Prologue
The loud thud of his trainers hitting the forest trail reverberated throughout the vast open space. With its blanket of dead leaves, the ground felt slightly squidgy under his feet. Tylos loved running through woodland more than anything else. Nothing sounded better to him than whistling birds hiding in the treetops, the cry of an owl calling in the deepest and darkest parts of the woods, or the odd knock of a woodpecker echoing on the tree trunks like an invisible Ping-Pong ball. Being there was a unique and solitary experience combined with a broad sense of feeling one-and-only with Mother Nature. With all his five senses indeed awoken, Tylos perceived a sudden change ahead of him. Paler shades of green and a much brighter light announced a clearing. However, the differences were not only bound to the scenery. He was hearing strange sounds. The birds, who were chanting much louder, had turned into a more exotic kind. He was now sure about another thing: there were also monkeys in those trees! Tylos jumped through a wall of thick foliage obstructing the path. Getting his balance back after falling safely on his two feet, he noticed that the vegetation had changed into a tropical jungle. Despite these drastic transformations, it was nothing compared with what happened next. A helicopter hovering above this rainforest canopy produced an unmistakable rotating wave, which was soon overcome by the even louder sound of a massive explosion. Tylos looked immediately towards the direction of the blast on his left side, and a vast curtain of flames appeared before his astounded eyes. He ran as fast as he could to avoid being blown up by the first detonation just as another salvo of napalm bombs landed but, this time, on the opposite side of the path. His heart in his mouth, he ran like there was no tomorrow. He could now clearly hear the distinctive sound of bullets whizzing past him just by a few inches. He kept his head down amidst the full-scale war that was suddenly waging around him. After another missile exploded a whisker away from him, he crossed a thick cloud of smoke that lingered for a while in a dreamlike and eerie fashion. Running through the grey patch, he began suddenly to hear human voices appearing almost from nowhere and everywhere and shouting in a strong American accent, ‘come on dude! You can do it. The finish line is just a couple of miles ahead...’
The dissipating smoke screen gave way to yet another utterly unanticipated scene. Tylos found himself running amongst dozens of other joggers through the well-defined track of a large city park. He could not believe his eyes. Hundreds of bystanders on both sides were cheering and waving at them. Surrounding Skyscrapers added another notch to this already incredibly overwhelming scene. Tylos felt his heart pounding louder and louder in his ribcage. Ahead of him, a denser crowd was becoming noticeably more excited. As soon as he reached this frenzied mob, the tree-lined park lane became a proper city street with even more punters on either side. Propelled by the contagious will of all the other runners, Tylos clenched his fists and ploughed through the physical and emotional strain he was now experiencing, focusing on what was now clearly visible just a few hundred yards ahead of him: the finish line. Two young women coming from behind, looking like identical twins with short blond hair and striking blue eyes, unexpectedly appeared on his left side. Despite living in an era where gender equality was an inherent part of society, chauvinistic male instincts had not yet disappeared when it came to such things as sporting events. Armed with adrenaline and testosterone, the young man used all his remaining strength to keep the competition at bay. Unfortunately for him, these two girls were not made of sugar and spice. They both lunged forward in their final sprint mode and soon managed to pass him by a full stride. He felt as though his lungs were on fire and was ready to drop the chase when a voice in his head told him, ‘you have bags of energy left in your muscles... Forget about your lungs, focus on your legs and let them do the work for you!’
Listening to the voice, Tylos produced an outstanding effort and managed to close the gap between the twins and him. Not yet satisfied with this great effort, he dug deep within himself and finally managed to overtake them at high speed within the last ten yards of the race. He stormed through the finish line under the huge banner announcing the end of the New York Marathon.
As Tylos stopped running, breathing heavily, everything around him suddenly became white and bold writing appeared before his eyes: YOUR TIME IS 117 .BEATS AND 88 CENTIBEATS – YOU ARE THE TWELVE MILLION TWO-HUNDRED & TWENTY-EIGHTH FASTEST RUNNER ON THE DREAM & RUN VIRTUAL GAME VERSION 3.4. YOU HAVE IMPROVED YOUR RECORD BY 9 .BEATS AND 21 CENTIBEATS... WELL DONE!
Tylos removed his virtual sensing goggles and stepped off the treadmill. Slowly walking towards the exit at the back of the busy gym room, he bumped into his local fitness master who asked him how well he had performed, ’do, kiel bona vi estis hodiau, junulo?’
Using the same Esperanto language, Tylos responded, ’mi plibonigis mian tempon de preskau dek plena .beats!’, which meant: ‘I have improved my time by almost ten full .beats!’
