.:. Chapter One .:.

Behind my FMD I slammed my balled fist against the wooden table, causing my water to tip a bit and spill onto my hand. Using the bottom of my shirt as a rag I tried to regain full control of my poisoned Heavy Blade character, Ryu. On the screen laid out before me sat my ghosted level 1 Avatar. Monsters had swarmed the area and had made quick work of me, making what all the high level players saying about "You're in over your head rookie." Entirely to true. A truth that burned the palms of my hands as I tried vainly to move.

It was no use.

Just before I threw my controller to the wall, a flash of blinding light filled the screen, causing all of the monsters to dissipate without hesitation. Not a moment later my HP gauge was full and I was able to move in full. I didn't spend a moment to linger and found my way to the door, despite the light. Outside wasn't good either; the light had shed through and was making the map glitch.

Fall unto me

Everything went blurry, not just on my FMD but literally. The light had closed in making the traces of the dungeon disappear entirely. I saw my avatar fall and become engulfed in the winding lights. Yet the only thing I could think of was the chalet voice that had filled my earphones. A blink later, and the screen were blank.

Switching to First Person POV didn't really help at all either. All I could see was a small floating tablet off in the distance, unfortunately I lost movement again, so I couldn't investigate. As if the presence predicted how I felt, it began floating closer. It got bigger and bigger on my FMD until the words were easy to read.

The right arm of God

The right hand of END

The divine powers that be

The darkest void shall mend.

I slowly eased my thumb over the pad so my character's hand appeared on screen, floating up until the glove was firmly placed on the tablet. Just as the glove swept across the Tablet, a red glowing light shot through the white void of the area. It flew wildly for a moment, then refocused on the right arm of my character, causing a swirling crimson glow to blanket the right arm of Ryu, as well as making the right half of his body glow with a muted light. I hovered over the POV button and switched it to second person, noticing that some of the red aura was focusing on certain points of the arm, causing an odd intricate design to run down the arm.

When the light let up there were crimson designs embedded into the character data, but it was short lived. The screen went blank again.

In the darkness of the screen only a few small words were seen.

Δ Mac Anu

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My eyes widened as I found my character standing at the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. Why I had been transported was beyond me, how was even more confusing. I decided that dwelling on it wouldn't really help, so I cured myself with some potions then turned back to the gate again. After selecting three words the screen went completely blank again.

Δ Grassy Desert Angel

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Grassy plains stretched out before the spiraling rings that I appeared out of. I really didn't need to use a Fairy Orb to see all of the Monster Portals, since the field was small and all of them were in one place. Off in the distance I thought I could hear the sound of liquid, a stream perhaps, but instead I charged to the first portal in my path. Unfortunately the programming found an error and three portals had been lined up, separated by no less than a pixel. I myself didn't find this out until my wide blade cut through all three, causing a horde of monsters to charge.

Lucky for me the first three small ogres fell with some basic sword slashing, but the last one, a big troll was I could tell not going to go down easy. As luck would have it I was proved right as he took no damage from my melee. If this wasn't pre-programmed data, he probably would have just walked away from pure boredom. Which I really wish he would do. When I moved my cursor over the beast's head, I gaped in awe. How the hell did a level 50 troll get into this area!

Just as I was about to step back and recover my HP, the troll's mighty hammer came downward unto my character. Common sense told me I was going to die again, and my heart was no opponent. Just before the hammer met my avatar a violent trail of red lines pierced the troll, and he fell in one hit. Standing behind the body was a young looking avatar with black hair and cobalt eyes, set on a masked face. The clothing he had hanging off his skinny shoulders and the two kodachi his character gripped in his hands told me he was a Twin User.

"It's dangerous to travel alone kid, especially with The World's current situation." He sounded really mature for a player with that young a character model.

I clicked on the voice chat option and moved the mike towards my mouth.

"What do you mean current situation? What happened?" I forgot to use my voice changing software, so my light female voice came out of a hefty looking Heavy Blade. The twin Blade's surprise was enough to make me chuckle slightly, which made my avatar look even weirder. After that I switched on the voice changing software after apologizing.

"New monsters have begun appearing, too many for the CC Corp. To cover up as an update. On top of that a new zone has been made called Δ End Of The World" It surprised me how serious he could be, considering how scared he had looked a moment ago.

"Wait a sec…" My ignorance was about to take over again "That's four words! You can only use three!"

The Twin user sighed and nodded, gesturing towards the spot where the troll once laid.

"I suggest you form a party with high level players, to avoid that kind of encounter again." Just as he finished his statement, he disappeared in a flurry of golden rune rings.

-Line-

I walked down the cement sidewalk bordering the lake that passed through the city. I had decided to heed the Twin Blade's words and went scouting for someone to form a party with. Which in itself turned out to be harder than I had originally thought. Most people were too high level or already in a party. The thought of visiting low level areas looking for a partner crossed my mind, but I decided against it for security reasons.

A moment later I contradicted myself and went to a level that was supposed to be an event area. Selecting the words I double clicked to GO! Button and the screen went blank again.

Δ EVENT Sakura Battle Royale

This time instead of a Loading bar there was a dancing gruntyy, that filled with light from top to bottom. When it was fully illuminated I appeared in the center of a dark forest. Pink flower petals blowed through the rooted trees, making the scene look unusually surreal. If not for the constant voice chat pouring through my head phones, it would almost be peaceful. The chat window popped up with bolded admin text, which meant it was an announcement (if that wasn't obvious already.) I scrolled down and scanned what the announcement said, making sure I didn't run into any trees as I approached an opening.

Balmung: Welcome one and all to the special event Sakura Royale The rules are very simple. The first one to find the hidden dungeon door and make it to the bottom of the dungeon wins an extremely rare prize! Hits won't take away from your HP, and getting killed will put you back at the Chaos gate in Mac Anu. Have fun, GO!

Every person within ear shot gave off a high pitched shout of joy as the crowds advanced forward deeper into the forest. Switching to Third Person I drew the strongest blade I had, my level two Excalibur. Not much but it should get me a little ways. It was just my luck, that all of the strongest fighters were dueling each other, which made it easy to sneak through the trees. Just as I felt some reminiscence of safety a shout came from behind.

"DIE NEWBIE!" It was a younger man's voice, but when I turned I saw a young avatar holding a pole arm, the true edge facing towards my avatar. Just before the strike connected a familiar twin blade skidded in to catch the pole arm between his two kodachi.

"I told you to find a party, dumb ass."