Chapter Text
I tossed the helmet around in my heads, thinking about what was about to happen. I'd heard so much about these virtual reality games, but never cared much to play one. I'd never really been into video games – when we were kids, Sora and I had played lots of co-op split screen games, but whereas Sora continued to play games into his late teens, I sort of got bored of them.
Lately my curiosity had been getting the better of me, and frankly I’d run out of things to do. So I saved up my allowance to buy the VR Headset, and then the game. “Kingdom Hearts.”
This was the game Sora was so obsessed with – Sora hadn’t shut up about it for over a year. Everything was “guild this, Heartless that”, and although I’d never so much as logged in, I was fairly certain I could tell you everything about the game with marginal accuracy.
I'd debated asking for Sora to help him get started, but refrained. Sora was probably a really high level, and the last thing I wanted was for Sora to babysit me through the early game. No, I could definitely handle this myself.
I took a deep breath, standing from my bed to lock the door to my room. If Sora barged in (as he’d been known to do), the last thing I wanted was for his helmet to get ripped off right in the middle of a “full dive”.
Honestly, I wasn't totally sure why I was even doing this. But what could the harm be?
I climbed into bed and slid on the helmet, connecting it to the Ethernet cable. The game was already inserted to the back of the helmet, so I leaned back onto my fluffy pillow and closed my eyes.
“Power on,” I spoke aloud. Numbness crawled through my body from the top down, and I felt like falling asleep.
I opened my eyes to a dark room. A quick look around revealed only darkness in every direction, save for a single glowing menu above him.
ENTER E-MAIL AND PASSWORD, it read. A keyboard flashed in front of me, appearing as if it were made of neon lights. I typed in my e-mail and password, unable to feel the keys below my fingers, and hit enter.
ENTER USERNAME. I hadn’t really thought of one. Roxas was a pretty unique name, though, so I just typed that in.
Miraculously, Roxas was still an available username, so I clicked "Enter" to advance to the next step. A full-length mirror materialized, but the face staring back at me was that of a stranger. His hair, face shape, and body type were entirely different from mine in the real world. I leaned in close and touched my face, as if to test if what I was seeing was really real (which technically it wasn't, but whatever). A menu appeared – a character creation screen? I scrolled through the menu, switching between hair and skin options and watching my own body change along with it. It was surreal, watching my appearance change so drastically just with the touch of a button.
I figured that since I'm using my real name, I may as well try to look like my real self. I used the sliders provided to shrink myself down to my real height (maybe with a couple extra inches), and down to my approximate weight. I chose the closest skin tone and eye color, and since there were no hair styles that really matched, I instead picked a cool spiky one. Maybe later I could try spiking my hair like that for real.
Satisfied with my appearance, I hit the large “ACCEPT” button to my right. It asked him to confirm, and when I did, the entire world flashed white.
I blinked the spots out of my eyes – now the world had shifted. A small menu appeared, floating in front of me – “Welcome to the world of Kingdom Hearts!” it said. I clicked the “OK” button, and that was that.
There didn’t seem to be much of a tutorial – I glanced around and saw a lot of players standing around, chatting and scrolling through menus. A man off to his right was flipping through different armors, and I watched in fascination as the armor simply appeared and shifted on his body, never having to go through the motions of actually removing it.
I glanced down at my hands - it was a surreal feeling. I felt the earth beneath my shoes, the clothes on my body. I remembered when virtual reality was just wearing a visor over your eyes and playing the game that way - this was something different altogether. To actually move my body in the world of this game...technology had really come so far. I thought for a moment about my real body, lying limp on my bed. An onlooker could never imagine what I was really experiencing, now exploring this virtual world as if it were reality.
It looked shockingly similar to reality. There were little things that broke the immersion - the cursors over the other players' heads, and scrolling through floating menus in front of them. But aside from that, one might never suspect that this world was a fabrication.
It was all a little overwhelming. I wasn’t even sure how to begin – how could I even open the menu? This wasn’t like a regular game where you could hit the start button on your controller. It must have been some kind of motion control, but I wasn't sure what it could be.
I glanced around – a nearby girl swiped her right hand in the air in a downward motion, and a menu appeared in front of her. I mimicked the motion, and sure enough, a small menu appeared.
I scrolled through the data – there was a stats section which seemed fairly simplistic – HP, MP, and STR. It was fairly obvious what they stood for – Health Points, Magic Points, and Strength. Each of them seemed to be very low, which was to be expected.
The next menu seemed to house skills. Most of the slots were filled with question marks, no doubt needing to be unlocked somehow. Only two were readily available – Magic and something called “Keyblade Mastery”, whatever that was.
I switched tabs to look at my inventory, where I only had a couple of things to work with. Looks like I'd been given some beginner healing equipment and a starting weapon, something called the “Kingdom Key”. There was also a small zero at the bottom labeled “Munny”, which I supposed was currency, though I wasn't sure why it was spelled that way instead of money. I tapped on the Kingdom Key to equip it, and a small tutorial window appeared.
“Weapon equipped. To draw your weapon, move your hand as if grabbing the hilt of the weapon.”
I closed the menu and extended my arm in front of me, and curled my fingers inward as if grabbing the handle. There was a brief flash of light, and suddenly I was holding a large key.
It was nothing fancy – a square-ish gold hilt and a firm handle. It didn’t look like much of a weapon – sure, it had a little weight to it, but there weren’t any sharp edges for slashing. Then again, for beginner's equipment, this was pretty much to be expected.
As I turned the Kingdom Key over in my hand, I heard surprised gasps from all around me. Looking around, wide eyes and open mouths peered back at me. I shrunk under their collective gaze – I couldn’t tell what emotions they were displaying, only that they seemed surprised to see my Keyblade.
What was the big deal? Sora mentioned Keyblades all the time, was that not normal? I motioned as if dropping the weapon, allowing my hand to relax, and it vanished in another flash of light. Murmurs crept among the crowd, though I couldn’t make any of it out. They were obviously talking about me, or at least my weapon, and that was cue enough for me to get a move on.
Where was I, anyway? I opened my menu again as I walked, looking for a map. When I finally found it, the label at the top of the menu read "Traverse Town".
This must be the beginner’s town. There were probably some shops around to buy some basic equipment, and maybe some quests or something? My experience with RPG’s was pretty minimal – most of my childhood games were more outright competitive, like shooters and racing games. I didn’t know shit about magic, but I could whoop some ass in Halo. Or, at least, I used to be able to.
I sighed, facing the inevitable. I needed help. There were still a significant amount of people around eyeing me cautiously, but out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of someone walking while glancing down at a book. I ran over to him to grab his attention – I supposed someone not paying any attention at all was better than someone who seemed to be silently judging me.
“Um, excuse me?” I said. The boy seemed distracted, but glanced up out of the corner of his eye.
I noted the small green cursor above his head, indicating that he was a player and not an NPC in the game. He seemed dressed simply enough, wearing only a solid black cloak and gloves, with silverish blue hair laying down in his face. He probably wasn’t too much higher a level than I was, but definitely more informed.
“Yes?” he asked flatly. My words suddenly got caught, so I cleared my throat before speaking again.
“Sorry to bother you. I’m new, and I was just wondering where I can go to buy equipment,” I explained.
The stranger eyed me up and down, noting that I was still in the beginner clothes.
“You’ll need to get Munny to buy new equipment, so you should probably start there,” he said. Right, I should've thought of that. “There are some easy Heartless over in the Second District. I’m headed that way anyway – you can follow along if you want.”
I nodded. “That’d be great, thanks.”
“Mhm.” The man didn’t waste any words, and continued to look at his book as he began walking. I followed closely behind, scrolling through my menu. It seemed fairly simplistic – from my understanding, most of the combat mechanics came from actual skill, not using individual powers and things like that, and Strength only determined how much damage was dealt in combination with your equipped weapon. Magic was probably different in some way, but I wasn't sure how that would all work out mechanically.
I suddenly realized I hadn't introduced myself to the kind stranger. “I’m Roxas, by the way,” I greeted.
“Zexion.” Zexion didn’t look up from his book, but he did nod slightly in recognition. After a bit more walking, the man snapped his book shut and it disappeared in a small flash of light, back in his inventory.
“Through this door is the Second District,” he said. “The Heartless here are weak, but they can still kill you at level one. You should probably equip your sword.”
I nodded and grabbed at the air, the Kingdom Key appearing suddenly. Zexion’s eyebrows raised, the most emotion I'd seen from the stranger.
“You’re a Keyblade Master?” Zexion asked, seemingly surprised.
“I guess so. That’s what it said in my Skills screen,” I said. “Why? Is that odd?”
“Very rare, and very powerful,” Zexion said. He stood silently for a moment, wheels turning in his head. Zexion scratched at his chin. “I don’t have to be back at Headquarters for a while…okay, I’ll help you out.”
I hadn’t asked for advice, but if Zexion wanted to offer, who was I to turn him away?
We pushed the large wooden doors open. Before us was a larger area. The walkway divided into two paths, flanking the larger square in front of them.
“These are called Shadows,” Zexion said. Small black creatures appeared, literal shadows come to life with small, beady yellow eyes. They twitched in place, not seeming to have taken notice of me and Zexion. “They’re the weakest Heartless you’ll find in Kingdom Hearts. At level one, that’s about as much as you can handle. You know how combat works?”
“My plan was to hit it until it dies,” I shrugged.
“You sound like Axel,” Zexion half-chuckled. “That’ll be good enough for now. Kingdom Hearts doesn’t have special attack skills like some other RPG’s, so it's up to you to figure out a fighting style."
“There are other weapons besides Keyblades, right?” Roxas asked. Zexion nodded.
“Keyblades are extremely rare,” he began. “As far as I know, less than twenty players can even wield them, and nobody knows the prerequisites to unlock the skill. As far as the community can tell, it’s totally random. You should count yourself lucky.”
I glanced down at my Kingdom Key, suddenly overwhelmed by it. What should I even think? Had I really gotten that lucky? I knew that Sora could also use the Keyblade, so maybe that somehow had something to do with it.
The Shadow seemed to notice me, making a slow approach towards the pair of us. “Go ahead and hit it when you’re ready. Be careful, though, when they go flat on the ground, they’ll move faster and are invincible until they come back up again.”
I nodded and approached the Shadow. It twitched and lunged through the air at me, and just by reflex I swatted it aside with my Keyblade. A small green bar of health appeared above the Shadow, and it dropped by about a third as it stumbled back. I charged and swung again, but the Heartless went flat against the ground, passing right under my feet and came back up
The Shadow jumped before I could react and struck me right in the hip, knocking me back a little. Suddenly I noticed my own health bar in the lower right corner of my vision, a green bar that curled around an image of my own face. As I took damage, a small chunk of my HP vanished.
I swung my Keyblade again and made solid contact with the Shadow, and then immediately followed up with a downward strike. The enemy burst into a small cloud of darkness that quickly vanished. As the smoke evaporated, a small bit of text appeared, revealing that I'd gained some EXP. Additionally a few items had fallen on the ground – some were small green orbs, and the others were small, gold trinkets.
“The green orbs restore your health, the gold ones are Munny,” Zexion explained. This was probably super basic information, but I made sure to soak up every bit that Zexion threw out. I walked up to the orbs to grab them, but instead of having to pick them up individually, I sort of just absorbed them as I got close. My HP returned to full, and according to my inventory, I'd gained 5 Munny as well.
“Those are the basics. You’ll want to stick to the Shadows right through here until you hit level 3 or so. Then Soldiers will get you more Munny and EXP,” Zexion explained. “Want to try a few more?”
I nodded. Zexion gestured with his head off to my right, noting that several more Shadows had spawned in. I clutched the Keyblade tightly in my hands, and charged.
About a half hour later, I'd gained two levels. It really didn’t take much at this stage, but I noticed that after he hit level 3 and my STR increased, I was starting to take the Heartless out faster.
“Good work. Let’s try something harder,” Zexion said. “Down this path there will be a Soldier that spawns with two Shadows. Let’s try that.”
We made our way down the left walkway, in front of some kind of hotel. About halfway down the path it widened for a moment, looking like some sort of seating or smoking area, though it was occupied by three Heartless. Two were more Shadows like before, but one in the middle was more humanoid, with red claws and a metal helmet. Surely that was the Soldier.
“Soldiers are quick and at your level with no armor, will probably take about a third of your health in one hit. They’re pretty fragile though, so you’ll want to target him first,” Zexion instructed. I nodded and clutched my Keyblade tight, charging straight at the Soldier.
Just as the creatures noticed me, I blasted past the Shadows and swung right at the Soldier, staggering it and dealing a bit of damage. I'd fallen into a sort of rhythm with a three-hit combo, with two sideways slashes followed by a heavier overhead one. I didn't know if that third slash actually dealt extra damage, but it seemed that it still calculated more force behind it from the way the Soldier flew back after the third hit.
Unlike the Shadows, the Soldier didn’t go down in one combo, and it quickly retaliated and dealt a big chunk of damage to my health bar. Having forgotten about the Shadows, they too leaped up and struck me, taking my health to about half. I swatted them away and charged at the Soldier, taking it down in two more hits. I took the HP it dropped just in time to take another blow from a Shadow, and then quickly dealt with those two. Feeling accomplished, I felt myself grinning as I soaked up all the HP and Munny orbs they dropped.
“Nice work,” Zexion said, his arms crossed. He scratched at his chin, thinking. I noticed Zexion doing that quite a bit while I fought the Shadows, watching so intently.
“I’ve got somewhere to be. Do you have a little more time to be logged in?” Zexion asked. I glanced at the time at the top right of my vision. It was only about 6:00, so dinner wouldn’t be for another hour or so.
“Yeah, I’ve got time. What’s up?” he asked.
“Wanted to introduce you to some friends,” Zexion half-smirked. He glanced to his left and brought up an open palm, a large oval of darkness appearing. The dark energy swirled around towards the center.
“What’s that?”
“It’s called a Dark Corridor. It’s a Dark Magic spell that allows you to teleport to worlds you’ve previously visited,” Zexion explained. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Zexion gestured for me to enter. I hesitated for a moment - you know, as far as "invitations" go, Zexion's dark portal wasn't exactly the most inviting. But then I figured, it's just a game, so what could the harm really be? I stepped into the Dark Corridor.
The darkness parted like a curtain, revealing a sort of crowded room. A quick count showed eleven faces, displaying a mix of emotions – some neutral, some frustrated, some confused. But all eyes were on me and Zexion as we entered the room.
I swallowed nervously. “H-Hi.”