You're safe with me | Schlattbur/Schlatt x Wilbur | smplive

Chapter 1

    It felt like a breath of fresh air every time I heard the familiar hum of my vr gear starting up. It was like a soft fan, that drifted summer breeze across my smooth skin, and ruffled my dark brown voluminous hair like a wave of ocean water, only hinting at a quiet burn forming in my milky chocolate toned eyes. Everything was at peace when I slipped the headset over my skull, and the attached earpieces slipped into their spots like they were meant to be a part of me.

   Just for a second in my daze of awe, I blinked, but when I opened my eyes again the first thing presented in front of me was a radiantly white infinity room with a single piece of furniture. A dark brown leather coach that I'd seen millions of times before, that was polished to perfection, and never weathered over the many years it'd been in that same spot. When I saw the couch, I knew what to do from there. It was simple, and fairly self explanatory. I sat down.

    That's when the white faded into a blend of primarily neutral colors, and a mix of textures. Pale gray drywall formed a tall box, with dips and depth in the ceiling. Dim caramel hued hardwood flooring stretched out like a carpet unraveling under my feet. A chandelier made of clear pendalogues, and dark gray mental attached itself to my ceiling, lighting up the whole room. A desk made of sky blue stained glass sat in front of me, with a vase holding a lily in the center of it, and a few fantasy and mystery books scattered across it. The once blank walls plotted pictures, and paintings, around certain spots. I smiled at the sight of the painting of me selling bread at the market with Traves. It was a gift I got when I reached level 50. That was so long ago, I wouldn't even remember getting anything if I didn't love the painting so much. And finally, I saw a holographic screen form below me, and my virtual guitar materialize, leaning against a one seater chair, made of slightly lighter stained leather than the one I was on now. The holographic screen had a plethora of games which I had purchased, and either nealy mastered, or completely failed at, but only one caught my eye. Villages, Castles, and Dungeons: Medieval Multiplayer Simulation. It was my second home. My favorite game. My job. My friends. My life. How I literally made a sustainable amount of money. The only concerning thing was a warning:
⚠️ USE OF IMMERSIVE PAIN IS INCLUDED. MUST BE 18+ TO PLAY⚠️

    Ah, yes, the downside to a game with few rules and little to no censorship. The possibility of having to be hospitalized. From a game. I guess that's at least the worst that could happen though. Vcd (Villages, Castles, and Dungeons) only goes so far, until the game closes itself, and calls for medical attention. And since there's a warning, and the majority enjoys the gameplay, the creators of vcd haven't been sued. Yet.

     I still wasn't going to take the chance of dying though. I liked to play it safe, and stay in the village as much as I could. I made friends, and got to know the locals. I even text some of them in my spare time. Traves was my closest friend, but I hung out with a lot of other people too. I know Ted who sells milk down at a stand by the dairy parlor next to me, and Ty who's always grabbing supplies for his 'boss.' No one really knows who his boss is, but everyone knows about his famous cryptocurrency, SchlattCoin, and his highly successful business of few employees, Schlatt and Co. Because of his name choices, people call him Schlatt, though no one knows his real name, and he's feared by most players.

    Once, a player going by the name of Slimecicle challenged him by yelling profanities at a tall hill where no one had dared to climb, as it was told that's where the great Schlatt lived. In return, an apple was thrown from the hill, and in a moment of stupidity, Slime took a bite of the apple. Within a minute, he fell to the floor, and his game auto quit. No one had dared to approach the hill since.

    Many people, myself included, have tried to ask questions about Schlatt through Ty, but he always responds vaguely, or with nothing at all. For some reason, I had this feeling that it was because Schlatt...or whatever his name really is, wasn't really what we were talking him up to be. He's just a normal player like all of us anyways. He just happened to code a currency that gained popularity, and surrounds himself in mystery, and..apples. It was none of my business anyways. I'll let people who don't value their lives do the research, while I bake bread, and talk with my friends. I'm thinking too much into it, when I should be playing the game and not be late to my shift. So I tapped vcd to select it, then confirmed my selection. This was it. Another day in the life of Wilbur Soot, the virtual baker of Hollyhock Village of the Water Kingdom in a popular VR game that makes up real lives.