New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Alexander lay in his gaming pod for a while, pondering what his next step should be. If the end was coming, and it was inevitable, as Khalor said, or should he call him David?

What should he be doing next? He had never been in an end of the world.

What does one do to prepare for that? Should he go to the market and buy out all the toilet paper?

Or should he stock up on food? Where were the guides to surviving an apocalypse when you needed them?

He eventually got up from his pod, nature calling on him. He went to the bathroom and used that time to think some more.

After doing his business, he cleaned himself up a little and took a shower. The hot water on his head cleared up his thoughts a bit and let him think more rationally.

'I can't just go around saying the end is coming. They would slam me in a nuthouse. But I need to do something,' he thought, letting the water dribble over his head and shoulders.

With the water falling over him, his mind began churning out plan after plan, setting an outline for what to do in the next three years.

If what he had heard from the conversation between Constantine and David was true, then that was the time he had to prepare. The next thing he decided was to start physical training outside the game.

If the end was coming to this world, then being the strongest in the game wouldn't be half as useful as being fit out of it. He thought of plan after plan until he ran out of hot water.

The cold water on his body brought him back to reality, and he closed the shower. His eyes were clear as the ocean, and his mind was now serene, all traces of worry and panic from earlier now gone.

When he got out of the shower, he picked up his phone, wanting to check the time. He saw he had a message on it.

The messenger was a blocked number, and he could guess who it came from. When he opened it, his face contorted into an awkward smile.

'His ability to know what comes next is creepy,' Alexander thought.

The message contained a brief text message, followed by a lot of information.

The text message said only this.

'Whatever you decide to do next, you will need funds. The coming years will give you time to build capital on your own, but it won't be enough.'

'To help you, I put here some companies you can invest in that will rise in the stock market in the next few months, if you want rapid cash. The next list is one of the companies with slower rises, but better income over the next two years.'

'Put some money on both fronts, as you will need it to complete any plan you get. We may not think the same way, but I know you won't stay idle. Good luck.'

Followed after that by two lists. One of company names with percentile numbers next to it, and a limit on how much time to leave money in them.

The next was filled with well-established companies, and percentile numbers stretched over the next two years. This was all very detailed information that would make any stockbroker crazy.

Alexander smiled.

The next thing he did was check his bank account. Lo-and-behold, he was richer by a million dollars.

He contacted his bank, asking for an appointment with an investment agent, to which the bank gladly obliged. A new millionaire would surely invest a lot of their new money, and that made him a gold mine to them.

They gave him an appointment the same day, and he invested most of the money he had made into many companies, in batches of a hundred thousand dollars.

He kept one such sum of money for himself, so he could live the next few months without depending on dividends.

The investment agent tried to point him to other companies than the ones he wanted to invest in, but Alexander adamantly refused.

After all this, he walked to a nearby gym. His next step was to set himself up with a personal trainer and a schedule to respect.

This was going to be tedious for him, since he had never worked out a day in his life, but it was necessary.

He explained what kind of fitness he was looking for to the trainer, which looked at him weirdly, when he mentioned training for the end of the world, but he complied anyway.

Following that, he chose to treat himself to a delightful meal, since it had been a very long time since he enjoyed good food. He called in a reservation at a pleasant restaurant, but realized he was making a mistake.

He looked at his reflection in a shop window, and saw that he was dressed like a pauper.

'I can't go to a chic restaurant dressed like this,' he thought.

So he pulled out his phone and looked for a nearby classy clothes boutique. It didn't take him long to reach it, since he lived in downtown Montreal.

He barely browsed around before a clerk came to him, looking at him haughtily. And after an awkward conversation, where Alexander had to explain what he was looking for and insist he had the means to pay, the clerk finally served him.

The rest of his evening went smoothly. He enjoyed his scrumptious meal before going back home.

Once there, he looked at himself in a mirror, and for a split second, he thought he could see his character looking back at him. The illusion rapidly dispelled when he blinked.

Alexander went to bed early that night, since he would start having big days from tomorrow on. With playing the game at the center of his day, and all the other activities after, he would become quite busy.

As he lay in bed, looking at his ceiling, a single thought crossed his mind.

'I can't let whatever happened in that vision happen again. I must be ready!'

And that was all he could think of, as he fell asleep.