When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a never ending black abyss, until a holographic screen appeared in front of me.

   Character Name:

   I entered the first thing that came to mind.
  
   Character Name: IA

   I pressed the 'enter' key and another piece text popped up.

   Username can not be changed when submit. Are you sure you want to continue?

   I clicked 'enter' again.

   Welcome, IA, to Virtual Paradise.

   The holographic screen disintegrated into white pixels in front of my eyes. My entire vision glowed white, forcing me to close my eyes to avoid being blinded. When I reopened them, I was in a town.

   The hanging lanterns on the rooftops that illuminated the night sky, along with the brick roads underfoot, gave a medieval feeling to my surroundings. I ran through the roads of the town, people waving hello and smiling.

   I then came to an abrupt hault as I crashed into another player. "I'm so sorry-"

   "Lia?" I tensed at hearing my real name. "How-"

   The girl who I collided with burst out laughing and interrupted, "It's One. Your sister?"

   "You look different," I commented, mentally scolding myself for forgetting about my own little sister. She placed a hand on her hip and spat back, "You're not looking any similar yourself."

   I held a puzzled expression on myself, growing suspicious as to why there was no character customization, or at least any say in what a player would look like.

   One raised her hand, then dropped it quickly in a swiping motion. This opened a window, similar to the holographic screen shown when entering a player's name. The window displayed a smaller version of herself which imitated her movements. It was accompanied by a few other options.

   "How did you know?" I trailed off, growing more confused and alarmed by the second. "Did I miss a tutorial or something?" I burst before she could answer.

   My sister chuckled before answering, "I just saw some other people doing it and so I tried it too. I didn't get any kind of tutorial though. Try it, then you can see what you look like."

   I hesitantly raised my hand and copied One's previous movements, which resulted in successfully opening a window. I stared at the tiny copy of myself, which, unfortunately, didn't look like me at all.

   "This looks nothing like me!" I exclaimed jokingly. "By the way, how could you tell who I am?"

   "Your voice is just as annoying as ever," she spat back with a smirk. I punched her playfully, remembering all the times in the past when she'd compliment my voice.

***

   "You and I are sticking together. I want to get a good look on the main town area and find a weapon shop," I explained to One. We continued walking for a short while before One pointed to a small booth where swords, shields, and other equipment could be seen. A girl with brown hair and white clothing sat in front of the booth, reading as she waited patiently for customers.

   "Hi! Can I help you?" The girl greeted as One and I approached her.

   "Well, we were thinking about buying weapons, and possibly getting some info on the basics," I started. "Well of course! Oh, but these weapons here are just for beginners so if I don't have what you're looking for, you might want to try something higher quality. Unfortunately, this is the only weapons booth in town so you might have to wait for higher level players to unlock new places to get to a higher quality blacksmith," the girl said to our disadvantage. 

   "We can buy now," One answered for us. The brown haired girl smiled and chirped, "Alright then! My name is Kokone, by the way. Nice to meet you."

   Having to remind myself not to say my real name instead of my username, I replied, "My name's IA."

   "One, nice to meet you too," my sister added.

***

   I scanned the small booth and pointed at a sword that caught my eye. The sword was skinny but definitely not a rapier, complete with a long, sharp blade.

   "Is that one for sale?" I ask. Kokone glanced over to the weapon and chuckled, "You really like it?" I nodded and she retrieved it. She swiped downward in midair and a small holographic screen appeared in front of the sword. "Storyteller," she read aloud the name.

   "How much is it?" I queried.

   Kokone stared at me blankly. "Um, the game was just released today. Am I supposed to expect any players to have enough money to buy weapons?"

   I stay silent for a moment, then laugh. "I'm so stupid," I managed to choke out in between giggles. Kokone smiled and started typing on her screen. Then, a message appeared on a screen before me.

   Confirm weapon purchase?

   I entered 'yes' and the sword let off a faint glow. When the light faded away, a notification appeared on a box labeled 'inventory,' where the sword icon could be seen.

   I nudged One and smiled as I reminded her, "You have to choose a weapon too!" She glances at me, then back to Kokone with a hesitant expression. "Don't be shy!" I encourage the girl. A faint blush appears on her face as she stutters, "I-I'm not! I'm just... deciding what gear I want, that's all."

   One scans the shelves and picks up a dagger, tightening her grip on the weapon for a moment. "This one seems good..." she trailed off.

   "You want it?" I prodded. She nodded and shortly after, accepted the weapon purchase.

***

   "Finish it off!" I yelled. My sword met with the tusk of the boar, suspending all movement until I flicked away the animal with my weapon. I quickly jumped back as the boar was knocked away, allowing One to dart forward and land the killing blow on the creature.

   "Nice one, IA," One said with a smug expression, emphasizing the name I chose for myself in a mocking way. "At least I didn't enter my real name. You can be such an idiot, I swear!"

   My sister shrugged and mumbled, "Who cares. Anyway, it looks like we've almost wiped this field clean. I guess we'll have to wait for more prey to spawn in." I nodded and motioned for a virtual screen to appear. "I guess we earned an 'okay' amount of experience. Hopefully we can hunt more by the time we wake up," I observed, checking my level.

   I sent away the window after reading over my status, which disintegrated into small pixels. With a sigh, I lay on the cool grass and closed my eyes.

   "Isn't it exciting?" I asked One, who stood above me, giving in to a content smile. She nodded and we stayed in silence for a few more moments. "The view is awesome. Like, really awesome. You can see the entire town and everything. I bet we could even see Kokone's booth if we tried."

   "Yeah," I agreed under my breath. The hill we sat on not only gave us access to the entire town, but a perfect view of the stars above us.

   It all looked too real.

   That, of course, was ruined all too easily. My gaze jerked to the town below as screams rose up to the sky.

   I glanced to One, only to see that her avatar was overcome by a bright light. Soon after, my avatar followed. I squeezed my eyes shut, becoming lost in thought as questions and possibilities raced through my mind.

   After a few seconds, or maybe it was an eternity, I opened my eyes. I found myself in a black abyss, similar to when I first entered the game.
  
   I then saw another massive, holographic screen. A distorted voice boomed all around me, saying "Welcome to the new reality, Virtual Paradise." I sighed, assuming that this was most likely the tutorial that everyone seemed to be waiting for.

   "Your playing experience has been interrupted for a very important reason. All players must be informed that this world is currently being taken over. The ability to exit the game has been removed, due to modification of the menu. Any attempts made by anyone outside of the game to remove the playing device from a player's head will result in the players brain cells being killed. The same consequence will be executed if a player reaches zero HP in-game."

   My blood seemed to stop flowing. This would never be part of the game. I blinked away tears as the echoing voice continued.

   "However, there is one way to escape. The game must be cleared completely. All bosses must be defeated and all locations must be conquered. Continue with caution, I wish you well."

   The darkness around me began to fade, and I found myself sitting on the hill as I was before. There was a girl standing above me, defined by short, creamy blonde hair. I was stunned as she spoke.

   "Lia?"