|| -- Chapter 1 -- ||
It was a dark night among nights.
The hiss of static filled the air, and an old CRT illuminated the corner of a messy bedroom. The movie it was playing had long since ended, but the viewer hadn't noticed. Even as the VCR clicked, and a red light beeped on the front, the lone figure in the room didn't look its way.
Clara sat hunched over her computer, rock music echoing out from cheap earbuds. The music drowned out the static of the TV, but she wouldn't have noticed it even without her earbuds. With a single minded focus, she clicked on link after link, staring at her monitor through a pair of thick glasses.
Each link was saved into a notepad, and the line-entries numbered more than ten thousand. With flushed cheeks, she copied another link, then another. Her fingers shifted over the crotch of her shorts, rubbing herself a little harder with each new addition to her treasury.
It was a familiar ritual to her. She browsed a porn site, edging herself as she found new videos to watch. Each one she saved made her heart race, and a hot flushing heat filled her cheeks. At any moment, she felt like she might topple over the edge, but she kept herself just shy of an orgasm.
The journey was more fun than the destination, and each edge felt better than the last. The way the pleasure twitched through her sex, the way her clit throbbed with arousal, and the burning heat that built up below her navel--it made her head spin in the best way possible.
She pressed down hard against the outside of her shorts, rubbing the thin material against her panties, and rubbing her thin panties over her mons. She was soaked, thighs clenched together, barely able to think as the arousal burned through every fiber of her being. Nothing could stop her lust-fueled mania, or so she thought.
A pop up appeared on the screen in front of her.
Her finger paused mid-click, eyes glancing at the obnoxious ad. Normally, she would have dismissed it instantly, but something felt different about it. Time slowed as she took in the advertisement.
An enchanting pair of amethyst eyes stared out at her. A pair of purple-painted lips twisted into a knowing smile. The woman on the ad seemed to stare into her soul, beckoning to her. The sight of her made Clara's heart pound even harder.
The flushing heat in her cheeks doubled in intensity. Her ears burned like twin candles. The smoldering sensation in her belly grew into a twitching, roiling mess of urges coursing between her legs. As she teetered at the edge of orgasm, Clara couldn't look away from the woman with her beautiful purple eyes.
"Welcome to Maple Chronicles Online! Select your starting location and begin your new story."
The advertisement showed a simple greeting, and it asked her to select the starting location of a character in a game. In her drunken, lust-filled stupor, Clara clicked on it.
It was the one thing she knew she shouldn't be doing. Her remaining brain cells screamed out from the back of her mind, telling her it was stupid. However, by the time she realized what she'd done, it was already too late. She had clicked on a porn site ad.
|| -- Chapter 2 -- ||
A knock came at the door, ringing out once, twice, three times.
Clara stiffened at the sound, and she looked away from her computer. With a curse, she pulled out her cheap headphones and tossed her I-Pod onto her bed. (Who could it possibly be?)
She opened the door to her small studio apartment, but there was no one there. The cold, quiet street contained not a single soul--only a single blinking street lamp stood alone in the street. She began doubting if she really heard a knock when she noticed a package by her feet.
A brown paper-wrapped box sat at her front door.
She picked it up and carried it inside. The address and name were her own, so it wasn't a mistaken delivery, but she couldn't remember ordering anything recently. With a furrowed brow, she began unwrapping the package.
"No way..." She peeled away the brown paper to reveal a VR headset box.
It had a brand she didn't recognize, and the outside was themed with a game she'd never played, but the large helmet-like image on the outside was most definitely a VR headset. She'd heard about them, but never imagined having one in her hands. With her limited income, it was the most she could do to afford an old laptop.
She opened the box and pulled out the headset. However, as she looked it over, a chill ran down her spine. A large logo lay on one side, and it read 'Maple Chronicles Online'. The dark red letterings spelled the same name as the ad she clicked on.
(Is this a coincidence?) She thought to herself. Clara glanced back at her laptop screen, but the ad had disappeared. It was back to the pornographic video she'd been watching.
"I must be going crazy," she said to herself, and she set the headset aside. "Perhaps I should go to bed for the night..."
"You've got mail!" A voice echoed out of her computer. She thought she had muted her speakers, but her mailbox announced an email, nonetheless.
In her half-asleep state--cheeks flushed from her multi-hour edging session--Clara forgot to question how her muted computer had emitted such a sound, and she sat down at her desk. Reflexively, she switched to her mail program and looked at the new message.
'You're invited to a private Beta--Maple Chronicles Online.'
The email was at the top of her inbox. However, the receive date was from hours earlier. The timestamp was from the morning, and it mentioned the contents were time sensitive, but she didn't remember seeing it when she last checked her email.
(Perhaps I missed it somehow.) Clara thought to herself, and she clicked into the email.
The contents described a new VR MMO RPG that they wanted her to demo. It described the package she received, the headset, and asked her to look out for its arrival in the afternoon.
It was three in the morning now, so she'd completely missed the delivery time, but Clara thanked her lucky stars she found the package when she did. There were times she didn't leave her apartment for days. Between semesters like this, it wouldn't have been impossible for the package to be left outside until the following week.
Clara stood up and looked over the headset and packaging again. A small manualette lay inside the box and she picked it up. The outside cover had 'Maple Chronicles Online' printed in big bold letters, and the woman with purple eyes smiled next to it.
With a slightly calmer mind than her earlier lust-fueled mania, she could examine the woman closer.
