Chapter 1 - Misfortune

2 Days Before the Release of GQO

"Excuse me where's my mom and dad" (Saito)

Saito had just arrived at the hospital upon hearing about his parents, they had gone for a night out but had not returned which caused saito to be worried. The bodies of two adults had been found the night Saito's parents had left for their night out, after confirming the identity of the two bodies the police contacted saito who then rushed to the hospital.

"Hold on a minute please" (Receptionist)

She had eyes filled with pity as she picked up the phone to contact one of the police officers who were involved in the case. She did not expect Saito Ushiba to be so young.

"Mr Saito is here" (Receptionist)

"Send him over" (Officer)

The receptionist then put down the phone and looked at saito with a frown, she got up from her chair and left the counter.

"Come with me" (Receptionist)

Saito obediently followed without uttering a single word.

"Th-They are inside the room.." (Receptionist)

She looked down as if she was guilty for what had happened. she didn't want a child as young as saito to experience their parents deaths, no 7 year old should experience something like this.

"i'm sorry" (Receptionist)

she whispered as she walked back to the front desk, she was not ready to see saito's reaction.

"Mum, Dad?" (Saito)

Saito muttered as he entered the room, there was 2 police officers standing besides the bodies.

"Mom.." (Saito)

Saito looked at his moms body which had been covered in blood.

"Please mom.." (Saito)

He had began to tear up, he couldn't hold back his emotions although he was a kid he understood what was going on.

"Please wake up don't leave me" (Saito)

The officers were looking at saito as he stood besides his parents, even though they wanted to confront him they couldn't. they couldn't possible imagine the pain saito was feeling right now and they did not bother pretending to understand it.

"i'm sorry kid" (Ishawa)

one of the officers came forward as he laid his hand on saito's shoulder. his name was Ishawa kisaragi a new officer who was under training. it was his first time experiencing something like this and it broke him.

Suddenly a blurring image of a boy 1 year older than saito appeared besides him, he stared at saito who was crying and whispered.

"Mom and dad are in a better place saito" (Blurring Image)

They Blurring image had tear drops flowing down his cheeks.

*Gasp*

Saito wakes up as he tries to catch his breath, he is currently alone in his room.

"Weird the same dream again" (Saito)

" 'Dream', if only i could call it that" (Saito)

Saito looked at the ceiling as he frowned, he had just been reminded of his parents deaths.

*Knock Knock*

"Saito were gonna be late!" (Ishawa)

"Damn what time is it" (Saito)

he looked at his phone, it was almost 10:00 am

"oh no, Wait a minute i'm getting ready!" (Saito)

Oshawa has been looking after Saito for the past 10 years, after the incident Ishawa felt some what guilty and wanted to take care of saito, from them on Ishawa has become an uncle figure to saito.

"ok im here!" (Saito)

he rushed towards the door to open it, ishawa was planning on taking him out today so that they could spend quality time together.

"Hi uncle, sorry i overslept" (Saito)

"it's fine, let's get going then saito" (Ishawa)

They headed down the stairs and towards ishawa's car.

"so where are we going?" (Saito)

He looked at ishawa with a smile, saito liked spending time with Ishawa since he had taken care of him for most of his life.

"how about shopping, i heard there is a new restaurant near the shopping district" (Ishawa)

"Really?" (Saito)

"Yea they have great mexican food, wanna try it?" (Ishawa)

"Ofcourse!" (Saito)

Saito and ishawa got into the car and drove off into the distance. a few moments later they had arrived near the shopping district.

"ok let's go" (Ishawa)

They both left the car and headed towards the shopping center.

"Hey Saito so you're turning 17 in 2 days huh?" (Ishawa)

He looked at saito who was gazing into the distance.

"Yeah i'm not planning to hold a party" (Saito)

"Come on, sometimes it's good to invite a few friends over" (Ishawa)

Ishawa wanted saito to spend some time with his friends, Saito hasn't really focused on his social life which kind of made him look like a shut in, he would play basketball from time to time just to relieve some built up stress.

"i would rather spend my time with you" (Saito)

he mumbled as looked down with embarrassment.

"Aww, how cute of you" (Ishawa)

"Shut up you idiot!" (Saito)

both of them laughed as they continued their conversation. They had spent some time within the shopping district talking about how they have been doing lately. Ishawa then dropped off Saito as the sun was setting.

"Hey saito, i'm sorry i can't see you as often as i used to" (Ishawa)

he looked at saito with a frown on his face

"It's fine you have been there whenever i needed you" (Saito)

Saito smiled as scratched his head. he had a lot of respect for Ishawa as he knew that Ishawa was a busy man even then ishawa spent a lot of time with him.

" I'll see you in 2 days kid " (Ishawa)

"Bye" (Saito)

Ishawa drove off as saito waved at him, he soon disappeared into the fog.

Saito walked up the stairs to head towards his room. he unlocked the door at got into his flat while letting out a sigh.

"Tomorrow is saturday and we have monday off, i wonder what i should do.." (Saito)

He walked towards him room and jumped onto his bed, while he looked up at the ceiling he thought to himself.

[Why do i keep seeing that kid in my dreams]

Saito slowly closed his eyes and fill asleep.

in a blink of an eye saturday had gone by, he didn't do anything special as he stayed in his flat for the whole day. he watched a couple of movies to pass time and soaked himself in hot water before he fell asleep.

*Buzz* *Buzz*

"its monday already" (Saito)

saito stretched his arms as he got up. he then walked towards the bathroom and freshened up, after having breakfast he looked around his social media page to see if anything was going on.

!Grand Quest Online!

"huh what's this, a new game?" (Saito)

Saito clicked on the add which redirected him to a page full of information about The game.

Grand Quest Online

Welcome to vision we are a leading gaming industry who plan to change the future of gaming as you know it, due to are efforts on research we have invented a product that allows the user to transfer their consciousness into another world, a world of virtual reality which was only heard of in fictions......

"i can't be bothered to read the whole thing, so it's about a virtual reality game huh" (Saito)

He stared at the screen with a expression of amazement, he had never thought the technology would become advanced enough to make a virtual reality game.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Coming!" (Saito)

saito walked towards the door and opened it, ishawa was standing on the other side of the door with a wrapped present.

"Happy birthday saito" (Ishawa)

He handed the present to saito and told him to open it.

"i wonder what's inside" (Saito)

as he unwrapped the present he could see a box with huge letters spelling 'Vision'

"no way" (Saito)

Saito unboxed the present and there was a helmet inside with many other parts, it was a virtual reality headset.

"hehe, my friend works in Vision he gave me a pre released version of the headset, it should be publicly available tomorrow" (Ishawa)

He looked at saito with a warm smile

"i don't know what to say.. thank you uncle" (Saito)

he was surprised that he had received a virtual reality headset which has not been publicly released yet, this way he would be the first person to log into the game.

"No problem, i am going away for a few weeks so i bought you this to keep you busy while i'm gone." (Ishawa)

Saito looked up as he tilted his head.

"Going away" (Saito)

"yeah dont worry ill be back in no time, i just have some work to do" (Ishawa)

after ishawa and saito finished their conversation, ishawa left as he had work to do and saito tried to set up the headset in order to test it out.

"That should do" (Saito)

he looked at the at the helmet which was looked quite different from the ones that will be sold publicly. it was Pure white with black lines running across the front to the back. saito examined it closely and found some writing at the back of the helmet.

" 'Suitable for testing servers', that's weird does that mean i can get on the game before the servers become public?" (Saito)

He layed down on top of his bed and slowly placed the helmet onto his head.

[Welcome to Grand Quest Online]

"System recognised tester headset" (Vision)

"System adapting to headset" (Vision)

"adaptation complete" (Vision)

"Access granted" (Vision)

"hmm what's with the voice?" (Saito)

" Hello i am vision, i am designed to guide you to Grand Quest Online" (Vision)

"ok, take me to the character creation screen" (Saito)

Suddenly saito's vision changed as he appeared in a white room, he could view his reflection which was right in front of him.

"Please Describe The Characteristics You Want To Change" (Vision)

saito was still staring at his reflection which seemed life like.

"umm, change hair colour to white" (Saito)

Suddenly Saito's hair began to change colour.

"Woah, yes and change eye colour to dark pink" (Saito)

"Make skin colour slightly tanned, never mind i'm already slightly tanned" (Saito)

he looked at the reflection who had changed into the characteristics he described, saito didn't make much changes besides his hair and eyes.

"Please choose a username" (Vision)

"hehe, i don't want to" (Saito)

"User name *Blank* (Vision)

Saito looked surprised he didn't expect it to work.

"Choose spawn point" (Vision)

"what are the options" (Saito)

"Kingdom of Zeliria" (Vision)

Saito looked slightly confused.

"you're only giving me one choice, i guess they haven't finished the guide yet" (Saito)

he clicked his fingers and answered Visions question.

"ok, i choose Zeliria" (Saito)

Saito had a expression of excitement on his face, he is going to be the first person to experience this virtual world.

"You have C-C-C-C-Chosen De-D-D- Layer of Lucifer" (Vision)

"Huh what!" (Saito)

Suddenly a blinding light appeared as his consciousness drifted into the game, saito slowly opened his eyes to find nothing but darkness.

Thanks for Reading!