Nero didn’t know if he should risk it. If he didn’t take off the glasses, all would be safe. He could stay in the virtual reality world forever, where it was always sunny, it never rained, and fantasy was reality.
But if he did take off the glasses, he’d know the truth. He’d know where he really lived, what he kept running into that gave his feet pain, he might even stop getting his constant headaches.
But he was scared. Scared of what he’d find.
Right now in his virtual world, he was at an art gallery, admiring all the glimmering NFT’s that creator’s had made. Then his view started to glitch, and a brown and white fur texture kept moving in and out of his view.
Woah, hey! He backed his character up and saw a dog standing up on it’s two back legs. It had on pants and a purple shirt that read ‘I’M GONNA TEACH YOU ALIVE’ with a teacher’s apple at the bottom. The dogs face had big, derpy eyes bulging out the side of its face and a tongue lolling out the left side of its mouth.
“Oh, sorry. Was I in your way bud?”
Nero could feel himself smiling in the real world. “Yeah, it’s fine though.”
“Good.” The lady laughed. Nero immediately liked her laugh. “My name’s Athena. My mother built this gallery.”
“Really?” Nero couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah!” Athena yelled back. “My mother uses this gallery to teach her art students and show them the different types of art they can make. I’m wearing a free NFT shirt she earned from a teacher-conference. What a corny joke right?”
Nero re-read the phrase on the shirt and chuckled. “I like the joke. The apple’s pretty plain though.”
“What? Oh, the apple on the shirt?” asked Athena. Nero figured she must have third-personed and looked at the apple in more depth.
“I mean, they could’ve given the apple some shadowing. A black circle at the bottom of it to make it look like it’s on the ground or a slither or maroon on the other side of the shine mark to emphasise that there’s a light source. Y’know?”
“Sorry… I don’t.” Athena replied. “I don’t know that much about art. It sounds like you do though!”
Nero felt himself smile again. Two smiles in one day!? That must have been a world record for him.
Then he tried something he had never done before.
“We could meet at a real art gallery sometime… y’know, out of this social platform…”
And that’s how Nero met Athena.
Check out my NFT's at: https://ab2.gallery/address/VFJRN2LQ3F6I65YKQIMF6ULSYVF3B5HJRNLOQMTYTBNPJQNSYJANGFL6KU
thanks for reading! :)
