

Meanwhile, some place else...

"It has been done, sir. He is on his way here."

Standing 5' 4" tall, this tanned woman has an aimless feel about her as if she had no purpose of her life and only existed to serve her master.

Her short, straight, light brown hair was kempt and weel taken care of, unlike the rest of her body that was littered with scars. Surprisingly enough, she did not have eyebrows, which made her appearance even more bizarre.

"Haha, with him on board, this year's games are going to be terrific!"

The man sitting in the dark excitedly clapped his hands together. In his hands was a file... at the front of the file was a picture of a man in his early twenties. His smooth black hair was tied in a ponytail, that did not suit his appearance at all.

Not did his almond shaped eyes eyes that hid behind a pair of spectacles along with a well-shaven face. The most striking thing about him was his height. He was quite tall, about 6'4", but not that well-built and was a bit on the skinnier side.

A faint name was visible on the file, which read: Contestant number 117, Aryan Malhotra.