At home
Natalia was sitting on her bed watching a movie but not paying attention. She was busy thinking about her day and how to turn it into a training drill. She then took a deep breath, and said to herself, "maybe I'm too focused on this job and that's why I can't seem to finish my Batchelors. I need a distraction, something that will pull me out of this world and into a different one."
Just then, she got a notification on her phone.It was her social media notification. Natalia frowned and tapped on her phone.
What the heck? She thought to herself. I always turn these notifications off on all the apps because I don't like to be bothered. When did I turn this on? Did I do it by mistake while it was in my pocket? I'll need a new phone cover then, uuuugh what a pain.
She opened the app and went to settings to turn off the notifications. Then she got a pop up on her phone. It was an advertisement for a kingdom with dragons. There was a knight on a horse charging with a sword. The woman was standing pulling out both her blades from her back waiting for him as a dragon flies over them to burn the army behind the man.
Hmmm, maybe a bit of gaming might help put me on chill mode, Natalia thought as she tapped on the ad.
It first asked, name your kingdom before going to select your avatar.
Well, I don't want to be boring and use my real name as a username and it said kingdom thought Natalia as she typed in Great Eden. She then selected an avatar with full armor and two swords on her hands. The notice said, traveling to your kingdom now and clouds started forming on her screen. Natalia smiled and said "Cool, I want to see everything then." Slowly the screen was filled with clouds before smoke started emerging and pouring into the room. Natalia dropped the phone on the bed and then kicked it to the floor.
Oh shit, my phone is setting on fire. It's smoking. Must have been a virus in that, thought Natalia as she rushed to the closet in her bathroom to grab the fire extinguisher she kept under the sink. Then ran back into her room to see that the whole room was now foggy. She looked around for her phone on the ground and before she pulled the pin on the extinguisher she felt as if she was levitating in the room. The room no longer had a floor anymore and only smoke filled her vision. Panic then started to sneak inside Natalia's heart. She had no idea what was going on. She looked around and began to start focusing on her breathing.
"Think Natalia", she said to herself, "all you have on you is the clothes you're wearing and this stupid fire extinguisher. Well, I guess this isn't the worst way to die if I passed out from the smoke, but how is it possible for all that smoke to be created by one phone? I was sure I reacted quickly and I wasn't coughing." Seconds later she feels her feet touch the ground and falls on her behind.
Natalia was looking up when she noticed the clear blue sky and the sun shining bright above her. She saw she was in a grassy area. There were hills from afar with a hint of snow over them. There were some trees in the area near her, but not much. She then sat up and felt a little heavy. When she looked down at herself, she noticed she was wearing armor. It was made in silver and fitting. The armor was flexible in the areas she needed to maneuver. She got up and looked at her boots, they were made of leather with a two inch heel. She looked over to the right where she heard a horse call to her. It walked over to her and nudged her arm. The horse was trying to urge her to get up. It was wearing a saddle and a helmet. The horse was black with a diamond shaped patch of fur on its forehead. Natalia got up and rubbed her hands together to get rid of the dirt from the ground.
She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, so I have a horse that knows me, I'm in armor and let me check my skin, yep I'm still brown at least. I don't have a mirror, but I hope I still look like me."
"That would be most unfortunate if your face was replaced. It seems like most male humans admire it already" said a female in a pleasant British voice.
Natalia looked around to see who said that. There was no sign of anyone. "Oh dear God, did I lose it too?" She said as she looked up at the sky.
"That would also be unfortunate." responded the voice.
Natalia noticed a flicker of light from the corner of her eye and focused on it. The light began to morph into a pixie, dressed in a floral light blue dress and green vines with small mini daisies that wrapped around her hair like a crown. Natalia just stared at her for a bit just looking over her details.
The pixie took a turn around and said, "I am a pixie. The floral class. I am your spirit guide in this realm and go by the name pixie."
Natalia gave a quick chuckle before replying, "okay, your name is not original and I've seen pixies in pictures before, but none that looked so real. This is really amazing."
"You may rename your guide once" answered Pixie.
"Ezra, I will rename you Ezra."
The pixie's eyes turned white for a few seconds before responded, "Ezra, is now your guide's name. Are there any more changes you wish to make before finalizing your change."
"Elaborate what other changes I can make." demanded Natalia.
"You may change the size of your guide to halfling, human or giant size. You may change the wardrobe, facial features, gender, skin, hair color, voice tone." responded Ezra in a monotone voice.
"Change the guide's body to human size, hair color to dark midnight blue, skin tone to tan as mine, ears shaped as a human, eyes to brown with a gold iris, No wings but can still fly, wardrobe change to knight with silver armor and voice tone, make it less dreamy and of Latin origin from Mexico."
"Changes completed" Ezra's changes happened as fast as one can blink after responding.
Natalia examined the changes and smiled. Then sees a few flickering lights in the sky slowly descending from a far distance.
"Hmmm, what are those Ezra?" Natalia asked while still watching other flickering lights appear all over.
"There are more arrivals like yourself from other parts of your planet." Ezra replied.
"What do you mean about my planet? Am I not on earth anymore?" asked Natalia as she turned around.
"You are actually in a different realm called Evansly. When you accepted the invitation to our realm, there was an info icon on the top right before submitting your desired avatar. It was the letter "i" in gold.
Natalia recalled seeing the "i" and thought it was something all the games have when signing up for a new application. She asked, "Can I take a look at the info?"
A scroll appeared on the palm of Ezra's hand and handed it to Natalia. It had the disclosure and clauses as a normal app until you reached section XXVI where it stated transportation to other realms will happen after selecting the avatar. Avatar will show generic attire, but upon arrival to the realm, the user will appear as they do in real life. To transform into a fictional avatar during battle, the user must command their guide to enable anonymous character. Skins of different anonymous characters are sold in the market of each city. Then in the following section XXVII, time moves differently on the realm, a mimic will fill in for the user while in the realm. Mimics will respond to the user's real identity and the user will be known as the kingdom name that was chosen. To change names use a passport pass that can be bought in the market. In the event a task is asked of the mimic that it cannot perform without consent, then the user will telepathically connect until the task is confirmed.
Natalia furrowed her eyes and looked at Ezra. " Does that mean I am called Great Eden now?" Ezra nodded and opened a digital passport with Natalia's anonymous avatar picture and the name Great Eden in the description.
"The passport is used to identify yourself to make purchases, enter in competition, claim rewards and show your power level." Ezra said while pointing at the different features.
"What about the features that show a lock and are darkened out? Why can't I see the information for them?" asked Natalia as she flipped through the book.
"They are locked because you have not met the requirements. If you tap on the key icon and go to unlock new, you can select any darken one. Then it will pop up the list of requirements needed and tell you if you met them or not." answered Ezra while looking up at the sky.
The sun was setting and there were still more portals popping off at a distance.
"Okay, what's the goal of this all?" asked Natalia, with a confused look.
Ezra replied "I'm afraid I cannot answer that, it defeats the purpose of you being here. At the moment it's about completing quests to get stronger. Build your army and gain allies to survive"
"I have an army to begin with?" replied Eden as she looked up at Ezra who was smiling.
"How do I leave this place?" asked Eden slowly.
"You must meet the requirements; take throne, complete major boss quest, form or be part of an alliance, complete portal quest," replied Erza, but the details for every requirement weren't mentioned.