A/N: Lightning seems to have everything settled in the game, isn't she...I'm betting 10000 Krystal's she'll be dead by nightfall. But seriously, not bad for someone who's never played video games in her entire life. That's quite an impression, isn't it?
NOVEMBER 3RD, 2022. FLOOR 1, JADE ROAD
Eight hours have passed since I've joined this death game. The skies turn red and orange as the sun starts to set. I'm still surprised that everything in this virtual game is just like how it is in the real world. It's no wonder Hope is so amazed at these video games, along with everyone else in the world.
I fight off a level 3 Behemoth. The creature snarls at me and swipes its claws, but I dodge out of the way and counterattack. It's a strong creature, but it still goes down. I knock out the last of its HP and it shatters. I have earned 27 EXP and 44 Krystals. Not only that, but I've gone up to level 7.
That's right, I'm now level 7 with 428 HP. That's only my maximum health, my current health is 291. That behemoth fight really took a lot out of me. I sheathe my sword and walk the road.
I'm currently heading towards Dawn's Blossom, where I believe I can find Hope up there. Jude wasn't kidding about leveling takes longer the higher I get. I have to earn more EXP for each level. Like level 1, I only need 400, now at level 2, I need 900. And experience gaining starts to decrease when I fight a low level, even if it's just by 1.
I now walk on the road, making my way to the city Jude told me Hope could be at. It's not much but it is the only clue I have at the moment. I arrive at the city. It's very large. It makes Palumpolum back in the real world look like a village.
I enter the city, and I see countless players hanging around. I slowly walk past the players to look at them all. I'm searching for a certain silver hair 14-year-old boy, who's about my shoulder height. I see many silver hair players, mostly girls. Some long and short. There are very few boys with silver hair, but they're mostly very short, it's a buzzcut. I focus on those that have short silver hair, but not very short. There are about ten of them, but none of them match the height I'm looking for.
I stop in the center of the city. My stomach is growling. I look down putting a hand on my stomach. "Oh, man..." Now I'm hungry. How am I supposed to eat if I can't log off? I wonder how players have dealt with this in the past two weeks. Do they just ignore it?
"Oh, hello there." I face forward and turn to see some other man approaching me. He has brown hair and is wearing a red headband that pretty much covers his entire forehead. He has a two-handed sword hanging from behind. I'm guessing he's another Swordsman like me. "The name's Klein." He holds his hand out. "I'm 22, single, and currently looking for a girlfriend."
I look at Klein's hand bitterly then back at him. "If you're hitting on me, you're treading on dangerous ground," I say with a threatening tone. All Klein did was laugh.
"If you're trying to threaten me, it's a hollow one," Klein says. "In a town, you cannot harm another player. By that, I mean you can't attack them into losing HP. Towns are safe zones."
"Well that's not gonna stop me, cause the moment you leave this...safe zone, I'll slice you in half!" I say.
That changes nothing from what I can tell at Klein's expression. My stomach growls again. "Oh, you're hungry?"
"Yeah. I am. How do you people put up with this in two weeks?" I say. Klein just laughs like I said something stupid. "Just what is so funny?"
Klein keeps laughing then shortly stops. "Are you the new player Jude mentioned?"
I raise an eyebrow. "I am. I take it you're a friend of his?"
"Of course. You should know that in Warlords Wrath Online, you can eat just like you do in real life." Of course, I should have realized that. "Allow me to treat you to dinner, my lady."
"No way!" I shout at him, but my stomach disagrees with me. It's growling like crazy. "Fine. But just so we're clear, this is not a date!"
Klein takes me to this restaurant in the southern area of the town. The place is packed with other players. Me and Klein could only get a table by the windows.
While we're waiting for our meal, I notice all the other players looking at me, some just looking over their shoulders. I can hear them muttering about me, mostly about not seeing a player like me. I don't bother to worry since they're not a threat to me, like Mr. charmer that sits across from me.
Our meal arrives, which is surprisingly quick. But I don't question it. I take the first bite. I freeze for a moment. It tastes...good. "It's good." I take a deeper bite. "This is amazing. I can't believe it."
"It is, isn't it? Everything we feel, hear, see, and taste in the real world happens in this world." Klein says.
"You're not kidding. So eating in this world, does it satisfy our hunger in the real world?" I ask.
"Of course not! In this world, you'll only feel full. You'll have to return to the real world for real food." Klein says.
I groan in annoyance, I should have known. "Of course! It's so obvious." I take another sip of my drink. Me and Klein continue eating our meal.
"So, uh...I'm sorry, I didn't learn your name." Klein says.
"Lightning," I answered.
"Right. So why did you come to Warlords Wrath Online? I thought people would have learned not to after hearing the news about the game is a trap." Klein asks.
"I'm well aware of that. I'm actually here cause I'm looking for someone." I told him everything about my friend Hope, that he joined this game and he's stuck and I came in to help out. "You have any idea where he is? Jude told me he could be here but I can't find him. He's fourteen, short silver hair, about..." I hold my hand to my shoulder height. "This tall."
Klein rubs his chain as he thinks. "Hmm...Well, I did see a young boy with silver hair leaving the town. I can't make out his height, but he matches the other two."
"I suppose that's good enough. Where is he?" I ask.
FLOOR 1, BAMBOO FOREST
Nighttime falls and Klein takes me to some Field Dungeon. He explains that he saw the boy with a Dreamer heading to this dungeon. We right now walk down the path heading towards it.
"So, what's the difference between a Field Dungeon and an Elite Dungeon?" I ask.
"Field Dungeons are easy to do. You can pretty much solo them, and you'll find decent gears. Whereas the Elite Dungeons, they take a full group of 5 players to do, and in the end, they have the floor bosses." Klein explains. "The floor bosses are rumored to be tougher than the monsters in the Elite Dungeons. Some say it might take a raid of 15 players at least. Of course, that's just in theory."
"Floor bosses. I'm guessing you have to defeat them in order to move on to the next floor." I say.
"That is correct." Klein and I arrive at the entrance of the Bamboo Forest. "Well, here we are. Hmm...looks like the enemies haven't respawned yet."
I look at Klein. "Respawn?"
"Yeah, when you kill an enemy, they will respawn after a long period time of their death." We hear something. We look ahead to see something appearing in the lights, when the lights clear, evil-looking wolves appear in their place. "Like that."
Me and Klein take out our weapons and we attack the wolves. Two of us against five of them. The wolves fight back. I was able to avoid their attacks, I cannot say so much for Klein. He's okay, his health is still green in the end.
We defeated the wolves, I earned 76 EXP and 89 Krystals. Me and Klein sheathe our weapons. "Right, respawn. I get it."
"Yeah. Judging by the fact they just started respawning, I'm guessing your friend must be deep within the dungeon." Klein looks at me. "I suggest you should start moving before more respawn."
"You might have a point. I appreciate the help, Klein." I start moving in until he speaks again.
"Does that mean-" I instantly turn to face right in front of him with my sword inches from his throat.
"If you're asking me to be your girlfriend, I'll hurt you before you notice your HP dropped to zero!" I say with a hostile tone.
Klein looks at the tip of my sword with fear in his eyes. "Uh...On second thought, it's more fun being single."
I sheathe my sword. "I thought so."
Klein makes a run for it back to town while I run into the field Dungeon. There's nothing but a clear path up ahead. I do run into crossroads sometimes, but few of them have enemies in them. I'm smart enough to know to follow the clear path, cause that means that Hope and his friend went these ways.
It's been half an hour since I start wondering within these woods. I went from running to walking, not cause I'm exhausted, I'm starting to think they're not here.
I sit on a boulder, sighing in irritation. "Ugh! I'm never going to find him. Who am I kidding? He probably died while I was wasting my time leveling up."
Just when I was about to turn back, I hear a scream. It was a girl scream, and it was coming at the direction I was heading to. I get on my feet and start running to the source of the screaming. I know it's not Hope, cause the only boy I know how can scream like a girl is Snow, and he's not even in this game. I assume the girl's scream is from the friend that's with Hope.
I arrive at the cliff and look down. In the ground below, there are two players surrounded by half a dozen of wild vicious gorillas that are twice their size, carrying large logs for weapons. There's a silver-haired boy in a brown robe with a staff hold in front of him. That boy is Hope. And behind him is a girl with short black hair and is wearing a discolored green, silver, and purple robe. She's laying on the ground.
Even far away, I can still see their health bars. Hope's is in a yellow zone while the girl's in a red zone. There's a strange icon underneath the girl's health bar. It's yellow with a black thunderbolt on it.
"Can I get a little help here?" The girl asks.
Hope looks over his shoulder at her. "I'm out of mana. I can't fix us up." Hope faces forward then waves his staff in front of him. Doing that, orbs of light soar towards the monsters. They only suffer minor damage. I'm guessing Hope's class isn't much of a damager.
The monsters slowly creep up on Hope and the girl. Hope backs up until he's completely cornered. I can't stay here, I have to do something. One of the Groundbreakers, as they're called, approaches Hope and raises its mace over its head.
Hope falls on his butt, then cowers and screams. That's when I jump in and block the attack with my weapon. I hold the position, fighting back at the monster's attack with all of my strength. My health slowly drains as I keep blocking the attack, then I repel it. I draw my sword back until it glows and delivers powerful strikes until the Groundshaker is defeated.
I face the rest of the monsters, holding my weapon in front of me. "All right! Who's next?"
[Flashback - Day 2]
While Hope is playing his little game, Lightning enjoys her quiet time. One other thing video games are beneficial for. If Lightning wants some alone time, Hope can just keep himself occupied in the games, only as long as it's not loud.
Later, Lightning lays in bed, asleep. She slightly opens her eyes, the young soldier girl is waking up. Lightning sits up in bed, yawning and stretching. She looks at the clock, it's 5:37 AM. She's usually up around this time. The first thing that's on her mind is Hope. She hasn't heard from Hope since dinner. And she hasn't seen him go to bed.
"I should probably go check on him." Lightning gets out of bed, heading for Hopes room. To her disappointment, she finds him still on the game...Well, laying in bed with the helmet on and activate. But she can tell that means he's still playing. "I should have known this would happen." Lightning approaches Hope. "Time to pull the plug."
Just then, Lightning's cell phone rings. She takes out her phone, answers it not even paying attention to the caller ID. She holds her phone with her shoulder as she grabs hold of the Nervegear.
"Hello?" Lightning starts to remove the helmet, until...
"LIGHT! DON'T REMOVE THE HELMET!"
Lightning flinches, losing her grab on the Nervegear, and also dropping her phone. Lightning looks surprised then looks down at her phone. That voice was her sister. Lightning picks up her phone.
"Hello? Serah?" Lightning asks.
"Lightning! Please tell me you didn't remove Hopes' gamer helmet." Serah says on the other line.
"I was about to until you shouted at me." Lightning says.
Lightning can hear her sister let out a loud sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! I thought I was too late."
Lightning seems concerned. "Serah? What's going on?"
"It's not easy to explain." There was a moment of silence from Serah. "Oh! The news! Watch the news!"
"What? Why should I?" Lightning asks.
"LIGHTNING!" Serah shouted so loud, Lightning had to retreat the phone from her ear.
"Ow! Okay. Okay. Fine!" Lightning closes her phone. She leaves Hopes' room, making her way to the living room downstairs. "This better be good."
Lightning approaches the living room. She sits on the couch and turns on the TV. She flips through the channels until she finds the news. Only she wasn't fully prepared for what it was about.
"A bit warning for those who live with anyone that's currently playing the new MMO Warlords Wrath Online game. If you're thinking of removing their helmets. Don't! Recent reports are floating in about the game being incredibly dangerous. On the day the game was released, 10,000 players signed up and played the game and have not once returned to reality. About 217 players had their helmets removed and all of them died the moment it happens."
Lightning's heart stopped hearing that part. She was just about to remove Hope's helmet, ending his life for good.
"Officials say to not interfere with anyone playing Warlords Wrath Online until we find out more about this game." The report looks down, a hand on her ear as she listens to a message from her earpiece. "I'm getting word about a person who had a friend that died from the game. He's saying that he has found a video in his friends' helmet that everyone must know. Let's view the video."
The TV turns to the video. It shows what's going on inside Warlords Wrath Online. The skies are red and there's a large hooded figure floating over the city. The figure speaks.
"I am Kayaba Akihiko! The designer of Warlords Wrath Online. Welcome to my world."
Lightning doesn't like the sound of that. She leans in towards the TV, she'll probably fall to the ground if she goes any further, paying close attention to what's happening.
"By now, you all have noticed that in your menu, the logout button is missing. I am here to ensure you that was never installed in the system."
All of the players looked completely shocked.
"I'm sure you have heard about the recent reports of players having their helmets removed. Citizens in the real world have removed over 200 helmets and the players ended up dead. If anyone tries to remove the helmets, and the moment your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be destroyed the helmets will unleash a microwave shock that'll kill your brains."
Lightning gasps horrible, she goes pale and the remote falls out of her hands. She almost killed Hope just to remove the helmet. Not only that, but he's stuck in the game where he'll die in the real world if he dies in the game.
"There is only one way for you to return to the real world. The goal of Warlords Wrath Online is to defeat each of the floor bosses. You start here on the first floor, and with each floor boss you defeat, you still move on to the next floor, up to the final 50th floor. I wish you all best of luck on your journey."
The video ends. The news goes on but Lightning doesn't bother to listen to it. She's gone completely deaf at what she just learned. She lets out a breath, slowly panting in fear.
"No...Hope.".
