A/N: A virtual online game has been made, where players can control their avatars through their minds. In Warlords Wrath Online, Lightning Farron plays the game for the first time in her life, even knowing the price she'll have to pay like all the other players. Lightning is also narrating the story.

"Link start!"

Those are the final words I say before my mind gets transported elsewhere. I get transported through the stream of data at high speed, even though I'm not really moving anywhere. Everything goes white, then a few protocols happen, checking to see if there are any glitches or problems with sight, touch, speech, movement, and hearing. All are checked out okay.

A large screen that says "Warlords Wrath Online" appears.

My body appears in the middle of the room. I'm only in a simple long white shirt, which is what I was wearing in the real world. I look down, holding my hands in my view. I move them a little, I can't believe I'm actually moving my body in this world. I guess Hope wasn't kidding when we can control our avatars through the helmets. I take a look around, I'm surrounded by nothing but walls. I feel like I'm trapped. Then a voice echoes in the room.

"WELCOME TO WARLORDS WRATH ONLINE!" A touch screen keyboard appears right in front of me. "PLEASE ENTER YOUR CHARACTER NAME AND GENDER!"

I look down at the keyboard, wondering what to do for a name. My real name is Claire Farron. However, I go by another name. I abandoned the name Claire and called myself by a new name. So I typed that name for my character name:

Lightning

I entered the name, then a line of character avatars appears in front of me. "PLEASE SELECT YOUR CLASS!"

There's a total of nine classes. Each of the characters are wearing different outfits and wielding different weapons. Below them is the name of their class with small information about who they are and what they do. The selection starts in the 'Avatar' class. I scroll through the classes.

Crusader. Dreamer. Wavemaster. Shadow Sniper. Assassin. Cleric. Witch. Avatar.

None of them seemed interesting. But the last class got my attention. Swordsman. I've read its info: Powerful warriors that wield great damage. Mainly uses swords. Just like my job back in the real world.

"How about this one?" I whispered, selecting the Swordsman.

"YOU HAVE SELECTED SWORDSMAN! IS THAT CORRECT?" A small screen appears in front of me, asking me if I'm having second thoughts of my class. I push the button that says 'Yes I'm sure'. "VERY WELL! THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME PLAYING WARLORDS WRATH ONLINE ISN'T IT? WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO THROUGH A TUTORIAL BEFORE PLAYING?"

A touch screen appears in front of me asking if I want to go through the tutorial. I think for a moment, I know nothing about this game and I don't want to fight blindly since this is a death game. So I accept it.

The touch screen, keyboard, and the line of classes vanish. The ground I stand on glows then light blasts over me. The light clears in a second. Once it does, I notice I'm indifferent clothing: A long slave white shirt with a pink thin sleeveless vest, dark red skirt, and brown leather boots.

I also noticed a belt wrapped around my body: over my left shoulder and down my right hip. I turn over my right shoulder to notice a sword hanging there. I'm guessing this is where my weapon is going to be kept. Usually, I have my weapon hanging from my waist behind me. Makes it difficult to sit sometimes.

An image of a person appears right in front of me. "TO ACCESS YOUR MENU! YOU WAVE TWO FINGERS OF YOUR RIGHT-HAND DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" The player image displays what I'm supposed to do. I do the exact same thing. Small touch buttons appear in front of me.

Stats. Abilities. Equipment. Items. Friends. Map. Help.

I push the stats button and a small window appears showing my stats. I look over it, and I gasp in surprise. I'm level zero and everything is at 1. HP, Strength, Vitality, Psyche, Dexterity, and Agility.

"What is...this is a bug?" I ask myself.

My menu suddenly disappears. "ON THE CORNER OF YOUR CHARACTER VISION! YOUR HEALTH BAR IS DISPLAYED!" In my vision, I do notice my health bar along with my character name. I'm guessing it's a way for you to keep an eye on your health (A/N: Get it? Keep an eye? Good one Shadowhunter)

An image of some creature, a boar by the looks of it, appears in front of the image player. "AS A SWORDSMAN! YOU USE SPECIAL ATTACK ABILITIES! TO USE THEM! DRAW YOUR WEAPON BACK AT A CERTAIN POSITION! WAIT A MOMENT TO CHARGE THEN STRIKE!"

The player image draws its sword to the side. The sword glows then the player rushes through the boar, with a strike in between. The boar shatters and its reminding data light shards fade into thin air. The play image disappears, then another image boar appears right in front of me.

I put my serious face on, reach for my sword from behind me. "Right..." I pull my sword out of its holster. At first, I hold the sword in front of me, then draw it back to the sword. "Drawback, and..." My weapon glows in pink light. I shout as I charge and strike at boar. The image boar shatters. I turn back seeing the light shards fade, then a small window appears in front of me.

The small window shows the results of my victory in battle. I have earned 1 EXP, 500 Krystals, and an item: A Teleport Crystal. A 'Congratulations Lightning. Level 0' then an arrow 'Level 1' appears in front of the screen. I'm guessing killing that one boar has gained me a level.

"WHEN YOU DEFEAT AN ENEMY! A WINDOW SHOWS WHAT YOU'VE EARNED FROM YOUR BATTLE!" The results show my increased stats. My HP is raised to 250, Strength 11, Vitality 9, Psyche 7, Dexterity 3, and Agility 6. Seeing that makes me feel better. "THAT'S IT FOR THE TUTORIAL! WOULD YOU LIKE TO RUN THROUGH IT AGAIN?"

A small window appears asking if I want to run through the tutorial again. I understand everything I'm supposed to do, I don't think I need to. So I clicked decline.

"VERY WELL! GOOD LUCK ON YOUR JOURNEY IN WARLORDS WRATH ONLINE!"

Everything turns white, the next thing I know I'm being teleported.

NOVEMBER 3RD, 2022. FLOOR 1, VALLEY OF PEACE

The light vanishes. I open my eyes to see I'm now in a town. Everything seems...Chinese. Stone paths, grassy grounds, serpent dragon statues, clear blue skies. I am amazed at the virtual world, I'll admit. Points for video games. The town seems a bit empty. Then again, the game has only been out for two weeks. The players have probably moved on ahead or something. I walk around for a bit, just to look at the scenery.

"Hey, you." I jumped a little and turned to see a player walking up to me. A male with spiky red hair and a beard. It's like he's using hairspray on his beard too. He's using a mace and shield and wearing plate armor. From what I can guess, he's a Crusader. The player stands in front of me, looking at me up and down. I get an uncomfortable feeling. "I haven't seen you here before."

"That's because I'm a new player," I explained. "I just signed up for the game."

The player looks shocked. "Seriously? You signed up for the game!" I nod. the man stutters as he speaks, he looks like he's seen a ghost and he's talking to it. "A-a-are you crazy!? Haven't you heard what happened? This death game is for real! We're trapped in here and-"

I raise a hand in front of me to stop him from talking. "I know, I know. I heard the news. I came here on my own will with a very good reason."

"Oh..." The man nervously rubs the back of his neck. "Well, if you're so sure about it. Can I ask why you joined Warlords Wrath Online?"

"I'm looking for someone. He joined this game on the day it was released." I say.

"Is that so? What's his character name?" The man asks.

I think for a moment. Hope never really told me his character name, I guess I should have thought of that. "I don't know, and I'm sure he doesn't use his real name as well."

"No one does. Is this your first MMO?" I look at the man confused.

"If you mean this is my first time playing a video game at all, then yes," I say. The man looks shocked, then he starts laughing. Offended, I kicked him in the shins. He starts jumping on one leg while holding the one I kicked. "You got a problem with that?" My tone was hostile saying that.

"No. No. No! No problem at all." The man stops jumped and sets his foot down. "Well, I cannot say I think you'll find your friend here. He's probably in Dawn's Blossom, that's where the most players are at."

"Where is Dawn's Blossom?" I ask.

The man enters his menu, goes to his map. He pushes a button, then a window appears in front of me. The window is a map, only it's all blank except for the one town, which is the area I'm at. Up north is a flag.

"The town is up north near the Elite Dungeon. Players are planning to clear the floor boss to beat the game." The man says.

"Thanks." I close the map and walk past the man.

"Wait." I stop and turn looking back at the man. "If you're going there, I might suggest leveling up first. The monsters near the town are level fives. They'll make easy pray out of a low level like you."

"How do I level up quickly?" I ask.

"Well, you kill creatures. Or better yet, you do some quests." The man points at some person. In my vision, the person has a yellow exclamation point hovering over his head. "Most NPC's like that one over there will have a yellow exclamation point over their heads. That means he has a quest available for you."

I nod. "Thanks."

I approach the...NPC. No idea what that means, but I'm guessing this man isn't a player like me and that Crusader. The quest is called 'Catfight'. He wants me to kill ten Jade Tigers that surround the village. I accept it then make my leave.

"Oh hey." I look at the man. "I'm Jude. What's your name?"

"Lightning," I answered.

I leave the town. Beyond the walls, I see a large grass field. I can feel the gentle breeze of the wind. The air. The sun. Everything feels so real here, yet it's all just a virtual world. I look ahead to see dozens of Jade Tigers walking around the areas.

Over them, I see a cursor, their health bar, and their level. They're all level 1's. I take out my sword, charge in shouting. I fight off the Jade Tigers, slashing my weapon right through them. What I'm surprised is when I cut them, there's no blood drawing out. Only red shards of light and the cut marks on the monsters are just the same.

My third Jade Tiger manages to scratch me. It really hurt. I can't believe I can feel pain in this virtual world. What's more, is the strike took out a few of my health. 216/250. I don't worry about it, my health is still green, which is obviously good, so I keep on fighting the Jade Tigers.

In the end, I've killed my final Jade Tiger. My results window shows me I've earned 8 EXP, 23 Krystals, and no items. Each kill I made offered me the same experience, an average of 21 Krystals and very few items. Just some junk I have no idea what to use for.

I don't bother worrying about items. I turn in my quest. As a reward, I'm given 130 EXP, 50 Krystals, and an item: Fencer. "Well, welcome back." I look to see Jude approaching me. "So, how was your questing?"

"Not as exhilarating as I hoped." I access my main menu, checking my character stats. "I only gain 210 experience and I need 190 more to level."

"Well, I didn't say leveling's easy. It takes longer the more you level." Jude says.

I roll my eyes. "Great. Just great." Finding Hope in this game is going to be tougher than I thought. I scroll through my stats menu. "Uh...This crystal stuff is money right?"

"It's actually pronounced 'Cry-stell' And yes it is," Jude says. That's good to know. I open my Equipment, check my main weapon. I'm currently wielding 'Broadsword' I push the weapon and a list window appears next to it, it's all blank except for one. 'Fencer' I push fencer.

My body moves on its over. I remove my weapon from its holster, hold it in front of me. The weapon floats inches off of my hand and vanishes, to be replaced with a thin sword with a half a ball hilt. Fencer.

"There anything else you need to know, newbie?" Jude asks.

I put away my weapon, close my menu and then glare at Jude. "Newbie?" I say with a hostile tone.

"Whoa, settle down. That just means your new." I calm down hearing that.

"Oh, right...No, I think I'm good. Thanks for the help anyways." I say.

Jude and I depart our ways. I focus on killing the monsters around the town. Trying to level up to survive in this dark world.

[Flashback - Day 1]

The thirteen days after the release of Warlords Wrath Online has driven everyone to madness.

Lightning Farron, a 21-year-old woman. In real life, she lives in a beachfront town known as Bodhum. She lives with her sister, Serah Farron, and a young boy, Hope Estheim.

Lightning's parents died when she and Serah were young, about seven years ago. Serah was really upset about it, but Lightning tried to stay strong for her sister. Since then, she had to grow up fast. She even abandoned her real name and became Lightning. Lightning works as a soldier in an elite troop known as the Guardian Corps who works with the Sanctum to protect the citizens of Cocoon.

Two years after their parents' death, Lightning was assigned to deal with a horrible car accident. That's where she found Hope, a young 9-year little boy. His dad died in the accident and the mother died in the hospital. The poor boy was really sad, even Lightning was feeling sad for she knew what Hope was going through. The pain. The sorrow. The scarce.

Lightning had no other choice but to take Hope under her care. It wasn't so bad, Hope was a nice boy. Lightning and Serah really loved having him in a family. Lightning wasn't too comfortable to hear that he plays video games. Personally, she only sees video games as a bad addiction. Once people play, it's all they ever do and they never bother to stop and focus on the important tasks in real life.

But Hope was different. He still goes to school, do some chores around the house, spends quality time with her and Serah, well mostly Serah since Lightning's busy making money at the Guardian Corps to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. So she shouldn't complain, but she's still worried he will grow an addiction one day...

Lightning's just sitting on the couch, reading a magazine. Just some survival and wilderness stuff. Right now, it's just her and Hope living together since Serah got married and moved in with her husband, Snow Villiers. Lightning doesn't really appreciate him since she only sees him as an immature doofus, but she knows he'll take care of Serah and Serah does seem happy to be with him, but she's still keeping him on a short leash.

"Lightning! I'm home." Lightning looks up to see Hope walking in, closing the door behind him.

He hangs his backpack on the rack next to the door. "Hey, Hope. How was school?"

"It was fine. I got an A on my physics test." Hope says.

Lightning smiles. "That's great. Oh, a package came in for you."

Hope looks excitedly surprised. "Really? Where?"

Lightning points at the kitchen. "In the kitchen on the-" Just like that, Hope zooms into the kitchen like he has super-speed powers (He doesn't). Lightning sits frozen like she was surprised to see that happen. "...Table."

"IT CAME!" Hope shouts from the kitchen. Lightning figured she would have to see this, so she got up and walked into the kitchen. Hope tore open the package, taking out some gamers' helmet and a case for a video game. "It finally came!"

Lightning looks down at the 'Warlords Wrath Online' case. "Another video game?" Lightning says with a slight disappointment in her tone.

"This isn't just any video game." Hope faces Lightning. "This is Warlords Wrath Online. The very first virtual world MMO game ever made." Hope can tell Lightning still doesn't see what the big deal is. "What it is you can control your avatars just by wearing these special helmets known as the Nervegear. It'll be just like you're living inside the game."

"Great...I still don't see why it's such a big deal." Lightning says.

"Oh, it's a huge deal, Lightning. There are only 10,000 copies of these games in the world. I'm so lucky I got one." Hope says. "You should have seen Snow when I got one and he didn't. Man did he cry." Hope was laughing in the end. "If you played video games, especially this one, you'd understand," Hope says.

"Well I don't play video games, I just think it's a waste of time." Lightning says.

"Well, I think you should at least try. I know there are tons of people your age who play." Hope says.

"Yeah. People who have no social life." Lightning said under her breath. But Hope still heard it.

Hope puts the helmet and the game back in the box takes the box and leaves. "You just don't understand."

Lightning doesn't say anything else, just lets Hope leave with his stuff. Hope set up his game, but he doesn't play it, for he decided to have dinner first before getting involved in a game. He and Lightning just eat in silence. Bit of an awkward moment.

After dinner, Hope went into his room. He puts the Nervegear on laying in bed. For a moment, he lays there then turns it on.

"Link start!"