Covi's P.O.V.

I ran through the forest, a small set of guns at my side and a longer sword in my right hand. I'm running right next to my enemy, and I'm eyeing him. People like him should know to not mess with a girl like me, but he doesn't know that. He's a newer enemy on my radar, and he hasn't heard about me. He's scared, I know that. I jump over a tree branch lying on the ground and sprint as fast as I can until I'm in front of him. I skid to a halt once I'm far enough ahead of him, my sword in my hand ready. He doesn't notice this until the last second. I slice his neck, and a signal appears. He's dead, and I win the championship for the hundredth time in a row.

My name is Covi Savaan. I go by the name Viva and I'm the best player in Nyvir Gun Gala. Nyvir is a second home to me. I spend a ton of time here, logging out of the VRMMORPG game when the night falls in the real world. I dread the moment when night falls. Sometimes I will be up until 8pm, others I won't log out until midnight or a bit later. I have blue hair in the game and deep red in the real world. I want to dye my hair the blue color it is in the game, but I spend too much time online that I don't plan on getting it dyed anytime soon. I am quite skinny because I don't eat much, because of said time online. My apartment is small and I rarely get visitors. The hospital is close by my apartment. My hospital room, hooked up with monitors and such, is on the first floor and easy to reach. I made sure of that.

I look at the time in the top-right corner of my screen: 11:57. I guess I'm not going to compete in the next round. Oh well. I'll beat the sucker who manages to beat everyone.

I swipe my right hand downwards to see the menu. I reach my finger to the button that says "LOG OUT" and almost instantly, I find myself back in the hospital room, decorated with posters and such.

I sit up and motion the nurse who was in the room, reading a magazine. She unhooked me from my cables and wires and let me leave.

~

Once I was back in my apartment, I dropped my bag and plopped on my bed. I rolled onto my back and stared at my phone. 12:24. I needed food and I needed it now. I got up, walked over to my fridge, opened the door, and peered inside. I grabbed a soda and a cold sandwich. Eh... It's food. I'll take what I can get, I thought. I sat at my table and began to eat. The ham and cheese sandwich was good enough to fill me up, and the soda was good as well.

I had a thought go through my mind that hasn't come to me since I became obsessed with Nyvir. I wanted to go out and do something. I finished my food and soda, grabbed my phone, wallet, and bag, and headed out my apartment door.

The one thing I do that involves the outside world is walking from the hospital to my apartment room, and vice versa. I never actually went anywhere else, except maybe a little shopping for food and such. I rarely ever go past the little shops nearby the hospital.

But I had the impression to go past the hospital, to not play at Nyvir until after I did whatever I needed to do. I had no idea what I was doing, to be completely honest.

I trudged onward, passing the hospital doors. A few nurses recognized me walking past, and said hello to me. I waved back and kept going. I passed a clothing shop, then a jewelry shop, and then the grocery store. I stopped at the window of the store, went in, bought a bit of food, put it in my bag, and walked out.

~

I don't know how far I walked, or how long I walked for, but I eventually ended up in a grassy field. I have no idea where I am, but I stand in the center of the field. I look towards the moon, which just started to rise.

"Viva?" Someone calls out from behind me. I whip around suddenly.

"Who has the right to call me by my IGN?" I questioned.

"Your In Game Name? Didn't realize you went by a different name IRL," said the voice.

"I do. Now who's speaking to me?"

The voice said nothing. I tried again. "Who are you?"

"Mikaila. Or if you prefer my IGN, I go by Ikki."

I was stunned. Ikki was my best friend in game. I loved that girl to pieces. She had white hair in the game, and her eyes were an icy blue. Here, she had a golden bunch of curls, but she still had those piercing eyes.

"Ikki?" I whispered. "How'd you find me?"

"Don't you remember?" Her voice was darker and more harsh. "Our conversation?"

I remembered when she mentioned it.

----

"Ikki, something wrong?" I asked her. Her white hair flew behind her in the wind.

"Viva, did you know that Nyvir is a lot like the real world? It's almost like the hospitals aren't here, only IRL. Isn't that strange?"

I nodded. "Yeah," my higher-pitched voice replied. "You're right. I hadn't noticed that before."

"Meet me in the field by the hospitals in a week then. I'm moving close by you. I want to see you IRL. The worlds are linked, so meet me there. The area that looks like Spectra. You know, the grassy land that we used to first train by." Ikki smiled at the memory of our first training.

"Okay." I replied.

----

"Oh... that conversation." I looked down at my feet.

"Yeah, that conversation."

I looked up, and saw that a girl with dark green hair and icy blue eyes was a few feet away from me.

Mikaila seemed to be analyzing me. She had her arms folded across her chest. "You still have the same eyes, just different hair." She laughed at that.

I laughed as well. "I would say the same about you, dearie."

???'s P.O.V.

Heh. So the girl with the dark colored hair is Viva. Wouldn't have guessed it was her at all. Her hair in Nyvir is blue. I would've been able to recognize her easily with that hair here in the real world.

I've found my target. She'll be dead in game soon enough.

And she'll be dead in real life soon after.

Covi's P.O.V.

After the chat with Mikaila, I headed home. I hadn't touched the food I had stashed in my bag, so I pulled out a bit of bread and began to eat it.

My mind wandered for a long time. How had I forgotten that conversation? Why didn't I get out more? Why did this bread taste so good?

I made it to the apartment complex and walked in. A strong wind had picked up, but I didn't mind.

I checked in at the front desk and walked up the stairs to the second floor. I ran a hand through my red hair and walked down the hallway. I walked down the hallway and almost made it to my door, when something hit the back of my head and everything went dark.

~

I dream of a past failure. I'm dreaming, I know I am. I can tell easily, because I'm stuck as my old character in Nyvir. This was before I even grabbed the thought of playing in the tourneys. My long blue hair flowed as the wind picked up in the area I was in. The trees on this hill surrounded me in shadows. My old outfit blended in quite well, if I do say so myself. I reach for my sniper and do a thorough sweep of the area. I look through the scope and peer around, searching for enemies. Then, I spot one. About 300 feet ahead of me. I don't know how I didn't spot him. She was shrouded in the thick blanket of trees, just like I was doing then. I aimed directly at him and was about to fire.

He disappeared. Just like that. I saw no signal that he was shot. I couldn't find him on the radar. I couldn't see him anywhere. The moon had just begun to rise, which meant the night-owls would be coming soon. I lowered my sniper and looked with my own eyes. I still couldn't see him anywhere.

I remember this moment well. I heard a rustle from behind me, and I drop my sniper. I reach for my smaller gun strapped to my waist and raise to a crouch.

"Stand still and don't move, or I will shoot, Miss," said the voice. Male, definitely. Young as well. Not so much as a deep voice, but just enough to pinpoint that the person talking to me was a guy.

I chuckle softly. He seems to notice this. "This is no time for playing games-"

"Games? Isn't Nyvir a game?" I asked harshly. I rise a little bit higher, and I see him raise his gun. I smirk and stand all the way up. I fix my footing in a way that people here would think that I would try to run. That only feeds into my plan with this guy. He aims at me.

"Don't make me, kid. I'm not here to shoot you, just take you."

I turn around and face him. He has short blond hair, fair skin, and camo clothes like mine. His eyes were a silver-blue color. Those eyes studied me and my appearances.

I laughed and stared at him. "You sure? You're my enemy! Take me, and you'll be sorry you even tried."

He closed his eyes and smiled. "Fine." He raised his gun and opened his eyes.

"Let's Dance."