Enter The Intranet

Within a small living room two teenagers are sitting on opposite sides of a small black leather sofa, faced forwards toward a large flat screen TV. The words 'dìon, shape the destiny of their world' flash on screen, before showing a series of action shots between large robots and large mechs.

"Created to protect us, betrayed by us, betrayed by all, the dìon will forge their own path in this hostile universe" Is spoken in a loud narrator's voice from the TV before the advert ends with the name of a company, Nature's envy.

"So Josie are you going to play dìon when it's released?" The girl on the right hand side of the sofa asks her friend, as she turns from the TV to look at her. She is roughly 5 ft 5 inches tall with auburn colored hair and a pretty face full of freckles on a pale Caucasian complexion. Currently wearing ripped blue jeans and a black tank top, curled up in the corner of the sofa.

"Of course i am Thal! You know i would never miss the chance to play the first game made by Nature's envy. They say that this will be bigger than any game that has been made previously, and i have made sure mum bought two immersion devices. I won't let you leave me playing another mmo without you." The girl on the left hand side of the sofa responds enthusiastically to her friend Thaliak, This girl Josie is roughly 5 ft 9 inches with midnight black colored hair and a similarly pretty face with a tanned Caucasian complexion. Wearing the same outfit as her cousin Thaliak.

"You know i get bored with those silly mmo games you play Josie! All those restrictions on what you can do, i don't like being a fighter killing hordes of monsters. I'd rather dig out some ancient games and play command and conquer 3, or civilization 5. At least those games require some thought to play well, you'd rather just swing a sword repeatedly all day." Thaliak complained to Josie, while picking up the remote to turn off the advert that was still playing in the background.

"Yeah but I've heard you can play the game anyway you like, even become a commander that directs the NPC and player battles. I am one hundred percent sure you will be able to live your fantasy within dìon, and i can do it alongside you!" Josie shoots back "At least give it a go, the game releases tomorrow and mum already bought the immersion device and the game access for both of us. All you have to do is come over tomorrow and we can play"

"Ok, fine. You win! I'll play with you, just don't make me regret this. I expect you to stay with me and play it together, no going off and leaving me alone like the last 3 mmo's we played." Thaliak responds.

…..

NEXT DAY

Within Josie's house across the street from where Thaliak lives, the two girls are standing within a large room taken up by two large reclined black chairs. The head of each chair looks like a helmet with massive wires coming out and sinking into the floor, both chairs were identical with the brand Nature's envy printed on the base. These are the unique and innovative Immersion devices created by Nature's Envy, the gateway to the newly released game named dìon.

"Ok girls the access is all payed for and you have the summer holidays to play the game, make the most of it and have fun together. Do not leave Thaliak alone again please Josie, if you force her to play at least help her to have fun." Josie's mum notions towards her niece Thaliak as she speaks to her daughter " I'm leaving for work now, please remember to log out and feed yourselves. These devices are supposed to track these things and tell you when to log out, listen and take care of yourselves ok."

"Yes mum, we'll take care!" Josie shouts as her mum walks out of the room, Josie turns to the Immersion device and lies down on it with Thaliak copying her motions with the other Immersion device as they hear the front door close loudly downstairs.

"So what do we do just put our heads in the helmet to login?" Thaliak asks in a confused tone as she squirms around on the immersion device trying to get comfortable.

"Yep just stay still and pull the helmet down to your head, the login process will begin automatically once that is in place." Josie replies before she pulls the helmet onto her head and instantly falls limp, the helmet flashes blue before settling on a constant purple light flowing through the helmet and down the wire through the floor.

"Hey! At least wait for me or tell me more about the game!" Thaliak shouts in vain as Josie had already logged in to dìon. After venting her frustrations to an unresponsive Josie, Thaliak pulls the helmet down over her head starting the login sequence. She sees a flash of blue, before falling into a void of black.

...

What feels like hours later for Thaliak she wakes up within a black void, looking around she can see nothing but herself and a grayed out copy of herself standing directly in front of her. Lifeless and static the copy does not respond or react in any way as she moves around the mannequin attempting to figure out what she should be doing.

"Welcome to the login process for dìon, as this is your first login user tutorial has been initiated. Please think 'menu' to open the user interface and begin character creation." A synthetic female voice asks politely.

At the encouragement Thaliak opens the menu to see a question and two options, Metallurgy or Earth. With a brief sense of confusion she moves her finger continuously between the two options before hesitating.

"U-Um, what is metallurgy? Am i choosing my starting element or something?" Thaliak queries in a confused manner.

"Ahahahahahaha, that's got to be the cutest question I've heard since the servers launched 32.47 minutes ago. Did you not learn about the world into which you would be entering, Metallurgy is a planet the home of the dìon. I am pretty sure you can guess what Earth is as well yes? This choice will determine multiple aspects of the game, starting location, available races, available professions, character bonuses and allegiances. Be very sure whether you want to be a robot or be a mech pilot as the only way to change this is to delete your character and restart." The female voice responds in amusement.

"Then i want to be a robot!" Thaliak shouts as she presses the option for Earth on the menu interface, using her hand.

"Ahahahaha oh dear lord child you are killing me, not only do you need to think in your head to interact with the menu as it is not physical. But the robot race are on Metallurgy you fool" The female voice barely contains her laughter to retort towards Thaliak.

"Oops I guess this will be a learning curve for me." Thaliak whispers as she uses her hands to hide the blush now forming on her face.