Free Fall

Chapter 1 - Me, Myself, and I

In the year 3975, the world was destroyed. A plague of cockroaches descended upon the world and devoured everything in sight; or so legend says.

Fortunately, scientists had been creating a virtual world. All human beings were sent through portals into this world and have lived there ever since.

I, Avanna Roane, am a 10th generation human living in this virtual world. I have lived in this world my whole life and have never seen the "real world". This world, called Savior, is my real world. My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents have never seen the "real world" too. As the 10th generation, all records of the "real world" were contained in our history books.

This world is defective. It wasn't finished when the scientists let everyone in, or so the books say. Because of this defect, monsters plague the lands. We humans have the power to defeat them. Our cities and towns are protected by our soldiers. They possessed powerful weapons to ward off monsters. Most of the monsters are easy to defeat. Others require army forces.

I want to be an explorer. I want to explore this entire world. I want to discover its secrets. And, I want to find a way back to the real world. I want to see it with my own eyes; this amazing world that has been described in books. To do this, I attend explorer training sessions.

"Ava! If you want to go to those darn explorer sessions you'd best get off your butt and down here!" My mother screamed.

"Yeah yeah! Whatever I was about to come down anyway! Ya don't have to scream at me!" I hollered back. Ah...the beautiful sound of arguing in the morning.

As you can see, my mother and I get along very well. I pulled my jacket and boots on and grabbed my sword, gun, and bullets. I ran downstairs where my mother was waiting. Mother hated me for my choice of becoming an explorer. She said that it was impractical and too dangerous. It was "unfit for a girl of my stature." Oh, did I forget to mention? I was descended from "English Monarchs." Whatever that was. It's an old world thing. It didn't matter here.

"You're a princess, Avanna." Mother ranted. "You're running around with a sword and guns for goodness sake! At least use our modern weapons! Why do you insist on using Old World weapons?" I stared her right in the eye.

"Why do you insist on using Old World titles? This is Savior, Mother! This 'English Princess' business is for the past!" I protested. She pursed her lips and turned away from me. I took her silence as her defeat. I turned and exited the house. I summoned my control panel and equipped my battle attire. My electric sword hung by my side. My gun was tucked in its holster beside my pack of elemental bullets. I didn't use "Old World" weapons. They were similar to them but completely different. Or well, from what I know from books they are completely different.

"Ava! Yo!" A familiar voice called. I turned to see my best friend and partner in battle, Ryan. He was also my boyfriend.

"Ry!" My mood brightened immediately when seeing him. He ran up to me, pulled me an embrace, and kissed me on the cheek. Blushing, I pushed him away. Call me tomboyish, but I despised being mushy and expressing PDA. "Ew. PDA. Knock it off, Ryan."

"I'm hurt." He pouted, but pulled away anyway. Ryan and I looked completely different. He had natural blonde hair and not so natural red eyes. I on the other hand had deep purple hair and brown eyes. Our appearances would have been considered strange in the Old World. They were specially programmed by us when we reached age 10. We got to look the way we wanted. ...not that I cared of course. I am tomboyish after all.

He handed me a loaded gun. I took it and shot his arm. He winced and quickly wrapped cloth around his bleeding arm. I tossed him the gun and he did the same for me. Once our arms were cleaned and bandaged, we began to walk. A police officer ran up to us.

"Are you two alright? I heard gunshots and your arms have bandages on them." I observed the police officer and exchanged glances with Ryan. Obviously, this police officer wasn't our usual guard. Our usual guard was my second cousin, Madelaine. She was the police officer that was stationed in our neighborhood.

Each neighborhood had it's own police guard. It was an added precaution; in case a monster breaks city limits. Yes, it has happened before. Humanity isn't as invincible as we claim to be. There are people here who feel that Savior allows us to be invincible.

"It's a virtual world!" They say. "You can't die here."

Technically, you can't die. However, you can get severely injured and/or fall into a coma. This leads to why Ryan and I shoot each other. We want to make sure of our mortality- or our apparent immortality.

I smiled at the police officer.

"We are fine ma'am." She straightened her uniform and stood up straight. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and her blue eyes looked firmly at us. Obviously, she was going for the natural Old World look.

"Who shot you?" She asked.

"We shot each other, ma'am." Ryan replied casually. At her shock, I quickly added.

"It's our routine. We want to be explorers you see. We're not wrapped up in our supposed immortality in this world." At my words, her look softened. Understanding filled her eyes.

"I see." She said. "I'm glad you're facing reality. Many residents don't understand it, but ignorance is good for them. As officers, soldiers, and guards, we protect their ignorance and allow them to live in leisure." The officer smiled broadly at us. "I'm glad you chose this."

"We're glad we chose it too." Ryan replied, shaking the officer's hand.

"We'll be on our way now." I said. "We will be late to training."

"Alright." The officer said. "Tell your teacher that Five said hi." I stared at her, confused, but she waved and walked away.

"Okay..." Ryan said. "That was a little strange." I shake my head and turned to watch the officer walk away.

"Tell me about it."

(A/N Well that concludes the first chapter of this story! I'm just working on it and I'm not really sure how I want to go with it yet. Please read and give me feedback!)