chapter 2
Hector followed the doctor through the door and out from the room, which apparently led directly outside into a small but beautiful circular garden. In the center of the garden there was a elegant water fountain, made from multiple stone bowls staked on top of each other, with the smallest on the bottom, each carved with elaborate patterns. Surrounding the fountain, there were wooden benches and many trees of varying species making it feel like a forest with a soft grass floor. The whole area was surrounded by a circular hedge fence, but most importantly for Hector, his father was there, sitting on the nearest bench looking towards the fountain.
Hector looked back to thank the doctor, but noticed that he was already gone, along with the room he came from. The door he walked through was replaced with a metal gate, through which he could see cars and people driving past the garden, but heard no noise.
"Welp, that proves it, no longer on the real Earth", he muttered to himself before walking to his dad. Hector sat down next to him. "What's new?" Hector asked, it was their usual greeting, a simple question he asked his dad every time they'd spent more than a day apart, it was usually followed with short discussions about the latest interesting news, this time there would be a whole lot of interesting news.
"I've spent five decades, and just with those two words I already know it's been worth it" Hectors dad, Cliff said, almost blurting it out while barely holding all his emotions in.
Hector was a bit uncomfortable, for him it had been only half a day since seeing his dad, and even though he knew that for his dad it had been over fifty years, he just couldn't pretend to miss him all that much. He did try his best to hide it, but his dad still saw the uncomfortable look on his son's face.
With a sad sigh, Cliff continued talking,"I know, you want to go exploring the world's, learn magic and all that. It is what I created this place for, so you can go ahead, and for you, you saw me just a few hours ago. We don't have to reconnect today, but know that when you feel like it, call me"
Cliff started to stand up, but before he could, Hector stopped him,"Wait, we can talk. Tell me everything that's happened". With that cliff smiled and took Hector in a bear hug, no longer capable of restraining his emotions, he was overwhelmed.
They had a long talk about everything that had happened. Hector learned that quantum computers had been developed to the point where every household had one, self driving cars had become the norm, brain chips had been developed to new heights to the point where they could stimulate all the human senses. These were just a few of the recent discoveries in technology and science that were discussed about, and nearing the end the discussion reached back to the VERse.
"So, why did you do it. Why spend all your life, and nearly everything you own to create this just for me. I am truly thankful, but I really hope that I am not the only reason", Hector asked.
"You are definitely not the only reason. You were the reason why I set this as a goal, why I founded Braintech. When you died, i couldn't deal with it. We'd already lost your mom and my parents. You were everything I had left, so I was devastated. But over the decades, you slowly became the secondary reason. I realized that I wasn't the only grieving person, but every day tens of thousands of people die, and I was standing on technology with the potential to prevent that. The idea of an afterlife is an old one, but it's been a real possibility for the average Joe for only the past four years. The VERse will be a paradise where people can retire in and enjoy life for eternity, and still stay in contact with living family and friends. We have made sure that it is affordable for everyone and that it'll survive human extinction and even planetary devastation. The VERse is meant to eventually become the true home of humans." Cliff explained before taking in a very deep breath. "Anyways, it's getting late, and there are only 12h left before the official release of the VERse at midnight. I've got a meeting in a hour, and getting hungry. You also might enjoy a twelve hour headstart in your fantasy land. there are going to be a lot of people there soon"
"See you soon then?" Hector half asked.
"Yes, see you soon" cliff replied.
"Thank you, for everything you have done", Hector said with a grin before his father faded out with a wide smile.
Alone in the garden, Hector knew what he wanted to do. He had a new world to explore. One with potentially millions of different cultures, beliefs, vast cities, all sorts of unimaginable beasts, places and people. And all that mixed with magic and an everlasting adventure. It wast time to start a new life, it was time to enter the afterlife.
"Now, how do I get there" he pondered to himself, only to be scared nearly to death when the doctor appeared in front of him. The doctor was now only a foot tall, wearing a suit instead of doctor clothes, and levitating in the air in front of Hector.
"You can access the menu by imaging the menu appear in front of you. It appears as a large physical touch screen a comfortable arm's reach away. There you can access your personal settings, internet, and teleport to different places on earth, and between different areas in the VERse, among many other things. You should be able to figure out the rest easily, but if not, you can always call my name, or press the help button in the menu", the Doctor said.
"Umm, thanks. Also, what is your name?" Hector asked, still showed by the sudden appearance of the tiny assistant.
"It is Assistant in the Virtually Extended Reality, or AVER for short", Aver answered before disappearing.
"Alright then, let's open the menu, and get started", Hector said under the breath, as he opened the menu, found the area tab, and pressed the button reading 'Iefril', which apparently the other places name. He was wearing a wide grin as everything faded to black.