Virtually Trapped Ch.1
#1 of Virtually Trapped
Cindy, a high school nerd, sat at the computer desk in her room looking up information about the newest MMORPG's to come out. A frown was on her face as well as tears. The tears stained her pale skin. It wasn't that the sixteen year old was unattractive, standing at 5 feet and an inch, with a truly petite body. She had shiny black and red hair. The red were highlights focused on her bangs and drooped over her left eye, while the black was kept to look disheveled, going down to about her shoulders.
"It's just not fair." She seemingly said to herself while slamming a fist down on the oaken desk. The wood contrasted with the room with it being a dark color and her room being bright pink. "I move to a new town and get treated like a freak. Who cares if I'm different?" She seemed like she was going to continue but stopped. After awhile of silence she nodded and spoke. "You're right. They just want to feel better about themselves. I'll see you on the virtual side tomorrow." She clicked out of a chat box. Then she removed a headset that had been concealed under her hair, it wasn't that she wanted to hide it, it just kind of disappeared under her hair. After standing up and going out of the door of her room, she walked downstairs.
On the computer was a website featuring a new MMORPG. The game was called The Old World, it was probably some new fantasy game. Highlighted on the page were a few sentences that read. "The Old World is the first game to ever utilize virtual reality by taking in your image and projecting it into the game, customization available at higher prices." Along with that was another window that had three check boxes on it. The one that read "Ultimate" was checked off. After awhile Cindy was back in her room and getting ready to sleep. Sleep took only a little while, and then she was out for the night.
Cindy woke to her alarm going off at seven thirty. She didn't usually get up this early on the weekends but today was an exception. The Old World was releasing, and she wanted to be able to set it up and play it as soon as possible. A shower, then getting dressed, and no breakfast was all that needed to be done before she got into her car to go to the local supercenter. It took longer than she would have liked at the store for her to get the game, two hours of waiting, then a half hour of struggling to get the sensor unit into her car. Then she was back on the way to her house.
She started the games installation first, that way it would install while she was setting up the sensor bed. She had thought it would be just some sort of scanner, but the object that scanned your body was a bed. It had a top and a bottom to it, so that it could get a three-sixty degree scan. Once she finally finished hooking that up to her computer she looked over and saw that the game was done installing.
"Well that's that then. Time to see if they're online yet." She sat down at her desk and went to the internet. The homepage took her directly to the main site of The Old World. On it, in the middle, was a countdown timer. It read five more minutes. Under the timer was a message from the developers.
"THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INTEREST!" A ringing came from her phone which caused her to glance over to it. The caller I.D. read Sly. With a smile Cindy picked it up and answered happily.
"Hey man. How's it going?" Cindy asked quickly.
"Not much out of the ordinary, if you don't count the fact that this game is about to go live." Sly answered with an excited tone. "You ready? Everyone else is set up, so I'm hoping that you are too."
"Of course I am. I'm insulted that you would think that I'd miss out on this chance. The game of the century, and we are going to be some of the first to play it."
"Hell yeah. This is the plan. First we'll all be in three teams of three. All will be leveling first, at least until they are a high enough level to do more activities. Another meeting will happen then. After that, we'll wing it."
Sly was part of a guild that had been on multiples MMO's for at least five years now. As in the case of most guilds, not many members know each other in real life. Some of the more chatty ones gave out more information about their personal life than the quiet ones did. This formed the main group of the guild in which Cindy was part of.
Sly wasn't anyone to be afraid of up front or over the net. He was American, had a high school diploma and was about to start college. He was kind in words online and actions in real life. The young adult had an athletic build and ocean blue eyes. His hair was a plain blonde, nothing extravagant about it. Straight A student, good athletic scores, who was social with friends at school.
A beeping sounded snapping the two of them out of their geek talk.
"Looks like it's time." Sly said in little more than a whisper.
"Yea, see you on the other side." Cindy said in a similar style. "Race ya there." She said quickly before hanging up. A couple of slow steps and she was at the sensor unit, something that looked like a bed. It had pads lining the sides and back, a tube that fitted over the top and dots lining the interior of the machine. "Ok, you can do this. She said to herself before laying down onto it. With awkward movements she was able to slide the top closed, meaning that the only two openings were at the top of her head and bottom of her feet. The clear glass blinked a couple of times before a screen flashed to life. "Ok, simple sign up crap. Let's see here." A couple of muttered swears were said as she went through the pop-ups. It wasn't long until she was done and had begun the logging in progress.
Soon enough the images stopped being just in front of her, and became all around her as an unnatural sleep swept over her. Cindy didn't worry too much about it; it was how it became virtual reality after all. When it was all done and she was able to look around, she did that in wonderment.
The cold material of the sensor bed was forgotten as she began to move around. It was an odd sensation, she knew she wasn't moving around on the outside but the signals from her brain were still being received, just to her virtual self.
The area that she was at looked to be a wooden cottage. The walls were a plain brown color. In front of her were three tables, each held an assortment of weapons. She stepped to the middle table; it held an assortment of ranged weapons. A voice then sounded from inside her head.
"Chosen one, you are looking at the weapons that pierce foes with deadly accuracy. The hidden talents that lie within the user of these weapons can cripple foes with well placed shots. These professions are for those that like distance to separate them from their enemies." Cindy shook her head before walking to a table with what looked like staves and wands. "The weapons you see before you are scoffed at by many. It is hard for those that are not trained in the magical arts to be able to use or even see the potential in the seemingly plain objects. The magic withheld can be destructive or even helpful; it is your choice as to what your discipline allows you to be."
"Perfect choice, as always." Cindy said before touching the table. A light shined as her view spun around. A menu showed up next to her character, which looked just like her, at least for the time being. The customization options popped up in a streamlined fashion. After scanning through the choices she had finally decided on her character. She had chosen to make a beast-folk character that kept most of her features but gave her light brown fur and a mouse tail and ears.
After the appearance was done came the weapon choice. The choices were a staff, a wand, an orb, or chakrams. They specialized in, black magic, white magic, summoning magic, or a mix between martial skill and magic, respectively. Cindy thought for a moment before reaching for the orb. The other weapons disappeared while the orb floated into her hands. As soon as it touched her she could feel power rushing through her. Then came a voice.
"Chosen one, to be able to study in the arts of summoning your name must be inscribed into your weapon. What is your name?" Cindy smiled as she thought before a virtual keyboard popped up. She typed in her in-game name, one that she used often. Malinory. After pressing enter she was taken to a loading screen, which when done took her to an open field that had some players going through the tutorials.
She did a search through an in-game menu to see if she could find some of her guild mates, none had made it to the training field yet. Even though the game had just came out her guild had been able to sign-up before the launch and had been accepted, so their roster was already listed. She and her guildmates were truly devoted to games like this, something that would prove invaluable.