PROLOGUE
"Brother." A small girl sobbed in the back of the seat. "Stay with me."
"Lucy..." The older boy murmured as he faced his little sister. He was bleeding heavily and his arms were shaking as he stroked her hair. "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay." The girl sobbed, grabbing onto the boy's hand hand. "I'm okay...but you... you're not..."
The boy smiled as he slowly wiped the tears off the girl's face. "I'm glad you're okay at least." He whispered.
"No...brother." The girl whimpered as the boy slowly closed his eyes. She looked around the car and searched for a place to escape.
"I'll be back quickly." The girl said as she crawled out from the shattered car window. "I'm going to call for help."
But just as the girl crawled out of the upside down car, someone picked her up and covered her with a hand towel.
"Noooo." The girl screamed as she was taken away.
Then everything became pitch black.
*Heartfilia Mansion*
"Ugh." I woke up with a gasp. I had cold sweat running down my forehead and I was breathing heavily.
No...not this dream again.
It's been 8 years since the incident happened and the event has been haunting me ever since.
I remember waking up in the hospital after the black out from the car accident.
I searched for my brother afterwards. Even though people tried to stop me, I barged into my brother's hospital room.
But when I did enter, I saw many people sobbing by his bed.
"He's dead." My nanny, Spetto, said as she placed her arm around my shoulder. "It was unfortunate that he died from the car accident."
I think I went insane afterwards.
I let out a sigh and checked the calendar by the side of my bed.
September 19th, 2134.
Of course, how could I forget. Today was the day my father's company would release his new game "Fiore Online" to the public.
Just as I got up from my bed, I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." I answered.
"It's Spetto." Sptetto, my nanny said as she walked in. "Lady Lucy. Your father wants you to participate in the family breakfast today."
"Breakfast?" I smirked. "And when did father ever want to have breakfast with a wretched daughter like me?"
I remember. Father stopped dining with me ever since mother passed away. I remember he said it bothers him because I remind him of mother...
The only people he allowed to dine with him was my new step mother and her son, Natsu.
"Please lower your voice down." Spetto pleaded, hoping no one heard me from outside.
"Tell him I'll be there in 20 minutes." I informed Spetto as I walked over to my closet. "Guess I'll have to wear something special for a special day."
I walked down the staircase and headed to the dining room where my family members were.
"What is this insolence behavior?" My father snapped as I sat down across from my step brother, Natsu.
"What?" I shrugged as I placed the napkin on my lap.
Spetto quickly hurried over to me and whispered, "Lady Lucy. You're wearing a crop top with shorts."
"I know." I grinned as I started to sip on the vegetable soup that was in front of me. "Isn't it sexy?"
As my father stood up from his seat with his cane, my step mother placed her hand on his arm.
"Now darling," She started. "We don't want to ruin such a happy day, do we?" She beamed at him.
Ugh. I feel like throwing up. I thought to myself.
My father's face turned pink. "You're right Helia." He said as he sat back down. "Consider yourself lucky today, Lucy. Do thank your mother."
"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled, rolling my eyes.
My father coughed. "As you can see, today is the day "Fiore Online" is released to the public."
Everyone, including the servants, nodded their heads as they watched father make a speech.
"But I have called all of you for something important." He glanced at Natsu who stood up from his seat with a smile. "Today, I have made my final decision to make my son, Natsu, become the next heir to the Heartfilia corporation."
"I knew it." One of the servants yelled as everybody started to clap.
"Attaboy." Another hollered.
My step mother grinned as she patted her son proudly.
But I stood there trembling.
The heir was supposed to be my brother...
As soon as I finished the meal, I pushed away my chair from the table and got up.
"Where do you think you're going?" Father snapped at me.
"To my room." I snapped back. Then I stomped out of the dining hall.
"That wretched girl." I could hear father murmur as he munched on his angus steak.
As I walked up the stairs, I could hear someone call my name.
"Lucy." My step brother, Natsu yelled, as he caught up to me.
I gave him a glare. "What do you want?"
My father remarried after my mother's death and this was how my step mother, Helia, and Natsu joined the family. But after my brother, Luke, died, I felt everything was unfair that once what belonged to Luke eventually became Natsu's.
He beamed as he scratched his head, "It's been a while hasn't it? How've you been."
I glared at him. "I'm not in a mood for a chitchat." I snapped. "There must've been a motive for stopping me."
Natsu stopped smiling and stared down at the floor like a lost puppy, "I guess you're not happy with me being the next heir to father's company..."
"Glad you know." I said, walking past him.
"Wait." He called again.
I glanced at him again looking even more annoyed.
He slowly took out a game cartridge from his pocket and handed it to me. "I was going to give it to you during breakfast but I felt like I didn't have a chance to do so because you left so quickly."
I stared at the game cartridge. "Fiore Online."
"I don't play any of father's games." I told him as I tried to hand him back the game cartridge.
"I know." Natsu nodded. "But I was mostly in charge of this game. I was hoping you'd give it a chance."
He gave me a pat on the shoulder and walked back down the stairs back to the dining hall.
I rolled my eyes and walked back to my room.
"Fiore Online." I mumbled as I stared at the game cartridge.
To be honest, I was actually curious how bad the game would be.
I mean...I think it was going to be bad. I mean...99% realism? Sure...
I took out my virtual reality helmet and placed the game cartridge inside. Then I laid myself in bed and pressed the red button on the middle of the helmet.
"Let the game start."
"Game Start"
Language: English
Log in
:Account: Heartfilia2834
:Password: ******
'Checking head'
'Checking body'
'Checking arms'
'Checking legs'
'Checking Complete'
...
"Welcome to Fiore Online"
Everything was pitch black as I could feel myself walking on a cold surfaced floor.
Was there an error in the game cartridge?
As I started to fill my head with questions, bright light flooded across the room as I entered a cyber programmed room with a gigantic computer screen in front of me.
"Hello and welcome to Fiore Online." Started the robotic female voice.
A small box appeared on the screen with my personal information.
Name: Lucy Heartfilia
Gender: Female
Next an avatar that looked just like me showed up on the screen.
"You may begin to customize. Please choose a race."
A wide range of races appeared on the screen next to my avatar. The races ranged from humans, sun elves, moon elves, angels, demons, dwarves, beasts, animals, spirits, etc.
I couldn't help but stare at the moon elf version of myself. She was tall, flawless and graceful. I had to take this race no matter what.
"Moon elf confirmed. Please choose your appearance."
Hm... the most difficult part.
I gave my avatar platinum long blonde hair that came down till my waist. Moon elves were tall so I had to shrink the height of my avatar to a human standard height.
"Appearance confirmed. Please choose a job."
A wide range of mages appeared on the screen. Oh yes, I forgot. Fiore Online was a game focused on mages. There were Elementalists, Mesmers, Celestial mages, etc
I wanted to pick a job no one would pick. Elementalists? Nah. Seemed like everyone would pick that job.
Hmm...Celestial mage seemed interesting. I remember reading from the game magazine that celestial mages summons spirit using a key and have them fight for the summoner.
Sure...why not.
"Job confirmed. Please choose a name."
Name...
Name..
The hardest part. I wanted an original name. What would be nice...
'Celestial...' I typed in the letters. '...phoenix?'
Am I satisfied?
Hm...
Whatever...
"Celestial Phoenix confirmed. You'll be transported to Sunflower village."
As soon as the robotic words ended, the avatar lunged towards me. As we merged together, I found myself falling through a pitch of darkness.