Time has always been an unkind mistress. She evades those who need her most, and embraces those who have no idea what to do with her. She slows the most tedious and torturous activities, but allows the few joyful experiences that life offers to pass in a blink of an eye. And never had one felt the violent grasp of that evil witch as Violet Smith did on this Thursday afternoon. To the average high school student, this Thursday was like any other. They'd wait patiently for the bell to ring so that the teacher, Mr. Anderson, would stop droning on about the math that no one made an effort to understand, and so they could leave this hellish plane of existence called school behind them to do whatever it is they wanted to do.
But Violet Smith was not an average high school girl, as much as she may appear as one. To her, this Thursday was special. She had been waiting for it all week. For this very Thursday was the day of the release of a game called Chronicles of Eden. It had been a major buzz among the nerd community ever since Virtual Reality had become a reality. And now it was out. And all Violet had to do was survive ten more minutes of Mr. Anderson and his antagonistic partner named Calculus. However, it seemed that the aforementioned Princess of Entropy, time herself, was also aiding these scum. But no worries. As previously mentioned, Violet Smith was no ordinary girl. Pencil in hand, she brought it down upon the graph paper in front of her, and began doodling away, stripping the awful wench of her power and using it instead to speed through the old teacher's lectures. Before she knew it, she heard a sound ring throughout the class, signalling that she had earned her victory. She quickly shoved her things into her messenger bag and bolted out of the room with the other students, following the crowd until they reached the parking lot outside. Only then did she separate from the blob of high school students, as her car was on the eastern end of the lot. On her way, however, she saw a chubby young man in a Star Trek t-shirt standing in front of four attractive girls, all of which Violet recognized as popular, unlikable girls. One of them was holding something up to the boy, apparently scolding him, and he simply stood there looking scared.
Violet paused. She could see her beat-up, hand-me-down minivan from here. She could just walk to it, get in, and drive home. But instead, she sighed, and looked at her watch. She had time. She briskly walked over to the group, all the girls growing silent as she approached. Now that she was closer, she could tell that the girl in the front was holding a test, one she did rather poorly on. She opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced immediately by a fist meeting her jaw, knocking her to the ground. The owner of the fist, of course, was Violet. One of the other girls, a short-haired ginger, lunged after the one who attacked her friend, but was also struck in the face, this time by Violet's foot. The last two, an Asian and a blue-haired girl, seemed to gang up on her, but both were immediately swept aside by a single swing of Violet's trusty messenger bag. Now, with all of them down for the count, she knew her job was done. The nerdy boy tried to thank her, but she was already walking away by the time he got the chance. She didn't need his thanks. She knew she had done a good job.
Except she hadn't. She didn't do any of that. How could she? She wasn't strong. She was a scraggly girl who spent her weekends trying to decide if the events that took place in Chaos;Head really happened or if it's just about Takumi's decent into madness. She wasn't flexible enough to kick someone in the face. Her messenger bag was not a weapon. Hell, she wasn't even wearing a watch! Besides, even if she were to do all of that, it would all just end with her getting in trouble and having to wait even longer to play the game she'd been waiting for all day. So instead, she did exactly what she always did: she walked away. It had always worked before. So she silently slipped into her car, turned the key in the ignition, and drove off.
Once Violet had gotten into her house, it didn't take long for her to bolt downstairs into her lair in the basement. Her mother was still at work, and her father was overseas as he always was, so she had no one to distract her with a greeting. She booted up her PC, and quickly pulled up the game's webpage. And there it was. a beautiful button to start the download. She pressed it without hesitation, but frowned as she realized that she'd have to wait. But it was no worry, for, along with the download option, the developers also included a short instruction manual in the form of a PDF. Lacking anything better to do, she opened it and began reading. It essentially told her the basics: the process of character creation, the mechanics of the menu, ect. Before she could finish, however, a notification popped up in the corner of the screen, telling her that Chronicles of Eden was ready to play. Not wanting to waste time, she clenched her eyes shut and launched it. A moment passed. She opened her eyes and looked around. It appeared as though she was still in her basement. In confusion, she looked back to her screen to see what was wrong, only to realize that she had to actually make a character before starting. Violet sped through the character creation, for she had already spent all day designing her character in her head. A paladin of the god of valor. This warrior was to have an athletic figure, porcelain skin, and bright golden locks. And she was to be called Lady Lavender, a name that had taken Violet ours to settle on. And with that, her finger launched at the enter button. But only a centimeter above it, Violet paused. She felt like she should mark this occasion with some sort of quote. And, being a major anime nerd, she knew just what to say.
"Link Start!"
Violet woke up in some sort of fantasy-styled city. The last thing she remembered, her computer started spraying sparks in her face, and then her body started thrashing around without her permission, and then she was here, in the world of Eden. She got to her feet and opened up her menu. Before doing anything else, she decided to disable hit counters, making it so the only health bar visible was her own. It would make fights more difficult, not knowing how much damage she would be doing or how much health the enemy had left, but it would also help with the overall immersion, making it all feel more real. Next, the paladin went over to her inventory. She saw that she already had her armor equipped, but not the sword or shield, a combo which she picked to be the components of her main fighting style. So she quickly tapped them, suddenly feeling extra weight on her hip and her left forearm. In addition to that, she also added both of them to what the manual called a "mental hotbar", so she could equip them anytime she needed them. And with that, she closed her menu and stared at the town walls. She knew that if she wanted to progress, she'd have to leave the town walls. And she wouldn't have it any other way.
Upon exiting the city, Lavender found herself in a large, grassy area, with everything one could want: hills, flowers, and slimes. The simplicity of the beginners area made Lavender feel at home. But Lavender did not stop to take it all in. No, she was on a mission to destroy every last one of those slimy bastards. But to do that, she needed to gather her bearings, so she began climbing a nearby hill. Near the top, however, she found a whole new reason of reaching the top, for on the top stood a robotic player. But that wasn't what caught Lavender's eye. No, what got her attention was the giant beast behind him. Depending on the shooter's level, a single strike from this thing could kill him. Lady Lavender did not wait. She bolted in between the two, her shield in front of her, just barely making it in time to deflect the blow.
"Good sir, I suggest you run."
