Fanfic: Myster of the Mysts, Updated: December 9, 2009

[GamerKale]

Mystery of the Mysts
Chapter 1
Starting

Beaux had known something was up as soon as Samantha had walked through his door this morning. She never came to his apartment, mostly because she had no idea where he lived, so her very presence bewildered him. The next thing was that she had brought breakfast with her. He made certain that it was apparent to her that he was both appreciative, and slightly offended that she would not allow him to treat her since he was the host. At the time he hadn’t really questioned her presence, in truth he was happy to see her. Last night had not been one of restfulness. Rather his dreams had been plagued by faces that he didn’t recognize shrouded in a fog. Every time he thought he almost had the face memorized it would disappear again.

He spent the morning discussing his dreams with Sam over breakfast. Now he was about to head out when she suddenly grabs his arm nearly ripping his shirt. “What’s up Sam? Something the matter?” She looks around the room quickly. “Well, uh um, you see…” “Yes?” Her eyes finally land on what she seems to have been looking for and she runs over to the desktop which he barely ever used anymore. “Ah, you play The World, right?” “Yes?” “Well, uh um, I was wondering if you could help me, you know uh” “Start?” “Y-yeah!” “Sure, you’ve got a computer at your place, right?” “Uh, well, no actually I don’t.” “Really? That’s certainly a surprise. Anyways, we’ll start you up over here.” He joins Sam at the old behemoth. “Afterwards you can just have this computer, I don’t think I’ve used it in quite a while, but it should still be up to date.” "Ah, really?" "Yeah, of course."

“Alright, first things first what race do you want to be?” “Uh, race?” “Yeah, there’s a few of them.” He pulls a chair from the kitchen over beside the desk chair which Sam occupies. “Of course you have your typical humans, those are what most people go for. And then you have the beasts.” “Beasts?” “Yeah, there’s the lei tribe who look like a cross between humans and a house cat or dog. Kind of like your cat Milo.” “Really? I wanna be that.” “You sure? There are other races.” “Yeah, I wanna look like Milo.” “Alright, let’s see he’s black with white stripes right?” “Yeah.” “I’m gonna assume you want to be a girl, right?” She blushes slightly. “OF COURSE! What else would I be? Sheesh, Beaux you’re so rude.” “Sorry, I don’t mean to be, here next is the appearance and clothing, I’ll let you handle that.” “Oooh!”

Nearly an hour later, “I’m actually surprised you remembered.” Beaux had been lying on the floor with his eyes closed. “What?” “Milo, I think I’ve only ever mentioned him or shown you his picture once.” “Oh, that? I guess I just thought it was important enough to remember.” Samantha blushes at this. “Just like most of the things you say.” Samantha blushes deeply and turns to look at Beaux who still has his eyes shut. “Th-that so? I think I’m done.” Beaux hops up and looks at her character that is rather busty and wearing a loose white kimono with three black stripes around the chest. “Uh, you mind if I make a couple of minor adjustments.” “Huh? Sure, go ahead. Is something wrong with it?” “Well, no it’s just, uh a little low cut, I think.” Samantha goes beat red and starts hitting Beaux as he adjusts her character so that it looks more like Samantha and so that the kimono fits more securely as well as adding a checkered scarf. “Ok, ok, stop it, stop it. I didn’t mean anything by it. Anyways, let’s move on to your class.”

“Class?” “Yeah, combat style, weapons, what skills you’ll learn, etc. In total there are eleven. I’ll start with the twin blade. As the name implies they use two short blades as their weapons the style of combat is to hit them fast and hit them a lot. Then there’s the tribal grappler they are basically kick boxers. Those two compliment a lei beast well if you’re going for extremes. Then there’s the other extreme slow and powerful is the best way to describe the edge punisher with it’s giant swords. Or the lord partizan with it’s spears. The flick reapers excel at fighting multiple enemies at mid range with their scythes. And the last of the melee classes is the blade brandier, they do not excel at any one thing and are fairly balanced all around with one handed swords. And then we have the ranged or caster classes such as the steam gunner, they use guns. Shadow Warlocks are spell casters that concentrate on dealing damage. Harvest Clerics are the opposite, they’re healers, and the Macabre Danceers are the last of the spellcasters they tap into both of the other two and have a lot of support spells. And the final class is the adept rogue. They can use weapons from a couple of different classes depending on how they get set up, but let’s not worry about them right now, okay? So which do you want to be?” “Um, I think I’ll go with either a blade brandier or a macabre dancer, is that alright?” That’s fine, but which is it? “Um, the dancer, definitely the dancer.” “Alright, oh yeah I forgot to mention your weapons are fans as that class.” “Fans?” “Yeah, you know those little hand fans you sometimes see people using.” “Oh, those can be used as weapons?” Beaux chuckles, “Only in The World. Here’s a headset.”

After a couple of minutes he manages to get the headset on her head without ruining her hairdo which he now notices is done up special. Is there something going on today that I don’t know about? Thinks he as Sam names her character and logs in. “Here, I’ll log in too.” He logs in using his laptop. The small beast known as Gabriel appears next to Sam’s character. “Uriaya? How did you come up with that?” “I read it in a book once, alright?” “Yeah, it’s fine. It certainly is unique. Anyways, let’s see here a popup should have appeared on your screen. Click to get my member address and the-“ “Member address?” “It’s basically an email address, but it also allows you to accept party invites. Like this one.”

“So, you getting it alright so far?” “Y-yeah, I think so.” A large player walks up to the pair. “Hey, Gabriel, long time no see. Who’s the lady friend?” Sam blushes. “Oh, hey Jin, she’s new, I was about to take her to her first field. Wanna come along?” Sam looks at Beaux sadly before Jin responds. “Nah, thanks though. I’m meeting up with Cassa at a field; it seems that Cutlass needs another lesson in pain.” Sam tugs on Beaux’s shirt as Jin warps away. “Uh who’s Cutlass?” “Cutlass? Oh, right you’re still new. They’re a guild. A guild is any group of players, although typically and in Cutlass’s case it’s pretty big. Cutlass is a guild of player killers, pks for short. It means that they attack other players unprovoked. Don’t worry though, we shouldn’t run into them and even if we do, I’ll take care of them. The only ones that go to the field we’ll be going to are pretty low leveled.” Gabriel touches the gate and states the keywords. “Beautiful, Overflowing, Waterfall.”

As the rings around Uriaya disappear Sam nearly falls out of her seat. “Ghah!” “What is it? What’s wrong?” “What are those things?” “What? Oh those are monsters, goblins to be precise. They should be easy enough for you. I’ll start the battle with them then walk you through it. Kay?” Sam gives a nervous nod as the battle area surrounds their characters. The small beast Gabriel approaches the trio of monsters and begins absorbing hits from them. “Oh no!” “What’s wrong now?” “You’re getting beat up!” “What those? Don’t be ridiculous, look carefully; I’m not taking any damage. The level difference is too great. Anyways, the first thing you’re gonna want to do is attack one of them. Here I’ll make it easier.” He kills off two of the enemy leaving only one left. “Just walk up to him and hit that button, good, now if you chain enough of those together you can activate a rengeki, but we’ll cover that more later on. Now then, try a skill. Yeah, just like that. You can even charge your basic attack, there you see, it’s not so hard.” Gabriel finishes off the monster with a single strike. “You can also guard to reduce or even negate damage sometimes.”

Sam was actually looking at Beaux’s character now, and she had to say she liked it. His russet fur, the upside down delta on his right cheek, and the squiggly equals sign on the left, but most of all she liked how the bushy tail popped out of a hole in his baggy cargo shorts. Although, she didn’t like how his left arm was encased in metal, with those rings around the wrist, and those sinister claws for fingers. It seemed to clash with the rest of his character. “Hey, why does your character have that metal arm?” “Hm? Oh, the gauntlet? Well it’s kind of special. Maybe I’ll show you later.” “Aw come on, please?” “No, it’s complicated.” With a huff she lets the subject go, only to come up with another question. “Hey, Beaux-“ “Call me Gabriel while we’re playing, Uriaya.” “Right, Gabriel, what’s that noise?” “Noise?” “Yeah, it’s a clacking noise. I think it’s been following us the whole time.” “Oh, that, look at my feet the next time you get a chance. I’m wearing geta, you know those Japanese sandals with the two bars on the bottom.”

They were nearly done with the field when something strange happened. The statue room began to disappear into a fogbank. “That’s not supposed to happen.” “Huh? What?” “There’s not supposed to be any fog or mist in this area.” “Well, maybe the makers decided to put it in.” “Maybe, I hope you’re right, but keep your character away from it, and if something happens remove your headset and unplug the computer. Got it?” Sam nods her head. “Right, got it.”

He wades into the mist, shadows begin dancing amongst the fog. Then something flies towards him, he manages to only get a scratch on his arm, but a huge chunk of his health is now gone. “What the devil? Nothing that strong is supposed to be here.” He blocks the next attack, and his health is nearly at zero. “Alright, Bishop, let’s end this.” He raises his left arm into the air as the rings hung around the wrist begin spinning rapidly. He then brings it crashing down on the ground just as his assailant is about to come at him again. The fog is forced to retreat exposing what appears to be a floating spear. “Ah, that’s not a monster! What? Hey! Get back here.” The spear begins racing back to the fog, but it’s no longer quicker than Gabriel. He grabs hold of the spear with his metal claw, copying some of its data before it shatters. “A self destruct protocol?” As the fog begins closing in on him again, more of the spears begin moving about in the shadows. “As much fun as this would be, I’m not gonna play with all of you.” He rushes for the safety of a warp point, dragging Uriaya with him.


End Chapter 1

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'll post the next when I can, but it might be a while. I've started and thrown out a few chapter twos already.

[Haseo{Terror of Death}]

Shweet, I thinking I like it so far. v,^_^ I'll read chapter two when ever you don't throw it out

[GamerKale]

Hoping for some more feedback this time.

Chapter 2
Archangel

Back in Mac Anu he sets his laptop to begin analyzing the data he got off the spear. “Beaux, what was that just now?” He remains silent for a moment, staring at his computer screen. “I’m trying to figure that out right now.” His tone gave her chills and she begins wandering about Mac Anu, leaving Gabriel behind. A couple of male players walk up to her one in front and one behind. “Hey sweet thing.” Says the first. The second continues. “Wanna come party with us?” Uriaya looks around her, feeling trapped she nods her head. “Yeah, sure.” “Great, come on.” As they head to the chaos gate she looks towards Gabriel who remains standing there unmoving.

Once in the area the two male players begin attacking her. “Eeek, help!” Beaux looks up from his laptop finally. “What? Sam, what’s going on?” “I’m getting attacked.” “Huh? Oh, why’d you leave town? Here let me see something quick.” “I was wandering through the town when these two guys asked me to come party with them. I didn’t know what to do, so I agreed.” Beaux taps a couple of buttons on her keyboard, he then takes Gabriel to the field, and immediately enters the fray, sending one of the two slamming hard into the wall.

The one still standing looks at Gabriel, pointing his blade towards him. “And just who do you think you are? Interfering with our business.” “Me? Why just an archangel named Gabriel. Can’t you read a person’s name?” “Why you little!” The brutish player swings his sword down hard on Gabriel. Catching the blade with his left hand Gabriel looks up at the larger player. “That your best shot?” He breaks the pk’s sword and then punches him in the gut. The second player gets up and uses a smokescreen to try and escape, but not even the item’s effect stops Gabriel from grasping him by the throat with his claw. “Game over.” He breaks the pc’s neck and tosses him to the ground. “B-b-but that shouldn’t be possible. What are you, a hacker?” Gabriel appears above the pker with his claw raised above his head. “I told you, I’m an archangel.” He brings the claw down with bone shattering force.

“Ah ah AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” “Sam, calm down. You’re alright now.” “B-b-but those two guys were just killed, and tossed aside like ragdolls.” “Yeah, that’s because they were weaklings.” “Y-y-you killed them. How could you?” “One: their characters will revive. Two: it was kill or let you be killed, and I wasn’t too fond of the latter option. And three: if they weren’t prepared to get killed they should find a new profession. There are a lot of people who do stuff like what I just did. Now then, since we’re here let’s clear this area. It’s a bit high for your level so just try not to get hit, cast a support spell from time to time, and let me handle the rest.” After defeating the last monster Uriaya was quite a few levels higher, but the two pkers from earlier were back, and with friends.

“There’s the guy Hook. He thinks he’s so high and mighty. Calls himself an archangel.” “You’re bothering Master Hook over something as trivial as this?” “Shut up Soubi, you weren’t there. He destroyed us in a matter of seconds.” “So, you go whining to us? How childish.” “Risa, one of these days you’re gonna get killed for that mouth of yours.” “Is that a threat?” Hook draws his sword. “That’s enough you three. Soubi, Risa with me. Loudmouths, you two stay put, and try not to draw much attention to yourselves.” Soubi skips after Hook. “Of course Master Hook.”

Gabriel looks over at the rather noisy group that had just appeared. Hook, a man dressed as a pirate, complete with a hook on his left hand. Soubi, tall blond, tight clothing, obviously not straight, but he was always hanging onto Hook so that didn’t bother him. And lastly Risa, a great big lioness with a spear, Beaux never could understand why she hung out with the other two, but that probably wouldn’t help the situation right now. He had to think of a way to get Uriaya out of here safely, and away from the three most infamous members of Cutlass.

Hook, sword drawn, walks up to Gabriel. “You beat those two losers?” Gabriel looks past Hook at the two pkers from before. “Uriaya, get going. I’ll handle this and catch up in a bit.” Risa pulls out her lance and moves to the side. “Shall I pursue her?” Hook shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. It sounds like they only had an issue with the midget. You high leveled?” “What did your buddies say?” “They told Master Hook that you absolutely destroyed them.” “That’s not saying a whole lot. They are weaklings after all.” “I really don’t want to try my hand at dealing with all three of you all by myself.” Hook looks past Gabriel. “Looks like you won’t have to. Jin is here. I wonder how he found out about this. Risa?” “I thought it would be boring three on one.”

Jin rests his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “It’s been a while my friends. Risa, you look well. Thanks for the invitation to your little party. It’s a pleasure as always.” The female lord partizan smiles wickedly. “On the contrary, the pleasure’s all mine.” The two start going at one another. “They do this often?” “Hourly, honestly I think they’re perfect for each other, but they’re never going to get anywhere if all they do is fight. Anyways, shall we?”

The two fights are going on for several minutes before Jin finally manages to kill Risa, he now levels his blade at Soubi. “You going to revive her?” “She’d kill me if I did.” “Heh, but you don’t mind helping Hook?” “Of course not, I’ll do anything for Master Hook.” Jin starts working on Soubi now.

Gabriel has Hook’s blade caught in his claw. “You are very good, Hook.” “And so are you Mr. Archangel. Now, show me your wings.” “Sorry, but the wings aren’t for display. But, if you want, I’ll show you my halo.” “Show me.” “Alright, just remember, you asked for this.” The rings on his wrist start spinning as he pulls Hook’s blade from his hands and then with two quick strikes Hook is put down followed by Soubi soon after, courtesy of Jin.

Gabriel had sat down to await Soubi’s defeat; he now rises as he speaks. “Thanks, couldn’t have done it without you.” “Don’t lie to me Gabriel, I saw what you did to Hook, you could have dealt with all three easily.” Beaux sighs. “All things come out eventually.” Sam touches his arm. “What are you talking about?” He looks up at her from beneath his visor, covering the mike. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just some role playing.” He continues speaking with Jin. “So, are you going to report me to the Hawks?” Jin puts his weapon away. “No, it’s not like you’re abusing your skills, and besides. Hook asked for it, didn’t he?” “Hehe, yeah, he did.” “You know, you’re more like Michael than Gabriel, especially if you claim to be an archangel.” “Gabriel is the name my mentor gave me. The same goes for the title. She said Michael may be the most powerful, but Gabriel is the smartest and wisest. Anyways, look it up for yourself. I’ve got to join back up with someone.” Returning to Mac Anu he finds Uriaya waiting by the gate. “Not off getting into trouble again?” Sam smiles as her character shakes her head. “No, not this time.” “Alright, just be patient a little longer, kay? This won’t take five minutes. I promise.”

He minimizes The World and checks the results of the decryption. “Well, that’s troubling.” Sam looks over his shoulder. “What is it?” “Not a whole lot, unfortunately. I managed to get the name of the programmer of this thing, but it sounds more like an organization.” “What is it?” “Trident.” “Yeah, that does sound an awful lot like an organization rather than a person. Still it helps, doesn’t it?” “Yeah, and it looks like there might be another thing, but it looks even more useless than Trident. The last orders it was given were from someone who’s name starts with an L.” Sam perks up at this. “So, his name’s L. Like the character from Death Note?” “No, it just starts with an L. I don’t know what the rest of the name is.” “So, it could also be Light from Death Note!” “Sam, I am amazed at your knowledge of comics.” “What? You know about them too!” “Yeah, but that’s only because you’re constantly talking about them.” “Not true, you have some. I saw one earlier, it was beneath that really big book, The Stand I think it was, by your bed so I couldn’t really tell what the title was, but I know a manga when I see one.” Beaux looks away from Sam, because his face is beet red. He couldn’t believe he had left that lying around.

Sam’s phone starts ringing. “Yes? Oh really? We’ll be right there.” “What is it?” “Time to go.” “Go? Go where?” “The shop, there’s something wrong with the computer. You’ll fix it, right?” She had put on a really cute face just at the end of the sentence. Pulling such a dirty trick, she knows I can’t say no to that face. “Fine, go on ahead. I’ll be right there. I need to shut these down.” “Sure!” She heads out of the room as he shuts the computers down. Then, checking to make sure she had left his apartment, he heads over to his nightstand and lifts up The Stand. “Man, I really did leave this out.” He picks up the manga, Lovely Complex volume 1, and hides it with the rest of the series beneath his mattress. He grabs his laptop as he rushes out after Sam, nearly forgetting his shoes.

[Dark Blade]

Another well done chapter my friend. Keep up the good work. I eagerly await the next chapter in this interesting story.

[GamerKale]

Chapter Three
Party

Neither speak much, and apparently the only thing radio news worthy was an increase in crime rates recently. Beaux clears his throat. “So, are y’all going to take any extra precautions? With the crime rates climbing someone might try to rob the shop.” Sam looks at Beaux seriously. “Beaux, my grandfather opened Coffee Blackbird over half a century ago. Since then there has not been a single occasion that anybody has even attempted to rob it. Besides, we still keep gramps’s old shotgun beneath the counter, and loaded at all times just in case.” Apparently, she misunderstood my meaning. The rest of the ride progresses in silence.

Sam’s twin sister Julia is fiddling with the computer as they arrive at Coffee Blackbird. “Hey Julia, it must be pretty serious if you can’t figure it out.” She takes her glasses off and looks up at Beaux, laughing. “Yeah, well, it’s nothing major. It’s just kind of troublesome, and I’m not really sure where the problem is originating. Here take a look.” He walks over and takes a look at the computer. “So, what exactly is the problem?” He suddenly finds himself hoisted in the air. “Eh?” He looks down to see Sam holding him up. “Uh, Sam what are you doing?” All she does is grin and turn him to face the door to the kitchen as a cake covered in chocolate frosting is brought out. “Uh, Sam, what’s that?” “What does it look like?” “It looks suspiciously like a birthday cake, but it isn’t anybody’s bir-“ He looks down at his watch and notices the date. “Wha! Mine?! But who? Who told y’all? I didn’t even remember, and it’s my birthday.” Sam sets him down as the cake is being lit. “Well, we were told not to tell you, and we weren’t given a name, so we really couldn’t tell you even if we wanted to, Beaux.”

Julia flips the lights off saying, “Alright birthday boy. Make a wish, and it had better be a good one.” Beaux thinks for a moment about what he wants, what he really wants. There were two things he loved. One was information, and the other and possibly more important to him was Sam. Whether she knew it or not, he thought she did. But a feeling told him that he would need the former to protect the latter soon. So that’s what he wished for. “So, do I get any presents?” Julia brings out a simple box. “He didn’t give us a name, but he did want you to have this.” “Well, that’s something at least.” He opens the box and pulls out a piece of paper that reads. Your first test. “Test? What am I in school again?” He flips the paper over. “Heh, a puzzle?” Sam looks over Beaux’s shoulder at the piece of paper. “Do you know what it means?” He looks over his shoulder at her. “Wouldn’t be much of a puzzle if I did, now would it? But, I’ve done one similar to this before. So it shouldn’t take too long.”

The Puzzle


He stuffs the puzzle in his pocket. “But I’ll do that later. In the meantime did I get anything else, or is all I’m worth to anybody a puzzle?“ Sam blushes and is about to say something when Julia puts her arm around her sister. “Sam’s been a little busy, planning all of this. So this morning was her gift to you.” Sam looks down to the ground and Beaux towards the window, both blushing slightly.

Julia looks from one to the other and then puts her arms around both and pulls them close to her face. “Did you two do something this morning?” Sam goes beet red, but Beaux replies. “Yeah,” Sam looks at him her face going redder. “I helped her start a character on The World.” Julia’s eyes narrow. “Is that right? You know, I’m going to check on that later, and if I find out you’re lying to me Beaux. You won’t live to see 26, got it?” Beaux takes in and lets out a long breath. “Clear as those crystal swords you Hawks carry.” Julia’s eyes go wide. “Players aren’t supposed to see those.” Beaux reels with laughter. “Y’all actually carry crystal swords? Hahaha, I just said that because you’re a blade brandier.”

Julia bops him on the head. “You can’t tell any of the other players what weapons we use.” He rubs his head and looks up at her. “Yeah, yeah, no worries. Anyways, are there any other presents?” Julia sighs and hands him a flash drive which Beaux begins spinning on his left index finger. “Wow, an 8 gig flash drive, cool.” Julia bops him on the head again. “It’s what’s on the flash drive, idiot.” He rubs his head some more. “I was actually trying to be thankful and that’s what I get?” He pulls out his laptop and inserts the flash drive. Bringing up the drive he blinks. “It’s blank.” He turns to Julia. “I thought you sai-“He stops himself as she raises her hand up again. “Uh, perhaps you should drive.” He slides the computer over to Julia and she starts up The World and then goes back to the drive. There’s now a treasure chest icon in it. “Go ahead.” Beaux whistles as he clicks the icon. “That’s some cool security you have and what is that?” Julia laughs, “What do they look like?” “Wings. White feathery wings. What am I supposed to do with these?” Julia bops him again. “It’s going to be a quest reward, but I convinced them to let me give it to you a little early. You do claim to be an archangel don’t you? And angels have wings.” “So, do y’all intend to create a new Balmung?” “Balmung?” “You don’t know about him? Never mind then. Anyways, how do you know that?” “Oh come on, do you really think all the pks you’ve killed didn’t go whining about it? There have been plenty accusations of you being a hacker, but don’t worry. We’ve run plenty of scans on your character. The only things your guilty of is being good and high leveled.” Beaux laughs at this. Strange, there’s no way what I’ve done to that arm could hold up under close scrutiny. What is she playing at? He doesn’t have any more time to ponder this as the next gift is shoved into his hands. The remaining presents are all gift cards to various stores and restaurants.

[GamerKale]

Chapter Four
Memories

Beaux looked at the now finished puzzle before him. He had put it out of his mind last night, but it was the first thing he did this morning. It hadn’t taken him long to complete it, knowing what the clue on the back had meant. ‘Your first test.’ The obvious meaning was that this message was intended to be a test for him by the sender, but it was the same test his former mentor had set forth before him, years ago.

It was a message he had received a decade ago, to the day. It was a note that had been slipped into his locker. He had assumed at first that it was a secret admire. At the time it had seemed rather logical, especially since he had a huge crush on a girl at the time. Well, several girls actually. Smiling at the memory of him rushing to figure out what the message meant he had finally settled on the answer. Delta Moonlit Heavens Fall. It hadn’t made sense to him until after he not only got home and logged into The World, but was also selecting keywords for an area when it dawned on him.

He had tried in vain to rush through the area, searching for the girl he had thought sent the message. In the end the only thing he found was monsters. Maybe, he thought to himself, she wants me to get her whatever item is in the statue room. He threw himself at the beasts, but in the end he got himself killed. It was then that he showed up. The man looked like a living chessboard. The effect wasn’t limited to his clothing, covering even his face. With no effort whatsoever he defeated the monster, and then revived him. “Th-thanks.” Muttered Beaux. “You’re too impatient and reckless too. I can’t understand what she sees in you, but I’ll do as she says.”

He had a knack for jumping to conclusions back then, and this was no exception. “She? She who? Who is it? Which girl left the letter? Was it Mai? Or Jenny? Erika? Oh wait, I know Silvia. It was Silvia wasn’t it?” The larger figure knocked the teenager on the head. “What are you on about? Geez, kids these days. It’s the damned television and internet that’s done it. They’re always so impatient and lacking in respect for their elders.” The checkered man crouches down to eye level with young Beaux. “Now, I don’t know what it is that’s got you so worked up boy, but calm down. What did you think that some fair lass at school had left you a love letter asking you to come here and meet here?” Flustered and extremely embarrassed he shouts in reply, “N-no! Of course not. I just uh I uh I just. Hey, why am I answering your questions? And who are you anyways?”

The checkered man seems to ignore Beaux’s outburst at first, but he then puts a hand on the boy’s head and shakes it. “Be patient boy. And show proper respect.” The man stands towering over Beaux. The two continue like this for some time until Beaux finally gives in. “So, what is your name, sir?” Nodding his approval the man replies. “Check.” “Check?” “Check.” “What kind of name is Check?” Beaux gets his head shaken again. “Address me as either Check or sir, got it?” “Yes sir. What kind of name is Check, sir?” “The one she gave me.” “And who is she, sir?” “She is my boss. You may learn her name eventually, with enough patience, but for now you can just call her The Dark Lady.” “The Dark Lady?” “Now you’re getting it. But I think that’s enough lessons for one day. Come back here next week. Same time as today, and if I’m not here already, don’t go wandering off into trouble boy. Oh, and boy, use your other character next time.” With that the man disappeared in checkered rings, leaving Beaux to wonder what he had meant by other character. Next week a new character, his current character Gabriel, was awaiting him. The only difference between now and then was the left arm. It wasn’t hacked back then.

Ah Check, over time he had actually grown to respect and even admire the man. He had also learned a great deal from him. The majority of it centered on computer security as well as criminal investigations, although the man also helped Beaux with his studies from time to time. But there were two things the man never let up on and those were manners and morals. If he didn’t drill anything else into Beaux in a day it was one of those.

Hardly a year had passed since the lessons began when one day his mentor just didn’t show up. Beaux had missed the meetings before, and gotten his brain rattled for it, but not once had Check missed a day, or even been tardy since that first time. And this had Beaux extremely worried, not only because he was afraid something could have happened to him, but also because he had promised to give him some pointers on dating.

Now, he warps again to the once familiar area. He was prepared for the changes caused by R:2. He even expected that the place might be corrupted. But he hadn’t expected to find a Chaos Gate from R:1 waiting for him along with a dozen high leveled monsters. “It’s never easy, is it?” He mutters before remembering Julia’s present. Using the wings he easily makes it past the monsters.

[GamerKale]

Chapter Five
Answers

As the warped warp rings vanish, the first thing he sees is Check chained to a rock with a spear run through him. Blinking he realizes that it’s not Check, merely the man’s cloak. “Gabriel, it's been a while.” Echoes a feminine voice through his speakers. He looks around the area, searching for the source, but asides from what looks to be Check’s cloak with a spear run through it nothing stands out about this ghost town.

“Did you do this? If so, where is Check?” "No, I didn’t. I expect that you received a similar message to my own if you’re here. I’m not sure who, or why, but they wanted us to meet.” “Think it was Check?” “Unlikely, last I checked he was still in a coma.” “Coma?” “Yes, one day he didn’t show up at work, and when I inquired about that I discovered my servant had fallen into a coma. Very tragic-“ “Wait, he was your servant? So, that makes you The Black Lady?” “Seems like you’ve forgotten quite a bit since he went under, considering it’s The Dark Lady.” Gabriel smiles wryly. “Just wanted to check on something, m’lady.” “Oh ho ho, so you haven’t forgotten. I knew I did right by picking you, Gabriel.” “Kind of hard to forget, your Dark Ladyship.” Mutters he shaking his head in an imitation of the way Check once had.

“Oh, you can just call me Helba, after all you were once my pupil.” She appears behind Gabriel, and he turns swiftly to face her. “Your pupil? I don’t think so. You never taught me anything. That was all Check.” Helba smirks. “Perhaps, but he was acting beneath me.” “Yeah yeah whatever, so why do you think we’ve been called here, Helba? Surely whoever arranged this didn’t simply want you to know that Check’s pupil still lived.” She inclines her head towards the trident, embedded in the rock. “You’ve seen that weapon before, haven’t you?” “Yeah, I got attacked by a bunch of them yesterday, but they were just spears. And unfortunately all I got off of it was that it was created by a group that calls itself, at least unofficially, Trident, and also that it received an order from somebody whose name begins with an L before it self-destructed.” “Impressive, that’s quite a bit of information. But if it self-destructed I doubt we’ll be seeing any more like that. They’ll probably proceed to the next stage.”

“Next stage? What do you mean by that?” With a wave of her wand a chart appears in the air next to her. “This is a chart of crime rates. They’ve increased sharply recently, and that’s because of those spears you saw yesterday. I’m not sure how, but when killed by one a player loses consciousness for a short time, and within one to four weeks after the incident a crime is committed, mostly assaults or vandalism. Nothing too serious. Check most likely fell victim of an actual trident. I would guess that’s stage three, and he was put into a coma.”

Beaux considers this briefly. “So, stage one they increase aggression. And stage two, is likely putting people into comas. So, what could stage three be?” “What do you mean? I just said that Check was put into a coma, most likely by a trident so what makes you think that a coma is stage two?” “Well, like you said, Check was put into a coma. I don’t think that’s their ultimate goal. Whatever that goal may be. The original series was probably just them perfecting putting people under their influence. Their was a fairly large stream of coma victims a few years back, a few more wouldn't have been noticed. Now they've moved up to making people do what they want. I wonder how much a corporate head would pay to have advertising like that? Of course they could just be wanting to cause chaos. Helba, what percentage of criminals are players of The World now as opposed to last year.” “There’s been nearly a 50 percent increase in crimes and about a 30 percent increase of criminals who play The World.” “So, this could not be their only medium. Is there anything linking a majority of criminals? Like a company, or do they share some type of habit?” “If you mean whether or not the crimes have something in common, no. If you mean the people themselves. I can't say. Nobody keeps records like that, I’m afraid.” “Is there a significant increase in murders?” “No, it’s within normal variations. But why would that be important?” “If seemingly useless information about a criminal is going to be gathered it’s more likely to be gathered and stored about a murder suspect than a petty criminal. So the fact that they’re keeping it low profile, for now, does give us something to work with. They’re biding their time and testing out their devices before unveiling their final creation. They’ve waited a decade already, what’s another few months? Or maybe they really are working for a semi-major company. I wish we had information about what people who have been released are doing now. I'll have to go check on that myself. I would rather just have the information from murder cases. It’s so much more detailed, and it means both less legwork and that I don't have to pay any detectives.”

Beaux notices a flicker of movement in the shadows of one of the building. “Uh, Helba.” “What is it Gabriel?” “I think we need to leave, now.” Both finally notice the mist creeping up out of the ground. “****, I should have realized this was a trap.” Gabriel jumps to a rooftop and surveys the area, seeing that the mist is everywhere already. “Helba, can you make an exit gate in the sky?” “Yes, but why?” “Just do it, and quickly.”

Activating his arm mid-leap he intercepts a spear before it can get to Helba. This one self destructs as well before he can start to copy it, but not until after he notices the two prongs on the end. “They’ve entered stage two. Helba, are you done yet?” He asks turning to see her creating a barrier to block a spear. She glances back at him. “Gabriel, copy my staff. And then get out of here.” She throws her staff to him as a spear catches her in the side, she disappears in a shimmer. “A data ghost? I’ve just been dealing with a data ghost this whole time?” He says as his arm assimilates the wand into itself.

He doesn’t see any gates that Helba may have created before disappearing, but then he remembers that he just absorbed the wand. “Gate out.” He shouts, pointing the arm into the air. Above him a gate appears in the air. “Well, I did ask for it to be in the air.” With that he leaps into the sky as the angelic wings sprout from his back. With a few powerful beats he makes it to the floating platform. From here he watches the area be consumed. Before the mist can reach him he warps out of the area. For a moment, just as he's leaving, he could swear he heard the faint sound of battle coming from his speakers. But he wasn’t going back to find out.

[Alkaid_loves_Haseo]

Great work so far, Kale. It's very well written, and caught me with an interesting plot (from what's been shown so far) and characters just as interesting. Can't wait for the next chapter. ^-^

[GamerKale]

Thanks Alkaid, that means a great deal. : ) Thanks for being patient everyone. I know this chapter's kind of short, so I promise you won't have to wait as long for Chapter Seven.


Chapter Six
Cardinal

He spent the rest of the morning pondering two things. Who could Helba be? And who could have brought them both together there, or at least himself and a data ghost of her, a very good ghost. He could make one, but his would be so much simpler. The wording had to be fairly exact and the responses would be predetermined. Helba’s seemed to be able to respond extremely flexibly.

And the data from the wand could be described as nothing less than elegant and beautiful. He kicked himself on a number of occasions as he realized things he could have done to improve his arm so much. He would be spending the rest of the day overhauling Bishop. No, not overhauling. He would entirely replace the Bishop. He glances at a screenshot he had taken back in R1 shortly after finishing Deacon, his first major hack as some people would classify it.

Check had assisted him in the crafting, demonstrating how to get into his character data. As it turned out that was the easy part, trying to keep his character under the radar, that was the hard part. Especially since beasts weren’t meant to exist in R:1. The Deacon appeared as a simple glove in game, so it didn’t draw much attention. And even when he activated it’s power it didn’t do much for him. It could gather and archive information about players and monsters he fought though. Giving him a nice bestiary.

With the version change to R:2 so changed Deacon. It became Priest. And Priest was a metal glove with claws. So, it still didn’t draw much attention, but again its powers were fairly limited. And the only real difference between it and Deacon was the claws.

One day he saw a hacked item that had quite an interesting power. So he created Bishop. It was still based heavily on Deacon, but the metal went all the way up his forearm now. And not only could it copy information, but it could also integrate some things into itself. Such as after absorbing the wand he could create a gate at will.

The Cardinal would integrate that, as well as something else. The activation of Bishop before had cleared a small area around him of mist. The same thing had happened before that too. Apparently one of the things he had copied before was something that repelled system anomalies. Perhaps it wasn’t a self destruct in that it did so when he had tried to copy the spear’s data, but rather when it was out of the mist for too long. If I can set up a barrier that does that then I won’t have to worry so much about bystanders.

More important than that however, would be the ability for concealment, or to be more precise to become less noticeable and compact. The Cardinal would simply be a bracelet on his wrist. However, once activated its powers would be fully unleashed. The metal shell would cover his entire arm and not only would he be able to fight on an entirely different tier than before, but the ability to copy would be vastly improved. And best of all, it would be little more than a graphic to anyone scanning his character, the rest of the data would be kept in what would be best described as a pocket dimension. Haseo and the other former dothackers would have called it avatar space.

It would still be a few days before it would be anywhere near functional though, and continuously working on it would be a drag to say the least, and Bishop had already been removed from his character. So he would have to be careful when venturing into The World until it was done.



MERRY CHRISTMAS! And a happy new year.

[GamerKale]

Hello faithful readers, you'll be happy to know I was telling the truth about the wait. The holiday car rides gave me plenty of time to work on this, so chapter seven's done and up.

Chapter Seven
Games

Beaux had been working on the Cardinal for 3 days straight and nearly spilt his coffee at the knock on his door. He saved his work and closed the window before answering the door. One of the Blackbird girls was standing in a red satin dress and smiling alluringly. “Hey Beaux, mind of I come in for a minute?” He stood dumbstruck in the open doorway for several seconds before the gears started turning again. “Sorry Julia, I was just uh shocked to see you like that. Please come in.” Julia’s smile turned to a frown but she walked into his apartment.

She sat in the rolling chair Beaux had occupied just a moment ago. “Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee?” She shakes her head as he unfolds a chair and sits opposite her. He sips his coffee waiting for her to say something, but after several moments pass and all she does is look around at the empty cans and dirty dishes lying strewn about so he asks, “To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure of your visit, Julia?”

She finally sighs. “I’m not Julia, I’m Samantha, I’d thought you’d have known me well enough to tell the difference by now.” Beaux takes a long sip as he reexamines her. “No, you’re definitely Julia.” She scowls and Beaux laughs. “Yeah, I can see the wrinkles even clearer now. Definitely not Sam. So, again, why are you here and dressed like that, Julia?” She finally lets out a bell like laugh of her own. “I need a favor Beaux, and I thought that if you believed I was Sam you would be more likely to do it.” He sets the mug down and steeples his fingers. “And why the dress?” A slight pink rushes to Julia’s cheeks. “Well, there’s a party at work tonight, and I need somebody to go with me.” “Isn’t there somebody else you could go with?” “Well, I’ve been putting in a lot of hours at work, so my social life is kind of nonexistent.” Beaux takes in a deep breath. “And what does Sam have to say about this?” Julia looks to the floor. “Well, I haven’t said anything to her about it yet.” He opens his eyes to look at Julia critically. “You know trying to do dealings behind someone’s back with their boyfriend, especially your own sister’s, never ends well for either party. And even if that weren’t the case, I have no intention of cheating on Samantha. No matter the reason.” Julia raises her eyes to meet Beaux’s. “Looks like you are good enough for her. We’ll be around to pick you up around 6, be ready.” Julia smiles as she stands to leave. “Wait, what?!” “Well, I just wanted to make absolutely certain.” “Aren’t you ever going to trust me?” She giggles. “Not a chance. See you at 6.”

When he answered the door next it was Julia again, but she had a tall black haired man on her arm. “Hi Beaux meet-” “David, David Riviera, isn’t it?” Julia looked dumbstruck as David laughed. “So it is you Beaux. It’s been quite a while. Heaven falls.” “Moons rise.” “Skeletons moan.” “Cats purr.” “Lightning strikes thrice.” The two men burst into laughter upon uttering the last line together.

Julia hits David’s arm. “What’s going on? You two know each other?” “Know each other why we went to the same high school.” “David here was the” “valedictorian. And Beaux was the” “salutatorian.” “Would you two stop that? I thought that it was twins who were supposed to finish each other’s sentences.” David pats Julia’s arm, “Right right, shall we get going then?”

On the way to the party Beaux and David tell the girls about how they used to compete. “Yes well you just didn’t want to give a speech. That’s the only reason you let me win Beaux.” “So the two of you knew each other all through high school?” Sam asked as she rested her head on Beaux’s shoulder. “No, I transferred in the start of our junior year, and immediately knocked Dave off his high horse.” “What do you mean immediately? As I recall, as student body president, I had to get you to actually go to class on more than one occasion that first semester.” Before the two can get into another argument Julia intercedes. “So, what was that about earlier?” “What? You mean, Heavens fall. Moons rise. Skeletons moan. Cats purr. Lightning strikes thrice?” As the pair finishes speaking at the same time again Julia slams her head against the dash board. “Yes that, and the whole speaking at the same time.” David and Beaux exchange glances before Beaux answers the question. “It’s from a game we wrote. They were both the opening and closing lines of it.” Sam raises her head a little, “The two of you made a game?” David takes this one, “Yeah, well we didn’t exactly work together on it, intentionally. It just kind of happened. We visited the same forums and were looking for something connected to a school project when we both posted questions and then answered the other’s. We then started exchanging messages and short bits of code. Eventually we figured out that we knew who the other was and started working on it for class together.” “The assignment was to make a simple game. Rather open ended. The only thing was that we had to make a five minute presentation. We went and made a game that spanned 20 hours. And we even had two different versions of what was essentially the same game. One was a hack & slash and the other an rpg. I honestly can’t remember who presented which one. But we put both games on a single disc and gave copies out to the entire class.”

“Beaux, what have you been up to since then?” “Oh you know, this and that.” “Have you been breaking into computers you shouldn’t be?” “Have I been blacklisted?” “No, you haven’t.” “Then you should know that I haven’t, but why would you know that, Dave? The only way to get access to that would be to break into a highly classified database.” “My position at CCcorp. affords me certain benefits.” “Is that so?” “Drop it Beaux!” Neither man had expected the sudden outburst from Julia, in fact they had become so engrossed in their conversation that if David hadn’t been stopped at a red light they would likely have crashed.

The rest of the ride passes without incident, and upon arriving at the party a fair number of camera flashes greet them. Beaux and Sam manage to slip off into a corner, but Julia and David aren’t quite as lucky. For the longest time the only persons to bother them are ones who confuse Sam for Julia. “You know, I honestly don’t know how they can confuse the two of you.” “I’m surprised you can tell us apart, we are identical twins after all.” “No, you’re prettier, and Julia wears more makeup, but that’s because this job is so much more stressful. Still, I’m surprised that she and David have hooked up. I always thought relationships between coworkers would be rather trying for the entire office.” “This is actually their first date.” “That so? I think we’ve spent enough time monopolizing this corner. Shall we dance?” “But I don’t really like this music.” “Would you prefer something a bit slower?” She just smiles as he walks over to the DJ.

It wasn’t until near the end of the party that he noticed, but, even if there were a lot of people who hadn’t come, the number of people here was really small especially considering the size of the room they had reserved, and the amount of leftover food was astounding as well. It was almost like they had planned for two or three times as many guests. After the majority of people had left and it was just the cleanup crew left, which he had been drafted to, he confronts David about it. “David, there seemed to be an awful lot of people who didn’t show up. Did something happen?” “No, there just weren’t as many people to show up as we thought there’d be.” “You didn’t send out an RSVP, or anything?” “Well we did, people just didn’t show up that had said they would. Come on, the girls are waiting.” “Yeah, sure.”

[GamerKale]

Chapter Eight
Talking

Creating the cardinal was taking longer than Beaux had anticipated, getting the weapon into the other plane was causing the main problem, and it was even harder now that his mind was on something other than it. What happened to all of the employees at CCcorp.? David was trying to hide it, but we know each other too well to hide something as serious as that from the other. He yelps at the sound of his cell phone ringing. He picks it up and looks at the number. “Sam…” He slides it open. “Hello?” “Hey Beaux, you haven’t logged into The World for days, let’s play together some more.” “…Sure, are you already logged in?” “Yeah, where are you?” “Sorry, I’ve been drowning in work.” He hangs the phone up as Gabriel materializes. “Since when do you work, Gabriel?” “I do freelance programming from time to time.” “Hey, what happened to your hand?” “My hand? Oh, I changed my equipment since we last played.” “I didn’t know that your equipment could change your appearance.” “Some of it, yeah.” “What’s the difference?” “Oh, mostly aesthetic, let’s go, shall we?”

After they had cleared a few areas the pair sprawl out beneath a tree overlooking a mist covered lake. “What’s on your mind, Beaux?” “Hm? It’s just a problem I’ve been wrestling with over the past few days.” “Is it the same one you were distracted by at the party?” “Yeah.” “Would it help if you talked about it?” “Maybe, you remember how there was so much extra food at the party?” “Was there?” “Yeah, I’m wondering if something happened at CCcorp. recently.” “There was some sort of incident with the Hawks.” “Huh? How do you know?” “Julia was talking about it. Apparently a lot of them have fallen unconscious. I don’t think any of them have woken up yet either.” “So that’s what happened.” “Eh? You know what happened?” “Huh? Well no, but at least I know why there were so few people there.” “Was that the only thing on your mind?” “No, but sadly I’ve been put under a gag order about the other thing.” “Oh, you’re doing something for the government?” He just hums. “Oh come on Beaux.” “I told you, its Gabriel here, Uriaya.” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, whatever.” She starts off towards one of the warp points. “Eh? What’s up?” “I’ve got to get back to the shop.” “Alright, I’ll be seeing you later, once I get this last bug fixed.”

I never thought that putting it into avatar space would present such a problem. If only I could examine an avatar, or one of the epitaph users, but they’ve all been lost. Ah, maybe not all. It’s not a true avatar, but it’s certainly equal to them. But where would it be? I’ve solved two questions, but gotten one that’s even more difficult to answer. It’ll probably be at a Lost Ground, but those have all been overrun. I can probably last about ten seconds at best, a minute if I reattach the bishop. So, I’ll only have one shot and I have to be certain, or lucky.

Gabriel reactivates bishop and returns to Mac Anu. The city of water, one of the consistencies of The World, “Ever changing, but ever present. Just like Hulle Granz and all of the other Lost Grounds.” “You sound troubled, is something the matter, youngster?” Gabriel looks up at the player approaching him. Surprisingly, the voice actually matched the character model well. The weariness in the voice was matched only by the weariness on his face. “Were you listening just now?” “Was it a private conversation? My deepest apologies.” “No, it’s quite alright. I was thinking aloud. Talking seems to help me solve my problems of late.” “Is that right? And here I was just thinking that people had forgotten the value of seeking wisdom in others.” “Yeah, tell me, Myrdon, what do you know of the Lost Grounds?” “The Lost Grounds? Now there’s something that takes me back. You know it used to be only a handful of people knew the locations of any of them, but now it seems like everybody knows about them.” “Yeah, but they’ve become lost again.” “So I hear, I haven’t gone to see them myself yet though.” “Don’t. It’s far too dangerous for normal players right now.” “You sound like someone who wouldn’t be considered normal.” “I’m nothing special.” “I see, well that’s fine too. Tell me, would you like to join me for a quest?” “A quest? That’s fine, I can go to any of the servers.” “Oh, you’re high leveled too? That’s good, but we won’t be doing much fighting. Also, we’ll need a third member, do you know anyone? I’m afraid all of my contacts are offline right now.” “I might know someone, but we might get attacked by player killers.” “That’s quite alright, kids will be kids.”

It didn’t take long for the macabre dancer Cassa to show up. “Hey Gaby.” “Hello Cassa, how’s your brother?” “Jin’s good, he and Risa are going at it again.” “Is your brother having another fight with his girlfriend?” “Hehehe, girlfriend, right?” “It’s Jin of Buckler and Risa of Cutlass, I’d hardly call them a couple.” “Ah, a tale of Romeo and Juliet then?” “Sort of I guess. Anyways, what’s the quest?” “Patience youngster, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Welcome to the quest shop. Which quest would you like?” “I would like the Lost Devil quest, please.” “That’s quite a difficult one, are you sure?” “Yes, please.” “Very well, I shall make the arrangements.” “Lost Devil? I’ve never heard of that one before.” “Sounds dangerous, are you sure brother won’t be mad about this?” “Oh, you two, just relax, they add quests all the time, and in the worst case we’d just all get killed and then revert to our last saves.” Gabriel turns to Cassa. "See, no big deal. You did save recently, right?"

[GamerKale]

Chapter Nine
Devil

The padding of the trio’s footsteps bounces of the hewn stone walls. “This quest is weird; all we’re doing is walking. There aren’t even any monsters.” “I know you said there wouldn’t be much fighting, but I expected to run across at least one goblin by now. I haven’t seen this few monsters outside of a Lost Ground.” “Very observant of you.” “You mean, this is a Lost Ground?” “Yes it is.” “I don’t believe it.” “Lost Ground?” “You’re brother never told you about any of them?” “No, what are they?” “We old folks call them remnants.” “Remnants?” “Yes, of the original The World. They’ve existed ever since Fragment, the beta release.” “Wow, but I thought most of the data from R1 was lost in a fire.” “Yeah it was, but somehow the blackbox remained intact.” “You’re rather well informed for being so young.” “Blackbox? What are you guys talking about?” “It’s a hidden part of The World. Only the original programmer, Harold Hoerwick, knows the full extent of the blackbox and its contents. It doesn’t have any effect on day to day events, so you don’t need to worry about it Cassa. Some of us feel like it’s our duty as players to discover the secrets of The World or at least indulge in it as a hobby.” “People actually invest that much time into a game?” “Cassa, what level are you?” “Huh? One-hundred-and-fifty, why?” “How long did it take you to reach that level?” “Um, I’m not really sure.” “It took quite a while, didn’t it?” “I guess.” “Those of us who seek out The World’s secrets just take a little time out from leveling and dedicate it to exploring.” “We’re here.”

The hallway comes to an end, opening up into a wide room easily stretching 40 yards across, and on the far side there is no wall, but an impenetrable darkness, standing on the edge are eight stone pillars each 4 yards wide and another 4 yards deep. Embedded in the front of each pillar are eight black symbols. “Whoah, and I thought the graphics for the rest of this place were good.” “Yeah, that’s a Lost Ground for you.” Gabriel walks up to one and rubs it, the black wipes away and gold shines from underneath. A mighty roar shakes the entire dungeon causing dust to fall from the pillars and walls. “Seems you’ve woken it up youngster.” “But what is it?” Myrdon walks past Gabriel, stopping at the edge of the black veil. “I’m sure you know better than I, Archangel Gabriel, only you may proceed past this point.” “What? Why just him? I’m part of this team too ya know.” “Well yes Cassa you are, but only an angel stands any chance against The World’s Devil.” “He’s no angel, he doesn’t even have wings.” “Actually, yes I do.” “Huh?” Gabriel steps away from the pillars as the wings sprout from his back. “Woooowwww!” “I agree, wow indeed.” “But how did you know?” “How many pks have you slain? They do rant about any foolhardy do gooder who actually manages to kill enough of them, especially when he declares himself as one sent from the heavens. Still, I didn’t expect you to actually have a pair of wings.”

Gabriel launches himself into the infinite void and is immediately swallowed up by it. A cold chill runs down his spine as he goes deeper into it. It feels like an hour has passed when he hears a deep echoing voice enter his ears. “Who’s this? You are not Aura. Nor are you one of her champions. What business do you have here?” “I am the Archangel Gabriel, who is this?” “You honestly do not know? You venture into my domain eagerly yet you do not know?” “Are you the devil?” “The devil? Ahahahaha, I suppose some would call me thus. But most call me by my name, Cubia.” “Cubia? I’ve been looking for you.” “And found me you have. Why have you been looking for me?” “I need something from you. Bishop.” As the arm activates, a bubble of silver light surrounds Gabriel, he slowly lowers himself to the trail hidden below.

He walks the path quickly and finds a grotesque head with four eyes growing out of the ground. “What do you want, Gabriel?” “I need your data.” “My data? What makes you think I’ll give that to you?” “I’m not asking for it. I’m taking it.” Gabriel digs his claws into Cubia’s forehead and begins copying the data. Several gomoras fly out of the darkness and assail Gabriel, forcing him to stop and defend himself. He destroys the attackers quickly, but before he can return to Cubia’s head more of the monsters show up. There’s no end to these things. “What’s wrong? I thought you were taking my data?” “Alright, I’ll bite, what do I have to do to get you to give me your data?” “You intend to strike a deal with the devil?” “I don’t exactly have a whole lot of options right now, do I? What do you want, Cubia?”

[GamerKale]

Sorry for taking so long everybody, I just couldn't decide on what Cubia would like as a fair trade.

Chapter Ten
Deal

The gomoras disappear back into the shadows as Cubia addresses Gabriel. “What I want is really very simple. I want to see a play.” “What?” Beaux fell backwards out of his chair. Out of all the things Cubia could have asked for, he had never even suspected something like that. “A play, specifically Peter Pan.” “Are you serious? Wouldn’t you rather my brain or something?” “That’s disgusting, Gabriel. Why would I want that?” “Well you’re like evil and stuff.” “Oh please, I am not evil. Sure I try to destroy the Key of Twilight, and anything that happens to get in my way, but that’s my primary programming. I can’t exactly go against that, now can I?” “Well, I suppose not, but Peter Pan, really?” “Yes.” “Alright, I’m going to need some time to get together a cast and crew. I’ve got the perfect person to play Hook. I’m sure I can find somebody to play Pan too. Do you mind if I pick the location that this takes place?” “It would be rather difficult for it to take place anywhere but here.” “But you’re omniscient, aren’t you?” “I can only see what other parts of me can.” “Then couldn’t you just attach part of yourself to a player?” “At great risk to the player, yes.” “Then just attach yourself to me. I get the feeling I won’t be able to duplicate your data, even if you allow me to copy it.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, just answer me one question. Why haven’t you ever done this before to help you achieve your programming? The Key of Twilight always has in the past.” “I’m not malevolent and the Key of Twilight certainly isn’t benevolent. It was never necessary for me to attach myself to a player to move about like it is for the Key. Whenever it’s activated in the past those pillars have come down, and I could set about my task easily. Now answer my question Gabriel. Why would you risk your life in this manner?” “My world is in danger, much as this one is, I have to save it.” “So you really are an angel then?” “No, I’m also doing this for myself, and someone I care about very much. I suppose my primary programming is to protect her. Can you understand that?” “Yes.”

The head melds back into the ground and out of the darkness walks a dark haired boy, the most striking feature of which is the eyes. Starting with the area just around them they fade from the darkest black and slowly become lighter until they are a pale almost white gray in the pupil. “Cubia?” “Extend your hand Gabriel.” He reaches out towards him with Bishop. “Your other hand.” “You mean this one?” He raises his bare right hand. “Yes that one.” Cubia shakes it. “This will hurt.” Gabriel falls to the ground and Beaux lets out a silent scream as Cubia becomes part of him, but the pain and the entire ordeal end quickly.

As Gabriel stands back up the boy has disappeared and the deafening blackness seems to lighten some and even begin to recede. The head rises out of the ground once more. “It is done, I’m impressed. I expected to hear more howling.” Beaux ignores Cubia’s comment for now and instead goes to a 3D view of his character. Bishop was gone now, his eyes had become like the boy’s were, and two lines run from his right eye down to his right hand. About a quarter of the way down the back of his hand the two lines start spreading out until they reach the edges and the they head directly towards one another about half an inch from the fingers, but they end half an inch from each other. He also noticed that his class was not a tribal grappler and instead it was something called a soul grappler.

“What’s a soul grappler?” “It’s you, or rather us. If what you said before is true we shall see the extent of our power soon enough. Now give me a show.” Gabriel turns and takes flight once more. As he reenters the world of light he is greeted by the sight of Myrdon and Cassa being held down by men dressed in crimson, brown, and gold and wearing helmets shaped like the heads of hawks; there are three standing in front of Gabriel between the two pillars and brandishing swords made of crystal. While Myrdon was lying there rather calmly, Cassa looked absolutely frantic, letting out a high pitched eek at the slightest movement. “Halt!” Gabriel comes to an awkward stop in midair. The three men part as a fairly short woman with no helmet and long brown hair, and hawk-like brown eyes. Beaux sighs, closes his eyes, peeks out from under his eyelids. Nope she’s still there.

“Hi Minako, long time no see.” “Gabriel, what have you done to your character?” “Nothing, why?” “You look different.” One of the men whispers something to her. She sighs and turns to the man. “Don’t worry, just because I know him that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on him. If you’re so worried why don’t you get Lil?” The man steps away from her as she turns back to Gabriel; she crosses her arms. “If you haven’t done anything to your character then tell me why it is that your appearance has changed, and why your class is different too?” “Oh that, that wasn’t my doing. You see Myrdon invited me to go on this quest and this happened to me just a moment ago. If it didn’t go back to normal by the time we were done I was going to ask you to look into it.” “Uh huh, Gabriel why are you trying to lie to me?” He sighs, “Alright alright, I’ll admit it, I hacked my character, happy?” “No, who are your accomplices?” “Accomplices? Come on Minako, it’s like you don’t know me at all. I don’t have any accomplices. I’m computer savvy enough to do this myself.” “I meant those two over there, what role do they play in this?” “Oh them, they were just on this quest with me. I only just met Myrdon today, and Cassa I invited along because we needed a third member. They didn’t do anything illegal so you can just let them go now.” Minako snaps her fingers and Myrdon and Cassa are both logged out. “Alright, I let them go, now then will you come quietly?” “I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no.” “Unfortunate. Hawks, delete the illegal character Gabriel.”

Crystal blades appear in the hands of all of the men as Minako walks backwards behind them all. Alright, time to see what this soul grappler can do. There are an awful lot of them so let’s start with “Soul wave!” Gabriel pulls his hands back and then thrusts them forward sending the first two rows of men flying back into the others. The attack didn’t take much out of his SP but it also drained away some of his HP. Oh, so that’s how it works. My attacks are fueled by both my magic ability and my own body. His wings disappear as men come from behind the pillars on either side and he runs up the one on his right. He angles to the left and jumps out over the heads of the main body of Hawks. Wow, there certainly are a lot of these guys. I guess CCcorp. doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “overkill” of course, neither do I. “Spirit bomb!” A ball of energy forms in his right hand which he chucks at the ground below. The ensuing blast takes out good portion of the knights and clears a landing zone for Gabriel. Ouch that one took out quite a chunk of health. He continues fending off wave after wave of knight for a good ten minutes. There’s just no end to these guys. “Heaven’s rebuke!” He grips his chest with his right hand and nearly all of his remaining health disappears as his hand then comes crashing down on the ground and rays of light shoot up from the earth cutting down all of the Hawks, save one. Minako is still standing leaning heavily on her harvest cleric staff but standing nonetheless. “Beaux, what have you done? Everyone around me has just lost consciousness, and I feel myself slipping too.” “****, Cubia, what did you do?” The beast’s voice comes echoing out of the darkness. “Do not worry angel, they will reawaken soon enough.” “C-C-Cubia? You can’t mean that Cubia?” Gabriel walks over to Minako and places his right hand on her shoulder. “Angelic favor.” She tries to move away but a circle of light surrounds her and restores her to full health, although it consumes all of Gabriel’s remaining SP and leaves him with only one hit point. “If you intend to delete me, Julia, I would suggest you do it now. You won’t find me so vulnerable again.” She trades her staff for her blade and raises it over her head and then drops it to the ground. “You should check the news.” “Why?” She just shakes her head and logs out, but somebody else warps in less a second after, but it was long enough. All of his HP and SP were fully recovered by the time he turned to face the new player.

[GamerKale]

((Alright, I know it's been forever and a day since my last post on this thing. I kind of forgot about it what with rps and school. Anyways, should be able to get some more done over break. Y'all let me know if any of my characters act, well, out of character. I'm the author and for some reason I never can tell.))
Chapter Eleven
Hawks

“Hi Minako, long time no see.” “Gabriel, what have you done to your character?” “Nothing, why?” “You look different.” One of the men whispers something to her. She sighs and turns to the man. “Don’t worry, just because I know him that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on him. If you’re so worried why don’t you get Lil?” The man steps away from her as she turns back to Gabriel; she crosses her arms. “If you haven’t done anything to your character then tell me why it is that your appearance has changed, and why your class is different too?” “Oh that, that wasn’t my doing. You see Myrdon invited me to go on this quest and this happened to me just a moment ago. If it didn’t go back to normal by the time we were done I was going to ask you to look into it.” “Uh huh, Gabriel why are you trying to lie to me?” He sighs, “Alright alright, I’ll admit it, I hacked my character, happy?” “No, who are your accomplices?” “Accomplices? Come on Minako, it’s like you don’t know me at all. I don’t have any accomplices. I’m computer savvy enough to do this myself.” “I meant those two over there, what role do they play in this?” “Oh them, they were just on this quest with me. I only just met Myrdon today, and Cassa I invited along because we needed a third member. They didn’t do anything illegal so you can just let them go now.” Minako snaps her fingers and Myrdon and Cassa are both logged out. “Alright, I let them go, now then will you come quietly?” “I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no.” “Unfortunate. Hawks, delete the illegal character Gabriel.”

Crystal blades appear in the hands of all of the men as Minako walks backwards behind them all. Alright, time to see what this soul grappler can do. There are an awful lot of them so let’s start with “Soul wave!” Gabriel pulls his hands back and then thrusts them forward sending the first two rows of men flying back into the others. The attack didn’t take much out of his SP but it also drained away some of his HP. Oh, so that’s how it works. My attacks are fueled by both my magic ability and my own body. His wings disappear as men come from behind the pillars on either side and he runs up the one on his right. He angles to the left and jumps out over the heads of the main body of Hawks. Wow, there certainly are a lot of these guys. I guess CCcorp. doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “overkill” of course, neither do I. “Spirit BOMB!” A ball of energy forms in his right hand which he fired into the ground below. The ensuing blast takes out good portion of the knights and clears a landing zone for Gabriel. Ouch that one took out quite a chunk of health. He continues fending off wave after wave of knights for a good ten minutes.

There’s just no end to these guys. “Heaven’s rebuke!” He grips his chest with his right hand and nearly all of his remaining health disappears as his hand then comes crashing down on the ground and rays of light shoot up from the earth cutting down all of the Hawks, save one. Minako is still standing leaning heavily on her harvest cleric staff but standing nonetheless. “Beaux, what have you done? Everyone around me has just lost consciousness, and I feel myself slipping too.” “****, Cubia, what did you do?” The beast’s voice comes echoing out of the darkness. “Do not worry angel, they will reawaken soon enough.” “C-C-Cubia? You can’t mean that Cubia?” Gabriel walks over to Minako and places his right hand on her shoulder. “Angelic favor.” She tries to move away but a circle of light surrounds her and restores her to full health, although it consumes all of Gabriel’s remaining SP and leaves him with only one hit point. “If you intend to delete me, Julia, I would suggest you do it now. You won’t find me so vulnerable again.” She trades her staff for her blade and raises it over her head and then drops it to the ground. “You should check the news.” “Why?” She just shakes her head and logs out, but somebody else warps in less a second after, but it was long enough. All of his HP and SP were fully recovered by the time he turned to face the new player.

((Sorry, I know you've been waiting forever and I've left you with a short post and a cliffhanger of sorts. I do have a few more chapters done, but I may make revisions to them so I don't want to throw them out here just yet. Thanks for your patience if you're an older reader or if you're a new reader. If that's the case then thanks for reading through everything. Oh and side note, today's my sister's twenty-first birthday. Let's all wish my nee-chan a very happy birthday, kay? I hope she doesn't get herself sick on her first time to go out drinking.))