A/N: This is a collab fanfiction by me and Shadow-chan. Unlike Pandora's Gate, this is a more serious type story line. Enjoy all you WoW lovers ^ ^
Night Silvermoth Delgurida.
That was her name. Night. She didn't entirely know why her parents officially named her Night. She got many reasons for it. Her mother, Kate, said that she thought Night was so elegant and unique. Her father, bending over his work, probably with a kink in his neck, said that he and Mom (he never called her Kate) couldn't think of a better name. Her grandmother, in her slow slurred speech, told her that she wanted to have her named Nightshade after the plant but 'ol' gram' never got her way as far as first names were concerned. Ol' Gram did, however, get her way about Night's middle name, Silvermoth.
As strange as her name was, it was very fitting for her sleeping habits. She was a night owl and, as such, was very mad at her attacker who was attempting to get her.
"Gosh darn it!" Night waved her hand above her head blindly. It was October 18th, 2015 and someone made the mistake of raising the beast. "Let me freaking sleep, man!"
That certain someone Night had called 'man' was very much a girl. Her name was Kaye Gandillion. Her and Night had been friends for only about 2 years but they were always on the same wavelength. Maybe it was just Kaye being very perceptive or maybe it just was.
"It's already 11:00, Night" Kaye said poking Night's form underneath her tie-dye blanket. "We have the beta testing thing today. We have to be there by noon."
"Beta Testing..?" Night sat up in her bed. What in the name of Delgurida was Kaye talking about?
"You know" Kaye said, sitting on Night's beanbag chair, cross-legged like she always did. "The new technology for virtual reality. We were chosen a couple months ago to test using virtual reality for World of Warcraft. Don't tell me you forgot. You've been talking my ear off about it since we heard we were chosen…"
Kaye's last sentence was lost as Night sprang up and began digging through her closet for clothes. How could Night have forgotten? World of Warcraft was her favorite MMO, heck it was her favorite video game. She had very low-level characters, her main only being 26 but she already knew her favorite class was the druids. Being able to shape shift was pretty sweet but adding the healing and being able to be DPS, Tank and Healer made them Night's favorite class.
Kaye watched Night dig through the mass of clothing for stuff to wear. Of course Night hadn't forgotten! Night was a WoW addict, not that Kaye was much better. Kaye was the one who has pushed Night to play it. Kaye's favorite class was the warlocks. Imps, Voidwalkers, Felguards-she liked them all (with the exception of the Succubus but the Succubus was useless anyway). Kaye's main was, at that time, a level 68 human warlock. Kaye and Night were going restart their mains today so they could level together in the virtual reality.
"What do you even wear to be a beta tester anyway?" Night said, holding up a shirt that had the Chinese character for love on it. "Defiantly not this I hope" Night tossed the shirt unto a pile of dirty clothes.
"I dunno" Kaye said. "My mom forced me to wear this" Kaye gestured to the sundress she was wearing.
"And I supposed she did your hair too" Night said, taking out a black and green sweatshirt. "I don't know what Lacy is thinking sometimes. You should just wear it down"
"Should," Kaye said, touching the bun on the back of her head. Curly hair defiantly didn't mix with buns.
"Okay. I'm ready!" Night said, quickly brushing out her blue, yes blue, hair. The only change Night had undergone was the fact she was now wearing the black and green sweatshirt. She was still in her plaid PJ bottoms and her t-shirt.
"That's ready?" Kaye asked, raising an eyebrow. Night's mom would never let Night get away with wearing that. "Most people wear that to bed"
"So?" Night said, brushing past Kaye out her bedroom door.
Kaye sighed and followed Night down the hall to the kitchen.
Night's mother, a frazzled woman of 37, was making pancakes with chocolate chips. She was also trying to do her homework for college at the same time but making a huge mess of it. Mrs. Delgurida was aspiring to be a doctor and currently was in her last year of medical school. Tugging at her sleeve was Night's little sister, Sunrise and next to him, leaning against the counter like the cool guy he thinks he was, was Night's older brother, Day.
"Hey mom" Night said, grabbing an apple from the basket of fruit on the table. "Me and Kaye are headed out"
"Where to?" Night's mom didn't look up from the bubbling pancakes or her batter covered worksheet.
"The Beta Testing place" Night said, "It's by the science museum"
"Science?" Night's mom said, picking up Sunrise. "You're going to the science museum?"
"Sure, let's go with that" Night said, rolling her eyes. Her mom was oblivious when she was doing her homework.
"Mom" Day said, brushing back his hair. "Night said it was by the science museum not the science museum itself"
"I'm pretty sure that there's not bisexual people in the museum" Night's mom said, stuffing a pancake into Sunrise's mouth. "Night and Kaye don't care anyway."
"What's this about gay people?" Night's dad, a former janitor with all the intimidation of a former cop, said walking into the room. "Is Day gay or something?"
"No" Night said, "Me and Kaye are just going to the science museum. Got a problem?"
"You girls need a ride?" Night's father said.
"Defiantly not" Night said. She would love to get a ride instead of driving herself but.. her dad didn't exactly know about the virtual reality test. Mr. Delgurida hated video games and, out of that category of entertainment, he hated MMOs the most. He thought they ruined your life and slowly consumed your soul or something like that. "I can drive"
"Okay" Mr. Delgurida said. He gave the keys to Night. If Night had known about the events that would transpire later that day, maybe she would have savored the innocent clanging of metal. Maybe she would have let her dad drive her. Maybe she would have told Sunrise and Day what good siblings they were. Heck, maybe she would have never gone in the first place.
Alas, Night was not a seer and therefore unable to see past the present into the future.
"Are you sure this is the place, Kaye?" Night scanned the front window of the inconspicuous facility. "It looks more like a place where druggies sit around and smoke then a high end science facility"
Kaye looked down on the small piece of paper in her hands. The address was clearly stated in clean Times New Roman: 6541 Leaf Dr. in the science and technology district.
"They never said it was high end" Kaye said, running her fingers through her impossibly curly hair again. She had taken out the bun but now her hair was majorly curly. "Let's just head in. Worst case scenario: We get jumped by old guys and have to clean up their dead bodies."
"More like worst case scenario: we die." Night said, still staring at the storefront. She had an eerie feeling her heart. It told her to not enter that place; not because of the bad people, it said, but because of bad events.
'Shut up' Night told her heart 'You're making no sense'
"I assure you" A man's voice came from behind the two girls "That no death will transpire here"
Night and Kaye turns their heads to see a black haired man with a lazy expression on his face. He looked like an A-typical scientist: white coat, glasses, pocket protector and pens. He even was holding a complicated looking device in his hands, which, to Night's eyes, looked broken but what the hell did she know about complex devices?
"You must be Night Silvermoth Delgurida and Kaye Fei Gandillion. The World of Warcraft beta testers" The man said in a bored voice. "My name is Dr. Sir. Call me by no other name but that during the next few hours."
Kaye narrowed her eyes at Dr. Sir (which probably wasn't his real name, anyway). Of all the kinds of the people she hated, rude people were her most hated. People like Dr. Sir ticked her off.
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Sir" Kaye said, obvious venom dripping into her voice. "Is this the place?"
"Of course it is, Kaye" Night said. Night was a little scared of what Kaye might do. Kaye rarely got mad but when she did…it was pure hell to the trigger. "Why else would he be here?"
"Follow me you two" Dr. Sir said, seemingly unaware of the words just spoken. He brushed past the two girls and went to the store door. "We must begin as soon as possible"
Though the outside of the facility was unassuming, the inside was a mess of white coats and shouting. There was every kind of person imaginable there: reporters with microphones, geeks with spock signs on their shirts, engineers fussing over which bolt should go where, medical doctors asking the engineers if the virtual reality machine would fry your brain and various other people with no other purpose then to yell at other people.
In the middle of this nest of people sitting in an overstuffed chair, were Night Delgurida and Kaye Gandillion. In front of them was a wall of reporters, all shoving fuzzy microphones into their faces. Rather then letting them talk for themselves, Dr. Sir was answering all the questions in his bored tone. Apparently, the actual testers didn't matter, only the technology to be tested. Dr. Sir was a typical elitist technology geek with a bit of jackass mixed into the blend. Night and Kaye hated him.
"Is this technology safe?" A red haired reporter wearing a lime green suit asked.
"Of course it is" Dr. Sir answered. "Miss, Delgurida and Miss. Gandillion will not be harmed in the process"
"Are there any risks?" Another reporter said, shoving his microphone into the Sir's face.
"Other then the regular risks associated with video games," Sir's eyes glinted "No"
Night laid back in the chair and rolled her shoulders. She had been sitting for the last 2 hours doing nothing other then listen to Dr. Sir. Sitting like that hurt her 'gamer's shoulder'. She just wanted to start playing already. She was looking forward to actually physically fighting her enemies and interacting with the landscape in a whole new way. She wondered what it would feel like to ride her first mount or to kill her first murloc. It was almost torture to sit her and wait to do anything!
"I wish we could start soon," Kaye said, stretching her neck. "How long is the kind doctor going to talk with those reporters? Though I have to say," Kaye pointed to the reporter in the lime green suit. "Lime Green Suit lady is very interesting to watch."
"How so?" Night said, looking at Lime Green Suit lady. There seemed nothing at all unusual about her besides that fact that her suit was lime green.
"She looks like she belongs in New York talking about stock market," Kaye said. "Not here reporting about the latest gaming craze"
As Kaye said that, Lime Green Suit lady opened her mouth for the second time since arriving here. Usually she was very talkative but she was feeling a strange vibe coming from everywhere in the building. Being a person born into a family of Seers made her sensitive to future events. Lime Green Suit lady had a very, very bad feeling about this.
"How long have you been working in this project?"
Dr. Sir's eyes narrowed at the question. "All my life" Dr. Sir said, "This project will not fail under my eyes"
"Step this way, you two" Dr. Sir said, grabbing Night's and Kaye's arms and dragging them out the dressing room.
Turns out clothes weren't a problem for testers. A nice female engineer with a striking smile handed them an outfit of completely white. The shirt was white, the pants were white, everything was white! Night frowned. Her least favorite color was white and being forced into it felt like being forced to go naked.
Kaye and Night were led down a skinny hallway. Night looked at Kaye. Kaye was only smiling a small smile but Night knew that Kaye was just as excited as she was.
The hallway led to a door. Just a door. A normal looking door with a normal handle.
"Once we get into the testing room" Dr. Sir said. "You are not to touch anything unless told so. You are not to speak in a loud manner. You are not to walk around the room. Stay put and do as you're told"
Kaye and Night immediately gasped in surprised as the door opened. Beyond the door was a huge white room. There were no windows in such a room but Night didn't look up. She was too entranced by the machine stationed right in front of her.
It was a surprising normal looking object. No huge wads of wires hanging over it. No tubes or brains in cases filled with gel. No elaborate control panel. All it appeared to be was two chambers, big enough for the average human being to fit into and a box connecting the two.
"So this is the virtual reality machine?" Night asked. She was astounded by the simplicity of the machine.
"Of course" Dr. Sir said. He pushed Night into one of the pods and Kaye into the other. "Let's start as soon as possible. Put on the headsets in front of you."
Night looked around her for a moment. It was a little claustrophobic in the capsule but other then that, there was no blinking lights or anything. Night then did as she was told and put on the headset. As she secured the head straps, a robotic voice came on.
"Starting simulation in T-5 seconds. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1."
When the computer said 1, Night felt her whole body freeze. It felt like she was floating in the air. She didn't feel like she was breathing and her vision went blurry. She closed her eyes, a natural reaction for blurry vision. Then her body suddenly felt like it was being pulled in all directions and set on fire. And, as quick as it began, it stopped and she felt hard ground beneath her feet.
Night opened her eyes and gasped. She was in Shadowglen, the starting place for night elves. She looked at her hand. Her skin was tinted a purple and she was wearing a bracelet that said something she instantly knew though she didn't recognize the language.
"Andu-falah-dor" Night whispered to herself. "Let balance be restored? What kind of phrase is that?"
"Very strong phrase for a young night elf to be speaking" A voice from behind her said in a language that she didn't recongnize but understood as her own. "Especially in times such as these'
"What do you mean they just disappeared?!"
The young assistant's head fell down. Dr. Sir was so scary when he was mad.
"I mean," The assistant said, "That when the simulation was activated, there was a an electrical malfunction and the girl's brainwaves were stopped"
"Stuff like that doesn't HAPPEN" Dr. Sir yelled, his voice and face reaching red alert. "Or at least not by MY design"
"Sir," One of the engineers said, "The girls are gone, probably dead"
Dr. Sir looked at the monitoring screen. Night Delgurida had an expressionless face and her body was twisted into a corner. Kaye Gandillion was much of the same only she had burn marks on her wrist. The heart rate monitors were flat lined.
"We should tell the police what happened" One of the nurses said. "These poor girls"
"NO!" Dr. Sir said. "We can't tell the police! All I've work for will be ruined!"
"But we must" The nurse said. "It's only moral and right"
The nurse went to pick up the phone but was thrown to the ground by Dr. Sir. He was suddenly holding a gun in his hands.
"Nobody move an inch." He said. "You will all leave with your lives if you listen to me"