The world was beautiful. All of the hype that had dominated the internet for months didn't even come close to describing it. The colors were so bright, in such high definition, that it seemed even clearer than real life. Aerin breathed deeply, taking in a huge lungful of imaginary air. She loved virtual reality. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the sun cast a shadow back across the ground behind her lumbering form. The programming was so detailed, she could literally feel the grass beneath her now gigantic feet. She looked down at her (well, technically "his") massive hands. It would be fun playing a guy.

"[b]Start Tutorial?[/b]" A touchscreen appeared in from of her face, presenting her with two options. She (er... he? She didn't quite know how to think of herself in this form...) was about to select [b]"Yes"[/b] when another message popped up to cover the first. Apparently there was some sort of error. [i]Great..[/i] She thought. Rampaging monsters, huh? Oh well, it was dinner time anyway, and brand new games were bound to have a few bugs. She'd log out, eat, and hopefully come back and run through the tutorial when everything was fixed.. Dismissing both notifications, she scrolled through in search of the [b]"Log Off"[/b] button.

It was nowhere to be found. She spent a solid minute scrolling through the different screens, trying to figure out if there were any hidden tabs which might provide an escape. She figured out how to equip items, view quests, and track skill progression, but her search was to no avail. Perhaps it was another error? No, she was probably just missing something obvious. Everyone else would be heading toward the center of town, so she decided to follow. Maybe she'd find a beta tester who could show her how to log out.

It was then that she heard growling behind her. She clutched her rusted sword, starting equipment for Paladins. [color=fff79a]"All right. Guess it's trial by fire for me!"[/color]