Hiraku had slept completely until the next day and his body felt dead and tired when he woke up. He took around an hour to completely wake up, but after his morning rituals, he sat at his computer and logged in.
Hiraku had subconsciously logged into Jikan, and he was about to log back off until a flash-mail from Kuhn popped up. I read your email. I hope you're feeling better. Hey, I got an idea, why don't you hang out with me? :D
Jikan considered, but even he had his duties in Kestrel as Jikan. Gabi was online, but was busy as usual. He wrote a flash-mail to him describing what was going on. His reply, as usual, was only a couple sentences long, but the jist of it explained that Jikan was to accompany one of the lower leveled players and to just get his feel back for the day.
The area Jikan was to go to first to wait for this weak PC was Delta: Unseeing, Sever, Gathering. It was a forest dungeon, but it was only a level 2 area. The player he was supposed to be following was a player named Asta, a level 47 Edge Punisher. There were either two reasons that she could be here, either there was a rare item at the Beast Statue, or she was finding easy prey. Most likely, it was the latter.
A PC, Asta, warped in next to the Chaos Gate with two other girls. Asta had green hair, and seemed fragile looking in contrast to her class. She wore black armor, leaving plenty of skin showing around her navel, and her body was decorated generously with red wave symbols. She had a purple, over sized hat which made her character seem a bit ridiculous.
Her two companions, both at level 1, were a Steam Gunner and a Twin Blade. The Steam Gunner had bright orange hair and wore thick red and yellow robes, decorated in only the chest with a wave symbol. She had a yellow hat too, but it wasn't near the size of Asta's. The Twin Blade, on the other hand, seemed normal compared to the flaring Steam Gunner. She had light blond hair and wore sleeveless tan robes with black markings running up and down her legs and arms.
In an instant, the two new players picked Jikan out and started murmured about his "Insanely high level". The Adept Rogue walked over to the group, and the two girls huddled closer together. Asta, on the other hand, bit her lip and scowled at him. "So you're the one that's supposed to be replacing IYOTEN for today?" the Edge Punisher.
"I guess so. Why are you here in a place so weak for your own level?" Jikan asked.
"I'm just showing the ropes to these cute newbies." Asta sighed. The two girls behind her nodded in agreement.
"Well, I guess I'll just tag along or something. With a level 47 here, that's already overkill. No need for me to obliterate these things." Jikan whistled.
"So, does that mean you aren't here to PK us off the bat?" the Twin Blade asked.
The Adept Rogue stared at the girl darkly before wordlessly moving on. He wasn't a part of Moon Tree, which was for sure. If somebody decided to kill another PC here, that was their choice, not his. If a PKer went rampant across The World, the Moon Tree guild would be on it in an instant trying to 'persuade' him to quit his ways. Just like with what happened with The Terror of Death.
The two newbies led the way, closely followed by Asta, who explained various things to them. Jikan followed from a small distance, keeping an eye on things and just talking with some of his friends from way back. Jikan had to admit that the excitement the two girls shared was rather cute, and their energetic enthusiasm made Jikan appreciate their innocence to PKers.
Eventually, as time would come, the group fell upon the forest's boss, a Gun Giant, or basically a large behemoth of an enemy with giant cannons for hands. Compared to the enemies the two faced together, this thing was at least three levels stronger than them. He forgot to keep count, did the two girls level up once or twice?
Asta began shouting out advice to the girls, but they had their cooperation down. The Steam Gunner would distract the Giant long enough for its attention to be drawn to her, then the Twin blade would begin a flurry of attacks that would once again distract the Giant. Within a few minutes, the Giant was defeated and the pair of girls leveled up again. Considering that the boss was here, than the Beast Statue wasn't far ahead.
Sure enough, the two parties finally reached the Statue. The Steam Gunner and Twin Blade were ecstatic enough from their first victory, but they waited behind letting Asta deem of who got possession of the treasure. Asta, however, was content in letting the two girls decide for themselves.
The Twin Blade was the one who got the treasure in the end, which turned out to be a scythe; neither of them could use it anyways. Asta congratulated the two girls on their first clear and began to tell them a few extra things.
Jikan's foreboding sense told him that what he suspected earlier was true, Asta was a known PKer, but since Jikan hadn't been on long enough to know what type of PKer she was, he had let the situation slide. Now, seeing the Edge Punisher start to tense up as she deliberately toyed with their emotions, Jikan's pride wouldn't allow the PKer to get her way. For the moment, he'd wait until she had unsheathed her weapon.
"Alright, Sylph, Serrara, I think you two just might make it in The World," Asta complimented. "...But I think it's time that I wrap this job up!" Asta shouted, summoning her giant claymore. The two girls, which had just been high-fiving each other turned to Asta in shock and disbelief.
"But... But Asta, you just said that we did a good job!" the Twin Blade named Sylph whimpered at her former teacher's change.
Asta said nothing but revved her blade, as the edges were similar to a chainsaw. The Adept Rogue took his opportunity and summoned a dark red katana and quickly blocked Asta's path; the Adept Rogue's katana found the tip of its blade pressing directly on the PC's heart.
"Jikan?" the PKer exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing? Get out of my way!" the PKer ordered.
"I'll think not. Reconsider this dishonorable act. They're 42 levels weaker than you, where is the fun in that?" Jikan asked.
The Edge Punisher only stared at the Adept Rogue. "It's their emotions! It's so fun to just-" the PKer began, but the Adept Rogue had heard enough. Manipulating the emotions of those that couldn't fight back to you wasn't Jikan's idea of fun. Jikan's blade pierced through the PC's body, which immediately defeated the weaker player. The instant victory didn't even phase the experience to his next level, the Adept Rogue noted.
Asta's PC turned black and faded away. After a minute, Jikan removed the stationary blade from the spot where it had defeated the weaker PC. It was somewhat hypocritical to him, too. He was over 100 levels stronger than the defeated PC, and that no doubt made the Kestrel member feel a slight fear, if anything at all. But, since the two new members would have received a greater emotional shock, Jikan decided that the PKer, which had experience with defeat, would get over it.
"T-thank you?" the Steam Gunner, Serrara stuttered. He turned around and dismissed the katana. Serrara flinched as he completed the turn to stare at the two, much weaker PCs.
"For what?" Jikan asked. "For correcting a cynical player? You don't have to thank me." The Adept Rogue crossed his arms. Thank Gabi instead. Did Gabi fully know about this behavior of his Guild? Or did he send him here knowing that he'd make someone reconsider their habits? God, that man's thoughts were indecipherable. "Look... Coming to Kestrel for help isn't the smartest thing a new player like you two can do." Jikan suddenly remembered Kuhn's message. "You know, I just might have an idea. Look... Well... Wait a minute for me." The Adept Rogue said, opening his menu and prepared a Flash-mail for Kuhn.
Kuhn, I had some stuff to do. You still free? I just stopped a double PK, and the victims were two new, right out of the character creation screens. I thought about what you said... What was the Guild named? Canard? Meet me at Mac Anu, I think that we should talk. –Jikan. He sent the message, and waited for a response.
"Thank you anyways, Jikan." Serrara said, standing up straight. "We were wondering... Can we have your Member Address? In case we have any more trouble?" She asked. The Twin Blade nodded as well. The Adept Rogue scratched his silver hair and sighed.
"If you must, but I'm setting you up with a more reliable source; you should ask them for help more than me. Besides, I'm not always great with problems." The Adept Rogue said. As soon as the three finished exchanging Addresses, a little set of bells went off, alerting Jikan to a Flash-mail.
No problem, turns out something just happened on my side as well. I won't be able to meet you at Mac, but I'm certain that the Guild Master, Haseo, should be happy to have another member. Maybe in like an hour we can talk.-Kuhn. Jikan finished reading the message. Wait, HASEO? Haseo, The Terror of Death, Haseo? What the hell was a famous PKKer doing in a newbie support group Guild?
"Alright, you two, warp out of here and head to the Guild shops. I'll be right behind you." Jikan ordered. The two players obeyed and warped out of the area.
The actual reason Jikan stayed behind was that Hiraku was feeling pain and exhaustion in his real body. He felt as if his chest was aching, and his mind was temporarily getting blurry. He waited only a minute before he recovered from the strange wave of pain and diverted his attention back to Jikan. Immediately, he warped out of the forest.
He warped in at the same instance two PCs did too. One had green leather attire and long hair kept in a ponytail, he seemed like he was a fairly nice guy to hang around. The other wore white armor plates and had a gear-shaped fan extending from his neck, unkempt silver hair with a couple red triangular symbols on his cheeks, and finally had golden eyes. The two seemed like they were off in a hurry, so he quickly checked their names. The one in green was a Blade Brandier by the name of Silabus, the other was an Adept Rogue by the name of... Haseo? Jikan dismissed the thought; The Terror of Death had pitch-black and spiky armor, with red eyes. Clearly, this wasn't the guy he was thinking of.
It was a small walk to the Guild shops, where he found Sylph browsing a Guild's shop, and Serrara having a conversation with the PC named Silabus. She saw Jikan in the corner of her eye and waved him out. He walked over and Silabus greeted him with a handshake.
"So, you're Mr. Jikan?" the Brandier asked politely.
"Uh, yeah. I came to speak with the Guild Master of Canard." The Adept Rogue confirmed.
"Yeah Silabus, this guy was the one that saved us from a PKer!" Serrara said excitedly. "But he still hasn't agreed to hang out with us." She growled.
Silabus laughed. "Well, you'll get to him. Haseo, the Guild Master, is running an errand; he'll be right back in a minute." He said, turning to Jikan. "I thought that you were a member of Kestrel, why did you stop the PKer?" He asked.
"Hm. I guess I used their philosophy to my own advantage. This too, is part of The World." Jikan quoted. "Besides, what reason did I need to stop it?" he asked.
"Eheh, I guess so." Silabus laughed weakly. There was an uncomfortable silence until the teenager clad in white armor returned. "Ah, Haseo, you're back." The Blade Brandier greeted.
"Yeah. So, what's the reason I got called out here as well?" he asked. Jikan sensed irritation in his voice.
"I asked Kuhn to get help from the Canard Guild Master." Jikan answered. "I haven't been on long enough yet to gauge Moon Tree, but if Kuhn trusted you enough, I wanted to drop these two off with you, give 'em a proper 'Welcome to The World' tutorial." He explained.
"So just another two players that should join?" Haseo asked. Silabus nodded in his direction. "If we're talking about Kuhn here, he said something about you joining as well." The Guild Master shrugged.
"Ah, sorry, but I won't be joining. I might have had enough with the guilds, so I'm quitting Kestrel as well." The Adept Rogue bowed.
"Huhn. So you're a PKK?" The Guild Master asked.
"Not usually. Well, I don't consider myself one, but since I just killed… Asta, was it? I don't know, I might get stuck with being hunted for awhile." Jikan sighed.
Haseo scratched his chin. "Well, I suppose we can look after these two." Silabus grinned when he saw his Guild Master finally compliant with the favor.
"Thanks. That's a few problems out of my hair." The Adept Rogue began to walk away, but he stopped in mid-turn. "Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. This is just on a limb... But are you The Terror of Death?" he asked.
"Was. I've given that title up." He said sourly.
"Huh, who'd think that I would have met the ex-Terror o' Death." Jikan murmured.
"It wasn't that big of a thing, you know." Haseo said bitterly. A little chime of bells went off around Haseo, and he began looking through his menu, holding a hand up saying 'Give me a minute'. Haseo's eyes moved quickly, but when he finished, his face looked urgent. "I have to go out. Silabus, take care of these two." He said quickly and walked away briskly.
Silabus reached out for Haseo, but let his hand drop. "Haseo..."
"What's his problem?" Jikan asked. Silabus was silent for a moment, but turned around and smiled.
"He has some Guild stuff to do." Silabus explained, but his voice betrayed uncertainty. "Well, I'll take these two off your hands." He smiled.
"I have some stuff to do anyways. I've been meaning to visit Icolo lately, you know who the Sage Palace Emperor is?" he asked.
"That's him." The Blade Brandier pointed at the other Adept Rogue who just warped out of Mac Anu.
"Haseo is? I thought that Taihaku was! I even looked it up..." Jikan muttered.
"That's a bit outdated. Haseo won that match. Taihaku was infected by AIDA, but somehow AIDA left him." Silabus explained.
"Wait, Taihaku was infected?" The soon to be ex-Kestrel member looked shocked. He glanced at Sylph and Serrara, but they seemed to be looking around at the shop guilds.
"Haseo defeated him though, and since then he's been AIDA-free." Silabus joked.
"So that means Taihaku isn't a member of Icolo anymore than." The Adept Rogue was somewhat disappointed by this development. The fact that he had false information also somewhat annoyed him. He'd probably log off and fix that error as well. That also meant that there weren't any members of Icolo he had interest in anymore.
The Adept Rogue caught the Blade Brandier staring at him questioningly. "Well, somebody was Emperor of the Sage Palace before Taihaku, right? I more or less gave the title to the guy, thinking he'd be able to hold it as a good replacement." The train of thought shifted to the side. "Then again, now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind sparring with Haseo…" Jikan said absentmindedly. He looked up and gave the group of three his farewells, and walked off to take care of some other business.
Haseo was the last one to enter the bridge of Tartarga. The other Epitaphs and Zelkova were present as well, making his tardiness more pronounced. Zelkova waved at him happily before Pi gave him a look.
"Alright, you're finally here Haseo." Pi commented.
"Now, CC Corp just gave us an update. You all remember that when Cubia was defeated and AIDA was removed, the Lost Ones returned, correct?" Yata asked. Everyone, minus Zelkova who was staring into space, nodded.
"The Lost Ones were all back within a week. The news made a big thing about it too." Bo commented.
"Tatsumi Hori, also known as Asta in The World, is currently comatose." Yata said. "We searched the footage of the last area he was playing in, Delta: Unseeing, Sever, Gathering-"
"I recognize her!" Haseo blurted. Endrance, Yata, and Atoli stared at him. "
She… or he… yeah, he. He was one of the two PCs that PKed me when I first started!" Haseo said, venom in his voice. "Finally getting just deserts." He said quiet enough so no one would hear. There was silence before Yata began again.
"As I was saying, we searched for the footage, but found that once Tatsumi reached the Beast Statue with the three other players and draws his weapon, the footage is too corrupted, as if it were plainly deleted." Yata announced. The Epitaphs ran through the new information through for awhile, letting the film play from various points.
"I don't recognize the player that was following them the whole time. They obviously knew he was there." Atoli observed. "He wasn't a member of Moon Tree, I can tell for sure." She added.
"That player is-" Yata began.
"That's Jikan, I know him. We were talking earlier today." Kuhn interrupted.
"I was just talking to him. I was actually just in front of him before I came here." Haseo stated. "He was with those two members as well." He added.
"Jikan sent a flash-mail to me that he stopped a double PK awhile back. Think it was Asta?" Kuhn asked.
"He doesn't look like he was about to PK someone. Look how distant he looks." Atoli said.
"He's tense and clearly watching the scene carefully." Endrance disagreed. He took a second before compromising. "But if you have doubts, it's always the best thing to ask the player himself. Is Jikan still online?" he asked.
"He is indeed. He's in Breg Epona, and he does not appear to be moving. Now's the time if any to question him." Pi confirmed.
Immediately, Kuhn raised his hand. "I'll go, he knows me, so I should be able to get his trust." Zelkova was the only player in the room who wasn't surprised at the sudden volunteer.
"It'll sound strange if I tell you what I think, but I'm going as well." Haseo said. Something about the situation just didn't add up to him. Something obviously happened in the area, but what?
"I'll follow Haseo." Endrance said.
Bo nodded and stood behind the Adept Rogue. "I'm coming with Brother as well." He said adamantly.
"Be careful you three, we can only assume the worst. Which is, this Jikan is actually an AIDA, or at least is possessed by AIDA." Pi warned. "As for you, Atoli, you can go do whatever it is you do. I have to go file some papers for CC Corp, so I'll log off." She said conclusively, and logged off immediately afterwords. Atoli touched her chest, but then walked off as well.
It was a couple minutes before Zelkova finally removed his eyes from the view. "You know, Jikan's been offline since the entire ordeal with AIDA started." Zelkova stated. "Going by that assumption, an AIDA fragment could have just found the PC inactive and festered in it." The Flick Reaper said, never taking his eyes off from the view from the window.
"But Jikan responded to me. It's obviously the real deal." Kuhn objected. Zelkova was silent as Haseo, Endrance, and Bo continued on.
"Yata." Zelkova said, catching his attention. "Ovan's Rebirth should have destroyed all of the AIDA." The Flick Reaper stated. "Cubia was even destroyed, ending the possibility of a Third Network Crisis. Yet look, AIDA looks to be back. How did AIDA survive? Was Cubia able to preserve it?" he pressed.
"What are you getting at?" Yata asked slowly.
"Has Fidchel spoken lately?" Zelkova asked.
Yata was silent. "I'm afraid not. I cannot connect with him since…" he trailed off.
"Interesting." The Flick Reaper said, his old personality returning. "Keep up the searches on the Serpent of Lore. I think I'll try my own methods for now…" he said, walking out of the bridge.