Parallel: United Front

Chapter 2: Game Starts

Dayle smiled at the cute girl in front of him. Bright blue hair nestled around a petite oval face. She looked Japanese, which made sense considering the game's creators. The administrator sat on a conical structure as white as the room they were in.

"Hello there," Dayle greeted. "I'm Dayle. You are?"

"Riku," she answered with a small nod. "I am the administrator for this world. I act as a guide for new players such as yourself, as well as monitor the game universe to make sure everything runs as it should."

"Lotta work for such a small girl."

"A funny joke," Riku rebutted with a soft smile. "You know very well I am the furthest thing from."

Dayle shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Well, Private Dayle, would you like a tutorial, or skip straight to Character Creation?"

Dayle scratched his chin in thought. "Cliff notes. I spent hours on the manual but might have missed a thing or two."

Riku nodded. "The planet Etarh is in dire straits. Over sixty percent of the planet is suffering from extreme radiation. Frequent radiation and electric storms prevents wildlife from growing in these regions. The damage seems irreparable: At the very least it could take several millenia for these regions to become habitable."

"Except Karifa."

Riku nodded. "You're familiar with the history?"

"Yup." (Refer to Lexicon)

"In that case, I can skip to the current situation. Radiation clouds have begun to spread to Karifa too. Coupled with the Nexus threat, the last continent of mankind is in danger of being wiped out. Your primary mission as Augur is to scour the continent and find a solution as soon as possible."

"Isn't that too broad for GAME END?" Dayle complained with an exaggerated moan. "What happened to good old Demon Lords as last bosses."

Riku chuckled. "There's no such thing as an embodiment of evil encompassed inside one being in your world, is there?"

"You obviously haven't met Trump."

"That's an interesting choice. I had thought you'd say the Devil."

"He's far worse, trust me."

Riku shook her head. "I have never conversed with a player like this. You are a distracting man, Dayle."

Dayle smirked. "I get that a lot."

"Now where was I?" Riku muttered as she searched through the chat logs. "Ah, yes. No, there's no such thing as a conventional last boss in this game. The reason this game was created was to see how different people solve a common problem. That said, I must warn you: even though this is a game, you are neither permitted to alert non-players of their true nature nor call them NPC's. These actions can result in a lifetime ban so please be careful with your words."

"Gotcha."

"Now on to your Character. Are you familiar with the races and their nuances?"

"Yup." (Refer to Lexicon.)

"Please choose one."

"Radi," Dayle chose, mind long since made up.

"Are you sure? Cosmetics like eye, skin and even facial properties can changed for a price in-game, but race is permanent."

Dayle nodded. "Already thought long about it."

"In that case feel free to customize your physical appearance as you'd like."