.hack/FRAGMENT

Saya

version 1.0

Login to 'The World'

new topic posted 9.18.05

My name is Koto and though I did play a role in these events, I was not at the epicenter. I am not the heroine of our magnificent tale, only one who took part in it. I am the narrator, the storyteller who is supposed to know all and see all (though, hard as it may be to believe, I can do no such things).

Beginnings are just endings, and endings are beginnings. Everything is an ending or a beginning, even as I type this now my life is full of endings and beginnings. I begin taking a breath and I stop taking a breath to release it. Beginnings and endings…

But I suppose all tales of great adventures must begin somewhere (otherwise nothing would ever get done) so I'll begin by telling you what happened three years ago when the world was shut down…

Three years ago, the heroes Shugo and Rena fought for the sake of The World against a psycho AI that wished for nothing more than the deletion of Aura and the introduction of 'true death' to the game. CC Corporation, annoyed with all the events that had taken place linking to the Key of the Twilight, shut down the game and began to rebuild. They realized, much to their dismay, that in order to keep The World running properly they needed the existence of Aura. But while the game was offline, the mysterious girl caught a glimpse of the world outside of her own and longed for it until the day the game came back online and the CC Corporation discovered that Aura had disappeared…

Erika stepped out of the light of the golden Chaos Gate and looked at the town surrounding her. At first glance everything seemed perfect and beautiful, but when she looked closer she noticed the sad state of things. Everything was falling apart, the silver had been tarnished, she thought ruefully. Although she was new to The World (that makes it sound like it's the only one, doesn't it?) somehow she felt like she knew the place. The girl was more comfortable there than she had been at her real home.

Then again, people in the real world treated her strangely. Erika had amnesia (if she asks, I wasn't the one who told you). She had been wandering on the side of the road when they found her, when they took her in. Actually, just a few days ago one of her friends mentioned a popular game called 'The World,' which immediately piqued the girl's interest. That was why she was there now.

But when one started a new game such as that, weren't they supposed to choose their appearance? She logged on, chose her name, and then suddenly appeared in this strange new city with two blades strapped to her side and long, flowing white hair. Though her hair was different that real life, her face and eyes were exactly the same, but her clothes were a short white shirt that revealed her stomach and a long white skirt that, though it dragged across the ground behind her, never gathered dust.

"Aura!" she heard someone shout before two people stood in front of her. A Twin Blade and Heavy Blade by the looks of them… "What happened to you?" the Twin Blade asked. He had teal hair and wore strange, baggy orange clothing.

Erika pushed away from them, "I don't know what you're talking about. My name's Erika…E-ri-ka."

The female Heavy Blade looked at her closely and turned to the boy. "That isn't Aura, brother. They look alike but Aura didn't have any weapons. See? This girl's a Twin Blade."

"Eh?" the boy looked embarrassedly at the blades strapped to Erika's sides. "Sorry about that, you just looked like someone I know."

"If you ever need anything, send us an e-mail."

"Shugo and Rena," they said as they gave the girl their e-mail addresses and walked off toward the Chaos Gate before disappearing.

She had just started the playing the game and already she had met some strange people. She sincerely hoped this wouldn't be an omen of what her experiences would be like in the future… (unfortunately, it was). As soon as the two characters had disappeared through the swirling golden Chaos Gate, Erika found herself surrounded.

"You know Shugo and Rena?"

"Can you introduce me to them some time?"

"Does that mean you know Balmung and Wiseman and those guys?"

"How'd you design your character that way? They said you looked like Aura!"

"Erika!" the girl heard someone call her name and immediately she looked up as high as she could. The Twin Blade could not see the person that had called her, but she heard someone making their way through the mass. "Out of the way," the person said harshly, it sounded deep for a girl but too feminine for a guy. "Coming through…are you waving that sword at me? You'd better not be. Everyone, clear out of the way!"

A teenage girl (exuding confidence and shining with a beautiful brilliance unlike any seen before even within the confines of the game) broke through the crowd and stood beside Erika. She gave the girl an encouraging smile before placing her arm around Erika's thin shoulders. "Sorry I'm late, Eri-chan," she said to Erika but loudly enough so that the people around them could hear. "Hey, my friend's a newbie, she just started the game. I was a little late meeting her and if you all don't leave us alone I'm going to call in the Twilight Brigade."

At the word 'newbie' the people in the crowd started talking to each other. Without saying anything to the two girls in the center, the mass dispersed leaving Erika and this strange new girl. "Thank you, but how did you know my name?" the white-haired teenager asked as she ducked beneath the other's arm and out of reach.

The other girl laughed, it was a bright sound, and her chocolate brown eyes glittered. "Um…I heard you say it to Shugo and Rena before," she said after a moment's pause.

"What's a newbie?"

"It means you're new to the game… newbie. And before you ask how I knew that you were a newbie, it's because of a lot of things. One: you don't know who Shugo and Rena are, two: you don't know who Aura is, and three: your weapon sucks. If you had been playing even a few hours you'd have a better weapon than that."

Erika flushed only slightly and looked down with great interest at her bare feet, "You're right." The girl looked up and her clear blue eyes widened only slightly as she said, "You seem to know a whole lot about the game."

The other girl nodded, "Yes, I do," (modesty is a virtue that surprisingly not many people seem to exhibit) "but I'm a newbie, too. Just started an hour ago, to tell you the truth. I have a friend IRL, 'in real life,' who's really into the game." The last part came out as a rushed jumble, but Erika caught the gist of it. "What I'm really interested about, though, is your character design. I've never seen anything like it before."

"You like it?" the strange newcomer nodded, "I didn't think it up to tell you the truth. It just…came this way." The other girl's brows furrowed and she brought a gloved hand to her mouth, deep in thought. She muttered something incomprehensible and Erika didn't bother to ask what it was. "What's your name?"

The girl was startled out of her trance and as she jumped up the large blade attached to her back glinted menacingly in the artificial light. "Koto, I'm a Heavy Blade. It's pretty obvious you're a Twin Blade…Hey, since we're both new, why don't we make a party together?" Koto shook her head slightly to get a few unruly strands of her earlobe-length pure brown hair (that was unrivaled both in 'The World' and out) out of her eyes.

"Um…I guess so, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing so I guess it'll be better to try it all out with a friend, right?" Erika grinned as they exchanged member addresses and she accepted the message that asked if she wanted to join Koto's party. "Alright, I'm ready," she said and the two girls disappeared at the Chaos Gate.