Nexon you can get right outta here, you see nothing worth mentioning to the lawyers.

Can you guess which chunk I wrote up to and forgot about till now from 6 months ago?

"Uhm, Athena? Would you mind giving me a couple of pointers on how to aim better?" "Huh, sure! What areas do you need help with?"

"Ah, actually, pretty much everything, I just don't know why despite all my efforts, it just doesn't turn out the way I wanted..."

"No worries Lucid, I'm sure you'll catch up soon enough and impress Mercedes!"

As it turned out, this was my life now, having been reborn into a world I was intimately familiar with. Maplestory. Well up until the City of Dreams, Lacheln. And a little bit after that, sue me I didn't enjoy grinding levels and arcane symbols on a daily basis okay?!

I had tripped over a stray arrow in the field, smashed my head on a rock, attracted the panic of the other elves, and woken up with past life memories, cliché but this was my life now. Therefore, wasn't it just ironic that I ended up being reborn into the form of Lucid? The gods out there had it in for me I swear. And the general timeline was a little fuzzy for me considering the general lifespan of an elf but I was mostly aware of the main sequence of events.

Athena had been a little surprised at my apparent sudden change from giving her the cold shoulder to begging for assistance in improving, but she saw no harm in giving the help I needed. If I needed to pull up my big boy pants and ask for help, you bet your ass I was going to do it to even gain the slightest advantage.

Things could always be worse; I might have ended up in a horror manga instead as cannon fodder! Junji Ito, I'm looking at you and your town of spirals!

Looking at Lady Mercedes interacting with the other citizens didn't stir any unnecessary emotions and instead I sought to better my own skills to the best of my ability. So here I was, attempting to be a friendly rival with Athena rather than sticking to the side-lines and being a wallflower.

Would this truly play out the way I wanted instead of plot logic overriding all of my efforts? Fluffing out my light pink hair and brushing off traces of dirt from the training ground, I left the area with bow in hand to see if I could spot the cave area where the supposed area I'd be imprisoned as a result of other forces at work.

In trying to distance myself from the evil image in the original game, at first, I had tried to grow my hair out to maybe waist level but one of the younger brats threw sap at a good chunk of it in a childish prank war. Tree sap is very, very sticky... Off went that idea. Along with my precious strands of hair.

Twiddling a stray strand around my fingers, I plotted some more. Gothic lolita outfit? Nah. Cyberpunk style instead? Would I actually be ripping off the Xenon aesthetic? Were outfits copyrighted? My train of thought went around in constant circles like a hamster trapped on a wheel with nowhere to go.

Maybe I should just pack my bags and go live somewhere high up in the mountain range, living out the rest of my days as the most beautiful hermit? Climbing up a tree, I settled amongst the branches, admiring the view, plucking a leaf and tracing the veins idly. Thinking really hurt my brain, I should do this less often.

Falling into a gentle nap, soft pink sparkles started to envelop my dreams.

"I can't believe you're on the computer this early in the morning! Honestly you're insufferable Claire!"

"Have to grind... Must reach the level cap..." Mindless mumbles trailed from my mouth.

"Whatever! Just make sure you remember to turn the stove off after I leave." A wave in dismissal at the voice's general direction.

Is this real life or is it just fantasy?

My eyes flew open. Oops, was that the reason I ended up like this? Maybe meditating would help with the wild dream fantasizing. It was only then that I realized the flurry of tiny pink butterflies surrounding me, some perching in my hair peacefully.

Well then, it seemed like that traumatic memory was enough to activate my latent abilities. Why was I being so nonchalant about this?! It was really weird. Jumping down from the tree, cursing the developers and writers of this game the whole while, wandering aimlessly led me to a strange rock formation.

Oh, so that's where that location was. Dragging a reluctant Athena with me, the two of us explored the cave thoroughly, even climbing up past the waterfall for a rather scenic view. Letting out a sigh, we exchanged looks and wished that we could let Mercedes enjoy this change of scenery as well. Bursting out into giggles, I wished this moment would last forever.

Sir Philius eyed me with no small amount of wariness, probably wondering what sort of mischief I was going to get up to on this fine day, as I made myself look as adorable and innocent as I possibly could. It didn't work very well, judging by how his stare got even more judgemental. The second phase of memories vaguely resembled some kind of a music box and me being all fired up to change the plot, wanted to at least help out in some way that wasn't all focussed on impressing Lady Mercedes.

And who better to turn to magic than Sir Philius, the Elder of Magic? Though he did still look rather young. In return to his flinty eyed stare, I managed my widest grin, holding out a scrap of paper. "Do you think it's possible to make something like this?"

A quick, messy doodle of some kind of music box gramophone had him appraising the image, scrutinizing it firmly. "Yes, it may work, I've always thought the area around the fields did seem a little dull. What a great idea, coming from you Lucid!" A pretty back handed remark but I chose to ignore the sarcasm behind it and implored him to teach me how to craft it. Under his watchful eye, I tried my best to craft something up to his standards.

Cheers went up as Lady Mercedes started winding up the music box, and it began twinkling a soothing melody. Athena even gave me a congratulatory pat on the back, seeing how much effort I had put into making sure it worked properly.

"Lucid, I may have been mistaken about you this whole time. While I am away to battle the Black Mage, I am going to entrust watching over Elluel between both you and Athena. I know you'll be able to handle protecting the citizens and the treasure." Mercedes patted me gently on the head as I basked in her attention with only a small measure of reluctance.

This was wrong. Something was horribly wrong.

My eyes flew open yet again. My fingers were freezing but they couldn't even manage to twitch. What happened? Where had it all gone wrong? Had everything been mere delusions? My memories must have only kicked in when I'd been frozen by Mercedes activating the freezing spell. And so, I'd already made everyone forget about me before making my escape to the cave and gotten stuck here. I wanted to scream in frustration but I couldn't do anything. I was helpless...

How far along was I to losing my sanity? Could I even manage to hold onto it until the curse was broken? Beat off the attention from the Black Mage? Shutting my eyes to the darkness again, I brooded. Cryogenics was no laughing matter. Retreating to my thoughts, I sorted out the remaining information into an orderly manner.

Did I still want to go along with all of this? Creating a dream city seemed like a lot of work, and maintaining it long enough to hold out against the heroes while possibly convincing the Black Mage he was kinda bonkers for pursuing his own twisted ideals. Give the Alliance twisted visions of the future to spur them to action? I had to do it. There was no other choice. I had dug this grave on my own, unconsciously or not, and now I needed to lie in it.

Finding countless distractions to chase after, time passed rather quickly. I couldn't even tell what season it was because I was stuck in a cave. Only the constant freezing and thawing of the waterfall beside me told me it might have been spring and winter. Soft drifting of stray petals from the outside also enchanted me. Life was truly beautiful. I was going to make the most of it when I got out of here.

And so, I dreamt. Walking through the dreams of others and of my own, I hopped around, experiencing their fears, hopes, and determination. It only spurred me to waver further. Was this what the beginning of insanity felt like?

A dark wraith approached me one day and I instantly knew it was one of the Black Mage searching for more subordinates to recruit. Shying away, I still hadn't made up my mind yet!

Hopping onwards, I quickly lost the wraith but bumped into the big bad boss himself. Stopping dead in my tracks, I gulped, averting my gaze. "You find my form intimidating?" If flame eyes could emit amusement, he was doing it pretty well.

In a swirl of black smoke, his appearance changed into that of a more human form with much better manicured nails. Yes, I was focussing on his nails rather than his face, so what? Oh lord he was really hot. I was almost instantly tempted to agree just to be able to stare at his very attractive face on a constant basis. He radiated even greater amusement as my jaw slackened.

"Will you join me, pledge your loyalty to only me, and in exchange I'll set you free from the shackles that bind you in the cave and grant you power beyond your wildest imagination?" Wiping imaginary drool from the corner of my lip, my gaze stiffened. How long had he been observing me to know my physical location? That seemed rather ominous...

Making a big show of thinking it over, tapping my chin in thought. Lucid of the game had leapt at the chance to be free with no questions asked, but I had the chance to be a little more intelligent about it. "Why do you need me anyway?" "I'm sure you're aware of why I require you to join me. Your illusionary powers are far beyond the ordinary, and I need it to play a little trick on some foolish beings that think they can break free of the path that fate was set them on, shattering the chains that hold them in place."

Was he indirectly calling me out somehow? He couldn't have known what I know. Gulping nervously, I gave a small nod. It wasn't like I could deny one of the most powerful being currently in existence. The eye candy was just a bonus. A sweet bonus.

The ice surrounding me shattered, I was engulfed in smoke, and from then onwards, I merely followed the flow of time set for me, falling freely into the sweet embrace of madness.

Was there any other thing I could have done? Hiding a small smile into the ruined ground, Protective Mask and the motley crew of heroes approached my curled body. I couldn't let them see me like this all pitiful. Summoning the last vestiges of power, a flurry of butterflies surrounded me, teleporting me away to my tearoom.

Hey, so were you satisfied with this outcome in the end? Mister Black Mage?

End

It went pretty of the rails huh? Also some kinda sorcery must be afoot to conjure a chapter this quickly lmao. Them plot bunnies at it again!

Thanks for reading if you managed to get this far! Kinda a more serious attempt at writing rather than plot goes out window and everyone has a great time laughing thing.

Continue staying safe! Wash yo hands! Don't wanna end up like Maya of Henesys coughing constantly do you?