Golden Ticket

There were gods, demons, unidentified entities and even humans among them, it was a war. Not for a country, a continent, nor was it a planet, it was a war for the most powerful universe in existence. They fought till their limits without a decisive victor and this shook the entire universe eventually leading to an unforeseen destruction of the universe. As the universe exploded so did the war participants and it led to an explosion of their energy throughout the multiverse. The vast amount of energy caused varying impacts on other universes some being destroyed along the way especially those closest to the source. To some universes this was in the past, some the present and even to some, the unforeseeable future.

In the prominent era of a certain planet in a certain universe, technology had far surpassed its limits by leaps and bounds, virtual reality was the most popular. From tourism, business meetings, media entertainment and of course the gaming industry had taken the world by storm. Maybe due to overwhelming competition or lack of funding or some other reason, there was one and only one game in the entire world and that was World Hunt, a VRMMORPG. It was a game in which players could immerse themselves into a fantasy world and the most important feature of this game was that money made in the game could also be used in the real world thus it quickly gained popularity since its release three years ago. It made headlines everywhere from the news, media and even on billboards. Under one such billboard, he finds himself staring at it just like every other night he returns to his home.

His name is Allen and for the past 2 years he can remember of his life, he has been living here in the back alley of a bakery underneath his cherished billboard that has kept him company. He probably lost his memory sometime 2 years ago when he woke up in this alley probably after an accident of some sorts as he was bleeding from his temple. He always reminisces about his life around this time of the day although he hates it, it can't be helped, it's like he's trying to remind himself that he is still alive for some reason. Whenever he returns from wondering throughout the city for an entire day, he always arrives just in time for dinner and of course today was no exception. He headed straight for the dumpster that was behind the bakery and in there he always finds food, be it burnt, expired or leftovers he indulges himself on a hearty meal but somehow today he found only a single bun and the fun part of it was it looked fresh, "wait, is this fresh!" it felt hot to the touch. With a gracious heart to whoever made this mistake, he made for the first bite but it got snatched from his hand and the culprit was just going around the corner.

"Get back here you feline food snatcher!" He took off after the cat into the street and immediately bumped into someone and he lost his dinner. "Kyaaa!" "What is it darling!?" "He tried to steal my purse," she said over some exaggerated sobs. "No, I was chasing after my dinner cat and-," "You f*cking bastard, how dare you!" he was already on the ground after receiving a punch straight to his face. "That's enough darling just leave him and let's go," the girl was now pleading probably being embarrassed by the onlookers who were now paying attention. "Tch, fine let's go and what even is a dinner cat, bastard should have come up with a better excuse." What a day, first he lost his dinner to a cat and now he becomes a punching bag to some rich bastard, "wait a second, how do I know he's rich, now that I think about it, aren't those two-," it was then that he saw it. It had been his one and only wish to have it even just once, a capsule ticket. A ticket that cost around 500 Basils alone and he had just found it lying there on the ground.

According to his billboard, when World Hunt's popularity began to increase, some people started capsule cafes where customers purchase tickets to use the capsule for a limited time. He picked it up immediately and ran back, he wasn't going to let anyone claim it from him. After a while, he stopped and checked the ticket and what had him even more speechless was the fact that it was a golden ticket, scratch 500, this ticket costs 5000 Basils with a 24hr validity period and he had it in his hand.

Immediately he went to a café, since they are open 24hrs. Since he knew every nook and cranny of the city it didn't take him long to reach the café. he entered the café, "good day sir, welco-," of course he knew why she paused, it was the way he looked, filthy, was the word to describe him so before he was kicked out, he took out the ticket and waved it to her. "I have a ticket." Of course, she didn't buy it, she snatched the ticket and scrutinized it ever so thoroughly to such an extent she had to sniff it, "I guess it's the real thing, alright, come with me."

She took him to the farthest end of the room and showed him to a capsule, "I think this is far enough, cough cough, I mean here is your capsule. Do you know how to log in or should I hand you the manual?" thanks to his billboard continuously broadcasting news about capsules since their release, he knew a lot about them so he just nodded since he couldn't muster the strength to speak due to the excitement and anticipation. "Well in that case, happy hunting," with that she left in a kind of a hurry probably to contact her manager. After entering the capsule, he took a few deep breaths to calm down and the bath tub shape of the capsule helped. After a few seconds he was ready and he said "Log In."