Virtual Paradise

Chapter Four

   When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a never ending black abyss, until a holographic screen appeared in front of me.

   Character Name:

   I entered the first thing that came to mind.
  
   Character Name: IA

   I pressed the 'enter' key and another piece text popped up.

   Username can not be changed when submit. Are you sure you want to continue?

   I clicked 'enter' again.

   Welcome, IA, to Virtual Paradise.

   The holographic screen disintegrated into white pixels in front of my eyes. My entire vision glowed white, forcing me to close my eyes to avoid being blinded. When I reopened them, I was in a town.

   The hanging lanterns on the rooftops that illuminated the night sky, along with the brick roads underfoot, gave a medieval feeling to my surroundings. I ran through the roads of the town, people waving hello and smiling.

   I then came to an abrupt hault as I crashed into another player. "I'm so sorry-"

   "Lia?" I tensed at hearing my real name. "How-"

   The girl who I collided with burst out laughing and interrupted, "It's One. Your sister?"

   "You look different," I commented, mentally scolding myself for forgetting about my own little sister. She placed a hand on her hip and spat back, "You're not looking any similar yourself."

   I held a puzzled expression on myself, growing suspicious as to why there was no character customization, or at least any say in what a player would look like.

   One raised her hand, then dropped it quickly in a swiping motion. This opened a window, similar to the holographic screen shown when entering a player's name. The window displayed a smaller version of herself which imitated her movements. It was accompanied by a few other options.

   "How did you know?" I trailed off, growing more confused and alarmed by the second. "Did I miss a tutorial or something?" I burst before she could answer.

   My sister chuckled before answering, "I just saw some other people doing it and so I tried it too. I didn't get any kind of tutorial though. Try it, then you can see what you look like."

   I hesitantly raised my hand and copied One's previous movements, which resulted in successfully opening a window. I stared at the tiny copy of myself, which, unfortunately, didn't look like me at all.

   "This looks nothing like me!" I exclaimed jokingly. "By the way, how could you tell who I am?"

   "Your voice is just as annoying as ever," she spat back with a smirk. I punched her playfully, remembering all the times in the past when she'd compliment my voice.

***

   "You and I are sticking together. I want to get a good look on the main town area and find a weapon shop," I explained to One. We continued walking for a short while before One pointed to a small booth where swords, shields, and other equipment could be seen. A girl with brown hair and white clothing sat in front of the booth, reading as she waited patiently for customers.

   "Hi! Can I help you?" The girl greeted as One and I approached her.

   "Well, we were thinking about buying weapons, and possibly getting some info on the basics," I started. "Well of course! Oh, but these weapons here are just for beginners so if I don't have what you're looking for, you might want to try something higher quality. Unfortunately, this is the only weapons booth in town so you might have to wait for higher level players to unlock new places to get to a higher quality blacksmith," the girl said to our disadvantage.