Virtual Reality||Sword Art Online

|Dread|

Heidi's worry gripped her in the pit of her stomach- it was just beginning to consume her, but she knew, soon enough, it would engulf her like a cancer. Remi and Max didn't look all that better either, giving Heidi the chance to come to the conclusion she would have to calm herself in order to calm her friends.

What happened next wasn't calming in the least bit.

All three of them witnessed the fuzzy feeling of being transported- but none of them had used a transport stone.

Heidi blinked, then gasped, taking a step forward as the final transporting dimonds floated away, leaving her to witness the shock of being in the starting area of The Town Of Beginnings. It seemed like everybody was being transported to that place- there was easily 10 000 people within the court. The place was big enough to fit everybody, but things still seemed squished, and Heidi didn't  like it. A thought of the whole thing being an intro to the game popped up in her head, giving her a viable answer for the automatic teleportion, but not the logging out button vanishing. She didn't know what to think. 

Heidi frantically looked around for her friends, she was worried they hadn't come with her- but soon enough she spotted Max's dark blue hair, as she stood in shock, and Remi's navy blue helm a few paces away.

"Max, Remi, do you know what's going on?" Heidi yelled, pulling on both of their sleeves, trying to be heard over the crowd's hum of noise. Max and Remi shook their heads, fear sparkling in both of their eyes. Heidi was beginning to become frusterated. She was a computer, and a game wiz, so normally she could give out a pretty viable answer for anything strange that happened within game, but she was at a loss for this; it made her feel useless.

Suddenly an oval of red, semi-tranlucent hextagons linked together looped over the courtyard. A bubble of words were within them, and apon closer inspection, Heidi realized they said "Warning." Frantically looking around, Heidi wondered if this was part of the intro, trying to see the other's reactions. Most were a mixture of fright and confusion, but some seemed so also have thoughts along with hers- this might be just an intro. But still, everyone seemed pretty nervous as people shifted their weight from one foot to another, or clutched onto their partner. She spotted a tall, cool-looking boy with black hair wearing a somewhat calm expression. 

Just as Heidi was about to reach out to him, /he/ showed up. A giant, faceless man, wearing the GM's cloak. Remi and Max took a step backwards, pulling Heidi with them,  almost making her fall over onto the white brink, now tinted red from the warning signs. It was like Heidi's worst nightmare. 

"I am Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of SAO." He boomed, his voice ringing throughout the area, shaking Heidi to her bones. "You may wonder, why you're here; some of you may already have a clue. " Heidi's eyes narrowed- and she stepped a little closer to her friends, almost protectively. "There's no logout button. This is not a bug. This is the way I designed SAO- all of you are trapped in this Virtual Reality." The pit of dread now spread throughout Heidi's body, freezing her in place. This wasn't an intro. But was it real? Her head turned to look at the tall boy again, but he was gone- vanished in the crowd. 

  Remi and Max looked no better than they were before, though a considerable amount more paler.  "The only way to beat SAO is if one person beats floor 100, without dying. I thought I'd be handy if you all would know, that if your health drops to zero in this place, your brain will be fried by microwaves loacted within the NerveGear. Also, if your family members try to take the NerveGear off, the following will be done, as well. We've already lost over 200 players due to this matter, so I'm sure you're family members will get the jist." At this point, many people were yelling, screaming, crying, though a few looked uncertain: perhaps they were still thinking it was just an intro, though Heidi doubted it. She had been following Akihiko Kayaba for years, and somehow she could not think he was lying. "One last thing,  I've placed an Item in all of your inventory- please take a look."

With that, the giant hooded figure began to fade away, along with the warning signs. Her hands shaking, the roar of the crowd only growing loud, Heidi opened her menu with her right hand, and checked her inventory- the only new item was..... A mirror? Touching it, it appeared in her hands, and she looked at it. What was so special about a mirror? But then the blue faded dimonds engulfed her, and everybody aorund her once more. Not again! When her vision returned, and the blue pulsing diamonds dissapeared, Heidi gasped; so many people had changed! Some females had turned to males, young, turned to old. Turning her head, she looked over towards her friends, and gasped; her friends looked like the normal selves she saw only in the real world. Raising a quivering hand, she took a strand of her hair, hoping to see the light blue she liked, but instead got a golden brown.

"Heidi, you look like yourself!" Max exclaimed, almost falling back, tripping over a man who was cowering on the ground, to which Heidi swore he was an attractive young woman a few minutes ago.

"So do you!" Remi shouted, pointing at her.

"Remi, sorry to burst your bubble, but you look like yourself too." Heidi pointed out, putting the mirror back into her inventory,  just incase she would need it again. 

"Aw, man."

Heidi knew how this had happened- the Nervegear had very sensitive sensors within the helmet that could easily reconize facial features, and at the beginning of playing the game, she recalled having to pat herself down, which could lead to how the NerveGear got her weight, height and body type. She found it.. a little creepy.

"Heidi, how are we going to live! If we can't take this stupid thing off, and eat, we're going to die." Remi pointed out, her pigtails quivering.

Heidi thought hard- they couldn't do anything for themselves outside of the real world, which ment that they would have to be cared for like a coma patient, which ment going to the hospital. Only, they needed someone to take them to the hospital.... Her neighbour! Cindy, Heidi had talked to her that morning about how she was going to go and dive into SAO with her friends. She had talked non-stop about it, so Heidi was sure Cindy would remember.

"Cindy, my neighbour- she knows we're in SAO. We can have hope she's calling my parents, and that we're going to go to the hospital soon. We'll probably be treated like coma patients, so we can get nutrition and whatnot from the outside." Heidi muttered, looking at Max. She seemed shocked. They all were.

"B-but lets get a hotel, for now- we can figure out everything tomorrow." Remi whispered, grabbing onto their hands.

Heidi nodded, and followed her. But the nagging worry still bit her from behind.

What were they going to do? Surely they couldn't stay in the game until someone beat it.