Note from author: Sorry for the weird layout, I just copied and pasted from my Google Docs. But, please enjoy my first (non FanFic) creation!
Sword Horizon
Chapter One:
How to Kill a System
As the doors close on a normal, starless night at the International Academy of Technology and Science, a weary redhead exits the central offices. Driven to get home, the only thing that stops her is her phone ringing. Answering her phone she hears the familiar light voice of her mother, as always, in constant worry for her only child.
"Kaori, sweetie, how are your classes going? Are you getting enough to eat?! Is the food you're eating healthy?"
A little shocked by the barrage of questions from her mother, Kaori responded a little haggardly, " Mom, my classes are long and tiring. The food I get with my meal plan seems healthy enough, but with what I have seen in the kitchen, I am not sure." She sighed tiredly.
"Oh, you must be tired. You always got tired after school, so I'll let you go. Get some rest and be safe, sweetie. I love you."
"Love you, too, mom."
After a long day of AP Coding and Advanced Kendo, Kaori knew her heavy book bag showed evidence of the long night to follow as she tossed her bag onto her bed.
Sitting down with a low moan of fatigue,
Kaori relaxed into her leather rolling computer chair and gathered her thoughts of all she had learned throughout the day. She closed her eyes and visualised [Add codding lesson info and Kendo moves] as she turned on her computer.
A sudden and familiar ping rung from her speakers.A new email was in her inbox.
Looking at the sender name, it was from Sword Horizon Incorporated, she hadn't played that game in a year or so... The subject: We Can Show You A Whole New World, Shining, Shimmering, UPDATED!
Kaori couldn't help shaking her head with grin. #FavChilhoodMovie, lol, she thought as she opened the email. Scanning the document, Kaori was shocked to read about this "Shining, Shimmering, UPDATED" information.
The email read:
Hello Players!
We at S. H. Inc are very sorry for the lack in game updates since the game's release two years ago. We would like to welcome everyone back for the first ever game update.
In this update:
NCP's can now respond like actual players, we may even have some of our employees playing and making S H Inc. a more personal company to invest in;
Higher levels and stronger bosses to increase your skills against
You can create more meaningful relationships with NPC's and other players with the advanced interaction options
And much more!
CAUTION! ALL PLAYERS MUST DELETE ALL PREVIOUS GAME FILES! THE UPDATE WILL NOT FUNCTION WITH OLDER FILES! ALL OLDER FILES WILL CORRUPT THE WHOLE GAME! PLEASE DELETE ALL OLDER FILES AND CREATE A NEW CHARACTER PROFILE! (New Creation options also available!)
The game will launch today at 4 pm EST. Hope to see you there!
Yours truly,
Hiao Kotuwa
CEO of Sword Horizon Inc.
Wow! A whole game update?! It took them years just to make the game and now two years later they have a whole game update? "I got to see how this turns out. A whole system update might as well be a whole new game in general," Kaori said, looking at the clock. 3:55 then looked to her bag of homework for the evening. That will take me all night...looking back at the clock and then her computer screen...this will only take 15 minutes.
Kaori shrugged her shoulders, began running the Sword Horizon application, and grabbed her NEURO-GEAR goggles. "Eh, why not. I'm number one in all my classes, I deserve a break," she said as she moved her bag out of the way and laid down on her dorm room bed.
"NEURO-GOGGLES on! Character files, DELETE ALL."
Are you sure?
"Yes."
Would you like to create a new file?
"Yes."
In a flurry of lights, Kaori's mind was flung through a tunnel of digital colors into a square room of mirrors.
What is your archetype?
'Knight," Kaori said as she continued customizing her avatar, making it look like her. Tall, athletic, long and dark burgundy hair, blue eyes, and lightly tan skin. Satisfied with her appearance, she tapped the finish icon and was again sent through a tunnel a blazing colors.
As the shimmering light faded, Kaori looked around at her surroundings. Large mountains not far into the distance, a lush green field of varying flowers, and soft flowing stream of crystal clear water. A light breeze twirled around her, the smell of dew still in the air, and the hum of hummingbirds buzzed in her ears.
One buzz was closer than the rest, Kaori noticed as a rainbow colored little bird zipped back and forth in front of her.
Hello, player! I'm Humare, a dire-hummingbird companion. And since you spawned in my sector, I belong to you! Welcome to Sword Horizon, what is your name, player?
"Kaori, nice to meet you, Humare...but we're not able to obtain a companion 'til level 20."
Oh, yes! That would normally be true, but with the update, our creators thought it would be best to go ahead and update us so that you can have a more personal tutorial of the system update once it launches.
"Oh, okay then. But what is a dire-hummingbird?"
A soft giggle rolled from the small bird as a shimmer swirled around it. As the shimmers faded, a small girl stood before Kaori, a broad smile on her face.
"Like most myths of dire-wolves, I can change between the forms of human and hummingbird."
"Oh, that's cool! You know," Kaori whispered. "You remind me of my little sister before I lost her a few years ago to sickness."
Humare wrapped her small arms around Kaori's hips and nuzzled her face into Kaori's skirt. "I'm very sorry for your loss, I can be your digital little sister if you'd like." Humare's face beamed with childish light, so warm and untarnished.
Kaori scoffed, "okay. Now let's go into town and see what everyone is saying about the update. It should be launching here soon."
Walking along the brick roads, the first level server town looked more crowded than ever before.
"Sure are a lot of players on." Kaori said as she made her way through a huge crowd to the news bulletin board.
"A posted letter from an hour ago."
Hello again, Players! And welcome back again to Sword Horizon!
Please gather in the amphitheatre for some pre-update heartfelt words from our CEO, Hiao Kotuwan!
"Well, Humare, I guess that's where we're headed," Kaori said as she began walking with most of the crowd up the main hill of town.
Reaching the peak wasn't as easy as it once had been, too many players rushing about, looking for some sort of sneak peeks to the update. Which was a futile attempt in and of itself. S. H. Inc, wouldn't have done something like that, they'd want to surprise everyone with everything at the same time. Kaori thought to herself.
The view from the top of the hill was still as stunning as ever. The light gray brick road rolled and curved slightly, lined with busy homes and buildings. This one leading to the mountain side, where there was a eight story high cave like opening that tiered down in seats toward a huge stone stage. It looked as old and beautiful as the mountain itself.
Walking with the crowd, looking for a seat, Kaori saw what a huge turn out this system update was bringing the game company. There's got to be at least a few thousand players on right now!
The modern lights hanging in the natural amphitheatre dimmed and a light on the stage faded in.
Ladies and gentlemen, a voice over smoothly ran over the rambunctious crowd, silencing them all. I'm proud to announce, our face, CEO, and the man we all love, Hiao Kotuwan!
A tall, athletically built man with short black hair and golden amber eyes walked into the light with a raised hand, waving to his adoring fans.
"Thank you, everyone, for joining Sword Horizon Incorporated for this monumental occasion!" His voice rang out with no assistance over the lulled dark blanket of people hanging on his every word. "Today will be a day of beginnings, to recreate your life here in Ungerd and beyond. You won't know who's a player and who is an NPC, you can create all sorts of new concoctions and relationships with everything you can see and touch! Think of this as a virtual, and non-edible, Wonka factory."
A light hum of laughter rolled over the silence and died once again.
Pointing to a large digital clock over his head, Hiao continued, "Its almost time everyone! Let's count down together!"
As the seconds ticked closer to the hour, the roar of people grew louder and more anxious.
"Five…..four...Three….TWO…...ONE!" A blaze of fireworks boomed above the town, behind the backs of everyone in the amphitheatre, tearing shock and awe from them all.
When the third firework exploded in the sky, everything paused and an ear piercing white noise brought everyone to their knees. It passed as fast as it started, a zing of dial up, on and off. Then everything returned to normal, the fireworks ragged on.
A deafening hush washed over the players.
Hiao looked around, his forehead beaded with sweat as Kaori ran up to the stage.
"Hey, Kotuwan! What the hell was that?"
Hiao raised his arms, "Everyone, please remain calm. That was just a minor glitch from the overwhelming number of players logged on. Please enjoy the new update!" Hiao waved to the crowd with a sweet smirk then moved to the edge of the stage and held his hand out to to bring Kaori on to the stage with him.
Hiao gave Kaori a smoldering smile, "Hey."
"Cut the crap, what was that? The update should have been programed to take the load of every player logged on." Kaori glared into Hiao's eyes.
"Woah, woah, woah," Hiao fanned his hands towards Kaori and put his arm over her shoulder, walking her awake from the hyperactive crowd. "Listen...what's your name?"
"Kaori."
"Kaori, right, okay. So, listen. I have no idea what happened." Hiao shrugged his shoulders, appearing to not really care about the glitch whatsoever.
Kaori's eyes flared at Hiao's non schluant behavior. "What do you mean you have no idea?! You're the CEO of this fricking game, how do you not know what's happening in your own game?!"
"Hey, calm down, sweetheart. I'm not some sort of coding geek, I don't even know the creators by name. I'm only a part of this for the money and fame. The guys who hired me are too scared of women, low self esteem like most of these gamer girls or not, to even crawl out of their mother's basements to even meet me or any of the team, they do group video calls into every meeting." Hiao rolled his eyes, "Not that I'm really paying attention in any of them."
"Are you sirious?! Do you know how many people look up to you for creating one of the biggest MMORPG's in years?! You need to find out what that 'glitch' actually was, before something else glitches and people find out you're just a shallow boytoy."
"okay, okay, jeez. Let me connect to the system chat box," He said as he pecked through different screens. "They said that that thing would be the only way to talk to people outside of the game while in full di-shit." Hiao's skin paled. "Fuck me," he whispered.
"No thanks, BoB is better. Now what are they saying?"
Hiao closed his eyes and let out a ragged breath. "Nothing, they're saying nothing...I can't connect to the chat box."
"WHAT?!" Kaori shreeked.
Hiao pulled Kaori's waist to his and whispered, mere inches from her face. "Hush for a second." He released her from his grip. "I'll just logout and tell them to fix this." Hiao began pecking through a few screens again, his face paled even more this time.
Kaori's head sank, "What now?"
"My logout option says there's an error and cannot let me log out!"
"What?" Kaori looked at Hiao's screen then began looking through hers as well. Kaori, too, became very pale. "Mine's messed up, too." her face lit up, an idea popping into her mind. "Hey, Humare, can you help with...this?" Kaori looked around, realising she no longer heard the buzzing of Humare's wings. "Humare? Where are you?" No response.
"I'm sure whoever that is is fine. But we have to figure out how to get in contact with the system moderators and have them fix this logout issue before a panic is set."
"How?"
"Beat the game and there's a treasure room with a rare globe in it that will unlock the system control panel, they said once. But I don't know how to unlock the globe."
Kaori smacked her face with her palm, "You're useless. Do you even know anything about the globe or its code?"
Hiao shrugged. "The nerd creators said it would be so easy that I could do it, if that helps."
"So, Simon Says. Got it."
"I really liked that game when I was little, kept me entertained for hours."
"We better get out there and start on this before everyone figures out they can't get out." Kaori said.
"Maybe I should stay here."
"Why?"
Hiao's eyes wondered. "To keep everyone calm when they do figure it. I'm sure some girls will come crying asking me for help." A devilish grin slithered across his face.
Kaori's attitude soured even more, but she decided to give Hiao a taste of his own game.
Her eyes and voice soft, "But Hiao, what about me?" She rubbed her breast against his chest. "I'm a woman...asking for your...help." Her eyes drifted down to Hiao's pants and brought her lips close to his ear. "Won't you...help me, Hiao?"
Hiao's face beamed with vile excitement as he slide his hands around Kaori's waist and down to her bottom. "Oh, yes. I can…'help' you."
Kaori's soft, seductive eyes turned cold, "Sorry sweetie. But I'm not as hollow as you are, I know everything you experience here is just blue balling you in real life."
Kaori turned and flicked her hair over her shoulder as she walked away. "Have fun with that, little Hiao!" she said, leaving Hiao completely flustered.
The streets were buzzing again as Kaori went from store to store, checking off items she needed. Armor, check. Health pots, check. Walking down the main street hill, Kaori heard a pound ruckus behind her.
"He's going to hit someone doing that!"
"Oh my god, watch out!"
Before she could even see what was going on, Kaori was hit the face with a wooden barrel and knocked to the ground.
"Owe!" she screamed as she sat up and felt blood dripping from her nose and saw her health bar drop a few points. "Cool, I can bleed! Wait, not cool! Who the hell, what the fu-" her words trailed off as she felt a warmth between her legs.
Looking down, Kaori saw a bushel of blonde hair just lying between her legs. Anger rose within her as she curled her hands into fits and struck the skull as hard she could.
The blonde head sprung up and grabbed at the knot in his head. "Oh, owe! What was that for?!"
"What do you mean? You had your head shoved up my...stuff," Kaori looked away, her cheeks reddened to a bright pink.
The blonde's green eyes lit up with embarrassment. "Oh gosh!" He raised his big hands in a defencive wave. "No no no, I didn't mean to do that, I sware!"
"Yeah right. Then what the hell were you doing log rolling that barrel down the hill?"
The blushing blonde looked away sheepishly. "I was trying to impress some girls when someone kicked the barrel and sent me rolling."
Kaori looked the blonde up and down. He was brawny with lightly tanned skin, ashy blonde hair, ember and pine green eyes, clad in heavy, shining armor. He wasn't bad looking, kind of cute...in that sweet puppy kind of way. But could he really be THAT much of a simpleton?
"Why would you want to impress anyone here? That's a blue balling move on your end, you can't REALLY get anything from people in VR world."
The brawny blonde scuffed a leather boot into the ground, obviously flustered. "I just like to make people smile, I read that's the best way to make friends."
"Sure, that's kind of true, but you don't need to act like a clown to make friends." Seeing that her words weren't really helping, Kaori add, "Why don't you hang out with me, we can be friends. Okay?"
The blonde's eyes light up and big smile jumped across his face. "Suriously?!"
Before she could say anything else the blonde shoved his hand out to Kaori. "I'm Decan."
"Kaori," she said as she shook his hand.
"So what's your archetype?"
"I'm a Knight." Kaori patted her hip, showing off the broad sword that rested there. "And you?"
"Herbalist slash tank."
"How does that work?"
"I like herbs and potions, so I can make anything into a healing potions or poisons or whatever suits me at the time."
"Nice." Kaori put a fist out and Decan gladly gave her a fist bump.
"So, where to?"
"I saw a mission on the bulletin board with the announcement of the update that seems ed easy and pays well. It's at an old man's house in the woods."
"Sounds like an adventure to me!"
There was still some day light shining through the trees as Kaori and Decan approached an old tattered house. It looked decayed; the paint had faded and nearly completely chipped off, the wooden porch looked like it would cave in if a leaf landed on it, and the old man looked almost as disheveled.
"Don't think he's dead, do you?" Decan asked.
"Hey better not be, that NPC has dough that I'm sure we'll need. Let's go talk to him."
As they got closer, they saw that the old man was pale white, like death, but was slowly rocking in the almost rotten rocking chair.
"You're here about the monster, ain't ye?" The old man spoke in a slow and drained accented voice.
"We sure are!," Decan chimed in.
"We're here to help you, now where's this monster?" Kaori asked, eager to earn XP.
The old man's eyes moved to Kaori. "Wouldna be tha first time a likes er yew tried ta slay that beast. I wouldna let you near it. That little booger killed me wife and duaghter, but hadn't no interests in me."
"Okay…Then tell me where it is. I have a great ax and a shield, I can fend it off."
The old man raised a ridged, shaking finger and pointed to what looked like an old, dieing barn. "It's in thar, boyo. But I warn ye, donna let yer lassie neara there." I still haven't been able to pull me only loves from that rickety old shack, even after death, the monster won't let go of ther bodies…"
Decan and Kaori walked to the doors of the old. "Why do you think this thing killed just the wife and daughter?"
"We don't even know what this thing is let alone why it did something."
Just then, the old man called over to them, he had more to say.
"You go, I'll scope this out." Kaori suggested.
"You sure? He seemed pretty addiment about YOU not going in."
"Dude, I was level 99, almost capped out, before the update. I'll be fine."
With a shrug, Decan ran back to the old man.
"Ye need to keep a weathered eye on her, boy. This great beast isn't what it appears to be."
"What's it look like?"
"To me? It looked half dead and nearly rotten all over, but something in the eres of me wife and little girl? I donna know, but it mesmerized them, drew them in. They though it was so cute and sweet...until it shook itself and let about this stench. They said it was lilacs and cotton, I smelled death. With in a blink of ere, they were sleep on there ground, and I couldna wake 'em." He looked at Decan, a grey glaze over his old eyes. He couldn't see clearly, for sure, but he looked into Decan's soul. "The great beast isna what it appears to be to HER. It will take her so sweetly…catch her before it finds her."
Decan's heart raced as he dashed back to the barn. Kaori wasn't there, but the door was ajar. Shit, my first friend in this game and she's going to die by a farting female eating monster. Damn it!
Sneaking into an old barn wasn't easy, the hinges squeaked and the door nearly fell apart in her hands. Something has kept this old man from coming in here for years it looked, and she was going to find out what.
She looked around, tried to move old wooden boxes without breaking them, but couldn't find anything. As she reached the back of the barn, she moved a few more boxes and found shreds of cloth. Then she saw them, the bodies...of the wife and daughter. Looking at the bones, the daughter couldn't have been more than five or six. About the same age as Ellie…
Flashbacks flared in Kaori's mind.
Ellie had just blown out her birthday candles, and opened birthday gifts. She had a lot of gifts to open, more than Kaori had had in a very long time, at least since Ellie was born. And Ellie sure was excited about turning six!
Kaori was told to go play outside with her little sister on the new swing set their parents had bought for THEM, not just for Ellie. And so she did, or least she sat on it while Ellie claimed the rope ladder and went down the slide and the fire pole, over and over again.
It was a warm yet cool June afternoon in their quiet neighborhood, and it rarely had any feral animals roaming about. Today, however, a small orange tabby cat was meowing at the open gate of their back yard.
Kaori and her sister loved cats SO much, but Ellie was a little more than mildly allergic to any form of feline. But that didn't stop the little girl from pulling Kaori off the swings and toward the small kitten.
"Ellie, no." Kaori grabbed her little sister's hand and stopped her in her hurried track. "Ellie, we can't play with the cat, you know that. Do you want to go to the hospital again?"
She pulled her small hand from Kaori's, crossing them across her small frame with a pout on her lips. "But it came to say happy birthday to me, we just use my medicine if it my a-ler-gies makes me sick." Her eyes turned pleading. "Please, Sissy?! I just want to say hi to it!"
Kaori knew if she said no, Ellie might cry and then her parents would come out thinking she'd made her little sister cry. And in no way did she want that, she didn't even want to be outside, she wanted to be playing minecraft or something on her computer - inside.
With a heavy sigh Kaori shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, but you tell mom and dad I told you no first and explained why, but still you wouldn't listen, because you're not. Got it?"
Her sister's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Sissy!" Ellie hugged quickly and began pulling her toward the cat again.
As they got closer the little orange cat looked more like a tiny tiger, but too cute not play with, until it noticed them and ran. And along with the running ball of fur, Ellie sure enough began to run, too!
"Kitty! Wait!"
"No, Ellie! Stop!" Kaori began to run after her sister, who was somehow much faster than her. Did she want to play with the cat that bad?! "Ellie," she called out to her sister as Ellie got closer to the street where the cat had run across. "Ellie! Stop! We can't play near the road!" Just as Kaori reached the curb, with an outstretched hand, a lifted truck came slamming to a stop after hitting and breaking Kaori's arm from elbow to fingertip...and hitting Ellie in a full body impact.
"Ellie..." Kaori walked around to the front, holding her arm close to her body, not yet realising what had happened to her. As she turned the corner of the front bumper, she saw her sister...lying on the ground, not moving. She went and knelt beside her little sister, warm tears stinging her eyes. "Ellie," her voice caught in her throat. She reached out to shake Ellie's shoulder. "Ellie, come on. We have to get out of the street before mom and dad comes out and yells at us." She tried to pull Ellie but she seemed to have no strength.
"Little girl," said a voice over Kaori's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, sweetie…"
Kaori turned her cold, now grey blue eyes on the man. "Were you the one driving the truck?"
The man, maybe not older than her parents, had tears streaming down his face. "Yes, I was…" His head hung low and as his shoulders began to quake. He reached out Kaori, "I should get you out of the road before something happens to you, too. Where were your parents?"
"Does it matter?"
Her question shocked the man as he walked her to the curb and made her sit. "Of course it does. They should have been watching you."
"You should have been, too."
"Excuse me?" Her statement sent the man back a step.
Her cold, almost empty eyes locked onto his, holding his confused gaze. She stood up, still holding her arm, looking taller and older than her nine year old body really was. "I just turned nine in March, but I'm not stupid. I know this is a suburban area, and there's a slower speed limit down this road specifically, because the school my sister goes to - no - the school my sister USE TO GO TO is two blocks that way!"
(TO BE CONTINUED)