POPPED UP IN FAIRY TAIL, JUST LIKE THAT
The computer hummed as I switched it on to play the game that had kept me addicted for a month. It was, by far, the most awesome game ever made...! Well, at least, my friends and I thought so.
In the game, you actually got to join the famous fictional Fairy Tail wizarding guild. The entire digital experience was based off an anime by the same name, but in the game you could make your own avatars to play with, go on quests, accept job requests from which you would earn money, and interact with other fellow gamers. Plus, you could also talk to the anime/game's main characters! (...Though they mostly gave the same programmed answer)
That time when I was just opening up my computer, I looked out of my bedroom window and noticed that it was raining heavily outside. I was sure that I even saw a flash of lightning. However, I decided that it would do no harm to me and continued to start up the game anyway. When it opened, I logged in and saw that all of my friends were online. I felt a bit victorious after seeing this, as I had asked them in school to be online at 6pm, but they had rejected my offer. But now, by the looks of it, I think I'd won.
A conversation started between us.
"Hey!" said/typed one of my friends, whose avatar name was Allison Riddle.
"Hi," I answered back, and I was greeted by two more of my avatar-named friends, Lily Bell and Rose Souske. It was a tradition for us to always use our avatar names whenever we chatted online; for what specific reason, I didn't really know, but it worked for us.
Allison was about 5'3", which ironically was my actual and in-game height, too. Her character had blue eyes, fair skin and long, light brown curly hair with side bangs. She wore a maroon knee-length dress, matching her Fairy Tail insignia's colour, and she accessorised her outfit with a simple belt and a ring. Her magic was Invisibility and Teleportation.
Rose and Lily, on the other hand, were complete opposites. Whereas Rose was serious, calm, reticent and could get dangerous when angry, Lily was the contrary: fun, crazy, innocent and honest. Rose had fiery red eyes – a contrast to her temperament – and long, messy crimson hair with bangs falling over her nose and eyes. As for Lily, her big, onyx eyes reflected her naivety, and her black, medium-length hair was simple, finished with a hair band and puff. Attire-wise, Lily wore a plain green and white striped T-shirt and ordinary blue jeans with keds; Rose dressing in a black top and dark jeans, topped with a deep red jacket. Lily could to talk to animals for her magic, and Rose had the ability to control fire; their guild marks were lavender and red respectively (as you can see, Rose was somewhat obsessed with everything red, but the shocking fact was that, despite that, she didn't like Natsu at all!).
Lastly, my character was Crystal Blaze. She had brown eyes and medium-length, wavy, pitch-black hair, with parted bangs and a white hair band. Her skin tone was medium, and was complimented by a red top with a deep brown coat, blue jeans, and silver-tinted glass slippers. Her – my – powers were water and ice, and my fairy insignia was turquoise.
Rose, Lily, Allison and I had a team which me named the "Galaxy Fairies". We frequently had team meetings and today was one of those days. Normally, in our squad, we were divided into four separate categories: Lily was alone in the 'totally insane' category, I belonged to the 'half-sane, half-insane' group, Allison belonged to the 'fully sane' category, and Rose was at home in the 'serious' category (which, of course, is true in real life, also).
The chat beeped as a message popped up.
Allison: /"why did u want to have a team meeting so urgently?"/
Lily: /"yeah, why?"/
Rose: /"hmm.."/
I typed up my response.
Crystal: /"because I want a change in the team"/
Lily: /"really?"/
Allison: /"what do you want?"/
Crystal: /"well, I was thinking..."/
Allison and Lily: /"what is it?"/
Crystal: /"well it's just something I have been thinking..."/
Allison: /"yes, yes, what is it?"/
Crystal: /"it's just something..."/
Allison, Lily and Rose: /"SAY IT ALREADY!"/
Crystal: /"ok, ok... I was just messing around. See, what I wanted was.."/
But before I could actually suggest the change to my friends, there was another round of lightning and thunder, and, believe me, I felt the ground shake beneath me, and the sound of the crashing was so loud I was momentarily deafened. The next flash was near-instantaneous, and from that I could very well understand that the lightning was very close to my house; so close that it might have even been drawn to the tall tree that we had in our backyard. I was terrified.
I froze up, and after a few more minutes of light bursts, I was positive that it had almost struck our house, when everything went off in an instant. We had a power cut.
But, something was wrong. Even though all of the electricity had cut off, my computer was still on. It had done little more than flickered; in fact, it was fully responsive, and had switched to some sort of strange webpage. It was a sort of sea-blue tone, and the colours swam about as if they were water.
There are two things you should know about me, besides my fear of threatening lightning: first, I love water, and I'm attracted to anything like it; second, sea-blue is my favourite colour, besides turquoise. So, obviously, I was tempted to go and touch the queer ripples... and that's just what I did. By far the most wonderful and scary thing about the website was not how it managed to operate without power, but how, when I tried to touch the monitor, it wasn't hard or solid as it should have been – my hand went straight through. I jumped back on impulse, flinching with a silent yelp. I'd never experienced anything like it... And yet, I liked the feeling; the cool and wet caress that came with no moisture. I felt the urge to touch it again. This time, I was curious as to where my hand would go. So, I put my head in.
Admittedly, it was one of the most stupid things that I have ever considered, in my opinion, but I really felt as though it was the best thing to do. I did it gingerly, leaning in with awed curiosity. It felt as though I had just dunked my head into a swimming pool, and I held my breath as I slowly, slowly, slid open my eyes. Once they were open fully, all I saw was blue.
Everything was blue, everything. Blue, blue, blue. And I loved it. It was just so serene and peaceful... I felt as though I could drift there forever.
There was a light pressure on my back. I ignored it, thinking little of the weight, but it increased rapidly, and I felt pushed. Suddenly, there was a solid impact between my shoulder blades, and I fell fully into the computer.
Startled, my reactions came all to late as I spiraled in deeper, and I began feeling suffocated and dizzy. Light-headed, I tried to kick my legs, pushing up to the surface, and I saw the exit coming nearer and neared. I swam frantically, slipping in and out of unconsciousness, and, at least, I managed to reach the edge. I groped desperately at it, grasping dry land, and I scrambled up onto the ground.
I panted, distressed as I greedily took air into my lungs. Gradually, my vision started to focus, and I tried to see where I had reached. It wasn't my bedroom, that was for sure. It seemed like some sort of town. I assumed so, anyway, judging from the amount of people passing, along with the many houses, shops and vendors nearby. From what I could understand, I thought that I had swam out of a river and was currently sat on one of the 'banks. A handful of people were looking at me as if I was from another world; to them, I probably was. Without wasting time, I ignored the weird looks and just straight away went up to one of the ladies who were buying vegetables from a stand and asked her about my location.
"Excuse me," I said as politely could, voice strained. Internally, I was beginning to freak out. "but could you please help me?"
"Well, surely dear," she answered, turning; however, when she was fully facing me her expression changed to a mixture of surprise and amusement. "Oh, my," she exclaimed happily "another one of you!"
That kind of scared me.
"What do you mean?" I asked, both confused and somewhat frightened.
"Come with me, dear, I will take you to them," she offered sweetly; I was reminded of the old fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel – I felt as though I was the latter, and that she was the witch taking me my counterpart (though, in this case I don't know who would be my Hansel). Still, I dumbly nodded my head and followed after her.
After a short introduction, I found that she wasn't a threat at all – she was actually rather kind. Her name was Annabell, but I decided to call her Anna. I got to know Miss. Anna as we traveled; for example, she had a son, though her husband died a few years ago. The more I found out about her, the more I began to trust her. Eventually, I had the courage to ask the main question that had been plaguing my mind for a long time.
"Um, Miss. Anna?" I started.
"Yes, dear?"
I worded it directly: "Could you please tell me where I am and who these other people are?"
Miss. Anna looked almost sheepish, but her eyes shone with pride as she answered, "Oh, I'm sorry dear, I forgot! You are in Magnolia – one of the greatest cities in Fiore!"
The older woman beamed at me, expecting a reply, but, as the realization dawned on me, the only response I could manage was, "WHAT THE HECK?!"
(UPDATE: This chapter was originally posted on the 17th of March, but it was edited on the 2nd of June after being Beta'd by Otaku Neko Ninja Miko Tenshi)