Sword Slay

Chapter One: The Figure in the Sky

Just so that no one gets confused, here's a list of the gaming terms that may be used in this story:

MMORPG- Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

IRL- In Real Life

PvP- Player vs Player

XP- Experience Points

It is May 3, 2030.

Sword Slay is coming out today.

Mayuri and I are in line right now to purchase it.

***

Sword Slay is an MMORPG. The entire game is PvP. Once your health hits zero, you must start over with a new avatar, but with the same name. Your level is reset as well. You have to try to stay alive. There are monsters in the game. Killing these monsters give you XP. Getting a certain amount of XP levels you up. The higher the level, the more powerful you are. The game system is a new device called NerveGear. It resembles a helmet with a translucent cover over the eyes. It makes it seem as if you yourself are in the game. You cannot move your real body while the game system is running.

***

"Hey, Mayuri. Are you excited to get the game?" I say to my best friend. I looked at her for a moment and say, "Yeah, I am, too." Mayuri doesn't talk much. I can usually tell what she's thinking by looking at her. I study her and conclude that she doesn't really have anything else to tell me.

Mayuri is a strange girl. She wears headphones on her ears, even if there's nothing playing through them. I think it's because she doesn't like loud sounds, so the headphones kind of muffle them. Mayuri will also write down words whenever she has a pen and paper. They have absolutely no meaning to anyone who reads it, but they mean something to her. I'm sure of it.

It is finally our turn to purchase the game. "Two copies of Sword Slay, please." I give the cashier the money and walk out of the line holding the games. Mayuri is following me from behind.

"Want to set up the game at my place?" I say. She nods, so I walk down the street to my house. We go up the stairs to my bedroom. Our NerveGear is sitting on the floor where we left it. I set both of ours up and hand her one of them. She takes it. We both turn it on and put it on our head.

My screen lights up. The text reads, Play Sword Slay? I press accept. The game plays a cinematic, introducing the game. It then asks me to choose a race. It lists four: night elf, human, fairy, and satyr. I choose satyr, just to joke around with Mayuri. I'm sure she'll be laughing on the inside. The screen now reads, Your avatar will now be randomized. I press accept. It says, Enter your desired name. Players will see this name. I choose the name Akihiro. It is very close to my real name, which is Akihito. I enter the game. The graphics are so amazing. It is like real life. I pan around, and then look at what I'm wearing. I have level one clothing. My legs are goat legs.

A minute later, a night elf girl appears next to me. The avatar name reads Mayu. "Hey, Mayuri. Did you have any trouble getting started?" Her expression tells me she didn't. "Let's start killing monsters, ok?" We both pull out our swords. Her sword dips down, but she lifts it back up.

We go into a field. I slash my sword a couple of times in the air to get the feeling of using it. Then, I kill a boar. The game shows no blood, but its corpse remains. It will disappear, then respawn soon, though. I slay a couple more boars and level up to level two. I look over at Mayuri. She is just standing there, staring at a pile of boars she just killed. I see that she is already level three.

"Mayuri, are you ok? They're not real." I walk over to her.

She nods and walks over to a level four monster. Her feet drag on the ground. She swings her sword twice and the monster dies.

After the both of us level up to level five, we make our way to the closest town. Out of now where, Mayuri starts to glow blue. She turns and points at me. I look at myself and I, too, am glowing. Then, I'm in a town along with thousands of other players. A red barrier in the shape of a dome surrounds the town. A large, cloaked figure appears in the sky.