Decades in the future, virtual reality has peaked. Headsets and their full body sensory suits are finally made functional in Necrophobia Online, a high-fantasy VR MMORPG that tens of thousands log into everyday. After the rocky production of the gam...
It had been two weeks since the world had gone under.
And between the mass rioting and slaughters, Hiro was on his own path to madness.
He stood against the trunk of a tree, way high in the sky with the delicacy of a bird as he peered down at the passerby venturing the dirt path across the plains of Eorzea, all alone. The plains of Eorzea took up the majority of the first level, towns being sparse enough to force players to gain experience on the road but close enough to give them a place to respawn at. Hiro had seen almost every level to date in his time in development, but Hideo was so maddened by the end of it that wiping all the level designs and rebuilding them in just a few weeks didn't seem that out of character.
He dropped down a branch to get a better view, and finally, the details came within render distance. The lone wanderer was a guy- practically a boy. He seemed to have a bow across his chest and a nervous way about carrying himself as he pushed forward at an agitated speed.
Hiro could feel his skinny black tail brush against his leg, and think that most often happened when he was nervous. Not being able to feel his tail or horns on his character was a bummer, but they still reacted digitally to emotion. The tragedy of a kid being trapped in this hellscape was mortifying.
Just as the IGN, "FireAspect" appeared over the boy's head, his health crept to zero and he fell to his knees.
Hiro didn't waste a second thinking about how to react. He plummeted from the branches of the tree to the ground so many feet below, decking his health which was instantly regenerated. He skid to a stop before the player and lifted their head by their chin to look them in eyes that were already cold and glazing over.
Hiro released the boy, who collapsed, and opened his inventory by drawing a cross in the air. Items filled his view immediately, but the most important item was secure in the first slot- Revives. Now the rarest and most sought after in the game, Hiro only had two, and was about to lose one to a kid he hadn't spoken a word to. It seemed like a cruel thought, but for an instant, he hoped that it was already too late and he'd get to save the Revive for the final levels- but he quickly shook the thought from his head and placed the item in the kid's clammy, limp hand.
He held his fist together for the child, and as if sensing Hiro's persistence, very gently he began to hold it on his own. The Revive stone suddenly shattered in his hand and disintegrated, the pixels blowing away in the wind.
The child opened his eyes to reveal one brown eye and one menacingly pale.
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
"So, you only have one left?" FireAspect said as he looked down at his crossed legs. He was sitting on a bed with his back against the pillow, facing Hiro across the room who sat on a table.
Hiro nodded. "I snagged them both in the beta." Refusing to mention his time as a developer, Hiro tried to stray away from that kind of conversation.
After a stroke of silence, FireAspect spoke again. "What does your name say?" Hiro sleepily looked up at his own nametag to see his username displayed-
"神話"
"It means Myth," Hiro said as he crossed one leg over the other and leaned back on his hands.
The kid drew his eyes up form the blankets and glanced quickly at Hiro. "I'm Finn. Why did you waste your Revive on me?"
"Do you always ask this many questions?"
"I want to know why. You should have friends in this game. Why didn't you save it for them?"
Hiro shook his head and sighed before sitting up and crossing his arms across his chest. "Let's just say that my friends tend to take care of themselves." He then shrugged and glanced out the window on the left wall. "Plus, you're just a boy."
"I'm a kid, actually."
"What?"
"I'm non-binary."
"Oh. Sorry. Doesn't change the fact that you're a kid, though. What are you even doing in Necrophobia?"
"Escaping reality. Isn't that why we're all here?" he said as he shifted uncomfortably and refused to make eye contact.
Hiro regretted asking the question as well as feeling sorry about it.
"Saving me was a waste of time. But- maybe I can make it worth you while one day," they said as he drew a cross in the air with his finger and started clicking through the menus. They seemed still and cold suddenly, like they were falling into a depression.
Hiro sighed and hesitated with the thought on his tongue before he said, "What's wrong?"
Finn grit their teeth and tapped on Hiro's icon in the player list. "It's just a dangerous time, you know, and..."
"Cough it up."
They took a deep breath in and drooped their hand in their lap, staring at Hiro's profile. "Will you please take me to the next level?" they said with a kind of childlike innocence that crippled Hiro.
Hiro shook his head and directed his eyes at the ground. "What's waiting for you there? You know it only gets harder from here."
Finn nodded, gaining some light back. "I know. I have a friend waiting for me."
Hiro chuckled and started to respond when something appeared on his screen.
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His face paled and his tail started to sway anxiously. He gulped and looked across at Finn, who now had tears in their eyes. Frantically, he put his hands up in a defensive motion, but the words stuck to his tongue. Looking between the child trying to get home and the friend request, Hiro shakily lifted his hand to accept the request, making the window disappear and the kid appear behind it.
"So... You'll take me?"
Hiro ran his hands up his horns and groaned as he pulled one knee to his chest.
They were just a kid. Maybe fourteen. And like everyone else, they just wanted to survive Necrophobia Online.
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