"Server status, nominal." a female technician said, her fingers dancing over a keyboard, "You're good to go."

Hasegawa sighed and pulled the headset on, taking the controller in her hand and keeping her other on the keyboard before her. A quick jab of a key and she suddenly found herself appearing before the gate in Mac Anu.

"Server Maintenance is complete?" She asked, holding the mute key on her controller. She heard the technician type a few commands over the game music and sound effects.

"Yes. Latest Patch has been installed and pushed to all clients connected." she said, "All Town servers online and Areas loaded."

"What's currently ongoing? Any events or campaigns?" she asked.

"Balmung is conducting the Night of the Weaver Festival Event at ? Milky Way River." the Technician said, "Other than that, nothing."

"Explains why Mac Anu is pretty much dead at a peak time like now." Hasegawa said with a sigh, "How is that area server coping with the increased activity?"

"Just fine. No Data anomal....." she paused for a moment, "Hold on."

"What?" she asked, lifting her headset a bit to look at the Technician as she poured over the data.

"The monster he was using for the event is corrupted. The system cannot delete it!" she said, "Reki is trying to coordinate an evacuation of the area."

"A Data Bug? Another one?" Hasegawa said, "I'm on my way!" She replaced her headset and turned to the gate, but felt the Technician's hand on her arm.

"Wait! The data! It's being rewritten!" she said, "The monster has become a level 1 common monster."

"How?"

"Unsure, but a player had his PC Data altered as well. Username: Komiyan III." she said. Hasegawa sighed.

"Fine, get to work restoring the PC Data for him and please investigate the cause." she said, "I'm going to mingle in here and see what I can find..."

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The glow of the screen dimly lit his darkened room. With a headset over his head, it barely made a difference and the darkness with the silence of his room helped increase the immersion experience for the game. It was the first time he logged in and already he was highly impressed. The graphics for the character creation screen were rivaling the best FPS games he knew.

Selecting the magic user class, he spent thirty minutes adjusting the look of what would represent himself, then came the hardest part, the name.

What name would suit him? Maybe he should pick a name that wasn't him? Maybe he should become someone he wasn't, to live like someone else. The thought crossed his mind, as he could be anyone in this game regardless of who he was in real life. It wasn't like he had it bad. All the girls loved him and his parents were proud of his grades, yet he had few friends to speak of, and most people assumed he was sort of too elite to talk to, intimidated by the image he portrayed. In here it would be different. In The World, he would be someone you could call a friend. He would keep who he was a secret so that they wouldn't be intimidated. Maybe he could make a friend or two while trying to chase his main goal. Like the .Hackers, it seemed that regular players often were called to become heroes, something he aspired to.

His fingers flew across his keyboard and he logged in. Taris. Simple yet memorable. It suited him well.

The World appeared to him in a flash of light. He assumed his headset was loading the magnificent scenery before him when it started flashing colors after he hit the log in button, but as he appeared in Mac Anu, he realized he forgot to keep breathing and began gazing around at the environment.

The place was desolate at first, turning to see a giant spinning ring behind him, then suddenly players began warping in all around him at once.

"What the hell is going on?" he muttered. A player heard him as she appeared beside him, making him jump.

"An event just finished." she said, "Kind of crazy. A Monster went mad and they told us to get out of the area."

"I see." Taris muttered. As the crowd dispersed, he wandered over to the bridge and leaned on the rail, peering into the water.

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Fingers flew across the ebony keys of a wireless keyboard as Hector executed The World's shortcut and his screen went dark. He leant forward, pursing his lips around the straw protruding from a glass of milkshake and drank while he waited for the game to boot up. Sound quietly emerged from his headphones as the main menu came into life on the monitor. His eyes roved around the screen, leaning back into his chair as he clicked on the Character Create icon. He loved games that allowed customized characters, especially ones that had a myriad of options.

Among upbeat background music, Hector sorted through the nuances of his character-to-be, sizing up each class, eventually choosing the Blademaster.

Shame I can't make him look like Mitsurugi.... He thought to himself, his lips twitching in a grin. For the next hour, Hector shuffled through different frames of the character's body, building an image in his head of a warrior of epic proportions, a warrior that could be called a hero. After some time, Hector finished toying with the cosmetics of his character. It was a little too ninja-y for his liking, but it was the best he could do. Looking down at the bottom of the screen, under the character, Hector saw a name creation bar.

He leant back once more, milkshake in one hand, the other drumming on the desktop as he though.

Something cool, I guess. But not stupid, or too long. Something short and concise, that people can think of easily. And it has to suit the class, I reckon. Hmm...K. Kat...katan? Nah. Uhm...Rapier? Nah. Too French. Spanish, maybe? A toledo sword, that's what the beginner weapon looks like. Yeah...Toledo! Sounds good. Hector ran through this in a flash in his head and his fingers flashed almost as quickly as he entered the name. Adjusting the headset with a excited grin, he hit the Log In button.

Suddenly, in a flash of light and sound, he was in a built-up area, apparently called Mac Anu, according to a small tooltip in his view. Turning his head left and right, Hector was amazed at the detail. Was that really a flock of birds flying across the rooftops? Glancing down, Hector saw the character model he had made for himself, and chuckled out loud when he saw the intensity of detail. A sword hung at his waist, and even as he though, stats of the weapon appeared in a small box in front of him. It was called a Basic Sword apparently, something that halted Hector's excitement.

Oh...yeah. Newbie. So...what? No tutorial? That bites. Any admins...? Or is this one of those cheesy "make your own way" games? Hmph. Guess I'll just wander around. Hector thought. He looked up just as figures began appearing around him, shattering the silence of the city with their footsteps and chattering. In front of him, he saw two people talking. Level numbers popped into being above their heads as he looked at them, and he saw the male was also level one. Shrugging, Hector...or Toledo walked up to the pair, raising an eyebrow as he saw the girl abruptly walk away.

At a loss of what to do, Toledo hurried after the guy, stopping near him on the bridge.

"Uh...hey? Was that chick an admin, or something?" He asked, speaking in somewhat rusty and garbled Japanese.

"Her? No I don't think so. I'm not sure. I just logged in for the first time just now." Taris said, "I had no idea this game would be so detailed. It looks so real." He began staring down into the water and was surprised to see players below in a boat, drifting down below, "Do admins even play in here as characters?"

"They do." Came a voice behind him. He turned to see a woman dressed as a ninja standing behind him. He turned, resting his staff on his shoulder.

"You're an administrator?" he asked, noting her level. He wasn't impressed. It just showed how much longer she was playing this game.

"Yes, and do you mind me asking you a few questions?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

"I see you've just created this character and you are a new player. Have you started playing because of the rumors going around?"

"Rumors? You mean the ones about people going into comas after playing?" he asked.

"Is that what's going around?" she asked, "Our official stand is that The World is unrelated."

"And unofficially?" he asked. The woman paused for a moment, looking deep into Taris' eyes. She then took his hand and a message appeared on his HUD. She then did the same with the player beside him.

"The name's Sora. That's my member address. I'm usually too busy to actually play this game so I won't be available for a party, but if you see anything out of the ordinary and you are completely sure isn't normal in this game, message me about it." she said, "Unofficially, I'm warning you two to be careful."

"Why are we so special?" Taris asked, "Are you advising everyone else too?" Sora lost her words for a moment then sighed.

"Just be careful." she snapped, then strode off towards the gate where she warped away.

"Now this game sounds even more interesting." he said to the player who had approached him before, "I'm Taris by the way."

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Alone again... Grumbling in annoyance, Seth McKnight closed the door to his apartment and released a heavy sigh. With both hands over his face, he silantly fought the dark feelings of isolation as he remembered how much it truly sucked to be alone on the holidays. No family and very few friends who would be willing to celebrate with only made him want to somehow escape even more.

Throwing his shoulder bag against the wall and throwing himself on the floor cushion he used as a coutch, Seth scrutinized his living space. The small one room, one bath apartment was small and dark by nature but his mood only blacked the space further. Glancing over at him computer as it gave a noticeable ping. Getting up with a grumble, he stops before opening the mail he'd gotten.

The small icon on his desktop caught his attention. Clicking it once, he read the title. "The World.." Nodding to himself, he remembered getting it from a friend one day. He'd installed the program but had never bothered to start it up. Forgetting his message, Seth plugged in his virtual reality headpiece and controller then started up the program. "Heavy Spear... I like that. Oh ya, that's a good character." once finished with his character he punched in the name, Yuka; and joined the first server he saw.

Once the rings that had transported him to the city had gone away, Yuka looked around him in total amazment. It felt so real, it felt as though he was truly in another world. Stumbling to the rail of a bridge, he noticed another player standing not far from him. "H-hey, I'm n-new, can you help me out a bit.?" Watching as the random player passed him by, Yuka clenched his jaw and recovered his wits, noticing two more new players talking me approaches them. "Can you guys help me out?" He asked with a sheepish smile.

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LBW-Thank you so much!

Taris stood deep in thought about this. There was something to the rumors after all. He was itching to get to the bottom of this.

"Can you guys help me out?"

Taris turned to see a long arm standing behind him, looking totally lost and with newbie gear. Another new player to 'The World".

"Sure. What do you need help with?"

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Giving the greatest sigh of relief he had in ages, Yuka let go of the rail and stepped forward.

"Y-yea, I've never done anything like this before. Would you mind if I tagged along with you for awhile? I'll do anything I can to help, I promise."

Giving the two a sheepish smile, Yuka waited anxiously for their decision to be made and convayed.

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LBW-Thank you so much!