Adam Sterling was a pitiful young man, Despite his twenty-one years he was as gangly as any thirteen year old, Standing at six foot and eight inches tall while only weighing one hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet. To make matters worse his bones were so brittle that the first time he tried to play football as a child one of the other kids shattered his rib cage, This was only made worse for him as he wanted nothing more than to be like the other kids, to go out and be reckless, To enjoy his life while he had some freedom.

  Despite his attempts to strengthen his body through exercise and vitamins nothing worked, if anything they made his condition worse so he soon began to fall into a state of depression at only ten years old Until he found the world of MMORPG's.

  The fantastic feeling that came from singlehandedly killing monsters that others struggled with made him feel great Until he rose to a point in every game where nothing could last against him long enough to make him feel like he was going to die. He then tried other Fantasy type RPG's only to find that while they were great it gave him a very little sense of accomplishment.

  At the age of 15, Adam had tried to accept his fate but it seemed impossible as he entered high school, Despite his kind nature it was hard for him to make friends as most in the rural town he lived in were into things such as Hunting, Hiking, Football and so on. So he only found himself more outcast than ever before, That is until he meets his closest friends, Two sisters, who were a part of an LARP community as well as gamers. When they noticed that during lunch and breaks that rather than talking on his phone or playing around like the others he was either reading fantasy novels or playing on his PSP.

  And after a while of getting to know each other, they invited him to join them one day when they went to LARP, Having seen videos of the event he gladly accepted and went with them. And things were great after this for a time, learning so much from all of the other LARPers.

  His favorites were William Jones, a grizzled old war veteran who used larping as a way to teach others how to defend themselves and how to swiftly take down an opponent, And then his wife Clarice who gladly taught Adam how to do leatherworking, a skill he quickly fell in love with, going as far as to take commissions to help pay for his own equipment. However, all good things must come to an end.

  And for Adam, it was three months to be exact until he was banned from participating when it was noticed that almost every time he was hit that even with the padded weapons something would break or bruise severely. It was a matter of Insurance for the community. This hurt him worse than anything else, But he had no other choice but to accept this and go back to his books and games.

  As word spread about the fragile boy people began to avoid him like the plague, Women would refuse to date him as they were scared that they would break his hip if they were to have sex, Men refused to associate with him as no one wanted to be around the nerdy kid who could break his jaw just by sneezing.

  When Adam graduated he was sad to see his two friends move away to join college but he knew it was the best thing, As his family couldn't afford to send him to college he went to find work a few towns over, Luckily landing a job as a dog walker and house sitter for a rich couple in their fifties who were spending some time abroad to travel Europe.

  But things took a turn for the worst, As one night when Adam was going up the stairs to find the hyper little german shepherd puppy he was watching. The pup pounced on him and knocked him down the stairs, That was the last day he would ever walk, He had broken both of his arms as he held the puppy to keep it safe and had broken his spine, Not to the degree that he would die but he was unable to move his legs. He was found the next morning by the daughter of the couple and was rushed to the hospital.

  The family was sorry for the accident and gave him a massive settlement as they knew that the young man would never be able to walk again and wanted to help him as much as they could, And so three years were spent with Adam repeating the same routine as he had when he was ten, Reading books, playing games, sleeping, And repeating. It was when he was on the verge of suicide that an announcement was made that shook the world, The world's first Virtual Reality game had been made.

  The creator showed footage recorded of the now finished product that had been kept from the world for almost ten years, He then went on to explain that the way the game worked was like that of a traditional MMORPG, But with a major distinction. Absolute immersion. Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, Sound. He even said that pain could be felt if the user turned the setting on, Showing that even with an in-game death the user would be forced unconscious but would wake up fine.

  They then showed The Cradle, An advanced system that was already having requests thrown at it by medical and military alike. It was a large vat that was filled with a gel that replicated the Amniotic Fluid that a fetus would be in. It would allow the user to stay submerged in the game for months if they wished , The purpose of the gel was to allow the users to float freely as possible, during the game the user's body would move in time with the movements of the character in the game in slow motion.

  This was a feature added to ensure that the user's body does not atrophy after extended periods of time. And then the primary piece was that of the mask, A large helmet that went over the user's face and supplied them air and served to pull their consciousness into the game world.

  Even while watching the video release Adam rushed to buy his own, It cost a staggering twenty-five thousand dollars with an additional quarterly fee of fifteen thousand dollars as the gel had to be replaced every three months on top of the connection fee. With Adam's current financial state he could buy the cradle and afford one year of gel and connection fees before he was broke.

  Granted for most people his age it was nothing to shell out this kind of money, in recent years due to a major overhaul by their newest president the united states reverted to a truly equal country, no outsourcing jobs, low crime rates, the minimum wage had sky rocketed and the cost of living had gone down, leaving many with more money than they would need so long as they kept working, for Adam this was a struggle as no one wanted a workers comp suit waiting to happen.

  He was about to give up the thought until another video popped up stating that in addition to the massive amount of features the game included, There would be an auction house in the game which could be linked to one's bank account to allow the sale or purchase of in-game items or currency from other players!

  This settled it for Adam and he ordered his unit and arranged for it to be installed in his room in his parent's house just hours before launch which was only three months at the time of the announcements. He read up as much as he could about the game but everything except the basics was left as a mystery.

  Even going as far as to have a term in the user agreement stating that sharing any information about the game OUTSIDE of the game was terms for an immediate and permanent ban. Thus the only way to share information was through word of mouth, which due to the price of the game was impossible for most, And then there was mention of an Information Brokers guild, stating that anyone could sell their information to the guild in addition to a percent of the cost paid to view the information.

  As such all that the public was allowed to know was that the game offered nearly unlimited combat professions, The ability to take up work professions to make items assist in the players pursuits, Magic, An Open World, Unlimited PVP to heighten the immersion in the sense of worrying whether the priest you invited to your party would let you die just to take your gear. And finally, The Rebirth system Which only said Death Is Only The Beginning.

  And so the only thing Adam could do was wait, It seemed like ages but the day finally came and as he watched the men installing The Cradle he could only tremble in anticipation, Soon he would walk again, And when he did he would never stop.

  As they told him it would take a few hours to install he began reading through the beginners guide

  Spoiler

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  As Adam finished reading the basics the installation team finished and gave him the ok to begin preparations to start the game when it launches in a few hours.

  He took a deep breath as he moved himself to the edge of The Cradle, Having no ability to walk or climb Adam made the installers cut a hole into the floor and place the cradle itself in the basement with the top of the cradle coming to be even with his wheelchair, He had followed the instructions and bathed thoroughly before hand and was now in only a pair of white swimming trunks which came with the system and had the Rebirth Online catchphrase "Death Is Only The Beginning" on the right leg along with a black tribal sun.

  He then took a breath before he heaved himself up onto the edge of the vat and slowly slid inside, It was an odd feeling, the gel was kept warm and it was like sliding into a bowl of warm jello, He slid the lid on and locked it in place before pulling on the helmet, He then took a deep breath as he pressed the power switch on the inside which began to fill the rest of the vat with gel from a reserve tank, He was soon floating in the clear gel and sighed, taking a few more breaths to make sure the air was properly being delivered to the inside of the helmet and that no gel was leaking inside. He then nodded to himself and closed his eyes. "System Start!" he shouted to activate the cradle, The systems blue check lights began to turn on, soon causing the basement to glow with the bright blue light. And with that, the world went black