The enormous figure stood above all of them. His glowing golden robe gently flowing in the wind. Beneath him stood a city full of awestruck and terrified people, just under 50,000 people in fact. They all stood in disbelief at what the figure had just told them, it sinking in just how in his control they all were. Despite all the disbelief, one young man knew what the colossus was saying was true. They were trapped, and only by winning the game, will they win their freedom.
4 hours earlier
Kazuto Kirigaya couldn't believe his luck. He literally had to be the luckiest gamer in the world at this point. Not only had he been one of 5,000 players to get in the beta for G.W.O. but he had also won a preorder contest, earning himself a second copy in addition to a second Nervegear. One of the bonuses to ordering a physical copy of a game, he supposed.
Racing inside his home, he pulled out his old gaming computer, setting it up as quickly as he could. Once he finished, he began the boot-up waiting to connect the 2nd Nervegear. Sitting down to wait, he saw his little sister standing in the doorway.
"Hey big brother, what's got you in such a frenzy?" she questioned him.
"Hey, Suguha. Guess what!" he demanded.
"What? Did your eyes finally give out from playing those new games?" she teased.
"Don't be dumb, Sugu. You know that my new game doesn't even use a screen. It uses microwaves to transmit-"
"To transmit VR signals right into your brain, which interprets it as real, and blah bla-blah bla-blah. Seriously Kazuto, it's all you've been talking about since you got in the beta, or whatever. Doesn't really seem that great to me, why play around in a virtual world, when the real world is so much more fascinating?" she argued.
"Oh, Sugu. You don't even know, but that's about to change."
"I told you Kazuto, I don't like playing games alone. If we can't play the same game together, I'm not interested." He smiled at her at that, in a grin almost evil. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
He chuckled, rolling the Nervegear in his hands. "So, what you're saying is, if I had a way for us both to play my new VR game, you'd try it?" he suggested.
"Well, yeah. I love hanging out with you, Kazuto, but it doesn't count if we just switch off who's playing. That's not fun. And, unless you have a head shrinking ray, we can't share that helmet," she pointed out to him.
"Hm, that's true, I suppose. But what if we each had one," he probed to her, looking up at the ceiling.
"If you think I'm going to blow all my savings on a Nervegear and buying that game off a real fan, you've got another thing coming!" she shouted at him.
"Hehe, you don't have to kiddo."
"I'm only 2 years younger than you," she pouted. He ignored her.
"You see, Sugu," he continued.
"Suguha," she corrected.
"It turns out that I picked up the 500th physical copy of G.W.O. which happened to be a contest, and," he said, stretching the and to stop her from interrupting. "It means I won the bonus copy! Complete with an additional Nervegear!" he bragged, pulling out the second Nervegear. "Which means, you can try the game out with me."
"I don't know, Kazuto. I have kendo in a couple of hours, I don't want to be late." She didn't admit it, but she was curious about this virtual world. The offer was tempting.
"Please, Suguha. I don't get to play along with anyone else very often, and I think it'd be a lot of fun. Plus, we could stop whenever you need. Just please try it, please?" he begged. It worked.
"Alright Kazuto. You win." She walked up to him, and grabbed the helmet from him. He grew an enormous smile, and threw himself back to his computer, finishing loading up the two copies of the game, while Suguha set herself down on his bed, resting the Nervegear on her head.
"Okay, when you start, you'll make your character, which you'll have to do alone. Once you're done, you'll spawn into the Starting City. Just look up Kirito on the player register, and we'll find each other. Sound good?" he explained.
"Yup," she answered, wiggling around on the bed to get more comfortable.
"Great. Alright, let's get started." Kazuto took a spot next to his sister, and put the helmet on as well. "Okay, to start the game, just look at the game and say this," he explained and held up a note with the words link start written on it.
"Okay. Ready?" she asked.
"Ready."
After nodding to each other, they lay their heads back and said in unison, "Link Start!"
"Link Start!" a young girl commanded.
A flash of every possible color zoomed in front of her eyes, or at least that's how her mind interpreted it. Following that, it asked her to confirm all the information she had created when she had registered on her physical computer before starting. In large green letters, the words WELCOME TO GALAXY WARS ONLINE: Sinon
A musical fanfare sounded as she watched all the opening credits flash, and she bypassed each confirmation as well as the terms and conditions. None of that ever mattered. All she wanted was to experience VR, and hope to get over her trauma by facing it.
Suddenly, she found herself in a metal room lit up by light blue lights. In front of her was a mirror showing a randomly generated Avatar. To the side of it, she noticed a series of blurred words. Focusing on them, they expanded and came into focus. Reading through it all, they described different aspects of her Avatar. This wasn't really important to her, so she spent about 15 minutes designing a character that looked like an idealized version of herself, with blue hair and electric green eyes. Selecting Confirm, she felt a sensation surround her as her appearance matched the one she designed in the mirror, and the text faded.
She stepped down off the platform she hadn't realized she was on. Looking around the room, she searched for the next thing she needed to do, but nothing stood out. Eventually, a button on the wall lit up, and a waypoint appeared above it. Clicking it, a door on the side of the wall opened. Stepping inside, she found herself in a small compartment. The door shut behind her, and she found herself in total darkness. She turned around and tried to bang on the door, but something stopped her. A feeling of cold ran up her spine, and her mind faded out.
She didn't know how long she was out, but when she came to the door opened and a sudden warmth overcame her. She collapsed out of the compartment and took a moment to catch her breath. Taking a moment to collect herself, she figured out what had happened. She thought back to reading about the game, and remembered that the game used cryo-sleep as a form of loading. That must have been what happened.
Standing up, she saw that the mirror had slid away to reveal a lit up hallway. She stood up and entered. Beyond her little room, she saw that she was on an upper floor of a huge atrium now overflowing with freshly awoken players, much like herself, all filing to the left side of the atrium. Following the crowd, she made her way to a robot manning a counter with a large screen next to him, displaying many different weapons, armor, and gear. This must be where you pick your class and gear.
Though the line for the counter seemed long, it didn't take more than a few moments for it to be her turn, one of the benefits of this being a virtual world. When it came time for her turn, the robot spoke to her.
"Greetings, traveler. I am C1-45S, the ships quartermaster. Now that you've awoken, your contract requires you to assist in clearing the local ruins. I am here to outfit you in whatever gear you need, so long as we have it available. First I must ask your specialty." It explained, giving some opening exposition. This was it, time to pick how she'd play for the foreseeable future.
Several options appeared in front of her.
Combatant
Expert
Magician
Mystic
More Info?
She wasn't quite sure what each one had entailed, so she selected the final option, wanting to be absolutely sure she picked the right one. This game didn't allow for restarting without buying the game again. She touched the option, and the bot spoke up again.
"What I mean, is how are you trained? Are you a practiced warrior, skilled in most forms of weaponry, or a specialist in a specific kind of warfare, physical abilities, and other combat-orientated skills? The training you gained to become such would also enable your body to withstand cybernetic implants and augmentations.
"Are you a utilitarian Expert, someone who is exceptional in one of many skill-sets, such as flying, hacking, diplomacy, medicine, maintenance, weapon crafting, among others? This would allow you to make better use of specific and specialized equipment others cannot understand or use.
"Are you trained in the ancient arts of magic, a Magician who has learned to apply their abilities to amplify their natural skills, and manipulate the universe around them? You would also be capable of forming a bond to another creature, making a permanent ally to better your abilities.
"Or are you a Mystic, one who has trained in the mystical arts of energy and force manipulation, to amplify their senses, and physiology, and are masters of the energy blade, also known as a Swordsage? They are also those who can sense the forces of the worlds around them, gaining insight and knowledge others cannot." As it spoke, the screen also showed quick images of different people performing each class.
A soldier gunning down aliens, a hacker controlling an attack android, a man with a red winged creature on his shoulder and a ring of fire surrounding himself, and a girl in robes with a purple energy sword jumping across falling rocks before slicing an alien brute in half. Many other examples flowed across the screen, none of which really stood out. That is, until one image on the Combatant page flashed, revealing a man hidden in a tree, with an enormous sniper rifle aimed out.
"That, right there!" Sinon pointed out. "That's me, a sniper." She wasn't sure quite what had made it stand out, but it had felt right.
"Combatant it is then, would you like a custom load-out or would you like a pre-generated load-out of gear?" C1-45S asked.
"Um, pre-generated?" she inquired. It misunderstood though, and took her question as a confirmation. She cursed under her breath, and begrudgingly accepted the case it provided. She carried it into the next room, following the other players carrying cases. It led to a room with 2 separate large changing rooms, one for each gender, and several large tables where players were examining their gear. She made her way to the dressing room, and changed into the gear she was provided, stripping off the skin-tight grey and black body suit, and replacing it with another, only not as tight. She was also provided with some armor plates (shin-guard, shoulder plates, a chest piece, and codpiece), which she promptly attached.
Looking around, she saw that most of the different players had different gear. Some other Combatants had the same amount of armor she did, some more, some less. The other classes were easy to spot as well, but weren't nearly as numerous as the Combatants. The experts all had either a jumpsuit, lab-coat, or even a tacky trench coat. All of them also had some form of either a briefcase, satchel, or backpack. The mages all seemed over-dressed, wearing fancy dresses, colorful robes, and jewelry. Lastly, the mystics were the easiest to spot, by being the least obvious. They were the fewest, and the least flashy, all wearing white, tan, brown, or black robes, occasionally having small bits of armor attached.
Once she was finished getting dressed, she moved back out to examine her weapons and gear. Opening the case, she found a layer of black foam, encasing a basic pistol, a combat knife, 2 fragmentation grenades, and a green and pink c-shaped gun, which she assumed was a plasma pistol. This was the first time she knew this was a good idea. In the real world, she couldn't even look at a gun without freaking out, yet here she was admiring her own mini-arsenal. She supposed her therapist was right, and this game could be therapeutic for her.
She took the pistols, and attached each one to the magnetic holsters on her leg armor. The grenades were attached to her waist armor, just above her waist on her back, and the knife was placed on her chest. She cleared out the layer of black foam, and uncovered her new main weapon. It was split up into several pieces, but she knew that it was her sniper rifle. Upon seeing it, not only did she not feel nervous, she felt excited. Each piece that she attached made her feel stronger and stronger, and upon completion of her new rifle, she felt whole again. This was going to be a good day.
Attaching the strap to the rifle, and swinging it around her back, she threw the case aside, and ran after the other exiting players, leaving the facility. Once she left the airlock, she found herself in an open brown wasteland, large buildings in the distance. All around her was chaos. Spells, bullets, plasma, and waves of energy were all flying everywhere, as hundreds of players were learning the basics of fighting against the endlessly respawning alien grunts.
She grinned and sprinted to a nearby large boulder. Laying down on top of it, she pulled out her rifle and looked through the scope for the first time. A grunt walked into her view, and she moved the cross-hairs to point at its green, nude, scaly body. It was preoccupied with a mage trying to learn how to cast a spell, a perfect target. She took a deep breath in, and pulled the trigger. Her eyes went wide as she watched the alien creature fall over, a burst of blue blood shooting out, before falling over and disintegrated.
"Oh, hell yes," she moaned to herself, feeling a wave of ecstasy run over her body, and moved onto her next target.
Klein stood admiring himself in the mirror of the locker room. His mahogany colored robes feeling incredible against his skin, and the weight of his new Spirit Blade on his hip making him feel like he had the power to take on the world. He spent some time posing, doing different Kung Fu moves he thought he knew how to do. Each one he did looked flawless in his eyes. "Damn, I'm cool!" he complimented to himself, out loud. He thought that each pose he did just made him look cooler and cooler, so he was too enamored in himself to notice the boy walk up behind him.
"You know, it's not really you doing those poses," he remarked. Klein was so surprised by the sudden voice that he lost his balance while doing a crane pose, and fell on his butt.
"What's the big idea, dude? I was practicing my class moves," he defended, turning towards the boy. He was a Combatant, made obvious by his armored plates on his body. He had long dark hair, and his face was reminiscent of a character from some manga a few years ago. He was equipped with a magnum on one waist, and an energy blade on the other. The energy swords, unlike the spirit swords, let out a flat blade of energy and were mastered like any other weapon. The spirit blades, however, were designed solely for the Mystics, and could channel the Mystic's energy powers. In comparison, it was comparing a broadsword to a katana. The katana was really the only reason he wanted to be a Mystic.
"Sorry," the boy said, "It's just that it was a problem when people came out of the beta that they tried the moves they knew in game IRL, and got themselves hurt. I just wanted to warn you that you don't really know Kung Fu, the system is just helping you," he informed.
"I took Kung Fu for three years," Klein responded, annoyed.
"Oh, sorry then. Um, I'm Kirito, by the way."
"Klein, nice to meet you," he said, standing back up and shaking Kirito's hand.
"Likewise. So this your first Full Dive?" he questioned.
"Yeah, I saved up for months and camped outside the store for three days to make sure I got one of the physical copies. There were only 50,000 copies sold world-wide, and obviously I was lucky enough to get a copy, but man you were 50 times as lucky right?" he pointed out.
"Huh, how's that?" Kirito asked.
"You mentioned what happened when people came out of the beta, the only ones who actually know anything about the beta were the testers themselves. You were one, weren't you?" Klein asked.
"Uh, yeah. Anyway, good luck. The game has a bit of a learning curve, and I need to find my sister." That peaked Klein's interest. A girl gamer? Awesome! He quickly thought of a plan to meet her.
"Hey, wait up! You seem to know your way around this place, and you said yourself that this game has a steep learning curve. Any way we could stick together? I could use the help," he requested.
"I don't know, Klein. I really need to find my sister. This is her first full dive too, and she's going to need help," Kirito pointed out.
"Well, why don't I help you out? I help you find your sis, and you help us both learn the game. That sounds fair, right?" Kirito let out a sigh.
"I suppose. She messaged me her name and appearance. She's a green robed expert named Leafa. If you find her, meet back at the equipment set-up table. Okay?"
"Yeah, I suppose. Hey, why don't we add each other as friends, so we can just message each other? It'd be easier to meet back up," Klein suggested. He saw Kirito suddenly get a nervous look come across his face, and looked away.
"Um, I don't really…" Kirito began.
"Or not," Klein reassured, "Meeting back here works just fine. See you in a bit?"
"Yeah, thanks Klein. I'm not really comfortable with, you know."
"Hey, don't worry about it man. I completely understand." The two nodded to one another, and split up. Klein made his way back to the quartermaster and looked around for the green robes Kirito mentioned. Finding them wasn't too hard. The hard part here was that there were literally thousands of players around him, dozens if not hundreds with green robes. He started calling out.
"Leafa! Leafa? Your brother is looking for you Leafa?" He wasn't getting much response, those who looked his way at his yelling only were looking at him with contempt and annoyance, but he was used to that. He spent maybe 15 minutes looking for the girl with no luck.
Making his way back to the prep room, he kept an eye out for the name with green robes. No luck. Heading back to the tables in failure, he saw Kirito there talking to a pretty blonde girl, wearing a green jumpsuit, the top undone, and a white t-shirt on. She was stunning, well, the two parts that caught his eyes were. Damn, he wished Kirito had mentioned his sister was such a knockout. He ran up to them and bowed his head to her, his hand outstretched.
"Hi, I'm Klein, I'm 21, single, and looking for," he didn't get to finish, as a shooting pain emanating from his groin overcame his body. He curled over, falling to the floor, the familiar embarrassing pain overwhelming him.
"Sorry, Klein, but Su…" Klein heard a slap.
"Leafa!" the girl shouted.
"Alright, alright. Leafa," he began, exaggerating the name, "doesn't like it when people come on to her, and really I don't appreciate you coming on to my 14 year old sister, either. Also, you're imagining the pain. A bullet will feel like getting punched, so that knee isn't as bad as you think."
"Really?" he questioned. As he thought about that, he realized Kirito was right. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as he thought. "Oh, wow. You're right. So, we ready to go out and kill some scale heads?"
"Hell yeah!" Leafa confirmed.
"Sure, let's get to work," agreed Kirito.
Asuna Yuuki was honestly surprised. She had believed that this game would be ridiculous and a waste of time, not mention all the money her brother had used on it. She was happy she was wrong. The moment she picked up her new spirit blade and felt it come to life, she was intrigued. Once she felt it slice through the first alien she killed, she was hooked. To have so much power in one hand was intoxicating, and if the instructions were to be believed, she would only grow more powerful with time.
Right now, she could already do a dash up to 10 meters that was practically instantaneous, jump up to 5 meters, and basically had 360 degree vision if she concentrated. All around her, the bipedal lizard men, or Grunts, approached, and with almost just a flick of her wrist and ankle, one fell to her blade. She eliminated all 4 of them and looked at her carnage. They creatures lower halves had remained after each slice, while the top halves slid off, like cutting ice cream at an angle.
Looking ahead, she saw a girl in a blue-grey jumpsuit struggling to fire a plasma pistol against a horde of grunts, almost 6. Like a bolt of lightning, she triggered her Dash and held the blade to her side, cutting 4 of them before they even realized she was there. Two more quick swings and the others fell as well.
"You okay?" she asked the frightened girl.
"Yeah, that was amazing! How are you doing that already?" the girl inquired of Asuna.
"I took a martial arts class for a couple years. I think that the Mystic class or whatever it's called, uses martial arts moves as a trigger for its abilities. That, or I'm just awesome."
"Hey, why not both?" the girl joked. "Hey, I know you're pretty busy killing aliens, but would you mind if I stuck with you? I took the expert class, and didn't get a good starting weapon."
"Sure, why not?" Asuna agreed.
"I'm Lizbeth," the expert said.
"Asuna."
With introductions out of the way, the two girls began fighting their way over the hill the grunts were guarding. Both had seen other players heading this way and figured it was probably the right way to go. Once they reached the top, they saw an enormous crashed space ship that was now crawling with a new kind of enemy, they seemed like giant locusts or grasshoppers.
Several players were attempting to shoot them down, but not many were finding much luck. Occasionally, one would drop, but that was always preceded by a loud boom coming from an outcropping of rocks. Beyond the ship, the girls saw a large canyon that looked like it was more than a mile across. That was too far for any player to jump, even the Mystics.
"Well, now what do we do?" Lizbeth questioned.
"Well, the city in the distance looks like the one that the tutorial mentioned was out first goal, so I think we need to find a way to cross the canyon," Asuna speculated.
"Huh? When did that get mentioned?" Lizbeth asked in response, her eyes taking a confused look. Asuna turned to her new friend.
"In the instructions, when the game first came on, right before the terms and conditions," Asuna explained, like it was obvious.
"You actually read that?" Lizbeth asked in shock.
"Of course. It said important on the top, why would I skip it. Besides, my father taught me to always read everything you're given, because those who gave it will expect you to know what it says," explained Asuna, now looking for a way across.
"Geez, what is your dad, a lawyer?"
"CEO, actually." Asuna didn't give Liz a chance to respond. Something in the wreckage had caught her eye, and she believed she now had a plan.
"Wait, what?!" Liz asked in disbelief, before sliding down the hill, chasing Asuna. "Asuna!" she called out to her.
Said girl barley heard her, she was just filled with adrenaline as she fell from her jump, landing perfectly on her feet. Oh yeah, she could get used to this. Once Liz had caught up, the two fought their way through the grunts until they reached the wreck, which was a lot bigger up close.
The two took some cover, and Liz pulled out a spray bottle painted white with a red cross. Asuna watched in curiosity as she sprayed a white foam over the areas where they had been hit while running there. The foam quickly faded, and Asuna watched as her health went back to full. She gave Liz a surprised look. "Medic-foam, part of the standard gear for my class," Liz bragged.
"Nice!" The two waited under cover for a couple minutes until the locusts that were tailing them were either picked off by other players or left them alone. The girls breathed out a sigh of relief, and left their hiding place, going deeper into the wreck. They found a few extra grunts roaming about that they quickly dispatched.
Though there was an entire wrecked ship, there seemed to only be a single path through it they could follow. Asuna would have pointed out that it was strange, unlikely, or convenient, but then she remembered that it was a game, despite how real it seemed. The path led them to a large steel wall, with the only entrance being a metal sliding door that was currently emitting showers of sparks.
"Oh, I guess this is my cue," Liz remarked. Asuna wasn't sure what other choices were available, so she just watched Lizbeth approach the door and pull out a weird square gadget with two antennae. She aimed it towards a little panel to the right of the door. Asuna walked up behind her, and peeked over her shoulder. The device was listing off a bunch of green letters and numbers. Asuna wondered how this girl was making any sense of it, but, again, she was reminded that she was in a video game. Lizbeth likely knew what she was doing in the same sense that Asuna was able to jump, dash, and fight. This game made them heroes.
The three of them were thrilled with their success. Leafa, Klein, and Kirito had just broke through the city walls and had made it to the inner plaza, where every other player who had made it there before them had. There was maybe two hundred people there already, and considering that there were 50,000 players, being 200th was pretty good. The three had made their way to the front lines, but like most other players, had been stopped by the gorge. Some had tried riding the locusts, others tried climbing down, but it was two girls who solved it.
They had entered the wreck, and had happened upon a hangar full of two to four man short-range ships. Everyone had marveled at the sight when they had blasted out of the wreck breaking the sound barrier. However, whoever was piloting didn't know what they were doing. They were in the air for maybe 6 seconds before they crashed, right back into the wreck. It wasn't long before players were swarming the ship, grouping up, and flying across.
Leafa really showed her stripes then. While she may not have been the best fighter, most of the Experts weren't. She was, however, great at being a pilot. Though they weren't even close to first to get a ship, Leafa managed to get the three of them ahead of many other players. Upon landing as far forward as the ship could take them, Klein and Kazuto cleared away the enemies and together, the three of them launched the standard grappling hook, and scaled the wall.
Upon reaching the central plaza, they completed the quest, and activated the beacon. Once done, they each received the reward of exp. and credits. They all congratulated each other, and spent some time celebrating with the other players who had made it, and congratulating those who came after.
"Well guys, it's been great, really, but it's almost 5, and I have a pizza coming," Klein informed.
"Yeah, I have to get going to, Kirito. Remember, I've got practice at 5:30," his sister reminded him.
"Right. Well, you two go ahead and log-off. I'm going to stay on and look around town, maybe spend some of this. Catch you later, guys." They both waved to him, and opened their menus, navigating. Kirito turned to walk away, but heard them both say, "Uh, Kirito?"
He turned back and saw a look of confusion across both their faces. "Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Uh," Leafa began.
"Noob, question, but where's the log-out button?" he laughed at them, lightly.
"It's under System, then options," he explained.
"Yeah, that's where I am, but it's not there," Leafa explained. Out of curiosity, Kirito opened his own menu and maneuvered to the button, only to find that they were right. In its place was an empty white space. Slightly concerned, he raced his way through all the options he could, searching for where they moved it. Comin up empty, he closed the menu.
"It's gone."
Over the course of the next hour, the rest of the players made it into the city, and it was becoming public knowledge that the logout button was missing, and more and more people were getting concerned. Some, like Klein, just shrugged and decided to wait out the bug. Others, like Kirito, weren't even bothered, having no intention of logging out anytime soon. Most, like Asuna and Leafa, were freaking out, having important commitments to make, or not wanting to be seen playing a game like this.
Once the last player made it in and completed the quest, every single player not in the central plaza felt a tingling rush overtake them. All 47,500 players were now in the central plaza, with nobody having any idea what was going on.
That is, until the sun exploded. Not literally, of course, but the light being generated by the sun had suddenly amplified to such a degree that every player averted their eyes. When the light dies down, and they had all recovered, an enormous, flowing, golden robed silhouette towered over all of them.
"Welcome, players to Galaxy Wars Online . I am Kayaba Akihiko, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world, and all other worlds in this galaxy. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the logout button is missing from your menu. I need you all to understand, this is not a defect or a bug. This was the way G.W.O. was designed to be.
"Listen, listen, please. There is more. You see, from this point on, any player who dies in the game, will also die on Earth. In addition, any attempt to remove the Nervegear or deactivate the game will activate a sensor in the Nervegear will activate, frying your brain and killing you instantly." The figure waved his hands and every player's menu pulled up, showing clips from the news, YouTube, and even the Nervegear camera, revealing most of the players' families rushing them to hospitals. Once he felt that he had the belief of the majority of the players, he continued.
"Now, despite what many of you are now believing, I am not a monster. I haven't condemned you all to death. There is a way to escape. As most of you know, this game is about the war between the Republic and the Confederacy. Each side believes they have a method of Ascension, in other words, both sides have a method of going to the next life. It's up to you to decide who is right, and decide which side will free you. Good luck, and may the stars guide your path."