.Hack//Glitch

Chapter One

The blur of buildings and various people flooded my eyes while I zoomed through the town of Mac Anu with my steam bike. Its roar could be heard every time I accelerated , followed by the ongoing purr of motion. As I steered toward the Mercenary district I could hear the steady clanking of the lance I carried on my back.

"Reven, where are you?! D: "

I suddenly became acquainted with a wall when I flew off my steam bike from the sudden surprise of a message popping on my screen. I am of course, referring to my computer screen in which I am playing The World. It's a vast universe full of players from a multitude of countries meeting on servers , dungeons, and towns. Some people play just to play,other play to kill the innocent,and some even play to kill those who kill. All I know is I play because of the people and adventures I encounter.

The message I received was from Kya. She's a friend of mine I had promised to meet with the other day. I'm running a little late because of a glitch I experienced earlier. I suppose I should message her back. As I commanded my character to get back on my steam bike I typed in my response to her previous message.

"Hey, I had a prob with my comp earlier in a field mission but I'm on my way now."

I headed on my steam bike to the guild we had started a while back. It was of course in the Mercenary district where one can visit the HOME of any guild they belong to. Since I am able to use my steam bike that means I have passed the requirements to be a guild master and gained access to special capabilities like having as well as using my steam bike.

After taking around three wrong turns, I finally made it to PropheMe's HOME. I walked through the doors to see some of my closest friends in the world. To my left was a lanky girl probably around the age of 17. Her hair was dark red and was straight up until a few inches from her shoulders. She sported a black tunic with red lining as well as baggy black shorts and black boots. Her wardrobe was rather conservative for an adept rogue.

"About time ,Mr. Guildmaster," she said in her usual somewhat low and sarcastic voice. "Kya was on the verge of having a grunty or twelve."

"Hehe,"I laughed into my mic. "It's nice to see you too, Kurisu."

"Who do you think you are?!" Kya stormed in yelling. "Mr. I'm-too-good-to-show-up-on-time? Hmmm? Is that it? Hmmm?!"

Shouting before me was my angry harvest cleric buddy. She wasn't very tall and usually wore white boots and a light blue dress similar her eyes and to that of a fairy's. Her hair was pink and kind of short. Unlike other harvest clerics, she had no head wear.

"I told you, I was experiencing problems with my comp!" I said in my defense. Kya was always the type of person to get upset if things aren't her way. At first, I hated that about her but now I accept it because it's not just one of her flaws, it's one of the things that makes her Kya."Didn't you get my message?"

"No,"she responded. "What message? When?"

"The one I sent right after you asked where I was," I answered. Maybe it was because of the problems I had been having earlier in the day.

"Hmmm...Well,perhaps it could be my message wasn't sent due to an error in the game."

She had calmed down by now and said, "That could be it, but don't let it happen again Reven."

"Pfft. You're not the Guildmaster," Kurisu muttered.

"Shut up, Kurisu!" Kya snapped.

They continued arguing across the room via normal talk mode. When we play in The World, normally, most people used three different modes to chat. Standard talk mode allows whatever words you speak in your microphone to be heard by anyone in the area. Party mode only lets your friends in your party hear you. Finally, there's private chat. Private chat lets you speak only to those you select to talk with.

"Now I know why Sakaki kicked you out of Moon Tree ,"Kya argued. "He gave you the boot because you're so damn annoying!"

"Eh, what does Sakaki know? He's a fag! I mean, come on! Suck cock ee? Ring ring ring! Gay alert!"

"Guys,"I interrupted half chuckling. "Are we going to level up today or what because I can go listen to yelling and arguing outside of The World."

"Well,I got to make fun of Sakaki,"Kurisu said as she was leaning on the wall closest to the alchemy shop in our HOME with her arms crossed. "So I guess I'm good. Hehe."

Kya looked like she wanted to say something but I suppose she figured our time would be better spent increasing our levels than arguing mindlessly. Well, maybe not mindlessly in Kurisu's case.

"Alright then," she pouted. "Let's go."

"To the chaos gate!" Kurisu shouted heroically.

"Let's go!" I laughed and patted Kya's shoulder. "C'mon. Let's have fun. "

We walked out of the guild's HOME and stood outside to figure out where we were going to go exactly. By having their member addresses, I could add them to my party. I clicked on MENU, scrolled up past ITEMS, and clicked on PARTY. After clicking PARTY, I am able to add people to my three person party as long as I have their member addresses. On the list of member addresses I have, one could see who was online, offline, busy, or away. I added Kurisu and Kya to my party,making the three person limit.

"So where are we going?"Kurisu asked while leaning against a wall.

"Hmmm...That's a good question," I said.

"How about 'Playing Cursed Footstone'?" Kya suggested. "It's level 91 dungeon."

It wasn't a bad call because I was level 89,Kurisu was 90, and Kya was 88. It's always good to go into a dungeon or field a level or two higher than you are. The place Kya had suggested was an area word. Those are made by combining three words in any order. There are a multitude of words so the amount of places we can go is high.

"Alright,"I said. "That sounds fine with me."

"Yup yup,"Kurisu agreed. "Let's go."

We walked towards the green warp point that would let us warp closer to the chaos gate instead of walking. There are five of these in Mac Anu that let you go to different parts of the town. There's the central district where guild's have their own shops and sell good items cheaper than regular shops. There are other parts but not as important as central and mecenary so I'll get into those we it comes.

As we warped, glowing bluish rings of light circle around each of us as we go and come from warp points. We then found ourselves appearing in front of the dome warp point. The dome is where the chaos gate is. Some say lamely "Dome is where the heart is." Kurisu always makes fun of people who say that.

After heading inside the dome, we walked to the chaos gate. The chaos gate is the main gate of each town. From it you can use different area words to go to various places. You can even go to other towns. I entered the words " Playing Cursed Footstone" and away we were.

Suddenly,my screen started acting as it did this afternoon. It was glitchy and showing a wide spectrum of colors and data instead of the usual loading screen. What's going on? Something was wrong. Were the others experiencing this as well? As quickly as it came, it went away. Now, we were in another place. I have a strong feeling weren't not in " Playing Cursed Footstone" . Looking back, I wish I had prepared myself for what came next.