Catherine is going to love this! Her sleeping body snorted a little at that, and I almost burst out laughing, but she didn't wake. She looked like a complete nerd with the VR headset on. I loaded up Final Tales Reborn.

>Scan

Yes, please!

Hmm, now let's see. Catgirl sounds sexy. Bet she'll love that! Holy shit, females get to set bust size? Shut the eff up!

I can't wait to show her Hawthorn.

Catherine moaned. "B-Blake?" she queried, stretching. "What's this doing on my head?"

Better to ask forgiveness, right? "All good babe, I just made your character in..."

She placed her beautiful finger on my lip. "Don't care," she said.

Damn, she was hot!

"I better go. I told my parents we'd finish 'studying' around three."

"Aww what? But you got to check this out!" I protested.

She gave a sweet smile, the one that melted my heart and warmed my... "I'm sure there are other games we can play that are more interesting, don't you think?"

Oh shiiiit! About time we took it to the next level! "Yeah, babe!"

***

I wish I could go back to the moment. The big bristly hairs on my neck stood up. My sister gripped my pinky with her hand, her hand, my characters's paw's finger? Digit? She clutched her favourite cuddly bunny doll, gripping it tightly to her chest and sobbed.

Us and several other hundred players and 'normies' stood in assembly in a polished white marbled open square, where a scantily armoured six-winged angel addressed us atop a podium.

"Welcome to the City of Angels. I am the archangel and new governor of this city." The angel's voice was weird. It was dry and monotonous. "We are the new world government, hereby named: New Atlantic."

"If you haven't already guessed, we are Earth citizens who have sacrificed our individuality and have been uploaded into NPC shells, for your benefit." They paused, as if expecting us to speak. "Yes, this all might shock you at first." They gestured to the angels on their left and right. "You are in good hands. We promise to bring the same level of order and government we had grown accustomed to on Earth, to this new world."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

They stopped talking. My heart sank when I saw Erica, my little sister, looking confused, and even sadder when she glanced over at me with hurt eyes. There was a fear gnawing at my heart, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until someone spoke.

"You can't possibly believe this," said the girl standing beside me in shock. She wore her hair short, cut close to her skull. Her face reminded me of the warrior princess from an anime, the kind that looks like they would rather use a sword than talk. "What happened to our families?"

The angel smiled kindly down upon her. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

She shook herself out of whatever trance or stupor she'd fallen into and continued speaking up. "I know what I saw back home! Everyone was there! People we'd known since birth, people we cared about! But now they're gone! You killed them! You murdered innocent people!" The girl cried openly before the angels. Somewhere deep within myself, I felt a profound sense of sorrow for these other players who hadn't been uploaded yet.

"They received the same warning as everyone else from the Department of Game World Migration. If they follow the instructions, you will see your family again." They paused and then continued, almost as if talking to themselves. "No one is sure exactly how this process works."

"There's no way this can be real."

"My apologies. We will make room for questions soon. Right now, we need to focus on what we need to do now."

The girl rolled her eyes and turned away, but looked confused. "Do you hear that?" she said.

It was faint, but when I concentrated there was something. "It sounds like someone screaming."

"Its coming from the gate, come on."

The angel audibly tsked from behind us, but the crowd was moving to the gate.

The girl, I and Erica were at the front of the group, so we saw it first. Someone was being attacked by a Dung Beetle.

"Quick! Open the gates!" The girl pleaded.

"Yeah, open the gates!" I and a few others chorused.

"The gates will remain shut," the archangel said harshly from behind us, cutting the murmurs down into quiet submission.

The girl fighting against the giant insect wasn't doing well. She fell down after taking another bite out of the leg and screamed in agony.

A surge of panic hit me and I ran over, shouting at the angel guard standing next to me. "Open the gate! Do you want to kill her?!"

She wore a blank expression and did and said nothing. Then, beyond the steel-barbed gates, the girl lunged to attack with her staff. But the Dung Beetle caught her by the waist with its pincers, and my heart caught in my throat. I couldn't help think what if that was Erica or Mum. I pulled Erica close.

"Close your eyes, Baby Sister," I said and gently pulled her face into my chest and into a protective hug.

The girl gargled a bloody scream out, which abruptly stopped in a spray of blood and two heart stopping thuds to the ground. The top half was facing me and her eyes had tears in them.

The girl's name tag floated above her head: 'Flower Girl'. She was an NPC.

There were some sobs in the crowd.

"Bastards..." the girl said next to me.

"A cruel reminder of the world we find ourselves in," the archangel said, scoffing. "We will do our utmost to ensure that does not happen within our new civilisation, but to do that, we need your cooperation. We will be conducting a city wide census."

The crowd was shooting him daggers; me included. A four-winged angel came up to him. "Governor."

"Agent Green?"

"It's Laila now, Sir."

"Yes, yes, of course. The new mission?"

"Yes, via Elizabeth, then to Dagon."

"Very well. Go."