Mage. Art. Online.

Prologue

Deep in Faron Woods…

"Link, can I ask you a favor?" A small, orange-haired imp-like creature inquired of the elvish youth whose shoulder she, as the creature was evidently female, was leaning on. In response, the green-clad male, clearly named Link, gave a short nod.

"Would you mind coming with me to find something called the Mirror of Twilight? It's hidden somewhere in Hyrule... " The Imp trailed off, before focusing again on her partner.

"Yes, the Mirror of Twilight… Our last potential link to Zant!" The dark creature exclaimed, backing away from Link with her arms behind her back. However, before the two began to leave a sharp, stabbing pain erupted at the base of their necks, knocking them to the ground from the force of the blow. As the Green Clad Hero began to lose consciousness, he heard shallow footsteps from his right followed by a deep chuckle...

Central City, Amestris

April 15th, 1912

"You will more than likely come across cases like this again in the future, and you may end up having to get your own hands dirty as well. You going to shut down like this every time?" A male in a blue uniform inquired of the short blonde sulking on the stairs, who didn't even seem to hear him.

"We may be called dogs of the military," The depressed blonde began, "We may even be cursed as devils. It doesn't matter. Al and I are still going to get our bodies back. We know the truth. We know we're not devils, we know we're not gods, we're human." He continued, standing up with his head still hung low, before thrusting his head towards the sky in rage. " We're only human!"

As he screamed that, he began crying again, still shaking in anger. "We can't even do anything to save one innocent, little girl." As he finished his monologue, he sat back down, continuing to sob at his failure. However his sorrow would be interrupted by a gunshot ringing out, followed by a tranquilizer dart impacting his neck...

Fowl Estate, Dublin; Ireland

"Damn, this thing won't turn on!" A pale, dark-haired youth complained, pounding his fist onto the virtual reality helmet in his lap, frustrated at the lack of any form of response from the piece of Japanese technology. Realizing that he may have to open it, he began to stand up to look for some tools so as to do so. However, just as he placed the console down, it hummed to life, the lights flickering on for the first time.

"Finally," the raven haired male sighed, placing it onto his head. Once it was secured, the loading screen for the VRMMORPG Mage Art Online, or MAO for short, displayed with a progress bar filling at a relatively slow pace, only further aggravating the vampiric looking youth. Luckily for the hardware, the screen finished it's loading phase and prompted a quick login and information check. With his statistics filled in, the heterochromic boy managed to load into the game, awaiting the arrival of his associate. At his side a small, brown and white fox like creature yipped at him, motioning it's head towards a tall, bald male walking towards the pair, a large steel bird walking next to the man, looking around the area in mild fascination.

"Artemis. I was wondering when I would find you." The mountain of a man addressed his relatively diminutive companion, nodding in the direction of the small fox. "It seems you went with an Eevee?"

"Yes, Butler. And a Skarmory? It does suit your personality quite well." Artemis responded to the now named Butler, the dark blue eyed male nodding towards the metallic bird beside him, the creature making a sort of screeching caw as well. Not long after this, a familiar, although occasionally irritating, voice was heard in both of the males heads, shocking the two of them in the process.

"Artemis, It's Foaly. You need to get out of there as soon as possible." The now named Foaly alerted the boy genius, the vampiric teen deadpanning in response.

"Foaly why did you hack in?"

"Artemis, this game is more like the original Death Game than in name alone. The goal, while similar, is far more difficult despite the increased power cap. I assume you heard about the SAO incident, correct?" The centaur inquired of the raven-haired teenager, earning a nod of recognition.

"Of course. Who hasn't heard about the famed disaster that resulted in millions dead, including the original creator of it? Let me guess, Mage Art is a similar experience." Artemis retorted, Foaly giving a positive hum.

"Yes, it is. While it may have different mechanics to determine health and the actual death of a player, the method is exactly the same. I'm just lucky that I managed to contact you before the panic sets in for others, or you found out the hard way how this game works. While I doubt that you would be able to get out of the game the simple way, I know you should be able to figure out how to make your way out in the long run." At that, a click was heard as Foaly's connection was cut, signalling the end of the conversation...

Meanwhile...

A dark blue haired male sat down on his bed, placing his own Nerve Gear II upon his head. Once secured it loaded the files for MAO, however, an error occurred due to file corruption.

"That's strange. Normally my file wouldn't have experienced a corruption unless someone purposely tampered with it." The rusty red-eyed man thought to himself, shrugging.

"I guess I need to make a new file from scratch." At that, the lengthy process of making a new character began, starting from the basics. After a short period of fifteen minutes, the rust eyed male spawned, a small creature resembling a snow covered evergreen at his side. However, he hadley made a step as the spawn area was bathed in red from a barrier that formed over the entire area, the entire playerbase teleported back to the area in a short amount of time, confusing many as to why. However, it was soon answered as to why when an almost comically out of place plume of smoke appeared on a central stage, a cloaked figure revealed underneath.

"Greetings, players! As you can all tell, I am Hisashi Sotomura, the lead programmer in charge of this fine game! Now, many of you have questions, such as the location of the quit option in the menu. It is no mere glitch, nor is it a programming bug! It's a feature, as a famed streamer might put it." At that, the robed man chuckled for unknown reasons, some joining him upon realization of what was referenced.

"Anyways, The reason for this is so as to 'test your resolve' or something. I don't really understand the specifics, but yeah. So, until the 1000th boss is defeated, you're all trapped here. Have fun!" At that, the lead programmer went up in another plume of smoke while everyone began to rush around in panic.

"Uh… what just happened?" The rust eyed man inquired, the tree creature shrugging as if to say 'I don't know'. Getting on his knees, the dark-skinned man rubbed the creature's head.

"It's okay, Snover. I have no clue either. Why don't we look for someone who is a bit calmer than those around us, buddy?" The bluenette asked of his partner, earning a cheer filled nod from the miniature snow ent. Looking around, he saw a pale teen around his own age, conversing with a veritable mountain of a man calmly, an Eevee at the boy's side.

"You think those two would be good?" The reddish eyed man inquired of the Snover, earning another cheerful nod as well as a bit of a tug from the creature in their direction.

"I'll take that as a yes, then." He chuckled out, as he approached the odd duo.

"Hey, I'm Marin Icewinter. Maybe we could work together?" The now named Marin asked of the two, Artemis and Butler giving him a look of confusion in response, not expecting such a bold approach. Butler's Skarmory gave off a short screech, while Marin's Snover gave a low sound, similar to wind rustling leaves. As the silence passed between the two parties, a tumbleweed rolled by, confusing all six.

"At any rate, my name is Artemis Fowl, and this is my associate, Butler. As for us working together? It seems that we may as well." The Fowl Heir responded to the odd haired male, said man whooping in joy at having gained allies. As the bluenette calmed down, Artemis rubbed his temples in annoyance at the situation he got himself into. On the opposite side of the hub, a certain green-clothed hero was making his way out of spawn, with a small, brown and white wolf-like creature trailing behind him.

'I need to find Midna!' He thought to himself, looking around frantically for his main companion. While rushing, he accidentally bumped into what seemed to be a large man in a suit of medieval armor, hearing a hollow clunk as he made contact with the man.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was heading, so I ran into you." Link informed the armored man, before continuing on his way. As he made his way out of the crowd, he began to lose hope at finding his friend soon. Realizing this, he held his head low before slowly making his way towards the outskirts of the town, not caring as much for what happened. As he crossed the threshold that separated the spawn from the wilderness, he heard what seemed to be a feminine shriek from not far off. As he ran to the sound of distress, he grew increasingly worried for the source, not knowing what he would face. As he got over the crest of the hill he was on, he witnessed a black clothed female being chased, albeit in a comedic fashion, by what seemed to be a blue creature, reminiscent of a Chu. Rushing at the monster, Link drew his sword, slashing at the creature expertly, dividing it into two. The two halves of the creature then turned towards the attacker, hoping towards him. In response he flipped back while pulling out his shield, blocking the attempted attack by the small creatures before lowering it again and slashing once, twice, and three times, the liquid bodies of the slimes dispersing into nothing not long after. Turning back towards the reason behind his actions, he gave a short wave and grin. The woman returned the gesture, before a look of realization crossed her face.

"Link!?"

Blueghast900: Hey all, I told you I'd get this chapter out this week! I may have pushed to the very end of my self-imposed deadline, but here it is! I decided that, after a few years of neglect, I would repost MAO so as to allow my work to increase.

Colys: That, and he's given Team C.R.S.N. a break as well, so I have no room to complain.

Marin: Hey, I got to come back into existence!

Blueghast900: Yes, that you did Marin. Anyways, as always, Read, Rate, Review, and Favorite.

*Blueghast900 has signed off.*