"Come on, Dennis, don't troll me again" Tina spoke into her microphone while her fingers were furiously clicking and pressing buttons on her keyboard and mouse simultaneously. She was currently deeply engaged with her favorite past-time activity, playing games. Specifically, she was currently playing a game known as Star Wars: The Old Republic. In short, it is a star wars MMO. And she has the role of a damage dealing character, playing her main which was a Sith Juggernaut.
She was engaged in a raid with a few friends of hers, and they were having a blast. They were running a pretty typical day, a weekly scheduled 8 man Operation called "Scum and Villainy" on the hardest difficulty, Nightmare Mode. As the top damage dealer, she was a regular top performer of her raid squad, but this time they were having some difficulties and getting wiped at a boss known for being difficult even within the raid.
"But you gotta admit it was funny" One of her friends, the one she had called out towards, namely Dennis, responded into the mic. "I for one am laughing my butt off here" He added.
"Yeah, sure" Tina spoke, though she too had a grin on her face.
"Listen guys, its last try for me because I need to put the little one to bed soon" A third, much more mature voice came through. It was another of their colleagues, Marcus, who was also a parent. He frequently has to step out from his duties momentarily for for the rest of the day because his parental duties take priority and everyone understood well.
"In that case, lets postpone the clear for tomorrow" Dennis spoke. Aside from being the primary tank, Dennis was also the leader of their raid group. As such, he calls the shots most of the time, and this time, he decided for Marcus' sake to postpone the full clear so to save the man some undue stress and pressure.
"Thanks, champ" Marcus responded and signed off shortly afterwards, indicated within the game with his character logging off.
"Then tomorrow it is, fellas" A fourth voice came, which was their first healer, out of two, namely Jake. "Ain't nothing wrong with a lil' break after all. Imma grab me some food, then. Cya later y'all!" He spoke, earning a few 'bye's and 'see you later's before he signed off as well.
"Then I am going off as well" Tina responded and logged off from the game. After the group gave her a similarily warm departure for the time, she left the voice call and leaned back into her chair, sighing out loudly as she lets herself relax. These raids were very focus-intense after all and the smallest, most minute mistake can potentially cost the entire run, so she had locked in really hard for this session and evidently required something to cool down.
However, fate had a different route in store for her, because she suddenly felt some serious chest pain flaring up. At first, she thought it was a bad case of heartburn, but within seconds, it became much more intense, so much so she gripped her chest with both hands, trying to scream but no voice would come. She shot up from her seat and grabbed her phone, trying to desperately call emergency services, but before she could finish typing, the pain stopped... but so did everything else for her. She collapsed on the ground, hitting her head against the table in the process, then the ground.
While she lay there, head bleeding from the impact, her world turned dark and she succumbed to her heart attack instantly, dying seconds later...
...only to suddenly awaken with a shrill scream exiting her throat, her upper body shooting up into a seated position. She grabbed her chest again with her hands, feeling no pain at all coming from it. She let out a sigh, relieved that, in her mind, it was only a flare of pain. However, as she was feeling her chest up, she felt something robust and hardened against her fingertips. She looked down to see that she was not in her simple T-shirt and shorts she had worn, but she was wearing a full set of black armor neck to toe, her head the only uncovered part!
Worse yet, the more she looked at it, the more she recognized the armor. At first, she thought she was delusional for recognizing it, but the more she touched it, felt it up, scanned it over, the more she was sure of it... it was the Unrelenting Terror's Armor, an armor set from SWToR, the game she had JUST played a moment ago. And how did she recognize it? Well, it was the armor her character primarily wears...
Which lead her to a second thought. She shot up to her legs, fully standing up before she removed her gloves and... sure enough... her skin was red. As red as blood itself. She then felt her face up with her now naked hand and felt slight ridges and bumps on areas such as where her cheekbones and her chin was.
That all but confirmed it for her... she was in the body of the character she played in her game. A Sith Pureblood species.
This also sent her thoughts racing at miles per second, contemplating whether she was hallucinating, dreaming, or if by some nightmarish miracle this all was real. She pinched herself, slapped herself, hell she even bent her left pinky finger to the point she was sure she dislocated the knuckle-joint, which weirdly enough didn't hurt as much as she anticipated it would. But no amount of self-inflicted pain and anguish woke her up...
"This is real... fuck, this is all real!" She spoke with increasing panic. And justly so. How was she even supposed to cope with this? She wasn't some special talent, had zero fighting experience in her life. Hell, most would probably describe her as a 'lazy bumm' because she often finds the least demanding way to finish her tasks at work and home. She wasn't a fighter, wasn't really tough, lived in comfort all her life, and now she was thrust into the body of a battle hardened serial killing embodiment of raw power and terror incarnate.
It became too much for her conscience and she promptly passed out again... unbeknownst to her, she didn't entirely pass out from the shock, but also because her mind was being flooded with memories. Muscle memory, knowledge, skills, everything partaining to her character was being, for lack of better terminology, downloaded directly into her muscles and brain.
When she woke up again, the daytime light had disappeared and it was night time, given the sky was dark and a sickle moon was visible.
Tina shot back up onto her legs, slowly this time, and rubbed her forehead with one hand. "Ugh, I had such a weird nightmare-" She said to herself, only to stop when she once again felt those ridges and bumps across her face... and realized for the second time now that none of this was a dream, but the cold, hard, uncaring reality.
"Fuck, why me!?" She yelled out loudly, grabbing her head with both hands, only to realize another dilemma... where was she? "Not only do I transmigrate as my character, but I am stranded Gods know where!" She shouted to herself, falling to her knees and beginning to tear up from sheer horror regarding her fate. "This is the worst... I just wanna go back home..." She sobs, closing her eyes before suddenly feeling a weird pang in her chest.
It wasn't painful, on the opposite it felt... warm, strengthening her even. The feeling overcame her and she stopped sobbing, basking in the calming sensation that washed over her. Suddenly, the feeling enveloped her whole being and she became aware. Aware of the knowledge her mind harbors, aware of the memories flooding her mind. She became aware of who she now truly is...
"Is this... the Force?" She thought slowly, checking out her right hand while trying to grasp that feeling again, before instinctually managing to get a hold of it. She used it to create a force-push and it ripped apart the tree before her, felling it in one hit. "WOW!" She mused before checking out her hand again. "I did that?" She spoke with increasing glee, feeling joy well up inside of her.
She then continued to experiment around with the feeling of harnessing the Force, felling dozens of trees in the process. During the 'experimentation' of her powers, she also found her character's weapon, the Ancient Sith Lord's Warblade, and the helmet to her armor, that allows her to cover her head and thus fully conceal herself under her armor. She sheated her blade to her hips and began to walk.
For hours, she simply walked in a straight path forward, taking as little deviations from her way as possible. In her mind, if all she did was walk straight ahead, one of 4 things will happen: 1) She finds a city. 2) She finds a road leading to a city. 3) she finds the sea from which she can find a coastal city. 4) she eventually stumbles upon other people.
And indeed, case number 2 came to fruition first. She found a dirt road that had marks all over its pavement, the primary marks being from wheels. But there were also footprints, and as she checked them out carefully, Tina came to realize the majority of the footprints go into one direction. So, her next choice was clear: She would follow the footprints' direction while staying on the road.
It took her a full day until she finally came across something identifiable on her travel... and what she found was confusing to say the least.
Far away at the horizon she could spot a tower. A mighty construct reaching into the heavens themselves, its top obstructed by clouds. "Damn, that's one tall tower" She mused as she continued to follow the road, which lead right towards the tower. A few more hours later, and she arrived... at something she already dreaded in her previous life: A line of people.
Instantly, the people became wary of her, spotting a stranger armored head to toe in a sinister black tone, and decided to err on the side of caution around her. Tina did not much like the negative attention, but she figured that's something she has to just deal with for the time being.
The line was long, and it moved forward very slowly. It took a few hours once again until Tina's turn finally came, and what she saw immediately sent her mind reeling. Two guards were stationed before the tall wall surrounding the city, covering the entrance into said city. But their easily most identifiable feature was their headwear. For you see, they wore elephant masks...
A tall tower, elephant mask wearing guards, different fantasy race type people all standing in a long line awaiting entry... the clues were already identifying, but what the guards spoke next cemented it all: "Welcome to Orario, first time or returning?"
Orario. Orario. ORARIO! That name was Iconic in itself! A massive tower at the center of Orario... Tina figured out where she was, and she did not like it at all. "oh my god..." She whispered to herself too silently for the guards to hear. Th realization crashed onto her like a collapsing brick house. She wasn't in any star wars world, like her character-impersonation would have her believe... she was in fricken Danmachi. She KNEW this world in and out!
"Hello?" One of the guards spoke, snapping their fingers in front of Tina's helmet to bring her back to reality.
She composed herself as quickly as she could. "Sorry. It's my first time being here..."
The guards nodded, but their eyes narrowed slightly. "A particular reason for you to hide your face?"
Tina gulped to herself, thinking of a probable excuse. "Ugly scarring... don't want people to see" she came up with, and the guards seemed to believe her because they did not press the issue.
"In that case, do you have any identification?"
"None" Tina shot back with the truth.
"Then you should head to the Guild to get some. Seeing as I can't see any bags on you, I will assume you have no coin for the entrance fee either. Usually, the price for entry is 500 Valis per head, 800 for adults, but if you cannot pay upfront, you can delay the payment for a later date, but with a fixed interest of 200 valis per 12 hours."
"I would like to delay payment" Tina then spoke, which was her only option really, since she has no money at all and needs to earn some rather fast.
"Then take this-" The guard spoke, writing something down on a note before handing it to her "-To the guild when you are ready to pay. This contains the exact time of your entrance into Orario. Try not to scam them, this process is verified by a Deity on site so they will know if you try any funny business."
"Thank you..." Tina spoke before walking past the guards as they made way for her, allowing her entry into Orario, home of the Adventurers and known as the Labyrinth City for being the only place in the world with a Dungeon, THE Dungeon.
"Well... I need money, fast... guess I better head to the guild to register" Tina spoke to herself, beelining it towards the Pantheon...