“Video games. Everyone plays them for different reasons. You know, like for chilling out or just plain fun. Or if your like me it’s because you want to escape reality. Because you know, in the real world, I don’t have any friends. Sounds sad I know, but it's ok because I enjoy my own company. Okay it’s sad! It’s just that, I find it so much easier to talk to NPCs, then I do talking to real people. Man, that sounds so lame! Anyway, as you can probably guess, I’m a complete game nerd. I literally own every games console ever created, and when they announced the V.R. Headset, I had a gamer orgasm. I know that’s more of a boys thing to say, but that’s what it felt like. Don’t Judge Me!! But to be honest, right now, I wish I’d never bought the damn thing.”
Hour Zero:
Sunset Shimmer carefully performed the setup procedure one last time, making absolutely sure that everything was perfect.
“Okay, all the software is setup, everything’s connected, we’re good to go.” She said excitedly. Then she blushed slightly.
“It is a bit embarrassing using these again at my age.” She said, looking down at the pack of diapers lying next to her bed. Then she blushed even deeper, thinking about the one that was currently hidden by her skirt.
“Besides, I’m sure I’m not going to be the only one. There will be a lot of people spending a long time playing this game too.” She reasoned with herself.
“Come to think of it, everyone else is probably going to be doing the same thing, because it’s launch day.”
With that thought, her embarrassment faded away. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was almost time. Now it was finally the moment she had been waiting for, time to start the game, and enter a whole knew, virtual world. She placed the Virtual Reality Headgear carefully on her head, laid down on her bed, got as comfortable as possible, and closed her eyes, giggling with excitement.
“I feel like a little kid at christmas.” she said happily.
“Link Start!” She Announced.
Through a dream like sensation, Sunset could feel her mind leaving her body behind, and entering the virtual world. She opened her eyes, and looked around. She was now standing in what looked like a medieval city, much like the ones she’d seen in many fantasy animes, or JRPGs. In front of her, stood two tall Crystal Obelisks, and hanging between them, was a huge banner, which read, WELCOME TO THE TOWN OF BEGINNINGS. Sunset gave a wide smile.
“Oh, I am beyond welcomed.” She said happily.
Without hesitation, Sunset ran off to explore the town. The first thing she came across, was a window of a virtual cafe, and she stopped to admire the reflection of the Virtual Avatar that she created for herself. The mirror image staring back at her, had short red hair, was wearing black leather boots, long black stockings, a short black skirt, a simple white tank top, and had brown leather armor covering the front of her torso. She struck a pose like a model, and blew herself a kiss.
“Hey good looking, you busy later?” She said to her reflection. Then she laughed. “I’m such a dork!” She said.
It was then that Sunset took a closer look at her reflection, and noticed just how big her Avatar’s chest really was, causing her to blush.
“Maybe I overdid it in the boob department.” She said. “I mean I did base this Avatar on Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7. Maybe I should get moving before… “
“Hey babe!”
“Before that happens.” Sunset groaned, with a deadpan look.
Sunset turned around, to see two average looking guys, one taller than the other.
“Why don’t’ cha form a party with us?” Said the taller one.
The shorter one placed his arm around Sunset’s waist. “It’s way more fun when you play with friends.” He said in what he believed was a charismatic voice.
On the inside, Sunset was cringing. “Ew, pervert alert!”
Then she thought of the oldest trick in the book.
“Ok,” she said aloud in the most innocent voice she could muster. “I’ll play with you guys, as long as you don’t have a problem with me being a dude. That’s no problem right?”
The two guys looked at her in shock, and made a hasty retreat. As they ran away, Sunset could hear what they were shouting to each other.
“Man, we should have known it was a trap!”
“Yeah, no girl in their right mind would choose an Avatar like that!”
Sunset snickered to herself. “Worked like a charm.” She said with a satisfied smile. “Well now that that unpleasantness is dealt with, I better check and see what gear I’ve got.”
Sunset then swiped her hand through the air in front of her, and a floating interactive menu appeared. She used her finger to scroll down the menu, and pressed the icon saying [Inventory]. In the new menu, she saw four items, a Sword, a Shield, a Spear, and a Dagger. Sunset thought for a moment, and decided to use the classic Sword and Shield technique.
“The game has only just started so let’s keep it simple for now.” She said to herself.
Once her chosen items had been equipped, Sunset then set out to explore her new environment, and find some weak enemies to train against. For the rest of the day, Sunset spent her time out on the grassy plains outside the town, fighting and killing Boars. Just as she struck down yet another Boar, she overhears two other players.
“Whoa! Nice kill there bro. That pig never saw that one coming.”
“Damn right there bro. Were gonna totally own this game!”
“Too right bro!”
“Bro fist, bro!”
“You got it bro!”
The two players fist bumped each other and headed off, laughing loudly.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Ok, that was weird. Could they have broadcast any clearer how close they are?” She said.
“Stil, though, I bet it would be nice to have a friend I was that close with to play this game with.” She thought to herself with a sigh.
Sunset then checked the time on the clock above her health bar, and decided it was time to logout before it got much later.
“I just hope when i wake up that i’m not wet.” She thought with a grimace. “Not looking forward to that.”
She opened her menu, and scrolled down to find the log out icon. But to her surprise, there was only a blank rectangle where the logout icon should have been.
“That’s weird, it should be right here” She thought.
She scrolled back to the top of the menu and then scrolled back down slowly, thinking maybe she had missed it. When she still couldn’t find it, she thought that it may be a glitch, so she decided to try to contact the Game Master for help. But as soon as she tried to make the call, her screen said (Error). Sunset then presumed that she’s not the only one experiencing this problem.
“It must be a Glitch. I mean it is launch day, there are bound to be problems.” She said to herself.
Just then, she heard what sounded like a large bell ringing in the distance, and suddenly she found herself being transported back to the central plaza. She looked around and saw she was surrounded by what looked like a sea of player Avatars, probably every player in the game. She could hear everyone talking to each other, and it seemed like they were all asking basically the same questions, What was going on?, Why can’t we log out?.
Before Sunset could say a word, a voice in the crowd shouted.
“Hey, look at the sky!”
Sunset looked up and saw what looked like a red shape in the sky, she squinted her eyes to see it more clearly, and read the word (Warning!.) Then the whole sky turned a terrifying Scarlet as hundreds more (Warning!) Signs covered the sky like a huge blood red lattice. Almost immediately a blood like substance began to leak down and coalesce above the twin obelisks, finally forming into a giant figure in Scarlet robes with a gooden trim.
Sunset could only stare in shock and awe. “Isn’t that the Game Master? but why can’t we see his face?” She thought.
The hooded figure began to speak, and all the gathered players fell silent.
“Attention gamers of my world. I bid you all welcome. My name is Akihiko Kayaba.”
Sunset was stunned. “The game creator? Why is he here?.” She thought.
“As I am sure you all have noticed, an item is missing from your menus, the log out icon.” Said Kayaba. “Allow me to assure you that this is not a glitch or a defect. This is part of the games original design. I repeat, this is how the game was designed.”
“No log out?! Why?!” Shouted a voice from the crowd.
“‘Why?’ you ask? Simple.” Continued Kayaba. “I wanted to create a World where life and death truly matter. You see, if you attempt to remove the headgear, or if your health bar drops to zero, you will immediately be deleted from both Aincrad and the real world. Behold.”
He waved his arm and dozens of virtual screens appeared throughout the plaza, showing feeds from news networks from all over the world.
“As of now, there are 247 less players in SAO than when the game began. The families of these 247 did not heed my warning about shutting down or removing the VR Headgear and this is the result.”
Sunset looked from screen to screen with horror as the news feeds relaid stories of the tragedies that were unfolding in the real world.
“Now,” Continued Kayaba, “To mark the beginning of this event, I have sent you all an item. Please look in your (Inventory).”
Sunset opened her menu and looked at her (Inventory), she saw there was indeed a new item. She then opened the inventory and selected the received item. The item that appeared in her hand was a small hand mirror. Sunset was confused. But then, suddenly, the entire plaza lit up with a shimmering blue light. Once the light died down, Sunset was even more confused. What was that all about?
Then Sunset heard two boys shouting at each other, “Your not a girl!”
“Your not seventeen!”
Sunset looked around and noticed that everyone around her suddenly looked different. Then she looked back at the mirror in her hand and she gripped it so tightly it almost broke.
“That’s… That’s me! The real me!” She thought in utter shock.
Before she could attempt to process what just happened, Akihiko Kayaba continued.
“Now, before I depart, I have one last thing to tell you. Your five senses will be available to you, this world is just as real as the one you all came from. And finally, in order for you to leave this world, you must clear the game. To do this, you must make your way threw all the floors of Aincrad, and defeat the Boss on each floor to unlock the next. Make it all the way to Floor 100 and defeat the Boss, and you will have cleared the game. I bid you good luck and farewell.”
With that announcement, his body begins to glitch before he vanished, and the sky returned to its original twilight glow.
For a few moments, everything was still and silent.
And then… “OH, SHIT, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”
There was chaos. Everyone was screaming and running in panic.
Sunset didn’t scream or run. She just fell to her knees.
“It’s just a game.” She whispered. “It’s just a game.”
With tears in her eyes, she threw back her head and screamed in anguish.
“IT’S JUST A FUCKING GAME!!!”
To Be Continued...