Beep...Beep...Beep…an alarm rang loudly in a dark room. Underneath a mound of blankets and pillows a sleepy individual started to stir. A single hand popped out from beneath the warmth and comfort of the blankets, trying to swat the buzzing alarm and return the room to the peaceful state it was in just five minutes ago. With several failed attempts the hand finally found its target, with the beeping gone the moans and groans of the once sleeping person could now be heard. As the blankets were thrown off it revealed a half-naked boy laying there, his hair was wild and untamed, his eyes were squinted and coated with sleepies, and his breath could peel paint. “Ughhh...I hate Mondays…” He had been up until around 2 in the morning on Terrasphere last night. Not doing too much, just getting his crafting skill up and a bit of exploring. He needed to try and go back into a dungeon here soon, he got so much mastery points from that venture, even if it was into the rank sewers.


He found a semi-clean shirt laying on the floor and threw it on. As he walked into the living room, two of his roommates already seemed to be up and getting ready for work. Ethan barely paid them any attention, his sole mission right now was a glass of coffee and some cereal. There seemed to be enough coffee in the pot for a cup or two, grateful that his roommate already did the leg work for him, Ethan quickly poured a glass and started getting the cereal and milk out. His roommates seemed to be engrossed in the news that had been playing in the background, Ethan could careless at this point. That was until one of his roommates called out to him. “Hey Ethan, I think they’re talking about that game you’ve been playing so much of on the news. Seems that some people are getting upset over something or another… I swear you can’t do anything without pissing somebody else off these days.”


Ethan’s attention swiveled to the TV screen that sat along a wall in the living room area. It seemed that many people, mainly older ones, were upset due to the realistic nature of the game. Noah’s eyes just rolled, what did they expect from a virtual reality game. If parents were so upset that their kids might be introduced to sex, violence, and gore then perhaps they should just keep them off the internet completely. “That’s so lame. They’re making a big fuss over something like that? If they have a problem maybe they should just not let their kids play it? Though it’s not like they aren’t gonna get some of that same stuff in any other video game or TV show out there. Hell, better to let them experience sex and alcohol in the virtual world where it will not have any repercussions in the real world. Might teach a kid to not be a fool and wrap his tool.


Noah went back to eating his cereal while keeping an ear to the television. If there was gonna be repercussions on Terrasphere he wanted to know. No point in playing a game that was gonna be shut down in a week or so. On the other hand he also did not want to put himself at risk and be stuck in the murder game. He had yet to die in the game and wanted to stay that way. Really he had not heard of too much from players that died. He knew that there was a large chunk of them that did during the first world boss and he was sure some of the more dangerous dungeons probably had taken a life or two. For now though, unless something major was going to come out from the news about Terrasphere, he would continue his time there and keep striving to become an expert adventurer and treasure hunter.[/COLOR]

 

Dongxue sighed in relief as the latest customer left the diner and snuck away into one of the far booths. A new Japanese fusion place had just opened up across the street last week so people were flocking to try it. And that meant that they weren't as busy at the moment, which meant no customers to look after, and all that meant a slight break from waiting tables.

The TV was on at a low volume, but since there wasn't anyone there the cashier at the counter picked up the remote and turned it up a bit. It was some sort of sitcom, which she doesn't really care about. They all sort of looked the same to her: a group of people who either lived or worked together all got into zany hijinks, rife with miscommunications and cloud cuckoo land logic. Eh, not for her.

"Can you change the channel?" she called out.

"Yeah, yeah." The cashier, Jason, waved a hand towards her in acknowledgement. Dongxue watched the channels flip by: football game, horse racing, commercial, commercial, commercial, news...

"-called Terrasphere has been-"

Wait. Something about Terrasphere?

"Jason, go back to CNN?"

"Uh. Sure? CNN isn't my idea of entertainment but you do you." He switched back to the news and set the remote down to exchange for his phone. "Sue's gonna be here in like half an hour so I'm leaving when she gets here."

"Yeah, see you," Dongxue said, barely even paying attention anymore. Her attention was on the broadcast. People dying? Sex and violence? To be honest, it sounded like fear mongering to her. Sure Terrasphere was immersive, but it wasn't like you couldn't feel yourself getting uncomfortable if you weren't physically eating or going to the bathroom. And what video game or movie these days didn't have sex and violence?

"You interested in that game?" Jason asked as the broadcast ended. Dongxue startled, glancing back towards him. "I heard some people in my CS class talking about it. They're raving about something to do with the virtual reality thing, I don't really know."

"I guess I'm a little curious," she said, the warning from that first email about not talking about Terrasphere sticking in her mind. "Like you said, you hear people talk about it a lot."

The way the news broadcast put it, there's no way her parents would ever approve of her playing Terrasphere. It filled her with an illicit kind of thrill, keeping her involvement with it a secret. God, she couldn't wait to get back home to log in again!

 

I close my eyes for one last time

​

School had been rough.

Throwing her bag into it's slotted corner of the room, Lily found herself falling face first into her bed. Her left hand hung off the side of her bed, even as she had her face to the wall on her right. She stayed there a few moments, closing her eyes. Sighing, she pushed herself up and headed to the bathroom. Washing her hands and then her face, she looked into the mirror, and saw the bags under her eyes. With an annoyed motion, she swiped at them, and then shook her head. Of course they were noticeable to her - she was looking for them. Taking a few moments, she shifted her head from side to side, looking at her face.

''Of course he said no, look at how ugly you are, you fat whore.'' she muttered to herself.

She didn't quite slam the door, but she moved out of the bathroom, angry at herself. Of all the stupid things to do, that was pretty much the one stupidest to take the cake. She had, stupidly enough, asked her crush of a year and a half to go with her to the dance. It would have been fine if he just turned her down, but he laughed, pointed her out to his friends, laughed some more, and then finished with something to the likes of 'Are you serious or are you just joking with me?'. She was sure if she bothered, she would remember the exact words, but right now she didn't want to.

And since then, she'd been putting herself down mentally. So it was no surprise that instead of homework, she shut her door, flopped on her bed, and logged onto Terrasphere. At least there, her guildmates didn't laugh at her. In fact, they were rather friendly she thought. And so, she had been playing since then, when a mail rang in her inbox. Blinking, she tilted her head, narrowed her eyes, and clicked the link. Once she had seen the video, the girl hurriedly logged out, and ran downstairs to see if her parents were home yet. She really hoped they weren't, because that would mean a talk, and a talk was always something difficult with Lily. Mainly because her parents tended to not listen until she yelled.

And it took a lot to make her yell.

To her unfortunate misery, both of her parents were home, and sitting in the living room. It was clear they had waited for her. Grimacing, she seated in her chair, facing them. ''Mom, dad.'' she acknowledged, her gaze looking to their feet rather then their face. The silence was unbearable, and she fidgeted. She really hoped they wouldn't mention it, she really didn't need to try and fight for the only thing that made her happy lately. She could play other video games, that's for sure, but none of them were quite like Terrasphere. She really loved it there, mainly because she knew her parents never listened, and always left her home alone.

It had been like that ever since... no don't think about it.

''Explain young lady.'' her mother said, tone stern. Lily actually flinched, and if she had been looking at her parent's face, she would have seen her dad look so sad. Wringing her hands together, she gulped, and looked up towards them. Her green eyes - the only feature she liked - were brimming with tears. ''I... I love the game. I don't care about that newscast. It doesn't matter. Not like I would do anything like that anyways.'' she said. But she could see it - her mother wasn't convinced. That's when the whole day caught up with Lily, her tears falling freely as she got up roughly.

''You know what!? You don't get to say anything! Day in and day out, you leave me here, home alone, ever since they left! I don't even know why they left! Terrasphere keeps me happy and who cares if there's sex or death! Have you seen Grand Theft Auto!? You can purchase a whore, fuck her and then kill her for the money! Sure people are going nuts because this feels more 'real' but seriously!? Where were they with their moral high horse when the SAO incident happened huh!? Nowhere, they didn't care! So either you sit there, and you ban the only thing that makes me happy anymore. Or you don't. And if you do, well then, maybe I'll just go live with Auntie instead! At least I know she cares, unlike you two, who forgot my FUCKING BIRTHDAY!'' she yelled. She didn't even take the time to see their faces.

She ran up to her room, slammed the door shut and locked it. She put one of her chairs underneath the handle to stop them from opening it - she had gotten that chair just for that - and plugged in her own router. Her Auntie was a godsend, not that her parents agreed. And then, she switched her clothes into more comfortable ones - because screw her school uniform right now - and slipped on the helmet. Within moments, she was back within Terrasphere, with people that might actually care. She didn't have to be Lily Briar, that had just gotten rejected by someone she was crushing on in a cruel manner, or having to deal with inattentive, sometimes controlling parents. No, she just got to be Wild Rose, and didn't have to care about anything in the real world.

She was actually happy here.

and say goodbye

 

Angel frowned as she watched the broadcast. While she had noticed that indeed, the game did seem to have effects on people, more and more she was finding it was helping people be who they truly felt they were. Whether that was a good thing or not, she wasn't sure. She sighed heavily. She needed to know what her guild mates were saying about the broadcast.

She logged in briefly to find two messages from Aaron, one basically saying that the broadcast happened, and saying that the warning would just cause more people to join, and then one of a slightly more perverted manner. She chuckled and shook her head.

Mail

Pervert ;P

That short message was all she sent to him. Deciding that the guild had already been notified, there was no real reason for her to stay, so she quickly logged off and lazed around.

Was the broadcast right? Should they be afraid of this game? Was there some evil intention behind it all? She frowned again. How could they know until it had happened? That world.... it was so real. So many wonderful things had came out of it. She refused to believe it could be as bad as people were saying.

 

Faye shouldn't of even clicked the link to the broadcast, but not before long she had scrolled over the thumbnail, clicked, and found herself watching a video about her favourite place- Terra Sphere. She was in the office, lights were dim as most of her co-workers had gone home, but she had stayed late to get some extra work done before she went home, just so she could get some extra time online. But everyone needed a break every once in a while, but they definitely didn't need a break that fed into their stress as much as work did.

She felt anxiety and irritation crawl into her chest as she listened to what was being said, both anger at the fear mongering of the video and worry about maybe, well... Maybe they were right? Maybe she was walking into something that could ruin her life forever? She no longer could look at spiders the same way, and found herself even more stressed then usual when things went down hill in Terra. And then there was.... Her feelings. Maybe Jack was just some creeper trying to play with her? Wasn't it stupid to like someone in a video game? She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a long sigh, trying to push the nagging doubts away.

"Faye, it's about time you head- Oh, whatcha watching?" One of Faye's co-workers, a younger man around her age who had hit on her multiple times to her dismay, let his eyes scan over the screen as he came up behind her. She quickly exited the tab, but not before he could look at her in surprise, delight dancing in his eyes, "You interested in Terra Sphere? I never thought you would be into that sorta stuff, let alone a VR game."

"Yah, uh... Just doing some research." Faye replied pleasantly, looking back with a sweet smile before beginning to pack up her stuff. She was just about to go, anyways, "I'm pretty much done next weeks project, I should-"

"Never mind the work talk, I can drive you home, if you'd like." The man offered, not in a weird creepy way, but in a sweet one where he looked concerned for her well being. He had always been kind to her, but Faye never saw him like that. So, she politely shook her head, smilng once more.

"It's sweet of you to offer, but I'll be fine getting home. Have a good night~" And with that, she grabbed her stuff and escaped to the elevator, relaxing against the wall. As much as he was a nice guy, all that attention was kind of suffocating... At least, not when she was with someone like Jack, Or when I'm someone like Nalani... Sigh.

These thought plagued her until she got home, until she decided maybe it wasn't a good night to log into the game, If I try to stay away... Maybe I won't want to go anymore? But, deep down, she knew right now that would never be the case.​

 

It was a lazy day, as Harry glanced through video after video, compilation after compilation. Having returned from school and with hours left before he needed to do anything else, he found himself having too much time on his hands, and too little to do with it. This was a Harry that was still unfamiliar to that VR game, though. Sure, rumors floated by all the time, but there was something about the allure of a forbidden game - you're only more driven to see it.

And he saw the thumbnail. He quirked an eyebrow and selected it. It was an old, old video, but he might as well see what all this was about.

And a short one too. Once he was done, he just raised an eyebrow at the contents.

Sure, the game felt quite wrong. Sex and death...well, it's not like they didn't exist in real life, either. More so it was the potential for exposure. Harry couldn't understand why they didn't just sell the game for adult audiences - rated for the right ages and distributed legally instead of this clandestine spec ops thing. Why was the game so reluctant to be checked by the authorities?

Being perfectly realistic as a game comes with its own blessings and curses. Immersion was one, but so was anger, frustration, and so many other feelings. People have broken more keyboards than can be counted raging about 2D games - Terrasphere was going to have people in a fit.

Sighing, he moved on to another video, but now he was thinking of the game itself. Just how good was it?

Maybe he'll find out one day.