Aikon scrolled through her menu as she nibbled on a piece of dry black bread without any actual hunger. This was a salve for the nauseating anxiety bubbling in her gut. Even if this was a game, she didn't want to find out if her gag reflex worked.

She refreshed her menu again.

Waited a moment.

Menu, settings...

The logout button was missing.

Aikon had sent a message to the GM an hour ago and so far had heard no reply. Was this a gamewide bug or just a glitch in her menu alone?

Before any of those questions could be answered, however, Yuna emerged from Blackrock Palace, stretching as she did so. She was a relatively lean young woman in her twenties-maybe, Aikon reminded herself. This was a game, after all-with a dark skin color, deep red hair and matching eye color. They glimmered with a mischievous backlight that translated into what kind of a player she was: the reckless kind who didn't care about dying so long as they didn't get looted while they revived-not like she had anything worth looting, she had the same starter gear as everyone else and a basic longsword. This was Yuna's fourth consecutive trip to Blackrock, the place of said revival.

She was cracking her shoulders and joints a few times, muttering something about needing better gear, when she spotted her short haired comrade sitting on the bottom steps, her pink bob surprisingly unnoticeable in the sea of strange colors and hair styles. If Yuna hadn't been looking for a pink haired girl with a starter bow and quiver, she would've missed her.

"What are you doing?" Yuna asked, sitting down next to the younger looking girl while massaging an elbow.

Aikon frowned at her menu in response as she swallowed a bite of bread. "My menu is glitching. My logout isn't here."

Yuna peered over her shoulder to get a better view of the floating window. Sure enough, the logout button was missing from the options. She bit the side of her mouth and swiped a finger down to summon her own menu, albeit one written in Japanese. Once again, Akion was grateful for the linguistic software as she leaned over to watch. She had learned during the tutorial that the software had downloaded a whole different language into her virtual mind. When they spoke, they spoke that universal game language rather than their native tongues, reducing the confusion between worldwide players immensely. "Maybe you're lagging?" Yuna said, going through her menu. "I mean, that's a pretty huge glitch." She tapped her own options and paused in confusion. "...What? Mine's gone too..."

"Was it there when you logged on at first?" Aikon asked, taking another bite of bread. Her mouth was dry and it took a moment for it to go down.

"No, I mean, I didn't check. And it didn't say anything about it in the tutorial." She shook her head and closed the window, standing so quickly that she would've been disoriented if this was real life. "Aw, poor GM's. I'd hate to be them. Can you imagine? If this is on everyone's menu, they're probably getting swamped with flames. Maybe I should type up my own hate mail." She sighed thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

"Don't bother, I already sent a complaint," Aikon said, taking Yuna's offered hand. "But it's not like I have anything to do anyways. I guess I can stay a few hours." She eyed the bread in her left hand. "Might get hungry though."

Yuna went behind her friend and gave her a shove in the back, sending her stumbling onto the street. The bread flew from her hand and fell to the cobblestones, where it exploded into crystal shards of data. "Don't worry about it!" Yuna said dismissively after Aikon whined. "If you help me level to three, I'll buy you something better than Black Bread."

Aikon's vision focused on the status bars in the upper left corner of her eye and frowned. With the multiple deaths came the EXP penalties. Yuna was still a level one, and with her penalties-if it were possible-she should've been level zero. Aikon herself was nearing two, having done some fetch quests for a NPC, but she hadn't left the Town Of Beginnings. Mostly because Yuna kept dying. She couldn't get far. Aikon didn't know why she cared so much, but she waited loyally for the self-destructive girl to revive.

Yuna noticed the frown and clapped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Please? Pretty please?"

Aikon readjusted her vision to include Yuna's pleading face and then flicked her sight to the small, empty corner of her eyes where message alerts popped up. Tosuke came to her mind and she felt frustration overtake the anxiety in her chest. How long ago did she send him that panicky message, an hour or two? He was her brother, surely he would care about her fears enough to logout and unplug her NerveGear...right...?

But she had to remind herself that this was a new game with a whole different interface than anyone was used to. Maybe he didn't see it. She was glitched after all, maybe the messages appearing in her eye was another bug.

Another reason for her to find him and beat him until he logged out and did as she asked.

But then again, Yuna's missing logout button couldn't have been a glitch as well. What were the odds that, in a pool of ten thousand players, the two with bugged menus would meet?

The odds were too low. That must mean that a bug was going around in the code. That was the only logical answer. Because without the logout, they were trapped... And that would be some sick joke, right? She couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips at the mere notion, earning her a confused frown from Yuna.

But seriously. Surely the beta testers would've complained heavily about the bugged logout if this was a feature on every menu. And surely the creators would've made sure that the button was there! It was just a glitch with great odds. Maybe even Tosuke had one. A bug. That's all it was. Aikon had to think of it that way.

She looked around, the small smile still in place. What was she doing? She was in the newest pages of game history and what was she doing? Worrying?

No. She spent far too much time in reality worrying. This would be different. This was her escape.

Where she didn't have to worry about anything but dungeon raids. Her smile grew as she met Yuna's confused face.

Aikon swiveled on her feet and pointed to the gates leading out of the town. "Alright, Ten," Yuna pouted at the nickname. "Let's get going! We have a hundred floors to clear, right? We'll have to be high leveled for that."

Yuna brightened immensely at Aikon's sudden burst of positive energy, all frightening talk and worry pushed to the back burner. She stretched out her back as she jogged along the pink haired girl. "Or we just need some OP weapons," she smirked deviously. "I wish the betas had uncovered some stashes and told us about it. Maybe later this week I can google some maps and we can become the most overpowered players in this game."

Aikon jutted her fist out to the side for Yuna to bump. "OPed?" She asked with a crooked smile.

"OPed!" Yuna bumped her fist with far too much force and enthusiasm, sending Aikon stumbling back into a NPC fruit stand. "Oh, sorry..."

"I'm fine... Ow... I think I got bludgeoned by a watermelon."

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-) Ten Minutes Later...

The warthog was either incredibly dim or didn't care that Aikon was about twenty feet away, fumbling with her bow and an arrow.

She didn't know which was more infuriating, the fact that she couldn't hit a dumb blue pig or that it knew that she wasn't a danger, despite having a weapon. Either way, it was enjoying an idyllic life and that wasn't likely to change.

Yuna twiddled with her sword, popping off red colored attack skills with ease into a tree. Her skill started up with a whine, paused and hit the surface with a dull whack!

In irritation, Aikon snapped, "That's not how you get wood."

"I know that." Whine. Whack! "It's just cool to look at." Whine. Whack! "Hehe... It's shiny..."

Aikon, for the umpteenth time, wished she hadn't chosen this weapon in a moment of "ooh, a bow!" weakness. She should've gone with a spear, or maybe a mace or something easier! This bow required additional strength skill to draw, skill she had opted for when she completed that mindless fetch quest. Yet her arms ached a bit whenever she drew back. Not enough to hurt, but enough to annoy her to the point of ire.

Whine. Whack!

Stupid! Stupid! Why didn't she pay more attention to the tutorial?!

Whine. Whack!

The incessant windup didn't come again and Aikon looked up to see Yuna's cherry red hair making a beeline for her. She grabbed Aikon's arms, bow, arrow and forced them into a drawing stance. "Hey! What are you-?!"

"I figured it out. That's what the Skill Speed bar on the level up option screen is. It's how long it takes to activate a skill. You're not waiting." She pulled Aikon's left hand back and told her to hold it. Her arms ached from the unaccustomed pose and she was sure she looked ridiculous, holding her breath to keep from puffing, cheeks red with effort, but she held.

The arrow glowed a bright red and she felt the system telling her to let go, her attack power limit reached for now. She let her left fingers slip and the arrow flew, hitting that dumb pig in the abdomen. It squealed and jolted before regaining some of its sense and charging.

Aikon panicked. She hadn't counted but that skill felt like it had taken a second or two to activate. She couldn't do that when the pig was charging her!

Yuna's sword, glowing red, sliced into the pig. It squealed again before disappearing into the same crystal shards of data as Aikon's ill-fated bread. A tiny screen appeared before both girls, showing them the rewards, which was a small amount of EXP and, for Yuna, a hock of warthog meat.

"Yum," Yuna stuck her tongue out as she stabbed her sword into the dirt. "Wish I ate meat."

"You don't?"

"Vegetarian for my whole life," she said proudly. She tapped on the screen and a thick, skinned leg of meat appeared in her hands. She groaned in disgust as she offered it to Aikon. "Want it?"

Aikon stared at the hock and nodded. "Sure. I think they have a cooking skill here too."

"What?" Yuna frowned, her red eyebrows meeting. "Why would they have a cooking skill?"

Aikon shrugged as the meat changed hands. "Lots of RPG's I played before this had stupid skills."

"Guess it enhances the experience of the game." She retrieved her sword. "Ready to go again?"

Aikon nodded, the hock disappearing into her black hole of a hoarder bag, and retrieved her own weapons.

"Yeah. Thanks for the lesson. I was about to rage-quit."

Yuna smirked. "Rage-quit over a hard boss. Not that you can't hold your weapon." She flicked her sword around, admiring it. "...You might need some Accuracy Skill, since it is a bow. The system only does so much, I'm guessing. So no headshots."

The skill was easier to use now that she knew what to do. At first, she had to keep Yuna close so she could finish off whatever Aikon failed to; but soon, she was breezing through the warthogs all on her own. Eventually, she knew that the small amounts of EXP she received wouldn't be enough to sustain a higher level and that she would have to take some risks if she wanted to be overpowered.

As much as she hated it, she would have to die a few times.

The strange predator cat she was currently targeting growled, drawing her attention back to the bow. The arrow was lit in its position, waiting for her to let it loose. She obliged and was rewarded with a hiss as the cat became data again. Her screen congratulated her on leveling up and asked her to choose which main skills she wanted to advance.

She was getting irritated with the constant second guessing she had to do with her aim and her arms were getting sore from learning a new position, but the only way to advance Skill Speed was on the main leveling menu. Aikon wanted to shave her skill time by at least half by next month.

Before she could regret it, she chose Skill Speed, figuring that practice would help advance her Accuracy and training would do the same for her Strength.

A warthog sauntered into her vision, chased-or stalked, depending on your point of view-by Yuna, who had her sword raised, ready to strike as soon as she was close enough.

Aikon drew back and waited. The skill hummed to life about a tenth of a second faster than before and she fired, the arrow piercing the warthog in the widest part of its head, underneath it's eye. It exploded into shards, drawing a proud smile from its huntress and a surprised yelp from Yuna. Aikon's Attack must've been raised as well.

"What the-?! Aiko, that was mine and you know it, kill-stealer!" She growled and pointed her sword at Aikon as she came down her small hill. "Seriously..." She huffed and turned her eyes to the virtual setting sun. "It's pretty here, huh?"

Aikon scrolled through her menu while she nodded in agreement. "Yeah..." She muttered distractedly. Her bottom lip went into her mouth to get gnawed on by her teeth. She wished she still had her bread, the sickness was rising again.

Her logout button was still gone.

"Are you still stuck?" Yuna asked, her own menu open, her eyes unsteady with worry.

"Yeah... It's nearly five thirty... My dad will be looking for me."

"Oh, yeah!" Yuna said, slapping her fist into her open palm. "Your family can take off your NerveGear!"

"Isn't that dangerous? Like unplugging something connected to your brain seems... Reckless," Aikon said, her menu closed as she fiddled with her bow. "Yuna, do you think that the others are-"

They disappeared.

...

She was back in town, shoulder to shoulder, back to chest and vice versa with other the players. They all reflected her own expression: confusion mixed with irritation. There was also fear on some the faces of the players, meaning that they had seen the lack of a logout and come to their own conclusions.

None of which were even close to the horrifying reality.

"What's going on?"

"Is this an event?"

"It must be! The missing logout, the teleporting. The admins must've not wanted us to leave before they-"

"Missing logout?!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"The logout is missing?" It was quiet at first, the panic confined to this small corner, but it would soon spread, quickly.

"I have to go to dinner with my grandparents! I can't be here all day!"

"It's just a glitch. Just open your menu."

"..."

"Anki?"

"I... Can't open it. It's not coming up."

"Geez, you're such a noob. Use your right hand."

"I am!"

"Look!" Aikon shouted, pointing to the rusty sky aiming at the floating message set there.

"What...? 'Official Announcement'? What is this?"

The message began to spread until the shapes filled the sky, enveloping them in deep ruby light.