Survival Games Online

"Sir?"

The slim man pushed up his glasses, peering over the top of his desktop monitor. His tired eyes rested on a large man across the room, who stared out the large glass window he stood before, eyes scanning the brightly-lit city skyline.

The man only gave a grunt, and the man at the computer awkwardly cleared his throat. "Sir, the map… It's been tested and approved. It's… It's finished and ready for tomorrow."

This gained the larger man's interest, and he straightened himself, turning slightly on his heel to look back at his employee. "It's done?"

"It's done."

The most wicked of grins crossed his face and he turned back to the window. "Perfect. Make sure the server is crash-proof. I don't want any problems."

"And the contestants?"

"You know who to let in. Just make it happen."

"Right away, sir."

As fingers all around the room began typing rapidly again, the man at the window chuckled darkly to himself, pressing a pudgy hand to the glass.

"Happy launch day, everyone."

"And… there!"

With an accomplished sigh, Mikki stepped back and viewed her new setup. Tower to the farthest left, than monitor and keyboard, mouse, and her new favorite toy:

The Mojang Optic.

She reached out and gingerly picked up the equipment, running her hands over the smooth texture with a smile. It wasn't large; it was about the size of a motorcycle helmet, though a bit smaller to be more form-fitting to the head. A long chord ran out of the back and attached to a black box that sat beside her monitor; this was the Optic's mainframe. All Mojang games were pre-installed to it, and the specific servers were already in place.

Since its release, Mojang's well-known game, Minecraft, had been one of the most popular games available. People on YouTube made careers through "Let's Play's" and fortunes off of servers with special minigames. People seemed to almost live in Minecraft… and that's when Notch, the founder of Minecraft, had gotten an idea.

After the release and success of the Oculus Rift, a virtual gaming device, the head of Mojang had decided to do the same thing; specifically for his company's games though, of course. No one knew what anything looked like, how far Mr. Notch and his company had gone…

But today, they would find out.

"It's launch day," Mikki murmured to herself, plopping down excitedly on her bed. She set the helmet beside her and checked the time. '11:45' was what her phone read, and she decided it was time to start her call.

Opening her mobile Skype app, she looked through her recent contacts until she found the name she was looking for: "Laxus_Death." She tapped the small phone icon next to the name and set it to speaker mode, setting her phone on her desk. It took no time at all for the familiar, deep voice to respond.

"Hey, sis. You ready?"

"More than!" she practically squealed, laughing a bit. "We've been waiting months. You should sound more excited."

"I'm tired."

"You're always tired."

Finally, a laugh and tone of excitement broke through his voice. "Shut up. Did you read the instructions?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I really grasped them fully." She reached over to the desk and picked up the slightly-crinkled instruction sheet, skimming over it. "Walk me through it?"

"Okay. Make sure you're in a stationary position, like lying on your bed. You'll then put on the helmet and hit the large button on the back of the Optic mainframe. It will then start transmitting your brainwaves or… something like that. You just have to stay still until you're connected! You control everything with your mind, so-."

"Alright kid, don't hurt yourself," I teased. "So just lay still and let it do the work?"

"…You do realized how bad that sounded, right?"

"Are you ready to go or not!"

"Yeah, yeah." Mikki heard him shuffle around. "See you on the other side?"

"See you there!"

The call ended abruptly, and Mikki slowly leaned back until she was lying flat on her back, looking up at the ceiling. "Well… This it." Trying to be gentle with the equipment, Mikki slid the helmet on, reaching around the mainframe until she felt the large button. Smiling with the excitement, she pressed it, and then her world went white.

When she opened her eyes, Mikki was standing in a blindingly white room. She looked around; the absence of color was a bit overwhelming to her senses, but she felt like herself.

She looked down and watched in amazement has her feet finished loading before her. Within a matter of seconds, her whole entity was standing in a virtual space.

The adrenaline she felt was unreal.

Grinning, she took a few steps forward. It felt so natural! She hadn't expected to be able to feel anything, but she felt the strange ground beneath her feet, and she would've bolted in an excited sprint if a ping hadn't sounded and a small text box hadn't appeared before her.

'Username and Password?'

Mikki blinked and looked around for a keyboard of sorts; nothing.

"…Maybe-?"

Extending her hand, she reached out and touched the blank bar next to "Username." Instantly, her IGN was spelled out before her: MikkiMooXO.

"Woah…" she breathed. Quickly, she did the same for the blank next to "Password," and almost instantly, the information was processed and the box disappeared.

Before she could move another muscle, another box appeared. Squinting her eyes, she read its message:

'User MikkiMooXO has been selected to participate in Mojang Optic's first Survival Games minigame. Do you accept this invitation?'

Mikki blinked. She had played her fair share of Survival Games on other servers and was fair at them. They obviously hadn't chosen from top-ranked players; she wouldn't be receiving this message if this was the case. Was it random?

She was hesitant, but in her eyes, this was an honor. Mojang had made its own massive Survival Games server specifically for Optic, and she was basically being asked to be one of the first of thousands to test it. How could she refuse?

Agreeing with herself that this was a cool opportunity, she reached out and touched the small '+' sign, and before she could do anything, her world was black once more.

When she opened her eyes once again, the sound of shuffling and mixed voices was prominent all around her. She had to blink a few times to focus her vision; it was awfully bright here. But suddenly, colors came into view, and Mikki's breath was taken away.

This wasn't the Minecraft she knew at all. Nothing around her was blocky or pixelated; nothing was computer like. She slowly rotated; tall, prebuilt structures surrounded her, some bustling with a variety of players, others still empty and waiting to be explored.

She walked slowly to a nearby stone building, reaching her hand out to softly caress the brick. Mikki slowly began to grin as she realized that she could feel the rocky texture. Everything about the world she had grown to love was real before her very eyes!

She was drawn away from her thoughts as a small ping alerted her. She looked down and about waist-level with her was a text box that read "PM from user Laxus_Death."

"Zayn made it," she murmured. She looked all around the text box and around herself; she realized that her 9-item hot bar was missing from the usual Minecraft view, but she would figure that out later. Assuming that this was like the log in menu, she reached out and touched the small text box, and it opened another.

'Come to the Information building. It's a big red brick building; can't miss it.'

Blinking, Mikki touched the message again and it cleared from her view. She looked back up and around; sure enough, in the back corner, was a large red-brick building covered in vines. Her chest fluttered at excitement of seeing Zayn on the other side with her.

'I have sprint,' she thought. Taking off at a normal walking pace, she slowly built up the speed of her steps until she was running. And she felt no shortness of breath! Laughing as she went, she continued running all the way to the Information building, where players were filing in and out like ants to an ant hill.

When she reached the door, she paused, staring at the building for a few moments. It all hadn't sank in yet. She looked around and noted that only few players seemed as giddy as she was, and made a point to straighten herself to seem collected as she enter. Holding her head high, she began her trek inside.