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Chapter 1: Terra Nova

“Ok…here we go." The young man reaches up his hand and clicks on the power to his Virtual Gear. He lowers his hand back down as the device starts powering up, showing a display in his eyesight as it connects with his brain. Man, what a marvel of technology. He thinks as the virtual gear links up, interrupting most of the brain's signals to the body, leaving only the essential commands, the ones going to his heart and his lungs, alone. His eyesight goes dark then lights up in color, showing the startup video of the game he had just logged into.

“In 2023, the discovery of magical energy and its easy production changed the world. Generators could produce magical energy with no pollution and no side effects were seen. The world embraced this clean and limitless form of energy and humanity flourished for a time. However, soon the effects of such energy were seen. Creatures only seen in fantasy started coming to life. Some were not as expected. Devils and Angels, for example, were not what they were made out to be. Several animal species developed into bipedal and intelligent creatures, the changes brought about by magical energy."

He watches as the images play on, showing the magic energy, how it affected lives, how the world got better. Then it showed the anthro animals walking around, most in the woods. Angels, Devils, anthro lions and tigers, even a few dragons, both feral and anthro, show up.

“The governments of the world mostly adopted a policy of containment. However, some humans decided eradication was preferable. This led other humans to teach these new beings to defend themselves. In the end, the creatures proved difficult to contain and war erupted on all the landmasses of the world. Long and bloody, it lasted for half a century before peace was finally obtained, leaving large swaths of the world ruined and few countries left standing. The new world was divided into nation states of humans and communities of these fantasy races living in an uneasy peace."

During this speech, as before, images flash through, showing the violence that overtook the earth and the massive fighting that took place. Elves launching magic balls against tanks bearing down on them. Humans firing machine guns into one wolf swordsman while another, shielded by a spell from a mage behind him, is raising a sword to strike.

“Of course, the world is not a safe place. Dangers exist everywhere, from bandits and rogues plaguing the lands owned by the creatures of Fantasy to the rogue states out for their own gain in human controlled territories. Also, from the blighted areas in the world come the Endarkened, a race of monsters from nightmare who plague both factions' territories where old battles took place. These forces gather in strength, presenting a new challenge to the two factions who only recently found peace.

Welcome…To Terra Nova."

The title of the game shows in big letters in the center of his vision, then moves to the top, a standard login screen appearing before him. He speaks his name and then his password, the font fades, and is soon replaced by the vista of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., Human Faction Capital City, United States of America (Virtual)

Ah…release day. A whole bunch of newbs running around looking at all the weapons they can buy, imagining all the adventures they'll have. Bordraab smiles at this and shakes his head, continuing on down the street. He had been beta testing Terra Nova, the newest game to hit the Virtual Gear, ever since it had left Alpha testing. He had helped work out nearly every single bug in the game and was glad that so many people were getting on now. It was going to make the game so much more fun.

Bordraab wasn't your typical person however. He has a tail! A monkey tail, but anyone who has ever seen Dragon Ball Z knows what that tail means! He has it wrapped around his waist as he walks, secure and out of the way. It was one of the options for human characters. Add a monkey tail! Because that whole theory of evolution thing says humans came from monkeys. Course, most of the DBZ fans who play the game took that as an opportunity to make themselves a Saiyan. Most even took Saiyan names, or names that resembled them, just like he did!

As Bordraab walks, he notices that most of the streets are slightly empty. Oh well, it was to be expected. Most of the players who had started testing Terra Nova had chosen to go with the fantasy faction instead of going with the much more difficult to master Tech faction. Learning how to use a sword, or magic, is easier than learning guns in this game. The devs had gone out of their way to make sure there was a balance in the game, and one of those things was that it took almost as much skill in the game to fire a gun, or drive a vehicle, as it did in reality. Sure, controls were simplified for tanks and aircraft, but that was the only thing. Most gamers couldn't handle the recoil of a rifle, or weren't patient enough to learn proper stances for shooting and how to tend to your weapon.

Meh, there were enough of them to make any Skirmishes fair, at least! He stops and looks in a car's side view mirror. He stands about 6' tall, an inch higher than he was in real life but hey, he could go with that! His body was also athletic, more in shape than he was in real life. He pushes that thought aside. Come on, this is the internet. No one is fat on the internet. No one ever farts on Facebook. Everything is supposed to be ideal! He is playing his role as the fit soldier.

He straightens out his camouflaged uniform, designed to mimic the appearance of the US Marine Corps' digital camo. Whoever had designed it had done a great job! He dusts off the patch that identifies him as a beta tester and walks on, some of the newbies getting out of his way and staring. While they were level 1 with just barely enough skills to shoot straight, he was level 10. He was already ranked as 'proficient' in his use of pistols, carbines, and rifles. He was also ranked 'expert' in use of a tank, which had gotten his guild, all beta testers of course, to promote him to platoon leader. His job was to look at these newbs and pick out a good crop of tank drivers, then bring them along for more intense training. After all, only the best could make it into the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit! He clasps his hands behind his back as he walks, enjoying the attention he was getting.

He smiles, stopping as he comes to an opening, and looks at the view of the city as best as he can from here. The city isn't exactly a perfect copy of the real city, but the major landmarks are there. He looks up at the Washington Monument and smiles. He was so glad that the popular idea of having the capital city of the 'surviving' country in the game be the starting town was taken by the devs. If you logged in from the US, Canada, or Mexico, you were spawned in at Washington, D.C. In Europe, it was in Moscow. In Asia, it was Tokyo. The whole city was divided into sections so that no one section got way too overpopulated. The Beta testers were given a special privilege, to spawn in next to the major monuments. There were even Fantasy faction cities for Fantasy characters to spawn into. He takes a step out and goes over to where his tank is parked, jumping up onto the armored body of the M60A3 and leaning back against the turret. Already there were interested lookers. It sucks being on display…but orders were to do it to attract those who want to be tankers.

“Sup Bor!" Says a familiar voice. Bordraab looks over to see Kthla walking over. He smiles and waves. “Sup K. Glad you made it." He says to Kthla as he makes his way to the tank. He was about 5'9" tall, average build with a business suit on. The business suit looks a little snugger than it would in reality, but that's because Kthla is a German Shepard. His ears are standing upright and alert, the bushy brown tail capped with black along the top swaying lightly behind him as he walks. “I see you managed to decide which breed of dog you wanted to be." Bordraab says, grinning. It had been a subject of no small amount of brain sweat for Kthla's player. He had spent days agonizing on the decision and had gotten permission from the devs about five times to change the breed until, last night, he had finally called up Bordraab in reality and told him that he had finally gotten the one he likes. “Glad they let us beta testers keep all our stats." He says, deflecting the criticism. “It would have sucked restarting my company. How do you like the ERA armor I had put on your tank?"

Bordraab smiles. “It looks like it can do the job." He says, looking down at the packets of explosive reactive armor spread across his tank. “Should stop a spell sure as shit."

“You betchya." K says, leaning against the front of the tank. “Can't wait for the skirmishes to start up again. You can show all these nuggets a thing or two about tank fighting."

Bordraab nods, looking out at the newbies as they walk along, trying to get weapons and familiarize themselves with them. As he looks around, he sees reporters wandering around, recording everything. NPC reporters. No doubt they were broadcasting to the major gaming networks on the internet. Yeah, things here were turning out just like real life. Hopefully the devs didn't program them to take after real world reporters TOO much.

Dallas, Texas

Stella Davidson smiles as she looks at the monitor of her laptop as she cooks up in the kitchen. She was cooking for herself and her daughter, her son recently having moved off to college. He had said that he would be on the video stream of gamesworld.com, so she has it on there. She adores her son, to her he means more than life itself. A symptom of his father leaving her for war in Afghanistan and never coming back. She sees him and smiles. Leaning against that tank, he looks a bit like his great grandfather did. That buddy of his in the business suit wasn't looking half bad either. If only he wasn't a dog… She shakes her head. The furry community was beyond her. How could they find that any more attractive than a family pet was? As the reporter starts going on about the profession system in the game, she turns and works on dinner more.

As she cooks, Stella peers over her shoulder at the reporter going on and the camera going over the crowds. It seems like this 'human faction' had humans…and sort of anthro versions of the animals humans had domesticated, mostly dogs and cats, but there were a few horses walking around. Crazy…well, online trends. Who could say what they'd do next.

Kel'thazar, Fantasy Faction Capital City

Halfway across the virtual world, an entirely different story is starting off. “~Ahhhh…it took me HOURS to get it just right, but here it is~!" says a young woman, mostly to herself, looking at herself in the reflection of a shopkeeper's window. Indeed, it would take 3 hours to make a near picture perfect re-creation of the character Rias Gremory. She had the bust size just right, the hip shape, the eye color deep blue. She even has her devil wings looking like hers, thin and arched, yet still graceful. And pure black. Devil wings should always be pure black. The only unfortunate thing about her outfit is the pathetic mage robe she has on. It clings to her body, showing off her curves, sure, but beyond that there's not much else about it. Just a plain, brown and BORING. She puts up her wings and turns around, brushing her crimson hair aside. A fox guy looking at her quickly averts his gaze and walks off, acting as if he had not been staring at the bombshell.

“Looking good, Rias." Says a familiar voice from nearby. “You too, Akeno." She says, grinning a grin she had practiced in front of a mirror for so long. Her friend, best friend in real life, walks over to her, the spitting image of Akeno from the same anime. Right on down to the long pony tail that flows behind her as if it were a tail. She has on that same unfortunate looking starter robe and outfit, but hey, they could change that! They weren't beta testers, so they'd have to get the money. The two of them high five, ignoring the people around them who are staring. A few are obviously reporting them but they don't care. The most that would happen is they'd have to change their names. “Come on! Let's go see what we can buy!" Rias says, grabbing her friend's hand and running off through the sea of Other Folk walking around the city in the forest.

Five minutes later, the two of them are walking along the streets sighing. “I didn't know we'd only have 50 copper a piece after finishing the tutorial. Man this sucks…it costs a whole silver to buy that nice outfit." Akeno says, sighing. “I know…but hey, we can quest soon and get up enough money for it!" Rias says, trying to cheer her up. “Or…maybe we could get a beta tester to give us some money." Akeno says, grinning, thinking of ways she could 'entice' a beta tester guy to give her that money. Perhaps one of those dragonkins she's heard about. That way, they could get a strong defender with them as well! They both blink and stare as a vixen who is the spitting image of Krystal walks by, full of self-confidence, pretty much strutting as she walked around.

“Hello! How are you?" asks a female elf, another elf behind her holding up a camera. “That's an interesting avatar." The reporter says, holding the microphone to her. “Uh…uhm…thanks?" Rias says, blushing a little bit. She was never good being the center of attention, though deep down, part of her thrills at it.

“What gave you the idea?" The reporter asks, the camera panning between her and her friend.

“Oh! Uh…we modelled these avatars after our favorite anime characters!" Akeno says, putting a hand on Rias' shoulder.

“That's right, I modelled mine off Rias Gremory." She says proudly.

The reporter nods. “Well that's nice. It must have taken a while to get it right."

Akeno and Rias nod, the reporter turning to the camera. “And with that, it's just about time for the opening ceremony!" The reporter moves on, Rias and Akeno doing the same thing. “I hope I'm never on camera again!" Rias says, embarrassed.

“HELLOOOOOO GAMERS!" Comes a booming call (was that claptrap?) that seems to issue out from right overhead. Lucky them, they had ended up standing underneath one of the loudspeakers. The two girls chuckle a little bit. “WELCOME TO TERRA NOVA!" Fireworks start to shoot up in the sky and people start to cheer, Rias one of them, smiling happily at that and grinning. Akeno is clapping and jumping a little bit at the fireworks shooting into the sky.

The scene was much the same in every capital city across the world. Fireworks are cheap when they're just digital constructs, after all. “Thank you all for purchasing and for logging in for our startup! A record 20 million people are online right now around the world!" More cheering, less this time but still there. When it dies down, the voice continues. “By now some of you have noticed that there is no logout button. This was an intentional design feature programmed in by the core programmers. Everyone who is online now will stay in game until it's complete! Isn't this great?"

Bordraab blinks. “What?" He flicks up his finger to bring up the menu, scrolls down to where the logout button is and…it's not there? “WHAT?!" It's an almost synchronized call, as most had gone to check at the same time Bor had.

“That's right! You see, we designed this game with one thing in mind. Every generation has had its challenges, except this one! So we figured we'd give you one. None of you can log out. If you die in game, you die for real! Isn't this awesome? Your dream of living in a virtual world has finally come true! Just so you know, if someone attempts to remove your virtual gear, you'll still die. The thing IS linked into your brain after all!

Now, as you all know from reading the backstory on our web site, there is a Darkness in this world. The Darkness is going to start moving eventually, this is for sure! Question is…when? It's kind of an important question, because like I said, if you die in the game, you die in real life! It would kindof suck too, considering that all major events that happen in game will be broadcast on the internet! Nothing like having an audience to watch your exploits, am I right? Well, good luck to you all. I've got a lot of work to do! Until next time!" The voice of claptrap cuts out. Bordraab is hardly able to believe it. Based on how everyone else is looking, the feeling isn't exclusive to him. “Uh…what?" Kthla says, looking around, his ears flatting just a bit. “Was that claptrap telling us we're stuck here? It has to be a joke." He says. Bordraab shakes his head. “'Fraid not. Check your menu." Kthla does just that, scrolling down and going wide eyed, his ears perking up in surprise. “No…way…" He wheels on Bordraab. “You mean we're stuck here?!" He asks, an edge of panic in his voice as he grabs onto Bordraab's uniform blouse. Bordraab nods, and at that nod Kthla groans dramatically and sinks down off of him

Dallas, Texas

Stella had long since changed the channel to her regular news outlet and now drops the knife from her hand and stares in shock and horror at the television as the news breaks. “Madmen hijack game, 20 million stuck in Terra Nova video game." She can't believe it. That is the game her son is on. A deep, dark, seemingly bottomless pit of despair opens up in her stomach. “Oh no…" She gasps and sinks down against the counter, slowly sliding down until she is sitting on the floor, so shocked she doesn't know what to do.

It takes a good five minutes before her daughter comes downstairs, wondering why she smells something burning. “Mom, dinner's burning." Says the 12 year old girl. “Mom?" She comes over, into clear sight of the shocked woman. This does seem to have some effect. She gets up and turns off the oven. “Stay here. Order pizza. I'm going to go check on your brother." She says, double checking that the oven is off before heading out the door in a fast walk that turns into a run as she gets out of sight.

Kel'thazar, Fantasy Faction Capital City

“NO WAY!" Yells Rias, sinking down and holding her knees. “This can't be happening! It can't!" She says, tears on the verge of spilling from her eyes. “We can't be stuck in here, we just can't!" She says, struggling not to cry. Akeno kneels next to her. “It's ok, it's ok…" She says, not feeling much better but knowing she has to be strong for her friend. “It's just like it was before, just…more attached to it. They didn't say there's no resurrection right? We can revive someone as long as we catch them during the resurrection timer." This does bring some little amount of comfort to Rias. “Just…we could die. And I could never see anyone ever again…" She says, sniffing. “I'm scared." She says, looking at Akeno, who smiles and hugs her. “Come on, we'll find somewhere to get some food."

Washington, D.C., Human Faction Capital City, United States of America (Virtual)

A few hours later, Bordraab is in a meeting in his guild's temporary headquarters. “This unexpected circumstance is getting to us all, but we need to keep this discussion on course!" Says the leader of his guild, General Nifka. The general, a tough looking human, looks around the table at all his commanders, almost every one of them looking scared and uncertain. “Dammit all to Hell, we are the Beta Testers! The new players are going to look up to us for guidance. How do you think they'll feel if they see us all afraid?!" He says. “Now, we will move out to where our base is and begin leveling up. When the shit hits the fan, we need to be able to show everyone that we can handle everything. Let's head out. Everyone load up. Colonel Corn, get the new recruits you guys picked out today loaded up. Everyone else, move out!" Bordraab gets up with the others, some backbone back in them now with direction.

He heads to the door and as soon as he heads out he sees Kthla there. He pats Kthla on the shoulder. “What's going on?" He asks his friend. Kthla's ears flick around for a second before he answers. “The CEO's are scared. They don't know what's going on, but they're all sure that our families will get us to hospitals. It'll probably be along the lines of all of us passing out, or waves of us passing out. Something like that." He says. “We can't very well play the game if our bodies wither and die in the real world…" Bordraab says, agreeing with him. He strokes his chin in that way that he does whenever he's thinking about things. It used to be stroking his goatee but his real world job wouldn't allow that. Well, no sense not growing it back! “Come on, let's head out. We've got some work to do."

Human Faction Territory, Guild Base Zone 4

Bordraab facepalms as he looks at the line of raw recruits along the firing line. “No no." He says. “Why are you all afraid of the recoil of your rifle? It's something you have to get used to." He hears the drill instructor snap. “I know you're all level 1 newbies but give me a break! Not a single one of you HIT the fucking TARGET! Now calm the hell down, aim down your SIGHTS, and do it again." He says. Again the guns start cracking off, with three targets…out of twenty…falling. The ones who hit their targets grin as they are granted experience points. The others start adjusting their sites. Bordraab knows these green recruits are going to be the new tank corps and he's here trying to find himself a group to get as his tankers before the best ones are snapped up.

A loud yell from the other side of the range, the shooting range for infantry, catches his attention and he looks over. “Did you see that, Miu?! I hit it!" A young boy, no more than 18, was saying, pointing to a destroyed target. “Yeah yeah, but watch this…" The woman, a bombshell blonde, says from beside him. She shoulders her weapon and, while standing, hits a target from 200 meters. The two start going into competition of pounding on medium to long range targets with M-16s. Bordraab idly notices they are firing M16 models, like the original, instead of the M14s that the tanker wannabes are shooting. He'd have to get one of those and practice with it.

Outside Kel'thazar, Fantasy Faction Capital City

Rias pants as she launches her attack at the last member of the NPC party attacking her and Akeno. A pack of wolves had surprised them while they were gathering healing herbs and they had been dealing with it. As the magical bolt, bright crimson in color as if to match its killing intent, hits the target and destroys it, she jumps in the air cheering. “Alright!" She calls out, watching her experience bar go up. “Ding! Level up!" She says, grinning. Akeno grins right back, giving a thumbs up. “Me too! We rocked it!"

After the shock of finding out they were stuck in game had worn off, the two of them had set about leveling up their core skills, starting with herbs. That ended with them leveling up their magecraft. The beta testers in the area had seemed to have vanished from the area just as soon as the announcement had gone through, leaving all the newbies to level up on their own. Rias had never thought 'pro' gamers could be so selfish, but there it was! As she and Akeno continue to pick up herbs, a voice chimes in from behind. “You two look like you know your way around your spells. Mind if I join you as a front guard?" Rias looks behind her and sees an elf, purple hair flowing down to mid back, standing there, hand resting on the hilt of her sword on her hip. “I recognize that character." Akeno says. “You did a pretty good job imitating Miya from Sekirei."

The purple haired woman nods. “Yes, in fact, it's also my name, both here and in the real world."

Rias looks at her. “How do you know that?!"

Akeno simply shrugs. “Teenaged brother and an anime with lots of boobs showing, plus the girls there kick ass."

Rias sighs and looks at her. “So, you want to join up with us? We won't say no." She says, smiling, realizing only after the fact that it sounds either desperate…or slutty. Miya simply smiles. “Then we've got the start of a guild, don't we?" She asks. Akeno grins. “Two more people and yes!" Rias grins as well. A guild would increase their ability to survive by…well, a LOT! A growl from nearby interrupts their conversation though, a fresh pack of wolves coming out, growling. Miya draws her sword and dashes to get between the wolves and the spell casters. Rias throws up her arm, gathering up the energy needed, while Akeno throws her arms in front of her. As Rias gathers crimson energy, Akeno gathers up green energy. She yells “Shield!" and lifts up her hand. As she does, a shimmering green barrier flashes into existence just over the clothes Miya is wearing.

Miya dashes forward, quick as a fox, and slashes out with her sword, catching one of the wolves and dealing enough damage to kill it. Another wolf pounces at her and hits her, but bounces off the shield, only to have a flame bolt slam into it from Rias, sending it to the ground and catching it on fire. As Miya spins with her blade to strike a third wolf, the third wolf is hit by both a firebolt and a lightning bolt. Miya grins, she definitely made the right choice here.

Neutral Territory, United States of America (Virtual)

“We must work together." Says an imposing looking angel, standing from his seat. “We do not have time for this bickering." He is glaring at a human and a lion who are almost at each other's throats. For the last hour, the Human faction and the Fantasy faction had been in meetings, trying to work out how to work together. All their players want to leave, want to go home to their families, but they are stuck here in this virtual world. Now they are arguing about how best to manage an economy. “If this cat would simply learn how to run an economy…" The human starts, with the lion immediately starting in as well, “It's not my fault that such a weak person would need to build things instead of simply matching an opponent on the field! Why do we need…"

“STOP!" The angel yells.

“We all know there are differences in our factions. That's how the game was designed!" says a Tabby cat in a business suit, sitting next to General Nifka. “We can produce anything and do it more efficiently than your blacksmiths and forgers can do it. Why not let us make your stuff?"

This gets a growl from a dragonkin, a big, burly, black dragonkin who looks exactly how you'd expect a blacksmith to look. “Yeah, and any enemy with any flexibility would be able to get around it." He snorts, having more faith in personalized weapons with magical enhancements than with factory produced weapons that fire factory produced ammunition.

“I'll take my guns over your knives any day, lizard!" The cat hisses back. This gets the dragon on his feet. “You want to try me, cat?"

“Nothing there to try."

“Enough!" General Nimka says, leaning forward. “Our economies can support our own troops, we don't necessarily need them in order to win various battles, only to resupply. What we do need is a unified chain of command." He says in a calm, flat tone.

“And who would lead our troops? You? You don't have any qualifications in leading anyone." A general from the Fantasy side, an Elf, says to him.

“I have spent years in the US Army…"

“Not anymore. Otherwise you'd be still there. The Army didn't allow its ACTIVE DUTY troops to play the game! Now we know why." Says another Fantasy side general, this one a devil…with a thick Mexican accent. It's clear English is not his primary language.

“Maybe in your country but not mine! If your country didn't let your fucking cartels get so out of hand…"

This back and forth goes on, with increasing intensity, for a few more hours. Real world politics, political beliefs, even their egos as pro gamers, regardless of whether or not they ever actually competed, keep on getting in the way of any real progress. It's not long before the two factions, each without a definite leader for their own sides, finally give up and leave the neutral meeting ground. Cooperation between the factions was out the window.

Dallas, Texas

Stella paces back and forth in the dorm room at the University of Texas in Dallas. She knew she shouldn't have let her baby boy come out here on his own! She should have insisted he commute from home! Now look at him. He's lying there in his dorm room bed with that Virtual Gear on his head, plugged into the wall. She doesn't know if she can move him or not because she doesn't know if it'll kill him or not to do so. She starts crying again, for the third time in as many hours. How could this have happened to her baby boy? HOW?! She swears to herself again, for the tenth time, that once he's out of there he would never be allowed to even look at a computer!

Her son was laying there in his dorm room bed, an IV hooked up to his arm, providing him with the nutrients he needs to stay alive. Soon, a doctor comes rolling in. Report is in. Your son is asleep in the game and the company who owns it said it should be safe to move him." He says. He unplugs the VG and two nurses come into the room. They move him onto a stretcher. “We can bring him to your home so you can supervise him." He says. “A truck will come by each day to deliver the IV bag you'll need to pump into him to make sure he's fed as well as IV fluid for the day."

Quick as all that, they are all out the door, driving her son back to her house so she could establish him in his room and tend to him herself. Hospitals were full to bursting already across the world with people without immediate family able to take care of the victims. Some of them had already died, kids well under the age limit on the game's ESRB rating system. The company that made the game explained this as the kids not being able to handle the game, either its combat mechanics, the mental stress of playing it, or whatever. Still, the company is extremely mortified with what's going on. It had turned over all data about the game to the authorities, as well as a complete player list, but it did no good. The game had a failsafe to prevent this sort of thing. If the servers got turned off without the players being logged off, the players would all die. The company had announced that it would help pay for any and all medical expenses, including funeral expenses, if the government would assist it. The government had agreed to this request.

At least her baby boy wasn't dead yet, that's all Stella cares about as she drives home with the ambulance following her. It takes a full hour to get home, but the battery in the VG would last that long.