Genre: Speculative Fiction/Fantasy
Classification: Short story, series
Inspiration: .hack//SIGN, the Final Fantasy series
Author's Notes: I originally wrote this in the fall of my senior year of high school for my creative writing class. So, basically, the initial idea of this is over three and a half years old now. When I wrote this, MMORPGs were few and far between...in fact, the only ones I had heard of were the games in the .hack anime and I think EverQuest (although only .hack had an active influence, as only my older brother's friends were into EQ). Not too much has changed in the story's layout since then, with the exception of the summer after my first year of college...
Special Note: There is a creature further down which is described as a crossbred T-Rex with an octopus as a head. When I originally wrote this, I didn't even know about the Cthulhu Mythos.
Also, pardon grammatical errors. >>;
Comments: Welcomed and encouraged
Far From Reality
Lieutenant Greye was crouched in a defensive position in the corridor with a semi-automatic shotgun slung over his shoulder. He glanced at his watch then at the seven other men and women wearing combat fatigues along the corridor behind him. "Alright, kids. Sit tight. I'll check in with the squads, and we'll be off."
He clicked his headset on channel three. "Sergeant Gomez. This is Lieutenant Greye. Report squad status and location."
After a few moments, Greye's radio crackled to life with the reply. "Lieutenant Greye. This is Gomez. My squad has completed its sweep of sector three. No resistance encountered. Request permission to meet up with squad four. They are a few hundred meters west of my location and stationary, sir."
"Permission granted, Gomez. Radio back when you reach them."
"Roger that, El-Tee."
The soldiers in the corridor with Greye relaxed a little bit. Greye switched to channel four to call up squad four. "Sergeant Kristof. This is Lieutenant Greye. Report squad status and location."
This time, he had to wait a bit longer and was about to repeat his message when the Russian's thickly-accented voice filtered through. "Da. This is Kristof. Skvad hass completed checkink of sector four. Some reziztance from humanoidz. Lost Edwardz. Jameezun iss injured. Only minor movement remainink on the GPS, headink towardz us from the east."
"Roger that. It’s only squad three. They’ll be joining your squad. After they do, report back to the northeast corner of sector one. Do you copy?"
"Da."
Two down, one to go, thought Greye, taking off his helmet and pushing a hand through his thick, dark brown hair. Channel two. "Sergeant Greye. Report squad status and location."
"Whazzat, bro? Repeat last transmission."
"That’s Lieutenant Greye, Sergeant. Report the status and location of your squad."
"My apologies, Lieutenant. My squad is finishing up its sweep of sector two. We encountered two rather large humanoid guards and a small rodent-scout just outside a corridor leading to a chamber. We killed the guards without any casualties. The scout fled, and we are in pursuit."
"Good job, Sergeant. Where are you now?"
"We've just now entered the chamber. Ceiling vaults up immediately, at least a hundred feet. Rodent scout, or the remains of scout, found. Body appears to have been torn in half, most of the bones have been pulverized…Schematics for the complex show that this chamber is parallel to the corridor where squad one is situated, and...oh my god...All units, open fire!"
"Sergeant, what's happening? Sergeant!" Lieutenant Greye shouted, trying to reestablish communications with squad two, but he knew it wouldn't work. Even he could hear staccato machine-gun fire and unearthly roaring filtering through the walls. He switched his radio to spam the other two squads. "Squads three and four! Report immediately to squad two's current location. Squad two is under attack. I repeat. Report immediately to squad two's current location. They are under attack"
Greye turned to his squad's demolitions expert. "Richardson. Blow a hole in this wall."
"Right-o, Leftenant."
Sergeant Richardson reached into his demo bag and pulled out a pack of C4, which he placed on the wall about halfway up. "What's that?" asked a private.
"Just a simple plastic explosive pack. It'll blow a roit big hole in this wall. You moit want to step back a ways before Oi set her off. Otherwoise, you'll be playin' a harp and floatin' from cloud t' cloud wi'h li'l, feathered wings."
Richardson prepared to flip the switch on the detonator, when a body crashed through the wall ten feet away. Greye started giving out orders immediately, shouting to be heard above the sudden crescendo in volume. "Richardson! Hughes! Check on that body; see if they are all right! The rest of you – safeties off; follow me!"
As Lieutenant Greye and his squad entered the vast chamber, they caught sight of what looked like a horribly malformed crossbreed between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an octopus towering at least a dozen feet above them. He pulled the trigger of his semi-automatic shotgun, peppering the creature’s side. "Shoot to kill, boys! Fire at will!" he shouted unnecessarily.
Greye smiled with twisted glee as the soldiers fired at spots all over the beast's body. At the same moment, the fourteen soldiers of third and fourth squads, minus Privates Edwards and Jameson, entered the chamber to backup the four remaining troops of second squad.
The beast was bewildered. It roared in confusion and lunged forward with its mouth open. Sergeant Greye and one of his squadmates threw fragmentation grenades into the drooling mass of teeth, and approximately three seconds later, the gargantuan’s head exploded, spraying a thick green slime over the soldiers...
- Mission Complete –
Date: 12-03-20__
Time: 0hrs 37min 22.4sec
Kills: 17of17
Accuracy: 99%
Casualties: Private Jones (KIA)
Pvt Michaels (KIA)
Pvt Edwards (KIA)
Pvt Adams (KIA)
Pvt Jameson (WIA)
Private Hall (WIA)
Would you like to sign off the Internet? Yes/No
Date: 12-03-20__
Time: 0hrs 37min 22.4sec
Kills: 17of17
Accuracy: 99%
Casualties: Private Jones (KIA)
Pvt Michaels (KIA)
Pvt Edwards (KIA)
Pvt Adams (KIA)
Pvt Jameson (WIA)
Private Hall (WIA)
Would you like to sign off the Internet? Yes/No
James Greye, seventeen and not very handsome with his lanky frame and sickly-colored skin, clicked "Yes" and leaned back in his chair in front of the computer with a satisfied sigh. His expert "team" never failed him, even though a couple still died from time to time. His fifteen year-old half brother, Timothy, was one of the best. James thought momentarily about the four "dead" soldiers. They'd be allowed back on by the time the next mission rolled around, as would the wounded.
"Hey, Jim!" Timothy called from the first-floor computer room "There are three messages from General Sartell."
Elated, James jumped up and ran down the stairs. Messages from the "General" usually meant promotions. He sat in front of the computer and punched in the required password to view the messages as Timothy leaned over his shoulder. "Hmm. The first message is a list of promotions. You and the other three sergeants, Gomez, Kristof, and Richardson, got promoted up to lieutenancy. Private Almann got promoted to sergeant for her assist in killing the mission boss, and I finally got promoted to captain. Woot!" James threw his arms up in the air before typing a quick reply.
"Okay. Second message.
"'Capt. James Greye:
"'I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, squads one, three, and four under your command will be turned into separate companies under the leadership of their respective lieutenants. Your remaining strength will be augmented by seven newly-formed squads.
"'Gen. Isaac Sartell'
"'P.S. – As a little congratulatory gift, I've attached a new game I developed to the final message.'"
"Well…That sucks," Timothy remarked.
"Tell me about it. I spent three months making my company the best of the best, and now this."
James shrugged defeatedly. "Oh well. It was inevitable, I guess."
He opened the final message. There weren't any words, just a download link: "Farthest_Fiction.doc". He clicked to open it then clicked "Download". At the same moment, an error message popped up and flashed "VIRUS DETECTED!" Before James or Timothy could react, a bolt of electricity coursed through both of their bodies...
James awoke in a vast field of knee-high green grass with the sun warming his face. At first, he thought he was dead, given the field's startling resemblance to the Fields of Elysium, but shook the thought from his head. If he were dead, surely Saint Peter or, in the opposite case, a demon would have greeted him.
Something doesn't seem right, he thought. He looked down at his clothes. He now wore a long-sleeved, faded brown shirt, which went to the thigh and widened at the wrists, darker faded brown trousers, a wide leather belt around his waist, to which a a long sword in a sheath was fastened, and soft leather boots on his feet. Also tucked into his belt was a pair of overly-large leather riding gloves.
"This can't be happening," he muttered aloud, looking at some eerily familiar "tattoos" on his left forearm.
Suddenly, his right hand began to throb but not in a painful way. He looked at the hand in question and saw a strange symbol flashing softly. It looked as though it went all the way through his hand. The same symbol appeared on the ground not too far away, and a knightly fidure materialized above it. "Greetings, James," the figure said, "Or should I say 'Greye'? This is Sartell. Can you hear me?"
Memory of the downloading incident flashed in James' head as he stared at Sartell. "Oh...my...god..."
End Part One
