Memories of Fated

Chapter Six - Trapped

POV: Ito Tsubaki

"My name is Sakamoto Kiyoshi"

Uncle. Not anything to be afraid of, right? But the way he concealed his identity was, well, weird. Why would he do that if this was just a welcome to the game? All I could do was continue to stare up, hanging on the cliff that was his words.

"At the moment, I am the only one who can control this world"

World? Is this plaza just comprised of data and pixels? It isn't a world, it is just a game, right? Then why was this a world? It is a plastic world at best, it seems real but if you look closer, it bends and shatters.

"I am sure you have already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu." My uncle flicks his wrist, calling the main menu up, his hand stopping when he reaches that void where the log out button should be.

He will just say that it is a bug. Yes, that's it, then he will shut down the servers and delay the game. I don't know whether people will still play after this fault but Fated can't die, can it?

Instead, he says the exact opposite that I expect. "But this is not a defect in the game" his voice rings out on the silence of the 10,000 players.

"What!?" The word springs out before I can stop it. Before, the log out button was there. It worked. So why remove it? What was the purpose?

But what mattered the most now was one question that ran through my mind. Would I be stuck here forever? What would happen to my life? Would I never meet anyone special, will I never try all the foods I wished, will I never have the chance to see my happy children run around a house I bought?

I glanced at Kyo beside me and when our eyes meet, I see fear widen in his emerald orbs. We reach out, clasping the hands of each other as my uncle repeats his words.

"This is not a defect in the game, it is a feature of Fated."

I let the words sink in. Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought. What's in the real world that I can't do in this place? I can sample all types of food, meet all kinds of people, there is even a marriage system. My life wouldn't be pointless.

But as a feature? I would wish to see my parents once more, even if they weren't the most caring, they were still the ones who gave me life. I would miss them. But, here, I could be everything I have ever wanted to be.

I know most people won't feel the same as me. But when you have known your uncle all your life and he is working hard to build the world I stand in, you can't help but think of all the things I could be here. Here in this world of swords and fate.

"You cannot log out of Fated yourselves. And no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be, the tried transmitters inside the NerveGear will admit a powerful micro wave."

A couple of players shout accusations, How could this happen, they yell. I lower my head, I know what this means if the NerveGear admitted that wave... It would...

"Destroying your brain and thus ending your life." His words have a sense of finality to them, no one can claim that he is lying.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and family have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear."

I am not surprised. A lot of people will deny something you tell them, even if it is true. Kyo squeezes by hand as these virtual tears slide down my face.

"I am sorry" I whisper to those lives, snuffed out of existence. But I know they don't care about my apologies.

"As a result, 213 players are forever gone; from both the real world and this one." His words that use to send me to sleep aren't so comforting anymore.

My uncle raises his hand again, and pop-ups circle him, clips from news articles all over the world.

"As you can see, news organisations around the world are reporting all of this, including those deaths. Thus you can assume the danger is real"

His words just wash over me, my brain has turned apart of itself off and I can only stare at the horrors circling like some sick merry-go-round. I focus on a clip of a young girl, sobbing into her mother, as the mother also tries to hold in her tears.

What was I thinking? Of course, this world is better in many ways but... But what about my parents, my grandparents, my cousins? How will they be thinking? Walking past the same hollow space that I took my first steps in, walking into school, seeing that void of desk that I used to smile in. How would it make them feel?

I am so selfish.

"I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game, but I want for you to remember this clearly." His words start too happy, but then turn sour at the end.

"There is no longer a way to revive anyone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain"

He says it so...so carelessly. How could this man, the one that used to sneak me, sweets, from under my parent's eye, make a game that murders its players? And how could I, the closest one to him, not notice this. If I had, then this wouldn't be happening. And that's when I realise.

This is all my fault.

I have the lives of 213 people stained onto my soul. No matter what I do, that could never be washed away. But why would I want to wash this sin away? It was my fault. And I must bear it.

My hand tightens on Kyo's.

"There is only one way to escape, to complete the game. You are on the lowest floor of fated, floor one. If you can make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, then you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss and you will clear the game."

He is lying. There is one more way to beat the game. But...but I will not let any more players die because of my incompetence. I will do this myself.

Because it is my mission.

"Finally, I have added a present from me in your item inventory storage, please see for yourselves. In unison, me and Kyo open the inventory. It is a mirror.

I press the icon, holding my hands out to catch the mirror. At first glance, it looks like a regular mirror but when I look into my reflection, I see it is just an ordinary mirror.

But then I realize, for everyone else, it is something more. I watch as the girl next to me morphs into a tall thin boy. It is returning everyone to what they looked like before.

Why didn't it happen to me? Why wasn't I that small, pathetic browned haired girl again? The codes! One of them must have been to prevent the mirror from working.

The full force of my uncle's betrayal hits me in the face. And it hurts. Hurts, unlike anything. And I don't even know why.

"Right now, you must be wondering, why? Why would Sakamoto Kiyoshi, the developer of Fated and the NerveGear do all of this?" He addresses everyone again. "My goal has already been achieved. I created Fated for one reason; to create a world and intervene in it"

I know he is lying again. He may have lied about a lot of things, but this, his life's creation and his dream, they could have been done separately. And all the time he worked, he never said anything about this. He must be lying.

He has to be.

"And now, it is complete. This ends the official Fated launch. Good luck players."

Then the cape starts drooping and then draws back up with the strings of red liquid. And the sky returns to its original colour. It as if nothing happened. The plaza is deathly quiet, only the water from the nearby fountain can be heard.

Then the screams begin.