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It had been three years since everyone had been sucked into the twisted death game known as Fallen Tower. Avidia, the gaming fiend who topped the leaderboards of games world-wide, was one of 100,000 people chosen to beta test Fallen Tower, the first game on the newest generation of VR consoles, the pods. Through the newly developed Virtual Reality Pod, players could transfer their minds directly into a video game. The concept seemed far too promising to pass up for Avidia who, out of her 18 years of life, had always craved Full Dive Virtual Reality (FDVR). A woman living alone in a small city apartment, Avidia had lost her parents when she was young. Since then, she had immersed herself in the video game world and made a name for herself as the best. Though video games were her passion, her true desire was to start over in a new world and explore to her heart's content. FDVR could make her dream come true.
Avidia's pod had been delivered the day before, and the beta test was set to launch in a mere five minutes. She climbed into the pod, heart racing in excitement, and counted down the time until she could finally log in to his dream world. Though Fallen Tower had come with a manual explaining various systems such as classes, stats, and weapons, not much was known about its actual contents. That made it all the more exciting for Avi, whose desire to explore a new world outclassed any other. And with that, the final countdown began.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
LAUNCHING PROGRAM: Fallen Tower
Avi had already done a full body scan, including a scan of her brain, the night before, in order to jump into the game as quickly as possible. On top of that, though it was impossible to change your physique, she had spent hours customizing her facial features, specifically her eyes. She would now be sporting a right eye with a solid black color and a red magic circle for a pupil and a left eye with the opposite colors. Furthermore, she even went so far as to give herself fangs, cause who doesn't love fangs right?
ALLOCATING STATUS POINTS ACCORDING TO CURRENT PHYSICAL STATE
Ah yes, there was something in the manual about using your real physical state in games.
DESIGNATING CLASS: The Bloody Drunkard
DESIGNATING STARTING WEAPON: Dual Scythes
Avidia had also read somewhere that the game designated the most fitting weapon and class type to each player based on their scan results. Whatever bloody drunkard was, it should be interesting. On top of the class and weapon designation, the weapons assigned to you grew and evolved with the player as well.
COMMENCING LAUNCH
Suddenly, Avidia found herself in a massive circular hall with bookshelves stuffed full of books that spiralled along the wall and into nothingness. At the same time, there was a blinding flash of light and the hall was suddenly filled to the brim with other beta testers. From the seemingly endless crowd of noisy people, it seemed that all 100,000 testers were gathered here. As a chaotic murmur began to break out from the crowd, a loud cracking sound silenced everyone and drew their attention to the sealing. Suddenly, a hand broke through the nothingness, followed by another. Screams broke out from the crowd as the being tore through the nothingness and swooped into the room.
"Calm yourselves," said the being in a distorted voice. It seemed to be some form of grim reaper donning a raggedy cloak and massive scythe (hey nice). Many people continued to scurry about in a panicked state forcing the reaper to speak yet again. "I said be CALM." The instant the word came out of its mouth, all 100,000 people froze. Not completely out of fear, but because some force had stopped all of their movements. "Now as you can probably tell, I am the master of this game. For your convenience I have altered things a little. You currently cannot log out. You will receive damage as if you were in the real world. If you die here, you will die in real life. Your body will age, but will not die in the real world unless of old age. In order to log out you must clear the 1000th floor or be in a party that clears the 1000th floor. Make your way to the center of the city to start your journey. It is up to you to discover the rest. Do your best." With that, the Game Master receded back into nothingness and the players were immediately teleported all across the first city, Remedias.
With that, chaos ensued. Naturally, screams of terror and confusion erupted across the city as people of all ages tried to process what had just happened. However, amidst the confusion, a scrawny 18 year old bolted towards the massive building in the center of the city. NPC's and players alike barely saw a blur of long black hair as Avidia made her way towards the giant building. Avidia had been preparing for this moment her whole life and though she was still in shock, she was fully ready to take advantage of the headstart the confusion gave her. Little did she know, she would get far more than a headstart. Avidia entered the massive hall at the center of the city and marveled for half a second over the hundred portals that lined the sides of the hall. She immediately dove into the only active portal and began her ascent of the tower.
After a bright flash of light and a strange tugging sensation in her stomach, Avidia found herself in a completely new environment. Birds chirping, a cool breeze flowing through her hair, a nearby forest rustling in the wind. She didn't even notice the sudden calming atmosphere that contrasted to the despair and panic in Remedias. A sudden notification popped up in her field of view. "Would you like to equip your chosen weapon?" Avidia pressed the yes button in confirmation and a pair of scythes, 6 feet in length with 3 foot blades, appeared in her hands. Avidia then set off into the forest, scythes in hand. Her mind was completely blank. When a wolf jumped out of the forest, baring its fangs, Avidia felt nothing. As the wolf growled and prepared itself to pounce, Avidia's brain felt numb. The wolf lunged at Avidias throat. As it flew through the air, her instincts, honed through years of high tier gaming, kicked in. She dropped to the ground, allowing the wolf to fly over her head. The wolf landed and turned around to attempt a second blow, but it didn't have time. Avidia dropped the scythe in her left hand and used both hands to swing her scythe with full force into the wolf's neck. As blood spurts out of the wound, the first emotion to occur since Fallen Tower started erupted into her mind. Desire. Before she could stop herself, Avidia lunged at the wood and sank her fangs into the dying wolf's neck. A rush of blood flowed into her mouth as she bagan gulping down the crimson fluid. As she drank, she felt a mysterious power rush into her body. The sweet, juice like taste of the blood grew even sweeter. The fur on the wolves neck sharpened in greater detail. She could hear squirrels rustling around hidden far in the forest. The sweet scent of blood flooded her nose. Even the dying wolf seemed like a twig in her arms that could easily snap in two.
As she drank more and more blood from the world, practically draining it, she noticed another change. Past her sharpened senses and strength, her mind started to grow foggy. A warmth began to rise up from the depths of her body and the world started to gently sway. Before she knew it, the swaying grew worse and worse. When she tried to stand up, she toppled right back over. Her cheeks grew blushed as she realized just exactly what bloody drunkard entailed. After falling face first into the grass, her mind slowly faded to black. (She got blackout drunk!)
"Ah fuck, my head," Avidia said as she slowly opened her eyes. "Why did I rush straight into the portal without a plan? And why the hell was I getting drunk off of wolf blood?" Avidia rubbed her temples as a splitting pain shot through her head again. "Fuck. I guess the shock of being thrown in a death game did a number on me. At least my game instincts kicked in." Avidia blinked as she realized that the clear blue sky that she killed a wolf under was now the ceiling of a cavern, covered in stalactites that glowed in a rainbow of colors. "What the fuck?" Avidia quickly sat up and immediately regretted it as she felt a symphony of pain through her entire body. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt waves of throbbing pain. "What the fuck is happening?" After waiting a bit for the sudden pain to subside, Avidia opened her eyes and slowly took in the shocking scene scattered around her.
Avidia herself was coated head to toe in blood. She no longer had a shirt on, but had red stained bandages tightly wrapped around her (flat) chest. Her pajama pants that she had worn into the pod were now a very baggy pair of blood soaked cloth pants. The scythes that she had used to fight the wolf in the meadow were both completely different as well. The had shrunken down into a pair of Kamma sized ornate scythes. Though blood coated, the scythe to her left now had a crimson handle and dark black blade, while the scythe to her right had a black handle with a crimson blade. The even more shocking parts of this scene laid past her scythes. Laying in the wide pool of blood that surrounded Avidia were around 20 ten foot tall werewolf like beasts. Their fur, which seemed to have been stark white, was now stained almost completely red. Their fearsome claws and giant fangs made them seem like fearsome foes, except for the fact that they had all brutal slash wounds all over their bodies. The most shocking sight of all was the dead creature that lay past the werebeasts.
A 20 foot tall deer covered in wounds was laying on its side, facing Avidia. Instead of the usual brown and white color of a deer, this deer had jet black fur and strange golden patterns sprawled out over its body. Atop its head was a majestic pair of golden antlers. Because of their size, they seemed more akin to trees of gold. Though the creature was beautiful, the damage was obvious. The antlers had been chipped and broken in many places. The beautiful golden patterns were often interrupted by deep slash wounds. Even one of its legs was completely hacked off. As Avidia admired the beauty of this beast, a sudden voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Ah, you're awake little one." Avidia bolted up, only to topple over again due to the pain. "Do not worry yourself. I am on my last legs and just wanted to pay respects to a fellow brave warrior." Avidia quickly looked towards the head of the deer and realized its eyes were open and it was still very much alive. "Your skill with the scythe is worthy of legends little one. I do hope we can meet again in the future. Those blades will take you far, so climb high little one." With that, the deer let out a long sigh as the light in its eyes faded away. Avidia was given another mini heart attack as a notification popped up in front of her.
CONGRATULATION ON BEING THE FIRST ONE TO CLEAR THE 100TH FLOOR. WE WISH YOU FURTHER LUCK ON YOUR PATH OF CONQUEST.
"What."