Chapter 4: The first assignment

Miyo slowed down as she reached the edge of the platform. Her breath hitched and her eyes widened. The city stretching out all around her was simply breathtaking. Although it looked quite ordinary, there was one thing that set it apart from the outside world: the pristine blue sky. Miyo raised her head and took in the blue she hadn't seen in a long time. She then peeked at the sun, immediately bringing a hand in front of her to protect her eyes from it. She could not feel the heat, but just the image of it and its blinding light brought comfort to it. Next, she saw the pillar on which the platform was steadied on. 

"What's this?" Miyo asked Erida, who only followed her with an amiable expression. Her pink eyes glinted spectacularly in the daylight and her hair seemed very soft as it flowed down her back. Miyo pointed to the big, cylindrical structure that supported the small platform. 

"This is a pillar," Erida began. "The dreamland is hovering around it like a neural cloud. You could say that the pillars support the dreamland."

"Pillars?" Miyo raised a brow. "So there are more?"

"Mhm, precisely," Erida then took Miyo's wrist in her hand and lifted it. Around it, what looked to be like a watch, from squarish, green pixels, formed a watch. Miyo, for a lack of a better expression at the newness unfolding around her, could only watch, completely confounded. Erida, surprisingly perceptive for an AI, answered her silent question: "Since your job as an Adapter is to protect this world by fixing the anomalies in the subspace, you need this device to alert you of imminent threats and viruses."

As exciting as it sounded, Miyo couldn't help but be suspicious. This was, after all, a project undertaken in order to ensure the continuation of humanity. This was some serious stuff. So why did it feel like nothing more than a video game?

"Why don't they send AI's like you to deal with them?" Miyo inspected the watch around her wrist.

"I don't really know," Erida shrugged, her robe fluttering as a breeze passed them by, "A design choice perhaps."

"Not that I am really complaining," Miyo squeezed the hilt of her sword, feeling excitement bubbling up inside of her for what must have been the first time in years. "It seemed weird, that's all."

Suddenly, her watch began acting up, its high pitched alarm blaring. Both of them immediately whipped their heads down to Miyo's wrist. Lifting it up, they inspected the alarm. Erida looked rather puzzled. 

"So soon?" She pressed her lips together, a shadow of uncanny concern passing over her face. Then she lightened up just as quickly, perhaps sensing Miyo's scrutinising gaze on her. "Oh, lucky you then! You can enter the subspace."

"How…how do I do that?"

"Just like this!" Erida smiled again, her eyes closing into two half moons before she pushed Miyo to the edge of the platform. Vertigo immediately overtook her senses. The skyscrapers stretched out beneath her and the streets that were snaking around them seemed miniscule, like thin lines of a pencil on paper. They were very high up and she did not know if she could die in this world.

"Wa-WAIT! I'M GOING TO FALL!" Miyo tried to turn around but slipped and fell. "You didn't tell me how I'll enter the subspace! AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Erida only waved at her, her figure growing smaller and smaller as Miyo fell further down. Miyo continued shouting, the prospect of death terrifying. For goodness's sake, she had just gotten here. Imagine if she died and then had to return to the real world to that hag of a nurse and to her quiet, monotone life. She would probably also be disqualified immediately from the BETA test. Surprisingly enough, this seemed enough of a reason to motivate her to get a grip on herself and to concentrate. Erida was an AI, which meant she operated within the parameters of a certain algorithm. Furthermore, this algorithm was constructed by a company that advocated for the salvation of mankind, which meant they would by no means write code that could possibly be harmful to the testers, also known as the real people. She would not die.

With that fear out of the way, Miyo straightened herself up and tried to think of a way. The ground was getting closer than ever. Alright, maybe she hadn't gotten rid of her panic. Shit, shit, shit what was she going to do?

She fell right beside a sky scraper and her terrified reflection watched her back. Damn, her outfit was badass, but she could not afford losing it! Erida, you stupid AI, you suck at giving instructions! 

Just as this thought passed through her mind, her hands moved on their own, taking out her blade out of its sheathe. Lightning cracked around it, all purple with a dark tint to it. Miyo widened her eyes but did not oppose this movement. In that moment, she felt in absolute sync with her weapon. Her hands unleashed the blade and cut up a fissure in the reality of the game. The view of the city beneath stopped, its carefully planned, cubical streets vanished, her eyes being met with the crystal like iridescent fissure. Beyond it, just barely, she could make out the cubic reality of what she reckoned to be the subspace. 

She relaxed all together and let herself fall. She even allowed herself to enjoy this feeling so opposite to flying. She entered the fissure, raising her head to see it stitch itself back together. Guess not everyone can enter the subspace as they please. 

Finally, she landed, plunging her blade into the ground as her legs bent in a kneel. She looked around. The subspace was in its essence quite literally a subspace. There was nothing in it, just amorphous cubic constructions oscillating in height and size. At least, the floor beneath her feet was solid and apparently constant, even if it was made of cubes as well. She raised up and checked her watch. Just as expected, unprovoked, the device projected the hologram of the subspace's map. The red dot on it must be her target.

Like the video game expert she was and because of her thorough experience with quests, Miyo found the target fast. She, however, did not have words to describe it. Everything about it seemed both familiar and uncanny at the same time. Its shape represented something similar to an ape, but its body was black with red, harsh, and cutting veins and made out of the same cubic structures that surrounded the subspace. Its beady red eyes were lifeless and all it wanted to do was destroy. It was as simple as that. The ape screeched and clawed at the amorphous structures, ripping the cubes in their structures apart. 

Surprisingly, it seemed she was not alone on this assignment. From afar, two other people seemed to scrutinise the beast. Miyo watched them, unsure if she should approach them or not. They did not seem older than she was. One was a boy of colour and the other a chubby girl with fair skin. She did pass them by, so she was able to grasp a better look at them. The boy was rather tall but lanky and lean. He had short, curly hair and a square jaw. His pupils were like two black beads inside his almond shaped eyes. He was dressed in a pair of combat boots, loose black pants and a slim tank top that hugged his figure perfectly. His hands sported black leather gloves. In his hands, he had two guns, around which his hands trembled aggressively. In fact, his expression indicated that he was positively terrified of everything going on around him. As if for assurance, he looked to the girl next to him.

Her red hair was tied in a high bun at the top of her head and two, wavy bangs fell from her forehead around her face. As if to match with her red hair, she was dressed in a bright, fiery red dress that split around her knees, revealing brown leather boots. Her shoulders were bare and in one hand she held something that looked akin to a wooden stick. If anything, she looked like something out of a fantasy game rather than the cyberpunk aesthetic both Miyo and the boy had adopted. 

Miyo wondered if that had been Erida's design choice. If that was so, then how accustomed to the outside world and its inner workings was she? Creepy. Midori shivered and ran past the other two. She could make out their voices. The girl's voice was raspy and quite thick as she asked, "Is she mad? Can't she see that thing? Seriously now! Look at it, Lucas, and tell me you're crazy enough to attack it."

"N-no Harper," Lucas stuttered. "It's terrifying."

Miyo now focused on the ape and drowned out their voices. Yes, this thing was scary and could probably crush her with one finger. Worse, she could also not figure why she just charged into battle so impulsively. Was she really so deluded as to think she could easily impersonate those video game characters she loved so much? The answer was yes. In that moment, with her sword in her hand, Miyo felt more alive than ever. She was beyond entertained, she was having immense fun. Would twelve years of professional kendo be enough to see her through this battle? Probably not, but she had to give it a try.

Earlier, when her body had moved on its own to open up that breach to the subspace, she could tell that something inside of her, some sort of code was controlling her movements. Therefore, maybe that same code would carry her through this battle. 

She swung her sword at the ape, aiming directly to its neck. Her moves were coarse and maybe tense. Her responses were tardy and slow. She had quit kendo one year ago, she was bound to be out of practice. The ape screeched and slapped her away. Miyo cried out in pain as she rolled away on the ground.

Alright, maybe her curiosity would be the death of her. At least in this world, as in the outside world she very much lacked it. Now the ape, riled up by her stupidity and impulsiveness charged towards her with a roar. The ground shook beneath Miyo as she tried to stand up. The beast was now hovering over her. It brought up both of its fists then brought them down to crush her.

"Shit," Miyo muttered under her breath.

She closed her eyes, bracing for impact, but much to her surprise, the hit never came. Instead, she heard a gunshot. The gorilla stilled and raised its head in the direction of the sound. Miyo also looked. A few metres away that Harper girl had confiscated Lucas's gun and had shot at the gorilla. Next to her, Lucas was crouched, whimpering as he hugged his head. Sadly, she did not hit its head, but she did succeed in distracting it. Miyo figured she might as well use this moment to put some distance between her and the gorilla. 

She ran behind it. The gorilla, blind with rage, thundered towards the two.

"Harper, it will kill us!" Lucas cried, hiding behind her. Harper's eyes were wide like saucers and she also looked completely confounded and scared.

"Shit! Shit! I didn't think far enough!" Harper continued shooting at the gorilla, missing absolutely every shot she took, only succeeding in riling up the thing even more. Miyo was heaving. Swallowing her fear, and meaning to return Harper's gesture, she sprinted after the gorilla, profiting from it having its attention directed away from her. Just as it was about to reach Lucas and Harper, Miyo cried out sharply and impaled the gorilla from the back with her sword. It screeched again, this time from pain, then fell to the ground, its pixels fading away like smoke. 

Meanwhile, Lucas, completely oblivious to what just happened, continued hiding behind Harper and hugging his head between his long legs as he went on crying out, "We're going to die! We're going to die! I don't wanna die!"

Harper gazed at him with something akin to exasperation in her eyes. She scrunched up her nose and furrowed her brows as she kicked him once and hard. "Get a hold of yourself, you idiot! We just killed it!"

Lucas sniffled and finally raised his head. He looked at the gorilla behind him. "W-We?"

"Yes, we," Harper pointed to herself and to Miyo, "While you did nothing! Coward!"

Then she threw the gun at Lucas's head. Lucas cried out again and ducked. The gun ricocheted then rolled away from them. 

Miyo sheathed her sword and kicked at the evaporating carcass of the gorilla. She kept her mouth shut as she wasn't exactly sure what to say. She had never been very good at dealing with strangers, be it in reality or the online medium. But Harper, at the very least, seemed the most sociable out of all of them. 

"Thanks," She turned to Miyo. "Who knows what could have happened if you ran away."

"I should thank you," Miyo murmured, rubbing her neck nervously. "I would have ended my session sooner than intended."

"Well, seeing you fight made my angry at myself," Harper admitted. "You charged forward so bravely, while we cowered in fear. But I'm glad I took action," She shouted back at Lucas, "Not like this scaredy cat here!"

By now, Lucas composed himself enough to actually join them. "P-please don't call me a coward," He requested meekly as he picked up his gun and stuffed it back into its holster.

"Coward!" Harper kicked him in the shin, making Lucas bend down. "I decide what you get to be called!"

A dash of pink rushes past Miyo's peripheral view, slicing some of her hair off before lodging itself in the amorphous cubic structure besides them. Miyo whips her head around while Harper confiscates Lucas's gun again, her stick long forgotten on the floor. Lucas hides behind both of them again.

"As if an attack from a giant behemoth gorilla wasn't enough!" Lucas groans and complains.

"Oh shut it!" Harper spits back at him. "You're not the one taking the brunt of the blow!"

Approaching them slowly and rather nonchalantly is what seems to be another adapter. This time it is a girl wearing a pink venetian inspired mask. She is slim and of average height. She had a pastel frilly skirt with loads of lace accessories sprinkled all around her body. On her shoulders, she wore a dark pink cloak, out of which her hands protruded, holding a crystal bow. She summoned another pink around, sending it flying rapidly towards Miyo's head. 

"What the fuck?" Harper exclaimed, "She is not supposed to be attacking us."

The unmoving expression of her mask certainly did not give away the answer to her question, it was just cold and perhaps haunting, shrouded by all the cuteness and benevolence the outfit was supposed to inspire. 

Miyo ducked and the arrow lodged itself next to the one before it. Still not discouraged, the bow wielder manifested another arrow, but did not send it flying just yet. Instead, she pointed it to a space above their heads. Releasing her arrow, a crystal dome formed above and a rain of arrows plunged down on them. Miyo tried to deflect most of them with her sword, but some grazed her skin. The pixels of her arms began disintegrating and she freaked out. Harper and Lucas were in the same position. The arrows were inescapable. 

Slashes of blew began decorating the scene, splitting the dome in a thousand pieces. It shattered like glass and a new figure joined their merry party — a girl with a black bob cut, dressed in a black and blue dress with a giant scythe in her hand. Her blue eyes were as cold as winter and each of her move seemed carefully calculated. Her strength need not be recorded, shattering the dome in just a few slashes was proof enough. She descended slowly to the ground, landing delicately without so much as a sound. 

"I don't understand why," were the first words the girl ever uttered, directed at the masked archer. She was the shortest out of them all, reaching Miyo's shoulder just barely. She pointed her scythe at the girl in pink and said, in her tone a tint of exasperation, "I'll delete you, you know I have the power. So scram!"

The archer did not seem at all intimidated, in fact she giggled, her voice melodic and sweet. Miyo felt unsettled just looking at her. Alas, she sighed deeply and gave them a thumbs up. In retrospective, this was a very childish gesture, incongruous to the killing intent that had seemed to lace her attacks before hand. 

Once miss pink was out of the picture, the scythe girl turned around to them, annoyance clear on her face, "She never gives me any breaks! Are you okay?"

Miyo looked at the multitude of cuts on her body through which purple technicolour light protruded. She had, most surprisingly, felt pain upon being grazed. But she kept quiet and nodded. Harper however, made sure to voice their complaints as loudly as possible.

"I did not sign up for this to be killed!" She pulled up Lucas by his collar and picked up her stick again, "I haven't even been logged on for one hour and I had to face death THREE times! THREE TIMES!"

"Three times!" Lucas stuttered beside her, raising three fingers to further emphasise their point. 

"Oh dear," Miss blue rubbed her temples. "Your first experience of the dreamland was meant to be more pleasant than this. You were supposed to walk around for a few hours, play with your new toys," She pointed to their weapons, "And then log out. Assignments aren't usually handed out so quickly nor do they occur so fast."

She brought a hand to her chin and pondered quietly. Much like Erida did, she brightened up in what could be considered fear of unsettling them. Miyo, at this point, began feeling extremely concerned with the state of the dreamland. Alas, she decided to trust the developers. They were a company that had the best interest of mankind at heart, they would not hurt their testers.

"Allow me to make up for it then," The scythe girl smiled apologetically at them. "Let's go grab something to eat. I'll pay."

"We can eat here?" Harper asked. 

"You will not feel nourished, but you can enjoy the sensation of it," She replied. "Anyways, I am Nora! It's nice to meet you all."

Now that Miyo looked better at Nora, she looked very familiar. Miyo was sure she had seen her somewhere before. After all, they were not allowed to choose their avatars in the dreamland, but they could choose their outfits. Therefore, their faces and bodies would remain loyal to their real constitution. 

"Harper."

"Lucas."

Miyo swallowed and shook Nora's hand, "Miyo."

Nora also seemed to recognise her, if the way she held her hand longer meant anything. Nora smiled amiable, "Beautiful names for beautiful people. Come, let's go. The subspace is rather bleak."

With two slices of her scythe at the air, she cut through the fabric of the game and led them all to the surface. The blue of the sky welcomed them again, causing Miyo to stop yet again and gawk at it. Harper, Lucas, and Nora all seemed to share the same sentiment.

"People should hurry up and move here already," was Harper's comment.

"Soon enough, I hope," Nora patted her shoulder. "We— I mean the company has undoubtedly been working very hard."

"The sky is so blue," Miyo let out without meaning, she immediately blushed.

"It's invigorating," Nora agreed and gave her a small smile.

Miyo looked at her for a while longer. She was sure she knew her somewhere but she was too timid to ask, so she just nodded, agreeing.

Nora led them through the city, trying to control her smile at seeing the three of them gawk at the scenery. There were many skyscrapers with reflecting glass and the streets were wide, which probably meant they would soon implement cars as well. Miyo tried to remember the view she had captured of the city from the platform. There seemed to be a scarcity of houses and probably an abundance of apartment buildings. This made her hopeful, maybe a sense of equality and even community could be created if everyone, no matter their status led the same lifestyle.

"I trust you must have questions about the dreamland," Nora began. "I can tell you about it if you want."

Miyo thought back to the information dump Erida had overwhelmed her with. She could wrap her head around it. There were two parts to the dreamland: the subspace and the surface. The surface was dependant on the subspace as the subspace contained all the code that made up the surface. Furthermore, adapters such as them, had the duty of fixing anomalies by fighting them and that took the shape of…animals?

"There is one thing I don't understand," Miyo said tentatively.

"By all means," Nora encouraged her.

"When Erida pushed me off the platform," Miyo began only to be interrupted by Harper and Lucas.

"She did that to us as well!" Lucas and Haper both said at the same time. Then they looked at each other, Lucas sporting an apologetic smile on his face while Harper was utterly livid.

"Seriously! Get a personality and stop copying me!"

"S-Sorry."

"And don't apologise!" Harper gritted out, "You annoy me."

Miyo and Nora opened their mouths to possibly stop their fight from escalating but poor Lucas looked like a kicked puppy and he at once shut his mouth. Miyo figured she might as well continue with her question.

"As I said, when Erida pushed me off the platform, just as I was falling, my body moved on its own and slashed my sword through the air, teleporting me to the subspace. Or at least, creating some sort of gateway. Still, what scared me was that it moved without me commanding it."

"Oh, that's the omicron's power!" Nora informed, matter-of-factly. 

"Omicron?" The other three both quizzically asked and blinked comically.

"That's your weapon," Nora raised her scythe. "And an omicron basically is kind of an assistant. You see, not all Adapters have the ability to fight. The omicrons were created in order to help you fight the lambdas, the anomalies. It has a sort of memory imbued with skills from fighters throughout history that wielded different types of weapons, it also contains a program that helps you delete the anomaly or fix it, depending on what kind it is. You could even say they have their own minds, they're basically AI."

"And you say the thing we fought, the black and red gorilla, was called a lambda?" Harper followed up.

"Yes, like the greek letter." Nora nodded.

"It's interesting," Harper nodded.

"It's exciting," Miyo completed, becoming more and more bold by the minute. 

Without noticing, too absorbed by their conversation they had reached a small restaurant in between buildings. It looked quite out of place but it also gave off a homely feeling. The restaurant was a pizzeria, adjourned with a big red sign imbedded with white letters that read: 'PIZZATASTIC', and a giant slice of pizza glowing right next to it.

"And we're here, come follow me," Nora pushed open the door and a bell clinked, announcing their arrival. Inside, the potent aroma of pizza permeated their noses and threatened to stick forever to their figures.