Chapter 2: Data Bug

As Jon got back to the Mac Anu he noticed Jasmine and Lan were around town shopping and trading with other players. He called them over to them about the message thread he had just seen.

"That seemed so strange that people have gone into comas over playing an on- line game," Lan saying with surprise over the news of the comatose players.
"I guess it's like those seizures that happened in Japan from the flashing lights on some games," said Jasmine.
"Yeah, but those people came out of it not long after the seizure happened, these coma victims have been that way for months," Jon pointed out.
"Anything word about that guy we saw in the dungeon," Jasmine asked.
"Nothing except his friends are looking for him, but I'm wondering more about this Helba character. She knew that we were there when we saw the monster and that we went back there after she gave us a warning not to pursuit that "thing". Maybe she's either behind the monster, or that she's trying to stop it, or even just seeing the path of destruction and death that thing could do," Jon said staring into open space.

Just then David and Kelly showed up then. With everyone there Jon decided was it time to talk about to tell them about the coma victims. Kelly had gotten some mail from the people who faced of with the horned monster from the incident. They confirmed the worries that their friend who had been blasted was in fact a coma victim.

"Great, not only do we have threats from a hacker, but know we know this game can cause people to go into a coma," Lan angry and scared.
"Well, at least we know that if we see this thing again, then we should run from it instead of trying to beat it and risk being put into comas ourselves," Kelly trying to raise everyone's spirits.
"That's one good thing to consider and maybe we should follow Helba's advice not to mess with this thing anymore. Let's go play at another dungeon and get our minds off these bad times," Jon said running toward the chaos gate.

The party went off to Delta Chosen Forgotten Holy Ground. This field was a dark place where it was raining and many hills could be seen on the horizon. Jon and Lan took the front being characters with high amount of health and attack strength. Jasmine stayed back with the wavemasters to offer some protection and healing. Clearing the field of portals offered up some better weapons, recovery items, and much needed armor. Everyone started to forget about what had happened yesterday. They started playing "The World" like regular players and having a great time until they reached the bottom floor.

"Great, it's that purple flame/haze or whatever it is," Jon showing his irritation, "and things were looking good before this."
"Could that thing be in the next room like last time," Jasmine asked as the horrible image of the monster and its wand flashed in her mind.
"Only one way to find out, and if it is there we'll run from it before it has a chance to trap us with that wand," Kelly ran toward the door but stopped by both Lan's axe and Jon's sword.
"Hey, don't go rushing in there after what happened last time," Jon shouted raising he sword slightly, "I don't want anybody else going into a coma on my watch."
"Come on what are the chances we run into that thing again," David said pushing Jon aside to enter the room.
"Nothing wrong with being too cautious though," Jasmine grabbed the two wavemasters and yanked them back, "If you two are so sure about going in there at least let one of us go with you."
"Whatever, let's just go because there is no changing their minds about this," Lan said as she started into the room.

One good thing that did happen was that the room didn't have the monster with the red wand, but it contained a golem with a strange glow to it. Everyone was at first relieved that it wasn't what they thought it was, but then fear that this "golem" was different than others they had seen before. Soon after the fight began something was different about this golem.

"What is with that HP on this thing, it's all garbled and I can't tell how much it has and how much damage we've done to it," Jasmine yelled to everyone else.
"Yeah, but every monster has die eventually, so I say we keep hitting it with all we have," David called out as he hit it with numerous skills.
"Arghh, nothing seems to work at all," Jon still hitting it," This thing keeps on coming. It must be the glow all over its body. It forms into little patches of armor or something that must be giving it some kind of invincibility."

The golem then smacked Jon with a giant fist sending him flying into Lan and sending both of them into a wall. Both were alive, but severe damage had been received and Jon started coughing up blood, and it seemed like Lan had a broken arm and leg. It was amazing that the game even simulated blood and realistic injuries, perhaps too amazing.

As everyone concentrated attacks on the green patches of "armor", blades and other means of attack just bounced off. Supplies were running short and some had died a couple times and had been revived. All seemed hopeless like yesterday, they could do nothing against this opponent and they knew it. Out of nowhere, a twin blade in red jumped in and attacked the golem. Like many strong attacks that had been done to the body of the golem, the golem staggered backward and seemed stunned. It seemed like a shield surrounding the entire monster and even the glowing patches seemed to appear and break apart.

The new boy suddenly turned to face the golem, and did something all too familiar to Kelly and her friends. The boy started to levitate a bit and outstretched his arm; a ring of light came from his wrist. The light stretched out into a bracelet much like the one they had seen before but used by the evil coma causing monster. Everyone was frozen in terror because of what that bracelet had done last time it was used. The boy raised his right arm to the air as the bracelet started to glow even brighter. He then shot his arm forward ahead of him, and the same beam of light that had put the previous player into a coma had struck the golem and removed the armor patches surrounding it. The patches were then absorbed by the boy and his bracelet and then the boy and slowly returned to the ground. After that, the boy hunched over as if he was in pain, but managed to say something before he passed out.

"You..can...kill....it....now," then he lay on the floor silent, alive but silent.
"You heard him, and the HP count is normal now, lets take this golem out," Jon raised his sword and started hacking away at it.
"Either Kelly or David should check out that guy to see if he's alright being he just probably saved our lives," Jasmine yelled back.
"This monster is an earth element so lets hit it with some kind of wind or wood element," David said as he cast a kind of tornado spell.

After the tornado dissipated, the golem fell, and crumbled into many small pebbles. After injuries were healed between the group, everyone went over to the twin blade to make sure he was ok. He was still motionless, but still alive. After about five more minutes, the boy rose to his feet but still limped around.

"Hey, are you ok," Kelly rushing to keep him from falling over again," what did you do to that golem?"
"Yeah we couldn't do anything to it until you came along," Lan surprised at what she saw," and what was with that light coming out of your arm."
"It was the same thing that put the other player into a coma," Jasmine said as she glared at the boy," what's your name and why did you help us, if that's what you meant to do?"
"My name is Kite," said the twin blade still unable to find his footing," I helped you because you guys could never beat that golem without me removing the virus from its body."
"Those patches on it was, a virus," David responded with astonishment. Kite explained, "Yes, "The World" has been infected with a virus and certain monsters have become invulnerable to all kinds of attack at least until I can drain the virus out of it.
"But this draining has a strange affect of leaving you helpless for brief periods of time," Jon eyeing him," By the way, do you know a person named Helba."
"She was the one who told me to come here to aid a group of new players."

This was starting to become very strange. From what seemed to Jon as just as simple game had turned into so much more. Invincible monsters, strange bracelets, comatose patients who played the game, and now a stalker watching every move Jon and his friends made. Was this all coincidence, an event in the game that was meant to happen, or something much, much more that could lead to something beyond their understanding. All that was known was that only the hacker Helba and the mysterious Kite probably knew the answer.