Chapter 1 - The Birth of a Demon

„The world really still is full of mysteries… like, did you know there is actually a guy living in the United States who can eat anything and not feel sick at all? Even paper and metal parts… you really can’t fully understand nature, right Nao?”

“Hahaha, really? He sounds like a bit of a glutton. Well it’s true, there are many things about earth that we don’t get, like why the sunlight changes color sometimes, right? You told me about that before, I think the first time it happened was 1917? That must look really lovely”

“Oh, you still remember that? Yea, I believe it was 1917. It actually just happened again last week. I heard they are working really hard to figure out why it happens seeing as it gets more and more frequent but I heard some people caused a riot yet again, saying it’s a sign that a god will be reborn or a disaster will happen…”

“Well, it’s probably going to turn out like the excavation incident the other day, right? Everyone was convinced some kind of curse had made the archaeologists vanish from the tomb but it turns out they only went out partying for a few days without telling anyone…”

“Good point, hahaha…”

Both the man and the girl that were just discussing briskly went quiet for a while until the girl finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Daniel…” Nao’s expression was emotionless.

“Yes, Nao?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You keep on coming to visit me, you even teach me and read books to me, even though it’s hard for you… and even though you know that it won’t last much longer. So why? Why do you keep hurting yourself for someone like me? Just stop it already!”

‘There she goes again’ Daniel thought. ‘She always belittles herself like this, even though she’s such a nice girl… ‘

“… Nao…” He didn’t know what to say.

On the one hand there was Nao whom he had known for a long time. Her family never came to visit her nor did she have any friends despite trying her hardest. She had failed every time she had tried and stayed alone without complaining. He had never seen her cry but he knew she did, when no one was around and she thought she wouldn’t trouble anyone with her own problems.

And then there were children who had everything handed to them from birth, their parents complaining about them non-stop, but still giving them everything they asked for.

Thinking of this he unintentionally thought of his neighbors. Their son was around Nao’s age and always skipping school. Just recently his mother had complained that he just kept on playing online games without caring about anything else.

It got especially bad when new technology came out, she had said. Something about where your consciousness actually entered the game… ‘Wait…’

Daniel’s thoughts froze and he got up, rushing out of the room in a hurry, nearly tripping over his own feet.

‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I just need to verify some things but… this could really be it!’

Daniel rushed out of the room without a word, completely forgetting to even say his goodbyes to Nao. ‘Did I really manage… to scare even him away?’ Contradictory to what she had just said Nao was really happy that Daniel kept on visiting her. He was a very kind person and she knew he genuinely cared about her, yet… she had said all that to him. She quietly curled into a ball on her bed and kept herself from crying, there seemed to be a stone forming in her chest. ‘No, this is what I wanted, so why do I feel so lonely?’

“Tell me, mother” she hugged her bunny, her mother’s memento, tighter “He won’t come anymore now, right? I did the right thing, didn’t I?” ‘I keep saying things I don’t mean… the truth is I just don’t want anyone to get hurt again… for being with me. If it’s just me who is hurt that’s alright.’

Daniel rushed down the hallway and quickly entered the old elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor. He nervously stepped from one foot to the other while watching the floor numbers count down on the display above the door. ‘Hurry…’

His thoughts kept flying back to the conversation he had had with his neighbour. He’d have to research this a little, but if it was possible for Nao to play this then she would really be able to make some friends on her own.

The elevator arrived on the ground floor and the doors slid open with a ‘ding’. As soon as there was enough room for him to pass, he ran outside, completely ignoring the stunned look on the faces of the people he passed on the way. He fumbled around for his keys in his coat and swiftly got them out as he rushed into the parking lot and quickly unlocked his car from afar, stuffing the keys back into his pocket. Why had he parked so far from the entrance today…

Finally reaching the black capsule-like car, he quickly opened the door and got into the front seat, bending over to the right to pick up the black bag with his laptop from below. He opened the bag and took out the keypad. It looked like the bottom part of the laptops of the previous generation, just holding a flat keyboard.

He pressed a button on the side of the keypad, switching it on. He waited for a little while but then the built-in projector started working, displaying what used to be shown on a screen transparently in mid-air.

Daniel skilfully manipulated the keys, signing in to his PC and accessed the internet. High speed internet access was now available worldwide, without having to use crude devices such as internet sticks or routers. He quickly accessed the website of the Fade-In technology and looked up the functions of the device.

Upon system start the user would be put into a sleep-like state, all signals from and to the brain would be cut off just as they reached the brain surface, making it possible to stimulate the feeling of being in a completely different world altogether when accessing software with this technology. As this was the case, it would be possible to play the game normally even if you were disabled or bedridden, since the technology didn’t rely on your own movements or body data to run.

The device also featured a basic monitoring function over the body, warning the user about real bodily needs or interferences from outside. You would automatically get a message if someone got into close proximity of your body and a microphone would automatically activate, allowing you to hear what happens outside.

The more he read about it, the more it sounded like the perfect solution to Nao’s problems.

But this was only his assumptions pieced together with bits of information. He needed to know more about this. Which meant he had to talk to someone familiar with the technology to make sure of his theory. He really didn’t want to give Nao hope and then smash it again once he found out it wasn’t possible for her to play...

He set his car to auto-pilot while he continued operating his laptop. He had decided to go home for the day.

When he arrived at home, he quickly opened the garage door, allowing the car to park itself and locked it inside. He closed the outside door and entered his house through a side door from within the garage. He looked at his watch. He still had about 30 minutes until it was time for dinner so he quickly undressed and took a shower, washing away his anxiety and the sweat of the day.

When he had readied himself, his neighbours should have just about been done with dinner so he left the house, simply locking up without bothering to turn on the security system.

He then walked through his front yard and up to the entrance gate of his neighbours’ mansion. He reached for the doorbell and quickly pressed it. Just a short while afterwards he heard his neighbour’s voice over the intercom. “Who is it?”

“This is Daniel Stevens, I’d like to ask you something. May I come in?” Daniel replied

“Oh, Mr. Stevens, just a moment, I’ll be right there.”

She had hung up right afterwards and a few moments later he could make out footsteps coming towards the gate.

“Good evening, Mrs. Rogers.” He greeted her when she came around the corner with her best welcoming smile. “I hope I didn’t disturb you during dinner?”

“Good evening! Of course you haven’t. Please don’t worry. I had actually just finished washing the dishes. Please come in.”

She opened the gate for him and waved him inside, closing it again once he stepped through. She then led him through their garden to the front door and let him in.

They entered the spacious living room and she motioned for him to sit down and relax, saying she’d make some tea. While he waited he took a quick glance around the room. As expected from a well-off household, the room was decorated with taste, with 2 couches to relax on and several plants and cupboards that seemed to fit right into the atmosphere of the room. Both useful and stylish, there was a lot of room for storing things without it seeming overly stuffed. Even the lamps had been picked to fit the taste of the inhabitants. In addition to that the room was equipped with the latest entertainment technology, including the fade in system and several televisions and other audio systems he hadn’t seen before.

Just when he had finished surveying his surroundings, his neighbour came back with a tray with 2 beautiful cups and a fitting teapot, sat down across from him and put the tray on the table, pouring them both some herb tea, from the smell of it.

“Let me greet you again, Mr. Stevens. It’s quite rare for you to visit us. How are you?”

“Yes, indeed. I have been quite busy with work lately so I haven’t had much time to I’m afraid.”

She smiled slightly. “I know what you mean quite well, my husband has also been able to spend less time with us lately since he had been promoted. He comes home late quite frequently now and he seems so tired every day it starts to worry me.”

She glanced at Daniel sadly. “Please promise me you don’t overwork yourself, Mr. Stevens. In contrast to my husband you don’t have anyone to look after you.”

“Haha, indeed. I shall try my best.”

They continued exchanging pleasantries and small-talk for a while and then Daniel finally decided to lead the conversation to the main topic.

“Actually I came here today to ask you something, Mrs. Roberts. To be more precise it might be your son who will be able to help me out in this matter.”

“Oh, now I’m curious. What is it you’d need our advice on?”

“Actually it’s about that game you’ve told me about before. You said your son had started playing it and grew very fond of the virtual world there.”

“Mr. Stevens, I didn’t know you were interested in such things.” She looked surprised and a little disappointed, reconfirming her dislike for online games.

He smiled slightly, trying to pacify her. “Actually I’m not asking for myself. I hardly have time to be playing games due to my work. But I’m asking for a friend of mine. She is a girl about the age of your son and has been depressed lately since she can’t go outside. I figured maybe this game could help her a bit.”

Relieved Mrs. Roberts sighed quietly. “I should have known it was something like that. Alright then, let me go and get Julian for you.” She nodded and got up, leaving for her son’s room.

“Thank you.”

A few minutes later she came back with an annoyed looking teenager following her. The boy glances over to Daniel, nods and sits down across from him next to his mother.

“Good evening, Julian. Sorry for disturbing you without prior notice. Do you think you could spare me a few minutes of your time?”

“Sure, no problem. I heard you’d like to ask me something.”

“Straight to the point, I see. As I thought, I came at a bad time.” He sighed to himself and decided to try keeping his questions short.

“Yes, actually I heard you’re playing an online game with the fade in system. I’d like to ask you about it.”

Apparently he had caught the teenager’s attention now. The annoyed look vanished from his face and a glimmer entered his eyes since the topic was about his favourite game.

“Really? What do you want to know about it?”

“Yes. Please tell me about the game in general. To be honest I have no idea about these things at all, that’s why I decided to come here.”

The boy then excitedly started talking about the game, NeoPangea and how it works. As in other online games you would connect to the internet and be able to play with users from all around the world. The game had a fantasy setting, it was a place without modern technology and weaponry, comparable to legends and folklore of the medieval time. The users would start as settlers or inhabitants of a newly discovered continent and were given tasks by computer controlled characters that lived there. Sometimes they were asked to find items or explore unknown territories, sometimes to clear dungeons or other areas from dangerous monsters. You would then receive rewards for your efforts. Of course you could also play without putting your character into danger by producing items and selling them. Furthermore you could ally yourself with others into parties to defeat strong foes and make friends that way. Even having pets and taming animals was possible.

Julian’s explanations went into depth, explaining there were proper towns, cities and kingdoms with different social standings. The players could work their way up through these standings through their efforts and achievements. If you were lucky enough you could even become a noble, although there hadn’t been anyone but a handful of people that had gotten the opportunity.

Developing skills was very realistic. Especially principles for production skills were very close to reality and you had to keep up practice or your skills would deteriorate. The same went for your characters strength, which came from stats. You needed to keep working on it or your character would get weak.

The competition between players in the game was quite fierce as everyone tried to create a strong character. But this also meant players teamed up a lot. Adventuring was an arduous task. The monsters could evolve and get stronger themselves, but once you killed them they sometimes would never come back, making it impossible for other players to have the same experience and rewards from the kill. However, a really large amount of the continent was still unexplored, meaning even new players always had the chance to discover a hidden dungeon.

To sum it up, NPO under the supervision of Furan and their central AI, was changing constantly. You would never get bored and people always looked for companions.

As he listened to the explanations of his neighbour, occasionally asking questions in between, he became certain. ‘Jackpot! This is exactly what she needs!’ The boy had confirmed the system would work for Nao!

Just as he had come to that conclusion Julian looked at him curiously. “But Mr. Stevens… why are you asking me all this? Do you want to start playing the game?”

“Actually there is someone I know whom I’d like to start playing.”

“I see. From what you asked me I take it you really don’t know much about the fade in system. So since that’s the case I could help you set up the hardware for it if you want.”

Surprised he looked at Julian. He hadn’t expected him to be willing to help him to that degree. “That would really help me out but actually I still need to ask the person herself if she wants to try it. Would you be willing to help me set up the system when she agrees?”

“Sure! I’m also happy I’ll get to know another player around here and it’s even a girl. You know, I’ve only been able to find one other guy in New York who plays NeoPangea. The game is really popular abroad but the technology for it isn’t that known around here yet, it’s a pity really. Just let me know once she decides and we can go get the necessary equipment.”

“Thank you for all the information you gave me, I’ll go ask her tomorrow when I finish up at work.”

“No problem! I’ll be waiting for her decision then!”

Daniel got up and shook Julian’s hand. He also thanked his mother for having him and excused himself for the day, going back to his own home.

The next morning he left for work in a good mood and was in deep thought the whole day, causing his colleagues to speculate if he had finally found a girlfriend. He still managed to concentrate on his tasks and fulfilled his duties flawlessly making them unable to address him about it.

The day stretched on as more and more work piled up in front of him but Daniel just picked up his pace without complaining and swiftly finished even the last report. He had ended up working overtime but that couldn’t be helped sometimes. He quickly went to the personnel lounge and changed out of his work clothes in the adjoining changing room. He then wished his colleagues a quiet nightshift and left to visit Nao.

He stood in front of her room and knocked quietly. “Please enter.” It seems she was up.

Nao turned her head, listening curiously to the footsteps of her visitor. She hadn’t been expecting anyone and she had figured Daniel wouldn’t visit her anymore now after what she said yesterday.

“Evening, Nao!” Daniel cheerfully greeted her.

“Daniel?” Nao said startled. Then she blushed and quickly turned her head down.

“What? Is it that strange I came to visit you?”

“Well no, I mean yes, I mean…I … I hadn’t expected that you’d come anymore since I said all that yesterday.” Her voice became quieter and quieter towards the end and he had barely managed to understand what she had said.

He smiled and came over to pat her on the head lightly.

“Don’t worry; you won’t get rid of me that easily. We’re friends, right? I knew you didn’t actually mean what you said.”

She could hear his gentle smile in his voice and nearly started crying again. She was really happy he hadn’t stopped visiting her.

“Thank you.” Her voice was still barely audible, but he had caught it.

“No problem. Sorry for rushing out without a word yesterday by the way.” He said while scratching his cheek sheepishly. “An idea just hit me and I acted without thinking.”

“It’s okay, I’m h-h-happy y-you’re back.”

“Say, Nao… do you want to try making some new friends?”

“…”

“…”

“Didn’t we talk about this before? H-how can I make some friends here…”

“But if I found a way, would you want to try it?”

“… yes”

“Awesome! Let me tell you about my idea then!”

As the doctor started explaining about the game Nao listened with her mouth open. Could she really be a normal player in that game? Could she actually see again when playing it? Could she make friends and hang out with them there? ‘Rather, would I actually manage to talk to someone? Would they want to talk to me?’ She started panicking a little. Then she suddenly went rigid.

‘Do I… actually deserve to make any?’

The whole story didn’t really sink in, leaving her unable to answer when he asked her what she thought. He noticed how overwhelmed and conflicted she was so he just sat there patiently waiting for her reply.

After a long silence Nao finally tightened the grip on her bunny plushy and managed to say

“I… I want… to try.”

‘I will… try being a bit selfish… just this once.’

The smile on his face brightened and he excitedly stood up. “Then let me go and make the arrangements right away! I’ll be back in a while!”

“O… okay.”

Still a bit dazed Nao just listened after him as he left the room and went to the phone booth.

It was still 7 pm, so the shops should be open for 5 more hours. He’d have to ring her family for permission before getting anything though. This would be the biggest hurdle. He had already written down their contact information in advance but honestly he was a little scared of Nao’s grandmother.

He swiftly left the building again, pulling out his mobile as he got into his car. He dialed the number of Nao’s grandmother as he started the engine and set the car to auto-pilot again. After the 5th ring a female voice sounded over his phone. “Good evening, you have reached the Yuki residence. How may I be of service?”

“Good evening and sorry for disturbing you after dinner. My name is Daniel Stevens. Would it be possible to talk to Mrs. Era Yuki?”

“Please hold the line for a moment, Mr. Stevens. I will see if the mistress is available.”

“Of course, thank you.”

A soothing melody started playing on the line as he was put on hold and a slight sigh escaped him. As expected, her family was hard to get hold of. Just as he was starting to space out while looking out of the window, watching the skyscrapers pass by in a blur the same voice from before interrupted his thoughts, making him jump as he was ripped out of his daydream.

“Mr. Stevens?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Please excuse the long wait. The mistress is available, I shall connect you now.”

“No problem, thank you very much”

The phone started ringing again and got picked up after the 3rd ring this time.

“Good evening Mr. Stevens, how may I help you?”

It was her grandmother this time. “Good evening, Mrs. Yuki, please excuse me for calling you this late. It’s about Nao…” he got right to the point and explained the situation to her, but she cut him off indignantly.

“Mr. Stevens, I believe I have put these decisions completely into your capable hands. Please refrain from calling us regarding insignificant matters such as this from now on.” Without leaving room for further discussion she hung up.

“Woaaah…”, he stared at the phone screen dazedly. As usual, her grandmother didn’t care for things involving Nao at all… ‘Oh well, I guess her reply can be taken as a yes.’

He then quickly rang up his neighbors, asking if Julian was in. They had just finished dinner again and Julian was still downstairs so she quickly handed the phone to him.

“Good evening, Mr. Stevens”

“Good evening, Julian. Sorry for disturbing you again today.”

“No problem at all, the servers are having a long maintenance today to implement new content so it’s not like I had anything to do.”

“Then that’s great timing. I just talked to my friend and she really wants to try the game. Do you think you could help me with the arrangements today?”

“Whoa, you’re fast! Sure, the maintenance is supposed to last for a few more hours so I’m free.”

“Alright, I’m on the way home now, so can I pick you up in around 20 minutes?”

“Sure, I’ll just quickly confirm it with my mom, gimme a sec.”

“No problem.”

Just a few moments later he had gotten permission from his mother.

“Alright, she says it shouldn’t be a problem since I’ll be with you. I’ll be waiting out front until you’re here then.”

“Sounds good, I should be there in about 10 minutes now.”

“Great. See you then!”

They hung up and Daniel quickly checked through his papers. He had taken all the necessary documents and cards to get the equipment in Nao’s name. Just as he finished organizing them and putting them back into his bag the car had arrived at his street. He turned off the auto-pilot and navigated the car to his neighbor’s place.

Julian was already waiting for him outside, waving as he recognized Daniel’s car. He quickly got into the front passenger seat and closed the door. His mother had been waiting next to him so Daniel quickly opened the window and thanked her, telling her they would be back around 10.

She nodded and saw them off as the doctor set the next destination for the auto-pilot to be the shopping mall.

The mall wasn’t far away, but they would need the car to transport the hardware to Nao’s place.

“So, Mr. Stevens, what kind of person is she?”

“Hm? You mean the one we’re getting these things for?”

“Yea”

“Her name is Nao, she’s a year younger than you. She’s a very shy and sweet girl. I’m happy we can help her like this.”

“Aah, so she’s 16 then, I see.”

“Yes, but sometimes she doesn’t act like it.” Laughed the doctor

“Hehe, we can all be children sometimes, can’t we.”

“Indeed.”

“So she never played an online game before?”

“No, never. But I think she’ll like it.”

“You bet.”

“Ah, it seems we’re there already.”

The mall had come into view and Daniel quickly parked the car in the underground parking lot. They then got out of the car, locking it and entered the elevator tube. It was a small round tube, able to host two people. The gravity in the tube was reversed and they ascended quickly, holding onto a handrail on the side as they went up and swiftly exited at the right floor. The shopping mall was one of the few places that had been modernized with the eletube already, so the experience still left the doctor on edge every time.

“I’ll be following you from here. I don’t know what to get or where to get it,” said Daniel.

For the next hour they wandered around the shopping mall, sending various hardware pieces down to the register. Finally only the game was left. They quickly sent that off as well and headed to the elevator to jump down to the ground floor, where the counter was located.

“I’m surprised. The fade in technology actually got upgraded again since I got mine. It seems you can access it faster now, and you’ll also not be logged out automatically anymore.”

The teenager continued chatting excitedly as they reached the counter.

Daniel handed over his ID to the cashier, waiting for the poor staff to pack up and calculate their purchases. He paid for everything and they loaded it onto a cart, pushing it towards the car. They quickly expanded the car’s back storage and loaded in the hardware. The shopping cart then automatically drove itself back to the register.

Stretching their muscles from loading in the heavy equipment after they were finally done, Daniel was exhausted.

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“Thank you very much once again, Julian. Without your help I truly wouldn’t have been able to get all of this.”

“Don’t worry about it, I was able to get new information about the game as well.”

“That’s good then, so let’s get you home?”

“Huh, what are you talking about? Will you be able to set up the equipment yourself?”

He hadn’t thought of that. “Right… that might be a problem.”

“I’ll come long and help you calibrate everything for your Nao then if you want.”

Daniel thought for a moment. “That would be great. She shouldn’t mind if I bring you along.”

“Then let’s get going! I’d like to be home when the maintenance is done!”

“Right, we’ll hurry then! Sorry to keep you for so long, Julian.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s actually quite fun.”

They had gotten into the car again and were now heading over to Nao’s room.

Julian continued his chatter about the game as they headed there, telling Daniel about the races and classes in game and how a new one would be added today and everyone was excited over it. “Apparently the PvP system will be upgraded, even NPCs supposedly give PK quests now… but usually if you kill someone outside of events or the arena you’ll be turned into a criminal. Unless, of course, the other party attacked you first. If you’re a criminal NPCs won’t sell items to you or may even start attacking you until the criminal status is gone. It’s so troublesome, really. But now apparently there will be quests for it, I wonder if that’ll still be the case? I mean can they really penalize you for completing a quest?”

‘Whoa, you can even be a criminal in games these days…’

As he was thinking that, their destination came into view and Daniel pulled into the parking lot. “Julian, we’re here.”

Julian left the car and stretched, slowly walking to the back of the car. “Let’s start loading out the things then.”

“Wait, let me get a cart.”

“Huh, they have carts here… wait.” Looking at the building in front of him for the first time, Julian was stunned. “Isn’t this…”

“Yes, it is. Follow me.”

They entered the building and got two empty carts usually used for laundry and pushed them to the car. They then loaded in all the equipment and locked the car. Pushing the carts in front of them they then entered the building again, using the elevator to go up to the 4th floor.

“Mr. Stevens, are you sure there’s enough space in the room for all this… and are you sure it’s alright to even bring stuff like this here?” Julian cautiously asked.

“Don’t worry, the room is pretty spacious and I got permission beforehand.”

“Ah, alright.” Julian was visibly relieved.

Just then the elevator stopped and they pushed out their carts, Daniel leading the way to Nao’s room. He knocked and soon Nao’s voice could be heard. “Please come in”

He then opened the door and stepped in, leaving his cart in the hallway for now. Following his example, Julian also stepped into the room nervously.

“Here I am again, Nao.”

“Daniel! You came back quickly. I thought you’d only be back tomorrow.”

When she heard a second pair of footsteps she asked “Oh,… you brought someone with you?”

“Yes, I found myself a great helper so we already got everything you’ll need. Let me introduce you, his name is Julian. He’s my neighbor.”

“Good evening” Julian nervously said. He was looking around the room warily. He hadn’t expected it but there should indeed be enough room for the equipment in here. Then he looked towards Nao and froze. ‘Small!’ was his first thought. Yes, Nao was quite small for her age which made her seem younger than she actually was. She was sitting in a wheelchair next to the bed in her hospital grown, holding onto a large pink bunny plushy. That’s right. This was the hospital, Daniel’s workplace.

“H-hello, Julian. Nice to meet you.”

As she said that she turned the wheelchair around completely to face them, smiling shyly. She had short platinum blonde hair that was slightly messy and a very frail build. But her smile was very warm. The sight of her made him hold his breath. Her eyes! He had never seen such light blue irises before.

“Nice to meet you too”, he said, hiding his surprise.

“I brought him along to set up everything for you, since I’m not that good with these things.”

“Oh, I see. T-thank you for doing this for me, Julian.”

“No problem at all. Then let’s get started?”

“O-ok. If you need me to do something or if I can help with anything…” Nao trailed off.

“Then, we’ll carry in everything and you can open the packages, alright? Just open where they’re taped.” Daniel put some scissors into her hands. “Can you do that?”

“Sure! Just bring them over here then.”

When they walked out of the room to unload the carts, Julian couldn’t help but ask, “Her eyes, is she…?”

“Yea, she is blind.”

“Oh.”

They slowly unloaded everything, handing Nao the packages to open whenever they came in. They then sat down and unpacked everything.

“Well, I guess it’s my turn now.” Julian said. He then started organizing the equipment, connected the pieces together and wired them to the socket in the corner of the room. After 30 minutes of concentrated work the equipment was set up. ‘I could never have done this’ Daniel sweated just watching.

“All set up!” Julian smiled. “Now, let’s get you calibrated, Nao!”

“Y-yes!”

He picked up a bracelet and helmet and headed over to Nao, helping her put them on and explaining how the system works.

“Alright, firstly you put on the bracelet.When you put it on it’ll expand and adapt to your body so it fits perfectly and doesn’t somehow fall off, so don’t be startled, ok? Over the signal it receives it can monitor your body condition and will automatically log you out when it thinks there is something wrong with you. Don’t worry. It works wirelessly so you can just keep wearing it like a normal bracelet. Next is the helmet. This one is wired, so be careful you don’t tangle it somewhere, I recommend putting it on when you’re in bed and just putting it on the window shelf when you don’t need it. The pieces over your forehead and on your neck will also adjust to your head and chin. Also there’s a microphone on each side that activates if something close to you is moving, in case someone comes in while you’re out. “

He put it on for her and showed her how to close it and what each of the buttons did. Then he took it off again, handing it to her, telling her to try it. It nearly slipped from her hands the first time but after a few moments she put on the helmet and switched it on perfectly.

“Great. Now, first we need to switch on the PC and create an account for you. Do you want me to do it? You can only access the game with your account with this FI Headgear so I won’t be able to access it even if I know.”

“S-sure, I don’t mind.”

“Alright, I’ll just confirm everything with you as I go then.”

They created her account on the newly purchased PC. The account creation for FIMMORPGs as he called them, short for Fade-In Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, was a little different than for normal games. You actually had to upload a picture of yourself in full, then include various measurements of your body as well as a voice recording so the game could accurately recreate your body. It would be strange to move around in a body you’re not used to after all.

Of course minor adjustments could be made, but that was it.

They finally picked her own name as an account name and set a password. She’d also have to verify her log-in with a 10-digit numeric code every time she logged into the game.

“Alright, we’re done! As long as you don’t restart the PC you don’t need to log in again, the system will automatically continue running in stand-by until you fade in so there shouldn’t be any problems. If you do end up having to restart it just ask someone to sign you in again but you actually shouldn’t have to. The PC we got you can run for over a year without problems even if you don’t restart it. Not even for updates.”

Proudly Julian stretched and eased the tension built up over the past hour.

“I actually also play this game so if you want, feel free to contact me in there! My name is Etoille and I’m a Swordfighter in game. I’ll help you out anytime.”

“T-thank you, Julian. I’ll contact you once I’ve created my character and find out how to do some basics. For now… I heard that I can read the instruction manual while faded in so I will start off with that.”

“Good idea, then Mr. Stevens and me should get going, we told my mom we’d be home around 10 but we might not make it on time if we don’t leave now.”

“Please enjoy the game, Nao! And contact me if you need anything, I’ll have my phone ready.”

“Thank you very much for doing all this for me, b-both of you!” Nao smiled brightly “I never imagined I could do something like this, so I’m r-really happy!” Her voice got quieter towards the end again and she blushed since she got embarrassed saying all that.

“Hehe, no problem at all! Hope to see you online!”

“Good night, Nao.”

“G-good night!”

They walked out of the room and entered the elevator, pushing the button for the ground floor. Julian sighed. “She really is a nice girl. But Mr. Stevens, you really could have warned me about this. I could have mentally prepared myself for her cuteness. And for this place…”

“Hahaha, straightforward, aren’t you. Well, it couldn’t be helped. After all it’s not something to be proud of, having to live here so I don’t tell others carelessly.”

“True… but it’s just like you to suggest something like this for her. After all she will be able to see when she uses FI gear…”

“Yes, that’s why I think she’ll love it. After all she used to be able to see, so…”

“I’m looking forward to playing with her.”

They arrived at the ground floor and headed outside for the car.

“If you hurt her I’ll kill you.” He warned him.

“Whoa, you sound just like her father.”

“Hahaha, I’m not that old yet.”

“Don’t worry, I just want to have some fun online with people I actually know.”

They now got into the car and Daniel set the auto-pilot to Julian’s house.

“Then that’s alright, lets hurry home then so you can start playing.”

“You bet! I’m really looking forward to this expansion today!”

Then he started talking about the game again and with some questions by the doctor in between they arrived at Julian’s house just after 10.

[Meanwhile, Nao’s room]

Nao had switched from her chair to the bed and tucked herself in. The short visit had exhausted her but she felt happy nonetheless. Her thoughts wandered to the helmet on her window shelf and she hesitatingly put it on, pressing the button in the center of the helmet, above her forehead to connect to the PC system. The headgear buzzed to life and expanded, covering her whole face except for her mouth.

She felt her consciousness fade away and her hand dropped down from the helmet, leaving her body completely relaxed. She slowly regained her senses in a bright place. Wait…BRIGHT? … She hurriedly opened her eyes. She could actually really see again! Tears started welling up inside her as she quickly looked around, finding herself in a bright blue room with various pictures on the walls, representing programs and files in the PC. This was the control panel. She stared at everything, the walls, her hands and feet and then the walls again. She could see again… for real!

So this was the power of the fade-in system… Unconsciously her mouth stood open as she stared at everything. After a long while she recalled her reason for fading in and called out to the system

“System! Display File 11945!” This should be the right file.

Opening File ‘NeoPangea – System controls’

Nao read through the file with her own eyes, memorizing everything and then closed it. She didn’t have a hard time to memorize anything, even back when she was still able to read she could easily remember what she’d read after just one time. Her speed was a bit slower than usual since she had to get used to reading again, but after 20 minutes she had everything in her head. She then asked the system to open the game program.

Initializing Program NeoPangea Online.exe

Successfully launched program

Please enter confirmation key

“24********”

Key confirmed, initializing Fade-In redirection

After this last notice Nao’s consciousness faded once again.

After a few moments her consciousness slowly became clear again. Her body felt like it was floating, there was no weight on her limbs at all. ‘So this is what the game is like?’ She opened her eyes and saw that she was floating above the floor in an upright position. She could only make out her surroundings in a close proximity though, so she only noticed the floor being made out of black and white tiles respectively. Everything else was black, except for a transparent message in front of her reading

Now Loading, please wait a moment…

Just as she had finished her observations, watching herself make a fist and move her legs, she suddenly stopped floating and fell, landing painfully on her behind.

“Ouch!” she complained as she landed, sitting up and rubbing her throbbing backside. Even pain was recreated in the game, huh…

Ignoring the fact she had just been dropped from about 2 m in the air, a cheerful voice rang out and made her lift up her head.

A smiling girl about her own age with two pink pigtails was greeting her. “Welcome to NeoPangea! You are the very first player to log in after our maintenance! The expansion has been successfully applied and a new race has been unlocked for use!”

While listening to the girl talk, Nao had looked around again. Apparently the loading process had finished successfully. She could now make out her surroundings. She was sitting in a large lobby with checkered floor tiles and a long red carpet that led up some stairs to a pair of massive wooden doors. The stairs seemed to continue upwards to the left and right of the door but she couldn’t tell, since the stone railing was blocking her view. The girl before her was probably a program. She was wearing red transparent glasses that covered half her face, making it impossible to tell her eye-color and a pink-white school uniform of the modern age that was moving along with her excited gestures.

“Dear user, we couldn’t find any character backup data on your hardware. Since you don’t seem to have a character yet, would you like to create one now?”

Some suppressed annoyance could be felt in the girl’s words. It seemed that she hadn’t asked for the first time. Nao snapped out of her daze and quickly replied “Y-Yes.”

“Alright, let me explain the creation system to you then!”

Just as the words had left her mouth 5 huge mirrors appeared and formed a circle around Nao. The girl walked over into the circle as well.

“There are now 5 basic races in NeoPangea that users may start as. Let me show you a sample of each of them.”

She snapped her fingers and an image appeared in each mirror. Just as Nao was about to look at each one more closely, the girl spoke again.

“For now we basically took all the data from your Fadegear calibration and used it as reference to create a virtual image of yourself as each race but you may customize your body later if you wish. Although I say that, we only allow some modification so you will still resemble yourself, no matter what. This measure was taken to make the game seem as realistic as possible. That’s also the reason we haven’t removed the feelings of pain completely, although the pain settings have been lowered compared to in reality~ Now let me give you a brief overview of each race.

Firstly the one directly in front of you is the Human race. No changes have been made to your original body for this race at all.

Originally a weak race, humans have gained power through their natural craftiness and adaptability. What they lack in strength they make up for with their cunning.”

Still listening to the girl, Nao took a closer look at the image in the mirror. A girl with short messy hair and almost white, light blue eyes curiously looked back at her. She was wearing a simple white shirt and short pants. Her body looked frail and small, but she didn’t seem to mind and stretched amply.

The girl moved over to the next mirror. Confused, Nao didn’t notice any difference to the image in the first one, but just as she was about to ask about it, she noticed. The body looked almost the same, but her features were more delicate and elegant, her face looked more radiant and the form of her ears was different. The ears of herself in this mirror were a little stretched out, ending in a beautiful tip. The character was smiling back at her brightly.

“This is an image of yourself as an elf. This is a race of the forest with radiant grace and beauty, living in harmony with nature and its inhabitants. They have pointy ears as proof of their ancestry and live within trees and groves.”

She now moved on towards the third mirror. She looked more childlike in this one, her features in general got softer and her face brighter. The character was very radiant, dancing around behind the glass like a child. As she watched herself move around, she noticed some small white wings growing out of the back of the character.

The girl had started explaining again.

“This image displays you as an Angel. These are pure creatures with white wings sprouting from their back. They often have a childlike appearance and live on clouds. Otherwise they can’t be told apart from human beings.”

Swiftly the girl now moved to the 4th mirror, holding it from behind cheerfully and looking at Nao from above the frame.

“This one portrays you as a Lycan! A hybrid race between humans and animals. They often settle within forests and live secluded from humans. A wild and charismatic race. Their appearances differ depending on their ancestors’ race as well as the density of animal blood so they often have a human body with only some parts resembling animals. Like additional limbs or body part substitutions.

As an example you’re now displayed as a Lycan Cat. We only switched your ears and eyes and added a cat tail in this example.”

‘This… is a bit scary’ Nao thought as she watched herself claw at the mirror glass.

“And finally! I’m proud to introduce yourself as a Devil!”

Nao finally turned towards the last mirror and gasped. She looked very pale in this picture and had two horns on her head. Uncosciously her hand stretched out and she touched the glass.

http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2f5oAqhCI.jpg [http://i.imgur.com/5oAqhCI.jpg]

When the character in the mirror turned around two bat-like wings and a black tail could be seen growing from her back.

‘Wow’, Nao thought. ‘This looks so real, and somehow dangerous. I bet it would be fun to try though.’

“Let me tell you about the devils~

They are a cunning race of evil creatures that escaped from hell. They assumed humanlike forms and live apart from other races as renegades. They can’t completely hide their true forms, so as you can see they sometimes have horns, black wings or tails befitting of devils.”

After a short pause the girl continued cheerfully. “Please firstly decide which of these basic races you’d like to play as!”

“Basic… you mean there are more?”

“Hmmm~ well noticed. Yes! After this expansion sub-races have become available for each basic race! But they can only be unlocked and converted after character creation! Basically you have to find out how to evolve your character~ I also can’t tell you what subraces there are, sooorrryyy <3”

‘So mean… so you’re gonna tell me they exist but not what they are… Oh well… I guess finding out on my own is also fun?’

After going over the mirrors one by one again, Nao was still pulled towards the devil. Unpleasant memories started to resurface.

She finds herself back in that room with her brother and other relatives who were holding him back as he was trying to slap her again.

“You! It’s all your fault that they died! Why did they have to visit you that day? Why?! Let go of me!!”, in between those cries she could hear the desperate sobs of her brother as well as the sounds of how he fought against the arms holding him back and ignored the voices trying to calm him down. “It’s all because of you! If you weren’t here, they’d still be here! You demon!!”

His cries finally faded as he was pulled out of the room, but those last words would resound painfully in her heart for a long time. At that time she just sat there, too shocked to say or do anything. But later she had cried. She cried a lot during that time until it felt like all the tears in her body had been used up.

‘If I had seen his face back then, I wonder what he’d have looked like, Gareki…’

Shaking her head slightly to shake off the last bits of the memory Nao smiled slightly this time.

“I’ll be playing as a devil.” She quietly said. ‘It’s a fitting race for me anyhow.’

The other mirrors disappeared and only the devil remained, smiling evilly at her.

“Alright! You have decided to become a devil! You may now customize your hair and eye color. Small customizations in your face and on your body are also allowed, so please let me know what to change and I’ll apply the changes to your character!”

Watching herself in the mirror, Nao thought quietly and then asked the girl for a couple of changes. After a few minutes Nao was satisfied and excited. ‘I always wanted long hair!’

She had given herself red eyes with slit pupils like a reptile, as well as long straight black hair that flowed down until past her waist. She had two sharp fangs in her mouth and two black horns were growing out of her temples, twisting and surrounding her pointy pale ears in a round shape, like rams’ horns.

Two small black leathery bat wings were growing out of her back and a tail grew out of her lower back, almost reaching the floor. Her character whipped it around nervously as she touched her horns.

‘This is it.’, Nao thought.

“Are you satisfied with the changes to your character?” the girl asked.

“Yea”

A notice appeared before her.

Character appearance has been set

The girl turned around cheerfully and finally said:

“Then please choose a name for your character!”

Just as the girl had uttered those words a virtual keyboard appeared in front of Nao, floating just in front of her chest.

She glanced over at the character in the mirror again, who was just turning around and glanced into the glass as if looking at her own back, exposing her bat-like wings and long black tail.

‘Name…? Should I just go with Nao? I don’t really know what else to pick so…’

Hesitantly she raised her arms and entered her own name. “Nao”, the girl said, “That choice is still available, are you sure you’d like to take this name? Once you’ve chosen a name it can’t be changed anymore so think carefully before you choose. Please press enter to confirm your choice.”

Just as she was about to confirm her choice she remembered the scene from 7 years ago once more and her fingers stopped just before pressing enter.

“You demon!!” The voice of her brother echoed through her head.

‘Demon, huh…’, she thought. ‘Since I’m picking a devil as my race there couldn’t be anything more fitting.’

She quickly erased her own name, which was floating above the virtual keys and entered ‘Demon’ in English. Luckily the name was still available for her race so the girl asked her once again if that choice was final. This time Nao pressed Enter.

“Your character has successfully been created. Since this is your first time playing NeoPangea, I have initiated the tutorial dungeon for you! Unless you’d like to do apply any more changes, please step into the mirror to merge with your character and enter the game!”

Hesitantly Nao stretched out her hand towards the mirror, unsure whether she’d hit solid glass or not, but her hands slid through the surface, causing small waves to ripple toward the mirror’s frame. It felt like touching a water surface. Slowly holding her breath and closing her eyes, Nao stepped into the world behind the mirror with her whole body.

She was floating again, in bright white space when a message popped up in front of her saying

Character synchronization in progress

She closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling of zero gravity to fade.