.Hack Faith
Prologue
It's been almost three years since that fateful day. She had just turned thirteen years old when her brother would not be able to ever speak to her, hug her, or be with her ever again. Her name was Alexis Ito and her brother was Devlin Ito. Unlike other sibling relations, Alexis and Devlin got along rather well even though Devlin was three years older than her. Devlin was always there to cheer her up when she was down or protect her from other children that would pick on her because of their family's social status. Their family was never that wealthy, and barely could afford anything other than just the necessities to live in the bustling city of Tirakashi located in Japan. On Devlin's 13th birthday, their parents surprised him with a present that would change their entire family's lives in three years. Devlin was introduced to The World, an online role playing game played across the world. Players delved into a limitless world where you could do nearly anything you wanted, it was just like another reality since it was one of the first online role playing games to utilize new technology that virtually immersed the player in a virtual online world. However this game was not without its glitches in its system.
Reports of a young individual known as Tsukasa carried with him an unknown monster that protected him from anyone that attempted to attack him. The World message boards were flooded in a short span of days upon stories being released by players to other players. Various posts ranted about how could a Wavemaster obtain such an entity. Other posts putting together hunt parties to find the Wavemaster and kill him. Devlin's curiosity was drawn to these boards just like many others. He enlisted into one of the many hunting parties for the Wavemaster. He was with an elite group of twin-blades and he himself was a twin-blade as well. It seemed fitting that they were quite an assassin team given their character classes. The team was quite confident in their ability to take down the so-called powerful Wavemaster and his monster. Devlin invited Alexis to come and watch him and his party take the Wavemaster down since she had just received her own profile to login to the world.
The party was made up of about five twin-blades including Devlin. They met up at one of the local quarters of the World. It was a basic town with the trade posts, taverns, and gate portals. Alexis joined them as a low-level Wavemaster just getting her bearings in The World. They received an email from one of their team members that they had spotted the Wavemaster at the Forbidden Catacombs; a high level dungeon area to most players. The entire party used the gate portal and ported to the entrance of the Forbidden Catacombs to only find a party already defeated by the Wavemaster. Their bodies lie motionless on the cavern floor. Alexis quickly hid behind a large collection of rocks while her brother and the rest of his party moved to confront the Wavemaster. The Wavemaster turned as he heard the new arrivals to the cavern and simply spoke a few words before raising his staff into the air.
"More of you? Why can't you just leave me alone?" He muttered as his monster materialized in a golden glob above his staff. The creature began to expand into two large masses that were connected with an odd golden bracelet in the center. Devlin's party rushed forward into battle without hesitation. Alexis slowly peaked over from her cover to observe the scene. Tentacles from the two floating globs lashed out down towards the approaching twin blades. Three of them were caught immediately by them and the tentacles pierced their bodies. They screamed in agony as their bodies began to glow a myriad of colors. Streams of letters and numbers coursed over their bodies before they dropped to the floor motionless. Their dual blades clanged as they hit the ground and Alexis closed her eyes in terror for a few brief seconds before opening them again. Devlin and the remaining twin blade were closing in on the Wavemaster. The monster lashed out once again at the remaining two just barely missing them. The other twin-blade jumped into the air and had his blades poised down towards the Wavemaster before being skewered by the monster in mid air. He choked as his body glowed and then grew limp before collapsing to the floor. Devlin was now atop the Wavemaster slashing at him with his blades in a fury at the fall of his comrades. The Wavemaster unsteadily defended himself with his staff and staggered backwards before falling over a few small rocks. Devlin raised his blades above his head and thrust them down at the fallen Wavemaster. Alexis watched the event as if it had happened in slow motion. The monster that hovered in the air floated down and absorbed the twin blades into its jelly-like body. The blades gleamed and in a flash of sparks the weapons disappeared. Devlin stumbled back in horror before the creature lashed its tentacles out into him. Alexis covered her mouth as she forced herself not to scream out at the scene as she watched her brother die in front of her. Devlin's pale body collapsed to the ground as the Wavemaster got to his feet again and began to trek farther into the cave as his monster vanished from sight.
As soon as she thought it was safe, Alexis emerged from her hiding spot and knelt down to Devlin. She touched his arm, but there was no movement. Devlin's face was awash in terror. She began to panic and logged out of the game. She rushed to her brother's room with tears streaming down her eyes. She opened the door only to find him lying on the floor unconscious. She stood there motionless for a moment before letting out an ear-piercing scream. Her parents rushed to her as they too looked down at Devlin in shock. He was quickly rushed to the local hospital and put into an emergency room. Alexis was in tears as her parents sat with her in one of the brightly lit waiting rooms to find a verdict from a doctor. They were finally given the news after about an hour. Their dearly beloved Devlin had lapsed into a severe coma from unknown causes. Devlin remained in his coma for first at days, then weeks past, months past, and eventually years. During those three years, Alexis' parents forbid her to ever play in The World ever again. They had thought the game had contributed to Devlin's sudden coma for good reason. The servers were soon shutdown and a revision took place to the entire game. The company stated that its previous glitches were unknown and the coma victims were victim of a rare medical condition that had no affiliation with the game. Alexis still in pain over her brother's inability to communicate began to play the new world called The World R2. Her parents were hesitant at first but let her play due to her constant begging and anguish over Devlin. And so her search begins to find an answer to a cureā¦
