SIX MONTHS EARLIER<br/>___________________________________________________________________________________<br/>MERCENAGAMER INC. Big Screen Global Transmission<br/><br/>Welcome to Mercena City, where the most succesful Videogame company on the planet resides. We are Mercenegamer, and our goal is simple. Give you the best Virtual experiences possible. And how do we stay on top you ask? That's right... Our wonderful employees and their ideas. Speaking of which, we have recently sent out Five Platinum Game Discs and the five lucky people who find them will get the exclusive VirtuaWorld System and it's Debut Game: "The Tech of Cryomythia." All you have to do is send us the PGD in the mail, and we shall send you your reward. So Happy Hunting Loyal Gamers, and best of luck to you.<br/><br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/>After the transmission ended, Aaron Samual Richards, the Head CEO of Mercenagamer, sighed in frustration. "Ariana, is it wrong to want success so badly you think you aren't as good as you should be?"<br/><br/>His Sister looked at him and smiled. "Aaron, you are the smartest person alive. Why do you think that you aren't already successful?" Ariana replied. Aaron looked at his older sister and frowned. "I meant with our newest System, The VirtuaWorld. after all, it isn't exactly virus-free or anything. I need the Robo-Prosthesis that I requested. When will Project Maximum Robotic Augumentation be ready?"<br/><br/>"In six months, sir." she said with just a hint of worry in her voice. He smiled and shut thee doors to his office as she left.<br/><br/><br/>PRESENT DAY Year 2650<br/>___________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>"Ellena, Are the VirtuaWorld Servers up and running?" Aaron asked his Personal MERCENAGAMER Comm. "Yes Sir, but I urge you to reconsider. The Systems aren't ready, and there seems to be an appointment made without a given time to accomoda-"<br/><br/>"Hang up, System lock Priority One." Aaron said, cutting her off as he gave his lab assistant a thumbs up. As soon as he did, a strong sedative was thrust into his left arm, after which it was sawed off quickly and caroborated where there would have been a wound. A prosthetic robotic limb replaced his old one as his screaming was heard throughout the entire building.<br/><br/>When he could think normally again, he found that the entire room had been engulfed in flames and his assistant, who also happened to be his older sister, was trapped under a fallen suporrt beam. Suddenly he heard something in his head "Kill them ALL!!! They will destroy us! Kill them!!!" ~what the- oh, my head!~ and he zoned out.<br/><br/>When his brain registered his surroundings again, he was in a strange area he didn't recognize, blood on his arms and hands. "No, No, Get AWAY FROM ME!!!!" he shrieked as several deadly Virtual Reality Viruses approached him. Suddenly his mechanized arm shot out a wave of red energy that hit the viruses dead on. The nearest one instantly stood at attention. There was a full minute of silence before the virus spoke in a raspy voice. "What is your bidding m'lord?"<br/><br/>Something was wrong. very and undeniably wrong. Viruses kill people, not serve them, so what was going on? As if out of nowhere, he felt a searing pain on the right side of his face. reaching up to his right eye, he felt a hole where his eye should have been. "M-m-my eye... What happened to it?" he asked the Virus that had spoken.<br/><br/>"Don't worry m'lord. just infect this camera lens with your power and all will be told in time." suddenly, as if out of nowhere a lense was floating above the Virus's hand. When he touched it Aaron was a bit freaked out. It was like it knew what he wanted and attached to his eye socket, humming and purring as he gaped at the new information he could observe. Never had he dreamed of this world. He got the final say in everything. life wasn't an issue for the "Virus Lord" but getting back home ... that could take eons.<br/><br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/>Erik was amazed. He had never expected to get the Platinum Game Disc, but now he was about to open the VirtuaWorld console. The system consisted of a rectangular disc drive and a headset. The strange thing was there was no controller. looking for the instruction manual didn't help either, as there didn't seem to be one available. He probably shouldn't have put the game in the drive, but being such a devoted gamer has its disadvantages.<br/><br/>As he placed the headset on his head, he suddenly felt like there were thousands of volts coursing through his veins. When he tried to cry for help, he found that he couldn't speak. Seconds later, he blacked out. When he awoke, he was slumped over in the seat of what looked like a small train car, but the technology was much too advanced for a regular train.<br/><br/>"Where am I? all I remember is putting on that headset and then BAMM! I end up here." A figure resembling a man made up of binary code with a rather well built physic suddenly appeared on the rather large screen at the front of the train car, interupting his conversation. "Well I see that you are all finally awake." it said with a heavy british accent. "You are going to need to give me your Online Gaming ID and password in order to get your first skill."<br/><br/>Erik thought for a moment then said "What have I got to lose? Online Gaming ID 'Saber Assassin' Password '**********8107'" When he realized his password had been partially transferred to gibberish for privacy, he inwardly thought to himself ~Thank goodness for online server validation~<br/><br/>"Checking online Data-banks... Data found. Weapon of choice: dual katanas of fear" As soon as the computerized man said this, a compartment opened and two red handled katana blades were found inside. "Awesome! I could definitely use these!" Erik said as he experimentally swung the blades around.<br/><br/>"You should be able to execute the most basic attack and defense maneuvers. And don't worry too much about the viruses. they are mostly weak on Level 1, and besides, with you being a level 6 swordsman, I'm sure you and the others can make it." the computer said casually. When the word "Viruses" was mentioned, Erik stopped swinging his new swords and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. "You shouldn't be scared, it makes you lose focus." the man made of binary code said. "In any case, you'll need help, so look for people who seem out of place. You only get five lives, so hopefully you find them all before you die." and he was dropped through a trapdoor onto a battlefield., forcing him to run for cover, as he was a melee expert, but was horrible with firearms. peeking around the corner of the rubble caused him to nearly get shot in the face.<br/><br/>Turning back to cower, he saw a man who looked like he was in the war game "Arma II" run up to him and he instinctively drew his blades "Where am I?" he asked the soldier. the man screamed "what kind of question is that soldie-" and he was shot by an enemy bullet.<br/><br/>~So much for the direct approach.~ Erik thought as someone else approached him that he couldn't make out through the smoke.