A New Beginning

Eisen open his eyes, finding himself in an empty, grid room.

"Alright. This looks like the tutorial. Let's see what the hype is all about.", Eisen said to himself excitedly.

The A.I. narration covers all the menu interface interacts, basic movements, icons, and other familiar things that most MMORPGs cover in tutorial instances. Finally, the combat tutorial that Eisen had been anticipating. He navigated through the menu to equip a basic beginner sword. It felt light and very real. The nerves in his hand responded perfectly as if he was really wielding a real sword. He did a couple practice swings until 3 small boars appeared in front of him. Immediately his HUD flashed stating to defeat these monsters. Eisen gave a small smirk and tightened his grip. After crouching a bit, he dashes forward. His movement was as agile as he was in real life. All those years of tennis really shows in his flawless footwork. One of the boars growls and the aggro icon appeared over his head, showing that Eisen is being targeted. The boar runs at a mild pace and did a simple charge. Eisen dodges it with ease and swung his sword across the back of the boar, saw it's HP drain instantly before it shatters into the air.

"Whoa...This feels too real...It really lived through all it's hype and this is just the tutorial."

Eisen was amazed at how realistic everything feels. He can't wait to get out of this room and see what the actual city and world looks in person. The other 2 boars saw Eisen and decided to charge at him. Eisen jumped back and then fling himself forward with a sweeping slash hitting both targets at once. Instant K.O. With that, the tutorial finishes and the prompt to continue onto the city appeared in front of him.

"This can get addicting. So far everything looks and feels great. Can't wait to get out of here. Elise should be about finishing up the tutorial as well. Alright, let's do this."

Eisen reaches in front of him and pressed OK to continue forth into the city of Stormveil.

It actually took her a little bit longer to get a hang of the tutorial's basic controls. A lot of the time Elise--rather Zelisus-- stood there looking as if he were concentrating hard. It was because she was trying to acting without actually acting, in other words THINKING she was definitely in a game and she should be thinking in her mind what to do, which made her not act at all. Instead, she had to let herself go and just believe that this was her body now. It was tall and lean. The feeling of hair was free in the back, far from the feeling of hair along her neck like she was used to all her life. His eyes--her perspective--looked down at his hands with curiosity. Naturally, larger hands for a larger body. She was not 4'9" anymore. She, no...HE was more than a foot taller and would be able to see over a crowd of people.

Before the tutorial started, it allowed Zelisus a weapon choice and a pick of what town he wished to go to when he was done ("STORMVEIL! I REMEMBER!"). Since it was training, he wanted to keep it simple: a sword. His first stabs at the beginner mob was basic: a slime with a smiley, bouncing around quite harmlessly. With just an awkward slash, an attempt at the signature diagonal ones you saw on movies and video games it broke into four different pieces. Nothing fancy or flashy at all. When the slime broke, it had separated into smaller little slimes that crawled on the training room floor, waiting to be killed or it would reform and he could have to redo the exercise. Inside, Zelisus cringed to think about crushing the happy looking slime to nothing. How cruel! This slime had done nothing to him. But these were monsters, right? And he had to be brave, considering he was going to be guild leader. He HAD to get used to it...

"It's okay. They aren't real...this is just VR."

With a swift strike across the ground, one popped, then another, then another. One took to the bottom of his boot (which he regret later...gross, slime's slime). When he finished, he scraped off his boot and was sent against an opponent that had more aggression...a wolf! It growled a little as the game told him that he would practice defensive techniques. To that, Zelisus took a defensive stance... the wolf lunged and he attempted at a block. It was unsuccessful, as the wolf took a large bite out of his shoulder and jumped backwards to the default position.

"Stop, stop stop stop!"

The simulation paused as he grew frustrated, staring at the wolf who glared menacingly at him.

"This isn't working."

He growled. It was a good thing the system allowed Zelisus to switch into whatever weapon he wanted at any time. The menu opened and showed him the same list he barely wandered before. Mace, spear, long sword, axe, halberd...weapons just felt so strange to her virtual hands and body. It felt weighed and even if he were to choose something light in weight (for example, the rapier), Zelisus felt constricted by whatever movement he could do by effectiveness. The last 'weapon' on the list was probably the most unpopular, but it peaked his interest the most and almost instantaneously his choice was firm.

The sword dissolved from his hand, crushed into a million bits. There was silence for a moment before it started at his fingertips, the feeling of tightness as bits that looked identical to the one that his sword changed into created his next weapon. It was leather or something like it, something to glove each and every finger. Metal rounded each knuckle next, shiny and metal, as the bits moved upward. It covered the top of his palm. Then his forearms: hard, heavy steel, enough to parry a greatsword. It past his elbows, but was never uncomfortable when they bent. They were, in their own way, his shields, fitted perfectly to his arms. The bits continued to create, cloth and leather snugly fit against his upper arms and around the biceps for maneuverability. The weapon covered the whole of both arms, all the way up to the shoulders where it flared out to make two great pauldrons.

When the bits stopped, the tutorial continued. The wolf's snarl began again, as if time continued to pass. It jumped at him and Zelisus blocked, the wolf's teeth making a scraping sound upon his metal forearms. He flung the wolf off, right into the direction of a hook with his other hand, prompting a whine. The wolf slowly disappeared. Zelisus took a breath, a crafty smile on his face. A large banner burst in front of him, in big bold letters:

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

It faded gradually till a window appeared.

"You have finished the tutorial. You will be ported to your chosen town in 10 seconds."

He waited his ten seconds before being sucked into a portal that took him to Stormveil.

Eisen loads into Stormveil and the first thing he notices is the loud, busy streets of the city. Hundreds, maybe thousands of players were travelling in all directions whether it be on foot or some sort of mount, the majority being horses. Just from looking around Eisen can determine the new players from the veterans. Obviously, players equipped with elaborate armor, detailed weaponary and well plated mounts are the higher level players while players dressed like Eisen, basic leather clothing and dull boring looking weapons, are just starting their journey in AO. As for the scenery, the city looks gorgeous. The sky is nearly clear with some lingering clouds. Where Eisen is standing appears to be in the market place where all kinds of equipment and consumables may be bought. The stores are easily distinguished from the boards hanging near the doorsteps, each having a unique symbol which determines what it may sale. The roads provide huge amount of space and is paved with cobblestone. There are patches of grass and and varies trees throughout the city and NPCs are scattered around, which can easily be mistaken from human players. Even the weather feels so real. Eisen can feel the sun beaming down on him. After finally taking in everything this game has to offer he snaps back to his senses.

"Wow this is beyond expectations! Especially given the fact that this is probably the first VR game out to date. To be able to capture and live in another world is....amazing. I know technology grows in an exponential rate but this is too good to be true."

Eisen looks in his map to see where he is and where everything is located. There's a legend which marks points of interests around the city and NPCs that may have quests or important information. He closes the map and looks around for a bit.

"It looks like this is where all the new players spawn at. Elise should be around here somewhere. Assuming she made it through the tutorial. I shouldn't wander off too far otherwise she'll freak out and who knows what'll happen when I face her....Oh wait...we didn't tell each other our IGNs...Well I probably could tell when she appears."

After standing off to the side waiting for a number of people walking by, Eisen heads to the other side of the street to sit at a bench, waiting for Elise.

He was ported to the city center, where apparently only a few people were hanging around. Naturally, many people got into the game and explored as quickly as they could, removing themselves from the center of the city to examine the realistic environment around them. It was impressive. Every stone looked as real as one outside of the headset. The people, however, did not exactly look as natural to the real world. Many players sported bright colored hair, vivid greens or purples, bright pinks and blues. Though it looked "unreal", the game made it so it had the same properties as if it were real. The same was said of the weapons everyone had around them, some seen and some unseen. His, of course, could be seen and probably made him look bulkier than his character would be without the gauntlets.

Looking around, none of the players looked familiar. Was he supposed to just wait here to Sven? Obnoxiously, he sat close to the center of the plaza, unsure of what to do, now that they had not exchanged any info about how they were going to meet. It wasn't like Sven knew that she had made a male character...so he just...spoke up.

"Hey is SEVEN around?!"

People looked at him as if he were nuts. I mean first of all, Zelisus was sitting in the middle of the plaza and two, just randomly looking for numbers. He bashfully lowered his head, smiling awkwardly and considered apologizing.

Eisen looked in front of him as he heard his real name being resonated in the plaza. It caught other players attention, turning their heads towards to the source and whispering among themselves.

"Seven?" "Is that a name?" "What is he doing?" "Just ignore him".

Eisen had a surprised look on his face, not expecting her-- or rather him, to express himself like that. He smiled and then got up from the bench and started walking towards him. Meanwhile, everyone else continued as they were. Eisen raised his hand up and waved.

"Hey! Quite the entrance you had there. I've been waiting but not too long. Let's add each other to our friends list. Eisen Mauer at your service."

Eisen navigated to his friends list awaiting a response.

In a hurry, Zelisus stood to his feet, trying to ignore the whispers around him. The focus was moreso on his friend in front of him, looking remarkably different. What happened to the blonde hair? The green eyes? The thinness that she was used to seeing on camera. How odd to think that now this was the Seven that she knew. And now...

"Eisen Mauer?"

The name rolled in his mouth. It was foreign, just like Seven's name, the foreignness was the part that had tripped her up in the past.

No matter. New life, new adaptations. With a flick of his gloved finger, he too opened his menu, where an empty friends list appeared. Pressing the floating add button, a semi-transparent keyboard appeared, where he typed in his companion's name ("How do you spell that...? Mauer? Like...Mao? The dictator? No...I don't-- Oh there we go. Got it." ).

"Zelisus Barlowe. Pretty easy name, right?"

He flashed a grin. Behind him a small commotion was happening. So as he waited for Eisen to finish, Zelisus peered behind him. A small group of four was standing behind them, talking rapidly. They looked like quite the balanced party. 

"Did you hear? There's an introduction ceremony going on!" "What, really?" "Free items maybe." "What are we waiting for then?"

They rushed off and Zelisus squirmed, wishing to go quickly as well. It was hard to forget that this was an MMO...it so real that the first thing he thought was those items would be limited. He coughed, turning to his friend again. It was time to show he was more mature now! His voice deepened. It was almost comical.

"Eisen, let's go to the ceremony. There might be good stuff over there. Items that would be beneficial to our journey."

Eisen added Zelisus into his friends list and the confirmation appeared in front of him. He closes the menu and replied to him.

"A ceremony huh? Already? Sounds interesting. Those items would definitely might give us an edge to get through the earlier levels."

Eisen looked around him and saw that others probably heard about the event and are heading there as they speak. It looks like its about to start if it hadn't already.

"We should get going before its over." 

That being said, Eisen starts to head towards the ceremony, his first event in this VRMMO.

Thread cont'd: https://ardermina.forumotion.com/t25p10-the-call-to-come#75