Hello! I am MewBladeXxX, more commonly known as Mew, to my friends, along with the people on my forum, PokePlayers. To the people who come from PokePlayers, this is my dedication story to you, for helping me get this far. For the people who do not know what PokePlayers is - check my profile. And welcome, to the Nightmare Realm!

Ah... I've got a lot to say. But I don't think I'm going to bore you just yet. For now, please, enjoy the Prologue of The Nightmare Realm. I'll see you at the bottom!

The Nightmare Realm

Prologue

In China...

A black haired, tan skinned girl raced through the streets of Beijing, her braid flapping out behind her. She smirked as someone yelled at her for knocking over their things, but what did she care? Ha, she'd knock over all of his stuff if she had the time!

But today, the long anticipated VRMMORPG, Solitude, was being released for closed Beta. And she was one of the lucky 1000 chosen.

The way it worked for the closed Beta, was that they were testing the workability of 100 different servers. 10 people were allowed on each server, and that would be the one they would Beta. So that was how that worked.

But she hadn't the time to think about such trivial workings. She dashed home, slipping past her mother in the kitchen and her sister in the living room easily. Cat-stepping up the stairs quietly, she locked her door, licking her lips as she eyed the package on her bed eagerly.

In no time at all, she had the VR helmet connected to her computer, and a comfortable space for her body to rest on when her mind was sent into cyberspace. Nodding, she lay down on her bed, and pulled the helmet snugly over her head. She lowered the visor, seeing the first flashes of color as the screen began to load in data from the computer.

"Voice command," she said calmly. "Open game, Solitude. Game, start."

In Russia...

A male teen stared at the all the screens surrounding him. He stood on a transparent floor, in a black room. A holographic image of himself stared blankly ahead. He walked around the image curiously – touching it did nothing, his hand passed right through the image.

By accident, his hand brushed the 'Eye Color' slider. He gasped as his holographic image suddenly had striking orange eyes. He stumbled backwards, startled. He recovered quickly, and began to mess with the sliders. A small grin spread on his face.

"This will be fun..."

In Italy

A hand paused over the 'Skin Color' slider, before moving on. He was quite proud of his half African, half Italian ethnicity, even if he looked more African than Italian.

Moving on, he considered what he would use as his username. 'Halo' seemed a bit over the edge girly, but he didn't want to choose anything too geeky or nerdy either...

He paused in typing, considering, before brightening up.

"Perfect!"

In the United States...

A male teenager around the age of 16 chuckled, with a look of amused evil on his face. Having finished with his character creation he was now flicking through weapon choices.

Swords, Axes, Staves, a Halberd, Bows, even a few odd and end weapons, like Darts, Daggers, and other choices. In the end, he went with a sword. It was a simple choice, really. Easy to wield, looked it – what was that?!

He breathed reverently as he stared at the weapon customization screen in front of him. He didn't know if the other players had this or not – was this part of the closed Beta testing? That some players got what others didn't?

He didn't care. He sat down, starting to plot out the ultimate weapon.

"Everyone else is going to be in so much trouble..." He chuckled again.

Also in the United States... Florida...

A 16 year old teen swung around his two swords – two energy swords. He huffed, turning around to slash again, getting used to the motion. He stared at them, before sighing, lowering the swords.

Instead, he tried some other weapon types. A whip, a laser firing weapons, and even a staff, at one point. All energy made, he must have stayed in that category for at least half an hour, trying what fit. In the end, he chose all of them, because he could.

Moving onto another screen, he sighed to himself, flicking a lock of curly black hair out of his face.

"I don't know why I bother," he murmured quietly. "It's not like I'm a warrior..."

In Germany...

The brown haired, green eyed girl didn't take very long to decide how to spread her points. She knew what she wanted – lots of Health, to live long, and lots of Luck. Luck, especially. Knowing her own luck, if she didn't stockpile it in copious amounts, she would die quite quickly.

She nodded as she looked at the distribution. Granted, her Intelligence and Charisma would be low, but she was never one for pitiful traps or haggling with shop keepers anyways.

... Of course, there might be the time she would rue her decision, but that was for the future. She shrugged, confirming her choices.

"Yay... Now I hope this doesn't get me killed." She sighed.

In Japan

A girl with tan skin and reddish brown hair smirked triumphantly. She was looking at the stats she had chosen – instead of trying to go wide spread, which was what most beginners might try, she would specialize, mainly in Speed and Intelligence.

Speed, to get away quick, and Intelligence, to come up with nifty ways to wield her weapon. Intelligence was also quite handy in a pinch of a situation, as she had found through playing other RPG games, although those hadn't been multiplayer.

Even as low as her Health, Charisma, Luck, and Perception was, she didn't care. She was an experienced player – she didn't need Health. She'd never get hit, with how fast she was. Luck, ah, she could throw that out of the window for all she cared. Luck was for suckers who didn't know how to play properly.

She grinned wickedly, feeling the hilt of her sword, as she turned to yet another digital screen.

"The other Beta Testers won't know what hit them."

In the Netherlands...

A teen – adult, really, at the age of 18, stared at the Abilities screen. He could click on them, but all they did was show what they did. He flipped through a few, some with great relish, some with distaste.

Levitation – Allows the player to jump higher than normal, and stay in the air longer for a few seconds.

Glowing Eyes and Night Vision – You can see perfectly in the night, but your eyes glow brightly.

Black Kitten – You can transform into a black kitten.

He frowned at the last one. Who would ever want that ability? To transform into a kitten, of all things? He hoped he wouldn't get that ability.

He pressed the randomizer button, hoping for the best. He closed his eyes, as the screen beeped a confirmation. He opened his eyes a bit.

Miracle – You might survive a lethal hit.

He sighed. That was good, considering how much Health he had invested in. Two points of Health. A punch could kill him. He sighed, accepted it, and moved on to the real game.

"I think if I survive the first few minutes, it'll be a miracle."

In Australia...

A 19 year old male adult was furiously cursing his luck, growing at his given ability. Out of all the abilities he could have been given, THIS was the one he got? And his Luck stat was pretty good too!

He glared at the offender.

Black Kitten – You can transform into a black kitten.

He sighed. He knew that his pride was going to take a huge hit if he actually used the ability. He was pretty tall, lanky, but definitely not the person who looked like someone who would be a fan of cuddly animals.

"Why me?"

In Britian...

A path wound through the dark pine forest, as they sky above was a dark, deep, wine red. The moon was the only spot of illumination, bar the occasional lantern hanging from the branches. A male teen walked through the path slowly, eyes darting side to side, ready to flicking out the chain that circled his wrist.

An owl hooted somewhere, and he jumped. Relaxing slightly, he sighed, and continued along the path. As it opened up into open fields, he saw contained fires burning merrily – the ground was razed, dirt scorched, and barely any grass. Besides the forest at his back, there were no trees in sight.

There were no flowers either. It was a rather colorless world without flowers, he thought. He checked his server settings again, and made the connection in his mind.

"I can see why this is called the 'Nightmare Realm'," he said quietly.

In United States again... California...

A 6 foot male quickened his pace, the overly large scythe on his back bouncing with every step. Seeing a large sign in the distance, he started to run. The sun started to rise, and now, he was outright sprinting.

As the sun rose, the world began to change. The once scorched dirt started to sprout lush grass and beautiful flowers, and several trees grew instantly. The red wine sky faded into a bright blue day, with several fluffy clouds above.

He slowed, first to a light run, then a jog, and finally, a walk. He breathed heavily, amazed. Inwardly, he thanked his sister for getting him into the closed Beta testing – he didn't know what strings she pulled, but they certainly worked. He marveled at the beauty springing from the ugly world that was only a few moments ago.

After another few minutes of walking, he reached the sign that had previously been in the distance. Tipping his head back, he read it aloud, letting his voice ring out into the morning.

"Welcome to Tutorial Town."

Alright! So we kinda introduced everyone. Names will come next chapter, I promise! Anyways, my speech! If you don't want to read it, well, don't. But I'd appreciate it if you do. :)

Anyways, this is direct to all my PokePlayer members. I'm really appreciative of what you've done for the forum, even the inactive people. Uh, special thanks to the senior members and the people who've stuck around for so many months. PokePlayers wouldn't be where it is now without you guys!

... Now that the sappy part's over, seriously, thank you. This is also my 50th story on Fanfiction, hurrah! Also, 'The Nightmare Realm' is partially inspired by SAO, as you might have noticed. Anyways, please review/favorite/follow, take your pick, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd review. XD

On another note, if anyone wants to draw a cover for this story, that'd be nice.

I'll see you next chapter! Review, please!