Two seconds later I was in Allsium.“I'm back, guys," I said excitedly, as if it was the first time I had ever logged on. Did you miss me?“No way, Gunner”san. Has Mom changed your diapers yet?Zen was kind of obnoxious, but I had to put up with him. He was one of the people I shared life with on Allsium since I logged on two years ago. You couldn't access the Allsium worlds freely until you were sixteen, but you could go to school on virtual Earth, something I had never done because my mother was old”fashioned, but which millions of people took advantage of because it was free.Zen, like me, was one of the many geeks who spent almost twenty”four hours a day hooked on Allsium. He told me that the good stuff started from virtual coming of age and claimed that soon the real world would be invaded by Allsium. That was similar to what the Allsionists were saying, a new social and virtual movement that was gaining many followers in both worlds.For the Allsionists the real world was a mere

From now on they would be forced to live forever in reality.I had never seen two people shot to death before and it was hard to react, even though they were virtual lives. So much for their adventure; there would be no more virtual shopping for them, nor many of the huge facilities that Allsium provided.By now they would have been in their respective homes cursing the wretched Italian who had stitched them up with bullets and returned them to their dark existence. Although that didn't save the fact that both Zen and I were very surprised to see that Greek had kept an ace up his sleeve in the form of a Beretta.“What are you fools standing there like passive stares? “said Greek as he approached the leader to strip him of all his belongings. Search the other one before they come back with more people. Come on, dammit! “He let out a big laugh. This idiot had a hotel room of his own on him. We've won the lottery, ragazzi!I didn't even know how to respond to that. It was great news, of

“We should think about how to get to the city without putting ourselves in danger," said Zen. The Guild Fountain comes next. The first step is to get to our hotel room, so we can return to virtual Earth whenever we want, in case we need to buy something or disconnect from this gray world.“The samurai is right," Greek agreed. It is a priority to get to the hotel and get into our room. Then we'll have time to prepare for the initiation of the path. By the way, have you decided what to do?“There are many paths to choose from," I said. Too many to be clear. I think one of us would have to choose the Path of Frost, to give us protection.“And why not the Path of the Flame? “asked Greek.“You should know, my dear spaghetti," Zen nodded, "that the Path of Frost is as offensive as it is defensive. Something the Path of Flame can also do, but with less defensive power. You can raise a wall of fire, but no one will be able to cross a wall of ice.“Unless he has a lot of extra strength and kno

“You're not going to run away, are you? “Greek was one of those who always went forward, I guessed that's why he had the whole Italian mafia chasing him in real life.“We have come to Allsium to be brave and transfer our powers to real life when the time is right," he explained. Whatever happens, I will not run away, not without first accomplishing my goals, but I will not hold it against you if you go back to Zen and Dagon to save your own skin, Vinci.“I won't run away either. “I wasn't sure, but after what Greek had said at that moment, I felt that running away would be postponing the inevitable. They were going to pursue us to the end, and if they did, we would get Dagon and Zen in trouble as well. We had to put an end to this matter as soon as possible. I'll see you later, Greek. Be careful, okay?We took a deep breath and Greek separated, walking in the direction of the stalls. I was alone and I had the Beretta in my personal inventory, so I moved forward determined, with one ey

It was funny how quickly your eyes got used to the ash gray of Initium. Our gaze was now lost in the immensity of the colors of a room whose floor, pure white, blinded us from how shiny it was. The furniture was gilt and the crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling sparkled with splendor. It could be said that that room exuded good taste and had a certain baroque air, to the Palace of Versailles. A place that I was able to visit in the virtual Earth of Allsium thanks to the instantaneous and cheapness of the trip. In reality it would have been impossible to do so."Damn, what a hurt!" Greek yelled. It was the only thing I could understand of all that he was saying out loud in Italian.Zen was treating him with normal medicine. There was no way I was going to spend the four priests that the system had given us when we became illegal. A single one of them would have immediately healed Greek's wound, but he himself was not going to waste it. Let alone being in our hotel room, as in