Proofread by: Kiyuta and Sturmwaltzer, thanks guys! :D
As the bell rang for lunchtime the young actors and actresses attending Blue Flower High School chattered among themselves, walking outside and emptying the class room of people.
The boy covered his face slightly and allowed himself to be pushed along the flow of exiting students. Once he had reached the outside of the class room he swerved casually around the crowd of individuals that were gathering around his class room.
“Hey Gold!”
A head perked up from behind the crowd and a hand waved at him. He slowed his pace and after a few moments a slender, blonde girl walked up beside him while panting. He stopped to let her rest for a few seconds. Sasha always had a weak body and even the most basic of exercises could prove to be a challenge for her.
“Avoiding,” *pant* “the lunchtime crowd again?” She gazed at him and he nodded.
He smiled and lifted his hand out to her. Sasha grinned and instead of taking the hand she wrapped her arms around his, sweeping her hair partly into his face to cover it. He saw a friendly smile spread over her face and they walked down the hall in peace. A couple of visitors talked loudly as they walked past them.
“Is there someone famous over there?”
One of them indicated towards the group of people he and Sasha had just left and the other shook his head at his companion in disappointment.
“Dude, don’t you know? Andross Silver is in that class room.”
“Oh my god, maybe I should try and get an autograph?”
The visitors walked out of hearing range and Sasha poked her tongue at their backs. She turned back to face Andross.
“You would think they would be used to seeing actors in an acting high school.”
She casually flicked her hair back behind her ears and spoke formally. He recognised the gesture as a sign that she was annoyed and laughed. As the merry sound echoed across the empty hallway her smile widened.
“How do you do it?”
His eyes squinted as they exited the building and the sunlight hit him.
“You get used to it after ten years. Don’t let it get to you”
She looked at him sympathetically and hugged his arm. They walked out of the courtyard and he spotted a familiar black limousine.
“Well don’t worry.” She patted her hand against his arm “You’ll always be Gold to me.”
He bowed as he opened the door to the back of the limousine, “Mademoiselle. Your carriage awaits.”
She let go of his arm and curtsied while giggling.
“T-” *cough* “Thank you,” *cough* “my humble prince.”
As soon as she began talking, coughs wracked through her body and interrupted her sentence. Even though he had been supporting her the whole time she was still in such discomfort after such a short walk. It pained him to see her like this. As soon as the coughs subsided she elegantly slid into the back seat and gestured for him to come nearer.
“You know,” her sky blue eyes glittered as she whispered conspiratorially to him, “I have recently had the most exquisite mosaic art piece placed on the roof of my bedroom and it has been gilded in the purest of gold. Unfortunately my mansion is empty tonight and there are none to admire such a fine testament to the traditional arts.” She leaned closer to his ear and he could feel her breath brushing against it “Perhaps you would be so bold as to come over and enjoy the hidden pleasures of my chambers.”
Andross swept his black hair behind him as he raised his head the sky with a tormented face.
“Mademoiselle I’m shocked, could it be that you are implying we engage in immoral acts? Why, my guiltless soul shatters at the very thought.”
She put her hand to her mouth in mock horror but he could see the smile that had entered her eyes.
“An innocent and precious young lady such as me would never suggest such a promiscuous thing to a gentleman.”
They broke out into laughter and he gazed at his friend admiringly.
“Could those be the lines of the lead heroine of the new fantasy drama Into Darkness that I hear coming from your mouth?”
She grinned and that was all the confirmation he needed to know that she had gotten the part. He swept her up into a giant hug, lifted her out of the limousine and swung her around the air joyfully.
“You got the part!” He looked at the young actress and put on an air of confidence, “I knew you could do it, from the moment you auditioned the part could go to no one else. If anybody asks you can tell them I called dibs on you receiving the part.”
Her eyebrows rose at his rough speech and she put on a dignified air.
“Why my dear Andross, what woman could resist such charm and poise. Your every word seems sculpted towards the goal of alluring the woman around you.” She crossed her arms as though she was angry.
“You know that doesn’t work when your hair is ruffled,” He thought for a second, “Mademoiselle.” He added.
“Oh, posh posh” she blushed and lightly hit the end of his nose and he gently placed her on the ground. She took out a mirror from her purse and did up her hair. She sat back into the limousine and placed her hand on the seat next to her. He sat down and closed the door as he did. The limousine began to move and he looked at her curiously.
“You don’t usually invite me back to your place.”
She spread her legs out across the space in front of her and yawned. He smiled, as soon as the public eye was off of them all poise was gone with the wind and the two could go back to being ordinary people. She placed her finger in front of her blood red lips to indicate silence.
“I’ll show you when we get there.”
~~~~
“Good afternoon master Silver, may I be of service?”
A maid greeted them at the entrance and bowed deeply at Sasha and then entered a lighter bow for him.
“No thank you Sophie, thanks for the offer as always.”
“My pleasure master Silver.”
She walked towards one of the numerous rooms in the mansion and Sasha dragged Andross up the long staircase that ran from the middle of the house to the second floor. She was almost running by the time they entered her room. They stopped next to her bed and he patiently waited for her coughs to subside.
“Stay here for a second.” She pushed him onto the bed and ran off into an adjoining room.
He gazed around the room in wonder. He always found himself in awe when he was in here, it was the size of a house and the bed itself was the size of two king sized beds. The room was covered in plush dolls of all shapes and sizes. Sasha had been collecting them since before he could remember.
His head turned as a door opened and Sasha walked into the room in her underwear. He lifted his eyebrows and she blushed slightly.
“Oh come now, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
He smiled and looked up, “I see no gold gilded mosaic art. I think I have been tricked by your schemes and machinations.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. He followed her into the room she had just left and to his surprise the room was bare except for two metal pods placed so that one could rest comfortably on one like they would in a suntan booth.
“What is this?”
Her eyes were filled with excitement but she started to lift his shirt over his head.
“Strip first. Then I’ll explain.”
Somehow he thought that it would have been easier if they had both gone into the room in the first place. But he was sensible enough to know that such a question would earn him the wrath of the woman in front of him. He stripped down to his underwear and stood proudly in front of her.
She whistled, “No wonder they call you the next Brad Pitt.”
Andross sighed at her words. Even the critics had constantly compared him to this ‘Brad Pitt’ person and as he had no knowledge of actors who had died over thirty years ago, he had never quite understood the reference. Her gaze swept over his body, starting from his muscular arms and running over his tight and chiselled abs. He had spent years working his body and practicing martial arts so that he could attain the pinnacle of perfection. He looked at her curiously.
“If you wanted to stare at my abs I could have pretended to not catch your sneaky glances in your backyard pool.”
She rolled her eyes and looked at the capsules.
“These,” she said pompously, “are going to be my way to walk again.”
Andross stared at her in disbelief.
“T-they found a cure?”
She stepped back, startled, as his eyes began to water and he hugged her. Ever since she had been struck with an unknown and incurable disease in her early teens he had watched her struggle day after day with even the easiest of tasks. The doctors had been at a loss as to what the disease was but they know if had been eroding her bone density. The loss of endurance was only a small side effect to the dangers that the disease presented.
She pushed him away from her body and shook her head sadly. A single tear escaped her eye and he lifted his finger to her cheek to wipe it off. She looked up again and he could see a smile forming on her face.
“This,” she pointed again to the pods, “Are virtual reality capsules. Have you heard of the game Best of Best?”
“You mean BoB? Of course I have. Even the actors and actresses in my class all play it.”
Virtual reality games, the latest trend that had swept through the world twenty years ago. After the success of military virtual reality training hit the news, several big corporations had spent hundreds of millions of dollars into developing virtual reality games for the masses. Initial games had been slow to react and had featured limited content but over the years the genre of gaming had improved in quality and eventually surpassed every other genre, causing them to disappear off the face of the earth.
The pinnacle of this era of virtual reality gaming was Best of Best Online. Affectionately known by the world as BoB, this virtual reality game featured graphics comparable to real life and an immersion experience beyond what one would get from another of their competitors. BoB had swept through the world and as its market of consumers grew so too did its popularity. In an endless circle of increasing sales it was hard to find anyone except for full time workers who didn’t play the game and even they played the game on their off hours.
“You don’t have an account on BoB do you?”
Andross shook his head at Sasha’s question. He was a full time actor and as one of the biggest movie stars in the world he was never short of work. Between his job and his hobby of martial arts he never had the opportunity to play games or engage in any other recreational activities. The only time he took a break from either was to visit and go out with Sasha or meet with interviewers for potential jobs.
Sasha gestured to the capsules, “I-I haven’t made one either,” he could tell by the way that she was looking at him that she had been waiting for him to come before she tried it, “I know you don’t have any jobs at the moment. Just come. On. In.” She grabbed his arms and dragged him to the capsules.
He smiled as she tried to force him into the capsule and entered it willingly. He had never considered before but it made sense that if she entered virtual reality she would be able to move her body like she hadn’t been able to in years. He felt small tremors run across her body and he realised that she was trembling at the prospect. He clasped his hand around her and squeezed it tightly to tell her not to be so nervous. She smiled gratefully and waved goodbye to him. Then she left his view and he heard the door of the other capsule opening.
“Start at the Continent of Marcades and capital city Trinim.”
He nodded even though he knew she couldn’t see him. The next moment his vision went black and stars twinkled around him. He looked around and saw that he was still in his underwear but no longer hooked to the virtual reality capsule. Judging from the giant glowing triangle in the middle of the stars Andross guessed that Sasha had already pre-programmed the capsule to send him straight to Best of Best. The glowing blue triangle was the symbol of the TriForce Corporation, the makers of Best of Best.
Originally the virtual reality gaming market had been dominated by three giant corporations each hauling in billions in profits. But after a while they decided to merge into one corporation called TriForce so that the gamers could experience one truly terrific game, which they named Best of Best. It was this merging that was the main factor in Best of Best’s takeover of the entire virtual reality gaming market.
[The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?]
Andross’s thoughts were interrupted as a melodious female voice echoed across the starry space. He looked across the space to see who was talking to him and the voice repeated itself.
[The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?]
“Yes.” It was clear to Andross that this was some sort of computer generated voice. He hadn’t been in a virtual reality game before so he wasn’t one hundred percent sure though.
[Select the name of your avatar]
‘My avatar? What’s that?’
“Err, computer, specify avatar.”
[An avatar is the physical representation of your character in game]
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
‘I see, so this is going to be the name that everybody sees.’
The voice repeated itself after he hadn’t spoken for a minute.
[Select the name of your avatar]
“Commoner” Sasha would get a kick out of his name. And he had no intentions of standing out by using a name that could be traced back to his real life.
[Select your gender from male, female or neutral]
“Male”
[Best of Best has twenty nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine races.]
‘Which race would Sasha pick? Oh that’s right.’ “Which race has a good synergy with the elven race?” Once the disease had struck her, Sasha had taken the energy she couldn’t use moving and transferred it into reading about ancient history and mythology. She had constantly pestered him about elves and it was one of the main reasons he was so happy she had gotten the part for the new drama, ‘Into Darkness’ in which the main heroine was purported to have secretly been an elf. He would rather become something that could complement Sasha rather than hold her down.
[The human race has often travelled alongside the elven races and as such the two have developed a friendly relationship with one another.]
“Make my avatar a human”
[Best of Best does not allow alteration of appearance but the user may choose from different styles of clothing.]
A male avatar that was naked except for his underwear appeared in front of Commoner and he realised he was looking at himself.
‘Wait, I can’t change my appearance?’
His face immediately dropped its curiosity and was replaced with a look of horror. He had wanted to change his face at all costs. If any users recognised him in game it would immediately cause a host of problems. First his millions of fans would flock to his location and he would never be left alone, when he logged out people would mark his location and camp there until he had logged on and then they would follow him around until he logged off again, waiting for the next day.
Worst still, his manager had been pushing him for several months to make an account on Best of Best since the amount of people watching videos relating to the game outweighed any other television program audience and the allure of joining the game to gain fans was incredible. His manager would track his every movement and record them while selling his character’s name to every major guild or organisation inside the game so that they would take him and raise his reputation.
It would be his real life all over again.
He looked despondently through the clothing options and was surprised to see a large range of clothing from jester clothes to sweatpants. He clicked on a pair of black Velcro pants and a matching shirt and jacket. It didn’t suit most people but he knew that he could make it work. Black would also stick out less.
“Do you have any masks?”
[Masks are available for purchase in game]
‘That’s something at least.’ Commoner made a mental note to buy a mask as soon as he could when he got into the game.
[Your account has been activated. Your stats have been allocated to your avatar automatically you can decide your class at level ten]
“Stats?”
[Stats of the human race are; strength, agility, stamina, vitality, dexterity, intelligence and wisdom. 10 stat points have been allocated to each primary stat.]
“Er, alright.’ Commoner wasn’t sure what ‘stats’ were but he would ask Sasha when he met up with her in game.
[Select your starting continent and city.]
“Continent of Marcades and capital city Trinim.”
[Welcome to Best of Best. Would you like to take the tutorial?]
‘Oh thank god, there’s a tutorial for this thing.’
“I would like to take the tutorial.”
The stars and darkness blurred and a light pierced through it and encompassed Commoner. He covered his eyes with his arms and when he removed them he was sitting in a grassy plain with the wind blowing lightly through his hair.
“Greetings traveller.”
He turned his body around and was surprised to see a white, faceless being in front of him. It was covered in a white robe the same colour as its skin and it had two pairs of arms. He blanched as his body tripped and he fell onto the ground. Moving his body felt incredibly strange.
He realised the voice had spoken into his mind and looked at the creature. It seemed to be gazing at him with its head although he couldn’t tell for sure because it didn’t have any eyes that he could see.
“Do not try to move so quickly human. I am an angel, Pheltos. Would you allow me the pleasure of knowing your name?”
Try talking to Pheltos.
A message box appeared in front of Commoner and he moved his mouth. No words came out and he looked confused for a second. He tried to move his mouth again and found that it moved but no words were coming out.
‘Think Andross, what did the guys say about BoB?’
His friends had often talked about their adventures in Best of Best during class. They had mentioned something about how weird it was that instead of talking they had to think of the words they were going to say.
“I AM ANDROSS.”
He tried to concentrate on what he wanted to say and suddenly found his voice echoing across the plains as he shouted the words out loud. He shuffled uncomfortably perhaps he had been concentrating too hard on the words.
“Wait, I’m Commoner.”
The angel, Pheltos, appeared to be completely unaffected by his outburst and started moving across the grassy plain. A small arrow had appeared on top of its head and stayed there as it moved.
“Move alongside me human. We’ll go to our next destination.”
Walk alongside Pheltos to the next destination.
Commoner moved his legs the same way he talked, he concentrated on the moving and he found that they moved. After a few seconds it was as though he had known how to walk all his life and he barely had to concentrate on his legs. Pheltos moved to the side and revealed a small creature on the grass in front of him. It was made of several gnarled tree roots and its legs and arms were made of twigs, it was about the size of a large rabbit.
“This is a baby treant. The creature has been tainted by darkness and must be freed of its suffering or else it will forever haunt the plains and prey on innocent travellers and animals. Please slay it traveller, so that we may move across the plains.”
You have gained the beginner’s sword.
A sword appeared in his hand. A message appeared asking him if he wanted to equip it and he accepted.
You have equipped the beginner’s sword.
Slay the baby treant.
He moved towards the small creature and it leapt towards him in an attack, he moved the side and elegantly dodged it and as it passed the side of his body he slashed it in half.
‘The poor thing probably didn’t even see it coming.’
Critical hit. +150% damage.
Darkness swirled around the creature’s body and exited the monster’s roots by floating into the sky and disappearing. Commoner and the angel watched as it poofed into thin air.
“Congratulations traveller, you have freed the creature from the darkness that ensnared it. This darkness has ensnared most of the creatures in the world of Anteus and it has caused them to attack even the most innocent of travellers.”
Anteus. That was the name of the world that the game Best of Best was set in. The continent of Marcades was only one of ten continents if he remembered correctly. Each one had its own history and lore to it but only three had currently been explored in the months the game had been out. Even as he played this tutorial Commoner knew that millions more were exploring the frontier and expanding the maps of the world.
“The creature appears to have dropped something.”
He looked up at the angel and saw that it was pointing its four hands at the spot where the creature had been. Its body had disappeared but in its place was a small stone. He walked up to the stone and picked it up.
You have picked up the item: stone. Stats: This item does not add to your current stats. Weight: 0.30kg Description: A slightly heavy stone that was dropped by a treant.
The stone disappeared from his hand and he looked around to see where it had gone. A message popped up in front of him with instructions on how to open his inventory and sure enough when he checked inside the stone was there.
“Congratulations traveller,” he looked at Pheltos, “you have completed the tutorial for Best of Best. Now you will be sent to your starting city, we wish you good luck in competing with your peers to become one of the greatest of warriors in the land.”
The grassy plains blurred and Commoner was plunged into darkness. Since it seemed like the transfer from tutorial to game would take a few seconds he allowed himself to relax and think.
‘Greatest warriors in the land?’ That’s right. His friends had mentioned something like that as well. According to the lore of the world of Anteus, the world had once been swamped in darkness and the races of the world had been enslaved and treated cruelly by the monsters of the world. It had been a dark and terrible time of the world, but out of these oppressed races came twenty nine warriors of pure heart and tremendous strength. They drove back the darkness and monsters and eventually united their races in peace so they could concentrate on driving back the forces of darkness. The heroes had long died but their legacy lived on. TriForce had announced early on in Best of Best’s history that the twenty nine titles held by these warriors were available as job classes, but only to those that proved themselves worthy of holding the title of someone who could lead an entire race.
‘Well, something like that. I really have to listen more when my friends talk about this stuff.’
Commoner had no idea how to obtain these titles but he didn’t particularly care, he was only joining so that he could play with Sasha. He looked around and realised that he had already been dropped into the city of Trinim. He quickly lifted a hand above his forehead and hoped that the game would cast a shadow over his face to hide it.
He was in some sort of city square. He looked around and after a few minutes a familiar head of blonde hair appeared in front of him.
“You made it!” She hugged him and he looked at her bemused, she hadn’t realised that he had finished a long time before she had.
“Shall we go, mademoiselle?” He lifted his arm for her to hang onto it and then re-thought it. She had no need for his support in this world.
She looked at him with a smile and he tensed. It wasn’t a happy smile.
“To be honest I tricked you Gold.” She grabbed his hand and led him to a less crowded area of the city square. He looked at her and he could tell that she was seeing the confusion in his eyes.
“Okay sure, it’s good to get me walking. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to move without immediately getting tired and its awesome” He nodded at her words and she continued, “But that’s not the reason I brought you here.”
Before he could ask what she meant she took his hand off of his forehead, “This! This is why I brought you here. I see the way you look at me in pain every time you see me cough a little but you never see me looking at you while you’re in pain every day of your life! Always hiding your face and never getting intimate with anyone except me because you’re so famous that you’re afraid that they’re just getting to know you because of what you are and not who you are. Well this is it Gold!” She waved her hands around her.
“This is a whole new world, one where nobody knows who you are yet, you have a chance to re-do yourself. You don’t need to be with me the whole time. Go and make new friends! Go and enjoy yourself being who you are, not the actor whose face is plastered across every magazine, be the guy that I know. That kind and lovely guy that looks after me every day and goes out of his way to make sure that I’m smiling even when he’s not.”
“I don’t need to re-do myself.” He looked at her and moved his hand on her shoulder but she swatted it away.
“Please,” she gazed into his eyes, “I don’t want you to do this for me. I want you to do this for yourself.” Commoner sighed. He had seen this look in Sasha’s eyes before. She wouldn’t accept no for an answer. He nodded his head and she smiled, then she ran off into the crowd and before he could follow her she was gone.
He thought to himself, ‘Be myself and make friends?’
Before he had realised it a large smile had spread across his face.
Maybe this would be more fun than he thought.