Episode 1: The Land of Light
Why is it that we interact with other people? Of course, it's because we're human. We want to connect and establish relationships with everyone around us. But why? Why do we do what we do? If you strip down basic human relationships to the bone, you'll find that we only use other people to forward our own desires. Every day we benefit from others and they benefit from us. In conclusion, we need others to survive and they need us. That is our only purpose. Humans, in nature, are selfish… and I find that really annoying.
It was the middle of summer. My family and I had taken a short trip from our home in Osaka to go to Tokyo for a while. Of course, it was hot as hell as we walked through the streets but I never complained. We stopped by the usual landmarks and took pictures while also visiting different shrines. Not once did I smile. I don't know why I'm like this. Nowadays I'm annoyed by the simplest things like people walking around, smiling and laughing.
My name is Hiroyuki Takamura. If that's a mouthful for you then you can call me Hiro, most people do. My mom is American while my dad is Japanese, making me and my seven year old sister half-half. I have brown eyes, black hair, as well as the cliché nerdy thick glasses. I was born and raised in the United States for at least five years before we moved to Japan. Because of that, English was my first language but thanks to my dad, I managed to learn Japanese as well. I'm currently fifteen years old and have just graduated from the ninth grade. That's pretty much the gist of it. My life isn't that interesting or exciting. I'd even say it was boring. Well, at least until that day.
I sat on the bed of our hotel room reading some pamphlets we had collected across Tokyo. It was mostly apartment ads and restaurant menus. My dad could never turn these down; he was always trying to be polite.
"Are you sure about this, Hiro?" My mom came out of the bathroom with her brown hair wet and combed. She was clad in her purple top and denim pants. "Your uncle was looking forward to seeing you."
"Yeah, big brother! It's been a long time." I heard my sister's high pitched voice across the room. She's standing there along with my dad who's already dressed as well.
They were of course talking about the man, the myth, the legend: mom's brother who was almost always too busy to even call us. I used to admire him when I was younger but that admiration eventually faded. I mean, why would you like someone who doesn't even spend time with his family?
"We've walked a lot already. I'm tired." I said with a cold tone. "I'd rather stay here."
"Alright then..." My mom said. Even though she agreed, I could sense that she was annoyed about my attitude.
"What you want for dinner then?" My dad asked me with a smile.
"I'm okay with anything." I replied.
As they exited the door, my mom turned around one last time. "Last chance, Hiro. Who knows when we'll see him again?"
"Tell him to call then."
My mom froze for a second at my response then reluctantly shut the door. I relaxed back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I got lost in my thoughts. Hey, it's true. His calls are very few and when he does, he mostly tells us of how his work is doing. All the things he has accomplished. You see, he's a techno geek who was working on a new device similar to those full dive VR gadgets that I couldn't afford.
I eventually got tired of hearing everyone praise him. I mean, I'm a huge gamer and all but when your life's not doing so well and you hear someone else having an amazing time doing what he loves, you wouldn't exactly be jumping in joy, would you?
Now that I think about it, why did he invite us out? I checked my phone and realized today was the day he was going to release it. I sit up and widen my eyes. My mom said he was looking forward to seeing me. Was he going to give me a free unit or something? Thinking about this, I scratch my head in frustration. Maybe I should've…
*Ding dong*
I heard the doorbell ring. Slowly standing up, I heard it ring again. I thought it might have been room service or something. But I didn't order anything. Was it my family coming back because they left something? In that case, I think I'll actually tag along if it means a free gaming device. Approaching the entrance, I looked through the eye-hole. However, no one was there. Opening the door, I scanned the hallway. It was empty, no one in sight.
"Did I just get pranked or- ah!" My feet suddenly kicked something below me. It was a brown cardboard box with a note attached to it. Picking it up, I read.
'To: My Hero. From: RJ.'
"RJ… it's from my uncle?"
RJ short for Robert Junior. He's the guy I mentioned. He always talked to me about games and anime when I was younger. That's the reason I'm such an avid geek now. My favorite video games and anime in the past were ones which told the story of heroes. Saving people, fighting bad guys, being admired by the masses, that's who I wanted to be hence the nickname he gave me. But that was me in the past: a stupid kid who could only dream.
Taking the box inside and closing the door, I plopped the package down onto the bed and opened it. Inside was a smaller, white box with the word AuraSphere covering the side.
"Holy crap!" I excitedly took the package out of the box. Is he psychic or something?! It was the new AuraSphere! The past VR devices had a lot of problems that my uncle was trying to solve. This included: internal battery, mobility, and most importantly: safety. Wouldn't want another SAO incident, even though I would probably be okay with that. This, however, was only available in Japan for now. Thank God I live here.
Slowly sliding the device out of the box, I stared at the AuraSphere in its full glory. It looked like two simple circles that had rubber indents for your ears. It came with a standard instruction booklet as well as a rectangular charging dock.
"Huh. It's orange…" I said as I examined the pieces. The AuraSphere was advertised as being white or black. I just shrugged it off and assumed that my uncle had gotten me a limited edition version. After all, what's family for?
Looking at the different parts, I remembered all that I have learned about it. Despite me being unenthusiastic about the device, I was secretly excited for its release. The headset can act as normal headphones but if you push the button on either side, a holographic visor pops up and shows you the menu. The headset connects wirelessly to any electronic with the AuraConnect application installed, however this marvelous piece of art can also function as a basic smartphone by itself.
I put the two circles on both of my ears. They fit just well with the rubber interior. I pressed the power button on the right side and surely enough, a holographic display shot up. It glowed blue as it displayed the log in screen. Waving my hand, the display started moving as well. I selected the button that read 'Log In' and expected a create account option to pop up. However, I was greeted with these words:
'Logged in. Welcome back, Wairuzu!'
"Wairuzu?!" I stared at the screen as the home page popped up. Apparently, Uncle RJ had already made an account for me… great. I wondered why he called it Wairuzu in the first place.
The home page was just basic with your profile name on the top left and the settings on the right while the main screen displayed any applications you have downloaded. Right now it was empty with the only icon shown being a blue square cube. I tapped on it and the title of the application popped up.
'Aura Kingdom Online'
My eyes widened. Obviously, if you were going to make a full dive VR device, you needed a launch title. This game was made by my uncle using something he called: the world seed. Excitedly, I tapped on the 'play' button next to the title which made it display a terms and agreements page.
"Yeah, yeah…" I scrolled to the very bottom and clicked 'I agree'. Let's be honest, who reads these?
A pop up window appeared and I read it out loud.
"Put yourself in a comfortable position and activate using the voice command. Alright." Lying down, I realized I didn't know what the hell the voice command is. "Um… Game go? Start game!"
I sat up and scanned through the instruction manual included in the box. "Ah!"
Lying back down, I shouted. "Link start!"
What happened next changed my life forever. I felt an aura surround me as I dove into the game. All I could see was the shade of orange blinding my vision and running past me as if I was traveling through a tunnel of light. It stung a bit but I knew that soon, I wouldn't be in real life any more.
Opening my eyes, I felt the hot rays of the sun touch my skin. Looking around, I could see people walking around and interacting with each other. I was in some sort of fishing village with different houses having blue roofs. Boats were docked in a port nearby which connected to the vast, blue sea that stretched towards the horizon.
I smiled. This place was beautiful. Turning around, I met with a reflective window. That was when I saw myself. I had orange-ish hair with red eyes and wore a simple yellow shirt with a red sleeveless jacket and brown pants. I noticed that something was sticking out of my back. Pulling it, I unsheathed what looked like a long, red katana.
"What the hell?" I said to myself. What happened to the character creation screen?! The classes?! I didn't even get to look at the choices! I figured my uncle had given me his AuraSphere where he had already played a bit. At that point, I thought about restarting my account. However, I had no idea how. Sure, I have been following the news about the AuraSphere but I had no idea how to play this damn game.
"Excuse me!" I look to my side to find a woman walking towards me. She had shoulder-length, wood brown hair with a headband and a yellow bow attached to the back. Along with that was a deep shade of brown eye color, contrasting her golden necklace with a forest green stone. She wore a dark blue coat and a maiden dress with white, blue and matching dark blue as color palette.
"Uh hello?"
"Greetings, you must be new here!" She said with a smile. "I'm Sheila, the wife of the village chief, York. Welcome to Port Skandia!"
'exposition huh? Must be an NPC then.' I nervously smile back. "Hi! I uh…"
"Do you require any assistance?"
"Actually, yeah. I have no idea how to play this game."
"Sure. I could help. What would you like to know?"
Her voice was so static that she seemed almost like a robot. Well, that's how NPC's are supposed to act, I guess.
"Well, the basics should be good enough."
Pausing for a while, Sheila spoke once more. "To open the menu, swipe your index finger down."
"Swipe my…" Doing the motion with my right hand, a menu suddenly slid down in front of me like a hologram. It had all the tabs a normal game would have such as options, status, party, log out, and more. The top part contained my username and a picture of my avatar's face. "Wairuzu. Of course."
"If you can kindly look at the top of the menu, you could see your username, level and class."
I noticed that my level was still at one. Did my uncle just make an account for me, customized my avatar, chose my class, and left it alone?! If that were the case, then I want to reset this account right away. Oh well, might as well have some fun for a bit. After all, this is my first VRMMO.
Looking at my class, a symbol of a katana in a box sat there. I tapped on it and a window popped up. Apparently my class was called Ronin, my weapon was a tachi.
"Do you need to learn the basics of combat?" Sheila asked.
"Nah, I think I'll be fine. Just swing my sword right?" I grabbed my sword with two hands and held it forward.
"Okay then! If there's nothing else then I shall give you your first quest!"
"Quest?" Right. It's an MMORPG.
"Here!" A screen suddenly popped up in front of Sheila with my quest written on it. Apparently, I had to bring a lunch box to her husband, the village chief.
"What? No killing things? Just bring this to him?"
"Yup! Although, York might have something else for you. You can find him near the lighthouse."
I sighed and pressed accept. Boring as the quest sounded, it was still 302 EXP. I grabbed the yellow lunch box and made my way to the up the steps and along the path using the mini-map display to guide me. Along the way, I spotted different stands with NPC's selling different items to players. Speaking of which, I easily separated the players from the NPC's through the weapons they held. Some had battle-axes, one had a sword and shield. There's even a girl with dual swords! I honestly would've preferred the dual swords but unfortunately, my class was already chosen for me.
I spotted a stout man up ahead who had glasses and was wearing a yellow outfit with a dark brown vest. He also had a matching cap on his head to go with his clothes as well as a moustache above his mouth. I was about to approach him when another player in a sleeveless blue vest beat me to the punch.
"Hey! You York?" He said.
"Yes. That's me." York, the village chief, said with a smile. "Wait. Where's my wife? And why are you delivering my lunch?"
"Well, she told me to give this to you." The guy held out the same yellow lunch box I had in my hands.
"Ah thank you." York took the box as the player was surrounded in a blue aura.
"Hey, level 2!"
"Speaking of which, I have something to ask of you." York continued. "Caine, the foreman at the Logging Site, requires extra hands to drive the bunnyhops out of the area. Go to him at once."
"Roger that!" The guy enthusiastically accepted the quest and ran off.
"Okay." I finally approached the chief. "York?"
"Hm?" York eyed me. "Wait. Where is my wife? And why are you delivering my lunch?"
'That's the exact the same dialog.' I narrowed my eyebrows. You could tell my uncle hadn't really focused on the NPC interaction.
"Yeah, here." As expected, a blue aura surrounded me as I reached level 2.
"Speaking of which, I have something to ask of you."
"Caine, the foreman I know, I know…" the quest window popped up. Talk to Caine about the bunnyhops. What the hell were bunnyhops? Pressing accept, I opened the map from the menu. "Looks like he's outside the village."
As I passed through the tall stone arc that stood at the village entrance, I found myself in a beautiful, dense forest where the sunlight shined through the trees and created a ray that stretched to the ground. I opened the map once more and left it open. Not that far now. All of a sudden, something stood in front of me. It was a creature much shorter than me with long, rabbit-like ears, short arms and legs, and a tail that had a green ball at the end of it. Its pink eyes stared directly at mine.
"Uh… hello?" I waved. "You don't happen to be a bunnyhop do you?" I said as I reached for my sword. However, before I could unsheathe it, the small monster pounced towards me and smacked me right in the face with its tail. I fell to the ground with a grunt before the bunnyhop hopped away. "Little bastard..."
I suddenly heard laughter from behind me accompanied by a condescending voice. "Don't let a bunch of rabbits kick your ass!"
Looking up, I found a man with the same red and yellow outfit as I had. His hair, tied up in a ponytail, was black with hints of blue. The same colours were visible on his goatee. Holding his hand out, he smiled.
"Thanks." I decided to stand up on my own. "But I'm fine."
"If you say so. You can call me Jayce by the way."
"Wairuzu." It won't matter anyway once I restart this game.
"Hey, you a Ronin too?!" Jayce eyed the weapon on my back as I realized he had the same tachi but blue. "I haven't seen a lot of Ronin players so far. After all, it is apparently the most challenging class."
'Most… challenging?!' I scratched the back of my head. "It is?"
"Yeah, in the class selection screen, each one had up to a five star rating for difficulty. This one's a full fat five."
"I see…" I didn't actually get the chance to access the freaking class selection.
"If you'd like, we could party together. Y'know, since we're the same class?"
I stared at the smile that formed on Jayce's face. "Why should I? What do you want from me?"
"Huh?" He shifted his feet and crossed his arms. "I don't need anything, Wairuzu. I just wanted to learn alongside you. This game and system just came out anyway."
He probably needs someone to take the hits for him before he goes in for the kill. I'm basically cannon fodder if I join him.
"Thanks but no thanks. Besides, I'm probably going to remake this character in a bit."
"Oh." Jayce said. "In that case, come find me around here when you have your actual avatar, okay?"
"Sure." I reach for the log out button. I wasn't actually going to find him once I make my new character. Someone like him was probably going to be too much of a hassle.
I opened my eyes to the dull ceiling of my hotel room. Once you saw the bright and colourful environment of Aura Kingdom, you could never really appreciate real life again. Sitting up, I accessed the Aura Kingdom icon once more. I noticed that there was the standard gear icon beside the name. Tapping it, I see the options.
"Ah here we go." My eyes spotted the reset data button. My uncle wouldn't mind right? After all this is mine now.
Before I could do anything else, I heard my phone ring from across the room. Taking off the AuraSphere, I quickly pick up the call.
"Hello?"
"Hiro!" It was my mom. Her voice made it sound like she was holding back tears. "Something's happened to your uncle, we won't be back for a while!"
I could feel my breaths become heavier as she said that.
"Just stay there okay?!"
"Yeah…" I replied as she hung up.
Staring at the screen, I wondered what the hell happened. What something? That's when I looked at the time. The sun was setting when my family left so why was it still bright outside?
I then realized that the source of the light was a large fire in a nearby skyscraper. The smoke filled the air like dark clouds. I then spotted the sign on the top of the building: RECT Progress Inc.
"That's… that's where uncle is…"
Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA
Next Episode: Friends and Enemies