Searching for eternity, you are a frivolous dreamer
Clinging to unreliable dreams. Where are you going?
A sadness fell over her as she slipped on the set of blue virtual headset over her eyes, settling it on the arch of her nose. The server of Mac Anu spanned out in front her; the small bridge running across the river, characters darting here and there, trading for items or saving their progress.
Was this the last sight saw before…? Her train of thought was broken by the grief.
Only days before, a schoolmate of hers, a friend, had been arrested for the murder of his mother. Police reports stated that only moments before her predicted time of death, he had been logged on The World, on the server Mac Anu. But what had happened to him? She knew him better than that, much better. He was a calm, carefree person. He hated to hurt people, hated to see them in pain, so what had driven him to hurt his own mother, to kill her? With a deep sigh she tore her mind away from the subject. For days it had been all that she could think about. She needed a rest.
Suddenly a character materialized next to her by the spinning chaos gate.
"Hey, Sayo!" he greeted cheerily, waving a hand holding a knife in the air to gain her attention. For a moment she was paralyzed by the sight of the knife, the murder weapon, but she quickly regained her wits.
"Hey, Ramensama." she said back jokingly, purposely using what she considered a ridiculous username.
"Oh, come on!" the tall, blue haired male character said, clasping a hand on her shoulder. "We can call each other by our real names, right WingedGuardian?" he said using her own username, playing along.
"All right, all right, Seiji." she laughed. "So, where did you plan to go?"
"I heard about some strange activity in Desperate Golden Wastelands." the twin-blade said, spinning his daggers around playfully. "You wanna check it out?"
"What kind of 'strange things'?" she asked skeptically. She was no fool. Viruses were a common occurrence in the world, even with the watchful eye of the Crimson Knights. He gave a small shrug.
"Some players say that they gained levels without fighting anything at all, while others claim that their levels dramatically decreased. There was also a rumor of rare items just sitting around! C'mon, what do we have to lose? Besides," he began, trailing off into a saddened voice, "They say that's the last area that your friend 'Sanryou63' was in." Her gaze turned downwards, staring at her gold armored boots that matched her golden eyes.
"Well…I suppose so. I wouldn't mind finding a new weapon." she said trying to lighten the mood a bit, brandishing her enormous battle ax. They shared a false smile before turning back to the chaos gate.
Searching for the key to open twilight, I cry,
Unable to reach the moon's shadow. Where am I going?
Seiji appeared first, scouting out the surrounding area. It was a desert level, the sand and bright sun above was enough to tell him that.
"Hey, Sayo-" He was cut short as she materialized beside him, her short, silver hair falling about her shoulders.
"I'm here. So now what?"
"How 'bout we just take a look around?" he suggested. Shrugging, he set off, Sayo trailing him. "This is really odd…" he exclaimed after a few silent moments of wandering around the level.
"What is?"
"You haven't noticed? There are no monsters, and I can't even find a dungeon on the map."
"Maybe it's just under construction." she suggested, but couldn't swallow the lump of uneasiness that was rising in her throat.
"Wait…there, look!" he said, pointing towards the ancient ruins of a temple of some sort a short distance off. A dark opening was barely visible, beckoning them in. "Looks like a dungeon. Let's go check it out." He started off when he felt a firm hand grab his arm.
"No. We should go. If it's not on the map, then it's probably not supposed to be there. Let's just go."
"Oh, come on." he urged, prying her slim fingers off his muscular arm. "You scared?" Anger flashed in her eyes, her brows furrowing.
"Don't try to lure me in there by using such pathetic tactics." she warned. He stopped there. As nice as she was, he didn't want to push her. God only knew what she was capable of when she got fired up. He had seen her go off only once before, but that had been enough for him. He yanked his arm away.
"Go back if you want, then. I'm going ahead." he said stubbornly, making his way towards the dark hole ahead of them. She watched him go, and after a moments hesitation, jogged to catch up to him.
"Wait!" she cried, falling into step beside him. "You can't go in there alone. You didn't even check to see what level this area was and you're a much lower level than I." He shrugged.
"Suit yourself."
Pale moon of January, hide the colors of the sunrise.
The gentle dawn of a night that should not end.
With the first step into the dungeon, a knot formed in Sayo's stomach. It was damp in there, digital luminous moss clung to the walls and skeletons that bordered the room. She stopped, looking around for some sign to what caused her anxiety, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. But still…she just couldn't shake the feeling.
"Hey, are you coming?" Seiji called back as he pried open the doors to the first level. Nodding she ran to catch up with him. As they stepped through the threshold, they were confronted by a life sized statue of a person. It appeared to be a young girl. She was wearing as long, flowing dress, bangs obscuring her eyes. Sayo was sure she had seen this girl somewhere before…and yet, it wasn't the same girl at all…
"W-what is that?" she asked quietly, as if it might be awoken by even the smallest noise.
"It's just a statue." he said, trying to hide the uneasiness in his voice. But Sayo still heard it as his voice was slightly higher pitched than before. As a musician, she was quite attuned to hearing differences in instruments or even voices.
So, he feels it too…She felt slightly comforted by this thought.
He approached the statue, his steps fast and confident, though maybe too fast to conceal his anxiety. Using the tip of his blade, he ran it over the stone. The sound of metal against stone echoed loudly in the silence.
"Don't do that!" she gasped in alarm, snatching the blade from her friends hand. "We should go. Now. Both of us. This isn't-" She fell silent as she became aware of a new sound.
"Sayo…what is it?" Seiji asked, curious as to her sudden break off. She irately put a finger to her lips, signaling silence. He obediently obeyed. If there was one thing she knew, it was sounds.
She closed her eyes, homing in on the source of it. An odd ringing sound, high pitched, no breaks in it. She took a few slow steps towards the statue, leaning in closer to it, then nearly jumped back in surprise.
"It's the statue." she whispered.
"Alright. You win. Let's go." Seiji said, taking a few steps back.
This place is definitely getting creepy… he thought to himself, something he never would have admitted aloud. Then he heard it too, a high pitched ringing in his ears. He quickly spun on his heels in a panic, racing towards the doors when they suddenly slammed shut, sealing them in.
"Seiji!" Sayo cried, running to his side. "We have to get out of here!" Both of them pushed on the heavy stone doors, trying desperately to open them, the ringing getting louder each moment. Before long they were both huddled against the door, covering their ears when all of a sudden it stopped. Blinking, Sayo looked around. Nothing had changed, nothing but the sound. Jumping to her feet she tried once again to force the doors open, but to no avail. She sighed in defeat.
"Can you contact a moderator?" Seiji asked, uncovering his own ears. But to his disdain Sayo shook her head. "Damn, you too? What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know…all I do know is that this is no time for 'I-told-you-so'. I can get to that later." she said, trying to lighten the mood a little. But neither of them felt any better at all.
Free me…
Sayo spun around. "Who's there?" she called into the dark corners of the room.
"Sayo, what is it?" asked Seiji, rising to his feet in alarm at his friends sudden outburst.
"I heard a voice. Someone said something."
"Well it wasn't me." he said, a wave of concern rushing over him. To the best of his knowledge, voices were never a good sign.
Break the prison…
"Answer me!" Sayo called out again, panic filling her.
"Sayo, no one but us is here." said Seiji, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling.
"No…" she said in a distant voice. "Not here…there." a shaky finger pointed straight at the statue of the girl. Suddenly she started forwards, her ax ready in her hands. As she reached the statue, she swung it to one side, bringing it back towards the statue with amazing force.
"Sayo, what the hell are you doing!" he called, but she seemed unable to hear him as she continued to hack away at it with the ferocity of a demon.
Because of love's heaviness, painfully close,
The heart no longer mine cried for freedom.
Get out, get out, GET OUT! her mind screamed at this new, unfamiliar voice that had entered her head. The ringing in her ears was unbearable.
"Sayo, what the hell-!" Seiji shouted again, this time lunging forwards to grab her arm before another blow could be struck, but it already seemed too late for the statue. Several large chunks were missing out of it and one long crack ran straight down the middle. Sayo blinked a few times, then shook her head.
"Uh….Seiji…" she said unsurely, "What just happened?" He looked down at her with astonishment, releasing her from his grasp.
"You mean…you don't remember? You were just standing there, attacking the statue."
"Attacking the statue?" She looked at it, closely studying each spider-vein crack that ran through it. "I remember…she was calling me. She wants to be free."
"Sayo, it's a statue." Seiji insisted, putting great emphasis on 'statue'. "Statue's don't talk. I think that the ringing may have gotten to your head." Then a thought struck him. "Hey, do you have a sprite ocarina with you?" She shook her head sadly, her short silver-white hair brushing gently across her face.
"Maybe she can help us." she said in a distant voice. Before Seiji had time to stop her, she threw one last blow at the statue. The cracks grew wider and wider until the statue of the girl crumbled before them. Seiji could only watch in horror. There was something about that statue, he could feel it, but whether it was good or bad he wasn't so eager to find out. All he knew was that he desperately wished she hadn't disturbed it.
And his fears were soon confirmed. From the pile of rubble rose a purple, slowly taking the form of a whispy-looking girl with a mischievous smile and cold purple eyes.
"A-aura!" Sayo stuttered, retreating a little. Aura was but a legend in The World, said to give those that found her wonderful powers and thrown into mystic events, yet here she was before them. The girl looked at her, her grin broadening.
"Aura? No. I am Dusk."
When shining things existed only in dark places,
I gazed out the small window into the distance.
"What the hell are you?" Seiji growled, lifting his knives into a position he could attack from. She seemed to take humor in this.
"There can be no light without darkness, no good without evil, no order without corruption." she said. "The Maker could not realize this, and thus, I was created from all his first, his 'failed' trials." Sayo's knees gave out beneath her and she fell backwards, her gaze never leaving the hovering girl who, with each passing moment, became more solid. Her purple hair matched those malicious eyes and she was draped in a cloak of blackness deeper than either of the players could comprehend. "Too long have I watched and waited. Now it is my turn."
"But, you're still just a program, and you can still be deleted." snarled Seiji, using his anger to hide his fear. A cold laugh escaped her as she glided closer to them. The doors were still tightly sealed. The thought of restarting their computers ran through both of the players minds, but even if they did, they had the feeling it was already too late.
As the girl continued to descend upon them from the top of the pile of broken stone, Sayo scrambled backwards, but not quick enough. Before she could blink, the strange girl had caught hold of her wrist. A terrible pain shot up through her entire arm causing her to cringe, and thoughts and memories that were not hers flooded her mind.
Pale moon of January, sinking into infinity.
The gentle dawn of a love that should not end.
This shouldn't be happening! It's just a game! Just a stupid, stupid game! Just make it stop! Make the darkness STOP! she screamed silently. Without warning the girl released her, the pain subsiding. But she suddenly felt very tired, empty, almost. Then darkness descended upon her, her last glimpse of light the glowing mosses that hung from the ceiling high above.
Seiji could only watch in horror as his friend slumped to the floor, her player character turning gray, then vanishing. The girls eyes turned towards him. He panicked.
Sitting at him computer, he fumbled with the virtual headset, removing it with shaky hands and throwing it to one side of the room before pressing a glowing blue button on his computer. Almost instantly the screen went blank and the blue glow faded. He leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. He didn't know what had happened, but it wasn't right. Sayo…she had been in pain. Real pain. But it just wasn't possible. He looked down at his palms, slippery with sweat. Rummaging through is pockets, he removed a small cell phone and hastily dialed a number in and raised it to his ear. It was Sayo's cell. If she was alright, she would answer it. He would hear a reassuring voice. Of course everything was alright. It was just a game, nothing more. It could never effect anyone in the real world, could it? After a few more rings, there was a beep as her answering machine message played out. With a shaky hand he pressed the disconnect button.
She always answers her phone…always.
Then there was another beep, but not from his phone. His head jerked up to face his computer screen blinking '1 New Message'.
What the…?
He didn't remember restarting the computer. But nonetheless…
He reached up with his mouse, double clicking the small mailbox icon. '1 New Message. Sender anonymous'. But that wasn't unusual; he belonged to a lot of online communities. But when he opened it, he was struck with disbelief.
y0u Hue 3eeN (0mE, (0Me +0 $h1N1ng g01Den De$er+
ur!
Pale moon of January, hide the colors of the sunrise.
The gentle dawn of a night that should not end.
>>>To be continued...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Okay, long story short, my computer crashed but luckily I remembered to save some of these files before it did.
This story is finished, but I have to find copies of the last chapters that I printed out and re-type them all over again --;
I only pray I can find them...
Lyrics: Yasashii Yoake (.hack/SIGN)