Whoo, another chapter already?! I've been away all weekend, so writing is pretty much the ONLY thing I can do right now...

Glit2h

[[ -OWNER- n0_CLiP joined the server]]

[[Welcome to PvELords, Owner N0_CLiP]]

To me, everything looked fine. Our spawn was present in all it's intricately-constructed glory. No players online yet, of course. Not until we had re-opened the server to the public after we had confirmed there were no bugs present. The familiarity of spawn was so comforting that I didn't log out straight away, instead ambling down one of the main high streets to the centre statue. The statue was a giant model of Leon's skin. A little narcissistic, I know, but - in all fairness - Leon did design and build the spawn from scratch. He deserves a little credit, I suppose.

Our main spawn area was designed in a traditional, victorian-esque style, with huge buildings that sported beautiful, sweeping roofs. Dark oak and cobblestone were the main building materials, with stone brick stairs for accenting. Leon had told me that he had modeled the look of our spawn after his favourite Minecraft series, the Cube SMP. Never seen it, so I wouldn't know. Nevertheless, I liked the look. Personally I can't build for crap, so I was glad that someone on our team was half decent in that area of expertise.

Anyway, back to the statue. Being the creative type, Leon had created his skin himself, whereas I had just pulled one from a skin site like a friggin' noob. My skin was a Herobrine-type-thing, with the traditional white eyes but with a blue shirt, a strap running across it's chest and grey fingerless gloves. Leon's was rather unusual, being a highly detailed replica of Captain America from the Avengers. It was extremely well done, and I always felt a little envious of his talents, being able to create a skin like that.

Kore's skin was a Notch skin.

I pressed my TAB menu absent-mindedly, a frown appearing on my face when I saw I was the only one on the server. Hadn't Kore said that he had already joined? I was just about to retrieve my phone from where I had irritably tossed it when a message appeared in my chat.

[[ -OWNER- KORE_CORRUPTION joined the server]]

Instantly, I messaged him.

[N0_CLiP - KORE_CORRUPTION] Hey! I thought you had joined the server already!

Of course, I received a reply within seconds. Strange. Everything seemed to be working OK; why had Leon been so adamant that I shouldn't log in?

[KORE_CORRUPTION - N0_CLiP] stuopid thing kicked me out. i dont think it had finished updating or some shit like that

I frowned. Kore had been kicked out? Maybe that had been Leon's doing, and maybe he had managed to fix the bug, or whatever it was that he was trying to keep us away from. It didn't seem that Leon had warned Kore about the potential issues, either, which was very strange.

[N0_CLiP - KORE_CORRUPTION] Kore, did Leon tell you not to join this server?

[KORE_CORRUPTION - N0_CLiP] no y?

[N0_CLiP - KORE_CORRUPTION] Never mind. Don't worry.

[KORE_CORRUPTION - N0_CLiP] leonn joining?

[N0_CLiP - KORE_CORRUPTION] I don't think so. We should probably just trial this new update. Meet me at spawn.

Kore, it seemed, had actually been quite far out (about two thousand blocks to be precise) so it took him a while to trek back to (0,0). As I waited, I busied myself reading up on the new 1.8 additions, and editing a couple of the server ranks slightly. Eventually, I decided to set up a Skype call between us so we could talk a little more easily. Kore reluctantly agreed, so within three minutes I had managed to connect to him.

"Hey, man," I grinned, "What's up?"

"Oh, not much, just running TWO THOUSAND FUCKING BLOCKS to get back to spawn!" The rage in his voice was so amusing I nearly laughed out loud.

"Not having the best time there, eh bud?"

"I swear they friggin' nerfed hunger in this update, dude. The rate I'm losing it is INSANE."

"I haven't really tested it yet. I've just been sitting here at spawn waiting for you to show up."

"Asshole."

"Dick."

"Shit head"

"Stupid-"

[[ -p⁽la﹣﹡⃮×y`er- H₍[ERROR]∈⩘⁻≀`⃑⋴[ERROR]⨀﹨∊i` join[ERROR]ed t′he se₋rv⁽er ]]

"Whoa! What the fuck was that?" Shocked, I stared at the runic message in my chat. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, flickering characters that changed every millisecond in a dizzying whirl of symbols.

"I dunno, Clip. What the fuck was that?" I could practically hear his grin. That's Kore all right, never taking anything seriously. I wish he had, knowing what I know now.

"Maybe It's just a 1.8 glitch," I mused, consulting the TAB menu. There were only two names present: me and Kore. There was no record of the strange message in the chat history, either. I went to shrug the incident off, when-

[It is not a glitch.]

"What the actual… Kore, can you see that?!"

"What are you on about, Clip?"

[He cannot see this, Ian.]

"H-How do you know my name?"

"What, Clip? That ain't your real name, man. What's gotten into you?" With trembling fingers, I ended the Skype call. Kore immediately tried to reconnect, but I ignored him.

All my focus was on those small white words on my screen.

[I guess I have your full attention now then, Ian?]

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think - had a hacker somehow entered our server? If so, how did he know my real name? What had happened to prompt that server join message, the corrupted runic one? In all honesty, it freaked me out so much that I instantly quit the server and shut down my computer. Shaking, I rested my head in my hands. What was that? If whoever was behind the hacking knew my name, then I'd have to assume he knew where I lived as well.

If that happened…

"Oh, I'm so screwed…"

Leaving my desk, I sat down heavily on the bed, breathing hard, deciding what to do next. Simply not logging on would probably be the best option at the moment, until I could sort out the whole stupid mess with Leon. Was this what he had been warning me about? Probably. I wish I had listened.

Deep into my thoughts, I didn't hear my phone quietly vibrating from incoming messages. I didn't even think to check it, I was so distracted.

And that small mistake was probably the reason I am where I am today.

[LEON] Please don't join that server. I've… I've slipped up.

[LEON] I accidently allowed something in, it's… a virus. Yeah, let's call it that.

[LEON] Clip, don't even go near that server, do you hear me?

[LEON] Otherwise HE'LL be there.

DUN DUN DUUUUN! Oh noes! XD

Wow, I can't believe this got 4 reviews in about three hours... jeez...

Review answers yaaay-

LeCustard - I will, I will! Thank you! :D

dopedoctor99 - Sure will!

MarmaladeBird - I love ending off on cliffhangers; I will continue though!

iamsolarflare - Yeah, this story is going to be more sarcastic and snarky than my other ones, and Ian is EXACTLY the kind of person I would not want to be friends with! Good to hear you are enjoying it!