1 Prologue: A New World is Release

'Finally... Finally, the beta is out. I can't wait! I still remember the trailer from 3 months ago,' Eldrian thought as he excitedly waited for the delivery in his apartment.

The trailer scene released by Miracle Corporation had been truly different.

—

Instead of focusing on gameplay, the trailer showed a siege. Normal trailers would have a showcase of gameplay. Here, the focus was entirely on the world and NPCs. Perhaps calling it a trailer focused on lore would be apt. 

And certainly, a massive talking point was the breathtaking graphics. There were even arguments that, thanks to the presence of magic in this world, the city and landscape looked even better than reality. Limited only by the poor quality of our monitors to an acceptable quality.

From a bird's-eye view, the trailer started. Showing the entire city and the actions of everyone preparing for the siege. We moved closer, slowly. In what can only be described as a curious bird flying closer to inspect the strange actions of humans. 

Flashes of light occasionally appeared from the strange magical towers. Standing proudly behind the tall whitewashed walls of the city. 

On these walls, soldiers scrambled about like ants. Readying this and that, a constant bustle. Contrary, the city streets were empty but for the occasional rushing soldier.

A deathly silence filled the city, but for these occasional movements of soldiers. A silence filled with tension as many cowered in their homes and prayed for their family -who at least had some fighting experience, be it military or adventure- on the walls. 

The scene continued to move, slowly leaving the walls and entering the city. The trailer did not rush, before it had only shown us the silence. Now it had us experience it. 

A silence filled with tension. The silence before war. Only interrupted by the occasional clatter of metal from the soldiers still moving to their station. These brief sounds added even more to the unnatural tension in the city. 

Next, our view rushed up high and flew around the city. Giving us time to take it all in, at a height allowing us to see the neighborhoods, but not the entire city. 

It was truly a massive city. Truly fantasy in scale. Its size would make little sense in medieval times, probably only possible thanks to the presence of magic. 

In time, the strange pattern of the city became clear as our view increased more and more in height. A top-down view showed how the city seemed to have been made in some sort of array. Like a piece of art with each house and road planned before being built. 

Of the magic releasing towers, there were eight. Equally distanced from each other and forming a circle around the inner city. Clearly strategically placed, perhaps even for something magical. It looked like the city itself formed some sort of massive magical array.

As for the towers, the lack of technology was clear in them, their architecture shoddy at best. Yet somehow they stood tall and strong. The flashes of light adding to their majesty. 

Along with the tall walls, they created a truly imposing sight.

Moments later, the viewpoint changed again. Instead of a bird's-eye view, it was now from the perspective of a member of some council. The room was dimly lit, alluding to the depressing mood filling it.

The council, two females and two males, stood in silence for a moment as they tried to sort out their own thoughts. 

One woman wore a full set of plate armor, making her look far more imposing than she would have in normal clothing. The other wore a beautiful blue and white robe. Yet, for some reason, this robe exuded grace and strength.

On the men's side, one seemed truly exhausted. His clothes were torn and pieces of his leather armor was missing, as if he just barely survived an attack. Shockingly, even with his attire in tatters, no visible cuts or fresh blood was seen. The only sign of wounds being the tattered attire and the dried blood staining what was left. 

The last person was someone you feel you can just forget. Eldrian couldn't even remember this man's features. Be it what he wore or how he looked.

"But Princess Ariella, we cannot repel them. Many of our strongest have gone to the central lands. The same is true of all other nearby kingdoms. Everyone went to discuss how we can fight back against the monster invasion. Leaving us with no means of surviving till they might find an answer." The man in tattered armor said.

The princess sighed as she, too, hated the timing of the attack. Just a week later, and it would not have been so bad. "I don't know, Vardic... We have to try. If Ariel falls, then the kingdom won't be far behind. We must do our best to hold out."

"While that is true... We must try to ensure casualties are minimized. Why don't we evacuate?" Asked the mysterious man.

"It's already too late," Ariella sighed again, wondering just how they had missed such a massive army. Naturally, the reason was obvious: their scouts had been found and killed without even managing a distress signal. 

"I am afraid the most we can do is try to increase their casualties." Said the woman in the full plate armor.

Silence fell again, as everyone knew that this was indeed the case. The strength of the monsters was far too much for them to handle. Even if they still had their missing commanders here, the chances would have been slim.

In this silent moment, the view changed again. This time zooming past the city to the surrounding area. From this vantage point, a massive black mass could be seen advancing in the city's direction.

As the viewpoint neared to black mass, Eldrian could make out more of what the mass was composed of. Many beastlike monsters were in this mass. They looked mostly like mutated wolves, some even pleasing to the eye. Yet they all had one thing in common: they had an air of ferocity surrounding them.

Behind these beasts was a more traditional styled army. Except that this army was mostly compromised out of orcs.

The orcs did not look hideous, rather they looked barbaric but humanoid. Most of them had close to no armor, or even clothing. The females present didn't even bother to cover their chests unless they wore breastplates. Certainly one reason the trailer had had an age restriction.

The orcs marched in a semi-orderly manner, as if they were part of a well-trained group. At certain places in this orderly army, chaos reigned. As soon as Eldrian's eyes were pulled to these places, he saw some truly massive creatures. With a height of almost six meters (20ft), the closest description Eldrian could give them was that of trolls or giants.

This chaotic black mass and the orderly army marched towards the city in a strange kind of balance. Chaos in front and order behind.

After a suspense-filled minute or two, during which the view changed from the frantic soldiers on the walls to the citizens praying in their homes, the siege finally began. The beasts charged crazily at the massive walls.

Soon after they started their charge, commands filled the air. Ordering the soldiers on what to do. Most of whom were thrust into the situation after simply having been given a weapon and told how to thrust out with it. 

Hearing the screams, the soldiers jumped into action unorderly. The veterans all taking control of a small batch of newbies and somehow making things work. Ballista bolts filled the air, followed by massive stones. 

Every bolt would reap the lives of at least three beasts. The stones flung from the trebuchets' claimed even more, leaving a line of mangled bodies. But this did little in stopping the beasts. Rather, the smell of blood sent them into a frenzy. Making them seem even more vicious.

Just seconds after the first siege machines attacked, another type of defense joined the fray. Massive spears of ice formed before those strange magic towers. Each the size of an adult man.

The spears flew from the tower in rotation. The first to fire, firing again after the last. Making the duration during which there was no spears of ice nonexistent.

The destruction and damage of these attacks were immense. Craters of over a meter forming after each hit as the ice shattered and spread. Unfortunately, this did not stop the frenzied charge of beasts. Soon they reached the range where normal archers and mages could release their attack.

A massive wave of arrows sailed through the air. Its effects were simply amazing. The monster mass seemingly stopped for a few seconds. Not due to them becoming scared, but rather the number of monsters that died to the arrows.

But after this first wave of arrows, the next came too slowly and the monsters quickly started scaling the walls with their claws, digging them deep into the stone with every move. When the beasts had reached about halfway up, the soldiers started pouring oil down.

Shortly after, some men in robes chanted a bit before launching fireballs into the mass of monsters coated in oil. This caused a massive blaze of heat to assault both the defenders and attackers.

Regrettably, even this did little to decrease the beasts' numbers.

"Princess Ariella, we have to retreat. While we might be able to fight to a standstill for a few more hours. I can guarantee that our arrows will run out in those few hours, after which the orc army will make their move. We cannot allow our citizens to end up in their hands!" Vardic almost screamed the last part, the trauma of such victims' situation still haunting him.

"I know you are right, Vardic, yet... I do not wish to condemn my people to death. Is there really no way we can change the outcome?" Princess Ariella asked, her voice cracking as she tried not to cry. She knew that all of her people living in Ariel will die today. At the very least, she should offer them this. Being taken captive would bring them misery with no bounds.

"The situation is too dire. We have to retreat soon or we won't be able," Jake said as he kept looking out of a window. Soon he saw the monsters reaching the top of the walls.

"I understand. We will go now. Gather the Hippogriff-guards. We will leave as soon as the magic towers activate Eternal Freeze. Hopefully, this way we can spare the citizens of our capital from suffering, and take out most of those darn beasts!" Princess Ariella said as her eyes showed her resolve.

'The very least I can do is ensure that they die painlessly,' she whispered to herself. The viewers could only hear this because the scene had zoomed onto the princess's face, showcasing her grief and her powerful will.

"Yes." The others answered immediately, exiting the room to go give out the commands. Eternal Freeze was a forbidden spell only intended to be used if victory was impossible. It would turn the magic towers into output devices without limiters.

Coupled with the city array and core, this would cause a massive freeze blast. Killing all the city inhabitants and making the city a frozen hell with temperatures below a hundred kelvin for a few days after.

Because of the city core being part of this spell, the city might stay at this temperature for far longer. Month or years being a possibility.

Less than a minute after the towers stopped firing, an aura of frost was released. This aura fell slowly from the tower, creating soft white mist as it traveled. Spreading increasingly faster as time went by.

As the monsters saw this aura, they started panicking and stampeding away from the city, with many of them dying in the chaos. Only the faster monsters avoided the frost aura.

As this aura was descending, a group of 15 hippogriffs and their riders also flew into the sky from the center of the city.

After the activation of this spell, a last scene of the town was shown, and the audience was then given an incredibly sad scene. The soldiers started crying, some hugging their battle-sworn brothers. The citizens hugged their family, with fathers crying, yet relief on their faces.

They all knew what the frost mist signified.

It was a sign that the city was deemed lost. In order to damage the enemy and give all citizens a peaceful death, their city's forbidden spell had been used.

And within a few seconds of the aura reaching them, completely freezing them in the blink of an eye. Just five minutes after the spell's activation, all that could be seen was a beautiful city of ice.

The city now looked like a piece of art made out of crystalized water. An art piece showing the middle of a war. The citizens hugging their loved ones. Looking as if they were praying that the soldiers will repel the enemy, or celebrating a successful defense.

The soldiers crying and hugging each other on the walls in what almost looked like celebration. If not for the tears staining their faces.

Further on, the frozen retreating monsters could be seen. Making it possible to mistake that the soldiers were truly celebrating their victory, instead of trying to come to grips with their defeat.

Only the orc army was left unaffected. As if they had predicted that this might happen.

This was the trailer that everyone was shown. Not only was it very controversial. As it showed the good side being defeated. But it also depicted the emotions of the citizens so well, all the viewers had felt sad after the ending.

"How was this a trailer and not a tragic movie?" Many of them had thought. This entire trailer was just short of 30 minutes. But the impact the viewers felt was massive. Everyone asked why this was shown. The response from the game creators, Miracle Corporation, was even more astonishing.

"This was not a staged event or recreation. But rather how the game really runs. We have been simulating the game in this state for the past six months. We had some alpha testers join the game to test the deep dive technology and how they felt after going to sleep via the headset. They have not played the game all that much, only testing if everything worked from a technical standpoint."

"The true game test was six months of simulations with only the NPCs in the world."

"From the time the program started, we witness the NPCs growing far more than we expected. Soon, cases like these started because of the event of a monster invasion. They even started preparing to make an alliance. We chose this scene since it happened only a mere two weeks ago."

"'Why did we choose this scene?' you asked. The answer is simple. It shows best how realistic and sad this game can become. How insignificant the weak are to change their fate, and how the strong could control an entire city's death."

"But most importantly, the emotions the NPCs showed. We hope to let everyone know that A New World [ANW] will be different from all other VR games. The NPCs feel, they think, they will do their best to survive just like players."

—

That was the day on which Eldrian swore to himself that he must play A New World. The world looked so vivid. The events were too impactful to even be thought of as a game. This is why he was so excited.

Finally, they were releasing their personalized headset. This headset has been optimized for A New World, and while you could access it via the older models. This headset had an edge that all people craved.

The ability to play the game as you slept.

The concepts were you would enter the game as if you are experiencing a vivid dream. You would have full control of yourself, being able to do what you want in the game. Be it working, learning, or just playing the game.

The reason everyone craved this was that on average this would give everyone an extra 8 hours to spend as they want, every day. Giving people around half a day extra, seeing as normally one would be awake for 16 hours.

Of course, due to this function, the headset was not cheap. Eldrian had to save his money for a very long time. In fact, because of the trailer only being three months before release, he had to take a job to make the money on time.

Luckily, he was always a person who saved his money rather than spending it as if it was just water. Thus, in only two months of working as a waiter, with his normal savings, he earned the extra 500 dollars he needed to afford the headset. The total cost was 5000 dollars.

Eldrian was now eagerly waiting for the delivery to arrive.