Virtual Me- Valkyrie

by Michael Ocheskey

  ​Her body seemed almost transparent, as if she were made of crystal, and her skin gave off a rainbow glow. The colors of light that wrapped around her seemed as natural on her as skin did on me. It enshrouded her in a celestial presence. Her eyes were deep purple, and her hair was pure flame, dancing up into the air above her in red, orange, blue, and white waves.

  ​She was the closest thing to an angel I had ever seen.

  ​She gestured in front of the desk and a plain chair appeared from nowhere.

  ​“Please, sit.” Her voice was otherworldly, like a chorus of voices speaking in unison, but it didn’t give off an eerie feeling. It was actually quite lovely, like it carried the essence of all life.

  ​I tried one more time to move, drifting on the air like a spirit. As I approached the desk my body gradually appeared. At first, I was nothing but a faded apparition. With each step I took toward the desk my body became firmer and more distinct, until I was myself again. I set myself gingerly in the chair, testing to make sure I wouldn’t fall through it. Sitting in the chair felt like sitting on solid air, firm yet fluffy.

  ​“My name is Aurora Eventide, the guardian of this reality. I am the physical incarnation of the system’s AI. First, we need to register your account. What is your name?”

  ​“Lisa Hampton.” I slipped into autopilot.

  ​“What is your country of origin?”

  ​“United States of America.”

  ​“Your identification code?”

  ​“A879EG1290.”

  ​“Thank you for creating your user account. Now please follow me.”

  ​I opened my mouth, prepared to answer the next question and shut in quickly. That was a quicker registration than I expected. I wondered for a second why there hadn’t been more questions. Then I realized that the system AI was the most advanced computer in existence and with only my identification code it would know everything about me.

  ​Then I remembered from the manual that the system AI was given access to all government files pertaining to individual citizens in exchange for keeping tabs on their actions in the SRU.

  ​Although this world was not reality, it felt real enough that laws had been implemented in the game. Some laws were only punishable in game and only if you were caught by one of the server’s police force, but other crimes were punishable in the real world. For example, attempted rape.

  ​If a person attempted to rape another person in the game, they were forcibly ejected from the game before they could commit the crime. Then the system AI would send word to local law enforcement of the crime as well as details such as all the criminal’s personal records and a video log of the crime in progress. Attempted rape in the game was punished in the real world, not as an attempt, but as a successful completion of the deed.

  ​There were other crimes in the game that were punishable in reality as well, so it made sense why governments allowed the system AI access to their systems.

  ​As I followed Aurora away from the desk it vanished in a swirl of darkness. She stopped as soon as the desk disappeared, as if the direction of her retreat were unimportant, just the act of doing so.

  ​A large room full of computer equipment materialized around us. We were in the center of the room, directly in front of a clear glass tube chamber. The tube was empty and in front of it was a golden globe on a platform.

  ​“Welcome to the character creation chamber,” Aurora chimed in her choral voice. “Here you can create any type of character you desire.”

  ​I smiled wryly. I had decided on my character weeks ago. “Can you make me an elf?”

  ​“Negative,” Aurora replied while a buzzer sounded, and a red “X” appeared in front of her like we were on a game show. “A player cannot be one of the legendary races.”

  ​I was dejected. “But you said, ‘any type of character you desire.’”

  ​“True. You can make yourself appear similar to the elven race in physical appearance, but you cannot be an elf. The reason is because the legendary races each have their own skills and attributes that players aren’t allowed to possess inherently. I can make you look similar to an elf if you like, but it will not be an elf in the same sense as the elves you meet inside the fantasy worlds of the SRU.

  ​“It is the same for all the legendary races. They are NPCs which were given special skills and abilities above and beyond the normal distributed among NPCs. The legendary races are elves, dwarves, fairies, nymphs, merpeople, sirens, dragons, unicorns, griffins, centaurs, vampyr, werewolves and satyrs. They are the most powerful races in the fantasy worlds and it is for that reason that a player isn’t allowed to create a character that is one of these races.”

  ​“In that case, how do I create a character?”

  ​Aurora pointed to the tube in the room. “Place your hands on the golden globe in front of the tube and imagine your character. The character you imagine will appear in the tube.”

  ​I approached the tube when a thought occurred to me. “What if I don’t like the character I originally create? Can I make changes?”

  ​“You can make as many changes as you wish to your character as long as the character is in the tube. After the character has been completed and its body has merged with your consciousness, you cannot alter it again.”

  ​Knowing this gave me more confidence. At least I wasn’t stuck with my first option if I didn’t like it. I knew I had only one shot at this. Whatever I merged with would be me for the rest of my SRU life.

  ​I knew I was probably putting way too much thought into this, but I also knew something most people probably overlooked because of how thoroughly I’d read the manual. This was different from other games in the sense that there were no player attributes or skill points that you distributed. The body you created gave you your abilities.

  ​If you created a large, muscular body it would have incredible strength, but its speed and flexibility would be weak. Conversely, a skinny and weak looking body would be just that. These bodies worked like our bodies in reality and were limited to the physical attributes you gave them at their creation.

  ​A character with wings could fly, but the wings had to be the right proportion and in the right position for it to work properly. A character with fangs could bite, but if the fangs were to thin, they would break and too long, they would pierce your own lip.

  ​Every detail had to be perfect and I would settle for no less. Thus, my idea. Start from a model that I create and then change one small feature at a time until I was perfectly satisfied. Still, that begged another question.

  ​“Do I have to keep my hands on the golden globe or can I take them off to walk around the tube and check my work?” I wasn’t about to make the mistake of removing my hands prematurely and ending up with a faulty body due to a misunderstanding.

  ​Aurora seemed a little exhausted by my questions, but smiled slightly, as if she knew my every thought...and she probably did. “You are a careful one, aren’t you? Why, out of the five thousand players who’ve logged in already, you are the only one who hasn’t finished making your character. But I like that about you. You interest me. You don’t have to keep your hands on the globe. Take your time and make the ‘you’ you’ve always wanted.”

  ​I placed my hands on the globe and instantly I was staring at another me. Well, I guessed I’d do as a model, but ugh! Was my hair really that bad? I instantly fell into criticizing everything about myself. My hair was too frizzy, my eyes too dull, my lips too pale, my face too round, my washboard chest (Were they really that puny?) and my too wide hips. As I stared at myself, I could feel my self-esteem plummeting into a never-ending abyss.

  ​I started with the basics. I was a little too short. As I stared at myself, my hands still on the golden globe, the ‘me’ in the tube grew six inches. Perfect. Next, the hair. It straightened out and flowed down to my hips, looking elegant for the first time in my life. The color changed from red to pearl white, even my eyebrows, and looked so e
xquisite.

  ​I knew I was going to be here for a while, so I glanced at Aurora apologetically. She just smiled back as if accepting the inevitable, her face a hue of sunshine.

  ​Piece by piece, I corrected my body, and four hours later I had the finished product. She was the second closest thing to perfection I’d ever seen, the first being Aurora. Her ears, my new ears, were about six inches long, elongating into a point at a forty-five-degree angle to the floor, parting through my elegant hair. The eyes were now lustrous silver, glinting as if they were two small diamonds. My face was more beautiful than any human I’d ever seen. Beautiful, yet fierce, with sharp, defined features feline in nature. My lips were a vivacious red, the very incarnation of lust.

  ​I felt like Michelangelo carving David. I had turned my body into the perfect weapon. It wasn’t a weapon of strength, but a weapon of speed. The long, lightweight, slender build of the body made it perfect for speed and agility. Although the body was deceptively feminine, there was a tightness about it that hinted at strong and well-toned muscles. The hips were designed for maximum pivot similar to a cheetah’s. This gave me a great boost in speed and flexibility.

  ​The only thing I splurged on, not caring if it served a function or not, was my breast size. True, too large would hinder me in a fight, but I was tired of always being mistaken for a man at a distance. I hated the fact that even as a grown woman I still wore a training bra, so I made my breasts voluptuous and firm without being too large. They, like my lips, were mere decoration. They served no purpose, but they would make me the envy of many, which was something I’d never been.

  ​“Finished!” I proclaimed with the greatest of satisfaction.

  ​“That’s excellent news,” Aurora nearly shouted her joy that the event was finally over. She’d been in a stupor in the corner and jumped when I’d spoken. She looked at the ‘me’ in the creation chamber and her face fell.

  ​“You’re not done yet. You still need to put on her beginner’s clothing. It is the only thing you’ll be given in this universe for free except for your beginner’s weapon. The clothing won’t have any functions like armor or enchanted clothing. It simply serves the purpose of covering your hide. But each person’s beginner’s clothing is created in the same manner as the body. We wouldn’t want to send you into the world naked, would we?”

  ​Then began my next hour of torment, deciding what to wear. When I finished my designs, I was wearing a tight, form-fitting one-piece made of ivory leather. The bottom half of the one-piece was simply a form-fitting pair of ivory leather pants. The top was almost completely backless, exposing my skin as the fabric etched upward in a V shape. The skin would have been far more visible if not for the obstruction from my insanely long hair. The leather traveled up my sides, wrapping around my breasts, leaving a diamond-shaped opening about as large as my hand in between them and another diamond shaped opening over my navel. The leather strap continued to shrink as it traveled up to my neck. A small amount of fabric cinched around my neck, securing the top while leaving my arms fully exposed.

  ​I also wore white leather, knee-high boots with small decorative wings sticking out from the balls of my ankles.

  ​Once I’d finished designing my clothes, I needed to keep my hair from getting in my eyes while fighting. I primped my hair up with a conical ponytail holder, a six-inch silver tube, allowing my hair to hang loosely behind my body.

  ​“Where do I get my beginner’s weapon, Aurora?”

  ​She answered with firm finality, seemingly pleased that her job was done. “That is something you’ll have to find out when you enter the SRU. Now tell me, where would you like to start off? A sci-fi world, historical, fantasy, et cetera? Pick your genre and I’ll send you there.”

  ​“Fantasy,” I answered without having to think about it.

  ​“Alright. There are currently three fantasy worlds open to beta-testers: Evanasia, Teranali, and Rennalus. Pick whichever one you like.”

  ​“I don’t really care, so how about Evanasia.”

  ​Aurora opened the cylindrical tube, grabbed me and my avatar, and thrust us together.

  ​It was a feeling almost impossible to describe. It felt as though I were butter melting on a hot fire, only without pain. I seemed to simply melt and blend into the avatar, until my mental image of myself disappeared and all that remained was the gorgeous woman of my own creation.

  ​“There is one more order of business before I send you to Evanasia. We must decide upon your name. Please, tell me your character’s name so that I may register it?” Aurora had both hands resting on my shoulders comfortingly, keeping me balanced after the strange merger.

  ​This, after everything I’d been through tonight, was the one aspect I didn’t have to consider.

  ​I told her simply, “Valkyrie,” and found myself once again in instant darkness.

  Tutorial Village

  ​The darkness around me vanished in a flash of rainbow color. I found myself standing in the center of a small village next to a fountain with a gorgeous stone flower. The stone flower reminded me of bluebells with multiple buds protruding from every end of the vine-like stem. Water poured from each bud, cascading over the other petals, down the vine, and into the shallow pool below.

  ​In comparison, the village was rather plain. The buildings were made from slats of wood with thatched roofs. The sign posts on all the buildings told me I was in Tutorial Village, a rather mundane name. I could only hope that the other towns, villages, and cities had more originality to them. There were no homes, only a few shops. All the shop names were also standard: Tutorial Village General Supplies, Tutorial Village Armor, Tutorial Village Weapons, Tutorial Village Hospital, Tutorial Village Magic Shop, and Tutorial Village Bank.

  ​The village was completely devoid of life. I assumed it was just a quick stop-off for players. A place for them to grab their beginner’s weapon, maybe make some quick cash by selling anything they took from surrounding monsters, and head to the next village.

  ​I also took notice of how time shifted in this universe. Night and day were practically switched. It was currently five in the morning and still pitch black in reality, but bright as midday here. Night in the SRU only lasted about six hours so that no matter which time zone players were from they still had plenty of daylight to play by. Especially since most players would only enter the SRU while they slept in reality.

  ​I was taking in the gloomy surroundings when I heard a soft moan from behind me. Swinging around swiftly, I watched a man in his mid-forties stumbling through the village’s gate and toward the hospital. His stomach was cut open and he was holding in his guts. He made it as far as the general supplies store, dropping dead on the ground two buildings from his goal.

  ​“Shit!”

  ​I heard a man swear near the fountain and turned to see the same man standing on the opposite side, the fountain between us.

  ​He walked over to his corpse, knelt over it and stripped off its armor, weapon, coin bag, and backpack. When he’d finished, he crossed the forehead with his thumb and the corpse evaporated. The manual had said that a player could make the sign of the cross, or any other religious symbol, on his own corpse to make it vanish after he collected his items, but if someone else tried it nothing would happen. The corpse would remain until someone found and buried it or some animal came and devoured it. It was a little grotesque, but it was much more realistic that way.

  ​The man stood, staring at the space his corpse had been. His face reddened, and he started to yell, “I almost had the….”

  ​He stopped just before letting out another swear word, noticing me for the first time. His cheeks flushed again, now with embarrassment. His eyes raced up and down my body and he turned an even brighter red.

  ​“Forgive me, lady,” he said, trying to appear suave. I thought it made him all that more comical, and somewhat serpentine. “If I’d known I was in the presence of a goddess, I’d have willingly cut my own ton
gue out for speaking such ills.”

  ​I had to lock my jaw to keep from telling him to please cut his tongue out. I’d never been able to stand pompous people or people who act pompous while gaming. This man seemed to be both.

  ​Instead, I feigned politeness, asking as if I were concerned for him, “What happened to cause such a wound?”

  ​“Ah, that is….” The man shifted with unease. “I...”

  ​As he stuttered, unsure of how to answer, I understood. The man’s exceptionally large coin bag, full to the brim, told me he was a thief. There could be no other explanation considering all characters started out the game with no money and the game had only been open for around five hours. No one could have gathered that much money legitimately.

  ​Of course, if the server had been online for longer, I wouldn’t have been so quick to judge since it was possible to convert real-life currency into game currency and vice versa, but those features weren’t activated yet. Currency exchange rates were still being negotiated with participating countries and the feature wouldn’t be activated until negotiations ended.

  ​It was an interesting feature. The exchange rates weren’t high, but they enabled people who were extreme gamers to pump money into the game while at the same time allowing more practical players the opportunity to earn a little extra cash in the real world. Nothing that would enable you to quit your real-world job, but every little bit helped.

  ​Without this feature that man could only be a thief. Well, that was looking on the positive side. He could also be a player-killer, stealing from the corpses of his victims and selling what he collected. Either way, I needed to get away from him. I didn’t have anything for him to steal, not yet, but I didn’t want to risk one of his victims spotting us together. They might consider me an accomplice.

  ​I excused myself as politely as I could and walked away, into the weapons shop.