(Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a major project, so if it's bad... feel free to blame me: if it's good, please leave a review, as it would honestly mean a lot. Also, this isn't my story, but rather a friend's, but he hasn't got an account on this site and so is using my account to post this. It'll be coming out 1 or two chapters at a time, depending how quickly and how long it takes for him to write, what with having to balance out school studies, writing this, etc. I hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions, be free to ask, I'll pass them on to him and he'll anwser them, and I'll get back to you about it)

The man walked forward, his red cape trailing behind him "Hmm…" he looks at the screen "Sales are amazing already… I can't believe this…"

"Akihiko Kayaba, Sir?"

"Yes?" Akihiko turns around to face the person behind him "What is it?"

"Heathcliff's Grandson is here to see you about the… 'offer'…"

"Let him in…" he turns back to the computer monitor "And let the games… begin…"

"Heh, Akihiko…" the teen walked in, he was about eighteen in age with icy blue eyes and black hair with a yellow streak in it "You wanted to make an offer?"

Akihiko turns, a small smile forming on his lips "yes, but if I am honest, I did not think you would show up at all, although you did… so congratulations, the offer is still open…"

"Course it is, there's no one better than me to do this" the teen smirked

"Confident, like your father…"

Walking forward, the teen showed a glimmer in his icy eyes "Show me what it is you want from me"

"Gladly…" Akihiko turns, walking towards a bed with a bedside desk beside it; an off-line nerve-gear sitting on the desk "Now… this is what you do, Connor…"

Six gamers who had started playing a fairly new game known as Chronicles of the Dark Lands which was a virtual reality game that used the nerve gear that was in the same vein as the famous 'Sword art online' and the less popular 'ALfheim online'. The players had met at the first town of the game, known as the town of Balmoral in the tavern called the 'Drunken Huntsman'. There was an awkward silence as the six gamers sat around a badly made wooden table with spills of blood and alcohol on it.

"So, um… what do you call a guy with no body and just a nose…?"

There was an even more awkward silence as the other five turned to him staring in either disappointment or regret, knowing what was about to happen-

"Nobody knows!"

"That was a crap joke Adam" Ross looked over in dismay, clearly annoyed at the joke the thief had tried to pull, before looking over to the red-haired warrior leaning on the table "Can I kill him Dan?"

Dan gave a sigh, shaking his head "No Ross, remember the last time? You snapped someone's neck after they threatened you with a pen knife…"

Adam gave a small, nervous cough as he tried to regain what little self-respect he had "Anyway… so, when are we heading out and starting this?"

Tomm looks over, shaking his head "not long now hopefully…" then looks over to Dan "What are we waiting for anyway?"

Dan glances over at Joel, who had finally managed to open his inventory and sort himself out "Nothing, now that Joel's finally figured out the controls we can go…" and stands up straight then walking out, followed by the others when-

"Hey… Guys?" Megan looked at the five boys "Have you seen this?" and takes a letter out of her inventory and holding it out

Ross nods, as the others took their letters out of their inventories "Can we read them?"

"Well, there's nothing stopping us" Dan muttered, opening the letter "Let's see what this is about…" and starts reading it aloud-

'Dear Players, as you have probably noticed, you have no log-out option. This is no technical fault, but rather…a challenge, if you die in this game, you die in real life although you have three 'lives'… essentially, this is a literal game of life and death, all you simply have to do is beat the one hundred levels of the EverHollow tower… good luck, and best wishes. Signed by Creator Akihiko Kayaba'

Joel raised an eyebrow curiously, "So… we can't leave…?" then looks at the other five "Well that royally fucks up my plans to get the highest kill count out of all of us!"

Dan showed a sly smirk "Heh, makes this all the more fun…" then looks at the others "Well, if your all ready, I guess we can head out".

Dan turned and walked towards the dusty stone path that headed to a nearby field where other players were training, and was followed by the other five…