Epitaph of Twilight
July 13, 2009
It's been a month since I've gotten a lead that lead to somewhere, I've Given up on unscrambling the text we found, the data is too eroded to work out, only the first of it is legible. "When the wave emerges, three people who cast shadows set out to combat the wave, one human and two half-sprites", other then this line, I can't work anything out. I've read four more scans in the last month, and none led to anything, maybe my luck will change soon, I hope. I'm meeting up with Drako, Dragonair, Reako, and Arcanis today to talk about our next step.
"We will meet at Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground", this was the e-mail that Draconair sent me this morning. I logged on to the Sigma server, the sky was bright, a high noon setting right now. I turned around to face to Chaos Gate, I selected Delta and Warped to Mac Anu, The city not very busy today.
"Dractaros, lets hurry up", I turned around and saw Omnipotent One standing next to the gate.
"You're running a little late as well?" I asked.
"Yeah, let's hurry"
I walked next to him, his hood, still hiding most of his face, his Sun Fang sword shined in the sun, I selected Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground and was warped to the field. When I loaded in fully, I looked to my left, Omnipotent was next to me, after just warping in, I walked towards to doors, Omnipotent followed. When I entered, three heads turned to see me, Drako was leaning against the wall, Draconair was sitting on a bench, and Reako was standing next to Draconair.
"Sorry we're late" I said.
"Was starting to wonder if you got lost in the bathroom" Drako said.
"Let's get started already" Reako said impatiently.
"What's the rush?" I asked.
"Lios is stopping by my area to talk about progress tracking you down, so I can't stay to long"
"Just tell the point to her, whatever else we talk about I'll tell her" Draconair said.
"Fine" Omnipotent said as he went to sit down on a bench.
"Ok, this is what I've got" I started, "The scans haven't reviled anything out of the ordinary, I ran some scans of when we got the text, the chest had some strange coding in it's data, Reako, I want you to check it out, send me e-mail when you get some time"
"That would have to be after Lios leaves, which could be hrs though"
"Fine, that will work, Draconair will keep me and you posted of everything in the mean time"
"I can do that" Draconair said.
"Fine, you agree Reako?" I asked.
"Yeah"
"How about the rest of you?"
"I'm fine with it" Drako said.
"Don't care ether way" Omnipotent said.
"Well then … Wait" Reako said, she was still for a moment then finally said, "He's coming, GTG"
"K, we're around the Lambda server, K?" I said.
"K, Bye", she gated out I looked at the others.
"Anything else to discuss?" I asked.
"There haven't been any rumors going about, so nothing to report on the streets" Omnipotent said.
"Thanks Arcanis, Drako?"
"Nothing here ether, alls been quiet for a while now"
"What about that item from a few days ago, that Virus Core?" Draconair asked.
"I don't have any data on it, however, as far as I can tell, it's nothing very important, however, the hack overloaded and burned itself out. I'll have to create a new one, however I will continue to study it. Anything else?"
"CC Corp hasn't had any real activity working lately, news of Helba has been scarce also" Draconair said.
"Thanks, I've been reading the news lately, nothing about coma victims at all; we need to find something soon"
"What about the text?" Omnipotent asked, I looked at him looking confused, "You said that you couldn't figure out the text, anything new about it?"
"Nothing the data is extremely eroded; I can't salvage anything except what could be read before"
"Any idea where it's from" Omnipotent asked.
"None"
"Read it again Dractaros" Drako asked.
"… This is all I got, when the wave emerges, three people who cast shadows set to combat the wave, one human and two half-sprites, that's all I have, know anything Drako, Arcanis?"
"I've heard this line somewhere before, where" Drako said looking agitated.
"A tale of an end, a story of the end of a race of sprites who are about to be destroyed by what they called the cursed wave" Omnipotent said.
"Arcanis, you know something about the text?" I said.
"Yes, that is a single passage in a story from a time ago; it's called The Epitaph of Twilight, a story that disappeared long ago." Arcanis said.
"That's where I heard it; I read some of it, before it disappeared off the web, the author was called Ema" Drako said.
"She was a person born in Japan, after an incident on her 20 birthday she started to study anthropology, she published the Epitaph shortly after word." Arcanis said.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"I don't know, anyways, not very many people saw it or even knew about it, when Ema died, her work disappeared as well" Drako continued.
"The tale she wrote was gone, but it appears we have found some of it"
"So, we maybe able to find the whole tale" I said.
"Maybe, however, we must get more information" Omnipotent said.
"K, you and Drako get on it"
"Wait, what about if your scans get some abnormal readings?"
"Don't worry, I'll send for you"
"Ok"
"Is that all?" I asked.
"Got nothing else to say" Omnipotent said.
"Nothing else" Drako said.
"All finished, let's get to work, I'll work with Reako to get the data figured, Drako and Arcanis will look for information on the Epitaph, and Dractaros will continue scans for any data abnormalities, until then look for anyone who will help out with our search" Draconair said.
"Roger" we all said at once.
"Alright, send word if you find anything, until the next meeting, the council is dismissed"
We disbanded and went to our business; I was to look for help, someone who could help us out in battle as well as information, however, who would believe me, Arcanis and Squall are exceptions, however not everyone would believe me. I decided to have a look around to see if anyone sounded like a believer, Mac Anu was rather empty today, a lot of people were probably off raiding a dungeon. I decided to kill some time and go to a field to have a little of power fun. I returned to the Chaos Gate and selected Delta Plenteous Smiling Hypha. The field was a wood type, a over grown meadow, full of flowers and mushrooms the size of a car, this field was a place for any animal. I walked forward for a minute, I stopped when I saw something, a chest, unopened and just sitting there, but I didn't open a portal. I opened it, nothing was inside except Aromatic Grass. This useless item was around the world, rare, but completely useless. I picked it up having nothing better to do and preceded towards the dungeon, this field had nothing to worry me. Before I entered the dungeon someone called out to me, "Excuse me!"
I turned around, there were two characters side by side, a wave master with red face paint on his checks, wearing robes of purple and black, the other, and a very different character was a blade master, her appearance was that of a cat with long ears. Strange, I don't remember there being any character options anything close to that, "Yes, can I help you" I replied.
The cat girl spoke to me in a calm bored voice, "Yes, do you happen to have a item that we've been looking for, it's called Aromatic Grass".
I looked at her wondering, and asked, "Why do you want such a useless item if I may ask?"
"Do I need a reason to collect it"
"Was just asking, what do you have to trade?"
"Nothing, but if it's as useless as you say, why not give it to me for free"
I though about it for a moment, before I could decide she proposed something, "Or maybe an exchange of info for that item, maybe on some hackers, players, or other things".
I was a little shocked, ether she guessed or she know what I was looking for, "Very well, sounds fair, but only after you tell me what I want to know"
"Fair enough" She said.
The wavemaster whispered something to her, I'd guess about this deal or dealing with me, something told me he didn't like me. "So" I started, "lets chat".
I sat down on the ground, she did the same, the wavemaster decided to stand.
"So" She started, "What do you want to know?"
"Can you tell me anything about Helba?"
"Helba, I'm afraid not, all I know is she's a legendary hack said to be able to do anything in "The World". She is said to reside in a place called paradise."
"I've never heard of a place called that, where is it, is it a field, or a city"
"Its both, one enters it like a field, but one enters a city instead"
"Can you tell me what the keywords are?"
"That I do not know"
"Oh, well that's all, thanks" I stood up and walked over to her, "Here's your grass"
I handed her the Aromatic Grass, and turned to leave, "Wait" She said, I turned around, she continued, "If your looking for help, look for a Twin Blader called Hiro, he may help you find Helba". I looked at her thinking, why didn't you say that before, "Well see ya" She said, she moved towards her ally, and the pair gated out.
Our only clue as to this Helba is a player by the name of Hiro, this information may help however looking for this one player from one million an hour will not be easy, I can only hope we find him soon for my Brothers sake.