[story].hack//Legend of the Dragon, The World's next mystery

Elias had finished all his work and still had some time. Other people were always wondering how he managed to get so much time in on The World and still excel in all his classes. He was a phenomenon. At least to the other students.

As he loaded the game on his computer, he put on his headset and grabbed his controller. "Welcome to The World" it read. He accessed his desktop and checked his e-mail. Just some friends wanting to go to an area with him. They just wanted to level up. After checking the News, he clicked on the icon to enter the World. Nothing interesting was on the boards, so he logged right in.

Haru materialized in Mac Anu. She looked around the chaos gate and saw she was in an aclove. As she passed the save point she reached a bridge spanning across a streaming river. She looked down and saw some boats floating by. "Why am I here? Oh yeah, I was helping some ametuer level up" she thought. She checked her inventory and found that she needed a few more Health Drinks. She walked over to the spiraling avenues of houses and shops and found what she was looking for. "Item Shop" was what the sign read. "That'll be 500G" the shopkeeper said in a gruff voice after she told him what she wanted. All of them, every shopkeeper, looked the same no matter what town she went to. The only difference was the clothing. Everyone of them in Mac Anu had green clothing. As she examined her surroundings she realized that The World hadn't changed much over the years she had been playing. Even with all the events, it was the same basic game that had never changed. It was like they couldn't change it. But that was absurd. CC Corp created that game.

Suddenly there was a commotion over at the chaos gate. A level 35 monster had escaped into the town. "This is an interesting event" she thought. "It wasn't even scheduled on the announcements board. Was it?" Haru looked up to the floating sign above the river to see the upcoming events. No monster break was scheduled. "I guess that wily administrator just wanted to surprise us. He comes up with the strangest things."

She ran over to the gate and saw it was a Sled Dog, a fire type monster. She searched her scrolls and found a water element. As she used the scroll she yelled "Rue Zot!" and pillars of ice shot up from the ground impaling the monster upon them. She then ran over to the dog and began slashing wildly. As it lunged one of its two heads at her she jumped over and sunk her blade into its skull. The head flopped over uselessly. The other head then began shooting fireballs, and she ran trying to avoid them. She hit a dead end and got scorched by one of the projectiles. It had only taken a small bit of HP, so she got right back up and began hitting the dog with everything she had. Soon it fell over defeated. A crowd had gathered around the scene and cheered Haru when she killed the monster. "That was fun. I like that about The World. Even with its sameness, you can never really predict what will happen next."

[Real World]

Alex yawned and stretched his arms. The groaning of the chair was mimic'd by the groaning of his back as he tried to rid himself of the stiffness that inevitably follows sleeping in your computer chair. Quietly he pulls the VR visor off his face and rubs his eyes. He had to remember to stop sleeping like this, probly wasnt good for him.

Quickly he lumbers to the bathroom, using the toilet and brushing his teeth... and fighting to pull a brush through his wild and unkempt hair. Giving up he simply splashes some cold water on his face and clicks off the light, moving into the Kitchen.

From down the hall he can still hear his father snoring, man he had to get out of his parents house some day. Some day.

Cracking open the fridge he grabs a soda and the left over chinese food from the previous night... or was that the night before? A quick sniff and he shrugs, stalking back to his room and tossing the container into the microwave he keeps next to his computer desk.

A few moments later he slips the headset back on and his hands swiftly move over the keyboard, logging in and checking his personal Emails.

Spam... Deleted.
more spam... Deleted.
Junk... Deleted.
Relatives.... Deleted.
Mei-Faux ... Del... wait...

A smile creeps across his lips. The mysterious online connection who introduced him to the world had sent him somthing. Excitement grew and he opened the email. When the screen changed... 3 words were all she had left him.

Testiments Unholy Scriptures.

Keywords for the Chaos Gate no doubt. Mei-Faux always seemed to find the coolest dungeons, and after helping him in the last event quest to get his Skull of Heebie Geebies, he had come to trust her simple and to the point help. Maybe this time she would actually meet him there, he was dying to see what she looked like in game.

Quickly he logged into The World main page, and moved his cursor down to the Message Board. With no new messages he simply logged in and watched as the visor image blurred white before filling with the expanding Root Town of Mac Anu.
-----

[The World]

The black and silver cloaked figure appears as the triple rings of light generate his sprite. Immediately its clear some form of activity was recently present, as a large group of players were gathered, giving congradulations to a twin blade he was unfamiliar with. He inquired to a few of them, and learned that a monster had crashed the Mac Anu Chaos gate, and the Twin Blade, a character named Haru apparently, had defeated it quite expediently.

It was good to see the administraitors shaking things up a bit, but a little warning would have been nice... it would have been fun to help beat the thing down. But what can you do right? After all, the administraitors were pretty much god here.

Brushing off the excitement, he passes the crowd and heads into the town proper. Passing the save point he moves immediately to the storage. He looks over his wonderful collection of gear, scrolls and items with pride, and finds the item he is looking for.

A lv.20 heavy Axe named Ice Crusher. He had found it on a particularily tough opponent at the lowest level of the dungeon he plummed yesterday... and although he preferred to hang on to even the most useless (to him) equipment, this particular piece was up for trade today.

After gathering the item and a few scrolls and items for his next trip, he heads across the bridge and down past the magic scroll shop. Around the corner and down a long alley that follows the river and he finds himself face to face with a Heavy Axeman by the name of Horus.

"Your late" comes the voice in his earpiece, and the axeman immediately opens up a trade window. Silver remains silent and simply deposits the Ice Crusher and a pair of low level boots into the trade slots.

"Nice, I've been looking for a new weapon for a while now. Where'd you get it?" Horus enquires... and Silver can see the opposite trade window fill with an array of single target elemental magic scrolls.

"Wheres the Tarot." Silver asks coldly, ignoring the idle chit chat offered by the other player. "the deal included -the devil- tarot card". Silver hated it when people tried to swindle him.

"lol" is the only reply, and the tarot appears along with the scrolls. "There... jeez bud you drive a hard bargain."

"Our dealings are concluded." Is his only retort, and the trade is accepted. The items are exchanged and immediately the two race back along the path to the bridge and split company. Horus heads towards the storage area and Silver towards the save point. A chronic saver, its almost second nature to him by this point.

Taking a few moments he makes sure he has the right set of gear and goes to the Chaos Gate. Entering the keywords he notices the level is a lv.1 area with strong dark element. With a sigh he accepts and the triple rings of light surround him and he vanishes.

[Chaos Gate - Testiments Unholy Scriptures]

Looking around in awe he realizes that he has not stepped into a combat level, but an event level... a large church-like structure stands off in the distance, but between him and the church lies an expansive graveyard. Another player is standing almost beside him, a longarm. Her armor is beautiful, White and gold primarily, and she wields a rare longarm known as Autumn Whisper.

"Are you Mei?" he asks casually, still admiring his surroundings.

"No, a friend. Mei wanted me to tell you that an event will take place here within an hour." Comes the simple response.

"Another unannounced event?" This was certainly strange to have two events in one day... let alone without notice.

"Sorta. The keywords were hidden in the recent episode of the Anime, Mei found em and thought you might like it."

Silver nodded and started towards the graveyard. If there was anything he could handle it was a lv.1 field. Suddenly the longarm gets in his way.

"You will want friends along on this one. The event creature is not the same level as the rest of the creatures here." and with that warning, the triple rings engulf her and she logs out of the field.

He considers for a moment and nods, sending a message to see if two companions from a previous dungeon were online. His somewhat anti-social attitude meant his list of contacts was rather small.

<Invite to Party at Testiments Unholy Scriptures - Mjollnir / Thanatos>

He sits down and sorts through his scrolls as he waits. Prepairing the few light spell scrolls he brought as well as a compliment of other elements as well. He organizes his scroll list to leave the dark magic at the bottom, seeing as the creatures here would likely be strong against them.

He waits for his "companions" to either accept or decline.

(Real World)

I stared at my ceiling as I lyed on my dorm bed. Silently trying to go to sleep but I couldn't. Something in the back of my head kept telling him that he had to stay awake.

"Stay awake Sam. Stay awake. Theres a reason your not going to sleep. Just stay awake."

"..."

The computer made a sound, the new mail fx had gone off, signaling that I had new mail from someone. I looked over then sat on the edge of the bed, then stood up walked over to the computer and sat down accessing my mail.

Subject: <Invite to Party at Testiments Unholy Scriptures - Mjollnir / Thanatos>
From: SilverSeraph
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Testiments Unholy Scripture

Secret event will take place an hour from now. Come if you want to enjoy the spoils of this.

Hint: The event monster is rumored to be more powerful than the map info suggests.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I closed the mail window and clicked on "The World" icon and logged in ignoring the BBS of the game and going straight into the game itself. And put on my FMD(headset you use to play the "The World", if you wish to) on.


(In Game)

A tunnel of light engulfed my vision and then there was a flash of light and three rings circled around me materializing my avatar in Mac Anu. I looked around and saw a few people conversing, trading information and all types of items. There was also an abnormally large group of people starting to disburce. I inquired and found out that there was an unschedueled monster invasion event that had taken place. The croud was congradulating the MVP of the battle. MVP meant that he had gotten the last hit on the monster and killed it. I closed my eyes. The sound of the place was fluid and as real as the programming allowed it.

I checked my items.

Health Drink: 10 (Restores 150 HP)
Healing Elixir: 50 (Restores full HP)
Mage's Soul: 50 (Restores 100 SP)
Artisan's Soul: 17 (Restores 500 SP)
Emperor's Soul: 5 (Restores full SP)
Noble Wine: 3 (Restores full HP & SP)
Fortune Wire: 100 (Unlocks booby-trapped treasure boxes)
Sprite Ocarina: 100 (returns player instantly from the dungeon back to Field)
Fary's Orb: 100 (Reveals unknown parts of the map)

"I think that should be sufficent."

I proceeded to the Chaos Gate and put in Testiments Unholy Scripture. The map info window popped up.

"...Level1? Oh well... Bettter a secret event than none at all."

I pressed the 'Warp' button and I was immediatly engulfed by the three rings and teleported away to the secret event map arriving in the creepy graveyard. I looked around and checked my equipment. I noitced that I had the wrong weapon equpped and changed my weapon from Fishskin to Crimson Raid and proceeded towards the creppy old church and SilverSeraph.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Dec 9 2005, 08:36 PM

(Real World)

Zero woke up listening to the radio from the alarm. Zero quickly pressed the button and walked towards his computer. He quickly turned on his PC and hoped there was any good News. Quickly Grabbing the HeadSet and Putting it. He Clicked on "Message Boards" and Found the Title "Sled Dog Event in Town"
"I was Late " He thought. Zero Exited out of the Forum becuase nothing other happened. Zero Clicked on "The World". The Text "Welcome Zero" scrolled across his screen.

(In Game)

Zero was placed in a crowd."Troublesome". Wondering who the Person who the monster slayer was Zero waited, Jumped and saw the Person within the Center everyone was Crowding. Zero Crashed upon people. They stood back up as if nothing happened.

Zero ran to the Chaos Gate n he thought about the Church Area where Not much people enter. Becuase of the Lack of Leveled Monsters and how its so empty.

"Testiments Unholy Scriptures" Zero said to the Chaos Gate

these Key words are pretty much unown unless u watch the anime series itself.

The Three Rings appeared and around him n he vanished with those rings.
He appeared within the Church area and found a couple of Players.
He stared at the players avatars wondering why are they here. The reason he thought this because 1 this is a level 1 area and 2 this area is just pretty much a lounge

Zero Walked right next to them.
"What are you guys Doing Here?" He said.
Waiting for a reply he looked at the sky.

(Real world)

"You should stop playing games and do your work. You would be top of the class if you did." Yelled Drake's roommate.

"I don't want to be top of the class. Its no fun and I not a geek." Drake said as he doned his head gear for the game. "Plus I wanna see if these keywords work. Got them from the show I wacth." Drake pressed the log on button and a flashed from the head gear.


(The World)

"Waahooo." Yelled Ejen as he showed up in Mac Anu. He quickly looked to see if he had dropped anything, and found that his little bit of itens that he had were still there. He ran to the chaos gate. "Testiments Unholy Scriptures" He yelled.


Three rings surrounded Ejen as they took him away. He showed him infront of a Church. Three people were already here. "Hello." Ejen greeted.

[Real World]

The alarm sounded to an empty room. Hours earlier, Adam woke up for one reason or another. He had been having trouble sleeping recently, and over the past few weekes, he had slept only two nights through, the rest he woke up after a few hours and failed to go back to sleep. He was unsure as to why he couldn't sleep and had been meaning to schedule an appointment with his doctor, but kept putting it off. Instead, he simply would wake up, get dressed, and log into The World. And just like so many other mornings, that is just what he did.

[The World]

'Remember to save...Store your items...Did you see that monster?...What did you get from the Gott Statue?...Buy your items here...Are you guys ready yet?...Thanks for helping us against that PKer, I thought he had us...Remember to save........'

These were the sounds that made up his world. As he sat in the shadows of an alleyway in Mac Anu, Thanatos just let the sounds wash over him, always the same thing, waiting for anything that peaked his interest. He had been waiting a long time.

Suddenly, he heard yells coming from the area around the Chaos Gate. "Well, maybe my wait is over..."

Quietly, Thanatos stood up and flew out into the light. As he flew to the Chaos Gate he drew stares and whispers from many players. Some of them had heard rumors of his character, others he had helped at one time or another, still others were just suprised to see any character that looked like his or that was flying. Soon he had crossed the bridge and landed on top of a spire bordering the gate area.

He arrived just in time to see the twinblade defeat the monster which had appeared through the gate. "Well now, this is interesting," he said to himself. "The Administrators don't usually allow monsters to enter root towns. I wonder if the rumors circulating around the hacker rings are true. What if CC Corp is losing control over its game?"

Suddenly, the alert rang out anouncing he had new mail.

[Real World]

Subject: <Invite to Party at Testiments Unholy Scriptures - Mjollnir / Thanatos>
From: SilverSeraph
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Testiments Unholy Scripture

Secret event will take place an hour from now. Come if you want to enjoy the spoils of this.

Hint: The event monster is rumored to be more powerful than the map info suggests.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'This event sounds like fun,' thought Adam as he read the email. 'At the very least, it will give me a chance to sort things out.'

[The World]

When Thanatos rejoined The World, the crowd that had gathered around the twinblade was starting to disperse. He walked over to the edge of the roof of the building he was standing on. Slowly, he spread his arms and tilted his body forward, allowing himself to fall off the edge. Just before he reached the ground, he flared his wings, breaking his fall, rotating his body, and soundlessly landed on the ground near the gate.

"Delta: Testiments Unholy Scripture"

As the golden rings faded, Thanatos looked at the new area. “Hmm… I need to remember this place. It is such a fitting place for my character.” As he walked through the graveyard, he could see the outlines of four characters standing near the entrance to the church. Quickly, he walked over to the group.

“Am I late?” he asked SilverSeraph as he drew near.

[The World]

Many people, players and NPCs alike, cheered on Haru, congratulating her on her victory. Although, eventually the fame died down, and the others file away, going about their business.

After the crowd had mostly dispersed, Haru is approached by the blonde and gold armored Long Arm, Kahlúa. "Howdy. Name's Kahlúa. Like how you handled that beast." He gives her the thumbs up, then looks beyond her at the Chaos Gate. Already, several people had used the gate. "remarkable, isn't it? The monster's corpse isn't even cold yet, and people are already stepping over it to use the Gate. Ah well, ah well."

He had, of course, used the term 'Monster's corpse isn't even cold' figurtively. The monster wasn't real, and therefore didn't get cold. But, it was a term of speech.

<THE WORLD>
Silverseraph had been standing next to the gates into the cemetary when Mjollnir arrived and approached.

"Long time" the Twin Blade says simply, comming to stand next to him.

"Indeed," comes the cold reply, "this event better be worth it."

"Yeah. I see you havent done much leveling since our last adventure. Still obsessed with your collection?"

Silver simply ignored the rhetorical question and looked around. "Maybe Thanatos couldnt make it..."

Almost as if in answer, another triple ring appears, leaving behind a Blademaster with messy white hair. He approaches the two players and greets them.

"What are you guys doin here?" He asks inquisitively. Silver sighs and ignores him. What a stupid question, what the hell did he think? What was HE doing here?

Mjollnir however is more amicable, "Hi! Were here for an event, what about you?"

"I saw the keywords in the Anime and wanted to check it out." The blademaster replies, scanning the area. "Doesnt look like its started yet"

Another set of rings chime into existance and another twin blade is left behind in its wake. Silver notices the Yin Yang symbol on the newcommers vest and smirks, his favorite icon... not that he bothers mentioning it.

"Hello" the newcommer says cheerfully as he arrives and approaches. Zero and Mjollnir both greet the newcommer, and Silver simply nods and continues waiting.

The other three make casual conversation about what the event could be and other minor chit chat... and just as Silver is about to snap from the useless banter and boredom, Thanatos arrives. The White Knight Trenchcoat recognizable immediately... not to mention the wings and scythe like glaive. To this day Silver has no idea how he gets away with such an obvious character hack.

"Am I late?" He asks, turning to face them and giving Silver and Mjollnir a nod.

"Yes." Silverseraph replies coldly before anyone can respond. "I was beginning to think you werent comming."

Thanatos laughs it off, used to Silvers harsh and to the point manner. Asshole or not, he was a capable Wavemaster.

Silver looks around at the assembled group. Mjollnir the Twin Blade, Thanatos the Longarm, Zero the Blade Master, Ejen the Twin Blade, and himself... a Wavemaster. With a small consideration he turns to them all.

"Alright, heres how its going to be. Mjollnir, Thanatos and myself are here to take on this event. If the two of you wish to join us, by all means join the party... but we do this my way. I didnt come just for the Event, I wanna do some treasure gathering too... if its possible."

Almost on cue, the event begins.

The conversation stops as the sky grows dark, thick black clouds gather over the graveyard, and the sound of moaning and rumbling can be heard everywhere. As the five adventurers glance around the graveyard, the sight of corpses of monsters rising from the graves is presented before them. The creatures are obviously only 1st level opposition, likely the typical monsters for this level.

With a moments thought, Silver activates his fairy Orb, and across the battlefield small pinprics of light become visible indicating encounter gates. In the center of the map rises the dungeon entrance, a huge skull that opens its mouth to allow entry.

"Alright, I havent failed to clear a battlefield of gates yet, and I dont intend to now. So if you guys wanna join us, we clear the battlefield first, then the dungeon. Saavy?"

Silver brandishes the staff, accepting Thanatos and Mjollnir into the party, and then sending the invites to the other two. He waits patiently for their response, standing facing the gates to the now heavily populated graveyard. A smile pulling at his lips as he prepaires to engage his enemies.

Elias rushed to his computer. He had been held late with the rest of his Biology class. As he hurridley started the program, he threw his headset on and went right to the game, not bothering to check his mail or the boards. An event was happening.

As the three rings revealed Haru, she turned right around and yelled the keywords she had gotten from a friend at the chaos gate. "Delta: Testiments Unholy Scripture." The rings went around her again.

She appeared at the event level, a very low one. It looked like it had already begun, but just barely. A graveyard filled with portals stretched ahead of her. As she peeked into the distance she noticed a group of people going through the field. She used a speed charm and rushed into the field, not knowing what she was going to face.

As she ran, she dodged portals, preferring to try to catch the group ahead. But roaming monsters seemed to come out of nowhere, and they sure weren't easy to handle. She pulled out her blades that had been by her side in many battles. As a zombie approached her, she stabbed into it. Barely left a mark in its HP. Now she was starting to worry. She cast a fire spell. "Vak Don!" she screamed, and fireballs converged on it. Its clothes burned a little, but the monster still had much of its HP. At least it was slow, Haru was dancing cirlces around it. Then suddenly it struck out at her with extreme speed. It caught her and she flew to the ground. She used a Health Drink as it lumbered toward her. These things seemed to hide many secrets. She got up once more and cast a weakening spell. It lowered the thing's resistance to darkness. Another waekening spell, this one to lower its physical defense. After the two spells she rushed it, slashing quickly then jumping away. It was effective, and the zombie was slowly being defeated. Then she saw another lumbering along the horizon. She continued her hit-and-run tactics as she noticed the other monster spot her and start his slow trot her way. She had to finish it fast, so she unleashed her best moves. Quick strikes that didn't stop, that was her specialty. As she continued, the other zombie neared. Then she unleashed a critical hit, and the zombie she had been working on fell and disappeared. She activated another speed charm and didn't bother with the chest. She had to catch that other party.

As Haru neared, SilverSeraph was the first to notice her. "Looks like we've got more company" he muttered. "How wonderful."

The others turned to face her as she slowed to a stop, almost passing them.

"Hey!" Ejen greeted.

"Hello..." was Haru's reluctant reply. "I wanted to join your party. These monsters are tough. That one I took back there" she nodded her head in the general direction she had come from, "almost got me."

"I suppose it will round out our party" Mjollnir mentioned "but I'm not sure if we need another Twin Blade."

"Hey, you're the one that beat that monster at Mac Anu, right?" Kahlúa asked.

"Yeah. You're...Kalúha, right?" Haru hoped she got it right.

"Kahlúa, you're close."

"Alright. You can join." Silver snapped. He was tired of all the banter and wanted to get his treasure. He sent an invite, and it was immediately accepted. They all continued their march onward to the final boss.

As Kahlúa joined the party and everyone greeted her, someone walked too close to a monster portal and a large Ogre that looked like a zombie appeared. Everyone noticed and turned to it the noobs stunned and Thanatos and Silver rushed into battle without thinking.

Before I rushed into battle I casted the Speed Charm scroll and set all my armor from Thunder element to Fire and rushed into battle against the large Ogre that looked like a zombie and ran circles around it hacking and slashing and jumped back and yelled out "GiRai Don!!" but not before the Ogre turned to me and smashed its large hammer into my avatar's head as it got hit by lightning.

"Ah!!!"

My HP gauge dropped to about a quarter of its max capacity and I jumped away a few feet to reasses the situation as Silver and Thanatos kept the creature occupied.

"Thanatos!! Don't stop moving around! Silver! Move around a little so it dosent come at you!!"

Nods my head closing my eyes and thinks then opens my eyes after a second loooking up. 'Ok. This better work.' I said to myself. I then switched my weapon to one that uses Fire elemetal magic and used a Firebane Scroll on the zombie/Ogre and rushed in yelling "Vulcan Ch!!!" summoning a Vulcan fire beast on the unfortunate creature which was taking a pounding from Silver and Thanatos and jumped at the monster slashing at it and getting knocked down again dropping my health to about half capacity as my avatar hits the ground leaping away rebounding.

"Ok... So your a tough little bastard..."

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Dec 30 2005, 10:46 AM

Previously in the World...

Kahlúa waited in one of the town servers. He tapped his fingers against the wall, waiting for the person he was supposed to meet.

Soon, a Heavy Blade came up to him. "Hey Kahlúa."

"Hey Ranka." Kahlúa said, nodding as the male came up to him. "You wanted to meet with me?"

"Yeah, I've only got a few minutes, but I want you to do a quest for me." Renka said.

"Sure, what's it?"

"The keyword is 'Delta: Testiments Unholy Scripture.' I won't be able to run it myself, so if you could, grab an item or two for me, yeah? You know the stuff I like." Renka said.

"Sure, I'll do that event for you. Why can't you run it yourself."

"I'm getting married today! Hey, where do you live? Maybe you can be my best man."

Kahlúa chuckled. "I live in America."

Renka visible cringed. "America, huh? I guess you wouldn't make it in time then. Ah well, take care."

"Hey, congrats man. And good luck!"

Renka laughed, "I'll need it, huh? Later." A trio of golden rings formed around him, and he vanished, logging off.

Kahlúa walked up to the Choas Gate, and spoke the keyword. "Delta: Testiments Unholy Scripture."

He was teleported to the Event...

The Present...

Kahlúa leapt over a zombie, stabbing at its head with his spear as he sailed overhead. The zombie fell, and disappeared. He ignored the chest it dropped, figuring it was such a low level that it couldn't be useful to him.

Up ahead, he noticed a group battling a large Zombie Orge, which seemed to be giving them trouble. Smirking, he sends out a request to join their group, and he is quickly invited in. He moves to attack the orge, but he notices one of the other charaters, a Twin Blade.

"Hey, you're the one that beat that monster at Mac Anu, right?" He asked her.

"Yeah. You're...Kalúha, right?" She replied, getting his name wrong.

He shrugs. "Kahlúa, you were close. C'mon, let's teach this monster a lesson in manners, eh?" He says, smiling to her as he spins his spear above his head, then leapts at it.

He sails past the orge monster, taking a ligthning fast double-attack at it as he coasted by. The attack barely damages it, barely knocking off a single bar in its HP display. "This thing's tough. Lotta HP and a lot of resistances."

He noticed the other male Twin Blade using fire attacks on it. Kahlúa's own spear did bonus damage to Undead, and he was of a decent level that he could solo most events, but still, this monster was giving them a challenge.

Earlier that day...

Jordan leaned back on his chair, checking his mail, still looking for signs of his friends. It was strange. They all dissapeared on the exact same day. All he kept finding was alliance offers.

He, however, regarded all that as spam, so down the e-trashbin they went. Jordan kept deleting all these mails until he found a strange one. Curious, he opened it up, and it was a very weird message.

"S@ng3...

F1nl) m3 1n +3h f0110w1ng 4r34...

Delta: Testiments Unholy Scripture

u w1ll n0+ b3 l)154p01n+3l)..."

The message didn't come with a name, but he stared at the keyword. It was highlighted in a way that entranced him, and without a further thought, he pulled up one of those "alliance offers" and took the person's name.

Now...

Sange swung his blade into a nearby skeleton, making it hit the ground with a loud crunch, scattering the ground with other bones of more skeletons. He then rammed it into the ground and sighed annoyedly.

"Come on, who in their right mind would ditch me on a place like this?" he asked nobody. Sange looked around, and shook his head. "Seriously, that Wavemaster was a wimp if he couldn't just help me by using her spells. Instead, she turned tail and left me to die."

The annoyed Blademaster just explored the next room, filled with two or three golden eggs and a bit of treasure. He sat down, letting his sword clang on the ground, and sighed deeply.

"Okay... This is really tickin' me off. I've found a couple rooms where there were no enemies at all. Was that one guy already here?... Then again, I did hear about an event... If that guy who e-mailed me is tied to this event, I'm gonna be so mad!" he yelled, the echoes just traveling through the area. Sange got back up, taking his sword with him, and left the room. As soon as he did, several undead creatures appeared, limping toward him.

Huh? That's weird, I thought they couldn't regenerate in a room once it was cleared of enemies? Ah, stupid events. Oh well, more experience for me! he thought wildly as he opened his fight with Revolver.

<The World>
Silverseraph watched as the more martial members of his group annihilated the hordes of undead that seemed to be roaming the area. A battlefield this populated with wandering enemies was a rarity, and he was enjoying watching his exp creep up slowly. Bottom line however, the creatures just werent a big enough challenge to really make it worth his while. It was the random gate creatures he was interested in. They would be the ones with the treasure.

Almost on cue, the ogre roars out, Silver turns his attention at it just as Thanatos leaps over its head, beating his large wings and swinging his Scythe downwards. The blade tears through it and the corpse begins fading even before it hits the ground. A trapped chest appearing after a second.

"Excellent" replies Silver, knowing that all the party gear would be amassed together anyway for splitting when the group finished. So he allowed someone else the pleasure of opening it. He directed his attention around the area, and a group of 6 weak zombies catch his gaze. He turns and walks towards them, Mjolnir moves to follow.

"Spot somthing?" he asks the dark cloaked Wavemaster, following his gaze up the hill. "Oh wow, so you wanna handle these on your own?" Mjolnir laughs, knowing any one of the group could take them out effortlessly.

"Very well. Observe." The smirk on Silvers lips is half amusement, and half confidance as he raises the silver staff in front of him. As he begins chanting for his spell, he releases the staff which levitates in place. Lights erupt all around him... moving like fire as it climbs his body and gathers at his hand. He calls upon the spell granted to him by his "leg" equipment.

"FALLING FLAMES!" he shouts, the gathered energy lancing from his hand and soaring up into the air above his enemies. The 6 zombies pay little attention, their simple AI focused solely on attacking. Frome above, thick spears of fire begin impacting the ground in the area. Each one that touches a zombie turns them to fading corpses where they stand... and seconds later there are none.

"You just love showing off dont you?" Mjolnir chuckles to himself, nodding approvingly as he moves back towards the group.

"Its not showing off its..." Silver begins, then he glances back over his shoulder even as the spell finally comes to an end and he grins. "Yes. Yes I do." The two share a quick laugh before they rejoin the group and Silver puts on his scowl again.

"Have we finished all of the Portals?" One of them asks, Silver has not the care to check who.

"Did you see the 'All Battlefield Portals Open' message?" Silver asks sarcastically. When nobody responds he nods. "Then its not done. Lets find the last few and get into that dungeon."

[Real World - 9:10AM JST]

"Satose, where the hell are you?" Katsuki spoke into her black-coated cell phone. There was a bit of an edge in her tone, but that was something Satose had become accustomed to.

"I'm at work. Where do you think I am?" she replied in a hurried whisper. She was hiding in the women's bathroom of the local Anna Miller's.

"Oh. Sorry. Didn't think you were there today. I logged in for a bit to see if you were on like usual."

"You did? Well...umm...why didn't you stay on?"

"Because...you weren't there," Katsuki reluctantly admitted.

A soft sigh came from Satose through Katsuki's earpiece. She knew she was going to get her girlfriend in trouble for wasting her time like this, but her loneliness was clouding her judgement. It was Saturday morning after all, and for some inexplicable reason, she was missing Satose more than usual.

"You know, Katsu-chan, you don't always have to play with me," she giggled, inferring the playfulness of her double-entendre. "Don't you want to see The World for yourself?"

"Yeah yeah. I was...just wanting some company that's all," she said flatly, trying to mask her needy tendencies that only showed itself around Satose. The inability to speak with her normal resolve that drove people away from her - male & female alike - was what Satose found so adorable about Katsuki in the first place.

"I know...and I'm so- oh no! I have to go, Katsuki! I just heard a cry of pain that would only come from hot coffee. Bye bye now!"

"Oh..um..okay. Bye." :: click ::

Katsuki placed her cell down on her large desk that housed her PC, books, and collection of Renai (B-Games) that she had collected over the few years. Her room was once again silent, and no noise came from outside her door. With her parents at work and her girlfriend busy at work, it would be another partly sunny day by herself. She leaned back in her leather chair and let her eyes rise to the soft rectangle of sunlight that gave natural light to her white walls.

"Ahh mouuuu...! This fuckin' sucks...! Why do you have to work even on the weekends, Sato-wwwhoooaaaa!"

Before she could find her center of gravity again, she had already flipped backward out of her chair, landing on her back. Her foot had caught onto the Face Mount Display (FMD) for The World and had rolled, stopping next to her head.

"Dammit! Good thing I have a carpet or that would have been a waste of my 5200 yen..." she thought.

Katsuki laid there, encompassed by the silence of her entire room. Her shut window blocked out all the noise that would be going on in the city this time of day. She felt a slight twinge of peace, while she stared at the FMD, then up at three exquisitely drawn girls from the Renai game, Kanon, staring out from her set Desktop wallpaper.

"You don't always have to play with me, you know..." Satose's words echoed in her ears. Katsuki rolled herself out of her tilted chair, a bit shaken but unhurt from the surprise fall, took up the FMD, and got into a comfortable position once she had returned her chair to its proper uprightness.

"I won't play with you then. I'll just become better at the game so you don't have to feel obligated to play with me ever again!"

Setting the FMD over her eyes, Katsuki moved her mouse over to the icon labeled The World on her Desktop. Immediately, she was prompted with the Login screen. After feeling around the FMD for a short time, her left hand found the Voice Regonition switch. She then confirmed the location of the Mute switch, something Satose had recommend she use often because of her "dirty mouth." She uttered her information verbally, as the computer typed in her letters with ease. ALTIMIT OS had made way for such streamlined innovations, minus the lag.

In moments, her ALTIMIT OS loaded into her FMD the main screen of information necessary for starting into The World. While she attempted to study the Main Menu, a ringing sound rushed into her ears. She noticed she had an e-mail notification.

"Hmm...who would send me an e-mail other than..."

<Subject: Read this, Renai>
<From: Esotas>
<Received: Today 9:05>

<Body: "Don't forget to read the BBS before logging in! Have fun!" - Esotas>

The time in the left hand corner of her screen read 9:20. Katsuki let out a bit of a sigh, then a smirk upon her lips.

"So...that's what you were trying to tell me, huh?"

She motioned her cursor over the BBS icon, clicked, and skimmed through the hundreds of threads that had appeared in a new window that had materialized onto the screen. Not noticing anything of major importance, she closed the window, motioned over the unmistakable icon artwork that represented the most interactive, fully-functional MMORPG ever created, and immersed herself into her vivacious avatar: Renai.

[The World - 11:22 UTC]

The triple golden rings that Renai still had just recently become accustomed to seeing in her 1st person vision appeared and vanished in a moment. She had practiced enough with Esotas to learn how to properly move around and scan her surroundings before deciding where her destination should be.

It was still morning in Delta Server: Root Town Mac Anu, the only server and town Renai was familiar with. The streets were bustling with different avatars walking, running, making trades, etc. What she noticed the most was the wave of conversations going on around her, as she was far from the only one who chose to verbally chat, rather than type. She knew that if she wanted to continue her notorious reputation of seduction, she needed to get herself together quickly before someone attempted to exploit her for the newbie she truly was. Renai retreated to a nearby alley that was not too distant from the nearby streams that always seemed to have some entity making the waters ripple.

I [Katsuki] turned on the Mute function, as there was no one I needed to converse with at the moment. Talking to myself in my head was becoming irritating.

"So, I check my stats like this...Lv. 23...my equipment are these Twin Dragon Daggers Esotas said I would like...I learned these skills...Waves? Oh yeah, magic. I chose...the Triangle Wave: Lightning...Didn't he say something about Commands...Dammit...!"

I typed in the only command I could recall: the command to show the list of commands.

My muttering continued.

"...Riiiight...I should learn these for Renai's "business."

I switched to 3rd person, then tested out the numerous commands listed. Renai easily was concealed by the shade of the alley, but enough light shone upon her face as her expressions morphed at will; from smiling, to sadness, to anger, laughter...

I nodded to myself, while Renai wandered the streets without any destination in mind, but listening to as much open conversation as possible. She was determined to understand The World better, but also better utilize the advantages of being one of the most unmodestly clothed Twin Blades in the popular port town.

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 4 2006, 08:34 AM

For most of the fight, Thanatos had managed to dodge or deflect most of the ogre's blows, taking glancing blows here and there. Finally, it scored a direct hit on his chest, sending him flying back several feet. "Well then," he gasped as he climbed to his feet, "that could have gone better. So, it doesn't want to go down nicely, huh." Suddenly, the creature roared with the agony of its death throes as its health reached the critical level. "I suppose its time I put this miserable creature out of its agony," he said to himself.

'Mortis'
As he muttered this word, a subtle transformation occurred. Apart from his wing unfolding to a usable position and beginning to flex, the blade on his scythe switched position to the top of his staff, making the weapon once again resemble the glaive it was modified from. Unnoticeable to most however, there was one other slight change, the curl of smoke widened slightly in the crystal.

As soon as his transformation was complete, Thanatos quickly flapped his wings then jumped above the monster yelling 'Vorpal Slash' and brought his blade down on top of the unfortunate creature, leaving a red trail of light and rending its body in half.

Almost immediately, the monster faded, the treasure was taken, the party moved on, and the battle was abandoned to posterity, as is the eventual fate of all battles. Quietly, Thanatos rejoined Silver and Mjolnir who were quietly celebrating the wavemaster's most recent kills before they rejoined the rest of the group. As the party continued along its path, one of the members quietly asked of they were through with the field, and was rewarded with one of Silver's trademark sarcastic replies.

"Well, Silver, since I remember from last time that you liked them better than these wandering monsters, I will leave the portals to you and the rest of the party. Meanwhile, I will try to stem the flow of these undead horrors. Maybe it’s the event, but it seems like they keep re-spawning. If one of you wishes to join me," he said to the rest of the party, "feel free, just try to keep up."

"If you need help, Silver, just send me a message, but I’m sure you can take care of yourself," he laughed as he flew away to find any of the roaming bands of fiends patrolling the map.

Unknown to Renai, there had previously been an unannounced event in Mac Anu, as the news, just like the event, had come and gone out of the minds and worries of the Players entering, exiting, and logging out of the game. As Renai took in the sights and sounds of Mac Anu, she continued to look over her meager inventory that was just enough to keep her alive if by chance she got into a battle. The gentle ambience of the background music in her ears soothed her usual terse mood for once, as she no longer had the protection of Esotas. In other words, she would have to compose herself for once.

Now being in the thicket of the town's merchant strip, where many Players were either chatting, selling, or doing business with NPCs, I decided to remove the muted silence from Renai's lips, just in case someone would approach her. In the past, someone always did and Esotas always defended her. Though still unknowledgable of many aspects of The World, Renai wanted those days to end. At the same time, she didn't have a clue where to begin her journey. She pondered going solo, but she couldn't recall the different keywords that Esotas used to take her on "power leveling" excursions.

"This is becoming frustrating, and I've only been in-game for what...10 minutes?" Renai's words appeared in the chat box and was broadcasted to everyone in her vicinity.

Almost immediately, she could feel the eyes of other avatars upon her. She turned her pre-styled narrowed emerald gaze to the nearest smiling idiot she could find - a tall, thin HeavyBlade wearing pieces of bronze armor shielding the vital parts of his body - and entered the shortcut command for "angry" in correlation with her commentary.

"What the hell are you smiling at, blondie?"

My Japanese was translated into English by the FMD voice device with perfect clarity to match. Though I knew enough English to get by from my forced years of study, I understood that many things are better expressed in one's own native tongue.

"If you're looking for someone easy, I'm definitely NOT your girl."

Most of the Players had continued on their way, ignoring her, but a few had stopped to see where the source of that voice was coming from. The HeavyBlade shrugged in confusion and simply walked off without a word. Renai's lips drew a smirk, quite pleased with the results. In the midst of her silent gloating, a figure had crept up behind her, but she did not sense it until the Player spoke up in a tone that slithered up her spine.

"Young lady, would you like to be my girl?"

The realization that a Player had come so close to her without her prior notice, in itself, was disturbing.

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 4 2006, 11:05 AM

Sange struck down the last of the zombies, and left the room with a dissatisfied grunt. He scouted the rooms that he was in for anything out of the blue. Nothing. Just when he was about to give up and use his Sprite Ocarina, when he heard sounds of battle. Other players possibly, he didn't care, yet something kept telling him to stay, but he still drew out his Sprite Ocarina, and before he began playing it, he just put it back and drew his sword.

"If I'll be damned, who's there?" he asked. Sange looked around, having a strange feeling another player was nearby.

<THE WORLD>
Silver looked around with a smirk. So confidant was this
group that they all seemed to split off on their own to take on these foes. Not that he minded that much, but he always felt better with a nice heavy Axeman or longarm between him and his foes.

He gazed at the spinning encounter gate and nodded to himself. This would be yet more experience on his road to greatness. He approaches to just within range to activate the gate, then immediately rushes back a few dozen feet. He watches as the area glows brightly and the gate fades... leaving behind two large moth type creatures and a goblin shaman between them. They all appeared undead, and Silver Cursed under his breath at his luck. 3 of them meant he would have to really play at this one.

With resolve, the dark Wavemaster sprints to the side and forward quickly... distancing himself from one of the moths and lining the three creatures up in a straight line.

"ROCK SPEAR!" He chants as he pulls out a scroll and recites it quickly. The ground in front of him erupts with an array of rock made protrusions. They thrust upwards from the ground in a straight line away from him, and crash through the ranks of his foes. The first moth flies high and avoids the entire assault, but the goblin is less fortunate, being practically juggled into the air on 3 different spears. The final Moth takes minimal damage and continues its approach.

Thankfully, Silver moved far enough away to give himself another chance to harm them. He hurridly scrolls through his inventory looking for another appropriate spell. Too late tho, the goblin begins chanting, waving his staff above its head. All around him the air grows hot. Silver breathes a sigh of releif just before the balls of fire converge on his location. The explosions rupture all around him... and then part instantly as his own spell rushes through the haze. Silvers Avatar looks barely wounded, his hp gauge still almost full. He makes a mental note to thank Mei-Faux in his next email for his cloak, great fire resistance.

The essence of his wave rushes forward, taking shape as he chants, "SOUTHERN CROSS!" and the entire area around the goblin and the unwounded moth grows brilliant and white. Sparkling light energy fills the area and small lesions grow large on the two victims. The holy spell ripping into the undead like a hot knife through butter. The goblin groans and falls, fading into nothingness and leaving behind a trapped chest. The two moths still approach slowly... one wounded seriously now, the other only lightly.

As the two enemies close the distance, up comes Silverseraphs staff defensively. He bats away the incomming attacks, but he knows its a lost cause. As a wavemaster, hes pretty much stuck taking a beating when it comes to physical attacks. Number after number glows red above his avatar and his hit points drop quickly as the two moths use their rapid tongue attack on him from either side.

A quick break in the attack and Silver has to think fast. He pulls a tarot from his inventory and holds it above his head. "LOVERS!" he screams, throwing the tarot at the healthier of the two moths. The card sticks to the creature like glue, and small hearts begin to appear above its head. Silver grins and turns his back to his new pet, defending completely against his only foe now. The enemy moth moves in for another attack, but instead gets the rapid tongue attack of its previous companion. Dodging out from between them, silver watches with a smirk as his pet kills his foe.

"Why thank you." He says playfully before leveling his staff at the creature. He considers for a moment, part of him glad he has been using mostly scrolls so that his Spiritual power was still almost full. With a quick chant he unleashes the Falling Flames from his equipment, watching the charmed moth become consumed with flames and drop fadding. He too leaves behind a trapped chest.

Making his way over, Silver quickly casts a pair of "Repth" Spells to refill his hp, and decides hes alright with half of his SP. His cursor rushes down his inventory list to the fortune wires and he uses them one at a time on the two chests left behind. The first reveals a Twin Blade weapon called Assassin, and the second contains an Emperors soul. Silver hops around like a giddy schoolgirl at the sight of these wonderful items, then quickly stops and looks around to be sure nobody saw that.

With the group split up like this, he simply pockets the items and moves towards the dungeon entrance. The map shows most of the portals were completed, and he is sure the others will finish up before he even gets to the entrance. With a thought, he sends a quick message to the others.

"Meet at the dungeon entrance once your finished opening all the portals." He nodded to himself, proud of how far he had come from the noob he once was not so long ago.

[THE WORLD - MAC ANU]

Renai spun around, and looked up at the stranger that had acknowledged her in such a defining tone. Her eyes rapidly scanned him from head to toe. An albino male with short, spiked cobalt blue hair, most of it shielding his left sapphire eye, loomed over the petite Twin Blade. He had chosen a Chinese complexion, as the face was a dead giveaway. His choice of exquisitely decorative white and crimson robe armor - it appeared to be a rarity - appeared medium weight, as he was a spear-wielding Long Arm. His wide grin was clearly nothing short of crafty intentions. The voice behind the avatar seemed to match his avatar's approximate age of around early 20s. Renai retained her natural stoic expression, not particularly worried about her safety.

"Ahaha...I was only joking, lovely Twin Blade," he said with a gentle laugh. Not just from his avatar, but from the voice behind the avatar.

"What do you want?" she demanded flatly.

"'What do I want?' you ask? I was only looking to comment on your appearance, young lady."

"You look like an experienced Player. I'm sure I'm nothing you haven't seen before."

"Hm..." he gave a thoughtful expression, drawing his eyes away from me for a moment, then shifting them back to mine. Something told me that I probably missed my only chance to escape this peculiar-looking man.

"Well, I have seen many female Twin Blades, but most of them take on a more...modest garb than yourself."

His musing of her beauty seemed to slither off his tongue. The charm he attempted to portray was more annoying than flattering.

"So what of it? I chose a more daring approach. Now if that's all, I'll be on my way...eh?"

From the corner of her perception, she saw that other Players were suddenly gathering around her. She turned to the other pathway to make an escape, but other Players were there to block her way in a flash. One of them was a WaveMaster that immediately appeared to be chanting some sort of spell without any words eminating from it's mouth. Anger showed itself on her face; this was not the sort of attention she thought she would receive from in-game Players.

"What the hell?"

"Young lady," he mused again, as she turned back in his general direction, her anger growing hotter by the minute. No one in the port town seemed to care about what was happening, which Renai found to be strangely unexpected. She had only badmouthed one Player today, and seduced two or three in the past week.

"That WaveMaster is going to cast something. I remember hearing WaveMasters casting spells in one or more words. If I time it right..."

"Why don't we take you out on a little adventure, lovely Twin Blade," the Long Arm said, as his gaze turned towards the WaveMaster on her other side. His tone had altered from annoyingly musical to a high tone with a maniacal lining. Even as a beginner, she had already seen through half of his feint; he had only been stalling, though she was watching his eyes the whole time.

"CHANCE!"

"Telepo-"

Just as the spell was being cast on her, Renai slipped her short, slim body past the Long Arm and made a run for it down the cobblestoned road of Mac Anu. Fortunately, she was a Twin Blade with innate agility and dexterity, while the others were more braun than speed. I searched through my inventory to see if there was anything I could use to get myself out of his unexpected situation. Renai glanced over her shoulder to see the group not far behind and slowly gaining, despite their armor weighing them down.

"Dammit! They definitely are higher LV than me. And why the hell isn't anyone doing anything to help me?! What kind of people play this game anyway?!" she thought, while desperately trying to understand the varied uses of the few miscellaneous items she had been given by Esotas during her effortless "power leveling" sessions.

"Where are you going, young lady?" the tall, Long Arm albino sang. "We just want to 'play' with you...! Heheh..."

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 5 2006, 11:31 AM

As Mjolnir rejoined the party from disbatching all of the zombie type creatures he checked the booty he had gathered from the battles and nodded.

"This looks like a good haul. Not as good as this other field and duengon I go to at least every week but its good. Anyone get any rare or high level items that they wanna trade?"

He said as he joined Silver and Thanatos as they walked in front of the group and looked at them with a questioning look on his face which ment that the player had put in a code to make the facial expression. Then he sighed and looked down then looked up smirking, another facial expression code, and looked back over his shoulder at the weaker players of the party and motioned for them to catch up before they go separated from the high level players like himself.

"This is so funny. I havent seen a pair of these in a long time." He said as he changed his high level weapon to a low level one called Cats Blades that he had picked up. "These look so badass. Its a shame that their so low of a level." Then changed them back to the rare weapon that he had before all the battles began and kept walking trailing yellow energy behind him as his arms swayed with the glowing blades in his hands. Then he looked at Silver and spoke

"Hey. Silver. I'm gonna go scout ahead if you don't mind. I'll be back in a flash!"

Silver nodded giving his character an annoyed facial expression and with that Mjolnir smirked and whipped out a Speed Scroll and casted it on himself and dashed over the small hill of graves in front of the party and dissappeared leaving a faint trail of yellow energy in his wake.

Ejen had just be dodging most of the monsters as the party moved across the feild, attacking the backs of distracted ones. "Come on I need to level, just a few." he whispered to himself as he ran along.

"Sorry I'm not much help.." he said to Silver after the last portal of monsters were taken out, by the wavemaster. Ejen looked through his items and used a health drink to fill his life bar that never seemed to stop droping.

Nothing. Sange was becoming quite annoyed now, seeing as how his feelings were usually wrong. The e-mail, and the event. He just suspected the event was already in the hands of a few elite, so he played his Sprite Ocarina, and left the dungeon.

In Mac Anu.

Sange walked through the port town, muttering. All the players were just idly chatting, or arguing, doing whatever, completely oblivious there was an event going on. But... he thought, what if they know of the event? Why are they just sitting here? These questions dragged through his mind as he went to the shop. They didn't have any good swords for him, but better armor. He immediately bought it, and sold his old armor, as well as stocked up on a few necesities, like healing potions.

His mind wandered again, and he walked through the town once more, and noticed a group chasing down a female Twin Blade. This, he felt, was extremely entertaining, and he just idly watched. However, he noticed the Twin Blade's desperate look in her eye to escape, and he turned around, so he would get his mind off of it.

"Well, I guess I could just sit around for a bit until someone I know comes along... Hmph, what a bunch of freaks..." Sange muttered as he saw a bunch of players trading and gossiping. "Might as well take a good look through my inventory, just to make sure I'm ready for my next outing."

The "All Field Portals Cleared" flashed across Haru's screen. She used a speed charm and went to the meeting place determined by Silver a while ago. After everyone arrived they looked around.

"Someone's missing" Haru noticed. Everyone looked around in an attempt to determine who hadn't returned.

"Mjolnir's not back yet" Silver observed.

"I'll get him" Haru volunteered. "We'll catch up to you in the dungeon. Don't go too far" she winked. No one seemed to care, so she set off in an attempt to find the missing party member.

Haru couldn't seem to find him on her map. She ran back and forth across the field, not finding anything. She asked the others if he had returned, but the reply was a negative. She started to worry, she didn't know what else could pop up in this event. As she was about to give up, she saw the twin blade on the horizon fighting a wandering ogre. She ran over to try to help him because he seemed to be having trouble. But as she neared, she noticed the monster's HP gauge.

'No!' she thought fircely. The gauge...was made up of various symbols. It had unlimited HP. "Run Mjolnir!! Run quickly!" she screamed at him. He turned to look at her, and was hit hard by the monster. 'The data bug! It...it can't be back!' She was worried out of her mind and didn't know what to do. 'The dot hackers destroyed the wave! They destroyed the virus!!

She used a Health Drink on Mjolnir and ran in front of him, facing the monster. "Vak Don!" she yelled as fireballs converged on the monster. The symbols changed, but she knew it wasn't any real damage.

"Get up! Run, hurry! We can't beat him!" she screamed at Mjolnir in frustration.

"I...I know. My avatar is frozen up. I can't move!" he replied.

"Well...try logging off. There has to be something you can do" she said in a worried tone.

"I did try. My controls are locked up. I'm stuck in here."

'No!' she thought. 'He can't be stuck in The World. That story...was a rumor! It had to be! Tsukasa was never real! He never had a guardian! He never got trapped in The World! He...he awoke Aura! I thought it was a myth!' All these thoughts were running through her head and she was confused by them all. She ran up to the monster and began slashing at it, dodging a blow aimed right at her by jumping on it's large axe weapon. She sent requests for help to the party, but they didn't seem to go through. 'The data bug must be blocking it!' she thought. She just continued to attack with a vain hope of defeating it.

Then Thanatos appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "You called?" he asked.

"Yes! Help, please!" Haru replied frantically, dodging another blow.

"Keep fighting!" he told Haru. "Just a little longer."

Haru set to her work with a passion. Blow after blow she hit on the monster, and it never was affected at all. She dodged and hit like she had been playing the game for longer than she had. The hands on the controller were sweating and combination after combination was pressed, resulting in attack after attack. Eventually a shell became visible around the monster and a message appeared on the screen. "Data Break" it read. Haru didn't know what it meant, she had always run from the data bugs, but Thanatos seemed to understand.

He raised his scythe and unleashed another of his powers as the smoke in his crystal consumed more of the jewel. "Soul Reaver" he muttered and slashed at the monster, breaking the shell around it. As Haru looked again at it's HP gauge, it had returned to normal. Mjolnir had also been restored to normalcy, and the three finished it off quickly.

"How did you get that power?" Haru asked.

"I...have my ways. I am quite adept at hacking, if you didn't already know from my appearance" Thanatos replied. "Now, let's go back to the event. If anything should happen, I will be there."

"But...how does the data bug still exist?" Haru wondered out loud.

"Not quite sure" Thanatos replied. "It could be left over code from The Wave. But if it is, I'm surprised it lasted this long without being deleted. Coincidence if that's the reason. But there's always other possible explanations." He left it at that, to let the other two think about the other possibilities, and to get a little reprieve from the questions.

Haru thought silently to herself as they caught up with the party in the dungeon. They hadn't gotten too far. But she would do some research once this event was over. And she would certainly keep in touch with Thanatos.

MAC ANU

"Nai. Nai. NAI!" (Nothing. Nothing. I've got nothing!)

Enough was enough already for Renai. Having no luck finding anything in her inventory that could immediately aid her escape, at least not in a Root Town, she had been chased around for the past five or so minutes in-game by these obnoxious Players who taunted her every few seconds. She had never run around so much, and after the first three minutes, had remembered that she wasn't tired at all. Of course, that was only because she was merely an avatar in a startlingly realistic, pre-programmed world where stamina was only measured by the amount of HP remaining.

"This is getting stupid already...! I'm a Player being chased by other Players. It's not like they can kill me."

Renai halted her wayward dash from the three-paired group and turned her perception towards them, not far from where a particular Blademaster that had taken notice, yet ignored her plight. They had all wound up not too far from the Centre - where the whole ordeal first began.

"So young lady," the Long Arm sneered in Talk Mode, "have you given up on your fruitless escape?"

I [Katsuki] grabbed my controller that was meant to be used mostly for battle situations or easier maneuvering in monster-infested map areas. Renai couldn't draw her Dragon Blades, but at least now she had some time to look over her limited inventory more rapidly than before.

"Yeah. I guess you could say that," Renai expressed her anger visibly once again. Her slitted, emerald eyes beautifully added onto the pre-programmed command for her entire countenance. She needed to stall just as that Chinese Long Arm did.

"Sprite Ocarina...Call To Arms...5 Health Potions...Repth Scroll..."

"I've had enough of you idiots chasing me around. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

The Long Arm put on a quizzical expression.

"Leather Jacket...Defense Scroll..."

"Hm...not really. Preying on pretty n00bs is what I enjoy doing most," he said with a grin.

His intent was probably only to enrage me further as a diversion. However, she [Renai] was coming to understand Mac Anu, as well as the paths Players could choose in The World. Most of all...what she was capable of in unpredictable situations.

"...Speed Scroll? Didn't see that before...'Increases the AGI of a Player by +5'...Hmm..."

The three-party group began moving closer to Renai. The user behind the Long Arm actively made use of his avatar's emotions; his face now contorted in crazed anxiety, his pupils also dialated. Most likely, he enjoyed roleplaying in every situation possible.

"So why don't you let my Wavemaster friend here cast a Teleportation spell on you like the helpless, yet pretty, n00b you are and-"

"...Kamo..." (Maybe)

"If you are obsessed with me so much, why don't you just ask me out, you womanizing freak!"

The three stopped in absolute shock. Renai heard a few raspy stutters come from the Long Arm, as well as his comrades.

"That got their attention. Guess they spent all their time scaring pretty girls, that when they are actually given an straightforward offer by one, they don't know how to deal with the pretty girls they prey upon. Heheh." I restrained Renai from smiling, but I grinned wide enough for the both of us.

"W-What did you say?"

"I guess you have too much crap in your ears, so let me repeat myself. If you think I am so pretty, then why don't you...ask me out?"

Renai's hand graced the glistening strands of her jet black hair draping her shoulder. She followed up with a turn of her head to the left towards the Blademaster from before, and a show of embarrassment through her blushing cheeks.

"A-Ask you out? B-But would a girl like you actually go out with a guy like me?"

The villanous role that the Long Arm had held himself to had completely fallen apart, and his speechless lackies knew it.

"Actually..." Renai started, while only turning her right eye to the wide-eyed posse.

"...even if you were the last Players in this game, you would STILL have NO chance in THE WORLD with me!" she said with a wink.

Nearly everyone in Mac Anu Centre turned towards another scene that Renai had strategically waited for the perfect moment to unleash. A wave of laughter filled the cobblestone streets, as Player after Player pointed and threw joke after joke at their direction.

"No...way..." they said in unison. Their sniveling could be heard behind their crestfallen avatars.

"Come on guys..." the Long Arm said in between tears - the user's tears, that is. "She's no fun anymore..."

They began to walk away, looking at one another as they spoke without words being registered in the chat box in my lower left perception. "Must be in Party Chat," I thought.

Renai kept her eyes on them, laughing to herself. A smug grin came over her mouth, basking in the killing blow she dealt to the group, after exploiting their IRL weakness to the populous that they hinted at time and time again.

"And I didn't even have to use that secret item I had! Doubt they will try that on another girl again. Hehe!"

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 10 2006, 04:39 PM

Sange chuckled as he went back to watching the chase. Then when the twinblade girl looked over at him, he felt a little strange, but still, nontheless, entertained by this show. Finally, she told the group off, and they left quite sullenly.

"Tch, what a bunch of fools," Sange said through a grin, "to think they could take advantage like that? Morons!" He shifted from his spot on the bridge, to find the Twinblade girl. When he finally got to the Centre, he just went up behind her and looked up at the sky.

"Hey, nice moves, you sure as heck know how to handle yourself when it comes to men. I'm personally curious how well you handle yourself in a battle with monsters," he said to her, but then he smacked his head and sighed, "Sorry, I forgot my manners, forgot introduce myself. I am Sange, lvl 22 Blademaster. And... you are, miss...?

Renai continued chuckling to herself, confident that her reputation in Mac Anu had just doubled in a matter of 20 minutes. However, the words of another Player seemed to stand out among the multitude of Players still conversing about her deeds. There was too much voice chatting going on to pinpoint where the voice had come from, but the Blademaster she had noticed before had left his place on the bridge to come towards her direction. Immediately, her eyes stared with guarding intent, only to find him gazing up into the midday sky as he introduced himself.

"What the hell? 'Miss?'...Fine...I'll do the same...I don't sense any intent from him..." This would be the first time introducing herself to someone in-game.

"First of all, don't call me miss. Do I look like a granny to you? Secondly, I'm Renai, LV.23. My class is obvious."

Her fingertips strattled her lengthy hairs, and grinned slyly up at Sange before completing the rest of her reply.

"Thanks for the compliment, though yours is the first one not complimenting my appearance. I have no problem making fools of men when they leave themselves open for it. However, to be honest I..."

Renai paused for a moment as I remembered something extremely important: the ability to change the chat setting to Whisper.

"I shouldn't say that outloud." I fumbled around with the chat box on my screen...and then I realized I needed to target Sange to talk only to him. Dammit...I was still such a n00b...but I wasn't about to let Renai become a target. The thought that she was a n00b was a blind assumption by those males based on her attitude and appearance.

"Sorry. I had to mute myself for a moment. As I was saying, I don't have as much battle experience as I do with shattering male egos. I am known to be a very perceptive, strategic female. Also, I am smarter than I look."

Renai placed one hand on her hip, shifting her weight to her left side which exposed a bit of her skin around her waist, and curiously raised an suspicious eyebrow at Sange.

"Now what is it that you want...Sange, was it? I don't exactly have the best impression of male Players in The World these days, as you just witnessed. I also do not exactly believe that your curiosity was the only thing that enticed you to approach me. It never is."

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 10 2006, 11:01 PM

Three yellow rings materialized next to the Mac Anu chaos gate, heralding the arrival of another player to the server. In their wake they left a rather...unoriginal wave master. He was clothed in classic wizard attire, from his effusive blue cloak, to his long beard, all the way up to the ludicrous pointy blue hat on his head. The wave master smirked to himself, chuckling at the fact that he'd named his avatar after that very description: Ludicrous.

Ludicrous glanced around the server, checking for any suspicious looking PC's that might be worth investigating. Nothing stood out to him at first--there were a couple large groups of newbies standing around trying to figure out how to move and trade and other mundane things, a few high levels moving about purposefully, an assortment of various people spamming annoying messages like, "need Soul Blades, have rare axe!" and a few small groups whispering to each other--including one very un-modestly clothed twin blade. That amused him; it was probably some kid trying to see how little he could get his avatar to wear. What perverts.

Oh well, he sighed, as he quickly glanced through his inventory. He still had a decent supply of the essentials from the last time he'd stocked up, but he was running low on gold. After a quick dash to the save point, he headed back to the chaos gate and focused--centered his field of vision--on it. After a view seconds, a blue diamond highlighted the gate, bringing up a small window with the title "Chaos Gate" and "Investigate" being his only option. The selection of "Investigate" led him to a slightly larger window, from which he chose "Create New Keyword."

This time, a very large window opened up in front of his character, with three long lists of adjectives and nouns and a chart in the bottom right corner. He immediately selected "Expansive" for his first word, knowing that as he went further down the list, the words would create a higher level area. A crystal lit up by "Area Level" in the chart. He skimmed through the second list, looking at the words which would have an effect on the field type, and finally selecting
"Talisman," which he knew would create a Darkness field. The third wasn't really important anymore; he scrolled down to "Fertile Land", which would result in rain. At least that way he'd be able to use the Spring of Mist to upgrade his armor, he thought. He pressed confirm, and the window emitted a satisfied chime, displaying the area statistics on the left side: "Expansive Talisman Fertile Land: Level 7 - Darkness." Raising his right hand above his head, he muttered the keywords, and was gone again.

Far away--well, he supposed in The World there was no real measure of distance between areas--three rings appeared in an empty field, revealing the form of Ludicrous. And, to his satisfaction, he felt the patter of rain on his hat. Apparently the FAQ he'd found online had been accurate. Well, with some luck, he'd be at least level 10 by the end of today.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Jan 11 2006, 03:40 PM

[Real World]
After setting Thanatos to walk to the rendezvous, Adam took off his headset and devoted his full attention to his computer’s second monitor. “Hmm…it has been a long time I last had to fight a databug,” he thought as he brought up his hacking interface. “I thought that CC Corp would have been able to delete them all by now, but it seems that they may not have been as thorough as they claimed. Although, could it really be just coincidence that one of the few remaining bugs would just happen to show up at the site of an unannounced event this soon after a monster appeared in Mac Anu…or is there more to the story? Was this CC Corp’s doing, or are the rumors true…have they truly lost control over ‘The World’? It seems I will need to look deeper into ‘The World’ to make certain.”

Quickly, Adam set to work hacking into the many chat channels of “The World.” After a couple minutes, he had gotten past the minor security and gained access to public and emergency messages from every server and field currently being accessed by players. As they came pouring in, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. “Well, apart from some commotion in Mac Anu and the usual newbish complaints to admins. that the fields are too hard, everything seems to be quiet,” he said aloud to the empty room. “Luckily, the occurrence seems to be localized to just this area since there isn’t any mention of databugs appearing anywhere else. Still, I suppose I should keep an eye on things, just in case.”

After setting his computer to scan the incoming messages for any mention of a glitch or databug, and to alert him if it finds anything, Adam returned to the game…

[“The World”]
Slowly, Thanatos rejoined the group. “So you finally decided to join us?” said Silver with the mocking tone he used so well.

“Yeah Silver, I decided I’d finally grace you with my presence,” replied Thanatos in an equally sarcastic tone. “Sorry I’m late, everyone, but…something came up.”

Sange looked at Renai strangely, and shook his head. "I don't interest myself in other players. To me it's... well, stupid. You can never actually meet the person unless you traded adresses and had enough money to visit the other person," he explained, then he caught himself laughing. "Sorry! I'm rattling on, aren't I? Well, my true intentions... Heck, I can explain myself."

He looked over at the gate, and he (his avatar) furrowed his eyebrows. "I was looking for someone to go adventuring with. Ever since-" Sange stopped, but he continued on, "-ever since my friends dissapeared from The World. I call them, e-mail them, even drop by their houses, and they quite literally dissapeared off the face of the planet! So I decided to see if I could just try and find them here. I've got a feeling I can find them, but in the meantime, I'm trying to gather friends to go adventuring with."

Then he turned back to Renai. "Plus I've never fought alongside a TwinBlade before. It'll be interesting to see a speed master in action." Sange decided to check through his inventory one last time, just to make sure he had everything he needed.

"His sincerity worries me...but it may be what I have been looking for. Too bad it's not a girl...but that's probably better for me anyway..."

A curious glare appeared in Renai's gaze while Sange completed his statement. The phrase "speed master" somehow did not settle well with her. There was only one reason why she had any reason to decline an offer like this. A reason that most newcomers would adhere to. Incidentally, given the fact that she had accomplished nothing, other than increase her karma, the weight of her motivation to exist more prominently within The World won out with little mental strife. Not to mention, she had no idea what Key Words she needed to leave Mac Anu, let alone return there, other than by playing a Sprite Ocarina. Sange was the meal ticket she had hoped for.

"Okay," I said in English. I always thought it sounded a bit cute with my Japanese accent behind it, which is what Sange would hear for that moment, rather than my VMD's bland translations.

"I have been looking for some place to go anyway," she said in a carefree tone. "It'll be more fun to go on an adventure with someone. I have looked over my inventory, so I am ready to go this moment. Where did you have in mind?"

Though it clashed with her natural intimidating countenance, Renai gave a default smile that would wipe away any doubt of her being n00bish in her combat abilities, at least for now. Who knows? She might even surprise herself, being a "speed master" and all.

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 13 2006, 01:04 AM

Sange thought, and remembered the e-mail that was sent to him earlier in the day. He wanted to reconsider NOT going back there, but unfortunately, curiosity teared at him, like a ravenous lion to a scrap of meat.

"I know just the place. I hear an event is going on there too... or so I believe. It's something... uh.. Oh yeah! Testiments Unholy Scripture! That was the keyword," he turned to head for the gate, but then he turned back to Renai. "Oh yeah, just so you know, for a sixteen year old, I'm not dumb. I can tell when someone has a problem with me, so just say whatever it is." With that, he walked toward the gate, and input the keywords again.

This time, he was going to delve further into the dungeon, and this time, he was going to figure out if the e-mail was right or not.

<THE WORLD>
Silverseraph shook his head with a smirk and simply shrugged. The group seemed to be doing ok so he wouldnt press the matter. He started towards the dungeon entrance. The large maw was probly meant to be intimidating... but Silver found it far from threatening. It was, after all, just a game.

He had watched the chat window for the group as they fought... and picked out the scuffle with the "bugged" Ogre. It made him curious. He could recall at some point hearing rumors and stories of such occurances, accompanied by the "Dot Hackers" rumors. He paid them little attention until now... figuring it was some large scale event he had simply missed out on. Now he was beginning to think it was more.

Had Mei-Faux known this bug was here? Is that the real reason she led him to this event? He wondered casually and opened up a private chat window to Thanatos.

"What happened back there? That wasnt a normal creature was it."

The screen changed then, and soon the party stood in the foyer of the dungeon. The walls were the color of rotten flesh, mixed with sick combinations of purple, red and black. A ribcage like patter adorning the walls. How pleasant.

Again Silver opens his inventory and activates his Faerie Orb, revealing the map for his group and showing the locations of the encounter orbs. He switched back to group chat and started forward, patiently waiting for Thanatos' reply.

"Alright guys, you know the drill. Im guessing this dungeon will have stronger monsters than outside... so lets try and at least stay in pairs if not more."

Silver glances at them all as they emote their nods of understanding, and finally he motions to the more martial characters to take the lead. he was after all, just a spellcaster.

Delta Server - Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground

Once the last of his SP had regenerated, Ludicrous took a few steps forward, activating the portal. He was rewarded with the sight of two Headhunters and a Shield Man charging at him. "Good, all Darkness types", he thought, as his fingers moved towards the pouch at his side with practiced dexterity. He quickly flipped open a side pocket and pulled out one of a number of sutras, and then, focusing his spiritual energy on the Shield Man, he proclaimed: "Tarot of the Moon!" The symbol for sleep successfully appearing in that monster's status bar, he turned his attention to the Headhunters, which were almost to him by then.

"I can deal with just two myself, though," he thought as he lightly tapped the bottom of his staff against the wet ground in rhythm with the spell--"Rai Don!" The mystical smoke in his staff's orb flashed bright yellow, and a single bolt of lightning fell upon the nearest monster, sending him into oblivion and causing some area damage to the other. However, the second Headhunter didn't even flinch as he continued his charge through the blast, but Ludicrous was ready for him with another spell. He began the necessary staff motions, swinging it in a wide arc before aiming the head at the oncoming monst--

****************************************************

Delta Server - Testiments Unholy Scripture

Then Thanatos appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "You called?" he asked.

"Yes! Help, please!" Haru replied frantically, dodging another blow.

"Keep fighting!" he told Haru. "Just a little longer."

Haru set to her work with a passion. Blow after blow she hit on the monster, and it never was affected at all. She dodged and hit like she had been playing the game for longer than she had. The hands on the controller were sweating and combination after combination was pressed, resulting in attack after attack. Eventually a shell became visible around the monster and a message appeared on the screen. "Data Break" it read. Haru didn't know what it meant, she had always run from the data bugs, but Thanatos seemed to understand.

He raised his scythe and unleashed another of his powers as the smoke in his crystal consumed more of the jewel. "Soul Reaver" he muttered and slashed at the monster, breaking the shell around it. As Haru looked again at it's HP gauge, it had returned to normal. Mjolnir had also been restored to normalcy, and the three finished it off quickly.


***************************************************

Delta Server - Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground

--white noise flared across Ludicrous's field of vision as the harsh sound of static briefly invaded his ears. He was distracted for just long to break the required concentration for his next spell, which the Headhunter took good advantage of, leaping at Ludicrous and knocking him to the muddy ground with a mighty blow. Ludicrous's HP took a steep dive, but his reaction was as quick as ever. He hastily reassembled the spiritual energy in the air back into the necessary pattern and pointed the head of his staff at the Headhunter--"Rai Kruz!" The smoke in his staff once again flashed yellow, and a bolt of lightining this time shot out of the staff, striking the monster in it's head and finishing the job his earlier spell had started.

Slowly, Ludicrous raised himself up, and thanked the powers that be in The World that the final monster hadn't yet woken. "Well, now I have something to take my frustration out on," he thought, which brought a slight grin to his face. He focused, recalling the necessary motions for a more complicated spell than his previous two: "GiRai Rom!!" Electrical energy burst into life all around the sleeping monster, zipping through the air to form a literal tornado of electricity. Ironically, he noted the sleep symbol disappearing from the mosters status bar before the immense energy turned it into ashes as red letters proclaimed a critical hit. "So it had just enough time to wake up before the long sleep," he chuckled.

Simultaneously, the words "All Field Portals Clear" flashed across his vision, the words "Battle Mode" dissapeared from his peripheral vision, the words "Level Up" appeared above his hat, and a blue chest materialized over the already washed away ashes of the Shield Man. A quick use of a Fortune Wire disarmed the booby trap indicated by the chest's color, and he claimed his prize: a Cougar Bandana. Perfect, with this he'd be able to use La Repth now, a more advanced healing spell than Repth, which, he realized he was in desparate need of at the moment.

Ludicrous equipped the bandana and healed himself, and checked his advanced stats now that he was level 9. With nothing left to do in the field but utilize the Spring of Mist, he decided he'd tackle the dungeon first, and so he slowly trudged through the wet ground towards the dungeon's entrance, all the while wondering what could've caused that strange white noise. "I'll just have to see if anyone on the boards has seen something similar," he mused, and that was the end of it.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Jan 13 2006, 07:24 PM

As the party trudged through the dungeon and all it's asthetics, Haru pondered over what had happened. Data bugs still around? Thanatos could defeat them? Although his character was obviously hacked, Haru had never guessed he had such proficiency with programming. The World just kept getting stranger by the day.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone activating another portal. She hardly paid any attention as she rushed into the battle. She soon learned her lesson after she was hit with an ice spell that knocked off a good part of her HP. 'Gotta be more careful. Can't get distracted. I can think about this after the event.'

She ran after the monster that had cast the spell on her. Every time she'd get close, she would get paralyzed by a spell. After a few minutes of this, to the amusement of her party members, she activated a speed charm and rushed at the unsuspecting monster.

"You're going down now!" she yelled, as she was hit by another paralyzation spell. Everyone was watching now, and they were all laughing hard. "Think it's funny, huh?" she told them in a frustrated tone.

"Yes, it's quite hilarious" laughed SilverSeraph.

"Thanks for helping" she retorted.

"Aww, you don't need help on this monster. You could use the experience anyway" was a reply from an anonymous party member.

She stopped short, this time not becuase of a spell.

"What did you say?" No one owned up to the comment, but everyone was still smirking. Eventually, Mjollnir burst out laughing.

"You should see the look on your face! It's the funniest thing I've ever seen!" The rest of the party followed his example. But before Haru could even utter a reply, she was hit with another spell, lowering her HP to a dangerous level. She quickly used a healing spell and finally caught up to the monster.

"Okay, now you're mine! There's no escaping this time!" she yelled as she landed a blow. She furiously worked on the monster, releasing all her frustration while doing it. Even after the monster was dead and the doors unlocked,she was still slashing.

"Woah! Calm down there. We're moving on, so you'd better pick up the pace." Kahlúa said, but not unkindly.

Although they had quite a few people in their group, their progress was still quite slow. The monsters were a challenge, even for the more experienced players. The newer ones would get killed ever so often, but they were still levelling up quickly. By the third floor, everyone was exhausted.

"Wow, this dungeon just keeps on going. Must we clear all the portals?" someone complained from the back.

"Yes. Trust me, it's better for all of us this way" Silver replied in an assertive tone. Without anymore comments, they moved on to the next, and hopefully last, level.

As everyone entered the the last level they walked through a small room with the stairs to the previous level then goes into a large hall with with white ribs and purple and red undulating walls and ceilings of rotting flesh. As Mjollnir looked around he noticed that there was something different about this level than the others.

"Hmmmm... Oh!"

There were also some traits of stone walls ceilings and floors in this level as well. Quite odd for a dungeon but not odd for a secret event. Then he spotted the the monster portal at the middle of the hallway and casted Speed scroll on himself and sped over past the portal to get behind the monsters when they materialized in the hallway leaving a vaporating trail of yellow energy. As they did Mjollnir cast 4 The Hanged Man scrolls before the monsters realized that he was behind them. The paralyzed monsters were 3 Mu Guardians and a Dark rider

"Come aaannnnnnn' get it!!"

Waved to the rest of the party and starts to hack and slash at a parlyzed Mu Gardian then at a paralyzed Dark Rider.

"Oh great. You sound so sure about this event," Renai grimaced in an unenthused tone, while approaching to a Chaos Gate that she had little experience using.

As she began the process of targeting the gate and choosing the Key Words that had been told to her, Renai continued the rest of her conversation with Sange. She could see him from the far left of her perception, staring straight ahead into the purplish waves that seemed to extend into eternity.

"By the way, you should not assume that someone has a problem with you when you just met them - cyberspace or otherwise. Someone who has lived through Pluto's Kiss, into the ALTIMIT OS Age, should know this. The fact that I'm going with you does say that I find you slightly trustworthy for the moment. Also, for someone who is sixteen and claims to not be stupid, you apparently have not become smart enough to think before you open your mouth."

The words "Testaments Unholy Scripture" were chosen on my screen, but Renai had one last inquiry before accepting the destination, wherever it would be. After Renai had given Sange proper clarity of the sort of traveling companion he would be dealing with, she would not be surprised if he simply warped into the dungeon area without a reply. If he did, the chances of Renai following would drop to 0, regardless of her motives. She would just have to find someone else.

I [Katsuki] do not trust males in real life, let alone true friends, other than Satose, that I could rely on. To follow a boy who cannot handle a honest reprimand from an older woman would contradict my unwritten code in my ambition for becoming better at The World than the one who introduced me to it.

"Oi, Sange. You seemed uncertain about these Keywords. A "Testament" to an "Unholy Scripture" does not sound like a area someone would randomly go to without reason. Do you know what will we be accomplishing there, other than leveling up?"

This post has been edited by Renai on Jan 16 2006, 12:14 AM

"I honestly don't know the answer to that one. An e-mail was sent to me, saying to go to this place... and the sender said I wouldn't be dissapointed. So I tried it out earlier. Nothin' but undead creatures everywhere. Some of the rooms were already cleared, so I assumed some others already are claiming the event," Sange explained, his eyes set on the keywords. "But I still can't shake the feeling that the sender meant what he, or she, said. The e-mail came without a return adress."

Sange looked at Renai and grinned. "Ready to go, or you wanna back out?"

Renai glanced over at Sange with her left eyebrow raised, her emerald eyes remaining interrogating as ever. However, a small sweatdrop appeared for a short interval.

"Back out? Why would I do something like that? At least you have been there once before. Like I said before, it would be more fun to go on an adventure with someone. Not like I have any other engagements...so let's do this already."

I confirmed the KeyWords chosen with a press of a controller button, activating the Chaos Gate's function before Renai. Turning her perception forward again, she targeted the Chaos Gate, and confirmed the destination. She submitted herself to the triple golden rings that encompassed her entire form - top to bottom - until she had shifted out of the Root Town of Mac Anu with a half-smile printed upon her petite lips, and an expression of almost mixed anxiety upon her countenance.

Delta Server - Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground

Ludicrous felt the hard, stubborn resistance of the cold stone against his heel as he took the last step down to the second level of the dungeon. It was so cold down there that the water in the air had condensed all over the floor and ceiling, creating an incessant dripping sound which resonated all throughout the maze like halls of the place. It was a downright dreary place to be alone, but that was exactly how Ludicrous was at the moment, so he'd just to have to deal with the oppressive darkness.

Well, he ran out of oppressive darkness rather quickly in fact. In the very next room Ludicrous discovered the soft yellow light of a portal illuminating another obstacle in his progress towards the Gott Statue. "Not that I don't need the experience, though," he considered, as the light from the portal fled along with the portal itself, pushed out once again by the overwhelming darkness.

Wait--not overwhelming. Besides the white light emanating from the smoke in his staff's mystical orb, there were now two other spherical orbs of light scraping at the edges of the darkness in the room: one blue and the other crimson. Ludicrous focused on the two dimly lit silhouettes above each light, and confirmed his suspicions: status bars appeared for a Water Witch and a Fire Witch. A pulsating redness in his peripheral vision indicated that Battle Mode had begun, and the orbs of light, with their witches riding on top, began zooming around the room and preparing their opening spells.

"A magic duel, eh? My favorite," thought Ludicrous, as each of his hands quickly whipped out a sutra from his pouch. "Ap Vorma! Ap Torma!" He felt his spiritual power increase as the tarots boosted his magical strength and defense. Almost immediately, he saw the telltale pulsation of the red orb, now to his left, which meant that the Fire Witch had finished a spell. Ludicrous could feel the change in the spiritual pattern of the space above him as heat quickly turned the very air of the room into fire, ready to rain down upon his head. But he was ready. He gracefully evaded the blast by moving to his right, away from the Fire Witch, while using his staff to magically dissipate the area damage caused by the heat of the flames.

He was feeling pretty confident with his ability to handle these monsters when he felt a sudden ripple of energy in the water lying stagnant on the ground. Suddenly, it began rushing from all points of the room to the floor at his feet, and congealing into pools. Ludicrous realized what was happening just a second too late, and though he quickly jumped backwards, away from the Water Witch, one of the spikes of ice which were now shooting up from the pools of water caught his left leg, knocking him off balance and leaving him to land on his back on the unforgiving stone.

The spell had only grazed him, so his HP was still holding steady in the upper ranges, but Ludicrous was beginning to realize that this could be a lot more difficult than he'd originally anticipated. He quickly took stock of what he had. His armor, a noble cloak, gave him the ability to cast Rue Zot, the same spell the Water Witch had just used. However, he didn't have any fire spells available, although he did have a few spare fire sutras in his pouch.

"Those will have to do," he resigned, as he got back to his feet. But now he was ready to take this seriously. While he'd be down, he'd prepared for his next spell, which he unleashed at the unsuspecting Fire Witch: "Rue Zot!" The Witch was in for a taste of its partner's medicine, as the water in the air this time began to form into ice beneath the Fire Witch. But before it could feel Ludicrous's pain, the Water Witch shoved it out of the way, taking the brunt of the spell itself. Ludicrous watched helplessly as an unfulfilling 8 appeared above the Water Witch for a second; the change in it's HP was barely noticeable.

Ludicrous cringed. In The World, the six spiritual elements, or Waves, come in pairs: Earth & Nature // Fire & Water // Light & Darkness. Whenever you faced a monster who was strongly associated with a particular Wave, it was always to your best advantage to use the opposite Wave against it, and cause critical damage. However, if you used a monsters own Wave against it, the damage would be minimal. If the two Witches worked together like this against him, taking hits for one another, he'd never be able to cause any major damage.

Unfortunately, the undamaged Fire Witch didn't have any intention of letting Ludicrous finish his thoughts. He had taken the opportunity to sneak up behind the Wave Master, and he bashed Ludicrous in the back of his head with his wand. This time, Ludicrous hit the stone face first. His HP had barely been affected by the witch's weak physical attack, but his dignity had been decimated. AI monsters were actually toying with him! He was annoyed now, but it was about to get worse. Ludicrous got up onto his knees, but before he could stand up all the way, the Water Witch completed another spell, and a giant block of ice fell from the roof, crashing into Ludicrous's back and slamming his face back into the stone with a crack as ice shattered all around him.

Unlike the witch's physical attack, that hurt like hell. Nearly 2/3 of Ludicrous's HP bar flashed red and then simply went out like a burnt out lightbulb. Ludicrous was no longer annoyed; he was furious. He jumped to his feet, unhooking a health drink from his belt and downing it in one gulp, before they could nail him again. The Fire Witch was facing him, and despite the fact that it's facial expression never changed, Ludicrous was sure for all the world that if it could, it would be laughing at him right now.

The witch began another spell, but Ludicrous knew it wouldn't hit. Give him enough preparation time, and he could evade their simple spells easily. But he wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice. He couldn't see the glow of the Water Witch's orb, which meant it must be behind him, so rather than looking around and losing the Fire Witch, he opened his ears instead. He could hear the whirring of the second monster hovering through air at the back of the room, and it was coming toward him. Ludicrous had a plan.

The Fire Witch completed it's spell, and Ludicrous could feel the alteration of the spiritual pattern in the air around him. The very space he was standing in began to heat up at an alarming rate and the air was beginning to burst in flame, but Ludicrous skillfully swung his staff out and to the left, using his staff's spiritual energy to partially disrupt the spell and escape through a crack. But that wasn't all he had planned. "That other witch was going to try to humiliate me again, eh?" he fumed, as he held his staff horizontal with both hands and whipped around, parrying the expected physical attack with a resounding crack of wood-on-wood. The Water Witch had just enough to look surprised as Ludicrous shifted to a one-handed hold on the staff, using his free hand to stick a fire sutra to the monsters forehead. Ludicrous smiled as he muttered "Vak Kruz," watching the Water Witch's entire body suddenly burst into flames, leaving only ashes.

He turned and glared at the second one, the Fire Witch, who, if it had facial expressions, would definitely be looking very scared right now. "Let's try this again, shall we?" he said to uncomprehending monster, expecting no reply. "Rue Zot!!" Ice pillars began to burst out from all over, impaling the helpless monster in at least 3 places, who left behind only the words, "Critical Hit," and a new appreciation for the peace of darkness.

Ludicrous waited for a moment as the "Battle Mode" indicator gradually faded away and the room's doors unlocked, and then suddenly he looked crestfallen. "All that and no treasure!" he cried, to no one in particular. He slammed the bottom of his staff against the cold stone, wishing it would crack just to satisfy his frustration. After a few moments, though he recomposed himself and headed deeper into the dungeon, wordlessly grumbling about how tough times are these days.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Jan 20 2006, 09:44 AM

As the interior of the dungeon came into view, the private chat window opened on the bottom of Thanatos’ screen containing a message from Silverseraph. “What happened back there,” he replied, “was something that should not have happened and hasn’t happened for a very long time. And, no, that was not a normal monster we were fighting. It is called a data bug, which is a monster whose data has been corrupted, increasing its strength and giving it infinite HP. However, the story goes much deeper than this.” While the party progressed through the dungeon, Thanatos slowly related the history to Silver.

“If you’ve been playing for any period of time, I’m sure you’ve heard rumors of a group of players called the “Dot Hackers.” While it is true that the Data Bugs spawned from this era, the original cause comes from a much earlier ‘event’. Long before the “Dot Hackers,” there was a player by the name of Tsukasa who fell into a coma while playing the game, and somehow found himself trapped, unable to log out. Although I was a player at the time, I do not know many details about his journey. However, I can tell you that he and a small group of players proceeded to awaken an AI by the name of Aura. There are those who say that this AI was a creation of the game itself, while others believe that she was created by the game’s designer as the first step in a process to bring about certain events from a poem the game is based off. Regardless, her awakening was the event which would eventually usher in the era of the “Dot Hackers”.

“They were a group of players who managed to defeat a danger which threatened to destroy The World as we know it. Although CC Corp would have you believe that they were merely a rumor, they, and the virus they fought, were all too real. Eventually, they managed to eliminate the infection that had threatened The World and all its players, but only after fighting their way through the corruption caused by the virus. One example of this corruption is what came to be known as the Data Bug. During that era, these abominations ran rampant through all the areas of The World. After the infection was ‘healed’, CC Corp began a massive clean-up program where they attempted to purge all the corrupted data from the system. Finally, in an attempt to dispel the worries of players and to try to eliminate all the bad press they received, CC Corp began trying to convince people that the ordeal was simply a failed upgrade to the system and that the “Dot Hackers” were simply a rumor.”

“I hope this helps to explain what happened and prepare you for the events I fear are to come,” said Thanatos as the party emerged onto the lowest level. Leaving Silver to ponder this information, he quickly rushed forward to aid Mjollnir in the battle.

This post has been edited by thanatos06 on Jan 20 2006, 06:08 PM

"Let's go!" Sange exclaimed, and the golden rings formed around him, and off the two went. As the area loaded, questions burned through his mind. What HAPPENED to his friends? And who was this mysterious sender? He planned to find out, no matter the cost.

Renai redigitized before the entrance of the dungeon leading to wherever Sange had planned on taking her. She sighed gently, awaiting her traveling companion's appearance; she was not about to enter a place in which had already given her bad vibes just by the required KeyWords.

"Yeah. Anytime you're ready to beat the lag, Sange," Renai mumbled, as she took in the ominous, fully 3-dimensionally rendered atmosphere. It was another design that must have been made with pain-staking precision. Though she felt no lag in the server, she felt she'd might as well admire the graphical uniqueness that The World offered.

"Is this guy running on an obsolete processor or what?"

<<The World>>
Between Mjolnir and Thanatos, there was no question of IF they could handle the last of the nasties... but how long it would take. So it came that Silver decided to let this one play out, and quietly he slips aside and down a short hallway. The revealed map shows him there are no encounter portals.. nor treasure chests present in the three small rooms that follow this hallway and then come to a dead end.

But that was just it. In an Event dungeon, you never know whats going to happen. Not to mention silver had noticed this place was providing Golden Egg Grunty food, and his stock of that particular grunty food was not quite 999 yet. He still had no damn idea what the hell it was for... But if you can hold that many, he had no doubt that when the time came, his chronic collecting would be most rewarded.

He pulled the noisy food from the nooks and crannys of the hallway as he made his way towards the first door, watching as they shrink down and dissappear into his treasure satchel. A pair of decrepit skeletons kneel side by side near the door, and as Silver smashes them with his staff, he watches the treasure window as he gains a few extra Healing Drinks, not bad.

He strides through the open door,

<<Real Life>>
Reaching for his soda as the screen changes, he is startled by the scream of the creature as his character enters the first of the three rooms. A ghostly image of a serpent soars through the obviously larger than the map indicated room. Alex has no time to examine it however, his attention instead drawn to the spilled soda... that is now dripping all over his cousins exposed PC, he had promised to fix it earlier this week... Damn Karma.

Laying the headset on the desk quickly he grabs a handful of dirty socks from his laundry pile, thank god his mother hadnt done the laundry yet. Small miracles. If he ruined another family computer his parents might just start charging him rent again. Soaking up the carbonated acid with rancid sock, he moves the PC away from the desk and sits the half soaked socks on the pool of pop on the corner of the desktop.

He drops into his seat and has the headset on in one swift motion, his hands moving to the controls and he cringes...

<<The World>>
... Seraph takes another strong hit as he stands there blankly. His HP bar is already flashing as it drops below half. DAMN! He rolls to the side to avoid a followup tailslap as it passess overhead. Thinking fast his item menu opens up as the ghost floats away and around for another attack. Quickly two healing drinks dissappear from his inventory, and his cursor is already on the speed scroll. A quick recitation and again he rolls to the side, must faster this time... and in time to avoid both attacks of the monstrous ghost serpent.

He turns his attention to the door, and possible escape to return with the group... but to no end. The door is sealed, this was obviously a mini-boss. There was probly one in each of the three rooms. Damn why didnt he see that comming.

Turning his attention back to the creature quickly, he steadies his stance and brandishes his staff. The weapon image changes as he replaces his usual Silver Staff for one that appears completely white, and leaves white energy in its wake when moving. A pretty low level rare staff, it DID happen to have the side effect of causing extra light damage on impact, and contained a light damage spell. Not particularly dangerous.. unless you were weak against Light damage... like the undead.

The serpent approaches quickly, gaining speed and opening its mouth wide for the etherial attack. The enhanced speed of the Speed scroll has Silver moving at the last second, lashing out with the staff and landing a solid hit. Silver frowns as even as the words Critical Element fade... the damage is still a measly 10, which doesnt seem to shorten the creatures health bar by much.

Rolling backwards to avoid the followup strike from the tail, his evasion just doesnt seem to be enough as the transparent tail passess through him, dropping his HP meter back down to half again! Using his enhanced speed he races far across the dungeon room until the creature has to take some time to catch up. Turning he prepairs himself, as the creature approaches, he activates the staff's light magic spell, sending forth a shockwave of brilliant white energy that not only inflicts Critical Element damage, but sends it rolling backwards. It always paid to come prepaired.

With multiple uses of the staffs useful little spell, Silver doesnt have much trouble finishing it off. He uses the Repth spell to replenish his HP, and then downs a Mage Soul to restore his SP. He frowns at how many items that cost him when it shouldnt have had to. Damn clutz.

The Party Window opens up and its Mjolnir. "Hey Silver, whered you go off to? Your status bar went crazy for a second there."

Silver opens up the party window to respond. " Im in the western hallway from your current position. I suspect there are three boss type creatures in the three rooms connected to that doorway. I also suspect that should we run through and simply collect the Gott statue treasures we would miss them. I suggest we eliminate the remaining two before collecting the Gott treasure."

"You were off collecting useless items again werent you." Comes Thanatos' voice. They had adventured together once before... and Silver's inability to pass up an item was the source of much amusement and frustraition.

"They are not useless, simply not a high priority for most." Thanatos does not respond, he just laughs to himself. Silver was so easy to get worked up, it was quite amusing. "Anyway, I finished one... but I wouldnt mind some assistance with the remaining two should there be any."

Silver waits for their response... noticing that a treasure chest had materialized where the creature had fallen. Quickly opening it up, using a fortune wire to disable the trap of course, his eyes widen at the item within. A smile creeps across his avatars lips as he activates the suprise and evil grin emotes. He tucks the item away in his inventory for later.

Haru wandered the last floor in the back of the group, lost in her thoughts. She was still amazed that something like this had happened to her. What did it mean about the game now? Would it fall back into chaos?

'No!' she violently thought to herself. 'It's just that they're left over. You can't purge everything. CC Corp just missed a few, I'm sure.' She felt more comfortable thinking that way and hurried on ahead to the rest of the group. When she went to the next room, she didn't see anyone.

"Guys?!" she called out. "Hey! Anyone there?!" No one responded.

'Must be further ahead.' She moved to the center of the room and the doors closed. 'Uh oh.' She ran to the doors but they wouldn't budge. Behind her something roared loudly. Haru whirled around and saw a huge...something. She wasn't sure what it was. It was spectral with a large reptile's head and the body of a gorilla. At least two times her size, it towered over Haru.

"Okay guys! I need some help now!" she yelled. Still, no response. So instead she opened up the group chat and sent a few pleas for help. 'Why didn't I think of that earlier?!' she silently scolded herself. 'I wouldn't be stuck here fighting this...thing if I had used it.'

She turned to the monster, let loose a cry, and charged at it while equipping her blades infused with the lightning element.

Mjolnir dusted himself off and gave himself some health potions and two Artisan's Soul refilling his HP gauge back to full and checked his items and kept walking with the rest of the group. Then he and the rest of the group stopped when they got Haru's pleas of aid and looked at Thanatos and Silver raising an eyebrow.

"You help her." Muttered Silver then he bowed and casted Speed scroll on himself and dashed off leaving behind a blaze of yellow dissappating energy and stopped at the entrance of the room that Haru is in.

"The door is locked out here as well. I'm gonna try something!" He switched his weapons to some blades that looked like some weird futuristic keys then went to his abilities window and toggled to the window designated 'special ability' and yelled "Unlock!" clicking the button that said the same thing and pointed both blades at the door and they shot beams of energy out of them, they joined togeather forming a ball of energy then another beam shot out of the ball and blasted into the door and it opened and he rushed into the room with a bearly alive Haru facing the giant specter reptlian-headed gorilla.

"Ok. I'm in!" He stopped switched weapons back and charged the creature jumping into the air and his blades charged up with electrizity and he did a spinning slash at its back to take it's attention off of the bearly alive Haru.

"Come on you ugly excuse for a monster!! Come and catch me!!"

Runs circles around the monster hitting and dodging it.

[Real Life]

Victor was bored. He was finished with his classes for the day and had nothing to do. He went on his computer and checked his email. There was one new message. It was from his girlfriend. Victor took one look at the subject and cursed. "Dear John..." it read. He slammed his fist on his desk, the shock sending his game helmet cluttering to the floor. He picked it up. Blow off a little steam... He put it on and logged into The World.

[The World]

Vir materialized in Mac Anu. Immediately, he went to Dun Loireag as the Mac Anu monsters were a little too easy. He needed easy stuff to beat up for a while. Maybe his temper would die down a bit. He nearly took two steps when he heard a clutter, then a voice, sounding young, telling something to back off. Vir knew what it might be. He ran to the spot, finding a newbie with no knowledge of the game, being held at sword-point against a wall. The newbie must've been told a keyword as a joke and ended up here. They both looked as Vir came into view. Vir pulled out his sword. "Drop the weapon," he said with a commanding tone. The attacker pointed his sword at Vir. He was obviously a cocky Blademaster, as he smiled and still held the newb. "I said, drop the weapon, and nobody will get hurt." Vir didn't move.

"What're you gonna do about it?" the attacker asked.

"Maybe you know me. Vir Nicare. Ever heard of me?"

"Psh. You're that one guy that is being chased by the Azure Knights."

"I am in a bad mood. Drop your weapon, and I won't humiliate you."

The attacker charged with his sword, involuntarily shifting his center of gravity forward. Vir took advantage of this and struck the sword to the side, catching the player off balance and making him fall on his face, dropping his HP just a little. Vir put his foot down on his back, pressing down. "What did I say about dropping your weapon? You must pay." Vir kicked the player in the face, then took his sword and threw it to the side. "Stay away from newbies, got it?"

The attacker got up, grabbed his sword and ran away. Vir looked at the newbie. "Are you okay?" The newbie nodded. "Good." Vir said. Vir took the newbie to a Chaos Gate and told the newbie the keyword to get back to Mac Anu. The newbie disappeared with a "Thanks!"

Vir watched him go, then he himself entered a keyword that he had discovered in an old email he just remembered. "Testiments Unholy Scriptures" and he was transported to a another dungeon. He materialized and looked around. It was dark, dreary, and dead undeads littered the ground. Odd...someone must've already been here... He was too engrossed in the dungeon to realize that there was a Twin Blade Female in front of him, who obviously hadn't noticed him, either. He was immediately startled and instinctively pulled out his sword. "Who are you?" he asked.

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Feb 1 2006, 09:43 AM

Delta Expansive Talisman Fertile Land

Ludicrous's virtual map of the second floor of the dungeon flashed and went blank as he finished his descent to the third, and in most cases, final floor of the dungeon. "Well, it's no use wandering around blindly," he thought, as he fumbled through the main pocket of his item pouch, searching for one of his larger items.

"Ah, here's one," he exclaimed, pulling a perfectly clear crystal sphere out of his pouch and holding it in his right hand. He held the sphere in front of him and declared: "Fairy Orb!" A pinprick of light burst into being in the very center of the orb, and then shot out of the sphere like a bullet, splitting into more dots of light than Ludicrous could count. The lights flew around the room faster than his eyes could follow, and once apparently satisfied with all four walls of the room they were in, they sped out the door and disappeared from Ludicrous's sight.

But Ludicrous was busy watching the crystal. As the lights had examined the room, a red blip had appeared at the center of the orb, indicating his current position, while four lines drew a square around him to represent the room. Ludicrous now watched as a web of lines spread out from the only exit of the room he was in, forming into rooms and doors as the fairies of light searched out the dungeon ahead. It had only taken a few seconds for the virtual map to be completed inside the crystal sphere, when yellow pinpricks of light began appearing all over the map, indicating the locations of encounter portals. The orb emitted a soft chime, declaring it's job done, and Ludicrous began to examine the third and final floor.

The path was straight ahead for a few rooms, and then the dungeon split in three directions. The top and left paths, however, eventually converged again at a large room with three portals. The right path continued for a few rooms, and then ended at a familiarly shaped room. Ludicrous smiled, "So there's the Gott Statue." The Gott Statue, or treasure room, of any dungeon could always be recognized by the unique shape of the room.

After a bit of thought on his intended path, Ludicrous decided to clear the left path first and then take the top path back to the right path, which would let him clear the floor without ever having to double back. He needed the experience just as much as he needed the treasure right now, and that room with three portals looked as promising as it did dangerous.

With a plan now firmly in mind, Ludicrous stashed the orb back into his pouch, gave his staff a twirl, and started out into the last floor.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Feb 1 2006, 08:42 PM

Renai had been occupying herself for the last ten or so minutes by memorizing the names and uses of her items, skills, and the only Lightning Wave magic she owned. She had already gone for short strolls to gain a more intimate view of the graphics offered by The World, even in the safe zone before entering the actual dungeon. Nevertheless, she was still far from a happy camper, as the one she had slightly entrusted to explore this ominous area with her had either abandoned her or his connection had timed out.

I [Katsuki], in the meantime, was mumbling to myself the uses of each type of item, when Renai sensed someone within a suitable range of her. Incidentally, the individual had already spoken up right as she whipped her body around to glare into the eyes of who she thought would be Sange. Her river of black hair fell against her back as she ascertained her misconception. It was another bladeuser that different drastically in appearance to Sange in weapon choice and garb.

"Just great. Another classed bladeuser who thinks he has it all together. Just my day, ne."

Renai bent her knees in a ready position with her hands dangling above the hilts of her Dragon Daggers, which she had finally discovered the Passive ability that they gave to her when used together. Having become much more familiar with the controls, commands and the specific items Esotas had given to me in that duration of time, Renai's poise and air had grown more confident than it had been in her past PC encounters.

"Che. What kind of idiot consciously enters a dangerous dungeon area and draws his weapon at the sight of a beautiful girl? Do I look like a monster to you..." she inquired with and edginess in her tone, grinning deviously at him through emerald orbs.

"...or do I just strike fear into your heart even with that big sword of yours?"

[The World]

Vir was caught off guard. He had never expected a beautiful woman to be in this dungeon. Vir laughed. "You? Scare ME? Nah." Vir lowered his weapon. "Just had some bad experiences, that's all." He put his sword away, then bowed. "It was pure instinct." He looked around. "So, you never answered my question. Who are you?" He then stopped, and before she could answer, said, "No. Better yet, I will tell you who I am." He bowed again, this time with some flourish. "Vir Nicare, at your service."

"'At my service', eh?"

Renai sneered between her light pink lips, slowly approaching the bowing male with taut fists.

"Do all you male Players think that I will fall for the same god damn trick twice? 'At my service?' Ha! Bull****!"

Renai drew her daggers, gripping their hilts with their tips facing the floor in an X-formation. The glare in her eyes tightened and the contours of her barely visible teeth behind her snarl intensified. She had been quite a distance away, but only took short, careful steps towards him to keep proper maintenance on her gap and what the next outset would be. She only intended to cement the fury she bore, rather than threaten him to the point of drawing herself into a battle that she could possibly not win.

"So tell me something, Vic. Why the hell should I accept 'your service' because if I have not made it fully clear already, I am SEVERELY on edge and have little reason to accept service from the likes of another conniving male Player who believes that I am ****in' easily charmed."

Activating the mute button was the last thing on my [Katsuki's] mind. This was Renai's adventure, and even with the Auto Block on cursing within the keyboard text input, Vic's avatar heard every nuance translated from me, to Renai's mouth.

Vir smiled and shook his head. "It's Vir, and I wasn't trying to hit on you, if that's what your thinking. It's just what I do. I'm not really at your service, it's just a common courtesy."

He drew his sword back out, holding it at a 45 degree angle, it pointing to the ceiling. Vir found this woman quite entertaining. Vir laughed.

"But if you want a battle...it's up to you." He checked her level. "Wouldn't get much of anything off of you, now would I? I'm far too high of a level for you to be much of a challenge." Vir put his sword back away. He put his hands up in the air in a submissive way. "I'm not going to fight you."

<OOC: Just a quick Note and Edit. In my last post when my character jumped up and did the spinning slash with eletric blades that move was called Thunder Dance, I completely forgot the name at the moment and I didn't have my guide book on me. So if your reading up to here replace that with Thunder Dance. Thanks!>

The monster just stood there as Mjolnir ran around him in a streak of yellow energy attacking and dodging the monster's attempts to attack him then when jumped and flipped back a few feet and landed in a defensive stance and whipped out a The Moon scroll from one of his pouches on his back and casted the scroll on the moster instantly putting the monster into a deep slumber. Then walked up to the monster and inspected it.

"Hhhhmmmmm... This creature is unlike any I've seen in The World. Must be original to this event or their using this as a testing ground for it before they release it with the next upgrade." Notices the monster stirring then nods, takes a few screen shots of the creature at different angles, and takes out an elemental scroll bearing the Thunder symbol and casted it speaking loudly "Plasma Gale!" The monster evaporated in a storm of blue lightning as the scroll destroyed it, unlocking the doors to the room, and turned to a damaged Haru. "You okay kid?"

He walks over to her and casts Repth healing her back to full health and opens the Group Chat and informs Silver and Thanatos that her and him are returning to the party. And the duo of Twin Blades walk out of the room through the door that brings them to the party the fastest.

"Kid? I'm no newbie. I'd prefer if you didn't use that term while talking to me, no matter how endearing it is." Haru was mad. Not only had Mjollnir had to save her, but he also did it without her help. She was a better player than that!

"Fine, fine." Mjollnir was smiling. "But you need to stop relying on other people so much."

"I don't rely on them. It was just a stronger monster than I'm used to. It's been a while" Haru said indignantly.

They reached the rest of the party and looked around. Everyone seemed to be there.

"Now, if no one else will wander off, can we finish this last monster?" Silver asked. With no one else commenting, the group meandered over to the last large room in their path, expecting something huge.

When they walked in, there wasn't even a portal.

"Now that's what I call anticlimactic. I was expecting something huge" Mjollnir said.

"Yes, I believe we all were" Silver replied in a not-so-nice tone.

"Well, shouldn't there be something?" Haru asked innocently.

"Yes, I believe there should" Silver replied in the same tone.

"There's something here, alright" Thanatos said mysteriously.

"But I can't see anything" Haru protested.

"Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Go ahead, walk to the center of the room." Haru eyed him warily, but complied. She looked all around the room. In the corner was a skeleton, but the rest of the room was bare.

"Nope, definitely nothing. Sorry to--" she was cut off by a loud screech. She looked up in horror as a large bird-like creature descended down upon her. "I hate you Thanatos!" she screamed as she quickly dodged to the side.

The monster was at least half the size of the room. And compared to the other two, this room was quite large. At least 200 meters across, it was square. The ceiling appeared to go on forever.

"Stop looking at the scenery and run!" someone screamed. Snapping back to her senses, Haru jumped back at the last second before the creature's beak plowed into the ground where she had been. She rushed back to the group as the bird attempted to free itself from the ground. Someone cast a sleep spell, but to no effect.

"Keep trying!" Haru encouraged. She turned to Mjollnir as he turned to her. They nodded their heads and rushed in first, Mjollnir casting a special skill as Haru jumped onto its back. She landed as the monster freed itself, and was almost thrown off as it reared its head at Mjollnir. Before he could finish his skill, the tail of the bird hit him and threw him against the wall.

"Lucky shot..." he muttered, but Haru noticed a steep decrease in his health. Still on the monster, she cast a healing spell. "Thanks" was all he said.

"Who's saving who now?" she called down to him.

This post has been edited by sombrero of justice on Feb 10 2006, 02:11 PM

Vir felt a tremor underneath his feet. "Someone's in trouble," he whispered. He looked at all the doors, trying to see if there were dead enemies through each of them. He found the door, and ran, not even saying goodbye to the female.

When he came through the door, he looked again, and charged through that door. He did this many a time before coming to a door which he believed was the final door, as he could see huge bird thing in the other room. Without even thinking, he charged in, blade drawn, straight for the bird.

The bird looked right at him, and Vir had second thoughts. The bird's tail, after smacking someone else to the wall, came straight for him. Vir's instinct kicked in and he dropped to the floor, the tail swishing just over his head. The beak then came, and Vir rolled to the side. Vir took the chance of the bird's head in the ground and thrusted his sword into the bird's head. It quickly pulled it's head back up, and shook the feeling of being stabbed off. Vir quickly scrambled to his feet and backed up against the wall, keeping an eye on the bird.

"Is everyone okay?" he yelled above the commotion.

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Feb 13 2006, 05:14 PM

<Real World>

Alex shook his head and took a sip of his cola. How quickly things seemed to fall apart and become chaotic. He casually closes the strategy guide and tossess it aside, this being an event monster it wouldnt be in this edition yet. Bogus.

Cracking his knuckles he leans forward in his seat, his hands swiftly moving across his ergonomic controls, and a slight smile playing on the corner of his lips. This was the part he liked the most. The adrenaline rush that comes from ripping apart a powerful monster... knowing the precious loot will soon be in his inventory.

<The World>
Silverseraph turns to the newcommer and switches to a public channel to speak with him. "This monster is claimed! Please wait for the respawn." Unsure if the monster even does respawn, he none the less turns his attention back to the group.

"Strengthen my MINIONS!" He shouts as he casts a Physical Strength Buff on First Mjollnir, and then Haru from a pair of scrolls. "Sorry guys, its a preset Macro." He runs along the edge of the battle, just within spell range, but far from physical attack range, getting into position behind the creature.

Thanatos Leaps past the giant bird creature, slashing downwards and damaging it heavily with his scythe. He lands in a crouch behind the bird, putting him in perfect range for Silvers next scroll.

"Defense UP!" he cries as a pale green light engulfs thanatos for a moment and the symbol for Defense up appears as an icon just above his head.

Finally satisfied that he can focus on the enemy he considers an attack. Unsure of which element the creature is truly vulnerable to, he opts instead to use one of his own spells, bestowed to him by the Silver Staff.

"Magic Attack UP" he cries and then immediately searches through his extensive (almost full) inventory. He locates the item he is looking for, a nice little trinket that lowers a monsters resistance to Electrical damage. As he uses it, he shouts to the party.

"Lightning Weak!"

Brandishing the staff in front of him, he watches the rest of the party as they continue their battle fiercely. He prepairs his lightning spell, but doesnt cast it, deciding to wait for a 'cinimatically appropriate' moment.

[The World]

"Jackass!" Vir shouted. "What if you need help?!" Vir's mood turned sour. He needed somthing to kill. Just to spite that other PC, he decided not to leave. "I won't kill it, but I can still help you!"

Vir charged into the bird from behind, trying to see if the other PCs could keep it distracted long enough for Vir to get a nice shot in. He had managed to jump onto it's back and had just enough time to get one stab in before the bird smashed its back against the wall. Vir's HP dropped a lot. "Well that was stupid..."

Vir scanned his inventory, trying to find any healing items. He had found two Health Drinks, but decided to only use one in case he needed the other for later. Vir got up, and started towards the beast. The bird brought his foot down on Vir, but Vir dodge-rolled out of the way. "Ap Corv!" Vir felt stronger, and he used that strength to stab the bird, finding only enough time before a tail was brought down on him. Vir dove to the side, the tail missing him by mere inches. He fell back, formulating a new strategy.

As the newest arrival was thrown off of the monster, Haru was right next to him.

"Ouch..." she muttered to herself. "You gotta be more careful" she said to Vir as she slowly got up and used a health drink. Before he could reply, she was running back into the battle.

As she began to charge at the monster, everything seemed to slow down. 'Lag?' she asked herself. 'No matter. The monster's still got quite a bit of HP left.' She continued to charge right at its head, and it slowly turned to face her. Opening its mouth, she was heading straight for its throat.

"OrmRai Kruz!" Silver's voice screamed slowly as balls of lighting appeared, converging on the bird. After weakening its defense to lightning, that was a critical hit, sending its HP to near zero. The bird roared in agony and lifted its head to the sky. Using her momentum, Haru jumped into the air and drove her blade deep into the beast's neck, finishing it off. As she hopped down from the corpse as it disappeared, she breathed a sigh of relief. A treasure chest was left behind.

"I think that one's going to Silver" Haru laughed. Silver speedily moved to the chest and claimed the item inside.

"So what'd you get?" Mjollnir asked.

"Oh, it's something really good" was all Silver replied.

"That was the last one, right? No more of these large rooms to worry about. So it's the Gott statue next, right? That should be easy." Haru said that with confidence.

"It's still an event" Thanatos said. "Anything could still happen. But there doesn't seem to be any other good fighting arenas."

"Well...what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Haru set off towards the room with the dungeon's treasure with everyone else trailing behind her.

This post has been edited by sombrero of justice on Feb 15 2006, 01:07 PM

[Real Life]

Victor went to go get a soda, making sure his character was well out of the bird's reach. It was pretty exciting, but he still could not get over that one PC that tried to kick him out of the fight. He returned to the computer, finding the bird dead and the treasure claimed.

[The World]

Vir switched to a private channel and started laughing. He could not understand that PC. Must've been scared that Vir would've claimed the treasure, but Vir never thought of it. He quickly followed behind the female, curious as to what could be in the treasure.

[Real Life]

"AH!!! What the hell kind of monster is this thing?!??"

Sam almost fell out of his seat backwards in shock at how easily his avatar had been hit by the boss creature and bit his tounge hard making it bleed but didn't really care because now he was in the zone. He quickly thumbed through the guide looking for the creature as he manuvered his avatar around the perimeter of the monster but did not suceed in finding any information on it with his FMD half off.

"Okay... Must be another monster being tested for the next upgrade. Here I go!"

And with that he flipped his FMD down and dove his avatar back into the battle.

[The World]

"Lucky shot..." Mjollnir mumbled as he slumped against the wall after the massive blow and sat up wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth then stood up shaky and proceeded around the peremiter of the monster's attack area as Silver casted the Physical Strength Buff, on First Mjollnir and then Haru, shouting "Strengthen my MINIONS!"

Chuckeling at what he had said and proceeded into the corner of the room and replenished his health with a Healing Elixer then used a few Mage's Souls to replenish his SP as well and charged back into battle yelling "MeRai Rom!!"

Sent a large bolt along with a few smaller bolts of lightning down upon the creature damaging it insignifigantly then jumped and flipped back a few feet avoiding another almost being hit by a critical damaging strike and casted a Speed Scroll on himself and proceeded to dash and attack the monster/creature in hit and run attack patterns using Thunder Dance every other attack dwindling away at the it's health then went back to the perimeter of the battle as soon as the scroll lost its effect and casted another lightning spell shouting "GiRai Don!!!".

Sending many large bright yellow lightning bolts crashing down upon the monster as Silver yelled "OrmRai Kruz!".

He retreated to the edge of the room quickly replenished what little health he had left then charged back into the fray just as Haru jumped, he struck the final blow and slashed at the monsters side with both blades dealing damage as well at that same moment. Then the monster colapsed in a giant THUD and dissolved into nothingness leaving behind a single boobytrapped chest which Silver claimed.

"I think that one's going to Silver" Haru laughed. Silver speedily moved to the chest and claimed the item inside.

"So what'd you get?" Mjollnir asked.

"Oh, it's something really good" was all Silver replied

Mjollinir smirked at that and nodded muttering to himself. "I haven't even gotten any "real" treasure today Mabey I'll get whats in the Gott room instead of the noob"

As the party exited the room and Haru went babbling on and ran ahead of the party. Then he noticed Vir and narrowed his eyes recognizing him. "Him..."

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Feb 18 2006, 07:38 PM

[Reality]

Katsuki's hands trembled in anger, gripping the game controller ferociously. She held herself back from just logging off right then and there and chucking the controller at the wall. Renai, her avatar, simply stood there staring straight ahead, as her source of consciousness had left her.

"I don't believe this. That asshole just ran off! Why the hell have I been allowing myself to trust males in this game anyway?!"

She wanted to scream, and she knew no one would hear her, as the walls in her room were specially made to block out the neverending chaos of Japanese citylife outside her window.

A salted tear slid down her cheek, onto her parted lips, past her clenched teeth.

"Guys are all self-seeking jerks even in this stupid game...!"


[The World - Testaments Unholy Scripture (Safe Zone)]

Renai's default icy countenance remained as she took out a Sprite Ocarina from her inventory, preparing to play it.

"Esotas...bringing me into this world was a grave mistake. I have been verbally molested, harassed, and played for a fool by someone who cannot even give a believable reason for leaving after striking up a conversation with a woman. All of them by male Players. Looks like I will do much more than expected to have all men fear me. I will never be underestimated by another male again..."

A vile grin formed upon her pink lips as Renai played the ocarina and was immediately encapsulated in the triple rings of teleportation. While in transit back to Mac Anu, her thoughts began to quickly deduce the next best plan of action in her rise to greatness as the most noteworthy female Player who has ever logged into The World.

This post has been edited by Renai on Feb 20 2006, 09:15 PM

Delta Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground

Ludicrous stepped cautiously into the south doorway of the as yet unexplored room. He could see the walls opening up on both sides to create a much larger space than usual in this stone dungeon, and the faint glow of a portal emanated from far across the expanse. Ludicrous couldn't see the other two portals which his map had promised would be in this room from the doorway, so he guessed they must be straddling the south wall, and out of his current line of sight. That stunk of a trap.

Ludicrous had been hoping that he'd be able to face the monsters from each of the three portals individually, but it was beginning to look like at least two of the portals were going to activate the moment he entered the room. That would make things far more difficult. After a moments thought, he conceded to himself that with three portals in this room, hand-to-hand combat, as much as any good Wave Master tried to avoid it, would probably be inevitable. Preparations were in order. He pulled out a couple of sutras and quickly casted them over himself.

"Rig Saem!" - A green aura enveloped Ludicrous; that would cause his HP to slowly regenerate during the battle.

"Ap Do!" - Ludicrous could feel the speed charm's energy washing over his limbs. He'd need the extra speed if he were going to match physical monsters in close combat.

"Ap Vorv!" - This sutra was normally used to increase one's physical defense, but Ludicrous combined the defensive power of the sutra with his own magics to create a shield of magical energy around him. This would take even more of an edge off incoming physical attacks, and could even deflect very weak attacks.

Ludicrous then shifted his staff from a caster stance to a more physical stance, holding it horizontal with both hands like a quarter staff. The bonus it gave to spells would probably be outweighed by its ability to parry attacks here, and he could still use his hands to cast. Besides, he was probably going to be relying more on an arcane form of magic designed for Wave Masters in close combat, which used telekinetic power to knock enemies away and parry attacks, and this required finger dexterity.

Ludicrous stepped through the doorway, and immediately the door slammed and locked behind him, followed by a similar slamming sound coming from the east doorway. So it was a trap. He could now verify that the other two portals were to his left and right, and all three were convulsing, triggered by him entering the room. Great, his worst case scenario; he'd have to remember to tip his hat to Murphy. The sounds of portals activating abruptly ceased, and Ludicrous quickly took stock of his enemies.

The portal in front of him spewed forth three Goblins, fast physical attackers that could come with a variety of weapons; in this case, two of them had swords while the third was decked out like a twin blade. Each of the remaining two portals had begotten a single Goblin and a Mushroom King. Goblins were generally pretty weak, but dealing with five of them (two with swords, one with dual knives, one with an axe, and one with a scythe) would be a challenge. Plus, Mushroom King's were one of the few monsters in the game with the ability to use healing spells, which meant Ludicrous would have to take them out of commission first if he wanted to get anything done.

Ludicrous fished back into his pouch, whipping out two of his rarer sutras, one in each hand, and pointing them at the Mushroom Kings. “Tarot of the Lovers!” That would turn each of them to his side for a brief period of time, and he watched in satisfaction as each of the Mushroom Kings turned their attention away from Ludicrous and began to attack the Goblin they had spawned with, and each Goblin promptly began to counterattack. Hopefully, the Goblins would kill the Mushroom Kings, and he wouldn’t have to deal with them healing everybody, but even if the Mushroom Kings won out, they’d still be weak and easy kills.

Ludicrous turned his attention to the three Goblins with blades, who were now barreling down on him from straight ahead. He’d need to finish them off quickly before all the bonuses he casted on himself wore off. Using the boost of energy from the speed charm, Ludicrous dashed forward to meet the Goblins' attack. Both of the ones with swords tried to execute a downward slash at the same time. Ludicrous smiled at the AI's incompetence as he easily blocked their strikes with his staff, but then he glanced upward and noticed with surprise that the third Goblin was airborne, and bearing down at his face with his right dagger in a stabbing position. Ludicrous barely managed to get his head out of the way of the attack, desperately dodging left as the Goblin's blade flew by the spot he had just been standing, but the Goblin quickly recovered, landing gracefully and expertly bringing his other blade around to stab at Ludicrous's midsection. As the blade penetrated the defensive shield around Ludicrous body, it slowed some and the direction of its attack was diverted slightly left, leaving Ludicrous with a serious gash along the right side of his body rather then a hole through his stomach. The wound began to glow green, and Ludicrous could already feel his regeneration spell slowly recovering his HP.

The slight deflection of its attack left the dagger-wielding Goblin off balance, and Ludicrous took advantage of the opportunity to slam the butt of his staff into the goblin's center of mass. He had imbued the staff's attack with telekinetic force, and the goblin went flying through air until he crashed into the south door with a thud and fell to the ground, his daggers clattering on the floor beside him. The sword-wielding Goblins attempted to resume their attack, but Ludicrous quickly unleashed a whirlwind of force from his hands, and they both rocketed away from him, flying into the north-east and north-west corners. Ludicrous particularly liked this branch of magic. It didn't actually damage the monster, only the Goblin who had been struck with the staff was minorly hurt, but it consumed relatively little spiritual energy, was easy to cast, and was perfect for freeing up some space for more intricate spell-work.

Ludicrous quickly checked on the status of both Mushroom Kings, and found them to still be dueling with their respective Goblins in the south-east and south-west corner. The Lovers spell hadn't worn off yet, and it appeared the Mushroom Kings were going to win. While they were under the influence of Lovers, they couldn't cast spells, so Ludicrous would have to make sure to kill them before they regained the ability to cast La Repth, or any damage already dished out could go to waste. Ludicrous focused back on the Goblins, the stun effect of the telekinesis was beginning to wear off, and he wanted to get a good hit on at least one before they were back on their feet and attacking again. Hastily, he began patching together the necessary patterns for two different spells, using his staff as a proper caster weapon now, trying to build up as much power as possible before the Goblins got up. Ludicrous could sense the Goblins stirring, so he satisfied himself with what threads he had managed to assemble in the time he had, and pointed his staff at the Goblin in the north-east corner: "Gan Don!"

The Goblin in the north-east corner had just regained its senses after being tossed against the wall like a rag-doll, and it was ready for revenge. It stretched out its right arm to grasp the hilt of its sword, and was just preparing to get up when it heard the voice screaming, "Gan Don!" The Goblin suddenly forgot all about getting up, it was now more occupied with lying on its back staring in terror as the realization that the ceiling was coming toward it, fast, dawned. The creature let out a cry as a pillar of stone coming down from the ceiling slammed into the elbow of his extending right arm, forcing him to drop the weapon. Another pillar fell hard on his left arm, and then one two more fell on each leg, pinning him solidly to the ground. The Goblin struggled against the weight of the stone, but it was no use, and then suddenly the Wave Master with the blue hat was standing over him. The Goblin heard the words, "Rai Kruz," and saw the head of the staff flash bright yellow, and then he saw and heard no more.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Feb 21 2006, 06:37 PM

"I heard that n00b comment!" Haru shouted back to Mjollnir.

"Sorry" he muttered.

"Don't say it unless you mean it." She stopped and turned around. "But if I need to shut you up, I'm perfectly capable of doing it. So lay off."

"Ooh, the girlie's got an attitude" Silver laughed aloud. "I think she likes you, Mjollnir."

"In your dreams, kid." Haru laughed back.

"Who are you calling a kid? Practically everyone in here's been in the game longer than you!" Mjollnir retorted.

"Now how do you know that?" she asked. Before anyone else could say anything, they had reached the Gott statue. "Well, that went off without a hitch." Just as she said that, the door closed behind them. "Okay, will this event ever end?!"

The Gott statue rose up and pulled out four swords, one for each arm. It's eagle head let out a shrill cry.

"One more enemy, then. I'll support, you guys go in and attack. After I've done all I can, I'll help, too." Silver was ordering the party, and surprisingly they all obeyed. Mjollnir and Haru rushed in together, splitting apart as a heavy stone sword hit where they had been running. Rushing around to the back of the monster, the two jumped up and slashed in unison. As their blades bounced off of the hard stone skin, so did the fighters.

"He's physical tolerant! It's up to you, Silver!" Thanatos noticed. He pulled out a scroll containing a spell that lowers physical defense. As he finished muttering the words, the words "Missed" appeared above the statue's head. "That's all I got! Someone try it again! I'll protect Silver!"

Haru looked through her spells and found nothing. Then she checked her equipment. 'There! she thought to herself. 'That's the spell I need!' She equipped the weaker armor, and used the spell. "Dek Vorv!" she screamed as it hit. The monster's immunity to physical attacks wore off. "Now! Get it!" Haru yelled as she led the charge. Mjollnir, Thanatos, and Haru all used their skills at the same time, while Silver unleashed a high-level wood-element spell.

With everyone doing something all at once, the server began to lag. Even those in the root town noticed their games slowing, if only for a moment. Posts were all over the Board, but that concerned none of the fighters. Even as the monster fell, everyone's screen turned to white.

When it all seemed to clear, the party was in a room which was mostly white. There were no walls, and the nothingness continued in all directions seemingly into infinity. There was only one place that broke the solid color. Right in front of them was a piece of a bedroom. A crib was laying on the floor, broken. A bear sat on the ground with no eyes and its fluffing coming out. But in the center of the floor was a bed, untouched.

As the group looked on, Haru stepped forward to examine it all a little more closely. When she approached the bed, a girl materialized above the bed and hovered above it.

"A...Au....Aura?!" Haru stammered in shock.

"You are the one. You are the player I have been searching for." Aura began in her heavenly tones. She stared at Haru with those piercing eyes of blue.

'But what is she doing in a scheduled event?! She's an enemy of the CC Corp!' Haru couldn't speak, but she could still think. 'Unless...no, not even she could plant the clues in the show. So she must have come here after it was scheduled.'

"Chosen one?" Silver spoke up. "Haru? Why not one of us instead? I have many resources and others have more skill. Why her?"

"She is the chosen one. She is the only one who can accomplish the tasks ahead. But she cannot do it alone. You all must help." Aura replied, and no one else spoke. She turned back to Haru. "The World will soon descend into chaos. You are the only one who can save it. Will you do it?"


[Real World]

Elias couldn't believe it! The 'chosen one'?! How was he special? But when posed with the question of whether he would do it or not, he immediately knew the answer.


[The World]

"I will. I'll do whatever I must to protect this place. It is my home as well as yours. All of us" she motioned towards the group "will help." Haru answered confidently, though she did not know where it came from. Around the shining girl she was humbled, but felt powerful.

"Good. Now go, I will contact you when you are needed."

"Wait! Is it The Wave again?" Haru asked. "I thought the dot hackers destroyed it. How could it be back again?"

"No....it is something entirely different. Worse than anything else The World has ever seen. The Dragon has awakened." was what the girl said. And with that, the room disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

[Real Life]

Victor slammed his fist down on his desk. "Stupid lag..." he mumbled. Soon, Victor's screen went blank. Victor growled, reaching for the "Reset" button on his computer, but then, then blankness was replaced by a little girl's room. Victor stopped as his character appeared in the room.

[The World]

Vir smiled. An adventure, eh? he thought. Things could get interesting. "But I agree with Silver," Vir said, hearing the others call him that. "Why her?"

By the time that got out, the room had disappeared. "'The Dragon'? Anyone ever hear of a dragon?" The World is too accessible by outside people. You would think that CC Corp would've done something about it last time...

Vir suddenly remembered. "The Gott Statue! How are we going to get back to it?"

Delta Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground

The pillars of stone quickly retracted back into the ceiling, no longer under the influence of Ludicrous's spell. "Well, that's one Goblin reduced to electrified ashes," thought Ludicrous, as he took stock of the remaining monsters.

Ludicrous was standing in the north-east corner of the room where he had just defeated the first of five Goblins. To his left, in the south-east corner, a Mushroom King under the influence of The Lovers was fighting an axe-wielding Goblin. The Lovers spell would wear off soon, but the Goblin didn't have much HP left.

Across from Ludicrous in the south-west corner, the second Mushroom King was being double teamed by the Goblin with the scythe and the one with the daggers; it looked like that Mushroom King would be slain before the spell wore off.

Then Ludicrous looked right, toward the north-west corner, expecting to find the other sword-wielder, but he couldn't see to the corner because the Goblin with the sword was blocking his view...

...the sword, extended in a stabbing position, impacted Ludicrous's shield way to fast to be countered. Ludicrous could sense the spiritual threads composing the barrier strain under the attack and then rip apart, as the physical manifestation of the shield fell like shattered glass around him. The sword wasn't even slowed; the blade was only inches from Ludicrous's heart now.

Ludicrous was in a panic, he needed to stop this attack NOW or all his work in this dungeon would go to waste. Ludicrous mustered all of the telekinetic power he could manage into his hands and thrust it at the blade, simultaneous trying to slow it down and divert it's attack out and away from his vital points. He entered a sort of tug-of-war, the Goblin was pushing the blade with all his might towards Ludicrous, who was managing to just barely hold it in place with a continual stream of force from his hands. It was a contest of physical versus magical strength, whoever gave in first would get nailed by his opponent.

After only two seconds, Ludicrous was straining to maintain the flow of energy through his body. Telekinesis was meant to be used in short bursts, and sustaining the spell like this was an enormous drain on him, yet he could see the Goblin's arms wavering against the force, so he held out hope that he would win. A second later, the struggle had been going on three seconds longer than anyone would have considered feasible, and something had to give. The Goblin's blade was actually starting to bend under the massive forces, and Ludicrous felt certain victory was at hand. He searched his entire being, looking for even the smallest scrap of magical energy he could use for a coup de grace and break the monster’s blade. Ludicrous was now ready to end it--

************************************************************

--this time it was far worse. Static tore across his vision in bursts so thick that he could barely see, let alone maintain the immense concentration needed for sustained telekinesis. White noise screamed inside his ears; the sound was so deafening that he actually cried out despite himself and clutched his head in pain. All six of his senses were throbbing from the overload; Ludicrous could even spiritually sense pain, something he hadn’t believed possible before. His mind was on fire, screaming for the pain to end, and then suddenly, without warning, it did.

Later, not even Ludicrous himself would be able to describe the experience of being without senses--not being able to see, smell, hear, touch, taste, or sense anything. It wasn’t darkness, because that required eyes, and it wasn’t silence either, because that required ears. It was nothing, and yet it wasn’t, because nothing as we think of it is something that can be sensed. It was more like… thought. Yes, that was really the best description for it. Stripped of his senses, all that remained was conscious thought, a string of logic devoid of any input or output. It was an instant of eternity, or perhaps an eternal instant, for without an environment, time held no meaning. It was bliss.

The Goblin stumbled forward as all resistance to the forward motion of its blade abruptly ended. Unable to maintain its balance, the Goblin’s attack veered off course, its blade slicing across Ludicrous’s left shoulder as the Goblin fell forward. The sword slipped from the Goblin’s hands, and came down tip first upon the stone of the floor. This final stress was just to much for the poor blade, as cracks spider webbed through the steel where it had already been weakened by the battle. With one final sound of metal on stone, the weapon shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Meanwhile, inside Ludicrous’s left shoulder, his newly severed axillary nerve was adamant to tell someone about the immense pain it was in. An electric charge was sent out with a message for the brain, and as it zipped along the spinal cord, it may or may not have noticed the surprising lack of activity inside Ludicrous’s nervous system, but it certainly didn’t let this stop it.

… … …
… … …
… … …
… … PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!

Ludicrous screamed in pain as he toppled to the floor, gripping his shoulder. After an initial moment of disbelief, he realized that he couldn’t move his left arm. In a rage, he rolled himself over to face his now harmless enemy, the Goblin backing away in fear. Unable to even begin the necessary focus for a spell, Ludicrous shoved his right hand into his pouch and grabbed the first tarot he could find that felt strong enough, glancing at the paper only long enough to read the incantation: “GiVak Zot!” The very floor the Goblin was standing on erupted into flames taller than the creature’s head, burning the Goblin to a crisp.

Ludicrous satisfied his rage with the Goblin’s cremation, finally managing to calm down and focus on healing his wounds. He wouldn’t have much longer till The Lovers wore off, and his left arm was in bad shape, he‘d need time to heal it to a useable state. And, in the back of his mind, doubt was gnawing at him. What happened back there--that couldn’t have been just a bad connection. What could cause the server to foul up like that? Is The World under attack?? He couldn’t be sure, but he was going to be extra-careful while he was still in this dungeon. At the first sign of trouble, he was ready to pull the plug on his internet connection, no questions asked.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Feb 28 2006, 02:23 PM

{The World}

Slowly, 'The World' rematerialized around the party, and they found themselves back in Mac Anu. 'So, evidently the data bug and the monster appearing in the root town weren't just coincidences,' thought Thanatos as his vision of 'The World' returned. 'It looks like things are about to get interesting...' Suddenly, his ears were assaulted by alerts from his computer.

[Real World]

Adam took off his neurogoggles and checked to see what his computer was so upset about. "So, I guess our battle caused some problems," he said, noticing all the system messages and message board posts from people who had experienced server glitches. "Still, there was something not quite right about those monsters, event or otherwise, and since when have Gott statues come to life. I better check and see if any of my contacts have heard anything..." Quickly, Adam sent out a flurry of e-mails and returned to 'The World'

{The World}

"The Gott Statue! How are we going to get back to it?" asked the unknown heavy blade.

"Well, you could always go back there yourself," replied Thanatos, turning to face SilverSeraph. "I must admit, Silver, that was the most fun I've had in a while, call me again some time. As for you," he said, now facing Haru, "it seems that often the least prepared is the most worthy...and judging by what Aura just told us, it looks like things around here are about to get much more intense. Regardless, here's my member address. If you ever need help, don't be afraid to call."

"Anyway, I'm going to go back and check out some questions I still have about that dungeon. Something tells me I'll be seeing you all again very soon," he said as he walked to the Chaos Gate and the triple rings engulfed him.

[Real World]
"Aw COME ON! Stupid game, work!" Jordan yelled at the thing, knowing it wasn't really helping. So, to calm his nerves, he ended up getting up from his chair, and went to get some coffee. As he came back, The World was working again, after its strange disconnection while he was going to that keyword. "Finally! I just hope that Twinblade girl isn't mad at me."

Jordan cracked his knuckles, and opened up The World, then began logging in.

<ENTER NAME>
Username: Sange
Password: ********
<WELCOME TO THE WORLD>

[The World, Mac Anu]

Sange walked around, grumbling angrily. "I can't believe all my data got wiped... all that treasure and exp too!" he moaned. That was his luck, as he went to the shop to re-stock on what he needed again, health items. Once he finished up, he made his way back to the gate, and decided to wait for a little while. "Can't expect she'll be there, but I might as well send a message to her to see if she's alright or something."

So, Sange sent a message to Renai, saying: "Sorry I ditched you, the game for some reason kicked me off. You alright?" He just decided to be as brief as possible with it, already feeling angry enough with what happened, so he decided to go to a weak place to vent some anger, because to him, smacking down weakling goblins was always a good way to vent anger. Not to mention mass genocide.

The World

Renai use of the Sprite Ocarina redigitized her to the field outside of Mac Anu, where she immediately reentered Mac Anu. She had begun heading towards the nearest item shop to stock up on more recovery items that she would need for her own quests through The World. As usual, a few stray eyes caught sight of her petite figure strolling the streets, but it was nothing that couldn't be ignored...for a time. She was fortunate to have some reserve GP for a few choice purchases based on the similar descriptions of the items she already owned.

1 Healing Elixer
3 Healing Potions
3 Fairy Orbs
2 Sprite Ocarinas
1 Mage Soul (BEEP! BEEP! E-MAIL RECEIVED!)

"Hmm? What the hell was that? E-mail? Whatever. It can wait."

2 Knights Blood
2 Fortune Wires
1 Antidote

"These could definitely be useful..."

2 Hunter's Blood
1 Warrior's Blood

"Think that's all I'll need for some soloing. Spent more than I planned on, but still left with 5500 GP."

Renai confirmed her business with the NPC, and received an automated thank you response from the female shop owner. The female voice almost caused her to actually reply, but then she remembered the obvious. She found a chance to chuckle at her own foolishness, as she scanned over her inventory one last time.

"Looking good, Renai," she smirked to herself, as she then unsheathed her Twin Dragon Daggers to take a look at them with a smile.

"These look really nice. Wonder where Esotas found them and why he gave them to me."

Renai sheathed them back, a conniving grin appearing upon her lips.

"He wanted me to become strong too, I suppose. Either way, I have them, and I'm sure as hell going to use them. Now what is this about someone e-mailing me?"

I [Katsuki] moused-over all the icons in the lower left hand corner for Renai's sake, then clicked the visible notifier that had been on my screen for some time now.

"From Sange," Renai whispered to herself flatly. "Or rather, Asshole #2. I suppose I could get a good chuckle from his excuse."

"Sorry I ditched you, the game for some reason kicked me off. You alright?"

Renai narrowed her eyes, unsure of whether to growl in anger or laugh at his attempt to soften the situation.

"'Am I alright?'," she repeated under her breath. "At least he didn't give me some extensive bullshit and used a good excuse I had considered anyway."

Renai retreated to a less rambunctious area of Mac Anu - the residential area near the bridge. With my aid, she set up to reply to the e-mail Sange had so humbly written.

Fuck...why am I replying? I said I would go on my own from here on out. Hmm...kamo ne. Let's see how much I can twist this in my favor.

Reply To: Sange
From: Renai

-- So your shitty computer let you down, eh? I figured it was something like that. Anyway, because you asked, I'll tell you. I am not "alright." I am fuckin' pissed and in the mood to kill things, including dickhead PCs. --

-- With that in thought, come to Mac Anu's Residential Area, apologize to my face as a man, tell me some decent Keywords that are good for a Twin Blade my level to power-level, and maybe I'll change my oh-so-beautiful impression of you. I do not think that requires too much of you. --

-- Renai --

E-mail Msg SENT.

Sange recieved the message, and [Jordan] gulped. He hadn't thought this through very well, but nontheless, he'd meet her at the residential area. . Then again, he wasn't so sure he wanted to change his falty "oh-so-beautiful impression" of himself.

"But... if I don't, I'm already skating on thin ice," he muttered to himself.

So, he decided to send a message back.

To: Renai
From: Sange

--Alright, I get your point. You're pissed. I'll meet you at the residential area, and it won't be long. I'm already in Mac Anu.--

E-MAIL MESSAGE SENT

Sange picked his sword up from the ground and slid it into the strangely shaped scabbard, then left for the residential area, but no keywords came to mind. However, Sange does know of maybe a few that could possibly work.

[The World]

"You can go back yourself," suggested one of the party members.

"Never mind, though there is something I need to do..." Vir said, approaching a Chaos Gate. Let's hope she's still there... [Victor] typed in the keyword. Vir immediately was transported to the dungeon.

"Argh!" Vir growled. The girl was no where in sight. She couldn't have gone into the dungeon because she seemed too low a level to get anywhere... Vir sighed, trying to think of all the places she could've gone to. She had enough time to get out of here...Being a low-level, she might've gone to Mac Anu, but finding her there would be slim... Vir decided to try it anyway.

He went to Mac Anu, materializing in front of a Chaos Gate. He went to every place he could think of, asking around if they had seen her. No luck. He went to the stores, deciding that he needed his Health Drinks back from when he used them against the bird. He went to the shop, buying three drinks and went back on his search. He noticed a couple guys all staring in one direction. Could it be? Nah. Too much of a coincidence. Vir decided to look. Vir couldn't believe it. There she was. Vir started to approach her, and the other guys started to approach her also. Vir noticed this and turned. "Guys, I'm not going to hit on her. I'm not going to try to 'steal' her, so back off. I have to apologize." The others backed off, and Vir turned. She was gone.

"****!" Vir swore, but the language censor caught it.

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Mar 6 2006, 09:57 AM

Delta Expansive Talisman Fertile Land

The appearance of the treasure room was still awe-inspiring, despite this being not nearly the first time Ludicrous had reached a dungeon's Gott Statue.

Ludicrous was standing just inside the door, the treasure chest stood only a few front of him, poised on a raised pedestal at waist level. The pedestal was lavishly embellished with gold trim, but it was outshone by the brilliance of the golden treasure chest. Yet behind both of them was the piece de resistance. Just past the pedestal, the small room opened up into a much larger area with a high, sloping ceiling. Suspended in the air there was an enormous stone statue depicting an eagle in flight; a single rotating yellow ring, a larger version of the three rings which teleported people between areas, was keeping it aloft. It was the Gott Statue.

All dungeons possessed a Gott Statue room shaped like this on their bottom floor, with an extravagantly decorated treasure chest and a giant statue hovering behind it. There were a number of different possible statues, but there were far more possible areas, so it didn't take long before you would start to see the same Gott Statues again and again, but the view was always astounding.

Ludicrous stepped forward, glad to be finally finished with this dungeon. He had selected it because it was relatively low level, and he couldn't deny that it had given decent experience--the fact that he'd reached level 10 assured him of the dungeons excellent experience to difficulty ratio. And yet, the dungeon had been surprisingly difficult, and the server glitches hadn't helped any. He was annoyingly reminded of this by a twinge of pain in his left shoulder; he had managed to heal it back to a useable state, but a normal state was beyond his abilities. He'd have to get a healer to properly fix some of the more delicate nerves and muscles once he was back in town. Man, he was ready to go ballistic if he found out all that lag was just someone at CC Corp doing something stupid with Delta server, which was the usual culprit of glitches like this. Then again, it's not like anyone on the boards would really care, but it would make him feel better.

Oh well. He tapped the treasure chest with the head of his staff, and the latch clicked open. A glint of silver amongst the gold betrayed the treasure chest's contents before Ludicrous even had a chance to get a good look inside. He reached into the chest with his right hand, pulling out what was in essence nothing more than a piece of jewelry. It was a small scarab made of pure silver, appropriately named a Silver Scarab. Unforunately, it didn't do anything, but it was worth a good bit of money at some of the shops back in town, and Ludicrous needed the gold.

Of course, the instant he'd removed the treasure from its chest, the yellow ring around the statue of the eagle had disintegrated, but this wasn't really unexpected. Defying intuition, the statue fell unevenly, rotating as it neared the ground. The left wing struck the floor first, and with a loud crack broke off from the eagle's body, as the rest of statue ungracefully contacted the stone. Ludicrous wasn't exactly sure what had prompted the decision to include a statue that fell and broke in this way in every dungeon's treasure room. It was probably symbolic or something, but after a while it just became pretty mundane. However, it was downright scary your first time; Ludicrous remembered how he'd thought the dungeon was collapsing or that the statue was going to roll after him when he'd first plundered a dungeon, and he'd warped out as fast as he could. Now he just enjoyed the vision of destruction.

With one last look at the now broken statue, it's left wing lying askew beside its body (this little irony gave Ludicrous a chuckle), Ludicrous pulled a Sprite Ocarina from his pouch and blew a series of notes on it. The instrument vanished from his hands just as the three golden rings materialized around him, whisking him away from the dungeon.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Mar 6 2006, 08:31 PM

[The World]
"I heard that n00b comment!" Haru shouted back to Mjollnir.

"Sorry" he muttered.

"Don't say it unless you mean it." She stopped and turned around. "But if I need to shut you up, I'm perfectly capable of doing it. So lay off."

"Ooh, the girlie's got an attitude" Silver laughed aloud. "I think she likes you, Mjollnir."

"In your dreams, kid." Haru laughed back.

"Who are you calling a kid? Practically everyone in here's been in the game longer than you!" Mjollnir retorted.

"Now how do you know that?" she asked. Before anyone else could say anything, they had reached the Gott statue. "Well, that went off without a hitch." Just as she said that, the door closed behind them. "Okay, will this event ever end?!"

The Gott statue rose up and pulled out four swords, one for each arm. It's eagle head let out a shrill cry.

"One more enemy, then. I'll support, you guys go in and attack. After I've done all I can, I'll help, too." Silver was ordering the party, and surprisingly they all obeyed. Mjollnir and Haru rushed in together, splitting apart as a heavy stone sword hit where they had been running. Rushing around to the back of the monster, Mjollnir jumped up and slashed in unison at the Gott monster with Haru. As their blades bounced off of the hard stone skin, so did the fighters.

"He's physical tolerant! It's up to you, Silver!" Thanatos noticed.

"Geez!!! Ya think?!??!?" Mjollnir retorted irritated that his assualt on the obtuse monster.

Mjollnir ran around and kept the monster off of any of the rest of the party as they tried to remidy the situation. He did some hit and run attacks while being enhanced with the Speed Scroll. Then he heard Haru cast the Dek Vorv spell and watched with a wide grin as its magic physical buff disolved. Then attacked with his most powerfull physical and eletrical element attack screaming it at the top of his lungs.

"Now! Get it!" Haru yelled as she led the charge. Mjollnir, Thanatos, and Haru all used their skills at the same time, while Silver unleashed a high-level wood-element spell.

With everyone doing something all at once, the server began to lag. Even those in the root town noticed their games slowing, if only for a moment. Posts were all over the Board, but that concerned none of the fighters. Even as the monster fell, everyone's screen turned to white.

When it all seemed to clear, the party was in a room which was mostly white. There were no walls, and the nothingness continued in all directions seemingly into infinity. There was only one place that broke the solid color. Right in front of them was a piece of a bedroom. A crib was laying on the floor, broken. A bear sat on the ground with no eyes and its fluffing coming out. But in the center of the floor was a bed, untouched.

[Real World]

"Ah!!! What the hell again?!?!?!?!?" Sam shouted as he was temporarily blinded by the FMD putting his hands over his eyes. He then rubbed them back into focus and readjusted his FMD onto his head correctly.

[The World]

Mjollnir stared at the room as he came out of his state of shock and tilted his head to the side in amazement at the sight before him. What the...?" He looked to Silver then to Thanatos with a quetioning look almost like they had. "...?"

Almost immediately the new player Haru started to step foward and inspect the room. As she did a white-haired girl with vacant blue eyes and a white flowing dress materialized in the middle of the air above everyone. She gave her speach. Mjollnir was shocked as was everyone else that he or some other experienced player wasnt selected by her to save The World from the new threat that seemed to be awakening. Then he found himself back in Mac Anu wondering if he should participate in this brand spanking new adventure. 'Sure!!! Why not?! It will make for good history to the world. Plus it could get me more items and armor for my inventory back at my pad!' he thought to himself. He looked around the area and spotted Haru and some of the others. "Hey!!! I'll join you... But its under one condition..." he said grinning.

<OOC: Sombrero IM me or PM me on what the condition should be.>

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Mar 6 2006, 08:09 PM

[The World]

"Hey!!! I'll join you... But its under one condition..." Mjollnir said, grinning. "You give me all the rare items you find."

"What?!" Haru stepped back in astonishment. "Are you insane?"

"Alright then, since my level's a little higher than yours, I'll help you level up. How about that?"

"Who says I have to let you help me?" she asked turning away from him. "Who says I even need your help?"

"I'll bet some of those monsters in the dungeon have something to say" he replied with a snicker.

"Hmph. Fine." She reached out her hand. "I'll let you help me. But only while I say so. So if you cross me, you're gone."

Mjollnir extended his hand and they shook. "Fine. I guess that's fine" he said reluctantly.

"As for the rest of you" she turned around to face the others that were left, "you guys are helping me too, right?"

"Of course" Silver replied. "Saving The World has bound to have some good items in it. But" he said with a smirk, "you might have to give me a few rare items, too."

"But I just promised all of them to him!" Haru said, almost shouting in frustration.

"We'll work things out..." Silver said mysteriously.

"Fine! Whatever!" Haru replied. "I'm gonna go now. There's not much I can do until Aura gives me some more information, so I'm going to rest up. I'm sure I'm gonna need the energy."


[BBS Board]

Subject: Aura

Poster: Haru


I've seen her! She's back! I was just in contact with her! She said that the Dragon has awakened. If anyone has any information about it, or has had an encounter themselves, please contact me.


[Real World]

Elias pulled off his headset. He was overwhelmed by all of it. As he looked at the clock, he groaned in agony. It had already been a good two hours.

He heard a knock at his door. When he opened it, he saw his friend.

"Hey, we're going out. We heard about a great party, wanna come?"

"Not tonight" he replied slowly. "I'm tired."

"From a video game?! Geez, you really are a loser."

"Shut up" Elias said as he halfheartedly punched in the direction of his friend.

"Oh well, your loss." He closed the door and sat back in front of his computer.

Maybe his friend was right. He had been spending a lot of time lately in The World. His grades were starting to show signs of too many late nights not spent on homework. Maybe he should get his head out of the game and back into his life. He picked up his coat as he rushed out the door.

The computer was left on. A message appeared on his screen signifying new mail.

Delta Server: Mac Anu

As Ludicrous's consciousness regained form in front of the Mac Anu chaos gate, he'd planned to immeadiately log out and check the boards and net to figure out what had just gone on back in that dungeon, but his eyes were confronted with another surprise.

Halfway through the process of logging out, he noticed that there was a group of significantly high-level players in just a little ways down the path. It wasn't all that unusual for high-level players to be in the beginner server, often to help newbies or just take out aggression on much weaker monsters, but Ludicrous figured they might know more about the incident than he did.

As he casually walked in their direction, he could begin to make out their mouths moving, yet there wasn't any associated sound, which meant they must be using Party Chat. As Ludicrous was considering how best to get their attention, suddenly the twin blade with goggles said something which seemed to anger the other twin blade with the blue hat. He could tell by the change in the movements of their mouths that the second twin blade's voice was being raised. The Wave Master with the black robe seemed to join in to, as their stances changed from that of a friendly conversation to something more of an interrogation. Without warning, the interrogatee logged out.

Well, that's just great. He'd probably get less out of them now if they were in a bad mood. Oh well, it didn't really matter that much to him, but he felt like he at least ought to try. Now that he was moderately close to them, he could see their names. The Wave Master was named SilverSeraph, and his character didn't look all that inviting. The other Twin Blade, however, was named Mjollnir, and Ludicrous could have sworn he'd heard that name on the net, or mabe the boards, somewhere before. He opened up the console:

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Mar 11 2006, 08:08 AM

<THE WORLD>

Silver watched the entire exchange. He had agreed to join them... although he wasnt quite sure why. Mjollnir had already claimed all the rare items... and that pretty much destroyed any interest Silver had in joining the group.

As Haru took off, Silver turned to Mjollnir and emoted a frustraited expression.

"ALL the rare items?" He asked accusingly. "Hows that fair?"

Mjollnir shrugged with a smirk and turns to leave. Silver watches him go as well and frowns to himself. He shrugs it off eventually and wanders away from the group. Making his way down from the Chaos gate he moves to the Item Bank. Opening up the interaction he quickly re-deposits all his combat and single use items and scrolls, and takes the time to fully examine the item he received in the event.

<Real World>

"The Necrostaff eh?" Alex grins to himself and sits back. The weapon is impressive to see, a long staff that appears to be composed of a creatures spinal cord, topped with a demonic skull that is the same size as a regular characters head. The stats are particularily unimpressive, until one looks at the Element and Magical Attack attributes. With numbers that easily outclass even his favorite silver staff... and an almost immunity to the Dark element.

"Could be useful" he says to himself as he deposits that item in his inventory as well. "Alright... time to go to work."

Alex cracks his knuckles as he logs out of the World and takes off the visor. His fingers swiftly fly across his keyboard, the pattering of his keystrokes filling the air. Soon his screen is crowded with windows depicting Aura, the Dot Hackers... and alot of text.

With a sigh, Alex adjusts his glass' and begins his research.

[The World]

Vir sighed. Where could she have gone to? He started heading in that general direction to which she disappeared. Vir looked down alleyways, through the crowds, but he just could not find her. He started trying to listen to people talking. He caught some bits and pieces of this one group of guys.

"Twin Blade.....female.......pretty hot....."

Vir stood and kept listening, knowing that they were talking about her.

".....What was her name?" "....Re--something..." "...Renai?" "That was it!"

Vir had gotten enough information.

[Real World]

Victor chuckled. "Well, now I know how to contact her..." He quickly opened a message and started frantically typing

TO: Renai
FROM: Vir
SUBJECT: Apologies

--Look, I'm sorry for ditching you like that in the dungeon. It wasn't very...I don't know...gentlemanly?

--I was going to apologize in person, but I lost you in the shops. Where are you now?


E-MAIL MESSAGE SENT

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Mar 13 2006, 09:58 AM

Delta Server: Mac Anu - South Residential Area

Renai tapped her foot against the concrete, standing in the shadow of an awning above her. Not much came to her mind, other than what she could do to become a more venerable Player in The World. Her eyes idly watched a myriad of different classed Players, that were, for the most part, each unique in their own way.

"Che...at least no one looks like me. BEEP-BEEP E-MAIL RECEIVED! Eh? Another one? I did not reply to Sange's e-mail. So who would..."

Renai rolled her eyes when I [Katsuki] saw the author. My hands clamped around the controller, doing what I could to keep my head on my shoulders.

I won't let a stupid male get the best of me..., I thought. My focus returned to my FMD and my avatar, who, ironically, was simplier to express myself through...in a more crass manner, of course.

"Haaaah? Asshole #3 is apologizing now? Heh. What is it with males, and their innate ability to not think their actions through before severely f***ing up? Thinking that I'm just going to melt in their arms and say 'Oh, I accept your apology. You treated me like shit, but it's okay.' Che."

Renai's left hand rested on her hip, shifting her weight over to her right, revealing her lightly tanned skinned waist, as I clicked the reply icon, which triggered a popup animation to a new e-mail message box.

[Real World]

Before Katsuki could begin Renai's response, her eyes lit up with a brilliant idea. By this time, it was after 1PM. She hadn't removed the FMD in about 3 hours, but after being caught up in The World's UTD, she wasn't the wiser.

"Hmm...Renai have Sange and this Vir character in the palm of her hand. There's a chance that with my ability to completely talk down most males in real life, they may follow her in her quest if I play my cards right. I don't like the idea of having males as playmates, but I do like the idea of being their leader...and them being my pawns, hehe."

Katsuki giggled loudly, knowing no one was around to hear her exasperated glee of her own genius. With this being her first experience soloing without her lover, her thoughts of Satose had become buried under the weight of The World in only a matter of time.

[The World]

Reply To: Vir
From: Renai
Subject: Re: Apologies

-- So you want to apologize to me, eh? I suppose you could do more than that after drawing your sword at me for no reason AND for failing to be the gentleman you claim. --

-- Come to South Residential Area and I can see if I can help you regain some gentleman dignity. --

-- Renai --

E-MAIL MESSAGE SENT

Renai formed a seductive smile as the data flow transferred her message to Vir. In time, both Sange and Vir would arrive, and the initiation of her plans would ensue, with or without them.

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 13 2006, 09:07 PM

[The World]

Vir gave up looking. He sat down on a barrel and headed into the bar.

EMAIL RECEIVED!!

[Real World]

Victor smiled, knowing that it must be that Renai. He opened the message, reading it quietly to himself.

'Regain gentleman dignity'? Victor sighed. Feminazi, no doubt. If only she knew why I ran off...

He started writing a quick message, then thought he shouldn't play with fire.

[The World]

Vir stood up and headed directly to the South Residential Area, knowing he could make things right. He arrived at the area and started looking around, trying to find her.

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Mar 14 2006, 09:46 AM

Sange had finally gotten to the residential area, looking around for the most indecently clothed twin blade around. [Jordan] thought that shouldn't be too hard, until he realized the entire area was swarming with players. Not about to give up, he just trudged on through, and finally, he saw the same, familiar, and angry face from before. Renai's.

"Great..." Jordan had said to himself, "now what? I found her, and she still thinks I'm an idiot, I'll be betting."

It was a good thing that he wasn't using the chat mode, or else she would've found him most likely. Sange walked up to the twin blade, and unenthusiastically, he sent a message to Renai.

"Hello there, Renai. I'm guessing you're still angry? Look behind you."

Before the message had been sent to her, Renai sensed someone with a heavy intent to approach her. That distinct, inexplicable sensation signaled caused her immediately put on a smiling face and turn around the moment the message reached her. For anyone who had conversated with the violently charismatic Twin Blade, they would know that emotive, sweet smile did not suit her - having the potential to send a streak, cold as ice, up an individual's spine.

"Hello, Sange," she said ever so pleasantly.

The smile from her countenance slipped back into her natural, stoic glare just as the message digitized for her to receive. A smug smile crept upon her lips as she pushed back a bit of her hair behind her ears, scrutinizing the form of the blade user before her.

"Actually...I'm not angry as I was before." Her words translated perfectly into English vocabulary, not losing any sensual nuance that I had injected into my response in Japanese.

Lovely...

"First, let's hear those Keywords you have for me. And then...I have a proposition for you that you may find to be more worth you coming here." She shifted her weight to the right, resting her left hand on her waist, almost deliberately giving him a bit of a view.

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 14 2006, 08:44 PM

[The World]

Vir looked around, the area being filled with players. He then spotted her, talking with some other guy. He advanced from behind Sange, but waited back a bit for them to be done with their conversation. They were talking about Keywords, then she said she had a proposition for the other player. She then stood in a way that made Vir turn a deep crimson and Vir looked away.


((Sorry for the short post....kinda can't come up with anything right now...))

Renai's eyes shot as daggers to the Heavy Blade Vir slinking in the background behind Sange. She perceived the blush upon his cheeks, which gave her grounds for another gleeful, yet vile grin.

This may just go my way after all.

"Oi! Don't think you can just wait around until it's your turn, Vir. My business with him also involves you."

Business? What does she think I am, her slave? [Jordan] thought, his charecter's expression changing from confusion, to a mixture of annoyance and thought. The keyword hadn't occured to him, but he thought he might as well give it a shot.

"I was thinking, it might not do at all, but we could try," Sange mentioned to Renai, and continued, "the keyword I had in mind was 'Detestable Corrupted Melody'. Wanna give it a shot?"

Sange was trying with all of his will NOT to look at Renai, but her charecter's current stance was making it dificult. However, he [Jordan] merely remembered it was just a digital projection of what someone chose to look like, much like him and everyone else. This just made him wonder why the hell she'd choose to look like that anyway.

Renai returned her emerald gaze back to Sange as he spoke up on the information that she had desired for some time now. She humored his expression of disdain with a normal smile, then took a few steps forward so that she was in between Vir and Sange. Her overflowing desire to commence her plan exuded from her form. Along with her apparent physical enticement, she had always intended to ensure all who laid eyes on her would remember her name, or, at most, just her.

"Of course I would like to give it a shot, Sange. However..." With a slight turn of her neck, Renai caught Sange's gaze with her Japanese-styled gaze out the corner of her right eye.

"...notice I did not ask for your apology yet. That is because I would rather replace that humbling act with the proposition that I have."

Her eyes shifted away from Sange, and towards Vir.

"Instead of apologizing to me for your disrespect, how ever noble..." Turning her perception back to Sange, she immediately resumed. "...or haphazard it may have been, join my party and follow under my leadership."

Renai pointed her index finger directly at Sange. Though a smirk shown on her lips, her eyes were unwavering and deathly serious.

"Sange. Follow me, and perhaps together we can also find the Players that you seek."

She repeated the same action in Vir's direction.

"And Vir. I don't know what the hell your deal is, but if honor or a venerable name is what you search for, you will not be sorry you teamed up with me."

Her arms crossed beneath her bosom with the half-hearted unintention of excentuating her clevage for the two blade users. Her expression turned indifferent and carefree, as if their decision didn't matter to her. And now that she had at least one KeyWord string to use as an example from here on out, their choice truly was irrelevant to her.

"Call this a more honorable compensation for your apologies - becoming subservient to the woman you have wronged. I will even say that if you only have to adventure once with me. After that, if you wish, I will eject you from my party and can leave me for your own goals. Or, just refuse my proposition, give me a sincere apology, and any grudge I have against you will be dispelled. So, want to give me a shot...men?"

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 15 2006, 03:33 PM

Sange scoffed, and his gaze turned to Renai, however, it wasn't his normal gaze, but something completely different. A deep anger for something unknown.

"Listen Renai, I have no intention of being pushed around, so if you push it, I'll bail," he said to her, and then he turned to the other player, and then back to Renai. "The other player's names are Agito, Asuka, and Musashi. Agito is a Long Arm, lvl 42, Asuka is a Wave Master, lvl 37, and Musashi is a Heavy Axeman, lvl 39. They helped train me for a while, then they dissapeared. The only thing I have is this sword, Requiem, they told me it was a pretty rare one, so they handed it to me for some reason, 'cause I was the only one who could use it. Now I need to find them, and repay them a debt, much like this one."

[Jordan] sighed and remembered those three. He was part of their group, and they left him. What for? Why did they leave in the first place? Where did they go? Or perhaps the question he really should be asking is, why can't he find them, even in the real world.

Renai raised her left eyebrow, placing her hands on her waist, seemingly as irritated as Sange appeared to be.

"I had no intention of pushing you around. You have yet to see me being pushy, Sange; nor would you want to. Under my leadership, I would treat you fairly, as long as you remain loyal to me."

Though raising a hand to run through her hair again, she did not break eye contact with Sange.

"So, should I assume that you gave me information about your friends as a yes to my proposition?"

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 15 2006, 08:59 PM

[The World]

Vir, keeping his eyes averted, thought about this for a second. He could keep his dignity but stay a low-life, or he could serve this female and return to being a gentleman. He glanced at Sange, who was thinking What the hell?!? by the look on his face.

He got on one knee, his hand on the hilt of his sword, head bowed low, and his other hand on his knee. "I will obey you," Vir said. He then added, "...mistress."

[Real World]

Victor sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Mar 16 2006, 09:49 AM

[The World]
"Alright then, since my level's a little higher than yours, I'll help you level up. How about that?"

"Who says I have to let you help me?" she asked turning away from him. "Who says I even need your help?"

"I'll bet some of those monsters in the dungeon have something to say" he replied with a snicker.

"Hmph. Fine." She reached out her hand. "I'll let you help me. But only while I say so. So if you cross me, you're gone."

Mjollnir extended his hand and they shook. "Fine. I guess that's fine" he said reluctantly.

"As for the rest of you" she turned around to face the others that were left, "you guys are helping me too, right?"

"ALL the rare items?" Silver asked accusingly. "Hows that fair?"

Mjollnir shrugged with a smirk and turned to leave. Mjollnir had walked only a few feet away from the party when Sam got a whisper chat window pop up on his FMD.

[Real World]

Sam was in conflict. Should he tell the inquirer what the souce of the lag was on the server or just give him some lame excuse? He shook his head to clear it then readjusted the FMD and toggled a reply in the whisper window while turning his avatar towards the other player to show him or her that he was in fact acknowledging the question.

And with that Sam closed the chat window and toggled his avatar to disband from the group and directed him to the Elf's Haven to store some of the useless and possibly rare items from his secret adventure with the rest of the very unique players of The World. He then directed his avatar over to the Save Point and saved before walking to the Chaos Gate and logging out in the magic rings.

"Well... That was freaking amazing!!" Sam exclaimed as he took off the FMD and pushed away from the desk and let his chair roll across the floor slowly. He turned to the clock on his wall and saw that he hand only beein on for two hours and laughed lightly because he still had time to kill before he had to do anything today. He then remembered Vir and wondered out loud. "Should I contact the administrators and let them know hes logged in?" Sam shrugged and smriked. "They'll catch up with him sooner or later. I just hope he dosent get us in trouble and report the sighting of Aura. And speaking of special events like that. Lets have a closer look at those pictures." And with that Sam went about analyzing the pictures he had taken of some of the event monsters ranging from the small ones to the boss.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Mar 16 2006, 10:18 AM

Delta Server: Mac Anu

There was a pause as Mjollnir seemed to be considering his response, and then the reply came back:

Ludicrous smiled. 'Several players?' 'Just forget what happened?' The guy might as well have been waving a giant red flag that read, "I'm hiding something!!" Ludicrous was considering whether it would be to his advantage to press the matter when Mjollnir apparently decided that was the end of the conversation, as he ended the whisper dialog and took off down the path to the Elf's Haven.

Well, it looked like that was all he'd get from Mjollnir. He spoke aloud, so anyone could hear, though he doubted anyone would listen, "Thank you for your generosity." Satisfied that the sarcasm in his voice had come across clearly, Ludicrous bowed deeply, twirling his staff beneath him, and in a twinkling of three gold rings, he was gone from The World as he knew it.


Real World


Jason was excited; there was something going on, and he was going to find out what. He opened up Ludicrous's friends list and added Mjollnir and SilverSeraph, so he'd be able to see when they were online and possibly track them down again if need be. It was unfortunate that the female Twin Blade they'd been with had logged out before he'd seen her name, but it most likely wouldn't be very important anyway.

Jason then accessed The World's online message board, completely expecting what he found. The front page was littered with locked posts whose content had been deleted. Jason quickly browsed them, looking at the Reason For Deletion field moderators generally filled out when deleting a topic. Most of them contained the same message: "Do Not Post Multiple Threads On The Same Topic." That was strange, that meant there ought to be one thread where this was actually being discussed. Jason looked more carefully, and realized he'd forgotten to check the most obvious place.

There was a new announcement created by the forum administrator at the top of the page entitled Server Problems. Jason opened it up and the read the brief post. It contained only three sentences, communicating that 1) the lag had been caused by recent upgrades to Delta Server, 2) they hadn't expected the upgrades to cause a problem which was why the server hadn't been closed, and 3) that all duplicate threads on the issue were being locked in order to organize discussion. All in all the post was really quite cold, they hadn't even apologized for all the trouble the lag had caused.

As Jason scanned the rest of the thread, he noticed that the replies generally fell into one of two categories: either they were people expressing relief that the problem had been nothing serious, or they were deleted. Jason sighed, obviously he wasn't going to find anything here he didn't already know. He logged out of his account and opened up his browser. It was time to turn to the web.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Mar 16 2006, 02:56 PM

ooc: HikariNiwa, I suggest you delete your post RIGHT NOW and quit whoring other websites. I know Sombrero is gonna get on your case (as well as possibly notifying mods) so hurry it up.

Sange shook his head, and drew his sword. He didn't mimic what Vir had done, but instead, he remained standing, the blade perfectly vertical with his hands resting on the top of the handle. The sword, Requiem, was a sight indeed, the inner section a strange sapphire color, and the outer edge was a serrated, a normal, silverish edge. The Blademaster bowed his head, and rose it.

"I don't intend on calling you mistress, but if it is me and Requiem you need, then allow my sword to fight for you."

I assumed it was deleted?

[Real World - approx. 1430 JST]

Katsuki remembered to use the mute button for the first time in Renai's existence, as she bowled over with laughter - the sort of laughter that is driven from utter ecstacy rather than humor. While she had been awaiting their responses, her net browser with the label "The World: Party Info" was minimized. She had been doing more research on how to invite Players to a Party, as well as on the capabilities of a Twin Blade at her level and beyond.

"すばらしぜ！ しんじられない！ (So very lovely! I can't believe it!) Woo! (Reference to Hard Gay) He called her "mistress!" Hehe! I can finally put my leadership skills to use with these guys as my followers! No one ever let me lead in school, even now. Renai will surely become the woman I could never be in this vile, phallocentric society. Yay!"

Katsuki, after a few deep breaths, turned the Mute function off her FMD, and returned her attention to her avatar, whose natural glare slowly altered into a devious grin.

[The World]

"To be honest with you," Renai started, as I took care of toggling the proper right-click menus to invite the Players, Sange & Vir, to her Party. "I believe this will be a fine experience for all of us.

Especially since I have yet to experience a solo battle on my own yet...Oh well. They know I am low-level. I will learn on the job. Works well so far.

What matters is that I make this adventure count...They seem like interesting Players that could give me their voluntary allegiance if I lead them well...

"Once you have accepted my invite, we can discuss preparations for our adventure into 'Detestable Corrupted Melody' while we head towards the Save Point."

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 17 2006, 09:30 AM

[Real World]

Victor suddenly realized what was happening. Wait a minute...did that just REALLY happen? Wow, I am WAY to into this...

[The World]

"I don't intend on calling you mistress, but if it is me and Requiem you need, then allow my sword to fight for you," Sange said.

An invite to join Renai's party came. Vir, without standing up, accepted the invite. "Now, how may we be of service, m'lady?"

((Again, I can't come up with anything huge right now, sorry!))

Real World


Jason opened the browser that came standard with the ALTIMIT OS, and ALTIMIT's homepage loaded. He immediately terminated the process, not wanting to have to deal with the browser's annoying inability to change the home page. Ever since Pluto's Kiss, ALTIMIT had been the only OS on the market, so there wasn't any competitive drive to improve it. Of course, no one was going to invoke the old monopoly laws against ALTIMIT after they'd practically single-handedly saved the future of technology, so it was as if technologic progress was frozen in time.

Though Jason may not have had a choice in browsers, there were at least competing search engines out there, and he didn't particularly trust any corporation as large as ALTIMIT to not have something to hide. He went to his personal favorite, just because it was little known about: www.comingthroughtherye.com. The page sported an animation of a rye field with the quote: "...if a body catch a body, coming through the rye..." Jason figured it must be some kind of reference to ancient literature or something, but it didn't bother him. He brought up the professional search options, and went to work constructing his search parameters.

Exact Phrases: "The World"
Key Words: "Lag, Glitch, Delta, Strange, Weird, Static"
Highlight Results Containing: "Mjollnir, SilverSeraph"
Do Not Show Results From: "www.altimit.com, www.cccorp.com, www.theworld.com"

Catch It!

Jason was immediately surprised by pages upon pages of results, there were hundreds of hits with greater than 75% relevance! (Although, to his disappointment, there were no highlighted results.) Even more surprising, when the search statistics came up, Jason noticed that most of the results weren't recent like he'd expected them to be. Many of the pages’ Last Modified dates were over a year old. Suddenly there was a whole new dimension to the entire situation. Jason browsed through the pages finding each more eye-opening then the last.

Most of the pages weren't older than a certain date, a little less than three years ago. The oldest ones spoke of static and white noise appearing randomly on servers, similar to what Ludicrous had just experienced in Expansive Talisman Fertile Ground. But as Jason read gradually more recent pages, the stories grew more frequent and more ominous. There were reports of people experiencing the disembodied feeling Ludicrous had gone through, which eventually culminated in rumors of players unexplainably falling into comas.

Interspersed among these pages were rumors and whispers of the "dot hackers." From what Jason could gather, it seemed like they were a party of players, but there were obvious inconsistencies, as if no one had the whole story. Jason ran a search on the results he already had in a new window, only showing results that contained the exact phrase: "dot hackers" but it was to no avail, he couldn't find anything clearly concrete.

Going back to his original search, Jason continued to look through the results, gradually moving toward the present. The stories of problems got worse, culminating in all of Omega server crashing. This was validated across several sources, and many of them prophesized that it would be the end of The World. But then, without warning, there were no more results. It was as if the situation had somehow resolved itself, and fallen into legend almost instantaneously. All that was left were rumors, which from what Jason had already read were probably un-based, for almost three years. And then there was now.

There were numerous hits, mostly in blog entries, about the lag on Delta Server today. Some people were claiming that it was another incident like last time, that the dot hackers must have come back. People were asking if there'd been any incidents in the real world, if anyone had fallen comatose. It was a little scary.

And then, that was the end of the reliable results. Jason had learned a lot, but he hadn't a clue what to do next. There were lots of rumors, but there was nothing concrete, and nowhere to start. Considering how elusive these "dot hackers" apparently were, he needed to keep both ears and eyes open if he wanted to catch a hint of their movements, if they were still in The World at all. But judging by the reappearance of the strangeness, Jason doubted this static would be the end of the problem. If history was going to repeat itself, then it was certain that the problems in The World would quickly reach a point where they could not be ignored. It was then he'd need to know just what to do.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Mar 18 2006, 08:59 PM

Sange accepted the invitation, and he put Requiem back into the scabbard. He cracked his knuckles, cricked his neck, and looked around.

"Huh... weird..." [Jordan] muttered to himself. He had a weird feeling run up his spine, and the weirder thing was, he was sure he smelled the water from the Mac Anu river. Jordan dismissed this, and realized Sange had a blank look on his face, and went back to putting his expression to his normal, carefree happy look.

"Alrighty!" Sange exclaimed, "I think we're gonna need to explain who gets what when it comes down to the treasures. What do you think Renai? And don't tell me you should get all the treasure!" He was laughing good-naturedly, obviously joking around about the thought of who gets everything.

"Che. Already assuming my party is a dictatorship, Sange?" she mused playfully within the confines of Party chat. "Though this is penance, I am not gluttonous...though I am thirsty for power and glory."

Renai waved her left hand in the air, as she passed up Vir in the process of swiveling her hips, unsuitably so, beneath her black martial arts pants she styled, in rhythm with her slowed pace towards the Save Point area.

"Whatever treasures we obtain will be split among the three of us. However, I will not tolerate mutiny or treachery. My word is our bond. Do not make me regret it."

Peeking over her shoulder, letting her relaxed stare pierce through the two blade users behind her, she continued on.

"After we save, we will either return to Mac Anu Center for supplies, or if you two are already prepared, we will head off to our destination. Sange, have you trained within 'Detestable Corrupted Melody' before, or is this just another Keyword String you heard about? I only inquire because of the first one you offered, which was surely not the most pleasant place in The World...

"...and apparently not the most pleasant for your CPU," she said in a teasing, slightly disparaging tone.

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 20 2006, 04:18 PM

[The World]

Vir nodded. "I will not disobey or disappoint, mistress, and I will help you obtain what you desire."

Vir stood as Renai passed, avoiding the temptation to look at her and her curvacious self. He put his sword away and followed her to the Save Area. He turned. "Are you coming, Sange?"

Sange followed on, and frowned. "I was just joking around Renai. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was serious," he said apologetically. "About the keyword, you'll think I'm crazy for this, but it was the place that my friends were going to take me training before they dissapeared. So, I decided to put it off until I found them again. Looks like I'm gonna have to go there anyway."

Renai led the group to the Save Area, and Sange saved his file of course. He turned around, and for sure, he thought he saw an azure armored Heavy Axeman with a beautiful Wave Master, wearing elegant yellow robes staring right at him, but when he blinked, they were gone.

"Asuka...? Musashi? Where'd they go?" Sange said to himself, muting the chat feature.

"That is the attitude I like, Vir. By the way, what is your level? I already know Sange's, but since I have overheard your seemingly infamous name in my wanderings around Mac Anu, I am curious."

Renai activated the Save Feature and recorded her adventure thus far, as she spoke. Though it had not become much of an adventure until she had gained a leadership position over her current party, her preemptive splurge on specific items now settled in her inventory was vast and valuable to her.

"And Sange. At least there is a reason behind these Keywords. We may find some clue about your friends there as we train."

Turning her perception towards her companions who towered a few inches over her petite form, she faintly grinned, her stoic glare slightly enhanced, and let out a gentle sigh.

"Now...unless your shiny swords are the only protection you need, is there any last minute shopping either of you need to do? I am as prepared as I can possibly be, and I do expect us to be in sync during battle; supporting one another by any means. Regardless of whether either of you choose to lend me your sword after this or not is your choice, but I would prefer none of us to die on this adventure."

This post has been edited by Renai on Mar 24 2006, 01:50 PM

Sange blushed slightly, and looked down.

"I uh... need to buy some health potions and stuff like that. Since my game messed up on me, I lost all my data. I have only three, and no cash," he said, feeling stupid. He lifted his head back up and looked around. Sange was sure that he had seen them. "Hey, question, is it possible for you to hallucinate in the game?"

[Real World]

Sam walked into his dorm closing his door and throwing his school bag onto his bag making it spill out his notes and homework from his classes. He changed out of his school cloths and into a pair of baggy sweat pants and a sweat shirt then sat down at his computar and booted up the ALTMIT OS then checked his mail to see if anyonie had flashmailed him from the party. None hadn't... yet. So he went over the notes and the pictures of the monsters that he and the rest of the party had encountered in the event. "Time to finish up these notes. I sure have been taking too long with these. I suppose that Silver and the others wanna know any of the info I got." Just then an alert sprung up and informed him of receiving a flashmail. He raised an eyebrow and opened the mail.
--------==========-------------
Sender: Ludicrous
Subject: dot hackers
Message: I'm terribly sorry about how I asked you before. I was wondering if you had any information on the legendary players the dot hackers. Please reply asap.

Yours truly, Ludicrous

P.S.- I found your member address from a player you helped in "The World".
--------==========-------------
Sam smirked and blushed from embarassment and sighed rubbing his temples. "I really gotta remember to only give that thing to really important people..." Then he smirked rolling his eyes and started to reply then stopped and shook his head. "No... No, no, no. Need to finish the notes first." So he did then he typed the rest of the reply and signed off to take a nap.

Real World

Jason sighed abortively.

He was lying face down on his bed, the only sound besides his breathing was the hum of his computer, the monitor turned off. And he was frustrated. School wasn't being very interesting. He wasn't doing badly enough that he had to study like mad for anything, and he could get his homework done later. His parents were still at work, so right now the only thing he had to occupy his mind with was Ludicrous, and that wasn't proving very engaging either.

Jason hadn't logged back in since his encounter with Mjollnir in Mac Anu, and the guy had logged off almost immediately after. Jason had found out a little about him on the web--apparently a nice, upstanding player. There were a couple of stories by newbies who claimed to have been helped by him, but nothing to provide a link between the character and either the static or the mysterious dot hackers. Jason had been sure the guy was hiding something, but now it seemed like nothing more than a dead lead.

Dead leads were all he had. The SilverSeraph guy hadn't logged on since either, and he wouldn't be able to expect getting anything from him so long after the fact. And all the information he'd turned up, while it made an interesting read, certainly wasn't giving him any clues on what to do now.

"Damn." Jason slammed his fist into his mattress, which replied with a soft beep. What? Jason got up on his knees and looked around, and then heard the noise from his computer begin to pick up. Realization dawned, and he got off his bed and dashed over to his computer chair as the monitor flickered back into life, triggered by the alert he'd set. On the screen was a small pop-up message: "Mjollnir logged in to The World."

All of the sudden Jason was in an awful hurry, he wanted to catch the guy with an email before he entered an area and lost him. It was risky, if he came off as too forceful, Mjollnir would just block him and then he'd lose all his leads, dead or not. But Jason was afraid if he didn't act now he'd lose his chance to get in on something interesting for once. He quickly tapped his hotkeys for The World, and then brought up a word processor while the game loaded and logged him in. His timing was nigh on perfect, by the time he was successfully logged in, he'd finished composing a quick email. He'd decided to title it Dot Hackers; Jason didn't have any cards to play right now, all the information he had was publicly accessible, so he'd have to make himself look like he knew more than he did if he wanted to change this guy's attitude.

He fired the email off, and leaned back in his chair. There was no way Mjollnir had managed to get past the Log On screen, if he ignored this mail than there was nothing Jason or Ludicrous could do. Jason decided to log Ludicrous in.

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Again, three rings triumphantly announced the arrival of another player to the Root Town, but this happened so often that no one there really cared anymore. And thus, no one was all that surprised when the character, clad in a blue robe and hat, simply stood there, waiting...

[The World]

Vir swore, but not before turning the mute function on. He wasn't about to brag about his level, but Renai did ask, so he switched the mute function off. "Level 87," he mumbled, as to not sound like he was rubbing it in her face.

"Now," he said. "I guess I will meet you two in the dungeon, seeing as I have everything I need for now."

He approached a Chaos Gate and quickly typed in the keyword, disappearing into the golden rings with a look back and a quick grin.

[The World - Mac Anu]

Renai had little time to take in the shock of Vir's response, watching him leap ahead of both her and Sange before either of them could utter a word.

"Vir, really," she sighed almost breathlessly, locked in on Party Chat so Vir could still probably still hear her. Gripping the remaining Blade user by his low-drapping arm, she "forced" him to follow her swift-moving stride to the nearby Chaos Gate.

"If you were so eager for destruction, why did you not just say so? I was waiting for your lazy ass." The petite Twin Blade sneered through her teeth, gently grazing her top lip with her tongue in a mesh of adrenaline-driven anticipation and uncertain nervousness for what was to come.

Renai turned slightly, looking up at Sange, a sinister countenance visibly unmistakable. Meanwhile, I [Katsuki] chose the proper Keywords.

"Vir has volunteered to open a path for us, Sange. Let's not make his efforts be in vain."

YES / NO

Renai giggled softly as she caught a few moments of the golden-triplebond rings engulf the lower torso of the striking Heavy Blade.


...1 HOUR LATER...

[Delta Server - Detestable Corrupted Melody - Fl. B4 of 5]

"F***! Why won't you DIE?!?" she growled, taking occasional damage as she dodged the fangs of her opponent, then struck back dead-on for 0 damage.

"It's a Dark-type monster, Renai! Don't you have any elemental skills to defeat it!?" Sange yelled over his shoulder, mincing away at the meager swarm of Ground monsters that threatened the young female he currently shared allegiance with.

"Dammit! Tell me sooner! THUNDER DANCE!" After missing the monster around ten times just by stubborn physical slashes, foolishly incurring much damage because of it, Renai lept into the air, summoning the elemental power of her designated Lightning Wave once again in the midst of the tedious battling that had erupted amidst her, Vir, and Sange within the 4th level of the strangely designed bricklayered dungeon that became increasinglly narrower as they ventured into its depths. After disposing of a common winged entity of the Dark property, known as a Flicra, with one lovely executed attack that surprised even herself, she caught her footing as she landed, collected her two items, but appeared almost lagging AFK as she replinished her heavily damaged HP with a Healing Potion; her natural sheer speed and already powerful Base Attack power, thanks to her equipped weapons, that gradually increased with every Level Up had come through against more enemies with her Twin Daggers, keeping her from using her SP frivolously. Though this was a KeyWord String on the Delta Server, this Area, specializing in powerful elemental monsters (i.e. Dark and Earth) was highly party-specific, or for one of an immense level, such as Renai's seemingly faithful Blademaster, Vir -- the number and sheer size of enemy swarms between Lv. 20-25 were countless.

With him in full offensive swing in the front position, tearing through the center of any enemy daring to stand against his sword, also doubling as a lure for open back-attacks in Renai's middle stance, and Sange serving as a shield for the Earth-type enemies that attempted to catch up with Renai's swift, headstrong dashes, her party rapidly approached the final floor of the dungeon.

"Haaaa! Aeeeeiya!" Renai's cross-slashed both her daggers through the backs of three slow-moving non-elemental worm-like creatures slithering towards Vir's back, bringing her one monster away from Lv. 30. As she quickly took up her common items that her enemies had submitted, she dialogued with Vir for the first time since they had entered. She was ignorant of monster-types and simultaneously tending to her health while locked in battle, but not of the experience and knowledge one must gain after attaining such a powerful level.

"Vir! Do not enter the final floor alone! This balanced formation has worked beautifully for us this far (Aiiiya!) but we enter as one force. That is how I lead. I do not give a damn how strong you are! Got it?"

This post has been edited by Renai on Apr 10 2006, 05:24 PM

"YEE-HAW! This is better than I expected! Thank my buds for giving me this crazy keyword!" Sange hollered as he struck down a rather big zombie. He turned his head to see two armored skeleton knights making their way toward Vir, and he took Requiem up in his hand, and roared his battle-cry. "Bring swift defeat upon my enemies, Requiem! Initiate, Revolver!"

His arms glowed for a second, then he started slashing down one of the skeletons. It shattered with midway through the attack, and the other skeleton took one or two hits from the combo attack. It took the advantage of his momentary pause to prepare for his next attack, and cast an earth based attack at him, dropping his HP to a little more than a quarter of what it was. Vir had managed to get wind of this, and turned once and swung his blade into the skeleton's neck, decapitating it, and Renai, too, took a swing and it shattered, just like its companion. Taking the time, Sange used a Health Potion to recover what damage was done, and he sighed.

"Alright, so how many more monsters do we have to hack apart until this room is cleared?" Sange asked, stretching out his arms.

"Well, has the Area Cleared message popped up?" Vir asked back.

"Um... No clue. Well, I'm sure we all leveled up nicely here. If only we had some idea of what this dungeon's guardian is."

hay can i join or is it way to late iv played the .hack games and found them vary addictiv

((Errrr....Yeah, some one delete that post....it doesn't belong here...Go to the disc/rec to ask questions. Oh, and by the way, Sombrero isn't taking any more applications and speak English please.

Renai: Good way to get us moving forward...did you get a PM from Sombrero also?))

[The World]

"Vir! Do not enter the final floor alone! This balanced formation has worked beautifully for us this far but we enter as one force. That is how I lead. I do not give a damn how strong you are! Got it?"

"Yes, mistress," Vir growled. He wanted to get through and he was tired of waiting, but the mistress said no. He wanted to waste no time, so he attacked everything he could without breaking formation. That which he didn't kill in one hit, he let the other two take to level them up. Though he didn't say it, he didn't really like hanging around the weaklings when they hinder him, but he didn't let it show.

"Alright, so how many more monsters do we have to hack apart until this room is cleared?" Sange had asked.

"Well, has the Area Cleared message popped up yet?" Vir asked.

"Um... No clue. Well, I'm sure we all leveled up nicely here. If only we had some idea of what this dungeon's guardian is."

"That would be nice," Vir said, stabbing a skeleton through where it's heart would be as it was in a mid-air attack.

[30 minutes later]

Vir stabbed one last skeleton, leaving the last four to Renai and Sange. The Area Cleared message popped up, and Vir charged for the door. He then stopped, remembering what Renai had said.

[Real World]

Elias unlocked his dorm room door and dropped himself on his bed, still laughing. It had been a long while since he'd had that much fun. He got up and went to get a bottle of water when he noticed his computer running.

"Not again," he slapped his forehead. "Forgot to turn it off. Oh well, no damage done."

He got his drink and sat down in front of his screen. When the picture reformed, he noticed he had a new message. Logging into The World, he checked what it was.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sender: CC Corp
Subject: BBS Post

You will not post anything like that again. Rumors are not a pleasant thing to have in the game. That board is not a place for stories like that. If we have to warn you again, your account will be banned and your character deleted. That is all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elias almost spit his drink out. The admins were threatening him? But he had seen Aura. They thought he was lying! Or maybe...maybe they had something to hide. He opened another window and looked up some information on the dot hackers. Then he began composing a new mail to some of his party mates.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Mjollnir, Thanatos
Subject: BBS Post

Did you guys see my post? It was deleted! Are we gonna keep going with this, or should we stop? I don't want my character deleted, I've worked too hard on her.

But then again, I said we'd help Aura. What shoudl we do?!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those were the only two he could trust. He honestly hoped they had some good advice. He wanted to help Aura, but would he sacrifice Haru to do it? How could he save The World without her? He just didn't know what to do.

He logged in and set his visor firmly on his head. Neither Mjollnir nor Thanatos were on, so it looked like he'd just be getting some training in. He did have some frustration to get rid of, so it wasn't all bad.

[The World]

The rings passed down Haru's body, exposing her to the game. As she looked around, she saw everyone hustling through the city.

'I wish someone would just sign on!' she thought in frustration. 'But, there's nothing I can do.'

As she began to walk forward, another message alert flashed on her screen. 'Is one of them still on the computer?' She quickly opened it in a new window. Her mouth dropped when she noticed who it was from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sender: Balmung
Subject: Aura

Did you really see her? I must talk to you, quickly. Away from prying eyes. My assistant, Reki, has set up a meeting place in Delta: Raging Homely Plains. I'll see you at the bottom of the dungeon. Be quick, I have little time to wait.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She turned around and ran back to the Chaos Gate. Then remembering she needed more items, she turned again and ran to the store. After stocking up properly, she rushed back over to the gate. Just as she typed in the keywords, her sleeve was grabbed by another character.

She looked around, ready to shoo whoever it was away, when she noticed his odd character. It resembled the wizards in story books; like old Merlin. She looked at his name and saw that it fit him perfectly. Ludicrous.

"May we talk?" he asked.

"I don't have time now," she said, glancing towards the gate. "I have a very important engagement."

"Please, I'll go with you even. You were in the party with Mjollnir, were you not?"

"Yes, but I really have to---wait, how did you know about that?"

"I saw you standing with him. You logged out before I could talk to you. Now, let's talk in a whisper."

"No! No whispering even! I need to go now!"

"I refuse to let you go before we talk. I could always go with you," he added with a smile.

"I don't..." she was hesitant, "Alright. Come on, and hurry up." They quickly formed a party and were swept away to the area mentioned by Balmung by the golden rings. Ludicrous had a large smirk on his face as he was whisked away.

Delta Server: Mac Anu

"This is becoming rapidly stupid," muttered Ludicrous, thoroughly annoyed with, well, everything at the moment. As best he could tell, somewhere in the neighborhood of five minutes had passed since he'd emailed Mjollnir, and so far no reply had been forthcoming. Of course, it was every bit possible that Mjollnir simply was busy with something else, and was planning to reply, but Ludicrous was beginning to feel good old Murphy rearing his ugly head.

The Wave Master was silently leaning against a building behind the Chaos Gate, toying with his staff as he often did when he had nothing better to do. The swirling white mist in his staff's orb seemed thoroughly un-amused by this, and continued to move in the same pattern despite Ludicrous's antics. Thus, when the twin blade girl Ludicrous had seen earlier logged in, he was completely caught by surprise--it took him longer than appropriate to realize that he'd let go of his weapon mid-swing, and though he made a quick snatch at it with his left hand, he bobbled it and the staff clattered to the ground.

He checked to see if she'd heard--she apparently hadn't--and then he hastily grabbed his staff back into his hand. When he looked back up, she was standing a few feet away from the gate, but she'd paused mid-stride. Ludicrous was wondering if maybe she'd forgotten something, when she suddenly turned around and headed back toward the Gate.

Ludicrous quickly attempted to return to a nonchalant pose, although he wasn't sure whether he at all succeeded, and averted his eyes, suddenly becoming thoroughly interested with a point on the ground a little way in front of his boots. He guessed she hadn't noticed him staring; judging by her erratic movements she clearly had something important occupying her mind. He was planning to eavesdrop on her keywords and follow her through the gate a couple of minutes after she went through, and figure out if she was in anyway involved, when she unexpectedly turned again and took off away from the Chaos Gate.

Ludicrous could feel his sense of universal annoyance returning as he shifted his weight back onto his feet and began to follow her through the town. Why couldn't the girl pick something she wanted to do and stick with it?

The twin blade crossed the first bridge across the river and headed to the weapons store. Ludicrous watched her from the far end of the bridge as she then moved on to the items store, and began to re-cross the bridge. He'd had enough of this, his patience was unusually thin right now, and she'd just worn every last bit of it out. As she passed him on the bridge, he reached out with his right hand and snatched her right arm--she deflty whirled around to face him, moving to break his grip.

But she stopped when she saw his face. That was one of the things Ludicrous's was always immensely thankful for, no one ever found someone who looked to be pushing 100 threatening. He put aside his frustration and forced a smile, which he found came out much easier than he expected. "May we talk?..."


Delta: Raging Homely Plains


Seconds later, Ludicrous found himself in the field of an area which could be realistically summarized as out of his league. He was only level 12, and this area had an average monster level in the neighborhood of 20. Further, he hadn't had enough forethought to stock since his last battle, seeing as how it wasn't everyday you joined a party under such... tenuous circumstances. It had really been lucky the twin blade--he glanced at her name again--Haru, had been in such a rush, if she had had time to think Ludicrous probably would never have gotten this far. And now that they were here, Ludicrous's skills as a healer would be useful enough to warrant his continued presence.

He checked her level. Well, not that she would desperately need his help, of course. What was a high level doing making two excursions on the beginner server for? She had been in an awful rush, but Ludicrous wasn't sure asking why would get him anywhere. Then again, he thought, there had been rumors that you couldn't trust the level information for fields completely anymore, what with dungeon guardians suddenly becoming uncharacteristically strong.

Ludicrous surveyed this field, and was relieved that at least its appearance suggested normalcy. The windmills which dotted the horizon certainly did give the rolling plains a very homely feel, especially in tandem with the warm sun and consistent breeze. Paths flowed from windmill to windmill, all converging at a small structure in the distance, which he guessed was the entrance to the dungeon. He wondered vaguely whether Haru was in too much of a hurry to want to clear the feel, and, after mulling it over for a few seconds, decided to voice that question, before the girl could interrupt with questions of her own.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Apr 12 2006, 08:31 PM

[Real World]
------------
To: Aries
From: Thanatos
Subject: RE- no idea about the monsters...

Hey, don't worry about it. I didn't figure there would be any info out there anyway. I'll keep you informed of anything I come across.

Thanks anyway
-------------

Well, it looks like my search has been in vain, thought Adam as he replied to the email sent by one of his contacts. By the time I had returned to the field, the event was over and it had reverted back to a normal area, taking all traces of the monsters and the three rooms with it into oblivion...and now my contacts have no information either. Maybe it was just an event created by the twisted minds at CC Corp...But, still...we did see Aura, and that's not a stunt that they would ever pull, as it would give to much credence to the "Dot Hackers" myth they've been struggling to cov... Suddenly the alert of a new flashmail assaulted his ears. What the....damn, it looks like Haru made the same mistake Kite did...I hope I can track her down before the admins do.....

Quickly he threw on his neuro goggles and logged into 'The World.'

{The World}
As Thanatos logged in, he was relieved to see that Haru was still online. His fingers became a blur as he quickly sent out a cryptic flash mail...

--------------
To: Haru
Subject: RE- BBS Post

"Delightfully Overly Naeseuating Tonics Topple Awestruck Labor Kings Often For An Unmistakeable Reasonable Art."

Hey. That sucks about your post. I guess they will sometimes do that to posts they don't like. Maybe they're just trying to cut down on the number of random, under-developed, moronic, outrageous, or redundant stories on the board.

We should meet up again and do another dungeon. If you need help, send me a flash mail. I'll be somewhere in Delta for a while. Oh yeah, did you hear about the swirling currents of air created by twirling fan blades that can create dark spots in your vision and even completely ruins it for some.

later
Thanatos
---------------

Well, with any luck, she will understand the message, he thought as he sent the flash mail. Although, I'm not really sure I understand it myself... Quietly, he walked to the chaos gate and used the specified keywords. When the golden rings had disappeared, he found himself in a familiar field. The entire area seemed to be composed of the crumbling ruins of some ancient civilization. Silently, he spread his wings and took to the air. After a short flight, he landed on top of the ziggurat marking the entrance of the area's dungeon. As he sat waiting, he began crafting the barrier that would shield their conversation once Haru arrived.

Haru looked around the field, searching frantically for the dungeon. When her gaze got to her new companion, he immediately spoke out.

"Are we going to clear the field?"

Haru just stared at him for a moment. In her frustration she screamed out. "No! I don't have time for this! I don't have time for you! I don't have time to clear the stupid field!! This is extremely important and you're just here because you're so annoying!! So if you want to stay you'd better shut up and do what I say!!"

Ludicrous was stunned; he just stood there for a moment. Haru immediately felt bad about her outburst, and she moved quickly to apologize.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just...a little apprehensive right now. I've got an important meeting and I must get there as fast as I can."

Ludicrous put on a face of sadness. Haru, still feeling bad, fell for it easily.

"Alright. We can clear the area. I'll just tell him to wait a little longer." The avatar stood stock-still as she composed the message and sent it. "Alright, let's take care of those monsters."

After many portals and free-roaming monsters, the "Area Field Cleared" message wound its way across the screen. Haru turned to the dungeon and began to make her way over there when Ludicrous's hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Now who are we to meet?" he asked innocently enough. Haru figured if he was going to come, he might as well know.

"Balmung of the Azure Sky." She was pleased with the surprised look on his face. Very few saw him in person, if anyone ever did. This was a great honor.

"Wow..." he breathed. "We'd better not make him wait any longer! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I found it in my best interests to keep it a secret. Now lets go."

As they neared the dungeon entrance, Haru saw it would be an earth-elemental one. She never really looked at the specs of a field until she got there. They walked down steps lined on both sides with torches. When they were inside, the earthen walls were lined with blue symbols that glowed brightly enough to illuminate the room. Ludicrous activated a Fairy's Orb and Haru's dungeon map completed itself for this floor. As they began walking to the next room, Ludicrous spoke up.

"I've got a few questions for you."

(( I didn't get a PM from SoJ, Shinigami. I had made suggestions in the [disc] thread, but no one replied. So, making the best assessment, I just did what would help SoJ move forward ))

Renai spun around on her heels, performing one final 2-hit combo on the weakened skeleton. Just as the "Area Dungeon Cleared" message appeared, she dashed towards the narrowed exit where Vir awaited her and Sange's arrival. She honestly did not want to keep Vir waiting - though being equally eager to take on her first boss, her slight bouts of fear was being suppressed somehow - but exercising her leadership position over such a gallant Heavy Blade made her happy, though there was no promise it would last for long.

As Renai clung tightly to her Twin Dragon Daggers that had served her so vigilantly, as if they were made just for her to wield, she lifted her emerald eyes to the two Blade users. A glimpse of her teeth could be seen behind her faint grin, as she made a distinct effort to make eye contact with both of them for their final battle plan.

"Alright. Both of you have done well, as I had expected. What I had said before still stands. Whatever the loot is from the final boss will be split up equally among the three of us. Sange, because you suggested this Area, you will enter first and activate the Portal. You may be damaged even if you fall back, but whether you decide to fall back is up to you. I will follow afterward. Vir, if you see that Sange has been damaged, be ready to heal and initiate your most powerful skill that has the longest delay time. Meanwhile, Sange and I will weaken the boss. Once you are ready, finish it with your skill. Though we do not know what the boss is, I have done my best to choose the best strategy based on how I have assessed both of your ways of the sword. Do you understand me?"

Her hand pushed some of her stray strands of ebony hair behind her ear, looking to her party members for some sort of confirmation. Whether it be negative or not, she was determined to never have them forget that she was not just a scantly clad Twin Blade with a coarse attitude.

This post has been edited by Renai on Apr 14 2006, 04:39 PM

Delta: Raging Homely Plains

Ludicrous was staring vacantly at the rapidly evolving map of the first floor of the dungeon; too busy thinking to bother with seeing at the moment. He was dismayed that this situation was managing to make less sense the further he delved into it, quite the opposite of what he'd hoped.

He glanced over at Haru, then averted his eyes before she noticed his gaze. He couldn't figure her out at all. He had prodded her about clearing the field earlier in the hopes that it would get her to say why she was in such a rush. But, to his surprise, she had given in to him rather easily, even though she planned to meet someone as important as Balmung here. The more he thought about, the more he kept coming to the same, unbelievable conclusion: She was naive.

Well, it wasn't so unbelievable that there was a naive player in The World--those came in spades. But finding them above level 5 was about as rare as... randomly stalking someone and getting to meet one of the most famous players ever. (This was, not surprisingly, the first unusual thing that leapt to his mind.) Anyway, this at least made Ludicrous feel a lot more at ease. If Haru was going to ditch him, she would've done so right about when he forced her to mail Balmung and tell him to wait. Now was the time to see what he could find out.

The twin blade started for the door into the second room, but Ludicrous decided to get this over with now before something else pushed it from his mind. "I've got a few questions for you, Haru."

She turned to face him with a pained look; he could tell she was fighting back another (justified) outburst of incredulity, as if Ludicrous was the one who ought to be asking questions.

“We‘re already running later than I‘d hoped. If you really can’t control your curiosity, then you have as much time to ask as it takes it to get to them bottom, but I’m not stopping anymore: we’re taking the most direct route.” And with that, Haru turned crisply back around and left the room.

“Just great,” muttered Ludicrous, “now she’s run out of patience too.” He re-composed himself and followed Haru through the door, only to find that she hadn’t been joking about not stopping. She hadn’t even waited for him to engage the first portal, and Ludicrous watched as two just-spawned gladiators--beast-like warriors--each drew impressive broadswords to match their equally massive kite shields. As Haru rushed into the fray, eager to take care of this dungeon as fast as possible, Ludicrous felt there could be no worse time to begin his first question, which is exactly what he then did.

“So…” he began, while trying to recall the proper pattern for a spell granted to him by his gloves. “How do you know Balmung of the Azure Sky anyway? And why,” Ludicrous added frustratedly, “does he have to meet you at the bottom of a dungeon?”

The first Gladiator clumsily swung downward at Haru, apparently expecting to cut her in two. She blocked the blow expertly with both blades, absorbing the force through her legs, and then darted left. “Well, to be honest, I don’t really know Lord Balmung,” she replied, as the monster blocked her dagger attack with its shield and brought its sword around for another attack. “He just emailed me a little a while ago, completely out of the blue,” continued Haru, ducking right under the blade and scoring a hit across the monster’s chest. “Apparently, he saw something I posted on the board and wanted to talk to me in private about it.” She ended the short skirmish with an upwards strike from her other blade, slicing across the monster’s face and draining its HP just as she jumped backwards, away from an attack by the second Gladiator.

While he’d been taking all this in, Ludicrous had completed the necessary spiritual pattern for the spell he’d been trying to remember. It was a physical strengthening spell, designed to enchant a melee weapon with magical energy, and thus wasn’t something he, as a spell caster, used very much. It involved the manipulation of threads of power, which were generally more difficult to work with than threads rooted in the elements. He focused the spell on Haru’s blades and spoke the necessary incantation, “Ap Corv.” The threads wrapped themselves securely around Haru’s blades, and in the physical plane the change manifested itself as a slight glow emanating from the steel. He wondered when the Twin Blade would notice.

Haru landed her jump on the balls of her feet, reversed her momentum, and sprung forward at the second gladiator. She took aim for its throat with her right dagger, and saw the monster expectedly bring up his sword to parry the attack. She was ready to use the block to alter her direction and score a body hit with her other dagger, but the first one contacted the monster’s broadsword, shattered it, and kept on going! She sliced through the side of it’s neck, and was so surprised that when she landed behind the Gladiator she almost hesitated before whipping her other weapon around and slaying the Gladiator in an explosion of power. She looked down at her blades--they were pulsating with a soft light, and Ludicrous was smiling again. “Nice trick.”

“I don’t get to use it often,” he responded with a laugh, “though it’ll probably only last for a minute or so. Anyway, you were saying something about the board? I don’t remember reading anything posted by you… did it get locked?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. The admins here are--” She paused for a second. “Hold on, I got a message, it looks important.” She paused once more, and took a closer look at the message's first sentence. “…at least I think it’s important…”

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Apr 15 2006, 04:59 PM

[Real World]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Ludicrous
Subject: Re: dot hackers

Message: All I know is that they were a group of players that defeated th threat to "The World" three years ago. Their names were; Kite, BlackRose, Sanjuro, Balmung, Orca, and Mistral, just to name a few. I know that there also several other players that helped them acheive their goals but they have either stopped playing since then or remained hidden within the shadows of "The World". Thats all I know, I'm sorry I can't tell you more.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

That was the reply to Ludicrous that Sam sent Ludicrous.


About half way through his nap Sam was awakened by his computer that was chiming and displaying a message on it saying that he had received a flashmail from Haru so he got up and looked at it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Mjollnir, Thanatos
Subject: BBS Post

Did you guys see my post? It was deleted! Are we gonna keep going with this, or should we stop? I don't want my character deleted, I've worked too hard on her.

But then again, I said we'd help Aura. What shoudl we do?!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sam blinked. "Woah... I've heard of CC Corp. bullying players like this but I never thought..." He sighed shaking his head slowly then hit the reply button and typed his response.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Haru
Subject: Re: Mjollnir, Thanatos

Message: No. I'm sorry. I didn't see your post. But you like all new players didn't know that your not supposed to post something about Aura on the BBS. I should have warned you or told you. I'm logging on now. See you in a few.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Then he hit the Send button and quickly logged onto "The World".

[The World]

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Mjollnir materialized near the chaos gate within the three magical rings, soon after Ludicrous and Haru had gone to the field and dungeon to meet Balmung, and stood there scanning the street in front of him. "Hhhmmmmm... Shes not here. Where is she?" He then ran down the steps in into the bustling crowds of the root town to see if anyone had heard or seen Haru and knew where she was.

Sange nodded. "I got you Renai. And don't worry, I'm not taking many hits that easy," he said with a confident grin, "I don't just run into a boss room without being aware of what they are and what they can do to me. Seeing as how this is home to dark and earth creatures, our best bet is that our gargantuan friend will be weak to the opposite elements... er... Crap, I realized I've got no real spells. Just my Revolver tech. Plus I don't remember the spell advantage/weaknesses. So... there you go."

He started off into the next room, nervous. His breathing quickened. Sange remembered if his friends had thought of this place, it had to have a strong boss. Even in the lower level places they chose to power level him, the bosses provided decent challenges. As he stepped into the middle of the large, rectangular room, he finally realized something. It was dark and dank, just like all the others. However, mentally, it felt different. Like something actually inhabited it. Something more than just a creature created by zero's and one's. Something more than what a programmer thought up. Something evil...

Suddenly, the boss showed itself. It presented itself as a twelve foot tall figure encased in dark brown armor, thick so the creature could be so agile. It had a big one-handed double axe (at least, for its size) and a shield the same brown as the armor. This, however, didn't intimidate him, much. He grinned the same, confident smile, and muttered to himself.

"This big ol' lug is the boss? Heh, y'know, he kinda reminds me of Agito... same color brown... No, forget it. It's just a coincidence. Besides, I've been wantin' to beat on a tough enemy for a while! Time to give that thing a good old fashioned *** kicking!"

Sange took Requiem into his hands, and charged out, ready to take on a boss he and his friends would be fighting.

"Alright! Let's have fun with this one, ne!"

Renai raised the blades of her daggers in a downward cross in front of her face, crossing the threshhold of the final floor. Only for a moment was there silence, and then a blinding light filling the room. On instinct, Renai bent her elbows, letting her wrists fall in height. Her eyes were now shielded from the unknown light, but her legs were trembling in desperate uncertainty.

"S-Sange! What happened?"

"Just another one of Requiem's techs," Sange said, shadowing a bit of exhaustion in his voice.

The flash ceased as the thinned-out size of the room came into full view. The room texture was unchanged, but as had continuously occurred the deeper they had ventured within the dungeon, there was barely any room for much movement, save for the wielding of lengthy weaponry. Sange's Requiem had dropped about half of 1/4 HP from the boss that Renai now acknowledged with tightly barred teeth, suppressing her mixed emotions of fear and eagerness to strike it down with everything she had. As the armored boss regained his stance, Renai awaited Vir's appearance to heal Sange whom had been inflicted a bit over 1/4 of his max, while she joined him by his side in her natural battle stance, while the Delay Time on his avatar wore off. Time was running short, for though she remained a good distance away, it would only take a moment for the armored warrior to be upon her, with the only option for both her and Sange being to charge forward; going around in such a claustrophobic room was an unavailable option.

"Vir! Right about now would be a great time to get your ass over here! We have less time than expected!" Renai yelled over her shoulder. Her command appeared in Roman characters within Party Chat, but her voice had long since been deafened by the echoing roar eminating from behind the iron bars of the axe-wielding giant. A drop of sweat slid from her forehead, her unwavering eyes challenging the beast.

...Vir will be fine, but Sange may still be thinking of his friends. No matter how scared I am...I have a reputation to keep up.

This post has been edited by Renai on Apr 18 2006, 03:53 PM

[The World]

Vir was busy in the corner formulating a strategy. He needed to see what kinds of attacks the monster had, so he decided to obey the order given to him by Renai. He charged the beast head on, sword drawn. He saw that the blinding flash of light had damaged the thing a bit, but not a lot. He looked for a weak point, quickly grabbing onto the knight's shield. He hoisted himself up onto it's arm. It shook frantically to get Vir off, but he held on tight. "Get him looking at something else!" Vir shouted, trying to hope that Renai and Sange would know what to do. He inched himself up the arm. The beast must've been smart as to not try and use it's weapon on Vir, knowing it could only hurt itself. It then slammed it's arm into the wall, making Vir let go, but not before Vir got one quick swipe on it's arm. It didn't do much compared to how much Vir's HP dropped. It dropped about 1/3 of his full health, so he decided to lay low for a while. "Okay, don't do that!" Vir warned.

Renai took her eyes off her target, glaring with ferocious displeasure at Vir.

"Vir! I thought we were clear! Ready your most powerful ski--AAHH!"

Renai's instructions were cut off by the oncoming side swing from the oversized curved steel ripping into her body. The weakness in her defenses had opened up a critical attack, damaging her HP to a little more than 3/4ths. Not having her Ring Mail currently equipped could have chanced killing her. Renai bore her teeth down at the ground while steadily backing up out of range next to Vir. She scrambled to get together her last Healing Elixer and a Healing Potion. All three of them were now damaged, with her now the weakest of the group.

"Way to fail...at playing f***in' hero...and NOT f***in' follow my instructions...! Did I not say to heal Sange and..."

Renai's mouth suddenly stopped moving, realizing that leading them to victory was all that mattered right now. Focusing directly on Sange, who was doing his best to keep the lumbering giant occupied while taking offensive slashes when he could and incurring the least amount of damage, she activated her only Warrior's Blood item on him. A crimson aura encompased him allowing his attack strength to increase for at least a minute or so. Not worrying about whether he noticed the change in his strength or not, she used a Healing Potion on herself, raising her HP to a little less than 1/2, and swapped the elixer she had planned on using with her only Speed Scroll. Once again, her eyes met with Vir, making extra sure that he caught the imposing emerald glimmer behind her overhanging ebony bangs.

"Vir. Sange. Listen. Sange, you have about 45 seconds left of that Warrior's Blood, but each attack you do will compensate for me not attacking as much. In the meantime, I'm going to use a Speed Scroll, primarily keep it distracted from you and Sange while taking shots at its armor when I can, and heal Sange if need be. You [Vir] prepare your strongest tech, skill, magic, whatever. Just make it quick and deadly."

As she spoke, a yellow aura surrounded Renai's body, signaling a jump in her agility. Though still substantially weakened, she turned her perception to the giant, spotting an opening at his unguarded side against Sange. In an instant, she had broken out in a full dash - knees bent, daggers crossed against her bosom, and her SP depleting some. By the time the brown giant could catch a glimpse of the short female, shining a vibrant gold as her yellow aura contrasted with the lightning power exuding from her daggers, she had already gone into a blinding twirl with her target just as vulnerable as she was when she had taken weapon damage. Her hair whipped around her grinning face and lips, giving her a appearance of awe-inspiring, angelic beauty that illuminated the entire room.

I won't lose...! No one will die in my party...! I'll take him down myself if I have to...!

"TAKE THIS, YOU OVERSIZE PIECE OF SHIT! -- THUNDER DANCE -- !"

This post has been edited by Renai on Apr 23 2006, 02:06 PM

[The World]

Vir winced. Oh yeah....

He quickly apologized, not wanting to jeopardize anything else in this mission. He stayed out of range of the attacks, quickly thinking of which skill he should use.

[Real World]

Viktor slammed his fist down. "How could I have been so stupid!" He said after activating the Mute function. He checked through his skills and magic, though his MP wasn't that good, he found a couple decent spells he could try to use. He checked the affinity of the boss. Earth. Game stats quickly raced through his mind. Earth is beat by...Earth is beat by...Wood!

[The World]

Vir, not knowing whether the time was right, decided to hold back on his magic for a while, trying to calculate when the delay time will have the spell strike at the right time. "When do you need it?" he called to Renai.

This post has been edited by God_of_Death on Apr 24 2006, 09:07 AM

Haru read through the mail once, immediately noticing something wrong. After another read-through, the message was clear.

'Another meeting' she thought with frustration. 'He'll have to wait until I'm done here. I should probably send him something, then.'

She opened another window and began composing a reply.

------------------------------------------------------

To: Thanatos
Subject: RE: RE- BBS Post

I'll have to meet you later. I'm currently engaged. I'll explain it all once I get there. I'm almost done here, so it shouldn't be too long.

-------------------------------------------------------

Then she turned to Ludicrous. "Definitely important. Let's keep going, we'll need to finish here quickly."

Ludicrous merely shrugged his shoulders. The more involved he got, the more curious this all became. When she moved again, he merely picked up his staff and followed.

"Another important friend of yours?" Ludicrous smiled at his joke. But he was the only one.

"Yes, Thanatos. I'm going to have to meet him after this. Looks like things are starting to get moving around The World. I just hope I can keep up." Things were going fast, and if this kept up Haru would have no time for anything else.

"Did you just say...Thanatos? The famous hacker? I suppose you just met him in a message, too?"

"Actually, an event. With a few other friends of mine. They experienced the same thing I did." She didn't want to say anymore, not after Thanatos's warning.

They had entered a room with two portals, one to the left and one to the right. Haru rushed the right one first, and two Dog-Sleds appeared in front of her. With wolf heads attatched to sleds for bodies, they were a strange sight. They were fire-resistant, so she changed her weapons accordingly. Instead of having fire-related attacks, she equipped something with lighting-based attacks. The attacks wouldn't do anything special, but at least they would still do some damage.

She leapt in to attack one, cutting at it as she landed softly. It howled in pain, then composed itself hurriedly and began casting a spell. She rolled to the side to dodge it, when a fireball shot from the other one hit her squarely in the chest, taking down some of her HP. It wasn't too much, at least. She dodged another as Ludicrous launched a spell he had been forming. "MeRue Zot" he chanted as pillars of ice erupted from underneath one of the monsters. Another blow to the head by Haru was all it needed to finish it off. As the two began focusing on the next enemy, they found it across the room near the other portal. Ludicrous began casting again, but as he unleashed his spell the monster dashed away.

"It's trying to get us over there" Ludicrous pointed out. "But obviously, we're not going to. It's just common sense to finish one portal before activating the next. If not, we'll get overwhelmed by monsters."

"I know" Haru said impatiently. "But what do we do? I say we go over there. After all, you have no worries if I'm here."

"I don't think--" Ludicrous began before he was cut off by the sound of the other portal activating. Mentally he slapped his forehead. How had he found her? And why did Balmung want to see someone so...inexperienced? Her level betrayed her personality.

This time, two witches had appeared floating on crystal balls. They moved quickly to the corners of the room to begin their own spells. After one was unleashed, Haru stood there stock-still.

"Get moving!" Ludicrous yelled.

"I'm paralyzed!" she shouted back. Ludicrous sighed in annoyance, holding back the urge to scream 'I told you so.' He used one of his last Antidote potions. When she was freed, Haru sprang back in front of the Dog-Sled and began hacking at it furiously. "Thunder Dance!" she shouted as the hits came in rapid succession. Ludicrous cast another water spell. "Rue Kruz" was all he said as small balls of ice converged on the monster. As they hit there was an elemental critical sign and the dog slid to the floor. The witches were the next targets.

Haru used a Speed Scroll to temporarily boost her speed attribute. She glowed momentarily as it took effect. She rushed one of the witches, who were also of a fire element, and took it completely by surprise. A look of horror appeared as Haru swiped at its head, but it dodged at the last moment.

"Can you help me with that?" Haru asked, almost impatently.

Ludicrous, instead of responding, once again began moving his hands in formation. Channeling his energies, he released it in a binding spell. "Suvi Lei" he muttered as the witch suddenly stopped spinning around on her orb in front of Haru. She took the oportunity to get in a hard hit, angry at the monster for taunting her so. After it fell, she turned to the other, who had been hiding in a corner. As Haru dashed at the monster to finish it like she did its partner, she was hit with a spell. Unable to move, fireballs formed around her and then struck simeltaneously. Ludicrous had already unleashed his Rue Zot spell. As the pillars of ice struck the witch, another elemental critical message appeared and she faded to nothingness.

"You" Ludicrous said with a rising temper, "need to be more careful. I'm not your level, you know. I could still get killed here."

"Sorry" Haru said sheepishly. "I'll try not to do that anymore. But we've spent enough time here, let's move on to Balmung."

She turned to the open doorway that would lead her to the stairs to the next level. Ludicrous followed obediently, not wanting to lose her in case she rushed off unexpectedly. He was expecting her to do that.

Sange had quickly used a health potion, luckily, in time for another strike. Once again thanks to luck, the earthen knight missed, and gave the blademaster a chance to sweep in and unleash another tech.

"Requiem special number two: Sorrow!" he cried.

He traced a line down the edge of the blade, and took a step, jumped high into the air, and he split a line down the entire side of the knight, then spun and slashed it horizontally. It did moderate damage for his level, and he was satisfied with that. Fearing for his HP, he ran off, but not before taking a lick to the backside. As he got back, he saw Renai going in for a major offensive attack, and grinned. Sange admired her stout courage, but feared her harsh attitude.

"Hey Vir, we could use that spell right about now! Renai could use a bit of help, and I spent out my special guage, so I don't think I can use Regret..."

[The World]

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Mjollnir walked around the streets of the "canal city" through every major intersection and player gathering point, then he went to his "appartment". This is where he keeps all of his most prized armor and items displayed on the walls. "Well... I haven't put much on the walls in weeks. Not since the incident." He sighed and walked around some then took off some of his armor items and switched them for some of the rare items that acutally had some good abilities and stored some other good weapons that he had then headed out again.

"Where did that blasted girl go? She's gotta be around here somewhere." He said as he walked around a back street of the city then walked into a small alley way/shortcut to get to the main parts of the city.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Apr 26 2006, 07:37 PM

Delta: Raging Homely Plains

It had occurred to Ludicrous that he really should've known better than to even consider the paradoxical expression, "Expect the unexpected," but he had to admit, it had managed to take his mind off of some other matters which were currently vying for his attention. These matters included, but were not limited to: "What the hell is going on?" "Why am I here?" and, his personal favorite, "I am so going to die." Right now that last one was making a particularly strong grab for his mental focus, but Ludicrous was busy with other things, like not dying.

The General Armor's attack had come unexpectedly from a blind spot to his right. Quickly putting aside the thought of whether he should have expected that or not, Ludicrous reacted as best he knew how. He whipped around his right arm (the first thing he was able to put between himself and the monster of a fist coming at him) and put up a hasty barrier between himself and the attack, but this was no match for the behemoth's strength, and the shield shattered against his power. However, it had bought Ludicrous enough time to get behind his staff, which was unfortunately looking more and more puny against the incoming onslaught. The armor's fist met the staff with a resounding crack, and power shot out from Ludicrous's hands, enveloping his weapon.

He'd managed to place a brief Unbreakable spell on it at the last second, which, though it had saved his staff from splintering into thousands of pieces, meant that all that force was now going to have to outlet itself somewhere else. Ludicrous felt the strength of the blow ripple through his arms and body, then down through his legs and into the ground. In an instant he passed his breaking point and was blown backward through the air, landing hard on his back and sliding a little ways across the floor. The spell on his staff had drained a lot of energy really fast, and Ludicrous was now effectively backed into a corner, his health dangerously low.

"A little help here, Haru!" He yanked a spiritual potion from his belt and downed it as the creature advanced on him, apparently planning to finish him by stepping on him. For a second the only thought Ludicrous could get through his mind was how pathetic and downright rude that was. He was in a dungeon many levels higher than him, low on most of his items, and his only ally was someone he wasn’t even sure he could trust. He felt the least the monsters could do to make up for this drastic disadvantage was to let him go down in a blaze of glory… but stepping on him? That just wasn‘t right; it had be violating some natural law, like the Conservation of Dignity.

The potion had finally taken effect, and Ludicrous gathered up his new strength into his free left hand, pointing it at the General Armor’s foot, “Rai Kruz!” Bolts of lightning crackled from his fingertips, joined together at his palm, and struck into the bottom of the armor. Ludicrous was pleased with the resulting cooperation of Conservation of Dignity and the innate conductivity of metals. The electricity zipped along the armor, scoring hits all over the creature which stumbled backwards, right into Haru’s blades.

As Haru appeared behind the defeated monster, ending the battle, Ludicrous slowly attempted to get back to his feet, but stumbled, and nearly fell back down. Having finally regained his balance, he gulped down a health potion to follow up the spiritual potion and congratulate it on a job well done.

“You need to stay behind me, Ludicrous, I can’t protect you all the time in crowded rooms like this.”

Ludicrous looked over at the Twin Blade, suddenly feeling the Conservation of Dignity turning against him, but he successfully managed a smile, “Right.”

Ludicrous reassessed his situation--he found himself doing that a lot in this dungeon. He guessed they must be close to even in terms of saving each other, she was high level but a little too reckless for his taste. He thought about it some more and began to realize that she actually might’ve saved him more than he had taken into account, so he stopped thinking about it, and instead looked through his items again. It was bleak picture, even though they were almost done the third floor. That spiritual potion had been his last, and he only had two health potions left. Most of his items were similarly depleted, he was out of Antidotes and had only one restorative spell left. He checked through his tarots, and continuing to find it a dismal situation. He didn’t have many spell cards left--he hadn’t had many to start with. He’d been trying to rely on his own skills as much as possible, but conservatism was only getting him so far. Fortunately, he did still have a few status changing tarots. He was particularly fond of these and tried to save them for bad situations, like now. He had three Lovers, five Moons, and a Hanged Man still, those would come in handy.

But, besides all that, he had a Soul Charm he had found in the last dungeon he’d explored, which was a lucky find and he was planning on using it. Holding the trinket in his hand, he focused on the energies making up the charms spell, trying to use his own power to amplify them--he needed to make this last as long as possible. When he felt ready, he spoke the incantation, “Rig Saem,” and the charm dissolved into a soft blue light, which flowed into Ludicrous’s body, invigorating him. The spell replenished his SP quickly over time, giving him a period of time where he’d be able to cast almost without limit. He’d need that.

“Hey, are you coming?”

Haru was standing by the door to the next room, Ludicrous answered her by picking up his pace to an easy jog. As they headed through the door to the last few rooms of the second floor, Ludicrous decided to make another attempt at conversation, or rather intelligence gathering. “What kind of event do you meet someone like Thanatos at? I wouldn’t think he'd be very social...”

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Apr 27 2006, 07:23 PM

Ludicrous jogged to catch up to her and started asking questions again. Although they were slightly annoying, Haru put up with them because she knew how odd this whole thing must seem. She still had tons of questions herself.

"The kind of event Thanatos likes. It was in a graveyard, in Delta: Testaments Unholy Scriptures."

"But there's no dungeon there, just that church."

"It was an event. A dungeon materialized there. Our party had the only people there. It was pretty big, though. When we got to the bottom..." Haru paused for a moment, "...we decided to keep in touch."

"To keep in touch, huh? Didn't want to lose your buddies? No, it's more than that."

"Maybe" she said with a mysterious smile. "But seriously, that's all I can say for now." She turned and walked down the steps they had reached while talking. On the next floor, Haru unleashed a fairy orb of her own. As the map unfolded before her, she noticed something about this floor. No steps down. Balmung was near. Haru began to shake. The Balmung. The famous player. She was actually going to talk to him. The realization of what was happening finallly hit her.

"Are we going or not? He's not too far off, you know."

"Y...yeah. Let's go." They walked away from the stairs to meet one of the most famous players ever to grace The World.

Dodging most of the monsters for Ludicrous's sake, the ones they were forced to encounter were weaker than most they'd seen so far. That was odd for a dungeon at this level. Usually the monsters would be the same or stronger. Was it a precursor to something? Haru dismissed that thought with a wave of her hand. The last room north was large and had no portals in it. Another oddity, most rooms like that had at least one. Haru charged in nonetheless.

She looked about the room and saw just as the map suggested. Nothing. No Balmung, no monsters, no eggs, not even any skeletons to break. Absolutely nothing. She looked up and down, and did a few laps around the room.

"He's not here" Ludicrous observed.

"Obviously. But...where did he go? Why would he just leave like that? I thought we would meet him..." She sounded disappointed. As the two turned to leave, Haru thinking about why she would be left like this and Ludicrous musing about how useless this was, the ground shook violently. Haru kept her balance using her Twin Blade dexterity, but Ludicrous was on his back. When it stopped, she turned to help him up. But what she saw behind her stopped her in her tracks.

"Well?" Ludicrous asked impatiently, waiting for her help. "What are you looking...at..." He, too, had turned and seen what she had. It was no ordinary monster. It stood at least five times Haru's height and had four arms, one for each side. It had two faces, one that was snarling and one that was crying. In each of its hands was a different weapon. A scimitar, a longsword, a mage's staff, and even a bow. Its skin was a pale green with darker green splotches all along it. Its feet were bare, but with claws the size of Ludicrou's staff portruding out of them. The two party members looked at each other.

"Run!" they screamed in unison as they turned to flee. The door made a loud thud as it sealed itself tightly.

"What do we do?" Haru asked in a panic.

"I don't know" Ludicrous replied. "Surely we'll die. This monster shouldn't be here. It's too strong!"

As the monster began to advance, both players huddled together. All the work done in this dungeon was going to waste. The Conservation of Dignity had failed Ludicrous again. One of the monster's large feet rose up and began to fall back down to earth right on top of them. Before it reached them, a white blur flew in front of them and threw the foot away. The monster stumbled back, and Haru looked at their savior. With brilliant white hair to match his wings, Balmung of the Azure Sky was a sight to behold. His armor sparkled even with the lack of light in this dungeon. He looked briefly back at the two still holding each other and gave a slight grunt. The he focused on the monster. Drawing his blade, he flew up to its angry face and gave it a good slash. Haru watched as the monster's HP rocketed down. He attacked in quick succesion and soon the monster was defeated. Balmung walked back to the ones he had saved.

"Thank you" Ludicrous said with a hint of awe in his voice. Haru stood dumbfounded.

"It was nothing. Now, you're Haru, correct? The one who posted on the BBS board if I'm not mistaken. I need to know where you saw her." He waited expectantly for a reply, but none came. "Are you going to tell me?" Her head made a quick nod. He waited again. "Are you going to tell me anytime soon?" She finally broke her silence.

"In...Delta: Testaments Unholy Scriptures. It was an event."

"Aura in a CC Corp event? No...it can't be. She stays away from them. Or us, as I should say now." Haru looked warily at him, wondering if he would try to stop her. He noticed the look and replied. "No, I'm here to help. I was once a dot hacker, too, you know." He smiled, remembering those times. "What did she say to you?"

"She told me that I was the one who could save The World. She told me...the Dragon had awakened." Balmung gave a puzzled look at that last statement. Apparently he didn't know what this "Dragon" was either. Suddenly, he looked up, as if his name had been called.

"Reki..." he muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for Haru to catch it. "I must go. Being an administrator has its downsides. If you need me, don't be afraid to give me a message directly. No need to go through my underlings. And alert me immediately when Aura contacts you." He disappeared in the traditional three rings.

"Thanks" Haru muttered.

"Well, let's go get the treasure, then we can get out of here" Ludicrous suggested.

[The World]

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Mjollnir walked around the main streets of Mac Anu, but hung out relativly close to the Chaos Gate just in case Haru or the others showed up. On him he had three different twinblade weapons. His favorite pair Bom-Ba-Ye, the pair with the special ability to unlock closed duengon doors Agape, and Hell's Gate.

He leaned against the wall of a nearby building watching the Chaos Gate and gasped some then got a look of intrigue when he saw Balmung, the Balmung of the original dot hackers, appear in transport rings. He had clearly come from a feild because his cloths and armor didn't look shiny or clean and a few of the feathers on his wings were ruffled. Suddenly he quickly and efficently casted a health item on himself then turned around a full 180 degrees and shouted out what appeared to be a feild address but he couldnt hear him and before he knew it Balmung was gone.

Mjollnir blinked and rubbed his eyes in disbeleif then pushed himself off of the wall and walked closer to the Chaos Gate and sat down cross-legged near the bottom of the steps to it and waited for someone from the party to arrive. This day kept getting more interesting by the moment. Then he smiled some.

Delta: Raging Homely Plains

Once again, a Gott Statue lay in ruins all around him. It was awfully depressing.

"I'll handle this," spoke Ludicrous, carefully pulling his Sprite Ocarina out of it's holder. He placed his fingers along the holes, allowing some of the lower open to remain open, and blew a clear note which echoed through the room, a B.

His fingers blurred across the seven holes, and more notes followed: A, F, B, A, F, B, A, E, D, E. The song went on like that, but Ludicrous stopped playing--all that had been necessary was for him to blow a single note anyway. He just took the time to learn stuff like that in order to immerse himself. As the three golden rings enveloped him, he was vaguely aware of a presence nagging at his conscious. It seemed like he had mail...

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Ludicrous reformed in front of the Chaos Gate, and his thoughts finally caught back up with the rest of him. He did have mail.

He zipped through the message--it was a response from Mjollnir, and about time, too. Nothing he hadn't known or guessed already, and ironically pointless now anyway, it was just some information about the dot hackers. He turned to Haru, "Mjollnir just messaged me, I think we should meet up with him."

Ludicrous found to his dismay, but not disbelief, that Haru was in fact not beside him at all. He watched her continue to dash a little way down the street only to stop with a bound in front of a familiar face, a soft smile playing across his lips, sitting cross-legged by the steps. "Fast worker..."

Ludicrous strolled over at an easy pace, watching Haru converse in whisper mode with Mjollnir. He could tell by the expression on her face that she was excited, Mjollnir seemed to be absorbing her enthusiasm. Once Ludicrous was reasonably close, Haru turned and went to introduce him, while Mjollnir's stats filled the bottom of Ludicrous's screen--chat had switched to Party Mode. "It's okay, Haru, we've met."

[Real World]

"Finished." Having finished programming the last few lines of code, Adam sank back into his chair and surveyed his work. "Well, it's not my best work," he said, correcting a few errors as he came across them, "but it will shield our conversation for a while...Huh, more mail, it seems. It looks like the admins haven't found a reason to get rid of her yet. Hopefully time will be on our side." Quickly, he set up the program to activate once Haru entered the field and returned to the game.

{The World}

"Well," said Thanatos, sighing softly, "I suppose all that's left to do is wait..."

"Oh. Really?" Haru asked in surprise.

"Yes. It was after you left last time," Mjollnir interjected.

"Ah..." she muttered. Perking back up, she immediately began filling in Ludicrous. "I got a message from Thanatos. We'd better get moving soon. He's been waiting plenty already."

Nodding in agreement, Mjollnir began to follow her to the Chaos Gate. Ludicrous merely stood his ground in protest.

"What is it?" Haru asked politely.

"You drag me off to that dungeon with little supplies and now you're bringing me to another when I'm even less prepared? Are you crazy?"

"No. I try not to be." Haru smiled sweetly. Ludicrous was not amused. "Alright. We'll stock up after we get back, 'kay? We probably won't even go into the dungeon. And if you need stuff, we've got some." She immediately opened her party window and chose to give items to Ludicrous. She gave him a few healing items and some SP restoring ones, too. Mjollnir handed over some of his status recovery items.

"Better now?" Grundingly, Ludcrous accepted the gifts and followed.

She held up her hand and recited the keywords. "Delta: Swirling Twirling Dark Ruins." The traditional rings encircled the three, whisking them off to their destination.

Appearing in the field, Haru immediately noticed the dark aura emanating from it. The sky was dark and the sun hidden by thick clouds. Torches lit up the field, all of them strung around the crumbling ruins. Haru released a Fairy Orb and let the item do the searching for her. The group dodged most of the portals because they were pressed for time, but the ones that would take them out of their way to avoid they were forced to encounter. The area was a low level, so they managed to dispatch the monsters rather quickly. After a short while they came upon the dungeon.

"I thought we wouldn't have to go in. Where's Thanatos?" Ludicrous asked. In answer to his question the hacker swooped down from his perch and activated his program.

"Hello Haru." He looked at Ludicrous. "We'll talk about him later. For now, we need to talk about some other business."

This post has been edited by sombrero of justice on Jun 3 2006, 08:47 PM

{The World}

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Mjollnir sat there on the street in front of the Chaos Gate and hummed a random tune.


[Real World]

As Mjollnir sat inf front of the Chaos gate, Sam in the real world was working on finishing up the info on all of the monsters from the secret event. "A few more minuites... Oh... Well, well, well... Lookie whos back."

{The World}

Delta Server: Mac Anu

Mjollnir noticed Ludicrous and Haru reform in front of the Chaos Gate so he stood up and dusted off his pants and noticed that Lucicrous was just standing there but was in actuality going through the Flash-Mail that Mjollnir had sent him with info about the dot hackers. Ludicrous turned to Haru, "Mjollnir just messaged me, I think we should meet up with him." Ludicrous found to his dismay, but not disbelief, that Haru was in fact not beside him at all. He watched her continue to dash a little way down the street only to stop with a bound in front of a familiar face, a soft smile playing across his lips, sitting cross-legged by the steps.

"Fast worker..." Ludicrous strolled over at an easy pace, watching Haru converse in whisper mode with Mjollnir. Haru was excited, Mjollnir absorbed her enthusiasm. Once Ludicrous was close to them, Haru turned and went to introduce him, and Mjollnir's stats filled the bottom of Ludicrous's screen--chat had switched to Party Mode. "It's okay, Haru, we've met." said Mjollnir. "Oh. Really?" Haru asked in surprise. "Yes. It was after you left last time," said Mjollnir.

"Ah..." she muttered. Perking back up, she immediately began filling in Ludicrous. "I got a message from Thanatos. We'd better get moving soon. He's been waiting plenty already." Nodding in agreement, Mjollnir began to follow her to the Chaos Gate. Ludicrous merely stood his ground in protest. "What is it?" Haru asked politely. "You drag me off to that dungeon with little supplies and now you're bringing me to another when I'm even less prepared? Are you crazy?"

"No. I try not to be." Haru smiled sweetly. Ludicrous was not amused. "Alright. We'll stock up after we get back, 'kay? We probably won't even go into the dungeon. And if you need stuff, we've got some." She gave him a few healing items and some SP restoring ones, too. Mjollnir handed over some of his status recovery items. A couple of Health Drinks, Mage's and Artisan's Souls as well as a few Ressurects. "Sheesh What a baby" Said Mjollnir.

"Better now?" Said Haru and Ludcrous accepted the gifts and followed her back to the Chaos Gate. She then held up her hand and recited the keywords. "Delta: Swirling Twirling, Dark, Ruins." The traditional rings encircled the three, whisking them off to their destination. Appearing in the field, Mjollnir noticed the dark aura emanating from it as well. The sky was dark and the sun hidden by thick clouds. Torches lit up the field, all of them strung around the crumbling ruins giving the feild an errie look to it. Haru released a Fairy Orb and let the item do the searching for them. Then the group dodged most of the portals because they were pressed for time, but the ones that would take them out of their way to avoid they were forced to encounter. The area was a low level, so they managed to dispatch the monsters rather quickly. After a short while they came upon the dungeon.

"I thought we wouldn't have to go in. Where's Thanatos?" Ludicrous asked. In answer to his question the dark hacker swooped down from his perch and activated his program. "Hello Haru." He looked at Ludicrous and raised an eyebrow with a suspicious look. "We'll talk about him later. For now, we need to talk about some other business."

Mjollnir raised an eyebrow as well and followed Thanatos, Ludicrous, and Haru through the ruins. He then switched to Whisper-Mode with Thanatos and Haru without Ludicrous noticing. "Oh yea... By the way, I compiled a bunch of data and pictures from our "little" Secret Event the other day. I'm sending them to you guys right now." And with that Mjollnir sent of a Flash-Mail with a link to his private information stash but a direct link to just the information of the monsters from the Secret Event.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Jun 4 2006, 10:24 PM

From his lofty pearch on top of the pyramid, Thanatos watched as the golden rings brought his two new companions along with an unknown character to the area. Hmm...he doesn't look like any of the alternate characters of the admins, he thought, gazing down upon the unknown wavemaster. But can he be trusted with the information he is about to learn. Well, I suppose we have to trust in Haru's decision. Silently, he rose to his feet, spread his wings and took flight.

Slowly, the group made their way though the ruins, finally arriving at the pyramid marking the dungeon's entrance. "I thought we wouldn't have to go in. Where's Thanatos?" Ludicrous asked. As if in answer to his question, Thanatos swooped down from his perch and activated his program.

"Hello Haru." He looked at Ludicrous. "We'll talk about him later. For now, we need to talk about some other business. I've created a barrier which will shield our conversation from any prying eyes, but only for a short time. We will have probably only half an hour before the barrier is detected, after that it's only a matter of time before they break it down and take action against anyone inside. I'd say we'll have only ten minutes before they break through."

"Excuse me for one moment." His eyes seemed to mist over as he looked over the information Mjollnir just sent him. "Well, this is interesting," he whispered back. "Good job with the information. I'll see if I can get anything we can use to our advantage from it."

"Alright, down to business. But before I begin, I must ask if anyone besides the admin who deleted your post has contacted you. If so, I need to know who it was and what you told them."

Delta: Swirling Twirling Dark Ruins

Ludicrous lagged behind as Haru and Mjollnir vanquished what portals couldn't be avoided to reach the entrance to the dungeon. His shadow flickered in hundreds of different directions as the group passed by the various torches covering the bleak field. Lost in thought, his eyes were glazed over; he'd noticed long ago that the motion of the smoke in his staff's crystal had become agitated and irregular--he was carrying a small tornado in there now.

Thanatos... the hacker. Most people knew of him, but few actually knew him. Whenever his name came up on the boards, you could feel the oppressive silence set in even over the net, as if all the vets were afraid to talk about him. Infamous and taboo. It was utterly obvious his character violated the TOS, but for some reason CC Corp never did anything about him. Thanatos must have something on them, Ludicrous was certain, something he could hold against them. Was he really that skilled a hacker, that he could scare a multi-national computer corporation?

Huh? The twister in Ludicrous's staff collapsed in on itself, and mist billowed all throughout the sphere, then suddenly fell still. The smoke in his orb had never stopped moving before. He looked up--they were at the dungeon's entrance, an imposing pyramid reaching up into the clouds, which were swirling in spite of his staff. "I thought we wouldn't have to go in. Where's Thanatos?"

The pale horseman answered him by swooping down from the clouds, and landing with a single beat of his wings. "Hello Haru." His eyes then turned to Ludicrous, who matched his stare, well at least as best he could, since one of the hacker's eyes was hidden behind his hair. "We'll talk about him later. For now, we need to talk about some other business. I've created a barrier which will shield our conversation from any prying eyes, but only for a short time. We will have probably only half an hour before the barrier is detected, after that it's only a matter of time before they break it down and take action against anyone inside. I'd say we'll have only ten minutes before they break through."

What is he planning that'll take forty minutes? Ludicrous was liking this less and less, but he'd stepped in it now. Thanatos may be able to escape persecution, but if he was caught now he was certain CC Corp wouldn't waste any time in banning him, and he was coming to like The World.

Forty minutes? Would they need that long? Probably. They had to discuss what they were doing here...and try to figure out what this "Dragon" was. Aura still hadn't contacted Haru, and she was getting worried. Haru put on a serious face, one she hardly ever used.

"Well, that's not much time. Let's get talking."

"First, have you been contacted yet?" Thanatos started.

"No. I would've told you immediately. I'm getting worried. What if...What if CC Corp's done something?" Haru voiced a concern that had been nagging her for a while now.

"They wouldn't. And even if they dared to touch something as unstable as Aura, they couldn't. She is the game. Without her, who knows what could happen." Thanatos was either very knowledgeable on the subject, or a good liar. Either way, his confidence made Haru feel better.

"So what did you call us here for? You obviously wanted to tell us something or ask us a question." Haru watched his figure, waiting anxiously for an answer. He opened his mouth and began to speak.

"Well, first I need to give you a little history lesson," said Thanatos. "I'm sure you know the story of the Dot Hackers, or at least some version of it. But what most people don't know is the extent to which CC Corp tried to stop them. Their attempts ranged from viruses attached to items which would delete his account when the item was activated to trying to delete an area and take him with it. They even stooped so low as to use a data bug infested dungeon to eliminate Kite for them. However, in each instance, they were thwarted in their plans be two key elements. The first is the simple fact that Kite had powerful allies, including the greatest hacker to ever grace this World, Helba. In many instances, this factor allowed him to achieve what would have been impossible had he been by himself. The other factor, however, is something we don't have the advantage of, and therein lies the danger. Kite, aside from his friends, also had the protection of the bracelet. This Item was in many ways responsible for his survival. It not only allowed him to fight the corruption, it anchored him to the core of The World. This made the Admins unable to delete or alter his character data."

"Unfortunately for us, however, you don't have the same protection, Haru. I will do all that I can to protect you and all involved, but I am no match for the full fury of CC Corp. This is why we must keep a low profile. As I said in my message, you must not speak of Aura in any public channels. I have already done most of what I can for you. When you entered the area, your characters' data was copied to a partitioned sector I set up in the core server. This area is the gateway to that sector, kind of like my own tribute to Helba's Net Slum."

"Alright," he said, sighing softly, "now that my warning is finished, we can discuss our nex....."

He was cut off as the disembodied voice of an Administrator pierced the silence of the ruins. ATTENTION ALL USERS IN THIS AREA. THIS GATHERING AND THE BARRIER AROUND THE AREA ARE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE END USER AGREEMENT, AS WELL AS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE. THIS VIOLATION WILL RESULT IN THE DELETION OF ALL PLAYER CHARACTERS FOUND INSIDE THE AREA OR FOUND GATING OUT OF THE FIELD.

"Damn, they moved faster than I had expected. They must have performed their server check early. Listen to these directions carefully. At the end of this alley, you will find an open door. This door will lead to a room and in this room is my version of a chaos gate. The gate is an untraceable escape route through the core server. While it will allow you to escape undetected, this safety comes at a price. The gate will send each of you to a randomly chosen area in the world. This area could be on any server, so be careful attempting to attack any monsters you find. The admins will not have been able to breach the barrier yet, so they won't know any of us were here."

"I've done too much recently. CC Corp is no doubt looking to blame this on me, so I'll have to lay low for a little while. Haru, if you need anything or if Aura contacts you again, use this e-mail address to contact me. Good luck to you all and Godspeed." Quickly, he ran to the entrance to the pyramid and disappeared in its depths.

This post has been edited by thanatos06 on Jun 9 2006, 11:35 AM

Turning towards Mjollnir and Ludicrous, Haru motioned for them to follow then set off where Thanatos had pointed. Using her speed, she sprinted off down the alley just as the hacker had said. Reaching the door first, she wrenched it open and entered the room.

But it wasn't really a room. It was more like a grid. There were no walls, just green lines that created a solid floor going off forever in all directions. Just a few steps in front of her was a chaos gate. But it wasn't like the other ones she'd seen. Everything about it was transparent and it was a sickly green color. Walking carefully up to it, she reached out her hand. The moment she touched it, she was sent to another field.

Opening the avatar's eyes, Haru examined her new surroundings. Looking around her, she saw neither Mjollnir nor Ludicrous. She had ended up in a bright place, with the sun shining merrily down upon her. Along the horizon were hills that eventually led to a mountain range far off in the distance.

Probably out of the boundaries, she thought to herself. Picking herself up, she stood stock-still while she checked the field's stats. Let's see here...Low level...Theta server...Looks like I got a lucky break. Instead of gating out immediately, she decided to lay low in that area for a while. CC Corp was probably watching all the servers, anyway.

She released a fairy orb and followed her map to the nearest portal. She thought she might as well have some fun while wasting her time.

Hmmmm? Ludicrous checked the area info for a a clue...


Sigma: Hidden Double-Edged Haven


He had to laugh at Thanatos's gate's sense of humor, or more appropriately irony. Assuming that he really was safe from CC Corp, the area level was 63, which was just a tad too high for the poor Wave Master. Spotting an abandoned house behind him, a regular part of the scenery in winter fields like this one, Ludicrous magicked the door open and stepped inside to think things over.

Softly tapping his staff against the stone as he gazed out of a frosted-over window, Ludicrous was finding his remaining options rather dismal. The 'Voice of God' hadn't bothered him so far, and it had been almost a minute, so presumably he hadn't been tracked here... yet. He didn't really think they would.

Now that he had time to reflect, he was coming to appreciate the beauty of Thanatos's escape plan. By sending them to a random area, there would be no way to track them, and Thanatos had (hopefully) erased any logs of who was in that area before he left. So, that left Ludicrous with one problem. Had Thanatos covered his bases with the logs in this area? Ludicrous didn't see how it could be possible, there was no way to know what area he would be sent to. Surely there would be a recording in the logs for this field...

He mulled it over for a few more seconds, and finally reached a conclusion, though it felt more like a sacrifice, or a surrender. He had leveled almost five times since he'd been with Haru. Angry at that thought, Ludicrous slammed the bottom of his staff into the stone this time, and suddenly his whole body seemed to just shiver, flicker, and then blink out of existence...

[Real World]

As Jason flicked off the power surge beneath his desk, his monitor also blinked out of existence, followed by the power lights on his computer, speakers, and printer, and then his lamp, telephone, and DVD player all went out like a burnt out light bulb. "Dang, maybe that was a little too rash..." He got up, and went searching for the manual. He never could manage to set the DVD clock.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Jun 9 2006, 07:49 PM

[The World]

Delta: Swirling Twirling Dark Ruins

Mjollnir and company followed Thanatos down the alley as he spoke. Suddenly Thanatos was cut off as the disembodied voice of an Administrator pierced the silence of the ruins. ATTENTION ALL USERS IN THIS AREA. THIS GATHERING AND THE BARRIER AROUND THE AREA ARE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE END USER AGREEMENT, AS WELL AS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE. THIS VIOLATION WILL RESULT IN THE DELETION OF ALL PLAYER CHARACTERS FOUND INSIDE THE AREA OR FOUND GATING OUT OF THE FIELD.

[Real world]

Sam almost shit his pants when he heard the disembodied voice echo throughout the ruins and gripped his controller and started to sweat profusely some. "Fuck... Not good."

[The World]

Delta: Swirling Twirling Dark Ruins

Thanatos turned to them after the Admin's voice stopped issuing his declaration/warning and told them the instructions to escape this very dangerous and possibly horrible situation. Mjollnir nodded some looking a bit nervous, because he had never had never been in troube with the Administrators before but had helped them on several occasions, and followed Haru down the alley and through the strange door into a room that appeared not to be a room but a wide vast nothingness with a black grid floor that went on forever in all directions and saw Haru hold her hand up to the odd Chaos Gate and get transported off to a random feild then he walked up to it slowly actually starting to doubt that Thanatos had said about being untrackable but then gulped and swallowed his pride as a clean gamer and stepped up to the Chaos Gate ,closing his eyes and got whizzed away to a random feild.

Omega: Cruel Vindictive Scars

Mjollnir opened his eyes to reveal that he was in the middle of a grotesque pile of ruins that looked like decomposing bodyparts of giants. He shuddered a little and checked the stats for the Feild. "Hhhhmmmmmm... Been a while since I visited this server. Think I can still take on a feild and dungeon of this calibur by myself." And with that he released a Fairy's Orb and went off to clean all the monster portals on the feild and dungeon for a few good hours of training before returning to Delta server and join up with Haru, Ludicrous and Thanatos, if possible.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Jun 9 2006, 11:48 PM

[The World]

At the bottom of the dungeon, Haru landed nimbly after landing the finishing blows on a couple of witches. She smiled.

This is too easy. But it's pretty fun. Moving to the next room as the doors unlocked, she entered the one with the Gott Statue. Picking up the treasure casually, she looked through it. A couple of Gold Scarabs and some armor that was too heavy for her. She'd sell it all when she got back to town. Pulling out a Sprite Ocarina, she played a single note and put it down by her side. Remembering Ludicrous, she put the instrument back up to her lips and played a random tune. It was sounding pretty nice, but then she was warped to the dungeon entrance. Aww. I kinda liked that.

Opening the game menu, she scrolled the cursor down to the option labeled "Gate Out." Before she selected it, she hesitated. What if they were still watching? Elias took off his headset for a moment and looked at the clock. It had been over a few hours. Surely they weren't that patient. And, after all, the administrators never got a look at any of them. Sure it would be safe, Elias put the FMD back on his head and selected the option. The three rings appeared to whisk her away.

Back in Dun Loireag, Haru looked around cautiously. No guard was standing near the Chaos Gate, so she just wandered off. Before she was able to take one step, though, a message appeared in the corner of her screen.

More mail? Wow, I feel popular!


[Real World]

Logging out of the game, Ellias checked his inbox. The grin from his earlier joke was wiped off his face. Aura?! It was too late to contact Thanatos. He'd already be long-gone and lying low. But then he couldn't tell the others so easily. One step at a time he thought. Let's see what she has to say, first. Pausing for a moment, he gathered himself. After he felt ready, he opened the mail.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Haru
From: Aura

Subject:H₧.M

I n34d #(^ t$ c#m! to me. ^ #*ve i*&o�}Ftik─ $@ tV♀A y0Θ. ╤o<(t c∩mÄ al►xe.

Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Most of the message made absolutely no sense. He'd try to decript it later, or send it off to someone who could. He jotted down the only discernable thing from the message: the keywords. Then he sent a message of his own.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Mjollnir, Thanatos, Ludicrous
From: Haru
Subject: Alias Ural Regal Abandonment

I was thinking last night about some of these monsters. A few of the stronger ones give off a strange aura that just sets the mood. I contacted a few of my friends and we talked about it a lot. Me? I think it's cool. What about you?

So we can all talk about this occurance, why don't you meet me in Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Satisfied that the message could be read by a third-year old but not by a CC Corp admin with too little time, Elias sent it. He logged back in to wait for his friends, and hoped that they'd be able to help.


[The World]

Back in the game, Haru walked up to the chaos gate to change servers. Selecting the proper option, she was whisked away by the golden rings.

Back in the city of Dun Loireag, she admired its beauty. It was set in a nighttime environment, so the lights were always shining. Even with all the lamp posts and such, one could still see the stars sparkling in the sky. Snapping back to her senses, she approached the Chaos Gate in the middle of the main thoroughfare. She targeted it and put in her keywords. She sighed at the fact that she couldn't stay longer.


Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

She appeared in a dimly-lit area. It was a field that was overcast by deep, dark clouds that hung in the sky and refused to move. A wind rushed its way across the plain, and it would've cut through Haru if not for the fact that she was in a game. With nothing to stop it, the powerful gust nearly knocked her over. She almost laughed at the fact that she was so light.

Looks like I have a knack for these she thought sarcastically to herself. She went over near the dungeon to wait. It was a gigantic tree, imbued with the symbols for earth all around it. Sitting down, she made sure she was on the lee side of the tree for fear that she might get blown away.

This post has been edited by sombrero of justice on Jun 17 2006, 08:03 PM

[The World]

Omega: Cruel Vindictive Scars

Mjollnir walked slowly around a stony and fleshy corner on the bottom floor of the dungeon and sighed a well deserved sigh of releif at the sight of the last monster portal on his map display. "Bout time..." He then smirked and walked into the room containing the last monster portal and looked around at the size of the room. It was roughly the same size of the boss room in the special event. The monster that came out of it was almost equally as large. "Oh f**k..." * He rolled his head to the side closing his eyes doing a 'you gotta be kidding me' face then quickly and nimbly dodged the overly large biomechanical Ogre's spiked bat. It then let out a loud howl that echoed throughout the dungeon and made Mjollnir and Sam cover their ears as a reflex.


[Real World]

Sam took off his FMD with watery eyes and ringing ears and hit the mute button on his keyboard before the moster's howl reached its climax. He breathed heavily some with a cold sweat and rubbed his temples before he realized that the monster was done howling and was about to strike again then quickly put on his FMD and resumed the game.


[The World]

Omega: Cruel Vindictive Scars

Mjollnir dodged the second attemt by the monster to harm him and smirked slyly some. "Gonna be one hell of a fight." He readied himself and yelled out "Lanceor Pha!" and rushed into battle with the raging behemoth. Eight minuites later he stumbled out of the other entrance of the room battered and bruised with 'ALL MONSTER PORTALS CLEARED' blaring across the screen and completely deminished of MP. He then slumped down next to a hunched over skeleton and poked it weakly with the blade of his long knife making it crumble and reward him with a measily Health Potion. But that was good enough for him. He used the item and "replenished" his health with the item and stretched his arms and legs on the floor some then got up a bit refreshed from the health item.

He followed the map to the room with the Gott Statue and entered it then walked to the treasure chest and opened it. He received a Crystal Stone, two Ivory Bracelets and a ever so rare Vessel of Sky. Mjollnir smiled with delight as he looked the list up and down more then danced a happy jig when he saw the last item. Then bagged his newly aquired booty and whipped out his Sprite Ocarina and was whisked to the mouth of the dungeon. He then opened the menu and selected Gate Out and was teleported by the three magic rings to the root town of Omega Server; Relic City Lia Fail. Upon arrival, he received a Flash Mail warning alerting him to a new Flash Mail.

[Real World]

Sam quickly saved his progress so far at a Save Point counter and logged out of the game and checked the new mail.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Mjollnir, Thanatos, Ludicrous
From: Haru
Subject: Alias Ural Regal Abandonment

I was thinking last night about some of these monsters. A few of the stronger ones give off a strange aura that just sets the mood. I contacted a few of my friends and we talked about it a lot. Me? I think it's cool. What about you?

So we can all talk about this occurance, why don't you meet me in Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Hhhhhmmmmmm... Heh heh heh... Not muchh of a disguise but good enough to fool the Admins. Good job newbie." And with that he logged back onto The World and switched servers then gated his player avatar, Mjollnir, to the designated Feild.

[Real World]

Jason closed his Science textbook and pushed his papers aside, finished for the day. Well, it had been an hour or so since the incident, and nothing had happened. He checked the window once more to be sure. Yep, no attack helicopters or tanks to be seen. More to the point, he hadn't recieved any emails from CC Corp telling him his account was banned or something along those lines. Had he actually gotten away with... with whatever Thanatos had done? Only one way to find out. Jason logged on.


Sigma Server: Fort Ouph


What had happened? Ludicrous felt the familiar feel of stone beneath his feet, but this certainly wasn't Mac Anu. It was cold, and there was nothing but stone and sky everywhere he looked. He realized he must be in the Aerial City, Fort Ouph, but that certainly didn't explain how he had gotten there. He vaugley remembered going with the others to meet Thanatos the hacker, and being chased by the administrators. There had been a green gate, and... snow? There was a daunting blackness shrouding his memory that no amount of focus seemed to be able to penetrate completely. After a while, he gave up trying to remember. He had mail.

...

Heh, heh, who did Haru think she was fooling with this email? It was about subtle as if it had been written in Pig Latin. It probably didn't matter though, there was no way CC Corp had time to check every individual piece of mail. At most they probably only ran a word recognition program on subject lines, and this subject line was confusing enough without being a code. So Haru wants to meet again. Isn't this a little too soon? What if one of us had been tagged, we'd just be walking into a trap!

It was unfortunate that Ludicrous did not quite understand why it was such a big deal to be contacted by Aura. Had he been aware of just who Aura was, maybe he would've treated the situation with the urgecy it properly deserved. But for the moment, his mind was locked on something he believed he remembered hearing from Thanatos. Yes, that was where he'd hurt it...

...but what most people don't know is the extent to which CC Corp tried to stop them. Their attempts ranged from viruses attached to items which would delete his account when the item was activated to trying to delete an area and take him with it. They even stooped so low as to use a data bug infested dungeon to eliminate Kite for them...

No sense being overly hasty, eh? Turning away from the majestic site of the flying fortresses cannons, Ludicrous faced the Chaos Gate. "Cultural City, Carmina Gadelica!"


Lambda Server: Carmina Gadelica

Lambda Server, the only root town covered in the veil of night. It was a refreshing change of pace, and the cities flourescent lights cast a soothing soft glow across the stone paths. Without missing a beat, Ludicrous headed away from the Chaos Gate and into the heart of the city, keeping his face forward but not making eye contact with a soul. He did need to stock up, but at the moment he was mind was occupied with the flash mail he was composing as he walked.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To: Haru
From: Ludicrous
Subject: Prudence

Are you there already? I would be of little help in a higher level area, but I'll come if you need a healer. Keep your wits about you; enemies can be devious, as you should remember.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Real World]
Silently, Adam stared at the information on his monitor, his mind still re-living the events following the near disaster he had just avoided...

{The World}
After delivering his warning, Thanatos ran back to the pyramid, determined to safeguard the information stored in the area. As he ran, a small countdown timer appeared in the bottom of his screen, showing the amount of time he had before the admins broke through his barrier...10:00:00...Soon he had reached the dungeon and disappeared into its depths...9:18:23...After what seemed like an eternity, he emerged from the dark hallway into a vast chamber. The rough stone of the walls, floor, and ceiling was replaced with a glowing green wire frame. In the middle of the chamber floated three large, spinning crystals. Each of the crystals glowed from the swirling green mists of data stored inside. Quickly, he walked to where the crystals floated...8:26:49...

[Real World]
Adam's fingers became a blur as he tried to backup all the information he had stored in the area and eliminate all evidence of the meeting. "Damn you, CC Corp," he muttered as he worked, "I bet you don't even care about the amount of time it took me to set up this area." Though the work was slow, he managed to finish the back-up with a couple minutes to spare...2:50:41...

{The World}
"Alright, all that's left now is to destroy the evidence."...2:45:38...Quickly, Thanatos spread his wings and took flight, soaring through a large hole in the ceiling, emerging on top of the pyramid...2:14:52...Slowly, he took one last look over the area he had made his own...1:46:29..."Hmm...maybe the words of that old 21st century song were right...maybe every new beginning starts from some other beginning's end...Regardless, the time has come..." Beating his great wings, he once again took flight...1:15:48..."Initiate area destruction protocol Alpha Lambda Omega"...0:58:34..."Authorization: The Fourth Horseman"...0:32:05..."Password: Mortis" Silently, Thanatos faded away as the world dissolved around him...0:00:00...

Suddenly, Adam was snapped back to reality by the alert of new e-mail. Glancing at the clock, he realized several hours had passed. "Wow, the power of delusion, huh...Anyway, lets see who the e-mail is from..." Slowly, his face drained of emotion as he read Haru's message. "So she was contacted by Aura...Hmm...CC Corp will still be looking for me...Perhaps it is time for Hypnos to make an appearance......"

{The World}
Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes
Slowly the Golden rings faded, revealing a Heavy Blade clad in a navy blue trenchcoat with a rearing black dragon emblazoned on the back and a silver serpent wrapped around its right arm. He had shoulder-length dark blue hair and wore a pewter hourglass pendent around his neck. At his side, hung a silver handled katana in a black sheath with a matching tanto tucked into his belt. Silently, he walked toward the young twin blade.

"To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil..." he spoke cryptically as he drew near. "Hello Haru..."

[The World]

Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

'ALL FEILD GATES CLEARED' Blared across the screen as Mjollnir disbatched the last of the horrid triple threat Cyclo Sharks and the twin Grand Mages. He dropped to his knees sweating, battered and bruised all over from the many battles he had endured waiting for any of the others to come to his aid or at least signal him that they were there. Reaching a gloved hand into one of his satchels he pulled out an ever so rare Noble Wine that he had obtained in one of the root towns a few weeks prior to the adventure starting and popped the top off and chugged all of it down then coughed some and whiped his lips. "Ah... The good stuff."

Mjollnir took out then released a Fairy's Orb and made his way across the windy and dark feild almsot running into rocks, trees and even a Spring of Myst that didnt even show up on the Field map. "Woah... Odd... Then again, stranger things have happened." He finally reached the duengon entrance that was a large tree with a gaping hole in the base of the trunk and found Haru staring up at a mysterious game avatar that was a Heavy Blade clad in a navy blue trenchcoat with a rearing black dragon emblazoned on the back and a silver serpent wrapped around its right arm. He had shoulder-length dark blue hair and wore a pewter hourglass pendent around his neck. At his side, hung a silver handled katana in a black sheath with a matching tanto tucked into his belt.

Mjollnir quickly casted a Speed Scroll on himself and zoomed upto the stranger and put one of his knife's blades to his neck. "Who are you and what do you want with Haru?!" Then Heavy Blade blinked suprised some with Mjollnir coming out of nowhere then smirked some arrogantly. "Don't worry Mjollnir. I didn't come here to do anything but help Haru. A friend of mine, Thanatos, sent me to help you. Perhaps you have heard of him?" he said chuckling arrogantly some.

"Yes, do calm down Mjollnir. If he were threatening me you would've been able to tell." She smiled sweetly. "But your concern is touching."

"I just don't need you to die right now," he said defensively.

"So I suppose you'll count for Thantos, then?" she asked the newcomer.

"I suppose I will. Don't worry, he'll know about everything that transpires here."

"I don't doubt it. He tends to do that." She smiled mysteriously. It was all a play on her part. Feigning to know what she didn't was a good way to make others think a little more highly of her. And if she was to lead them, she'd need to establish herself as an authority figure. "We've got Thanatos, Mjollnir, and all we need now is Ludicrous." As if answering her, a message alert appeared on her screen.

---------------------------------

To: Haru
From: Ludicrous
Subject: Prudence

Are you there already? I would be of little help in a higher level area, but I'll come if you need a healer. Keep your wits about you; enemies can be devious, as you should remember.

---------------------------------

"Just a sec," she said to the other two assembled. "He just sent a message."

---------------------------------

To: Ludicrous
From: Haru
Subject: RE: Prudence

Everyone else is here waiting. I suggest you come quickly. You're in on this now, so you can't back down. I've got your back. And a healer is always necessary; we don't have one right now.

--------------------------------

"Well?" Mjollnir asked after a time.

"He'll be here soon. Or he should."

Sange had made his way back to the root town, Mac Anu, only something happened back in that dungeon. He couldn't remember what had happened to Renai or that other guy who was in the party with him. All he could remember was that giant earthen knight thing was beaten after a few near-death strikes, and when they opened the treasure box, the game glitched up and he had to shut his computer down. When he [Jordan] opened The World back up, his character was erased, but a new one stood in it's place. The inventory was rather the same, minus a few heavy armors but the lance was still the same name as his Blademaster's sword. Confused beyond belief, he went onto the bridge and stared at the water.

"What happened to me?" [Jordan] said to himself, forgetting he didn't mute himself. "More importantly, what happened to Renai and... uh... that chivalry guy, whatever his name is."

He supposed he shouldn't dwell on it, and 'advertised' a party being formed. Sange needed a new party, and hopefully, that scantily clothed twin blade didn't show up and start yelling at him... again.

Lambda Server: Carmina Gadelica

Hmmm. The tarot cards were pretty expensive, and he'd already splurged on potions. But having a variety of elemental spells and status effects would certainly be helpful, and he could always make more money afterwards. The choice was decided by the immense level difference between Ludicrous and Lambda Server -- it would be way to risky to go in there without doing everything in his power to prepare.

Well, the shops were certainly profiting today. Now, the only thing left to do is wait for... PING

Impressive, Haru; right on cue.

---------------------------------

To: Ludicrous
From: Haru
Subject: RE: Prudence

Everyone else is here waiting. I suggest you come quickly. You're in on this now, so you can't back down. I've got your back. And a healer is always necessary; we don't have one right now.

--------------------------------

Heh. He guessed Haru was right, he had managed to get himself in pretty deep. Digging his own grave, maybe? Hard to tell, Haru at least seemed to still be very much alive, which was a good sign. And when had any adventurer ever heeded prudence anyway? Ah, too be young again, he was getting too old for this kind of recklessness.


[Real World]

Jason laughed aloud at himself. To be young again indeed. He was only in middle school and it had been a long time since he'd really dreamt about some great quest. Could time really be slipping away already?


Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

"Looks like they've cleared the field already. Time to get started."

"Speed Charm!"

And Ludicrous took off towads the dungeon, bounding over obstacles at a speed that really wasn't believable considering his appearance.

They waited a few minutes in an awkward silence. Haru's two guests were feeling a bit impatient, but neither wanted to rush into any conversation. Haru was still sitting on a root and the two males were standing around her. Suddenly Haru stood and peered off at something in the distance. It was approaching fast.

"I thought you said you killed all the monsters," she said to Mjollnir. "You made me wait long enough."

"I did. The message came across my screen."

"Then what's that?" She pointed across the field to the moving object. He shrugged and merely stood there watching it approach.

"I don't know of any monsters that move that fast." Seeing as he was an expert on the things, Haru trusted his judgement and stared at it like everybody else. As it came into view Haru almost busted out in laughter. It was Ludicrous. And his old avatar was speeding faster than a vehicle. When he arrived, Haru put an impatient look on her face.

"Took you long enough," she said with an air of annoyance in her voice.

"I had to resupply. Some people don't give others any chances to get all the necessary items they need to go up against a server that's levels above their own. So it's really not my fault."

"I suppose he's right," Mjollnir commented.

"Thanks for being on my side," Haru said.

"Maybe you need to take it easier," the newcomer began. "This should be a sign. You rush off too quickly. With all these dangers and not enough protection, The World is a dangerous place for you." She contemplated his words.

"I'll take a rest later. I'll have plenty of time after this is all through. For now, we have to go see her." They all nodded in agreement and they trotted off to find their way into the depths of the dungeon.

After they had gone in, a roar erupted across the field. A deep voice resonated throughout the area. "They will journey far. And they will make sacrifice. But they shall awaken the dragon and save this world. It all has begun." For a moment the field was covered with nothing but darkness. It only lasted a moment, though, and no one was there to witness the phenomenon. No one would ever know what had transpired there. And the voice would make sure the party would fulfill what they had begun. One way or another, the dragon would sleep no more.

Lambda Server: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

Cajek walked through the area killing any monster he could find then he seen a trail of a dust in the distance looking on his map he found the person or thing heading toward the dungeon.

“Well I don’t think that is a monster they can’t move that fast, it could be another player I might as well go see if I can kill it.” he said pulling a Grunty flute out of his bag, Cajek played the flute and a Iron Grunty came running.

“Nice to see you again Iron” said Cajek as Iron grunted as he got on him. “Let’s go to the dungeon” he said as the Grunty began running toward the dungeon. On their way they stop a couple times to pick up some Grunty food. When they finally got to the a dungeon their was no sign of the person of Monster so he entered the Dungeon not knowing who was or what was their.

This post has been edited by russianwolf on Jul 17 2006, 11:10 AM

Wordlessly, the four warriors walked down the hallway, the flickering torches casting an eerie glow against the rough stone of the dungeon's walls. The only thing to pierce the silence was the sharp sound of their footsteps echoing off the walls. Finally, the newcomer turned to one of his companions and broke the silence.

"Oh yeah, Mjollnir, Thanatos told me to pass along his thanks for the information you compiled. He hasn't finished with it yet, but it looks promising..."

"Alright, now hold on a minute..." Surprised with the sudden outburst, the heavy blade turned to face the irritated Haru. "You tell us we can trust you, and you seem to already know everything about us...but we don't even know your name, what gives?!?"

"Heheh...I suppose you're right Haru. I guess in the excitement of having Mjollnir attack me, I completely forgot to introduce myself. Please allow me to start over. You may call me Hypnos. I am one of Thanatos's oldest 'underground' allies, so when he ran into trouble with the admins just now, he asked me to come here in his stead. Unfortunately, that's all I can tell you about myself, without risking having my cover be blown. I’m sure you understand the trouble I would be in with CC Corp if it was shown that I had close ties to a prominent hacker..."

"Hopefully that will answer enough of your questions that we may continue on with your adventure."

[The World]

Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

"Fine... Thats enough for now. But, that still dosent mean I trust you enough with what were doing. I got MY eye on you." Said Mjollnir pointing a knife a blade at him. "Remember that." And continued to walk down the hall. He scanned the hall and saw an intersection of corridors. "Well, guess I gotta use one sooner or later." And with that he reached into his satchel and pulled out a Fairy's Orb and let it loose to map out the floor of the dungeon.

"Well... Thats the second time I've seen a configuration like this." He turned to Haru and Hypnos. "You guys see that gigantic circular room littered with that web of Monster Portals? Thats a very bad thing... One of those opening will trigger the rest to open. Last time I encountered a room like that I just bearly got out alive. Luckily I was with Orca and Balmung at the time. We need to bypass that room. Some how." He frowned and leaned against the wall thinking. And looked at the map and walked down the hall some and saw a narrow corridor going along the right hemisphere of the room with four to five Monster Portals.

[Real World]

Sam browsed through his loggs looking for the time when that happened to him and blinked then went back a few then foward a few. "What the hell?! Where is it?!" After a few more minuites of searching he concluded that the file must have been accidentally deleted.

[The World]

Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

"Okay... Good news, bad news. The bad news is: I guess the file was deleted cuz I can't find it anywhere on any of my HDs. Good news is, I remember how I got out of the situation and we can go around the room. Lets go!!" And off they went on the narrow cenic route around the right hemisphere of the gigantic room.

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Jul 25 2006, 10:55 PM

(ooc: I needed to post a new I couldn't edit. so I deleted)

[The World]
Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

Cajek wondered into the dungeon seeing some characters in a cross-way to three other rooms. Well I guess I can. thought Cajek.

[Real World]

"Turns to second computer to his left and smerks pressing keys on his keyboard and then turns back to The Worlds screen."

[The World]
Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

The flickering torches die leaving the dungeon black, Cajek took this darkness to use and darted toward the cross-way, the only thing any one coould hear were his foot steps.

When Cajek got to Cross way he yelled out in the open "JUST PASSING THROUGH" then he was off into a gigantic room as the flickering torches turned back on.

As Cajek entered the gigantic room two monster portals opened up with three rather large monsters each. "Oh the fun" Cajek said as he ran into battle against a three flamdog's and three fire warrior's. Cajek went to attack one of the flamdog's one of the fire warroirs struck him with his sword sending Cajek flying to the ground. "this is going to be harder then I thought" said Cajek checking his health that was at 87%.

"I can't take to many hits like that and if they use spells I am as good as dead, and I had to not stock up in health potions too. Hacking in to their programs is the only option I have." said Cajek as he started runing around the room so he could stall to get one of his programs in.

[Real life]

"User turns again to left computer and activates program X-S (program that lowers monsteres level in size and attack) then quickly swithes back to the other computer."

[The World]
Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

One by one the monsters were turn smaller and weaker "good it worked now its my turn" said Cajek as he stoped running and headed for the monsters in seconds the monsters were dead. "I feel bad for them..wait a minute I don't" he laughed as he walked to a cest to see what he had won.

(ooc: is this better.?I can change it agian if you don't))

This post has been edited by russianwolf on Jul 26 2006, 02:59 PM

[The World]

Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Torandoes


Haru carefully stepped through the narrow corridor. Even just one misstep would set off all the portals in the adjoining room. This hall was a rarity in dungeons, but the whole party was relieved it was there. For a moment the lights flickered out, casuing Mjollnir to knock into Haru. Then as the lights brightened again, the silence was shattered by a scream that pierced the air.

"Just passing through!" were the words of the stranger that was bolting through the dungeon.

"Idiot!" Haru said as she bursted forth from the small corridor into the main room. "He's gonna get himself killed!" The rest of the party stood for a moment before following her lead.

Before they could get to his aid, the picture began to warp. It phased in and out, turning upside down one moment and back another. When everything settled back into place after just a few seconds, the high-level monsters that had been attacking the wreckless player had now turned into ones you would see at a beginner level.

"Hypnos," Haru adressed the newcomer.

"Yes?" he responded while smoothly gliding up to her side.

"You're friends with Thanatos. That's a hack, isn't it?"

"Yes," he replied. "Somewhat similar to the effect of Kite's old bracelet. He has to be pretty skilled to have that. In fact, I may have a rival. Why haven't I heard of him?" Haru was no longer listening.

"What's your name?" she called out as the obvious hacker rushed over for some treasure.

"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself as he stood after opening a chest. "I'm Cajek. Who are you?"

"What are you doing here?" Haru asked, ignoring his question.

"I'm clearing a dungeon. Now who are-"

"That hack, what is it?" Cajek was taken by surprise.

"It's one of my own creation. Now answer my question. Who-"

"Do you know who I am?"

"Obviously not. That's why I'm trying to ask who you are."

"Good. Leave now." Haru's suddenly tough demeanor shocked the rest of the group. Mjollnir caught up to her as she quickly walked away.

"What's that all about?" he asked. She sighed heavily and switched her chat to party mode.

"Another hacker will just bring more attention that we don't need. And we don't need anyone to replace Thanatos. Plus...I really don't want to endanger anyone else." She finally stopped and faced him, turning her chat from party to whisper. "I'm starting to have second thoughts about bringing everyone into this. After all, I'm the only one who was chosen. I'm the only one that needs to go on." Mjollnir stared at her for a moment.

"We choose to be here by your side. If we think it's dangerous, we'll bail out. Just like SilverSeraph did."

"But if you don't get out and you do get hurt, I can only blame myself. I don't want any of you to fall into comas or to...Maybe even...Die..." The final word hung in the air ominously. Mjollnir let out a strianed chuckle.

"We're too good for that." Ludicrous and Hypnos behind him merely stood, but just thier presence reassured Haru. She nodded and switched back to party chat.

"You're right. Let's go." She went a few steps and stopped to examine the floor. "If it ever gets too dangerous, don't wait for me. If I ever say go, you all must go." The twin blade turned to the rest of the group. "Promise?"

They all agreed in their own ways. And that agreement put Haru at rest. Their lives were more important than this mystery they were seeking to unravel.

"In that case, to Aura!" Haru held her blade up high.

"To Aura!" the rest repeated as they raised their weapons to meet hers.

Cajek stood by, watching the party chat with themselves.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

After five floors of fighting, the group had made their way to the sixth and final floor. This dungeon had been rigorous. Even for Lambda server it was nearly impossible for the high-level players in the group. Ludicrous had been revived once or twice. As they dodged another room's portals, crawling along the walls, Haru noticed a figure behind them all.

Is that? she thought for a moment. But whatever it was had gone. I must've just imagined it.

The next room was a small one, and the doorway opposite the one they entered had a purple mist.

"That's it." Everyone shared glances. Haru breathed deeply. "Let's go." One by one, they walked through. After they had all walked in, the one that had trailed them all throughout the dungeon followed.


Once again, it was a room of pure white in all directions. Just ahead of them was a bed. A stuffed bear was on its side, it's insides ripped open. Above it floated the ghastly Aura. Her eyes opened slowly, and her stare caught them all in a trance.

"The Dragon." Her voice was soft and calm. "The World needs the Dragon." The words somehow stirred Haru's voice.

"Why...Why does it need this Dragon? What Dragon?"

"Unseen by you, The World is falling apart. Soon its foundation will be completely destroyed."

"But the Wave! It's gone!"

"The Wave is no more. It is....The Seeds of Death."

"Seeds of Death? What does that mean?"

"Helba will know where to find the Dragon."

"Please, just tell me!"

"The Twilight Dragon. Helba, Queen of the Dark and Apeiron, King of the Light will meet at the base of the rainbow. She will quest for the Twilight Dragon. The World will fall into darkness. And in the end...A sacrifice. The Dragon will awake." She looked directly at Haru. "A sac-" A screech erupted from Aura's lips. Her hands went to her throat as if to fend off an attacker. Suddenly her body was pulled back by an unseen force.

"Aura!" Haru ran after her, and fell. Fell into nothing. The rest of the group tried to follow, but they were frozen. Then there was light, and they were gone. They had been transported back to the root town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Haru fell. It was an eternity.

Falling. Whiteness. Darkness. Oblivion. No way out. I can't get out. Will I die here? Did they leave? Will they stop? Please....Let them stop....I don't want them....They can't feel this....Don't feel this....

Only one sound was heard. It was almost like that of a tuning fork.



[Real World]

Elias fell to the floor. His headset glowed over his closed eyes. No one was around to hear him hit the ground. No one could help him.

[The World]
Lambda: Frolicking Dancing Tornadoes

Cajek found himself in the Root town shocked that he seen Aura, Cagek turned to whisper "ok this had to happen now of all the times I have seaching dungeons for him, and how did she know of my friend Helba this is not good....wait weres the girl who was yelling at me??....could it of happened again".

Cajek turn to normal speach. " were did that girl go.. I think something bad has happened to her?? and why was Aura talking about Helba" he asked the group.

[Real life]

"turns to second computer looks for Data on the group then turns to the first computer"

This post has been edited by russianwolf on Jul 27 2006, 08:41 PM

[The World]
Lambda: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica

Several magical portals appeared and dumps our group of heros onto the cobblestone road faces first with a loud racket. They then get up and look around dazed and bewildered as to what just happened to them. Then the strange Twin Blade/Hacker that they had run into in the duengon spoke up first. "Were did that girl go.. I think something bad has happened to her?? And why was Aura talking about Helba??" "I dunno. Lets continue this somewhere more private. Follow me guys."

Getting up and dusting himself off Mjollnir whipped out his knives and walks off down a alley followed by the other three players. After a while of walking through a maze of back alleys, Mjollnir then turned into a dead end and walked up to the wall at the end of the alley and whispered to the wall. "The password is : Beatnicks." And suddenly a door materialized on the wall out of nowhere to the astonishment of the other players. "Pretty sweet huh?" He said turning to the rest of the group. I traded for it with one of the dot hackers, Mistral, in Fort Ouph. Altho I didn't know it at the time. Its a hide-out. Her daughter, Mireille, has one just like this. Cept mine is kinda fancier." Then he faced the door and stuck his knife blade into the lock and turned it, opening the door. Then he walked in and held the door open so everyone else to walk in.

This hide-out had two floors one small room then a hatch, with shaft and ladder that led down to the main-room of it. As soon as everyone had assembeled in the lower main-room and sat around a round table near the corner Mjollnir stood up and slammed his hands down onto the table. "We gotta figure out what the hell just happened."

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Aug 1 2006, 06:37 PM

Lambda Server: Carmina Gadelica

"Well, at least no one's beating around the bush," thought Ludicrous as Mjollnir immediately began discussion. He was mildly impressed with how focused everyone was; something about the situation made it seem a lot more real than any game. He decided to voice what had worried him from the beginning.

"It was a trap. We had no way to be sure that it was actually Aura who contacted Haru, and," Ludicrous turned towards the newcomer, this Cajek, "we weren't exactly being discreet with our hacks."

"Hey, I was covering my tracks! If CC Corp found anyone, it would've been that loud mouth twin blade!"

"Loud mouth?!"

"Calm down," interjected Hypnos. "CC Corp may be crafty, but they don't have the style to pull off something like that. That was definitely Aura, and there's... little... in The World that can overpower her. Certainly not any corporation."

Mjollnir didn't like the way Hypnos had said little. "Do you think you know what it was?"

Hypnos seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking. "Not... exactly. Aura mentioned The Seeds Of Death."

"A paradox," added Ludicrous.

"I noticed that as well. Seeds Of Death does bring to mind Magus and Skeith, but..."

"Who?"

"Phases--it's not important, they're gone now anyway. I'm more worried about what Aura said about the structure of the world... its foundation. If The World were falling apart, someone should have noticed. Helba should have noticed, but it's been a while since there's been any sign that she's active."

"But what about Haru!?" interrupted Mjollnir. "Why didn't she come back with us?"

Mjollnir had asked the question even though everyone at the table, even Ludicrous, had at least some inkling of what had probably happened to her. For a few moments silence reigned, Hypnos wondering if it was even worth mentioning that he'd logged Haru being forcibly teleported out of the area. With a sigh, he broke the ice.

"Thanatos and I will try to track her down in the real world. With luck, she was spared the worst case scenario."

Everyone there looked grim. Even Cajek, who did not know Haru like the others had, seemed to feel the loss. This time, it was Ludicrous's voice which broke the silence.

"Where do we go from here?"

Lambda Server: Carmina Gadelica

"Where do we go from here?" said a Character that was talking to the others, Cagek thought of what most likely happened to their friend "well I think the worst case scenario has happened..." said Cagek and stoped to let is sink in " I have contacts with Helba but even I myself have been having trouble finding her and also the CC corp. is most likely aware of us being gated into the middle of a road instead or a warp gate, and I know Balmong is looking for me." said Cagek siting down on a chair.

[Real World]

Crying. He heard crying. Elias tried to open his eyes, but they were sealed shut. Behind the crying there was beeping. Why beeping? He felt something in his arms. He remembered Aura. What happened? Conciousness was quickly slipping away from him. What happened? The thought repeated in his mind, trying to find some kind of hold. What happened? He lost grip on his mind and slipped back into the blackness.

[The World]

Lambda Server: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica

A lone twin blade materialized at the Chaos Gate. She stood for a moment looking out at the city without really seeing it. Those eyes showed no conciousness, even in a game. She stood in the middle of the street, being jostled around by all the other users as they rushed past. Her blades flashed into her hands. Players turned a pale gray as they fell to the ground lifeless. They called out in protest, but only gasps escaped before they were down. The avatar turned around and disappeared with the telltale rings.

"My...aren't we optimistic," muttered Hypnos as the newcomer spoke. Quietly, he stepped forward to address the twinblade. "Listen, kid," he said, his voice filled with an unmasked irritation, "sometimes it pays to be a little more hopeful when you're talking to a group who have been working together for a while, about their leader who just disappeared in front of them. Though we may all have been thinking that, none of us said it, because we all wanted to hope she was spared that fate. Also, you might try being a little more diplomatic with your words, that means not doing things like calling the person a 'loud-mouthed twinblade'."

Slowly, Hypnos turned his gaze to the others assembled in the room. I wonder...in the trials to come....will they be strong enough to face a World gone wrong...and, if it comes to it, are they prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice..... Finally, he once again broke the silence posed by Ludicrous's question. "I suppose the only thing we can do to help Haru is to find this 'Dragon' that Aura spoke of. It looks like our only clue is to find Helba...but she doesn't seem to be active anymore, or she's hiding it very well. Then there's the problem of the Seeds...but they were said to have been destroyed..."

"Perhaps our best course will be to go out on our own for a little while and see if we can find out what these Seeds are. With any luck, one of us might find something that could lead us to the next piece of the puzzle. That being said, I think it's time I reported back to Thanatos. I'm sure he'll be happy to head up the search for Haru. In the meantime, I think I'll wander for a while and see if I can dig up anything on what happened to Helba. If you find yourself in need of my assistance, feel free to send me a message," he said as he turned to leave. "Oh, and as for you, Cagek, I'm sure my associate would be highly interested in meeting you to discuss that hack you used in the dungeon."

[The World]
Lambda: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica
Mjollnir's Hide-out

Mjollnir kept nodding his head as he heard-out what Hypnos had to say and spoke up right after he had finished his speech. "I see all the valid ponits in what you said. Haru wasn't as bad as everyone thought she was. True, she may have been a little too enthusiastiac and hot-headed at times but she knew exactly what she was getting herself into. We owe it to her to find her and find out what happened both in The World and in the real world, since we haven gotten a flash-mail from her yet since it happened." He looked around at everyone who was sitting and standing around the table then leaned on it and made a grim face. "Finding the 'Dragon' is also one of our priorities. We should split up into pairs or groups of threes to find any hints, refrences, clues and wereabouts as to it's location. But there is the problem that it might also be moving around, like how Aura sent us back to here."

Standing up straight Mjollnir straightened his headpeace a bit then sighs a bit. "Theres also the issue of the "Seeds". Now it is possible that it is actually fact that they have been destroyed. I don't know the exact facts but I'll ask Mireille or Mistral for the facts about those events... If I can track them down." Mjollnir smiled cheesey some and scratched the back of his head a bit as he stood straigher a bit. "Helba is an enigma. Finding her will probably be Hypnos' and Cagek's second objective. If Cagek chooses to help us in our searches." He looked to Cagek then to everyone else. "But first I suggest that we all log off for the day. We've been playing for about nine hours straight and to be honest, I'm getting a little hungry. Lets all meet here, outside by the Chaos-Gate tomorrow around 1100 hours." Everyone agreed with everything and left the hide-out one at a time then Mjollnir left last locking the door in the wall of the alley-way and watching it as it dissappeared into the wall. He then saved at the save-point then logged off.

[Real World]
Sam's Room

"Well... Guess its cheap sushi down at the corner store for me." And with that he got up and left his dorm room for a well deserved, and late lunch.

[Real World]

BZZT... BZZT... BZZT...

Jason woke groggily, groping around to his right for the alarm, his hand finally finding the clock but missing the proper button and only serving to turn on the radio, which unfortunately was tuned between stations. The blaring sound of static served to wake him much more efficiently than the alarm, which was quickly silenced.

The digital clock shone 10:01 am, the colon blinking to the beat of its own drummer. "Heh, 1100 hours, he says," thought Jason. "What is the guy, some kind of sergeant? I'm probably dealing with a bunch of old men..."

Slowly Jason's brain came back into a functioning state as he hobbled over to his computer chair and started the machine with a whir. Ten o'clock was way too early to be up on a Sunday. His parents would probably be at some church service; he was glad they'd finally given up on converting him. He wanted no part of religion, which seemed to consist chiefly of the atonement of sin by having to spend hours in uncomfortable wooden benches early in the morning while God took the day off.

Starting up the program, Jason skipped straight to the message boards. He wanted to get some time in this morning for leveling and just getting in the mood before they met in an hour, and you could usually find relatively lower-levels posting on the boards for help with dungeons. Of course, he wasn't nearly as low-level as he used to be after meeting Haru...

Anyway, the point was that he'd probably be able to finish up whatever he started before eleven.

Jason skimmed the topics. He knew what he was looking for, but the frequency of topics on PK's caught his eye anyways. It seemed like there had been an outbreak of high-level PK-ing; particularly a big to-do over a character that had managed to PK in town. Of course, this was supposedly not possible, but being around Thanatos had quickly taught him to doubt that. "So, the crumbling of the foundation has already started." After all, what was the foundation of a game but its players? "I wonder how long things like this have been going on unnoticed."

Moving on, Jason finally found just what he wanted. A Long Arm had posted looking for help with a level 12 dungeon on the Delta Server, specifically a healer. That was two levels below him, but it would serve his purposes. The keywords were listed: Cursed Eternal Gate.

Jason logged in.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Sep 7 2006, 08:37 AM

[Real World]
Yesterday Afternoon

BEEPBEEPBEEP...BEEPBEEPBEEP...BEE
Quietly, Adam turned off the alarm and shut his front door. Slowly, he made his way to the kitchen, shuffling through a handful of mail as he walked. "Let's see what junk we've gotten today...bills...more bills...heh, I've been pre-approved for a new credit card...ads for sales at stores I will never go to...hmm, this looks promising, I might have already won a free trip to Hawaii, not likely..." Quickly, he dumped the mail in the trash, drooping the bills on the counter, and began putting away the groceries he had picked up while he was out.

Alright, Adam, he thought as he finished putting away the food and shut the fridge door, what's your next move going to be? Finding something on Haru shouldn't be too hard, but finding Helba is another story. She isn't the kind to allow herself to be found when she wants to stay hidden...and, yet, she has allowed herself to be lured out before. Perhaps I just need to find the right bait.

Silently, Adam grabbed the take-out from the table and moved to his computer room. Regardless, he thought as he sat before his computer and opened one of his hacking interfaces, my first job is to find Haru. I pray she was spared the fate of Tsukasa and so many others. But, if she wasn't, does this mean that events truly are once again repeating themselves. His fingers became a blur as he began to crack through to "The World's" account server.

As the defenses fell, Adam's apprehension grew. Soon he would have access to the innermost workings of the World, but it came with a certain amount of risk. Not to mention the suite of firewalls and password restricted lockouts blocking unauthorized access to the account server, CC Corp employs several 'active' defenses, ranging from traps that will unleash viruses on the system that tripped them or send feedback spikes to destroy the system altogether, to simply back-tracing the connection to the would-be hacker's hideout, allowing them to 'tip-off' the local authorities. Unfortunately, for the Corporation anyway, Adam was no simple hacker. The things he did in another life, for his previous employer, made this job seem like cutting through a paper wall with a chainsaw.

[Real World]
Last Night

After several hours of painstaking hacking, Adam had managed to find his way into "The World's" account server. Here, personal data for every registered player in "The World", from the high and mighty Admin characters to the newest member of "The World", was stored...and among the mass of data, lay the information of a certain twin blade whom Adam was very keen on meeting. Immediately, he set about sifting through the volumes to accounts until he found his target. Jackpot, he thought to himself as he opened the file, searching for any information that could help him find the "real" Haru. Heh...it seems things aren't quite as they appear...still, it isn't my place to reveal 'her' secret if 'she' doesn't want it to be. Ahh...here we are...country..Great, it looks like Ive got some traveling ahead of me...

Silently, Adam shut down the probe and turned off his systems. Slowly, he rose from his chair, placed his laptop in a simple, black leather carrying case, and walked out the front door.

The silent calm of the darkened streets was interrupted by the roar of a sleek black motorcycle as it ran off into the night, the rider's black trench coat waving behind him in the breeze.

{The World}
Lambda: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica
10:45

Cautiously, Thanatos walked the streets of the root town, keeping a watchful eye on the players around him, waiting to see if the Azure Knights, CC Corp's newest watch dogs, were laying in wait. Slowly, he made his way to the Chaos Gate. "I suppose now I just have to wait for the others," he muttered to no one in particular.

"Hey, sweet thing. Yeah, you. Come over here for a second."

The voice came from a cocky blademaster alone in a field. He figured he was strong enough to take on a twinblade and make her join his party. Though he had confidence in himself, this was a high-level area. The small figure approached in her forest green garb. The hat seemed so out of place among the rest of her, but when the blademaster looked closely, it correlated to her cobalt eyes.

Those eyes. They were dead. There was nothing behind them. He stammered.

"Uh...Would you wanna join my party?"

His answer came in the form of a rushing blade. The gray body fell to the ground, but no ghost came. A faint cry came from the prone figure.

"Help....Me.....Help....Please....." Those cold eyes held no sympathy. With another swipe, the body was gone, released from its data-bound prison.


Dark clouds rolled in. The omniscient voice awoke.

"Sacrifice."

[Real World]
The Day After, 10:53AM

'I can't let Haru down. We gotta find this dragon and defeat these "Phases". Just wish I knew where to start looking for a hint of either of them.’ Thought Sam, when he scratched the ridge of his nose softly as he sat concentrating and thinking about what to do next. He browsed through the BBS. There seemed to be some chatter about a mass PKing going on around the servers. That wasn't what he was looking for. He was looking for anything. Anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Someone reporting a glitch, a rumor, anything that could possibly lead him and the gang forwards towards finding Haru and defeating the Dragon. He wiped his brow, which was still a little moist from his 30 min jog around the campus and took a sip of some cold green tea he had in the cup next to his keyboard. He looked at the clock. "Oh crap! Almost time!" He quickly left the BBS and logged onto The World to await the rest of the gang.

[The World]
Lambda: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica, 10:57 AM

Mjollnir appeared in front of the Chaos Gate in the magic rings and walked down the street some until he caught a glimpse of someone he hadn't seen in a while. He slowly made his way towards the player and followed him down an alleyway some. "Hey Thanatos." he said when the black-winged player stopped and turned to face him. "I thought you had spotted me." he said, "I won't be on for long. Only until everyone has logged on and I have addressed them. Hypnos told me about what has happened so far." "Have you found anything on the Dragon or the Phases so far?" asked Mjollnir. The hacker shook his head. They both checked to see if anyone was watching them and walked back to the entrance of the alley and stood there for a while until everyone had assembled, minus Hypnos, at the Chaos Gate. Then the two players approached them from the alley slowly walking along the side of the road so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves.

When they arrived at the Chaos Gate they all were glad to see that Thanatos was still around and Thanatos introduced himself to Cajek as well since the two had not properly introduced each other in the dungeon before the incident happened. "Alright people. I didn't find us any solid leads in the BBS but I did find some rumors about glitches and sightings of 'phantoms' and 'strange players' roaming dungeons and fields. Now before I team you guys up with partners and assign you guys to what, Thanatos has something to say. Take it away comrade." "Thanks Mjollnir," Said Thanatos, "It's good to see you all again. I'm not going to be able to stay for long, it's only a matter of time before one of the Azure Knight's informant’s spots me and they come warping in. Still, I needed to make sure you heard what I found directly from the Horseman's mouth, as it were. I managed to get into the account server and found out some promising information on Haru's real identity. Hopefully I'll be able to use the leads I found to track her down. Since I'll be tied up with the search, Hypnos will once again be taking my place. I realize you may not trust him quite yet, but I do, and I hope that will be enough for the rest of you. He is a skilled fighter and will serve you well in my stead. Although... I will forewarn you, he does have a bit of an odd sense of humor at times.... Regardless, I have stayed too long, and it is time I took my leave. Hypnos will be along shortly to take my place in the circle." And with that Thanatos logged out with a set of dark magic rings. Several seconds later, Hypnos logged in and waved at everyone smirking slyly some.

As everyone started to talk amongst themselves Mjollnir cleared his throat, "Ahem-ing" loudly. Everyone stopped talking and paid attention to him. They all followed him into the maze of alleys and stopped in a dead end and turned towards everyone. "Alright everyone. Heres your assignments. Cajek and Sange, you two will investigate a sighting of a glitch with weather patterns in Theta: Putrid, Organ Market, Messenger. Hypnos and I will be checking out a rumor of a player similar to Haru in Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth. Renai and Ludicrous you guys are checking out a similar rumor in Delta: Voluptuous, Solitary, Scaffold. Vir, your on your own. Your going to Sigma: Rejecting, Distant, Giant. Theres a glitch in the dungeon there where the walls keep disappearing and new hallways keep appearing. Try not to get lost in there. That’s all for now. We'll either meet back here in Carmina Gadelica at 1400 hours or FlashMail Hypnos or me if you are running late or are in trouble of some kind. Lets go!" And with that they all left in pairs to the different servers to investigate and gather information.

[Real World]

"Please, tell me he'll be alright." A voice. It was tender.

"I'm sorry, ma'm. As of now he's still alive, but that's all I can tell you." This one had the sound of a recital. It was like these words had been said too many times before.

"So will my son live?" A gruff one, but it held caring.

"I just don't know. I can't say for sure."

The voices slowly faded away, and only a small bit of weeping could be heard. Soon it was only the beeping of machinery. Then, quietly at first but gaining quickly in volume, the sound of a tuning fork. Again and again with the rhythm of the machines.

Life support?

[The World]

"No, please. Leave me alone!" The Wavemaster ran through the dungeon. He knew he'd regret not buying anymore Sprite Ocarinas to get him quicky out of the dungeon. "What do you want with me?!" He looked behind him and saw the glowing outline of the girl slowly making its way toward him. "I have no treasure! Let me go!" While the magic caster was looking back, he ran into a door. It was locked!

"Sacrifice." It was a deep voice, there was no way it could come from the small frame of the girl. "To the lake...For sacrifice."

"No, please," the Wavemaster pleaded. "Please...I don't want to die." The girl smiled.

"Death?" she said in her own soft voice. "You won't die. You will live..." the voice suddenly changed back to its deeper tone. "You will live in the Dragon." A quick swipe across the throat silenced the pleading.

[The World]

Cagek looked around the group. "Who is Sange?" asked Cagek rubbing the back of his neck, then pauseing "Uh actually I don't know any of your names..all I know is that Haru is missing and well... no one asked me to be in any party..." finished Cagek.

(ooc: it's a post but I am busy so I guess this will do)

{The World}
Aye-aye, cap'n, thought Hypnos as Mjollnir finished giving out orders for the group, with the skill of a veteran military officer. It looks like our adopted leader is handling the pressure quite well, but I suppose time will tell if he truly has what it takes... Quietly, he laughed to himself, shaking his head slightly, as the newcomer made his questions known. This looks like a good time to try to lighten the mood...

"Heh...Mjollnir, do you mind if I field this question? Alright, Cagek, to answer your first question, that's Sange over there. Uh, Sange, could you wave a little...good, thanks. As for the rest of us, our new fearless leader is Mjollnir, our resident wave master is Ludicrous..psst..he's the one that looks like a wizard, if you couldn't guess..Renai is our lovely, female twin blade over there..be careful not to stare for too long, you might not like her reaction..Vir is the heavy blade behind you..I must say, I envy his assignment..I get to go hunt down a rumored character who looks like your missing Haru, and he gets to go play in a maze..lucky..and, finally, if you hadn't guessed by now, I'm Hypnos..your friendly, katana-wielding heavyblade..I'm substituting in for Thanatos, the winged long arm you just saw, since he recently went and made CC Corp angry. That brings me to the answer to your question about why you're being included in this little operation. What we are about to do will probably also make CC Corp angry, since they don't like vigilantes and that's exactly what we are. And now, having seen Aura in the dungeon and having heard everything we said in the meeting, you're in this far to deep for us to simply let you walk away...got it..good. Now, if there aren't any more questions for me to answer, I'm going to head on out to the field. Mjollnir, join me when you're ready."

Quickly, he spun about and headed off to the Chaos Gate, disappearing behind the triple rings.

[The World]

Delta Server - Aqua Capital Mac Anu

"Sir Balmung," a heavy blade saluted. The one he addressed looked up from his work. The virtual documents were scattered about a wooden desk. He only needed to pick one up to have the contents take up his screen. The room he sat in was like a midieval office. The walls were made of stone and the windows had no glass. The heavy wooden door swung open heavily as the trooper entered the room.

"Yes?" he replied in the calm tone he always seemed to have.

"Reki has those reports on those rumors ready. The debugging team is ready to go at your command."

"Good, good. Send Reki in when he has the time."

"Sir!" The Azure Knight saluted and turned on his heel, marching out of the room.

Why must they always be so formal? It's not like I'm some of the regular admins. Hell, I'm hardly even one. He laughed to himself at his desk. Just then his assistant and most trusted friend, Reki, entered the room.

"You called for me, sir?"

"What have I told you about doing that to me?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I don't understand what you mean."

"Enough saying 'sir'. It gets annoying. I'm your superior by title, only. You do all the work anyway." Reki pushed up the frames of his glasses.

"Of course, sir. Er...Balmung. Now what did you need?"

"The assignment I gave you. How does it go?"

"Well....She's still active. Unfortunately, she's now a serial PKer."

"What?!"

"Yes, I wanted to take care of it quietly. She's been seen in many places where mass PKs have been occuring. Someone will send for help with a quick description, but none of our Knights can get into the area until after she's gone. It's as if The World is blocking our path to her." Balmung sat and contemplated the information.

"Then it can't be her. Find her real-life info."

"Sir! You know I can't..."

"Reki, please. This is more than CC Corp rules. The fate of The World is in the balance. And I fear for whoever Haru is in real life. Please, I'm asking you as a friend."

"I'll see what I can do. You'd better get to those debugging teams, though."

"Right. Thanks, Reki. I knew I could count on you." And with that, Balmung picked himself out of his chair and strolled out of the room. Reki stood there holding his binder of documents.

"Balmung...Why are you doing this?"

Delta: Cursed Eternal Gate
10:17 AM

And Ludicrous had thought this dungeon might be a little low level for him. He chuckled softly to himself as he checked the Long Arm's level again, just to be sure. Yep, he was still level 25. Ludicrous sat back and watched as the Long Arm made work of the mosters who had ambushed them upon entering the field. He didn't use the phrase 'quick work' because it, in fact, wasn't. Despite the level difference, and the fact that the monsters could barely hurt him, the poor guy was swinging his weapon like he'd never held a polearm in his life before.

Ludicrous was wondering whether he should help with the last Cursed Blade or let the Long Arm practice on it some more, when a Twin Blade suddenly shot out of nowhere and struck the monster down. Ludicrous's arms tensed on his staff, but a quick check revealed a much more appropriate and non-threatening level of 10, and he eased up. The Twin Blade looked confusedly at the Long Arm for a second, finally speaking up in a curious but nevertheless authoritative tone, "Why do you have a polearm, Sange?"

Sange however, appearing to notice that Ludicrous looked even more confused than the Twin Blade, turned and addressed him first. "I'm sorry for making you wait. This is Renai, the player we've been waiting, who is late instead of me for once."

Renai looked quite put off at this, yelling at Sange that he was just too early, and Ludicrous got a little bit of amusement from the petit little Twin Blade telling off the high level Long Arm, but then the amusement increased tenfold when he recieved a whisper from Sange, "Don't let her boss you around, she's really just a spoiled little girl."

Ludicrous nearly doubled over in silent laughter, causing Renai to break off her rampage and wonder what was wrong while Sange smiled at his inside joke. "This is the healer you found, Sange? He doesn't look like much." Reani frowned at her appraisal of the Wave Master standing before her, slowly recovering from a fit of comedy.

Ludicrous finally gathered himself back together and faced his accuser. "Coming from you, m'lady, that is quite the insult." Barely escaping a second oncoming of laughter, Ludicrous managed to continue, "My name is Ludicrous, wandering Wave Master at your service." He bowed to accentuate the mood, having way too much fun with this. "I was told my services were required to help level a newbie in this area." Ludicrous could tell from the look on her face that he wasn't going to get much farther with that. In fact, judging solely from the look on her face, he was about to recieve the same treatment as Sange. What do you know, he was right.

"Listen, the only reason you're here, Ludicrous, is because without our previous party member, we need a healer. Now, in order to get the most experience out of this area, we're going to clear the field first and then the dungeon, and the Gott Statue is mine. Just keep in the back and maintain our HP, Sange and I will take care of the monsters. Try not to get yourself killed."

Ludicrous blanched. Jeez, how did she ever expect to make friends and influence people in The World with that attitude? Whatever, he had made the decision to come here and he wasn't going to back out now. Besides, Sange seemed like a nice enough guy, and he was curious about Renai's comment from earlier...


Delta: Cursed Eternal Gate
10:44 AM

MeRai Rom!!

Ludicrous was glad to hear no complaint from Renai as he finished off the dungeon’s last monster, everyone knowing that the Gott Statute was just ahead. Apparently satisfied with the ‘ALL PORTALS CLEAR’ message, the Twin Blade rushed ahead to the next room, giving Ludicrous the chance he’d been looking for…

“So, Sange was it? You certainly seem to be improving quickly with that weapon of yours.”

“Yeah, its weight distribution is a lot different than a sword, you have to build on it’s own momentum with each swing.”

“So you’re used to playing Blade Master characters then?”

“Yeah…”

Ludicrous could tell from Sange’s response that the Long Arm had picked up on his curiosity, it was now or never.

“I’m not sure what your story is Sange, but I think you might be interested in a group of characters I’ve been working with. I can only guess at what seems to have you and Renai so worked up, but I’m certain they’d be able to help.”

There it was, the question. Now all Ludicrous could do was wait while Sange considered his response. He wouldn’t have been surprised had Sange turned him down, he really had been far to direct, but he just didn’t have any other option. Fully prepared for Sange’s dismissal, the Ludicrous was severely startled when Renai’s energetic voice suddenly manifested itself right behind him.

“High-level players are always welcome in our party. So long as their disciplined, of course. Right, Sange?”

Sange looked at her with something of a mix of wonder and exasperation. “Well, Ludicrous, I guess you have your answer. We should probably contact Vir as well.”


Lambda Server: Cultural City Carmina Gadelica
11:02 AM

Ludicrous had to admire how Hypnos had handled that, the comedic effect was played out very nicely. “Well, guess it’s time to get started,” he thought as he turned to his new partner.

“I suggest you not take his advice lightly.”

Ludicrous had to take a step back just to register that, finally putting two and two together with Hypnos’s previous speech. “Come now, you’re far too young for a gentleman like myself.”

“Oh? And just how old are you, really?”

“Don’t you have any manners? You should never ask a senior his age!”

“Listen, I don’t have any time for drooling pre-teen boys. Just follow my lead.”

“Then lead on, your Highness.”

Together, the pair gated out of Carmina Gadelica.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Oct 4 2006, 07:13 PM

[The World]
Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth

Hypnos and Mjollnir materialized onto the misty field. It looked like it was about midnight and a moon could be seen through a gap in the clouds. The two avatars looked around and nodded at each other. Mjollnir set off a Fairy's Orb detecting all monster portals and the entrance of the dungeon as well as a Spring of Myst.

"We should clear a path to the dungeon just in case we need to call in backup,” stated Hypnos as they started to make their way towards the first monster portal in their way on the direct path of the dungeon.

A while later after they had cleared a path through several monster portals to the dungeon and healed themselves from the last battle. "Well... very productive. I actually leveled up on that second to last battle." said Mjollnir, "I see you went up a few during the battles. You should go out on your own more often to level up." And with that they approached the mist-covered entrance only to see a Long Arm player taking on several monsters.

He was fighting an Armor Shogun, Ochimusha and a Grand Mage. He was jumping around slashing, dodging and stabbing at the Ochimusha then jumped back and casted PhaJuk Zot yelling it loudly. Then he rushed in and impaled the monster with his "Bloody Glaive" spear. The monster disappeared in a black swirl of mist with the words "Effect: Death" in the middle of the swirl stating that was the added effect of the "Bloody Glaive" spear. He then turned to the Grand mage and finished it quickly since it was a ranged monster, then turned his full attention to the Armor Shogun who he fought valiantly against then Finally finished it off with a mighty shout of "Juka Tempest!" as he swiped clean through the monster and made it disperse into nothingness.

He then stood still and brushed some dirt off of his silk pants. Sighing heavily in disappointment over something he leaned against his spear and looked around then spotted the two companions. "Nah... Couldn't be." He said under his breath as he stood up straight and stared at the two silhouettes as they walked towards him in the mist of the field. "Hey!" He shouted, "State your business!" as he assumed an offensive stance towards them with his spear. "My business is but my own!" Shouted back Mjollnir then laughed and slapped the long arm on the shoulder then punched him playfully in the stomach softly.

The long arm player introduced himself to Hypnos as Atom.Au. He explained that he recognized Mjollnir's silhouette through the mist and knew it was him. He then explained that he was there for the same reasons that they were, to search for the mysterious girl. He agrees to join them in their search and joins their party, but only after he gave Hypnos his member address. And with that they walked down the stone steps into the dank dark dungeon whose secrets it was about to reveal.

Delta: Voluptuous Solitary Scaffold

"It's sunny out, Renai, so throw your blades in. You should use pieces of armor on rainy or snowy days."

"This better not lose my weapons," Renai threatened, un-equipping them as she spoke.

"Don't worry, you have to be monumentally stupid to mess this up."

Renai tossed her weapons into the oasis, which they had found represented on their map by a drop of water. Almost immediately after the blades had sunken out of view, a water sprite materialized out of the water's surface, reciting his ever so childish question. Not to mention it had to have the most annoying voice ever.

"Three guesses, Renai, and the first two don't count."

Ludicrous was honestly surprised with the amazing clarity Renai's face managed to say, "Keep being a smart-ass and there won't be enough left of you to resurrect."

Renai didn't look exactly pleased with the encounter. "So can you kill these?"

Heh, so she found the idiocy of that riddle as demeaning as everyone else did. That was a bit of a relief. "Well, I've tried shocking it and freezing it to no avail. I did manage to light it on fire once, which looked very cool but unfortunately didn't do anything."

"Too bad. Will he even give you a silver or golden axe?"

"Yeah, but they're the absolute worst axes in the game, their stats are even lower than the weapon Heavy Axes start with. The golden axe isn't even any better than the silver axe too, and even if for some unfathomable reason you still wanted one, there isn't any way to get them but to sacrifice something better in a spring like this."

"That's stupid."

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Let's go."

Delta: Voluptuous Solitary Scaffold

The ogre hadn't stood a chance against Renai's speed; it was a textbook example of an uneven match up. As the monster attempted to once again to bring its unwieldy mace down on the Twin Blade's head, she leaped up between its arms, making two quick slashes across the beast's face before pushing off its chest, gracefully somersaulting backwards to land in a crouch. Ludicrous finished off the enemy with a blast of lightning to its head, preventing any hope it may have had of recovering its balance. The ogre stumbled backwards for a few steps, then collapsed onto the uneven rock of the dungeon floor, turning grey before disappearing altogether.

Renai sheathed her blades, pausing briefly to allow Ludicrous to heal the damage she'd taken from the room's previous monster before they headed to the next floor. "So, this Haru person, what does she look like?"

"Ah, standard twin blade fare. Female, grayish-hair, green clothes, various other things which I don't really remember. I'll know her when I see her." Renai didn't seem impressed by the depth of his visual memory, but Ludicrous was still going. "You know, come to think of it, she reminds me a lot of you. Brazen, impulsive, head strong," Ludicrous looked Renai's wardrobe over, "though a bit more modestly dressed."

"Modesty is just submission to social restraints," Renai shot back, with a look of disdain on her face.

Ludicrous was impressed, he'd actually gotten her to acknowledge something he'd said. "A philosopher?" He joked with a smile.

"No, just the truth."

Oh, well, clearly that made all the difference, thought Ludicrous, quickly switching to a grimace.

"Anyway, why would Haru be here?" Renai continued with the earlier line of enquiry.

"No idea. But if she is here, then we can ask her and find out. Besides, even if she isn't, we're still fulfilling the basic premise behind The World just by adventuring together, right?"

"If you mean working together as a team and bonding with other players, then no."

"...right." This was going to be a long day.

This post has been edited by Wave Master on Nov 14 2006, 10:15 PM

[Real World]
Last Night
Slowly, a black motorcycle turned into a crowded parking lot and pulled into a space. Silently, the trench coat clad picked up a small black duffel bag off the back and walked to the airport terminal, his black boots clicking on the pavement. Without a word, he passed through security and made his way to his gate.

Flight 187 to Redmond, Washington, now boarding all rows...Flight 18.......

Early Morning
Still half asleep from the red eye flight he managed to catch at such a late notice, Adam managed to find his way to a nearby internet cafe. After ordering a large coffee, heavy on the caffeine, he sat down before one of the computer stations. "Alright, Haru, my friend," he muttered to no one, "where are you hiding....."

{The World}
Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth

Silently, torches flared to life as the trio stepped off the stairs and into the dungeon proper, illuminating the rough stonework of the room, as well as the red elemental glyphs adorning the walls.

"Alright," said Hypnos as the group emerged into the room, "I suppose I should mention that I spotted a massive influx of data as we entered the dungeon. It appears to be a rather large group of pc's. Though they are probably just ordinary players, there is the possibility that the Azure Knights may be conducting their own investigation in the area. If this is the case, we may have a multi-front fight on our hands."

"This being said," he continued, turning to face the door to the next room, "Mjollnir, I would advise you take the lead position and I'll take the rear. That way, if the Knights do show up, your way will be clear to run ahead and get far enough away to use a sprite ocarina. Your long arm friend and I should be able to hold them off long enough for you to make the escape. Speaking of your long arm friend...."

Suddenly, Hypnos whirled around, his dagger appearing in his hand almost as if by magic. In a flash, he had the newcomer pressed up against the wall, the dagger pressed against his throat. "I have a few questions for you," he growled. "First, who exactly are you and how do you know about Haru? How convenient that just minutes after we meet you, a large party of players just happens to gate in, right as we leave the field. Are you working for the Knights? Are you some kind of spy sent to bring us in? Give me a good reason why we shouldn't leave you here for the knights to find..."

This post has been edited by thanatos06 on Nov 16 2006, 07:41 PM

[Real World]

"Honey, I know you can't hear me but...Just hang in there. Please. We need you to stay strong. You know your father and I are doing everything we can. Just hang in a little longer and everything will be just fine." The soft, tender voice held a sadness in it. It was constantly interrupted by the choking back of tears.

I'm here. Can you hear me? I'm still here.

[The World]

Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth

Balmung gated into the dungeon floor where his knights were stationed. It was nice having administrative powers.

Reki swiftly moved behind him, matching his every step a pace behind. Even with the mounds of virtual paperwork left on Lord Balmung's desk, and actual paperwork on his actual desk, the Blademaster had decided to move out into the field for some "exercise." How ridiculous. But however much Reki disagreed with his superior's methods, things always seemed to get done and players still had respect for him.

"So Reki, what's the status on this dungeon?" Balmung asked casually.

"Well, sir...Balmung, nothing out of the ordinary has occured here as of yet. The only abnormalities are the code showing through the background." Another knight moved up to the two figures conversing.

"Sir Balmung," the player bowed low. "There are reports of regular players entering the area. So far they are staying in the proper, but we suspect they will be moving in further soon."

"I thought you blocked this place off?"

"Well, we posted a warning on the boards, but that's about it. We needed your authorization to make this a protected area." Reki stared hard at Balmung.

"Well that must've been one of those papers. You know I can't keep up." Reki merely sighed heavily. That was Balmung, alright.

"Alright. Let's go talk to these players then, shall we? If they're here they certainly know something. Most thrill-seekers stay away from us." Balmug swept through the hallways quickly, moving for the stairs pointing up.

[The World]
Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth

Mjollnir blinked in shock as Hypnos pinned Atom.Au to the wall and threatened him with his weapon. Snapping out of the shock Mjollnir drew his own blades and quickly came up behind Hypnos and placed his blades at the front of his throat and a grim and serious look on his face. "I wouldn’t suggest doing this just by mere coincidence. I've known him for a long time. Probably before you even started playing "The World". You have my word that he has never or will ever be working for the Azure Knights in any way. Now let him go or you'll be logging in again at Fort Ouph and have to face who ever gated into the field when you come back here. Is that understood hacker?! Or do I need to make it any more clearer that I will separate your head from your torso without a second though if you harm my comrade."

Closing his eyes and smirking then doing a small nervous laugh Hypnos let go of Atom.Au, letting him drop to his knees onto the floor, and turning to Mjollnir, sheathing his knife Hypnos looked back the way they came then to the direction that they were headed then back at Mjollnir. “The party of PCs has entered the dungeon, I suggest we get moving. Please forgive me for my actions. I’m a little on edge, having flown across several time zones does that to a person.” Mjollnir and Atom.Au looked at each other confused some then back at Hypnos. “What, exactly are you saying?” Atom.Au asked. Smirking and shrugging at the same time smug-like Hypnos stated “Well isn’t it obvious. I’m literally tracking down the player behind Haru. She has to exist somewhere on God’s green Earth. I wanna know what happened to her and what condition she’s in.” Looking up then back the way they came Hypnos got a serious looking face on and looked at the other two players. “We better get moving now. They’re starting to close in on our location.” Nodding Mjollnir and Atom.Au positioned themselves in the formation suggested by Hypnos and ran off down the dungeon hall towards the stairs that led to the next basement level.

Arriving on the newest level Hypnos let loose a Fairy’s Orb to scout out the level then they all headed off. “I must say,” stated Atom.Au “I never expected anything like this to be happening when I logged on this morning.” Mjollnir looked back over his shoulder, past Hypnos to his friend, then turned back around. “Yea, I know what you mean.” Mjollnir replied “Its not like I envisioned myself doing this either. I thought I would just help out noobs so that they wouldn’t get taken advantage of when they started the game and personally for me to actually compete in as many events as possible in this game.”

Two more levels and many monster fights later…

The trio of players arrived on the lowest floor. Letting loose a Fairy’s Orb Mjollnir surveyed the level. “Hypnos, do you detect any PCs or NPCs on this level at all?” Grunting and dropping to a knee Hypnos looked to his side, probably at another screen or window to scan the level. “I’m picking up something, but I can’t tell what it is. It’s not registering as either a PC or NPC. This might mean that the rumor is true and there is something down here. But not a PC or NPC that looks like Haru. We’ll have to trap it before that party of Knights catches up to us. Their two levels above us, we should have enough time to “corral” what ever it is so that I can analyze it’s data.” And with that the three ran off to find out what the anomaly was.

(Ooc: Edit: My 800th post! W00t!)

This post has been edited by 6Shooter on Dec 17 2006, 11:14 AM

Delta: Voluptuous Solitary Scaffold

As Renai strode confidently alongside Ludicrous, having cleared the majority of the final floor without extreme difficulty, the Wave Master was having some serious misgivings about the next room. It was the last obstacle before the Gott Statue, meaning if this lead hadn't been a dud, whatever they were going to find would be here. But according to his map of the level, there wasn't even a monster portal in the room, which was strange considering the layout of the floor seemed to indicate that this would be the dungeon's final boss. It was too ominous...

Reaching out with as much of his magical power as he could, Ludicrous scanned the next room. Normally, he used this ability to sense the elemental affinities of the monsters in upcoming rooms ahead of time, to prepare appropriate spells, but this time he was just trying to verify that the room was indeed empty.

It wasn't.

At the very last second Ludicrous reached out and prevented Renai from crossing the threshold and entering the next room, where the doors would likely have trapped her with some unknown monster. "Give me a second, there's something in there..."

Looking surprised, Renai gave Ludicrous the benefit of the doubt as he closed his eyes again and tried to search out into the blackness. He could sense two distinct entities: one had a strong elemental affinity for water, but also had ties with nature and thunder, which could only mean another player as monsters never had mixed affinities. As if that wasn't bad enough, the other thing he had detected didn't seem to consist of anything at all, being defined only by a lack of normal space. Even if it had been a monster with no elemental affinity, Ludicrous still should've sensed something.

"Renai, I need you to not be impulsive this time." Judging by the look on her face, that hadn't been a good way to start off conversation. "Sorry. Listen, there's another PC in there, but I don't think it's Haru. And there's something I've never encountered before." Renai's face went from being hard to an emotion Ludicrous didn't recognize, but was probably her version of seriously analyzing a situation. "So long as the other thing isn't monster, we shouldn't get trapped in the room even if they attack us, so if things start looking bad, don't hesitate to use an Ocarina." Ludicrous patted his own pouch to emphasize the point, reassuring himself that his Sprite Ocarina was still there. "If for some reason you can't warp out, there's still the option of a brute force quit. We'll go in quietly and see what we can find out; if they're friendly the last thing we want is to unnecessarily alarm them." Renai nodded her understanding.

Walking slowly, and shifting the weight from heel to toe as he walked to eliminate excess noise, Ludicrous crossed the barrier into the next room with Renai, and after a brief moment in darkness the contents were displayed before them.

Delta: Voluptuous Solitary Scaffold

With a languid wave of his hand, John dismissed the window in front of him. A hexagonal pattern tiled across the glowing blue panel, and then the whole thing disintegrated one polygon at a time. Letting out a breath, the NPC-styled character placed his hand on a different section of the raised stone cylinder by his side, causing another data screen to be brought up in front him. With a tap, he enlarged it and scrolled to the position he was looking for, continuing his examination of the seemingly interminable amount of data logged on the current area.

"So have you found anything yet? Anything suspicious?" asked a nervous voice from over John's shoulder. In the real world, John moaned in annoyance at his escort's impatience. "NO, and I'll tell you if I do so stop asking." As if anyone could find anything in this bug-ridden avalanche of data anyway, John silently fumed as he looked over the area data from yesterday.

As usual, even the extensive logs kept at the bottom of each dungeon contained the occasional inconsistency which he had learned to filter out over so many years of debugging “The World”, but it seemed to be a bit worse than usual now, with the system intermittently losing track of players when they entered battles and accidentally creating duplicate records of events. Personally, John wished he could meet the programmers who were responsible for this game's coding so he could shoot them in the other foot and then shoot them in the face for thinking it would be funny to keep the detailed logs in the dungeons themselves. Perhaps, John thought, he might have actually gotten a kick out of it if CC Corp didn't prevent their technical personnel from using actual characters like his Azure Knight escort did. Speaking of which…

“Could you try to hurry it up? If it really was her, I don’t want to be down here if she comes back.”

John didn’t bother to turn around to face his companion, judging from the source of the sound that the Knight was leaning over his shoulder trying to read the logs as well, a vain effort since the visuals being displayed within the game itself were just garbage. In order to access the actual data you had to possess privileges that a simple Knight like this probably didn’t have. “What are you worried about,” John joked, “you’re the Knight right? You’re supposed to protect me in the event something unexpected happens.”

“Well, yeah, but I’m still a new recruit, so they haven’t given me too many powers beyond ordinary players… and,” here he lowered his voice conspiratorially, “…I heard that if she kills you in the game, your screen fills with black dots and you die in real life!”

John laughed in real life and in the game, a move he quickly regretted as it brought a brief bit of embarrassing attention to his cubicle. “And I bet you believe all those stories about a girl in a white nightgown too! Believe me, this game is one messed up pile of code, but it’s never going to have bugs that creative.”

“Bu- but, what about--”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m almost finished, and I haven’t seen any sign of a player named Haru, or even any PK’s in this area for that matter. Once I make a final check of today’s logs, we can get out of here and I can get back to doing real work.”

Again bringing up a new window from the terminal by his side, John quickly scanned over the entries, not expecting to find anything he’d missed on his first pass. “What the--”

“Huh, what is it?!”

John was at the end of his rope in annoyance now. He’d set up a listener to notify him if anything in the area changed while he was working, but it figures that would fail as well. Oh well, it was just more crap he’d have to fix, and he probably wouldn’t get overtime authorized for it either, he thought, as he turned to face the entrance to the room they’d been in for the past half-hour. “It would seem we have guests.”



Ludicrous waved sheepishly to the debugger, Renai standing beside him. Well, at least now he understood why he couldn’t figure what else was in the room.

{The World}
Sigma: Chronicling, Orange, New Truth

Cautiously, the trio emerged from the shadows of the hallway into a large, brightly lit room. "I hate to say it, but it's quiet...too quiet..." muttered Atom.Au, as they entered the room. Though the group had cleared half the floor already, they had found no portals. Now, as they gazed at the four doors leading out of the room, an eire sense of forboding had decended upon the players.

"Wait a moment, Mjollnir." Quietly, Hypnos walked to the center of the room and stood staring into the darkness of the center door. "I believe that what we seek is down that path, but I don't think it is going to engage us willingly, nor should we try to confront it in its current state. I've been studying the layout of this floor and I believe we can force it into a trap. From what I can tell, the paths to the left and right seperate for a short period from this main path, but converge again, merging into a single path which dead-ends in a large chamber. Mjollnir, I want you to go down the left pathway and Atom.Au, the right. Then stop in the chamber before the room where the paths converge. This will block off any chance of the anomoly getting behind us. Once you are in position, I will head up the middle and force the anomoly into the chamber. In it, there will be waiting a program I borrowed from my associate. Hopefully, the trap will weaken the anomoly, whatever it may be, to a point where we can have a hope of sucessfully confronting it."

"Well, well, it seems you've thought this one out. Haven't you, Hypnos?"

"Damn, we moved a little too slowly," muttered Hypnos as he spun around to face the newcomer. "What do you want with us, Balmung," he spat at the angel winged leader of the Azure Knights.

[The World]
Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

"Who do you think I am, Hypnos?" Balmung gave a quick laugh. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't realize what's going on here? I did talk to the girl, after all. And, of course, I'm an Azure Knight. PK's don't sit well with me." He gauged the hacker's reaction. Silence and no facial expressions. Just what he expected.

"Too good to talk to an administrator?" he asked politely. "I suppose we don't converse all that much. But do remember, I was once a normal player." Still nothing. "So tell me what you know. The girl I met didn't seem the one to do any of this, but then again internet personalities aren't to be trusted."

"The same applies to you," Hypnos finally retorted.

"A sharp tongue will get you nowhere. This room is sealed. No one can get in...Or out. All contact that occurs in here stays in here." He tapped the barrier behind him for emphasis. "I want to help. I honestly do. You just have to trust me." He held his hand out, hoping his reputation as leader of the Knights wouldn't scare them off. "I want to save The World more than anything. And she's tied into it. All of you are. I was once a savior myself." He put a pleading look on his face. "Trust me."

It was up to the group to decide their fate.

This post has been edited by sombrero of justice on Jan 9 2007, 10:13 PM

{The World}
Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

"Of course you were," Hypnos laughed as the Knight finished his speech. "Yes, I know all about your involvement with the Dot Hackers. And if the story ended there, I would have no problem trusting you. But then you were promoted...Now, I don't know about the rest of the masses, but I've been around long enough to realize that CC Corp is rarely honest with us. Now, I hope that I'm wrong in my assumption, but how do you expect me to believe an employee of a corporation that not only refuses to make any truthfull statement about the current state of affairs in "The World", but actively prosecutes any who try to fix the obvious problems...." Slowly, the Heavy Blade circled the Knight, softly fingering the hilt of his katana as he walked.

"I would like to trust you, but your position does not help your credibility in my eyes. Perhaps we can make a deal though. I'm sure you remember the horrors you faced as a Dot Hacker, specifically the Phases...I fear that we are about to go meet something similar, and it is always helpful to have someone who is familiar with the type of foe you are facing. So my proposal is this, you tell your knights to leave this place, then accompany us into the fray. If you can manage to help us, I might just be willing to try to convince our black-winged mutual friend to not try to PK if you show up at our next meeting," he said with a smirk. "So the choice has become your's. Are you willing to follow us into the unknown?"

Slowly, he removed his silver bladed katana from it's sheath and held it in the air, facing the angel winged knight....

[The World]
Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

Balmung stared at the katana, seeming to take it in with a calm air about him. He was being analytical, weighing his options. After a few moments that stretched on in the tense silence, he began to speak again.

"If you draw your weapon at me, then you do realize you have issued a challenge, do you not?" Balmung's blade slid from its sheath. The hilt was a dark shade of blue, matching the color underneath his silver armor plates. A zig-zag line ran along the blade to its sharply pointed tip. "And I do not back down from a challenge."

Twirling the blade deftly, Balmung rushed in, crossing blades with the katana. As sparks flew from the two blades, the Blademaster threw his opponent sliding a ways across the floor. The other party members drew their weapons when Balmung flew to the roof of the room.

"No!" he called out. "This is not your battle. This is between me," he gave a smirk, "and Hypnos. The others looked between themselves and to Hypnos. Balmung figured they were in party chat.

"If you do not put them away, then I will consider this a fight lacking in honor. I will be forced to use my administrative powers." None of them looked up, but he was positive the threat went through to them. Now he merely had to wait for their response.

{The World}
Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

"If you do not put them away, then I will consider this a fight lacking in honor. I will be forced to use my administrative powers," the knight warned the group of bystanders.

Hurredly, Hypnos switched to party chat and sent a message to the group. "As much as I hate to admit it, he is right. Like it or not, he is an admin, with all the rights, powers and privledges entitled to that position. Besides, if he wanted to, he would have been fully within his rights and powers to arrest me the moment I drew my sword. For now, just sit back and enjoy the fight. However, if I start to suspect foul play on his part, I will activate a little trick I learned from Thanatos and get you out of here..."

Slowly, he turned back to the Knight and rose to his feet. "Don't worry about them, they wil stay out of this. As you said, this fight is between me and you. Oh, and don't think you'll catch me off guard like that again," he called out as he dusted himself off and smoothed out his midnight blue trench coat. "Alright...Let's do this..."

{The World}
Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

"First, let's bring you back down to my level..." muttered the trench coat clad heavy blade. With the agility of an Olympic gymnast, Hypnos leapt to the top of a nearby suit of armor and vaulted off its shoulders, knocking it to the floor with a resounding metallic clatter, hurtling through the air to slam into the flying administrator, sending them both crashing into the ground. In an instant, the pair had leapt to their feet and begun their deadly dance. Their blades flashed in a flurry of thrusts, strikes, parries, and counters. As the tempo of their dance sped up, and the fury of the blows grew stronger, the duo's blades seemed to glow as their movements became nearly too fast to follow.

The pair was perfectly matched, for every thrust one provided the other had a parry, for every attack, a counter, with neither one able to gain the upper hand. With an profound calm, each waited for the other to make a fatal mistake, prepared to exploit any opening the other offered. However, no mistake was made. Instead, the pair seemed to be locked in an eternal battle of will, with the victor being the last to tire. But neither one seemed to be slowing down. Instead, they managed to draw upon an unknown energy and sped up their dance. Suddenly, the two blades struck with such fury that they unleashed an immense explosion of sparks and sound, throwing up a thick dust cloud and ripping themselves from their owner's grasp.

Immediately there was a swift clatter of armor and the flutter of cloth, followed by the hum of magical energy and the sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath. Then there was silence, broken only by the uneasy shifting of the party, as they waited for the dust to clear and the victor to be shown. Slowly the cloud faded away and the pair came into view. They had managed to force themselves into a deadlock, with Balmung holding an orb of magical electricity against his opponent's chest and Hypnos pressing his hidden dagger to the azure knight's throat. As the two visibly exhausted fighters stared at each other, both waiting for the other to blink, they simultaneously uttered the same phrase, "Will you yield?"

[The World]

Sigma: Chronicling Orange New Truth

The combatants stared into each other's eyes. Balmung's spell continued to build as Hypnos's dagger inched closer. Then, the knight gave a smile. Dissipating his attack, he relaxed his stance and stood back up. With a nod, Hypnos followed suit.

"You fight well. Almost as good as...My friends." He bowed low at the waist and sheathed his weapon. Then he addressed the whole group. "We'll need to help each other. You all know Haru, I do not. I have administrative powers, you do not. However, I will not be able to directly contact you anymore. CC Corp will most definitely be watching me, seeing as I was involved in the Twilight Incident. They'll never trust me. For good reason. I care about The World as a player."

"So what's our plan, exactly?"

"First, you'll have to tell me what you know."

Hypnos raised an eyebrow. "You think I'll tell you so easily? How can I trust you?"

The Azure Knight merely laughed. "Trust, my friend, is all we can rely on now. I had hoped the battle would help you understand that. Often times you can get to know someone intimately through their blades. I didn't kill you, and you didn't kill me. That's enough, is it not?"

----------------------------------------------------------------

[Real World]

Thought. Where does it start? When did I awake? How long has it been? The Dragon...What about the Dragon? What dragon? Aura...Let me remember. Why can't I remember. I just want...to...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

[The World]

Delta: Harrowing Dark Plain

"Please, please don't! I'm just a newbie!"

The small figure stood over the bewildered blademaster. The looming twin blade was at a much higher level. Sobbing, the new player kept pleading.

"It's just a game. It's just a game. It's just a game."

One of the blades raised into the air. Before it could sweep down, the girl's frame slumped to the ground in a heap. Without asking questions, the blademaster ran away and gated out.

A few minutes passed, and rain began to fall on the field. Opening her eyes, Haru held her head.

"Oooh, it hurts." Sitting up, she looked for a place so she could get out of the rain. Her hair was getting wet. Off in the distance were a few sparse trees. Running over to them, she sat herself down under the boughs. They only offered a little protection.

"What happened?" she asked herself. Sitting there, she attempted to puzzle things out. But before she got very far, a deep rumbling came from the clouds. A voice boomed out.

"Sacrifice."

[Real World]
Redmond, Washington
Internet Cafe
9:45 AM

The air in the cafe was filled with the soft clicking of rapid typing, occasionally interupted by the sound of the lone occupant's head softly banging on the table top in frustration. When Adam had first sat down, these occasional interuptions brought strange stares from the owners, but after nearly forty-five minutes of this, they had gotten used to it. Over at his chosen computer station, Adam sat surrounded by a handful of empty coffee cups, persistantly pecking away at the keyboard, trying to use to limited capabilities of the cafe's computer to hunt down the missing twinblade. So far, most of the possible leads he had found ended up being dead ends. The address Adam had pulled off the account server pointed him to this city, but had been no more than a simple PO Box. Yet, as each of these leads ended, a new one was found. The most useful one, so far, being his discovery of the nearby university. Unfortunately, his search had been far less than fruitfull. That is, until a shot in the dark search term turned up a much needed break, or so he thought. "Finally, something that looks rather promising..." he muttered with a hint of relief in his voice as he opened the link. But as he read the article, his atitude slowly changed to a much more somber mood. "Shit......" Quickly, he rose from his seat, grabbed his bag, threw on his coat and ran out the door, leaving the article open in his haste.................

<The World>
The triple golden rings appear and chime musically as the world generates the sprite driven avatar of the online entity known as Silverseraph. The long billowing black cloak flares in the digital wind of the Root Town Mac Anu. Silver steps forward as the Rings fade, his gleaming Silver Staff held in one hand casually as the red eyes stare out of the shrouded darkness of the cloaks hood.

"Good to be home again." He emotes to nobody. Flashing in the 'Stretch' Emote, Silvers arms reach to each side and his body shivers momentarily before cracking his neck and knuckles.

Without another moment of hesitation he runs to the Storage and opens up his expansive Items list. He withdraws a couple extra staff weapons.. including his shiney new Necrostaff, won during that strange event that ended with him meeting Aura and learning about Haru's 'Destiny'.

Suffice to say, Silver (and Alex) had been less than excited that it seemed everyone else was sidekick to Haru, the newbish Twinblade. He was under the impression that the events were dire and someone seriously prepaired should be chosen for the task. And to Silvers thinking... nobody was as well prepaired as he was.

And so it had been that he withdrew from the world. But not to sulk, but to find and speak with the legendary Twinblade of the Dot Hackers... the Character Kite's player.

As Silver sorts through the gear, he withdraws an extra two pairs of armor, an extra set of gloves, boots, and a slew of scrolls and such. He glances over the elemental resistances and given abilities of his gear... comparing them to the creatures he expects to be taking on and nods approvingly.

Kite had told him the location where he left the Twilight Bracelet before retiring from the world. After the stories of Skeith and worse that the player shared with him... Silver understood why he wouldnt want to play the 'Game' anymore. Silver had barely believed it himself as Haru had related to him the various events and details of the Dot Hackers endeavors.

It had been worth it tho. Kite had explained to him what the Twilight Bracelet could do, and where to find it... or at least where he left it. Even if it was Haru's quest to aid Aura... even if Haru was the chosen one... Silver could still earn his place of importance if he could obtain the bracelet.

Closing up the Windows and stepping back he nods to himself and sighs. Time to begin the rounds. Without hesitation he begins racing back and forth across Mac Anu, opening up chat windows and offering to trade with everyone. He has to return to the storage and grab some Heavy Axes, Longblades, and even one of his favorite twinblade Rare weapons... but in the end he fills in his missing Tarots and gains a few pieces of gear with some elemental abilities of types he was missing.

Again he finds himself in front of the Chaos Gate, only this time... inputing keywords. As much as he wanted to rush to the place Kite left the Bracelet, he had been warned the area was home to very powerful monsters. And if the events unfolding are similar to the events before... Kite had warned him it might be surrounded by databugs.

So instead, he had locked away the keywords and other details Kite had given him and instead he inputs the keywords for one of the recom