Japan's final departure

‘It’s not just a game; it's a battle of life and death. A loud voice announced from Kanazawa Station. As I stopped the train, I heard another loud announcement. “ Slander be Dammed! All slander from the camp of Trekt. Here at Polar, we support life; however, our machines are purely for gaming.” 

“ All passengers, this is our final stop for the night. The time is now 11:54. Thank you for riding with us today!” I announced to the few riders left.

 “ Good work, Ai, you are one of the best for a reason and at such a young age too. I wish we had more people like you.” My boss said with a grin. ‘ She's going to revive our company!’ My boss shouted into his phone, smiling at me.

“ Not at all, Sir, I’m doing what I love and making a living from it. I really couldn’t ask for much more.” I said out loud, although I’m not paid like a top driver cheapskate. I left my job, heading towards my apartment, when a strange shadow loomed in the sky, though whatever cast it wasn’t fully in view. ‘ Man, the moon sure is reflecting strangely tonight,’ An older lady mumbled, closing down her flower shop for the day. 

 I pulled out my phone for the first time in hours, I scrolled the banners for a second checking for any real messages. ‘Hey, when you're off work, come to Eldrathen.’ It was a message from my little sister. I like games myself, but she’s obsessed. It's kinda like our way of bonding, although it’s exhausting after a 12-hour shift. 

 I walked the quiet streets of Kanazawa, still concerned about the shadow that appeared to not just cover Kanazawa but the entirety of Japan. On my way home, I tried looking it up, but it’s as if the search was blocked. Nothing came up about a shadow. I entered my apartment and lay on my bed for a second. I enjoyed the feeling. I started to think maybe I should just blow off my sister, but I decided before I got too comfortable, I should go for a few minutes at least. 

 “ Soul Shatter!” I hate how dramatic it sounds, but it’s the code required to send your soul into the Emniyetli system. It transfers your consciousness into the device, the most immersive console around. 

I floated around for a second before arriving at Eldrathen. I had saved my spawn point at our White Country Mouse guild house.

 “ Ai! How was work? I hope you’re not too tired!” My little sister asked innocently.

“ I enjoyed it. How was your day, Ao?” I asked before flying onto the couch.

 “ It was alright, I guess… Mom loves bragging about you all the time, but not everyone finds your job so awesome…” Ao stumbled through her words.

 “ Ao, are you being bullied? I can help out if you are.” I perked up and locked eyes with Ao.

 “ No, nothing so bad as that. Some kids may poke fun at me, but they aren’t bullies; at worst, it’s annoying teasing, but it’s some of my friends; they’re fun otherwise,” Ao said, sounding a little panicked.

 My head fell back into the couch with the misunderstanding cleared up. I didn't feel the need to push any further. “ I see you're tired; don't feel pressured or anything, but I’d like to go on a quest with you!” Ao held out a sheet with a local goblin gang.

“ Let’s see, the reward is four million Dess! With that, I could get a stat-boosting mattress!” I exclaimed I equipped my wind striker rapier, aptly named Talon, and ran out of the door… I was frozen in place, my body feeling the shock of a hundred thunderbolts. I turned around slowly, fighting every millimeter despite the game's usual pain absorber allowing a little tinge. This felt real as soon as I turned around; I saw the horrified look on Ao’s face. She was frozen in fear, not allowing a sound to escape her lips.

 “ AI, YOU’RE LEG!” Ao finally screamed out. I looked down, scared of what I would find, only to find nothing. The system finally let me go, and in that instant, I collapsed to the ground. I could feel my other leg starting to disintegrate. I looked over at Ao. This time she wasn’t frozen in fear; she was frozen, her avatar disintegrating entirely. I heard screams outside, scanning the area. I saw nothing but darkness and a plant. A huge Venus Flytrap with spider legs the size of the moon was floating there with this wicked grin on its face.

 “ I hope you are all enjoying the show!” I heard a voice announce, however, this voice was familiar, it sounded different than I remember it, I remember it being a rather scornful voice before, but now it sounded almost elated. I saw the outline of the man descending from the beast, then it struck me. The man earlier was talking about slander. Before I had time to process anything else, I was gone, my soul stuck in complete darkness.

 “ Hello, our loyal player base, you may notice now you're not in your avatars, you're in your body. It is regrettable to inform you all, but everyone here with the exception of me is officially dead.”

 A man descended from a platform, speaking before he even reached the bottom. ‘Huh? dead ? What does he mean?’ “ As I am sure some of you saw, there was a giant shadow over Japan that appeared at midnight; right now, Japan as we know it is wiped off the map. The sight you saw over the Eldrathen servers is the beast that destroyed Japan and its creator, Sirio Nayuta. The CEO of Polar Tech.” The man finally reached the bottom, standing eye to eye with all of us. 

I also recognized the other man I heard today, the Emniyetli CEO. “ Everyone, this has been a long time coming. I tried spreading my system as much as possible. It's the only way I could save all of you. I don’t have the same military power as Polar.” He said with great pain in his eyes. 

 “ I truly do apologize, but for once I didn’t have enough money or power to help. I am Austin Blake. I was born into the Blake family, meaning I poured billions into this project. I'm glad to be able to save all of you if nothing else.” His eyes scanned the room gauging the people’s reaction. He expected scorn for not being able to save people's loved ones as well; his eyes were met with so many different emotions, but none were the anger he had expected.

 “ Right, I know this is little to no consolation to all of you, but I have saved your souls in our newest game. This will be your new reality unless however you can’t carry on in which I sympathize. However, your world is gone; this is the only option we have.” He summoned a portal to his right, elevated on a platform. 

“ This portal is for those of you who can’t take it. I beg you, please don’t go in. Your soul will be disconnected as if you were logging out; however, with no body to return to, you will be dead officially.

” He used his system to spawn a second portal to his left. “ This portal will take you into darkness, where your soul will enter a lottery of sorts. Not everyone can be nobles, so I considered this the fairest way possible: you will be spawned into whatever life you draw.” He said, sounding a little disappointed that this was the best his company could do. He had us all trapped in place while he was speaking, presumably because the information was so important that he didn’t want anyone making a hasty decision. “ Ah, and rest assured, in this other world you will all be born as some sort of human; the rest is up to chance. So now I shall release you to make your decisions.” His bindings finally came undone as soon as I could move, I pushed through the crowd of around a thousand people searching for Ao. 

 I elbowed my way through the crowd, screaming out.“Ao!” I moved front to back looking up at the line occasionally seeing if she had gone up already.It’d been a few months since I’d seen Ao; I didn’t know exactly what she looked like. I elbowed my way through the crowd, still screaming, then I heard a soft voice call back. “ Ai.” A hand shot up and started waving. I shot like a train towards her. I ran into a few people stumbling my way through the moving crowds. I finally reached her hand and held on tight. 

“ Ao, I’m so glad to see you’re here!” I hugged her as long as I could without seeming clingy. When I took a moment to calm down, I thought about the people who weren’t here. My mom, my boss, my friends. It’s a lot to take on as a 22-year-old, but I bet when it hits her, it’ll be even harder on Ao. She's only 16. “ Look, Ao, we have to go through that portal, and there’s very little chance we’ll be able to stay in contact. Remember, despite everyone we’ve lost, I still love you!” 

“ Yeah. You remember the same Ai, no matter the distance or situation, we’re still sisters, and I love you.” Ao hugged me for a long minute. She was crying silently at that moment; nothing mattered, the situation we were in faded from our minds, and we found comfort in each other.Ao pulled back; she had a small smile on her face. She wasn’t fully okay, but she was ready to confront this new world head-on.

 “ Let’s find each other, okay? We can become whatever we want if there’s even the suspicion that it’s me- say the name of this company that saved us. Emniyetli, I’ll do the same.” Ao walked forward up the stairs and through the portal. 

“Hey, tell me, is there a way you can track who Ao becomes?” I asked Austin Blake.“ No, sadly, that’s why we did a lottery. There's no way we can track anyone or assign them specific things.” I really understand wanting to watch over your sister, but there’s always a chance you can meet her again. I pray you have good fortune with that.” He said I was the last person in the room. I met his eyes for a second before walking up the stairs. 

I took a deep breath. ‘ Here we go!’ I jumped into the portal.“ Hello, user Ai Suzuki. Welcome to the world of Freyeda. Please walk through the door in front of you to be entered into the lottery.” It was a little freaky that the AI voice knew my name. I walked through the white door; it was impossible to miss. I was in a room of darkness; the only thing I could see was the door.

 “ Congratulations, you have now entered the lottery. Your assignment will now be generated.” The AI voice said as soon as I entered the room. I looked behind me, but the door was already closed. I took a deep breath, nervous about where I would end up. “ Thank you for your patience; your new life shall begin now!”