Chapter 1: Ch. 1 Broadcast
Bright lights, that's the first thing I see after opening my eyes. The light burns and I had to rapidly blink to get the spots out of my vision. With the ache in my head and nausea trying to overwhelm me, well I think anyone would feel disoriented in this situation. I glanced around the room, trying to figure out where I was and how I ended up here.
Feeling resistance when i try to move has panic setting in and a quick glance shows that I'm strapped down to a strangely futuristic looking table. The entire room was a sterile white and with all the machines connected to me by tubes and wires made me think I ended up in a hospital. But if that is the case then why the camera setup?
Sure it's not pointed at me right now but there is clearly a tripod camera on the other side of the room facing the opposite wall. Something so out of place just made the entire situation more confusing for my disoriented mind. The sound of footsteps snap me from my panic long enough to see the door across from me open up.
The man that walked into the room could be described in one word, normal. Average height, normal build, short brown slicked back hair and brown eyes, the middle aged man looked like he could easily go unnoticed in a crowd.
Noticing that I was awake the man gave me a a cold smile and spoke. "Hadrian James Potter, twelve years old, abandoned by your family at six so they could focus on their 'savior' your twin sister Rose Evelyn Potter."
I'm sure the shock showed on my face. Just his use of the word 'savior' when referring to my sister told me all I needed to know. "Ah it seems you catch on quick, yes I know all about the wizarding world, you see I'm a muggleborn myself graduated from Hogwarts and everything. Unfortunately theres not many job opportunities for us muggleborns due to oppression from the purebloods".
"But that's enough about me for now. Let's talk about you shall we? Yes I know all about you, the abuse that you suffer at the dursley's, your rejection from Hogwarts regardless of the fact you have a healthy magic core, bound as it is and most importantly of all I know that you Harry Potter are the 'true' savior of the wizarding world."
The mans smile seemed to get even colder and twisted as he spoke. "Oh yes I've watched over your sisters progress over the years, 'saviour' indeed, that arrogant girl is more likely to cause problems than fix them".
His brown eyes sharpened as they locked onto mine and I had to suppress a shiver at the sheer insanity in them. "But you are the real deal are you not? Yes, yes I do believe I'm correct. And what better revenge on those purebloods than using their 'real' pawn while they use the fake? Ahahaha I wish I could see the looks on their faces when they realise their mistakes".
This man is crazy, I have to escape, so I do the only thing I can in this situation, thrash around while ignoring the pain of the straps digging into my skin hoping against hope that I could break the straps. The man just looked amused with my struggle. "Ah ah ah you wont be getting out of here anytime soon Harry and I wont be answering any of your questions, you can hear everything you need to know in a few minutes when I address the world".
God I wish I could wipe the smug grin off his face. Unfortunately even if I wasnt strapped down theres not much I could do with my short, malnourished body. Hey it's not my fault that the dursley's stunted my growth.
The man walked toward me with a strange helmet thing in his left hand. It looked like one of those virtual reality helmets that dudley's always going on about, except this one looked much more advanced. He pulled out his wand and started weaving spells over both me and the headset, whispering strange words under his breath while random pulses of light would flash off either myself or the headset. At one point I could have sworn I even saw a ethereal, glowing cord connecting me to the headset.
The man must have seen my panic because he sent me a smug smirk. "No need to panic, that first spell was just establishing a connection between your body and the avatar that you're going to be playing in. This will create a sort of mirror effect, anything that happens to your avatar will be reflected on your real body. I created the spell myself, this will be the first test on a live human but I am fairly certain of its success."
Ok that was about as far from comforting as it gets. Seriously this guy is certifiably insane, someone call the nice men in lab coats! Barmy here needs an escort to the closest available padded room. Ughh his eyes are even twinkling, that brings to mind the wrinkly old goat fucker and isn't that just the perfect thing to be thinking about in my situation? Oh looks like hes done talking, now hes walking over to the camera.
Taking the moment of silence I try to get my mind in order and make sense of this screwed up situation. Its obvious that he plans to make me play some virtual reality game. So if what he claims those spells do is true then any damage I take in the game will mean a real injury to my body.
Most games have some form of healing but I doubt that would do anything for the scars left behind. What if I lose a limb? I dont think magic can simply fix that. Will the game avatar keep those scars too or will it go back to pristine condition with a full health bar?
If that's the case how will I keep track of the damage being done to my body? If I survive this will I come out to find my body more scar tissue than person? The more I think about this the more I realize that I'm screwed. If only that meddling old man didnt bind my magic, he probably doesn't even think I'd remember. Not that surprising really, they didnt pay enough attention or keep me around long enough to realize that I have an eidetic memory.
"Alright just one thing left to do and we can get this show started!"
The crazy man snapped me out of my thoughts and I watched with weary eyes as he started weaving spells over my half of the room. When he finished he sent me a wide grin, all teeth and filled with manic glee.
"No need to worry that was a simple illusion spell, tailored to effect muggle cameras, with this our viewers will believe everything done here was achieved using technology. I may hold a strong hate for the purebloods but I can atleast respect the need for the statute of secrecy. Now I'll need you to stay silent while I address the masses, it was hard work hacking into news stations worldwide not to mention creating a translation software that would translate my words to the main language of each country and I dont need you ruining my speech."
He reached into the pocket of his lab coat and withdrew a clean white fabric, he then proceeded to ball it up and shove it into my mouth, effectively gagging me. I gave him my best glare, one that promised pain, vengeance and death. All that got me was a condescending chuckle and a pat on the cheek.
While I simmered in rage the man walked back over to the camera and pressing a button a red light blinked on that showed the camera was live. He then went to stand against the wall facing the camera, cleared his throat and began his speech.
"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Theodore Mason, I am a scientist who is searching for the next path of human advancement. Today I have decided to allow the world to follow my latest experiment. At the end of this announcement a link will be given to a website that will stream the experiment live 24/7. Anyone can watch this live stream for a small fee. I accept all currency but the price will remain at the equivalent of one hundred American dollars."
"Now allow me to give you all some details of what this experiment pertains. As you all know one month ago Akihiko, Kayaba officially released the vrmmorpg Sword Art Online, subsequently trapping ten thousand players in the game. To free themselves they must beat the game but the stakes were raised, if they die in the game they die in real life."
"Many of you are probably wondering what this has to do with my experiment. Well let me tell you it has everything to do with it. A few months before sao went online I was able to hack the game and create a new floor separate yet connected to Aincrad. I designed the floor as a copy of a old game that I'm positive you older viewers will recognize, a game called Bloodborne."
"Yes! This new floor is one of gore and death, hunters and beasts, dreams and nightmares! At the moment this floor is hidden and inaccessible to the players of Aincrad. Even Kayaba himself wouldn't find it even if he searched his entire system. Now allow me to introduce you to the subject that will get first hand experience on this floor!"
Stepping forward Theodore turned the camera so it had a clear view of me gagged and strapped to this table. He then walked over to stand beside me with a wide smile on his face.
"This young man is Hadrian James Potter, he's a twelve year old British citizen that I purchased from his abusive family. The table he is on is my own design, its fitted with all manner of devices that will mimic any damage done to his game avatar onto his real body."
" The stakes that young hadrian will be playing at will be much higher than the ten thousand trapped in Aincrad. If he dies in the game not only will he die in the real world but the floor will be opened allowing the beasts of yarnham, the nightmare and even the chalice dungeons into the other floors of Aincrad which would spell doom for the players trapped there."
"As the saying goes, A hunter must hunt. Therefore if he chooses not to hunt or takes too long of a break between hunts, beasts will begin to be randomly teleported into Aincrad. The longer his 'break' the more and stronger the beasts teleported."
By now Theodore wasnt even looking at the camera. Instead he was smiling in glee at the pure horror that was surely visible on my face. If it was just my life at stake it would be better, still really bad but better. Now hes putting the lives of thousands on my shoulders, it's just too much.
Tears started falling down my cheeks as the weight of my situation crushed me. But when I saw the twisted glee on his face increase from my suffering I snapped down on my emotions. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction, instead I did my best to cover up my fear with the pure rage I felt for this man. If it weren't for the bindings I'm certain my magic would have lashed out so explosively I'd take the whole building down around us. Theodore just smiled smugly at my anger.
"There will be times when these rules are not in effect. These are what I call the hunters respite, during these times hadrian will be given the option of leaving the dream and spending a full day in Aincrad. The hunters respite will only be offered directly after defeating a boss which means to get them hadrian will have to progress through the storyline."
"I'm sure there are many of you who want to know what I'm getting from this experiment but sadly that is classified information that I have no plans on sharing. You can make as many theories as you want but I will neither verify or disclaim them. For those of you who are interested in watching young hadrian's struggle fighting the beasts of yarnham to not only survive but safeguard the thousands of players who are fighting for freedom themselves please visit the link at the bottom of your screen and pay the viewers fee. The experiment will be going live in exactly one hour. Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen."
Theodore ended the broadcast with a satisfied grin that turned savage as he turned his gaze on me. "Now I believe it's time we get you prepared for your dive, wouldn't want any mistakes being made before we even begin."
I continued to glare at him with hate and a promise of vengeance right up to the point the headset lowered over my eyes.
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