Arrival

"Mankind, who are we?"

"Why are we here?"

"Who created us? "

"What is our purpose?"

I was sitting on a warm white sofa, watching the wall television. The news was broadcasting a man's speech together with the catch phrase that was big, it wasn't blurry for me to see

"Live: Revolutionary VR technology allows full dive experience, hoax or not?"

It was five years ago, before father disappeared.

I was suffering from nearsightedness, everything far from me was blurry. I can't even see the man's face. All i can see.. is the yellow text... VR Technology.. Full Dive..

The man spoke to the mic.

"In fact; life itself doesn't have any purpose...nor meaning"

"because you who thought of that thought....is just a group of cell, trying to live. Nothing else."

"Or is it?"

"Our race will develope all sorts of things, because we were programmed to"

"That's what we are, Humanity."

"We didn't have wings, yet we went on the moon"

"We didn't have claws, but we made our own... Claws"

"That is the power which we humans have evolved into. The power that made Humanity different from other species of Earth, the greatest tool humanity learned, and that is Intelligence."

He squints at the wall television, and mutters

"Intelligence..."

"Don't believe it? Well, that's your choice, I'm no scientist, nor any child prodigy, but that's what i think of us, humanity." said by the man enthusiastically

"Still, the ability to create worlds. That's like looking into a dark abyss, if it happened, it'll gaze back. It might even come to the time that... we humanity.."

"....might create and know something.."

"We shouldn't..."

The ten year old mutters again to himself

"Mankind, who are we? Why are we here?"

"It's true that we're cells trying to live.. trying to sustain itself, but why did he say that?"

"Is this what they call... an existential crisis?"

A hand touched me from my shoulder, behind the sofa, was father, I didn't see his face though, what i saw is his black tuxedo, and brown pants, he said to me

"It's human nature to create things, if given time, even billions of time, humanity will be or create or know something revolutionary. Mankind will not know repetition of the same thing forever. If it did, then that species have reached their limit, by that time-"

The 10 years old Sen made move

"Big crunch, that's what'll end mankind"

Father patted the back of my head and said

"Well, more or less. For me though, if humanity knew it's last event, then that's the time they'll go extinct."

I said to him

"Why are you using a third person perspective?"

He uttered

"Well! It's kind of uncomfortable if i use first person, you kiddo"

The ten year old looks to his father, and pointed

"But dad, you talk weird"

Father stood up and waved goodbye to mother who was in the kitchen, and said to me

"Heh, It might sound irrational to you, but you'll soon understand when you've reach highschool, Sen-kun"

The ten year old held his wrist and pointed it at the wall TV and turned it off using his orange wristband, while saying

"Father, is it immoral to create worlds?"

"Real worlds, or something similar"

He turns to the door and softly said

"Who knows?"

He grabbed the air and followed

"Father is working on something revolutionary, son. Well, off i go!"

He slammed open the door and ran

But that day, he stopped showing himself.

Dad, why did you leave us

[ 5 Years Later ]

The scene rapidly changes into a battlefield

"You! scout that area!" said by the commander. The situation was rough, corpses of medieval armored soldiers littered the battlefield, there were blood everywhere. The instructed swordsman moved into the area, there he saw in his left and right, bodies of his comrades in armor. Metal footsteps was heard, his body trembled in fear as he saw two enemy soldiers in black with swords in their hands.

The soldier charged, engaging the man in a swordfight, he blocked the first blow but the enemy was strong, his sword was thrown away by the second slash, then the enemy swordsman proceeded to thrust his sword into his belly, killing him.

The man groaned in pain, the white soldiers stood their ground as more enemy soldiers get into their eyes, it was almost all hope was lost. The enemy soldiers wore black armor, their eyes glowed crimson red.

"We can't attack them in this position!" said by the man with a priest outfit, it was a bishop. But as hope was almost lost, a knight with his horse bursts into action, killing the front soldiers, a handsome knight in shining armor.

He said to the Queen, that was commanding the soldiers

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, for I, am he-!"

The knight looks from above as a he was shadowed by a big structure

"Toooweeerrr!" a deep voice falls from the sky, a castle from the sky emerges, crushing the knight into the ground.

The commander saw her comrade die again on her eyes, she fell into her knees, unable to do anything.

The Castle opened it's mouth, a stone mouth, and roared fiercely.

But then, a straight line flew to the castle, slicing it into half.

A woman in armor, appeared on the top of the slain castle monster, wielded a golden sword. It was the Queen.

"My, my, seems that you really aren't well versed at leading troops, Sen-kun?" said by the Queen

And here i am, randomly placing orders on a chess board, as if i have the mood for it. What a pain

He points into the woman and said

"I told you, I don't want to play chess with that woman over there glaring at me"

I was sitting in a box and upfront is a bigger makeshift table where we played chess with Tam.

"Well it's your fault, technically" said by Lei

Wind blew her hair and the loose grass flew into the direction of the wind. The wind went into a straight direction as the houses guided it to us. A big tree was behind me, we used it as our shade. We were in a park like area, where both forces rested, Cenarian and Arcaean, voice of the soldiers were in the tents everywhere.

Lei stood at Sen's right, near the chess board.

Tamotsu moved a piece on the table, whining, he said

"Be more competitive, Sen-san"

Minutes passed, and eventually beating each other in chess. Me and Lei, my partner continued to talk, It's been a month for us to be here on this world, I don't even know what's real anymore. Seems that Humanity surpassed the Great Filter after all, well as if 'someone' is waiting for us out there.

The sound of horses, carts, and children, it resonated inside me.

"Commander" said by the man. His hair was silver like, he had oversized bangs on his left eye, covering it. He also wore a white coat, similar to Sen's assassin robe.

"It's an emergency"

---One Month Earlier--

"Oh? You sure? "

the man asked with his face under a hood so dark his eyes unable to be seen

"I'd super supervise" a man with hazel uniform replied, his face was white, featureless.

-----

-----

[ 8 PM. Somewhere near Kyoto. 2035 A.D]

The radio switched from music into an emergency broadcast

a long two tone pitch sound was emerged from the radio

"This is an em_____ncy broadcast conc_rning a_l citizens inside the mountainous regio__ of Kyoto. For everyone who is hearing this broadcast, please eva___te to the nearest emergency shelter. Ter__rist attacks has been escalated on the mountains of Kyoto, ple- *Radio Static*"

Tamotsu tapped the touchscreen and controlled the circle controls. The sound slowly drooped, similar to that of being remixed. He nods his head into the wheel and said

"Good grief, rebels has been active lately, even our vacation is messed"

I looked to my left and saw a big guy in the driver seat. Gah, the lights inside this car is too bright for me.

Tamotsu is the most athletic one in the group, 5"8 at height and is wearing his school uniform. .

"Get your eyes on the road otherwise we might bump into one" said by Rio while looking outside the car window.

He sarcastically replies

" Haha! No worries, i excelento' at driving sim games so no worries!"

The vehicle they were in was a Tesla Truck.

Sen opens his phone and checked

"We can't rely on autopilot, GPS and SAT comms got messed, no signal either. Might be illegal, but our driver's an experienced one"

He mutters to himself "Something's strange, at this area, Tesla Autopilot should have worked. Maybe buying Tesla was a bad idea for Japanese people, we should have used Toyota instead of Tesla."

"Well, still useless whether which car company i use... it's total blackout here.."

Sen wears his school uniform and he has his red jacket with black pixels on the side of the hips with him.

With his eye sight degrading due to his otaku/Gamer lifestyle, he wears eyeglasses. Height 5"9.

Rio mocks while gazing at the pitch black window

"Attention passengers, the driver is an experienced driver at video games"

"with that in-mind he will also cover our cremating services"

Rio, a girl. She wears her school uniform, has large sized breasts and also wears a transparent low grade eyeglasses. Height 5"5, and probably the smartest one on the group. Her hair reaches her shoulders, colored in black and has a small pony tail on her back.

"Don't be like that Rio-chan, i still have a dream to reach" said by Hiroki as he reaches his hand outside the car window

Hiroki, a boy, as said, small. He's the most obedient one in the group and the "Cutest" of all. His hair is blonde with spikes. He wears his school uniform together with his small green pouch containing his binoculars.

Half weeb/Half normie. Eyes: blue

"i doubt that you can reach your dreams with your size" Kei replied

Kei, a beautiful girl, one who likes to tease her friends and excellent at social gatherings, height: 5"7. Medium-size. Long hair that reaches her elbows, with a scarf on her neck. Black hair, caramel colored eyes.

The whole group fell into laughter with Sen having a smirk into his face while staring outside the window.

The group continued speeding down the mountain road, into the dark, cold night, but a figure was noticed by Sen at the side of the road.

"i think i saw something on the bush" said by Sen in a curious voice

Fear struck the group knowing it could be the rebels

Rio that sat in the middle seat, she holds into my seat and Tam's, she moves forward and i literally saw her breasts bounce. For some reason, i don't want this

"You sure? you have vision problem you know"

The van slowed down as Sen dropped off quickly and walked towards the bush using his flashlight

as he walks

"what the f*ck" he said

"What is it?" Ryuu asks as their companions stood guard.

Ryuu, FPS buddy of Sen, Male, height 5"8. His bangs cover most of his left eye making him look like a ninja, but he's not. His eyes is sharp despite his otaku status; eye color: blue and he's wearing gloves for no reason. Mostly acts in a reserved way. His voice is almost dead.

Sen examined closely the foliage, then he found something

"It's a dog, a stray one i think its-..."

"uh....dead?

The whole group was scared even though Sen talked in a calm but a little shocked manner

"Does it have wounds?"

asked by Kei

"It's dead, well, sort of. It doesn't have any wounds though"

"Then how is it dead then?" Kei asked in a mocking manner. "Maybe it's sleeping"?

"Sorry but I'm not that dumb to say a sleeping dog is dead "

While Sen pokes the dog it was then clear it died hours ago

Still fresh?

What the??

Stop it, my self. Fear is just an emotion.

Still, what caused the black out and the network blown out?

Also, what the hell was that EAS?

"Anyways, let's go home, this mountain road gives me the creeps"

Another Tesla Truck that followed them stopped, their driver, Masao, yelled

"Don't tell me you needed to take a leak?"

Sen replies

"I thought i saw a shadow move on that bush so we stopped and checked it out"

Sen entered the car and closes the door.

The front van continued it's travel into the asphalt road surrounded by trees. It was pitch black and was cold.

Minutes later they arrived at the intersection where the main road is connected.

Kei commented out of suspicion

"that's strange, Sensei and the others is supposed to be at these intersection"

Rio replied

" They ditched us maybe, or..."

The group was struck by fear when Ryuu shouted out of fear

"Get down!"

It was like light from a stun grenade

---------------------------------

----- New World Arc----

---------------------------------

is this a stretcher?

"Get them inside, slowly!"

"Don't drop them!"

"Booting Hyper Dive!"

----

----

----

Sen woke up in an open field

He got up from the field of open grass and his hands was stained by the dirt of the grass.

"Huh?"

"You woke up" he heard a cute voice

"Rio?"

"Sen!" said by the another girl

"Kei?"

"Harem 101" said by a masculine voice

"Tamotsu?"

"

Where are we?"

"Wait... why are you like that?" he asked

He grabbed a dirt from the ground and he looked to it

"This sight... it isn't the same?"

"Ryuu, where are we?"

"Speak for yourself, you're the expert"

Don't tell me...

"We're inside a game?"

"Virtual Reality" Ryuu replied

He touched his head to check for any headgear

"Hyper dive...."

What he said confused the group..

"What do you mean Hyper Dive?" asked by Hiroki

"My dad was an alpha tester for a world changing game he said"

"I think this is what he meant"

"Did your parents sold us off?" asked by Hiroki, confusing the group

Sen didn't reply.. he felt guilty and couldn't look them into the eye

Hiroki approached him and touched him in the forehead and said

"We still don't have proof for that.. right now this world might be your expertise." he smiled

"Sen is now the leader of this expedition group!" commented by Kei

Hiroki was excited and said

"Looks like our field trip got extended"

"Judging from the mangas and novels i read, there should be a settlement East" said by Sen

Wind blows the hairs of the group as a new adventure awaits them

"I'll kick you if we end up dying" said by Rio

"Come to think of it, why do we still have our bags over there?"

He pointed towards the tree, on their school bags.

Kei walked to Sen

"We have our personal effects. Luckily, our phones are still on our bags and our solar chargers are still intact"

"Where's the others?" asked by Sen

"Others?" asked by Ryuu

"The other six?"

"They aren't here" said by Ryuu

Sen's voice changed into a happier tone as he said

"I think we should leave something just in case they also come in"

"Like what?" asked by Ryuu

"Names and direction"

"You're going to write them into that tree? Alright!" replied happily by Kei

The group picked up a permanent marker on Rio's bag and each one wrote their names

Sen Rio Ryuu

Tamotsu Kei Hiroki

Head east if you know us:>

I was an outcast

I was looked down by my peers

They thought i was stupid

But them... this circle of friends..

They took me in and accepted me as a...friend

If this world is a fantasy world

Then an adventure should be waiting for us

By that, I'll prove myself useful.

Sen realigns his glasses and said

"Let's go!"

"STOP IT!" yelled by Kei

"for a minute back there, you said i was the leader" he replied

"Those tracks!"

Kei dashed to the dirt road and sniffed it and examined it

"Huh?"

"Those footprints, those are horses"

"and a straight line..."

"Wooden wheels, este carriages" said by Sen

"

I think we're in a medieval fantasy world... i hope so"

"All of this go east" Kei replied

"Seems that i made the right call" said by Sen with a little arrogant voice

"anyways, C'mon, the sun's going down.. we need to secure food and shelter"

The whole group heads east as Sen taking the lead into the unknown lands

S

en talks to his mind again as usual, spacing out while the others do their thing.

If we were in a video game, why do we even have these stuff here. Well we should should survive for 2 days without food, but never mind that, if we die we respawn, just like MMOs. But do we even respawn here?

Said by Sen as he speaks on his mind as he stares into Tamotsu in his front right

"Uh Sen?

Nothing... "

"Hmmm.... "

[Do i need to push him in a cliff to to test the Resurrection Theory? Hmm] said by Sen as he grins into Tamotsu

"err...You into me Sen? "

"Ehhh? Why?"

"Well you kept staring and grinning at me last minute ago.."

That has nothing to do with "into" explained by Sen

"You got something in your mind? " asked by Tamotsu

"I was thinking of pushing you into a cliff to test Resurrection Theory" answered by Sen

"Ohhhh nice ideaaa" commented by Kei

"battle royale mode, phase one " joked by Ryuu

"if we resort to cannibalism, we should eat the meaty one" said by Rio

Dafuq she just said?

the students fell to silence and looked to Rio

"huh?"

she received a back slap by Kei

"I didn't knew you were into meaty swords, Rio-san"

Rio was confused

The whole group laughs at Rio for saying such unprecedented words

not knowing they have the wrong idea of Rio's words.

"I see, you dirty minded people"

Tamotsu replied and said

"Well... If you're really that inte-"

a swoosh of fire struck Tamotsu's face

"Oh, so we have friendly fire on ...." said sarcastically by Ryuu

"WHAT THE FUCK RIO? AAAAAAAHHHH"

Tamotsu screamed in pain while being burned by Rio's fire magic after she slapped him due to embarrassment.

"Power slap, Nice" gestured by Hiroki

Tamotsu rolls unto the ground in effort to stop the fire, desperately

"Well looks you really like meaty people Rio, you're even cooking one right now" said by Kei

"RIOOOOOOO" yelled by Tamotsu

Rio eeked and ran as she was being chased by Tamotsu, they head east and the others just catched up

"What just happened? Was that magic? Awesome!" asked by Haruki

"We're really in a magic based world huh" said by Sen happily

"Although we need to contact the outside world on why we are here.." said hesitantly by Ryuu

"Maybe we died and we're in the purgatory" asked by Kei

"don't say that" said by Hiroki

Hours passed walking, following the dirt road they found.

As the sun sets up, the students rested on the elevated ground watching the sun fall. Making the group's first view of the sun beauty in the unknown lands.

Sen took of his glasses and wiped it gently, tears was present on the glass, he was reminded of home

"Let's go, we don't want to wander around in pitch black"

Everyone followed and went East, following the dirt road alongside the forest

Few minutes after the sightseeing

faint echoes of death went inside Kei's senses

"uhm..You guys feel that? "

"Feel what?" asked by Tamotsu

Kei ran up to the source of her instincts, just to find corpses of a dead person that resembles an adventurer in comics and 3 decapitated goblins

"Swords? Goblins? Is that.. an adventurer?" said by Sen with confidence

"Judging from the blood color, the enemy might be still here" said by Ryuu in a dead voice

Everyone one looks with confidence to Sen and Tamotsu commented

"Sen makes a good leader with his knowledge at RPG games, nice choice" commented by Tamotsu

"Fine, if someone here needs to die, it's Tamotsu first" replied sarcastically by Sen

"Don't be cold mate, you don't want to be alone again don't you?" said by Tamotsu

"sheesh, Tamotsu get that shield and sword and cover us from that forest foliage, Ryuu get that bow, I'd get the sword. Hiroki and the girls watch the sides that we don't have eyes on. Five meter distancing got it?"

"Will do" said by Tamotsu

"Roger" said by Ryuu

Hiroki nods

and Kei says

"You really make a fine leader"

The whole group converged on the area.

Tamotsu quickly stole the shield and sword from the dead person.

annd Ryuu, drawed his bow shakily on the forest

Sen double checked the bodies if they are they still alive.

The students were shocked by the corpses, it was too realistic for them to handle. Especially for Rio.

"no pulse.." said by Sen

Tamotsu sighed and everyone gave their respects to the dead

"Rest in peace bro" Hiroki crossed signs as he covered the man's face

Sen checked the surroundings and said

"We don't have time to bury the bodies, let's keep going, we'll return once we're ready"

More faint but stronger signals of death appears on Kei's senses

"There's another one, lots of them, nine! over that hill" shouted by Kei

The group hurried as they saw a faint light of yellow resembling a torch and a group of carriages. It was a weapons transport being attacked by bandits. They saw a girl presumably a mage, one guy acting as a tank using a two handed sword, and two identical twins equipped with swords and bows and 5 presumably raiders armed with long swords.

Kei asks enthusiastically Sen

"What should we do, leader?"

Sen smirks with a mischievous smile, saying

"This is where the fun starts"

---To be continued---